diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore index 6143e53..80e4000 100644 --- a/.gitignore +++ b/.gitignore @@ -14,9 +14,15 @@ *.jar *.war *.ear -*.zip *.tar.gz *.rar # virtual machine crash logs, see http://www.java.com/en/download/help/error_hotspot.xml hs_err_pid* + +# other +.idea/ +metastore_db/ +project/ +target/ +*.iml diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1038ef7 --- /dev/null +++ b/Dockerfile @@ -0,0 +1,66 @@ +## Sources - https://github.com/P7h/docker-spark + +FROM openjdk:8 +MAINTAINER Ondrej Kucera + +# Scala related variables. +ARG SCALA_VERSION=2.12.2 +ARG SCALA_BINARY_ARCHIVE_NAME=scala-${SCALA_VERSION} +ARG SCALA_BINARY_DOWNLOAD_URL=http://downloads.lightbend.com/scala/${SCALA_VERSION}/${SCALA_BINARY_ARCHIVE_NAME}.tgz + +# SBT related variables. +ARG SBT_VERSION=0.13.15 +ARG SBT_BINARY_ARCHIVE_NAME=sbt-${SBT_VERSION} +ARG SBT_BINARY_DOWNLOAD_URL=https://dl.bintray.com/sbt/native-packages/sbt/${SBT_VERSION}/${SBT_BINARY_ARCHIVE_NAME}.tgz + +# Maven related variables +ARG MVN_VERSION=3.5.2 +ARG MVN_BINARY_ARCHIVE_NAME=apache-maven-${MVN_VERSION} +ARG MVN_BINARY_DOWNLOAD_URL=http://www-us.apache.org/dist/maven/maven-3/${MVN_VERSION}/binaries/${MVN_BINARY_ARCHIVE_NAME}-bin.tar.gz + +# Spark related variables. +ARG SPARK_VERSION=2.2.0 +ARG SPARK_BINARY_ARCHIVE_NAME=spark-${SPARK_VERSION}-bin-hadoop2.7 +ARG SPARK_BINARY_DOWNLOAD_URL=http://d3kbcqa49mib13.cloudfront.net/${SPARK_BINARY_ARCHIVE_NAME}.tgz + +# Configure env variables for Scala, SBT and Spark. +# Also configure PATH env variable to include binary folders of Java, Scala, SBT and Spark. +ENV SCALA_HOME /usr/local/scala +ENV SBT_HOME /usr/local/sbt +ENV MVN_HOME /usr/local/mvn +ENV SPARK_HOME /usr/local/spark +ENV PATH $JAVA_HOME/bin:$SCALA_HOME/bin:$SBT_HOME/bin:$MVN_HOME/bin:$SPARK_HOME/bin:$SPARK_HOME/sbin:$PATH + +# Download, uncompress and move all the required packages and libraries to their corresponding directories in /usr/local/ folder. +RUN apt-get -yqq update && \ + apt-get install -yqq vim less screen tmux && \ + apt-get clean && \ + rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* && \ + rm -rf /tmp/* && \ + wget -qO - ${SCALA_BINARY_DOWNLOAD_URL} | tar -xz -C /usr/local/ && \ + wget -qO - ${SBT_BINARY_DOWNLOAD_URL} | tar -xz -C /usr/local/ && \ + wget -qO - ${MVN_BINARY_DOWNLOAD_URL} | tar -xz -C /usr/local/ && \ + wget -qO - ${SPARK_BINARY_DOWNLOAD_URL} | tar -xz -C /usr/local/ && \ + cd /usr/local/ && \ + ln -s ${SCALA_BINARY_ARCHIVE_NAME} scala && \ + ln -s ${MVN_BINARY_ARCHIVE_NAME} mvn && \ + ln -s ${SPARK_BINARY_ARCHIVE_NAME} spark && \ + cp spark/conf/log4j.properties.template spark/conf/log4j.properties && \ + sed -i -e s/WARN/ERROR/g spark/conf/log4j.properties && \ + sed -i -e s/INFO/ERROR/g spark/conf/log4j.properties + +# We will be running our Spark jobs as `root` user. +USER root + +# Working directory is set to the home folder of `root` user. +ARG MAIN_DIR=workshop-spark +RUN mkdir /root/${MAIN_DIR} +WORKDIR /root/${MAIN_DIR} + +# Expose ports for monitoring. +# SparkContext web UI on 4040 -- only available for the duration of the application. +# Spark master’s web UI on 8080. +# Spark worker web UI on 8081. +EXPOSE 4040 8080 8081 + +CMD ["/bin/bash"] diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 1294693..bf1cef8 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1 +1,49 @@ -# workshop-spark \ No newline at end of file +# Workshop: An Intorduction to Apache Spark - 101 +![](http://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/img/spark-logo-hd.png) + + When you will go thought the workshop you will get to know what is distributed computing, differences between approaches of MapReduce and Spark, basic Spark architecture. You will be able to start [Spark](https://spark.apache.org/) job in the standalone cluster and work with basic [Spark API](https://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/api/scala/index.html) - RDD and Datasets/DataFrames. The workshop focus only on Spark SQL module. +> **NOTE** This workshop was initially created for the [DevFest 2017](https://2017.devfest.cz/speakers/42) in Prague. +___ + +## Set the environment + As the first step you have to set your [Spark environment](environment.md) to get everything work. It includes docker installation and description how to run docker container where Apache Spark will be ready to use. +___ + +## Distributed computing + [Let's find out](distribution.md) why to choose distributed computing approach and what it actually means. +___ +## Differences between MapReduce and Spark + Why isn't the MapReduce's approach good enough and what are differences from Spark? You can read [here](mapreduce.md). +___ + +## Spark’s Basic Architecture + In order to understand how to use Spark, it is good to understand the basics of [Spark architecture](architecture.md). +___ + +## Tasks + +#### Task 0: The First Run of Spark + Get to know the Spark, Spark REPL and run your first job. + * scala: [link](scala/task0-firstrun/README.md) + * java: [link](java/task0-firstrun/README.md) +___ + +#### Task 1: Word-count + You will write your first Spark application. The word-count is the "hello world" in the distribution computation. + * scala: [link](scala/task1-wordcount/README.md) + * java: [link](java/task1-wordcount/README.md) +___ + +#### Task 2: Analyzing Flight Delays + You will analyze real data with help RDD and Dataset. + * scala: [link](scala/task2-flights/README.md) + * java: [link](java/task2-flights/README.md) +___ + +#### Task 3: Run both spark jobs in the cluster (optional) + You can submit and run all spark jobs on Spark standalone cluster in cluster deploy mode. + * scala: [link](scala/task3/README.md) + * java: [link](java/task3/README.md) +___ + +Recommendation for further reading: [Spark: The Definitive Guide](http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920034957.do) diff --git a/architecture.md b/architecture.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da72d42 --- /dev/null +++ b/architecture.md @@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ +## Spark architecture +??? +___ + +#### 1 ... diff --git a/conf/history/spark-defaults.conf b/conf/history/spark-defaults.conf new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0df342f --- /dev/null +++ b/conf/history/spark-defaults.conf @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +# Default system properties included when running spark-submit. +# This is useful for setting default environmental settings. + +spark.history.fs.logDirectory file:/tmp/spark-events diff --git a/conf/master/spark-defaults.conf b/conf/master/spark-defaults.conf new file mode 100644 index 0000000..840447b --- /dev/null +++ b/conf/master/spark-defaults.conf @@ -0,0 +1,15 @@ +# Default system properties included when running spark-submit. +# This is useful for setting default environmental settings. + +spark.driver.port 7001 +spark.fileserver.port 7002 +spark.broadcast.port 7003 +spark.replClassServer.port 7004 +spark.blockManager.port 7005 +spark.executor.port 7006 + +spark.broadcast.factory=org.apache.spark.broadcast.HttpBroadcastFactory +spark.port.maxRetries 4 + +spark.eventLog.dir file:/tmp/spark-events +spark.eventLog.enabled true diff --git a/conf/worker/spark-defaults.conf b/conf/worker/spark-defaults.conf new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18c63c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/conf/worker/spark-defaults.conf @@ -0,0 +1,15 @@ +# Default system properties included when running spark-submit. +# This is useful for setting default environmental settings. + +#spark.driver.port 7101 +spark.fileserver.port 7012 +spark.broadcast.port 7013 +spark.replClassServer.port 7014 +spark.blockManager.port 7015 +spark.executor.port 7016 + +spark.broadcast.factory=org.apache.spark.broadcast.HttpBroadcastFactory +spark.port.maxRetries 4 + +spark.eventLog.dir file:/tmp/spark-events +spark.eventLog.enabled true diff --git a/data/task1/alice.txt b/data/task1/alice.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfa9361 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/task1/alice.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3735 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland + +Author: Lewis Carroll + +Posting Date: June 25, 2008 [EBook #11] +Release Date: March, 1994 +[Last updated: December 20, 2011] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND *** + + + + + + + + + + +ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND + +Lewis Carroll + +THE MILLENNIUM FULCRUM EDITION 3.0 + + + + +CHAPTER I. Down the Rabbit-Hole + +Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the +bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the +book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in +it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or +conversations?' + +So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the +hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure +of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and +picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran +close by her. + +There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so +VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! +Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it +occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time +it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH +OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on, +Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had +never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch +to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field +after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large +rabbit-hole under the hedge. + +In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how +in the world she was to get out again. + +The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then +dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think +about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep +well. + +Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had +plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was +going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what +she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she +looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with +cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures +hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as +she passed; it was labelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great +disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear +of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as +she fell past it. + +'Well!' thought Alice to herself, 'after such a fall as this, I shall +think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at +home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top +of the house!' (Which was very likely true.) + +Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! 'I wonder how +many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. 'I must be getting +somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four +thousand miles down, I think--' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several +things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this +was not a VERY good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there +was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) +'--yes, that's about the right distance--but then I wonder what Latitude +or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or +Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.) + +Presently she began again. 'I wonder if I shall fall right THROUGH the +earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with +their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather glad +there WAS no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the +right word) '--but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country +is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?' (and +she tried to curtsey as she spoke--fancy CURTSEYING as you're falling +through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) 'And what an +ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to +ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.' + +Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began +talking again. 'Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!' +(Dinah was the cat.) 'I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at +tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no +mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very +like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?' And here Alice +began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy +sort of way, 'Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, 'Do +bats eat cats?' for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, +it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing +off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with +Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, 'Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: +did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon +a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over. + +Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: +she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another +long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. +There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and +was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, 'Oh my ears +and whiskers, how late it's getting!' She was close behind it when she +turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found +herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging +from the roof. + +There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when +Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every +door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to +get out again. + +Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid +glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's +first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; +but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, +but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second +time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and +behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the +little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted! + +Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not +much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage +into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of +that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and +those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through the +doorway; 'and even if my head would go through,' thought poor Alice, 'it +would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could +shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only knew how to begin.' +For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, +that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really +impossible. + +There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went +back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at +any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this +time she found a little bottle on it, ('which certainly was not here +before,' said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper +label, with the words 'DRINK ME' beautifully printed on it in large +letters. + +It was all very well to say 'Drink me,' but the wise little Alice was +not going to do THAT in a hurry. 'No, I'll look first,' she said, 'and +see whether it's marked "poison" or not'; for she had read several nice +little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild +beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they WOULD not remember +the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot +poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your +finger VERY deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never +forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison,' it is +almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later. + +However, this bottle was NOT marked 'poison,' so Alice ventured to taste +it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour +of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot +buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off. + + * * * * * * * + + * * * * * * + + * * * * * * * + +'What a curious feeling!' said Alice; 'I must be shutting up like a +telescope.' + +And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face +brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going +through the little door into that lovely garden. First, however, she +waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further: +she felt a little nervous about this; 'for it might end, you know,' said +Alice to herself, 'in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder +what I should be like then?' And she tried to fancy what the flame of a +candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember +ever having seen such a thing. + +After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going +into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the +door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key, and when she +went back to the table for it, she found she could not possibly reach +it: she could see it quite plainly through the glass, and she tried her +best to climb up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery; +and when she had tired herself out with trying, the poor little thing +sat down and cried. + +'Come, there's no use in crying like that!' said Alice to herself, +rather sharply; 'I advise you to leave off this minute!' She generally +gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), +and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into +her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having +cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, +for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people. +'But it's no use now,' thought poor Alice, 'to pretend to be two people! +Why, there's hardly enough of me left to make ONE respectable person!' + +Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: +she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words +'EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. 'Well, I'll eat it,' said +Alice, 'and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it +makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll +get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!' + +She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, 'Which way? Which +way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was +growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same +size: to be sure, this generally happens when one eats cake, but Alice +had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way +things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on +in the common way. + +So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake. + + * * * * * * * + + * * * * * * + + * * * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II. The Pool of Tears + +'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that +for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); 'now I'm +opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!' +(for when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of +sight, they were getting so far off). 'Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder +who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I'm sure +_I_ shan't be able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble +myself about you: you must manage the best way you can;--but I must be +kind to them,' thought Alice, 'or perhaps they won't walk the way I want +to go! Let me see: I'll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.' + +And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. 'They must +go by the carrier,' she thought; 'and how funny it'll seem, sending +presents to one's own feet! And how odd the directions will look! + + ALICE'S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ. + HEARTHRUG, + NEAR THE FENDER, + (WITH ALICE'S LOVE). + +Oh dear, what nonsense I'm talking!' + +Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall: in fact she was +now more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden +key and hurried off to the garden door. + +Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to +look through into the garden with one eye; but to get through was more +hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to cry again. + +'You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' said Alice, 'a great girl like +you,' (she might well say this), 'to go on crying in this way! Stop this +moment, I tell you!' But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of +tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches +deep and reaching half down the hall. + +After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and +she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White +Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in +one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great +hurry, muttering to himself as he came, 'Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! +Oh! won't she be savage if I've kept her waiting!' Alice felt so +desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit +came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, 'If you please, sir--' +The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, +and skurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go. + +Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she +kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: 'Dear, dear! How +queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. +I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the +same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a +little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who +in the world am I? Ah, THAT'S the great puzzle!' And she began thinking +over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to +see if she could have been changed for any of them. + +'I'm sure I'm not Ada,' she said, 'for her hair goes in such long +ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm sure I can't +be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, oh! she knows such a +very little! Besides, SHE'S she, and I'm I, and--oh dear, how puzzling +it all is! I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me +see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and +four times seven is--oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate! +However, the Multiplication Table doesn't signify: let's try Geography. +London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, and +Rome--no, THAT'S all wrong, I'm certain! I must have been changed for +Mabel! I'll try and say "How doth the little--"' and she crossed her +hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, +but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the +same as they used to do:-- + + 'How doth the little crocodile + Improve his shining tail, + And pour the waters of the Nile + On every golden scale! + + 'How cheerfully he seems to grin, + How neatly spread his claws, + And welcome little fishes in + With gently smiling jaws!' + +'I'm sure those are not the right words,' said poor Alice, and her eyes +filled with tears again as she went on, 'I must be Mabel after all, and +I shall have to go and live in that poky little house, and have next to +no toys to play with, and oh! ever so many lessons to learn! No, I've +made up my mind about it; if I'm Mabel, I'll stay down here! It'll be no +use their putting their heads down and saying "Come up again, dear!" I +shall only look up and say "Who am I then? Tell me that first, and then, +if I like being that person, I'll come up: if not, I'll stay down here +till I'm somebody else"--but, oh dear!' cried Alice, with a sudden burst +of tears, 'I do wish they WOULD put their heads down! I am so VERY tired +of being all alone here!' + +As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was surprised to see +that she had put on one of the Rabbit's little white kid gloves while +she was talking. 'How CAN I have done that?' she thought. 'I must +be growing small again.' She got up and went to the table to measure +herself by it, and found that, as nearly as she could guess, she was now +about two feet high, and was going on shrinking rapidly: she soon found +out that the cause of this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped +it hastily, just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether. + +'That WAS a narrow escape!' said Alice, a good deal frightened at the +sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in existence; 'and +now for the garden!' and she ran with all speed back to the little door: +but, alas! the little door was shut again, and the little golden key was +lying on the glass table as before, 'and things are worse than ever,' +thought the poor child, 'for I never was so small as this before, never! +And I declare it's too bad, that it is!' + +As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash! +she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first idea was that she +had somehow fallen into the sea, 'and in that case I can go back by +railway,' she said to herself. (Alice had been to the seaside once in +her life, and had come to the general conclusion, that wherever you go +to on the English coast you find a number of bathing machines in the +sea, some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row +of lodging houses, and behind them a railway station.) However, she soon +made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she +was nine feet high. + +'I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, trying +to find her way out. 'I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by +being drowned in my own tears! That WILL be a queer thing, to be sure! +However, everything is queer to-day.' + +Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool a little way +off, and she swam nearer to make out what it was: at first she thought +it must be a walrus or hippopotamus, but then she remembered how small +she was now, and she soon made out that it was only a mouse that had +slipped in like herself. + +'Would it be of any use, now,' thought Alice, 'to speak to this mouse? +Everything is so out-of-the-way down here, that I should think very +likely it can talk: at any rate, there's no harm in trying.' So she +began: 'O Mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired +of swimming about here, O Mouse!' (Alice thought this must be the right +way of speaking to a mouse: she had never done such a thing before, but +she remembered having seen in her brother's Latin Grammar, 'A mouse--of +a mouse--to a mouse--a mouse--O mouse!') The Mouse looked at her rather +inquisitively, and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes, +but it said nothing. + +'Perhaps it doesn't understand English,' thought Alice; 'I daresay it's +a French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror.' (For, with all +her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago +anything had happened.) So she began again: 'Ou est ma chatte?' which +was the first sentence in her French lesson-book. The Mouse gave a +sudden leap out of the water, and seemed to quiver all over with fright. +'Oh, I beg your pardon!' cried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt +the poor animal's feelings. 'I quite forgot you didn't like cats.' + +'Not like cats!' cried the Mouse, in a shrill, passionate voice. 'Would +YOU like cats if you were me?' + +'Well, perhaps not,' said Alice in a soothing tone: 'don't be angry +about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I think you'd +take a fancy to cats if you could only see her. She is such a dear quiet +thing,' Alice went on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the +pool, 'and she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and +washing her face--and she is such a nice soft thing to nurse--and she's +such a capital one for catching mice--oh, I beg your pardon!' cried +Alice again, for this time the Mouse was bristling all over, and she +felt certain it must be really offended. 'We won't talk about her any +more if you'd rather not.' + +'We indeed!' cried the Mouse, who was trembling down to the end of his +tail. 'As if I would talk on such a subject! Our family always HATED +cats: nasty, low, vulgar things! Don't let me hear the name again!' + +'I won't indeed!' said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of +conversation. 'Are you--are you fond--of--of dogs?' The Mouse did not +answer, so Alice went on eagerly: 'There is such a nice little dog near +our house I should like to show you! A little bright-eyed terrier, you +know, with oh, such long curly brown hair! And it'll fetch things when +you throw them, and it'll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts +of things--I can't remember half of them--and it belongs to a farmer, +you know, and he says it's so useful, it's worth a hundred pounds! He +says it kills all the rats and--oh dear!' cried Alice in a sorrowful +tone, 'I'm afraid I've offended it again!' For the Mouse was swimming +away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a commotion in +the pool as it went. + +So she called softly after it, 'Mouse dear! Do come back again, and we +won't talk about cats or dogs either, if you don't like them!' When the +Mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her: its +face was quite pale (with passion, Alice thought), and it said in a low +trembling voice, 'Let us get to the shore, and then I'll tell you my +history, and you'll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs.' + +It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with the +birds and animals that had fallen into it: there were a Duck and a Dodo, +a Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious creatures. Alice led the +way, and the whole party swam to the shore. + + + + +CHAPTER III. A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale + +They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank--the +birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close +to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable. + +The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they had a +consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemed quite natural +to Alice to find herself talking familiarly with them, as if she had +known them all her life. Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the +Lory, who at last turned sulky, and would only say, 'I am older than +you, and must know better'; and this Alice would not allow without +knowing how old it was, and, as the Lory positively refused to tell its +age, there was no more to be said. + +At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority among them, +called out, 'Sit down, all of you, and listen to me! I'LL soon make you +dry enough!' They all sat down at once, in a large ring, with the Mouse +in the middle. Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt +sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon. + +'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This +is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! "William +the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted +to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much +accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of +Mercia and Northumbria--"' + +'Ugh!' said the Lory, with a shiver. + +'I beg your pardon!' said the Mouse, frowning, but very politely: 'Did +you speak?' + +'Not I!' said the Lory hastily. + +'I thought you did,' said the Mouse. '--I proceed. "Edwin and Morcar, +the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, +the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable--"' + +'Found WHAT?' said the Duck. + +'Found IT,' the Mouse replied rather crossly: 'of course you know what +"it" means.' + +'I know what "it" means well enough, when I find a thing,' said the +Duck: 'it's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the +archbishop find?' + +The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on, '"--found +it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the +crown. William's conduct at first was moderate. But the insolence of his +Normans--" How are you getting on now, my dear?' it continued, turning +to Alice as it spoke. + +'As wet as ever,' said Alice in a melancholy tone: 'it doesn't seem to +dry me at all.' + +'In that case,' said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, 'I move +that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic +remedies--' + +'Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half +those long words, and, what's more, I don't believe you do either!' And +the Eaglet bent down its head to hide a smile: some of the other birds +tittered audibly. + +'What I was going to say,' said the Dodo in an offended tone, 'was, that +the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.' + +'What IS a Caucus-race?' said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, +but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that SOMEBODY ought to speak, +and no one else seemed inclined to say anything. + +'Why,' said the Dodo, 'the best way to explain it is to do it.' (And, as +you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell +you how the Dodo managed it.) + +First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, ('the exact +shape doesn't matter,' it said,) and then all the party were placed +along the course, here and there. There was no 'One, two, three, and +away,' but they began running when they liked, and left off when they +liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, +when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, +the Dodo suddenly called out 'The race is over!' and they all crowded +round it, panting, and asking, 'But who has won?' + +This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, +and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead +(the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures +of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, +'EVERYBODY has won, and all must have prizes.' + +'But who is to give the prizes?' quite a chorus of voices asked. + +'Why, SHE, of course,' said the Dodo, pointing to Alice with one finger; +and the whole party at once crowded round her, calling out in a confused +way, 'Prizes! Prizes!' + +Alice had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand in her +pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits, (luckily the salt water had +not got into it), and handed them round as prizes. There was exactly one +a-piece all round. + +'But she must have a prize herself, you know,' said the Mouse. + +'Of course,' the Dodo replied very gravely. 'What else have you got in +your pocket?' he went on, turning to Alice. + +'Only a thimble,' said Alice sadly. + +'Hand it over here,' said the Dodo. + +Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo solemnly +presented the thimble, saying 'We beg your acceptance of this elegant +thimble'; and, when it had finished this short speech, they all cheered. + +Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so grave +that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not think of anything +to say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble, looking as solemn as she +could. + +The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise and +confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not taste +theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on the back. +However, it was over at last, and they sat down again in a ring, and +begged the Mouse to tell them something more. + +'You promised to tell me your history, you know,' said Alice, 'and why +it is you hate--C and D,' she added in a whisper, half afraid that it +would be offended again. + +'Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and +sighing. + +'It IS a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with wonder at +the Mouse's tail; 'but why do you call it sad?' And she kept on puzzling +about it while the Mouse was speaking, so that her idea of the tale was +something like this:-- + + 'Fury said to a + mouse, That he + met in the + house, + "Let us + both go to + law: I will + prosecute + YOU.--Come, + I'll take no + denial; We + must have a + trial: For + really this + morning I've + nothing + to do." + Said the + mouse to the + cur, "Such + a trial, + dear Sir, + With + no jury + or judge, + would be + wasting + our + breath." + "I'll be + judge, I'll + be jury," + Said + cunning + old Fury: + "I'll + try the + whole + cause, + and + condemn + you + to + death."' + + +'You are not attending!' said the Mouse to Alice severely. 'What are you +thinking of?' + +'I beg your pardon,' said Alice very humbly: 'you had got to the fifth +bend, I think?' + +'I had NOT!' cried the Mouse, sharply and very angrily. + +'A knot!' said Alice, always ready to make herself useful, and looking +anxiously about her. 'Oh, do let me help to undo it!' + +'I shall do nothing of the sort,' said the Mouse, getting up and walking +away. 'You insult me by talking such nonsense!' + +'I didn't mean it!' pleaded poor Alice. 'But you're so easily offended, +you know!' + +The Mouse only growled in reply. + +'Please come back and finish your story!' Alice called after it; and the +others all joined in chorus, 'Yes, please do!' but the Mouse only shook +its head impatiently, and walked a little quicker. + +'What a pity it wouldn't stay!' sighed the Lory, as soon as it was quite +out of sight; and an old Crab took the opportunity of saying to her +daughter 'Ah, my dear! Let this be a lesson to you never to lose +YOUR temper!' 'Hold your tongue, Ma!' said the young Crab, a little +snappishly. 'You're enough to try the patience of an oyster!' + +'I wish I had our Dinah here, I know I do!' said Alice aloud, addressing +nobody in particular. 'She'd soon fetch it back!' + +'And who is Dinah, if I might venture to ask the question?' said the +Lory. + +Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about her pet: +'Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital one for catching mice you +can't think! And oh, I wish you could see her after the birds! Why, +she'll eat a little bird as soon as look at it!' + +This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party. Some of the +birds hurried off at once: one old Magpie began wrapping itself up very +carefully, remarking, 'I really must be getting home; the night-air +doesn't suit my throat!' and a Canary called out in a trembling voice to +its children, 'Come away, my dears! It's high time you were all in bed!' +On various pretexts they all moved off, and Alice was soon left alone. + +'I wish I hadn't mentioned Dinah!' she said to herself in a melancholy +tone. 'Nobody seems to like her, down here, and I'm sure she's the best +cat in the world! Oh, my dear Dinah! I wonder if I shall ever see you +any more!' And here poor Alice began to cry again, for she felt very +lonely and low-spirited. In a little while, however, she again heard +a little pattering of footsteps in the distance, and she looked up +eagerly, half hoping that the Mouse had changed his mind, and was coming +back to finish his story. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill + +It was the White Rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and looking +anxiously about as it went, as if it had lost something; and she heard +it muttering to itself 'The Duchess! The Duchess! Oh my dear paws! Oh +my fur and whiskers! She'll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are +ferrets! Where CAN I have dropped them, I wonder?' Alice guessed in a +moment that it was looking for the fan and the pair of white kid gloves, +and she very good-naturedly began hunting about for them, but they were +nowhere to be seen--everything seemed to have changed since her swim in +the pool, and the great hall, with the glass table and the little door, +had vanished completely. + +Very soon the Rabbit noticed Alice, as she went hunting about, and +called out to her in an angry tone, 'Why, Mary Ann, what ARE you doing +out here? Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! +Quick, now!' And Alice was so much frightened that she ran off at once +in the direction it pointed to, without trying to explain the mistake it +had made. + +'He took me for his housemaid,' she said to herself as she ran. 'How +surprised he'll be when he finds out who I am! But I'd better take him +his fan and gloves--that is, if I can find them.' As she said this, she +came upon a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass +plate with the name 'W. RABBIT' engraved upon it. She went in without +knocking, and hurried upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the +real Mary Ann, and be turned out of the house before she had found the +fan and gloves. + +'How queer it seems,' Alice said to herself, 'to be going messages for +a rabbit! I suppose Dinah'll be sending me on messages next!' And she +began fancying the sort of thing that would happen: '"Miss Alice! Come +here directly, and get ready for your walk!" "Coming in a minute, +nurse! But I've got to see that the mouse doesn't get out." Only I don't +think,' Alice went on, 'that they'd let Dinah stop in the house if it +began ordering people about like that!' + +By this time she had found her way into a tidy little room with a table +in the window, and on it (as she had hoped) a fan and two or three pairs +of tiny white kid gloves: she took up the fan and a pair of the gloves, +and was just going to leave the room, when her eye fell upon a little +bottle that stood near the looking-glass. There was no label this time +with the words 'DRINK ME,' but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it +to her lips. 'I know SOMETHING interesting is sure to happen,' she said +to herself, 'whenever I eat or drink anything; so I'll just see what +this bottle does. I do hope it'll make me grow large again, for really +I'm quite tired of being such a tiny little thing!' + +It did so indeed, and much sooner than she had expected: before she had +drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing against the ceiling, +and had to stoop to save her neck from being broken. She hastily put +down the bottle, saying to herself 'That's quite enough--I hope I shan't +grow any more--As it is, I can't get out at the door--I do wish I hadn't +drunk quite so much!' + +Alas! it was too late to wish that! She went on growing, and growing, +and very soon had to kneel down on the floor: in another minute there +was not even room for this, and she tried the effect of lying down with +one elbow against the door, and the other arm curled round her head. +Still she went on growing, and, as a last resource, she put one arm out +of the window, and one foot up the chimney, and said to herself 'Now I +can do no more, whatever happens. What WILL become of me?' + +Luckily for Alice, the little magic bottle had now had its full effect, +and she grew no larger: still it was very uncomfortable, and, as there +seemed to be no sort of chance of her ever getting out of the room +again, no wonder she felt unhappy. + +'It was much pleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, 'when one wasn't +always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and +rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole--and yet--and +yet--it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what +CAN have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that +kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one! +There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought! And when I +grow up, I'll write one--but I'm grown up now,' she added in a sorrowful +tone; 'at least there's no room to grow up any more HERE.' + +'But then,' thought Alice, 'shall I NEVER get any older than I am +now? That'll be a comfort, one way--never to be an old woman--but +then--always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn't like THAT!' + +'Oh, you foolish Alice!' she answered herself. 'How can you learn +lessons in here? Why, there's hardly room for YOU, and no room at all +for any lesson-books!' + +And so she went on, taking first one side and then the other, and making +quite a conversation of it altogether; but after a few minutes she heard +a voice outside, and stopped to listen. + +'Mary Ann! Mary Ann!' said the voice. 'Fetch me my gloves this moment!' +Then came a little pattering of feet on the stairs. Alice knew it was +the Rabbit coming to look for her, and she trembled till she shook the +house, quite forgetting that she was now about a thousand times as large +as the Rabbit, and had no reason to be afraid of it. + +Presently the Rabbit came up to the door, and tried to open it; but, as +the door opened inwards, and Alice's elbow was pressed hard against it, +that attempt proved a failure. Alice heard it say to itself 'Then I'll +go round and get in at the window.' + +'THAT you won't' thought Alice, and, after waiting till she fancied +she heard the Rabbit just under the window, she suddenly spread out her +hand, and made a snatch in the air. She did not get hold of anything, +but she heard a little shriek and a fall, and a crash of broken glass, +from which she concluded that it was just possible it had fallen into a +cucumber-frame, or something of the sort. + +Next came an angry voice--the Rabbit's--'Pat! Pat! Where are you?' And +then a voice she had never heard before, 'Sure then I'm here! Digging +for apples, yer honour!' + +'Digging for apples, indeed!' said the Rabbit angrily. 'Here! Come and +help me out of THIS!' (Sounds of more broken glass.) + +'Now tell me, Pat, what's that in the window?' + +'Sure, it's an arm, yer honour!' (He pronounced it 'arrum.') + +'An arm, you goose! Who ever saw one that size? Why, it fills the whole +window!' + +'Sure, it does, yer honour: but it's an arm for all that.' + +'Well, it's got no business there, at any rate: go and take it away!' + +There was a long silence after this, and Alice could only hear whispers +now and then; such as, 'Sure, I don't like it, yer honour, at all, at +all!' 'Do as I tell you, you coward!' and at last she spread out her +hand again, and made another snatch in the air. This time there were +TWO little shrieks, and more sounds of broken glass. 'What a number of +cucumber-frames there must be!' thought Alice. 'I wonder what they'll do +next! As for pulling me out of the window, I only wish they COULD! I'm +sure I don't want to stay in here any longer!' + +She waited for some time without hearing anything more: at last came a +rumbling of little cartwheels, and the sound of a good many voices +all talking together: she made out the words: 'Where's the other +ladder?--Why, I hadn't to bring but one; Bill's got the other--Bill! +fetch it here, lad!--Here, put 'em up at this corner--No, tie 'em +together first--they don't reach half high enough yet--Oh! they'll +do well enough; don't be particular--Here, Bill! catch hold of this +rope--Will the roof bear?--Mind that loose slate--Oh, it's coming +down! Heads below!' (a loud crash)--'Now, who did that?--It was Bill, I +fancy--Who's to go down the chimney?--Nay, I shan't! YOU do it!--That I +won't, then!--Bill's to go down--Here, Bill! the master says you're to +go down the chimney!' + +'Oh! So Bill's got to come down the chimney, has he?' said Alice to +herself. 'Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill! I wouldn't be in +Bill's place for a good deal: this fireplace is narrow, to be sure; but +I THINK I can kick a little!' + +She drew her foot as far down the chimney as she could, and waited +till she heard a little animal (she couldn't guess of what sort it was) +scratching and scrambling about in the chimney close above her: then, +saying to herself 'This is Bill,' she gave one sharp kick, and waited to +see what would happen next. + +The first thing she heard was a general chorus of 'There goes Bill!' +then the Rabbit's voice along--'Catch him, you by the hedge!' then +silence, and then another confusion of voices--'Hold up his head--Brandy +now--Don't choke him--How was it, old fellow? What happened to you? Tell +us all about it!' + +Last came a little feeble, squeaking voice, ('That's Bill,' thought +Alice,) 'Well, I hardly know--No more, thank ye; I'm better now--but I'm +a deal too flustered to tell you--all I know is, something comes at me +like a Jack-in-the-box, and up I goes like a sky-rocket!' + +'So you did, old fellow!' said the others. + +'We must burn the house down!' said the Rabbit's voice; and Alice called +out as loud as she could, 'If you do. I'll set Dinah at you!' + +There was a dead silence instantly, and Alice thought to herself, 'I +wonder what they WILL do next! If they had any sense, they'd take the +roof off.' After a minute or two, they began moving about again, and +Alice heard the Rabbit say, 'A barrowful will do, to begin with.' + +'A barrowful of WHAT?' thought Alice; but she had not long to doubt, +for the next moment a shower of little pebbles came rattling in at the +window, and some of them hit her in the face. 'I'll put a stop to this,' +she said to herself, and shouted out, 'You'd better not do that again!' +which produced another dead silence. + +Alice noticed with some surprise that the pebbles were all turning into +little cakes as they lay on the floor, and a bright idea came into her +head. 'If I eat one of these cakes,' she thought, 'it's sure to make +SOME change in my size; and as it can't possibly make me larger, it must +make me smaller, I suppose.' + +So she swallowed one of the cakes, and was delighted to find that she +began shrinking directly. As soon as she was small enough to get through +the door, she ran out of the house, and found quite a crowd of little +animals and birds waiting outside. The poor little Lizard, Bill, was +in the middle, being held up by two guinea-pigs, who were giving it +something out of a bottle. They all made a rush at Alice the moment she +appeared; but she ran off as hard as she could, and soon found herself +safe in a thick wood. + +'The first thing I've got to do,' said Alice to herself, as she wandered +about in the wood, 'is to grow to my right size again; and the second +thing is to find my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be +the best plan.' + +It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply +arranged; the only difficulty was, that she had not the smallest idea +how to set about it; and while she was peering about anxiously among +the trees, a little sharp bark just over her head made her look up in a +great hurry. + +An enormous puppy was looking down at her with large round eyes, and +feebly stretching out one paw, trying to touch her. 'Poor little thing!' +said Alice, in a coaxing tone, and she tried hard to whistle to it; but +she was terribly frightened all the time at the thought that it might be +hungry, in which case it would be very likely to eat her up in spite of +all her coaxing. + +Hardly knowing what she did, she picked up a little bit of stick, and +held it out to the puppy; whereupon the puppy jumped into the air off +all its feet at once, with a yelp of delight, and rushed at the stick, +and made believe to worry it; then Alice dodged behind a great thistle, +to keep herself from being run over; and the moment she appeared on the +other side, the puppy made another rush at the stick, and tumbled head +over heels in its hurry to get hold of it; then Alice, thinking it was +very like having a game of play with a cart-horse, and expecting every +moment to be trampled under its feet, ran round the thistle again; then +the puppy began a series of short charges at the stick, running a very +little way forwards each time and a long way back, and barking hoarsely +all the while, till at last it sat down a good way off, panting, with +its tongue hanging out of its mouth, and its great eyes half shut. + +This seemed to Alice a good opportunity for making her escape; so she +set off at once, and ran till she was quite tired and out of breath, and +till the puppy's bark sounded quite faint in the distance. + +'And yet what a dear little puppy it was!' said Alice, as she leant +against a buttercup to rest herself, and fanned herself with one of the +leaves: 'I should have liked teaching it tricks very much, if--if I'd +only been the right size to do it! Oh dear! I'd nearly forgotten that +I've got to grow up again! Let me see--how IS it to be managed? I +suppose I ought to eat or drink something or other; but the great +question is, what?' + +The great question certainly was, what? Alice looked all round her at +the flowers and the blades of grass, but she did not see anything that +looked like the right thing to eat or drink under the circumstances. +There was a large mushroom growing near her, about the same height as +herself; and when she had looked under it, and on both sides of it, and +behind it, it occurred to her that she might as well look and see what +was on the top of it. + +She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the +mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large caterpillar, +that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long +hookah, and taking not the smallest notice of her or of anything else. + + + + +CHAPTER V. Advice from a Caterpillar + +The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: +at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed +her in a languid, sleepy voice. + +'Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar. + +This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, +rather shyly, 'I--I hardly know, sir, just at present--at least I know +who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been +changed several times since then.' + +'What do you mean by that?' said the Caterpillar sternly. 'Explain +yourself!' + +'I can't explain MYSELF, I'm afraid, sir' said Alice, 'because I'm not +myself, you see.' + +'I don't see,' said the Caterpillar. + +'I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly,' Alice replied very politely, +'for I can't understand it myself to begin with; and being so many +different sizes in a day is very confusing.' + +'It isn't,' said the Caterpillar. + +'Well, perhaps you haven't found it so yet,' said Alice; 'but when you +have to turn into a chrysalis--you will some day, you know--and then +after that into a butterfly, I should think you'll feel it a little +queer, won't you?' + +'Not a bit,' said the Caterpillar. + +'Well, perhaps your feelings may be different,' said Alice; 'all I know +is, it would feel very queer to ME.' + +'You!' said the Caterpillar contemptuously. 'Who are YOU?' + +Which brought them back again to the beginning of the conversation. +Alice felt a little irritated at the Caterpillar's making such VERY +short remarks, and she drew herself up and said, very gravely, 'I think, +you ought to tell me who YOU are, first.' + +'Why?' said the Caterpillar. + +Here was another puzzling question; and as Alice could not think of any +good reason, and as the Caterpillar seemed to be in a VERY unpleasant +state of mind, she turned away. + +'Come back!' the Caterpillar called after her. 'I've something important +to say!' + +This sounded promising, certainly: Alice turned and came back again. + +'Keep your temper,' said the Caterpillar. + +'Is that all?' said Alice, swallowing down her anger as well as she +could. + +'No,' said the Caterpillar. + +Alice thought she might as well wait, as she had nothing else to do, and +perhaps after all it might tell her something worth hearing. For some +minutes it puffed away without speaking, but at last it unfolded its +arms, took the hookah out of its mouth again, and said, 'So you think +you're changed, do you?' + +'I'm afraid I am, sir,' said Alice; 'I can't remember things as I +used--and I don't keep the same size for ten minutes together!' + +'Can't remember WHAT things?' said the Caterpillar. + +'Well, I've tried to say "HOW DOTH THE LITTLE BUSY BEE," but it all came +different!' Alice replied in a very melancholy voice. + +'Repeat, "YOU ARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM,"' said the Caterpillar. + +Alice folded her hands, and began:-- + + 'You are old, Father William,' the young man said, + 'And your hair has become very white; + And yet you incessantly stand on your head-- + Do you think, at your age, it is right?' + + 'In my youth,' Father William replied to his son, + 'I feared it might injure the brain; + But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none, + Why, I do it again and again.' + + 'You are old,' said the youth, 'as I mentioned before, + And have grown most uncommonly fat; + Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door-- + Pray, what is the reason of that?' + + 'In my youth,' said the sage, as he shook his grey locks, + 'I kept all my limbs very supple + By the use of this ointment--one shilling the box-- + Allow me to sell you a couple?' + + 'You are old,' said the youth, 'and your jaws are too weak + For anything tougher than suet; + Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak-- + Pray how did you manage to do it?' + + 'In my youth,' said his father, 'I took to the law, + And argued each case with my wife; + And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw, + Has lasted the rest of my life.' + + 'You are old,' said the youth, 'one would hardly suppose + That your eye was as steady as ever; + Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose-- + What made you so awfully clever?' + + 'I have answered three questions, and that is enough,' + Said his father; 'don't give yourself airs! + Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff? + Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!' + + +'That is not said right,' said the Caterpillar. + +'Not QUITE right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; 'some of the words +have got altered.' + +'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and +there was silence for some minutes. + +The Caterpillar was the first to speak. + +'What size do you want to be?' it asked. + +'Oh, I'm not particular as to size,' Alice hastily replied; 'only one +doesn't like changing so often, you know.' + +'I DON'T know,' said the Caterpillar. + +Alice said nothing: she had never been so much contradicted in her life +before, and she felt that she was losing her temper. + +'Are you content now?' said the Caterpillar. + +'Well, I should like to be a LITTLE larger, sir, if you wouldn't mind,' +said Alice: 'three inches is such a wretched height to be.' + +'It is a very good height indeed!' said the Caterpillar angrily, rearing +itself upright as it spoke (it was exactly three inches high). + +'But I'm not used to it!' pleaded poor Alice in a piteous tone. And +she thought of herself, 'I wish the creatures wouldn't be so easily +offended!' + +'You'll get used to it in time,' said the Caterpillar; and it put the +hookah into its mouth and began smoking again. + +This time Alice waited patiently until it chose to speak again. In +a minute or two the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth +and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the +mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went, +'One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you +grow shorter.' + +'One side of WHAT? The other side of WHAT?' thought Alice to herself. + +'Of the mushroom,' said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it +aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight. + +Alice remained looking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a minute, trying +to make out which were the two sides of it; and as it was perfectly +round, she found this a very difficult question. However, at last she +stretched her arms round it as far as they would go, and broke off a bit +of the edge with each hand. + +'And now which is which?' she said to herself, and nibbled a little of +the right-hand bit to try the effect: the next moment she felt a violent +blow underneath her chin: it had struck her foot! + +She was a good deal frightened by this very sudden change, but she felt +that there was no time to be lost, as she was shrinking rapidly; so she +set to work at once to eat some of the other bit. Her chin was pressed +so closely against her foot, that there was hardly room to open her +mouth; but she did it at last, and managed to swallow a morsel of the +lefthand bit. + + + * * * * * * * + + * * * * * * + + * * * * * * * + +'Come, my head's free at last!' said Alice in a tone of delight, which +changed into alarm in another moment, when she found that her shoulders +were nowhere to be found: all she could see, when she looked down, was +an immense length of neck, which seemed to rise like a stalk out of a +sea of green leaves that lay far below her. + +'What CAN all that green stuff be?' said Alice. 'And where HAVE my +shoulders got to? And oh, my poor hands, how is it I can't see you?' +She was moving them about as she spoke, but no result seemed to follow, +except a little shaking among the distant green leaves. + +As there seemed to be no chance of getting her hands up to her head, she +tried to get her head down to them, and was delighted to find that her +neck would bend about easily in any direction, like a serpent. She had +just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going +to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops +of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made +her draw back in a hurry: a large pigeon had flown into her face, and +was beating her violently with its wings. + +'Serpent!' screamed the Pigeon. + +'I'm NOT a serpent!' said Alice indignantly. 'Let me alone!' + +'Serpent, I say again!' repeated the Pigeon, but in a more subdued tone, +and added with a kind of sob, 'I've tried every way, and nothing seems +to suit them!' + +'I haven't the least idea what you're talking about,' said Alice. + +'I've tried the roots of trees, and I've tried banks, and I've tried +hedges,' the Pigeon went on, without attending to her; 'but those +serpents! There's no pleasing them!' + +Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no use in +saying anything more till the Pigeon had finished. + +'As if it wasn't trouble enough hatching the eggs,' said the Pigeon; +'but I must be on the look-out for serpents night and day! Why, I +haven't had a wink of sleep these three weeks!' + +'I'm very sorry you've been annoyed,' said Alice, who was beginning to +see its meaning. + +'And just as I'd taken the highest tree in the wood,' continued the +Pigeon, raising its voice to a shriek, 'and just as I was thinking I +should be free of them at last, they must needs come wriggling down from +the sky! Ugh, Serpent!' + +'But I'm NOT a serpent, I tell you!' said Alice. 'I'm a--I'm a--' + +'Well! WHAT are you?' said the Pigeon. 'I can see you're trying to +invent something!' + +'I--I'm a little girl,' said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered +the number of changes she had gone through that day. + +'A likely story indeed!' said the Pigeon in a tone of the deepest +contempt. 'I've seen a good many little girls in my time, but never ONE +with such a neck as that! No, no! You're a serpent; and there's no use +denying it. I suppose you'll be telling me next that you never tasted an +egg!' + +'I HAVE tasted eggs, certainly,' said Alice, who was a very truthful +child; 'but little girls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you +know.' + +'I don't believe it,' said the Pigeon; 'but if they do, why then they're +a kind of serpent, that's all I can say.' + +This was such a new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent for a +minute or two, which gave the Pigeon the opportunity of adding, 'You're +looking for eggs, I know THAT well enough; and what does it matter to me +whether you're a little girl or a serpent?' + +'It matters a good deal to ME,' said Alice hastily; 'but I'm not looking +for eggs, as it happens; and if I was, I shouldn't want YOURS: I don't +like them raw.' + +'Well, be off, then!' said the Pigeon in a sulky tone, as it settled +down again into its nest. Alice crouched down among the trees as well as +she could, for her neck kept getting entangled among the branches, and +every now and then she had to stop and untwist it. After a while she +remembered that she still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands, and +she set to work very carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the +other, and growing sometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had +succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height. + +It was so long since she had been anything near the right size, that it +felt quite strange at first; but she got used to it in a few minutes, +and began talking to herself, as usual. 'Come, there's half my plan done +now! How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going +to be, from one minute to another! However, I've got back to my right +size: the next thing is, to get into that beautiful garden--how IS that +to be done, I wonder?' As she said this, she came suddenly upon an open +place, with a little house in it about four feet high. 'Whoever lives +there,' thought Alice, 'it'll never do to come upon them THIS size: why, +I should frighten them out of their wits!' So she began nibbling at the +righthand bit again, and did not venture to go near the house till she +had brought herself down to nine inches high. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. Pig and Pepper + +For a minute or two she stood looking at the house, and wondering what +to do next, when suddenly a footman in livery came running out of the +wood--(she considered him to be a footman because he was in livery: +otherwise, judging by his face only, she would have called him a +fish)--and rapped loudly at the door with his knuckles. It was opened +by another footman in livery, with a round face, and large eyes like a +frog; and both footmen, Alice noticed, had powdered hair that curled all +over their heads. She felt very curious to know what it was all about, +and crept a little way out of the wood to listen. + +The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great letter, +nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to the other, +saying, in a solemn tone, 'For the Duchess. An invitation from the Queen +to play croquet.' The Frog-Footman repeated, in the same solemn tone, +only changing the order of the words a little, 'From the Queen. An +invitation for the Duchess to play croquet.' + +Then they both bowed low, and their curls got entangled together. + +Alice laughed so much at this, that she had to run back into the +wood for fear of their hearing her; and when she next peeped out the +Fish-Footman was gone, and the other was sitting on the ground near the +door, staring stupidly up into the sky. + +Alice went timidly up to the door, and knocked. + +'There's no sort of use in knocking,' said the Footman, 'and that for +two reasons. First, because I'm on the same side of the door as you +are; secondly, because they're making such a noise inside, no one could +possibly hear you.' And certainly there was a most extraordinary noise +going on within--a constant howling and sneezing, and every now and then +a great crash, as if a dish or kettle had been broken to pieces. + +'Please, then,' said Alice, 'how am I to get in?' + +'There might be some sense in your knocking,' the Footman went on +without attending to her, 'if we had the door between us. For instance, +if you were INSIDE, you might knock, and I could let you out, you know.' +He was looking up into the sky all the time he was speaking, and this +Alice thought decidedly uncivil. 'But perhaps he can't help it,' she +said to herself; 'his eyes are so VERY nearly at the top of his head. +But at any rate he might answer questions.--How am I to get in?' she +repeated, aloud. + +'I shall sit here,' the Footman remarked, 'till tomorrow--' + +At this moment the door of the house opened, and a large plate came +skimming out, straight at the Footman's head: it just grazed his nose, +and broke to pieces against one of the trees behind him. + +'--or next day, maybe,' the Footman continued in the same tone, exactly +as if nothing had happened. + +'How am I to get in?' asked Alice again, in a louder tone. + +'ARE you to get in at all?' said the Footman. 'That's the first +question, you know.' + +It was, no doubt: only Alice did not like to be told so. 'It's really +dreadful,' she muttered to herself, 'the way all the creatures argue. +It's enough to drive one crazy!' + +The Footman seemed to think this a good opportunity for repeating his +remark, with variations. 'I shall sit here,' he said, 'on and off, for +days and days.' + +'But what am I to do?' said Alice. + +'Anything you like,' said the Footman, and began whistling. + +'Oh, there's no use in talking to him,' said Alice desperately: 'he's +perfectly idiotic!' And she opened the door and went in. + +The door led right into a large kitchen, which was full of smoke from +one end to the other: the Duchess was sitting on a three-legged stool in +the middle, nursing a baby; the cook was leaning over the fire, stirring +a large cauldron which seemed to be full of soup. + +'There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!' Alice said to herself, +as well as she could for sneezing. + +There was certainly too much of it in the air. Even the Duchess +sneezed occasionally; and as for the baby, it was sneezing and howling +alternately without a moment's pause. The only things in the kitchen +that did not sneeze, were the cook, and a large cat which was sitting on +the hearth and grinning from ear to ear. + +'Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for she was +not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, 'why +your cat grins like that?' + +'It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, 'and that's why. Pig!' + +She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite +jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby, +and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:-- + +'I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know +that cats COULD grin.' + +'They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of 'em do.' + +'I don't know of any that do,' Alice said very politely, feeling quite +pleased to have got into a conversation. + +'You don't know much,' said the Duchess; 'and that's a fact.' + +Alice did not at all like the tone of this remark, and thought it would +be as well to introduce some other subject of conversation. While she +was trying to fix on one, the cook took the cauldron of soup off the +fire, and at once set to work throwing everything within her reach at +the Duchess and the baby--the fire-irons came first; then followed a +shower of saucepans, plates, and dishes. The Duchess took no notice of +them even when they hit her; and the baby was howling so much already, +that it was quite impossible to say whether the blows hurt it or not. + +'Oh, PLEASE mind what you're doing!' cried Alice, jumping up and down in +an agony of terror. 'Oh, there goes his PRECIOUS nose'; as an unusually +large saucepan flew close by it, and very nearly carried it off. + +'If everybody minded their own business,' the Duchess said in a hoarse +growl, 'the world would go round a deal faster than it does.' + +'Which would NOT be an advantage,' said Alice, who felt very glad to get +an opportunity of showing off a little of her knowledge. 'Just think of +what work it would make with the day and night! You see the earth takes +twenty-four hours to turn round on its axis--' + +'Talking of axes,' said the Duchess, 'chop off her head!' + +Alice glanced rather anxiously at the cook, to see if she meant to take +the hint; but the cook was busily stirring the soup, and seemed not to +be listening, so she went on again: 'Twenty-four hours, I THINK; or is +it twelve? I--' + +'Oh, don't bother ME,' said the Duchess; 'I never could abide figures!' +And with that she began nursing her child again, singing a sort of +lullaby to it as she did so, and giving it a violent shake at the end of +every line: + + 'Speak roughly to your little boy, + And beat him when he sneezes: + He only does it to annoy, + Because he knows it teases.' + + CHORUS. + + (In which the cook and the baby joined):-- + + 'Wow! wow! wow!' + +While the Duchess sang the second verse of the song, she kept tossing +the baby violently up and down, and the poor little thing howled so, +that Alice could hardly hear the words:-- + + 'I speak severely to my boy, + I beat him when he sneezes; + For he can thoroughly enjoy + The pepper when he pleases!' + + CHORUS. + + 'Wow! wow! wow!' + +'Here! you may nurse it a bit, if you like!' the Duchess said to Alice, +flinging the baby at her as she spoke. 'I must go and get ready to play +croquet with the Queen,' and she hurried out of the room. The cook threw +a frying-pan after her as she went out, but it just missed her. + +Alice caught the baby with some difficulty, as it was a queer-shaped +little creature, and held out its arms and legs in all directions, 'just +like a star-fish,' thought Alice. The poor little thing was snorting +like a steam-engine when she caught it, and kept doubling itself up and +straightening itself out again, so that altogether, for the first minute +or two, it was as much as she could do to hold it. + +As soon as she had made out the proper way of nursing it, (which was to +twist it up into a sort of knot, and then keep tight hold of its right +ear and left foot, so as to prevent its undoing itself,) she carried +it out into the open air. 'IF I don't take this child away with me,' +thought Alice, 'they're sure to kill it in a day or two: wouldn't it be +murder to leave it behind?' She said the last words out loud, and the +little thing grunted in reply (it had left off sneezing by this time). +'Don't grunt,' said Alice; 'that's not at all a proper way of expressing +yourself.' + +The baby grunted again, and Alice looked very anxiously into its face to +see what was the matter with it. There could be no doubt that it had +a VERY turn-up nose, much more like a snout than a real nose; also its +eyes were getting extremely small for a baby: altogether Alice did not +like the look of the thing at all. 'But perhaps it was only sobbing,' +she thought, and looked into its eyes again, to see if there were any +tears. + +No, there were no tears. 'If you're going to turn into a pig, my dear,' +said Alice, seriously, 'I'll have nothing more to do with you. Mind +now!' The poor little thing sobbed again (or grunted, it was impossible +to say which), and they went on for some while in silence. + +Alice was just beginning to think to herself, 'Now, what am I to do with +this creature when I get it home?' when it grunted again, so violently, +that she looked down into its face in some alarm. This time there could +be NO mistake about it: it was neither more nor less than a pig, and she +felt that it would be quite absurd for her to carry it further. + +So she set the little creature down, and felt quite relieved to see +it trot away quietly into the wood. 'If it had grown up,' she said +to herself, 'it would have made a dreadfully ugly child: but it makes +rather a handsome pig, I think.' And she began thinking over other +children she knew, who might do very well as pigs, and was just saying +to herself, 'if one only knew the right way to change them--' when she +was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a +tree a few yards off. + +The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she +thought: still it had VERY long claws and a great many teeth, so she +felt that it ought to be treated with respect. + +'Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know +whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. +'Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. 'Would you +tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' + +'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. + +'I don't much care where--' said Alice. + +'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. + +'--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation. + +'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long +enough.' + +Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. +'What sort of people live about here?' + +'In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, 'lives +a Hatter: and in THAT direction,' waving the other paw, 'lives a March +Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.' + +'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked. + +'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. +You're mad.' + +'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice. + +'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here.' + +Alice didn't think that proved it at all; however, she went on 'And how +do you know that you're mad?' + +'To begin with,' said the Cat, 'a dog's not mad. You grant that?' + +'I suppose so,' said Alice. + +'Well, then,' the Cat went on, 'you see, a dog growls when it's angry, +and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and +wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.' + +'I call it purring, not growling,' said Alice. + +'Call it what you like,' said the Cat. 'Do you play croquet with the +Queen to-day?' + +'I should like it very much,' said Alice, 'but I haven't been invited +yet.' + +'You'll see me there,' said the Cat, and vanished. + +Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so used to queer +things happening. While she was looking at the place where it had been, +it suddenly appeared again. + +'By-the-bye, what became of the baby?' said the Cat. 'I'd nearly +forgotten to ask.' + +'It turned into a pig,' Alice quietly said, just as if it had come back +in a natural way. + +'I thought it would,' said the Cat, and vanished again. + +Alice waited a little, half expecting to see it again, but it did not +appear, and after a minute or two she walked on in the direction in +which the March Hare was said to live. 'I've seen hatters before,' she +said to herself; 'the March Hare will be much the most interesting, and +perhaps as this is May it won't be raving mad--at least not so mad as +it was in March.' As she said this, she looked up, and there was the Cat +again, sitting on a branch of a tree. + +'Did you say pig, or fig?' said the Cat. + +'I said pig,' replied Alice; 'and I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and +vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy.' + +'All right,' said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, +beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which +remained some time after the rest of it had gone. + +'Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice; 'but a grin +without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!' + +She had not gone much farther before she came in sight of the house +of the March Hare: she thought it must be the right house, because the +chimneys were shaped like ears and the roof was thatched with fur. It +was so large a house, that she did not like to go nearer till she had +nibbled some more of the lefthand bit of mushroom, and raised herself to +about two feet high: even then she walked up towards it rather timidly, +saying to herself 'Suppose it should be raving mad after all! I almost +wish I'd gone to see the Hatter instead!' + + + + +CHAPTER VII. A Mad Tea-Party + +There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the +March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting +between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a +cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. 'Very +uncomfortable for the Dormouse,' thought Alice; 'only, as it's asleep, I +suppose it doesn't mind.' + +The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at +one corner of it: 'No room! No room!' they cried out when they saw Alice +coming. 'There's PLENTY of room!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat +down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table. + +'Have some wine,' the March Hare said in an encouraging tone. + +Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. +'I don't see any wine,' she remarked. + +'There isn't any,' said the March Hare. + +'Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it,' said Alice angrily. + +'It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited,' said +the March Hare. + +'I didn't know it was YOUR table,' said Alice; 'it's laid for a great +many more than three.' + +'Your hair wants cutting,' said the Hatter. He had been looking at Alice +for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech. + +'You should learn not to make personal remarks,' Alice said with some +severity; 'it's very rude.' + +The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID +was, 'Why is a raven like a writing-desk?' + +'Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. 'I'm glad they've +begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she added aloud. + +'Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the +March Hare. + +'Exactly so,' said Alice. + +'Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on. + +'I do,' Alice hastily replied; 'at least--at least I mean what I +say--that's the same thing, you know.' + +'Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. 'You might just as well say +that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see"!' + +'You might just as well say,' added the March Hare, 'that "I like what I +get" is the same thing as "I get what I like"!' + +'You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to be +talking in his sleep, 'that "I breathe when I sleep" is the same thing +as "I sleep when I breathe"!' + +'It IS the same thing with you,' said the Hatter, and here the +conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, while Alice +thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, +which wasn't much. + +The Hatter was the first to break the silence. 'What day of the month +is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his +pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, +and holding it to his ear. + +Alice considered a little, and then said 'The fourth.' + +'Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. 'I told you butter wouldn't suit +the works!' he added looking angrily at the March Hare. + +'It was the BEST butter,' the March Hare meekly replied. + +'Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled: +'you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife.' + +The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped +it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of +nothing better to say than his first remark, 'It was the BEST butter, +you know.' + +Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. 'What a +funny watch!' she remarked. 'It tells the day of the month, and doesn't +tell what o'clock it is!' + +'Why should it?' muttered the Hatter. 'Does YOUR watch tell you what +year it is?' + +'Of course not,' Alice replied very readily: 'but that's because it +stays the same year for such a long time together.' + +'Which is just the case with MINE,' said the Hatter. + +Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to have no +sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. 'I don't quite +understand you,' she said, as politely as she could. + +'The Dormouse is asleep again,' said the Hatter, and he poured a little +hot tea upon its nose. + +The Dormouse shook its head impatiently, and said, without opening its +eyes, 'Of course, of course; just what I was going to remark myself.' + +'Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Hatter said, turning to Alice +again. + +'No, I give it up,' Alice replied: 'what's the answer?' + +'I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Hatter. + +'Nor I,' said the March Hare. + +Alice sighed wearily. 'I think you might do something better with the +time,' she said, 'than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.' + +'If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, 'you wouldn't talk +about wasting IT. It's HIM.' + +'I don't know what you mean,' said Alice. + +'Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. +'I dare say you never even spoke to Time!' + +'Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: 'but I know I have to beat time +when I learn music.' + +'Ah! that accounts for it,' said the Hatter. 'He won't stand beating. +Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do almost anything +you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose it were nine o'clock in +the morning, just time to begin lessons: you'd only have to whisper a +hint to Time, and round goes the clock in a twinkling! Half-past one, +time for dinner!' + +('I only wish it was,' the March Hare said to itself in a whisper.) + +'That would be grand, certainly,' said Alice thoughtfully: 'but then--I +shouldn't be hungry for it, you know.' + +'Not at first, perhaps,' said the Hatter: 'but you could keep it to +half-past one as long as you liked.' + +'Is that the way YOU manage?' Alice asked. + +The Hatter shook his head mournfully. 'Not I!' he replied. 'We +quarrelled last March--just before HE went mad, you know--' (pointing +with his tea spoon at the March Hare,) '--it was at the great concert +given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing + + "Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! + How I wonder what you're at!" + +You know the song, perhaps?' + +'I've heard something like it,' said Alice. + +'It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, 'in this way:-- + + "Up above the world you fly, + Like a tea-tray in the sky. + Twinkle, twinkle--"' + +Here the Dormouse shook itself, and began singing in its sleep 'Twinkle, +twinkle, twinkle, twinkle--' and went on so long that they had to pinch +it to make it stop. + +'Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse,' said the Hatter, 'when the +Queen jumped up and bawled out, "He's murdering the time! Off with his +head!"' + +'How dreadfully savage!' exclaimed Alice. + +'And ever since that,' the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, 'he won't +do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now.' + +A bright idea came into Alice's head. 'Is that the reason so many +tea-things are put out here?' she asked. + +'Yes, that's it,' said the Hatter with a sigh: 'it's always tea-time, +and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.' + +'Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice. + +'Exactly so,' said the Hatter: 'as the things get used up.' + +'But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured +to ask. + +'Suppose we change the subject,' the March Hare interrupted, yawning. +'I'm getting tired of this. I vote the young lady tells us a story.' + +'I'm afraid I don't know one,' said Alice, rather alarmed at the +proposal. + +'Then the Dormouse shall!' they both cried. 'Wake up, Dormouse!' And +they pinched it on both sides at once. + +The Dormouse slowly opened his eyes. 'I wasn't asleep,' he said in a +hoarse, feeble voice: 'I heard every word you fellows were saying.' + +'Tell us a story!' said the March Hare. + +'Yes, please do!' pleaded Alice. + +'And be quick about it,' added the Hatter, 'or you'll be asleep again +before it's done.' + +'Once upon a time there were three little sisters,' the Dormouse began +in a great hurry; 'and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and +they lived at the bottom of a well--' + +'What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great interest in +questions of eating and drinking. + +'They lived on treacle,' said the Dormouse, after thinking a minute or +two. + +'They couldn't have done that, you know,' Alice gently remarked; 'they'd +have been ill.' + +'So they were,' said the Dormouse; 'VERY ill.' + +Alice tried to fancy to herself what such an extraordinary ways of +living would be like, but it puzzled her too much, so she went on: 'But +why did they live at the bottom of a well?' + +'Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. + +'I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, 'so I can't +take more.' + +'You mean you can't take LESS,' said the Hatter: 'it's very easy to take +MORE than nothing.' + +'Nobody asked YOUR opinion,' said Alice. + +'Who's making personal remarks now?' the Hatter asked triumphantly. + +Alice did not quite know what to say to this: so she helped herself +to some tea and bread-and-butter, and then turned to the Dormouse, and +repeated her question. 'Why did they live at the bottom of a well?' + +The Dormouse again took a minute or two to think about it, and then +said, 'It was a treacle-well.' + +'There's no such thing!' Alice was beginning very angrily, but the +Hatter and the March Hare went 'Sh! sh!' and the Dormouse sulkily +remarked, 'If you can't be civil, you'd better finish the story for +yourself.' + +'No, please go on!' Alice said very humbly; 'I won't interrupt again. I +dare say there may be ONE.' + +'One, indeed!' said the Dormouse indignantly. However, he consented to +go on. 'And so these three little sisters--they were learning to draw, +you know--' + +'What did they draw?' said Alice, quite forgetting her promise. + +'Treacle,' said the Dormouse, without considering at all this time. + +'I want a clean cup,' interrupted the Hatter: 'let's all move one place +on.' + +He moved on as he spoke, and the Dormouse followed him: the March Hare +moved into the Dormouse's place, and Alice rather unwillingly took +the place of the March Hare. The Hatter was the only one who got any +advantage from the change: and Alice was a good deal worse off than +before, as the March Hare had just upset the milk-jug into his plate. + +Alice did not wish to offend the Dormouse again, so she began very +cautiously: 'But I don't understand. Where did they draw the treacle +from?' + +'You can draw water out of a water-well,' said the Hatter; 'so I should +think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well--eh, stupid?' + +'But they were IN the well,' Alice said to the Dormouse, not choosing to +notice this last remark. + +'Of course they were', said the Dormouse; '--well in.' + +This answer so confused poor Alice, that she let the Dormouse go on for +some time without interrupting it. + +'They were learning to draw,' the Dormouse went on, yawning and rubbing +its eyes, for it was getting very sleepy; 'and they drew all manner of +things--everything that begins with an M--' + +'Why with an M?' said Alice. + +'Why not?' said the March Hare. + +Alice was silent. + +The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into +a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up again with +a little shriek, and went on: '--that begins with an M, such as +mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness--you know you say +things are "much of a muchness"--did you ever see such a thing as a +drawing of a muchness?' + +'Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, 'I don't +think--' + +'Then you shouldn't talk,' said the Hatter. + +This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in +great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and +neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she +looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: +the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into +the teapot. + +'At any rate I'll never go THERE again!' said Alice as she picked her +way through the wood. 'It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all +my life!' + +Just as she said this, she noticed that one of the trees had a door +leading right into it. 'That's very curious!' she thought. 'But +everything's curious today. I think I may as well go in at once.' And in +she went. + +Once more she found herself in the long hall, and close to the little +glass table. 'Now, I'll manage better this time,' she said to herself, +and began by taking the little golden key, and unlocking the door that +led into the garden. Then she went to work nibbling at the mushroom (she +had kept a piece of it in her pocket) till she was about a foot high: +then she walked down the little passage: and THEN--she found herself at +last in the beautiful garden, among the bright flower-beds and the cool +fountains. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. The Queen's Croquet-Ground + +A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses +growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily +painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious thing, and she went +nearer to watch them, and just as she came up to them she heard one of +them say, 'Look out now, Five! Don't go splashing paint over me like +that!' + +'I couldn't help it,' said Five, in a sulky tone; 'Seven jogged my +elbow.' + +On which Seven looked up and said, 'That's right, Five! Always lay the +blame on others!' + +'YOU'D better not talk!' said Five. 'I heard the Queen say only +yesterday you deserved to be beheaded!' + +'What for?' said the one who had spoken first. + +'That's none of YOUR business, Two!' said Seven. + +'Yes, it IS his business!' said Five, 'and I'll tell him--it was for +bringing the cook tulip-roots instead of onions.' + +Seven flung down his brush, and had just begun 'Well, of all the unjust +things--' when his eye chanced to fall upon Alice, as she stood watching +them, and he checked himself suddenly: the others looked round also, and +all of them bowed low. + +'Would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, 'why you are painting +those roses?' + +Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began in a low +voice, 'Why the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a +RED rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake; and if the Queen +was to find it out, we should all have our heads cut off, you know. +So you see, Miss, we're doing our best, afore she comes, to--' At this +moment Five, who had been anxiously looking across the garden, called +out 'The Queen! The Queen!' and the three gardeners instantly threw +themselves flat upon their faces. There was a sound of many footsteps, +and Alice looked round, eager to see the Queen. + +First came ten soldiers carrying clubs; these were all shaped like +the three gardeners, oblong and flat, with their hands and feet at the +corners: next the ten courtiers; these were ornamented all over with +diamonds, and walked two and two, as the soldiers did. After these came +the royal children; there were ten of them, and the little dears came +jumping merrily along hand in hand, in couples: they were all ornamented +with hearts. Next came the guests, mostly Kings and Queens, and among +them Alice recognised the White Rabbit: it was talking in a hurried +nervous manner, smiling at everything that was said, and went by without +noticing her. Then followed the Knave of Hearts, carrying the King's +crown on a crimson velvet cushion; and, last of all this grand +procession, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS. + +Alice was rather doubtful whether she ought not to lie down on her face +like the three gardeners, but she could not remember ever having heard +of such a rule at processions; 'and besides, what would be the use of +a procession,' thought she, 'if people had all to lie down upon their +faces, so that they couldn't see it?' So she stood still where she was, +and waited. + +When the procession came opposite to Alice, they all stopped and looked +at her, and the Queen said severely 'Who is this?' She said it to the +Knave of Hearts, who only bowed and smiled in reply. + +'Idiot!' said the Queen, tossing her head impatiently; and, turning to +Alice, she went on, 'What's your name, child?' + +'My name is Alice, so please your Majesty,' said Alice very politely; +but she added, to herself, 'Why, they're only a pack of cards, after +all. I needn't be afraid of them!' + +'And who are THESE?' said the Queen, pointing to the three gardeners who +were lying round the rosetree; for, you see, as they were lying on their +faces, and the pattern on their backs was the same as the rest of the +pack, she could not tell whether they were gardeners, or soldiers, or +courtiers, or three of her own children. + +'How should I know?' said Alice, surprised at her own courage. 'It's no +business of MINE.' + +The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her for a +moment like a wild beast, screamed 'Off with her head! Off--' + +'Nonsense!' said Alice, very loudly and decidedly, and the Queen was +silent. + +The King laid his hand upon her arm, and timidly said 'Consider, my +dear: she is only a child!' + +The Queen turned angrily away from him, and said to the Knave 'Turn them +over!' + +The Knave did so, very carefully, with one foot. + +'Get up!' said the Queen, in a shrill, loud voice, and the three +gardeners instantly jumped up, and began bowing to the King, the Queen, +the royal children, and everybody else. + +'Leave off that!' screamed the Queen. 'You make me giddy.' And then, +turning to the rose-tree, she went on, 'What HAVE you been doing here?' + +'May it please your Majesty,' said Two, in a very humble tone, going +down on one knee as he spoke, 'we were trying--' + +'I see!' said the Queen, who had meanwhile been examining the roses. +'Off with their heads!' and the procession moved on, three of the +soldiers remaining behind to execute the unfortunate gardeners, who ran +to Alice for protection. + +'You shan't be beheaded!' said Alice, and she put them into a large +flower-pot that stood near. The three soldiers wandered about for a +minute or two, looking for them, and then quietly marched off after the +others. + +'Are their heads off?' shouted the Queen. + +'Their heads are gone, if it please your Majesty!' the soldiers shouted +in reply. + +'That's right!' shouted the Queen. 'Can you play croquet?' + +The soldiers were silent, and looked at Alice, as the question was +evidently meant for her. + +'Yes!' shouted Alice. + +'Come on, then!' roared the Queen, and Alice joined the procession, +wondering very much what would happen next. + +'It's--it's a very fine day!' said a timid voice at her side. She was +walking by the White Rabbit, who was peeping anxiously into her face. + +'Very,' said Alice: '--where's the Duchess?' + +'Hush! Hush!' said the Rabbit in a low, hurried tone. He looked +anxiously over his shoulder as he spoke, and then raised himself upon +tiptoe, put his mouth close to her ear, and whispered 'She's under +sentence of execution.' + +'What for?' said Alice. + +'Did you say "What a pity!"?' the Rabbit asked. + +'No, I didn't,' said Alice: 'I don't think it's at all a pity. I said +"What for?"' + +'She boxed the Queen's ears--' the Rabbit began. Alice gave a little +scream of laughter. 'Oh, hush!' the Rabbit whispered in a frightened +tone. 'The Queen will hear you! You see, she came rather late, and the +Queen said--' + +'Get to your places!' shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder, and +people began running about in all directions, tumbling up against each +other; however, they got settled down in a minute or two, and the game +began. Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in +her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were live hedgehogs, +the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves +up and to stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches. + +The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: +she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under +her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got +its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a +blow with its head, it WOULD twist itself round and look up in her face, +with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out +laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin +again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled +itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was +generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the +hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up +and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the +conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed. + +The players all played at once without waiting for turns, quarrelling +all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs; and in a very short +time the Queen was in a furious passion, and went stamping about, and +shouting 'Off with his head!' or 'Off with her head!' about once in a +minute. + +Alice began to feel very uneasy: to be sure, she had not as yet had any +dispute with the Queen, but she knew that it might happen any minute, +'and then,' thought she, 'what would become of me? They're dreadfully +fond of beheading people here; the great wonder is, that there's any one +left alive!' + +She was looking about for some way of escape, and wondering whether she +could get away without being seen, when she noticed a curious appearance +in the air: it puzzled her very much at first, but, after watching it +a minute or two, she made it out to be a grin, and she said to herself +'It's the Cheshire Cat: now I shall have somebody to talk to.' + +'How are you getting on?' said the Cat, as soon as there was mouth +enough for it to speak with. + +Alice waited till the eyes appeared, and then nodded. 'It's no use +speaking to it,' she thought, 'till its ears have come, or at least one +of them.' In another minute the whole head appeared, and then Alice put +down her flamingo, and began an account of the game, feeling very glad +she had someone to listen to her. The Cat seemed to think that there was +enough of it now in sight, and no more of it appeared. + +'I don't think they play at all fairly,' Alice began, in rather a +complaining tone, 'and they all quarrel so dreadfully one can't hear +oneself speak--and they don't seem to have any rules in particular; +at least, if there are, nobody attends to them--and you've no idea how +confusing it is all the things being alive; for instance, there's the +arch I've got to go through next walking about at the other end of the +ground--and I should have croqueted the Queen's hedgehog just now, only +it ran away when it saw mine coming!' + +'How do you like the Queen?' said the Cat in a low voice. + +'Not at all,' said Alice: 'she's so extremely--' Just then she noticed +that the Queen was close behind her, listening: so she went on, +'--likely to win, that it's hardly worth while finishing the game.' + +The Queen smiled and passed on. + +'Who ARE you talking to?' said the King, going up to Alice, and looking +at the Cat's head with great curiosity. + +'It's a friend of mine--a Cheshire Cat,' said Alice: 'allow me to +introduce it.' + +'I don't like the look of it at all,' said the King: 'however, it may +kiss my hand if it likes.' + +'I'd rather not,' the Cat remarked. + +'Don't be impertinent,' said the King, 'and don't look at me like that!' +He got behind Alice as he spoke. + +'A cat may look at a king,' said Alice. 'I've read that in some book, +but I don't remember where.' + +'Well, it must be removed,' said the King very decidedly, and he called +the Queen, who was passing at the moment, 'My dear! I wish you would +have this cat removed!' + +The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. +'Off with his head!' she said, without even looking round. + +'I'll fetch the executioner myself,' said the King eagerly, and he +hurried off. + +Alice thought she might as well go back, and see how the game was going +on, as she heard the Queen's voice in the distance, screaming with +passion. She had already heard her sentence three of the players to be +executed for having missed their turns, and she did not like the look +of things at all, as the game was in such confusion that she never knew +whether it was her turn or not. So she went in search of her hedgehog. + +The hedgehog was engaged in a fight with another hedgehog, which seemed +to Alice an excellent opportunity for croqueting one of them with the +other: the only difficulty was, that her flamingo was gone across to the +other side of the garden, where Alice could see it trying in a helpless +sort of way to fly up into a tree. + +By the time she had caught the flamingo and brought it back, the fight +was over, and both the hedgehogs were out of sight: 'but it doesn't +matter much,' thought Alice, 'as all the arches are gone from this side +of the ground.' So she tucked it away under her arm, that it might not +escape again, and went back for a little more conversation with her +friend. + +When she got back to the Cheshire Cat, she was surprised to find quite a +large crowd collected round it: there was a dispute going on between +the executioner, the King, and the Queen, who were all talking at once, +while all the rest were quite silent, and looked very uncomfortable. + +The moment Alice appeared, she was appealed to by all three to settle +the question, and they repeated their arguments to her, though, as they +all spoke at once, she found it very hard indeed to make out exactly +what they said. + +The executioner's argument was, that you couldn't cut off a head unless +there was a body to cut it off from: that he had never had to do such a +thing before, and he wasn't going to begin at HIS time of life. + +The King's argument was, that anything that had a head could be +beheaded, and that you weren't to talk nonsense. + +The Queen's argument was, that if something wasn't done about it in less +than no time she'd have everybody executed, all round. (It was this last +remark that had made the whole party look so grave and anxious.) + +Alice could think of nothing else to say but 'It belongs to the Duchess: +you'd better ask HER about it.' + +'She's in prison,' the Queen said to the executioner: 'fetch her here.' +And the executioner went off like an arrow. + + The Cat's head began fading away the moment he was gone, and, +by the time he had come back with the Duchess, it had entirely +disappeared; so the King and the executioner ran wildly up and down +looking for it, while the rest of the party went back to the game. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. The Mock Turtle's Story + +'You can't think how glad I am to see you again, you dear old thing!' +said the Duchess, as she tucked her arm affectionately into Alice's, and +they walked off together. + +Alice was very glad to find her in such a pleasant temper, and thought +to herself that perhaps it was only the pepper that had made her so +savage when they met in the kitchen. + +'When I'M a Duchess,' she said to herself, (not in a very hopeful tone +though), 'I won't have any pepper in my kitchen AT ALL. Soup does very +well without--Maybe it's always pepper that makes people hot-tempered,' +she went on, very much pleased at having found out a new kind of +rule, 'and vinegar that makes them sour--and camomile that makes +them bitter--and--and barley-sugar and such things that make children +sweet-tempered. I only wish people knew that: then they wouldn't be so +stingy about it, you know--' + +She had quite forgotten the Duchess by this time, and was a little +startled when she heard her voice close to her ear. 'You're thinking +about something, my dear, and that makes you forget to talk. I can't +tell you just now what the moral of that is, but I shall remember it in +a bit.' + +'Perhaps it hasn't one,' Alice ventured to remark. + +'Tut, tut, child!' said the Duchess. 'Everything's got a moral, if only +you can find it.' And she squeezed herself up closer to Alice's side as +she spoke. + +Alice did not much like keeping so close to her: first, because the +Duchess was VERY ugly; and secondly, because she was exactly the +right height to rest her chin upon Alice's shoulder, and it was an +uncomfortably sharp chin. However, she did not like to be rude, so she +bore it as well as she could. + +'The game's going on rather better now,' she said, by way of keeping up +the conversation a little. + +''Tis so,' said the Duchess: 'and the moral of that is--"Oh, 'tis love, +'tis love, that makes the world go round!"' + +'Somebody said,' Alice whispered, 'that it's done by everybody minding +their own business!' + +'Ah, well! It means much the same thing,' said the Duchess, digging her +sharp little chin into Alice's shoulder as she added, 'and the moral +of THAT is--"Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of +themselves."' + +'How fond she is of finding morals in things!' Alice thought to herself. + +'I dare say you're wondering why I don't put my arm round your waist,' +the Duchess said after a pause: 'the reason is, that I'm doubtful about +the temper of your flamingo. Shall I try the experiment?' + +'HE might bite,' Alice cautiously replied, not feeling at all anxious to +have the experiment tried. + +'Very true,' said the Duchess: 'flamingoes and mustard both bite. And +the moral of that is--"Birds of a feather flock together."' + +'Only mustard isn't a bird,' Alice remarked. + +'Right, as usual,' said the Duchess: 'what a clear way you have of +putting things!' + +'It's a mineral, I THINK,' said Alice. + +'Of course it is,' said the Duchess, who seemed ready to agree to +everything that Alice said; 'there's a large mustard-mine near here. And +the moral of that is--"The more there is of mine, the less there is of +yours."' + +'Oh, I know!' exclaimed Alice, who had not attended to this last remark, +'it's a vegetable. It doesn't look like one, but it is.' + +'I quite agree with you,' said the Duchess; 'and the moral of that +is--"Be what you would seem to be"--or if you'd like it put more +simply--"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might +appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise +than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."' + +'I think I should understand that better,' Alice said very politely, 'if +I had it written down: but I can't quite follow it as you say it.' + +'That's nothing to what I could say if I chose,' the Duchess replied, in +a pleased tone. + +'Pray don't trouble yourself to say it any longer than that,' said +Alice. + +'Oh, don't talk about trouble!' said the Duchess. 'I make you a present +of everything I've said as yet.' + +'A cheap sort of present!' thought Alice. 'I'm glad they don't give +birthday presents like that!' But she did not venture to say it out +loud. + +'Thinking again?' the Duchess asked, with another dig of her sharp +little chin. + +'I've a right to think,' said Alice sharply, for she was beginning to +feel a little worried. + +'Just about as much right,' said the Duchess, 'as pigs have to fly; and +the m--' + +But here, to Alice's great surprise, the Duchess's voice died away, even +in the middle of her favourite word 'moral,' and the arm that was linked +into hers began to tremble. Alice looked up, and there stood the Queen +in front of them, with her arms folded, frowning like a thunderstorm. + +'A fine day, your Majesty!' the Duchess began in a low, weak voice. + +'Now, I give you fair warning,' shouted the Queen, stamping on the +ground as she spoke; 'either you or your head must be off, and that in +about half no time! Take your choice!' + +The Duchess took her choice, and was gone in a moment. + +'Let's go on with the game,' the Queen said to Alice; and Alice was +too much frightened to say a word, but slowly followed her back to the +croquet-ground. + +The other guests had taken advantage of the Queen's absence, and were +resting in the shade: however, the moment they saw her, they hurried +back to the game, the Queen merely remarking that a moment's delay would +cost them their lives. + +All the time they were playing the Queen never left off quarrelling with +the other players, and shouting 'Off with his head!' or 'Off with her +head!' Those whom she sentenced were taken into custody by the soldiers, +who of course had to leave off being arches to do this, so that by +the end of half an hour or so there were no arches left, and all the +players, except the King, the Queen, and Alice, were in custody and +under sentence of execution. + +Then the Queen left off, quite out of breath, and said to Alice, 'Have +you seen the Mock Turtle yet?' + +'No,' said Alice. 'I don't even know what a Mock Turtle is.' + +'It's the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from,' said the Queen. + +'I never saw one, or heard of one,' said Alice. + +'Come on, then,' said the Queen, 'and he shall tell you his history,' + +As they walked off together, Alice heard the King say in a low voice, +to the company generally, 'You are all pardoned.' 'Come, THAT'S a good +thing!' she said to herself, for she had felt quite unhappy at the +number of executions the Queen had ordered. + +They very soon came upon a Gryphon, lying fast asleep in the sun. +(IF you don't know what a Gryphon is, look at the picture.) 'Up, lazy +thing!' said the Queen, 'and take this young lady to see the Mock +Turtle, and to hear his history. I must go back and see after some +executions I have ordered'; and she walked off, leaving Alice alone with +the Gryphon. Alice did not quite like the look of the creature, but on +the whole she thought it would be quite as safe to stay with it as to go +after that savage Queen: so she waited. + +The Gryphon sat up and rubbed its eyes: then it watched the Queen till +she was out of sight: then it chuckled. 'What fun!' said the Gryphon, +half to itself, half to Alice. + +'What IS the fun?' said Alice. + +'Why, SHE,' said the Gryphon. 'It's all her fancy, that: they never +executes nobody, you know. Come on!' + +'Everybody says "come on!" here,' thought Alice, as she went slowly +after it: 'I never was so ordered about in all my life, never!' + +They had not gone far before they saw the Mock Turtle in the distance, +sitting sad and lonely on a little ledge of rock, and, as they came +nearer, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart would break. She +pitied him deeply. 'What is his sorrow?' she asked the Gryphon, and the +Gryphon answered, very nearly in the same words as before, 'It's all his +fancy, that: he hasn't got no sorrow, you know. Come on!' + +So they went up to the Mock Turtle, who looked at them with large eyes +full of tears, but said nothing. + +'This here young lady,' said the Gryphon, 'she wants for to know your +history, she do.' + +'I'll tell it her,' said the Mock Turtle in a deep, hollow tone: 'sit +down, both of you, and don't speak a word till I've finished.' + +So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice thought to +herself, 'I don't see how he can EVEN finish, if he doesn't begin.' But +she waited patiently. + +'Once,' said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, 'I was a real +Turtle.' + +These words were followed by a very long silence, broken only by an +occasional exclamation of 'Hjckrrh!' from the Gryphon, and the constant +heavy sobbing of the Mock Turtle. Alice was very nearly getting up and +saying, 'Thank you, sir, for your interesting story,' but she could +not help thinking there MUST be more to come, so she sat still and said +nothing. + +'When we were little,' the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly, +though still sobbing a little now and then, 'we went to school in the +sea. The master was an old Turtle--we used to call him Tortoise--' + +'Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice asked. + +'We called him Tortoise because he taught us,' said the Mock Turtle +angrily: 'really you are very dull!' + +'You ought to be ashamed of yourself for asking such a simple question,' +added the Gryphon; and then they both sat silent and looked at poor +Alice, who felt ready to sink into the earth. At last the Gryphon said +to the Mock Turtle, 'Drive on, old fellow! Don't be all day about it!' +and he went on in these words: + +'Yes, we went to school in the sea, though you mayn't believe it--' + +'I never said I didn't!' interrupted Alice. + +'You did,' said the Mock Turtle. + +'Hold your tongue!' added the Gryphon, before Alice could speak again. +The Mock Turtle went on. + +'We had the best of educations--in fact, we went to school every day--' + +'I'VE been to a day-school, too,' said Alice; 'you needn't be so proud +as all that.' + +'With extras?' asked the Mock Turtle a little anxiously. + +'Yes,' said Alice, 'we learned French and music.' + +'And washing?' said the Mock Turtle. + +'Certainly not!' said Alice indignantly. + +'Ah! then yours wasn't a really good school,' said the Mock Turtle in +a tone of great relief. 'Now at OURS they had at the end of the bill, +"French, music, AND WASHING--extra."' + +'You couldn't have wanted it much,' said Alice; 'living at the bottom of +the sea.' + +'I couldn't afford to learn it.' said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. 'I +only took the regular course.' + +'What was that?' inquired Alice. + +'Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,' the Mock Turtle +replied; 'and then the different branches of Arithmetic--Ambition, +Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.' + +'I never heard of "Uglification,"' Alice ventured to say. 'What is it?' + +The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. 'What! Never heard of +uglifying!' it exclaimed. 'You know what to beautify is, I suppose?' + +'Yes,' said Alice doubtfully: 'it means--to--make--anything--prettier.' + +'Well, then,' the Gryphon went on, 'if you don't know what to uglify is, +you ARE a simpleton.' + +Alice did not feel encouraged to ask any more questions about it, so she +turned to the Mock Turtle, and said 'What else had you to learn?' + +'Well, there was Mystery,' the Mock Turtle replied, counting off +the subjects on his flappers, '--Mystery, ancient and modern, with +Seaography: then Drawling--the Drawling-master was an old conger-eel, +that used to come once a week: HE taught us Drawling, Stretching, and +Fainting in Coils.' + +'What was THAT like?' said Alice. + +'Well, I can't show it you myself,' the Mock Turtle said: 'I'm too +stiff. And the Gryphon never learnt it.' + +'Hadn't time,' said the Gryphon: 'I went to the Classics master, though. +He was an old crab, HE was.' + +'I never went to him,' the Mock Turtle said with a sigh: 'he taught +Laughing and Grief, they used to say.' + +'So he did, so he did,' said the Gryphon, sighing in his turn; and both +creatures hid their faces in their paws. + +'And how many hours a day did you do lessons?' said Alice, in a hurry to +change the subject. + +'Ten hours the first day,' said the Mock Turtle: 'nine the next, and so +on.' + +'What a curious plan!' exclaimed Alice. + +'That's the reason they're called lessons,' the Gryphon remarked: +'because they lessen from day to day.' + +This was quite a new idea to Alice, and she thought it over a little +before she made her next remark. 'Then the eleventh day must have been a +holiday?' + +'Of course it was,' said the Mock Turtle. + +'And how did you manage on the twelfth?' Alice went on eagerly. + +'That's enough about lessons,' the Gryphon interrupted in a very decided +tone: 'tell her something about the games now.' + + + + +CHAPTER X. The Lobster Quadrille + +The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and drew the back of one flapper across +his eyes. He looked at Alice, and tried to speak, but for a minute or +two sobs choked his voice. 'Same as if he had a bone in his throat,' +said the Gryphon: and it set to work shaking him and punching him in +the back. At last the Mock Turtle recovered his voice, and, with tears +running down his cheeks, he went on again:-- + +'You may not have lived much under the sea--' ('I haven't,' said +Alice)--'and perhaps you were never even introduced to a lobster--' +(Alice began to say 'I once tasted--' but checked herself hastily, and +said 'No, never') '--so you can have no idea what a delightful thing a +Lobster Quadrille is!' + +'No, indeed,' said Alice. 'What sort of a dance is it?' + +'Why,' said the Gryphon, 'you first form into a line along the +sea-shore--' + +'Two lines!' cried the Mock Turtle. 'Seals, turtles, salmon, and so on; +then, when you've cleared all the jelly-fish out of the way--' + +'THAT generally takes some time,' interrupted the Gryphon. + +'--you advance twice--' + +'Each with a lobster as a partner!' cried the Gryphon. + +'Of course,' the Mock Turtle said: 'advance twice, set to partners--' + +'--change lobsters, and retire in same order,' continued the Gryphon. + +'Then, you know,' the Mock Turtle went on, 'you throw the--' + +'The lobsters!' shouted the Gryphon, with a bound into the air. + +'--as far out to sea as you can--' + +'Swim after them!' screamed the Gryphon. + +'Turn a somersault in the sea!' cried the Mock Turtle, capering wildly +about. + +'Change lobsters again!' yelled the Gryphon at the top of its voice. + +'Back to land again, and that's all the first figure,' said the Mock +Turtle, suddenly dropping his voice; and the two creatures, who had been +jumping about like mad things all this time, sat down again very sadly +and quietly, and looked at Alice. + +'It must be a very pretty dance,' said Alice timidly. + +'Would you like to see a little of it?' said the Mock Turtle. + +'Very much indeed,' said Alice. + +'Come, let's try the first figure!' said the Mock Turtle to the Gryphon. +'We can do without lobsters, you know. Which shall sing?' + +'Oh, YOU sing,' said the Gryphon. 'I've forgotten the words.' + +So they began solemnly dancing round and round Alice, every now and +then treading on her toes when they passed too close, and waving their +forepaws to mark the time, while the Mock Turtle sang this, very slowly +and sadly:-- + + '"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail. + "There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail. + + See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance! + They are waiting on the shingle--will you come and join the dance? + + Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance? + Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance? + + "You can really have no notion how delightful it will be + When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!" + But the snail replied "Too far, too far!" and gave a look askance-- + Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance. + + Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance. + Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance. + + '"What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied. + "There is another shore, you know, upon the other side. + The further off from England the nearer is to France-- + Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance. + + Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance? + Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?"' + +'Thank you, it's a very interesting dance to watch,' said Alice, feeling +very glad that it was over at last: 'and I do so like that curious song +about the whiting!' + +'Oh, as to the whiting,' said the Mock Turtle, 'they--you've seen them, +of course?' + +'Yes,' said Alice, 'I've often seen them at dinn--' she checked herself +hastily. + +'I don't know where Dinn may be,' said the Mock Turtle, 'but if you've +seen them so often, of course you know what they're like.' + +'I believe so,' Alice replied thoughtfully. 'They have their tails in +their mouths--and they're all over crumbs.' + +'You're wrong about the crumbs,' said the Mock Turtle: 'crumbs would all +wash off in the sea. But they HAVE their tails in their mouths; and the +reason is--' here the Mock Turtle yawned and shut his eyes.--'Tell her +about the reason and all that,' he said to the Gryphon. + +'The reason is,' said the Gryphon, 'that they WOULD go with the lobsters +to the dance. So they got thrown out to sea. So they had to fall a long +way. So they got their tails fast in their mouths. So they couldn't get +them out again. That's all.' + +'Thank you,' said Alice, 'it's very interesting. I never knew so much +about a whiting before.' + +'I can tell you more than that, if you like,' said the Gryphon. 'Do you +know why it's called a whiting?' + +'I never thought about it,' said Alice. 'Why?' + +'IT DOES THE BOOTS AND SHOES.' the Gryphon replied very solemnly. + +Alice was thoroughly puzzled. 'Does the boots and shoes!' she repeated +in a wondering tone. + +'Why, what are YOUR shoes done with?' said the Gryphon. 'I mean, what +makes them so shiny?' + +Alice looked down at them, and considered a little before she gave her +answer. 'They're done with blacking, I believe.' + +'Boots and shoes under the sea,' the Gryphon went on in a deep voice, +'are done with a whiting. Now you know.' + +'And what are they made of?' Alice asked in a tone of great curiosity. + +'Soles and eels, of course,' the Gryphon replied rather impatiently: +'any shrimp could have told you that.' + +'If I'd been the whiting,' said Alice, whose thoughts were still running +on the song, 'I'd have said to the porpoise, "Keep back, please: we +don't want YOU with us!"' + +'They were obliged to have him with them,' the Mock Turtle said: 'no +wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.' + +'Wouldn't it really?' said Alice in a tone of great surprise. + +'Of course not,' said the Mock Turtle: 'why, if a fish came to ME, and +told me he was going a journey, I should say "With what porpoise?"' + +'Don't you mean "purpose"?' said Alice. + +'I mean what I say,' the Mock Turtle replied in an offended tone. And +the Gryphon added 'Come, let's hear some of YOUR adventures.' + +'I could tell you my adventures--beginning from this morning,' said +Alice a little timidly: 'but it's no use going back to yesterday, +because I was a different person then.' + +'Explain all that,' said the Mock Turtle. + +'No, no! The adventures first,' said the Gryphon in an impatient tone: +'explanations take such a dreadful time.' + +So Alice began telling them her adventures from the time when she first +saw the White Rabbit. She was a little nervous about it just at first, +the two creatures got so close to her, one on each side, and opened +their eyes and mouths so VERY wide, but she gained courage as she went +on. Her listeners were perfectly quiet till she got to the part about +her repeating 'YOU ARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM,' to the Caterpillar, and the +words all coming different, and then the Mock Turtle drew a long breath, +and said 'That's very curious.' + +'It's all about as curious as it can be,' said the Gryphon. + +'It all came different!' the Mock Turtle repeated thoughtfully. 'I +should like to hear her try and repeat something now. Tell her to +begin.' He looked at the Gryphon as if he thought it had some kind of +authority over Alice. + +'Stand up and repeat "'TIS THE VOICE OF THE SLUGGARD,"' said the +Gryphon. + +'How the creatures order one about, and make one repeat lessons!' +thought Alice; 'I might as well be at school at once.' However, she +got up, and began to repeat it, but her head was so full of the Lobster +Quadrille, that she hardly knew what she was saying, and the words came +very queer indeed:-- + + ''Tis the voice of the Lobster; I heard him declare, + "You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair." + As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose + Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.' + + [later editions continued as follows + When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark, + And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark, + But, when the tide rises and sharks are around, + His voice has a timid and tremulous sound.] + +'That's different from what I used to say when I was a child,' said the +Gryphon. + +'Well, I never heard it before,' said the Mock Turtle; 'but it sounds +uncommon nonsense.' + +Alice said nothing; she had sat down with her face in her hands, +wondering if anything would EVER happen in a natural way again. + +'I should like to have it explained,' said the Mock Turtle. + +'She can't explain it,' said the Gryphon hastily. 'Go on with the next +verse.' + +'But about his toes?' the Mock Turtle persisted. 'How COULD he turn them +out with his nose, you know?' + +'It's the first position in dancing.' Alice said; but was dreadfully +puzzled by the whole thing, and longed to change the subject. + +'Go on with the next verse,' the Gryphon repeated impatiently: 'it +begins "I passed by his garden."' + +Alice did not dare to disobey, though she felt sure it would all come +wrong, and she went on in a trembling voice:-- + + 'I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye, + How the Owl and the Panther were sharing a pie--' + + [later editions continued as follows + The Panther took pie-crust, and gravy, and meat, + While the Owl had the dish as its share of the treat. + When the pie was all finished, the Owl, as a boon, + Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon: + While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl, + And concluded the banquet--] + +'What IS the use of repeating all that stuff,' the Mock Turtle +interrupted, 'if you don't explain it as you go on? It's by far the most +confusing thing I ever heard!' + +'Yes, I think you'd better leave off,' said the Gryphon: and Alice was +only too glad to do so. + +'Shall we try another figure of the Lobster Quadrille?' the Gryphon went +on. 'Or would you like the Mock Turtle to sing you a song?' + +'Oh, a song, please, if the Mock Turtle would be so kind,' Alice +replied, so eagerly that the Gryphon said, in a rather offended tone, +'Hm! No accounting for tastes! Sing her "Turtle Soup," will you, old +fellow?' + +The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and began, in a voice sometimes choked +with sobs, to sing this:-- + + 'Beautiful Soup, so rich and green, + Waiting in a hot tureen! + Who for such dainties would not stoop? + Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! + Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! + Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! + Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! + Soo--oop of the e--e--evening, + Beautiful, beautiful Soup! + + 'Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish, + Game, or any other dish? + Who would not give all else for two + Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup? + Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup? + Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! + Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! + Soo--oop of the e--e--evening, + Beautiful, beauti--FUL SOUP!' + +'Chorus again!' cried the Gryphon, and the Mock Turtle had just begun +to repeat it, when a cry of 'The trial's beginning!' was heard in the +distance. + +'Come on!' cried the Gryphon, and, taking Alice by the hand, it hurried +off, without waiting for the end of the song. + +'What trial is it?' Alice panted as she ran; but the Gryphon only +answered 'Come on!' and ran the faster, while more and more faintly +came, carried on the breeze that followed them, the melancholy words:-- + + 'Soo--oop of the e--e--evening, + Beautiful, beautiful Soup!' + + + + +CHAPTER XI. Who Stole the Tarts? + +The King and Queen of Hearts were seated on their throne when they +arrived, with a great crowd assembled about them--all sorts of little +birds and beasts, as well as the whole pack of cards: the Knave was +standing before them, in chains, with a soldier on each side to guard +him; and near the King was the White Rabbit, with a trumpet in one hand, +and a scroll of parchment in the other. In the very middle of the court +was a table, with a large dish of tarts upon it: they looked so good, +that it made Alice quite hungry to look at them--'I wish they'd get the +trial done,' she thought, 'and hand round the refreshments!' But there +seemed to be no chance of this, so she began looking at everything about +her, to pass away the time. + +Alice had never been in a court of justice before, but she had read +about them in books, and she was quite pleased to find that she knew +the name of nearly everything there. 'That's the judge,' she said to +herself, 'because of his great wig.' + +The judge, by the way, was the King; and as he wore his crown over the +wig, (look at the frontispiece if you want to see how he did it,) he did +not look at all comfortable, and it was certainly not becoming. + +'And that's the jury-box,' thought Alice, 'and those twelve creatures,' +(she was obliged to say 'creatures,' you see, because some of them were +animals, and some were birds,) 'I suppose they are the jurors.' She said +this last word two or three times over to herself, being rather proud of +it: for she thought, and rightly too, that very few little girls of her +age knew the meaning of it at all. However, 'jury-men' would have done +just as well. + +The twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates. 'What are they +doing?' Alice whispered to the Gryphon. 'They can't have anything to put +down yet, before the trial's begun.' + +'They're putting down their names,' the Gryphon whispered in reply, 'for +fear they should forget them before the end of the trial.' + +'Stupid things!' Alice began in a loud, indignant voice, but she stopped +hastily, for the White Rabbit cried out, 'Silence in the court!' and the +King put on his spectacles and looked anxiously round, to make out who +was talking. + +Alice could see, as well as if she were looking over their shoulders, +that all the jurors were writing down 'stupid things!' on their slates, +and she could even make out that one of them didn't know how to spell +'stupid,' and that he had to ask his neighbour to tell him. 'A nice +muddle their slates'll be in before the trial's over!' thought Alice. + +One of the jurors had a pencil that squeaked. This of course, Alice +could not stand, and she went round the court and got behind him, and +very soon found an opportunity of taking it away. She did it so quickly +that the poor little juror (it was Bill, the Lizard) could not make out +at all what had become of it; so, after hunting all about for it, he was +obliged to write with one finger for the rest of the day; and this was +of very little use, as it left no mark on the slate. + +'Herald, read the accusation!' said the King. + +On this the White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and then +unrolled the parchment scroll, and read as follows:-- + + 'The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, + All on a summer day: + The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, + And took them quite away!' + +'Consider your verdict,' the King said to the jury. + +'Not yet, not yet!' the Rabbit hastily interrupted. 'There's a great +deal to come before that!' + +'Call the first witness,' said the King; and the White Rabbit blew three +blasts on the trumpet, and called out, 'First witness!' + +The first witness was the Hatter. He came in with a teacup in one +hand and a piece of bread-and-butter in the other. 'I beg pardon, your +Majesty,' he began, 'for bringing these in: but I hadn't quite finished +my tea when I was sent for.' + +'You ought to have finished,' said the King. 'When did you begin?' + +The Hatter looked at the March Hare, who had followed him into the +court, arm-in-arm with the Dormouse. 'Fourteenth of March, I think it +was,' he said. + +'Fifteenth,' said the March Hare. + +'Sixteenth,' added the Dormouse. + +'Write that down,' the King said to the jury, and the jury eagerly +wrote down all three dates on their slates, and then added them up, and +reduced the answer to shillings and pence. + +'Take off your hat,' the King said to the Hatter. + +'It isn't mine,' said the Hatter. + +'Stolen!' the King exclaimed, turning to the jury, who instantly made a +memorandum of the fact. + +'I keep them to sell,' the Hatter added as an explanation; 'I've none of +my own. I'm a hatter.' + +Here the Queen put on her spectacles, and began staring at the Hatter, +who turned pale and fidgeted. + +'Give your evidence,' said the King; 'and don't be nervous, or I'll have +you executed on the spot.' + +This did not seem to encourage the witness at all: he kept shifting +from one foot to the other, looking uneasily at the Queen, and in +his confusion he bit a large piece out of his teacup instead of the +bread-and-butter. + +Just at this moment Alice felt a very curious sensation, which puzzled +her a good deal until she made out what it was: she was beginning to +grow larger again, and she thought at first she would get up and leave +the court; but on second thoughts she decided to remain where she was as +long as there was room for her. + +'I wish you wouldn't squeeze so.' said the Dormouse, who was sitting +next to her. 'I can hardly breathe.' + +'I can't help it,' said Alice very meekly: 'I'm growing.' + +'You've no right to grow here,' said the Dormouse. + +'Don't talk nonsense,' said Alice more boldly: 'you know you're growing +too.' + +'Yes, but I grow at a reasonable pace,' said the Dormouse: 'not in that +ridiculous fashion.' And he got up very sulkily and crossed over to the +other side of the court. + +All this time the Queen had never left off staring at the Hatter, and, +just as the Dormouse crossed the court, she said to one of the officers +of the court, 'Bring me the list of the singers in the last concert!' on +which the wretched Hatter trembled so, that he shook both his shoes off. + +'Give your evidence,' the King repeated angrily, 'or I'll have you +executed, whether you're nervous or not.' + +'I'm a poor man, your Majesty,' the Hatter began, in a trembling voice, +'--and I hadn't begun my tea--not above a week or so--and what with the +bread-and-butter getting so thin--and the twinkling of the tea--' + +'The twinkling of the what?' said the King. + +'It began with the tea,' the Hatter replied. + +'Of course twinkling begins with a T!' said the King sharply. 'Do you +take me for a dunce? Go on!' + +'I'm a poor man,' the Hatter went on, 'and most things twinkled after +that--only the March Hare said--' + +'I didn't!' the March Hare interrupted in a great hurry. + +'You did!' said the Hatter. + +'I deny it!' said the March Hare. + +'He denies it,' said the King: 'leave out that part.' + +'Well, at any rate, the Dormouse said--' the Hatter went on, looking +anxiously round to see if he would deny it too: but the Dormouse denied +nothing, being fast asleep. + +'After that,' continued the Hatter, 'I cut some more bread-and-butter--' + +'But what did the Dormouse say?' one of the jury asked. + +'That I can't remember,' said the Hatter. + +'You MUST remember,' remarked the King, 'or I'll have you executed.' + +The miserable Hatter dropped his teacup and bread-and-butter, and went +down on one knee. 'I'm a poor man, your Majesty,' he began. + +'You're a very poor speaker,' said the King. + +Here one of the guinea-pigs cheered, and was immediately suppressed by +the officers of the court. (As that is rather a hard word, I will just +explain to you how it was done. They had a large canvas bag, which tied +up at the mouth with strings: into this they slipped the guinea-pig, +head first, and then sat upon it.) + +'I'm glad I've seen that done,' thought Alice. 'I've so often read +in the newspapers, at the end of trials, "There was some attempts +at applause, which was immediately suppressed by the officers of the +court," and I never understood what it meant till now.' + +'If that's all you know about it, you may stand down,' continued the +King. + +'I can't go no lower,' said the Hatter: 'I'm on the floor, as it is.' + +'Then you may SIT down,' the King replied. + +Here the other guinea-pig cheered, and was suppressed. + +'Come, that finished the guinea-pigs!' thought Alice. 'Now we shall get +on better.' + +'I'd rather finish my tea,' said the Hatter, with an anxious look at the +Queen, who was reading the list of singers. + +'You may go,' said the King, and the Hatter hurriedly left the court, +without even waiting to put his shoes on. + +'--and just take his head off outside,' the Queen added to one of the +officers: but the Hatter was out of sight before the officer could get +to the door. + +'Call the next witness!' said the King. + +The next witness was the Duchess's cook. She carried the pepper-box in +her hand, and Alice guessed who it was, even before she got into the +court, by the way the people near the door began sneezing all at once. + +'Give your evidence,' said the King. + +'Shan't,' said the cook. + +The King looked anxiously at the White Rabbit, who said in a low voice, +'Your Majesty must cross-examine THIS witness.' + +'Well, if I must, I must,' the King said, with a melancholy air, and, +after folding his arms and frowning at the cook till his eyes were +nearly out of sight, he said in a deep voice, 'What are tarts made of?' + +'Pepper, mostly,' said the cook. + +'Treacle,' said a sleepy voice behind her. + +'Collar that Dormouse,' the Queen shrieked out. 'Behead that Dormouse! +Turn that Dormouse out of court! Suppress him! Pinch him! Off with his +whiskers!' + +For some minutes the whole court was in confusion, getting the Dormouse +turned out, and, by the time they had settled down again, the cook had +disappeared. + +'Never mind!' said the King, with an air of great relief. 'Call the next +witness.' And he added in an undertone to the Queen, 'Really, my dear, +YOU must cross-examine the next witness. It quite makes my forehead +ache!' + +Alice watched the White Rabbit as he fumbled over the list, feeling very +curious to see what the next witness would be like, '--for they haven't +got much evidence YET,' she said to herself. Imagine her surprise, when +the White Rabbit read out, at the top of his shrill little voice, the +name 'Alice!' + + + + +CHAPTER XII. Alice's Evidence + + +'Here!' cried Alice, quite forgetting in the flurry of the moment how +large she had grown in the last few minutes, and she jumped up in such +a hurry that she tipped over the jury-box with the edge of her skirt, +upsetting all the jurymen on to the heads of the crowd below, and there +they lay sprawling about, reminding her very much of a globe of goldfish +she had accidentally upset the week before. + +'Oh, I BEG your pardon!' she exclaimed in a tone of great dismay, and +began picking them up again as quickly as she could, for the accident of +the goldfish kept running in her head, and she had a vague sort of idea +that they must be collected at once and put back into the jury-box, or +they would die. + +'The trial cannot proceed,' said the King in a very grave voice, 'until +all the jurymen are back in their proper places--ALL,' he repeated with +great emphasis, looking hard at Alice as he said do. + +Alice looked at the jury-box, and saw that, in her haste, she had put +the Lizard in head downwards, and the poor little thing was waving its +tail about in a melancholy way, being quite unable to move. She soon got +it out again, and put it right; 'not that it signifies much,' she said +to herself; 'I should think it would be QUITE as much use in the trial +one way up as the other.' + +As soon as the jury had a little recovered from the shock of being +upset, and their slates and pencils had been found and handed back to +them, they set to work very diligently to write out a history of the +accident, all except the Lizard, who seemed too much overcome to do +anything but sit with its mouth open, gazing up into the roof of the +court. + +'What do you know about this business?' the King said to Alice. + +'Nothing,' said Alice. + +'Nothing WHATEVER?' persisted the King. + +'Nothing whatever,' said Alice. + +'That's very important,' the King said, turning to the jury. They were +just beginning to write this down on their slates, when the White Rabbit +interrupted: 'UNimportant, your Majesty means, of course,' he said in a +very respectful tone, but frowning and making faces at him as he spoke. + +'UNimportant, of course, I meant,' the King hastily said, and went on +to himself in an undertone, + +'important--unimportant--unimportant--important--' as if he were trying +which word sounded best. + +Some of the jury wrote it down 'important,' and some 'unimportant.' +Alice could see this, as she was near enough to look over their slates; +'but it doesn't matter a bit,' she thought to herself. + +At this moment the King, who had been for some time busily writing in +his note-book, cackled out 'Silence!' and read out from his book, 'Rule +Forty-two. ALL PERSONS MORE THAN A MILE HIGH TO LEAVE THE COURT.' + +Everybody looked at Alice. + +'I'M not a mile high,' said Alice. + +'You are,' said the King. + +'Nearly two miles high,' added the Queen. + +'Well, I shan't go, at any rate,' said Alice: 'besides, that's not a +regular rule: you invented it just now.' + +'It's the oldest rule in the book,' said the King. + +'Then it ought to be Number One,' said Alice. + +The King turned pale, and shut his note-book hastily. 'Consider your +verdict,' he said to the jury, in a low, trembling voice. + +'There's more evidence to come yet, please your Majesty,' said the White +Rabbit, jumping up in a great hurry; 'this paper has just been picked +up.' + +'What's in it?' said the Queen. + +'I haven't opened it yet,' said the White Rabbit, 'but it seems to be a +letter, written by the prisoner to--to somebody.' + +'It must have been that,' said the King, 'unless it was written to +nobody, which isn't usual, you know.' + +'Who is it directed to?' said one of the jurymen. + +'It isn't directed at all,' said the White Rabbit; 'in fact, there's +nothing written on the OUTSIDE.' He unfolded the paper as he spoke, and +added 'It isn't a letter, after all: it's a set of verses.' + +'Are they in the prisoner's handwriting?' asked another of the jurymen. + +'No, they're not,' said the White Rabbit, 'and that's the queerest thing +about it.' (The jury all looked puzzled.) + +'He must have imitated somebody else's hand,' said the King. (The jury +all brightened up again.) + +'Please your Majesty,' said the Knave, 'I didn't write it, and they +can't prove I did: there's no name signed at the end.' + +'If you didn't sign it,' said the King, 'that only makes the matter +worse. You MUST have meant some mischief, or else you'd have signed your +name like an honest man.' + +There was a general clapping of hands at this: it was the first really +clever thing the King had said that day. + +'That PROVES his guilt,' said the Queen. + +'It proves nothing of the sort!' said Alice. 'Why, you don't even know +what they're about!' + +'Read them,' said the King. + +The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. 'Where shall I begin, please +your Majesty?' he asked. + +'Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely, 'and go on till you +come to the end: then stop.' + +These were the verses the White Rabbit read:-- + + 'They told me you had been to her, + And mentioned me to him: + She gave me a good character, + But said I could not swim. + + He sent them word I had not gone + (We know it to be true): + If she should push the matter on, + What would become of you? + + I gave her one, they gave him two, + You gave us three or more; + They all returned from him to you, + Though they were mine before. + + If I or she should chance to be + Involved in this affair, + He trusts to you to set them free, + Exactly as we were. + + My notion was that you had been + (Before she had this fit) + An obstacle that came between + Him, and ourselves, and it. + + Don't let him know she liked them best, + For this must ever be + A secret, kept from all the rest, + Between yourself and me.' + +'That's the most important piece of evidence we've heard yet,' said the +King, rubbing his hands; 'so now let the jury--' + +'If any one of them can explain it,' said Alice, (she had grown so large +in the last few minutes that she wasn't a bit afraid of interrupting +him,) 'I'll give him sixpence. _I_ don't believe there's an atom of +meaning in it.' + +The jury all wrote down on their slates, 'SHE doesn't believe there's an +atom of meaning in it,' but none of them attempted to explain the paper. + +'If there's no meaning in it,' said the King, 'that saves a world of +trouble, you know, as we needn't try to find any. And yet I don't know,' +he went on, spreading out the verses on his knee, and looking at them +with one eye; 'I seem to see some meaning in them, after all. "--SAID +I COULD NOT SWIM--" you can't swim, can you?' he added, turning to the +Knave. + +The Knave shook his head sadly. 'Do I look like it?' he said. (Which he +certainly did NOT, being made entirely of cardboard.) + +'All right, so far,' said the King, and he went on muttering over +the verses to himself: '"WE KNOW IT TO BE TRUE--" that's the jury, of +course--"I GAVE HER ONE, THEY GAVE HIM TWO--" why, that must be what he +did with the tarts, you know--' + +'But, it goes on "THEY ALL RETURNED FROM HIM TO YOU,"' said Alice. + +'Why, there they are!' said the King triumphantly, pointing to the tarts +on the table. 'Nothing can be clearer than THAT. Then again--"BEFORE SHE +HAD THIS FIT--" you never had fits, my dear, I think?' he said to the +Queen. + +'Never!' said the Queen furiously, throwing an inkstand at the Lizard +as she spoke. (The unfortunate little Bill had left off writing on his +slate with one finger, as he found it made no mark; but he now hastily +began again, using the ink, that was trickling down his face, as long as +it lasted.) + +'Then the words don't FIT you,' said the King, looking round the court +with a smile. There was a dead silence. + +'It's a pun!' the King added in an offended tone, and everybody laughed, +'Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the +twentieth time that day. + +'No, no!' said the Queen. 'Sentence first--verdict afterwards.' + +'Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. 'The idea of having the +sentence first!' + +'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple. + +'I won't!' said Alice. + +'Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody +moved. + +'Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this +time.) 'You're nothing but a pack of cards!' + +At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon +her: she gave a little scream, half of fright and half of anger, and +tried to beat them off, and found herself lying on the bank, with her +head in the lap of her sister, who was gently brushing away some dead +leaves that had fluttered down from the trees upon her face. + +'Wake up, Alice dear!' said her sister; 'Why, what a long sleep you've +had!' + +'Oh, I've had such a curious dream!' said Alice, and she told her +sister, as well as she could remember them, all these strange Adventures +of hers that you have just been reading about; and when she had +finished, her sister kissed her, and said, 'It WAS a curious dream, +dear, certainly: but now run in to your tea; it's getting late.' So +Alice got up and ran off, thinking while she ran, as well she might, +what a wonderful dream it had been. + +But her sister sat still just as she left her, leaning her head on her +hand, watching the setting sun, and thinking of little Alice and all her +wonderful Adventures, till she too began dreaming after a fashion, and +this was her dream:-- + +First, she dreamed of little Alice herself, and once again the tiny +hands were clasped upon her knee, and the bright eager eyes were looking +up into hers--she could hear the very tones of her voice, and see that +queer little toss of her head to keep back the wandering hair that +WOULD always get into her eyes--and still as she listened, or seemed to +listen, the whole place around her became alive with the strange creatures +of her little sister's dream. + +The long grass rustled at her feet as the White Rabbit hurried by--the +frightened Mouse splashed his way through the neighbouring pool--she +could hear the rattle of the teacups as the March Hare and his friends +shared their never-ending meal, and the shrill voice of the Queen +ordering off her unfortunate guests to execution--once more the pig-baby +was sneezing on the Duchess's knee, while plates and dishes crashed +around it--once more the shriek of the Gryphon, the squeaking of the +Lizard's slate-pencil, and the choking of the suppressed guinea-pigs, +filled the air, mixed up with the distant sobs of the miserable Mock +Turtle. + +So she sat on, with closed eyes, and half believed herself in +Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all +would change to dull reality--the grass would be only rustling in the +wind, and the pool rippling to the waving of the reeds--the rattling +teacups would change to tinkling sheep-bells, and the Queen's shrill +cries to the voice of the shepherd boy--and the sneeze of the baby, the +shriek of the Gryphon, and all the other queer noises, would change (she +knew) to the confused clamour of the busy farm-yard--while the lowing +of the cattle in the distance would take the place of the Mock Turtle's +heavy sobs. + +Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers +would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would +keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her +childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and +make THEIR eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even +with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with +all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, +remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days. + + THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 11.txt or 11.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/11/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/data/task1/frankenstein.txt b/data/task1/frankenstein.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a5d33f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/task1/frankenstein.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7653 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: Frankenstein + or The Modern Prometheus + +Author: Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley + +Release Date: June 17, 2008 [EBook #84] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANKENSTEIN *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Boss, Christy Phillips, Lynn Hanninen, +and David Meltzer. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +Frankenstein, + +or the Modern Prometheus + + +by + +Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley + + + + +Letter 1 + + +St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, 17-- + +TO Mrs. Saville, England + +You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the +commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil +forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure +my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success +of my undertaking. + +I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of +Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which +braces my nerves and fills me with delight. Do you understand this +feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards +which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. +Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent +and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of +frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the +region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is forever +visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a +perpetual splendour. There--for with your leave, my sister, I will put +some trust in preceding navigators--there snow and frost are banished; +and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in +wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable +globe. Its productions and features may be without example, as the +phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered +solitudes. What may not be expected in a country of eternal light? I +may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle and may +regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this +voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever. I +shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world +never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by +the foot of man. These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to +conquer all fear of danger or death and to induce me to commence this +laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little +boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his +native river. But supposing all these conjectures to be false, you +cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all +mankind, to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole +to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are +requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at +all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine. + +These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my +letter, and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me +to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as +a steady purpose--a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual +eye. This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years. I +have read with ardour the accounts of the various voyages which have +been made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Ocean +through the seas which surround the pole. You may remember that a +history of all the voyages made for purposes of discovery composed the +whole of our good Uncle Thomas' library. My education was neglected, +yet I was passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my study +day and night, and my familiarity with them increased that regret which +I had felt, as a child, on learning that my father's dying injunction +had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark in a seafaring life. + +These visions faded when I perused, for the first time, those poets +whose effusions entranced my soul and lifted it to heaven. I also +became a poet and for one year lived in a paradise of my own creation; +I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the +names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated. You are well +acquainted with my failure and how heavily I bore the disappointment. +But just at that time I inherited the fortune of my cousin, and my +thoughts were turned into the channel of their earlier bent. + +Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking. I +can, even now, remember the hour from which I dedicated myself to this +great enterprise. I commenced by inuring my body to hardship. I +accompanied the whale-fishers on several expeditions to the North Sea; +I voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst, and want of sleep; I often +worked harder than the common sailors during the day and devoted my +nights to the study of mathematics, the theory of medicine, and those +branches of physical science from which a naval adventurer might derive +the greatest practical advantage. Twice I actually hired myself as an +under-mate in a Greenland whaler, and acquitted myself to admiration. I +must own I felt a little proud when my captain offered me the second +dignity in the vessel and entreated me to remain with the greatest +earnestness, so valuable did he consider my services. And now, dear +Margaret, do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose? My life +might have been passed in ease and luxury, but I preferred glory to +every enticement that wealth placed in my path. Oh, that some +encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative! My courage and my +resolution is firm; but my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often +depressed. I am about to proceed on a long and difficult voyage, the +emergencies of which will demand all my fortitude: I am required not +only to raise the spirits of others, but sometimes to sustain my own, +when theirs are failing. + +This is the most favourable period for travelling in Russia. They fly +quickly over the snow in their sledges; the motion is pleasant, and, in +my opinion, far more agreeable than that of an English stagecoach. The +cold is not excessive, if you are wrapped in furs--a dress which I have +already adopted, for there is a great difference between walking the +deck and remaining seated motionless for hours, when no exercise +prevents the blood from actually freezing in your veins. I have no +ambition to lose my life on the post-road between St. Petersburgh and +Archangel. I shall depart for the latter town in a fortnight or three +weeks; and my intention is to hire a ship there, which can easily be +done by paying the insurance for the owner, and to engage as many +sailors as I think necessary among those who are accustomed to the +whale-fishing. I do not intend to sail until the month of June; and +when shall I return? Ah, dear sister, how can I answer this question? +If I succeed, many, many months, perhaps years, will pass before you +and I may meet. If I fail, you will see me again soon, or never. +Farewell, my dear, excellent Margaret. Heaven shower down blessings on +you, and save me, that I may again and again testify my gratitude for +all your love and kindness. + +Your affectionate brother, + R. Walton + + + +Letter 2 + + +Archangel, 28th March, 17-- + +To Mrs. Saville, England + +How slowly the time passes here, encompassed as I am by frost and snow! +Yet a second step is taken towards my enterprise. I have hired a +vessel and am occupied in collecting my sailors; those whom I have +already engaged appear to be men on whom I can depend and are certainly +possessed of dauntless courage. + +But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and +the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil, I +have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of +success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by +disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection. I +shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor +medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man +who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine. You may +deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a +friend. I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a +cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my +own, to approve or amend my plans. How would such a friend repair the +faults of your poor brother! I am too ardent in execution and too +impatient of difficulties. But it is a still greater evil to me that I +am self-educated: for the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild +on a common and read nothing but our Uncle Thomas' books of voyages. At +that age I became acquainted with the celebrated poets of our own +country; but it was only when it had ceased to be in my power to derive +its most important benefits from such a conviction that I perceived the +necessity of becoming acquainted with more languages than that of my +native country. Now I am twenty-eight and am in reality more +illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen. It is true that I have +thought more and that my daydreams are more extended and magnificent, +but they want (as the painters call it) KEEPING; and I greatly need a +friend who would have sense enough not to despise me as romantic, and +affection enough for me to endeavour to regulate my mind. Well, these +are useless complaints; I shall certainly find no friend on the wide +ocean, nor even here in Archangel, among merchants and seamen. Yet +some feelings, unallied to the dross of human nature, beat even in +these rugged bosoms. My lieutenant, for instance, is a man of +wonderful courage and enterprise; he is madly desirous of glory, or +rather, to word my phrase more characteristically, of advancement in +his profession. He is an Englishman, and in the midst of national and +professional prejudices, unsoftened by cultivation, retains some of the +noblest endowments of humanity. I first became acquainted with him on +board a whale vessel; finding that he was unemployed in this city, I +easily engaged him to assist in my enterprise. The master is a person +of an excellent disposition and is remarkable in the ship for his +gentleness and the mildness of his discipline. This circumstance, +added to his well-known integrity and dauntless courage, made me very +desirous to engage him. A youth passed in solitude, my best years +spent under your gentle and feminine fosterage, has so refined the +groundwork of my character that I cannot overcome an intense distaste +to the usual brutality exercised on board ship: I have never believed +it to be necessary, and when I heard of a mariner equally noted for his +kindliness of heart and the respect and obedience paid to him by his +crew, I felt myself peculiarly fortunate in being able to secure his +services. I heard of him first in rather a romantic manner, from a +lady who owes to him the happiness of her life. This, briefly, is his +story. Some years ago he loved a young Russian lady of moderate +fortune, and having amassed a considerable sum in prize-money, the +father of the girl consented to the match. He saw his mistress once +before the destined ceremony; but she was bathed in tears, and throwing +herself at his feet, entreated him to spare her, confessing at the same +time that she loved another, but that he was poor, and that her father +would never consent to the union. My generous friend reassured the +suppliant, and on being informed of the name of her lover, instantly +abandoned his pursuit. He had already bought a farm with his money, on +which he had designed to pass the remainder of his life; but he +bestowed the whole on his rival, together with the remains of his +prize-money to purchase stock, and then himself solicited the young +woman's father to consent to her marriage with her lover. But the old +man decidedly refused, thinking himself bound in honour to my friend, +who, when he found the father inexorable, quitted his country, nor +returned until he heard that his former mistress was married according +to her inclinations. "What a noble fellow!" you will exclaim. He is +so; but then he is wholly uneducated: he is as silent as a Turk, and a +kind of ignorant carelessness attends him, which, while it renders his +conduct the more astonishing, detracts from the interest and sympathy +which otherwise he would command. + +Yet do not suppose, because I complain a little or because I can +conceive a consolation for my toils which I may never know, that I am +wavering in my resolutions. Those are as fixed as fate, and my voyage +is only now delayed until the weather shall permit my embarkation. The +winter has been dreadfully severe, but the spring promises well, and it +is considered as a remarkably early season, so that perhaps I may sail +sooner than I expected. I shall do nothing rashly: you know me +sufficiently to confide in my prudence and considerateness whenever the +safety of others is committed to my care. + +I cannot describe to you my sensations on the near prospect of my +undertaking. It is impossible to communicate to you a conception of +the trembling sensation, half pleasurable and half fearful, with which +I am preparing to depart. I am going to unexplored regions, to "the +land of mist and snow," but I shall kill no albatross; therefore do not +be alarmed for my safety or if I should come back to you as worn and +woeful as the "Ancient Mariner." You will smile at my allusion, but I +will disclose a secret. I have often attributed my attachment to, my +passionate enthusiasm for, the dangerous mysteries of ocean to that +production of the most imaginative of modern poets. There is something +at work in my soul which I do not understand. I am practically +industrious--painstaking, a workman to execute with perseverance and +labour--but besides this there is a love for the marvellous, a belief +in the marvellous, intertwined in all my projects, which hurries me out +of the common pathways of men, even to the wild sea and unvisited +regions I am about to explore. But to return to dearer considerations. +Shall I meet you again, after having traversed immense seas, and +returned by the most southern cape of Africa or America? I dare not +expect such success, yet I cannot bear to look on the reverse of the +picture. Continue for the present to write to me by every opportunity: +I may receive your letters on some occasions when I need them most to +support my spirits. I love you very tenderly. Remember me with +affection, should you never hear from me again. + +Your affectionate brother, + Robert Walton + + + +Letter 3 + + + +July 7th, 17-- + +To Mrs. Saville, England + +My dear Sister, + +I write a few lines in haste to say that I am safe--and well advanced +on my voyage. This letter will reach England by a merchantman now on +its homeward voyage from Archangel; more fortunate than I, who may not +see my native land, perhaps, for many years. I am, however, in good +spirits: my men are bold and apparently firm of purpose, nor do the +floating sheets of ice that continually pass us, indicating the dangers +of the region towards which we are advancing, appear to dismay them. We +have already reached a very high latitude; but it is the height of +summer, and although not so warm as in England, the southern gales, +which blow us speedily towards those shores which I so ardently desire +to attain, breathe a degree of renovating warmth which I had not +expected. + +No incidents have hitherto befallen us that would make a figure in a +letter. One or two stiff gales and the springing of a leak are +accidents which experienced navigators scarcely remember to record, and +I shall be well content if nothing worse happen to us during our voyage. + +Adieu, my dear Margaret. Be assured that for my own sake, as well as +yours, I will not rashly encounter danger. I will be cool, +persevering, and prudent. + +But success SHALL crown my endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have +gone, tracing a secure way over the pathless seas, the very stars +themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not +still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the +determined heart and resolved will of man? + +My swelling heart involuntarily pours itself out thus. But I must +finish. Heaven bless my beloved sister! + +R.W. + + + +Letter 4 + + + +August 5th, 17-- + +To Mrs. Saville, England + +So strange an accident has happened to us that I cannot forbear +recording it, although it is very probable that you will see me before +these papers can come into your possession. + +Last Monday (July 31st) we were nearly surrounded by ice, which closed +in the ship on all sides, scarcely leaving her the sea-room in which +she floated. Our situation was somewhat dangerous, especially as we +were compassed round by a very thick fog. We accordingly lay to, +hoping that some change would take place in the atmosphere and weather. + +About two o'clock the mist cleared away, and we beheld, stretched out +in every direction, vast and irregular plains of ice, which seemed to +have no end. Some of my comrades groaned, and my own mind began to +grow watchful with anxious thoughts, when a strange sight suddenly +attracted our attention and diverted our solicitude from our own +situation. We perceived a low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by +dogs, pass on towards the north, at the distance of half a mile; a +being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, +sat in the sledge and guided the dogs. We watched the rapid progress +of the traveller with our telescopes until he was lost among the +distant inequalities of the ice. This appearance excited our +unqualified wonder. We were, as we believed, many hundred miles from +any land; but this apparition seemed to denote that it was not, in +reality, so distant as we had supposed. Shut in, however, by ice, it +was impossible to follow his track, which we had observed with the +greatest attention. About two hours after this occurrence we heard the +ground sea, and before night the ice broke and freed our ship. We, +however, lay to until the morning, fearing to encounter in the dark +those large loose masses which float about after the breaking up of the +ice. I profited of this time to rest for a few hours. + +In the morning, however, as soon as it was light, I went upon deck and +found all the sailors busy on one side of the vessel, apparently +talking to someone in the sea. It was, in fact, a sledge, like that we +had seen before, which had drifted towards us in the night on a large +fragment of ice. Only one dog remained alive; but there was a human +being within it whom the sailors were persuading to enter the vessel. +He was not, as the other traveller seemed to be, a savage inhabitant of +some undiscovered island, but a European. When I appeared on deck the +master said, "Here is our captain, and he will not allow you to perish +on the open sea." + +On perceiving me, the stranger addressed me in English, although with a +foreign accent. "Before I come on board your vessel," said he, "will +you have the kindness to inform me whither you are bound?" + +You may conceive my astonishment on hearing such a question addressed +to me from a man on the brink of destruction and to whom I should have +supposed that my vessel would have been a resource which he would not +have exchanged for the most precious wealth the earth can afford. I +replied, however, that we were on a voyage of discovery towards the +northern pole. + +Upon hearing this he appeared satisfied and consented to come on board. +Good God! Margaret, if you had seen the man who thus capitulated for +his safety, your surprise would have been boundless. His limbs were +nearly frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and +suffering. I never saw a man in so wretched a condition. We attempted +to carry him into the cabin, but as soon as he had quitted the fresh +air he fainted. We accordingly brought him back to the deck and +restored him to animation by rubbing him with brandy and forcing him to +swallow a small quantity. As soon as he showed signs of life we +wrapped him up in blankets and placed him near the chimney of the +kitchen stove. By slow degrees he recovered and ate a little soup, +which restored him wonderfully. + +Two days passed in this manner before he was able to speak, and I often +feared that his sufferings had deprived him of understanding. When he +had in some measure recovered, I removed him to my own cabin and +attended on him as much as my duty would permit. I never saw a more +interesting creature: his eyes have generally an expression of +wildness, and even madness, but there are moments when, if anyone +performs an act of kindness towards him or does him any the most +trifling service, his whole countenance is lighted up, as it were, with +a beam of benevolence and sweetness that I never saw equalled. But he +is generally melancholy and despairing, and sometimes he gnashes his +teeth, as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppresses him. + +When my guest was a little recovered I had great trouble to keep off +the men, who wished to ask him a thousand questions; but I would not +allow him to be tormented by their idle curiosity, in a state of body +and mind whose restoration evidently depended upon entire repose. +Once, however, the lieutenant asked why he had come so far upon the ice +in so strange a vehicle. + +His countenance instantly assumed an aspect of the deepest gloom, and +he replied, "To seek one who fled from me." + +"And did the man whom you pursued travel in the same fashion?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I fancy we have seen him, for the day before we picked you up we +saw some dogs drawing a sledge, with a man in it, across the ice." + +This aroused the stranger's attention, and he asked a multitude of +questions concerning the route which the demon, as he called him, had +pursued. Soon after, when he was alone with me, he said, "I have, +doubtless, excited your curiosity, as well as that of these good +people; but you are too considerate to make inquiries." + +"Certainly; it would indeed be very impertinent and inhuman in me to +trouble you with any inquisitiveness of mine." + +"And yet you rescued me from a strange and perilous situation; you have +benevolently restored me to life." + +Soon after this he inquired if I thought that the breaking up of the +ice had destroyed the other sledge. I replied that I could not answer +with any degree of certainty, for the ice had not broken until near +midnight, and the traveller might have arrived at a place of safety +before that time; but of this I could not judge. From this time a new +spirit of life animated the decaying frame of the stranger. He +manifested the greatest eagerness to be upon deck to watch for the +sledge which had before appeared; but I have persuaded him to remain in +the cabin, for he is far too weak to sustain the rawness of the +atmosphere. I have promised that someone should watch for him and give +him instant notice if any new object should appear in sight. + +Such is my journal of what relates to this strange occurrence up to the +present day. The stranger has gradually improved in health but is very +silent and appears uneasy when anyone except myself enters his cabin. +Yet his manners are so conciliating and gentle that the sailors are all +interested in him, although they have had very little communication +with him. For my own part, I begin to love him as a brother, and his +constant and deep grief fills me with sympathy and compassion. He must +have been a noble creature in his better days, being even now in wreck +so attractive and amiable. I said in one of my letters, my dear +Margaret, that I should find no friend on the wide ocean; yet I have +found a man who, before his spirit had been broken by misery, I should +have been happy to have possessed as the brother of my heart. + +I shall continue my journal concerning the stranger at intervals, +should I have any fresh incidents to record. + + +August 13th, 17-- + +My affection for my guest increases every day. He excites at once my +admiration and my pity to an astonishing degree. How can I see so +noble a creature destroyed by misery without feeling the most poignant +grief? He is so gentle, yet so wise; his mind is so cultivated, and +when he speaks, although his words are culled with the choicest art, +yet they flow with rapidity and unparalleled eloquence. He is now much +recovered from his illness and is continually on the deck, apparently +watching for the sledge that preceded his own. Yet, although unhappy, +he is not so utterly occupied by his own misery but that he interests +himself deeply in the projects of others. He has frequently conversed +with me on mine, which I have communicated to him without disguise. He +entered attentively into all my arguments in favour of my eventual +success and into every minute detail of the measures I had taken to +secure it. I was easily led by the sympathy which he evinced to use +the language of my heart, to give utterance to the burning ardour of my +soul and to say, with all the fervour that warmed me, how gladly I +would sacrifice my fortune, my existence, my every hope, to the +furtherance of my enterprise. One man's life or death were but a small +price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought, for +the dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of +our race. As I spoke, a dark gloom spread over my listener's +countenance. At first I perceived that he tried to suppress his +emotion; he placed his hands before his eyes, and my voice quivered and +failed me as I beheld tears trickle fast from between his fingers; a +groan burst from his heaving breast. I paused; at length he spoke, in +broken accents: "Unhappy man! Do you share my madness? Have you +drunk also of the intoxicating draught? Hear me; let me reveal my +tale, and you will dash the cup from your lips!" + +Such words, you may imagine, strongly excited my curiosity; but the +paroxysm of grief that had seized the stranger overcame his weakened +powers, and many hours of repose and tranquil conversation were +necessary to restore his composure. Having conquered the violence of +his feelings, he appeared to despise himself for being the slave of +passion; and quelling the dark tyranny of despair, he led me again to +converse concerning myself personally. He asked me the history of my +earlier years. The tale was quickly told, but it awakened various +trains of reflection. I spoke of my desire of finding a friend, of my +thirst for a more intimate sympathy with a fellow mind than had ever +fallen to my lot, and expressed my conviction that a man could boast of +little happiness who did not enjoy this blessing. "I agree with you," +replied the stranger; "we are unfashioned creatures, but half made up, +if one wiser, better, dearer than ourselves--such a friend ought to +be--do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures. I +once had a friend, the most noble of human creatures, and am entitled, +therefore, to judge respecting friendship. You have hope, and the +world before you, and have no cause for despair. But I--I have lost +everything and cannot begin life anew." + +As he said this his countenance became expressive of a calm, settled +grief that touched me to the heart. But he was silent and presently +retired to his cabin. + +Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he +does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight +afforded by these wonderful regions seem still to have the power of +elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he +may suffer misery and be overwhelmed by disappointments, yet when he +has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a +halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures. + +Will you smile at the enthusiasm I express concerning this divine +wanderer? You would not if you saw him. You have been tutored and +refined by books and retirement from the world, and you are therefore +somewhat fastidious; but this only renders you the more fit to +appreciate the extraordinary merits of this wonderful man. Sometimes I +have endeavoured to discover what quality it is which he possesses that +elevates him so immeasurably above any other person I ever knew. I +believe it to be an intuitive discernment, a quick but never-failing +power of judgment, a penetration into the causes of things, unequalled +for clearness and precision; add to this a facility of expression and a +voice whose varied intonations are soul-subduing music. + + +August 19, 17-- + +Yesterday the stranger said to me, "You may easily perceive, Captain +Walton, that I have suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes. I had +determined at one time that the memory of these evils should die with +me, but you have won me to alter my determination. You seek for +knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the +gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine +has been. I do not know that the relation of my disasters will be +useful to you; yet, when I reflect that you are pursuing the same +course, exposing yourself to the same dangers which have rendered me +what I am, I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my tale, one +that may direct you if you succeed in your undertaking and console you +in case of failure. Prepare to hear of occurrences which are usually +deemed marvellous. Were we among the tamer scenes of nature I might +fear to encounter your unbelief, perhaps your ridicule; but many things +will appear possible in these wild and mysterious regions which would +provoke the laughter of those unacquainted with the ever-varied powers +of nature; nor can I doubt but that my tale conveys in its series +internal evidence of the truth of the events of which it is composed." + +You may easily imagine that I was much gratified by the offered +communication, yet I could not endure that he should renew his grief by +a recital of his misfortunes. I felt the greatest eagerness to hear +the promised narrative, partly from curiosity and partly from a strong +desire to ameliorate his fate if it were in my power. I expressed +these feelings in my answer. + +"I thank you," he replied, "for your sympathy, but it is useless; my +fate is nearly fulfilled. I wait but for one event, and then I shall +repose in peace. I understand your feeling," continued he, perceiving +that I wished to interrupt him; "but you are mistaken, my friend, if +thus you will allow me to name you; nothing can alter my destiny; +listen to my history, and you will perceive how irrevocably it is +determined." + +He then told me that he would commence his narrative the next day when +I should be at leisure. This promise drew from me the warmest thanks. +I have resolved every night, when I am not imperatively occupied by my +duties, to record, as nearly as possible in his own words, what he has +related during the day. If I should be engaged, I will at least make +notes. This manuscript will doubtless afford you the greatest +pleasure; but to me, who know him, and who hear it from his own +lips--with what interest and sympathy shall I read it in some future +day! Even now, as I commence my task, his full-toned voice swells in +my ears; his lustrous eyes dwell on me with all their melancholy +sweetness; I see his thin hand raised in animation, while the +lineaments of his face are irradiated by the soul within. + +Strange and harrowing must be his story, frightful the storm which +embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it--thus! + + + +Chapter 1 + +I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most +distinguished of that republic. My ancestors had been for many years +counsellors and syndics, and my father had filled several public +situations with honour and reputation. He was respected by all who +knew him for his integrity and indefatigable attention to public +business. He passed his younger days perpetually occupied by the +affairs of his country; a variety of circumstances had prevented his +marrying early, nor was it until the decline of life that he became a +husband and the father of a family. + +As the circumstances of his marriage illustrate his character, I cannot +refrain from relating them. One of his most intimate friends was a +merchant who, from a flourishing state, fell, through numerous +mischances, into poverty. This man, whose name was Beaufort, was of a +proud and unbending disposition and could not bear to live in poverty +and oblivion in the same country where he had formerly been +distinguished for his rank and magnificence. Having paid his debts, +therefore, in the most honourable manner, he retreated with his +daughter to the town of Lucerne, where he lived unknown and in +wretchedness. My father loved Beaufort with the truest friendship and +was deeply grieved by his retreat in these unfortunate circumstances. +He bitterly deplored the false pride which led his friend to a conduct +so little worthy of the affection that united them. He lost no time in +endeavouring to seek him out, with the hope of persuading him to begin +the world again through his credit and assistance. + +Beaufort had taken effectual measures to conceal himself, and it was ten +months before my father discovered his abode. Overjoyed at this +discovery, he hastened to the house, which was situated in a mean street +near the Reuss. But when he entered, misery and despair alone welcomed +him. Beaufort had saved but a very small sum of money from the wreck of +his fortunes, but it was sufficient to provide him with sustenance for +some months, and in the meantime he hoped to procure some respectable +employment in a merchant's house. The interval was, consequently, spent +in inaction; his grief only became more deep and rankling when he had +leisure for reflection, and at length it took so fast hold of his mind +that at the end of three months he lay on a bed of sickness, incapable +of any exertion. + +His daughter attended him with the greatest tenderness, but she saw +with despair that their little fund was rapidly decreasing and that +there was no other prospect of support. But Caroline Beaufort +possessed a mind of an uncommon mould, and her courage rose to support +her in her adversity. She procured plain work; she plaited straw and +by various means contrived to earn a pittance scarcely sufficient to +support life. + +Several months passed in this manner. Her father grew worse; her time +was more entirely occupied in attending him; her means of subsistence +decreased; and in the tenth month her father died in her arms, leaving +her an orphan and a beggar. This last blow overcame her, and she knelt +by Beaufort's coffin weeping bitterly, when my father entered the +chamber. He came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who +committed herself to his care; and after the interment of his friend he +conducted her to Geneva and placed her under the protection of a +relation. Two years after this event Caroline became his wife. + +There was a considerable difference between the ages of my parents, but +this circumstance seemed to unite them only closer in bonds of devoted +affection. There was a sense of justice in my father's upright mind +which rendered it necessary that he should approve highly to love +strongly. Perhaps during former years he had suffered from the +late-discovered unworthiness of one beloved and so was disposed to set +a greater value on tried worth. There was a show of gratitude and +worship in his attachment to my mother, differing wholly from the +doting fondness of age, for it was inspired by reverence for her +virtues and a desire to be the means of, in some degree, recompensing +her for the sorrows she had endured, but which gave inexpressible grace +to his behaviour to her. Everything was made to yield to her wishes +and her convenience. He strove to shelter her, as a fair exotic is +sheltered by the gardener, from every rougher wind and to surround her +with all that could tend to excite pleasurable emotion in her soft and +benevolent mind. Her health, and even the tranquillity of her hitherto +constant spirit, had been shaken by what she had gone through. During +the two years that had elapsed previous to their marriage my father had +gradually relinquished all his public functions; and immediately after +their union they sought the pleasant climate of Italy, and the change +of scene and interest attendant on a tour through that land of wonders, +as a restorative for her weakened frame. + +From Italy they visited Germany and France. I, their eldest child, was +born at Naples, and as an infant accompanied them in their rambles. I +remained for several years their only child. Much as they were +attached to each other, they seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of +affection from a very mine of love to bestow them upon me. My mother's +tender caresses and my father's smile of benevolent pleasure while +regarding me are my first recollections. I was their plaything and +their idol, and something better--their child, the innocent and +helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, +and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or +misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me. With this +deep consciousness of what they owed towards the being to which they +had given life, added to the active spirit of tenderness that animated +both, it may be imagined that while during every hour of my infant life +I received a lesson of patience, of charity, and of self-control, I was +so guided by a silken cord that all seemed but one train of enjoyment +to me. For a long time I was their only care. My mother had much +desired to have a daughter, but I continued their single offspring. +When I was about five years old, while making an excursion beyond the +frontiers of Italy, they passed a week on the shores of the Lake of +Como. Their benevolent disposition often made them enter the cottages +of the poor. This, to my mother, was more than a duty; it was a +necessity, a passion--remembering what she had suffered, and how she +had been relieved--for her to act in her turn the guardian angel to the +afflicted. During one of their walks a poor cot in the foldings of a +vale attracted their notice as being singularly disconsolate, while the +number of half-clothed children gathered about it spoke of penury in +its worst shape. One day, when my father had gone by himself to Milan, +my mother, accompanied by me, visited this abode. She found a peasant +and his wife, hard working, bent down by care and labour, distributing +a scanty meal to five hungry babes. Among these there was one which +attracted my mother far above all the rest. She appeared of a +different stock. The four others were dark-eyed, hardy little +vagrants; this child was thin and very fair. Her hair was the +brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed +to set a crown of distinction on her head. Her brow was clear and +ample, her blue eyes cloudless, and her lips and the moulding of her +face so expressive of sensibility and sweetness that none could behold +her without looking on her as of a distinct species, a being +heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features. The +peasant woman, perceiving that my mother fixed eyes of wonder and +admiration on this lovely girl, eagerly communicated her history. She +was not her child, but the daughter of a Milanese nobleman. Her mother +was a German and had died on giving her birth. The infant had been +placed with these good people to nurse: they were better off then. +They had not been long married, and their eldest child was but just +born. The father of their charge was one of those Italians nursed in +the memory of the antique glory of Italy--one among the schiavi ognor +frementi, who exerted himself to obtain the liberty of his country. He +became the victim of its weakness. Whether he had died or still +lingered in the dungeons of Austria was not known. His property was +confiscated; his child became an orphan and a beggar. She continued +with her foster parents and bloomed in their rude abode, fairer than a +garden rose among dark-leaved brambles. When my father returned from +Milan, he found playing with me in the hall of our villa a child fairer +than pictured cherub--a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her +looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the +hills. The apparition was soon explained. With his permission my +mother prevailed on her rustic guardians to yield their charge to her. +They were fond of the sweet orphan. Her presence had seemed a blessing +to them, but it would be unfair to her to keep her in poverty and want +when Providence afforded her such powerful protection. They consulted +their village priest, and the result was that Elizabeth Lavenza became +the inmate of my parents' house--my more than sister--the beautiful and +adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures. + +Everyone loved Elizabeth. The passionate and almost reverential +attachment with which all regarded her became, while I shared it, my +pride and my delight. On the evening previous to her being brought to +my home, my mother had said playfully, "I have a pretty present for my +Victor--tomorrow he shall have it." And when, on the morrow, she +presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift, I, with childish +seriousness, interpreted her words literally and looked upon Elizabeth +as mine--mine to protect, love, and cherish. All praises bestowed on +her I received as made to a possession of my own. We called each other +familiarly by the name of cousin. No word, no expression could body +forth the kind of relation in which she stood to me--my more than +sister, since till death she was to be mine only. + + + +Chapter 2 + +We were brought up together; there was not quite a year difference in +our ages. I need not say that we were strangers to any species of +disunion or dispute. Harmony was the soul of our companionship, and +the diversity and contrast that subsisted in our characters drew us +nearer together. Elizabeth was of a calmer and more concentrated +disposition; but, with all my ardour, I was capable of a more intense +application and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge. +She busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets; +and in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home +--the sublime shapes of the mountains, the changes of the seasons, +tempest and calm, the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of +our Alpine summers--she found ample scope for admiration and delight. +While my companion contemplated with a serious and satisfied spirit the +magnificent appearances of things, I delighted in investigating their +causes. The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine. +Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, +gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the +earliest sensations I can remember. + +On the birth of a second son, my junior by seven years, my parents gave +up entirely their wandering life and fixed themselves in their native +country. We possessed a house in Geneva, and a campagne on Belrive, +the eastern shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than a +league from the city. We resided principally in the latter, and the +lives of my parents were passed in considerable seclusion. It was my +temper to avoid a crowd and to attach myself fervently to a few. I was +indifferent, therefore, to my school-fellows in general; but I united +myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them. Henry +Clerval was the son of a merchant of Geneva. He was a boy of singular +talent and fancy. He loved enterprise, hardship, and even danger for +its own sake. He was deeply read in books of chivalry and romance. He +composed heroic songs and began to write many a tale of enchantment and +knightly adventure. He tried to make us act plays and to enter into +masquerades, in which the characters were drawn from the heroes of +Roncesvalles, of the Round Table of King Arthur, and the chivalrous +train who shed their blood to redeem the holy sepulchre from the hands +of the infidels. + +No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My +parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. +We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to +their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights +which we enjoyed. When I mingled with other families I distinctly +discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was, and gratitude assisted +the development of filial love. + +My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some +law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits +but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all things +indiscriminately. I confess that neither the structure of languages, +nor the code of governments, nor the politics of various states +possessed attractions for me. It was the secrets of heaven and earth +that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of +things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man +that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, +or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world. + +Meanwhile Clerval occupied himself, so to speak, with the moral +relations of things. The busy stage of life, the virtues of heroes, +and the actions of men were his theme; and his hope and his dream was +to become one among those whose names are recorded in story as the +gallant and adventurous benefactors of our species. The saintly soul +of Elizabeth shone like a shrine-dedicated lamp in our peaceful home. +Her sympathy was ours; her smile, her soft voice, the sweet glance of +her celestial eyes, were ever there to bless and animate us. She was +the living spirit of love to soften and attract; I might have become +sullen in my study, rough through the ardour of my nature, but that +she was there to subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness. And +Clerval--could aught ill entrench on the noble spirit of Clerval? Yet +he might not have been so perfectly humane, so thoughtful in his +generosity, so full of kindness and tenderness amidst his passion for +adventurous exploit, had she not unfolded to him the real loveliness of +beneficence and made the doing good the end and aim of his soaring +ambition. + +I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of +childhood, before misfortune had tainted my mind and changed its bright +visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon +self. Besides, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also record +those events which led, by insensible steps, to my after tale of +misery, for when I would account to myself for the birth of that +passion which afterwards ruled my destiny I find it arise, like a +mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, +swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, +has swept away all my hopes and joys. Natural philosophy is the genius +that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to +state those facts which led to my predilection for that science. When +I was thirteen years of age we all went on a party of pleasure to the +baths near Thonon; the inclemency of the weather obliged us to remain a +day confined to the inn. In this house I chanced to find a volume of +the works of Cornelius Agrippa. I opened it with apathy; the theory +which he attempts to demonstrate and the wonderful facts which he +relates soon changed this feeling into enthusiasm. A new light seemed +to dawn upon my mind, and bounding with joy, I communicated my +discovery to my father. My father looked carelessly at the title page +of my book and said, "Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not +waste your time upon this; it is sad trash." + +If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to +me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a +modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much +greater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter were +chimerical, while those of the former were real and practical, under +such circumstances I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside and +have contented my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning with +greater ardour to my former studies. It is even possible that the +train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led +to my ruin. But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by +no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents, and I +continued to read with the greatest avidity. When I returned home my +first care was to procure the whole works of this author, and +afterwards of Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus. I read and studied the +wild fancies of these writers with delight; they appeared to me +treasures known to few besides myself. I have described myself as +always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the +secrets of nature. In spite of the intense labour and wonderful +discoveries of modern philosophers, I always came from my studies +discontented and unsatisfied. Sir Isaac Newton is said to have avowed +that he felt like a child picking up shells beside the great and +unexplored ocean of truth. Those of his successors in each branch of +natural philosophy with whom I was acquainted appeared even to my boy's +apprehensions as tyros engaged in the same pursuit. + +The untaught peasant beheld the elements around him and was acquainted +with their practical uses. The most learned philosopher knew little +more. He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal +lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery. He might dissect, +anatomize, and give names; but, not to speak of a final cause, causes +in their secondary and tertiary grades were utterly unknown to him. I +had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep +human beings from entering the citadel of nature, and rashly and +ignorantly I had repined. + +But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated deeper and +knew more. I took their word for all that they averred, and I became +their disciple. It may appear strange that such should arise in the +eighteenth century; but while I followed the routine of education in +the schools of Geneva, I was, to a great degree, self-taught with +regard to my favourite studies. My father was not scientific, and I +was left to struggle with a child's blindness, added to a student's +thirst for knowledge. Under the guidance of my new preceptors I +entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the +philosopher's stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon +obtained my undivided attention. Wealth was an inferior object, but +what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from +the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death! +Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a +promise liberally accorded by my favourite authors, the fulfilment of +which I most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always +unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience +and mistake than to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors. And +thus for a time I was occupied by exploded systems, mingling, like an +unadept, a thousand contradictory theories and floundering desperately +in a very slough of multifarious knowledge, guided by an ardent +imagination and childish reasoning, till an accident again changed the +current of my ideas. When I was about fifteen years old we had retired +to our house near Belrive, when we witnessed a most violent and +terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from behind the mountains of Jura, +and the thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various +quarters of the heavens. I remained, while the storm lasted, watching +its progress with curiosity and delight. As I stood at the door, on a +sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak +which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the +dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained +but a blasted stump. When we visited it the next morning, we found the +tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the +shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld +anything so utterly destroyed. + +Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of +electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural +philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he entered on +the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of +electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me. +All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius Agrippa, +Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by +some fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue my +accustomed studies. It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever +be known. All that had so long engaged my attention suddenly grew +despicable. By one of those caprices of the mind which we are perhaps +most subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former +occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed +and abortive creation, and entertained the greatest disdain for a +would-be science which could never even step within the threshold of +real knowledge. In this mood of mind I betook myself to the +mathematics and the branches of study appertaining to that science as +being built upon secure foundations, and so worthy of my consideration. + +Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments +are we bound to prosperity or ruin. When I look back, it seems to me +as if this almost miraculous change of inclination and will was the +immediate suggestion of the guardian angel of my life--the last effort +made by the spirit of preservation to avert the storm that was even +then hanging in the stars and ready to envelop me. Her victory was +announced by an unusual tranquillity and gladness of soul which +followed the relinquishing of my ancient and latterly tormenting +studies. It was thus that I was to be taught to associate evil with +their prosecution, happiness with their disregard. + +It was a strong effort of the spirit of good, but it was ineffectual. +Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and +terrible destruction. + + + +Chapter 3 + +When I had attained the age of seventeen my parents resolved that I +should become a student at the university of Ingolstadt. I had +hitherto attended the schools of Geneva, but my father thought it +necessary for the completion of my education that I should be made +acquainted with other customs than those of my native country. My +departure was therefore fixed at an early date, but before the day +resolved upon could arrive, the first misfortune of my life +occurred--an omen, as it were, of my future misery. Elizabeth had +caught the scarlet fever; her illness was severe, and she was in the +greatest danger. During her illness many arguments had been urged to +persuade my mother to refrain from attending upon her. She had at +first yielded to our entreaties, but when she heard that the life of +her favourite was menaced, she could no longer control her anxiety. She +attended her sickbed; her watchful attentions triumphed over the +malignity of the distemper--Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences +of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver. On the third day my +mother sickened; her fever was accompanied by the most alarming +symptoms, and the looks of her medical attendants prognosticated the +worst event. On her deathbed the fortitude and benignity of this best +of women did not desert her. She joined the hands of Elizabeth and +myself. "My children," she said, "my firmest hopes of future happiness +were placed on the prospect of your union. This expectation will now +be the consolation of your father. Elizabeth, my love, you must supply +my place to my younger children. Alas! I regret that I am taken from +you; and, happy and beloved as I have been, is it not hard to quit you +all? But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavour to +resign myself cheerfully to death and will indulge a hope of meeting +you in another world." + +She died calmly, and her countenance expressed affection even in death. +I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent +by that most irreparable evil, the void that presents itself to the +soul, and the despair that is exhibited on the countenance. It is so +long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day +and whose very existence appeared a part of our own can have departed +forever--that the brightness of a beloved eye can have been +extinguished and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear +can be hushed, never more to be heard. These are the reflections of +the first days; but when the lapse of time proves the reality of the +evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences. Yet from whom has +not that rude hand rent away some dear connection? And why should I +describe a sorrow which all have felt, and must feel? The time at +length arrives when grief is rather an indulgence than a necessity; and +the smile that plays upon the lips, although it may be deemed a +sacrilege, is not banished. My mother was dead, but we had still +duties which we ought to perform; we must continue our course with the +rest and learn to think ourselves fortunate whilst one remains whom the +spoiler has not seized. + +My departure for Ingolstadt, which had been deferred by these events, +was now again determined upon. I obtained from my father a respite of +some weeks. It appeared to me sacrilege so soon to leave the repose, +akin to death, of the house of mourning and to rush into the thick of +life. I was new to sorrow, but it did not the less alarm me. I was +unwilling to quit the sight of those that remained to me, and above +all, I desired to see my sweet Elizabeth in some degree consoled. + +She indeed veiled her grief and strove to act the comforter to us all. +She looked steadily on life and assumed its duties with courage and +zeal. She devoted herself to those whom she had been taught to call +her uncle and cousins. Never was she so enchanting as at this time, +when she recalled the sunshine of her smiles and spent them upon us. +She forgot even her own regret in her endeavours to make us forget. + +The day of my departure at length arrived. Clerval spent the last +evening with us. He had endeavoured to persuade his father to permit +him to accompany me and to become my fellow student, but in vain. His +father was a narrow-minded trader and saw idleness and ruin in the +aspirations and ambition of his son. Henry deeply felt the misfortune +of being debarred from a liberal education. He said little, but when +he spoke I read in his kindling eye and in his animated glance a +restrained but firm resolve not to be chained to the miserable details +of commerce. + +We sat late. We could not tear ourselves away from each other nor +persuade ourselves to say the word "Farewell!" It was said, and we +retired under the pretence of seeking repose, each fancying that the +other was deceived; but when at morning's dawn I descended to the +carriage which was to convey me away, they were all there--my father +again to bless me, Clerval to press my hand once more, my Elizabeth to +renew her entreaties that I would write often and to bestow the last +feminine attentions on her playmate and friend. + +I threw myself into the chaise that was to convey me away and indulged +in the most melancholy reflections. I, who had ever been surrounded by +amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavouring to bestow +mutual pleasure--I was now alone. In the university whither I was +going I must form my own friends and be my own protector. My life had +hitherto been remarkably secluded and domestic, and this had given me +invincible repugnance to new countenances. I loved my brothers, +Elizabeth, and Clerval; these were "old familiar faces," but I believed +myself totally unfitted for the company of strangers. Such were my +reflections as I commenced my journey; but as I proceeded, my spirits +and hopes rose. I ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge. I +had often, when at home, thought it hard to remain during my youth +cooped up in one place and had longed to enter the world and take my +station among other human beings. Now my desires were complied with, +and it would, indeed, have been folly to repent. + +I had sufficient leisure for these and many other reflections during my +journey to Ingolstadt, which was long and fatiguing. At length the +high white steeple of the town met my eyes. I alighted and was +conducted to my solitary apartment to spend the evening as I pleased. + +The next morning I delivered my letters of introduction and paid a +visit to some of the principal professors. Chance--or rather the evil +influence, the Angel of Destruction, which asserted omnipotent sway +over me from the moment I turned my reluctant steps from my father's +door--led me first to M. Krempe, professor of natural philosophy. He +was an uncouth man, but deeply imbued in the secrets of his science. He +asked me several questions concerning my progress in the different +branches of science appertaining to natural philosophy. I replied +carelessly, and partly in contempt, mentioned the names of my +alchemists as the principal authors I had studied. The professor +stared. "Have you," he said, "really spent your time in studying such +nonsense?" + +I replied in the affirmative. "Every minute," continued M. Krempe with +warmth, "every instant that you have wasted on those books is utterly +and entirely lost. You have burdened your memory with exploded systems +and useless names. Good God! In what desert land have you lived, +where no one was kind enough to inform you that these fancies which you +have so greedily imbibed are a thousand years old and as musty as they +are ancient? I little expected, in this enlightened and scientific +age, to find a disciple of Albertus Magnus and Paracelsus. My dear +sir, you must begin your studies entirely anew." + +So saying, he stepped aside and wrote down a list of several books +treating of natural philosophy which he desired me to procure, and +dismissed me after mentioning that in the beginning of the following +week he intended to commence a course of lectures upon natural +philosophy in its general relations, and that M. Waldman, a fellow +professor, would lecture upon chemistry the alternate days that he +omitted. + +I returned home not disappointed, for I have said that I had long +considered those authors useless whom the professor reprobated; but I +returned not at all the more inclined to recur to these studies in any +shape. M. Krempe was a little squat man with a gruff voice and a +repulsive countenance; the teacher, therefore, did not prepossess me in +favour of his pursuits. In rather a too philosophical and connected a +strain, perhaps, I have given an account of the conclusions I had come +to concerning them in my early years. As a child I had not been +content with the results promised by the modern professors of natural +science. With a confusion of ideas only to be accounted for by my +extreme youth and my want of a guide on such matters, I had retrod the +steps of knowledge along the paths of time and exchanged the +discoveries of recent inquirers for the dreams of forgotten alchemists. +Besides, I had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philosophy. +It was very different when the masters of the science sought +immortality and power; such views, although futile, were grand; but now +the scene was changed. The ambition of the inquirer seemed to limit +itself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in +science was chiefly founded. I was required to exchange chimeras of +boundless grandeur for realities of little worth. + +Such were my reflections during the first two or three days of my +residence at Ingolstadt, which were chiefly spent in becoming +acquainted with the localities and the principal residents in my new +abode. But as the ensuing week commenced, I thought of the information +which M. Krempe had given me concerning the lectures. And although I +could not consent to go and hear that little conceited fellow deliver +sentences out of a pulpit, I recollected what he had said of M. +Waldman, whom I had never seen, as he had hitherto been out of town. + +Partly from curiosity and partly from idleness, I went into the +lecturing room, which M. Waldman entered shortly after. This professor +was very unlike his colleague. He appeared about fifty years of age, +but with an aspect expressive of the greatest benevolence; a few grey +hairs covered his temples, but those at the back of his head were +nearly black. His person was short but remarkably erect and his voice +the sweetest I had ever heard. He began his lecture by a +recapitulation of the history of chemistry and the various improvements +made by different men of learning, pronouncing with fervour the names +of the most distinguished discoverers. He then took a cursory view of +the present state of the science and explained many of its elementary +terms. After having made a few preparatory experiments, he concluded +with a panegyric upon modern chemistry, the terms of which I shall +never forget: "The ancient teachers of this science," said he, +"promised impossibilities and performed nothing. The modern masters +promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted and +that the elixir of life is a chimera but these philosophers, whose +hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the +microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate +into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her +hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how +the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have +acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders +of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with +its own shadows." + +Such were the professor's words--rather let me say such the words of +the fate--enounced to destroy me. As he went on I felt as if my soul +were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were +touched which formed the mechanism of my being; chord after chord was +sounded, and soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, +one purpose. So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of +Frankenstein--more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps +already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and +unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation. + +I closed not my eyes that night. My internal being was in a state of +insurrection and turmoil; I felt that order would thence arise, but I +had no power to produce it. By degrees, after the morning's dawn, +sleep came. I awoke, and my yesternight's thoughts were as a dream. +There only remained a resolution to return to my ancient studies and to +devote myself to a science for which I believed myself to possess a +natural talent. On the same day I paid M. Waldman a visit. His +manners in private were even more mild and attractive than in public, +for there was a certain dignity in his mien during his lecture which in +his own house was replaced by the greatest affability and kindness. I +gave him pretty nearly the same account of my former pursuits as I had +given to his fellow professor. He heard with attention the little +narration concerning my studies and smiled at the names of Cornelius +Agrippa and Paracelsus, but without the contempt that M. Krempe had +exhibited. He said that "These were men to whose indefatigable zeal +modern philosophers were indebted for most of the foundations of their +knowledge. They had left to us, as an easier task, to give new names +and arrange in connected classifications the facts which they in a +great degree had been the instruments of bringing to light. The +labours of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever +fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind." I +listened to his statement, which was delivered without any presumption +or affectation, and then added that his lecture had removed my +prejudices against modern chemists; I expressed myself in measured +terms, with the modesty and deference due from a youth to his +instructor, without letting escape (inexperience in life would have +made me ashamed) any of the enthusiasm which stimulated my intended +labours. I requested his advice concerning the books I ought to +procure. + +"I am happy," said M. Waldman, "to have gained a disciple; and if your +application equals your ability, I have no doubt of your success. +Chemistry is that branch of natural philosophy in which the greatest +improvements have been and may be made; it is on that account that I +have made it my peculiar study; but at the same time, I have not +neglected the other branches of science. A man would make but a very +sorry chemist if he attended to that department of human knowledge +alone. If your wish is to become really a man of science and not +merely a petty experimentalist, I should advise you to apply to every +branch of natural philosophy, including mathematics." He then took me +into his laboratory and explained to me the uses of his various +machines, instructing me as to what I ought to procure and promising me +the use of his own when I should have advanced far enough in the +science not to derange their mechanism. He also gave me the list of +books which I had requested, and I took my leave. + +Thus ended a day memorable to me; it decided my future destiny. + + + +Chapter 4 + +From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the +most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. +I read with ardour those works, so full of genius and discrimination, +which modern inquirers have written on these subjects. I attended the +lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the +university, and I found even in M. Krempe a great deal of sound sense +and real information, combined, it is true, with a repulsive +physiognomy and manners, but not on that account the less valuable. In +M. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentleness was never tinged by +dogmatism, and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and +good nature that banished every idea of pedantry. In a thousand ways +he smoothed for me the path of knowledge and made the most abstruse +inquiries clear and facile to my apprehension. My application was at +first fluctuating and uncertain; it gained strength as I proceeded and +soon became so ardent and eager that the stars often disappeared in the +light of morning whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory. + +As I applied so closely, it may be easily conceived that my progress +was rapid. My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and +my proficiency that of the masters. Professor Krempe often asked me, +with a sly smile, how Cornelius Agrippa went on, whilst M. Waldman +expressed the most heartfelt exultation in my progress. Two years +passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was +engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I +hoped to make. None but those who have experienced them can conceive +of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as +others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in +a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder. +A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must +infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study; and I, who +continually sought the attainment of one object of pursuit and was +solely wrapped up in this, improved so rapidly that at the end of two +years I made some discoveries in the improvement of some chemical +instruments, which procured me great esteem and admiration at the +university. When I had arrived at this point and had become as well +acquainted with the theory and practice of natural philosophy as +depended on the lessons of any of the professors at Ingolstadt, my +residence there being no longer conducive to my improvements, I thought +of returning to my friends and my native town, when an incident +happened that protracted my stay. + +One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention was +the structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with +life. Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? +It was a bold question, and one which has ever been considered as a +mystery; yet with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming +acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our +inquiries. I revolved these circumstances in my mind and determined +thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of +natural philosophy which relate to physiology. Unless I had been +animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this +study would have been irksome and almost intolerable. To examine the +causes of life, we must first have recourse to death. I became +acquainted with the science of anatomy, but this was not sufficient; I +must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human body. +In my education my father had taken the greatest precautions that my +mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. I do not ever +remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition or to have feared +the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and +a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of +life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become +food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of +this decay and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and +charnel-houses. My attention was fixed upon every object the most +insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. I saw how the +fine form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of +death succeed to the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm +inherited the wonders of the eye and brain. I paused, examining and +analysing all the minutiae of causation, as exemplified in the change +from life to death, and death to life, until from the midst of this +darkness a sudden light broke in upon me--a light so brilliant and +wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity +of the prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised that among so +many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards the same +science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a +secret. + +Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman. The sun does not +more certainly shine in the heavens than that which I now affirm is +true. Some miracle might have produced it, yet the stages of the +discovery were distinct and probable. After days and nights of +incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of +generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing +animation upon lifeless matter. + +The astonishment which I had at first experienced on this discovery +soon gave place to delight and rapture. After so much time spent in +painful labour, to arrive at once at the summit of my desires was the +most gratifying consummation of my toils. But this discovery was so +great and overwhelming that all the steps by which I had been +progressively led to it were obliterated, and I beheld only the result. +What had been the study and desire of the wisest men since the creation +of the world was now within my grasp. Not that, like a magic scene, it +all opened upon me at once: the information I had obtained was of a +nature rather to direct my endeavours so soon as I should point them +towards the object of my search than to exhibit that object already +accomplished. I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead +and found a passage to life, aided only by one glimmering and seemingly +ineffectual light. + +I see by your eagerness and the wonder and hope which your eyes +express, my friend, that you expect to be informed of the secret with +which I am acquainted; that cannot be; listen patiently until the end +of my story, and you will easily perceive why I am reserved upon that +subject. I will not lead you on, unguarded and ardent as I then was, +to your destruction and infallible misery. Learn from me, if not by my +precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of +knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town +to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature +will allow. + +When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated +a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it. +Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to +prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies of +fibres, muscles, and veins, still remained a work of inconceivable +difficulty and labour. I doubted at first whether I should attempt the +creation of a being like myself, or one of simpler organization; but my +imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to +doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful +as man. The materials at present within my command hardly appeared +adequate to so arduous an undertaking, but I doubted not that I should +ultimately succeed. I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my +operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be +imperfect, yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes +place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present +attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success. Nor +could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan as any +argument of its impracticability. It was with these feelings that I +began the creation of a human being. As the minuteness of the parts +formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first +intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, +about eight feet in height, and proportionably large. After having +formed this determination and having spent some months in successfully +collecting and arranging my materials, I began. + +No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like +a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death +appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and +pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless +me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would +owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his +child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these +reflections, I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless +matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) +renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. + +These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking +with unremitting ardour. My cheek had grown pale with study, and my +person had become emaciated with confinement. Sometimes, on the very +brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung to the hope which the +next day or the next hour might realize. One secret which I alone +possessed was the hope to which I had dedicated myself; and the moon +gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless +eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive +the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps +of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless +clay? My limbs now tremble, and my eyes swim with the remembrance; but +then a resistless and almost frantic impulse urged me forward; I seemed +to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit. It was +indeed but a passing trance, that only made me feel with renewed +acuteness so soon as, the unnatural stimulus ceasing to operate, I had +returned to my old habits. I collected bones from charnel-houses and +disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human +frame. In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, +and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, +I kept my workshop of filthy creation; my eyeballs were starting from +their sockets in attending to the details of my employment. The +dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials; +and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, +whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I +brought my work near to a conclusion. + +The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in +one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields +bestow a more plentiful harvest or the vines yield a more luxuriant +vintage, but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. And the +same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also +to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had +not seen for so long a time. I knew my silence disquieted them, and I +well remembered the words of my father: "I know that while you are +pleased with yourself you will think of us with affection, and we shall +hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any +interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties +are equally neglected." + +I knew well therefore what would be my father's feelings, but I could +not tear my thoughts from my employment, loathsome in itself, but which +had taken an irresistible hold of my imagination. I wished, as it +were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection +until the great object, which swallowed up every habit of my nature, +should be completed. + +I then thought that my father would be unjust if he ascribed my neglect +to vice or faultiness on my part, but I am now convinced that he was +justified in conceiving that I should not be altogether free from +blame. A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and +peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to +disturb his tranquillity. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge +is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself +has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for +those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that +study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human +mind. If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit +whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic +affections, Greece had not been enslaved, Caesar would have spared his +country, America would have been discovered more gradually, and the +empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed. + +But I forget that I am moralizing in the most interesting part of my +tale, and your looks remind me to proceed. My father made no reproach +in his letters and only took notice of my silence by inquiring into my +occupations more particularly than before. Winter, spring, and summer +passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the +expanding leaves--sights which before always yielded me supreme +delight--so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation. The leaves of +that year had withered before my work drew near to a close, and now +every day showed me more plainly how well I had succeeded. But my +enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety, and I appeared rather like one +doomed by slavery to toil in the mines, or any other unwholesome trade +than an artist occupied by his favourite employment. Every night I was +oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful +degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow +creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime. Sometimes I grew alarmed +at the wreck I perceived that I had become; the energy of my purpose +alone sustained me: my labours would soon end, and I believed that +exercise and amusement would then drive away incipient disease; and I +promised myself both of these when my creation should be complete. + + + +Chapter 5 + +It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment +of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I +collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a +spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was +already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the +panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the +half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature +open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs. + +How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate +the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to +form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as +beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered +the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous +black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these +luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, +that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which +they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips. + +The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings +of human nature. I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole +purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had +deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour +that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty +of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my +heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I +rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my +bed-chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep. At length lassitude +succeeded to the tumult I had before endured, and I threw myself on the +bed in my clothes, endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness. +But it was in vain; I slept, indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest +dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in +the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her, +but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with +the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I +held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her +form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel. +I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my +teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; when, by the dim and +yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window +shutters, I beheld the wretch--the miserable monster whom I had +created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they +may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some +inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have +spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to +detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs. I took refuge in the +courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained +during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest +agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if +it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I +had so miserably given life. + +Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy +again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch. I +had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those +muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing +such as even Dante could not have conceived. + +I passed the night wretchedly. Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and +hardly that I felt the palpitation of every artery; at others, I nearly +sank to the ground through languor and extreme weakness. Mingled with +this horror, I felt the bitterness of disappointment; dreams that had +been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a +hell to me; and the change was so rapid, the overthrow so complete! + +Morning, dismal and wet, at length dawned and discovered to my +sleepless and aching eyes the church of Ingolstadt, its white steeple +and clock, which indicated the sixth hour. The porter opened the gates +of the court, which had that night been my asylum, and I issued into +the streets, pacing them with quick steps, as if I sought to avoid the +wretch whom I feared every turning of the street would present to my +view. I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited, but +felt impelled to hurry on, although drenched by the rain which poured +from a black and comfortless sky. + +I continued walking in this manner for some time, endeavouring by +bodily exercise to ease the load that weighed upon my mind. I +traversed the streets without any clear conception of where I was or +what I was doing. My heart palpitated in the sickness of fear, and I +hurried on with irregular steps, not daring to look about me: + + + Like one who, on a lonely road, + Doth walk in fear and dread, + And, having once turned round, walks on, + And turns no more his head; + Because he knows a frightful fiend + Doth close behind him tread. + + [Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner."] + + +Continuing thus, I came at length opposite to the inn at which the +various diligences and carriages usually stopped. Here I paused, I +knew not why; but I remained some minutes with my eyes fixed on a coach +that was coming towards me from the other end of the street. As it +drew nearer I observed that it was the Swiss diligence; it stopped just +where I was standing, and on the door being opened, I perceived Henry +Clerval, who, on seeing me, instantly sprung out. "My dear +Frankenstein," exclaimed he, "how glad I am to see you! How fortunate +that you should be here at the very moment of my alighting!" + +Nothing could equal my delight on seeing Clerval; his presence brought +back to my thoughts my father, Elizabeth, and all those scenes of home +so dear to my recollection. I grasped his hand, and in a moment forgot +my horror and misfortune; I felt suddenly, and for the first time +during many months, calm and serene joy. I welcomed my friend, +therefore, in the most cordial manner, and we walked towards my +college. Clerval continued talking for some time about our mutual +friends and his own good fortune in being permitted to come to +Ingolstadt. "You may easily believe," said he, "how great was the +difficulty to persuade my father that all necessary knowledge was not +comprised in the noble art of book-keeping; and, indeed, I believe I +left him incredulous to the last, for his constant answer to my +unwearied entreaties was the same as that of the Dutch schoolmaster in +The Vicar of Wakefield: 'I have ten thousand florins a year without +Greek, I eat heartily without Greek.' But his affection for me at +length overcame his dislike of learning, and he has permitted me to +undertake a voyage of discovery to the land of knowledge." + +"It gives me the greatest delight to see you; but tell me how you left +my father, brothers, and Elizabeth." + +"Very well, and very happy, only a little uneasy that they hear from +you so seldom. By the by, I mean to lecture you a little upon their +account myself. But, my dear Frankenstein," continued he, stopping +short and gazing full in my face, "I did not before remark how very ill +you appear; so thin and pale; you look as if you had been watching for +several nights." + +"You have guessed right; I have lately been so deeply engaged in one +occupation that I have not allowed myself sufficient rest, as you see; +but I hope, I sincerely hope, that all these employments are now at an +end and that I am at length free." + +I trembled excessively; I could not endure to think of, and far less to +allude to, the occurrences of the preceding night. I walked with a +quick pace, and we soon arrived at my college. I then reflected, and +the thought made me shiver, that the creature whom I had left in my +apartment might still be there, alive and walking about. I dreaded to +behold this monster, but I feared still more that Henry should see him. +Entreating him, therefore, to remain a few minutes at the bottom of the +stairs, I darted up towards my own room. My hand was already on the +lock of the door before I recollected myself. I then paused, and a +cold shivering came over me. I threw the door forcibly open, as +children are accustomed to do when they expect a spectre to stand in +waiting for them on the other side; but nothing appeared. I stepped +fearfully in: the apartment was empty, and my bedroom was also freed +from its hideous guest. I could hardly believe that so great a good +fortune could have befallen me, but when I became assured that my enemy +had indeed fled, I clapped my hands for joy and ran down to Clerval. + +We ascended into my room, and the servant presently brought breakfast; +but I was unable to contain myself. It was not joy only that possessed +me; I felt my flesh tingle with excess of sensitiveness, and my pulse +beat rapidly. I was unable to remain for a single instant in the same +place; I jumped over the chairs, clapped my hands, and laughed aloud. +Clerval at first attributed my unusual spirits to joy on his arrival, +but when he observed me more attentively, he saw a wildness in my eyes +for which he could not account, and my loud, unrestrained, heartless +laughter frightened and astonished him. + +"My dear Victor," cried he, "what, for God's sake, is the matter? Do +not laugh in that manner. How ill you are! What is the cause of all +this?" + +"Do not ask me," cried I, putting my hands before my eyes, for I +thought I saw the dreaded spectre glide into the room; "HE can tell. +Oh, save me! Save me!" I imagined that the monster seized me; I +struggled furiously and fell down in a fit. + +Poor Clerval! What must have been his feelings? A meeting, which he +anticipated with such joy, so strangely turned to bitterness. But I +was not the witness of his grief, for I was lifeless and did not +recover my senses for a long, long time. + +This was the commencement of a nervous fever which confined me for +several months. During all that time Henry was my only nurse. I +afterwards learned that, knowing my father's advanced age and unfitness +for so long a journey, and how wretched my sickness would make +Elizabeth, he spared them this grief by concealing the extent of my +disorder. He knew that I could not have a more kind and attentive +nurse than himself; and, firm in the hope he felt of my recovery, he +did not doubt that, instead of doing harm, he performed the kindest +action that he could towards them. + +But I was in reality very ill, and surely nothing but the unbounded and +unremitting attentions of my friend could have restored me to life. +The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever +before my eyes, and I raved incessantly concerning him. Doubtless my +words surprised Henry; he at first believed them to be the wanderings +of my disturbed imagination, but the pertinacity with which I +continually recurred to the same subject persuaded him that my disorder +indeed owed its origin to some uncommon and terrible event. + +By very slow degrees, and with frequent relapses that alarmed and +grieved my friend, I recovered. I remember the first time I became +capable of observing outward objects with any kind of pleasure, I +perceived that the fallen leaves had disappeared and that the young +buds were shooting forth from the trees that shaded my window. It was +a divine spring, and the season contributed greatly to my +convalescence. I felt also sentiments of joy and affection revive in +my bosom; my gloom disappeared, and in a short time I became as +cheerful as before I was attacked by the fatal passion. + +"Dearest Clerval," exclaimed I, "how kind, how very good you are to me. +This whole winter, instead of being spent in study, as you promised +yourself, has been consumed in my sick room. How shall I ever repay +you? I feel the greatest remorse for the disappointment of which I +have been the occasion, but you will forgive me." + +"You will repay me entirely if you do not discompose yourself, but get +well as fast as you can; and since you appear in such good spirits, I +may speak to you on one subject, may I not?" + +I trembled. One subject! What could it be? Could he allude to an +object on whom I dared not even think? "Compose yourself," said +Clerval, who observed my change of colour, "I will not mention it if it +agitates you; but your father and cousin would be very happy if they +received a letter from you in your own handwriting. They hardly know +how ill you have been and are uneasy at your long silence." + +"Is that all, my dear Henry? How could you suppose that my first +thought would not fly towards those dear, dear friends whom I love and +who are so deserving of my love?" + +"If this is your present temper, my friend, you will perhaps be glad to +see a letter that has been lying here some days for you; it is from +your cousin, I believe." + + + +Chapter 6 + +Clerval then put the following letter into my hands. It was from my +own Elizabeth: + +"My dearest Cousin, + +"You have been ill, very ill, and even the constant letters of dear +kind Henry are not sufficient to reassure me on your account. You are +forbidden to write--to hold a pen; yet one word from you, dear Victor, +is necessary to calm our apprehensions. For a long time I have thought +that each post would bring this line, and my persuasions have +restrained my uncle from undertaking a journey to Ingolstadt. I have +prevented his encountering the inconveniences and perhaps dangers of so +long a journey, yet how often have I regretted not being able to +perform it myself! I figure to myself that the task of attending on +your sickbed has devolved on some mercenary old nurse, who could never +guess your wishes nor minister to them with the care and affection of +your poor cousin. Yet that is over now: Clerval writes that indeed +you are getting better. I eagerly hope that you will confirm this +intelligence soon in your own handwriting. + +"Get well--and return to us. You will find a happy, cheerful home and +friends who love you dearly. Your father's health is vigorous, and he +asks but to see you, but to be assured that you are well; and not a +care will ever cloud his benevolent countenance. How pleased you would +be to remark the improvement of our Ernest! He is now sixteen and full +of activity and spirit. He is desirous to be a true Swiss and to enter +into foreign service, but we cannot part with him, at least until his +elder brother returns to us. My uncle is not pleased with the idea of +a military career in a distant country, but Ernest never had your +powers of application. He looks upon study as an odious fetter; his +time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the +lake. I fear that he will become an idler unless we yield the point +and permit him to enter on the profession which he has selected. + +"Little alteration, except the growth of our dear children, has taken +place since you left us. The blue lake and snow-clad mountains--they +never change; and I think our placid home and our contented hearts are +regulated by the same immutable laws. My trifling occupations take up +my time and amuse me, and I am rewarded for any exertions by seeing +none but happy, kind faces around me. Since you left us, but one +change has taken place in our little household. Do you remember on +what occasion Justine Moritz entered our family? Probably you do not; +I will relate her history, therefore in a few words. Madame Moritz, +her mother, was a widow with four children, of whom Justine was the +third. This girl had always been the favourite of her father, but +through a strange perversity, her mother could not endure her, and +after the death of M. Moritz, treated her very ill. My aunt observed +this, and when Justine was twelve years of age, prevailed on her mother +to allow her to live at our house. The republican institutions of our +country have produced simpler and happier manners than those which +prevail in the great monarchies that surround it. Hence there is less +distinction between the several classes of its inhabitants; and the +lower orders, being neither so poor nor so despised, their manners are +more refined and moral. A servant in Geneva does not mean the same +thing as a servant in France and England. Justine, thus received in +our family, learned the duties of a servant, a condition which, in our +fortunate country, does not include the idea of ignorance and a +sacrifice of the dignity of a human being. + +"Justine, you may remember, was a great favourite of yours; and I +recollect you once remarked that if you were in an ill humour, one +glance from Justine could dissipate it, for the same reason that +Ariosto gives concerning the beauty of Angelica--she looked so +frank-hearted and happy. My aunt conceived a great attachment for her, +by which she was induced to give her an education superior to that +which she had at first intended. This benefit was fully repaid; +Justine was the most grateful little creature in the world: I do not +mean that she made any professions I never heard one pass her lips, but +you could see by her eyes that she almost adored her protectress. +Although her disposition was gay and in many respects inconsiderate, +yet she paid the greatest attention to every gesture of my aunt. She +thought her the model of all excellence and endeavoured to imitate her +phraseology and manners, so that even now she often reminds me of her. + +"When my dearest aunt died every one was too much occupied in their own +grief to notice poor Justine, who had attended her during her illness +with the most anxious affection. Poor Justine was very ill; but other +trials were reserved for her. + +"One by one, her brothers and sister died; and her mother, with the +exception of her neglected daughter, was left childless. The +conscience of the woman was troubled; she began to think that the +deaths of her favourites was a judgement from heaven to chastise her +partiality. She was a Roman Catholic; and I believe her confessor +confirmed the idea which she had conceived. Accordingly, a few months +after your departure for Ingolstadt, Justine was called home by her +repentant mother. Poor girl! She wept when she quitted our house; she +was much altered since the death of my aunt; grief had given softness +and a winning mildness to her manners, which had before been remarkable +for vivacity. Nor was her residence at her mother's house of a nature +to restore her gaiety. The poor woman was very vacillating in her +repentance. She sometimes begged Justine to forgive her unkindness, +but much oftener accused her of having caused the deaths of her +brothers and sister. Perpetual fretting at length threw Madame Moritz +into a decline, which at first increased her irritability, but she is +now at peace for ever. She died on the first approach of cold weather, +at the beginning of this last winter. Justine has just returned to us; +and I assure you I love her tenderly. She is very clever and gentle, +and extremely pretty; as I mentioned before, her mien and her +expression continually remind me of my dear aunt. + +"I must say also a few words to you, my dear cousin, of little darling +William. I wish you could see him; he is very tall of his age, with +sweet laughing blue eyes, dark eyelashes, and curling hair. When he +smiles, two little dimples appear on each cheek, which are rosy with +health. He has already had one or two little WIVES, but Louisa Biron +is his favourite, a pretty little girl of five years of age. + +"Now, dear Victor, I dare say you wish to be indulged in a little +gossip concerning the good people of Geneva. The pretty Miss Mansfield +has already received the congratulatory visits on her approaching +marriage with a young Englishman, John Melbourne, Esq. Her ugly +sister, Manon, married M. Duvillard, the rich banker, last autumn. Your +favourite schoolfellow, Louis Manoir, has suffered several misfortunes +since the departure of Clerval from Geneva. But he has already +recovered his spirits, and is reported to be on the point of marrying a +lively pretty Frenchwoman, Madame Tavernier. She is a widow, and much +older than Manoir; but she is very much admired, and a favourite with +everybody. + +"I have written myself into better spirits, dear cousin; but my anxiety +returns upon me as I conclude. Write, dearest Victor,--one line--one +word will be a blessing to us. Ten thousand thanks to Henry for his +kindness, his affection, and his many letters; we are sincerely +grateful. Adieu! my cousin; take care of your self; and, I entreat +you, write! + +"Elizabeth Lavenza. + +"Geneva, March 18, 17--." + + +"Dear, dear Elizabeth!" I exclaimed, when I had read her letter: "I +will write instantly and relieve them from the anxiety they must feel." +I wrote, and this exertion greatly fatigued me; but my convalescence +had commenced, and proceeded regularly. In another fortnight I was +able to leave my chamber. + +One of my first duties on my recovery was to introduce Clerval to the +several professors of the university. In doing this, I underwent a +kind of rough usage, ill befitting the wounds that my mind had +sustained. Ever since the fatal night, the end of my labours, and the +beginning of my misfortunes, I had conceived a violent antipathy even +to the name of natural philosophy. When I was otherwise quite restored +to health, the sight of a chemical instrument would renew all the agony +of my nervous symptoms. Henry saw this, and had removed all my +apparatus from my view. He had also changed my apartment; for he +perceived that I had acquired a dislike for the room which had +previously been my laboratory. But these cares of Clerval were made of +no avail when I visited the professors. M. Waldman inflicted torture +when he praised, with kindness and warmth, the astonishing progress I +had made in the sciences. He soon perceived that I disliked the +subject; but not guessing the real cause, he attributed my feelings to +modesty, and changed the subject from my improvement, to the science +itself, with a desire, as I evidently saw, of drawing me out. What +could I do? He meant to please, and he tormented me. I felt as if he +had placed carefully, one by one, in my view those instruments which +were to be afterwards used in putting me to a slow and cruel death. I +writhed under his words, yet dared not exhibit the pain I felt. +Clerval, whose eyes and feelings were always quick in discerning the +sensations of others, declined the subject, alleging, in excuse, his +total ignorance; and the conversation took a more general turn. I +thanked my friend from my heart, but I did not speak. I saw plainly +that he was surprised, but he never attempted to draw my secret from +me; and although I loved him with a mixture of affection and reverence +that knew no bounds, yet I could never persuade myself to confide in +him that event which was so often present to my recollection, but which +I feared the detail to another would only impress more deeply. + +M. Krempe was not equally docile; and in my condition at that time, of +almost insupportable sensitiveness, his harsh blunt encomiums gave me +even more pain than the benevolent approbation of M. Waldman. "D--n +the fellow!" cried he; "why, M. Clerval, I assure you he has outstript +us all. Ay, stare if you please; but it is nevertheless true. A +youngster who, but a few years ago, believed in Cornelius Agrippa as +firmly as in the gospel, has now set himself at the head of the +university; and if he is not soon pulled down, we shall all be out of +countenance.--Ay, ay," continued he, observing my face expressive of +suffering, "M. Frankenstein is modest; an excellent quality in a young +man. Young men should be diffident of themselves, you know, M. +Clerval: I was myself when young; but that wears out in a very short +time." + +M. Krempe had now commenced an eulogy on himself, which happily turned +the conversation from a subject that was so annoying to me. + +Clerval had never sympathized in my tastes for natural science; and his +literary pursuits differed wholly from those which had occupied me. He +came to the university with the design of making himself complete +master of the oriental languages, and thus he should open a field for +the plan of life he had marked out for himself. Resolved to pursue no +inglorious career, he turned his eyes toward the East, as affording +scope for his spirit of enterprise. The Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit +languages engaged his attention, and I was easily induced to enter on +the same studies. Idleness had ever been irksome to me, and now that I +wished to fly from reflection, and hated my former studies, I felt +great relief in being the fellow-pupil with my friend, and found not +only instruction but consolation in the works of the orientalists. I +did not, like him, attempt a critical knowledge of their dialects, for +I did not contemplate making any other use of them than temporary +amusement. I read merely to understand their meaning, and they well +repaid my labours. Their melancholy is soothing, and their joy +elevating, to a degree I never experienced in studying the authors of +any other country. When you read their writings, life appears to +consist in a warm sun and a garden of roses,--in the smiles and frowns +of a fair enemy, and the fire that consumes your own heart. How +different from the manly and heroical poetry of Greece and Rome! + +Summer passed away in these occupations, and my return to Geneva was +fixed for the latter end of autumn; but being delayed by several +accidents, winter and snow arrived, the roads were deemed impassable, +and my journey was retarded until the ensuing spring. I felt this +delay very bitterly; for I longed to see my native town and my beloved +friends. My return had only been delayed so long, from an +unwillingness to leave Clerval in a strange place, before he had become +acquainted with any of its inhabitants. The winter, however, was spent +cheerfully; and although the spring was uncommonly late, when it came +its beauty compensated for its dilatoriness. + +The month of May had already commenced, and I expected the letter daily +which was to fix the date of my departure, when Henry proposed a +pedestrian tour in the environs of Ingolstadt, that I might bid a +personal farewell to the country I had so long inhabited. I acceded +with pleasure to this proposition: I was fond of exercise, and Clerval +had always been my favourite companion in the ramble of this nature +that I had taken among the scenes of my native country. + +We passed a fortnight in these perambulations: my health and spirits +had long been restored, and they gained additional strength from the +salubrious air I breathed, the natural incidents of our progress, and +the conversation of my friend. Study had before secluded me from the +intercourse of my fellow-creatures, and rendered me unsocial; but +Clerval called forth the better feelings of my heart; he again taught +me to love the aspect of nature, and the cheerful faces of children. +Excellent friend! how sincerely you did love me, and endeavour to +elevate my mind until it was on a level with your own. A selfish +pursuit had cramped and narrowed me, until your gentleness and +affection warmed and opened my senses; I became the same happy creature +who, a few years ago, loved and beloved by all, had no sorrow or care. +When happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most +delightful sensations. A serene sky and verdant fields filled me with +ecstasy. The present season was indeed divine; the flowers of spring +bloomed in the hedges, while those of summer were already in bud. I +was undisturbed by thoughts which during the preceding year had pressed +upon me, notwithstanding my endeavours to throw them off, with an +invincible burden. + +Henry rejoiced in my gaiety, and sincerely sympathised in my feelings: +he exerted himself to amuse me, while he expressed the sensations that +filled his soul. The resources of his mind on this occasion were truly +astonishing: his conversation was full of imagination; and very often, +in imitation of the Persian and Arabic writers, he invented tales of +wonderful fancy and passion. At other times he repeated my favourite +poems, or drew me out into arguments, which he supported with great +ingenuity. We returned to our college on a Sunday afternoon: the +peasants were dancing, and every one we met appeared gay and happy. My +own spirits were high, and I bounded along with feelings of unbridled +joy and hilarity. + + + +Chapter 7 + +On my return, I found the following letter from my father:-- + + +"My dear Victor, + +"You have probably waited impatiently for a letter to fix the date of +your return to us; and I was at first tempted to write only a few +lines, merely mentioning the day on which I should expect you. But +that would be a cruel kindness, and I dare not do it. What would be +your surprise, my son, when you expected a happy and glad welcome, to +behold, on the contrary, tears and wretchedness? And how, Victor, can +I relate our misfortune? Absence cannot have rendered you callous to +our joys and griefs; and how shall I inflict pain on my long absent +son? I wish to prepare you for the woeful news, but I know it is +impossible; even now your eye skims over the page to seek the words +which are to convey to you the horrible tidings. + +"William is dead!--that sweet child, whose smiles delighted and warmed +my heart, who was so gentle, yet so gay! Victor, he is murdered! + +"I will not attempt to console you; but will simply relate the +circumstances of the transaction. + +"Last Thursday (May 7th), I, my niece, and your two brothers, went to +walk in Plainpalais. The evening was warm and serene, and we prolonged +our walk farther than usual. It was already dusk before we thought of +returning; and then we discovered that William and Ernest, who had gone +on before, were not to be found. We accordingly rested on a seat until +they should return. Presently Ernest came, and enquired if we had seen +his brother; he said, that he had been playing with him, that William +had run away to hide himself, and that he vainly sought for him, and +afterwards waited for a long time, but that he did not return. + +"This account rather alarmed us, and we continued to search for him +until night fell, when Elizabeth conjectured that he might have +returned to the house. He was not there. We returned again, with +torches; for I could not rest, when I thought that my sweet boy had +lost himself, and was exposed to all the damps and dews of night; +Elizabeth also suffered extreme anguish. About five in the morning I +discovered my lovely boy, whom the night before I had seen blooming and +active in health, stretched on the grass livid and motionless; the +print of the murder's finger was on his neck. + +"He was conveyed home, and the anguish that was visible in my +countenance betrayed the secret to Elizabeth. She was very earnest to +see the corpse. At first I attempted to prevent her but she persisted, +and entering the room where it lay, hastily examined the neck of the +victim, and clasping her hands exclaimed, 'O God! I have murdered my +darling child!' + +"She fainted, and was restored with extreme difficulty. When she again +lived, it was only to weep and sigh. She told me, that that same +evening William had teased her to let him wear a very valuable +miniature that she possessed of your mother. This picture is gone, and +was doubtless the temptation which urged the murderer to the deed. We +have no trace of him at present, although our exertions to discover him +are unremitted; but they will not restore my beloved William! + +"Come, dearest Victor; you alone can console Elizabeth. She weeps +continually, and accuses herself unjustly as the cause of his death; +her words pierce my heart. We are all unhappy; but will not that be an +additional motive for you, my son, to return and be our comforter? +Your dear mother! Alas, Victor! I now say, Thank God she did not live +to witness the cruel, miserable death of her youngest darling! + +"Come, Victor; not brooding thoughts of vengeance against the assassin, +but with feelings of peace and gentleness, that will heal, instead of +festering, the wounds of our minds. Enter the house of mourning, my +friend, but with kindness and affection for those who love you, and not +with hatred for your enemies. + + "Your affectionate and afflicted father, + "Alphonse Frankenstein. + + + +"Geneva, May 12th, 17--." + +Clerval, who had watched my countenance as I read this letter, was +surprised to observe the despair that succeeded the joy I at first +expressed on receiving new from my friends. I threw the letter on the +table, and covered my face with my hands. + +"My dear Frankenstein," exclaimed Henry, when he perceived me weep with +bitterness, "are you always to be unhappy? My dear friend, what has +happened?" + +I motioned him to take up the letter, while I walked up and down the +room in the extremest agitation. Tears also gushed from the eyes of +Clerval, as he read the account of my misfortune. + +"I can offer you no consolation, my friend," said he; "your disaster is +irreparable. What do you intend to do?" + +"To go instantly to Geneva: come with me, Henry, to order the horses." + +During our walk, Clerval endeavoured to say a few words of consolation; +he could only express his heartfelt sympathy. "Poor William!" said he, +"dear lovely child, he now sleeps with his angel mother! Who that had +seen him bright and joyous in his young beauty, but must weep over his +untimely loss! To die so miserably; to feel the murderer's grasp! How +much more a murdered that could destroy radiant innocence! Poor little +fellow! one only consolation have we; his friends mourn and weep, but +he is at rest. The pang is over, his sufferings are at an end for ever. +A sod covers his gentle form, and he knows no pain. He can no longer +be a subject for pity; we must reserve that for his miserable +survivors." + +Clerval spoke thus as we hurried through the streets; the words +impressed themselves on my mind and I remembered them afterwards in +solitude. But now, as soon as the horses arrived, I hurried into a +cabriolet, and bade farewell to my friend. + +My journey was very melancholy. At first I wished to hurry on, for I +longed to console and sympathise with my loved and sorrowing friends; +but when I drew near my native town, I slackened my progress. I could +hardly sustain the multitude of feelings that crowded into my mind. I +passed through scenes familiar to my youth, but which I had not seen +for nearly six years. How altered every thing might be during that +time! One sudden and desolating change had taken place; but a thousand +little circumstances might have by degrees worked other alterations, +which, although they were done more tranquilly, might not be the less +decisive. Fear overcame me; I dared no advance, dreading a thousand +nameless evils that made me tremble, although I was unable to define +them. I remained two days at Lausanne, in this painful state of mind. +I contemplated the lake: the waters were placid; all around was calm; +and the snowy mountains, 'the palaces of nature,' were not changed. By +degrees the calm and heavenly scene restored me, and I continued my +journey towards Geneva. + +The road ran by the side of the lake, which became narrower as I +approached my native town. I discovered more distinctly the black +sides of Jura, and the bright summit of Mont Blanc. I wept like a +child. "Dear mountains! my own beautiful lake! how do you welcome your +wanderer? Your summits are clear; the sky and lake are blue and +placid. Is this to prognosticate peace, or to mock at my unhappiness?" + +I fear, my friend, that I shall render myself tedious by dwelling on +these preliminary circumstances; but they were days of comparative +happiness, and I think of them with pleasure. My country, my beloved +country! who but a native can tell the delight I took in again +beholding thy streams, thy mountains, and, more than all, thy lovely +lake! + +Yet, as I drew nearer home, grief and fear again overcame me. Night +also closed around; and when I could hardly see the dark mountains, I +felt still more gloomily. The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of +evil, and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most +wretched of human beings. Alas! I prophesied truly, and failed only +in one single circumstance, that in all the misery I imagined and +dreaded, I did not conceive the hundredth part of the anguish I was +destined to endure. It was completely dark when I arrived in the +environs of Geneva; the gates of the town were already shut; and I was +obliged to pass the night at Secheron, a village at the distance of +half a league from the city. The sky was serene; and, as I was unable +to rest, I resolved to visit the spot where my poor William had been +murdered. As I could not pass through the town, I was obliged to cross +the lake in a boat to arrive at Plainpalais. During this short voyage +I saw the lightning playing on the summit of Mont Blanc in the most +beautiful figures. The storm appeared to approach rapidly, and, on +landing, I ascended a low hill, that I might observe its progress. It +advanced; the heavens were clouded, and I soon felt the rain coming +slowly in large drops, but its violence quickly increased. + +I quitted my seat, and walked on, although the darkness and storm +increased every minute, and the thunder burst with a terrific crash +over my head. It was echoed from Saleve, the Juras, and the Alps of +Savoy; vivid flashes of lightning dazzled my eyes, illuminating the +lake, making it appear like a vast sheet of fire; then for an instant +every thing seemed of a pitchy darkness, until the eye recovered itself +from the preceding flash. The storm, as is often the case in +Switzerland, appeared at once in various parts of the heavens. The +most violent storm hung exactly north of the town, over the part of the +lake which lies between the promontory of Belrive and the village of +Copet. Another storm enlightened Jura with faint flashes; and another +darkened and sometimes disclosed the Mole, a peaked mountain to the +east of the lake. + +While I watched the tempest, so beautiful yet terrific, I wandered on +with a hasty step. This noble war in the sky elevated my spirits; I +clasped my hands, and exclaimed aloud, "William, dear angel! this is +thy funeral, this thy dirge!" As I said these words, I perceived in the +gloom a figure which stole from behind a clump of trees near me; I +stood fixed, gazing intently: I could not be mistaken. A flash of +lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to +me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect more hideous +than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch, +the filthy daemon, to whom I had given life. What did he there? Could +he be (I shuddered at the conception) the murderer of my brother? No +sooner did that idea cross my imagination, than I became convinced of +its truth; my teeth chattered, and I was forced to lean against a tree +for support. The figure passed me quickly, and I lost it in the gloom. + +Nothing in human shape could have destroyed the fair child. HE was the +murderer! I could not doubt it. The mere presence of the idea was an +irresistible proof of the fact. I thought of pursuing the devil; but +it would have been in vain, for another flash discovered him to me +hanging among the rocks of the nearly perpendicular ascent of Mont +Saleve, a hill that bounds Plainpalais on the south. He soon reached +the summit, and disappeared. + +I remained motionless. The thunder ceased; but the rain still +continued, and the scene was enveloped in an impenetrable darkness. I +revolved in my mind the events which I had until now sought to forget: +the whole train of my progress toward the creation; the appearance of +the works of my own hands at my bedside; its departure. Two years had +now nearly elapsed since the night on which he first received life; and +was this his first crime? Alas! I had turned loose into the world a +depraved wretch, whose delight was in carnage and misery; had he not +murdered my brother? + +No one can conceive the anguish I suffered during the remainder of the +night, which I spent, cold and wet, in the open air. But I did not +feel the inconvenience of the weather; my imagination was busy in +scenes of evil and despair. I considered the being whom I had cast +among mankind, and endowed with the will and power to effect purposes +of horror, such as the deed which he had now done, nearly in the light +of my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave, and forced +to destroy all that was dear to me. + +Day dawned; and I directed my steps towards the town. The gates were +open, and I hastened to my father's house. My first thought was to +discover what I knew of the murderer, and cause instant pursuit to be +made. But I paused when I reflected on the story that I had to tell. A +being whom I myself had formed, and endued with life, had met me at +midnight among the precipices of an inaccessible mountain. I +remembered also the nervous fever with which I had been seized just at +the time that I dated my creation, and which would give an air of +delirium to a tale otherwise so utterly improbable. I well knew that +if any other had communicated such a relation to me, I should have +looked upon it as the ravings of insanity. Besides, the strange nature +of the animal would elude all pursuit, even if I were so far credited +as to persuade my relatives to commence it. And then of what use would +be pursuit? Who could arrest a creature capable of scaling the +overhanging sides of Mont Saleve? These reflections determined me, and +I resolved to remain silent. + +It was about five in the morning when I entered my father's house. I +told the servants not to disturb the family, and went into the library +to attend their usual hour of rising. + +Six years had elapsed, passed in a dream but for one indelible trace, +and I stood in the same place where I had last embraced my father +before my departure for Ingolstadt. Beloved and venerable parent! He +still remained to me. I gazed on the picture of my mother, which stood +over the mantel-piece. It was an historical subject, painted at my +father's desire, and represented Caroline Beaufort in an agony of +despair, kneeling by the coffin of her dead father. Her garb was +rustic, and her cheek pale; but there was an air of dignity and beauty, +that hardly permitted the sentiment of pity. Below this picture was a +miniature of William; and my tears flowed when I looked upon it. While +I was thus engaged, Ernest entered: he had heard me arrive, and +hastened to welcome me: "Welcome, my dearest Victor," said he. "Ah! I +wish you had come three months ago, and then you would have found us +all joyous and delighted. You come to us now to share a misery which +nothing can alleviate; yet your presence will, I hope, revive our +father, who seems sinking under his misfortune; and your persuasions +will induce poor Elizabeth to cease her vain and tormenting +self-accusations.--Poor William! he was our darling and our pride!" + +Tears, unrestrained, fell from my brother's eyes; a sense of mortal +agony crept over my frame. Before, I had only imagined the +wretchedness of my desolated home; the reality came on me as a new, and +a not less terrible, disaster. I tried to calm Ernest; I enquired more +minutely concerning my father, and here I named my cousin. + +"She most of all," said Ernest, "requires consolation; she accused +herself of having caused the death of my brother, and that made her +very wretched. But since the murderer has been discovered--" + +"The murderer discovered! Good God! how can that be? who could attempt +to pursue him? It is impossible; one might as well try to overtake the +winds, or confine a mountain-stream with a straw. I saw him too; he +was free last night!" + +"I do not know what you mean," replied my brother, in accents of +wonder, "but to us the discovery we have made completes our misery. No +one would believe it at first; and even now Elizabeth will not be +convinced, notwithstanding all the evidence. Indeed, who would credit +that Justine Moritz, who was so amiable, and fond of all the family, +could suddenly become so capable of so frightful, so appalling a crime?" + +"Justine Moritz! Poor, poor girl, is she the accused? But it is +wrongfully; every one knows that; no one believes it, surely, Ernest?" + +"No one did at first; but several circumstances came out, that have +almost forced conviction upon us; and her own behaviour has been so +confused, as to add to the evidence of facts a weight that, I fear, +leaves no hope for doubt. But she will be tried today, and you will +then hear all." + +He then related that, the morning on which the murder of poor William +had been discovered, Justine had been taken ill, and confined to her +bed for several days. During this interval, one of the servants, +happening to examine the apparel she had worn on the night of the +murder, had discovered in her pocket the picture of my mother, which +had been judged to be the temptation of the murderer. The servant +instantly showed it to one of the others, who, without saying a word to +any of the family, went to a magistrate; and, upon their deposition, +Justine was apprehended. On being charged with the fact, the poor girl +confirmed the suspicion in a great measure by her extreme confusion of +manner. + +This was a strange tale, but it did not shake my faith; and I replied +earnestly, "You are all mistaken; I know the murderer. Justine, poor, +good Justine, is innocent." + +At that instant my father entered. I saw unhappiness deeply impressed +on his countenance, but he endeavoured to welcome me cheerfully; and, +after we had exchanged our mournful greeting, would have introduced +some other topic than that of our disaster, had not Ernest exclaimed, +"Good God, papa! Victor says that he knows who was the murderer of +poor William." + +"We do also, unfortunately," replied my father, "for indeed I had +rather have been for ever ignorant than have discovered so much +depravity and ungratitude in one I valued so highly." + +"My dear father, you are mistaken; Justine is innocent." + +"If she is, God forbid that she should suffer as guilty. She is to be +tried today, and I hope, I sincerely hope, that she will be acquitted." + +This speech calmed me. I was firmly convinced in my own mind that +Justine, and indeed every human being, was guiltless of this murder. I +had no fear, therefore, that any circumstantial evidence could be +brought forward strong enough to convict her. My tale was not one to +announce publicly; its astounding horror would be looked upon as +madness by the vulgar. Did any one indeed exist, except I, the +creator, who would believe, unless his senses convinced him, in the +existence of the living monument of presumption and rash ignorance +which I had let loose upon the world? + +We were soon joined by Elizabeth. Time had altered her since I last +beheld her; it had endowed her with loveliness surpassing the beauty of +her childish years. There was the same candour, the same vivacity, but +it was allied to an expression more full of sensibility and intellect. +She welcomed me with the greatest affection. "Your arrival, my dear +cousin," said she, "fills me with hope. You perhaps will find some +means to justify my poor guiltless Justine. Alas! who is safe, if she +be convicted of crime? I rely on her innocence as certainly as I do +upon my own. Our misfortune is doubly hard to us; we have not only +lost that lovely darling boy, but this poor girl, whom I sincerely +love, is to be torn away by even a worse fate. If she is condemned, I +never shall know joy more. But she will not, I am sure she will not; +and then I shall be happy again, even after the sad death of my little +William." + +"She is innocent, my Elizabeth," said I, "and that shall be proved; +fear nothing, but let your spirits be cheered by the assurance of her +acquittal." + +"How kind and generous you are! every one else believes in her guilt, +and that made me wretched, for I knew that it was impossible: and to +see every one else prejudiced in so deadly a manner rendered me +hopeless and despairing." She wept. + +"Dearest niece," said my father, "dry your tears. If she is, as you +believe, innocent, rely on the justice of our laws, and the activity +with which I shall prevent the slightest shadow of partiality." + + + +Chapter 8 + +We passed a few sad hours until eleven o'clock, when the trial was to +commence. My father and the rest of the family being obliged to attend +as witnesses, I accompanied them to the court. During the whole of +this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture. It was to +be decided whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would +cause the death of two of my fellow beings: one a smiling babe full of +innocence and joy, the other far more dreadfully murdered, with every +aggravation of infamy that could make the murder memorable in horror. +Justine also was a girl of merit and possessed qualities which promised +to render her life happy; now all was to be obliterated in an +ignominious grave, and I the cause! A thousand times rather would I +have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I +was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have +been considered as the ravings of a madman and would not have +exculpated her who suffered through me. + +The appearance of Justine was calm. She was dressed in mourning, and +her countenance, always engaging, was rendered, by the solemnity of her +feelings, exquisitely beautiful. Yet she appeared confident in +innocence and did not tremble, although gazed on and execrated by +thousands, for all the kindness which her beauty might otherwise have +excited was obliterated in the minds of the spectators by the +imagination of the enormity she was supposed to have committed. She +was tranquil, yet her tranquillity was evidently constrained; and as +her confusion had before been adduced as a proof of her guilt, she +worked up her mind to an appearance of courage. When she entered the +court she threw her eyes round it and quickly discovered where we were +seated. A tear seemed to dim her eye when she saw us, but she quickly +recovered herself, and a look of sorrowful affection seemed to attest +her utter guiltlessness. + +The trial began, and after the advocate against her had stated the +charge, several witnesses were called. Several strange facts combined +against her, which might have staggered anyone who had not such proof +of her innocence as I had. She had been out the whole of the night on +which the murder had been committed and towards morning had been +perceived by a market-woman not far from the spot where the body of the +murdered child had been afterwards found. The woman asked her what she +did there, but she looked very strangely and only returned a confused +and unintelligible answer. She returned to the house about eight +o'clock, and when one inquired where she had passed the night, she +replied that she had been looking for the child and demanded earnestly +if anything had been heard concerning him. When shown the body, she +fell into violent hysterics and kept her bed for several days. The +picture was then produced which the servant had found in her pocket; +and when Elizabeth, in a faltering voice, proved that it was the same +which, an hour before the child had been missed, she had placed round +his neck, a murmur of horror and indignation filled the court. + +Justine was called on for her defence. As the trial had proceeded, her +countenance had altered. Surprise, horror, and misery were strongly +expressed. Sometimes she struggled with her tears, but when she was +desired to plead, she collected her powers and spoke in an audible +although variable voice. + +"God knows," she said, "how entirely I am innocent. But I do not +pretend that my protestations should acquit me; I rest my innocence on +a plain and simple explanation of the facts which have been adduced +against me, and I hope the character I have always borne will incline +my judges to a favourable interpretation where any circumstance appears +doubtful or suspicious." + +She then related that, by the permission of Elizabeth, she had passed +the evening of the night on which the murder had been committed at the +house of an aunt at Chene, a village situated at about a league from +Geneva. On her return, at about nine o'clock, she met a man who asked +her if she had seen anything of the child who was lost. She was +alarmed by this account and passed several hours in looking for him, +when the gates of Geneva were shut, and she was forced to remain +several hours of the night in a barn belonging to a cottage, being +unwilling to call up the inhabitants, to whom she was well known. Most +of the night she spent here watching; towards morning she believed that +she slept for a few minutes; some steps disturbed her, and she awoke. +It was dawn, and she quitted her asylum, that she might again endeavour +to find my brother. If she had gone near the spot where his body lay, +it was without her knowledge. That she had been bewildered when +questioned by the market-woman was not surprising, since she had passed +a sleepless night and the fate of poor William was yet uncertain. +Concerning the picture she could give no account. + +"I know," continued the unhappy victim, "how heavily and fatally this +one circumstance weighs against me, but I have no power of explaining +it; and when I have expressed my utter ignorance, I am only left to +conjecture concerning the probabilities by which it might have been +placed in my pocket. But here also I am checked. I believe that I +have no enemy on earth, and none surely would have been so wicked as to +destroy me wantonly. Did the murderer place it there? I know of no +opportunity afforded him for so doing; or, if I had, why should he have +stolen the jewel, to part with it again so soon? + +"I commit my cause to the justice of my judges, yet I see no room for +hope. I beg permission to have a few witnesses examined concerning my +character, and if their testimony shall not overweigh my supposed +guilt, I must be condemned, although I would pledge my salvation on my +innocence." + +Several witnesses were called who had known her for many years, and +they spoke well of her; but fear and hatred of the crime of which they +supposed her guilty rendered them timorous and unwilling to come +forward. Elizabeth saw even this last resource, her excellent +dispositions and irreproachable conduct, about to fail the accused, +when, although violently agitated, she desired permission to address +the court. + +"I am," said she, "the cousin of the unhappy child who was murdered, or +rather his sister, for I was educated by and have lived with his +parents ever since and even long before his birth. It may therefore be +judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion, but when I see +a fellow creature about to perish through the cowardice of her +pretended friends, I wish to be allowed to speak, that I may say what I +know of her character. I am well acquainted with the accused. I have +lived in the same house with her, at one time for five and at another +for nearly two years. During all that period she appeared to me the +most amiable and benevolent of human creatures. She nursed Madame +Frankenstein, my aunt, in her last illness, with the greatest affection +and care and afterwards attended her own mother during a tedious +illness, in a manner that excited the admiration of all who knew her, +after which she again lived in my uncle's house, where she was beloved +by all the family. She was warmly attached to the child who is now +dead and acted towards him like a most affectionate mother. For my own +part, I do not hesitate to say that, notwithstanding all the evidence +produced against her, I believe and rely on her perfect innocence. She +had no temptation for such an action; as to the bauble on which the +chief proof rests, if she had earnestly desired it, I should have +willingly given it to her, so much do I esteem and value her." + +A murmur of approbation followed Elizabeth's simple and powerful +appeal, but it was excited by her generous interference, and not in +favour of poor Justine, on whom the public indignation was turned with +renewed violence, charging her with the blackest ingratitude. She +herself wept as Elizabeth spoke, but she did not answer. My own +agitation and anguish was extreme during the whole trial. I believed +in her innocence; I knew it. Could the demon who had (I did not for a +minute doubt) murdered my brother also in his hellish sport have +betrayed the innocent to death and ignominy? I could not sustain the +horror of my situation, and when I perceived that the popular voice and +the countenances of the judges had already condemned my unhappy victim, +I rushed out of the court in agony. The tortures of the accused did +not equal mine; she was sustained by innocence, but the fangs of +remorse tore my bosom and would not forgo their hold. + +I passed a night of unmingled wretchedness. In the morning I went to +the court; my lips and throat were parched. I dared not ask the fatal +question, but I was known, and the officer guessed the cause of my +visit. The ballots had been thrown; they were all black, and Justine +was condemned. + +I cannot pretend to describe what I then felt. I had before +experienced sensations of horror, and I have endeavoured to bestow upon +them adequate expressions, but words cannot convey an idea of the +heart-sickening despair that I then endured. The person to whom I +addressed myself added that Justine had already confessed her guilt. +"That evidence," he observed, "was hardly required in so glaring a +case, but I am glad of it, and, indeed, none of our judges like to +condemn a criminal upon circumstantial evidence, be it ever so +decisive." + +This was strange and unexpected intelligence; what could it mean? Had +my eyes deceived me? And was I really as mad as the whole world would +believe me to be if I disclosed the object of my suspicions? I +hastened to return home, and Elizabeth eagerly demanded the result. + +"My cousin," replied I, "it is decided as you may have expected; all +judges had rather that ten innocent should suffer than that one guilty +should escape. But she has confessed." + +This was a dire blow to poor Elizabeth, who had relied with firmness +upon Justine's innocence. "Alas!" said she. "How shall I ever again +believe in human goodness? Justine, whom I loved and esteemed as my +sister, how could she put on those smiles of innocence only to betray? +Her mild eyes seemed incapable of any severity or guile, and yet she +has committed a murder." + +Soon after we heard that the poor victim had expressed a desire to see +my cousin. My father wished her not to go but said that he left it to +her own judgment and feelings to decide. "Yes," said Elizabeth, "I +will go, although she is guilty; and you, Victor, shall accompany me; I +cannot go alone." The idea of this visit was torture to me, yet I +could not refuse. We entered the gloomy prison chamber and beheld +Justine sitting on some straw at the farther end; her hands were +manacled, and her head rested on her knees. She rose on seeing us +enter, and when we were left alone with her, she threw herself at the +feet of Elizabeth, weeping bitterly. My cousin wept also. + +"Oh, Justine!" said she. "Why did you rob me of my last consolation? +I relied on your innocence, and although I was then very wretched, I +was not so miserable as I am now." + +"And do you also believe that I am so very, very wicked? Do you also +join with my enemies to crush me, to condemn me as a murderer?" Her +voice was suffocated with sobs. + +"Rise, my poor girl," said Elizabeth; "why do you kneel, if you are +innocent? I am not one of your enemies, I believed you guiltless, +notwithstanding every evidence, until I heard that you had yourself +declared your guilt. That report, you say, is false; and be assured, +dear Justine, that nothing can shake my confidence in you for a moment, +but your own confession." + +"I did confess, but I confessed a lie. I confessed, that I might +obtain absolution; but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart than +all my other sins. The God of heaven forgive me! Ever since I was +condemned, my confessor has besieged me; he threatened and menaced, +until I almost began to think that I was the monster that he said I +was. He threatened excommunication and hell fire in my last moments if +I continued obdurate. Dear lady, I had none to support me; all looked +on me as a wretch doomed to ignominy and perdition. What could I do? +In an evil hour I subscribed to a lie; and now only am I truly +miserable." + +She paused, weeping, and then continued, "I thought with horror, my +sweet lady, that you should believe your Justine, whom your blessed +aunt had so highly honoured, and whom you loved, was a creature capable +of a crime which none but the devil himself could have perpetrated. +Dear William! dearest blessed child! I soon shall see you again in +heaven, where we shall all be happy; and that consoles me, going as I +am to suffer ignominy and death." + +"Oh, Justine! Forgive me for having for one moment distrusted you. +Why did you confess? But do not mourn, dear girl. Do not fear. I +will proclaim, I will prove your innocence. I will melt the stony +hearts of your enemies by my tears and prayers. You shall not die! +You, my playfellow, my companion, my sister, perish on the scaffold! +No! No! I never could survive so horrible a misfortune." + +Justine shook her head mournfully. "I do not fear to die," she said; +"that pang is past. God raises my weakness and gives me courage to +endure the worst. I leave a sad and bitter world; and if you remember +me and think of me as of one unjustly condemned, I am resigned to the +fate awaiting me. Learn from me, dear lady, to submit in patience to +the will of heaven!" + +During this conversation I had retired to a corner of the prison room, +where I could conceal the horrid anguish that possessed me. Despair! +Who dared talk of that? The poor victim, who on the morrow was to pass +the awful boundary between life and death, felt not, as I did, such +deep and bitter agony. I gnashed my teeth and ground them together, +uttering a groan that came from my inmost soul. Justine started. When +she saw who it was, she approached me and said, "Dear sir, you are very +kind to visit me; you, I hope, do not believe that I am guilty?" + +I could not answer. "No, Justine," said Elizabeth; "he is more +convinced of your innocence than I was, for even when he heard that you +had confessed, he did not credit it." + +"I truly thank him. In these last moments I feel the sincerest +gratitude towards those who think of me with kindness. How sweet is +the affection of others to such a wretch as I am! It removes more than +half my misfortune, and I feel as if I could die in peace now that my +innocence is acknowledged by you, dear lady, and your cousin." + +Thus the poor sufferer tried to comfort others and herself. She indeed +gained the resignation she desired. But I, the true murderer, felt the +never-dying worm alive in my bosom, which allowed of no hope or +consolation. Elizabeth also wept and was unhappy, but hers also was +the misery of innocence, which, like a cloud that passes over the fair +moon, for a while hides but cannot tarnish its brightness. Anguish and +despair had penetrated into the core of my heart; I bore a hell within +me which nothing could extinguish. We stayed several hours with +Justine, and it was with great difficulty that Elizabeth could tear +herself away. "I wish," cried she, "that I were to die with you; I +cannot live in this world of misery." + +Justine assumed an air of cheerfulness, while she with difficulty +repressed her bitter tears. She embraced Elizabeth and said in a voice +of half-suppressed emotion, "Farewell, sweet lady, dearest Elizabeth, +my beloved and only friend; may heaven, in its bounty, bless and +preserve you; may this be the last misfortune that you will ever +suffer! Live, and be happy, and make others so." + +And on the morrow Justine died. Elizabeth's heart-rending eloquence +failed to move the judges from their settled conviction in the +criminality of the saintly sufferer. My passionate and indignant +appeals were lost upon them. And when I received their cold answers +and heard the harsh, unfeeling reasoning of these men, my purposed +avowal died away on my lips. Thus I might proclaim myself a madman, +but not revoke the sentence passed upon my wretched victim. She +perished on the scaffold as a murderess! + +From the tortures of my own heart, I turned to contemplate the deep and +voiceless grief of my Elizabeth. This also was my doing! And my +father's woe, and the desolation of that late so smiling home all was +the work of my thrice-accursed hands! Ye weep, unhappy ones, but these +are not your last tears! Again shall you raise the funeral wail, and +the sound of your lamentations shall again and again be heard! +Frankenstein, your son, your kinsman, your early, much-loved friend; he +who would spend each vital drop of blood for your sakes, who has no +thought nor sense of joy except as it is mirrored also in your dear +countenances, who would fill the air with blessings and spend his life +in serving you--he bids you weep, to shed countless tears; happy beyond +his hopes, if thus inexorable fate be satisfied, and if the destruction +pause before the peace of the grave have succeeded to your sad torments! + +Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, +I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and +Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts. + + + +Chapter 9 + +Nothing is more painful to the human mind than, after the feelings have +been worked up by a quick succession of events, the dead calmness of +inaction and certainty which follows and deprives the soul both of hope +and fear. Justine died, she rested, and I was alive. The blood flowed +freely in my veins, but a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my +heart which nothing could remove. Sleep fled from my eyes; I wandered +like an evil spirit, for I had committed deeds of mischief beyond +description horrible, and more, much more (I persuaded myself) was yet +behind. Yet my heart overflowed with kindness and the love of virtue. +I had begun life with benevolent intentions and thirsted for the moment +when I should put them in practice and make myself useful to my fellow +beings. Now all was blasted; instead of that serenity of conscience +which allowed me to look back upon the past with self-satisfaction, and +from thence to gather promise of new hopes, I was seized by remorse and +the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures +such as no language can describe. + +This state of mind preyed upon my health, which had perhaps never +entirely recovered from the first shock it had sustained. I shunned +the face of man; all sound of joy or complacency was torture to me; +solitude was my only consolation--deep, dark, deathlike solitude. + +My father observed with pain the alteration perceptible in my +disposition and habits and endeavoured by arguments deduced from the +feelings of his serene conscience and guiltless life to inspire me with +fortitude and awaken in me the courage to dispel the dark cloud which +brooded over me. "Do you think, Victor," said he, "that I do not +suffer also? No one could love a child more than I loved your +brother"--tears came into his eyes as he spoke--"but is it not a duty +to the survivors that we should refrain from augmenting their +unhappiness by an appearance of immoderate grief? It is also a duty +owed to yourself, for excessive sorrow prevents improvement or +enjoyment, or even the discharge of daily usefulness, without which no +man is fit for society." + +This advice, although good, was totally inapplicable to my case; I +should have been the first to hide my grief and console my friends if +remorse had not mingled its bitterness, and terror its alarm, with my +other sensations. Now I could only answer my father with a look of +despair and endeavour to hide myself from his view. + +About this time we retired to our house at Belrive. This change was +particularly agreeable to me. The shutting of the gates regularly at +ten o'clock and the impossibility of remaining on the lake after that +hour had rendered our residence within the walls of Geneva very irksome +to me. I was now free. Often, after the rest of the family had +retired for the night, I took the boat and passed many hours upon the +water. Sometimes, with my sails set, I was carried by the wind; and +sometimes, after rowing into the middle of the lake, I left the boat to +pursue its own course and gave way to my own miserable reflections. I +was often tempted, when all was at peace around me, and I the only +unquiet thing that wandered restless in a scene so beautiful and +heavenly--if I except some bat, or the frogs, whose harsh and +interrupted croaking was heard only when I approached the shore--often, +I say, I was tempted to plunge into the silent lake, that the waters +might close over me and my calamities forever. But I was restrained, +when I thought of the heroic and suffering Elizabeth, whom I tenderly +loved, and whose existence was bound up in mine. I thought also of my +father and surviving brother; should I by my base desertion leave them +exposed and unprotected to the malice of the fiend whom I had let loose +among them? + +At these moments I wept bitterly and wished that peace would revisit my +mind only that I might afford them consolation and happiness. But that +could not be. Remorse extinguished every hope. I had been the author +of unalterable evils, and I lived in daily fear lest the monster whom I +had created should perpetrate some new wickedness. I had an obscure +feeling that all was not over and that he would still commit some +signal crime, which by its enormity should almost efface the +recollection of the past. There was always scope for fear so long as +anything I loved remained behind. My abhorrence of this fiend cannot +be conceived. When I thought of him I gnashed my teeth, my eyes became +inflamed, and I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so +thoughtlessly bestowed. When I reflected on his crimes and malice, my +hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation. I would have made a +pilgrimage to the highest peak of the Andes, could I when there have +precipitated him to their base. I wished to see him again, that I +might wreak the utmost extent of abhorrence on his head and avenge the +deaths of William and Justine. Our house was the house of mourning. My +father's health was deeply shaken by the horror of the recent events. +Elizabeth was sad and desponding; she no longer took delight in her +ordinary occupations; all pleasure seemed to her sacrilege toward the +dead; eternal woe and tears she then thought was the just tribute she +should pay to innocence so blasted and destroyed. She was no longer +that happy creature who in earlier youth wandered with me on the banks +of the lake and talked with ecstasy of our future prospects. The first +of those sorrows which are sent to wean us from the earth had visited +her, and its dimming influence quenched her dearest smiles. + +"When I reflect, my dear cousin," said she, "on the miserable death of +Justine Moritz, I no longer see the world and its works as they before +appeared to me. Before, I looked upon the accounts of vice and +injustice that I read in books or heard from others as tales of ancient +days or imaginary evils; at least they were remote and more familiar to +reason than to the imagination; but now misery has come home, and men +appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other's blood. Yet I am +certainly unjust. Everybody believed that poor girl to be guilty; and +if she could have committed the crime for which she suffered, assuredly +she would have been the most depraved of human creatures. For the sake +of a few jewels, to have murdered the son of her benefactor and friend, +a child whom she had nursed from its birth, and appeared to love as if +it had been her own! I could not consent to the death of any human +being, but certainly I should have thought such a creature unfit to +remain in the society of men. But she was innocent. I know, I feel +she was innocent; you are of the same opinion, and that confirms me. +Alas! Victor, when falsehood can look so like the truth, who can +assure themselves of certain happiness? I feel as if I were walking on +the edge of a precipice, towards which thousands are crowding and +endeavouring to plunge me into the abyss. William and Justine were +assassinated, and the murderer escapes; he walks about the world free, +and perhaps respected. But even if I were condemned to suffer on the +scaffold for the same crimes, I would not change places with such a +wretch." + +I listened to this discourse with the extremest agony. I, not in deed, +but in effect, was the true murderer. Elizabeth read my anguish in my +countenance, and kindly taking my hand, said, "My dearest friend, you +must calm yourself. These events have affected me, God knows how +deeply; but I am not so wretched as you are. There is an expression of +despair, and sometimes of revenge, in your countenance that makes me +tremble. Dear Victor, banish these dark passions. Remember the +friends around you, who centre all their hopes in you. Have we lost +the power of rendering you happy? Ah! While we love, while we are +true to each other, here in this land of peace and beauty, your native +country, we may reap every tranquil blessing--what can disturb our +peace?" + +And could not such words from her whom I fondly prized before every +other gift of fortune suffice to chase away the fiend that lurked in my +heart? Even as she spoke I drew near to her, as if in terror, lest at +that very moment the destroyer had been near to rob me of her. + +Thus not the tenderness of friendship, nor the beauty of earth, nor of +heaven, could redeem my soul from woe; the very accents of love were +ineffectual. I was encompassed by a cloud which no beneficial +influence could penetrate. The wounded deer dragging its fainting +limbs to some untrodden brake, there to gaze upon the arrow which had +pierced it, and to die, was but a type of me. + +Sometimes I could cope with the sullen despair that overwhelmed me, but +sometimes the whirlwind passions of my soul drove me to seek, by bodily +exercise and by change of place, some relief from my intolerable +sensations. It was during an access of this kind that I suddenly left +my home, and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought +in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and +my ephemeral, because human, sorrows. My wanderings were directed +towards the valley of Chamounix. I had visited it frequently during my +boyhood. Six years had passed since then: _I_ was a wreck, but nought +had changed in those savage and enduring scenes. + +I performed the first part of my journey on horseback. I afterwards +hired a mule, as the more sure-footed and least liable to receive +injury on these rugged roads. The weather was fine; it was about the +middle of the month of August, nearly two months after the death of +Justine, that miserable epoch from which I dated all my woe. The +weight upon my spirit was sensibly lightened as I plunged yet deeper in +the ravine of Arve. The immense mountains and precipices that overhung +me on every side, the sound of the river raging among the rocks, and +the dashing of the waterfalls around spoke of a power mighty as +Omnipotence--and I ceased to fear or to bend before any being less +almighty than that which had created and ruled the elements, here +displayed in their most terrific guise. Still, as I ascended higher, +the valley assumed a more magnificent and astonishing character. +Ruined castles hanging on the precipices of piny mountains, the +impetuous Arve, and cottages every here and there peeping forth from +among the trees formed a scene of singular beauty. But it was +augmented and rendered sublime by the mighty Alps, whose white and +shining pyramids and domes towered above all, as belonging to another +earth, the habitations of another race of beings. + +I passed the bridge of Pelissier, where the ravine, which the river +forms, opened before me, and I began to ascend the mountain that +overhangs it. Soon after, I entered the valley of Chamounix. This +valley is more wonderful and sublime, but not so beautiful and +picturesque as that of Servox, through which I had just passed. The +high and snowy mountains were its immediate boundaries, but I saw no +more ruined castles and fertile fields. Immense glaciers approached +the road; I heard the rumbling thunder of the falling avalanche and +marked the smoke of its passage. Mont Blanc, the supreme and +magnificent Mont Blanc, raised itself from the surrounding aiguilles, +and its tremendous dome overlooked the valley. + +A tingling long-lost sense of pleasure often came across me during this +journey. Some turn in the road, some new object suddenly perceived and +recognized, reminded me of days gone by, and were associated with the +lighthearted gaiety of boyhood. The very winds whispered in soothing +accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more. Then again the +kindly influence ceased to act--I found myself fettered again to grief +and indulging in all the misery of reflection. Then I spurred on my +animal, striving so to forget the world, my fears, and more than all, +myself--or, in a more desperate fashion, I alighted and threw myself on +the grass, weighed down by horror and despair. + +At length I arrived at the village of Chamounix. Exhaustion succeeded +to the extreme fatigue both of body and of mind which I had endured. +For a short space of time I remained at the window watching the pallid +lightnings that played above Mont Blanc and listening to the rushing of +the Arve, which pursued its noisy way beneath. The same lulling sounds +acted as a lullaby to my too keen sensations; when I placed my head +upon my pillow, sleep crept over me; I felt it as it came and blessed +the giver of oblivion. + + + +Chapter 10 + +I spent the following day roaming through the valley. I stood beside +the sources of the Arveiron, which take their rise in a glacier, that +with slow pace is advancing down from the summit of the hills to +barricade the valley. The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before +me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were +scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious +presence-chamber of imperial nature was broken only by the brawling +waves or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the +avalanche or the cracking, reverberated along the mountains, of the +accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, +was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in +their hands. These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the +greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving. They elevated me +from all littleness of feeling, and although they did not remove my +grief, they subdued and tranquillized it. In some degree, also, they +diverted my mind from the thoughts over which it had brooded for the +last month. I retired to rest at night; my slumbers, as it were, +waited on and ministered to by the assemblance of grand shapes which I +had contemplated during the day. They congregated round me; the +unstained snowy mountain-top, the glittering pinnacle, the pine woods, +and ragged bare ravine, the eagle, soaring amidst the clouds--they all +gathered round me and bade me be at peace. + +Where had they fled when the next morning I awoke? All of +soul-inspiriting fled with sleep, and dark melancholy clouded every +thought. The rain was pouring in torrents, and thick mists hid the +summits of the mountains, so that I even saw not the faces of those +mighty friends. Still I would penetrate their misty veil and seek them +in their cloudy retreats. What were rain and storm to me? My mule was +brought to the door, and I resolved to ascend to the summit of +Montanvert. I remembered the effect that the view of the tremendous +and ever-moving glacier had produced upon my mind when I first saw it. +It had then filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the +soul and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy. +The sight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always the +effect of solemnizing my mind and causing me to forget the passing +cares of life. I determined to go without a guide, for I was well +acquainted with the path, and the presence of another would destroy the +solitary grandeur of the scene. + +The ascent is precipitous, but the path is cut into continual and short +windings, which enable you to surmount the perpendicularity of the +mountain. It is a scene terrifically desolate. In a thousand spots +the traces of the winter avalanche may be perceived, where trees lie +broken and strewed on the ground, some entirely destroyed, others bent, +leaning upon the jutting rocks of the mountain or transversely upon +other trees. The path, as you ascend higher, is intersected by ravines +of snow, down which stones continually roll from above; one of them is +particularly dangerous, as the slightest sound, such as even speaking +in a loud voice, produces a concussion of air sufficient to draw +destruction upon the head of the speaker. The pines are not tall or +luxuriant, but they are sombre and add an air of severity to the scene. +I looked on the valley beneath; vast mists were rising from the rivers +which ran through it and curling in thick wreaths around the opposite +mountains, whose summits were hid in the uniform clouds, while rain +poured from the dark sky and added to the melancholy impression I +received from the objects around me. Alas! Why does man boast of +sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute; it only renders +them more necessary beings. If our impulses were confined to hunger, +thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved by +every wind that blows and a chance word or scene that that word may +convey to us. + + + We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep. + We rise; one wand'ring thought pollutes the day. + We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep, + Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away; + It is the same: for, be it joy or sorrow, + The path of its departure still is free. + Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow; + Nought may endure but mutability! + + +It was nearly noon when I arrived at the top of the ascent. For some +time I sat upon the rock that overlooks the sea of ice. A mist covered +both that and the surrounding mountains. Presently a breeze dissipated +the cloud, and I descended upon the glacier. The surface is very +uneven, rising like the waves of a troubled sea, descending low, and +interspersed by rifts that sink deep. The field of ice is almost a +league in width, but I spent nearly two hours in crossing it. The +opposite mountain is a bare perpendicular rock. From the side where I +now stood Montanvert was exactly opposite, at the distance of a league; +and above it rose Mont Blanc, in awful majesty. I remained in a recess +of the rock, gazing on this wonderful and stupendous scene. The sea, +or rather the vast river of ice, wound among its dependent mountains, +whose aerial summits hung over its recesses. Their icy and glittering +peaks shone in the sunlight over the clouds. My heart, which was +before sorrowful, now swelled with something like joy; I exclaimed, +"Wandering spirits, if indeed ye wander, and do not rest in your narrow +beds, allow me this faint happiness, or take me, as your companion, +away from the joys of life." + +As I said this I suddenly beheld the figure of a man, at some distance, +advancing towards me with superhuman speed. He bounded over the +crevices in the ice, among which I had walked with caution; his +stature, also, as he approached, seemed to exceed that of man. I was +troubled; a mist came over my eyes, and I felt a faintness seize me, +but I was quickly restored by the cold gale of the mountains. I +perceived, as the shape came nearer (sight tremendous and abhorred!) +that it was the wretch whom I had created. I trembled with rage and +horror, resolving to wait his approach and then close with him in +mortal combat. He approached; his countenance bespoke bitter anguish, +combined with disdain and malignity, while its unearthly ugliness +rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes. But I scarcely +observed this; rage and hatred had at first deprived me of utterance, +and I recovered only to overwhelm him with words expressive of furious +detestation and contempt. + +"Devil," I exclaimed, "do you dare approach me? And do not you fear +the fierce vengeance of my arm wreaked on your miserable head? Begone, +vile insect! Or rather, stay, that I may trample you to dust! And, +oh! That I could, with the extinction of your miserable existence, +restore those victims whom you have so diabolically murdered!" + +"I expected this reception," said the daemon. "All men hate the +wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all +living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, +to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of +one of us. You purpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life? +Do your duty towards me, and I will do mine towards you and the rest of +mankind. If you will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and +you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it +be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends." + +"Abhorred monster! Fiend that thou art! The tortures of hell are too +mild a vengeance for thy crimes. Wretched devil! You reproach me with +your creation, come on, then, that I may extinguish the spark which I +so negligently bestowed." + +My rage was without bounds; I sprang on him, impelled by all the +feelings which can arm one being against the existence of another. + +He easily eluded me and said, + +"Be calm! I entreat you to hear me before you give vent to your hatred +on my devoted head. Have I not suffered enough, that you seek to +increase my misery? Life, although it may only be an accumulation of +anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it. Remember, thou hast made +me more powerful than thyself; my height is superior to thine, my +joints more supple. But I will not be tempted to set myself in +opposition to thee. I am thy creature, and I will be even mild and +docile to my natural lord and king if thou wilt also perform thy part, +the which thou owest me. Oh, Frankenstein, be not equitable to every +other and trample upon me alone, to whom thy justice, and even thy +clemency and affection, is most due. Remember that I am thy creature; +I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou +drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I +alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made +me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous." + +"Begone! I will not hear you. There can be no community between you +and me; we are enemies. Begone, or let us try our strength in a fight, +in which one must fall." + +"How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a +favourable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and +compassion? Believe me, Frankenstein, I was benevolent; my soul glowed +with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my +creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow creatures, +who owe me nothing? They spurn and hate me. The desert mountains and +dreary glaciers are my refuge. I have wandered here many days; the +caves of ice, which I only do not fear, are a dwelling to me, and the +only one which man does not grudge. These bleak skies I hail, for they +are kinder to me than your fellow beings. If the multitude of mankind +knew of my existence, they would do as you do, and arm themselves for +my destruction. Shall I not then hate them who abhor me? I will keep +no terms with my enemies. I am miserable, and they shall share my +wretchedness. Yet it is in your power to recompense me, and deliver +them from an evil which it only remains for you to make so great, that +not only you and your family, but thousands of others, shall be +swallowed up in the whirlwinds of its rage. Let your compassion be +moved, and do not disdain me. Listen to my tale; when you have heard +that, abandon or commiserate me, as you shall judge that I deserve. +But hear me. The guilty are allowed, by human laws, bloody as they +are, to speak in their own defence before they are condemned. Listen +to me, Frankenstein. You accuse me of murder, and yet you would, with +a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature. Oh, praise the +eternal justice of man! Yet I ask you not to spare me; listen to me, +and then, if you can, and if you will, destroy the work of your hands." + +"Why do you call to my remembrance," I rejoined, "circumstances of +which I shudder to reflect, that I have been the miserable origin and +author? Cursed be the day, abhorred devil, in which you first saw +light! Cursed (although I curse myself) be the hands that formed you! +You have made me wretched beyond expression. You have left me no power +to consider whether I am just to you or not. Begone! Relieve me from +the sight of your detested form." + +"Thus I relieve thee, my creator," he said, and placed his hated hands +before my eyes, which I flung from me with violence; "thus I take from +thee a sight which you abhor. Still thou canst listen to me and grant +me thy compassion. By the virtues that I once possessed, I demand this +from you. Hear my tale; it is long and strange, and the temperature of +this place is not fitting to your fine sensations; come to the hut upon +the mountain. The sun is yet high in the heavens; before it descends +to hide itself behind your snowy precipices and illuminate another +world, you will have heard my story and can decide. On you it rests, +whether I quit forever the neighbourhood of man and lead a harmless +life, or become the scourge of your fellow creatures and the author of +your own speedy ruin." + +As he said this he led the way across the ice; I followed. My heart +was full, and I did not answer him, but as I proceeded, I weighed the +various arguments that he had used and determined at least to listen to +his tale. I was partly urged by curiosity, and compassion confirmed my +resolution. I had hitherto supposed him to be the murderer of my +brother, and I eagerly sought a confirmation or denial of this opinion. +For the first time, also, I felt what the duties of a creator towards +his creature were, and that I ought to render him happy before I +complained of his wickedness. These motives urged me to comply with +his demand. We crossed the ice, therefore, and ascended the opposite +rock. The air was cold, and the rain again began to descend; we +entered the hut, the fiend with an air of exultation, I with a heavy +heart and depressed spirits. But I consented to listen, and seating +myself by the fire which my odious companion had lighted, he thus began +his tale. + + + +Chapter 11 + +"It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of +my being; all the events of that period appear confused and indistinct. +A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, +and smelt at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I +learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses. By +degrees, I remember, a stronger light pressed upon my nerves, so that I +was obliged to shut my eyes. Darkness then came over me and troubled +me, but hardly had I felt this when, by opening my eyes, as I now +suppose, the light poured in upon me again. I walked and, I believe, +descended, but I presently found a great alteration in my sensations. +Before, dark and opaque bodies had surrounded me, impervious to my +touch or sight; but I now found that I could wander on at liberty, with +no obstacles which I could not either surmount or avoid. The light +became more and more oppressive to me, and the heat wearying me as I +walked, I sought a place where I could receive shade. This was the +forest near Ingolstadt; and here I lay by the side of a brook resting +from my fatigue, until I felt tormented by hunger and thirst. This +roused me from my nearly dormant state, and I ate some berries which I +found hanging on the trees or lying on the ground. I slaked my thirst +at the brook, and then lying down, was overcome by sleep. + +"It was dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half frightened, as it +were, instinctively, finding myself so desolate. Before I had quitted +your apartment, on a sensation of cold, I had covered myself with some +clothes, but these were insufficient to secure me from the dews of +night. I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could +distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat +down and wept. + +"Soon a gentle light stole over the heavens and gave me a sensation of +pleasure. I started up and beheld a radiant form rise from among the +trees. [The moon] I gazed with a kind of wonder. It moved slowly, +but it enlightened my path, and I again went out in search of berries. +I was still cold when under one of the trees I found a huge cloak, with +which I covered myself, and sat down upon the ground. No distinct +ideas occupied my mind; all was confused. I felt light, and hunger, +and thirst, and darkness; innumerable sounds rang in my ears, and on +all sides various scents saluted me; the only object that I could +distinguish was the bright moon, and I fixed my eyes on that with +pleasure. + +"Several changes of day and night passed, and the orb of night had +greatly lessened, when I began to distinguish my sensations from each +other. I gradually saw plainly the clear stream that supplied me with +drink and the trees that shaded me with their foliage. I was delighted +when I first discovered that a pleasant sound, which often saluted my +ears, proceeded from the throats of the little winged animals who had +often intercepted the light from my eyes. I began also to observe, +with greater accuracy, the forms that surrounded me and to perceive the +boundaries of the radiant roof of light which canopied me. Sometimes I +tried to imitate the pleasant songs of the birds but was unable. +Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the +uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into +silence again. + +"The moon had disappeared from the night, and again, with a lessened +form, showed itself, while I still remained in the forest. My +sensations had by this time become distinct, and my mind received every +day additional ideas. My eyes became accustomed to the light and to +perceive objects in their right forms; I distinguished the insect from +the herb, and by degrees, one herb from another. I found that the +sparrow uttered none but harsh notes, whilst those of the blackbird and +thrush were sweet and enticing. + +"One day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been +left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome with delight at the +warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live +embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain. How strange, +I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite effects! I +examined the materials of the fire, and to my joy found it to be +composed of wood. I quickly collected some branches, but they were wet +and would not burn. I was pained at this and sat still watching the +operation of the fire. The wet wood which I had placed near the heat +dried and itself became inflamed. I reflected on this, and by touching +the various branches, I discovered the cause and busied myself in +collecting a great quantity of wood, that I might dry it and have a +plentiful supply of fire. When night came on and brought sleep with +it, I was in the greatest fear lest my fire should be extinguished. I +covered it carefully with dry wood and leaves and placed wet branches +upon it; and then, spreading my cloak, I lay on the ground and sank +into sleep. + +"It was morning when I awoke, and my first care was to visit the fire. +I uncovered it, and a gentle breeze quickly fanned it into a flame. I +observed this also and contrived a fan of branches, which roused the +embers when they were nearly extinguished. When night came again I +found, with pleasure, that the fire gave light as well as heat and that +the discovery of this element was useful to me in my food, for I found +some of the offals that the travellers had left had been roasted, and +tasted much more savoury than the berries I gathered from the trees. I +tried, therefore, to dress my food in the same manner, placing it on +the live embers. I found that the berries were spoiled by this +operation, and the nuts and roots much improved. + +"Food, however, became scarce, and I often spent the whole day +searching in vain for a few acorns to assuage the pangs of hunger. When +I found this, I resolved to quit the place that I had hitherto +inhabited, to seek for one where the few wants I experienced would be +more easily satisfied. In this emigration I exceedingly lamented the +loss of the fire which I had obtained through accident and knew not how +to reproduce it. I gave several hours to the serious consideration of +this difficulty, but I was obliged to relinquish all attempt to supply +it, and wrapping myself up in my cloak, I struck across the wood +towards the setting sun. I passed three days in these rambles and at +length discovered the open country. A great fall of snow had taken +place the night before, and the fields were of one uniform white; the +appearance was disconsolate, and I found my feet chilled by the cold +damp substance that covered the ground. + +"It was about seven in the morning, and I longed to obtain food and +shelter; at length I perceived a small hut, on a rising ground, which +had doubtless been built for the convenience of some shepherd. This +was a new sight to me, and I examined the structure with great +curiosity. Finding the door open, I entered. An old man sat in it, +near a fire, over which he was preparing his breakfast. He turned on +hearing a noise, and perceiving me, shrieked loudly, and quitting the +hut, ran across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated form +hardly appeared capable. His appearance, different from any I had ever +before seen, and his flight somewhat surprised me. But I was enchanted +by the appearance of the hut; here the snow and rain could not +penetrate; the ground was dry; and it presented to me then as exquisite +and divine a retreat as Pandemonium appeared to the demons of hell +after their sufferings in the lake of fire. I greedily devoured the +remnants of the shepherd's breakfast, which consisted of bread, cheese, +milk, and wine; the latter, however, I did not like. Then, overcome by +fatigue, I lay down among some straw and fell asleep. + +"It was noon when I awoke, and allured by the warmth of the sun, which +shone brightly on the white ground, I determined to recommence my +travels; and, depositing the remains of the peasant's breakfast in a +wallet I found, I proceeded across the fields for several hours, until +at sunset I arrived at a village. How miraculous did this appear! The +huts, the neater cottages, and stately houses engaged my admiration by +turns. The vegetables in the gardens, the milk and cheese that I saw +placed at the windows of some of the cottages, allured my appetite. One +of the best of these I entered, but I had hardly placed my foot within +the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. +The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, +grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I +escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, +quite bare, and making a wretched appearance after the palaces I had +beheld in the village. This hovel however, joined a cottage of a neat +and pleasant appearance, but after my late dearly bought experience, I +dared not enter it. My place of refuge was constructed of wood, but so +low that I could with difficulty sit upright in it. No wood, however, +was placed on the earth, which formed the floor, but it was dry; and +although the wind entered it by innumerable chinks, I found it an +agreeable asylum from the snow and rain. + +"Here, then, I retreated and lay down happy to have found a shelter, +however miserable, from the inclemency of the season, and still more +from the barbarity of man. As soon as morning dawned I crept from my +kennel, that I might view the adjacent cottage and discover if I could +remain in the habitation I had found. It was situated against the back +of the cottage and surrounded on the sides which were exposed by a pig +sty and a clear pool of water. One part was open, and by that I had +crept in; but now I covered every crevice by which I might be perceived +with stones and wood, yet in such a manner that I might move them on +occasion to pass out; all the light I enjoyed came through the sty, and +that was sufficient for me. + +"Having thus arranged my dwelling and carpeted it with clean straw, I +retired, for I saw the figure of a man at a distance, and I remembered +too well my treatment the night before to trust myself in his power. I +had first, however, provided for my sustenance for that day by a loaf +of coarse bread, which I purloined, and a cup with which I could drink +more conveniently than from my hand of the pure water which flowed by +my retreat. The floor was a little raised, so that it was kept +perfectly dry, and by its vicinity to the chimney of the cottage it was +tolerably warm. + +"Being thus provided, I resolved to reside in this hovel until +something should occur which might alter my determination. It was +indeed a paradise compared to the bleak forest, my former residence, +the rain-dropping branches, and dank earth. I ate my breakfast with +pleasure and was about to remove a plank to procure myself a little +water when I heard a step, and looking through a small chink, I beheld +a young creature, with a pail on her head, passing before my hovel. The +girl was young and of gentle demeanour, unlike what I have since found +cottagers and farmhouse servants to be. Yet she was meanly dressed, a +coarse blue petticoat and a linen jacket being her only garb; her fair +hair was plaited but not adorned: she looked patient yet sad. I lost +sight of her, and in about a quarter of an hour she returned bearing +the pail, which was now partly filled with milk. As she walked along, +seemingly incommoded by the burden, a young man met her, whose +countenance expressed a deeper despondence. Uttering a few sounds with +an air of melancholy, he took the pail from her head and bore it to the +cottage himself. She followed, and they disappeared. Presently I saw +the young man again, with some tools in his hand, cross the field +behind the cottage; and the girl was also busied, sometimes in the +house and sometimes in the yard. + +"On examining my dwelling, I found that one of the windows of the +cottage had formerly occupied a part of it, but the panes had been +filled up with wood. In one of these was a small and almost +imperceptible chink through which the eye could just penetrate. +Through this crevice a small room was visible, whitewashed and clean +but very bare of furniture. In one corner, near a small fire, sat an +old man, leaning his head on his hands in a disconsolate attitude. The +young girl was occupied in arranging the cottage; but presently she +took something out of a drawer, which employed her hands, and she sat +down beside the old man, who, taking up an instrument, began to play +and to produce sounds sweeter than the voice of the thrush or the +nightingale. It was a lovely sight, even to me, poor wretch who had +never beheld aught beautiful before. The silver hair and benevolent +countenance of the aged cottager won my reverence, while the gentle +manners of the girl enticed my love. He played a sweet mournful air +which I perceived drew tears from the eyes of his amiable companion, of +which the old man took no notice, until she sobbed audibly; he then +pronounced a few sounds, and the fair creature, leaving her work, knelt +at his feet. He raised her and smiled with such kindness and affection +that I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature; they were +a mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced, +either from hunger or cold, warmth or food; and I withdrew from the +window, unable to bear these emotions. + +"Soon after this the young man returned, bearing on his shoulders a +load of wood. The girl met him at the door, helped to relieve him of +his burden, and taking some of the fuel into the cottage, placed it on +the fire; then she and the youth went apart into a nook of the cottage, +and he showed her a large loaf and a piece of cheese. She seemed +pleased and went into the garden for some roots and plants, which she +placed in water, and then upon the fire. She afterwards continued her +work, whilst the young man went into the garden and appeared busily +employed in digging and pulling up roots. After he had been employed +thus about an hour, the young woman joined him and they entered the +cottage together. + +"The old man had, in the meantime, been pensive, but on the appearance +of his companions he assumed a more cheerful air, and they sat down to +eat. The meal was quickly dispatched. The young woman was again +occupied in arranging the cottage, the old man walked before the +cottage in the sun for a few minutes, leaning on the arm of the youth. +Nothing could exceed in beauty the contrast between these two excellent +creatures. One was old, with silver hairs and a countenance beaming +with benevolence and love; the younger was slight and graceful in his +figure, and his features were moulded with the finest symmetry, yet his +eyes and attitude expressed the utmost sadness and despondency. The +old man returned to the cottage, and the youth, with tools different +from those he had used in the morning, directed his steps across the +fields. + +"Night quickly shut in, but to my extreme wonder, I found that the +cottagers had a means of prolonging light by the use of tapers, and was +delighted to find that the setting of the sun did not put an end to the +pleasure I experienced in watching my human neighbours. In the evening +the young girl and her companion were employed in various occupations +which I did not understand; and the old man again took up the +instrument which produced the divine sounds that had enchanted me in +the morning. So soon as he had finished, the youth began, not to play, +but to utter sounds that were monotonous, and neither resembling the +harmony of the old man's instrument nor the songs of the birds; I since +found that he read aloud, but at that time I knew nothing of the +science of words or letters. + +"The family, after having been thus occupied for a short time, +extinguished their lights and retired, as I conjectured, to rest." + + + +Chapter 12 + +"I lay on my straw, but I could not sleep. I thought of the +occurrences of the day. What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners +of these people, and I longed to join them, but dared not. I +remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from +the barbarous villagers, and resolved, whatever course of conduct I +might hereafter think it right to pursue, that for the present I would +remain quietly in my hovel, watching and endeavouring to discover the +motives which influenced their actions. + +"The cottagers arose the next morning before the sun. The young woman +arranged the cottage and prepared the food, and the youth departed +after the first meal. + +"This day was passed in the same routine as that which preceded it. +The young man was constantly employed out of doors, and the girl in +various laborious occupations within. The old man, whom I soon +perceived to be blind, employed his leisure hours on his instrument or +in contemplation. Nothing could exceed the love and respect which the +younger cottagers exhibited towards their venerable companion. They +performed towards him every little office of affection and duty with +gentleness, and he rewarded them by his benevolent smiles. + +"They were not entirely happy. The young man and his companion often +went apart and appeared to weep. I saw no cause for their unhappiness, +but I was deeply affected by it. If such lovely creatures were +miserable, it was less strange that I, an imperfect and solitary being, +should be wretched. Yet why were these gentle beings unhappy? They +possessed a delightful house (for such it was in my eyes) and every +luxury; they had a fire to warm them when chill and delicious viands +when hungry; they were dressed in excellent clothes; and, still more, +they enjoyed one another's company and speech, interchanging each day +looks of affection and kindness. What did their tears imply? Did they +really express pain? I was at first unable to solve these questions, +but perpetual attention and time explained to me many appearances which +were at first enigmatic. + +"A considerable period elapsed before I discovered one of the causes of +the uneasiness of this amiable family: it was poverty, and they +suffered that evil in a very distressing degree. Their nourishment +consisted entirely of the vegetables of their garden and the milk of +one cow, which gave very little during the winter, when its masters +could scarcely procure food to support it. They often, I believe, +suffered the pangs of hunger very poignantly, especially the two +younger cottagers, for several times they placed food before the old +man when they reserved none for themselves. + +"This trait of kindness moved me sensibly. I had been accustomed, +during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own +consumption, but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on +the cottagers, I abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and +roots which I gathered from a neighbouring wood. + +"I discovered also another means through which I was enabled to assist +their labours. I found that the youth spent a great part of each day +in collecting wood for the family fire, and during the night I often +took his tools, the use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home +firing sufficient for the consumption of several days. + +"I remember, the first time that I did this, the young woman, when she +opened the door in the morning, appeared greatly astonished on seeing a +great pile of wood on the outside. She uttered some words in a loud +voice, and the youth joined her, who also expressed surprise. I +observed, with pleasure, that he did not go to the forest that day, but +spent it in repairing the cottage and cultivating the garden. + +"By degrees I made a discovery of still greater moment. I found that +these people possessed a method of communicating their experience and +feelings to one another by articulate sounds. I perceived that the +words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or +sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers. This was indeed +a godlike science, and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it. +But I was baffled in every attempt I made for this purpose. Their +pronunciation was quick, and the words they uttered, not having any +apparent connection with visible objects, I was unable to discover any +clue by which I could unravel the mystery of their reference. By great +application, however, and after having remained during the space of +several revolutions of the moon in my hovel, I discovered the names +that were given to some of the most familiar objects of discourse; I +learned and applied the words, 'fire,' 'milk,' 'bread,' and 'wood.' I +learned also the names of the cottagers themselves. The youth and his +companion had each of them several names, but the old man had only one, +which was 'father.' The girl was called 'sister' or 'Agatha,' and the +youth 'Felix,' 'brother,' or 'son.' I cannot describe the delight I +felt when I learned the ideas appropriated to each of these sounds and +was able to pronounce them. I distinguished several other words +without being able as yet to understand or apply them, such as 'good,' +'dearest,' 'unhappy.' + +"I spent the winter in this manner. The gentle manners and beauty of +the cottagers greatly endeared them to me; when they were unhappy, I +felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys. I saw +few human beings besides them, and if any other happened to enter the +cottage, their harsh manners and rude gait only enhanced to me the +superior accomplishments of my friends. The old man, I could perceive, +often endeavoured to encourage his children, as sometimes I found that +he called them, to cast off their melancholy. He would talk in a +cheerful accent, with an expression of goodness that bestowed pleasure +even upon me. Agatha listened with respect, her eyes sometimes filled +with tears, which she endeavoured to wipe away unperceived; but I +generally found that her countenance and tone were more cheerful after +having listened to the exhortations of her father. It was not thus +with Felix. He was always the saddest of the group, and even to my +unpractised senses, he appeared to have suffered more deeply than his +friends. But if his countenance was more sorrowful, his voice was more +cheerful than that of his sister, especially when he addressed the old +man. + +"I could mention innumerable instances which, although slight, marked +the dispositions of these amiable cottagers. In the midst of poverty +and want, Felix carried with pleasure to his sister the first little +white flower that peeped out from beneath the snowy ground. Early in +the morning, before she had risen, he cleared away the snow that +obstructed her path to the milk-house, drew water from the well, and +brought the wood from the outhouse, where, to his perpetual +astonishment, he found his store always replenished by an invisible +hand. In the day, I believe, he worked sometimes for a neighbouring +farmer, because he often went forth and did not return until dinner, +yet brought no wood with him. At other times he worked in the garden, +but as there was little to do in the frosty season, he read to the old +man and Agatha. + +"This reading had puzzled me extremely at first, but by degrees I +discovered that he uttered many of the same sounds when he read as when +he talked. I conjectured, therefore, that he found on the paper signs +for speech which he understood, and I ardently longed to comprehend +these also; but how was that possible when I did not even understand +the sounds for which they stood as signs? I improved, however, +sensibly in this science, but not sufficiently to follow up any kind of +conversation, although I applied my whole mind to the endeavour, for I +easily perceived that, although I eagerly longed to discover myself to +the cottagers, I ought not to make the attempt until I had first become +master of their language, which knowledge might enable me to make them +overlook the deformity of my figure, for with this also the contrast +perpetually presented to my eyes had made me acquainted. + +"I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers--their grace, beauty, +and delicate complexions; but how was I terrified when I viewed myself +in a transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that +it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became +fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was +filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification. +Alas! I did not yet entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable +deformity. + +"As the sun became warmer and the light of day longer, the snow +vanished, and I beheld the bare trees and the black earth. From this +time Felix was more employed, and the heart-moving indications of +impending famine disappeared. Their food, as I afterwards found, was +coarse, but it was wholesome; and they procured a sufficiency of it. +Several new kinds of plants sprang up in the garden, which they +dressed; and these signs of comfort increased daily as the season +advanced. + +"The old man, leaning on his son, walked each day at noon, when it did +not rain, as I found it was called when the heavens poured forth its +waters. This frequently took place, but a high wind quickly dried the +earth, and the season became far more pleasant than it had been. + +"My mode of life in my hovel was uniform. During the morning I +attended the motions of the cottagers, and when they were dispersed in +various occupations, I slept; the remainder of the day was spent in +observing my friends. When they had retired to rest, if there was any +moon or the night was star-light, I went into the woods and collected +my own food and fuel for the cottage. When I returned, as often as it +was necessary, I cleared their path from the snow and performed those +offices that I had seen done by Felix. I afterwards found that these +labours, performed by an invisible hand, greatly astonished them; and +once or twice I heard them, on these occasions, utter the words 'good +spirit,' 'wonderful'; but I did not then understand the signification +of these terms. + +"My thoughts now became more active, and I longed to discover the +motives and feelings of these lovely creatures; I was inquisitive to +know why Felix appeared so miserable and Agatha so sad. I thought +(foolish wretch!) that it might be in my power to restore happiness to +these deserving people. When I slept or was absent, the forms of the +venerable blind father, the gentle Agatha, and the excellent Felix +flitted before me. I looked upon them as superior beings who would be +the arbiters of my future destiny. I formed in my imagination a +thousand pictures of presenting myself to them, and their reception of +me. I imagined that they would be disgusted, until, by my gentle +demeanour and conciliating words, I should first win their favour and +afterwards their love. + +"These thoughts exhilarated me and led me to apply with fresh ardour to +the acquiring the art of language. My organs were indeed harsh, but +supple; and although my voice was very unlike the soft music of their +tones, yet I pronounced such words as I understood with tolerable ease. +It was as the ass and the lap-dog; yet surely the gentle ass whose +intentions were affectionate, although his manners were rude, deserved +better treatment than blows and execration. + +"The pleasant showers and genial warmth of spring greatly altered the +aspect of the earth. Men who before this change seemed to have been +hid in caves dispersed themselves and were employed in various arts of +cultivation. The birds sang in more cheerful notes, and the leaves +began to bud forth on the trees. Happy, happy earth! Fit habitation +for gods, which, so short a time before, was bleak, damp, and +unwholesome. My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of +nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, +and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy." + + + +Chapter 13 + +"I now hasten to the more moving part of my story. I shall relate +events that impressed me with feelings which, from what I had been, +have made me what I am. + +"Spring advanced rapidly; the weather became fine and the skies +cloudless. It surprised me that what before was desert and gloomy +should now bloom with the most beautiful flowers and verdure. My +senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand scents of delight and +a thousand sights of beauty. + +"It was on one of these days, when my cottagers periodically rested +from labour--the old man played on his guitar, and the children +listened to him--that I observed the countenance of Felix was +melancholy beyond expression; he sighed frequently, and once his father +paused in his music, and I conjectured by his manner that he inquired +the cause of his son's sorrow. Felix replied in a cheerful accent, and +the old man was recommencing his music when someone tapped at the door. + +"It was a lady on horseback, accompanied by a country-man as a guide. +The lady was dressed in a dark suit and covered with a thick black +veil. Agatha asked a question, to which the stranger only replied by +pronouncing, in a sweet accent, the name of Felix. Her voice was +musical but unlike that of either of my friends. On hearing this word, +Felix came up hastily to the lady, who, when she saw him, threw up her +veil, and I beheld a countenance of angelic beauty and expression. Her +hair of a shining raven black, and curiously braided; her eyes were +dark, but gentle, although animated; her features of a regular +proportion, and her complexion wondrously fair, each cheek tinged with +a lovely pink. + +"Felix seemed ravished with delight when he saw her, every trait of +sorrow vanished from his face, and it instantly expressed a degree of +ecstatic joy, of which I could hardly have believed it capable; his +eyes sparkled, as his cheek flushed with pleasure; and at that moment I +thought him as beautiful as the stranger. She appeared affected by +different feelings; wiping a few tears from her lovely eyes, she held +out her hand to Felix, who kissed it rapturously and called her, as +well as I could distinguish, his sweet Arabian. She did not appear to +understand him, but smiled. He assisted her to dismount, and +dismissing her guide, conducted her into the cottage. Some +conversation took place between him and his father, and the young +stranger knelt at the old man's feet and would have kissed his hand, +but he raised her and embraced her affectionately. + +"I soon perceived that although the stranger uttered articulate sounds +and appeared to have a language of her own, she was neither understood +by nor herself understood the cottagers. They made many signs which I +did not comprehend, but I saw that her presence diffused gladness +through the cottage, dispelling their sorrow as the sun dissipates the +morning mists. Felix seemed peculiarly happy and with smiles of +delight welcomed his Arabian. Agatha, the ever-gentle Agatha, kissed +the hands of the lovely stranger, and pointing to her brother, made +signs which appeared to me to mean that he had been sorrowful until she +came. Some hours passed thus, while they, by their countenances, +expressed joy, the cause of which I did not comprehend. Presently I +found, by the frequent recurrence of some sound which the stranger +repeated after them, that she was endeavouring to learn their language; +and the idea instantly occurred to me that I should make use of the +same instructions to the same end. The stranger learned about twenty +words at the first lesson; most of them, indeed, were those which I had +before understood, but I profited by the others. + +"As night came on, Agatha and the Arabian retired early. When they +separated Felix kissed the hand of the stranger and said, 'Good night +sweet Safie.' He sat up much longer, conversing with his father, and +by the frequent repetition of her name I conjectured that their lovely +guest was the subject of their conversation. I ardently desired to +understand them, and bent every faculty towards that purpose, but found +it utterly impossible. + +"The next morning Felix went out to his work, and after the usual +occupations of Agatha were finished, the Arabian sat at the feet of the +old man, and taking his guitar, played some airs so entrancingly +beautiful that they at once drew tears of sorrow and delight from my +eyes. She sang, and her voice flowed in a rich cadence, swelling or +dying away like a nightingale of the woods. + +"When she had finished, she gave the guitar to Agatha, who at first +declined it. She played a simple air, and her voice accompanied it in +sweet accents, but unlike the wondrous strain of the stranger. The old +man appeared enraptured and said some words which Agatha endeavoured to +explain to Safie, and by which he appeared to wish to express that she +bestowed on him the greatest delight by her music. + +"The days now passed as peaceably as before, with the sole alteration +that joy had taken place of sadness in the countenances of my friends. +Safie was always gay and happy; she and I improved rapidly in the +knowledge of language, so that in two months I began to comprehend most +of the words uttered by my protectors. + +"In the meanwhile also the black ground was covered with herbage, and +the green banks interspersed with innumerable flowers, sweet to the +scent and the eyes, stars of pale radiance among the moonlight woods; +the sun became warmer, the nights clear and balmy; and my nocturnal +rambles were an extreme pleasure to me, although they were considerably +shortened by the late setting and early rising of the sun, for I never +ventured abroad during daylight, fearful of meeting with the same +treatment I had formerly endured in the first village which I entered. + +"My days were spent in close attention, that I might more speedily +master the language; and I may boast that I improved more rapidly than +the Arabian, who understood very little and conversed in broken +accents, whilst I comprehended and could imitate almost every word that +was spoken. + +"While I improved in speech, I also learned the science of letters as +it was taught to the stranger, and this opened before me a wide field +for wonder and delight. + +"The book from which Felix instructed Safie was Volney's Ruins of +Empires. I should not have understood the purport of this book had not +Felix, in reading it, given very minute explanations. He had chosen +this work, he said, because the declamatory style was framed in +imitation of the Eastern authors. Through this work I obtained a +cursory knowledge of history and a view of the several empires at +present existing in the world; it gave me an insight into the manners, +governments, and religions of the different nations of the earth. I +heard of the slothful Asiatics, of the stupendous genius and mental +activity of the Grecians, of the wars and wonderful virtue of the early +Romans--of their subsequent degenerating--of the decline of that mighty +empire, of chivalry, Christianity, and kings. I heard of the discovery +of the American hemisphere and wept with Safie over the hapless fate of +its original inhabitants. + +"These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings. Was +man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous and magnificent, yet so +vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil +principle and at another as all that can be conceived of noble and +godlike. To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour +that can befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on +record have been, appeared the lowest degradation, a condition more +abject than that of the blind mole or harmless worm. For a long time I +could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or +even why there were laws and governments; but when I heard details of +vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased and I turned away with disgust and +loathing. + +"Every conversation of the cottagers now opened new wonders to me. +While I listened to the instructions which Felix bestowed upon the +Arabian, the strange system of human society was explained to me. I +heard of the division of property, of immense wealth and squalid +poverty, of rank, descent, and noble blood. + +"The words induced me to turn towards myself. I learned that the +possessions most esteemed by your fellow creatures were high and +unsullied descent united with riches. A man might be respected with +only one of these advantages, but without either he was considered, +except in very rare instances, as a vagabond and a slave, doomed to +waste his powers for the profits of the chosen few! And what was I? Of +my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant, but I knew that I +possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was, besides, +endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even +of the same nature as man. I was more agile than they and could +subsist upon coarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with +less injury to my frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked +around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot +upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned? + +"I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted +upon me; I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with +knowledge. Oh, that I had forever remained in my native wood, nor +known nor felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst, and heat! + +"Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it +has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock. I wished sometimes to +shake off all thought and feeling, but I learned that there was but one +means to overcome the sensation of pain, and that was death--a state +which I feared yet did not understand. I admired virtue and good +feelings and loved the gentle manners and amiable qualities of my +cottagers, but I was shut out from intercourse with them, except +through means which I obtained by stealth, when I was unseen and +unknown, and which rather increased than satisfied the desire I had of +becoming one among my fellows. The gentle words of Agatha and the +animated smiles of the charming Arabian were not for me. The mild +exhortations of the old man and the lively conversation of the loved +Felix were not for me. Miserable, unhappy wretch! + +"Other lessons were impressed upon me even more deeply. I heard of the +difference of sexes, and the birth and growth of children, how the +father doted on the smiles of the infant, and the lively sallies of the +older child, how all the life and cares of the mother were wrapped up +in the precious charge, how the mind of youth expanded and gained +knowledge, of brother, sister, and all the various relationships which +bind one human being to another in mutual bonds. + +"But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my +infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses; or if +they had, all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I +distinguished nothing. From my earliest remembrance I had been as I +then was in height and proportion. I had never yet seen a being +resembling me or who claimed any intercourse with me. What was I? The +question again recurred, to be answered only with groans. + +"I will soon explain to what these feelings tended, but allow me now to +return to the cottagers, whose story excited in me such various +feelings of indignation, delight, and wonder, but which all terminated +in additional love and reverence for my protectors (for so I loved, in +an innocent, half-painful self-deceit, to call them)." + + + +Chapter 14 + +"Some time elapsed before I learned the history of my friends. It was +one which could not fail to impress itself deeply on my mind, unfolding +as it did a number of circumstances, each interesting and wonderful to +one so utterly inexperienced as I was. + +"The name of the old man was De Lacey. He was descended from a good +family in France, where he had lived for many years in affluence, +respected by his superiors and beloved by his equals. His son was bred +in the service of his country, and Agatha had ranked with ladies of the +highest distinction. A few months before my arrival they had lived in +a large and luxurious city called Paris, surrounded by friends and +possessed of every enjoyment which virtue, refinement of intellect, or +taste, accompanied by a moderate fortune, could afford. + +"The father of Safie had been the cause of their ruin. He was a +Turkish merchant and had inhabited Paris for many years, when, for some +reason which I could not learn, he became obnoxious to the government. +He was seized and cast into prison the very day that Safie arrived from +Constantinople to join him. He was tried and condemned to death. The +injustice of his sentence was very flagrant; all Paris was indignant; +and it was judged that his religion and wealth rather than the crime +alleged against him had been the cause of his condemnation. + +"Felix had accidentally been present at the trial; his horror and +indignation were uncontrollable when he heard the decision of the +court. He made, at that moment, a solemn vow to deliver him and then +looked around for the means. After many fruitless attempts to gain +admittance to the prison, he found a strongly grated window in an +unguarded part of the building, which lighted the dungeon of the +unfortunate Muhammadan, who, loaded with chains, waited in despair the +execution of the barbarous sentence. Felix visited the grate at night +and made known to the prisoner his intentions in his favour. The Turk, +amazed and delighted, endeavoured to kindle the zeal of his deliverer +by promises of reward and wealth. Felix rejected his offers with +contempt, yet when he saw the lovely Safie, who was allowed to visit +her father and who by her gestures expressed her lively gratitude, the +youth could not help owning to his own mind that the captive possessed +a treasure which would fully reward his toil and hazard. + +"The Turk quickly perceived the impression that his daughter had made +on the heart of Felix and endeavoured to secure him more entirely in +his interests by the promise of her hand in marriage so soon as he +should be conveyed to a place of safety. Felix was too delicate to +accept this offer, yet he looked forward to the probability of the +event as to the consummation of his happiness. + +"During the ensuing days, while the preparations were going forward for +the escape of the merchant, the zeal of Felix was warmed by several +letters that he received from this lovely girl, who found means to +express her thoughts in the language of her lover by the aid of an old +man, a servant of her father who understood French. She thanked him in +the most ardent terms for his intended services towards her parent, and +at the same time she gently deplored her own fate. + +"I have copies of these letters, for I found means, during my residence +in the hovel, to procure the implements of writing; and the letters +were often in the hands of Felix or Agatha. Before I depart I will +give them to you; they will prove the truth of my tale; but at present, +as the sun is already far declined, I shall only have time to repeat +the substance of them to you. + +"Safie related that her mother was a Christian Arab, seized and made a +slave by the Turks; recommended by her beauty, she had won the heart of +the father of Safie, who married her. The young girl spoke in high and +enthusiastic terms of her mother, who, born in freedom, spurned the +bondage to which she was now reduced. She instructed her daughter in +the tenets of her religion and taught her to aspire to higher powers of +intellect and an independence of spirit forbidden to the female +followers of Muhammad. This lady died, but her lessons were indelibly +impressed on the mind of Safie, who sickened at the prospect of again +returning to Asia and being immured within the walls of a harem, +allowed only to occupy herself with infantile amusements, ill-suited to +the temper of her soul, now accustomed to grand ideas and a noble +emulation for virtue. The prospect of marrying a Christian and +remaining in a country where women were allowed to take a rank in +society was enchanting to her. + +"The day for the execution of the Turk was fixed, but on the night +previous to it he quitted his prison and before morning was distant +many leagues from Paris. Felix had procured passports in the name of +his father, sister, and himself. He had previously communicated his +plan to the former, who aided the deceit by quitting his house, under +the pretence of a journey and concealed himself, with his daughter, in +an obscure part of Paris. + +"Felix conducted the fugitives through France to Lyons and across Mont +Cenis to Leghorn, where the merchant had decided to wait a favourable +opportunity of passing into some part of the Turkish dominions. + +"Safie resolved to remain with her father until the moment of his +departure, before which time the Turk renewed his promise that she +should be united to his deliverer; and Felix remained with them in +expectation of that event; and in the meantime he enjoyed the society +of the Arabian, who exhibited towards him the simplest and tenderest +affection. They conversed with one another through the means of an +interpreter, and sometimes with the interpretation of looks; and Safie +sang to him the divine airs of her native country. + +"The Turk allowed this intimacy to take place and encouraged the hopes +of the youthful lovers, while in his heart he had formed far other +plans. He loathed the idea that his daughter should be united to a +Christian, but he feared the resentment of Felix if he should appear +lukewarm, for he knew that he was still in the power of his deliverer +if he should choose to betray him to the Italian state which they +inhabited. He revolved a thousand plans by which he should be enabled +to prolong the deceit until it might be no longer necessary, and +secretly to take his daughter with him when he departed. His plans +were facilitated by the news which arrived from Paris. + +"The government of France were greatly enraged at the escape of their +victim and spared no pains to detect and punish his deliverer. The +plot of Felix was quickly discovered, and De Lacey and Agatha were +thrown into prison. The news reached Felix and roused him from his +dream of pleasure. His blind and aged father and his gentle sister lay +in a noisome dungeon while he enjoyed the free air and the society of +her whom he loved. This idea was torture to him. He quickly arranged +with the Turk that if the latter should find a favourable opportunity +for escape before Felix could return to Italy, Safie should remain as a +boarder at a convent at Leghorn; and then, quitting the lovely Arabian, +he hastened to Paris and delivered himself up to the vengeance of the +law, hoping to free De Lacey and Agatha by this proceeding. + +"He did not succeed. They remained confined for five months before the +trial took place, the result of which deprived them of their fortune +and condemned them to a perpetual exile from their native country. + +"They found a miserable asylum in the cottage in Germany, where I +discovered them. Felix soon learned that the treacherous Turk, for +whom he and his family endured such unheard-of oppression, on +discovering that his deliverer was thus reduced to poverty and ruin, +became a traitor to good feeling and honour and had quitted Italy with +his daughter, insultingly sending Felix a pittance of money to aid him, +as he said, in some plan of future maintenance. + +"Such were the events that preyed on the heart of Felix and rendered +him, when I first saw him, the most miserable of his family. He could +have endured poverty, and while this distress had been the meed of his +virtue, he gloried in it; but the ingratitude of the Turk and the loss +of his beloved Safie were misfortunes more bitter and irreparable. The +arrival of the Arabian now infused new life into his soul. + +"When the news reached Leghorn that Felix was deprived of his wealth +and rank, the merchant commanded his daughter to think no more of her +lover, but to prepare to return to her native country. The generous +nature of Safie was outraged by this command; she attempted to +expostulate with her father, but he left her angrily, reiterating his +tyrannical mandate. + +"A few days after, the Turk entered his daughter's apartment and told +her hastily that he had reason to believe that his residence at Leghorn +had been divulged and that he should speedily be delivered up to the +French government; he had consequently hired a vessel to convey him to +Constantinople, for which city he should sail in a few hours. He +intended to leave his daughter under the care of a confidential +servant, to follow at her leisure with the greater part of his +property, which had not yet arrived at Leghorn. + +"When alone, Safie resolved in her own mind the plan of conduct that it +would become her to pursue in this emergency. A residence in Turkey +was abhorrent to her; her religion and her feelings were alike averse +to it. By some papers of her father which fell into her hands she +heard of the exile of her lover and learnt the name of the spot where +he then resided. She hesitated some time, but at length she formed her +determination. Taking with her some jewels that belonged to her and a +sum of money, she quitted Italy with an attendant, a native of Leghorn, +but who understood the common language of Turkey, and departed for +Germany. + +"She arrived in safety at a town about twenty leagues from the cottage +of De Lacey, when her attendant fell dangerously ill. Safie nursed her +with the most devoted affection, but the poor girl died, and the +Arabian was left alone, unacquainted with the language of the country +and utterly ignorant of the customs of the world. She fell, however, +into good hands. The Italian had mentioned the name of the spot for +which they were bound, and after her death the woman of the house in +which they had lived took care that Safie should arrive in safety at +the cottage of her lover." + + + +Chapter 15 + +"Such was the history of my beloved cottagers. It impressed me deeply. +I learned, from the views of social life which it developed, to admire +their virtues and to deprecate the vices of mankind. + +"As yet I looked upon crime as a distant evil, benevolence and +generosity were ever present before me, inciting within me a desire to +become an actor in the busy scene where so many admirable qualities +were called forth and displayed. But in giving an account of the +progress of my intellect, I must not omit a circumstance which occurred +in the beginning of the month of August of the same year. + +"One night during my accustomed visit to the neighbouring wood where I +collected my own food and brought home firing for my protectors, I +found on the ground a leathern portmanteau containing several articles +of dress and some books. I eagerly seized the prize and returned with +it to my hovel. Fortunately the books were written in the language, +the elements of which I had acquired at the cottage; they consisted of +Paradise Lost, a volume of Plutarch's Lives, and the Sorrows of Werter. +The possession of these treasures gave me extreme delight; I now +continually studied and exercised my mind upon these histories, whilst +my friends were employed in their ordinary occupations. + +"I can hardly describe to you the effect of these books. They produced +in me an infinity of new images and feelings, that sometimes raised me +to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection. In +the Sorrows of Werter, besides the interest of its simple and affecting +story, so many opinions are canvassed and so many lights thrown upon +what had hitherto been to me obscure subjects that I found in it a +never-ending source of speculation and astonishment. The gentle and +domestic manners it described, combined with lofty sentiments and +feelings, which had for their object something out of self, accorded +well with my experience among my protectors and with the wants which +were forever alive in my own bosom. But I thought Werter himself a +more divine being than I had ever beheld or imagined; his character +contained no pretension, but it sank deep. The disquisitions upon +death and suicide were calculated to fill me with wonder. I did not +pretend to enter into the merits of the case, yet I inclined towards +the opinions of the hero, whose extinction I wept, without precisely +understanding it. + +"As I read, however, I applied much personally to my own feelings and +condition. I found myself similar yet at the same time strangely +unlike to the beings concerning whom I read and to whose conversation I +was a listener. I sympathized with and partly understood them, but I +was unformed in mind; I was dependent on none and related to none. +'The path of my departure was free,' and there was none to lament my +annihilation. My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did +this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my +destination? These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to +solve them. + +"The volume of Plutarch's Lives which I possessed contained the +histories of the first founders of the ancient republics. This book +had a far different effect upon me from the Sorrows of Werter. I +learned from Werter's imaginations despondency and gloom, but Plutarch +taught me high thoughts; he elevated me above the wretched sphere of my +own reflections, to admire and love the heroes of past ages. Many +things I read surpassed my understanding and experience. I had a very +confused knowledge of kingdoms, wide extents of country, mighty rivers, +and boundless seas. But I was perfectly unacquainted with towns and +large assemblages of men. The cottage of my protectors had been the +only school in which I had studied human nature, but this book +developed new and mightier scenes of action. I read of men concerned +in public affairs, governing or massacring their species. I felt the +greatest ardour for virtue rise within me, and abhorrence for vice, as +far as I understood the signification of those terms, relative as they +were, as I applied them, to pleasure and pain alone. Induced by these +feelings, I was of course led to admire peaceable lawgivers, Numa, +Solon, and Lycurgus, in preference to Romulus and Theseus. The +patriarchal lives of my protectors caused these impressions to take a +firm hold on my mind; perhaps, if my first introduction to humanity had +been made by a young soldier, burning for glory and slaughter, I should +have been imbued with different sensations. + +"But Paradise Lost excited different and far deeper emotions. I read +it, as I had read the other volumes which had fallen into my hands, as +a true history. It moved every feeling of wonder and awe that the +picture of an omnipotent God warring with his creatures was capable of +exciting. I often referred the several situations, as their similarity +struck me, to my own. Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to +any other being in existence; but his state was far different from mine +in every other respect. He had come forth from the hands of God a +perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of +his Creator; he was allowed to converse with and acquire knowledge from +beings of a superior nature, but I was wretched, helpless, and alone. +Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition, for +often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter +gall of envy rose within me. + +"Another circumstance strengthened and confirmed these feelings. Soon +after my arrival in the hovel I discovered some papers in the pocket of +the dress which I had taken from your laboratory. At first I had +neglected them, but now that I was able to decipher the characters in +which they were written, I began to study them with diligence. It was +your journal of the four months that preceded my creation. You +minutely described in these papers every step you took in the progress +of your work; this history was mingled with accounts of domestic +occurrences. You doubtless recollect these papers. Here they are. +Everything is related in them which bears reference to my accursed +origin; the whole detail of that series of disgusting circumstances +which produced it is set in view; the minutest description of my odious +and loathsome person is given, in language which painted your own +horrors and rendered mine indelible. I sickened as I read. 'Hateful +day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony. 'Accursed creator! +Why did you form a monster so hideous that even YOU turned from me in +disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own +image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the +very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire +and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred.' + +"These were the reflections of my hours of despondency and solitude; +but when I contemplated the virtues of the cottagers, their amiable and +benevolent dispositions, I persuaded myself that when they should +become acquainted with my admiration of their virtues they would +compassionate me and overlook my personal deformity. Could they turn +from their door one, however monstrous, who solicited their compassion +and friendship? I resolved, at least, not to despair, but in every way +to fit myself for an interview with them which would decide my fate. I +postponed this attempt for some months longer, for the importance +attached to its success inspired me with a dread lest I should fail. +Besides, I found that my understanding improved so much with every +day's experience that I was unwilling to commence this undertaking +until a few more months should have added to my sagacity. + +"Several changes, in the meantime, took place in the cottage. The +presence of Safie diffused happiness among its inhabitants, and I also +found that a greater degree of plenty reigned there. Felix and Agatha +spent more time in amusement and conversation, and were assisted in +their labours by servants. They did not appear rich, but they were +contented and happy; their feelings were serene and peaceful, while +mine became every day more tumultuous. Increase of knowledge only +discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was. I +cherished hope, it is true, but it vanished when I beheld my person +reflected in water or my shadow in the moonshine, even as that frail +image and that inconstant shade. + +"I endeavoured to crush these fears and to fortify myself for the trial +which in a few months I resolved to undergo; and sometimes I allowed my +thoughts, unchecked by reason, to ramble in the fields of Paradise, and +dared to fancy amiable and lovely creatures sympathizing with my +feelings and cheering my gloom; their angelic countenances breathed +smiles of consolation. But it was all a dream; no Eve soothed my +sorrows nor shared my thoughts; I was alone. I remembered Adam's +supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, +and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him. + +"Autumn passed thus. I saw, with surprise and grief, the leaves decay +and fall, and nature again assume the barren and bleak appearance it +had worn when I first beheld the woods and the lovely moon. Yet I did +not heed the bleakness of the weather; I was better fitted by my +conformation for the endurance of cold than heat. But my chief +delights were the sight of the flowers, the birds, and all the gay +apparel of summer; when those deserted me, I turned with more attention +towards the cottagers. Their happiness was not decreased by the +absence of summer. They loved and sympathized with one another; and +their joys, depending on each other, were not interrupted by the +casualties that took place around them. The more I saw of them, the +greater became my desire to claim their protection and kindness; my +heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures; to see +their sweet looks directed towards me with affection was the utmost +limit of my ambition. I dared not think that they would turn them from +me with disdain and horror. The poor that stopped at their door were +never driven away. I asked, it is true, for greater treasures than a +little food or rest: I required kindness and sympathy; but I did not +believe myself utterly unworthy of it. + +"The winter advanced, and an entire revolution of the seasons had taken +place since I awoke into life. My attention at this time was solely +directed towards my plan of introducing myself into the cottage of my +protectors. I revolved many projects, but that on which I finally +fixed was to enter the dwelling when the blind old man should be alone. +I had sagacity enough to discover that the unnatural hideousness of my +person was the chief object of horror with those who had formerly +beheld me. My voice, although harsh, had nothing terrible in it; I +thought, therefore, that if in the absence of his children I could gain +the good will and mediation of the old De Lacey, I might by his means +be tolerated by my younger protectors. + +"One day, when the sun shone on the red leaves that strewed the ground +and diffused cheerfulness, although it denied warmth, Safie, Agatha, +and Felix departed on a long country walk, and the old man, at his own +desire, was left alone in the cottage. When his children had departed, +he took up his guitar and played several mournful but sweet airs, more +sweet and mournful than I had ever heard him play before. At first his +countenance was illuminated with pleasure, but as he continued, +thoughtfulness and sadness succeeded; at length, laying aside the +instrument, he sat absorbed in reflection. + +"My heart beat quick; this was the hour and moment of trial, which +would decide my hopes or realize my fears. The servants were gone to a +neighbouring fair. All was silent in and around the cottage; it was an +excellent opportunity; yet, when I proceeded to execute my plan, my +limbs failed me and I sank to the ground. Again I rose, and exerting +all the firmness of which I was master, removed the planks which I had +placed before my hovel to conceal my retreat. The fresh air revived +me, and with renewed determination I approached the door of their +cottage. + +"I knocked. 'Who is there?' said the old man. 'Come in.' + +"I entered. 'Pardon this intrusion,' said I; 'I am a traveller in want +of a little rest; you would greatly oblige me if you would allow me to +remain a few minutes before the fire.' + +"'Enter,' said De Lacey, 'and I will try in what manner I can to +relieve your wants; but, unfortunately, my children are from home, and +as I am blind, I am afraid I shall find it difficult to procure food +for you.' + +"'Do not trouble yourself, my kind host; I have food; it is warmth and +rest only that I need.' + +"I sat down, and a silence ensued. I knew that every minute was +precious to me, yet I remained irresolute in what manner to commence +the interview, when the old man addressed me. 'By your language, +stranger, I suppose you are my countryman; are you French?' + +"'No; but I was educated by a French family and understand that +language only. I am now going to claim the protection of some friends, +whom I sincerely love, and of whose favour I have some hopes.' + +"'Are they Germans?' + +"'No, they are French. But let us change the subject. I am an +unfortunate and deserted creature, I look around and I have no relation +or friend upon earth. These amiable people to whom I go have never +seen me and know little of me. I am full of fears, for if I fail +there, I am an outcast in the world forever.' + +"'Do not despair. To be friendless is indeed to be unfortunate, but +the hearts of men, when unprejudiced by any obvious self-interest, are +full of brotherly love and charity. Rely, therefore, on your hopes; +and if these friends are good and amiable, do not despair.' + +"'They are kind--they are the most excellent creatures in the world; +but, unfortunately, they are prejudiced against me. I have good +dispositions; my life has been hitherto harmless and in some degree +beneficial; but a fatal prejudice clouds their eyes, and where they +ought to see a feeling and kind friend, they behold only a detestable +monster.' + +"'That is indeed unfortunate; but if you are really blameless, cannot +you undeceive them?' + +"'I am about to undertake that task; and it is on that account that I +feel so many overwhelming terrors. I tenderly love these friends; I +have, unknown to them, been for many months in the habits of daily +kindness towards them; but they believe that I wish to injure them, and +it is that prejudice which I wish to overcome.' + +"'Where do these friends reside?' + +"'Near this spot.' + +"The old man paused and then continued, 'If you will unreservedly +confide to me the particulars of your tale, I perhaps may be of use in +undeceiving them. I am blind and cannot judge of your countenance, but +there is something in your words which persuades me that you are +sincere. I am poor and an exile, but it will afford me true pleasure +to be in any way serviceable to a human creature.' + +"'Excellent man! I thank you and accept your generous offer. You +raise me from the dust by this kindness; and I trust that, by your aid, +I shall not be driven from the society and sympathy of your fellow +creatures.' + +"'Heaven forbid! Even if you were really criminal, for that can only +drive you to desperation, and not instigate you to virtue. I also am +unfortunate; I and my family have been condemned, although innocent; +judge, therefore, if I do not feel for your misfortunes.' + +"'How can I thank you, my best and only benefactor? From your lips +first have I heard the voice of kindness directed towards me; I shall +be forever grateful; and your present humanity assures me of success +with those friends whom I am on the point of meeting.' + +"'May I know the names and residence of those friends?' + +"I paused. This, I thought, was the moment of decision, which was to +rob me of or bestow happiness on me forever. I struggled vainly for +firmness sufficient to answer him, but the effort destroyed all my +remaining strength; I sank on the chair and sobbed aloud. At that +moment I heard the steps of my younger protectors. I had not a moment +to lose, but seizing the hand of the old man, I cried, 'Now is the +time! Save and protect me! You and your family are the friends whom I +seek. Do not you desert me in the hour of trial!' + +"'Great God!' exclaimed the old man. 'Who are you?' + +"At that instant the cottage door was opened, and Felix, Safie, and +Agatha entered. Who can describe their horror and consternation on +beholding me? Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her +friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward, and with +supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung, in +a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently +with a stick. I could have torn him limb from limb, as the lion rends +the antelope. But my heart sank within me as with bitter sickness, and +I refrained. I saw him on the point of repeating his blow, when, +overcome by pain and anguish, I quitted the cottage, and in the general +tumult escaped unperceived to my hovel." + + + +Chapter 16 + +"Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I +not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly +bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my +feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have +destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with +their shrieks and misery. + +"When night came I quitted my retreat and wandered in the wood; and +now, no longer restrained by the fear of discovery, I gave vent to my +anguish in fearful howlings. I was like a wild beast that had broken +the toils, destroying the objects that obstructed me and ranging +through the wood with a stag-like swiftness. Oh! What a miserable +night I passed! The cold stars shone in mockery, and the bare trees +waved their branches above me; now and then the sweet voice of a bird +burst forth amidst the universal stillness. All, save I, were at rest +or in enjoyment; I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me, and +finding myself unsympathized with, wished to tear up the trees, spread +havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed +the ruin. + +"But this was a luxury of sensation that could not endure; I became +fatigued with excess of bodily exertion and sank on the damp grass in +the sick impotence of despair. There was none among the myriads of men +that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness +towards my enemies? No; from that moment I declared everlasting war +against the species, and more than all, against him who had formed me +and sent me forth to this insupportable misery. + +"The sun rose; I heard the voices of men and knew that it was +impossible to return to my retreat during that day. Accordingly I hid +myself in some thick underwood, determining to devote the ensuing hours +to reflection on my situation. + +"The pleasant sunshine and the pure air of day restored me to some +degree of tranquillity; and when I considered what had passed at the +cottage, I could not help believing that I had been too hasty in my +conclusions. I had certainly acted imprudently. It was apparent that +my conversation had interested the father in my behalf, and I was a +fool in having exposed my person to the horror of his children. I +ought to have familiarized the old De Lacey to me, and by degrees to +have discovered myself to the rest of his family, when they should have +been prepared for my approach. But I did not believe my errors to be +irretrievable, and after much consideration I resolved to return to the +cottage, seek the old man, and by my representations win him to my +party. + +"These thoughts calmed me, and in the afternoon I sank into a profound +sleep; but the fever of my blood did not allow me to be visited by +peaceful dreams. The horrible scene of the preceding day was forever +acting before my eyes; the females were flying and the enraged Felix +tearing me from his father's feet. I awoke exhausted, and finding that +it was already night, I crept forth from my hiding-place, and went in +search of food. + +"When my hunger was appeased, I directed my steps towards the +well-known path that conducted to the cottage. All there was at peace. +I crept into my hovel and remained in silent expectation of the +accustomed hour when the family arose. That hour passed, the sun +mounted high in the heavens, but the cottagers did not appear. I +trembled violently, apprehending some dreadful misfortune. The inside +of the cottage was dark, and I heard no motion; I cannot describe the +agony of this suspense. + +"Presently two countrymen passed by, but pausing near the cottage, they +entered into conversation, using violent gesticulations; but I did not +understand what they said, as they spoke the language of the country, +which differed from that of my protectors. Soon after, however, Felix +approached with another man; I was surprised, as I knew that he had not +quitted the cottage that morning, and waited anxiously to discover from +his discourse the meaning of these unusual appearances. + +"'Do you consider,' said his companion to him, 'that you will be +obliged to pay three months' rent and to lose the produce of your +garden? I do not wish to take any unfair advantage, and I beg +therefore that you will take some days to consider of your +determination.' + +"'It is utterly useless,' replied Felix; 'we can never again inhabit +your cottage. The life of my father is in the greatest danger, owing +to the dreadful circumstance that I have related. My wife and my +sister will never recover from their horror. I entreat you not to +reason with me any more. Take possession of your tenement and let me +fly from this place.' + +"Felix trembled violently as he said this. He and his companion +entered the cottage, in which they remained for a few minutes, and then +departed. I never saw any of the family of De Lacey more. + +"I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of +utter and stupid despair. My protectors had departed and had broken +the only link that held me to the world. For the first time the +feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom, and I did not strive to +control them, but allowing myself to be borne away by the stream, I +bent my mind towards injury and death. When I thought of my friends, +of the mild voice of De Lacey, the gentle eyes of Agatha, and the +exquisite beauty of the Arabian, these thoughts vanished and a gush of +tears somewhat soothed me. But again when I reflected that they had +spurned and deserted me, anger returned, a rage of anger, and unable to +injure anything human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects. As +night advanced I placed a variety of combustibles around the cottage, +and after having destroyed every vestige of cultivation in the garden, +I waited with forced impatience until the moon had sunk to commence my +operations. + +"As the night advanced, a fierce wind arose from the woods and quickly +dispersed the clouds that had loitered in the heavens; the blast tore +along like a mighty avalanche and produced a kind of insanity in my +spirits that burst all bounds of reason and reflection. I lighted the +dry branch of a tree and danced with fury around the devoted cottage, +my eyes still fixed on the western horizon, the edge of which the moon +nearly touched. A part of its orb was at length hid, and I waved my +brand; it sank, and with a loud scream I fired the straw, and heath, +and bushes, which I had collected. The wind fanned the fire, and the +cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames, which clung to it and +licked it with their forked and destroying tongues. + +"As soon as I was convinced that no assistance could save any part of +the habitation, I quitted the scene and sought for refuge in the woods. + +"And now, with the world before me, whither should I bend my steps? I +resolved to fly far from the scene of my misfortunes; but to me, hated +and despised, every country must be equally horrible. At length the +thought of you crossed my mind. I learned from your papers that you +were my father, my creator; and to whom could I apply with more fitness +than to him who had given me life? Among the lessons that Felix had +bestowed upon Safie, geography had not been omitted; I had learned from +these the relative situations of the different countries of the earth. +You had mentioned Geneva as the name of your native town, and towards +this place I resolved to proceed. + +"But how was I to direct myself? I knew that I must travel in a +southwesterly direction to reach my destination, but the sun was my +only guide. I did not know the names of the towns that I was to pass +through, nor could I ask information from a single human being; but I +did not despair. From you only could I hope for succour, although +towards you I felt no sentiment but that of hatred. Unfeeling, +heartless creator! You had endowed me with perceptions and passions +and then cast me abroad an object for the scorn and horror of mankind. +But on you only had I any claim for pity and redress, and from you I +determined to seek that justice which I vainly attempted to gain from +any other being that wore the human form. + +"My travels were long and the sufferings I endured intense. It was +late in autumn when I quitted the district where I had so long resided. +I travelled only at night, fearful of encountering the visage of a +human being. Nature decayed around me, and the sun became heatless; +rain and snow poured around me; mighty rivers were frozen; the surface +of the earth was hard and chill, and bare, and I found no shelter. Oh, +earth! How often did I imprecate curses on the cause of my being! The +mildness of my nature had fled, and all within me was turned to gall +and bitterness. The nearer I approached to your habitation, the more +deeply did I feel the spirit of revenge enkindled in my heart. Snow +fell, and the waters were hardened, but I rested not. A few incidents +now and then directed me, and I possessed a map of the country; but I +often wandered wide from my path. The agony of my feelings allowed me +no respite; no incident occurred from which my rage and misery could +not extract its food; but a circumstance that happened when I arrived +on the confines of Switzerland, when the sun had recovered its warmth +and the earth again began to look green, confirmed in an especial +manner the bitterness and horror of my feelings. + +"I generally rested during the day and travelled only when I was +secured by night from the view of man. One morning, however, finding +that my path lay through a deep wood, I ventured to continue my journey +after the sun had risen; the day, which was one of the first of spring, +cheered even me by the loveliness of its sunshine and the balminess of +the air. I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long +appeared dead, revive within me. Half surprised by the novelty of +these sensations, I allowed myself to be borne away by them, and +forgetting my solitude and deformity, dared to be happy. Soft tears +again bedewed my cheeks, and I even raised my humid eyes with +thankfulness towards the blessed sun, which bestowed such joy upon me. + +"I continued to wind among the paths of the wood, until I came to its +boundary, which was skirted by a deep and rapid river, into which many +of the trees bent their branches, now budding with the fresh spring. +Here I paused, not exactly knowing what path to pursue, when I heard +the sound of voices, that induced me to conceal myself under the shade +of a cypress. I was scarcely hid when a young girl came running +towards the spot where I was concealed, laughing, as if she ran from +someone in sport. She continued her course along the precipitous sides +of the river, when suddenly her foot slipped, and she fell into the +rapid stream. I rushed from my hiding-place and with extreme labour, +from the force of the current, saved her and dragged her to shore. She +was senseless, and I endeavoured by every means in my power to restore +animation, when I was suddenly interrupted by the approach of a rustic, +who was probably the person from whom she had playfully fled. On +seeing me, he darted towards me, and tearing the girl from my arms, +hastened towards the deeper parts of the wood. I followed speedily, I +hardly knew why; but when the man saw me draw near, he aimed a gun, +which he carried, at my body and fired. I sank to the ground, and my +injurer, with increased swiftness, escaped into the wood. + +"This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being +from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable +pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone. The feelings of +kindness and gentleness which I had entertained but a few moments +before gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by +pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind. But the +agony of my wound overcame me; my pulses paused, and I fainted. + +"For some weeks I led a miserable life in the woods, endeavouring to +cure the wound which I had received. The ball had entered my shoulder, +and I knew not whether it had remained there or passed through; at any +rate I had no means of extracting it. My sufferings were augmented +also by the oppressive sense of the injustice and ingratitude of their +infliction. My daily vows rose for revenge--a deep and deadly revenge, +such as would alone compensate for the outrages and anguish I had +endured. + +"After some weeks my wound healed, and I continued my journey. The +labours I endured were no longer to be alleviated by the bright sun or +gentle breezes of spring; all joy was but a mockery which insulted my +desolate state and made me feel more painfully that I was not made for +the enjoyment of pleasure. + +"But my toils now drew near a close, and in two months from this time I +reached the environs of Geneva. + +"It was evening when I arrived, and I retired to a hiding-place among +the fields that surround it to meditate in what manner I should apply +to you. I was oppressed by fatigue and hunger and far too unhappy to +enjoy the gentle breezes of evening or the prospect of the sun setting +behind the stupendous mountains of Jura. + +"At this time a slight sleep relieved me from the pain of reflection, +which was disturbed by the approach of a beautiful child, who came +running into the recess I had chosen, with all the sportiveness of +infancy. Suddenly, as I gazed on him, an idea seized me that this +little creature was unprejudiced and had lived too short a time to have +imbibed a horror of deformity. If, therefore, I could seize him and +educate him as my companion and friend, I should not be so desolate in +this peopled earth. + +"Urged by this impulse, I seized on the boy as he passed and drew him +towards me. As soon as he beheld my form, he placed his hands before +his eyes and uttered a shrill scream; I drew his hand forcibly from his +face and said, 'Child, what is the meaning of this? I do not intend to +hurt you; listen to me.' + +"He struggled violently. 'Let me go,' he cried; 'monster! Ugly +wretch! You wish to eat me and tear me to pieces. You are an ogre. +Let me go, or I will tell my papa.' + +"'Boy, you will never see your father again; you must come with me.' + +"'Hideous monster! Let me go. My papa is a syndic--he is M. +Frankenstein--he will punish you. You dare not keep me.' + +"'Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy--to him towards whom I have +sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.' + +"The child still struggled and loaded me with epithets which carried +despair to my heart; I grasped his throat to silence him, and in a +moment he lay dead at my feet. + +"I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish +triumph; clapping my hands, I exclaimed, 'I too can create desolation; +my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and +a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him.' + +"As I fixed my eyes on the child, I saw something glittering on his +breast. I took it; it was a portrait of a most lovely woman. In spite +of my malignity, it softened and attracted me. For a few moments I +gazed with delight on her dark eyes, fringed by deep lashes, and her +lovely lips; but presently my rage returned; I remembered that I was +forever deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures could +bestow and that she whose resemblance I contemplated would, in +regarding me, have changed that air of divine benignity to one +expressive of disgust and affright. + +"Can you wonder that such thoughts transported me with rage? I only +wonder that at that moment, instead of venting my sensations in +exclamations and agony, I did not rush among mankind and perish in the +attempt to destroy them. + +"While I was overcome by these feelings, I left the spot where I had +committed the murder, and seeking a more secluded hiding-place, I +entered a barn which had appeared to me to be empty. A woman was +sleeping on some straw; she was young, not indeed so beautiful as her +whose portrait I held, but of an agreeable aspect and blooming in the +loveliness of youth and health. Here, I thought, is one of those whose +joy-imparting smiles are bestowed on all but me. And then I bent over +her and whispered, 'Awake, fairest, thy lover is near--he who would +give his life but to obtain one look of affection from thine eyes; my +beloved, awake!' + +"The sleeper stirred; a thrill of terror ran through me. Should she +indeed awake, and see me, and curse me, and denounce the murderer? Thus +would she assuredly act if her darkened eyes opened and she beheld me. +The thought was madness; it stirred the fiend within me--not I, but +she, shall suffer; the murder I have committed because I am forever +robbed of all that she could give me, she shall atone. The crime had +its source in her; be hers the punishment! Thanks to the lessons of +Felix and the sanguinary laws of man, I had learned now to work +mischief. I bent over her and placed the portrait securely in one of +the folds of her dress. She moved again, and I fled. + +"For some days I haunted the spot where these scenes had taken place, +sometimes wishing to see you, sometimes resolved to quit the world and +its miseries forever. At length I wandered towards these mountains, +and have ranged through their immense recesses, consumed by a burning +passion which you alone can gratify. We may not part until you have +promised to comply with my requisition. I am alone and miserable; man +will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself +would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species +and have the same defects. This being you must create." + + + +Chapter 17 + +The being finished speaking and fixed his looks upon me in the +expectation of a reply. But I was bewildered, perplexed, and unable to +arrange my ideas sufficiently to understand the full extent of his +proposition. He continued, + +"You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the +interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone +can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to +concede." + +The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger that had +died away while he narrated his peaceful life among the cottagers, and +as he said this I could no longer suppress the rage that burned within +me. + +"I do refuse it," I replied; "and no torture shall ever extort a +consent from me. You may render me the most miserable of men, but you +shall never make me base in my own eyes. Shall I create another like +yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world. Begone! I +have answered you; you may torture me, but I will never consent." + +"You are in the wrong," replied the fiend; "and instead of threatening, +I am content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am +miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my +creator, would tear me to pieces and triumph; remember that, and tell +me why I should pity man more than he pities me? You would not call it +murder if you could precipitate me into one of those ice-rifts and +destroy my frame, the work of your own hands. Shall I respect man when +he condemns me? Let him live with me in the interchange of kindness, +and instead of injury I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears +of gratitude at his acceptance. But that cannot be; the human senses +are insurmountable barriers to our union. Yet mine shall not be the +submission of abject slavery. I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot +inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my arch-enemy, +because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred. Have a care; I +will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, +so that you shall curse the hour of your birth." + +A fiendish rage animated him as he said this; his face was wrinkled +into contortions too horrible for human eyes to behold; but presently +he calmed himself and proceeded-- + +"I intended to reason. This passion is detrimental to me, for you do +not reflect that YOU are the cause of its excess. If any being felt +emotions of benevolence towards me, I should return them a hundred and +a hundredfold; for that one creature's sake I would make peace with the +whole kind! But I now indulge in dreams of bliss that cannot be +realized. What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate; I demand a +creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself; the gratification is +small, but it is all that I can receive, and it shall content me. It +is true, we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that +account we shall be more attached to one another. Our lives will not +be happy, but they will be harmless and free from the misery I now +feel. Oh! My creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards +you for one benefit! Let me see that I excite the sympathy of some +existing thing; do not deny me my request!" + +I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences +of my consent, but I felt that there was some justice in his argument. +His tale and the feelings he now expressed proved him to be a creature +of fine sensations, and did I not as his maker owe him all the portion +of happiness that it was in my power to bestow? He saw my change of +feeling and continued, + +"If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see +us again; I will go to the vast wilds of South America. My food is not +that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; +acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment. My companion will +be of the same nature as myself and will be content with the same fare. +We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on +man and will ripen our food. The picture I present to you is peaceful +and human, and you must feel that you could deny it only in the +wantonness of power and cruelty. Pitiless as you have been towards me, +I now see compassion in your eyes; let me seize the favourable moment +and persuade you to promise what I so ardently desire." + +"You propose," replied I, "to fly from the habitations of man, to dwell +in those wilds where the beasts of the field will be your only +companions. How can you, who long for the love and sympathy of man, +persevere in this exile? You will return and again seek their +kindness, and you will meet with their detestation; your evil passions +will be renewed, and you will then have a companion to aid you in the +task of destruction. This may not be; cease to argue the point, for I +cannot consent." + +"How inconstant are your feelings! But a moment ago you were moved by +my representations, and why do you again harden yourself to my +complaints? I swear to you, by the earth which I inhabit, and by you +that made me, that with the companion you bestow I will quit the +neighbourhood of man and dwell, as it may chance, in the most savage of +places. My evil passions will have fled, for I shall meet with +sympathy! My life will flow quietly away, and in my dying moments I +shall not curse my maker." + +His words had a strange effect upon me. I compassionated him and +sometimes felt a wish to console him, but when I looked upon him, when +I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened and my +feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred. I tried to stifle +these sensations; I thought that as I could not sympathize with him, I +had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which +was yet in my power to bestow. + +"You swear," I said, "to be harmless; but have you not already shown a +degree of malice that should reasonably make me distrust you? May not +even this be a feint that will increase your triumph by affording a +wider scope for your revenge?" + +"How is this? I must not be trifled with, and I demand an answer. If +I have no ties and no affections, hatred and vice must be my portion; +the love of another will destroy the cause of my crimes, and I shall +become a thing of whose existence everyone will be ignorant. My vices +are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor, and my virtues will +necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal. I shall feel +the affections of a sensitive being and become linked to the chain of +existence and events from which I am now excluded." + +I paused some time to reflect on all he had related and the various +arguments which he had employed. I thought of the promise of virtues +which he had displayed on the opening of his existence and the +subsequent blight of all kindly feeling by the loathing and scorn which +his protectors had manifested towards him. His power and threats were +not omitted in my calculations; a creature who could exist in the ice +caves of the glaciers and hide himself from pursuit among the ridges of +inaccessible precipices was a being possessing faculties it would be +vain to cope with. After a long pause of reflection I concluded that +the justice due both to him and my fellow creatures demanded of me that +I should comply with his request. Turning to him, therefore, I said, + +"I consent to your demand, on your solemn oath to quit Europe forever, +and every other place in the neighbourhood of man, as soon as I shall +deliver into your hands a female who will accompany you in your exile." + +"I swear," he cried, "by the sun, and by the blue sky of heaven, and by +the fire of love that burns my heart, that if you grant my prayer, +while they exist you shall never behold me again. Depart to your home +and commence your labours; I shall watch their progress with +unutterable anxiety; and fear not but that when you are ready I shall +appear." + +Saying this, he suddenly quitted me, fearful, perhaps, of any change in +my sentiments. I saw him descend the mountain with greater speed than +the flight of an eagle, and quickly lost among the undulations of the +sea of ice. + +His tale had occupied the whole day, and the sun was upon the verge of +the horizon when he departed. I knew that I ought to hasten my descent +towards the valley, as I should soon be encompassed in darkness; but my +heart was heavy, and my steps slow. The labour of winding among the +little paths of the mountain and fixing my feet firmly as I advanced +perplexed me, occupied as I was by the emotions which the occurrences +of the day had produced. Night was far advanced when I came to the +halfway resting-place and seated myself beside the fountain. The stars +shone at intervals as the clouds passed from over them; the dark pines +rose before me, and every here and there a broken tree lay on the +ground; it was a scene of wonderful solemnity and stirred strange +thoughts within me. I wept bitterly, and clasping my hands in agony, I +exclaimed, "Oh! Stars and clouds and winds, ye are all about to mock +me; if ye really pity me, crush sensation and memory; let me become as +nought; but if not, depart, depart, and leave me in darkness." + +These were wild and miserable thoughts, but I cannot describe to you +how the eternal twinkling of the stars weighed upon me and how I +listened to every blast of wind as if it were a dull ugly siroc on its +way to consume me. + +Morning dawned before I arrived at the village of Chamounix; I took no +rest, but returned immediately to Geneva. Even in my own heart I could +give no expression to my sensations--they weighed on me with a +mountain's weight and their excess destroyed my agony beneath them. +Thus I returned home, and entering the house, presented myself to the +family. My haggard and wild appearance awoke intense alarm, but I +answered no question, scarcely did I speak. I felt as if I were placed +under a ban--as if I had no right to claim their sympathies--as if +never more might I enjoy companionship with them. Yet even thus I +loved them to adoration; and to save them, I resolved to dedicate +myself to my most abhorred task. The prospect of such an occupation +made every other circumstance of existence pass before me like a dream, +and that thought only had to me the reality of life. + + + +Chapter 18 + +Day after day, week after week, passed away on my return to Geneva; and +I could not collect the courage to recommence my work. I feared the +vengeance of the disappointed fiend, yet I was unable to overcome my +repugnance to the task which was enjoined me. I found that I could not +compose a female without again devoting several months to profound +study and laborious disquisition. I had heard of some discoveries +having been made by an English philosopher, the knowledge of which was +material to my success, and I sometimes thought of obtaining my +father's consent to visit England for this purpose; but I clung to +every pretence of delay and shrank from taking the first step in an +undertaking whose immediate necessity began to appear less absolute to +me. A change indeed had taken place in me; my health, which had +hitherto declined, was now much restored; and my spirits, when +unchecked by the memory of my unhappy promise, rose proportionably. My +father saw this change with pleasure, and he turned his thoughts +towards the best method of eradicating the remains of my melancholy, +which every now and then would return by fits, and with a devouring +blackness overcast the approaching sunshine. At these moments I took +refuge in the most perfect solitude. I passed whole days on the lake +alone in a little boat, watching the clouds and listening to the +rippling of the waves, silent and listless. But the fresh air and +bright sun seldom failed to restore me to some degree of composure, and +on my return I met the salutations of my friends with a readier smile +and a more cheerful heart. + +It was after my return from one of these rambles that my father, +calling me aside, thus addressed me, + +"I am happy to remark, my dear son, that you have resumed your former +pleasures and seem to be returning to yourself. And yet you are still +unhappy and still avoid our society. For some time I was lost in +conjecture as to the cause of this, but yesterday an idea struck me, +and if it is well founded, I conjure you to avow it. Reserve on such a +point would be not only useless, but draw down treble misery on us all." + +I trembled violently at his exordium, and my father continued--"I +confess, my son, that I have always looked forward to your marriage +with our dear Elizabeth as the tie of our domestic comfort and the stay +of my declining years. You were attached to each other from your +earliest infancy; you studied together, and appeared, in dispositions +and tastes, entirely suited to one another. But so blind is the +experience of man that what I conceived to be the best assistants to my +plan may have entirely destroyed it. You, perhaps, regard her as your +sister, without any wish that she might become your wife. Nay, you may +have met with another whom you may love; and considering yourself as +bound in honour to Elizabeth, this struggle may occasion the poignant +misery which you appear to feel." + +"My dear father, reassure yourself. I love my cousin tenderly and +sincerely. I never saw any woman who excited, as Elizabeth does, my +warmest admiration and affection. My future hopes and prospects are +entirely bound up in the expectation of our union." + +"The expression of your sentiments of this subject, my dear Victor, +gives me more pleasure than I have for some time experienced. If you +feel thus, we shall assuredly be happy, however present events may cast +a gloom over us. But it is this gloom which appears to have taken so +strong a hold of your mind that I wish to dissipate. Tell me, +therefore, whether you object to an immediate solemnization of the +marriage. We have been unfortunate, and recent events have drawn us +from that everyday tranquillity befitting my years and infirmities. You +are younger; yet I do not suppose, possessed as you are of a competent +fortune, that an early marriage would at all interfere with any future +plans of honour and utility that you may have formed. Do not suppose, +however, that I wish to dictate happiness to you or that a delay on +your part would cause me any serious uneasiness. Interpret my words +with candour and answer me, I conjure you, with confidence and +sincerity." + +I listened to my father in silence and remained for some time incapable +of offering any reply. I revolved rapidly in my mind a multitude of +thoughts and endeavoured to arrive at some conclusion. Alas! To me +the idea of an immediate union with my Elizabeth was one of horror and +dismay. I was bound by a solemn promise which I had not yet fulfilled +and dared not break, or if I did, what manifold miseries might not +impend over me and my devoted family! Could I enter into a festival +with this deadly weight yet hanging round my neck and bowing me to the +ground? I must perform my engagement and let the monster depart with +his mate before I allowed myself to enjoy the delight of a union from +which I expected peace. + +I remembered also the necessity imposed upon me of either journeying to +England or entering into a long correspondence with those philosophers +of that country whose knowledge and discoveries were of indispensable +use to me in my present undertaking. The latter method of obtaining +the desired intelligence was dilatory and unsatisfactory; besides, I +had an insurmountable aversion to the idea of engaging myself in my +loathsome task in my father's house while in habits of familiar +intercourse with those I loved. I knew that a thousand fearful +accidents might occur, the slightest of which would disclose a tale to +thrill all connected with me with horror. I was aware also that I +should often lose all self-command, all capacity of hiding the +harrowing sensations that would possess me during the progress of my +unearthly occupation. I must absent myself from all I loved while thus +employed. Once commenced, it would quickly be achieved, and I might be +restored to my family in peace and happiness. My promise fulfilled, +the monster would depart forever. Or (so my fond fancy imaged) some +accident might meanwhile occur to destroy him and put an end to my +slavery forever. + +These feelings dictated my answer to my father. I expressed a wish to +visit England, but concealing the true reasons of this request, I +clothed my desires under a guise which excited no suspicion, while I +urged my desire with an earnestness that easily induced my father to +comply. After so long a period of an absorbing melancholy that +resembled madness in its intensity and effects, he was glad to find +that I was capable of taking pleasure in the idea of such a journey, +and he hoped that change of scene and varied amusement would, before my +return, have restored me entirely to myself. + +The duration of my absence was left to my own choice; a few months, or +at most a year, was the period contemplated. One paternal kind +precaution he had taken to ensure my having a companion. Without +previously communicating with me, he had, in concert with Elizabeth, +arranged that Clerval should join me at Strasbourg. This interfered +with the solitude I coveted for the prosecution of my task; yet at the +commencement of my journey the presence of my friend could in no way be +an impediment, and truly I rejoiced that thus I should be saved many +hours of lonely, maddening reflection. Nay, Henry might stand between +me and the intrusion of my foe. If I were alone, would he not at times +force his abhorred presence on me to remind me of my task or to +contemplate its progress? + +To England, therefore, I was bound, and it was understood that my union +with Elizabeth should take place immediately on my return. My father's +age rendered him extremely averse to delay. For myself, there was one +reward I promised myself from my detested toils--one consolation for my +unparalleled sufferings; it was the prospect of that day when, +enfranchised from my miserable slavery, I might claim Elizabeth and +forget the past in my union with her. + +I now made arrangements for my journey, but one feeling haunted me +which filled me with fear and agitation. During my absence I should +leave my friends unconscious of the existence of their enemy and +unprotected from his attacks, exasperated as he might be by my +departure. But he had promised to follow me wherever I might go, and +would he not accompany me to England? This imagination was dreadful in +itself, but soothing inasmuch as it supposed the safety of my friends. +I was agonized with the idea of the possibility that the reverse of +this might happen. But through the whole period during which I was the +slave of my creature I allowed myself to be governed by the impulses of +the moment; and my present sensations strongly intimated that the fiend +would follow me and exempt my family from the danger of his +machinations. + +It was in the latter end of September that I again quitted my native +country. My journey had been my own suggestion, and Elizabeth +therefore acquiesced, but she was filled with disquiet at the idea of +my suffering, away from her, the inroads of misery and grief. It had +been her care which provided me a companion in Clerval--and yet a man +is blind to a thousand minute circumstances which call forth a woman's +sedulous attention. She longed to bid me hasten my return; a thousand +conflicting emotions rendered her mute as she bade me a tearful, silent +farewell. + +I threw myself into the carriage that was to convey me away, hardly +knowing whither I was going, and careless of what was passing around. +I remembered only, and it was with a bitter anguish that I reflected on +it, to order that my chemical instruments should be packed to go with +me. Filled with dreary imaginations, I passed through many beautiful +and majestic scenes, but my eyes were fixed and unobserving. I could +only think of the bourne of my travels and the work which was to occupy +me whilst they endured. + +After some days spent in listless indolence, during which I traversed +many leagues, I arrived at Strasbourg, where I waited two days for +Clerval. He came. Alas, how great was the contrast between us! He +was alive to every new scene, joyful when he saw the beauties of the +setting sun, and more happy when he beheld it rise and recommence a new +day. He pointed out to me the shifting colours of the landscape and +the appearances of the sky. "This is what it is to live," he cried; +"how I enjoy existence! But you, my dear Frankenstein, wherefore are +you desponding and sorrowful!" In truth, I was occupied by gloomy +thoughts and neither saw the descent of the evening star nor the golden +sunrise reflected in the Rhine. And you, my friend, would be far more +amused with the journal of Clerval, who observed the scenery with an +eye of feeling and delight, than in listening to my reflections. I, a +miserable wretch, haunted by a curse that shut up every avenue to +enjoyment. + +We had agreed to descend the Rhine in a boat from Strasbourg to +Rotterdam, whence we might take shipping for London. During this +voyage we passed many willowy islands and saw several beautiful towns. +We stayed a day at Mannheim, and on the fifth from our departure from +Strasbourg, arrived at Mainz. The course of the Rhine below Mainz +becomes much more picturesque. The river descends rapidly and winds +between hills, not high, but steep, and of beautiful forms. We saw +many ruined castles standing on the edges of precipices, surrounded by +black woods, high and inaccessible. This part of the Rhine, indeed, +presents a singularly variegated landscape. In one spot you view +rugged hills, ruined castles overlooking tremendous precipices, with +the dark Rhine rushing beneath; and on the sudden turn of a promontory, +flourishing vineyards with green sloping banks and a meandering river +and populous towns occupy the scene. + +We travelled at the time of the vintage and heard the song of the +labourers as we glided down the stream. Even I, depressed in mind, and +my spirits continually agitated by gloomy feelings, even I was pleased. +I lay at the bottom of the boat, and as I gazed on the cloudless blue +sky, I seemed to drink in a tranquillity to which I had long been a +stranger. And if these were my sensations, who can describe those of +Henry? He felt as if he had been transported to fairy-land and enjoyed +a happiness seldom tasted by man. "I have seen," he said, "the most +beautiful scenes of my own country; I have visited the lakes of Lucerne +and Uri, where the snowy mountains descend almost perpendicularly to +the water, casting black and impenetrable shades, which would cause a +gloomy and mournful appearance were it not for the most verdant islands +that believe the eye by their gay appearance; I have seen this lake +agitated by a tempest, when the wind tore up whirlwinds of water and +gave you an idea of what the water-spout must be on the great ocean; +and the waves dash with fury the base of the mountain, where the priest +and his mistress were overwhelmed by an avalanche and where their dying +voices are still said to be heard amid the pauses of the nightly wind; +I have seen the mountains of La Valais, and the Pays de Vaud; but this +country, Victor, pleases me more than all those wonders. The mountains +of Switzerland are more majestic and strange, but there is a charm in +the banks of this divine river that I never before saw equalled. Look +at that castle which overhangs yon precipice; and that also on the +island, almost concealed amongst the foliage of those lovely trees; and +now that group of labourers coming from among their vines; and that +village half hid in the recess of the mountain. Oh, surely the spirit +that inhabits and guards this place has a soul more in harmony with man +than those who pile the glacier or retire to the inaccessible peaks of +the mountains of our own country." Clerval! Beloved friend! Even now +it delights me to record your words and to dwell on the praise of which +you are so eminently deserving. He was a being formed in the "very +poetry of nature." His wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened +by the sensibility of his heart. His soul overflowed with ardent +affections, and his friendship was of that devoted and wondrous nature +that the world-minded teach us to look for only in the imagination. But +even human sympathies were not sufficient to satisfy his eager mind. +The scenery of external nature, which others regard only with +admiration, he loved with ardour:-- + + + ----The sounding cataract + Haunted him like a passion: the tall rock, + The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, + Their colours and their forms, were then to him + An appetite; a feeling, and a love, + That had no need of a remoter charm, + By thought supplied, or any interest + Unborrow'd from the eye. + + [Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey".] + + +And where does he now exist? Is this gentle and lovely being lost +forever? Has this mind, so replete with ideas, imaginations fanciful +and magnificent, which formed a world, whose existence depended on the +life of its creator;--has this mind perished? Does it now only exist +in my memory? No, it is not thus; your form so divinely wrought, and +beaming with beauty, has decayed, but your spirit still visits and +consoles your unhappy friend. + +Pardon this gush of sorrow; these ineffectual words are but a slight +tribute to the unexampled worth of Henry, but they soothe my heart, +overflowing with the anguish which his remembrance creates. I will +proceed with my tale. + +Beyond Cologne we descended to the plains of Holland; and we resolved +to post the remainder of our way, for the wind was contrary and the +stream of the river was too gentle to aid us. Our journey here lost +the interest arising from beautiful scenery, but we arrived in a few +days at Rotterdam, whence we proceeded by sea to England. It was on a +clear morning, in the latter days of December, that I first saw the +white cliffs of Britain. The banks of the Thames presented a new +scene; they were flat but fertile, and almost every town was marked by +the remembrance of some story. We saw Tilbury Fort and remembered the +Spanish Armada, Gravesend, Woolwich, and Greenwich--places which I had +heard of even in my country. + +At length we saw the numerous steeples of London, St. Paul's towering +above all, and the Tower famed in English history. + + + +Chapter 19 + +London was our present point of rest; we determined to remain several +months in this wonderful and celebrated city. Clerval desired the +intercourse of the men of genius and talent who flourished at this +time, but this was with me a secondary object; I was principally +occupied with the means of obtaining the information necessary for the +completion of my promise and quickly availed myself of the letters of +introduction that I had brought with me, addressed to the most +distinguished natural philosophers. + +If this journey had taken place during my days of study and happiness, +it would have afforded me inexpressible pleasure. But a blight had +come over my existence, and I only visited these people for the sake of +the information they might give me on the subject in which my interest +was so terribly profound. Company was irksome to me; when alone, I +could fill my mind with the sights of heaven and earth; the voice of +Henry soothed me, and I could thus cheat myself into a transitory +peace. But busy, uninteresting, joyous faces brought back despair to +my heart. I saw an insurmountable barrier placed between me and my +fellow men; this barrier was sealed with the blood of William and +Justine, and to reflect on the events connected with those names filled +my soul with anguish. + +But in Clerval I saw the image of my former self; he was inquisitive +and anxious to gain experience and instruction. The difference of +manners which he observed was to him an inexhaustible source of +instruction and amusement. He was also pursuing an object he had long +had in view. His design was to visit India, in the belief that he had +in his knowledge of its various languages, and in the views he had +taken of its society, the means of materially assisting the progress of +European colonization and trade. In Britain only could he further the +execution of his plan. He was forever busy, and the only check to his +enjoyments was my sorrowful and dejected mind. I tried to conceal this +as much as possible, that I might not debar him from the pleasures +natural to one who was entering on a new scene of life, undisturbed by +any care or bitter recollection. I often refused to accompany him, +alleging another engagement, that I might remain alone. I now also +began to collect the materials necessary for my new creation, and this +was to me like the torture of single drops of water continually falling +on the head. Every thought that was devoted to it was an extreme +anguish, and every word that I spoke in allusion to it caused my lips +to quiver, and my heart to palpitate. + +After passing some months in London, we received a letter from a person +in Scotland who had formerly been our visitor at Geneva. He mentioned +the beauties of his native country and asked us if those were not +sufficient allurements to induce us to prolong our journey as far north +as Perth, where he resided. Clerval eagerly desired to accept this +invitation, and I, although I abhorred society, wished to view again +mountains and streams and all the wondrous works with which Nature +adorns her chosen dwelling-places. We had arrived in England at the +beginning of October, and it was now February. We accordingly +determined to commence our journey towards the north at the expiration +of another month. In this expedition we did not intend to follow the +great road to Edinburgh, but to visit Windsor, Oxford, Matlock, and the +Cumberland lakes, resolving to arrive at the completion of this tour +about the end of July. I packed up my chemical instruments and the +materials I had collected, resolving to finish my labours in some +obscure nook in the northern highlands of Scotland. + +We quitted London on the 27th of March and remained a few days at +Windsor, rambling in its beautiful forest. This was a new scene to us +mountaineers; the majestic oaks, the quantity of game, and the herds of +stately deer were all novelties to us. + +From thence we proceeded to Oxford. As we entered this city our minds +were filled with the remembrance of the events that had been transacted +there more than a century and a half before. It was here that Charles +I. had collected his forces. This city had remained faithful to him, +after the whole nation had forsaken his cause to join the standard of +Parliament and liberty. The memory of that unfortunate king and his +companions, the amiable Falkland, the insolent Goring, his queen, and +son, gave a peculiar interest to every part of the city which they +might be supposed to have inhabited. The spirit of elder days found a +dwelling here, and we delighted to trace its footsteps. If these +feelings had not found an imaginary gratification, the appearance of +the city had yet in itself sufficient beauty to obtain our admiration. +The colleges are ancient and picturesque; the streets are almost +magnificent; and the lovely Isis, which flows beside it through meadows +of exquisite verdure, is spread forth into a placid expanse of waters, +which reflects its majestic assemblage of towers, and spires, and +domes, embosomed among aged trees. + +I enjoyed this scene, and yet my enjoyment was embittered both by the +memory of the past and the anticipation of the future. I was formed +for peaceful happiness. During my youthful days discontent never +visited my mind, and if I was ever overcome by ennui, the sight of what +is beautiful in nature or the study of what is excellent and sublime in +the productions of man could always interest my heart and communicate +elasticity to my spirits. But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has +entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit what +I shall soon cease to be--a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, +pitiable to others and intolerable to myself. + +We passed a considerable period at Oxford, rambling among its environs +and endeavouring to identify every spot which might relate to the most +animating epoch of English history. Our little voyages of discovery +were often prolonged by the successive objects that presented +themselves. We visited the tomb of the illustrious Hampden and the +field on which that patriot fell. For a moment my soul was elevated +from its debasing and miserable fears to contemplate the divine ideas +of liberty and self sacrifice of which these sights were the monuments +and the remembrancers. For an instant I dared to shake off my chains +and look around me with a free and lofty spirit, but the iron had eaten +into my flesh, and I sank again, trembling and hopeless, into my +miserable self. + +We left Oxford with regret and proceeded to Matlock, which was our next +place of rest. The country in the neighbourhood of this village +resembled, to a greater degree, the scenery of Switzerland; but +everything is on a lower scale, and the green hills want the crown of +distant white Alps which always attend on the piny mountains of my +native country. We visited the wondrous cave and the little cabinets +of natural history, where the curiosities are disposed in the same +manner as in the collections at Servox and Chamounix. The latter name +made me tremble when pronounced by Henry, and I hastened to quit +Matlock, with which that terrible scene was thus associated. + +From Derby, still journeying northwards, we passed two months in +Cumberland and Westmorland. I could now almost fancy myself among the +Swiss mountains. The little patches of snow which yet lingered on the +northern sides of the mountains, the lakes, and the dashing of the +rocky streams were all familiar and dear sights to me. Here also we +made some acquaintances, who almost contrived to cheat me into +happiness. The delight of Clerval was proportionably greater than +mine; his mind expanded in the company of men of talent, and he found +in his own nature greater capacities and resources than he could have +imagined himself to have possessed while he associated with his +inferiors. "I could pass my life here," said he to me; "and among +these mountains I should scarcely regret Switzerland and the Rhine." + +But he found that a traveller's life is one that includes much pain +amidst its enjoyments. His feelings are forever on the stretch; and +when he begins to sink into repose, he finds himself obliged to quit +that on which he rests in pleasure for something new, which again +engages his attention, and which also he forsakes for other novelties. + +We had scarcely visited the various lakes of Cumberland and Westmorland +and conceived an affection for some of the inhabitants when the period +of our appointment with our Scotch friend approached, and we left them +to travel on. For my own part I was not sorry. I had now neglected my +promise for some time, and I feared the effects of the daemon's +disappointment. He might remain in Switzerland and wreak his vengeance +on my relatives. This idea pursued me and tormented me at every moment +from which I might otherwise have snatched repose and peace. I waited +for my letters with feverish impatience; if they were delayed I was +miserable and overcome by a thousand fears; and when they arrived and I +saw the superscription of Elizabeth or my father, I hardly dared to +read and ascertain my fate. Sometimes I thought that the fiend +followed me and might expedite my remissness by murdering my companion. +When these thoughts possessed me, I would not quit Henry for a moment, +but followed him as his shadow, to protect him from the fancied rage of +his destroyer. I felt as if I had committed some great crime, the +consciousness of which haunted me. I was guiltless, but I had indeed +drawn down a horrible curse upon my head, as mortal as that of crime. + +I visited Edinburgh with languid eyes and mind; and yet that city might +have interested the most unfortunate being. Clerval did not like it so +well as Oxford, for the antiquity of the latter city was more pleasing +to him. But the beauty and regularity of the new town of Edinburgh, +its romantic castle and its environs, the most delightful in the world, +Arthur's Seat, St. Bernard's Well, and the Pentland Hills compensated +him for the change and filled him with cheerfulness and admiration. But +I was impatient to arrive at the termination of my journey. + +We left Edinburgh in a week, passing through Coupar, St. Andrew's, and +along the banks of the Tay, to Perth, where our friend expected us. +But I was in no mood to laugh and talk with strangers or enter into +their feelings or plans with the good humour expected from a guest; and +accordingly I told Clerval that I wished to make the tour of Scotland +alone. "Do you," said I, "enjoy yourself, and let this be our +rendezvous. I may be absent a month or two; but do not interfere with +my motions, I entreat you; leave me to peace and solitude for a short +time; and when I return, I hope it will be with a lighter heart, more +congenial to your own temper." + +Henry wished to dissuade me, but seeing me bent on this plan, ceased to +remonstrate. He entreated me to write often. "I had rather be with +you," he said, "in your solitary rambles, than with these Scotch +people, whom I do not know; hasten, then, my dear friend, to return, +that I may again feel myself somewhat at home, which I cannot do in +your absence." + +Having parted from my friend, I determined to visit some remote spot of +Scotland and finish my work in solitude. I did not doubt but that the +monster followed me and would discover himself to me when I should have +finished, that he might receive his companion. With this resolution I +traversed the northern highlands and fixed on one of the remotest of +the Orkneys as the scene of my labours. It was a place fitted for such +a work, being hardly more than a rock whose high sides were continually +beaten upon by the waves. The soil was barren, scarcely affording +pasture for a few miserable cows, and oatmeal for its inhabitants, +which consisted of five persons, whose gaunt and scraggy limbs gave +tokens of their miserable fare. Vegetables and bread, when they +indulged in such luxuries, and even fresh water, was to be procured +from the mainland, which was about five miles distant. + +On the whole island there were but three miserable huts, and one of +these was vacant when I arrived. This I hired. It contained but two +rooms, and these exhibited all the squalidness of the most miserable +penury. The thatch had fallen in, the walls were unplastered, and the +door was off its hinges. I ordered it to be repaired, bought some +furniture, and took possession, an incident which would doubtless have +occasioned some surprise had not all the senses of the cottagers been +benumbed by want and squalid poverty. As it was, I lived ungazed at +and unmolested, hardly thanked for the pittance of food and clothes +which I gave, so much does suffering blunt even the coarsest sensations +of men. + +In this retreat I devoted the morning to labour; but in the evening, +when the weather permitted, I walked on the stony beach of the sea to +listen to the waves as they roared and dashed at my feet. It was a +monotonous yet ever-changing scene. I thought of Switzerland; it was +far different from this desolate and appalling landscape. Its hills +are covered with vines, and its cottages are scattered thickly in the +plains. Its fair lakes reflect a blue and gentle sky, and when +troubled by the winds, their tumult is but as the play of a lively +infant when compared to the roarings of the giant ocean. + +In this manner I distributed my occupations when I first arrived, but +as I proceeded in my labour, it became every day more horrible and +irksome to me. Sometimes I could not prevail on myself to enter my +laboratory for several days, and at other times I toiled day and night +in order to complete my work. It was, indeed, a filthy process in +which I was engaged. During my first experiment, a kind of +enthusiastic frenzy had blinded me to the horror of my employment; my +mind was intently fixed on the consummation of my labour, and my eyes +were shut to the horror of my proceedings. But now I went to it in +cold blood, and my heart often sickened at the work of my hands. + +Thus situated, employed in the most detestable occupation, immersed in +a solitude where nothing could for an instant call my attention from +the actual scene in which I was engaged, my spirits became unequal; I +grew restless and nervous. Every moment I feared to meet my +persecutor. Sometimes I sat with my eyes fixed on the ground, fearing +to raise them lest they should encounter the object which I so much +dreaded to behold. I feared to wander from the sight of my fellow +creatures lest when alone he should come to claim his companion. + +In the mean time I worked on, and my labour was already considerably +advanced. I looked towards its completion with a tremulous and eager +hope, which I dared not trust myself to question but which was +intermixed with obscure forebodings of evil that made my heart sicken +in my bosom. + + + +Chapter 20 + +I sat one evening in my laboratory; the sun had set, and the moon was +just rising from the sea; I had not sufficient light for my employment, +and I remained idle, in a pause of consideration of whether I should +leave my labour for the night or hasten its conclusion by an +unremitting attention to it. As I sat, a train of reflection occurred +to me which led me to consider the effects of what I was now doing. +Three years before, I was engaged in the same manner and had created a +fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolated my heart and filled it +forever with the bitterest remorse. I was now about to form another +being of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant; she might become ten +thousand times more malignant than her mate and delight, for its own +sake, in murder and wretchedness. He had sworn to quit the +neighbourhood of man and hide himself in deserts, but she had not; and +she, who in all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning +animal, might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation. +They might even hate each other; the creature who already lived loathed +his own deformity, and might he not conceive a greater abhorrence for +it when it came before his eyes in the female form? She also might +turn with disgust from him to the superior beauty of man; she might +quit him, and he be again alone, exasperated by the fresh provocation +of being deserted by one of his own species. Even if they were to +leave Europe and inhabit the deserts of the new world, yet one of the +first results of those sympathies for which the daemon thirsted would +be children, and a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth +who might make the very existence of the species of man a condition +precarious and full of terror. Had I right, for my own benefit, to +inflict this curse upon everlasting generations? I had before been +moved by the sophisms of the being I had created; I had been struck +senseless by his fiendish threats; but now, for the first time, the +wickedness of my promise burst upon me; I shuddered to think that +future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not +hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence +of the whole human race. + +I trembled and my heart failed within me, when, on looking up, I saw by +the light of the moon the daemon at the casement. A ghastly grin +wrinkled his lips as he gazed on me, where I sat fulfilling the task +which he had allotted to me. Yes, he had followed me in my travels; he +had loitered in forests, hid himself in caves, or taken refuge in wide +and desert heaths; and he now came to mark my progress and claim the +fulfilment of my promise. + +As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost extent of +malice and treachery. I thought with a sensation of madness on my +promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, +tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged. The wretch saw me +destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for +happiness, and with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdrew. + +I left the room, and locking the door, made a solemn vow in my own +heart never to resume my labours; and then, with trembling steps, I +sought my own apartment. I was alone; none were near me to dissipate +the gloom and relieve me from the sickening oppression of the most +terrible reveries. + +Several hours passed, and I remained near my window gazing on the sea; +it was almost motionless, for the winds were hushed, and all nature +reposed under the eye of the quiet moon. A few fishing vessels alone +specked the water, and now and then the gentle breeze wafted the sound +of voices as the fishermen called to one another. I felt the silence, +although I was hardly conscious of its extreme profundity, until my ear +was suddenly arrested by the paddling of oars near the shore, and a +person landed close to my house. + +In a few minutes after, I heard the creaking of my door, as if some one +endeavoured to open it softly. I trembled from head to foot; I felt a +presentiment of who it was and wished to rouse one of the peasants who +dwelt in a cottage not far from mine; but I was overcome by the +sensation of helplessness, so often felt in frightful dreams, when you +in vain endeavour to fly from an impending danger, and was rooted to +the spot. Presently I heard the sound of footsteps along the passage; +the door opened, and the wretch whom I dreaded appeared. + +Shutting the door, he approached me and said in a smothered voice, "You +have destroyed the work which you began; what is it that you intend? +Do you dare to break your promise? I have endured toil and misery; I +left Switzerland with you; I crept along the shores of the Rhine, among +its willow islands and over the summits of its hills. I have dwelt +many months in the heaths of England and among the deserts of Scotland. +I have endured incalculable fatigue, and cold, and hunger; do you dare +destroy my hopes?" + +"Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like +yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness." + +"Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself +unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power; you believe +yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of +day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; +obey!" + +"The hour of my irresolution is past, and the period of your power is +arrived. Your threats cannot move me to do an act of wickedness; but +they confirm me in a determination of not creating you a companion in +vice. Shall I, in cool blood, set loose upon the earth a daemon whose +delight is in death and wretchedness? Begone! I am firm, and your +words will only exasperate my rage." + +The monster saw my determination in my face and gnashed his teeth in +the impotence of anger. "Shall each man," cried he, "find a wife for +his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone? I had +feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn. +Man! You may hate, but beware! Your hours will pass in dread and +misery, and soon the bolt will fall which must ravish from you your +happiness forever. Are you to be happy while I grovel in the intensity +of my wretchedness? You can blast my other passions, but revenge +remains--revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food! I may die, but +first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on +your misery. Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful. I will +watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom. +Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict." + +"Devil, cease; and do not poison the air with these sounds of malice. +I have declared my resolution to you, and I am no coward to bend +beneath words. Leave me; I am inexorable." + +"It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your +wedding-night." + +I started forward and exclaimed, "Villain! Before you sign my +death-warrant, be sure that you are yourself safe." + +I would have seized him, but he eluded me and quitted the house with +precipitation. In a few moments I saw him in his boat, which shot +across the waters with an arrowy swiftness and was soon lost amidst the +waves. + +All was again silent, but his words rang in my ears. I burned with +rage to pursue the murderer of my peace and precipitate him into the +ocean. I walked up and down my room hastily and perturbed, while my +imagination conjured up a thousand images to torment and sting me. Why +had I not followed him and closed with him in mortal strife? But I had +suffered him to depart, and he had directed his course towards the +mainland. I shuddered to think who might be the next victim sacrificed +to his insatiate revenge. And then I thought again of his words--"I +WILL BE WITH YOU ON YOUR WEDDING-NIGHT." That, then, was the period +fixed for the fulfilment of my destiny. In that hour I should die and +at once satisfy and extinguish his malice. The prospect did not move +me to fear; yet when I thought of my beloved Elizabeth, of her tears +and endless sorrow, when she should find her lover so barbarously +snatched from her, tears, the first I had shed for many months, +streamed from my eyes, and I resolved not to fall before my enemy +without a bitter struggle. + +The night passed away, and the sun rose from the ocean; my feelings +became calmer, if it may be called calmness when the violence of rage +sinks into the depths of despair. I left the house, the horrid scene +of the last night's contention, and walked on the beach of the sea, +which I almost regarded as an insuperable barrier between me and my +fellow creatures; nay, a wish that such should prove the fact stole +across me. + +I desired that I might pass my life on that barren rock, wearily, it is +true, but uninterrupted by any sudden shock of misery. If I returned, +it was to be sacrificed or to see those whom I most loved die under the +grasp of a daemon whom I had myself created. + +I walked about the isle like a restless spectre, separated from all it +loved and miserable in the separation. When it became noon, and the +sun rose higher, I lay down on the grass and was overpowered by a deep +sleep. I had been awake the whole of the preceding night, my nerves +were agitated, and my eyes inflamed by watching and misery. The sleep +into which I now sank refreshed me; and when I awoke, I again felt as +if I belonged to a race of human beings like myself, and I began to +reflect upon what had passed with greater composure; yet still the +words of the fiend rang in my ears like a death-knell; they appeared +like a dream, yet distinct and oppressive as a reality. + +The sun had far descended, and I still sat on the shore, satisfying my +appetite, which had become ravenous, with an oaten cake, when I saw a +fishing-boat land close to me, and one of the men brought me a packet; +it contained letters from Geneva, and one from Clerval entreating me to +join him. He said that he was wearing away his time fruitlessly where +he was, that letters from the friends he had formed in London desired +his return to complete the negotiation they had entered into for his +Indian enterprise. He could not any longer delay his departure; but as +his journey to London might be followed, even sooner than he now +conjectured, by his longer voyage, he entreated me to bestow as much of +my society on him as I could spare. He besought me, therefore, to +leave my solitary isle and to meet him at Perth, that we might proceed +southwards together. This letter in a degree recalled me to life, and +I determined to quit my island at the expiration of two days. Yet, +before I departed, there was a task to perform, on which I shuddered to +reflect; I must pack up my chemical instruments, and for that purpose I +must enter the room which had been the scene of my odious work, and I +must handle those utensils the sight of which was sickening to me. The +next morning, at daybreak, I summoned sufficient courage and unlocked +the door of my laboratory. The remains of the half-finished creature, +whom I had destroyed, lay scattered on the floor, and I almost felt as +if I had mangled the living flesh of a human being. I paused to +collect myself and then entered the chamber. With trembling hand I +conveyed the instruments out of the room, but I reflected that I ought +not to leave the relics of my work to excite the horror and suspicion +of the peasants; and I accordingly put them into a basket, with a great +quantity of stones, and laying them up, determined to throw them into +the sea that very night; and in the meantime I sat upon the beach, +employed in cleaning and arranging my chemical apparatus. + +Nothing could be more complete than the alteration that had taken place +in my feelings since the night of the appearance of the daemon. I had +before regarded my promise with a gloomy despair as a thing that, with +whatever consequences, must be fulfilled; but I now felt as if a film +had been taken from before my eyes and that I for the first time saw +clearly. The idea of renewing my labours did not for one instant occur +to me; the threat I had heard weighed on my thoughts, but I did not +reflect that a voluntary act of mine could avert it. I had resolved in +my own mind that to create another like the fiend I had first made +would be an act of the basest and most atrocious selfishness, and I +banished from my mind every thought that could lead to a different +conclusion. + +Between two and three in the morning the moon rose; and I then, putting +my basket aboard a little skiff, sailed out about four miles from the +shore. The scene was perfectly solitary; a few boats were returning +towards land, but I sailed away from them. I felt as if I was about +the commission of a dreadful crime and avoided with shuddering anxiety +any encounter with my fellow creatures. At one time the moon, which +had before been clear, was suddenly overspread by a thick cloud, and I +took advantage of the moment of darkness and cast my basket into the +sea; I listened to the gurgling sound as it sank and then sailed away +from the spot. The sky became clouded, but the air was pure, although +chilled by the northeast breeze that was then rising. But it refreshed +me and filled me with such agreeable sensations that I resolved to +prolong my stay on the water, and fixing the rudder in a direct +position, stretched myself at the bottom of the boat. Clouds hid the +moon, everything was obscure, and I heard only the sound of the boat as +its keel cut through the waves; the murmur lulled me, and in a short +time I slept soundly. I do not know how long I remained in this +situation, but when I awoke I found that the sun had already mounted +considerably. The wind was high, and the waves continually threatened +the safety of my little skiff. I found that the wind was northeast and +must have driven me far from the coast from which I had embarked. I +endeavoured to change my course but quickly found that if I again made +the attempt the boat would be instantly filled with water. Thus +situated, my only resource was to drive before the wind. I confess +that I felt a few sensations of terror. I had no compass with me and +was so slenderly acquainted with the geography of this part of the +world that the sun was of little benefit to me. I might be driven into +the wide Atlantic and feel all the tortures of starvation or be +swallowed up in the immeasurable waters that roared and buffeted around +me. I had already been out many hours and felt the torment of a +burning thirst, a prelude to my other sufferings. I looked on the +heavens, which were covered by clouds that flew before the wind, only +to be replaced by others; I looked upon the sea; it was to be my grave. +"Fiend," I exclaimed, "your task is already fulfilled!" I thought of +Elizabeth, of my father, and of Clerval--all left behind, on whom the +monster might satisfy his sanguinary and merciless passions. This idea +plunged me into a reverie so despairing and frightful that even now, +when the scene is on the point of closing before me forever, I shudder +to reflect on it. + +Some hours passed thus; but by degrees, as the sun declined towards the +horizon, the wind died away into a gentle breeze and the sea became +free from breakers. But these gave place to a heavy swell; I felt sick +and hardly able to hold the rudder, when suddenly I saw a line of high +land towards the south. + +Almost spent, as I was, by fatigue and the dreadful suspense I endured +for several hours, this sudden certainty of life rushed like a flood of +warm joy to my heart, and tears gushed from my eyes. + +How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we +have of life even in the excess of misery! I constructed another sail +with a part of my dress and eagerly steered my course towards the land. +It had a wild and rocky appearance, but as I approached nearer I easily +perceived the traces of cultivation. I saw vessels near the shore and +found myself suddenly transported back to the neighbourhood of +civilized man. I carefully traced the windings of the land and hailed +a steeple which I at length saw issuing from behind a small promontory. +As I was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly +towards the town, as a place where I could most easily procure +nourishment. Fortunately I had money with me. + +As I turned the promontory I perceived a small neat town and a good +harbour, which I entered, my heart bounding with joy at my unexpected +escape. + +As I was occupied in fixing the boat and arranging the sails, several +people crowded towards the spot. They seemed much surprised at my +appearance, but instead of offering me any assistance, whispered +together with gestures that at any other time might have produced in me +a slight sensation of alarm. As it was, I merely remarked that they +spoke English, and I therefore addressed them in that language. "My +good friends," said I, "will you be so kind as to tell me the name of +this town and inform me where I am?" + +"You will know that soon enough," replied a man with a hoarse voice. +"Maybe you are come to a place that will not prove much to your taste, +but you will not be consulted as to your quarters, I promise you." + +I was exceedingly surprised on receiving so rude an answer from a +stranger, and I was also disconcerted on perceiving the frowning and +angry countenances of his companions. "Why do you answer me so +roughly?" I replied. "Surely it is not the custom of Englishmen to +receive strangers so inhospitably." + +"I do not know," said the man, "what the custom of the English may be, +but it is the custom of the Irish to hate villains." While this strange +dialogue continued, I perceived the crowd rapidly increase. Their +faces expressed a mixture of curiosity and anger, which annoyed and in +some degree alarmed me. + +I inquired the way to the inn, but no one replied. I then moved +forward, and a murmuring sound arose from the crowd as they followed +and surrounded me, when an ill-looking man approaching tapped me on the +shoulder and said, "Come, sir, you must follow me to Mr. Kirwin's to +give an account of yourself." + +"Who is Mr. Kirwin? Why am I to give an account of myself? Is not +this a free country?" + +"Ay, sir, free enough for honest folks. Mr. Kirwin is a magistrate, +and you are to give an account of the death of a gentleman who was +found murdered here last night." + +This answer startled me, but I presently recovered myself. I was +innocent; that could easily be proved; accordingly I followed my +conductor in silence and was led to one of the best houses in the town. +I was ready to sink from fatigue and hunger, but being surrounded by a +crowd, I thought it politic to rouse all my strength, that no physical +debility might be construed into apprehension or conscious guilt. +Little did I then expect the calamity that was in a few moments to +overwhelm me and extinguish in horror and despair all fear of ignominy +or death. I must pause here, for it requires all my fortitude to recall +the memory of the frightful events which I am about to relate, in +proper detail, to my recollection. + + + +Chapter 21 + +I was soon introduced into the presence of the magistrate, an old +benevolent man with calm and mild manners. He looked upon me, however, +with some degree of severity, and then, turning towards my conductors, +he asked who appeared as witnesses on this occasion. + +About half a dozen men came forward; and, one being selected by the +magistrate, he deposed that he had been out fishing the night before +with his son and brother-in-law, Daniel Nugent, when, about ten +o'clock, they observed a strong northerly blast rising, and they +accordingly put in for port. It was a very dark night, as the moon had +not yet risen; they did not land at the harbour, but, as they had been +accustomed, at a creek about two miles below. He walked on first, +carrying a part of the fishing tackle, and his companions followed him +at some distance. + +As he was proceeding along the sands, he struck his foot against +something and fell at his length on the ground. His companions came up +to assist him, and by the light of their lantern they found that he had +fallen on the body of a man, who was to all appearance dead. Their +first supposition was that it was the corpse of some person who had +been drowned and was thrown on shore by the waves, but on examination +they found that the clothes were not wet and even that the body was not +then cold. They instantly carried it to the cottage of an old woman +near the spot and endeavoured, but in vain, to restore it to life. It +appeared to be a handsome young man, about five and twenty years of +age. He had apparently been strangled, for there was no sign of any +violence except the black mark of fingers on his neck. + +The first part of this deposition did not in the least interest me, but +when the mark of the fingers was mentioned I remembered the murder of +my brother and felt myself extremely agitated; my limbs trembled, and a +mist came over my eyes, which obliged me to lean on a chair for +support. The magistrate observed me with a keen eye and of course drew +an unfavourable augury from my manner. + +The son confirmed his father's account, but when Daniel Nugent was +called he swore positively that just before the fall of his companion, +he saw a boat, with a single man in it, at a short distance from the +shore; and as far as he could judge by the light of a few stars, it was +the same boat in which I had just landed. A woman deposed that she +lived near the beach and was standing at the door of her cottage, +waiting for the return of the fishermen, about an hour before she heard +of the discovery of the body, when she saw a boat with only one man in +it push off from that part of the shore where the corpse was afterwards +found. + +Another woman confirmed the account of the fishermen having brought the +body into her house; it was not cold. They put it into a bed and +rubbed it, and Daniel went to the town for an apothecary, but life was +quite gone. + +Several other men were examined concerning my landing, and they agreed +that, with the strong north wind that had arisen during the night, it +was very probable that I had beaten about for many hours and had been +obliged to return nearly to the same spot from which I had departed. +Besides, they observed that it appeared that I had brought the body +from another place, and it was likely that as I did not appear to know +the shore, I might have put into the harbour ignorant of the distance +of the town of ---- from the place where I had deposited the corpse. + +Mr. Kirwin, on hearing this evidence, desired that I should be taken +into the room where the body lay for interment, that it might be +observed what effect the sight of it would produce upon me. This idea +was probably suggested by the extreme agitation I had exhibited when +the mode of the murder had been described. I was accordingly +conducted, by the magistrate and several other persons, to the inn. I +could not help being struck by the strange coincidences that had taken +place during this eventful night; but, knowing that I had been +conversing with several persons in the island I had inhabited about the +time that the body had been found, I was perfectly tranquil as to the +consequences of the affair. I entered the room where the corpse lay +and was led up to the coffin. How can I describe my sensations on +beholding it? I feel yet parched with horror, nor can I reflect on +that terrible moment without shuddering and agony. The examination, +the presence of the magistrate and witnesses, passed like a dream from +my memory when I saw the lifeless form of Henry Clerval stretched +before me. I gasped for breath, and throwing myself on the body, I +exclaimed, "Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my +dearest Henry, of life? Two I have already destroyed; other victims +await their destiny; but you, Clerval, my friend, my benefactor--" + +The human frame could no longer support the agonies that I endured, and +I was carried out of the room in strong convulsions. A fever succeeded +to this. I lay for two months on the point of death; my ravings, as I +afterwards heard, were frightful; I called myself the murderer of +William, of Justine, and of Clerval. Sometimes I entreated my +attendants to assist me in the destruction of the fiend by whom I was +tormented; and at others I felt the fingers of the monster already +grasping my neck, and screamed aloud with agony and terror. +Fortunately, as I spoke my native language, Mr. Kirwin alone understood +me; but my gestures and bitter cries were sufficient to affright the +other witnesses. Why did I not die? More miserable than man ever was +before, why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest? Death snatches +away many blooming children, the only hopes of their doting parents; +how many brides and youthful lovers have been one day in the bloom of +health and hope, and the next a prey for worms and the decay of the +tomb! Of what materials was I made that I could thus resist so many +shocks, which, like the turning of the wheel, continually renewed the +torture? + +But I was doomed to live and in two months found myself as awaking from +a dream, in a prison, stretched on a wretched bed, surrounded by +jailers, turnkeys, bolts, and all the miserable apparatus of a dungeon. +It was morning, I remember, when I thus awoke to understanding; I had +forgotten the particulars of what had happened and only felt as if some +great misfortune had suddenly overwhelmed me; but when I looked around +and saw the barred windows and the squalidness of the room in which I +was, all flashed across my memory and I groaned bitterly. + +This sound disturbed an old woman who was sleeping in a chair beside +me. She was a hired nurse, the wife of one of the turnkeys, and her +countenance expressed all those bad qualities which often characterize +that class. The lines of her face were hard and rude, like that of +persons accustomed to see without sympathizing in sights of misery. Her +tone expressed her entire indifference; she addressed me in English, +and the voice struck me as one that I had heard during my sufferings. +"Are you better now, sir?" said she. + +I replied in the same language, with a feeble voice, "I believe I am; +but if it be all true, if indeed I did not dream, I am sorry that I am +still alive to feel this misery and horror." + +"For that matter," replied the old woman, "if you mean about the +gentleman you murdered, I believe that it were better for you if you +were dead, for I fancy it will go hard with you! However, that's none +of my business; I am sent to nurse you and get you well; I do my duty +with a safe conscience; it were well if everybody did the same." + +I turned with loathing from the woman who could utter so unfeeling a +speech to a person just saved, on the very edge of death; but I felt +languid and unable to reflect on all that had passed. The whole series +of my life appeared to me as a dream; I sometimes doubted if indeed it +were all true, for it never presented itself to my mind with the force +of reality. + +As the images that floated before me became more distinct, I grew +feverish; a darkness pressed around me; no one was near me who soothed +me with the gentle voice of love; no dear hand supported me. The +physician came and prescribed medicines, and the old woman prepared +them for me; but utter carelessness was visible in the first, and the +expression of brutality was strongly marked in the visage of the +second. Who could be interested in the fate of a murderer but the +hangman who would gain his fee? + +These were my first reflections, but I soon learned that Mr. Kirwin had +shown me extreme kindness. He had caused the best room in the prison +to be prepared for me (wretched indeed was the best); and it was he who +had provided a physician and a nurse. It is true, he seldom came to +see me, for although he ardently desired to relieve the sufferings of +every human creature, he did not wish to be present at the agonies and +miserable ravings of a murderer. He came, therefore, sometimes to see +that I was not neglected, but his visits were short and with long +intervals. One day, while I was gradually recovering, I was seated in +a chair, my eyes half open and my cheeks livid like those in death. I +was overcome by gloom and misery and often reflected I had better seek +death than desire to remain in a world which to me was replete with +wretchedness. At one time I considered whether I should not declare +myself guilty and suffer the penalty of the law, less innocent than +poor Justine had been. Such were my thoughts when the door of my +apartment was opened and Mr. Kirwin entered. His countenance expressed +sympathy and compassion; he drew a chair close to mine and addressed me +in French, "I fear that this place is very shocking to you; can I do +anything to make you more comfortable?" + +"I thank you, but all that you mention is nothing to me; on the whole +earth there is no comfort which I am capable of receiving." + +"I know that the sympathy of a stranger can be but of little relief to +one borne down as you are by so strange a misfortune. But you will, I +hope, soon quit this melancholy abode, for doubtless evidence can +easily be brought to free you from the criminal charge." + +"That is my least concern; I am, by a course of strange events, become +the most miserable of mortals. Persecuted and tortured as I am and +have been, can death be any evil to me?" + +"Nothing indeed could be more unfortunate and agonizing than the +strange chances that have lately occurred. You were thrown, by some +surprising accident, on this shore, renowned for its hospitality, +seized immediately, and charged with murder. The first sight that was +presented to your eyes was the body of your friend, murdered in so +unaccountable a manner and placed, as it were, by some fiend across +your path." + +As Mr. Kirwin said this, notwithstanding the agitation I endured on +this retrospect of my sufferings, I also felt considerable surprise at +the knowledge he seemed to possess concerning me. I suppose some +astonishment was exhibited in my countenance, for Mr. Kirwin hastened +to say, "Immediately upon your being taken ill, all the papers that +were on your person were brought me, and I examined them that I might +discover some trace by which I could send to your relations an account +of your misfortune and illness. I found several letters, and, among +others, one which I discovered from its commencement to be from your +father. I instantly wrote to Geneva; nearly two months have elapsed +since the departure of my letter. But you are ill; even now you +tremble; you are unfit for agitation of any kind." + +"This suspense is a thousand times worse than the most horrible event; +tell me what new scene of death has been acted, and whose murder I am +now to lament?" + +"Your family is perfectly well," said Mr. Kirwin with gentleness; "and +someone, a friend, is come to visit you." + +I know not by what chain of thought the idea presented itself, but it +instantly darted into my mind that the murderer had come to mock at my +misery and taunt me with the death of Clerval, as a new incitement for +me to comply with his hellish desires. I put my hand before my eyes, +and cried out in agony, "Oh! Take him away! I cannot see him; for +God's sake, do not let him enter!" + +Mr. Kirwin regarded me with a troubled countenance. He could not help +regarding my exclamation as a presumption of my guilt and said in +rather a severe tone, "I should have thought, young man, that the +presence of your father would have been welcome instead of inspiring +such violent repugnance." + +"My father!" cried I, while every feature and every muscle was relaxed +from anguish to pleasure. "Is my father indeed come? How kind, how +very kind! But where is he, why does he not hasten to me?" + +My change of manner surprised and pleased the magistrate; perhaps he +thought that my former exclamation was a momentary return of delirium, +and now he instantly resumed his former benevolence. He rose and +quitted the room with my nurse, and in a moment my father entered it. + +Nothing, at this moment, could have given me greater pleasure than the +arrival of my father. I stretched out my hand to him and cried, "Are +you, then, safe--and Elizabeth--and Ernest?" My father calmed me with +assurances of their welfare and endeavoured, by dwelling on these +subjects so interesting to my heart, to raise my desponding spirits; +but he soon felt that a prison cannot be the abode of cheerfulness. + +"What a place is this that you inhabit, my son!" said he, looking +mournfully at the barred windows and wretched appearance of the room. +"You travelled to seek happiness, but a fatality seems to pursue you. +And poor Clerval--" + +The name of my unfortunate and murdered friend was an agitation too +great to be endured in my weak state; I shed tears. "Alas! Yes, my +father," replied I; "some destiny of the most horrible kind hangs over +me, and I must live to fulfil it, or surely I should have died on the +coffin of Henry." + +We were not allowed to converse for any length of time, for the +precarious state of my health rendered every precaution necessary that +could ensure tranquillity. Mr. Kirwin came in and insisted that my +strength should not be exhausted by too much exertion. But the +appearance of my father was to me like that of my good angel, and I +gradually recovered my health. + +As my sickness quitted me, I was absorbed by a gloomy and black +melancholy that nothing could dissipate. The image of Clerval was +forever before me, ghastly and murdered. More than once the agitation +into which these reflections threw me made my friends dread a dangerous +relapse. Alas! Why did they preserve so miserable and detested a +life? It was surely that I might fulfil my destiny, which is now +drawing to a close. Soon, oh, very soon, will death extinguish these +throbbings and relieve me from the mighty weight of anguish that bears +me to the dust; and, in executing the award of justice, I shall also +sink to rest. Then the appearance of death was distant, although the +wish was ever present to my thoughts; and I often sat for hours +motionless and speechless, wishing for some mighty revolution that +might bury me and my destroyer in its ruins. + +The season of the assizes approached. I had already been three months +in prison, and although I was still weak and in continual danger of a +relapse, I was obliged to travel nearly a hundred miles to the country +town where the court was held. Mr. Kirwin charged himself with every +care of collecting witnesses and arranging my defence. I was spared +the disgrace of appearing publicly as a criminal, as the case was not +brought before the court that decides on life and death. The grand +jury rejected the bill, on its being proved that I was on the Orkney +Islands at the hour the body of my friend was found; and a fortnight +after my removal I was liberated from prison. + +My father was enraptured on finding me freed from the vexations of a +criminal charge, that I was again allowed to breathe the fresh +atmosphere and permitted to return to my native country. I did not +participate in these feelings, for to me the walls of a dungeon or a +palace were alike hateful. The cup of life was poisoned forever, and +although the sun shone upon me, as upon the happy and gay of heart, I +saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness, penetrated by +no light but the glimmer of two eyes that glared upon me. Sometimes +they were the expressive eyes of Henry, languishing in death, the dark +orbs nearly covered by the lids and the long black lashes that fringed +them; sometimes it was the watery, clouded eyes of the monster, as I +first saw them in my chamber at Ingolstadt. + +My father tried to awaken in me the feelings of affection. He talked +of Geneva, which I should soon visit, of Elizabeth and Ernest; but +these words only drew deep groans from me. Sometimes, indeed, I felt a +wish for happiness and thought with melancholy delight of my beloved +cousin or longed, with a devouring maladie du pays, to see once more +the blue lake and rapid Rhone, that had been so dear to me in early +childhood; but my general state of feeling was a torpor in which a +prison was as welcome a residence as the divinest scene in nature; and +these fits were seldom interrupted but by paroxysms of anguish and +despair. At these moments I often endeavoured to put an end to the +existence I loathed, and it required unceasing attendance and vigilance +to restrain me from committing some dreadful act of violence. + +Yet one duty remained to me, the recollection of which finally +triumphed over my selfish despair. It was necessary that I should +return without delay to Geneva, there to watch over the lives of those +I so fondly loved and to lie in wait for the murderer, that if any +chance led me to the place of his concealment, or if he dared again to +blast me by his presence, I might, with unfailing aim, put an end to +the existence of the monstrous image which I had endued with the +mockery of a soul still more monstrous. My father still desired to +delay our departure, fearful that I could not sustain the fatigues of a +journey, for I was a shattered wreck--the shadow of a human being. My +strength was gone. I was a mere skeleton, and fever night and day +preyed upon my wasted frame. Still, as I urged our leaving Ireland +with such inquietude and impatience, my father thought it best to +yield. We took our passage on board a vessel bound for Havre-de-Grace +and sailed with a fair wind from the Irish shores. It was midnight. I +lay on the deck looking at the stars and listening to the dashing of +the waves. I hailed the darkness that shut Ireland from my sight, and +my pulse beat with a feverish joy when I reflected that I should soon +see Geneva. The past appeared to me in the light of a frightful dream; +yet the vessel in which I was, the wind that blew me from the detested +shore of Ireland, and the sea which surrounded me told me too forcibly +that I was deceived by no vision and that Clerval, my friend and +dearest companion, had fallen a victim to me and the monster of my +creation. I repassed, in my memory, my whole life--my quiet happiness +while residing with my family in Geneva, the death of my mother, and my +departure for Ingolstadt. I remembered, shuddering, the mad enthusiasm +that hurried me on to the creation of my hideous enemy, and I called to +mind the night in which he first lived. I was unable to pursue the +train of thought; a thousand feelings pressed upon me, and I wept +bitterly. Ever since my recovery from the fever I had been in the +custom of taking every night a small quantity of laudanum, for it was +by means of this drug only that I was enabled to gain the rest +necessary for the preservation of life. Oppressed by the recollection +of my various misfortunes, I now swallowed double my usual quantity and +soon slept profoundly. But sleep did not afford me respite from +thought and misery; my dreams presented a thousand objects that scared +me. Towards morning I was possessed by a kind of nightmare; I felt the +fiend's grasp in my neck and could not free myself from it; groans and +cries rang in my ears. My father, who was watching over me, perceiving +my restlessness, awoke me; the dashing waves were around, the cloudy +sky above, the fiend was not here: a sense of security, a feeling that +a truce was established between the present hour and the irresistible, +disastrous future imparted to me a kind of calm forgetfulness, of which +the human mind is by its structure peculiarly susceptible. + + + +Chapter 22 + +The voyage came to an end. We landed, and proceeded to Paris. I soon +found that I had overtaxed my strength and that I must repose before I +could continue my journey. My father's care and attentions were +indefatigable, but he did not know the origin of my sufferings and +sought erroneous methods to remedy the incurable ill. He wished me to +seek amusement in society. I abhorred the face of man. Oh, not +abhorred! They were my brethren, my fellow beings, and I felt +attracted even to the most repulsive among them, as to creatures of an +angelic nature and celestial mechanism. But I felt that I had no right +to share their intercourse. I had unchained an enemy among them whose +joy it was to shed their blood and to revel in their groans. How they +would, each and all, abhor me and hunt me from the world did they know +my unhallowed acts and the crimes which had their source in me! + +My father yielded at length to my desire to avoid society and strove by +various arguments to banish my despair. Sometimes he thought that I +felt deeply the degradation of being obliged to answer a charge of +murder, and he endeavoured to prove to me the futility of pride. + +"Alas! My father," said I, "how little do you know me. Human beings, +their feelings and passions, would indeed be degraded if such a wretch +as I felt pride. Justine, poor unhappy Justine, was as innocent as I, +and she suffered the same charge; she died for it; and I am the cause +of this--I murdered her. William, Justine, and Henry--they all died by +my hands." + +My father had often, during my imprisonment, heard me make the same +assertion; when I thus accused myself, he sometimes seemed to desire an +explanation, and at others he appeared to consider it as the offspring +of delirium, and that, during my illness, some idea of this kind had +presented itself to my imagination, the remembrance of which I +preserved in my convalescence. + +I avoided explanation and maintained a continual silence concerning the +wretch I had created. I had a persuasion that I should be supposed +mad, and this in itself would forever have chained my tongue. But, +besides, I could not bring myself to disclose a secret which would fill +my hearer with consternation and make fear and unnatural horror the +inmates of his breast. I checked, therefore, my impatient thirst for +sympathy and was silent when I would have given the world to have +confided the fatal secret. Yet, still, words like those I have +recorded would burst uncontrollably from me. I could offer no +explanation of them, but their truth in part relieved the burden of my +mysterious woe. Upon this occasion my father said, with an expression +of unbounded wonder, "My dearest Victor, what infatuation is this? My +dear son, I entreat you never to make such an assertion again." + +"I am not mad," I cried energetically; "the sun and the heavens, who +have viewed my operations, can bear witness of my truth. I am the +assassin of those most innocent victims; they died by my machinations. +A thousand times would I have shed my own blood, drop by drop, to have +saved their lives; but I could not, my father, indeed I could not +sacrifice the whole human race." + +The conclusion of this speech convinced my father that my ideas were +deranged, and he instantly changed the subject of our conversation and +endeavoured to alter the course of my thoughts. He wished as much as +possible to obliterate the memory of the scenes that had taken place in +Ireland and never alluded to them or suffered me to speak of my +misfortunes. + +As time passed away I became more calm; misery had her dwelling in my +heart, but I no longer talked in the same incoherent manner of my own +crimes; sufficient for me was the consciousness of them. By the utmost +self-violence I curbed the imperious voice of wretchedness, which +sometimes desired to declare itself to the whole world, and my manners +were calmer and more composed than they had ever been since my journey +to the sea of ice. A few days before we left Paris on our way to +Switzerland, I received the following letter from Elizabeth: + + +"My dear Friend, + +"It gave me the greatest pleasure to receive a letter from my uncle +dated at Paris; you are no longer at a formidable distance, and I may +hope to see you in less than a fortnight. My poor cousin, how much you +must have suffered! I expect to see you looking even more ill than +when you quitted Geneva. This winter has been passed most miserably, +tortured as I have been by anxious suspense; yet I hope to see peace in +your countenance and to find that your heart is not totally void of +comfort and tranquillity. + +"Yet I fear that the same feelings now exist that made you so miserable +a year ago, even perhaps augmented by time. I would not disturb you at +this period, when so many misfortunes weigh upon you, but a +conversation that I had with my uncle previous to his departure renders +some explanation necessary before we meet. Explanation! You may +possibly say, What can Elizabeth have to explain? If you really say +this, my questions are answered and all my doubts satisfied. But you +are distant from me, and it is possible that you may dread and yet be +pleased with this explanation; and in a probability of this being the +case, I dare not any longer postpone writing what, during your absence, +I have often wished to express to you but have never had the courage to +begin. + +"You well know, Victor, that our union had been the favourite plan of +your parents ever since our infancy. We were told this when young, and +taught to look forward to it as an event that would certainly take +place. We were affectionate playfellows during childhood, and, I +believe, dear and valued friends to one another as we grew older. But +as brother and sister often entertain a lively affection towards each +other without desiring a more intimate union, may not such also be our +case? Tell me, dearest Victor. Answer me, I conjure you by our mutual +happiness, with simple truth--Do you not love another? + +"You have travelled; you have spent several years of your life at +Ingolstadt; and I confess to you, my friend, that when I saw you last +autumn so unhappy, flying to solitude from the society of every +creature, I could not help supposing that you might regret our +connection and believe yourself bound in honour to fulfil the wishes of +your parents, although they opposed themselves to your inclinations. +But this is false reasoning. I confess to you, my friend, that I love +you and that in my airy dreams of futurity you have been my constant +friend and companion. But it is your happiness I desire as well as my +own when I declare to you that our marriage would render me eternally +miserable unless it were the dictate of your own free choice. Even now +I weep to think that, borne down as you are by the cruellest +misfortunes, you may stifle, by the word 'honour,' all hope of that +love and happiness which would alone restore you to yourself. I, who +have so disinterested an affection for you, may increase your miseries +tenfold by being an obstacle to your wishes. Ah! Victor, be assured +that your cousin and playmate has too sincere a love for you not to be +made miserable by this supposition. Be happy, my friend; and if you +obey me in this one request, remain satisfied that nothing on earth +will have the power to interrupt my tranquillity. + +"Do not let this letter disturb you; do not answer tomorrow, or the +next day, or even until you come, if it will give you pain. My uncle +will send me news of your health, and if I see but one smile on your +lips when we meet, occasioned by this or any other exertion of mine, I +shall need no other happiness. + + "Elizabeth Lavenza + + + "Geneva, May 18th, 17--" + + +This letter revived in my memory what I had before forgotten, the +threat of the fiend--"I WILL BE WITH YOU ON YOUR WEDDING-NIGHT!" Such +was my sentence, and on that night would the daemon employ every art to +destroy me and tear me from the glimpse of happiness which promised +partly to console my sufferings. On that night he had determined to +consummate his crimes by my death. Well, be it so; a deadly struggle +would then assuredly take place, in which if he were victorious I +should be at peace and his power over me be at an end. If he were +vanquished, I should be a free man. Alas! What freedom? Such as the +peasant enjoys when his family have been massacred before his eyes, his +cottage burnt, his lands laid waste, and he is turned adrift, homeless, +penniless, and alone, but free. Such would be my liberty except that in +my Elizabeth I possessed a treasure, alas, balanced by those horrors of +remorse and guilt which would pursue me until death. + +Sweet and beloved Elizabeth! I read and reread her letter, and some +softened feelings stole into my heart and dared to whisper paradisiacal +dreams of love and joy; but the apple was already eaten, and the +angel's arm bared to drive me from all hope. Yet I would die to make +her happy. If the monster executed his threat, death was inevitable; +yet, again, I considered whether my marriage would hasten my fate. My +destruction might indeed arrive a few months sooner, but if my torturer +should suspect that I postponed it, influenced by his menaces, he would +surely find other and perhaps more dreadful means of revenge. + +He had vowed TO BE WITH ME ON MY WEDDING-NIGHT, yet he did not consider +that threat as binding him to peace in the meantime, for as if to show +me that he was not yet satiated with blood, he had murdered Clerval +immediately after the enunciation of his threats. I resolved, +therefore, that if my immediate union with my cousin would conduce +either to hers or my father's happiness, my adversary's designs against +my life should not retard it a single hour. + +In this state of mind I wrote to Elizabeth. My letter was calm and +affectionate. "I fear, my beloved girl," I said, "little happiness +remains for us on earth; yet all that I may one day enjoy is centred in +you. Chase away your idle fears; to you alone do I consecrate my life +and my endeavours for contentment. I have one secret, Elizabeth, a +dreadful one; when revealed to you, it will chill your frame with +horror, and then, far from being surprised at my misery, you will only +wonder that I survive what I have endured. I will confide this tale of +misery and terror to you the day after our marriage shall take place, +for, my sweet cousin, there must be perfect confidence between us. But +until then, I conjure you, do not mention or allude to it. This I most +earnestly entreat, and I know you will comply." + +In about a week after the arrival of Elizabeth's letter we returned to +Geneva. The sweet girl welcomed me with warm affection, yet tears were +in her eyes as she beheld my emaciated frame and feverish cheeks. I +saw a change in her also. She was thinner and had lost much of that +heavenly vivacity that had before charmed me; but her gentleness and +soft looks of compassion made her a more fit companion for one blasted +and miserable as I was. The tranquillity which I now enjoyed did not +endure. Memory brought madness with it, and when I thought of what had +passed, a real insanity possessed me; sometimes I was furious and burnt +with rage, sometimes low and despondent. I neither spoke nor looked at +anyone, but sat motionless, bewildered by the multitude of miseries +that overcame me. + +Elizabeth alone had the power to draw me from these fits; her gentle +voice would soothe me when transported by passion and inspire me with +human feelings when sunk in torpor. She wept with me and for me. When +reason returned, she would remonstrate and endeavour to inspire me with +resignation. Ah! It is well for the unfortunate to be resigned, but +for the guilty there is no peace. The agonies of remorse poison the +luxury there is otherwise sometimes found in indulging the excess of +grief. Soon after my arrival my father spoke of my immediate marriage +with Elizabeth. I remained silent. + +"Have you, then, some other attachment?" + +"None on earth. I love Elizabeth and look forward to our union with +delight. Let the day therefore be fixed; and on it I will consecrate +myself, in life or death, to the happiness of my cousin." + +"My dear Victor, do not speak thus. Heavy misfortunes have befallen +us, but let us only cling closer to what remains and transfer our love +for those whom we have lost to those who yet live. Our circle will be +small but bound close by the ties of affection and mutual misfortune. +And when time shall have softened your despair, new and dear objects of +care will be born to replace those of whom we have been so cruelly +deprived." + +Such were the lessons of my father. But to me the remembrance of the +threat returned; nor can you wonder that, omnipotent as the fiend had +yet been in his deeds of blood, I should almost regard him as +invincible, and that when he had pronounced the words "I SHALL BE WITH +YOU ON YOUR WEDDING-NIGHT," I should regard the threatened fate as +unavoidable. But death was no evil to me if the loss of Elizabeth were +balanced with it, and I therefore, with a contented and even cheerful +countenance, agreed with my father that if my cousin would consent, the +ceremony should take place in ten days, and thus put, as I imagined, +the seal to my fate. + +Great God! If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish +intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself +forever from my native country and wandered a friendless outcast over +the earth than have consented to this miserable marriage. But, as if +possessed of magic powers, the monster had blinded me to his real +intentions; and when I thought that I had prepared only my own death, I +hastened that of a far dearer victim. + +As the period fixed for our marriage drew nearer, whether from +cowardice or a prophetic feeling, I felt my heart sink within me. But +I concealed my feelings by an appearance of hilarity that brought +smiles and joy to the countenance of my father, but hardly deceived the +ever-watchful and nicer eye of Elizabeth. She looked forward to our +union with placid contentment, not unmingled with a little fear, which +past misfortunes had impressed, that what now appeared certain and +tangible happiness might soon dissipate into an airy dream and leave no +trace but deep and everlasting regret. Preparations were made for the +event, congratulatory visits were received, and all wore a smiling +appearance. I shut up, as well as I could, in my own heart the anxiety +that preyed there and entered with seeming earnestness into the plans +of my father, although they might only serve as the decorations of my +tragedy. Through my father's exertions a part of the inheritance of +Elizabeth had been restored to her by the Austrian government. A small +possession on the shores of Como belonged to her. It was agreed that, +immediately after our union, we should proceed to Villa Lavenza and +spend our first days of happiness beside the beautiful lake near which +it stood. + +In the meantime I took every precaution to defend my person in case the +fiend should openly attack me. I carried pistols and a dagger +constantly about me and was ever on the watch to prevent artifice, and +by these means gained a greater degree of tranquillity. Indeed, as the +period approached, the threat appeared more as a delusion, not to be +regarded as worthy to disturb my peace, while the happiness I hoped for +in my marriage wore a greater appearance of certainty as the day fixed +for its solemnization drew nearer and I heard it continually spoken of +as an occurrence which no accident could possibly prevent. + +Elizabeth seemed happy; my tranquil demeanour contributed greatly to +calm her mind. But on the day that was to fulfil my wishes and my +destiny, she was melancholy, and a presentiment of evil pervaded her; +and perhaps also she thought of the dreadful secret which I had +promised to reveal to her on the following day. My father was in the +meantime overjoyed and in the bustle of preparation only recognized in +the melancholy of his niece the diffidence of a bride. + +After the ceremony was performed a large party assembled at my +father's, but it was agreed that Elizabeth and I should commence our +journey by water, sleeping that night at Evian and continuing our +voyage on the following day. The day was fair, the wind favourable; +all smiled on our nuptial embarkation. + +Those were the last moments of my life during which I enjoyed the +feeling of happiness. We passed rapidly along; the sun was hot, but we +were sheltered from its rays by a kind of canopy while we enjoyed the +beauty of the scene, sometimes on one side of the lake, where we saw +Mont Saleve, the pleasant banks of Montalegre, and at a distance, +surmounting all, the beautiful Mont Blanc and the assemblage of snowy +mountains that in vain endeavour to emulate her; sometimes coasting the +opposite banks, we saw the mighty Jura opposing its dark side to the +ambition that would quit its native country, and an almost +insurmountable barrier to the invader who should wish to enslave it. + +I took the hand of Elizabeth. "You are sorrowful, my love. Ah! If +you knew what I have suffered and what I may yet endure, you would +endeavour to let me taste the quiet and freedom from despair that this +one day at least permits me to enjoy." + +"Be happy, my dear Victor," replied Elizabeth; "there is, I hope, +nothing to distress you; and be assured that if a lively joy is not +painted in my face, my heart is contented. Something whispers to me +not to depend too much on the prospect that is opened before us, but I +will not listen to such a sinister voice. Observe how fast we move +along and how the clouds, which sometimes obscure and sometimes rise +above the dome of Mont Blanc, render this scene of beauty still more +interesting. Look also at the innumerable fish that are swimming in +the clear waters, where we can distinguish every pebble that lies at +the bottom. What a divine day! How happy and serene all nature +appears!" + +Thus Elizabeth endeavoured to divert her thoughts and mine from all +reflection upon melancholy subjects. But her temper was fluctuating; +joy for a few instants shone in her eyes, but it continually gave place +to distraction and reverie. + +The sun sank lower in the heavens; we passed the river Drance and +observed its path through the chasms of the higher and the glens of the +lower hills. The Alps here come closer to the lake, and we approached +the amphitheatre of mountains which forms its eastern boundary. The +spire of Evian shone under the woods that surrounded it and the range +of mountain above mountain by which it was overhung. + +The wind, which had hitherto carried us along with amazing rapidity, +sank at sunset to a light breeze; the soft air just ruffled the water +and caused a pleasant motion among the trees as we approached the +shore, from which it wafted the most delightful scent of flowers and +hay. The sun sank beneath the horizon as we landed, and as I touched +the shore I felt those cares and fears revive which soon were to clasp +me and cling to me forever. + + + +Chapter 23 + +It was eight o'clock when we landed; we walked for a short time on the +shore, enjoying the transitory light, and then retired to the inn and +contemplated the lovely scene of waters, woods, and mountains, obscured +in darkness, yet still displaying their black outlines. + +The wind, which had fallen in the south, now rose with great violence +in the west. The moon had reached her summit in the heavens and was +beginning to descend; the clouds swept across it swifter than the +flight of the vulture and dimmed her rays, while the lake reflected the +scene of the busy heavens, rendered still busier by the restless waves +that were beginning to rise. Suddenly a heavy storm of rain descended. + +I had been calm during the day, but so soon as night obscured the +shapes of objects, a thousand fears arose in my mind. I was anxious +and watchful, while my right hand grasped a pistol which was hidden in +my bosom; every sound terrified me, but I resolved that I would sell my +life dearly and not shrink from the conflict until my own life or that +of my adversary was extinguished. Elizabeth observed my agitation for +some time in timid and fearful silence, but there was something in my +glance which communicated terror to her, and trembling, she asked, +"What is it that agitates you, my dear Victor? What is it you fear?" + +"Oh! Peace, peace, my love," replied I; "this night, and all will be +safe; but this night is dreadful, very dreadful." + +I passed an hour in this state of mind, when suddenly I reflected how +fearful the combat which I momentarily expected would be to my wife, +and I earnestly entreated her to retire, resolving not to join her +until I had obtained some knowledge as to the situation of my enemy. + +She left me, and I continued some time walking up and down the passages +of the house and inspecting every corner that might afford a retreat to +my adversary. But I discovered no trace of him and was beginning to +conjecture that some fortunate chance had intervened to prevent the +execution of his menaces when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful +scream. It came from the room into which Elizabeth had retired. As I +heard it, the whole truth rushed into my mind, my arms dropped, the +motion of every muscle and fibre was suspended; I could feel the blood +trickling in my veins and tingling in the extremities of my limbs. This +state lasted but for an instant; the scream was repeated, and I rushed +into the room. Great God! Why did I not then expire! Why am I here +to relate the destruction of the best hope and the purest creature on +earth? She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, +her head hanging down and her pale and distorted features half covered +by her hair. Everywhere I turn I see the same figure--her bloodless +arms and relaxed form flung by the murderer on its bridal bier. Could +I behold this and live? Alas! Life is obstinate and clings closest +where it is most hated. For a moment only did I lose recollection; I +fell senseless on the ground. + +When I recovered I found myself surrounded by the people of the inn; +their countenances expressed a breathless terror, but the horror of +others appeared only as a mockery, a shadow of the feelings that +oppressed me. I escaped from them to the room where lay the body of +Elizabeth, my love, my wife, so lately living, so dear, so worthy. She +had been moved from the posture in which I had first beheld her, and +now, as she lay, her head upon her arm and a handkerchief thrown across +her face and neck, I might have supposed her asleep. I rushed towards +her and embraced her with ardour, but the deadly languor and coldness +of the limbs told me that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be +the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished. The murderous mark of +the fiend's grasp was on her neck, and the breath had ceased to issue +from her lips. While I still hung over her in the agony of despair, I +happened to look up. The windows of the room had before been darkened, +and I felt a kind of panic on seeing the pale yellow light of the moon +illuminate the chamber. The shutters had been thrown back, and with a +sensation of horror not to be described, I saw at the open window a +figure the most hideous and abhorred. A grin was on the face of the +monster; he seemed to jeer, as with his fiendish finger he pointed +towards the corpse of my wife. I rushed towards the window, and +drawing a pistol from my bosom, fired; but he eluded me, leaped from +his station, and running with the swiftness of lightning, plunged into +the lake. + +The report of the pistol brought a crowd into the room. I pointed to +the spot where he had disappeared, and we followed the track with +boats; nets were cast, but in vain. After passing several hours, we +returned hopeless, most of my companions believing it to have been a +form conjured up by my fancy. After having landed, they proceeded to +search the country, parties going in different directions among the +woods and vines. + +I attempted to accompany them and proceeded a short distance from the +house, but my head whirled round, my steps were like those of a drunken +man, I fell at last in a state of utter exhaustion; a film covered my +eyes, and my skin was parched with the heat of fever. In this state I +was carried back and placed on a bed, hardly conscious of what had +happened; my eyes wandered round the room as if to seek something that +I had lost. + +After an interval I arose, and as if by instinct, crawled into the room +where the corpse of my beloved lay. There were women weeping around; I +hung over it and joined my sad tears to theirs; all this time no +distinct idea presented itself to my mind, but my thoughts rambled to +various subjects, reflecting confusedly on my misfortunes and their +cause. I was bewildered, in a cloud of wonder and horror. The death +of William, the execution of Justine, the murder of Clerval, and lastly +of my wife; even at that moment I knew not that my only remaining +friends were safe from the malignity of the fiend; my father even now +might be writhing under his grasp, and Ernest might be dead at his +feet. This idea made me shudder and recalled me to action. I started +up and resolved to return to Geneva with all possible speed. + +There were no horses to be procured, and I must return by the lake; but +the wind was unfavourable, and the rain fell in torrents. However, it +was hardly morning, and I might reasonably hope to arrive by night. I +hired men to row and took an oar myself, for I had always experienced +relief from mental torment in bodily exercise. But the overflowing +misery I now felt, and the excess of agitation that I endured rendered +me incapable of any exertion. I threw down the oar, and leaning my +head upon my hands, gave way to every gloomy idea that arose. If I +looked up, I saw scenes which were familiar to me in my happier time +and which I had contemplated but the day before in the company of her +who was now but a shadow and a recollection. Tears streamed from my +eyes. The rain had ceased for a moment, and I saw the fish play in the +waters as they had done a few hours before; they had then been observed +by Elizabeth. Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and +sudden change. The sun might shine or the clouds might lower, but +nothing could appear to me as it had done the day before. A fiend had +snatched from me every hope of future happiness; no creature had ever +been so miserable as I was; so frightful an event is single in the +history of man. But why should I dwell upon the incidents that followed +this last overwhelming event? Mine has been a tale of horrors; I have +reached their acme, and what I must now relate can but be tedious to +you. Know that, one by one, my friends were snatched away; I was left +desolate. My own strength is exhausted, and I must tell, in a few +words, what remains of my hideous narration. I arrived at Geneva. My +father and Ernest yet lived, but the former sunk under the tidings that +I bore. I see him now, excellent and venerable old man! His eyes +wandered in vacancy, for they had lost their charm and their +delight--his Elizabeth, his more than daughter, whom he doted on with +all that affection which a man feels, who in the decline of life, +having few affections, clings more earnestly to those that remain. +Cursed, cursed be the fiend that brought misery on his grey hairs and +doomed him to waste in wretchedness! He could not live under the +horrors that were accumulated around him; the springs of existence +suddenly gave way; he was unable to rise from his bed, and in a few +days he died in my arms. + +What then became of me? I know not; I lost sensation, and chains and +darkness were the only objects that pressed upon me. Sometimes, +indeed, I dreamt that I wandered in flowery meadows and pleasant vales +with the friends of my youth, but I awoke and found myself in a +dungeon. Melancholy followed, but by degrees I gained a clear +conception of my miseries and situation and was then released from my +prison. For they had called me mad, and during many months, as I +understood, a solitary cell had been my habitation. + +Liberty, however, had been a useless gift to me, had I not, as I +awakened to reason, at the same time awakened to revenge. As the +memory of past misfortunes pressed upon me, I began to reflect on their +cause--the monster whom I had created, the miserable daemon whom I had +sent abroad into the world for my destruction. I was possessed by a +maddening rage when I thought of him, and desired and ardently prayed +that I might have him within my grasp to wreak a great and signal +revenge on his cursed head. + +Nor did my hate long confine itself to useless wishes; I began to +reflect on the best means of securing him; and for this purpose, about +a month after my release, I repaired to a criminal judge in the town +and told him that I had an accusation to make, that I knew the +destroyer of my family, and that I required him to exert his whole +authority for the apprehension of the murderer. The magistrate +listened to me with attention and kindness. + +"Be assured, sir," said he, "no pains or exertions on my part shall be +spared to discover the villain." + +"I thank you," replied I; "listen, therefore, to the deposition that I +have to make. It is indeed a tale so strange that I should fear you +would not credit it were there not something in truth which, however +wonderful, forces conviction. The story is too connected to be +mistaken for a dream, and I have no motive for falsehood." My manner as +I thus addressed him was impressive but calm; I had formed in my own +heart a resolution to pursue my destroyer to death, and this purpose +quieted my agony and for an interval reconciled me to life. I now +related my history briefly but with firmness and precision, marking the +dates with accuracy and never deviating into invective or exclamation. + +The magistrate appeared at first perfectly incredulous, but as I +continued he became more attentive and interested; I saw him sometimes +shudder with horror; at others a lively surprise, unmingled with +disbelief, was painted on his countenance. When I had concluded my +narration I said, "This is the being whom I accuse and for whose +seizure and punishment I call upon you to exert your whole power. It +is your duty as a magistrate, and I believe and hope that your feelings +as a man will not revolt from the execution of those functions on this +occasion." This address caused a considerable change in the +physiognomy of my own auditor. He had heard my story with that half +kind of belief that is given to a tale of spirits and supernatural +events; but when he was called upon to act officially in consequence, +the whole tide of his incredulity returned. He, however, answered +mildly, "I would willingly afford you every aid in your pursuit, but +the creature of whom you speak appears to have powers which would put +all my exertions to defiance. Who can follow an animal which can +traverse the sea of ice and inhabit caves and dens where no man would +venture to intrude? Besides, some months have elapsed since the +commission of his crimes, and no one can conjecture to what place he +has wandered or what region he may now inhabit." + +"I do not doubt that he hovers near the spot which I inhabit, and if he +has indeed taken refuge in the Alps, he may be hunted like the chamois +and destroyed as a beast of prey. But I perceive your thoughts; you do +not credit my narrative and do not intend to pursue my enemy with the +punishment which is his desert." As I spoke, rage sparkled in my eyes; +the magistrate was intimidated. "You are mistaken," said he. "I will +exert myself, and if it is in my power to seize the monster, be assured +that he shall suffer punishment proportionate to his crimes. But I +fear, from what you have yourself described to be his properties, that +this will prove impracticable; and thus, while every proper measure is +pursued, you should make up your mind to disappointment." + +"That cannot be; but all that I can say will be of little avail. My +revenge is of no moment to you; yet, while I allow it to be a vice, I +confess that it is the devouring and only passion of my soul. My rage +is unspeakable when I reflect that the murderer, whom I have turned +loose upon society, still exists. You refuse my just demand; I have +but one resource, and I devote myself, either in my life or death, to +his destruction." + +I trembled with excess of agitation as I said this; there was a frenzy +in my manner, and something, I doubt not, of that haughty fierceness +which the martyrs of old are said to have possessed. But to a Genevan +magistrate, whose mind was occupied by far other ideas than those of +devotion and heroism, this elevation of mind had much the appearance of +madness. He endeavoured to soothe me as a nurse does a child and +reverted to my tale as the effects of delirium. + +"Man," I cried, "how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom! Cease; +you know not what it is you say." + +I broke from the house angry and disturbed and retired to meditate on +some other mode of action. + + + +Chapter 24 + +My present situation was one in which all voluntary thought was +swallowed up and lost. I was hurried away by fury; revenge alone +endowed me with strength and composure; it moulded my feelings and +allowed me to be calculating and calm at periods when otherwise +delirium or death would have been my portion. + +My first resolution was to quit Geneva forever; my country, which, when +I was happy and beloved, was dear to me, now, in my adversity, became +hateful. I provided myself with a sum of money, together with a few +jewels which had belonged to my mother, and departed. And now my +wanderings began which are to cease but with life. I have traversed a +vast portion of the earth and have endured all the hardships which +travellers in deserts and barbarous countries are wont to meet. How I +have lived I hardly know; many times have I stretched my failing limbs +upon the sandy plain and prayed for death. But revenge kept me alive; +I dared not die and leave my adversary in being. + +When I quitted Geneva my first labour was to gain some clue by which I +might trace the steps of my fiendish enemy. But my plan was unsettled, +and I wandered many hours round the confines of the town, uncertain +what path I should pursue. As night approached I found myself at the +entrance of the cemetery where William, Elizabeth, and my father +reposed. I entered it and approached the tomb which marked their +graves. Everything was silent except the leaves of the trees, which +were gently agitated by the wind; the night was nearly dark, and the +scene would have been solemn and affecting even to an uninterested +observer. The spirits of the departed seemed to flit around and to +cast a shadow, which was felt but not seen, around the head of the +mourner. + +The deep grief which this scene had at first excited quickly gave way +to rage and despair. They were dead, and I lived; their murderer also +lived, and to destroy him I must drag out my weary existence. I knelt +on the grass and kissed the earth and with quivering lips exclaimed, +"By the sacred earth on which I kneel, by the shades that wander near +me, by the deep and eternal grief that I feel, I swear; and by thee, O +Night, and the spirits that preside over thee, to pursue the daemon who +caused this misery, until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict. For +this purpose I will preserve my life; to execute this dear revenge will +I again behold the sun and tread the green herbage of earth, which +otherwise should vanish from my eyes forever. And I call on you, +spirits of the dead, and on you, wandering ministers of vengeance, to +aid and conduct me in my work. Let the cursed and hellish monster +drink deep of agony; let him feel the despair that now torments me." I +had begun my adjuration with solemnity and an awe which almost assured +me that the shades of my murdered friends heard and approved my +devotion, but the furies possessed me as I concluded, and rage choked +my utterance. + +I was answered through the stillness of night by a loud and fiendish +laugh. It rang on my ears long and heavily; the mountains re-echoed +it, and I felt as if all hell surrounded me with mockery and laughter. +Surely in that moment I should have been possessed by frenzy and have +destroyed my miserable existence but that my vow was heard and that I +was reserved for vengeance. The laughter died away, when a well-known +and abhorred voice, apparently close to my ear, addressed me in an +audible whisper, "I am satisfied, miserable wretch! You have +determined to live, and I am satisfied." + +I darted towards the spot from which the sound proceeded, but the devil +eluded my grasp. Suddenly the broad disk of the moon arose and shone +full upon his ghastly and distorted shape as he fled with more than +mortal speed. + +I pursued him, and for many months this has been my task. Guided by a +slight clue, I followed the windings of the Rhone, but vainly. The +blue Mediterranean appeared, and by a strange chance, I saw the fiend +enter by night and hide himself in a vessel bound for the Black Sea. I +took my passage in the same ship, but he escaped, I know not how. + +Amidst the wilds of Tartary and Russia, although he still evaded me, I +have ever followed in his track. Sometimes the peasants, scared by +this horrid apparition, informed me of his path; sometimes he himself, +who feared that if I lost all trace of him I should despair and die, +left some mark to guide me. The snows descended on my head, and I saw +the print of his huge step on the white plain. To you first entering +on life, to whom care is new and agony unknown, how can you understand +what I have felt and still feel? Cold, want, and fatigue were the +least pains which I was destined to endure; I was cursed by some devil +and carried about with me my eternal hell; yet still a spirit of good +followed and directed my steps and when I most murmured would suddenly +extricate me from seemingly insurmountable difficulties. Sometimes, +when nature, overcome by hunger, sank under the exhaustion, a repast +was prepared for me in the desert that restored and inspirited me. The +fare was, indeed, coarse, such as the peasants of the country ate, but +I will not doubt that it was set there by the spirits that I had +invoked to aid me. Often, when all was dry, the heavens cloudless, and +I was parched by thirst, a slight cloud would bedim the sky, shed the +few drops that revived me, and vanish. + +I followed, when I could, the courses of the rivers; but the daemon +generally avoided these, as it was here that the population of the +country chiefly collected. In other places human beings were seldom +seen, and I generally subsisted on the wild animals that crossed my +path. I had money with me and gained the friendship of the villagers +by distributing it; or I brought with me some food that I had killed, +which, after taking a small part, I always presented to those who had +provided me with fire and utensils for cooking. + +My life, as it passed thus, was indeed hateful to me, and it was during +sleep alone that I could taste joy. O blessed sleep! Often, when most +miserable, I sank to repose, and my dreams lulled me even to rapture. +The spirits that guarded me had provided these moments, or rather +hours, of happiness that I might retain strength to fulfil my +pilgrimage. Deprived of this respite, I should have sunk under my +hardships. During the day I was sustained and inspirited by the hope +of night, for in sleep I saw my friends, my wife, and my beloved +country; again I saw the benevolent countenance of my father, heard the +silver tones of my Elizabeth's voice, and beheld Clerval enjoying +health and youth. Often, when wearied by a toilsome march, I persuaded +myself that I was dreaming until night should come and that I should +then enjoy reality in the arms of my dearest friends. What agonizing +fondness did I feel for them! How did I cling to their dear forms, as +sometimes they haunted even my waking hours, and persuade myself that +they still lived! At such moments vengeance, that burned within me, +died in my heart, and I pursued my path towards the destruction of the +daemon more as a task enjoined by heaven, as the mechanical impulse of +some power of which I was unconscious, than as the ardent desire of my +soul. What his feelings were whom I pursued I cannot know. Sometimes, +indeed, he left marks in writing on the barks of the trees or cut in +stone that guided me and instigated my fury. "My reign is not yet +over"--these words were legible in one of these inscriptions--"you +live, and my power is complete. Follow me; I seek the everlasting ices +of the north, where you will feel the misery of cold and frost, to +which I am impassive. You will find near this place, if you follow not +too tardily, a dead hare; eat and be refreshed. Come on, my enemy; we +have yet to wrestle for our lives, but many hard and miserable hours +must you endure until that period shall arrive." + +Scoffing devil! Again do I vow vengeance; again do I devote thee, +miserable fiend, to torture and death. Never will I give up my search +until he or I perish; and then with what ecstasy shall I join my +Elizabeth and my departed friends, who even now prepare for me the +reward of my tedious toil and horrible pilgrimage! + +As I still pursued my journey to the northward, the snows thickened and +the cold increased in a degree almost too severe to support. The +peasants were shut up in their hovels, and only a few of the most hardy +ventured forth to seize the animals whom starvation had forced from +their hiding-places to seek for prey. The rivers were covered with +ice, and no fish could be procured; and thus I was cut off from my +chief article of maintenance. The triumph of my enemy increased with +the difficulty of my labours. One inscription that he left was in +these words: "Prepare! Your toils only begin; wrap yourself in furs +and provide food, for we shall soon enter upon a journey where your +sufferings will satisfy my everlasting hatred." + +My courage and perseverance were invigorated by these scoffing words; I +resolved not to fail in my purpose, and calling on heaven to support +me, I continued with unabated fervour to traverse immense deserts, +until the ocean appeared at a distance and formed the utmost boundary +of the horizon. Oh! How unlike it was to the blue seasons of the +south! Covered with ice, it was only to be distinguished from land by +its superior wildness and ruggedness. The Greeks wept for joy when +they beheld the Mediterranean from the hills of Asia, and hailed with +rapture the boundary of their toils. I did not weep, but I knelt down +and with a full heart thanked my guiding spirit for conducting me in +safety to the place where I hoped, notwithstanding my adversary's gibe, +to meet and grapple with him. + +Some weeks before this period I had procured a sledge and dogs and thus +traversed the snows with inconceivable speed. I know not whether the +fiend possessed the same advantages, but I found that, as before I had +daily lost ground in the pursuit, I now gained on him, so much so that +when I first saw the ocean he was but one day's journey in advance, and +I hoped to intercept him before he should reach the beach. With new +courage, therefore, I pressed on, and in two days arrived at a wretched +hamlet on the seashore. I inquired of the inhabitants concerning the +fiend and gained accurate information. A gigantic monster, they said, +had arrived the night before, armed with a gun and many pistols, +putting to flight the inhabitants of a solitary cottage through fear of +his terrific appearance. He had carried off their store of winter +food, and placing it in a sledge, to draw which he had seized on a +numerous drove of trained dogs, he had harnessed them, and the same +night, to the joy of the horror-struck villagers, had pursued his +journey across the sea in a direction that led to no land; and they +conjectured that he must speedily be destroyed by the breaking of the +ice or frozen by the eternal frosts. + +On hearing this information I suffered a temporary access of despair. +He had escaped me, and I must commence a destructive and almost endless +journey across the mountainous ices of the ocean, amidst cold that few +of the inhabitants could long endure and which I, the native of a +genial and sunny climate, could not hope to survive. Yet at the idea +that the fiend should live and be triumphant, my rage and vengeance +returned, and like a mighty tide, overwhelmed every other feeling. +After a slight repose, during which the spirits of the dead hovered +round and instigated me to toil and revenge, I prepared for my journey. +I exchanged my land-sledge for one fashioned for the inequalities of +the frozen ocean, and purchasing a plentiful stock of provisions, I +departed from land. + +I cannot guess how many days have passed since then, but I have endured +misery which nothing but the eternal sentiment of a just retribution +burning within my heart could have enabled me to support. Immense and +rugged mountains of ice often barred up my passage, and I often heard +the thunder of the ground sea, which threatened my destruction. But +again the frost came and made the paths of the sea secure. + +By the quantity of provision which I had consumed, I should guess that +I had passed three weeks in this journey; and the continual protraction +of hope, returning back upon the heart, often wrung bitter drops of +despondency and grief from my eyes. Despair had indeed almost secured +her prey, and I should soon have sunk beneath this misery. Once, after +the poor animals that conveyed me had with incredible toil gained the +summit of a sloping ice mountain, and one, sinking under his fatigue, +died, I viewed the expanse before me with anguish, when suddenly my eye +caught a dark speck upon the dusky plain. I strained my sight to +discover what it could be and uttered a wild cry of ecstasy when I +distinguished a sledge and the distorted proportions of a well-known +form within. Oh! With what a burning gush did hope revisit my heart! +Warm tears filled my eyes, which I hastily wiped away, that they might +not intercept the view I had of the daemon; but still my sight was +dimmed by the burning drops, until, giving way to the emotions that +oppressed me, I wept aloud. + +But this was not the time for delay; I disencumbered the dogs of their +dead companion, gave them a plentiful portion of food, and after an +hour's rest, which was absolutely necessary, and yet which was bitterly +irksome to me, I continued my route. The sledge was still visible, nor +did I again lose sight of it except at the moments when for a short +time some ice-rock concealed it with its intervening crags. I indeed +perceptibly gained on it, and when, after nearly two days' journey, I +beheld my enemy at no more than a mile distant, my heart bounded within +me. + +But now, when I appeared almost within grasp of my foe, my hopes were +suddenly extinguished, and I lost all trace of him more utterly than I +had ever done before. A ground sea was heard; the thunder of its +progress, as the waters rolled and swelled beneath me, became every +moment more ominous and terrific. I pressed on, but in vain. The wind +arose; the sea roared; and, as with the mighty shock of an earthquake, +it split and cracked with a tremendous and overwhelming sound. The +work was soon finished; in a few minutes a tumultuous sea rolled +between me and my enemy, and I was left drifting on a scattered piece +of ice that was continually lessening and thus preparing for me a +hideous death. In this manner many appalling hours passed; several of +my dogs died, and I myself was about to sink under the accumulation of +distress when I saw your vessel riding at anchor and holding forth to +me hopes of succour and life. I had no conception that vessels ever +came so far north and was astounded at the sight. I quickly destroyed +part of my sledge to construct oars, and by these means was enabled, +with infinite fatigue, to move my ice raft in the direction of your +ship. I had determined, if you were going southwards, still to trust +myself to the mercy of the seas rather than abandon my purpose. I +hoped to induce you to grant me a boat with which I could pursue my +enemy. But your direction was northwards. You took me on board when +my vigour was exhausted, and I should soon have sunk under my +multiplied hardships into a death which I still dread, for my task is +unfulfilled. + +Oh! When will my guiding spirit, in conducting me to the daemon, allow +me the rest I so much desire; or must I die, and he yet live? If I do, +swear to me, Walton, that he shall not escape, that you will seek him +and satisfy my vengeance in his death. And do I dare to ask of you to +undertake my pilgrimage, to endure the hardships that I have undergone? +No; I am not so selfish. Yet, when I am dead, if he should appear, if +the ministers of vengeance should conduct him to you, swear that he +shall not live--swear that he shall not triumph over my accumulated +woes and survive to add to the list of his dark crimes. He is eloquent +and persuasive, and once his words had even power over my heart; but +trust him not. His soul is as hellish as his form, full of treachery +and fiend-like malice. Hear him not; call on the names of William, +Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth, my father, and of the wretched Victor, and +thrust your sword into his heart. I will hover near and direct the +steel aright. + + + Walton, in continuation. + + + + August 26th, 17-- + + +You have read this strange and terrific story, Margaret; and do you not +feel your blood congeal with horror, like that which even now curdles +mine? Sometimes, seized with sudden agony, he could not continue his +tale; at others, his voice broken, yet piercing, uttered with +difficulty the words so replete with anguish. His fine and lovely eyes +were now lighted up with indignation, now subdued to downcast sorrow +and quenched in infinite wretchedness. Sometimes he commanded his +countenance and tones and related the most horrible incidents with a +tranquil voice, suppressing every mark of agitation; then, like a +volcano bursting forth, his face would suddenly change to an expression +of the wildest rage as he shrieked out imprecations on his persecutor. + +His tale is connected and told with an appearance of the simplest +truth, yet I own to you that the letters of Felix and Safie, which he +showed me, and the apparition of the monster seen from our ship, +brought to me a greater conviction of the truth of his narrative than +his asseverations, however earnest and connected. Such a monster has, +then, really existence! I cannot doubt it, yet I am lost in surprise +and admiration. Sometimes I endeavoured to gain from Frankenstein the +particulars of his creature's formation, but on this point he was +impenetrable. "Are you mad, my friend?" said he. "Or whither does your +senseless curiosity lead you? Would you also create for yourself and +the world a demoniacal enemy? Peace, peace! Learn my miseries and do +not seek to increase your own." Frankenstein discovered that I made +notes concerning his history; he asked to see them and then himself +corrected and augmented them in many places, but principally in giving +the life and spirit to the conversations he held with his enemy. "Since +you have preserved my narration," said he, "I would not that a +mutilated one should go down to posterity." + +Thus has a week passed away, while I have listened to the strangest +tale that ever imagination formed. My thoughts and every feeling of my +soul have been drunk up by the interest for my guest which this tale +and his own elevated and gentle manners have created. I wish to soothe +him, yet can I counsel one so infinitely miserable, so destitute of +every hope of consolation, to live? Oh, no! The only joy that he can +now know will be when he composes his shattered spirit to peace and +death. Yet he enjoys one comfort, the offspring of solitude and +delirium; he believes that when in dreams he holds converse with his +friends and derives from that communion consolation for his miseries or +excitements to his vengeance, that they are not the creations of his +fancy, but the beings themselves who visit him from the regions of a +remote world. This faith gives a solemnity to his reveries that render +them to me almost as imposing and interesting as truth. + +Our conversations are not always confined to his own history and +misfortunes. On every point of general literature he displays +unbounded knowledge and a quick and piercing apprehension. His +eloquence is forcible and touching; nor can I hear him, when he relates +a pathetic incident or endeavours to move the passions of pity or love, +without tears. What a glorious creature must he have been in the days +of his prosperity, when he is thus noble and godlike in ruin! He seems +to feel his own worth and the greatness of his fall. + +"When younger," said he, "I believed myself destined for some great +enterprise. My feelings are profound, but I possessed a coolness of +judgment that fitted me for illustrious achievements. This sentiment +of the worth of my nature supported me when others would have been +oppressed, for I deemed it criminal to throw away in useless grief +those talents that might be useful to my fellow creatures. When I +reflected on the work I had completed, no less a one than the creation +of a sensitive and rational animal, I could not rank myself with the +herd of common projectors. But this thought, which supported me in the +commencement of my career, now serves only to plunge me lower in the +dust. All my speculations and hopes are as nothing, and like the +archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell. +My imagination was vivid, yet my powers of analysis and application +were intense; by the union of these qualities I conceived the idea and +executed the creation of a man. Even now I cannot recollect without +passion my reveries while the work was incomplete. I trod heaven in my +thoughts, now exulting in my powers, now burning with the idea of their +effects. From my infancy I was imbued with high hopes and a lofty +ambition; but how am I sunk! Oh! My friend, if you had known me as I +once was, you would not recognize me in this state of degradation. +Despondency rarely visited my heart; a high destiny seemed to bear me +on, until I fell, never, never again to rise." Must I then lose this +admirable being? I have longed for a friend; I have sought one who +would sympathize with and love me. Behold, on these desert seas I have +found such a one, but I fear I have gained him only to know his value +and lose him. I would reconcile him to life, but he repulses the idea. + +"I thank you, Walton," he said, "for your kind intentions towards so +miserable a wretch; but when you speak of new ties and fresh +affections, think you that any can replace those who are gone? Can any +man be to me as Clerval was, or any woman another Elizabeth? Even +where the affections are not strongly moved by any superior excellence, +the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our +minds which hardly any later friend can obtain. They know our +infantine dispositions, which, however they may be afterwards modified, +are never eradicated; and they can judge of our actions with more +certain conclusions as to the integrity of our motives. A sister or a +brother can never, unless indeed such symptoms have been shown early, +suspect the other of fraud or false dealing, when another friend, +however strongly he may be attached, may, in spite of himself, be +contemplated with suspicion. But I enjoyed friends, dear not only +through habit and association, but from their own merits; and wherever +I am, the soothing voice of my Elizabeth and the conversation of +Clerval will be ever whispered in my ear. They are dead, and but one +feeling in such a solitude can persuade me to preserve my life. If I +were engaged in any high undertaking or design, fraught with extensive +utility to my fellow creatures, then could I live to fulfil it. But +such is not my destiny; I must pursue and destroy the being to whom I +gave existence; then my lot on earth will be fulfilled and I may die." + + + + +September 2nd + +My beloved Sister, + +I write to you, encompassed by peril and ignorant whether I am ever +doomed to see again dear England and the dearer friends that inhabit +it. I am surrounded by mountains of ice which admit of no escape and +threaten every moment to crush my vessel. The brave fellows whom I +have persuaded to be my companions look towards me for aid, but I have +none to bestow. There is something terribly appalling in our +situation, yet my courage and hopes do not desert me. Yet it is +terrible to reflect that the lives of all these men are endangered +through me. If we are lost, my mad schemes are the cause. + +And what, Margaret, will be the state of your mind? You will not hear +of my destruction, and you will anxiously await my return. Years will +pass, and you will have visitings of despair and yet be tortured by +hope. Oh! My beloved sister, the sickening failing of your heart-felt +expectations is, in prospect, more terrible to me than my own death. + +But you have a husband and lovely children; you may be happy. Heaven +bless you and make you so! + +My unfortunate guest regards me with the tenderest compassion. He +endeavours to fill me with hope and talks as if life were a possession +which he valued. He reminds me how often the same accidents have +happened to other navigators who have attempted this sea, and in spite +of myself, he fills me with cheerful auguries. Even the sailors feel +the power of his eloquence; when he speaks, they no longer despair; he +rouses their energies, and while they hear his voice they believe these +vast mountains of ice are mole-hills which will vanish before the +resolutions of man. These feelings are transitory; each day of +expectation delayed fills them with fear, and I almost dread a mutiny +caused by this despair. + + + +September 5th + + +A scene has just passed of such uncommon interest that, although it is +highly probable that these papers may never reach you, yet I cannot +forbear recording it. + +We are still surrounded by mountains of ice, still in imminent danger +of being crushed in their conflict. The cold is excessive, and many of +my unfortunate comrades have already found a grave amidst this scene of +desolation. Frankenstein has daily declined in health; a feverish fire +still glimmers in his eyes, but he is exhausted, and when suddenly +roused to any exertion, he speedily sinks again into apparent +lifelessness. + +I mentioned in my last letter the fears I entertained of a mutiny. +This morning, as I sat watching the wan countenance of my friend--his +eyes half closed and his limbs hanging listlessly--I was roused by half +a dozen of the sailors, who demanded admission into the cabin. They +entered, and their leader addressed me. He told me that he and his +companions had been chosen by the other sailors to come in deputation +to me to make me a requisition which, in justice, I could not refuse. +We were immured in ice and should probably never escape, but they +feared that if, as was possible, the ice should dissipate and a free +passage be opened, I should be rash enough to continue my voyage and +lead them into fresh dangers, after they might happily have surmounted +this. They insisted, therefore, that I should engage with a solemn +promise that if the vessel should be freed I would instantly direct my +course southwards. + +This speech troubled me. I had not despaired, nor had I yet conceived +the idea of returning if set free. Yet could I, in justice, or even in +possibility, refuse this demand? I hesitated before I answered, when +Frankenstein, who had at first been silent, and indeed appeared hardly +to have force enough to attend, now roused himself; his eyes sparkled, +and his cheeks flushed with momentary vigour. Turning towards the men, +he said, "What do you mean? What do you demand of your captain? Are +you, then, so easily turned from your design? Did you not call this a +glorious expedition? + +"And wherefore was it glorious? Not because the way was smooth and +placid as a southern sea, but because it was full of dangers and +terror, because at every new incident your fortitude was to be called +forth and your courage exhibited, because danger and death surrounded +it, and these you were to brave and overcome. For this was it a +glorious, for this was it an honourable undertaking. You were +hereafter to be hailed as the benefactors of your species, your names +adored as belonging to brave men who encountered death for honour and +the benefit of mankind. And now, behold, with the first imagination of +danger, or, if you will, the first mighty and terrific trial of your +courage, you shrink away and are content to be handed down as men who +had not strength enough to endure cold and peril; and so, poor souls, +they were chilly and returned to their warm firesides. Why, that +requires not this preparation; ye need not have come thus far and +dragged your captain to the shame of a defeat merely to prove +yourselves cowards. Oh! Be men, or be more than men. Be steady to +your purposes and firm as a rock. This ice is not made of such stuff as +your hearts may be; it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say +that it shall not. Do not return to your families with the stigma of +disgrace marked on your brows. Return as heroes who have fought and +conquered and who know not what it is to turn their backs on the foe." +He spoke this with a voice so modulated to the different feelings +expressed in his speech, with an eye so full of lofty design and +heroism, that can you wonder that these men were moved? They looked at +one another and were unable to reply. I spoke; I told them to retire +and consider of what had been said, that I would not lead them farther +north if they strenuously desired the contrary, but that I hoped that, +with reflection, their courage would return. They retired and I turned +towards my friend, but he was sunk in languor and almost deprived of +life. + +How all this will terminate, I know not, but I had rather die than +return shamefully, my purpose unfulfilled. Yet I fear such will be my +fate; the men, unsupported by ideas of glory and honour, can never +willingly continue to endure their present hardships. + + + +September 7th + + +The die is cast; I have consented to return if we are not destroyed. +Thus are my hopes blasted by cowardice and indecision; I come back +ignorant and disappointed. It requires more philosophy than I possess +to bear this injustice with patience. + + + +September 12th + + +It is past; I am returning to England. I have lost my hopes of utility +and glory; I have lost my friend. But I will endeavour to detail these +bitter circumstances to you, my dear sister; and while I am wafted +towards England and towards you, I will not despond. + +September 9th, the ice began to move, and roarings like thunder were +heard at a distance as the islands split and cracked in every +direction. We were in the most imminent peril, but as we could only +remain passive, my chief attention was occupied by my unfortunate guest +whose illness increased in such a degree that he was entirely confined +to his bed. The ice cracked behind us and was driven with force +towards the north; a breeze sprang from the west, and on the 11th the +passage towards the south became perfectly free. When the sailors saw +this and that their return to their native country was apparently +assured, a shout of tumultuous joy broke from them, loud and +long-continued. Frankenstein, who was dozing, awoke and asked the +cause of the tumult. "They shout," I said, "because they will soon +return to England." + +"Do you, then, really return?" + +"Alas! Yes; I cannot withstand their demands. I cannot lead them +unwillingly to danger, and I must return." + +"Do so, if you will; but I will not. You may give up your purpose, but +mine is assigned to me by heaven, and I dare not. I am weak, but +surely the spirits who assist my vengeance will endow me with +sufficient strength." Saying this, he endeavoured to spring from the +bed, but the exertion was too great for him; he fell back and fainted. + +It was long before he was restored, and I often thought that life was +entirely extinct. At length he opened his eyes; he breathed with +difficulty and was unable to speak. The surgeon gave him a composing +draught and ordered us to leave him undisturbed. In the meantime he +told me that my friend had certainly not many hours to live. + +His sentence was pronounced, and I could only grieve and be patient. I +sat by his bed, watching him; his eyes were closed, and I thought he +slept; but presently he called to me in a feeble voice, and bidding me +come near, said, "Alas! The strength I relied on is gone; I feel that +I shall soon die, and he, my enemy and persecutor, may still be in +being. Think not, Walton, that in the last moments of my existence I +feel that burning hatred and ardent desire of revenge I once expressed; +but I feel myself justified in desiring the death of my adversary. +During these last days I have been occupied in examining my past +conduct; nor do I find it blamable. In a fit of enthusiastic madness I +created a rational creature and was bound towards him to assure, as far +as was in my power, his happiness and well-being. + +"This was my duty, but there was another still paramount to that. My +duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to my +attention because they included a greater proportion of happiness or +misery. Urged by this view, I refused, and I did right in refusing, to +create a companion for the first creature. He showed unparalleled +malignity and selfishness in evil; he destroyed my friends; he devoted +to destruction beings who possessed exquisite sensations, happiness, +and wisdom; nor do I know where this thirst for vengeance may end. +Miserable himself that he may render no other wretched, he ought to +die. The task of his destruction was mine, but I have failed. When +actuated by selfish and vicious motives, I asked you to undertake my +unfinished work, and I renew this request now, when I am only induced +by reason and virtue. + +"Yet I cannot ask you to renounce your country and friends to fulfil +this task; and now that you are returning to England, you will have +little chance of meeting with him. But the consideration of these +points, and the well balancing of what you may esteem your duties, I +leave to you; my judgment and ideas are already disturbed by the near +approach of death. I dare not ask you to do what I think right, for I +may still be misled by passion. + +"That he should live to be an instrument of mischief disturbs me; in +other respects, this hour, when I momentarily expect my release, is the +only happy one which I have enjoyed for several years. The forms of +the beloved dead flit before me, and I hasten to their arms. Farewell, +Walton! Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition, even if it +be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in +science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself been +blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed." + +His voice became fainter as he spoke, and at length, exhausted by his +effort, he sank into silence. About half an hour afterwards he +attempted again to speak but was unable; he pressed my hand feebly, and +his eyes closed forever, while the irradiation of a gentle smile passed +away from his lips. + +Margaret, what comment can I make on the untimely extinction of this +glorious spirit? What can I say that will enable you to understand the +depth of my sorrow? All that I should express would be inadequate and +feeble. My tears flow; my mind is overshadowed by a cloud of +disappointment. But I journey towards England, and I may there find +consolation. + +I am interrupted. What do these sounds portend? It is midnight; the +breeze blows fairly, and the watch on deck scarcely stir. Again there +is a sound as of a human voice, but hoarser; it comes from the cabin +where the remains of Frankenstein still lie. I must arise and examine. +Good night, my sister. + +Great God! what a scene has just taken place! I am yet dizzy with the +remembrance of it. I hardly know whether I shall have the power to +detail it; yet the tale which I have recorded would be incomplete +without this final and wonderful catastrophe. I entered the cabin where +lay the remains of my ill-fated and admirable friend. Over him hung a +form which I cannot find words to describe--gigantic in stature, yet +uncouth and distorted in its proportions. As he hung over the coffin, +his face was concealed by long locks of ragged hair; but one vast hand +was extended, in colour and apparent texture like that of a mummy. When +he heard the sound of my approach, he ceased to utter exclamations of +grief and horror and sprung towards the window. Never did I behold a +vision so horrible as his face, of such loathsome yet appalling +hideousness. I shut my eyes involuntarily and endeavoured to recollect +what were my duties with regard to this destroyer. I called on him to +stay. + +He paused, looking on me with wonder, and again turning towards the +lifeless form of his creator, he seemed to forget my presence, and +every feature and gesture seemed instigated by the wildest rage of some +uncontrollable passion. + +"That is also my victim!" he exclaimed. "In his murder my crimes are +consummated; the miserable series of my being is wound to its close! +Oh, Frankenstein! Generous and self-devoted being! What does it avail +that I now ask thee to pardon me? I, who irretrievably destroyed thee +by destroying all thou lovedst. Alas! He is cold, he cannot answer +me." His voice seemed suffocated, and my first impulses, which had +suggested to me the duty of obeying the dying request of my friend in +destroying his enemy, were now suspended by a mixture of curiosity and +compassion. I approached this tremendous being; I dared not again +raise my eyes to his face, there was something so scaring and unearthly +in his ugliness. I attempted to speak, but the words died away on my +lips. The monster continued to utter wild and incoherent +self-reproaches. At length I gathered resolution to address him in a +pause of the tempest of his passion. + +"Your repentance," I said, "is now superfluous. If you had listened to +the voice of conscience and heeded the stings of remorse before you had +urged your diabolical vengeance to this extremity, Frankenstein would +yet have lived." + +"And do you dream?" said the daemon. "Do you think that I was then +dead to agony and remorse? He," he continued, pointing to the corpse, +"he suffered not in the consummation of the deed. Oh! Not the +ten-thousandth portion of the anguish that was mine during the +lingering detail of its execution. A frightful selfishness hurried me +on, while my heart was poisoned with remorse. Think you that the +groans of Clerval were music to my ears? My heart was fashioned to be +susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice +and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without +torture such as you cannot even imagine. + +"After the murder of Clerval I returned to Switzerland, heart-broken +and overcome. I pitied Frankenstein; my pity amounted to horror; I +abhorred myself. But when I discovered that he, the author at once of +my existence and of its unspeakable torments, dared to hope for +happiness, that while he accumulated wretchedness and despair upon me +he sought his own enjoyment in feelings and passions from the +indulgence of which I was forever barred, then impotent envy and bitter +indignation filled me with an insatiable thirst for vengeance. I +recollected my threat and resolved that it should be accomplished. I +knew that I was preparing for myself a deadly torture, but I was the +slave, not the master, of an impulse which I detested yet could not +disobey. Yet when she died! Nay, then I was not miserable. I had +cast off all feeling, subdued all anguish, to riot in the excess of my +despair. Evil thenceforth became my good. Urged thus far, I had no +choice but to adapt my nature to an element which I had willingly +chosen. The completion of my demoniacal design became an insatiable +passion. And now it is ended; there is my last victim!" + +I was at first touched by the expressions of his misery; yet, when I +called to mind what Frankenstein had said of his powers of eloquence +and persuasion, and when I again cast my eyes on the lifeless form of +my friend, indignation was rekindled within me. "Wretch!" I said. "It +is well that you come here to whine over the desolation that you have +made. You throw a torch into a pile of buildings, and when they are +consumed, you sit among the ruins and lament the fall. Hypocritical +fiend! If he whom you mourn still lived, still would he be the object, +again would he become the prey, of your accursed vengeance. It is not +pity that you feel; you lament only because the victim of your +malignity is withdrawn from your power." + +"Oh, it is not thus--not thus," interrupted the being. "Yet such must +be the impression conveyed to you by what appears to be the purport of +my actions. Yet I seek not a fellow feeling in my misery. No sympathy +may I ever find. When I first sought it, it was the love of virtue, +the feelings of happiness and affection with which my whole being +overflowed, that I wished to be participated. But now that virtue has +become to me a shadow, and that happiness and affection are turned into +bitter and loathing despair, in what should I seek for sympathy? I am +content to suffer alone while my sufferings shall endure; when I die, I +am well satisfied that abhorrence and opprobrium should load my memory. +Once my fancy was soothed with dreams of virtue, of fame, and of +enjoyment. Once I falsely hoped to meet with beings who, pardoning my +outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was +capable of unfolding. I was nourished with high thoughts of honour and +devotion. But now crime has degraded me beneath the meanest animal. No +guilt, no mischief, no malignity, no misery, can be found comparable to +mine. When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins, I cannot +believe that I am the same creature whose thoughts were once filled +with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of +goodness. But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes a malignant +devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates +in his desolation; I am alone. + +"You, who call Frankenstein your friend, seem to have a knowledge of my +crimes and his misfortunes. But in the detail which he gave you of them +he could not sum up the hours and months of misery which I endured +wasting in impotent passions. For while I destroyed his hopes, I did +not satisfy my own desires. They were forever ardent and craving; still +I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no +injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all +humankind sinned against me? Why do you not hate Felix, who drove his +friend from his door with contumely? Why do you not execrate the rustic +who sought to destroy the saviour of his child? Nay, these are virtuous +and immaculate beings! I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an +abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on. Even now my +blood boils at the recollection of this injustice. + +"But it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and the +helpless; I have strangled the innocent as they slept and grasped to +death his throat who never injured me or any other living thing. I +have devoted my creator, the select specimen of all that is worthy of +love and admiration among men, to misery; I have pursued him even to +that irremediable ruin. + +"There he lies, white and cold in death. You hate me, but your +abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself. I look on the +hands which executed the deed; I think on the heart in which the +imagination of it was conceived and long for the moment when these +hands will meet my eyes, when that imagination will haunt my thoughts +no more. + +"Fear not that I shall be the instrument of future mischief. My work +is nearly complete. Neither yours nor any man's death is needed to +consummate the series of my being and accomplish that which must be +done, but it requires my own. Do not think that I shall be slow to +perform this sacrifice. I shall quit your vessel on the ice raft which +brought me thither and shall seek the most northern extremity of the +globe; I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this +miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious +and unhallowed wretch who would create such another as I have been. I +shall die. I shall no longer feel the agonies which now consume me or +be the prey of feelings unsatisfied, yet unquenched. He is dead who +called me into being; and when I shall be no more, the very remembrance +of us both will speedily vanish. I shall no longer see the sun or +stars or feel the winds play on my cheeks. + +"Light, feeling, and sense will pass away; and in this condition must I +find my happiness. Some years ago, when the images which this world +affords first opened upon me, when I felt the cheering warmth of summer +and heard the rustling of the leaves and the warbling of the birds, and +these were all to me, I should have wept to die; now it is my only +consolation. Polluted by crimes and torn by the bitterest remorse, +where can I find rest but in death? + +"Farewell! I leave you, and in you the last of humankind whom these +eyes will ever behold. Farewell, Frankenstein! If thou wert yet alive +and yet cherished a desire of revenge against me, it would be better +satiated in my life than in my destruction. But it was not so; thou +didst seek my extinction, that I might not cause greater wretchedness; +and if yet, in some mode unknown to me, thou hadst not ceased to think +and feel, thou wouldst not desire against me a vengeance greater than +that which I feel. Blasted as thou wert, my agony was still superior to +thine, for the bitter sting of remorse will not cease to rankle in my +wounds until death shall close them forever. + +"But soon," he cried with sad and solemn enthusiasm, "I shall die, and +what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be +extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the +agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will +fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds. My spirit +will sleep in peace, or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. +Farewell." + +He sprang from the cabin window as he said this, upon the ice raft +which lay close to the vessel. He was soon borne away by the waves and +lost in darkness and distance. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Frankenstein, by +Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANKENSTEIN *** + +***** This file should be named 84.txt or 84.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/84/ + +Produced by Judith Boss, Christy Phillips, Lynn Hanninen, +and David Meltzer. HTML version by Al Haines. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.net + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/data/task1/monte_cristo.txt b/data/task1/monte_cristo.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..627d367 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/task1/monte_cristo.txt @@ -0,0 +1,54544 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, Pere + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Count of Monte Cristo + +Author: Alexandre Dumas, Pere + +Posting Date: November 8, 2008 [EBook #1184] +Release Date: January, 1998 +[Last updated on January 4, 2012] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO *** + + + + +Produced by Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteers + + + + + +THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO + +by Alexandre Dumas, Pere + + + + +Chapter 1. Marseilles--The Arrival. + +On the 24th of February, 1815, the look-out at Notre-Dame de la Garde +signalled the three-master, the Pharaon from Smyrna, Trieste, and +Naples. + +As usual, a pilot put off immediately, and rounding the Chateau d'If, +got on board the vessel between Cape Morgion and Rion island. + +Immediately, and according to custom, the ramparts of Fort Saint-Jean +were covered with spectators; it is always an event at Marseilles for a +ship to come into port, especially when this ship, like the Pharaon, has +been built, rigged, and laden at the old Phocee docks, and belongs to an +owner of the city. + +The ship drew on and had safely passed the strait, which some volcanic +shock has made between the Calasareigne and Jaros islands; had doubled +Pomegue, and approached the harbor under topsails, jib, and spanker, but +so slowly and sedately that the idlers, with that instinct which is +the forerunner of evil, asked one another what misfortune could have +happened on board. However, those experienced in navigation saw plainly +that if any accident had occurred, it was not to the vessel herself, +for she bore down with all the evidence of being skilfully handled, the +anchor a-cockbill, the jib-boom guys already eased off, and standing by +the side of the pilot, who was steering the Pharaon towards the narrow +entrance of the inner port, was a young man, who, with activity and +vigilant eye, watched every motion of the ship, and repeated each +direction of the pilot. + +The vague disquietude which prevailed among the spectators had so much +affected one of the crowd that he did not await the arrival of the +vessel in harbor, but jumping into a small skiff, desired to be pulled +alongside the Pharaon, which he reached as she rounded into La Reserve +basin. + +When the young man on board saw this person approach, he left his +station by the pilot, and, hat in hand, leaned over the ship's bulwarks. + +He was a fine, tall, slim young fellow of eighteen or twenty, with +black eyes, and hair as dark as a raven's wing; and his whole appearance +bespoke that calmness and resolution peculiar to men accustomed from +their cradle to contend with danger. + +"Ah, is it you, Dantes?" cried the man in the skiff. "What's the matter? +and why have you such an air of sadness aboard?" + +"A great misfortune, M. Morrel," replied the young man,--"a great +misfortune, for me especially! Off Civita Vecchia we lost our brave +Captain Leclere." + +"And the cargo?" inquired the owner, eagerly. + +"Is all safe, M. Morrel; and I think you will be satisfied on that head. +But poor Captain Leclere--" + +"What happened to him?" asked the owner, with an air of considerable +resignation. "What happened to the worthy captain?" + +"He died." + +"Fell into the sea?" + +"No, sir, he died of brain-fever in dreadful agony." Then turning to the +crew, he said, "Bear a hand there, to take in sail!" + +All hands obeyed, and at once the eight or ten seamen who composed the +crew, sprang to their respective stations at the spanker brails and +outhaul, topsail sheets and halyards, the jib downhaul, and the topsail +clewlines and buntlines. The young sailor gave a look to see that his +orders were promptly and accurately obeyed, and then turned again to the +owner. + +"And how did this misfortune occur?" inquired the latter, resuming the +interrupted conversation. + +"Alas, sir, in the most unexpected manner. After a long talk with the +harbor-master, Captain Leclere left Naples greatly disturbed in mind. +In twenty-four hours he was attacked by a fever, and died three days +afterwards. We performed the usual burial service, and he is at his +rest, sewn up in his hammock with a thirty-six pound shot at his head +and his heels, off El Giglio island. We bring to his widow his sword and +cross of honor. It was worth while, truly," added the young man with a +melancholy smile, "to make war against the English for ten years, and to +die in his bed at last, like everybody else." + +"Why, you see, Edmond," replied the owner, who appeared more comforted +at every moment, "we are all mortal, and the old must make way for the +young. If not, why, there would be no promotion; and since you assure me +that the cargo--" + +"Is all safe and sound, M. Morrel, take my word for it; and I advise you +not to take 25,000 francs for the profits of the voyage." + +Then, as they were just passing the Round Tower, the young man shouted: +"Stand by there to lower the topsails and jib; brail up the spanker!" + +The order was executed as promptly as it would have been on board a +man-of-war. + +"Let go--and clue up!" At this last command all the sails were lowered, +and the vessel moved almost imperceptibly onwards. + +"Now, if you will come on board, M. Morrel," said Dantes, observing the +owner's impatience, "here is your supercargo, M. Danglars, coming out of +his cabin, who will furnish you with every particular. As for me, I must +look after the anchoring, and dress the ship in mourning." + +The owner did not wait for a second invitation. He seized a rope which +Dantes flung to him, and with an activity that would have done credit to +a sailor, climbed up the side of the ship, while the young man, going +to his task, left the conversation to Danglars, who now came towards +the owner. He was a man of twenty-five or twenty-six years of age, of +unprepossessing countenance, obsequious to his superiors, insolent to +his subordinates; and this, in addition to his position as responsible +agent on board, which is always obnoxious to the sailors, made him as +much disliked by the crew as Edmond Dantes was beloved by them. + +"Well, M. Morrel," said Danglars, "you have heard of the misfortune that +has befallen us?" + +"Yes--yes: poor Captain Leclere! He was a brave and an honest man." + +"And a first-rate seaman, one who had seen long and honorable service, +as became a man charged with the interests of a house so important as +that of Morrel & Son," replied Danglars. + +"But," replied the owner, glancing after Dantes, who was watching the +anchoring of his vessel, "it seems to me that a sailor needs not be so +old as you say, Danglars, to understand his business, for our friend +Edmond seems to understand it thoroughly, and not to require instruction +from any one." + +"Yes," said Danglars, darting at Edmond a look gleaming with hate. "Yes, +he is young, and youth is invariably self-confident. Scarcely was the +captain's breath out of his body when he assumed the command without +consulting any one, and he caused us to lose a day and a half at the +Island of Elba, instead of making for Marseilles direct." + +"As to taking command of the vessel," replied Morrel, "that was his duty +as captain's mate; as to losing a day and a half off the Island of Elba, +he was wrong, unless the vessel needed repairs." + +"The vessel was in as good condition as I am, and as, I hope you are, +M. Morrel, and this day and a half was lost from pure whim, for the +pleasure of going ashore, and nothing else." + +"Dantes," said the shipowner, turning towards the young man, "come this +way!" + +"In a moment, sir," answered Dantes, "and I'm with you." Then calling to +the crew, he said--"Let go!" + +The anchor was instantly dropped, and the chain ran rattling through the +port-hole. Dantes continued at his post in spite of the presence of the +pilot, until this manoeuvre was completed, and then he added, "Half-mast +the colors, and square the yards!" + +"You see," said Danglars, "he fancies himself captain already, upon my +word." + +"And so, in fact, he is," said the owner. + +"Except your signature and your partner's, M. Morrel." + +"And why should he not have this?" asked the owner; "he is young, it is +true, but he seems to me a thorough seaman, and of full experience." + +A cloud passed over Danglars' brow. "Your pardon, M. Morrel," said +Dantes, approaching, "the vessel now rides at anchor, and I am at your +service. You hailed me, I think?" + +Danglars retreated a step or two. "I wished to inquire why you stopped +at the Island of Elba?" + +"I do not know, sir; it was to fulfil the last instructions of Captain +Leclere, who, when dying, gave me a packet for Marshal Bertrand." + +"Then did you see him, Edmond?" + +"Who?" + +"The marshal." + +"Yes." + +Morrel looked around him, and then, drawing Dantes on one side, he said +suddenly--"And how is the emperor?" + +"Very well, as far as I could judge from the sight of him." + +"You saw the emperor, then?" + +"He entered the marshal's apartment while I was there." + +"And you spoke to him?" + +"Why, it was he who spoke to me, sir," said Dantes, with a smile. + +"And what did he say to you?" + +"Asked me questions about the vessel, the time she left Marseilles, the +course she had taken, and what was her cargo. I believe, if she had not +been laden, and I had been her master, he would have bought her. But I +told him I was only mate, and that she belonged to the firm of Morrel & +Son. 'Ah, yes,' he said, 'I know them. The Morrels have been shipowners +from father to son; and there was a Morrel who served in the same +regiment with me when I was in garrison at Valence.'" + +"Pardieu, and that is true!" cried the owner, greatly delighted. "And +that was Policar Morrel, my uncle, who was afterwards a captain. Dantes, +you must tell my uncle that the emperor remembered him, and you will see +it will bring tears into the old soldier's eyes. Come, come," continued +he, patting Edmond's shoulder kindly, "you did very right, Dantes, to +follow Captain Leclere's instructions, and touch at Elba, although if +it were known that you had conveyed a packet to the marshal, and had +conversed with the emperor, it might bring you into trouble." + +"How could that bring me into trouble, sir?" asked Dantes; "for I did +not even know of what I was the bearer; and the emperor merely made such +inquiries as he would of the first comer. But, pardon me, here are the +health officers and the customs inspectors coming alongside." And the +young man went to the gangway. As he departed, Danglars approached, and +said,-- + +"Well, it appears that he has given you satisfactory reasons for his +landing at Porto-Ferrajo?" + +"Yes, most satisfactory, my dear Danglars." + +"Well, so much the better," said the supercargo; "for it is not pleasant +to think that a comrade has not done his duty." + +"Dantes has done his," replied the owner, "and that is not saying much. +It was Captain Leclere who gave orders for this delay." + +"Talking of Captain Leclere, has not Dantes given you a letter from +him?" + +"To me?--no--was there one?" + +"I believe that, besides the packet, Captain Leclere confided a letter +to his care." + +"Of what packet are you speaking, Danglars?" + +"Why, that which Dantes left at Porto-Ferrajo." + +"How do you know he had a packet to leave at Porto-Ferrajo?" + +Danglars turned very red. + +"I was passing close to the door of the captain's cabin, which was half +open, and I saw him give the packet and letter to Dantes." + +"He did not speak to me of it," replied the shipowner; "but if there be +any letter he will give it to me." + +Danglars reflected for a moment. "Then, M. Morrel, I beg of you," +said he, "not to say a word to Dantes on the subject. I may have been +mistaken." + +At this moment the young man returned; Danglars withdrew. + +"Well, my dear Dantes, are you now free?" inquired the owner. + +"Yes, sir." + +"You have not been long detained." + +"No. I gave the custom-house officers a copy of our bill of lading; and +as to the other papers, they sent a man off with the pilot, to whom I +gave them." + +"Then you have nothing more to do here?" + +"No--everything is all right now." + +"Then you can come and dine with me?" + +"I really must ask you to excuse me, M. Morrel. My first visit is due to +my father, though I am not the less grateful for the honor you have done +me." + +"Right, Dantes, quite right. I always knew you were a good son." + +"And," inquired Dantes, with some hesitation, "do you know how my father +is?" + +"Well, I believe, my dear Edmond, though I have not seen him lately." + +"Yes, he likes to keep himself shut up in his little room." + +"That proves, at least, that he has wanted for nothing during your +absence." + +Dantes smiled. "My father is proud, sir, and if he had not a meal +left, I doubt if he would have asked anything from anyone, except from +Heaven." + +"Well, then, after this first visit has been made we shall count on +you." + +"I must again excuse myself, M. Morrel, for after this first visit has +been paid I have another which I am most anxious to pay." + +"True, Dantes, I forgot that there was at the Catalans some one who +expects you no less impatiently than your father--the lovely Mercedes." + +Dantes blushed. + +"Ah, ha," said the shipowner, "I am not in the least surprised, for +she has been to me three times, inquiring if there were any news of the +Pharaon. Peste, Edmond, you have a very handsome mistress!" + +"She is not my mistress," replied the young sailor, gravely; "she is my +betrothed." + +"Sometimes one and the same thing," said Morrel, with a smile. + +"Not with us, sir," replied Dantes. + +"Well, well, my dear Edmond," continued the owner, "don't let me detain +you. You have managed my affairs so well that I ought to allow you all +the time you require for your own. Do you want any money?" + +"No, sir; I have all my pay to take--nearly three months' wages." + +"You are a careful fellow, Edmond." + +"Say I have a poor father, sir." + +"Yes, yes, I know how good a son you are, so now hasten away to see +your father. I have a son too, and I should be very wroth with those who +detained him from me after a three months' voyage." + +"Then I have your leave, sir?" + +"Yes, if you have nothing more to say to me." + +"Nothing." + +"Captain Leclere did not, before he died, give you a letter for me?" + +"He was unable to write, sir. But that reminds me that I must ask your +leave of absence for some days." + +"To get married?" + +"Yes, first, and then to go to Paris." + +"Very good; have what time you require, Dantes. It will take quite six +weeks to unload the cargo, and we cannot get you ready for sea until +three months after that; only be back again in three months, for the +Pharaon," added the owner, patting the young sailor on the back, "cannot +sail without her captain." + +"Without her captain!" cried Dantes, his eyes sparkling with animation; +"pray mind what you say, for you are touching on the most secret wishes +of my heart. Is it really your intention to make me captain of the +Pharaon?" + +"If I were sole owner we'd shake hands on it now, my dear Dantes, +and call it settled; but I have a partner, and you know the Italian +proverb--Chi ha compagno ha padrone--'He who has a partner has a +master.' But the thing is at least half done, as you have one out of two +votes. Rely on me to procure you the other; I will do my best." + +"Ah, M. Morrel," exclaimed the young seaman, with tears in his eyes, +and grasping the owner's hand, "M. Morrel, I thank you in the name of my +father and of Mercedes." + +"That's all right, Edmond. There's a providence that watches over the +deserving. Go to your father: go and see Mercedes, and afterwards come +to me." + +"Shall I row you ashore?" + +"No, thank you; I shall remain and look over the accounts with Danglars. +Have you been satisfied with him this voyage?" + +"That is according to the sense you attach to the question, sir. Do you +mean is he a good comrade? No, for I think he never liked me since the +day when I was silly enough, after a little quarrel we had, to propose +to him to stop for ten minutes at the island of Monte Cristo to settle +the dispute--a proposition which I was wrong to suggest, and he quite +right to refuse. If you mean as responsible agent when you ask me the +question, I believe there is nothing to say against him, and that you +will be content with the way in which he has performed his duty." + +"But tell me, Dantes, if you had command of the Pharaon should you be +glad to see Danglars remain?" + +"Captain or mate, M. Morrel, I shall always have the greatest respect +for those who possess the owners' confidence." + +"That's right, that's right, Dantes! I see you are a thoroughly good +fellow, and will detain you no longer. Go, for I see how impatient you +are." + +"Then I have leave?" + +"Go, I tell you." + +"May I have the use of your skiff?" + +"Certainly." + +"Then, for the present, M. Morrel, farewell, and a thousand thanks!" + +"I hope soon to see you again, my dear Edmond. Good luck to you." + +The young sailor jumped into the skiff, and sat down in the stern +sheets, with the order that he be put ashore at La Canebiere. The two +oarsmen bent to their work, and the little boat glided away as rapidly +as possible in the midst of the thousand vessels which choke up the +narrow way which leads between the two rows of ships from the mouth of +the harbor to the Quai d'Orleans. + +The shipowner, smiling, followed him with his eyes until he saw him +spring out on the quay and disappear in the midst of the throng, which +from five o'clock in the morning until nine o'clock at night, swarms +in the famous street of La Canebiere,--a street of which the modern +Phocaeans are so proud that they say with all the gravity in the world, +and with that accent which gives so much character to what is said, "If +Paris had La Canebiere, Paris would be a second Marseilles." On turning +round the owner saw Danglars behind him, apparently awaiting orders, +but in reality also watching the young sailor,--but there was a great +difference in the expression of the two men who thus followed the +movements of Edmond Dantes. + + + +Chapter 2. Father and Son. + +We will leave Danglars struggling with the demon of hatred, and +endeavoring to insinuate in the ear of the shipowner some evil +suspicions against his comrade, and follow Dantes, who, after having +traversed La Canebiere, took the Rue de Noailles, and entering a small +house, on the left of the Allees de Meillan, rapidly ascended four +flights of a dark staircase, holding the baluster with one hand, while +with the other he repressed the beatings of his heart, and paused before +a half-open door, from which he could see the whole of a small room. + +This room was occupied by Dantes' father. The news of the arrival of the +Pharaon had not yet reached the old man, who, mounted on a chair, was +amusing himself by training with trembling hand the nasturtiums and +sprays of clematis that clambered over the trellis at his window. +Suddenly, he felt an arm thrown around his body, and a well-known voice +behind him exclaimed, "Father--dear father!" + +The old man uttered a cry, and turned round; then, seeing his son, he +fell into his arms, pale and trembling. + +"What ails you, my dearest father? Are you ill?" inquired the young man, +much alarmed. + +"No, no, my dear Edmond--my boy--my son!--no; but I did not expect you; +and joy, the surprise of seeing you so suddenly--Ah, I feel as if I were +going to die." + +"Come, come, cheer up, my dear father! 'Tis I--really I! They say joy +never hurts, and so I came to you without any warning. Come now, do +smile, instead of looking at me so solemnly. Here I am back again, and +we are going to be happy." + +"Yes, yes, my boy, so we will--so we will," replied the old man; "but +how shall we be happy? Shall you never leave me again? Come, tell me all +the good fortune that has befallen you." + +"God forgive me," said the young man, "for rejoicing at happiness +derived from the misery of others, but, Heaven knows, I did not seek +this good fortune; it has happened, and I really cannot pretend to +lament it. The good Captain Leclere is dead, father, and it is probable +that, with the aid of M. Morrel, I shall have his place. Do you +understand, father? Only imagine me a captain at twenty, with a hundred +louis pay, and a share in the profits! Is this not more than a poor +sailor like me could have hoped for?" + +"Yes, my dear boy," replied the old man, "it is very fortunate." + +"Well, then, with the first money I touch, I mean you to have a small +house, with a garden in which to plant clematis, nasturtiums, and +honeysuckle. But what ails you, father? Are you not well?" + +"'Tis nothing, nothing; it will soon pass away"--and as he said so the +old man's strength failed him, and he fell backwards. + +"Come, come," said the young man, "a glass of wine, father, will revive +you. Where do you keep your wine?" + +"No, no; thanks. You need not look for it; I do not want it," said the +old man. + +"Yes, yes, father, tell me where it is," and he opened two or three +cupboards. + +"It is no use," said the old man, "there is no wine." + +"What, no wine?" said Dantes, turning pale, and looking alternately +at the hollow cheeks of the old man and the empty cupboards. "What, no +wine? Have you wanted money, father?" + +"I want nothing now that I have you," said the old man. + +"Yet," stammered Dantes, wiping the perspiration from his brow,--"yet I +gave you two hundred francs when I left, three months ago." + +"Yes, yes, Edmond, that is true, but you forgot at that time a little +debt to our neighbor, Caderousse. He reminded me of it, telling me if +I did not pay for you, he would be paid by M. Morrel; and so, you see, +lest he might do you an injury"-- + +"Well?" + +"Why, I paid him." + +"But," cried Dantes, "it was a hundred and forty francs I owed +Caderousse." + +"Yes," stammered the old man. + +"And you paid him out of the two hundred francs I left you?" + +The old man nodded. + +"So that you have lived for three months on sixty francs," muttered +Edmond. + +"You know how little I require," said the old man. + +"Heaven pardon me," cried Edmond, falling on his knees before his +father. + +"What are you doing?" + +"You have wounded me to the heart." + +"Never mind it, for I see you once more," said the old man; "and now +it's all over--everything is all right again." + +"Yes, here I am," said the young man, "with a promising future and a +little money. Here, father, here!" he said, "take this--take it, and +send for something immediately." And he emptied his pockets on the +table, the contents consisting of a dozen gold pieces, five or six +five-franc pieces, and some smaller coin. The countenance of old Dantes +brightened. + +"Whom does this belong to?" he inquired. + +"To me, to you, to us! Take it; buy some provisions; be happy, and +to-morrow we shall have more." + +"Gently, gently," said the old man, with a smile; "and by your leave I +will use your purse moderately, for they would say, if they saw me buy +too many things at a time, that I had been obliged to await your return, +in order to be able to purchase them." + +"Do as you please; but, first of all, pray have a servant, father. I +will not have you left alone so long. I have some smuggled coffee and +most capital tobacco, in a small chest in the hold, which you shall have +to-morrow. But, hush, here comes somebody." + +"'Tis Caderousse, who has heard of your arrival, and no doubt comes to +congratulate you on your fortunate return." + +"Ah, lips that say one thing, while the heart thinks another," murmured +Edmond. "But, never mind, he is a neighbor who has done us a service on +a time, so he's welcome." + +As Edmond paused, the black and bearded head of Caderousse appeared at +the door. He was a man of twenty-five or six, and held a piece of cloth, +which, being a tailor, he was about to make into a coat-lining. + +"What, is it you, Edmond, back again?" said he, with a broad +Marseillaise accent, and a grin that displayed his ivory-white teeth. + +"Yes, as you see, neighbor Caderousse; and ready to be agreeable to you +in any and every way," replied Dantes, but ill-concealing his coldness +under this cloak of civility. + +"Thanks--thanks; but, fortunately, I do not want for anything; and it +chances that at times there are others who have need of me." Dantes made +a gesture. "I do not allude to you, my boy. No!--no! I lent you money, +and you returned it; that's like good neighbors, and we are quits." + +"We are never quits with those who oblige us," was Dantes' reply; "for +when we do not owe them money, we owe them gratitude." + +"What's the use of mentioning that? What is done is done. Let us talk +of your happy return, my boy. I had gone on the quay to match a piece of +mulberry cloth, when I met friend Danglars. 'You at Marseilles?'--'Yes,' +says he. + +"'I thought you were at Smyrna.'--'I was; but am now back again.' + +"'And where is the dear boy, our little Edmond?' + +"'Why, with his father, no doubt,' replied Danglars. And so I came," +added Caderousse, "as fast as I could to have the pleasure of shaking +hands with a friend." + +"Worthy Caderousse!" said the old man, "he is so much attached to us." + +"Yes, to be sure I am. I love and esteem you, because honest folks are +so rare. But it seems you have come back rich, my boy," continued the +tailor, looking askance at the handful of gold and silver which Dantes +had thrown on the table. + +The young man remarked the greedy glance which shone in the dark eyes of +his neighbor. "Eh," he said, negligently, "this money is not mine. I was +expressing to my father my fears that he had wanted many things in my +absence, and to convince me he emptied his purse on the table. Come, +father" added Dantes, "put this money back in your box--unless neighbor +Caderousse wants anything, and in that case it is at his service." + +"No, my boy, no," said Caderousse. "I am not in any want, thank God, +my living is suited to my means. Keep your money--keep it, I say;--one +never has too much;--but, at the same time, my boy, I am as much obliged +by your offer as if I took advantage of it." + +"It was offered with good will," said Dantes. + +"No doubt, my boy; no doubt. Well, you stand well with M. Morrel I +hear,--you insinuating dog, you!" + +"M. Morrel has always been exceedingly kind to me," replied Dantes. + +"Then you were wrong to refuse to dine with him." + +"What, did you refuse to dine with him?" said old Dantes; "and did he +invite you to dine?" + +"Yes, my dear father," replied Edmond, smiling at his father's +astonishment at the excessive honor paid to his son. + +"And why did you refuse, my son?" inquired the old man. + +"That I might the sooner see you again, my dear father," replied the +young man. "I was most anxious to see you." + +"But it must have vexed M. Morrel, good, worthy man," said Caderousse. +"And when you are looking forward to be captain, it was wrong to annoy +the owner." + +"But I explained to him the cause of my refusal," replied Dantes, "and I +hope he fully understood it." + +"Yes, but to be captain one must do a little flattery to one's patrons." + +"I hope to be captain without that," said Dantes. + +"So much the better--so much the better! Nothing will give greater +pleasure to all your old friends; and I know one down there behind the +Saint Nicolas citadel who will not be sorry to hear it." + +"Mercedes?" said the old man. + +"Yes, my dear father, and with your permission, now I have seen you, and +know you are well and have all you require, I will ask your consent to +go and pay a visit to the Catalans." + +"Go, my dear boy," said old Dantes: "and heaven bless you in your wife, +as it has blessed me in my son!" + +"His wife!" said Caderousse; "why, how fast you go on, father Dantes; +she is not his wife yet, as it seems to me." + +"So, but according to all probability she soon will be," replied Edmond. + +"Yes--yes," said Caderousse; "but you were right to return as soon as +possible, my boy." + +"And why?" + +"Because Mercedes is a very fine girl, and fine girls never lack +followers; she particularly has them by dozens." + +"Really?" answered Edmond, with a smile which had in it traces of slight +uneasiness. + +"Ah, yes," continued Caderousse, "and capital offers, too; but you know, +you will be captain, and who could refuse you then?" + +"Meaning to say," replied Dantes, with a smile which but ill-concealed +his trouble, "that if I were not a captain"-- + +"Eh--eh!" said Caderousse, shaking his head. + +"Come, come," said the sailor, "I have a better opinion than you of +women in general, and of Mercedes in particular; and I am certain that, +captain or not, she will remain ever faithful to me." + +"So much the better--so much the better," said Caderousse. "When one +is going to be married, there is nothing like implicit confidence; but +never mind that, my boy,--go and announce your arrival, and let her know +all your hopes and prospects." + +"I will go directly," was Edmond's reply; and, embracing his father, and +nodding to Caderousse, he left the apartment. + +Caderousse lingered for a moment, then taking leave of old Dantes, he +went downstairs to rejoin Danglars, who awaited him at the corner of the +Rue Senac. + +"Well," said Danglars, "did you see him?" + +"I have just left him," answered Caderousse. + +"Did he allude to his hope of being captain?" + +"He spoke of it as a thing already decided." + +"Indeed!" said Danglars, "he is in too much hurry, it appears to me." + +"Why, it seems M. Morrel has promised him the thing." + +"So that he is quite elated about it?" + +"Why, yes, he is actually insolent over the matter--has already offered +me his patronage, as if he were a grand personage, and proffered me a +loan of money, as though he were a banker." + +"Which you refused?" + +"Most assuredly; although I might easily have accepted it, for it was +I who put into his hands the first silver he ever earned; but now M. +Dantes has no longer any occasion for assistance--he is about to become +a captain." + +"Pooh!" said Danglars, "he is not one yet." + +"Ma foi, it will be as well if he is not," answered Caderousse; "for if +he should be, there will be really no speaking to him." + +"If we choose," replied Danglars, "he will remain what he is; and +perhaps become even less than he is." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Nothing--I was speaking to myself. And is he still in love with the +Catalane?" + +"Over head and ears; but, unless I am much mistaken, there will be a +storm in that quarter." + +"Explain yourself." + +"Why should I?" + +"It is more important than you think, perhaps. You do not like Dantes?" + +"I never like upstarts." + +"Then tell me all you know about the Catalane." + +"I know nothing for certain; only I have seen things which induce me to +believe, as I told you, that the future captain will find some annoyance +in the vicinity of the Vieilles Infirmeries." + +"What have you seen?--come, tell me!" + +"Well, every time I have seen Mercedes come into the city she has +been accompanied by a tall, strapping, black-eyed Catalan, with a red +complexion, brown skin, and fierce air, whom she calls cousin." + +"Really; and you think this cousin pays her attentions?" + +"I only suppose so. What else can a strapping chap of twenty-one mean +with a fine wench of seventeen?" + +"And you say that Dantes has gone to the Catalans?" + +"He went before I came down." + +"Let us go the same way; we will stop at La Reserve, and we can drink a +glass of La Malgue, whilst we wait for news." + +"Come along," said Caderousse; "but you pay the score." + +"Of course," replied Danglars; and going quickly to the designated +place, they called for a bottle of wine, and two glasses. + +Pere Pamphile had seen Dantes pass not ten minutes before; and assured +that he was at the Catalans, they sat down under the budding foliage +of the planes and sycamores, in the branches of which the birds were +singing their welcome to one of the first days of spring. + + + +Chapter 3. The Catalans. + +Beyond a bare, weather-worn wall, about a hundred paces from the spot +where the two friends sat looking and listening as they drank their +wine, was the village of the Catalans. Long ago this mysterious colony +quitted Spain, and settled on the tongue of land on which it is to this +day. Whence it came no one knew, and it spoke an unknown tongue. One of +its chiefs, who understood Provencal, begged the commune of Marseilles +to give them this bare and barren promontory, where, like the sailors of +old, they had run their boats ashore. The request was granted; and three +months afterwards, around the twelve or fifteen small vessels which +had brought these gypsies of the sea, a small village sprang up. This +village, constructed in a singular and picturesque manner, half Moorish, +half Spanish, still remains, and is inhabited by descendants of the +first comers, who speak the language of their fathers. For three or four +centuries they have remained upon this small promontory, on which +they had settled like a flight of seabirds, without mixing with the +Marseillaise population, intermarrying, and preserving their original +customs and the costume of their mother-country as they have preserved +its language. + +Our readers will follow us along the only street of this little village, +and enter with us one of the houses, which is sunburned to the beautiful +dead-leaf color peculiar to the buildings of the country, and within +coated with whitewash, like a Spanish posada. A young and beautiful +girl, with hair as black as jet, her eyes as velvety as the gazelle's, +was leaning with her back against the wainscot, rubbing in her slender +delicately moulded fingers a bunch of heath blossoms, the flowers of +which she was picking off and strewing on the floor; her arms, bare to +the elbow, brown, and modelled after those of the Arlesian Venus, moved +with a kind of restless impatience, and she tapped the earth with her +arched and supple foot, so as to display the pure and full shape of her +well-turned leg, in its red cotton, gray and blue clocked, stocking. At +three paces from her, seated in a chair which he balanced on two legs, +leaning his elbow on an old worm-eaten table, was a tall young man of +twenty, or two-and-twenty, who was looking at her with an air in which +vexation and uneasiness were mingled. He questioned her with his eyes, +but the firm and steady gaze of the young girl controlled his look. + +"You see, Mercedes," said the young man, "here is Easter come round +again; tell me, is this the moment for a wedding?" + +"I have answered you a hundred times, Fernand, and really you must be +very stupid to ask me again." + +"Well, repeat it,--repeat it, I beg of you, that I may at last believe +it! Tell me for the hundredth time that you refuse my love, which had +your mother's sanction. Make me understand once for all that you are +trifling with my happiness, that my life or death are nothing to you. +Ah, to have dreamed for ten years of being your husband, Mercedes, and +to lose that hope, which was the only stay of my existence!" + +"At least it was not I who ever encouraged you in that hope, Fernand," +replied Mercedes; "you cannot reproach me with the slightest coquetry. +I have always said to you, 'I love you as a brother; but do not ask from +me more than sisterly affection, for my heart is another's.' Is not this +true, Fernand?" + +"Yes, that is very true, Mercedes," replied the young man, "Yes, you +have been cruelly frank with me; but do you forget that it is among the +Catalans a sacred law to intermarry?" + +"You mistake, Fernand; it is not a law, but merely a custom, and, I pray +of you, do not cite this custom in your favor. You are included in the +conscription, Fernand, and are only at liberty on sufferance, liable at +any moment to be called upon to take up arms. Once a soldier, what would +you do with me, a poor orphan, forlorn, without fortune, with nothing +but a half-ruined hut and a few ragged nets, the miserable inheritance +left by my father to my mother, and by my mother to me? She has been +dead a year, and you know, Fernand, I have subsisted almost entirely on +public charity. Sometimes you pretend I am useful to you, and that is +an excuse to share with me the produce of your fishing, and I accept it, +Fernand, because you are the son of my father's brother, because we were +brought up together, and still more because it would give you so much +pain if I refuse. But I feel very deeply that this fish which I go and +sell, and with the produce of which I buy the flax I spin,--I feel very +keenly, Fernand, that this is charity." + +"And if it were, Mercedes, poor and lone as you are, you suit me as +well as the daughter of the first shipowner or the richest banker +of Marseilles! What do such as we desire but a good wife and careful +housekeeper, and where can I look for these better than in you?" + +"Fernand," answered Mercedes, shaking her head, "a woman becomes a bad +manager, and who shall say she will remain an honest woman, when +she loves another man better than her husband? Rest content with my +friendship, for I say once more that is all I can promise, and I will +promise no more than I can bestow." + +"I understand," replied Fernand, "you can endure your own wretchedness +patiently, but you are afraid to share mine. Well, Mercedes, beloved by +you, I would tempt fortune; you would bring me good luck, and I should +become rich. I could extend my occupation as a fisherman, might get a +place as clerk in a warehouse, and become in time a dealer myself." + +"You could do no such thing, Fernand; you are a soldier, and if you +remain at the Catalans it is because there is no war; so remain a +fisherman, and contented with my friendship, as I cannot give you more." + +"Well, I will do better, Mercedes. I will be a sailor; instead of the +costume of our fathers, which you despise, I will wear a varnished hat, +a striped shirt, and a blue jacket, with an anchor on the buttons. Would +not that dress please you?" + +"What do you mean?" asked Mercedes, with an angry glance,--"what do you +mean? I do not understand you?" + +"I mean, Mercedes, that you are thus harsh and cruel with me, because +you are expecting some one who is thus attired; but perhaps he whom you +await is inconstant, or if he is not, the sea is so to him." + +"Fernand," cried Mercedes, "I believed you were good-hearted, and I was +mistaken! Fernand, you are wicked to call to your aid jealousy and the +anger of God! Yes, I will not deny it, I do await, and I do love him of +whom you speak; and, if he does not return, instead of accusing him of +the inconstancy which you insinuate, I will tell you that he died loving +me and me only." The young girl made a gesture of rage. "I understand +you, Fernand; you would be revenged on him because I do not love you; +you would cross your Catalan knife with his dirk. What end would that +answer? To lose you my friendship if he were conquered, and see that +friendship changed into hate if you were victor. Believe me, to seek a +quarrel with a man is a bad method of pleasing the woman who loves that +man. No, Fernand, you will not thus give way to evil thoughts. Unable to +have me for your wife, you will content yourself with having me for +your friend and sister; and besides," she added, her eyes troubled and +moistened with tears, "wait, wait, Fernand; you said just now that the +sea was treacherous, and he has been gone four months, and during these +four months there have been some terrible storms." + +Fernand made no reply, nor did he attempt to check the tears which +flowed down the cheeks of Mercedes, although for each of these tears he +would have shed his heart's blood; but these tears flowed for another. +He arose, paced a while up and down the hut, and then, suddenly stopping +before Mercedes, with his eyes glowing and his hands clinched,--"Say, +Mercedes," he said, "once for all, is this your final determination?" + +"I love Edmond Dantes," the young girl calmly replied, "and none but +Edmond shall ever be my husband." + +"And you will always love him?" + +"As long as I live." + +Fernand let fall his head like a defeated man, heaved a sigh that was +like a groan, and then suddenly looking her full in the face, with +clinched teeth and expanded nostrils, said,--"But if he is dead"-- + +"If he is dead, I shall die too." + +"If he has forgotten you"-- + +"Mercedes!" called a joyous voice from without,--"Mercedes!" + +"Ah," exclaimed the young girl, blushing with delight, and fairly +leaping in excess of love, "you see he has not forgotten me, for here he +is!" And rushing towards the door, she opened it, saying, "Here, Edmond, +here I am!" + +Fernand, pale and trembling, drew back, like a traveller at the sight +of a serpent, and fell into a chair beside him. Edmond and Mercedes were +clasped in each other's arms. The burning Marseilles sun, which shot +into the room through the open door, covered them with a flood of light. +At first they saw nothing around them. Their intense happiness isolated +them from all the rest of the world, and they only spoke in broken +words, which are the tokens of a joy so extreme that they seem rather +the expression of sorrow. Suddenly Edmond saw the gloomy, pale, and +threatening countenance of Fernand, as it was defined in the shadow. +By a movement for which he could scarcely account to himself, the young +Catalan placed his hand on the knife at his belt. + +"Ah, your pardon," said Dantes, frowning in his turn; "I did not +perceive that there were three of us." Then, turning to Mercedes, he +inquired, "Who is this gentleman?" + +"One who will be your best friend, Dantes, for he is my friend, my +cousin, my brother; it is Fernand--the man whom, after you, Edmond, I +love the best in the world. Do you not remember him?" + +"Yes!" said Dantes, and without relinquishing Mercedes hand clasped in +one of his own, he extended the other to the Catalan with a cordial air. +But Fernand, instead of responding to this amiable gesture, remained +mute and trembling. Edmond then cast his eyes scrutinizingly at the +agitated and embarrassed Mercedes, and then again on the gloomy and +menacing Fernand. This look told him all, and his anger waxed hot. + +"I did not know, when I came with such haste to you, that I was to meet +an enemy here." + +"An enemy!" cried Mercedes, with an angry look at her cousin. "An enemy +in my house, do you say, Edmond! If I believed that, I would place my +arm under yours and go with you to Marseilles, leaving the house to +return to it no more." + +Fernand's eye darted lightning. "And should any misfortune occur to +you, dear Edmond," she continued with the same calmness which proved to +Fernand that the young girl had read the very innermost depths of his +sinister thought, "if misfortune should occur to you, I would ascend the +highest point of the Cape de Morgion and cast myself headlong from it." + +Fernand became deadly pale. "But you are deceived, Edmond," she +continued. "You have no enemy here--there is no one but Fernand, my +brother, who will grasp your hand as a devoted friend." + +And at these words the young girl fixed her imperious look on the +Catalan, who, as if fascinated by it, came slowly towards Edmond, and +offered him his hand. His hatred, like a powerless though furious wave, +was broken against the strong ascendancy which Mercedes exercised over +him. Scarcely, however, had he touched Edmond's hand than he felt he had +done all he could do, and rushed hastily out of the house. + +"Oh," he exclaimed, running furiously and tearing his hair--"Oh, who +will deliver me from this man? Wretched--wretched that I am!" + +"Hallo, Catalan! Hallo, Fernand! where are you running to?" exclaimed a +voice. + +The young man stopped suddenly, looked around him, and perceived +Caderousse sitting at table with Danglars, under an arbor. + +"Well", said Caderousse, "why don't you come? Are you really in such a +hurry that you have no time to pass the time of day with your friends?" + +"Particularly when they have still a full bottle before them," added +Danglars. Fernand looked at them both with a stupefied air, but did not +say a word. + +"He seems besotted," said Danglars, pushing Caderousse with his knee. +"Are we mistaken, and is Dantes triumphant in spite of all we have +believed?" + +"Why, we must inquire into that," was Caderousse's reply; and turning +towards the young man, said, "Well, Catalan, can't you make up your +mind?" + +Fernand wiped away the perspiration steaming from his brow, and slowly +entered the arbor, whose shade seemed to restore somewhat of calmness to +his senses, and whose coolness somewhat of refreshment to his exhausted +body. + +"Good-day," said he. "You called me, didn't you?" And he fell, rather +than sat down, on one of the seats which surrounded the table. + +"I called you because you were running like a madman, and I was afraid +you would throw yourself into the sea," said Caderousse, laughing. "Why, +when a man has friends, they are not only to offer him a glass of wine, +but, moreover, to prevent his swallowing three or four pints of water +unnecessarily!" + +Fernand gave a groan, which resembled a sob, and dropped his head into +his hands, his elbows leaning on the table. + +"Well, Fernand, I must say," said Caderousse, beginning the +conversation, with that brutality of the common people in which +curiosity destroys all diplomacy, "you look uncommonly like a rejected +lover;" and he burst into a hoarse laugh. + +"Bah!" said Danglars, "a lad of his make was not born to be unhappy in +love. You are laughing at him, Caderousse." + +"No," he replied, "only hark how he sighs! Come, come, Fernand," said +Caderousse, "hold up your head, and answer us. It's not polite not to +reply to friends who ask news of your health." + +"My health is well enough," said Fernand, clinching his hands without +raising his head. + +"Ah, you see, Danglars," said Caderousse, winking at his friend, "this +is how it is; Fernand, whom you see here, is a good and brave Catalan, +one of the best fishermen in Marseilles, and he is in love with a very +fine girl, named Mercedes; but it appears, unfortunately, that the fine +girl is in love with the mate of the Pharaon; and as the Pharaon arrived +to-day--why, you understand!" + +"No; I do not understand," said Danglars. + +"Poor Fernand has been dismissed," continued Caderousse. + +"Well, and what then?" said Fernand, lifting up his head, and looking at +Caderousse like a man who looks for some one on whom to vent his anger; +"Mercedes is not accountable to any person, is she? Is she not free to +love whomsoever she will?" + +"Oh, if you take it in that sense," said Caderousse, "it is another +thing. But I thought you were a Catalan, and they told me the Catalans +were not men to allow themselves to be supplanted by a rival. It was +even told me that Fernand, especially, was terrible in his vengeance." + +Fernand smiled piteously. "A lover is never terrible," he said. + +"Poor fellow!" remarked Danglars, affecting to pity the young man from +the bottom of his heart. "Why, you see, he did not expect to see Dantes +return so suddenly--he thought he was dead, perhaps; or perchance +faithless! These things always come on us more severely when they come +suddenly." + +"Ah, ma foi, under any circumstances," said Caderousse, who drank as he +spoke, and on whom the fumes of the wine began to take effect,--"under +any circumstances Fernand is not the only person put out by the +fortunate arrival of Dantes; is he, Danglars?" + +"No, you are right--and I should say that would bring him ill-luck." + +"Well, never mind," answered Caderousse, pouring out a glass of wine +for Fernand, and filling his own for the eighth or ninth time, while +Danglars had merely sipped his. "Never mind--in the meantime he marries +Mercedes--the lovely Mercedes--at least he returns to do that." + +During this time Danglars fixed his piercing glance on the young man, on +whose heart Caderousse's words fell like molten lead. + +"And when is the wedding to be?" he asked. + +"Oh, it is not yet fixed!" murmured Fernand. + +"No, but it will be," said Caderousse, "as surely as Dantes will be +captain of the Pharaon--eh, Danglars?" + +Danglars shuddered at this unexpected attack, and turned to Caderousse, +whose countenance he scrutinized, to try and detect whether the blow +was premeditated; but he read nothing but envy in a countenance already +rendered brutal and stupid by drunkenness. + +"Well," said he, filling the glasses, "let us drink to Captain Edmond +Dantes, husband of the beautiful Catalane!" + +Caderousse raised his glass to his mouth with unsteady hand, and +swallowed the contents at a gulp. Fernand dashed his on the ground. + +"Eh, eh, eh!" stammered Caderousse. "What do I see down there by the +wall, in the direction of the Catalans? Look, Fernand, your eyes are +better than mine. I believe I see double. You know wine is a deceiver; +but I should say it was two lovers walking side by side, and hand in +hand. Heaven forgive me, they do not know that we can see them, and they +are actually embracing!" + +Danglars did not lose one pang that Fernand endured. + +"Do you know them, Fernand?" he said. + +"Yes," was the reply, in a low voice. "It is Edmond and Mercedes!" + +"Ah, see there, now!" said Caderousse; "and I did not recognize them! +Hallo, Dantes! hello, lovely damsel! Come this way, and let us know when +the wedding is to be, for Fernand here is so obstinate he will not tell +us." + +"Hold your tongue, will you?" said Danglars, pretending to restrain +Caderousse, who, with the tenacity of drunkards, leaned out of the +arbor. "Try to stand upright, and let the lovers make love without +interruption. See, look at Fernand, and follow his example; he is +well-behaved!" + +Fernand, probably excited beyond bearing, pricked by Danglars, as the +bull is by the bandilleros, was about to rush out; for he had risen from +his seat, and seemed to be collecting himself to dash headlong upon his +rival, when Mercedes, smiling and graceful, lifted up her lovely head, +and looked at them with her clear and bright eyes. At this Fernand +recollected her threat of dying if Edmond died, and dropped again +heavily on his seat. Danglars looked at the two men, one after the +other, the one brutalized by liquor, the other overwhelmed with love. + +"I shall get nothing from these fools," he muttered; "and I am very much +afraid of being here between a drunkard and a coward. Here's an envious +fellow making himself boozy on wine when he ought to be nursing his +wrath, and here is a fool who sees the woman he loves stolen from under +his nose and takes on like a big baby. Yet this Catalan has eyes that +glisten like those of the vengeful Spaniards, Sicilians, and Calabrians, +and the other has fists big enough to crush an ox at one blow. +Unquestionably, Edmond's star is in the ascendant, and he will marry the +splendid girl--he will be captain, too, and laugh at us all, unless"--a +sinister smile passed over Danglars' lips--"unless I take a hand in the +affair," he added. + +"Hallo!" continued Caderousse, half-rising, and with his fist on the +table, "hallo, Edmond! do you not see your friends, or are you too proud +to speak to them?" + +"No, my dear fellow!" replied Dantes, "I am not proud, but I am happy, +and happiness blinds, I think, more than pride." + +"Ah, very well, that's an explanation!" said Caderousse. "How do you do, +Madame Dantes?" + +Mercedes courtesied gravely, and said--"That is not my name, and in my +country it bodes ill fortune, they say, to call a young girl by the name +of her betrothed before he becomes her husband. So call me Mercedes, if +you please." + +"We must excuse our worthy neighbor, Caderousse," said Dantes, "he is so +easily mistaken." + +"So, then, the wedding is to take place immediately, M. Dantes," said +Danglars, bowing to the young couple. + +"As soon as possible, M. Danglars; to-day all preliminaries will be +arranged at my father's, and to-morrow, or next day at latest, the +wedding festival here at La Reserve. My friends will be there, I hope; +that is to say, you are invited, M. Danglars, and you, Caderousse." + +"And Fernand," said Caderousse with a chuckle; "Fernand, too, is +invited!" + +"My wife's brother is my brother," said Edmond; "and we, Mercedes and I, +should be very sorry if he were absent at such a time." + +Fernand opened his mouth to reply, but his voice died on his lips, and +he could not utter a word. + +"To-day the preliminaries, to-morrow or next day the ceremony! You are +in a hurry, captain!" + +"Danglars," said Edmond, smiling, "I will say to you as Mercedes said +just now to Caderousse, 'Do not give me a title which does not belong to +me'; that may bring me bad luck." + +"Your pardon," replied Danglars, "I merely said you seemed in a hurry, +and we have lots of time; the Pharaon cannot be under weigh again in +less than three months." + +"We are always in a hurry to be happy, M. Danglars; for when we have +suffered a long time, we have great difficulty in believing in good +fortune. But it is not selfishness alone that makes me thus in haste; I +must go to Paris." + +"Ah, really?--to Paris! and will it be the first time you have ever been +there, Dantes?" + +"Yes." + +"Have you business there?" + +"Not of my own; the last commission of poor Captain Leclere; you know +to what I allude, Danglars--it is sacred. Besides, I shall only take the +time to go and return." + +"Yes, yes, I understand," said Danglars, and then in a low tone, he +added, "To Paris, no doubt to deliver the letter which the grand marshal +gave him. Ah, this letter gives me an idea--a capital idea! Ah; Dantes, +my friend, you are not yet registered number one on board the good ship +Pharaon;" then turning towards Edmond, who was walking away, "A pleasant +journey," he cried. + +"Thank you," said Edmond with a friendly nod, and the two lovers +continued on their way, as calm and joyous as if they were the very +elect of heaven. + + + +Chapter 4. Conspiracy. + +Danglars followed Edmond and Mercedes with his eyes until the two lovers +disappeared behind one of the angles of Fort Saint Nicolas, then turning +round, he perceived Fernand, who had fallen, pale and trembling, into +his chair, while Caderousse stammered out the words of a drinking-song. + +"Well, my dear sir," said Danglars to Fernand, "here is a marriage which +does not appear to make everybody happy." + +"It drives me to despair," said Fernand. + +"Do you, then, love Mercedes?" + +"I adore her!" + +"For long?" + +"As long as I have known her--always." + +"And you sit there, tearing your hair, instead of seeking to remedy your +condition; I did not think that was the way of your people." + +"What would you have me do?" said Fernand. + +"How do I know? Is it my affair? I am not in love with Mademoiselle +Mercedes; but for you--in the words of the gospel, seek, and you shall +find." + +"I have found already." + +"What?" + +"I would stab the man, but the woman told me that if any misfortune +happened to her betrothed, she would kill herself." + +"Pooh! Women say those things, but never do them." + +"You do not know Mercedes; what she threatens she will do." + +"Idiot!" muttered Danglars; "whether she kill herself or not, what +matter, provided Dantes is not captain?" + +"Before Mercedes should die," replied Fernand, with the accents of +unshaken resolution, "I would die myself!" + +"That's what I call love!" said Caderousse with a voice more tipsy than +ever. "That's love, or I don't know what love is." + +"Come," said Danglars, "you appear to me a good sort of fellow, and hang +me, I should like to help you, but"-- + +"Yes," said Caderousse, "but how?" + +"My dear fellow," replied Danglars, "you are three parts drunk; finish +the bottle, and you will be completely so. Drink then, and do not meddle +with what we are discussing, for that requires all one's wit and cool +judgment." + +"I--drunk!" said Caderousse; "well that's a good one! I could drink +four more such bottles; they are no bigger than cologne flasks. Pere +Pamphile, more wine!" and Caderousse rattled his glass upon the table. + +"You were saying, sir"--said Fernand, awaiting with great anxiety the +end of this interrupted remark. + +"What was I saying? I forget. This drunken Caderousse has made me lose +the thread of my sentence." + +"Drunk, if you like; so much the worse for those who fear wine, for it +is because they have bad thoughts which they are afraid the liquor will +extract from their hearts;" and Caderousse began to sing the two last +lines of a song very popular at the time,-- + +'Tous les mechants sont beuveurs d'eau; C'est bien prouve par le +deluge.' [*] + + * "The wicked are great drinkers of water; As the flood + proved once for all." + +"You said, sir, you would like to help me, but"-- + +"Yes; but I added, to help you it would be sufficient that Dantes +did not marry her you love; and the marriage may easily be thwarted, +methinks, and yet Dantes need not die." + +"Death alone can separate them," remarked Fernand. + +"You talk like a noodle, my friend," said Caderousse; "and here is +Danglars, who is a wide-awake, clever, deep fellow, who will prove to +you that you are wrong. Prove it, Danglars. I have answered for you. Say +there is no need why Dantes should die; it would, indeed, be a pity he +should. Dantes is a good fellow; I like Dantes. Dantes, your health." + +Fernand rose impatiently. "Let him run on," said Danglars, restraining +the young man; "drunk as he is, he is not much out in what he says. +Absence severs as well as death, and if the walls of a prison were +between Edmond and Mercedes they would be as effectually separated as if +he lay under a tombstone." + +"Yes; but one gets out of prison," said Caderousse, who, with what sense +was left him, listened eagerly to the conversation, "and when one gets +out and one's name is Edmond Dantes, one seeks revenge"-- + +"What matters that?" muttered Fernand. + +"And why, I should like to know," persisted Caderousse, "should they put +Dantes in prison? he has not robbed or killed or murdered." + +"Hold your tongue!" said Danglars. + +"I won't hold my tongue!" replied Caderousse; "I say I want to know why +they should put Dantes in prison; I like Dantes; Dantes, your health!" +and he swallowed another glass of wine. + +Danglars saw in the muddled look of the tailor the progress of his +intoxication, and turning towards Fernand, said, "Well, you understand +there is no need to kill him." + +"Certainly not, if, as you said just now, you have the means of having +Dantes arrested. Have you that means?" + +"It is to be found for the searching. But why should I meddle in the +matter? it is no affair of mine." + +"I know not why you meddle," said Fernand, seizing his arm; "but this I +know, you have some motive of personal hatred against Dantes, for he who +himself hates is never mistaken in the sentiments of others." + +"I!--motives of hatred against Dantes? None, on my word! I saw you were +unhappy, and your unhappiness interested me; that's all; but since you +believe I act for my own account, adieu, my dear friend, get out of the +affair as best you may;" and Danglars rose as if he meant to depart. + +"No, no," said Fernand, restraining him, "stay! It is of very little +consequence to me at the end of the matter whether you have any angry +feeling or not against Dantes. I hate him! I confess it openly. Do you +find the means, I will execute it, provided it is not to kill the man, +for Mercedes has declared she will kill herself if Dantes is killed." + +Caderousse, who had let his head drop on the table, now raised it, and +looking at Fernand with his dull and fishy eyes, he said,--"Kill Dantes! +who talks of killing Dantes? I won't have him killed--I won't! He's my +friend, and this morning offered to share his money with me, as I shared +mine with him. I won't have Dantes killed--I won't!" + +"And who has said a word about killing him, muddlehead?" replied +Danglars. "We were merely joking; drink to his health," he added, +filling Caderousse's glass, "and do not interfere with us." + +"Yes, yes, Dantes' good health!" said Caderousse, emptying his glass, +"here's to his health! his health--hurrah!" + +"But the means--the means?" said Fernand. + +"Have you not hit upon any?" asked Danglars. + +"No!--you undertook to do so." + +"True," replied Danglars; "the French have the superiority over the +Spaniards, that the Spaniards ruminate, while the French invent." + +"Do you invent, then," said Fernand impatiently. + +"Waiter," said Danglars, "pen, ink, and paper." + +"Pen, ink, and paper," muttered Fernand. + +"Yes; I am a supercargo; pen, ink, and paper are my tools, and without +my tools I am fit for nothing." + +"Pen, ink, and paper, then," called Fernand loudly. + +"There's what you want on that table," said the waiter. + +"Bring them here." The waiter did as he was desired. + +"When one thinks," said Caderousse, letting his hand drop on the paper, +"there is here wherewithal to kill a man more sure than if we waited at +the corner of a wood to assassinate him! I have always had more dread +of a pen, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper, than of a sword or +pistol." + +"The fellow is not so drunk as he appears to be," said Danglars. "Give +him some more wine, Fernand." Fernand filled Caderousse's glass, who, +like the confirmed toper he was, lifted his hand from the paper and +seized the glass. + +The Catalan watched him until Caderousse, almost overcome by this fresh +assault on his senses, rested, or rather dropped, his glass upon the +table. + +"Well!" resumed the Catalan, as he saw the final glimmer of Caderousse's +reason vanishing before the last glass of wine. + +"Well, then, I should say, for instance," resumed Danglars, "that if +after a voyage such as Dantes has just made, in which he touched at the +Island of Elba, some one were to denounce him to the king's procureur as +a Bonapartist agent"-- + +"I will denounce him!" exclaimed the young man hastily. + +"Yes, but they will make you then sign your declaration, and confront +you with him you have denounced; I will supply you with the means of +supporting your accusation, for I know the fact well. But Dantes cannot +remain forever in prison, and one day or other he will leave it, and +the day when he comes out, woe betide him who was the cause of his +incarceration!" + +"Oh, I should wish nothing better than that he would come and seek a +quarrel with me." + +"Yes, and Mercedes! Mercedes, who will detest you if you have only the +misfortune to scratch the skin of her dearly beloved Edmond!" + +"True!" said Fernand. + +"No, no," continued Danglars; "if we resolve on such a step, it would +be much better to take, as I now do, this pen, dip it into this ink, and +write with the left hand (that the writing may not be recognized) the +denunciation we propose." And Danglars, uniting practice with theory, +wrote with his left hand, and in a writing reversed from his usual +style, and totally unlike it, the following lines, which he handed to +Fernand, and which Fernand read in an undertone:-- + +"The honorable, the king's attorney, is informed by a friend of the +throne and religion, that one Edmond Dantes, mate of the ship Pharaon, +arrived this morning from Smyrna, after having touched at Naples +and Porto-Ferrajo, has been intrusted by Murat with a letter for the +usurper, and by the usurper with a letter for the Bonapartist committee +in Paris. Proof of this crime will be found on arresting him, for the +letter will be found upon him, or at his father's, or in his cabin on +board the Pharaon." + +"Very good," resumed Danglars; "now your revenge looks like +common-sense, for in no way can it revert to yourself, and the matter +will thus work its own way; there is nothing to do now but fold the +letter as I am doing, and write upon it, 'To the king's attorney,' and +that's all settled." And Danglars wrote the address as he spoke. + +"Yes, and that's all settled!" exclaimed Caderousse, who, by a last +effort of intellect, had followed the reading of the letter, and +instinctively comprehended all the misery which such a denunciation +must entail. "Yes, and that's all settled; only it will be an infamous +shame;" and he stretched out his hand to reach the letter. + +"Yes," said Danglars, taking it from beyond his reach; "and as what I +say and do is merely in jest, and I, amongst the first and foremost, +should be sorry if anything happened to Dantes--the worthy Dantes--look +here!" And taking the letter, he squeezed it up in his hands and threw +it into a corner of the arbor. + +"All right!" said Caderousse. "Dantes is my friend, and I won't have him +ill-used." + +"And who thinks of using him ill? Certainly neither I nor Fernand," +said Danglars, rising and looking at the young man, who still remained +seated, but whose eye was fixed on the denunciatory sheet of paper flung +into the corner. + +"In this case," replied Caderousse, "let's have some more wine. I wish +to drink to the health of Edmond and the lovely Mercedes." + +"You have had too much already, drunkard," said Danglars; "and if you +continue, you will be compelled to sleep here, because unable to stand +on your legs." + +"I?" said Caderousse, rising with all the offended dignity of a drunken +man, "I can't keep on my legs? Why, I'll wager I can go up into the +belfry of the Accoules, and without staggering, too!" + +"Done!" said Danglars, "I'll take your bet; but to-morrow--to-day it is +time to return. Give me your arm, and let us go." + +"Very well, let us go," said Caderousse; "but I don't want your arm at +all. Come, Fernand, won't you return to Marseilles with us?" + +"No," said Fernand; "I shall return to the Catalans." + +"You're wrong. Come with us to Marseilles--come along." + +"I will not." + +"What do you mean? you will not? Well, just as you like, my prince; +there's liberty for all the world. Come along, Danglars, and let the +young gentleman return to the Catalans if he chooses." + +Danglars took advantage of Caderousse's temper at the moment, to take +him off towards Marseilles by the Porte Saint-Victor, staggering as he +went. + +When they had advanced about twenty yards, Danglars looked back and +saw Fernand stoop, pick up the crumpled paper, and putting it into his +pocket then rush out of the arbor towards Pillon. + +"Well," said Caderousse, "why, what a lie he told! He said he was going +to the Catalans, and he is going to the city. Hallo, Fernand!" + +"Oh, you don't see straight," said Danglars; "he's gone right enough." + +"Well," said Caderousse, "I should have said not--how treacherous wine +is!" + +"Come, come," said Danglars to himself, "now the thing is at work and it +will effect its purpose unassisted." + + + +Chapter 5. The Marriage-Feast. + +The morning's sun rose clear and resplendent, touching the foamy waves +into a network of ruby-tinted light. + +The feast had been made ready on the second floor at La Reserve, with +whose arbor the reader is already familiar. The apartment destined for +the purpose was spacious and lighted by a number of windows, over each +of which was written in golden letters for some inexplicable reason the +name of one of the principal cities of France; beneath these windows a +wooden balcony extended the entire length of the house. And although +the entertainment was fixed for twelve o'clock, an hour previous to +that time the balcony was filled with impatient and expectant guests, +consisting of the favored part of the crew of the Pharaon, and other +personal friends of the bride-groom, the whole of whom had arrayed +themselves in their choicest costumes, in order to do greater honor to +the occasion. + +Various rumors were afloat to the effect that the owners of the Pharaon +had promised to attend the nuptial feast; but all seemed unanimous in +doubting that an act of such rare and exceeding condescension could +possibly be intended. + +Danglars, however, who now made his appearance, accompanied by +Caderousse, effectually confirmed the report, stating that he had +recently conversed with M. Morrel, who had himself assured him of his +intention to dine at La Reserve. + +In fact, a moment later M. Morrel appeared and was saluted with an +enthusiastic burst of applause from the crew of the Pharaon, who hailed +the visit of the shipowner as a sure indication that the man whose +wedding feast he thus delighted to honor would ere long be first in +command of the ship; and as Dantes was universally beloved on board his +vessel, the sailors put no restraint on their tumultuous joy at finding +that the opinion and choice of their superiors so exactly coincided with +their own. + +With the entrance of M. Morrel, Danglars and Caderousse were despatched +in search of the bride-groom to convey to him the intelligence of the +arrival of the important personage whose coming had created such a +lively sensation, and to beseech him to make haste. + +Danglars and Caderousse set off upon their errand at full speed; but ere +they had gone many steps they perceived a group advancing towards them, +composed of the betrothed pair, a party of young girls in attendance on +the bride, by whose side walked Dantes' father; the whole brought up by +Fernand, whose lips wore their usual sinister smile. + +Neither Mercedes nor Edmond observed the strange expression of his +countenance; they were so happy that they were conscious only of the +sunshine and the presence of each other. + +Having acquitted themselves of their errand, and exchanged a hearty +shake of the hand with Edmond, Danglars and Caderousse took their places +beside Fernand and old Dantes,--the latter of whom attracted universal +notice. The old man was attired in a suit of glistening watered silk, +trimmed with steel buttons, beautifully cut and polished. His thin +but wiry legs were arrayed in a pair of richly embroidered clocked +stockings, evidently of English manufacture, while from his +three-cornered hat depended a long streaming knot of white and blue +ribbons. Thus he came along, supporting himself on a curiously carved +stick, his aged countenance lit up with happiness, looking for all the +world like one of the aged dandies of 1796, parading the newly opened +gardens of the Tuileries and Luxembourg. Beside him glided Caderousse, +whose desire to partake of the good things provided for the +wedding-party had induced him to become reconciled to the Dantes, father +and son, although there still lingered in his mind a faint and unperfect +recollection of the events of the preceding night; just as the brain +retains on waking in the morning the dim and misty outline of a dream. + +As Danglars approached the disappointed lover, he cast on him a look of +deep meaning, while Fernand, as he slowly paced behind the happy pair, +who seemed, in their own unmixed content, to have entirely forgotten +that such a being as himself existed, was pale and abstracted; +occasionally, however, a deep flush would overspread his countenance, +and a nervous contraction distort his features, while, with an agitated +and restless gaze, he would glance in the direction of Marseilles, like +one who either anticipated or foresaw some great and important event. + +Dantes himself was simply, but becomingly, clad in the dress peculiar to +the merchant service--a costume somewhat between a military and a civil +garb; and with his fine countenance, radiant with joy and happiness, a +more perfect specimen of manly beauty could scarcely be imagined. + +Lovely as the Greek girls of Cyprus or Chios, Mercedes boasted the same +bright flashing eyes of jet, and ripe, round, coral lips. She moved +with the light, free step of an Arlesienne or an Andalusian. One more +practiced in the arts of great cities would have hid her blushes beneath +a veil, or, at least, have cast down her thickly fringed lashes, so as +to have concealed the liquid lustre of her animated eyes; but, on the +contrary, the delighted girl looked around her with a smile that seemed +to say: "If you are my friends, rejoice with me, for I am very happy." + +As soon as the bridal party came in sight of La Reserve, M. Morrel +descended and came forth to meet it, followed by the soldiers and +sailors there assembled, to whom he had repeated the promise already +given, that Dantes should be the successor to the late Captain Leclere. +Edmond, at the approach of his patron, respectfully placed the arm of +his affianced bride within that of M. Morrel, who, forthwith conducting +her up the flight of wooden steps leading to the chamber in which the +feast was prepared, was gayly followed by the guests, beneath whose +heavy tread the slight structure creaked and groaned for the space of +several minutes. + +"Father," said Mercedes, stopping when she had reached the centre of the +table, "sit, I pray you, on my right hand; on my left I will place him +who has ever been as a brother to me," pointing with a soft and gentle +smile to Fernand; but her words and look seemed to inflict the direst +torture on him, for his lips became ghastly pale, and even beneath the +dark hue of his complexion the blood might be seen retreating as though +some sudden pang drove it back to the heart. + +During this time, Dantes, at the opposite side of the table, had been +occupied in similarly placing his most honored guests. M. Morrel was +seated at his right hand, Danglars at his left; while, at a sign from +Edmond, the rest of the company ranged themselves as they found it most +agreeable. + +Then they began to pass around the dusky, piquant, Arlesian sausages, +and lobsters in their dazzling red cuirasses, prawns of large size and +brilliant color, the echinus with its prickly outside and dainty morsel +within, the clovis, esteemed by the epicures of the South as more than +rivalling the exquisite flavor of the oyster,--all the delicacies, in +fact, that are cast up by the wash of waters on the sandy beach, and +styled by the grateful fishermen "fruits of the sea." + +"A pretty silence truly!" said the old father of the bride-groom, as +he carried to his lips a glass of wine of the hue and brightness of the +topaz, and which had just been placed before Mercedes herself. "Now, +would anybody think that this room contained a happy, merry party, who +desire nothing better than to laugh and dance the hours away?" + +"Ah," sighed Caderousse, "a man cannot always feel happy because he is +about to be married." + +"The truth is," replied Dantes, "that I am too happy for noisy mirth; +if that is what you meant by your observation, my worthy friend, you +are right; joy takes a strange effect at times, it seems to oppress us +almost the same as sorrow." + +Danglars looked towards Fernand, whose excitable nature received and +betrayed each fresh impression. + +"Why, what ails you?" asked he of Edmond. "Do you fear any approaching +evil? I should say that you were the happiest man alive at this +instant." + +"And that is the very thing that alarms me," returned Dantes. "Man does +not appear to me to be intended to enjoy felicity so unmixed; happiness +is like the enchanted palaces we read of in our childhood, where fierce, +fiery dragons defend the entrance and approach; and monsters of all +shapes and kinds, requiring to be overcome ere victory is ours. I own +that I am lost in wonder to find myself promoted to an honor of which I +feel myself unworthy--that of being the husband of Mercedes." + +"Nay, nay!" cried Caderousse, smiling, "you have not attained that honor +yet. Mercedes is not yet your wife. Just assume the tone and manner of +a husband, and see how she will remind you that your hour is not yet +come!" + +The bride blushed, while Fernand, restless and uneasy, seemed to start +at every fresh sound, and from time to time wiped away the large drops +of perspiration that gathered on his brow. + +"Well, never mind that, neighbor Caderousse; it is not worth while to +contradict me for such a trifle as that. 'Tis true that Mercedes is not +actually my wife; but," added he, drawing out his watch, "in an hour and +a half she will be." + +A general exclamation of surprise ran round the table, with the +exception of the elder Dantes, whose laugh displayed the still perfect +beauty of his large white teeth. Mercedes looked pleased and gratified, +while Fernand grasped the handle of his knife with a convulsive clutch. + +"In an hour?" inquired Danglars, turning pale. "How is that, my friend?" + +"Why, thus it is," replied Dantes. "Thanks to the influence of M. +Morrel, to whom, next to my father, I owe every blessing I enjoy, every +difficulty his been removed. We have purchased permission to waive the +usual delay; and at half-past two o'clock the mayor of Marseilles will +be waiting for us at the city hall. Now, as a quarter-past one has +already struck, I do not consider I have asserted too much in saying, +that, in another hour and thirty minutes Mercedes will have become +Madame Dantes." + +Fernand closed his eyes, a burning sensation passed across his brow, and +he was compelled to support himself by the table to prevent his falling +from his chair; but in spite of all his efforts, he could not refrain +from uttering a deep groan, which, however, was lost amid the noisy +felicitations of the company. + +"Upon my word," cried the old man, "you make short work of this kind of +affair. Arrived here only yesterday morning, and married to-day at three +o'clock! Commend me to a sailor for going the quick way to work!" + +"But," asked Danglars, in a timid tone, "how did you manage about the +other formalities--the contract--the settlement?" + +"The contract," answered Dantes, laughingly, "it didn't take long to +fix that. Mercedes has no fortune; I have none to settle on her. So, you +see, our papers were quickly written out, and certainly do not come very +expensive." This joke elicited a fresh burst of applause. + +"So that what we presumed to be merely the betrothal feast turns out to +be the actual wedding dinner!" said Danglars. + +"No, no," answered Dantes; "don't imagine I am going to put you off in +that shabby manner. To-morrow morning I start for Paris; four days to +go, and the same to return, with one day to discharge the commission +intrusted to me, is all the time I shall be absent. I shall be back here +by the first of March, and on the second I give my real marriage feast." + +This prospect of fresh festivity redoubled the hilarity of the guests +to such a degree, that the elder Dantes, who, at the commencement of +the repast, had commented upon the silence that prevailed, now found +it difficult, amid the general din of voices, to obtain a moment's +tranquillity in which to drink to the health and prosperity of the bride +and bride-groom. + +Dantes, perceiving the affectionate eagerness of his father, responded +by a look of grateful pleasure; while Mercedes glanced at the clock and +made an expressive gesture to Edmond. + +Around the table reigned that noisy hilarity which usually prevails at +such a time among people sufficiently free from the demands of +social position not to feel the trammels of etiquette. Such as at +the commencement of the repast had not been able to seat themselves +according to their inclination rose unceremoniously, and sought out more +agreeable companions. Everybody talked at once, without waiting for a +reply and each one seemed to be contented with expressing his or her own +thoughts. + +Fernand's paleness appeared to have communicated itself to Danglars. +As for Fernand himself, he seemed to be enduring the tortures of the +damned; unable to rest, he was among the first to quit the table, +and, as though seeking to avoid the hilarious mirth that rose in such +deafening sounds, he continued, in utter silence, to pace the farther +end of the salon. + +Caderousse approached him just as Danglars, whom Fernand seemed most +anxious to avoid, had joined him in a corner of the room. + +"Upon my word," said Caderousse, from whose mind the friendly treatment +of Dantes, united with the effect of the excellent wine he had partaken +of, had effaced every feeling of envy or jealousy at Dantes' good +fortune,--"upon my word, Dantes is a downright good fellow, and when I +see him sitting there beside his pretty wife that is so soon to be. I +cannot help thinking it would have been a great pity to have served him +that trick you were planning yesterday." + +"Oh, there was no harm meant," answered Danglars; "at first I certainly +did feel somewhat uneasy as to what Fernand might be tempted to do; but +when I saw how completely he had mastered his feelings, even so far as +to become one of his rival's attendants, I knew there was no further +cause for apprehension." Caderousse looked full at Fernand--he was +ghastly pale. + +"Certainly," continued Danglars, "the sacrifice was no trifling one, +when the beauty of the bride is concerned. Upon my soul, that future +captain of mine is a lucky dog! Gad, I only wish he would let me take +his place." + +"Shall we not set forth?" asked the sweet, silvery voice of Mercedes; +"two o'clock has just struck, and you know we are expected in a quarter +of an hour." + +"To be sure!--to be sure!" cried Dantes, eagerly quitting the table; +"let us go directly!" + +His words were re-echoed by the whole party, with vociferous cheers. + +At this moment Danglars, who had been incessantly observing every change +in Fernand's look and manner, saw him stagger and fall back, with an +almost convulsive spasm, against a seat placed near one of the open +windows. At the same instant his ear caught a sort of indistinct sound +on the stairs, followed by the measured tread of soldiery, with the +clanking of swords and military accoutrements; then came a hum and buzz +as of many voices, so as to deaden even the noisy mirth of the bridal +party, among whom a vague feeling of curiosity and apprehension quelled +every disposition to talk, and almost instantaneously the most deathlike +stillness prevailed. + +The sounds drew nearer. Three blows were struck upon the panel of the +door. The company looked at each other in consternation. + +"I demand admittance," said a loud voice outside the room, "in the name +of the law!" As no attempt was made to prevent it, the door was opened, +and a magistrate, wearing his official scarf, presented himself, +followed by four soldiers and a corporal. Uneasiness now yielded to the +most extreme dread on the part of those present. + +"May I venture to inquire the reason of this unexpected visit?" said +M. Morrel, addressing the magistrate, whom he evidently knew; "there is +doubtless some mistake easily explained." + +"If it be so," replied the magistrate, "rely upon every reparation being +made; meanwhile, I am the bearer of an order of arrest, and although I +most reluctantly perform the task assigned me, it must, nevertheless, be +fulfilled. Who among the persons here assembled answers to the name of +Edmond Dantes?" Every eye was turned towards the young man who, spite of +the agitation he could not but feel, advanced with dignity, and said, in +a firm voice, "I am he; what is your pleasure with me?" + +"Edmond Dantes," replied the magistrate, "I arrest you in the name of +the law!" + +"Me!" repeated Edmond, slightly changing color, "and wherefore, I pray?" + +"I cannot inform you, but you will be duly acquainted with the +reasons that have rendered such a step necessary at the preliminary +examination." + +M. Morrel felt that further resistance or remonstrance was useless. He +saw before him an officer delegated to enforce the law, and perfectly +well knew that it would be as unavailing to seek pity from a magistrate +decked with his official scarf, as to address a petition to some cold +marble effigy. Old Dantes, however, sprang forward. There are situations +which the heart of a father or a mother cannot be made to understand. +He prayed and supplicated in terms so moving, that even the officer +was touched, and, although firm in his duty, he kindly said, "My worthy +friend, let me beg of you to calm your apprehensions. Your son has +probably neglected some prescribed form or attention in registering his +cargo, and it is more than probable he will be set at liberty directly +he has given the information required, whether touching the health of +his crew, or the value of his freight." + +"What is the meaning of all this?" inquired Caderousse, frowningly, of +Danglars, who had assumed an air of utter surprise. + +"How can I tell you?" replied he; "I am, like yourself, utterly +bewildered at all that is going on, and cannot in the least make out +what it is about." Caderousse then looked around for Fernand, but he had +disappeared. + +The scene of the previous night now came back to his mind with startling +clearness. The painful catastrophe he had just witnessed appeared +effectually to have rent away the veil which the intoxication of the +evening before had raised between himself and his memory. + +"So, so," said he, in a hoarse and choking voice, to Danglars, "this, +then, I suppose, is a part of the trick you were concerting yesterday? +All I can say is, that if it be so, 'tis an ill turn, and well deserves +to bring double evil on those who have projected it." + +"Nonsense," returned Danglars, "I tell you again I have nothing whatever +to do with it; besides, you know very well that I tore the paper to +pieces." + +"No, you did not!" answered Caderousse, "you merely threw it by--I saw +it lying in a corner." + +"Hold your tongue, you fool!--what should you know about it?--why, you +were drunk!" + +"Where is Fernand?" inquired Caderousse. + +"How do I know?" replied Danglars; "gone, as every prudent man ought to +be, to look after his own affairs, most likely. Never mind where he is, +let you and I go and see what is to be done for our poor friends." + +During this conversation, Dantes, after having exchanged a cheerful +shake of the hand with all his sympathizing friends, had surrendered +himself to the officer sent to arrest him, merely saying, "Make +yourselves quite easy, my good fellows, there is some little mistake to +clear up, that's all, depend upon it; and very likely I may not have to +go so far as the prison to effect that." + +"Oh, to be sure!" responded Danglars, who had now approached the group, +"nothing more than a mistake, I feel quite certain." + +Dantes descended the staircase, preceded by the magistrate, and followed +by the soldiers. A carriage awaited him at the door; he got in, followed +by two soldiers and the magistrate, and the vehicle drove off towards +Marseilles. + +"Adieu, adieu, dearest Edmond!" cried Mercedes, stretching out her arms +to him from the balcony. + +The prisoner heard the cry, which sounded like the sob of a broken +heart, and leaning from the coach he called out, "Good-by, Mercedes--we +shall soon meet again!" Then the vehicle disappeared round one of the +turnings of Fort Saint Nicholas. + +"Wait for me here, all of you!" cried M. Morrel; "I will take the first +conveyance I find, and hurry to Marseilles, whence I will bring you word +how all is going on." + +"That's right!" exclaimed a multitude of voices, "go, and return as +quickly as you can!" + +This second departure was followed by a long and fearful state of +terrified silence on the part of those who were left behind. The old +father and Mercedes remained for some time apart, each absorbed in +grief; but at length the two poor victims of the same blow raised their +eyes, and with a simultaneous burst of feeling rushed into each other's +arms. + +Meanwhile Fernand made his appearance, poured out for himself a glass +of water with a trembling hand; then hastily swallowing it, went to sit +down at the first vacant place, and this was, by mere chance, placed +next to the seat on which poor Mercedes had fallen half fainting, +when released from the warm and affectionate embrace of old Dantes. +Instinctively Fernand drew back his chair. + +"He is the cause of all this misery--I am quite sure of it," whispered +Caderousse, who had never taken his eyes off Fernand, to Danglars. + +"I don't think so," answered the other; "he's too stupid to imagine such +a scheme. I only hope the mischief will fall upon the head of whoever +wrought it." + +"You don't mention those who aided and abetted the deed," said +Caderousse. + +"Surely," answered Danglars, "one cannot be held responsible for every +chance arrow shot into the air." + +"You can, indeed, when the arrow lights point downward on somebody's +head." + +Meantime the subject of the arrest was being canvassed in every +different form. + +"What think you, Danglars," said one of the party, turning towards him, +"of this event?" + +"Why," replied he, "I think it just possible Dantes may have been +detected with some trifling article on board ship considered here as +contraband." + +"But how could he have done so without your knowledge, Danglars, since +you are the ship's supercargo?" + +"Why, as for that, I could only know what I was told respecting the +merchandise with which the vessel was laden. I know she was loaded with +cotton, and that she took in her freight at Alexandria from Pastret's +warehouse, and at Smyrna from Pascal's; that is all I was obliged to +know, and I beg I may not be asked for any further particulars." + +"Now I recollect," said the afflicted old father; "my poor boy told me +yesterday he had got a small case of coffee, and another of tobacco for +me!" + +"There, you see," exclaimed Danglars. "Now the mischief is out; depend +upon it the custom-house people went rummaging about the ship in our +absence, and discovered poor Dantes' hidden treasures." + +Mercedes, however, paid no heed to this explanation of her lover's +arrest. Her grief, which she had hitherto tried to restrain, now burst +out in a violent fit of hysterical sobbing. + +"Come, come," said the old man, "be comforted, my poor child; there is +still hope!" + +"Hope!" repeated Danglars. + +"Hope!" faintly murmured Fernand, but the word seemed to die away on his +pale agitated lips, and a convulsive spasm passed over his countenance. + +"Good news! good news!" shouted forth one of the party stationed in the +balcony on the lookout. "Here comes M. Morrel back. No doubt, now, we +shall hear that our friend is released!" + +Mercedes and the old man rushed to meet the shipowner and greeted him at +the door. He was very pale. + +"What news?" exclaimed a general burst of voices. + +"Alas, my friends," replied M. Morrel, with a mournful shake of his +head, "the thing has assumed a more serious aspect than I expected." + +"Oh, indeed--indeed, sir, he is innocent!" sobbed forth Mercedes. + +"That I believe!" answered M. Morrel; "but still he is charged"-- + +"With what?" inquired the elder Dantes. + +"With being an agent of the Bonapartist faction!" Many of our readers +may be able to recollect how formidable such an accusation became in the +period at which our story is dated. + +A despairing cry escaped the pale lips of Mercedes; the old man sank +into a chair. + +"Ah, Danglars!" whispered Caderousse, "you have deceived me--the trick +you spoke of last night has been played; but I cannot suffer a poor +old man or an innocent girl to die of grief through your fault. I am +determined to tell them all about it." + +"Be silent, you simpleton!" cried Danglars, grasping him by the arm, "or +I will not answer even for your own safety. Who can tell whether Dantes +be innocent or guilty? The vessel did touch at Elba, where he quitted +it, and passed a whole day in the island. Now, should any letters or +other documents of a compromising character be found upon him, will it +not be taken for granted that all who uphold him are his accomplices?" + +With the rapid instinct of selfishness, Caderousse readily perceived the +solidity of this mode of reasoning; he gazed, doubtfully, wistfully, on +Danglars, and then caution supplanted generosity. + +"Suppose we wait a while, and see what comes of it," said he, casting a +bewildered look on his companion. + +"To be sure!" answered Danglars. "Let us wait, by all means. If he be +innocent, of course he will be set at liberty; if guilty, why, it is no +use involving ourselves in a conspiracy." + +"Let us go, then. I cannot stay here any longer." + +"With all my heart!" replied Danglars, pleased to find the other so +tractable. "Let us take ourselves out of the way, and leave things for +the present to take their course." + +After their departure, Fernand, who had now again become the friend and +protector of Mercedes, led the girl to her home, while the friends of +Dantes conducted the now half-fainting man back to his abode. + +The rumor of Edmond's arrest as a Bonapartist agent was not slow in +circulating throughout the city. + +"Could you ever have credited such a thing, my dear Danglars?" asked M. +Morrel, as, on his return to the port for the purpose of gleaning fresh +tidings of Dantes, from M. de Villefort, the assistant procureur, he +overtook his supercargo and Caderousse. "Could you have believed such a +thing possible?" + +"Why, you know I told you," replied Danglars, "that I considered the +circumstance of his having anchored at the Island of Elba as a very +suspicious circumstance." + +"And did you mention these suspicions to any person beside myself?" + +"Certainly not!" returned Danglars. Then added in a low whisper, "You +understand that, on account of your uncle, M. Policar Morrel, who served +under the other government, and who does not altogether conceal what +he thinks on the subject, you are strongly suspected of regretting the +abdication of Napoleon. I should have feared to injure both Edmond and +yourself, had I divulged my own apprehensions to a soul. I am too well +aware that though a subordinate, like myself, is bound to acquaint the +shipowner with everything that occurs, there are many things he ought +most carefully to conceal from all else." + +"'Tis well, Danglars--'tis well!" replied M. Morrel. "You are a worthy +fellow; and I had already thought of your interests in the event of poor +Edmond having become captain of the Pharaon." + +"Is it possible you were so kind?" + +"Yes, indeed; I had previously inquired of Dantes what was his opinion +of you, and if he should have any reluctance to continue you in your +post, for somehow I have perceived a sort of coolness between you." + +"And what was his reply?" + +"That he certainly did think he had given you offence in an affair +which he merely referred to without entering into particulars, but that +whoever possessed the good opinion and confidence of the ship's owner +would have his preference also." + +"The hypocrite!" murmured Danglars. + +"Poor Dantes!" said Caderousse. "No one can deny his being a +noble-hearted young fellow." + +"But meanwhile," continued M. Morrel, "here is the Pharaon without a +captain." + +"Oh," replied Danglars, "since we cannot leave this port for the next +three months, let us hope that ere the expiration of that period Dantes +will be set at liberty." + +"No doubt; but in the meantime?" + +"I am entirely at your service, M. Morrel," answered Danglars. "You know +that I am as capable of managing a ship as the most experienced captain +in the service; and it will be so far advantageous to you to accept my +services, that upon Edmond's release from prison no further change will +be requisite on board the Pharaon than for Dantes and myself each to +resume our respective posts." + +"Thanks, Danglars--that will smooth over all difficulties. I fully +authorize you at once to assume the command of the Pharaon, and look +carefully to the unloading of her freight. Private misfortunes must +never be allowed to interfere with business." + +"Be easy on that score, M. Morrel; but do you think we shall be +permitted to see our poor Edmond?" + +"I will let you know that directly I have seen M. de Villefort, whom I +shall endeavor to interest in Edmond's favor. I am aware he is a furious +royalist; but, in spite of that, and of his being king's attorney, he is +a man like ourselves, and I fancy not a bad sort of one." + +"Perhaps not," replied Danglars; "but I hear that he is ambitious, and +that's rather against him." + +"Well, well," returned M. Morrel, "we shall see. But now hasten on +board, I will join you there ere long." So saying, the worthy shipowner +quitted the two allies, and proceeded in the direction of the Palais de +Justice. + +"You see," said Danglars, addressing Caderousse, "the turn things have +taken. Do you still feel any desire to stand up in his defence?" + +"Not the slightest, but yet it seems to me a shocking thing that a mere +joke should lead to such consequences." + +"But who perpetrated that joke, let me ask? neither you nor myself, but +Fernand; you knew very well that I threw the paper into a corner of the +room--indeed, I fancied I had destroyed it." + +"Oh, no," replied Caderousse, "that I can answer for, you did not. I +only wish I could see it now as plainly as I saw it lying all crushed +and crumpled in a corner of the arbor." + +"Well, then, if you did, depend upon it, Fernand picked it up, and +either copied it or caused it to be copied; perhaps, even, he did not +take the trouble of recopying it. And now I think of it, by Heavens, he +may have sent the letter itself! Fortunately, for me, the handwriting +was disguised." + +"Then you were aware of Dantes being engaged in a conspiracy?" + +"Not I. As I before said, I thought the whole thing was a joke, nothing +more. It seems, however, that I have unconsciously stumbled upon the +truth." + +"Still," argued Caderousse, "I would give a great deal if nothing of the +kind had happened; or, at least, that I had had no hand in it. You will +see, Danglars, that it will turn out an unlucky job for both of us." + +"Nonsense! If any harm come of it, it should fall on the guilty person; +and that, you know, is Fernand. How can we be implicated in any way? +All we have got to do is, to keep our own counsel, and remain perfectly +quiet, not breathing a word to any living soul; and you will see that +the storm will pass away without in the least affecting us." + +"Amen!" responded Caderousse, waving his hand in token of adieu to +Danglars, and bending his steps towards the Allees de Meillan, moving +his head to and fro, and muttering as he went, after the manner of one +whose mind was overcharged with one absorbing idea. + +"So far, then," said Danglars, mentally, "all has gone as I would have +it. I am, temporarily, commander of the Pharaon, with the certainty of +being permanently so, if that fool of a Caderousse can be persuaded to +hold his tongue. My only fear is the chance of Dantes being released. +But, there, he is in the hands of Justice; and," added he with a smile, +"she will take her own." So saying, he leaped into a boat, desiring to +be rowed on board the Pharaon, where M. Morrel had agreed to meet him. + + + +Chapter 6. The Deputy Procureur du Roi. + +In one of the aristocratic mansions built by Puget in the Rue du Grand +Cours opposite the Medusa fountain, a second marriage feast was being +celebrated, almost at the same hour with the nuptial repast given +by Dantes. In this case, however, although the occasion of the +entertainment was similar, the company was strikingly dissimilar. +Instead of a rude mixture of sailors, soldiers, and those belonging to +the humblest grade of life, the present assembly was composed of the +very flower of Marseilles society,--magistrates who had resigned their +office during the usurper's reign; officers who had deserted from the +imperial army and joined forces with Conde; and younger members of +families, brought up to hate and execrate the man whom five years of +exile would convert into a martyr, and fifteen of restoration elevate to +the rank of a god. + +The guests were still at table, and the heated and energetic +conversation that prevailed betrayed the violent and vindictive passions +that then agitated each dweller of the South, where unhappily, for five +centuries religious strife had long given increased bitterness to the +violence of party feeling. + +The emperor, now king of the petty Island of Elba, after having held +sovereign sway over one-half of the world, counting as his subjects +a small population of five or six thousand souls,--after having been +accustomed to hear the "Vive Napoleons" of a hundred and twenty millions +of human beings, uttered in ten different languages,--was looked upon +here as a ruined man, separated forever from any fresh connection with +France or claim to her throne. + +The magistrates freely discussed their political views; the military +part of the company talked unreservedly of Moscow and Leipsic, while +the women commented on the divorce of Josephine. It was not over the +downfall of the man, but over the defeat of the Napoleonic idea, that +they rejoiced, and in this they foresaw for themselves the bright and +cheering prospect of a revivified political existence. + +An old man, decorated with the cross of Saint Louis, now rose and +proposed the health of King Louis XVIII. It was the Marquis de +Saint-Meran. This toast, recalling at once the patient exile of Hartwell +and the peace-loving King of France, excited universal enthusiasm; +glasses were elevated in the air a l'Anglais, and the ladies, snatching +their bouquets from their fair bosoms, strewed the table with their +floral treasures. In a word, an almost poetical fervor prevailed. + +"Ah," said the Marquise de Saint-Meran, a woman with a stern, forbidding +eye, though still noble and distinguished in appearance, despite her +fifty years--"ah, these revolutionists, who have driven us from those +very possessions they afterwards purchased for a mere trifle during the +Reign of Terror, would be compelled to own, were they here, that all +true devotion was on our side, since we were content to follow the +fortunes of a falling monarch, while they, on the contrary, made their +fortune by worshipping the rising sun; yes, yes, they could not help +admitting that the king, for whom we sacrificed rank, wealth, and +station was truly our 'Louis the well-beloved,' while their wretched +usurper his been, and ever will be, to them their evil genius, their +'Napoleon the accursed.' Am I not right, Villefort?" + +"I beg your pardon, madame. I really must pray you to excuse me, but--in +truth--I was not attending to the conversation." + +"Marquise, marquise!" interposed the old nobleman who had proposed the +toast, "let the young people alone; let me tell you, on one's wedding +day there are more agreeable subjects of conversation than dry +politics." + +"Never mind, dearest mother," said a young and lovely girl, with a +profusion of light brown hair, and eyes that seemed to float in liquid +crystal, "'tis all my fault for seizing upon M. de Villefort, so as to +prevent his listening to what you said. But there--now take him--he is +your own for as long as you like. M. Villefort, I beg to remind you my +mother speaks to you." + +"If the marquise will deign to repeat the words I but imperfectly +caught, I shall be delighted to answer," said M. de Villefort. + +"Never mind, Renee," replied the marquise, with a look of tenderness +that seemed out of keeping with her harsh dry features; but, however all +other feelings may be withered in a woman's nature, there is always one +bright smiling spot in the desert of her heart, and that is the shrine +of maternal love. "I forgive you. What I was saying, Villefort, was, +that the Bonapartists had not our sincerity, enthusiasm, or devotion." + +"They had, however, what supplied the place of those fine qualities," +replied the young man, "and that was fanaticism. Napoleon is the +Mahomet of the West, and is worshipped by his commonplace but +ambitions followers, not only as a leader and lawgiver, but also as the +personification of equality." + +"He!" cried the marquise: "Napoleon the type of equality! For mercy's +sake, then, what would you call Robespierre? Come, come, do not strip +the latter of his just rights to bestow them on the Corsican, who, to my +mind, has usurped quite enough." + +"Nay, madame; I would place each of these heroes on his right +pedestal--that of Robespierre on his scaffold in the Place Louis Quinze; +that of Napoleon on the column of the Place Vendome. The only difference +consists in the opposite character of the equality advocated by these +two men; one is the equality that elevates, the other is the equality +that degrades; one brings a king within reach of the guillotine, the +other elevates the people to a level with the throne. Observe," said +Villefort, smiling, "I do not mean to deny that both these men were +revolutionary scoundrels, and that the 9th Thermidor and the 4th of +April, in the year 1814, were lucky days for France, worthy of being +gratefully remembered by every friend to monarchy and civil order; +and that explains how it comes to pass that, fallen, as I trust he is +forever, Napoleon has still retained a train of parasitical satellites. +Still, marquise, it has been so with other usurpers--Cromwell, for +instance, who was not half so bad as Napoleon, had his partisans and +advocates." + +"Do you know, Villefort, that you are talking in a most dreadfully +revolutionary strain? But I excuse it, it is impossible to expect the +son of a Girondin to be free from a small spice of the old leaven." A +deep crimson suffused the countenance of Villefort. + +"'Tis true, madame," answered he, "that my father was a Girondin, but he +was not among the number of those who voted for the king's death; he +was an equal sufferer with yourself during the Reign of Terror, and +had well-nigh lost his head on the same scaffold on which your father +perished." + +"True," replied the marquise, without wincing in the slightest degree at +the tragic remembrance thus called up; "but bear in mind, if you please, +that our respective parents underwent persecution and proscription from +diametrically opposite principles; in proof of which I may remark, that +while my family remained among the stanchest adherents of the exiled +princes, your father lost no time in joining the new government; and +that while the Citizen Noirtier was a Girondin, the Count Noirtier +became a senator." + +"Dear mother," interposed Renee, "you know very well it was agreed that +all these disagreeable reminiscences should forever be laid aside." + +"Suffer me, also, madame," replied Villefort, "to add my earnest request +to Mademoiselle de Saint-Meran's, that you will kindly allow the veil of +oblivion to cover and conceal the past. What avails recrimination over +matters wholly past recall? For my own part, I have laid aside even the +name of my father, and altogether disown his political principles. He +was--nay, probably may still be--a Bonapartist, and is called Noirtier; +I, on the contrary, am a stanch royalist, and style myself de Villefort. +Let what may remain of revolutionary sap exhaust itself and die away +with the old trunk, and condescend only to regard the young shoot which +has started up at a distance from the parent tree, without having the +power, any more than the wish, to separate entirely from the stock from +which it sprung." + +"Bravo, Villefort!" cried the marquis; "excellently well said! Come, +now, I have hopes of obtaining what I have been for years endeavoring +to persuade the marquise to promise; namely, a perfect amnesty and +forgetfulness of the past." + +"With all my heart," replied the marquise; "let the past be forever +forgotten. I promise you it affords me as little pleasure to revive it +as it does you. All I ask is, that Villefort will be firm and inflexible +for the future in his political principles. Remember, also, Villefort, +that we have pledged ourselves to his majesty for your fealty and strict +loyalty, and that at our recommendation the king consented to forget the +past, as I do" (and here she extended to him her hand)--"as I now do at +your entreaty. But bear in mind, that should there fall in your way any +one guilty of conspiring against the government, you will be so much the +more bound to visit the offence with rigorous punishment, as it is known +you belong to a suspected family." + +"Alas, madame," returned Villefort, "my profession, as well as the times +in which we live, compels me to be severe. I have already successfully +conducted several public prosecutions, and brought the offenders to +merited punishment. But we have not done with the thing yet." + +"Do you, indeed, think so?" inquired the marquise. + +"I am, at least, fearful of it. Napoleon, in the Island of Elba, is +too near France, and his proximity keeps up the hopes of his partisans. +Marseilles is filled with half-pay officers, who are daily, under one +frivolous pretext or other, getting up quarrels with the royalists; +from hence arise continual and fatal duels among the higher classes of +persons, and assassinations in the lower." + +"You have heard, perhaps," said the Comte de Salvieux, one of M. de +Saint-Meran's oldest friends, and chamberlain to the Comte d'Artois, +"that the Holy Alliance purpose removing him from thence?" + +"Yes; they were talking about it when we left Paris," said M. de +Saint-Meran; "and where is it decided to transfer him?" + +"To Saint Helena." + +"For heaven's sake, where is that?" asked the marquise. + +"An island situated on the other side of the equator, at least two +thousand leagues from here," replied the count. + +"So much the better. As Villefort observes, it is a great act of folly +to have left such a man between Corsica, where he was born, and Naples, +of which his brother-in-law is king, and face to face with Italy, the +sovereignty of which he coveted for his son." + +"Unfortunately," said Villefort, "there are the treaties of 1814, and we +cannot molest Napoleon without breaking those compacts." + +"Oh, well, we shall find some way out of it," responded M. de Salvieux. +"There wasn't any trouble over treaties when it was a question of +shooting the poor Duc d'Enghien." + +"Well," said the marquise, "it seems probable that, by the aid of the +Holy Alliance, we shall be rid of Napoleon; and we must trust to the +vigilance of M. de Villefort to purify Marseilles of his partisans. The +king is either a king or no king; if he be acknowledged as sovereign of +France, he should be upheld in peace and tranquillity; and this can best +be effected by employing the most inflexible agents to put down every +attempt at conspiracy--'tis the best and surest means of preventing +mischief." + +"Unfortunately, madame," answered Villefort, "the strong arm of the law +is not called upon to interfere until the evil has taken place." + +"Then all he has got to do is to endeavor to repair it." + +"Nay, madame, the law is frequently powerless to effect this; all it can +do is to avenge the wrong done." + +"Oh, M. de Villefort," cried a beautiful young creature, daughter to +the Comte de Salvieux, and the cherished friend of Mademoiselle de +Saint-Meran, "do try and get up some famous trial while we are at +Marseilles. I never was in a law-court; I am told it is so very +amusing!" + +"Amusing, certainly," replied the young man, "inasmuch as, instead of +shedding tears as at the fictitious tale of woe produced at a theatre, +you behold in a law-court a case of real and genuine distress--a drama +of life. The prisoner whom you there see pale, agitated, and alarmed, +instead of--as is the case when a curtain falls on a tragedy--going home +to sup peacefully with his family, and then retiring to rest, that he +may recommence his mimic woes on the morrow,--is removed from your +sight merely to be reconducted to his prison and delivered up to the +executioner. I leave you to judge how far your nerves are calculated to +bear you through such a scene. Of this, however, be assured, that should +any favorable opportunity present itself, I will not fail to offer you +the choice of being present." + +"For shame, M. de Villefort!" said Renee, becoming quite pale; "don't +you see how you are frightening us?--and yet you laugh." + +"What would you have? 'Tis like a duel. I have already recorded +sentence of death, five or six times, against the movers of political +conspiracies, and who can say how many daggers may be ready sharpened, +and only waiting a favorable opportunity to be buried in my heart?" + +"Gracious heavens, M. de Villefort," said Renee, becoming more and more +terrified; "you surely are not in earnest." + +"Indeed I am," replied the young magistrate with a smile; "and in the +interesting trial that young lady is anxious to witness, the case would +only be still more aggravated. Suppose, for instance, the prisoner, +as is more than probable, to have served under Napoleon--well, can +you expect for an instant, that one accustomed, at the word of his +commander, to rush fearlessly on the very bayonets of his foe, will +scruple more to drive a stiletto into the heart of one he knows to +be his personal enemy, than to slaughter his fellow-creatures, merely +because bidden to do so by one he is bound to obey? Besides, one +requires the excitement of being hateful in the eyes of the accused, in +order to lash one's self into a state of sufficient vehemence and power. +I would not choose to see the man against whom I pleaded smile, as +though in mockery of my words. No; my pride is to see the accused pale, +agitated, and as though beaten out of all composure by the fire of my +eloquence." Renee uttered a smothered exclamation. + +"Bravo!" cried one of the guests; "that is what I call talking to some +purpose." + +"Just the person we require at a time like the present," said a second. + +"What a splendid business that last case of yours was, my dear +Villefort!" remarked a third; "I mean the trial of the man for murdering +his father. Upon my word, you killed him ere the executioner had laid +his hand upon him." + +"Oh, as for parricides, and such dreadful people as that," interposed +Renee, "it matters very little what is done to them; but as regards +poor unfortunate creatures whose only crime consists in having mixed +themselves up in political intrigues"-- + +"Why, that is the very worst offence they could possibly commit; for, +don't you see, Renee, the king is the father of his people, and he who +shall plot or contrive aught against the life and safety of the parent +of thirty-two millions of souls, is a parricide upon a fearfully great +scale?" + +"I don't know anything about that," replied Renee; "but, M. de +Villefort, you have promised me--have you not?--always to show mercy to +those I plead for." + +"Make yourself quite easy on that point," answered Villefort, with +one of his sweetest smiles; "you and I will always consult upon our +verdicts." + +"My love," said the marquise, "attend to your doves, your lap-dogs, and +embroidery, but do not meddle with what you do not understand. Nowadays +the military profession is in abeyance and the magisterial robe is +the badge of honor. There is a wise Latin proverb that is very much in +point." + +"Cedant arma togae," said Villefort with a bow. + +"I cannot speak Latin," responded the marquise. + +"Well," said Renee, "I cannot help regretting you had not chosen some +other profession than your own--a physician, for instance. Do you know I +always felt a shudder at the idea of even a destroying angel?" + +"Dear, good Renee," whispered Villefort, as he gazed with unutterable +tenderness on the lovely speaker. + +"Let us hope, my child," cried the marquis, "that M. de Villefort may +prove the moral and political physician of this province; if so, he will +have achieved a noble work." + +"And one which will go far to efface the recollection of his father's +conduct," added the incorrigible marquise. + +"Madame," replied Villefort, with a mournful smile, "I have already had +the honor to observe that my father has--at least, I hope so--abjured +his past errors, and that he is, at the present moment, a firm and +zealous friend to religion and order--a better royalist, possibly, than +his son; for he has to atone for past dereliction, while I have no other +impulse than warm, decided preference and conviction." Having made this +well-turned speech, Villefort looked carefully around to mark the effect +of his oratory, much as he would have done had he been addressing the +bench in open court. + +"Do you know, my dear Villefort," cried the Comte de Salvieux, "that +is exactly what I myself said the other day at the Tuileries, when +questioned by his majesty's principal chamberlain touching the +singularity of an alliance between the son of a Girondin and the +daughter of an officer of the Duc de Conde; and I assure you he seemed +fully to comprehend that this mode of reconciling political differences +was based upon sound and excellent principles. Then the king, who, +without our suspecting it, had overheard our conversation, interrupted +us by saying, 'Villefort'--observe that the king did not pronounce the +word Noirtier, but, on the contrary, placed considerable emphasis on +that of Villefort--'Villefort,' said his majesty, 'is a young man of +great judgment and discretion, who will be sure to make a figure in his +profession; I like him much, and it gave me great pleasure to hear that +he was about to become the son-in-law of the Marquis and Marquise de +Saint-Meran. I should myself have recommended the match, had not the +noble marquis anticipated my wishes by requesting my consent to it.'" + +"Is it possible the king could have condescended so far as to express +himself so favorably of me?" asked the enraptured Villefort. + +"I give you his very words; and if the marquis chooses to be candid, +he will confess that they perfectly agree with what his majesty said to +him, when he went six months ago to consult him upon the subject of your +espousing his daughter." + +"That is true," answered the marquis. + +"How much do I owe this gracious prince! What is there I would not do to +evince my earnest gratitude!" + +"That is right," cried the marquise. "I love to see you thus. Now, then, +were a conspirator to fall into your hands, he would be most welcome." + +"For my part, dear mother." interposed Renee, "I trust your wishes will +not prosper, and that Providence will only permit petty offenders, +poor debtors, and miserable cheats to fall into M. de Villefort's +hands,--then I shall be contented." + +"Just the same as though you prayed that a physician might only be +called upon to prescribe for headaches, measles, and the stings of +wasps, or any other slight affection of the epidermis. If you wish to +see me the king's attorney, you must desire for me some of those violent +and dangerous diseases from the cure of which so much honor redounds to +the physician." + +At this moment, and as though the utterance of Villefort's wish had +sufficed to effect its accomplishment, a servant entered the room, and +whispered a few words in his ear. Villefort immediately rose from table +and quitted the room upon the plea of urgent business; he soon, however, +returned, his whole face beaming with delight. Renee regarded him with +fond affection; and certainly his handsome features, lit up as they then +were with more than usual fire and animation, seemed formed to excite +the innocent admiration with which she gazed on her graceful and +intelligent lover. + +"You were wishing just now," said Villefort, addressing her, "that +I were a doctor instead of a lawyer. Well, I at least resemble the +disciples of Esculapius in one thing--that of not being able to call a +day my own, not even that of my betrothal." + +"And wherefore were you called away just now?" asked Mademoiselle de +Saint-Meran, with an air of deep interest. + +"For a very serious matter, which bids fair to make work for the +executioner." + +"How dreadful!" exclaimed Renee, turning pale. + +"Is it possible?" burst simultaneously from all who were near enough to +the magistrate to hear his words. + +"Why, if my information prove correct, a sort of Bonaparte conspiracy +has just been discovered." + +"Can I believe my ears?" cried the marquise. + +"I will read you the letter containing the accusation, at least," said +Villefort:-- + +"'The king's attorney is informed by a friend to the throne and the +religions institutions of his country, that one named Edmond Dantes, +mate of the ship Pharaon, this day arrived from Smyrna, after having +touched at Naples and Porto-Ferrajo, has been the bearer of a letter +from Murat to the usurper, and again taken charge of another letter from +the usurper to the Bonapartist club in Paris. Ample corroboration of +this statement may be obtained by arresting the above-mentioned Edmond +Dantes, who either carries the letter for Paris about with him, or has +it at his father's abode. Should it not be found in the possession +of father or son, then it will assuredly be discovered in the cabin +belonging to the said Dantes on board the Pharaon.'" + +"But," said Renee, "this letter, which, after all, is but an anonymous +scrawl, is not even addressed to you, but to the king's attorney." + +"True; but that gentleman being absent, his secretary, by his orders, +opened his letters; thinking this one of importance, he sent for me, +but not finding me, took upon himself to give the necessary orders for +arresting the accused party." + +"Then the guilty person is absolutely in custody?" said the marquise. + +"Nay, dear mother, say the accused person. You know we cannot yet +pronounce him guilty." + +"He is in safe custody," answered Villefort; "and rely upon it, if +the letter is found, he will not be likely to be trusted abroad again, +unless he goes forth under the especial protection of the headsman." + +"And where is the unfortunate being?" asked Renee. + +"He is at my house." + +"Come, come, my friend," interrupted the marquise, "do not neglect your +duty to linger with us. You are the king's servant, and must go wherever +that service calls you." + +"O Villefort!" cried Renee, clasping her hands, and looking towards +her lover with piteous earnestness, "be merciful on this the day of our +betrothal." + +The young man passed round to the side of the table where the fair +pleader sat, and leaning over her chair said tenderly,-- + +"To give you pleasure, my sweet Renee, I promise to show all the lenity +in my power; but if the charges brought against this Bonapartist hero +prove correct, why, then, you really must give me leave to order his +head to be cut off." Renee shuddered. + +"Never mind that foolish girl, Villefort," said the marquise. "She will +soon get over these things." So saying, Madame de Saint-Meran extended +her dry bony hand to Villefort, who, while imprinting a son-in-law's +respectful salute on it, looked at Renee, as much as to say, "I must try +and fancy 'tis your dear hand I kiss, as it should have been." + +"These are mournful auspices to accompany a betrothal," sighed poor +Renee. + +"Upon my word, child!" exclaimed the angry marquise, "your folly exceeds +all bounds. I should be glad to know what connection there can possibly +be between your sickly sentimentality and the affairs of the state!" + +"O mother!" murmured Renee. + +"Nay, madame, I pray you pardon this little traitor. I promise you that +to make up for her want of loyalty, I will be most inflexibly severe;" +then casting an expressive glance at his betrothed, which seemed to say, +"Fear not, for your dear sake my justice shall be tempered with mercy," +and receiving a sweet and approving smile in return, Villefort quitted +the room. + + + +Chapter 7. The Examination. + +No sooner had Villefort left the salon, than he assumed the grave air +of a man who holds the balance of life and death in his hands. Now, in +spite of the nobility of his countenance, the command of which, like a +finished actor, he had carefully studied before the glass, it was by +no means easy for him to assume an air of judicial severity. Except the +recollection of the line of politics his father had adopted, and which +might interfere, unless he acted with the greatest prudence, with his +own career, Gerard de Villefort was as happy as a man could be. Already +rich, he held a high official situation, though only twenty-seven. +He was about to marry a young and charming woman, whom he loved, not +passionately, but reasonably, as became a deputy attorney of the +king; and besides her personal attractions, which were very great, +Mademoiselle de Saint-Meran's family possessed considerable political +influence, which they would, of course, exert in his favor. The dowry +of his wife amounted to fifty thousand crowns, and he had, besides, +the prospect of seeing her fortune increased to half a million at her +father's death. These considerations naturally gave Villefort a feeling +of such complete felicity that his mind was fairly dazzled in its +contemplation. + +At the door he met the commissary of police, who was waiting for him. +The sight of this officer recalled Villefort from the third heaven to +earth; he composed his face, as we have before described, and said, "I +have read the letter, sir, and you have acted rightly in arresting +this man; now inform me what you have discovered concerning him and the +conspiracy." + +"We know nothing as yet of the conspiracy, monsieur; all the papers +found have been sealed up and placed on your desk. The prisoner himself +is named Edmond Dantes, mate on board the three-master the Pharaon, +trading in cotton with Alexandria and Smyrna, and belonging to Morrel & +Son, of Marseilles." + +"Before he entered the merchant service, had he ever served in the +marines?" + +"Oh, no, monsieur, he is very young." + +"How old?" + +"Nineteen or twenty at the most." + +At this moment, and as Villefort had arrived at the corner of the +Rue des Conseils, a man, who seemed to have been waiting for him, +approached; it was M. Morrel. + +"Ah, M. de Villefort," cried he, "I am delighted to see you. Some +of your people have committed the strangest mistake--they have just +arrested Edmond Dantes, mate of my vessel." + +"I know it, monsieur," replied Villefort, "and I am now going to examine +him." + +"Oh," said Morrel, carried away by his friendship, "you do not know him, +and I do. He is the most estimable, the most trustworthy creature in the +world, and I will venture to say, there is not a better seaman in all +the merchant service. Oh, M. de Villefort, I beseech your indulgence for +him." + +Villefort, as we have seen, belonged to the aristocratic party at +Marseilles, Morrel to the plebeian; the first was a royalist, the other +suspected of Bonapartism. Villefort looked disdainfully at Morrel, and +replied,-- + +"You are aware, monsieur, that a man may be estimable and trustworthy in +private life, and the best seaman in the merchant service, and yet be, +politically speaking, a great criminal. Is it not true?" + +The magistrate laid emphasis on these words, as if he wished to apply +them to the owner himself, while his eyes seemed to plunge into +the heart of one who, interceding for another, had himself need of +indulgence. Morrel reddened, for his own conscience was not quite clear +on politics; besides, what Dantes had told him of his interview with the +grand-marshal, and what the emperor had said to him, embarrassed him. He +replied, however,-- + +"I entreat you, M. de Villefort, be, as you always are, kind and +equitable, and give him back to us soon." This give us sounded +revolutionary in the deputy's ears. + +"Ah, ah," murmured he, "is Dantes then a member of some Carbonari +society, that his protector thus employs the collective form? He was, if +I recollect, arrested in a tavern, in company with a great many others." +Then he added, "Monsieur, you may rest assured I shall perform my duty +impartially, and that if he be innocent you shall not have appealed +to me in vain; should he, however, be guilty, in this present epoch, +impunity would furnish a dangerous example, and I must do my duty." + +As he had now arrived at the door of his own house, which adjoined +the Palais de Justice, he entered, after having, coldly saluted the +shipowner, who stood, as if petrified, on the spot where Villefort had +left him. The ante-chamber was full of police agents and gendarmes, in +the midst of whom, carefully watched, but calm and smiling, stood the +prisoner. Villefort traversed the ante-chamber, cast a side glance at +Dantes, and taking a packet which a gendarme offered him, disappeared, +saying, "Bring in the prisoner." + +Rapid as had been Villefort's glance, it had served to give him an idea +of the man he was about to interrogate. He had recognized intelligence +in the high forehead, courage in the dark eye and bent brow, and +frankness in the thick lips that showed a set of pearly teeth. +Villefort's first impression was favorable; but he had been so often +warned to mistrust first impulses, that he applied the maxim to the +impression, forgetting the difference between the two words. He stifled, +therefore, the feelings of compassion that were rising, composed his +features, and sat down, grim and sombre, at his desk. An instant after +Dantes entered. He was pale, but calm and collected, and saluting his +judge with easy politeness, looked round for a seat, as if he had been +in M. Morrel's salon. It was then that he encountered for the first +time Villefort's look,--that look peculiar to the magistrate, who, while +seeming to read the thoughts of others, betrays nothing of his own. + +"Who and what are you?" demanded Villefort, turning over a pile of +papers, containing information relative to the prisoner, that a police +agent had given to him on his entry, and that, already, in an hour's +time, had swelled to voluminous proportions, thanks to the corrupt +espionage of which "the accused" is always made the victim. + +"My name is Edmond Dantes," replied the young man calmly; "I am mate of +the Pharaon, belonging to Messrs. Morrel & Son." + +"Your age?" continued Villefort. + +"Nineteen," returned Dantes. + +"What were you doing at the moment you were arrested?" + +"I was at the festival of my marriage, monsieur," said the young man, +his voice slightly tremulous, so great was the contrast between that +happy moment and the painful ceremony he was now undergoing; so great +was the contrast between the sombre aspect of M. de Villefort and the +radiant face of Mercedes. + +"You were at the festival of your marriage?" said the deputy, shuddering +in spite of himself. + +"Yes, monsieur; I am on the point of marrying a young girl I have been +attached to for three years." Villefort, impassive as he was, was struck +with this coincidence; and the tremulous voice of Dantes, surprised +in the midst of his happiness, struck a sympathetic chord in his own +bosom--he also was on the point of being married, and he was summoned +from his own happiness to destroy that of another. "This philosophic +reflection," thought he, "will make a great sensation at M. de +Saint-Meran's;" and he arranged mentally, while Dantes awaited further +questions, the antithesis by which orators often create a reputation for +eloquence. When this speech was arranged, Villefort turned to Dantes. + +"Go on, sir," said he. + +"What would you have me say?" + +"Give all the information in your power." + +"Tell me on which point you desire information, and I will tell all I +know; only," added he, with a smile, "I warn you I know very little." + +"Have you served under the usurper?" + +"I was about to be mustered into the Royal Marines when he fell." + +"It is reported your political opinions are extreme," said Villefort, +who had never heard anything of the kind, but was not sorry to make this +inquiry, as if it were an accusation. + +"My political opinions!" replied Dantes. "Alas, sir, I never had any +opinions. I am hardly nineteen; I know nothing; I have no part to play. +If I obtain the situation I desire, I shall owe it to M. Morrel. Thus +all my opinions--I will not say public, but private--are confined to +these three sentiments,--I love my father, I respect M. Morrel, and +I adore Mercedes. This, sir, is all I can tell you, and you see how +uninteresting it is." As Dantes spoke, Villefort gazed at his ingenuous +and open countenance, and recollected the words of Renee, who, without +knowing who the culprit was, had besought his indulgence for him. With +the deputy's knowledge of crime and criminals, every word the young man +uttered convinced him more and more of his innocence. This lad, for he +was scarcely a man,--simple, natural, eloquent with that eloquence of +the heart never found when sought for; full of affection for everybody, +because he was happy, and because happiness renders even the wicked +good--extended his affection even to his judge, spite of Villefort's +severe look and stern accent. Dantes seemed full of kindness. + +"Pardieu," said Villefort, "he is a noble fellow. I hope I shall gain +Renee's favor easily by obeying the first command she ever imposed on +me. I shall have at least a pressure of the hand in public, and a sweet +kiss in private." Full of this idea, Villefort's face became so joyous, +that when he turned to Dantes, the latter, who had watched the change on +his physiognomy, was smiling also. + +"Sir," said Villefort, "have you any enemies, at least, that you know." + +"I have enemies?" replied Dantes; "my position is not sufficiently +elevated for that. As for my disposition, that is, perhaps, somewhat +too hasty; but I have striven to repress it. I have had ten or twelve +sailors under me, and if you question them, they will tell you that +they love and respect me, not as a father, for I am too young, but as an +elder brother." + +"But you may have excited jealousy. You are about to become captain at +nineteen--an elevated post; you are about to marry a pretty girl, who +loves you; and these two pieces of good fortune may have excited the +envy of some one." + +"You are right; you know men better than I do, and what you say may +possibly be the case, I confess; but if such persons are among my +acquaintances I prefer not to know it, because then I should be forced +to hate them." + +"You are wrong; you should always strive to see clearly around you. You +seem a worthy young man; I will depart from the strict line of my duty +to aid you in discovering the author of this accusation. Here is the +paper; do you know the writing?" As he spoke, Villefort drew the letter +from his pocket, and presented it to Dantes. Dantes read it. A cloud +passed over his brow as he said,-- + +"No, monsieur, I do not know the writing, and yet it is tolerably plain. +Whoever did it writes well. I am very fortunate," added he, looking +gratefully at Villefort, "to be examined by such a man as you; for this +envious person is a real enemy." And by the rapid glance that the young +man's eyes shot forth, Villefort saw how much energy lay hid beneath +this mildness. + +"Now," said the deputy, "answer me frankly, not as a prisoner to a +judge, but as one man to another who takes an interest in him, what +truth is there in the accusation contained in this anonymous letter?" +And Villefort threw disdainfully on his desk the letter Dantes had just +given back to him. + +"None at all. I will tell you the real facts. I swear by my honor as a +sailor, by my love for Mercedes, by the life of my father"-- + +"Speak, monsieur," said Villefort. Then, internally, "If Renee could +see me, I hope she would be satisfied, and would no longer call me a +decapitator." + +"Well, when we quitted Naples, Captain Leclere was attacked with a brain +fever. As we had no doctor on board, and he was so anxious to arrive at +Elba, that he would not touch at any other port, his disorder rose to +such a height, that at the end of the third day, feeling he was dying, +he called me to him. 'My dear Dantes,' said he, 'swear to perform what I +am going to tell you, for it is a matter of the deepest importance.' + +"'I swear, captain,' replied I. + +"'Well, as after my death the command devolves on you as mate, +assume the command, and bear up for the Island of Elba, disembark at +Porto-Ferrajo, ask for the grand-marshal, give him this letter--perhaps +they will give you another letter, and charge you with a commission. You +will accomplish what I was to have done, and derive all the honor and +profit from it.' + +"'I will do it, captain; but perhaps I shall not be admitted to the +grand marshal's presence as easily as you expect?' + +"'Here is a ring that will obtain audience of him, and remove every +difficulty,' said the captain. At these words he gave me a ring. It was +time--two hours after he was delirious; the next day he died." + +"And what did you do then?" + +"What I ought to have done, and what every one would have done in my +place. Everywhere the last requests of a dying man are sacred; but with +a sailor the last requests of his superior are commands. I sailed for +the Island of Elba, where I arrived the next day; I ordered everybody +to remain on board, and went on shore alone. As I had expected, I found +some difficulty in obtaining access to the grand-marshal; but I sent the +ring I had received from the captain to him, and was instantly admitted. +He questioned me concerning Captain Leclere's death; and, as the latter +had told me, gave me a letter to carry on to a person in Paris. I +undertook it because it was what my captain had bade me do. I landed +here, regulated the affairs of the vessel, and hastened to visit my +affianced bride, whom I found more lovely than ever. Thanks to M. +Morrel, all the forms were got over; in a word I was, as I told you, +at my marriage-feast; and I should have been married in an hour, and +to-morrow I intended to start for Paris, had I not been arrested on this +charge which you as well as I now see to be unjust." + +"Ah," said Villefort, "this seems to me the truth. If you have been +culpable, it was imprudence, and this imprudence was in obedience to the +orders of your captain. Give up this letter you have brought from Elba, +and pass your word you will appear should you be required, and go and +rejoin your friends. + +"I am free, then, sir?" cried Dantes joyfully. + +"Yes; but first give me this letter." + +"You have it already, for it was taken from me with some others which I +see in that packet." + +"Stop a moment," said the deputy, as Dantes took his hat and gloves. "To +whom is it addressed?" + +"To Monsieur Noirtier, Rue Coq-Heron, Paris." Had a thunderbolt fallen +into the room, Villefort could not have been more stupefied. He sank +into his seat, and hastily turning over the packet, drew forth the fatal +letter, at which he glanced with an expression of terror. + +"M. Noirtier, Rue Coq-Heron, No. 13," murmured he, growing still paler. + +"Yes," said Dantes; "do you know him?" + +"No," replied Villefort; "a faithful servant of the king does not know +conspirators." + +"It is a conspiracy, then?" asked Dantes, who after believing himself +free, now began to feel a tenfold alarm. "I have, however, already told +you, sir, I was entirely ignorant of the contents of the letter." + +"Yes; but you knew the name of the person to whom it was addressed," +said Villefort. + +"I was forced to read the address to know to whom to give it." + +"Have you shown this letter to any one?" asked Villefort, becoming still +more pale. + +"To no one, on my honor." + +"Everybody is ignorant that you are the bearer of a letter from the +Island of Elba, and addressed to M. Noirtier?" + +"Everybody, except the person who gave it to me." + +"And that was too much, far too much," murmured Villefort. Villefort's +brow darkened more and more, his white lips and clinched teeth filled +Dantes with apprehension. After reading the letter, Villefort covered +his face with his hands. + +"Oh," said Dantes timidly, "what is the matter?" Villefort made no +answer, but raised his head at the expiration of a few seconds, and +again perused the letter. + +"And you say that you are ignorant of the contents of this letter?" + +"I give you my word of honor, sir," said Dantes; "but what is the +matter? You are ill--shall I ring for assistance?--shall I call?" + +"No," said Villefort, rising hastily; "stay where you are. It is for me +to give orders here, and not you." + +"Monsieur," replied Dantes proudly, "it was only to summon assistance +for you." + +"I want none; it was a temporary indisposition. Attend to yourself; +answer me." Dantes waited, expecting a question, but in vain. Villefort +fell back on his chair, passed his hand over his brow, moist with +perspiration, and, for the third time, read the letter. + +"Oh, if he knows the contents of this!" murmured he, "and that Noirtier +is the father of Villefort, I am lost!" And he fixed his eyes upon +Edmond as if he would have penetrated his thoughts. + +"Oh, it is impossible to doubt it," cried he, suddenly. + +"In heaven's name!" cried the unhappy young man, "if you doubt me, +question me; I will answer you." Villefort made a violent effort, and in +a tone he strove to render firm,-- + +"Sir," said he, "I am no longer able, as I had hoped, to restore you +immediately to liberty; before doing so, I must consult the trial +justice; what my own feeling is you already know." + +"Oh, monsieur," cried Dantes, "you have been rather a friend than a +judge." + +"Well, I must detain you some time longer, but I will strive to make it +as short as possible. The principal charge against you is this letter, +and you see"--Villefort approached the fire, cast it in, and waited +until it was entirely consumed. + +"You see, I destroy it?" + +"Oh," exclaimed Dantes, "you are goodness itself." + +"Listen," continued Villefort; "you can now have confidence in me after +what I have done." + +"Oh, command, and I will obey." + +"Listen; this is not a command, but advice I give you." + +"Speak, and I will follow your advice." + +"I shall detain you until this evening in the Palais de Justice. Should +any one else interrogate you, say to him what you have said to me, but +do not breathe a word of this letter." + +"I promise." It was Villefort who seemed to entreat, and the prisoner +who reassured him. + +"You see," continued he, glancing toward the grate, where fragments of +burnt paper fluttered in the flames, "the letter is destroyed; you and I +alone know of its existence; should you, therefore, be questioned, deny +all knowledge of it--deny it boldly, and you are saved." + +"Be satisfied; I will deny it." + +"It was the only letter you had?" + +"It was." + +"Swear it." + +"I swear it." + +Villefort rang. A police agent entered. Villefort whispered some words +in his ear, to which the officer replied by a motion of his head. + +"Follow him," said Villefort to Dantes. Dantes saluted Villefort +and retired. Hardly had the door closed when Villefort threw himself +half-fainting into a chair. + +"Alas, alas," murmured he, "if the procureur himself had been at +Marseilles I should have been ruined. This accursed letter would have +destroyed all my hopes. Oh, my father, must your past career always +interfere with my successes?" Suddenly a light passed over his face, +a smile played round his set mouth, and his haggard eyes were fixed in +thought. + +"This will do," said he, "and from this letter, which might have ruined +me, I will make my fortune. Now to the work I have in hand." And after +having assured himself that the prisoner was gone, the deputy procureur +hastened to the house of his betrothed. + + + +Chapter 8. The Chateau D'If. + +The commissary of police, as he traversed the ante-chamber, made a sign +to two gendarmes, who placed themselves one on Dantes' right and the +other on his left. A door that communicated with the Palais de Justice +was opened, and they went through a long range of gloomy corridors, +whose appearance might have made even the boldest shudder. The Palais de +Justice communicated with the prison,--a sombre edifice, that from +its grated windows looks on the clock-tower of the Accoules. After +numberless windings, Dantes saw a door with an iron wicket. The +commissary took up an iron mallet and knocked thrice, every blow seeming +to Dantes as if struck on his heart. The door opened, the two gendarmes +gently pushed him forward, and the door closed with a loud sound behind +him. The air he inhaled was no longer pure, but thick and mephitic,--he +was in prison. He was conducted to a tolerably neat chamber, but grated +and barred, and its appearance, therefore, did not greatly alarm him; +besides, the words of Villefort, who seemed to interest himself so +much, resounded still in his ears like a promise of freedom. It was four +o'clock when Dantes was placed in this chamber. It was, as we have said, +the 1st of March, and the prisoner was soon buried in darkness. The +obscurity augmented the acuteness of his hearing; at the slightest sound +he rose and hastened to the door, convinced they were about to liberate +him, but the sound died away, and Dantes sank again into his seat. At +last, about ten o'clock, and just as Dantes began to despair, steps were +heard in the corridor, a key turned in the lock, the bolts creaked, +the massy oaken door flew open, and a flood of light from two torches +pervaded the apartment. By the torchlight Dantes saw the glittering +sabres and carbines of four gendarmes. He had advanced at first, but +stopped at the sight of this display of force. + +"Are you come to fetch me?" asked he. + +"Yes," replied a gendarme. + +"By the orders of the deputy procureur?" + +"I believe so." The conviction that they came from M. de Villefort +relieved all Dantes' apprehensions; he advanced calmly, and placed +himself in the centre of the escort. A carriage waited at the door, the +coachman was on the box, and a police officer sat beside him. + +"Is this carriage for me?" said Dantes. + +"It is for you," replied a gendarme. + +Dantes was about to speak; but feeling himself urged forward, and having +neither the power nor the intention to resist, he mounted the steps, and +was in an instant seated inside between two gendarmes; the two others +took their places opposite, and the carriage rolled heavily over the +stones. + +The prisoner glanced at the windows--they were grated; he had changed +his prison for another that was conveying him he knew not whither. +Through the grating, however, Dantes saw they were passing through the +Rue Caisserie, and by the Rue Saint-Laurent and the Rue Taramis, to the +port. Soon he saw the lights of La Consigne. + +The carriage stopped, the officer descended, approached the guardhouse, +a dozen soldiers came out and formed themselves in order; Dantes saw the +reflection of their muskets by the light of the lamps on the quay. + +"Can all this force be summoned on my account?" thought he. + +The officer opened the door, which was locked, and, without speaking +a word, answered Dantes' question; for he saw between the ranks of +the soldiers a passage formed from the carriage to the port. The two +gendarmes who were opposite to him descended first, then he was ordered +to alight and the gendarmes on each side of him followed his example. +They advanced towards a boat, which a custom-house officer held by a +chain, near the quay. + +The soldiers looked at Dantes with an air of stupid curiosity. In an +instant he was placed in the stern-sheets of the boat, between the +gendarmes, while the officer stationed himself at the bow; a shove sent +the boat adrift, and four sturdy oarsmen impelled it rapidly towards the +Pilon. At a shout from the boat, the chain that closes the mouth of +the port was lowered and in a second they were, as Dantes knew, in the +Frioul and outside the inner harbor. + +The prisoner's first feeling was of joy at again breathing the pure +air--for air is freedom; but he soon sighed, for he passed before La +Reserve, where he had that morning been so happy, and now through the +open windows came the laughter and revelry of a ball. Dantes folded his +hands, raised his eyes to heaven, and prayed fervently. + +The boat continued her voyage. They had passed the Tete de Morte, +were now off the Anse du Pharo, and about to double the battery. This +manoeuvre was incomprehensible to Dantes. + +"Whither are you taking me?" asked he. + +"You will soon know." + +"But still"-- + +"We are forbidden to give you any explanation." Dantes, trained in +discipline, knew that nothing would be more absurd than to question +subordinates, who were forbidden to reply; and so he remained silent. + +The most vague and wild thoughts passed through his mind. The boat they +were in could not make a long voyage; there was no vessel at anchor +outside the harbor; he thought, perhaps, they were going to leave him on +some distant point. He was not bound, nor had they made any attempt to +handcuff him; this seemed a good augury. Besides, had not the deputy, +who had been so kind to him, told him that provided he did not pronounce +the dreaded name of Noirtier, he had nothing to apprehend? Had not +Villefort in his presence destroyed the fatal letter, the only proof +against him? + +He waited silently, striving to pierce through the darkness. + +They had left the Ile Ratonneau, where the lighthouse stood, on the +right, and were now opposite the Point des Catalans. It seemed to the +prisoner that he could distinguish a feminine form on the beach, for it +was there Mercedes dwelt. How was it that a presentiment did not warn +Mercedes that her lover was within three hundred yards of her? + +One light alone was visible; and Dantes saw that it came from Mercedes' +chamber. Mercedes was the only one awake in the whole settlement. A loud +cry could be heard by her. But pride restrained him and he did not utter +it. What would his guards think if they heard him shout like a madman? + +He remained silent, his eyes fixed upon the light; the boat went on, but +the prisoner thought only of Mercedes. An intervening elevation of land +hid the light. Dantes turned and perceived that they had got out to sea. +While he had been absorbed in thought, they had shipped their oars and +hoisted sail; the boat was now moving with the wind. + +In spite of his repugnance to address the guards, Dantes turned to the +nearest gendarme, and taking his hand,-- + +"Comrade," said he, "I adjure you, as a Christian and a soldier, to tell +me where we are going. I am Captain Dantes, a loyal Frenchman, thought +accused of treason; tell me where you are conducting me, and I promise +you on my honor I will submit to my fate." + +The gendarme looked irresolutely at his companion, who returned for +answer a sign that said, "I see no great harm in telling him now," and +the gendarme replied,-- + +"You are a native of Marseilles, and a sailor, and yet you do not know +where you are going?" + +"On my honor, I have no idea." + +"Have you no idea whatever?" + +"None at all." + +"That is impossible." + +"I swear to you it is true. Tell me, I entreat." + +"But my orders." + +"Your orders do not forbid your telling me what I must know in ten +minutes, in half an hour, or an hour. You see I cannot escape, even if I +intended." + +"Unless you are blind, or have never been outside the harbor, you must +know." + +"I do not." + +"Look round you then." Dantes rose and looked forward, when he saw +rise within a hundred yards of him the black and frowning rock on which +stands the Chateau d'If. This gloomy fortress, which has for more than +three hundred years furnished food for so many wild legends, seemed to +Dantes like a scaffold to a malefactor. + +"The Chateau d'If?" cried he, "what are we going there for?" The +gendarme smiled. + +"I am not going there to be imprisoned," said Dantes; "it is only +used for political prisoners. I have committed no crime. Are there any +magistrates or judges at the Chateau d'If?" + +"There are only," said the gendarme, "a governor, a garrison, turnkeys, +and good thick walls. Come, come, do not look so astonished, or you +will make me think you are laughing at me in return for my good nature." +Dantes pressed the gendarme's hand as though he would crush it. + +"You think, then," said he, "that I am taken to the Chateau d'If to be +imprisoned there?" + +"It is probable; but there is no occasion to squeeze so hard." + +"Without any inquiry, without any formality?" + +"All the formalities have been gone through; the inquiry is already +made." + +"And so, in spite of M. de Villefort's promises?" + +"I do not know what M. de Villefort promised you," said the gendarme, +"but I know we are taking you to the Chateau d'If. But what are you +doing? Help, comrades, help!" + +By a rapid movement, which the gendarme's practiced eye had perceived, +Dantes sprang forward to precipitate himself into the sea; but four +vigorous arms seized him as his feet quitted the bottom of the boat. He +fell back cursing with rage. + +"Good!" said the gendarme, placing his knee on his chest; "believe +soft-spoken gentlemen again! Harkye, my friend, I have disobeyed my +first order, but I will not disobey the second; and if you move, I will +blow your brains out." And he levelled his carbine at Dantes, who felt +the muzzle against his temple. + +For a moment the idea of struggling crossed his mind, and of so ending +the unexpected evil that had overtaken him. But he bethought him of M. +de Villefort's promise; and, besides, death in a boat from the hand of +a gendarme seemed too terrible. He remained motionless, but gnashing his +teeth and wringing his hands with fury. + +At this moment the boat came to a landing with a violent shock. One of +the sailors leaped on shore, a cord creaked as it ran through a pulley, +and Dantes guessed they were at the end of the voyage, and that they +were mooring the boat. + +His guards, taking him by the arms and coat-collar, forced him to rise, +and dragged him towards the steps that lead to the gate of the fortress, +while the police officer carrying a musket with fixed bayonet followed +behind. + +Dantes made no resistance; he was like a man in a dream: he saw soldiers +drawn up on the embankment; he knew vaguely that he was ascending a +flight of steps; he was conscious that he passed through a door, and +that the door closed behind him; but all this indistinctly as through +a mist. He did not even see the ocean, that terrible barrier against +freedom, which the prisoners look upon with utter despair. + +They halted for a minute, during which he strove to collect his +thoughts. He looked around; he was in a court surrounded by high walls; +he heard the measured tread of sentinels, and as they passed before the +light he saw the barrels of their muskets shine. + +They waited upwards of ten minutes. Certain Dantes could not escape, the +gendarmes released him. They seemed awaiting orders. The orders came. + +"Where is the prisoner?" said a voice. + +"Here," replied the gendarmes. + +"Let him follow me; I will take him to his cell." + +"Go!" said the gendarmes, thrusting Dantes forward. + +The prisoner followed his guide, who led him into a room almost under +ground, whose bare and reeking walls seemed as though impregnated with +tears; a lamp placed on a stool illumined the apartment faintly, +and showed Dantes the features of his conductor, an under-jailer, +ill-clothed, and of sullen appearance. + +"Here is your chamber for to-night," said he. "It is late, and the +governor is asleep. To-morrow, perhaps, he may change you. In the +meantime there is bread, water, and fresh straw; and that is all a +prisoner can wish for. Goodnight." And before Dantes could open his +mouth--before he had noticed where the jailer placed his bread or the +water--before he had glanced towards the corner where the straw was, +the jailer disappeared, taking with him the lamp and closing the door, +leaving stamped upon the prisoner's mind the dim reflection of the +dripping walls of his dungeon. + +Dantes was alone in darkness and in silence--cold as the shadows that +he felt breathe on his burning forehead. With the first dawn of day the +jailer returned, with orders to leave Dantes where he was. He found the +prisoner in the same position, as if fixed there, his eyes swollen with +weeping. He had passed the night standing, and without sleep. The jailer +advanced; Dantes appeared not to perceive him. He touched him on the +shoulder. Edmond started. + +"Have you not slept?" said the jailer. + +"I do not know," replied Dantes. The jailer stared. + +"Are you hungry?" continued he. + +"I do not know." + +"Do you wish for anything?" + +"I wish to see the governor." The jailer shrugged his shoulders and left +the chamber. + +Dantes followed him with his eyes, and stretched forth his hands towards +the open door; but the door closed. All his emotion then burst forth; +he cast himself on the ground, weeping bitterly, and asking himself what +crime he had committed that he was thus punished. + +The day passed thus; he scarcely tasted food, but walked round and +round the cell like a wild beast in its cage. One thought in particular +tormented him: namely, that during his journey hither he had sat so +still, whereas he might, a dozen times, have plunged into the sea, and, +thanks to his powers of swimming, for which he was famous, have gained +the shore, concealed himself until the arrival of a Genoese or Spanish +vessel, escaped to Spain or Italy, where Mercedes and his father could +have joined him. He had no fears as to how he should live--good seamen +are welcome everywhere. He spoke Italian like a Tuscan, and Spanish like +a Castilian; he would have been free, and happy with Mercedes and +his father, whereas he was now confined in the Chateau d'If, that +impregnable fortress, ignorant of the future destiny of his father and +Mercedes; and all this because he had trusted to Villefort's promise. +The thought was maddening, and Dantes threw himself furiously down on +his straw. The next morning at the same hour, the jailer came again. + +"Well," said the jailer, "are you more reasonable to-day?" Dantes made +no reply. + +"Come, cheer up; is there anything that I can do for you?" + +"I wish to see the governor." + +"I have already told you it was impossible." + +"Why so?" + +"Because it is against prison rules, and prisoners must not even ask for +it." + +"What is allowed, then?" + +"Better fare, if you pay for it, books, and leave to walk about." + +"I do not want books, I am satisfied with my food, and do not care to +walk about; but I wish to see the governor." + +"If you worry me by repeating the same thing, I will not bring you any +more to eat." + +"Well, then," said Edmond, "if you do not, I shall die of hunger--that +is all." + +The jailer saw by his tone he would be happy to die; and as every +prisoner is worth ten sous a day to his jailer, he replied in a more +subdued tone. + +"What you ask is impossible; but if you are very well behaved you will +be allowed to walk about, and some day you will meet the governor, and +if he chooses to reply, that is his affair." + +"But," asked Dantes, "how long shall I have to wait?" + +"Ah, a month--six months--a year." + +"It is too long a time. I wish to see him at once." + +"Ah," said the jailer, "do not always brood over what is impossible, or +you will be mad in a fortnight." + +"You think so?" + +"Yes; we have an instance here; it was by always offering a million of +francs to the governor for his liberty that an abbe became mad, who was +in this chamber before you." + +"How long has he left it?" + +"Two years." + +"Was he liberated, then?" + +"No; he was put in a dungeon." + +"Listen!" said Dantes. "I am not an abbe, I am not mad; perhaps I shall +be, but at present, unfortunately, I am not. I will make you another +offer." + +"What is that?" + +"I do not offer you a million, because I have it not; but I will give +you a hundred crowns if, the first time you go to Marseilles, you will +seek out a young girl named Mercedes, at the Catalans, and give her two +lines from me." + +"If I took them, and were detected, I should lose my place, which is +worth two thousand francs a year; so that I should be a great fool to +run such a risk for three hundred." + +"Well," said Dantes, "mark this; if you refuse at least to tell Mercedes +I am here, I will some day hide myself behind the door, and when you +enter I will dash out your brains with this stool." + +"Threats!" cried the jailer, retreating and putting himself on the +defensive; "you are certainly going mad. The abbe began like you, and in +three days you will be like him, mad enough to tie up; but, fortunately, +there are dungeons here." Dantes whirled the stool round his head. + +"All right, all right," said the jailer; "all right, since you will have +it so. I will send word to the governor." + +"Very well," returned Dantes, dropping the stool and sitting on it as if +he were in reality mad. The jailer went out, and returned in an instant +with a corporal and four soldiers. + +"By the governor's orders," said he, "conduct the prisoner to the tier +beneath." + +"To the dungeon, then," said the corporal. + +"Yes; we must put the madman with the madmen." The soldiers seized +Dantes, who followed passively. + +He descended fifteen steps, and the door of a dungeon was opened, and +he was thrust in. The door closed, and Dantes advanced with outstretched +hands until he touched the wall; he then sat down in the corner until +his eyes became accustomed to the darkness. The jailer was right; Dantes +wanted but little of being utterly mad. + + + +Chapter 9. The Evening of the Betrothal. + +Villefort had, as we have said, hastened back to Madame de Saint-Meran's +in the Place du Grand Cours, and on entering the house found that the +guests whom he had left at table were taking coffee in the salon. Renee +was, with all the rest of the company, anxiously awaiting him, and his +entrance was followed by a general exclamation. + +"Well, Decapitator, Guardian of the State, Royalist, Brutus, what is the +matter?" said one. "Speak out." + +"Are we threatened with a fresh Reign of Terror?" asked another. + +"Has the Corsican ogre broken loose?" cried a third. + +"Marquise," said Villefort, approaching his future mother-in-law, "I +request your pardon for thus leaving you. Will the marquis honor me by a +few moments' private conversation?" + +"Ah, it is really a serious matter, then?" asked the marquis, remarking +the cloud on Villefort's brow. + +"So serious that I must take leave of you for a few days; so," added he, +turning to Renee, "judge for yourself if it be not important." + +"You are going to leave us?" cried Renee, unable to hide her emotion at +this unexpected announcement. + +"Alas," returned Villefort, "I must!" + +"Where, then, are you going?" asked the marquise. + +"That, madame, is an official secret; but if you have any commissions +for Paris, a friend of mine is going there to-night, and will with +pleasure undertake them." The guests looked at each other. + +"You wish to speak to me alone?" said the marquis. + +"Yes, let us go to the library, please." The marquis took his arm, and +they left the salon. + +"Well," asked he, as soon as they were by themselves, "tell me what it +is?" + +"An affair of the greatest importance, that demands my immediate +presence in Paris. Now, excuse the indiscretion, marquis, but have you +any landed property?" + +"All my fortune is in the funds; seven or eight hundred thousand +francs." + +"Then sell out--sell out, marquis, or you will lose it all." + +"But how can I sell out here?" + +"You have a broker, have you not?" + +"Yes." + +"Then give me a letter to him, and tell him to sell out without an +instant's delay, perhaps even now I shall arrive too late." + +"The deuce you say!" replied the marquis, "let us lose no time, then!" + +And, sitting down, he wrote a letter to his broker, ordering him to sell +out at the market price. + +"Now, then," said Villefort, placing the letter in his pocketbook, "I +must have another!" + +"To whom?" + +"To the king." + +"To the king?" + +"Yes." + +"I dare not write to his majesty." + +"I do not ask you to write to his majesty, but ask M. de Salvieux to +do so. I want a letter that will enable me to reach the king's presence +without all the formalities of demanding an audience; that would +occasion a loss of precious time." + +"But address yourself to the keeper of the seals; he has the right of +entry at the Tuileries, and can procure you audience at any hour of the +day or night." + +"Doubtless; but there is no occasion to divide the honors of my +discovery with him. The keeper would leave me in the background, and +take all the glory to himself. I tell you, marquis, my fortune is made +if I only reach the Tuileries the first, for the king will not forget +the service I do him." + +"In that case go and get ready. I will call Salvieux and make him write +the letter." + +"Be as quick as possible, I must be on the road in a quarter of an +hour." + +"Tell your coachman to stop at the door." + +"You will present my excuses to the marquise and Mademoiselle Renee, +whom I leave on such a day with great regret." + +"You will find them both here, and can make your farewells in person." + +"A thousand thanks--and now for the letter." + +The marquis rang, a servant entered. + +"Say to the Comte de Salvieux that I would like to see him." + +"Now, then, go," said the marquis. + +"I shall be gone only a few moments." + +Villefort hastily quitted the apartment, but reflecting that the sight +of the deputy procureur running through the streets would be enough to +throw the whole city into confusion, he resumed his ordinary pace. At +his door he perceived a figure in the shadow that seemed to wait for +him. It was Mercedes, who, hearing no news of her lover, had come +unobserved to inquire after him. + +As Villefort drew near, she advanced and stood before him. Dantes had +spoken of Mercedes, and Villefort instantly recognized her. Her beauty +and high bearing surprised him, and when she inquired what had become of +her lover, it seemed to him that she was the judge, and he the accused. + +"The young man you speak of," said Villefort abruptly, "is a great +criminal, and I can do nothing for him, mademoiselle." Mercedes burst +into tears, and, as Villefort strove to pass her, again addressed him. + +"But, at least, tell me where he is, that I may know whether he is alive +or dead," said she. + +"I do not know; he is no longer in my hands," replied Villefort. + +And desirous of putting an end to the interview, he pushed by her, and +closed the door, as if to exclude the pain he felt. But remorse is not +thus banished; like Virgil's wounded hero, he carried the arrow in his +wound, and, arrived at the salon, Villefort uttered a sigh that was +almost a sob, and sank into a chair. + +Then the first pangs of an unending torture seized upon his heart. The +man he sacrificed to his ambition, that innocent victim immolated on +the altar of his father's faults, appeared to him pale and threatening, +leading his affianced bride by the hand, and bringing with him remorse, +not such as the ancients figured, furious and terrible, but that slow +and consuming agony whose pangs are intensified from hour to hour up +to the very moment of death. Then he had a moment's hesitation. He had +frequently called for capital punishment on criminals, and owing to his +irresistible eloquence they had been condemned, and yet the slightest +shadow of remorse had never clouded Villefort's brow, because they were +guilty; at least, he believed so; but here was an innocent man whose +happiness he had destroyed: in this case he was not the judge, but the +executioner. + +As he thus reflected, he felt the sensation we have described, and which +had hitherto been unknown to him, arise in his bosom, and fill him +with vague apprehensions. It is thus that a wounded man trembles +instinctively at the approach of the finger to his wound until it be +healed, but Villefort's was one of those that never close, or if they +do, only close to reopen more agonizing than ever. If at this moment the +sweet voice of Renee had sounded in his ears pleading for mercy, or the +fair Mercedes had entered and said, "In the name of God, I conjure you +to restore me my affianced husband," his cold and trembling hands +would have signed his release; but no voice broke the stillness of the +chamber, and the door was opened only by Villefort's valet, who came to +tell him that the travelling carriage was in readiness. + +Villefort rose, or rather sprang, from his chair, hastily opened one +of the drawers of his desk, emptied all the gold it contained into +his pocket, stood motionless an instant, his hand pressed to his head, +muttered a few inarticulate sounds, and then, perceiving that his +servant had placed his cloak on his shoulders, he sprang into the +carriage, ordering the postilions to drive to M. de Saint-Meran's. The +hapless Dantes was doomed. + +As the marquis had promised, Villefort found the marquise and Renee +in waiting. He started when he saw Renee, for he fancied she was again +about to plead for Dantes. Alas, her emotions were wholly personal: she +was thinking only of Villefort's departure. + +She loved Villefort, and he left her at the moment he was about to +become her husband. Villefort knew not when he should return, and Renee, +far from pleading for Dantes, hated the man whose crime separated her +from her lover. + +Meanwhile what of Mercedes? She had met Fernand at the corner of the Rue +de la Loge; she had returned to the Catalans, and had despairingly cast +herself on her couch. Fernand, kneeling by her side, took her hand, and +covered it with kisses that Mercedes did not even feel. She passed the +night thus. The lamp went out for want of oil, but she paid no heed to +the darkness, and dawn came, but she knew not that it was day. Grief had +made her blind to all but one object--that was Edmond. + +"Ah, you are there," said she, at length, turning towards Fernand. + +"I have not quitted you since yesterday," returned Fernand sorrowfully. + +M. Morrel had not readily given up the fight. He had learned that Dantes +had been taken to prison, and he had gone to all his friends, and +the influential persons of the city; but the report was already in +circulation that Dantes was arrested as a Bonapartist agent; and as the +most sanguine looked upon any attempt of Napoleon to remount the throne +as impossible, he met with nothing but refusal, and had returned home +in despair, declaring that the matter was serious and that nothing more +could be done. + +Caderousse was equally restless and uneasy, but instead of seeking, like +M. Morrel, to aid Dantes, he had shut himself up with two bottles of +black currant brandy, in the hope of drowning reflection. But he did not +succeed, and became too intoxicated to fetch any more drink, and yet not +so intoxicated as to forget what had happened. With his elbows on the +table he sat between the two empty bottles, while spectres danced in the +light of the unsnuffed candle--spectres such as Hoffmann strews over his +punch-drenched pages, like black, fantastic dust. + +Danglars alone was content and joyous--he had got rid of an enemy and +made his own situation on the Pharaon secure. Danglars was one of those +men born with a pen behind the ear, and an inkstand in place of a heart. +Everything with him was multiplication or subtraction. The life of a man +was to him of far less value than a numeral, especially when, by taking +it away, he could increase the sum total of his own desires. He went to +bed at his usual hour, and slept in peace. + +Villefort, after having received M. de Salvieux' letter, embraced Renee, +kissed the marquise's hand, and shaken that of the marquis, started for +Paris along the Aix road. + +Old Dantes was dying with anxiety to know what had become of Edmond. But +we know very well what had become of Edmond. + + + +Chapter 10. The King's Closet at the Tuileries. + +We will leave Villefort on the road to Paris, travelling--thanks +to trebled fees--with all speed, and passing through two or three +apartments, enter at the Tuileries the little room with the arched +window, so well known as having been the favorite closet of Napoleon and +Louis XVIII., and now of Louis Philippe. + +There, seated before a walnut table he had brought with him from +Hartwell, and to which, from one of those fancies not uncommon to +great people, he was particularly attached, the king, Louis XVIII., was +carelessly listening to a man of fifty or fifty-two years of age, with +gray hair, aristocratic bearing, and exceedingly gentlemanly attire, +and meanwhile making a marginal note in a volume of Gryphius's rather +inaccurate, but much sought-after, edition of Horace--a work which +was much indebted to the sagacious observations of the philosophical +monarch. + +"You say, sir"--said the king. + +"That I am exceedingly disquieted, sire." + +"Really, have you had a vision of the seven fat kine and the seven lean +kine?" + +"No, sire, for that would only betoken for us seven years of plenty and +seven years of scarcity; and with a king as full of foresight as your +majesty, scarcity is not a thing to be feared." + +"Then of what other scourge are you afraid, my dear Blacas?" + +"Sire, I have every reason to believe that a storm is brewing in the +south." + +"Well, my dear duke," replied Louis XVIII., "I think you are wrongly +informed, and know positively that, on the contrary, it is very fine +weather in that direction." Man of ability as he was, Louis XVIII. liked +a pleasant jest. + +"Sire," continued M. de Blacas, "if it only be to reassure a faithful +servant, will your majesty send into Languedoc, Provence, and Dauphine, +trusty men, who will bring you back a faithful report as to the feeling +in these three provinces?" + +"Caninus surdis," replied the king, continuing the annotations in his +Horace. + +"Sire," replied the courtier, laughing, in order that he might seem +to comprehend the quotation, "your majesty may be perfectly right in +relying on the good feeling of France, but I fear I am not altogether +wrong in dreading some desperate attempt." + +"By whom?" + +"By Bonaparte, or, at least, by his adherents." + +"My dear Blacas," said the king, "you with your alarms prevent me from +working." + +"And you, sire, prevent me from sleeping with your security." + +"Wait, my dear sir, wait a moment; for I have such a delightful note on +the Pastor quum traheret--wait, and I will listen to you afterwards." + +There was a brief pause, during which Louis XVIII. wrote, in a hand as +small as possible, another note on the margin of his Horace, and then +looking at the duke with the air of a man who thinks he has an idea of +his own, while he is only commenting upon the idea of another, said,-- + +"Go on, my dear duke, go on--I listen." + +"Sire," said Blacas, who had for a moment the hope of sacrificing +Villefort to his own profit, "I am compelled to tell you that these are +not mere rumors destitute of foundation which thus disquiet me; but a +serious-minded man, deserving all my confidence, and charged by me to +watch over the south" (the duke hesitated as he pronounced these words), +"has arrived by post to tell me that a great peril threatens the king, +and so I hastened to you, sire." + +"Mala ducis avi domum," continued Louis XVIII., still annotating. + +"Does your majesty wish me to drop the subject?" + +"By no means, my dear duke; but just stretch out your hand." + +"Which?" + +"Whichever you please--there to the left." + +"Here, sire?" + +"I tell you to the left, and you are looking to the right; I mean on my +left--yes, there. You will find yesterday's report of the minister of +police. But here is M. Dandre himself;" and M. Dandre, announced by the +chamberlain-in-waiting, entered. + +"Come in," said Louis XVIII., with repressed smile, "come in, Baron, and +tell the duke all you know--the latest news of M. de Bonaparte; do not +conceal anything, however serious,--let us see, the Island of Elba is a +volcano, and we may expect to have issuing thence flaming and bristling +war--bella, horrida bella." M. Dandre leaned very respectfully on the +back of a chair with his two hands, and said,-- + +"Has your majesty perused yesterday's report?" + +"Yes, yes; but tell the duke himself, who cannot find anything, what the +report contains--give him the particulars of what the usurper is doing +in his islet." + +"Monsieur," said the baron to the duke, "all the servants of his majesty +must approve of the latest intelligence which we have from the Island +of Elba. Bonaparte"--M. Dandre looked at Louis XVIII., who, employed in +writing a note, did not even raise his head. "Bonaparte," continued +the baron, "is mortally wearied, and passes whole days in watching his +miners at work at Porto-Longone." + +"And scratches himself for amusement," added the king. + +"Scratches himself?" inquired the duke, "what does your majesty mean?" + +"Yes, indeed, my dear duke. Did you forget that this great man, this +hero, this demigod, is attacked with a malady of the skin which worries +him to death, prurigo?" + +"And, moreover, my dear duke," continued the minister of police, "we are +almost assured that, in a very short time, the usurper will be insane." + +"Insane?" + +"Raving mad; his head becomes weaker. Sometimes he weeps bitterly, +sometimes laughs boisterously, at other time he passes hours on +the seashore, flinging stones in the water and when the flint makes +'duck-and-drake' five or six times, he appears as delighted as if he had +gained another Marengo or Austerlitz. Now, you must agree that these are +indubitable symptoms of insanity." + +"Or of wisdom, my dear baron--or of wisdom," said Louis XVIII., +laughing; "the greatest captains of antiquity amused themselves +by casting pebbles into the ocean--see Plutarch's life of Scipio +Africanus." + +M. de Blacas pondered deeply between the confident monarch and the +truthful minister. Villefort, who did not choose to reveal the whole +secret, lest another should reap all the benefit of the disclosure, had +yet communicated enough to cause him the greatest uneasiness. + +"Well, well, Dandre," said Louis XVIII., "Blacas is not yet convinced; +let us proceed, therefore, to the usurper's conversion." The minister of +police bowed. + +"The usurper's conversion!" murmured the duke, looking at the king and +Dandre, who spoke alternately, like Virgil's shepherds. "The usurper +converted!" + +"Decidedly, my dear duke." + +"In what way converted?" + +"To good principles. Tell him all about it, baron." + +"Why, this is the way of it," said the minister, with the gravest air in +the world: "Napoleon lately had a review, and as two or three of his +old veterans expressed a desire to return to France, he gave them their +dismissal, and exhorted them to 'serve the good king.' These were his +own words, of that I am certain." + +"Well, Blacas, what think you of this?" inquired the king triumphantly, +and pausing for a moment from the voluminous scholiast before him. + +"I say, sire, that the minister of police is greatly deceived or I am; +and as it is impossible it can be the minister of police as he has the +guardianship of the safety and honor of your majesty, it is probable +that I am in error. However, sire, if I might advise, your majesty will +interrogate the person of whom I spoke to you, and I will urge your +majesty to do him this honor." + +"Most willingly, duke; under your auspices I will receive any person you +please, but you must not expect me to be too confiding. Baron, have you +any report more recent than this dated the 20th February.--this is the +4th of March?" + +"No, sire, but I am hourly expecting one; it may have arrived since I +left my office." + +"Go thither, and if there be none--well, well," continued Louis XVIII., +"make one; that is the usual way, is it not?" and the king laughed +facetiously. + +"Oh, sire," replied the minister, "we have no occasion to invent any; +every day our desks are loaded with most circumstantial denunciations, +coming from hosts of people who hope for some return for services which +they seek to render, but cannot; they trust to fortune, and rely upon +some unexpected event in some way to justify their predictions." + +"Well, sir, go"; said Louis XVIII., "and remember that I am waiting for +you." + +"I will but go and return, sire; I shall be back in ten minutes." + +"And I, sire," said M. de Blacas, "will go and find my messenger." + +"Wait, sir, wait," said Louis XVIII. "Really, M. de Blacas, I +must change your armorial bearings; I will give you an eagle with +outstretched wings, holding in its claws a prey which tries in vain to +escape, and bearing this device--Tenax." + +"Sire, I listen," said De Blacas, biting his nails with impatience. + +"I wish to consult you on this passage, 'Molli fugiens anhelitu,' you +know it refers to a stag flying from a wolf. Are you not a sportsman +and a great wolf-hunter? Well, then, what do you think of the molli +anhelitu?" + +"Admirable, sire; but my messenger is like the stag you refer to, for he +has posted two hundred and twenty leagues in scarcely three days." + +"Which is undergoing great fatigue and anxiety, my dear duke, when we +have a telegraph which transmits messages in three or four hours, and +that without getting in the least out of breath." + +"Ah, sire, you recompense but badly this poor young man, who has come so +far, and with so much ardor, to give your majesty useful information. If +only for the sake of M. de Salvieux, who recommends him to me, I entreat +your majesty to receive him graciously." + +"M. de Salvieux, my brother's chamberlain?" + +"Yes, sire." + +"He is at Marseilles." + +"And writes me thence." + +"Does he speak to you of this conspiracy?" + +"No; but strongly recommends M. de Villefort, and begs me to present him +to your majesty." + +"M. de Villefort!" cried the king, "is the messenger's name M. de +Villefort?" + +"Yes, sire." + +"And he comes from Marseilles?" + +"In person." + +"Why did you not mention his name at once?" replied the king, betraying +some uneasiness. + +"Sire, I thought his name was unknown to your majesty." + +"No, no, Blacas; he is a man of strong and elevated understanding, +ambitious, too, and, pardieu, you know his father's name!" + +"His father?" + +"Yes, Noirtier." + +"Noirtier the Girondin?--Noirtier the senator?" + +"He himself." + +"And your majesty has employed the son of such a man?" + +"Blacas, my friend, you have but limited comprehension. I told you +Villefort was ambitious, and to attain this ambition Villefort would +sacrifice everything, even his father." + +"Then, sire, may I present him?" + +"This instant, duke! Where is he?" + +"Waiting below, in my carriage." + +"Seek him at once." + +"I hasten to do so." The duke left the royal presence with the speed of +a young man; his really sincere royalism made him youthful again. Louis +XVIII. remained alone, and turning his eyes on his half-opened Horace, +muttered,-- + +"Justum et tenacem propositi virum." + +M. de Blacas returned as speedily as he had departed, but in the +ante-chamber he was forced to appeal to the king's authority. +Villefort's dusty garb, his costume, which was not of courtly cut, +excited the susceptibility of M. de Breze, who was all astonishment at +finding that this young man had the audacity to enter before the king +in such attire. The duke, however, overcame all difficulties with a +word--his majesty's order; and, in spite of the protestations which the +master of ceremonies made for the honor of his office and principles, +Villefort was introduced. + +The king was seated in the same place where the duke had left him. On +opening the door, Villefort found himself facing him, and the young +magistrate's first impulse was to pause. + +"Come in, M. de Villefort," said the king, "come in." Villefort bowed, +and advancing a few steps, waited until the king should interrogate him. + +"M. de Villefort," said Louis XVIII., "the Duc de Blacas assures me you +have some interesting information to communicate." + +"Sire, the duke is right, and I believe your majesty will think it +equally important." + +"In the first place, and before everything else, sir, is the news as bad +in your opinion as I am asked to believe?" + +"Sire, I believe it to be most urgent, but I hope, by the speed I have +used, that it is not irreparable." + +"Speak as fully as you please, sir," said the king, who began to give +way to the emotion which had showed itself in Blacas's face and affected +Villefort's voice. "Speak, sir, and pray begin at the beginning; I like +order in everything." + +"Sire," said Villefort, "I will render a faithful report to your +majesty, but I must entreat your forgiveness if my anxiety leads to some +obscurity in my language." A glance at the king after this discreet +and subtle exordium, assured Villefort of the benignity of his august +auditor, and he went on:-- + +"Sire, I have come as rapidly to Paris as possible, to inform your +majesty that I have discovered, in the exercise of my duties, not a +commonplace and insignificant plot, such as is every day got up in the +lower ranks of the people and in the army, but an actual conspiracy--a +storm which menaces no less than your majesty's throne. Sire, the +usurper is arming three ships, he meditates some project, which, however +mad, is yet, perhaps, terrible. At this moment he will have left Elba, +to go whither I know not, but assuredly to attempt a landing either at +Naples, or on the coast of Tuscany, or perhaps on the shores of France. +Your majesty is well aware that the sovereign of the Island of Elba has +maintained his relations with Italy and France?" + +"I am, sir," said the king, much agitated; "and recently we have had +information that the Bonapartist clubs have had meetings in the Rue +Saint-Jacques. But proceed, I beg of you. How did you obtain these +details?" + +"Sire, they are the results of an examination which I have made of a man +of Marseilles, whom I have watched for some time, and arrested on the +day of my departure. This person, a sailor, of turbulent character, +and whom I suspected of Bonapartism, has been secretly to the Island +of Elba. There he saw the grand-marshal, who charged him with an oral +message to a Bonapartist in Paris, whose name I could not extract from +him; but this mission was to prepare men's minds for a return (it is the +man who says this, sire)--a return which will soon occur." + +"And where is this man?" + +"In prison, sire." + +"And the matter seems serious to you?" + +"So serious, sire, that when the circumstance surprised me in the midst +of a family festival, on the very day of my betrothal, I left my bride +and friends, postponing everything, that I might hasten to lay at your +majesty's feet the fears which impressed me, and the assurance of my +devotion." + +"True," said Louis XVIII., "was there not a marriage engagement between +you and Mademoiselle de Saint-Meran?" + +"Daughter of one of your majesty's most faithful servants." + +"Yes, yes; but let us talk of this plot, M. de Villefort." + +"Sire, I fear it is more than a plot; I fear it is a conspiracy." + +"A conspiracy in these times," said Louis XVIII., smiling, "is a thing +very easy to meditate, but more difficult to conduct to an end, inasmuch +as, re-established so recently on the throne of our ancestors, we have +our eyes open at once upon the past, the present, and the future. For +the last ten months my ministers have redoubled their vigilance, in +order to watch the shore of the Mediterranean. If Bonaparte landed at +Naples, the whole coalition would be on foot before he could even reach +Piomoino; if he land in Tuscany, he will be in an unfriendly territory; +if he land in France, it must be with a handful of men, and the result +of that is easily foretold, execrated as he is by the population. Take +courage, sir; but at the same time rely on our royal gratitude." + +"Ah, here is M. Dandre!" cried de Blacas. At this instant the minister +of police appeared at the door, pale, trembling, and as if ready to +faint. Villefort was about to retire, but M. de Blacas, taking his hand, +restrained him. + + + +Chapter 11. The Corsican Ogre. + +At the sight of this agitation Louis XVIII. pushed from him violently +the table at which he was sitting. + +"What ails you, baron?" he exclaimed. "You appear quite aghast. Has your +uneasiness anything to do with what M. de Blacas has told me, and M. de +Villefort has just confirmed?" M. de Blacas moved suddenly towards the +baron, but the fright of the courtier pleaded for the forbearance of +the statesman; and besides, as matters were, it was much more to his +advantage that the prefect of police should triumph over him than that +he should humiliate the prefect. + +"Sire"--stammered the baron. + +"Well, what is it?" asked Louis XVIII. The minister of police, giving +way to an impulse of despair, was about to throw himself at the feet of +Louis XVIII., who retreated a step and frowned. + +"Will you speak?" he said. + +"Oh, sire, what a dreadful misfortune! I am, indeed, to be pitied. I can +never forgive myself!" + +"Monsieur," said Louis XVIII., "I command you to speak." + +"Well, sire, the usurper left Elba on the 26th February, and landed on +the 1st of March." + +"And where? In Italy?" asked the king eagerly. + +"In France, sire,--at a small port, near Antibes, in the Gulf of Juan." + +"The usurper landed in France, near Antibes, in the Gulf of Juan, two +hundred and fifty leagues from Paris, on the 1st of March, and you only +acquired this information to-day, the 4th of March! Well, sir, what you +tell me is impossible. You must have received a false report, or you +have gone mad." + +"Alas, sire, it is but too true!" Louis made a gesture of indescribable +anger and alarm, and then drew himself up as if this sudden blow had +struck him at the same moment in heart and countenance. + +"In France!" he cried, "the usurper in France! Then they did not watch +over this man. Who knows? they were, perhaps, in league with him." + +"Oh, sire," exclaimed the Duc de Blacas, "M. Dandre is not a man to be +accused of treason! Sire, we have all been blind, and the minister of +police has shared the general blindness, that is all." + +"But"--said Villefort, and then suddenly checking himself, he was +silent; then he continued, "Your pardon, sire," he said, bowing, "my +zeal carried me away. Will your majesty deign to excuse me?" + +"Speak, sir, speak boldly," replied Louis. "You alone forewarned us of +the evil; now try and aid us with the remedy." + +"Sire," said Villefort, "the usurper is detested in the south; and it +seems to me that if he ventured into the south, it would be easy to +raise Languedoc and Provence against him." + +"Yes, assuredly," replied the minister; "but he is advancing by Gap and +Sisteron." + +"Advancing--he is advancing!" said Louis XVIII. "Is he then advancing on +Paris?" The minister of police maintained a silence which was equivalent +to a complete avowal. + +"And Dauphine, sir?" inquired the king, of Villefort. "Do you think it +possible to rouse that as well as Provence?" + +"Sire, I am sorry to tell your majesty a cruel fact; but the feeling +in Dauphine is quite the reverse of that in Provence or Languedoc. The +mountaineers are Bonapartists, sire." + +"Then," murmured Louis, "he was well informed. And how many men had he +with him?" + +"I do not know, sire," answered the minister of police. + +"What, you do not know! Have you neglected to obtain information on that +point? Of course it is of no consequence," he added, with a withering +smile. + +"Sire, it was impossible to learn; the despatch simply stated the fact +of the landing and the route taken by the usurper." + +"And how did this despatch reach you?" inquired the king. The minister +bowed his head, and while a deep color overspread his cheeks, he +stammered out,-- + +"By the telegraph, sire."--Louis XVIII. advanced a step, and folded his +arms over his chest as Napoleon would have done. + +"So then," he exclaimed, turning pale with anger, "seven conjoined and +allied armies overthrew that man. A miracle of heaven replaced me on +the throne of my fathers after five-and-twenty years of exile. I have, +during those five-and-twenty years, spared no pains to understand the +people of France and the interests which were confided to me; and now, +when I see the fruition of my wishes almost within reach, the power I +hold in my hands bursts, and shatters me to atoms!" + +"Sire, it is fatality!" murmured the minister, feeling that the pressure +of circumstances, however light a thing to destiny, was too much for any +human strength to endure. + +"What our enemies say of us is then true. We have learnt nothing, +forgotten nothing! If I were betrayed as he was, I would console myself; +but to be in the midst of persons elevated by myself to places of honor, +who ought to watch over me more carefully than over themselves,--for my +fortune is theirs--before me they were nothing--after me they will be +nothing, and perish miserably from incapacity--ineptitude! Oh, yes, sir, +you are right--it is fatality!" + +The minister quailed before this outburst of sarcasm. M. de Blacas wiped +the moisture from his brow. Villefort smiled within himself, for he felt +his increased importance. + +"To fall," continued King Louis, who at the first glance had sounded the +abyss on which the monarchy hung suspended,--"to fall, and learn of that +fall by telegraph! Oh, I would rather mount the scaffold of my brother, +Louis XVI., than thus descend the staircase at the Tuileries driven away +by ridicule. Ridicule, sir--why, you know not its power in France, and +yet you ought to know it!" + +"Sire, sire," murmured the minister, "for pity's"-- + +"Approach, M. de Villefort," resumed the king, addressing the young man, +who, motionless and breathless, was listening to a conversation on which +depended the destiny of a kingdom. "Approach, and tell monsieur that it +is possible to know beforehand all that he has not known." + +"Sire, it was really impossible to learn secrets which that man +concealed from all the world." + +"Really impossible! Yes--that is a great word, sir. Unfortunately, there +are great words, as there are great men; I have measured them. Really +impossible for a minister who has an office, agents, spies, and fifteen +hundred thousand francs for secret service money, to know what is going +on at sixty leagues from the coast of France! Well, then, see, here is a +gentleman who had none of these resources at his disposal--a gentleman, +only a simple magistrate, who learned more than you with all your +police, and who would have saved my crown, if, like you, he had the +power of directing a telegraph." The look of the minister of police was +turned with concentrated spite on Villefort, who bent his head in modest +triumph. + +"I do not mean that for you, Blacas," continued Louis XVIII.; "for if +you have discovered nothing, at least you have had the good sense +to persevere in your suspicions. Any other than yourself would have +considered the disclosure of M. de Villefort insignificant, or else +dictated by venal ambition," These words were an allusion to the +sentiments which the minister of police had uttered with so much +confidence an hour before. + +Villefort understood the king's intent. Any other person would, perhaps, +have been overcome by such an intoxicating draught of praise; but +he feared to make for himself a mortal enemy of the police minister, +although he saw that Dandre was irrevocably lost. In fact, the +minister, who, in the plenitude of his power, had been unable to unearth +Napoleon's secret, might in despair at his own downfall interrogate +Dantes and so lay bare the motives of Villefort's plot. Realizing this, +Villefort came to the rescue of the crest-fallen minister, instead of +aiding to crush him. + +"Sire," said Villefort, "the suddenness of this event must prove to your +majesty that the issue is in the hands of Providence; what your majesty +is pleased to attribute to me as profound perspicacity is simply owing +to chance, and I have profited by that chance, like a good and devoted +servant--that's all. Do not attribute to me more than I deserve, sire, +that your majesty may never have occasion to recall the first opinion +you have been pleased to form of me." The minister of police thanked +the young man by an eloquent look, and Villefort understood that he had +succeeded in his design; that is to say, that without forfeiting the +gratitude of the king, he had made a friend of one on whom, in case of +necessity, he might rely. + +"'Tis well," resumed the king. "And now, gentlemen," he continued, +turning towards M. de Blacas and the minister of police, "I have no +further occasion for you, and you may retire; what now remains to do is +in the department of the minister of war." + +"Fortunately, sire," said M. de Blacas, "we can rely on the army; your +majesty knows how every report confirms their loyalty and attachment." + +"Do not mention reports, duke, to me, for I know now what confidence to +place in them. Yet, speaking of reports, baron, what have you learned +with regard to the affair in the Rue Saint-Jacques?" + +"The affair in the Rue Saint-Jacques!" exclaimed Villefort, unable to +repress an exclamation. Then, suddenly pausing, he added, "Your pardon, +sire, but my devotion to your majesty has made me forget, not the +respect I have, for that is too deeply engraved in my heart, but the +rules of etiquette." + +"Go on, go on, sir," replied the king; "you have to-day earned the right +to make inquiries here." + +"Sire," interposed the minister of police, "I came a moment ago to give +your majesty fresh information which I had obtained on this head, when +your majesty's attention was attracted by the terrible event that has +occurred in the gulf, and now these facts will cease to interest your +majesty." + +"On the contrary, sir,--on the contrary," said Louis XVIII., "this +affair seems to me to have a decided connection with that which occupies +our attention, and the death of General Quesnel will, perhaps, put us on +the direct track of a great internal conspiracy." At the name of General +Quesnel, Villefort trembled. + +"Everything points to the conclusion, sire," said the minister of +police, "that death was not the result of suicide, as we first believed, +but of assassination. General Quesnel, it appears, had just left a +Bonapartist club when he disappeared. An unknown person had been +with him that morning, and made an appointment with him in the Rue +Saint-Jacques; unfortunately, the general's valet, who was dressing +his hair at the moment when the stranger entered, heard the street +mentioned, but did not catch the number." As the police minister related +this to the king, Villefort, who looked as if his very life hung on the +speaker's lips, turned alternately red and pale. The king looked towards +him. + +"Do you not think with me, M. de Villefort, that General Quesnel, whom +they believed attached to the usurper, but who was really entirely +devoted to me, has perished the victim of a Bonapartist ambush?" + +"It is probable, sire," replied Villefort. "But is this all that is +known?" + +"They are on the track of the man who appointed the meeting with him." + +"On his track?" said Villefort. + +"Yes, the servant has given his description. He is a man of from fifty +to fifty-two years of age, dark, with black eyes covered with shaggy +eyebrows, and a thick mustache. He was dressed in a blue frock-coat, +buttoned up to the chin, and wore at his button-hole the rosette of an +officer of the Legion of Honor. Yesterday a person exactly corresponding +with this description was followed, but he was lost sight of at the +corner of the Rue de la Jussienne and the Rue Coq-Heron." Villefort +leaned on the back of an arm-chair, for as the minister of police went +on speaking he felt his legs bend under him; but when he learned that +the unknown had escaped the vigilance of the agent who followed him, he +breathed again. + +"Continue to seek for this man, sir," said the king to the minister of +police; "for if, as I am all but convinced, General Quesnel, who +would have been so useful to us at this moment, has been murdered, his +assassins, Bonapartists or not, shall be cruelly punished." It required +all Villefort's coolness not to betray the terror with which this +declaration of the king inspired him. + +"How strange," continued the king, with some asperity; "the police think +that they have disposed of the whole matter when they say, 'A murder has +been committed,' and especially so when they can add, 'And we are on the +track of the guilty persons.'" + +"Sire, your majesty will, I trust, be amply satisfied on this point at +least." + +"We shall see. I will no longer detain you, M. de Villefort, for you +must be fatigued after so long a journey; go and rest. Of course you +stopped at your father's?" A feeling of faintness came over Villefort. + +"No, sire," he replied, "I alighted at the Hotel de Madrid, in the Rue +de Tournon." + +"But you have seen him?" + +"Sire, I went straight to the Duc de Blacas." + +"But you will see him, then?" + +"I think not, sire." + +"Ah, I forgot," said Louis, smiling in a manner which proved that all +these questions were not made without a motive; "I forgot you and +M. Noirtier are not on the best terms possible, and that is another +sacrifice made to the royal cause, and for which you should be +recompensed." + +"Sire, the kindness your majesty deigns to evince towards me is a +recompense which so far surpasses my utmost ambition that I have nothing +more to ask for." + +"Never mind, sir, we will not forget you; make your mind easy. In the +meanwhile" (the king here detached the cross of the Legion of Honor +which he usually wore over his blue coat, near the cross of St. Louis, +above the order of Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel and St. Lazare, and gave it +to Villefort)--"in the meanwhile take this cross." + +"Sire," said Villefort, "your majesty mistakes; this is an officer's +cross." + +"Ma foi," said Louis XVIII., "take it, such as it is, for I have not the +time to procure you another. Blacas, let it be your care to see that the +brevet is made out and sent to M. de Villefort." Villefort's eyes were +filled with tears of joy and pride; he took the cross and kissed it. + +"And now," he said, "may I inquire what are the orders with which your +majesty deigns to honor me?" + +"Take what rest you require, and remember that if you are not able to +serve me here in Paris, you may be of the greatest service to me at +Marseilles." + +"Sire," replied Villefort, bowing, "in an hour I shall have quitted +Paris." + +"Go, sir," said the king; "and should I forget you (kings' memories are +short), do not be afraid to bring yourself to my recollection. Baron, +send for the minister of war. Blacas, remain." + +"Ah, sir," said the minister of police to Villefort, as they left the +Tuileries, "you entered by luck's door--your fortune is made." + +"Will it be long first?" muttered Villefort, saluting the minister, +whose career was ended, and looking about him for a hackney-coach. +One passed at the moment, which he hailed; he gave his address to the +driver, and springing in, threw himself on the seat, and gave loose to +dreams of ambition. + +Ten minutes afterwards Villefort reached his hotel, ordered horses to be +ready in two hours, and asked to have his breakfast brought to him. He +was about to begin his repast when the sound of the bell rang sharp and +loud. The valet opened the door, and Villefort heard some one speak his +name. + +"Who could know that I was here already?" said the young man. The valet +entered. + +"Well," said Villefort, "what is it?--Who rang?--Who asked for me?" + +"A stranger who will not send in his name." + +"A stranger who will not send in his name! What can he want with me?" + +"He wishes to speak to you." + +"To me?" + +"Yes." + +"Did he mention my name?" + +"Yes." + +"What sort of person is he?" + +"Why, sir, a man of about fifty." + +"Short or tall?" + +"About your own height, sir." + +"Dark or fair?" + +"Dark,--very dark; with black eyes, black hair, black eyebrows." + +"And how dressed?" asked Villefort quickly. + +"In a blue frock-coat, buttoned up close, decorated with the Legion of +Honor." + +"It is he!" said Villefort, turning pale. + +"Eh, pardieu," said the individual whose description we have twice +given, entering the door, "what a great deal of ceremony! Is it the +custom in Marseilles for sons to keep their fathers waiting in their +anterooms?" + +"Father!" cried Villefort, "then I was not deceived; I felt sure it must +be you." + +"Well, then, if you felt so sure," replied the new-comer, putting his +cane in a corner and his hat on a chair, "allow me to say, my dear +Gerard, that it was not very filial of you to keep me waiting at the +door." + +"Leave us, Germain," said Villefort. The servant quitted the apartment +with evident signs of astonishment. + + + +Chapter 12. Father and Son. + +M. Noirtier--for it was, indeed, he who entered--looked after the +servant until the door was closed, and then, fearing, no doubt, that he +might be overheard in the ante-chamber, he opened the door again, +nor was the precaution useless, as appeared from the rapid retreat of +Germain, who proved that he was not exempt from the sin which ruined our +first parents. M. Noirtier then took the trouble to close and bolt the +ante-chamber door, then that of the bed-chamber, and then extended his +hand to Villefort, who had followed all his motions with surprise which +he could not conceal. + +"Well, now, my dear Gerard," said he to the young man, with a very +significant look, "do you know, you seem as if you were not very glad to +see me?" + +"My dear father," said Villefort, "I am, on the contrary, delighted; but +I so little expected your visit, that it has somewhat overcome me." + +"But, my dear fellow," replied M. Noirtier, seating himself, "I might +say the same thing to you, when you announce to me your wedding for the +28th of February, and on the 3rd of March you turn up here in Paris." + +"And if I have come, my dear father," said Gerard, drawing closer to +M. Noirtier, "do not complain, for it is for you that I came, and my +journey will be your salvation." + +"Ah, indeed!" said M. Noirtier, stretching himself out at his ease +in the chair. "Really, pray tell me all about it, for it must be +interesting." + +"Father, you have heard speak of a certain Bonapartist club in the Rue +Saint-Jacques?" + +"No. 53; yes, I am vice-president." + +"Father, your coolness makes me shudder." + +"Why, my dear boy, when a man has been proscribed by the mountaineers, +has escaped from Paris in a hay-cart, been hunted over the plains of +Bordeaux by Robespierre's bloodhounds, he becomes accustomed to most +things. But go on, what about the club in the Rue Saint-Jacques?" + +"Why, they induced General Quesnel to go there, and General Quesnel, who +quitted his own house at nine o'clock in the evening, was found the next +day in the Seine." + +"And who told you this fine story?" + +"The king himself." + +"Well, then, in return for your story," continued Noirtier, "I will tell +you another." + +"My dear father, I think I already know what you are about to tell me." + +"Ah, you have heard of the landing of the emperor?" + +"Not so loud, father, I entreat of you--for your own sake as well as +mine. Yes, I heard this news, and knew it even before you could; for +three days ago I posted from Marseilles to Paris with all possible +speed, half-desperate at the enforced delay." + +"Three days ago? You are crazy. Why, three days ago the emperor had not +landed." + +"No matter, I was aware of his intention." + +"How did you know about it?" + +"By a letter addressed to you from the Island of Elba." + +"To me?" + +"To you; and which I discovered in the pocket-book of the messenger. Had +that letter fallen into the hands of another, you, my dear father, would +probably ere this have been shot." Villefort's father laughed. + +"Come, come," said he, "will the Restoration adopt imperial methods so +promptly? Shot, my dear boy? What an idea! Where is the letter you speak +of? I know you too well to suppose you would allow such a thing to pass +you." + +"I burnt it, for fear that even a fragment should remain; for that +letter must have led to your condemnation." + +"And the destruction of your future prospects," replied Noirtier; "yes, +I can easily comprehend that. But I have nothing to fear while I have +you to protect me." + +"I do better than that, sir--I save you." + +"You do? Why, really, the thing becomes more and more dramatic--explain +yourself." + +"I must refer again to the club in the Rue Saint-Jacques." + +"It appears that this club is rather a bore to the police. Why didn't +they search more vigilantly? they would have found"-- + +"They have not found; but they are on the track." + +"Yes, that the usual phrase; I am quite familiar with it. When the +police is at fault, it declares that it is on the track; and the +government patiently awaits the day when it comes to say, with a +sneaking air, that the track is lost." + +"Yes, but they have found a corpse; the general has been killed, and in +all countries they call that a murder." + +"A murder do you call it? why, there is nothing to prove that the +general was murdered. People are found every day in the Seine, having +thrown themselves in, or having been drowned from not knowing how to +swim." + +"Father, you know very well that the general was not a man to drown +himself in despair, and people do not bathe in the Seine in the month of +January. No, no, do not be deceived; this was murder in every sense of +the word." + +"And who thus designated it?" + +"The king himself." + +"The king! I thought he was philosopher enough to allow that there was +no murder in politics. In politics, my dear fellow, you know, as well +as I do, there are no men, but ideas--no feelings, but interests; in +politics we do not kill a man, we only remove an obstacle, that is all. +Would you like to know how matters have progressed? Well, I will tell +you. It was thought reliance might be placed in General Quesnel; he was +recommended to us from the Island of Elba; one of us went to him, and +invited him to the Rue Saint-Jacques, where he would find some friends. +He came there, and the plan was unfolded to him for leaving Elba, the +projected landing, etc. When he had heard and comprehended all to the +fullest extent, he replied that he was a royalist. Then all looked at +each other,--he was made to take an oath, and did so, but with such an +ill grace that it was really tempting Providence to swear him, and yet, +in spite of that, the general was allowed to depart free--perfectly +free. Yet he did not return home. What could that mean? why, my dear +fellow, that on leaving us he lost his way, that's all. A murder? +really, Villefort, you surprise me. You, a deputy procureur, to found +an accusation on such bad premises! Did I ever say to you, when you were +fulfilling your character as a royalist, and cut off the head of one of +my party, 'My son, you have committed a murder?' No, I said, 'Very well, +sir, you have gained the victory; to-morrow, perchance, it will be our +turn.'" + +"But, father, take care; when our turn comes, our revenge will be +sweeping." + +"I do not understand you." + +"You rely on the usurper's return?" + +"We do." + +"You are mistaken; he will not advance two leagues into the interior of +France without being followed, tracked, and caught like a wild beast." + +"My dear fellow, the emperor is at this moment on the way to Grenoble; +on the 10th or 12th he will be at Lyons, and on the 20th or 25th at +Paris." + +"The people will rise." + +"Yes, to go and meet him." + +"He has but a handful of men with him, and armies will be despatched +against him." + +"Yes, to escort him into the capital. Really, my dear Gerard, you are +but a child; you think yourself well informed because the telegraph +has told you, three days after the landing, 'The usurper has landed at +Cannes with several men. He is pursued.' But where is he? what is he +doing? You do not know at all, and in this way they will chase him to +Paris, without drawing a trigger." + +"Grenoble and Lyons are faithful cities, and will oppose to him an +impassable barrier." + +"Grenoble will open her gates to him with enthusiasm--all Lyons will +hasten to welcome him. Believe me, we are as well informed as you, and +our police are as good as your own. Would you like a proof of it? well, +you wished to conceal your journey from me, and yet I knew of your +arrival half an hour after you had passed the barrier. You gave your +direction to no one but your postilion, yet I have your address, and in +proof I am here the very instant you are going to sit at table. Ring, +then, if you please, for a second knife, fork, and plate, and we will +dine together." + +"Indeed!" replied Villefort, looking at his father with astonishment, +"you really do seem very well informed." + +"Eh? the thing is simple enough. You who are in power have only the +means that money produces--we who are in expectation, have those which +devotion prompts." + +"Devotion!" said Villefort, with a sneer. + +"Yes, devotion; for that is, I believe, the phrase for hopeful +ambition." + +And Villefort's father extended his hand to the bell-rope, to summon the +servant whom his son had not called. Villefort caught his arm. + +"Wait, my dear father," said the young man, "one word more." + +"Say on." + +"However stupid the royalist police may be, they do know one terrible +thing." + +"What is that?" + +"The description of the man who, on the morning of the day when General +Quesnel disappeared, presented himself at his house." + +"Oh, the admirable police have found that out, have they? And what may +be that description?" + +"Dark complexion; hair, eyebrows, and whiskers, black; blue frock-coat, +buttoned up to the chin; rosette of an officer of the Legion of Honor in +his button-hole; a hat with wide brim, and a cane." + +"Ah, ha, that's it, is it?" said Noirtier; "and why, then, have they not +laid hands on him?" + +"Because yesterday, or the day before, they lost sight of him at the +corner of the Rue Coq-Heron." + +"Didn't I say that your police were good for nothing?" + +"Yes; but they may catch him yet." + +"True," said Noirtier, looking carelessly around him, "true, if this +person were not on his guard, as he is;" and he added with a smile, "He +will consequently make a few changes in his personal appearance." At +these words he rose, and put off his frock-coat and cravat, went towards +a table on which lay his son's toilet articles, lathered his face, +took a razor, and, with a firm hand, cut off the compromising whiskers. +Villefort watched him with alarm not devoid of admiration. + +His whiskers cut off, Noirtier gave another turn to his hair; took, +instead of his black cravat, a colored neckerchief which lay at the top +of an open portmanteau; put on, in lieu of his blue and high-buttoned +frock-coat, a coat of Villefort's of dark brown, and cut away in front; +tried on before the glass a narrow-brimmed hat of his son's, which +appeared to fit him perfectly, and, leaving his cane in the corner where +he had deposited it, he took up a small bamboo switch, cut the air with +it once or twice, and walked about with that easy swagger which was one +of his principal characteristics. + +"Well," he said, turning towards his wondering son, when this disguise +was completed, "well, do you think your police will recognize me now." + +"No, father," stammered Villefort; "at least, I hope not." + +"And now, my dear boy," continued Noirtier, "I rely on your prudence to +remove all the things which I leave in your care." + +"Oh, rely on me," said Villefort. + +"Yes, yes; and now I believe you are right, and that you have really +saved my life; be assured I will return the favor hereafter." Villefort +shook his head. + +"You are not convinced yet?" + +"I hope at least, that you may be mistaken." + +"Shall you see the king again?" + +"Perhaps." + +"Would you pass in his eyes for a prophet?" + +"Prophets of evil are not in favor at the court, father." + +"True, but some day they do them justice; and supposing a second +restoration, you would then pass for a great man." + +"Well, what should I say to the king?" + +"Say this to him: 'Sire, you are deceived as to the feeling in France, +as to the opinions of the towns, and the prejudices of the army; he +whom in Paris you call the Corsican ogre, who at Nevers is styled +the usurper, is already saluted as Bonaparte at Lyons, and emperor at +Grenoble. You think he is tracked, pursued, captured; he is advancing +as rapidly as his own eagles. The soldiers you believe to be dying with +hunger, worn out with fatigue, ready to desert, gather like atoms of +snow about the rolling ball as it hastens onward. Sire, go, leave France +to its real master, to him who acquired it, not by purchase, but by +right of conquest; go, sire, not that you incur any risk, for your +adversary is powerful enough to show you mercy, but because it would be +humiliating for a grandson of Saint Louis to owe his life to the man of +Arcola, Marengo, Austerlitz.' Tell him this, Gerard; or, rather, tell +him nothing. Keep your journey a secret; do not boast of what you +have come to Paris to do, or have done; return with all speed; enter +Marseilles at night, and your house by the back-door, and there remain, +quiet, submissive, secret, and, above all, inoffensive; for this time, I +swear to you, we shall act like powerful men who know their enemies. Go, +my son--go, my dear Gerard, and by your obedience to my paternal orders, +or, if you prefer it, friendly counsels, we will keep you in your place. +This will be," added Noirtier, with a smile, "one means by which you +may a second time save me, if the political balance should some day take +another turn, and cast you aloft while hurling me down. Adieu, my dear +Gerard, and at your next journey alight at my door." Noirtier left the +room when he had finished, with the same calmness that had characterized +him during the whole of this remarkable and trying conversation. +Villefort, pale and agitated, ran to the window, put aside the curtain, +and saw him pass, cool and collected, by two or three ill-looking men at +the corner of the street, who were there, perhaps, to arrest a man with +black whiskers, and a blue frock-coat, and hat with broad brim. + +Villefort stood watching, breathless, until his father had disappeared +at the Rue Bussy. Then he turned to the various articles he had left +behind him, put the black cravat and blue frock-coat at the bottom of +the portmanteau, threw the hat into a dark closet, broke the cane into +small bits and flung it in the fire, put on his travelling-cap, and +calling his valet, checked with a look the thousand questions he was +ready to ask, paid his bill, sprang into his carriage, which was ready, +learned at Lyons that Bonaparte had entered Grenoble, and in the +midst of the tumult which prevailed along the road, at length reached +Marseilles, a prey to all the hopes and fears which enter into the heart +of man with ambition and its first successes. + + + +Chapter 13. The Hundred Days. + +M. Noirtier was a true prophet, and things progressed rapidly, as he had +predicted. Every one knows the history of the famous return from Elba, +a return which was unprecedented in the past, and will probably remain +without a counterpart in the future. + +Louis XVIII. made but a faint attempt to parry this unexpected blow; +the monarchy he had scarcely reconstructed tottered on its precarious +foundation, and at a sign from the emperor the incongruous structure +of ancient prejudices and new ideas fell to the ground. Villefort, +therefore, gained nothing save the king's gratitude (which was rather +likely to injure him at the present time) and the cross of the Legion of +Honor, which he had the prudence not to wear, although M. de Blacas had +duly forwarded the brevet. + +Napoleon would, doubtless, have deprived Villefort of his office had +it not been for Noirtier, who was all powerful at court, and thus the +Girondin of '93 and the Senator of 1806 protected him who so lately +had been his protector. All Villefort's influence barely enabled him to +stifle the secret Dantes had so nearly divulged. The king's procureur +alone was deprived of his office, being suspected of royalism. + +However, scarcely was the imperial power established--that is, scarcely +had the emperor re-entered the Tuileries and begun to issue orders from +the closet into which we have introduced our readers,--he found on the +table there Louis XVIII.'s half-filled snuff-box,--scarcely had this +occurred when Marseilles began, in spite of the authorities, to rekindle +the flames of civil war, always smouldering in the south, and it +required but little to excite the populace to acts of far greater +violence than the shouts and insults with which they assailed the +royalists whenever they ventured abroad. + +Owing to this change, the worthy shipowner became at that moment--we +will not say all powerful, because Morrel was a prudent and rather +a timid man, so much so, that many of the most zealous partisans of +Bonaparte accused him of "moderation"--but sufficiently influential to +make a demand in favor of Dantes. + +Villefort retained his place, but his marriage was put off until a more +favorable opportunity. If the emperor remained on the throne, Gerard +required a different alliance to aid his career; if Louis XVIII. +returned, the influence of M. de Saint-Meran, like his own, could +be vastly increased, and the marriage be still more suitable. The +deputy-procureur was, therefore, the first magistrate of Marseilles, +when one morning his door opened, and M. Morrel was announced. + +Any one else would have hastened to receive him; but Villefort was a man +of ability, and he knew this would be a sign of weakness. He made Morrel +wait in the ante-chamber, although he had no one with him, for the +simple reason that the king's procureur always makes every one wait, and +after passing a quarter of an hour in reading the papers, he ordered M. +Morrel to be admitted. + +Morrel expected Villefort would be dejected; he found him as he had +found him six weeks before, calm, firm, and full of that glacial +politeness, that most insurmountable barrier which separates the +well-bred from the vulgar man. + +He had entered Villefort's office expecting that the magistrate would +tremble at the sight of him; on the contrary, he felt a cold shudder all +over him when he saw Villefort sitting there with his elbow on his desk, +and his head leaning on his hand. He stopped at the door; Villefort +gazed at him as if he had some difficulty in recognizing him; then, +after a brief interval, during which the honest shipowner turned his hat +in his hands,-- + +"M. Morrel, I believe?" said Villefort. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Come nearer," said the magistrate, with a patronizing wave of the hand, +"and tell me to what circumstance I owe the honor of this visit." + +"Do you not guess, monsieur?" asked Morrel. + +"Not in the least; but if I can serve you in any way I shall be +delighted." + +"Everything depends on you." + +"Explain yourself, pray." + +"Monsieur," said Morrel, recovering his assurance as he proceeded, "do +you recollect that a few days before the landing of his majesty the +emperor, I came to intercede for a young man, the mate of my ship, who +was accused of being concerned in correspondence with the Island of +Elba? What was the other day a crime is to-day a title to favor. You +then served Louis XVIII., and you did not show any favor--it was your +duty; to-day you serve Napoleon, and you ought to protect him--it is +equally your duty; I come, therefore, to ask what has become of him?" + +Villefort by a strong effort sought to control himself. "What is his +name?" said he. "Tell me his name." + +"Edmond Dantes." + +Villefort would probably have rather stood opposite the muzzle of a +pistol at five-and-twenty paces than have heard this name spoken; but he +did not blanch. + +"Dantes," repeated he, "Edmond Dantes." + +"Yes, monsieur." Villefort opened a large register, then went to a +table, from the table turned to his registers, and then, turning to +Morrel,-- + +"Are you quite sure you are not mistaken, monsieur?" said he, in the +most natural tone in the world. + +Had Morrel been a more quick-sighted man, or better versed in these +matters, he would have been surprised at the king's procureur answering +him on such a subject, instead of referring him to the governors of the +prison or the prefect of the department. But Morrel, disappointed in +his expectations of exciting fear, was conscious only of the other's +condescension. Villefort had calculated rightly. + +"No," said Morrel; "I am not mistaken. I have known him for ten years, +the last four of which he was in my service. Do not you recollect, I +came about six weeks ago to plead for clemency, as I come to-day to +plead for justice. You received me very coldly. Oh, the royalists were +very severe with the Bonapartists in those days." + +"Monsieur," returned Villefort, "I was then a royalist, because I +believed the Bourbons not only the heirs to the throne, but the chosen +of the nation. The miraculous return of Napoleon has conquered me, the +legitimate monarch is he who is loved by his people." + +"That's right!" cried Morrel. "I like to hear you speak thus, and I +augur well for Edmond from it." + +"Wait a moment," said Villefort, turning over the leaves of a register; +"I have it--a sailor, who was about to marry a young Catalan girl. I +recollect now; it was a very serious charge." + +"How so?" + +"You know that when he left here he was taken to the Palais de Justice." + +"Well?" + +"I made my report to the authorities at Paris, and a week after he was +carried off." + +"Carried off!" said Morrel. "What can they have done with him?" + +"Oh, he has been taken to Fenestrelles, to Pignerol, or to the +Sainte-Marguerite islands. Some fine morning he will return to take +command of your vessel." + +"Come when he will, it shall be kept for him. But how is it he is not +already returned? It seems to me the first care of government should be +to set at liberty those who have suffered for their adherence to it." + +"Do not be too hasty, M. Morrel," replied Villefort. "The order of +imprisonment came from high authority, and the order for his liberation +must proceed from the same source; and, as Napoleon has scarcely been +reinstated a fortnight, the letters have not yet been forwarded." + +"But," said Morrel, "is there no way of expediting all these +formalities--of releasing him from arrest?" + +"There has been no arrest." + +"How?" + +"It is sometimes essential to government to cause a man's disappearance +without leaving any traces, so that no written forms or documents may +defeat their wishes." + +"It might be so under the Bourbons, but at present"-- + +"It has always been so, my dear Morrel, since the reign of Louis XIV. +The emperor is more strict in prison discipline than even Louis himself, +and the number of prisoners whose names are not on the register is +incalculable." Had Morrel even any suspicions, so much kindness would +have dispelled them. + +"Well, M. de Villefort, how would you advise me to act?" asked he. + +"Petition the minister." + +"Oh, I know what that is; the minister receives two hundred petitions +every day, and does not read three." + +"That is true; but he will read a petition countersigned and presented +by me." + +"And will you undertake to deliver it?" + +"With the greatest pleasure. Dantes was then guilty, and now he is +innocent, and it is as much my duty to free him as it was to condemn +him." Villefort thus forestalled any danger of an inquiry, which, +however improbable it might be, if it did take place would leave him +defenceless. + +"But how shall I address the minister?" + +"Sit down there," said Villefort, giving up his place to Morrel, "and +write what I dictate." + +"Will you be so good?" + +"Certainly. But lose no time; we have lost too much already." + +"That is true. Only think what the poor fellow may even now be +suffering." Villefort shuddered at the suggestion; but he had gone +too far to draw back. Dantes must be crushed to gratify Villefort's +ambition. + +Villefort dictated a petition, in which, from an excellent intention, no +doubt, Dantes' patriotic services were exaggerated, and he was made out +one of the most active agents of Napoleon's return. It was evident that +at the sight of this document the minister would instantly release him. +The petition finished, Villefort read it aloud. + +"That will do," said he; "leave the rest to me." + +"Will the petition go soon?" + +"To-day." + +"Countersigned by you?" + +"The best thing I can do will be to certify the truth of the contents +of your petition." And, sitting down, Villefort wrote the certificate at +the bottom. + +"What more is to be done?" + +"I will do whatever is necessary." This assurance delighted Morrel, who +took leave of Villefort, and hastened to announce to old Dantes that he +would soon see his son. + +As for Villefort, instead of sending to Paris, he carefully preserved +the petition that so fearfully compromised Dantes, in the hopes of an +event that seemed not unlikely,--that is, a second restoration. Dantes +remained a prisoner, and heard not the noise of the fall of Louis +XVIII.'s throne, or the still more tragic destruction of the empire. + +Twice during the Hundred Days had Morrel renewed his demand, and twice +had Villefort soothed him with promises. At last there was Waterloo, +and Morrel came no more; he had done all that was in his power, and any +fresh attempt would only compromise himself uselessly. + +Louis XVIII. remounted the throne; Villefort, to whom Marseilles +had become filled with remorseful memories, sought and obtained the +situation of king's procureur at Toulouse, and a fortnight afterwards +he married Mademoiselle de Saint-Meran, whose father now stood higher at +court than ever. + +And so Dantes, after the Hundred Days and after Waterloo, remained in +his dungeon, forgotten of earth and heaven. Danglars comprehended the +full extent of the wretched fate that overwhelmed Dantes; and, when +Napoleon returned to France, he, after the manner of mediocre minds, +termed the coincidence, "a decree of Providence." But when Napoleon +returned to Paris, Danglars' heart failed him, and he lived in constant +fear of Dantes' return on a mission of vengeance. He therefore informed +M. Morrel of his wish to quit the sea, and obtained a recommendation +from him to a Spanish merchant, into whose service he entered at the end +of March, that is, ten or twelve days after Napoleon's return. He then +left for Madrid, and was no more heard of. + +Fernand understood nothing except that Dantes was absent. What had +become of him he cared not to inquire. Only, during the respite the +absence of his rival afforded him, he reflected, partly on the means of +deceiving Mercedes as to the cause of his absence, partly on plans of +emigration and abduction, as from time to time he sat sad and motionless +on the summit of Cape Pharo, at the spot from whence Marseilles and +the Catalans are visible, watching for the apparition of a young and +handsome man, who was for him also the messenger of vengeance. Fernand's +mind was made up; he would shoot Dantes, and then kill himself. But +Fernand was mistaken; a man of his disposition never kills himself, for +he constantly hopes. + +During this time the empire made its last conscription, and every man +in France capable of bearing arms rushed to obey the summons of the +emperor. Fernand departed with the rest, bearing with him the terrible +thought that while he was away, his rival would perhaps return and marry +Mercedes. Had Fernand really meant to kill himself, he would have done +so when he parted from Mercedes. His devotion, and the compassion he +showed for her misfortunes, produced the effect they always produce on +noble minds--Mercedes had always had a sincere regard for Fernand, and +this was now strengthened by gratitude. + +"My brother," said she as she placed his knapsack on his shoulders, +"be careful of yourself, for if you are killed, I shall be alone in the +world." These words carried a ray of hope into Fernand's heart. Should +Dantes not return, Mercedes might one day be his. + +Mercedes was left alone face to face with the vast plain that had never +seemed so barren, and the sea that had never seemed so vast. Bathed in +tears she wandered about the Catalan village. Sometimes she stood mute +and motionless as a statue, looking towards Marseilles, at other times +gazing on the sea, and debating as to whether it were not better to cast +herself into the abyss of the ocean, and thus end her woes. It was +not want of courage that prevented her putting this resolution into +execution; but her religious feelings came to her aid and saved her. +Caderousse was, like Fernand, enrolled in the army, but, being married +and eight years older, he was merely sent to the frontier. Old Dantes, +who was only sustained by hope, lost all hope at Napoleon's downfall. +Five months after he had been separated from his son, and almost at the +hour of his arrest, he breathed his last in Mercedes' arms. M. Morrel +paid the expenses of his funeral, and a few small debts the poor old man +had contracted. + +There was more than benevolence in this action; there was courage; the +south was aflame, and to assist, even on his death-bed, the father of so +dangerous a Bonapartist as Dantes, was stigmatized as a crime. + + + +Chapter 14. The Two Prisoners. + +A year after Louis XVIII.'s restoration, a visit was made by the +inspector-general of prisons. Dantes in his cell heard the noise of +preparation,--sounds that at the depth where he lay would have been +inaudible to any but the ear of a prisoner, who could hear the splash of +the drop of water that every hour fell from the roof of his dungeon. He +guessed something uncommon was passing among the living; but he had so +long ceased to have any intercourse with the world, that he looked upon +himself as dead. + +The inspector visited, one after another, the cells and dungeons of +several of the prisoners, whose good behavior or stupidity recommended +them to the clemency of the government. He inquired how they were fed, +and if they had any request to make. The universal response was, that +the fare was detestable, and that they wanted to be set free. + +The inspector asked if they had anything else to ask for. They shook +their heads. What could they desire beyond their liberty? The inspector +turned smilingly to the governor. + +"I do not know what reason government can assign for these useless +visits; when you see one prisoner, you see all,--always the same +thing,--ill fed and innocent. Are there any others?" + +"Yes; the dangerous and mad prisoners are in the dungeons." + +"Let us visit them," said the inspector with an air of fatigue. "We must +play the farce to the end. Let us see the dungeons." + +"Let us first send for two soldiers," said the governor. "The prisoners +sometimes, through mere uneasiness of life, and in order to be sentenced +to death, commit acts of useless violence, and you might fall a victim." + +"Take all needful precautions," replied the inspector. + +Two soldiers were accordingly sent for, and the inspector descended +a stairway, so foul, so humid, so dark, as to be loathsome to sight, +smell, and respiration. + +"Oh," cried the inspector, "who can live here?" + +"A most dangerous conspirator, a man we are ordered to keep the most +strict watch over, as he is daring and resolute." + +"He is alone?" + +"Certainly." + +"How long has he been there?" + +"Nearly a year." + +"Was he placed here when he first arrived?" + +"No; not until he attempted to kill the turnkey, who took his food to +him." + +"To kill the turnkey?" + +"Yes, the very one who is lighting us. Is it not true, Antoine?" asked +the governor. + +"True enough; he wanted to kill me!" returned the turnkey. + +"He must be mad," said the inspector. + +"He is worse than that,--he is a devil!" returned the turnkey. + +"Shall I complain of him?" demanded the inspector. + +"Oh, no; it is useless. Besides, he is almost mad now, and in another +year he will be quite so." + +"So much the better for him,--he will suffer less," said the inspector. +He was, as this remark shows, a man full of philanthropy, and in every +way fit for his office. + +"You are right, sir," replied the governor; "and this remark proves that +you have deeply considered the subject. Now we have in a dungeon about +twenty feet distant, and to which you descend by another stair, an abbe, +formerly leader of a party in Italy, who has been here since 1811, and +in 1813 he went mad, and the change is astonishing. He used to weep, he +now laughs; he grew thin, he now grows fat. You had better see him, for +his madness is amusing." + +"I will see them both," returned the inspector; "I must conscientiously +perform my duty." This was the inspector's first visit; he wished to +display his authority. + +"Let us visit this one first," added he. + +"By all means," replied the governor, and he signed to the turnkey to +open the door. At the sound of the key turning in the lock, and the +creaking of the hinges, Dantes, who was crouched in a corner of the +dungeon, whence he could see the ray of light that came through a narrow +iron grating above, raised his head. Seeing a stranger, escorted by two +turnkeys holding torches and accompanied by two soldiers, and to whom +the governor spoke bareheaded, Dantes, who guessed the truth, and that +the moment to address himself to the superior authorities was come, +sprang forward with clasped hands. + +The soldiers interposed their bayonets, for they thought that he was +about to attack the inspector, and the latter recoiled two or three +steps. Dantes saw that he was looked upon as dangerous. Then, infusing +all the humility he possessed into his eyes and voice, he addressed the +inspector, and sought to inspire him with pity. + +The inspector listened attentively; then, turning to the governor, +observed, "He will become religious--he is already more gentle; he is +afraid, and retreated before the bayonets--madmen are not afraid of +anything; I made some curious observations on this at Charenton." Then, +turning to the prisoner, "What is it you want?" said he. + +"I want to know what crime I have committed--to be tried; and if I am +guilty, to be shot; if innocent, to be set at liberty." + +"Are you well fed?" said the inspector. + +"I believe so; I don't know; it's of no consequence. What matters +really, not only to me, but to officers of justice and the king, is that +an innocent man should languish in prison, the victim of an infamous +denunciation, to die here cursing his executioners." + +"You are very humble to-day," remarked the governor; "you are not +so always; the other day, for instance, when you tried to kill the +turnkey." + +"It is true, sir, and I beg his pardon, for he his always been very good +to me, but I was mad." + +"And you are not so any longer?" + +"No; captivity has subdued me--I have been here so long." + +"So long?--when were you arrested, then?" asked the inspector. + +"The 28th of February, 1815, at half-past two in the afternoon." + +"To-day is the 30th of July, 1816,--why it is but seventeen months." + +"Only seventeen months," replied Dantes. "Oh, you do not know what is +seventeen months in prison!--seventeen ages rather, especially to a man +who, like me, had arrived at the summit of his ambition--to a man, who, +like me, was on the point of marrying a woman he adored, who saw an +honorable career opened before him, and who loses all in an instant--who +sees his prospects destroyed, and is ignorant of the fate of his +affianced wife, and whether his aged father be still living! Seventeen +months captivity to a sailor accustomed to the boundless ocean, is a +worse punishment than human crime ever merited. Have pity on me, +then, and ask for me, not intelligence, but a trial; not pardon, but a +verdict--a trial, sir, I ask only for a trial; that, surely, cannot be +denied to one who is accused!" + +"We shall see," said the inspector; then, turning to the governor, "On +my word, the poor devil touches me. You must show me the proofs against +him." + +"Certainly; but you will find terrible charges." + +"Monsieur," continued Dantes, "I know it is not in your power to release +me; but you can plead for me--you can have me tried--and that is all +I ask. Let me know my crime, and the reason why I was condemned. +Uncertainty is worse than all." + +"Go on with the lights," said the inspector. + +"Monsieur," cried Dantes, "I can tell by your voice you are touched with +pity; tell me at least to hope." + +"I cannot tell you that," replied the inspector; "I can only promise to +examine into your case." + +"Oh, I am free--then I am saved!" + +"Who arrested you?" + +"M. Villefort. See him, and hear what he says." + +"M. Villefort is no longer at Marseilles; he is now at Toulouse." + +"I am no longer surprised at my detention," murmured Dantes, "since my +only protector is removed." + +"Had M. de Villefort any cause of personal dislike to you?" + +"None; on the contrary, he was very kind to me." + +"I can, then, rely on the notes he has left concerning you?" + +"Entirely." + +"That is well; wait patiently, then." Dantes fell on his knees, and +prayed earnestly. The door closed; but this time a fresh inmate was left +with Dantes--hope. + +"Will you see the register at once," asked the governor, "or proceed to +the other cell?" + +"Let us visit them all," said the inspector. "If I once went up those +stairs. I should never have the courage to come down again." + +"Ah, this one is not like the other, and his madness is less affecting +than this one's display of reason." + +"What is his folly?" + +"He fancies he possesses an immense treasure. The first year he offered +government a million of francs for his release; the second, two; the +third, three; and so on progressively. He is now in his fifth year of +captivity; he will ask to speak to you in private, and offer you five +millions." + +"How curious!--what is his name?" + +"The Abbe Faria." + +"No. 27," said the inspector. + +"It is here; unlock the door, Antoine." The turnkey obeyed, and the +inspector gazed curiously into the chamber of the "mad abbe." + +In the centre of the cell, in a circle traced with a fragment of plaster +detached from the wall, sat a man whose tattered garments scarcely +covered him. He was drawing in this circle geometrical lines, and seemed +as much absorbed in his problem as Archimedes was when the soldier of +Marcellus slew him. + +He did not move at the sound of the door, and continued his calculations +until the flash of the torches lighted up with an unwonted glare the +sombre walls of his cell; then, raising his head, he perceived with +astonishment the number of persons present. He hastily seized the +coverlet of his bed, and wrapped it round him. + +"What is it you want?" said the inspector. + +"I, monsieur," replied the abbe with an air of surprise--"I want +nothing." + +"You do not understand," continued the inspector; "I am sent here by +government to visit the prison, and hear the requests of the prisoners." + +"Oh, that is different," cried the abbe; "and we shall understand each +other, I hope." + +"There, now," whispered the governor, "it is just as I told you." + +"Monsieur," continued the prisoner, "I am the Abbe Faria, born at Rome. +I was for twenty years Cardinal Spada's secretary; I was arrested, why, +I know not, toward the beginning of the year 1811; since then I have +demanded my liberty from the Italian and French government." + +"Why from the French government?" + +"Because I was arrested at Piombino, and I presume that, like Milan and +Florence, Piombino has become the capital of some French department." + +"Ah," said the inspector, "you have not the latest news from Italy?" + +"My information dates from the day on which I was arrested," returned +the Abbe Faria; "and as the emperor had created the kingdom of Rome for +his infant son, I presume that he has realized the dream of Machiavelli +and Caesar Borgia, which was to make Italy a united kingdom." + +"Monsieur," returned the inspector, "providence has changed this +gigantic plan you advocate so warmly." + +"It is the only means of rendering Italy strong, happy, and +independent." + +"Very possibly; only I am not come to discuss politics, but to inquire +if you have anything to ask or to complain of." + +"The food is the same as in other prisons,--that is, very bad; the +lodging is very unhealthful, but, on the whole, passable for a dungeon; +but it is not that which I wish to speak of, but a secret I have to +reveal of the greatest importance." + +"We are coming to the point," whispered the governor. + +"It is for that reason I am delighted to see you," continued the abbe, +"although you have disturbed me in a most important calculation, which, +if it succeeded, would possibly change Newton's system. Could you allow +me a few words in private." + +"What did I tell you?" said the governor. + +"You knew him," returned the inspector with a smile. + +"What you ask is impossible, monsieur," continued he, addressing Faria. + +"But," said the abbe, "I would speak to you of a large sum, amounting to +five millions." + +"The very sum you named," whispered the inspector in his turn. + +"However," continued Faria, seeing that the inspector was about to +depart, "it is not absolutely necessary for us to be alone; the governor +can be present." + +"Unfortunately," said the governor, "I know beforehand what you are +about to say; it concerns your treasures, does it not?" Faria fixed his +eyes on him with an expression that would have convinced any one else of +his sanity. + +"Of course," said he; "of what else should I speak?" + +"Mr. Inspector," continued the governor, "I can tell you the story as +well as he, for it has been dinned in my ears for the last four or five +years." + +"That proves," returned the abbe, "that you are like those of Holy Writ, +who having ears hear not, and having eyes see not." + +"My dear sir, the government is rich and does not want your treasures," +replied the inspector; "keep them until you are liberated." The abbe's +eyes glistened; he seized the inspector's hand. + +"But what if I am not liberated," cried he, "and am detained here until +my death? this treasure will be lost. Had not government better profit +by it? I will offer six millions, and I will content myself with the +rest, if they will only give me my liberty." + +"On my word," said the inspector in a low tone, "had I not been told +beforehand that this man was mad, I should believe what he says." + +"I am not mad," replied Faria, with that acuteness of hearing peculiar +to prisoners. "The treasure I speak of really exists, and I offer to +sign an agreement with you, in which I promise to lead you to the spot +where you shall dig; and if I deceive you, bring me here again,--I ask +no more." + +The governor laughed. "Is the spot far from here?" + +"A hundred leagues." + +"It is not ill-planned," said the governor. "If all the prisoners took +it into their heads to travel a hundred leagues, and their guardians +consented to accompany them, they would have a capital chance of +escaping." + +"The scheme is well known," said the inspector; "and the abbe's plan has +not even the merit of originality." + +Then turning to Faria--"I inquired if you are well fed?" said he. + +"Swear to me," replied Faria, "to free me if what I tell you prove true, +and I will stay here while you go to the spot." + +"Are you well fed?" repeated the inspector. + +"Monsieur, you run no risk, for, as I told you, I will stay here; so +there is no chance of my escaping." + +"You do not reply to my question," replied the inspector impatiently. + +"Nor you to mine," cried the abbe. "You will not accept my gold; I will +keep it for myself. You refuse me my liberty; God will give it me." And +the abbe, casting away his coverlet, resumed his place, and continued +his calculations. + +"What is he doing there?" said the inspector. + +"Counting his treasures," replied the governor. + +Faria replied to this sarcasm with a glance of profound contempt. They +went out. The turnkey closed the door behind them. + +"He was wealthy once, perhaps?" said the inspector. + +"Or dreamed he was, and awoke mad." + +"After all," said the inspector, "if he had been rich, he would not have +been here." So the matter ended for the Abbe Faria. He remained in his +cell, and this visit only increased the belief in his insanity. + +Caligula or Nero, those treasure-seekers, those desirers of the +impossible, would have accorded to the poor wretch, in exchange for his +wealth, the liberty he so earnestly prayed for. But the kings of modern +times, restrained by the limits of mere probability, have neither +courage nor desire. They fear the ear that hears their orders, and the +eye that scrutinizes their actions. Formerly they believed themselves +sprung from Jupiter, and shielded by their birth; but nowadays they are +not inviolable. + +It has always been against the policy of despotic governments to suffer +the victims of their persecutions to reappear. As the Inquisition rarely +allowed its victims to be seen with their limbs distorted and their +flesh lacerated by torture, so madness is always concealed in its cell, +from whence, should it depart, it is conveyed to some gloomy hospital, +where the doctor has no thought for man or mind in the mutilated being +the jailer delivers to him. The very madness of the Abbe Faria, gone mad +in prison, condemned him to perpetual captivity. + +The inspector kept his word with Dantes; he examined the register, and +found the following note concerning him:-- + +Edmond Dantes: + +Violent Bonapartist; took an active part in the return from Elba. + +The greatest watchfulness and care to be exercised. + +This note was in a different hand from the rest, which showed that it +had been added since his confinement. The inspector could not contend +against this accusation; he simply wrote,--"Nothing to be done." + +This visit had infused new vigor into Dantes; he had, till then, +forgotten the date; but now, with a fragment of plaster, he wrote the +date, 30th July, 1816, and made a mark every day, in order not to lose +his reckoning again. Days and weeks passed away, then months--Dantes +still waited; he at first expected to be freed in a fortnight. This +fortnight expired, he decided that the inspector would do nothing until +his return to Paris, and that he would not reach there until his circuit +was finished, he therefore fixed three months; three months passed +away, then six more. Finally ten months and a half had gone by and +no favorable change had taken place, and Dantes began to fancy the +inspector's visit but a dream, an illusion of the brain. + +At the expiration of a year the governor was transferred; he had +obtained charge of the fortress at Ham. He took with him several of his +subordinates, and amongst them Dantes' jailer. A new governor arrived; +it would have been too tedious to acquire the names of the prisoners; +he learned their numbers instead. This horrible place contained fifty +cells; their inhabitants were designated by the numbers of their cell, +and the unhappy young man was no longer called Edmond Dantes--he was now +number 34. + + + +Chapter 15. Number 34 and Number 27. + +Dantes passed through all the stages of torture natural to prisoners in +suspense. He was sustained at first by that pride of conscious innocence +which is the sequence to hope; then he began to doubt his own innocence, +which justified in some measure the governor's belief in his mental +alienation; and then, relaxing his sentiment of pride, he addressed his +supplications, not to God, but to man. God is always the last resource. +Unfortunates, who ought to begin with God, do not have any hope in him +till they have exhausted all other means of deliverance. + +Dantes asked to be removed from his present dungeon into another; for +a change, however disadvantageous, was still a change, and would afford +him some amusement. He entreated to be allowed to walk about, to have +fresh air, books, and writing materials. His requests were not granted, +but he went on asking all the same. He accustomed himself to speaking to +the new jailer, although the latter was, if possible, more taciturn +than the old one; but still, to speak to a man, even though mute, was +something. Dantes spoke for the sake of hearing his own voice; he had +tried to speak when alone, but the sound of his voice terrified him. +Often, before his captivity, Dantes' mind had revolted at the idea of +assemblages of prisoners, made up of thieves, vagabonds, and murderers. +He now wished to be amongst them, in order to see some other face +besides that of his jailer; he sighed for the galleys, with the infamous +costume, the chain, and the brand on the shoulder. The galley-slaves +breathed the fresh air of heaven, and saw each other. They were very +happy. He besought the jailer one day to let him have a companion, were +it even the mad abbe. + +The jailer, though rough and hardened by the constant sight of so much +suffering, was yet a man. At the bottom of his heart he had often had a +feeling of pity for this unhappy young man who suffered so; and he laid +the request of number 34 before the governor; but the latter sapiently +imagined that Dantes wished to conspire or attempt an escape, and +refused his request. Dantes had exhausted all human resources, and he +then turned to God. + +All the pious ideas that had been so long forgotten, returned; he +recollected the prayers his mother had taught him, and discovered a new +meaning in every word; for in prosperity prayers seem but a mere +medley of words, until misfortune comes and the unhappy sufferer first +understands the meaning of the sublime language in which he invokes the +pity of heaven! He prayed, and prayed aloud, no longer terrified at +the sound of his own voice, for he fell into a sort of ecstasy. He +laid every action of his life before the Almighty, proposed tasks to +accomplish, and at the end of every prayer introduced the entreaty +oftener addressed to man than to God: "Forgive us our trespasses as +we forgive them that trespass against us." Yet in spite of his earnest +prayers, Dantes remained a prisoner. + +Then gloom settled heavily upon him. Dantes was a man of great +simplicity of thought, and without education; he could not, therefore, +in the solitude of his dungeon, traverse in mental vision the history of +the ages, bring to life the nations that had perished, and rebuild the +ancient cities so vast and stupendous in the light of the imagination, +and that pass before the eye glowing with celestial colors in Martin's +Babylonian pictures. He could not do this, he whose past life was so +short, whose present so melancholy, and his future so doubtful. Nineteen +years of light to reflect upon in eternal darkness! No distraction could +come to his aid; his energetic spirit, that would have exalted in thus +revisiting the past, was imprisoned like an eagle in a cage. He clung to +one idea--that of his happiness, destroyed, without apparent cause, +by an unheard-of fatality; he considered and reconsidered this idea, +devoured it (so to speak), as the implacable Ugolino devours the skull +of Archbishop Roger in the Inferno of Dante. + +Rage supplanted religious fervor. Dantes uttered blasphemies that made +his jailer recoil with horror, dashed himself furiously against the +walls of his prison, wreaked his anger upon everything, and chiefly upon +himself, so that the least thing,--a grain of sand, a straw, or a breath +of air that annoyed him, led to paroxysms of fury. Then the letter that +Villefort had showed to him recurred to his mind, and every line gleamed +forth in fiery letters on the wall like the mene tekel upharsin of +Belshazzar. He told himself that it was the enmity of man, and not the +vengeance of heaven, that had thus plunged him into the deepest misery. +He consigned his unknown persecutors to the most horrible tortures he +could imagine, and found them all insufficient, because after torture +came death, and after death, if not repose, at least the boon of +unconsciousness. + +By dint of constantly dwelling on the idea that tranquillity was death, +and if punishment were the end in view other tortures than death must be +invented, he began to reflect on suicide. Unhappy he, who, on the brink +of misfortune, broods over ideas like these! + +Before him is a dead sea that stretches in azure calm before the eye; +but he who unwarily ventures within its embrace finds himself struggling +with a monster that would drag him down to perdition. Once thus +ensnared, unless the protecting hand of God snatch him thence, all is +over, and his struggles but tend to hasten his destruction. This state +of mental anguish is, however, less terrible than the sufferings that +precede or the punishment that possibly will follow. There is a sort of +consolation at the contemplation of the yawning abyss, at the bottom of +which lie darkness and obscurity. + +Edmond found some solace in these ideas. All his sorrows, all his +sufferings, with their train of gloomy spectres, fled from his cell when +the angel of death seemed about to enter. Dantes reviewed his past +life with composure, and, looking forward with terror to his future +existence, chose that middle line that seemed to afford him a refuge. + +"Sometimes," said he, "in my voyages, when I was a man and commanded +other men, I have seen the heavens overcast, the sea rage and foam, the +storm arise, and, like a monstrous bird, beating the two horizons with +its wings. Then I felt that my vessel was a vain refuge, that trembled +and shook before the tempest. Soon the fury of the waves and the sight +of the sharp rocks announced the approach of death, and death then +terrified me, and I used all my skill and intelligence as a man and a +sailor to struggle against the wrath of God. But I did so because I was +happy, because I had not courted death, because to be cast upon a bed +of rocks and seaweed seemed terrible, because I was unwilling that I, a +creature made for the service of God, should serve for food to the gulls +and ravens. But now it is different; I have lost all that bound me to +life, death smiles and invites me to repose; I die after my own manner, +I die exhausted and broken-spirited, as I fall asleep when I have paced +three thousand times round my cell." + +No sooner had this idea taken possession of him than he became more +composed, arranged his couch to the best of his power, ate little and +slept less, and found existence almost supportable, because he felt that +he could throw it off at pleasure, like a worn-out garment. Two methods +of self-destruction were at his disposal. He could hang himself with his +handkerchief to the window bars, or refuse food and die of starvation. +But the first was repugnant to him. Dantes had always entertained the +greatest horror of pirates, who are hung up to the yard-arm; he would +not die by what seemed an infamous death. He resolved to adopt the +second, and began that day to carry out his resolve. Nearly four years +had passed away; at the end of the second he had ceased to mark the +lapse of time. + +Dantes said, "I wish to die," and had chosen the manner of his death, +and fearful of changing his mind, he had taken an oath to die. "When my +morning and evening meals are brought," thought he, "I will cast them +out of the window, and they will think that I have eaten them." + +He kept his word; twice a day he cast out, through the barred aperture, +the provisions his jailer brought him--at first gayly, then with +deliberation, and at last with regret. Nothing but the recollection +of his oath gave him strength to proceed. Hunger made viands once +repugnant, now acceptable; he held the plate in his hand for an hour +at a time, and gazed thoughtfully at the morsel of bad meat, of tainted +fish, of black and mouldy bread. It was the last yearning for life +contending with the resolution of despair; then his dungeon seemed less +sombre, his prospects less desperate. He was still young--he was +only four or five and twenty--he had nearly fifty years to live. What +unforseen events might not open his prison door, and restore him to +liberty? Then he raised to his lips the repast that, like a voluntary +Tantalus, he refused himself; but he thought of his oath, and he +would not break it. He persisted until, at last, he had not sufficient +strength to rise and cast his supper out of the loophole. The next +morning he could not see or hear; the jailer feared he was dangerously +ill. Edmond hoped he was dying. + +Thus the day passed away. Edmond felt a sort of stupor creeping over him +which brought with it a feeling almost of content; the gnawing pain at +his stomach had ceased; his thirst had abated; when he closed his eyes +he saw myriads of lights dancing before them like the will-o'-the-wisps +that play about the marshes. It was the twilight of that mysterious +country called Death! + +Suddenly, about nine o'clock in the evening, Edmond heard a hollow sound +in the wall against which he was lying. + +So many loathsome animals inhabited the prison, that their noise did +not, in general, awake him; but whether abstinence had quickened his +faculties, or whether the noise was really louder than usual, Edmond +raised his head and listened. It was a continual scratching, as if made +by a huge claw, a powerful tooth, or some iron instrument attacking the +stones. + +Although weakened, the young man's brain instantly responded to the idea +that haunts all prisoners--liberty! It seemed to him that heaven had +at length taken pity on him, and had sent this noise to warn him on the +very brink of the abyss. Perhaps one of those beloved ones he had so +often thought of was thinking of him, and striving to diminish the +distance that separated them. + +No, no, doubtless he was deceived, and it was but one of those dreams +that forerun death! + +Edmond still heard the sound. It lasted nearly three hours; he then +heard a noise of something falling, and all was silent. + +Some hours afterwards it began again, nearer and more distinct. Edmond +was intensely interested. Suddenly the jailer entered. + +For a week since he had resolved to die, and during the four days that +he had been carrying out his purpose, Edmond had not spoken to the +attendant, had not answered him when he inquired what was the matter +with him, and turned his face to the wall when he looked too curiously +at him; but now the jailer might hear the noise and put an end to +it, and so destroy a ray of something like hope that soothed his last +moments. + +The jailer brought him his breakfast. Dantes raised himself up and began +to talk about everything; about the bad quality of the food, about the +coldness of his dungeon, grumbling and complaining, in order to have an +excuse for speaking louder, and wearying the patience of his jailer, +who out of kindness of heart had brought broth and white bread for his +prisoner. + +Fortunately, he fancied that Dantes was delirious; and placing the food +on the rickety table, he withdrew. Edmond listened, and the sound became +more and more distinct. + +"There can be no doubt about it," thought he; "it is some prisoner who +is striving to obtain his freedom. Oh, if I were only there to help +him!" Suddenly another idea took possession of his mind, so used to +misfortune, that it was scarcely capable of hope--the idea that the +noise was made by workmen the governor had ordered to repair the +neighboring dungeon. + +It was easy to ascertain this; but how could he risk the question? It +was easy to call his jailer's attention to the noise, and watch his +countenance as he listened; but might he not by this means destroy +hopes far more important than the short-lived satisfaction of his own +curiosity? Unfortunately, Edmond's brain was still so feeble that he +could not bend his thoughts to anything in particular. + +He saw but one means of restoring lucidity and clearness to his +judgment. He turned his eyes towards the soup which the jailer had +brought, rose, staggered towards it, raised the vessel to his lips, and +drank off the contents with a feeling of indescribable pleasure. He had +often heard that shipwrecked persons had died through having eagerly +devoured too much food. Edmond replaced on the table the bread he was +about to devour, and returned to his couch--he did not wish to die. He +soon felt that his ideas became again collected--he could think, and +strengthen his thoughts by reasoning. Then he said to himself, "I must +put this to the test, but without compromising anybody. If it is a +workman, I need but knock against the wall, and he will cease to work, +in order to find out who is knocking, and why he does so; but as his +occupation is sanctioned by the governor, he will soon resume it. If, on +the contrary, it is a prisoner, the noise I make will alarm him, he will +cease, and not begin again until he thinks every one is asleep." + +Edmond rose again, but this time his legs did not tremble, and his sight +was clear; he went to a corner of his dungeon, detached a stone, and +with it knocked against the wall where the sound came. He struck thrice. +At the first blow the sound ceased, as if by magic. + +Edmond listened intently; an hour passed, two hours passed, and no sound +was heard from the wall--all was silent there. + +Full of hope, Edmond swallowed a few mouthfuls of bread and water, +and, thanks to the vigor of his constitution, found himself well-nigh +recovered. + +The day passed away in utter silence--night came without recurrence of +the noise. + +"It is a prisoner," said Edmond joyfully. The night passed in perfect +silence. Edmond did not close his eyes. + +In the morning the jailer brought him fresh provisions--he had already +devoured those of the previous day; he ate these listening anxiously for +the sound, walking round and round his cell, shaking the iron bars of +the loophole, restoring vigor and agility to his limbs by exercise, and +so preparing himself for his future destiny. At intervals he listened +to learn if the noise had not begun again, and grew impatient at the +prudence of the prisoner, who did not guess he had been disturbed by a +captive as anxious for liberty as himself. + +Three days passed--seventy-two long tedious hours which he counted off +by minutes! + +At length one evening, as the jailer was visiting him for the last time +that night, Dantes, with his ear for the hundredth time at the wall, +fancied he heard an almost imperceptible movement among the stones. He +moved away, walked up and down his cell to collect his thoughts, and +then went back and listened. + +The matter was no longer doubtful. Something was at work on the other +side of the wall; the prisoner had discovered the danger, and had +substituted a lever for a chisel. + +Encouraged by this discovery, Edmond determined to assist the +indefatigable laborer. He began by moving his bed, and looked around +for anything with which he could pierce the wall, penetrate the moist +cement, and displace a stone. + +He saw nothing, he had no knife or sharp instrument, the window grating +was of iron, but he had too often assured himself of its solidity. All +his furniture consisted of a bed, a chair, a table, a pail, and a jug. +The bed had iron clamps, but they were screwed to the wood, and it would +have required a screw-driver to take them off. The table and chair +had nothing, the pail had once possessed a handle, but that had been +removed. + +Dantes had but one resource, which was to break the jug, and with one of +the sharp fragments attack the wall. He let the jug fall on the floor, +and it broke in pieces. + +Dantes concealed two or three of the sharpest fragments in his bed, +leaving the rest on the floor. The breaking of his jug was too natural +an accident to excite suspicion. Edmond had all the night to work in, +but in the darkness he could not do much, and he soon felt that he was +working against something very hard; he pushed back his bed, and waited +for day. + +All night he heard the subterranean workman, who continued to mine his +way. Day came, the jailer entered. Dantes told him that the jug had +fallen from his hands while he was drinking, and the jailer went +grumblingly to fetch another, without giving himself the trouble to +remove the fragments of the broken one. He returned speedily, advised +the prisoner to be more careful, and departed. + +Dantes heard joyfully the key grate in the lock; he listened until the +sound of steps died away, and then, hastily displacing his bed, saw +by the faint light that penetrated into his cell, that he had labored +uselessly the previous evening in attacking the stone instead of +removing the plaster that surrounded it. + +The damp had rendered it friable, and Dantes was able to break it +off--in small morsels, it is true, but at the end of half an hour he had +scraped off a handful; a mathematician might have calculated that in +two years, supposing that the rock was not encountered, a passage twenty +feet long and two feet broad, might be formed. + +The prisoner reproached himself with not having thus employed the hours +he had passed in vain hopes, prayer, and despondency. During the six +years that he had been imprisoned, what might he not have accomplished? + +In three days he had succeeded, with the utmost precaution, in removing +the cement, and exposing the stone-work. The wall was built of rough +stones, among which, to give strength to the structure, blocks of hewn +stone were at intervals imbedded. It was one of these he had uncovered, +and which he must remove from its socket. + +Dantes strove to do this with his nails, but they were too weak. The +fragments of the jug broke, and after an hour of useless toil, he +paused. + +Was he to be thus stopped at the beginning, and was he to wait inactive +until his fellow workman had completed his task? Suddenly an idea +occurred to him--he smiled, and the perspiration dried on his forehead. + +The jailer always brought Dantes' soup in an iron saucepan; this +saucepan contained soup for both prisoners, for Dantes had noticed that +it was either quite full, or half empty, according as the turnkey gave +it to him or to his companion first. + +The handle of this saucepan was of iron; Dantes would have given ten +years of his life in exchange for it. + +The jailer was accustomed to pour the contents of the saucepan into +Dantes' plate, and Dantes, after eating his soup with a wooden spoon, +washed the plate, which thus served for every day. Now when evening +came Dantes put his plate on the ground near the door; the jailer, as he +entered, stepped on it and broke it. + +This time he could not blame Dantes. He was wrong to leave it there, but +the jailer was wrong not to have looked before him. + +The jailer, therefore, only grumbled. Then he looked about for something +to pour the soup into; Dantes' entire dinner service consisted of one +plate--there was no alternative. + +"Leave the saucepan," said Dantes; "you can take it away when you bring +me my breakfast." This advice was to the jailer's taste, as it spared +him the necessity of making another trip. He left the saucepan. + +Dantes was beside himself with joy. He rapidly devoured his food, +and after waiting an hour, lest the jailer should change his mind and +return, he removed his bed, took the handle of the saucepan, inserted +the point between the hewn stone and rough stones of the wall, and +employed it as a lever. A slight oscillation showed Dantes that all +went well. At the end of an hour the stone was extricated from the wall, +leaving a cavity a foot and a half in diameter. + +Dantes carefully collected the plaster, carried it into the corner of +his cell, and covered it with earth. Then, wishing to make the best +use of his time while he had the means of labor, he continued to work +without ceasing. At the dawn of day he replaced the stone, pushed his +bed against the wall, and lay down. The breakfast consisted of a piece +of bread; the jailer entered and placed the bread on the table. + +"Well, don't you intend to bring me another plate?" said Dantes. + +"No," replied the turnkey; "you destroy everything. First you break your +jug, then you make me break your plate; if all the prisoners followed +your example, the government would be ruined. I shall leave you the +saucepan, and pour your soup into that. So for the future I hope you +will not be so destructive." + +Dantes raised his eyes to heaven and clasped his hands beneath the +coverlet. He felt more gratitude for the possession of this piece of +iron than he had ever felt for anything. He had noticed, however, that +the prisoner on the other side had ceased to labor; no matter, this was +a greater reason for proceeding--if his neighbor would not come to him, +he would go to his neighbor. All day he toiled on untiringly, and by +the evening he had succeeded in extracting ten handfuls of plaster and +fragments of stone. When the hour for his jailer's visit arrived, Dantes +straightened the handle of the saucepan as well as he could, and placed +it in its accustomed place. The turnkey poured his ration of soup +into it, together with the fish--for thrice a week the prisoners were +deprived of meat. This would have been a method of reckoning time, had +not Dantes long ceased to do so. Having poured out the soup, the turnkey +retired. Dantes wished to ascertain whether his neighbor had really +ceased to work. He listened--all was silent, as it had been for the last +three days. Dantes sighed; it was evident that his neighbor distrusted +him. However, he toiled on all the night without being discouraged; but +after two or three hours he encountered an obstacle. The iron made no +impression, but met with a smooth surface; Dantes touched it, and found +that it was a beam. This beam crossed, or rather blocked up, the hole +Dantes had made; it was necessary, therefore, to dig above or under +it. The unhappy young man had not thought of this. "O my God, my God!" +murmured he, "I have so earnestly prayed to you, that I hoped my prayers +had been heard. After having deprived me of my liberty, after having +deprived me of death, after having recalled me to existence, my God, +have pity on me, and do not let me die in despair!" + +"Who talks of God and despair at the same time?" said a voice that +seemed to come from beneath the earth, and, deadened by the distance, +sounded hollow and sepulchral in the young man's ears. Edmond's hair +stood on end, and he rose to his knees. + +"Ah," said he, "I hear a human voice." Edmond had not heard any one +speak save his jailer for four or five years; and a jailer is no man +to a prisoner--he is a living door, a barrier of flesh and blood adding +strength to restraints of oak and iron. + +"In the name of heaven," cried Dantes, "speak again, though the sound of +your voice terrifies me. Who are you?" + +"Who are you?" said the voice. + +"An unhappy prisoner," replied Dantes, who made no hesitation in +answering. + +"Of what country?" + +"A Frenchman." + +"Your name?" + +"Edmond Dantes." + +"Your profession?" + +"A sailor." + +"How long have you been here?" + +"Since the 28th of February, 1815." + +"Your crime?" + +"I am innocent." + +"But of what are you accused?" + +"Of having conspired to aid the emperor's return." + +"What! For the emperor's return?--the emperor is no longer on the +throne, then?" + +"He abdicated at Fontainebleau in 1814, and was sent to the Island +of Elba. But how long have you been here that you are ignorant of all +this?" + +"Since 1811." + +Dantes shuddered; this man had been four years longer than himself in +prison. + +"Do not dig any more," said the voice; "only tell me how high up is your +excavation?" + +"On a level with the floor." + +"How is it concealed?" + +"Behind my bed." + +"Has your bed been moved since you have been a prisoner?" + +"No." + +"What does your chamber open on?" + +"A corridor." + +"And the corridor?" + +"On a court." + +"Alas!" murmured the voice. + +"Oh, what is the matter?" cried Dantes. + +"I have made a mistake owing to an error in my plans. I took the wrong +angle, and have come out fifteen feet from where I intended. I took the +wall you are mining for the outer wall of the fortress." + +"But then you would be close to the sea?" + +"That is what I hoped." + +"And supposing you had succeeded?" + +"I should have thrown myself into the sea, gained one of the islands +near here--the Isle de Daume or the Isle de Tiboulen--and then I should +have been safe." + +"Could you have swum so far?" + +"Heaven would have given me strength; but now all is lost." + +"All?" + +"Yes; stop up your excavation carefully, do not work any more, and wait +until you hear from me." + +"Tell me, at least, who you are?" + +"I am--I am No. 27." + +"You mistrust me, then," said Dantes. Edmond fancied he heard a bitter +laugh resounding from the depths. + +"Oh, I am a Christian," cried Dantes, guessing instinctively that this +man meant to abandon him. "I swear to you by him who died for us that +naught shall induce me to breathe one syllable to my jailers; but I +conjure you do not abandon me. If you do, I swear to you, for I have got +to the end of my strength, that I will dash my brains out against the +wall, and you will have my death to reproach yourself with." + +"How old are you? Your voice is that of a young man." + +"I do not know my age, for I have not counted the years I have been +here. All I do know is, that I was just nineteen when I was arrested, +the 28th of February, 1815." + +"Not quite twenty-six!" murmured the voice; "at that age he cannot be a +traitor." + +"Oh, no, no," cried Dantes. "I swear to you again, rather than betray +you, I would allow myself to be hacked in pieces!" + +"You have done well to speak to me, and ask for my assistance, for I was +about to form another plan, and leave you; but your age reassures me. I +will not forget you. Wait." + +"How long?" + +"I must calculate our chances; I will give you the signal." + +"But you will not leave me; you will come to me, or you will let me come +to you. We will escape, and if we cannot escape we will talk; you +of those whom you love, and I of those whom I love. You must love +somebody?" + +"No, I am alone in the world." + +"Then you will love me. If you are young, I will be your comrade; if you +are old, I will be your son. I have a father who is seventy if he yet +lives; I only love him and a young girl called Mercedes. My father has +not yet forgotten me, I am sure, but God alone knows if she loves me +still; I shall love you as I loved my father." + +"It is well," returned the voice; "to-morrow." + +These few words were uttered with an accent that left no doubt of his +sincerity; Dantes rose, dispersed the fragments with the same precaution +as before, and pushed his bed back against the wall. He then gave +himself up to his happiness. He would no longer be alone. He was, +perhaps, about to regain his liberty; at the worst, he would have a +companion, and captivity that is shared is but half captivity. Plaints +made in common are almost prayers, and prayers where two or three are +gathered together invoke the mercy of heaven. + +All day Dantes walked up and down his cell. He sat down occasionally +on his bed, pressing his hand on his heart. At the slightest noise he +bounded towards the door. Once or twice the thought crossed his mind +that he might be separated from this unknown, whom he loved already; and +then his mind was made up--when the jailer moved his bed and stooped to +examine the opening, he would kill him with his water jug. He would be +condemned to die, but he was about to die of grief and despair when this +miraculous noise recalled him to life. + +The jailer came in the evening. Dantes was on his bed. It seemed to him +that thus he better guarded the unfinished opening. Doubtless there was +a strange expression in his eyes, for the jailer said, "Come, are you +going mad again?" + +Dantes did not answer; he feared that the emotion of his voice would +betray him. The jailer went away shaking his head. Night came; Dantes +hoped that his neighbor would profit by the silence to address him, but +he was mistaken. The next morning, however, just as he removed his bed +from the wall, he heard three knocks; he threw himself on his knees. + +"Is it you?" said he; "I am here." + +"Is your jailer gone?" + +"Yes," said Dantes; "he will not return until the evening; so that we +have twelve hours before us." + +"I can work, then?" said the voice. + +"Oh, yes, yes; this instant, I entreat you." + +In a moment that part of the floor on which Dantes was resting his two +hands, as he knelt with his head in the opening, suddenly gave way; he +drew back smartly, while a mass of stones and earth disappeared in a +hole that opened beneath the aperture he himself had formed. Then from +the bottom of this passage, the depth of which it was impossible to +measure, he saw appear, first the head, then the shoulders, and lastly +the body of a man, who sprang lightly into his cell. + + + +Chapter 16. A Learned Italian. + +Seizing in his arms the friend so long and ardently desired, Dantes +almost carried him towards the window, in order to obtain a better view +of his features by the aid of the imperfect light that struggled through +the grating. + +He was a man of small stature, with hair blanched rather by suffering +and sorrow than by age. He had a deep-set, penetrating eye, almost +buried beneath the thick gray eyebrow, and a long (and still black) +beard reaching down to his breast. His thin face, deeply furrowed by +care, and the bold outline of his strongly marked features, betokened a +man more accustomed to exercise his mental faculties than his physical +strength. Large drops of perspiration were now standing on his brow, +while the garments that hung about him were so ragged that one could +only guess at the pattern upon which they had originally been fashioned. + +The stranger might have numbered sixty or sixty-five years; but a +certain briskness and appearance of vigor in his movements made it +probable that he was aged more from captivity than the course of time. +He received the enthusiastic greeting of his young acquaintance with +evident pleasure, as though his chilled affections were rekindled and +invigorated by his contact with one so warm and ardent. He thanked him +with grateful cordiality for his kindly welcome, although he must at +that moment have been suffering bitterly to find another dungeon where +he had fondly reckoned on discovering a means of regaining his liberty. + +"Let us first see," said he, "whether it is possible to remove the +traces of my entrance here--our future tranquillity depends upon our +jailers being entirely ignorant of it." Advancing to the opening, +he stooped and raised the stone easily in spite of its weight; then, +fitting it into its place, he said,-- + +"You removed this stone very carelessly; but I suppose you had no tools +to aid you." + +"Why," exclaimed Dantes, with astonishment, "do you possess any?" + +"I made myself some; and with the exception of a file, I have all that +are necessary,--a chisel, pincers, and lever." + +"Oh, how I should like to see these products of your industry and +patience." + +"Well, in the first place, here is my chisel." So saying, he displayed a +sharp strong blade, with a handle made of beechwood. + +"And with what did you contrive to make that?" inquired Dantes. + +"With one of the clamps of my bedstead; and this very tool has sufficed +me to hollow out the road by which I came hither, a distance of about +fifty feet." + +"Fifty feet!" responded Dantes, almost terrified. + +"Do not speak so loud, young man--don't speak so loud. It frequently +occurs in a state prison like this, that persons are stationed outside +the doors of the cells purposely to overhear the conversation of the +prisoners." + +"But they believe I am shut up alone here." + +"That makes no difference." + +"And you say that you dug your way a distance of fifty feet to get +here?" + +"I do; that is about the distance that separates your chamber from mine; +only, unfortunately, I did not curve aright; for want of the necessary +geometrical instruments to calculate my scale of proportion, instead of +taking an ellipsis of forty feet, I made it fifty. I expected, as I told +you, to reach the outer wall, pierce through it, and throw myself into +the sea; I have, however, kept along the corridor on which your chamber +opens, instead of going beneath it. My labor is all in vain, for I find +that the corridor looks into a courtyard filled with soldiers." + +"That's true," said Dantes; "but the corridor you speak of only bounds +one side of my cell; there are three others--do you know anything of +their situation?" + +"This one is built against the solid rock, and it would take ten +experienced miners, duly furnished with the requisite tools, as many +years to perforate it. This adjoins the lower part of the governor's +apartments, and were we to work our way through, we should only get +into some lock-up cellars, where we must necessarily be recaptured. The +fourth and last side of your cell faces on--faces on--stop a minute, now +where does it face?" + +The wall of which he spoke was the one in which was fixed the loophole +by which light was admitted to the chamber. This loophole, which +gradually diminished in size as it approached the outside, to an opening +through which a child could not have passed, was, for better security, +furnished with three iron bars, so as to quiet all apprehensions even +in the mind of the most suspicious jailer as to the possibility of a +prisoner's escape. As the stranger asked the question, he dragged the +table beneath the window. + +"Climb up," said he to Dantes. The young man obeyed, mounted on the +table, and, divining the wishes of his companion, placed his back +securely against the wall and held out both hands. The stranger, whom +as yet Dantes knew only by the number of his cell, sprang up with an +agility by no means to be expected in a person of his years, and, light +and steady on his feet as a cat or a lizard, climbed from the table to +the outstretched hands of Dantes, and from them to his shoulders; +then, bending double, for the ceiling of the dungeon prevented him from +holding himself erect, he managed to slip his head between the upper +bars of the window, so as to be able to command a perfect view from top +to bottom. + +An instant afterwards he hastily drew back his head, saying, "I thought +so!" and sliding from the shoulders of Dantes as dextrously as he had +ascended, he nimbly leaped from the table to the ground. + +"What was it that you thought?" asked the young man anxiously, in his +turn descending from the table. + +The elder prisoner pondered the matter. "Yes," said he at length, "it +is so. This side of your chamber looks out upon a kind of open gallery, +where patrols are continually passing, and sentries keep watch day and +night." + +"Are you quite sure of that?" + +"Certain. I saw the soldier's shape and the top of his musket; that made +me draw in my head so quickly, for I was fearful he might also see me." + +"Well?" inquired Dantes. + +"You perceive then the utter impossibility of escaping through your +dungeon?" + +"Then," pursued the young man eagerly-- + +"Then," answered the elder prisoner, "the will of God be done!" and +as the old man slowly pronounced those words, an air of profound +resignation spread itself over his careworn countenance. Dantes gazed on +the man who could thus philosophically resign hopes so long and ardently +nourished with an astonishment mingled with admiration. + +"Tell me, I entreat of you, who and what you are?" said he at length; +"never have I met with so remarkable a person as yourself." + +"Willingly," answered the stranger; "if, indeed, you feel any curiosity +respecting one, now, alas, powerless to aid you in any way." + +"Say not so; you can console and support me by the strength of your own +powerful mind. Pray let me know who you really are?" + +The stranger smiled a melancholy smile. "Then listen," said he. "I am +the Abbe Faria, and have been imprisoned as you know in this Chateau +d'If since the year 1811; previously to which I had been confined for +three years in the fortress of Fenestrelle. In the year 1811 I was +transferred to Piedmont in France. It was at this period I learned that +the destiny which seemed subservient to every wish formed by Napoleon, +had bestowed on him a son, named king of Rome even in his cradle. I was +very far then from expecting the change you have just informed me of; +namely, that four years afterwards, this colossus of power would be +overthrown. Then who reigns in France at this moment--Napoleon II.?" + +"No, Louis XVIII." + +"The brother of Louis XVII.! How inscrutable are the ways of +providence--for what great and mysterious purpose has it pleased heaven +to abase the man once so elevated, and raise up him who was so abased?" + +Dantes' whole attention was riveted on a man who could thus forget his +own misfortunes while occupying himself with the destinies of others. + +"Yes, yes," continued he, "'Twill be the same as it was in England. +After Charles I., Cromwell; after Cromwell, Charles II., and then James +II., and then some son-in-law or relation, some Prince of Orange, a +stadtholder who becomes a king. Then new concessions to the people, then +a constitution, then liberty. Ah, my friend!" said the abbe, turning +towards Dantes, and surveying him with the kindling gaze of a prophet, +"you are young, you will see all this come to pass." + +"Probably, if ever I get out of prison!" + +"True," replied Faria, "we are prisoners; but I forget this sometimes, +and there are even moments when my mental vision transports me beyond +these walls, and I fancy myself at liberty." + +"But wherefore are you here?" + +"Because in 1807 I dreamed of the very plan Napoleon tried to realize in +1811; because, like Machiavelli, I desired to alter the political face +of Italy, and instead of allowing it to be split up into a quantity +of petty principalities, each held by some weak or tyrannical ruler, +I sought to form one large, compact, and powerful empire; and, lastly, +because I fancied I had found my Caesar Borgia in a crowned simpleton, +who feigned to enter into my views only to betray me. It was the plan of +Alexander VI. and Clement VII., but it will never succeed now, for they +attempted it fruitlessly, and Napoleon was unable to complete his work. +Italy seems fated to misfortune." And the old man bowed his head. + +Dantes could not understand a man risking his life for such matters. +Napoleon certainly he knew something of, inasmuch as he had seen and +spoken with him; but of Clement VII. and Alexander VI. he knew nothing. + +"Are you not," he asked, "the priest who here in the Chateau d'If is +generally thought to be--ill?" + +"Mad, you mean, don't you?" + +"I did not like to say so," answered Dantes, smiling. + +"Well, then," resumed Faria with a bitter smile, "let me answer your +question in full, by acknowledging that I am the poor mad prisoner +of the Chateau d'If, for many years permitted to amuse the different +visitors with what is said to be my insanity; and, in all probability, +I should be promoted to the honor of making sport for the children, if +such innocent beings could be found in an abode devoted like this to +suffering and despair." + +Dantes remained for a short time mute and motionless; at length he +said,--"Then you abandon all hope of escape?" + +"I perceive its utter impossibility; and I consider it impious to +attempt that which the Almighty evidently does not approve." + +"Nay, be not discouraged. Would it not be expecting too much to hope to +succeed at your first attempt? Why not try to find an opening in another +direction from that which has so unfortunately failed?" + +"Alas, it shows how little notion you can have of all it has cost me to +effect a purpose so unexpectedly frustrated, that you talk of beginning +over again. In the first place, I was four years making the tools I +possess, and have been two years scraping and digging out earth, hard +as granite itself; then what toil and fatigue has it not been to remove +huge stones I should once have deemed impossible to loosen. Whole days +have I passed in these Titanic efforts, considering my labor well repaid +if, by night-time I had contrived to carry away a square inch of this +hard-bound cement, changed by ages into a substance unyielding as the +stones themselves; then to conceal the mass of earth and rubbish I dug +up, I was compelled to break through a staircase, and throw the +fruits of my labor into the hollow part of it; but the well is now so +completely choked up, that I scarcely think it would be possible to add +another handful of dust without leading to discovery. Consider also that +I fully believed I had accomplished the end and aim of my undertaking, +for which I had so exactly husbanded my strength as to make it just hold +out to the termination of my enterprise; and now, at the moment when I +reckoned upon success, my hopes are forever dashed from me. No, I repeat +again, that nothing shall induce me to renew attempts evidently at +variance with the Almighty's pleasure." + +Dantes held down his head, that the other might not see how joy at the +thought of having a companion outweighed the sympathy he felt for the +failure of the abbe's plans. + +The abbe sank upon Edmond's bed, while Edmond himself remained standing. +Escape had never once occurred to him. There are, indeed, some things +which appear so impossible that the mind does not dwell on them for an +instant. To undermine the ground for fifty feet--to devote three years +to a labor which, if successful, would conduct you to a precipice +overhanging the sea--to plunge into the waves from the height of fifty, +sixty, perhaps a hundred feet, at the risk of being dashed to pieces +against the rocks, should you have been fortunate enough to have escaped +the fire of the sentinels; and even, supposing all these perils past, +then to have to swim for your life a distance of at least three miles +ere you could reach the shore--were difficulties so startling and +formidable that Dantes had never even dreamed of such a scheme, +resigning himself rather to death. But the sight of an old man clinging +to life with so desperate a courage, gave a fresh turn to his ideas, and +inspired him with new courage. Another, older and less strong than he, +had attempted what he had not had sufficient resolution to undertake, +and had failed only because of an error in calculation. This same +person, with almost incredible patience and perseverance, had contrived +to provide himself with tools requisite for so unparalleled an attempt. +Another had done all this; why, then, was it impossible to Dantes? Faria +had dug his way through fifty feet, Dantes would dig a hundred; Faria, +at the age of fifty, had devoted three years to the task; he, who was +but half as old, would sacrifice six; Faria, a priest and savant, +had not shrunk from the idea of risking his life by trying to swim a +distance of three miles to one of the islands--Daume, Rattonneau, or +Lemaire; should a hardy sailer, an experienced diver, like himself, +shrink from a similar task; should he, who had so often for mere +amusement's sake plunged to the bottom of the sea to fetch up the bright +coral branch, hesitate to entertain the same project? He could do it in +an hour, and how many times had he, for pure pastime, continued in the +water for more than twice as long! At once Dantes resolved to follow the +brave example of his energetic companion, and to remember that what has +once been done may be done again. + +After continuing some time in profound meditation, the young man +suddenly exclaimed, "I have found what you were in search of!" + +Faria started: "Have you, indeed?" cried he, raising his head with quick +anxiety; "pray, let me know what it is you have discovered?" + +"The corridor through which you have bored your way from the cell you +occupy here, extends in the same direction as the outer gallery, does it +not?" + +"It does." + +"And is not above fifteen feet from it?" + +"About that." + +"Well, then, I will tell you what we must do. We must pierce through the +corridor by forming a side opening about the middle, as it were the top +part of a cross. This time you will lay your plans more accurately; we +shall get out into the gallery you have described; kill the sentinel +who guards it, and make our escape. All we require to insure success is +courage, and that you possess, and strength, which I am not deficient +in; as for patience, you have abundantly proved yours--you shall now see +me prove mine." + +"One instant, my dear friend," replied the abbe; "it is clear you do not +understand the nature of the courage with which I am endowed, and what +use I intend making of my strength. As for patience, I consider that I +have abundantly exercised that in beginning every morning the task of +the night before, and every night renewing the task of the day. But +then, young man (and I pray of you to give me your full attention), then +I thought I could not be doing anything displeasing to the Almighty in +trying to set an innocent being at liberty--one who had committed no +offence, and merited not condemnation." + +"And have your notions changed?" asked Dantes with much surprise; "do +you think yourself more guilty in making the attempt since you have +encountered me?" + +"No; neither do I wish to incur guilt. Hitherto I have fancied myself +merely waging war against circumstances, not men. I have thought it +no sin to bore through a wall, or destroy a staircase; but I cannot so +easily persuade myself to pierce a heart or take away a life." A slight +movement of surprise escaped Dantes. + +"Is it possible," said he, "that where your liberty is at stake you can +allow any such scruple to deter you from obtaining it?" + +"Tell me," replied Faria, "what has hindered you from knocking down your +jailer with a piece of wood torn from your bedstead, dressing yourself +in his clothes, and endeavoring to escape?" + +"Simply the fact that the idea never occurred to me," answered Dantes. + +"Because," said the old man, "the natural repugnance to the commission +of such a crime prevented you from thinking of it; and so it ever is +because in simple and allowable things our natural instincts keep us +from deviating from the strict line of duty. The tiger, whose nature +teaches him to delight in shedding blood, needs but the sense of smell +to show him when his prey is within his reach, and by following this +instinct he is enabled to measure the leap necessary to permit him to +spring on his victim; but man, on the contrary, loathes the idea of +blood--it is not alone that the laws of social life inspire him with +a shrinking dread of taking life; his natural construction and +physiological formation"-- + +Dantes was confused and silent at this explanation of the thoughts which +had unconsciously been working in his mind, or rather soul; for there +are two distinct sorts of ideas, those that proceed from the head and +those that emanate from the heart. + +"Since my imprisonment," said Faria, "I have thought over all the most +celebrated cases of escape on record. They have rarely been successful. +Those that have been crowned with full success have been long meditated +upon, and carefully arranged; such, for instance, as the escape of the +Duc de Beaufort from the Chateau de Vincennes, that of the Abbe Dubuquoi +from For l'Eveque; of Latude from the Bastille. Then there are those for +which chance sometimes affords opportunity, and those are the best of +all. Let us, therefore, wait patiently for some favorable moment, and +when it presents itself, profit by it." + +"Ah," said Dantes, "you might well endure the tedious delay; you were +constantly employed in the task you set yourself, and when weary with +toil, you had your hopes to refresh and encourage you." + +"I assure you," replied the old man, "I did not turn to that source for +recreation or support." + +"What did you do then?" + +"I wrote or studied." + +"Were you then permitted the use of pens, ink, and paper?" + +"Oh, no," answered the abbe; "I had none but what I made for myself." + +"You made paper, pens and ink?" + +"Yes." + +Dantes gazed with admiration, but he had some difficulty in believing. +Faria saw this. + +"When you pay me a visit in my cell, my young friend," said he, "I will +show you an entire work, the fruits of the thoughts and reflections of +my whole life; many of them meditated over in the shades of the Colosseum +at Rome, at the foot of St. Mark's column at Venice, and on the borders +of the Arno at Florence, little imagining at the time that they would be +arranged in order within the walls of the Chateau d'If. The work I speak +of is called 'A Treatise on the Possibility of a General Monarchy in +Italy,' and will make one large quarto volume." + +"And on what have you written all this?" + +"On two of my shirts. I invented a preparation that makes linen as +smooth and as easy to write on as parchment." + +"You are, then, a chemist?" + +"Somewhat; I know Lavoisier, and was the intimate friend of Cabanis." + +"But for such a work you must have needed books--had you any?" + +"I had nearly five thousand volumes in my library at Rome; but after +reading them over many times, I found out that with one hundred and +fifty well-chosen books a man possesses, if not a complete summary of +all human knowledge, at least all that a man need really know. I devoted +three years of my life to reading and studying these one hundred and +fifty volumes, till I knew them nearly by heart; so that since I have +been in prison, a very slight effort of memory has enabled me to recall +their contents as readily as though the pages were open before me. I +could recite you the whole of Thucydides, Xenophon, Plutarch, Titus +Livius, Tacitus, Strada, Jornandes, Dante, Montaigne, Shakespeare, +Spinoza, Machiavelli, and Bossuet. I name only the most important." + +"You are, doubtless, acquainted with a variety of languages, so as to +have been able to read all these?" + +"Yes, I speak five of the modern tongues--that is to say, German, +French, Italian, English, and Spanish; by the aid of ancient Greek I +learned modern Greek--I don't speak it so well as I could wish, but I am +still trying to improve myself." + +"Improve yourself!" repeated Dantes; "why, how can you manage to do so?" + +"Why, I made a vocabulary of the words I knew; turned, returned, and +arranged them, so as to enable me to express my thoughts through +their medium. I know nearly one thousand words, which is all that is +absolutely necessary, although I believe there are nearly one hundred +thousand in the dictionaries. I cannot hope to be very fluent, but I +certainly should have no difficulty in explaining my wants and wishes; +and that would be quite as much as I should ever require." + +Stronger grew the wonder of Dantes, who almost fancied he had to do +with one gifted with supernatural powers; still hoping to find some +imperfection which might bring him down to a level with human beings, he +added, "Then if you were not furnished with pens, how did you manage to +write the work you speak of?" + +"I made myself some excellent ones, which would be universally preferred +to all others if once known. You are aware what huge whitings are served +to us on maigre days. Well, I selected the cartilages of the heads of +these fishes, and you can scarcely imagine the delight with which +I welcomed the arrival of each Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, as +affording me the means of increasing my stock of pens; for I will freely +confess that my historical labors have been my greatest solace and +relief. While retracing the past, I forget the present; and traversing +at will the path of history I cease to remember that I am myself a +prisoner." + +"But the ink," said Dantes; "of what did you make your ink?" + +"There was formerly a fireplace in my dungeon," replied Faria, "but it +was closed up long ere I became an occupant of this prison. Still, it +must have been many years in use, for it was thickly covered with a +coating of soot; this soot I dissolved in a portion of the wine brought +to me every Sunday, and I assure you a better ink cannot be desired. For +very important notes, for which closer attention is required, I pricked +one of my fingers, and wrote with my own blood." + +"And when," asked Dantes, "may I see all this?" + +"Whenever you please," replied the abbe. + +"Oh, then let it be directly!" exclaimed the young man. + +"Follow me, then," said the abbe, as he re-entered the subterranean +passage, in which he soon disappeared, followed by Dantes. + + + +Chapter 17. The Abbe's Chamber. + +After having passed with tolerable ease through the subterranean +passage, which, however, did not admit of their holding themselves +erect, the two friends reached the further end of the corridor, into +which the abbe's cell opened; from that point the passage became much +narrower, and barely permitted one to creep through on hands and knees. +The floor of the abbe's cell was paved, and it had been by raising one +of the stones in the most obscure corner that Faria had to been able +to commence the laborious task of which Dantes had witnessed the +completion. + +As he entered the chamber of his friend, Dantes cast around one eager +and searching glance in quest of the expected marvels, but nothing more +than common met his view. + +"It is well," said the abbe; "we have some hours before us--it is now +just a quarter past twelve o'clock." Instinctively Dantes turned round +to observe by what watch or clock the abbe had been able so accurately +to specify the hour. + +"Look at this ray of light which enters by my window," said the abbe, +"and then observe the lines traced on the wall. Well, by means of these +lines, which are in accordance with the double motion of the earth, and +the ellipse it describes round the sun, I am enabled to ascertain the +precise hour with more minuteness than if I possessed a watch; for that +might be broken or deranged in its movements, while the sun and earth +never vary in their appointed paths." + +This last explanation was wholly lost upon Dantes, who had always +imagined, from seeing the sun rise from behind the mountains and set in +the Mediterranean, that it moved, and not the earth. A double movement +of the globe he inhabited, and of which he could feel nothing, appeared +to him perfectly impossible. Each word that fell from his companion's +lips seemed fraught with the mysteries of science, as worthy of digging +out as the gold and diamonds in the mines of Guzerat and Golconda, +which he could just recollect having visited during a voyage made in his +earliest youth. + +"Come," said he to the abbe, "I am anxious to see your treasures." + +The abbe smiled, and, proceeding to the disused fireplace, raised, +by the help of his chisel, a long stone, which had doubtless been the +hearth, beneath which was a cavity of considerable depth, serving as a +safe depository of the articles mentioned to Dantes. + +"What do you wish to see first?" asked the abbe. + +"Oh, your great work on the monarchy of Italy!" + +Faria then drew forth from his hiding-place three or four rolls of +linen, laid one over the other, like folds of papyrus. These rolls +consisted of slips of cloth about four inches wide and eighteen long; +they were all carefully numbered and closely covered with writing, +so legible that Dantes could easily read it, as well as make out the +sense--it being in Italian, a language he, as a Provencal, perfectly +understood. + +"There," said he, "there is the work complete. I wrote the word finis at +the end of the sixty-eighth strip about a week ago. I have torn up two +of my shirts, and as many handkerchiefs as I was master of, to complete +the precious pages. Should I ever get out of prison and find in all +Italy a printer courageous enough to publish what I have composed, my +literary reputation is forever secured." + +"I see," answered Dantes. "Now let me behold the curious pens with which +you have written your work." + +"Look!" said Faria, showing to the young man a slender stick about +six inches long, and much resembling the size of the handle of a fine +painting-brush, to the end of which was tied, by a piece of thread, one +of those cartilages of which the abbe had before spoken to Dantes; +it was pointed, and divided at the nib like an ordinary pen. Dantes +examined it with intense admiration, then looked around to see the +instrument with which it had been shaped so correctly into form. + +"Ah, yes," said Faria; "the penknife. That's my masterpiece. I made +it, as well as this larger knife, out of an old iron candlestick." The +penknife was sharp and keen as a razor; as for the other knife, it would +serve a double purpose, and with it one could cut and thrust. + +Dantes examined the various articles shown to him with the same +attention that he had bestowed on the curiosities and strange tools +exhibited in the shops at Marseilles as the works of the savages in the +South Seas from whence they had been brought by the different trading +vessels. + +"As for the ink," said Faria, "I told you how I managed to obtain +that--and I only just make it from time to time, as I require it." + +"One thing still puzzles me," observed Dantes, "and that is how you +managed to do all this by daylight?" + +"I worked at night also," replied Faria. + +"Night!--why, for heaven's sake, are your eyes like cats', that you can +see to work in the dark?" + +"Indeed they are not; but God has supplied man with the intelligence +that enables him to overcome the limitations of natural conditions. I +furnished myself with a light." + +"You did? Pray tell me how." + +"I separated the fat from the meat served to me, melted it, and so made +oil--here is my lamp." So saying, the abbe exhibited a sort of torch +very similar to those used in public illuminations. + +"But light?" + +"Here are two flints and a piece of burnt linen." + +"And matches?" + +"I pretended that I had a disorder of the skin, and asked for a little +sulphur, which was readily supplied." Dantes laid the different things +he had been looking at on the table, and stood with his head drooping +on his breast, as though overwhelmed by the perseverance and strength of +Faria's mind. + +"You have not seen all yet," continued Faria, "for I did not think it +wise to trust all my treasures in the same hiding-place. Let us shut +this one up." They put the stone back in its place; the abbe sprinkled +a little dust over it to conceal the traces of its having been removed, +rubbed his foot well on it to make it assume the same appearance as the +other, and then, going towards his bed, he removed it from the spot it +stood in. Behind the head of the bed, and concealed by a stone fitting +in so closely as to defy all suspicion, was a hollow space, and in this +space a ladder of cords between twenty-five and thirty feet in length. +Dantes closely and eagerly examined it; he found it firm, solid, and +compact enough to bear any weight. + +"Who supplied you with the materials for making this wonderful work?" + +"I tore up several of my shirts, and ripped out the seams in the sheets +of my bed, during my three years' imprisonment at Fenestrelle; and when +I was removed to the Chateau d'If, I managed to bring the ravellings +with me, so that I have been able to finish my work here." + +"And was it not discovered that your sheets were unhemmed?" + +"Oh, no, for when I had taken out the thread I required, I hemmed the +edges over again." + +"With what?" + +"With this needle," said the abbe, as, opening his ragged vestments, he +showed Dantes a long, sharp fish-bone, with a small perforated eye +for the thread, a small portion of which still remained in it. "I once +thought," continued Faria, "of removing these iron bars, and letting +myself down from the window, which, as you see, is somewhat wider than +yours, although I should have enlarged it still more preparatory to my +flight; however, I discovered that I should merely have dropped into a +sort of inner court, and I therefore renounced the project altogether +as too full of risk and danger. Nevertheless, I carefully preserved my +ladder against one of those unforeseen opportunities of which I spoke +just now, and which sudden chance frequently brings about." While +affecting to be deeply engaged in examining the ladder, the mind of +Dantes was, in fact, busily occupied by the idea that a person so +intelligent, ingenious, and clear-sighted as the abbe might probably be +able to solve the dark mystery of his own misfortunes, where he himself +could see nothing. + +"What are you thinking of?" asked the abbe smilingly, imputing the deep +abstraction in which his visitor was plunged to the excess of his awe +and wonder. + +"I was reflecting, in the first place," replied Dantes, "upon the +enormous degree of intelligence and ability you must have employed to +reach the high perfection to which you have attained. What would you not +have accomplished if you had been free?" + +"Possibly nothing at all; the overflow of my brain would probably, in a +state of freedom, have evaporated in a thousand follies; misfortune +is needed to bring to light the treasures of the human intellect. +Compression is needed to explode gunpowder. Captivity has brought +my mental faculties to a focus; and you are well aware that from +the collision of clouds electricity is produced--from electricity, +lightning, from lightning, illumination." + +"No," replied Dantes. "I know nothing. Some of your words are to me +quite empty of meaning. You must be blessed indeed to possess the +knowledge you have." + +The abbe smiled. "Well," said he, "but you had another subject for your +thoughts; did you not say so just now?" + +"I did!" + +"You have told me as yet but one of them--let me hear the other." + +"It was this,--that while you had related to me all the particulars of +your past life, you were perfectly unacquainted with mine." + +"Your life, my young friend, has not been of sufficient length to admit +of your having passed through any very important events." + +"It has been long enough to inflict on me a great and undeserved +misfortune. I would fain fix the source of it on man that I may no +longer vent reproaches upon heaven." + +"Then you profess ignorance of the crime with which you are charged?" + +"I do, indeed; and this I swear by the two beings most dear to me upon +earth,--my father and Mercedes." + +"Come," said the abbe, closing his hiding-place, and pushing the bed +back to its original situation, "let me hear your story." + +Dantes obeyed, and commenced what he called his history, but which +consisted only of the account of a voyage to India, and two or three +voyages to the Levant until he arrived at the recital of his last +cruise, with the death of Captain Leclere, and the receipt of a packet +to be delivered by himself to the grand marshal; his interview with that +personage, and his receiving, in place of the packet brought, a letter +addressed to a Monsieur Noirtier--his arrival at Marseilles, and +interview with his father--his affection for Mercedes, and their nuptual +feast--his arrest and subsequent examination, his temporary detention at +the Palais de Justice, and his final imprisonment in the Chateau d'If. +From this point everything was a blank to Dantes--he knew nothing +more, not even the length of time he had been imprisoned. His recital +finished, the abbe reflected long and earnestly. + +"There is," said he, at the end of his meditations, "a clever maxim, +which bears upon what I was saying to you some little while ago, and +that is, that unless wicked ideas take root in a naturally depraved +mind, human nature, in a right and wholesome state, revolts at crime. +Still, from an artificial civilization have originated wants, vices, and +false tastes, which occasionally become so powerful as to stifle +within us all good feelings, and ultimately to lead us into guilt and +wickedness. From this view of things, then, comes the axiom that if you +visit to discover the author of any bad action, seek first to discover +the person to whom the perpetration of that bad action could be in any +way advantageous. Now, to apply it in your case,--to whom could your +disappearance have been serviceable?" + +"To no one, by heaven! I was a very insignificant person." + +"Do not speak thus, for your reply evinces neither logic nor philosophy; +everything is relative, my dear young friend, from the king who stands +in the way of his successor, to the employee who keeps his rival out of +a place. Now, in the event of the king's death, his successor inherits a +crown,--when the employee dies, the supernumerary steps into his shoes, +and receives his salary of twelve thousand livres. Well, these twelve +thousand livres are his civil list, and are as essential to him as the +twelve millions of a king. Every one, from the highest to the lowest +degree, has his place on the social ladder, and is beset by stormy +passions and conflicting interests, as in Descartes' theory of pressure +and impulsion. But these forces increase as we go higher, so that we +have a spiral which in defiance of reason rests upon the apex and not on +the base. Now let us return to your particular world. You say you were +on the point of being made captain of the Pharaon?" + +"Yes." + +"And about to become the husband of a young and lovely girl?" + +"Yes." + +"Now, could any one have had any interest in preventing the +accomplishment of these two things? But let us first settle the question +as to its being the interest of any one to hinder you from being captain +of the Pharaon. What say you?" + +"I cannot believe such was the case. I was generally liked on board, and +had the sailors possessed the right of selecting a captain themselves, I +feel convinced their choice would have fallen on me. There was only one +person among the crew who had any feeling of ill-will towards me. I had +quarelled with him some time previously, and had even challenged him to +fight me; but he refused." + +"Now we are getting on. And what was this man's name?" + +"Danglars." + +"What rank did he hold on board?" + +"He was supercargo." + +"And had you been captain, should you have retained him in his +employment?" + +"Not if the choice had remained with me, for I had frequently observed +inaccuracies in his accounts." + +"Good again! Now then, tell me, was any person present during your last +conversation with Captain Leclere?" + +"No; we were quite alone." + +"Could your conversation have been overheard by any one?" + +"It might, for the cabin door was open--and--stay; now I +recollect,--Danglars himself passed by just as Captain Leclere was +giving me the packet for the grand marshal." + +"That's better," cried the abbe; "now we are on the right scent. Did you +take anybody with you when you put into the port of Elba?" + +"Nobody." + +"Somebody there received your packet, and gave you a letter in place of +it, I think?" + +"Yes; the grand marshal did." + +"And what did you do with that letter?" + +"Put it into my portfolio." + +"You had your portfolio with you, then? Now, how could a sailor find +room in his pocket for a portfolio large enough to contain an official +letter?" + +"You are right; it was left on board." + +"Then it was not till your return to the ship that you put the letter in +the portfolio?" + +"No." + +"And what did you do with this same letter while returning from +Porto-Ferrajo to the vessel?" + +"I carried it in my hand." + +"So that when you went on board the Pharaon, everybody could see that +you held a letter in your hand?" + +"Yes." + +"Danglars, as well as the rest?" + +"Danglars, as well as others." + +"Now, listen to me, and try to recall every circumstance attending your +arrest. Do you recollect the words in which the information against you +was formulated?" + +"Oh yes, I read it over three times, and the words sank deeply into my +memory." + +"Repeat it to me." + +Dantes paused a moment, then said, "This is it, word for word: 'The +king's attorney is informed by a friend to the throne and religion, +that one Edmond Dantes, mate on board the Pharaon, this day arrived +from Smyrna, after having touched at Naples and Porto-Ferrajo, has been +intrusted by Murat with a packet for the usurper; again, by the usurper, +with a letter for the Bonapartist Club in Paris. This proof of his guilt +may be procured by his immediate arrest, as the letter will be found +either about his person, at his father's residence, or in his cabin +on board the Pharaon.'" The abbe shrugged his shoulders. "The thing is +clear as day," said he; "and you must have had a very confiding nature, +as well as a good heart, not to have suspected the origin of the whole +affair." + +"Do you really think so? Ah, that would indeed be infamous." + +"How did Danglars usually write?" + +"In a handsome, running hand." + +"And how was the anonymous letter written?" + +"Backhanded." Again the abbe smiled. "Disguised." + +"It was very boldly written, if disguised." + +"Stop a bit," said the abbe, taking up what he called his pen, and, +after dipping it into the ink, he wrote on a piece of prepared linen, +with his left hand, the first two or three words of the accusation. +Dantes drew back, and gazed on the abbe with a sensation almost +amounting to terror. + +"How very astonishing!" cried he at length. "Why your writing exactly +resembles that of the accusation." + +"Simply because that accusation had been written with the left hand; and +I have noticed that"-- + +"What?" + +"That while the writing of different persons done with the right hand +varies, that performed with the left hand is invariably uniform." + +"You have evidently seen and observed everything." + +"Let us proceed." + +"Oh, yes, yes!" + +"Now as regards the second question." + +"I am listening." + +"Was there any person whose interest it was to prevent your marriage +with Mercedes?" + +"Yes; a young man who loved her." + +"And his name was"-- + +"Fernand." + +"That is a Spanish name, I think?" + +"He was a Catalan." + +"You imagine him capable of writing the letter?" + +"Oh, no; he would more likely have got rid of me by sticking a knife +into me." + +"That is in strict accordance with the Spanish character; an +assassination they will unhesitatingly commit, but an act of cowardice, +never." + +"Besides," said Dantes, "the various circumstances mentioned in the +letter were wholly unknown to him." + +"You had never spoken of them yourself to any one?" + +"To no one." + +"Not even to your mistress?" + +"No, not even to my betrothed." + +"Then it is Danglars." + +"I feel quite sure of it now." + +"Wait a little. Pray, was Danglars acquainted with Fernand?" + +"No--yes, he was. Now I recollect"-- + +"What?" + +"To have seen them both sitting at table together under an arbor at Pere +Pamphile's the evening before the day fixed for my wedding. They were in +earnest conversation. Danglars was joking in a friendly way, but Fernand +looked pale and agitated." + +"Were they alone?" + +"There was a third person with them whom I knew perfectly well, and who +had, in all probability made their acquaintance; he was a tailor named +Caderousse, but he was very drunk. Stay!--stay!--How strange that it +should not have occurred to me before! Now I remember quite well, that +on the table round which they were sitting were pens, ink, and paper. +Oh, the heartless, treacherous scoundrels!" exclaimed Dantes, pressing +his hand to his throbbing brows. + +"Is there anything else I can assist you in discovering, besides the +villany of your friends?" inquired the abbe with a laugh. + +"Yes, yes," replied Dantes eagerly; "I would beg of you, who see so +completely to the depths of things, and to whom the greatest mystery +seems but an easy riddle, to explain to me how it was that I underwent +no second examination, was never brought to trial, and, above all, was +condemned without ever having had sentence passed on me?" + +"That is altogether a different and more serious matter," responded the +abbe. "The ways of justice are frequently too dark and mysterious to +be easily penetrated. All we have hitherto done in the matter has been +child's play. If you wish me to enter upon the more difficult part of +the business, you must assist me by the most minute information on every +point." + +"Pray ask me whatever questions you please; for, in good truth, you see +more clearly into my life than I do myself." + +"In the first place, then, who examined you,--the king's attorney, his +deputy, or a magistrate?" + +"The deputy." + +"Was he young or old?" + +"About six or seven and twenty years of age, I should say." + +"So," answered the abbe. "Old enough to be ambitions, but too young to +be corrupt. And how did he treat you?" + +"With more of mildness than severity." + +"Did you tell him your whole story?" + +"I did." + +"And did his conduct change at all in the course of your examination?" + +"He did appear much disturbed when he read the letter that had brought +me into this scrape. He seemed quite overcome by my misfortune." + +"By your misfortune?" + +"Yes." + +"Then you feel quite sure that it was your misfortune he deplored?" + +"He gave me one great proof of his sympathy, at any rate." + +"And that?" + +"He burnt the sole evidence that could at all have criminated me." + +"What? the accusation?" + +"No; the letter." + +"Are you sure?" + +"I saw it done." + +"That alters the case. This man might, after all, be a greater scoundrel +than you have thought possible." + +"Upon my word," said Dantes, "you make me shudder. Is the world filled +with tigers and crocodiles?" + +"Yes; and remember that two-legged tigers and crocodiles are more +dangerous than the others." + +"Never mind; let us go on." + +"With all my heart! You tell me he burned the letter?" + +"He did; saying at the same time, 'You see I thus destroy the only proof +existing against you.'" + +"This action is somewhat too sublime to be natural." + +"You think so?" + +"I am sure of it. To whom was this letter addressed?" + +"To M. Noirtier, No. 13 Coq-Heron, Paris." + +"Now can you conceive of any interest that your heroic deputy could +possibly have had in the destruction of that letter?" + +"Why, it is not altogether impossible he might have had, for he made me +promise several times never to speak of that letter to any one, assuring +me he so advised me for my own interest; and, more than this, he +insisted on my taking a solemn oath never to utter the name mentioned in +the address." + +"Noirtier!" repeated the abbe; "Noirtier!--I knew a person of that +name at the court of the Queen of Etruria,--a Noirtier, who had been a +Girondin during the Revolution! What was your deputy called?" + +"De Villefort!" The abbe burst into a fit of laughter, while Dantes +gazed on him in utter astonishment. + +"What ails you?" said he at length. + +"Do you see that ray of sunlight?" + +"I do." + +"Well, the whole thing is more clear to me than that sunbeam is to you. +Poor fellow! poor young man! And you tell me this magistrate expressed +great sympathy and commiseration for you?" + +"He did." + +"And the worthy man destroyed your compromising letter?" + +"Yes." + +"And then made you swear never to utter the name of Noirtier?" + +"Yes." + +"Why, you poor short-sighted simpleton, can you not guess who this +Noirtier was, whose very name he was so careful to keep concealed? +Noirtier was his father." + +Had a thunderbolt fallen at the feet of Dantes, or hell opened its +yawning gulf before him, he could not have been more completely +transfixed with horror than he was at the sound of these unexpected +words. Starting up, he clasped his hands around his head as though to +prevent his very brain from bursting, and exclaimed, "His father! his +father!" + +"Yes, his father," replied the abbe; "his right name was Noirtier de +Villefort." At this instant a bright light shot through the mind of +Dantes, and cleared up all that had been dark and obscure before. +The change that had come over Villefort during the examination, the +destruction of the letter, the exacted promise, the almost supplicating +tones of the magistrate, who seemed rather to implore mercy than to +pronounce punishment,--all returned with a stunning force to his memory. +He cried out, and staggered against the wall like a drunken man, then +he hurried to the opening that led from the abbe's cell to his own, and +said, "I must be alone, to think over all this." + +When he regained his dungeon, he threw himself on his bed, where the +turnkey found him in the evening visit, sitting with fixed gaze and +contracted features, dumb and motionless as a statue. During these hours +of profound meditation, which to him had seemed only minutes, he had +formed a fearful resolution, and bound himself to its fulfilment by a +solemn oath. + +Dantes was at length roused from his revery by the voice of Faria, +who, having also been visited by his jailer, had come to invite his +fellow-sufferer to share his supper. The reputation of being out of his +mind, though harmlessly and even amusingly so, had procured for the +abbe unusual privileges. He was supplied with bread of a finer, whiter +quality than the usual prison fare, and even regaled each Sunday with a +small quantity of wine. Now this was a Sunday, and the abbe had come to +ask his young companion to share the luxuries with him. Dantes followed; +his features were no longer contracted, and now wore their usual +expression, but there was that in his whole appearance that bespoke one +who had come to a fixed and desperate resolve. Faria bent on him his +penetrating eye: "I regret now," said he, "having helped you in your +late inquiries, or having given you the information I did." + +"Why so?" inquired Dantes. + +"Because it has instilled a new passion in your heart--that of +vengeance." + +Dantes smiled. "Let us talk of something else," said he. + +Again the abbe looked at him, then mournfully shook his head; but in +accordance with Dantes' request, he began to speak of other matters. The +elder prisoner was one of those persons whose conversation, like that +of all who have experienced many trials, contained many useful +and important hints as well as sound information; but it was never +egotistical, for the unfortunate man never alluded to his own sorrows. +Dantes listened with admiring attention to all he said; some of his +remarks corresponded with what he already knew, or applied to the sort +of knowledge his nautical life had enabled him to acquire. A part of the +good abbe's words, however, were wholly incomprehensible to him; but, +like the aurora which guides the navigator in northern latitudes, opened +new vistas to the inquiring mind of the listener, and gave fantastic +glimpses of new horizons, enabling him justly to estimate the delight an +intellectual mind would have in following one so richly gifted as Faria +along the heights of truth, where he was so much at home. + +"You must teach me a small part of what you know," said Dantes, "if only +to prevent your growing weary of me. I can well believe that so learned +a person as yourself would prefer absolute solitude to being tormented +with the company of one as ignorant and uninformed as myself. If you +will only agree to my request, I promise you never to mention another +word about escaping." The abbe smiled. "Alas, my boy," said he, "human +knowledge is confined within very narrow limits; and when I have +taught you mathematics, physics, history, and the three or four modern +languages with which I am acquainted, you will know as much as I do +myself. Now, it will scarcely require two years for me to communicate to +you the stock of learning I possess." + +"Two years!" exclaimed Dantes; "do you really believe I can acquire all +these things in so short a time?" + +"Not their application, certainly, but their principles you may; to +learn is not to know; there are the learners and the learned. Memory +makes the one, philosophy the other." + +"But cannot one learn philosophy?" + +"Philosophy cannot be taught; it is the application of the sciences to +truth; it is like the golden cloud in which the Messiah went up into +heaven." + +"Well, then," said Dantes, "What shall you teach me first? I am in a +hurry to begin. I want to learn." + +"Everything," said the abbe. And that very evening the prisoners +sketched a plan of education, to be entered upon the following day. +Dantes possessed a prodigious memory, combined with an astonishing +quickness and readiness of conception; the mathematical turn of his +mind rendered him apt at all kinds of calculation, while his naturally +poetical feelings threw a light and pleasing veil over the dry reality +of arithmetical computation, or the rigid severity of geometry. He +already knew Italian, and had also picked up a little of the Romaic +dialect during voyages to the East; and by the aid of these two +languages he easily comprehended the construction of all the others, so +that at the end of six months he began to speak Spanish, English, and +German. In strict accordance with the promise made to the abbe, Dantes +spoke no more of escape. Perhaps the delight his studies afforded him +left no room for such thoughts; perhaps the recollection that he had +pledged his word (on which his sense of honor was keen) kept him from +referring in any way to the possibilities of flight. Days, even months, +passed by unheeded in one rapid and instructive course. At the end of +a year Dantes was a new man. Dantes observed, however, that Faria, in +spite of the relief his society afforded, daily grew sadder; one thought +seemed incessantly to harass and distract his mind. Sometimes he would +fall into long reveries, sigh heavily and involuntarily, then suddenly +rise, and, with folded arms, begin pacing the confined space of his +dungeon. One day he stopped all at once, and exclaimed, "Ah, if there +were no sentinel!" + +"There shall not be one a minute longer than you please," said Dantes, +who had followed the working of his thoughts as accurately as though +his brain were enclosed in crystal so clear as to display its minutest +operations. + +"I have already told you," answered the abbe, "that I loathe the idea of +shedding blood." + +"And yet the murder, if you choose to call it so, would be simply a +measure of self-preservation." + +"No matter! I could never agree to it." + +"Still, you have thought of it?" + +"Incessantly, alas!" cried the abbe. + +"And you have discovered a means of regaining our freedom, have you +not?" asked Dantes eagerly. + +"I have; if it were only possible to place a deaf and blind sentinel in +the gallery beyond us." + +"He shall be both blind and deaf," replied the young man, with an air of +determination that made his companion shudder. + +"No, no," cried the abbe; "impossible!" Dantes endeavored to renew the +subject; the abbe shook his head in token of disapproval, and refused to +make any further response. Three months passed away. + +"Are you strong?" the abbe asked one day of Dantes. The young man, in +reply, took up the chisel, bent it into the form of a horseshoe, and +then as readily straightened it. + +"And will you engage not to do any harm to the sentry, except as a last +resort?" + +"I promise on my honor." + +"Then," said the abbe, "we may hope to put our design into execution." + +"And how long shall we be in accomplishing the necessary work?" + +"At least a year." + +"And shall we begin at once?" + +"At once." + +"We have lost a year to no purpose!" cried Dantes. + +"Do you consider the last twelve months to have been wasted?" asked the +abbe. + +"Forgive me!" cried Edmond, blushing deeply. + +"Tut, tut!" answered the abbe, "man is but man after all, and you are +about the best specimen of the genus I have ever known. Come, let me +show you my plan." The abbe then showed Dantes the sketch he had made +for their escape. It consisted of a plan of his own cell and that of +Dantes, with the passage which united them. In this passage he proposed +to drive a level as they do in mines; this level would bring the two +prisoners immediately beneath the gallery where the sentry kept watch; +once there, a large excavation would be made, and one of the flag-stones +with which the gallery was paved be so completely loosened that at the +desired moment it would give way beneath the feet of the soldier, who, +stunned by his fall, would be immediately bound and gagged by Dantes +before he had power to offer any resistance. The prisoners were then to +make their way through one of the gallery windows, and to let themselves +down from the outer walls by means of the abbe's ladder of cords. +Dantes' eyes sparkled with joy, and he rubbed his hands with delight at +the idea of a plan so simple, yet apparently so certain to succeed. + +That very day the miners began their labors, with a vigor and alacrity +proportionate to their long rest from fatigue and their hopes of +ultimate success. Nothing interrupted the progress of the work +except the necessity that each was under of returning to his cell in +anticipation of the turnkey's visits. They had learned to distinguish +the almost imperceptible sound of his footsteps as he descended towards +their dungeons, and happily, never failed of being prepared for his +coming. The fresh earth excavated during their present work, and which +would have entirely blocked up the old passage, was thrown, by degrees +and with the utmost precaution, out of the window in either Faria's +or Dantes' cell, the rubbish being first pulverized so finely that the +night wind carried it far away without permitting the smallest trace to +remain. More than a year had been consumed in this undertaking, the only +tools for which had been a chisel, a knife, and a wooden lever; Faria +still continuing to instruct Dantes by conversing with him, sometimes +in one language, sometimes in another; at others, relating to him the +history of nations and great men who from time to time have risen to +fame and trodden the path of glory. + +The abbe was a man of the world, and had, moreover, mixed in the first +society of the day; he wore an air of melancholy dignity which Dantes, +thanks to the imitative powers bestowed on him by nature, easily +acquired, as well as that outward polish and politeness he had before +been wanting in, and which is seldom possessed except by those who +have been placed in constant intercourse with persons of high birth and +breeding. At the end of fifteen months the level was finished, and the +excavation completed beneath the gallery, and the two workmen could +distinctly hear the measured tread of the sentinel as he paced to and +fro over their heads. + +Compelled, as they were, to await a night sufficiently dark to favor +their flight, they were obliged to defer their final attempt till that +auspicious moment should arrive; their greatest dread now was lest the +stone through which the sentry was doomed to fall should give way before +its right time, and this they had in some measure provided against by +propping it up with a small beam which they had discovered in the +walls through which they had worked their way. Dantes was occupied in +arranging this piece of wood when he heard Faria, who had remained +in Edmond's cell for the purpose of cutting a peg to secure their +rope-ladder, call to him in a tone indicative of great suffering. Dantes +hastened to his dungeon, where he found him standing in the middle of +the room, pale as death, his forehead streaming with perspiration, and +his hands clinched tightly together. + +"Gracious heavens!" exclaimed Dantes, "what is the matter? what has +happened?" + +"Quick! quick!" returned the abbe, "listen to what I have to say." +Dantes looked in fear and wonder at the livid countenance of Faria, +whose eyes, already dull and sunken, were surrounded by purple circles, +while his lips were white as those of a corpse, and his very hair seemed +to stand on end. + +"Tell me, I beseech you, what ails you?" cried Dantes, letting his +chisel fall to the floor. + +"Alas," faltered out the abbe, "all is over with me. I am seized with a +terrible, perhaps mortal illness; I can feel that the paroxysm is +fast approaching. I had a similar attack the year previous to my +imprisonment. This malady admits but of one remedy; I will tell you what +that is. Go into my cell as quickly as you can; draw out one of the feet +that support the bed; you will find it has been hollowed out for the +purpose of containing a small phial you will see there half-filled with +a red-looking fluid. Bring it to me--or rather--no, no!--I may be found +here, therefore help me back to my room while I have the strength to +drag myself along. Who knows what may happen, or how long the attack may +last?" + +In spite of the magnitude of the misfortune which thus suddenly +frustrated his hopes, Dantes did not lose his presence of mind, but +descended into the passage, dragging his unfortunate companion with him; +then, half-carrying, half-supporting him, he managed to reach the abbe's +chamber, when he immediately laid the sufferer on his bed. + +"Thanks," said the poor abbe, shivering as though his veins were filled +with ice. "I am about to be seized with a fit of catalepsy; when it +comes to its height I shall probably lie still and motionless as though +dead, uttering neither sigh nor groan. On the other hand, the symptoms +may be much more violent, and cause me to fall into fearful convulsions, +foam at the mouth, and cry out loudly. Take care my cries are not heard, +for if they are it is more than probable I should be removed to another +part of the prison, and we be separated forever. When I become quite +motionless, cold, and rigid as a corpse, then, and not before,--be +careful about this,--force open my teeth with the knife, pour from eight +to ten drops of the liquor contained in the phial down my throat, and I +may perhaps revive." + +"Perhaps!" exclaimed Dantes in grief-stricken tones. + +"Help! help!" cried the abbe, "I--I--die--I"-- + +So sudden and violent was the fit that the unfortunate prisoner was +unable to complete the sentence; a violent convulsion shook his whole +frame, his eyes started from their sockets, his mouth was drawn on one +side, his cheeks became purple, he struggled, foamed, dashed himself +about, and uttered the most dreadful cries, which, however, Dantes +prevented from being heard by covering his head with the blanket. The +fit lasted two hours; then, more helpless than an infant, and colder and +paler than marble, more crushed and broken than a reed trampled under +foot, he fell back, doubled up in one last convulsion, and became as +rigid as a corpse. + +Edmond waited till life seemed extinct in the body of his friend, then, +taking up the knife, he with difficulty forced open the closely +fixed jaws, carefully administered the appointed number of drops, and +anxiously awaited the result. An hour passed away and the old man gave +no sign of returning animation. Dantes began to fear he had delayed too +long ere he administered the remedy, and, thrusting his hands into his +hair, continued gazing on the lifeless features of his friend. At length +a slight color tinged the livid cheeks, consciousness returned to the +dull, open eyeballs, a faint sigh issued from the lips, and the sufferer +made a feeble effort to move. + +"He is saved! he is saved!" cried Dantes in a paroxysm of delight. + +The sick man was not yet able to speak, but he pointed with evident +anxiety towards the door. Dantes listened, and plainly distinguished the +approaching steps of the jailer. It was therefore near seven o'clock; +but Edmond's anxiety had put all thoughts of time out of his head. The +young man sprang to the entrance, darted through it, carefully drawing +the stone over the opening, and hurried to his cell. He had scarcely +done so before the door opened, and the jailer saw the prisoner seated +as usual on the side of his bed. Almost before the key had turned in the +lock, and before the departing steps of the jailer had died away in +the long corridor he had to traverse, Dantes, whose restless anxiety +concerning his friend left him no desire to touch the food brought him, +hurried back to the abbe's chamber, and raising the stone by pressing +his head against it, was soon beside the sick man's couch. Faria had +now fully regained his consciousness, but he still lay helpless and +exhausted. + +"I did not expect to see you again," said he feebly, to Dantes. + +"And why not?" asked the young man. "Did you fancy yourself dying?" + +"No, I had no such idea; but, knowing that all was ready for flight, I +thought you might have made your escape." The deep glow of indignation +suffused the cheeks of Dantes. + +"Without you? Did you really think me capable of that?" + +"At least," said the abbe, "I now see how wrong such an opinion would +have been. Alas, alas! I am fearfully exhausted and debilitated by this +attack." + +"Be of good cheer," replied Dantes; "your strength will return." And +as he spoke he seated himself near the bed beside Faria, and took his +hands. The abbe shook his head. + +"The last attack I had," said he, "lasted but half an hour, and after it +I was hungry, and got up without help; now I can move neither my right +arm nor leg, and my head seems uncomfortable, which shows that there +has been a suffusion of blood on the brain. The third attack will either +carry me off, or leave me paralyzed for life." + +"No, no," cried Dantes; "you are mistaken--you will not die! And your +third attack (if, indeed, you should have another) will find you at +liberty. We shall save you another time, as we have done this, only with +a better chance of success, because we shall be able to command every +requisite assistance." + +"My good Edmond," answered the abbe, "be not deceived. The attack which +has just passed away, condemns me forever to the walls of a prison. None +can fly from a dungeon who cannot walk." + +"Well, we will wait,--a week, a month, two months, if need be,--and +meanwhile your strength will return. Everything is in readiness for our +flight, and we can select any time we choose. As soon as you feel able +to swim we will go." + +"I shall never swim again," replied Faria. "This arm is paralyzed; not +for a time, but forever. Lift it, and judge if I am mistaken." The +young man raised the arm, which fell back by its own weight, perfectly +inanimate and helpless. A sigh escaped him. + +"You are convinced now, Edmond, are you not?" asked the abbe. "Depend +upon it, I know what I say. Since the first attack I experienced of this +malady, I have continually reflected on it. Indeed, I expected it, for +it is a family inheritance; both my father and grandfather died of it +in a third attack. The physician who prepared for me the remedy I have +twice successfully taken, was no other than the celebrated Cabanis, and +he predicted a similar end for me." + +"The physician may be mistaken!" exclaimed Dantes. "And as for your poor +arm, what difference will that make? I can take you on my shoulders, and +swim for both of us." + +"My son," said the abbe, "you, who are a sailor and a swimmer, must know +as well as I do that a man so loaded would sink before he had done fifty +strokes. Cease, then, to allow yourself to be duped by vain hopes, that +even your own excellent heart refuses to believe in. Here I shall +remain till the hour of my deliverance arrives, and that, in all human +probability, will be the hour of my death. As for you, who are young +and active, delay not on my account, but fly--go--I give you back your +promise." + +"It is well," said Dantes. "Then I shall also remain." Then, rising and +extending his hand with an air of solemnity over the old man's head, he +slowly added, "By the blood of Christ I swear never to leave you while +you live." + +Faria gazed fondly on his noble-minded, single-hearted, high-principled +young friend, and read in his countenance ample confirmation of the +sincerity of his devotion and the loyalty of his purpose. + +"Thanks," murmured the invalid, extending one hand. "I accept. You may +one of these days reap the reward of your disinterested devotion. But +as I cannot, and you will not, quit this place, it becomes necessary +to fill up the excavation beneath the soldier's gallery; he might, by +chance, hear the hollow sound of his footsteps, and call the attention +of his officer to the circumstance. That would bring about a discovery +which would inevitably lead to our being separated. Go, then, and set +about this work, in which, unhappily, I can offer you no assistance; +keep at it all night, if necessary, and do not return here to-morrow +till after the jailer his visited me. I shall have something of the +greatest importance to communicate to you." + +Dantes took the hand of the abbe in his, and affectionately pressed +it. Faria smiled encouragingly on him, and the young man retired to his +task, in the spirit of obedience and respect which he had sworn to show +towards his aged friend. + + + +Chapter 18. The Treasure. + +When Dantes returned next morning to the chamber of his companion in +captivity, he found Faria seated and looking composed. In the ray of +light which entered by the narrow window of his cell, he held open in +his left hand, of which alone, it will be recollected, he retained the +use, a sheet of paper, which, from being constantly rolled into a small +compass, had the form of a cylinder, and was not easily kept open. He +did not speak, but showed the paper to Dantes. + +"What is that?" he inquired. + +"Look at it," said the abbe with a smile. + +"I have looked at it with all possible attention," said Dantes, "and I +only see a half-burnt paper, on which are traces of Gothic characters +inscribed with a peculiar kind of ink." + +"This paper, my friend," said Faria, "I may now avow to you, since I +have the proof of your fidelity--this paper is my treasure, of which, +from this day forth, one-half belongs to you." + +The sweat started forth on Dantes brow. Until this day and for how +long a time!--he had refrained from talking of the treasure, which had +brought upon the abbe the accusation of madness. With his instinctive +delicacy Edmond had preferred avoiding any touch on this painful chord, +and Faria had been equally silent. He had taken the silence of the old +man for a return to reason; and now these few words uttered by Faria, +after so painful a crisis, seemed to indicate a serious relapse into +mental alienation. + +"Your treasure?" stammered Dantes. Faria smiled. + +"Yes," said he. "You have, indeed, a noble nature, Edmond, and I see +by your paleness and agitation what is passing in your heart at this +moment. No, be assured, I am not mad. This treasure exists, Dantes, and +if I have not been allowed to possess it, you will. Yes--you. No one +would listen or believe me, because everyone thought me mad; but you, +who must know that I am not, listen to me, and believe me so afterwards +if you will." + +"Alas," murmured Edmond to himself, "this is a terrible relapse! There +was only this blow wanting." Then he said aloud, "My dear friend, your +attack has, perhaps, fatigued you; had you not better repose awhile? +To-morrow, if you will, I will hear your narrative; but to-day I wish +to nurse you carefully. Besides," he said, "a treasure is not a thing we +need hurry about." + +"On the contrary, it is a matter of the utmost importance, Edmond!" +replied the old man. "Who knows if to-morrow, or the next day after, +the third attack may not come on? and then must not all be over? Yes, +indeed, I have often thought with a bitter joy that these riches, which +would make the wealth of a dozen families, will be forever lost to those +men who persecute me. This idea was one of vengeance to me, and I tasted +it slowly in the night of my dungeon and the despair of my captivity. +But now I have forgiven the world for the love of you; now that I see +you, young and with a promising future,--now that I think of all that +may result to you in the good fortune of such a disclosure, I shudder +at any delay, and tremble lest I should not assure to one as worthy as +yourself the possession of so vast an amount of hidden wealth." Edmond +turned away his head with a sigh. + +"You persist in your incredulity, Edmond," continued Faria. "My words +have not convinced you. I see you require proofs. Well, then, read this +paper, which I have never shown to any one." + +"To-morrow, my dear friend," said Edmond, desirous of not yielding to +the old man's madness. "I thought it was understood that we should not +talk of that until to-morrow." + +"Then we will not talk of it until to-morrow; but read this paper +to-day." + +"I will not irritate him," thought Edmond, and taking the paper, +of which half was wanting,--having been burnt, no doubt, by some +accident,--he read:-- + +"This treasure, which may amount to two... of Roman crowns in the most +distant a... of the second opening wh... declare to belong to him alo... +heir. "25th April, 149-" + +"Well!" said Faria, when the young man had finished reading it. + +"Why," replied Dantes, "I see nothing but broken lines and unconnected +words, which are rendered illegible by fire." + +"Yes, to you, my friend, who read them for the first time; but not +for me, who have grown pale over them by many nights' study, and have +reconstructed every phrase, completed every thought." + +"And do you believe you have discovered the hidden meaning?" + +"I am sure I have, and you shall judge for yourself; but first listen to +the history of this paper." + +"Silence!" exclaimed Dantes. "Steps approach--I go--adieu." + +And Dantes, happy to escape the history and explanation which would be +sure to confirm his belief in his friend's mental instability, glided +like a snake along the narrow passage; while Faria, restored by his +alarm to a certain amount of activity, pushed the stone into place with +his foot, and covered it with a mat in order the more effectually to +avoid discovery. + +It was the governor, who, hearing of Faria's illness from the jailer, +had come in person to see him. + +Faria sat up to receive him, avoiding all gestures in order that he +might conceal from the governor the paralysis that had already half +stricken him with death. His fear was lest the governor, touched +with pity, might order him to be removed to better quarters, and thus +separate him from his young companion. But fortunately this was not the +case, and the governor left him, convinced that the poor madman, for +whom in his heart he felt a kind of affection, was only troubled with a +slight indisposition. + +During this time, Edmond, seated on his bed with his head in his hands, +tried to collect his scattered thoughts. Faria, since their first +acquaintance, had been on all points so rational and logical, so +wonderfully sagacious, in fact, that he could not understand how so much +wisdom on all points could be allied with madness. Was Faria deceived as +to his treasure, or was all the world deceived as to Faria? + +Dantes remained in his cell all day, not daring to return to his friend, +thinking thus to defer the moment when he should be convinced, once for +all, that the abbe was mad--such a conviction would be so terrible! + +But, towards the evening after the hour for the customary visit had gone +by, Faria, not seeing the young man appear, tried to move and get over +the distance which separated them. Edmond shuddered when he heard the +painful efforts which the old man made to drag himself along; his +leg was inert, and he could no longer make use of one arm. Edmond was +obliged to assist him, for otherwise he would not have been able to +enter by the small aperture which led to Dantes' chamber. + +"Here I am, pursuing you remorselessly," he said with a benignant smile. +"You thought to escape my munificence, but it is in vain. Listen to me." + +Edmond saw there was no escape, and placing the old man on his bed, he +seated himself on the stool beside him. + +"You know," said the abbe, "that I was the secretary and intimate friend +of Cardinal Spada, the last of the princes of that name. I owe to this +worthy lord all the happiness I ever knew. He was not rich, although the +wealth of his family had passed into a proverb, and I heard the phrase +very often, 'As rich as a Spada.' But he, like public rumor, lived on +this reputation for wealth; his palace was my paradise. I was tutor to +his nephews, who are dead; and when he was alone in the world, I tried +by absolute devotion to his will, to make up to him all he had done for +me during ten years of unremitting kindness. The cardinal's house had +no secrets for me. I had often seen my noble patron annotating ancient +volumes, and eagerly searching amongst dusty family manuscripts. One day +when I was reproaching him for his unavailing searches, and deploring +the prostration of mind that followed them, he looked at me, and, +smiling bitterly, opened a volume relating to the History of the City of +Rome. There, in the twentieth chapter of the Life of Pope Alexander VI., +were the following lines, which I can never forget:-- + +"'The great wars of Romagna had ended; Caesar Borgia, who had completed +his conquest, had need of money to purchase all Italy. The pope had also +need of money to bring matters to an end with Louis XII. King of France, +who was formidable still in spite of his recent reverses; and it was +necessary, therefore, to have recourse to some profitable scheme, +which was a matter of great difficulty in the impoverished condition +of exhausted Italy. His holiness had an idea. He determined to make two +cardinals.' + +"By choosing two of the greatest personages of Rome, especially rich +men--this was the return the holy father looked for. In the first place, +he could sell the great appointments and splendid offices which the +cardinals already held; and then he had the two hats to sell besides. +There was a third point in view, which will appear hereafter. The +pope and Caesar Borgia first found the two future cardinals; they were +Giovanni Rospigliosi, who held four of the highest dignities of the +Holy See, and Caesar Spada, one of the noblest and richest of the Roman +nobility; both felt the high honor of such a favor from the pope. +They were ambitious, and Caesar Borgia soon found purchasers for their +appointments. The result was, that Rospigliosi and Spada paid for being +cardinals, and eight other persons paid for the offices the cardinals +held before their elevation, and thus eight hundred thousand crowns +entered into the coffers of the speculators. + +"It is time now to proceed to the last part of the speculation. The pope +heaped attentions upon Rospigliosi and Spada, conferred upon them the +insignia of the cardinalate, and induced them to arrange their affairs +and take up their residence at Rome. Then the pope and Caesar Borgia +invited the two cardinals to dinner. This was a matter of dispute +between the holy father and his son. Caesar thought they could make use +of one of the means which he always had ready for his friends, that is +to say, in the first place, the famous key which was given to certain +persons with the request that they go and open a designated cupboard. +This key was furnished with a small iron point,--a negligence on the +part of the locksmith. When this was pressed to effect the opening of +the cupboard, of which the lock was difficult, the person was pricked +by this small point, and died next day. Then there was the ring with the +lion's head, which Caesar wore when he wanted to greet his friends with +a clasp of the hand. The lion bit the hand thus favored, and at the +end of twenty-four hours, the bite was mortal. Caesar proposed to his +father, that they should either ask the cardinals to open the cupboard, +or shake hands with them; but Alexander VI., replied: 'Now as to the +worthy cardinals, Spada and Rospigliosi, let us ask both of them to +dinner, something tells me that we shall get that money back. Besides, +you forget, Caesar, an indigestion declares itself immediately, while +a prick or a bite occasions a delay of a day or two.' Caesar gave +way before such cogent reasoning, and the cardinals were consequently +invited to dinner. + +"The table was laid in a vineyard belonging to the pope, near San +Pierdarena, a charming retreat which the cardinals knew very well by +report. Rospigliosi, quite set up with his new dignities, went with a +good appetite and his most ingratiating manner. Spada, a prudent man, +and greatly attached to his only nephew, a young captain of the highest +promise, took paper and pen, and made his will. He then sent word to his +nephew to wait for him near the vineyard; but it appeared the servant +did not find him. + +"Spada knew what these invitations meant; since Christianity, so +eminently civilizing, had made progress in Rome, it was no longer a +centurion who came from the tyrant with a message, 'Caesar wills that +you die.' but it was a legate a latere, who came with a smile on his +lips to say from the pope, 'His holiness requests you to dine with him.' + +"Spada set out about two o'clock to San Pierdarena. The pope awaited +him. The first sight that attracted the eyes of Spada was that of +his nephew, in full costume, and Caesar Borgia paying him most marked +attentions. Spada turned pale, as Caesar looked at him with an ironical +air, which proved that he had anticipated all, and that the snare was +well spread. They began dinner and Spada was only able to inquire of his +nephew if he had received his message. The nephew replied no; perfectly +comprehending the meaning of the question. It was too late, for he had +already drunk a glass of excellent wine, placed for him expressly by the +pope's butler. Spada at the same moment saw another bottle approach him, +which he was pressed to taste. An hour afterwards a physician declared +they were both poisoned through eating mushrooms. Spada died on the +threshold of the vineyard; the nephew expired at his own door, making +signs which his wife could not comprehend. + +"Then Caesar and the pope hastened to lay hands on the heritage, under +presence of seeking for the papers of the dead man. But the inheritance +consisted in this only, a scrap of paper on which Spada had written:--'I +bequeath to my beloved nephew my coffers, my books, and, amongst others, +my breviary with the gold corners, which I beg he will preserve in +remembrance of his affectionate uncle.' + +"The heirs sought everywhere, admired the breviary, laid hands on the +furniture, and were greatly astonished that Spada, the rich man, was +really the most miserable of uncles--no treasures--unless they were +those of science, contained in the library and laboratories. That was +all. Caesar and his father searched, examined, scrutinized, but found +nothing, or at least very little; not exceeding a few thousand crowns in +plate, and about the same in ready money; but the nephew had time to say +to his wife before he expired: 'Look well among my uncle's papers; there +is a will.' + +"They sought even more thoroughly than the august heirs had done, but it +was fruitless. There were two palaces and a vineyard behind the Palatine +Hill; but in these days landed property had not much value, and the two +palaces and the vineyard remained to the family since they were beneath +the rapacity of the pope and his son. Months and years rolled on. +Alexander VI. died, poisoned,--you know by what mistake. Caesar, +poisoned at the same time, escaped by shedding his skin like a snake; +but the new skin was spotted by the poison till it looked like a +tiger's. Then, compelled to quit Rome, he went and got himself obscurely +killed in a night skirmish, scarcely noticed in history. After the +pope's death and his son's exile, it was supposed that the Spada family +would resume the splendid position they had held before the cardinal's +time; but this was not the case. The Spadas remained in doubtful ease, +a mystery hung over this dark affair, and the public rumor was, that +Caesar, a better politician than his father, had carried off from the +pope the fortune of the two cardinals. I say the two, because Cardinal +Rospigliosi, who had not taken any precaution, was completely despoiled. + +"Up to this point," said Faria, interrupting the thread of his +narrative, "this seems to you very meaningless, no doubt, eh?" + +"Oh, my friend," cried Dantes, "on the contrary, it seems as if I were +reading a most interesting narrative; go on, I beg of you." + +"I will." + +"The family began to get accustomed to their obscurity. Years rolled +on, and amongst the descendants some were soldiers, others diplomatists; +some churchmen, some bankers; some grew rich, and some were ruined. I +come now to the last of the family, whose secretary I was--the Count of +Spada. I had often heard him complain of the disproportion of his rank +with his fortune; and I advised him to invest all he had in an annuity. +He did so, and thus doubled his income. The celebrated breviary remained +in the family, and was in the count's possession. It had been handed +down from father to son; for the singular clause of the only will +that had been found, had caused it to be regarded as a genuine relic, +preserved in the family with superstitious veneration. It was an +illuminated book, with beautiful Gothic characters, and so weighty with +gold, that a servant always carried it before the cardinal on days of +great solemnity. + +"At the sight of papers of all sorts,--titles, contracts, parchments, +which were kept in the archives of the family, all descending from +the poisoned cardinal, I in my turn examined the immense bundles of +documents, like twenty servitors, stewards, secretaries before me; but +in spite of the most exhaustive researches, I found--nothing. Yet I had +read, I had even written a precise history of the Borgia family, for +the sole purpose of assuring myself whether any increase of fortune had +occurred to them on the death of the Cardinal Caesar Spada; but could +only trace the acquisition of the property of the Cardinal Rospigliosi, +his companion in misfortune. + +"I was then almost assured that the inheritance had neither profited the +Borgias nor the family, but had remained unpossessed like the treasures +of the Arabian Nights, which slept in the bosom of the earth under the +eyes of the genie. I searched, ransacked, counted, calculated a thousand +and a thousand times the income and expenditure of the family for three +hundred years. It was useless. I remained in my ignorance, and the +Count of Spada in his poverty. My patron died. He had reserved from +his annuity his family papers, his library, composed of five thousand +volumes, and his famous breviary. All these he bequeathed to me, with a +thousand Roman crowns, which he had in ready money, on condition that I +would have anniversary masses said for the repose of his soul, and that +I would draw up a genealogical tree and history of his house. All this I +did scrupulously. Be easy, my dear Edmond, we are near the conclusion. + +"In 1807, a month before I was arrested, and a fortnight after the death +of the Count of Spada, on the 25th of December (you will see presently +how the date became fixed in my memory), I was reading, for the +thousandth time, the papers I was arranging, for the palace was sold +to a stranger, and I was going to leave Rome and settle at Florence, +intending to take with me twelve thousand francs I possessed, my +library, and the famous breviary, when, tired with my constant labor +at the same thing, and overcome by a heavy dinner I had eaten, my +head dropped on my hands, and I fell asleep about three o'clock in the +afternoon. I awoke as the clock was striking six. I raised my head; +I was in utter darkness. I rang for a light, but as no one came, I +determined to find one for myself. It was indeed but anticipating the +simple manners which I should soon be under the necessity of adopting. +I took a wax-candle in one hand, and with the other groped about for a +piece of paper (my match-box being empty), with which I proposed to +get a light from the small flame still playing on the embers. Fearing, +however, to make use of any valuable piece of paper, I hesitated for a +moment, then recollected that I had seen in the famous breviary, which +was on the table beside me, an old paper quite yellow with age, and +which had served as a marker for centuries, kept there by the request of +the heirs. I felt for it, found it, twisted it up together, and putting +it into the expiring flame, set light to it. + +"But beneath my fingers, as if by magic, in proportion as the fire +ascended, I saw yellowish characters appear on the paper. I grasped it +in my hand, put out the flame as quickly as I could, lighted my taper +in the fire itself, and opened the crumpled paper with inexpressible +emotion, recognizing, when I had done so, that these characters had been +traced in mysterious and sympathetic ink, only appearing when exposed to +the fire; nearly one-third of the paper had been consumed by the flame. +It was that paper you read this morning; read it again, Dantes, and then +I will complete for you the incomplete words and unconnected sense." + +Faria, with an air of triumph, offered the paper to Dantes, who this +time read the following words, traced with an ink of a reddish color +resembling rust:-- + + "This 25th day of April, 1498, be... + Alexander VI., and fearing that not... + he may desire to become my heir, and re... + and Bentivoglio, who were poisoned,... + my sole heir, that I have bu... + and has visited with me, that is, in... + Island of Monte Cristo, all I poss... + jewels, diamonds, gems; that I alone... + may amount to nearly two mil... + will find on raising the twentieth ro... + creek to the east in a right line. Two open... + in these caves; the treasure is in the furthest a... + which treasure I bequeath and leave en... + as my sole heir. + "25th April, 1498. + "Caes... + +"And now," said the abbe, "read this other paper;" and he presented to +Dantes a second leaf with fragments of lines written on it, which Edmond +read as follows:-- + + "...ing invited to dine by his Holiness + ...content with making me pay for my hat, + ...serves for me the fate of Cardinals Caprara + ...I declare to my nephew, Guido Spada + ...ried in a place he knows + ...the caves of the small + ...essed of ingots, gold, money, + ...know of the existence of this treasure, which + ...lions of Roman crowns, and which he + ...ck from the small + ...ings have been made + ...ngle in the second; + ...tire to him + ...ar Spada." + +Faria followed him with an excited look, "and now," he said, when he saw +that Dantes had read the last line, "put the two fragments together, and +judge for yourself." Dantes obeyed, and the conjointed pieces gave the +following:-- + +"This 25th day of April, 1498, be...ing invited to dine by his Holiness +Alexander VI., and fearing that not...content with making me pay for my +hat, he may desire to become my heir, and re...serves for me the fate of +Cardinals Caprara and Bentivoglio, who were poisoned...I declare to my +nephew, Guido Spada, my sole heir, that I have bu...ried in a place +he knows and has visited with me, that is, in...the caves of the small +Island of Monte Cristo all I poss...ssed of ingots, gold, money, jewels, +diamonds, gems; that I alone...know of the existence of this treasure, +which may amount to nearly two mil...lions of Roman crowns, and which he +will find on raising the twentieth ro...ck from the small creek to the +east in a right line. Two open...ings have been made in these caves; +the treasure is in the furthest a...ngle in the second; which treasure I +bequeath and leave en...tire to him as my sole heir. "25th April, 1498. +"Caes...ar Spada." + +"Well, do you comprehend now?" inquired Faria. + +"It is the declaration of Cardinal Spada, and the will so long sought +for," replied Edmond, still incredulous. + +"Yes; a thousand times, yes!" + +"And who completed it as it now is?" + +"I did. Aided by the remaining fragment, I guessed the rest; measuring +the length of the lines by those of the paper, and divining the hidden +meaning by means of what was in part revealed, as we are guided in a +cavern by the small ray of light above us." + +"And what did you do when you arrived at this conclusion?" + +"I resolved to set out, and did set out at that very instant, carrying +with me the beginning of my great work, the unity of the Italian +kingdom; but for some time the imperial police (who at this period, +quite contrary to what Napoleon desired so soon as he had a son born to +him, wished for a partition of provinces) had their eyes on me; and my +hasty departure, the cause of which they were unable to guess, having +aroused their suspicions, I was arrested at the very moment I was +leaving Piombino. + +"Now," continued Faria, addressing Dantes with an almost paternal +expression, "now, my dear fellow, you know as much as I do myself. If +we ever escape together, half this treasure is yours; if I die here, and +you escape alone, the whole belongs to you." + +"But," inquired Dantes hesitating, "has this treasure no more legitimate +possessor in the world than ourselves?" + +"No, no, be easy on that score; the family is extinct. The last Count +of Spada, moreover, made me his heir, bequeathing to me this symbolic +breviary, he bequeathed to me all it contained; no, no, make your mind +satisfied on that point. If we lay hands on this fortune, we may enjoy +it without remorse." + +"And you say this treasure amounts to"-- + +"Two millions of Roman crowns; nearly thirteen millions of our +money." [*] + + * $2,600,000 in 1894. + +"Impossible!" said Dantes, staggered at the enormous amount. + +"Impossible? and why?" asked the old man. "The Spada family was one of +the oldest and most powerful families of the fifteenth century; and in +those times, when other opportunities for investment were wanting, such +accumulations of gold and jewels were by no means rare; there are at +this day Roman families perishing of hunger, though possessed of nearly +a million in diamonds and jewels, handed down by entail, and which they +cannot touch." Edmond thought he was in a dream--he wavered between +incredulity and joy. + +"I have only kept this secret so long from you," continued Faria, "that +I might test your character, and then surprise you. Had we escaped +before my attack of catalepsy, I should have conducted you to Monte +Cristo; now," he added, with a sigh, "it is you who will conduct me +thither. Well, Dantes, you do not thank me?" + +"This treasure belongs to you, my dear friend," replied Dantes, "and to +you only. I have no right to it. I am no relation of yours." + +"You are my son, Dantes," exclaimed the old man. "You are the child of +my captivity. My profession condemns me to celibacy. God has sent you +to me to console, at one and the same time, the man who could not be a +father, and the prisoner who could not get free." And Faria extended the +arm of which alone the use remained to him to the young man who threw +himself upon his neck and wept. + + + +Chapter 19. The Third Attack. + +Now that this treasure, which had so long been the object of the abbe's +meditations, could insure the future happiness of him whom Faria really +loved as a son, it had doubled its value in his eyes, and every day he +expatiated on the amount, explaining to Dantes all the good which, with +thirteen or fourteen millions of francs, a man could do in these days to +his friends; and then Dantes' countenance became gloomy, for the oath of +vengeance he had taken recurred to his memory, and he reflected how much +ill, in these times, a man with thirteen or fourteen millions could do +to his enemies. + +The abbe did not know the Island of Monte Cristo; but Dantes knew +it, and had often passed it, situated twenty-five miles from Pianosa, +between Corsica and the Island of Elba, and had once touched there. This +island was, always had been, and still is, completely deserted. It is a +rock of almost conical form, which looks as though it had been thrust +up by volcanic force from the depth to the surface of the ocean. Dantes +drew a plan of the island for Faria, and Faria gave Dantes advice as to +the means he should employ to recover the treasure. But Dantes was far +from being as enthusiastic and confident as the old man. It was past a +question now that Faria was not a lunatic, and the way in which he had +achieved the discovery, which had given rise to the suspicion of his +madness, increased Edmond's admiration of him; but at the same time +Dantes could not believe that the deposit, supposing it had ever +existed, still existed; and though he considered the treasure as by no +means chimerical, he yet believed it was no longer there. + +However, as if fate resolved on depriving the prisoners of their last +chance, and making them understand that they were condemned to perpetual +imprisonment, a new misfortune befell them; the gallery on the sea +side, which had long been in ruins, was rebuilt. They had repaired it +completely, and stopped up with vast masses of stone the hole Dantes had +partly filled in. But for this precaution, which, it will be remembered, +the abbe had made to Edmond, the misfortune would have been still +greater, for their attempt to escape would have been detected, and they +would undoubtedly have been separated. Thus a new, a stronger, and more +inexorable barrier was interposed to cut off the realization of their +hopes. + +"You see," said the young man, with an air of sorrowful resignation, to +Faria, "that God deems it right to take from me any claim to merit for +what you call my devotion to you. I have promised to remain forever with +you, and now I could not break my promise if I would. The treasure will +be no more mine than yours, and neither of us will quit this prison. But +my real treasure is not that, my dear friend, which awaits me beneath +the sombre rocks of Monte Cristo, it is your presence, our living +together five or six hours a day, in spite of our jailers; it is the +rays of intelligence you have elicited from my brain, the languages you +have implanted in my memory, and which have taken root there with all +their philological ramifications. These different sciences that you have +made so easy to me by the depth of the knowledge you possess of them, +and the clearness of the principles to which you have reduced them--this +is my treasure, my beloved friend, and with this you have made me rich +and happy. Believe me, and take comfort, this is better for me than tons +of gold and cases of diamonds, even were they not as problematical as +the clouds we see in the morning floating over the sea, which we take +for terra firma, and which evaporate and vanish as we draw near to +them. To have you as long as possible near me, to hear your eloquent +speech,--which embellishes my mind, strengthens my soul, and makes my +whole frame capable of great and terrible things, if I should ever be +free,--so fills my whole existence, that the despair to which I was just +on the point of yielding when I knew you, has no longer any hold over +me; and this--this is my fortune--not chimerical, but actual. I owe you +my real good, my present happiness; and all the sovereigns of the earth, +even Caesar Borgia himself, could not deprive me of this." + +Thus, if not actually happy, yet the days these two unfortunates passed +together went quickly. Faria, who for so long a time had kept silence +as to the treasure, now perpetually talked of it. As he had prophesied +would be the case, he remained paralyzed in the right arm and the left +leg, and had given up all hope of ever enjoying it himself. But he was +continually thinking over some means of escape for his young companion, +and anticipating the pleasure he would enjoy. For fear the letter might +be some day lost or stolen, he compelled Dantes to learn it by heart; +and Dantes knew it from the first to the last word. Then he destroyed +the second portion, assured that if the first were seized, no one would +be able to discover its real meaning. Whole hours sometimes passed while +Faria was giving instructions to Dantes,--instructions which were to +serve him when he was at liberty. Then, once free, from the day and hour +and moment when he was so, he could have but one only thought, which +was, to gain Monte Cristo by some means, and remain there alone under +some pretext which would arouse no suspicions; and once there, to +endeavor to find the wonderful caverns, and search in the appointed +spot,--the appointed spot, be it remembered, being the farthest angle in +the second opening. + +In the meanwhile the hours passed, if not rapidly, at least tolerably. +Faria, as we have said, without having recovered the use of his hand +and foot, had regained all the clearness of his understanding, and had +gradually, besides the moral instructions we have detailed, taught +his youthful companion the patient and sublime duty of a prisoner, +who learns to make something from nothing. They were thus perpetually +employed,--Faria, that he might not see himself grow old; Dantes, for +fear of recalling the almost extinct past which now only floated in his +memory like a distant light wandering in the night. So life went on for +them as it does for those who are not victims of misfortune and whose +activities glide along mechanically and tranquilly beneath the eye of +providence. + +But beneath this superficial calm there were in the heart of the young +man, and perhaps in that of the old man, many repressed desires, many +stifled sighs, which found vent when Faria was left alone, and when +Edmond returned to his cell. One night Edmond awoke suddenly, believing +that he heard some one calling him. He opened his eyes upon utter +darkness. His name, or rather a plaintive voice which essayed to +pronounce his name, reached him. He sat up in bed and a cold sweat +broke out upon his brow. Undoubtedly the call came from Faria's dungeon. +"Alas," murmured Edmond; "can it be?" + +He moved his bed, drew up the stone, rushed into the passage, and +reached the opposite extremity; the secret entrance was open. By the +light of the wretched and wavering lamp, of which we have spoken, Dantes +saw the old man, pale, but yet erect, clinging to the bedstead. His +features were writhing with those horrible symptoms which he already +knew, and which had so seriously alarmed him when he saw them for the +first time. + +"Alas, my dear friend," said Faria in a resigned tone, "you understand, +do you not, and I need not attempt to explain to you?" + +Edmond uttered a cry of agony, and, quite out of his senses, rushed +towards the door, exclaiming, "Help, help!" Faria had just sufficient +strength to restrain him. + +"Silence," he said, "or you are lost. We must now only think of you, my +dear friend, and so act as to render your captivity supportable or your +flight possible. It would require years to do again what I have done +here, and the results would be instantly destroyed if our jailers +knew we had communicated with each other. Besides, be assured, my dear +Edmond, the dungeon I am about to leave will not long remain empty; some +other unfortunate being will soon take my place, and to him you will +appear like an angel of salvation. Perhaps he will be young, strong, and +enduring, like yourself, and will aid you in your escape, while I have +been but a hindrance. You will no longer have half a dead body tied +to you as a drag to all your movements. At length providence has done +something for you; he restores to you more than he takes away, and it +was time I should die." + +Edmond could only clasp his hands and exclaim, "Oh, my friend, my +friend, speak not thus!" and then resuming all his presence of mind, +which had for a moment staggered under this blow, and his strength, +which had failed at the words of the old man, he said, "Oh, I have saved +you once, and I will save you a second time!" And raising the foot +of the bed, he drew out the phial, still a third filled with the red +liquor. + +"See," he exclaimed, "there remains still some of the magic draught. +Quick, quick! tell me what I must do this time; are there any fresh +instructions? Speak, my friend; I listen." + +"There is not a hope," replied Faria, shaking his head, "but no matter; +God wills it that man whom he has created, and in whose heart he has +so profoundly rooted the love of life, should do all in his power to +preserve that existence, which, however painful it may be, is yet always +so dear." + +"Oh, yes, yes!" exclaimed Dantes; "and I tell you that I will save you +yet." + +"Well, then, try. The cold gains upon me. I feel the blood flowing +towards my brain. These horrible chills, which make my teeth chatter +and seem to dislocate my bones, begin to pervade my whole frame; in five +minutes the malady will reach its height, and in a quarter of an hour +there will be nothing left of me but a corpse." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Dantes, his heart wrung with anguish. + +"Do as you did before, only do not wait so long, all the springs of +life are now exhausted in me, and death," he continued, looking at his +paralyzed arm and leg, "has but half its work to do. If, after having +made me swallow twelve drops instead of ten, you see that I do not +recover, then pour the rest down my throat. Now lift me on my bed, for I +can no longer support myself." + +Edmond took the old man in his arms, and laid him on the bed. + +"And now, my dear friend," said Faria, "sole consolation of my wretched +existence,--you whom heaven gave me somewhat late, but still gave me, +a priceless gift, and for which I am most grateful,--at the moment of +separating from you forever, I wish you all the happiness and all the +prosperity you so well deserve. My son, I bless thee!" The young man +cast himself on his knees, leaning his head against the old man's bed. + +"Listen, now, to what I say in this my dying moment. The treasure of the +Spadas exists. God grants me the boon of vision unrestricted by time or +space. I see it in the depths of the inner cavern. My eyes pierce the +inmost recesses of the earth, and are dazzled at the sight of so much +riches. If you do escape, remember that the poor abbe, whom all the +world called mad, was not so. Hasten to Monte Cristo--avail yourself +of the fortune--for you have indeed suffered long enough." A violent +convulsion attacked the old man. Dantes raised his head and saw Faria's +eyes injected with blood. It seemed as if a flow of blood had ascended +from the chest to the head. + +"Adieu, adieu!" murmured the old man, clasping Edmond's hand +convulsively--"adieu!" + +"Oh, no,--no, not yet," he cried; "do not forsake me! Oh, succor him! +Help--help--help!" + +"Hush--hush!" murmured the dying man, "that they may not separate us if +you save me!" + +"You are right. Oh, yes, yes; be assured I shall save you! Besides, +although you suffer much, you do not seem to be in such agony as you +were before." + +"Do not mistake. I suffer less because there is in me less strength to +endure. At your age we have faith in life; it is the privilege of +youth to believe and hope, but old men see death more clearly. Oh, 'tis +here--'tis here--'tis over--my sight is gone--my senses fail! Your hand, +Dantes! Adieu--adieu!" And raising himself by a final effort, in which +he summoned all his faculties, he said,--"Monte Cristo, forget not Monte +Cristo!" And he fell back on the bed. The crisis was terrible, and a +rigid form with twisted limbs, swollen eyelids, and lips flecked with +bloody foam, lay on the bed of torture, in place of the intellectual +being who so lately rested there. + +Dantes took the lamp, placed it on a projecting stone above the bed, +whence its tremulous light fell with strange and fantastic ray on the +distorted countenance and motionless, stiffened body. With steady gaze +he awaited confidently the moment for administering the restorative. + +When he believed that the right moment had arrived, he took the knife, +pried open the teeth, which offered less resistance than before, counted +one after the other twelve drops, and watched; the phial contained, +perhaps, twice as much more. He waited ten minutes, a quarter of an +hour, half an hour,--no change took place. Trembling, his hair erect, +his brow bathed with perspiration, he counted the seconds by the beating +of his heart. Then he thought it was time to make the last trial, and he +put the phial to the purple lips of Faria, and without having occasion +to force open his jaws, which had remained extended, he poured the whole +of the liquid down his throat. + +The draught produced a galvanic effect, a violent trembling pervaded the +old man's limbs, his eyes opened until it was fearful to gaze upon them, +he heaved a sigh which resembled a shriek, and then his convulsed body +returned gradually to its former immobility, the eyes remaining open. + +Half an hour, an hour, an hour and a half elapsed, and during this +period of anguish, Edmond leaned over his friend, his hand applied +to his heart, and felt the body gradually grow cold, and the heart's +pulsation become more and more deep and dull, until at length it +stopped; the last movement of the heart ceased, the face became livid, +the eyes remained open, but the eyeballs were glazed. It was six o'clock +in the morning, the dawn was just breaking, and its feeble ray came +into the dungeon, and paled the ineffectual light of the lamp. Strange +shadows passed over the countenance of the dead man, and at times gave +it the appearance of life. While the struggle between day and night +lasted, Dantes still doubted; but as soon as the daylight gained the +pre-eminence, he saw that he was alone with a corpse. Then an invincible +and extreme terror seized upon him, and he dared not again press the +hand that hung out of bed, he dared no longer to gaze on those fixed +and vacant eyes, which he tried many times to close, but in vain--they +opened again as soon as shut. He extinguished the lamp, carefully +concealed it, and then went away, closing as well as he could the +entrance to the secret passage by the large stone as he descended. + +It was time, for the jailer was coming. On this occasion he began +his rounds at Dantes' cell, and on leaving him he went on to Faria's +dungeon, taking thither breakfast and some linen. Nothing betokened that +the man knew anything of what had occurred. He went on his way. + +Dantes was then seized with an indescribable desire to know what was +going on in the dungeon of his unfortunate friend. He therefore +returned by the subterraneous gallery, and arrived in time to hear the +exclamations of the turnkey, who called out for help. Other turnkeys +came, and then was heard the regular tramp of soldiers. Last of all came +the governor. + +Edmond heard the creaking of the bed as they moved the corpse, heard the +voice of the governor, who asked them to throw water on the dead man's +face; and seeing that, in spite of this application, the prisoner did +not recover, they sent for the doctor. The governor then went out, +and words of pity fell on Dantes' listening ears, mingled with brutal +laughter. + +"Well, well," said one, "the madman has gone to look after his treasure. +Good journey to him!" + +"With all his millions, he will not have enough to pay for his shroud!" +said another. + +"Oh," added a third voice, "the shrouds of the Chateau d'If are not +dear!" + +"Perhaps," said one of the previous speakers, "as he was a churchman, +they may go to some expense in his behalf." + +"They may give him the honors of the sack." + +Edmond did not lose a word, but comprehended very little of what was +said. The voices soon ceased, and it seemed to him as if every one had +left the cell. Still he dared not to enter, as they might have left some +turnkey to watch the dead. He remained, therefore, mute and motionless, +hardly venturing to breathe. At the end of an hour, he heard a faint +noise, which increased. It was the governor who returned, followed by +the doctor and other attendants. There was a moment's silence,--it was +evident that the doctor was examining the dead body. The inquiries soon +commenced. + +The doctor analyzed the symptoms of the malady to which the prisoner had +succumbed, and declared that he was dead. Questions and answers followed +in a nonchalant manner that made Dantes indignant, for he felt that all +the world should have for the poor abbe a love and respect equal to his +own. + +"I am very sorry for what you tell me," said the governor, replying to +the assurance of the doctor, "that the old man is really dead; for he +was a quiet, inoffensive prisoner, happy in his folly, and required no +watching." + +"Ah," added the turnkey, "there was no occasion for watching him: he +would have stayed here fifty years, I'll answer for it, without any +attempt to escape." + +"Still," said the governor, "I believe it will be requisite, +notwithstanding your certainty, and not that I doubt your science, but +in discharge of my official duty, that we should be perfectly assured +that the prisoner is dead." There was a moment of complete silence, +during which Dantes, still listening, knew that the doctor was examining +the corpse a second time. + +"You may make your mind easy," said the doctor; "he is dead. I will +answer for that." + +"You know, sir," said the governor, persisting, "that we are not content +in such cases as this with such a simple examination. In spite of all +appearances, be so kind, therefore, as to finish your duty by fulfilling +the formalities described by law." + +"Let the irons be heated," said the doctor; "but really it is a useless +precaution." This order to heat the irons made Dantes shudder. He heard +hasty steps, the creaking of a door, people going and coming, and some +minutes afterwards a turnkey entered, saying,-- + +"Here is the brazier, lighted." There was a moment's silence, and then +was heard the crackling of burning flesh, of which the peculiar +and nauseous smell penetrated even behind the wall where Dantes was +listening in horror. The perspiration poured forth upon the young man's +brow, and he felt as if he should faint. + +"You see, sir, he is really dead," said the doctor; "this burn in the +heel is decisive. The poor fool is cured of his folly, and delivered +from his captivity." + +"Wasn't his name Faria?" inquired one of the officers who accompanied +the governor. + +"Yes, sir; and, as he said, it was an ancient name. He was, too, very +learned, and rational enough on all points which did not relate to his +treasure; but on that, indeed, he was intractable." + +"It is the sort of malady which we call monomania," said the doctor. + +"You had never anything to complain of?" said the governor to the jailer +who had charge of the abbe. + +"Never, sir," replied the jailer, "never; on the contrary, he sometimes +amused me very much by telling me stories. One day, too, when my wife +was ill, he gave me a prescription which cured her." + +"Ah, ah!" said the doctor, "I did not know that I had a rival; but I +hope, governor, that you will show him all proper respect." + +"Yes, yes, make your mind easy, he shall be decently interred in the +newest sack we can find. Will that satisfy you?" + +"Must this last formality take place in your presence, sir?" inquired a +turnkey. + +"Certainly. But make haste--I cannot stay here all day." Other +footsteps, going and coming, were now heard, and a moment afterwards the +noise of rustling canvas reached Dantes' ears, the bed creaked, and the +heavy footfall of a man who lifts a weight sounded on the floor; then +the bed again creaked under the weight deposited upon it. + +"This evening," said the governor. + +"Will there be any mass?" asked one of the attendants. + +"That is impossible," replied the governor. "The chaplain of the chateau +came to me yesterday to beg for leave of absence, in order to take a +trip to Hyeres for a week. I told him I would attend to the prisoners +in his absence. If the poor abbe had not been in such a hurry, he might +have had his requiem." + +"Pooh, pooh;" said the doctor, with the impiety usual in persons of his +profession; "he is a churchman. God will respect his profession, and not +give the devil the wicked delight of sending him a priest." A shout of +laughter followed this brutal jest. Meanwhile the operation of putting +the body in the sack was going on. + +"This evening," said the governor, when the task was ended. + +"At what hour?" inquired a turnkey. + +"Why, about ten or eleven o'clock." + +"Shall we watch by the corpse?" + +"Of what use would it be? Shut the dungeon as if he were alive--that +is all." Then the steps retreated, and the voices died away in the +distance; the noise of the door, with its creaking hinges and bolts +ceased, and a silence more sombre than that of solitude ensued,--the +silence of death, which was all-pervasive, and struck its icy chill to +the very soul of Dantes. Then he raised the flag-stone cautiously with +his head, and looked carefully around the chamber. It was empty, and +Dantes emerged from the tunnel. + + + +Chapter 20. The Cemetery of the Chateau D'If. + +On the bed, at full length, and faintly illuminated by the pale light +that came from the window, lay a sack of canvas, and under its rude +folds was stretched a long and stiffened form; it was Faria's last +winding-sheet,--a winding-sheet which, as the turnkey said, cost so +little. Everything was in readiness. A barrier had been placed between +Dantes and his old friend. No longer could Edmond look into those +wide-open eyes which had seemed to be penetrating the mysteries of +death; no longer could he clasp the hand which had done so much to make +his existence blessed. Faria, the beneficent and cheerful companion, +with whom he was accustomed to live so intimately, no longer breathed. +He seated himself on the edge of that terrible bed, and fell into +melancholy and gloomy revery. + +Alone--he was alone again--again condemned to silence--again face to +face with nothingness! Alone!--never again to see the face, never again +to hear the voice of the only human being who united him to earth! Was +not Faria's fate the better, after all--to solve the problem of life at +its source, even at the risk of horrible suffering? The idea of suicide, +which his friend had driven away and kept away by his cheerful presence, +now hovered like a phantom over the abbe's dead body. + +"If I could die," he said, "I should go where he goes, and should +assuredly find him again. But how to die? It is very easy," he went on +with a smile; "I will remain here, rush on the first person that opens +the door, strangle him, and then they will guillotine me." But excessive +grief is like a storm at sea, where the frail bark is tossed from the +depths to the top of the wave. Dantes recoiled from the idea of so +infamous a death, and passed suddenly from despair to an ardent desire +for life and liberty. + +"Die? oh, no," he exclaimed--"not die now, after having lived and +suffered so long and so much! Die? yes, had I died years ago; but now to +die would be, indeed, to give way to the sarcasm of destiny. No, I want +to live; I shall struggle to the very last; I will yet win back the +happiness of which I have been deprived. Before I die I must not forget +that I have my executioners to punish, and perhaps, too, who knows, some +friends to reward. Yet they will forget me here, and I shall die in +my dungeon like Faria." As he said this, he became silent and gazed +straight before him like one overwhelmed with a strange and amazing +thought. Suddenly he arose, lifted his hand to his brow as if his brain +were giddy, paced twice or thrice round the dungeon, and then paused +abruptly by the bed. + +"Just God!" he muttered, "whence comes this thought? Is it from thee? +Since none but the dead pass freely from this dungeon, let me take +the place of the dead!" Without giving himself time to reconsider +his decision, and, indeed, that he might not allow his thoughts to be +distracted from his desperate resolution, he bent over the appalling +shroud, opened it with the knife which Faria had made, drew the corpse +from the sack, and bore it along the tunnel to his own chamber, laid it +on his couch, tied around its head the rag he wore at night around his +own, covered it with his counterpane, once again kissed the ice-cold +brow, and tried vainly to close the resisting eyes, which glared +horribly, turned the head towards the wall, so that the jailer might, +when he brought the evening meal, believe that he was asleep, as was +his frequent custom; entered the tunnel again, drew the bed against the +wall, returned to the other cell, took from the hiding-place the needle +and thread, flung off his rags, that they might feel only naked flesh +beneath the coarse canvas, and getting inside the sack, placed himself +in the posture in which the dead body had been laid, and sewed up the +mouth of the sack from the inside. + +He would have been discovered by the beating of his heart, if by any +mischance the jailers had entered at that moment. Dantes might have +waited until the evening visit was over, but he was afraid that the +governor would change his mind, and order the dead body to be removed +earlier. In that case his last hope would have been destroyed. Now his +plans were fully made, and this is what he intended to do. If while he +was being carried out the grave-diggers should discover that they were +bearing a live instead of a dead body, Dantes did not intend to give +them time to recognize him, but with a sudden cut of the knife, he meant +to open the sack from top to bottom, and, profiting by their alarm, +escape; if they tried to catch him, he would use his knife to better +purpose. + +If they took him to the cemetery and laid him in a grave, he would +allow himself to be covered with earth, and then, as it was night, the +grave-diggers could scarcely have turned their backs before he would +have worked his way through the yielding soil and escaped. He hoped that +the weight of earth would not be so great that he could not overcome it. +If he was detected in this and the earth proved too heavy, he would be +stifled, and then--so much the better, all would be over. Dantes had not +eaten since the preceding evening, but he had not thought of hunger, nor +did he think of it now. His situation was too precarious to allow him +even time to reflect on any thought but one. + +The first risk that Dantes ran was, that the jailer, when he brought +him his supper at seven o'clock, might perceive the change that had been +made; fortunately, twenty times at least, from misanthropy or fatigue, +Dantes had received his jailer in bed, and then the man placed his bread +and soup on the table, and went away without saying a word. This time +the jailer might not be as silent as usual, but speak to Dantes, and +seeing that he received no reply, go to the bed, and thus discover all. + +When seven o'clock came, Dantes' agony really began. His hand placed +upon his heart was unable to redress its throbbings, while, with the +other he wiped the perspiration from his temples. From time to time +chills ran through his whole body, and clutched his heart in a grasp +of ice. Then he thought he was going to die. Yet the hours passed on +without any unusual disturbance, and Dantes knew that he had escaped +the first peril. It was a good augury. At length, about the hour the +governor had appointed, footsteps were heard on the stairs. Edmond +felt that the moment had arrived, summoned up all his courage, held +his breath, and would have been happy if at the same time he could +have repressed the throbbing of his veins. The footsteps--they +were double--paused at the door--and Dantes guessed that the two +grave-diggers had come to seek him--this idea was soon converted +into certainty, when he heard the noise they made in putting down the +hand-bier. The door opened, and a dim light reached Dantes' eyes through +the coarse sack that covered him; he saw two shadows approach his bed, +a third remaining at the door with a torch in its hand. The two men, +approaching the ends of the bed, took the sack by its extremities. + +"He's heavy though for an old and thin man," said one, as he raised the +head. + +"They say every year adds half a pound to the weight of the bones," said +another, lifting the feet. + +"Have you tied the knot?" inquired the first speaker. + +"What would be the use of carrying so much more weight?" was the reply, +"I can do that when we get there." + +"Yes, you're right," replied the companion. + +"What's the knot for?" thought Dantes. + +They deposited the supposed corpse on the bier. Edmond stiffened himself +in order to play the part of a dead man, and then the party, lighted by +the man with the torch, who went first, ascended the stairs. Suddenly he +felt the fresh and sharp night air, and Dantes knew that the mistral was +blowing. It was a sensation in which pleasure and pain were strangely +mingled. The bearers went on for twenty paces, then stopped, putting +the bier down on the ground. One of them went away, and Dantes heard his +shoes striking on the pavement. + +"Where am I?" he asked himself. + +"Really, he is by no means a light load!" said the other bearer, sitting +on the edge of the hand-barrow. Dantes' first impulse was to escape, but +fortunately he did not attempt it. + +"Give us a light," said the other bearer, "or I shall never find what I +am looking for." The man with the torch complied, although not asked in +the most polite terms. + +"What can he be looking for?" thought Edmond. "The spade, perhaps." An +exclamation of satisfaction indicated that the grave-digger had found +the object of his search. "Here it is at last," he said, "not without +some trouble though." + +"Yes," was the answer, "but it has lost nothing by waiting." + +As he said this, the man came towards Edmond, who heard a heavy metallic +substance laid down beside him, and at the same moment a cord was +fastened round his feet with sudden and painful violence. + +"Well, have you tied the knot?" inquired the grave-digger, who was +looking on. + +"Yes, and pretty tight too, I can tell you," was the answer. + +"Move on, then." And the bier was lifted once more, and they proceeded. + +They advanced fifty paces farther, and then stopped to open a door, then +went forward again. The noise of the waves dashing against the rocks on +which the chateau is built, reached Dantes' ear distinctly as they went +forward. + +"Bad weather!" observed one of the bearers; "not a pleasant night for a +dip in the sea." + +"Why, yes, the abbe runs a chance of being wet," said the other; and +then there was a burst of brutal laughter. Dantes did not comprehend the +jest, but his hair stood erect on his head. + +"Well, here we are at last," said one of them. "A little farther--a +little farther," said the other. "You know very well that the last was +stopped on his way, dashed on the rocks, and the governor told us next +day that we were careless fellows." + +They ascended five or six more steps, and then Dantes felt that they +took him, one by the head and the other by the heels, and swung him to +and fro. "One!" said the grave-diggers, "two! three!" And at the same +instant Dantes felt himself flung into the air like a wounded bird, +falling, falling, with a rapidity that made his blood curdle. Although +drawn downwards by the heavy weight which hastened his rapid descent, it +seemed to him as if the fall lasted for a century. + +At last, with a horrible splash, he darted like an arrow into the +ice-cold water, and as he did so he uttered a shrill cry, stifled in a +moment by his immersion beneath the waves. + +Dantes had been flung into the sea, and was dragged into its depths by +a thirty-six pound shot tied to his feet. The sea is the cemetery of the +Chateau d'If. + + + +Chapter 21. The Island of Tiboulen. + +Dantes, although stunned and almost suffocated, had sufficient presence +of mind to hold his breath, and as his right hand (prepared as he was +for every chance) held his knife open, he rapidly ripped up the sack, +extricated his arm, and then his body; but in spite of all his efforts +to free himself from the shot, he felt it dragging him down still lower. +He then bent his body, and by a desperate effort severed the cord that +bound his legs, at the moment when it seemed as if he were actually +strangled. With a mighty leap he rose to the surface of the sea, while +the shot dragged down to the depths the sack that had so nearly become +his shroud. + +Dantes waited only to get breath, and then dived, in order to avoid +being seen. When he arose a second time, he was fifty paces from where +he had first sunk. He saw overhead a black and tempestuous sky, across +which the wind was driving clouds that occasionally suffered a twinkling +star to appear; before him was the vast expanse of waters, sombre and +terrible, whose waves foamed and roared as if before the approach of +a storm. Behind him, blacker than the sea, blacker than the sky, rose +phantom-like the vast stone structure, whose projecting crags seemed +like arms extended to seize their prey, and on the highest rock was a +torch lighting two figures. He fancied that these two forms were looking +at the sea; doubtless these strange grave-diggers had heard his cry. +Dantes dived again, and remained a long time beneath the water. This was +an easy feat to him, for he usually attracted a crowd of spectators in +the bay before the lighthouse at Marseilles when he swam there, and was +unanimously declared to be the best swimmer in the port. When he came up +again the light had disappeared. + +He must now get his bearings. Ratonneau and Pomegue are the nearest +islands of all those that surround the Chateau d'If, but Ratonneau +and Pomegue are inhabited, as is also the islet of Daume. Tiboulen and +Lemaire were therefore the safest for Dantes' venture. The islands +of Tiboulen and Lemaire are a league from the Chateau d'If; Dantes, +nevertheless, determined to make for them. But how could he find his +way in the darkness of the night? At this moment he saw the light of +Planier, gleaming in front of him like a star. By leaving this light +on the right, he kept the Island of Tiboulen a little on the left; by +turning to the left, therefore, he would find it. But, as we have said, +it was at least a league from the Chateau d'If to this island. Often +in prison Faria had said to him, when he saw him idle and inactive, +"Dantes, you must not give way to this listlessness; you will be drowned +if you seek to escape, and your strength has not been properly exercised +and prepared for exertion." These words rang in Dantes' ears, even +beneath the waves; he hastened to cleave his way through them to see if +he had not lost his strength. He found with pleasure that his captivity +had taken away nothing of his power, and that he was still master of +that element on whose bosom he had so often sported as a boy. + +Fear, that relentless pursuer, clogged Dantes' efforts. He listened for +any sound that might be audible, and every time that he rose to the top +of a wave he scanned the horizon, and strove to penetrate the darkness. +He fancied that every wave behind him was a pursuing boat, and he +redoubled his exertions, increasing rapidly his distance from the +chateau, but exhausting his strength. He swam on still, and already the +terrible chateau had disappeared in the darkness. He could not see it, +but he felt its presence. An hour passed, during which Dantes, excited +by the feeling of freedom, continued to cleave the waves. "Let us see," +said he, "I have swum above an hour, but as the wind is against me, that +has retarded my speed; however, if I am not mistaken, I must be close +to Tiboulen. But what if I were mistaken?" A shudder passed over him. +He sought to tread water, in order to rest himself; but the sea was +too violent, and he felt that he could not make use of this means of +recuperation. + +"Well," said he, "I will swim on until I am worn out, or the cramp +seizes me, and then I shall sink;" and he struck out with the energy of +despair. + +Suddenly the sky seemed to him to become still darker and more dense, +and heavy clouds seemed to sweep down towards him; at the same time he +felt a sharp pain in his knee. He fancied for a moment that he had been +shot, and listened for the report; but he heard nothing. Then he put out +his hand, and encountered an obstacle and with another stroke knew that +he had gained the shore. + +Before him rose a grotesque mass of rocks, that resembled nothing +so much as a vast fire petrified at the moment of its most fervent +combustion. It was the Island of Tiboulen. Dantes rose, advanced a few +steps, and, with a fervent prayer of gratitude, stretched himself on +the granite, which seemed to him softer than down. Then, in spite of the +wind and rain, he fell into the deep, sweet sleep of utter exhaustion. +At the expiration of an hour Edmond was awakened by the roar of thunder. +The tempest was let loose and beating the atmosphere with its mighty +wings; from time to time a flash of lightning stretched across the +heavens like a fiery serpent, lighting up the clouds that rolled on in +vast chaotic waves. + +Dantes had not been deceived--he had reached the first of the two +islands, which was, in fact, Tiboulen. He knew that it was barren and +without shelter; but when the sea became more calm, he resolved to +plunge into its waves again, and swim to Lemaire, equally arid, but +larger, and consequently better adapted for concealment. + +An overhanging rock offered him a temporary shelter, and scarcely had +he availed himself of it when the tempest burst forth in all its fury. +Edmond felt the trembling of the rock beneath which he lay; the waves, +dashing themselves against it, wetted him with their spray. He was +safely sheltered, and yet he felt dizzy in the midst of the warring of +the elements and the dazzling brightness of the lightning. It seemed +to him that the island trembled to its base, and that it would, like a +vessel at anchor, break moorings, and bear him off into the centre +of the storm. He then recollected that he had not eaten or drunk for +four-and-twenty hours. He extended his hands, and drank greedily of the +rainwater that had lodged in a hollow of the rock. + +As he rose, a flash of lightning, that seemed to rive the remotest +heights of heaven, illumined the darkness. By its light, between the +Island of Lemaire and Cape Croiselle, a quarter of a league distant, +Dantes saw a fishing-boat driven rapidly like a spectre before the power +of winds and waves. A second after, he saw it again, approaching with +frightful rapidity. Dantes cried at the top of his voice to warn them of +their danger, but they saw it themselves. Another flash showed him four +men clinging to the shattered mast and the rigging, while a fifth clung +to the broken rudder. + +The men he beheld saw him undoubtedly, for their cries were carried to +his ears by the wind. Above the splintered mast a sail rent to tatters +was waving; suddenly the ropes that still held it gave way, and it +disappeared in the darkness of the night like a vast sea-bird. At the +same moment a violent crash was heard, and cries of distress. Dantes +from his rocky perch saw the shattered vessel, and among the fragments +the floating forms of the hapless sailors. Then all was dark again. + +Dantes ran down the rocks at the risk of being himself dashed to pieces; +he listened, he groped about, but he heard and saw nothing--the cries +had ceased, and the tempest continued to rage. By degrees the wind +abated, vast gray clouds rolled towards the west, and the blue firmament +appeared studded with bright stars. Soon a red streak became visible in +the horizon, the waves whitened, a light played over them, and gilded +their foaming crests with gold. It was day. + +Dantes stood mute and motionless before this majestic spectacle, as if +he now beheld it for the first time; and indeed since his captivity +in the Chateau d'If he had forgotten that such scenes were ever to be +witnessed. He turned towards the fortress, and looked at both sea and +land. The gloomy building rose from the bosom of the ocean with imposing +majesty and seemed to dominate the scene. It was about five o'clock. The +sea continued to get calmer. + +"In two or three hours," thought Dantes, "the turnkey will enter my +chamber, find the body of my poor friend, recognize it, seek for me in +vain, and give the alarm. Then the tunnel will be discovered; the men +who cast me into the sea and who must have heard the cry I uttered, will +be questioned. Then boats filled with armed soldiers will pursue the +wretched fugitive. The cannon will warn every one to refuse shelter to a +man wandering about naked and famished. The police of Marseilles will be +on the alert by land, whilst the governor pursues me by sea. I am cold, +I am hungry. I have lost even the knife that saved me. O my God, I have +suffered enough surely! Have pity on me, and do for me what I am unable +to do for myself." + +As Dantes (his eyes turned in the direction of the Chateau d'If) uttered +this prayer, he saw off the farther point of the Island of Pomegue a +small vessel with lateen sail skimming the sea like a gull in search of +prey; and with his sailor's eye he knew it to be a Genoese tartan. +She was coming out of Marseilles harbor, and was standing out to sea +rapidly, her sharp prow cleaving through the waves. "Oh," cried Edmond, +"to think that in half an hour I could join her, did I not fear being +questioned, detected, and conveyed back to Marseilles! What can I do? +What story can I invent? under pretext of trading along the coast, these +men, who are in reality smugglers, will prefer selling me to doing a +good action. I must wait. But I cannot---- I am starving. In a few hours +my strength will be utterly exhausted; besides, perhaps I have not been +missed at the fortress. I can pass as one of the sailors wrecked last +night. My story will be accepted, for there is no one left to contradict +me." + +As he spoke, Dantes looked toward the spot where the fishing-vessel had +been wrecked, and started. The red cap of one of the sailors hung to a +point of the rock and some timbers that had formed part of the vessel's +keel, floated at the foot of the crag. In an instant Dantes' plan was +formed. He swam to the cap, placed it on his head, seized one of the +timbers, and struck out so as to cut across the course the vessel was +taking. + +"I am saved!" murmured he. And this conviction restored his strength. + +He soon saw that the vessel, with the wind dead ahead, was tacking +between the Chateau d'If and the tower of Planier. For an instant he +feared lest, instead of keeping in shore, she should stand out to sea; +but he soon saw that she would pass, like most vessels bound for Italy, +between the islands of Jaros and Calaseraigne. However, the vessel and +the swimmer insensibly neared one another, and in one of its tacks +the tartan bore down within a quarter of a mile of him. He rose on the +waves, making signs of distress; but no one on board saw him, and the +vessel stood on another tack. Dantes would have shouted, but he knew +that the wind would drown his voice. + +It was then he rejoiced at his precaution in taking the timber, +for without it he would have been unable, perhaps, to reach the +vessel--certainly to return to shore, should he be unsuccessful in +attracting attention. + +Dantes, though almost sure as to what course the vessel would take, had +yet watched it anxiously until it tacked and stood towards him. Then +he advanced; but before they could meet, the vessel again changed her +course. By a violent effort he rose half out of the water, waving his +cap, and uttering a loud shout peculiar to sailers. This time he was +both seen and heard, and the tartan instantly steered towards him. At +the same time, he saw they were about to lower the boat. + +An instant after, the boat, rowed by two men, advanced rapidly towards +him. Dantes let go of the timber, which he now thought to be useless, +and swam vigorously to meet them. But he had reckoned too much upon his +strength, and then he realized how serviceable the timber had been to +him. His arms became stiff, his legs lost their flexibility, and he was +almost breathless. + +He shouted again. The two sailors redoubled their efforts, and one of +them cried in Italian, "Courage!" + +The word reached his ear as a wave which he no longer had the strength +to surmount passed over his head. He rose again to the surface, +struggled with the last desperate effort of a drowning man, uttered a +third cry, and felt himself sinking, as if the fatal cannon shot were +again tied to his feet. The water passed over his head, and the sky +turned gray. A convulsive movement again brought him to the surface. He +felt himself seized by the hair, then he saw and heard nothing. He had +fainted. + +When he opened his eyes Dantes found himself on the deck of the tartan. +His first care was to see what course they were taking. They were +rapidly leaving the Chateau d'If behind. Dantes was so exhausted that +the exclamation of joy he uttered was mistaken for a sigh. + +As we have said, he was lying on the deck. A sailor was rubbing his +limbs with a woollen cloth; another, whom he recognized as the one who +had cried out "Courage!" held a gourd full of rum to his mouth; while +the third, an old sailer, at once the pilot and captain, looked on with +that egotistical pity men feel for a misfortune that they have escaped +yesterday, and which may overtake them to-morrow. + +A few drops of the rum restored suspended animation, while the friction +of his limbs restored their elasticity. + +"Who are you?" said the pilot in bad French. + +"I am," replied Dantes, in bad Italian, "a Maltese sailor. We were +coming from Syracuse laden with grain. The storm of last night overtook +us at Cape Morgion, and we were wrecked on these rocks." + +"Where do you come from?" + +"From these rocks that I had the good luck to cling to while our captain +and the rest of the crew were all lost. I saw your vessel, and fearful +of being left to perish on the desolate island, I swam off on a piece of +wreckage to try and intercept your course. You have saved my life, and +I thank you," continued Dantes. "I was lost when one of your sailors +caught hold of my hair." + +"It was I," said a sailor of a frank and manly appearance; "and it was +time, for you were sinking." + +"Yes," returned Dantes, holding out his hand, "I thank you again." + +"I almost hesitated, though," replied the sailor; "you looked more like +a brigand than an honest man, with your beard six inches, and your hair +a foot long." Dantes recollected that his hair and beard had not been +cut all the time he was at the Chateau d'If. + +"Yes," said he, "I made a vow, to our Lady of the Grotto not to cut my +hair or beard for ten years if I were saved in a moment of danger; but +to-day the vow expires." + +"Now what are we to do with you?" said the captain. + +"Alas, anything you please. My captain is dead; I have barely escaped; +but I am a good sailor. Leave me at the first port you make; I shall be +sure to find employment." + +"Do you know the Mediterranean?" + +"I have sailed over it since my childhood." + +"You know the best harbors?" + +"There are few ports that I could not enter or leave with a bandage over +my eyes." + +"I say, captain," said the sailor who had cried "Courage!" to Dantes, +"if what he says is true, what hinders his staying with us?" + +"If he says true," said the captain doubtingly. "But in his present +condition he will promise anything, and take his chance of keeping it +afterwards." + +"I will do more than I promise," said Dantes. + +"We shall see," returned the other, smiling. + +"Where are you going?" asked Dantes. + +"To Leghorn." + +"Then why, instead of tacking so frequently, do you not sail nearer the +wind?" + +"Because we should run straight on to the Island of Rion." + +"You shall pass it by twenty fathoms." + +"Take the helm, and let us see what you know." The young man took the +helm, felt to see if the vessel answered the rudder promptly and +seeing that, without being a first-rate sailer, she yet was tolerably +obedient,-- + +"To the sheets," said he. The four seamen, who composed the crew, +obeyed, while the pilot looked on. "Haul taut."--They obeyed. + +"Belay." This order was also executed; and the vessel passed, as Dantes +had predicted, twenty fathoms to windward. + +"Bravo!" said the captain. + +"Bravo!" repeated the sailors. And they all looked with astonishment at +this man whose eye now disclosed an intelligence and his body a vigor +they had not thought him capable of showing. + +"You see," said Dantes, quitting the helm, "I shall be of some use to +you, at least during the voyage. If you do not want me at Leghorn, you +can leave me there, and I will pay you out of the first wages I get, for +my food and the clothes you lend me." + +"Ah," said the captain, "we can agree very well, if you are reasonable." + +"Give me what you give the others, and it will be all right," returned +Dantes. + +"That's not fair," said the seaman who had saved Dantes; "for you know +more than we do." + +"What is that to you, Jacopo?" returned the Captain. "Every one is free +to ask what he pleases." + +"That's true," replied Jacopo; "I only make a remark." + +"Well, you would do much better to find him a jacket and a pair of +trousers, if you have them." + +"No," said Jacopo; "but I have a shirt and a pair of trousers." + +"That is all I want," interrupted Dantes. Jacopo dived into the hold and +soon returned with what Edmond wanted. + +"Now, then, do you wish for anything else?" said the patron. + +"A piece of bread and another glass of the capital rum I tasted, for +I have not eaten or drunk for a long time." He had not tasted food for +forty hours. A piece of bread was brought, and Jacopo offered him the +gourd. + +"Larboard your helm," cried the captain to the steersman. Dantes glanced +that way as he lifted the gourd to his mouth; then paused with hand in +mid-air. + +"Hollo! what's the matter at the Chateau d'If?" said the captain. + +A small white cloud, which had attracted Dantes' attention, crowned the +summit of the bastion of the Chateau d'If. At the same moment the faint +report of a gun was heard. The sailors looked at one another. + +"What is this?" asked the captain. + +"A prisoner has escaped from the Chateau d'If, and they are firing +the alarm gun," replied Dantes. The captain glanced at him, but he had +lifted the rum to his lips and was drinking it with so much composure, +that suspicions, if the captain had any, died away. + +"At any rate," murmured he, "if it be, so much the better, for I have +made a rare acquisition." Under pretence of being fatigued, Dantes asked +to take the helm; the steersman, glad to be relieved, looked at the +captain, and the latter by a sign indicated that he might abandon it to +his new comrade. Dantes could thus keep his eyes on Marseilles. + +"What is the day of the month?" asked he of Jacopo, who sat down beside +him. + +"The 28th of February." + +"In what year?" + +"In what year--you ask me in what year?" + +"Yes," replied the young man, "I ask you in what year!" + +"You have forgotten then?" + +"I got such a fright last night," replied Dantes, smiling, "that I have +almost lost my memory. I ask you what year is it?" + +"The year 1829," returned Jacopo. It was fourteen years day for day +since Dantes' arrest. He was nineteen when he entered the Chateau d'If; +he was thirty-three when he escaped. A sorrowful smile passed over his +face; he asked himself what had become of Mercedes, who must believe him +dead. Then his eyes lighted up with hatred as he thought of the three +men who had caused him so long and wretched a captivity. He renewed +against Danglars, Fernand, and Villefort the oath of implacable +vengeance he had made in his dungeon. This oath was no longer a vain +menace; for the fastest sailer in the Mediterranean would have been +unable to overtake the little tartan, that with every stitch of canvas +set was flying before the wind to Leghorn. + + + +Chapter 22. The Smugglers. + +Dantes had not been a day on board before he had a very clear idea of +the men with whom his lot had been cast. Without having been in the +school of the Abbe Faria, the worthy master of The Young Amelia (the +name of the Genoese tartan) knew a smattering of all the tongues spoken +on the shores of that large lake called the Mediterranean, from the +Arabic to the Provencal, and this, while it spared him interpreters, +persons always troublesome and frequently indiscreet, gave him great +facilities of communication, either with the vessels he met at sea, +with the small boats sailing along the coast, or with the people without +name, country, or occupation, who are always seen on the quays of +seaports, and who live by hidden and mysterious means which we must +suppose to be a direct gift of providence, as they have no visible means +of support. It is fair to assume that Dantes was on board a smuggler. + +At first the captain had received Dantes on board with a certain degree +of distrust. He was very well known to the customs officers of the +coast; and as there was between these worthies and himself a perpetual +battle of wits, he had at first thought that Dantes might be an emissary +of these industrious guardians of rights and duties, who perhaps +employed this ingenious means of learning some of the secrets of his +trade. But the skilful manner in which Dantes had handled the lugger had +entirely reassured him; and then, when he saw the light plume of smoke +floating above the bastion of the Chateau d'If, and heard the distant +report, he was instantly struck with the idea that he had on board his +vessel one whose coming and going, like that of kings, was accompanied +with salutes of artillery. This made him less uneasy, it must be owned, +than if the new-comer had proved to be a customs officer; but this +supposition also disappeared like the first, when he beheld the perfect +tranquillity of his recruit. + +Edmond thus had the advantage of knowing what the owner was, without the +owner knowing who he was; and however the old sailor and his crew tried +to "pump" him, they extracted nothing more from him; he gave accurate +descriptions of Naples and Malta, which he knew as well as Marseilles, +and held stoutly to his first story. Thus the Genoese, subtle as he +was, was duped by Edmond, in whose favor his mild demeanor, his nautical +skill, and his admirable dissimulation, pleaded. Moreover, it is +possible that the Genoese was one of those shrewd persons who know +nothing but what they should know, and believe nothing but what they +should believe. + +In this state of mutual understanding, they reached Leghorn. Here +Edmond was to undergo another trial; he was to find out whether he could +recognize himself, as he had not seen his own face for fourteen years. +He had preserved a tolerably good remembrance of what the youth had +been, and was now to find out what the man had become. His comrades +believed that his vow was fulfilled. As he had twenty times touched at +Leghorn, he remembered a barber in St. Ferdinand Street; he went there +to have his beard and hair cut. The barber gazed in amazement at this +man with the long, thick and black hair and beard, which gave his head +the appearance of one of Titian's portraits. At this period it was not +the fashion to wear so large a beard and hair so long; now a barber +would only be surprised if a man gifted with such advantages should +consent voluntarily to deprive himself of them. The Leghorn barber said +nothing and went to work. + +When the operation was concluded, and Edmond felt that his chin was +completely smooth, and his hair reduced to its usual length, he asked +for a hand-glass. He was now, as we have said, three-and-thirty years +of age, and his fourteen years' imprisonment had produced a great +transformation in his appearance. Dantes had entered the Chateau d'If +with the round, open, smiling face of a young and happy man, with whom +the early paths of life have been smooth, and who anticipates a future +corresponding with his past. This was now all changed. The oval face +was lengthened, his smiling mouth had assumed the firm and marked +lines which betoken resolution; his eyebrows were arched beneath a brow +furrowed with thought; his eyes were full of melancholy, and from their +depths occasionally sparkled gloomy fires of misanthropy and hatred; +his complexion, so long kept from the sun, had now that pale color +which produces, when the features are encircled with black hair, the +aristocratic beauty of the man of the north; the profound learning +he had acquired had besides diffused over his features a refined +intellectual expression; and he had also acquired, being naturally of +a goodly stature, that vigor which a frame possesses which has so long +concentrated all its force within itself. + +To the elegance of a nervous and slight form had succeeded the solidity +of a rounded and muscular figure. As to his voice, prayers, sobs, and +imprecations had changed it so that at times it was of a singularly +penetrating sweetness, and at others rough and almost hoarse. Moreover, +from being so long in twilight or darkness, his eyes had acquired the +faculty of distinguishing objects in the night, common to the hyena and +the wolf. Edmond smiled when he beheld himself: it was impossible that +his best friend--if, indeed, he had any friend left--could recognize +him; he could not recognize himself. + +The master of The Young Amelia, who was very desirous of retaining +amongst his crew a man of Edmond's value, had offered to advance him +funds out of his future profits, which Edmond had accepted. His next +care on leaving the barber's who had achieved his first metamorphosis +was to enter a shop and buy a complete sailor's suit--a garb, as we all +know, very simple, and consisting of white trousers, a striped shirt, +and a cap. It was in this costume, and bringing back to Jacopo the shirt +and trousers he had lent him, that Edmond reappeared before the captain +of the lugger, who had made him tell his story over and over again +before he could believe him, or recognize in the neat and trim sailor +the man with thick and matted beard, hair tangled with seaweed, and body +soaking in seabrine, whom he had picked up naked and nearly drowned. +Attracted by his prepossessing appearance, he renewed his offers of an +engagement to Dantes; but Dantes, who had his own projects, would not +agree for a longer time than three months. + +The Young Amelia had a very active crew, very obedient to their captain, +who lost as little time as possible. He had scarcely been a week at +Leghorn before the hold of his vessel was filled with printed muslins, +contraband cottons, English powder, and tobacco on which the excise had +forgotten to put its mark. The master was to get all this out of Leghorn +free of duties, and land it on the shores of Corsica, where certain +speculators undertook to forward the cargo to France. They sailed; +Edmond was again cleaving the azure sea which had been the first horizon +of his youth, and which he had so often dreamed of in prison. He left +Gorgone on his right and La Pianosa on his left, and went towards the +country of Paoli and Napoleon. The next morning going on deck, as he +always did at an early hour, the patron found Dantes leaning against +the bulwarks gazing with intense earnestness at a pile of granite rocks, +which the rising sun tinged with rosy light. It was the Island of Monte +Cristo. The Young Amelia left it three-quarters of a league to the +larboard, and kept on for Corsica. + +Dantes thought, as they passed so closely to the island whose name was +so interesting to him, that he had only to leap into the sea and in +half an hour be at the promised land. But then what could he do without +instruments to discover his treasure, without arms to defend himself? +Besides, what would the sailors say? What would the patron think? He +must wait. + +Fortunately, Dantes had learned how to wait; he had waited fourteen +years for his liberty, and now he was free he could wait at least six +months or a year for wealth. Would he not have accepted liberty without +riches if it had been offered to him? Besides, were not those riches +chimerical?--offspring of the brain of the poor Abbe Faria, had they +not died with him? It is true, the letter of the Cardinal Spada was +singularly circumstantial, and Dantes repeated it to himself, from one +end to the other, for he had not forgotten a word. + +Evening came, and Edmond saw the island tinged with the shades of +twilight, and then disappear in the darkness from all eyes but his own, +for he, with vision accustomed to the gloom of a prison, continued to +behold it last of all, for he remained alone upon deck. The next morn +broke off the coast of Aleria; all day they coasted, and in the evening +saw fires lighted on land; the position of these was no doubt a signal +for landing, for a ship's lantern was hung up at the mast-head instead +of the streamer, and they came to within a gunshot of the shore. Dantes +noticed that the captain of The Young Amelia had, as he neared the land, +mounted two small culverins, which, without making much noise, can throw +a four ounce ball a thousand paces or so. + +But on this occasion the precaution was superfluous, and everything +proceeded with the utmost smoothness and politeness. Four shallops came +off with very little noise alongside the lugger, which, no doubt, in +acknowledgement of the compliment, lowered her own shallop into the sea, +and the five boats worked so well that by two o'clock in the morning +all the cargo was out of The Young Amelia and on terra firma. The same +night, such a man of regularity was the patron of The Young Amelia, the +profits were divided, and each man had a hundred Tuscan livres, or about +eighty francs. But the voyage was not ended. They turned the bowsprit +towards Sardinia, where they intended to take in a cargo, which was to +replace what had been discharged. The second operation was as successful +as the first, The Young Amelia was in luck. This new cargo was destined +for the coast of the Duchy of Lucca, and consisted almost entirely of +Havana cigars, sherry, and Malaga wines. + +There they had a bit of a skirmish in getting rid of the duties; the +excise was, in truth, the everlasting enemy of the patron of The Young +Amelia. A customs officer was laid low, and two sailors wounded; Dantes +was one of the latter, a ball having touched him in the left shoulder. +Dantes was almost glad of this affray, and almost pleased at being +wounded, for they were rude lessons which taught him with what eye he +could view danger, and with what endurance he could bear suffering. He +had contemplated danger with a smile, and when wounded had exclaimed +with the great philosopher, "Pain, thou art not an evil." He had, +moreover, looked upon the customs officer wounded to death, and, whether +from heat of blood produced by the encounter, or the chill of human +sentiment, this sight had made but slight impression upon him. Dantes +was on the way he desired to follow, and was moving towards the end +he wished to achieve; his heart was in a fair way of petrifying in his +bosom. Jacopo, seeing him fall, had believed him killed, and rushing +towards him raised him up, and then attended to him with all the +kindness of a devoted comrade. + +This world was not then so good as Doctor Pangloss believed it, neither +was it so wicked as Dantes thought it, since this man, who had nothing +to expect from his comrade but the inheritance of his share of +the prize-money, manifested so much sorrow when he saw him fall. +Fortunately, as we have said, Edmond was only wounded, and with certain +herbs gathered at certain seasons, and sold to the smugglers by the +old Sardinian women, the wound soon closed. Edmond then resolved to +try Jacopo, and offered him in return for his attention a share of his +prize-money, but Jacopo refused it indignantly. + +As a result of the sympathetic devotion which Jacopo had from the +first bestowed on Edmond, the latter was moved to a certain degree of +affection. But this sufficed for Jacopo, who instinctively felt that +Edmond had a right to superiority of position--a superiority which +Edmond had concealed from all others. And from this time the kindness +which Edmond showed him was enough for the brave seaman. + +Then in the long days on board ship, when the vessel, gliding on with +security over the azure sea, required no care but the hand of the +helmsman, thanks to the favorable winds that swelled her sails, Edmond, +with a chart in his hand, became the instructor of Jacopo, as the poor +Abbe Faria had been his tutor. He pointed out to him the bearings of the +coast, explained to him the variations of the compass, and taught him to +read in that vast book opened over our heads which they call heaven, +and where God writes in azure with letters of diamonds. And when Jacopo +inquired of him, "What is the use of teaching all these things to a +poor sailor like me?" Edmond replied, "Who knows? You may one day be the +captain of a vessel. Your fellow-countryman, Bonaparte, became emperor." +We had forgotten to say that Jacopo was a Corsican. + +Two months and a half elapsed in these trips, and Edmond had become +as skilful a coaster as he had been a hardy seaman; he had formed an +acquaintance with all the smugglers on the coast, and learned all the +Masonic signs by which these half pirates recognize each other. He had +passed and re-passed his Island of Monte Cristo twenty times, but not +once had he found an opportunity of landing there. He then formed a +resolution. As soon as his engagement with the patron of The Young +Amelia ended, he would hire a small vessel on his own account--for in +his several voyages he had amassed a hundred piastres--and under some +pretext land at the Island of Monte Cristo. Then he would be free to +make his researches, not perhaps entirely at liberty, for he would be +doubtless watched by those who accompanied him. But in this world we +must risk something. Prison had made Edmond prudent, and he was desirous +of running no risk whatever. But in vain did he rack his imagination; +fertile as it was, he could not devise any plan for reaching the island +without companionship. + +Dantes was tossed about on these doubts and wishes, when the patron, who +had great confidence in him, and was very desirous of retaining him in +his service, took him by the arm one evening and led him to a tavern +on the Via del' Oglio, where the leading smugglers of Leghorn used +to congregate and discuss affairs connected with their trade. Already +Dantes had visited this maritime Bourse two or three times, and seeing +all these hardy free-traders, who supplied the whole coast for nearly +two hundred leagues in extent, he had asked himself what power might +not that man attain who should give the impulse of his will to all these +contrary and diverging minds. This time it was a great matter that was +under discussion, connected with a vessel laden with Turkey carpets, +stuffs of the Levant, and cashmeres. It was necessary to find some +neutral ground on which an exchange could be made, and then to try and +land these goods on the coast of France. If the venture was successful +the profit would be enormous, there would be a gain of fifty or sixty +piastres each for the crew. + +The patron of The Young Amelia proposed as a place of landing the Island +of Monte Cristo, which being completely deserted, and having neither +soldiers nor revenue officers, seemed to have been placed in the midst +of the ocean since the time of the heathen Olympus by Mercury, the god +of merchants and robbers, classes of mankind which we in modern times +have separated if not made distinct, but which antiquity appears to have +included in the same category. At the mention of Monte Cristo Dantes +started with joy; he rose to conceal his emotion, and took a turn +around the smoky tavern, where all the languages of the known world were +jumbled in a lingua franca. When he again joined the two persons who had +been discussing the matter, it had been decided that they should touch +at Monte Cristo and set out on the following night. Edmond, being +consulted, was of opinion that the island afforded every possible +security, and that great enterprises to be well done should be done +quickly. Nothing then was altered in the plan, and orders were given to +get under weigh next night, and, wind and weather permitting, to make +the neutral island by the following day. + + + +Chapter 23. The Island of Monte Cristo. + +Thus, at length, by one of the unexpected strokes of fortune which +sometimes befall those who have for a long time been the victims of an +evil destiny, Dantes was about to secure the opportunity he wished for, +by simple and natural means, and land on the island without incurring +any suspicion. One night more and he would be on his way. + +The night was one of feverish distraction, and in its progress visions +good and evil passed through Dantes' mind. If he closed his eyes, he saw +Cardinal Spada's letter written on the wall in characters of flame--if +he slept for a moment the wildest dreams haunted his brain. He ascended +into grottos paved with emeralds, with panels of rubies, and the +roof glowing with diamond stalactites. Pearls fell drop by drop, as +subterranean waters filter in their caves. Edmond, amazed, wonderstruck, +filled his pockets with the radiant gems and then returned to daylight, +when he discovered that his prizes had all changed into common pebbles. +He then endeavored to re-enter the marvellous grottos, but they had +suddenly receded, and now the path became a labyrinth, and then the +entrance vanished, and in vain did he tax his memory for the magic and +mysterious word which opened the splendid caverns of Ali Baba to the +Arabian fisherman. All was useless, the treasure disappeared, and had +again reverted to the genii from whom for a moment he had hoped to carry +it off. The day came at length, and was almost as feverish as the night +had been, but it brought reason to the aid of imagination, and Dantes +was then enabled to arrange a plan which had hitherto been vague and +unsettled in his brain. Night came, and with it the preparation for +departure, and these preparations served to conceal Dantes' agitation. +He had by degrees assumed such authority over his companions that he was +almost like a commander on board; and as his orders were always clear, +distinct, and easy of execution, his comrades obeyed him with celerity +and pleasure. + +The old patron did not interfere, for he too had recognized the +superiority of Dantes over the crew and himself. He saw in the young man +his natural successor, and regretted that he had not a daughter, that +he might have bound Edmond to him by a more secure alliance. At seven +o'clock in the evening all was ready, and at ten minutes past seven they +doubled the lighthouse just as the beacon was kindled. The sea was calm, +and, with a fresh breeze from the south-east, they sailed beneath a +bright blue sky, in which God also lighted up in turn his beacon lights, +each of which is a world. Dantes told them that all hands might turn in, +and he would take the helm. When the Maltese (for so they called +Dantes) had said this, it was sufficient, and all went to their bunks +contentedly. This frequently happened. Dantes, cast from solitude into +the world, frequently experienced an imperious desire for solitude; and +what solitude is more complete, or more poetical, than that of a ship +floating in isolation on the sea during the obscurity of the night, in +the silence of immensity, and under the eye of heaven? + +Now this solitude was peopled with his thoughts, the night lighted up by +his illusions, and the silence animated by his anticipations. When the +patron awoke, the vessel was hurrying on with every sail set, and every +sail full with the breeze. They were making nearly ten knots an hour. +The Island of Monte Cristo loomed large in the horizon. Edmond resigned +the lugger to the master's care, and went and lay down in his hammock; +but, in spite of a sleepless night, he could not close his eyes for a +moment. Two hours afterwards he came on deck, as the boat was about +to double the Island of Elba. They were just abreast of Mareciana, and +beyond the flat but verdant Island of La Pianosa. The peak of Monte +Cristo reddened by the burning sun, was seen against the azure sky. +Dantes ordered the helmsman to put down his helm, in order to leave La +Pianosa to starboard, as he knew that he should shorten his course by +two or three knots. About five o'clock in the evening the island was +distinct, and everything on it was plainly perceptible, owing to that +clearness of the atmosphere peculiar to the light which the rays of the +sun cast at its setting. + +Edmond gazed very earnestly at the mass of rocks which gave out all the +variety of twilight colors, from the brightest pink to the deepest blue; +and from time to time his cheeks flushed, his brow darkened, and a mist +passed over his eyes. Never did a gamester, whose whole fortune is staked +on one cast of the die, experience the anguish which Edmond felt in his +paroxysms of hope. Night came, and at ten o'clock they anchored. The +Young Amelia was first at the rendezvous. In spite of his usual command +over himself, Dantes could not restrain his impetuosity. He was the +first to jump on shore; and had he dared, he would, like Lucius Brutus, +have "kissed his mother earth." It was dark, but at eleven o'clock the +moon rose in the midst of the ocean, whose every wave she silvered, +and then, "ascending high," played in floods of pale light on the rocky +hills of this second Pelion. + +The island was familiar to the crew of The Young Amelia,--it was one of +her regular haunts. As to Dantes, he had passed it on his voyage to and +from the Levant, but never touched at it. He questioned Jacopo. "Where +shall we pass the night?" he inquired. + +"Why, on board the tartan," replied the sailor. + +"Should we not do better in the grottos?" + +"What grottos?" + +"Why, the grottos--caves of the island." + +"I do not know of any grottos," replied Jacopo. The cold sweat sprang +forth on Dantes' brow. + +"What, are there no grottos at Monte Cristo?" he asked. + +"None." + +For a moment Dantes was speechless; then he remembered that these caves +might have been filled up by some accident, or even stopped up, for the +sake of greater security, by Cardinal Spada. The point was, then, to +discover the hidden entrance. It was useless to search at night, and +Dantes therefore delayed all investigation until the morning. Besides, +a signal made half a league out at sea, and to which The Young Amelia +replied by a similar signal, indicated that the moment for business had +come. The boat that now arrived, assured by the answering signal that +all was well, soon came in sight, white and silent as a phantom, and +cast anchor within a cable's length of shore. + +Then the landing began. Dantes reflected, as he worked, on the shout of +joy which, with a single word, he could evoke from all these men, if he +gave utterance to the one unchanging thought that pervaded his heart; +but, far from disclosing this precious secret, he almost feared that +he had already said too much, and by his restlessness and continual +questions, his minute observations and evident pre-occupation, aroused +suspicions. Fortunately, as regarded this circumstance at least, his +painful past gave to his countenance an indelible sadness, and +the glimmerings of gayety seen beneath this cloud were indeed but +transitory. + +No one had the slightest suspicion; and when next day, taking a +fowling-piece, powder, and shot, Dantes declared his intention to go and +kill some of the wild goats that were seen springing from rock to rock, +his wish was construed into a love of sport, or a desire for solitude. +However, Jacopo insisted on following him, and Dantes did not oppose +this, fearing if he did so that he might incur distrust. Scarcely, +however, had they gone a quarter of a league when, having killed a kid, +he begged Jacopo to take it to his comrades, and request them to cook +it, and when ready to let him know by firing a gun. This and some dried +fruits and a flask of Monte Pulciano, was the bill of fare. Dantes +went on, looking from time to time behind and around about him. Having +reached the summit of a rock, he saw, a thousand feet beneath him, his +companions, whom Jacopo had rejoined, and who were all busy preparing +the repast which Edmond's skill as a marksman had augmented with a +capital dish. + +Edmond looked at them for a moment with the sad and gentle smile of +a man superior to his fellows. "In two hours' time," said he, "these +persons will depart richer by fifty piastres each, to go and risk their +lives again by endeavoring to gain fifty more; then they will return +with a fortune of six hundred francs, and waste this treasure in some +city with the pride of sultans and the insolence of nabobs. At +this moment hope makes me despise their riches, which seem to me +contemptible. Yet perchance to-morrow deception will so act on me, that +I shall, on compulsion, consider such a contemptible possession as the +utmost happiness. Oh, no!" exclaimed Edmond, "that will not be. The +wise, unerring Faria could not be mistaken in this one thing. Besides, +it were better to die than to continue to lead this low and wretched +life." Thus Dantes, who but three months before had no desire but +liberty had now not liberty enough, and panted for wealth. The cause was +not in Dantes, but in providence, who, while limiting the power of man, +has filled him with boundless desires. + +Meanwhile, by a cleft between two walls of rock, following a path worn +by a torrent, and which, in all human probability, human foot had never +before trod, Dantes approached the spot where he supposed the grottos +must have existed. Keeping along the shore, and examining the smallest +object with serious attention, he thought he could trace, on certain +rocks, marks made by the hand of man. + +Time, which encrusts all physical substances with its mossy mantle, as +it invests all things of the mind with forgetfulness, seemed to have +respected these signs, which apparently had been made with some degree +of regularity, and probably with a definite purpose. Occasionally the +marks were hidden under tufts of myrtle, which spread into large bushes +laden with blossoms, or beneath parasitical lichen. So Edmond had +to separate the branches or brush away the moss to know where the +guide-marks were. The sight of marks renewed Edmond fondest hopes. Might +it not have been the cardinal himself who had first traced them, in +order that they might serve as a guide for his nephew in the event of +a catastrophe, which he could not foresee would have been so complete. +This solitary place was precisely suited to the requirements of a man +desirous of burying treasure. Only, might not these betraying marks have +attracted other eyes than those for whom they were made? and had the +dark and wondrous island indeed faithfully guarded its precious secret? + +It seemed, however, to Edmond, who was hidden from his comrades by the +inequalities of the ground, that at sixty paces from the harbor the +marks ceased; nor did they terminate at any grotto. A large round rock, +placed solidly on its base, was the only spot to which they seemed to +lead. Edmond concluded that perhaps instead of having reached the end +of the route he had only explored its beginning, and he therefore turned +round and retraced his steps. + +Meanwhile his comrades had prepared the repast, had got some water from +a spring, spread out the fruit and bread, and cooked the kid. Just at +the moment when they were taking the dainty animal from the spit, they +saw Edmond springing with the boldness of a chamois from rock to rock, +and they fired the signal agreed upon. The sportsman instantly changed +his direction, and ran quickly towards them. But even while they watched +his daring progress, Edmond's foot slipped, and they saw him stagger on +the edge of a rock and disappear. They all rushed towards him, for all +loved Edmond in spite of his superiority; yet Jacopo reached him first. + +He found Edmond lying prone, bleeding, and almost senseless. He had +rolled down a declivity of twelve or fifteen feet. They poured a little +rum down his throat, and this remedy which had before been so beneficial +to him, produced the same effect as formerly. Edmond opened his eyes, +complained of great pain in his knee, a feeling of heaviness in his +head, and severe pains in his loins. They wished to carry him to the +shore; but when they touched him, although under Jacopo's directions, he +declared, with heavy groans, that he could not bear to be moved. + +It may be supposed that Dantes did not now think of his dinner, but he +insisted that his comrades, who had not his reasons for fasting, should +have their meal. As for himself, he declared that he had only need of +a little rest, and that when they returned he should be easier. The +sailors did not require much urging. They were hungry, and the smell of +the roasted kid was very savory, and your tars are not very ceremonious. +An hour afterwards they returned. All that Edmond had been able to +do was to drag himself about a dozen paces forward to lean against a +moss-grown rock. + +But, instead of growing easier, Dantes' pains appeared to increase in +violence. The old patron, who was obliged to sail in the morning in +order to land his cargo on the frontiers of Piedmont and France, +between Nice and Frejus, urged Dantes to try and rise. Edmond made great +exertions in order to comply; but at each effort he fell back, moaning +and turning pale. + +"He has broken his ribs," said the commander, in a low voice. "No +matter; he is an excellent fellow, and we must not leave him. We will +try and carry him on board the tartan." Dantes declared, however, +that he would rather die where he was than undergo the agony which the +slightest movement cost him. "Well," said the patron, "let what may +happen, it shall never be said that we deserted a good comrade like you. +We will not go till evening." This very much astonished the sailors, +although, not one opposed it. The patron was so strict that this was the +first time they had ever seen him give up an enterprise, or even delay +in its execution. Dantes would not allow that any such infraction of +regular and proper rules should be made in his favor. "No, no," he said +to the patron, "I was awkward, and it is just that I pay the penalty of +my clumsiness. Leave me a small supply of biscuit, a gun, powder, and +balls, to kill the kids or defend myself at need, and a pickaxe, that I +may build a shelter if you delay in coming back for me." + +"But you'll die of hunger," said the patron. + +"I would rather do so," was Edmond reply, "than suffer the inexpressible +agonies which the slightest movement causes me." The patron turned +towards his vessel, which was rolling on the swell in the little harbor, +and, with sails partly set, would be ready for sea when her toilet +should be completed. + +"What are we to do, Maltese?" asked the captain. "We cannot leave you +here so, and yet we cannot stay." + +"Go, go!" exclaimed Dantes. + +"We shall be absent at least a week," said the patron, "and then we must +run out of our course to come here and take you up again." + +"Why," said Dantes, "if in two or three days you hail any fishing-boat, +desire them to come here to me. I will pay twenty-five piastres for my +passage back to Leghorn. If you do not come across one, return for me." +The patron shook his head. + +"Listen, Captain Baldi; there's one way of settling this," said Jacopo. +"Do you go, and I will stay and take care of the wounded man." + +"And give up your share of the venture," said Edmond, "to remain with +me?" + +"Yes," said Jacopo, "and without any hesitation." + +"You are a good fellow and a kind-hearted messmate," replied Edmond, +"and heaven will recompense you for your generous intentions; but I do +not wish any one to stay with me. A day or two of rest will set me up, +and I hope I shall find among the rocks certain herbs most excellent for +bruises." + +A peculiar smile passed over Dantes' lips; he squeezed Jacopo's hand +warmly, but nothing could shake his determination to remain--and remain +alone. The smugglers left with Edmond what he had requested and set +sail, but not without turning about several times, and each time making +signs of a cordial farewell, to which Edmond replied with his hand +only, as if he could not move the rest of his body. Then, when they +had disappeared, he said with a smile,--"'Tis strange that it should be +among such men that we find proofs of friendship and devotion." Then +he dragged himself cautiously to the top of a rock, from which he had +a full view of the sea, and thence he saw the tartan complete her +preparations for sailing, weigh anchor, and, balancing herself as +gracefully as a water-fowl ere it takes to the wing, set sail. At +the end of an hour she was completely out of sight; at least, it was +impossible for the wounded man to see her any longer from the spot where +he was. Then Dantes rose more agile and light than the kid among the +myrtles and shrubs of these wild rocks, took his gun in one hand, his +pickaxe in the other, and hastened towards the rock on which the marks +he had noted terminated. "And now," he exclaimed, remembering the tale +of the Arabian fisherman, which Faria had related to him, "now, open +sesame!" + + + +Chapter 24. The Secret Cave. + +The sun had nearly reached the meridian, and his scorching rays fell +full on the rocks, which seemed themselves sensible of the heat. +Thousands of grasshoppers, hidden in the bushes, chirped with a +monotonous and dull note; the leaves of the myrtle and olive trees waved +and rustled in the wind. At every step that Edmond took he disturbed +the lizards glittering with the hues of the emerald; afar off he saw +the wild goats bounding from crag to crag. In a word, the island was +inhabited, yet Edmond felt himself alone, guided by the hand of God. He +felt an indescribable sensation somewhat akin to dread--that dread of +the daylight which even in the desert makes us fear we are watched and +observed. This feeling was so strong that at the moment when Edmond was +about to begin his labor, he stopped, laid down his pickaxe, seized his +gun, mounted to the summit of the highest rock, and from thence gazed +round in every direction. + +But it was not upon Corsica, the very houses of which he could +distinguish; or on Sardinia; or on the Island of Elba, with its +historical associations; or upon the almost imperceptible line that to +the experienced eye of a sailor alone revealed the coast of Genoa +the proud, and Leghorn the commercial, that he gazed. It was at the +brigantine that had left in the morning, and the tartan that had just +set sail, that Edmond fixed his eyes. The first was just disappearing +in the straits of Bonifacio; the other, following an opposite direction, +was about to round the Island of Corsica. This sight reassured him. He +then looked at the objects near him. He saw that he was on the highest +point of the island,--a statue on this vast pedestal of granite, nothing +human appearing in sight, while the blue ocean beat against the base of +the island, and covered it with a fringe of foam. Then he descended with +cautious and slow step, for he dreaded lest an accident similar to that +he had so adroitly feigned should happen in reality. + +Dantes, as we have said, had traced the marks along the rocks, and he +had noticed that they led to a small creek, which was hidden like the +bath of some ancient nymph. This creek was sufficiently wide at its +mouth, and deep in the centre, to admit of the entrance of a small +vessel of the lugger class, which would be perfectly concealed from +observation. + +Then following the clew that, in the hands of the Abbe Faria, had +been so skilfully used to guide him through the Daedalian labyrinth of +probabilities, he thought that the Cardinal Spada, anxious not to be +watched, had entered the creek, concealed his little barque, followed +the line marked by the notches in the rock, and at the end of it had +buried his treasure. It was this idea that had brought Dantes back to +the circular rock. One thing only perplexed Edmond, and destroyed his +theory. How could this rock, which weighed several tons, have been +lifted to this spot, without the aid of many men? Suddenly an idea +flashed across his mind. Instead of raising it, thought he, they have +lowered it. And he sprang from the rock in order to inspect the base +on which it had formerly stood. He soon perceived that a slope had been +formed, and the rock had slid along this until it stopped at the spot +it now occupied. A large stone had served as a wedge; flints and pebbles +had been inserted around it, so as to conceal the orifice; this species +of masonry had been covered with earth, and grass and weeds had grown +there, moss had clung to the stones, myrtle-bushes had taken root, and +the old rock seemed fixed to the earth. + +Dantes dug away the earth carefully, and detected, or fancied he +detected, the ingenious artifice. He attacked this wall, cemented by the +hand of time, with his pickaxe. After ten minutes' labor the wall gave +way, and a hole large enough to insert the arm was opened. Dantes +went and cut the strongest olive-tree he could find, stripped off its +branches, inserted it in the hole, and used it as a lever. But the rock +was too heavy, and too firmly wedged, to be moved by any one man, were +he Hercules himself. Dantes saw that he must attack the wedge. But +how? He cast his eyes around, and saw the horn full of powder which +his friend Jacopo had left him. He smiled; the infernal invention would +serve him for this purpose. With the aid of his pickaxe, Dantes, after +the manner of a labor-saving pioneer, dug a mine between the upper rock +and the one that supported it, filled it with powder, then made a match +by rolling his handkerchief in saltpetre. He lighted it and retired. The +explosion soon followed; the upper rock was lifted from its base by the +terrific force of the powder; the lower one flew into pieces; thousands +of insects escaped from the aperture Dantes had previously formed, and +a huge snake, like the guardian demon of the treasure, rolled himself +along in darkening coils, and disappeared. + +Dantes approached the upper rock, which now, without any support, leaned +towards the sea. The intrepid treasure-seeker walked round it, and, +selecting the spot from whence it appeared most susceptible to attack, +placed his lever in one of the crevices, and strained every nerve to +move the mass. The rock, already shaken by the explosion, tottered +on its base. Dantes redoubled his efforts; he seemed like one of the +ancient Titans, who uprooted the mountains to hurl against the father +of the gods. The rock yielded, rolled over, bounded from point to point, +and finally disappeared in the ocean. + +On the spot it had occupied was a circular space, exposing an iron ring +let into a square flag-stone. Dantes uttered a cry of joy and surprise; +never had a first attempt been crowned with more perfect success. He +would fain have continued, but his knees trembled, and his heart beat +so violently, and his sight became so dim, that he was forced to pause. +This feeling lasted but for a moment. Edmond inserted his lever in the +ring and exerted all his strength; the flag-stone yielded, and disclosed +steps that descended until they were lost in the obscurity of a +subterraneous grotto. Any one else would have rushed on with a cry of +joy. Dantes turned pale, hesitated, and reflected. "Come," said he to +himself, "be a man. I am accustomed to adversity. I must not be cast +down by the discovery that I have been deceived. What, then, would be +the use of all I have suffered? The heart breaks when, after having been +elated by flattering hopes, it sees all its illusions destroyed. Faria +has dreamed this; the Cardinal Spada buried no treasure here; perhaps he +never came here, or if he did, Caesar Borgia, the intrepid adventurer, +the stealthy and indefatigable plunderer, has followed him, discovered +his traces, pursued them as I have done, raised the stone, and +descending before me, has left me nothing." He remained motionless and +pensive, his eyes fixed on the gloomy aperture that was open at his +feet. + +"Now that I expect nothing, now that I no longer entertain the slightest +hopes, the end of this adventure becomes simply a matter of curiosity." +And he remained again motionless and thoughtful. + +"Yes, yes; this is an adventure worthy a place in the varied career of +that royal bandit. This fabulous event formed but a link in a long chain +of marvels. Yes, Borgia has been here, a torch in one hand, a sword in +the other, and within twenty paces, at the foot of this rock, perhaps +two guards kept watch on land and sea, while their master descended, as +I am about to descend, dispelling the darkness before his awe-inspiring +progress." + +"But what was the fate of the guards who thus possessed his secret?" +asked Dantes of himself. + +"The fate," replied he, smiling, "of those who buried Alaric." + +"Yet, had he come," thought Dantes, "he would have found the treasure, +and Borgia, he who compared Italy to an artichoke, which he could devour +leaf by leaf, knew too well the value of time to waste it in replacing +this rock. I will go down." + +Then he descended, a smile on his lips, and murmuring that last word of +human philosophy, "Perhaps!" But instead of the darkness, and the thick +and mephitic atmosphere he had expected to find, Dantes saw a dim and +bluish light, which, as well as the air, entered, not merely by the +aperture he had just formed, but by the interstices and crevices of +the rock which were visible from without, and through which he could +distinguish the blue sky and the waving branches of the evergreen oaks, +and the tendrils of the creepers that grew from the rocks. After having +stood a few minutes in the cavern, the atmosphere of which was rather +warm than damp, Dantes' eye, habituated as it was to darkness, could +pierce even to the remotest angles of the cavern, which was of granite +that sparkled like diamonds. "Alas," said Edmond, smiling, "these are +the treasures the cardinal has left; and the good abbe, seeing in a +dream these glittering walls, has indulged in fallacious hopes." + +But he called to mind the words of the will, which he knew by heart. "In +the farthest angle of the second opening," said the cardinal's will. He +had only found the first grotto; he had now to seek the second. +Dantes continued his search. He reflected that this second grotto must +penetrate deeper into the island; he examined the stones, and sounded +one part of the wall where he fancied the opening existed, masked for +precaution's sake. The pickaxe struck for a moment with a dull sound +that drew out of Dantes' forehead large drops of perspiration. At last +it seemed to him that one part of the wall gave forth a more hollow and +deeper echo; he eagerly advanced, and with the quickness of perception +that no one but a prisoner possesses, saw that there, in all +probability, the opening must be. + +However, he, like Caesar Borgia, knew the value of time; and, in +order to avoid fruitless toil, he sounded all the other walls with his +pickaxe, struck the earth with the butt of his gun, and finding nothing +that appeared suspicious, returned to that part of the wall whence +issued the consoling sound he had before heard. He again struck it, and +with greater force. Then a singular thing occurred. As he struck the +wall, pieces of stucco similar to that used in the ground work of +arabesques broke off, and fell to the ground in flakes, exposing a large +white stone. The aperture of the rock had been closed with stones, then +this stucco had been applied, and painted to imitate granite. Dantes +struck with the sharp end of his pickaxe, which entered someway between +the interstices. It was there he must dig. But by some strange play of +emotion, in proportion as the proofs that Faria, had not been +deceived became stronger, so did his heart give way, and a feeling of +discouragement stole over him. This last proof, instead of giving him +fresh strength, deprived him of it; the pickaxe descended, or rather +fell; he placed it on the ground, passed his hand over his brow, and +remounted the stairs, alleging to himself, as an excuse, a desire to +be assured that no one was watching him, but in reality because he felt +that he was about to faint. The island was deserted, and the sun seemed +to cover it with its fiery glance; afar off, a few small fishing boats +studded the bosom of the blue ocean. + +Dantes had tasted nothing, but he thought not of hunger at such a +moment; he hastily swallowed a few drops of rum, and again entered the +cavern. The pickaxe that had seemed so heavy, was now like a feather in +his grasp; he seized it, and attacked the wall. After several blows he +perceived that the stones were not cemented, but had been merely placed +one upon the other, and covered with stucco; he inserted the point of +his pickaxe, and using the handle as a lever, with joy soon saw the +stone turn as if on hinges, and fall at his feet. He had nothing more +to do now, but with the iron tooth of the pickaxe to draw the stones +towards him one by one. The aperture was already sufficiently large for +him to enter, but by waiting, he could still cling to hope, and retard +the certainty of deception. At last, after renewed hesitation, Dantes +entered the second grotto. The second grotto was lower and more gloomy +than the first; the air that could only enter by the newly formed +opening had the mephitic smell Dantes was surprised not to find in the +outer cavern. He waited in order to allow pure air to displace the foul +atmosphere, and then went on. At the left of the opening was a dark and +deep angle. But to Dantes' eye there was no darkness. He glanced around +this second grotto; it was, like the first, empty. + +The treasure, if it existed, was buried in this corner. The time had +at length arrived; two feet of earth removed, and Dantes' fate would +be decided. He advanced towards the angle, and summoning all his +resolution, attacked the ground with the pickaxe. At the fifth or sixth +blow the pickaxe struck against an iron substance. Never did funeral +knell, never did alarm-bell, produce a greater effect on the hearer. +Had Dantes found nothing he could not have become more ghastly pale. +He again struck his pickaxe into the earth, and encountered the same +resistance, but not the same sound. "It is a casket of wood bound with +iron," thought he. At this moment a shadow passed rapidly before the +opening; Dantes seized his gun, sprang through the opening, and mounted +the stair. A wild goat had passed before the mouth of the cave, and was +feeding at a little distance. This would have been a favorable occasion +to secure his dinner; but Dantes feared lest the report of his gun +should attract attention. + +He thought a moment, cut a branch of a resinous tree, lighted it at the +fire at which the smugglers had prepared their breakfast, and descended +with this torch. He wished to see everything. He approached the hole he +had dug, and now, with the aid of the torch, saw that his pickaxe had in +reality struck against iron and wood. He planted his torch in the ground +and resumed his labor. In an instant a space three feet long by two feet +broad was cleared, and Dantes could see an oaken coffer, bound with cut +steel; in the middle of the lid he saw engraved on a silver plate, which +was still untarnished, the arms of the Spada family--viz., a sword, +pale, on an oval shield, like all the Italian armorial bearings, and +surmounted by a cardinal's hat; Dantes easily recognized them, Faria had +so often drawn them for him. There was no longer any doubt: the treasure +was there--no one would have been at such pains to conceal an empty +casket. In an instant he had cleared every obstacle away, and he saw +successively the lock, placed between two padlocks, and the two handles +at each end, all carved as things were carved at that epoch, when art +rendered the commonest metals precious. Dantes seized the handles, and +strove to lift the coffer; it was impossible. He sought to open it; lock +and padlock were fastened; these faithful guardians seemed unwilling +to surrender their trust. Dantes inserted the sharp end of the pickaxe +between the coffer and the lid, and pressing with all his force on the +handle, burst open the fastenings. The hinges yielded in their turn and +fell, still holding in their grasp fragments of the wood, and the chest +was open. + +Edmond was seized with vertigo; he cocked his gun and laid it beside +him. He then closed his eyes as children do in order that they may see +in the resplendent night of their own imagination more stars than are +visible in the firmament; then he re-opened them, and stood motionless +with amazement. Three compartments divided the coffer. In the first, +blazed piles of golden coin; in the second, were ranged bars of +unpolished gold, which possessed nothing attractive save their value; +in the third, Edmond grasped handfuls of diamonds, pearls, and rubies, +which, as they fell on one another, sounded like hail against glass. +After having touched, felt, examined these treasures, Edmond rushed +through the caverns like a man seized with frenzy; he leaped on a rock, +from whence he could behold the sea. He was alone--alone with these +countless, these unheard-of treasures! was he awake, or was it but a +dream? + +He would fain have gazed upon his gold, and yet he had not strength +enough; for an instant he leaned his head in his hands as if to prevent +his senses from leaving him, and then rushed madly about the rocks of +Monte Cristo, terrifying the wild goats and scaring the sea-fowls with +his wild cries and gestures; then he returned, and, still unable to +believe the evidence of his senses, rushed into the grotto, and found +himself before this mine of gold and jewels. This time he fell on +his knees, and, clasping his hands convulsively, uttered a prayer +intelligible to God alone. He soon became calmer and more happy, for +only now did he begin to realize his felicity. He then set himself to +work to count his fortune. There were a thousand ingots of gold, each +weighing from two to three pounds; then he piled up twenty-five thousand +crowns, each worth about eighty francs of our money, and bearing the +effigies of Alexander VI. and his predecessors; and he saw that the +complement was not half empty. And he measured ten double handfuls of +pearls, diamonds, and other gems, many of which, mounted by the most +famous workmen, were valuable beyond their intrinsic worth. Dantes +saw the light gradually disappear, and fearing to be surprised in the +cavern, left it, his gun in his hand. A piece of biscuit and a small +quantity of rum formed his supper, and he snatched a few hours' sleep, +lying over the mouth of the cave. + +It was a night of joy and terror, such as this man of stupendous +emotions had already experienced twice or thrice in his lifetime. + + + +Chapter 25. The Unknown. + +Day, for which Dantes had so eagerly and impatiently waited with open +eyes, again dawned. With the first light Dantes resumed his search. +Again he climbed the rocky height he had ascended the previous evening, +and strained his view to catch every peculiarity of the landscape; +but it wore the same wild, barren aspect when seen by the rays of the +morning sun which it had done when surveyed by the fading glimmer of +eve. Descending into the grotto, he lifted the stone, filled his pockets +with gems, put the box together as well and securely as he could, +sprinkled fresh sand over the spot from which it had been taken, and +then carefully trod down the earth to give it everywhere a uniform +appearance; then, quitting the grotto, he replaced the stone, heaping +on it broken masses of rocks and rough fragments of crumbling granite, +filling the interstices with earth, into which he deftly inserted +rapidly growing plants, such as the wild myrtle and flowering thorn, +then carefully watering these new plantations, he scrupulously effaced +every trace of footsteps, leaving the approach to the cavern as +savage-looking and untrodden as he had found it. This done, he +impatiently awaited the return of his companions. To wait at Monte +Cristo for the purpose of watching like a dragon over the almost +incalculable riches that had thus fallen into his possession satisfied +not the cravings of his heart, which yearned to return to dwell among +mankind, and to assume the rank, power, and influence which are always +accorded to wealth--that first and greatest of all the forces within the +grasp of man. + +On the sixth day, the smugglers returned. From a distance Dantes +recognized the rig and handling of The Young Amelia, and dragging +himself with affected difficulty towards the landing-place, he met his +companions with an assurance that, although considerably better than +when they quitted him, he still suffered acutely from his late accident. +He then inquired how they had fared in their trip. To this question the +smugglers replied that, although successful in landing their cargo in +safety, they had scarcely done so when they received intelligence that a +guard-ship had just quitted the port of Toulon and was crowding all +sail towards them. This obliged them to make all the speed they could to +evade the enemy, when they could but lament the absence of Dantes, whose +superior skill in the management of a vessel would have availed them so +materially. In fact, the pursuing vessel had almost overtaken them +when, fortunately, night came on, and enabled them to double the Cape of +Corsica, and so elude all further pursuit. Upon the whole, however, the +trip had been sufficiently successful to satisfy all concerned; while +the crew, and particularly Jacopo, expressed great regrets that Dantes +had not been an equal sharer with themselves in the profits, which +amounted to no less a sum than fifty piastres each. + +Edmond preserved the most admirable self-command, not suffering the +faintest indication of a smile to escape him at the enumeration of all +the benefits he would have reaped had he been able to quit the island; +but as The Young Amelia had merely come to Monte Cristo to fetch him +away, he embarked that same evening, and proceeded with the captain to +Leghorn. Arrived at Leghorn, he repaired to the house of a Jew, a dealer +in precious stones, to whom he disposed of four of his smallest diamonds +for five thousand francs each. Dantes half feared that such valuable +jewels in the hands of a poor sailor like himself might excite +suspicion; but the cunning purchaser asked no troublesome questions +concerning a bargain by which he gained a round profit of at least +eighty per cent. + +The following day Dantes presented Jacopo with an entirely new vessel, +accompanying the gift by a donation of one hundred piastres, that he +might provide himself with a suitable crew and other requisites for his +outfit, upon condition that he would go at once to Marseilles for the +purpose of inquiring after an old man named Louis Dantes, residing +in the Allees de Meillan, and also a young woman called Mercedes, an +inhabitant of the Catalan village. Jacopo could scarcely believe his +senses at receiving this magnificent present, which Dantes hastened to +account for by saying that he had merely been a sailor from whim and a +desire to spite his family, who did not allow him as much money as he +liked to spend; but that on his arrival at Leghorn he had come into +possession of a large fortune, left him by an uncle, whose sole heir +he was. The superior education of Dantes gave an air of such extreme +probability to this statement that it never once occurred to Jacopo to +doubt its accuracy. The term for which Edmond had engaged to serve on +board The Young Amelia having expired, Dantes took leave of the captain, +who at first tried all his powers of persuasion to induce him to remain +as one of the crew, but having been told the history of the legacy, he +ceased to importune him further. The following morning Jacopo set sail +for Marseilles, with directions from Dantes to join him at the Island of +Monte Cristo. + +Having seen Jacopo fairly out of the harbor, Dantes proceeded to make +his final adieus on board The Young Amelia, distributing so liberal a +gratuity among her crew as to secure for him the good wishes of all, +and expressions of cordial interest in all that concerned him. To the +captain he promised to write when he had made up his mind as to his +future plans. Then Dantes departed for Genoa. At the moment of his +arrival a small yacht was under trial in the bay; this yacht had been +built by order of an Englishman, who, having heard that the Genoese +excelled all other builders along the shores of the Mediterranean in +the construction of fast-sailing vessels, was desirous of possessing a +specimen of their skill; the price agreed upon between the Englishman +and the Genoese builder was forty thousand francs. Dantes, struck with +the beauty and capability of the little vessel, applied to its owner to +transfer it to him, offering sixty thousand francs, upon condition that +he should be allowed to take immediate possession. The proposal was too +advantageous to be refused, the more so as the person for whom the +yacht was intended had gone upon a tour through Switzerland, and was +not expected back in less than three weeks or a month, by which time +the builder reckoned upon being able to complete another. A bargain was +therefore struck. Dantes led the owner of the yacht to the dwelling of +a Jew; retired with the latter for a few minutes to a small back parlor, +and upon their return the Jew counted out to the shipbuilder the sum of +sixty thousand francs in bright gold pieces. + +The delighted builder then offered his services in providing a suitable +crew for the little vessel, but this Dantes declined with many thanks, +saying he was accustomed to cruise about quite alone, and his principal +pleasure consisted in managing his yacht himself; the only thing the +builder could oblige him in would be to contrive a sort of secret closet +in the cabin at his bed's head, the closet to contain three divisions, +so constructed as to be concealed from all but himself. The builder +cheerfully undertook the commission, and promised to have these secret +places completed by the next day, Dantes furnishing the dimensions and +plan in accordance with which they were to be constructed. + +The following day Dantes sailed with his yacht from Genoa, under the +inspection of an immense crowd drawn together by curiosity to see the +rich Spanish nobleman who preferred managing his own yacht. But their +wonder was soon changed to admiration at seeing the perfect skill with +which Dantes handled the helm. The boat, indeed, seemed to be animated +with almost human intelligence, so promptly did it obey the slightest +touch; and Dantes required but a short trial of his beautiful craft to +acknowledge that the Genoese had not without reason attained their +high reputation in the art of shipbuilding. The spectators followed the +little vessel with their eyes as long as it remained visible; they then +turned their conjectures upon her probable destination. Some insisted +she was making for Corsica, others the Island of Elba; bets were offered +to any amount that she was bound for Spain; while Africa was positively +reported by many persons as her intended course; but no one thought of +Monte Cristo. Yet thither it was that Dantes guided his vessel, and at +Monte Cristo he arrived at the close of the second day; his boat had +proved herself a first-class sailer, and had come the distance from +Genoa in thirty-five hours. Dantes had carefully noted the general +appearance of the shore, and, instead of landing at the usual place, he +dropped anchor in the little creek. The island was utterly deserted, and +bore no evidence of having been visited since he went away; his treasure +was just as he had left it. Early on the following morning he commenced +the removal of his riches, and ere nightfall the whole of his immense +wealth was safely deposited in the compartments of the secret locker. + +A week passed by. Dantes employed it in manoeuvring his yacht round the +island, studying it as a skilful horseman would the animal he destined +for some important service, till at the end of that time he was +perfectly conversant with its good and bad qualities. The former Dantes +proposed to augment, the latter to remedy. + +Upon the eighth day he discerned a small vessel under full sail +approaching Monte Cristo. As it drew near, he recognized it as the boat +he had given to Jacopo. He immediately signalled it. His signal was +returned, and in two hours afterwards the new-comer lay at anchor beside +the yacht. A mournful answer awaited each of Edmond's eager inquiries +as to the information Jacopo had obtained. Old Dantes was dead, and +Mercedes had disappeared. Dantes listened to these melancholy tidings +with outward calmness; but, leaping lightly ashore, he signified his +desire to be quite alone. In a couple of hours he returned. Two of the +men from Jacopo's boat came on board the yacht to assist in navigating +it, and he gave orders that she should be steered direct to Marseilles. +For his father's death he was in some manner prepared; but he knew not +how to account for the mysterious disappearance of Mercedes. + +Without divulging his secret, Dantes could not give sufficiently clear +instructions to an agent. There were, besides, other particulars he +was desirous of ascertaining, and those were of a nature he alone could +investigate in a manner satisfactory to himself. His looking-glass +had assured him, during his stay at Leghorn, that he ran no risk of +recognition; moreover, he had now the means of adopting any disguise +he thought proper. One fine morning, then, his yacht, followed by the +little fishing-boat, boldly entered the port of Marseilles, and anchored +exactly opposite the spot from whence, on the never-to-be-forgotten +night of his departure for the Chateau d'If, he had been put on board +the boat destined to convey him thither. Still Dantes could not view +without a shudder the approach of a gendarme who accompanied the +officers deputed to demand his bill of health ere the yacht was +permitted to hold communication with the shore; but with that perfect +self-possession he had acquired during his acquaintance with Faria, +Dantes coolly presented an English passport he had obtained from +Leghorn, and as this gave him a standing which a French passport would +not have afforded, he was informed that there existed no obstacle to his +immediate debarkation. + +The first person to attract the attention of Dantes, as he landed on the +Canebiere, was one of the crew belonging to the Pharaon. Edmond welcomed +the meeting with this fellow--who had been one of his own sailors--as a +sure means of testing the extent of the change which time had worked in +his own appearance. Going straight towards him, he propounded a variety +of questions on different subjects, carefully watching the man's +countenance as he did so; but not a word or look implied that he had the +slightest idea of ever having seen before the person with whom he was +then conversing. Giving the sailor a piece of money in return for his +civility, Dantes proceeded onwards; but ere he had gone many steps he +heard the man loudly calling him to stop. Dantes instantly turned to +meet him. "I beg your pardon, sir," said the honest fellow, in almost +breathless haste, "but I believe you made a mistake; you intended to +give me a two-franc piece, and see, you gave me a double Napoleon." + +"Thank you, my good friend. I see that I have made a trifling mistake, +as you say; but by way of rewarding your honesty I give you another +double Napoleon, that you may drink to my health, and be able to ask +your messmates to join you." + +So extreme was the surprise of the sailor, that he was unable even +to thank Edmond, whose receding figure he continued to gaze after in +speechless astonishment. "Some nabob from India," was his comment. + +Dantes, meanwhile, went on his way. Each step he trod oppressed his +heart with fresh emotion; his first and most indelible recollections +were there; not a tree, not a street, that he passed but seemed filled +with dear and cherished memories. And thus he proceeded onwards till he +arrived at the end of the Rue de Noailles, from whence a full view of +the Allees de Meillan was obtained. At this spot, so pregnant with fond +and filial remembrances, his heart beat almost to bursting, his knees +tottered under him, a mist floated over his sight, and had he not clung +for support to one of the trees, he would inevitably have fallen to the +ground and been crushed beneath the many vehicles continually passing +there. Recovering himself, however, he wiped the perspiration from his +brows, and stopped not again till he found himself at the door of the +house in which his father had lived. + +The nasturtiums and other plants, which his father had delighted to +train before his window, had all disappeared from the upper part of the +house. Leaning against the tree, he gazed thoughtfully for a time at the +upper stories of the shabby little house. Then he advanced to the door, +and asked whether there were any rooms to be let. Though answered in the +negative, he begged so earnestly to be permitted to visit those on +the fifth floor, that, in despite of the oft-repeated assurance of the +concierge that they were occupied, Dantes succeeded in inducing the +man to go up to the tenants, and ask permission for a gentleman to be +allowed to look at them. + +The tenants of the humble lodging were a young couple who had been +scarcely married a week; and seeing them, Dantes sighed heavily. Nothing +in the two small chambers forming the apartments remained as it had been +in the time of the elder Dantes; the very paper was different, while the +articles of antiquated furniture with which the rooms had been filled in +Edmond's time had all disappeared; the four walls alone remained as he +had left them. The bed belonging to the present occupants was placed as +the former owner of the chamber had been accustomed to have his; and, in +spite of his efforts to prevent it, the eyes of Edmond were suffused +in tears as he reflected that on that spot the old man had breathed +his last, vainly calling for his son. The young couple gazed with +astonishment at the sight of their visitor's emotion, and wondered to +see the large tears silently chasing each other down his otherwise stern +and immovable features; but they felt the sacredness of his grief, +and kindly refrained from questioning him as to its cause, while, with +instinctive delicacy, they left him to indulge his sorrow alone. When +he withdrew from the scene of his painful recollections, they both +accompanied him downstairs, reiterating their hope that he would come +again whenever he pleased, and assuring him that their poor dwelling +would ever be open to him. As Edmond passed the door on the fourth +floor, he paused to inquire whether Caderousse the tailor still dwelt +there; but he received, for reply, that the person in question had got +into difficulties, and at the present time kept a small inn on the route +from Bellegarde to Beaucaire. + +Having obtained the address of the person to whom the house in the +Allees de Meillan belonged, Dantes next proceeded thither, and, under +the name of Lord Wilmore (the name and title inscribed on his passport), +purchased the small dwelling for the sum of twenty-five thousand francs, +at least ten thousand more than it was worth; but had its owner asked +half a million, it would unhesitatingly have been given. The very same +day the occupants of the apartments on the fifth floor of the house, now +become the property of Dantes, were duly informed by the notary who had +arranged the necessary transfer of deeds, etc., that the new landlord +gave them their choice of any of the rooms in the house, without the +least augmentation of rent, upon condition of their giving instant +possession of the two small chambers they at present inhabited. + +This strange event aroused great wonder and curiosity in the +neighborhood of the Allees de Meillan, and a multitude of theories +were afloat, none of which was anywhere near the truth. But what raised +public astonishment to a climax, and set all conjecture at defiance, was +the knowledge that the same stranger who had in the morning visited the +Allees de Meillan had been seen in the evening walking in the little +village of the Catalans, and afterwards observed to enter a poor +fisherman's hut, and to pass more than an hour in inquiring after +persons who had either been dead or gone away for more than fifteen or +sixteen years. But on the following day the family from whom all these +particulars had been asked received a handsome present, consisting of an +entirely new fishing-boat, with two seines and a tender. The delighted +recipients of these munificent gifts would gladly have poured out +their thanks to their generous benefactor, but they had seen him, +upon quitting the hut, merely give some orders to a sailor, and then +springing lightly on horseback, leave Marseilles by the Porte d'Aix. + + + +Chapter 26. The Pont du Gard Inn. + +Such of my readers as have made a pedestrian excursion to the south +of France may perchance have noticed, about midway between the town of +Beaucaire and the village of Bellegarde,--a little nearer to the former +than to the latter,--a small roadside inn, from the front of which +hung, creaking and flapping in the wind, a sheet of tin covered with +a grotesque representation of the Pont du Gard. This modern place of +entertainment stood on the left-hand side of the post road, and backed +upon the Rhone. It also boasted of what in Languedoc is styled a garden, +consisting of a small plot of ground, on the side opposite to the main +entrance reserved for the reception of guests. A few dingy olives and +stunted fig-trees struggled hard for existence, but their withered dusty +foliage abundantly proved how unequal was the conflict. Between these +sickly shrubs grew a scanty supply of garlic, tomatoes, and eschalots; +while, lone and solitary, like a forgotten sentinel, a tall pine raised +its melancholy head in one of the corners of this unattractive spot, and +displayed its flexible stem and fan-shaped summit dried and cracked by +the fierce heat of the sub-tropical sun. + +In the surrounding plain, which more resembled a dusty lake than solid +ground, were scattered a few miserable stalks of wheat, the effect, +no doubt, of a curious desire on the part of the agriculturists of the +country to see whether such a thing as the raising of grain in those +parched regions was practicable. Each stalk served as a perch for a +grasshopper, which regaled the passers by through this Egyptian scene +with its strident, monotonous note. + +For about seven or eight years the little tavern had been kept by a man +and his wife, with two servants,--a chambermaid named Trinette, and +a hostler called Pecaud. This small staff was quite equal to all +the requirements, for a canal between Beaucaire and Aiguemortes had +revolutionized transportation by substituting boats for the cart and +the stagecoach. And, as though to add to the daily misery which this +prosperous canal inflicted on the unfortunate inn-keeper, whose utter +ruin it was fast accomplishing, it was situated between the Rhone from +which it had its source and the post-road it had depleted, not a +hundred steps from the inn, of which we have given a brief but faithful +description. + +The inn-keeper himself was a man of from forty to fifty-five years of +age, tall, strong, and bony, a perfect specimen of the natives of those +southern latitudes; he had dark, sparkling, and deep-set eyes, hooked +nose, and teeth white as those of a carnivorous animal; his hair, like +his beard, which he wore under his chin, was thick and curly, and in +spite of his age but slightly interspersed with a few silvery threads. +His naturally dark complexion had assumed a still further shade of brown +from the habit the unfortunate man had acquired of stationing himself +from morning till eve at the threshold of his door, on the lookout for +guests who seldom came, yet there he stood, day after day, exposed to +the meridional rays of a burning sun, with no other protection for his +head than a red handkerchief twisted around it, after the manner of +the Spanish muleteers. This man was our old acquaintance, Gaspard +Caderousse. His wife, on the contrary, whose maiden name had been +Madeleine Radelle, was pale, meagre, and sickly-looking. Born in the +neighborhood of Arles, she had shared in the beauty for which its women +are proverbial; but that beauty had gradually withered beneath the +devastating influence of the slow fever so prevalent among dwellers +by the ponds of Aiguemortes and the marshes of Camargue. She remained +nearly always in her second-floor chamber, shivering in her chair, or +stretched languid and feeble on her bed, while her husband kept his +daily watch at the door--a duty he performed with so much the greater +willingness, as it saved him the necessity of listening to the endless +plaints and murmurs of his helpmate, who never saw him without breaking +out into bitter invectives against fate; to all of which her husband +would calmly return an unvarying reply, in these philosophic words:-- + +"Hush, La Carconte. It is God's pleasure that things should be so." + +The sobriquet of La Carconte had been bestowed on Madeleine Radelle +from the fact that she had been born in a village, so called, situated +between Salon and Lambesc; and as a custom existed among the inhabitants +of that part of France where Caderousse lived of styling every person by +some particular and distinctive appellation, her husband had bestowed on +her the name of La Carconte in place of her sweet and euphonious name of +Madeleine, which, in all probability, his rude gutteral language would +not have enabled him to pronounce. Still, let it not be supposed +that amid this affected resignation to the will of Providence, the +unfortunate inn-keeper did not writhe under the double misery of seeing +the hateful canal carry off his customers and his profits, and the daily +infliction of his peevish partner's murmurs and lamentations. + +Like other dwellers in the south, he was a man of sober habits and +moderate desires, but fond of external show, vain, and addicted to +display. During the days of his prosperity, not a festivity took place +without himself and wife being among the spectators. He dressed in the +picturesque costume worn upon grand occasions by the inhabitants of the +south of France, bearing equal resemblance to the style adopted both by +the Catalans and Andalusians; while La Carconte displayed the charming +fashion prevalent among the women of Arles, a mode of attire borrowed +equally from Greece and Arabia. But, by degrees, watch-chains, +necklaces, parti-colored scarfs, embroidered bodices, velvet vests, +elegantly worked stockings, striped gaiters, and silver buckles for the +shoes, all disappeared; and Gaspard Caderousse, unable to appear abroad +in his pristine splendor, had given up any further participation in the +pomps and vanities, both for himself and wife, although a bitter feeling +of envious discontent filled his mind as the sound of mirth and merry +music from the joyous revellers reached even the miserable hostelry to +which he still clung, more for the shelter than the profit it afforded. + +Caderousse, then, was, as usual, at his place of observation before +the door, his eyes glancing listlessly from a piece of closely shaven +grass--on which some fowls were industriously, though fruitlessly, +endeavoring to turn up some grain or insect suited to their palate--to +the deserted road, which led away to the north and south, when he was +aroused by the shrill voice of his wife, and grumbling to himself as he +went, he mounted to her chamber, first taking care, however, to set the +entrance door wide open, as an invitation to any chance traveller who +might be passing. + +At the moment Caderousse quitted his sentry-like watch before the door, +the road on which he so eagerly strained his sight was void and +lonely as a desert at mid-day. There it lay stretching out into one +interminable line of dust and sand, with its sides bordered by tall, +meagre trees, altogether presenting so uninviting an appearance, that no +one in his senses could have imagined that any traveller, at liberty +to regulate his hours for journeying, would choose to expose himself in +such a formidable Sahara. Nevertheless, had Caderousse but retained +his post a few minutes longer, he might have caught a dim outline of +something approaching from the direction of Bellegarde; as the moving +object drew nearer, he would easily have perceived that it consisted of +a man and horse, between whom the kindest and most amiable understanding +appeared to exist. The horse was of Hungarian breed, and ambled along +at an easy pace. His rider was a priest, dressed in black, and wearing a +three-cornered hat; and, spite of the ardent rays of a noonday sun, the +pair came on with a fair degree of rapidity. + +Having arrived before the Pont du Gard, the horse stopped, but whether +for his own pleasure or that of his rider would have been difficult +to say. However that might have been, the priest, dismounting, led his +steed by the bridle in search of some place to which he could secure +him. Availing himself of a handle that projected from a half-fallen +door, he tied the animal safely and having drawn a red cotton +handkerchief, from his pocket, wiped away the perspiration that streamed +from his brow, then, advancing to the door, struck thrice with the end +of his iron-shod stick. At this unusual sound, a huge black dog came +rushing to meet the daring assailant of his ordinarily tranquil +abode, snarling and displaying his sharp white teeth with a determined +hostility that abundantly proved how little he was accustomed to +society. At that moment a heavy footstep was heard descending the +wooden staircase that led from the upper floor, and, with many bows and +courteous smiles, mine host of the Pont du Gard besought his guest to +enter. + +"You are welcome, sir, most welcome!" repeated the astonished +Caderousse. "Now, then, Margotin," cried he, speaking to the dog, "will +you be quiet? Pray don't heed him, sir!--he only barks, he never bites. +I make no doubt a glass of good wine would be acceptable this dreadfully +hot day." Then perceiving for the first time the garb of the traveller +he had to entertain, Caderousse hastily exclaimed: "A thousand pardons! +I really did not observe whom I had the honor to receive under my poor +roof. What would the abbe please to have? What refreshment can I offer? +All I have is at his service." + +The priest gazed on the person addressing him with a long and searching +gaze--there even seemed a disposition on his part to court a similar +scrutiny on the part of the inn-keeper; then, observing in the +countenance of the latter no other expression than extreme surprise at +his own want of attention to an inquiry so courteously worded, he deemed +it as well to terminate this dumb show, and therefore said, speaking +with a strong Italian accent, "You are, I presume, M. Caderousse?" + +"Yes, sir," answered the host, even more surprised at the question +than he had been by the silence which had preceded it; "I am Gaspard +Caderousse, at your service." + +"Gaspard Caderousse," rejoined the priest. "Yes,--Christian and surname +are the same. You formerly lived, I believe in the Allees de Meillan, on +the fourth floor?" + +"I did." + +"And you followed the business of a tailor?" + +"True, I was a tailor, till the trade fell off. It is so hot at +Marseilles, that really I believe that the respectable inhabitants will +in time go without any clothing whatever. But talking of heat, is there +nothing I can offer you by way of refreshment?" + +"Yes; let me have a bottle of your best wine, and then, with your +permission, we will resume our conversation from where we left off." + +"As you please, sir," said Caderousse, who, anxious not to lose the +present opportunity of finding a customer for one of the few bottles of +Cahors still remaining in his possession, hastily raised a trap-door in +the floor of the apartment they were in, which served both as parlor +and kitchen. Upon issuing forth from his subterranean retreat at the +expiration of five minutes, he found the abbe seated upon a wooden +stool, leaning his elbow on a table, while Margotin, whose animosity +seemed appeased by the unusual command of the traveller for +refreshments, had crept up to him, and had established himself very +comfortably between his knees, his long, skinny neck resting on his lap, +while his dim eye was fixed earnestly on the traveller's face. + +"Are you quite alone?" inquired the guest, as Caderousse placed before +him the bottle of wine and a glass. + +"Quite, quite alone," replied the man--"or, at least, practically so, +for my poor wife, who is the only person in the house besides myself, is +laid up with illness, and unable to render me the least assistance, poor +thing!" + +"You are married, then?" said the priest, with a show of interest, +glancing round as he spoke at the scanty furnishings of the apartment. + +"Ah, sir," said Caderousse with a sigh, "it is easy to perceive I am not +a rich man; but in this world a man does not thrive the better for being +honest." The abbe fixed on him a searching, penetrating glance. + +"Yes, honest--I can certainly say that much for myself," continued the +inn-keeper, fairly sustaining the scrutiny of the abbe's gaze; "I +can boast with truth of being an honest man; and," continued he +significantly, with a hand on his breast and shaking his head, "that is +more than every one can say nowadays." + +"So much the better for you, if what you assert be true," said the +abbe; "for I am firmly persuaded that, sooner or later, the good will be +rewarded, and the wicked punished." + +"Such words as those belong to your profession," answered Caderousse, +"and you do well to repeat them; but," added he, with a bitter +expression of countenance, "one is free to believe them or not, as one +pleases." + +"You are wrong to speak thus," said the abbe; "and perhaps I may, in my +own person, be able to prove to you how completely you are in error." + +"What mean you?" inquired Caderousse with a look of surprise. + +"In the first place, I must be satisfied that you are the person I am in +search of." + +"What proofs do you require?" + +"Did you, in the year 1814 or 1815, know anything of a young sailor +named Dantes?" + +"Dantes? Did I know poor dear Edmond? Why, Edmond Dantes and myself +were intimate friends!" exclaimed Caderousse, whose countenance flushed +darkly as he caught the penetrating gaze of the abbe fixed on him, while +the clear, calm eye of the questioner seemed to dilate with feverish +scrutiny. + +"You remind me," said the priest, "that the young man concerning whom I +asked you was said to bear the name of Edmond." + +"Said to bear the name!" repeated Caderousse, becoming excited and +eager. "Why, he was so called as truly as I myself bore the appellation +of Gaspard Caderousse; but tell me, I pray, what has become of poor +Edmond? Did you know him? Is he alive and at liberty? Is he prosperous +and happy?" + +"He died a more wretched, hopeless, heart-broken prisoner than the +felons who pay the penalty of their crimes at the galleys of Toulon." + +A deadly pallor followed the flush on the countenance of Caderousse, who +turned away, and the priest saw him wiping the tears from his eyes with +the corner of the red handkerchief twisted round his head. + +"Poor fellow, poor fellow!" murmured Caderousse. "Well, there, sir, is +another proof that good people are never rewarded on this earth, and +that none but the wicked prosper. Ah," continued Caderousse, speaking +in the highly colored language of the south, "the world grows worse and +worse. Why does not God, if he really hates the wicked, as he is said to +do, send down brimstone and fire, and consume them altogether?" + +"You speak as though you had loved this young Dantes," observed the +abbe, without taking any notice of his companion's vehemence. + +"And so I did," replied Caderousse; "though once, I confess, I envied +him his good fortune. But I swear to you, sir, I swear to you, by +everything a man holds dear, I have, since then, deeply and sincerely +lamented his unhappy fate." There was a brief silence, during which +the fixed, searching eye of the abbe was employed in scrutinizing the +agitated features of the inn-keeper. + +"You knew the poor lad, then?" continued Caderousse. + +"I was called to see him on his dying bed, that I might administer to +him the consolations of religion." + +"And of what did he die?" asked Caderousse in a choking voice. + +"Of what, think you, do young and strong men die in prison, when +they have scarcely numbered their thirtieth year, unless it be of +imprisonment?" Caderousse wiped away the large beads of perspiration +that gathered on his brow. + +"But the strangest part of the story is," resumed the abbe, "that +Dantes, even in his dying moments, swore by his crucified Redeemer, that +he was utterly ignorant of the cause of his detention." + +"And so he was," murmured Caderousse. "How should he have been +otherwise? Ah, sir, the poor fellow told you the truth." + +"And for that reason, he besought me to try and clear up a mystery he +had never been able to penetrate, and to clear his memory should any +foul spot or stain have fallen on it." + +And here the look of the abbe, becoming more and more fixed, seemed to +rest with ill-concealed satisfaction on the gloomy depression which was +rapidly spreading over the countenance of Caderousse. + +"A rich Englishman," continued the abbe, "who had been his companion +in misfortune, but had been released from prison during the second +restoration, was possessed of a diamond of immense value; this jewel he +bestowed on Dantes upon himself quitting the prison, as a mark of his +gratitude for the kindness and brotherly care with which Dantes had +nursed him in a severe illness he underwent during his confinement. +Instead of employing this diamond in attempting to bribe his jailers, +who might only have taken it and then betrayed him to the governor, +Dantes carefully preserved it, that in the event of his getting out of +prison he might have wherewithal to live, for the sale of such a diamond +would have quite sufficed to make his fortune." + +"Then, I suppose," asked Caderousse, with eager, glowing looks, "that it +was a stone of immense value?" + +"Why, everything is relative," answered the abbe. "To one in Edmond's +position the diamond certainly was of great value. It was estimated at +fifty thousand francs." + +"Bless me!" exclaimed Caderousse, "fifty thousand francs! Surely the +diamond was as large as a nut to be worth all that." + +"No," replied the abbe, "it was not of such a size as that; but you +shall judge for yourself. I have it with me." + +The sharp gaze of Caderousse was instantly directed towards the priest's +garments, as though hoping to discover the location of the treasure. +Calmly drawing forth from his pocket a small box covered with black +shagreen, the abbe opened it, and displayed to the dazzled eyes of +Caderousse the sparkling jewel it contained, set in a ring of admirable +workmanship. "And that diamond," cried Caderousse, almost breathless +with eager admiration, "you say, is worth fifty thousand francs?" + +"It is, without the setting, which is also valuable," replied the abbe, +as he closed the box, and returned it to his pocket, while its brilliant +hues seemed still to dance before the eyes of the fascinated inn-keeper. + +"But how comes the diamond in your possession, sir? Did Edmond make you +his heir?" + +"No, merely his testamentary executor. 'I once possessed four dear and +faithful friends, besides the maiden to whom I was betrothed' he said; +'and I feel convinced they have all unfeignedly grieved over my loss. +The name of one of the four friends is Caderousse.'" The inn-keeper +shivered. + +"'Another of the number,'" continued the abbe, without seeming to notice +the emotion of Caderousse, "'is called Danglars; and the third, in spite +of being my rival, entertained a very sincere affection for me.'" A +fiendish smile played over the features of Caderousse, who was about to +break in upon the abbe's speech, when the latter, waving his hand, said, +"Allow me to finish first, and then if you have any observations to +make, you can do so afterwards. 'The third of my friends, although +my rival, was much attached to me,--his name was Fernand; that of my +betrothed was'--Stay, stay," continued the abbe, "I have forgotten what +he called her." + +"Mercedes," said Caderousse eagerly. + +"True," said the abbe, with a stifled sigh, "Mercedes it was." + +"Go on," urged Caderousse. + +"Bring me a carafe of water," said the abbe. + +Caderousse quickly performed the stranger's bidding; and after pouring +some into a glass, and slowly swallowing its contents, the abbe, +resuming his usual placidity of manner, said, as he placed his empty +glass on the table,--"Where did we leave off?" + +"The name of Edmond's betrothed was Mercedes." + +"To be sure. 'You will go to Marseilles,' said Dantes,--for you +understand, I repeat his words just as he uttered them. Do you +understand?" + +"Perfectly." + +"'You will sell this diamond; you will divide the money into five equal +parts, and give an equal portion to these good friends, the only persons +who have loved me upon earth.'" + +"But why into five parts?" asked Caderousse; "you only mentioned four +persons." + +"Because the fifth is dead, as I hear. The fifth sharer in Edmond's +bequest, was his own father." + +"Too true, too true!" ejaculated Caderousse, almost suffocated by the +contending passions which assailed him, "the poor old man did die." + +"I learned so much at Marseilles," replied the abbe, making a strong +effort to appear indifferent; "but from the length of time that has +elapsed since the death of the elder Dantes, I was unable to obtain any +particulars of his end. Can you enlighten me on that point?" + +"I do not know who could if I could not," said Caderousse. "Why, I lived +almost on the same floor with the poor old man. Ah, yes, about a year +after the disappearance of his son the poor old man died." + +"Of what did he die?" + +"Why, the doctors called his complaint gastro-enteritis, I believe; +his acquaintances say he died of grief; but I, who saw him in his dying +moments, I say he died of"--Caderousse paused. + +"Of what?" asked the priest, anxiously and eagerly. + +"Why, of downright starvation." + +"Starvation!" exclaimed the abbe, springing from his seat. "Why, the +vilest animals are not suffered to die by such a death as that. The very +dogs that wander houseless and homeless in the streets find some pitying +hand to cast them a mouthful of bread; and that a man, a Christian, +should be allowed to perish of hunger in the midst of other men who +call themselves Christians, is too horrible for belief. Oh, it is +impossible--utterly impossible!" + +"What I have said, I have said," answered Caderousse. + +"And you are a fool for having said anything about it," said a voice +from the top of the stairs. "Why should you meddle with what does not +concern you?" + +The two men turned quickly, and saw the sickly countenance of La +Carconte peering between the baluster rails; attracted by the sound of +voices, she had feebly dragged herself down the stairs, and, seated +on the lower step, head on knees, she had listened to the foregoing +conversation. "Mind your own business, wife," replied Caderousse +sharply. "This gentleman asks me for information, which common +politeness will not permit me to refuse." + +"Politeness, you simpleton!" retorted La Carconte. "What have you to +do with politeness, I should like to know? Better study a little common +prudence. How do you know the motives that person may have for trying to +extract all he can from you?" + +"I pledge you my word, madam," said the abbe, "that my intentions are +good; and that you husband can incur no risk, provided he answers me +candidly." + +"Ah, that's all very fine," retorted the woman. "Nothing is easier than +to begin with fair promises and assurances of nothing to fear; but when +poor, silly folks, like my husband there, have been persuaded to +tell all they know, the promises and assurances of safety are quickly +forgotten; and at some moment when nobody is expecting it, behold +trouble and misery, and all sorts of persecutions, are heaped on the +unfortunate wretches, who cannot even see whence all their afflictions +come." + +"Nay, nay, my good woman, make yourself perfectly easy, I beg of +you. Whatever evils may befall you, they will not be occasioned by my +instrumentality, that I solemnly promise you." + +La Carconte muttered a few inarticulate words, then let her head again +drop upon her knees, and went into a fit of ague, leaving the two +speakers to resume the conversation, but remaining so as to be able to +hear every word they uttered. Again the abbe had been obliged to swallow +a draught of water to calm the emotions that threatened to overpower +him. When he had sufficiently recovered himself, he said, "It appears, +then, that the miserable old man you were telling me of was forsaken +by every one. Surely, had not such been the case, he would not have +perished by so dreadful a death." + +"Why, he was not altogether forsaken," continued Caderousse, "for +Mercedes the Catalan and Monsieur Morrel were very kind to him; +but somehow the poor old man had contracted a profound hatred for +Fernand--the very person," added Caderousse with a bitter smile, +"that you named just now as being one of Dantes' faithful and attached +friends." + +"And was he not so?" asked the abbe. + +"Gaspard, Gaspard!" murmured the woman, from her seat on the stairs, +"mind what you are saying!" Caderousse made no reply to these words, +though evidently irritated and annoyed by the interruption, but, +addressing the abbe, said, "Can a man be faithful to another whose wife +he covets and desires for himself? But Dantes was so honorable and +true in his own nature, that he believed everybody's professions of +friendship. Poor Edmond, he was cruelly deceived; but it was fortunate +that he never knew, or he might have found it more difficult, when on +his deathbed, to pardon his enemies. And, whatever people may say," +continued Caderousse, in his native language, which was not altogether +devoid of rude poetry, "I cannot help being more frightened at the idea +of the malediction of the dead than the hatred of the living." + +"Imbecile!" exclaimed La Carconte. + +"Do you, then, know in what manner Fernand injured Dantes?" inquired the +abbe of Caderousse. + +"Do I? No one better." + +"Speak out then, say what it was!" + +"Gaspard!" cried La Carconte, "do as you will; you are master--but if +you take my advice you'll hold your tongue." + +"Well, wife," replied Caderousse, "I don't know but what you're right!" + +"So you will say nothing?" asked the abbe. + +"Why, what good would it do?" asked Caderousse. "If the poor lad were +living, and came to me and begged that I would candidly tell which +were his true and which his false friends, why, perhaps, I should not +hesitate. But you tell me he is no more, and therefore can have nothing +to do with hatred or revenge, so let all such feeling be buried with +him." + +"You prefer, then," said the abbe, "that I should bestow on men you say +are false and treacherous, the reward intended for faithful friendship?" + +"That is true enough," returned Caderousse. "You say truly, the gift +of poor Edmond was not meant for such traitors as Fernand and Danglars; +besides, what would it be to them? no more than a drop of water in the +ocean." + +"Remember," chimed in La Carconte, "those two could crush you at a +single blow!" + +"How so?" inquired the abbe. "Are these persons, then, so rich and +powerful?" + +"Do you not know their history?" + +"I do not. Pray relate it to me!" Caderousse seemed to reflect for a few +moments, then said, "No, truly, it would take up too much time." + +"Well, my good friend," returned the abbe, in a tone that indicated +utter indifference on his part, "you are at liberty, either to speak or +be silent, just as you please; for my own part, I respect your scruples +and admire your sentiments; so let the matter end. I shall do my duty +as conscientiously as I can, and fulfil my promise to the dying man. My +first business will be to dispose of this diamond." So saying, the abbe +again draw the small box from his pocket, opened it, and contrived to +hold it in such a light, that a bright flash of brilliant hues passed +before the dazzled gaze of Caderousse. + +"Wife, wife!" cried he in a hoarse voice, "come here!" + +"Diamond!" exclaimed La Carconte, rising and descending to the chamber +with a tolerably firm step; "what diamond are you talking about?" + +"Why, did you not hear all we said?" inquired Caderousse. "It is a +beautiful diamond left by poor Edmond Dantes, to be sold, and the money +divided between his father, Mercedes, his betrothed bride, Fernand, +Danglars, and myself. The jewel is worth at least fifty thousand +francs." + +"Oh, what a magnificent jewel!" cried the astonished woman. + +"The fifth part of the profits from this stone belongs to us then, does +it not?" asked Caderousse. + +"It does," replied the abbe; "with the addition of an equal division +of that part intended for the elder Dantes, which I believe myself at +liberty to divide equally with the four survivors." + +"And why among us four?" inquired Caderousse. + +"As being the friends Edmond esteemed most faithful and devoted to him." + +"I don't call those friends who betray and ruin you," murmured the wife +in her turn, in a low, muttering voice. + +"Of course not!" rejoined Caderousse quickly; "no more do I, and that +was what I was observing to this gentleman just now. I said I looked +upon it as a sacrilegious profanation to reward treachery, perhaps +crime." + +"Remember," answered the abbe calmly, as he replaced the jewel and its +case in the pocket of his cassock, "it is your fault, not mine, that I +do so. You will have the goodness to furnish me with the address of both +Fernand and Danglars, in order that I may execute Edmond's last +wishes." The agitation of Caderousse became extreme, and large drops of +perspiration rolled from his heated brow. As he saw the abbe rise from +his seat and go towards the door, as though to ascertain if his horse +were sufficiently refreshed to continue his journey, Caderousse and his +wife exchanged looks of deep meaning. + +"There, you see, wife," said the former, "this splendid diamond might +all be ours, if we chose!" + +"Do you believe it?" + +"Why, surely a man of his holy profession would not deceive us!" + +"Well," replied La Carconte, "do as you like. For my part, I wash my +hands of the affair." So saying, she once more climbed the staircase +leading to her chamber, her body convulsed with chills, and her teeth +rattling in her head, in spite of the intense heat of the weather. +Arrived at the top stair, she turned round, and called out, in a warning +tone, to her husband, "Gaspard, consider well what you are about to do!" + +"I have both reflected and decided," answered he. La Carconte then +entered her chamber, the flooring of which creaked beneath her heavy, +uncertain tread, as she proceeded towards her arm-chair, into which she +fell as though exhausted. + +"Well," asked the abbe, as he returned to the apartment below, "what +have you made up your mind to do?" + +"To tell you all I know," was the reply. + +"I certainly think you act wisely in so doing," said the priest. "Not +because I have the least desire to learn anything you may please to +conceal from me, but simply that if, through your assistance, I could +distribute the legacy according to the wishes of the testator, why, so +much the better, that is all." + +"I hope it may be so," replied Caderousse, his face flushed with +cupidity. + +"I am all attention," said the abbe. + +"Stop a minute," answered Caderousse; "we might be interrupted in the +most interesting part of my story, which would be a pity; and it is as +well that your visit hither should be made known only to ourselves." +With these words he went stealthily to the door, which he closed, and, +by way of still greater precaution, bolted and barred it, as he was +accustomed to do at night. During this time the abbe had chosen his +place for listening at his ease. He removed his seat into a corner of +the room, where he himself would be in deep shadow, while the light +would be fully thrown on the narrator; then, with head bent down and +hands clasped, or rather clinched together, he prepared to give his +whole attention to Caderousse, who seated himself on the little stool, +exactly opposite to him. + +"Remember, this is no affair of mine," said the trembling voice of La +Carconte, as though through the flooring of her chamber she viewed the +scene that was enacting below. + +"Enough, enough!" replied Caderousse; "say no more about it; I will take +all the consequences upon myself." And he began his story. + + + +Chapter 27. The Story. + +"First, sir," said Caderousse, "you must make me a promise." + +"What is that?" inquired the abbe. + +"Why, if you ever make use of the details I am about to give you, that +you will never let any one know that it was I who supplied them; for the +persons of whom I am about to talk are rich and powerful, and if they +only laid the tips of their fingers on me, I should break to pieces like +glass." + +"Make yourself easy, my friend," replied the abbe. "I am a priest, and +confessions die in my breast. Recollect, our only desire is to carry +out, in a fitting manner, the last wishes of our friend. Speak, then, +without reserve, as without hatred; tell the truth, the whole truth; I +do not know, never may know, the persons of whom you are about to speak; +besides, I am an Italian, and not a Frenchman, and belong to God, and +not to man, and I shall shortly retire to my convent, which I have +only quitted to fulfil the last wishes of a dying man." This positive +assurance seemed to give Caderousse a little courage. + +"Well, then, under these circumstances," said Caderousse, "I will, I +even believe I ought to undeceive you as to the friendship which poor +Edmond thought so sincere and unquestionable." + +"Begin with his father, if you please." said the abbe; "Edmond talked to +me a great deal about the old man for whom he had the deepest love." + +"The history is a sad one, sir," said Caderousse, shaking his head; +"perhaps you know all the earlier part of it?" + +"Yes." answered the abbe; "Edmond related to me everything until the +moment when he was arrested in a small cabaret close to Marseilles." + +"At La Reserve! Oh, yes; I can see it all before me this moment." + +"Was it not his betrothal feast?" + +"It was and the feast that began so gayly had a very sorrowful ending; +a police commissary, followed by four soldiers, entered, and Dantes was +arrested." + +"Yes, and up to this point I know all," said the priest. "Dantes himself +only knew that which personally concerned him, for he never beheld again +the five persons I have named to you, or heard mention of any one of +them." + +"Well, when Dantes was arrested, Monsieur Morrel hastened to obtain the +particulars, and they were very sad. The old man returned alone to his +home, folded up his wedding suit with tears in his eyes, and paced up +and down his chamber the whole day, and would not go to bed at all, +for I was underneath him and heard him walking the whole night; and for +myself, I assure you I could not sleep either, for the grief of the poor +father gave me great uneasiness, and every step he took went to my heart +as really as if his foot had pressed against my breast. The next day +Mercedes came to implore the protection of M. de Villefort; she did not +obtain it, however, and went to visit the old man; when she saw him so +miserable and heart-broken, having passed a sleepless night, and not +touched food since the previous day, she wished him to go with her that +she might take care of him; but the old man would not consent. 'No,' was +the old man's reply, 'I will not leave this house, for my poor dear boy +loves me better than anything in the world; and if he gets out of prison +he will come and see me the first thing, and what would he think if I +did not wait here for him?' I heard all this from the window, for I was +anxious that Mercedes should persuade the old man to accompany her, for +his footsteps over my head night and day did not leave me a moment's +repose." + +"But did you not go up-stairs and try to console the poor old man?" +asked the abbe. + +"Ah, sir," replied Caderousse, "we cannot console those who will not +be consoled, and he was one of these; besides, I know not why, but he +seemed to dislike seeing me. One night, however, I heard his sobs, and I +could not resist my desire to go up to him, but when I reached his door +he was no longer weeping but praying. I cannot now repeat to you, sir, +all the eloquent words and imploring language he made use of; it was +more than piety, it was more than grief, and I, who am no canter, and +hate the Jesuits, said then to myself, 'It is really well, and I am very +glad that I have not any children; for if I were a father and felt such +excessive grief as the old man does, and did not find in my memory or +heart all he is now saying, I should throw myself into the sea at once, +for I could not bear it.'" + +"Poor father!" murmured the priest. + +"From day to day he lived on alone, and more and more solitary. M. +Morrel and Mercedes came to see him, but his door was closed; and, +although I was certain he was at home, he would not make any answer. +One day, when, contrary to his custom, he had admitted Mercedes, and the +poor girl, in spite of her own grief and despair, endeavored to console +him, he said to her,--'Be assured, my dear daughter, he is dead; and +instead of expecting him, it is he who is awaiting us; I am quite happy, +for I am the oldest, and of course shall see him first.' However well +disposed a person may be, why you see we leave off after a time seeing +persons who are in sorrow, they make one melancholy; and so at last +old Dantes was left all to himself, and I only saw from time to time +strangers go up to him and come down again with some bundle they tried +to hide; but I guessed what these bundles were, and that he sold by +degrees what he had to pay for his subsistence. At length the poor old +fellow reached the end of all he had; he owed three quarters' rent, and +they threatened to turn him out; he begged for another week, which was +granted to him. I know this, because the landlord came into my apartment +when he left his. For the first three days I heard him walking about as +usual, but, on the fourth I heard nothing. I then resolved to go up to +him at all risks. The door was closed, but I looked through the keyhole, +and saw him so pale and haggard, that believing him very ill, I went and +told M. Morrel and then ran on to Mercedes. They both came immediately, +M. Morrel bringing a doctor, and the doctor said it was inflammation +of the bowels, and ordered him a limited diet. I was there, too, and I +never shall forget the old man's smile at this prescription. From that +time he received all who came; he had an excuse for not eating any more; +the doctor had put him on a diet." The abbe uttered a kind of groan. +"The story interests you, does it not, sir?" inquired Caderousse. + +"Yes," replied the abbe, "it is very affecting." + +"Mercedes came again, and she found him so altered that she was even +more anxious than before to have him taken to her own home. This was M. +Morrel's wish also, who would fain have conveyed the old man against his +consent; but the old man resisted, and cried so that they were actually +frightened. Mercedes remained, therefore, by his bedside, and M. Morrel +went away, making a sign to the Catalan that he had left his purse on +the chimney-piece. But availing himself of the doctor's order, the old +man would not take any sustenance; at length (after nine days of despair +and fasting), the old man died, cursing those who had caused his misery, +and saying to Mercedes, 'If you ever see my Edmond again, tell him I die +blessing him.'" The abbe rose from his chair, made two turns round the +chamber, and pressed his trembling hand against his parched throat. "And +you believe he died"-- + +"Of hunger, sir, of hunger," said Caderousse. "I am as certain of it as +that we two are Christians." + +The abbe, with a shaking hand, seized a glass of water that was standing +by him half-full, swallowed it at one gulp, and then resumed his seat, +with red eyes and pale cheeks. "This was, indeed, a horrid event." said +he in a hoarse voice. + +"The more so, sir, as it was men's and not God's doing." + +"Tell me of those men," said the abbe, "and remember too," he added in +an almost menacing tone, "you have promised to tell me everything. Tell +me, therefore, who are these men who killed the son with despair, and +the father with famine?" + +"Two men jealous of him, sir; one from love, and the other from +ambition,--Fernand and Danglars." + +"How was this jealousy manifested? Speak on." + +"They denounced Edmond as a Bonapartist agent." + +"Which of the two denounced him? Which was the real delinquent?" + +"Both, sir; one with a letter, and the other put it in the post." + +"And where was this letter written?" + +"At La Reserve, the day before the betrothal feast." + +"'Twas so, then--'twas so, then," murmured the abbe. "Oh, Faria, Faria, +how well did you judge men and things!" + +"What did you please to say, sir?" asked Caderousse. + +"Nothing, nothing," replied the priest; "go on." + +"It was Danglars who wrote the denunciation with his left hand, that his +writing might not be recognized, and Fernand who put it in the post." + +"But," exclaimed the abbe suddenly, "you were there yourself." + +"I!" said Caderousse, astonished; "who told you I was there?" + +The abbe saw he had overshot the mark, and he added quickly,--"No one; +but in order to have known everything so well, you must have been an +eye-witness." + +"True, true!" said Caderousse in a choking voice, "I was there." + +"And did you not remonstrate against such infamy?" asked the abbe; "if +not, you were an accomplice." + +"Sir," replied Caderousse, "they had made me drink to such an +excess that I nearly lost all perception. I had only an indistinct +understanding of what was passing around me. I said all that a man in +such a state could say; but they both assured me that it was a jest they +were carrying on, and perfectly harmless." + +"Next day--next day, sir, you must have seen plain enough what they had +been doing, yet you said nothing, though you were present when Dantes +was arrested." + +"Yes, sir, I was there, and very anxious to speak; but Danglars +restrained me. 'If he should really be guilty,' said he, 'and did really +put in to the Island of Elba; if he is really charged with a letter for +the Bonapartist committee at Paris, and if they find this letter upon +him, those who have supported him will pass for his accomplices.' I +confess I had my fears, in the state in which politics then were, and I +held my tongue. It was cowardly, I confess, but it was not criminal." + +"I understand--you allowed matters to take their course, that was all." + +"Yes, sir," answered Caderousse; "and remorse preys on me night and day. +I often ask pardon of God, I swear to you, because this action, the only +one with which I have seriously to reproach myself in all my life, is +no doubt the cause of my abject condition. I am expiating a moment of +selfishness, and so I always say to La Carconte, when she complains, +'Hold your tongue, woman; it is the will of God.'" And Caderousse bowed +his head with every sign of real repentance. + +"Well, sir," said the abbe, "you have spoken unreservedly; and thus to +accuse yourself is to deserve pardon." + +"Unfortunately, Edmond is dead, and has not pardoned me." + +"He did not know," said the abbe. + +"But he knows it all now," interrupted Caderousse; "they say the dead +know everything." There was a brief silence; the abbe rose and paced up +and down pensively, and then resumed his seat. "You have two or three +times mentioned a M. Morrel," he said; "who was he?" + +"The owner of the Pharaon and patron of Dantes." + +"And what part did he play in this sad drama?" inquired the abbe. + +"The part of an honest man, full of courage and real regard. Twenty +times he interceded for Edmond. When the emperor returned, he wrote, +implored, threatened, and so energetically, that on the second +restoration he was persecuted as a Bonapartist. Ten times, as I told +you, he came to see Dantes' father, and offered to receive him in his +own house; and the night or two before his death, as I have already +said, he left his purse on the mantelpiece, with which they paid the old +man's debts, and buried him decently; and so Edmond's father died, as +he had lived, without doing harm to any one. I have the purse still by +me--a large one, made of red silk." + +"And," asked the abbe, "is M. Morrel still alive?" + +"Yes," replied Caderousse. + +"In that case," replied the abbe, "he should be rich, happy." + +Caderousse smiled bitterly. "Yes, happy as myself," said he. + +"What! M. Morrel unhappy?" exclaimed the abbe. + +"He is reduced almost to the last extremity--nay, he is almost at the +point of dishonor." + +"How?" + +"Yes," continued Caderousse, "so it is; after five and twenty years +of labor, after having acquired a most honorable name in the trade of +Marseilles, M. Morrel is utterly ruined; he has lost five ships in two +years, has suffered by the bankruptcy of three large houses, and his +only hope now is in that very Pharaon which poor Dantes commanded, and +which is expected from the Indies with a cargo of cochineal and indigo. +If this ship founders, like the others, he is a ruined man." + +"And has the unfortunate man wife or children?" inquired the abbe. + +"Yes, he has a wife, who through everything has behaved like an angel; +he has a daughter, who was about to marry the man she loved, but whose +family now will not allow him to wed the daughter of a ruined man; he +has, besides, a son, a lieutenant in the army; and, as you may suppose, +all this, instead of lessening, only augments his sorrows. If he were +alone in the world he would blow out his brains, and there would be an +end." + +"Horrible!" ejaculated the priest. + +"And it is thus heaven recompenses virtue, sir," added Caderousse. "You +see, I, who never did a bad action but that I have told you of--am in +destitution, with my poor wife dying of fever before my very eyes, and +I unable to do anything in the world for her; I shall die of hunger, as +old Dantes did, while Fernand and Danglars are rolling in wealth." + +"How is that?" + +"Because their deeds have brought them good fortune, while honest men +have been reduced to misery." + +"What has become of Danglars, the instigator, and therefore the most +guilty?" + +"What has become of him? Why, he left Marseilles, and was taken, on the +recommendation of M. Morrel, who did not know his crime, as cashier +into a Spanish bank. During the war with Spain he was employed in the +commissariat of the French army, and made a fortune; then with that +money he speculated in the funds, and trebled or quadrupled his capital; +and, having first married his banker's daughter, who left him a widower, +he has married a second time, a widow, a Madame de Nargonne, daughter of +M. de Servieux, the king's chamberlain, who is in high favor at court. +He is a millionaire, and they have made him a baron, and now he is the +Baron Danglars, with a fine residence in the Rue de Mont-Blanc, with ten +horses in his stables, six footmen in his ante-chamber, and I know not +how many millions in his strongbox." + +"Ah!" said the abbe, in a peculiar tone, "he is happy." + +"Happy? Who can answer for that? Happiness or unhappiness is the secret +known but to one's self and the walls--walls have ears but no tongue; +but if a large fortune produces happiness, Danglars is happy." + +"And Fernand?" + +"Fernand? Why, much the same story." + +"But how could a poor Catalan fisher-boy, without education or +resources, make a fortune? I confess this staggers me." + +"And it has staggered everybody. There must have been in his life some +strange secret that no one knows." + +"But, then, by what visible steps has he attained this high fortune or +high position?" + +"Both, sir--he has both fortune and position--both." + +"This must be impossible!" + +"It would seem so; but listen, and you will understand. Some days before +the return of the emperor, Fernand was drafted. The Bourbons left him +quietly enough at the Catalans, but Napoleon returned, a special levy +was made, and Fernand was compelled to join. I went too; but as I was +older than Fernand, and had just married my poor wife, I was only sent +to the coast. Fernand was enrolled in the active troop, went to the +frontier with his regiment, and was at the battle of Ligny. The night +after that battle he was sentry at the door of a general who carried on +a secret correspondence with the enemy. That same night the general +was to go over to the English. He proposed to Fernand to accompany him; +Fernand agreed to do so, deserted his post, and followed the general. +Fernand would have been court-martialed if Napoleon had remained on +the throne, but his action was rewarded by the Bourbons. He returned to +France with the epaulet of sub-lieutenant, and as the protection of +the general, who is in the highest favor, was accorded to him, he was +a captain in 1823, during the Spanish war--that is to say, at the time +when Danglars made his early speculations. Fernand was a Spaniard, and +being sent to Spain to ascertain the feeling of his fellow-countrymen, +found Danglars there, got on very intimate terms with him, won over the +support of the royalists at the capital and in the provinces, received +promises and made pledges on his own part, guided his regiment by paths +known to himself alone through the mountain gorges which were held +by the royalists, and, in fact, rendered such services in this brief +campaign that, after the taking of Trocadero, he was made colonel, and +received the title of count and the cross of an officer of the Legion of +Honor." + +"Destiny! destiny!" murmured the abbe. + +"Yes, but listen: this was not all. The war with Spain being ended, +Fernand's career was checked by the long peace which seemed likely to +endure throughout Europe. Greece only had risen against Turkey, and had +begun her war of independence; all eyes were turned towards Athens--it +was the fashion to pity and support the Greeks. The French government, +without protecting them openly, as you know, gave countenance to +volunteer assistance. Fernand sought and obtained leave to go and serve +in Greece, still having his name kept on the army roll. Some time after, +it was stated that the Comte de Morcerf (this was the name he bore) had +entered the service of Ali Pasha with the rank of instructor-general. +Ali Pasha was killed, as you know, but before he died he recompensed +the services of Fernand by leaving him a considerable sum, with which he +returned to France, when he was gazetted lieutenant-general." + +"So that now?"--inquired the abbe. + +"So that now," continued Caderousse, "he owns a magnificent house--No. +27, Rue du Helder, Paris." The abbe opened his mouth, hesitated for +a moment, then, making an effort at self-control, he said, "And +Mercedes--they tell me that she has disappeared?" + +"Disappeared," said Caderousse, "yes, as the sun disappears, to rise the +next day with still more splendor." + +"Has she made a fortune also?" inquired the abbe, with an ironical +smile. + +"Mercedes is at this moment one of the greatest ladies in Paris," +replied Caderousse. + +"Go on," said the abbe; "it seems as if I were listening to the story of +a dream. But I have seen things so extraordinary, that what you tell me +seems less astonishing than it otherwise might." + +"Mercedes was at first in the deepest despair at the blow which deprived +her of Edmond. I have told you of her attempts to propitiate M. de +Villefort, her devotion to the elder Dantes. In the midst of her +despair, a new affliction overtook her. This was the departure of +Fernand--of Fernand, whose crime she did not know, and whom she regarded +as her brother. Fernand went, and Mercedes remained alone. Three months +passed and still she wept--no news of Edmond, no news of Fernand, no +companionship save that of an old man who was dying with despair. One +evening, after a day of accustomed vigil at the angle of two roads +leading to Marseilles from the Catalans, she returned to her home +more depressed than ever. Suddenly she heard a step she knew, turned +anxiously around, the door opened, and Fernand, dressed in the uniform +of a sub-lieutenant, stood before her. It was not the one she wished for +most, but it seemed as if a part of her past life had returned to her. +Mercedes seized Fernand's hands with a transport which he took for love, +but which was only joy at being no longer alone in the world, and seeing +at last a friend, after long hours of solitary sorrow. And then, it must +be confessed, Fernand had never been hated--he was only not precisely +loved. Another possessed all Mercedes' heart; that other was absent, had +disappeared, perhaps was dead. At this last thought Mercedes burst into +a flood of tears, and wrung her hands in agony; but the thought, which +she had always repelled before when it was suggested to her by another, +came now in full force upon her mind; and then, too, old Dantes +incessantly said to her, 'Our Edmond is dead; if he were not, he would +return to us.' The old man died, as I have told you; had he lived, +Mercedes, perchance, had not become the wife of another, for he would +have been there to reproach her infidelity. Fernand saw this, and when +he learned of the old man's death he returned. He was now a lieutenant. +At his first coming he had not said a word of love to Mercedes; at the +second he reminded her that he loved her. Mercedes begged for six months +more in which to await and mourn for Edmond." + +"So that," said the abbe, with a bitter smile, "that makes eighteen +months in all. What more could the most devoted lover desire?" Then he +murmured the words of the English poet, "'Frailty, thy name is woman.'" + +"Six months afterwards," continued Caderousse, "the marriage took place +in the church of Accoules." + +"The very church in which she was to have married Edmond," murmured the +priest; "there was only a change of bride-grooms." + +"Well, Mercedes was married," proceeded Caderousse; "but although in the +eyes of the world she appeared calm, she nearly fainted as she passed +La Reserve, where, eighteen months before, the betrothal had been +celebrated with him whom she might have known she still loved had she +looked to the bottom of her heart. Fernand, more happy, but not more at +his ease--for I saw at this time he was in constant dread of Edmond's +return--Fernand was very anxious to get his wife away, and to depart +himself. There were too many unpleasant possibilities associated with +the Catalans, and eight days after the wedding they left Marseilles." + +"Did you ever see Mercedes again?" inquired the priest. + +"Yes, during the Spanish war, at Perpignan, where Fernand had left her; +she was attending to the education of her son." The abbe started. "Her +son?" said he. + +"Yes," replied Caderousse, "little Albert." + +"But, then, to be able to instruct her child," continued the abbe, "she +must have received an education herself. I understood from Edmond that +she was the daughter of a simple fisherman, beautiful but uneducated." + +"Oh," replied Caderousse, "did he know so little of his lovely +betrothed? Mercedes might have been a queen, sir, if the crown were to +be placed on the heads of the loveliest and most intelligent. Fernand's +fortune was already waxing great, and she developed with his growing +fortune. She learned drawing, music--everything. Besides, I believe, +between ourselves, she did this in order to distract her mind, that she +might forget; and she only filled her head in order to alleviate the +weight on her heart. But now her position in life is assured," continued +Caderousse; "no doubt fortune and honors have comforted her; she is +rich, a countess, and yet"--Caderousse paused. + +"And yet what?" asked the abbe. + +"Yet, I am sure, she is not happy," said Caderousse. + +"What makes you believe this?" + +"Why, when I found myself utterly destitute, I thought my old friends +would, perhaps, assist me. So I went to Danglars, who would not even +receive me. I called on Fernand, who sent me a hundred francs by his +valet-de-chambre." + +"Then you did not see either of them?" + +"No, but Madame de Morcerf saw me." + +"How was that?" + +"As I went away a purse fell at my feet--it contained five and twenty +louis; I raised my head quickly, and saw Mercedes, who at once shut the +blind." + +"And M. de Villefort?" asked the abbe. + +"Oh, he never was a friend of mine, I did not know him, and I had +nothing to ask of him." + +"Do you not know what became of him, and the share he had in Edmond's +misfortunes?" + +"No; I only know that some time after Edmond's arrest, he married +Mademoiselle de Saint-Meran, and soon after left Marseilles; no doubt +he has been as lucky as the rest; no doubt he is as rich as Danglars, +as high in station as Fernand. I only, as you see, have remained poor, +wretched, and forgotten." + +"You are mistaken, my friend," replied the abbe; "God may seem sometimes +to forget for a time, while his justice reposes, but there always comes +a moment when he remembers--and behold--a proof!" As he spoke, the +abbe took the diamond from his pocket, and giving it to Caderousse, +said,--"Here, my friend, take this diamond, it is yours." + +"What, for me only?" cried Caderousse, "ah, sir, do not jest with me!" + +"This diamond was to have been shared among his friends. Edmond had one +friend only, and thus it cannot be divided. Take the diamond, then, and +sell it; it is worth fifty thousand francs, and I repeat my wish that +this sum may suffice to release you from your wretchedness." + +"Oh, sir," said Caderousse, putting out one hand timidly, and with the +other wiping away the perspiration which bedewed his brow,--"Oh, sir, do +not make a jest of the happiness or despair of a man." + +"I know what happiness and what despair are, and I never make a jest of +such feelings. Take it, then, but in exchange--" + +Caderousse, who touched the diamond, withdrew his hand. The abbe smiled. +"In exchange," he continued, "give me the red silk purse that M. Morrel +left on old Dantes' chimney-piece, and which you tell me is still in +your hands." Caderousse, more and more astonished, went toward a large +oaken cupboard, opened it, and gave the abbe a long purse of faded red +silk, round which were two copper runners that had once been gilt. The +abbe took it, and in return gave Caderousse the diamond. + +"Oh, you are a man of God, sir," cried Caderousse; "for no one knew that +Edmond had given you this diamond, and you might have kept it." + +"Which," said the abbe to himself, "you would have done." The abbe +rose, took his hat and gloves. "Well," he said, "all you have told me is +perfectly true, then, and I may believe it in every particular." + +"See, sir," replied Caderousse, "in this corner is a crucifix in holy +wood--here on this shelf is my wife's testament; open this book, and I +will swear upon it with my hand on the crucifix. I will swear to you by +my soul's salvation, my faith as a Christian, I have told everything to +you as it occurred, and as the recording angel will tell it to the ear +of God at the day of the last judgment!" + +"'Tis well," said the abbe, convinced by his manner and tone that +Caderousse spoke the truth. "'Tis well, and may this money profit you! +Adieu; I go far from men who thus so bitterly injure each other." +The abbe with difficulty got away from the enthusiastic thanks of +Caderousse, opened the door himself, got out and mounted his horse, once +more saluted the innkeeper, who kept uttering his loud farewells, and +then returned by the road he had travelled in coming. When Caderousse +turned around, he saw behind him La Carconte, paler and trembling more +than ever. "Is, then, all that I have heard really true?" she inquired. + +"What? That he has given the diamond to us only?" inquired Caderousse, +half bewildered with joy; "yes, nothing more true! See, here it is." The +woman gazed at it a moment, and then said, in a gloomy voice, "Suppose +it's false?" Caderousse started and turned pale. "False!" he muttered. +"False! Why should that man give me a false diamond?" + +"To get your secret without paying for it, you blockhead!" + +Caderousse remained for a moment aghast under the weight of such an +idea. "Oh!" he said, taking up his hat, which he placed on the red +handkerchief tied round his head, "we will soon find out." + +"In what way?" + +"Why, the fair is on at Beaucaire, there are always jewellers from Paris +there, and I will show it to them. Look after the house, wife, and I +shall be back in two hours," and Caderousse left the house in haste, +and ran rapidly in the direction opposite to that which the priest had +taken. "Fifty thousand francs!" muttered La Carconte when left alone; +"it is a large sum of money, but it is not a fortune." + + + +Chapter 28. The Prison Register. + +The day after that in which the scene we have just described had taken +place on the road between Bellegarde and Beaucaire, a man of about +thirty or two and thirty, dressed in a bright blue frock coat, nankeen +trousers, and a white waistcoat, having the appearance and accent of +an Englishman, presented himself before the mayor of Marseilles. "Sir," +said he, "I am chief clerk of the house of Thomson & French, of Rome. We +are, and have been these ten years, connected with the house of Morrel +& Son, of Marseilles. We have a hundred thousand francs or thereabouts +loaned on their securities, and we are a little uneasy at reports that +have reached us that the firm is on the brink of ruin. I have come, +therefore, express from Rome, to ask you for information." + +"Sir," replied the mayor. "I know very well that during the last four or +five years misfortune has seemed to pursue M. Morrel. He has lost four +or five vessels, and suffered by three or four bankruptcies; but it +is not for me, although I am a creditor myself to the amount of +ten thousand francs, to give any information as to the state of his +finances. Ask of me, as mayor, what is my opinion of M. Morrel, and I +shall say that he is a man honorable to the last degree, and who has +up to this time fulfilled every engagement with scrupulous punctuality. +This is all I can say, sir; if you wish to learn more, address yourself +to M. de Boville, the inspector of prisons, No. 15, Rue de Nouailles; +he has, I believe, two hundred thousand francs in Morrel's hands, and if +there be any grounds for apprehension, as this is a greater amount than +mine, you will most probably find him better informed than myself." + +The Englishman seemed to appreciate this extreme delicacy, made his bow +and went away, proceeding with a characteristic British stride towards +the street mentioned. M. de Boville was in his private room, and the +Englishman, on perceiving him, made a gesture of surprise, which seemed +to indicate that it was not the first time he had been in his presence. +As to M. de Boville, he was in such a state of despair, that it was +evident all the faculties of his mind, absorbed in the thought which +occupied him at the moment, did not allow either his memory or his +imagination to stray to the past. The Englishman, with the coolness of +his nation, addressed him in terms nearly similar to those with which +he had accosted the mayor of Marseilles. "Oh, sir," exclaimed M. de +Boville, "your fears are unfortunately but too well founded, and you see +before you a man in despair. I had two hundred thousand francs placed +in the hands of Morrel & Son; these two hundred thousand francs were the +dowry of my daughter, who was to be married in a fortnight, and these +two hundred thousand francs were payable, half on the 15th of this +month, and the other half on the 15th of next month. I had informed M. +Morrel of my desire to have these payments punctually, and he has been +here within the last half-hour to tell me that if his ship, the Pharaon, +did not come into port on the 15th, he would be wholly unable to make +this payment." + +"But," said the Englishman, "this looks very much like a suspension of +payment." + +"It looks more like bankruptcy!" exclaimed M. de Boville despairingly. + +The Englishman appeared to reflect a moment, and then said,--"From which +it would appear, sir, that this credit inspires you with considerable +apprehension?" + +"To tell you the truth, I consider it lost." + +"Well, then, I will buy it of you!" + +"You?" + +"Yes, I!" + +"But at a tremendous discount, of course?" + +"No, for two hundred thousand francs. Our house," added the Englishman +with a laugh, "does not do things in that way." + +"And you will pay"-- + +"Ready money." And the Englishman drew from his pocket a bundle of +bank-notes, which might have been twice the sum M. de Boville feared +to lose. A ray of joy passed across M. de Boville's countenance, yet +he made an effort at self-control, and said,--"Sir, I ought to tell +you that, in all probability, you will not realize six per cent of this +sum." + +"That's no affair of mine," replied the Englishman, "that is the affair +of the house of Thomson & French, in whose name I act. They have, +perhaps, some motive to serve in hastening the ruin of a rival firm. +But all I know, sir, is, that I am ready to hand you over this sum in +exchange for your assignment of the debt. I only ask a brokerage." + +"Of course, that is perfectly just," cried M. de Boville. "The +commission is usually one and a half; will you have two--three--five per +cent, or even more? Whatever you say." + +"Sir," replied the Englishman, laughing, "I am like my house, and do not +do such things--no, the commission I ask is quite different." + +"Name it, sir, I beg." + +"You are the inspector of prisons?" + +"I have been so these fourteen years." + +"You keep the registers of entries and departures?" + +"I do." + +"To these registers there are added notes relative to the prisoners?" + +"There are special reports on every prisoner." + +"Well, sir, I was educated at home by a poor devil of an abbe, who +disappeared suddenly. I have since learned that he was confined in the +Chateau d'If, and I should like to learn some particulars of his death." + +"What was his name?" + +"The Abbe Faria." + +"Oh, I recollect him perfectly," cried M. de Boville; "he was crazy." + +"So they said." + +"Oh, he was, decidedly." + +"Very possibly; but what sort of madness was it?" + +"He pretended to know of an immense treasure, and offered vast sums to +the government if they would liberate him." + +"Poor devil!--and he is dead?" + +"Yes, sir, five or six months ago--last February." + +"You have a good memory, sir, to recollect dates so well." + +"I recollect this, because the poor devil's death was accompanied by a +singular incident." + +"May I ask what that was?" said the Englishman with an expression +of curiosity, which a close observer would have been astonished at +discovering in his phlegmatic countenance. + +"Oh dear, yes, sir; the abbe's dungeon was forty or fifty feet distant +from that of one of Bonaparte's emissaries,--one of those who had +contributed the most to the return of the usurper in 1815,--a very +resolute and very dangerous man." + +"Indeed!" said the Englishman. + +"Yes," replied M. de Boville; "I myself had occasion to see this man +in 1816 or 1817, and we could only go into his dungeon with a file of +soldiers. That man made a deep impression on me; I shall never forget +his countenance!" The Englishman smiled imperceptibly. + +"And you say, sir," he interposed, "that the two dungeons"-- + +"Were separated by a distance of fifty feet; but it appears that this +Edmond Dantes"-- + +"This dangerous man's name was"-- + +"Edmond Dantes. It appears, sir, that this Edmond Dantes had procured +tools, or made them, for they found a tunnel through which the prisoners +held communication with one another." + +"This tunnel was dug, no doubt, with an intention of escape?" + +"No doubt; but unfortunately for the prisoners, the Abbe Faria had an +attack of catalepsy, and died." + +"That must have cut short the projects of escape." + +"For the dead man, yes," replied M. de Boville, "but not for the +survivor; on the contrary, this Dantes saw a means of accelerating his +escape. He, no doubt, thought that prisoners who died in the Chateau +d'If were interred in an ordinary burial-ground, and he conveyed the +dead man into his own cell, took his place in the sack in which they had +sewed up the corpse, and awaited the moment of interment." + +"It was a bold step, and one that showed some courage," remarked the +Englishman. + +"As I have already told you, sir, he was a very dangerous man; and, +fortunately, by his own act disembarrassed the government of the fears +it had on his account." + +"How was that?" + +"How? Do you not comprehend?" + +"No." + +"The Chateau d'If has no cemetery, and they simply throw the dead into +the sea, after fastening a thirty-six pound cannon-ball to their feet." + +"Well," observed the Englishman as if he were slow of comprehension. + +"Well, they fastened a thirty-six pound ball to his feet, and threw him +into the sea." + +"Really!" exclaimed the Englishman. + +"Yes, sir," continued the inspector of prisons. "You may imagine the +amazement of the fugitive when he found himself flung headlong over the +rocks! I should like to have seen his face at that moment." + +"That would have been difficult." + +"No matter," replied De Boville, in supreme good-humor at the certainty +of recovering his two hundred thousand francs,--"no matter, I can fancy +it." And he shouted with laughter. + +"So can I," said the Englishman, and he laughed too; but he laughed as +the English do, "at the end of his teeth." + +"And so," continued the Englishman who first gained his composure, "he +was drowned?" + +"Unquestionably." + +"So that the governor got rid of the dangerous and the crazy prisoner at +the same time?" + +"Precisely." + +"But some official document was drawn up as to this affair, I suppose?" +inquired the Englishman. + +"Yes, yes, the mortuary deposition. You understand, Dantes' relations, +if he had any, might have some interest in knowing if he were dead or +alive." + +"So that now, if there were anything to inherit from him, they may do so +with easy conscience. He is dead, and no mistake about it." + +"Oh, yes; and they may have the fact attested whenever they please." + +"So be it," said the Englishman. "But to return to these registers." + +"True, this story has diverted our attention from them. Excuse me." + +"Excuse you for what? For the story? By no means; it really seems to me +very curious." + +"Yes, indeed. So, sir, you wish to see all relating to the poor abbe, +who really was gentleness itself." + +"Yes, you will much oblige me." + +"Go into my study here, and I will show it to you." And they both +entered M. de Boville's study. Everything was here arranged in perfect +order; each register had its number, each file of papers its place. The +inspector begged the Englishman to seat himself in an arm-chair, and +placed before him the register and documents relative to the Chateau +d'If, giving him all the time he desired for the examination, while De +Boville seated himself in a corner, and began to read his newspaper. The +Englishman easily found the entries relative to the Abbe Faria; but it +seemed that the history which the inspector had related interested him +greatly, for after having perused the first documents he turned over the +leaves until he reached the deposition respecting Edmond Dantes. There +he found everything arranged in due order,--the accusation, examination, +Morrel's petition, M. de Villefort's marginal notes. He folded up +the accusation quietly, and put it as quietly in his pocket; read the +examination, and saw that the name of Noirtier was not mentioned in it; +perused, too, the application dated 10th April, 1815, in which Morrel, +by the deputy procureur's advice, exaggerated with the best intentions +(for Napoleon was then on the throne) the services Dantes had rendered +to the imperial cause--services which Villefort's certificates rendered +indispensable. Then he saw through the whole thing. This petition +to Napoleon, kept back by Villefort, had become, under the second +restoration, a terrible weapon against him in the hands of the king's +attorney. He was no longer astonished when he searched on to find in the +register this note, placed in a bracket against his name:-- + +Edmond Dantes. + +An inveterate Bonapartist; took an active part in the return from the +Island of Elba. + +To be kept in strict solitary confinement, and to be closely watched and +guarded. + +Beneath these lines was written in another hand: "See note +above--nothing can be done." He compared the writing in the bracket with +the writing of the certificate placed beneath Morrel's petition, and +discovered that the note in the bracket was the same writing as the +certificate--that is to say, was in Villefort's handwriting. As to the +note which accompanied this, the Englishman understood that it might +have been added by some inspector who had taken a momentary interest in +Dantes' situation, but who had, from the remarks we have quoted, found +it impossible to give any effect to the interest he had felt. + +As we have said, the inspector, from discretion, and that he might not +disturb the Abbe Faria's pupil in his researches, had seated himself +in a corner, and was reading Le Drapeau Blanc. He did not see the +Englishman fold up and place in his pocket the accusation written by +Danglars under the arbor of La Reserve, and which had the postmark, +"Marseilles, 27th Feb., delivery 6 o'clock, P.M." But it must be said +that if he had seen it, he attached so little importance to this scrap +of paper, and so much importance to his two hundred thousand francs, +that he would not have opposed whatever the Englishman might do, however +irregular it might be. + +"Thanks," said the latter, closing the register with a slam, "I have +all I want; now it is for me to perform my promise. Give me a simple +assignment of your debt; acknowledge therein the receipt of the cash, +and I will hand you over the money." He rose, gave his seat to M. de +Boville, who took it without ceremony, and quickly drew up the required +assignment, while the Englishman counted out the bank-notes on the other +side of the desk. + + + +Chapter 29. The House of Morrel & Son. + +Any one who had quitted Marseilles a few years previously, well +acquainted with the interior of Morrel's warehouse, and had returned at +this date, would have found a great change. Instead of that air of life, +of comfort, and of happiness that permeates a flourishing and prosperous +business establishment--instead of merry faces at the windows, busy +clerks hurrying to and fro in the long corridors--instead of the court +filled with bales of goods, re-echoing with the cries and the jokes of +porters, one would have immediately perceived all aspect of sadness and +gloom. Out of all the numerous clerks that used to fill the deserted +corridor and the empty office, but two remained. One was a young man of +three or four and twenty, who was in love with M. Morrel's daughter, and +had remained with him in spite of the efforts of his friends to induce +him to withdraw; the other was an old one-eyed cashier, called "Cocles," +or "Cock-eye," a nickname given him by the young men who used to throng +this vast now almost deserted bee-hive, and which had so completely +replaced his real name that he would not, in all probability, have +replied to any one who addressed him by it. + +Cocles remained in M. Morrel's service, and a most singular change had +taken place in his position; he had at the same time risen to the rank +of cashier, and sunk to the rank of a servant. He was, however, the +same Cocles, good, patient, devoted, but inflexible on the subject of +arithmetic, the only point on which he would have stood firm against the +world, even against M. Morrel; and strong in the multiplication-table, +which he had at his fingers' ends, no matter what scheme or what trap +was laid to catch him. In the midst of the disasters that befell the +house, Cocles was the only one unmoved. But this did not arise from a +want of affection; on the contrary, from a firm conviction. Like the +rats that one by one forsake the doomed ship even before the vessel +weighs anchor, so all the numerous clerks had by degrees deserted the +office and the warehouse. Cocles had seen them go without thinking of +inquiring the cause of their departure. Everything was as we have said, +a question of arithmetic to Cocles, and during twenty years he had +always seen all payments made with such exactitude, that it seemed as +impossible to him that the house should stop payment, as it would to a +miller that the river that had so long turned his mill should cease to +flow. + +Nothing had as yet occurred to shake Cocles' belief; the last month's +payment had been made with the most scrupulous exactitude; Cocles had +detected an overbalance of fourteen sous in his cash, and the same +evening he had brought them to M. Morrel, who, with a melancholy smile, +threw them into an almost empty drawer, saying:-- + +"Thanks, Cocles; you are the pearl of cashiers." + +Cocles went away perfectly happy, for this eulogium of M. Morrel, +himself the pearl of the honest men of Marseilles, flattered him more +than a present of fifty crowns. But since the end of the month M. Morrel +had passed many an anxious hour. In order to meet the payments then due; +he had collected all his resources, and, fearing lest the report of his +distress should get bruited abroad at Marseilles when he was known to be +reduced to such an extremity, he went to the Beaucaire fair to sell his +wife's and daughter's jewels and a portion of his plate. By this means +the end of the month was passed, but his resources were now exhausted. +Credit, owing to the reports afloat, was no longer to be had; and to +meet the one hundred thousand francs due on the 10th of the present +month, and the one hundred thousand francs due on the 15th of the next +month to M. de Boville, M. Morrel had, in reality, no hope but the +return of the Pharaon, of whose departure he had learnt from a vessel +which had weighed anchor at the same time, and which had already arrived +in harbor. But this vessel which, like the Pharaon, came from Calcutta, +had been in for a fortnight, while no intelligence had been received of +the Pharaon. + +Such was the state of affairs when, the day after his interview with M. +de Boville, the confidential clerk of the house of Thomson & French +of Rome, presented himself at M. Morrel's. Emmanuel received him; this +young man was alarmed by the appearance of every new face, for every new +face might be that of a new creditor, come in anxiety to question the +head of the house. The young man, wishing to spare his employer the pain +of this interview, questioned the new-comer; but the stranger declared +that he had nothing to say to M. Emmanuel, and that his business was +with M. Morrel in person. Emmanuel sighed, and summoned Cocles. Cocles +appeared, and the young man bade him conduct the stranger to M. Morrel's +apartment. Cocles went first, and the stranger followed him. On the +staircase they met a beautiful girl of sixteen or seventeen, who looked +with anxiety at the stranger. + +"M. Morrel is in his room, is he not, Mademoiselle Julie?" said the +cashier. + +"Yes; I think so, at least," said the young girl hesitatingly. "Go and +see, Cocles, and if my father is there, announce this gentleman." + +"It will be useless to announce me, mademoiselle," returned the +Englishman. "M. Morrel does not know my name; this worthy gentleman has +only to announce the confidential clerk of the house of Thomson & French +of Rome, with whom your father does business." + +The young girl turned pale and continued to descend, while the stranger +and Cocles continued to mount the staircase. She entered the office +where Emmanuel was, while Cocles, by the aid of a key he possessed, +opened a door in the corner of a landing-place on the second staircase, +conducted the stranger into an ante-chamber, opened a second door, which +he closed behind him, and after having left the clerk of the house of +Thomson & French alone, returned and signed to him that he could enter. +The Englishman entered, and found Morrel seated at a table, turning over +the formidable columns of his ledger, which contained the list of his +liabilities. At the sight of the stranger, M. Morrel closed the ledger, +arose, and offered a seat to the stranger; and when he had seen him +seated, resumed his own chair. Fourteen years had changed the worthy +merchant, who, in his thirty-sixth year at the opening of this history, +was now in his fiftieth; his hair had turned white, time and sorrow +had ploughed deep furrows on his brow, and his look, once so firm and +penetrating, was now irresolute and wandering, as if he feared being +forced to fix his attention on some particular thought or person. The +Englishman looked at him with an air of curiosity, evidently mingled +with interest. "Monsieur," said Morrel, whose uneasiness was increased +by this examination, "you wish to speak to me?" + +"Yes, monsieur; you are aware from whom I come?" + +"The house of Thomson & French; at least, so my cashier tells me." + +"He has told you rightly. The house of Thomson & French had 300,000 or +400,000 francs to pay this month in France; and, knowing your strict +punctuality, have collected all the bills bearing your signature, and +charged me as they became due to present them, and to employ the money +otherwise." Morrel sighed deeply, and passed his hand over his forehead, +which was covered with perspiration. + +"So then, sir," said Morrel, "you hold bills of mine?" + +"Yes, and for a considerable sum." + +"What is the amount?" asked Morrel with a voice he strove to render +firm. + +"Here is," said the Englishman, taking a quantity of papers from his +pocket, "an assignment of 200,000 francs to our house by M. de Boville, +the inspector of prisons, to whom they are due. You acknowledge, of +course, that you owe this sum to him?" + +"Yes; he placed the money in my hands at four and a half per cent nearly +five years ago." + +"When are you to pay?" + +"Half the 15th of this month, half the 15th of next." + +"Just so; and now here are 32,500 francs payable shortly; they are all +signed by you, and assigned to our house by the holders." + +"I recognize them," said Morrel, whose face was suffused, as he thought +that, for the first time in his life, he would be unable to honor his +own signature. "Is this all?" + +"No, I have for the end of the month these bills which have been +assigned to us by the house of Pascal, and the house of Wild & Turner of +Marseilles, amounting to nearly 55,000. francs; in all, 287,500 +francs." It is impossible to describe what Morrel suffered during +this enumeration. "Two hundred and eighty-seven thousand five hundred +francs," repeated he. + +"Yes, sir," replied the Englishman. "I will not," continued he, after +a moment's silence, "conceal from you, that while your probity and +exactitude up to this moment are universally acknowledged, yet the +report is current in Marseilles that you are not able to meet your +liabilities." At this almost brutal speech Morrel turned deathly +pale. "Sir," said he, "up to this time--and it is now more than +four-and-twenty years since I received the direction of this house from +my father, who had himself conducted it for five and thirty years--never +has anything bearing the signature of Morrel & Son been dishonored." + +"I know that," replied the Englishman. "But as a man of honor should +answer another, tell me fairly, shall you pay these with the same +punctuality?" Morrel shuddered, and looked at the man, who spoke with +more assurance than he had hitherto shown. "To questions frankly put," +said he, "a straightforward answer should be given. Yes, I shall pay, +if, as I hope, my vessel arrives safely; for its arrival will again +procure me the credit which the numerous accidents, of which I have been +the victim, have deprived me; but if the Pharaon should be lost, and +this last resource be gone"--the poor man's eyes filled with tears. + +"Well," said the other, "if this last resource fail you?" + +"Well," returned Morrel, "it is a cruel thing to be forced to say, but, +already used to misfortune, I must habituate myself to shame. I fear I +shall be forced to suspend payment." + +"Have you no friends who could assist you?" Morrel smiled mournfully. +"In business, sir," said he, "one has no friends, only correspondents." + +"It is true," murmured the Englishman; "then you have but one hope." + +"But one." + +"The last?" + +"The last." + +"So that if this fail"-- + +"I am ruined,--completely ruined!" + +"As I was on my way here, a vessel was coming into port." + +"I know it, sir; a young man, who still adheres to my fallen fortunes, +passes a part of his time in a belvidere at the top of the house, in +hopes of being the first to announce good news to me; he has informed me +of the arrival of this ship." + +"And it is not yours?" + +"No, she is a Bordeaux vessel, La Gironde; she comes from India also; +but she is not mine." + +"Perhaps she has spoken to the Pharaon, and brings you some tidings of +her?" + +"Shall I tell you plainly one thing, sir? I dread almost as much to +receive any tidings of my vessel as to remain in doubt. Uncertainty +is still hope." Then in a low voice Morrel added,--"This delay is not +natural. The Pharaon left Calcutta the 5th February; she ought to have +been here a month ago." + +"What is that?" said the Englishman. "What is the meaning of that +noise?" + +"Oh, oh!" cried Morrel, turning pale, "what is it?" A loud noise was +heard on the stairs of people moving hastily, and half-stifled sobs. +Morrel rose and advanced to the door; but his strength failed him and +he sank into a chair. The two men remained opposite one another, Morrel +trembling in every limb, the stranger gazing at him with an air of +profound pity. The noise had ceased; but it seemed that Morrel expected +something--something had occasioned the noise, and something must +follow. The stranger fancied he heard footsteps on the stairs; and that +the footsteps, which were those of several persons, stopped at the door. +A key was inserted in the lock of the first door, and the creaking of +hinges was audible. + +"There are only two persons who have the key to that door," murmured +Morrel, "Cocles and Julie." At this instant the second door opened, +and the young girl, her eyes bathed with tears, appeared. Morrel rose +tremblingly, supporting himself by the arm of the chair. He would have +spoken, but his voice failed him. "Oh, father!" said she, clasping her +hands, "forgive your child for being the bearer of evil tidings." + +Morrel again changed color. Julie threw herself into his arms. + +"Oh, father, father!" murmured she, "courage!" + +"The Pharaon has gone down, then?" said Morrel in a hoarse voice. The +young girl did not speak; but she made an affirmative sign with her head +as she lay on her father's breast. + +"And the crew?" asked Morrel. + +"Saved," said the girl; "saved by the crew of the vessel that has just +entered the harbor." Morrel raised his two hands to heaven with an +expression of resignation and sublime gratitude. "Thanks, my God," said +he, "at least thou strikest but me alone." A tear moistened the eye of +the phlegmatic Englishman. + +"Come in, come in," said Morrel, "for I presume you are all at the +door." + +Scarcely had he uttered those words than Madame Morrel entered weeping +bitterly. Emmanuel followed her, and in the antechamber were visible the +rough faces of seven or eight half-naked sailors. At the sight of these +men the Englishman started and advanced a step; then restrained himself, +and retired into the farthest and most obscure corner of the apartment. +Madame Morrel sat down by her husband and took one of his hands in hers, +Julie still lay with her head on his shoulder, Emmanuel stood in the +centre of the chamber and seemed to form the link between Morrel's +family and the sailors at the door. + +"How did this happen?" said Morrel. + +"Draw nearer, Penelon," said the young man, "and tell us all about it." + +An old seaman, bronzed by the tropical sun, advanced, twirling the +remains of a tarpaulin between his hands. "Good-day, M. Morrel," said +he, as if he had just quitted Marseilles the previous evening, and had +just returned from Aix or Toulon. + +"Good-day, Penelon," returned Morrel, who could not refrain from smiling +through his tears, "where is the captain?" + +"The captain, M. Morrel,--he has stayed behind sick at Palma; but please +God, it won't be much, and you will see him in a few days all alive and +hearty." + +"Well, now tell your story, Penelon." + +Penelon rolled his quid in his cheek, placed his hand before his +mouth, turned his head, and sent a long jet of tobacco-juice into the +antechamber, advanced his foot, balanced himself, and began,--"You see, +M. Morrel," said he, "we were somewhere between Cape Blanc and Cape +Boyador, sailing with a fair breeze, south-south-west after a week's +calm, when Captain Gaumard comes up to me--I was at the helm I should +tell you--and says, 'Penelon, what do you think of those clouds coming +up over there?' I was just then looking at them myself. 'What do I +think, captain? Why I think that they are rising faster than they have +any business to do, and that they would not be so black if they didn't +mean mischief.'--'That's my opinion too,' said the captain, 'and I'll +take precautions accordingly. We are carrying too much canvas. Avast, +there, all hands! Take in the studding-sl's and stow the flying jib.' It +was time; the squall was on us, and the vessel began to heel. 'Ah,' said +the captain, 'we have still too much canvas set; all hands lower +the mains'l!' Five minutes after, it was down; and we sailed under +mizzen-tops'ls and to'gall'nt sails. 'Well, Penelon,' said the captain, +'what makes you shake your head?' 'Why,' I says, 'I still think you've +got too much on.' 'I think you're right,' answered he, 'we shall have a +gale.' 'A gale? More than that, we shall have a tempest, or I don't know +what's what.' You could see the wind coming like the dust at Montredon; +luckily the captain understood his business. 'Take in two reefs in the +tops'ls,' cried the captain; 'let go the bowlin's, haul the brace, lower +the to'gall'nt sails, haul out the reef-tackles on the yards.'" + +"That was not enough for those latitudes," said the Englishman; "I +should have taken four reefs in the topsails and furled the spanker." + +His firm, sonorous, and unexpected voice made every one start. Penelon +put his hand over his eyes, and then stared at the man who thus +criticized the manoeuvres of his captain. "We did better than that, +sir," said the old sailor respectfully; "we put the helm up to run +before the tempest; ten minutes after we struck our tops'ls and scudded +under bare poles." + +"The vessel was very old to risk that," said the Englishman. + +"Eh, it was that that did the business; after pitching heavily for +twelve hours we sprung a leak. 'Penelon,' said the captain, 'I think we +are sinking, give me the helm, and go down into the hold.' I gave him +the helm, and descended; there was already three feet of water. 'All +hands to the pumps!' I shouted; but it was too late, and it seemed the +more we pumped the more came in. 'Ah,' said I, after four hours' work, +'since we are sinking, let us sink; we can die but once.' 'That's +the example you set, Penelon,' cries the captain; 'very well, wait a +minute.' He went into his cabin and came back with a brace of pistols. +'I will blow the brains out of the first man who leaves the pump,' said +he." + +"Well done!" said the Englishman. + +"There's nothing gives you so much courage as good reasons," continued +the sailor; "and during that time the wind had abated, and the sea gone +down, but the water kept rising; not much, only two inches an hour, +but still it rose. Two inches an hour does not seem much, but in twelve +hours that makes two feet, and three we had before, that makes five. +'Come,' said the captain, 'we have done all in our power, and M. Morrel +will have nothing to reproach us with, we have tried to save the ship, +let us now save ourselves. To the boats, my lads, as quick as you can.' +Now," continued Penelon, "you see, M. Morrel, a sailor is attached to +his ship, but still more to his life, so we did not wait to be told +twice; the more so, that the ship was sinking under us, and seemed to +say, 'Get along--save yourselves.' We soon launched the boat, and all +eight of us got into it. The captain descended last, or rather, he +did not descend, he would not quit the vessel; so I took him round the +waist, and threw him into the boat, and then I jumped after him. It +was time, for just as I jumped the deck burst with a noise like the +broadside of a man-of-war. Ten minutes after she pitched forward, then +the other way, spun round and round, and then good-by to the Pharaon. As +for us, we were three days without anything to eat or drink, so that we +began to think of drawing lots who should feed the rest, when we saw La +Gironde; we made signals of distress, she perceived us, made for us, and +took us all on board. There now, M. Morrel, that's the whole truth, on +the honor of a sailor; is not it true, you fellows there?" A general +murmur of approbation showed that the narrator had faithfully detailed +their misfortunes and sufferings. + +"Well, well," said M. Morrel, "I know there was no one in fault but +destiny. It was the will of God that this should happen, blessed be his +name. What wages are due to you?" + +"Oh, don't let us talk of that, M. Morrel." + +"Yes, but we will talk of it." + +"Well, then, three months," said Penelon. + +"Cocles, pay two hundred francs to each of these good fellows," said +Morrel. "At another time," added he, "I should have said, Give them, +besides, two hundred francs over as a present; but times are changed, +and the little money that remains to me is not my own." + +Penelon turned to his companions, and exchanged a few words with them. + +"As for that, M. Morrel," said he, again turning his quid, "as for +that"-- + +"As for what?" + +"The money." + +"Well"-- + +"Well, we all say that fifty francs will be enough for us at present, +and that we will wait for the rest." + +"Thanks, my friends, thanks!" cried Morrel gratefully; "take it--take +it; and if you can find another employer, enter his service; you are +free to do so." These last words produced a prodigious effect on the +seaman. Penelon nearly swallowed his quid; fortunately he recovered. +"What, M. Morrel!" said he in a low voice, "you send us away; you are +then angry with us!" + +"No, no," said M. Morrel, "I am not angry, quite the contrary, and I do +not send you away; but I have no more ships, and therefore I do not want +any sailors." + +"No more ships!" returned Penelon; "well, then, you'll build some; we'll +wait for you." + +"I have no money to build ships with, Penelon," said the poor owner +mournfully, "so I cannot accept your kind offer." + +"No more money? Then you must not pay us; we can scud, like the Pharaon, +under bare poles." + +"Enough, enough!" cried Morrel, almost overpowered; "leave me, I pray +you; we shall meet again in a happier time. Emmanuel, go with them, and +see that my orders are executed." + +"At least, we shall see each other again, M. Morrel?" asked Penelon. + +"Yes; I hope so, at least. Now go." He made a sign to Cocles, who went +first; the seamen followed him and Emmanuel brought up the rear. "Now," +said the owner to his wife and daughter, "leave me; I wish to speak with +this gentleman." And he glanced towards the clerk of Thomson & French, +who had remained motionless in the corner during this scene, in which he +had taken no part, except the few words we have mentioned. The two women +looked at this person whose presence they had entirely forgotten, and +retired; but, as she left the apartment, Julie gave the stranger a +supplicating glance, to which he replied by a smile that an indifferent +spectator would have been surprised to see on his stern features. The +two men were left alone. "Well, sir," said Morrel, sinking into a chair, +"you have heard all, and I have nothing further to tell you." + +"I see," returned the Englishman, "that a fresh and unmerited misfortune +his overwhelmed you, and this only increases my desire to serve you." + +"Oh, sir!" cried Morrel. + +"Let me see," continued the stranger, "I am one of your largest +creditors." + +"Your bills, at least, are the first that will fall due." + +"Do you wish for time to pay?" + +"A delay would save my honor, and consequently my life." + +"How long a delay do you wish for?"--Morrel reflected. "Two months," +said he. + +"I will give you three," replied the stranger. + +"But," asked Morrel, "will the house of Thomson & French consent?" + +"Oh, I take everything on myself. To-day is the 5th of June." + +"Yes." + +"Well, renew these bills up to the 5th of September; and on the 5th of +September at eleven o'clock (the hand of the clock pointed to eleven), I +shall come to receive the money." + +"I shall expect you," returned Morrel; "and I will pay you--or I shall +be dead." These last words were uttered in so low a tone that the +stranger could not hear them. The bills were renewed, the old ones +destroyed, and the poor ship-owner found himself with three months +before him to collect his resources. The Englishman received his thanks +with the phlegm peculiar to his nation; and Morrel, overwhelming him +with grateful blessings, conducted him to the staircase. The stranger +met Julie on the stairs; she pretended to be descending, but in reality +she was waiting for him. "Oh, sir"--said she, clasping her hands. + +"Mademoiselle," said the stranger, "one day you will receive a letter +signed 'Sinbad the Sailor.' Do exactly what the letter bids you, however +strange it may appear." + +"Yes, sir," returned Julie. + +"Do you promise?" + +"I swear to you I will." + +"It is well. Adieu, mademoiselle. Continue to be the good, sweet girl +you are at present, and I have great hopes that heaven will reward you +by giving you Emmanuel for a husband." + +Julie uttered a faint cry, blushed like a rose, and leaned against the +baluster. The stranger waved his hand, and continued to descend. In +the court he found Penelon, who, with a rouleau of a hundred francs in +either hand, seemed unable to make up his mind to retain them. "Come +with me, my friend," said the Englishman; "I wish to speak to you." + + + +Chapter 30. The Fifth of September. + +The extension provided for by the agent of Thomson & French, at the +moment when Morrel expected it least, was to the poor shipowner so +decided a stroke of good fortune that he almost dared to believe that +fate was at length grown weary of wasting her spite upon him. The same +day he told his wife, Emmanuel, and his daughter all that had occurred; +and a ray of hope, if not of tranquillity, returned to the family. +Unfortunately, however, Morrel had not only engagements with the house +of Thomson & French, who had shown themselves so considerate towards +him; and, as he had said, in business he had correspondents, and not +friends. When he thought the matter over, he could by no means account +for this generous conduct on the part of Thomson & French towards him; +and could only attribute it to some such selfish argument as this:--"We +had better help a man who owes us nearly 300,000 francs, and have those +300,000 francs at the end of three months than hasten his ruin, and +get only six or eight per cent of our money back again." Unfortunately, +whether through envy or stupidity, all Morrel's correspondents did not +take this view; and some even came to a contrary decision. The +bills signed by Morrel were presented at his office with scrupulous +exactitude, and, thanks to the delay granted by the Englishman, were +paid by Cocles with equal punctuality. Cocles thus remained in his +accustomed tranquillity. It was Morrel alone who remembered with alarm, +that if he had to repay on the 15th the 50,000 francs of M. de Boville, +and on the 30th the 32,500 francs of bills, for which, as well as the +debt due to the inspector of prisons, he had time granted, he must be a +ruined man. + +The opinion of all the commercial men was that, under the reverses +which had successively weighed down Morrel, it was impossible for him to +remain solvent. Great, therefore, was the astonishment when at the +end of the month, he cancelled all his obligations with his usual +punctuality. Still confidence was not restored to all minds, and the +general opinion was that the complete ruin of the unfortunate shipowner +had been postponed only until the end of the month. The month passed, +and Morrel made extraordinary efforts to get in all his resources. +Formerly his paper, at any date, was taken with confidence, and was even +in request. Morrel now tried to negotiate bills at ninety days only, and +none of the banks would give him credit. Fortunately, Morrel had some +funds coming in on which he could rely; and, as they reached him, he +found himself in a condition to meet his engagements when the end of +July came. The agent of Thomson & French had not been again seen at +Marseilles; the day after, or two days after his visit to Morrel, he had +disappeared; and as in that city he had had no intercourse but with the +mayor, the inspector of prisons, and M. Morrel, his departure left no +trace except in the memories of these three persons. As to the sailors +of the Pharaon, they must have found snug berths elsewhere, for they +also had disappeared. + +Captain Gaumard, recovered from his illness, had returned from Palma. +He delayed presenting himself at Morrel's, but the owner, hearing of +his arrival, went to see him. The worthy shipowner knew, from Penelon's +recital, of the captain's brave conduct during the storm, and tried to +console him. He brought him also the amount of his wages, which Captain +Gaumard had not dared to apply for. As he descended the staircase, +Morrel met Penelon, who was going up. Penelon had, it would seem, made +good use of his money, for he was newly clad. When he saw his employer, +the worthy tar seemed much embarrassed, drew on one side into the corner +of the landing-place, passed his quid from one cheek to the other, +stared stupidly with his great eyes, and only acknowledged the squeeze +of the hand which Morrel as usual gave him by a slight pressure in +return. Morrel attributed Penelon's embarrassment to the elegance of his +attire; it was evident the good fellow had not gone to such an expense +on his own account; he was, no doubt, engaged on board some other +vessel, and thus his bashfulness arose from the fact of his not having, +if we may so express ourselves, worn mourning for the Pharaon longer. +Perhaps he had come to tell Captain Gaumard of his good luck, and to +offer him employment from his new master. "Worthy fellows!" said Morrel, +as he went away, "may your new master love you as I loved you, and be +more fortunate than I have been!" + +August rolled by in unceasing efforts on the part of Morrel to renew +his credit or revive the old. On the 20th of August it was known at +Marseilles that he had left town in the mailcoach, and then it was said +that the bills would go to protest at the end of the month, and that +Morrel had gone away and left his chief clerk Emmanuel, and his cashier +Cocles, to meet the creditors. But, contrary to all expectation, when +the 31st of August came, the house opened as usual, and Cocles appeared +behind the grating of the counter, examined all bills presented with +the usual scrutiny, and, from first to last, paid all with the usual +precision. There came in, moreover, two drafts which M. Morrel had fully +anticipated, and which Cocles paid as punctually as the bills which the +shipowner had accepted. All this was incomprehensible, and then, with +the tenacity peculiar to prophets of bad news, the failure was put off +until the end of September. On the 1st, Morrel returned; he was awaited +by his family with extreme anxiety, for from this journey to Paris +they hoped great things. Morrel had thought of Danglars, who was now +immensely rich, and had lain under great obligations to Morrel in former +days, since to him it was owing that Danglars entered the service of +the Spanish banker, with whom he had laid the foundations of his vast +wealth. It was said at this moment that Danglars was worth from six +to eight millions of francs, and had unlimited credit. Danglars, then, +without taking a crown from his pocket, could save Morrel; he had but to +pass his word for a loan, and Morrel was saved. Morrel had long thought +of Danglars, but had kept away from some instinctive motive, and had +delayed as long as possible availing himself of this last resource. And +Morrel was right, for he returned home crushed by the humiliation of a +refusal. Yet, on his arrival, Morrel did not utter a complaint, or +say one harsh word. He embraced his weeping wife and daughter, pressed +Emmanuel's hand with friendly warmth, and then going to his private room +on the second floor had sent for Cocles. "Then," said the two women to +Emmanuel, "we are indeed ruined." + +It was agreed in a brief council held among them, that Julie should +write to her brother, who was in garrison at Nimes, to come to them +as speedily as possible. The poor women felt instinctively that they +required all their strength to support the blow that impended. Besides, +Maximilian Morrel, though hardly two and twenty, had great influence +over his father. He was a strong-minded, upright young man. At the time +when he decided on his profession his father had no desire to choose for +him, but had consulted young Maximilian's taste. He had at once declared +for a military life, and had in consequence studied hard, passed +brilliantly through the Polytechnic School, and left it as +sub-lieutenant of the 53d of the line. For a year he had held this rank, +and expected promotion on the first vacancy. In his regiment Maximilian +Morrel was noted for his rigid observance, not only of the obligations +imposed on a soldier, but also of the duties of a man; and he thus +gained the name of "the stoic." We need hardly say that many of those +who gave him this epithet repeated it because they had heard it, and did +not even know what it meant. This was the young man whom his mother and +sister called to their aid to sustain them under the serious trial which +they felt they would soon have to endure. They had not mistaken the +gravity of this event, for the moment after Morrel had entered his +private office with Cocles, Julie saw the latter leave it pale, +trembling, and his features betraying the utmost consternation. She +would have questioned him as he passed by her, but the worthy creature +hastened down the staircase with unusual precipitation, and only raised +his hands to heaven and exclaimed, "Oh, mademoiselle, mademoiselle, +what a dreadful misfortune! Who could ever have believed it!" A moment +afterwards Julie saw him go up-stairs carrying two or three heavy +ledgers, a portfolio, and a bag of money. + +Morrel examined the ledgers, opened the portfolio, and counted the +money. All his funds amounted to 6,000, or 8,000. francs, his bills +receivable up to the 5th to 4,000 or 5,000, which, making the best of +everything, gave him 14,000. francs to meet debts amounting to 287,500 +francs. He had not even the means for making a possible settlement on +account. However, when Morrel went down to his dinner, he appeared very +calm. This calmness was more alarming to the two women than the deepest +dejection would have been. After dinner Morrel usually went out and used +to take his coffee at the Phocaean club, and read the Semaphore; this +day he did not leave the house, but returned to his office. + +As to Cocles, he seemed completely bewildered. For part of the day he +went into the court-yard, seated himself on a stone with his head bare +and exposed to the blazing sun. Emmanuel tried to comfort the women, but +his eloquence faltered. The young man was too well acquainted with the +business of the house, not to feel that a great catastrophe hung over +the Morrel family. Night came, the two women had watched, hoping that +when he left his room Morrel would come to them, but they heard him pass +before their door, and trying to conceal the noise of his footsteps. +They listened; he went into his sleeping-room, and fastened the door +inside. Madame Morrel sent her daughter to bed, and half an hour after +Julie had retired, she rose, took off her shoes, and went stealthily +along the passage, to see through the keyhole what her husband was +doing. In the passage she saw a retreating shadow; it was Julie, who, +uneasy herself, had anticipated her mother. The young lady went towards +Madame Morrel. + +"He is writing," she said. They had understood each other without +speaking. Madame Morrel looked again through the keyhole, Morrel was +writing; but Madame Morrel remarked, what her daughter had not observed, +that her husband was writing on stamped paper. The terrible idea that he +was writing his will flashed across her; she shuddered, and yet had not +strength to utter a word. Next day M. Morrel seemed as calm as ever, +went into his office as usual, came to his breakfast punctually, and +then, after dinner, he placed his daughter beside him, took her head +in his arms, and held her for a long time against his bosom. In the +evening, Julie told her mother, that although he was apparently so calm, +she had noticed that her father's heart beat violently. The next +two days passed in much the same way. On the evening of the 4th of +September, M. Morrel asked his daughter for the key of his study. Julie +trembled at this request, which seemed to her of bad omen. Why did her +father ask for this key which she always kept, and which was only taken +from her in childhood as a punishment? The young girl looked at Morrel. + +"What have I done wrong, father," she said, "that you should take this +key from me?" + +"Nothing, my dear," replied the unhappy man, the tears starting to his +eyes at this simple question,--"nothing, only I want it." Julie made +a pretence to feel for the key. "I must have left it in my room," +she said. And she went out, but instead of going to her apartment she +hastened to consult Emmanuel. "Do not give this key to your father," +said he, "and to-morrow morning, if possible, do not quit him for a +moment." She questioned Emmanuel, but he knew nothing, or would not say +what he knew. During the night, between the 4th and 5th of September, +Madame Morrel remained listening for every sound, and, until three +o'clock in the morning, she heard her husband pacing the room in great +agitation. It was three o'clock when he threw himself on the bed. +The mother and daughter passed the night together. They had expected +Maximilian since the previous evening. At eight o'clock in the morning +Morrel entered their chamber. He was calm; but the agitation of the +night was legible in his pale and careworn visage. They did not dare +to ask him how he had slept. Morrel was kinder to his wife, more +affectionate to his daughter, than he had ever been. He could not cease +gazing at and kissing the sweet girl. Julie, mindful of Emmanuel's +request, was following her father when he quitted the room, but he said +to her quickly,--"Remain with your mother, dearest." Julie wished to +accompany him. "I wish you to do so," said he. + +This was the first time Morrel had ever so spoken, but he said it in +a tone of paternal kindness, and Julie did not dare to disobey. She +remained at the same spot standing mute and motionless. An instant +afterwards the door opened, she felt two arms encircle her, and a mouth +pressed her forehead. She looked up and uttered an exclamation of joy. + +"Maximilian, my dearest brother!" she cried. At these words Madame +Morrel rose, and threw herself into her son's arms. "Mother," said the +young man, looking alternately at Madame Morrel and her daughter, "what +has occurred--what has happened? Your letter has frightened me, and I +have come hither with all speed." + +"Julie," said Madame Morrel, making a sign to the young man, "go and +tell your father that Maximilian has just arrived." The young lady +rushed out of the apartment, but on the first step of the staircase she +found a man holding a letter in his hand. + +"Are you not Mademoiselle Julie Morrel?" inquired the man, with a strong +Italian accent. + +"Yes, sir," replied Julie with hesitation; "what is your pleasure? I do +not know you." + +"Read this letter," he said, handing it to her. Julie hesitated. "It +concerns the best interests of your father," said the messenger. + +The young girl hastily took the letter from him. She opened it quickly +and read:-- + +"Go this moment to the Allees de Meillan, enter the house No. 15, +ask the porter for the key of the room on the fifth floor, enter the +apartment, take from the corner of the mantelpiece a purse netted in red +silk, and give it to your father. It is important that he should receive +it before eleven o'clock. You promised to obey me implicitly. Remember +your oath. + +"Sinbad the Sailor." + +The young girl uttered a joyful cry, raised her eyes, looked round to +question the messenger, but he had disappeared. She cast her eyes +again over the note to peruse it a second time, and saw there was a +postscript. She read:-- + +"It is important that you should fulfil this mission in person and +alone. If you go accompanied by any other person, or should any one else +go in your place, the porter will reply that he does not know anything +about it." + +This postscript decreased greatly the young girl's happiness. Was there +nothing to fear? was there not some snare laid for her? Her innocence +had kept her in ignorance of the dangers that might assail a young girl +of her age. But there is no need to know danger in order to fear it; +indeed, it may be observed, that it is usually unknown perils that +inspire the greatest terror. + +Julie hesitated, and resolved to take counsel. Yet, through a singular +impulse, it was neither to her mother nor her brother that she applied, +but to Emmanuel. She hastened down and told him what had occurred on the +day when the agent of Thomson & French had come to her father's, related +the scene on the staircase, repeated the promise she had made, and +showed him the letter. "You must go, then, mademoiselle," said Emmanuel. + +"Go there?" murmured Julie. + +"Yes; I will accompany you." + +"But did you not read that I must be alone?" said Julie. + +"And you shall be alone," replied the young man. "I will await you at +the corner of the Rue de Musee, and if you are so long absent as to make +me uneasy, I will hasten to rejoin you, and woe to him of whom you shall +have cause to complain to me!" + +"Then, Emmanuel?" said the young girl with hesitation, "it is your +opinion that I should obey this invitation?" + +"Yes. Did not the messenger say your father's safety depended upon it?" + +"But what danger threatens him, then, Emmanuel?" she asked. + +Emmanuel hesitated a moment, but his desire to make Julie decide +immediately made him reply. + +"Listen," he said; "to-day is the 5th of September, is it not?" + +"Yes." + +"To-day, then, at eleven o'clock, your father has nearly three hundred +thousand francs to pay?" + +"Yes, we know that." + +"Well, then," continued Emmanuel, "we have not fifteen thousand francs +in the house." + +"What will happen then?" + +"Why, if to-day before eleven o'clock your father has not found someone +who will come to his aid, he will be compelled at twelve o'clock to +declare himself a bankrupt." + +"Oh, come, then, come!" cried she, hastening away with the young man. +During this time, Madame Morrel had told her son everything. The young +man knew quite well that, after the succession of misfortunes which +had befallen his father, great changes had taken place in the style of +living and housekeeping; but he did not know that matters had reached +such a point. He was thunderstruck. Then, rushing hastily out of the +apartment, he ran up-stairs, expecting to find his father in his study, +but he rapped there in vain. + +While he was yet at the door of the study he heard the bedroom door +open, turned, and saw his father. Instead of going direct to his study, +M. Morrel had returned to his bed-chamber, which he was only this moment +quitting. Morrel uttered a cry of surprise at the sight of his son, +of whose arrival he was ignorant. He remained motionless on the spot, +pressing with his left hand something he had concealed under his coat. +Maximilian sprang down the staircase, and threw his arms round his +father's neck; but suddenly he recoiled, and placed his right hand on +Morrel's breast. "Father," he exclaimed, turning pale as death, "what +are you going to do with that brace of pistols under your coat?" + +"Oh, this is what I feared!" said Morrel. + +"Father, father, in heaven's name," exclaimed the young man, "what are +these weapons for?" + +"Maximilian," replied Morrel, looking fixedly at his son, "you are a +man, and a man of honor. Come, and I will explain to you." + +And with a firm step Morrel went up to his study, while Maximilian +followed him, trembling as he went. Morrel opened the door, and closed +it behind his son; then, crossing the anteroom, went to his desk on +which he placed the pistols, and pointed with his finger to an open +ledger. In this ledger was made out an exact balance-sheet of his +affair's. Morrel had to pay, within half an hour, 287,500 francs. All he +possessed was 15,257 francs. "Read!" said Morrel. + +The young man was overwhelmed as he read. Morrel said not a word. What +could he say? What need he add to such a desperate proof in figures?" +And have you done all that is possible, father, to meet this disastrous +result?" asked the young man, after a moment's pause. "I have," replied +Morrel. + +"You have no money coming in on which you can rely?" + +"None." + +"You have exhausted every resource?" + +"All." + +"And in half an hour," said Maximilian in a gloomy voice, "our name is +dishonored!" + +"Blood washes out dishonor," said Morrel. + +"You are right, father; I understand you." Then extending his hand +towards one of the pistols, he said, "There is one for you and one for +me--thanks!" Morrel caught his hand. "Your mother--your sister! Who will +support them?" A shudder ran through the young man's frame. "Father," he +said, "do you reflect that you are bidding me to live?" + +"Yes, I do so bid you," answered Morrel, "it is your duty. You have a +calm, strong mind, Maximilian. Maximilian, you are no ordinary man. I +make no requests or commands; I only ask you to examine my position as +if it were your own, and then judge for yourself." + +The young man reflected for a moment, then an expression of sublime +resignation appeared in his eyes, and with a slow and sad gesture he +took off his two epaulets, the insignia of his rank. "Be it so, then, +my father," he said, extending his hand to Morrel, "die in peace, my +father; I will live." Morrel was about to cast himself on his knees +before his son, but Maximilian caught him in his arms, and those two +noble hearts were pressed against each other for a moment. "You know it +is not my fault," said Morrel. Maximilian smiled. "I know, father, you +are the most honorable man I have ever known." + +"Good, my son. And now there is no more to be said; go and rejoin your +mother and sister." + +"My father," said the young man, bending his knee, "bless me!" Morrel +took the head of his son between his two hands, drew him forward, and +kissing his forehead several times said, "Oh, yes, yes, I bless you in +my own name, and in the name of three generations of irreproachable +men, who say through me, 'The edifice which misfortune has destroyed, +providence may build up again.' On seeing me die such a death, the most +inexorable will have pity on you. To you, perhaps, they will accord the +time they have refused to me. Then do your best to keep our name free +from dishonor. Go to work, labor, young man, struggle ardently and +courageously; live, yourself, your mother and sister, with the most +rigid economy, so that from day to day the property of those whom I +leave in your hands may augment and fructify. Reflect how glorious a day +it will be, how grand, how solemn, that day of complete restoration, on +which you will say in this very office, 'My father died because he could +not do what I have this day done; but he died calmly and peaceably, +because in dying he knew what I should do.'" + +"My father, my father!" cried the young man, "why should you not live?" + +"If I live, all would be changed; if I live, interest would be converted +into doubt, pity into hostility; if I live I am only a man who his +broken his word, failed in his engagements--in fact, only a bankrupt. +If, on the contrary, I die, remember, Maximilian, my corpse is that of +an honest but unfortunate man. Living, my best friends would avoid my +house; dead, all Marseilles will follow me in tears to my last home. +Living, you would feel shame at my name; dead, you may raise your head +and say, 'I am the son of him you killed, because, for the first time, +he has been compelled to break his word.'" + +The young man uttered a groan, but appeared resigned. + +"And now," said Morrel, "leave me alone, and endeavor to keep your +mother and sister away." + +"Will you not see my sister once more?" asked Maximilian. A last +but final hope was concealed by the young man in the effect of this +interview, and therefore he had suggested it. Morrel shook his head. "I +saw her this morning, and bade her adieu." + +"Have you no particular commands to leave with me, my father?" inquired +Maximilian in a faltering voice. + +"Yes; my son, and a sacred command." + +"Say it, my father." + +"The house of Thomson & French is the only one who, from humanity, or, +it may be, selfishness--it is not for me to read men's hearts--has had +any pity for me. Its agent, who will in ten minutes present himself to +receive the amount of a bill of 287,500 francs, I will not say granted, +but offered me three months. Let this house be the first repaid, my son, +and respect this man." + +"Father, I will," said Maximilian. + +"And now, once more, adieu," said Morrel. "Go, leave me; I would be +alone. You will find my will in the secretary in my bedroom." + +The young man remained standing and motionless, having but the force of +will and not the power of execution. + +"Hear me, Maximilian," said his father. "Suppose I was a soldier like +you, and ordered to carry a certain redoubt, and you knew I must be +killed in the assault, would you not say to me, as you said just now, +'Go, father; for you are dishonored by delay, and death is preferable to +shame!'" + +"Yes, yes," said the young man, "yes;" and once again embracing his +father with convulsive pressure, he said, "Be it so, my father." + +And he rushed out of the study. When his son had left him, Morrel +remained an instant standing with his eyes fixed on the door; then +putting forth his arm, he pulled the bell. After a moment's interval, +Cocles appeared. + +It was no longer the same man--the fearful revelations of the three last +days had crushed him. This thought--the house of Morrel is about to stop +payment--bent him to the earth more than twenty years would otherwise +have done. + +"My worthy Cocles," said Morrel in a tone impossible to describe, "do +you remain in the ante-chamber. When the gentleman who came three months +ago--the agent of Thomson & French--arrives, announce his arrival to +me." Cocles made no reply; he made a sign with his head, went into the +anteroom, and seated himself. Morrel fell back in his chair, his eyes +fixed on the clock; there were seven minutes left, that was all. The +hand moved on with incredible rapidity, he seemed to see its motion. + +What passed in the mind of this man at the supreme moment of his agony +cannot be told in words. He was still comparatively young, he was +surrounded by the loving care of a devoted family, but he had convinced +himself by a course of reasoning, illogical perhaps, yet certainly +plausible, that he must separate himself from all he held dear in the +world, even life itself. To form the slightest idea of his feelings, one +must have seen his face with its expression of enforced resignation and +its tear-moistened eyes raised to heaven. The minute hand moved on. +The pistols were loaded; he stretched forth his hand, took one up, and +murmured his daughter's name. Then he laid it down seized his pen, and +wrote a few words. It seemed to him as if he had not taken a sufficient +farewell of his beloved daughter. Then he turned again to the clock, +counting time now not by minutes, but by seconds. He took up the deadly +weapon again, his lips parted and his eyes fixed on the clock, and then +shuddered at the click of the trigger as he cocked the pistol. At this +moment of mortal anguish the cold sweat came forth upon his brow, a pang +stronger than death clutched at his heart-strings. He heard the door of +the staircase creak on its hinges--the clock gave its warning to strike +eleven--the door of his study opened; Morrel did not turn round--he +expected these words of Cocles, "The agent of Thomson & French." + +He placed the muzzle of the pistol between his teeth. Suddenly he heard +a cry--it was his daughter's voice. He turned and saw Julie. The pistol +fell from his hands. "My father!" cried the young girl, out of breath, +and half dead with joy--"saved, you are saved!" And she threw herself +into his arms, holding in her extended hand a red, netted silk purse. + +"Saved, my child!" said Morrel; "what do you mean?" + +"Yes, saved--saved! See, see!" said the young girl. + +Morrel took the purse, and started as he did so, for a vague remembrance +reminded him that it once belonged to himself. At one end was the +receipted bill for the 287,000 francs, and at the other was a diamond +as large as a hazel-nut, with these words on a small slip of +parchment:--Julie's Dowry. + +Morrel passed his hand over his brow; it seemed to him a dream. At this +moment the clock struck eleven. He felt as if each stroke of the hammer +fell upon his heart. "Explain, my child," he said, "Explain, my child," +he said, "explain--where did you find this purse?" + +"In a house in the Allees de Meillan, No. 15, on the corner of a +mantelpiece in a small room on the fifth floor." + +"But," cried Morrel, "this purse is not yours!" Julie handed to her +father the letter she had received in the morning. + +"And did you go alone?" asked Morrel, after he had read it. + +"Emmanuel accompanied me, father. He was to have waited for me at the +corner of the Rue de Musee, but, strange to say, he was not there when I +returned." + +"Monsieur Morrel!" exclaimed a voice on the stairs.--"Monsieur Morrel!" + +"It is his voice!" said Julie. At this moment Emmanuel entered, his +countenance full of animation and joy. "The Pharaon!" he cried; "the +Pharaon!" + +"What--what--the Pharaon! Are you mad, Emmanuel? You know the vessel is +lost." + +"The Pharaon, sir--they signal the Pharaon! The Pharaon is entering the +harbor!" Morrel fell back in his chair, his strength was failing him; +his understanding weakened by such events, refused to comprehend such +incredible, unheard-of, fabulous facts. But his son came in. "Father," +cried Maximilian, "how could you say the Pharaon was lost? The lookout +has signalled her, and they say she is now coming into port." + +"My dear friends," said Morrel, "if this be so, it must be a miracle of +heaven! Impossible, impossible!" + +But what was real and not less incredible was the purse he held in his +hand, the acceptance receipted--the splendid diamond. + +"Ah, sir," exclaimed Cocles, "what can it mean?--the Pharaon?" + +"Come, dear ones," said Morrel, rising from his seat, "let us go and +see, and heaven have pity upon us if it be false intelligence!" They all +went out, and on the stairs met Madame Morrel, who had been afraid to go +up into the study. In a moment they were at the Cannebiere. There was a +crowd on the pier. All the crowd gave way before Morrel. "The Pharaon, +the Pharaon!" said every voice. + +And, wonderful to see, in front of the tower of Saint-Jean, was a +ship bearing on her stern these words, printed in white letters, "The +Pharaon, Morrel & Son, of Marseilles." She was the exact duplicate of +the other Pharaon, and loaded, as that had been, with cochineal and +indigo. She cast anchor, clued up sails, and on the deck was Captain +Gaumard giving orders, and good old Penelon making signals to M. Morrel. +To doubt any longer was impossible; there was the evidence of the +senses, and ten thousand persons who came to corroborate the testimony. +As Morrel and his son embraced on the pier-head, in the presence and +amid the applause of the whole city witnessing this event, a man, with +his face half-covered by a black beard, and who, concealed behind the +sentry-box, watched the scene with delight, uttered these words in a low +tone: "Be happy, noble heart, be blessed for all the good thou hast done +and wilt do hereafter, and let my gratitude remain in obscurity like +your good deeds." + +And with a smile expressive of supreme content, he left his +hiding-place, and without being observed, descended one of the flights +of steps provided for debarkation, and hailing three times, shouted +"Jacopo, Jacopo, Jacopo!" Then a launch came to shore, took him on +board, and conveyed him to a yacht splendidly fitted up, on whose deck +he sprung with the activity of a sailor; thence he once again looked +towards Morrel, who, weeping with joy, was shaking hands most cordially +with all the crowd around him, and thanking with a look the unknown +benefactor whom he seemed to be seeking in the skies. "And now," said +the unknown, "farewell kindness, humanity, and gratitude! Farewell to +all the feelings that expand the heart! I have been heaven's substitute +to recompense the good--now the god of vengeance yields to me his power +to punish the wicked!" At these words he gave a signal, and, as if only +awaiting this signal, the yacht instantly put out to sea. + + + +Chapter 31. Italy: Sinbad the Sailor. + +Towards the beginning of the year 1838, two young men belonging to the +first society of Paris, the Vicomte Albert de Morcerf and the Baron +Franz d'Epinay, were at Florence. They had agreed to see the Carnival at +Rome that year, and that Franz, who for the last three or four years +had inhabited Italy, should act as cicerone to Albert. As it is no +inconsiderable affair to spend the Carnival at Rome, especially when +you have no great desire to sleep on the Piazza del Popolo, or the Campo +Vaccino, they wrote to Signor Pastrini, the proprietor of the Hotel de +Londres, Piazza di Spagna, to reserve comfortable apartments for them. +Signor Pastrini replied that he had only two rooms and a parlor on the +third floor, which he offered at the low charge of a louis per diem. +They accepted his offer; but wishing to make the best use of the time +that was left, Albert started for Naples. As for Franz, he remained at +Florence, and after having passed a few days in exploring the paradise +of the Cascine, and spending two or three evenings at the houses of +the Florentine nobility, he took a fancy into his head (having +already visited Corsica, the cradle of Bonaparte) to visit Elba, the +waiting-place of Napoleon. + +One evening he cast off the painter of a sailboat from the iron ring +that secured it to the dock at Leghorn, wrapped himself in his coat and +lay down, and said to the crew,--"To the Island of Elba!" The boat shot +out of the harbor like a bird and the next morning Franz disembarked at +Porto-Ferrajo. He traversed the island, after having followed the +traces which the footsteps of the giant have left, and re-embarked +for Marciana. Two hours after he again landed at Pianosa, where he was +assured that red partridges abounded. The sport was bad; Franz only +succeeded in killing a few partridges, and, like every unsuccessful +sportsman, he returned to the boat very much out of temper. "Ah, if your +excellency chose," said the captain, "you might have capital sport." + +"Where?" + +"Do you see that island?" continued the captain, pointing to a conical +pile rising from the indigo sea. + +"Well, what is this island?" + +"The Island of Monte Cristo." + +"But I have no permission to shoot over this island." + +"Your excellency does not require a permit, for the island is +uninhabited." + +"Ah, indeed!" said the young man. "A desert island in the midst of the +Mediterranean must be a curiosity." + +"It is very natural; this island is a mass of rocks, and does not +contain an acre of land capable of cultivation." + +"To whom does this island belong?" + +"To Tuscany." + +"What game shall I find there!" + +"Thousands of wild goats." + +"Who live upon the stones, I suppose," said Franz with an incredulous +smile. + +"No, but by browsing the shrubs and trees that grow out of the crevices +of the rocks." + +"Where can I sleep?" + +"On shore in the grottos, or on board in your cloak; besides, if your +excellency pleases, we can leave as soon as you like--we can sail as +well by night as by day, and if the wind drops we can use our oars." + +As Franz had sufficient time, and his apartments at Rome were not +yet available, he accepted the proposition. Upon his answer in the +affirmative, the sailors exchanged a few words together in a low tone. +"Well," asked he, "what now? Is there any difficulty in the way?" + +"No." replied the captain, "but we must warn your excellency that the +island is an infected port." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Monte Cristo although uninhabited, yet serves occasionally as a refuge +for the smugglers and pirates who come from Corsica, Sardinia, and +Africa, and if it becomes known that we have been there, we shall have +to perform quarantine for six days on our return to Leghorn." + +"The deuce! That puts a different face on the matter. Six days! Why, +that's as long as the Almighty took to make the world! Too long a +wait--too long." + +"But who will say your excellency has been to Monte Cristo?" + +"Oh, I shall not," cried Franz. + +"Nor I, nor I," chorused the sailors. + +"Then steer for Monte Cristo." + +The captain gave his orders, the helm was put up, and the boat was soon +sailing in the direction of the island. Franz waited until all was in +order, and when the sail was filled, and the four sailors had taken +their places--three forward, and one at the helm--he resumed the +conversation. "Gaetano," said he to the captain, "you tell me Monte +Cristo serves as a refuge for pirates, who are, it seems to me, a very +different kind of game from the goats." + +"Yes, your excellency, and it is true." + +"I knew there were smugglers, but I thought that since the capture of +Algiers, and the destruction of the regency, pirates existed only in the +romances of Cooper and Captain Marryat." + +"Your excellency is mistaken; there are pirates, like the bandits who +were believed to have been exterminated by Pope Leo XII., and who yet, +every day, rob travellers at the gates of Rome. Has not your excellency +heard that the French charge d'affaires was robbed six months ago within +five hundred paces of Velletri?" + +"Oh, yes, I heard that." + +"Well, then, if, like us, your excellency lived at Leghorn, you would +hear, from time to time, that a little merchant vessel, or an English +yacht that was expected at Bastia, at Porto-Ferrajo, or at Civita +Vecchia, has not arrived; no one knows what has become of it, but, +doubtless, it has struck on a rock and foundered. Now this rock it has +met has been a long and narrow boat, manned by six or eight men, who +have surprised and plundered it, some dark and stormy night, near some +desert and gloomy island, as bandits plunder a carriage in the recesses +of a forest." + +"But," asked Franz, who lay wrapped in his cloak at the bottom of the +boat, "why do not those who have been plundered complain to the French, +Sardinian, or Tuscan governments?" + +"Why?" said Gaetano with a smile. + +"Yes, why?" + +"Because, in the first place, they transfer from the vessel to their own +boat whatever they think worth taking, then they bind the crew hand and +foot, they attach to every one's neck a four and twenty pound ball, a +large hole is chopped in the vessel's bottom, and then they leave her. +At the end of ten minutes the vessel begins to roll heavily and settle +down. First one gun'l goes under, then the other. Then they lift and +sink again, and both go under at once. All at once there's a noise like +a cannon--that's the air blowing up the deck. Soon the water rushes +out of the scupper-holes like a whale spouting, the vessel gives a last +groan, spins round and round, and disappears, forming a vast whirlpool +in the ocean, and then all is over, so that in five minutes nothing but +the eye of God can see the vessel where she lies at the bottom of the +sea. Do you understand now," said the captain, "why no complaints are +made to the government, and why the vessel never reaches port?" + +It is probable that if Gaetano had related this previous to proposing +the expedition, Franz would have hesitated, but now that they had +started, he thought it would be cowardly to draw back. He was one of +those men who do not rashly court danger, but if danger presents itself, +combat it with the most unalterable coolness. Calm and resolute, he +treated any peril as he would an adversary in a duel,--calculated +its probable method of approach; retreated, if at all, as a point of +strategy and not from cowardice; was quick to see an opening for attack, +and won victory at a single thrust. "Bah!" said he, "I have travelled +through Sicily and Calabria--I have sailed two months in the +Archipelago, and yet I never saw even the shadow of a bandit or a +pirate." + +"I did not tell your excellency this to deter you from your project," +replied Gaetano, "but you questioned me, and I have answered; that's +all." + +"Yes, and your conversation is most interesting; and as I wish to enjoy +it as long as possible, steer for Monte Cristo." + +The wind blew strongly, the boat made six or seven knots an hour, and +they were rapidly reaching the end of their voyage. As they drew near +the island seemed to lift from the sea, and the air was so clear that +they could already distinguish the rocks heaped on one another, like +cannon balls in an arsenal, with green bushes and trees growing in the +crevices. As for the sailors, although they appeared perfectly tranquil +yet it was evident that they were on the alert, and that they carefully +watched the glassy surface over which they were sailing, and on which a +few fishing-boats, with their white sails, were alone visible. They were +within fifteen miles of Monte Cristo when the sun began to set behind +Corsica, whose mountains appeared against the sky, showing their rugged +peaks in bold relief; this mass of rock, like the giant Adamastor, rose +dead ahead, a formidable barrier, and intercepting the light that gilded +its massive peaks so that the voyagers were in shadow. Little by little +the shadow rose higher and seemed to drive before it the last rays of +the expiring day; at last the reflection rested on the summit of the +mountain, where it paused an instant, like the fiery crest of a volcano, +then gloom gradually covered the summit as it had covered the base, and +the island now only appeared to be a gray mountain that grew continually +darker; half an hour after, the night was quite dark. + +Fortunately, the mariners were used to these latitudes, and knew every +rock in the Tuscan Archipelago; for in the midst of this obscurity Franz +was not without uneasiness--Corsica had long since disappeared, and +Monte Cristo itself was invisible; but the sailors seemed, like the +lynx, to see in the dark, and the pilot who steered did not evince the +slightest hesitation. An hour had passed since the sun had set, when +Franz fancied he saw, at a quarter of a mile to the left, a dark mass, +but he could not precisely make out what it was, and fearing to excite +the mirth of the sailors by mistaking a floating cloud for land, he +remained silent; suddenly a great light appeared on the strand; land +might resemble a cloud, but the fire was not a meteor. "What is this +light?" asked he. + +"Hush!" said the captain; "it is a fire." + +"But you told me the island was uninhabited?" + +"I said there were no fixed habitations on it, but I said also that it +served sometimes as a harbor for smugglers." + +"And for pirates?" + +"And for pirates," returned Gaetano, repeating Franz's words. "It is for +that reason I have given orders to pass the island, for, as you see, the +fire is behind us." + +"But this fire?" continued Franz. "It seems to me rather reassuring than +otherwise; men who did not wish to be seen would not light a fire." + +"Oh, that goes for nothing," said Gaetano. "If you can guess the +position of the island in the darkness, you will see that the fire +cannot be seen from the side or from Pianosa, but only from the sea." + +"You think, then, this fire indicates the presence of unpleasant +neighbors?" + +"That is what we must find out," returned Gaetano, fixing his eyes on +this terrestrial star. + +"How can you find out?" + +"You shall see." Gaetano consulted with his companions, and after five +minutes' discussion a manoeuvre was executed which caused the vessel to +tack about, they returned the way they had come, and in a few minutes +the fire disappeared, hidden by an elevation of the land. The pilot +again changed the course of the boat, which rapidly approached the +island, and was soon within fifty paces of it. Gaetano lowered the sail, +and the boat came to rest. All this was done in silence, and from the +moment that their course was changed not a word was spoken. + +Gaetano, who had proposed the expedition, had taken all the +responsibility on himself; the four sailors fixed their eyes on him, +while they got out their oars and held themselves in readiness to row +away, which, thanks to the darkness, would not be difficult. As for +Franz, he examined his arms with the utmost coolness; he had two +double-barrelled guns and a rifle; he loaded them, looked at the +priming, and waited quietly. During this time the captain had thrown off +his vest and shirt, and secured his trousers round his waist; his feet +were naked, so he had no shoes and stockings to take off; after these +preparations he placed his finger on his lips, and lowering himself +noiselessly into the sea, swam towards the shore with such precaution +that it was impossible to hear the slightest sound; he could only +be traced by the phosphorescent line in his wake. This track soon +disappeared; it was evident that he had touched the shore. Every one on +board remained motionless for half an hour, when the same luminous track +was again observed, and the swimmer was soon on board. "Well?" exclaimed +Franz and the sailors in unison. + +"They are Spanish smugglers," said he; "they have with them two Corsican +bandits." + +"And what are these Corsican bandits doing here with Spanish smugglers?" + +"Alas," returned the captain with an accent of the most profound pity, +"we ought always to help one another. Very often the bandits are hard +pressed by gendarmes or carbineers; well, they see a vessel, and good +fellows like us on board, they come and demand hospitality of us; you +can't refuse help to a poor hunted devil; we receive them, and for +greater security we stand out to sea. This costs us nothing, and saves +the life, or at least the liberty, of a fellow-creature, who on the +first occasion returns the service by pointing out some safe spot where +we can land our goods without interruption." + +"Ah!" said Franz, "then you are a smuggler occasionally, Gaetano?" + +"Your excellency, we must live somehow," returned the other, smiling +impenetrably. + +"Then you know the men who are now on Monte Cristo?" + +"Oh, yes, we sailors are like freemasons, and recognize each other by +signs." + +"And do you think we have nothing to fear if we land?" + +"Nothing at all; smugglers are not thieves." + +"But these two Corsican bandits?" said Franz, calculating the chances of +peril. + +"It is not their fault that they are bandits, but that of the +authorities." + +"How so?" + +"Because they are pursued for having made a stiff, as if it was not in a +Corsican's nature to revenge himself." + +"What do you mean by having made a stiff?--having assassinated a man?" +said Franz, continuing his investigation. + +"I mean that they have killed an enemy, which is a very different +thing," returned the captain. + +"Well," said the young man, "let us demand hospitality of these +smugglers and bandits. Do you think they will grant it?" + +"Without doubt." + +"How many are they?" + +"Four, and the two bandits make six." + +"Just our number, so that if they prove troublesome, we shall be able to +hold them in check; so, for the last time, steer to Monte Cristo." + +"Yes, but your excellency will permit us to take all due precautions." + +"By all means, be as wise as Nestor and as prudent as Ulysses; I do more +than permit, I exhort you." + +"Silence, then!" said Gaetano. + +Every one obeyed. For a man who, like Franz, viewed his position in +its true light, it was a grave one. He was alone in the darkness with +sailors whom he did not know, and who had no reason to be devoted to +him; who knew that he had several thousand francs in his belt, and who +had often examined his weapons,--which were very beautiful,--if not with +envy, at least with curiosity. On the other hand, he was about to land, +without any other escort than these men, on an island which had, indeed, +a very religious name, but which did not seem to Franz likely to afford +him much hospitality, thanks to the smugglers and bandits. The history +of the scuttled vessels, which had appeared improbable during the day, +seemed very probable at night; placed as he was between two possible +sources of danger, he kept his eye on the crew, and his gun in his +hand. The sailors had again hoisted sail, and the vessel was once more +cleaving the waves. Through the darkness Franz, whose eyes were now more +accustomed to it, could see the looming shore along which the boat was +sailing, and then, as they rounded a rocky point, he saw the fire more +brilliant than ever, and about it five or six persons seated. The blaze +illumined the sea for a hundred paces around. Gaetano skirted the light, +carefully keeping the boat in the shadow; then, when they were opposite +the fire, he steered to the centre of the circle, singing a fishing +song, of which his companions sung the chorus. At the first words of +the song the men seated round the fire arose and approached the +landing-place, their eyes fixed on the boat, evidently seeking to +know who the new-comers were and what were their intentions. They soon +appeared satisfied and returned (with the exception of one, who +remained at the shore) to their fire, at which the carcass of a goat was +roasting. When the boat was within twenty paces of the shore, the man on +the beach, who carried a carbine, presented arms after the manner of +a sentinel, and cried, "Who comes there?" in Sardinian. Franz coolly +cocked both barrels. Gaetano then exchanged a few words with this man +which the traveller did not understand, but which evidently concerned +him. "Will your excellency give your name, or remain incognito?" asked +the captain. + +"My name must rest unknown,--merely say I am a Frenchman travelling for +pleasure." As soon as Gaetano had transmitted this answer, the sentinel +gave an order to one of the men seated round the fire, who rose and +disappeared among the rocks. Not a word was spoken, every one seemed +occupied, Franz with his disembarkment, the sailors with their sails, +the smugglers with their goat; but in the midst of all this carelessness +it was evident that they mutually observed each other. The man who had +disappeared returned suddenly on the opposite side to that by which he +had left; he made a sign with his head to the sentinel, who, turning +to the boat, said, "S'accommodi." The Italian s'accommodi is +untranslatable; it means at once, "Come, enter, you are welcome; make +yourself at home; you are the master." It is like that Turkish phrase +of Moliere's that so astonished the bourgeois gentleman by the number of +things implied in its utterance. The sailors did not wait for a second +invitation; four strokes of the oar brought them to land; Gaetano sprang +to shore, exchanged a few words with the sentinel, then his comrades +disembarked, and lastly came Franz. One of his guns was swung over his +shoulder, Gaetano had the other, and a sailor held his rifle; his +dress, half artist, half dandy, did not excite any suspicion, and, +consequently, no disquietude. The boat was moored to the shore, and they +advanced a few paces to find a comfortable bivouac; but, doubtless, +the spot they chose did not suit the smuggler who filled the post of +sentinel, for he cried out, "Not that way, if you please." + +Gaetano faltered an excuse, and advanced to the opposite side, while +two sailors kindled torches at the fire to light them on their way. +They advanced about thirty paces, and then stopped at a small esplanade +surrounded with rocks, in which seats had been cut, not unlike +sentry-boxes. Around in the crevices of the rocks grew a few dwarf oaks +and thick bushes of myrtles. Franz lowered a torch, and saw by the mass +of cinders that had accumulated that he was not the first to discover +this retreat, which was, doubtless, one of the halting-places of the +wandering visitors of Monte Cristo. As for his suspicions, once on +terra firma, once that he had seen the indifferent, if not friendly, +appearance of his hosts, his anxiety had quite disappeared, or rather, +at sight of the goat, had turned to appetite. He mentioned this to +Gaetano, who replied that nothing could be more easy than to prepare +a supper when they had in their boat, bread, wine, half a dozen +partridges, and a good fire to roast them by. "Besides," added he, "if +the smell of their roast meat tempts you, I will go and offer them two +of our birds for a slice." + +"You are a born diplomat," returned Franz; "go and try." + +Meanwhile the sailors had collected dried sticks and branches with which +they made a fire. Franz waited impatiently, inhaling the aroma of the +roasted meat, when the captain returned with a mysterious air. + +"Well," said Franz, "anything new?--do they refuse?" + +"On the contrary," returned Gaetano, "the chief, who was told you were a +young Frenchman, invites you to sup with him." + +"Well," observed Franz, "this chief is very polite, and I see no +objection--the more so as I bring my share of the supper." + +"Oh, it is not that; he has plenty, and to spare, for supper; but he +makes one condition, and rather a peculiar one, before he will receive +you at his house." + +"His house? Has he built one here, then?" + +"No; but he has a very comfortable one all the same, so they say." + +"You know this chief, then?" + +"I have heard talk of him." + +"Favorably or otherwise?" + +"Both." + +"The deuce!--and what is this condition?" + +"That you are blindfolded, and do not take off the bandage until he +himself bids you." Franz looked at Gaetano, to see, if possible, what he +thought of this proposal. "Ah," replied he, guessing Franz's thought, "I +know this is a serious matter." + +"What should you do in my place?" + +"I, who have nothing to lose,--I should go." + +"You would accept?" + +"Yes, were it only out of curiosity." + +"There is something very peculiar about this chief, then?" + +"Listen," said Gaetano, lowering his voice, "I do not know if what they +say is true"--he stopped to see if any one was near. + +"What do they say?" + +"That this chief inhabits a cavern to which the Pitti Palace is +nothing." + +"What nonsense!" said Franz, reseating himself. + +"It is no nonsense; it is quite true. Cama, the pilot of the Saint +Ferdinand, went in once, and he came back amazed, vowing that such +treasures were only to be heard of in fairy tales." + +"Do you know," observed Franz, "that with such stories you make me think +of Ali Baba's enchanted cavern?" + +"I tell you what I have been told." + +"Then you advise me to accept?" + +"Oh, I don't say that; your excellency will do as you please; I should +be sorry to advise you in the matter." Franz pondered the matter for a +few moments, concluded that a man so rich could not have any intention +of plundering him of what little he had, and seeing only the prospect +of a good supper, accepted. Gaetano departed with the reply. Franz was +prudent, and wished to learn all he possibly could concerning his host. +He turned towards the sailor, who, during this dialogue, had sat gravely +plucking the partridges with the air of a man proud of his office, +and asked him how these men had landed, as no vessel of any kind was +visible. + +"Never mind that," returned the sailor, "I know their vessel." + +"Is it a very beautiful vessel?" + +"I would not wish for a better to sail round the world." + +"Of what burden is she?" + +"About a hundred tons; but she is built to stand any weather. She is +what the English call a yacht." + +"Where was she built?" + +"I know not; but my own opinion is she is a Genoese." + +"And how did a leader of smugglers," continued Franz, "venture to build +a vessel designed for such a purpose at Genoa?" + +"I did not say that the owner was a smuggler," replied the sailor. + +"No; but Gaetano did, I thought." + +"Gaetano had only seen the vessel from a distance, he had not then +spoken to any one." + +"And if this person be not a smuggler, who is he?" + +"A wealthy signor, who travels for his pleasure." + +"Come," thought Franz, "he is still more mysterious, since the two +accounts do not agree." + +"What is his name?" + +"If you ask him he says Sinbad the Sailor; but I doubt if it be his real +name." + +"Sinbad the Sailor?" + +"Yes." + +"And where does he reside?" + +"On the sea." + +"What country does he come from?" + +"I do not know." + +"Have you ever seen him?" + +"Sometimes." + +"What sort of a man is he?" + +"Your excellency will judge for yourself." + +"Where will he receive me?" + +"No doubt in the subterranean palace Gaetano told you of." + +"Have you never had the curiosity, when you have landed and found this +island deserted, to seek for this enchanted palace?" + +"Oh, yes, more than once, but always in vain; we examined the grotto all +over, but we never could find the slightest trace of any opening; they +say that the door is not opened by a key, but a magic word." + +"Decidedly," muttered Franz, "this is an Arabian Nights' adventure." + +"His excellency waits for you," said a voice, which he recognized as +that of the sentinel. He was accompanied by two of the yacht's crew. +Franz drew his handkerchief from his pocket, and presented it to the man +who had spoken to him. Without uttering a word, they bandaged his eyes +with a care that showed their apprehensions of his committing some +indiscretion. Afterwards he was made to promise that he would not make +the least attempt to raise the bandage. He promised. Then his two guides +took his arms, and he went on, guided by them, and preceded by the +sentinel. After going about thirty paces, he smelt the appetizing odor +of the kid that was roasting, and knew thus that he was passing the +bivouac; they then led him on about fifty paces farther, evidently +advancing towards that part of the shore where they would not allow +Gaetano to go--a refusal he could now comprehend. Presently, by a change +in the atmosphere, he knew that they were entering a cave; after going +on for a few seconds more he heard a crackling, and it seemed to him as +though the atmosphere again changed, and became balmy and perfumed. At +length his feet touched on a thick and soft carpet, and his guides let +go their hold of him. There was a moment's silence, and then a voice, in +excellent French, although, with a foreign accent, said, "Welcome, sir. +I beg you will remove your bandage." It may be supposed, then, Franz +did not wait for a repetition of this permission, but took off +the handkerchief, and found himself in the presence of a man from +thirty-eight to forty years of age, dressed in a Tunisian costume--that +is to say, a red cap with a long blue silk tassel, a vest of black cloth +embroidered with gold, pantaloons of deep red, large and full gaiters +of the same color, embroidered with gold like the vest, and yellow +slippers; he had a splendid cashmere round his waist, and a small +sharp and crooked cangiar was passed through his girdle. Although of a +paleness that was almost livid, this man had a remarkably handsome face; +his eyes were penetrating and sparkling; his nose, quite straight, and +projecting direct from the brow, was of the pure Greek type, while +his teeth, as white as pearls, were set off to admiration by the black +mustache that encircled them. + +His pallor was so peculiar, that it seemed to pertain to one who had +been long entombed, and who was incapable of resuming the healthy glow +and hue of life. He was not particularly tall, but extremely well made, +and, like the men of the south, had small hands and feet. But what +astonished Franz, who had treated Gaetano's description as a fable, +was the splendor of the apartment in which he found himself. The entire +chamber was lined with crimson brocade, worked with flowers of gold. In +a recess was a kind of divan, surmounted with a stand of Arabian swords +in silver scabbards, and the handles resplendent with gems; from the +ceiling hung a lamp of Venetian glass, of beautiful shape and color, +while the feet rested on a Turkey carpet, in which they sunk to the +instep; tapestry hung before the door by which Franz had entered, and +also in front of another door, leading into a second apartment which +seemed to be brilliantly illuminated. The host gave Franz time to +recover from his surprise, and, moreover, returned look for look, not +even taking his eyes off him. "Sir," he said, after a pause, "a thousand +excuses for the precaution taken in your introduction hither; but as, +during the greater portion of the year, this island is deserted, if the +secret of this abode were discovered. I should doubtless, find on my +return my temporary retirement in a state of great disorder, which would +be exceedingly annoying, not for the loss it occasioned me, but because +I should not have the certainty I now possess of separating myself from +all the rest of mankind at pleasure. Let me now endeavor to make you +forget this temporary unpleasantness, and offer you what no doubt you +did not expect to find here--that is to say, a tolerable supper and +pretty comfortable beds." + +"Ma foi, my dear sir," replied Franz, "make no apologies. I have +always observed that they bandage people's eyes who penetrate enchanted +palaces, for instance, those of Raoul in the 'Huguenots,' and really +I have nothing to complain of, for what I see makes me think of the +wonders of the 'Arabian Nights.'" + +"Alas, I may say with Lucullus, if I could have anticipated the honor of +your visit, I would have prepared for it. But such as is my hermitage, +it is at your disposal; such as is my supper, it is yours to share, if +you will. Ali, is the supper ready?" At this moment the tapestry moved +aside, and a Nubian, black as ebony, and dressed in a plain white tunic, +made a sign to his master that all was prepared in the dining-room. +"Now," said the unknown to Franz, "I do not know if you are of my +opinion, but I think nothing is more annoying than to remain two or +three hours together without knowing by name or appellation how to +address one another. Pray observe, that I too much respect the laws of +hospitality to ask your name or title. I only request you to give me one +by which I may have the pleasure of addressing you. As for myself, +that I may put you at your ease, I tell you that I am generally called +'Sinbad the Sailor.'" + +"And I," replied Franz, "will tell you, as I only require his wonderful +lamp to make me precisely like Aladdin, that I see no reason why at this +moment I should not be called Aladdin. That will keep us from going away +from the East whither I am tempted to think I have been conveyed by some +good genius." + +"Well, then, Signor Aladdin," replied the singular amphitryon, "you +heard our repast announced, will you now take the trouble to enter the +dining-room, your humble servant going first to show the way?" At these +words, moving aside the tapestry, Sinbad preceded his guest. Franz +now looked upon another scene of enchantment; the table was splendidly +covered, and once convinced of this important point he cast his eyes +around him. The dining-room was scarcely less striking than the room he +had just left; it was entirely of marble, with antique bas-reliefs of +priceless value; and at the four corners of this apartment, which was +oblong, were four magnificent statues, having baskets in their hands. +These baskets contained four pyramids of most splendid fruit; there were +Sicily pine-apples, pomegranates from Malaga, oranges from the Balearic +Isles, peaches from France, and dates from Tunis. The supper consisted +of a roast pheasant garnished with Corsican blackbirds; a boar's ham +with jelly, a quarter of a kid with tartar sauce, a glorious turbot, +and a gigantic lobster. Between these large dishes were smaller ones +containing various dainties. The dishes were of silver, and the plates +of Japanese china. + +Franz rubbed his eyes in order to assure himself that this was not a +dream. Ali alone was present to wait at table, and acquitted himself +so admirably, that the guest complimented his host thereupon. "Yes," +replied he, while he did the honors of the supper with much ease and +grace--"yes, he is a poor devil who is much devoted to me, and does all +he can to prove it. He remembers that I saved his life, and as he has a +regard for his head, he feels some gratitude towards me for having kept +it on his shoulders." Ali approached his master, took his hand, and +kissed it. + +"Would it be impertinent, Signor Sinbad," said Franz, "to ask you the +particulars of this kindness?" + +"Oh, they are simple enough," replied the host. "It seems the fellow +had been caught wandering nearer to the harem of the Bey of Tunis than +etiquette permits to one of his color, and he was condemned by the bey +to have his tongue cut out, and his hand and head cut off; the tongue +the first day, the hand the second, and the head the third. I always had +a desire to have a mute in my service, so learning the day his tongue +was cut out, I went to the bey, and proposed to give him for Ali a +splendid double-barreled gun which I knew he was very desirous of +having. He hesitated a moment, he was so very desirous to complete the +poor devil's punishment. But when I added to the gun an English cutlass +with which I had shivered his highness's yataghan to pieces, the bey +yielded, and agreed to forgive the hand and head, but on condition that +the poor fellow never again set foot in Tunis. This was a useless clause +in the bargain, for whenever the coward sees the first glimpse of the +shores of Africa, he runs down below, and can only be induced to appear +again when we are out of sight of that quarter of the globe." + +Franz remained a moment silent and pensive, hardly knowing what to think +of the half-kindness, half-cruelty, with which his host related the +brief narrative. "And like the celebrated sailor whose name you have +assumed," he said, by way of changing the conversation, "you pass your +life in travelling?" + +"Yes. I made a vow at a time when I little thought I should ever be able +to accomplish it," said the unknown with a singular smile; "and I made +some others also which I hope I may fulfil in due season." Although +Sinbad pronounced these words with much calmness, his eyes gave forth +gleams of extraordinary ferocity. + +"You have suffered a great deal, sir?" said Franz inquiringly. + +Sinbad started and looked fixedly at him, as he replied, "What makes you +suppose so?" + +"Everything," answered Franz,--"your voice, your look, your pallid +complexion, and even the life you lead." + +"I?--I live the happiest life possible, the real life of a pasha. I am +king of all creation. I am pleased with one place, and stay there; I get +tired of it, and leave it; I am free as a bird and have wings like +one; my attendants obey my slightest wish. Sometimes I amuse myself by +delivering some bandit or criminal from the bonds of the law. Then I +have my mode of dispensing justice, silent and sure, without respite or +appeal, which condemns or pardons, and which no one sees. Ah, if you had +tasted my life, you would not desire any other, and would never return +to the world unless you had some great project to accomplish there." + +"Revenge, for instance!" observed Franz. + +The unknown fixed on the young man one of those looks which penetrate +into the depth of the heart and thoughts. "And why revenge?" he asked. + +"Because," replied Franz, "you seem to me like a man who, persecuted by +society, has a fearful account to settle with it." + +"Ah," responded Sinbad, laughing with his singular laugh which displayed +his white and sharp teeth. "You have not guessed rightly. Such as you +see me I am, a sort of philosopher, and one day perhaps I shall go to +Paris to rival Monsieur Appert, and the little man in the blue cloak." + +"And will that be the first time you ever took that journey?" + +"Yes; it will. I must seem to you by no means curious, but I assure you +that it is not my fault I have delayed it so long--it will happen one +day or the other." + +"And do you propose to make this journey very shortly?" + +"I do not know; it depends on circumstances which depend on certain +arrangements." + +"I should like to be there at the time you come, and I will endeavor +to repay you, as far as lies in my power, for your liberal hospitality +displayed to me at Monte Cristo." + +"I should avail myself of your offer with pleasure," replied the host, +"but, unfortunately, if I go there, it will be, in all probability, +incognito." + +The supper appeared to have been supplied solely for Franz, for the +unknown scarcely touched one or two dishes of the splendid banquet to +which his guest did ample justice. Then Ali brought on the dessert, or +rather took the baskets from the hands of the statues and placed them on +the table. Between the two baskets he placed a small silver cup with +a silver cover. The care with which Ali placed this cup on the table +roused Franz's curiosity. He raised the cover and saw a kind of greenish +paste, something like preserved angelica, but which was perfectly +unknown to him. He replaced the lid, as ignorant of what the cup +contained as he was before he had looked at it, and then casting his +eyes towards his host he saw him smile at his disappointment. "You +cannot guess," said he, "what there is in that small vase, can you?" + +"No, I really cannot." + +"Well, then, that green preserve is nothing less than the ambrosia which +Hebe served at the table of Jupiter." + +"But," replied Franz, "this ambrosia, no doubt, in passing through +mortal hands has lost its heavenly appellation and assumed a human name; +in vulgar phrase, what may you term this composition, for which, to tell +the truth, I do not feel any particular desire?" + +"Ah, thus it is that our material origin is revealed," cried Sinbad; "we +frequently pass so near to happiness without seeing, without regarding +it, or if we do see and regard it, yet without recognizing it. Are you +a man for the substantials, and is gold your god? taste this, and the +mines of Peru, Guzerat, and Golconda are opened to you. Are you a man +of imagination--a poet? taste this, and the boundaries of possibility +disappear; the fields of infinite space open to you, you advance free in +heart, free in mind, into the boundless realms of unfettered revery. Are +you ambitious, and do you seek after the greatnesses of the earth? taste +this, and in an hour you will be a king, not a king of a petty kingdom +hidden in some corner of Europe like France, Spain, or England, but king +of the world, king of the universe, king of creation; without bowing at +the feet of Satan, you will be king and master of all the kingdoms of +the earth. Is it not tempting what I offer you, and is it not an easy +thing, since it is only to do thus? look!" At these words he uncovered +the small cup which contained the substance so lauded, took a +teaspoonful of the magic sweetmeat, raised it to his lips, and swallowed +it slowly with his eyes half shut and his head bent backwards. Franz did +not disturb him whilst he absorbed his favorite sweetmeat, but when he +had finished, he inquired,--"What, then, is this precious stuff?" + +"Did you ever hear," he replied, "of the Old Man of the Mountain, who +attempted to assassinate Philip Augustus?" + +"Of course I have." + +"Well, you know he reigned over a rich valley which was overhung by the +mountain whence he derived his picturesque name. In this valley were +magnificent gardens planted by Hassen-ben-Sabah, and in these gardens +isolated pavilions. Into these pavilions he admitted the elect, +and there, says Marco Polo, gave them to eat a certain herb, which +transported them to Paradise, in the midst of ever-blooming shrubs, +ever-ripe fruit, and ever-lovely virgins. What these happy persons took +for reality was but a dream; but it was a dream so soft, so voluptuous, +so enthralling, that they sold themselves body and soul to him who gave +it to them, and obedient to his orders as to those of a deity, struck +down the designated victim, died in torture without a murmur, believing +that the death they underwent was but a quick transition to that life of +delights of which the holy herb, now before you, had given them a slight +foretaste." + +"Then," cried Franz, "it is hashish! I know that--by name at least." + +"That is it precisely, Signor Aladdin; it is hashish--the purest and +most unadulterated hashish of Alexandria,--the hashish of Abou-Gor, the +celebrated maker, the only man, the man to whom there should be built a +palace, inscribed with these words, 'A grateful world to the dealer in +happiness.'" + +"Do you know," said Franz, "I have a very great inclination to judge for +myself of the truth or exaggeration of your eulogies." + +"Judge for yourself, Signor Aladdin--judge, but do not confine yourself +to one trial. Like everything else, we must habituate the senses to a +fresh impression, gentle or violent, sad or joyous. There is a struggle +in nature against this divine substance,--in nature which is not made +for joy and clings to pain. Nature subdued must yield in the combat, the +dream must succeed to reality, and then the dream reigns supreme, then +the dream becomes life, and life becomes the dream. But what changes +occur! It is only by comparing the pains of actual being with the joys +of the assumed existence, that you would desire to live no longer, but +to dream thus forever. When you return to this mundane sphere from +your visionary world, you would seem to leave a Neapolitan spring for a +Lapland winter--to quit paradise for earth--heaven for hell! Taste the +hashish, guest of mine--taste the hashish." + +Franz's only reply was to take a teaspoonful of the marvellous +preparation, about as much in quantity as his host had eaten, and lift +it to his mouth. "Diable!" he said, after having swallowed the divine +preserve. "I do not know if the result will be as agreeable as you +describe, but the thing does not appear to me as palatable as you say." + +"Because your palate his not yet been attuned to the sublimity of the +substances it flavors. Tell me, the first time you tasted oysters, tea, +porter, truffles, and sundry other dainties which you now adore, did you +like them? Could you comprehend how the Romans stuffed their pheasants +with assafoetida, and the Chinese eat swallows' nests? Eh? no! Well, it +is the same with hashish; only eat for a week, and nothing in the world +will seem to you to equal the delicacy of its flavor, which now appears +to you flat and distasteful. Let us now go into the adjoining chamber, +which is your apartment, and Ali will bring us coffee and pipes." They +both arose, and while he who called himself Sinbad--and whom we have +occasionally named so, that we might, like his guest, have some title by +which to distinguish him--gave some orders to the servant, Franz entered +still another apartment. It was simply yet richly furnished. It was +round, and a large divan completely encircled it. Divan, walls, ceiling, +floor, were all covered with magnificent skins as soft and downy as the +richest carpets; there were heavy-maned lion-skins from Atlas, +striped tiger-skins from Bengal; panther-skins from the Cape, spotted +beautifully, like those that appeared to Dante; bear-skins from Siberia, +fox-skins from Norway, and so on; and all these skins were strewn in +profusion one on the other, so that it seemed like walking over the most +mossy turf, or reclining on the most luxurious bed. Both laid themselves +down on the divan; chibouques with jasmine tubes and amber mouthpieces +were within reach, and all prepared so that there was no need to smoke +the same pipe twice. Each of them took one, which Ali lighted and then +retired to prepare the coffee. There was a moment's silence, during +which Sinbad gave himself up to thoughts that seemed to occupy him +incessantly, even in the midst of his conversation; and Franz abandoned +himself to that mute revery, into which we always sink when smoking +excellent tobacco, which seems to remove with its fume all the troubles +of the mind, and to give the smoker in exchange all the visions of the +soul. Ali brought in the coffee. "How do you take it?" inquired the +unknown; "in the French or Turkish style, strong or weak, sugar or none, +cool or boiling? As you please; it is ready in all ways." + +"I will take it in the Turkish style," replied Franz. + +"And you are right," said his host; "it shows you have a tendency for an +Oriental life. Ah, those Orientals; they are the only men who know how +to live. As for me," he added, with one of those singular smiles which +did not escape the young man, "when I have completed my affairs in +Paris, I shall go and die in the East; and should you wish to see me +again, you must seek me at Cairo, Bagdad, or Ispahan." + +"Ma foi," said Franz, "it would be the easiest thing in the world; for I +feel eagle's wings springing out at my shoulders, and with those wings I +could make a tour of the world in four and twenty hours." + +"Ah, yes, the hashish is beginning its work. Well, unfurl your wings, +and fly into superhuman regions; fear nothing, there is a watch over +you; and if your wings, like those of Icarus, melt before the sun, we +are here to ease your fall." He then said something in Arabic to Ali, +who made a sign of obedience and withdrew, but not to any distance. As +to Franz a strange transformation had taken place in him. All the bodily +fatigue of the day, all the preoccupation of mind which the events of +the evening had brought on, disappeared as they do at the first approach +of sleep, when we are still sufficiently conscious to be aware of the +coming of slumber. His body seemed to acquire an airy lightness, his +perception brightened in a remarkable manner, his senses seemed to +redouble their power, the horizon continued to expand; but it was not +the gloomy horizon of vague alarms, and which he had seen before he +slept, but a blue, transparent, unbounded horizon, with all the blue of +the ocean, all the spangles of the sun, all the perfumes of the summer +breeze; then, in the midst of the songs of his sailors,--songs so clear +and sonorous, that they would have made a divine harmony had their notes +been taken down,--he saw the Island of Monte Cristo, no longer as a +threatening rock in the midst of the waves, but as an oasis in the +desert; then, as his boat drew nearer, the songs became louder, for an +enchanting and mysterious harmony rose to heaven, as if some Loreley had +decreed to attract a soul thither, or Amphion, the enchanter, intended +there to build a city. + +At length the boat touched the shore, but without effort, without shock, +as lips touch lips; and he entered the grotto amidst continued strains +of most delicious melody. He descended, or rather seemed to descend, +several steps, inhaling the fresh and balmy air, like that which may be +supposed to reign around the grotto of Circe, formed from such perfumes +as set the mind a dreaming, and such fires as burn the very senses; and +he saw again all he had seen before his sleep, from Sinbad, his singular +host, to Ali, the mute attendant; then all seemed to fade away and +become confused before his eyes, like the last shadows of the magic +lantern before it is extinguished, and he was again in the chamber of +statues, lighted only by one of those pale and antique lamps which watch +in the dead of the night over the sleep of pleasure. They were the +same statues, rich in form, in attraction, and poesy, with eyes of +fascination, smiles of love, and bright and flowing hair. They were +Phryne, Cleopatra, Messalina, those three celebrated courtesans. Then +among them glided like a pure ray, like a Christian angel in the midst +of Olympus, one of those chaste figures, those calm shadows, those +soft visions, which seemed to veil its virgin brow before these marble +wantons. Then the three statues advanced towards him with looks of love, +and approached the couch on which he was reposing, their feet hidden in +their long white tunics, their throats bare, hair flowing like waves, +and assuming attitudes which the gods could not resist, but which saints +withstood, and looks inflexible and ardent like those with which the +serpent charms the bird; and then he gave way before looks that held him +in a torturing grasp and delighted his senses as with a voluptuous kiss. +It seemed to Franz that he closed his eyes, and in a last look about him +saw the vision of modesty completely veiled; and then followed a dream +of passion like that promised by the Prophet to the elect. Lips of stone +turned to flame, breasts of ice became like heated lava, so that to +Franz, yielding for the first time to the sway of the drug, love was a +sorrow and voluptuousness a torture, as burning mouths were pressed to +his thirsty lips, and he was held in cool serpent-like embraces. The +more he strove against this unhallowed passion the more his senses +yielded to its thrall, and at length, weary of a struggle that taxed his +very soul, he gave way and sank back breathless and exhausted beneath +the kisses of these marble goddesses, and the enchantment of his +marvellous dream. + + + +Chapter 32. The Waking. + +When Franz returned to himself, he seemed still to be in a dream. He +thought himself in a sepulchre, into which a ray of sunlight in pity +scarcely penetrated. He stretched forth his hand, and touched stone; he +rose to his seat, and found himself lying on his bournous in a bed of +dry heather, very soft and odoriferous. The vision had fled; and as if +the statues had been but shadows from the tomb, they had vanished at +his waking. He advanced several paces towards the point whence the light +came, and to all the excitement of his dream succeeded the calmness of +reality. He found that he was in a grotto, went towards the opening, and +through a kind of fanlight saw a blue sea and an azure sky. The air and +water were shining in the beams of the morning sun; on the shore the +sailors were sitting, chatting and laughing; and at ten yards from them +the boat was at anchor, undulating gracefully on the water. There for +some time he enjoyed the fresh breeze which played on his brow, and +listened to the dash of the waves on the beach, that left against the +rocks a lace of foam as white as silver. He was for some time without +reflection or thought for the divine charm which is in the things of +nature, specially after a fantastic dream; then gradually this view +of the outer world, so calm, so pure, so grand, reminded him of the +illusiveness of his vision, and once more awakened memory. He recalled +his arrival on the island, his presentation to a smuggler chief, +a subterranean palace full of splendor, an excellent supper, and a +spoonful of hashish. It seemed, however, even in the very face of open +day, that at least a year had elapsed since all these things had passed, +so deep was the impression made in his mind by the dream, and so strong +a hold had it taken of his imagination. Thus every now and then he +saw in fancy amid the sailors, seated on a rock, or undulating in the +vessel, one of the shadows which had shared his dream with looks and +kisses. Otherwise, his head was perfectly clear, and his body refreshed; +he was free from the slightest headache; on the contrary, he felt a +certain degree of lightness, a faculty for absorbing the pure air, and +enjoying the bright sunshine more vividly than ever. + +He went gayly up to the sailors, who rose as soon as they perceived him; +and the patron, accosting him, said, "The Signor Sinbad has left his +compliments for your excellency, and desires us to express the regret he +feels at not being able to take his leave in person; but he trusts you +will excuse him, as very important business calls him to Malaga." + +"So, then, Gaetano," said Franz, "this is, then, all reality; there +exists a man who has received me in this island, entertained me right +royally, and his departed while I was asleep?" + +"He exists as certainly as that you may see his small yacht with all +her sails spread; and if you will use your glass, you will, in all +probability, recognize your host in the midst of his crew." So saying, +Gaetano pointed in a direction in which a small vessel was making sail +towards the southern point of Corsica. Franz adjusted his telescope, and +directed it towards the yacht. Gaetano was not mistaken. At the stern +the mysterious stranger was standing up looking towards the shore, and +holding a spy-glass in his hand. He was attired as he had been on the +previous evening, and waved his pocket-handkerchief to his guest in +token of adieu. Franz returned the salute by shaking his handkerchief as +an exchange of signals. After a second, a slight cloud of smoke was seen +at the stern of the vessel, which rose gracefully as it expanded in +the air, and then Franz heard a slight report. "There, do you hear?" +observed Gaetano; "he is bidding you adieu." The young man took his +carbine and fired it in the air, but without any idea that the noise +could be heard at the distance which separated the yacht from the shore. + +"What are your excellency's orders?" inquired Gaetano. + +"In the first place, light me a torch." + +"Ah, yes, I understand," replied the patron, "to find the entrance to +the enchanted apartment. With much pleasure, your excellency, if it +would amuse you; and I will get you the torch you ask for. But I too +have had the idea you have, and two or three times the same fancy has +come over me; but I have always given it up. Giovanni, light a torch," +he added, "and give it to his excellency." + +Giovanni obeyed. Franz took the lamp, and entered the subterranean +grotto, followed by Gaetano. He recognized the place where he had awaked +by the bed of heather that was there; but it was in vain that he carried +his torch all round the exterior surface of the grotto. He saw nothing, +unless that, by traces of smoke, others had before him attempted the +same thing, and, like him, in vain. Yet he did not leave a foot of this +granite wall, as impenetrable as futurity, without strict scrutiny; he +did not see a fissure without introducing the blade of his hunting sword +into it, or a projecting point on which he did not lean and press in +the hopes it would give way. All was vain; and he lost two hours in his +attempts, which were at last utterly useless. At the end of this time he +gave up his search, and Gaetano smiled. + +When Franz appeared again on the shore, the yacht only seemed like a +small white speck on the horizon. He looked again through his glass, but +even then he could not distinguish anything. Gaetano reminded him that +he had come for the purpose of shooting goats, which he had utterly +forgotten. He took his fowling-piece, and began to hunt over the island +with the air of a man who is fulfilling a duty, rather than enjoying a +pleasure; and at the end of a quarter of an hour he had killed a goat +and two kids. These animals, though wild and agile as chamois, were too +much like domestic goats, and Franz could not consider them as game. +Moreover, other ideas, much more enthralling, occupied his mind. Since, +the evening before, he had really been the hero of one of the tales of +the "Thousand and One Nights," and he was irresistibly attracted towards +the grotto. Then, in spite of the failure of his first search, he began +a second, after having told Gaetano to roast one of the two kids. The +second visit was a long one, and when he returned the kid was roasted +and the repast ready. Franz was sitting on the spot where he was on the +previous evening when his mysterious host had invited him to supper; and +he saw the little yacht, now like a sea-gull on the wave, continuing her +flight towards Corsica. "Why," he remarked to Gaetano, "you told me that +Signor Sinbad was going to Malaga, while it seems he is in the direction +of Porto-Vecchio." + +"Don't you remember," said the patron, "I told you that among the crew +there were two Corsican brigands?" + +"True; and he is going to land them," added Franz. + +"Precisely so," replied Gaetano. "Ah, he is one who fears neither God +nor Satan, they say, and would at any time run fifty leagues out of his +course to do a poor devil a service." + +"But such services as these might involve him with the authorities +of the country in which he practices this kind of philanthropy," said +Franz. + +"And what cares he for that," replied Gaetano with a laugh, "or any +authorities? He smiles at them. Let them try to pursue him! Why, in the +first place, his yacht is not a ship, but a bird, and he would beat any +frigate three knots in every nine; and if he were to throw himself on +the coast, why, is he not certain of finding friends everywhere?" + +It was perfectly clear that the Signor Sinbad, Franz's host, had the +honor of being on excellent terms with the smugglers and bandits +along the whole coast of the Mediterranean, and so enjoyed exceptional +privileges. As to Franz, he had no longer any inducement to remain +at Monte Cristo. He had lost all hope of detecting the secret of the +grotto; he consequently despatched his breakfast, and, his boat being +ready, he hastened on board, and they were soon under way. At the +moment the boat began her course they lost sight of the yacht, as it +disappeared in the gulf of Porto-Vecchio. With it was effaced the +last trace of the preceding night; and then supper, Sinbad, hashish, +statues,--all became a dream for Franz. The boat sailed on all day and +all night, and next morning, when the sun rose, they had lost sight of +Monte Cristo. When Franz had once again set foot on shore, he forgot, +for the moment at least, the events which had just passed, while he +finished his affairs of pleasure at Florence, and then thought of +nothing but how he should rejoin his companion, who was awaiting him at +Rome. + +He set out, and on the Saturday evening reached the Eternal City by the +mail-coach. An apartment, as we have said, had been retained beforehand, +and thus he had but to go to Signor Pastrini's hotel. But this was not +so easy a matter, for the streets were thronged with people, and Rome +was already a prey to that low and feverish murmur which precedes +all great events; and at Rome there are four great events in every +year,--the Carnival, Holy Week, Corpus Christi, and the Feast of St. +Peter. All the rest of the year the city is in that state of dull +apathy, between life and death, which renders it similar to a kind of +station between this world and the next--a sublime spot, a resting-place +full of poetry and character, and at which Franz had already halted five +or six times, and at each time found it more marvellous and striking. At +last he made his way through the mob, which was continually increasing +and getting more and more turbulent, and reached the hotel. On his +first inquiry he was told, with the impertinence peculiar to hired +hackney-coachmen and inn-keepers with their houses full, that there was +no room for him at the Hotel de Londres. Then he sent his card to Signor +Pastrini, and asked for Albert de Morcerf. This plan succeeded; and +Signor Pastrini himself ran to him, excusing himself for having made his +excellency wait, scolding the waiters, taking the candlestick from the +porter, who was ready to pounce on the traveller and was about to lead +him to Albert, when Morcerf himself appeared. + +The apartment consisted of two small rooms and a parlor. The two rooms +looked onto the street--a fact which Signor Pastrini commented upon as +an inappreciable advantage. The rest of the floor was hired by a very +rich gentleman who was supposed to be a Sicilian or Maltese; but the +host was unable to decide to which of the two nations the traveller +belonged. "Very good, signor Pastrini," said Franz; "but we must have +some supper instantly, and a carriage for tomorrow and the following +days." + +"As to supper," replied the landlord, "you shall be served immediately; +but as for the carriage"-- + +"What as to the carriage?" exclaimed Albert. "Come, come, Signor +Pastrini, no joking; we must have a carriage." + +"Sir," replied the host, "we will do all in our power to procure you +one--this is all I can say." + +"And when shall we know?" inquired Franz. + +"To-morrow morning," answered the inn-keeper. + +"Oh, the deuce! then we shall pay the more, that's all, I see plainly +enough. At Drake's or Aaron's one pays twenty-five lire for common days, +and thirty or thirty-five lire a day more for Sundays and feast days; +add five lire a day more for extras, that will make forty, and there's +an end of it." + +"I am afraid if we offer them double that we shall not procure a +carriage." + +"Then they must put horses to mine. It is a little worse for the +journey, but that's no matter." + +"There are no horses." Albert looked at Franz like a man who hears a +reply he does not understand. + +"Do you understand that, my dear Franz--no horses?" he said, "but can't +we have post-horses?" + +"They have been all hired this fortnight, and there are none left but +those absolutely requisite for posting." + +"What are we to say to this?" asked Franz. + +"I say, that when a thing completely surpasses my comprehension, I am +accustomed not to dwell on that thing, but to pass to another. Is supper +ready, Signor Pastrini?" + +"Yes, your excellency." + +"Well, then, let us sup." + +"But the carriage and horses?" said Franz. + +"Be easy, my dear boy; they will come in due season; it is only a +question of how much shall be charged for them." Morcerf then, with that +delighted philosophy which believes that nothing is impossible to a full +purse or well-lined pocketbook, supped, went to bed, slept soundly, and +dreamed he was racing all over Rome at Carnival time in a coach with six +horses. + + + +Chapter 33. Roman Bandits. + +The next morning Franz woke first, and instantly rang the bell. The +sound had not yet died away when Signor Pastrini himself entered. + +"Well, excellency," said the landlord triumphantly, and without waiting +for Franz to question him, "I feared yesterday, when I would not promise +you anything, that you were too late--there is not a single carriage to +be had--that is, for the last three days of the carnival." + +"Yes," returned Franz, "for the very three days it is most needed." + +"What is the matter?" said Albert, entering; "no carriage to be had?" + +"Just so," returned Franz, "you have guessed it." + +"Well, your Eternal City is a nice sort of place." + +"That is to say, excellency," replied Pastrini, who was desirous of +keeping up the dignity of the capital of the Christian world in the +eyes of his guest, "that there are no carriages to be had from Sunday +to Tuesday evening, but from now till Sunday you can have fifty if you +please." + +"Ah, that is something," said Albert; "to-day is Thursday, and who knows +what may arrive between this and Sunday?" + +"Ten or twelve thousand travellers will arrive," replied Franz, "which +will make it still more difficult." + +"My friend," said Morcerf, "let us enjoy the present without gloomy +forebodings for the future." + +"At least we can have a window?" + +"Where?" + +"In the Corso." + +"Ah, a window!" exclaimed Signor Pastrini,--"utterly impossible; there +was only one left on the fifth floor of the Doria Palace, and that has +been let to a Russian prince for twenty sequins a day." + +The two young men looked at each other with an air of stupefaction. + +"Well," said Franz to Albert, "do you know what is the best thing we can +do? It is to pass the Carnival at Venice; there we are sure of obtaining +gondolas if we cannot have carriages." + +"Ah, the devil, no," cried Albert; "I came to Rome to see the Carnival, +and I will, though I see it on stilts." + +"Bravo! an excellent idea. We will disguise ourselves as monster +pulchinellos or shepherds of the Landes, and we shall have complete +success." + +"Do your excellencies still wish for a carriage from now to Sunday +morning?" + +"Parbleu!" said Albert, "do you think we are going to run about on foot +in the streets of Rome, like lawyer's clerks?" + +"I hasten to comply with your excellencies' wishes; only, I tell you +beforehand, the carriage will cost you six piastres a day." + +"And, as I am not a millionaire, like the gentleman in the next +apartments," said Franz, "I warn you, that as I have been four times +before at Rome, I know the prices of all the carriages; we will give you +twelve piastres for to-day, tomorrow, and the day after, and then you +will make a good profit." + +"But, excellency"--said Pastrini, still striving to gain his point. + +"Now go," returned Franz, "or I shall go myself and bargain with your +affettatore, who is mine also; he is an old friend of mine, who has +plundered me pretty well already, and, in the hope of making more out +of me, he will take a less price than the one I offer you; you will lose +the preference, and that will be your fault." + +"Do not give yourselves the trouble, excellency," returned Signor +Pastrini, with the smile peculiar to the Italian speculator when +he confesses defeat; "I will do all I can, and I hope you will be +satisfied." + +"And now we understand each other." + +"When do you wish the carriage to be here?" + +"In an hour." + +"In an hour it will be at the door." + +An hour after the vehicle was at the door; it was a hack conveyance +which was elevated to the rank of a private carriage in honor of the +occasion, but, in spite of its humble exterior, the young men would have +thought themselves happy to have secured it for the last three days of +the Carnival. "Excellency," cried the cicerone, seeing Franz approach +the window, "shall I bring the carriage nearer to the palace?" + +Accustomed as Franz was to the Italian phraseology, his first impulse +was to look round him, but these words were addressed to him. Franz +was the "excellency," the vehicle was the "carriage," and the Hotel de +Londres was the "palace." The genius for laudation characteristic of the +race was in that phrase. + +Franz and Albert descended, the carriage approached the palace; their +excellencies stretched their legs along the seats; the cicerone sprang +into the seat behind. "Where do your excellencies wish to go?" asked he. + +"To Saint Peter's first, and then to the Colosseum," returned Albert. +But Albert did not know that it takes a day to see Saint Peter's, and a +month to study it. The day was passed at Saint Peter's alone. Suddenly +the daylight began to fade away; Franz took out his watch--it was +half-past four. They returned to the hotel; at the door Franz ordered +the coachman to be ready at eight. He wished to show Albert the +Colosseum by moonlight, as he had shown him Saint Peter's by daylight. +When we show a friend a city one has already visited, we feel the same +pride as when we point out a woman whose lover we have been. He was +to leave the city by the Porta del Popolo, skirt the outer wall, and +re-enter by the Porta San Giovanni; thus they would behold the Colosseum +without finding their impressions dulled by first looking on the +Capitol, the Forum, the Arch of Septimus Severus, the Temple of +Antoninus and Faustina, and the Via Sacra. They sat down to dinner. +Signor Pastrini had promised them a banquet; he gave them a tolerable +repast. At the end of the dinner he entered in person. Franz thought +that he came to hear his dinner praised, and began accordingly, but at +the first words he was interrupted. "Excellency," said Pastrini, "I am +delighted to have your approbation, but it was not for that I came." + +"Did you come to tell us you have procured a carriage?" asked Albert, +lighting his cigar. + +"No; and your excellencies will do well not to think of that any longer; +at Rome things can or cannot be done; when you are told anything cannot +be done, there is an end of it." + +"It is much more convenient at Paris,--when anything cannot be done, you +pay double, and it is done directly." + +"That is what all the French say," returned Signor Pastrini, somewhat +piqued; "for that reason, I do not understand why they travel." + +"But," said Albert, emitting a volume of smoke and balancing his chair +on its hind legs, "only madmen, or blockheads like us, ever do travel. +Men in their senses do not quit their hotel in the Rue du Helder, their +walk on the Boulevard de Gand, and the Cafe de Paris." It is of course +understood that Albert resided in the aforesaid street, appeared every +day on the fashionable walk, and dined frequently at the only restaurant +where you can really dine, that is, if you are on good terms with +its frequenters. Signor Pastrini remained silent a short time; it was +evident that he was musing over this answer, which did not seem +very clear. "But," said Franz, in his turn interrupting his host's +meditations, "you had some motive for coming here, may I beg to know +what it was?" + +"Ah, yes; you have ordered your carriage at eight o'clock precisely?" + +"I have." + +"You intend visiting Il Colosseo." + +"You mean the Colosseum?" + +"It is the same thing. You have told your coachman to leave the city +by the Porta del Popolo, to drive round the walls, and re-enter by the +Porta San Giovanni?" + +"These are my words exactly." + +"Well, this route is impossible." + +"Impossible!" + +"Very dangerous, to say the least." + +"Dangerous!--and why?" + +"On account of the famous Luigi Vampa." + +"Pray, who may this famous Luigi Vampa be?" inquired Albert; "he may be +very famous at Rome, but I can assure you he is quite unknown at Paris." + +"What! do you not know him?" + +"I have not that honor." + +"You have never heard his name?" + +"Never." + +"Well, then, he is a bandit, compared to whom the Decesaris and the +Gasparones were mere children." + +"Now then, Albert," cried Franz, "here is a bandit for you at last." + +"I forewarn you, Signor Pastrini, that I shall not believe one word of +what you are going to tell us; having told you this, begin." + +"Once upon a time"-- + +"Well, go on." Signor Pastrini turned toward Franz, who seemed to him +the more reasonable of the two; we must do him justice,--he had had a +great many Frenchmen in his house, but had never been able to comprehend +them. "Excellency," said he gravely, addressing Franz, "if you look +upon me as a liar, it is useless for me to say anything; it was for your +interest!"-- + +"Albert does not say you are a liar, Signor Pastrini," said Franz, "but +that he will not believe what you are going to tell us,--but I will +believe all you say; so proceed." + +"But if your excellency doubt my veracity"-- + +"Signor Pastrini," returned Franz, "you are more susceptible than +Cassandra, who was a prophetess, and yet no one believed her; while +you, at least, are sure of the credence of half your audience. Come, sit +down, and tell us all about this Signor Vampa." + +"I had told your excellency he is the most famous bandit we have had +since the days of Mastrilla." + +"Well, what has this bandit to do with the order I have given the +coachman to leave the city by the Porta del Popolo, and to re-enter by +the Porta San Giovanni?" + +"This," replied Signor Pastrini, "that you will go out by one, but I +very much doubt your returning by the other." + +"Why?" asked Franz. + +"Because, after nightfall, you are not safe fifty yards from the gates." + +"On your honor is that true?" cried Albert. + +"Count," returned Signor Pastrini, hurt at Albert's repeated doubts +of the truth of his assertions, "I do not say this to you, but to your +companion, who knows Rome, and knows, too, that these things are not to +be laughed at." + +"My dear fellow," said Albert, turning to Franz, "here is an admirable +adventure; we will fill our carriage with pistols, blunderbusses, and +double-barrelled guns. Luigi Vampa comes to take us, and we take him--we +bring him back to Rome, and present him to his holiness the Pope, who +asks how he can repay so great a service; then we merely ask for a +carriage and a pair of horses, and we see the Carnival in the carriage, +and doubtless the Roman people will crown us at the Capitol, and +proclaim us, like Curtius and the veiled Horatius, the preservers of +their country." Whilst Albert proposed this scheme, Signor Pastrini's +face assumed an expression impossible to describe. + +"And pray," asked Franz, "where are these pistols, blunderbusses, and +other deadly weapons with which you intend filling the carriage?" + +"Not out of my armory, for at Terracina I was plundered even of my +hunting-knife." + +"I shared the same fate at Aquapendente." + +"Do you know, Signor Pastrini," said Albert, lighting a second cigar at +the first, "that this practice is very convenient for bandits, and that +it seems to be due to an arrangement of their own." Doubtless Signor +Pastrini found this pleasantry compromising, for he only answered half +the question, and then he spoke to Franz, as the only one likely to +listen with attention. "Your excellency knows that it is not customary +to defend yourself when attacked by bandits." + +"What!" cried Albert, whose courage revolted at the idea of being +plundered tamely, "not make any resistance!" + +"No, for it would be useless. What could you do against a dozen bandits +who spring out of some pit, ruin, or aqueduct, and level their pieces at +you?" + +"Eh, parbleu!--they should kill me." + +The inn-keeper turned to Franz with an air that seemed to say, "Your +friend is decidedly mad." + +"My dear Albert," returned Franz, "your answer is sublime, and worthy +the 'Let him die,' of Corneille, only, when Horace made that answer, the +safety of Rome was concerned; but, as for us, it is only to gratify +a whim, and it would be ridiculous to risk our lives for so foolish a +motive." Albert poured himself out a glass of lacryma Christi, which he +sipped at intervals, muttering some unintelligible words. + +"Well, Signor Pastrini," said Franz, "now that my companion is quieted, +and you have seen how peaceful my intentions are, tell me who is this +Luigi Vampa. Is he a shepherd or a nobleman?--young or old?--tall or +short? Describe him, in order that, if we meet him by chance, like +Bugaboo John or Lara, we may recognize him." + +"You could not apply to any one better able to inform you on all these +points, for I knew him when he was a child, and one day that I fell +into his hands, going from Ferentino to Alatri, he, fortunately for me, +recollected me, and set me free, not only without ransom, but made me a +present of a very splendid watch, and related his history to me." + +"Let us see the watch," said Albert. + +Signor Pastrini drew from his fob a magnificent Breguet, bearing the +name of its maker, of Parisian manufacture, and a count's coronet. + +"Here it is," said he. + +"Peste," returned Albert, "I compliment you on it; I have its +fellow"--he took his watch from his waistcoat pocket--"and it cost me +3,000 francs." + +"Let us hear the history," said Franz, motioning Signor Pastrini to seat +himself. + +"Your excellencies permit it?" asked the host. + +"Pardieu!" cried Albert, "you are not a preacher, to remain standing!" + +The host sat down, after having made each of them a respectful bow, +which meant that he was ready to tell them all they wished to know +concerning Luigi Vampa. "You tell me," said Franz, at the moment Signor +Pastrini was about to open his mouth, "that you knew Luigi Vampa when he +was a child--he is still a young man, then?" + +"A young man? he is only two and twenty;--he will gain himself a +reputation." + +"What do you think of that, Albert?--at two and twenty to be thus +famous?" + +"Yes, and at his age, Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon, who have all made +some noise in the world, were quite behind him." + +"So," continued Franz, "the hero of this history is only two and +twenty?" + +"Scarcely so much." + +"Is he tall or short?" + +"Of the middle height--about the same stature as his excellency," +returned the host, pointing to Albert. + +"Thanks for the comparison," said Albert, with a bow. + +"Go on, Signor Pastrini," continued Franz, smiling at his friend's +susceptibility. "To what class of society does he belong?" + +"He was a shepherd-boy attached to the farm of the Count of San-Felice, +situated between Palestrina and the lake of Gabri; he was born at +Pampinara, and entered the count's service when he was five years old; +his father was also a shepherd, who owned a small flock, and lived by +the wool and the milk, which he sold at Rome. When quite a child, the +little Vampa displayed a most extraordinary precocity. One day, when he +was seven years old, he came to the curate of Palestrina, and asked to +be taught to read; it was somewhat difficult, for he could not quit his +flock; but the good curate went every day to say mass at a little hamlet +too poor to pay a priest and which, having no other name, was called +Borgo; he told Luigi that he might meet him on his return, and that then +he would give him a lesson, warning him that it would be short, and that +he must profit as much as possible by it. The child accepted joyfully. +Every day Luigi led his flock to graze on the road that leads from +Palestrina to Borgo; every day, at nine o'clock in the morning, the +priest and the boy sat down on a bank by the wayside, and the little +shepherd took his lesson out of the priest's breviary. At the end of +three months he had learned to read. This was not enough--he must now +learn to write. The priest had a writing teacher at Rome make three +alphabets--one large, one middling, and one small; and pointed out to +him that by the help of a sharp instrument he could trace the letters on +a slate, and thus learn to write. The same evening, when the flock was +safe at the farm, the little Luigi hastened to the smith at Palestrina, +took a large nail, heated and sharpened it, and formed a sort of stylus. +The next morning he gathered an armful of pieces of slate and began. At +the end of three months he had learned to write. The curate, astonished +at his quickness and intelligence, made him a present of pens, paper, +and a penknife. This demanded new effort, but nothing compared to the +first; at the end of a week he wrote as well with this pen as with the +stylus. The curate related the incident to the Count of San-Felice, +who sent for the little shepherd, made him read and write before him, +ordered his attendant to let him eat with the domestics, and to give him +two piastres a month. With this, Luigi purchased books and pencils. +He applied his imitative powers to everything, and, like Giotto, when +young, he drew on his slate sheep, houses, and trees. Then, with his +knife, he began to carve all sorts of objects in wood; it was thus that +Pinelli, the famous sculptor, had commenced. + +"A girl of six or seven--that is, a little younger than Vampa--tended +sheep on a farm near Palestrina; she was an orphan, born at Valmontone +and was named Teresa. The two children met, sat down near each other, +let their flocks mingle together, played, laughed, and conversed +together; in the evening they separated the Count of San-Felice's +flock from those of Baron Cervetri, and the children returned to their +respective farms, promising to meet the next morning. The next day they +kept their word, and thus they grew up together. Vampa was twelve, and +Teresa eleven. And yet their natural disposition revealed itself. Beside +his taste for the fine arts, which Luigi had carried as far as he +could in his solitude, he was given to alternating fits of sadness and +enthusiasm, was often angry and capricious, and always sarcastic. None +of the lads of Pampinara, Palestrina, or Valmontone had been able +to gain any influence over him or even to become his companion. His +disposition (always inclined to exact concessions rather than to make +them) kept him aloof from all friendships. Teresa alone ruled by a look, +a word, a gesture, this impetuous character, which yielded beneath the +hand of a woman, and which beneath the hand of a man might have broken, +but could never have been bended. Teresa was lively and gay, but +coquettish to excess. The two piastres that Luigi received every month +from the Count of San-Felice's steward, and the price of all the little +carvings in wood he sold at Rome, were expended in ear-rings, necklaces, +and gold hairpins. So that, thanks to her friend's generosity, Teresa +was the most beautiful and the best-attired peasant near Rome. The two +children grew up together, passing all their time with each other, and +giving themselves up to the wild ideas of their different characters. +Thus, in all their dreams, their wishes, and their conversations, Vampa +saw himself the captain of a vessel, general of an army, or governor of +a province. Teresa saw herself rich, superbly attired, and attended by a +train of liveried domestics. Then, when they had thus passed the day in +building castles in the air, they separated their flocks, and descended +from the elevation of their dreams to the reality of their humble +position. + +"One day the young shepherd told the count's steward that he had seen a +wolf come out of the Sabine mountains, and prowl around his flock. The +steward gave him a gun; this was what Vampa longed for. This gun had +an excellent barrel, made at Breschia, and carrying a ball with the +precision of an English rifle; but one day the count broke the stock, +and had then cast the gun aside. This, however, was nothing to a +sculptor like Vampa; he examined the broken stock, calculated what +change it would require to adapt the gun to his shoulder, and made a +fresh stock, so beautifully carved that it would have fetched fifteen or +twenty piastres, had he chosen to sell it. But nothing could be farther +from his thoughts. For a long time a gun had been the young man's +greatest ambition. In every country where independence has taken the +place of liberty, the first desire of a manly heart is to possess a +weapon, which at once renders him capable of defence or attack, and, by +rendering its owner terrible, often makes him feared. From this moment +Vampa devoted all his leisure time to perfecting himself in the use of +his precious weapon; he purchased powder and ball, and everything served +him for a mark--the trunk of some old and moss-grown olivetree, that +grew on the Sabine mountains; the fox, as he quitted his earth on some +marauding excursion; the eagle that soared above their heads: and thus +he soon became so expert, that Teresa overcame the terror she at first +felt at the report, and amused herself by watching him direct the ball +wherever he pleased, with as much accuracy as if he placed it by hand. + +"One evening a wolf emerged from a pine-wood near which they were +usually stationed, but the wolf had scarcely advanced ten yards ere +he was dead. Proud of this exploit, Vampa took the dead animal on his +shoulders, and carried him to the farm. These exploits had gained Luigi +considerable reputation. The man of superior abilities always finds +admirers, go where he will. He was spoken of as the most adroit, the +strongest, and the most courageous contadino for ten leagues around; and +although Teresa was universally allowed to be the most beautiful girl of +the Sabines, no one had ever spoken to her of love, because it was known +that she was beloved by Vampa. And yet the two young people had never +declared their affection; they had grown together like two trees whose +roots are mingled, whose branches intertwined, and whose intermingled +perfume rises to the heavens. Only their wish to see each other had +become a necessity, and they would have preferred death to a day's +separation. Teresa was sixteen, and Vampa seventeen. About this time, +a band of brigands that had established itself in the Lepini mountains +began to be much spoken of. The brigands have never been really +extirpated from the neighborhood of Rome. Sometimes a chief is wanted, +but when a chief presents himself he rarely has to wait long for a band +of followers. + +"The celebrated Cucumetto, pursued in the Abruzzo, driven out of the +kingdom of Naples, where he had carried on a regular war, had crossed +the Garigliano, like Manfred, and had taken refuge on the banks of the +Amasine between Sonnino and Juperno. He strove to collect a band of +followers, and followed the footsteps of Decesaris and Gasperone, +whom he hoped to surpass. Many young men of Palestrina, Frascati, and +Pampinara had disappeared. Their disappearance at first caused much +disquietude; but it was soon known that they had joined Cucumetto. After +some time Cucumetto became the object of universal attention; the most +extraordinary traits of ferocious daring and brutality were related of +him. One day he carried off a young girl, the daughter of a surveyor of +Frosinone. The bandit's laws are positive; a young girl belongs first +to him who carries her off, then the rest draw lots for her, and she is +abandoned to their brutality until death relieves her sufferings. When +their parents are sufficiently rich to pay a ransom, a messenger is sent +to negotiate; the prisoner is hostage for the security of the messenger; +should the ransom be refused, the prisoner is irrevocably lost. The +young girl's lover was in Cucumetto's troop; his name was Carlini. When +she recognized her lover, the poor girl extended her arms to him, and +believed herself safe; but Carlini felt his heart sink, for he but too +well knew the fate that awaited her. However, as he was a favorite with +Cucumetto, as he had for three years faithfully served him, and as he +had saved his life by shooting a dragoon who was about to cut him down, +he hoped the chief would have pity on him. He took Cucumetto one side, +while the young girl, seated at the foot of a huge pine that stood in +the centre of the forest, made a veil of her picturesque head-dress to +hide her face from the lascivious gaze of the bandits. There he told +the chief all--his affection for the prisoner, their promises of mutual +fidelity, and how every night, since he had been near, they had met in +some neighboring ruins. + +"It so happened that night that Cucumetto had sent Carlini to a village, +so that he had been unable to go to the place of meeting. Cucumetto had +been there, however, by accident, as he said, and had carried the maiden +off. Carlini besought his chief to make an exception in Rita's favor, as +her father was rich, and could pay a large ransom. Cucumetto seemed to +yield to his friend's entreaties, and bade him find a shepherd to send +to Rita's father at Frosinone. Carlini flew joyfully to Rita, telling +her she was saved, and bidding her write to her father, to inform +him what had occurred, and that her ransom was fixed at three hundred +piastres. Twelve hours' delay was all that was granted--that is, until +nine the next morning. The instant the letter was written, Carlini +seized it, and hastened to the plain to find a messenger. He found a +young shepherd watching his flock. The natural messengers of the bandits +are the shepherds who live between the city and the mountains, between +civilized and savage life. The boy undertook the commission, promising +to be in Frosinone in less than an hour. Carlini returned, anxious to +see his mistress, and announce the joyful intelligence. He found the +troop in the glade, supping off the provisions exacted as contributions +from the peasants; but his eye vainly sought Rita and Cucumetto among +them. He inquired where they were, and was answered by a burst of +laughter. A cold perspiration burst from every pore, and his hair stood +on end. He repeated his question. One of the bandits rose, and offered +him a glass filled with Orvietto, saying, 'To the health of the brave +Cucumetto and the fair Rita.' At this moment Carlini heard a woman's +cry; he divined the truth, seized the glass, broke it across the face of +him who presented it, and rushed towards the spot whence the cry came. +After a hundred yards he turned the corner of the thicket; he found Rita +senseless in the arms of Cucumetto. At the sight of Carlini, Cucumetto +rose, a pistol in each hand. The two brigands looked at each other for +a moment--the one with a smile of lasciviousness on his lips, the other +with the pallor of death on his brow. A terrible battle between the +two men seemed imminent; but by degrees Carlini's features relaxed, +his hand, which had grasped one of the pistols in his belt, fell to his +side. Rita lay between them. The moon lighted the group. + +"'Well,' said Cucumetto, 'have you executed your commission?' + +"'Yes, captain,' returned Carlini. 'At nine o'clock to-morrow Rita's +father will be here with the money.'--'It is well; in the meantime, we +will have a merry night; this young girl is charming, and does credit to +your taste. Now, as I am not egotistical, we will return to our comrades +and draw lots for her.'--'You have determined, then, to abandon her to +the common law?' said Carlini. + +"'Why should an exception be made in her favor?' + +"'I thought that my entreaties'-- + +"'What right have you, any more than the rest, to ask for an +exception?'--'It is true.'--'But never mind,' continued Cucumetto, +laughing, 'sooner or later your turn will come.' Carlini's teeth +clinched convulsively. + +"'Now, then,' said Cucumetto, advancing towards the other bandits, 'are +you coming?'--'I follow you.' + +"Cucumetto departed, without losing sight of Carlini, for, doubtless, +he feared lest he should strike him unawares; but nothing betrayed a +hostile design on Carlini's part. He was standing, his arms folded, near +Rita, who was still insensible. Cucumetto fancied for a moment the young +man was about to take her in his arms and fly; but this mattered little +to him now Rita had been his; and as for the money, three hundred +piastres distributed among the band was so small a sum that he cared +little about it. He continued to follow the path to the glade; but, to +his great surprise, Carlini arrived almost as soon as himself. 'Let us +draw lots! let us draw lots!' cried all the brigands, when they saw the +chief. + +"Their demand was fair, and the chief inclined his head in sign of +acquiescence. The eyes of all shone fiercely as they made their demand, +and the red light of the fire made them look like demons. The names of +all, including Carlini, were placed in a hat, and the youngest of the +band drew forth a ticket; the ticket bore the name of Diovolaccio. He +was the man who had proposed to Carlini the health of their chief, and +to whom Carlini replied by breaking the glass across his face. A large +wound, extending from the temple to the mouth, was bleeding profusely. +Diovalaccio, seeing himself thus favored by fortune, burst into a loud +laugh. 'Captain,' said he, 'just now Carlini would not drink your health +when I proposed it to him; propose mine to him, and let us see if he +will be more condescending to you than to me.' Every one expected an +explosion on Carlini's part; but to their great surprise, he took a +glass in one hand and a flask in the other, and filling it,--'Your +health, Diavolaccio,' said he calmly, and he drank it off, without his +hand trembling in the least. Then sitting down by the fire, 'My +supper,' said he; 'my expedition has given me an appetite.'--'Well done, +Carlini!' cried the brigands; 'that is acting like a good fellow;' and +they all formed a circle round the fire, while Diavolaccio disappeared. +Carlini ate and drank as if nothing had happened. The bandits looked on +with astonishment at this singular conduct until they heard footsteps. +They turned round, and saw Diavolaccio bearing the young girl in his +arms. Her head hung back, and her long hair swept the ground. As they +entered the circle, the bandits could perceive, by the firelight, the +unearthly pallor of the young girl and of Diavolaccio. This apparition +was so strange and so solemn, that every one rose, with the exception +of Carlini, who remained seated, and ate and drank calmly. Diavolaccio +advanced amidst the most profound silence, and laid Rita at the +captain's feet. Then every one could understand the cause of the +unearthly pallor in the young girl and the bandit. A knife was plunged +up to the hilt in Rita's left breast. Every one looked at Carlini; +the sheath at his belt was empty. 'Ah, ah,' said the chief, 'I now +understand why Carlini stayed behind.' All savage natures appreciate a +desperate deed. No other of the bandits would, perhaps, have done the +same; but they all understood what Carlini had done. 'Now, then,' cried +Carlini, rising in his turn, and approaching the corpse, his hand on the +butt of one of his pistols, 'does any one dispute the possession of +this woman with me?'--'No,' returned the chief, 'she is thine.' Carlini +raised her in his arms, and carried her out of the circle of firelight. +Cucumetto placed his sentinels for the night, and the bandits wrapped +themselves in their cloaks, and lay down before the fire. At midnight +the sentinel gave the alarm, and in an instant all were on the alert. It +was Rita's father, who brought his daughter's ransom in person. 'Here,' +said he, to Cucumetto, 'here are three hundred piastres; give me back +my child. But the chief, without taking the money, made a sign to him +to follow. The old man obeyed. They both advanced beneath the trees, +through whose branches streamed the moonlight. Cucumetto stopped at +last, and pointed to two persons grouped at the foot of a tree. + +"'There,' said he, 'demand thy child of Carlini; he will tell thee +what has become of her;' and he returned to his companions. The old man +remained motionless; he felt that some great and unforeseen misfortune +hung over his head. At length he advanced toward the group, the meaning +of which he could not comprehend. As he approached, Carlini raised his +head, and the forms of two persons became visible to the old man's eyes. +A woman lay on the ground, her head resting on the knees of a man, +who was seated by her; as he raised his head, the woman's face became +visible. The old man recognized his child, and Carlini recognized the +old man. 'I expected thee,' said the bandit to Rita's father.--'Wretch!' +returned the old man, 'what hast thou done?' and he gazed with terror on +Rita, pale and bloody, a knife buried in her bosom. A ray of +moonlight poured through the trees, and lighted up the face of the +dead.--'Cucumetto had violated thy daughter,' said the bandit; 'I loved +her, therefore I slew her; for she would have served as the sport of +the whole band.' The old man spoke not, and grew pale as death. 'Now,' +continued Carlini, 'if I have done wrongly, avenge her;' and withdrawing +the knife from the wound in Rita's bosom, he held it out to the old man +with one hand, while with the other he tore open his vest.--'Thou hast +done well!' returned the old man in a hoarse voice; 'embrace me, my +son.' Carlini threw himself, sobbing like a child, into the arms of his +mistress's father. These were the first tears the man of blood had +ever wept. 'Now,' said the old man, 'aid me to bury my child.' Carlini +fetched two pickaxes; and the father and the lover began to dig at the +foot of a huge oak, beneath which the young girl was to repose. When +the grave was formed, the father kissed her first, and then the lover; +afterwards, one taking the head, the other the feet, they placed her +in the grave. Then they knelt on each side of the grave, and said the +prayers of the dead. Then, when they had finished, they cast the earth +over the corpse, until the grave was filled. Then, extending his +hand, the old man said; 'I thank you, my son; and now leave me +alone.'--'Yet'--replied Carlini.--'Leave me, I command you.' Carlini +obeyed, rejoined his comrades, folded himself in his cloak, and soon +appeared to sleep as soundly as the rest. It had been resolved the night +before to change their encampment. An hour before daybreak, Cucumetto +aroused his men, and gave the word to march. But Carlini would not quit +the forest, without knowing what had become of Rita's father. He went +toward the place where he had left him. He found the old man suspended +from one of the branches of the oak which shaded his daughter's grave. +He then took an oath of bitter vengeance over the dead body of the one +and the tomb of the other. But he was unable to complete this oath, for +two days afterwards, in an encounter with the Roman carbineers, Carlini +was killed. There was some surprise, however, that, as he was with his +face to the enemy, he should have received a ball between his shoulders. +That astonishment ceased when one of the brigands remarked to his +comrades that Cucumetto was stationed ten paces in Carlini's rear when +he fell. On the morning of the departure from the forest of Frosinone he +had followed Carlini in the darkness, and heard this oath of vengeance, +and, like a wise man, anticipated it. They told ten other stories of +this bandit chief, each more singular than the other. Thus, from Fondi +to Perusia, every one trembles at the name of Cucumetto. + +"These narratives were frequently the theme of conversation between +Luigi and Teresa. The young girl trembled very much at hearing the +stories; but Vampa reassured her with a smile, tapping the butt of his +good fowling-piece, which threw its ball so well; and if that did not +restore her courage, he pointed to a crow, perched on some dead branch, +took aim, touched the trigger, and the bird fell dead at the foot of the +tree. Time passed on, and the two young people had agreed to be married +when Vampa should be twenty and Teresa nineteen years of age. They were +both orphans, and had only their employers' leave to ask, which had been +already sought and obtained. One day when they were talking over their +plans for the future, they heard two or three reports of firearms, +and then suddenly a man came out of the wood, near which the two young +persons used to graze their flocks, and hurried towards them. When he +came within hearing, he exclaimed. 'I am pursued; can you conceal me?' +They knew full well that this fugitive must be a bandit; but there is an +innate sympathy between the Roman brigand and the Roman peasant and the +latter is always ready to aid the former. Vampa, without saying a word, +hastened to the stone that closed up the entrance to their grotto, drew +it away, made a sign to the fugitive to take refuge there, in a retreat +unknown to every one, closed the stone upon him, and then went and +resumed his seat by Teresa. Instantly afterwards four carbineers, on +horseback, appeared on the edge of the wood; three of them appeared to +be looking for the fugitive, while the fourth dragged a brigand prisoner +by the neck. The three carbineers looked about carefully on every side, +saw the young peasants, and galloping up, began to question them. They +had seen no one. 'That is very annoying,' said the brigadier; for the +man we are looking for is the chief.'--'Cucumetto?' cried Luigi and +Teresa at the same moment. + +"'Yes,' replied the brigadier; 'and as his head is valued at a thousand +Roman crowns, there would have been five hundred for you, if you had +helped us to catch him.' The two young persons exchanged looks. The +brigadier had a moment's hope. Five hundred Roman crowns are three +thousand lire, and three thousand lire are a fortune for two poor +orphans who are going to be married. + +"'Yes, it is very annoying,' said Vampa; 'but we have not seen him.' + +"Then the carbineers scoured the country in different directions, but +in vain; then, after a time, they disappeared. Vampa then removed the +stone, and Cucumetto came out. Through the crevices in the granite he +had seen the two young peasants talking with the carbineers, and guessed +the subject of their parley. He had read in the countenances of Luigi +and Teresa their steadfast resolution not to surrender him, and he drew +from his pocket a purse full of gold, which he offered to them. But +Vampa raised his head proudly; as to Teresa, her eyes sparkled when she +thought of all the fine gowns and gay jewellery she could buy with this +purse of gold. + +"Cucumetto was a cunning fiend, and had assumed the form of a brigand +instead of a serpent, and this look from Teresa showed to him that she +was a worthy daughter of Eve, and he returned to the forest, pausing +several times on his way, under the pretext of saluting his protectors. +Several days elapsed, and they neither saw nor heard of Cucumetto. The +time of the Carnival was at hand. The Count of San-Felice announced a +grand masked ball, to which all that were distinguished in Rome were +invited. Teresa had a great desire to see this ball. Luigi asked +permission of his protector, the steward, that she and he might be +present amongst the servants of the house. This was granted. The ball +was given by the Count for the particular pleasure of his daughter +Carmela, whom he adored. Carmela was precisely the age and figure of +Teresa, and Teresa was as handsome as Carmela. On the evening of the +ball Teresa was attired in her best, her most brilliant ornaments in her +hair, and gayest glass beads,--she was in the costume of the women of +Frascati. Luigi wore the very picturesque garb of the Roman peasant +at holiday time. They both mingled, as they had leave to do, with the +servants and peasants. + +"The festa was magnificent; not only was the villa brilliantly +illuminated, but thousands of colored lanterns were suspended from +the trees in the garden; and very soon the palace overflowed to the +terraces, and the terraces to the garden-walks. At each cross-path was +an orchestra, and tables spread with refreshments; the guests stopped, +formed quadrilles, and danced in any part of the grounds they pleased. +Carmela was attired like a woman of Sonnino. Her cap was embroidered +with pearls, the pins in her hair were of gold and diamonds, her girdle +was of Turkey silk, with large embroidered flowers, her bodice and skirt +were of cashmere, her apron of Indian muslin, and the buttons of her +corset were of jewels. Two of her companions were dressed, the one as a +woman of Nettuno, and the other as a woman of La Riccia. Four young men +of the richest and noblest families of Rome accompanied them with that +Italian freedom which has not its parallel in any other country in +the world. They were attired as peasants of Albano, Velletri, +Civita-Castellana, and Sora. We need hardly add that these peasant +costumes, like those of the young women, were brilliant with gold and +jewels. + +"Carmela wished to form a quadrille, but there was one lady wanting. +Carmela looked all around her, but not one of the guests had a costume +similar to her own, or those of her companions. The Count of San-Felice +pointed out Teresa, who was hanging on Luigi's arm in a group of +peasants. 'Will you allow me, father?' said Carmela.--'Certainly,' +replied the count, 'are we not in Carnival time?'--Carmela turned +towards the young man who was talking with her, and saying a few words +to him, pointed with her finger to Teresa. The young man looked, bowed +in obedience, and then went to Teresa, and invited her to dance in a +quadrille directed by the count's daughter. Teresa felt a flush pass +over her face; she looked at Luigi, who could not refuse his assent. +Luigi slowly relinquished Teresa's arm, which he had held beneath his +own, and Teresa, accompanied by her elegant cavalier, took her appointed +place with much agitation in the aristocratic quadrille. Certainly, in +the eyes of an artist, the exact and strict costume of Teresa had a very +different character from that of Carmela and her companions; and Teresa +was frivolous and coquettish, and thus the embroidery and muslins, the +cashmere waist-girdles, all dazzled her, and the reflection of sapphires +and diamonds almost turned her giddy brain. + +"Luigi felt a sensation hitherto unknown arising in his mind. It was +like an acute pain which gnawed at his heart, and then thrilled through +his whole body. He followed with his eye each movement of Teresa and her +cavalier; when their hands touched, he felt as though he should swoon; +every pulse beat with violence, and it seemed as though a bell were +ringing in his ears. When they spoke, although Teresa listened timidly +and with downcast eyes to the conversation of her cavalier, as Luigi +could read in the ardent looks of the good-looking young man that his +language was that of praise, it seemed as if the whole world was turning +round with him, and all the voices of hell were whispering in his ears +ideas of murder and assassination. Then fearing that his paroxysm might +get the better of him, he clutched with one hand the branch of a tree +against which he was leaning, and with the other convulsively grasped +the dagger with a carved handle which was in his belt, and which, +unwittingly, he drew from the scabbard from time to time. Luigi was +jealous! He felt that, influenced by her ambitions and coquettish +disposition, Teresa might escape him. + +"The young peasant girl, at first timid and scared, soon recovered +herself. We have said that Teresa was handsome, but this is not all; +Teresa was endowed with all those wild graces which are so much more +potent than our affected and studied elegancies. She had almost all +the honors of the quadrille, and if she were envious of the Count of +San-Felice's daughter, we will not undertake to say that Carmela was not +jealous of her. And with overpowering compliments her handsome cavalier +led her back to the place whence he had taken her, and where Luigi +awaited her. Twice or thrice during the dance the young girl had glanced +at Luigi, and each time she saw that he was pale and that his features +were agitated, once even the blade of his knife, half drawn from its +sheath, had dazzled her eyes with its sinister glare. Thus, it was +almost tremblingly that she resumed her lover's arm. The quadrille had +been most perfect, and it was evident there was a great demand for a +repetition, Carmela alone objecting to it, but the Count of San-Felice +besought his daughter so earnestly, that she acceded. One of the +cavaliers then hastened to invite Teresa, without whom it was impossible +for the quadrille to be formed, but the young girl had disappeared. The +truth was, that Luigi had not felt the strength to support another such +trial, and, half by persuasion and half by force, he had removed Teresa +toward another part of the garden. Teresa had yielded in spite of +herself, but when she looked at the agitated countenance of the young +man, she understood by his silence and trembling voice that something +strange was passing within him. She herself was not exempt from internal +emotion, and without having done anything wrong, yet fully comprehended +that Luigi was right in reproaching her. Why, she did not know, but yet +she did not the less feel that these reproaches were merited. However, +to Teresa's great astonishment, Luigi remained mute, and not a word +escaped his lips the rest of the evening. When the chill of the night +had driven away the guests from the gardens, and the gates of the villa +were closed on them for the festa in-doors, he took Teresa quite away, +and as he left her at her home, he said,-- + +"'Teresa, what were you thinking of as you danced opposite the young +Countess of San-Felice?'--'I thought,' replied the young girl, with +all the frankness of her nature, 'that I would give half my life for a +costume such as she wore.' + +"'And what said your cavalier to you?'--'He said it only depended on +myself to have it, and I had only one word to say.' + +"'He was right,' said Luigi. 'Do you desire it as ardently as you +say?'--'Yes.'--'Well, then, you shall have it!' + +"The young girl, much astonished, raised her head to look at him, but +his face was so gloomy and terrible that her words froze to her lips. +As Luigi spoke thus, he left her. Teresa followed him with her eyes into +the darkness as long as she could, and when he had quite disappeared, +she went into the house with a sigh. + +"That night a memorable event occurred, due, no doubt, to the imprudence +of some servant who had neglected to extinguish the lights. The Villa +of San-Felice took fire in the rooms adjoining the very apartment of the +lovely Carmela. Awakened in the night by the light of the flames, she +sprang out of bed, wrapped herself in a dressing-gown, and attempted +to escape by the door, but the corridor by which she hoped to fly was +already a prey to the flames. She then returned to her room, calling for +help as loudly as she could, when suddenly her window, which was twenty +feet from the ground, was opened, a young peasant jumped into the +chamber, seized her in his arms, and with superhuman skill and strength +conveyed her to the turf of the grass-plot, where she fainted. When she +recovered, her father was by her side. All the servants surrounded her, +offering her assistance. An entire wing of the villa was burnt down; but +what of that, as long as Carmela was safe and uninjured? Her preserver +was everywhere sought for, but he did not appear; he was inquired after, +but no one had seen him. Carmela was greatly troubled that she had not +recognized him. As the count was immensely rich, excepting the danger +Carmela had run,--and the marvellous manner in which she had escaped, +made that appear to him rather a favor of providence than a real +misfortune,--the loss occasioned by the conflagration was to him but a +trifle. + +"The next day, at the usual hour, the two young peasants were on the +borders of the forest. Luigi arrived first. He came toward Teresa in +high spirits, and seemed to have completely forgotten the events of the +previous evening. The young girl was very pensive, but seeing Luigi so +cheerful, she on her part assumed a smiling air, which was natural to +her when she was not excited or in a passion. Luigi took her arm beneath +his own, and led her to the door of the grotto. Then he paused. The +young girl, perceiving that there was something extraordinary, looked +at him steadfastly. 'Teresa,' said Luigi, 'yesterday evening you told +me you would give all the world to have a costume similar to that of the +count's daughter.'--'Yes,' replied Teresa with astonishment; 'but I was +mad to utter such a wish.'--'And I replied, "Very well, you shall have +it."'--'Yes,' replied the young girl, whose astonishment increased +at every word uttered by Luigi, 'but of course your reply was only to +please me.' + +"'I have promised no more than I have given you, Teresa,' said Luigi +proudly. 'Go into the grotto and dress yourself.' At these words he +drew away the stone, and showed Teresa the grotto, lighted up by two +wax lights, which burnt on each side of a splendid mirror; on a rustic +table, made by Luigi, were spread out the pearl necklace and the diamond +pins, and on a chair at the side was laid the rest of the costume. + +"Teresa uttered a cry of joy, and, without inquiring whence this attire +came, or even thanking Luigi, darted into the grotto, transformed into a +dressing-room. Luigi pushed the stone behind her, for on the crest of a +small adjacent hill which cut off the view toward Palestrina, he saw a +traveller on horseback, stopping a moment, as if uncertain of his road, +and thus presenting against the blue sky that perfect outline which is +peculiar to distant objects in southern climes. When he saw Luigi, +he put his horse into a gallop and advanced toward him. Luigi was not +mistaken. The traveller, who was going from Palestrina to Tivoli, had +mistaken his way; the young man directed him; but as at a distance of +a quarter of a mile the road again divided into three ways, and on +reaching these the traveller might again stray from his route, he begged +Luigi to be his guide. Luigi threw his cloak on the ground, placed his +carbine on his shoulder, and freed from his heavy covering, preceded +the traveller with the rapid step of a mountaineer, which a horse can +scarcely keep up with. In ten minutes Luigi and the traveller reached +the cross-roads. On arriving there, with an air as majestic as that of +an emperor, he stretched his hand towards that one of the roads which +the traveller was to follow.--"That is your road, excellency, and now +you cannot again mistake."--'And here is your recompense,' said the +traveller, offering the young herdsman some small pieces of money. + +"'Thank you,' said Luigi, drawing back his hand; 'I render a service, I +do not sell it.'--'Well,' replied the traveller, who seemed used to this +difference between the servility of a man of the cities and the pride +of the mountaineer, 'if you refuse wages, you will, perhaps, accept a +gift.'--'Ah, yes, that is another thing.'--'Then,' said the traveller, +'take these two Venetian sequins and give them to your bride, to make +herself a pair of earrings.' + +"'And then do you take this poniard,' said the young herdsman; 'you will +not find one better carved between Albano and Civita-Castellana.' + +"'I accept it,' answered the traveller, 'but then the obligation will +be on my side, for this poniard is worth more than two sequins.'--'For a +dealer perhaps; but for me, who engraved it myself, it is hardly worth a +piastre.' + +"'What is your name?' inquired the traveller.--'Luigi Vampa,' replied +the shepherd, with the same air as he would have replied, Alexander, +King of Macedon.--'And yours?'--'I,' said the traveller, 'am called +Sinbad the Sailor.'" Franz d'Epinay started with surprise. + +"Sinbad the Sailor." he said. + +"Yes," replied the narrator; "that was the name which the traveller gave +to Vampa as his own." + +"Well, and what may you have to say against this name?" inquired Albert; +"it is a very pretty name, and the adventures of the gentleman of that +name amused me very much in my youth, I must confess."--Franz said no +more. The name of Sinbad the Sailor, as may well be supposed, awakened +in him a world of recollections, as had the name of the Count of Monte +Cristo on the previous evening. + +"Proceed!" said he to the host. + +"Vampa put the two sequins haughtily into his pocket, and slowly +returned by the way he had gone. As he came within two or three hundred +paces of the grotto, he thought he heard a cry. He listened to know +whence this sound could proceed. A moment afterwards he thought he heard +his own name pronounced distinctly. The cry proceeded from the grotto. +He bounded like a chamois, cocking his carbine as he went, and in a +moment reached the summit of a hill opposite to that on which he had +perceived the traveller. Three cries for help came more distinctly to +his ear. He cast his eyes around him and saw a man carrying off Teresa, +as Nessus, the centaur, carried Dejanira. This man, who was hastening +towards the wood, was already three-quarters of the way on the road from +the grotto to the forest. Vampa measured the distance; the man was at +least two hundred paces in advance of him, and there was not a chance +of overtaking him. The young shepherd stopped, as if his feet had +been rooted to the ground; then he put the butt of his carbine to his +shoulder, took aim at the ravisher, followed him for a second in his +track, and then fired. The ravisher stopped suddenly, his knees bent +under him, and he fell with Teresa in his arms. The young girl rose +instantly, but the man lay on the earth struggling in the agonies of +death. Vampa then rushed towards Teresa; for at ten paces from the dying +man her legs had failed her, and she had dropped on her knees, so that +the young man feared that the ball that had brought down his enemy, had +also wounded his betrothed. Fortunately, she was unscathed, and it was +fright alone that had overcome Teresa. When Luigi had assured himself +that she was safe and unharmed, he turned towards the wounded man. He +had just expired, with clinched hands, his mouth in a spasm of agony, +and his hair on end in the sweat of death. His eyes remained open and +menacing. Vampa approached the corpse, and recognized Cucumetto. From +the day on which the bandit had been saved by the two young peasants, he +had been enamoured of Teresa, and had sworn she should be his. From that +time he had watched them, and profiting by the moment when her lover had +left her alone, had carried her off, and believed he at length had her +in his power, when the ball, directed by the unerring skill of the young +herdsman, had pierced his heart. Vampa gazed on him for a moment +without betraying the slightest emotion; while, on the contrary, Teresa, +shuddering in every limb, dared not approach the slain ruffian but +by degrees, and threw a hesitating glance at the dead body over the +shoulder of her lover. Suddenly Vampa turned toward his mistress:--'Ah,' +said he--'good, good! You are dressed; it is now my turn to dress +myself.' + +"Teresa was clothed from head to foot in the garb of the Count of +San-Felice's daughter. Vampa took Cucumetto's body in his arms and +conveyed it to the grotto, while in her turn Teresa remained outside. +If a second traveller had passed, he would have seen a strange thing,--a +shepherdess watching her flock, clad in a cashmere grown, with ear-rings +and necklace of pearls, diamond pins, and buttons of sapphires, +emeralds, and rubies. He would, no doubt, have believed that he had +returned to the times of Florian, and would have declared, on reaching +Paris, that he had met an Alpine shepherdess seated at the foot of +the Sabine Hill. At the end of a quarter of an hour Vampa quitted the +grotto; his costume was no less elegant than that of Teresa. He wore +a vest of garnet-colored velvet, with buttons of cut gold; a silk +waistcoat covered with embroidery; a Roman scarf tied round his neck; a +cartridge-box worked with gold, and red and green silk; sky-blue velvet +breeches, fastened above the knee with diamond buckles; garters of +deerskin, worked with a thousand arabesques, and a hat whereon hung +ribbons of all colors; two watches hung from his girdle, and a splendid +poniard was in his belt. Teresa uttered a cry of admiration. Vampa in +this attire resembled a painting by Leopold Robert, or Schnetz. He had +assumed the entire costume of Cucumetto. The young man saw the effect +produced on his betrothed, and a smile of pride passed over his +lips.--'Now,' he said to Teresa, 'are you ready to share my +fortune, whatever it may be?'--'Oh, yes!' exclaimed the young girl +enthusiastically.--'And follow me wherever I go?'--'To the world's +end.'--'Then take my arm, and let us on; we have no time to lose.'--The +young girl did so without questioning her lover as to where he was +conducting her, for he appeared to her at this moment as handsome, +proud, and powerful as a god. They went towards the forest, and soon +entered it. We need scarcely say that all the paths of the mountain were +known to Vampa; he therefore went forward without a moment's hesitation, +although there was no beaten track, but he knew his path by looking at +the trees and bushes, and thus they kept on advancing for nearly an hour +and a half. At the end of this time they had reached the thickest of the +forest. A torrent, whose bed was dry, led into a deep gorge. Vampa took +this wild road, which, enclosed between two ridges, and shadowed by the +tufted umbrage of the pines, seemed, but for the difficulties of its +descent, that path to Avernus of which Virgil speaks. Teresa had become +alarmed at the wild and deserted look of the plain around her, and +pressed closely against her guide, not uttering a syllable; but as she +saw him advance with even step and composed countenance, she endeavored +to repress her emotion. Suddenly, about ten paces from them, a man +advanced from behind a tree and aimed at Vampa.--'Not another step,' he +said, 'or you are a dead man.'--'What, then,' said Vampa, raising his +hand with a gesture of disdain, while Teresa, no longer able to restrain +her alarm, clung closely to him, 'do wolves rend each other?'--'Who +are you?' inquired the sentinel.--'I am Luigi Vampa, shepherd of +the San-Felice farm.'--'What do you want?'--'I would speak with your +companions who are in the glade at Rocca Bianca.'--'Follow me, then,' +said the sentinel; 'or, as you know your way, go first.'--Vampa smiled +disdainfully at this precaution on the part of the bandit, went before +Teresa, and continued to advance with the same firm and easy step as +before. At the end of ten minutes the bandit made them a sign to stop. +The two young persons obeyed. Then the bandit thrice imitated the cry of +a crow; a croak answered this signal.--'Good!' said the sentry, 'you may +now go on.'--Luigi and Teresa again set forward; as they went on +Teresa clung tremblingly to her lover at the sight of weapons and the +glistening of carbines through the trees. The retreat of Rocca Bianca +was at the top of a small mountain, which no doubt in former days +had been a volcano--an extinct volcano before the days when Remus and +Romulus had deserted Alba to come and found the city of Rome. Teresa +and Luigi reached the summit, and all at once found themselves in the +presence of twenty bandits. 'Here is a young man who seeks and wishes +to speak to you,' said the sentinel.--'What has he to say?' inquired +the young man who was in command in the chief's absence.--'I wish to +say that I am tired of a shepherd's life,' was Vampa's reply.--'Ah, +I understand,' said the lieutenant; 'and you seek admittance into our +ranks?'--'Welcome!' cried several bandits from Ferrusino, Pampinara, +and Anagni, who had recognized Luigi Vampa.--'Yes, but I came to ask +something more than to be your companion.'--'And what may that be?' +inquired the bandits with astonishment.--'I come to ask to be your +captain,' said the young man. The bandits shouted with laughter. +'And what have you done to aspire to this honor?' demanded the +lieutenant.--'I have killed your chief, Cucumetto, whose dress I now +wear; and I set fire to the villa San-Felice to procure a wedding-dress +for my betrothed.' An hour afterwards Luigi Vampa was chosen captain, +vice Cucumetto deceased." + +"Well, my dear Albert," said Franz, turning towards his friend; "what +think you of citizen Luigi Vampa?" + +"I say he is a myth," replied Albert, "and never had an existence." + +"And what may a myth be?" inquired Pastrini. + +"The explanation would be too long, my dear landlord," replied Franz. + +"And you say that Signor Vampa exercises his profession at this moment +in the environs of Rome?" + +"And with a boldness of which no bandit before him ever gave an +example." + +"Then the police have vainly tried to lay hands on him?" + +"Why, you see, he has a good understanding with the shepherds in the +plains, the fishermen of the Tiber, and the smugglers of the coast. They +seek for him in the mountains, and he is on the waters; they follow him +on the waters, and he is on the open sea; then they pursue him, and he +has suddenly taken refuge in the islands, at Giglio, Guanouti, or Monte +Cristo; and when they hunt for him there, he reappears suddenly at +Albano, Tivoli, or La Riccia." + +"And how does he behave towards travellers?" + +"Alas! his plan is very simple. It depends on the distance he may be +from the city, whether he gives eight hours, twelve hours, or a day +wherein to pay their ransom; and when that time has elapsed he allows +another hour's grace. At the sixtieth minute of this hour, if the +money is not forthcoming, he blows out the prisoner's brains with a +pistol-shot, or plants his dagger in his heart, and that settles the +account." + +"Well, Albert," inquired Franz of his companion, "are you still disposed +to go to the Colosseum by the outer wall?" + +"Quite so," said Albert, "if the way be picturesque." The clock struck +nine as the door opened, and a coachman appeared. "Excellencies," said +he, "the coach is ready." + +"Well, then," said Franz, "let us to the Colosseum." + +"By the Porta del Popolo or by the streets, your excellencies?" + +"By the streets, morbleu, by the streets!" cried Franz. + +"Ah, my dear fellow," said Albert, rising, and lighting his third cigar, +"really, I thought you had more courage." So saying, the two young men +went down the staircase, and got into the carriage. + + + +Chapter 34. The Colosseum. + +Franz had so managed his route, that during the ride to the Colosseum +they passed not a single ancient ruin, so that no preliminary impression +interfered to mitigate the colossal proportions of the gigantic building +they came to admire. The road selected was a continuation of the Via +Sistina; then by cutting off the right angle of the street in which +stands Santa Maria Maggiore and proceeding by the Via Urbana and +San Pietro in Vincoli, the travellers would find themselves directly +opposite the Colosseum. This itinerary possessed another great +advantage,--that of leaving Franz at full liberty to indulge his deep +reverie upon the subject of Signor Pastrini's story, in which his +mysterious host of Monte Cristo was so strangely mixed up. Seated with +folded arms in a corner of the carriage, he continued to ponder over +the singular history he had so lately listened to, and to ask himself +an interminable number of questions touching its various circumstances +without, however, arriving at a satisfactory reply to any of them. One +fact more than the rest brought his friend "Sinbad the Sailor" back +to his recollection, and that was the mysterious sort of intimacy that +seemed to exist between the brigands and the sailors; and Pastrini's +account of Vampa's having found refuge on board the vessels of smugglers +and fishermen, reminded Franz of the two Corsican bandits he had found +supping so amicably with the crew of the little yacht, which had even +deviated from its course and touched at Porto-Vecchio for the sole +purpose of landing them. The very name assumed by his host of Monte +Cristo and again repeated by the landlord of the Hotel de Londres, +abundantly proved to him that his island friend was playing his +philanthropic part on the shores of Piombino, Civita-Vecchio, Ostia, and +Gaeta, as on those of Corsica, Tuscany, and Spain; and further, Franz +bethought him of having heard his singular entertainer speak both +of Tunis and Palermo, proving thereby how largely his circle of +acquaintances extended. + +But however the mind of the young man might be absorbed in these +reflections, they were at once dispersed at the sight of the dark +frowning ruins of the stupendous Colosseum, through the various openings +of which the pale moonlight played and flickered like the unearthly +gleam from the eyes of the wandering dead. The carriage stopped near the +Meta Sudans; the door was opened, and the young men, eagerly alighting, +found themselves opposite a cicerone, who appeared to have sprung up +from the ground, so unexpected was his appearance. + +The usual guide from the hotel having followed them, they had paid two +conductors, nor is it possible, at Rome, to avoid this abundant supply +of guides; besides the ordinary cicerone, who seizes upon you directly +you set foot in your hotel, and never quits you while you remain in the +city, there is also a special cicerone belonging to each monument--nay, +almost to each part of a monument. It may, therefore, be easily imagined +there is no scarcity of guides at the Colosseum, that wonder of all +ages, which Martial thus eulogizes: "Let Memphis cease to boast the +barbarous miracles of her pyramids, and the wonders of Babylon be talked +of no more among us; all must bow to the superiority of the gigantic +labor of the Caesars, and the many voices of Fame spread far and wide +the surpassing merits of this incomparable monument." + +As for Albert and Franz, they essayed not to escape from their +ciceronian tyrants; and, indeed, it would have been so much the more +difficult to break their bondage, as the guides alone are permitted to +visit these monuments with torches in their hands. Thus, then, the +young men made no attempt at resistance, but blindly and confidingly +surrendered themselves into the care and custody of their conductors. +Albert had already made seven or eight similar excursions to the +Colosseum, while his less favored companion trod for the first time in +his life the classic ground forming the monument of Flavius Vespasian; +and, to his credit be it spoken, his mind, even amid the glib loquacity +of the guides, was duly and deeply touched with awe and enthusiastic +admiration of all he saw; and certainly no adequate notion of these +stupendous ruins can be formed save by such as have visited them, and +more especially by moonlight, at which time the vast proportions of the +building appear twice as large when viewed by the mysterious beams of +a southern moonlit sky, whose rays are sufficiently clear and vivid to +light the horizon with a glow equal to the soft twilight of an eastern +clime. Scarcely, therefore, had the reflective Franz walked a hundred +steps beneath the interior porticoes of the ruin, than, abandoning +Albert to the guides (who would by no means yield their prescriptive +right of carrying their victims through the routine regularly laid down, +and as regularly followed by them, but dragged the unconscious visitor +to the various objects with a pertinacity that admitted of no appeal, +beginning, as a matter of course, with the Lions' Den, and finishing +with Caesar's "Podium,"), to escape a jargon and mechanical survey +of the wonders by which he was surrounded, Franz ascended a +half-dilapidated staircase, and, leaving them to follow their monotonous +round, seated himself at the foot of a column, and immediately opposite +a large aperture, which permitted him to enjoy a full and undisturbed +view of the gigantic dimensions of the majestic ruin. + +Franz had remained for nearly a quarter of an hour perfectly hidden +by the shadow of the vast column at whose base he had found a +resting-place, and from whence his eyes followed the motions of Albert +and his guides, who, holding torches in their hands, had emerged from +a vomitarium at the opposite extremity of the Colosseum, and then again +disappeared down the steps conducting to the seats reserved for the +Vestal virgins, resembling, as they glided along, some restless shades +following the flickering glare of so many ignes-fatui. All at once his +ear caught a sound resembling that of a stone rolling down the staircase +opposite the one by which he had himself ascended. There was nothing +remarkable in the circumstance of a fragment of granite giving way and +falling heavily below; but it seemed to him that the substance that fell +gave way beneath the pressure of a foot, and also that some one, who +endeavored as much as possible to prevent his footsteps from being +heard, was approaching the spot where he sat. Conjecture soon became +certainty, for the figure of a man was distinctly visible to Franz, +gradually emerging from the staircase opposite, upon which the moon was +at that moment pouring a full tide of silvery brightness. + +The stranger thus presenting himself was probably a person who, like +Franz, preferred the enjoyment of solitude and his own thoughts to +the frivolous gabble of the guides. And his appearance had nothing +extraordinary in it; but the hesitation with which he proceeded, +stopping and listening with anxious attention at every step he took, +convinced Franz that he expected the arrival of some person. By a sort +of instinctive impulse, Franz withdrew as much as possible behind his +pillar. About ten feet from the spot where he and the stranger were, the +roof had given way, leaving a large round opening, through which might +be seen the blue vault of heaven, thickly studded with stars. Around +this opening, which had, possibly, for ages permitted a free entrance +to the brilliant moonbeams that now illumined the vast pile, grew a +quantity of creeping plants, whose delicate green branches stood out in +bold relief against the clear azure of the firmament, while large masses +of thick, strong fibrous shoots forced their way through the chasm, and +hung floating to and fro, like so many waving strings. The person whose +mysterious arrival had attracted the attention of Franz stood in a kind +of half-light, that rendered it impossible to distinguish his features, +although his dress was easily made out. He wore a large brown mantle, +one fold of which, thrown over his left shoulder, served likewise +to mask the lower part of his countenance, while the upper part was +completely hidden by his broad-brimmed hat. The lower part of his dress +was more distinctly visible by the bright rays of the moon, which, +entering through the broken ceiling, shed their refulgent beams on feet +cased in elegantly made boots of polished leather, over which descended +fashionably cut trousers of black cloth. + +From the imperfect means Franz had of judging, he could only come to +one conclusion,--that the person whom he was thus watching certainly +belonged to no inferior station of life. Some few minutes had elapsed, +and the stranger began to show manifest signs of impatience, when a +slight noise was heard outside the aperture in the roof, and almost +immediately a dark shadow seemed to obstruct the flood of light that had +entered it, and the figure of a man was clearly seen gazing with eager +scrutiny on the immense space beneath him; then, as his eye caught +sight of him in the mantle, he grasped a floating mass of thickly matted +boughs, and glided down by their help to within three or four feet +of the ground, and then leaped lightly on his feet. The man who had +performed this daring act with so much indifference wore the Transtevere +costume. "I beg your excellency's pardon for keeping you waiting," said +the man, in the Roman dialect, "but I don't think I'm many minutes after +my time, ten o'clock has just struck on the Lateran." + +"Say not a word about being late," replied the stranger in purest +Tuscan; "'tis I who am too soon. But even if you had caused me to wait +a little while, I should have felt quite sure that the delay was not +occasioned by any fault of yours." + +"Your excellency is perfectly right in so thinking," said the man; "I +came here direct from the Castle of St. Angelo, and I had an immense +deal of trouble before I could get a chance to speak to Beppo." + +"And who is Beppo?" + +"Oh, Beppo is employed in the prison, and I give him so much a year to +let me know what is going on within his holiness's castle." + +"Indeed! You are a provident person, I see." + +"Why, you see, no one knows what may happen. Perhaps some of these days +I may be entrapped, like poor Peppino and may be very glad to have some +little nibbling mouse to gnaw the meshes of my net, and so help me out +of prison." + +"Briefly, what did you glean?" + +"That two executions of considerable interest will take place the +day after to-morrow at two o'clock, as is customary at Rome at the +commencement of all great festivals. One of the culprits will be +mazzolato; [*] he is an atrocious villain, who murdered the priest who +brought him up, and deserves not the smallest pity. The other sufferer +is sentenced to be decapitato; [**] and he, your excellency, is poor +Peppino." + + * Knocked on the head. + + ** Beheaded. + +"The fact is, that you have inspired not only the pontifical government, +but also the neighboring states, with such extreme fear, that they are +glad of all opportunity of making an example." + +"But Peppino did not even belong to my band: he was merely a poor +shepherd, whose only crime consisted in furnishing us with provisions." + +"Which makes him your accomplice to all intents and purposes. But mark +the distinction with which he is treated; instead of being knocked on +the head as you would be if once they caught hold of you, he is simply +sentenced to be guillotined, by which means, too, the amusements of +the day are diversified, and there is a spectacle to please every +spectator." + +"Without reckoning the wholly unexpected one I am preparing to surprise +them with." + +"My good friend," said the man in the cloak, "excuse me for saying that +you seem to me precisely in the mood to commit some wild or extravagant +act." + +"Perhaps I am; but one thing I have resolved on, and that is, to stop at +nothing to restore a poor devil to liberty, who has got into this scrape +solely from having served me. I should hate and despise myself as a +coward did I desert the brave fellow in his present extremity." + +"And what do you mean to do?" + +"To surround the scaffold with twenty of my best men, who, at a signal +from me, will rush forward directly Peppino is brought for execution, +and, by the assistance of their stilettos, drive back the guard, and +carry off the prisoner." + +"That seems to me as hazardous as uncertain, and convinces me that my +scheme is far better than yours." + +"And what is your excellency's project?" + +"Just this. I will so advantageously bestow 2,000 piastres, that the +person receiving them shall obtain a respite till next year for Peppino; +and during that year, another skilfully placed 1,000 piastres will +afford him the means of escaping from his prison." + +"And do you feel sure of succeeding?" + +"Pardieu!" exclaimed the man in the cloak, suddenly expressing himself +in French. + +"What did your excellency say?" inquired the other. + +"I said, my good fellow, that I would do more single-handed by the +means of gold than you and all your troop could effect with stilettos, +pistols, carbines, and blunderbusses included. Leave me, then, to act, +and have no fears for the result." + +"At least, there can be no harm in myself and party being in readiness, +in case your excellency should fail." + +"None whatever. Take what precautions you please, if it is any +satisfaction to you to do so; but rely upon my obtaining the reprieve I +seek." + +"Remember, the execution is fixed for the day after tomorrow, and that +you have but one day to work in." + +"And what of that? Is not a day divided into twenty-four hours, each +hour into sixty minutes, and every minute sub-divided into sixty +seconds? Now in 86,400 seconds very many things can be done." + +"And how shall I know whether your excellency has succeeded or not." + +"Oh, that is very easily arranged. I have engaged the three lower +windows at the Cafe Rospoli; should I have obtained the requisite pardon +for Peppino, the two outside windows will be hung with yellow damasks, +and the centre with white, having a large cross in red marked on it." + +"And whom will you employ to carry the reprieve to the officer directing +the execution?" + +"Send one of your men, disguised as a penitent friar, and I will give it +to him. His dress will procure him the means of approaching the scaffold +itself, and he will deliver the official order to the officer, who, in +his turn, will hand it to the executioner; in the meantime, it will be +as well to acquaint Peppino with what we have determined on, if it +be only to prevent his dying of fear or losing his senses, because in +either case a very useless expense will have been incurred." + +"Your excellency," said the man, "you are fully persuaded of my entire +devotion to you, are you not?" + +"Nay, I flatter myself that there can be no doubt of it," replied the +cavalier in the cloak. + +"Well, then, only fulfil your promise of rescuing Peppino, and +henceforward you shall receive not only devotion, but the most absolute +obedience from myself and those under me that one human being can render +to another." + +"Have a care how far you pledge yourself, my good friend, for I may +remind you of your promise at some, perhaps, not very distant period, +when I, in my turn, may require your aid and influence." + +"Let that day come sooner or later, your excellency will find me what +I have found you in this my heavy trouble; and if from the other end +of the world you but write me word to do such or such a thing, you may +regard it as done, for done it shall be, on the word and faith of"-- + +"Hush!" interrupted the stranger; "I hear a noise." + +"'Tis some travellers, who are visiting the Colosseum by torchlight." + +"'Twere better we should not be seen together; those guides are nothing +but spies, and might possibly recognize you; and, however I may be +honored by your friendship, my worthy friend, if once the extent of our +intimacy were known, I am sadly afraid both my reputation and credit +would suffer thereby." + +"Well, then, if you obtain the reprieve?" + +"The middle window at the Cafe Rospoli will be hung with white damask, +bearing a red cross." + +"And if you fail?" + +"Then all three windows will have yellow draperies." + +"And then?" + +"And then, my good fellow, use your daggers in any way you please, and I +further promise you to be there as a spectator of your prowess." + +"We understand each other perfectly, then. Adieu, your excellency; +depend upon me as firmly as I do upon you." + +Saying these words, the Transteverin disappeared down the staircase, +while his companion, muffling his features more closely than before in +the folds of his mantle, passed almost close to Franz, and descended +to the arena by an outward flight of steps. The next minute Franz heard +himself called by Albert, who made the lofty building re-echo with the +sound of his friend's name. Franz, however, did not obey the summons +till he had satisfied himself that the two men whose conversation he had +overheard were at a sufficient distance to prevent his encountering them +in his descent. In ten minutes after the strangers had departed, +Franz was on the road to the Piazza de Spagni, listening with studied +indifference to the learned dissertation delivered by Albert, after the +manner of Pliny and Calpurnius, touching the iron-pointed nets used to +prevent the ferocious beasts from springing on the spectators. Franz let +him proceed without interruption, and, in fact, did not hear what +was said; he longed to be alone, and free to ponder over all that had +occurred. One of the two men, whose mysterious meeting in the Colosseum +he had so unintentionally witnessed, was an entire stranger to him, but +not so the other; and though Franz had been unable to distinguish his +features, from his being either wrapped in his mantle or obscured by the +shadow, the tones of his voice had made too powerful an impression on +him the first time he had heard them for him ever again to forget them, +hear them when or where he might. It was more especially when this man +was speaking in a manner half jesting, half bitter, that Franz's ear +recalled most vividly the deep sonorous, yet well-pitched voice that had +addressed him in the grotto of Monte Cristo, and which he heard for the +second time amid the darkness and ruined grandeur of the Colosseum. And +the more he thought, the more entire was his conviction, that the person +who wore the mantle was no other than his former host and entertainer, +"Sinbad the Sailor." + +Under any other circumstances, Franz would have found it impossible to +resist his extreme curiosity to know more of so singular a personage, +and with that intent have sought to renew their short acquaintance; but +in the present instance, the confidential nature of the conversation +he had overheard made him, with propriety, judge that his appearance at +such a time would be anything but agreeable. As we have seen, therefore, +he permitted his former host to retire without attempting a recognition, +but fully promising himself a rich indemnity for his present forbearance +should chance afford him another opportunity. In vain did Franz endeavor +to forget the many perplexing thoughts which assailed him; in vain did +he court the refreshment of sleep. Slumber refused to visit his eyelids +and the night was passed in feverish contemplation of the chain of +circumstances tending to prove the identity of the mysterious visitant +to the Colosseum with the inhabitant of the grotto of Monte Cristo; and +the more he thought, the firmer grew his opinion on the subject. Worn +out at length, he fell asleep at daybreak, and did not awake till late. +Like a genuine Frenchman, Albert had employed his time in arranging +for the evening's diversion; he had sent to engage a box at the Teatro +Argentino; and Franz, having a number of letters to write, relinquished +the carriage to Albert for the whole of the day. At five o'clock Albert +returned, delighted with his day's work; he had been occupied in leaving +his letters of introduction, and had received in return more invitations +to balls and routs than it would be possible for him to accept; besides +this, he had seen (as he called it) all the remarkable sights at Rome. +Yes, in a single day he had accomplished what his more serious-minded +companion would have taken weeks to effect. Neither had he neglected to +ascertain the name of the piece to be played that night at the Teatro +Argentino, and also what performers appeared in it. + +The opera of "Parisina" was announced for representation, and the +principal actors were Coselli, Moriani, and La Specchia. The young men, +therefore, had reason to consider themselves fortunate in having the +opportunity of hearing one of the best works by the composer of "Lucia +di Lammermoor," supported by three of the most renowned vocalists of +Italy. Albert had never been able to endure the Italian theatres, with +their orchestras from which it is impossible to see, and the absence of +balconies, or open boxes; all these defects pressed hard on a man who +had had his stall at the Bouffes, and had shared a lower box at the +Opera. Still, in spite of this, Albert displayed his most dazzling and +effective costumes each time he visited the theatres; but, alas, his +elegant toilet was wholly thrown away, and one of the most worthy +representatives of Parisian fashion had to carry with him the mortifying +reflection that he had nearly overrun Italy without meeting with a +single adventure. + +Sometimes Albert would affect to make a joke of his want of success; but +internally he was deeply wounded, and his self-love immensely piqued, to +think that Albert de Morcerf, the most admired and most sought after of +any young person of his day, should thus be passed over, and merely have +his labor for his pains. And the thing was so much the more annoying, +as, according to the characteristic modesty of a Frenchman, Albert had +quitted Paris with the full conviction that he had only to show himself +in Italy to carry all before him, and that upon his return he +should astonish the Parisian world with the recital of his numerous +love-affairs. Alas, poor Albert! none of those interesting adventures +fell in his way; the lovely Genoese, Florentines, and Neapolitans were +all faithful, if not to their husbands, at least to their lovers, and +thought not of changing even for the splendid appearance of Albert de +Morcerf; and all he gained was the painful conviction that the ladies of +Italy have this advantage over those of France, that they are faithful +even in their infidelity. Yet he could not restrain a hope that in +Italy, as elsewhere, there might be an exception to the general rule. +Albert, besides being an elegant, well-looking young man, was also +possessed of considerable talent and ability; moreover, he was a +viscount--a recently created one, certainly, but in the present day it +is not necessary to go as far back as Noah in tracing a descent, and +a genealogical tree is equally estimated, whether dated from 1399 +or merely 1815; but to crown all these advantages, Albert de Morcerf +commanded an income of 50,000 livres, a more than sufficient sum to +render him a personage of considerable importance in Paris. It was +therefore no small mortification to him to have visited most of the +principal cities in Italy without having excited the most trifling +observation. Albert, however, hoped to indemnify himself for all these +slights and indifferences during the Carnival, knowing full well that +among the different states and kingdoms in which this festivity is +celebrated, Rome is the spot where even the wisest and gravest throw off +the usual rigidity of their lives, and deign to mingle in the follies of +this time of liberty and relaxation. + +The Carnival was to commence on the morrow; therefore Albert had not +an instant to lose in setting forth the programme of his hopes, +expectations, and claims to notice. With this design he had engaged a +box in the most conspicuous part of the theatre, and exerted himself +to set off his personal attractions by the aid of the most rich and +elaborate toilet. The box taken by Albert was in the first circle; +although each of the three tiers of boxes is deemed equally +aristocratic, and is, for this reason, generally styled the "nobility's +boxes," and although the box engaged for the two friends was +sufficiently capacious to contain at least a dozen persons, it had cost +less than would be paid at some of the French theatres for one admitting +merely four occupants. Another motive had influenced Albert's selection +of his seat,--who knew but that, thus advantageously placed, he might +not in truth attract the notice of some fair Roman, and an introduction +might ensue that would procure him the offer of a seat in a carriage, or +a place in a princely balcony, from which he might behold the gayeties +of the Carnival? These united considerations made Albert more lively and +anxious to please than he had hitherto been. Totally disregarding the +business of the stage, he leaned from his box and began attentively +scrutinizing the beauty of each pretty woman, aided by a powerful +opera-glass; but, alas, this attempt to attract notice wholly failed; +not even curiosity had been excited, and it was but too apparent +that the lovely creatures, into whose good graces he was desirous of +stealing, were all so much engrossed with themselves, their lovers, +or their own thoughts, that they had not so much as noticed him or the +manipulation of his glass. + +The truth was, that the anticipated pleasures of the Carnival, with the +"holy week" that was to succeed it, so filled every fair breast, as to +prevent the least attention being bestowed even on the business of the +stage. The actors made their entries and exits unobserved or unthought +of; at certain conventional moments, the spectators would suddenly cease +their conversation, or rouse themselves from their musings, to listen +to some brilliant effort of Moriani's, a well-executed recitative by +Coselli, or to join in loud applause at the wonderful powers of La +Specchia; but that momentary excitement over, they quickly relapsed into +their former state of preoccupation or interesting conversation. Towards +the close of the first act, the door of a box which had been hitherto +vacant was opened; a lady entered to whom Franz had been introduced in +Paris, where indeed, he had imagined she still was. The quick eye of +Albert caught the involuntary start with which his friend beheld the new +arrival, and, turning to him, he said hastily, "Do you know the woman +who has just entered that box?" + +"Yes; what do you think of her?" + +"Oh, she is perfectly lovely--what a complexion! And such magnificent +hair! Is she French?" + +"No; a Venetian." + +"And her name is--" + +"Countess G----." + +"Ah, I know her by name!" exclaimed Albert; "she is said to possess as +much wit and cleverness as beauty. I was to have been presented to her +when I met her at Madame Villefort's ball." + +"Shall I assist you in repairing your negligence?" asked Franz. + +"My dear fellow, are you really on such good terms with her as to +venture to take me to her box?" + +"Why, I have only had the honor of being in her society and conversing +with her three or four times in my life; but you know that even such +an acquaintance as that might warrant my doing what you ask." At that +instant, the countess perceived Franz, and graciously waved her hand to +him, to which he replied by a respectful inclination of the head. "Upon +my word," said Albert, "you seem to be on excellent terms with the +beautiful countess." + +"You are mistaken in thinking so," returned Franz calmly; "but you +merely fall into the same error which leads so many of our countrymen to +commit the most egregious blunders,--I mean that of judging the habits +and customs of Italy and Spain by our Parisian notions; believe me, +nothing is more fallacious than to form any estimate of the degree of +intimacy you may suppose existing among persons by the familiar terms +they seem upon; there is a similarity of feeling at this instant between +ourselves and the countess--nothing more." + +"Is there, indeed, my good fellow? Pray tell me, is it sympathy of +heart?" + +"No; of taste," continued Franz gravely. + +"And in what manner has this congeniality of mind been evinced?" + +"By the countess's visiting the Colosseum, as we did last night, by +moonlight, and nearly alone." + +"You were with her, then?" + +"I was." + +"And what did you say to her?" + +"Oh, we talked of the illustrious dead of whom that magnificent ruin is +a glorious monument!" + +"Upon my word," cried Albert, "you must have been a very entertaining +companion alone, or all but alone, with a beautiful woman in such a +place of sentiment as the Colosseum, and yet to find nothing better a +talk about than the dead! All I can say is, if ever I should get such a +chance, the living should be my theme." + +"And you will probably find your theme ill-chosen." + +"But," said Albert, breaking in upon his discourse, "never mind the +past; let us only remember the present. Are you not going to keep your +promise of introducing me to the fair subject of our remarks?" + +"Certainly, directly the curtain falls on the stage." + +"What a confounded time this first act takes. I believe, on my soul, +that they never mean to finish it." + +"Oh, yes, they will; only listen to that charming finale. How +exquisitely Coselli sings his part." + +"But what an awkward, inelegant fellow he is." + +"Well, then, what do you say to La Specchia? Did you ever see anything +more perfect than her acting?" + +"Why, you know, my dear fellow, when one has been accustomed to Malibran +and Sontag, such singers as these don't make the same impression on you +they perhaps do on others." + +"At least, you must admire Moriani's style and execution." + +"I never fancied men of his dark, ponderous appearance singing with a +voice like a woman's." + +"My good friend," said Franz, turning to him, while Albert continued to +point his glass at every box in the theatre, "you seem determined not to +approve; you are really too difficult to please." The curtain at length +fell on the performances, to the infinite satisfaction of the Viscount +of Morcerf, who seized his hat, rapidly passed his fingers through his +hair, arranged his cravat and wristbands, and signified to Franz that he +was waiting for him to lead the way. Franz, who had mutely interrogated +the countess, and received from her a gracious smile in token that he +would be welcome, sought not to retard the gratification of Albert's +eager impatience, but began at once the tour of the house, closely +followed by Albert, who availed himself of the few minutes required +to reach the opposite side of the theatre to settle the height and +smoothness of his collar, and to arrange the lappets of his coat. This +important task was just completed as they arrived at the countess's box. +At the knock, the door was immediately opened, and the young man who +was seated beside the countess, in obedience to the Italian custom, +instantly rose and surrendered his place to the strangers, who, in turn, +would be expected to retire upon the arrival of other visitors. + +Franz presented Albert as one of the most distinguished young men of the +day, both as regarded his position in society and extraordinary talents; +nor did he say more than the truth, for in Paris and the circle in +which the viscount moved, he was looked upon and cited as a model of +perfection. Franz added that his companion, deeply grieved at having +been prevented the honor of being presented to the countess during her +sojourn in Paris, was most anxious to make up for it, and had requested +him (Franz) to remedy the past misfortune by conducting him to her box, +and concluded by asking pardon for his presumption in having taken +it upon himself to do so. The countess, in reply, bowed gracefully to +Albert, and extended her hand with cordial kindness to Franz; then, +inviting Albert to take the vacant seat beside her, she recommended +Franz to take the next best, if he wished to view the ballet, and +pointed to the one behind her own chair. Albert was soon deeply +engrossed in discoursing upon Paris and Parisian matters, speaking +to the countess of the various persons they both knew there. Franz +perceived how completely he was in his element; and, unwilling to +interfere with the pleasure he so evidently felt, took up Albert's +glass, and began in his turn to survey the audience. Sitting alone, in +the front of a box immediately opposite, but situated on the third +row, was a woman of exquisite beauty, dressed in a Greek costume, which +evidently, from the ease and grace with which she wore it, was her +national attire. Behind her, but in deep shadow, was the outline of a +masculine figure; but the features of this latter personage it was not +possible to distinguish. Franz could not forbear breaking in upon the +apparently interesting conversation passing between the countess and +Albert, to inquire of the former if she knew who was the fair Albanian +opposite, since beauty such as hers was well worthy of being observed by +either sex. "All I can tell about her," replied the countess, "is, that +she has been at Rome since the beginning of the season; for I saw her +where she now sits the very first night of the season, and since then +she has never missed a performance. Sometimes she is accompanied by the +person who is now with her, and at others she is merely attended by a +black servant." + +"And what do you think of her personal appearance?" + +"Oh, I consider her perfectly lovely--she is just my idea of what Medora +must have been." + +Franz and the countess exchanged a smile, and then the latter resumed +her conversation with Albert, while Franz returned to his previous +survey of the house and company. The curtain rose on the ballet, which +was one of those excellent specimens of the Italian school, admirably +arranged and put on the stage by Henri, who has established for himself +a great reputation throughout Italy for his taste and skill in the +choreographic art--one of those masterly productions of grace, method, +and elegance in which the whole corps de ballet, from the principal +dancers to the humblest supernumerary, are all engaged on the stage at +the same time; and a hundred and fifty persons may be seen exhibiting +the same attitude, or elevating the same arm or leg with a simultaneous +movement, that would lead you to suppose that but one mind, one act of +volition, influenced the moving mass--the ballet was called "Poliska." +However much the ballet might have claimed his attention, Franz was too +deeply occupied with the beautiful Greek to take any note of it; while +she seemed to experience an almost childlike delight in watching it, her +eager, animated looks contrasting strongly with the utter indifference +of her companion, who, during the whole time the piece lasted, never +even moved, not even when the furious, crashing din produced by the +trumpets, cymbals, and Chinese bells sounded their loudest from the +orchestra. Of this he took no heed, but was, as far as appearances might +be trusted, enjoying soft repose and bright celestial dreams. The ballet +at length came to a close, and the curtain fell amid the loud, unanimous +plaudits of an enthusiastic and delighted audience. + +Owing to the very judicious plan of dividing the two acts of the opera +with a ballet, the pauses between the performances are very short, the +singers in the opera having time to repose themselves and change +their costume, when necessary, while the dancers are executing their +pirouettes and exhibiting their graceful steps. The overture to the +second act began; and, at the first sound of the leader's bow across his +violin, Franz observed the sleeper slowly arise and approach the Greek +girl, who turned around to say a few words to him, and then, leaning +forward again on the railing of her box, she became as absorbed as +before in what was going on. The countenance of the person who had +addressed her remained so completely in the shade, that, though Franz +tried his utmost, he could not distinguish a single feature. The curtain +rose, and the attention of Franz was attracted by the actors; and his +eyes turned from the box containing the Greek girl and her strange +companion to watch the business of the stage. + +Most of my readers are aware that the second act of "Parisina" opens +with the celebrated and effective duet in which Parisina, while +sleeping, betrays to Azzo the secret of her love for Ugo. The injured +husband goes through all the emotions of jealousy, until conviction +seizes on his mind, and then, in a frenzy of rage and indignation, +he awakens his guilty wife to tell her that he knows her guilt and to +threaten her with his vengeance. This duet is one of the most beautiful, +expressive and terrible conceptions that has ever emanated from the +fruitful pen of Donizetti. Franz now listened to it for the third +time; yet its notes, so tenderly expressive and fearfully grand as +the wretched husband and wife give vent to their different griefs and +passions, thrilled through the soul of Franz with an effect equal to his +first emotions upon hearing it. Excited beyond his usual calm +demeanor, Franz rose with the audience, and was about to join the +loud, enthusiastic applause that followed; but suddenly his purpose was +arrested, his hands fell by his sides, and the half-uttered "bravos" +expired on his lips. The occupant of the box in which the Greek girl sat +appeared to share the universal admiration that prevailed; for he left +his seat to stand up in front, so that, his countenance being fully +revealed, Franz had no difficulty in recognizing him as the mysterious +inhabitant of Monte Cristo, and the very same person he had encountered +the preceding evening in the ruins of the Colosseum, and whose voice and +figure had seemed so familiar to him. All doubt of his identity was now +at an end; his singular host evidently resided at Rome. The surprise +and agitation occasioned by this full confirmation of Franz's former +suspicion had no doubt imparted a corresponding expression to his +features; for the countess, after gazing with a puzzled look at +his face, burst into a fit of laughter, and begged to know what had +happened. "Countess," returned Franz, totally unheeding her raillery, "I +asked you a short time since if you knew any particulars respecting the +Albanian lady opposite; I must now beseech you to inform me who and what +is her husband?" + +"Nay," answered the countess, "I know no more of him than yourself." + +"Perhaps you never before noticed him?" + +"What a question--so truly French! Do you not know that we Italians have +eyes only for the man we love?" + +"True," replied Franz. + +"All I can say is," continued the countess, taking up the lorgnette, +and directing it toward the box in question, "that the gentleman, whose +history I am unable to furnish, seems to me as though he had just +been dug up; he looks more like a corpse permitted by some friendly +grave-digger to quit his tomb for a while, and revisit this earth of +ours, than anything human. How ghastly pale he is!" + +"Oh, he is always as colorless as you now see him," said Franz. + +"Then you know him?" almost screamed the countess. "Oh, pray do, for +heaven's sake, tell us all about--is he a vampire, or a resuscitated +corpse, or what?" + +"I fancy I have seen him before; and I even think he recognizes me." + +"And I can well understand," said the countess, shrugging up her +beautiful shoulders, as though an involuntary shudder passed through her +veins, "that those who have once seen that man will never be likely +to forget him." The sensation experienced by Franz was evidently not +peculiar to himself; another, and wholly uninterested person, felt the +same unaccountable awe and misgiving. "Well." inquired Franz, after the +countess had a second time directed her lorgnette at the box, "what do +you think of our opposite neighbor?" + +"Why, that he is no other than Lord Ruthven himself in a living form." +This fresh allusion to Byron [*] drew a smile to Franz's countenance; +although he could but allow that if anything was likely to induce belief +in the existence of vampires, it would be the presence of such a man as +the mysterious personage before him. + +"I must positively find out who and what he is," said Franz, rising from +his seat. + +"No, no," cried the countess; "you must not leave me. I depend upon you +to escort me home. Oh, indeed, I cannot permit you to go." + + * Scott, of course: "The son of an ill-fated sire, and the + father of a yet more unfortunate family, bore in his looks + that cast of inauspicious melancholy by which the + physiognomists of that time pretended to distinguish those + who were predestined to a violent and unhappy death."--The + Abbot, ch. xxii. + +"Is it possible," whispered Franz, "that you entertain any fear?" + +"I'll tell you," answered the countess. "Byron had the most perfect +belief in the existence of vampires, and even assured me that he had +seen them. The description he gave me perfectly corresponds with +the features and character of the man before us. Oh, he is the exact +personification of what I have been led to expect! The coal-black hair, +large bright, glittering eyes, in which a wild, unearthly fire seems +burning,--the same ghastly paleness. Then observe, too, that the +woman with him is altogether unlike all others of her sex. She is a +foreigner--a stranger. Nobody knows who she is, or where she comes from. +No doubt she belongs to the same horrible race he does, and is, like +himself, a dealer in magical arts. I entreat of you not to go near +him--at least to-night; and if to-morrow your curiosity still continues +as great, pursue your researches if you will; but to-night you neither +can nor shall. For that purpose I mean to keep you all to myself." Franz +protested he could not defer his pursuit till the following day, for +many reasons. "Listen to me," said the countess, "and do not be so very +headstrong. I am going home. I have a party at my house to-night, and +therefore cannot possibly remain till the end of the opera. Now, I +cannot for one instant believe you so devoid of gallantry as to refuse a +lady your escort when she even condescends to ask you for it." + +There was nothing else left for Franz to do but to take up his hat, +open the door of the box, and offer the countess his arm. It was quite +evident, by her manner, that her uneasiness was not feigned; and Franz +himself could not resist a feeling of superstitious dread--so much +the stronger in him, as it arose from a variety of corroborative +recollections, while the terror of the countess sprang from an +instinctive belief, originally created in her mind by the wild tales she +had listened to till she believed them truths. Franz could even feel her +arm tremble as he assisted her into the carriage. Upon arriving at +her hotel, Franz perceived that she had deceived him when she spoke of +expecting company; on the contrary, her own return before the appointed +hour seemed greatly to astonish the servants. "Excuse my little +subterfuge," said the countess, in reply to her companion's +half-reproachful observation on the subject; "but that horrid man had +made me feel quite uncomfortable, and I longed to be alone, that I might +compose my startled mind." Franz essayed to smile. "Nay," said she, "do +not smile; it ill accords with the expression of your countenance, and +I am sure it does not spring from your heart. However, promise me one +thing." + +"What is it?" + +"Promise me, I say." + +"I will do anything you desire, except relinquish my determination of +finding out who this man is. I have more reasons than you can imagine +for desiring to know who he is, from whence he came, and whither he is +going." + +"Where he comes from I am ignorant; but I can readily tell you where he +is going to, and that is down below, without the least doubt." + +"Let us only speak of the promise you wished me to make," said Franz. + +"Well, then, you must give me your word to return immediately to your +hotel, and make no attempt to follow this man to-night. There are +certain affinities between the persons we quit and those we meet +afterwards. For heaven's sake, do not serve as a conductor between that +man and me. Pursue your chase after him to-morrow as eagerly as you +please; but never bring him near me, if you would not see me die of +terror. And now, good-night; go to your rooms, and try to sleep away all +recollections of this evening. For my own part, I am quite sure I shall +not be able to close my eyes." So saying, the countess quitted Franz, +leaving him unable to decide whether she were merely amusing herself at +his expense, or whether her fears and agitations were genuine. + +Upon his return to the hotel, Franz found Albert in his dressing-gown +and slippers, listlessly extended on a sofa, smoking a cigar. "My dear +fellow." cried he, springing up, "is it really you? Why, I did not +expect to see you before to-morrow." + +"My dear Albert," replied Franz, "I am glad of this opportunity to +tell you, once and forever, that you entertain a most erroneous notion +concerning Italian women. I should have thought the continual failures +you have met with in all your own love affairs might have taught you +better by this time." + +"Upon my soul, these women would puzzle the very Devil to read them +aright. Why, here--they give you their hand--they press yours in +return--they keep up a whispering conversation--permit you to accompany +them home. Why, if a Parisian were to indulge in a quarter of these +marks of flattering attention, her reputation would be gone forever." + +"And the very reason why the women of this fine country put so little +restraint on their words and actions, is because they live so much +in public, and have really nothing to conceal. Besides, you must have +perceived that the countess was really alarmed." + +"At what? At the sight of that respectable gentleman sitting opposite to +us in the same box with the lovely Greek girl? Now, for my part, I met +them in the lobby after the conclusion of the piece; and hang me, if +I can guess where you took your notions of the other world from. I +can assure you that this hobgoblin of yours is a deuced fine-looking +fellow--admirably dressed. Indeed, I feel quite sure, from the cut of +his clothes, they are made by a first-rate Paris tailor--probably +Blin or Humann. He was rather too pale, certainly; but then, you know, +paleness is always looked upon as a strong proof of aristocratic descent +and distinguished breeding." Franz smiled; for he well remembered that +Albert particularly prided himself on the entire absence of color in his +own complexion. + +"Well, that tends to confirm my own ideas," said Franz, "that the +countess's suspicions were destitute alike of sense and reason. Did he +speak in your hearing? and did you catch any of his words?" + +"I did; but they were uttered in the Romaic dialect. I knew that from +the mixture of Greek words. I don't know whether I ever told you that +when I was at college I was rather--rather strong in Greek." + +"He spoke the Romaic language, did he?" + +"I think so." + +"That settles it," murmured Franz. "'Tis he, past all doubt." + +"What do you say?" + +"Nothing, nothing. But tell me, what were you thinking about when I came +in?" + +"Oh, I was arranging a little surprise for you." + +"Indeed. Of what nature?" + +"Why, you know it is quite impossible to procure a carriage." + +"Certainly; and I also know that we have done all that human means +afforded to endeavor to get one." + +"Now, then, in this difficulty a bright idea has flashed across my +brain." Franz looked at Albert as though he had not much confidence in +the suggestions of his imagination. "I tell you what, Sir Franz," +cried Albert, "you deserve to be called out for such a misgiving and +incredulous glance as that you were pleased to bestow on me just now." + +"And I promise to give you the satisfaction of a gentleman if your +scheme turns out as ingenious as you assert." + +"Well, then, hearken to me." + +"I listen." + +"You agree, do you not, that obtaining a carriage is out of the +question?" + +"I do." + +"Neither can we procure horses?" + +"True; we have offered any sum, but have failed." + +"Well, now, what do you say to a cart? I dare say such a thing might be +had." + +"Very possibly." + +"And a pair of oxen?" + +"As easily found as the cart." + +"Then you see, my good fellow, with a cart and a couple of oxen our +business can be managed. The cart must be tastefully ornamented; and +if you and I dress ourselves as Neapolitan reapers, we may get up a +striking tableau, after the manner of that splendid picture by Leopold +Robert. It would add greatly to the effect if the countess would join +us in the costume of a peasant from Puzzoli or Sorrento. Our group +would then be quite complete, more especially as the countess is quite +beautiful enough to represent a madonna." + +"Well," said Franz, "this time, Albert, I am bound to give you credit +for having hit upon a most capital idea." + +"And quite a national one, too," replied Albert with gratified pride. +"A mere masque borrowed from our own festivities. Ha, ha, ye Romans! +you thought to make us, unhappy strangers, trot at the heels of your +processions, like so many lazzaroni, because no carriages or horses are +to be had in your beggarly city. But you don't know us; when we can't +have one thing we invent another." + +"And have you communicated your triumphant idea to anybody?" + +"Only to our host. Upon my return home I sent for him, and I then +explained to him what I wished to procure. He assured me that nothing +would be easier than to furnish all I desired. One thing I was sorry +for; when I bade him have the horns of the oxen gilded, he told me there +would not be time, as it would require three days to do that; so you see +we must do without this little superfluity." + +"And where is he now?" + +"Who?" + +"Our host." + +"Gone out in search of our equipage, by to-morrow it might be too late." + +"Then he will be able to give us an answer to-night." + +"Oh, I expect him every minute." At this instant the door opened, and +the head of Signor Pastrini appeared. "Permesso?" inquired he. + +"Certainly--certainly," cried Franz. "Come in, mine host." + +"Now, then," asked Albert eagerly, "have you found the desired cart and +oxen?" + +"Better than that!" replied Signor Pastrini, with the air of a man +perfectly well satisfied with himself. + +"Take care, my worthy host," said Albert, "better is a sure enemy to +well." + +"Let your excellencies only leave the matter to me," returned Signor +Pastrini in a tone indicative of unbounded self-confidence. + +"But what have you done?" asked Franz. "Speak out, there's a worthy +fellow." + +"Your excellencies are aware," responded the landlord, swelling with +importance, "that the Count of Monte Cristo is living on the same floor +with yourselves!" + +"I should think we did know it," exclaimed Albert, "since it is owing +to that circumstance that we are packed into these small rooms, like two +poor students in the back streets of Paris." + +"When, then, the Count of Monte Cristo, hearing of the dilemma in which +you are placed, has sent to offer you seats in his carriage and two +places at his windows in the Palazzo Rospoli." The friends looked at +each other with unutterable surprise. + +"But do you think," asked Albert, "that we ought to accept such offers +from a perfect stranger?" + +"What sort of person is this Count of Monte Cristo?" asked Franz of his +host. "A very great nobleman, but whether Maltese or Sicilian I cannot +exactly say; but this I know, that he is noble as a Borghese and rich as +a gold-mine." + +"It seems to me," said Franz, speaking in an undertone to Albert, "that +if this person merited the high panegyrics of our landlord, he would +have conveyed his invitation through another channel, and not permitted +it to be brought to us in this unceremonious way. He would have +written--or"-- + +At this instant some one knocked at the door. "Come in," said Franz. A +servant, wearing a livery of considerable style and richness, appeared +at the threshold, and, placing two cards in the landlord's hands, who +forthwith presented them to the two young men, he said, "Please to +deliver these, from the Count of Monte Cristo to Viscomte Albert de +Morcerf and M. Franz d'Epinay. The Count of Monte Cristo," continued the +servant, "begs these gentlemen's permission to wait upon them as their +neighbor, and he will be honored by an intimation of what time they will +please to receive him." + +"Faith, Franz," whispered Albert, "there is not much to find fault with +here." + +"Tell the count," replied Franz, "that we will do ourselves the pleasure +of calling on him." The servant bowed and retired. + +"That is what I call an elegant mode of attack," said Albert, "You were +quite correct in what you said, Signor Pastrini. The Count of Monte +Cristo is unquestionably a man of first-rate breeding and knowledge of +the world." + +"Then you accept his offer?" said the host. + +"Of course we do," replied Albert. "Still, I must own I am sorry to +be obliged to give up the cart and the group of reapers--it would have +produced such an effect! And were it not for the windows at the Palazzo +Rospoli, by way of recompense for the loss of our beautiful scheme, I +don't know but what I should have held on by my original plan. What say +you, Franz?" + +"Oh, I agree with you; the windows in the Palazzo Rospoli alone decided +me." The truth was, that the mention of two places in the Palazzo +Rospoli had recalled to Franz the conversation he had overheard the +preceding evening in the ruins of the Colosseum between the mysterious +unknown and the Transteverin, in which the stranger in the cloak had +undertaken to obtain the freedom of a condemned criminal; and if this +muffled-up individual proved (as Franz felt sure he would) the same as +the person he had just seen in the Teatro Argentino, then he should be +able to establish his identity, and also to prosecute his researches +respecting him with perfect facility and freedom. Franz passed the night +in confused dreams respecting the two meetings he had already had with +his mysterious tormentor, and in waking speculations as to what the +morrow would produce. The next day must clear up every doubt; and +unless his near neighbor and would-be friend, the Count of Monte Cristo, +possessed the ring of Gyges, and by its power was able to render himself +invisible, it was very certain he could not escape this time. Eight +o'clock found Franz up and dressed, while Albert, who had not the same +motives for early rising, was still soundly asleep. The first act +of Franz was to summon his landlord, who presented himself with his +accustomed obsequiousness. + +"Pray, Signor Pastrini," asked Franz, "is not some execution appointed +to take place to-day?" + +"Yes, your excellency; but if your reason for inquiry is that you may +procure a window to view it from, you are much too late." + +"Oh, no," answered Franz, "I had no such intention; and even if I had +felt a wish to witness the spectacle, I might have done so from Monte +Pincio--could I not?" + +"Ah!" exclaimed mine host, "I did not think it likely your excellency +would have chosen to mingle with such a rabble as are always collected +on that hill, which, indeed, they consider as exclusively belonging to +themselves." + +"Very possibly I may not go," answered Franz; "but in case I feel +disposed, give me some particulars of to-day's executions." + +"What particulars would your excellency like to hear?" + +"Why, the number of persons condemned to suffer, their names, and +description of the death they are to die." + +"That happens just lucky, your excellency! Only a few minutes ago they +brought me the tavolettas." + +"What are they?" + +"Sort of wooden tablets hung up at the corners of streets the evening +before an execution, on which is pasted up a paper containing the names +of the condemned persons, their crimes, and mode of punishment. The +reason for so publicly announcing all this is, that all good and +faithful Catholics may offer up their prayers for the unfortunate +culprits, and, above all, beseech of heaven to grant them a sincere +repentance." + +"And these tablets are brought to you that you may add your prayers to +those of the faithful, are they?" asked Franz somewhat incredulously. + +"Oh, dear, no, your excellency! I have not time for anybody's affairs +but my own and those of my honorable guests; but I make an agreement +with the man who pastes up the papers, and he brings them to me as he +would the playbills, that in case any person staying at my hotel should +like to witness an execution, he may obtain every requisite information +concerning the time and place etc." + +"Upon my word, that is a most delicate attention on your part, Signor +Pastrini," cried Franz. + +"Why, your excellency," returned the landlord, chuckling and rubbing his +hands with infinite complacency, "I think I may take upon myself to +say I neglect nothing to deserve the support and patronage of the noble +visitors to this poor hotel." + +"I see that plainly enough, my most excellent host, and you may rely +upon me to proclaim so striking a proof of your attention to your +guests wherever I go. Meanwhile, oblige me by a sight of one of these +tavolettas." + +"Nothing can be easier than to comply with your excellency's wish," said +the landlord, opening the door of the chamber; "I have caused one to be +placed on the landing, close by your apartment." Then, taking the tablet +from the wall, he handed it to Franz, who read as follows:-- + +"'The public is informed that on Wednesday, February 23d, being the +first day of the Carnival, executions will take place in the Piazza +del Popolo, by order of the Tribunal of the Rota, of two persons, named +Andrea Rondola, and Peppino, otherwise called Rocca Priori; the former +found guilty of the murder of a venerable and exemplary priest, named +Don Cesare Torlini, canon of the church of St. John Lateran; and the +latter convicted of being an accomplice of the atrocious and sanguinary +bandit, Luigi Vampa, and his band. The first-named malefactor will be +subjected to the mazzuola, the second culprit beheaded. The prayers of +all good Christians are entreated for these unfortunate men, that it may +please God to awaken them to a sense of their guilt, and to grant them a +hearty and sincere repentance for their crimes.'" + +This was precisely what Franz had heard the evening before in the ruins +of the Colosseum. No part of the programme differed,--the names of the +condemned persons, their crimes, and mode of punishment, all agreed +with his previous information. In all probability, therefore, the +Transteverin was no other than the bandit Luigi Vampa himself, and the +man shrouded in the mantle the same he had known as "Sinbad the Sailor," +but who, no doubt, was still pursuing his philanthropic expedition +in Rome, as he had already done at Porto-Vecchio and Tunis. Time was +getting on, however, and Franz deemed it advisable to awaken Albert; but +at the moment he prepared to proceed to his chamber, his friend entered +the room in perfect costume for the day. The anticipated delights of +the Carnival had so run in his head as to make him leave his pillow long +before his usual hour. "Now, my excellent Signor Pastrini," said Franz, +addressing his landlord, "since we are both ready, do you think we may +proceed at once to visit the Count of Monte Cristo?" + +"Most assuredly," replied he. "The Count of Monte Cristo is always an +early riser; and I can answer for his having been up these two hours." + +"Then you really consider we shall not be intruding if we pay our +respects to him directly?" + +"Oh, I am quite sure. I will take all the blame on myself if you find I +have led you into an error." + +"Well, then, if it be so, are you ready, Albert?" + +"Perfectly." + +"Let us go and return our best thanks for his courtesy." + +"Yes, let us do so." The landlord preceded the friends across the +landing, which was all that separated them from the apartments of the +count, rang at the bell, and, upon the door being opened by a servant, +said, "I signori Francesi." + +The domestic bowed respectfully, and invited them to enter. They passed +through two rooms, furnished in a luxurious manner they had not expected +to see under the roof of Signor Pastrini, and were shown into an +elegantly fitted-up drawing-room. The richest Turkey carpets covered +the floor, and the softest and most inviting couches, easy-chairs, and +sofas, offered their high-piled and yielding cushions to such as desired +repose or refreshment. Splendid paintings by the first masters were +ranged against the walls, intermingled with magnificent trophies of +war, while heavy curtains of costly tapestry were suspended before the +different doors of the room. "If your excellencies will please to be +seated," said the man, "I will let the count know that you are here." + +And with these words he disappeared behind one of the tapestried +portieres. As the door opened, the sound of a guzla reached the ears of +the young men, but was almost immediately lost, for the rapid closing +of the door merely allowed one rich swell of harmony to enter. Franz +and Albert looked inquiringly at each other, then at the gorgeous +furnishings of the apartment. Everything seemed more magnificent at a +second view than it had done at their first rapid survey. + +"Well," said Franz to his friend, "what think you of all this?" + +"Why, upon my soul, my dear fellow, it strikes me that our elegant and +attentive neighbor must either be some successful stock-jobber who has +speculated in the fall of the Spanish funds, or some prince travelling +incog." + +"Hush, hush!" replied Franz; "we shall ascertain who and what he is--he +comes!" As Franz spoke, he heard the sound of a door turning on its +hinges, and almost immediately afterwards the tapestry was drawn aside, +and the owner of all these riches stood before the two young men. Albert +instantly rose to meet him, but Franz remained, in a manner, spellbound +on his chair; for in the person of him who had just entered he +recognized not only the mysterious visitant to the Colosseum, and the +occupant of the box at the Teatro Argentino, but also his extraordinary +host of Monte Cristo. + + + +Chapter 35. La Mazzolata. + +"Gentlemen," said the Count of Monte Cristo as he entered, "I pray you +excuse me for suffering my visit to be anticipated; but I feared to +disturb you by presenting myself earlier at your apartments; besides, +you sent me word that you would come to me, and I have held myself at +your disposal." + +"Franz and I have to thank you a thousand times, count," returned +Albert; "you extricated us from a great dilemma, and we were on +the point of inventing a very fantastic vehicle when your friendly +invitation reached us." + +"Indeed," returned the count, motioning the two young men to sit down. +"It was the fault of that blockhead Pastrini, that I did not sooner +assist you in your distress. He did not mention a syllable of your +embarrassment to me, when he knows that, alone and isolated as I am, I +seek every opportunity of making the acquaintance of my neighbors. As +soon as I learned I could in any way assist you, I most eagerly seized +the opportunity of offering my services." The two young men bowed. Franz +had, as yet, found nothing to say; he had come to no determination, +and as nothing in the count's manner manifested the wish that he should +recognize him, he did not know whether to make any allusion to the past, +or wait until he had more proof; besides, although sure it was he +who had been in the box the previous evening, he could not be equally +positive that this was the man he had seen at the Colosseum. He +resolved, therefore, to let things take their course without making any +direct overture to the count. Moreover, he had this advantage, he was +master of the count's secret, while the count had no hold on Franz, who +had nothing to conceal. However, he resolved to lead the conversation to +a subject which might possibly clear up his doubts. + +"Count," said he, "you have offered us places in your carriage, and at +your windows in the Rospoli Palace. Can you tell us where we can obtain +a sight of the Piazza del Popolo?" + +"Ah," said the count negligently, looking attentively at Morcerf, "is +there not something like an execution upon the Piazza del Popolo?" + +"Yes," returned Franz, finding that the count was coming to the point he +wished. + +"Stay, I think I told my steward yesterday to attend to this; perhaps I +can render you this slight service also." He extended his hand, and rang +the bell thrice. "Did you ever occupy yourself," said he to Franz, "with +the employment of time and the means of simplifying the summoning your +servants? I have. When I ring once, it is for my valet; twice, for my +majordomo; thrice, for my steward,--thus I do not waste a minute or a +word. Here he is." A man of about forty-five or fifty entered, exactly +resembling the smuggler who had introduced Franz into the cavern; but +he did not appear to recognize him. It was evident he had his orders. +"Monsieur Bertuccio," said the count, "you have procured me windows +looking on the Piazza del Popolo, as I ordered you yesterday." + +"Yes, excellency," returned the steward; "but it was very late." + +"Did I not tell you I wished for one?" replied the count, frowning. + +"And your excellency has one, which was let to Prince Lobanieff; but I +was obliged to pay a hundred"-- + +"That will do--that will do, Monsieur Bertuccio; spare these gentlemen +all such domestic arrangements. You have the window, that is sufficient. +Give orders to the coachman; and be in readiness on the stairs to +conduct us to it." The steward bowed, and was about to quit the room. +"Ah," continued the count, "be good enough to ask Pastrini if he +has received the tavoletta, and if he can send us an account of the +execution." + +"There is no need to do that," said Franz, taking out his tablets; "for +I saw the account, and copied it down." + +"Very well, you can retire, M. Bertuccio; but let us know when breakfast +is ready. These gentlemen," added he, turning to the two friends, "will, +I trust, do me the honor to breakfast with me?" + +"But, my dear count," said Albert, "we shall abuse your kindness." + +"Not at all; on the contrary, you will give me great pleasure. You +will, one or other of you, perhaps both, return it to me at Paris. M. +Bertuccio, lay covers for three." He then took Franz's tablets out of +his hand. "'We announce,' he read, in the same tone with which he +would have read a newspaper, 'that to-day, the 23d of February, will be +executed Andrea Rondolo, guilty of murder on the person of the respected +and venerated Don Cesare Torlini, canon of the church of St. John +Lateran, and Peppino, called Rocca Priori, convicted of complicity with +the detestable bandit Luigi Vampa, and the men of his band.' Hum! 'The +first will be mazzolato, the second decapitato.' Yes," continued +the count, "it was at first arranged in this way; but I think since +yesterday some change has taken place in the order of the ceremony." + +"Really?" said Franz. + +"Yes, I passed the evening at the Cardinal Rospigliosi's, and there +mention was made of something like a pardon for one of the two men." + +"For Andrea Rondolo?" asked Franz. + +"No," replied the count, carelessly; "for the other (he glanced at the +tablets as if to recall the name), for Peppino, called Rocca Priori. You +are thus deprived of seeing a man guillotined; but the mazzuola still +remains, which is a very curious punishment when seen for the first +time, and even the second, while the other, as you must know, is very +simple. The mandaia [*] never fails, never trembles, never strikes thirty +times ineffectually, like the soldier who beheaded the Count of Chalais, +and to whose tender mercy Richelieu had doubtless recommended the +sufferer. Ah," added the count, in a contemptuous tone, "do not tell me +of European punishments, they are in the infancy, or rather the old age, +of cruelty." + + * Guillotine. + +"Really, count," replied Franz, "one would think that you had studied +the different tortures of all the nations of the world." + +"There are, at least, few that I have not seen," said the count coldly. + +"And you took pleasure in beholding these dreadful spectacles?" + +"My first sentiment was horror, the second indifference, the third +curiosity." + +"Curiosity--that is a terrible word." + +"Why so? In life, our greatest preoccupation is death; is it not then, +curious to study the different ways by which the soul and body can part; +and how, according to their different characters, temperaments, and even +the different customs of their countries, different persons bear the +transition from life to death, from existence to annihilation? As for +myself, I can assure you of one thing,--the more men you see die, the +easier it becomes to die yourself; and in my opinion, death may be a +torture, but it is not an expiation." + +"I do not quite understand you," replied Franz; "pray explain your +meaning, for you excite my curiosity to the highest pitch." + +"Listen," said the count, and deep hatred mounted to his face, as the +blood would to the face of any other. "If a man had by unheard-of +and excruciating tortures destroyed your father, your mother, your +betrothed,--a being who, when torn from you, left a desolation, a wound +that never closes, in your breast,--do you think the reparation that +society gives you is sufficient when it interposes the knife of the +guillotine between the base of the occiput and the trapezal muscles of +the murderer, and allows him who has caused us years of moral sufferings +to escape with a few moments of physical pain?" + +"Yes, I know," said Franz, "that human justice is insufficient to +console us; she can give blood in return for blood, that is all; but you +must demand from her only what it is in her power to grant." + +"I will put another case to you," continued the count; "that where +society, attacked by the death of a person, avenges death by death. But +are there not a thousand tortures by which a man may be made to suffer +without society taking the least cognizance of them, or offering him +even the insufficient means of vengeance, of which we have just spoken? +Are there not crimes for which the impalement of the Turks, the augers +of the Persians, the stake and the brand of the Iroquois Indians, are +inadequate tortures, and which are unpunished by society? Answer me, do +not these crimes exist?" + +"Yes," answered Franz; "and it is to punish them that duelling is +tolerated." + +"Ah, duelling," cried the count; "a pleasant manner, upon my soul, of +arriving at your end when that end is vengeance! A man has carried off +your mistress, a man has seduced your wife, a man has dishonored your +daughter; he has rendered the whole life of one who had the right to +expect from heaven that portion of happiness God has promised to every +one of his creatures, an existence of misery and infamy; and you think +you are avenged because you send a ball through the head, or pass a +sword through the breast, of that man who has planted madness in your +brain, and despair in your heart. And remember, moreover, that it is +often he who comes off victorious from the strife, absolved of all crime +in the eyes of the world. No, no," continued the count, "had I to avenge +myself, it is not thus I would take revenge." + +"Then you disapprove of duelling? You would not fight a duel?" asked +Albert in his turn, astonished at this strange theory. + +"Oh, yes," replied the count; "understand me, I would fight a duel for +a trifle, for an insult, for a blow; and the more so that, thanks to +my skill in all bodily exercises, and the indifference to danger I have +gradually acquired, I should be almost certain to kill my man. Oh, +I would fight for such a cause; but in return for a slow, profound, +eternal torture, I would give back the same, were it possible; an eye +for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, as the Orientalists say,--our masters +in everything,--those favored creatures who have formed for themselves a +life of dreams and a paradise of realities." + +"But," said Franz to the count, "with this theory, which renders you at +once judge and executioner of your own cause, it would be difficult to +adopt a course that would forever prevent your falling under the power +of the law. Hatred is blind, rage carries you away; and he who pours out +vengeance runs the risk of tasting a bitter draught." + +"Yes, if he be poor and inexperienced, not if he be rich and skilful; +besides, the worst that could happen to him would be the punishment +of which we have already spoken, and which the philanthropic French +Revolution has substituted for being torn to pieces by horses or broken +on the wheel. What matters this punishment, as long as he is avenged? On +my word, I almost regret that in all probability this miserable Peppino +will not be beheaded, as you might have had an opportunity then of +seeing how short a time the punishment lasts, and whether it is worth +even mentioning; but, really this is a most singular conversation for +the Carnival, gentlemen; how did it arise? Ah, I recollect, you asked +for a place at my window; you shall have it; but let us first sit down +to table, for here comes the servant to inform us that breakfast is +ready." As he spoke, a servant opened one of the four doors of the +apartment, saying--"Al suo commodo!" The two young men arose and entered +the breakfast-room. + +During the meal, which was excellent, and admirably served, Franz looked +repeatedly at Albert, in order to observe the impressions which he +doubted not had been made on him by the words of their entertainer; but +whether with his usual carelessness he had paid but little attention to +him, whether the explanation of the Count of Monte Cristo with regard +to duelling had satisfied him, or whether the events which Franz knew +of had had their effect on him alone, he remarked that his companion did +not pay the least regard to them, but on the contrary ate like a man +who for the last four or five months had been condemned to partake of +Italian cookery--that is, the worst in the world. As for the count, he +just touched the dishes; he seemed to fulfil the duties of a host by +sitting down with his guests, and awaited their departure to be served +with some strange or more delicate food. This brought back to Franz, in +spite of himself, the recollection of the terror with which the count +had inspired the Countess G----, and her firm conviction that the man in +the opposite box was a vampire. At the end of the breakfast Franz took +out his watch. "Well," said the count, "what are you doing?" + +"You must excuse us, count," returned Franz, "but we have still much to +do." + +"What may that be?" + +"We have no masks, and it is absolutely necessary to procure them." + +"Do not concern yourself about that; we have, I think, a private room in +the Piazza del Popolo; I will have whatever costumes you choose brought +to us, and you can dress there." + +"After the execution?" cried Franz. + +"Before or after, whichever you please." + +"Opposite the scaffold?" + +"The scaffold forms part of the fete." + +"Count, I have reflected on the matter," said Franz, "I thank you for +your courtesy, but I shall content myself with accepting a place in your +carriage and at your window at the Rospoli Palace, and I leave you at +liberty to dispose of my place at the Piazza del Popolo." + +"But I warn you, you will lose a very curious sight," returned the +count. + +"You will describe it to me," replied Franz, "and the recital from your +lips will make as great an impression on me as if I had witnessed it. I +have more than once intended witnessing an execution, but I have never +been able to make up my mind; and you, Albert?" + +"I," replied the viscount,--"I saw Castaing executed, but I think I was +rather intoxicated that day, for I had quitted college the same morning, +and we had passed the previous night at a tavern." + +"Besides, it is no reason because you have not seen an execution at +Paris, that you should not see one anywhere else; when you travel, it is +to see everything. Think what a figure you will make when you are asked, +'How do they execute at Rome?' and you reply, 'I do not know'! And, +besides, they say that the culprit is an infamous scoundrel, who killed +with a log of wood a worthy canon who had brought him up like his own +son. Diable, when a churchman is killed, it should be with a different +weapon than a log, especially when he has behaved like a father. If you +went to Spain, would you not see the bull-fight? Well, suppose it is +a bull-fight you are going to see? Recollect the ancient Romans of +the Circus, and the sports where they killed three hundred lions and +a hundred men. Think of the eighty thousand applauding spectators, the +sage matrons who took their daughters, and the charming Vestals who made +with the thumb of their white hands the fatal sign that said, 'Come, +despatch the dying.'" + +"Shall you go, then, Albert?" asked Franz. + +"Ma foi, yes; like you, I hesitated, but the count's eloquence decides +me." + +"Let us go, then," said Franz, "since you wish it; but on our way to the +Piazza del Popolo, I wish to pass through the Corso. Is this possible, +count?" + +"On foot, yes, in a carriage, no." + +"I will go on foot, then." + +"Is it important that you should go that way?" + +"Yes, there is something I wish to see." + +"Well, we will go by the Corso. We will send the carriage to wait for us +on the Piazza del Popolo, by the Strada del Babuino, for I shall be glad +to pass, myself, through the Corso, to see if some orders I have given +have been executed." + +"Excellency," said a servant, opening the door, "a man in the dress of a +penitent wishes to speak to you." + +"Ah, yes" returned the count, "I know who he is, gentlemen; will you +return to the salon? you will find good cigars on the centre table. I +will be with you directly." The young men rose and returned into the +salon, while the count, again apologizing, left by another door. Albert, +who was a great smoker, and who had considered it no small sacrifice to +be deprived of the cigars of the Cafe de Paris, approached the table, +and uttered a cry of joy at perceiving some veritable puros. + +"Well," asked Franz, "what think you of the Count of Monte Cristo?" + +"What do I think?" said Albert, evidently surprised at such a question +from his companion; "I think he is a delightful fellow, who does the +honors of his table admirably; who has travelled much, read much, is, +like Brutus, of the Stoic school, and moreover," added he, sending a +volume of smoke up towards the ceiling, "that he has excellent cigars." +Such was Albert's opinion of the count, and as Franz well knew that +Albert professed never to form an opinion except upon long reflection, +he made no attempt to change it. "But," said he, "did you observe one +very singular thing?" + +"What?" + +"How attentively he looked at you." + +"At me?" + +"Yes."--Albert reflected. "Ah," replied he, sighing, "that is not very +surprising; I have been more than a year absent from Paris, and +my clothes are of a most antiquated cut; the count takes me for a +provincial. The first opportunity you have, undeceive him, I beg, and +tell him I am nothing of the kind." Franz smiled; an instant after the +count entered. + +"I am now quite at your service, gentlemen," said he. "The carriage is +going one way to the Piazza del Popolo, and we will go another; and, +if you please, by the Corso. Take some more of these cigars, M. de +Morcerf." + +"With all my heart," returned Albert; "Italian cigars are horrible. When +you come to Paris, I will return all this." + +"I will not refuse; I intend going there soon, and since you allow me, +I will pay you a visit. Come, we have not any time to lose, it is +half-past twelve--let us set off." All three descended; the coachman +received his master's orders, and drove down the Via del Babuino. +While the three gentlemen walked along the Piazza de Spagni and the +Via Frattina, which led directly between the Fiano and Rospoli palaces, +Franz's attention was directed towards the windows of that last palace, +for he had not forgotten the signal agreed upon between the man in the +mantle and the Transtevere peasant. "Which are your windows?" asked he +of the count, with as much indifference as he could assume. "The three +last," returned he, with a negligence evidently unaffected, for he could +not imagine with what intention the question was put. Franz glanced +rapidly towards the three windows. The side windows were hung with +yellow damask, and the centre one with white damask and a red cross. The +man in the mantle had kept his promise to the Transteverin, and there +could now be no doubt that he was the count. The three windows were +still untenanted. Preparations were making on every side; chairs were +placed, scaffolds were raised, and windows were hung with flags. The +masks could not appear; the carriages could not move about; but the +masks were visible behind the windows, the carriages, and the doors. + +Franz, Albert, and the count continued to descend the Corso. As they +approached the Piazza del Popolo, the crowd became more dense, and +above the heads of the multitude two objects were visible: the obelisk, +surmounted by a cross, which marks the centre of the square, and in +front of the obelisk, at the point where the three streets, del Babuino, +del Corso, and di Ripetta, meet, the two uprights of the scaffold, +between which glittered the curved knife of the mandaia. At the corner +of the street they met the count's steward, who was awaiting his master. +The window, let at an exorbitant price, which the count had doubtless +wished to conceal from his guests, was on the second floor of the great +palace, situated between the Via del Babuino and the Monte Pincio. It +consisted, as we have said, of a small dressing-room, opening into a +bedroom, and, when the door of communication was shut, the inmates were +quite alone. On chairs were laid elegant masquerade costumes of blue and +white satin. "As you left the choice of your costumes to me," said the +count to the two friends, "I have had these brought, as they will be +the most worn this year; and they are most suitable, on account of the +confetti (sweetmeats), as they do not show the flour." + +Franz heard the words of the count but imperfectly, and he perhaps did +not fully appreciate this new attention to their wishes; for he was +wholly absorbed by the spectacle that the Piazza del Popolo presented, +and by the terrible instrument that was in the centre. It was the first +time Franz had ever seen a guillotine,--we say guillotine, because +the Roman mandaia is formed on almost the same model as the French +instrument. [*] The knife, which is shaped like a crescent, that cuts +with the convex side, falls from a less height, and that is all the +difference. Two men, seated on the movable plank on which the victim +is laid, were eating their breakfasts, while waiting for the criminal. +Their repast consisted apparently of bread and sausages. One of them +lifted the plank, took out a flask of wine, drank some, and then passed +it to his companion. These two men were the executioner's assistants. +At this sight Franz felt the perspiration start forth upon his brow. The +prisoners, transported the previous evening from the Carcere Nuovo to +the little church of Santa Maria del Popolo, had passed the night, each +accompanied by two priests, in a chapel closed by a grating, before +which were two sentinels, who were relieved at intervals. A double line +of carbineers, placed on each side of the door of the church, reached +to the scaffold, and formed a circle around it, leaving a path about ten +feet wide, and around the guillotine a space of nearly a hundred feet. +All the rest of the square was paved with heads. Many women held their +infants on their shoulders, and thus the children had the best view. +The Monte Pincio seemed a vast amphitheatre filled with spectators; the +balconies of the two churches at the corner of the Via del Babuino and +the Via di Ripetta were crammed; the steps even seemed a parti-colored +sea, that was impelled towards the portico; every niche in the wall +held its living statue. What the count said was true--the most curious +spectacle in life is that of death. And yet, instead of the silence and +the solemnity demanded by the occasion, laughter and jests arose from +the crowd. It was evident that the execution was, in the eyes of the +people, only the commencement of the Carnival. Suddenly the tumult +ceased, as if by magic, and the doors of the church opened. A +brotherhood of penitents, clothed from head to foot in robes of gray +sackcloth, with holes for the eyes, and holding in their hands lighted +tapers, appeared first; the chief marched at the head. Behind the +penitents came a man of vast stature and proportions. He was naked, with +the exception of cloth drawers at the left side of which hung a large +knife in a sheath, and he bore on his right shoulder a heavy iron +sledge-hammer. This man was the executioner. He had, moreover, sandals +bound on his feet by cords. Behind the executioner came, in the order +in which they were to die, first Peppino and then Andrea. Each was +accompanied by two priests. Neither had his eyes bandaged. Peppino +walked with a firm step, doubtless aware of what awaited him. Andrea was +supported by two priests. Each of them, from time to time, kissed the +crucifix a confessor held out to them. At this sight alone Franz felt +his legs tremble under him. He looked at Albert--he was as white as his +shirt, and mechanically cast away his cigar, although he had not half +smoked it. The count alone seemed unmoved--nay, more, a slight color +seemed striving to rise in his pale cheeks. His nostrils dilated like +those of a wild beast that scents its prey, and his lips, half opened, +disclosed his white teeth, small and sharp like those of a jackal. And +yet his features wore an expression of smiling tenderness, such as Franz +had never before witnessed in them; his black eyes especially were full +of kindness and pity. However, the two culprits advanced, and as they +approached their faces became visible. Peppino was a handsome young +man of four or five and twenty, bronzed by the sun; he carried his head +erect, and seemed on the watch to see on which side his liberator +would appear. Andrea was short and fat; his visage, marked with brutal +cruelty, did not indicate age; he might be thirty. In prison he had +suffered his beard to grow; his head fell on his shoulder, his legs +bent beneath him, and his movements were apparently automatic and +unconscious. + + * Dr. Guillotin got the idea of his famous machine from + witnessing an execution in Italy. + +"I thought," said Franz to the count, "that you told me there would be +but one execution." + +"I told you true," replied he coldly. + +"And yet here are two culprits." + +"Yes; but only one of these two is about to die; the other has many +years to live." + +"If the pardon is to come, there is no time to lose." + +"And see, here it is," said the count. At the moment when Peppino +reached the foot of the mandaia, a priest arrived in some haste, +forced his way through the soldiers, and, advancing to the chief of the +brotherhood, gave him a folded paper. The piercing eye of Peppino had +noticed all. The chief took the paper, unfolded it, and, raising his +hand, "Heaven be praised, and his holiness also," said he in a loud +voice; "here is a pardon for one of the prisoners!" + +"A pardon!" cried the people with one voice--"a pardon!" At this cry +Andrea raised his head. "Pardon for whom?" cried he. + +Peppino remained breathless. "A pardon for Peppino, called Rocca +Priori," said the principal friar. And he passed the paper to the +officer commanding the carbineers, who read and returned it to him. + +"For Peppino!" cried Andrea, who seemed roused from the torpor in +which he had been plunged. "Why for him and not for me? We ought to die +together. I was promised he should die with me. You have no right to put +me to death alone. I will not die alone--I will not!" And he broke +from the priests struggling and raving like a wild beast, and striving +desperately to break the cords that bound his hands. The executioner +made a sign, and his two assistants leaped from the scaffold and seized +him. "What is going on?" asked Franz of the count; for, as all the talk +was in the Roman dialect, he had not perfectly understood it. "Do you +not see?" returned the count, "that this human creature who is about to +die is furious that his fellow-sufferer does not perish with him? and, +were he able, he would rather tear him to pieces with his teeth and +nails than let him enjoy the life he himself is about to be deprived +of. Oh, man, man--race of crocodiles," cried the count, extending his +clinched hands towards the crowd, "how well do I recognize you there, +and that at all times you are worthy of yourselves!" Meanwhile Andrea +and the two executioners were struggling on the ground, and he kept +exclaiming, "He ought to die!--he shall die!--I will not die alone!" + +"Look, look," cried the count, seizing the young men's hands--"look, for +on my soul it is curious. Here is a man who had resigned himself to his +fate, who was going to the scaffold to die--like a coward, it is true, +but he was about to die without resistance. Do you know what gave him +strength?--do you know what consoled him? It was, that another partook +of his punishment--that another partook of his anguish--that another +was to die before him. Lead two sheep to the butcher's, two oxen to the +slaughterhouse, and make one of them understand that his companion will +not die; the sheep will bleat for pleasure, the ox will bellow with joy. +But man--man, whom God created in his own image--man, upon whom God has +laid his first, his sole commandment, to love his neighbor--man, to whom +God has given a voice to express his thoughts--what is his first cry +when he hears his fellow-man is saved? A blasphemy. Honor to man, this +masterpiece of nature, this king of the creation!" And the count burst +into a laugh; a terrible laugh, that showed he must have suffered +horribly to be able thus to laugh. However, the struggle still +continued, and it was dreadful to witness. The people all took part +against Andrea, and twenty thousand voices cried, "Put him to death! put +him to death!" Franz sprang back, but the count seized his arm, and held +him before the window. "What are you doing?" said he. "Do you pity him? +If you heard the cry of 'Mad dog!' you would take your gun--you would +unhesitatingly shoot the poor beast, who, after all, was only guilty of +having been bitten by another dog. And yet you pity a man who, without +being bitten by one of his race, has yet murdered his benefactor; and +who, now unable to kill any one, because his hands are bound, wishes to +see his companion in captivity perish. No, no--look, look!" + +The command was needless. Franz was fascinated by the horrible +spectacle. The two assistants had borne Andrea to the scaffold, and +there, in spite of his struggles, his bites, and his cries, had forced +him to his knees. During this time the executioner had raised his mace, +and signed to them to get out of the way; the criminal strove to rise, +but, ere he had time, the mace fell on his left temple. A dull and heavy +sound was heard, and the man dropped like an ox on his face, and then +turned over on his back. The executioner let fall his mace, drew his +knife, and with one stroke opened his throat, and mounting on his +stomach, stamped violently on it with his feet. At every stroke a jet of +blood sprang from the wound. + +This time Franz could contain himself no longer, but sank, half +fainting, into a seat. Albert, with his eyes closed, was standing +grasping the window-curtains. The count was erect and triumphant, like +the Avenging Angel! + + + +Chapter 36. The Carnival at Rome. + +When Franz recovered his senses, he saw Albert drinking a glass of +water, of which, to judge from his pallor, he stood in great need; +and the count, who was assuming his masquerade costume. He glanced +mechanically towards the square--the scene was wholly changed; scaffold, +executioners, victims, all had disappeared; only the people remained, +full of noise and excitement. The bell of Monte Citorio, which only +sounds on the pope's decease and the opening of the Carnival, was +ringing a joyous peal. "Well," asked he of the count, "what has, then, +happened?" + +"Nothing," replied the count; "only, as you see, the Carnival has +commenced. Make haste and dress yourself." + +"In fact," said Franz, "this horrible scene has passed away like a +dream." + +"It is but a dream, a nightmare, that has disturbed you." + +"Yes, that I have suffered; but the culprit?" + +"That is a dream also; only he has remained asleep, while you have +awakened; and who knows which of you is the most fortunate?" + +"But Peppino--what has become of him?" + +"Peppino is a lad of sense, who, unlike most men, who are happy in +proportion as they are noticed, was delighted to see that the general +attention was directed towards his companion. He profited by this +distraction to slip away among the crowd, without even thanking the +worthy priests who accompanied him. Decidedly man is an ungrateful and +egotistical animal. But dress yourself; see, M. de Morcerf sets you +the example." Albert was drawing on the satin pantaloon over his black +trousers and varnished boots. "Well, Albert," said Franz, "do you feel +much inclined to join the revels? Come, answer frankly." + +"Ma foi, no," returned Albert. "But I am really glad to have seen such +a sight; and I understand what the count said--that when you have once +habituated yourself to a similar spectacle, it is the only one that +causes you any emotion." + +"Without reflecting that this is the only moment in which you can study +character," said the count; "on the steps of the scaffold death tears +off the mask that has been worn through life, and the real visage is +disclosed. It must be allowed that Andrea was not very handsome, the +hideous scoundrel! Come, dress yourselves, gentlemen, dress yourselves." +Franz felt it would be ridiculous not to follow his two companions' +example. He assumed his costume, and fastened on the mask that scarcely +equalled the pallor of his own face. Their toilet finished, they +descended; the carriage awaited them at the door, filled with sweetmeats +and bouquets. They fell into the line of carriages. It is difficult to +form an idea of the perfect change that had taken place. Instead of the +spectacle of gloomy and silent death, the Piazza del Popolo presented a +spectacle of gay and noisy mirth and revelry. A crowd of masks flowed +in from all sides, emerging from the doors, descending from the windows. +From every street and every corner drove carriages filled with clowns, +harlequins, dominoes, mummers, pantomimists, Transteverins, knights, and +peasants, screaming, fighting, gesticulating, throwing eggs filled with +flour, confetti, nosegays, attacking, with their sarcasms and their +missiles, friends and foes, companions and strangers, indiscriminately, +and no one took offence, or did anything but laugh. Franz and Albert +were like men who, to drive away a violent sorrow, have recourse to +wine, and who, as they drink and become intoxicated, feel a thick veil +drawn between the past and the present. They saw, or rather continued +to see, the image of what they had witnessed; but little by little the +general vertigo seized them, and they felt themselves obliged to take +part in the noise and confusion. A handful of confetti that came from +a neighboring carriage, and which, while it covered Morcerf and his +two companions with dust, pricked his neck and that portion of his face +uncovered by his mask like a hundred pins, incited him to join in the +general combat, in which all the masks around him were engaged. He rose +in his turn, and seizing handfuls of confetti and sweetmeats, with which +the carriage was filled, cast them with all the force and skill he was +master of. + +The strife had fairly begun, and the recollection of what they had seen +half an hour before was gradually effaced from the young men's minds, +so much were they occupied by the gay and glittering procession they now +beheld. As for the Count of Monte Cristo, he had never for an instant +shown any appearance of having been moved. Imagine the large and +splendid Corso, bordered from one end to the other with lofty palaces, +with their balconies hung with carpets, and their windows with flags. At +these balconies are three hundred thousand spectators--Romans, Italians, +strangers from all parts of the world, the united aristocracy of birth, +wealth, and genius. Lovely women, yielding to the influence of the +scene, bend over their balconies, or lean from their windows, and shower +down confetti, which are returned by bouquets; the air seems darkened +with the falling confetti and flying flowers. In the streets the lively +crowd is dressed in the most fantastic costumes--gigantic cabbages walk +gravely about, buffaloes' heads bellow from men's shoulders, dogs walk +on their hind legs; in the midst of all this a mask is lifted, and, as +in Callot's Temptation of St. Anthony, a lovely face is exhibited, +which we would fain follow, but from which we are separated by troops +of fiends. This will give a faint idea of the Carnival at Rome. At the +second turn, the count stopped the carriage, and requested permission to +withdraw, leaving the vehicle at their disposal. Franz looked up--they +were opposite the Rospoli Palace. At the centre window, the one hung +with white damask with a red cross, was a blue domino, beneath +which Franz's imagination easily pictured the beautiful Greek of the +Argentina. "Gentlemen," said the count, springing out, "when you are +tired of being actors, and wish to become spectators of this scene, +you know you have places at my windows. In the meantime, dispose of my +coachman, my carriage, and my servants." We have forgotten to mention, +that the count's coachman was attired in a bear-skin, exactly resembling +Odry's in "The Bear and the Pasha;" and the two footmen behind were +dressed up as green monkeys, with spring masks, with which they made +grimaces at every one who passed. Franz thanked the count for his +attention. As for Albert, he was busily occupied throwing bouquets at a +carriage full of Roman peasants that was passing near him. Unfortunately +for him, the line of carriages moved on again, and while he descended +the Piazza del Popolo, the other ascended towards the Palazzo di +Venezia. "Ah, my dear fellow," said he to Franz; "you did not see?" + +"What?" + +"There,--that calash filled with Roman peasants." + +"No." + +"Well, I am convinced they are all charming women." + +"How unfortunate that you were masked, Albert," said Franz; "here was an +opportunity of making up for past disappointments." + +"Oh," replied he, half laughing, half serious; "I hope the Carnival will +not pass without some amends in one shape or the other." + +But, in spite of Albert's hope, the day passed unmarked by any incident, +excepting two or three encounters with the carriage full of Roman +peasants. At one of these encounters, accidentally or purposely, +Albert's mask fell off. He instantly rose and cast the remainder of the +bouquets into the carriage. Doubtless one of the charming females +Albert had detected beneath their coquettish disguise was touched by his +gallantry; for, as the carriage of the two friends passed her, she threw +a bunch of violets. Albert seized it, and as Franz had no reason to +suppose it was meant for him, he suffered Albert to retain it. Albert +placed it in his button-hole, and the carriage went triumphantly on. + +"Well," said Franz to him; "there is the beginning of an adventure." + +"Laugh if you please--I really think so. So I will not abandon this +bouquet." + +"Pardieu," returned Franz, laughing, "in token of your ingratitude." +The jest, however, soon appeared to become earnest; for when Albert and +Franz again encountered the carriage with the contadini, the one who had +thrown the violets to Albert, clapped her hands when she beheld them +in his button-hole. "Bravo, bravo," said Franz; "things go wonderfully. +Shall I leave you? Perhaps you would prefer being alone?" + +"No," replied he; "I will not be caught like a fool at a first +disclosure by a rendezvous under the clock, as they say at the +opera-balls. If the fair peasant wishes to carry matters any further, +we shall find her, or rather, she will find us to-morrow; then she will +give me some sign or other, and I shall know what I have to do." + +"On my word," said Franz, "you are wise as Nestor and prudent as +Ulysses, and your fair Circe must be very skilful or very powerful if +she succeed in changing you into a beast of any kind." Albert was right; +the fair unknown had resolved, doubtless, to carry the intrigue no +farther; for although the young men made several more turns, they did +not again see the calash, which had turned up one of the neighboring +streets. Then they returned to the Rospoli Palace; but the count and +the blue domino had also disappeared; the two windows, hung with yellow +damask, were still occupied by the persons whom the count had invited. +At this moment the same bell that had proclaimed the beginning of the +mascherata sounded the retreat. The file on the Corso broke the line, +and in a second all the carriages had disappeared. Franz and Albert were +opposite the Via delle Maratte; the coachman, without saying a word, +drove up it, passed along the Piazza di Spagni and the Rospoli Palace +and stopped at the door of the hotel. Signor Pastrini came to the door +to receive his guests. Franz hastened to inquire after the count, and to +express regret that he had not returned in sufficient time; but Pastrini +reassured him by saying that the Count of Monte Cristo had ordered a +second carriage for himself, and that it had gone at four o'clock to +fetch him from the Rospoli Palace. The count had, moreover, charged +him to offer the two friends the key of his box at the Argentina. Franz +questioned Albert as to his intentions; but Albert had great projects +to put into execution before going to the theatre; and instead of making +any answer, he inquired if Signor Pastrini could procure him a tailor. +"A tailor," said the host; "and for what?" + +"To make us between now and to-morrow two Roman peasant costumes," +returned Albert. The host shook his head. "To make you two costumes +between now and to-morrow? I ask your excellencies' pardon, but this +is quite a French demand; for the next week you will not find a single +tailor who would consent to sew six buttons on a waistcoat if you paid +him a crown a piece for each button." + +"Then I must give up the idea?" + +"No; we have them ready-made. Leave all to me; and to-morrow, when you +awake, you shall find a collection of costumes with which you will be +satisfied." + +"My dear Albert," said Franz, "leave all to our host; he has already +proved himself full of resources; let us dine quietly, and afterwards go +and see 'The Algerian Captive.'" + +"Agreed," returned Albert; "but remember, Signor Pastrini, that both my +friend and myself attach the greatest importance to having to-morrow the +costumes we have asked for." The host again assured them they might rely +on him, and that their wishes should be attended to; upon which Franz +and Albert mounted to their apartments, and proceeded to disencumber +themselves of their costumes. Albert, as he took off his dress, +carefully preserved the bunch of violets; it was his token reserved +for the morrow. The two friends sat down to table; but they could +not refrain from remarking the difference between the Count of Monte +Cristo's table and that of Signor Pastrini. Truth compelled Franz, in +spite of the dislike he seemed to have taken to the count, to confess +that the advantage was not on Pastrini's side. During dessert, the +servant inquired at what time they wished for the carriage. Albert +and Franz looked at each other, fearing really to abuse the count's +kindness. The servant understood them. "His excellency the Count of +Monte Cristo had," he said, "given positive orders that the carriage was +to remain at their lordships' orders all day, and they could therefore +dispose of it without fear of indiscretion." + +They resolved to profit by the count's courtesy, and ordered the horses +to be harnessed, while they substituted evening dress for that which +they had on, and which was somewhat the worse for the numerous combats +they had sustained. This precaution taken, they went to the theatre, +and installed themselves in the count's box. During the first act, the +Countess G---- entered. Her first look was at the box where she had seen +the count the previous evening, so that she perceived Franz and Albert +in the place of the very person concerning whom she had expressed so +strange an opinion to Franz. Her opera-glass was so fixedly directed +towards them, that Franz saw it would be cruel not to satisfy her +curiosity; and, availing himself of one of the privileges of the +spectators of the Italian theatres, who use their boxes to hold +receptions, the two friends went to pay their respects to the countess. +Scarcely had they entered, when she motioned to Franz to assume the seat +of honor. Albert, in his turn, sat behind. + +"Well," said she, hardly giving Franz time to sit down, "it seems you +have nothing better to do than to make the acquaintance of this new Lord +Ruthven, and you are already the best friends in the world." + +"Without being so far advanced as that, my dear countess," returned +Franz, "I cannot deny that we have abused his good nature all day." + +"All day?" + +"Yes; this morning we breakfasted with him; we rode in his carriage all +day, and now we have taken possession of his box." + +"You know him, then?" + +"Yes, and no." + +"How so?" + +"It is a long story." + +"Tell it to me." + +"It would frighten you too much." + +"So much the more reason." + +"At least wait until the story has a conclusion." + +"Very well; I prefer complete histories; but tell me how you made his +acquaintance? Did any one introduce you to him?" + +"No; it was he who introduced himself to us." + +"When?" + +"Last night, after we left you." + +"Through what medium?" + +"The very prosaic one of our landlord." + +"He is staying, then, at the Hotel de Londres with you?" + +"Not only in the same hotel, but on the same floor." + +"What is his name--for, of course, you know?" + +"The Count of Monte Cristo." + +"That is not a family name?" + +"No, it is the name of the island he has purchased." + +"And he is a count?" + +"A Tuscan count." + +"Well, we must put up with that," said the countess, who was herself +from one of the oldest Venetian families. "What sort of a man is he?" + +"Ask the Vicomte de Morcerf." + +"You hear, M. de Morcerf, I am referred to you," said the countess. + +"We should be very hard to please, madam," returned Albert, "did we not +think him delightful. A friend of ten years' standing could not have +done more for us, or with a more perfect courtesy." + +"Come," observed the countess, smiling, "I see my vampire is only some +millionaire, who has taken the appearance of Lara in order to avoid +being confounded with M. de Rothschild; and you have seen her?" + +"Her?" + +"The beautiful Greek of yesterday." + +"No; we heard, I think, the sound of her guzla, but she remained +perfectly invisible." + +"When you say invisible," interrupted Albert, "it is only to keep up +the mystery; for whom do you take the blue domino at the window with the +white curtains?" + +"Where was this window with white hangings?" asked the countess. + +"At the Rospoli Palace." + +"The count had three windows at the Rospoli Palace?" + +"Yes. Did you pass through the Corso?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, did you notice two windows hung with yellow damask, and one with +white damask with a red cross? Those were the count's windows." + +"Why, he must be a nabob. Do you know what those three windows were +worth?" + +"Two or three hundred Roman crowns?" + +"Two or three thousand." + +"The deuce." + +"Does his island produce him such a revenue?" + +"It does not bring him a baiocco." + +"Then why did he purchase it?" + +"For a whim." + +"He is an original, then?" + +"In reality," observed Albert, "he seemed to me somewhat eccentric; were +he at Paris, and a frequenter of the theatres, I should say he was a +poor devil literally mad. This morning he made two or three exits worthy +of Didier or Anthony." At this moment a fresh visitor entered, and, +according to custom, Franz gave up his seat to him. This circumstance +had, moreover, the effect of changing the conversation; an hour +afterwards the two friends returned to their hotel. Signor Pastrini +had already set about procuring their disguises for the morrow; and he +assured them that they would be perfectly satisfied. The next morning, +at nine o'clock, he entered Franz's room, followed by a tailor, who +had eight or ten Roman peasant costumes on his arm; they selected two +exactly alike, and charged the tailor to sew on each of their hats about +twenty yards of ribbon, and to procure them two of the long silk sashes +of different colors with which the lower orders decorate themselves on +fete-days. Albert was impatient to see how he looked in his new dress--a +jacket and breeches of blue velvet, silk stockings with clocks, shoes +with buckles, and a silk waistcoat. This picturesque attire set him off +to great advantage; and when he had bound the scarf around his waist, +and when his hat, placed coquettishly on one side, let fall on his +shoulder a stream of ribbons, Franz was forced to confess that costume +has much to do with the physical superiority we accord to certain +nations. The Turks used to be so picturesque with their long and flowing +robes, but are they not now hideous with their blue frocks buttoned up +to the chin, and their red caps, which make them look like a bottle of +wine with a red seal? Franz complimented Albert, who looked at himself +in the glass with an unequivocal smile of satisfaction. They were thus +engaged when the Count of Monte Cristo entered. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "although a companion is agreeable, perfect +freedom is sometimes still more agreeable. I come to say that to-day, +and for the remainder of the Carnival, I leave the carriage entirely at +your disposal. The host will tell you I have three or four more, so that +you will not inconvenience me in any way. Make use of it, I pray you, +for your pleasure or your business." + +The young men wished to decline, but they could find no good reason for +refusing an offer which was so agreeable to them. The Count of Monte +Cristo remained a quarter of an hour with them, conversing on all +subjects with the greatest ease. He was, as we have already said, +perfectly well acquainted with the literature of all countries. A glance +at the walls of his salon proved to Franz and Albert that he was a +connoisseur of pictures. A few words he let fall showed them that he was +no stranger to the sciences, and he seemed much occupied with chemistry. +The two friends did not venture to return the count the breakfast he had +given them; it would have been too absurd to offer him in exchange for +his excellent table the very inferior one of Signor Pastrini. They told +him so frankly, and he received their excuses with the air of a man who +appreciated their delicacy. Albert was charmed with the count's manners, +and he was only prevented from recognizing him for a perfect gentleman +by reason of his varied knowledge. The permission to do what he liked +with the carriage pleased him above all, for the fair peasants had +appeared in a most elegant carriage the preceding evening, and Albert +was not sorry to be upon an equal footing with them. At half-past one +they descended, the coachman and footman had put on their livery over +their disguises, which gave them a more ridiculous appearance than +ever, and which gained them the applause of Franz and Albert. Albert +had fastened the faded bunch of violets to his button-hole. At the first +sound of the bell they hastened into the Corso by the Via Vittoria. At +the second turn, a bunch of fresh violets, thrown from a carriage filled +with harlequins, indicated to Albert that, like himself and his friend, +the peasants had changed their costume, also; and whether it was the +result of chance, or whether a similar feeling had possessed them both, +while he had changed his costume they had assumed his. + +Albert placed the fresh bouquet in his button-hole, but he kept the +faded one in his hand; and when he again met the calash, he raised it to +his lips, an action which seemed greatly to amuse not only the fair lady +who had thrown it, but her joyous companions also. The day was as gay +as the preceding one, perhaps even more animated and noisy; the count +appeared for an instant at his window, but when they again passed he had +disappeared. It is almost needless to say that the flirtation between +Albert and the fair peasant continued all day. In the evening, on his +return, Franz found a letter from the embassy, informing him that he +would have the honor of being received by his holiness the next day. At +each previous visit he had made to Rome, he had solicited and obtained +the same favor; and incited as much by a religious feeling as by +gratitude, he was unwilling to quit the capital of the Christian world +without laying his respectful homage at the feet of one of St. Peter's +successors who has set the rare example of all the virtues. He did +not then think of the Carnival, for in spite of his condescension and +touching kindness, one cannot incline one's self without awe before the +venerable and noble old man called Gregory XVI. On his return from the +Vatican, Franz carefully avoided the Corso; he brought away with him a +treasure of pious thoughts, to which the mad gayety of the maskers +would have been profanation. At ten minutes past five Albert entered +overjoyed. The harlequin had reassumed her peasant's costume, and as +she passed she raised her mask. She was charming. Franz congratulated +Albert, who received his congratulations with the air of a man conscious +that they are merited. He had recognized by certain unmistakable signs, +that his fair incognita belonged to the aristocracy. He had made up his +mind to write to her the next day. Franz remarked, while he gave these +details, that Albert seemed to have something to ask of him, but that he +was unwilling to ask it. He insisted upon it, declaring beforehand +that he was willing to make any sacrifice the other wished. Albert let +himself be pressed just as long as friendship required, and then avowed +to Franz that he would do him a great favor by allowing him to occupy +the carriage alone the next day. Albert attributed to Franz's absence +the extreme kindness of the fair peasant in raising her mask. Franz +was not sufficiently egotistical to stop Albert in the middle of an +adventure that promised to prove so agreeable to his curiosity and so +flattering to his vanity. He felt assured that the perfect indiscretion +of his friend would duly inform him of all that happened; and as, during +three years that he had travelled all over Italy, a similar piece of +good fortune had never fallen to his share, Franz was by no means sorry +to learn how to act on such an occasion. He therefore promised Albert +that he would content himself the morrow with witnessing the Carnival +from the windows of the Rospoli Palace. + +The next morning he saw Albert pass and repass, holding an enormous +bouquet, which he doubtless meant to make the bearer of his amorous +epistle. This belief was changed into certainty when Franz saw the +bouquet (conspicuous by a circle of white camellias) in the hand of a +charming harlequin dressed in rose-colored satin. The evening was no +longer joy, but delirium. Albert nothing doubted but that the fair +unknown would reply in the same manner. Franz anticipated his wishes by +saying that the noise fatigued him, and that he should pass the next day +in writing and looking over his journal. Albert was not deceived, for +the next evening Franz saw him enter triumphantly shaking a folded paper +which he held by one corner. "Well," said he, "was I mistaken?" + +"She has answered you!" cried Franz. + +"Read." This word was pronounced in a manner impossible to describe. +Franz took the letter, and read:-- + +Tuesday evening, at seven o'clock, descend from your carriage opposite +the Via dei Pontefici, and follow the Roman peasant who snatches your +torch from you. When you arrive at the first step of the church of +San Giacomo, be sure to fasten a knot of rose-colored ribbons to the +shoulder of your harlequin costume, in order that you may be recognized. +Until then you will not see me. + +Constancy and Discretion. + +"Well," asked he, when Franz had finished, "what do you think of that?" + +"I think that the adventure is assuming a very agreeable appearance." + +"I think so, also," replied Albert; "and I very much fear you will go +alone to the Duke of Bracciano's ball." Franz and Albert had received +that morning an invitation from the celebrated Roman banker. "Take care, +Albert," said Franz. "All the nobility of Rome will be present, and if +your fair incognita belong to the higher class of society, she must go +there." + +"Whether she goes there or not, my opinion is still the same," returned +Albert. "You have read the letter?" + +"Yes." + +"You know how imperfectly the women of the mezzo cito are educated in +Italy?" (This is the name of the lower class.) + +"Yes." + +"Well, read the letter again. Look at the writing, and find if you +can, any blemish in the language or orthography." (The writing was, in +reality, charming, and the orthography irreproachable.) "You are born to +good fortune," said Franz, as he returned the letter. + +"Laugh as much as you will," replied Albert, "I am in love." + +"You alarm me," cried Franz. "I see that I shall not only go alone to +the Duke of Bracciano's, but also return to Florence alone." + +"If my unknown be as amiable as she is beautiful," said Albert, "I shall +fix myself at Rome for six weeks, at least. I adore Rome, and I have +always had a great taste for archaeology." + +"Come, two or three more such adventures, and I do not despair of seeing +you a member of the Academy." Doubtless Albert was about to discuss +seriously his right to the academic chair when they were informed that +dinner was ready. Albert's love had not taken away his appetite. He +hastened with Franz to seat himself, free to recommence the discussion +after dinner. After dinner, the Count of Monte Cristo was announced. +They had not seen him for two days. Signor Pastrini informed them that +business had called him to Civita Vecchia. He had started the previous +evening, and had only returned an hour since. He was charming. Whether +he kept a watch over himself, or whether by accident he did not sound +the acrimonious chords that in other circumstances had been touched, he +was to-night like everybody else. The man was an enigma to Franz. The +count must feel sure that Franz recognized him; and yet he had not let +fall a single word indicating any previous acquaintance between them. +On his side, however great Franz's desire was to allude to their former +interview, the fear of being disagreeable to the man who had loaded him +and his friend with kindness prevented him from mentioning it. The +count had learned that the two friends had sent to secure a box at the +Argentina Theatre, and were told they were all let. In consequence, he +brought them the key of his own--at least such was the apparent motive +of his visit. Franz and Albert made some difficulty, alleging their fear +of depriving him of it; but the count replied that, as he was going to +the Palli Theatre, the box at the Argentina Theatre would be lost if +they did not profit by it. This assurance determined the two friends to +accept it. + +Franz had by degrees become accustomed to the count's pallor, which had +so forcibly struck him at their first meeting. He could not refrain from +admiring the severe beauty of his features, the only defect, or rather +the principal quality of which was the pallor. Truly, a Byronic hero! +Franz could not, we will not say see him, but even think of him without +imagining his stern head upon Manfred's shoulders, or beneath Lara's +helmet. His forehead was marked with the line that indicates the +constant presence of bitter thoughts; he had the fiery eyes that seem +to penetrate to the very soul, and the haughty and disdainful upper lip +that gives to the words it utters a peculiar character that impresses +them on the minds of those to whom they are addressed. The count was no +longer young. He was at least forty; and yet it was easy to understand +that he was formed to rule the young men with whom he associated at +present. And, to complete his resemblance with the fantastic heroes of +the English poet, the count seemed to have the power of fascination. +Albert was constantly expatiating on their good fortune in meeting such +a man. Franz was less enthusiastic; but the count exercised over him +also the ascendency a strong mind always acquires over a mind less +domineering. He thought several times of the project the count had +of visiting Paris; and he had no doubt but that, with his eccentric +character, his characteristic face, and his colossal fortune, he would +produce a great effect there. And yet he did not wish to be at Paris +when the count was there. The evening passed as evenings mostly pass at +Italian theatres; that is, not in listening to the music, but in paying +visits and conversing. The Countess G---- wished to revive the subject of +the count, but Franz announced he had something far newer to tell her, +and, in spite of Albert's demonstrations of false modesty, he informed +the countess of the great event which had preoccupied them for the last +three days. As similar intrigues are not uncommon in Italy, if we may +credit travellers, the comtess did not manifest the least incredulity, +but congratulated Albert on his success. They promised, upon separating, +to meet at the Duke of Bracciano's ball, to which all Rome was invited. +The heroine of the bouquet kept her word; she gave Albert no sign of her +existence the morrow or the day after. + +At length Tuesday came, the last and most tumultuous day of the +Carnival. On Tuesday, the theatres open at ten o'clock in the morning, +as Lent begins after eight at night. On Tuesday, all those who through +want of money, time, or enthusiasm, have not been to see the Carnival +before, mingle in the gayety, and contribute to the noise and +excitement. From two o'clock till five Franz and Albert followed in the +fete, exchanging handfuls of confetti with the other carriages and +the pedestrians, who crowded amongst the horses' feet and the carriage +wheels without a single accident, a single dispute, or a single fight. +The fetes are veritable pleasure days to the Italians. The author of +this history, who has resided five or six years in Italy, does not +recollect to have ever seen a ceremony interrupted by one of those +events so common in other countries. Albert was triumphant in his +harlequin costume. A knot of rose-colored ribbons fell from his shoulder +almost to the ground. In order that there might be no confusion, Franz +wore his peasant's costume. + +As the day advanced, the tumult became greater. There was not on the +pavement, in the carriages, at the windows, a single tongue that was +silent, a single arm that did not move. It was a human storm, made up +of a thunder of cries, and a hail of sweetmeats, flowers, eggs, oranges, +and nosegays. At three o'clock the sound of fireworks, let off on the +Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza di Venezia (heard with difficulty amid +the din and confusion) announced that the races were about to begin. The +races, like the moccoli, are one of the episodes peculiar to the last +days of the Carnival. At the sound of the fireworks the carriages +instantly broke ranks, and retired by the adjacent streets. All these +evolutions are executed with an inconceivable address and marvellous +rapidity, without the police interfering in the matter. The pedestrians +ranged themselves against the walls; then the trampling of horses and +the clashing of steel were heard. A detachment of carbineers, fifteen +abreast, galloped up the Corso in order to clear it for the barberi. +When the detachment arrived at the Piazza di Venezia, a second volley of +fireworks was discharged, to announce that the street was clear. Almost +instantly, in the midst of a tremendous and general outcry, seven +or eight horses, excited by the shouts of three hundred thousand +spectators, passed by like lightning. Then the Castle of Saint Angelo +fired three cannon to indicate that number three had won. Immediately, +without any other signal, the carriages moved on, flowing on towards the +Corso, down all the streets, like torrents pent up for a while, which +again flow into the parent river; and the immense stream again continued +its course between its two granite banks. + +A new source of noise and movement was added to the crowd. The sellers +of moccoletti entered on the scene. The moccoli, or moccoletti, are +candles which vary in size from the pascal taper to the rushlight, and +which give to each actor in the great final scene of the Carnival two +very serious problems to grapple with,--first, how to keep his own +moccoletto alight; and secondly, how to extinguish the moccoletti of +others. The moccoletto is like life: man has found but one means of +transmitting it, and that one comes from God. But he has discovered a +thousand means of taking it away, and the devil has somewhat aided him. +The moccoletto is kindled by approaching it to a light. But who can +describe the thousand means of extinguishing the moccoletto?--the +gigantic bellows, the monstrous extinguishers, the superhuman fans. +Every one hastened to purchase moccoletti--Franz and Albert among the +rest. + +The night was rapidly approaching; and already, at the cry of +"Moccoletti!" repeated by the shrill voices of a thousand vendors, two +or three stars began to burn among the crowd. It was a signal. At the +end of ten minutes fifty thousand lights glittered, descending from +the Palazzo di Venezia to the Piazza del Popolo, and mounting from the +Piazzo del Popolo to the Palazzo di Venezia. It seemed like the fete of +jack-o'-lanterns. It is impossible to form any idea of it without having +seen it. Suppose that all the stars had descended from the sky and +mingled in a wild dance on the face of the earth; the whole accompanied +by cries that were never heard in any other part of the world. The +facchino follows the prince, the Transteverin the citizen, every one +blowing, extinguishing, relighting. Had old AEolus appeared at this +moment, he would have been proclaimed king of the moccoli, and Aquilo +the heir-presumptive to the throne. This battle of folly and flame +continued for two hours; the Corso was light as day; the features of +the spectators on the third and fourth stories were visible. Every five +minutes Albert took out his watch; at length it pointed to seven. The +two friends were in the Via dei Pontefici. Albert sprang out, bearing +his moccoletto in his hand. Two or three masks strove to knock his +moccoletto out of his hand; but Albert, a first-rate pugilist, sent them +rolling in the street, one after the other, and continued his course +towards the church of San Giacomo. The steps were crowded with masks, +who strove to snatch each other's torches. Franz followed Albert with +his eyes, and saw him mount the first step. Instantly a mask, wearing +the well-known costume of a peasant woman, snatched his moccoletto from +him without his offering any resistance. Franz was too far off to hear +what they said; but, without doubt, nothing hostile passed, for he saw +Albert disappear arm-in-arm with the peasant girl. He watched them pass +through the crowd for some time, but at length he lost sight of them in +the Via Macello. Suddenly the bell that gives the signal for the end of +the carnival sounded, and at the same instant all the moccoletti were +extinguished as if by enchantment. It seemed as though one immense blast +of the wind had extinguished every one. Franz found himself in utter +darkness. No sound was audible save that of the carriages that were +carrying the maskers home; nothing was visible save a few lights that +burnt behind the windows. The Carnival was over. + + + +Chapter 37. The Catacombs of Saint Sebastian. + +In his whole life, perhaps, Franz had never before experienced so sudden +an impression, so rapid a transition from gayety to sadness, as in this +moment. It seemed as though Rome, under the magic breath of some demon +of the night, had suddenly changed into a vast tomb. By a chance, which +added yet more to the intensity of the darkness, the moon, which was on +the wane, did not rise until eleven o'clock, and the streets which the +young man traversed were plunged in the deepest obscurity. The distance +was short, and at the end of ten minutes his carriage, or rather the +count's, stopped before the Hotel de Londres. Dinner was waiting, but +as Albert had told him that he should not return so soon, Franz sat down +without him. Signor Pastrini, who had been accustomed to see them dine +together, inquired into the cause of his absence, but Franz merely +replied that Albert had received on the previous evening an invitation +which he had accepted. The sudden extinction of the moccoletti, the +darkness which had replaced the light, and the silence which had +succeeded the turmoil, had left in Franz's mind a certain depression +which was not free from uneasiness. He therefore dined very silently, in +spite of the officious attention of his host, who presented himself two +or three times to inquire if he wanted anything. + +Franz resolved to wait for Albert as late as possible. He ordered the +carriage, therefore, for eleven o'clock, desiring Signor Pastrini to +inform him the moment that Albert returned to the hotel. At eleven +o'clock Albert had not come back. Franz dressed himself, and went out, +telling his host that he was going to pass the night at the Duke of +Bracciano's. The house of the Duke of Bracciano is one of the most +delightful in Rome, the duchess, one of the last heiresses of the +Colonnas, does its honors with the most consummate grace, and thus their +fetes have a European celebrity. Franz and Albert had brought to Rome +letters of introduction to them, and their first question on his arrival +was to inquire the whereabouts of his travelling companion. Franz +replied that he had left him at the moment they were about to extinguish +the moccoli, and that he had lost sight of him in the Via Macello. "Then +he has not returned?" said the duke. + +"I waited for him until this hour," replied Franz. + +"And do you know whither he went?" + +"No, not precisely; however, I think it was something very like a +rendezvous." + +"Diavolo!" said the duke, "this is a bad day, or rather a bad night, +to be out late; is it not, countess!" These words were addressed to +the Countess G----, who had just arrived, and was leaning on the arm of +Signor Torlonia, the duke's brother. + +"I think, on the contrary, that it is a charming night," replied the +countess, "and those who are here will complain of but one thing--its +too rapid flight." + +"I am not speaking," said the duke with a smile, "of the persons who are +here; the men run no other danger than that of falling in love with +you, and the women of falling ill of jealousy at seeing you so lovely; I +meant persons who were out in the streets of Rome." + +"Ah," asked the countess, "who is out in the streets of Rome at this +hour, unless it be to go to a ball?" + +"Our friend, Albert de Morcerf, countess, whom I left in pursuit of his +unknown about seven o'clock this evening," said Franz, "and whom I have +not seen since." + +"And don't you know where he is?" + +"Not at all." + +"Is he armed?" + +"He is in masquerade." + +"You should not have allowed him to go," said the duke to Franz; "you, +who know Rome better than he does." + +"You might as well have tried to stop number three of the barberi, who +gained the prize in the race to-day," replied Franz; "and then moreover, +what could happen to him?" + +"Who can tell? The night is gloomy, and the Tiber is very near the Via +Macello." Franz felt a shudder run through his veins at observing that +the feeling of the duke and the countess was so much in unison with his +own personal disquietude. "I informed them at the hotel that I had the +honor of passing the night here, duke," said Franz, "and desired them to +come and inform me of his return." + +"Ah," replied the duke, "here I think, is one of my servants who is +seeking you." + +The duke was not mistaken; when he saw Franz, the servant came up to +him. "Your excellency," he said, "the master of the Hotel de Londres has +sent to let you know that a man is waiting for you with a letter from +the Viscount of Morcerf." + +"A letter from the viscount!" exclaimed Franz. + +"Yes." + +"And who is the man?" + +"I do not know." + +"Why did he not bring it to me here?" + +"The messenger did not say." + +"And where is the messenger?" + +"He went away directly he saw me enter the ball-room to find you." + +"Oh," said the countess to Franz, "go with all speed--poor young man! +Perhaps some accident has happened to him." + +"I will hasten," replied Franz. + +"Shall we see you again to give us any information?" inquired the +countess. + +"Yes, if it is not any serious affair, otherwise I cannot answer as to +what I may do myself." + +"Be prudent, in any event," said the countess. + +"Oh, pray be assured of that." Franz took his hat and went away in +haste. He had sent away his carriage with orders for it to fetch him at +two o'clock; fortunately the Palazzo Bracciano, which is on one side +in the Corso, and on the other in the Square of the Holy Apostles, is +hardly ten minutes' walk from the Hotel de Londres. As he came near the +hotel, Franz saw a man in the middle of the street. He had no doubt +that it was the messenger from Albert. The man was wrapped up in a large +cloak. He went up to him, but, to his extreme astonishment, the stranger +first addressed him. "What wants your excellency of me?" inquired the +man, retreating a step or two, as if to keep on his guard. + +"Are not you the person who brought me a letter," inquired Franz, "from +the Viscount of Morcerf?" + +"Your excellency lodges at Pastrini's hotel?" + +"I do." + +"Your excellency is the travelling companion of the viscount?" + +"I am." + +"Your excellency's name"-- + +"Is the Baron Franz d'Epinay." + +"Then it is to your excellency that this letter is addressed." + +"Is there any answer?" inquired Franz, taking the letter from him. + +"Yes--your friend at least hopes so." + +"Come up-stairs with me, and I will give it to you." + +"I prefer waiting here," said the messenger, with a smile. + +"And why?" + +"Your excellency will know when you have read the letter." + +"Shall I find you here, then?" + +"Certainly." + +Franz entered the hotel. On the staircase he met Signor Pastrini. +"Well?" said the landlord. + +"Well--what?" responded Franz. + +"You have seen the man who desired to speak with you from your friend?" +he asked of Franz. + +"Yes, I have seen him," he replied, "and he has handed this letter to +me. Light the candles in my apartment, if you please." The inn-keeper +gave orders to a servant to go before Franz with a light. The young man +had found Signor Pastrini looking very much alarmed, and this had +only made him the more anxious to read Albert's letter; and so he went +instantly towards the waxlight, and unfolded it. It was written and +signed by Albert. Franz read it twice before he could comprehend what it +contained. It was thus worded:-- + +My Dear Fellow,--The moment you have received this, have the kindness +to take the letter of credit from my pocket-book, which you will find +in the square drawer of the secretary; add your own to it, if it be +not sufficient. Run to Torlonia, draw from him instantly four thousand +piastres, and give them to the bearer. It is urgent that I should have +this money without delay. I do not say more, relying on you as you may +rely on me. Your friend, + +Albert de Morcerf. + +P.S.--I now believe in Italian banditti. + +Below these lines were written, in a strange hand, the following in +Italian:-- + +Se alle sei della mattina le quattro mile piastre non sono nelle mie +mani, alla sette il conte Alberto avra cessato di vivere. + +Luigi Vampa. + +"If by six in the morning the four thousand piastres are not in my +hands, by seven o'clock the Count Albert will have ceased to live." + +This second signature explained everything to Franz, who now understood +the objection of the messenger to coming up into the apartment; the +street was safer for him. Albert, then, had fallen into the hands of +the famous bandit chief, in whose existence he had for so long a time +refused to believe. There was no time to lose. He hastened to open the +secretary, and found the pocket-book in the drawer, and in it the letter +of credit. There were in all six thousand piastres, but of these six +thousand Albert had already expended three thousand. As to Franz, he had +no letter of credit, as he lived at Florence, and had only come to Rome +to pass seven or eight days; he had brought but a hundred louis, and +of these he had not more than fifty left. Thus seven or eight hundred +piastres were wanting to them both to make up the sum that Albert +required. True, he might in such a case rely on the kindness of Signor +Torlonia. He was, therefore, about to return to the Palazzo Bracciano +without loss of time, when suddenly a luminous idea crossed his mind. He +remembered the Count of Monte Cristo. Franz was about to ring for Signor +Pastrini, when that worthy presented himself. "My dear sir," he said, +hastily, "do you know if the count is within?" + +"Yes, your excellency; he has this moment returned." + +"Is he in bed?" + +"I should say no." + +"Then ring at his door, if you please, and request him to be so kind +as to give me an audience." Signor Pastrini did as he was desired, +and returning five minutes after, he said,--"The count awaits your +excellency." Franz went along the corridor, and a servant introduced him +to the count. He was in a small room which Franz had not yet seen, and +which was surrounded with divans. The count came towards him. "Well, +what good wind blows you hither at this hour?" said he; "have you come +to sup with me? It would be very kind of you." + +"No; I have come to speak to you of a very serious matter." + +"A serious matter," said the count, looking at Franz with the +earnestness usual to him; "and what may it be?" + +"Are we alone?" + +"Yes," replied the count, going to the door, and returning. Franz gave +him Albert's letter. "Read that," he said. The count read it. + +"Well, well!" said he. + +"Did you see the postscript?" + +"I did, indeed. + +"'Se alle sei della mattina le quattro mile piastre non sono nelle mie +mani, alla sette il conte Alberto avra cessato di vivere. + +"'Luigi Vampa.'" + +"What think you of that?" inquired Franz. + +"Have you the money he demands?" + +"Yes, all but eight hundred piastres." The count went to his secretary, +opened it, and pulling out a drawer filled with gold, said to Franz,--"I +hope you will not offend me by applying to any one but myself." + +"You see, on the contrary, I come to you first and instantly," replied +Franz. + +"And I thank you; have what you will;" and he made a sign to Franz to +take what he pleased. + +"Is it absolutely necessary, then, to send the money to Luigi Vampa?" +asked the young man, looking fixedly in his turn at the count. + +"Judge for yourself," replied he. "The postscript is explicit." + +"I think that if you would take the trouble of reflecting, you could +find a way of simplifying the negotiation," said Franz. + +"How so?" returned the count, with surprise. + +"If we were to go together to Luigi Vampa, I am sure he would not refuse +you Albert's freedom." + +"What influence can I possibly have over a bandit?" + +"Have you not just rendered him a service that can never be forgotten?" + +"What is that?" + +"Have you not saved Peppino's life?" + +"Well, well," said the count, "who told you that?" + +"No matter; I know it." The count knit his brows, and remained silent an +instant. "And if I went to seek Vampa, would you accompany me?" + +"If my society would not be disagreeable." + +"Be it so. It is a lovely night, and a walk without Rome will do us both +good." + +"Shall I take any arms?" + +"For what purpose?" + +"Any money?" + +"It is useless. Where is the man who brought the letter?" + +"In the street." + +"He awaits the answer?" + +"Yes." + +"I must learn where we are going. I will summon him hither." + +"It is useless; he would not come up." + +"To your apartments, perhaps; but he will not make any difficulty at +entering mine." The count went to the window of the apartment that +looked on to the street, and whistled in a peculiar manner. The man in +the mantle quitted the wall, and advanced into the middle of the street. +"Salite!" said the count, in the same tone in which he would have +given an order to his servant. The messenger obeyed without the least +hesitation, but rather with alacrity, and, mounting the steps at a +bound, entered the hotel; five seconds afterwards he was at the door of +the room. "Ah, it is you, Peppino," said the count. But Peppino, instead +of answering, threw himself on his knees, seized the count's hand, +and covered it with kisses. "Ah," said the count, "you have, then, not +forgotten that I saved your life; that is strange, for it is a week +ago." + +"No, excellency; and never shall I forget it," returned Peppino, with an +accent of profound gratitude. + +"Never? That is a long time; but it is something that you believe so. +Rise and answer." Peppino glanced anxiously at Franz. "Oh, you may speak +before his excellency," said he; "he is one of my friends. You allow me +to give you this title?" continued the count in French, "it is necessary +to excite this man's confidence." + +"You can speak before me," said Franz; "I am a friend of the count's." + +"Good!" returned Peppino. "I am ready to answer any questions your +excellency may address to me." + +"How did the Viscount Albert fall into Luigi's hands?" + +"Excellency, the Frenchman's carriage passed several times the one in +which was Teresa." + +"The chief's mistress?" + +"Yes. The Frenchman threw her a bouquet; Teresa returned it--all this +with the consent of the chief, who was in the carriage." + +"What?" cried Franz, "was Luigi Vampa in the carriage with the Roman +peasants?" + +"It was he who drove, disguised as the coachman," replied Peppino. + +"Well?" said the count. + +"Well, then, the Frenchman took off his mask; Teresa, with the chief's +consent, did the same. The Frenchman asked for a rendezvous; Teresa gave +him one--only, instead of Teresa, it was Beppo who was on the steps of +the church of San Giacomo." + +"What!" exclaimed Franz, "the peasant girl who snatched his mocoletto +from him"-- + +"Was a lad of fifteen," replied Peppino. "But it was no disgrace to your +friend to have been deceived; Beppo has taken in plenty of others." + +"And Beppo led him outside the walls?" said the count. + +"Exactly so; a carriage was waiting at the end of the Via Macello. Beppo +got in, inviting the Frenchman to follow him, and he did not wait to be +asked twice. He gallantly offered the right-hand seat to Beppo, and sat +by him. Beppo told him he was going to take him to a villa a league from +Rome; the Frenchman assured him he would follow him to the end of the +world. The coachman went up the Via di Ripetta and the Porta San Paola; +and when they were two hundred yards outside, as the Frenchman became +somewhat too forward, Beppo put a brace of pistols to his head, the +coachman pulled up and did the same. At the same time, four of the band, +who were concealed on the banks of the Almo, surrounded the carriage. +The Frenchman made some resistance, and nearly strangled Beppo; but he +could not resist five armed men, and was forced to yield. They made +him get out, walk along the banks of the river, and then brought him +to Teresa and Luigi, who were waiting for him in the catacombs of St. +Sebastian." + +"Well," said the count, turning towards Franz, "it seems to me that this +is a very likely story. What do you say to it?" + +"Why, that I should think it very amusing," replied Franz, "if it had +happened to any one but poor Albert." + +"And, in truth, if you had not found me here," said the count, "it might +have proved a gallant adventure which would have cost your friend dear; +but now, be assured, his alarm will be the only serious consequence." + +"And shall we go and find him?" inquired Franz. + +"Oh, decidedly, sir. He is in a very picturesque place--do you know the +catacombs of St. Sebastian?" + +"I was never in them; but I have often resolved to visit them." + +"Well, here is an opportunity made to your hand, and it would be +difficult to contrive a better. Have you a carriage?" + +"No." + +"That is of no consequence; I always have one ready, day and night." + +"Always ready?" + +"Yes. I am a very capricious being, and I should tell you that sometimes +when I rise, or after my dinner, or in the middle of the night, I +resolve on starting for some particular point, and away I go." The count +rang, and a footman appeared. "Order out the carriage," he said, "and +remove the pistols which are in the holsters. You need not awaken the +coachman; Ali will drive." In a very short time the noise of wheels +was heard, and the carriage stopped at the door. The count took out his +watch. "Half-past twelve," he said. "We might start at five o'clock and +be in time, but the delay may cause your friend to pass an uneasy night, +and therefore we had better go with all speed to extricate him from the +hands of the infidels. Are you still resolved to accompany me?" + +"More determined than ever." + +"Well, then, come along." + +Franz and the count went downstairs, accompanied by Peppino. At the door +they found the carriage. Ali was on the box, in whom Franz recognized +the dumb slave of the grotto of Monte Cristo. Franz and the count got +into the carriage. Peppino placed himself beside Ali, and they set off +at a rapid pace. Ali had received his instructions, and went down the +Corso, crossed the Campo Vaccino, went up the Strada San Gregorio, +and reached the gates of St. Sebastian. Then the porter raised some +difficulties, but the Count of Monte Cristo produced a permit from the +governor of Rome, allowing him to leave or enter the city at any hour of +the day or night; the portcullis was therefore raised, the porter had +a louis for his trouble, and they went on their way. The road which the +carriage now traversed was the ancient Appian Way, and bordered with +tombs. From time to time, by the light of the moon, which began to rise, +Franz imagined that he saw something like a sentinel appear at various +points among the ruins, and suddenly retreat into the darkness on a +signal from Peppino. A short time before they reached the Baths of +Caracalla the carriage stopped, Peppino opened the door, and the count +and Franz alighted. + +"In ten minutes," said the count to his companion, "we shall be there." + +He then took Peppino aside, gave him an order in a low voice, and +Peppino went away, taking with him a torch, brought with them in the +carriage. Five minutes elapsed, during which Franz saw the shepherd +going along a narrow path that led over the irregular and broken surface +of the Campagna; and finally he disappeared in the midst of the tall +red herbage, which seemed like the bristling mane of an enormous lion. +"Now," said the count, "let us follow him." Franz and the count in their +turn then advanced along the same path, which, at the distance of +a hundred paces, led them over a declivity to the bottom of a small +valley. They then perceived two men conversing in the obscurity. "Ought +we to go on?" asked Franz of the count; "or shall we wait awhile?" + +"Let us go on; Peppino will have warned the sentry of our coming." One +of the two men was Peppino, and the other a bandit on the lookout. Franz +and the count advanced, and the bandit saluted them. "Your excellency," +said Peppino, addressing the count, "if you will follow me, the opening +of the catacombs is close at hand." + +"Go on, then," replied the count. They came to an opening behind a clump +of bushes and in the midst of a pile of rocks, by which a man could +scarcely pass. Peppino glided first into this crevice; after they got +along a few paces the passage widened. Peppino passed, lighted his +torch, and turned to see if they came after him. The count first reached +an open space and Franz followed him closely. The passageway sloped in +a gentle descent, enlarging as they proceeded; still Franz and the count +were compelled to advance in a stooping posture, and were scarcely able +to proceed abreast of one another. They went on a hundred and fifty +paces in this way, and then were stopped by, "Who comes there?" At the +same time they saw the reflection of a torch on a carbine barrel. + +"A friend!" responded Peppino; and, advancing alone towards the sentry, +he said a few words to him in a low tone; and then he, like the first, +saluted the nocturnal visitors, making a sign that they might proceed. + +Behind the sentinel was a staircase with twenty steps. Franz and the +count descended these, and found themselves in a mortuary chamber. Five +corridors diverged like the rays of a star, and the walls, dug into +niches, which were arranged one above the other in the shape of +coffins, showed that they were at last in the catacombs. Down one of the +corridors, whose extent it was impossible to determine, rays of light +were visible. The count laid his hand on Franz's shoulder. "Would you +like to see a camp of bandits in repose?" he inquired. + +"Exceedingly," replied Franz. + +"Come with me, then. Peppino, put out the torch." Peppino obeyed, and +Franz and the count were in utter darkness, except that fifty paces in +advance of them a reddish glare, more evident since Peppino had put out +his torch, was visible along the wall. They advanced silently, the count +guiding Franz as if he had the singular faculty of seeing in the dark. +Franz himself, however, saw his way more plainly in proportion as he +went on towards the light, which served in some manner as a guide. Three +arcades were before them, and the middle one was used as a door. These +arcades opened on one side into the corridor where the count and Franz +were, and on the other into a large square chamber, entirely surrounded +by niches similar to those of which we have spoken. In the midst of this +chamber were four stones, which had formerly served as an altar, as was +evident from the cross which still surmounted them. A lamp, placed at +the base of a pillar, lighted up with its pale and flickering flame the +singular scene which presented itself to the eyes of the two visitors +concealed in the shadow. A man was seated with his elbow leaning on the +column, and was reading with his back turned to the arcades, through the +openings of which the new-comers contemplated him. This was the chief +of the band, Luigi Vampa. Around him, and in groups, according to their +fancy, lying in their mantles, or with their backs against a sort of +stone bench, which went all round the columbarium, were to be seen +twenty brigands or more, each having his carbine within reach. At the +other end, silent, scarcely visible, and like a shadow, was a +sentinel, who was walking up and down before a grotto, which was only +distinguishable because in that spot the darkness seemed more dense than +elsewhere. When the count thought Franz had gazed sufficiently on this +picturesque tableau, he raised his finger to his lips, to warn him to be +silent, and, ascending the three steps which led to the corridor of +the columbarium, entered the chamber by the middle arcade, and advanced +towards Vampa, who was so intent on the book before him that he did not +hear the noise of his footsteps. + +"Who comes there?" cried the sentinel, who was less abstracted, and who +saw by the lamp-light a shadow approaching his chief. At this challenge, +Vampa rose quickly, drawing at the same moment a pistol from his girdle. +In a moment all the bandits were on their feet, and twenty carbines were +levelled at the count. "Well," said he in a voice perfectly calm, and no +muscle of his countenance disturbed, "well, my dear Vampa, it appears to +me that you receive a friend with a great deal of ceremony." + +"Ground arms," exclaimed the chief, with an imperative sign of the hand, +while with the other he took off his hat respectfully; then, turning to +the singular personage who had caused this scene, he said, "Your pardon, +your excellency, but I was so far from expecting the honor of a visit, +that I did not really recognize you." + +"It seems that your memory is equally short in everything, Vampa," said +the count, "and that not only do you forget people's faces, but also the +conditions you make with them." + +"What conditions have I forgotten, your excellency?" inquired the +bandit, with the air of a man who, having committed an error, is anxious +to repair it. + +"Was it not agreed," asked the count, "that not only my person, but also +that of my friends, should be respected by you?" + +"And how have I broken that treaty, your excellency?" + +"You have this evening carried off and conveyed hither the Vicomte +Albert de Morcerf. Well," continued the count, in a tone that made +Franz shudder, "this young gentleman is one of my friends--this young +gentleman lodges in the same hotel as myself--this young gentleman has +been up and down the Corso for eight hours in my private carriage, and +yet, I repeat to you, you have carried him off, and conveyed him hither, +and," added the count, taking the letter from his pocket, "you have set +a ransom on him, as if he were an utter stranger." + +"Why did you not tell me all this--you?" inquired the brigand chief, +turning towards his men, who all retreated before his look. "Why have +you caused me thus to fail in my word towards a gentleman like the +count, who has all our lives in his hands? By heavens, if I thought one +of you knew that the young gentleman was the friend of his excellency, I +would blow his brains out with my own hand!" + +"Well," said the count, turning towards Franz, "I told you there was +some mistake in this." + +"Are you not alone?" asked Vampa with uneasiness. + +"I am with the person to whom this letter was addressed, and to whom +I desired to prove that Luigi Vampa was a man of his word. Come, your +excellency," the count added, turning to Franz, "here is Luigi Vampa, +who will himself express to you his deep regret at the mistake he has +committed." Franz approached, the chief advancing several steps to meet +him. "Welcome among us, your excellency," he said to him; "you heard +what the count just said, and also my reply; let me add that I would +not for the four thousand piastres at which I had fixed your friend's +ransom, that this had happened." + +"But," said Franz, looking round him uneasily, "where is the +Viscount?--I do not see him." + +"Nothing has happened to him, I hope," said the count frowningly. + +"The prisoner is there," replied Vampa, pointing to the hollow space in +front of which the bandit was on guard, "and I will go myself and tell +him he is free." The chief went towards the place he had pointed out +as Albert's prison, and Franz and the count followed him. "What is the +prisoner doing?" inquired Vampa of the sentinel. + +"Ma foi, captain," replied the sentry, "I do not know; for the last hour +I have not heard him stir." + +"Come in, your excellency," said Vampa. The count and Franz ascended +seven or eight steps after the chief, who drew back a bolt and opened +a door. Then, by the gleam of a lamp, similar to that which lighted the +columbarium, Albert was to be seen wrapped up in a cloak which one of +the bandits had lent him, lying in a corner in profound slumber. "Come," +said the count, smiling with his own peculiar smile, "not so bad for a +man who is to be shot at seven o'clock to-morrow morning." Vampa looked +at Albert with a kind of admiration; he was not insensible to such a +proof of courage. + +"You are right, your excellency," he said; "this must be one of your +friends." Then going to Albert, he touched him on the shoulder, saying, +"Will your excellency please to awaken?" Albert stretched out his arms, +rubbed his eyelids, and opened his eyes. "Oh," said he, "is it you, +captain? You should have allowed me to sleep. I had such a delightful +dream. I was dancing the galop at Torlonia's with the Countess G----." +Then he drew his watch from his pocket, that he might see how time sped. + +"Half-past one only?" said he. "Why the devil do you rouse me at this +hour?" + +"To tell you that you are free, your excellency." + +"My dear fellow," replied Albert, with perfect ease of mind, "remember, +for the future, Napoleon's maxim, 'Never awaken me but for bad news;' if +you had let me sleep on, I should have finished my galop, and have been +grateful to you all my life. So, then, they have paid my ransom?" + +"No, your excellency." + +"Well, then, how am I free?" + +"A person to whom I can refuse nothing has come to demand you." + +"Come hither?" + +"Yes, hither." + +"Really? Then that person is a most amiable person." Albert looked +around and perceived Franz. "What," said he, "is it you, my dear Franz, +whose devotion and friendship are thus displayed?" + +"No, not I," replied Franz, "but our neighbor, the Count of Monte +Cristo." + +"Oh, my dear count," said Albert gayly, arranging his cravat and +wristbands, "you are really most kind, and I hope you will consider +me as under eternal obligations to you, in the first place for the +carriage, and in the next for this visit," and he put out his hand to +the Count, who shuddered as he gave his own, but who nevertheless did +give it. The bandit gazed on this scene with amazement; he was evidently +accustomed to see his prisoners tremble before him, and yet here was one +whose gay temperament was not for a moment altered; as for Franz, he was +enchanted at the way in which Albert had sustained the national honor in +the presence of the bandit. "My dear Albert," he said, "if you will make +haste, we shall yet have time to finish the night at Torlonia's. You +may conclude your interrupted galop, so that you will owe no ill-will to +Signor Luigi, who has, indeed, throughout this whole affair acted like a +gentleman." + +"You are decidedly right, and we may reach the Palazzo by two o'clock. +Signor Luigi," continued Albert, "is there any formality to fulfil +before I take leave of your excellency?" + +"None, sir," replied the bandit, "you are as free as air." + +"Well, then, a happy and merry life to you. Come, gentlemen, come." + +And Albert, followed by Franz and the count, descended the staircase, +crossed the square chamber, where stood all the bandits, hat in hand. +"Peppino," said the brigand chief, "give me the torch." + +"What are you going to do?" inquired the count. + +"I will show you the way back myself," said the captain; "that is +the least honor that I can render to your excellency." And taking the +lighted torch from the hands of the herdsman, he preceded his guests, +not as a servant who performs an act of civility, but like a king who +precedes ambassadors. On reaching the door, he bowed. "And now, your +excellency," added he, "allow me to repeat my apologies, and I hope you +will not entertain any resentment at what has occurred." + +"No, my dear Vampa," replied the count; "besides, you compensate for +your mistakes in so gentlemanly a way, that one almost feels obliged to +you for having committed them." + +"Gentlemen," added the chief, turning towards the young men, "perhaps +the offer may not appear very tempting to you; but if you should ever +feel inclined to pay me a second visit, wherever I may be, you shall be +welcome." Franz and Albert bowed. The count went out first, then Albert. +Franz paused for a moment. "Has your excellency anything to ask me?" +said Vampa with a smile. + +"Yes, I have," replied Franz; "I am curious to know what work you were +perusing with so much attention as we entered." + +"Caesar's 'Commentaries,'" said the bandit, "it is my favorite work." + +"Well, are you coming?" asked Albert. + +"Yes," replied Franz, "here I am," and he, in his turn, left the caves. +They advanced to the plain. "Ah, your pardon," said Albert, turning +round; "will you allow me, captain?" And he lighted his cigar at Vampa's +torch. "Now, my dear count," he said, "let us on with all the speed +we may. I am enormously anxious to finish my night at the Duke of +Bracciano's." They found the carriage where they had left it. The count +said a word in Arabic to Ali, and the horses went on at great speed. It +was just two o'clock by Albert's watch when the two friends entered into +the dancing-room. Their return was quite an event, but as they entered +together, all uneasiness on Albert's account ceased instantly. "Madame," +said the Viscount of Morcerf, advancing towards the countess, "yesterday +you were so condescending as to promise me a galop; I am rather late in +claiming this gracious promise, but here is my friend, whose character +for veracity you well know, and he will assure you the delay arose from +no fault of mine." And as at this moment the orchestra gave the signal +for the waltz, Albert put his arm round the waist of the countess, and +disappeared with her in the whirl of dancers. In the meanwhile Franz was +considering the singular shudder that had passed over the Count of Monte +Cristo at the moment when he had been, in some sort, forced to give his +hand to Albert. + + + +Chapter 38. The Compact. + +The first words that Albert uttered to his friend, on the following +morning, contained a request that Franz would accompany him on a visit +to the count; true, the young man had warmly and energetically thanked +the count on the previous evening; but services such as he had rendered +could never be too often acknowledged. Franz, who seemed attracted +by some invisible influence towards the count, in which terror was +strangely mingled, felt an extreme reluctance to permit his friend to be +exposed alone to the singular fascination that this mysterious personage +seemed to exercise over him, and therefore made no objection to Albert's +request, but at once accompanied him to the desired spot, and, after a +short delay, the count joined them in the salon. "My dear count," said +Albert, advancing to meet him, "permit me to repeat the poor thanks I +offered last night, and to assure you that the remembrance of all I owe +to you will never be effaced from my memory; believe me, as long as I +live, I shall never cease to dwell with grateful recollection on the +prompt and important service you rendered me; and also to remember that +to you I am indebted even for my life." + +"My very good friend and excellent neighbor," replied the count, with a +smile, "you really exaggerate my trifling exertions. You owe me nothing +but some trifle of 20,000. francs, which you have been saved out of +your travelling expenses, so that there is not much of a score between +us;--but you must really permit me to congratulate you on the ease and +unconcern with which you resigned yourself to your fate, and the perfect +indifference you manifested as to the turn events might take." + +"Upon my word," said Albert, "I deserve no credit for what I could not +help, namely, a determination to take everything as I found it, and to +let those bandits see, that although men get into troublesome scrapes +all over the world, there is no nation but the French that can smile +even in the face of grim Death himself. All that, however, has nothing +to do with my obligations to you, and I now come to ask you whether, in +my own person, my family, or connections, I can in any way serve you? +My father, the Comte de Morcerf, although of Spanish origin, possesses +considerable influence, both at the court of France and Madrid, and I +unhesitatingly place the best services of myself, and all to whom my +life is dear, at your disposal." + +"Monsieur de Morcerf," replied the count, "your offer, far from +surprising me, is precisely what I expected from you, and I accept it in +the same spirit of hearty sincerity with which it is made;--nay, I will +go still further, and say that I had previously made up my mind to ask a +great favor at your hands." + +"Oh, pray name it." + +"I am wholly a stranger to Paris--it is a city I have never yet seen." + +"Is it possible," exclaimed Albert, "that you have reached your present +age without visiting the finest capital in the world? I can scarcely +credit it." + +"Nevertheless, it is quite true; still, I agree with you in thinking +that my present ignorance of the first city in Europe is a reproach +to me in every way, and calls for immediate correction; but, in all +probability, I should have performed so important, so necessary a duty, +as that of making myself acquainted with the wonders and beauties of +your justly celebrated capital, had I known any person who would have +introduced me into the fashionable world, but unfortunately I possessed +no acquaintance there, and, of necessity, was compelled to abandon the +idea." + +"So distinguished an individual as yourself," cried Albert, "could +scarcely have required an introduction." + +"You are most kind; but as regards myself, I can find no merit I +possess, save that, as a millionaire, I might have become a partner in +the speculations of M. Aguado and M. Rothschild; but as my motive in +travelling to your capital would not have been for the pleasure of +dabbling in stocks, I stayed away till some favorable chance should +present itself of carrying my wish into execution. Your offer, however, +smooths all difficulties, and I have only to ask you, my dear M. de +Morcerf" (these words were accompanied by a most peculiar smile), +"whether you undertake, upon my arrival in France, to open to me the +doors of that fashionable world of which I know no more than a Huron or +a native of Cochin-China?" + +"Oh, that I do, and with infinite pleasure," answered Albert; "and so +much the more readily as a letter received this morning from my father +summons me to Paris, in consequence of a treaty of marriage (my dear +Franz, do not smile, I beg of you) with a family of high standing, and +connected with the very cream of Parisian society." + +"Connected by marriage, you mean," said Franz, laughingly. + +"Well, never mind how it is," answered Albert, "it comes to the same +thing in the end. Perhaps by the time you return to Paris, I shall be +quite a sober, staid father of a family! A most edifying representative +I shall make of all the domestic virtues--don't you think so? But as +regards your wish to visit our fine city, my dear count, I can only say +that you may command me and mine to any extent you please." + +"Then it is settled," said the count, "and I give you my solemn +assurance that I only waited an opportunity like the present to realize +plans that I have long meditated." Franz did not doubt that these plans +were the same concerning which the count had dropped a few words in the +grotto of Monte Cristo, and while the Count was speaking the young man +watched him closely, hoping to read something of his purpose in his +face, but his countenance was inscrutable especially when, as in the +present case, it was veiled in a sphinx-like smile. "But tell me now, +count," exclaimed Albert, delighted at the idea of having to chaperon so +distinguished a person as Monte Cristo; "tell me truly whether you are +in earnest, or if this project of visiting Paris is merely one of the +chimerical and uncertain air castles of which we make so many in the +course of our lives, but which, like a house built on the sand, is +liable to be blown over by the first puff of wind?" + +"I pledge you my honor," returned the count, "that I mean to do as I +have said; both inclination and positive necessity compel me to visit +Paris." + +"When do you propose going thither?" + +"Have you made up your mind when you shall be there yourself?" + +"Certainly I have; in a fortnight or three weeks' time, that is to say, +as fast as I can get there!" + +"Nay," said the Count; "I will give you three months ere I join you; you +see I make an ample allowance for all delays and difficulties. + +"And in three months' time," said Albert, "you will be at my house?" + +"Shall we make a positive appointment for a particular day and hour?" +inquired the count; "only let me warn you that I am proverbial for my +punctilious exactitude in keeping my engagements." + +"Day for day, hour for hour," said Albert; "that will suit me to a dot." + +"So be it, then," replied the count, and extending his hand towards a +calendar, suspended near the chimney-piece, he said, "to-day is the 21st +of February;" and drawing out his watch, added, "it is exactly half-past +ten o'clock. Now promise me to remember this, and expect me the 21st of +May at the same hour in the forenoon." + +"Capital," exclaimed Albert; "your breakfast shall be waiting." + +"Where do you live?" + +"No. 27, Rue du Helder." + +"Have you bachelor's apartments there? I hope my coming will not put you +to any inconvenience." + +"I reside in my father's house, but occupy a pavilion at the farther +side of the court-yard, entirely separated from the main building." + +"Quite sufficient," replied the count, as, taking out his tablets, +he wrote down "No. 27, Rue du Helder, 21st May, half-past ten in the +morning." + +"Now then," said the count, returning his tablets to his pocket, "make +yourself perfectly easy; the hand of your time-piece will not be more +accurate in marking the time than myself." + +"Shall I see you again ere my departure?" asked Albert. + +"That depends; when do you leave?" + +"To-morrow evening, at five o'clock." + +"In that case I must say adieu to you, as I am compelled to go to +Naples, and shall not return hither before Saturday evening or Sunday +morning. And you, baron," pursued the count, addressing Franz, "do you +also depart to-morrow?" + +"Yes." + +"For France?" + +"No, for Venice; I shall remain in Italy for another year or two." + +"Then we shall not meet in Paris?" + +"I fear I shall not have that honor." + +"Well, since we must part," said the count, holding out a hand to +each of the young men, "allow me to wish you both a safe and pleasant +journey." It was the first time the hand of Franz had come in contact +with that of the mysterious individual before him, and unconsciously he +shuddered at its touch, for it felt cold and icy as that of a corpse. +"Let us understand each other," said Albert; "it is agreed--is it +not?--that you are to be at No. 27, in the Rue du Helder, on the 21st of +May, at half-past ten in the morning, and your word of honor passed for +your punctuality?" + +"The 21st of May, at half-past ten in the morning, Rue du Helder, No. +27," replied the Count. The young men then rose, and bowing to the +count, quitted the room. "What is the matter?" asked Albert of Franz, +when they had returned to their own apartments; "you seem more than +commonly thoughtful." + +"I will confess to you, Albert," replied Franz, "the count is a very +singular person, and the appointment you have made to meet him in Paris +fills me with a thousand apprehensions." + +"My dear fellow," exclaimed Albert, "what can there possibly be in that +to excite uneasiness? Why, you must have lost your senses." + +"Whether I am in my senses or not," answered Franz, "that is the way I +feel." + +"Listen to me, Franz," said Albert; "I am glad that the occasion has +presented itself for saying this to you, for I have noticed how cold you +are in your bearing towards the count, while he, on the other hand, has +always been courtesy itself to us. Have you anything particular against +him?" + +"Possibly." + +"Did you ever meet him previously to coming hither?" + +"I have." + +"And where?" + +"Will you promise me not to repeat a single word of what I am about to +tell you?" + +"I promise." + +"Upon your honor?" + +"Upon my honor." + +"Then listen to me." Franz then related to his friend the history of his +excursion to the Island of Monte Cristo and of his finding a party of +smugglers there, and the two Corsican bandits with them. He dwelt with +considerable force and energy on the almost magical hospitality he had +received from the count, and the magnificence of his entertainment +in the grotto of the "Thousand and One Nights." He recounted, with +circumstantial exactitude, all the particulars of the supper, the +hashish, the statues, the dream, and how, at his awakening, there +remained no proof or trace of all these events, save the small +yacht, seen in the distant horizon driving under full sail toward +Porto-Vecchio. Then he detailed the conversation overheard by him at the +Colosseum, between the count and Vampa, in which the count had promised +to obtain the release of the bandit Peppino,--an engagement which, as +our readers are aware, he most faithfully fulfilled. At last he arrived +at the adventure of the preceding night, and the embarrassment in which +he found himself placed by not having sufficient cash by six or seven +hundred piastres to make up the sum required, and finally of his +application to the count and the picturesque and satisfactory result +that followed. Albert listened with the most profound attention. "Well," +said he, when Franz had concluded, "what do you find to object to in +all you have related? The count is fond of travelling, and, being rich, +possesses a vessel of his own. Go but to Portsmouth or Southampton, and +you will find the harbors crowded with the yachts belonging to such of +the English as can afford the expense, and have the same liking for this +amusement. Now, by way of having a resting-place during his excursions, +avoiding the wretched cookery--which has been trying its best to poison +me during the last four months, while you have manfully resisted its +effects for as many years,--and obtaining a bed on which it is possible +to slumber, Monte Cristo has furnished for himself a temporary abode +where you first found him; but, to prevent the possibility of the Tuscan +government taking a fancy to his enchanted palace, and thereby depriving +him of the advantages naturally expected from so large an outlay of +capital, he has wisely enough purchased the island, and taken its name. +Just ask yourself, my good fellow, whether there are not many persons of +our acquaintance who assume the names of lands and properties they never +in their lives were masters of?" + +"But," said Franz, "the Corsican bandits that were among the crew of his +vessel?" + +"Why, really the thing seems to me simple enough. Nobody knows better +than yourself that the bandits of Corsica are not rogues or thieves, but +purely and simply fugitives, driven by some sinister motive from their +native town or village, and that their fellowship involves no disgrace +or stigma; for my own part, I protest that, should I ever go to Corsica, +my first visit, ere even I presented myself to the mayor or prefect, +should be to the bandits of Colomba, if I could only manage to find +them; for, on my conscience, they are a race of men I admire greatly." + +"Still," persisted Franz, "I suppose you will allow that such men as +Vampa and his band are regular villains, who have no other motive than +plunder when they seize your person. How do you explain the influence +the count evidently possessed over those ruffians?" + +"My good friend, as in all probability I own my present safety to that +influence, it would ill become me to search too closely into its source; +therefore, instead of condemning him for his intimacy with outlaws, you +must give me leave to excuse any little irregularity there may be in +such a connection; not altogether for preserving my life, for my own +idea was that it never was in much danger, but certainly for saving me +4,000 piastres, which, being translated, means neither more nor less +than 24,000 livres of our money--a sum at which, most assuredly, I +should never have been estimated in France, proving most indisputably," +added Albert with a laugh, "that no prophet is honored in his own +country." + +"Talking of countries," replied Franz, "of what country is the count, +what is his native tongue, whence does he derive his immense fortune, +and what were those events of his early life--a life as marvellous +as unknown--that have tinctured his succeeding years with so dark and +gloomy a misanthropy? Certainly these are questions that, in your place, +I should like to have answered." + +"My dear Franz," replied Albert, "when, upon receipt of my letter, you +found the necessity of asking the count's assistance, you promptly went +to him, saying, 'My friend Albert de Morcerf is in danger; help me to +deliver him.' Was not that nearly what you said?" + +"It was." + +"Well, then, did he ask you, 'Who is M. Albert de Morcerf? how does he +come by his name--his fortune? what are his means of existence? what is +his birthplace! of what country is he a native?' Tell me, did he put all +these questions to you?" + +"I confess he asked me none." + +"No; he merely came and freed me from the hands of Signor Vampa, where, +I can assure you, in spite of all my outward appearance of ease and +unconcern, I did not very particularly care to remain. Now, then, Franz, +when, for services so promptly and unhesitatingly rendered, he but asks +me in return to do for him what is done daily for any Russian prince +or Italian nobleman who may pass through Paris--merely to introduce him +into society--would you have me refuse? My good fellow, you must have +lost your senses to think it possible I could act with such cold-blooded +policy." And this time it must be confessed that, contrary to the usual +state of affairs in discussions between the young men, the effective +arguments were all on Albert's side. + +"Well," said Franz with a sigh, "do as you please my dear viscount, for +your arguments are beyond my powers of refutation. Still, in spite of +all, you must admit that this Count of Monte Cristo is a most singular +personage." + +"He is a philanthropist," answered the other; "and no doubt his motive +in visiting Paris is to compete for the Monthyon prize, given, as you +are aware, to whoever shall be proved to have most materially advanced +the interests of virtue and humanity. If my vote and interest can obtain +it for him, I will readily give him the one and promise the other. And +now, my dear Franz, let us talk of something else. Come, shall we take +our luncheon, and then pay a last visit to St. Peter's?" Franz silently +assented; and the following afternoon, at half-past five o'clock, +the young men parted. Albert de Morcerf to return to Paris, and +Franz d'Epinay to pass a fortnight at Venice. But, ere he entered his +travelling carriage, Albert, fearing that his expected guest might +forget the engagement he had entered into, placed in the care of a +waiter at the hotel a card to be delivered to the Count of Monte Cristo, +on which, beneath the name of Vicomte Albert de Morcerf, he had written +in pencil--"27, Rue du Helder, on the 21st May, half-past ten A.M." + + + +Chapter 39. The Guests. + +In the house in the Rue du Helder, where Albert had invited the Count of +Monte Cristo, everything was being prepared on the morning of the +21st of May to do honor to the occasion. Albert de Morcerf inhabited a +pavilion situated at the corner of a large court, and directly opposite +another building, in which were the servants' apartments. Two windows +only of the pavilion faced the street; three other windows looked into +the court, and two at the back into the garden. Between the court and +the garden, built in the heavy style of the imperial architecture, was +the large and fashionable dwelling of the Count and Countess of Morcerf. +A high wall surrounded the whole of the hotel, surmounted at intervals +by vases filled with flowers, and broken in the centre by a large gate +of gilded iron, which served as the carriage entrance. A small door, +close to the lodge of the concierge, gave ingress and egress to the +servants and masters when they were on foot. + +It was easy to discover that the delicate care of a mother, unwilling to +part from her son, and yet aware that a young man of the viscount's age +required the full exercise of his liberty, had chosen this habitation +for Albert. There were not lacking, however, evidences of what we may +call the intelligent egoism of a youth who is charmed with the indolent, +careless life of an only son, and who lives as it were in a gilded cage. +By means of the two windows looking into the street, Albert could see +all that passed; the sight of what is going on is necessary to young +men, who always want to see the world traverse their horizon, even if +that horizon is only a public thoroughfare. Then, should anything appear +to merit a more minute examination, Albert de Morcerf could follow up +his researches by means of a small gate, similar to that close to the +concierge's door, and which merits a particular description. It was a +little entrance that seemed never to have been opened since the house +was built, so entirely was it covered with dust and dirt; but the +well-oiled hinges and locks told quite another story. This door was a +mockery to the concierge, from whose vigilance and jurisdiction it was +free, and, like that famous portal in the "Arabian Nights," opening at +the "Sesame" of Ali Baba, it was wont to swing backward at a cabalistic +word or a concerted tap from without from the sweetest voices or whitest +fingers in the world. At the end of a long corridor, with which the +door communicated, and which formed the ante-chamber, was, on the right, +Albert's breakfast-room, looking into the court, and on the left the +salon, looking into the garden. Shrubs and creeping plants covered the +windows, and hid from the garden and court these two apartments, the +only rooms into which, as they were on the ground-floor, the prying eyes +of the curious could penetrate. On the floor above were similar rooms, +with the addition of a third, formed out of the ante-chamber; +these three rooms were a salon, a boudoir, and a bedroom. The salon +down-stairs was only an Algerian divan, for the use of smokers. The +boudoir up-stairs communicated with the bed-chamber by an invisible door +on the staircase; it was evident that every precaution had been taken. +Above this floor was a large atelier, which had been increased in size +by pulling down the partitions--a pandemonium, in which the artist and +the dandy strove for preeminence. There were collected and piled up all +Albert's successive caprices, hunting-horns, bass-viols, flutes--a whole +orchestra, for Albert had had not a taste but a fancy for music; easels, +palettes, brushes, pencils--for music had been succeeded by painting; +foils, boxing-gloves, broadswords, and single-sticks--for, following +the example of the fashionable young men of the time, Albert de Morcerf +cultivated, with far more perseverance than music and drawing, the +three arts that complete a dandy's education, i.e., fencing, boxing, +and single-stick; and it was here that he received Grisier, Cook, +and Charles Leboucher. The rest of the furniture of this privileged +apartment consisted of old cabinets, filled with Chinese porcelain and +Japanese vases, Lucca della Robbia faience, and Palissy platters; of old +arm-chairs, in which perhaps had sat Henry IV. or Sully, Louis XIII. or +Richelieu--for two of these arm-chairs, adorned with a carved shield, +on which were engraved the fleur-de-lis of France on an azure field +evidently came from the Louvre, or, at least, some royal residence. Over +these dark and sombre chairs were thrown splendid stuffs, dyed beneath +Persia's sun, or woven by the fingers of the women of Calcutta or of +Chandernagor. What these stuffs did there, it was impossible to say; +they awaited, while gratifying the eyes, a destination unknown to their +owner himself; in the meantime they filled the place with their golden +and silky reflections. In the centre of the room was a Roller and +Blanchet "baby grand" piano in rosewood, but holding the potentialities +of an orchestra in its narrow and sonorous cavity, and groaning beneath +the weight of the chefs-d'oeuvre of Beethoven, Weber, Mozart, Haydn, +Gretry, and Porpora. On the walls, over the doors, on the ceiling, were +swords, daggers, Malay creeses, maces, battle-axes; gilded, damasked, +and inlaid suits of armor; dried plants, minerals, and stuffed birds, +their flame-colored wings outspread in motionless flight, and their +beaks forever open. This was Albert's favorite lounging place. + +However, the morning of the appointment, the young man had established +himself in the small salon down-stairs. There, on a table, surrounded at +some distance by a large and luxurious divan, every species of tobacco +known,--from the yellow tobacco of Petersburg to the black of Sinai, +and so on along the scale from Maryland and Porto-Rico, to Latakia,--was +exposed in pots of crackled earthenware of which the Dutch are so fond; +beside them, in boxes of fragrant wood, were ranged, according to their +size and quality, pueros, regalias, havanas, and manillas; and, in an +open cabinet, a collection of German pipes, of chibouques, with their +amber mouth-pieces ornamented with coral, and of narghiles, with their +long tubes of morocco, awaiting the caprice or the sympathy of the +smokers. Albert had himself presided at the arrangement, or, rather, the +symmetrical derangement, which, after coffee, the guests at a breakfast +of modern days love to contemplate through the vapor that escapes from +their mouths, and ascends in long and fanciful wreaths to the ceiling. +At a quarter to ten, a valet entered; he composed, with a little groom +named John, and who only spoke English, all Albert's establishment, +although the cook of the hotel was always at his service, and on great +occasions the count's chasseur also. This valet, whose name was Germain, +and who enjoyed the entire confidence of his young master, held in one +hand a number of papers, and in the other a packet of letters, which +he gave to Albert. Albert glanced carelessly at the different missives, +selected two written in a small and delicate hand, and enclosed in +scented envelopes, opened them and perused their contents with some +attention. "How did these letters come?" said he. + +"One by the post, Madame Danglars' footman left the other." + +"Let Madame Danglars know that I accept the place she offers me in her +box. Wait; then, during the day, tell Rosa that when I leave the Opera +I will sup with her as she wishes. Take her six bottles of different +wine--Cyprus, sherry, and Malaga, and a barrel of Ostend oysters; get +them at Borel's, and be sure you say they are for me." + +"At what o'clock, sir, do you breakfast?" + +"What time is it now?" + +"A quarter to ten." + +"Very well, at half past ten. Debray will, perhaps, be obliged to go to +the minister--and besides" (Albert looked at his tablets), "it is the +hour I told the count, 21st May, at half past ten; and though I do not +much rely upon his promise, I wish to be punctual. Is the countess up +yet?" + +"If you wish, I will inquire." + +"Yes, ask her for one of her liqueur cellarets, mine is incomplete; and +tell her I shall have the honor of seeing her about three o'clock, and +that I request permission to introduce some one to her." The valet left +the room. Albert threw himself on the divan, tore off the cover of two +or three of the papers, looked at the theatre announcements, made a face +seeing they gave an opera, and not a ballet; hunted vainly amongst the +advertisements for a new tooth-powder of which he had heard, and threw +down, one after the other, the three leading papers of Paris, muttering, +"These papers become more and more stupid every day." A moment after, +a carriage stopped before the door, and the servant announced M. Lucien +Debray. A tall young man, with light hair, clear gray eyes, and thin +and compressed lips, dressed in a blue coat with beautifully carved gold +buttons, a white neckcloth, and a tortoiseshell eye-glass suspended by a +silken thread, and which, by an effort of the superciliary and zygomatic +muscles, he fixed in his eye, entered, with a half-official air, without +smiling or speaking. "Good-morning, Lucien, good-morning," said Albert; +"your punctuality really alarms me. What do I say? punctuality! You, +whom I expected last, you arrive at five minutes to ten, when the time +fixed was half-past! Has the ministry resigned?" + +"No, my dear fellow," returned the young man, seating himself on the +divan; "reassure yourself; we are tottering always, but we never fall, +and I begin to believe that we shall pass into a state of immobility, +and then the affairs of the Peninsula will completely consolidate us." + +"Ah, true; you drive Don Carlos out of Spain." + +"No, no, my dear fellow, do not confound our plans. We take him to +the other side of the French frontier, and offer him hospitality at +Bourges." + +"At Bourges?" + +"Yes, he has not much to complain of; Bourges is the capital of Charles +VII. Do you not know that all Paris knew it yesterday, and the day +before it had already transpired on the Bourse, and M. Danglars (I do +not know by what means that man contrives to obtain intelligence as soon +as we do) made a million!" + +"And you another order, for I see you have a blue ribbon at your +button-hole." + +"Yes; they sent me the order of Charles III.," returned Debray, +carelessly. + +"Come, do not affect indifference, but confess you were pleased to have +it." + +"Oh, it is very well as a finish to the toilet. It looks very neat on a +black coat buttoned up." + +"And makes you resemble the Prince of Wales or the Duke of Reichstadt." + +"It is for that reason you see me so early." + +"Because you have the order of Charles III., and you wish to announce +the good news to me?" + +"No, because I passed the night writing letters,--five and twenty +despatches. I returned home at daybreak, and strove to sleep; but my +head ached and I got up to have a ride for an hour. At the Bois de +Boulogne, ennui and hunger attacked me at once,--two enemies who rarely +accompany each other, and who are yet leagued against me, a sort of +Carlo-republican alliance. I then recollected you gave a breakfast this +morning, and here I am. I am hungry, feed me; I am bored, amuse me." + +"It is my duty as your host," returned Albert, ringing the bell, while +Lucien turned over, with his gold-mounted cane, the papers that lay on +the table. "Germain, a glass of sherry and a biscuit. In the meantime, +my dear Lucien, here are cigars--contraband, of course--try them, and +persuade the minister to sell us such instead of poisoning us with +cabbage leaves." + +"Peste, I will do nothing of the kind; the moment they come from +government you would find them execrable. Besides, that does not concern +the home but the financial department. Address yourself to M. Humann, +section of the indirect contributions, corridor A., No. 26." + +"On my word," said Albert, "you astonish me by the extent of your +knowledge. Take a cigar." + +"Really, my dear Albert," replied Lucien, lighting a manilla at a +rose-colored taper that burnt in a beautifully enamelled stand--"how +happy you are to have nothing to do. You do not know your own good +fortune!" + +"And what would you do, my dear diplomatist," replied Morcerf, with a +slight degree of irony in his voice, "if you did nothing? What? private +secretary to a minister, plunged at once into European cabals and +Parisian intrigues; having kings, and, better still, queens, to protect, +parties to unite, elections to direct; making more use of your cabinet +with your pen and your telegraph than Napoleon did of his battle-fields +with his sword and his victories; possessing five and twenty thousand +francs a year, besides your place; a horse, for which Chateau-Renaud +offered you four hundred louis, and which you would not part with; a +tailor who never disappoints you; with the opera, the jockey-club, and +other diversions, can you not amuse yourself? Well, I will amuse you." + +"How?" + +"By introducing to you a new acquaintance." + +"A man or a woman?" + +"A man." + +"I know so many men already." + +"But you do not know this man." + +"Where does he come from--the end of the world?" + +"Farther still, perhaps." + +"The deuce! I hope he does not bring our breakfast with him." + +"Oh, no; our breakfast comes from my father's kitchen. Are you hungry?" + +"Humiliating as such a confession is, I am. But I dined at M. de +Villefort's, and lawyers always give you very bad dinners. You would +think they felt some remorse; did you ever remark that?" + +"Ah, depreciate other persons' dinners; you ministers give such splendid +ones." + +"Yes; but we do not invite people of fashion. If we were not forced to +entertain a parcel of country boobies because they think and vote with +us, we should never dream of dining at home, I assure you." + +"Well, take another glass of sherry and another biscuit." + +"Willingly. Your Spanish wine is excellent. You see we were quite right +to pacify that country." + +"Yes; but Don Carlos?" + +"Well, Don Carlos will drink Bordeaux, and in ten years we will marry +his son to the little queen." + +"You will then obtain the Golden Fleece, if you are still in the +ministry." + +"I think, Albert, you have adopted the system of feeding me on smoke +this morning." + +"Well, you must allow it is the best thing for the stomach; but I hear +Beauchamp in the next room; you can dispute together, and that will pass +away the time." + +"About what?" + +"About the papers." + +"My dear friend," said Lucien with an air of sovereign contempt, "do I +ever read the papers?" + +"Then you will dispute the more." + +"M. Beauchamp," announced the servant. "Come in, come in," said Albert, +rising and advancing to meet the young man. "Here is Debray, who detests +you without reading you, so he says." + +"He is quite right," returned Beauchamp; "for I criticise him without +knowing what he does. Good-day, commander!" + +"Ah, you know that already," said the private secretary, smiling and +shaking hands with him. + +"Pardieu?" + +"And what do they say of it in the world?" + +"In which world? we have so many worlds in the year of grace 1838." + +"In the entire political world, of which you are one of the leaders." + +"They say that it is quite fair, and that sowing so much red, you ought +to reap a little blue." + +"Come, come, that is not bad!" said Lucien. "Why do you not join our +party, my dear Beauchamp? With your talents you would make your fortune +in three or four years." + +"I only await one thing before following your advice; that is, a +minister who will hold office for six months. My dear Albert, one word, +for I must give poor Lucien a respite. Do we breakfast or dine? I must +go to the Chamber, for our life is not an idle one." + +"You only breakfast; I await two persons, and the instant they arrive we +shall sit down to table." + + + +Chapter 40. The Breakfast. + +"And what sort of persons do you expect to breakfast?" said Beauchamp. + +"A gentleman, and a diplomatist." + +"Then we shall have to wait two hours for the gentleman, and three +for the diplomatist. I shall come back to dessert; keep me some +strawberries, coffee, and cigars. I shall take a cutlet on my way to the +Chamber." + +"Do not do anything of the sort; for were the gentleman a Montmorency, +and the diplomatist a Metternich, we will breakfast at eleven; in the +meantime, follow Debray's example, and take a glass of sherry and a +biscuit." + +"Be it so; I will stay; I must do something to distract my thoughts." + +"You are like Debray, and yet it seems to me that when the minister is +out of spirits, the opposition ought to be joyous." + +"Ah, you do not know with what I am threatened. I shall hear this +morning that M. Danglars make a speech at the Chamber of Deputies, and +at his wife's this evening I shall hear the tragedy of a peer of France. +The devil take the constitutional government, and since we had our +choice, as they say, at least, how could we choose that?" + +"I understand; you must lay in a stock of hilarity." + +"Do not run down M. Danglars' speeches," said Debray; "he votes for you, +for he belongs to the opposition." + +"Pardieu, that is exactly the worst of all. I am waiting until you send +him to speak at the Luxembourg, to laugh at my ease." + +"My dear friend," said Albert to Beauchamp, "it is plain that the +affairs of Spain are settled, for you are most desperately out of humor +this morning. Recollect that Parisian gossip has spoken of a marriage +between myself and Mlle. Eugenie Danglars; I cannot in conscience, +therefore, let you run down the speeches of a man who will one day say +to me, 'Vicomte, you know I give my daughter two millions.'" + +"Ah, this marriage will never take place," said Beauchamp. "The king +has made him a baron, and can make him a peer, but he cannot make him a +gentleman, and the Count of Morcerf is too aristocratic to consent, for +the paltry sum of two million francs, to a mesalliance. The Viscount of +Morcerf can only wed a marchioness." + +"But two million francs make a nice little sum," replied Morcerf. + +"It is the social capital of a theatre on the boulevard, or a railroad +from the Jardin des Plantes to La Rapee." + +"Never mind what he says, Morcerf," said Debray, "do you marry her. You +marry a money-bag label, it is true; well, but what does that matter? It +is better to have a blazon less and a figure more on it. You have seven +martlets on your arms; give three to your wife, and you will still have +four; that is one more than M. de Guise had, who so nearly became King +of France, and whose cousin was Emperor of Germany." + +"On my word, I think you are right, Lucien," said Albert absently. + +"To be sure; besides, every millionaire is as noble as a bastard--that +is, he can be." + +"Do not say that, Debray," returned Beauchamp, laughing, "for here is +Chateau-Renaud, who, to cure you of your mania for paradoxes, will pass +the sword of Renaud de Montauban, his ancestor, through your body." + +"He will sully it then," returned Lucien; "for I am low--very low." + +"Oh, heavens," cried Beauchamp, "the minister quotes Beranger, what +shall we come to next?" + +"M. de Chateau-Renaud--M. Maximilian Morrel," said the servant, +announcing two fresh guests. + +"Now, then, to breakfast," said Beauchamp; "for, if I remember, you told +me you only expected two persons, Albert." + +"Morrel," muttered Albert--"Morrel--who is he?" But before he had +finished, M. de Chateau-Renaud, a handsome young man of thirty, +gentleman all over,--that is, with the figure of a Guiche and the wit +of a Mortemart,--took Albert's hand. "My dear Albert," said he, "let me +introduce to you M. Maximilian Morrel, captain of Spahis, my friend; and +what is more--however the man speaks for himself--my preserver. Salute +my hero, viscount." And he stepped on one side to give place to a young +man of refined and dignified bearing, with large and open brow, +piercing eyes, and black mustache, whom our readers have already seen +at Marseilles, under circumstances sufficiently dramatic not to be +forgotten. A rich uniform, half French, half Oriental, set off his +graceful and stalwart figure, and his broad chest was decorated with +the order of the Legion of Honor. The young officer bowed with easy and +elegant politeness. "Monsieur," said Albert with affectionate courtesy, +"the count of Chateau-Renaud knew how much pleasure this introduction +would give me; you are his friend, be ours also." + +"Well said," interrupted Chateau-Renaud; "and pray that, if you should +ever be in a similar predicament, he may do as much for you as he did +for me." + +"What has he done?" asked Albert. + +"Oh, nothing worth speaking of," said Morrel; "M. de Chateau-Renaud +exaggerates." + +"Not worth speaking of?" cried Chateau-Renaud; "life is not worth +speaking of!--that is rather too philosophical, on my word, Morrel. It +is very well for you, who risk your life every day, but for me, who only +did so once"-- + +"We gather from all this, baron, that Captain Morrel saved your life." + +"Exactly so." + +"On what occasion?" asked Beauchamp. + +"Beauchamp, my good fellow, you know I am starving," said Debray: "do +not set him off on some long story." + +"Well, I do not prevent your sitting down to table," replied Beauchamp, +"Chateau-Renaud can tell us while we eat our breakfast." + +"Gentlemen," said Morcerf, "it is only a quarter past ten, and I expect +some one else." + +"Ah, true, a diplomatist!" observed Debray. + +"Diplomat or not, I don't know; I only know that he charged himself +on my account with a mission, which he terminated so entirely to my +satisfaction, that had I been king, I should have instantly created him +knight of all my orders, even had I been able to offer him the Golden +Fleece and the Garter." + +"Well, since we are not to sit down to table," said Debray, "take a +glass of sherry, and tell us all about it." + +"You all know that I had the fancy of going to Africa." + +"It is a road your ancestors have traced for you," said Albert +gallantly. + +"Yes? but I doubt that your object was like theirs--to rescue the Holy +Sepulchre." + +"You are quite right, Beauchamp," observed the young aristocrat. "It was +only to fight as an amateur. I cannot bear duelling since two seconds, +whom I had chosen to arrange an affair, forced me to break the arm of +one of my best friends, one whom you all know--poor Franz d'Epinay." + +"Ah, true," said Debray, "you did fight some time ago; about what?" + +"The devil take me, if I remember," returned Chateau-Renaud. "But I +recollect perfectly one thing, that, being unwilling to let such talents +as mine sleep, I wished to try upon the Arabs the new pistols that had +been given to me. In consequence I embarked for Oran, and went from +thence to Constantine, where I arrived just in time to witness the +raising of the siege. I retreated with the rest, for eight and forty +hours. I endured the rain during the day, and the cold during the +night tolerably well, but the third morning my horse died of cold. Poor +brute--accustomed to be covered up and to have a stove in the stable, +the Arabian finds himself unable to bear ten degrees of cold in Arabia." + +"That's why you want to purchase my English horse," said Debray, "you +think he will bear the cold better." + +"You are mistaken, for I have made a vow never to return to Africa." + +"You were very much frightened, then?" asked Beauchamp. + +"Well, yes, and I had good reason to be so," replied Chateau-Renaud. "I +was retreating on foot, for my horse was dead. Six Arabs came up, full +gallop, to cut off my head. I shot two with my double-barrelled gun, and +two more with my pistols, but I was then disarmed, and two were still +left; one seized me by the hair (that is why I now wear it so short, for +no one knows what may happen), the other swung a yataghan, and I already +felt the cold steel on my neck, when this gentleman whom you see here +charged them, shot the one who held me by the hair, and cleft the skull +of the other with his sabre. He had assigned himself the task of saving +a man's life that day; chance caused that man to be myself. When I am +rich I will order a statue of Chance from Klagmann or Marochetti." + +"Yes," said Morrel, smiling, "it was the 5th of September, the +anniversary of the day on which my father was miraculously preserved; +therefore, as far as it lies in my power, I endeavor to celebrate it by +some"-- + +"Heroic action," interrupted Chateau-Renaud. "I was chosen. But that is +not all--after rescuing me from the sword, he rescued me from the cold, +not by sharing his cloak with me, like St. Martin, but by giving me the +whole; then from hunger by sharing with me--guess what?" + +"A Strasbourg pie?" asked Beauchamp. + +"No, his horse; of which we each of us ate a slice with a hearty +appetite. It was very hard." + +"The horse?" said Morcerf, laughing. + +"No, the sacrifice," returned Chateau-Renaud; "ask Debray if he would +sacrifice his English steed for a stranger?" + +"Not for a stranger," said Debray, "but for a friend I might, perhaps." + +"I divined that you would become mine, count," replied Morrel; "besides, +as I had the honor to tell you, heroism or not, sacrifice or not, that +day I owed an offering to bad fortune in recompense for the favors good +fortune had on other days granted to us." + +"The history to which M. Morrel alludes," continued Chateau-Renaud, "is +an admirable one, which he will tell you some day when you are better +acquainted with him; to-day let us fill our stomachs, and not our +memories. What time do you breakfast, Albert?" + +"At half-past ten." + +"Precisely?" asked Debray, taking out his watch. + +"Oh, you will give me five minutes' grace," replied Morcerf, "for I also +expect a preserver." + +"Of whom?" + +"Of myself," cried Morcerf; "parbleu, do you think I cannot be saved as +well as any one else, and that there are only Arabs who cut off heads? +Our breakfast is a philanthropic one, and we shall have at table--at +least, I hope so--two benefactors of humanity." + +"What shall we do?" said Debray; "we have only one Monthyon prize." + +"Well, it will be given to some one who has done nothing to deserve it," +said Beauchamp; "that is the way the Academy mostly escapes from the +dilemma." + +"And where does he come from?" asked Debray. "You have already answered +the question once, but so vaguely that I venture to put it a second +time." + +"Really," said Albert, "I do not know; when I invited him three months +ago, he was then at Rome, but since that time who knows where he may +have gone?" + +"And you think him capable of being exact?" demanded Debray. + +"I think him capable of everything." + +"Well, with the five minutes' grace, we have only ten left." + +"I will profit by them to tell you something about my guest." + +"I beg pardon," interrupted Beauchamp; "are there any materials for an +article in what you are going to tell us?" + +"Yes, and for a most curious one." + +"Go on, then, for I see I shall not get to the Chamber this morning, and +I must make up for it." + +"I was at Rome during the last Carnival." + +"We know that," said Beauchamp. + +"Yes, but what you do not know is that I was carried off by bandits." + +"There are no bandits," cried Debray. + +"Yes there are, and most hideous, or rather most admirable ones, for I +found them ugly enough to frighten me." + +"Come, my dear Albert," said Debray, "confess that your cook is +behindhand, that the oysters have not arrived from Ostend or Marennes, +and that, like Madame de Maintenon, you are going to replace the dish +by a story. Say so at once; we are sufficiently well-bred to excuse you, +and to listen to your history, fabulous as it promises to be." + +"And I say to you, fabulous as it may seem, I tell it as a true one from +beginning to end. The brigands had carried me off, and conducted me to a +gloomy spot, called the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian." + +"I know it," said Chateau-Renaud; "I narrowly escaped catching a fever +there." + +"And I did more than that," replied Morcerf, "for I caught one. I +was informed that I was prisoner until I paid the sum of 4,000 Roman +crowns--about 24,000 francs. Unfortunately, I had not above 1,500. I was +at the end of my journey and of my credit. I wrote to Franz--and were he +here he would confirm every word--I wrote then to Franz that if he did +not come with the four thousand crowns before six, at ten minutes past +I should have gone to join the blessed saints and glorious martyrs in +whose company I had the honor of being; and Signor Luigi Vampa, such was +the name of the chief of these bandits, would have scrupulously kept his +word." + +"But Franz did come with the four thousand crowns," said Chateau-Renaud. +"A man whose name is Franz d'Epinay or Albert de Morcerf has not much +difficulty in procuring them." + +"No, he arrived accompanied simply by the guest I am going to present to +you." + +"Ah, this gentleman is a Hercules killing Cacus, a Perseus freeing +Andromeda." + +"No, he is a man about my own size." + +"Armed to the teeth?" + +"He had not even a knitting-needle." + +"But he paid your ransom?" + +"He said two words to the chief and I was free." + +"And they apologized to him for having carried you off?" said Beauchamp. + +"Just so." + +"Why, he is a second Ariosto." + +"No, his name is the Count of Monte Cristo." + +"There is no Count of Monte Cristo" said Debray. + +"I do not think so," added Chateau-Renaud, with the air of a man who +knows the whole of the European nobility perfectly. + +"Does any one know anything of a Count of Monte Cristo?" + +"He comes possibly from the Holy Land, and one of his ancestors +possessed Calvary, as the Mortemarts did the Dead Sea." + +"I think I can assist your researches," said Maximilian. "Monte Cristo +is a little island I have often heard spoken of by the old sailors my +father employed--a grain of sand in the centre of the Mediterranean, an +atom in the infinite." + +"Precisely!" cried Albert. "Well, he of whom I speak is the lord and +master of this grain of sand, of this atom; he has purchased the title +of count somewhere in Tuscany." + +"He is rich, then?" + +"I believe so." + +"But that ought to be visible." + +"That is what deceives you, Debray." + +"I do not understand you." + +"Have you read the 'Arabian Nights'?" + +"What a question!" + +"Well, do you know if the persons you see there are rich or poor, if +their sacks of wheat are not rubies or diamonds? They seem like poor +fishermen, and suddenly they open some mysterious cavern filled with the +wealth of the Indies." + +"Which means?" + +"Which means that my Count of Monte Cristo is one of those fishermen. He +has even a name taken from the book, since he calls himself Sinbad the +Sailor, and has a cave filled with gold." + +"And you have seen this cavern, Morcerf?" asked Beauchamp. + +"No, but Franz has; for heaven's sake, not a word of this before him. +Franz went in with his eyes blindfolded, and was waited on by mutes and +by women to whom Cleopatra was a painted strumpet. Only he is not quite +sure about the women, for they did not come in until after he had taken +hashish, so that what he took for women might have been simply a row of +statues." + +The two young men looked at Morcerf as if to say,--"Are you mad, or are +you laughing at us?" + +"And I also," said Morrel thoughtfully, "have heard something like this +from an old sailor named Penelon." + +"Ah," cried Albert, "it is very lucky that M. Morrel comes to aid me; +you are vexed, are you not, that he thus gives a clew to the labyrinth?" + +"My dear Albert," said Debray, "what you tell us is so extraordinary." + +"Ah, because your ambassadors and your consuls do not tell you of +them--they have no time. They are too much taken up with interfering in +the affairs of their countrymen who travel." + +"Now you get angry, and attack our poor agents. How will you have them +protect you? The Chamber cuts down their salaries every day, so that now +they have scarcely any. Will you be ambassador, Albert? I will send you +to Constantinople." + +"No, lest on the first demonstration I make in favor of Mehemet Ali, the +Sultan send me the bowstring, and make my secretaries strangle me." + +"You say very true," responded Debray. + +"Yes," said Albert, "but this has nothing to do with the existence of +the Count of Monte Cristo." + +"Pardieu, every one exists." + +"Doubtless, but not in the same way; every one has not black slaves, +a princely retinue, an arsenal of weapons that would do credit to an +Arabian fortress, horses that cost six thousand francs apiece, and Greek +mistresses." + +"Have you seen the Greek mistress?" + +"I have both seen and heard her. I saw her at the theatre, and heard her +one morning when I breakfasted with the count." + +"He eats, then?" + +"Yes; but so little, it can hardly be called eating." + +"He must be a vampire." + +"Laugh, if you will; the Countess G----, who knew Lord Ruthven, declared +that the count was a vampire." + +"Ah, capital," said Beauchamp. "For a man not connected with newspapers, +here is the pendant to the famous sea-serpent of the Constitutionnel." + +"Wild eyes, the iris of which contracts or dilates at pleasure," said +Debray; "facial angle strongly developed, magnificent forehead, +livid complexion, black beard, sharp and white teeth, politeness +unexceptionable." + +"Just so, Lucien," returned Morcerf; "you have described him feature for +feature. Yes, keen and cutting politeness. This man has often made me +shudder; and one day when we were viewing an execution, I thought I +should faint, more from hearing the cold and calm manner in which +he spoke of every description of torture, than from the sight of the +executioner and the culprit." + +"Did he not conduct you to the ruins of the Colosseum and suck your +blood?" asked Beauchamp. + +"Or, having delivered you, make you sign a flaming parchment, +surrendering your soul to him as Esau did his birth-right?" + +"Rail on, rail on at your ease, gentlemen," said Morcerf, somewhat +piqued. "When I look at you Parisians, idlers on the Boulevard de Gand +or the Bois de Boulogne, and think of this man, it seems to me we are +not of the same race." + +"I am highly flattered," returned Beauchamp. "At the same time," added +Chateau-Renaud, "your Count of Monte Cristo is a very fine fellow, +always excepting his little arrangements with the Italian banditti." + +"There are no Italian banditti," said Debray. + +"No vampire," cried Beauchamp. "No Count of Monte Cristo" added Debray. +"There is half-past ten striking, Albert." + +"Confess you have dreamed this, and let us sit down to breakfast," +continued Beauchamp. But the sound of the clock had not died away when +Germain announced, "His excellency the Count of Monte Cristo." The +involuntary start every one gave proved how much Morcerf's narrative +had impressed them, and Albert himself could not wholly refrain from +manifesting sudden emotion. He had not heard a carriage stop in the +street, or steps in the ante-chamber; the door had itself opened +noiselessly. The count appeared, dressed with the greatest simplicity, +but the most fastidious dandy could have found nothing to cavil at in +his toilet. Every article of dress--hat, coat, gloves, and boots--was +from the first makers. He seemed scarcely five and thirty. But what +struck everybody was his extreme resemblance to the portrait Debray had +drawn. The count advanced, smiling, into the centre of the room, and +approached Albert, who hastened towards him holding out his hand in a +ceremonial manner. "Punctuality," said Monte Cristo, "is the politeness +of kings, according to one of your sovereigns, I think; but it is not +the same with travellers. However, I hope you will excuse the two +or three seconds I am behindhand; five hundred leagues are not to be +accomplished without some trouble, and especially in France, where, it +seems, it is forbidden to beat the postilions." + +"My dear count," replied Albert, "I was announcing your visit to some of +my friends, whom I had invited in consequence of the promise you did me +the honor to make, and whom I now present to you. They are the Count of +Chateau-Renaud, whose nobility goes back to the twelve peers, and whose +ancestors had a place at the Round Table; M. Lucien Debray, private +secretary to the minister of the interior; M. Beauchamp, an editor of a +paper, and the terror of the French government, but of whom, in spite of +his national celebrity, you perhaps have not heard in Italy, since his +paper is prohibited there; and M. Maximilian Morrel, captain of Spahis." + +At this name the count, who had hitherto saluted every one with +courtesy, but at the same time with coldness and formality, stepped a +pace forward, and a slight tinge of red colored his pale cheeks. "You +wear the uniform of the new French conquerors, monsieur," said he; "it +is a handsome uniform." No one could have said what caused the count's +voice to vibrate so deeply, and what made his eye flash, which was in +general so clear, lustrous, and limpid when he pleased. "You have never +seen our Africans, count?" said Albert. "Never," replied the count, who +was by this time perfectly master of himself again. + +"Well, beneath this uniform beats one of the bravest and noblest hearts +in the whole army." + +"Oh, M. de Morcerf," interrupted Morrel. + +"Let me go on, captain. And we have just heard," continued Albert, "of +a new deed of his, and so heroic a one, that, although I have seen him +to-day for the first time, I request you to allow me to introduce him +as my friend." At these words it was still possible to observe in Monte +Cristo the concentrated look, changing color, and slight trembling of +the eyelid that show emotion. "Ah, you have a noble heart," said the +count; "so much the better." This exclamation, which corresponded to +the count's own thought rather than to what Albert was saying, surprised +everybody, and especially Morrel, who looked at Monte Cristo with +wonder. But, at the same time, the intonation was so soft that, however +strange the speech might seem, it was impossible to be offended at it. +"Why should he doubt it?" said Beauchamp to Chateau-Renaud. + +"In reality," replied the latter, who, with his aristocratic glance +and his knowledge of the world, had penetrated at once all that was +penetrable in Monte Cristo, "Albert has not deceived us, for the count +is a most singular being. What say you, Morrel!" + +"Ma foi, he has an open look about him that pleases me, in spite of the +singular remark he has made about me." + +"Gentlemen," said Albert, "Germain informs me that breakfast is ready. +My dear count, allow me to show you the way." They passed silently into +the breakfast-room, and every one took his place. "Gentlemen," said the +count, seating himself, "permit me to make a confession which must form +my excuse for any improprieties I may commit. I am a stranger, and a +stranger to such a degree, that this is the first time I have ever been +at Paris. The French way of living is utterly unknown to me, and up to +the present time I have followed the Eastern customs, which are entirely +in contrast to the Parisian. I beg you, therefore, to excuse if you find +anything in me too Turkish, too Italian, or too Arabian. Now, then, let +us breakfast." + +"With what an air he says all this," muttered Beauchamp; "decidedly he +is a great man." + +"A great man in his own country," added Debray. + +"A great man in every country, M. Debray," said Chateau-Renaud. The +count was, it may be remembered, a most temperate guest. Albert remarked +this, expressing his fears lest, at the outset, the Parisian mode of +life should displease the traveller in the most essential point. "My +dear count," said he, "I fear one thing, and that is, that the fare of +the Rue du Helder is not so much to your taste as that of the Piazza di +Spagni. I ought to have consulted you on the point, and have had some +dishes prepared expressly." + +"Did you know me better," returned the count, smiling, "you would not +give one thought of such a thing for a traveller like myself, who +has successively lived on maccaroni at Naples, polenta at Milan, olla +podrida at Valencia, pilau at Constantinople, karrick in India, and +swallows' nests in China. I eat everywhere, and of everything, only +I eat but little; and to-day, that you reproach me with my want of +appetite, is my day of appetite, for I have not eaten since yesterday +morning." + +"What," cried all the guests, "you have not eaten for four and twenty +hours?" + +"No," replied the count; "I was forced to go out of my road to obtain +some information near Nimes, so that I was somewhat late, and therefore +I did not choose to stop." + +"And you ate in your carriage?" asked Morcerf. + +"No, I slept, as I generally do when I am weary without having the +courage to amuse myself, or when I am hungry without feeling inclined to +eat." + +"But you can sleep when you please, monsieur?" said Morrel. + +"Yes." + +"You have a recipe for it?" + +"An infallible one." + +"That would be invaluable to us in Africa, who have not always any food +to eat, and rarely anything to drink." + +"Yes," said Monte Cristo; "but, unfortunately, a recipe excellent for a +man like myself would be very dangerous applied to an army, which might +not awake when it was needed." + +"May we inquire what is this recipe?" asked Debray. + +"Oh, yes," returned Monte Cristo; "I make no secret of it. It is a +mixture of excellent opium, which I fetched myself from Canton in order +to have it pure, and the best hashish which grows in the East--that is, +between the Tigris and the Euphrates. These two ingredients are mixed +in equal proportions, and formed into pills. Ten minutes after one is +taken, the effect is produced. Ask Baron Franz d'Epinay; I think he +tasted them one day." + +"Yes," replied Morcerf, "he said something about it to me." + +"But," said Beauchamp, who, as became a journalist, was very +incredulous, "you always carry this drug about you?" + +"Always." + +"Would it be an indiscretion to ask to see those precious pills?" +continued Beauchamp, hoping to take him at a disadvantage. + +"No, monsieur," returned the count; and he drew from his pocket a +marvellous casket, formed out of a single emerald and closed by a golden +lid which unscrewed and gave passage to a small greenish colored pellet +about the size of a pea. This ball had an acrid and penetrating odor. +There were four or five more in the emerald, which would contain about +a dozen. The casket passed around the table, but it was more to examine +the admirable emerald than to see the pills that it passed from hand to +hand. "And is it your cook who prepares these pills?" asked Beauchamp. + +"Oh, no, monsieur," replied Monte Cristo; "I do not thus betray my +enjoyments to the vulgar. I am a tolerable chemist, and prepare my pills +myself." + +"This is a magnificent emerald, and the largest I have ever seen," said +Chateau-Renaud, "although my mother has some remarkable family jewels." + +"I had three similar ones," returned Monte Cristo. "I gave one to the +Sultan, who mounted it in his sabre; another to our holy father the +Pope, who had it set in his tiara, opposite to one nearly as large, +though not so fine, given by the Emperor Napoleon to his predecessor, +Pius VII. I kept the third for myself, and I had it hollowed out, which +reduced its value, but rendered it more commodious for the purpose I +intended." Every one looked at Monte Cristo with astonishment; he spoke +with so much simplicity that it was evident he spoke the truth, or +that he was mad. However, the sight of the emerald made them naturally +incline to the former belief. "And what did these two sovereigns give +you in exchange for these magnificent presents?" asked Debray. + +"The Sultan, the liberty of a woman," replied the Count; "the Pope, the +life of a man; so that once in my life I have been as powerful as if +heaven had brought me into the world on the steps of a throne." + +"And it was Peppino you saved, was it not?" cried Morcerf; "it was for +him that you obtained pardon?" + +"Perhaps," returned the count, smiling. + +"My dear count, you have no idea what pleasure it gives me to hear you +speak thus," said Morcerf. "I had announced you beforehand to my friends +as an enchanter of the 'Arabian Nights,' a wizard of the Middle Ages; +but the Parisians are so subtle in paradoxes that they mistake for +caprices of the imagination the most incontestable truths, when these +truths do not form a part of their daily existence. For example, here is +Debray who reads, and Beauchamp who prints, every day, 'A member of the +Jockey Club has been stopped and robbed on the Boulevard;' 'four persons +have been assassinated in the Rue St. Denis' or 'the Faubourg St. +Germain;' 'ten, fifteen, or twenty thieves, have been arrested in a cafe +on the Boulevard du Temple, or in the Thermes de Julien,'--and yet these +same men deny the existence of the bandits in the Maremma, the Campagna +di Romana, or the Pontine Marshes. Tell them yourself that I was taken +by bandits, and that without your generous intercession I should +now have been sleeping in the Catacombs of St. Sebastian, instead of +receiving them in my humble abode in the Rue du Helder." + +"Ah," said Monte Cristo "you promised me never to mention that +circumstance." + +"It was not I who made that promise," cried Morcerf; "it must have been +some one else whom you have rescued in the same manner, and whom you +have forgotten. Pray speak of it, for I shall not only, I trust, relate +the little I do know, but also a great deal I do not know." + +"It seems to me," returned the count, smiling, "that you played a +sufficiently important part to know as well as myself what happened." + +"Well, you promise me, if I tell all I know, to relate, in your turn, +all that I do not know?" + +"That is but fair," replied Monte Cristo. + +"Well," said Morcerf, "for three days I believed myself the object of +the attentions of a masque, whom I took for a descendant of Tullia or +Poppoea, while I was simply the object of the attentions of a contadina, +and I say contadina to avoid saying peasant girl. What I know is, that, +like a fool, a greater fool than he of whom I spoke just now, I mistook +for this peasant girl a young bandit of fifteen or sixteen, with a +beardless chin and slim waist, and who, just as I was about to imprint +a chaste salute on his lips, placed a pistol to my head, and, aided by +seven or eight others, led, or rather dragged me, to the Catacombs of +St. Sebastian, where I found a highly educated brigand chief perusing +Caesar's 'Commentaries,' and who deigned to leave off reading to inform +me, that unless the next morning, before six o'clock, four thousand +piastres were paid into his account at his banker's, at a quarter past +six I should have ceased to exist. The letter is still to be seen, +for it is in Franz d'Epinay's possession, signed by me, and with a +postscript of M. Luigi Vampa. This is all I know, but I know not, count, +how you contrived to inspire so much respect in the bandits of Rome who +ordinarily have so little respect for anything. I assure you, Franz and +I were lost in admiration." + +"Nothing more simple," returned the count. "I had known the famous Vampa +for more than ten years. When he was quite a child, and only a shepherd, +I gave him a few gold pieces for showing me my way, and he, in order to +repay me, gave me a poniard, the hilt of which he had carved with his +own hand, and which you may have seen in my collection of arms. In after +years, whether he had forgotten this interchange of presents, which +ought to have cemented our friendship, or whether he did not recollect +me, he sought to take me, but, on the contrary, it was I who captured +him and a dozen of his band. I might have handed him over to Roman +justice, which is somewhat expeditious, and which would have been +particularly so with him; but I did nothing of the sort--I suffered him +and his band to depart." + +"With the condition that they should sin no more," said Beauchamp, +laughing. "I see they kept their promise." + +"No, monsieur," returned Monte Cristo "upon the simple condition that +they should respect myself and my friends. Perhaps what I am about to +say may seem strange to you, who are socialists, and vaunt humanity and +your duty to your neighbor, but I never seek to protect a society which +does not protect me, and which I will even say, generally occupies +itself about me only to injure me; and thus by giving them a low place +in my esteem, and preserving a neutrality towards them, it is society +and my neighbor who are indebted to me." + +"Bravo," cried Chateau-Renaud; "you are the first man I ever met +sufficiently courageous to preach egotism. Bravo, count, bravo!" + +"It is frank, at least," said Morrel. "But I am sure that the count does +not regret having once deviated from the principles he has so boldly +avowed." + +"How have I deviated from those principles, monsieur?" asked Monte +Cristo, who could not help looking at Morrel with so much intensity, +that two or three times the young man had been unable to sustain that +clear and piercing glance. + +"Why, it seems to me," replied Morrel, "that in delivering M. de +Morcerf, whom you did not know, you did good to your neighbor and to +society." + +"Of which he is the brightest ornament," said Beauchamp, drinking off a +glass of champagne. + +"My dear count," cried Morcerf, "you are at fault--you, one of the most +formidable logicians I know--and you must see it clearly proved that +instead of being an egotist, you are a philanthropist. Ah, you call +yourself Oriental, a Levantine, Maltese, Indian, Chinese; your family +name is Monte Cristo; Sinbad the Sailor is your baptismal appellation, +and yet the first day you set foot in Paris you instinctively display +the greatest virtue, or rather the chief defect, of us eccentric +Parisians,--that is, you assume the vices you have not, and conceal the +virtues you possess." + +"My dear vicomte," returned Monte Cristo, "I do not see, in all I have +done, anything that merits, either from you or these gentlemen, the +pretended eulogies I have received. You were no stranger to me, for +I knew you from the time I gave up two rooms to you, invited you to +breakfast with me, lent you one of my carriages, witnessed the Carnival +in your company, and saw with you from a window in the Piazza del Popolo +the execution that affected you so much that you nearly fainted. I will +appeal to any of these gentlemen, could I leave my guest in the hands +of a hideous bandit, as you term him? Besides, you know, I had the idea +that you could introduce me into some of the Paris salons when I came +to France. You might some time ago have looked upon this resolution as a +vague project, but to-day you see it was a reality, and you must submit +to it under penalty of breaking your word." + +"I will keep it," returned Morcerf; "but I fear that you will be much +disappointed, accustomed as you are to picturesque events and fantastic +horizons. Amongst us you will not meet with any of those episodes with +which your adventurous existence has so familiarized you; our Chimborazo +is Mortmartre, our Himalaya is Mount Valerien, our Great Desert is the +plain of Grenelle, where they are now boring an artesian well to water +the caravans. We have plenty of thieves, though not so many as is said; +but these thieves stand in far more dread of a policeman than a lord. +France is so prosaic, and Paris so civilized a city, that you will not +find in its eighty-five departments--I say eighty-five, because I do +not include Corsica--you will not find, then, in these eighty-five +departments a single hill on which there is not a telegraph, or a grotto +in which the commissary of police has not put up a gaslamp. There is but +one service I can render you, and for that I place myself entirely +at your orders, that is, to present, or make my friends present, you +everywhere; besides, you have no need of any one to introduce you--with +your name, and your fortune, and your talent" (Monte Cristo bowed with +a somewhat ironical smile) "you can present yourself everywhere, and be +well received. I can be useful in one way only--if knowledge of Parisian +habits, of the means of rendering yourself comfortable, or of the +bazaars, can assist, you may depend upon me to find you a fitting +dwelling here. I do not dare offer to share my apartments with you, as I +shared yours at Rome--I, who do not profess egotism, but am yet egotist +par excellence; for, except myself, these rooms would not hold a shadow +more, unless that shadow were feminine." + +"Ah," said the count, "that is a most conjugal reservation; I recollect +that at Rome you said something of a projected marriage. May I +congratulate you?" + +"The affair is still in projection." + +"And he who says in 'projection,' means already decided," said Debray. + +"No," replied Morcerf, "my father is most anxious about it; and I +hope, ere long, to introduce you, if not to my wife, at least to my +betrothed--Mademoiselle Eugenie Danglars." + +"Eugenie Danglars," said Monte Cristo; "tell me, is not her father Baron +Danglars?" + +"Yes," returned Morcerf, "a baron of a new creation." + +"What matter," said Monte Cristo "if he has rendered the State services +which merit this distinction?" + +"Enormous ones," answered Beauchamp. "Although in reality a Liberal, he +negotiated a loan of six millions for Charles X., in 1829, who made +him a baron and chevalier of the Legion of Honor; so that he wears the +ribbon, not, as you would think, in his waistcoat-pocket, but at his +button-hole." + +"Ah," interrupted Morcerf, laughing, "Beauchamp, Beauchamp, keep that +for the Corsaire or the Charivari, but spare my future father-in-law +before me." Then, turning to Monte Cristo, "You just now spoke his name +as if you knew the baron?" + +"I do not know him," returned Monte Cristo; "but I shall probably soon +make his acquaintance, for I have a credit opened with him by the house +of Richard & Blount, of London, Arstein & Eskeles of Vienna, and Thomson +& French at Rome." As he pronounced the two last names, the count +glanced at Maximilian Morrel. If the stranger expected to produce an +effect on Morrel, he was not mistaken--Maximilian started as if he had +been electrified. "Thomson & French," said he; "do you know this house, +monsieur?" + +"They are my bankers in the capital of the Christian world," returned +the count quietly. "Can my influence with them be of any service to +you?" + +"Oh, count, you could assist me perhaps in researches which have been, +up to the present, fruitless. This house, in past years, did ours a +great service, and has, I know not for what reason, always denied having +rendered us this service." + +"I shall be at your orders," said Monte Cristo bowing. + +"But," continued Morcerf, "a propos of Danglars,--we have strangely +wandered from the subject. We were speaking of a suitable habitation +for the Count of Monte Cristo. Come, gentlemen, let us all propose some +place. Where shall we lodge this new guest in our great capital?" + +"Faubourg Saint-Germain," said Chateau-Renaud. "The count will find +there a charming hotel, with a court and garden." + +"Bah, Chateau-Renaud," returned Debray, "you only know your dull +and gloomy Faubourg Saint-Germain; do not pay any attention to him, +count--live in the Chaussee d'Antin, that's the real centre of Paris." + +"Boulevard de l'Opera," said Beauchamp; "the second floor--a house with +a balcony. The count will have his cushions of silver cloth brought +there, and as he smokes his chibouque, see all Paris pass before him." + +"You have no idea, then, Morrel?" asked Chateau-Renaud; "you do not +propose anything." + +"Oh, yes," returned the young man, smiling; "on the contrary, I have +one, but I expected the count would be tempted by one of the brilliant +proposals made him, yet as he has not replied to any of them, I will +venture to offer him a suite of apartments in a charming hotel, in the +Pompadour style, that my sister has inhabited for a year, in the Rue +Meslay." + +"You have a sister?" asked the count. + +"Yes, monsieur, a most excellent sister." + +"Married?" + +"Nearly nine years." + +"Happy?" asked the count again. + +"As happy as it is permitted to a human creature to be," replied +Maximilian. "She married the man she loved, who remained faithful to +us in our fallen fortunes--Emmanuel Herbaut." Monte Cristo smiled +imperceptibly. "I live there during my leave of absence," continued +Maximilian; "and I shall be, together with my brother-in-law Emmanuel, +at the disposition of the Count, whenever he thinks fit to honor us." + +"One minute," cried Albert, without giving Monte Cristo the time to +reply. "Take care, you are going to immure a traveller, Sinbad the +Sailor, a man who comes to see Paris; you are going to make a patriarch +of him." + +"Oh, no," said Morrel; "my sister is five and twenty, my brother-in-law +is thirty, they are gay, young, and happy. Besides, the count will be in +his own house, and only see them when he thinks fit to do so." + +"Thanks, monsieur," said Monte Cristo; "I shall content myself with +being presented to your sister and her husband, if you will do me the +honor to introduce me; but I cannot accept the offer of any one of these +gentlemen, since my habitation is already prepared." + +"What," cried Morcerf; "you are, then, going to an hotel--that will be +very dull for you." + +"Was I so badly lodged at Rome?" said Monte Cristo smiling. + +"Parbleu, at Rome you spent fifty thousand piastres in furnishing your +apartments, but I presume that you are not disposed to spend a similar +sum every day." + +"It is not that which deterred me," replied Monte Cristo; "but as I +determined to have a house to myself, I sent on my valet de chambre, and +he ought by this time to have bought the house and furnished it." + +"But you have, then, a valet de chambre who knows Paris?" said +Beauchamp. + +"It is the first time he has ever been in Paris. He is black, and cannot +speak," returned Monte Cristo. + +"It is Ali!" cried Albert, in the midst of the general surprise. + +"Yes, Ali himself, my Nubian mute, whom you saw, I think, at Rome." + +"Certainly," said Morcerf; "I recollect him perfectly. But how could you +charge a Nubian to purchase a house, and a mute to furnish it?--he will +do everything wrong." + +"Undeceive yourself, monsieur," replied Monte Cristo; "I am quite sure, +that, on the contrary, he will choose everything as I wish. He knows +my tastes, my caprices, my wants. He has been here a week, with the +instinct of a hound, hunting by himself. He will arrange everything for +me. He knew, that I should arrive to-day at ten o'clock; he was waiting +for me at nine at the Barriere de Fontainebleau. He gave me this paper; +it contains the number of my new abode; read it yourself," and Monte +Cristo passed a paper to Albert. "Ah, that is really original," said +Beauchamp. + +"And very princely," added Chateau-Renaud. + +"What, do you not know your house?" asked Debray. + +"No," said Monte Cristo; "I told you I did not wish to be behind my +time; I dressed myself in the carriage, and descended at the viscount's +door." The young men looked at each other; they did not know if it was +a comedy Monte Cristo was playing, but every word he uttered had such +an air of simplicity, that it was impossible to suppose what he said +was false--besides, why should he tell a falsehood? "We must content +ourselves, then," said Beauchamp, "with rendering the count all the +little services in our power. I, in my quality of journalist, open all +the theatres to him." + +"Thanks, monsieur," returned Monte Cristo, "my steward has orders to +take a box at each theatre." + +"Is your steward also a Nubian?" asked Debray. + +"No, he is a countryman of yours, if a Corsican is a countryman of any +one's. But you know him, M. de Morcerf." + +"Is it that excellent M. Bertuccio, who understands hiring windows so +well?" + +"Yes, you saw him the day I had the honor of receiving you; he has been +a soldier, a smuggler--in fact, everything. I would not be quite sure +that he has not been mixed up with the police for some trifle--a stab +with a knife, for instance." + +"And you have chosen this honest citizen for your steward," said Debray. +"Of how much does he rob you every year?" + +"On my word," replied the count, "not more than another. I am sure he +answers my purpose, knows no impossibility, and so I keep him." + +"Then," continued Chateau-Renaud, "since you have an establishment, a +steward, and a hotel in the Champs Elysees, you only want a mistress." +Albert smiled. He thought of the fair Greek he had seen in the count's +box at the Argentina and Valle theatres. "I have something better than +that," said Monte Cristo; "I have a slave. You procure your mistresses +from the opera, the Vaudeville, or the Varietes; I purchased mine at +Constantinople; it cost me more, but I have nothing to fear." + +"But you forget," replied Debray, laughing, "that we are Franks by name +and franks by nature, as King Charles said, and that the moment she puts +her foot in France your slave becomes free." + +"Who will tell her?" + +"The first person who sees her." + +"She only speaks Romaic." + +"That is different." + +"But at least we shall see her," said Beauchamp, "or do you keep eunuchs +as well as mutes?" + +"Oh, no," replied Monte Cristo; "I do not carry brutalism so far. Every +one who surrounds me is free to quit me, and when they leave me will +no longer have any need of me or any one else; it is for that reason, +perhaps, that they do not quit me." They had long since passed to +dessert and cigars. + +"My dear Albert," said Debray, rising, "it is half-past two. Your +guest is charming, but you leave the best company to go into the worst +sometimes. I must return to the minister's. I will tell him of the +count, and we shall soon know who he is." + +"Take care," returned Albert; "no one has been able to accomplish that." + +"Oh, we have three millions for our police; it is true they are almost +always spent beforehand, but, no matter, we shall still have fifty +thousand francs to spend for this purpose." + +"And when you know, will you tell me?" + +"I promise you. Au revoir, Albert. Gentlemen, good morning." + +As he left the room, Debray called out loudly, "My carriage." + +"Bravo," said Beauchamp to Albert; "I shall not go to the Chamber, but I +have something better to offer my readers than a speech of M. Danglars." + +"For heaven's sake, Beauchamp," returned Morcerf, "do not deprive me of +the merit of introducing him everywhere. Is he not peculiar?" + +"He is more than that," replied Chateau-Renaud; "he is one of the most +extraordinary men I ever saw in my life. Are you coming, Morrel?" + +"Directly I have given my card to the count, who has promised to pay us +a visit at Rue Meslay, No. 14." + +"Be sure I shall not fail to do so," returned the count, bowing. And +Maximilian Morrel left the room with the Baron de Chateau-Renaud, +leaving Monte Cristo alone with Morcerf. + + + +Chapter 41. The Presentation. + +When Albert found himself alone with Monte Cristo, "My dear count," +said he, "allow me to commence my services as cicerone by showing you +a specimen of a bachelor's apartment. You, who are accustomed to the +palaces of Italy, can amuse yourself by calculating in how many square +feet a young man who is not the worst lodged in Paris can live. As +we pass from one room to another, I will open the windows to let you +breathe." Monte Cristo had already seen the breakfast-room and the salon +on the ground-floor. Albert led him first to his atelier, which was, as +we have said, his favorite apartment. Monte Cristo quickly appreciated +all that Albert had collected here--old cabinets, Japanese porcelain, +Oriental stuffs, Venetian glass, arms from all parts of the +world--everything was familiar to him; and at the first glance he +recognized their date, their country, and their origin. Morcerf had +expected he should be the guide; on the contrary, it was he who, under +the count's guidance, followed a course of archaeology, mineralogy, and +natural history. They descended to the first floor; Albert led his guest +into the salon. The salon was filled with the works of modern artists; +there were landscapes by Dupre, with their long reeds and tall trees, +their lowing oxen and marvellous skies; Delacroix's Arabian cavaliers, +with their long white burnouses, their shining belts, their damasked +arms, their horses, who tore each other with their teeth while their +riders contended fiercely with their maces; aquarelles of Boulanger, +representing Notre Dame de Paris with that vigor that makes the artist +the rival of the poet; there were paintings by Diaz, who makes his +flowers more beautiful than flowers, his suns more brilliant than the +sun; designs by Decamp, as vividly colored as those of Salvator Rosa, +but more poetic; pastels by Giraud and Muller, representing children +like angels and women with the features of a virgin; sketches torn from +the album of Dauzats' "Travels in the East," that had been made in a few +seconds on the saddle of a camel, or beneath the dome of a mosque--in a +word, all that modern art can give in exchange and as recompense for the +art lost and gone with ages long since past. + +Albert expected to have something new this time to show to the +traveller, but, to his great surprise, the latter, without seeking +for the signatures, many of which, indeed, were only initials, named +instantly the author of every picture in such a manner that it was easy +to see that each name was not only known to him, but that each style +associated with it had been appreciated and studied by him. From the +salon they passed into the bed-chamber; it was a model of taste and +simple elegance. A single portrait, signed by Leopold Robert, shone in +its carved and gilded frame. This portrait attracted the Count of Monte +Cristo's attention, for he made three rapid steps in the chamber, and +stopped suddenly before it. It was the portrait of a young woman of five +or six and twenty, with a dark complexion, and light and lustrous eyes, +veiled beneath long lashes. She wore the picturesque costume of the +Catalan fisherwomen, a red and black bodice, and golden pins in her +hair. She was looking at the sea, and her form was outlined on the blue +ocean and sky. The light was so faint in the room that Albert did not +perceive the pallor that spread itself over the count's visage, or the +nervous heaving of his chest and shoulders. Silence prevailed for an +instant, during which Monte Cristo gazed intently on the picture. + +"You have there a most charming mistress, viscount," said the count in +a perfectly calm tone; "and this costume--a ball costume, +doubtless--becomes her admirably." + +"Ah, monsieur," returned Albert, "I would never forgive you this mistake +if you had seen another picture beside this. You do not know my mother; +she it is whom you see here. She had her portrait painted thus six +or eight years ago. This costume is a fancy one, it appears, and the +resemblance is so great that I think I still see my mother the same +as she was in 1830. The countess had this portrait painted during +the count's absence. She doubtless intended giving him an agreeable +surprise; but, strange to say, this portrait seemed to displease my +father, and the value of the picture, which is, as you see, one of the +best works of Leopold Robert, could not overcome his dislike to it. +It is true, between ourselves, that M. de Morcerf is one of the most +assiduous peers at the Luxembourg, a general renowned for theory, but a +most mediocre amateur of art. It is different with my mother, who paints +exceedingly well, and who, unwilling to part with so valuable a picture, +gave it to me to put here, where it would be less likely to displease +M. de Morcerf, whose portrait, by Gros, I will also show you. Excuse my +talking of family matters, but as I shall have the honor of introducing +you to the count, I tell you this to prevent you making any allusions +to this picture. The picture seems to have a malign influence, for my +mother rarely comes here without looking at it, and still more rarely +does she look at it without weeping. This disagreement is the only one +that has ever taken place between the count and countess, who are still +as much united, although married more than twenty years, as on the first +day of their wedding." + +Monte Cristo glanced rapidly at Albert, as if to seek a hidden meaning +in his words, but it was evident the young man uttered them in the +simplicity of his heart. "Now," said Albert, "that you have seen all my +treasures, allow me to offer them to you, unworthy as they are. Consider +yourself as in your own house, and to put yourself still more at your +ease, pray accompany me to the apartments of M. de Morcerf, he whom I +wrote from Rome an account of the services you rendered me, and to whom +I announced your promised visit, and I may say that both the count and +countess anxiously desire to thank you in person. You are somewhat blase +I know, and family scenes have not much effect on Sinbad the Sailor, +who has seen so many others. However, accept what I propose to you as +an initiation into Parisian life--a life of politeness, visiting, +and introductions." Monte Cristo bowed without making any answer; he +accepted the offer without enthusiasm and without regret, as one of +those conventions of society which every gentleman looks upon as a duty. +Albert summoned his servant, and ordered him to acquaint M. and Madame +de Morcerf of the arrival of the Count of Monte Cristo. Albert followed +him with the count. When they arrived at the ante-chamber, above the +door was visible a shield, which, by its rich ornaments and its harmony +with the rest of the furniture, indicated the importance the owner +attached to this blazon. Monte Cristo stopped and examined it +attentively. + +"Azure seven merlets, or, placed bender," said he. "These are, +doubtless, your family arms? Except the knowledge of blazons, that +enables me to decipher them, I am very ignorant of heraldry--I, a count +of a fresh creation, fabricated in Tuscany by the aid of a commandery +of St. Stephen, and who would not have taken the trouble had I not been +told that when you travel much it is necessary. Besides, you must have +something on the panels of your carriage, to escape being searched by +the custom-house officers. Excuse my putting such a question to you." + +"It is not indiscreet," returned Morcerf, with the simplicity of +conviction. "You have guessed rightly. These are our arms, that is, +those of my father, but they are, as you see, joined to another shield, +which has gules, a silver tower, which are my mother's. By her side I am +Spanish, but the family of Morcerf is French, and, I have heard, one of +the oldest of the south of France." + +"Yes," replied Monte Cristo "these blazons prove that. Almost all the +armed pilgrims that went to the Holy Land took for their arms either a +cross, in honor of their mission, or birds of passage, in sign of +the long voyage they were about to undertake, and which they hoped to +accomplish on the wings of faith. One of your ancestors had joined the +Crusades, and supposing it to be only that of St. Louis, that makes you +mount to the thirteenth century, which is tolerably ancient." + +"It is possible," said Morcerf; "my father has in his study a +genealogical tree which will tell you all that, and on which I made +commentaries that would have greatly edified Hozier and Jaucourt. At +present I no longer think of it, and yet I must tell you that we are +beginning to occupy ourselves greatly with these things under our +popular government." + +"Well, then, your government would do well to choose from the past +something better than the things that I have noticed on your monuments, +and which have no heraldic meaning whatever. As for you, viscount," +continued Monte Cristo to Morcerf, "you are more fortunate than the +government, for your arms are really beautiful, and speak to the +imagination. Yes, you are at once from Provence and Spain; that +explains, if the portrait you showed me be like, the dark hue I so much +admired on the visage of the noble Catalan." It would have required the +penetration of Oedipus or the Sphinx to have divined the irony the count +concealed beneath these words, apparently uttered with the greatest +politeness. Morcerf thanked him with a smile, and pushed open the door +above which were his arms, and which, as we have said, opened into the +salon. In the most conspicuous part of the salon was another portrait. +It was that of a man, from five to eight and thirty, in the uniform of +a general officer, wearing the double epaulet of heavy bullion, that +indicates superior rank, the ribbon of the Legion of Honor around his +neck, which showed he was a commander, and on the right breast, the star +of a grand officer of the order of the Saviour, and on the left that +of the grand cross of Charles III., which proved that the person +represented by the picture had served in the wars of Greece and Spain, +or, what was just the same thing as regarded decorations, had fulfilled +some diplomatic mission in the two countries. + +Monte Cristo was engaged in examining this portrait with no less care +than he had bestowed upon the other, when another door opened, and he +found himself opposite to the Count of Morcerf in person. He was a man +of forty to forty-five years, but he seemed at least fifty, and his +black mustache and eyebrows contrasted strangely with his almost white +hair, which was cut short, in the military fashion. He was dressed in +plain clothes, and wore at his button-hole the ribbons of the different +orders to which he belonged. He entered with a tolerably dignified step, +and some little haste. Monte Cristo saw him advance towards him without +making a single step. It seemed as if his feet were rooted to the +ground, and his eyes on the Count of Morcerf. "Father," said the young +man, "I have the honor of presenting to you the Count of Monte Cristo, +the generous friend whom I had the good fortune to meet in the critical +situation of which I have told you." + +"You are most welcome, monsieur," said the Count of Morcerf, saluting +Monte Cristo with a smile, "and monsieur has rendered our house, in +preserving its only heir, a service which insures him our eternal +gratitude." As he said these words, the count of Morcerf pointed to a +chair, while he seated himself in another opposite the window. + +Monte Cristo, in taking the seat Morcerf offered him, placed himself in +such a manner as to remain concealed in the shadow of the large velvet +curtains, and read on the careworn and livid features of the count a +whole history of secret griefs written in each wrinkle time had planted +there. "The countess," said Morcerf, "was at her toilet when she was +informed of the visit she was about to receive. She will, however, be in +the salon in ten minutes." + +"It is a great honor to me," returned Monte Cristo, "to be thus, on the +first day of my arrival in Paris, brought in contact with a man whose +merit equals his reputation, and to whom fortune has for once been +equitable, but has she not still on the plains of Metidja, or in the +mountains of Atlas, a marshal's staff to offer you?" + +"Oh," replied Morcerf, reddening slightly, "I have left the service, +monsieur. Made a peer at the Restoration, I served through the first +campaign under the orders of Marshal Bourmont. I could, therefore, +expect a higher rank, and who knows what might have happened had the +elder branch remained on the throne? But the Revolution of July was, it +seems, sufficiently glorious to allow itself to be ungrateful, and it +was so for all services that did not date from the imperial period. I +tendered my resignation, for when you have gained your epaulets on the +battle-field, you do not know how to manoeuvre on the slippery grounds +of the salons. I have hung up my sword, and cast myself into politics. +I have devoted myself to industry; I study the useful arts. During the +twenty years I served, I often wished to do so, but I had not the time." + +"These are the ideas that render your nation superior to any other," +returned Monte Cristo. "A gentleman of high birth, possessor of an +ample fortune, you have consented to gain your promotion as an obscure +soldier, step by step--this is uncommon; then become general, peer of +France, commander of the Legion of Honor, you consent to again commence +a second apprenticeship, without any other hope or any other desire than +that of one day becoming useful to your fellow-creatures; this, indeed, +is praiseworthy,--nay, more, it is sublime." Albert looked on and +listened with astonishment; he was not used to see Monte Cristo give +vent to such bursts of enthusiasm. "Alas," continued the stranger, +doubtless to dispel the slight cloud that covered Morcerf's brow, "we +do not act thus in Italy; we grow according to our race and our species, +and we pursue the same lines, and often the same uselessness, all our +lives." + +"But, monsieur," said the Count of Morcerf, "for a man of your merit, +Italy is not a country, and France opens her arms to receive you; +respond to her call. France will not, perhaps, be always ungrateful. She +treats her children ill, but she always welcomes strangers." + +"Ah, father," said Albert with a smile, "it is evident you do not know +the Count of Monte Cristo; he despises all honors, and contents himself +with those written on his passport." + +"That is the most just remark," replied the stranger, "I ever heard made +concerning myself." + +"You have been free to choose your career," observed the Count of +Morcerf, with a sigh; "and you have chosen the path strewed with +flowers." + +"Precisely, monsieur," replied Monte Cristo with one of those smiles +that a painter could never represent or a physiologist analyze. + +"If I did not fear to fatigue you," said the general, evidently charmed +with the count's manners, "I would have taken you to the Chamber; +there is a debate very curious to those who are strangers to our modern +senators." + +"I shall be most grateful, monsieur, if you will, at some future time, +renew your offer, but I have been flattered with the hope of being +introduced to the countess, and I will therefore wait." + +"Ah, here is my mother," cried the viscount. Monte Cristo, turned round +hastily, and saw Madame de Morcerf at the entrance of the salon, at +the door opposite to that by which her husband had entered, pale and +motionless; when Monte Cristo turned round, she let fall her arm, which +for some unknown reason had been resting on the gilded door-post. +She had been there some moments, and had heard the last words of the +visitor. The latter rose and bowed to the countess, who inclined herself +without speaking. "Ah, good heavens, madame," said the count, "are you +ill, or is it the heat of the room that affects you?" + +"Are you ill, mother?" cried the viscount, springing towards her. + +She thanked them both with a smile. "No," returned she, "but I feel +some emotion on seeing, for the first time, the man without whose +intervention we should have been in tears and desolation. Monsieur," +continued the countess, advancing with the majesty of a queen, "I owe to +you the life of my son, and for this I bless you. Now, I thank you +for the pleasure you give me in thus affording me the opportunity of +thanking you as I have blessed you, from the bottom of my heart." +The count bowed again, but lower than before; He was even paler than +Mercedes. "Madame," said he, "the count and yourself recompense too +generously a simple action. To save a man, to spare a father's feelings, +or a mother's sensibility, is not to do a good action, but a simple deed +of humanity." At these words, uttered with the most exquisite sweetness +and politeness, Madame de Morcerf replied. "It is very fortunate for my +son, monsieur, that he found such a friend, and I thank God that things +are thus." And Mercedes raised her fine eyes to heaven with so fervent +an expression of gratitude, that the count fancied he saw tears in them. +M. de Morcerf approached her. "Madame," said he. "I have already made my +excuses to the count for quitting him, and I pray you to do so also. The +sitting commences at two; it is now three, and I am to speak." + +"Go, then, and monsieur and I will strive our best to forget your +absence," replied the countess, with the same tone of deep feeling. +"Monsieur," continued she, turning to Monte Cristo, "will you do us the +honor of passing the rest of the day with us?" + +"Believe me, madame, I feel most grateful for your kindness, but I +got out of my travelling carriage at your door this morning, and I am +ignorant how I am installed in Paris, which I scarcely know; this is but +a trifling inquietude, I know, but one that may be appreciated." + +"We shall have the pleasure another time," said the countess; "you +promise that?" Monte Cristo inclined himself without answering, but +the gesture might pass for assent. "I will not detain you, monsieur," +continued the countess; "I would not have our gratitude become +indiscreet or importunate." + +"My dear Count," said Albert, "I will endeavor to return your politeness +at Rome, and place my coupe at your disposal until your own be ready." + +"A thousand thanks for your kindness, viscount," returned the Count of +Monte Cristo "but I suppose that M. Bertuccio has suitably employed the +four hours and a half I have given him, and that I shall find a carriage +of some sort ready at the door." Albert was used to the count's +manner of proceeding; he knew that, like Nero, he was in search of the +impossible, and nothing astonished him, but wishing to judge with his +own eyes how far the count's orders had been executed, he accompanied +him to the door of the house. Monte Cristo was not deceived. As soon as +he appeared in the Count of Morcerf's ante-chamber, a footman, the +same who at Rome had brought the count's card to the two young men, and +announced his visit, sprang into the vestibule, and when he arrived at +the door the illustrious traveller found his carriage awaiting him. It +was a coupe of Koller's building, and with horses and harness for which +Drake had, to the knowledge of all the lions of Paris, refused on +the previous day seven hundred guineas. "Monsieur," said the count to +Albert, "I do not ask you to accompany me to my house, as I can only +show you a habitation fitted up in a hurry, and I have, as you know, a +reputation to keep up as regards not being taken by surprise. Give me, +therefore, one more day before I invite you; I shall then be certain not +to fail in my hospitality." + +"If you ask me for a day, count, I know what to anticipate; it will not +be a house I shall see, but a palace. You have decidedly some genius at +your control." + +"Ma foi, spread that idea," replied the Count of Monte Cristo, putting +his foot on the velvet-lined steps of his splendid carriage, "and that +will be worth something to me among the ladies." As he spoke, he sprang +into the vehicle, the door was closed, but not so rapidly that Monte +Cristo failed to perceive the almost imperceptible movement which +stirred the curtains of the apartment in which he had left Madame de +Morcerf. When Albert returned to his mother, he found her in the boudoir +reclining in a large velvet arm-chair, the whole room so obscure that +only the shining spangle, fastened here and there to the drapery, and +the angles of the gilded frames of the pictures, showed with some +degree of brightness in the gloom. Albert could not see the face of the +countess, as it was covered with a thin veil she had put on her head, +and which fell over her features in misty folds, but it seemed to him as +though her voice had altered. He could distinguish amid the perfumes of +the roses and heliotropes in the flower-stands, the sharp and fragrant +odor of volatile salts, and he noticed in one of the chased cups on the +mantle-piece the countess's smelling-bottle, taken from its shagreen +case, and exclaimed in a tone of uneasiness, as he entered,--"My dear +mother, have you been ill during my absence?" + +"No, no, Albert, but you know these roses, tuberoses, and orange-flowers +throw out at first, before one is used to them, such violent perfumes." + +"Then, my dear mother," said Albert, putting his hand to the bell, "they +must be taken into the ante-chamber. You are really ill, and just now +were so pale as you came into the room"-- + +"Was I pale, Albert?" + +"Yes; a pallor that suits you admirably, mother, but which did not the +less alarm my father and myself." + +"Did your father speak of it?" inquired Mercedes eagerly. + +"No, madame; but do you not remember that he spoke of the fact to you?" + +"Yes, I do remember," replied the countess. A servant entered, summoned +by Albert's ring of the bell. "Take these flowers into the anteroom or +dressing-room," said the viscount; "they make the countess ill." The +footman obeyed his orders. A long pause ensued, which lasted until all +the flowers were removed. "What is this name of Monte Cristo?" inquired +the countess, when the servant had taken away the last vase of flowers, +"is it a family name, or the name of the estate, or a simple title?" + +"I believe, mother, it is merely a title. The count purchased an island +in the Tuscan archipelago, and, as he told you to-day, has founded +a commandery. You know the same thing was done for Saint Stephen of +Florence, Saint George, Constantinian of Parma, and even for the Order +of Malta. Except this, he has no pretension to nobility, and calls +himself a chance count, although the general opinion at Rome is that the +count is a man of very high distinction." + +"His manners are admirable," said the countess, "at least, as far as I +could judge in the few minutes he remained here." + +"They are perfect mother, so perfect, that they surpass by far all I +have known in the leading aristocracy of the three proudest nobilities +of Europe--the English, the Spanish, and the German." The countess +paused a moment; then, after a slight hesitation, she resumed,--"You +have seen, my dear Albert--I ask the question as a mother--you have +seen M. de Monte Cristo in his house, you are quicksighted, have much +knowledge of the world, more tact than is usual at your age, do you +think the count is really what he appears to be?" + +"What does he appear to be?" + +"Why, you have just said,--a man of high distinction." + +"I told you, my dear mother, he was esteemed such." + +"But what is your own opinion, Albert?" + +"I must tell you that I have not come to any decided opinion respecting +him, but I think him a Maltese." + +"I do not ask you of his origin but what he is." + +"Ah, what he is; that is quite another thing. I have seen so many +remarkable things in him, that if you would have me really say what I +think, I shall reply that I really do look upon him as one of Byron's +heroes, whom misery has marked with a fatal brand; some Manfred, some +Lara, some Werner, one of those wrecks, as it were, of some ancient +family, who, disinherited of their patrimony, have achieved one by the +force of their adventurous genius, which has placed them above the laws +of society." + +"You say"-- + +"I say that Monte Cristo is an island in the midst of the Mediterranean, +without inhabitants or garrison, the resort of smugglers of all nations, +and pirates of every flag. Who knows whether or not these industrious +worthies do not pay to their feudal lord some dues for his protection?" + +"That is possible," said the countess, reflecting. + +"Never mind," continued the young man, "smuggler or not, you must agree, +mother dear, as you have seen him, that the Count of Monte Cristo is +a remarkable man, who will have the greatest success in the salons of +Paris. Why, this very morning, in my rooms, he made his entree amongst +us by striking every man of us with amazement, not even excepting +Chateau-Renaud." + +"And what do you suppose is the count's age?" inquired Mercedes, +evidently attaching great importance to this question. + +"Thirty-five or thirty-six, mother." + +"So young,--it is impossible," said Mercedes, replying at the same time +to what Albert said as well as to her own private reflection. + +"It is the truth, however. Three or four times he has said to me, and +certainly without the slightest premeditation, 'at such a period I was +five years old, at another ten years old, at another twelve,' and +I, induced by curiosity, which kept me alive to these details, have +compared the dates, and never found him inaccurate. The age of this +singular man, who is of no age, is then, I am certain, thirty-five. +Besides, mother, remark how vivid his eye, how raven-black his hair, +and his brow, though so pale, is free from wrinkles,--he is not only +vigorous, but also young." The countess bent her head, as if beneath a +heavy wave of bitter thoughts. "And has this man displayed a friendship +for you, Albert?" she asked with a nervous shudder. + +"I am inclined to think so." + +"And--do--you--like--him?" + +"Why, he pleases me in spite of Franz d'Epinay, who tries to convince +me that he is a being returned from the other world." The countess +shuddered. "Albert," she said, in a voice which was altered by emotion, +"I have always put you on your guard against new acquaintances. Now you +are a man, and are able to give me advice; yet I repeat to you, Albert, +be prudent." + +"Why, my dear mother, it is necessary, in order to make your advice turn +to account, that I should know beforehand what I have to distrust. +The count never plays, he only drinks pure water tinged with a little +sherry, and is so rich that he cannot, without intending to laugh at me, +try to borrow money. What, then, have I to fear from him?" + +"You are right," said the countess, "and my fears are weakness, +especially when directed against a man who has saved your life. How did +your father receive him, Albert? It is necessary that we should be more +than complaisant to the count. M. de Morcerf is sometimes occupied, his +business makes him reflective, and he might, without intending it"-- + +"Nothing could be in better taste than my father's demeanor, madame," +said Albert; "nay, more, he seemed greatly flattered at two or three +compliments which the count very skilfully and agreeably paid him with +as much ease as if he had known him these thirty years. Each of these +little tickling arrows must have pleased my father," added Albert with +a laugh. "And thus they parted the best possible friends, and M. de +Morcerf even wished to take him to the Chamber to hear the speakers." +The countess made no reply. She fell into so deep a revery that her eyes +gradually closed. The young man, standing up before her, gazed upon +her with that filial affection which is so tender and endearing with +children whose mothers are still young and handsome. Then, after seeing +her eyes closed, and hearing her breathe gently, he believed she had +dropped asleep, and left the apartment on tiptoe, closing the door after +him with the utmost precaution. "This devil of a fellow," he muttered, +shaking his head; "I said at the time he would create a sensation here, +and I measure his effect by an infallible thermometer. My mother has +noticed him, and he must therefore, perforce, be remarkable." He +went down to the stables, not without some slight annoyance, when +he remembered that the Count of Monte Cristo had laid his hands on a +"turnout" which sent his bays down to second place in the opinion of +connoisseurs. "Most decidedly," said he, "men are not equal, and I must +beg my father to develop this theorem in the Chamber of Peers." + + + +Chapter 42. Monsieur Bertuccio. + +Meanwhile the count had arrived at his house; it had taken him six +minutes to perform the distance, but these six minutes were sufficient +to induce twenty young men who knew the price of the equipage they had +been unable to purchase themselves, to put their horses in a gallop in +order to see the rich foreigner who could afford to give 20,000 francs +apiece for his horses. The house Ali had chosen, and which was to serve +as a town residence to Monte Cristo, was situated on the right hand as +you ascend the Champs Elysees. A thick clump of trees and shrubs rose in +the centre, and masked a portion of the front; around this shrubbery +two alleys, like two arms, extended right and left, and formed a +carriage-drive from the iron gates to a double portico, on every step of +which stood a porcelain vase, filled with flowers. This house, isolated +from the rest, had, besides the main entrance, another in the Rue +Ponthieu. Even before the coachman had hailed the concierge, the massy +gates rolled on their hinges--they had seen the Count coming, and at +Paris, as everywhere else, he was served with the rapidity of lightning. +The coachman entered and traversed the half-circle without slackening +his speed, and the gates were closed ere the wheels had ceased to sound +on the gravel. The carriage stopped at the left side of the portico, two +men presented themselves at the carriage-window; the one was Ali, who, +smiling with an expression of the most sincere joy, seemed amply repaid +by a mere look from Monte Cristo. The other bowed respectfully, +and offered his arm to assist the count in descending. "Thanks, M. +Bertuccio," said the count, springing lightly up the three steps of the +portico; "and the notary?" + +"He is in the small salon, excellency," returned Bertuccio. + +"And the cards I ordered to be engraved as soon as you knew the number +of the house?" + +"Your excellency, it is done already. I have been myself to the best +engraver of the Palais Royal, who did the plate in my presence. The +first card struck off was taken, according to your orders, to the Baron +Danglars, Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin, No. 7; the others are on the +mantle-piece of your excellency's bedroom." + +"Good; what o'clock is it?" + +"Four o'clock." Monte Cristo gave his hat, cane, and gloves to the same +French footman who had called his carriage at the Count of Morcerf's, +and then he passed into the small salon, preceded by Bertuccio, +who showed him the way. "These are but indifferent marbles in this +ante-chamber," said Monte Cristo. "I trust all this will soon be taken +away." Bertuccio bowed. As the steward had said, the notary awaited him +in the small salon. He was a simple-looking lawyer's clerk, elevated to +the extraordinary dignity of a provincial scrivener. "You are the notary +empowered to sell the country house that I wish to purchase, monsieur?" +asked Monte Cristo. + +"Yes, count," returned the notary. + +"Is the deed of sale ready?" + +"Yes, count." + +"Have you brought it?" + +"Here it is." + +"Very well; and where is this house that I purchase?" asked the count +carelessly, addressing himself half to Bertuccio, half to the notary. +The steward made a gesture that signified, "I do not know." The notary +looked at the count with astonishment. "What!" said he, "does not the +count know where the house he purchases is situated?" + +"No," returned the count. + +"The count does not know?" + +"How should I know? I have arrived from Cadiz this morning. I have never +before been at Paris, and it is the first time I have ever even set my +foot in France." + +"Ah, that is different; the house you purchase is at Auteuil." At these +words Bertuccio turned pale. "And where is Auteuil?" asked the count. + +"Close by here, monsieur," replied the notary--"a little beyond Passy; a +charming situation, in the heart of the Bois de Boulogne." + +"So near as that?" said the Count; "but that is not in the country. What +made you choose a house at the gates of Paris, M. Bertuccio?" + +"I," cried the steward with a strange expression. "His excellency +did not charge me to purchase this house. If his excellency will +recollect--if he will think"-- + +"Ah, true," observed Monte Cristo; "I recollect now. I read the +advertisement in one of the papers, and was tempted by the false title, +'a country house.'" + +"It is not yet too late," cried Bertuccio, eagerly; "and if your +excellency will intrust me with the commission, I will find you a better +at Enghien, at Fontenay-aux-Roses, or at Bellevue." + +"Oh, no," returned Monte Cristo negligently; "since I have this, I will +keep it." + +"And you are quite right," said the notary, who feared to lose his fee. +"It is a charming place, well supplied with spring-water and fine trees; +a comfortable habitation, although abandoned for a long time, without +reckoning the furniture, which, although old, is yet valuable, now that +old things are so much sought after. I suppose the count has the tastes +of the day?" + +"To be sure," returned Monte Cristo; "it is very convenient, then?" + +"It is more--it is magnificent." + +"Peste, let us not lose such an opportunity," returned Monte Cristo. +"The deed, if you please, Mr. Notary." And he signed it rapidly, after +having first run his eye over that part of the deed in which were +specified the situation of the house and the names of the proprietors. +"Bertuccio," said he, "give fifty-five thousand francs to monsieur." The +steward left the room with a faltering step, and returned with a bundle +of bank-notes, which the notary counted like a man who never gives a +receipt for money until after he is sure it is all there. "And now," +demanded the count, "are all the forms complied with?" + +"All, sir." + +"Have you the keys?" + +"They are in the hands of the concierge, who takes care of the house, +but here is the order I have given him to install the count in his new +possessions." + +"Very well;" and Monte Cristo made a sign with his hand to the notary, +which said, "I have no further need of you; you may go." + +"But," observed the honest notary, "the count is, I think, mistaken; it +is only fifty thousand francs, everything included." + +"And your fee?" + +"Is included in this sum." + +"But have you not come from Auteuil here?" + +"Yes, certainly." + +"Well, then, it is but fair that you should be paid for your loss of +time and trouble," said the count; and he made a gesture of polite +dismissal. The notary left the room backwards, and bowing down to the +ground; it was the first time he had ever met a similar client. "See +this gentleman out," said the count to Bertuccio. And the steward +followed the notary out of the room. Scarcely was the count alone, when +he drew from his pocket a book closed with a lock, and opened it with a +key which he wore round his neck, and which never left him. After having +sought for a few minutes, he stopped at a leaf which had several +notes, and compared them with the deed of sale, which lay on the table. +"'Auteuil, Rue de la Fontaine, No. 28;' it is indeed the same," said he; +"and now, am I to rely upon an avowal extorted by religious or physical +terror? However, in an hour I shall know all. Bertuccio!" cried +he, striking a light hammer with a pliant handle on a small gong. +"Bertuccio!" The steward appeared at the door. "Monsieur Bertuccio," +said the count, "did you never tell me that you had travelled in +France?" + +"In some parts of France--yes, excellency." + +"You know the environs of Paris, then?" + +"No, excellency, no," returned the steward, with a sort of nervous +trembling, which Monte Cristo, a connoisseur in all emotions, rightly +attributed to great disquietude. + +"It is unfortunate," returned he, "that you have never visited the +environs, for I wish to see my new property this evening, and had you +gone with me, you could have given me some useful information." + +"To Auteuil!" cried Bertuccio, whose copper complexion became livid--"I +go to Auteuil?" + +"Well, what is there surprising in that? When I live at Auteuil, you +must come there, as you belong to my service." Bertuccio hung down his +head before the imperious look of his master, and remained motionless, +without making any answer. "Why, what has happened to you?--are you +going to make me ring a second time for the carriage?" asked Monte +Cristo, in the same tone that Louis XIV. pronounced the famous, "I +have been almost obliged to wait." Bertuccio made but one bound to the +ante-chamber, and cried in a hoarse voice--"His excellency's horses!" +Monte Cristo wrote two or three notes, and, as he sealed the last, the +steward appeared. "Your excellency's carriage is at the door," said he. + +"Well, take your hat and gloves," returned Monte Cristo. + +"Am I to accompany you, your excellency?" cried Bertuccio. + +"Certainly, you must give the orders, for I intend residing at the +house." It was unexampled for a servant of the count's to dare to +dispute an order of his, so the steward, without saying a word, followed +his master, who got into the carriage, and signed to him to follow, +which he did, taking his place respectfully on the front seat. + + + +Chapter 43. The House at Auteuil. + +Monte Cristo noticed, as they descended the staircase, that Bertuccio +signed himself in the Corsican manner; that is, had formed the sign of +the cross in the air with his thumb, and as he seated himself in the +carriage, muttered a short prayer. Any one but a man of exhaustless +thirst for knowledge would have had pity on seeing the steward's +extraordinary repugnance for the count's projected drive without the +walls; but the Count was too curious to let Bertuccio off from this +little journey. In twenty minutes they were at Auteuil; the steward's +emotion had continued to augment as they entered the village. Bertuccio, +crouched in the corner of the carriage, began to examine with a feverish +anxiety every house they passed. "Tell them to stop at Rue de la +Fontaine, No. 28," said the count, fixing his eyes on the steward, +to whom he gave this order. Bertuccio's forehead was covered with +perspiration; however, he obeyed, and, leaning out of the window, +he cried to the coachman,--"Rue de la Fontaine, No. 28." No. 28 was +situated at the extremity of the village; during the drive night had set +in, and darkness gave the surroundings the artificial appearance of a +scene on the stage. The carriage stopped, the footman sprang off the +box, and opened the door. "Well," said the count, "you do not get out, +M. Bertuccio--you are going to stay in the carriage, then? What are +you thinking of this evening?" Bertuccio sprang out, and offered his +shoulder to the count, who, this time, leaned upon it as he descended +the three steps of the carriage. "Knock," said the count, "and announce +me." Bertuccio knocked, the door opened, and the concierge appeared. +"What is it?" asked he. + +"It is your new master, my good fellow," said the footman. And he held +out to the concierge the notary's order. + +"The house is sold, then?" demanded the concierge; "and this gentleman +is coming to live here?" + +"Yes, my friend," returned the count; "and I will endeavor to give you +no cause to regret your old master." + +"Oh, monsieur," said the concierge, "I shall not have much cause to +regret him, for he came here but seldom; it is five years since he was +here last, and he did well to sell the house, for it did not bring him +in anything at all." + +"What was the name of your old master?" said Monte Cristo. + +"The Marquis of Saint-Meran. Ah, I am sure he has not sold the house for +what he gave for it." + +"The Marquis of Saint-Meran!" returned the count. "The name is not +unknown to me; the Marquis of Saint-Meran!" and he appeared to meditate. + +"An old gentleman," continued the concierge, "a stanch follower of the +Bourbons; he had an only daughter, who married M. de Villefort, who had +been the king's attorney at Nimes, and afterwards at Versailles." Monte +Cristo glanced at Bertuccio, who became whiter than the wall against +which he leaned to prevent himself from falling. "And is not this +daughter dead?" demanded Monte Cristo; "I fancy I have heard so." + +"Yes, monsieur, one and twenty years ago; and since then we have not +seen the poor marquis three times." + +"Thanks, thanks," said Monte Cristo, judging from the steward's utter +prostration that he could not stretch the cord further without danger of +breaking it. "Give me a light." + +"Shall I accompany you, monsieur?" + +"No, it is unnecessary; Bertuccio will show me a light." And Monte +Cristo accompanied these words by the gift of two gold pieces, which +produced a torrent of thanks and blessings from the concierge. "Ah, +monsieur," said he, after having vainly searched on the mantle-piece and +the shelves, "I have not got any candles." + +"Take one of the carriage-lamps, Bertuccio," said the count, "and show +me the apartments." The steward obeyed in silence, but it was easy to +see, from the manner in which the hand that held the light trembled, how +much it cost him to obey. They went over a tolerably large ground-floor; +a second floor consisted of a salon, a bathroom, and two bedrooms; near +one of the bedrooms they came to a winding staircase that led down to +the garden. + +"Ah, here is a private staircase," said the count; "that is convenient. +Light me, M. Bertuccio, and go first; we will see where it leads to." + +"Monsieur," replied Bertuccio, "it leads to the garden." + +"And, pray, how do you know that?" + +"It ought to do so, at least." + +"Well, let us be sure of that." Bertuccio sighed, and went on first; the +stairs did, indeed, lead to the garden. At the outer door the steward +paused. "Go on, Monsieur Bertuccio," said the count. But he who was +addressed stood there, stupefied, bewildered, stunned; his haggard eyes +glanced around, as if in search of the traces of some terrible event, +and with his clinched hands he seemed striving to shut out horrible +recollections. "Well," insisted the Count. "No, no," cried Bertuccio, +setting down the lantern at the angle of the interior wall. "No, +monsieur, it is impossible; I can go no farther." + +"What does this mean?" demanded the irresistible voice of Monte Cristo. + +"Why, you must see, your excellency," cried the steward, "that this is +not natural; that, having a house to purchase, you purchase it exactly +at Auteuil, and that, purchasing it at Auteuil, this house should be No. +28, Rue de la Fontaine. Oh, why did I not tell you all? I am sure you +would not have forced me to come. I hoped your house would have been +some other one than this; as if there was not another house at Auteuil +than that of the assassination!" + +"What, what!" cried Monte Cristo, stopping suddenly, "what words do +you utter? Devil of a man, Corsican that you are--always mysteries or +superstitions. Come, take the lantern, and let us visit the garden; you +are not afraid of ghosts with me, I hope?" Bertuccio raised the lantern, +and obeyed. The door, as it opened, disclosed a gloomy sky, in which the +moon strove vainly to struggle through a sea of clouds that covered her +with billows of vapor which she illumined for an instant, only to +sink into obscurity. The steward wished to turn to the left. "No, no, +monsieur," said Monte Cristo. "What is the use of following the alleys? +Here is a beautiful lawn; let us go on straight forwards." + +Bertuccio wiped the perspiration from his brow, but obeyed; however, he +continued to take the left hand. Monte Cristo, on the contrary, took the +right hand; arrived near a clump of trees, he stopped. The steward could +not restrain himself. "Move, monsieur--move away, I entreat you; you are +exactly in the spot!" + +"What spot?" + +"Where he fell." + +"My dear Monsieur Bertuccio," said Monte Cristo, laughing, "control +yourself; we are not at Sartena or at Corte. This is not a Corsican +arbor, but an English garden; badly kept, I own, but still you must not +calumniate it for that." + +"Monsieur, I implore you do not stay there!" + +"I think you are going mad, Bertuccio," said the count coldly. "If that +is the case, I warn you, I shall have you put in a lunatic asylum." + +"Alas, excellency," returned Bertuccio, joining his hands, and shaking +his head in a manner that would have excited the count's laughter, +had not thoughts of a superior interest occupied him, and rendered him +attentive to the least revelation of this timorous conscience. "Alas, +excellency, the evil has arrived!" + +"M. Bertuccio," said the count, "I am very glad to tell you, that while +you gesticulate, you wring your hands and roll your eyes like a man +possessed by a devil who will not leave him; and I have always observed, +that the devil most obstinate to be expelled is a secret. I knew you +were a Corsican. I knew you were gloomy, and always brooding over some +old history of the vendetta; and I overlooked that in Italy, because +in Italy those things are thought nothing of. But in France they are +considered in very bad taste; there are gendarmes who occupy themselves +with such affairs, judges who condemn, and scaffolds which avenge." +Bertuccio clasped his hands, and as, in all these evolutions, he did not +let fall the lantern, the light showed his pale and altered countenance. +Monte Cristo examined him with the same look that, at Rome, he had bent +upon the execution of Andrea, and then, in a tone that made a shudder +pass through the veins of the poor steward,--"The Abbe Busoni, then told +me an untruth," said he, "when, after his journey in France, in 1829, he +sent you to me, with a letter of recommendation, in which he enumerated +all your valuable qualities. Well, I shall write to the abbe; I shall +hold him responsible for his protege's misconduct, and I shall soon know +all about this assassination. Only I warn you, that when I reside in +a country, I conform to all its code, and I have no wish to put myself +within the compass of the French laws for your sake." + +"Oh, do not do that, excellency; I have always served you faithfully," +cried Bertuccio, in despair. "I have always been an honest man, and, as +far as lay in my power, I have done good." + +"I do not deny it," returned the count; "but why are you thus agitated. +It is a bad sign; a quiet conscience does not occasion such paleness in +the cheeks, and such fever in the hands of a man." + +"But, your excellency," replied Bertuccio hesitatingly, "did not the +Abbe Busoni, who heard my confession in the prison at Nimes, tell you +that I had a heavy burden upon my conscience?" + +"Yes; but as he said you would make an excellent steward, I concluded +you had stolen--that was all." + +"Oh, your excellency," returned Bertuccio in deep contempt. + +"Or, as you are a Corsican, that you had been unable to resist the +desire of making a 'stiff,' as you call it." + +"Yes, my good master," cried Bertuccio, casting himself at the count's +feet, "it was simply vengeance--nothing else." + +"I understand that, but I do not understand what it is that galvanizes +you in this manner." + +"But, monsieur, it is very natural," returned Bertuccio, "since it was +in this house that my vengeance was accomplished." + +"What! my house?" + +"Oh, your excellency, it was not yours, then." + +"Whose, then? The Marquis de Saint-Meran, I think, the concierge said. +What had you to revenge on the Marquis de Saint-Meran?" + +"Oh, it was not on him, monsieur; it was on another." + +"This is strange," returned Monte Cristo, seeming to yield to his +reflections, "that you should find yourself without any preparation in a +house where the event happened that causes you so much remorse." + +"Monsieur," said the steward, "it is fatality, I am sure. First, +you purchase a house at Auteuil--this house is the one where I have +committed an assassination; you descend to the garden by the same +staircase by which he descended; you stop at the spot where he received +the blow; and two paces farther is the grave in which he had just buried +his child. This is not chance, for chance, in this case, is too much +like providence." + +"Well, amiable Corsican, let us suppose it is providence. I always +suppose anything people please, and, besides, you must concede something +to diseased minds. Come, collect yourself, and tell me all." + +"I have related it but once, and that was to the Abbe Busoni. Such +things," continued Bertuccio, shaking his head, "are only related under +the seal of confession." + +"Then," said the count, "I refer you to your confessor. Turn Chartreux +or Trappist, and relate your secrets, but, as for me, I do not like +any one who is alarmed by such phantasms, and I do not choose that my +servants should be afraid to walk in the garden of an evening. I confess +I am not very desirous of a visit from the commissary of police, for, in +Italy, justice is only paid when silent--in France she is paid only +when she speaks. Peste, I thought you somewhat Corsican, a great deal +smuggler, and an excellent steward; but I see you have other strings to +your bow. You are no longer in my service, Monsieur Bertuccio." + +"Oh, your excellency, your excellency!" cried the steward, struck with +terror at this threat, "if that is the only reason I cannot remain in +your service, I will tell all, for if I quit you, it will only be to go +to the scaffold." + +"That is different," replied Monte Cristo; "but if you intend to tell an +untruth, reflect it were better not to speak at all." + +"No, monsieur, I swear to you, by my hopes of salvation, I will tell you +all, for the Abbe Busoni himself only knew a part of my secret; but, +I pray you, go away from that plane-tree. The moon is just bursting +through the clouds, and there, standing where you do, and wrapped in +that cloak that conceals your figure, you remind me of M. de Villefort." + +"What!" cried Monte Cristo, "it was M. de Villefort?" + +"Your excellency knows him?" + +"The former royal attorney at Nimes?" + +"Yes." + +"Who married the Marquis of Saint-Meran's daughter?" + +"Yes." + +"Who enjoyed the reputation of being the most severe, the most upright, +the most rigid magistrate on the bench?" + +"Well, monsieur," said Bertuccio, "this man with this spotless +reputation"-- + +"Well?" + +"Was a villain." + +"Bah," replied Monte Cristo, "impossible!" + +"It is as I tell you." + +"Ah, really," said Monte Cristo. "Have you proof of this?" + +"I had it." + +"And you have lost it; how stupid!" + +"Yes; but by careful search it might be recovered." + +"Really," returned the count, "relate it to me, for it begins to +interest me." And the count, humming an air from "Lucia," went to sit +down on a bench, while Bertuccio followed him, collecting his thoughts. +Bertuccio remained standing before him. + + + +Chapter 44. The Vendetta. + +"At what point shall I begin my story, your excellency?" asked +Bertuccio. + +"Where you please," returned Monte Cristo, "since I know nothing at all +of it." + +"I thought the Abbe Busoni had told your excellency." + +"Some particulars, doubtless, but that is seven or eight years ago, and +I have forgotten them." + +"Then I can speak without fear of tiring your excellency." + +"Go on, M. Bertuccio; you will supply the want of the evening papers." + +"The story begins in 1815." + +"Ah," said Monte Cristo, "1815 is not yesterday." + +"No, monsieur, and yet I recollect all things as clearly as if they had +happened but then. I had a brother, an elder brother, who was in the +service of the emperor; he had become lieutenant in a regiment composed +entirely of Corsicans. This brother was my only friend; we became +orphans--I at five, he at eighteen. He brought me up as if I had been +his son, and in 1814 he married. When the emperor returned from the +Island of Elba, my brother instantly joined the army, was slightly +wounded at Waterloo, and retired with the army beyond the Loire." + +"But that is the history of the Hundred Days, M. Bertuccio," said the +count; "unless I am mistaken, it has been already written." + +"Excuse me, excellency, but these details are necessary, and you +promised to be patient." + +"Go on; I will keep my word." + +"One day we received a letter. I should tell you that we lived in the +little village of Rogliano, at the extremity of Cape Corso. This letter +was from my brother. He told us that the army was disbanded, and that he +should return by Chateauroux, Clermont-Ferrand, Le Puy, and Nimes; and, +if I had any money, he prayed me to leave it for him at Nimes, with an +inn-keeper with whom I had dealings." + +"In the smuggling line?" said Monte Cristo. + +"Eh, your excellency? Every one must live." + +"Certainly; go on." + +"I loved my brother tenderly, as I told your excellency, and I resolved +not to send the money, but to take it to him myself. I possessed a +thousand francs. I left five hundred with Assunta, my sister-in-law, and +with the other five hundred I set off for Nimes. It was easy to do so, +and as I had my boat and a lading to take in at sea, everything favored +my project. But, after we had taken in our cargo, the wind became +contrary, so that we were four or five days without being able to enter +the Rhone. At last, however, we succeeded, and worked up to Arles. I +left the boat between Bellegarde and Beaucaire, and took the road to +Nimes." + +"We are getting to the story now?" + +"Yes, your excellency; excuse me, but, as you will see, I only tell you +what is absolutely necessary. Just at this time the famous massacres +took place in the south of France. Three brigands, called Trestaillon, +Truphemy, and Graffan, publicly assassinated everybody whom they +suspected of Bonapartism. You have doubtless heard of these massacres, +your excellency?" + +"Vaguely; I was far from France at that period. Go on." + +"As I entered Nimes, I literally waded in blood; at every step you +encountered dead bodies and bands of murderers, who killed, plundered, +and burned. At the sight of this slaughter and devastation I became +terrified, not for myself--for I, a simple Corsican fisherman, had +nothing to fear; on the contrary, that time was most favorable for us +smugglers--but for my brother, a soldier of the empire, returning from +the army of the Loire, with his uniform and his epaulets, there was +everything to apprehend. I hastened to the inn-keeper. My misgivings had +been but too true. My brother had arrived the previous evening at +Nimes, and, at the very door of the house where he was about to demand +hospitality, he had been assassinated. I did all in my power to discover +the murderers, but no one durst tell me their names, so much were they +dreaded. I then thought of that French justice of which I had heard so +much, and which feared nothing, and I went to the king's attorney." + +"And this king's attorney was named Villefort?" asked Monte Cristo +carelessly. + +"Yes, your excellency; he came from Marseilles, where he had been +deputy-procureur. His zeal had procured him advancement, and he was said +to be one of the first who had informed the government of the departure +from the Island of Elba." + +"Then," said Monte Cristo "you went to him?" + +"'Monsieur,' I said, 'my brother was assassinated yesterday in the +streets of Nimes, I know not by whom, but it is your duty to find out. +You are the representative of justice here, and it is for justice to +avenge those she has been unable to protect.'--'Who was your brother?' +asked he.--'A lieutenant in the Corsican battalion.'--'A soldier of the +usurper, then?'--'A soldier of the French army.'--'Well,' replied he, +'he has smitten with the sword, and he has perished by the sword.'--'You +are mistaken, monsieur,' I replied; 'he has perished by the +poniard.'--'What do you want me to do?' asked the magistrate.--'I have +already told you--avenge him.'--'On whom?'--'On his murderers.'--'How +should I know who they are?'--'Order them to be sought for.'--'Why, your +brother has been involved in a quarrel, and killed in a duel. All these +old soldiers commit excesses which were tolerated in the time of the +emperor, but which are not suffered now, for the people here do not like +soldiers of such disorderly conduct.'--'Monsieur,' I replied, 'it is not +for myself that I entreat your interference--I should grieve for him or +avenge him, but my poor brother had a wife, and were anything to happen +to me, the poor creature would perish from want, for my brother's pay +alone kept her. Pray, try and obtain a small government pension for +her.' + +"'Every revolution has its catastrophes,' returned M. de Villefort; +'your brother has been the victim of this. It is a misfortune, and +government owes nothing to his family. If we are to judge by all the +vengeance that the followers of the usurper exercised on the partisans +of the king, when, in their turn, they were in power, your brother would +be to-day, in all probability, condemned to death. What has happened is +quite natural, and in conformity with the law of reprisals.'--'What,' +cried I, 'do you, a magistrate, speak thus to me?'--'All these Corsicans +are mad, on my honor,' replied M. de Villefort; 'they fancy that their +countryman is still emperor. You have mistaken the time, you should have +told me this two months ago, it is too late now. Go now, at once, or I +shall have you put out.' + +"I looked at him an instant to see if there was anything to hope from +further entreaty. But he was a man of stone. I approached him, and said +in a low voice, 'Well, since you know the Corsicans so well, you know +that they always keep their word. You think that it was a good deed +to kill my brother, who was a Bonapartist, because you are a royalist. +Well, I, who am a Bonapartist also, declare one thing to you, which is, +that I will kill you. From this moment I declare the vendetta against +you, so protect yourself as well as you can, for the next time we meet +your last hour has come.' And before he had recovered from his surprise, +I opened the door and left the room." + +"Well, well," said Monte Cristo, "such an innocent looking person as you +are to do those things, M. Bertuccio, and to a king's attorney at that! +But did he know what was meant by the terrible word 'vendetta'?" + +"He knew so well, that from that moment he shut himself in his house, +and never went out unattended, seeking me high and low. Fortunately, I +was so well concealed that he could not find me. Then he became alarmed, +and dared not stay any longer at Nimes, so he solicited a change of +residence, and, as he was in reality very influential, he was nominated +to Versailles. But, as you know, a Corsican who has sworn to avenge +himself cares not for distance, so his carriage, fast as it went, was +never above half a day's journey before me, who followed him on foot. +The most important thing was, not to kill him only--for I had an +opportunity of doing so a hundred times--but to kill him without being +discovered--at least, without being arrested. I no longer belonged to +myself, for I had my sister-in-law to protect and provide for. For three +months I watched M. de Villefort, for three months he took not a step +out-of-doors without my following him. At length I discovered that he +went mysteriously to Auteuil. I followed him thither, and I saw him +enter the house where we now are, only, instead of entering by the +great door that looks into the street, he came on horseback, or in his +carriage, left the one or the other at the little inn, and entered by +the gate you see there." Monte Cristo made a sign with his head to +show that he could discern in the darkness the door to which Bertuccio +alluded. "As I had nothing more to do at Versailles, I went to Auteuil, +and gained all the information I could. If I wished to surprise him, +it was evident this was the spot to lie in wait for him. The house +belonged, as the concierge informed your excellency, to M. de +Saint-Meran, Villefort's father-in-law. M. de Saint-Meran lived at +Marseilles, so that this country house was useless to him, and it was +reported to be let to a young widow, known only by the name of 'the +baroness.' + +"One evening, as I was looking over the wall, I saw a young and handsome +woman who was walking alone in that garden, which was not overlooked by +any windows, and I guessed that she was awaiting M. de Villefort. When +she was sufficiently near for me to distinguish her features, I saw she +was from eighteen to nineteen, tall and very fair. As she had a loose +muslin dress on and as nothing concealed her figure, I saw she would ere +long become a mother. A few moments after, the little door was opened +and a man entered. The young woman hastened to meet him. They threw +themselves into each other's arms, embraced tenderly, and returned +together to the house. The man was M. de Villefort; I fully believed +that when he went out in the night he would be forced to traverse the +whole of the garden alone." + +"And," asked the count, "did you ever know the name of this woman?" + +"No, excellency," returned Bertuccio; "you will see that I had no time +to learn it." + +"Go on." + +"That evening," continued Bertuccio, "I could have killed the procureur, +but as I was not sufficiently acquainted with the neighborhood, I was +fearful of not killing him on the spot, and that if his cries were +overheard I might be taken; so I put it off until the next occasion, and +in order that nothing should escape me, I took a chamber looking into +the street bordered by the wall of the garden. Three days after, about +seven o'clock in the evening, I saw a servant on horseback leave the +house at full gallop, and take the road to Sevres. I concluded that he +was going to Versailles, and I was not deceived. Three hours later, +the man returned covered with dust, his errand was performed, and two +minutes after, another man on foot, muffled in a mantle, opened the +little door of the garden, which he closed after him. I descended +rapidly; although I had not seen Villefort's face, I recognized him by +the beating of my heart. I crossed the street, and stopped at a post +placed at the angle of the wall, and by means of which I had once before +looked into the garden. This time I did not content myself with looking, +but I took my knife out of my pocket, felt that the point was sharp, and +sprang over the wall. My first care was to run to the door; he had left +the key in it, taking the simple precaution of turning it twice in the +lock. Nothing, then, preventing my escape by this means, I examined +the grounds. The garden was long and narrow; a stretch of smooth turf +extended down the middle, and at the corners were clumps of trees with +thick and massy foliage, that made a background for the shrubs and +flowers. In order to go from the door to the house, or from the house +to the door, M. de Villefort would be obliged to pass by one of these +clumps of trees. + +"It was the end of September; the wind blew violently. The faint +glimpses of the pale moon, hidden momentarily by masses of dark clouds +that were sweeping across the sky, whitened the gravel walks that led +to the house, but were unable to pierce the obscurity of the thick +shrubberies, in which a man could conceal himself without any fear of +discovery. I hid myself in the one nearest to the path Villefort must +take, and scarcely was I there when, amidst the gusts of wind, I +fancied I heard groans; but you know, or rather you do not know, your +excellency, that he who is about to commit an assassination fancies that +he hears low cries perpetually ringing in his ears. Two hours passed +thus, during which I imagined I heard moans repeatedly. Midnight struck. +As the last stroke died away, I saw a faint light shine through the +windows of the private staircase by which we have just descended. The +door opened, and the man in the mantle reappeared. The terrible moment +had come, but I had so long been prepared for it that my heart did not +fail in the least. I drew my knife from my pocket again, opened it, and +made ready to strike. The man in the mantle advanced towards me, but as +he drew near I saw that he had a weapon in his hand. I was afraid, not +of a struggle, but of a failure. When he was only a few paces from me, +I saw that what I had taken for a weapon was only a spade. I was still +unable to divine for what reason M. de Villefort had this spade in his +hands, when he stopped close to the thicket where I was, glanced round, +and began to dig a hole in the earth. I then perceived that he was +hiding something under his mantle, which he laid on the grass in order +to dig more freely. Then, I confess, curiosity mingled with hatred; +I wished to see what Villefort was going to do there, and I remained +motionless, holding my breath. Then an idea crossed my mind, which was +confirmed when I saw the procureur lift from under his mantle a box, two +feet long, and six or eight inches deep. I let him place the box in the +hole he had made, then, while he stamped with his feet to remove all +traces of his occupation, I rushed on him and plunged my knife into +his breast, exclaiming,--'I am Giovanni Bertuccio; thy death for my +brother's; thy treasure for his widow; thou seest that my vengeance is +more complete than I had hoped.' I know not if he heard these words; I +think he did not, for he fell without a cry. I felt his blood gush +over my face, but I was intoxicated, I was delirious, and the blood +refreshed, instead of burning me. In a second I had disinterred the box; +then, that it might not be known I had done so, I filled up the hole, +threw the spade over the wall, and rushed through the door, which I +double-locked, carrying off the key." + +"Ah," said Monte Cristo "it seems to me this was nothing but murder and +robbery." + +"No, your excellency," returned Bertuccio; "it was a vendetta followed +by restitution." + +"And was the sum a large one?" + +"It was not money." + +"Ah, I recollect," replied the count; "did you not say something of an +infant?" + +"Yes, excellency; I hastened to the river, sat down on the bank, and +with my knife forced open the lock of the box. In a fine linen cloth +was wrapped a new-born child. Its purple visage, and its violet-colored +hands showed that it had perished from suffocation, but as it was not +yet cold, I hesitated to throw it into the water that ran at my feet. +After a moment I fancied that I felt a slight pulsation of the heart, +and as I had been assistant at the hospital at Bastia, I did what a +doctor would have done--I inflated the lungs by blowing air into them, +and at the expiration of a quarter of an hour, it began to breathe, and +cried feebly. In my turn I uttered a cry, but a cry of joy. 'God has +not cursed me then,' I cried, 'since he permits me to save the life of a +human creature, in exchange for the life I have taken away.'" + +"And what did you do with the child?" asked Monte Cristo. "It was an +embarrassing load for a man seeking to escape." + +"I had not for a moment the idea of keeping it, but I knew that at Paris +there was an asylum where they receive such creatures. As I passed the +city gates I declared that I had found the child on the road, and I +inquired where the asylum was; the box confirmed my statement, the linen +proved that the infant belonged to wealthy parents, the blood with which +I was covered might have proceeded from the child as well as from any +one else. No objection was raised, but they pointed out the asylum, +which was situated at the upper end of the Rue d'Enfer, and after having +taken the precaution of cutting the linen in two pieces, so that one +of the two letters which marked it was on the piece wrapped around the +child, while the other remained in my possession, I rang the bell, and +fled with all speed. A fortnight after I was at Rogliano, and I said to +Assunta,--'Console thyself, sister; Israel is dead, but he is avenged.' +She demanded what I meant, and when I had told her all,--'Giovanni,' +said she, 'you should have brought this child with you; we would have +replaced the parents it has lost, have called it Benedetto, and then, in +consequence of this good action, God would have blessed us.' In reply I +gave her the half of the linen I had kept in order to reclaim him if we +became rich." + +"What letters were marked on the linen?" said Monte Cristo. + +"An H and an N, surmounted by a baron's coronet." + +"By heaven, M. Bertuccio, you make use of heraldic terms; where did you +study heraldry?" + +"In your service, excellency, where everything is learned." + +"Go on, I am curious to know two things." + +"What are they, your excellency?" + +"What became of this little boy? for I think you told me it was a boy, +M. Bertuccio." + +"No excellency, I do not recollect telling you that." + +"I thought you did; I must have been mistaken." + +"No, you were not, for it was in reality a little boy. But your +excellency wished to know two things; what was the second?" + +"The second was the crime of which you were accused when you asked for a +confessor, and the Abbe Busoni came to visit you at your request in the +prison at Nimes." + +"The story will be very long, excellency." + +"What matter? you know I take but little sleep, and I do not suppose you +are very much inclined for it either." Bertuccio bowed, and resumed his +story. + +"Partly to drown the recollections of the past that haunted me, partly +to supply the wants of the poor widow, I eagerly returned to my trade of +smuggler, which had become more easy since that relaxation of the +laws which always follows a revolution. The southern districts were +ill-watched in particular, in consequence of the disturbances that were +perpetually breaking out in Avignon, Nimes, or Uzes. We profited by this +respite on the part of the government to make friends everywhere. Since +my brother's assassination in the streets of Nimes, I had never +entered the town; the result was that the inn-keeper with whom we were +connected, seeing that we would no longer come to him, was forced to +come to us, and had established a branch to his inn, on the road from +Bellegarde to Beaucaire, at the sign of the Pont du Gard. We had thus, +at Aigues-Mortes, Martigues, or Bouc, a dozen places where we left our +goods, and where, in case of necessity, we concealed ourselves from the +gendarmes and custom-house officers. Smuggling is a profitable trade, +when a certain degree of vigor and intelligence is employed; as for +myself, brought up in the mountains, I had a double motive for fearing +the gendarmes and custom-house officers, as my appearance before the +judges would cause an inquiry, and an inquiry always looks back into the +past. And in my past life they might find something far more grave than +the selling of smuggled cigars, or barrels of brandy without a permit. +So, preferring death to capture, I accomplished the most astonishing +deeds, and which, more than once, showed me that the too great care we +take of our bodies is the only obstacle to the success of those projects +which require rapid decision, and vigorous and determined execution. In +reality, when you have once devoted your life to your enterprises, +you are no longer the equal of other men, or, rather, other men are no +longer your equals, and whosoever has taken this resolution, feels his +strength and resources doubled." + +"Philosophy, M. Bertuccio," interrupted the Count; "you have done a +little of everything in your life." + +"Oh, excellency!" + +"No, no; but philosophy at half-past ten at night is somewhat late; yet +I have no other observation to make, for what you say is correct, which +is more than can be said for all philosophy." + +"My journeys became more and more extensive and more productive. Assunta +took care of all, and our little fortune increased. One day as I was +setting off on an expedition, 'Go,' said she; 'at your return I will +give you a surprise.' I questioned her, but in vain; she would tell me +nothing, and I departed. Our expedition lasted nearly six weeks; we had +been to Lucca to take in oil, to Leghorn for English cottons, and we +ran our cargo without opposition, and returned home full of joy. When I +entered the house, the first thing I beheld in the middle of Assunta's +chamber was a cradle that might be called sumptuous compared with the +rest of the furniture, and in it a baby seven or eight months old. I +uttered a cry of joy; the only moments of sadness I had known since the +assassination of the procureur were caused by the recollection that I +had abandoned this child. For the assassination itself I had never +felt any remorse. Poor Assunta had guessed all. She had profited by my +absence, and furnished with the half of the linen, and having written +down the day and hour at which I had deposited the child at the asylum, +had set off for Paris, and had reclaimed it. No objection was raised, +and the infant was given up to her. Ah, I confess, your excellency, when +I saw this poor creature sleeping peacefully in its cradle, I felt my +eyes filled with tears. 'Ah, Assunta,' cried I, 'you are an excellent +woman, and heaven will bless you.'" + +"This," said Monte Cristo, "is less correct than your philosophy,--it is +only faith." + +"Alas, your excellency is right," replied Bertuccio, "and God made this +infant the instrument of our punishment. Never did a perverse nature +declare itself more prematurely, and yet it was not owing to any fault +in his bringing up. He was a most lovely child, with large blue eyes, of +that deep color that harmonizes so well with the blond complexion; only +his hair, which was too light, gave his face a most singular expression, +and added to the vivacity of his look, and the malice of his smile. +Unfortunately, there is a proverb which says that 'red is either +altogether good or altogether bad.' The proverb was but too correct +as regarded Benedetto, and even in his infancy he manifested the +worst disposition. It is true that the indulgence of his foster-mother +encouraged him. This child, for whom my poor sister would go to the +town, five or six leagues off, to purchase the earliest fruits and +the most tempting sweetmeats, preferred to Palma grapes or Genoese +preserves, the chestnuts stolen from a neighbor's orchard, or the dried +apples in his loft, when he could eat as well of the nuts and apples +that grew in my garden. One day, when Benedetto was about five or six, +our neighbor Vasilio, who, according to the custom of the country, never +locked up his purse or his valuables--for, as your excellency knows, +there are no thieves in Corsica--complained that he had lost a louis +out of his purse; we thought he must have made a mistake in counting +his money, but he persisted in the accuracy of his statement. One day, +Benedetto, who had been gone from the house since morning, to our great +anxiety, did not return until late in the evening, dragging a monkey +after him, which he said he had found chained to the foot of a tree. For +more than a month past, the mischievous child, who knew not what to wish +for, had taken it into his head to have a monkey. A boatman, who had +passed by Rogliano, and who had several of these animals, whose tricks +had greatly diverted him, had, doubtless, suggested this idea to him. +'Monkeys are not found in our woods chained to trees,' said I; 'confess +how you obtained this animal.' Benedetto maintained the truth of what +he had said, and accompanied it with details that did more honor to his +imagination than to his veracity. I became angry; he began to laugh, I +threatened to strike him, and he made two steps backwards. 'You cannot +beat me,' said he; 'you have no right, for you are not my father.' + +"We never knew who had revealed this fatal secret, which we had so +carefully concealed from him; however, it was this answer, in which the +child's whole character revealed itself, that almost terrified me, and +my arm fell without touching him. The boy triumphed, and this victory +rendered him so audacious, that all the money of Assunta, whose +affection for him seemed to increase as he became more unworthy of it, +was spent in caprices she knew not how to contend against, and follies +she had not the courage to prevent. When I was at Rogliano everything +went on properly, but no sooner was my back turned than Benedetto became +master, and everything went ill. When he was only eleven, he chose his +companions from among the young men of eighteen or twenty, the worst +characters in Bastia, or, indeed, in Corsica, and they had already, +for some mischievous pranks, been several times threatened with a +prosecution. I became alarmed, as any prosecution might be attended with +serious consequences. I was compelled, at this period, to leave Corsica +on an important expedition; I reflected for a long time, and with the +hope of averting some impending misfortune, I resolved that Benedetto +should accompany me. I hoped that the active and laborious life of a +smuggler, with the severe discipline on board, would have a salutary +effect on his character, which was now well-nigh, if not quite, corrupt. +I spoke to Benedetto alone, and proposed to him to accompany me, +endeavoring to tempt him by all the promises most likely to dazzle the +imagination of a child of twelve. He heard me patiently, and when I had +finished, burst out laughing. + +"'Are you mad, uncle?' (he called me by this name when he was in good +humor); 'do you think I am going to change the life I lead for your mode +of existence--my agreeable indolence for the hard and precarious toil +you impose on yourself, exposed to the bitter frost at night, and the +scorching heat by day, compelled to conceal yourself, and when you are +perceived, receive a volley of bullets, all to earn a paltry sum? Why, I +have as much money as I want; mother Assunta always furnishes me when I +ask for it! You see that I should be a fool to accept your offer.' The +arguments, and his audacity, perfectly stupefied me. Benedetto rejoined +his associates, and I saw him from a distance point me out to them as a +fool." + +"Sweet child," murmured Monte Cristo. + +"Oh, had he been my own son," replied Bertuccio, "or even my nephew, I +would have brought him back to the right road, for the knowledge that +you are doing your duty gives you strength, but the idea that I was +striking a child whose father I had killed, made it impossible for me +to punish him. I gave my sister, who constantly defended the unfortunate +boy, good advice, and as she confessed that she had several times missed +money to a considerable amount, I showed her a safe place in which to +conceal our little treasure for the future. My mind was already made +up. Benedetto could read, write, and cipher perfectly, for when the fit +seized him, he learned more in a day than others in a week. My intention +was to enter him as a clerk in some ship, and without letting him know +anything of my plan, to convey him some morning on board; by this means +his future treatment would depend upon his own conduct. I set off for +France, after having fixed upon the plan. Our cargo was to be landed in +the Gulf of Lyons, and this was a difficult thing to do because it was +then the year 1829. The most perfect tranquillity was restored, and +the vigilance of the custom-house officers was redoubled, and their +strictness was increased at this time, in consequence of the fair at +Beaucaire. + +"Our expedition made a favorable beginning. We anchored our +vessel--which had a double hold, where our goods were concealed--amidst +a number of other vessels that bordered the banks of the Rhone from +Beaucaire to Arles. On our arrival we began to discharge our cargo in +the night, and to convey it into the town, by the help of the inn-keeper +with whom we were connected. Whether success rendered us imprudent, +or whether we were betrayed, I know not; but one evening, about five +o'clock, our little cabin-boy came breathlessly, to inform us that +he had seen a detachment of custom-house officers advancing in our +direction. It was not their proximity that alarmed us, for detachments +were constantly patrolling along the banks of the Rhone, but the care, +according to the boy's account, that they took to avoid being seen. In +an instant we were on the alert, but it was too late; our vessel was +surrounded, and amongst the custom-house officers I observed several +gendarmes, and, as terrified at the sight of their uniforms as I was +brave at the sight of any other, I sprang into the hold, opened a +port, and dropped into the river, dived, and only rose at intervals to +breathe, until I reached a ditch that had recently been made from the +Rhone to the canal that runs from Beaucaire to Aigues-Mortes. I was now +safe, for I could swim along the ditch without being seen, and I reached +the canal in safety. I had designedly taken this direction. I have +already told your excellency of an inn-keeper from Nimes who had set up +a little tavern on the road from Bellegarde to Beaucaire." + +"Yes," said Monte Cristo "I perfectly recollect him; I think he was your +colleague." + +"Precisely," answered Bertuccio; "but he had, seven or eight years +before this period, sold his establishment to a tailor at Marseilles, +who, having almost ruined himself in his old trade, wished to make his +fortune in another. Of course, we made the same arrangements with the +new landlord that we had with the old; and it was of this man that I +intended to ask shelter." + +"What was his name?" inquired the count, who seemed to become somewhat +interested in Bertuccio's story. + +"Gaspard Caderousse; he had married a woman from the village of +Carconte, and whom we did not know by any other name than that of her +village. She was suffering from malarial fever, and seemed dying by +inches. As for her husband, he was a strapping fellow of forty, or five +and forty, who had more than once, in time of danger, given ample proof +of his presence of mind and courage." + +"And you say," interrupted Monte Cristo "that this took place towards +the year"-- + +"1829, your excellency." + +"In what month?" + +"June." + +"The beginning or the end?" + +"The evening of the 3d." + +"Ah," said Monte Cristo "the evening of the 3d of June, 1829. Go on." + +"It was from Caderousse that I intended demanding shelter, and, as we +never entered by the door that opened onto the road, I resolved not +to break through the rule, so climbing over the garden-hedge, I crept +amongst the olive and wild fig trees, and fearing that Caderousse might +have some guest, I entered a kind of shed in which I had often passed +the night, and which was only separated from the inn by a partition, in +which holes had been made in order to enable us to watch an opportunity +of announcing our presence. My intention was, if Caderousse was alone, +to acquaint him with my presence, finish the meal the custom-house +officers had interrupted, and profit by the threatened storm to return +to the Rhone, and ascertain the state of our vessel and its crew. I +stepped into the shed, and it was fortunate I did so, for at that moment +Caderousse entered with a stranger. + +"I waited patiently, not to overhear what they said, but because I could +do nothing else; besides, the same thing had occurred often before. The +man who was with Caderousse was evidently a stranger to the South of +France; he was one of those merchants who come to sell jewellery at +the Beaucaire fair, and who during the month the fair lasts, and during +which there is so great an influx of merchants and customers from all +parts of Europe, often have dealings to the amount of 100,000 to 150,000 +francs. Caderousse entered hastily. Then, seeing that the room was, +as usual, empty, and only guarded by the dog, he called to his wife, +'Hello, Carconte,' said he, 'the worthy priest has not deceived us; the +diamond is real.' An exclamation of joy was heard, and the staircase +creaked beneath a feeble step. 'What do you say?' asked his wife, pale +as death. + +"'I say that the diamond is real, and that this gentleman, one of the +first jewellers of Paris, will give us 50,000. francs for it. Only, in +order to satisfy himself that it really belongs to us, he wishes you to +relate to him, as I have done already, the miraculous manner in which +the diamond came into our possession. In the meantime please to sit +down, monsieur, and I will fetch you some refreshment.' The jeweller +examined attentively the interior of the inn and the apparent poverty +of the persons who were about to sell him a diamond that seemed to have +come from the casket of a prince. 'Relate your story, madame,' said he, +wishing, no doubt, to profit by the absence of the husband, so that the +latter could not influence the wife's story, to see if the two recitals +tallied. + +"'Oh,' returned she, 'it was a gift of heaven. My husband was a great +friend, in 1814 or 1815, of a sailor named Edmond Dantes. This poor +fellow, whom Caderousse had forgotten, had not forgotten him, and at his +death he bequeathed this diamond to him.'--'But how did he obtain +it?' asked the jeweller; 'had he it before he was imprisoned?'--'No, +monsieur; but it appears that in prison he made the acquaintance of a +rich Englishman, and as in prison he fell sick, and Dantes took the same +care of him as if he had been his brother, the Englishman, when he was +set free, gave this stone to Dantes, who, less fortunate, died, and, in +his turn, left it to us, and charged the excellent abbe, who was here +this morning, to deliver it.'--'The same story,' muttered the jeweller; +'and improbable as it seemed at first, it may be true. There's only +the price we are not agreed about.'--'How not agreed about?' said +Caderousse. 'I thought we agreed for the price I asked.'--'That is,' +replied the jeweller, 'I offered 40,000 francs.'--'Forty thousand,' +cried La Carconte; 'we will not part with it for that sum. The abbe told +us it was worth 50,000. without the setting.' + +"'What was the abbe's name?' asked the indefatigable questioner.--'The +Abbe Busoni,' said La Carconte.--'He was a foreigner?'--'An Italian, +from the neighborhood of Mantua, I believe.'--'Let me see this diamond +again,' replied the jeweller; 'the first time you are often mistaken as +to the value of a stone.' Caderousse took from his pocket a small case +of black shagreen, opened, and gave it to the jeweller. At the sight +of the diamond, which was as large as a hazel-nut, La Carconte's eyes +sparkled with cupidity." + +"And what did you think of this fine story, eavesdropper?" said Monte +Cristo; "did you credit it?" + +"Yes, your excellency. I did not look on Caderousse as a bad man, and I +thought him incapable of committing a crime, or even a theft." + +"That did more honor to your heart than to your experience, M. +Bertuccio. Had you known this Edmond Dantes, of whom they spoke?" + +"No, your excellency, I had never heard of him before, and never but +once afterwards, and that was from the Abbe Busoni himself, when I saw +him in the prison at Nimes." + +"Go on." + +"The jeweller took the ring, and drawing from his pocket a pair of steel +pliers and a small set of copper scales, he took the stone out of its +setting, and weighed it carefully. 'I will give you 45,000,' said he, +'but not a sou more; besides, as that is the exact value of the stone, +I brought just that sum with me.'--'Oh, that's no matter,' replied +Caderousse, 'I will go back with you to fetch the other 5,000 +francs.'--'No,' returned the jeweller, giving back the diamond and the +ring to Caderousse--'no, it is worth no more, and I am sorry I offered +so much, for the stone has a flaw in it, which I had not seen. However, +I will not go back on my word, and I will give 45,000.'--'At least, +replace the diamond in the ring,' said La Carconte sharply.--'Ah, true,' +replied the jeweller, and he reset the stone.--'No matter,' observed +Caderousse, replacing the box in his pocket, 'some one else will +purchase it.'--'Yes,' continued the jeweller; 'but some one else will +not be so easy as I am, or content himself with the same story. It is +not natural that a man like you should possess such a diamond. He will +inform against you. You will have to find the Abbe Busoni; and abbes who +give diamonds worth two thousand louis are rare. The law would seize it, +and put you in prison; if at the end of three or four months you are set +at liberty, the ring will be lost, or a false stone, worth three francs, +will be given you, instead of a diamond worth 50,000 or perhaps 55,000 +francs; from which you must allow that one runs considerable risk +in purchasing.' Caderousse and his wife looked eagerly at each +other.--'No,' said Caderousse, 'we are not rich enough to lose 5,000 +francs.'--'As you please, my dear sir,' said the jeweller; 'I had, +however, as you see, brought you the money in bright coin.' And he drew +from his pocket a handful of gold, and held it sparkling before the +dazzled eyes of the innkeeper, and in the other hand he held a packet of +bank-notes. + +"There was evidently a severe struggle in the mind of Caderousse; it was +plain that the small shagreen case, which he turned over and over in +his hand, did not seem to him commensurate in value to the enormous +sum which fascinated his gaze. He turned towards his wife. 'What do you +think of this?' he asked in a low voice.--'Let him have it--let him have +it,' she said. 'If he returns to Beaucaire without the diamond, he will +inform against us, and, as he says, who knows if we shall ever again see +the Abbe Busoni?--in all probability we shall never see him.'--'Well, +then, so I will!' said Caderousse; 'so you may have the diamond for +45,000 francs. But my wife wants a gold chain, and I want a pair of +silver buckles.' The jeweller drew from his pocket a long flat box, +which contained several samples of the articles demanded. 'Here,' he +said, 'I am very straightforward in my dealings--take your choice.' The +woman selected a gold chain worth about five louis, and the husband a +pair of buckles, worth perhaps fifteen francs.--'I hope you will not +complain now?' said the jeweller. + +"'The abbe told me it was worth 50,000 francs,' muttered Caderousse. +'Come, come--give it to me! What a strange fellow you are,' said +the jeweller, taking the diamond from his hand. 'I give you 45,000 +francs--that is, 2,500 livres of income,--a fortune such as I wish I had +myself, and you are not satisfied!'--'And the five and forty thousand +francs,' inquired Caderousse in a hoarse voice, 'where are they? +Come--let us see them.'--'Here they are,' replied the jeweller, and he +counted out upon the table 15,000. francs in gold, and 30,000 francs in +bank-notes. + +"'Wait while I light the lamp,' said La Carconte; 'it is growing dark, +and there may be some mistake.' In fact, night had come on during this +conversation, and with night the storm which had been threatening for +the last half-hour. The thunder growled in the distance; but it was +apparently not heard by the jeweller, Caderousse, or La Carconte, +absorbed as they were all three with the demon of gain. I myself felt; a +strange kind of fascination at the sight of all this gold and all these +bank-notes; it seemed to me that I was in a dream, and, as it always +happens in a dream, I felt myself riveted to the spot. Caderousse +counted and again counted the gold and the notes, then handed them to +his wife, who counted and counted them again in her turn. During this +time, the jeweller made the diamond play and sparkle in the lamplight, +and the gem threw out jets of light which made him unmindful of those +which--precursors of the storm--began to play in at the windows. 'Well,' +inquired the jeweller, 'is the cash all right?' + +"'Yes,' said Caderousse. 'Give me the pocket-book, La Carconte, and find +a bag somewhere.' + +"La Carconte went to a cupboard, and returned with an old leathern +pocket-book and a bag. From the former she took some greasy letters, and +put in their place the bank-notes, and from the bag took two or three +crowns of six livres each, which, in all probability, formed the entire +fortune of the miserable couple. 'There,' said Caderousse; 'and now, +although you have wronged us of perhaps 10,000 francs, will you have +your supper with us? I invite you with good-will.'--'Thank you,' +replied the jeweller, 'it must be getting late, and I must return to +Beaucaire--my wife will be getting uneasy.' He drew out his watch, and +exclaimed, 'Morbleu, nearly nine o'clock--why, I shall not get back to +Beaucaire before midnight! Good-night, my friends. If the Abbe Busoni +should by any accident return, think of me.'--'In another week you will +have left Beaucaire.' remarked Caderousse, 'for the fair ends in a few +days.'--'True, but that makes no difference. Write to me at Paris, to +M. Joannes, in the Palais Royal, arcade Pierre, No. 45. I will make the +journey on purpose to see him, if it is worth while.' At this moment +there was a tremendous clap of thunder, accompanied by a flash of +lightning so vivid, that it quite eclipsed the light of the lamp. + +"'See here,' exclaimed Caderousse. 'You cannot think of going out in +such weather as this.'--'Oh, I am not afraid of thunder,' said the +jeweller.--'And then there are robbers,' said La Carconte. 'The road +is never very safe during fair time.'--'Oh, as to the robbers,' said +Joannes, 'here is something for them,' and he drew from his pocket a +pair of small pistols, loaded to the muzzle. 'Here,' said he, 'are dogs +who bark and bite at the same time, they are for the two first who shall +have a longing for your diamond, Friend Caderousse.' + +"Caderousse and his wife again interchanged a meaning look. It seemed +as though they were both inspired at the same time with some +horrible thought. 'Well, then, a good journey to you,' said +Caderousse.--'Thanks,' replied the jeweller. He then took his cane, +which he had placed against an old cupboard, and went out. At the moment +when he opened the door, such a gust of wind came in that the lamp was +nearly extinguished. 'Oh,' said he, 'this is very nice weather, and two +leagues to go in such a storm.'--'Remain,' said Caderousse. 'You can +sleep here.'--'Yes; do stay,' added La Carconte in a tremulous voice; +'we will take every care of you.'--'No; I must sleep at Beaucaire. So, +once more, good-night.' Caderousse followed him slowly to the threshold. +'I can see neither heaven nor earth,' said the jeweller, who was outside +the door. 'Do I turn to the right, or to the left hand?'--'To the +right,' said Caderousse. 'You cannot go wrong--the road is bordered by +trees on both sides.'--'Good--all right,' said a voice almost lost in +the distance. 'Close the door,' said La Carconte; 'I do not like open +doors when it thunders.'--'Particularly when there is money in the +house, eh?' answered Caderousse, double-locking the door. + +"He came into the room, went to the cupboard, took out the bag and +pocket-book, and both began, for the third time, to count their gold and +bank-notes. I never saw such an expression of cupidity as the flickering +lamp revealed in those two countenances. The woman, especially, +was hideous; her usual feverish tremulousness was intensified, her +countenance had become livid, and her eyes resembled burning coals. +'Why,' she inquired in a hoarse voice, 'did you invite him to sleep here +to-night?'--'Why?' said Caderousse with a shudder; 'why, that he might +not have the trouble of returning to Beaucaire.'--'Ah,' responded the +woman, with an expression impossible to describe; 'I thought it was +for something else.'--'Woman, woman--why do you have such ideas?' +cried Caderousse; 'or, if you have them, why don't you keep them to +yourself?'--'Well,' said La Carconte, after a moment's pause, 'you are +not a man.'--'What do you mean?' added Caderousse.--'If you had been a +man, you would not have let him go from here.'--'Woman!'--'Or else +he should not have reached Beaucaire.'--'Woman!'--'The road takes a +turn--he is obliged to follow it--while alongside of the canal there is +a shorter road.'--'Woman!--you offend the good God. There--listen!' And +at this moment there was a tremendous peal of thunder, while the livid +lightning illumined the room, and the thunder, rolling away in the +distance, seemed to withdraw unwillingly from the cursed abode. 'Mercy!' +said Caderousse, crossing himself. + +"At the same moment, and in the midst of the terrifying silence which +usually follows a clap of thunder, they heard a knocking at the door. +Caderousse and his wife started and looked aghast at each other. 'Who's +there?' cried Caderousse, rising, and drawing up in a heap the gold +and notes scattered over the table, and which he covered with his two +hands.--'It is I,' shouted a voice.--'And who are you?'--'Eh, pardieu, +Joannes, the jeweller.'--'Well, and you said I offended the good God,' +said La Carconte with a horrid smile. 'Why, the good God sends him back +again.' Caderousse sank pale and breathless into his chair. La Carconte, +on the contrary, rose, and going with a firm step towards the door, +opened it, saying, as she did so--'Come in, dear M. Joannes.'--'Ma foi,' +said the jeweller, drenched with rain, 'I am not destined to return to +Beaucaire to-night. The shortest follies are best, my dear Caderousse. +You offered me hospitality, and I accept it, and have returned to sleep +beneath your friendly roof.' Caderousse stammered out something, +while he wiped away the sweat that started to his brow. La Carconte +double-locked the door behind the jeweller." + + + +Chapter 45. The Rain of Blood. + +"As the jeweller returned to the apartment, he cast around him a +scrutinizing glance--but there was nothing to excite suspicion, if +it did not exist, or to confirm it, if it were already awakened. +Caderousse's hands still grasped the gold and bank-notes, and La +Carconte called up her sweetest smiles while welcoming the reappearance +of their guest. 'Well, well,' said the jeweller, 'you seem, my good +friends, to have had some fears respecting the accuracy of your money, +by counting it over so carefully directly I was gone.'--'Oh, no,' +answered Caderousse, 'that was not my reason, I can assure you; but the +circumstances by which we have become possessed of this wealth are so +unexpected, as to make us scarcely credit our good fortune, and it is +only by placing the actual proof of our riches before our eyes that +we can persuade ourselves that the whole affair is not a dream.' The +jeweller smiled.--'Have you any other guests in your house?' inquired +he.--'Nobody but ourselves,' replied Caderousse; 'the fact is, we do not +lodge travellers--indeed, our tavern is so near the town, that nobody +would think of stopping here.'--'Then I am afraid I shall very much +inconvenience you.'--'Inconvenience us? Not at all, my dear sir,' +said La Carconte in her most gracious manner. 'Not at all, I assure +you.'--'But where will you manage to stow me?'--'In the chamber +overhead.'--'Surely that is where you yourselves sleep?'--'Never mind +that; we have a second bed in the adjoining room.' Caderousse stared at +his wife with much astonishment. + +"The jeweller, meanwhile, was humming a song as he stood warming his +back at the fire La Carconte had kindled to dry the wet garments of her +guest; and this done, she next occupied herself in arranging his supper, +by spreading a napkin at the end of the table, and placing on it the +slender remains of their dinner, to which she added three or four +fresh-laid eggs. Caderousse had once more parted with his treasure--the +banknotes were replaced in the pocket-book, the gold put back into +the bag, and the whole carefully locked in the cupboard. He then began +pacing the room with a pensive and gloomy air, glancing from time to +time at the jeweller, who stood reeking with the steam from his wet +clothes, and merely changing his place on the warm hearth, to enable the +whole of his garments to be dried. + +"'There,' said La Carconte, as she placed a bottle of wine on the table, +'supper is ready whenever you are.'--'And you?' asked Joannes.--'I don't +want any supper,' said Caderousse.--'We dined so very late,' hastily +interposed La Carconte.--'Then it seems I am to eat alone,' remarked +the jeweller.--'Oh, we shall have the pleasure of waiting upon you,' +answered La Carconte, with an eager attention she was not accustomed to +manifest even to guests who paid for what they took. + +"From time to time Caderousse darted on his wife keen, searching +glances, but rapid as the lightning flash. The storm still continued. +'There, there,' said La Carconte; 'do you hear that? upon my word, you +did well to come back.'--'Nevertheless,' replied the jeweller, 'if by +the time I have finished my supper the tempest has at all abated, I +shall make another start.'--'It's the mistral,' said Caderousse, 'and +it will be sure to last till to-morrow morning.' He sighed +heavily.--'Well,' said the jeweller, as he placed himself at table, +'all I can say is, so much the worse for those who are abroad.'--'Yes,' +chimed in La Carconte, 'they will have a wretched night of it.' + +"The jeweller began eating his supper, and the woman, who was ordinarily +so querulous and indifferent to all who approached her, was suddenly +transformed into the most smiling and attentive hostess. Had the unhappy +man on whom she lavished her assiduities been previously acquainted with +her, so sudden an alteration might well have excited suspicion in his +mind, or at least have greatly astonished him. Caderousse, meanwhile, +continued to pace the room in gloomy silence, sedulously avoiding +the sight of his guest; but as soon as the stranger had completed his +repast, the agitated inn-keeper went eagerly to the door and opened +it. 'I believe the storm is over,' said he. But as if to contradict his +statement, at that instant a violent clap of thunder seemed to shake the +house to its very foundation, while a sudden gust of wind, mingled +with rain, extinguished the lamp he held in his hand. Trembling and +awe-struck, Caderousse hastily shut the door and returned to his +guest, while La Carconte lighted a candle by the smouldering ashes that +glimmered on the hearth. 'You must be tired,' said she to the jeweller; +'I have spread a pair of white sheets on your bed; go up when you are +ready, and sleep well.' + +"Joannes stayed for a while to see whether the storm seemed to abate in +its fury, but a brief space of time sufficed to assure him that, +instead of diminishing, the violence of the rain and thunder momentarily +increased; resigning himself, therefore, to what seemed inevitable, he +bade his host good-night, and mounted the stairs. He passed over my head +and I heard the flooring creak beneath his footsteps. The quick, eager +glance of La Carconte followed him as he ascended, while Caderousse, on +the contrary, turned his back, and seemed most anxiously to avoid even +glancing at him. + +"All these circumstances did not strike me as painfully at the time as +they have since done; in fact, all that had happened (with the exception +of the story of the diamond, which certainly did wear an air of +improbability), appeared natural enough, and called for neither +apprehension nor mistrust; but, worn out as I was with fatigue, and +fully purposing to proceed onwards directly the tempest abated, I +determined to obtain a few hours' sleep. Overhead I could accurately +distinguish every movement of the jeweller, who, after making the best +arrangements in his power for passing a comfortable night, threw himself +on his bed, and I could hear it creak and groan beneath his weight. +Insensibly my eyelids grew heavy, deep sleep stole over me, and having +no suspicion of anything wrong, I sought not to shake it off. I looked +into the kitchen once more and saw Caderousse sitting by the side of a +long table upon one of the low wooden stools which in country places are +frequently used instead of chairs; his back was turned towards me, so +that I could not see the expression of his countenance--neither should I +have been able to do so had he been placed differently, as his head was +buried between his two hands. La Carconte continued to gaze on him for +some time, then shrugging her shoulders, she took her seat immediately +opposite to him. At this moment the expiring embers threw up a fresh +flame from the kindling of a piece of wood that lay near, and a bright +light flashed over the room. La Carconte still kept her eyes fixed +on her husband, but as he made no sign of changing his position, she +extended her hard, bony hand, and touched him on the forehead. + +"Caderousse shuddered. The woman's lips seemed to move, as though she +were talking; but because she merely spoke in an undertone, or my senses +were dulled by sleep, I did not catch a word she uttered. Confused +sights and sounds seemed to float before me, and gradually I fell into +a deep, heavy slumber. How long I had been in this unconscious state +I know not, when I was suddenly aroused by the report of a pistol, +followed by a fearful cry. Weak and tottering footsteps resounded across +the chamber above me, and the next instant a dull, heavy weight seemed +to fall powerless on the staircase. I had not yet fully recovered +consciousness, when again I heard groans, mingled with half-stifled +cries, as if from persons engaged in a deadly struggle. A cry more +prolonged than the others and ending in a series of groans effectually +roused me from my drowsy lethargy. Hastily raising myself on one arm, I +looked around, but all was dark; and it seemed to me as if the rain must +have penetrated through the flooring of the room above, for some kind +of moisture appeared to fall, drop by drop, upon my forehead, and when I +passed my hand across my brow, I felt that it was wet and clammy. + +"To the fearful noises that had awakened me had succeeded the most +perfect silence--unbroken, save by the footsteps of a man walking about +in the chamber above. The staircase creaked, he descended into the room +below, approached the fire and lit a candle. The man was Caderousse--he +was pale and his shirt was all bloody. Having obtained the light, he +hurried up-stairs again, and once more I heard his rapid and uneasy +footsteps. A moment later he came down again, holding in his hand the +small shagreen case, which he opened, to assure himself it contained +the diamond,--seemed to hesitate as to which pocket he should put it +in, then, as if dissatisfied with the security of either pocket, he +deposited it in his red handkerchief, which he carefully rolled round +his head. After this he took from his cupboard the bank-notes and gold +he had put there, thrust the one into the pocket of his trousers, and +the other into that of his waistcoat, hastily tied up a small bundle of +linen, and rushing towards the door, disappeared in the darkness of the +night. + +"Then all became clear and manifest to me, and I reproached myself +with what had happened, as though I myself had done the guilty deed. +I fancied that I still heard faint moans, and imagining that the +unfortunate jeweller might not be quite dead, I determined to go to his +relief, by way of atoning in some slight degree, not for the crime I had +committed, but for that which I had not endeavored to prevent. For this +purpose I applied all the strength I possessed to force an entrance +from the cramped spot in which I lay to the adjoining room. The poorly +fastened boards which alone divided me from it yielded to my efforts, +and I found myself in the house. Hastily snatching up the lighted +candle, I hurried to the staircase; about midway a body was lying quite +across the stairs. It was that of La Carconte. The pistol I had heard +had doubtless been fired at her. The shot had frightfully lacerated her +throat, leaving two gaping wounds from which, as well as the mouth, the +blood was pouring in floods. She was stone dead. I strode past her, and +ascended to the sleeping chamber, which presented an appearance of the +wildest disorder. The furniture had been knocked over in the deadly +struggle that had taken place there, and the sheets, to which the +unfortunate jeweller had doubtless clung, were dragged across the room. +The murdered man lay on the floor, his head leaning against the wall, +and about him was a pool of blood which poured forth from three large +wounds in his breast; there was a fourth gash, in which a long table +knife was plunged up to the handle. + +"I stumbled over some object; I stooped to examine--it was the second +pistol, which had not gone off, probably from the powder being wet. I +approached the jeweller, who was not quite dead, and at the sound of my +footsteps and the creaking of the floor, he opened his eyes, fixed +them on me with an anxious and inquiring gaze, moved his lips as though +trying to speak, then, overcome by the effort, fell back and expired. +This appalling sight almost bereft me of my senses, and finding that I +could no longer be of service to any one in the house, my only desire +was to fly. I rushed towards the staircase, clutching my hair, and +uttering a groan of horror. Upon reaching the room below, I found five +or six custom-house officers, and two or three gendarmes--all heavily +armed. They threw themselves upon me. I made no resistance; I was no +longer master of my senses. When I strove to speak, a few inarticulate +sounds alone escaped my lips. + +"As I noticed the significant manner in which the whole party pointed to +my blood-stained garments, I involuntarily surveyed myself, and then +I discovered that the thick warm drops that had so bedewed me as I lay +beneath the staircase must have been the blood of La Carconte. I pointed +to the spot where I had concealed myself. 'What does he mean?' asked a +gendarme. One of the officers went to the place I directed. 'He means,' +replied the man upon his return, 'that he got in that way;' and he +showed the hole I had made when I broke through. + +"Then I saw that they took me for the assassin. I recovered force and +energy enough to free myself from the hands of those who held me, while +I managed to stammer forth--'I did not do it! Indeed, indeed I did not!' +A couple of gendarmes held the muzzles of their carbines against my +breast.--'Stir but a step,' said they, 'and you are a dead man.'--'Why +should you threaten me with death,' cried I, 'when I have already +declared my innocence?'--'Tush, tush,' cried the men; 'keep your +innocent stories to tell to the judge at Nimes. Meanwhile, come along +with us; and the best advice we can give you is to do so unresistingly.' +Alas, resistance was far from my thoughts. I was utterly overpowered +by surprise and terror; and without a word I suffered myself to be +handcuffed and tied to a horse's tail, and thus they took me to Nimes. + +"I had been tracked by a customs-officer, who had lost sight of me near +the tavern; feeling certain that I intended to pass the night there, he +had returned to summon his comrades, who just arrived in time to +hear the report of the pistol, and to take me in the midst of such +circumstantial proofs of my guilt as rendered all hopes of proving +my innocence utterly futile. One only chance was left me, that of +beseeching the magistrate before whom I was taken to cause every inquiry +to be made for the Abbe Busoni, who had stopped at the inn of the Pont +du Gard on that morning. If Caderousse had invented the story relative +to the diamond, and there existed no such person as the Abbe Busoni, +then, indeed, I was lost past redemption, or, at least, my life hung +upon the feeble chance of Caderousse himself being apprehended +and confessing the whole truth. Two months passed away in hopeless +expectation on my part, while I must do the magistrate the justice +to say that he used every means to obtain information of the person I +declared could exculpate me if he would. Caderousse still evaded all +pursuit, and I had resigned myself to what seemed my inevitable fate. +My trial was to come on at the approaching assizes; when, on the 8th of +September--that is to say, precisely three months and five days after +the events which had perilled my life--the Abbe Busoni, whom I never +ventured to believe I should see, presented himself at the prison doors, +saying he understood one of the prisoners wished to speak to him; +he added, that having learned at Marseilles the particulars of my +imprisonment, he hastened to comply with my desire. You may easily +imagine with what eagerness I welcomed him, and how minutely I +related the whole of what I had seen and heard. I felt some degree of +nervousness as I entered upon the history of the diamond, but, to my +inexpressible astonishment, he confirmed it in every particular, and to +my equal surprise, he seemed to place entire belief in all I said. And +then it was that, won by his mild charity, seeing that he was acquainted +with all the habits and customs of my own country, and considering also +that pardon for the only crime of which I was really guilty might come +with a double power from lips so benevolent and kind, I besought him to +receive my confession, under the seal of which I recounted the Auteuil +affair in all its details, as well as every other transaction of my +life. That which I had done by the impulse of my best feelings produced +the same effect as though it had been the result of calculation. My +voluntary confession of the assassination at Auteuil proved to him that +I had not committed that of which I stood accused. When he quitted me, +he bade me be of good courage, and to rely upon his doing all in his +power to convince my judges of my innocence. + +"I had speedy proofs that the excellent abbe was engaged in my behalf, +for the rigors of my imprisonment were alleviated by many trifling +though acceptable indulgences, and I was told that my trial was to be +postponed to the assizes following those now being held. In the interim +it pleased providence to cause the apprehension of Caderousse, who was +discovered in some distant country, and brought back to France, where he +made a full confession, refusing to make the fact of his wife's having +suggested and arranged the murder any excuse for his own guilt. +The wretched man was sentenced to the galleys for life, and I was +immediately set at liberty." + +"And then it was, I presume," said Monte Cristo "that you came to me as +the bearer of a letter from the Abbe Busoni?" + +"It was, your excellency; the benevolent abbe took an evident interest +in all that concerned me. + +"'Your mode of life as a smuggler,' said he to me one day, 'will be +the ruin of you; if you get out, don't take it up again.'--'But how,' +inquired I, 'am I to maintain myself and my poor sister?' + +"'A person, whose confessor I am,' replied he, 'and who entertains a +high regard for me, applied to me a short time since to procure him a +confidential servant. Would you like such a post? If so, I will give you +a letter of introduction to him.'--'Oh, father,' I exclaimed, 'you are +very good.' + +"'But you must swear solemnly that I shall never have reason to repent +my recommendation.' I extended my hand, and was about to pledge myself +by any promise he would dictate, but he stopped me. 'It is unnecessary +for you to bind yourself by any vow,' said he; 'I know and admire the +Corsican nature too well to fear you. Here, take this,' continued he, +after rapidly writing the few lines I brought to your excellency, and +upon receipt of which you deigned to receive me into your service, +and proudly I ask whether your excellency has ever had cause to repent +having done so?" + +"No," replied the count; "I take pleasure in saying that you have served +me faithfully, Bertuccio; but you might have shown more confidence in +me." + +"I, your excellency?" + +"Yes; you. How comes it, that having both a sister and an adopted son, +you have never spoken to me of either?" + +"Alas, I have still to recount the most distressing period of my life. +Anxious as you may suppose I was to behold and comfort my dear sister, +I lost no time in hastening to Corsica, but when I arrived at Rogliano I +found a house of mourning, the consequences of a scene so horrible that +the neighbors remember and speak of it to this day. Acting by my advice, +my poor sister had refused to comply with the unreasonable demands of +Benedetto, who was continually tormenting her for money, as long as he +believed there was a sou left in her possession. One morning that he had +demanded money, threatening her with the severest consequences if she +did not supply him with what he desired, he disappeared and remained +away all day, leaving the kind-hearted Assunta, who loved him as if he +were her own child, to weep over his conduct and bewail his absence. +Evening came, and still, with all the patient solicitude of a mother, +she watched for his return. + +"As the eleventh hour struck, he entered with a swaggering air, attended +by two of the most dissolute and reckless of his boon companions. She +stretched out her arms to him, but they seized hold of her, and one of +the three--none other than the accursed Benedetto exclaimed,--'Put her +to torture and she'll soon tell us where her money is.' + +"It unfortunately happened that our neighbor, Vasilio, was at Bastia, +leaving no person in his house but his wife; no human creature beside +could hear or see anything that took place within our dwelling. Two held +poor Assunta, who, unable to conceive that any harm was intended to her, +smiled in the face of those who were soon to become her executioners. +The third proceeded to barricade the doors and windows, then returned, +and the three united in stifling the cries of terror incited by the +sight of these preparations, and then dragged Assunta feet foremost +towards the brazier, expecting to wring from her an avowal of where her +supposed treasure was secreted. In the struggle her clothes caught +fire, and they were obliged to let go their hold in order to preserve +themselves from sharing the same fate. Covered with flames, Assunta +rushed wildly to the door, but it was fastened; she flew to the windows, +but they were also secured; then the neighbors heard frightful shrieks; +it was Assunta calling for help. The cries died away in groans, and next +morning, as soon as Vasilio's wife could muster up courage to venture +abroad, she caused the door of our dwelling to be opened by the public +authorities, when Assunta, although dreadfully burnt, was found still +breathing; every drawer and closet in the house had been forced open, +and the money stolen. Benedetto never again appeared at Rogliano, +neither have I since that day either seen or heard anything concerning +him. + +"It was subsequently to these dreadful events that I waited on +your excellency, to whom it would have been folly to have mentioned +Benedetto, since all trace of him seemed entirely lost; or of my sister, +since she was dead." + +"And in what light did you view the occurrence?" inquired Monte Cristo. + +"As a punishment for the crime I had committed," answered Bertuccio. +"Oh, those Villeforts are an accursed race!" + +"Truly they are," murmured the count in a lugubrious tone. + +"And now," resumed Bertuccio, "your excellency may, perhaps, be able +to comprehend that this place, which I revisit for the first time--this +garden, the actual scene of my crime--must have given rise to +reflections of no very agreeable nature, and produced that gloom and +depression of spirits which excited the notice of your excellency, who +was pleased to express a desire to know the cause. At this instant a +shudder passes over me as I reflect that possibly I am now standing on +the very grave in which lies M. de Villefort, by whose hand the ground +was dug to receive the corpse of his child." + +"Everything is possible," said Monte Cristo, rising from the bench on +which he had been sitting; "even," he added in an inaudible voice, "even +that the procureur be not dead. The Abbe Busoni did right to send you +to me," he went on in his ordinary tone, "and you have done well in +relating to me the whole of your history, as it will prevent my forming +any erroneous opinions concerning you in future. As for that Benedetto, +who so grossly belied his name, have you never made any effort to trace +out whither he has gone, or what has become of him?" + +"No; far from wishing to learn whither he has betaken himself, I should +shun the possibility of meeting him as I would a wild beast. Thank God, +I have never heard his name mentioned by any person, and I hope and +believe he is dead." + +"Do not think so, Bertuccio," replied the count; "for the wicked are +not so easily disposed of, for God seems to have them under his special +watch-care to make of them instruments of his vengeance." + +"So be it," responded Bertuccio, "all I ask of heaven is that I may +never see him again. And now, your excellency," he added, bowing his +head, "you know everything--you are my judge on earth, as the Almighty +is in heaven; have you for me no words of consolation?" + +"My good friend, I can only repeat the words addressed to you by the +Abbe Busoni. Villefort merited punishment for what he had done to you, +and, perhaps, to others. Benedetto, if still living, will become the +instrument of divine retribution in some way or other, and then be duly +punished in his turn. As far as you yourself are concerned, I see but +one point in which you are really guilty. Ask yourself, wherefore, after +rescuing the infant from its living grave, you did not restore it to its +mother? There was the crime, Bertuccio--that was where you became really +culpable." + +"True, excellency, that was the crime, the real crime, for in that +I acted like a coward. My first duty, directly I had succeeded in +recalling the babe to life, was to restore it to its mother; but, in +order to do so, I must have made close and careful inquiry, which would, +in all probability, have led to my own apprehension; and I clung to +life, partly on my sister's account, and partly from that feeling +of pride inborn in our hearts of desiring to come off untouched and +victorious in the execution of our vengeance. Perhaps, too, the natural +and instinctive love of life made me wish to avoid endangering my +own. And then, again, I am not as brave and courageous as was my poor +brother." Bertuccio hid his face in his hands as he uttered these words, +while Monte Cristo fixed on him a look of inscrutable meaning. After +a brief silence, rendered still more solemn by the time and place, the +count said, in a tone of melancholy wholly unlike his usual manner, "In +order to bring this conversation to a fitting termination (the last we +shall ever hold upon this subject), I will repeat to you some words I +have heard from the lips of the Abbe Busoni. For all evils there are +two remedies--time and silence. And now leave me, Monsieur Bertuccio, to +walk alone here in the garden. The very circumstances which inflict +on you, as a principal in the tragic scene enacted here, such painful +emotions, are to me, on the contrary, a source of something like +contentment, and serve but to enhance the value of this dwelling in my +estimation. The chief beauty of trees consists in the deep shadow of +their umbrageous boughs, while fancy pictures a moving multitude of +shapes and forms flitting and passing beneath that shade. Here I have +a garden laid out in such a way as to afford the fullest scope for the +imagination, and furnished with thickly grown trees, beneath whose leafy +screen a visionary like myself may conjure up phantoms at will. This to +me, who expected but to find a blank enclosure surrounded by a straight +wall, is, I assure you, a most agreeable surprise. I have no fear of +ghosts, and I have never heard it said that so much harm had been done +by the dead during six thousand years as is wrought by the living in a +single day. Retire within, Bertuccio, and tranquillize your mind. Should +your confessor be less indulgent to you in your dying moments than you +found the Abbe Busoni, send for me, if I am still on earth, and I will +soothe your ears with words that shall effectually calm and soothe your +parting soul ere it goes forth to traverse the ocean called eternity." + +Bertuccio bowed respectfully, and turned away, sighing heavily. Monte +Cristo, left alone, took three or four steps onwards, and murmured, +"Here, beneath this plane-tree, must have been where the infant's grave +was dug. There is the little door opening into the garden. At this +corner is the private staircase communicating with the sleeping +apartment. There will be no necessity for me to make a note of these +particulars, for there, before my eyes, beneath my feet, all around me, +I have the plan sketched with all the living reality of truth." After +making the tour of the garden a second time, the count re-entered his +carriage, while Bertuccio, who perceived the thoughtful expression of +his master's features, took his seat beside the driver without uttering +a word. The carriage proceeded rapidly towards Paris. + +That same evening, upon reaching his abode in the Champs Elysees, the +Count of Monte Cristo went over the whole building with the air of one +long acquainted with each nook or corner. Nor, although preceding the +party, did he once mistake one door for another, or commit the smallest +error when choosing any particular corridor or staircase to conduct him +to a place or suite of rooms he desired to visit. Ali was his principal +attendant during this nocturnal survey. Having given various orders to +Bertuccio relative to the improvements and alterations he desired +to make in the house, the Count, drawing out his watch, said to the +attentive Nubian, "It is half-past eleven o'clock; Haidee will soon be +here. Have the French attendants been summoned to await her coming?" Ali +extended his hands towards the apartments destined for the fair Greek, +which were so effectually concealed by means of a tapestried entrance, +that it would have puzzled the most curious to have divined their +existence. Ali, having pointed to the apartments, held up three fingers +of his right hand, and then, placing it beneath his head, shut his eyes, +and feigned to sleep. "I understand," said Monte Cristo, well acquainted +with Ali's pantomime; "you mean to tell me that three female +attendants await their new mistress in her sleeping-chamber." Ali, with +considerable animation, made a sign in the affirmative. + +"Madame will be tired to-night," continued Monte Cristo, "and will, no +doubt, wish to rest. Desire the French attendants not to weary her with +questions, but merely to pay their respectful duty and retire. You will +also see that the Greek servants hold no communication with those of +this country." He bowed. Just at that moment voices were heard hailing +the concierge. The gate opened, a carriage rolled down the avenue, and +stopped at the steps. The count hastily descended, presented himself +at the already opened carriage door, and held out his hand to a young +woman, completely enveloped in a green silk mantle heavily embroidered +with gold. She raised the hand extended towards her to her lips, and +kissed it with a mixture of love and respect. Some few words passed +between them in that sonorous language in which Homer makes his gods +converse. The young woman spoke with an expression of deep tenderness, +while the count replied with an air of gentle gravity. Preceded by Ali, +who carried a rose-colored flambeau in his hand, the new-comer, who was +no other than the lovely Greek who had been Monte Cristo's companion in +Italy, was conducted to her apartments, while the count retired to the +pavilion reserved for himself. In another hour every light in the house +was extinguished, and it might have been thought that all its inmates +slept. + + + +Chapter 46. Unlimited Credit. + +About two o'clock the following day a calash, drawn by a pair of +magnificent English horses, stopped at the door of Monte Cristo and a +person, dressed in a blue coat, with buttons of a similar color, a +white waistcoat, over which was displayed a massive gold chain, brown +trousers, and a quantity of black hair descending so low over his +eyebrows as to leave it doubtful whether it were not artificial so +little did its jetty glossiness assimilate with the deep wrinkles +stamped on his features--a person, in a word, who, although evidently +past fifty, desired to be taken for not more than forty, bent forwards +from the carriage door, on the panels of which were emblazoned the +armorial bearings of a baron, and directed his groom to inquire at the +porter's lodge whether the Count of Monte Cristo resided there, and if +he were within. While waiting, the occupant of the carriage surveyed the +house, the garden as far as he could distinguish it, and the livery +of servants who passed to and fro, with an attention so close as to be +somewhat impertinent. His glance was keen but showed cunning rather than +intelligence; his lips were straight, and so thin that, as they closed, +they were drawn in over the teeth; his cheek-bones were broad and +projecting, a never-failing proof of audacity and craftiness; while the +flatness of his forehead, and the enlargement of the back of his skull, +which rose much higher than his large and coarsely shaped ears, combined +to form a physiognomy anything but prepossessing, save in the eyes of +such as considered that the owner of so splendid an equipage must needs +be all that was admirable and enviable, more especially when they gazed +on the enormous diamond that glittered in his shirt, and the red ribbon +that depended from his button-hole. + +The groom, in obedience to his orders, tapped at the window of the +porter's lodge, saying, "Pray, does not the Count of Monte Cristo live +here?" + +"His excellency does reside here," replied the concierge; "but"--added +he, glancing an inquiring look at Ali. Ali returned a sign in the +negative. "But what?" asked the groom. + +"His excellency does not receive visitors to-day." + +"Then here is my master's card,--the Baron Danglars. You will take it +to the count, and say that, although in haste to attend the Chamber, my +master came out of his way to have the honor of calling upon him." + +"I never speak to his excellency," replied the concierge; "the valet de +chambre will carry your message." The groom returned to the carriage. +"Well?" asked Danglars. The man, somewhat crest-fallen by the rebuke he +had received, repeated what the concierge had said. "Bless me," murmured +Baron Danglars, "this must surely be a prince instead of a count by +their styling him 'excellency,' and only venturing to address him by the +medium of his valet de chambre. However, it does not signify; he has a +letter of credit on me, so I must see him when he requires his money." + +Then, throwing himself back in his carriage, Danglars called out to +his coachman, in a voice that might be heard across the road, "To the +Chamber of Deputies." + +Apprised in time of the visit paid him, Monte Cristo had, from behind +the blinds of his pavilion, as minutely observed the baron, by means of +an excellent lorgnette, as Danglars himself had scrutinized the house, +garden, and servants. "That fellow has a decidedly bad countenance," +said the count in a tone of disgust, as he shut up his glass into its +ivory case. "How comes it that all do not retreat in aversion at sight +of that flat, receding, serpent-like forehead, round, vulture-shaped +head, and sharp-hooked nose, like the beak of a buzzard? Ali," cried +he, striking at the same time on the brazen gong. Ali appeared. "Summon +Bertuccio," said the count. Almost immediately Bertuccio entered the +apartment. "Did your excellency desire to see me?" inquired he. "I did," +replied the count. "You no doubt observed the horses standing a few +minutes since at the door?" + +"Certainly, your excellency. I noticed them for their remarkable +beauty." + +"Then how comes it," said Monte Cristo with a frown, "that, when I +desired you to purchase for me the finest pair of horses to be found in +Paris, there is another pair, fully as fine as mine, not in my stables?" +At the look of displeasure, added to the angry tone in which the count +spoke, Ali turned pale and held down his head. "It is not your fault, my +good Ali," said the count in the Arabic language, and with a gentleness +none would have thought him capable of showing, either in voice or +face--"it is not your fault. You do not understand the points of English +horses." The countenance of poor Ali recovered its serenity. "Permit me +to assure your excellency," said Bertuccio, "that the horses you speak +of were not to be sold when I purchased yours." Monte Cristo shrugged +his shoulders. "It seems, sir steward," said he, "that you have yet to +learn that all things are to be sold to such as care to pay the price." + +"His excellency is not, perhaps, aware that M. Danglars gave 16,000 +francs for his horses?" + +"Very well. Then offer him double that sum; a banker never loses an +opportunity of doubling his capital." + +"Is your excellency really in earnest?" inquired the steward. Monte +Cristo regarded the person who durst presume to doubt his words with +the look of one equally surprised and displeased. "I have to pay a visit +this evening," replied he. "I desire that these horses, with completely +new harness, may be at the door with my carriage." Bertuccio bowed, and +was about to retire; but when he reached the door, he paused, and then +said, "At what o'clock does your excellency wish the carriage and horses +to be ready?" + +"At five o'clock," replied the count. + +"I beg your excellency's pardon," interposed the steward in a +deprecating manner, "for venturing to observe that it is already two +o'clock." + +"I am perfectly aware of that fact," answered Monte Cristo calmly. Then, +turning towards Ali, he said, "Let all the horses in my stables be led +before the windows of your young lady, that she may select those she +prefers for her carriage. Request her also to oblige me by saying +whether it is her pleasure to dine with me; if so, let dinner be served +in her apartments. Now, leave me, and desire my valet de chambre to +come hither." Scarcely had Ali disappeared when the valet entered the +chamber. "Monsieur Baptistin," said the count, "you have been in my +service one year, the time I generally give myself to judge of the +merits or demerits of those about me. You suit me very well." Baptistin +bowed low. "It only remains for me to know whether I also suit you?" + +"Oh, your excellency!" exclaimed Baptistin eagerly. + +"Listen, if you please, till I have finished speaking," replied Monte +Cristo. "You receive 1,500 francs per annum for your services here--more +than many a brave subaltern, who continually risks his life for his +country, obtains. You live in a manner far superior to many clerks who +work ten times harder than you do for their money. Then, though yourself +a servant, you have other servants to wait upon you, take care of your +clothes, and see that your linen is duly prepared for you. Again, you +make a profit upon each article you purchase for my toilet, amounting in +the course of a year to a sum equalling your wages." + +"Nay, indeed, your excellency." + +"I am not condemning you for this, Monsieur Baptistin; but let your +profits end here. It would be long indeed ere you would find so +lucrative a post as that you have now the good fortune to fill. I +neither ill-use nor ill-treat my servants by word or action. An error +I readily forgive, but wilful negligence or forgetfulness, never. My +commands are ordinarily short, clear, and precise; and I would rather be +obliged to repeat my words twice, or even three times, than they should +be misunderstood. I am rich enough to know whatever I desire to know, +and I can promise you I am not wanting in curiosity. If, then, I +should learn that you had taken upon yourself to speak of me to any one +favorably or unfavorably, to comment on my actions, or watch my conduct, +that very instant you would quit my service. You may now retire. I never +caution my servants a second time--remember that." Baptistin bowed, and +was proceeding towards the door. "I forgot to mention to you," said the +count, "that I lay yearly aside a certain sum for each servant in my +establishment; those whom I am compelled to dismiss lose (as a matter of +course) all participation in this money, while their portion goes to the +fund accumulating for those domestics who remain with me, and among whom +it will be divided at my death. You have been in my service a year, your +fund has already begun to accumulate--let it continue to do so." + +This address, delivered in the presence of Ali, who, not understanding +one word of the language in which it was spoken, stood wholly unmoved, +produced an effect on M. Baptistin only to be conceived by such as have +occasion to study the character and disposition of French domestics. "I +assure your excellency," said he, "that at least it shall be my study +to merit your approbation in all things, and I will take M. Ali as my +model." + +"By no means," replied the count in the most frigid tones; "Ali has many +faults mixed with most excellent qualities. He cannot possibly serve you +as a pattern for your conduct, not being, as you are, a paid servant, +but a mere slave--a dog, who, should he fail in his duty towards me, I +should not discharge from my service, but kill." Baptistin opened his +eyes with astonishment. + +"You seem incredulous," said Monte Cristo, who repeated to Ali in the +Arabic language what he had just been saying to Baptistin in French. The +Nubian smiled assentingly to his master's words, then, kneeling on one +knee, respectfully kissed the hand of the count. This corroboration of +the lesson he had just received put the finishing stroke to the wonder +and stupefaction of M. Baptistin. The count then motioned the valet +de chambre to retire, and to Ali to follow to his study, where they +conversed long and earnestly together. As the hand of the clock pointed +to five the count struck thrice upon his gong. When Ali was wanted +one stroke was given, two summoned Baptistin, and three Bertuccio. The +steward entered. "My horses," said Monte Cristo. + +"They are at the door harnessed to the carriage as your excellency +desired. Does your excellency wish me to accompany him?" + +"No, the coachman, Ali, and Baptistin will go." The count descended to +the door of his mansion, and beheld his carriage drawn by the very +pair of horses he had so much admired in the morning as the property +of Danglars. As he passed them he said--"They are extremely handsome +certainly, and you have done well to purchase them, although you were +somewhat remiss not to have procured them sooner." + +"Indeed, your excellency, I had very considerable difficulty in +obtaining them, and, as it is, they have cost an enormous price." + +"Does the sum you gave for them make the animals less beautiful," +inquired the count, shrugging his shoulders. + +"Nay, if your excellency is satisfied, it is all that I could wish. +Whither does your excellency desire to be driven?" + +"To the residence of Baron Danglars, Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin." This +conversation had passed as they stood upon the terrace, from which a +flight of stone steps led to the carriage-drive. As Bertuccio, with +a respectful bow, was moving away, the count called him back. "I have +another commission for you, M. Bertuccio," said he; "I am desirous of +having an estate by the seaside in Normandy--for instance, between Havre +and Boulogne. You see I give you a wide range. It will be absolutely +necessary that the place you may select have a small harbor, creek, or +bay, into which my corvette can enter and remain at anchor. She draws +only fifteen feet. She must be kept in constant readiness to sail +immediately I think proper to give the signal. Make the requisite +inquiries for a place of this description, and when you have met with +an eligible spot, visit it, and if it possess the advantages desired, +purchase it at once in your own name. The corvette must now, I think, be +on her way to Fecamp, must she not?" + +"Certainly, your excellency; I saw her put to sea the same evening we +quitted Marseilles." + +"And the yacht." + +"Was ordered to remain at Martigues." + +"'Tis well. I wish you to write from time to time to the captains in +charge of the two vessels so as to keep them on the alert." + +"And the steamboat?" + +"She is at Chalons?" + +"Yes." + +"The same orders for her as for the two sailing vessels." + +"Very good." + +"When you have purchased the estate I desire, I want constant relays of +horses at ten leagues apart along the northern and southern road." + +"Your excellency may depend upon me." The Count made a gesture of +satisfaction, descended the terrace steps, and sprang into his carriage, +which was whirled along swiftly to the banker's house. Danglars was +engaged at that moment, presiding over a railroad committee. But the +meeting was nearly concluded when the name of his visitor was announced. +As the count's title sounded on his ear he rose, and addressing +his colleagues, who were members of one or the other Chamber, he +said,--"Gentlemen, pardon me for leaving you so abruptly; but a most +ridiculous circumstance has occurred, which is this,--Thomson & French, +the Roman bankers, have sent to me a certain person calling himself the +Count of Monte Cristo, and have given him an unlimited credit with me. I +confess this is the drollest thing I have ever met with in the course +of my extensive foreign transactions, and you may readily suppose it has +greatly roused my curiosity. I took the trouble this morning to call +on the pretended count--if he were a real count he wouldn't be so rich. +But, would you believe it, 'He was not receiving.' So the master of +Monte Cristo gives himself airs befitting a great millionaire or a +capricious beauty. I made inquiries, and found that the house in the +Champs Elysees is his own property, and certainly it was very decently +kept up. But," pursued Danglars with one of his sinister smiles, "an +order for unlimited credit calls for something like caution on the part +of the banker to whom that order is given. I am very anxious to see this +man. I suspect a hoax is intended, but the instigators of it little knew +whom they had to deal with. 'They laugh best who laugh last!'" + +Having delivered himself of this pompous address, uttered with a degree +of energy that left the baron almost out of breath, he bowed to the +assembled party and withdrew to his drawing-room, whose sumptuous +furnishings of white and gold had caused a great sensation in the +Chaussee d'Antin. It was to this apartment he had desired his guest to +be shown, with the purpose of overwhelming him at the sight of so much +luxury. He found the count standing before some copies of Albano and +Fattore that had been passed off to the banker as originals; but which, +mere copies as they were, seemed to feel their degradation in being +brought into juxtaposition with the gaudy colors that covered the +ceiling. The count turned round as he heard the entrance of Danglars +into the room. With a slight inclination of the head, Danglars signed +to the count to be seated, pointing significantly to a gilded arm-chair, +covered with white satin embroidered with gold. The count sat down. "I +have the honor, I presume, of addressing M. de Monte Cristo." + +The count bowed. "And I of speaking to Baron Danglars, chevalier of the +Legion of Honor, and member of the Chamber of Deputies?" + +Monte Cristo repeated all the titles he had read on the baron's card. + +Danglars felt the irony and compressed his lips. "You will, I trust, +excuse me, monsieur, for not calling you by your title when I first +addressed you," he said, "but you are aware that we are living under a +popular form of government, and that I am myself a representative of the +liberties of the people." + +"So much so," replied Monte Cristo, "that while you call yourself baron +you are not willing to call anybody else count." + +"Upon my word, monsieur," said Danglars with affected carelessness, "I +attach no sort of value to such empty distinctions; but the fact is, I +was made baron, and also chevalier of the Legion of Honor, in return for +services rendered, but"-- + +"But you have discarded your titles after the example set you by Messrs. +de Montmorency and Lafayette? That was a noble example to follow, +monsieur." + +"Why," replied Danglars, "not entirely so; with the servants,--you +understand." + +"I see; to your domestics you are 'my lord,' the journalists style +you 'monsieur,' while your constituents call you 'citizen.' These +are distinctions very suitable under a constitutional government. I +understand perfectly." Again Danglars bit his lips; he saw that he was +no match for Monte Cristo in an argument of this sort, and he therefore +hastened to turn to subjects more congenial. + +"Permit me to inform you, Count," said he, bowing, "that I have received +a letter of advice from Thomson & French, of Rome." + +"I am glad to hear it, baron,--for I must claim the privilege of +addressing you after the manner of your servants. I have acquired the +bad habit of calling persons by their titles from living in a country +where barons are still barons by right of birth. But as regards the +letter of advice, I am charmed to find that it has reached you; that +will spare me the troublesome and disagreeable task of coming to you for +money myself. You have received a regular letter of advice?" + +"Yes," said Danglars, "but I confess I didn't quite comprehend its +meaning." + +"Indeed?" + +"And for that reason I did myself the honor of calling upon you, in +order to beg for an explanation." + +"Go on, monsieur. Here I am, ready to give you any explanation you +desire." + +"Why," said Danglers, "in the letter--I believe I have it about +me"--here he felt in his breast-pocket--"yes, here it is. Well, this +letter gives the Count of Monte Cristo unlimited credit on our house." + +"Well, baron, what is there difficult to understand about that?" + +"Merely the term unlimited--nothing else, certainly." + +"Is not that word known in France? The people who wrote are +Anglo-Germans, you know." + +"Oh, as for the composition of the letter, there is nothing to be said; +but as regards the competency of the document, I certainly have doubts." + +"Is it possible?" asked the count, assuming all air and tone of the +utmost simplicity and candor. "Is it possible that Thomson & French +are not looked upon as safe and solvent bankers? Pray tell me what +you think, baron, for I feel uneasy, I can assure you, having some +considerable property in their hands." + +"Thomson & French are perfectly solvent," replied Danglars, with an +almost mocking smile: "but the word unlimited, in financial affairs, is +so extremely vague." + +"Is, in fact, unlimited," said Monte Cristo. + +"Precisely what I was about to say," cried Danglars. "Now what is vague +is doubtful; and it was a wise man who said, 'when in doubt, keep out.'" + +"Meaning to say," rejoined Monte Cristo, "that however Thomson & French +may be inclined to commit acts of imprudence and folly, the Baron +Danglars is not disposed to follow their example." + +"Not at all." + +"Plainly enough. Messrs. Thomson & French set no bounds to their +engagements while those of M. Danglars have their limits; he is a wise +man, according to his own showing." + +"Monsieur," replied the banker, drawing himself up with a haughty air, +"the extent of my resources has never yet been questioned." + +"It seems, then, reserved for me," said Monte Cristo coldly, "to be the +first to do so." + +"By what right, sir?" + +"By right of the objections you have raised, and the explanations you +have demanded, which certainly must have some motive." + +Once more Danglars bit his lips. It was the second time he had been +worsted, and this time on his own ground. His forced politeness sat +awkwardly upon him, and approached almost to impertinence. Monte Cristo +on the contrary, preserved a graceful suavity of demeanor, aided by +a certain degree of simplicity he could assume at pleasure, and thus +possessed the advantage. + +"Well, sir," resumed Danglars, after a brief silence, "I will endeavor +to make myself understood, by requesting you to inform me for what sum +you propose to draw upon me?" + +"Why, truly," replied Monte Cristo, determined not to lose an inch of +the ground he had gained, "my reason for desiring an 'unlimited' credit +was precisely because I did not know how much money I might need." + +The banker thought the time had come for him to take the upper hand. So +throwing himself back in his arm-chair, he said, with an arrogant and +purse-proud air,--"Let me beg of you not to hesitate in naming your +wishes; you will then be convinced that the resources of the house +of Danglars, however limited, are still equal to meeting the largest +demands; and were you even to require a million"-- + +"I beg your pardon," interposed Monte Cristo. + +"I said a million," replied Danglars, with the confidence of ignorance. + +"But could I do with a million?" retorted the count. "My dear sir, if a +trifle like that could suffice me, I should never have given myself the +trouble of opening an account. A million? Excuse my smiling when you +speak of a sum I am in the habit of carrying in my pocket-book or +dressing-case." And with these words Monte Cristo took from his pocket +a small case containing his visiting-cards, and drew forth two orders on +the treasury for 500,000 francs each, payable at sight to the bearer. +A man like Danglars was wholly inaccessible to any gentler method +of correction. The effect of the present revelation was stunning; he +trembled and was on the verge of apoplexy. The pupils of his eyes, as he +gazed at Monte Cristo dilated horribly. + +"Come, come," said Monte Cristo, "confess honestly that you have not +perfect confidence in Thomson & French. I understand, and foreseeing +that such might be the case, I took, in spite of my ignorance of +affairs, certain precautions. See, here are two similar letters to that +you have yourself received; one from the house of Arstein & Eskeles of +Vienna, to Baron Rothschild, the other drawn by Baring of London, upon +M. Laffitte. Now, sir, you have but to say the word, and I will spare +you all uneasiness by presenting my letter of credit to one or other of +these two firms." The blow had struck home, and Danglars was entirely +vanquished; with a trembling hand he took the two letters from the +count, who held them carelessly between finger and thumb, and proceeded +to scrutinize the signatures, with a minuteness that the count might +have regarded as insulting, had it not suited his present purpose to +mislead the banker. "Oh, sir," said Danglars, after he had convinced +himself of the authenticity of the documents he held, and rising as if +to salute the power of gold personified in the man before him,--"three +letters of unlimited credit! I can be no longer mistrustful, but +you must pardon me, my dear count, for confessing to some degree of +astonishment." + +"Nay," answered Monte Cristo, with the most gentlemanly air, "'tis +not for such trifling sums as these that your banking house is to be +incommoded. Then, you can let me have some money, can you not?" + +"Whatever you say, my dear count; I am at your orders." + +"Why," replied Monte Cristo, "since we mutually understand each +other--for such I presume is the case?" Danglars bowed assentingly. "You +are quite sure that not a lurking doubt or suspicion lingers in your +mind?" + +"Oh, my dear count," exclaimed Danglars, "I never for an instant +entertained such a feeling towards you." + +"No, you merely wished to be convinced, nothing more; but now that +we have come to so clear an understanding, and that all distrust and +suspicion are laid at rest, we may as well fix a sum as the probable +expenditure of the first year, suppose we say six millions to"-- + +"Six millions!" gasped Danglars--"so be it." + +"Then, if I should require more," continued Monte Cristo in a careless +manner, "why, of course, I should draw upon you; but my present +intention is not to remain in France more than a year, and during that +period I scarcely think I shall exceed the sum I mentioned. However, we +shall see. Be kind enough, then, to send me 500,000 francs to-morrow. I +shall be at home till midday, or if not, I will leave a receipt with my +steward." + +"The money you desire shall be at your house by ten o'clock to-morrow +morning, my dear count," replied Danglars. "How would you like to have +it? in gold, silver, or notes?" + +"Half in gold, and the other half in bank-notes, if you please," said +the count, rising from his seat. + +"I must confess to you, count," said Danglars, "that I have hitherto +imagined myself acquainted with the degree of all the great fortunes of +Europe, and still wealth such as yours has been wholly unknown to me. +May I presume to ask whether you have long possessed it?" + +"It has been in the family a very long while," returned Monte Cristo, "a +sort of treasure expressly forbidden to be touched for a certain period +of years, during which the accumulated interest has doubled the capital. +The period appointed by the testator for the disposal of these riches +occurred only a short time ago, and they have only been employed by me +within the last few years. Your ignorance on the subject, therefore, is +easily accounted for. However, you will be better informed as to me and +my possessions ere long." And the count, while pronouncing these latter +words, accompanied them with one of those ghastly smiles that used to +strike terror into poor Franz d'Epinay. + +"With your tastes, and means of gratifying them," continued Danglars, +"you will exhibit a splendor that must effectually put us poor miserable +millionaires quite in the shade. If I mistake not you are an admirer of +paintings, at least I judged so from the attention you appeared to be +bestowing on mine when I entered the room. If you will permit me, I +shall be happy to show you my picture gallery, composed entirely of +works by the ancient masters--warranted as such. Not a modern picture +among them. I cannot endure the modern school of painting." + +"You are perfectly right in objecting to them, for this one great +fault--that they have not yet had time to become old." + +"Or will you allow me to show you several fine statues by Thorwaldsen, +Bartoloni, and Canova?--all foreign artists, for, as you may perceive, I +think but very indifferently of our French sculptors." + +"You have a right to be unjust to them, monsieur; they are your +compatriots." + +"But all this may come later, when we shall be better known to each +other. For the present, I will confine myself (if perfectly agreeable to +you) to introducing you to the Baroness Danglars--excuse my impatience, +my dear count, but a client like you is almost like a member of the +family." Monte Cristo bowed, in sign that he accepted the proffered +honor; Danglars rang and was answered by a servant in a showy livery. +"Is the baroness at home?" inquired Danglars. + +"Yes, my lord," answered the man. + +"And alone?" + +"No, my lord, madame has visitors." + +"Have you any objection to meet any persons who may be with madame, or +do you desire to preserve a strict incognito?" + +"No, indeed," replied Monte Cristo with a smile, "I do not arrogate to +myself the right of so doing." + +"And who is with madame?--M. Debray?" inquired Danglars, with an air of +indulgence and good-nature that made Monte Cristo smile, acquainted as +he was with the secrets of the banker's domestic life. + +"Yes, my lord," replied the servant, "M. Debray is with madame." +Danglars nodded his head; then, turning to Monte Cristo, said, "M. +Lucien Debray is an old friend of ours, and private secretary to the +Minister of the Interior. As for my wife, I must tell you, she lowered +herself by marrying me, for she belongs to one of the most ancient +families in France. Her maiden name was De Servieres, and her first +husband was Colonel the Marquis of Nargonne." + +"I have not the honor of knowing Madame Danglars; but I have already met +M. Lucien Debray." + +"Ah, indeed?" said Danglars; "and where was that?" + +"At the house of M. de Morcerf." + +"Ah, ha, you are acquainted with the young viscount, are you?" + +"We were together a good deal during the Carnival at Rome." + +"True, true," cried Danglars. "Let me see; have I not heard talk of +some strange adventure with bandits or thieves hid in ruins, and of +his having had a miraculous escape? I forget how, but I know he used +to amuse my wife and daughter by telling them about it after his return +from Italy." + +"Her ladyship is waiting to receive you, gentlemen," said the servant, +who had gone to inquire the pleasure of his mistress. "With your +permission," said Danglars, bowing, "I will precede you, to show you the +way." + +"By all means," replied Monte Cristo; "I follow you." + + + +Chapter 47. The Dappled Grays. + +The baron, followed by the count, traversed a long series of apartments, +in which the prevailing characteristics were heavy magnificence and the +gaudiness of ostentatious wealth, until he reached the boudoir of Madame +Danglars--a small octagonal-shaped room, hung with pink satin, covered +with white Indian muslin. The chairs were of ancient workmanship +and materials; over the doors were painted sketches of shepherds and +shepherdesses, after the style and manner of Boucher; and at each side +pretty medallions in crayons, harmonizing well with the furnishings of +this charming apartment, the only one throughout the great mansion +in which any distinctive taste prevailed. The truth was, it had been +entirely overlooked in the plan arranged and followed out by M. Danglars +and his architect, who had been selected to aid the baron in the great +work of improvement solely because he was the most fashionable and +celebrated decorator of the day. The decorations of the boudoir had then +been left entirely to Madame Danglars and Lucien Debray. M. Danglars, +however, while possessing a great admiration for the antique, as it +was understood during the time of the Directory, entertained the most +sovereign contempt for the simple elegance of his wife's favorite +sitting-room, where, by the way, he was never permitted to intrude, +unless, indeed, he excused his own appearance by ushering in some more +agreeable visitor than himself; and even then he had rather the air and +manner of a person who was himself introduced, than that of being +the presenter of another, his reception being cordial or frigid, in +proportion as the person who accompanied him chanced to please or +displease the baroness. + +Madame Danglars (who, although past the first bloom of youth, was still +strikingly handsome) was now seated at the piano, a most elaborate piece +of cabinet and inlaid work, while Lucien Debray, standing before a small +work-table, was turning over the pages of an album. Lucien had found +time, preparatory to the count's arrival, to relate many particulars +respecting him to Madame Danglars. It will be remembered that Monte +Cristo had made a lively impression on the minds of all the party +assembled at the breakfast given by Albert de Morcerf; and although +Debray was not in the habit of yielding to such feelings, he had never +been able to shake off the powerful influence excited in his mind by the +impressive look and manner of the count, consequently the description +given by Lucien to the baroness bore the highly-colored tinge of his own +heated imagination. Already excited by the wonderful stories related of +the count by De Morcerf, it is no wonder that Madame Danglars eagerly +listened to, and fully credited, all the additional circumstances +detailed by Debray. This posing at the piano and over the album was only +a little ruse adopted by way of precaution. A most gracious welcome and +unusual smile were bestowed on M. Danglars; the count, in return for +his gentlemanly bow, received a formal though graceful courtesy, while +Lucien exchanged with the count a sort of distant recognition, and with +Danglars a free and easy nod. + +"Baroness," said Danglars, "give me leave to present to you the Count +of Monte Cristo, who has been most warmly recommended to me by my +correspondents at Rome. I need but mention one fact to make all the +ladies in Paris court his notice, and that is, that he has come to take +up his abode in Paris for a year, during which brief period he proposes +to spend six millions of money. That means balls, dinners, and lawn +parties without end, in all of which I trust the count will remember +us, as he may depend upon it we shall him, in our own humble +entertainments." In spite of the gross flattery and coarseness of this +address, Madame Danglars could not forbear gazing with considerable +interest on a man capable of expending six millions in twelve months, +and who had selected Paris for the scene of his princely extravagance. +"And when did you arrive here?" inquired she. + +"Yesterday morning, madame." + +"Coming, as usual, I presume, from the extreme end of the globe? Pardon +me--at least, such I have heard is your custom." + +"Nay, madame. This time I have merely come from Cadiz." + +"You have selected a most unfavorable moment for your first visit. Paris +is a horrible place in summer. Balls, parties, and fetes are over; the +Italian opera is in London; the French opera everywhere except in Paris. +As for the Theatre Francais, you know, of course, that it is nowhere. +The only amusements left us are the indifferent races at the Champ de +Mars and Satory. Do you propose entering any horses at either of these +races, count?" + +"I shall do whatever they do at Paris, madame, if I have the good +fortune to find some one who will initiate me into the prevalent ideas +of amusement." + +"Are you fond of horses, count?" + +"I have passed a considerable part of my life in the East, madame, and +you are doubtless aware that the Orientals value only two things--the +fine breeding of their horses and the beauty of their women." + +"Nay, count," said the baroness, "it would have been somewhat more +gallant to have placed the ladies first." + +"You see, madame, how rightly I spoke when I said I required a preceptor +to guide me in all my sayings and doings here." At this instant the +favorite attendant of Madame Danglars entered the boudoir; approaching +her mistress, she spoke some words in an undertone. Madame Danglars +turned very pale, then exclaimed,--"I cannot believe it; the thing is +impossible." + +"I assure you, madame," replied the woman, "it is as I have said." +Turning impatiently towards her husband, Madame Danglars demanded, "Is +this true?" + +"Is what true, madame?" inquired Danglars, visibly agitated. + +"What my maid tells me." + +"But what does she tell you?" + +"That when my coachman was about to harness the horses to my carriage, +he discovered that they had been removed from the stables without his +knowledge. I desire to know what is the meaning of this?" + +"Be kind enough, madame, to listen to me," said Danglars. + +"Oh, yes; I will listen, monsieur, for I am most curious to hear what +explanation you will give. These two gentlemen shall decide between us; +but, first, I will state the case to them. Gentlemen," continued the +baroness, "among the ten horses in the stables of Baron Danglars, are +two that belong exclusively to me--a pair of the handsomest and most +spirited creatures to be found in Paris. But to you, at least, M. +Debray, I need not give a further description, because to you my +beautiful pair of dappled grays were well known. Well, I had promised +Madame de Villefort the loan of my carriage to drive to-morrow to the +Bois; but when my coachman goes to fetch the grays from the stables they +are gone--positively gone. No doubt M. Danglars has sacrificed them to +the selfish consideration of gaining some thousands of paltry francs. +Oh, what a detestable crew they are, these mercenary speculators!" + +"Madame," replied Danglars, "the horses were not sufficiently quiet +for you; they were scarcely four years old, and they made me extremely +uneasy on your account." + +"Nonsense," retorted the baroness; "you could not have entertained any +alarm on the subject, because you are perfectly well aware that I have +had for a month in my service the very best coachman in Paris. But, +perhaps, you have disposed of the coachman as well as the horses?" + +"My dear love, pray do not say any more about them, and I promise +you another pair exactly like them in appearance, only more quiet and +steady." The baroness shrugged her shoulders with an air of ineffable +contempt, while her husband, affecting not to observe this unconjugal +gesture, turned towards Monte Cristo and said,--"Upon my word, count, +I am quite sorry not to have met you sooner. You are setting up an +establishment, of course?" + +"Why, yes," replied the count. + +"I should have liked to have made you the offer of these horses. I have +almost given them away, as it is; but, as I before said, I was anxious +to get rid of them upon any terms. They were only fit for a young man." + +"I am much obliged by your kind intentions towards me," said Monte +Cristo; "but this morning I purchased a very excellent pair of +carriage-horses, and I do not think they were dear. There they are. +Come, M. Debray, you are a connoisseur, I believe, let me have your +opinion upon them." As Debray walked towards the window, Danglars +approached his wife. "I could not tell you before others," said he in a +low tone, "the reason of my parting with the horses; but a most enormous +price was offered me this morning for them. Some madman or fool, bent +upon ruining himself as fast as he can, actually sent his steward to +me to purchase them at any cost; and the fact is, I have gained 16,000 +francs by the sale of them. Come, don't look so angry, and you shall +have 4,000 francs of the money to do what you like with, and Eugenie +shall have 2,000. There, what do you think now of the affair? Wasn't +I right to part with the horses?" Madame Danglars surveyed her husband +with a look of withering contempt. + +"Great heavens?" suddenly exclaimed Debray. + +"What is it?" asked the baroness. + +"I cannot be mistaken; there are your horses! The very animals we were +speaking of, harnessed to the count's carriage!" + +"My dappled grays?" demanded the baroness, springing to the window. +"'Tis indeed they!" said she. Danglars looked absolutely stupefied. "How +very singular," cried Monte Cristo with well-feigned astonishment. + +"I cannot believe it," murmured the banker. Madame Danglars whispered +a few words in the ear of Debray, who approached Monte Cristo, saying, +"The baroness wishes to know what you paid her husband for the horses." + +"I scarcely know," replied the count; "it was a little surprise prepared +for me by my steward, and cost me--well, somewhere about 30,000 francs." +Debray conveyed the count's reply to the baroness. Poor Danglars looked +so crest-fallen and discomfited that Monte Cristo assumed a pitying air +towards him. "See," said the count, "how very ungrateful women are. Your +kind attention, in providing for the safety of the baroness by disposing +of the horses, does not seem to have made the least impression on her. +But so it is; a woman will often, from mere wilfulness, prefer that +which is dangerous to that which is safe. Therefore, in my opinion, my +dear baron, the best and easiest way is to leave them to their fancies, +and allow them to act as they please, and then, if any mischief follows, +why, at least, they have no one to blame but themselves." Danglars made +no reply; he was occupied in anticipations of the coming scene between +himself and the baroness, whose frowning brow, like that of Olympic +Jove, predicted a storm. Debray, who perceived the gathering clouds, +and felt no desire to witness the explosion of Madame Danglars' rage, +suddenly recollected an appointment, which compelled him to take his +leave; while Monte Cristo, unwilling by prolonging his stay to destroy +the advantages he hoped to obtain, made a farewell bow and departed, +leaving Danglars to endure the angry reproaches of his wife. + +"Excellent," murmured Monte Cristo to himself, as he came away. "All +has gone according to my wishes. The domestic peace of this family is +henceforth in my hands. Now, then, to play another master-stroke, by +which I shall gain the heart of both husband and wife--delightful! +Still," added he, "amid all this, I have not yet been presented to +Mademoiselle Eugenie Danglars, whose acquaintance I should have been +glad to make. But," he went on with his peculiar smile, "I am here in +Paris, and have plenty of time before me--by and by will do for that." +With these reflections he entered his carriage and returned home. Two +hours afterwards, Madame Danglars received a most flattering epistle +from the count, in which he entreated her to receive back her favorite +"dappled grays," protesting that he could not endure the idea of making +his entry into the Parisian world of fashion with the knowledge that +his splendid equipage had been obtained at the price of a lovely woman's +regrets. The horses were sent back wearing the same harness she had seen +on them in the morning; only, by the count's orders, in the centre of +each rosette that adorned either side of their heads, had been fastened +a large diamond. + +To Danglars Monte Cristo also wrote, requesting him to excuse the +whimsical gift of a capricious millionaire, and to beg the baroness to +pardon the Eastern fashion adopted in the return of the horses. + +During the evening, Monte Cristo quitted Paris for Auteuil, accompanied +by Ali. The following day, about three o'clock, a single blow struck on +the gong summoned Ali to the presence of the count. "Ali," observed +his master, as the Nubian entered the chamber, "you have frequently +explained to me how more than commonly skilful you are in throwing the +lasso, have you not?" Ali drew himself up proudly, and then returned a +sign in the affirmative. "I thought I did not mistake. With your lasso +you could stop an ox?" Again Ali repeated his affirmative gesture. "Or a +tiger?" Ali bowed his head in token of assent. "A lion even?" Ali sprung +forwards, imitating the action of one throwing the lasso, then of a +strangled lion. + +"I understand," said Monte Cristo; "you wish to tell me you have hunted +the lion?" Ali smiled with triumphant pride as he signified that he +had indeed both chased and captured many lions. "But do you believe +you could arrest the progress of two horses rushing forwards with +ungovernable fury?" The Nubian smiled. "It is well," said Monte Cristo. +"Then listen to me. Ere long a carriage will dash past here, drawn by +the pair of dappled gray horses you saw me with yesterday; now, at the +risk of your own life, you must manage to stop those horses before my +door." + +Ali descended to the street, and marked a straight line on the pavement +immediately at the entrance of the house, and then pointed out the line +he had traced to the count, who was watching him. The count patted him +gently on the shoulder, his usual mode of praising Ali, who, pleased +and gratified with the commission assigned him, walked calmly towards a +projecting stone forming the angle of the street and house, and, seating +himself thereon, began to smoke his chibouque, while Monte Cristo +re-entered his dwelling, perfectly assured of the success of his plan. +Still, as five o'clock approached, and the carriage was momentarily +expected by the count, the indication of more than common impatience and +uneasiness might be observed in his manner. He stationed himself in a +room commanding a view of the street, pacing the chamber with restless +steps, stopping merely to listen from time to time for the sound of +approaching wheels, then to cast an anxious glance on Ali; but the +regularity with which the Nubian puffed forth the smoke of his chibouque +proved that he at least was wholly absorbed in the enjoyment of his +favorite occupation. Suddenly a distant sound of rapidly advancing +wheels was heard, and almost immediately a carriage appeared, drawn by +a pair of wild, ungovernable horses, while the terrified coachman strove +in vain to restrain their furious speed. + +In the vehicle was a young woman and a child of about seven or eight +clasped in each other's arms. Terror seemed to have deprived them even +of the power of uttering a cry. The carriage creaked and rattled as it +flew over the rough stones, and the slightest obstacle under the wheels +would have caused disaster; but it kept on in the middle of the road, +and those who saw it pass uttered cries of terror. + +Ali suddenly cast aside his chibouque, drew the lasso from his pocket, +threw it so skilfully as to catch the forelegs of the near horse in its +triple fold, and suffered himself to be dragged on for a few steps by +the violence of the shock, then the animal fell over on the pole, which +snapped, and therefore prevented the other horse from pursuing its way. +Gladly availing himself of this opportunity, the coachman leaped from +his box; but Ali had promptly seized the nostrils of the second horse, +and held them in his iron grasp, till the beast, snorting with pain, +sunk beside his companion. All this was achieved in much less time +than is occupied in the recital. The brief space had, however, been +sufficient for a man, followed by a number of servants, to rush from +the house before which the accident had occurred, and, as the coachman +opened the door of the carriage, to take from it a lady who was +convulsively grasping the cushions with one hand, while with the other +she pressed to her bosom the young boy, who had lost consciousness. + +Monte Cristo carried them both to the salon, and deposited them on a +sofa. "Compose yourself, madame," said he; "all danger is over." The +woman looked up at these words, and, with a glance far more expressive +than any entreaties could have been, pointed to her child, who still +continued insensible. "I understand the nature of your alarms, madame," +said the count, carefully examining the child, "but I assure you there +is not the slightest occasion for uneasiness; your little charge has not +received the least injury; his insensibility is merely the effects of +terror, and will soon pass." + +"Are you quite sure you do not say so to tranquillize my fears? See +how deadly pale he is! My child, my darling Edward; speak to your +mother--open your dear eyes and look on me once again! Oh, sir, in pity +send for a physician; my whole fortune shall not be thought too much for +the recovery of my boy." + +With a calm smile and a gentle wave of the hand, Monte Cristo signed to +the distracted mother to lay aside her apprehensions; then, opening +a casket that stood near, he drew forth a phial of Bohemian glass +incrusted with gold, containing a liquid of the color of blood, of which +he let fall a single drop on the child's lips. Scarcely had it reached +them, ere the boy, though still pale as marble, opened his eyes, and +eagerly gazed around him. At this, the delight of the mother was almost +frantic. "Where am I?" exclaimed she; "and to whom am I indebted for so +happy a termination to my late dreadful alarm?" + +"Madame," answered the count, "you are under the roof of one who esteems +himself most fortunate in having been able to save you from a further +continuance of your sufferings." + +"My wretched curiosity has brought all this about," pursued the lady. +"All Paris rung with the praises of Madame Danglars' beautiful horses, +and I had the folly to desire to know whether they really merited the +high praise given to them." + +"Is it possible," exclaimed the count with well-feigned astonishment, +"that these horses belong to the baroness?" + +"They do, indeed. May I inquire if you are acquainted with Madame +Danglars?" + +"I have that honor; and my happiness at your escape from the danger that +threatened you is redoubled by the consciousness that I have been +the unwilling and the unintentional cause of all the peril you have +incurred. I yesterday purchased these horses of the baron; but as the +baroness evidently regretted parting with them, I ventured to send them +back to her, with a request that she would gratify me by accepting them +from my hands." + +"You are, then, doubtless, the Count of Monte Cristo, of whom Hermine +has talked to me so much?" + +"You have rightly guessed, madame," replied the count. + +"And I am Madame Heloise de Villefort." The count bowed with the air of +a person who hears a name for the first time. "How grateful will M. de +Villefort be for all your goodness; how thankfully will he acknowledge +that to you alone he owes the existence of his wife and child! Most +certainly, but for the prompt assistance of your intrepid servant, this +dear child and myself must both have perished." + +"Indeed, I still shudder at the fearful danger you were placed in." + +"I trust you will allow me to recompense worthily the devotion of your +man." + +"I beseech you, madame," replied Monte Cristo "not to spoil Ali, either +by too great praise or rewards. I cannot allow him to acquire the habit +of expecting to be recompensed for every trifling service he may render. +Ali is my slave, and in saving your life he was but discharging his duty +to me." + +"Nay," interposed Madame de Villefort, on whom the authoritative style +adopted by the count made a deep impression, "nay, but consider that to +preserve my life he has risked his own." + +"His life, madame, belongs not to him; it is mine, in return for my +having myself saved him from death." Madame de Villefort made no further +reply; her mind was utterly absorbed in the contemplation of the +person who, from the first instant she saw him, had made so powerful +an impression on her. During the evident preoccupation of Madame de +Villefort, Monte Cristo scrutinized the features and appearance of +the boy she kept folded in her arms, lavishing on him the most tender +endearments. The child was small for his age, and unnaturally pale. A +mass of straight black hair, defying all attempts to train or curl +it, fell over his projecting forehead, and hung down to his shoulders, +giving increased vivacity to eyes already sparkling with a youthful love +of mischief and fondness for every forbidden enjoyment. His mouth +was large, and the lips, which had not yet regained their color, +were particularly thin; in fact, the deep and crafty look, giving a +predominant expression to the child's face, belonged rather to a boy of +twelve or fourteen than to one so young. His first movement was to free +himself by a violent push from the encircling arms of his mother, and to +rush forward to the casket from whence the count had taken the phial of +elixir; then, without asking permission of any one, he proceeded, in all +the wilfulness of a spoiled child unaccustomed to restrain either whims +or caprices, to pull the corks out of all the bottles. + +"Touch nothing, my little friend," cried the count eagerly; "some of +those liquids are not only dangerous to taste, but even to inhale." + +Madame de Villefort became very pale, and, seizing her son's arm, drew +him anxiously toward her; but, once satisfied of his safety, she also +cast a brief but expressive glance on the casket, which was not lost +upon the count. At this moment Ali entered. At sight of him Madame de +Villefort uttered an expression of pleasure, and, holding the child +still closer towards her, she said, "Edward, dearest, do you see that +good man? He has shown very great courage and resolution, for he exposed +his own life to stop the horses that were running away with us, and +would certainly have dashed the carriage to pieces. Thank him, then, +my child, in your very best manner; for, had he not come to our aid, +neither you nor I would have been alive to speak our thanks." The child +stuck out his lips and turned away his head in a disdainful manner, +saying, "He's too ugly." + +The count smiled as if the child bade fair to realize his hopes, while +Madame de Villefort reprimanded her son with a gentleness and moderation +very far from conveying the least idea of a fault having been committed. +"This lady," said the Count, speaking to Ali in the Arabic language, "is +desirous that her son should thank you for saving both their lives; but +the boy refuses, saying you are too ugly." Ali turned his intelligent +countenance towards the boy, on whom he gazed without any apparent +emotion; but the spasmodic working of the nostrils showed to the +practiced eye of Monte Cristo that the Arab had been wounded to the +heart. + +"Will you permit me to inquire," said Madame de Villefort, as she arose +to take her leave, "whether you usually reside here?" + +"No, I do not," replied Monte Cristo; "it is a small place I have +purchased quite lately. My place of abode is No. 30, Avenue des Champs +Elysees; but I see you have quite recovered from your fright, and are, +no doubt, desirous of returning home. Anticipating your wishes, I have +desired the same horses you came with to be put to one of my carriages, +and Ali, he whom you think so very ugly," continued he, addressing the +boy with a smiling air, "will have the honor of driving you home, while +your coachman remains here to attend to the necessary repairs of your +calash. As soon as that important business is concluded, I will have a +pair of my own horses harnessed to convey it direct to Madame Danglars." + +"I dare not return with those dreadful horses," said Madame de +Villefort. + +"You will see," replied Monte Cristo, "that they will be as different as +possible in the hands of Ali. With him they will be gentle and docile +as lambs." Ali had, indeed, given proof of this; for, approaching the +animals, who had been got upon their legs with considerable difficulty, +he rubbed their foreheads and nostrils with a sponge soaked in aromatic +vinegar, and wiped off the sweat and foam that covered their mouths. +Then, commencing a loud whistling noise, he rubbed them well all over +their bodies for several minutes; then, undisturbed by the noisy crowd +collected round the broken carriage, Ali quietly harnessed the pacified +animals to the count's chariot, took the reins in his hands, and mounted +the box, when to the utter astonishment of those who had witnessed +the ungovernable spirit and maddened speed of the same horses, he was +actually compelled to apply his whip in no very gentle manner before +he could induce them to start; and even then all that could be obtained +from the celebrated "dappled grays," now changed into a couple of dull, +sluggish, stupid brutes, was a slow, pottering pace, kept up with +so much difficulty that Madame de Villefort was more than two hours +returning to her residence in the Faubourg St. Honore. + +Scarcely had the first congratulations upon her marvellous escape been +gone through when she wrote the following letter to Madame Danglars:-- + +Dear Hermine,--I have just had a wonderful escape from the most imminent +danger, and I owe my safety to the very Count of Monte Cristo we were +talking about yesterday, but whom I little expected to see to-day. I +remember how unmercifully I laughed at what I considered your eulogistic +and exaggerated praises of him; but I have now ample cause to admit that +your enthusiastic description of this wonderful man fell far short of +his merits. Your horses got as far as Ranelagh, when they darted forward +like mad things, and galloped away at so fearful a rate, that there +seemed no other prospect for myself and my poor Edward but that of being +dashed to pieces against the first object that impeded their progress, +when a strange-looking man,--an Arab, a negro, or a Nubian, at least +a black of some nation or other--at a signal from the count, whose +domestic he is, suddenly seized and stopped the infuriated animals, even +at the risk of being trampled to death himself; and certainly he must +have had a most wonderful escape. The count then hastened to us, and +took us into his house, where he speedily recalled my poor Edward to +life. He sent us home in his own carriage. Yours will be returned to you +to-morrow. You will find your horses in bad condition, from the results +of this accident; they seem thoroughly stupefied, as if sulky and vexed +at having been conquered by man. The count, however, has commissioned +me to assure you that two or three days' rest, with plenty of barley for +their sole food during that time, will bring them back to as fine, that +is as terrifying, a condition as they were in yesterday. Adieu! I cannot +return you many thanks for the drive of yesterday; but, after all, +I ought not to blame you for the misconduct of your horses, more +especially as it procured me the pleasure of an introduction to the +Count of Monte Cristo,--and certainly that illustrious personage, apart +from the millions he is said to be so very anxious to dispose of, seemed +to me one of those curiously interesting problems I, for one, delight in +solving at any risk, even if it were to necessitate another drive to +the Bois behind your horses. Edward endured the accident with miraculous +courage--he did not utter a single cry, but fell lifeless into my arms; +nor did a tear fall from his eyes after it was over. I doubt not you +will consider these praises the result of blind maternal affection, but +there is a soul of iron in that delicate, fragile body. Valentine sends +many affectionate remembrances to your dear Eugenie. I embrace you with +all my heart. + +Heloise de Villefort. + +P.S.--Do pray contrive some means for me to meet the Count of Monte +Cristo at your house. I must and will see him again. I have just made +M. de Villefort promise to call on him, and I hope the visit will be +returned. + +That night the adventure at Auteuil was talked of everywhere. Albert +related it to his mother; Chateau-Renaud recounted it at the Jockey +Club, and Debray detailed it at length in the salons of the minister; +even Beauchamp accorded twenty lines in his journal to the relation +of the count's courage and gallantry, thereby celebrating him as the +greatest hero of the day in the eyes of all the feminine members of the +aristocracy. Vast was the crowd of visitors and inquiring friends who +left their names at the residence of Madame de Villefort, with the +design of renewing their visit at the right moment, of hearing from her +lips all the interesting circumstances of this most romantic adventure. +As for M. de Villefort, he fulfilled the predictions of Heloise to the +letter,--donned his dress suit, drew on a pair of white gloves, ordered +the servants to attend the carriage dressed in their full livery, and +drove that same night to No. 30 in the Avenue des Champs-Elysees. + + + +Chapter 48. Ideology. + +If the Count of Monte Cristo had been for a long time familiar with +the ways of Parisian society, he would have appreciated better the +significance of the step which M. de Villefort had taken. Standing well +at court, whether the king regnant was of the older or younger branch, +whether the government was doctrinaire liberal, or conservative; looked +upon by all as a man of talent, since those who have never experienced +a political check are generally so regarded; hated by many, but warmly +supported by others, without being really liked by anybody, M. de +Villefort held a high position in the magistracy, and maintained +his eminence like a Harlay or a Mole. His drawing-room, under the +regenerating influence of a young wife and a daughter by his first +marriage, scarcely eighteen, was still one of the well-regulated Paris +salons where the worship of traditional customs and the observance of +rigid etiquette were carefully maintained. A freezing politeness, +a strict fidelity to government principles, a profound contempt for +theories and theorists, a deep-seated hatred of ideality,--these were +the elements of private and public life displayed by M. de Villefort. + +He was not only a magistrate, he was almost a diplomatist. His relations +with the former court, of which he always spoke with dignity and +respect, made him respected by the new one, and he knew so many +things, that not only was he always carefully considered, but sometimes +consulted. Perhaps this would not have been so had it been possible to +get rid of M. de Villefort; but, like the feudal barons who rebelled +against their sovereign, he dwelt in an impregnable fortress. This +fortress was his post as king's attorney, all the advantages of which +he exploited with marvellous skill, and which he would not have resigned +but to be made deputy, and thus to replace neutrality by opposition. +Ordinarily M. de Villefort made and returned very few visits. His wife +visited for him, and this was the received thing in the world, where the +weighty and multifarious occupations of the magistrate were accepted as +an excuse for what was really only calculated pride, a manifestation of +professed superiority--in fact, the application of the axiom, "Pretend +to think well of yourself, and the world will think well of you," an +axiom a hundred times more useful in society nowadays than that of the +Greeks, "Know thyself," a knowledge for which, in our days, we have +substituted the less difficult and more advantageous science of knowing +others. + +To his friends M. de Villefort was a powerful protector; to his enemies, +he was a silent, but bitter opponent; for those who were neither the +one nor the other, he was a statue of the law-made man. He had a haughty +bearing, a look either steady and impenetrable or insolently piercing +and inquisitorial. Four successive revolutions had built and cemented +the pedestal upon which his fortune was based. M. de Villefort had the +reputation of being the least curious and the least wearisome man in +France. He gave a ball every year, at which he appeared for a quarter of +an hour only,--that is to say, five and forty minutes less than the king +is visible at his balls. He was never seen at the theatres, at concerts, +or in any place of public resort. Occasionally, but seldom, he played +at whist, and then care was taken to select partners worthy of +him--sometimes they were ambassadors, sometimes archbishops, or +sometimes a prince, or a president, or some dowager duchess. Such was +the man whose carriage had just now stopped before the Count of Monte +Cristo's door. The valet de chambre announced M. de Villefort at the +moment when the count, leaning over a large table, was tracing on a map +the route from St. Petersburg to China. + +The procureur entered with the same grave and measured step he would +have employed in entering a court of justice. He was the same man, or +rather the development of the same man, whom we have heretofore seen as +assistant attorney at Marseilles. Nature, according to her way, had +made no deviation in the path he had marked out for himself. From being +slender he had now become meagre; once pale, he was now yellow; his +deep-set eyes were hollow, and the gold spectacles shielding his eyes +seemed to be an integral portion of his face. He dressed entirely in +black, with the exception of his white tie, and his funeral appearance +was only mitigated by the slight line of red ribbon which passed almost +imperceptibly through his button-hole, and appeared like a streak of +blood traced with a delicate brush. Although master of himself, Monte +Cristo, scrutinized with irrepressible curiosity the magistrate whose +salute he returned, and who, distrustful by habit, and especially +incredulous as to social prodigies, was much more despised to look +upon "the noble stranger," as Monte Cristo was already called, as an +adventurer in search of new fields, or an escaped criminal, rather than +as a prince of the Holy See, or a sultan of the Thousand and One Nights. + +"Sir," said Villefort, in the squeaky tone assumed by magistrates in +their oratorical periods, and of which they cannot, or will not, divest +themselves in society, "sir, the signal service which you yesterday +rendered to my wife and son has made it a duty for me to offer you my +thanks. I have come, therefore, to discharge this duty, and to express +to you my overwhelming gratitude." And as he said this, the "eye severe" +of the magistrate had lost nothing of its habitual arrogance. He spoke +in a voice of the procureur-general, with the rigid inflexibility of +neck and shoulders which caused his flatterers to say (as we have before +observed) that he was the living statue of the law. + +"Monsieur," replied the count, with a chilling air, "I am very happy to +have been the means of preserving a son to his mother, for they say that +the sentiment of maternity is the most holy of all; and the good fortune +which occurred to me, monsieur, might have enabled you to dispense with +a duty which, in its discharge, confers an undoubtedly great honor; for +I am aware that M. de Villefort is not usually lavish of the favor which +he now bestows on me,--a favor which, however estimable, is unequal +to the satisfaction which I have in my own consciousness." Villefort, +astonished at this reply, which he by no means expected, started like a +soldier who feels the blow levelled at him over the armor he wears, and +a curl of his disdainful lip indicated that from that moment he noted in +the tablets of his brain that the Count of Monte Cristo was by no +means a highly bred gentleman. He glanced around, in order to seize +on something on which the conversation might turn, and seemed to fall +easily on a topic. He saw the map which Monte Cristo had been examining +when he entered, and said, "You seem geographically engaged, sir? It is +a rich study for you, who, as I learn, have seen as many lands as are +delineated on this map." + +"Yes, sir," replied the count; "I have sought to make of the human +race, taken in the mass, what you practice every day on individuals--a +physiological study. I have believed it was much easier to descend from +the whole to a part than to ascend from a part to the whole. It is +an algebraic axiom, which makes us proceed from a known to an unknown +quantity, and not from an unknown to a known; but sit down, sir, I beg +of you." + +Monte Cristo pointed to a chair, which the procureur was obliged to take +the trouble to move forwards himself, while the count merely fell back +into his own, on which he had been kneeling when M. Villefort entered. +Thus the count was halfway turned towards his visitor, having his back +towards the window, his elbow resting on the geographical chart which +furnished the theme of conversation for the moment,--a conversation +which assumed, as in the case of the interviews with Danglars and +Morcerf, a turn analogous to the persons, if not to the situation. "Ah, +you philosophize," replied Villefort, after a moment's silence, during +which, like a wrestler who encounters a powerful opponent, he took +breath; "well, sir, really, if, like you, I had nothing else to do, I +should seek a more amusing occupation." + +"Why, in truth, sir," was Monte Cristo's reply, "man is but an ugly +caterpillar for him who studies him through a solar microscope; but you +said, I think, that I had nothing else to do. Now, really, let me ask, +sir, have you?--do you believe you have anything to do? or to speak in +plain terms, do you really think that what you do deserves being called +anything?" + +Villefort's astonishment redoubled at this second thrust so forcibly +made by his strange adversary. It was a long time since the magistrate +had heard a paradox so strong, or rather, to say the truth more exactly, +it was the first time he had ever heard of it. The procureur exerted +himself to reply. "Sir," he responded, "you are a stranger, and I +believe you say yourself that a portion of your life has been spent +in Oriental countries, so you are not aware how human justice, so +expeditious in barbarous countries, takes with us a prudent and +well-studied course." + +"Oh, yes--yes, I do, sir; it is the pede claudo of the ancients. I know +all that, for it is with the justice of all countries especially that I +have occupied myself--it is with the criminal procedure of all nations +that I have compared natural justice, and I must say, sir, that it is +the law of primitive nations, that is, the law of retaliation, that I +have most frequently found to be according to the law of God." + +"If this law were adopted, sir," said the procureur, "it would greatly +simplify our legal codes, and in that case the magistrates would not (as +you just observed) have much to do." + +"It may, perhaps, come to this in time," observed Monte Cristo; "you +know that human inventions march from the complex to the simple, and +simplicity is always perfection." + +"In the meanwhile," continued the magistrate, "our codes are in full +force, with all their contradictory enactments derived from Gallic +customs, Roman laws, and Frank usages; the knowledge of all which, +you will agree, is not to be acquired without extended labor; it needs +tedious study to acquire this knowledge, and, when acquired, a strong +power of brain to retain it." + +"I agree with you entirely, sir; but all that even you know with respect +to the French code, I know, not only in reference to that code, but as +regards the codes of all nations. The English, Turkish, Japanese, Hindu +laws, are as familiar to me as the French laws, and thus I was right, +when I said to you, that relatively (you know that everything is +relative, sir)--that relatively to what I have done, you have very +little to do; but that relatively to all I have learned, you have yet a +great deal to learn." + +"But with what motive have you learned all this?" inquired Villefort, +in astonishment. Monte Cristo smiled. "Really, sir," he observed, "I see +that in spite of the reputation which you have acquired as a superior +man, you look at everything from the material and vulgar view of +society, beginning with man, and ending with man--that is to say, in +the most restricted, most narrow view which it is possible for human +understanding to embrace." + +"Pray, sir, explain yourself," said Villefort, more and more astonished, +"I really do--not--understand you--perfectly." + +"I say, sir, that with the eyes fixed on the social organization of +nations, you see only the springs of the machine, and lose sight of +the sublime workman who makes them act; I say that you do not recognize +before you and around you any but those office-holders whose commissions +have been signed by a minister or king; and that the men whom God has +put above those office-holders, ministers, and kings, by giving them a +mission to follow out, instead of a post to fill--I say that they +escape your narrow, limited field of observation. It is thus that human +weakness fails, from its debilitated and imperfect organs. Tobias took +the angel who restored him to light for an ordinary young man. The +nations took Attila, who was doomed to destroy them, for a conqueror +similar to other conquerors, and it was necessary for both to reveal +their missions, that they might be known and acknowledged; one was +compelled to say, 'I am the angel of the Lord'; and the other, 'I am +the hammer of God,' in order that the divine essence in both might be +revealed." + +"Then," said Villefort, more and more amazed, and really supposing he +was speaking to a mystic or a madman, "you consider yourself as one of +those extraordinary beings whom you have mentioned?" + +"And why not?" said Monte Cristo coldly. + +"Your pardon, sir," replied Villefort, quite astounded, "but you will +excuse me if, when I presented myself to you, I was unaware that I +should meet with a person whose knowledge and understanding so far +surpass the usual knowledge and understanding of men. It is not usual +with us corrupted wretches of civilization to find gentlemen like +yourself, possessors, as you are, of immense fortune--at least, so it +is said--and I beg you to observe that I do not inquire, I merely +repeat;--it is not usual, I say, for such privileged and wealthy +beings to waste their time in speculations on the state of society, in +philosophical reveries, intended at best to console those whom fate has +disinherited from the goods of this world." + +"Really, sir," retorted the count, "have you attained the eminent +situation in which you are, without having admitted, or even without +having met with exceptions? and do you never use your eyes, which must +have acquired so much finesse and certainty, to divine, at a glance, the +kind of man by whom you are confronted? Should not a magistrate be not +merely the best administrator of the law, but the most crafty expounder +of the chicanery of his profession, a steel probe to search hearts, a +touchstone to try the gold which in each soul is mingled with more or +less of alloy?" + +"Sir," said Villefort, "upon my word, you overcome me. I really never +heard a person speak as you do." + +"Because you remain eternally encircled in a round of general +conditions, and have never dared to raise your wings into those upper +spheres which God has peopled with invisible or exceptional beings." + +"And you allow then, sir, that spheres exist, and that these marked and +invisible beings mingle amongst us?" + +"Why should they not? Can you see the air you breathe, and yet without +which you could not for a moment exist?" + +"Then we do not see those beings to whom you allude?" + +"Yes, we do; you see them whenever God pleases to allow them to assume a +material form. You touch them, come in contact with them, speak to them, +and they reply to you." + +"Ah," said Villefort, smiling, "I confess I should like to be warned +when one of these beings is in contact with me." + +"You have been served as you desire, monsieur, for you were warned just +now, and I now again warn you." + +"Then you yourself are one of these marked beings?" + +"Yes, monsieur, I believe so; for until now, no man has found himself in +a position similar to mine. The dominions of kings are limited either +by mountains or rivers, or a change of manners, or an alteration of +language. My kingdom is bounded only by the world, for I am not an +Italian, or a Frenchman, or a Hindu, or an American, or a Spaniard--I am +a cosmopolite. No country can say it saw my birth. God alone knows what +country will see me die. I adopt all customs, speak all languages. You +believe me to be a Frenchman, for I speak French with the same facility +and purity as yourself. Well, Ali, my Nubian, believes me to be an Arab; +Bertuccio, my steward, takes me for a Roman; Haidee, my slave, thinks +me a Greek. You may, therefore, comprehend, that being of no country, +asking no protection from any government, acknowledging no man as +my brother, not one of the scruples that arrest the powerful, or the +obstacles which paralyze the weak, paralyzes or arrests me. I have only +two adversaries--I will not say two conquerors, for with perseverance I +subdue even them,--they are time and distance. There is a third, and the +most terrible--that is my condition as a mortal being. This alone can +stop me in my onward career, before I have attained the goal at which +I aim, for all the rest I have reduced to mathematical terms. What men +call the chances of fate--namely, ruin, change, circumstances--I have +fully anticipated, and if any of these should overtake me, yet it +will not overwhelm me. Unless I die, I shall always be what I am, and +therefore it is that I utter the things you have never heard, even from +the mouths of kings--for kings have need, and other persons have fear +of you. For who is there who does not say to himself, in a society as +incongruously organized as ours, 'Perhaps some day I shall have to do +with the king's attorney'?" + +"But can you not say that, sir? The moment you become an inhabitant of +France, you are naturally subjected to the French law." + +"I know it sir," replied Monte Cristo; "but when I visit a country I +begin to study, by all the means which are available, the men from whom +I may have anything to hope or to fear, till I know them as well as, +perhaps better than, they know themselves. It follows from this, that +the king's attorney, be he who he may, with whom I should have to deal, +would assuredly be more embarrassed than I should." + +"That is to say," replied Villefort with hesitation, "that human nature +being weak, every man, according to your creed, has committed faults." + +"Faults or crimes," responded Monte Cristo with a negligent air. + +"And that you alone, amongst the men whom you do not recognize as your +brothers--for you have said so," observed Villefort in a tone that +faltered somewhat--"you alone are perfect." + +"No, not perfect," was the count's reply; "only impenetrable, that's +all. But let us leave off this strain, sir, if the tone of it is +displeasing to you; I am no more disturbed by your justice than are you +by my second-sight." + +"No, no,--by no means," said Villefort, who was afraid of seeming +to abandon his ground. "No; by your brilliant and almost sublime +conversation you have elevated me above the ordinary level; we no longer +talk, we rise to dissertation. But you know how the theologians in their +collegiate chairs, and philosophers in their controversies, occasionally +say cruel truths; let us suppose for the moment that we are theologizing +in a social way, or even philosophically, and I will say to you, rude +as it may seem, 'My brother, you sacrifice greatly to pride; you may be +above others, but above you there is God.'" + +"Above us all, sir," was Monte Cristo's response, in a tone and with +an emphasis so deep that Villefort involuntarily shuddered. "I have my +pride for men--serpents always ready to threaten every one who would +pass without crushing them under foot. But I lay aside that pride before +God, who has taken me from nothing to make me what I am." + +"Then, count, I admire you," said Villefort, who, for the first time +in this strange conversation, used the aristocratic form to the unknown +personage, whom, until now, he had only called monsieur. "Yes, and I +say to you, if you are really strong, really superior, really pious, +or impenetrable, which you were right in saying amounts to the +same thing--then be proud, sir, for that is the characteristic of +predominance. Yet you have unquestionably some ambition." + +"I have, sir." + +"And what may it be?" + +"I too, as happens to every man once in his life, have been taken by +Satan into the highest mountain in the earth, and when there he showed +me all the kingdoms of the world, and as he said before, so said he to +me, 'Child of earth, what wouldst thou have to make thee adore me?' I +reflected long, for a gnawing ambition had long preyed upon me, and then +I replied, 'Listen,--I have always heard of providence, and yet I have +never seen him, or anything that resembles him, or which can make me +believe that he exists. I wish to be providence myself, for I feel that +the most beautiful, noblest, most sublime thing in the world, is +to recompense and punish.' Satan bowed his head, and groaned. 'You +mistake,' he said, 'providence does exist, only you have never seen him, +because the child of God is as invisible as the parent. You have seen +nothing that resembles him, because he works by secret springs, and +moves by hidden ways. All I can do for you is to make you one of the +agents of that providence.' The bargain was concluded. I may sacrifice +my soul, but what matters it?" added Monte Cristo. "If the thing were +to do again, I would again do it." Villefort looked at Monte Cristo with +extreme amazement. "Count," he inquired, "have you any relations?" + +"No, sir, I am alone in the world." + +"So much the worse." + +"Why?" asked Monte Cristo. + +"Because then you might witness a spectacle calculated to break down +your pride. You say you fear nothing but death?" + +"I did not say that I feared it; I only said that death alone could +check the execution of my plans." + +"And old age?" + +"My end will be achieved before I grow old." + +"And madness?" + +"I have been nearly mad; and you know the axiom,--non bis in idem. It +is an axiom of criminal law, and, consequently, you understand its full +application." + +"Sir," continued Villefort, "there is something to fear besides +death, old age, and madness. For instance, there is apoplexy--that +lightning-stroke which strikes but does not destroy you, and yet which +brings everything to an end. You are still yourself as now, and yet you +are yourself no longer; you who, like Ariel, verge on the angelic, are +but an inert mass, which, like Caliban, verges on the brutal; and this +is called in human tongues, as I tell you, neither more nor less than +apoplexy. Come, if so you will, count, and continue this conversation +at my house, any day you may be willing to see an adversary capable of +understanding and anxious to refute you, and I will show you my father, +M. Noirtier de Villefort, one of the most fiery Jacobins of the French +Revolution; that is to say, he had the most remarkable audacity, +seconded by a most powerful organization--a man who has not, perhaps, +like yourself seen all the kingdoms of the earth, but who has helped to +overturn one of the greatest; in fact, a man who believed himself, +like you, one of the envoys, not of God, but of a supreme being; not of +providence, but of fate. Well, sir, the rupture of a blood-vessel on the +lobe of the brain has destroyed all this, not in a day, not in an hour, +but in a second. M. Noirtier, who, on the previous night, was the old +Jacobin, the old senator, the old Carbonaro, laughing at the guillotine, +the cannon, and the dagger--M. Noirtier, playing with revolutions--M. +Noirtier, for whom France was a vast chess-board, from which pawns, +rooks, knights, and queens were to disappear, so that the king was +checkmated--M. Noirtier, the redoubtable, was the next morning 'poor M. +Noirtier,' the helpless old man, at the tender mercies of the weakest +creature in the household, that is, his grandchild, Valentine; a dumb +and frozen carcass, in fact, living painlessly on, that time may be +given for his frame to decompose without his consciousness of its +decay." + +"Alas, sir," said Monte Cristo "this spectacle is neither strange to +my eye nor my thought. I am something of a physician, and have, like +my fellows, sought more than once for the soul in living and in dead +matter; yet, like providence, it has remained invisible to my eyes, +although present to my heart. A hundred writers since Socrates, Seneca, +St. Augustine, and Gall, have made, in verse and prose, the comparison +you have made, and yet I can well understand that a father's sufferings +may effect great changes in the mind of a son. I will call on you, +sir, since you bid me contemplate, for the advantage of my pride, this +terrible spectacle, which must have been so great a source of sorrow to +your family." + +"It would have been so unquestionably, had not God given me so large a +compensation. In contrast with the old man, who is dragging his way +to the tomb, are two children just entering into life--Valentine, +the daughter by my first wife--Mademoiselle Renee de Saint-Meran--and +Edward, the boy whose life you have this day saved." + +"And what is your deduction from this compensation, sir?" inquired Monte +Cristo. + +"My deduction is," replied Villefort, "that my father, led away by his +passions, has committed some fault unknown to human justice, but marked +by the justice of God. That God, desirous in his mercy to punish but +one person, has visited this justice on him alone." Monte Cristo with a +smile on his lips, uttered in the depths of his soul a groan which would +have made Villefort fly had he but heard it. "Adieu, sir," said the +magistrate, who had risen from his seat; "I leave you, bearing a +remembrance of you--a remembrance of esteem, which I hope will not be +disagreeable to you when you know me better; for I am not a man to bore +my friends, as you will learn. Besides, you have made an eternal friend +of Madame de Villefort." The count bowed, and contented himself with +seeing Villefort to the door of his cabinet, the procureur being +escorted to his carriage by two footmen, who, on a signal from their +master, followed him with every mark of attention. When he had gone, +Monte Cristo breathed a profound sigh, and said,--"Enough of this +poison, let me now seek the antidote." Then sounding his bell, he said +to Ali, who entered, "I am going to madam's chamber--have the carriage +ready at one o'clock." + + + +Chapter 49. Haidee. + +It will be recollected that the new, or rather old, acquaintances of the +Count of Monte Cristo, residing in the Rue Meslay, were no other than +Maximilian, Julie, and Emmanuel. The very anticipations of delight to +be enjoyed in his forthcoming visits--the bright, pure gleam of heavenly +happiness it diffused over the almost deadly warfare in which he had +voluntarily engaged, illumined his whole countenance with a look of +ineffable joy and calmness, as, immediately after Villefort's departure, +his thoughts flew back to the cheering prospect before him, of tasting, +at least, a brief respite from the fierce and stormy passions of his +mind. Even Ali, who had hastened to obey the Count's summons, went forth +from his master's presence in charmed amazement at the unusual animation +and pleasure depicted on features ordinarily so stern and cold; while, +as though dreading to put to flight the agreeable ideas hovering over +his patron's meditations, whatever they were, the faithful Nubian walked +on tiptoe towards the door, holding his breath, lest its faintest sound +should dissipate his master's happy reverie. + +It was noon, and Monte Cristo had set apart one hour to be passed in the +apartments of Haidee, as though his oppressed spirit could not all at +once admit the feeling of pure and unmixed joy, but required a gradual +succession of calm and gentle emotions to prepare his mind to receive +full and perfect happiness, in the same manner as ordinary natures +demand to be inured by degrees to the reception of strong or violent +sensations. The young Greek, as we have already said, occupied +apartments wholly unconnected with those of the count. The rooms had +been fitted up in strict accordance with Oriental ideas; the floors were +covered with the richest carpets Turkey could produce; the walls hung +with brocaded silk of the most magnificent designs and texture; while +around each chamber luxurious divans were placed, with piles of soft and +yielding cushions, that needed only to be arranged at the pleasure or +convenience of such as sought repose. Haidee had three French maids, +and one who was a Greek. The first three remained constantly in a small +waiting-room, ready to obey the summons of a small golden bell, or to +receive the orders of the Romaic slave, who knew just enough French +to be able to transmit her mistress's wishes to the three other +waiting-women; the latter had received most peremptory instructions from +Monte Cristo to treat Haidee with all the deference they would observe +to a queen. + +The young girl herself generally passed her time in the chamber at the +farther end of her apartments. This was a sort of boudoir, circular, +and lighted only from the roof, which consisted of rose-colored glass. +Haidee was reclining upon soft downy cushions, covered with blue satin +spotted with silver; her head, supported by one of her exquisitely +moulded arms, rested on the divan immediately behind her, while the +other was employed in adjusting to her lips the coral tube of a rich +narghile, through whose flexible pipe she drew the smoke fragrant by its +passage through perfumed water. Her attitude, though perfectly natural +for an Eastern woman would, in a European, have been deemed too full +of coquettish straining after effect. Her dress, which was that of +the women of Epirus, consisted of a pair of white satin trousers, +embroidered with pink roses, displaying feet so exquisitely formed and +so delicately fair, that they might well have been taken for Parian +marble, had not the eye been undeceived by their movements as they +constantly shifted in and out of a pair of little slippers with upturned +toes, beautifully ornamented with gold and pearls. She wore a blue and +white-striped vest, with long open sleeves, trimmed with silver loops +and buttons of pearls, and a sort of bodice, which, closing only from +the centre to the waist, exhibited the whole of the ivory throat and +upper part of the bosom; it was fastened with three magnificent diamond +clasps. The junction of the bodice and drawers was entirely concealed +by one of the many-colored scarfs, whose brilliant hues and rich silken +fringe have rendered them so precious in the eyes of Parisian belles. +Tilted on one side of her head she had a small cap of gold-colored silk, +embroidered with pearls; while on the other a purple rose mingled its +glowing colors with the luxuriant masses of her hair, of which the +blackness was so intense that it was tinged with blue. The extreme +beauty of the countenance, that shone forth in loveliness that mocked +the vain attempts of dress to augment it, was peculiarly and purely +Grecian; there were the large, dark, melting eyes, the finely formed +nose, the coral lips, and pearly teeth, that belonged to her race and +country. And, to complete the whole, Haidee was in the very springtide +and fulness of youthful charms--she had not yet numbered more than +twenty summers. + +Monte Cristo summoned the Greek attendant, and bade her inquire whether +it would be agreeable to her mistress to receive his visit. Haidee's +only reply was to direct her servant by a sign to withdraw the +tapestried curtain that hung before the door of her boudoir, the +framework of the opening thus made serving as a sort of border to the +graceful tableau presented by the young girl's picturesque attitude and +appearance. As Monte Cristo approached, she leaned upon the elbow of the +arm that held the narghile, and extending to him her other hand, said, +with a smile of captivating sweetness, in the sonorous language spoken +by the women of Athens and Sparta, "Why demand permission ere you enter? +Are you no longer my master, or have I ceased to be your slave?" Monte +Cristo returned her smile. "Haidee," said he, "you well know." + +"Why do you address me so coldly--so distantly?" asked the young Greek. +"Have I by any means displeased you? Oh, if so, punish me as you +will; but do not--do not speak to me in tones and manner so formal and +constrained." + +"Haidee," replied the count, "you know that you are now in France, and +are free." + +"Free to do what?" asked the young girl. + +"Free to leave me." + +"Leave you? Why should I leave you?" + +"That is not for me to say; but we are now about to mix in society--to +visit and be visited." + +"I don't wish to see anybody but you." + +"And should you see one whom you could prefer, I would not be so +unjust"-- + +"I have never seen any one I preferred to you, and I have never loved +any one but you and my father." + +"My poor child," replied Monte Cristo, "that is merely because your +father and myself are the only men who have ever talked to you." + +"I don't want anybody else to talk to me. My father said I was his +'joy'--you style me your 'love,'--and both of you have called me 'my +child.'" + +"Do you remember your father, Haidee?" The young Greek smiled. "He is +here, and here," said she, touching her eyes and her heart. "And where +am I?" inquired Monte Cristo laughingly. + +"You?" cried she, with tones of thrilling tenderness, "you are +everywhere!" Monte Cristo took the delicate hand of the young girl in +his, and was about to raise it to his lips, when the simple child +of nature hastily withdrew it, and presented her cheek. "You now +understand, Haidee," said the count, "that from this moment you are +absolutely free; that here you exercise unlimited sway, and are at +liberty to lay aside or continue the costume of your country, as it may +suit your inclination. Within this mansion you are absolute mistress of +your actions, and may go abroad or remain in your apartments as may seem +most agreeable to you. A carriage waits your orders, and Ali and Myrtho +will accompany you whithersoever you desire to go. There is but one +favor I would entreat of you." + +"Speak." + +"Guard carefully the secret of your birth. Make no allusion to the +past; nor upon any occasion be induced to pronounce the names of your +illustrious father or ill-fated mother." + +"I have already told you, my lord, that I shall see no one." + +"It is possible, Haidee, that so perfect a seclusion, though conformable +with the habits and customs of the East, may not be practicable in +Paris. Endeavor, then, to accustom yourself to our manner of living in +these northern climes as you did to those of Rome, Florence, Milan, and +Madrid; it may be useful to you one of these days, whether you remain +here or return to the East." The young girl raised her tearful eyes +towards Monte Cristo as she said with touching earnestness, "Whether we +return to the East, you mean to say, my lord, do you not?" + +"My child," returned Monte Cristo "you know full well that whenever we +part, it will be no fault or wish of mine; the tree forsakes not the +flower--the flower falls from the tree." + +"My lord," replied Haidee, "I never will leave you, for I am sure I +could not exist without you." + +"My poor girl, in ten years I shall be old, and you will be still +young." + +"My father had a long white beard, but I loved him; he was sixty years +old, but to me he was handsomer than all the fine youths I saw." + +"Then tell me, Haidee, do you believe you shall be able to accustom +yourself to our present mode of life?" + +"Shall I see you?" + +"Every day." + +"Then what do you fear, my lord?" + +"You might find it dull." + +"No, my lord. In the morning, I shall rejoice in the prospect of your +coming, and in the evening dwell with delight on the happiness I have +enjoyed in your presence; then too, when alone, I can call forth mighty +pictures of the past, see vast horizons bounded only by the towering +mountains of Pindus and Olympus. Oh, believe me, that when three great +passions, such as sorrow, love, and gratitude fill the heart, ennui can +find no place." + +"You are a worthy daughter of Epirus, Haidee, and your charming and +poetical ideas prove well your descent from that race of goddesses who +claim your country as their birthplace. Depend on my care to see +that your youth is not blighted, or suffered to pass away in ungenial +solitude; and of this be well assured, that if you love me as a father, +I love you as a child." + +"You are wrong, my lord. The love I have for you is very different from +the love I had for my father. My father died, but I did not die. If +you were to die, I should die too." The Count, with a smile of profound +tenderness, extended his hand, and she carried it to her lips. Monte +Cristo, thus attuned to the interview he proposed to hold with Morrel +and his family, departed, murmuring as he went these lines of Pindar, +"Youth is a flower of which love is the fruit; happy is he who, after +having watched its silent growth, is permitted to gather and call it +his own." The carriage was prepared according to orders, and stepping +lightly into it, the count drove off at his usual rapid pace. + + + +Chapter 50. The Morrel Family. + +In a very few minutes the count reached No. 7 in the Rue Meslay. The +house was of white stone, and in a small court before it were two small +beds full of beautiful flowers. In the concierge that opened the gate +the count recognized Cocles; but as he had but one eye, and that eye +had become somewhat dim in the course of nine years, Cocles did not +recognize the count. The carriages that drove up to the door were +compelled to turn, to avoid a fountain that played in a basin of +rockwork,--an ornament that had excited the jealousy of the whole +quarter, and had gained for the place the appellation of "The Little +Versailles." It is needless to add that there were gold and silver fish +in the basin. The house, with kitchens and cellars below, had above +the ground-floor, two stories and attics. The whole of the property, +consisting of an immense workshop, two pavilions at the bottom of the +garden, and the garden itself, had been purchased by Emmanuel, who had +seen at a glance that he could make of it a profitable speculation. He +had reserved the house and half the garden, and building a wall between +the garden and the workshops, had let them upon lease with the pavilions +at the bottom of the garden. So that for a trifling sum he was as well +lodged, and as perfectly shut out from observation, as the inhabitants +of the finest mansion in the Faubourg St. Germain. The breakfast-room +was finished in oak; the salon in mahogany, and the furnishings were of +blue velvet; the bedroom was in citronwood and green damask. There was +a study for Emmanuel, who never studied, and a music-room for Julie, +who never played. The whole of the second story was set apart for +Maximilian; it was precisely similar to his sister's apartments, except +that for the breakfast-parlor he had a billiard-room, where he received +his friends. He was superintending the grooming of his horse, and +smoking his cigar at the entrance of the garden, when the count's +carriage stopped at the gate. + +Cocles opened the gate, and Baptistin, springing from the box, inquired +whether Monsieur and Madame Herbault and Monsieur Maximilian Morrel +would see his excellency the Count of Monte Cristo. "The Count of Monte +Cristo?" cried Morrel, throwing away his cigar and hastening to the +carriage; "I should think we would see him. Ah, a thousand thanks, +count, for not having forgotten your promise." And the young officer +shook the count's hand so warmly, that Monte Cristo could not be +mistaken as to the sincerity of his joy, and he saw that he had been +expected with impatience, and was received with pleasure. "Come, come," +said Maximilian, "I will serve as your guide; such a man as you are +ought not to be introduced by a servant. My sister is in the garden +plucking the dead roses; my brother is reading his two papers, the +Presse and the Debats, within six steps of her; for wherever you see +Madame Herbault, you have only to look within a circle of four yards +and you will find M. Emmanuel, and 'reciprocally,' as they say at the +Polytechnic School." At the sound of their steps a young woman of twenty +to five and twenty, dressed in a silk morning gown, and busily engaged +in plucking the dead leaves off a noisette rose-tree, raised her head. +This was Julie, who had become, as the clerk of the house of Thomson +& French had predicted, Madame Emmanuel Herbault. She uttered a cry +of surprise at the sight of a stranger, and Maximilian began to laugh. +"Don't disturb yourself, Julie," said he. "The count has only been two +or three days in Paris, but he already knows what a fashionable woman of +the Marais is, and if he does not, you will show him." + +"Ah, monsieur," returned Julie, "it is treason in my brother to bring +you thus, but he never has any regard for his poor sister. Penelon, +Penelon!" An old man, who was digging busily at one of the beds, stuck +his spade in the earth, and approached, cap in hand, striving to conceal +a quid of tobacco he had just thrust into his cheek. A few locks of +gray mingled with his hair, which was still thick and matted, while his +bronzed features and determined glance well suited an old sailor who had +braved the heat of the equator and the storms of the tropics. "I think +you hailed me, Mademoiselle Julie?" said he. Penelon had still preserved +the habit of calling his master's daughter "Mademoiselle Julie," and +had never been able to change the name to Madame Herbault. "Penelon," +replied Julie, "go and inform M. Emmanuel of this gentleman's visit, +and Maximilian will conduct him to the salon." Then, turning to Monte +Cristo,--"I hope you will permit me to leave you for a few minutes," +continued she; and without awaiting any reply, disappeared behind a +clump of trees, and escaped to the house by a lateral alley. + +"I am sorry to see," observed Monte Cristo to Morrel, "that I cause no +small disturbance in your house." + +"Look there," said Maximilian, laughing; "there is her husband changing +his jacket for a coat. I assure you, you are well known in the Rue +Meslay." + +"Your family appears to be a very happy one," said the count, as if +speaking to himself. + +"Oh, yes, I assure you, count, they want nothing that can render them +happy; they are young and cheerful, they are tenderly attached to each +other, and with twenty-five thousand francs a year they fancy themselves +as rich as Rothschild." + +"Five and twenty thousand francs is not a large sum, however," +replied Monte Cristo, with a tone so sweet and gentle, that it went to +Maximilian's heart like the voice of a father; "but they will not be +content with that. Your brother-in-law is a barrister? a doctor?" + +"He was a merchant, monsieur, and had succeeded to the business of my +poor father. M. Morrel, at his death, left 500,000 francs, which were +divided between my sister and myself, for we were his only children. Her +husband, who, when he married her, had no other patrimony than his noble +probity, his first-rate ability, and his spotless reputation, wished to +possess as much as his wife. He labored and toiled until he had amassed +250,000 francs; six years sufficed to achieve this object. Oh, I assure +you, sir, it was a touching spectacle to see these young creatures, +destined by their talents for higher stations, toiling together, and +through their unwillingness to change any of the customs of their +paternal house, taking six years to accomplish what less scrupulous +people would have effected in two or three. Marseilles resounded with +their well-earned praises. At last, one day, Emmanuel came to his wife, +who had just finished making up the accounts. 'Julie,' said he to her, +'Cocles has just given me the last rouleau of a hundred francs; that +completes the 250,000 francs we had fixed as the limits of our gains. +Can you content yourself with the small fortune which we shall possess +for the future? Listen to me. Our house transacts business to the amount +of a million a year, from which we derive an income of 40,000 francs. +We can dispose of the business, if we please, in an hour, for I have +received a letter from M. Delaunay, in which he offers to purchase +the good-will of the house, to unite with his own, for 300,000 francs. +Advise me what I had better do.'--'Emmanuel,' returned my sister, 'the +house of Morrel can only be carried on by a Morrel. Is it not worth +300,000 francs to save our father's name from the chances of evil +fortune and failure?'--'I thought so,' replied Emmanuel; 'but I wished +to have your advice.'--'This is my counsel:--Our accounts are made up +and our bills paid; all we have to do is to stop the issue of any more, +and close our office.' This was done instantly. It was three o'clock; at +a quarter past, a merchant presented himself to insure two ships; it was +a clear profit of 15,000. francs. 'Monsieur,' said Emmanuel, 'have +the goodness to address yourself to M. Delaunay. We have quitted +business.'--'How long?' inquired the astonished merchant. 'A quarter of +an hour,' was the reply. And this is the reason, monsieur," continued +Maximilian, "of my sister and brother-in-law having only 25,000 francs a +year." + +Maximilian had scarcely finished his story, during which the count's +heart had swelled within him, when Emmanuel entered wearing a hat and +coat. He saluted the count with the air of a man who is aware of the +rank of his guest; then, after having led Monte Cristo around the little +garden, he returned to the house. A large vase of Japan porcelain, +filled with flowers that loaded the air with their perfume, stood in +the salon. Julie, suitably dressed, and her hair arranged (she had +accomplished this feat in less than ten minutes), received the count on +his entrance. The songs of the birds were heard in an aviary hard by, +and the branches of laburnums and rose acacias formed an exquisite +framework to the blue velvet curtains. Everything in this charming +retreat, from the warble of the birds to the smile of the mistress, +breathed tranquillity and repose. The count had felt the influence of +this happiness from the moment he entered the house, and he remained +silent and pensive, forgetting that he was expected to renew the +conversation, which had ceased after the first salutations had been +exchanged. The silence became almost painful when, by a violent effort, +tearing himself from his pleasing reverie--"Madame," said he at length, +"I pray you to excuse my emotion, which must astonish you who are only +accustomed to the happiness I meet here; but contentment is so new a +sight to me, that I could never be weary of looking at yourself and your +husband." + +"We are very happy, monsieur," replied Julie; "but we have also known +unhappiness, and few have ever undergone more bitter sufferings than +ourselves." The Count's features displayed an expression of the most +intense curiosity. + +"Oh, all this is a family history, as Chateau-Renaud told you the other +day," observed Maximilian. "This humble picture would have but little +interest for you, accustomed as you are to behold the pleasures and the +misfortunes of the wealthy and industrious; but such as we are, we have +experienced bitter sorrows." + +"And God has poured balm into your wounds, as he does into those of all +who are in affliction?" said Monte Cristo inquiringly. + +"Yes, count," returned Julie, "we may indeed say he has, for he has done +for us what he grants only to his chosen; he sent us one of his angels." +The count's cheeks became scarlet, and he coughed, in order to have an +excuse for putting his handkerchief to his mouth. "Those born to wealth, +and who have the means of gratifying every wish," said Emmanuel, "know +not what is the real happiness of life, just as those who have been +tossed on the stormy waters of the ocean on a few frail planks can alone +realize the blessings of fair weather." + +Monte Cristo rose, and without making any answer (for the tremulousness +of his voice would have betrayed his emotion) walked up and down the +apartment with a slow step. + +"Our magnificence makes you smile, count," said Maximilian, who had +followed him with his eyes. "No, no," returned Monte Cristo, pale as +death, pressing one hand on his heart to still its throbbings, while +with the other he pointed to a crystal cover, beneath which a silken +purse lay on a black velvet cushion. "I was wondering what could be +the significance of this purse, with the paper at one end and the large +diamond at the other." + +"Count," replied Maximilian, with an air of gravity, "those are our most +precious family treasures." + +"The stone seems very brilliant," answered the count. + +"Oh, my brother does not allude to its value, although it has been +estimated at 100,000 francs; he means, that the articles contained in +this purse are the relics of the angel I spoke of just now." + +"This I do not comprehend; and yet I may not ask for an explanation, +madame," replied Monte Cristo bowing. "Pardon me, I had no intention of +committing an indiscretion." + +"Indiscretion,--oh, you make us happy by giving us an excuse for +expatiating on this subject. If we wanted to conceal the noble action +this purse commemorates, we should not expose it thus to view. Oh, would +we could relate it everywhere, and to every one, so that the emotion of +our unknown benefactor might reveal his presence." + +"Ah, really," said Monte Cristo in a half-stifled voice. + +"Monsieur," returned Maximilian, raising the glass cover, and +respectfully kissing the silken purse, "this has touched the hand of a +man who saved my father from suicide, us from ruin, and our name from +shame and disgrace,--a man by whose matchless benevolence we poor +children, doomed to want and wretchedness, can at present hear every +one envying our happy lot. This letter" (as he spoke, Maximilian drew +a letter from the purse and gave it to the count)--"this letter was +written by him the day that my father had taken a desperate resolution, +and this diamond was given by the generous unknown to my sister as +her dowry." Monte Cristo opened the letter, and read it with an +indescribable feeling of delight. It was the letter written (as our +readers know) to Julie, and signed "Sinbad the Sailor." "Unknown you +say, is the man who rendered you this service--unknown to you?" + +"Yes; we have never had the happiness of pressing his hand," continued +Maximilian. "We have supplicated heaven in vain to grant us this +favor, but the whole affair has had a mysterious meaning that we +cannot comprehend--we have been guided by an invisible hand,--a hand as +powerful as that of an enchanter." + +"Oh," cried Julie, "I have not lost all hope of some day kissing that +hand, as I now kiss the purse which he has touched. Four years ago, +Penelon was at Trieste--Penelon, count, is the old sailor you saw in the +garden, and who, from quartermaster, has become gardener--Penelon, when +he was at Trieste, saw on the quay an Englishman, who was on the point +of embarking on board a yacht, and he recognized him as the person +who called on my father the fifth of June, 1829, and who wrote me this +letter on the fifth of September. He felt convinced of his identity, but +he did not venture to address him." + +"An Englishman," said Monte Cristo, who grew uneasy at the attention +with which Julie looked at him. "An Englishman you say?" + +"Yes," replied Maximilian, "an Englishman, who represented himself as +the confidential clerk of the house of Thomson & French, at Rome. It was +this that made me start when you said the other day, at M. de Morcerf's, +that Messrs. Thomson & French were your bankers. That happened, as +I told you, in 1829. For God's sake, tell me, did you know this +Englishman?" + +"But you tell me, also, that the house of Thomson & French have +constantly denied having rendered you this service?" + +"Yes." + +"Then is it not probable that this Englishman may be some one who, +grateful for a kindness your father had shown him, and which he himself +had forgotten, has taken this method of requiting the obligation?" + +"Everything is possible in this affair, even a miracle." + +"What was his name?" asked Monte Cristo. + +"He gave no other name," answered Julie, looking earnestly at the count, +"than that at the end of his letter--'Sinbad the Sailor.'" + +"Which is evidently not his real name, but a fictitious one." + +Then, noticing that Julie was struck with the sound of his voice,-- + +"Tell me," continued he, "was he not about my height, perhaps a little +taller, with his chin imprisoned, as it were, in a high cravat; his coat +closely buttoned up, and constantly taking out his pencil?" + +"Oh, do you then know him?" cried Julie, whose eyes sparkled with joy. + +"No," returned Monte Cristo "I only guessed. I knew a Lord Wilmore, who +was constantly doing actions of this kind." + +"Without revealing himself?" + +"He was an eccentric being, and did not believe in the existence of +gratitude." + +"Oh, heaven," exclaimed Julie, clasping her hands, "in what did he +believe, then?" + +"He did not credit it at the period which I knew him," said Monte +Cristo, touched to the heart by the accents of Julie's voice; "but, +perhaps, since then he has had proofs that gratitude does exist." + +"And do you know this gentleman, monsieur?" inquired Emmanuel. + +"Oh, if you do know him," cried Julie, "can you tell us where he +is--where we can find him? Maximilian--Emmanuel--if we do but discover +him, he must believe in the gratitude of the heart!" Monte Cristo felt +tears start into his eyes, and he again walked hastily up and down the +room. + +"In the name of heaven," said Maximilian, "if you know anything of him, +tell us what it is." + +"Alas," cried Monte Cristo, striving to repress his emotion, "if Lord +Wilmore was your unknown benefactor, I fear you will never see him +again. I parted from him two years ago at Palermo, and he was then on +the point of setting out for the most remote regions; so that I fear he +will never return." + +"Oh, monsieur, this is cruel of you," said Julie, much affected; and the +young lady's eyes swam with tears. + +"Madame," replied Monte Cristo gravely, and gazing earnestly on the two +liquid pearls that trickled down Julie's cheeks, "had Lord Wilmore seen +what I now see, he would become attached to life, for the tears you shed +would reconcile him to mankind;" and he held out his hand to Julie, who +gave him hers, carried away by the look and accent of the count. "But," +continued she, "Lord Wilmore had a family or friends, he must have known +some one, can we not--" + +"Oh, it is useless to inquire," returned the count; "perhaps, after all, +he was not the man you seek for. He was my friend: he had no secrets +from me, and if this had been so he would have confided in me." + +"And he told you nothing?" + +"Not a word." + +"Nothing that would lead you to suppose?" + +"Nothing." + +"And yet you spoke of him at once." + +"Ah, in such a case one supposes"-- + +"Sister, sister," said Maximilian, coming to the count's aid, "monsieur +is quite right. Recollect what our excellent father so often told us, +'It was no Englishman that thus saved us.'" Monte Cristo started. "What +did your father tell you, M. Morrel?" said he eagerly. + +"My father thought that this action had been miraculously performed--he +believed that a benefactor had arisen from the grave to save us. Oh, +it was a touching superstition, monsieur, and although I did not myself +believe it, I would not for the world have destroyed my father's faith. +How often did he muse over it and pronounce the name of a dear friend--a +friend lost to him forever; and on his death-bed, when the near approach +of eternity seemed to have illumined his mind with supernatural +light, this thought, which had until then been but a doubt, became +a conviction, and his last words were, 'Maximilian, it was Edmond +Dantes!'" At these words the count's paleness, which had for some time +been increasing, became alarming; he could not speak; he looked at his +watch like a man who has forgotten the hour, said a few hurried words +to Madame Herbault, and pressing the hands of Emmanuel and +Maximilian,--"Madame," said he, "I trust you will allow me to visit you +occasionally; I value your friendship, and feel grateful to you for +your welcome, for this is the first time for many years that I have thus +yielded to my feelings;" and he hastily quitted the apartment. + +"This Count of Monte Cristo is a strange man," said Emmanuel. + +"Yes," answered Maximilian, "but I feel sure he has an excellent heart, +and that he likes us." + +"His voice went to my heart," observed Julie; "and two or three times I +fancied that I had heard it before." + + + +Chapter 51. Pyramus and Thisbe. + +About two-thirds of the way along the Faubourg Saint-Honore, and in the +rear of one of the most imposing mansions in this rich neighborhood, +where the various houses vie with each other for elegance of design +and magnificence of construction, extended a large garden, where the +wide-spreading chestnut-trees raised their heads high above the walls in +a solid rampart, and with the coming of every spring scattered a shower +of delicate pink and white blossoms into the large stone vases that +stood upon the two square pilasters of a curiously wrought iron gate, +that dated from the time of Louis XII. This noble entrance, however, +in spite of its striking appearance and the graceful effect of the +geraniums planted in the two vases, as they waved their variegated +leaves in the wind and charmed the eye with their scarlet bloom, had +fallen into utter disuse. The proprietors of the mansion had many years +before thought it best to confine themselves to the possession of the +house itself, with its thickly planted court-yard, opening into the +Faubourg Saint-Honore, and to the garden shut in by this gate, which +formerly communicated with a fine kitchen-garden of about an acre. For +the demon of speculation drew a line, or in other words projected a +street, at the farther side of the kitchen-garden. The street was +laid out, a name was chosen and posted up on an iron plate, but before +construction was begun, it occurred to the possessor of the property +that a handsome sum might be obtained for the ground then devoted +to fruits and vegetables, by building along the line of the proposed +street, and so making it a branch of communication with the Faubourg +Saint-Honore itself, one of the most important thoroughfares in the city +of Paris. + +In matters of speculation, however, though "man proposes," "money +disposes." From some such difficulty the newly named street died almost +in birth, and the purchaser of the kitchen-garden, having paid a high +price for it, and being quite unable to find any one willing to take his +bargain off his hands without a considerable loss, yet still clinging +to the belief that at some future day he should obtain a sum for it that +would repay him, not only for his past outlay, but also the interest +upon the capital locked up in his new acquisition, contented himself +with letting the ground temporarily to some market-gardeners, at a +yearly rental of 500 francs. And so, as we have said, the iron gate +leading into the kitchen-garden had been closed up and left to the rust, +which bade fair before long to eat off its hinges, while to prevent the +ignoble glances of the diggers and delvers of the ground from presuming +to sully the aristocratic enclosure belonging to the mansion, the gate +had been boarded up to a height of six feet. True, the planks were not +so closely adjusted but that a hasty peep might be obtained through +their interstices; but the strict decorum and rigid propriety of the +inhabitants of the house left no grounds for apprehending that advantage +would be taken of that circumstance. + +Horticulture seemed, however, to have been abandoned in the deserted +kitchen-garden; and where cabbages, carrots, radishes, pease, and melons +had once flourished, a scanty crop of lucerne alone bore evidence of its +being deemed worthy of cultivation. A small, low door gave egress from +the walled space we have been describing into the projected street, the +ground having been abandoned as unproductive by its various renters, and +had now fallen so completely in general estimation as to return not +even the one-half per cent it had originally paid. Towards the house +the chestnut-trees we have before mentioned rose high above the wall, +without in any way affecting the growth of other luxuriant shrubs and +flowers that eagerly dressed forward to fill up the vacant spaces, as +though asserting their right to enjoy the boon of light and air. At one +corner, where the foliage became so thick as almost to shut out day, a +large stone bench and sundry rustic seats indicated that this sheltered +spot was either in general favor or particular use by some inhabitant +of the house, which was faintly discernible through the dense mass of +verdure that partially concealed it, though situated but a hundred paces +off. + +Whoever had selected this retired portion of the grounds as the boundary +of a walk, or as a place for meditation, was abundantly justified in +the choice by the absence of all glare, the cool, refreshing shade, the +screen it afforded from the scorching rays of the sun, that found no +entrance there even during the burning days of hottest summer, the +incessant and melodious warbling of birds, and the entire removal from +either the noise of the street or the bustle of the mansion. On the +evening of one of the warmest days spring had yet bestowed on the +inhabitants of Paris, might be seen negligently thrown upon the stone +bench, a book, a parasol, and a work-basket, from which hung a partly +embroidered cambric handkerchief, while at a little distance from these +articles was a young woman, standing close to the iron gate, endeavoring +to discern something on the other side by means of the openings in the +planks,--the earnestness of her attitude and the fixed gaze with which +she seemed to seek the object of her wishes, proving how much her +feelings were interested in the matter. At that instant the little +side-gate leading from the waste ground to the street was noiselessly +opened, and a tall, powerful young man appeared. He was dressed in a +common gray blouse and velvet cap, but his carefully arranged hair, +beard and mustache, all of the richest and glossiest black, ill accorded +with his plebeian attire. After casting a rapid glance around him, in +order to assure himself that he was unobserved, he entered by the small +gate, and, carefully closing and securing it after him, proceeded with a +hurried step towards the barrier. + +At the sight of him she expected, though probably not in such a costume, +the young woman started in terror, and was about to make a hasty +retreat. But the eye of love had already seen, even through the narrow +chinks of the wooden palisades, the movement of the white robe, and +observed the fluttering of the blue sash. Pressing his lips close to the +planks, he exclaimed, "Don't be alarmed, Valentine--it is I!" Again the +timid girl found courage to return to the gate, saying, as she did so, +"And why do you come so late to-day? It is almost dinner-time, and I had +to use no little diplomacy to get rid of my watchful mother-in-law, my +too-devoted maid, and my troublesome brother, who is always teasing me +about coming to work at my embroidery, which I am in a fair way never to +get done. So pray excuse yourself as well as you can for having made me +wait, and, after that, tell me why I see you in a dress so singular that +at first I did not recognize you." + +"Dearest Valentine," said the young man, "the difference between our +respective stations makes me fear to offend you by speaking of my love, +but yet I cannot find myself in your presence without longing to pour +forth my soul, and tell you how fondly I adore you. If it be but to +carry away with me the recollection of such sweet moments, I could even +thank you for chiding me, for it leaves me a gleam of hope, that if +you did not expect me (and that indeed would be worse than vanity to +suppose), at least I was in your thoughts. You asked me the cause of my +being late, and why I come disguised. I will candidly explain the reason +of both, and I trust to your goodness to pardon me. I have chosen a +trade." + +"A trade? Oh, Maximilian, how can you jest at a time when we have such +deep cause for uneasiness?" + +"Heaven keep me from jesting with that which is far dearer to me than +life itself! But listen to me, Valentine, and I will tell you all about +it. I became weary of ranging fields and scaling walls, and seriously +alarmed at the idea suggested by you, that if caught hovering about here +your father would very likely have me sent to prison as a thief. That +would compromise the honor of the French army, to say nothing of the +fact that the continual presence of a captain of Spahis in a place +where no warlike projects could be supposed to account for it might well +create surprise; so I have become a gardener, and, consequently, adopted +the costume of my calling." + +"What excessive nonsense you talk, Maximilian!" + +"Nonsense? Pray do not call what I consider the wisest action of my life +by such a name. Consider, by becoming a gardener I effectually screen +our meetings from all suspicion or danger." + +"I beseech of you, Maximilian, to cease trifling, and tell me what you +really mean." + +"Simply, that having ascertained that the piece of ground on which I +stand was to let, I made application for it, was readily accepted by +the proprietor, and am now master of this fine crop of lucerne. Think +of that, Valentine! There is nothing now to prevent my building myself +a little hut on my plantation, and residing not twenty yards from you. +Only imagine what happiness that would afford me. I can scarcely contain +myself at the bare idea. Such felicity seems above all price--as a thing +impossible and unattainable. But would you believe that I purchase all +this delight, joy, and happiness, for which I would cheerfully have +surrendered ten years of my life, at the small cost of 500 francs per +annum, paid quarterly? Henceforth we have nothing to fear. I am on my +own ground, and have an undoubted right to place a ladder against the +wall, and to look over when I please, without having any apprehensions +of being taken off by the police as a suspicious character. I may also +enjoy the precious privilege of assuring you of my fond, faithful, and +unalterable affection, whenever you visit your favorite bower, unless, +indeed, it offends your pride to listen to professions of love from the +lips of a poor workingman, clad in a blouse and cap." A faint cry of +mingled pleasure and surprise escaped from the lips of Valentine, who +almost instantly said, in a saddened tone, as though some envious cloud +darkened the joy which illumined her heart, "Alas, no, Maximilian, this +must not be, for many reasons. We should presume too much on our +own strength, and, like others, perhaps, be led astray by our blind +confidence in each other's prudence." + +"How can you for an instant entertain so unworthy a thought, dear +Valentine? Have I not, from the first blessed hour of our acquaintance, +schooled all my words and actions to your sentiments and ideas? And you +have, I am sure, the fullest confidence in my honor. When you spoke +to me of experiencing a vague and indefinite sense of coming danger, +I placed myself blindly and devotedly at your service, asking no other +reward than the pleasure of being useful to you; and have I ever since, +by word or look, given you cause of regret for having selected me from +the numbers that would willingly have sacrificed their lives for you? +You told me, my dear Valentine, that you were engaged to M. d'Epinay, +and that your father was resolved upon completing the match, and that +from his will there was no appeal, as M. de Villefort was never known +to change a determination once formed. I kept in the background, as you +wished, and waited, not for the decision of your heart or my own, but +hoping that providence would graciously interpose in our behalf, and +order events in our favor. But what cared I for delays or difficulties, +Valentine, as long as you confessed that you loved me, and took pity +on me? If you will only repeat that avowal now and then, I can endure +anything." + +"Ah, Maximilian, that is the very thing that makes you so bold, and +which renders me at once so happy and unhappy, that I frequently +ask myself whether it is better for me to endure the harshness of my +mother-in-law, and her blind preference for her own child, or to be, +as I now am, insensible to any pleasure save such as I find in these +meetings, so fraught with danger to both." + +"I will not admit that word," returned the young man; "it is at once +cruel and unjust. Is it possible to find a more submissive slave than +myself? You have permitted me to converse with you from time to +time, Valentine, but forbidden my ever following you in your walks or +elsewhere--have I not obeyed? And since I found means to enter this +enclosure to exchange a few words with you through this gate--to be +close to you without really seeing you--have I ever asked so much as to +touch the hem of your gown or tried to pass this barrier which is but +a trifle to one of my youth and strength? Never has a complaint or a +murmur escaped me. I have been bound by my promises as rigidly as any +knight of olden times. Come, come, dearest Valentine, confess that what +I say is true, lest I be tempted to call you unjust." + +"It is true," said Valentine, as she passed the end of her slender +fingers through a small opening in the planks, and permitted Maximilian +to press his lips to them, "and you are a true and faithful friend; but +still you acted from motives of self-interest, my dear Maximilian, +for you well knew that from the moment in which you had manifested an +opposite spirit all would have been ended between us. You promised to +bestow on me the friendly affection of a brother. For I have no friend +but yourself upon earth, who am neglected and forgotten by my father, +harassed and persecuted by my mother-in-law, and left to the sole +companionship of a paralyzed and speechless old man, whose withered hand +can no longer press mine, and who can speak to me with the eye alone, +although there still lingers in his heart the warmest tenderness for +his poor grandchild. Oh, how bitter a fate is mine, to serve either as +a victim or an enemy to all who are stronger than myself, while my only +friend and supporter is a living corpse! Indeed, indeed, Maximilian, I +am very miserable, and if you love me it must be out of pity." + +"Valentine," replied the young man, deeply affected, "I will not say +you are all I love in the world, for I dearly prize my sister and +brother-in-law; but my affection for them is calm and tranquil, in no +manner resembling what I feel for you. When I think of you my heart +beats fast, the blood burns in my veins, and I can hardly breathe; but +I solemnly promise you to restrain all this ardor, this fervor and +intensity of feeling, until you yourself shall require me to render +them available in serving or assisting you. M. Franz is not expected to +return home for a year to come, I am told; in that time many favorable +and unforeseen chances may befriend us. Let us, then, hope for the best; +hope is so sweet a comforter. Meanwhile, Valentine, while reproaching me +with selfishness, think a little what you have been to me--the beautiful +but cold resemblance of a marble Venus. What promise of future +reward have you made me for all the submission and obedience I have +evinced?--none whatever. What granted me?--scarcely more. You tell me of +M. Franz d'Epinay, your betrothed lover, and you shrink from the idea of +being his wife; but tell me, Valentine, is there no other sorrow in your +heart? You see me devoted to you, body and soul, my life and each warm +drop that circles round my heart are consecrated to your service; you +know full well that my existence is bound up in yours--that were I to +lose you I would not outlive the hour of such crushing misery; yet you +speak with calmness of the prospect of your being the wife of another! +Oh, Valentine, were I in your place, and did I feel conscious, as you +do, of being worshipped, adored, with such a love as mine, a hundred +times at least should I have passed my hand between these iron bars, and +said, 'Take this hand, dearest Maximilian, and believe that, living +or dead, I am yours--yours only, and forever!'" The poor girl made no +reply, but her lover could plainly hear her sobs and tears. A rapid +change took place in the young man's feelings. "Dearest, dearest +Valentine," exclaimed he, "forgive me if I have offended you, and forget +the words I spoke if they have unwittingly caused you pain." + +"No, Maximilian, I am not offended," answered she, "but do you not see +what a poor, helpless being I am, almost a stranger and an outcast in +my father's house, where even he is seldom seen; whose will has been +thwarted, and spirits broken, from the age of ten years, beneath the +iron rod so sternly held over me; oppressed, mortified, and persecuted, +day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, no person has cared for, +even observed my sufferings, nor have I ever breathed one word on the +subject save to yourself. Outwardly and in the eyes of the world, I am +surrounded by kindness and affection; but the reverse is the case. The +general remark is, 'Oh, it cannot be expected that one of so stern a +character as M. Villefort could lavish the tenderness some fathers do +on their daughters. What though she has lost her own mother at a tender +age, she has had the happiness to find a second mother in Madame de +Villefort.' The world, however, is mistaken; my father abandons me from +utter indifference, while my mother-in-law detests me with a hatred so +much the more terrible because it is veiled beneath a continual smile." + +"Hate you, sweet Valentine," exclaimed the young man; "how is it +possible for any one to do that?" + +"Alas," replied the weeping girl, "I am obliged to own that my +mother-in-law's aversion to me arises from a very natural source--her +overweening love for her own child, my brother Edward." + +"But why should it?" + +"I do not know; but, though unwilling to introduce money matters into +our present conversation, I will just say this much--that her extreme +dislike to me has its origin there; and I much fear she envies me the +fortune I enjoy in right of my mother, and which will be more than +doubled at the death of M. and Mme. de Saint-Meran, whose sole heiress +I am. Madame de Villefort has nothing of her own, and hates me for being +so richly endowed. Alas, how gladly would I exchange the half of this +wealth for the happiness of at least sharing my father's love. God +knows, I would prefer sacrificing the whole, so that it would obtain me +a happy and affectionate home." + +"Poor Valentine!" + +"I seem to myself as though living a life of bondage, yet at the +same time am so conscious of my own weakness that I fear to break the +restraint in which I am held, lest I fall utterly helpless. Then, too, +my father is not a person whose orders may be infringed with impunity; +protected as he is by his high position and firmly established +reputation for talent and unswerving integrity, no one could oppose him; +he is all-powerful even with the king; he would crush you at a word. +Dear Maximilian, believe me when I assure you that if I do not attempt +to resist my father's commands it is more on your account than my own." + +"But why, Valentine, do you persist in anticipating the worst,--why +picture so gloomy a future?" + +"Because I judge it from the past." + +"Still, consider that although I may not be, strictly speaking, what +is termed an illustrious match for you, I am, for many reasons, +not altogether so much beneath your alliance. The days when such +distinctions were so nicely weighed and considered no longer exist in +France, and the first families of the monarchy have intermarried with +those of the empire. The aristocracy of the lance has allied itself with +the nobility of the cannon. Now I belong to this last-named class; and +certainly my prospects of military preferment are most encouraging as +well as certain. My fortune, though small, is free and unfettered, and +the memory of my late father is respected in our country, Valentine, as +that of the most upright and honorable merchant of the city; I say our +country, because you were born not far from Marseilles." + +"Don't speak of Marseilles, I beg of you, Maximilian; that one word +brings back my mother to my recollection--my angel mother, who died too +soon for myself and all who knew her; but who, after watching over her +child during the brief period allotted to her in this world, now, I +fondly hope, watches from her home in heaven. Oh, if my mother were +still living, there would be nothing to fear, Maximilian, for I would +tell her that I loved you, and she would protect us." + +"I fear, Valentine," replied the lover, "that were she living I should +never have had the happiness of knowing you; you would then have been +too happy to have stooped from your grandeur to bestow a thought on me." + +"Now it is you who are unjust, Maximilian," cried Valentine; "but there +is one thing I wish to know." + +"And what is that?" inquired the young man, perceiving that Valentine +hesitated. + +"Tell me truly, Maximilian, whether in former days, when our fathers +dwelt at Marseilles, there was ever any misunderstanding between them?" + +"Not that I am aware of," replied the young man, "unless, indeed, any +ill-feeling might have arisen from their being of opposite parties--your +father was, as you know, a zealous partisan of the Bourbons, while mine +was wholly devoted to the emperor; there could not possibly be any other +difference between them. But why do you ask?" + +"I will tell you," replied the young girl, "for it is but right you +should know. Well, on the day when your appointment as an officer of the +Legion of honor was announced in the papers, we were all sitting with my +grandfather, M. Noirtier; M. Danglars was there also--you recollect M. +Danglars, do you not, Maximilian, the banker, whose horses ran away with +my mother-in-law and little brother, and very nearly killed them? While +the rest of the company were discussing the approaching marriage of +Mademoiselle Danglars, I was reading the paper to my grandfather; but +when I came to the paragraph about you, although I had done nothing else +but read it over to myself all the morning (you know you had told me all +about it the previous evening), I felt so happy, and yet so nervous, at +the idea of speaking your name aloud, and before so many people, that +I really think I should have passed it over, but for the fear that my +doing so might create suspicions as to the cause of my silence; so I +summoned up all my courage, and read it as firmly and as steadily as I +could." + +"Dear Valentine!" + +"Well, would you believe it? directly my father caught the sound of your +name he turned round quite hastily, and, like a poor silly thing, I was +so persuaded that every one must be as much affected as myself by the +utterance of your name, that I was not surprised to see my father start, +and almost tremble; but I even thought (though that surely must have +been a mistake) that M. Danglars trembled too." + +"'Morrel, Morrel,' cried my father, 'stop a bit;' then knitting his +brows into a deep frown, he added, 'surely this cannot be one of the +Morrel family who lived at Marseilles, and gave us so much trouble from +their violent Bonapartism--I mean about the year 1815.'--'Yes,' replied +M. Danglars, 'I believe he is the son of the old shipowner.'" + +"Indeed," answered Maximilian; "and what did your father say then, +Valentine?" + +"Oh, such a dreadful thing, that I don't dare to tell you." + +"Always tell me everything," said Maximilian with a smile. + +"'Ah,' continued my father, still frowning, 'their idolized emperor +treated these madmen as they deserved; he called them 'food for powder,' +which was precisely all they were good for; and I am delighted to see +that the present government have adopted this salutary principle with +all its pristine vigor; if Algiers were good for nothing but to furnish +the means of carrying so admirable an idea into practice, it would be +an acquisition well worthy of struggling to obtain. Though it certainly +does cost France somewhat dear to assert her rights in that uncivilized +country.'" + +"Brutal politics, I must confess." said Maximilian; "but don't attach +any serious importance, dear, to what your father said. My father was +not a bit behind yours in that sort of talk. 'Why,' said he, 'does +not the emperor, who has devised so many clever and efficient modes of +improving the art of war, organize a regiment of lawyers, judges and +legal practitioners, sending them in the hottest fire the enemy could +maintain, and using them to save better men?' You see, my dear, that +for picturesque expression and generosity of spirit there is not much +to choose between the language of either party. But what did M. Danglars +say to this outburst on the part of the procureur?" + +"Oh, he laughed, and in that singular manner so peculiar to +himself--half-malicious, half-ferocious; he almost immediately got up +and took his leave; then, for the first time, I observed the agitation +of my grandfather, and I must tell you, Maximilian, that I am the only +person capable of discerning emotion in his paralyzed frame. And I +suspected that the conversation that had been carried on in his presence +(for they always say and do what they like before the dear old man, +without the smallest regard for his feelings) had made a strong +impression on his mind; for, naturally enough, it must have pained him +to hear the emperor he so devotedly loved and served spoken of in that +depreciating manner." + +"The name of M. Noirtier," interposed Maximilian, "is celebrated +throughout Europe; he was a statesman of high standing, and you may +or may not know, Valentine, that he took a leading part in every +Bonapartist conspiracy set on foot during the restoration of the +Bourbons." + +"Oh, I have often heard whispers of things that seem to me most +strange--the father a Bonapartist, the son a Royalist; what can have +been the reason of so singular a difference in parties and politics? +But to resume my story; I turned towards my grandfather, as though to +question him as to the cause of his emotion; he looked expressively +at the newspaper I had been reading. 'What is the matter, dear +grandfather?' said I, 'are you pleased?' He gave me a sign in the +affirmative. 'With what my father said just now?' He returned a sign in +the negative. 'Perhaps you liked what M. Danglars said?' Another sign in +the negative. 'Oh, then, you were glad to hear that M. Morrel (I didn't +dare to say Maximilian) had been made an officer of the Legion of +Honor?' He signified assent; only think of the poor old man's being so +pleased to think that you, who were a perfect stranger to him, had been +made an officer of the Legion of Honor! Perhaps it was a mere whim on +his part, for he is falling, they say, into second childhood, but I love +him for showing so much interest in you." + +"How singular," murmured Maximilian; "your father hates me, while your +grandfather, on the contrary--What strange feelings are aroused by +politics." + +"Hush," cried Valentine, suddenly; "some one is coming!" Maximilian +leaped at one bound into his crop of lucerne, which he began to pull up +in the most ruthless way, under the pretext of being occupied in weeding +it. + +"Mademoiselle, mademoiselle!" exclaimed a voice from behind the trees. +"Madame is searching for you everywhere; there is a visitor in the +drawing-room." + +"A visitor?" inquired Valentine, much agitated; "who is it?" + +"Some grand personage--a prince I believe they said--the Count of Monte +Cristo." + +"I will come directly," cried Valentine aloud. The name of Monte Cristo +sent an electric shock through the young man on the other side of the +iron gate, to whom Valentine's "I am coming" was the customary signal +of farewell. "Now, then," said Maximilian, leaning on the handle of his +spade, "I would give a good deal to know how it comes about that the +Count of Monte Cristo is acquainted with M. de Villefort." + + + +Chapter 52. Toxicology. + +It was really the Count of Monte Cristo who had just arrived at Madame +de Villefort's for the purpose of returning the procureur's visit, +and at his name, as may be easily imagined, the whole house was in +confusion. Madame de Villefort, who was alone in her drawing-room when +the count was announced, desired that her son might be brought thither +instantly to renew his thanks to the count; and Edward, who heard this +great personage talked of for two whole days, made all possible haste to +come to him, not from obedience to his mother, or out of any feeling of +gratitude to the count, but from sheer curiosity, and that some chance +remark might give him the opportunity for making one of the impertinent +speeches which made his mother say,--"Oh, that naughty child! But I +can't be severe with him, he is really so bright." + +After the usual civilities, the count inquired after M. de Villefort. +"My husband dines with the chancellor," replied the young lady; "he has +just gone, and I am sure he'll be exceedingly sorry not to have had the +pleasure of seeing you before he went." Two visitors who were there +when the count arrived, having gazed at him with all their eyes, retired +after that reasonable delay which politeness admits and curiosity +requires. "What is your sister Valentine doing?" inquired Madame de +Villefort of Edward; "tell some one to bid her come here, that I may +have the honor of introducing her to the count." + +"You have a daughter, then, madame?" inquired the count; "very young, I +presume?" + +"The daughter of M. de Villefort by his first marriage," replied the +young wife, "a fine well-grown girl." + +"But melancholy," interrupted Master Edward, snatching the feathers out +of the tail of a splendid parroquet that was screaming on its gilded +perch, in order to make a plume for his hat. Madame de Villefort merely +cried,--"Be still, Edward!" She then added,--"This young madcap is, +however, very nearly right, and merely re-echoes what he has heard me +say with pain a hundred times; for Mademoiselle de Villefort is, in +spite of all we can do to rouse her, of a melancholy disposition and +taciturn habit, which frequently injure the effect of her beauty. But +what detains her? Go, Edward, and see." + +"Because they are looking for her where she is not to be found." + +"And where are they looking for her?" + +"With grandpapa Noirtier." + +"And do you think she is not there?" + +"No, no, no, no, no, she is not there," replied Edward, singing his +words. + +"And where is she, then? If you know, why don't you tell?" + +"She is under the big chestnut-tree," replied the spoiled brat, as he +gave, in spite of his mother's commands, live flies to the parrot, which +seemed keenly to relish such fare. Madame de Villefort stretched out her +hand to ring, intending to direct her waiting-maid to the spot where she +would find Valentine, when the young lady herself entered the +apartment. She appeared much dejected; and any person who considered her +attentively might have observed the traces of recent tears in her eyes. + +Valentine, whom we have in the rapid march of our narrative presented +to our readers without formally introducing her, was a tall and graceful +girl of nineteen, with bright chestnut hair, deep blue eyes, and that +reposeful air of quiet distinction which characterized her mother. +Her white and slender fingers, her pearly neck, her cheeks tinted with +varying hues reminded one of the lovely Englishwomen who have been so +poetically compared in their manner to the gracefulness of a swan. She +entered the apartment, and seeing near her stepmother the stranger of +whom she had already heard so much, saluted him without any girlish +awkwardness, or even lowering her eyes, and with an elegance that +redoubled the count's attention. He rose to return the salutation. +"Mademoiselle de Villefort, my daughter-in-law," said Madame de +Villefort to Monte Cristo, leaning back on her sofa and motioning +towards Valentine with her hand. "And M. de Monte Cristo, King of China, +Emperor of Cochin-China," said the young imp, looking slyly towards his +sister. + +Madame de Villefort at this really did turn pale, and was very nearly +angry with this household plague, who answered to the name of Edward; +but the count, on the contrary, smiled, and appeared to look at the boy +complacently, which caused the maternal heart to bound again with joy +and enthusiasm. + +"But, madame," replied the count, continuing the conversation, and +looking by turns at Madame de Villefort and Valentine, "have I not +already had the honor of meeting yourself and mademoiselle before? I +could not help thinking so just now; the idea came over my mind, and +as mademoiselle entered the sight of her was an additional ray of light +thrown on a confused remembrance; excuse the remark." + +"I do not think it likely, sir; Mademoiselle de Villefort is not very +fond of society, and we very seldom go out," said the young lady. + +"Then it was not in society that I met with mademoiselle or yourself, +madame, or this charming little merry boy. Besides, the Parisian world +is entirely unknown to me, for, as I believe I told you, I have been in +Paris but very few days. No,--but, perhaps, you will permit me to call +to mind--stay!" The Count placed his hand on his brow as if to collect +his thoughts. "No--it was somewhere--away from here--it was--I do not +know--but it appears that this recollection is connected with a lovely +sky and some religious fete; mademoiselle was holding flowers in her +hand, the interesting boy was chasing a beautiful peacock in a garden, +and you, madame, were under the trellis of some arbor. Pray come to my +aid, madame; do not these circumstances appeal to your memory?" + +"No, indeed," replied Madame de Villefort; "and yet it appears to me, +sir, that if I had met you anywhere, the recollection of you must have +been imprinted on my memory." + +"Perhaps the count saw us in Italy," said Valentine timidly. + +"Yes, in Italy; it was in Italy most probably," replied Monte Cristo; +"you have travelled then in Italy, mademoiselle?" + +"Yes; madame and I were there two years ago. The doctors, anxious for +my lungs, had prescribed the air of Naples. We went by Bologna, Perugia, +and Rome." + +"Ah, yes--true, mademoiselle," exclaimed Monte Cristo as if this simple +explanation was sufficient to revive the recollection he sought. "It was +at Perugia on Corpus Christi Day, in the garden of the Hotel des Postes, +when chance brought us together; you, Madame de Villefort, and her son; +I now remember having had the honor of meeting you." + +"I perfectly well remember Perugia, sir, and the Hotel des Postes, and +the festival of which you speak," said Madame de Villefort, "but in vain +do I tax my memory, of whose treachery I am ashamed, for I really do not +recall to mind that I ever had the pleasure of seeing you before." + +"It is strange, but neither do I recollect meeting with you," observed +Valentine, raising her beautiful eyes to the count. + +"But I remember it perfectly," interposed the darling Edward. + +"I will assist your memory, madame," continued the count; "the day had +been burning hot; you were waiting for horses, which were delayed in +consequence of the festival. Mademoiselle was walking in the shade of +the garden, and your son disappeared in pursuit of the peacock." + +"And I caught it, mamma, don't you remember?" interposed Edward, "and I +pulled three such beautiful feathers out of his tail." + +"You, madame, remained under the arbor; do you not remember, that while +you were seated on a stone bench, and while, as I told you, Mademoiselle +de Villefort and your young son were absent, you conversed for a +considerable time with somebody?" + +"Yes, in truth, yes," answered the young lady, turning very red, "I do +remember conversing with a person wrapped in a long woollen mantle; he +was a medical man, I think." + +"Precisely so, madame; this man was myself; for a fortnight I had been +at that hotel, during which period I had cured my valet de chambre of +a fever, and my landlord of the jaundice, so that I really acquired a +reputation as a skilful physician. We discoursed a long time, madame, on +different subjects; of Perugino, of Raffaelle, of manners, customs, of +the famous aquatofana, of which they had told you, I think you said, +that certain individuals in Perugia had preserved the secret." + +"Yes, true," replied Madame de Villefort, somewhat uneasily, "I remember +now." + +"I do not recollect now all the various subjects of which we discoursed, +madame," continued the count with perfect calmness; "but I perfectly +remember that, falling into the error which others had entertained +respecting me, you consulted me as to the health of Mademoiselle de +Villefort." + +"Yes, really, sir, you were in fact a medical man," said Madame de +Villefort, "since you had cured the sick." + +"Moliere or Beaumarchais would reply to you, madame, that it was +precisely because I was not, that I had cured my patients; for myself, +I am content to say to you that I have studied chemistry and the +natural sciences somewhat deeply, but still only as an amateur, you +understand."--At this moment the clock struck six. "It is six o'clock," +said Madame de Villefort, evidently agitated. "Valentine, will you not +go and see if your grandpapa will have his dinner?" Valentine rose, and +saluting the count, left the apartment without speaking. + +"Oh, madame," said the count, when Valentine had left the room, "was it +on my account that you sent Mademoiselle de Villefort away?" + +"By no means," replied the young lady quickly; "but this is the hour +when we usually give M. Noirtier the unwelcome meal that sustains his +pitiful existence. You are aware, sir, of the deplorable condition of my +husband's father?" + +"Yes, madame, M. de Villefort spoke of it to me--a paralysis, I think." + +"Alas, yes; the poor old gentleman is entirely helpless; the mind alone +is still active in this human machine, and that is faint and flickering, +like the light of a lamp about to expire. But excuse me, sir, for +talking of our domestic misfortunes; I interrupted you at the moment +when you were telling me that you were a skilful chemist." + +"No, madame, I did not say as much as that," replied the count with a +smile; "quite the contrary. I have studied chemistry because, having +determined to live in eastern climates I have been desirous of following +the example of King Mithridates." + +"Mithridates rex Ponticus," said the young scamp, as he tore some +beautiful portraits out of a splendid album, "the individual who took +cream in his cup of poison every morning at breakfast." + +"Edward, you naughty boy," exclaimed Madame de Villefort, snatching +the mutilated book from the urchin's grasp, "you are positively past +bearing; you really disturb the conversation; go, leave us, and join +your sister Valentine in dear grandpapa Noirtier's room." + +"The album," said Edward sulkily. + +"What do you mean?--the album!" + +"I want the album." + +"How dare you tear out the drawings?" + +"Oh, it amuses me." + +"Go--go at once." + +"I won't go unless you give me the album," said the boy, seating himself +doggedly in an arm-chair, according to his habit of never giving way. + +"Take it, then, and pray disturb us no longer," said Madame de +Villefort, giving the album to Edward, who then went towards the door, +led by his mother. The count followed her with his eyes. + +"Let us see if she shuts the door after him," he muttered. Madame de +Villefort closed the door carefully after the child, the count appearing +not to notice her; then casting a scrutinizing glance around the +chamber, the young wife returned to her chair, in which she seated +herself. "Allow me to observe, madame," said the count, with that kind +tone he could assume so well, "you are really very severe with that dear +clever child." + +"Oh, sometimes severity is quite necessary," replied Madame de +Villefort, with all a mother's real firmness. + +"It was his Cornelius Nepos that Master Edward was repeating when he +referred to King Mithridates," continued the count, "and you interrupted +him in a quotation which proves that his tutor has by no means neglected +him, for your son is really advanced for his years." + +"The fact is, count," answered the mother, agreeably flattered, "he has +great aptitude, and learns all that is set before him. He has but one +fault, he is somewhat wilful; but really, on referring for the moment +to what he said, do you truly believe that Mithridates used these +precautions, and that these precautions were efficacious?" + +"I think so, madame, because I myself have made use of them, that I +might not be poisoned at Naples, at Palermo, and at Smyrna--that is to +say, on three several occasions when, but for these precautions, I must +have lost my life." + +"And your precautions were successful?" + +"Completely so." + +"Yes, I remember now your mentioning to me at Perugia something of this +sort." + +"Indeed?" said the count with an air of surprise, remarkably well +counterfeited; "I really did not remember." + +"I inquired of you if poisons acted equally, and with the same effect, +on men of the North as on men of the South; and you answered me that the +cold and sluggish habits of the North did not present the same aptitude +as the rich and energetic temperaments of the natives of the South." + +"And that is the case," observed Monte Cristo. "I have seen Russians +devour, without being visibly inconvenienced, vegetable substances which +would infallibly have killed a Neapolitan or an Arab." + +"And you really believe the result would be still more sure with us +than in the East, and in the midst of our fogs and rains a man +would habituate himself more easily than in a warm latitude to this +progressive absorption of poison?" + +"Certainly; it being at the same time perfectly understood that he +should have been duly fortified against the poison to which he had not +been accustomed." + +"Yes, I understand that; and how would you habituate yourself, for +instance, or rather, how did you habituate yourself to it?" + +"Oh, very easily. Suppose you knew beforehand the poison that would +be made use of against you; suppose the poison was, for instance, +brucine"-- + +"Brucine is extracted from the false angostura [*] is it not?" inquired +Madame de Villefort. + +"Precisely, madame," replied Monte Cristo; "but I perceive I have not +much to teach you. Allow me to compliment you on your knowledge; such +learning is very rare among ladies." + + * Brucoea ferruginea. + +"Oh, I am aware of that," said Madame de Villefort; "but I have a +passion for the occult sciences, which speak to the imagination like +poetry, and are reducible to figures, like an algebraic equation; but go +on, I beg of you; what you say interests me to the greatest degree." + +"Well," replied Monte Cristo "suppose, then, that this poison was +brucine, and you were to take a milligramme the first day, two +milligrammes the second day, and so on. Well, at the end of ten days you +would have taken a centigramme, at the end of twenty days, increasing +another milligramme, you would have taken three hundred centigrammes; +that is to say, a dose which you would support without inconvenience, +and which would be very dangerous for any other person who had not taken +the same precautions as yourself. Well, then, at the end of a month, +when drinking water from the same carafe, you would kill the person +who drank with you, without your perceiving, otherwise than from slight +inconvenience, that there was any poisonous substance mingled with this +water." + +"Do you know any other counter-poisons?" + +"I do not." + +"I have often read, and read again, the history of Mithridates," said +Madame de Villefort in a tone of reflection, "and had always considered +it a fable." + +"No, madame, contrary to most history, it is true; but what you tell me, +madame, what you inquire of me, is not the result of a chance query, for +two years ago you asked me the same questions, and said then, that for a +very long time this history of Mithridates had occupied your mind." + +"True, sir. The two favorite studies of my youth were botany and +mineralogy, and subsequently, when I learned that the use of simples +frequently explained the whole history of a people, and the entire life +of individuals in the East, as flowers betoken and symbolize a love +affair, I have regretted that I was not a man, that I might have been a +Flamel, a Fontana, or a Cabanis." + +"And the more, madame," said Monte Cristo, "as the Orientals do not +confine themselves, as did Mithridates, to make a cuirass of his +poisons, but they also made them a dagger. Science becomes, in their +hands, not only a defensive weapon, but still more frequently an +offensive one; the one serves against all their physical sufferings, +the other against all their enemies. With opium, belladonna, brucaea, +snake-wood, and the cherry-laurel, they put to sleep all who stand in +their way. There is not one of those women, Egyptian, Turkish, or +Greek, whom here you call 'good women,' who do not know how, by means of +chemistry, to stupefy a doctor, and in psychology to amaze a confessor." + +"Really," said Madame de Villefort, whose eyes sparkled with strange +fire at this conversation. + +"Oh, yes, indeed, madame," continued Monte Cristo, "the secret dramas +of the East begin with a love philtre and end with a death potion--begin +with paradise and end with--hell. There are as many elixirs of every +kind as there are caprices and peculiarities in the physical and moral +nature of humanity; and I will say further--the art of these chemists +is capable with the utmost precision to accommodate and proportion the +remedy and the bane to yearnings for love or desires for vengeance." + +"But, sir," remarked the young woman, "these Eastern societies, in +the midst of which you have passed a portion of your existence, are +as fantastic as the tales that come from their strange land. A man can +easily be put out of the way there, then; it is, indeed, the Bagdad and +Bassora of the 'Thousand and One Nights.' The sultans and viziers who +rule over society there, and who constitute what in France we call the +government, are really Haroun-al-Raschids and Giaffars, who not only +pardon a poisoner, but even make him a prime minister, if his crime has +been an ingenious one, and who, under such circumstances, have the whole +story written in letters of gold, to divert their hours of idleness and +ennui." + +"By no means, madame; the fanciful exists no longer in the East. There, +disguised under other names, and concealed under other costumes, are +police agents, magistrates, attorneys-general, and bailiffs. They +hang, behead, and impale their criminals in the most agreeable possible +manner; but some of these, like clever rogues, have contrived to escape +human justice, and succeed in their fraudulent enterprises by cunning +stratagems. Amongst us a simpleton, possessed by the demon of hate or +cupidity, who has an enemy to destroy, or some near relation to dispose +of, goes straight to the grocer's or druggist's, gives a false name, +which leads more easily to his detection than his real one, and under +the pretext that the rats prevent him from sleeping, purchases five or +six grammes of arsenic--if he is really a cunning fellow, he goes to +five or six different druggists or grocers, and thereby becomes only +five or six times more easily traced;--then, when he has acquired his +specific, he administers duly to his enemy, or near kinsman, a dose of +arsenic which would make a mammoth or mastodon burst, and which, without +rhyme or reason, makes his victim utter groans which alarm the entire +neighborhood. Then arrive a crowd of policemen and constables. They +fetch a doctor, who opens the dead body, and collects from the entrails +and stomach a quantity of arsenic in a spoon. Next day a hundred +newspapers relate the fact, with the names of the victim and the +murderer. The same evening the grocer or grocers, druggist or druggists, +come and say, 'It was I who sold the arsenic to the gentleman;' and +rather than not recognize the guilty purchaser, they will recognize +twenty. Then the foolish criminal is taken, imprisoned, interrogated, +confronted, confounded, condemned, and cut off by hemp or steel; or if +she be a woman of any consideration, they lock her up for life. This +is the way in which you Northerns understand chemistry, madame. Desrues +was, however, I must confess, more skilful." + +"What would you have, sir?" said the lady, laughing; "we do what we can. +All the world has not the secret of the Medicis or the Borgias." + +"Now," replied the count, shrugging his shoulders, "shall I tell you the +cause of all these stupidities? It is because, at your theatres, by what +at least I could judge by reading the pieces they play, they see persons +swallow the contents of a phial, or suck the button of a ring, and +fall dead instantly. Five minutes afterwards the curtain falls, and the +spectators depart. They are ignorant of the consequences of the murder; +they see neither the police commissary with his badge of office, nor the +corporal with his four men; and so the poor fools believe that the whole +thing is as easy as lying. But go a little way from France--go either +to Aleppo or Cairo, or only to Naples or Rome, and you will see people +passing by you in the streets--people erect, smiling, and fresh-colored, +of whom Asmodeus, if you were holding on by the skirt of his mantle, +would say, 'That man was poisoned three weeks ago; he will be a dead man +in a month.'" + +"Then," remarked Madame de Villefort, "they have again discovered the +secret of the famous aquatofana that they said was lost at Perugia." + +"Ah, but madame, does mankind ever lose anything? The arts change about +and make a tour of the world; things take a different name, and the +vulgar do not follow them--that is all; but there is always the same +result. Poisons act particularly on some organ or another--one on the +stomach, another on the brain, another on the intestines. Well, the +poison brings on a cough, the cough an inflammation of the lungs, or +some other complaint catalogued in the book of science, which, however, +by no means precludes it from being decidedly mortal; and if it were +not, would be sure to become so, thanks to the remedies applied by +foolish doctors, who are generally bad chemists, and which will act in +favor of or against the malady, as you please; and then there is a human +being killed according to all the rules of art and skill, and of +whom justice learns nothing, as was said by a terrible chemist of my +acquaintance, the worthy Abbe Adelmonte of Taormina, in Sicily, who has +studied these national phenomena very profoundly." + +"It is quite frightful, but deeply interesting," said the young lady, +motionless with attention. "I thought, I must confess, that these tales, +were inventions of the Middle Ages." + +"Yes, no doubt, but improved upon by ours. What is the use of time, +rewards of merit, medals, crosses, Monthyon prizes, if they do not lead +society towards more complete perfection? Yet man will never be perfect +until he learns to create and destroy; he does know how to destroy, and +that is half the battle." + +"So," added Madame de Villefort, constantly returning to her object, +"the poisons of the Borgias, the Medicis, the Renes, the Ruggieris, +and later, probably, that of Baron de Trenck, whose story has been so +misused by modern drama and romance"-- + +"Were objects of art, madame, and nothing more," replied the count. "Do +you suppose that the real savant addresses himself stupidly to the mere +individual? By no means. Science loves eccentricities, leaps and bounds, +trials of strength, fancies, if I may be allowed so to term them. Thus, +for instance, the excellent Abbe Adelmonte, of whom I spoke just now, +made in this way some marvellous experiments." + +"Really?" + +"Yes; I will mention one to you. He had a remarkably fine garden, full +of vegetables, flowers, and fruit. From amongst these vegetables he +selected the most simple--a cabbage, for instance. For three days he +watered this cabbage with a distillation of arsenic; on the third, the +cabbage began to droop and turn yellow. At that moment he cut it. In the +eyes of everybody it seemed fit for table, and preserved its wholesome +appearance. It was only poisoned to the Abbe Adelmonte. He then took the +cabbage to the room where he had rabbits--for the Abbe Adelmonte had +a collection of rabbits, cats, and guinea-pigs, fully as fine as his +collection of vegetables, flowers, and fruit. Well, the Abbe Adelmonte +took a rabbit, and made it eat a leaf of the cabbage. The rabbit died. +What magistrate would find, or even venture to insinuate, anything +against this? What procureur has ever ventured to draw up an accusation +against M. Magendie or M. Flourens, in consequence of the rabbits, cats, +and guinea-pigs they have killed?--not one. So, then, the rabbit dies, +and justice takes no notice. This rabbit dead, the Abbe Adelmonte has +its entrails taken out by his cook and thrown on the dunghill; on this +dunghill is a hen, who, pecking these intestines, is in her turn taken +ill, and dies next day. At the moment when she is struggling in the +convulsions of death, a vulture is flying by (there are a good many +vultures in Adelmonte's country); this bird darts on the dead fowl, +and carries it away to a rock, where it dines off its prey. Three days +afterwards, this poor vulture, which has been very much indisposed since +that dinner, suddenly feels very giddy while flying aloft in the +clouds, and falls heavily into a fish-pond. The pike, eels, and carp eat +greedily always, as everybody knows--well, they feast on the vulture. +Now suppose that next day, one of these eels, or pike, or carp, poisoned +at the fourth remove, is served up at your table. Well, then, your guest +will be poisoned at the fifth remove, and die, at the end of eight +or ten days, of pains in the intestines, sickness, or abscess of the +pylorus. The doctors open the body and say with an air of profound +learning, 'The subject has died of a tumor on the liver, or of typhoid +fever!'" + +"But," remarked Madame de Villefort, "all these circumstances which +you link thus to one another may be broken by the least accident; the +vulture may not see the fowl, or may fall a hundred yards from the +fish-pond." + +"Ah, that is where the art comes in. To be a great chemist in the +East, one must direct chance; and this is to be achieved."--Madame de +Villefort was in deep thought, yet listened attentively. "But," +she exclaimed, suddenly, "arsenic is indelible, indestructible; in +whatsoever way it is absorbed, it will be found again in the body of the +victim from the moment when it has been taken in sufficient quantity to +cause death." + +"Precisely so," cried Monte Cristo--"precisely so; and this is what I +said to my worthy Adelmonte. He reflected, smiled, and replied to me by +a Sicilian proverb, which I believe is also a French proverb, 'My son, +the world was not made in a day--but in seven. Return on Sunday.' On +the Sunday following I did return to him. Instead of having watered his +cabbage with arsenic, he had watered it this time with a solution of +salts, having their basis in strychnine, strychnos colubrina, as the +learned term it. Now, the cabbage had not the slightest appearance of +disease in the world, and the rabbit had not the smallest distrust; yet, +five minutes afterwards, the rabbit was dead. The fowl pecked at the +rabbit, and the next day was a dead hen. This time we were the +vultures; so we opened the bird, and this time all special symptoms had +disappeared, there were only general symptoms. There was no peculiar +indication in any organ--an excitement of the nervous system--that was +it; a case of cerebral congestion--nothing more. The fowl had not been +poisoned--she had died of apoplexy. Apoplexy is a rare disease among +fowls, I believe, but very common among men." Madame de Villefort +appeared more and more thoughtful. + +"It is very fortunate," she observed, "that such substances could only +be prepared by chemists; otherwise, all the world would be poisoning +each other." + +"By chemists and persons who have a taste for chemistry," said Monte +Cristo carelessly. + +"And then," said Madame de Villefort, endeavoring by a struggle, and +with effort, to get away from her thoughts, "however skilfully it is +prepared, crime is always crime, and if it avoid human scrutiny, it does +not escape the eye of God. The Orientals are stronger than we are in +cases of conscience, and, very prudently, have no hell--that is the +point." + +"Really, madame, this is a scruple which naturally must occur to a pure +mind like yours, but which would easily yield before sound reasoning. +The bad side of human thought will always be defined by the paradox of +Jean Jacques Rousseau,--you remember,--the mandarin who is killed five +hundred leagues off by raising the tip of the finger. Man's whole +life passes in doing these things, and his intellect is exhausted by +reflecting on them. You will find very few persons who will go and +brutally thrust a knife in the heart of a fellow-creature, or will +administer to him, in order to remove him from the surface of the globe +on which we move with life and animation, that quantity of arsenic of +which we just now talked. Such a thing is really out of rule--eccentric +or stupid. To attain such a point, the blood must be heated to +thirty-six degrees, the pulse be, at least, at ninety, and the +feelings excited beyond the ordinary limit. But suppose one pass, as is +permissible in philology, from the word itself to its softened synonym, +then, instead of committing an ignoble assassination you make an +'elimination;' you merely and simply remove from your path the +individual who is in your way, and that without shock or violence, +without the display of the sufferings which, in the case of becoming a +punishment, make a martyr of the victim, and a butcher, in every sense +of the word, of him who inflicts them. Then there will be no blood, no +groans, no convulsions, and above all, no consciousness of that horrid +and compromising moment of accomplishing the act,--then one escapes the +clutch of the human law, which says, 'Do not disturb society!' This +is the mode in which they manage these things, and succeed in Eastern +climes, where there are grave and phlegmatic persons who care very +little for the questions of time in conjunctures of importance." + +"Yet conscience remains," remarked Madame de Villefort in an agitated +voice, and with a stifled sigh. + +"Yes," answered Monte Cristo "happily, yes, conscience does remain; and +if it did not, how wretched we should be! After every action requiring +exertion, it is conscience that saves us, for it supplies us with a +thousand good excuses, of which we alone are judges; and these reasons, +howsoever excellent in producing sleep, would avail us but very little +before a tribunal, when we were tried for our lives. Thus Richard +III., for instance, was marvellously served by his conscience after the +putting away of the two children of Edward IV.; in fact, he could say, +'These two children of a cruel and persecuting king, who have inherited +the vices of their father, which I alone could perceive in their +juvenile propensities--these two children are impediments in my way of +promoting the happiness of the English people, whose unhappiness they +(the children) would infallibly have caused.' Thus was Lady Macbeth +served by her conscience, when she sought to give her son, and not her +husband (whatever Shakespeare may say), a throne. Ah, maternal love is a +great virtue, a powerful motive--so powerful that it excuses a multitude +of things, even if, after Duncan's death, Lady Macbeth had been at all +pricked by her conscience." + +Madame de Villefort listened with avidity to these appalling maxims and +horrible paradoxes, delivered by the count with that ironical simplicity +which was peculiar to him. After a moment's silence, the lady inquired, +"Do you know, my dear count," she said, "that you are a very terrible +reasoner, and that you look at the world through a somewhat distempered +medium? Have you really measured the world by scrutinies, or through +alembics and crucibles? For you must indeed be a great chemist, and the +elixir you administered to my son, which recalled him to life almost +instantaneously"-- + +"Oh, do not place any reliance on that, madame; one drop of that elixir +sufficed to recall life to a dying child, but three drops would have +impelled the blood into his lungs in such a way as to have produced +most violent palpitations; six would have suspended his respiration, and +caused syncope more serious than that in which he was; ten would have +destroyed him. You know, madame, how suddenly I snatched him from those +phials which he so imprudently touched?" + +"Is it then so terrible a poison?" + +"Oh, no. In the first place, let us agree that the word poison does +not exist, because in medicine use is made of the most violent poisons, +which become, according as they are employed, most salutary remedies." + +"What, then, is it?" + +"A skilful preparation of my friend's the worthy Abbe Adelmonte, who +taught me the use of it." + +"Oh," observed Madame de Villefort, "it must be an admirable +anti-spasmodic." + +"Perfect, madame, as you have seen," replied the count; "and I +frequently make use of it--with all possible prudence though, be it +observed," he added with a smile of intelligence. + +"Most assuredly," responded Madame de Villefort in the same tone. "As +for me, so nervous, and so subject to fainting fits, I should require +a Doctor Adelmonte to invent for me some means of breathing freely and +tranquillizing my mind, in the fear I have of dying some fine day of +suffocation. In the meanwhile, as the thing is difficult to find in +France, and your abbe is not probably disposed to make a journey +to Paris on my account, I must continue to use Monsieur Planche's +anti-spasmodics; and mint and Hoffman's drops are among my favorite +remedies. Here are some lozenges which I have made up on purpose; they +are compounded doubly strong." Monte Cristo opened the tortoise-shell +box, which the lady presented to him, and inhaled the odor of the +lozenges with the air of an amateur who thoroughly appreciated their +composition. "They are indeed exquisite," he said; "but as they are +necessarily submitted to the process of deglutition--a function which it +is frequently impossible for a fainting person to accomplish--I prefer +my own specific." + +"Undoubtedly, and so should I prefer it, after the effects I have seen +produced; but of course it is a secret, and I am not so indiscreet as to +ask it of you." + +"But I," said Monte Cristo, rising as he spoke--"I am gallant enough to +offer it you." + +"How kind you are." + +"Only remember one thing--a small dose is a remedy, a large one is +poison. One drop will restore life, as you have seen; five or six will +inevitably kill, and in a way the more terrible inasmuch as, poured into +a glass of wine, it would not in the slightest degree affect its flavor. +But I say no more, madame; it is really as if I were prescribing for +you." The clock struck half-past six, and a lady was announced, a friend +of Madame de Villefort, who came to dine with her. + +"If I had had the honor of seeing you for the third or fourth time, +count, instead of only for the second," said Madame de Villefort; "if +I had had the honor of being your friend, instead of only having the +happiness of being under an obligation to you, I should insist on +detaining you to dinner, and not allow myself to be daunted by a first +refusal." + +"A thousand thanks, madame," replied Monte Cristo "but I have an +engagement which I cannot break. I have promised to escort to the +Academie a Greek princess of my acquaintance who has never seen your +grand opera, and who relies on me to conduct her thither." + +"Adieu, then, sir, and do not forget the prescription." + +"Ah, in truth, madame, to do that I must forget the hour's conversation +I have had with you, which is indeed impossible." Monte Cristo bowed, +and left the house. Madame de Villefort remained immersed in thought. +"He is a very strange man," she said, "and in my opinion is himself the +Adelmonte he talks about." As to Monte Cristo the result had surpassed +his utmost expectations. "Good," said he, as he went away; "this is a +fruitful soil, and I feel certain that the seed sown will not be cast +on barren ground." Next morning, faithful to his promise, he sent the +prescription requested. + + + +Chapter 53. Robert le Diable. + +The pretext of an opera engagement was so much the more feasible, as +there chanced to be on that very night a more than ordinary attraction +at the Academie Royale. Levasseur, who had been suffering under severe +illness, made his reappearance in the character of Bertrand, and, as +usual, the announcement of the most admired production of the favorite +composer of the day had attracted a brilliant and fashionable audience. +Morcerf, like most other young men of rank and fortune, had his +orchestra stall, with the certainty of always finding a seat in at least +a dozen of the principal boxes occupied by persons of his acquaintance; +he had, moreover, his right of entry into the omnibus box. +Chateau-Renaud rented a stall beside his own, while Beauchamp, as a +journalist, had unlimited range all over the theatre. It happened that +on this particular night the minister's box was placed at the disposal +of Lucien Debray, who offered it to the Comte de Morcerf, who again, +upon his mother's rejection of it, sent it to Danglars, with an +intimation that he should probably do himself the honor of joining the +baroness and her daughter during the evening, in the event of their +accepting the box in question. The ladies received the offer with too +much pleasure to dream of a refusal. To no class of persons is the +presentation of a gratuitous opera-box more acceptable than to the +wealthy millionaire, who still hugs economy while boasting of carrying a +king's ransom in his waistcoat pocket. + +Danglars had, however, protested against showing himself in a +ministerial box, declaring that his political principles, and his +parliamentary position as member of the opposition party would not +permit him so to commit himself; the baroness had, therefore, despatched +a note to Lucien Debray, bidding him call for them, it being wholly +impossible for her to go alone with Eugenie to the opera. There is no +gainsaying the fact that a very unfavorable construction would have +been put upon the circumstance if the two women had gone without escort, +while the addition of a third, in the person of her mother's admitted +lover, enabled Mademoiselle Danglars to defy malice and ill-nature. One +must take the world as one finds it. + +The curtain rose, as usual, to an almost empty house, it being one of +the absurdities of Parisian fashion never to appear at the opera +until after the beginning of the performance, so that the first act is +generally played without the slightest attention being paid to it, +that part of the audience already assembled being too much occupied in +observing the fresh arrivals, while nothing is heard but the noise of +opening and shutting doors, and the buzz of conversation. "Surely," said +Albert, as the door of a box on the first circle opened, "that must be +the Countess G----." + +"And who is the Countess G----?" inquired Chateau-Renaud. + +"What a question! Now, do you know, baron, I have a great mind to pick a +quarrel with you for asking it; as if all the world did not know who the +Countess G---- was." + +"Ah, to be sure," replied Chateau-Renaud; "the lovely Venetian, is it +not?" + +"Herself." At this moment the countess perceived Albert, and +returned his salutation with a smile. "You know her, it seems?" said +Chateau-Renaud. + +"Franz introduced me to her at Rome," replied Albert. + +"Well, then, will you do as much for me in Paris as Franz did for you in +Rome?" + +"With pleasure." + +There was a cry of "Shut up!" from the audience. This manifestation +on the part of the spectators of their wish to be allowed to hear the +music, produced not the slightest effect on the two young men, who +continued their conversation. "The countess was present at the races in +the Champ-de-Mars," said Chateau-Renaud. + +"To-day?" + +"Yes." + +"Bless me, I quite forgot the races. Did you bet?" + +"Oh, merely a paltry fifty louis." + +"And who was the winner?" + +"Nautilus. I staked on him." + +"But there were three races, were there not?" + +"Yes; there was the prize given by the Jockey Club--a gold cup, you +know--and a very singular circumstance occurred about that race." + +"What was it?" + +"Oh, shut up!" again interposed some of the audience. + +"Why, it was won by a horse and rider utterly unknown on the course." + +"Is that possible?" + +"True as day. The fact was, nobody had observed a horse entered by the +name of Vampa, or that of a jockey styled Job, when, at the last +moment, a splendid roan, mounted by a jockey about as big as your fist, +presented themselves at the starting-post. They were obliged to stuff at +least twenty pounds weight of shot in the small rider's pockets, to make +him weight; but with all that he outstripped Ariel and Barbare, against +whom he ran, by at least three whole lengths." + +"And was it not found out at last to whom the horse and jockey +belonged?" + +"No." + +"You say that the horse was entered under the name of Vampa?" + +"Exactly; that was the title." + +"Then," answered Albert, "I am better informed than you are, and know +who the owner of that horse was." + +"Shut up, there!" cried the pit in chorus. And this time the tone and +manner in which the command was given, betokened such growing hostility +that the two young men perceived, for the first time, that the mandate +was addressed to them. Leisurely turning round, they calmly scrutinized +the various countenances around them, as though demanding some one +person who would take upon himself the responsibility of what they +deemed excessive impertinence; but as no one responded to the challenge, +the friends turned again to the front of the theatre, and affected +to busy themselves with the stage. At this moment the door of the +minister's box opened, and Madame Danglars, accompanied by her daughter, +entered, escorted by Lucien Debray, who assiduously conducted them to +their seats. + +"Ha, ha," said Chateau-Renaud, "here comes some friends of yours, +viscount! What are you looking at there? don't you see they are trying +to catch your eye?" Albert turned round, just in time to receive a +gracious wave of the fan from the baroness; as for Mademoiselle Eugenie, +she scarcely vouchsafed to waste the glances of her large black eyes +even upon the business of the stage. "I tell you what, my dear fellow," +said Chateau-Renaud, "I cannot imagine what objection you can possibly +have to Mademoiselle Danglars--that is, setting aside her want of +ancestry and somewhat inferior rank, which by the way I don't think +you care very much about. Now, barring all that, I mean to say she is a +deuced fine girl!" + +"Handsome, certainly," replied Albert, "but not to my taste, which I +confess, inclines to something softer, gentler, and more feminine." + +"Ah, well," exclaimed Chateau-Renaud, who because he had seen his +thirtieth summer fancied himself duly warranted in assuming a sort of +paternal air with his more youthful friend, "you young people are never +satisfied; why, what would you have more? your parents have chosen you +a bride built on the model of Diana, the huntress, and yet you are not +content." + +"No, for that very resemblance affrights me; I should have liked +something more in the manner of the Venus of Milo or Capua; but this +chase-loving Diana continually surrounded by her nymphs gives me a sort +of alarm lest she should some day bring on me the fate of Actaeon." + +And, indeed, it required but one glance at Mademoiselle Danglars to +comprehend the justness of Morcerf's remark--she was beautiful, but her +beauty was of too marked and decided a character to please a fastidious +taste; her hair was raven black, but its natural waves seemed somewhat +rebellious; her eyes, of the same color as her hair, were surmounted by +well-arched brows, whose great defect, however, consisted in an almost +habitual frown, while her whole physiognomy wore that expression +of firmness and decision so little in accordance with the gentler +attributes of her sex--her nose was precisely what a sculptor would +have chosen for a chiselled Juno. Her mouth, which might have been found +fault with as too large, displayed teeth of pearly whiteness, rendered +still more conspicuous by the brilliant carmine of her lips, contrasting +vividly with her naturally pale complexion. But that which completed the +almost masculine look Morcerf found so little to his taste, was a dark +mole, of much larger dimensions than these freaks of nature generally +are, placed just at the corner of her mouth; and the effect tended +to increase the expression of self-dependence that characterized her +countenance. The rest of Mademoiselle Eugenie's person was in perfect +keeping with the head just described; she, indeed, reminded one of +Diana, as Chateau-Renaud observed, but her bearing was more haughty and +resolute. As regarded her attainments, the only fault to be found with +them was the same that a fastidious connoisseur might have found with +her beauty, that they were somewhat too erudite and masculine for so +young a person. She was a perfect linguist, a first-rate artist, wrote +poetry, and composed music; to the study of the latter she professed to +be entirely devoted, following it with an indefatigable perseverance, +assisted by a schoolfellow,--a young woman without fortune whose talent +promised to develop into remarkable powers as a singer. It was rumored +that she was an object of almost paternal interest to one of the +principal composers of the day, who excited her to spare no pains in the +cultivation of her voice, which might hereafter prove a source of wealth +and independence. But this counsel effectually decided Mademoiselle +Danglars never to commit herself by being seen in public with one +destined for a theatrical life; and acting upon this principle, the +banker's daughter, though perfectly willing to allow Mademoiselle Louise +d'Armilly (that was the name of the young virtuosa) to practice with +her through the day, took especial care not to be seen in her company. +Still, though not actually received at the Hotel Danglars in the light +of an acknowledged friend, Louise was treated with far more kindness and +consideration than is usually bestowed on a governess. + +The curtain fell almost immediately after the entrance of Madame +Danglars into her box, the band quitted the orchestra for the accustomed +half-hour's interval allowed between the acts, and the audience were +left at liberty to promenade the salon or lobbies, or to pay and receive +visits in their respective boxes. Morcerf and Chateau-Renaud were +amongst the first to avail themselves of this permission. For an instant +the idea struck Madame Danglars that this eagerness on the part of the +young viscount arose from his impatience to join her party, and she +whispered her expectations to her daughter, that Albert was hurrying to +pay his respects to them. Mademoiselle Eugenie, however, merely returned +a dissenting movement of the head, while, with a cold smile, she +directed the attention of her mother to an opposite box on the first +circle, in which sat the Countess G----, and where Morcerf had just made +his appearance. "So we meet again, my travelling friend, do we?" +cried the countess, extending her hand to him with all the warmth and +cordiality of an old acquaintance; "it was really very good of you to +recognize me so quickly, and still more so to bestow your first visit on +me." + +"Be assured," replied Albert, "that if I had been aware of your arrival +in Paris, and had known your address, I should have paid my respects +to you before this. Allow me to introduce my friend, Baron de +Chateau-Renaud, one of the few true gentlemen now to be found in France, +and from whom I have just learned that you were a spectator of the races +in the Champ-de-Mars, yesterday." Chateau-Renaud bowed to the countess. + +"So you were at the races, baron?" inquired the countess eagerly. + +"Yes, madame." + +"Well, then," pursued Madame G---- with considerable animation, "you can +probably tell me who won the Jockey Club stakes?" + +"I am sorry to say I cannot," replied the baron; "and I was just asking +the same question of Albert." + +"Are you very anxious to know, countess?" asked Albert. + +"To know what?" + +"The name of the owner of the winning horse?" + +"Excessively; only imagine--but do tell me, viscount, whether you really +are acquainted with it or no?" + +"I beg your pardon, madame, but you were about to relate some story, +were you not? You said, 'only imagine,'--and then paused. Pray +continue." + +"Well, then, listen. You must know I felt so interested in the splendid +roan horse, with his elegant little rider, so tastefully dressed in +a pink satin jacket and cap, that I could not help praying for their +success with as much earnestness as though the half of my fortune were +at stake; and when I saw them outstrip all the others, and come to the +winning-post in such gallant style, I actually clapped my hands with +joy. Imagine my surprise, when, upon returning home, the first object +I met on the staircase was the identical jockey in the pink jacket! I +concluded that, by some singular chance, the owner of the winning horse +must live in the same hotel as myself; but, as I entered my apartments, +I beheld the very gold cup awarded as a prize to the unknown horse and +rider. Inside the cup was a small piece of paper, on which were written +these words--'From Lord Ruthven to Countess G----.'" + +"Precisely; I was sure of it," said Morcerf. + +"Sure of what?" + +"That the owner of the horse was Lord Ruthven himself." + +"What Lord Ruthven do you mean?" + +"Why, our Lord Ruthven--the Vampire of the Salle Argentino!" + +"Is it possible?" exclaimed the countess; "is he here in Paris?" + +"To be sure,--why not?" + +"And you visit him?--meet him at your own house and elsewhere?" + +"I assure you he is my most intimate friend, and M. de Chateau-Renaud +has also the honor of his acquaintance." + +"But why are you so sure of his being the winner of the Jockey Club +prize?" + +"Was not the winning horse entered by the name of Vampa?" + +"What of that?" + +"Why, do you not recollect the name of the celebrated bandit by whom I +was made prisoner?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"And from whose hands the count extricated me in so wonderful a manner?" + +"To be sure, I remember it all now." + +"He called himself Vampa. You see, it's evident where the count got the +name." + +"But what could have been his motive for sending the cup to me?" + +"In the first place, because I had spoken much of you to him, as you may +believe; and in the second, because he delighted to see a countrywoman +take so lively an interest in his success." + +"I trust and hope you never repeated to the count all the foolish +remarks we used to make about him?" + +"I should not like to affirm upon oath that I have not. Besides, his +presenting you the cup under the name of Lord Ruthven"-- + +"Oh, but that is dreadful! Why, the man must owe me a fearful grudge." + +"Does his action appear like that of an enemy?" + +"No; certainly not." + +"Well, then"-- + +"And so he is in Paris?" + +"Yes." + +"And what effect does he produce?" + +"Why," said Albert, "he was talked about for a week; then the +coronation of the queen of England took place, followed by the theft of +Mademoiselle Mars's diamonds; and so people talked of something else." + +"My good fellow," said Chateau-Renaud, "the count is your friend and +you treat him accordingly. Do not believe what Albert is telling you, +countess; so far from the sensation excited in the Parisian circles by +the appearance of the Count of Monte Cristo having abated, I take upon +myself to declare that it is as strong as ever. His first astounding +act upon coming amongst us was to present a pair of horses, worth +32,000 francs, to Madame Danglars; his second, the almost miraculous +preservation of Madame de Villefort's life; now it seems that he has +carried off the prize awarded by the Jockey Club. I therefore maintain, +in spite of Morcerf, that not only is the count the object of interest +at this present moment, but also that he will continue to be so for a +month longer if he pleases to exhibit an eccentricity of conduct which, +after all, may be his ordinary mode of existence." + +"Perhaps you are right," said Morcerf; "meanwhile, who is in the Russian +ambassador's box?" + +"Which box do you mean?" asked the countess. + +"The one between the pillars on the first tier--it seems to have been +fitted up entirely afresh." + +"Did you observe any one during the first act?" asked Chateau-Renaud. + +"Where?" + +"In that box." + +"No," replied the countess, "it was certainly empty during the first +act;" then, resuming the subject of their previous conversation, she +said, "And so you really believe it was your mysterious Count of Monte +Cristo that gained the prize?" + +"I am sure of it." + +"And who afterwards sent the cup to me?" + +"Undoubtedly." + +"But I don't know him," said the countess; "I have a great mind to +return it." + +"Do no such thing, I beg of you; he would only send you another, formed +of a magnificent sapphire, or hollowed out of a gigantic ruby. It is +his way, and you must take him as you find him." At this moment the +bell rang to announce the drawing up of the curtain for the second act. +Albert rose to return to his place. "Shall I see you again?" asked the +countess. "At the end of the next act, with your permission, I will come +and inquire whether there is anything I can do for you in Paris?" + +"Pray take notice," said the countess, "that my present residence is +22 Rue de Rivoli, and that I am at home to my friends every Saturday +evening. So now, you are both forewarned." The young men bowed, and +quitted the box. Upon reaching their stalls, they found the whole of the +audience in the parterre standing up and directing their gaze towards +the box formerly possessed by the Russian ambassador. A man of from +thirty-five to forty years of age, dressed in deep black, had just +entered, accompanied by a young woman dressed after the Eastern style. +The lady was surpassingly beautiful, while the rich magnificence of her +attire drew all eyes upon her. "Hullo," said Albert; "it is Monte Cristo +and his Greek!" + +The strangers were, indeed, no other than the count and Haidee. In a few +moments the young girl had attracted the attention of the whole house, +and even the occupants of the boxes leaned forward to scrutinize her +magnificent diamonds. The second act passed away during one continued +buzz of voices--one deep whisper--intimating that some great and +universally interesting event had occurred; all eyes, all thoughts, were +occupied with the young and beautiful woman, whose gorgeous apparel and +splendid jewels made a most extraordinary spectacle. Upon this occasion +an unmistakable sign from Madame Danglars intimated her desire to see +Albert in her box directly the curtain fell on the second act, and +neither the politeness nor good taste of Morcerf would permit his +neglecting an invitation so unequivocally given. At the close of the act +he therefore went to the baroness. Having bowed to the two ladies, he +extended his hand to Debray. By the baroness he was most graciously +welcomed, while Eugenie received him with her accustomed coldness. + +"My dear fellow," said Debray, "you have come in the nick of time. +There is madame overwhelming me with questions respecting the count; she +insists upon it that I can tell her his birth, education, and parentage, +where he came from, and whither he is going. Being no disciple of +Cagliostro, I was wholly unable to do this; so, by way of getting out +of the scrape, I said, 'Ask Morcerf; he has got the whole history of +his beloved Monte Cristo at his fingers' ends;' whereupon the baroness +signified her desire to see you." + +"Is it not almost incredible," said Madame Danglars, "that a person +having at least half a million of secret-service money at his command, +should possess so little information?" + +"Let me assure you, madame," said Lucien, "that had I really the sum +you mention at my disposal, I would employ it more profitably than in +troubling myself to obtain particulars respecting the Count of Monte +Cristo, whose only merit in my eyes consists in his being twice as rich +as a nabob. However, I have turned the business over to Morcerf, so pray +settle it with him as may be most agreeable to you; for my own part, I +care nothing about the count or his mysterious doings." + +"I am very sure no nabob would have sent me a pair of horses worth +32,000 francs, wearing on their heads four diamonds valued at 5,000 +francs each." + +"He seems to have a mania for diamonds," said Morcerf, smiling, "and I +verily believe that, like Potemkin, he keeps his pockets filled, for +the sake of strewing them along the road, as Tom Thumb did his flint +stones." + +"Perhaps he has discovered some mine," said Madame Danglars. "I suppose +you know he has an order for unlimited credit on the baron's banking +establishment?" + +"I was not aware of it," replied Albert, "but I can readily believe it." + +"And, further, that he stated to M. Danglars his intention of only +staying a year in Paris, during which time he proposed to spend six +millions. + +"He must be the Shah of Persia, travelling incog." + +"Have you noticed the remarkable beauty of the young woman, M. Lucien?" +inquired Eugenie. + +"I really never met with one woman so ready to do justice to the charms +of another as yourself," responded Lucien, raising his lorgnette to his +eye. "A most lovely creature, upon my soul!" was his verdict. + +"Who is this young person, M. de Morcerf?" inquired Eugenie; "does +anybody know?" + +"Mademoiselle," said Albert, replying to this direct appeal, "I can give +you very exact information on that subject, as well as on most points +relative to the mysterious person of whom we are now conversing--the +young woman is a Greek." + +"So I should suppose by her dress; if you know no more than that, every +one here is as well-informed as yourself." + +"I am extremely sorry you find me so ignorant a cicerone," replied +Morcerf, "but I am reluctantly obliged to confess, I have nothing +further to communicate--yes, stay, I do know one thing more, namely, +that she is a musician, for one day when I chanced to be breakfasting +with the count, I heard the sound of a guzla--it is impossible that it +could have been touched by any other finger than her own." + +"Then your count entertains visitors, does he?" asked Madame Danglars. + +"Indeed he does, and in a most lavish manner, I can assure you." + +"I must try and persuade M. Danglars to invite him to a ball or dinner, +or something of the sort, that he may be compelled to ask us in return." + +"What," said Debray, laughing; "do you really mean you would go to his +house?" + +"Why not? my husband could accompany me." + +"But do you know this mysterious count is a bachelor?" + +"You have ample proof to the contrary, if you look opposite," said the +baroness, as she laughingly pointed to the beautiful Greek. + +"No, no!" exclaimed Debray; "that girl is not his wife: he told us +himself she was his slave. Do you not recollect, Morcerf, his telling us +so at your breakfast?" + +"Well, then," said the baroness, "if slave she be, she has all the air +and manner of a princess." + +"Of the 'Arabian Nights'?" + +"If you like; but tell me, my dear Lucien, what it is that constitutes a +princess. Why, diamonds--and she is covered with them." + +"To me she seems overloaded," observed Eugenie; "she would look far +better if she wore fewer, and we should then be able to see her finely +formed throat and wrists." + +"See how the artist peeps out!" exclaimed Madame Danglars. "My poor +Eugenie, you must conceal your passion for the fine arts." + +"I admire all that is beautiful," returned the young lady. + +"What do you think of the count?" inquired Debray; "he is not much +amiss, according to my ideas of good looks." + +"The count," repeated Eugenie, as though it had not occurred to her to +observe him sooner; "the count?--oh, he is so dreadfully pale." + +"I quite agree with you," said Morcerf; "and the secret of that very +pallor is what we want to find out. The Countess G---- insists upon it +that he is a vampire." + +"Then the Countess G---- has returned to Paris, has she?" inquired the +baroness. + +"Is that she, mamma?" asked Eugenie; "almost opposite to us, with that +profusion of beautiful light hair?" + +"Yes," said Madame Danglars, "that is she. Shall I tell you what you +ought to do, Morcerf?" + +"Command me, madame." + +"Well, then, you should go and bring your Count of Monte Cristo to us." + +"What for?" asked Eugenie. + +"What for? Why, to converse with him, of course. Have you really no +desire to meet him?" + +"None whatever," replied Eugenie. + +"Strange child," murmured the baroness. + +"He will very probably come of his own accord," said Morcerf. "There; do +you see, madame, he recognizes you, and bows." The baroness returned the +salute in the most smiling and graceful manner. + +"Well," said Morcerf, "I may as well be magnanimous, and tear myself +away to forward your wishes. Adieu; I will go and try if there are any +means of speaking to him." + +"Go straight to his box; that will be the simplest plan." + +"But I have never been presented." + +"Presented to whom?" + +"To the beautiful Greek." + +"You say she is only a slave?" + +"While you assert that she is a queen, or at least a princess. No; I +hope that when he sees me leave you, he will come out." + +"That is possible--go." + +"I am going," said Albert, as he made his parting bow. Just as he was +passing the count's box, the door opened, and Monte Cristo came forth. +After giving some directions to Ali, who stood in the lobby, the count +took Albert's arm. Carefully closing the box door, Ali placed himself +before it, while a crowd of spectators assembled round the Nubian. + +"Upon my word," said Monte Cristo, "Paris is a strange city, and the +Parisians a very singular people. See that cluster of persons collected +around poor Ali, who is as much astonished as themselves; really one +might suppose he was the only Nubian they had ever beheld. Now I can +promise you, that a Frenchman might show himself in public, either in +Tunis, Constantinople, Bagdad, or Cairo, without being treated in that +way." + +"That shows that the Eastern nations have too much good sense to waste +their time and attention on objects undeserving of either. However, as +far as Ali is concerned, I can assure you, the interest he excites is +merely from the circumstance of his being your attendant--you, who are +at this moment the most celebrated and fashionable person in Paris." + +"Really? and what has procured me so fluttering a distinction?" + +"What? why, yourself, to be sure! You give away horses worth a thousand +louis; you save the lives of ladies of high rank and beauty; under the +name of Major Brack you run thoroughbreds ridden by tiny urchins not +larger than marmots; then, when you have carried off the golden trophy +of victory, instead of setting any value on it, you give it to the first +handsome woman you think of!" + +"And who has filled your head with all this nonsense?" + +"Why, in the first place, I heard it from Madame Danglars, who, by the +by, is dying to see you in her box, or to have you seen there by others; +secondly, I learned it from Beauchamp's journal; and thirdly, from my +own imagination. Why, if you sought concealment, did you call your horse +Vampa?" + +"That was an oversight, certainly," replied the count; "but tell me, +does the Count of Morcerf never visit the Opera? I have been looking for +him, but without success." + +"He will be here to-night." + +"In what part of the house?" + +"In the baroness's box, I believe." + +"That charming young woman with her is her daughter?" + +"Yes." + +"I congratulate you." Morcerf smiled. "We will discuss that subject at +length some future time," said he. "But what do you think of the music?" + +"What music?" + +"Why, the music you have been listening to." + +"Oh, it is well enough as the production of a human composer, sung by +featherless bipeds, to quote the late Diogenes." + +"From which it would seem, my dear count, that you can at pleasure enjoy +the seraphic strains that proceed from the seven choirs of paradise?" + +"You are right, in some degree; when I wish to listen to sounds more +exquisitely attuned to melody than mortal ear ever yet listened to, I go +to sleep." + +"Then sleep here, my dear count. The conditions are favorable; what else +was opera invented for?" + +"No, thank you. Your orchestra is too noisy. To sleep after the manner +I speak of, absolute calm and silence are necessary, and then a certain +preparation"-- + +"I know--the famous hashish!" + +"Precisely. So, my dear viscount, whenever you wish to be regaled with +music come and sup with me." + +"I have already enjoyed that treat when breakfasting with you," said +Morcerf. + +"Do you mean at Rome?" + +"I do." + +"Ah, then, I suppose you heard Haidee's guzla; the poor exile frequently +beguiles a weary hour in playing over to me the airs of her native +land." Morcerf did not pursue the subject, and Monte Cristo himself fell +into a silent reverie. The bell rang at this moment for the rising of +the curtain. "You will excuse my leaving you," said the count, turning +in the direction of his box. + +"What? Are you going?" + +"Pray, say everything that is kind to Countess G---- on the part of her +friend the Vampire." + +"And what message shall I convey to the baroness!" + +"That, with her permission, I shall do myself the honor of paying my +respects in the course of the evening." + +The third act had begun; and during its progress the Count of Morcerf, +according to his promise, made his appearance in the box of Madame +Danglars. The Count of Morcerf was not a person to excite either +interest or curiosity in a place of public amusement; his presence, +therefore, was wholly unnoticed, save by the occupants of the box in +which he had just seated himself. The quick eye of Monte Cristo however, +marked his coming; and a slight though meaning smile passed over his +lips. Haidee, whose soul seemed centred in the business of the stage, +like all unsophisticated natures, delighted in whatever addressed itself +to the eye or ear. + +The third act passed off as usual. Mesdemoiselles Noblet, Julie, and +Leroux executed the customary pirouettes; Robert duly challenged the +Prince of Granada; and the royal father of the princess Isabella, taking +his daughter by the hand, swept round the stage with majestic strides, +the better to display the rich folds of his velvet robe and mantle. +After which the curtain again fell, and the spectators poured forth from +the theatre into the lobbies and salon. The count left his box, and a +moment later was saluting the Baronne Danglars, who could not restrain +a cry of mingled pleasure and surprise. "You are welcome, count!" she +exclaimed, as he entered. "I have been most anxious to see you, that I +might repeat orally the thanks writing can so ill express." + +"Surely so trifling a circumstance cannot deserve a place in your +remembrance. Believe me, madame, I had entirely forgotten it." + +"But it is not so easy to forget, monsieur, that the very next day +after your princely gift you saved the life of my dear friend, Madame +de Villefort, which was endangered by the very animals your generosity +restored to me." + +"This time, at least, I do not deserve your thanks. It was Ali, my +Nubian slave, who rendered this service to Madame de Villefort." + +"Was it Ali," asked the Count of Morcerf, "who rescued my son from the +hands of bandits?" + +"No, count," replied Monte Cristo taking the hand held out to him by the +general; "in this instance I may fairly and freely accept your thanks; +but you have already tendered them, and fully discharged your debt--if +indeed there existed one--and I feel almost mortified to find you still +reverting to the subject. May I beg of you, baroness, to honor me with +an introduction to your daughter?" + +"Oh, you are no stranger--at least not by name," replied Madame +Danglars, "and the last two or three days we have really talked of +nothing but you. Eugenie," continued the baroness, turning towards her +daughter, "this is the Count of Monte Cristo." The Count bowed, while +Mademoiselle Danglars bent her head slightly. "You have a charming young +person with you to-night, count," said Eugenie. "Is she your daughter?" + +"No, mademoiselle," said Monte Cristo, astonished at the coolness and +freedom of the question. "She is a poor unfortunate Greek left under my +care." + +"And what is her name?" + +"Haidee," replied Monte Cristo. + +"A Greek?" murmured the Count of Morcerf. + +"Yes, indeed, count," said Madame Danglars; "and tell me, did you ever +see at the court of Ali Tepelini, whom you so gloriously and valiantly +served, a more exquisite beauty or richer costume?" + +"Did I hear rightly, monsieur," said Monte Cristo "that you served at +Yanina?" + +"I was inspector-general of the pasha's troops," replied Morcerf; "and +it is no secret that I owe my fortune, such as it is, to the liberality +of the illustrious Albanese chief." + +"But look!" exclaimed Madame Danglars. + +"Where?" stammered Morcerf. + +"There," said Monte Cristo placing his arms around the count, and +leaning with him over the front of the box, just as Haidee, whose +eyes were occupied in examining the theatre in search of her guardian, +perceived his pale features close to Morcerf's face. It was as if the +young girl beheld the head of Medusa. She bent forwards as though to +assure herself of the reality of what she saw, then, uttering a faint +cry, threw herself back in her seat. The sound was heard by the people +about Ali, who instantly opened the box-door. "Why, count," exclaimed +Eugenie, "what has happened to your ward? she seems to have been taken +suddenly ill." + +"Very probably," answered the count. "But do not be alarmed on her +account. Haidee's nervous system is delicately organized, and she is +peculiarly susceptible to the odors even of flowers--nay, there are +some which cause her to faint if brought into her presence. However," +continued Monte Cristo, drawing a small phial from his pocket, "I have +an infallible remedy." So saying, he bowed to the baroness and her +daughter, exchanged a parting shake of the hand with Debray and the +count, and left Madame Danglars' box. Upon his return to Haidee he found +her still very pale. As soon as she saw him she seized his hand; her own +hands were moist and icy cold. "Who was it you were talking with over +there?" she asked. + +"With the Count of Morcerf," answered Monte Cristo. "He tells me he +served your illustrious father, and that he owes his fortune to him." + +"Wretch!" exclaimed Haidee, her eyes flashing with rage; "he sold my +father to the Turks, and the fortune he boasts of was the price of his +treachery! Did not you know that, my dear lord?" + +"Something of this I heard in Epirus," said Monte Cristo; "but the +particulars are still unknown to me. You shall relate them to me, my +child. They are, no doubt, both curious and interesting." + +"Yes, yes; but let us go. I feel as though it would kill me to remain +long near that dreadful man." So saying, Haidee arose, and wrapping +herself in her burnoose of white cashmire embroidered with pearls and +coral, she hastily quitted the box at the moment when the curtain was +rising upon the fourth act. + +"Do you observe," said the Countess G---- to Albert, who had returned +to her side, "that man does nothing like other people; he listens most +devoutly to the third act of 'Robert le Diable,' and when the fourth +begins, takes his departure." + + + +Chapter 54. A Flurry in Stocks. + +Some days after this meeting, Albert de Morcerf visited the Count of +Monte Cristo at his house in the Champs Elysees, which had already +assumed that palace-like appearance which the count's princely fortune +enabled him to give even to his most temporary residences. He came to +renew the thanks of Madame Danglars which had been already conveyed to +the count through the medium of a letter, signed "Baronne Danglars, +nee Hermine de Servieux." Albert was accompanied by Lucien Debray, who, +joining in his friend's conversation, added some passing compliments, +the source of which the count's talent for finesse easily enabled him to +guess. He was convinced that Lucien's visit was due to a double feeling +of curiosity, the larger half of which sentiment emanated from the +Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin. In short, Madame Danglars, not being able +personally to examine in detail the domestic economy and household +arrangements of a man who gave away horses worth 30,000 francs and who +went to the opera with a Greek slave wearing diamonds to the amount of a +million of money, had deputed those eyes, by which she was accustomed +to see, to give her a faithful account of the mode of life of this +incomprehensible person. But the count did not appear to suspect that +there could be the slightest connection between Lucien's visit and the +curiosity of the baroness. + +"You are in constant communication with the Baron Danglars?" the count +inquired of Albert de Morcerf. + +"Yes, count, you know what I told you?" + +"All remains the same, then, in that quarter?" + +"It is more than ever a settled thing," said Lucien,--and, considering +that this remark was all that he was at that time called upon to make, +he adjusted the glass to his eye, and biting the top of his gold headed +cane, began to make the tour of the apartment, examining the arms and +the pictures. + +"Ah," said Monte Cristo "I did not expect that the affair would be so +promptly concluded." + +"Oh, things take their course without our assistance. While we are +forgetting them, they are falling into their appointed order; and +when, again, our attention is directed to them, we are surprised at +the progress they have made towards the proposed end. My father and M. +Danglars served together in Spain, my father in the army and M. Danglars +in the commissariat department. It was there that my father, ruined by +the revolution, and M. Danglars, who never had possessed any patrimony, +both laid the foundations of their different fortunes." + +"Yes," said Monte Cristo "I think M. Danglars mentioned that in a visit +which I paid him; and," continued he, casting a side-glance at Lucien, +who was turning over the leaves of an album, "Mademoiselle Eugenie is +pretty--I think I remember that to be her name." + +"Very pretty, or rather, very beautiful," replied Albert, "but of that +style of beauty which I do not appreciate; I am an ungrateful fellow." + +"You speak as if you were already her husband." + +"Ah," returned Albert, in his turn looking around to see what Lucien was +doing. + +"Really," said Monte Cristo, lowering his voice, "you do not appear to +me to be very enthusiastic on the subject of this marriage." + +"Mademoiselle Danglars is too rich for me," replied Morcerf, "and that +frightens me." + +"Bah," exclaimed Monte Cristo, "that's a fine reason to give. Are you +not rich yourself?" + +"My father's income is about 50,000 francs per annum; and he will give +me, perhaps, ten or twelve thousand when I marry." + +"That, perhaps, might not be considered a large sum, in Paris +especially," said the count; "but everything does not depend on wealth, +and it is a fine thing to have a good name, and to occupy a high station +in society. Your name is celebrated, your position magnificent; and +then the Comte de Morcerf is a soldier, and it is pleasing to see +the integrity of a Bayard united to the poverty of a Duguesclin; +disinterestedness is the brightest ray in which a noble sword can +shine. As for me, I consider the union with Mademoiselle Danglars a most +suitable one; she will enrich you, and you will ennoble her." Albert +shook his head, and looked thoughtful. "There is still something else," +said he. + +"I confess," observed Monte Cristo, "that I have some difficulty in +comprehending your objection to a young lady who is both rich and +beautiful." + +"Oh," said Morcerf, "this repugnance, if repugnance it may be called, is +not all on my side." + +"Whence can it arise, then? for you told me your father desired the +marriage." + +"It is my mother who dissents; she has a clear and penetrating judgment, +and does not smile on the proposed union. I cannot account for it, but +she seems to entertain some prejudice against the Danglars." + +"Ah," said the count, in a somewhat forced tone, "that may be easily +explained; the Comtesse de Morcerf, who is aristocracy and refinement +itself, does not relish the idea of being allied by your marriage with +one of ignoble birth; that is natural enough." + +"I do not know if that is her reason," said Albert, "but one thing I +do know, that if this marriage be consummated, it will render her quite +miserable. There was to have been a meeting six weeks ago in order +to talk over and settle the affair; but I had such a sudden attack of +indisposition"-- + +"Real?" interrupted the count, smiling. + +"Oh, real enough, from anxiety doubtless,--at any rate they postponed +the matter for two months. There is no hurry, you know. I am not yet +twenty-one, and Eugenie is only seventeen; but the two months expire +next week. It must be done. My dear count, you cannot imagine how my +mind is harassed. How happy you are in being exempt from all this!" + +"Well, and why should not you be free, too? What prevents you from being +so?" + +"Oh, it will be too great a disappointment to my father if I do not +marry Mademoiselle Danglars." + +"Marry her then," said the count, with a significant shrug of the +shoulders. + +"Yes," replied Morcerf, "but that will plunge my mother into positive +grief." + +"Then do not marry her," said the count. + +"Well, I shall see. I will try and think over what is the best thing +to be done; you will give me your advice, will you not, and if possible +extricate me from my unpleasant position? I think, rather than give pain +to my dear mother, I would run the risk of offending the count." Monte +Cristo turned away; he seemed moved by this last remark. "Ah," said he +to Debray, who had thrown himself into an easy-chair at the farthest +extremity of the salon, and who held a pencil in his right hand and an +account book in his left, "what are you doing there? Are you making a +sketch after Poussin?" + +"Oh, no," was the tranquil response; "I am too fond of art to attempt +anything of that sort. I am doing a little sum in arithmetic." + +"In arithmetic?" + +"Yes; I am calculating--by the way, Morcerf, that indirectly concerns +you--I am calculating what the house of Danglars must have gained by the +last rise in Haiti bonds; from 206 they have risen to 409 in three days, +and the prudent banker had purchased at 206; therefore he must have made +300,000 livres." + +"That is not his biggest scoop," said Morcerf; "did he not make a +million in Spaniards this last year?" + +"My dear fellow," said Lucien, "here is the Count of Monte Cristo, who +will say to you, as the Italians do,-- + +"'Danaro e santita, Meta della meta.' [*] + + * "Money and sanctity, Each in a moiety. + +"When they tell me such things, I only shrug my shoulders and say +nothing." + +"But you were speaking of Haitians?" said Monte Cristo. + +"Ah, Haitians,--that is quite another thing! Haitians are the ecarte +of French stock-jobbing. We may like bouillotte, delight in whist, be +enraptured with boston, and yet grow tired of them all; but we always +come back to ecarte--it is not only a game, it is a hors-d'oeuvre! M. +Danglars sold yesterday at 405, and pockets 300,000 francs. Had he but +waited till to-day, the price would have fallen to 205, and instead of +gaining 300,000 francs, he would have lost 20 or 25,000." + +"And what has caused the sudden fall from 409 to 206?" asked Monte +Cristo. "I am profoundly ignorant of all these stock-jobbing intrigues." + +"Because," said Albert, laughing, "one piece of news follows another, +and there is often great dissimilarity between them." + +"Ah," said the count, "I see that M. Danglars is accustomed to play at +gaining or losing 300,000 francs in a day; he must be enormously rich." + +"It is not he who plays!" exclaimed Lucien; "it is Madame Danglars: she +is indeed daring." + +"But you who are a reasonable being, Lucien, and who knows how +little dependence is to be placed on the news, since you are at the +fountain-head, surely you ought to prevent it," said Morcerf, with a +smile. + +"How can I, if her husband fails in controlling her?" asked Lucien; "you +know the character of the baroness--no one has any influence with her, +and she does precisely what she pleases." + +"Ah, if I were in your place"--said Albert. + +"Well?" + +"I would reform her; it would be rendering a service to her future +son-in-law." + +"How would you set about it?" + +"Ah, that would be easy enough--I would give her a lesson." + +"A lesson?" + +"Yes. Your position as secretary to the minister renders your authority +great on the subject of political news; you never open your mouth but +the stockbrokers immediately stenograph your words. Cause her to lose a +hundred thousand francs, and that would teach her prudence." + +"I do not understand," stammered Lucien. + +"It is very clear, notwithstanding," replied the young man, with an +artlessness wholly free from affectation; "tell her some fine morning +an unheard-of piece of intelligence--some telegraphic despatch, of +which you alone are in possession; for instance, that Henri IV. was +seen yesterday at Gabrielle's. That would boom the market; she will +buy heavily, and she will certainly lose when Beauchamp announces the +following day, in his gazette, 'The report circulated by some usually +well-informed persons that the king was seen yesterday at Gabrielle's +house, is totally without foundation. We can positively assert that his +majesty did not quit the Pont-Neuf.'" Lucien half smiled. Monte +Cristo, although apparently indifferent, had not lost one word of this +conversation, and his penetrating eye had even read a hidden secret +in the embarrassed manner of the secretary. This embarrassment had +completely escaped Albert, but it caused Lucien to shorten his visit; +he was evidently ill at ease. The count, in taking leave of him, said +something in a low voice, to which he answered, "Willingly, count; I +accept." The count returned to young Morcerf. + +"Do you not think, on reflection," said he to him, "that you have done +wrong in thus speaking of your mother-in-law in the presence of M. +Debray?" + +"My dear count," said Morcerf, "I beg of you not to apply that title so +prematurely." + +"Now, speaking without any exaggeration, is your mother really so very +much averse to this marriage?" + +"So much so that the baroness very rarely comes to the house, and my +mother, has not, I think, visited Madame Danglars twice in her whole +life." + +"Then," said the count, "I am emboldened to speak openly to you. +M. Danglars is my banker; M. de Villefort has overwhelmed me with +politeness in return for a service which a casual piece of good fortune +enabled me to render him. I predict from all this an avalanche of +dinners and routs. Now, in order not to presume on this, and also to be +beforehand with them, I have, if agreeable to you, thought of +inviting M. and Madame Danglars, and M. and Madame de Villefort, to +my country-house at Auteuil. If I were to invite you and the Count and +Countess of Morcerf to this dinner, I should give it the appearance of +being a matrimonial meeting, or at least Madame de Morcerf would look +upon the affair in that light, especially if Baron Danglars did me the +honor to bring his daughter. In that case your mother would hold me in +aversion, and I do not at all wish that; on the contrary, I desire to +stand high in her esteem." + +"Indeed, count," said Morcerf, "I thank you sincerely for having used so +much candor towards me, and I gratefully accept the exclusion which you +propose. You say you desire my mother's good opinion; I assure you it is +already yours to a very unusual extent." + +"Do you think so?" said Monte Cristo, with interest. + +"Oh, I am sure of it; we talked of you an hour after you left us the +other day. But to return to what we were saying. If my mother could know +of this attention on your part--and I will venture to tell her--I am +sure that she will be most grateful to you; it is true that my father +will be equally angry." The count laughed. "Well," said he to Morcerf, +"but I think your father will not be the only angry one; M. and Madame +Danglars will think me a very ill-mannered person. They know that I +am intimate with you--that you are, in fact; one of the oldest of my +Parisian acquaintances--and they will not find you at my house; they +will certainly ask me why I did not invite you. Be sure to provide +yourself with some previous engagement which shall have a semblance of +probability, and communicate the fact to me by a line in writing. You +know that with bankers nothing but a written document will be valid." + +"I will do better than that," said Albert; "my mother is wishing to go +to the sea-side--what day is fixed for your dinner?" + +"Saturday." + +"This is Tuesday--well, to-morrow evening we leave, and the day after we +shall be at Treport. Really, count, you have a delightful way of setting +people at their ease." + +"Indeed, you give me more credit than I deserve; I only wish to do what +will be agreeable to you, that is all." + +"When shall you send your invitations?" + +"This very day." + +"Well, I will immediately call on M. Danglars, and tell him that my +mother and myself must leave Paris to-morrow. I have not seen you, +consequently I know nothing of your dinner." + +"How foolish you are! Have you forgotten that M. Debray has just seen +you at my house?" + +"Ah, true." + +"Fix it this way. I have seen you, and invited you without any ceremony, +when you instantly answered that it would be impossible for you to +accept, as you were going to Treport." + +"Well, then, that is settled; but you will come and call on my mother +before to-morrow?" + +"Before to-morrow?--that will be a difficult matter to arrange, besides, +I shall just be in the way of all the preparations for departure." + +"Well, you can do better. You were only a charming man before, but, if +you accede to my proposal, you will be adorable." + +"What must I do to attain such sublimity?" + +"You are to-day free as air--come and dine with me; we shall be a +small party--only yourself, my mother, and I. You have scarcely seen my +mother; you shall have an opportunity of observing her more closely. +She is a remarkable woman, and I only regret that there does not exist +another like her, about twenty years younger; in that case, I assure +you, there would very soon be a Countess and Viscountess of Morcerf. As +to my father, you will not see him; he is officially engaged, and dines +with the chief referendary. We will talk over our travels; and you, who +have seen the whole world, will relate your adventures--you shall tell +us the history of the beautiful Greek who was with you the other +night at the Opera, and whom you call your slave, and yet treat like a +princess. We will talk Italian and Spanish. Come, accept my invitation, +and my mother will thank you." + +"A thousand thanks," said the count, "your invitation is most gracious, +and I regret exceedingly that it is not in my power to accept it. I am +not so much at liberty as you suppose; on the contrary, I have a most +important engagement." + +"Ah, take care, you were teaching me just now how, in case of an +invitation to dinner, one might creditably make an excuse. I require the +proof of a pre-engagement. I am not a banker, like M. Danglars, but I am +quite as incredulous as he is." + +"I am going to give you a proof," replied the count, and he rang the +bell. + +"Humph," said Morcerf, "this is the second time you have refused to dine +with my mother; it is evident that you wish to avoid her." Monte Cristo +started. "Oh, you do not mean that," said he; "besides, here comes the +confirmation of my assertion." Baptistin entered, and remained standing +at the door. "I had no previous knowledge of your visit, had I?" + +"Indeed, you are such an extraordinary person, that I would not answer +for it." + +"At all events, I could not guess that you would invite me to dinner." + +"Probably not." + +"Well, listen, Baptistin, what did I tell you this morning when I called +you into my laboratory?" + +"To close the door against visitors as soon as the clock struck five," +replied the valet. + +"What then?" + +"Ah, my dear count," said Albert. + +"No, no, I wish to do away with that mysterious reputation that you have +given me, my dear viscount; it is tiresome to be always acting Manfred. +I wish my life to be free and open. Go on, Baptistin." + +"Then to admit no one except Major Bartolomeo Cavalcanti and his son." + +"You hear--Major Bartolomeo Cavalcanti--a man who ranks amongst the most +ancient nobility of Italy, whose name Dante has celebrated in the tenth +canto of 'The Inferno,' you remember it, do you not? Then there is his +son, Andrea, a charming young man, about your own age, viscount, +bearing the same title as yourself, and who is making his entry into the +Parisian world, aided by his father's millions. The major will bring his +son with him this evening, the contino, as we say in Italy; he confides +him to my care. If he proves himself worthy of it, I will do what I can +to advance his interests. You will assist me in the work, will you not?" + +"Most undoubtedly. This Major Cavalcanti is an old friend of yours, +then?" + +"By no means. He is a perfect nobleman, very polite, modest, and +agreeable, such as may be found constantly in Italy, descendants of very +ancient families. I have met him several times at Florence, Bologna +and Lucca, and he has now communicated to me the fact of his arrival in +Paris. The acquaintances one makes in travelling have a sort of claim on +one; they everywhere expect to receive the same attention which you once +paid them by chance, as though the civilities of a passing hour were +likely to awaken any lasting interest in favor of the man in whose +society you may happen to be thrown in the course of your journey. This +good Major Cavalcanti is come to take a second view of Paris, which he +only saw in passing through in the time of the Empire, when he was on +his way to Moscow. I shall give him a good dinner, he will confide his +son to my care, I will promise to watch over him, I shall let him follow +in whatever path his folly may lead him, and then I shall have done my +part." + +"Certainly; I see you are a model Mentor," said Albert "Good-by, we +shall return on Sunday. By the way, I have received news of Franz." + +"Have you? Is he still amusing himself in Italy?" + +"I believe so; however, he regrets your absence extremely. He says you +were the sun of Rome, and that without you all appears dark and cloudy; +I do not know if he does not even go so far as to say that it rains." + +"His opinion of me is altered for the better, then?" + +"No, he still persists in looking upon you as the most incomprehensible +and mysterious of beings." + +"He is a charming young man," said Monte Cristo "and I felt a lively +interest in him the very first evening of my introduction, when I met +him in search of a supper, and prevailed upon him to accept a portion of +mine. He is, I think, the son of General d'Epinay?" + +"He is." + +"The same who was so shamefully assassinated in 1815?" + +"By the Bonapartists." + +"Yes. Really I like him extremely; is there not also a matrimonial +engagement contemplated for him?" + +"Yes, he is to marry Mademoiselle de Villefort." + +"Indeed?" + +"And you know I am to marry Mademoiselle Danglars," said Albert, +laughing. + +"You smile." + +"Yes." + +"Why do you do so?" + +"I smile because there appears to me to be about as much inclination for +the consummation of the engagement in question as there is for my own. +But really, my dear count, we are talking as much of women as they do of +us; it is unpardonable." Albert rose. + +"Are you going?" + +"Really, that is a good idea!--two hours have I been boring you to death +with my company, and then you, with the greatest politeness, ask me if I +am going. Indeed, count, you are the most polished man in the world. +And your servants, too, how very well behaved they are; there is quite a +style about them. Monsieur Baptistin especially; I could never get such +a man as that. My servants seem to imitate those you sometimes see in a +play, who, because they have only a word or two to say, aquit themselves +in the most awkward manner possible. Therefore, if you part with M. +Baptistin, give me the refusal of him." + +"By all means." + +"That is not all; give my compliments to your illustrious Luccanese, +Cavalcante of the Cavalcanti; and if by any chance he should be wishing +to establish his son, find him a wife very rich, very noble on her +mother's side at least, and a baroness in right of her father, I will +help you in the search." + +"Ah, ha; you will do as much as that, will you?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, really, nothing is certain in this world." + +"Oh, count, what a service you might render me! I should like you a +hundred times better if, by your intervention, I could manage to remain +a bachelor, even were it only for ten years." + +"Nothing is impossible," gravely replied Monte Cristo; and taking leave +of Albert, he returned into the house, and struck the gong three times. +Bertuccio appeared. "Monsieur Bertuccio, you understand that I intend +entertaining company on Saturday at Auteuil." Bertuccio slightly +started. "I shall require your services to see that all be properly +arranged. It is a beautiful house, or at all events may be made so." + +"There must be a good deal done before it can deserve that title, your +excellency, for the tapestried hangings are very old." + +"Let them all be taken away and changed, then, with the exception of +the sleeping-chamber which is hung with red damask; you will leave +that exactly as it is." Bertuccio bowed. "You will not touch the garden +either; as to the yard, you may do what you please with it; I should +prefer that being altered beyond all recognition." + +"I will do everything in my power to carry out your wishes, your +excellency. I should be glad, however, to receive your excellency's +commands concerning the dinner." + +"Really, my dear M. Bertuccio," said the count, "since you have been +in Paris, you have become quite nervous, and apparently out of your +element; you no longer seem to understand me." + +"But surely your excellency will be so good as to inform me whom you are +expecting to receive?" + +"I do not yet know myself, neither is it necessary that you should do +so. 'Lucullus dines with Lucullus,' that is quite sufficient." Bertuccio +bowed, and left the room. + + + +Chapter 55. Major Cavalcanti. + +Both the count and Baptistin had told the truth when they announced to +Morcerf the proposed visit of the major, which had served Monte Cristo +as a pretext for declining Albert's invitation. Seven o'clock had just +struck, and M. Bertuccio, according to the command which had been given +him, had two hours before left for Auteuil, when a cab stopped at the +door, and after depositing its occupant at the gate, immediately hurried +away, as if ashamed of its employment. The visitor was about fifty-two +years of age, dressed in one of the green surtouts, ornamented with +black frogs, which have so long maintained their popularity all over +Europe. He wore trousers of blue cloth, boots tolerably clean, but not +of the brightest polish, and a little too thick in the soles, buckskin +gloves, a hat somewhat resembling in shape those usually worn by +the gendarmes, and a black cravat striped with white, which, if the +proprietor had not worn it of his own free will, might have passed for a +halter, so much did it resemble one. Such was the picturesque costume of +the person who rang at the gate, and demanded if it was not at No. 30 in +the Avenue des Champs-Elysees that the Count of Monte Cristo lived, and +who, being answered by the porter in the affirmative, entered, closed +the gate after him, and began to ascend the steps. + +The small and angular head of this man, his white hair and thick gray +mustaches, caused him to be easily recognized by Baptistin, who had +received an exact description of the expected visitor, and who was +awaiting him in the hall. Therefore, scarcely had the stranger time to +pronounce his name before the count was apprised of his arrival. He was +ushered into a simple and elegant drawing-room, and the count rose to +meet him with a smiling air. "Ah, my dear sir, you are most welcome; I +was expecting you." + +"Indeed," said the Italian, "was your excellency then aware of my +visit?" + +"Yes; I had been told that I should see you to-day at seven o'clock." + +"Then you have received full information concerning my arrival?" + +"Of course." + +"Ah, so much the better, I feared this little precaution might have been +forgotten." + +"What precaution?" + +"That of informing you beforehand of my coming." + +"Oh, no, it has not." + +"But you are sure you are not mistaken." + +"Very sure." + +"It really was I whom your excellency expected at seven o'clock this +evening?" + +"I will prove it to you beyond a doubt." + +"Oh, no, never mind that," said the Italian; "it is not worth the +trouble." + +"Yes, yes," said Monte Cristo. His visitor appeared slightly uneasy. +"Let me see," said the count; "are you not the Marquis Bartolomeo +Cavalcanti?" + +"Bartolomeo Cavalcanti," joyfully replied the Italian; "yes, I am really +he." + +"Ex-major in the Austrian service?" + +"Was I a major?" timidly asked the old soldier. + +"Yes," said Monte Cristo "you were a major; that is the title the French +give to the post which you filled in Italy." + +"Very good," said the major, "I do not demand more, you understand"-- + +"Your visit here to-day is not of your own suggestion, is it?" said +Monte Cristo. + +"No, certainly not." + +"You were sent by some other person?" + +"Yes." + +"By the excellent Abbe Busoni?" + +"Exactly so," said the delighted major. + +"And you have a letter?" + +"Yes, there it is." + +"Give it me, then;" and Monte Cristo took the letter, which he opened +and read. The major looked at the count with his large staring eyes, +and then took a survey of the apartment, but his gaze almost immediately +reverted to the proprietor of the room. "Yes, yes, I see. 'Major +Cavalcanti, a worthy patrician of Lucca, a descendant of the Cavalcanti +of Florence,'" continued Monte Cristo, reading aloud, "'possessing an +income of half a million.'" Monte Cristo raised his eyes from the paper, +and bowed. "Half a million," said he, "magnificent!" + +"Half a million, is it?" said the major. + +"Yes, in so many words; and it must be so, for the abbe knows correctly +the amount of all the largest fortunes in Europe." + +"Be it half a million, then; but on my word of honor, I had no idea that +it was so much." + +"Because you are robbed by your steward. You must make some reformation +in that quarter." + +"You have opened my eyes," said the Italian gravely; "I will show the +gentlemen the door." Monte Cristo resumed the perusal of the letter:-- + +"'And who only needs one thing more to make him happy.'" + +"Yes, indeed but one!" said the major with a sigh. + +"'Which is to recover a lost and adored son.'" + +"A lost and adored son!" + +"'Stolen away in his infancy, either by an enemy of his noble family or +by the gypsies.'" + +"At the age of five years!" said the major with a deep sigh, and raising +his eye to heaven. + +"Unhappy father," said Monte Cristo. The count continued:-- + +"'I have given him renewed life and hope, in the assurance that you have +the power of restoring the son whom he has vainly sought for fifteen +years.'" The major looked at the count with an indescribable expression +of anxiety. "I have the power of so doing," said Monte Cristo. The major +recovered his self-possession. "So, then," said he, "the letter was true +to the end?" + +"Did you doubt it, my dear Monsieur Bartolomeo?" + +"No, indeed; certainly not; a good man, a man holding religious office, +as does the Abbe Busoni, could not condescend to deceive or play off a +joke; but your excellency has not read all." + +"Ah, true," said Monte Cristo "there is a postscript." + +"Yes, yes," repeated the major, "yes--there--is--a--postscript." + +"'In order to save Major Cavalcanti the trouble of drawing on his +banker, I send him a draft for 2,000 francs to defray his travelling +expenses, and credit on you for the further sum of 48,000 francs, which +you still owe me.'" The major awaited the conclusion of the postscript, +apparently with great anxiety. "Very good," said the count. + +"He said 'very good,'" muttered the major, "then--sir"--replied he. + +"Then what?" asked Monte Cristo. + +"Then the postscript"-- + +"Well; what of the postscript?" + +"Then the postscript is as favorably received by you as the rest of the +letter?" + +"Certainly; the Abbe Busoni and myself have a small account open between +us. I do not remember if it is exactly 48,000. francs, which I am still +owing him, but I dare say we shall not dispute the difference. You +attached great importance, then, to this postscript, my dear Monsieur +Cavalcanti?" + +"I must explain to you," said the major, "that, fully confiding in the +signature of the Abbe Busoni, I had not provided myself with any other +funds; so that if this resource had failed me, I should have found +myself very unpleasantly situated in Paris." + +"Is it possible that a man of your standing should be embarrassed +anywhere?" said Monte Cristo. + +"Why, really I know no one," said the major. + +"But then you yourself are known to others?" + +"Yes, I am known, so that"-- + +"Proceed, my dear Monsieur Cavalcanti." + +"So that you will remit to me these 48,000 francs?" + +"Certainly, at your first request." The major's eyes dilated with +pleasing astonishment. "But sit down," said Monte Cristo; "really I +do not know what I have been thinking of--I have positively kept you +standing for the last quarter of an hour." + +"Don't mention it." The major drew an arm-chair towards him, and +proceeded to seat himself. + +"Now," said the count, "what will you take--a glass of port, sherry, or +Alicante?" + +"Alicante, if you please; it is my favorite wine." + +"I have some that is very good. You will take a biscuit with it, will +you not?" + +"Yes, I will take a biscuit, as you are so obliging." + +Monte Cristo rang; Baptistin appeared. The count advanced to meet him. +"Well?" said he in a low voice. "The young man is here," said the valet +de chambre in the same tone. + +"Into what room did you take him?" + +"Into the blue drawing-room, according to your excellency's orders." + +"That's right; now bring the Alicante and some biscuits." + +Baptistin left the room. "Really," said the major, "I am quite ashamed +of the trouble I am giving you." + +"Pray don't mention such a thing," said the count. Baptistin re-entered +with glasses, wine, and biscuits. The count filled one glass, but in the +other he only poured a few drops of the ruby-colored liquid. The bottle +was covered with spiders' webs, and all the other signs which indicate +the age of wine more truly than do wrinkles on a man's face. The major +made a wise choice; he took the full glass and a biscuit. The count told +Baptistin to leave the plate within reach of his guest, who began by +sipping the Alicante with an expression of great satisfaction, and then +delicately steeped his biscuit in the wine. + +"So, sir, you lived at Lucca, did you? You were rich, noble, held in +great esteem--had all that could render a man happy?" + +"All," said the major, hastily swallowing his biscuit, "positively all." + +"And yet there was one thing wanting in order to complete your +happiness?" + +"Only one thing," said the Italian. + +"And that one thing, your lost child." + +"Ah," said the major, taking a second biscuit, "that consummation of +my happiness was indeed wanting." The worthy major raised his eyes to +heaven and sighed. + +"Let me hear, then," said the count, "who this deeply regretted son was; +for I always understood you were a bachelor." + +"That was the general opinion, sir," said the major, "and I"-- + +"Yes," replied the count, "and you confirmed the report. A youthful +indiscretion, I suppose, which you were anxious to conceal from the +world at large?" The major recovered himself, and resumed his usual calm +manner, at the same time casting his eyes down, either to give himself +time to compose his countenance, or to assist his imagination, all the +while giving an under-look at the count, the protracted smile on whose +lips still announced the same polite curiosity. "Yes," said the major, +"I did wish this fault to be hidden from every eye." + +"Not on your own account, surely," replied Monte Cristo; "for a man is +above that sort of thing?" + +"Oh, no, certainly not on my own account," said the major with a smile +and a shake of the head. + +"But for the sake of the mother?" said the count. + +"Yes, for the mother's sake--his poor mother!" cried the major, taking a +third biscuit. + +"Take some more wine, my dear Cavalcanti," said the count, pouring out +for him a second glass of Alicante; "your emotion has quite overcome +you." + +"His poor mother," murmured the major, trying to get the lachrymal gland +in operation, so as to moisten the corner of his eye with a false tear. + +"She belonged to one of the first families in Italy, I think, did she +not?" + +"She was of a noble family of Fiesole, count." + +"And her name was"-- + +"Do you desire to know her name?"-- + +"Oh," said Monte Cristo "it would be quite superfluous for you to tell +me, for I already know it." + +"The count knows everything," said the Italian, bowing. + +"Oliva Corsinari, was it not?" + +"Oliva Corsinari." + +"A marchioness?" + +"A marchioness." + +"And you married her at last, notwithstanding the opposition of her +family?" + +"Yes, that was the way it ended." + +"And you have doubtless brought all your papers with you?" said Monte +Cristo. + +"What papers?" + +"The certificate of your marriage with Oliva Corsinari, and the register +of your child's birth." + +"The register of my child's birth?" + +"The register of the birth of Andrea Cavalcanti--of your son; is not his +name Andrea?" + +"I believe so," said the major. + +"What? You believe so?" + +"I dare not positively assert it, as he has been lost for so long a +time." + +"Well, then," said Monte Cristo "you have all the documents with you?" + +"Your excellency, I regret to say that, not knowing it was necessary to +come provided with these papers, I neglected to bring them." + +"That is unfortunate," returned Monte Cristo. + +"Were they, then, so necessary?" + +"They were indispensable." + +The major passed his hand across his brow. "Ah, per Bacco, +indispensable, were they?" + +"Certainly they were; supposing there were to be doubts raised as to the +validity of your marriage or the legitimacy of your child?" + +"True," said the major, "there might be doubts raised." + +"In that case your son would be very unpleasantly situated." + +"It would be fatal to his interests." + +"It might cause him to fail in some desirable matrimonial alliance." + +"O peccato!" + +"You must know that in France they are very particular on these points; +it is not sufficient, as in Italy, to go to the priest and say, 'We love +each other, and want you to marry us.' Marriage is a civil affair in +France, and in order to marry in an orthodox manner you must have papers +which undeniably establish your identity." + +"That is the misfortune! You see I have not these necessary papers." + +"Fortunately, I have them, though," said Monte Cristo. + +"You?" + +"Yes." + +"You have them?" + +"I have them." + +"Ah, indeed?" said the major, who, seeing the object of his journey +frustrated by the absence of the papers, feared also that his +forgetfulness might give rise to some difficulty concerning the 48,000 +francs--"ah, indeed, that is a fortunate circumstance; yes, that really +is lucky, for it never occurred to me to bring them." + +"I do not at all wonder at it--one cannot think of everything; but, +happily, the Abbe Busoni thought for you." + +"He is an excellent person." + +"He is extremely prudent and thoughtful." + +"He is an admirable man," said the major; "and he sent them to you?" + +"Here they are." + +The major clasped his hands in token of admiration. "You married Oliva +Corsinari in the church of San Paolo del Monte-Cattini; here is the +priest's certificate." + +"Yes indeed, there it is truly," said the Italian, looking on with +astonishment. + +"And here is Andrea Cavalcanti's baptismal register, given by the curate +of Saravezza." + +"All quite correct." + +"Take these documents, then; they do not concern me. You will give them +to your son, who will, of course, take great care of them." + +"I should think so, indeed! If he were to lose them"-- + +"Well, and if he were to lose them?" said Monte Cristo. + +"In that case," replied the major, "it would be necessary to write to +the curate for duplicates, and it would be some time before they could +be obtained." + +"It would be a difficult matter to arrange," said Monte Cristo. + +"Almost an impossibility," replied the major. + +"I am very glad to see that you understand the value of these papers." + +"I regard them as invaluable." + +"Now," said Monte Cristo "as to the mother of the young man"-- + +"As to the mother of the young man"--repeated the Italian, with anxiety. + +"As regards the Marchesa Corsinari"-- + +"Really," said the major, "difficulties seem to thicken upon us; will +she be wanted in any way?" + +"No, sir," replied Monte Cristo; "besides, has she not"-- + +"Yes, sir," said the major, "she has"-- + +"Paid the last debt of nature?" + +"Alas, yes," returned the Italian. + +"I knew that," said Monte Cristo; "she has been dead these ten years." + +"And I am still mourning her loss," exclaimed the major, drawing from +his pocket a checked handkerchief, and alternately wiping first the left +and then the right eye. + +"What would you have?" said Monte Cristo; "we are all mortal. Now, you +understand, my dear Monsieur Cavalcanti, that it is useless for you to +tell people in France that you have been separated from your son for +fifteen years. Stories of gypsies, who steal children, are not at all in +vogue in this part of the world, and would not be believed. You sent him +for his education to a college in one of the provinces, and now you wish +him to complete his education in the Parisian world. That is the reason +which has induced you to leave Via Reggio, where you have lived since +the death of your wife. That will be sufficient." + +"You think so?" + +"Certainly." + +"Very well, then." + +"If they should hear of the separation"-- + +"Ah, yes; what could I say?" + +"That an unfaithful tutor, bought over by the enemies of your family"-- + +"By the Corsinari?" + +"Precisely. Had stolen away this child, in order that your name might +become extinct." + +"That is reasonable, since he is an only son." + +"Well, now that all is arranged, do not let these newly awakened +remembrances be forgotten. You have, doubtless, already guessed that I +was preparing a surprise for you?" + +"An agreeable one?" asked the Italian. + +"Ah, I see the eye of a father is no more to be deceived than his +heart." + +"Hum!" said the major. + +"Some one has told you the secret; or, perhaps, you guessed that he was +here." + +"That who was here?" + +"Your child--your son--your Andrea!" + +"I did guess it," replied the major with the greatest possible coolness. +"Then he is here?" + +"He is," said Monte Cristo; "when the valet de chambre came in just now, +he told me of his arrival." + +"Ah, very well, very well," said the major, clutching the buttons of his +coat at each exclamation. + +"My dear sir," said Monte Cristo, "I understand your emotion; you must +have time to recover yourself. I will, in the meantime, go and prepare +the young man for this much-desired interview, for I presume that he is +not less impatient for it than yourself." + +"I should quite imagine that to be the case," said Cavalcanti. + +"Well, in a quarter of an hour he shall be with you." + +"You will bring him, then? You carry your goodness so far as even to +present him to me yourself?" + +"No; I do not wish to come between a father and son. Your interview will +be private. But do not be uneasy; even if the powerful voice of nature +should be silent, you cannot well mistake him; he will enter by this +door. He is a fine young man, of fair complexion--a little too fair, +perhaps--pleasing in manners; but you will see and judge for yourself." + +"By the way," said the major, "you know I have only the 2,000 francs +which the Abbe Busoni sent me; this sum I have expended upon travelling +expenses, and"-- + +"And you want money; that is a matter of course, my dear M. Cavalcanti. +Well, here are 8,000 francs on account." + +The major's eyes sparkled brilliantly. + +"It is 40,000 francs which I now owe you," said Monte Cristo. + +"Does your excellency wish for a receipt?" said the major, at the same +time slipping the money into the inner pocket of his coat. + +"For what?" said the count. + +"I thought you might want it to show the Abbe Busoni." + +"Well, when you receive the remaining 40,000, you shall give me a +receipt in full. Between honest men such excessive precaution is, I +think, quite unnecessary." + +"Yes, so it is, between perfectly upright people." + +"One word more," said Monte Cristo. + +"Say on." + +"You will permit me to make one remark?" + +"Certainly; pray do so." + +"Then I should advise you to leave off wearing that style of dress." + +"Indeed," said the major, regarding himself with an air of complete +satisfaction. + +"Yes. It may be worn at Via Reggio; but that costume, however elegant in +itself, has long been out of fashion in Paris." + +"That's unfortunate." + +"Oh, if you really are attached to your old mode of dress; you can +easily resume it when you leave Paris." + +"But what shall I wear?" + +"What you find in your trunks." + +"In my trunks? I have but one portmanteau." + +"I dare say you have nothing else with you. What is the use of boring +one's self with so many things? Besides an old soldier always likes to +march with as little baggage as possible." + +"That is just the case--precisely so." + +"But you are a man of foresight and prudence, therefore you sent your +luggage on before you. It has arrived at the Hotel des Princes, Rue de +Richelieu. It is there you are to take up your quarters." + +"Then, in these trunks"-- + +"I presume you have given orders to your valet de chambre to put in all +you are likely to need,--your plain clothes and your uniform. On grand +occasions you must wear your uniform; that will look very well. Do not +forget your crosses. They still laugh at them in France, and yet always +wear them, for all that." + +"Very well, very well," said the major, who was in ecstasy at the +attention paid him by the count. + +"Now," said Monte Cristo, "that you have fortified yourself against all +painful excitement, prepare yourself, my dear M. Cavalcanti, to meet +your lost Andrea." Saying which Monte Cristo bowed, and disappeared +behind the tapestry, leaving the major fascinated beyond expression +with the delightful reception which he had received at the hands of the +count. + + + +Chapter 56. Andrea Cavalcanti. + +The Count of Monte Cristo entered the adjoining room, which Baptistin +had designated as the drawing-room, and found there a young man, of +graceful demeanor and elegant appearance, who had arrived in a cab +about half an hour previously. Baptistin had not found any difficulty in +recognizing the person who presented himself at the door for admittance. +He was certainly the tall young man with light hair, red beard, black +eyes, and brilliant complexion, whom his master had so particularly +described to him. When the count entered the room the young man was +carelessly stretched on a sofa, tapping his boot with the gold-headed +cane which he held in his hand. On perceiving the count he rose quickly. +"The Count of Monte Cristo, I believe?" said he. + +"Yes, sir, and I think I have the honor of addressing Count Andrea +Cavalcanti?" + +"Count Andrea Cavalcanti," repeated the young man, accompanying his +words with a bow. + +"You are charged with a letter of introduction addressed to me, are you +not?" said the count. + +"I did not mention that, because the signature seemed to me so strange." + +"The letter signed 'Sinbad the Sailor,' is it not?" + +"Exactly so. Now, as I have never known any Sinbad, with the exception +of the one celebrated in the 'Thousand and One Nights'"-- + +"Well, it is one of his descendants, and a great friend of mine; he is a +very rich Englishman, eccentric almost to insanity, and his real name is +Lord Wilmore." + +"Ah, indeed? Then that explains everything that is extraordinary," +said Andrea. "He is, then, the same Englishman whom I met--at--ah--yes, +indeed. Well, monsieur, I am at your service." + +"If what you say be true," replied the count, smiling, "perhaps you will +be kind enough to give me some account of yourself and your family?" + +"Certainly, I will do so," said the young man, with a quickness which +gave proof of his ready invention. "I am (as you have said) the Count +Andrea Cavalcanti, son of Major Bartolomeo Cavalcanti, a descendant of +the Cavalcanti whose names are inscribed in the golden book at Florence. +Our family, although still rich (for my father's income amounts to half +a million), has experienced many misfortunes, and I myself was, at the +age of five years, taken away by the treachery of my tutor, so that for +fifteen years I have not seen the author of my existence. Since I have +arrived at years of discretion and become my own master, I have been +constantly seeking him, but all in vain. At length I received this +letter from your friend, which states that my father is in Paris, and +authorizes me to address myself to you for information respecting him." + +"Really, all you have related to me is exceedingly interesting," said +Monte Cristo, observing the young man with a gloomy satisfaction; "and +you have done well to conform in everything to the wishes of my friend +Sinbad; for your father is indeed here, and is seeking you." + +The count from the moment of first entering the drawing-room, had not +once lost sight of the expression of the young man's countenance; he had +admired the assurance of his look and the firmness of his voice; but at +these words, so natural in themselves, "Your father is indeed here, and +is seeking you," young Andrea started, and exclaimed, "My father? Is my +father here?" + +"Most undoubtedly," replied Monte Cristo; "your father, Major Bartolomeo +Cavalcanti." The expression of terror which, for the moment, had +overspread the features of the young man, had now disappeared. "Ah, yes, +that is the name, certainly. Major Bartolomeo Cavalcanti. And you really +mean to say; monsieur, that my dear father is here?" + +"Yes, sir; and I can even add that I have only just left his company. +The history which he related to me of his lost son touched me to the +quick; indeed, his griefs, hopes, and fears on that subject might +furnish material for a most touching and pathetic poem. At length, he +one day received a letter, stating that the abductors of his son now +offered to restore him, or at least to give notice where he might be +found, on condition of receiving a large sum of money, by way of ransom. +Your father did not hesitate an instant, and the sum was sent to the +frontier of Piedmont, with a passport signed for Italy. You were in the +south of France, I think?" + +"Yes," replied Andrea, with an embarrassed air, "I was in the south of +France." + +"A carriage was to await you at Nice?" + +"Precisely so; and it conveyed me from Nice to Genoa, from Genoa to +Turin, from Turin to Chambery, from Chambery to Pont-de-Beauvoisin, and +from Pont-de-Beauvoisin to Paris." + +"Indeed? Then your father ought to have met with you on the road, for it +is exactly the same route which he himself took, and that is how we have +been able to trace your journey to this place." + +"But," said Andrea, "if my father had met me, I doubt if he would have +recognized me; I must be somewhat altered since he last saw me." + +"Oh, the voice of nature," said Monte Cristo. + +"True," interrupted the young man, "I had not looked upon it in that +light." + +"Now," replied Monte Cristo "there is only one source of uneasiness left +in your father's mind, which is this--he is anxious to know how you +have been employed during your long absence from him, how you have +been treated by your persecutors, and if they have conducted themselves +towards you with all the deference due to your rank. Finally, he is +anxious to see if you have been fortunate enough to escape the bad moral +influence to which you have been exposed, and which is infinitely more +to be dreaded than any physical suffering; he wishes to discover if the +fine abilities with which nature had endowed you have been weakened by +want of culture; and, in short, whether you consider yourself capable of +resuming and retaining in the world the high position to which your rank +entitles you." + +"Sir!" exclaimed the young man, quite astounded, "I hope no false +report"-- + +"As for myself, I first heard you spoken of by my friend Wilmore, the +philanthropist. I believe he found you in some unpleasant position, but +do not know of what nature, for I did not ask, not being inquisitive. +Your misfortunes engaged his sympathies, so you see you must have +been interesting. He told me that he was anxious to restore you to the +position which you had lost, and that he would seek your father until he +found him. He did seek, and has found him, apparently, since he is here +now; and, finally, my friend apprised me of your coming, and gave me a +few other instructions relative to your future fortune. I am quite aware +that my friend Wilmore is peculiar, but he is sincere, and as rich as a +gold-mine, consequently, he may indulge his eccentricities without +any fear of their ruining him, and I have promised to adhere to his +instructions. Now, sir, pray do not be offended at the question I am +about to put to you, as it comes in the way of my duty as your patron. +I would wish to know if the misfortunes which have happened to +you--misfortunes entirely beyond your control, and which in no degree +diminish my regard for you--I would wish to know if they have not, in +some measure, contributed to render you a stranger to the world in which +your fortune and your name entitle you to make a conspicuous figure?" + +"Sir," returned the young man, with a reassurance of manner, "make +your mind easy on this score. Those who took me from my father, and +who always intended, sooner or later, to sell me again to my original +proprietor, as they have now done, calculated that, in order to make the +most of their bargain, it would be politic to leave me in possession of +all my personal and hereditary worth, and even to increase the value, +if possible. I have, therefore, received a very good education, and have +been treated by these kidnappers very much as the slaves were treated +in Asia Minor, whose masters made them grammarians, doctors, and +philosophers, in order that they might fetch a higher price in the Roman +market." Monte Cristo smiled with satisfaction; it appeared as if he had +not expected so much from M. Andrea Cavalcanti. "Besides," continued +the young man, "if there did appear some defect in education, or offence +against the established forms of etiquette, I suppose it would be +excused, in consideration of the misfortunes which accompanied my birth, +and followed me through my youth." + +"Well," said Monte Cristo in an indifferent tone, "you will do as you +please, count, for you are the master of your own actions, and are the +person most concerned in the matter, but if I were you, I would not +divulge a word of these adventures. Your history is quite a romance, +and the world, which delights in romances in yellow covers, strangely +mistrusts those which are bound in living parchment, even though they be +gilded like yourself. This is the kind of difficulty which I wished +to represent to you, my dear count. You would hardly have recited your +touching history before it would go forth to the world, and be deemed +unlikely and unnatural. You would be no longer a lost child found, +but you would be looked upon as an upstart, who had sprung up like a +mushroom in the night. You might excite a little curiosity, but it is +not every one who likes to be made the centre of observation and the +subject of unpleasant remark." + +"I agree with you, monsieur," said the young man, turning pale, and, +in spite of himself, trembling beneath the scrutinizing look of his +companion, "such consequences would be extremely unpleasant." + +"Nevertheless, you must not exaggerate the evil," said Monte Cristo, +"for by endeavoring to avoid one fault you will fall into another. You +must resolve upon one simple and single line of conduct, and for a man +of your intelligence, this plan is as easy as it is necessary; you must +form honorable friendships, and by that means counteract the prejudice +which may attach to the obscurity of your former life." Andrea visibly +changed countenance. "I would offer myself as your surety and friendly +adviser," said Monte Cristo, "did I not possess a moral distrust of my +best friends, and a sort of inclination to lead others to doubt them +too; therefore, in departing from this rule, I should (as the actors +say) be playing a part quite out of my line, and should, therefore, run +the risk of being hissed, which would be an act of folly." + +"However, your excellency," said Andrea, "in consideration of Lord +Wilmore, by whom I was recommended to you--" + +"Yes, certainly," interrupted Monte Cristo; "but Lord Wilmore did not +omit to inform me, my dear M. Andrea, that the season of your youth was +rather a stormy one. Ah," said the count, watching Andrea's countenance, +"I do not demand any confession from you; it is precisely to avoid that +necessity that your father was sent for from Lucca. You shall soon +see him. He is a little stiff and pompous in his manner, and he is +disfigured by his uniform; but when it becomes known that he has been +for eighteen years in the Austrian service, all that will be pardoned. +We are not generally very severe with the Austrians. In short, you will +find your father a very presentable person, I assure you." + +"Ah, sir, you have given me confidence; it is so long since we were +separated, that I have not the least remembrance of him, and, besides, +you know that in the eyes of the world a large fortune covers all +defects." + +"He is a millionaire--his income is 500,000 francs." + +"Then," said the young man, with anxiety, "I shall be sure to be placed +in an agreeable position." + +"One of the most agreeable possible, my dear sir; he will allow you an +income of 50,000 livres per annum during the whole time of your stay in +Paris." + +"Then in that case I shall always choose to remain there." + +"You cannot control circumstances, my dear sir; 'man proposes, and God +disposes.'" Andrea sighed. "But," said he, "so long as I do remain in +Paris, and nothing forces me to quit it, do you mean to tell me that I +may rely on receiving the sum you just now mentioned to me?" + +"You may." + +"Shall I receive it from my father?" asked Andrea, with some uneasiness. + +"Yes, you will receive it from your father personally, but Lord Wilmore +will be the security for the money. He has, at the request of your +father, opened an account of 6,000. francs a month at M. Danglars', +which is one of the safest banks in Paris." + +"And does my father mean to remain long in Paris?" asked Andrea. + +"Only a few days," replied Monte Cristo. "His service does not allow him +to absent himself more than two or three weeks together." + +"Ah, my dear father!" exclaimed Andrea, evidently charmed with the idea +of his speedy departure. + +"Therefore," said Monte Cristo feigning to mistake his +meaning--"therefore I will not, for another instant, retard the pleasure +of your meeting. Are you prepared to embrace your worthy father?" + +"I hope you do not doubt it." + +"Go, then, into the drawing-room, my young friend, where you will find +your father awaiting you." Andrea made a low bow to the count, +and entered the adjoining room. Monte Cristo watched him till he +disappeared, and then touched a spring in a panel made to look like a +picture, which, in sliding partly from the frame, discovered to view +a small opening, so cleverly contrived that it revealed all that was +passing in the drawing-room now occupied by Cavalcanti and Andrea. The +young man closed the door behind him, and advanced towards the major, +who had risen when he heard steps approaching him. "Ah, my dear father!" +said Andrea in a loud voice, in order that the count might hear him in +the next room, "is it really you?" + +"How do you do, my dear son?" said the major gravely. + +"After so many years of painful separation," said Andrea, in the same +tone of voice, and glancing towards the door, "what a happiness it is to +meet again!" + +"Indeed it is, after so long a separation." + +"Will you not embrace me, sir?" said Andrea. + +"If you wish it, my son," said the major; and the two men embraced each +other after the fashion of actors on the stage; that is to say, each +rested his head on the other's shoulder. + +"Then we are once more reunited?" said Andrea. + +"Once more," replied the major. + +"Never more to be separated?" + +"Why, as to that--I think, my dear son, you must be by this time so +accustomed to France as to look upon it almost as a second country." + +"The fact is," said the young man, "that I should be exceedingly grieved +to leave it." + +"As for me, you must know I cannot possibly live out of Lucca; therefore +I shall return to Italy as soon as I can." + +"But before you leave France, my dear father, I hope you will put me +in possession of the documents which will be necessary to prove my +descent." + +"Certainly; I am come expressly on that account; it has cost me much +trouble to find you, but I had resolved on giving them into your hands, +and if I had to recommence my search, it would occupy all the few +remaining years of my life." + +"Where are these papers, then?" + +"Here they are." + +Andrea seized the certificate of his father's marriage and his own +baptismal register, and after having opened them with all the eagerness +which might be expected under the circumstances, he read them with a +facility which proved that he was accustomed to similar documents, and +with an expression which plainly denoted an unusual interest in the +contents. When he had perused the documents, an indefinable expression +of pleasure lighted up his countenance, and looking at the major with a +most peculiar smile, he said, in very excellent Tuscan,--"Then there is +no longer any such thing, in Italy as being condemned to the galleys?" +The major drew himself up to his full height. + +"Why?--what do you mean by that question?" + +"I mean that if there were, it would be impossible to draw up with +impunity two such deeds as these. In France, my dear sir, half such a +piece of effrontery as that would cause you to be quickly despatched to +Toulon for five years, for change of air." + +"Will you be good enough to explain your meaning?" said the major, +endeavoring as much as possible to assume an air of the greatest +majesty. + +"My dear M. Cavalcanti," said Andrea, taking the major by the arm in a +confidential manner, "how much are you paid for being my father?" The +major was about to speak, when Andrea continued, in a low voice. + +"Nonsense, I am going to set you an example of confidence, they give me +50,000 francs a year to be your son; consequently, you can understand +that it is not at all likely I shall ever deny my parent." The major +looked anxiously around him. "Make yourself easy, we are quite alone," +said Andrea; "besides, we are conversing in Italian." + +"Well, then," replied the major, "they paid me 50,000 francs down." + +"Monsieur Cavalcanti," said Andrea, "do you believe in fairy tales?" + +"I used not to do so, but I really feel now almost obliged to have faith +in them." + +"You have, then, been induced to alter your opinion; you have had some +proofs of their truth?" The major drew from his pocket a handful of +gold. "Most palpable proofs," said he, "as you may perceive." + +"You think, then, that I may rely on the count's promises?" + +"Certainly I do." + +"You are sure he will keep his word with me?" + +"To the letter, but at the same time, remember, we must continue to play +our respective parts. I, as a tender father"-- + +"And I as a dutiful son, as they choose that I shall be descended from +you." + +"Whom do you mean by they?" + +"Ma foi, I can hardly tell, but I was alluding to those who wrote the +letter; you received one, did you not?" + +"Yes." + +"From whom?" + +"From a certain Abbe Busoni." + +"Have you any knowledge of him?" + +"No, I have never seen him." + +"What did he say in the letter?" + +"You will promise not to betray me?" + +"Rest assured of that; you well know that our interests are the same." + +"Then read for yourself;" and the major gave a letter into the young +man's hand. Andrea read in a low voice-- + +"You are poor; a miserable old age awaits you. Would you like to become +rich, or at least independent? Set out immediately for Paris, and demand +of the Count of Monte Cristo, Avenue des Champs Elysees, No. 30, the son +whom you had by the Marchesa Corsinari, and who was taken from you at +five years of age. This son is named Andrea Cavalcanti. In order that +you may not doubt the kind intention of the writer of this letter, you +will find enclosed an order for 2,400 francs, payable in Florence, at +Signor Gozzi's; also a letter of introduction to the Count of Monte +Cristo, on whom I give you a draft of 48,000 francs. Remember to go to +the count on the 26th May at seven o'clock in the evening. + +(Signed) + +"Abbe Busoni." + +"It is the same." + +"What do you mean?" said the major. + +"I was going to say that I received a letter almost to the same effect." + +"You?" + +"Yes." + +"From the Abbe Busoni?" + +"No." + +"From whom, then?" + +"From an Englishman, called Lord Wilmore, who takes the name of Sinbad +the Sailor." + +"And of whom you have no more knowledge than I of the Abbe Busoni?" + +"You are mistaken; there I am ahead of you." + +"You have seen him, then?" + +"Yes, once." + +"Where?" + +"Ah, that is just what I cannot tell you; if I did, I should make you as +wise as myself, which it is not my intention to do." + +"And what did the letter contain?" + +"Read it." + +"'You are poor, and your future prospects are dark and gloomy. Do you +wish for a name? should you like to be rich, and your own master?'" + +"Ma foi," said the young man; "was it possible there could be two +answers to such a question?" + +"Take the post-chaise which you will find waiting at the Porte de Genes, +as you enter Nice; pass through Turin, Chambery, and Pont-de-Beauvoisin. +Go to the Count of Monte Cristo, Avenue des Champs Elysees, on the 26th +of May, at seven o'clock in the evening, and demand of him your father. +You are the son of the Marchese Cavalcanti and the Marchesa Oliva +Corsinari. The marquis will give you some papers which will certify this +fact, and authorize you to appear under that name in the Parisian world. +As to your rank, an annual income of 50,000 livres will enable you to +support it admirably. I enclose a draft for 5,000 livres, payable on M. +Ferrea, banker at Nice, and also a letter of introduction to the Count +of Monte Cristo, whom I have directed to supply all your wants. + +"Sinbad the Sailor." + +"Humph," said the major; "very good. You have seen the count, you say?" + +"I have only just left him." + +"And has he conformed to all that the letter specified?" + +"He has." + +"Do you understand it?" + +"Not in the least." + +"There is a dupe somewhere." + +"At all events, it is neither you nor I." + +"Certainly not." + +"Well, then"-- + +"Why, it does not much concern us, do you think it does?" + +"No; I agree with you there. We must play the game to the end, and +consent to be blindfolded." + +"Ah, you shall see; I promise you I will sustain my part to admiration." + +"I never once doubted your doing so." Monte Cristo chose this moment for +re-entering the drawing-room. On hearing the sound of his footsteps, the +two men threw themselves in each other's arms, and while they were in +the midst of this embrace, the count entered. "Well, marquis," said +Monte Cristo, "you appear to be in no way disappointed in the son whom +your good fortune has restored to you." + +"Ah, your excellency, I am overwhelmed with delight." + +"And what are your feelings?" said Monte Cristo, turning to the young +man. + +"As for me, my heart is overflowing with happiness." + +"Happy father, happy son!" said the count. + +"There is only one thing which grieves me," observed the major, "and +that is the necessity for my leaving Paris so soon." + +"Ah, my dear M. Cavalcanti, I trust you will not leave before I have had +the honor of presenting you to some of my friends." + +"I am at your service, sir," replied the major. + +"Now, sir," said Monte Cristo, addressing Andrea, "make your +confession." + +"To whom?" + +"Tell M. Cavalcanti something of the state of your finances." + +"Ma foi, monsieur, you have touched upon a tender chord." + +"Do you hear what he says, major?" + +"Certainly I do." + +"But do you understand?" + +"I do." + +"Your son says he requires money." + +"Well, what would you have me do?" said the major. + +"You should furnish him with some of course," replied Monte Cristo. + +"I?" + +"Yes, you," said the count, at the same time advancing towards Andrea, +and slipping a packet of bank-notes into the young man's hand. + +"What is this?" + +"It is from your father." + +"From my father?" + +"Yes; did you not tell him just now that you wanted money? Well, then, +he deputes me to give you this." + +"Am I to consider this as part of my income on account?" + +"No, it is for the first expenses of your settling in Paris." + +"Ah, how good my dear father is!" + +"Silence," said Monte Cristo; "he does not wish you to know that it +comes from him." + +"I fully appreciate his delicacy," said Andrea, cramming the notes +hastily into his pocket. + +"And now, gentlemen, I wish you good-morning," said Monte Cristo. + +"And when shall we have the honor of seeing you again, your excellency?" +asked Cavalcanti. + +"Ah," said Andrea, "when may we hope for that pleasure?" + +"On Saturday, if you will--Yes.--Let me see--Saturday--I am to dine at +my country house, at Auteuil, on that day, Rue de la Fontaine, No. 28. +Several persons are invited, and among others, M. Danglars, your banker. +I will introduce you to him, for it will be necessary he should know +you, as he is to pay your money." + +"Full dress?" said the major, half aloud. + +"Oh, yes, certainly," said the count; "uniform, cross, knee-breeches." + +"And how shall I be dressed?" demanded Andrea. + +"Oh, very simply; black trousers, patent leather boots, white waistcoat, +either a black or blue coat, and a long cravat. Go to Blin or Veronique +for your clothes. Baptistin will tell you where, if you do not know +their address. The less pretension there is in your attire, the better +will be the effect, as you are a rich man. If you mean to buy any +horses, get them of Devedeux, and if you purchase a phaeton, go to +Baptiste for it." + +"At what hour shall we come?" asked the young man. + +"About half-past six." + +"We will be with you at that time," said the major. The two Cavalcanti +bowed to the count, and left the house. Monte Cristo went to the window, +and saw them crossing the street, arm in arm. "There go two miscreants;" +said he, "it is a pity they are not really related!"--then, after an +instant of gloomy reflection, "Come, I will go to see the Morrels," said +he; "I think that disgust is even more sickening than hatred." + + + +Chapter 57. In the Lucerne Patch. + +Our readers must now allow us to transport them again to the enclosure +surrounding M. de Villefort's house, and, behind the gate, half screened +from view by the large chestnut-trees, which on all sides spread their +luxuriant branches, we shall find some people of our acquaintance. This +time Maximilian was the first to arrive. He was intently watching for a +shadow to appear among the trees, and awaiting with anxiety the sound of +a light step on the gravel walk. At length, the long-desired sound was +heard, and instead of one figure, as he had expected, he perceived that +two were approaching him. The delay had been occasioned by a visit from +Madame Danglars and Eugenie, which had been prolonged beyond the time at +which Valentine was expected. That she might not appear to fail in her +promise to Maximilian, she proposed to Mademoiselle Danglars that they +should take a walk in the garden, being anxious to show that the delay, +which was doubtless a cause of vexation to him, was not occasioned by +any neglect on her part. The young man, with the intuitive perception +of a lover, quickly understood the circumstances in which she was +involuntarily placed, and he was comforted. Besides, although she +avoided coming within speaking distance, Valentine arranged so that +Maximilian could see her pass and repass, and each time she went by, she +managed, unperceived by her companion, to cast an expressive look at +the young man, which seemed to say, "Have patience! You see it is not +my fault." And Maximilian was patient, and employed himself in mentally +contrasting the two girls,--one fair, with soft languishing eyes, a +figure gracefully bending like a weeping willow; the other a brunette, +with a fierce and haughty expression, and as straight as a poplar. It is +unnecessary to state that, in the eyes of the young man, Valentine did +not suffer by the contrast. In about half an hour the girls went away, +and Maximilian understood that Mademoiselle Danglars' visit had at last +come to an end. In a few minutes Valentine re-entered the garden alone. +For fear that any one should be observing her return, she walked slowly; +and instead of immediately directing her steps towards the gate, she +seated herself on a bench, and, carefully casting her eyes around, to +convince herself that she was not watched, she presently arose, and +proceeded quickly to join Maximilian. + +"Good-evening, Valentine," said a well-known voice. + +"Good-evening, Maximilian; I know I have kept you waiting, but you saw +the cause of my delay." + +"Yes, I recognized Mademoiselle Danglars. I was not aware that you were +so intimate with her." + +"Who told you we were intimate, Maximilian?" + +"No one, but you appeared to be so. From the manner in which you walked +and talked together, one would have thought you were two school-girls +telling your secrets to each other." + +"We were having a confidential conversation," returned Valentine; "she +was owning to me her repugnance to the marriage with M. de Morcerf; and +I, on the other hand, was confessing to her how wretched it made me to +think of marrying M. d'Epinay." + +"Dear Valentine!" + +"That will account to you for the unreserved manner which you observed +between me and Eugenie, as in speaking of the man whom I could not love, +my thoughts involuntarily reverted to him on whom my affections were +fixed." + +"Ah, how good you are to say so, Valentine! You possess a quality which +can never belong to Mademoiselle Danglars. It is that indefinable charm +which is to a woman what perfume is to the flower and flavor to the +fruit, for the beauty of either is not the only quality we seek." + +"It is your love which makes you look upon everything in that light." + +"No, Valentine, I assure you such is not the case. I was observing you +both when you were walking in the garden, and, on my honor, without at +all wishing to depreciate the beauty of Mademoiselle Danglars, I cannot +understand how any man can really love her." + +"The fact is, Maximilian, that I was there, and my presence had the +effect of rendering you unjust in your comparison." + +"No; but tell me--it is a question of simple curiosity, and which was +suggested by certain ideas passing in my mind relative to Mademoiselle +Danglars"-- + +"I dare say it is something disparaging which you are going to say. +It only proves how little indulgence we may expect from your sex," +interrupted Valentine. + +"You cannot, at least, deny that you are very harsh judges of each +other." + +"If we are so, it is because we generally judge under the influence of +excitement. But return to your question." + +"Does Mademoiselle Danglars object to this marriage with M. de Morcerf +on account of loving another?" + +"I told you I was not on terms of strict intimacy with Eugenie." + +"Yes, but girls tell each other secrets without being particularly +intimate; own, now, that you did question her on the subject. Ah, I see +you are smiling." + +"If you are already aware of the conversation that passed, the wooden +partition which interposed between us and you has proved but a slight +security." + +"Come, what did she say?" + +"She told me that she loved no one," said Valentine; "that she disliked +the idea of being married; that she would infinitely prefer leading an +independent and unfettered life; and that she almost wished her father +might lose his fortune, that she might become an artist, like her +friend, Mademoiselle Louise d'Armilly." + +"Ah, you see"-- + +"Well, what does that prove?" asked Valentine. + +"Nothing," replied Maximilian. + +"Then why did you smile?" + +"Why, you know very well that you are reflecting on yourself, +Valentine." + +"Do you want me to go away?" + +"Ah, no, no. But do not let us lose time; you are the subject on which I +wish to speak." + +"True, we must be quick, for we have scarcely ten minutes more to pass +together." + +"Ma foi," said Maximilian, in consternation. + +"Yes, you are right; I am but a poor friend to you. What a life I +cause you to lead, poor Maximilian, you who are formed for happiness! I +bitterly reproach myself, I assure you." + +"Well, what does it signify, Valentine, so long as I am satisfied, and +feel that even this long and painful suspense is amply repaid by five +minutes of your society, or two words from your lips? And I have also +a deep conviction that heaven would not have created two hearts, +harmonizing as ours do, and almost miraculously brought us together, to +separate us at last." + +"Those are kind and cheering words. You must hope for us both, +Maximilian; that will make me at least partly happy." + +"But why must you leave me so soon?" + +"I do not know particulars. I can only tell you that Madame de Villefort +sent to request my presence, as she had a communication to make on which +a part of my fortune depended. Let them take my fortune, I am already +too rich; and, perhaps, when they have taken it, they will leave me in +peace and quietness. You would love me as much if I were poor, would you +not, Maximilian?" + +"Oh, I shall always love you. What should I care for either riches or +poverty, if my Valentine was near me, and I felt certain that no one +could deprive me of her? But do you not fear that this communication may +relate to your marriage?" + +"I do not think that is the case." + +"However it may be, Valentine, you must not be alarmed. I assure you +that, as long as I live, I shall never love any one else!" + +"You think to reassure me when you say that, Maximilian." + +"Pardon me, you are right. I am a brute. But I was going to tell you +that I met M. de Morcerf the other day." + +"Well?" + +"Monsieur Franz is his friend, you know." + +"What then?" + +"Monsieur de Morcerf has received a letter from Franz, announcing his +immediate return." Valentine turned pale, and leaned her hand against +the gate. "Ah heavens, if it were that! But no, the communication would +not come through Madame de Villefort." + +"Why not?" + +"Because--I scarcely know why--but it has appeared as if Madame de +Villefort secretly objected to the marriage, although she did not choose +openly to oppose it." + +"Is it so? Then I feel as if I could adore Madame de Villefort." + +"Do not be in such a hurry to do that," said Valentine, with a sad +smile. + +"If she objects to your marrying M. d'Epinay, she would be all the more +likely to listen to any other proposition." + +"No, Maximilian, it is not suitors to which Madame de Villefort objects, +it is marriage itself." + +"Marriage? If she dislikes that so much, why did she ever marry +herself?" + +"You do not understand me, Maximilian. About a year ago, I talked of +retiring to a convent. Madame de Villefort, in spite of all the remarks +which she considered it her duty to make, secretly approved of the +proposition, my father consented to it at her instigation, and it was +only on account of my poor grandfather that I finally abandoned the +project. You can form no idea of the expression of that old man's eye +when he looks at me, the only person in the world whom he loves, and, +I had almost said, by whom he is beloved in return. When he learned my +resolution, I shall never forget the reproachful look which he cast +on me, and the tears of utter despair which chased each other down his +lifeless cheeks. Ah, Maximilian, I experienced, at that moment, +such remorse for my intention, that, throwing myself at his feet, I +exclaimed,--'Forgive me, pray forgive me, my dear grandfather; they may +do what they will with me, I will never leave you.' When I had ceased +speaking, he thankfully raised his eyes to heaven, but without uttering +a word. Ah, Maximilian, I may have much to suffer, but I feel as if my +grandfather's look at that moment would more than compensate for all." + +"Dear Valentine, you are a perfect angel, and I am sure I do not know +what I--sabring right and left among the Bedouins--can have done to +merit your being revealed to me, unless, indeed, heaven took into +consideration the fact that the victims of my sword were infidels. But +tell me what interest Madame de Villefort can have in your remaining +unmarried?" + +"Did I not tell you just now that I was rich, Maximilian--too rich? I +possess nearly 50,000 livres in right of my mother; my grandfather and +my grandmother, the Marquis and Marquise de Saint-Meran, will leave +me as much, and M. Noirtier evidently intends making me his heir. My +brother Edward, who inherits nothing from his mother, will, therefore, +be poor in comparison with me. Now, if I had taken the veil, all this +fortune would have descended to my father, and, in reversion, to his +son." + +"Ah, how strange it seems that such a young and beautiful woman should +be so avaricious." + +"It is not for herself that she is so, but for her son, and what you +regard as a vice becomes almost a virtue when looked at in the light of +maternal love." + +"But could you not compromise matters, and give up a portion of your +fortune to her son?" + +"How could I make such a proposition, especially to a woman who always +professes to be so entirely disinterested?" + +"Valentine, I have always regarded our love in the light of something +sacred; consequently, I have covered it with the veil of respect, and +hid it in the innermost recesses of my soul. No human being, not even my +sister, is aware of its existence. Valentine, will you permit me to make +a confidant of a friend and reveal to him the love I bear you?" + +Valentine started. "A friend, Maximilian; and who is this friend? I +tremble to give my permission." + +"Listen, Valentine. Have you never experienced for any one that sudden +and irresistible sympathy which made you feel as if the object of it had +been your old and familiar friend, though, in reality, it was the first +time you had ever met? Nay, further, have you never endeavored to recall +the time, place, and circumstances of your former intercourse, and +failing in this attempt, have almost believed that your spirits must +have held converse with each other in some state of being anterior to +the present, and that you are only now occupied in a reminiscence of the +past?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, that is precisely the feeling which I experienced when I first +saw that extraordinary man." + +"Extraordinary, did you say?" + +"Yes." + +"You have known him for some time, then?" + +"Scarcely longer than eight or ten days." + +"And do you call a man your friend whom you have only known for eight +or ten days? Ah, Maximilian, I had hoped you set a higher value on the +title of friend." + +"Your logic is most powerful, Valentine, but say what you will, I can +never renounce the sentiment which has instinctively taken possession +of my mind. I feel as if it were ordained that this man should be +associated with all the good which the future may have in store for me, +and sometimes it really seems as if his eye was able to see what was to +come, and his hand endowed with the power of directing events according +to his own will." + +"He must be a prophet, then," said Valentine, smiling. + +"Indeed," said Maximilian, "I have often been almost tempted to +attribute to him the gift of prophecy; at all events, he has a wonderful +power of foretelling any future good." + +"Ah," said Valentine in a mournful tone, "do let me see this man, +Maximilian; he may tell me whether I shall ever be loved sufficiently to +make amends for all I have suffered." + +"My poor girl, you know him already." + +"I know him?" + +"Yes; it was he who saved the life of your step-mother and her son." + +"The Count of Monte Cristo?" + +"The same." + +"Ah," cried Valentine, "he is too much the friend of Madame de Villefort +ever to be mine." + +"The friend of Madame de Villefort! It cannot be; surely, Valentine, you +are mistaken?" + +"No, indeed, I am not; for I assure you, his power over our household +is almost unlimited. Courted by my step-mother, who regards him as the +epitome of human wisdom; admired by my father, who says he has never +before heard such sublime ideas so eloquently expressed; idolized by +Edward, who, notwithstanding his fear of the count's large black eyes, +runs to meet him the moment he arrives, and opens his hand, in which he +is sure to find some delightful present,--M. de Monte Cristo appears +to exert a mysterious and almost uncontrollable influence over all the +members of our family." + +"If such be the case, my dear Valentine, you must yourself have felt, +or at all events will soon feel, the effects of his presence. He meets +Albert de Morcerf in Italy--it is to rescue him from the hands of the +banditti; he introduces himself to Madame Danglars--it is that he may +give her a royal present; your step-mother and her son pass before his +door--it is that his Nubian may save them from destruction. This man +evidently possesses the power of influencing events, both as regards +men and things. I never saw more simple tastes united to greater +magnificence. His smile is so sweet when he addresses me, that I forget +it ever can be bitter to others. Ah, Valentine, tell me, if he ever +looked on you with one of those sweet smiles? if so, depend on it, you +will be happy." + +"Me?" said the young girl, "he never even glances at me; on the +contrary, if I accidentally cross his path, he appears rather to avoid +me. Ah, he is not generous, neither does he possess that supernatural +penetration which you attribute to him, for if he did, he would have +perceived that I was unhappy; and if he had been generous, seeing me +sad and solitary, he would have used his influence to my advantage, and +since, as you say, he resembles the sun, he would have warmed my heart +with one of his life-giving rays. You say he loves you, Maximilian; how +do you know that he does? All would pay deference to an officer like +you, with a fierce mustache and a long sabre, but they think they may +crush a poor weeping girl with impunity." + +"Ah, Valentine, I assure you you are mistaken." + +"If it were otherwise--if he treated me diplomatically--that is to say, +like a man who wishes, by some means or other, to obtain a footing in +the house, so that he may ultimately gain the power of dictating to its +occupants--he would, if it had been but once, have honored me with the +smile which you extol so loudly; but no, he saw that I was unhappy, +he understood that I could be of no use to him, and therefore paid no +attention to me whatever. Who knows but that, in order to please Madame +de Villefort and my father, he may not persecute me by every means in +his power? It is not just that he should despise me so, without any +reason. Ah, forgive me," said Valentine, perceiving the effect which her +words were producing on Maximilian: "I have done wrong, for I have given +utterance to thoughts concerning that man which I did not even know +existed in my heart. I do not deny the influence of which you speak, +or that I have not myself experienced it, but with me it has been +productive of evil rather than good." + +"Well, Valentine," said Morrel with a sigh, "we will not discuss the +matter further. I will not make a confidant of him." + +"Alas," said Valentine, "I see that I have given you pain. I can only +say how sincerely I ask pardon for having griefed you. But, indeed, I am +not prejudiced beyond the power of conviction. Tell me what this Count +of Monte Cristo has done for you." + +"I own that your question embarrasses me, Valentine, for I cannot say +that the count has rendered me any ostensible service. Still, as I have +already told you I have an instinctive affection for him, the source of +which I cannot explain to you. Has the sun done anything for me? No; he +warms me with his rays, and it is by his light that I see you--nothing +more. Has such and such a perfume done anything for me? No; its odor +charms one of my senses--that is all I can say when I am asked why I +praise it. My friendship for him is as strange and unaccountable as +his for me. A secret voice seems to whisper to me that there must be +something more than chance in this unexpected reciprocity of friendship. +In his most simple actions, as well as in his most secret thoughts, I +find a relation to my own. You will perhaps smile at me when I tell you +that, ever since I have known this man, I have involuntarily entertained +the idea that all the good fortune which has befallen me originated +from him. However, I have managed to live thirty years without this +protection, you will say; but I will endeavor a little to illustrate my +meaning. He invited me to dine with him on Saturday, which was a very +natural thing for him to do. Well, what have I learned since? That your +mother and M. de Villefort are both coming to this dinner. I shall meet +them there, and who knows what future advantages may result from the +interview? This may appear to you to be no unusual combination of +circumstances; nevertheless, I perceive some hidden plot in the +arrangement--something, in fact, more than is apparent on a casual view +of the subject. I believe that this singular man, who appears to fathom +the motives of every one, has purposely arranged for me to meet M. and +Madame de Villefort, and sometimes, I confess, I have gone so far as to +try to read in his eyes whether he was in possession of the secret of +our love." + +"My good friend," said Valentine, "I should take you for a visionary, +and should tremble for your reason, if I were always to hear you talk in +a strain similar to this. Is it possible that you can see anything +more than the merest chance in this meeting? Pray reflect a little. +My father, who never goes out, has several times been on the point +of refusing this invitation; Madame de Villefort, on the contrary, is +burning with the desire of seeing this extraordinary nabob in his own +house, therefore, she has with great difficulty prevailed on my father +to accompany her. No, no; it is as I have said, Maximilian,--there is no +one in the world of whom I can ask help but yourself and my grandfather, +who is little better than a corpse." + +"I see that you are right, logically speaking," said Maximilian; "but +the gentle voice which usually has such power over me fails to convince +me to-day." + +"I feel the same as regards yourself." said Valentine; "and I own that, +if you have no stronger proof to give me"-- + +"I have another," replied Maximilian; "but I fear you will deem it even +more absurd than the first." + +"So much the worse," said Valentine, smiling. + +"It is, nevertheless, conclusive to my mind. My ten years of service +have also confirmed my ideas on the subject of sudden inspirations, for +I have several times owed my life to a mysterious impulse which directed +me to move at once either to the right or to the left, in order to +escape the ball which killed the comrade fighting by my side, while it +left me unharmed." + +"Dear Maximilian, why not attribute your escape to my constant prayers +for your safety? When you are away, I no longer pray for myself, but for +you." + +"Yes, since you have known me," said Morrel, smiling; "but that cannot +apply to the time previous to our acquaintance, Valentine." + +"You are very provoking, and will not give me credit for anything; but +let me hear this second proof, which you yourself own to be absurd." + +"Well, look through this opening, and you will see the beautiful new +horse which I rode here." + +"Ah, what a beautiful creature!" cried Valentine; "why did you not bring +him close to the gate, so that I could talk to him and pat him?" + +"He is, as you see, a very valuable animal," said Maximilian. "You know +that my means are limited, and that I am what would be designated a man +of moderate pretensions. Well, I went to a horse dealer's, where I saw +this magnificent horse, which I have named Medeah. I asked the price; +they told me it was 4,500 francs. I was, therefore, obliged to give it +up, as you may imagine, but I own I went away with rather a heavy heart, +for the horse had looked at me affectionately, had rubbed his head +against me and, when I mounted him, had pranced in the most delightful +way imaginable, so that I was altogether fascinated with him. The same +evening some friends of mine visited me,--M. de Chateau-Renaud, M. +Debray, and five or six other choice spirits, whom you do not know, even +by name. They proposed a game of bouillotte. I never play, for I am not +rich enough to afford to lose, or sufficiently poor to desire to gain. +But I was at my own house, you understand, so there was nothing to be +done but to send for the cards, which I did. + +"Just as they were sitting down to table, M. de Monte Cristo arrived. He +took his seat amongst them; they played, and I won. I am almost ashamed +to say that my gains amounted to 5,000 francs. We separated at midnight. +I could not defer my pleasure, so I took a cabriolet and drove to the +horse dealer's. Feverish and excited, I rang at the door. The person who +opened it must have taken me for a madman, for I rushed at once to the +stable. Medeah was standing at the rack, eating his hay. I immediately +put on the saddle and bridle, to which operation he lent himself with +the best grace possible; then, putting the 4,500 francs into the hands +of the astonished dealer, I proceeded to fulfil my intention of passing +the night in riding in the Champs Elysees. As I rode by the count's +house I perceived a light in one of the windows, and fancied I saw the +shadow of his figure moving behind the curtain. Now, Valentine, I firmly +believe that he knew of my wish to possess this horse, and that he lost +expressly to give me the means of procuring him." + +"My dear Maximilian, you are really too fanciful; you will not love even +me long. A man who accustoms himself to live in such a world of poetry +and imagination must find far too little excitement in a common, +every-day sort of attachment such as ours. But they are calling me. Do +you hear?" + +"Ah, Valentine," said Maximilian, "give me but one finger through this +opening in the grating, one finger, the littlest finger of all, that I +may have the happiness of kissing it." + +"Maximilian, we said we would be to each other as two voices, two +shadows." + +"As you will, Valentine." + +"Shall you be happy if I do what you wish?" + +"Oh, yes!" Valentine mounted on a bench, and passed not only her finger +but her whole hand through the opening. Maximilian uttered a cry of +delight, and, springing forwards, seized the hand extended towards him, +and imprinted on it a fervent and impassioned kiss. The little hand was +then immediately withdrawn, and the young man saw Valentine hurrying +towards the house, as though she were almost terrified at her own +sensations. + + + +Chapter 58. M. Noirtier de Villefort. + +We will now relate what was passing in the house of the king's attorney +after the departure of Madame Danglars and her daughter, and during the +time of the conversation between Maximilian and Valentine, which we have +just detailed. M. de Villefort entered his father's room, followed by +Madame de Villefort. Both of the visitors, after saluting the old man +and speaking to Barrois, a faithful servant, who had been twenty-five +years in his service, took their places on either side of the paralytic. + +M. Noirtier was sitting in an arm-chair, which moved upon casters, in +which he was wheeled into the room in the morning, and in the same way +drawn out again at night. He was placed before a large glass, which +reflected the whole apartment, and so, without any attempt to move, +which would have been impossible, he could see all who entered the room +and everything which was going on around him. M. Noirtier, although +almost as immovable as a corpse, looked at the new-comers with a quick +and intelligent expression, perceiving at once, by their ceremonious +courtesy, that they were come on business of an unexpected and official +character. Sight and hearing were the only senses remaining, and they, +like two solitary sparks, remained to animate the miserable body which +seemed fit for nothing but the grave; it was only, however, by means of +one of these senses that he could reveal the thoughts and feelings that +still occupied his mind, and the look by which he gave expression to his +inner life was like the distant gleam of a candle which a traveller sees +by night across some desert place, and knows that a living being dwells +beyond the silence and obscurity. Noirtier's hair was long and white, +and flowed over his shoulders; while in his eyes, shaded by thick black +lashes, was concentrated, as it often happens with an organ which is +used to the exclusion of the others, all the activity, address, force, +and intelligence which were formerly diffused over his whole body; and +so although the movement of the arm, the sound of the voice, and the +agility of the body, were wanting, the speaking eye sufficed for all. +He commanded with it; it was the medium through which his thanks were +conveyed. In short, his whole appearance produced on the mind the +impression of a corpse with living eyes, and nothing could be more +startling than to observe the expression of anger or joy suddenly +lighting up these organs, while the rest of the rigid and marble-like +features were utterly deprived of the power of participation. Three +persons only could understand this language of the poor paralytic; these +were Villefort, Valentine, and the old servant of whom we have already +spoken. But as Villefort saw his father but seldom, and then only when +absolutely obliged, and as he never took any pains to please or gratify +him when he was there, all the old man's happiness was centred in his +granddaughter. Valentine, by means of her love, her patience, and her +devotion, had learned to read in Noirtier's look all the varied feelings +which were passing in his mind. To this dumb language, which was so +unintelligible to others, she answered by throwing her whole soul +into the expression of her countenance, and in this manner were the +conversations sustained between the blooming girl and the helpless +invalid, whose body could scarcely be called a living one, but who, +nevertheless, possessed a fund of knowledge and penetration, united with +a will as powerful as ever although clogged by a body rendered utterly +incapable of obeying its impulses. Valentine had solved the problem, +and was able easily to understand his thoughts, and to convey her own in +return, and, through her untiring and devoted assiduity, it was seldom +that, in the ordinary transactions of every-day life, she failed to +anticipate the wishes of the living, thinking mind, or the wants of the +almost inanimate body. As to the servant, he had, as we have said, been +with his master for five and twenty years, therefore he knew all his +habits, and it was seldom that Noirtier found it necessary to ask for +anything, so prompt was he in administering to all the necessities of +the invalid. Villefort did not need the help of either Valentine or the +domestic in order to carry on with his father the strange conversation +which he was about to begin. As we have said, he perfectly understood +the old man's vocabulary, and if he did not use it more often, it +was only indifference and ennui which prevented him from so doing. He +therefore allowed Valentine to go into the garden, sent away Barrois, +and after having seated himself at his father's right hand, while Madame +de Villefort placed herself on the left, he addressed him thus:-- + +"I trust you will not be displeased, sir, that Valentine has not come +with us, or that I dismissed Barrois, for our conference will be one +which could not with propriety be carried on in the presence of either. +Madame de Villefort and I have a communication to make to you." + +Noirtier's face remained perfectly passive during this long preamble, +while, on the contrary, Villefort's eye was endeavoring to penetrate +into the inmost recesses of the old man's heart. + +"This communication," continued the procureur, in that cold and decisive +tone which seemed at once to preclude all discussion, "will, we are +sure, meet with your approbation." The eye of the invalid still retained +that vacancy of expression which prevented his son from obtaining any +knowledge of the feelings which were passing in his mind; he listened, +nothing more. "Sir," resumed Villefort, "we are thinking of marrying +Valentine." Had the old man's face been moulded in wax it could not have +shown less emotion at this news than was now to be traced there. "The +marriage will take place in less than three months," said Villefort. +Noirtier's eye still retained its inanimate expression. + +Madame de Villefort now took her part in the conversation and +added,--"We thought this news would possess an interest for you, +sir, who have always entertained a great affection for Valentine; it +therefore only now remains for us to tell you the name of the young man +for whom she is destined. It is one of the most desirable connections +which could possibly be formed; he possesses fortune, a high rank in +society, and every personal qualification likely to render Valentine +supremely happy,--his name, moreover, cannot be wholly unknown to you. +It is M. Franz de Quesnel, Baron d'Epinay." + +While his wife was speaking, Villefort had narrowly watched the old +man's countenance. When Madame de Villefort pronounced the name of +Franz, the pupil of M. Noirtier's eye began to dilate, and his eyelids +trembled with the same movement that may be perceived on the lips of an +individual about to speak, and he darted a lightning glance at Madame +de Villefort and his son. The procureur, who knew the political hatred +which had formerly existed between M. Noirtier and the elder d'Epinay, +well understood the agitation and anger which the announcement had +produced; but, feigning not to perceive either, he immediately resumed +the narrative begun by his wife. "Sir," said he, "you are aware that +Valentine is about to enter her nineteenth year, which renders it +important that she should lose no time in forming a suitable alliance. +Nevertheless, you have not been forgotten in our plans, and we have +fully ascertained beforehand that Valentine's future husband will +consent, not to live in this house, for that might not be pleasant for +the young people, but that you should live with them; so that you and +Valentine, who are so attached to each other, would not be separated, +and you would be able to pursue exactly the same course of life which +you have hitherto done, and thus, instead of losing, you will be a +gainer by the change, as it will secure to you two children instead of +one, to watch over and comfort you." + +Noirtier's look was furious; it was very evident that something +desperate was passing in the old man's mind, for a cry of anger and +grief rose in his throat, and not being able to find vent in utterance, +appeared almost to choke him, for his face and lips turned quite purple +with the struggle. Villefort quietly opened a window, saying, "It is +very warm, and the heat affects M. Noirtier." He then returned to his +place, but did not sit down. "This marriage," added Madame de Villefort, +"is quite agreeable to the wishes of M. d'Epinay and his family; +besides, he had no relations nearer than an uncle and aunt, his mother +having died at his birth, and his father having been assassinated +in 1815, that is to say, when he was but two years old; it naturally +followed that the child was permitted to choose his own pursuits, and he +has, therefore, seldom acknowledged any other authority but that of his +own will." + +"That assassination was a mysterious affair," said Villefort, "and the +perpetrators have hitherto escaped detection, although suspicion has +fallen on the head of more than one person." Noirtier made such an +effort that his lips expanded into a smile. + +"Now," continued Villefort, "those to whom the guilt really belongs, +by whom the crime was committed, on whose heads the justice of man may +probably descend here, and the certain judgment of God hereafter, +would rejoice in the opportunity thus afforded of bestowing such +a peace-offering as Valentine on the son of him whose life they so +ruthlessly destroyed." Noirtier had succeeded in mastering his emotion +more than could have been deemed possible with such an enfeebled and +shattered frame. "Yes, I understand," was the reply contained in his +look; and this look expressed a feeling of strong indignation, mixed +with profound contempt. Villefort fully understood his father's meaning, +and answered by a slight shrug of his shoulders. He then motioned to his +wife to take leave. "Now sir," said Madame de Villefort, "I must bid you +farewell. Would you like me to send Edward to you for a short time?" + +It had been agreed that the old man should express his approbation by +closing his eyes, his refusal by winking them several times, and if he +had some desire or feeling to express, he raised them to heaven. If +he wanted Valentine, he closed his right eye only, and if Barrois, the +left. At Madame de Villefort's proposition he instantly winked his eyes. +Provoked by a complete refusal, she bit her lip and said, "Then shall +I send Valentine to you?" The old man closed his eyes eagerly, thereby +intimating that such was his wish. M. and Madame de Villefort bowed and +left the room, giving orders that Valentine should be summoned to her +grandfather's presence, and feeling sure that she would have much to do +to restore calmness to the perturbed spirit of the invalid. Valentine, +with a color still heightened by emotion, entered the room just after +her parents had quitted it. One look was sufficient to tell her that her +grandfather was suffering, and that there was much on his mind which he +was wishing to communicate to her. "Dear grandpapa," cried she, "what +has happened? They have vexed you, and you are angry?" The paralytic +closed his eyes in token of assent. "Who has displeased you? Is it my +father?" + +"No." + +"Madame de Villefort?" + +"No." + +"Me?" The former sign was repeated. "Are you displeased with me?" cried +Valentine in astonishment. M. Noirtier again closed his eyes. "And what +have I done, dear grandpapa, that you should be angry with me?" cried +Valentine. + +There was no answer, and she continued. "I have not seen you all day. +Has any one been speaking to you against me?" + +"Yes," said the old man's look, with eagerness. + +"Let me think a moment. I do assure you, grandpapa--Ah--M. and Madame de +Villefort have just left this room, have they not?" + +"Yes." + +"And it was they who told you something which made you angry? What +was it then? May I go and ask them, that I may have the opportunity of +making my peace with you?" + +"No, no," said Noirtier's look. + +"Ah, you frighten me. What can they have said?" and she again tried to +think what it could be. + +"Ah, I know," said she, lowering her voice and going close to the old +man. "They have been speaking of my marriage,--have they not?" + +"Yes," replied the angry look. + +"I understand; you are displeased at the silence I have preserved on the +subject. The reason of it was, that they had insisted on my keeping the +matter a secret, and begged me not to tell you anything of it. They did +not even acquaint me with their intentions, and I only discovered them +by chance, that is why I have been so reserved with you, dear grandpapa. +Pray forgive me." But there was no look calculated to reassure her; all +it seemed to say was, "It is not only your reserve which afflicts me." + +"What is it, then?" asked the young girl. "Perhaps you think I shall +abandon you, dear grandpapa, and that I shall forget you when I am +married?" + +"No." + +"They told you, then, that M. d'Epinay consented to our all living +together?" + +"Yes." + +"Then why are you still vexed and grieved?" The old man's eyes beamed +with an expression of gentle affection. "Yes, I understand," said +Valentine; "it is because you love me." The old man assented. "And you +are afraid I shall be unhappy?" + +"Yes." + +"You do not like M. Franz?" The eyes repeated several times, "No, no, +no." + +"Then you are vexed with the engagement?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, listen," said Valentine, throwing herself on her knees, and +putting her arm round her grandfather's neck, "I am vexed, too, for I do +not love M. Franz d'Epinay." An expression of intense joy illumined the +old man's eyes. "When I wished to retire into a convent, you remember +how angry you were with me?" A tear trembled in the eye of the invalid. +"Well," continued Valentine, "the reason of my proposing it was that +I might escape this hateful marriage, which drives me to despair." +Noirtier's breathing came thick and short. "Then the idea of this +marriage really grieves you too? Ah, if you could but help me--if we +could both together defeat their plan! But you are unable to oppose +them,--you, whose mind is so quick, and whose will is so firm are +nevertheless, as weak and unequal to the contest as I am myself. Alas, +you, who would have been such a powerful protector to me in the days +of your health and strength, can now only sympathize in my joys and +sorrows, without being able to take any active part in them. However, +this is much, and calls for gratitude and heaven has not taken away all +my blessings when it leaves me your sympathy and kindness." + +At these words there appeared in Noirtier's eye an expression of such +deep meaning that the young girl thought she could read these words +there: "You are mistaken; I can still do much for you." + +"Do you think you can help me, dear grandpapa?" said Valentine. + +"Yes." Noirtier raised his eyes, it was the sign agreed on between him +and Valentine when he wanted anything. + +"What is it you want, dear grandpapa?" said Valentine, and she +endeavored to recall to mind all the things which he would be likely to +need; and as the ideas presented themselves to her mind, she repeated +them aloud, then,--finding that all her efforts elicited nothing but a +constant "No,"--she said, "Come, since this plan does not answer, I +will have recourse to another." She then recited all the letters of the +alphabet from A down to N. When she arrived at that letter the paralytic +made her understand that she had spoken the initial letter of the thing +he wanted. "Ah," said Valentine, "the thing you desire begins with the +letter N; it is with N that we have to do, then. Well, let me see, what +can you want that begins with N? Na--Ne--Ni--No"-- + +"Yes, yes, yes," said the old man's eye. + +"Ah, it is No, then?" + +"Yes." Valentine fetched a dictionary, which she placed on a desk +before Noirtier; she opened it, and, seeing that the odd man's eye was +thoroughly fixed on its pages, she ran her finger quickly up and down +the columns. During the six years which had passed since Noirtier first +fell into this sad state, Valentine's powers of invention had been too +often put to the test not to render her expert in devising expedients +for gaining a knowledge of his wishes, and the constant practice had +so perfected her in the art that she guessed the old man's meaning as +quickly as if he himself had been able to seek for what he wanted. At +the word "Notary," Noirtier made a sign to her to stop. "Notary," said +she, "do you want a notary, dear grandpapa?" The old man again signified +that it was a notary he desired. + +"You would wish a notary to be sent for then?" said Valentine. + +"Yes." + +"Shall my father be informed of your wish?" + +"Yes." + +"Do you wish the notary to be sent for immediately?" + +"Yes." + +"Then they shall go for him directly, dear grandpapa. Is that all you +want?" + +"Yes." Valentine rang the bell, and ordered the servant to tell Monsieur +or Madame de Villefort that they were requested to come to M. Noirtier's +room. "Are you satisfied now?" inquired Valentine. + +"Yes." + +"I am sure you are; it is not very difficult to discover that,"--and the +young girl smiled on her grandfather, as if he had been a child. M. de +Villefort entered, followed by Barrois. "What do you want me for, sir?" +demanded he of the paralytic. + +"Sir," said Valentine, "my grandfather wishes for a notary." At this +strange and unexpected demand M. de Villefort and his father exchanged +looks. "Yes," motioned the latter, with a firmness which seemed to +declare that with the help of Valentine and his old servant, who +both knew what his wishes were, he was quite prepared to maintain the +contest. "Do you wish for a notary?" asked Villefort. + +"Yes." + +"What to do?" + +Noirtier made no answer. "What do you want with a notary?" again +repeated Villefort. The invalid's eye remained fixed, by which +expression he intended to intimate that his resolution was unalterable. +"Is it to do us some ill turn? Do you think it is worth while?" said +Villefort. + +"Still," said Barrois, with the freedom and fidelity of an old servant, +"if M. Noirtier asks for a notary, I suppose he really wishes for +a notary; therefore I shall go at once and fetch one." Barrois +acknowledged no master but Noirtier, and never allowed his desires in +any way to be contradicted. + +"Yes, I do want a notary," motioned the old man, shutting his eyes with +a look of defiance, which seemed to say, "and I should like to see the +person who dares to refuse my request." + +"You shall have a notary, as you absolutely wish for one, sir," said +Villefort; "but I shall explain to him your state of health, and make +excuses for you, for the scene cannot fail of being a most ridiculous +one." + +"Never mind that," said Barrois; "I shall go and fetch a notary, +nevertheless,"--and the old servant departed triumphantly on his +mission. + + + +Chapter 59. The Will. + +As soon as Barrois had left the room, Noirtier looked at Valentine with +a malicious expression that said many things. The young girl perfectly +understood the look, and so did Villefort, for his countenance became +clouded, and he knitted his eyebrows angrily. He took a seat, and +quietly awaited the arrival of the notary. Noirtier saw him seat himself +with an appearance of perfect indifference, at the same time giving a +side look at Valentine, which made her understand that she also was to +remain in the room. Three-quarters of an hour after, Barrois returned, +bringing the notary with him. "Sir," said Villefort, after the first +salutations were over, "you were sent for by M. Noirtier, whom you see +here. All his limbs have become completely paralysed, he has lost his +voice also, and we ourselves find much trouble in endeavoring to catch +some fragments of his meaning." Noirtier cast an appealing look on +Valentine, which look was at once so earnest and imperative, that +she answered immediately. "Sir," said she, "I perfectly understand my +grandfather's meaning at all times." + +"That is quite true," said Barrois; "and that is what I told the +gentleman as we walked along." + +"Permit me," said the notary, turning first to Villefort and then to +Valentine--"permit me to state that the case in question is just one +of those in which a public officer like myself cannot proceed to act +without thereby incurring a dangerous responsibility. The first +thing necessary to render an act valid is, that the notary should be +thoroughly convinced that he has faithfully interpreted the will and +wishes of the person dictating the act. Now I cannot be sure of the +approbation or disapprobation of a client who cannot speak, and as the +object of his desire or his repugnance cannot be clearly proved to +me, on account of his want of speech, my services here would be quite +useless, and cannot be legally exercised." The notary then prepared to +retire. An imperceptible smile of triumph was expressed on the lips of +the procureur. Noirtier looked at Valentine with an expression so full +of grief, that she arrested the departure of the notary. "Sir," said +she, "the language which I speak with my grandfather may be easily +learnt, and I can teach you in a few minutes, to understand it almost as +well as I can myself. Will you tell me what you require, in order to set +your conscience quite at ease on the subject?" + +"In order to render an act valid, I must be certain of the approbation +or disapprobation of my client. Illness of body would not affect the +validity of the deed, but sanity of mind is absolutely requisite." + +"Well, sir, by the help of two signs, with which I will acquaint you +presently, you may ascertain with perfect certainty that my grandfather +is still in the full possession of all his mental faculties. M. +Noirtier, being deprived of voice and motion, is accustomed to convey +his meaning by closing his eyes when he wishes to signify 'yes,' and +to wink when he means 'no.' You now know quite enough to enable you to +converse with M. Noirtier;--try." Noirtier gave Valentine such a look +of tenderness and gratitude that it was comprehended even by the notary +himself. "You have heard and understood what your granddaughter has been +saying, sir, have you?" asked the notary. Noirtier closed his eyes. "And +you approve of what she said--that is to say, you declare that the +signs which she mentioned are really those by means of which you are +accustomed to convey your thoughts?" + +"Yes." + +"It was you who sent for me?" + +"Yes." + +"To make your will?" + +"Yes." + +"And you do not wish me to go away without fulfilling your original +intentions?" The old man winked violently. "Well, sir," said the young +girl, "do you understand now, and is your conscience perfectly at rest +on the subject?" But before the notary could answer, Villefort had drawn +him aside. "Sir," said he, "do you suppose for a moment that a man can +sustain a physical shock, such as M. Noirtier has received, without any +detriment to his mental faculties?" + +"It is not exactly that, sir," said the notary, "which makes me uneasy, +but the difficulty will be in wording his thoughts and intentions, so as +to be able to get his answers." + +"You must see that to be an utter impossibility," said Villefort. +Valentine and the old man heard this conversation, and Noirtier fixed +his eye so earnestly on Valentine that she felt bound to answer to the +look. + +"Sir," said she, "that need not make you uneasy, however difficult it +may at first sight appear to be. I can discover and explain to you my +grandfather's thoughts, so as to put an end to all your doubts and fears +on the subject. I have now been six years with M. Noirtier, and let him +tell you if ever once, during that time, he has entertained a thought +which he was unable to make me understand." + +"No," signed the old man. + +"Let us try what we can do, then," said the notary. "You accept this +young lady as your interpreter, M. Noirtier?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, sir, what do you require of me, and what document is it that you +wish to be drawn up?" Valentine named all the letters of the alphabet +until she came to W. At this letter the eloquent eye of Noirtier gave +her notice that she was to stop. "It is very evident that it is the +letter W which M. Noirtier wants," said the notary. "Wait," +said Valentine; and, turning to her grandfather, she repeated, +"Wa--We--Wi"--The old man stopped her at the last syllable. Valentine +then took the dictionary, and the notary watched her while she turned +over the pages. She passed her finger slowly down the columns, and when +she came to the word "Will," M. Noirtier's eye bade her stop. "Will," +said the notary; "it is very evident that M. Noirtier is desirous of +making his will." + +"Yes, yes, yes," motioned the invalid. + +"Really, sir, you must allow that this is most extraordinary," said +the astonished notary, turning to M. de Villefort. "Yes," said the +procureur, "and I think the will promises to be yet more extraordinary, +for I cannot see how it is to be drawn up without the intervention of +Valentine, and she may, perhaps, be considered as too much interested in +its contents to allow of her being a suitable interpreter of the obscure +and ill-defined wishes of her grandfather." + +"No, no, no," replied the eye of the paralytic. + +"What?" said Villefort, "do you mean to say that Valentine is not +interested in your will?" + +"No." + +"Sir," said the notary, whose interest had been greatly excited, and +who had resolved on publishing far and wide the account of this +extraordinary and picturesque scene, "what appeared so impossible to me +an hour ago, has now become quite easy and practicable, and this may +be a perfectly valid will, provided it be read in the presence of seven +witnesses, approved by the testator, and sealed by the notary in the +presence of the witnesses. As to the time, it will not require very much +more than the generality of wills. There are certain forms necessary to +be gone through, and which are always the same. As to the details, the +greater part will be furnished afterwards by the state in which we +find the affairs of the testator, and by yourself, who, having had the +management of them, can doubtless give full information on the subject. +But besides all this, in order that the instrument may not be contested, +I am anxious to give it the greatest possible authenticity, therefore, +one of my colleagues will help me, and, contrary to custom, will assist +in the dictation of the testament. Are you satisfied, sir?" continued +the notary, addressing the old man. + +"Yes," looked the invalid, his eye beaming with delight at the ready +interpretation of his meaning. + +"What is he going to do?" thought Villefort, whose position demanded +much reserve, but who was longing to know what his father's intentions +were. He left the room to give orders for another notary to be sent, but +Barrois, who had heard all that passed, had guessed his master's wishes, +and had already gone to fetch one. The procureur then told his wife to +come up. In the course of a quarter of an hour every one had assembled +in the chamber of the paralytic; the second notary had also arrived. A +few words sufficed for a mutual understanding between the two officers +of the law. They read to Noirtier the formal copy of a will, in order +to give him an idea of the terms in which such documents are generally +couched; then, in order to test the capacity of the testator, the first +notary said, turning towards him,--"When an individual makes his will, +it is generally in favor or in prejudice of some person." + +"Yes." + +"Have you an exact idea of the amount of your fortune?" + +"Yes." + +"I will name to you several sums which will increase by gradation; you +will stop me when I reach the one representing the amount of your own +possessions?" + +"Yes." There was a kind of solemnity in this interrogation. Never had +the struggle between mind and matter been more apparent than now, and +if it was not a sublime, it was, at least, a curious spectacle. They had +formed a circle round the invalid; the second notary was sitting at a +table, prepared for writing, and his colleague was standing before the +testator in the act of interrogating him on the subject to which we have +alluded. "Your fortune exceeds 300,000. francs, does it not?" asked +he. Noirtier made a sign that it did. "Do you possess 400,000 francs?" +inquired the notary. Noirtier's eye remained immovable. "Five +hundred thousand?" The same expression continued. "Six hundred +thousand--700,000--800,000--900,000?" Noirtier stopped him at the +last-named sum. "You are then in possession of 900,000. francs?" asked +the notary. "Yes." + +"In landed property?" + +"No." + +"In stock?" + +"Yes." + +"The stock is in your own hands?" The look which M. Noirtier cast on +Barrois showed that there was something wanting which he knew where to +find. The old servant left the room, and presently returned, bringing +with him a small casket. "Do you permit us to open this casket?" asked +the notary. Noirtier gave his assent. They opened it, and found 900,000. +francs in bank scrip. The first notary handed over each note, as he +examined it, to his colleague. + +The total amount was found to be as M. Noirtier had stated. "It is all +as he has said; it is very evident that the mind still retains its full +force and vigor." Then, turning towards the paralytic, he said, "You +possess, then, 900,000. francs of capital, which, according to the +manner in which you have invested it, ought to bring in an income of +about 40,000 livres?" + +"Yes." + +"To whom do you desire to leave this fortune?" + +"Oh," said Madame de Villefort, "there is not much doubt on that +subject. M. Noirtier tenderly loves his granddaughter, Mademoiselle de +Villefort; it is she who has nursed and tended him for six years, and +has, by her devoted attention, fully secured the affection, I had almost +said the gratitude, of her grandfather, and it is but just that she +should reap the fruit of her devotion." The eye of Noirtier clearly +showed by its expression that he was not deceived by the false assent +given by Madame de Villefort's words and manner to the motives which she +supposed him to entertain. "Is it, then, to Mademoiselle Valentine de +Villefort that you leave these 900,000 francs?" demanded the notary, +thinking he had only to insert this clause, but waiting first for the +assent of Noirtier, which it was necessary should be given before all +the witnesses of this singular scene. Valentine, when her name was +made the subject of discussion, had stepped back, to escape unpleasant +observation; her eyes were cast down, and she was crying. The old +man looked at her for an instant with an expression of the deepest +tenderness, then, turning towards the notary, he significantly winked +his eye in token of dissent. + +"What," said the notary, "do you not intend making Mademoiselle +Valentine de Villefort your residuary legatee?" + +"No." + +"You are not making any mistake, are you?" said the notary; "you really +mean to declare that such is not your intention?" + +"No," repeated Noirtier; "No." Valentine raised her head, struck dumb +with astonishment. It was not so much the conviction that she was +disinherited that caused her grief, but her total inability to account +for the feelings which had provoked her grandfather to such an act. But +Noirtier looked at her with so much affectionate tenderness that she +exclaimed, "Oh, grandpapa, I see now that it is only your fortune of +which you deprive me; you still leave me the love which I have always +enjoyed." + +"Ah, yes, most assuredly," said the eyes of the paralytic, for he closed +them with an expression which Valentine could not mistake. "Thank you, +thank you," murmured she. The old man's declaration that Valentine +was not the destined inheritor of his fortune had excited the hopes of +Madame de Villefort; she gradually approached the invalid, and said: +"Then, doubtless, dear M. Noirtier, you intend leaving your fortune +to your grandson, Edward de Villefort?" The winking of the eyes which +answered this speech was most decided and terrible, and expressed a +feeling almost amounting to hatred. + +"No?" said the notary; "then, perhaps, it is to your son, M. de +Villefort?" + +"No." The two notaries looked at each other in mute astonishment and +inquiry as to what were the real intentions of the testator. Villefort +and his wife both grew red, one from shame, the other from anger. + +"What have we all done, then, dear grandpapa?" said Valentine; "you no +longer seem to love any of us?" The old man's eyes passed rapidly +from Villefort and his wife, and rested on Valentine with a look of +unutterable fondness. "Well," said she; "if you love me, grandpapa, try +and bring that love to bear upon your actions at this present moment. +You know me well enough to be quite sure that I have never thought +of your fortune; besides, they say I am already rich in right of my +mother--too rich, even. Explain yourself, then." Noirtier fixed his +intelligent eyes on Valentine's hand. "My hand?" said she. + +"Yes." + +"Her hand!" exclaimed every one. + +"Oh, gentlemen, you see it is all useless, and that my father's mind is +really impaired," said Villefort. + +"Ah," cried Valentine suddenly, "I understand. It is my marriage you +mean, is it not, dear grandpapa?" + +"Yes, yes, yes," signed the paralytic, casting on Valentine a look of +joyful gratitude for having guessed his meaning. + +"You are angry with us all on account of this marriage, are you not?" + +"Yes?" + +"Really, this is too absurd," said Villefort. + +"Excuse me, sir," replied the notary; "on the contrary, the meaning of +M. Noirtier is quite evident to me, and I can quite easily connect the +train of ideas passing in his mind." + +"You do not wish me to marry M. Franz d'Epinay?" observed Valentine. + +"I do not wish it," said the eye of her grandfather. "And you disinherit +your granddaughter," continued the notary, "because she has contracted +an engagement contrary to your wishes?" + +"Yes." + +"So that, but for this marriage, she would have been your heir?" + +"Yes." There was a profound silence. The two notaries were holding +a consultation as to the best means of proceeding with the affair. +Valentine was looking at her grandfather with a smile of intense +gratitude, and Villefort was biting his lips with vexation, while Madame +de Villefort could not succeed in repressing an inward feeling of joy, +which, in spite of herself, appeared in her whole countenance. "But," +said Villefort, who was the first to break the silence, "I consider that +I am the best judge of the propriety of the marriage in question. I am +the only person possessing the right to dispose of my daughter's hand. +It is my wish that she should marry M. Franz d'Epinay--and she shall +marry him." Valentine sank weeping into a chair. + +"Sir," said the notary, "how do you intend disposing of your fortune in +case Mademoiselle de Villefort still determines on marrying M. Franz?" +The old man gave no answer. "You will, of course, dispose of it in some +way or other?" + +"Yes." + +"In favor of some member of your family?" + +"No." + +"Do you intend devoting it to charitable purposes, then?" pursued the +notary. + +"Yes." + +"But," said the notary, "you are aware that the law does not allow a son +to be entirely deprived of his patrimony?" + +"Yes." + +"You only intend, then, to dispose of that part of your fortune which +the law allows you to subtract from the inheritance of your son?" +Noirtier made no answer. "Do you still wish to dispose of all?" + +"Yes." + +"But they will contest the will after your death?" + +"No." + +"My father knows me," replied Villefort; "he is quite sure that his +wishes will be held sacred by me; besides, he understands that in my +position I cannot plead against the poor." The eye of Noirtier beamed +with triumph. "What do you decide on, sir?" asked the notary of +Villefort. + +"Nothing, sir; it is a resolution which my father has taken and I know +he never alters his mind. I am quite resigned. These 900,000 francs +will go out of the family in order to enrich some hospital; but it is +ridiculous thus to yield to the caprices of an old man, and I shall, +therefore, act according to my conscience." Having said this, Villefort +quitted the room with his wife, leaving his father at liberty to do as +he pleased. The same day the will was made, the witnesses were brought, +it was approved by the old man, sealed in the presence of all and given +in charge to M. Deschamps, the family notary. + + + +Chapter 60. The Telegraph. + +M. and Madame de Villefort found on their return that the Count of Monte +Cristo, who had come to visit them in their absence, had been ushered +into the drawing-room, and was still awaiting them there. Madame de +Villefort, who had not yet sufficiently recovered from her late emotion +to allow of her entertaining visitors so immediately, retired to her +bedroom, while the procureur, who could better depend upon himself, +proceeded at once to the salon. Although M. de Villefort flattered +himself that, to all outward view, he had completely masked the feelings +which were passing in his mind, he did not know that the cloud was +still lowering on his brow, so much so that the count, whose smile was +radiant, immediately noticed his sombre and thoughtful air. "Ma foi," +said Monte Cristo, after the first compliments were over, "what is the +matter with you, M. de Villefort? Have I arrived at the moment when you +were drawing up an indictment for a capital crime?" Villefort tried to +smile. "No, count," he replied, "I am the only victim in this case. It +is I who lose my cause, and it is ill-luck, obstinacy, and folly which +have caused it to be decided against me." + +"To what do you refer?" said Monte Cristo with well-feigned interest. +"Have you really met with some great misfortune?" + +"Oh, no, monsieur," said Villefort with a bitter smile; "it is only a +loss of money which I have sustained--nothing worth mentioning, I assure +you." + +"True," said Monte Cristo, "the loss of a sum of money becomes almost +immaterial with a fortune such as you possess, and to one of your +philosophic spirit." + +"It is not so much the loss of the money that vexes me," said Villefort, +"though, after all, 900,000 francs are worth regretting; but I am the +more annoyed with this fate, chance, or whatever you please to call the +power which has destroyed my hopes and my fortune, and may blast the +prospects of my child also, as it is all occasioned by an old man +relapsed into second childhood." + +"What do you say?" said the count; "900,000 francs? It is indeed a sum +which might be regretted even by a philosopher. And who is the cause of +all this annoyance?" + +"My father, as I told you." + +"M. Noirtier? But I thought you told me he had become entirely +paralyzed, and that all his faculties were completely destroyed?" + +"Yes, his bodily faculties, for he can neither move nor speak, +nevertheless he thinks, acts, and wills in the manner I have described. +I left him about five minutes ago, and he is now occupied in dictating +his will to two notaries." + +"But to do this he must have spoken?" + +"He has done better than that--he has made himself understood." + +"How was such a thing possible?" + +"By the help of his eyes, which are still full of life, and, as you +perceive, possess the power of inflicting mortal injury." + +"My dear," said Madame de Villefort, who had just entered the room, +"perhaps you exaggerate the evil." + +"Good-morning, madame," said the count, bowing. Madame de Villefort +acknowledged the salutation with one of her most gracious smiles. "What +is this that M. de Villefort has been telling me?" demanded Monte Cristo +"and what incomprehensible misfortune"-- + +"Incomprehensible is not the word," interrupted the procureur, shrugging +his shoulders. "It is an old man's caprice." + +"And is there no means of making him revoke his decision?" + +"Yes," said Madame de Villefort; "and it is still entirely in the power +of my husband to cause the will, which is now in prejudice of Valentine, +to be altered in her favor." The count, who perceived that M. and Madame +de Villefort were beginning to speak in parables, appeared to pay no +attention to the conversation, and feigned to be busily engaged in +watching Edward, who was mischievously pouring some ink into the bird's +water-glass. "My dear," said Villefort, in answer to his wife, "you know +I have never been accustomed to play the patriarch in my family, nor +have I ever considered that the fate of a universe was to be decided by +my nod. Nevertheless, it is necessary that my will should be respected +in my family, and that the folly of an old man and the caprice of +a child should not be allowed to overturn a project which I have +entertained for so many years. The Baron d'Epinay was my friend, as you +know, and an alliance with his son is the most suitable thing that could +possibly be arranged." + +"Do you think," said Madame de Villefort, "that Valentine is in league +with him? She has always been opposed to this marriage, and I should not +be at all surprised if what we have just seen and heard is nothing but +the execution of a plan concerted between them." + +"Madame," said Villefort, "believe me, a fortune of 900,000. francs is +not so easily renounced." + +"She could, nevertheless, make up her mind to renounce the world, sir, +since it is only about a year ago that she herself proposed entering a +convent." + +"Never mind," replied Villefort; "I say that this marriage shall be +consummated." + +"Notwithstanding your father's wishes to the contrary?" said Madame de +Villefort, selecting a new point of attack. "That is a serious thing." +Monte Cristo, who pretended not to be listening, heard however, every +word that was said. "Madame," replied Villefort "I can truly say that +I have always entertained a high respect for my father, because, to the +natural feeling of relationship was added the consciousness of his moral +superiority. The name of father is sacred in two senses; he should be +reverenced as the author of our being and as a master whom we ought to +obey. But, under the present circumstances, I am justified in doubting +the wisdom of an old man who, because he hated the father, vents his +anger on the son. It would be ridiculous in me to regulate my conduct +by such caprices. I shall still continue to preserve the same respect +toward M. Noirtier; I will suffer, without complaint, the pecuniary +deprivation to which he has subjected me; but I shall remain firm in +my determination, and the world shall see which party has reason on +his side. Consequently I shall marry my daughter to the Baron Franz +d'Epinay, because I consider it would be a proper and eligible match +for her to make, and, in short, because I choose to bestow my daughter's +hand on whomever I please." + +"What?" said the count, the approbation of whose eye Villefort had +frequently solicited during this speech. "What? Do you say that M. +Noirtier disinherits Mademoiselle de Villefort because she is going to +marry M. le Baron Franz d'Epinay?" + +"Yes, sir, that is the reason," said Villefort, shrugging his shoulders. + +"The apparent reason, at least," said Madame de Villefort. + +"The real reason, madame, I can assure you; I know my father." + +"But I want to know in what way M. d'Epinay can have displeased your +father more than any other person?" + +"I believe I know M. Franz d'Epinay," said the count; "is he not the son +of General de Quesnel, who was created Baron d'Epinay by Charles X.?" + +"The same," said Villefort. + +"Well, but he is a charming young man, according to my ideas." + +"He is, which makes me believe that it is only an excuse of M. Noirtier +to prevent his granddaughter marrying; old men are always so selfish in +their affection," said Madame de Villefort. + +"But," said Monte Cristo "do you not know any cause for this hatred?" + +"Ah, ma foi, who is to know?" + +"Perhaps it is some political difference?" + +"My father and the Baron d'Epinay lived in the stormy times of which I +only saw the ending," said Villefort. + +"Was not your father a Bonapartist?" asked Monte Cristo; "I think I +remember that you told me something of that kind." + +"My father has been a Jacobin more than anything else," said Villefort, +carried by his emotion beyond the bounds of prudence; "and the senator's +robe, which Napoleon cast on his shoulders, only served to disguise the +old man without in any degree changing him. When my father conspired, +it was not for the emperor, it was against the Bourbons; for M. Noirtier +possessed this peculiarity, he never projected any Utopian schemes which +could never be realized, but strove for possibilities, and he applied +to the realization of these possibilities the terrible theories of The +Mountain,--theories that never shrank from any means that were deemed +necessary to bring about the desired result." + +"Well," said Monte Cristo, "it is just as I thought; it was politics +which brought Noirtier and M. d'Epinay into personal contact. Although +General d'Epinay served under Napoleon, did he not still retain royalist +sentiments? And was he not the person who was assassinated one evening +on leaving a Bonapartist meeting to which he had been invited on the +supposition that he favored the cause of the emperor?" Villefort looked +at the count almost with terror. "Am I mistaken, then?" said Monte +Cristo. + +"No, sir, the facts were precisely what you have stated," said Madame +de Villefort; "and it was to prevent the renewal of old feuds that M. de +Villefort formed the idea of uniting in the bonds of affection the two +children of these inveterate enemies." + +"It was a sublime and charitable thought," said Monte Cristo, "and the +whole world should applaud it. It would be noble to see Mademoiselle +Noirtier de Villefort assuming the title of Madame Franz d'Epinay." +Villefort shuddered and looked at Monte Cristo as if he wished to read +in his countenance the real feelings which had dictated the words he +had just uttered. But the count completely baffled the procureur, and +prevented him from discovering anything beneath the never-varying +smile he was so constantly in the habit of assuming. "Although," +said Villefort, "it will be a serious thing for Valentine to lose +her grandfather's fortune, I do not think that M. d'Epinay will be +frightened at this pecuniary loss. He will, perhaps, hold me in greater +esteem than the money itself, seeing that I sacrifice everything in +order to keep my word with him. Besides, he knows that Valentine is rich +in right of her mother, and that she will, in all probability, inherit +the fortune of M. and Madame de Saint-Meran, her mother's parents, who +both love her tenderly." + +"And who are fully as well worth loving and tending as M. Noirtier," +said Madame de Villefort; "besides, they are to come to Paris in about +a month, and Valentine, after the affront she has received, need not +consider it necessary to continue to bury herself alive by being shut up +with M. Noirtier." The count listened with satisfaction to this tale +of wounded self-love and defeated ambition. "But it seems to me," said +Monte Cristo, "and I must begin by asking your pardon for what I am +about to say, that if M. Noirtier disinherits Mademoiselle de Villefort +because she is going to marry a man whose father he detested, he cannot +have the same cause of complaint against this dear Edward." + +"True," said Madame de Villefort, with an intonation of voice which it +is impossible to describe; "is it not unjust--shamefully unjust? Poor +Edward is as much M. Noirtier's grandchild as Valentine, and yet, if she +had not been going to marry M. Franz, M. Noirtier would have left +her all his money; and supposing Valentine to be disinherited by her +grandfather, she will still be three times richer than he." The count +listened and said no more. "Count," said Villefort, "we will not +entertain you any longer with our family misfortunes. It is true that my +patrimony will go to endow charitable institutions, and my father will +have deprived me of my lawful inheritance without any reason for doing +so, but I shall have the satisfaction of knowing that I have acted like +a man of sense and feeling. M. d'Epinay, to whom I had promised the +interest of this sum, shall receive it, even if I endure the most cruel +privations." + +"However," said Madame de Villefort, returning to the one idea which +incessantly occupied her mind, "perhaps it would be better to explain +this unlucky affair to M. d'Epinay, in order to give him the opportunity +of himself renouncing his claim to the hand of Mademoiselle de +Villefort." + +"Ah, that would be a great pity," said Villefort. + +"A great pity," said Monte Cristo. + +"Undoubtedly," said Villefort, moderating the tones of his voice, "a +marriage once concerted and then broken off, throws a sort of discredit +on a young lady; then again, the old reports, which I was so anxious to +put an end to, will instantly gain ground. No, it will all go well; M. +d'Epinay, if he is an honorable man, will consider himself more than +ever pledged to Mademoiselle de Villefort, unless he were actuated by a +decided feeling of avarice, but that is impossible." + +"I agree with M. de Villefort," said Monte Cristo, fixing his eyes on +Madame de Villefort; "and if I were sufficiently intimate with him to +allow of giving my advice, I would persuade him, since I have been told +M. d'Epinay is coming back, to settle this affair at once beyond all +possibility of revocation. I will answer for the success of a project +which will reflect so much honor on M. de Villefort." The procureur +arose, delighted with the proposition, but his wife slightly changed +color. "Well, that is all that I wanted, and I will be guided by a +counsellor such as you are," said he, extending his hand to Monte +Cristo. "Therefore let every one here look upon what has passed to-day +as if it had not happened, and as though we had never thought of such a +thing as a change in our original plans." + +"Sir," said the count, "the world, unjust as it is, will be pleased with +your resolution; your friends will be proud of you, and M. d'Epinay, +even if he took Mademoiselle de Villefort without any dowry, which he +will not do, would be delighted with the idea of entering a family +which could make such sacrifices in order to keep a promise and fulfil a +duty." At the conclusion of these words, the count rose to depart. "Are +you going to leave us, count?" said Madame de Villefort. + +"I am sorry to say I must do so, madame, I only came to remind you of +your promise for Saturday." + +"Did you fear that we should forget it?" + +"You are very good, madame, but M. de Villefort has so many important +and urgent occupations." + +"My husband has given me his word, sir," said Madame de Villefort; "you +have just seen him resolve to keep it when he has everything to lose, +and surely there is more reason for his doing so where he has everything +to gain." + +"And," said Villefort, "is it at your house in the Champs-Elysees that +you receive your visitors?" + +"No," said Monte Cristo, "which is precisely the reason which renders +your kindness more meritorious,--it is in the country." + +"In the country?" + +"Yes." + +"Where is it, then? Near Paris, is it not?" + +"Very near, only half a league from the Barriers,--it is at Auteuil." + +"At Auteuil?" said Villefort; "true, Madame de Villefort told me you +lived at Auteuil, since it was to your house that she was taken. And in +what part of Auteuil do you reside?" + +"Rue de la Fontaine." + +"Rue de la Fontaine!" exclaimed Villefort in an agitated tone; "at what +number?" + +"No. 28." + +"Then," cried Villefort, "was it you who bought M. de Saint-Meran's +house!" + +"Did it belong to M. de Saint-Meran?" demanded Monte Cristo. + +"Yes," replied Madame de Villefort; "and, would you believe it, count"-- + +"Believe what?" + +"You think this house pretty, do you not?" + +"I think it charming." + +"Well, my husband would never live in it." + +"Indeed?" returned Monte Cristo, "that is a prejudice on your part, M. +de Villefort, for which I am quite at a loss to account." + +"I do not like Auteuil, sir," said the procureur, making an evident +effort to appear calm. + +"But I hope you will not carry your antipathy so far as to deprive me of +the pleasure of your company, sir," said Monte Cristo. + +"No, count,--I hope--I assure you I shall do my best," stammered +Villefort. + +"Oh," said Monte Cristo, "I allow of no excuse. On Saturday, at six +o'clock. I shall be expecting you, and if you fail to come, I shall +think--for how do I know to the contrary?--that this house, which his +remained uninhabited for twenty years, must have some gloomy tradition +or dreadful legend connected with it." + +"I will come, count,--I will be sure to come," said Villefort eagerly. + +"Thank you," said Monte Cristo; "now you must permit me to take my leave +of you." + +"You said before that you were obliged to leave us, monsieur," said +Madame de Villefort, "and you were about to tell us why when your +attention was called to some other subject." + +"Indeed madame," said Monte Cristo: "I scarcely know if I dare tell you +where I am going." + +"Nonsense; say on." + +"Well, then, it is to see a thing on which I have sometimes mused for +hours together." + +"What is it?" + +"A telegraph. So now I have told my secret." + +"A telegraph?" repeated Madame de Villefort. + +"Yes, a telegraph. I had often seen one placed at the end of a road on +a hillock, and in the light of the sun its black arms, bending in every +direction, always reminded me of the claws of an immense beetle, and I +assure you it was never without emotion that I gazed on it, for I could +not help thinking how wonderful it was that these various signs should +be made to cleave the air with such precision as to convey to the +distance of three hundred leagues the ideas and wishes of a man sitting +at a table at one end of the line to another man similarly placed at the +opposite extremity, and all this effected by a simple act of volition +on the part of the sender of the message. I began to think of genii, +sylphs, gnomes, in short, of all the ministers of the occult sciences, +until I laughed aloud at the freaks of my own imagination. Now, it never +occurred to me to wish for a nearer inspection of these large insects, +with their long black claws, for I always feared to find under their +stone wings some little human genius fagged to death with cabals, +factions, and government intrigues. But one fine day I learned that the +mover of this telegraph was only a poor wretch, hired for twelve hundred +francs a year, and employed all day, not in studying the heavens like +an astronomer, or in gazing on the water like an angler, or even in +enjoying the privilege of observing the country around him, but all his +monotonous life was passed in watching his white-bellied, black-clawed +fellow insect, four or five leagues distant from him. At length I felt +a desire to study this living chrysalis more closely, and to endeavor +to understand the secret part played by these insect-actors when they +occupy themselves simply with pulling different pieces of string." + +"And are you going there?" + +"I am." + +"What telegraph do you intend visiting? that of the home department, or +of the observatory?" + +"Oh, no; I should find there people who would force me to understand +things of which I would prefer to remain ignorant, and who would try +to explain to me, in spite of myself, a mystery which even they do +not understand. Ma foi, I should wish to keep my illusions concerning +insects unimpaired; it is quite enough to have those dissipated which I +had formed of my fellow-creatures. I shall, therefore, not visit either +of these telegraphs, but one in the open country where I shall find +a good-natured simpleton, who knows no more than the machine he is +employed to work." + +"You are a singular man," said Villefort. + +"What line would you advise me to study?" + +"The one that is most in use just at this time." + +"The Spanish one, you mean, I suppose?" + +"Yes; should you like a letter to the minister that they might explain +to you"-- + +"No," said Monte Cristo; "since, as I told you before, I do not wish to +comprehend it. The moment I understand it there will no longer exist a +telegraph for me; it will be nothing more than a sign from M. Duchatel, +or from M. Montalivet, transmitted to the prefect of Bayonne, mystified +by two Greek words, tele, graphein. It is the insect with black claws, +and the awful word which I wish to retain in my imagination in all its +purity and all its importance." + +"Go then; for in the course of two hours it will be dark, and you will +not be able to see anything." + +"Ma foi, you frighten me. Which is the nearest way? Bayonne?" + +"Yes; the road to Bayonne." + +"And afterwards the road to Chatillon?" + +"Yes." + +"By the tower of Montlhery, you mean?" + +"Yes." + +"Thank you. Good-by. On Saturday I will tell you my impressions +concerning the telegraph." At the door the count was met by the two +notaries, who had just completed the act which was to disinherit +Valentine, and who were leaving under the conviction of having done a +thing which could not fail of redounding considerably to their credit. + + + +Chapter 61. How a Gardener May Get Rid of the Dormice that Eat His Peaches. + +Not on the same night, as he had intended, but the next morning, the +Count of Monte Cristo went out by the Barrier d'Enfer, taking the +road to Orleans. Leaving the village of Linas, without stopping at the +telegraph, which flourished its great bony arms as he passed, the count +reached the tower of Montlhery, situated, as every one knows, upon the +highest point of the plain of that name. At the foot of the hill the +count dismounted and began to ascend by a little winding path, about +eighteen inches wide; when he reached the summit he found himself +stopped by a hedge, upon which green fruit had succeeded to red and +white flowers. + +Monte Cristo looked for the entrance to the enclosure, and was not long +in finding a little wooden gate, working on willow hinges, and fastened +with a nail and string. The count soon mastered the mechanism, the gate +opened, and he then found himself in a little garden, about twenty feet +long by twelve wide, bounded on one side by part of the hedge, which +contained the ingenious contrivance we have called a gate, and on the +other by the old tower, covered with ivy and studded with wall-flowers. +No one would have thought in looking at this old, weather-beaten, +floral-decked tower (which might be likened to an elderly dame dressed +up to receive her grandchildren at a birthday feast) that it would have +been capable of telling strange things, if,--in addition to the menacing +ears which the proverb says all walls are provided with,--it had also a +voice. The garden was crossed by a path of red gravel, edged by a border +of thick box, of many years' growth, and of a tone and color that would +have delighted the heart of Delacroix, our modern Rubens. This path was +formed in the shape of the figure of 8, thus, in its windings, making a +walk of sixty feet in a garden of only twenty. + +Never had Flora, the fresh and smiling goddess of gardeners, been +honored with a purer or more scrupulous worship than that which was paid +to her in this little enclosure. In fact, of the twenty rose-trees which +formed the parterre, not one bore the mark of the slug, nor were there +evidences anywhere of the clustering aphis which is so destructive to +plants growing in a damp soil. And yet it was not because the damp +had been excluded from the garden; the earth, black as soot, the +thick foliage of the trees betrayed its presence; besides, had natural +humidity been wanting, it could have been immediately supplied by +artificial means, thanks to a tank of water, sunk in one of the corners +of the garden, and upon which were stationed a frog and a toad, who, +from antipathy, no doubt, always remained on the two opposite sides of +the basin. There was not a blade of grass to be seen in the paths, or +a weed in the flower-beds; no fine lady ever trained and watered her +geraniums, her cacti, and her rhododendrons, with more pains than this +hitherto unseen gardener bestowed upon his little enclosure. Monte +Cristo stopped after having closed the gate and fastened the string to +the nail, and cast a look around. + +"The man at the telegraph," said he, "must either engage a gardener or +devote himself passionately to agriculture." Suddenly he struck against +something crouching behind a wheelbarrow filled with leaves; the +something rose, uttering an exclamation of astonishment, and Monte +Cristo found himself facing a man about fifty years old, who was +plucking strawberries, which he was placing upon grape leaves. He had +twelve leaves and about as many strawberries, which, on rising suddenly, +he let fall from his hand. "You are gathering your crop, sir?" said +Monte Cristo, smiling. + +"Excuse me, sir," replied the man, raising his hand to his cap; "I am +not up there, I know, but I have only just come down." + +"Do not let me interfere with you in anything, my friend," said the +count; "gather your strawberries, if, indeed, there are any left." + +"I have ten left," said the man, "for here are eleven, and I had +twenty-one, five more than last year. But I am not surprised; the spring +has been warm this year, and strawberries require heat, sir. This is the +reason that, instead of the sixteen I had last year, I have this year, +you see, eleven, already plucked--twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, +sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. Ah, I miss three, they were here last +night, sir--I am sure they were here--I counted them. It must be the +Mere Simon's son who has stolen them; I saw him strolling about here +this morning. Ah, the young rascal--stealing in a garden--he does not +know where that may lead him to." + +"Certainly, it is wrong," said Monte Cristo, "but you should take into +consideration the youth and greediness of the delinquent." + +"Of course," said the gardener, "but that does not make it the less +unpleasant. But, sir, once more I beg pardon; perhaps you are an officer +that I am detaining here." And he glanced timidly at the count's blue +coat. + +"Calm yourself, my friend," said the count, with the smile which he made +at will either terrible or benevolent, and which now expressed only the +kindliest feeling; "I am not an inspector, but a traveller, brought +here by a curiosity he half repents of, since he causes you to lose your +time." + +"Ah, my time is not valuable," replied the man with a melancholy smile. +"Still it belongs to government, and I ought not to waste it; but, +having received the signal that I might rest for an hour" (here he +glanced at the sun-dial, for there was everything in the enclosure of +Montlhery, even a sun-dial), "and having ten minutes before me, and my +strawberries being ripe, when a day longer--by-the-by, sir, do you think +dormice eat them?" + +"Indeed, I should think not," replied Monte Cristo; "dormice are bad +neighbors for us who do not eat them preserved, as the Romans did." + +"What? Did the Romans eat them?" said the gardener--"ate dormice?" + +"I have read so in Petronius," said the count. + +"Really? They can't be nice, though they do say 'as fat as a dormouse.' +It is not a wonder they are fat, sleeping all day, and only waking to +eat all night. Listen. Last year I had four apricots--they stole one, I +had one nectarine, only one--well, sir, they ate half of it on the wall; +a splendid nectarine--I never ate a better." + +"You ate it?" + +"That is to say, the half that was left--you understand; it was +exquisite, sir. Ah, those gentlemen never choose the worst morsels; like +Mere Simon's son, who has not chosen the worst strawberries. But this +year," continued the horticulturist, "I'll take care it shall not +happen, even if I should be forced to sit by the whole night to watch +when the strawberries are ripe." Monte Cristo had seen enough. Every man +has a devouring passion in his heart, as every fruit has its worm; +that of the telegraph man was horticulture. He began gathering the +grape-leaves which screened the sun from the grapes, and won the heart +of the gardener. "Did you come here, sir, to see the telegraph?" he +said. + +"Yes, if it isn't contrary to the rules." + +"Oh, no," said the gardener; "not in the least, since there is no danger +that anyone can possibly understand what we are saying." + +"I have been told," said the count, "that you do not always yourselves +understand the signals you repeat." + +"That is true, sir, and that is what I like best," said the man, +smiling. + +"Why do you like that best?" + +"Because then I have no responsibility. I am a machine then, and nothing +else, and so long as I work, nothing more is required of me." + +"Is it possible," said Monte Cristo to himself, "that I can have met +with a man that has no ambition? That would spoil my plans." + +"Sir," said the gardener, glancing at the sun-dial, "the ten minutes are +almost up; I must return to my post. Will you go up with me?" + +"I follow you." Monte Cristo entered the tower, which was divided into +three stories. The tower contained implements, such as spades, rakes, +watering-pots, hung against the wall; this was all the furniture. The +second was the man's conventional abode, or rather sleeping-place; it +contained a few poor articles of household furniture--a bed, a table, +two chairs, a stone pitcher--and some dry herbs, hung up to the ceiling, +which the count recognized as sweet pease, and of which the good man was +preserving the seeds; he had labelled them with as much care as if he +had been master botanist in the Jardin des Plantes. + +"Does it require much study to learn the art of telegraphing?" asked +Monte Cristo. + +"The study does not take long; it was acting as a supernumerary that was +so tedious." + +"And what is the pay?" + +"A thousand francs, sir." + +"It is nothing." + +"No; but then we are lodged, as you perceive." + +Monte Cristo looked at the room. They passed to the third story; it was +the telegraph room. Monte Cristo looked in turn at the two iron handles +by which the machine was worked. "It is very interesting," he said, "but +it must be very tedious for a lifetime." + +"Yes. At first my neck was cramped with looking at it, but at the end +of a year I became used to it; and then we have our hours of recreation, +and our holidays." + +"Holidays?" + +"Yes." + +"When?" + +"When we have a fog." + +"Ah, to be sure." + +"Those are indeed holidays to me; I go into the garden, I plant, I +prune, I trim, I kill the insects all day long." + +"How long have you been here?" + +"Ten years, and five as a supernumerary make fifteen." + +"You are--" + +"Fifty-five years old." + +"How long must you have served to claim the pension?" + +"Oh, sir, twenty-five years." + +"And how much is the pension?" + +"A hundred crowns." + +"Poor humanity!" murmured Monte Cristo. + +"What did you say, sir?" asked the man. + +"I was saying it was very interesting." + +"What was?" + +"All you were showing me. And you really understand none of these +signals?" + +"None at all." + +"And have you never tried to understand them?" + +"Never. Why should I?" + +"But still there are some signals only addressed to you." + +"Certainly." + +"And do you understand them?" + +"They are always the same." + +"And they mean--" + +"Nothing new; You have an hour; or To-morrow." + +"This is simple enough," said the count; "but look, is not your +correspondent putting itself in motion?" + +"Ah, yes; thank you, sir." + +"And what is it saying--anything you understand?" + +"Yes; it asks if I am ready." + +"And you reply?" + +"By the same sign, which, at the same time, tells my right-hand +correspondent that I am ready, while it gives notice to my left-hand +correspondent to prepare in his turn." + +"It is very ingenious," said the count. + +"You will see," said the man proudly; "in five minutes he will speak." + +"I have, then, five minutes," said Monte Cristo to himself; "it is +more time than I require. My dear sir, will you allow me to ask you a +question?" + +"What is it, sir?" + +"You are fond of gardening?" + +"Passionately." + +"And you would be pleased to have, instead of this terrace of twenty +feet, an enclosure of two acres?" + +"Sir, I should make a terrestrial paradise of it." + +"You live badly on your thousand francs?" + +"Badly enough; but yet I do live." + +"Yes; but you have a wretchedly small garden." + +"True, the garden is not large." + +"And, then, such as it is, it is filled with dormice, who eat +everything." + +"Ah, they are my scourges." + +"Tell me, should you have the misfortune to turn your head while your +right-hand correspondent was telegraphing"-- + +"I should not see him." + +"Then what would happen?" + +"I could not repeat the signals." + +"And then?" + +"Not having repeated them, through negligence, I should be fined." + +"How much?" + +"A hundred francs." + +"The tenth of your income--that would be fine work." + +"Ah," said the man. + +"Has it ever happened to you?" said Monte Cristo. + +"Once, sir, when I was grafting a rose-tree." + +"Well, suppose you were to alter a signal, and substitute another?" + +"Ah, that is another case; I should be turned off, and lose my pension." + +"Three hundred francs?" + +"A hundred crowns, yes, sir; so you see that I am not likely to do any +of these things." + +"Not even for fifteen years' wages? Come, it is worth thinking about?" + +"For fifteen thousand francs?" + +"Yes." + +"Sir, you alarm me." + +"Nonsense." + +"Sir, you are tempting me?" + +"Just so; fifteen thousand francs, do you understand?" + +"Sir, let me see my right-hand correspondent." + +"On the contrary, do not look at him, but at this." + +"What is it?" + +"What? Do you not know these bits of paper?" + +"Bank-notes!" + +"Exactly; there are fifteen of them." + +"And whose are they?" + +"Yours, if you like." + +"Mine?" exclaimed the man, half-suffocated. + +"Yes; yours--your own property." + +"Sir, my right-hand correspondent is signalling." + +"Let him signal." + +"Sir, you have distracted me; I shall be fined." + +"That will cost you a hundred francs; you see it is your interest to +take my bank-notes." + +"Sir, my right-hand correspondent redoubles his signals; he is +impatient." + +"Never mind--take these;" and the count placed the packet in the man's +hands. "Now this is not all," he said; "you cannot live upon your +fifteen thousand francs." + +"I shall still have my place." + +"No, you will lose it, for you are going to alter your correspondent's +message." + +"Oh, sir, what are you proposing?" + +"A jest." + +"Sir, unless you force me"-- + +"I think I can effectually force you;" and Monte Cristo drew another +packet from his pocket. "Here are ten thousand more francs," he said, +"with the fifteen thousand already in your pocket, they will make +twenty-five thousand. With five thousand you can buy a pretty little +house with two acres of land; the remaining twenty thousand will bring +you in a thousand francs a year." + +"A garden with two acres of land!" + +"And a thousand francs a year." + +"Oh, heavens!" + +"Come, take them," and Monte Cristo forced the bank-notes into his hand. + +"What am I to do?" + +"Nothing very difficult." + +"But what is it?" + +"To repeat these signs." Monte Cristo took a paper from his pocket, +upon which were drawn three signs, with numbers to indicate the order in +which they were to be worked. + +"There, you see it will not take long." + +"Yes; but"-- + +"Do this, and you will have nectarines and all the rest." The shot +told; red with fever, while the large drops fell from his brow, the man +executed, one after the other, the three signs given by the count, in +spite of the frightful contortions of the right-hand correspondent, who, +not understanding the change, began to think the gardener had gone mad. +As to the left-hand one, he conscientiously repeated the same signals, +which were finally transmitted to the Minister of the Interior. "Now you +are rich," said Monte Cristo. + +"Yes," replied the man, "but at what a price!" + +"Listen, friend," said Monte Cristo. "I do not wish to cause you any +remorse; believe me, then, when I swear to you that you have wronged no +man, but on the contrary have benefited mankind." The man looked at the +bank-notes, felt them, counted them, turned pale, then red, then rushed +into his room to drink a glass of water, but he had no time to reach +the water-jug, and fainted in the midst of his dried herbs. Five minutes +after the new telegram reached the minister, Debray had the horses put +to his carriage, and drove to Danglars' house. + +"Has your husband any Spanish bonds?" he asked of the baroness. + +"I think so, indeed! He has six millions' worth." + +"He must sell them at whatever price." + +"Why?" + +"Because Don Carlos has fled from Bourges, and has returned to Spain." + +"How do you know?" Debray shrugged his shoulders. "The idea of +asking how I hear the news," he said. The baroness did not wait for +a repetition; she ran to her husband, who immediately hastened to his +agent, and ordered him to sell at any price. When it was seen that +Danglars sold, the Spanish funds fell directly. Danglars lost five +hundred thousand francs; but he rid himself of all his Spanish shares. +The same evening the following was read in Le Messager: + +"[By telegraph.] The king, Don Carlos, has escaped the vigilance of +his guardians at Bourges, and has returned to Spain by the Catalonian +frontier. Barcelona has risen in his favor." + +All that evening nothing was spoken of but the foresight of Danglars, +who had sold his shares, and of the luck of the stock-jobber, who only +lost five hundred thousand francs by such a blow. Those who had kept +their shares, or bought those of Danglars, looked upon themselves as +ruined, and passed a very bad night. Next morning Le Moniteur contained +the following: + +"It was without any foundation that Le Messager yesterday announced the +flight of Don Carlos and the revolt of Barcelona. The king (Don Carlos) +has not left Bourges, and the peninsula is in the enjoyment of profound +peace. A telegraphic signal, improperly interpreted, owing to the fog, +was the cause of this error." + +The funds rose one per cent higher than before they had fallen. This, +reckoning his loss, and what he had missed gaining, made the difference +of a million to Danglars. "Good," said Monte Cristo to Morrel, who was +at his house when the news arrived of the strange reverse of fortune of +which Danglars had been the victim, "I have just made a discovery for +twenty-five thousand francs, for which I would have paid a hundred +thousand." + +"What have you discovered?" asked Morrel. + +"I have just discovered how a gardener may get rid of the dormice that +eat his peaches." + + + +Chapter 62. Ghosts. + +At first sight, the exterior of the house at Auteuil gave no indications +of splendor, nothing one would expect from the destined residence of the +magnificent Count of Monte Cristo; but this simplicity was according +to the will of its master, who positively ordered nothing to be altered +outside. The splendor was within. Indeed, almost before the door +opened, the scene changed. M. Bertuccio had outdone himself in the taste +displayed in furnishing, and in the rapidity with which it was executed. +It is told that the Duc d'Antin removed in a single night a whole avenue +of trees that annoyed Louis XIV.; in three days M. Bertuccio planted an +entirely bare court with poplars, large spreading sycamores to shade +the different parts of the house, and in the foreground, instead of the +usual paving-stones, half hidden by the grass, there extended a lawn but +that morning laid down, and upon which the water was yet glistening. For +the rest, the orders had been issued by the count; he himself had given +a plan to Bertuccio, marking the spot where each tree was to be planted, +and the shape and extent of the lawn which was to take the place of the +paving-stones. Thus the house had become unrecognizable, and Bertuccio +himself declared that he scarcely knew it, encircled as it was by a +framework of trees. The overseer would not have objected, while he was +about it, to have made some improvements in the garden, but the count +had positively forbidden it to be touched. Bertuccio made amends, +however, by loading the ante-chambers, staircases, and mantle-pieces +with flowers. + +What, above all, manifested the shrewdness of the steward, and the +profound science of the master, the one in carrying out the ideas of the +other, was that this house which appeared only the night before so sad +and gloomy, impregnated with that sickly smell one can almost fancy to +be the smell of time, had in a single day acquired the aspect of life, +was scented with its master's favorite perfumes, and had the very light +regulated according to his wish. When the count arrived, he had +under his touch his books and arms, his eyes rested upon his favorite +pictures; his dogs, whose caresses he loved, welcomed him in the +ante-chamber; the birds, whose songs delighted him, cheered him with +their music; and the house, awakened from its long sleep, like the +sleeping beauty in the wood, lived, sang, and bloomed like the houses we +have long cherished, and in which, when we are forced to leave them, +we leave a part of our souls. The servants passed gayly along the fine +court-yard; some, belonging to the kitchens, gliding down the stairs, +restored but the previous day, as if they had always inhabited the +house; others filling the coach-houses, where the equipages, encased and +numbered, appeared to have been installed for the last fifty years; and +in the stables the horses replied with neighs to the grooms, who spoke +to them with much more respect than many servants pay their masters. + +The library was divided into two parts on either side of the wall, and +contained upwards of two thousand volumes; one division was entirely +devoted to novels, and even the volume which had been published but the +day before was to be seen in its place in all the dignity of its red and +gold binding. On the other side of the house, to match with the library, +was the conservatory, ornamented with rare flowers, that bloomed in +china jars; and in the midst of the greenhouse, marvellous alike to +sight and smell, was a billiard-table which looked as if it had been +abandoned during the past hour by players who had left the balls on +the cloth. One chamber alone had been respected by the magnificent +Bertuccio. Before this room, to which you could ascend by the grand, and +go out by the back staircase, the servants passed with curiosity, and +Bertuccio with terror. At five o'clock precisely, the count arrived +before the house at Auteuil, followed by Ali. Bertuccio was awaiting +this arrival with impatience, mingled with uneasiness; he hoped for some +compliments, while, at the same time, he feared to have frowns. Monte +Cristo descended into the courtyard, walked all over the house, without +giving any sign of approbation or pleasure, until he entered his +bedroom, situated on the opposite side to the closed room; then he +approached a little piece of furniture, made of rosewood, which he had +noticed at a previous visit. "That can only be to hold gloves," he said. + +"Will your excellency deign to open it?" said the delighted Bertuccio, +"and you will find gloves in it." Elsewhere the count found everything +he required--smelling-bottles, cigars, knick-knacks. + +"Good," he said; and M. Bertuccio left enraptured, so great, so +powerful, and real was the influence exercised by this man over all who +surrounded him. At precisely six o'clock the clatter of horses' hoofs +was heard at the entrance door; it was our captain of Spahis, who had +arrived on Medeah. "I am sure I am the first," cried Morrel; "I did it +on purpose to have you a minute to myself, before every one came. Julie +and Emmanuel have a thousand things to tell you. Ah, really this is +magnificent! But tell me, count, will your people take care of my +horse?" + +"Do not alarm yourself, my dear Maximilian--they understand." + +"I mean, because he wants petting. If you had seen at what a pace he +came--like the wind!" + +"I should think so,--a horse that cost 5,000 francs!" said Monte Cristo, +in the tone which a father would use towards a son. + +"Do you regret them?" asked Morrel, with his open laugh. + +"I? Certainly not," replied the count. "No; I should only regret if the +horse had not proved good." + +"It is so good, that I have distanced M. de Chateau-Renaud, one of the +best riders in France, and M. Debray, who both mount the minister's +Arabians; and close on their heels are the horses of Madame Danglars, +who always go at six leagues an hour." + +"Then they follow you?" asked Monte Cristo. + +"See, they are here." And at the same minute a carriage with smoking +horses, accompanied by two mounted gentlemen, arrived at the gate, which +opened before them. The carriage drove round, and stopped at the steps, +followed by the horsemen. The instant Debray had touched the ground, +he was at the carriage-door. He offered his hand to the baroness, who, +descending, took it with a peculiarity of manner imperceptible to every +one but Monte Cristo. But nothing escaped the count's notice, and he +observed a little note, passed with the facility that indicates frequent +practice, from the hand of Madame Danglars to that of the minister's +secretary. After his wife the banker descended, as pale as though he had +issued from his tomb instead of his carriage. Madame Danglars threw +a rapid and inquiring glance which could only be interpreted by Monte +Cristo, around the court-yard, over the peristyle, and across the front +of the house, then, repressing a slight emotion, which must have been +seen on her countenance if she had not kept her color, she ascended the +steps, saying to Morrel, "Sir, if you were a friend of mine, I should +ask you if you would sell your horse." + +Morrel smiled with an expression very like a grimace, and then turned +round to Monte Cristo, as if to ask him to extricate him from his +embarrassment. The count understood him. "Ah, madame," he said, "why did +you not make that request of me?" + +"With you, sir," replied the baroness, "one can wish for nothing, one is +so sure to obtain it. If it were so with M. Morrel"-- + +"Unfortunately," replied the count, "I am witness that M. Morrel cannot +give up his horse, his honor being engaged in keeping it." + +"How so?" + +"He laid a wager he would tame Medeah in the space of six months. You +understand now that if he were to get rid of the animal before the +time named, he would not only lose his bet, but people would say he was +afraid; and a brave captain of Spahis cannot risk this, even to +gratify a pretty woman, which is, in my opinion, one of the most sacred +obligations in the world." + +"You see my position, madame," said Morrel, bestowing a grateful smile +on Monte Cristo. + +"It seems to me," said Danglars, in his coarse tone, ill-concealed by a +forced smile, "that you have already got horses enough." Madame Danglars +seldom allowed remarks of this kind to pass unnoticed, but, to the +surprise of the young people, she pretended not to hear it, and said +nothing. Monte Cristo smiled at her unusual humility, and showed her two +immense porcelain jars, over which wound marine plants, of a size and +delicacy that nature alone could produce. The baroness was astonished. +"Why," said she, "you could plant one of the chestnut-trees in the +Tuileries inside! How can such enormous jars have been manufactured?" + +"Ah, madame," replied Monte Cristo, "you must not ask of us, the +manufacturers of fine porcelain, such a question. It is the work of +another age, constructed by the genii of earth and water." + +"How so?--at what period can that have been?" + +"I do not know; I have only heard that an emperor of China had an +oven built expressly, and that in this oven twelve jars like this were +successively baked. Two broke, from the heat of the fire; the other ten +were sunk three hundred fathoms deep into the sea. The sea, knowing +what was required of her, threw over them her weeds, encircled them with +coral, and encrusted them with shells; the whole was cemented by two +hundred years beneath these almost impervious depths, for a revolution +carried away the emperor who wished to make the trial, and only left the +documents proving the manufacture of the jars and their descent into the +sea. At the end of two hundred years the documents were found, and they +thought of bringing up the jars. Divers descended in machines, made +expressly on the discovery, into the bay where they were thrown; but of +ten three only remained, the rest having been broken by the waves. I am +fond of these jars, upon which, perhaps, misshapen, frightful monsters +have fixed their cold, dull eyes, and in which myriads of small fish +have slept, seeking a refuge from the pursuit of their enemies." +Meanwhile, Danglars, who had cared little for curiosities, was +mechanically tearing off the blossoms of a splendid orange-tree, one +after another. When he had finished with the orange-tree, he began at +the cactus; but this, not being so easily plucked as the orange-tree, +pricked him dreadfully. He shuddered, and rubbed his eyes as though +awaking from a dream. + +"Sir," said Monte Cristo to him, "I do not recommend my pictures to you, +who possess such splendid paintings; but, nevertheless, here are two +by Hobbema, a Paul Potter, a Mieris, two by Gerard Douw, a Raphael, a +Vandyke, a Zurbaran, and two or three by Murillo, worth looking at." + +"Stay," said Debray; "I recognize this Hobbema." + +"Ah, indeed!" + +"Yes; it was proposed for the Museum." + +"Which, I believe, does not contain one?" said Monte Cristo. + +"No; and yet they refused to buy it." + +"Why?" said Chateau-Renaud. + +"You pretend not to know,--because government was not rich enough." + +"Ah, pardon me," said Chateau-Renaud; "I have heard of these things +every day during the last eight years, and I cannot understand them +yet." + +"You will, by and by," said Debray. + +"I think not," replied Chateau-Renaud. + +"Major Bartolomeo Cavalcanti and Count Andrea Cavalcanti," announced +Baptistin. A black satin stock, fresh from the maker's hands, gray +moustaches, a bold eye, a major's uniform, ornamented with three medals +and five crosses--in fact, the thorough bearing of an old soldier--such +was the appearance of Major Bartolomeo Cavalcanti, that tender father +with whom we are already acquainted. Close to him, dressed in entirely +new clothes, advanced smilingly Count Andrea Cavalcanti, the dutiful +son, whom we also know. The three young people were talking together. On +the entrance of the new-comers, their eyes glanced from father to +son, and then, naturally enough, rested on the latter, whom they began +criticising. "Cavalcanti!" said Debray. "A fine name," said Morrel. + +"Yes," said Chateau-Renaud, "these Italians are well named and badly +dressed." + +"You are fastidious, Chateau-Renaud," replied Debray; "those clothes are +well cut and quite new." + +"That is just what I find fault with. That gentleman appears to be well +dressed for the first time in his life." + +"Who are those gentlemen?" asked Danglars of Monte Cristo. + +"You heard--Cavalcanti." + +"That tells me their name, and nothing else." + +"Ah, true. You do not know the Italian nobility; the Cavalcanti are all +descended from princes." + +"Have they any fortune?" + +"An enormous one." + +"What do they do?" + +"Try to spend it all. They have some business with you, I think, from +what they told me the day before yesterday. I, indeed, invited them here +to-day on your account. I will introduce you to them." + +"But they appear to speak French with a very pure accent," said +Danglars. + +"The son has been educated in a college in the south; I believe near +Marseilles. You will find him quite enthusiastic." + +"Upon what subject?" asked Madame Danglars. + +"The French ladies, madame. He has made up his mind to take a wife from +Paris." + +"A fine idea that of his," said Danglars, shrugging his shoulders. +Madame Danglars looked at her husband with an expression which, at any +other time, would have indicated a storm, but for the second time she +controlled herself. "The baron appears thoughtful to-day," said Monte +Cristo to her; "are they going to put him in the ministry?" + +"Not yet, I think. More likely he has been speculating on the Bourse, +and has lost money." + +"M. and Madame de Villefort," cried Baptistin. They entered. M. de +Villefort, notwithstanding his self-control, was visibly affected, and +when Monte Cristo touched his hand, he felt it tremble. "Certainly, +women alone know how to dissimulate," said Monte Cristo to himself, +glancing at Madame Danglars, who was smiling on the procureur, and +embracing his wife. After a short time, the count saw Bertuccio, who, +until then, had been occupied on the other side of the house, glide into +an adjoining room. He went to him. "What do you want, M. Bertuccio?" +said he. + +"Your excellency has not stated the number of guests." + +"Ah, true." + +"How many covers?" + +"Count for yourself." + +"Is every one here, your excellency?" + +"Yes." + +Bertuccio glanced through the door, which was ajar. The count watched +him. "Good heavens!" he exclaimed. + +"What is the matter?" said the count. + +"That woman--that woman!" + +"Which?" + +"The one with a white dress and so many diamonds--the fair one." + +"Madame Danglars?" + +"I do not know her name; but it is she, sir, it is she!" + +"Whom do you mean?" + +"The woman of the garden!--she that was enciente--she who was walking +while she waited for"--Bertuccio stood at the open door, with his eyes +starting and his hair on end. + +"Waiting for whom?" Bertuccio, without answering, pointed to Villefort +with something of the gesture Macbeth uses to point out Banquo. "Oh, +oh," he at length muttered, "do you see?" + +"What? Who?" + +"Him!" + +"Him!--M. de Villefort, the king's attorney? Certainly I see him." + +"Then I did not kill him?" + +"Really, I think you are going mad, good Bertuccio," said the count. + +"Then he is not dead?" + +"No; you see plainly he is not dead. Instead of striking between the +sixth and seventh left ribs, as your countrymen do, you must have struck +higher or lower, and life is very tenacious in these lawyers, or rather +there is no truth in anything you have told me--it was a fright of the +imagination, a dream of your fancy. You went to sleep full of thoughts +of vengeance; they weighed heavily upon your stomach; you had the +nightmare--that's all. Come, calm yourself, and reckon them up--M. +and Madame de Villefort, two; M. and Madame Danglars, four; M. +de Chateau-Renaud, M. Debray, M. Morrel, seven; Major Bartolomeo +Cavalcanti, eight." + +"Eight!" repeated Bertuccio. + +"Stop! You are in a shocking hurry to be off--you forget one of my +guests. Lean a little to the left. Stay! look at M. Andrea Cavalcanti, +the young man in a black coat, looking at Murillo's Madonna; now he is +turning." This time Bertuccio would have uttered an exclamation, had +not a look from Monte Cristo silenced him. "Benedetto?" he muttered; +"fatality!" + +"Half-past six o'clock has just struck, M. Bertuccio," said the count +severely; "I ordered dinner at that hour, and I do not like to wait;" +and he returned to his guests, while Bertuccio, leaning against the +wall, succeeded in reaching the dining-room. Five minutes afterwards +the doors of the drawing-room were thrown open, and Bertuccio appearing +said, with a violent effort, "The dinner waits." + +The Count of Monte Cristo offered his arm to Madame de Villefort. "M. de +Villefort," he said, "will you conduct the Baroness Danglars?" + +Villefort complied, and they passed on to the dining-room. + + + +Chapter 63. The Dinner. + +It was evident that one sentiment affected all the guests on entering +the dining-room. Each one asked what strange influence had brought them +to this house, and yet astonished, even uneasy though they were, they +still felt that they would not like to be absent. The recent events, the +solitary and eccentric position of the count, his enormous, nay, almost +incredible fortune, should have made men cautious, and have altogether +prevented ladies visiting a house where there was no one of their own +sex to receive them; and yet curiosity had been enough to lead them +to overleap the bounds of prudence and decorum. And all present, even +including Cavalcanti and his son, notwithstanding the stiffness of +the one and the carelessness of the other, were thoughtful, on finding +themselves assembled at the house of this incomprehensible man. Madame +Danglars had started when Villefort, on the count's invitation, offered +his arm; and Villefort felt that his glance was uneasy beneath his gold +spectacles, when he felt the arm of the baroness press upon his own. +None of this had escaped the count, and even by this mere contact of +individuals the scene had already acquired considerable interest for an +observer. M. de Villefort had on the right hand Madame Danglars, on +his left Morrel. The count was seated between Madame de Villefort and +Danglars; the other seats were filled by Debray, who was placed between +the two Cavalcanti, and by Chateau-Renaud, seated between Madame de +Villefort and Morrel. + +The repast was magnificent; Monte Cristo had endeavored completely to +overturn the Parisian ideas, and to feed the curiosity as much as the +appetite of his guests. It was an Oriental feast that he offered to +them, but of such a kind as the Arabian fairies might be supposed to +prepare. Every delicious fruit that the four quarters of the globe could +provide was heaped in vases from China and jars from Japan. Rare birds, +retaining their most brilliant plumage, enormous fish, spread upon +massive silver dishes, together with every wine produced in the +Archipelago, Asia Minor, or the Cape, sparkling in bottles, whose +grotesque shape seemed to give an additional flavor to the draught,--all +these, like one of the displays with which Apicius of old gratified his +guests, passed in review before the eyes of the astonished Parisians, +who understood that it was possible to expend a thousand louis upon a +dinner for ten persons, but only on the condition of eating pearls, like +Cleopatra, or drinking refined gold, like Lorenzo de' Medici. + +Monte Cristo noticed the general astonishment, and began laughing +and joking about it. "Gentlemen," he said, "you will admit that, when +arrived at a certain degree of fortune, the superfluities of life are +all that can be desired; and the ladies will allow that, after having +risen to a certain eminence of position, the ideal alone can be +more exalted. Now, to follow out this reasoning, what is the +marvellous?--that which we do not understand. What is it that we really +desire?--that which we cannot obtain. Now, to see things which I cannot +understand, to procure impossibilities, these are the study of my life. +I gratify my wishes by two means--my will and my money. I take as +much interest in the pursuit of some whim as you do, M. Danglars, in +promoting a new railway line; you, M. de Villefort, in condemning a +culprit to death; you, M. Debray, in pacifying a kingdom; you, M. de +Chateau-Renaud, in pleasing a woman; and you, Morrel, in breaking a +horse that no one can ride. For example, you see these two fish; one +brought from fifty leagues beyond St. Petersburg, the other five leagues +from Naples. Is it not amusing to see them both on the same table?" + +"What are the two fish?" asked Danglars. + +"M. Chateau-Renaud, who has lived in Russia, will tell you the name of +one, and Major Cavalcanti, who is an Italian, will tell you the name of +the other." + +"This one is, I think, a sterlet," said Chateau-Renaud. + +"And that one, if I mistake not, a lamprey." + +"Just so. Now, M. Danglars, ask these gentlemen where they are caught." + +"Sterlets," said Chateau-Renaud, "are only found in the Volga." + +"And," said Cavalcanti, "I know that Lake Fusaro alone supplies lampreys +of that size." + +"Exactly; one comes from the Volga, and the other from Lake Fusaro." + +"Impossible!" cried all the guests simultaneously. + +"Well, this is just what amuses me," said Monte Cristo. "I am like +Nero--cupitor impossibilium; and that is what is amusing you at this +moment. This fish, which seems so exquisite to you, is very likely no +better than perch or salmon; but it seemed impossible to procure it, and +here it is." + +"But how could you have these fish brought to France?" + +"Oh, nothing more easy. Each fish was brought over in a cask--one filled +with river herbs and weeds, the other with rushes and lake plants; they +were placed in a wagon built on purpose, and thus the sterlet lived +twelve days, the lamprey eight, and both were alive when my cook seized +them, killing one with milk and the other with wine. You do not believe +me, M. Danglars!" + +"I cannot help doubting," answered Danglars with his stupid smile. + +"Baptistin," said the count, "have the other fish brought in--the +sterlet and the lamprey which came in the other casks, and which are yet +alive." Danglars opened his bewildered eyes; the company clapped their +hands. Four servants carried in two casks covered with aquatic plants, +and in each of which was breathing a fish similar to those on the table. + +"But why have two of each sort?" asked Danglars. + +"Merely because one might have died," carelessly answered Monte Cristo. + +"You are certainly an extraordinary man," said Danglars; "and +philosophers may well say it is a fine thing to be rich." + +"And to have ideas," added Madame Danglars. + +"Oh, do not give me credit for this, madame; it was done by the Romans, +who much esteemed them, and Pliny relates that they sent slaves from +Ostia to Rome, who carried on their heads fish which he calls the mulus, +and which, from the description, must probably be the goldfish. It was +also considered a luxury to have them alive, it being an amusing sight +to see them die, for, when dying, they change color three or four times, +and like the rainbow when it disappears, pass through all the prismatic +shades, after which they were sent to the kitchen. Their agony formed +part of their merit--if they were not seen alive, they were despised +when dead." + +"Yes," said Debray, "but then Ostia is only a few leagues from Rome." + +"True," said Monte Cristo; "but what would be the use of living eighteen +hundred years after Lucullus, if we can do no better than he could?" The +two Cavalcanti opened their enormous eyes, but had the good sense not +to say anything. "All this is very extraordinary," said Chateau-Renaud; +"still, what I admire the most, I confess, is the marvellous promptitude +with which your orders are executed. Is it not true that you only bought +this house five or six days ago?" + +"Certainly not longer." + +"Well, I am sure it is quite transformed since last week. If I remember +rightly, it had another entrance, and the court-yard was paved and +empty; while to-day we have a splendid lawn, bordered by trees which +appear to be a hundred years old." + +"Why not? I am fond of grass and shade," said Monte Cristo. + +"Yes," said Madame de Villefort, "the door was towards the road before, +and on the day of my miraculous escape you brought me into the house +from the road, I remember." + +"Yes, madame," said Monte Cristo; "but I preferred having an entrance +which would allow me to see the Bois de Boulogne over my gate." + +"In four days," said Morrel; "it is extraordinary!" + +"Indeed," said Chateau-Renaud, "it seems quite miraculous to make a new +house out of an old one; for it was very old, and dull too. I recollect +coming for my mother to look at it when M. de Saint-Meran advertised it +for sale two or three years ago." + +"M. de Saint-Meran?" said Madame de Villefort; "then this house belonged +to M. de Saint-Meran before you bought it?" + +"It appears so," replied Monte Cristo. + +"Is it possible that you do not know of whom you purchased it?" + +"Quite so; my steward transacts all this business for me." + +"It is certainly ten years since the house had been occupied," said +Chateau-Renaud, "and it was quite melancholy to look at it, with the +blinds closed, the doors locked, and the weeds in the court. Really, if +the house had not belonged to the father-in-law of the procureur, one +might have thought it some accursed place where a horrible crime had +been committed." Villefort, who had hitherto not tasted the three or +four glasses of rare wine which were placed before him, here took one, +and drank it off. Monte Cristo allowed a short time to elapse, and then +said, "It is singular, baron, but the same idea came across me the first +time I came here; it looked so gloomy I should never have bought it +if my steward had not taken the matter into his own hands. Perhaps the +fellow had been bribed by the notary." + +"It is probable," stammered out Villefort, trying to smile; "but I can +assure you that I had nothing to do with any such proceeding. This house +is part of Valentine's marriage-portion, and M. de Saint-Meran wished to +sell it; for if it had remained another year or two uninhabited it would +have fallen to ruin." It was Morrel's turn to become pale. + +"There was, above all, one room," continued Monte Cristo, "very plain in +appearance, hung with red damask, which, I know not why, appeared to me +quite dramatic." + +"Why so?" said Danglars; "why dramatic?" + +"Can we account for instinct?" said Monte Cristo. "Are there not some +places where we seem to breathe sadness?--why, we cannot tell. It is a +chain of recollections--an idea which carries you back to other times, +to other places--which, very likely, have no connection with the present +time and place. And there is something in this room which reminds me +forcibly of the chamber of the Marquise de Ganges [*] or Desdemona. Stay, +since we have finished dinner, I will show it to you, and then we will +take coffee in the garden. After dinner, the play." Monte Cristo looked +inquiringly at his guests. Madame de Villefort rose, Monte Cristo did +the same, and the rest followed their example. Villefort and Madame +Danglars remained for a moment, as if rooted to their seats; they +questioned each other with vague and stupid glances. "Did you hear?" +said Madame Danglars. + + * Elisabeth de Rossan, Marquise de Ganges, was one of the + famous women of the court of Louis XIV. where she was known + as "La Belle Provencale." She was the widow of the Marquise + de Castellane when she married de Ganges, and having the + misfortune to excite the enmity of her new brothers-in-law, + was forced by them to take poison; and they finished her off + with pistol and dagger.--Ed. + +"We must go," replied Villefort, offering his arm. The others, attracted +by curiosity, were already scattered in different parts of the house; +for they thought the visit would not be limited to the one room, and +that, at the same time, they would obtain a view of the rest of the +building, of which Monte Cristo had created a palace. Each one went out +by the open doors. Monte Cristo waited for the two who remained; then, +when they had passed, he brought up the rear, and on his face was a +smile, which, if they could have understood it, would have alarmed them +much more than a visit to the room they were about to enter. They began +by walking through the apartments, many of which were fitted up in +the Eastern style, with cushions and divans instead of beds, and pipes +instead of furniture. The drawing-rooms were decorated with the rarest +pictures by the old masters, the boudoirs hung with draperies from +China, of fanciful colors, fantastic design, and wonderful texture. At +length they arrived at the famous room. There was nothing particular +about it, excepting that, although daylight had disappeared, it was not +lighted, and everything in it was old-fashioned, while the rest of the +rooms had been redecorated. These two causes were enough to give it +a gloomy aspect. "Oh." cried Madame de Villefort, "it is really +frightful." Madame Danglars tried to utter a few words, but was not +heard. Many observations were made, the import of which was a unanimous +opinion that there was something sinister about the room. "Is it not +so?" asked Monte Cristo. "Look at that large clumsy bed, hung with such +gloomy, blood-colored drapery! And those two crayon portraits, that have +faded from the dampness; do they not seem to say, with their pale +lips and staring eyes, 'We have seen'?" Villefort became livid; Madame +Danglars fell into a long seat placed near the chimney. "Oh," said +Madame de Villefort, smiling, "are you courageous enough to sit down +upon the very seat perhaps upon which the crime was committed?" Madame +Danglars rose suddenly. + +"And then," said Monte Cristo, "this is not all." + +"What is there more?" said Debray, who had not failed to notice the +agitation of Madame Danglars. + +"Ah, what else is there?" said Danglars; "for, at present, I cannot +say that I have seen anything extraordinary. What do you say, M. +Cavalcanti?" + +"Ah," said he, "we have at Pisa, Ugolino's tower; at Ferrara, Tasso's +prison; at Rimini, the room of Francesca and Paolo." + +"Yes, but you have not this little staircase," said Monte Cristo, +opening a door concealed by the drapery. "Look at it, and tell me what +you think of it." + +"What a wicked-looking, crooked staircase," said Chateau-Renaud with a +smile. + +"I do not know whether the wine of Chios produces melancholy, but +certainly everything appears to me black in this house," said Debray. + +Ever since Valentine's dowry had been mentioned, Morrel had been silent +and sad. "Can you imagine," said Monte Cristo, "some Othello or Abbe de +Ganges, one stormy, dark night, descending these stairs step by step, +carrying a load, which he wishes to hide from the sight of man, if not +from God?" Madame Danglars half fainted on the arm of Villefort, who was +obliged to support himself against the wall. "Ah, madame," cried Debray, +"what is the matter with you? how pale you look!" + +"It is very evident what is the matter with her," said Madame de +Villefort; "M. de Monte Cristo is relating horrible stories to us, +doubtless intending to frighten us to death." + +"Yes," said Villefort, "really, count, you frighten the ladies." + +"What is the matter?" asked Debray, in a whisper, of Madame Danglars. + +"Nothing," she replied with a violent effort. "I want air, that is all." + +"Will you come into the garden?" said Debray, advancing towards the back +staircase. + +"No, no," she answered, "I would rather remain here." + +"Are you really frightened, madame?" said Monte Cristo. + +"Oh, no, sir," said Madame Danglars; "but you suppose scenes in a manner +which gives them the appearance of reality." + +"Ah, yes," said Monte Cristo smiling; "it is all a matter of +imagination. Why should we not imagine this the apartment of an honest +mother? And this bed with red hangings, a bed visited by the goddess +Lucina? And that mysterious staircase, the passage through which, not +to disturb their sleep, the doctor and nurse pass, or even the father +carrying the sleeping child?" Here Madame Danglars, instead of being +calmed by the soft picture, uttered a groan and fainted. "Madame +Danglars is ill," said Villefort; "it would be better to take her to her +carriage." + +"Oh, mon Dieu," said Monte Cristo, "and I have forgotten my +smelling-bottle!" + +"I have mine," said Madame de Villefort; and she passed over to +Monte Cristo a bottle full of the same kind of red liquid whose good +properties the count had tested on Edward. + +"Ah," said Monte Cristo, taking it from her hand. + +"Yes," she said, "at your advice I have made the trial." + +"And have you succeeded?" + +"I think so." + +Madame Danglars was carried into the adjoining room; Monte Cristo +dropped a very small portion of the red liquid upon her lips; she +returned to consciousness. "Ah," she cried, "what a frightful dream!" + +Villefort pressed her hand to let her know it was not a dream. They +looked for M. Danglars, but, as he was not especially interested in +poetical ideas, he had gone into the garden, and was talking with Major +Cavalcanti on the projected railway from Leghorn to Florence. Monte +Cristo seemed in despair. He took the arm of Madame Danglars, and +conducted her into the garden, where they found Danglars taking coffee +between the Cavalcanti. "Really, madame," he said, "did I alarm you +much?" + +"Oh, no, sir," she answered; "but you know, things impress us +differently, according to the mood of our minds." Villefort forced +a laugh. "And then, you know," he said, "an idea, a supposition, is +sufficient." + +"Well," said Monte Cristo, "you may believe me if you like, but it is my +opinion that a crime has been committed in this house." + +"Take care," said Madame de Villefort, "the king's attorney is here." + +"Ah," replied Monte Cristo, "since that is the case, I will take +advantage of his presence to make my declaration." + +"Your declaration?" said Villefort. + +"Yes, before witnesses." + +"Oh, this is very interesting," said Debray; "if there really has been a +crime, we will investigate it." + +"There has been a crime," said Monte Cristo. "Come this way, gentlemen; +come, M. Villefort, for a declaration to be available, should be made +before the competent authorities." He then took Villefort's arm, and, at +the same time, holding that of Madame Danglars under his own, he dragged +the procureur to the plantain-tree, where the shade was thickest. All +the other guests followed. "Stay," said Monte Cristo, "here, in this +very spot" (and he stamped upon the ground), "I had the earth dug up and +fresh mould put in, to refresh these old trees; well, my man, digging, +found a box, or rather, the iron-work of a box, in the midst of which +was the skeleton of a newly born infant." Monte Cristo felt the arm of +Madame Danglars stiffen, while that of Villefort trembled. "A newly born +infant," repeated Debray; "this affair becomes serious!" + +"Well," said Chateau-Renaud, "I was not wrong just now then, when I +said that houses had souls and faces like men, and that their exteriors +carried the impress of their characters. This house was gloomy because +it was remorseful: it was remorseful because it concealed a crime." + +"Who said it was a crime?" asked Villefort, with a last effort. + +"How? is it not a crime to bury a living child in a garden?" cried Monte +Cristo. "And pray what do you call such an action?" + +"But who said it was buried alive?" + +"Why bury it there if it were dead? This garden has never been a +cemetery." + +"What is done to infanticides in this country?" asked Major Cavalcanti +innocently. + +"Oh, their heads are soon cut off," said Danglars. + +"Ah, indeed?" said Cavalcanti. + +"I think so; am I not right, M. de Villefort?" asked Monte Cristo. + +"Yes, count," replied Villefort, in a voice now scarcely human. + +Monte Cristo, seeing that the two persons for whom he had prepared this +scene could scarcely endure it, and not wishing to carry it too far, +said, "Come, gentlemen,--some coffee, we seem to have forgotten it," and +he conducted the guests back to the table on the lawn. + +"Indeed, count," said Madame Danglars, "I am ashamed to own it, but all +your frightful stories have so upset me, that I must beg you to let me +sit down;" and she fell into a chair. Monte Cristo bowed, and went +to Madame de Villefort. "I think Madame Danglars again requires your +bottle," he said. But before Madame de Villefort could reach her friend +the procureur had found time to whisper to Madame Danglars, "I must +speak to you." + +"When?" + +"To-morrow." + +"Where?" + +"In my office, or in the court, if you like,--that is the surest place." + +"I will be there."--At this moment Madame de Villefort approached. +"Thanks, my dear friend," said Madame Danglars, trying to smile; "it is +over now, and I am much better." + + + +Chapter 64. The Beggar. + +The evening passed on; Madame de Villefort expressed a desire to return +to Paris, which Madame Danglars had not dared to do, notwithstanding the +uneasiness she experienced. On his wife's request, M. de Villefort was +the first to give the signal of departure. He offered a seat in his +landau to Madame Danglars, that she might be under the care of his wife. +As for M. Danglars, absorbed in an interesting conversation with M. +Cavalcanti, he paid no attention to anything that was passing. While +Monte Cristo had begged the smelling-bottle of Madame de Villefort, he +had noticed the approach of Villefort to Madame Danglars, and he soon +guessed all that had passed between them, though the words had been +uttered in so low a voice as hardly to be heard by Madame Danglars. +Without opposing their arrangements, he allowed Morrel, Chateau-Renaud, +and Debray to leave on horseback, and the ladies in M. de Villefort's +carriage. Danglars, more and more delighted with Major Cavalcanti, had +offered him a seat in his carriage. Andrea Cavalcanti found his tilbury +waiting at the door; the groom, in every respect a caricature of the +English fashion, was standing on tiptoe to hold a large iron-gray horse. + +Andrea had spoken very little during dinner; he was an intelligent +lad, and he feared to utter some absurdity before so many grand people, +amongst whom, with dilating eyes, he saw the king's attorney. Then +he had been seized upon by Danglars, who, with a rapid glance at the +stiff-necked old major and his modest son, and taking into consideration +the hospitality of the count, made up his mind that he was in the +society of some nabob come to Paris to finish the worldly education of +his heir. He contemplated with unspeakable delight the large diamond +which shone on the major's little finger; for the major, like a +prudent man, in case of any accident happening to his bank-notes, had +immediately converted them into an available asset. Then, after dinner, +on the pretext of business, he questioned the father and son upon their +mode of living; and the father and son, previously informed that it was +through Danglars the one was to receive his 48,000 francs and the other +50,000 livres annually, were so full of affability that they would +have shaken hands even with the banker's servants, so much did their +gratitude need an object to expend itself upon. One thing above all the +rest heightened the respect, nay almost the veneration, of Danglars +for Cavalcanti. The latter, faithful to the principle of Horace, nil +admirari, had contented himself with showing his knowledge by declaring +in what lake the best lampreys were caught. Then he had eaten some +without saying a word more; Danglars, therefore, concluded that such +luxuries were common at the table of the illustrious descendant of +the Cavalcanti, who most likely in Lucca fed upon trout brought from +Switzerland, and lobsters sent from England, by the same means used by +the count to bring the lampreys from Lake Fusaro, and the sterlet from +the Volga. Thus it was with much politeness of manner that he heard +Cavalcanti pronounce these words, "To-morrow, sir, I shall have the +honor of waiting upon you on business." + +"And I, sir," said Danglars, "shall be most happy to receive you." Upon +which he offered to take Cavalcanti in his carriage to the Hotel des +Princes, if it would not be depriving him of the company of his son. To +this Cavalcanti replied by saying that for some time past his son had +lived independently of him, that he had his own horses and carriages, +and that not having come together, it would not be difficult for them +to leave separately. The major seated himself, therefore, by the side +of Danglars, who was more and more charmed with the ideas of order and +economy which ruled this man, and yet who, being able to allow his son +60,000 francs a year, might be supposed to possess a fortune of 500,000 +or 600,000 livres. + +As for Andrea, he began, by way of showing off, to scold his groom, who, +instead of bringing the tilbury to the steps of the house, had taken it +to the outer door, thus giving him the trouble of walking thirty steps +to reach it. The groom heard him with humility, took the bit of the +impatient animal with his left hand, and with the right held out the +reins to Andrea, who, taking them from him, rested his polished boot +lightly on the step. At that moment a hand touched his shoulder. The +young man turned round, thinking that Danglars or Monte Cristo had +forgotten something they wished to tell him, and had returned just as +they were starting. But instead of either of these, he saw nothing but a +strange face, sunburnt, and encircled by a beard, with eyes brilliant as +carbuncles, and a smile upon the mouth which displayed a perfect set +of white teeth, pointed and sharp as the wolf's or jackal's. A red +handkerchief encircled his gray head; torn and filthy garments covered +his large bony limbs, which seemed as though, like those of a skeleton, +they would rattle as he walked; and the hand with which he leaned upon +the young man's shoulder, and which was the first thing Andrea saw, +seemed of gigantic size. Did the young man recognize that face by the +light of the lantern in his tilbury, or was he merely struck with the +horrible appearance of his interrogator? We cannot say; but only relate +the fact that he shuddered and stepped back suddenly. "What do you want +of me?" he asked. + +"Pardon me, my friend, if I disturb you," said the man with the red +handkerchief, "but I want to speak to you." + +"You have no right to beg at night," said the groom, endeavoring to rid +his master of the troublesome intruder. + +"I am not begging, my fine fellow," said the unknown to the servant, +with so ironical an expression of the eye, and so frightful a smile, +that he withdrew; "I only wish to say two or three words to your master, +who gave me a commission to execute about a fortnight ago." + +"Come," said Andrea, with sufficient nerve for his servant not to +perceive his agitation, "what do you want? Speak quickly, friend." + +The man said, in a low voice: "I wish--I wish you to spare me the walk +back to Paris. I am very tired, and as I have not eaten so good a dinner +as you, I can scarcely stand." The young man shuddered at this strange +familiarity. "Tell me," he said--"tell me what you want?" + +"Well, then, I want you to take me up in your fine carriage, and carry +me back." Andrea turned pale, but said nothing. + +"Yes," said the man, thrusting his hands into his pockets, and looking +impudently at the youth; "I have taken the whim into my head; do you +understand, Master Benedetto?" + +At this name, no doubt, the young man reflected a little, for he went +towards his groom, saying, "This man is right; I did indeed charge him +with a commission, the result of which he must tell me; walk to the +barrier, there take a cab, that you may not be too late." The surprised +groom retired. "Let me at least reach a shady spot," said Andrea. + +"Oh, as for that, I'll take you to a splendid place," said the man with +the handkerchief; and taking the horse's bit he led the tilbury where +it was certainly impossible for any one to witness the honor that Andrea +conferred upon him. + +"Don't think I want the glory of riding in your fine carriage," said he; +"oh, no, it's only because I am tired, and also because I have a little +business to talk over with you." + +"Come, step in," said the young man. It was a pity this scene had not +occurred in daylight, for it was curious to see this rascal throwing +himself heavily down on the cushion beside the young and elegant driver +of the tilbury. Andrea drove past the last house in the village without +saying a word to his companion, who smiled complacently, as though +well-pleased to find himself travelling in so comfortable a vehicle. +Once out of Auteuil, Andrea looked around, in order to assure himself +that he could neither be seen nor heard, and then, stopping the horse +and crossing his arms before the man, he asked,--"Now, tell me why you +come to disturb my tranquillity?" + +"Let me ask you why you deceived me?" + +"How have I deceived you?" + +"'How,' do you ask? When we parted at the Pont du Var, you told me you +were going to travel through Piedmont and Tuscany; but instead of that, +you come to Paris." + +"How does that annoy you?" + +"It does not; on the contrary, I think it will answer my purpose." + +"So," said Andrea, "you are speculating upon me?" + +"What fine words he uses!" + +"I warn you, Master Caderousse, that you are mistaken." + +"Well, well, don't be angry, my boy; you know well enough what it is +to be unfortunate; and misfortunes make us jealous. I thought you +were earning a living in Tuscany or Piedmont by acting as facchino or +cicerone, and I pitied you sincerely, as I would a child of my own. You +know I always did call you my child." + +"Come, come, what then?" + +"Patience--patience!" + +"I am patient, but go on." + +"All at once I see you pass through the barrier with a groom, a tilbury, +and fine new clothes. You must have discovered a mine, or else become a +stockbroker." + +"So that, as you confess, you are jealous?" + +"No, I am pleased--so pleased that I wished to congratulate you; but as +I am not quite properly dressed, I chose my opportunity, that I might +not compromise you." + +"Yes, and a fine opportunity you have chosen!" exclaimed Andrea; "you +speak to me before my servant." + +"How can I help that, my boy? I speak to you when I can catch you. You +have a quick horse, a light tilbury, you are naturally as slippery as an +eel; if I had missed you to-night, I might not have had another chance." + +"You see, I do not conceal myself." + +"You are lucky; I wish I could say as much, for I do conceal myself; +and then I was afraid you would not recognize me, but you did," added +Caderousse with his unpleasant smile. "It was very polite of you." + +"Come," said Andrea, "what do you want?" + +"You do not speak affectionately to me, Benedetto, my old friend, that +is not right--take care, or I may become troublesome." This menace +smothered the young man's passion. He urged the horse again into a trot. +"You should not speak so to an old friend like me, Caderousse, as you +said just now; you are a native of Marseilles, I am"-- + +"Do you know then now what you are?" + +"No, but I was brought up in Corsica; you are old and obstinate, I +am young and wilful. Between people like us threats are out of place, +everything should be amicably arranged. Is it my fault if fortune, which +has frowned on you, has been kind to me?" + +"Fortune has been kind to you, then? Your tilbury, your groom, your +clothes, are not then hired? Good, so much the better," said Caderousse, +his eyes sparkling with avarice. + +"Oh, you knew that well enough before speaking to me," said Andrea, +becoming more and more excited. "If I had been wearing a handkerchief +like yours on my head, rags on my back, and worn-out shoes on my feet, +you would not have known me." + +"You wrong me, my boy; now I have found you, nothing prevents my being +as well-dressed as any one, knowing, as I do, the goodness of your +heart. If you have two coats you will give me one of them. I used to +divide my soup and beans with you when you were hungry." + +"True," said Andrea. + +"What an appetite you used to have! Is it as good now?" + +"Oh, yes," replied Andrea, laughing. + +"How did you come to be dining with that prince whose house you have +just left?" + +"He is not a prince; simply a count." + +"A count, and a rich one too, eh?" + +"Yes; but you had better not have anything to say to him, for he is not +a very good-tempered gentleman." + +"Oh, be easy! I have no design upon your count, and you shall have +him all to yourself. But," said Caderousse, again smiling with the +disagreeable expression he had before assumed, "you must pay for it--you +understand?" + +"Well, what do you want?" + +"I think that with a hundred francs a month"-- + +"Well?" + +"I could live"-- + +"Upon a hundred francs!" + +"Come--you understand me; but that with"-- + +"With?" + +"With a hundred and fifty francs I should be quite happy." + +"Here are two hundred," said Andrea; and he placed ten gold louis in the +hand of Caderousse. + +"Good!" said Caderousse. + +"Apply to the steward on the first day of every month, and you will +receive the same sum." + +"There now, again you degrade me." + +"How so?" + +"By making me apply to the servants, when I want to transact business +with you alone." + +"Well, be it so, then. Take it from me then, and so long at least as I +receive my income, you shall be paid yours." + +"Come, come; I always said you were a fine fellow, and it is a blessing +when good fortune happens to such as you. But tell me all about it?" + +"Why do you wish to know?" asked Cavalcanti. + +"What? do you again defy me?" + +"No; the fact is, I have found my father." + +"What? a real father?" + +"Yes, so long as he pays me"-- + +"You'll honor and believe him--that's right. What is his name?" + +"Major Cavalcanti." + +"Is he pleased with you?" + +"So far I have appeared to answer his purpose." + +"And who found this father for you?" + +"The Count of Monte Cristo." + +"The man whose house you have just left?" + +"Yes." + +"I wish you would try and find me a situation with him as grandfather, +since he holds the money-chest!" + +"Well, I will mention you to him. Meanwhile, what are you going to do?" + +"I?" + +"Yes, you." + +"It is very kind of you to trouble yourself about me." + +"Since you interest yourself in my affairs, I think it is now my turn to +ask you some questions." + +"Ah, true. Well; I shall rent a room in some respectable house, wear +a decent coat, shave every day, and go and read the papers in a cafe. +Then, in the evening, I shall go to the theatre; I shall look like some +retired baker. That is what I want." + +"Come, if you will only put this scheme into execution, and be steady, +nothing could be better." + +"Do you think so, M. Bossuet? And you--what will you become? A peer of +France?" + +"Ah," said Andrea, "who knows?" + +"Major Cavalcanti is already one, perhaps; but then, hereditary rank is +abolished." + +"No politics, Caderousse. And now that you have all you want, and that +we understand each other, jump down from the tilbury and disappear." + +"Not at all, my good friend." + +"How? Not at all?" + +"Why, just think for a moment; with this red handkerchief on my head, +with scarcely any shoes, no papers, and ten gold napoleons in my pocket, +without reckoning what was there before--making in all about two hundred +francs,--why, I should certainly be arrested at the barriers. Then, +to justify myself, I should say that you gave me the money; this would +cause inquiries, it would be found that I left Toulon without giving +due notice, and I should then be escorted back to the shores of the +Mediterranean. Then I should become simply No. 106, and good-by to +my dream of resembling the retired baker! No, no, my boy; I prefer +remaining honorably in the capital." Andrea scowled. Certainly, as he +had himself owned, the reputed son of Major Cavalcanti was a wilful +fellow. He drew up for a minute, threw a rapid glance around him, and +then his hand fell instantly into his pocket, where it began playing +with a pistol. But, meanwhile, Caderousse, who had never taken his eyes +off his companion, passed his hand behind his back, and opened a long +Spanish knife, which he always carried with him, to be ready in case +of need. The two friends, as we see, were worthy of and understood one +another. Andrea's hand left his pocket inoffensively, and was carried +up to the red mustache, which it played with for some time. "Good +Caderousse," he said, "how happy you will be." + +"I will do my best," said the inn-keeper of the Pont du Gard, shutting +up his knife. + +"Well, then, we will go into Paris. But how will you pass through the +barrier without exciting suspicion? It seems to me that you are in more +danger riding than on foot." + +"Wait," said Caderousse, "we shall see." He then took the great-coat +with the large collar, which the groom had left behind in the tilbury, +and put it on his back; then he took off Cavalcanti's hat, which he +placed upon his own head, and finally he assumed the careless attitude +of a servant whose master drives himself. + +"But, tell me," said Andrea, "am I to remain bareheaded?" + +"Pooh," said Caderousse; "it is so windy that your hat can easily appear +to have blown off." + +"Come, come; enough of this," said Cavalcanti. + +"What are you waiting for?" said Caderousse. "I hope I am not the +cause." + +"Hush," said Andrea. They passed the barrier without accident. At the +first cross street Andrea stopped his horse, and Caderousse leaped out. + +"Well!" said Andrea,--"my servant's coat and my hat?" + +"Ah," said Caderousse, "you would not like me to risk taking cold?" + +"But what am I to do?" + +"You? Oh, you are young while I am beginning to get old. Au revoir, +Benedetto;" and running into a court, he disappeared. "Alas," said +Andrea, sighing, "one cannot be completely happy in this world!" + + + +Chapter 65. A Conjugal Scene. + +At the Place Louis XV. the three young people separated--that is to +say, Morrel went to the Boulevards, Chateau-Renaud to the Pont de +la Revolution, and Debray to the Quai. Most probably Morrel and +Chateau-Renaud returned to their "domestic hearths," as they say in the +gallery of the Chamber in well-turned speeches, and in the theatre of +the Rue Richelieu in well-written pieces; but it was not the case with +Debray. When he reached the wicket of the Louvre, he turned to the left, +galloped across the Carrousel, passed through the Rue Saint-Roch, and, +issuing from the Rue de la Michodiere, he arrived at M. Danglars' door +just at the same time that Villefort's landau, after having deposited +him and his wife at the Faubourg St. Honore, stopped to leave the +baroness at her own house. Debray, with the air of a man familiar with +the house, entered first into the court, threw his bridle into the hands +of a footman, and returned to the door to receive Madame Danglars, to +whom he offered his arm, to conduct her to her apartments. The gate once +closed, and Debray and the baroness alone in the court, he asked,--"What +was the matter with you, Hermine? and why were you so affected at that +story, or rather fable, which the count related?" + +"Because I have been in such shocking spirits all the evening, my +friend," said the baroness. + +"No, Hermine," replied Debray; "you cannot make me believe that; on the +contrary, you were in excellent spirits when you arrived at the count's. +M. Danglars was disagreeable, certainly, but I know how much you care +for his ill-humor. Some one has vexed you; I will allow no one to annoy +you." + +"You are deceived, Lucien, I assure you," replied Madame Danglars; "and +what I have told you is really the case, added to the ill-humor you +remarked, but which I did not think it worth while to allude to." It +was evident that Madame Danglars was suffering from that nervous +irritability which women frequently cannot account for even to +themselves; or that, as Debray had guessed, she had experienced some +secret agitation that she would not acknowledge to any one. Being a +man who knew that the former of these symptoms was one of the inherent +penalties of womanhood, he did not then press his inquiries, but waited +for a more appropriate opportunity when he should again interrogate +her, or receive an avowal proprio motu. At the door of her apartment the +baroness met Mademoiselle Cornelie, her confidential maid. "What is my +daughter doing?" asked Madame Danglars. + +"She practiced all the evening, and then went to bed," replied +Mademoiselle Cornelie. + +"Yet I think I hear her piano." + +"It is Mademoiselle Louise d'Armilly, who is playing while Mademoiselle +Danglars is in bed." + +"Well," said Madame Danglars, "come and undress me." They entered +the bedroom. Debray stretched himself upon a large couch, and Madame +Danglars passed into her dressing-room with Mademoiselle Cornelie. "My +dear M. Lucien," said Madame Danglars through the door, "you are always +complaining that Eugenie will not address a word to you." + +"Madame," said Lucien, playing with a little dog, who, recognizing him +as a friend of the house, expected to be caressed, "I am not the only +one who makes similar complaints, I think I heard Morcerf say that he +could not extract a word from his betrothed." + +"True," said Madame Danglars; "yet I think this will all pass off, and +that you will one day see her enter your study." + +"My study?" + +"At least that of the minister." + +"Why so!" + +"To ask for an engagement at the Opera. Really, I never saw such an +infatuation for music; it is quite ridiculous for a young lady of +fashion." Debray smiled. "Well," said he, "let her come, with your +consent and that of the baron, and we will try and give her an +engagement, though we are very poor to pay such talent as hers." + +"Go, Cornelie," said Madame Danglars, "I do not require you any longer." + +Cornelie obeyed, and the next minute Madame Danglars left her room in +a charming loose dress, and came and sat down close to Debray. Then she +began thoughtfully to caress the little spaniel. Lucien looked at her +for a moment in silence. "Come, Hermine," he said, after a short time, +"answer candidly,--something vexes you--is it not so?" + +"Nothing," answered the baroness. + +And yet, as she could scarcely breathe, she rose and went towards +a looking-glass. "I am frightful to-night," she said. Debray rose, +smiling, and was about to contradict the baroness upon this latter +point, when the door opened suddenly. M. Danglars appeared; Debray +reseated himself. At the noise of the door Madame Danglars turned round, +and looked upon her husband with an astonishment she took no trouble +to conceal. "Good-evening, madame," said the banker; "good-evening, M. +Debray." + +Probably the baroness thought this unexpected visit signified a desire +to make up for the sharp words he had uttered during the day. Assuming +a dignified air, she turned round to Debray, without answering her +husband. "Read me something, M. Debray," she said. Debray, who was +slightly disturbed at this visit, recovered himself when he saw the +calmness of the baroness, and took up a book marked by a mother-of-pearl +knife inlaid with gold. "Excuse me," said the banker, "but you will +tire yourself, baroness, by such late hours, and M. Debray lives some +distance from here." + +Debray was petrified, not only to hear Danglars speak so calmly and +politely, but because it was apparent that beneath outward politeness +there really lurked a determined spirit of opposition to anything his +wife might wish to do. The baroness was also surprised, and showed her +astonishment by a look which would doubtless have had some effect upon +her husband if he had not been intently occupied with the paper, where +he was looking to see the closing stock quotations. The result was, that +the proud look entirely failed of its purpose. + +"M. Lucien," said the baroness, "I assure you I have no desire to sleep, +and that I have a thousand things to tell you this evening, which you +must listen to, even though you slept while hearing me." + +"I am at your service, madame," replied Lucien coldly. + +"My dear M. Debray," said the banker, "do not kill yourself to-night +listening to the follies of Madame Danglars, for you can hear them as +well to-morrow; but I claim to-night and will devote it, if you will +allow me, to talk over some serious matters with my wife." This time +the blow was so well aimed, and hit so directly, that Lucien and the +baroness were staggered, and they interrogated each other with their +eyes, as if to seek help against this aggression, but the irresistible +will of the master of the house prevailed, and the husband was +victorious. + +"Do not think I wish to turn you out, my dear Debray," continued +Danglars; "oh, no, not at all. An unexpected occurrence forces me to ask +my wife to have a little conversation with me; it is so rarely I make +such a request, I am sure you cannot grudge it to me." Debray muttered +something, bowed and went out, knocking himself against the edge of the +door, like Nathan in "Athalie." + +"It is extraordinary," he said, when the door was closed behind him, +"how easily these husbands, whom we ridicule, gain an advantage over +us." + +Lucien having left, Danglars took his place on the sofa, closed the open +book, and placing himself in a dreadfully dictatorial attitude, he began +playing with the dog; but the animal, not liking him as well as Debray, +and attempting to bite him, Danglars seized him by the skin of his neck +and threw him upon a couch on the other side of the room. The animal +uttered a cry during the transit, but, arrived at its destination, it +crouched behind the cushions, and stupefied at such unusual treatment +remained silent and motionless. "Do you know, sir," asked the baroness, +"that you are improving? Generally you are only rude, but to-night you +are brutal." + +"It is because I am in a worse humor than usual," replied Danglars. +Hermine looked at the banker with supreme disdain. These glances +frequently exasperated the pride of Danglars, but this evening he took +no notice of them. + +"And what have I to do with your ill-humor?" said the baroness, +irritated at the impassibility of her husband; "do these things concern +me? Keep your ill-humor at home in your money boxes, or, since you have +clerks whom you pay, vent it upon them." + +"Not so," replied Danglars; "your advice is wrong, so I shall not follow +it. My money boxes are my Pactolus, as, I think, M. Demoustier says, and +I will not retard its course, or disturb its calm. My clerks are honest +men, who earn my fortune, whom I pay much below their deserts, if I may +value them according to what they bring in; therefore I shall not get +into a passion with them; those with whom I will be in a passion are +those who eat my dinners, mount my horses, and exhaust my fortune." + +"And pray who are the persons who exhaust your fortune? Explain yourself +more clearly, I beg, sir." + +"Oh, make yourself easy!--I am not speaking riddles, and you will soon +know what I mean. The people who exhaust my fortune are those who draw +out 700,000 francs in the course of an hour." + +"I do not understand you, sir," said the baroness, trying to disguise +the agitation of her voice and the flush of her face. "You understand me +perfectly, on the contrary," said Danglars: "but, if you will persist, +I will tell you that I have just lost 700,000 francs upon the Spanish +loan." + +"And pray," asked the baroness, "am I responsible for this loss?" + +"Why not?" + +"Is it my fault you have lost 700,000 francs?" + +"Certainly it is not mine." + +"Once for all, sir," replied the baroness sharply, "I tell you I will +not hear cash named; it is a style of language I never heard in the +house of my parents or in that of my first husband." + +"Oh, I can well believe that, for neither of them was worth a penny." + +"The better reason for my not being conversant with the slang of the +bank, which is here dinning in my ears from morning to night; that noise +of jingling crowns, which are constantly being counted and re-counted, +is odious to me. I only know one thing I dislike more, which is the +sound of your voice." + +"Really?" said Danglars. "Well, this surprises me, for I thought you +took the liveliest interest in all my affairs!" + +"I? What could put such an idea into your head?" + +"Yourself." + +"Ah?--what next?" + +"Most assuredly." + +"I should like to know upon what occasion?" + +"Oh, mon Dieu, that is very easily done. Last February you were the +first who told me of the Haitian funds. You had dreamed that a ship had +entered the harbor at Havre, that this ship brought news that a +payment we had looked upon as lost was going to be made. I know how +clear-sighted your dreams are; I therefore purchased immediately as many +shares as I could of the Haitian debt, and I gained 400,000 francs by +it, of which 100,000 have been honestly paid to you. You spent it as you +pleased; that was your business. In March there was a question about a +grant to a railway. Three companies presented themselves, each offering +equal securities. You told me that your instinct,--and although you +pretend to know nothing about speculations, I think on the contrary, +that your comprehension is very clear upon certain affairs,--well, you +told me that your instinct led you to believe the grant would be given +to the company called the Southern. I bought two thirds of the shares +of that company; as you had foreseen, the shares trebled in value, and +I picked up a million, from which 250,000 francs were paid to you for +pin-money. How have you spent this 250,000 francs?--it is no business of +mine." + +"When are you coming to the point?" cried the baroness, shivering with +anger and impatience. + +"Patience, madame, I am coming to it." + +"That's fortunate." + +"In April you went to dine at the minister's. You heard a private +conversation respecting Spanish affairs--on the expulsion of Don Carlos. +I bought some Spanish shares. The expulsion took place and I pocketed +600,000 francs the day Charles V. repassed the Bidassoa. Of these +600,000 francs you took 50,000 crowns. They were yours, you disposed of +them according to your fancy, and I asked no questions; but it is not +the less true that you have this year received 500,000 livres." + +"Well, sir, and what then?" + +"Ah, yes, it was just after this that you spoiled everything." + +"Really, your manner of speaking"-- + +"It expresses my meaning, and that is all I want. Well, three days after +that you talked politics with M. Debray, and you fancied from his words +that Don Carlos had returned to Spain. Well, I sold my shares, the news +got out, and I no longer sold--I gave them away, next day I find the +news was false, and by this false report I have lost 700,000 francs." + +"Well?" + +"Well, since I gave you a fourth of my gains, I think you owe me a +fourth of my losses; the fourth of 700,000 francs is 175,000 francs." + +"What you say is absurd, and I cannot see why M. Debray's name is mixed +up in this affair." + +"Because if you do not possess the 175,000 francs I reclaim, you must +have lent them to your friends, and M. Debray is one of your friends." + +"For shame!" exclaimed the baroness. + +"Oh, let us have no gestures, no screams, no modern drama, or you will +oblige me to tell you that I see Debray leave here, pocketing the whole +of the 500,000 livres you have handed over to him this year, while +he smiles to himself, saying that he has found what the most skilful +players have never discovered--that is, a roulette where he wins without +playing, and is no loser when he loses." The baroness became enraged. +"Wretch!" she cried, "will you dare to tell me you did not know what you +now reproach me with?" + +"I do not say that I did know it, and I do not say that I did not know +it. I merely tell you to look into my conduct during the last four years +that we have ceased to be husband and wife, and see whether it has not +always been consistent. Some time after our rupture, you wished to +study music, under the celebrated baritone who made such a successful +appearance at the Theatre Italien; at the same time I felt inclined to +learn dancing of the danseuse who acquired such a reputation in London. +This cost me, on your account and mine, 100,000 francs. I said nothing, +for we must have peace in the house; and 100,000 francs for a lady and +gentleman to be properly instructed in music and dancing are not too +much. Well, you soon become tired of singing, and you take a fancy +to study diplomacy with the minister's secretary. You understand, it +signifies nothing to me so long as you pay for your lessons out of your +own cashbox. But to-day I find you are drawing on mine, and that your +apprenticeship may cost me 700,000 francs per month. Stop there, madame, +for this cannot last. Either the diplomatist must give his lessons +gratis, and I will tolerate him, or he must never set his foot again in +my house;--do you understand, madame?" + +"Oh, this is too much," cried Hermine, choking, "you are worse than +despicable." + +"But," continued Danglars, "I find you did not even pause there"-- + +"Insults!" + +"You are right; let us leave these facts alone, and reason coolly. I +have never interfered in your affairs excepting for your good; treat me +in the same way. You say you have nothing to do with my cash-box. Be +it so. Do as you like with your own, but do not fill or empty mine. +Besides, how do I know that this was not a political trick, that the +minister enraged at seeing me in the opposition, and jealous of the +popular sympathy I excite, has not concerted with M. Debray to ruin me?" + +"A probable thing!" + +"Why not? Who ever heard of such an occurrence as this?--a false +telegraphic despatch--it is almost impossible for wrong signals to be +made as they were in the last two telegrams. It was done on purpose for +me--I am sure of it." + +"Sir," said the baroness humbly, "are you not aware that the man +employed there was dismissed, that they talked of going to law with him, +that orders were issued to arrest him and that this order would have +been put into execution if he had not escaped by flight, which proves +that he was either mad or guilty? It was a mistake." + +"Yes, which made fools laugh, which caused the minister to have a +sleepless night, which has caused the minister's secretaries to blacken +several sheets of paper, but which has cost me 700,000 francs." + +"But, sir," said Hermine suddenly, "if all this is, as you say, caused +by M. Debray, why, instead of going direct to him, do you come and tell +me of it? Why, to accuse the man, do you address the woman?" + +"Do I know M. Debray?--do I wish to know him?--do I wish to know that he +gives advice?--do I wish to follow it?--do I speculate? No; you do all +this, not I." + +"Still it seems to me, that as you profit by it--" + +Danglars shrugged his shoulders. "Foolish creature," he exclaimed. +"Women fancy they have talent because they have managed two or three +intrigues without being the talk of Paris! But know that if you had +even hidden your irregularities from your husband, who has but the +commencement of the art--for generally husbands will not see--you would +then have been but a faint imitation of most of your friends among the +women of the world. But it has not been so with me,--I see, and always +have seen, during the last sixteen years. You may, perhaps, have hidden +a thought; but not a step, not an action, not a fault, has escaped me, +while you flattered yourself upon your address, and firmly believed you +had deceived me. What has been the result?--that, thanks to my pretended +ignorance, there is none of your friends, from M. de Villefort to M. +Debray, who has not trembled before me. There is not one who has not +treated me as the master of the house,--the only title I desire with +respect to you; there is not one, in fact, who would have dared to speak +of me as I have spoken of them this day. I will allow you to make me +hateful, but I will prevent your rendering me ridiculous, and, above +all, I forbid you to ruin me." + +The baroness had been tolerably composed until the name of Villefort had +been pronounced; but then she became pale, and, rising, as if touched by +a spring, she stretched out her hands as though conjuring an apparition; +she then took two or three steps towards her husband, as though to tear +the secret from him, of which he was ignorant, or which he withheld from +some odious calculation,--odious, as all his calculations were. "M. de +Villefort!--What do you mean?" + +"I mean that M. de Nargonne, your first husband, being neither a +philosopher nor a banker, or perhaps being both, and seeing there was +nothing to be got out of a king's attorney, died of grief or anger at +finding, after an absence of nine months, that you had been enceinte +six. I am brutal,--I not only allow it, but boast of it; it is one +of the reasons of my success in commercial business. Why did he kill +himself instead of you? Because he had no cash to save. My life belongs +to my cash. M. Debray has made me lose 700,000 francs; let him bear his +share of the loss, and we will go on as before; if not, let him become +bankrupt for the 250,000 livres, and do as all bankrupts do--disappear. +He is a charming fellow, I allow, when his news is correct; but when +it is not, there are fifty others in the world who would do better than +he." + +Madame Danglars was rooted to the spot; she made a violent effort +to reply to this last attack, but she fell upon a chair thinking of +Villefort, of the dinner scene, of the strange series of misfortunes +which had taken place in her house during the last few days, and changed +the usual calm of her establishment to a scene of scandalous debate. +Danglars did not even look at her, though she did her best to faint. +He shut the bedroom door after him, without adding another word, and +returned to his apartments; and when Madame Danglars recovered from her +half-fainting condition, she could almost believe that she had had a +disagreeable dream. + + + +Chapter 66. Matrimonial Projects. + +The day following this scene, at the hour the banker usually chose to +pay a visit to Madame Danglars on his way to his office, his coupe +did not appear. At this time, that is, about half-past twelve, Madame +Danglars ordered her carriage, and went out. Danglars, hidden behind a +curtain, watched the departure he had been waiting for. He gave orders +that he should be informed as soon as Madame Danglars appeared; but at +two o'clock she had not returned. He then called for his horses, drove +to the Chamber, and inscribed his name to speak against the budget. From +twelve to two o'clock Danglars had remained in his study, unsealing his +dispatches, and becoming more and more sad every minute, heaping +figure upon figure, and receiving, among other visits, one from Major +Cavalcanti, who, as stiff and exact as ever, presented himself precisely +at the hour named the night before, to terminate his business with the +banker. On leaving the Chamber, Danglars, who had shown violent marks of +agitation during the sitting, and been more bitter than ever against the +ministry, re-entered his carriage, and told the coachman to drive to the +Avenue des Champs-Elysees, No. 30. + +Monte Cristo was at home; only he was engaged with some one and begged +Danglars to wait for a moment in the drawing-room. While the banker was +waiting in the anteroom, the door opened, and a man dressed as an abbe +and doubtless more familiar with the house than he was, came in and +instead of waiting, merely bowed, passed on to the farther apartments, +and disappeared. A minute after the door by which the priest had entered +reopened, and Monte Cristo appeared. "Pardon me," said he, "my dear +baron, but one of my friends, the Abbe Busoni, whom you perhaps saw pass +by, has just arrived in Paris; not having seen him for a long time, I +could not make up my mind to leave him sooner, so I hope this will be +sufficient reason for my having made you wait." + +"Nay," said Danglars, "it is my fault; I have chosen my visit at a wrong +time, and will retire." + +"Not at all; on the contrary, be seated; but what is the matter +with you? You look careworn; really, you alarm me. Melancholy in a +capitalist, like the appearance of a comet, presages some misfortune to +the world." + +"I have been in ill-luck for several days," said Danglars, "and I have +heard nothing but bad news." + +"Ah, indeed?" said Monte Cristo. "Have you had another fall at the +Bourse?" + +"No; I am safe for a few days at least. I am only annoyed about a +bankrupt of Trieste." + +"Really? Does it happen to be Jacopo Manfredi?" + +"Exactly so. Imagine a man who has transacted business with me for I +don't know how long, to the amount of 800,000 or 900,000 francs during +the year. Never a mistake or delay--a fellow who paid like a prince. +Well, I was a million in advance with him, and now my fine Jacopo +Manfredi suspends payment!" + +"Really?" + +"It is an unheard-of fatality. I draw upon him for 600,000. francs, my +bills are returned unpaid, and, more than that, I hold bills of +exchange signed by him to the value of 400,000. francs, payable at his +correspondent's in Paris at the end of this month. To-day is the 30th. +I present them; but my correspondent has disappeared. This, with my +Spanish affairs, made a pretty end to the month." + +"Then you really lost by that affair in Spain?" + +"Yes; only 700,000 francs out of my cash-box--nothing more!" + +"Why, how could you make such a mistake--such an old stager?" + +"Oh, it is all my wife's fault. She dreamed Don Carlos had returned to +Spain; she believes in dreams. It is magnetism, she says, and when she +dreams a thing it is sure to happen, she assures me. On this conviction +I allow her to speculate, she having her bank and her stockbroker; she +speculated and lost. It is true she speculates with her own money, not +mine; nevertheless, you can understand that when 700,000 francs leave +the wife's pocket, the husband always finds it out. But do you mean to +say you have not heard of this? Why, the thing has made a tremendous +noise." + +"Yes, I heard it spoken of, but I did not know the details, and then no +one can be more ignorant than I am of the affairs in the Bourse." + +"Then you do not speculate?" + +"I?--How could I speculate when I already have so much trouble in +regulating my income? I should be obliged, besides my steward, to keep +a clerk and a boy. But touching these Spanish affairs, I think that the +baroness did not dream the whole of the Don Carlos matter. The papers +said something about it, did they not?" + +"Then you believe the papers?" + +"I?--not the least in the world; only I fancied that the honest Messager +was an exception to the rule, and that it only announced telegraphic +despatches." + +"Well, that's what puzzles me," replied Danglars; "the news of the +return of Don Carlos was brought by telegraph." + +"So that," said Monte Cristo, "you have lost nearly 1,700,000 francs +this month." + +"Not nearly, indeed; that is exactly my loss." + +"Diable," said Monte Cristo compassionately, "it is a hard blow for a +third-rate fortune." + +"Third-rate," said Danglars, rather humble, "what do you mean by that?" + +"Certainly," continued Monte Cristo, "I make three assortments in +fortune--first-rate, second-rate, and third-rate fortunes. I call those +first-rate which are composed of treasures one possesses under one's +hand, such as mines, lands, and funded property, in such states as +France, Austria, and England, provided these treasures and property form +a total of about a hundred millions; I call those second-rate fortunes, +that are gained by manufacturing enterprises, joint-stock companies, +viceroyalties, and principalities, not drawing more than 1,500,000 +francs, the whole forming a capital of about fifty millions; finally, +I call those third-rate fortunes, which are composed of a fluctuating +capital, dependent upon the will of others, or upon chances which +a bankruptcy involves or a false telegram shakes, such as banks, +speculations of the day--in fact, all operations under the influence of +greater or less mischances, the whole bringing in a real or fictitious +capital of about fifteen millions. I think this is about your position, +is it not?" + +"Confound it, yes!" replied Danglars. + +"The result, then, of six more such months as this would be to reduce +the third-rate house to despair." + +"Oh," said Danglars, becoming very pale, how you are running on!" + +"Let us imagine seven such months," continued Monte Cristo, in the same +tone. "Tell me, have you ever thought that seven times 1,700,000 francs +make nearly twelve millions? No, you have not;--well, you are right, +for if you indulged in such reflections, you would never risk your +principal, which is to the speculator what the skin is to civilized +man. We have our clothes, some more splendid than others,--this is our +credit; but when a man dies he has only his skin; in the same way, on +retiring from business, you have nothing but your real principal of +about five or six millions, at the most; for third-rate fortunes are +never more than a fourth of what they appear to be, like the locomotive +on a railway, the size of which is magnified by the smoke and steam +surrounding it. Well, out of the five or six millions which form your +real capital, you have just lost nearly two millions, which must, of +course, in the same degree diminish your credit and fictitious fortune; +to follow out my simile, your skin has been opened by bleeding, and this +if repeated three or four times will cause death--so pay attention to +it, my dear Monsieur Danglars. Do you want money? Do you wish me to lend +you some?" + +"What a bad calculator you are!" exclaimed Danglars, calling to his +assistance all his philosophy and dissimulation. "I have made money at +the same time by speculations which have succeeded. I have made up +the loss of blood by nutrition. I lost a battle in Spain, I have been +defeated in Trieste, but my naval army in India will have taken some +galleons, and my Mexican pioneers will have discovered some mine." + +"Very good, very good! But the wound remains and will reopen at the +first loss." + +"No, for I am only embarked in certainties," replied Danglars, with +the air of a mountebank sounding his own praises; "to involve me, three +governments must crumble to dust." + +"Well, such things have been." + +"That there should be a famine!" + +"Recollect the seven fat and the seven lean kine." + +"Or, that the sea should become dry, as in the days of Pharaoh, and even +then my vessels would become caravans." + +"So much the better. I congratulate you, my dear M. Danglars," said +Monte Cristo; "I see I was deceived, and that you belong to the class of +second-rate fortunes." + +"I think I may aspire to that honor," said Danglars with a smile, which +reminded Monte Cristo of the sickly moons which bad artists are so fond +of daubing into their pictures of ruins. "But, while we are speaking of +business," Danglars added, pleased to find an opportunity of changing +the subject, "tell me what I am to do for M. Cavalcanti." + +"Give him money, if he is recommended to you, and the recommendation +seems good." + +"Excellent; he presented himself this morning with a bond of 40,000 +francs, payable at sight, on you, signed by Busoni, and returned by you +to me, with your indorsement--of course, I immediately counted him over +the forty bank-notes." + +Monte Cristo nodded his head in token of assent. "But that is not all," +continued Danglars; "he has opened an account with my house for his +son." + +"May I ask how much he allows the young man?" + +"Five thousand francs per month." + +"Sixty thousand francs per year. I thought I was right in believing that +Cavalcanti to be a stingy fellow. How can a young man live upon 5,000 +francs a month?" + +"But you understand that if the young man should want a few thousands +more"-- + +"Do not advance it; the father will never repay it. You do not know +these ultramontane millionaires; they are regular misers. And by whom +were they recommended to you?" + +"Oh, by the house of Fenzi, one of the best in Florence." + +"I do not mean to say you will lose, but, nevertheless, mind you hold to +the terms of the agreement." + +"Would you not trust the Cavalcanti?" + +"I? oh, I would advance six millions on his signature. I was only +speaking in reference to the second-rate fortunes we were mentioning +just now." + +"And with all this, how unassuming he is! I should never have taken him +for anything more than a mere major." + +"And you would have flattered him, for certainly, as you say, he has +no manner. The first time I saw him he appeared to me like an old +lieutenant who had grown mouldy under his epaulets. But all the Italians +are the same; they are like old Jews when they are not glittering in +Oriental splendor." + +"The young man is better," said Danglars. + +"Yes; a little nervous, perhaps, but, upon the whole, he appeared +tolerable. I was uneasy about him." + +"Why?" + +"Because you met him at my house, just after his introduction into the +world, as they told me. He has been travelling with a very severe tutor, +and had never been to Paris before." + +"Ah, I believe noblemen marry amongst themselves, do they not?" asked +Danglars carelessly; "they like to unite their fortunes." + +"It is usual, certainly; but Cavalcanti is an original who does nothing +like other people. I cannot help thinking that he has brought his son to +France to choose a wife." + +"Do you think so?" + +"I am sure of it." + +"And you have heard his fortune mentioned?" + +"Nothing else was talked of; only some said he was worth millions, and +others that he did not possess a farthing." + +"And what is your opinion?" + +"I ought not to influence you, because it is only my own personal +impression." + +"Well, and it is that"-- + +"My opinion is, that all these old podestas, these ancient +condottieri,--for the Cavalcanti have commanded armies and governed +provinces,--my opinion, I say, is, that they have buried their millions +in corners, the secret of which they have transmitted only to their +eldest sons, who have done the same from generation to generation; and +the proof of this is seen in their yellow and dry appearance, like the +florins of the republic, which, from being constantly gazed upon, have +become reflected in them." + +"Certainly," said Danglars, "and this is further supported by the fact +of their not possessing an inch of land." + +"Very little, at least; I know of none which Cavalcanti possesses, +excepting his palace in Lucca." + +"Ah, he has a palace?" said Danglars, laughing; "come, that is +something." + +"Yes; and more than that, he lets it to the Minister of Finance while +he lives in a simple house. Oh, as I told you before, I think the old +fellow is very close." + +"Come, you do not flatter him." + +"I scarcely know him; I think I have seen him three times in my life; +all I know relating to him is through Busoni and himself. He was telling +me this morning that, tired of letting his property lie dormant in +Italy, which is a dead nation, he wished to find a method, either in +France or England, of multiplying his millions, but remember, that +though I place great confidence in Busoni, I am not responsible for +this." + +"Never mind; accept my thanks for the client you have sent me. It is a +fine name to inscribe on my ledgers, and my cashier was quite proud of +it when I explained to him who the Cavalcanti were. By the way, this is +merely a simple question, when this sort of people marry their sons, do +they give them any fortune?" + +"Oh, that depends upon circumstances. I know an Italian prince, rich as +a gold mine, one of the noblest families in Tuscany, who, when his sons +married according to his wish, gave them millions; and when they married +against his consent, merely allowed them thirty crowns a month. Should +Andrea marry according to his father's views, he will, perhaps, give him +one, two, or three millions. For example, supposing it were the daughter +of a banker, he might take an interest in the house of the father-in-law +of his son; then again, if he disliked his choice, the major takes the +key, double-locks his coffer, and Master Andrea would be obliged to live +like the sons of a Parisian family, by shuffling cards or rattling the +dice." + +"Ah, that boy will find out some Bavarian or Peruvian princess; he will +want a crown and an immense fortune." + +"No; these grand lords on the other side of the Alps frequently marry +into plain families; like Jupiter, they like to cross the race. But do +you wish to marry Andrea, my dear M. Danglars, that you are asking so +many questions?" + +"Ma foi," said Danglars, "it would not be a bad speculation, I fancy, +and you know I am a speculator." + +"You are not thinking of Mademoiselle Danglars, I hope; you would not +like poor Andrea to have his throat cut by Albert?" + +"Albert," repeated Danglars, shrugging his shoulders; "ah, well; he +would care very little about it, I think." + +"But he is betrothed to your daughter, I believe?" + +"Well, M. de Morcerf and I have talked about this marriage, but Madame +de Morcerf and Albert"-- + +"You do not mean to say that it would not be a good match?" + +"Indeed, I imagine that Mademoiselle Danglars is as good as M. de +Morcerf." + +"Mademoiselle Danglars' fortune will be great, no doubt, especially if +the telegraph should not make any more mistakes." + +"Oh, I do not mean her fortune only; but tell me"-- + +"What?" + +"Why did you not invite M. and Madame de Morcerf to your dinner?" + +"I did so, but he excused himself on account of Madame de Morcerf being +obliged to go to Dieppe for the benefit of sea air." + +"Yes, yes," said Danglars, laughing, "it would do her a great deal of +good." + +"Why so?" + +"Because it is the air she always breathed in her youth." Monte Cristo +took no notice of this ill-natured remark. + +"But still, if Albert be not so rich as Mademoiselle Danglars," said the +count, "you must allow that he has a fine name?" + +"So he has; but I like mine as well." + +"Certainly; your name is popular, and does honor to the title they have +adorned it with; but you are too intelligent not to know that according +to a prejudice, too firmly rooted to be exterminated, a nobility which +dates back five centuries is worth more than one that can only reckon +twenty years." + +"And for this very reason," said Danglars with a smile, which he +tried to make sardonic, "I prefer M. Andrea Cavalcanti to M. Albert de +Morcerf." + +"Still, I should not think the Morcerfs would yield to the Cavalcanti?" + +"The Morcerfs!--Stay, my dear count," said Danglars; "you are a man of +the world, are you not?" + +"I think so." + +"And you understand heraldry?" + +"A little." + +"Well, look at my coat-of-arms, it is worth more than Morcerf's." + +"Why so?" + +"Because, though I am not a baron by birth, my real name is, at least, +Danglars." + +"Well, what then?" + +"While his name is not Morcerf." + +"How?--not Morcerf?" + +"Not the least in the world." + +"Go on." + +"I have been made a baron, so that I actually am one; he made himself a +count, so that he is not one at all." + +"Impossible!" + +"Listen my dear count; M. de Morcerf has been my friend, or rather my +acquaintance, during the last thirty years. You know I have made the +most of my arms, though I never forgot my origin." + +"A proof of great humility or great pride," said Monte Cristo. + +"Well, when I was a clerk, Morcerf was a mere fisherman." + +"And then he was called"-- + +"Fernand." + +"Only Fernand?" + +"Fernand Mondego." + +"You are sure?" + +"Pardieu, I have bought enough fish of him to know his name." + +"Then, why did you think of giving your daughter to him?" + +"Because Fernand and Danglars, being both parvenus, both having become +noble, both rich, are about equal in worth, excepting that there have +been certain things mentioned of him that were never said of me." + +"What?" + +"Oh, nothing!" + +"Ah, yes; what you tell me recalls to mind something about the name of +Fernand Mondego. I have heard that name in Greece." + +"In conjunction with the affairs of Ali Pasha?" + +"Exactly so." + +"This is the mystery," said Danglars. "I acknowledge I would have given +anything to find it out." + +"It would be very easy if you much wished it?" + +"How so?" + +"Probably you have some correspondent in Greece?" + +"I should think so." + +"At Yanina?" + +"Everywhere." + +"Well, write to your correspondent in Yanina, and ask him what part was +played by a Frenchman named Fernand Mondego in the catastrophe of Ali +Tepelini." + +"You are right," exclaimed Danglars, rising quickly, "I will write +to-day." + +"Do so." + +"I will." + +"And if you should hear of anything very scandalous"-- + +"I will communicate it to you." + +"You will oblige me." Danglars rushed out of the room, and made but one +leap into his coupe. + + + +Chapter 67. At the Office of the King's Attorney. + +Let us leave the banker driving his horses at their fullest speed, and +follow Madame Danglars in her morning excursion. We have said that at +half-past twelve o'clock Madame Danglars had ordered her horses, and had +left home in the carriage. She directed her course towards the Faubourg +Saint Germain, went down the Rue Mazarine, and stopped at the Passage +du Pont-Neuf. She descended, and went through the passage. She was very +plainly dressed, as would be the case with a woman of taste walking in +the morning. At the Rue Guenegaud she called a cab, and directed the +driver to go to the Rue de Harlay. As soon as she was seated in the +vehicle, she drew from her pocket a very thick black veil, which she +tied on to her straw bonnet. She then replaced the bonnet, and saw +with pleasure, in a little pocket-mirror, that her white complexion and +brilliant eyes were alone visible. The cab crossed the Pont-Neuf and +entered the Rue de Harlay by the Place Dauphine; the driver was paid as +the door opened, and stepping lightly up the stairs Madame Danglars soon +reached the Salle des Pas-Perdus. + +There was a great deal going on that morning, and many business-like +persons at the Palais; business-like persons pay very little attention +to women, and Madame Danglars crossed the hall without exciting any +more attention than any other woman calling upon her lawyer. There was +a great press of people in M. de Villefort's ante-chamber, but Madame +Danglars had no occasion even to pronounce her name. The instant she +appeared the door-keeper rose, came to her, and asked her whether she +was not the person with whom the procureur had made an appointment; and +on her affirmative answer being given, he conducted her by a private +passage to M. de Villefort's office. The magistrate was seated in an +arm-chair, writing, with his back towards the door; he did not move as +he heard it open, and the door-keeper pronounce the words, "Walk in, +madame," and then reclose it; but no sooner had the man's footsteps +ceased, than he started up, drew the bolts, closed the curtains, and +examined every corner of the room. Then, when he had assured himself +that he could neither be seen nor heard, and was consequently relieved +of doubts, he said,--"Thanks, madame,--thanks for your punctuality;" and +he offered a chair to Madame Danglars, which she accepted, for her heart +beat so violently that she felt nearly suffocated. + +"It is a long time, madame," said the procureur, describing a +half-circle with his chair, so as to place himself exactly opposite +to Madame Danglars,--"it is a long time since I had the pleasure of +speaking alone with you, and I regret that we have only now met to enter +upon a painful conversation." + +"Nevertheless, sir, you see I have answered your first appeal, although +certainly the conversation must be much more painful for me than for +you." Villefort smiled bitterly. + +"It is true, then," he said, rather uttering his thoughts aloud than +addressing his companion,--"it is true, then, that all our actions leave +their traces--some sad, others bright--on our paths; it is true +that every step in our lives is like the course of an insect on the +sands;--it leaves its track! Alas, to many the path is traced by tears." + +"Sir," said Madame Danglars, "you can feel for my emotion, can you not? +Spare me, then, I beseech you. When I look at this room,--whence so many +guilty creatures have departed, trembling and ashamed, when I look +at that chair before which I now sit trembling and ashamed,--oh, it +requires all my reason to convince me that I am not a very guilty woman +and you a menacing judge." Villefort dropped his head and sighed. "And +I," he said, "I feel that my place is not in the judge's seat, but on +the prisoner's stool." + +"You?" said Madame Danglars. + +"Yes, I." + +"I think, sir, you exaggerate your situation," said Madame Danglars, +whose beautiful eyes sparkled for a moment. "The paths of which you were +just speaking have been traced by all young men of ardent imaginations. +Besides the pleasure, there is always remorse from the indulgence of our +passions, and, after all, what have you men to fear from all this? the +world excuses, and notoriety ennobles you." + +"Madame," replied Villefort, "you know that I am no hypocrite, or, at +least, that I never deceive without a reason. If my brow be severe, it +is because many misfortunes have clouded it; if my heart be petrified, +it is that it might sustain the blows it has received. I was not so in +my youth, I was not so on the night of the betrothal, when we were all +seated around a table in the Rue du Cours at Marseilles. But since +then everything has changed in and about me; I am accustomed to brave +difficulties, and, in the conflict to crush those who, by their own free +will, or by chance, voluntarily or involuntarily, interfere with me in +my career. It is generally the case that what we most ardently desire +is as ardently withheld from us by those who wish to obtain it, or from +whom we attempt to snatch it. Thus, the greater number of a man's errors +come before him disguised under the specious form of necessity; then, +after error has been committed in a moment of excitement, of delirium, +or of fear, we see that we might have avoided and escaped it. The means +we might have used, which we in our blindness could not see, then seem +simple and easy, and we say, 'Why did I not do this, instead of that?' +Women, on the contrary, are rarely tormented with remorse; for the +decision does not come from you,--your misfortunes are generally imposed +upon you, and your faults the results of others' crimes." + +"In any case, sir, you will allow," replied Madame Danglars, "that, even +if the fault were alone mine, I last night received a severe punishment +for it." + +"Poor thing," said Villefort, pressing her hand, "it was too severe for +your strength, for you were twice overwhelmed, and yet"-- + +"Well?" + +"Well, I must tell you. Collect all your courage, for you have not yet +heard all." + +"Ah," exclaimed Madame Danglars, alarmed, "what is there more to hear?" + +"You only look back to the past, and it is, indeed, bad enough. Well, +picture to yourself a future more gloomy still--certainly frightful, +perhaps sanguinary." The baroness knew how calm Villefort naturally was, +and his present excitement frightened her so much that she opened +her mouth to scream, but the sound died in her throat. "How has this +terrible past been recalled?" cried Villefort; "how is it that it has +escaped from the depths of the tomb and the recesses of our hearts, +where it was buried, to visit us now, like a phantom, whitening our +cheeks and flushing our brows with shame?" + +"Alas," said Hermine, "doubtless it is chance." + +"Chance?" replied Villefort; "No, no, madame, there is no such thing as +chance." + +"Oh, yes; has not a fatal chance revealed all this? Was it not by chance +the Count of Monte Cristo bought that house? Was it not by chance he +caused the earth to be dug up? Is it not by chance that the unfortunate +child was disinterred under the trees?--that poor innocent offspring of +mine, which I never even kissed, but for whom I wept many, many tears. +Ah, my heart clung to the count when he mentioned the dear spoil found +beneath the flowers." + +"Well, no, madame,--this is the terrible news I have to tell you," said +Villefort in a hollow voice--"no, nothing was found beneath the flowers; +there was no child disinterred--no. You must not weep, no, you must not +groan, you must tremble!" + +"What can you mean?" asked Madame Danglars, shuddering. + +"I mean that M. de Monte Cristo, digging underneath these trees, found +neither skeleton nor chest, because neither of them was there!" + +"Neither of them there?" repeated Madame Danglars, her staring, +wide-open eyes expressing her alarm. + +"Neither of them there!" she again said, as though striving to impress +herself with the meaning of the words which escaped her. + +"No," said Villefort, burying his face in his hands, "no, a hundred +times no!" + +"Then you did not bury the poor child there, sir? Why did you deceive +me? Where did you place it? tell me--where?" + +"There! But listen to me--listen--and you will pity me who has for +twenty years alone borne the heavy burden of grief I am about to reveal, +without casting the least portion upon you." + +"Oh, you frighten me! But speak; I will listen." + +"You recollect that sad night, when you were half-expiring on that +bed in the red damask room, while I, scarcely less agitated than you, +awaited your delivery. The child was born, was given to me--motionless, +breathless, voiceless; we thought it dead." Madame Danglars moved +rapidly, as though she would spring from her chair, but Villefort +stopped, and clasped his hands as if to implore her attention. "We +thought it dead," he repeated; "I placed it in the chest, which was to +take the place of a coffin; I descended to the garden, I dug a hole, and +then flung it down in haste. Scarcely had I covered it with earth, when +the arm of the Corsican was stretched towards me; I saw a shadow rise, +and, at the same time, a flash of light. I felt pain; I wished to cry +out, but an icy shiver ran through my veins and stifled my voice; I fell +lifeless, and fancied myself killed. Never shall I forget your sublime +courage, when, having returned to consciousness, I dragged myself to the +foot of the stairs, and you, almost dying yourself, came to meet me. We +were obliged to keep silent upon the dreadful catastrophe. You had the +fortitude to regain the house, assisted by your nurse. A duel was +the pretext for my wound. Though we scarcely expected it, our secret +remained in our own keeping alone. I was taken to Versailles; for three +months I struggled with death; at last, as I seemed to cling to life, +I was ordered to the South. Four men carried me from Paris to Chalons, +walking six leagues a day; Madame de Villefort followed the litter in +her carriage. At Chalons I was put upon the Saone, thence I passed on +to the Rhone, whence I descended, merely with the current, to Arles; +at Arles I was again placed on my litter, and continued my journey to +Marseilles. My recovery lasted six months. I never heard you mentioned, +and I did not dare inquire for you. When I returned to Paris, I learned +that you, the widow of M. de Nargonne, had married M. Danglars. + +"What was the subject of my thoughts from the time consciousness +returned to me? Always the same--always the child's corpse, coming every +night in my dreams, rising from the earth, and hovering over the grave +with menacing look and gesture. I inquired immediately on my return to +Paris; the house had not been inhabited since we left it, but it had +just been let for nine years. I found the tenant. I pretended that I +disliked the idea that a house belonging to my wife's father and mother +should pass into the hands of strangers. I offered to pay them for +cancelling the lease; they demanded 6,000 francs. I would have given +10,000--I would have given 20,000. I had the money with me; I made the +tenant sign the deed of resilition, and when I had obtained what I so +much wanted, I galloped to Auteuil. + +"No one had entered the house since I had left it. It was five o'clock +in the afternoon; I ascended into the red room, and waited for night. +There all the thoughts which had disturbed me during my year of constant +agony came back with double force. The Corsican, who had declared the +vendetta against me, who had followed me from Nimes to Paris, who had +hid himself in the garden, who had struck me, had seen me dig the grave, +had seen me inter the child,--he might become acquainted with your +person,--nay, he might even then have known it. Would he not one day +make you pay for keeping this terrible secret? Would it not be a sweet +revenge for him when he found that I had not died from the blow of his +dagger? It was therefore necessary, before everything else, and at all +risks, that I should cause all traces of the past to disappear--that +I should destroy every material vestige; too much reality would always +remain in my recollection. It was for this I had annulled the lease--it +was for this I had come--it was for this I was waiting. Night arrived; +I allowed it to become quite dark. I was without a light in that room; +when the wind shook all the doors, behind which I continually expected +to see some spy concealed, I trembled. I seemed everywhere to hear your +moans behind me in the bed, and I dared not turn around. My heart beat +so violently that I feared my wound would open. At length, one by one, +all the noises in the neighborhood ceased. I understood that I had +nothing to fear, that I should neither be seen nor heard, so I decided +upon descending to the garden. + +"Listen, Hermine; I consider myself as brave as most men, but when I +drew from my breast the little key of the staircase, which I had found +in my coat--that little key we both used to cherish so much, which you +wished to have fastened to a golden ring--when I opened the door, and +saw the pale moon shedding a long stream of white light on the spiral +staircase like a spectre, I leaned against the wall, and nearly +shrieked. I seemed to be going mad. At last I mastered my agitation. I +descended the staircase step by step; the only thing I could not conquer +was a strange trembling in my knees. I grasped the railings; if I had +relaxed my hold for a moment, I should have fallen. I reached the lower +door. Outside this door a spade was placed against the wall; I took +it, and advanced towards the thicket. I had provided myself with a +dark lantern. In the middle of the lawn I stopped to light it, then I +continued my path. + +"It was the end of November, all the verdure of the garden had +disappeared, the trees were nothing more than skeletons with their long +bony arms, and the dead leaves sounded on the gravel under my feet. My +terror overcame me to such a degree as I approached the thicket, that +I took a pistol from my pocket and armed myself. I fancied continually +that I saw the figure of the Corsican between the branches. I examined +the thicket with my dark lantern; it was empty. I looked carefully +around; I was indeed alone,--no noise disturbed the silence but the owl, +whose piercing cry seemed to be calling up the phantoms of the night. +I tied my lantern to a forked branch I had noticed a year before at the +precise spot where I stopped to dig the hole. + +"The grass had grown very thickly there during the summer, and when +autumn arrived no one had been there to mow it. Still one place where +the grass was thin attracted my attention; it evidently was there I had +turned up the ground. I went to work. The hour, then, for which I had +been waiting during the last year had at length arrived. How I worked, +how I hoped, how I struck every piece of turf, thinking to find some +resistance to my spade! But no, I found nothing, though I had made a +hole twice as large as the first. I thought I had been deceived--had +mistaken the spot. I turned around, I looked at the trees, I tried to +recall the details which had struck me at the time. A cold, sharp wind +whistled through the leafless branches, and yet the drops fell from my +forehead. I recollected that I was stabbed just as I was trampling +the ground to fill up the hole; while doing so I had leaned against a +laburnum; behind me was an artificial rockery, intended to serve as a +resting-place for persons walking in the garden; in falling, my hand, +relaxing its hold of the laburnum, felt the coldness of the stone. On my +right I saw the tree, behind me the rock. I stood in the same attitude, +and threw myself down. I rose, and again began digging and enlarging the +hole; still I found nothing, nothing--the chest was no longer there!" + +"The chest no longer there?" murmured Madame Danglars, choking with +fear. + +"Think not I contented myself with this one effort," continued +Villefort. "No; I searched the whole thicket. I thought the assassin, +having discovered the chest, and supposing it to be a treasure, had +intended carrying it off, but, perceiving his error, had dug another +hole, and deposited it there; but I could find nothing. Then the idea +struck me that he had not taken these precautions, and had simply thrown +it in a corner. In the last case I must wait for daylight to renew my +search. I remained in the room and waited." + +"Oh, heavens!" + +When daylight dawned I went down again. My first visit was to the +thicket. I hoped to find some traces which had escaped me in the +darkness. I had turned up the earth over a surface of more than twenty +feet square, and a depth of two feet. A laborer would not have done in +a day what occupied me an hour. But I could find nothing--absolutely +nothing. Then I renewed the search. Supposing it had been thrown aside, +it would probably be on the path which led to the little gate; but this +examination was as useless as the first, and with a bursting heart I +returned to the thicket, which now contained no hope for me." + +"Oh," cried Madame Danglars, "it was enough to drive you mad!" + +"I hoped for a moment that it might," said Villefort; "but that +happiness was denied me. However, recovering my strength and my ideas, +'Why,' said I, 'should that man have carried away the corpse?'" + +"But you said," replied Madame Danglars, "he would require it as a +proof." + +"Ah, no, madame, that could not be. Dead bodies are not kept a year; +they are shown to a magistrate, and the evidence is taken. Now, nothing +of the kind has happened." + +"What then?" asked Hermine, trembling violently. + +"Something more terrible, more fatal, more alarming for us--the child +was, perhaps, alive, and the assassin may have saved it!" + +Madame Danglars uttered a piercing cry, and, seizing Villefort's hands, +exclaimed, "My child was alive?" said she; "you buried my child alive? +You were not certain my child was dead, and you buried it? Ah"-- + +Madame Danglars had risen, and stood before the procureur, whose hands +she wrung in her feeble grasp. "I know not; I merely suppose so, as I +might suppose anything else," replied Villefort with a look so fixed, +it indicated that his powerful mind was on the verge of despair and +madness. "Ah, my child, my poor child!" cried the baroness, falling +on her chair, and stifling her sobs in her handkerchief. Villefort, +becoming somewhat reassured, perceived that to avert the maternal storm +gathering over his head, he must inspire Madame Danglars with the terror +he felt. "You understand, then, that if it were so," said he, rising in +his turn, and approaching the baroness, to speak to her in a lower tone, +"we are lost. This child lives, and some one knows it lives--some one is +in possession of our secret; and since Monte Cristo speaks before us of +a child disinterred, when that child could not be found, it is he who is +in possession of our secret." + +"Just God, avenging God!" murmured Madame Danglars. + +Villefort's only answer was a stifled groan. + +"But the child--the child, sir?" repeated the agitated mother. + +"How I have searched for him," replied Villefort, wringing his hands; +"how I have called him in my long sleepless nights; how I have longed +for royal wealth to purchase a million of secrets from a million of men, +and to find mine among them! At last, one day, when for the hundredth +time I took up my spade, I asked myself again and again what the +Corsican could have done with the child. A child encumbers a fugitive; +perhaps, on perceiving it was still alive, he had thrown it into the +river." + +"Impossible!" cried Madame Danglars: "a man may murder another out of +revenge, but he would not deliberately drown a child." + +"Perhaps," continued Villefort, "he had put it in the foundling +hospital." + +"Oh, yes, yes," cried the baroness; "my child is there!" + +"I ran to the hospital, and learned that the same night--the night of +the 20th of September--a child had been brought there, wrapped in part +of a fine linen napkin, purposely torn in half. This portion of the +napkin was marked with half a baron's crown, and the letter H." + +"Truly, truly," said Madame Danglars, "all my linen is marked thus; +Monsieur de Nargonne was a baronet, and my name is Hermine. Thank God, +my child was not then dead!" + +"No, it was not dead." + +"And you can tell me so without fearing to make me die of joy? Where is +the child?" Villefort shrugged his shoulders. "Do I know?" said he; "and +do you believe that if I knew I would relate to you all its trials and +all its adventures as would a dramatist or a novel writer? Alas, no, +I know not. A woman, about six months after, came to claim it with the +other half of the napkin. This woman gave all the requisite particulars, +and it was intrusted to her." + +"But you should have inquired for the woman; you should have traced +her." + +"And what do you think I did? I feigned a criminal process, and employed +all the most acute bloodhounds and skilful agents in search of her. They +traced her to Chalons, and there they lost her." + +"They lost her?" + +"Yes, forever." Madame Danglars had listened to this recital with a +sigh, a tear, or a shriek for every detail. "And this is all?" said she; +"and you stopped there?" + +"Oh, no," said Villefort; "I never ceased to search and to inquire. +However, the last two or three years I had allowed myself some respite. +But now I will begin with more perseverance and fury than ever, since +fear urges me, not my conscience." + +"But," replied Madame Danglars, "the Count of Monte Cristo can know +nothing, or he would not seek our society as he does." + +"Oh, the wickedness of man is very great," said Villefort, "since it +surpasses the goodness of God. Did you observe that man's eyes while he +was speaking to us?" + +"No." + +"But have you ever watched him carefully?" + +"Doubtless he is capricious, but that is all; one thing alone struck +me,--of all the exquisite things he placed before us, he touched +nothing. I might have suspected he was poisoning us." + +"And you see you would have been deceived." + +"Yes, doubtless." + +"But believe me, that man has other projects. For that reason I +wished to see you, to speak to you, to warn you against every one, but +especially against him. Tell me," cried Villefort, fixing his eyes more +steadfastly on her than he had ever done before, "did you ever reveal to +any one our connection?" + +"Never, to any one." + +"You understand me," replied Villefort, affectionately; "when I say any +one,--pardon my urgency,--to any one living I mean?" + +"Yes, yes, I understand very well," ejaculated the baroness; "never, I +swear to you." + +"Were you ever in the habit of writing in the evening what had +transpired in the morning? Do you keep a journal?" + +"No, my life has been passed in frivolity; I wish to forget it myself." + +"Do you talk in your sleep?" + +"I sleep soundly, like a child; do you not remember?" The color mounted +to the baroness's face, and Villefort turned awfully pale. + +"It is true," said he, in so low a tone that he could hardly be heard. + +"Well?" said the baroness. + +"Well, I understand what I now have to do," replied Villefort. "In +less than one week from this time I will ascertain who this M. de Monte +Cristo is, whence he comes, where he goes, and why he speaks in our +presence of children that have been disinterred in a garden." Villefort +pronounced these words with an accent which would have made the +count shudder had he heard him. Then he pressed the hand the baroness +reluctantly gave him, and led her respectfully back to the door. Madame +Danglars returned in another cab to the passage, on the other side of +which she found her carriage, and her coachman sleeping peacefully on +his box while waiting for her. + + + +Chapter 68. A Summer Ball. + +The same day during the interview between Madame Danglars and the +procureur, a travelling-carriage entered the Rue du Helder, passed +through the gateway of No. 27, and stopped in the yard. In a moment the +door was opened, and Madame de Morcerf alighted, leaning on her son's +arm. Albert soon left her, ordered his horses, and having arranged his +toilet, drove to the Champs Elysees, to the house of Monte Cristo. The +count received him with his habitual smile. It was a strange thing that +no one ever appeared to advance a step in that man's favor. Those who +would, as it were, force a passage to his heart, found an impassable +barrier. Morcerf, who ran towards him with open arms, was chilled as he +drew near, in spite of the friendly smile, and simply held out his hand. +Monte Cristo shook it coldly, according to his invariable practice. +"Here I am, dear count." + +"Welcome home again." + +"I arrived an hour since." + +"From Dieppe?" + +"No, from Treport." + +"Indeed?" + +"And I have come at once to see you." + +"That is extremely kind of you," said Monte Cristo with a tone of +perfect indifference. + +"And what is the news?" + +"You should not ask a stranger, a foreigner, for news." + +"I know it, but in asking for news, I mean, have you done anything for +me?" + +"Had you commissioned me?" said Monte Cristo, feigning uneasiness. + +"Come, come," said Albert, "do not assume so much indifference. It is +said, sympathy travels rapidly, and when at Treport, I felt the electric +shock; you have either been working for me or thinking of me." + +"Possibly," said Monte Cristo, "I have indeed thought of you, but the +magnetic wire I was guiding acted, indeed, without my knowledge." + +"Indeed? Pray tell me how it happened?" + +"Willingly. M. Danglars dined with me." + +"I know it; to avoid meeting him, my mother and I left town." + +"But he met here M. Andrea Cavalcanti." + +"Your Italian prince?" + +"Not so fast; M. Andrea only calls himself count." + +"Calls himself, do you say?" + +"Yes, calls himself." + +"Is he not a count?" + +"What can I know of him? He calls himself so. I, of course, give him the +same title, and every one else does likewise." + +"What a strange man you are! What next? You say M. Danglars dined here?" + +"Yes, with Count Cavalcanti, the marquis his father, Madame Danglars, +M. and Madame de Villefort,--charming people,--M. Debray, Maximilian +Morrel, and M. de Chateau-Renaud." + +"Did they speak of me?" + +"Not a word." + +"So much the worse." + +"Why so? I thought you wished them to forget you?" + +"If they did not speak of me, I am sure they thought about me, and I am +in despair." + +"How will that affect you, since Mademoiselle Danglars was not among the +number here who thought of you? Truly, she might have thought of you at +home." + +"I have no fear of that; or, if she did, it was only in the same way in +which I think of her." + +"Touching sympathy! So you hate each other?" said the count. + +"Listen," said Morcerf--"if Mademoiselle Danglars were disposed to take +pity on my supposed martyrdom on her account, and would dispense with +all matrimonial formalities between our two families, I am ready to +agree to the arrangement. In a word, Mademoiselle Danglars would make a +charming mistress--but a wife--diable!" + +"And this," said Monte Cristo, "is your opinion of your intended +spouse?" + +"Yes; it is rather unkind, I acknowledge, but it is true. But as this +dream cannot be realized, since Mademoiselle Danglars must become my +lawful wife, live perpetually with me, sing to me, compose verses and +music within ten paces of me, and that for my whole life, it frightens +me. One may forsake a mistress, but a wife,--good heavens! There she +must always be; and to marry Mademoiselle Danglars would be awful." + +"You are difficult to please, viscount." + +"Yes, for I often wish for what is impossible." + +"What is that?" + +"To find such a wife as my father found." Monte Cristo turned pale, and +looked at Albert, while playing with some magnificent pistols. + +"Your father was fortunate, then?" said he. + +"You know my opinion of my mother, count; look at her,--still beautiful, +witty, more charming than ever. For any other son to have stayed with +his mother for four days at Treport, it would have been a condescension +or a martyrdom, while I return, more contented, more peaceful--shall +I say more poetic!--than if I had taken Queen Mab or Titania as my +companion." + +"That is an overwhelming demonstration, and you would make every one vow +to live a single life." + +"Such are my reasons for not liking to marry Mademoiselle Danglars. Have +you ever noticed how much a thing is heightened in value when we obtain +possession of it? The diamond which glittered in the window at Marle's +or Fossin's shines with more splendor when it is our own; but if we +are compelled to acknowledge the superiority of another, and still +must retain the one that is inferior, do you not know what we have to +endure?" + +"Worldling," murmured the count. + +"Thus I shall rejoice when Mademoiselle Eugenie perceives I am but a +pitiful atom, with scarcely as many hundred thousand francs as she has +millions." Monte Cristo smiled. "One plan occurred to me," continued +Albert; "Franz likes all that is eccentric; I tried to make him fall in +love with Mademoiselle Danglars; but in spite of four letters, written +in the most alluring style, he invariably answered: 'My eccentricity may +be great, but it will not make me break my promise.'" + +"That is what I call devoted friendship, to recommend to another one +whom you would not marry yourself." Albert smiled.--"Apropos," continued +he, "Franz is coming soon, but it will not interest you; you dislike +him, I think?" + +"I?" said Monte Cristo; "my dear Viscount, how have you discovered that +I did not like M. Franz! I like every one." + +"And you include me in the expression every one--many thanks!" + +"Let us not mistake," said Monte Cristo; "I love every one as God +commands us to love our neighbor, as Christians; but I thoroughly +hate but a few. Let us return to M. Franz d'Epinay. Did you say he was +coming?" + +"Yes; summoned by M. de Villefort, who is apparently as anxious to get +Mademoiselle Valentine married as M. Danglars is to see Mademoiselle +Eugenie settled. It must be a very irksome office to be the father of +a grown-up daughter; it seems to make one feverish, and to raise one's +pulse to ninety beats a minute until the deed is done." + +"But M. d'Epinay, unlike you, bears his misfortune patiently." + +"Still more, he talks seriously about the matter, puts on a white tie, +and speaks of his family. He entertains a very high opinion of M. and +Madame de Villefort." + +"Which they deserve, do they not?" + +"I believe they do. M. de Villefort has always passed for a severe but a +just man." + +"There is, then, one," said Monte Cristo, "whom you do not condemn like +poor Danglars?" + +"Because I am not compelled to marry his daughter perhaps," replied +Albert, laughing. + +"Indeed, my dear sir," said Monte Cristo, "you are revoltingly foppish." + +"I foppish? how do you mean?" + +"Yes; pray take a cigar, and cease to defend yourself, and to struggle +to escape marrying Mademoiselle Danglars. Let things take their course; +perhaps you may not have to retract." + +"Bah," said Albert, staring. + +"Doubtless, my dear viscount, you will not be taken by force; and +seriously, do you wish to break off your engagement?" + +"I would give a hundred thousand francs to be able to do so." + +"Then make yourself quite easy. M. Danglars would give double that sum +to attain the same end." + +"Am I, indeed, so happy?" said Albert, who still could not prevent an +almost imperceptible cloud passing across his brow. "But, my dear count, +has M. Danglars any reason?" + +"Ah, there is your proud and selfish nature. You would expose the +self-love of another with a hatchet, but you shrink if your own is +attacked with a needle." + +"But yet M. Danglars appeared"-- + +"Delighted with you, was he not? Well, he is a man of bad taste, and is +still more enchanted with another. I know not whom; look and judge for +yourself." + +"Thank you, I understand. But my mother--no, not my mother; I +mistake--my father intends giving a ball." + +"A ball at this season?" + +"Summer balls are fashionable." + +"If they were not, the countess has only to wish it, and they would +become so." + +"You are right; You know they are select affairs; those who remain +in Paris in July must be true Parisians. Will you take charge of our +invitation to Messieurs Cavalcanti?" + +"When will it take place?" + +"On Saturday." + +"M. Cavalcanti's father will be gone." + +"But the son will be here; will you invite young M. Cavalcanti?" + +"I do not know him, viscount." + +"You do not know him?" + +"No, I never saw him until a few days since, and am not responsible for +him." + +"But you receive him at your house?" + +"That is another thing: he was recommended to me by a good abbe, who may +be deceived. Give him a direct invitation, but do not ask me to present +him. If he were afterwards to marry Mademoiselle Danglars, you would +accuse me of intrigue, and would be challenging me,--besides, I may not +be there myself." + +"Where?" + +"At your ball." + +"Why should you not be there?" + +"Because you have not yet invited me." + +"But I come expressly for that purpose." + +"You are very kind, but I may be prevented." + +"If I tell you one thing, you will be so amiable as to set aside all +impediments." + +"Tell me what it is." + +"My mother begs you to come." + +"The Comtesse de Morcerf?" said Monte Cristo, starting. + +"Ah, count," said Albert, "I assure you Madame de Morcerf speaks freely +to me, and if you have not felt those sympathetic fibres of which I +spoke just now thrill within you, you must be entirely devoid of them, +for during the last four days we have spoken of no one else." + +"You have talked of me?" + +"Yes, that is the penalty of being a living puzzle!" + +"Then I am also a puzzle to your mother? I should have thought her too +reasonable to be led by imagination." + +"A problem, my dear count, for every one--for my mother as well as +others; much studied, but not solved, you still remain an enigma, do not +fear. My mother is only astonished that you remain so long unsolved. I +believe, while the Countess G---- takes you for Lord Ruthven, my mother +imagines you to be Cagliostro or the Count Saint-Germain. The first +opportunity you have, confirm her in her opinion; it will be easy for +you, as you have the philosophy of the one and the wit of the other." + +"I thank you for the warning," said the count; "I shall endeavor to be +prepared for all suppositions." + +"You will, then, come on Saturday?" + +"Yes, since Madame de Morcerf invites me." + +"You are very kind." + +"Will M. Danglars be there?" + +"He has already been invited by my father. We shall try to persuade the +great d'Aguesseau, [*] M. de Villefort, to come, but have not much hope of +seeing him." + +"'Never despair of anything,' says the proverb." + + * Magistrate and orator of great eloquence--chancellor of + France under Louis XV. + +"Do you dance, count?" + +"I dance?" + +"Yes, you; it would not be astonishing." + +"That is very well before one is over forty. No, I do not dance, but I +like to see others do so. Does Madame de Morcerf dance?" + +"Never; you can talk to her, she so delights in your conversation." + +"Indeed?" + +"Yes, truly; and I assure you. You are the only man of whom I have +heard her speak with interest." Albert rose and took his hat; the count +conducted him to the door. "I have one thing to reproach myself with," +said he, stopping Albert on the steps. "What is it?" + +"I have spoken to you indiscreetly about Danglars." + +"On the contrary, speak to me always in the same strain about him." + +"I am glad to be reassured on that point. Apropos, when do you aspect M. +d'Epinay?" + +"Five or six days hence at the latest." + +"And when is he to be married?" + +"Immediately on the arrival of M. and Madame de Saint-Meran." + +"Bring him to see me. Although you say I do not like him, I assure you I +shall be happy to see him." + +"I will obey your orders, my lord." + +"Good-by." + +"Until Saturday, when I may expect you, may I not?" + +"Yes, I promised you." The Count watched Albert, waving his hand to +him. When he had mounted his phaeton, Monte Cristo turned, and seeing +Bertuccio, "What news?" said he. "She went to the Palais," replied the +steward. + +"Did she stay long there?" + +"An hour and a half." + +"Did she return home?" + +"Directly." + +"Well, my dear Bertuccio," said the count, "I now advise you to go in +quest of the little estate I spoke to you of in Normandy." Bertuccio +bowed, and as his wishes were in perfect harmony with the order he had +received, he started the same evening. + + + +Chapter 69. The Inquiry. + +M. de Villefort kept the promise he had made to Madame Danglars, to +endeavor to find out how the Count of Monte Cristo had discovered the +history of the house at Auteuil. He wrote the same day for the required +information to M. de Boville, who, from having been an inspector of +prisons, was promoted to a high office in the police; and the latter +begged for two days time to ascertain exactly who would be most likely +to give him full particulars. At the end of the second day M. de +Villefort received the following note:-- + +"The person called the Count of Monte Cristo is an intimate acquaintance +of Lord Wilmore, a rich foreigner, who is sometimes seen in Paris and +who is there at this moment; he is also known to the Abbe Busoni, a +Sicilian priest, of high repute in the East, where he has done much +good." + +M. de Villefort replied by ordering the strictest inquiries to be +made respecting these two persons; his orders were executed, and the +following evening he received these details:-- + +"The abbe, who was in Paris only for a month, inhabited a small +two-storied house behind Saint-Sulpice; there were two rooms on each +floor and he was the only tenant. The two lower rooms consisted of a +dining-room, with a table, chairs, and side-board of walnut,--and a +wainscoted parlor, without ornaments, carpet, or timepiece. It was +evident that the abbe limited himself to objects of strict necessity. He +preferred to use the sitting-room upstairs, which was more library than +parlor, and was furnished with theological books and parchments, in +which he delighted to bury himself for months at a time, according to +his valet de chambre. His valet looked at the visitors through a sort +of wicket; and if their faces were unknown to him or displeased him, he +replied that the abbe was not in Paris, an answer which satisfied most +persons, because the abbe was known to be a great traveller. Besides, +whether at home or not, whether in Paris or Cairo, the abbe always left +something to give away, which the valet distributed through this wicket +in his master's name. The other room near the library was a bedroom. A +bed without curtains, four arm-chairs, and a couch, covered with yellow +Utrecht velvet, composed, with a prie-Dieu, all its furniture. Lord +Wilmore resided in Rue Fontaine-Saint-George. He was one of those +English tourists who consume a large fortune in travelling. He hired the +apartment in which he lived furnished, passed only a few hours in the +day there, and rarely slept there. One of his peculiarities was never to +speak a word of French, which he however wrote with great facility." + +The day after this important information had been given to the king's +attorney, a man alighted from a carriage at the corner of the Rue +Ferou, and rapping at an olive-green door, asked if the Abbe Busoni were +within. "No, he went out early this morning," replied the valet. + +"I might not always be content with that answer," replied the visitor, +"for I come from one to whom everyone must be at home. But have the +kindness to give the Abbe Busoni"-- + +"I told you he was not at home," repeated the valet. "Then on his return +give him that card and this sealed paper. Will he be at home at eight +o'clock this evening?" + +"Doubtless, unless he is at work, which is the same as if he were out." + +"I will come again at that time," replied the visitor, who then retired. + +At the appointed hour the same man returned in the same carriage, which, +instead of stopping this time at the end of the Rue Ferou, drove up to +the green door. He knocked, and it opened immediately to admit him. +From the signs of respect the valet paid him, he saw that his note had +produced a good effect. "Is the abbe at home?" asked he. + +"Yes; he is at work in his library, but he expects you, sir," replied +the valet. The stranger ascended a rough staircase, and before a table, +illumined by a lamp whose light was concentrated by a large shade while +the rest of the apartment was in partial darkness, he perceived the abbe +in a monk's dress, with a cowl on his head such as was used by learned +men of the Middle Ages. "Have I the honor of addressing the Abbe +Busoni?" asked the visitor. + +"Yes, sir," replied the abbe; "and you are the person whom M. de +Boville, formerly an inspector of prisons, sends to me from the prefect +of police?" + +"Exactly, sir." + +"One of the agents appointed to secure the safety of Paris?" + +"Yes, sir" replied the stranger with a slight hesitation, and blushing. + +The abbe replaced the large spectacles, which covered not only his eyes +but his temples, and sitting down motioned to his visitor to do the +same. "I am at your service, sir," said the abbe, with a marked Italian +accent. + +"The mission with which I am charged, sir," replied the visitor, +speaking with hesitation, "is a confidential one on the part of him +who fulfils it, and him by whom he is employed." The abbe bowed. "Your +probity," replied the stranger, "is so well known to the prefect that he +wishes as a magistrate to ascertain from you some particulars connected +with the public safety, to ascertain which I am deputed to see you. It +is hoped that no ties of friendship or humane consideration will induce +you to conceal the truth." + +"Provided, sir, the particulars you wish for do not interfere with +my scruples or my conscience. I am a priest, sir, and the secrets +of confession, for instance, must remain between me and God, and not +between me and human justice." + +"Do not alarm yourself, monsieur, we will duly respect your conscience." + +At this moment the abbe pressed down his side of the shade and so raised +it on the other, throwing a bright light on the stranger's face, while +his own remained obscured. "Excuse me, abbe," said the envoy of the +prefect of the police, "but the light tries my eyes very much." The abbe +lowered the shade. "Now, sir, I am listening--go on." + +"I will come at once to the point. Do you know the Count of Monte +Cristo?" + +"You mean Monsieur Zaccone, I presume?" + +"Zaccone?--is not his name Monte Cristo?" + +"Monte Cristo is the name of an estate, or, rather, of a rock, and not a +family name." + +"Well, be it so--let us not dispute about words; and since M. de Monte +Cristo and M. Zaccone are the same"-- + +"Absolutely the same." + +"Let us speak of M. Zaccone." + +"Agreed." + +"I asked you if you knew him?" + +"Extremely well." + +"Who is he?" + +"The son of a rich shipbuilder in Malta." + +"I know that is the report; but, as you are aware, the police does not +content itself with vague reports." + +"However," replied the abbe, with an affable smile, "when that report is +in accordance with the truth, everybody must believe it, the police as +well as all the rest." + +"Are you sure of what you assert?" + +"What do you mean by that question?" + +"Understand, sir, I do not in the least suspect your veracity; I ask if +you are certain of it?" + +"I knew his father, M. Zaccone." + +"Ah, indeed?" + +"And when a child I often played with the son in the timber-yards." + +"But whence does he derive the title of count?" + +"You are aware that may be bought." + +"In Italy?" + +"Everywhere." + +"And his immense riches, whence does he procure them?" + +"They may not be so very great." + +"How much do you suppose he possesses?" + +"From one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand livres per annum." + +"That is reasonable," said the visitor; "I have heard he had three or +four millions." + +"Two hundred thousand per annum would make four millions of capital." + +"But I was told he had four millions per annum." + +"That is not probable." + +"Do you know this Island of Monte Cristo?" + +"Certainly, every one who has come from Palermo, Naples, or Rome to +France by sea must know it, since he has passed close to it and must +have seen it." + +"I am told it is a delightful place?" + +"It is a rock." + +"And why has the count bought a rock?" + +"For the sake of being a count. In Italy one must have territorial +possessions to be a count." + +"You have, doubtless, heard the adventures of M. Zaccone's youth?" + +"The father's?" + +"No, the son's." + +"I know nothing certain; at that period of his life, I lost sight of my +young comrade." + +"Was he in the wars?" + +"I think he entered the service." + +"In what branch?" + +"In the navy." + +"Are you not his confessor?" + +"No, sir; I believe he is a Lutheran." + +"A Lutheran?" + +"I say, I believe such is the case, I do not affirm it; besides, liberty +of conscience is established in France." + +"Doubtless, and we are not now inquiring into his creed, but his +actions; in the name of the prefect of police, I ask you what you know +of him. + +"He passes for a very charitable man. Our holy father, the pope, has +made him a knight of Jesus Christ for the services he rendered to the +Christians in the East; he has five or six rings as testimonials from +Eastern monarchs of his services." + +"Does he wear them?" + +"No, but he is proud of them; he is better pleased with rewards given to +the benefactors of man than to his destroyers." + +"He is a Quaker then?" + +"Exactly, he is a Quaker, with the exception of the peculiar dress." + +"Has he any friends?" + +"Yes, every one who knows him is his friend." + +"But has he any enemies?" + +"One only." + +"What is his name?" + +"Lord Wilmore." + +"Where is he?" + +"He is in Paris just now." + +"Can he give me any particulars?" + +"Important ones; he was in India with Zaccone." + +"Do you know his abode?" + +"It's somewhere in the Chaussee d'Antin; but I know neither the street +nor the number." + +"Are you at variance with the Englishman?" + +"I love Zaccone, and he hates him; we are consequently not friends." + +"Do you think the Count of Monte Cristo had ever been in France before +he made this visit to Paris?" + +"To that question I can answer positively; no, sir, he had not, because +he applied to me six months ago for the particulars he required, and +as I did not know when I might again come to Paris, I recommended M. +Cavalcanti to him." + +"Andrea?" + +"No, Bartolomeo, his father." + +"Now, sir, I have but one question more to ask, and I charge you, in the +name of honor, of humanity, and of religion, to answer me candidly." + +"What is it, sir?" + +"Do you know with what design M. de Monte Cristo purchased a house at +Auteuil?" + +"Certainly, for he told me." + +"What is it, sir?" + +"To make a lunatic asylum of it, similar to that founded by the Count of +Pisani at Palermo. Do you know about that institution?" + +"I have heard of it." + +"It is a magnificent charity." Having said this, the abbe bowed to +imply he wished to pursue his studies. The visitor either understood the +abbe's meaning, or had no more questions to ask; he arose, and the +abbe accompanied him to the door. "You are a great almsgiver," said the +visitor, "and although you are said to be rich, I will venture to offer +you something for your poor people; will you accept my offering?" + +"I thank you, sir; I am only jealous in one thing, and that is that the +relief I give should be entirely from my own resources." + +"However"-- + +"My resolution, sir, is unchangeable, but you have only to search for +yourself and you will find, alas, but too many objects upon whom to +exercise your benevolence." The abbe once more bowed as he opened the +door, the stranger bowed and took his leave, and the carriage conveyed +him straight to the house of M. de Villefort. An hour afterwards +the carriage was again ordered, and this time it went to the Rue +Fontaine-Saint-George, and stopped at No. 5, where Lord Wilmore lived. +The stranger had written to Lord Wilmore, requesting an interview, which +the latter had fixed for ten o'clock. As the envoy of the prefect of +police arrived ten minutes before ten, he was told that Lord Wilmore, +who was precision and punctuality personified, was not yet come in, but +that he would be sure to return as the clock struck. + +The visitor was introduced into the drawing-room, which was like all +other furnished drawing-rooms. A mantle-piece, with two modern Sevres +vases, a timepiece representing Cupid with his bent bow, a mirror with +an engraving on each side--one representing Homer carrying his +guide, the other, Belisarius begging--a grayish paper; red and black +tapestry--such was the appearance of Lord Wilmore's drawing-room. It was +illuminated by lamps with ground-glass shades which gave only a feeble +light, as if out of consideration for the envoy's weak sight. After ten +minutes' expectation the clock struck ten; at the fifth stroke the door +opened and Lord Wilmore appeared. He was rather above the middle height, +with thin reddish whiskers, light complexion and light hair, turning +rather gray. He was dressed with all the English peculiarity, namely, in +a blue coat, with gilt buttons and high collar, in the fashion of 1811, +a white kerseymere waistcoat, and nankeen pantaloons, three inches too +short, but which were prevented by straps from slipping up to the +knee. His first remark on entering was,--"You know, sir, I do not speak +French?" + +"I know you do not like to converse in our language," replied the envoy. +"But you may use it," replied Lord Wilmore; "I understand it." + +"And I," replied the visitor, changing his idiom, "know enough of +English to keep up the conversation. Do not put yourself to the +slightest inconvenience." + +"Aw?" said Lord Wilmore, with that tone which is only known to natives +of Great Britain. + +The envoy presented his letter of introduction, which the latter read +with English coolness, and having finished,--"I understand," said he, +"perfectly." + +Then began the questions, which were similar to those which had been +addressed to the Abbe Busoni. But as Lord Wilmore, in the character of +the count's enemy, was less restrained in his answers, they were more +numerous; he described the youth of Monte Cristo, who he said, at ten +years of age, entered the service of one of the petty sovereigns of +India who make war on the English. It was there Wilmore had first met +him and fought against him; and in that war Zaccone had been taken +prisoner, sent to England, and consigned to the hulks, whence he had +escaped by swimming. Then began his travels, his duels, his caprices; +then the insurrection in Greece broke out, and he had served in the +Grecian ranks. While in that service he had discovered a silver mine in +the mountains of Thessaly, but he had been careful to conceal it from +every one. After the battle of Navarino, when the Greek government was +consolidated, he asked of King Otho a mining grant for that district, +which was given him. Hence that immense fortune, which, in Lord +Wilmore's opinion, possibly amounted to one or two millions per +annum,--a precarious fortune, which might be momentarily lost by the +failure of the mine. + +"But," asked the visitor, "do you know why he came to France?" + +"He is speculating in railways," said Lord Wilmore, "and as he is +an expert chemist and physicist, he has invented a new system of +telegraphy, which he is seeking to bring to perfection." + +"How much does he spend yearly?" asked the prefect. + +"Not more than five or six hundred thousand francs," said Lord Wilmore; +"he is a miser." Hatred evidently inspired the Englishman, who, knowing +no other reproach to bring on the count, accused him of avarice. "Do you +know his house at Auteuil?" + +"Certainly." + +"What do you know respecting it?" + +"Do you wish to know why he bought it?" + +"Yes." + +"The count is a speculator, who will certainly ruin himself in +experiments. He supposes there is in the neighborhood of the house he +has bought a mineral spring equal to those at Bagneres, Luchon, and +Cauterets. He is going to turn his house into a Badhaus, as the Germans +term it. He has already dug up all the garden two or three times to find +the famous spring, and, being unsuccessful, he will soon purchase all +the contiguous houses. Now, as I dislike him, and hope his railway, +his electric telegraph, or his search for baths, will ruin him, I am +watching for his discomfiture, which must soon take place." + +"What was the cause of your quarrel?" + +"When he was in England he seduced the wife of one of my friends." + +"Why do you not seek revenge?" + +"I have already fought three duels with him," said the Englishman, "the +first with the pistol, the second with the sword, and the third with the +sabre." + +"And what was the result of those duels?" + +"The first time, he broke my arm; the second, he wounded me in the +breast; and the third time, made this large wound." The Englishman +turned down his shirt-collar, and showed a scar, whose redness proved +it to be a recent one. "So that, you see, there is a deadly feud between +us." + +"But," said the envoy, "you do not go about it in the right way to kill +him, if I understand you correctly." + +"Aw?" said the Englishman, "I practice shooting every day, and every +other day Grisier comes to my house." + +This was all the visitor wished to ascertain, or, rather, all the +Englishman appeared to know. The agent arose, and having bowed to Lord +Wilmore, who returned his salutation with the stiff politeness of the +English, he retired. Lord Wilmore, having heard the door close after +him, returned to his bedroom, where with one hand he pulled off his +light hair, his red whiskers, his false jaw, and his wound, to resume +the black hair, dark complexion, and pearly teeth of the Count of Monte +Cristo. It was M. de Villefort, and not the prefect, who returned to the +house of M. de Villefort. The procureur felt more at ease, although he +had learned nothing really satisfactory, and, for the first time since +the dinner-party at Auteuil, he slept soundly. + + + +Chapter 70. The Ball. + +It was in the warmest days of July, when in due course of time the +Saturday arrived upon which the ball was to take place at M. de +Morcerf's. It was ten o'clock at night; the branches of the great trees +in the garden of the count's house stood out boldly against the azure +canopy of heaven, which was studded with golden stars, but where +the last fleeting clouds of a vanishing storm yet lingered. From the +apartments on the ground-floor might be heard the sound of music, with +the whirl of the waltz and galop, while brilliant streams of light shone +through the openings of the Venetian blinds. At this moment the garden +was only occupied by about ten servants, who had just received orders +from their mistress to prepare the supper, the serenity of the weather +continuing to increase. Until now, it had been undecided whether the +supper should take place in the dining-room, or under a long tent +erected on the lawn, but the beautiful blue sky, studded with stars, had +settled the question in favor of the lawn. The gardens were illuminated +with colored lanterns, according to the Italian custom, and, as is usual +in countries where the luxuries of the table--the rarest of all luxuries +in their complete form--are well understood, the supper-table was loaded +with wax-lights and flowers. + +At the time the Countess of Morcerf returned to the rooms, after giving +her orders, many guests were arriving, more attracted by the charming +hospitality of the countess than by the distinguished position of the +count; for, owing to the good taste of Mercedes, one was sure of finding +some devices at her entertainment worthy of describing, or even copying +in case of need. Madame Danglars, in whom the events we have related had +caused deep anxiety, had hesitated about going to Madame de Morcerf's, +when during the morning her carriage happened to meet that of Villefort. +The latter made a sign, and when the carriages had drawn close together, +said,--"You are going to Madame de Morcerf's, are you not?" + +"No," replied Madame Danglars, "I am too ill." + +"You are wrong," replied Villefort, significantly; "it is important that +you should be seen there." + +"Do you think so?" asked the baroness. + +"I do." + +"In that case I will go." And the two carriages passed on towards +their different destinations. Madame Danglars therefore came, not only +beautiful in person, but radiant with splendor; she entered by one door +at the time when Mercedes appeared at the door. The countess took Albert +to meet Madame Danglars. He approached, paid her some well merited +compliments on her toilet, and offered his arm to conduct her to a seat. +Albert looked around him. "You are looking for my daughter?" said the +baroness, smiling. + +"I confess it," replied Albert. "Could you have been so cruel as not to +bring her?" + +"Calm yourself. She has met Mademoiselle de Villefort, and has taken +her arm; see, they are following us, both in white dresses, one with a +bouquet of camellias, the other with one of myosotis. But tell me"-- + +"Well, what do you wish to know?" + +"Will not the Count of Monte Cristo be here to-night?" + +"Seventeen!" replied Albert. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I only mean that the count seems the rage," replied the viscount, +smiling, "and that you are the seventeenth person that has asked me the +same question. The count is in fashion; I congratulate him upon it." + +"And have you replied to every one as you have to me?" + +"Ah, to be sure, I have not answered you; be satisfied, we shall have +this 'lion;' we are among the privileged ones." + +"Were you at the opera yesterday?" + +"No." + +"He was there." + +"Ah, indeed? And did the eccentric person commit any new originality?" + +"Can he be seen without doing so? Elssler was dancing in the 'Diable +Boiteux;' the Greek princess was in ecstasies. After the cachucha he +placed a magnificent ring on the stem of a bouquet, and threw it to +the charming danseuse, who, in the third act, to do honor to the gift, +reappeared with it on her finger. And the Greek princess,--will she be +here?" + +"No, you will be deprived of that pleasure; her position in the count's +establishment is not sufficiently understood." + +"Wait; leave me here, and go and speak to Madame de Villefort, who is +trying to attract your attention." + +Albert bowed to Madame Danglars, and advanced towards Madame de +Villefort, whose lips opened as he approached. "I wager anything," said +Albert, interrupting her, "that I know what you were about to say." + +"Well, what is it?" + +"If I guess rightly, will you confess it?" + +"Yes." + +"On your honor?" + +"On my honor." + +"You were going to ask me if the Count of Monte Cristo had arrived, or +was expected." + +"Not at all. It is not of him that I am now thinking. I was going to ask +you if you had received any news of Monsieur Franz." + +"Yes,--yesterday." + +"What did he tell you?" + +"That he was leaving at the same time as his letter." + +"Well, now then, the count?" + +"The count will come, of that you may be satisfied." + +"You know that he has another name besides Monte Cristo?" + +"No, I did not know it." + +"Monte Cristo is the name of an island, and he has a family name." + +"I never heard it." + +"Well, then, I am better informed than you; his name is Zaccone." + +"It is possible." + +"He is a Maltese." + +"That is also possible. + +"The son of a shipowner." + +"Really, you should relate all this aloud, you would have the greatest +success." + +"He served in India, discovered a mine in Thessaly, and comes to Paris +to establish a mineral water-cure at Auteuil." + +"Well, I'm sure," said Morcerf, "this is indeed news! Am I allowed to +repeat it?" + +"Yes, but cautiously, tell one thing at a time, and do not say I told +you." + +"Why so?" + +"Because it is a secret just discovered." + +"By whom?" + +"The police." + +"Then the news originated"-- + +"At the prefect's last night. Paris, you can understand, is astonished +at the sight of such unusual splendor, and the police have made +inquiries." + +"Well, well! Nothing more is wanting than to arrest the count as a +vagabond, on the pretext of his being too rich." + +"Indeed, that doubtless would have happened if his credentials had not +been so favorable." + +"Poor count! And is he aware of the danger he has been in?" + +"I think not." + +"Then it will be but charitable to inform him. When he arrives, I will +not fail to do so." + +Just then, a handsome young man, with bright eyes, black hair, and +glossy mustache, respectfully bowed to Madame de Villefort. Albert +extended his hand. "Madame," said Albert, "allow me to present to you M. +Maximilian Morrel, captain of Spahis, one of our best, and, above all, +of our bravest officers." + +"I have already had the pleasure of meeting this gentleman at Auteuil, +at the house of the Count of Monte Cristo," replied Madame de Villefort, +turning away with marked coldness of manner. This answer, and especially +the tone in which it was uttered, chilled the heart of poor Morrel. But +a recompense was in store for him; turning around, he saw near the door +a beautiful fair face, whose large blue eyes were, without any marked +expression, fixed upon him, while the bouquet of myosotis was gently +raised to her lips. + +The salutation was so well understood that Morrel, with the same +expression in his eyes, placed his handkerchief to his mouth; and these +two living statues, whose hearts beat so violently under their marble +aspect, separated from each other by the whole length of the room, +forgot themselves for a moment, or rather forgot the world in their +mutual contemplation. They might have remained much longer lost in one +another, without any one noticing their abstraction. The Count of Monte +Cristo had just entered. + +We have already said that there was something in the count which +attracted universal attention wherever he appeared. It was not the coat, +unexceptional in its cut, though simple and unornamented; it was not the +plain white waistcoat; it was not the trousers, that displayed the foot +so perfectly formed--it was none of these things that attracted the +attention,--it was his pale complexion, his waving black hair, his calm +and serene expression, his dark and melancholy eye, his mouth, chiselled +with such marvellous delicacy, which so easily expressed such high +disdain,--these were what fixed the attention of all upon him. Many +men might have been handsomer, but certainly there could be none +whose appearance was more significant, if the expression may be used. +Everything about the count seemed to have its meaning, for the constant +habit of thought which he had acquired had given an ease and vigor +to the expression of his face, and even to the most trifling gesture, +scarcely to be understood. Yet the Parisian world is so strange, that +even all this might not have won attention had there not been connected +with it a mysterious story gilded by an immense fortune. + +Meanwhile he advanced through the assemblage of guests under a battery +of curious glances towards Madame de Morcerf, who, standing before +a mantle-piece ornamented with flowers, had seen his entrance in a +looking-glass placed opposite the door, and was prepared to receive him. +She turned towards him with a serene smile just at the moment he was +bowing to her. No doubt she fancied the count would speak to her, while +on his side the count thought she was about to address him; but both +remained silent, and after a mere bow, Monte Cristo directed his steps +to Albert, who received him cordially. "Have you seen my mother?" asked +Albert. + +"I have just had the pleasure," replied the count; "but I have not seen +your father." + +"See, he is down there, talking politics with that little group of great +geniuses." + +"Indeed?" said Monte Cristo; "and so those gentlemen down there are +men of great talent. I should not have guessed it. And for what kind of +talent are they celebrated? You know there are different sorts." + +"That tall, harsh-looking man is very learned, he discovered, in the +neighborhood of Rome, a kind of lizard with a vertebra more than +lizards usually have, and he immediately laid his discovery before the +Institute. The thing was discussed for a long time, but finally decided +in his favor. I can assure you the vertebra made a great noise in the +learned world, and the gentleman, who was only a knight of the Legion of +Honor, was made an officer." + +"Come," said Monte Cristo, "this cross seems to me to be wisely awarded. +I suppose, had he found another additional vertebra, they would have +made him a commander." + +"Very likely," said Albert. + +"And who can that person be who has taken it into his head to wrap +himself up in a blue coat embroidered with green?" + +"Oh, that coat is not his own idea; it is the Republic's, which deputed +David [*] to devise a uniform for the Academicians." + + * Louis David, a famous French painter. + +"Indeed?" said Monte Cristo; "so this gentleman is an Academician?" + +"Within the last week he has been made one of the learned assembly." + +"And what is his especial talent?" + +"His talent? I believe he thrusts pins through the heads of rabbits, he +makes fowls eat madder, and punches the spinal marrow out of dogs with +whalebone." + +"And he is made a member of the Academy of Sciences for this?" + +"No; of the French Academy." + +"But what has the French Academy to do with all this?" + +"I was going to tell you. It seems"-- + +"That his experiments have very considerably advanced the cause of +science, doubtless?" + +"No; that his style of writing is very good." + +"This must be very flattering to the feelings of the rabbits into whose +heads he has thrust pins, to the fowls whose bones he has dyed red, and +to the dogs whose spinal marrow he has punched out?" + +Albert laughed. + +"And the other one?" demanded the count. + +"That one?" + +"Yes, the third." + +"The one in the dark blue coat?" + +"Yes." + +"He is a colleague of the count, and one of the most active opponents to +the idea of providing the Chamber of Peers with a uniform. He was very +successful upon that question. He stood badly with the Liberal papers, +but his noble opposition to the wishes of the court is now getting him +into favor with the journalists. They talk of making him an ambassador." + +"And what are his claims to the peerage?" + +"He has composed two or three comic operas, written four or five +articles in the Siecle, and voted five or six years on the ministerial +side." + +"Bravo, Viscount," said Monte Cristo, smiling; "you are a delightful +cicerone. And now you will do me a favor, will you not?" + +"What is it?" + +"Do not introduce me to any of these gentlemen; and should they wish it, +you will warn me." Just then the count felt his arm pressed. He turned +round; it was Danglars. + +"Ah, is it you, baron?" said he. + +"Why do you call me baron?" said Danglars; "you know that I care nothing +for my title. I am not like you, viscount; you like your title, do you +not?" + +"Certainly," replied Albert, "seeing that without my title I should +be nothing; while you, sacrificing the baron, would still remain the +millionaire." + +"Which seems to me the finest title under the royalty of July," replied +Danglars. + +"Unfortunately," said Monte Cristo, "one's title to a millionaire does +not last for life, like that of baron, peer of France, or Academician; +for example, the millionaires Franck & Poulmann, of Frankfort, who have +just become bankrupts." + +"Indeed?" said Danglars, becoming pale. + +"Yes; I received the news this evening by a courier. I had about a +million in their hands, but, warned in time, I withdrew it a month ago." + +"Ah, mon Dieu," exclaimed Danglars, "they have drawn on me for 200,000 +francs!" + +"Well, you can throw out the draft; their signature is worth five per +cent." + +"Yes, but it is too late," said Danglars, "I have honored their bills." + +"Then," said Monte Cristo, "here are 200,000 francs gone after"-- + +"Hush, do not mention these things," said Danglars; then, approaching +Monte Cristo, he added, "especially before young M. Cavalcanti;" after +which he smiled, and turned towards the young man in question. Albert +had left the count to speak to his mother, Danglars to converse with +young Cavalcanti; Monte Cristo was for an instant alone. Meanwhile the +heat became excessive. The footmen were hastening through the rooms with +waiters loaded with ices. Monte Cristo wiped the perspiration from his +forehead, but drew back when the waiter was presented to him; he took no +refreshment. Madame de Morcerf did not lose sight of Monte Cristo; she +saw that he took nothing, and even noticed his gesture of refusal. + +"Albert," she asked, "did you notice that?" + +"What, mother?" + +"That the count has never been willing to partake of food under the roof +of M. de Morcerf." + +"Yes; but then he breakfasted with me--indeed, he made his first +appearance in the world on that occasion." + +"But your house is not M. de Morcerf's," murmured Mercedes; "and since +he has been here I have watched him." + +"Well?" + +"Well, he has taken nothing yet." + +"The count is very temperate." Mercedes smiled sadly. "Approach him," +said she, "and when the next waiter passes, insist upon his taking +something." + +"But why, mother?" + +"Just to please me, Albert," said Mercedes. Albert kissed his mother's +hand, and drew near the count. Another salver passed, loaded like the +preceding ones; she saw Albert attempt to persuade the count, but he +obstinately refused. Albert rejoined his mother; she was very pale. + +"Well," said she, "you see he refuses?" + +"Yes; but why need this annoy you?" + +"You know, Albert, women are singular creatures. I should like to have +seen the count take something in my house, if only an ice. Perhaps he +cannot reconcile himself to the French style of living, and might prefer +something else." + +"Oh, no; I have seen him eat of everything in Italy; no doubt he does +not feel inclined this evening." + +"And besides," said the countess, "accustomed as he is to burning +climates, possibly he does not feel the heat as we do." + +"I do not think that, for he has complained of feeling almost +suffocated, and asked why the Venetian blinds were not opened as well as +the windows." + +"In a word," said Mercedes, "it was a way of assuring me that his +abstinence was intended." And she left the room. A minute afterwards +the blinds were thrown open, and through the jessamine and clematis that +overhung the window one could see the garden ornamented with lanterns, +and the supper laid under the tent. Dancers, players, talkers, all +uttered an exclamation of joy--every one inhaled with delight the +breeze that floated in. At the same time Mercedes reappeared, paler than +before, but with that imperturbable expression of countenance which +she sometimes wore. She went straight to the group of which her husband +formed the centre. "Do not detain those gentlemen here, count," she +said; "they would prefer, I should think, to breathe in the garden +rather than suffocate here, since they are not playing." + +"Ah," said a gallant old general, who, in 1809, had sung "Partant pour +la Syrie,"--"we will not go alone to the garden." + +"Then," said Mercedes, "I will lead the way." Turning towards Monte +Cristo, she added, "count, will you oblige me with your arm?" The +count almost staggered at these simple words; then he fixed his eyes on +Mercedes. It was only a momentary glance, but it seemed to the countess +to have lasted for a century, so much was expressed in that one look. He +offered his arm to the countess; she took it, or rather just touched it +with her little hand, and they together descended the steps, lined with +rhododendrons and camellias. Behind them, by another outlet, a group of +about twenty persons rushed into the garden with loud exclamations of +delight. + + + +Chapter 71. Bread and Salt. + +Madame de Morcerf entered an archway of trees with her companion. It led +through a grove of lindens to a conservatory. + +"It was too warm in the room, was it not, count?" she asked. + +"Yes, madame; and it was an excellent idea of yours to open the doors +and the blinds." As he ceased speaking, the count felt the hand of +Mercedes tremble. "But you," he said, "with that light dress, and +without anything to cover you but that gauze scarf, perhaps you feel +cold?" + +"Do you know where I am leading you?" said the countess, without +replying to the question. + +"No, madame," replied Monte Cristo; "but you see I make no resistance." + +"We are going to the greenhouse that you see at the other end of the +grove." + +The count looked at Mercedes as if to interrogate her, but she continued +to walk on in silence, and he refrained from speaking. They reached +the building, ornamented with magnificent fruits, which ripen at the +beginning of July in the artificial temperature which takes the place of +the sun, so frequently absent in our climate. The countess left the arm +of Monte Cristo, and gathered a bunch of Muscatel grapes. "See, count," +she said, with a smile so sad in its expression that one could almost +detect the tears on her eyelids--"see, our French grapes are not to be +compared, I know, with yours of Sicily and Cyprus, but you will make +allowance for our northern sun." The count bowed, but stepped back. +"Do you refuse?" said Mercedes, in a tremulous voice. "Pray excuse me, +madame," replied Monte Cristo, "but I never eat Muscatel grapes." + +Mercedes let them fall, and sighed. A magnificent peach was hanging +against an adjoining wall, ripened by the same artificial heat. Mercedes +drew near, and plucked the fruit. "Take this peach, then," she said. The +count again refused. "What, again?" she exclaimed, in so plaintive an +accent that it seemed to stifle a sob; "really, you pain me." + +A long silence followed; the peach, like the grapes, fell to the +ground. "Count," added Mercedes with a supplicating glance, "there is a +beautiful Arabian custom, which makes eternal friends of those who have +together eaten bread and salt under the same roof." + +"I know it, madame," replied the count; "but we are in France, and not +in Arabia, and in France eternal friendships are as rare as the custom +of dividing bread and salt with one another." + +"But," said the countess, breathlessly, with her eyes fixed on Monte +Cristo, whose arm she convulsively pressed with both hands, "we are +friends, are we not?" + +The count became pale as death, the blood rushed to his heart, and then +again rising, dyed his cheeks with crimson; his eyes swam like those of +a man suddenly dazzled. "Certainly, we are friends," he replied; "why +should we not be?" The answer was so little like the one Mercedes +desired, that she turned away to give vent to a sigh, which sounded more +like a groan. "Thank you," she said. And they walked on again. They went +the whole length of the garden without uttering a word. "Sir," suddenly +exclaimed the countess, after their walk had continued ten minutes in +silence, "is it true that you have seen so much, travelled so far, and +suffered so deeply?" + +"I have suffered deeply, madame," answered Monte Cristo. + +"But now you are happy?" + +"Doubtless," replied the count, "since no one hears me complain." + +"And your present happiness, has it softened your heart?" + +"My present happiness equals my past misery," said the count. + +"Are you not married?" asked the countess. "I, married?" exclaimed Monte +Cristo, shuddering; "who could have told you so?" + +"No one told me you were, but you have frequently been seen at the opera +with a young and lovely woman." + +"She is a slave whom I bought at Constantinople, madame, the daughter of +a prince. I have adopted her as my daughter, having no one else to love +in the world." + +"You live alone, then?" + +"I do." + +"You have no sister--no son--no father?" + +"I have no one." + +"How can you exist thus without any one to attach you to life?" + +"It is not my fault, madame. At Malta, I loved a young girl, was on the +point of marrying her, when war came and carried me away. I thought she +loved me well enough to wait for me, and even to remain faithful to my +memory. When I returned she was married. This is the history of most men +who have passed twenty years of age. Perhaps my heart was weaker than +the hearts of most men, and I suffered more than they would have done in +my place; that is all." The countess stopped for a moment, as if gasping +for breath. "Yes," she said, "and you have still preserved this love in +your heart--one can only love once--and did you ever see her again?" + +"Never." + +"Never?" + +"I never returned to the country where she lived." + +"To Malta?" + +"Yes; Malta." + +"She is, then, now at Malta?" + +"I think so." + +"And have you forgiven her for all she has made you suffer?" + +"Her,--yes." + +"But only her; do you then still hate those who separated you?" + +"I hate them? Not at all; why should I?" The countess placed herself +before Monte Cristo, still holding in her hand a portion of the perfumed +grapes. "Take some," she said. "Madame, I never eat Muscatel grapes," +replied Monte Cristo, as if the subject had not been mentioned before. +The countess dashed the grapes into the nearest thicket, with a gesture +of despair. "Inflexible man!" she murmured. Monte Cristo remained as +unmoved as if the reproach had not been addressed to him. Albert at +this moment ran in. "Oh, mother," he exclaimed, "such a misfortune has +happened!" + +"What? What has happened?" asked the countess, as though awakening from +a sleep to the realities of life; "did you say a misfortune? Indeed, I +should expect misfortunes." + +"M. de Villefort is here." + +"Well?" + +"He comes to fetch his wife and daughter." + +"Why so?" + +"Because Madame de Saint-Meran is just arrived in Paris, bringing the +news of M. de Saint-Meran's death, which took place on the first stage +after he left Marseilles. Madame de Villefort, who was in very good +spirits, would neither believe nor think of the misfortune, but +Mademoiselle Valentine, at the first words, guessed the whole truth, +notwithstanding all the precautions of her father; the blow struck her +like a thunderbolt, and she fell senseless." + +"And how was M. de Saint-Meran related to Mademoiselle de Villefort?" +said the count. + +"He was her grandfather on the mother's side. He was coming here to +hasten her marriage with Franz." + +"Ah, indeed?" + +"So Franz must wait. Why was not M. de Saint-Meran also grandfather to +Mademoiselle Danglars?" + +"Albert, Albert," said Madame de Morcerf, in a tone of mild reproof, +"what are you saying? Ah, count, he esteems you so highly, tell him that +he has spoken amiss." And she took two or three steps forward. +Monte Cristo watched her with an air so thoughtful, and so full of +affectionate admiration, that she turned back and grasped his hand; at +the same time she seized that of her son, and joined them together. + +"We are friends; are we not?" she asked. + +"Oh, madame, I do not presume to call myself your friend, but at all +times I am your most respectful servant." The countess left with an +indescribable pang in her heart, and before she had taken ten steps the +count saw her raise her handkerchief to her eyes. "Do not my mother and +you agree?" asked Albert, astonished. + +"On the contrary," replied the count, "did you not hear her declare that +we were friends?" They re-entered the drawing-room, which Valentine and +Madame de Villefort had just quitted. It is perhaps needless to add that +Morrel departed almost at the same time. + + + +Chapter 72. Madame de Saint-Meran. + +A gloomy scene had indeed just passed at the house of M. de Villefort. +After the ladies had departed for the ball, whither all the entreaties +of Madame de Villefort had failed in persuading him to accompany them, +the procureur had shut himself up in his study, according to his custom, +with a heap of papers calculated to alarm any one else, but which +generally scarcely satisfied his inordinate desires. But this time the +papers were a mere matter of form. Villefort had secluded himself, not +to study, but to reflect; and with the door locked and orders given that +he should not be disturbed excepting for important business, he sat down +in his arm-chair and began to ponder over the events, the remembrance of +which had during the last eight days filled his mind with so many gloomy +thoughts and bitter recollections. Then, instead of plunging into the +mass of documents piled before him, he opened the drawer of his desk, +touched a spring, and drew out a parcel of cherished memoranda, amongst +which he had carefully arranged, in characters only known to himself, +the names of all those who, either in his political career, in money +matters, at the bar, or in his mysterious love affairs, had become his +enemies. + +Their number was formidable, now that he had begun to fear, and yet +these names, powerful though they were, had often caused him to smile +with the same kind of satisfaction experienced by a traveller who from +the summit of a mountain beholds at his feet the craggy eminences, the +almost impassable paths, and the fearful chasms, through which he has so +perilously climbed. When he had run over all these names in his memory, +again read and studied them, commenting meanwhile upon his lists, he +shook his head. + +"No," he murmured, "none of my enemies would have waited so patiently +and laboriously for so long a space of time, that they might now come +and crush me with this secret. Sometimes, as Hamlet says-- + + 'Foul deeds will rise, + Tho' all the earth o'erwhelm them to men's eyes;' + +but, like a phosphoric light, they rise but to mislead. The story has +been told by the Corsican to some priest, who in his turn has repeated +it. M. de Monte Cristo may have heard it, and to enlighten himself--but +why should he wish to enlighten himself upon the subject?" asked +Villefort, after a moment's reflection, "what interest can this M. de +Monte Cristo or M. Zaccone,--son of a shipowner of Malta, discoverer +of a mine in Thessaly, now visiting Paris for the first time,--what +interest, I say, can he take in discovering a gloomy, mysterious, and +useless fact like this? However, among all the incoherent details given +to me by the Abbe Busoni and by Lord Wilmore, by that friend and that +enemy, one thing appears certain and clear in my opinion--that in +no period, in no case, in no circumstance, could there have been any +contact between him and me." + +But Villefort uttered words which even he himself did not believe. He +dreaded not so much the revelation, for he could reply to or deny its +truth;--he cared little for that mene, tekel, upharsin, which appeared +suddenly in letters of blood upon the wall;--but what he was really +anxious for was to discover whose hand had traced them. While he +was endeavoring to calm his fears,--and instead of dwelling upon the +political future that had so often been the subject of his ambitious +dreams, was imagining a future limited to the enjoyments of home, in +fear of awakening the enemy that had so long slept,--the noise of a +carriage sounded in the yard, then he heard the steps of an aged person +ascending the stairs, followed by tears and lamentations, such as +servants always give vent to when they wish to appear interested in +their master's grief. He drew back the bolt of his door, and almost +directly an old lady entered, unannounced, carrying her shawl on her +arm, and her bonnet in her hand. The white hair was thrown back from her +yellow forehead, and her eyes, already sunken by the furrows of age, now +almost disappeared beneath the eyelids swollen with grief. "Oh, sir," +she said; "oh, sir, what a misfortune! I shall die of it; oh, yes, I +shall certainly die of it!" + +And then, falling upon the chair nearest the door, she burst into a +paroxysm of sobs. The servants, standing in the doorway, not daring to +approach nearer, were looking at Noirtier's old servant, who had heard +the noise from his master's room, and run there also, remaining behind +the others. Villefort rose, and ran towards his mother-in-law, for it +was she. + +"Why, what can have happened?" he exclaimed, "what has thus disturbed +you? Is M. de Saint-Meran with you?" + +"M. de Saint-Meran is dead," answered the old marchioness, without +preface and without expression; she appeared to be stupefied. Villefort +drew back, and clasping his hands together, exclaimed--"Dead!--so +suddenly?" + +"A week ago," continued Madame de Saint-Meran, "we went out together in +the carriage after dinner. M. de Saint-Meran had been unwell for some +days; still, the idea of seeing our dear Valentine again inspired him +with courage, and notwithstanding his illness he would leave. At six +leagues from Marseilles, after having eaten some of the lozenges he is +accustomed to take, he fell into such a deep sleep, that it appeared to +me unnatural; still I hesitated to wake him, although I fancied that +his face was flushed, and that the veins of his temples throbbed more +violently than usual. However, as it became dark, and I could no longer +see, I fell asleep; I was soon aroused by a piercing shriek, as from +a person suffering in his dreams, and he suddenly threw his head back +violently. I called the valet, I stopped the postilion, I spoke to M. +de Saint-Meran, I applied my smelling-salts; but all was over, and I +arrived at Aix by the side of a corpse." Villefort stood with his mouth +half open, quite stupefied. + +"Of course you sent for a doctor?" + +"Immediately; but, as I have told you, it was too late." + +"Yes; but then he could tell of what complaint the poor marquis had +died." + +"Oh, yes, sir, he told me; it appears to have been an apoplectic +stroke." + +"And what did you do then?" + +"M. de Saint-Meran had always expressed a desire, in case his death +happened during his absence from Paris, that his body might be brought +to the family vault. I had him put into a leaden coffin, and I am +preceding him by a few days." + +"Oh, my poor mother," said Villefort, "to have such duties to perform at +your age after such a blow!" + +"God has supported me through all; and then, my dear marquis, he would +certainly have done everything for me that I performed for him. It is +true that since I left him, I seem to have lost my senses. I cannot cry; +at my age they say that we have no more tears,--still I think that +when one is in trouble one should have the power of weeping. Where +is Valentine, sir? It is on her account I am here; I wish to see +Valentine." Villefort thought it would be terrible to reply that +Valentine was at a ball; so he only said that she had gone out with her +step-mother, and that she should be fetched. "This instant, sir--this +instant, I beseech you!" said the old lady. Villefort placed the arm +of Madame de Saint-Meran within his own, and conducted her to his +apartment. "Rest yourself, mother," he said. + +The marchioness raised her head at this word, and beholding the man who +so forcibly reminded her of her deeply-regretted child, who still +lived for her in Valentine, she felt touched at the name of mother, and +bursting into tears, she fell on her knees before an arm-chair, where +she buried her venerable head. Villefort left her to the care of the +women, while old Barrois ran, half-scared, to his master; for nothing +frightens old people so much as when death relaxes its vigilance over +them for a moment in order to strike some other old person. Then, +while Madame de Saint-Meran remained on her knees, praying fervently, +Villefort sent for a cab, and went himself to fetch his wife and +daughter from Madame de Morcerf's. He was so pale when he appeared at +the door of the ball-room, that Valentine ran to him, saying-- + +"Oh, father, some misfortune has happened!" + +"Your grandmamma has just arrived, Valentine," said M. de Villefort. + +"And grandpapa?" inquired the young girl, trembling with apprehension. +M. de Villefort only replied by offering his arm to his daughter. It was +just in time, for Valentine's head swam, and she staggered; Madame de +Villefort instantly hastened to her assistance, and aided her husband in +dragging her to the carriage, saying--"What a singular event! Who could +have thought it? Ah, yes, it is indeed strange!" And the wretched +family departed, leaving a cloud of sadness hanging over the rest of +the evening. At the foot of the stairs, Valentine found Barrois awaiting +her. + +"M. Noirtier wishes to see you to-night, he said, in an undertone. + +"Tell him I will come when I leave my dear grandmamma," she replied, +feeling, with true delicacy, that the person to whom she could be of the +most service just then was Madame de Saint-Meran. Valentine found her +grandmother in bed; silent caresses, heartwrung sobs, broken sighs, +burning tears, were all that passed in this sad interview, while Madame +de Villefort, leaning on her husband's arm, maintained all outward forms +of respect, at least towards the poor widow. She soon whispered to +her husband, "I think it would be better for me to retire, with +your permission, for the sight of me appears still to afflict your +mother-in-law." Madame de Saint-Meran heard her. "Yes, yes," she +said softly to Valentine, "let her leave; but do you stay." Madame de +Villefort left, and Valentine remained alone beside the bed, for the +procureur, overcome with astonishment at the unexpected death, had +followed his wife. Meanwhile, Barrois had returned for the first time to +old Noirtier, who having heard the noise in the house, had, as we have +said, sent his old servant to inquire the cause; on his return, his +quick intelligent eye interrogated the messenger. "Alas, sir," exclaimed +Barrois, "a great misfortune has happened. Madame de Saint-Meran has +arrived, and her husband is dead!" + +M. de Saint-Meran and Noirtier had never been on strict terms of +friendship; still, the death of one old man always considerably +affects another. Noirtier let his head fall upon his chest, apparently +overwhelmed and thoughtful; then he closed one eye, in token of inquiry. +"Mademoiselle Valentine?" Noirtier nodded his head. "She is at the +ball, as you know, since she came to say good-by to you in full dress." +Noirtier again closed his left eye. "Do you wish to see her?" Noirtier +again made an affirmative sign. "Well, they have gone to fetch her, no +doubt, from Madame de Morcerf's; I will await her return, and beg her to +come up here. Is that what you wish for?" + +"Yes," replied the invalid. + +Barrois, therefore, as we have seen, watched for Valentine, and informed +her of her grandfather's wish. Consequently, Valentine came up to +Noirtier, on leaving Madame de Saint-Meran, who in the midst of her +grief had at last yielded to fatigue and fallen into a feverish sleep. +Within reach of her hand they placed a small table upon which stood a +bottle of orangeade, her usual beverage, and a glass. Then, as we have +said, the young girl left the bedside to see M. Noirtier. Valentine +kissed the old man, who looked at her with such tenderness that her eyes +again filled with tears, whose sources he thought must be exhausted. +The old gentleman continued to dwell upon her with the same expression. +"Yes, yes," said Valentine, "you mean that I have yet a kind grandfather +left, do you not." The old man intimated that such was his meaning. +"Ah, yes, happily I have," replied Valentine. "Without that, what would +become of me?" + +It was one o'clock in the morning. Barrois, who wished to go to bed +himself, observed that after such sad events every one stood in need of +rest. Noirtier would not say that the only rest he needed was to see +his child, but wished her good-night, for grief and fatigue had made her +appear quite ill. The next morning she found her grandmother in bed; +the fever had not abated, on the contrary her eyes glistened and she +appeared to be suffering from violent nervous irritability. "Oh, dear +grandmamma, are you worse?" exclaimed Valentine, perceiving all these +signs of agitation. + +"No, my child, no," said Madame de Saint-Meran; "but I was impatiently +waiting for your arrival, that I might send for your father." + +"My father?" inquired Valentine, uneasily. + +"Yes, I wish to speak to him." Valentine durst not oppose her +grandmother's wish, the cause of which she did not know, and an instant +afterwards Villefort entered. "Sir," said Madame de Saint-Meran, without +using any circumlocution, and as if fearing she had no time to lose, +"you wrote to me concerning the marriage of this child?" + +"Yes, madame," replied Villefort, "it is not only projected but +arranged." + +"Your intended son-in-law is named M. Franz d'Epinay?" + +"Yes, madame." + +"Is he not the son of General d'Epinay who was on our side, and who was +assassinated some days before the usurper returned from the Island of +Elba?" + +"The same." + +"Does he not dislike the idea of marrying the granddaughter of a +Jacobin?" + +"Our civil dissensions are now happily extinguished, mother," said +Villefort; "M. d'Epinay was quite a child when his father died, he knows +very little of M. Noirtier, and will meet him, if not with pleasure, at +least with indifference." + +"Is it a suitable match?" + +"In every respect." + +"And the young man?" + +"Is regarded with universal esteem." + +"You approve of him?" + +"He is one of the most well-bred young men I know." During the whole +of this conversation Valentine had remained silent. "Well, sir," said +Madame de Saint-Meran, after a few minutes' reflection, "I must hasten +the marriage, for I have but a short time to live." + +"You, madame?" "You, dear mamma?" exclaimed M. de Villefort and +Valentine at the same time. + +"I know what I am saying," continued the marchioness; "I must hurry you, +so that, as she has no mother, she may at least have a grandmother to +bless her marriage. I am all that is left to her belonging to my poor +Renee, whom you have so soon forgotten, sir." + +"Ah, madame," said Villefort, "you forget that I was obliged to give a +mother to my child." + +"A stepmother is never a mother, sir. But this is not to the +purpose,--our business concerns Valentine, let us leave the dead in +peace." + +All this was said with such exceeding rapidity, that there was something +in the conversation that seemed like the beginning of delirium. + +"It shall be as you wish, madame," said Villefort; "more especially +since your wishes coincide with mine, and as soon as M. d'Epinay arrives +in Paris"-- + +"My dear grandmother," interrupted Valentine, "consider decorum--the +recent death. You would not have me marry under such sad auspices?" + +"My child," exclaimed the old lady sharply, "let us hear none of the +conventional objections that deter weak minds from preparing for the +future. I also was married at the death-bed of my mother, and certainly +I have not been less happy on that account." + +"Still that idea of death, madame," said Villefort. + +"Still?--Always! I tell you I am going to die--do you understand? Well, +before dying, I wish to see my son-in-law. I wish to tell him to make +my child happy; I wish to read in his eyes whether he intends to obey +me;--in fact, I will know him--I will!" continued the old lady, with a +fearful expression, "that I may rise from the depths of my grave to find +him, if he should not fulfil his duty!" + +"Madame," said Villefort, "you must lay aside these exalted ideas, which +almost assume the appearance of madness. The dead, once buried in their +graves, rise no more." + +"And I tell you, sir, that you are mistaken. This night I have had a +fearful sleep. It seemed as though my soul were already hovering over my +body, my eyes, which I tried to open, closed against my will, and what +will appear impossible above all to you, sir, I saw, with my eyes shut, +in the spot where you are now standing, issuing from that corner where +there is a door leading into Madame Villefort's dressing-room--I saw, I +tell you, silently enter, a white figure." Valentine screamed. "It was +the fever that disturbed you, madame," said Villefort. + +"Doubt, if you please, but I am sure of what I say. I saw a white +figure, and as if to prevent my discrediting the testimony of only one +of my senses, I heard my glass removed--the same which is there now on +the table." + +"Oh, dear mother, it was a dream." + +"So little was it a dream, that I stretched my hand towards the bell; +but when I did so, the shade disappeared; my maid then entered with a +light." + +"But she saw no one?" + +"Phantoms are visible to those only who ought to see them. It was the +soul of my husband!--Well, if my husband's soul can come to me, why +should not my soul reappear to guard my granddaughter? the tie is even +more direct, it seems to me." + +"Oh, madame," said Villefort, deeply affected, in spite of himself, "do +not yield to those gloomy thoughts; you will long live with us, happy, +loved, and honored, and we will make you forget"-- + +"Never, never, never," said the marchioness. "When does M. d'Epinay +return?" + +"We expect him every moment." + +"It is well. As soon as he arrives inform me. We must be expeditious. +And then I also wish to see a notary, that I may be assured that all our +property returns to Valentine." + +"Ah, grandmamma," murmured Valentine, pressing her lips on the burning +brow, "do you wish to kill me? Oh, how feverish you are; we must not +send for a notary, but for a doctor." + +"A doctor?" said she, shrugging her shoulders, "I am not ill; I am +thirsty--that is all." + +"What are you drinking, dear grandmamma?" + +"The same as usual, my dear, my glass is there on the table--give it to +me, Valentine." Valentine poured the orangeade into a glass and gave it +to her grandmother with a certain degree of dread, for it was the same +glass she fancied that had been touched by the spectre. The marchioness +drained the glass at a single draught, and then turned on her pillow, +repeating,--"The notary, the notary!" + +M. de Villefort left the room, and Valentine seated herself at the +bedside of her grandmother. The poor child appeared herself to require +the doctor she had recommended to her aged relative. A bright spot +burned in either cheek, her respiration was short and difficult, and her +pulse beat with feverish excitement. She was thinking of the despair +of Maximilian, when he should be informed that Madame de Saint-Meran, +instead of being an ally, was unconsciously acting as his enemy. More +than once she thought of revealing all to her grandmother, and she would +not have hesitated a moment, if Maximilian Morrel had been named Albert +de Morcerf or Raoul de Chateau-Renaud; but Morrel was of plebeian +extraction, and Valentine knew how the haughty Marquise de Saint-Meran +despised all who were not noble. Her secret had each time been repressed +when she was about to reveal it, by the sad conviction that it would be +useless to do so; for, were it once discovered by her father and mother, +all would be lost. Two hours passed thus; Madame de Saint-Meran was in +a feverish sleep, and the notary had arrived. Though his coming was +announced in a very low tone, Madame de Saint-Meran arose from her +pillow. "The notary!" she exclaimed, "let him come in." + +The notary, who was at the door, immediately entered. "Go, Valentine," +said Madame de Saint-Meran, "and leave me with this gentleman." + +"But, grandmamma"-- + +"Leave me--go!" The young girl kissed her grandmother, and left with her +handkerchief to her eyes; at the door she found the valet de chambre, +who told her that the doctor was waiting in the dining-room. Valentine +instantly ran down. The doctor was a friend of the family, and at +the same time one of the cleverest men of the day, and very fond of +Valentine, whose birth he had witnessed. He had himself a daughter about +her age, but whose life was one continued source of anxiety and fear to +him from her mother having been consumptive. + +"Oh," said Valentine, "we have been waiting for you with such +impatience, dear M. d'Avrigny. But, first of all, how are Madeleine and +Antoinette?" Madeleine was the daughter of M. d'Avrigny, and Antoinette +his niece. M. d'Avrigny smiled sadly. "Antoinette is very well," he +said, "and Madeleine tolerably so. But you sent for me, my dear child. +It is not your father or Madame de Villefort who is ill. As for you, +although we doctors cannot divest our patients of nerves, I fancy you +have no further need of me than to recommend you not to allow your +imagination to take too wide a field." Valentine colored. M. d'Avrigny +carried the science of divination almost to a miraculous extent, for +he was one of the physicians who always work upon the body through the +mind. "No," she replied, "it is for my poor grandmother. You know the +calamity that has happened to us, do you not?" + +"I know nothing." said M. d'Avrigny. + +"Alas," said Valentine, restraining her tears, "my grandfather is dead." + +"M. de Saint-Meran?" + +"Yes." + +"Suddenly?" + +"From an apoplectic stroke." + +"An apoplectic stroke?" repeated the doctor. + +"Yes, and my poor grandmother fancies that her husband, whom she +never left, has called her, and that she must go and join him. Oh, M. +d'Avrigny, I beseech you, do something for her!" + +"Where is she?" + +"In her room with the notary." + +"And M. Noirtier?" + +"Just as he was, his mind perfectly clear, but the same incapability of +moving or speaking." + +"And the same love for you--eh, my dear child?" + +"Yes," said Valentine, "he was very fond of me." + +"Who does not love you?" Valentine smiled sadly. "What are your +grandmother's symptoms?" + +"An extreme nervous excitement and a strangely agitated sleep; she +fancied this morning in her sleep that her soul was hovering above her +body, which she at the same time watched. It must have been delirium; +she fancies, too, that she saw a phantom enter her chamber and even +heard the noise it made on touching her glass." + +"It is singular," said the doctor; "I was not aware that Madame de +Saint-Meran was subject to such hallucinations." + +"It is the first time I ever saw her in this condition," said Valentine; +"and this morning she frightened me so that I thought her mad; and my +father, who you know is a strong-minded man, himself appeared deeply +impressed." + +"We will go and see," said the doctor; "what you tell me seems very +strange." The notary here descended, and Valentine was informed that her +grandmother was alone. "Go upstairs," she said to the doctor. + +"And you?" + +"Oh, I dare not--she forbade my sending for you; and, as you say, I am +myself agitated, feverish and out of sorts. I will go and take a turn in +the garden to recover myself." The doctor pressed Valentine's hand, and +while he visited her grandmother, she descended the steps. We need not +say which portion of the garden was her favorite walk. After remaining +for a short time in the parterre surrounding the house, and gathering +a rose to place in her waist or hair, she turned into the dark avenue +which led to the bench; then from the bench she went to the gate. +As usual, Valentine strolled for a short time among her flowers, but +without gathering them. The mourning in her heart forbade her assuming +this simple ornament, though she had not yet had time to put on the +outward semblance of woe. She then turned towards the avenue. As she +advanced she fancied she heard a voice speaking her name. She stopped +astonished, then the voice reached her ear more distinctly, and she +recognized it to be that of Maximilian. + + + +Chapter 73. The Promise. + +It was, indeed, Maximilian Morrel, who had passed a wretched existence +since the previous day. With the instinct peculiar to lovers he had +anticipated after the return of Madame de Saint-Meran and the death +of the marquis, that something would occur at M. de Villefort's in +connection with his attachment for Valentine. His presentiments were +realized, as we shall see, and his uneasy forebodings had goaded him +pale and trembling to the gate under the chestnut-trees. Valentine was +ignorant of the cause of this sorrow and anxiety, and as it was not his +accustomed hour for visiting her, she had gone to the spot simply by +accident or perhaps through sympathy. Morrel called her, and she ran +to the gate. "You here at this hour?" said she. "Yes, my poor girl," +replied Morrel; "I come to bring and to hear bad tidings." + +"This is, indeed, a house of mourning," said Valentine; "speak, +Maximilian, although the cup of sorrow seems already full." + +"Dear Valentine," said Morrel, endeavoring to conceal his own emotion, +"listen, I entreat you; what I am about to say is very serious. When are +you to be married?" + +"I will tell you all," said Valentine; "from you I have nothing +to conceal. This morning the subject was introduced, and my dear +grandmother, on whom I depended as my only support, not only declared +herself favorable to it, but is so anxious for it, that they only await +the arrival of M. d'Epinay, and the following day the contract will +be signed." A deep sigh escaped the young man, who gazed long and +mournfully at her he loved. "Alas," replied he, "it is dreadful thus to +hear my condemnation from your own lips. The sentence is passed, and, in +a few hours, will be executed; it must be so, and I will not endeavor +to prevent it. But, since you say nothing remains but for M. d'Epinay to +arrive that the contract may be signed, and the following day you will +be his, to-morrow you will be engaged to M. d'Epinay, for he came this +morning to Paris." Valentine uttered a cry. + +"I was at the house of Monte Cristo an hour since," said Morrel; "we +were speaking, he of the sorrow your family had experienced, and I of +your grief, when a carriage rolled into the court-yard. Never, till +then, had I placed any confidence in presentiments, but now I cannot +help believing them, Valentine. At the sound of that carriage I +shuddered; soon I heard steps on the staircase, which terrified me as +much as the footsteps of the commander did Don Juan. The door at last +opened; Albert de Morcerf entered first, and I began to hope my fears +were vain, when, after him, another young man advanced, and the count +exclaimed--'Ah, here is the Baron Franz d'Epinay!' I summoned all my +strength and courage to my support. Perhaps I turned pale and trembled, +but certainly I smiled; and five minutes after I left, without having +heard one word that had passed." + +"Poor Maximilian!" murmured Valentine. + +"Valentine, the time has arrived when you must answer me. And remember +my life depends on your answer. What do you intend doing?" Valentine +held down her head; she was overwhelmed. + +"Listen," said Morrel; "it is not the first time you have contemplated +our present position, which is a serious and urgent one; I do not think +it is a moment to give way to useless sorrow; leave that for those who +like to suffer at their leisure and indulge their grief in secret. There +are such in the world, and God will doubtless reward them in heaven for +their resignation on earth, but those who mean to contend must not lose +one precious moment, but must return immediately the blow which fortune +strikes. Do you intend to struggle against our ill-fortune? Tell me, +Valentine for it is that I came to know." + +Valentine trembled, and looked at him with amazement. The idea of +resisting her father, her grandmother, and all the family, had never +occurred to her. "What do you say, Maximilian?" asked Valentine. "What +do you mean by a struggle? Oh, it would be a sacrilege. What? I resist +my father's order, and my dying grandmother's wish? Impossible!" Morrel +started. "You are too noble not to understand me, and you understand me +so well that you already yield, dear Maximilian. No, no; I shall need +all my strength to struggle with myself and support my grief in secret, +as you say. But to grieve my father--to disturb my grandmother's last +moments--never!" + +"You are right," said Morrel, calmly. + +"In what a tone you speak!" cried Valentine. + +"I speak as one who admires you, mademoiselle." + +"Mademoiselle," cried Valentine; "mademoiselle! Oh, selfish man,--he +sees me in despair, and pretends he cannot understand me!" + +"You mistake--I understand you perfectly. You will not oppose M. +Villefort, you will not displease the marchioness, and to-morrow you +will sign the contract which will bind you to your husband." + +"But, mon Dieu, tell me, how can I do otherwise?" + +"Do not appeal to me, mademoiselle; I shall be a bad judge in such a +case; my selfishness will blind me," replied Morrel, whose low voice and +clinched hands announced his growing desperation. + +"What would you have proposed, Maximilian, had you found me willing to +accede?" + +"It is not for me to say." + +"You are wrong; you must advise me what to do." + +"Do you seriously ask my advice, Valentine?" + +"Certainly, dear Maximilian, for if it is good, I will follow it; you +know my devotion to you." + +"Valentine," said Morrel pushing aside a loose plank, "give me your hand +in token of forgiveness of my anger; my senses are confused, and during +the last hour the most extravagant thoughts have passed through my +brain. Oh, if you refuse my advice"-- + +"What do you advise?" said Valentine, raising her eyes to heaven and +sighing. "I am free," replied Maximilian, "and rich enough to support +you. I swear to make you my lawful wife before my lips even shall have +approached your forehead." + +"You make me tremble!" said the young girl. + +"Follow me," said Morrel; "I will take you to my sister, who is worthy +also to be yours. We will embark for Algiers, for England, for America, +or, if you prefer it, retire to the country and only return to Paris +when our friends have reconciled your family." Valentine shook her head. +"I feared it, Maximilian," said she; "it is the counsel of a madman, and +I should be more mad than you, did I not stop you at once with the word +'Impossible, impossible!'" + +"You will then submit to what fate decrees for you without even +attempting to contend with it?" said Morrel sorrowfully. "Yes,--if I +die!" + +"Well, Valentine," resumed Maximilian, "I can only say again that you +are right. Truly, it is I who am mad, and you prove to me that passion +blinds the most well-meaning. I appreciate your calm reasoning. It is +then understood that to-morrow you will be irrevocably promised to +M. Franz d'Epinay, not only by that theatrical formality invented to +heighten the effect of a comedy called the signature of the contract, +but your own will?" + +"Again you drive me to despair, Maximilian," said Valentine, "again you +plunge the dagger into the wound! What would you do, tell me, if your +sister listened to such a proposition?" + +"Mademoiselle," replied Morrel with a bitter smile, "I am selfish--you +have already said so--and as a selfish man I think not of what others +would do in my situation, but of what I intend doing myself. I think +only that I have known you not a whole year. From the day I first saw +you, all my hopes of happiness have been in securing your affection. One +day you acknowledged that you loved me, and since that day my hope of +future happiness has rested on obtaining you, for to gain you would be +life to me. Now, I think no more; I say only that fortune has turned +against me--I had thought to gain heaven, and now I have lost it. It is +an every-day occurrence for a gambler to lose not only what he possesses +but also what he has not." Morrel pronounced these words with perfect +calmness; Valentine looked at him a moment with her large, scrutinizing +eyes, endeavoring not to let Morrel discover the grief which struggled +in her heart. "But, in a word, what are you going to do?" asked she. + +"I am going to have the honor of taking my leave of you, mademoiselle, +solemnly assuring you that I wish your life may be so calm, so happy, +and so fully occupied, that there may be no place for me even in your +memory." + +"Oh!" murmured Valentine. + +"Adieu, Valentine, adieu!" said Morrel, bowing. + +"Where are you going?" cried the young girl, extending her hand through +the opening, and seizing Maximilian by his coat, for she understood from +her own agitated feelings that her lover's calmness could not be real; +"where are you going?" + +"I am going, that I may not bring fresh trouble into your family: and to +set an example which every honest and devoted man, situated as I am, may +follow." + +"Before you leave me, tell me what you are going to do, Maximilian." The +young man smiled sorrowfully. "Speak, speak!" said Valentine; "I entreat +you." + +"Has your resolution changed, Valentine?" + +"It cannot change, unhappy man; you know it must not!" cried the young +girl. "Then adieu, Valentine!" Valentine shook the gate with a strength +of which she could not have been supposed to be possessed, as Morrel was +going away, and passing both her hands through the opening, she clasped +and wrung them. "I must know what you mean to do!" said she. "Where are +you going?" + +"Oh, fear not," said Maximilian, stopping at a short distance, "I do not +intend to render another man responsible for the rigorous fate reserved +for me. Another might threaten to seek M. Franz, to provoke him, and to +fight with him; all that would be folly. What has M. Franz to do with +it? He saw me this morning for the first time, and has already forgotten +he has seen me. He did not even know I existed when it was arranged by +your two families that you should be united. I have no enmity against M. +Franz, and promise you the punishment shall not fall on him." + +"On whom, then!--on me?" + +"On you? Valentine! Oh, heaven forbid! Woman is sacred; the woman one +loves is holy." + +"On yourself, then, unhappy man; on yourself?" + +"I am the only guilty person, am I not?" said Maximilian. + +"Maximilian!" said Valentine, "Maximilian, come back, I entreat you!" He +drew near with his sweet smile, and but for his paleness one might +have thought him in his usual happy mood. "Listen, my dear, my adored +Valentine," said he in his melodious and grave tone; "those who, like +us, have never had a thought for which we need blush before the world, +such may read each other's hearts. I never was romantic, and am no +melancholy hero. I imitate neither Manfred nor Anthony; but without +words, protestations, or vows, my life has entwined itself with yours; +you leave me, and you are right in doing so,--I repeat it, you are +right; but in losing you, I lose my life. + +"The moment you leave me, Valentine, I am alone in the world. My sister +is happily married; her husband is only my brother-in-law, that is, a +man whom the ties of social life alone attach to me; no one then longer +needs my useless life. This is what I shall do; I will wait until the +very moment you are married, for I will not lose the shadow of one of +those unexpected chances which are sometimes reserved for us, since M. +Franz may, after all, die before that time, a thunderbolt may fall even +on the altar as you approach it,--nothing appears impossible to one +condemned to die, and miracles appear quite reasonable when his escape +from death is concerned. I will, then, wait until the last moment, +and when my misery is certain, irremediable, hopeless, I will write +a confidential letter to my brother-in-law, another to the prefect of +police, to acquaint them with my intention, and at the corner of some +wood, on the brink of some abyss, on the bank of some river, I will put +an end to my existence, as certainly as I am the son of the most honest +man who ever lived in France." + +Valentine trembled convulsively; she loosened her hold of the gate, her +arms fell by her side, and two large tears rolled down her cheeks. The +young man stood before her, sorrowful and resolute. "Oh, for pity's +sake," said she, "you will live, will you not?" + +"No, on my honor," said Maximilian; "but that will not affect you. You +have done your duty, and your conscience will be at rest." Valentine +fell on her knees, and pressed her almost bursting heart. "Maximilian," +said she, "Maximilian, my friend, my brother on earth, my true husband +in heaven, I entreat you, do as I do, live in suffering; perhaps we may +one day be united." + +"Adieu, Valentine," repeated Morrel. + +"My God," said Valentine, raising both her hands to heaven with a +sublime expression, "I have done my utmost to remain a submissive +daughter; I have begged, entreated, implored; he has regarded neither +my prayers, my entreaties, nor my tears. It is done," cried she, willing +away her tears, and resuming her firmness, "I am resolved not to die of +remorse, but rather of shame. Live, Maximilian, and I will be yours. Say +when shall it be? Speak, command, I will obey." Morrel, who had already +gone some few steps away, again returned, and pale with joy extended +both hands towards Valentine through the opening. "Valentine," said he, +"dear Valentine, you must not speak thus--rather let me die. Why +should I obtain you by violence, if our love is mutual? Is it from mere +humanity you bid me live? I would then rather die." + +"Truly," murmured Valentine, "who on this earth cares for me, if he does +not? Who has consoled me in my sorrow but he? On whom do my hopes rest? +On whom does my bleeding heart repose? On him, on him, always on him! +Yes, you are right, Maximilian, I will follow you. I will leave the +paternal home, I will give up all. Oh, ungrateful girl that I am," cried +Valentine, sobbing, "I will give up all, even my dear old grandfather, +whom I had nearly forgotten." + +"No," said Maximilian, "you shall not leave him. M. Noirtier has +evinced, you say, a kind feeling towards me. Well, before you leave, +tell him all; his consent would be your justification in God's sight. As +soon as we are married, he shall come and live with us, instead of one +child, he shall have two. You have told me how you talk to him and +how he answers you; I shall very soon learn that language by signs, +Valentine, and I promise you solemnly, that instead of despair, it is +happiness that awaits us." + +"Oh, see, Maximilian, see the power you have over me, you almost make +me believe you; and yet, what you tell me is madness, for my father will +curse me--he is inflexible--he will never pardon me. Now listen to me, +Maximilian; if by artifice, by entreaty, by accident--in short, if by +any means I can delay this marriage, will you wait?" + +"Yes, I promise you, as faithfully as you have promised me that this +horrible marriage shall not take place, and that if you are dragged +before a magistrate or a priest, you will refuse." + +"I promise you by all that is most sacred to me in the world, namely, by +my mother." + +"We will wait, then," said Morrel. + +"Yes, we will wait," replied Valentine, who revived at these words; +"there are so many things which may save unhappy beings such as we are." + +"I rely on you, Valentine," said Morrel; "all you do will be well +done; only if they disregard your prayers, if your father and Madame de +Saint-Meran insist that M. d'Epinay should be called to-morrow to sign +the contract"-- + +"Then you have my promise, Maximilian." + +"Instead of signing"-- + +"I will go to you, and we will fly; but from this moment until then, let +us not tempt providence, let us not see each other. It is a miracle, it +is a providence that we have not been discovered. If we were surprised, +if it were known that we met thus, we should have no further resource." + +"You are right, Valentine; but how shall I ascertain?" + +"From the notary, M. Deschamps." + +"I know him." + +"And for myself--I will write to you, depend on me. I dread this +marriage, Maximilian, as much as you." + +"Thank you, my adored Valentine, thank you; that is enough. When once I +know the hour, I will hasten to this spot, you can easily get over this +fence with my assistance, a carriage will await us at the gate, in which +you will accompany me to my sister's; there living, retired or mingling +in society, as you wish, we shall be enabled to use our power to resist +oppression, and not suffer ourselves to be put to death like sheep, +which only defend themselves by sighs." + +"Yes," said Valentine, "I will now acknowledge you are right, +Maximilian; and now are you satisfied with your betrothal?" said the +young girl sorrowfully. + +"My adored Valentine, words cannot express one half of my satisfaction." +Valentine had approached, or rather, had placed her lips so near the +fence, that they nearly touched those of Morrel, which were pressed +against the other side of the cold and inexorable barrier. "Adieu, then, +till we meet again," said Valentine, tearing herself away. "I shall hear +from you?" + +"Yes." + +"Thanks, thanks, dear love, adieu!" The sound of a kiss was heard, and +Valentine fled through the avenue. Morrel listened to catch the last +sound of her dress brushing the branches, and of her footstep on the +gravel, then raised his eyes with an ineffable smile of thankfulness to +heaven for being permitted to be thus loved, and then also disappeared. +The young man returned home and waited all the evening and all the next +day without getting any message. It was only on the following day, +at about ten o'clock in the morning, as he was starting to call on M. +Deschamps, the notary, that he received from the postman a small billet, +which he knew to be from Valentine, although he had not before seen her +writing. It was to this effect:-- + +Tears, entreaties, prayers, have availed me nothing. Yesterday, for +two hours, I was at the church of Saint-Phillippe du Roule, and for two +hours I prayed most fervently. Heaven is as inflexible as man, and the +signature of the contract is fixed for this evening at nine o'clock. I +have but one promise and but one heart to give; that promise is pledged +to you, that heart is also yours. This evening, then, at a quarter to +nine at the gate. + +Your betrothed, + +Valentine de Villefort. + +P.S.--My poor grandmother gets worse and worse; yesterday her fever +amounted to delirium; to-day her delirium is almost madness. You will +be very kind to me, will you not, Morrel, to make me forget my sorrow in +leaving her thus? I think it is kept a secret from grandpapa Noirtier, +that the contract is to be signed this evening. + +Morrel went also to the notary, who confirmed the news that the contract +was to be signed that evening. Then he went to call on Monte Cristo and +heard still more. Franz had been to announce the ceremony, and Madame de +Villefort had also written to beg the count to excuse her not inviting +him; the death of M. de Saint-Meran and the dangerous illness of his +widow would cast a gloom over the meeting which she would regret should +be shared by the count whom she wished every happiness. The day before +Franz had been presented to Madame de Saint-Meran, who had left her bed +to receive him, but had been obliged to return to it immediately after. +It is easy to suppose that Morrel's agitation would not escape the +count's penetrating eye. Monte Cristo was more affectionate than +ever,--indeed, his manner was so kind that several times Morrel was on +the point of telling him all. But he recalled the promise he had made to +Valentine, and kept his secret. + +The young man read Valentine's letter twenty times in the course of the +day. It was her first, and on what an occasion! Each time he read it he +renewed his vow to make her happy. How great is the power of a woman who +has made so courageous a resolution! What devotion does she deserve from +him for whom she has sacrificed everything! How ought she really to +be supremely loved! She becomes at once a queen and a wife, and it is +impossible to thank and love her sufficiently. Morrel longed intensely +for the moment when he should hear Valentine say, "Here I am, +Maximilian; come and help me." He had arranged everything for her +escape; two ladders were hidden in the clover-field; a cabriolet was +ordered for Maximilian alone, without a servant, without lights; at the +turning of the first street they would light the lamps, as it would be +foolish to attract the notice of the police by too many precautions. +Occasionally he shuddered; he thought of the moment when, from the +top of that wall, he should protect the descent of his dear Valentine, +pressing in his arms for the first time her of whom he had yet only +kissed the delicate hand. + +When the afternoon arrived and he felt that the hour was drawing near, +he wished for solitude, his agitation was extreme; a simple question +from a friend would have irritated him. He shut himself in his room, and +tried to read, but his eye glanced over the page without understanding +a word, and he threw away the book, and for the second time sat down +to sketch his plan, the ladders and the fence. At length the hour +drew near. Never did a man deeply in love allow the clocks to go on +peacefully. Morrel tormented his so effectually that they struck eight +at half-past six. He then said, "It is time to start; the signature was +indeed fixed to take place at nine o'clock, but perhaps Valentine will +not wait for that." Consequently, Morrel, having left the Rue Meslay +at half-past eight by his timepiece, entered the clover-field while +the clock of Saint-Phillippe du Roule was striking eight. The horse and +cabriolet were concealed behind a small ruin, where Morrel had often +waited. + +The night gradually drew on, and the foliage in the garden assumed a +deeper hue. Then Morrel came out from his hiding-place with a beating +heart, and looked through the small opening in the gate; there was yet +no one to be seen. The clock struck half-past eight, and still another +half-hour was passed in waiting, while Morrel walked to and fro, and +gazed more and more frequently through the opening. The garden became +darker still, but in the darkness he looked in vain for the white dress, +and in the silence he vainly listened for the sound of footsteps. The +house, which was discernible through the trees, remained in darkness, +and gave no indication that so important an event as the signature of a +marriage-contract was going on. Morrel looked at his watch, which wanted +a quarter to ten; but soon the same clock he had already heard strike +two or three times rectified the error by striking half-past nine. + +This was already half an hour past the time Valentine had fixed. It +was a terrible moment for the young man. The slightest rustling of the +foliage, the least whistling of the wind, attracted his attention, and +drew the perspiration to his brow; then he tremblingly fixed his ladder, +and, not to lose a moment, placed his foot on the first step. Amidst +all these alternations of hope and fear, the clock struck ten. "It is +impossible," said Maximilian, "that the signing of a contract should +occupy so long a time without unexpected interruptions. I have weighed +all the chances, calculated the time required for all the forms; +something must have happened." And then he walked rapidly to and fro, +and pressed his burning forehead against the fence. Had Valentine +fainted? or had she been discovered and stopped in her flight? These +were the only obstacles which appeared possible to the young man. + +The idea that her strength had failed her in attempting to escape, +and that she had fainted in one of the paths, was the one that most +impressed itself upon his mind. "In that case," said he, "I should lose +her, and by my own fault." He dwelt on this idea for a moment, then it +appeared reality. He even thought he could perceive something on the +ground at a distance; he ventured to call, and it seemed to him that +the wind wafted back an almost inarticulate sigh. At last the half-hour +struck. It was impossible to wait longer, his temples throbbed +violently, his eyes were growing dim; he passed one leg over the wall, +and in a moment leaped down on the other side. He was on Villefort's +premises--had arrived there by scaling the wall. What might be the +consequences? However, he had not ventured thus far to draw back. He +followed a short distance close under the wall, then crossed a path, hid +entered a clump of trees. In a moment he had passed through them, and +could see the house distinctly. Then Morrel saw that he had been right +in believing that the house was not illuminated. Instead of lights at +every window, as is customary on days of ceremony, he saw only a gray +mass, which was veiled also by a cloud, which at that moment obscured +the moon's feeble light. A light moved rapidly from time to time past +three windows of the second floor. These three windows were in Madame de +Saint-Meran's room. Another remained motionless behind some red curtains +which were in Madame de Villefort's bedroom. Morrel guessed all this. So +many times, in order to follow Valentine in thought at every hour in the +day, had he made her describe the whole house, that without having seen +it he knew it all. + +This darkness and silence alarmed Morrel still more than Valentine's +absence had done. Almost mad with grief, and determined to venture +everything in order to see Valentine once more, and be certain of the +misfortune he feared, Morrel gained the edge of the clump of trees, and +was going to pass as quickly as possible through the flower-garden, when +the sound of a voice, still at some distance, but which was borne upon +the wind, reached him. + +At this sound, as he was already partially exposed to view, he stepped +back and concealed himself completely, remaining perfectly motionless. +He had formed his resolution. If it was Valentine alone, he would speak +as she passed; if she was accompanied, and he could not speak, still he +should see her, and know that she was safe; if they were strangers, he +would listen to their conversation, and might understand something of +this hitherto incomprehensible mystery. The moon had just then escaped +from behind the cloud which had concealed it, and Morrel saw Villefort +come out upon the steps, followed by a gentleman in black. They +descended, and advanced towards the clump of trees, and Morrel soon +recognized the other gentleman as Doctor d'Avrigny. + +The young man, seeing them approach, drew back mechanically, until he +found himself stopped by a sycamore-tree in the centre of the clump; +there he was compelled to remain. Soon the two gentlemen stopped also. + +"Ah, my dear doctor," said the procureur, "heaven declares itself +against my house! What a dreadful death--what a blow! Seek not to +console me; alas, nothing can alleviate so great a sorrow--the wound is +too deep and too fresh! Dead, dead!" The cold sweat sprang to the young +man's brow, and his teeth chattered. Who could be dead in that house, +which Villefort himself had called accursed? "My dear M. de Villefort," +replied the doctor, with a tone which redoubled the terror of the young +man, "I have not led you here to console you; on the contrary"-- + +"What can you mean?" asked the procureur, alarmed. + +"I mean that behind the misfortune which has just happened to you, there +is another, perhaps, still greater." + +"Can it be possible?" murmured Villefort, clasping his hands. "What are +you going to tell me?" + +"Are we quite alone, my friend?" + +"Yes, quite; but why all these precautions?" + +"Because I have a terrible secret to communicate to you," said the +doctor. "Let us sit down." + +Villefort fell, rather than seated himself. The doctor stood before him, +with one hand placed on his shoulder. Morrel, horrified, supported +his head with one hand, and with the other pressed his heart, lest its +beatings should be heard. "Dead, dead!" repeated he within himself; and +he felt as if he were also dying. + +"Speak, doctor--I am listening," said Villefort; "strike--I am prepared +for everything!" + +"Madame de Saint-Meran was, doubtless, advancing in years, but she +enjoyed excellent health." Morrel began again to breathe freely, which +he had not done during the last ten minutes. + +"Grief has consumed her," said Villefort--"yes, grief, doctor! After +living forty years with the marquis"-- + +"It is not grief, my dear Villefort," said the doctor; "grief may kill, +although it rarely does, and never in a day, never in an hour, never +in ten minutes." Villefort answered nothing, he simply raised his +head, which had been cast down before, and looked at the doctor with +amazement. + +"Were you present during the last struggle?" asked M. d'Avrigny. + +"I was," replied the procureur; "you begged me not to leave." + +"Did you notice the symptoms of the disease to which Madame de +Saint-Meran has fallen a victim?" + +"I did. Madame de Saint-Meran had three successive attacks, at intervals +of some minutes, each one more serious than the former. When you +arrived, Madame de Saint-Meran had already been panting for breath some +minutes; she then had a fit, which I took to be simply a nervous attack, +and it was only when I saw her raise herself in the bed, and her +limbs and neck appear stiffened, that I became really alarmed. Then +I understood from your countenance there was more to fear than I had +thought. This crisis past, I endeavored to catch your eye, but could +not. You held her hand--you were feeling her pulse--and the second fit +came on before you had turned towards me. This was more terrible than +the first; the same nervous movements were repeated, and the mouth +contracted and turned purple." + +"And at the third she expired." + +"At the end of the first attack I discovered symptoms of tetanus; you +confirmed my opinion." + +"Yes, before others," replied the doctor; "but now we are alone"-- + +"What are you going to say? Oh, spare me!" + +"That the symptoms of tetanus and poisoning by vegetable substances are +the same." M. de Villefort started from his seat, then in a moment fell +down again, silent and motionless. Morrel knew not if he were dreaming +or awake. "Listen," said the doctor; "I know the full importance of the +statement I have just made, and the disposition of the man to whom I +have made it." + +"Do you speak to me as a magistrate or as a friend?" asked Villefort. + +"As a friend, and only as a friend, at this moment. The similarity in +the symptoms of tetanus and poisoning by vegetable substances is so +great, that were I obliged to affirm by oath what I have now stated, I +should hesitate; I therefore repeat to you, I speak not to a magistrate, +but to a friend. And to that friend I say. 'During the three-quarters of +an hour that the struggle continued, I watched the convulsions and the +death of Madame de Saint-Meran, and am thoroughly convinced that not +only did her death proceed from poison, but I could also specify the +poison.'" + +"Can it be possible?" + +"The symptoms are marked, do you see?--sleep broken by nervous spasms, +excitation of the brain, torpor of the nerve centres. Madame de +Saint-Meran succumbed to a powerful dose of brucine or of strychnine, +which by some mistake, perhaps, has been given to her." Villefort seized +the doctor's hand. "Oh, it is impossible," said he, "I must be dreaming! +It is frightful to hear such things from such a man as you! Tell me, I +entreat you, my dear doctor, that you may be deceived." + +"Doubtless I may, but"-- + +"But?" + +"But I do not think so." + +"Have pity on me doctor! So many dreadful things have happened to me +lately that I am on the verge of madness." + +"Has any one besides me seen Madame de Saint-Meran?" + +"No." + +"Has anything been sent for from a chemist's that I have not examined?" + +"Nothing." + +"Had Madame de Saint-Meran any enemies?" + +"Not to my knowledge." + +"Would her death affect any one's interest?" + +"It could not indeed, my daughter is her only heiress--Valentine alone. +Oh, if such a thought could present itself, I would stab myself to +punish my heart for having for one instant harbored it." + +"Indeed, my dear friend," said M. d'Avrigny, "I would not accuse any +one; I speak only of an accident, you understand,--of a mistake,--but +whether accident or mistake, the fact is there; it is on my conscience +and compels me to speak aloud to you. Make inquiry." + +"Of whom?--how?--of what?" + +"May not Barrois, the old servant, have made a mistake, and have given +Madame de Saint-Meran a dose prepared for his master?" + +"For my father?" + +"Yes." + +"But how could a dose prepared for M. Noirtier poison Madame de +Saint-Meran?" + +"Nothing is more simple. You know poisons become remedies in certain +diseases, of which paralysis is one. For instance, having tried every +other remedy to restore movement and speech to M. Noirtier, I resolved +to try one last means, and for three months I have been giving him +brucine; so that in the last dose I ordered for him there were six +grains. This quantity, which is perfectly safe to administer to the +paralyzed frame of M. Noirtier, which has become gradually accustomed to +it, would be sufficient to kill another person." + +"My dear doctor, there is no communication between M. Noirtier's +apartment and that of Madame de Saint-Meran, and Barrois never entered +my mother-in-law's room. In short, doctor although I know you to be the +most conscientious man in the world, and although I place the utmost +reliance in you, I want, notwithstanding my conviction, to believe this +axiom, errare humanum est." + +"Is there one of my brethren in whom you have equal confidence with +myself?" + +"Why do you ask me that?--what do you wish?" + +"Send for him; I will tell him what I have seen, and we will consult +together, and examine the body." + +"And you will find traces of poison?" + +"No, I did not say of poison, but we can prove what was the state of the +body; we shall discover the cause of her sudden death, and we shall say, +'Dear Villefort, if this thing has been caused by negligence, watch over +your servants; if from hatred, watch your enemies.'" + +"What do you propose to me, d'Avrigny?" said Villefort in despair; "so +soon as another is admitted into our secret, an inquest will become +necessary; and an inquest in my house--impossible! Still," continued the +procureur, looking at the doctor with uneasiness, "if you wish it--if +you demand it, why then it shall be done. But, doctor, you see me +already so grieved--how can I introduce into my house so much scandal, +after so much sorrow? My wife and my daughter would die of it! And I, +doctor--you know a man does not arrive at the post I occupy--one has +not been king's attorney twenty-five years without having amassed a +tolerable number of enemies; mine are numerous. Let this affair be +talked of, it will be a triumph for them, which will make them rejoice, +and cover me with shame. Pardon me, doctor, these worldly ideas; were +you a priest I should not dare tell you that, but you are a man, and +you know mankind. Doctor, pray recall your words; you have said nothing, +have you?" + +"My dear M. de Villefort," replied the doctor, "my first duty is to +humanity. I would have saved Madame de Saint-Meran, if science could +have done it; but she is dead and my duty regards the living. Let us +bury this terrible secret in the deepest recesses of our hearts; I am +willing, if any one should suspect this, that my silence on the subject +should be imputed to my ignorance. Meanwhile, sir, watch always--watch +carefully, for perhaps the evil may not stop here. And when you have +found the culprit, if you find him, I will say to you, 'You are a +magistrate, do as you will!'" + +"I thank you, doctor," said Villefort with indescribable joy; "I never +had a better friend than you." And, as if he feared Doctor d'Avrigny +would recall his promise, he hurried him towards the house. + +When they were gone, Morrel ventured out from under the trees, and the +moon shone upon his face, which was so pale it might have been taken +for that of a ghost. "I am manifestly protected in a most wonderful, but +most terrible manner," said he; "but Valentine, poor girl, how will she +bear so much sorrow?" + +As he thought thus, he looked alternately at the window with red +curtains and the three windows with white curtains. The light had almost +disappeared from the former; doubtless Madame de Villefort had just put +out her lamp, and the nightlamp alone reflected its dull light on the +window. At the extremity of the building, on the contrary, he saw one +of the three windows open. A wax-light placed on the mantle-piece threw +some of its pale rays without, and a shadow was seen for one moment on +the balcony. Morrel shuddered; he thought he heard a sob. + +It cannot be wondered at that his mind, generally so courageous, but +now disturbed by the two strongest human passions, love and fear, was +weakened even to the indulgence of superstitious thoughts. Although +it was impossible that Valentine should see him, hidden as he was, he +thought he heard the shadow at the window call him; his disturbed mind +told him so. This double error became an irresistible reality, and by +one of the incomprehensible transports of youth, he bounded from his +hiding-place, and with two strides, at the risk of being seen, at the +risk of alarming Valentine, at the risk of being discovered by +some exclamation which might escape the young girl, he crossed the +flower-garden, which by the light of the moon resembled a large white +lake, and having passed the rows of orange-trees which extended in front +of the house, he reached the step, ran quickly up and pushed the door, +which opened without offering any resistance. Valentine had not seen +him. Her eyes, raised towards heaven, were watching a silvery cloud +gliding over the azure, its form that of a shadow mounting towards +heaven. Her poetic and excited mind pictured it as the soul of her +grandmother. + +Meanwhile, Morrel had traversed the anteroom and found the staircase, +which, being carpeted, prevented his approach being heard, and he had +regained that degree of confidence that the presence of M. de Villefort +even would not have alarmed him. He was quite prepared for any such +encounter. He would at once approach Valentine's father and acknowledge +all, begging Villefort to pardon and sanction the love which united two +fond and loving hearts. Morrel was mad. Happily he did not meet any one. +Now, especially, did he find the description Valentine had given of the +interior of the house useful to him; he arrived safely at the top of +the staircase, and while he was feeling his way, a sob indicated the +direction he was to take. He turned back, a door partly open enabled him +to see his road, and to hear the voice of one in sorrow. He pushed the +door open and entered. At the other end of the room, under a white sheet +which covered it, lay the corpse, still more alarming to Morrel since +the account he had so unexpectedly overheard. By its side, on her knees, +and with her head buried in the cushion of an easy-chair, was Valentine, +trembling and sobbing, her hands extended above her head, clasped and +stiff. She had turned from the window, which remained open, and was +praying in accents that would have affected the most unfeeling; her +words were rapid, incoherent, unintelligible, for the burning weight of +grief almost stopped her utterance. The moon shining through the open +blinds made the lamp appear to burn paler, and cast a sepulchral hue +over the whole scene. Morrel could not resist this; he was not exemplary +for piety, he was not easily impressed, but Valentine suffering, +weeping, wringing her hands before him, was more than he could bear in +silence. He sighed, and whispered a name, and the head bathed in tears +and pressed on the velvet cushion of the chair--a head like that of +a Magdalen by Correggio--was raised and turned towards him. Valentine +perceived him without betraying the least surprise. A heart overwhelmed +with one great grief is insensible to minor emotions. Morrel held out +his hand to her. Valentine, as her only apology for not having met him, +pointed to the corpse under the sheet, and began to sob again. Neither +dared for some time to speak in that room. They hesitated to break the +silence which death seemed to impose; at length Valentine ventured. + +"My friend," said she, "how came you here? Alas, I would say you are +welcome, had not death opened the way for you into this house." + +"Valentine," said Morrel with a trembling voice, "I had waited since +half-past eight, and did not see you come; I became uneasy, leaped the +wall, found my way through the garden, when voices conversing about the +fatal event"-- + +"What voices?" asked Valentine. Morrel shuddered as he thought of the +conversation of the doctor and M. de Villefort, and he thought he could +see through the sheet the extended hands, the stiff neck, and the purple +lips. + +"Your servants," said he, "who were repeating the whole of the sorrowful +story; from them I learned it all." + +"But it was risking the failure of our plan to come up here, love." + +"Forgive me," replied Morrel; "I will go away." + +"No," said Valentine, "you might meet some one; stay." + +"But if any one should come here"-- + +The young girl shook her head. "No one will come," said she; "do not +fear, there is our safeguard," pointing to the bed. + +"But what has become of M. d'Epinay?" replied Morrel. + +"M. Franz arrived to sign the contract just as my dear grandmother was +dying." + +"Alas," said Morrel with a feeling of selfish joy; for he thought this +death would cause the wedding to be postponed indefinitely. "But what +redoubles my sorrow," continued the young girl, as if this feeling was +to receive its immediate punishment, "is that the poor old lady, on +her death-bed, requested that the marriage might take place as soon as +possible; she also, thinking to protect me, was acting against me." + +"Hark!" said Morrel. They both listened; steps were distinctly heard in +the corridor and on the stairs. + +"It is my father, who has just left his study." + +"To accompany the doctor to the door," added Morrel. + +"How do you know it is the doctor?" asked Valentine, astonished. + +"I imagined it must be," said Morrel. Valentine looked at the young man; +they heard the street door close, then M. de Villefort locked the garden +door, and returned up-stairs. He stopped a moment in the anteroom, as +if hesitating whether to turn to his own apartment or into Madame +de Saint-Meran's; Morrel concealed himself behind a door; Valentine +remained motionless, grief seeming to deprive her of all fear. M. de +Villefort passed on to his own room. "Now," said Valentine, "you can +neither go out by the front door nor by the garden." Morrel looked at +her with astonishment. "There is but one way left you that is safe," +said she; "it is through my grandfather's room." She rose, "Come," she +added.--"Where?" asked Maximilian. + +"To my grandfather's room." + +"I in M. Noirtier's apartment?" + +"Yes." + +"Can you mean it, Valentine?" + +"I have long wished it; he is my only remaining friend and we both need +his help,--come." + +"Be careful, Valentine," said Morrel, hesitating to comply with the +young girl's wishes; "I now see my error--I acted like a madman in +coming in here. Are you sure you are more reasonable?" + +"Yes," said Valentine; "and I have but one scruple,--that of leaving my +dear grandmother's remains, which I had undertaken to watch." + +"Valentine," said Morrel, "death is in itself sacred." + +"Yes," said Valentine; "besides, it will not be for long." She then +crossed the corridor, and led the way down a narrow staircase to M. +Noirtier's room; Morrel followed her on tiptoe; at the door they found +the old servant. "Barrois," said Valentine, "shut the door, and let +no one come in." She passed first. Noirtier, seated in his chair, and +listening to every sound, was watching the door; he saw Valentine, and +his eye brightened. There was something grave and solemn in the approach +of the young girl which struck the old man, and immediately his bright +eye began to interrogate. "Dear grandfather." said she hurriedly, "you +know poor grandmamma died an hour since, and now I have no friend in the +world but you." His expressive eyes evinced the greatest tenderness. "To +you alone, then, may I confide my sorrows and my hopes?" The paralytic +motioned "Yes." Valentine took Maximilian's hand. "Look attentively, +then, at this gentleman." The old man fixed his scrutinizing gaze with +slight astonishment on Morrel. "It is M. Maximilian Morrel," said +she; "the son of that good merchant of Marseilles, whom you doubtless +recollect." + +"Yes," said the old man. "He brings an irreproachable name, which +Maximilian is likely to render glorious, since at thirty years of age he +is a captain, an officer of the Legion of Honor." The old man signified +that he recollected him. "Well, grandpapa," said Valentine, kneeling +before him, and pointing to Maximilian, "I love him, and will be only +his; were I compelled to marry another, I would destroy myself." + +The eyes of the paralytic expressed a multitude of tumultuous thoughts. +"You like M. Maximilian Morrel, do you not, grandpapa?" asked Valentine. + +"Yes." + +"And you will protect us, who are your children, against the will of my +father?"--Noirtier cast an intelligent glance at Morrel, as if to say, +"perhaps I may." Maximilian understood him. + +"Mademoiselle," said he, "you have a sacred duty to fulfil in your +deceased grandmother's room, will you allow me the honor of a few +minutes' conversation with M. Noirtier?" + +"That is it," said the old man's eye. Then he looked anxiously at +Valentine. + +"Do you fear he will not understand?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, we have so often spoken of you, that he knows exactly how I talk +to you." Then turning to Maximilian, with an adorable smile; although +shaded by sorrow,--"He knows everything I know," said she. + +Valentine arose, placed a chair for Morrel, requested Barrois not +to admit any one, and having tenderly embraced her grandfather, and +sorrowfully taken leave of Morrel, she went away. To prove to Noirtier +that he was in Valentine's confidence and knew all their secrets, Morrel +took the dictionary, a pen, and some paper, and placed them all on a +table where there was a light. + +"But first," said Morrel, "allow me, sir, to tell you who I am, how much +I love Mademoiselle Valentine, and what are my designs respecting her." +Noirtier made a sign that he would listen. + +It was an imposing sight to witness this old man, apparently a mere +useless burden, becoming the sole protector, support, and adviser of the +lovers who were both young, beautiful, and strong. His remarkably +noble and austere expression struck Morrel, who began his story with +trembling. He related the manner in which he had become acquainted with +Valentine, and how he had loved her, and that Valentine, in her solitude +and her misfortune, had accepted the offer of his devotion. He told +him his birth, his position, his fortune, and more than once, when he +consulted the look of the paralytic, that look answered, "That is good, +proceed." + +"And now," said Morrel, when he had finished the first part of his +recital, "now I have told you of my love and my hopes, may I inform you +of my intentions?" + +"Yes," signified the old man. + +"This was our resolution; a cabriolet was in waiting at the gate, in +which I intended to carry off Valentine to my sister's house, to marry +her, and to wait respectfully M. de Villefort's pardon." + +"No," said Noirtier. + +"We must not do so?" + +"No." + +"You do not sanction our project?" + +"No." + +"There is another way," said Morrel. The old man's interrogative eye +said, "What?" + +"I will go," continued Maximilian, "I will seek M. Franz d'Epinay--I +am happy to be able to mention this in Mademoiselle de Villefort's +absence--and will conduct myself toward him so as to compel him to +challenge me." Noirtier's look continued to interrogate. "You wish to +know what I will do?" + +"Yes." + +"I will find him, as I told you. I will tell him the ties which bind me +to Mademoiselle Valentine; if he be a sensible man, he will prove it by +renouncing of his own accord the hand of his betrothed, and will secure +my friendship, and love until death; if he refuse, either through +interest or ridiculous pride, after I have proved to him that he would +be forcing my wife from me, that Valentine loves me, and will have no +other, I will fight with him, give him every advantage, and I shall +kill him, or he will kill me; if I am victorious, he will not marry +Valentine, and if I die, I am very sure Valentine will not marry him." +Noirtier watched, with indescribable pleasure, this noble and sincere +countenance, on which every sentiment his tongue uttered was depicted, +adding by the expression of his fine features all that coloring adds to +a sound and faithful drawing. Still, when Morrel had finished, he shut +his eyes several times, which was his manner of saying "No." + +"No?" said Morrel; "you disapprove of this second project, as you did of +the first?" + +"I do," signified the old man. + +"But what then must be done?" asked Morrel. "Madame de Saint-Meran's +last request was, that the marriage might not be delayed; must I let +things take their course?" Noirtier did not move. "I understand," said +Morrel; "I am to wait." + +"Yes." + +"But delay may ruin our plan, sir," replied the young man. "Alone, +Valentine has no power; she will be compelled to submit. I am here +almost miraculously, and can scarcely hope for so good an opportunity to +occur again. Believe me, there are only the two plans I have proposed to +you; forgive my vanity, and tell me which you prefer. Do you authorize +Mademoiselle Valentine to intrust herself to my honor?" + +"No." + +"Do you prefer I should seek M. d'Epinay?" + +"No." + +"Whence then will come the help we need--from chance?" resumed Morrel. + +"No." + +"From you?" + +"Yes." + +"You thoroughly understand me, sir? Pardon my eagerness, for my life +depends on your answer. Will our help come from you?" + +"Yes." + +"You are sure of it?" + +"Yes." There was so much firmness in the look which gave this answer, +no one could, at any rate, doubt his will, if they did his power. "Oh, +thank you a thousand times! But how, unless a miracle should restore +your speech, your gesture, your movement, how can you, chained to that +arm-chair, dumb and motionless, oppose this marriage?" A smile lit up +the old man's face, a strange smile of the eyes in a paralyzed face. +"Then I must wait?" asked the young man. + +"Yes." + +"But the contract?" The same smile returned. "Will you assure me it +shall not be signed?" + +"Yes," said Noirtier. + +"The contract shall not be signed!" cried Morrel. "Oh, pardon me, sir; I +can scarcely realize so great a happiness. Will they not sign it?" + +"No," said the paralytic. Notwithstanding that assurance, Morrel still +hesitated. This promise of an impotent old man was so strange that, +instead of being the result of the power of his will, it might emanate +from enfeebled organs. Is it not natural that the madman, ignorant of +his folly, should attempt things beyond his power? The weak man talks of +burdens he can raise, the timid of giants he can confront, the poor +of treasures he spends, the most humble peasant, in the height of his +pride, calls himself Jupiter. Whether Noirtier understood the young +man's indecision, or whether he had not full confidence in his docility, +he looked uneasily at him. "What do you wish, sir?" asked Morrel; +"that I should renew my promise of remaining tranquil?" Noirtier's eye +remained fixed and firm, as if to imply that a promise did not suffice; +then it passed from his face to his hands. + +"Shall I swear to you, sir?" asked Maximilian. + +"Yes," said the paralytic with the same solemnity. Morrel understood +that the old man attached great importance to an oath. He extended his +hand. + +"I swear to you, on my honor," said he, "to await your decision +respecting the course I am to pursue with M. d'Epinay." + +"That is right," said the old man. + +"Now," said Morrel, "do you wish me to retire?" + +"Yes." + +"Without seeing Mademoiselle Valentine?" + +"Yes." + +Morrel made a sign that he was ready to obey. "But," said he, "first +allow me to embrace you as your daughter did just now." Noirtier's +expression could not be understood. The young man pressed his lips on +the same spot, on the old man's forehead, where Valentine's had been. +Then he bowed a second time and retired. He found outside the door +the old servant, to whom Valentine had given directions. Morrel was +conducted along a dark passage, which led to a little door opening +on the garden, soon found the spot where he had entered, with the +assistance of the shrubs gained the top of the wall, and by his ladder +was in an instant in the clover-field where his cabriolet was still +waiting for him. He got in it, and thoroughly wearied by so many +emotions, arrived about midnight in the Rue Meslay, threw himself on his +bed and slept soundly. + + + +Chapter 74. The Villefort Family Vault. + +Two days after, a considerable crowd was assembled, towards ten o'clock +in the morning, around the door of M. de Villefort's house, and a +long file of mourning-coaches and private carriages extended along the +Faubourg Saint-Honore and the Rue de la Pepiniere. Among them was one +of a very singular form, which appeared to have come from a distance. It +was a kind of covered wagon, painted black, and was one of the first +to arrive. Inquiry was made, and it was ascertained that, by a strange +coincidence, this carriage contained the corpse of the Marquis de +Saint-Meran, and that those who had come thinking to attend one funeral +would follow two. Their number was great. The Marquis de Saint-Meran, +one of the most zealous and faithful dignitaries of Louis XVIII. and +King Charles X., had preserved a great number of friends, and these, +added to the personages whom the usages of society gave Villefort a +claim on, formed a considerable body. + +Due information was given to the authorities, and permission obtained +that the two funerals should take place at the same time. A second +hearse, decked with the same funereal pomp, was brought to M. de +Villefort's door, and the coffin removed into it from the post-wagon. +The two bodies were to be interred in the cemetery of Pere-la-Chaise, +where M. de Villefort had long since had a tomb prepared for the +reception of his family. The remains of poor Renee were already +deposited there, and now, after ten years of separation, her father +and mother were to be reunited with her. The Parisians, always curious, +always affected by funereal display, looked on with religious silence +while the splendid procession accompanied to their last abode two of the +number of the old aristocracy--the greatest protectors of commerce and +sincere devotees to their principles. In one of the mourning-coaches +Beauchamp, Debray, and Chateau-Renaud were talking of the very sudden +death of the marchioness. "I saw Madame de Saint-Meran only last year at +Marseilles, when I was coming back from Algiers," said Chateau-Renaud; +"she looked like a woman destined to live to be a hundred years old, +from her apparent sound health and great activity of mind and body. How +old was she?" + +"Franz assured me," replied Albert, "that she was sixty-six years old. +But she has not died of old age, but of grief; it appears that since +the death of the marquis, which affected her very deeply, she has not +completely recovered her reason." + +"But of what disease, then, did she die?" asked Debray. + +"It is said to have been a congestion of the brain, or apoplexy, which +is the same thing, is it not?" + +"Nearly." + +"It is difficult to believe that it was apoplexy," said Beauchamp. +"Madame de Saint-Meran, whom I once saw, was short, of slender form, +and of a much more nervous than sanguine temperament; grief could +hardly produce apoplexy in such a constitution as that of Madame de +Saint-Meran." + +"At any rate," said Albert, "whatever disease or doctor may have killed +her, M. de Villefort, or rather, Mademoiselle Valentine,--or, still +rather, our friend Franz, inherits a magnificent fortune, amounting, I +believe, to 80,000 livres per annum." + +"And this fortune will be doubled at the death of the old Jacobin, +Noirtier." + +"That is a tenacious old grandfather," said Beauchamp. "Tenacem +propositi virum. I think he must have made an agreement with death to +outlive all his heirs, and he appears likely to succeed. He resembles +the old Conventionalist of '93, who said to Napoleon, in 1814, 'You bend +because your empire is a young stem, weakened by rapid growth. Take +the Republic for a tutor; let us return with renewed strength to the +battle-field, and I promise you 500,000 soldiers, another Marengo, and +a second Austerlitz. Ideas do not become extinct, sire; they slumber +sometimes, but only revive the stronger before they sleep entirely.' +Ideas and men appeared the same to him. One thing only puzzles me, +namely, how Franz d'Epinay will like a grandfather who cannot be +separated from his wife. But where is Franz?" + +"In the first carriage, with M. de Villefort, who considers him already +as one of the family." + +Such was the conversation in almost all the carriages; these two sudden +deaths, so quickly following each other, astonished every one, but no +one suspected the terrible secret which M. d'Avrigny had communicated, +in his nocturnal walk to M. de Villefort. They arrived in about an hour +at the cemetery; the weather was mild, but dull, and in harmony with +the funeral ceremony. Among the groups which flocked towards the +family vault, Chateau-Renaud recognized Morrel, who had come alone in a +cabriolet, and walked silently along the path bordered with yew-trees. +"You here?" said Chateau-Renaud, passing his arms through the young +captain's; "are you a friend of Villefort's? How is it that I have never +met you at his house?" + +"I am no acquaintance of M. de Villefort's." answered Morrel, "but I was +of Madame de Saint-Meran." Albert came up to them at this moment with +Franz. + +"The time and place are but ill-suited for an introduction." said +Albert; "but we are not superstitious. M. Morrel, allow me to present +to you M. Franz d'Epinay, a delightful travelling companion, with whom +I made the tour of Italy. My dear Franz, M. Maximilian Morrel, an +excellent friend I have acquired in your absence, and whose name you +will hear me mention every time I make any allusion to affection, wit, +or amiability." Morrel hesitated for a moment; he feared it would be +hypocritical to accost in a friendly manner the man whom he was tacitly +opposing, but his oath and the gravity of the circumstances recurred +to his memory; he struggled to conceal his emotion and bowed to Franz. +"Mademoiselle de Villefort is in deep sorrow, is she not?" said Debray +to Franz. + +"Extremely," replied he; "she looked so pale this morning, I scarcely +knew her." These apparently simple words pierced Morrel to the +heart. This man had seen Valentine, and spoken to her! The young and +high-spirited officer required all his strength of mind to resist +breaking his oath. He took the arm of Chateau-Renaud, and turned towards +the vault, where the attendants had already placed the two coffins. +"This is a magnificent habitation," said Beauchamp, looking towards the +mausoleum; "a summer and winter palace. You will, in turn, enter it, my +dear d'Epinay, for you will soon be numbered as one of the family. I, as +a philosopher, should like a little country-house, a cottage down there +under the trees, without so many free-stones over my poor body. In +dying, I will say to those around me what Voltaire wrote to Piron: 'Eo +rus, and all will be over.' But come, Franz, take courage, your wife is +an heiress." + +"Indeed, Beauchamp, you are unbearable. Politics has made you laugh at +everything, and political men have made you disbelieve everything. +But when you have the honor of associating with ordinary men, and the +pleasure of leaving politics for a moment, try to find your affectionate +heart, which you leave with your stick when you go to the Chamber." + +"But tell me," said Beauchamp, "what is life? Is it not a hall in +Death's anteroom?" + +"I am prejudiced against Beauchamp," said Albert, drawing Franz away, +and leaving the former to finish his philosophical dissertation with +Debray. The Villefort vault formed a square of white stones, about +twenty feet high; an interior partition separated the two families, and +each apartment had its entrance door. Here were not, as in other tombs, +ignoble drawers, one above another, where thrift bestows its dead and +labels them like specimens in a museum; all that was visible within the +bronze gates was a gloomy-looking room, separated by a wall from the +vault itself. The two doors before mentioned were in the middle of this +wall, and enclosed the Villefort and Saint-Meran coffins. There grief +might freely expend itself without being disturbed by the trifling +loungers who came from a picnic party to visit Pere-la-Chaise, or by +lovers who make it their rendezvous. + +The two coffins were placed on trestles previously prepared for their +reception in the right-hand crypt belonging to the Saint-Meran family. +Villefort, Franz, and a few near relatives alone entered the sanctuary. + +As the religious ceremonies had all been performed at the door, and +there was no address given, the party all separated; Chateau-Renaud, +Albert, and Morrel, went one way, and Debray and Beauchamp the other. +Franz remained with M. de Villefort; at the gate of the cemetery, Morrel +made an excuse to wait; he saw Franz and M. de Villefort get into the +same mourning coach, and thought this meeting forboded evil. He then +returned to Paris, and although in the same carriage with Chateau-Renaud +and Albert, he did not hear one word of their conversation. As Franz was +about to take leave of M. de Villefort, "When shall I see you again?" +said the latter. + +"At what time you please, sir," replied Franz. + +"As soon as possible." + +"I am at your command, sir; shall we return together?" + +"If not unpleasant to you." + +"On the contrary, I shall feel much pleasure." Thus, the future father +and son-in-law stepped into the same carriage, and Morrel, seeing +them pass, became uneasy. Villefort and Franz returned to the Faubourg +Saint-Honore. The procureur, without going to see either his wife or +his daughter, went at once to his study, and, offering the young man +a chair,--"M. d'Epinay," said he, "allow me to remind you at this +moment,--which is perhaps not so ill-chosen as at first sight may +appear, for obedience to the wishes of the departed is the first +offering which should be made at their tomb,--allow me then to remind +you of the wish expressed by Madame de Saint-Meran on her death-bed, +that Valentine's wedding might not be deferred. You know the affairs of +the deceased are in perfect order, and her will bequeaths to Valentine +the entire property of the Saint-Meran family; the notary showed me +the documents yesterday, which will enable us to draw up the contract +immediately. You may call on the notary, M. Deschamps, Place Beauveau, +Faubourg Saint-Honore, and you have my authority to inspect those +deeds." + +"Sir," replied M. d'Epinay, "it is not, perhaps, the moment for +Mademoiselle Valentine, who is in deep distress, to think of a husband; +indeed, I fear"-- + +"Valentine will have no greater pleasure than that of fulfilling her +grandmother's last injunctions; there will be no obstacle from that +quarter, I assure you." + +"In that case," replied Franz, "as I shall raise none, you may make +arrangements when you please; I have pledged my word, and shall feel +pleasure and happiness in adhering to it." + +"Then," said Villefort, "nothing further is required. The contract was +to have been signed three days since; we shall find it all ready, and +can sign it to-day." + +"But the mourning?" said Franz, hesitating. + +"Don't be uneasy on that score," replied Villefort; "no ceremony will be +neglected in my house. Mademoiselle de Villefort may retire during the +prescribed three months to her estate of Saint-Meran; I say hers, for +she inherits it to-day. There, after a few days, if you like, the +civil marriage shall be celebrated without pomp or ceremony. Madame de +Saint-Meran wished her daughter should be married there. When that is +over, you, sir, can return to Paris, while your wife passes the time of +her mourning with her mother-in-law." + +"As you please, sir," said Franz. + +"Then," replied M. de Villefort, "have the kindness to wait half an +hour; Valentine shall come down into the drawing-room. I will send for +M. Deschamps; we will read and sign the contract before we separate, +and this evening Madame de Villefort shall accompany Valentine to her +estate, where we will rejoin them in a week." + +"Sir," said Franz, "I have one request to make." + +"What is it?" + +"I wish Albert de Morcerf and Raoul de Chateau-Renaud to be present at +this signature; you know they are my witnesses." + +"Half an hour will suffice to apprise them; will you go for them +yourself, or shall you send?" + +"I prefer going, sir." + +"I shall expect you, then, in half an hour, baron, and Valentine will +be ready." Franz bowed and left the room. Scarcely had the door +closed, when M. de Villefort sent to tell Valentine to be ready in the +drawing-room in half an hour, as he expected the notary and M. d'Epinay +and his witnesses. The news caused a great sensation throughout the +house; Madame de Villefort would not believe it, and Valentine was +thunderstruck. She looked around for help, and would have gone down to +her grandfather's room, but on the stairs she met M. de Villefort, +who took her arm and led her into the drawing-room. In the anteroom, +Valentine met Barrois, and looked despairingly at the old servant. A +moment later, Madame de Villefort entered the drawing-room with her +little Edward. It was evident that she had shared the grief of the +family, for she was pale and looked fatigued. She sat down, took Edward +on her knees, and from time to time pressed this child, on whom her +affections appeared centred, almost convulsively to her bosom. Two +carriages were soon heard to enter the court yard. One was the notary's; +the other, that of Franz and his friends. In a moment the whole party +was assembled. Valentine was so pale one might trace the blue veins +from her temples, round her eyes and down her cheeks. Franz was deeply +affected. Chateau-Renaud and Albert looked at each other with amazement; +the ceremony which was just concluded had not appeared more sorrowful +than did that which was about to begin. Madame de Villefort had placed +herself in the shadow behind a velvet curtain, and as she constantly +bent over her child, it was difficult to read the expression of her +face. M. de Villefort was, as usual, unmoved. + +The notary, after having according to the customary method arranged +the papers on the table, taken his place in an armchair, and raised his +spectacles, turned towards Franz: + +"Are you M. Franz de Quesnel, baron d'Epinay?" asked he, although he +knew it perfectly. + +"Yes, sir," replied Franz. The notary bowed. "I have, then, to inform +you, sir, at the request of M. de Villefort, that your projected +marriage with Mademoiselle de Villefort has changed the feeling of M. +Noirtier towards his grandchild, and that he disinherits her entirely of +the fortune he would have left her. Let me hasten to add," continued +he, "that the testator, having only the right to alienate a part of his +fortune, and having alienated it all, the will will not bear scrutiny, +and is declared null and void." + +"Yes." said Villefort; "but I warn M. d'Epinay, that during my life-time +my father's will shall never be questioned, my position forbidding any +doubt to be entertained." + +"Sir," said Franz, "I regret much that such a question has been raised +in the presence of Mademoiselle Valentine; I have never inquired the +amount of her fortune, which, however limited it may be, exceeds +mine. My family has sought consideration in this alliance with M. de +Villefort; all I seek is happiness." Valentine imperceptibly thanked +him, while two silent tears rolled down her cheeks. "Besides, sir," said +Villefort, addressing himself to his future son-in-law, "excepting +the loss of a portion of your hopes, this unexpected will need not +personally wound you; M. Noirtier's weakness of mind sufficiently +explains it. It is not because Mademoiselle Valentine is going to marry +you that he is angry, but because she will marry, a union with any other +would have caused him the same sorrow. Old age is selfish, sir, and +Mademoiselle de Villefort has been a faithful companion to M. Noirtier, +which she cannot be when she becomes the Baroness d'Epinay. My father's +melancholy state prevents our speaking to him on any subjects, which the +weakness of his mind would incapacitate him from understanding, and I +am perfectly convinced that at the present time, although, he knows that +his granddaughter is going to be married, M. Noirtier has even forgotten +the name of his intended grandson." M. de Villefort had scarcely said +this, when the door opened, and Barrois appeared. + +"Gentlemen," said he, in a tone strangely firm for a servant speaking to +his masters under such solemn circumstances,--"gentlemen, M. Noirtier +de Villefort wishes to speak immediately to M. Franz de Quesnel, baron +d'Epinay;" he, as well as the notary, that there might be no mistake in +the person, gave all his titles to the bride-groom elect. + +Villefort started, Madame de Villefort let her son slip from her knees, +Valentine rose, pale and dumb as a statue. Albert and Chateau-Renaud +exchanged a second look, more full of amazement than the first. The +notary looked at Villefort. "It is impossible," said the procureur. "M. +d'Epinay cannot leave the drawing-room at present." + +"It is at this moment," replied Barrois with the same firmness, "that M. +Noirtier, my master, wishes to speak on important subjects to M. Franz +d'Epinay." + +"Grandpapa Noirtier can speak now, then," said Edward, with his habitual +quickness. However, his remark did not make Madame de Villefort even +smile, so much was every mind engaged, and so solemn was the situation. +Astonishment was at its height. Something like a smile was perceptible +on Madame de Villefort's countenance. Valentine instinctively raised her +eyes, as if to thank heaven. + +"Pray go, Valentine," said; M. de Villefort, "and see what this new +fancy of your grandfather's is." Valentine rose quickly, and was +hastening joyfully towards the door, when M. de Villefort altered his +intention. + +"Stop," said he; "I will go with you." + +"Excuse me, sir," said Franz, "since M. Noirtier sent for me, I am ready +to attend to his wish; besides, I shall be happy to pay my respects to +him, not having yet had the honor of doing so." + +"Pray, sir," said Villefort with marked uneasiness, "do not disturb +yourself." + +"Forgive me, sir," said Franz in a resolute tone. "I would not lose this +opportunity of proving to M. Noirtier how wrong it would be of him to +encourage feelings of dislike to me, which I am determined to conquer, +whatever they may be, by my devotion." And without listening to +Villefort he arose, and followed Valentine, who was running down-stairs +with the joy of a shipwrecked mariner who finds a rock to cling to. M. +de Villefort followed them. Chateau-Renaud and Morcerf exchanged a third +look of still increasing wonder. + + + +Chapter 75. A Signed Statement. + +Noirtier was prepared to receive them, dressed in black, and installed +in his arm-chair. When the three persons he expected had entered, he +looked at the door, which his valet immediately closed. + +"Listen," whispered Villefort to Valentine, who could not conceal her +joy; "if M. Noirtier wishes to communicate anything which would delay +your marriage, I forbid you to understand him." Valentine blushed, +but did not answer. Villefort, approaching Noirtier--"Here is M. Franz +d'Epinay," said he; "you requested to see him. We have all wished for +this interview, and I trust it will convince you how ill-formed are your +objections to Valentine's marriage." + +Noirtier answered only by a look which made Villefort's blood run cold. +He motioned to Valentine to approach. In a moment, thanks to her habit +of conversing with her grandfather, she understood that he asked for a +key. Then his eye was fixed on the drawer of a small chest between the +windows. She opened the drawer, and found a key; and, understanding that +was what he wanted, again watched his eyes, which turned toward an old +secretary which had been neglected for many years and was supposed to +contain nothing but useless documents. "Shall I open the secretary?" +asked Valentine. + +"Yes," said the old man. + +"And the drawers?" + +"Yes." + +"Those at the side?" + +"No." + +"The middle one?" + +"Yes." Valentine opened it and drew out a bundle of papers. "Is that +what you wish for?" asked she. + +"No." + +She took successively all the other papers out till the drawer was +empty. "But there are no more," said she. Noirtier's eye was fixed on +the dictionary. "Yes, I understand, grandfather," said the young girl. + +He pointed to each letter of the alphabet. At the letter S the old man +stopped her. She opened, and found the word "secret." + +"Ah, is there a secret spring?" said Valentine. + +"Yes," said Noirtier. + +"And who knows it?" Noirtier looked at the door where the servant had +gone out. "Barrois?" said she. + +"Yes." + +"Shall I call him?" + +"Yes." + +Valentine went to the door, and called Barrois. Villefort's impatience +during this scene made the perspiration roll from his forehead, and +Franz was stupefied. The old servant came. "Barrois," said Valentine, +"my grandfather has told me to open that drawer in the secretary, but +there is a secret spring in it, which you know--will you open it?" + +Barrois looked at the old man. "Obey," said Noirtier's intelligent eye. +Barrois touched a spring, the false bottom came out, and they saw a +bundle of papers tied with a black string. + +"Is that what you wish for?" said Barrois. + +"Yes." + +"Shall I give these papers to M. de Villefort?" + +"No." + +"To Mademoiselle Valentine?" + +"No." + +"To M. Franz d'Epinay?" + +"Yes." + +Franz, astonished, advanced a step. "To me, sir?" said he. + +"Yes." Franz took them from Barrois and casting a glance at the cover, +read:-- + +"'To be given, after my death, to General Durand, who shall bequeath the +packet to his son, with an injunction to preserve it as containing an +important document.' + +"Well, sir," asked Franz, "what do you wish me to do with this paper?" + +"To preserve it, sealed up as it is, doubtless," said the procureur. + +"No," replied Noirtier eagerly. + +"Do you wish him to read it?" said Valentine. + +"Yes," replied the old man. "You understand, baron, my grandfather +wishes you to read this paper," said Valentine. + +"Then let us sit down," said Villefort impatiently, "for it will take +some time." + +"Sit down," said the old man. Villefort took a chair, but Valentine +remained standing by her father's side, and Franz before him, holding +the mysterious paper in his hand. "Read," said the old man. Franz untied +it, and in the midst of the most profound silence read: + +"'Extract from the Report of a meeting of the Bonapartist Club in the +Rue Saint-Jacques, held February 5th, 1815.'" + +Franz stopped. "February 5th, 1815!" said he; "it is the day my father +was murdered." Valentine and Villefort were dumb; the eye of the old man +alone seemed to say clearly, "Go on." + +"But it was on leaving this club," said he, "my father disappeared." +Noirtier's eye continued to say, "Read." He resumed:-- + +"'The undersigned Louis Jacques Beaurepaire, lieutenant-colonel of +artillery, Etienne Duchampy, general of brigade, and Claude Lecharpal, +keeper of woods and forests, Declare, that on the 4th of February, a +letter arrived from the Island of Elba, recommending to the kindness and +the confidence of the Bonapartist Club, General Flavien de Quesnel, who +having served the emperor from 1804. to 1814 was supposed to be devoted +to the interests of the Napoleon dynasty, notwithstanding the title +of baron which Louis XVIII. had just granted to him with his estate of +Epinay. + +"'A note was in consequence addressed to General de Quesnel, begging +him to be present at the meeting next day, the 5th. The note indicated +neither the street nor the number of the house where the meeting was to +be held; it bore no signature, but it announced to the general that +some one would call for him if he would be ready at nine o'clock. The +meetings were always held from that time till midnight. At nine o'clock +the president of the club presented himself; the general was ready, the +president informed him that one of the conditions of his introduction +was that he should be eternally ignorant of the place of meeting, and +that he would allow his eyes to be bandaged, swearing that he would +not endeavor to take off the bandage. General de Quesnel accepted the +condition, and promised on his honor not to seek to discover the road +they took. The general's carriage was ready, but the president told him +it was impossible for him to use it, since it was useless to blindfold +the master if the coachman knew through what streets he went. "What must +be done then?" asked the general.--"I have my carriage here," said the +president. + +"'"Have you, then, so much confidence in your servant that you can +intrust him with a secret you will not allow me to know?" + +"'"Our coachman is a member of the club," said the president; "we shall +be driven by a State-Councillor." + +"'"Then we run another risk," said the general, laughing, "that of being +upset." We insert this joke to prove that the general was not in the +least compelled to attend the meeting, but that he came willingly. When +they were seated in the carriage the president reminded the general +of his promise to allow his eyes to be bandaged, to which he made no +opposition. On the road the president thought he saw the general make an +attempt to remove the handkerchief, and reminded him of his oath. "Sure +enough," said the general. The carriage stopped at an alley leading out +of the Rue Saint-Jacques. The general alighted, leaning on the arm of +the president, of whose dignity he was not aware, considering him simply +as a member of the club; they went through the alley, mounted a flight +of stairs, and entered the assembly-room. + +"'The deliberations had already begun. The members, apprised of the +sort of presentation which was to be made that evening, were all in +attendance. When in the middle of the room the general was invited to +remove his bandage, he did so immediately, and was surprised to see so +many well-known faces in a society of whose existence he had till +then been ignorant. They questioned him as to his sentiments, but he +contented himself with answering, that the letters from the Island of +Elba ought to have informed them'"-- + +Franz interrupted himself by saying, "My father was a royalist; they +need not have asked his sentiments, which were well known." + +"And hence," said Villefort, "arose my affection for your father, my +dear M. Franz. Opinions held in common are a ready bond of union." + +"Read again," said the old man. Franz continued:-- + +"'The president then sought to make him speak more explicitly, but M. de +Quesnel replied that he wished first to know what they wanted with him. +He was then informed of the contents of the letter from the Island of +Elba, in which he was recommended to the club as a man who would be +likely to advance the interests of their party. One paragraph spoke of +the return of Bonaparte and promised another letter and further details, +on the arrival of the Pharaon belonging to the shipbuilder Morrel, of +Marseilles, whose captain was entirely devoted to the emperor. During +all this time, the general, on whom they thought to have relied as on a +brother, manifested evidently signs of discontent and repugnance. When +the reading was finished, he remained silent, with knitted brows. + +"'"Well," asked the president, "what do you say to this letter, +general?" + +"'"I say that it is too soon after declaring myself for Louis XVIII. to +break my vow in behalf of the ex-emperor." This answer was too clear +to permit of any mistake as to his sentiments. "General," said the +president, "we acknowledge no King Louis XVIII., or an ex-emperor, +but his majesty the emperor and king, driven from France, which is his +kingdom, by violence and treason." + +"'"Excuse me, gentlemen," said the general; "you may not acknowledge +Louis XVIII., but I do, as he has made me a baron and a field-marshal, +and I shall never forget that for these two titles I am indebted to his +happy return to France." + +"'"Sir," said the president, rising with gravity, "be careful what you +say; your words clearly show us that they are deceived concerning you +in the Island of Elba, and have deceived us! The communication has been +made to you in consequence of the confidence placed in you, and which +does you honor. Now we discover our error; a title and promotion attach +you to the government we wish to overturn. We will not constrain you to +help us; we enroll no one against his conscience, but we will compel you +to act generously, even if you are not disposed to do so." + +"'"You would call acting generously, knowing your conspiracy and +not informing against you, that is what I should call becoming your +accomplice. You see I am more candid than you."'" + +"Ah, my father!" said Franz, interrupting himself. "I understand now why +they murdered him." Valentine could not help casting one glance towards +the young man, whose filial enthusiasm it was delightful to behold. +Villefort walked to and fro behind them. Noirtier watched the expression +of each one, and preserved his dignified and commanding attitude. Franz +returned to the manuscript, and continued:-- + +"'"Sir," said the president, "you have been invited to join this +assembly--you were not forced here; it was proposed to you to come +blindfolded--you accepted. When you complied with this twofold request +you well knew we did not wish to secure the throne of Louis XVIII., or +we should not take so much care to avoid the vigilance of the police. It +would be conceding too much to allow you to put on a mask to aid you +in the discovery of our secret, and then to remove it that you may +ruin those who have confided in you. No, no, you must first say if +you declare yourself for the king of a day who now reigns, or for his +majesty the emperor." + +"'"I am a royalist," replied the general; "I have taken the oath of +allegiance to Louis XVIII., and I will adhere to it." These words were +followed by a general murmur, and it was evident that several of the +members were discussing the propriety of making the general repent of +his rashness. + +"'The president again arose, and having imposed silence, said,--"Sir, +you are too serious and too sensible a man not to understand the +consequences of our present situation, and your candor has already +dictated to us the conditions which remain for us to offer you." The +general, putting his hand on his sword, exclaimed,--"If you talk of +honor, do not begin by disavowing its laws, and impose nothing by +violence." + +"'"And you, sir," continued the president, with a calmness still more +terrible than the general's anger, "I advise you not to touch your +sword." The general looked around him with slight uneasiness; however +he did not yield, but calling up all his fortitude, said,--"I will not +swear." + +"'"Then you must die," replied the president calmly. M. d'Epinay became +very pale; he looked round him a second time, several members of the +club were whispering, and getting their arms from under their cloaks. +"General," said the president, "do not alarm yourself; you are among men +of honor who will use every means to convince you before resorting to +the last extremity, but as you have said, you are among conspirators, +you are in possession of our secret, and you must restore it to us." +A significant silence followed these words, and as the general did not +reply,--"Close the doors," said the president to the door-keeper. + +"'The same deadly silence succeeded these words. Then the general +advanced, and making a violent effort to control his feelings,--"I have +a son," said he, "and I ought to think of him, finding myself among +assassins." + +"'"General," said the chief of the assembly, "one man may insult +fifty--it is the privilege of weakness. But he does wrong to use his +privilege. Follow my advice, swear, and do not insult." The general, +again daunted by the superiority of the chief, hesitated a moment; then +advancing to the president's desk,--"What is the form, said he. + +"'"It is this:--'I swear by my honor not to reveal to any one what I +have seen and heard on the 5th of February, 1815, between nine and +ten o'clock in the evening; and I plead guilty of death should I ever +violate this oath.'" The general appeared to be affected by a nervous +tremor, which prevented his answering for some moments; then, overcoming +his manifest repugnance, he pronounced the required oath, but in so low +a tone as to be scarcely audible to the majority of the members, who +insisted on his repeating it clearly and distinctly, which he did. + +"'"Now am I at liberty to retire?" said the general. The president rose, +appointed three members to accompany him, and got into the carriage with +the general after bandaging his eyes. One of those three members was +the coachman who had driven them there. The other members +silently dispersed. "Where do you wish to be taken?" asked the +president.--"Anywhere out of your presence," replied M. d'Epinay. +"Beware, sir," replied the president, "you are no longer in the +assembly, and have only to do with individuals; do not insult them +unless you wish to be held responsible." But instead of listening, M. +d'Epinay went on,--"You are still as brave in your carriage as in your +assembly because you are still four against one." The president stopped +the coach. They were at that part of the Quai des Ormes where the steps +lead down to the river. "Why do you stop here?" asked d'Epinay. + +"'"Because, sir," said the president, "you have insulted a man, and +that man will not go one step farther without demanding honorable +reparation." + +"'"Another method of assassination?" said the general, shrugging his +shoulders. + +"'"Make no noise, sir, unless you wish me to consider you as one of the +men of whom you spoke just now as cowards, who take their weakness for +a shield. You are alone, one alone shall answer you; you have a sword +by your side, I have one in my cane; you have no witness, one of these +gentlemen will serve you. Now, if you please, remove your bandage." +The general tore the handkerchief from his eyes. "At last," said he, "I +shall know with whom I have to do." They opened the door and the four +men alighted.'" + +Franz again interrupted himself, and wiped the cold drops from his brow; +there was something awful in hearing the son read aloud in trembling +pallor these details of his father's death, which had hitherto been a +mystery. Valentine clasped her hands as if in prayer. Noirtier looked at +Villefort with an almost sublime expression of contempt and pride. Franz +continued:-- + +"'It was, as we said, the fifth of February. For three days the mercury +had been five or six degrees below freezing and the steps were covered +with ice. The general was stout and tall, the president offered him the +side of the railing to assist him in getting down. The two witnesses +followed. It was a dark night. The ground from the steps to the river +was covered with snow and hoarfrost, the water of the river looked black +and deep. One of the seconds went for a lantern in a coal-barge near, +and by its light they examined the weapons. The president's sword, which +was simply, as he had said, one he carried in his cane, was five inches +shorter than the general's, and had no guard. The general proposed to +cast lots for the swords, but the president said it was he who had given +the provocation, and when he had given it he had supposed each would use +his own arms. The witnesses endeavored to insist, but the president +bade them be silent. The lantern was placed on the ground, the two +adversaries took their stations, and the duel began. The light made the +two swords appear like flashes of lightning; as for the men, they were +scarcely perceptible, the darkness was so great. + +"'General d'Epinay passed for one of the best swordsmen in the army, but +he was pressed so closely in the onset that he missed his aim and fell. +The witnesses thought he was dead, but his adversary, who knew he had +not struck him, offered him the assistance of his hand to rise. The +circumstance irritated instead of calming the general, and he rushed on +his adversary. But his opponent did not allow his guard to be broken. +He received him on his sword and three times the general drew back on +finding himself too closely engaged, and then returned to the charge. At +the third he fell again. They thought he slipped, as at first, and the +witnesses, seeing he did not move, approached and endeavored to raise +him, but the one who passed his arm around the body found it was +moistened with blood. The general, who had almost fainted, revived. +"Ah," said he, "they have sent some fencing-master to fight with me." +The president, without answering, approached the witness who held the +lantern, and raising his sleeve, showed him two wounds he had received +in his arm; then opening his coat, and unbuttoning his waistcoat, +displayed his side, pierced with a third wound. Still he had not even +uttered a sigh. General d'Epinay died five minutes after.'" + +Franz read these last words in a voice so choked that they were hardly +audible, and then stopped, passing his hand over his eyes as if to +dispel a cloud; but after a moment's silence, he continued:-- + +"'The president went up the steps, after pushing his sword into his +cane; a track of blood on the snow marked his course. He had scarcely +arrived at the top when he heard a heavy splash in the water--it was the +general's body, which the witnesses had just thrown into the river after +ascertaining that he was dead. The general fell, then, in a loyal duel, +and not in ambush as it might have been reported. In proof of this we +have signed this paper to establish the truth of the facts, lest the +moment should arrive when either of the actors in this terrible scene +should be accused of premeditated murder or of infringement of the laws +of honor. + +"'Signed, Beaurepaire, Deschamps, and Lecharpal.'" + +When Franz had finished reading this account, so dreadful for a +son; when Valentine, pale with emotion, had wiped away a tear; when +Villefort, trembling, and crouched in a corner, had endeavored to lessen +the storm by supplicating glances at the implacable old man,--"Sir," +said d'Epinay to Noirtier, "since you are well acquainted with all these +details, which are attested by honorable signatures,--since you appear +to take some interest in me, although you have only manifested +it hitherto by causing me sorrow, refuse me not one final +satisfaction--tell me the name of the president of the club, that I may +at least know who killed my father." Villefort mechanically felt for +the handle of the door; Valentine, who understood sooner than anyone her +grandfather's answer, and who had often seen two scars upon his right +arm, drew back a few steps. "Mademoiselle," said Franz, turning towards +Valentine, "unite your efforts with mine to find out the name of the man +who made me an orphan at two years of age." Valentine remained dumb and +motionless. + +"Hold, sir," said Villefort, "do not prolong this dreadful scene. The +names have been purposely concealed; my father himself does not know who +this president was, and if he knows, he cannot tell you; proper names +are not in the dictionary." + +"Oh, misery," cried Franz: "the only hope which sustained me and enabled +me to read to the end was that of knowing, at least, the name of him who +killed my father! Sir, sir," cried he, turning to Noirtier, "do what you +can--make me understand in some way!" + +"Yes," replied Noirtier. + +"Oh, mademoiselle,--mademoiselle!" cried Franz, "your grandfather says +he can indicate the person. Help me,--lend me your assistance!" Noirtier +looked at the dictionary. Franz took it with a nervous trembling, and +repeated the letters of the alphabet successively, until he came to M. +At that letter the old man signified "Yes." + +"M," repeated Franz. The young man's finger, glided over the words, but +at each one Noirtier answered by a negative sign. Valentine hid her head +between her hands. At length, Franz arrived at the word MYSELF. + +"Yes!" + +"You?" cried Franz, whose hair stood on end; "you, M. Noirtier--you +killed my father?" + +"Yes!" replied Noirtier, fixing a majestic look on the young man. Franz +fell powerless on a chair; Villefort opened the door and escaped, for +the idea had entered his mind to stifle the little remaining life in the +heart of this terrible old man. + + + +Chapter 76. Progress of Cavalcanti the Younger. + +Meanwhile M. Cavalcanti the elder had returned to his service, not in +the army of his majesty the Emperor of Austria, but at the gaming-table +of the baths of Lucca, of which he was one of the most assiduous +courtiers. He had spent every farthing that had been allowed for his +journey as a reward for the majestic and solemn manner in which he had +maintained his assumed character of father. M. Andrea at his departure +inherited all the papers which proved that he had indeed the honor +of being the son of the Marquis Bartolomeo and the Marchioness Oliva +Corsinari. He was now fairly launched in that Parisian society which +gives such ready access to foreigners, and treats them, not as they +really are, but as they wish to be considered. Besides, what is required +of a young man in Paris? To speak its language tolerably, to make a +good appearance, to be a good gamester, and to pay in cash. They are +certainly less particular with a foreigner than with a Frenchman. Andrea +had, then, in a fortnight, attained a very fair position. He was called +count, he was said to possess 50,000 livres per annum; and his father's +immense riches, buried in the quarries of Saravezza, were a constant +theme. A learned man, before whom the last circumstance was mentioned as +a fact, declared he had seen the quarries in question, which gave great +weight to assertions hitherto somewhat doubtful, but which now assumed +the garb of reality. + +Such was the state of society in Paris at the period we bring before our +readers, when Monte Cristo went one evening to pay M. Danglars a visit. +M. Danglars was out, but the count was asked to go and see the baroness, +and he accepted the invitation. It was never without a nervous shudder, +since the dinner at Auteuil, and the events which followed it, that +Madame Danglars heard Monte Cristo's name announced. If he did not +come, the painful sensation became most intense; if, on the contrary, he +appeared, his noble countenance, his brilliant eyes, his amiability, +his polite attention even towards Madame Danglars, soon dispelled every +impression of fear. It appeared impossible to the baroness that a man of +such delightfully pleasing manners should entertain evil designs against +her; besides, the most corrupt minds only suspect evil when it would +answer some interested end--useless injury is repugnant to every mind. +When Monte Cristo entered the boudoir,--to which we have already once +introduced our readers, and where the baroness was examining some +drawings, which her daughter passed to her after having looked at them +with M. Cavalcanti,--his presence soon produced its usual effect, and it +was with smiles that the baroness received the count, although she had +been a little disconcerted at the announcement of his name. The latter +took in the whole scene at a glance. + +The baroness was partially reclining on a sofa, Eugenie sat near her, +and Cavalcanti was standing. Cavalcanti, dressed in black, like one +of Goethe's heroes, with varnished shoes and white silk open-worked +stockings, passed a white and tolerably nice-looking hand through his +light hair, and so displayed a sparkling diamond, that in spite of Monte +Cristo's advice the vain young man had been unable to resist putting on +his little finger. This movement was accompanied by killing glances +at Mademoiselle Danglars, and by sighs launched in the same direction. +Mademoiselle Danglars was still the same--cold, beautiful, and +satirical. Not one of these glances, nor one sigh, was lost on her; +they might have been said to fall on the shield of Minerva, which some +philosophers assert protected sometimes the breast of Sappho. Eugenie +bowed coldly to the count, and availed herself of the first moment when +the conversation became earnest to escape to her study, whence very soon +two cheerful and noisy voices being heard in connection with occasional +notes of the piano assured Monte Cristo that Mademoiselle Danglars +preferred to his society and to that of M. Cavalcanti the company of +Mademoiselle Louise d'Armilly, her singing teacher. + +It was then, especially while conversing with Madame Danglars, and +apparently absorbed by the charm of the conversation, that the count +noticed M. Andrea Cavalcanti's solicitude, his manner of listening +to the music at the door he dared not pass, and of manifesting his +admiration. The banker soon returned. His first look was certainly +directed towards Monte Cristo, but the second was for Andrea. As for his +wife, he bowed to her, as some husbands do to their wives, but in a way +that bachelors will never comprehend, until a very extensive code is +published on conjugal life. + +"Have not the ladies invited you to join them at the piano?" said +Danglars to Andrea. "Alas, no, sir," replied Andrea with a sigh, still +more remarkable than the former ones. Danglars immediately advanced +towards the door and opened it. + +The two young ladies were seen seated on the same chair, at the piano, +accompanying themselves, each with one hand, a fancy to which they had +accustomed themselves, and performed admirably. Mademoiselle d'Armilly, +whom they then perceived through the open doorway, formed with Eugenie +one of the tableaux vivants of which the Germans are so fond. She was +somewhat beautiful, and exquisitely formed--a little fairy-like figure, +with large curls falling on her neck, which was rather too long, as +Perugino sometimes makes his Virgins, and her eyes dull from fatigue. +She was said to have a weak chest, and like Antonia in the "Cremona +Violin," she would die one day while singing. Monte Cristo cast one +rapid and curious glance round this sanctum; it was the first time he +had ever seen Mademoiselle d'Armilly, of whom he had heard much. "Well," +said the banker to his daughter, "are we then all to be excluded?" He +then led the young man into the study, and either by chance or manoeuvre +the door was partially closed after Andrea, so that from the place where +they sat neither the Count nor the baroness could see anything; but as +the banker had accompanied Andrea, Madame Danglars appeared to take no +notice of it. + +The count soon heard Andrea's voice, singing a Corsican song, +accompanied by the piano. While the count smiled at hearing this song, +which made him lose sight of Andrea in the recollection of Benedetto, +Madame Danglars was boasting to Monte Cristo of her husband's strength +of mind, who that very morning had lost three or four hundred thousand +francs by a failure at Milan. The praise was well deserved, for had not +the count heard it from the baroness, or by one of those means by which +he knew everything, the baron's countenance would not have led him +to suspect it. "Hem," thought Monte Cristo, "he begins to conceal his +losses; a month since he boasted of them." Then aloud,--"Oh, madame, M. +Danglars is so skilful, he will soon regain at the Bourse what he loses +elsewhere." + +"I see that you participate in a prevalent error," said Madame Danglars. +"What is it?" said Monte Cristo. + +"That M. Danglars speculates, whereas he never does." + +"Truly, madame, I recollect M. Debray told me--apropos, what is become +of him? I have seen nothing of him the last three or four days." + +"Nor I," said Madame Danglars; "but you began a sentence, sir, and did +not finish." + +"Which?" + +"M. Debray had told you"-- + +"Ah, yes; he told me it was you who sacrificed to the demon of +speculation." + +"I was once very fond of it, but I do not indulge now." + +"Then you are wrong, madame. Fortune is precarious; and if I were +a woman and fate had made me a banker's wife, whatever might be my +confidence in my husband's good fortune, still in speculation you +know there is great risk. Well, I would secure for myself a fortune +independent of him, even if I acquired it by placing my interests in +hands unknown to him." Madame Danglars blushed, in spite of all her +efforts. "Stay," said Monte Cristo, as though he had not observed her +confusion, "I have heard of a lucky hit that was made yesterday on the +Neapolitan bonds." + +"I have none--nor have I ever possessed any; but really we have talked +long enough of money, count, we are like two stockbrokers; have you +heard how fate is persecuting the poor Villeforts?" + +"What has happened?" said the count, simulating total ignorance. + +"You know the Marquis of Saint-Meran died a few days after he had set +out on his journey to Paris, and the marchioness a few days after her +arrival?" + +"Yes," said Monte Cristo, "I have heard that; but, as Claudius said to +Hamlet, 'it is a law of nature; their fathers died before them, and they +mourned their loss; they will die before their children, who will, in +their turn, grieve for them.'" + +"But that is not all." + +"Not all!" + +"No; they were going to marry their daughter"-- + +"To M. Franz d'Epinay. Is it broken off?" + +"Yesterday morning, it appears, Franz declined the honor." + +"Indeed? And is the reason known?" + +"No." + +"How extraordinary! And how does M. de Villefort bear it?" + +"As usual. Like a philosopher." Danglars returned at this moment +alone. "Well," said the baroness, "do you leave M. Cavalcanti with your +daughter?" + +"And Mademoiselle d'Armilly," said the banker; "do you consider her no +one?" Then, turning to Monte Cristo, he said, "Prince Cavalcanti is a +charming young man, is he not? But is he really a prince?" + +"I will not answer for it," said Monte Cristo. "His father was +introduced to me as a marquis, so he ought to be a count; but I do not +think he has much claim to that title." + +"Why?" said the banker. "If he is a prince, he is wrong not to maintain +his rank; I do not like any one to deny his origin." + +"Oh, you are a thorough democrat," said Monte Cristo, smiling. + +"But do you see to what you are exposing yourself?" said the baroness. +"If, perchance, M. de Morcerf came, he would find M. Cavalcanti in that +room, where he, the betrothed of Eugenie, has never been admitted." + +"You may well say, perchance," replied the banker; "for he comes so +seldom, it would seem only chance that brings him." + +"But should he come and find that young man with your daughter, he might +be displeased." + +"He? You are mistaken. M. Albert would not do us the honor to be +jealous; he does not like Eugenie sufficiently. Besides, I care not for +his displeasure." + +"Still, situated as we are"-- + +"Yes, do you know how we are situated? At his mother's ball he danced +once with Eugenie, and M. Cavalcanti three times, and he took no notice +of it." The valet announced the Vicomte Albert de Morcerf. The baroness +rose hastily, and was going into the study, when Danglars stopped her. +"Let her alone," said he. She looked at him in amazement. Monte Cristo +appeared to be unconscious of what passed. Albert entered, looking +very handsome and in high spirits. He bowed politely to the baroness, +familiarly to Danglars, and affectionately to Monte Cristo. Then turning +to the baroness: "May I ask how Mademoiselle Danglars is?" said he. + +"She is quite well," replied Danglars quickly; "she is at the piano +with M. Cavalcanti." Albert retained his calm and indifferent manner; he +might feel perhaps annoyed, but he knew Monte Cristo's eye was on him. +"M. Cavalcanti has a fine tenor voice," said he, "and Mademoiselle +Eugenie a splendid soprano, and then she plays the piano like Thalberg. +The concert must be a delightful one." + +"They suit each other remarkably well," said Danglars. Albert appeared +not to notice this remark, which was, however, so rude that Madame +Danglars blushed. + +"I, too," said the young man, "am a musician--at least, my masters used +to tell me so; but it is strange that my voice never would suit any +other, and a soprano less than any." Danglars smiled, and seemed to say, +"It is of no consequence." Then, hoping doubtless to effect his +purpose, he said,--"The prince and my daughter were universally admired +yesterday. You were not of the party, M. de Morcerf?" + +"What prince?" asked Albert. "Prince Cavalcanti," said Danglars, who +persisted in giving the young man that title. + +"Pardon me," said Albert, "I was not aware that he was a prince. And +Prince Cavalcanti sang with Mademoiselle Eugenie yesterday? It must have +been charming, indeed. I regret not having heard them. But I was unable +to accept your invitation, having promised to accompany my mother to +a German concert given by the Baroness of Chateau-Renaud." This was +followed by rather an awkward silence. "May I also be allowed," said +Morcerf, "to pay my respects to Mademoiselle Danglars?" "Wait a moment," +said the banker, stopping the young man; "do you hear that delightful +cavatina? Ta, ta, ta, ti, ta, ti, ta, ta; it is charming, let them +finish--one moment. Bravo, bravi, brava!" The banker was enthusiastic in +his applause. + +"Indeed," said Albert, "it is exquisite; it is impossible to understand +the music of his country better than Prince Cavalcanti does. You said +prince, did you not? But he can easily become one, if he is not +already; it is no uncommon thing in Italy. But to return to the charming +musicians--you should give us a treat, Danglars, without telling them +there is a stranger. Ask them to sing one more song; it is so delightful +to hear music in the distance, when the musicians are unrestrained by +observation." + +Danglars was quite annoyed by the young man's indifference. He took +Monte Cristo aside. "What do you think of our lover?" said he. + +"He appears cool. But, then your word is given." + +"Yes, doubtless I have promised to give my daughter to a man who loves +her, but not to one who does not. See him there, cold as marble and +proud like his father. If he were rich, if he had Cavalcanti's fortune, +that might be pardoned. Ma foi, I haven't consulted my daughter; but if +she has good taste"-- + +"Oh," said Monte Cristo, "my fondness may blind me, but I assure you +I consider Morcerf a charming young man who will render your daughter +happy and will sooner or later attain a certain amount of distinction, +and his father's position is good." + +"Hem," said Danglars. + +"Why do you doubt?" + +"The past--that obscurity on the past." + +"But that does not affect the son." + +"Very true." + +"Now, I beg of you, don't go off your head. It's a month now that you +have been thinking of this marriage, and you must see that it throws +some responsibility on me, for it was at my house you met this young +Cavalcanti, whom I do not really know at all." + +"But I do." + +"Have you made inquiry?" + +"Is there any need of that! Does not his appearance speak for him? And +he is very rich." + +"I am not so sure of that." + +"And yet you said he had money." + +"Fifty thousand livres--a mere trifle." + +"He is well educated." + +"Hem," said Monte Cristo in his turn. + +"He is a musician." + +"So are all Italians." + +"Come, count, you do not do that young man justice." + +"Well, I acknowledge it annoys me, knowing your connection with the +Morcerf family, to see him throw himself in the way." Danglars burst out +laughing. "What a Puritan you are!" said he; "that happens every day." + +"But you cannot break it off in this way; the Morcerfs are depending on +this union." + +"Indeed." + +"Positively." + +"Then let them explain themselves; you should give the father a hint, +you are so intimate with the family." + +"I?--where the devil did you find out that?" + +"At their ball; it was apparent enough. Why, did not the countess, the +proud Mercedes, the disdainful Catalane, who will scarcely open her lips +to her oldest acquaintances, take your arm, lead you into the garden, +into the private walks, and remain there for half an hour?" + +"Ah, baron, baron," said Albert, "you are not listening--what barbarism +in a megalomaniac like you!" + +"Oh, don't worry about me, Sir Mocker," said Danglars; then turning to +the count he said, "but will you undertake to speak to the father?" + +"Willingly, if you wish it." + +"But let it be done explicitly and positively. If he demands my daughter +let him fix the day--declare his conditions; in short, let us either +understand each other, or quarrel. You understand--no more delay." + +"Yes, sir, I will give my attention to the subject." + +"I do not say that I await with pleasure his decision, but I do await +it. A banker must, you know, be a slave to his promise." And Danglars +sighed as M. Cavalcanti had done half an hour before. "Bravi, bravo, +brava!" cried Morcerf, parodying the banker, as the selection came to an +end. Danglars began to look suspiciously at Morcerf, when some one came +and whispered a few words to him. "I shall soon return," said the banker +to Monte Cristo; "wait for me. I shall, perhaps, have something to say +to you." And he went out. + +The baroness took advantage of her husband's absence to push open the +door of her daughter's study, and M. Andrea, who was sitting before +the piano with Mademoiselle Eugenie, started up like a jack-in-the-box. +Albert bowed with a smile to Mademoiselle Danglars, who did not appear +in the least disturbed, and returned his bow with her usual coolness. +Cavalcanti was evidently embarrassed; he bowed to Morcerf, who replied +with the most impertinent look possible. Then Albert launched out in +praise of Mademoiselle Danglars' voice, and on his regret, after what +he had just heard, that he had been unable to be present the previous +evening. Cavalcanti, being left alone, turned to Monte Cristo. + +"Come," said Madame Danglars, "leave music and compliments, and let us +go and take tea." + +"Come, Louise," said Mademoiselle Danglars to her friend. They passed +into the next drawing-room, where tea was prepared. Just as they were +beginning, in the English fashion, to leave the spoons in their cups, +the door again opened and Danglars entered, visibly agitated. Monte +Cristo observed it particularly, and by a look asked the banker for +an explanation. "I have just received my courier from Greece," said +Danglars. + +"Ah, yes," said the count; "that was the reason of your running away +from us." + +"Yes." + +"How is King Otho getting on?" asked Albert in the most sprightly tone. +Danglars cast another suspicious look towards him without answering, and +Monte Cristo turned away to conceal the expression of pity which +passed over his features, but which was gone in a moment. "We shall go +together, shall we not?" said Albert to the count. + +"If you like," replied the latter. Albert could not understand +the banker's look, and turning to Monte Cristo, who understood it +perfectly,--"Did you see," said he, "how he looked at me?" + +"Yes," said the count; "but did you think there was anything particular +in his look?" + +"Indeed, I did; and what does he mean by his news from Greece?" + +"How can I tell you?" + +"Because I imagine you have correspondents in that country." Monte +Cristo smiled significantly. + +"Stop," said Albert, "here he comes. I shall compliment Mademoiselle +Danglars on her cameo, while the father talks to you." + +"If you compliment her at all, let it be on her voice, at least," said +Monte Cristo. + +"No, every one would do that." + +"My dear viscount, you are dreadfully impertinent." Albert advanced +towards Eugenie, smiling. Meanwhile, Danglars, stooping to Monte +Cristo's ear, "Your advice was excellent," said he; "there is a whole +history connected with the names Fernand and Yanina." + +"Indeed?" said Monte Cristo. + +"Yes, I will tell you all; but take away the young man; I cannot endure +his presence." + +"He is going with me. Shall I send the father to you?" + +"Immediately." + +"Very well." The count made a sign to Albert and they bowed to +the ladies, and took their leave, Albert perfectly indifferent to +Mademoiselle Danglars' contempt, Monte Cristo reiterating his advice +to Madame Danglars on the prudence a banker's wife should exercise in +providing for the future. M. Cavalcanti remained master of the field. + + + +Chapter 77. Haidee. + +Scarcely had the count's horses cleared the angle of the boulevard, +than Albert, turning towards the count, burst into a loud fit of +laughter--much too loud in fact not to give the idea of its being rather +forced and unnatural. "Well," said he, "I will ask you the same question +which Charles IX. put to Catherine de Medicis, after the massacre of +Saint Bartholomew, 'How have I played my little part?'" + +"To what do you allude?" asked Monte Cristo. + +"To the installation of my rival at M. Danglars'." + +"What rival?" + +"Ma foi, what rival? Why, your protege, M. Andrea Cavalcanti!" + +"Ah, no joking, viscount, if you please; I do not patronize M. +Andrea--at least, not as concerns M. Danglars." + +"And you would be to blame for not assisting him, if the young man +really needed your help in that quarter, but, happily for me, he can +dispense with it." + +"What, do you think he is paying his addresses?" + +"I am certain of it; his languishing looks and modulated tones when +addressing Mademoiselle Danglars fully proclaim his intentions. He +aspires to the hand of the proud Eugenie." + +"What does that signify, so long as they favor your suit?" + +"But it is not the case, my dear count: on the contrary. I am repulsed +on all sides." + +"What!" + +"It is so indeed; Mademoiselle Eugenie scarcely answers me, and +Mademoiselle d'Armilly, her confidant, does not speak to me at all." + +"But the father has the greatest regard possible for you," said Monte +Cristo. + +"He? Oh, no, he has plunged a thousand daggers into my heart, +tragedy-weapons, I own, which instead of wounding sheathe their points +in their own handles, but daggers which he nevertheless believed to be +real and deadly." + +"Jealousy indicates affection." + +"True; but I am not jealous." + +"He is." + +"Of whom?--of Debray?" + +"No, of you." + +"Of me? I will engage to say that before a week is past the door will be +closed against me." + +"You are mistaken, my dear viscount." + +"Prove it to me." + +"Do you wish me to do so?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, I am charged with the commission of endeavoring to induce the +Comte de Morcerf to make some definite arrangement with the baron." + +"By whom are you charged?" + +"By the baron himself." + +"Oh," said Albert with all the cajolery of which he was capable. "You +surely will not do that, my dear count?" + +"Certainly I shall, Albert, as I have promised to do it." + +"Well," said Albert, with a sigh, "it seems you are determined to marry +me." + +"I am determined to try and be on good terms with everybody, at all +events," said Monte Cristo. "But apropos of Debray, how is it that I +have not seen him lately at the baron's house?" + +"There has been a misunderstanding." + +"What, with the baroness?" + +"No, with the baron." + +"Has he perceived anything?" + +"Ah, that is a good joke!" + +"Do you think he suspects?" said Monte Cristo with charming artlessness. + +"Where have you come from, my dear count?" said Albert. + +"From Congo, if you will." + +"It must be farther off than even that." + +"But what do I know of your Parisian husbands?" + +"Oh, my dear count, husbands are pretty much the same everywhere; an +individual husband of any country is a pretty fair specimen of the whole +race." + +"But then, what can have led to the quarrel between Danglars and Debray? +They seemed to understand each other so well," said Monte Cristo with +renewed energy. + +"Ah, now you are trying to penetrate into the mysteries of Isis, in +which I am not initiated. When M. Andrea Cavalcanti has become one of +the family, you can ask him that question." The carriage stopped. "Here +we are," said Monte Cristo; "it is only half-past ten o'clock, come in." + +"Certainly I will." + +"My carriage shall take you back." + +"No, thank you; I gave orders for my coupe to follow me." + +"There it is, then," said Monte Cristo, as he stepped out of the +carriage. They both went into the house; the drawing-room was lighted +up--they went in there. "You will make tea for us, Baptistin," said the +count. Baptistin left the room without waiting to answer, and in +two seconds reappeared, bringing on a waiter all that his master had +ordered, ready prepared, and appearing to have sprung from the ground, +like the repasts which we read of in fairy tales. "Really, my dear +count," said Morcerf, "what I admire in you is, not so much your riches, +for perhaps there are people even wealthier than yourself, nor is it +only your wit, for Beaumarchais might have possessed as much,--but it +is your manner of being served, without any questions, in a moment, in +a second; it is as if they guessed what you wanted by your manner of +ringing, and made a point of keeping everything you can possibly desire +in constant readiness." + +"What you say is perhaps true; they know my habits. For instance, you +shall see; how do you wish to occupy yourself during tea-time?" + +"Ma foi, I should like to smoke." + +Monte Cristo took the gong and struck it once. In about the space of a +second a private door opened, and Ali appeared, bringing two chibouques +filled with excellent latakia. "It is quite wonderful," said Albert. + +"Oh no, it is as simple as possible," replied Monte Cristo. "Ali knows I +generally smoke while I am taking my tea or coffee; he has heard that I +ordered tea, and he also knows that I brought you home with me; when I +summoned him he naturally guessed the reason of my doing so, and as he +comes from a country where hospitality is especially manifested through +the medium of smoking, he naturally concludes that we shall smoke in +company, and therefore brings two chibouques instead of one--and now the +mystery is solved." + +"Certainly you give a most commonplace air to your explanation, but +it is not the less true that you--Ah, but what do I hear?" and Morcerf +inclined his head towards the door, through which sounds seemed to issue +resembling those of a guitar. + +"Ma foi, my dear viscount, you are fated to hear music this evening; you +have only escaped from Mademoiselle Danglars' piano, to be attacked by +Haidee's guzla." + +"Haidee--what an adorable name! Are there, then, really women who bear +the name of Haidee anywhere but in Byron's poems?" + +"Certainly there are. Haidee is a very uncommon name in France, but is +common enough in Albania and Epirus; it is as if you said, for example, +Chastity, Modesty, Innocence,--it is a kind of baptismal name, as you +Parisians call it." + +"Oh, that is charming," said Albert, "how I should like to hear my +countrywomen called Mademoiselle Goodness, Mademoiselle Silence, +Mademoiselle Christian Charity! Only think, then, if Mademoiselle +Danglars, instead of being called Claire-Marie-Eugenie, had been named +Mademoiselle Chastity-Modesty-Innocence Danglars; what a fine effect +that would have produced on the announcement of her marriage!" + +"Hush," said the count, "do not joke in so loud a tone; Haidee may hear +you, perhaps." + +"And you think she would be angry?" + +"No, certainly not," said the count with a haughty expression. + +"She is very amiable, then, is she not?" said Albert. + +"It is not to be called amiability, it is her duty; a slave does not +dictate to a master." + +"Come; you are joking yourself now. Are there any more slaves to be had +who bear this beautiful name?" + +"Undoubtedly." + +"Really, count, you do nothing, and have nothing like other people. +The slave of the Count of Monte Cristo! Why, it is a rank of itself in +France, and from the way in which you lavish money, it is a place that +must be worth a hundred thousand francs a year." + +"A hundred thousand francs! The poor girl originally possessed much +more than that; she was born to treasures in comparison with which those +recorded in the 'Thousand and One Nights' would seem but poverty." + +"She must be a princess then." + +"You are right; and she is one of the greatest in her country too." + +"I thought so. But how did it happen that such a great princess became a +slave?" + +"How was it that Dionysius the Tyrant became a schoolmaster? The fortune +of war, my dear viscount,--the caprice of fortune; that is the way in +which these things are to be accounted for." + +"And is her name a secret?" + +"As regards the generality of mankind it is; but not for you, my dear +viscount, who are one of my most intimate friends, and on whose silence +I feel I may rely, if I consider it necessary to enjoin it--may I not do +so?" + +"Certainly; on my word of honor." + +"You know the history of the Pasha of Yanina, do you not?" + +"Of Ali Tepelini? [*] Oh, yes; it was in his service that my father made +his fortune." + +"True, I had forgotten that." + + * Ali Pasha, "The Lion," was born at Tepelini, an Albanian + village at the foot of the Klissoura Mountains, in 1741. By + diplomacy and success in arms he became almost supreme ruler + of Albania, Epirus, and adjacent territory. Having aroused + the enmity of the Sultan, he was proscribed and put to death + by treachery in 1822, at the age of eighty.--Ed. + +"Well, what is Haidee to Ali Tepelini?" + +"Merely his daughter." + +"What? the daughter of Ali Pasha?" + +"Of Ali Pasha and the beautiful Vasiliki." + +"And your slave?" + +"Ma foi, yes." + +"But how did she become so?" + +"Why, simply from the circumstance of my having bought her one day, as I +was passing through the market at Constantinople." + +"Wonderful! Really, my dear count, you seem to throw a sort of magic +influence over all in which you are concerned; when I listen to you, +existence no longer seems reality, but a waking dream. Now, I am perhaps +going to make an imprudent and thoughtless request, but"-- + +"Say on." + +"But, since you go out with Haidee, and sometimes even take her to the +opera"-- + +"Well?" + +"I think I may venture to ask you this favor." + +"You may venture to ask me anything." + +"Well then, my dear count, present me to your princess." + +"I will do so; but on two conditions." + +"I accept them at once." + +"The first is, that you will never tell any one that I have granted the +interview." + +"Very well," said Albert, extending his hand; "I swear I will not." + +"The second is, that you will not tell her that your father ever served +hers." + +"I give you my oath that I will not." + +"Enough, viscount; you will remember those two vows, will you not? But +I know you to be a man of honor." The count again struck the gong. Ali +reappeared. "Tell Haidee," said he, "that I will take coffee with her, +and give her to understand that I desire permission to present one of my +friends to her." Ali bowed and left the room. "Now, understand me," said +the count, "no direct questions, my dear Morcerf; if you wish to know +anything, tell me, and I will ask her." + +"Agreed." Ali reappeared for the third time, and drew back the +tapestried hanging which concealed the door, to signify to his master +and Albert that they were at liberty to pass on. "Let us go in," said +Monte Cristo. + +Albert passed his hand through his hair, and curled his mustache, then, +having satisfied himself as to his personal appearance, followed the +count into the room, the latter having previously resumed his hat and +gloves. Ali was stationed as a kind of advanced guard, and the door was +kept by the three French attendants, commanded by Myrtho. Haidee was +awaiting her visitors in the first room of her apartments, which was the +drawing-room. Her large eyes were dilated with surprise and expectation, +for it was the first time that any man, except Monte Cristo, had been +accorded an entrance into her presence. She was sitting on a sofa placed +in an angle of the room, with her legs crossed under her in the Eastern +fashion, and seemed to have made for herself, as it were, a kind of +nest in the rich Indian silks which enveloped her. Near her was +the instrument on which she had just been playing; it was elegantly +fashioned, and worthy of its mistress. On perceiving Monte Cristo, she +arose and welcomed him with a smile peculiar to herself, expressive at +once of the most implicit obedience and also of the deepest love. Monte +Cristo advanced towards her and extended his hand, which she as usual +raised to her lips. + +Albert had proceeded no farther than the door, where he remained rooted +to the spot, being completely fascinated by the sight of such surpassing +beauty, beheld as it was for the first time, and of which an inhabitant +of more northern climes could form no adequate idea. + +"Whom do you bring?" asked the young girl in Romaic, of Monte Cristo; +"is it a friend, a brother, a simple acquaintance, or an enemy." + +"A friend," said Monte Cristo in the same language. + +"What is his name?" + +"Count Albert; it is the same man whom I rescued from the hands of the +banditti at Rome." + +"In what language would you like me to converse with him?" + +Monte Cristo turned to Albert. "Do you know modern Greek," asked he. + +"Alas, no," said Albert; "nor even ancient Greek, my dear count; never +had Homer or Plato a more unworthy scholar than myself." + +"Then," said Haidee, proving by her remark that she had quite understood +Monte Cristo's question and Albert's answer, "then I will speak either +in French or Italian, if my lord so wills it." + +Monte Cristo reflected one instant. "You will speak in Italian," said +he. Then, turning towards Albert,--"It is a pity you do not understand +either ancient or modern Greek, both of which Haidee speaks so fluently; +the poor child will be obliged to talk to you in Italian, which will +give you but a very false idea of her powers of conversation." The +count made a sign to Haidee to address his visitor. "Sir," she said to +Morcerf, "you are most welcome as the friend of my lord and master." +This was said in excellent Tuscan, and with that soft Roman accent which +makes the language of Dante as sonorous as that of Homer. Then, turning +to Ali, she directed him to bring coffee and pipes, and when he had left +the room to execute the orders of his young mistress she beckoned Albert +to approach nearer to her. Monte Cristo and Morcerf drew their seats +towards a small table, on which were arranged music, drawings, and vases +of flowers. Ali then entered bringing coffee and chibouques; as to M. +Baptistin, this portion of the building was interdicted to him. Albert +refused the pipe which the Nubian offered him. "Oh, take it--take it," +said the count; "Haidee is almost as civilized as a Parisian; the smell +of an Havana is disagreeable to her, but the tobacco of the East is a +most delicious perfume, you know." + +Ali left the room. The cups of coffee were all prepared, with the +addition of sugar, which had been brought for Albert. Monte Cristo and +Haidee took the beverage in the original Arabian manner, that is to +say, without sugar. Haidee took the porcelain cup in her little slender +fingers and conveyed it to her mouth with all the innocent artlessness +of a child when eating or drinking something which it likes. At this +moment two women entered, bringing salvers filled with ices and sherbet, +which they placed on two small tables appropriated to that purpose. +"My dear host, and you, signora," said Albert, in Italian, "excuse my +apparent stupidity. I am quite bewildered, and it is natural that it +should be so. Here I am in the heart of Paris; but a moment ago I heard +the rumbling of the omnibuses and the tinkling of the bells of the +lemonade-sellers, and now I feel as if I were suddenly transported to +the East; not such as I have seen it, but such as my dreams have painted +it. Oh, signora, if I could but speak Greek, your conversation, added +to the fairy-scene which surrounds me, would furnish an evening of such +delight as it would be impossible for me ever to forget." + +"I speak sufficient Italian to enable me to converse with you, sir," +said Haidee quietly; "and if you like what is Eastern, I will do my best +to secure the gratification of your tastes while you are here." + +"On what subject shall I converse with her?" said Albert, in a low tone +to Monte Cristo. + +"Just what you please; you may speak of her country and of her youthful +reminiscences, or if you like it better you can talk of Rome, Naples, or +Florence." + +"Oh," said Albert, "it is of no use to be in the company of a Greek if +one converses just in the same style as with a Parisian; let me speak to +her of the East." + +"Do so then, for of all themes which you could choose that will be the +most agreeable to her taste." Albert turned towards Haidee. "At what age +did you leave Greece, signora?" asked he. + +"I left it when I was but five years old," replied Haidee. + +"And have you any recollection of your country?" + +"When I shut my eyes and think, I seem to see it all again. The mind can +see as well as the body. The body forgets sometimes--but the mind never +forgets." + +"And how far back into the past do your recollections extend?" + +"I could scarcely walk when my mother, who was called Vasiliki, which +means royal," said the young girl, tossing her head proudly, "took me by +the hand, and after putting in our purse all the money we possessed, we +went out, both covered with veils, to solicit alms for the prisoners, +saying, 'He who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord.' Then when our +purse was full we returned to the palace, and without saying a word to +my father, we sent it to the convent, where it was divided amongst the +prisoners." + +"And how old were you at that time?" + +"I was three years old," said Haidee. + +"Then you remember everything that went on about you from the time when +you were three years old?" said Albert. + +"Everything." + +"Count," said Albert, in a low tone to Monte Cristo, "do allow +the signora to tell me something of her history. You prohibited my +mentioning my father's name to her, but perhaps she will allude to him +of her own accord in the course of the recital, and you have no idea +how delighted I should be to hear our name pronounced by such beautiful +lips." Monte Cristo turned to Haidee, and with an expression of +countenance which commanded her to pay the most implicit attention to +his words, he said in Greek,--"Tell us the fate of your father; but +neither the name of the traitor nor the treason." Haidee sighed deeply, +and a shade of sadness clouded her beautiful brow. + +"What are you saying to her?" said Morcerf in an undertone. + +"I again reminded her that you were a friend, and that she need not +conceal anything from you." + +"Then," said Albert, "this pious pilgrimage in behalf of the prisoners +was your first remembrance; what is the next?" + +"Oh, then I remember as if it were but yesterday sitting under the shade +of some sycamore-trees, on the borders of a lake, in the waters of which +the trembling foliage was reflected as in a mirror. Under the oldest and +thickest of these trees, reclining on cushions, sat my father; my mother +was at his feet, and I, childlike, amused myself by playing with his +long white beard which descended to his girdle, or with the diamond-hilt +of the scimitar attached to his girdle. Then from time to time there +came to him an Albanian who said something to which I paid no attention, +but which he always answered in the same tone of voice, either 'Kill,' +or 'Pardon.'" + +"It is very strange," said Albert, "to hear such words proceed from the +mouth of any one but an actress on the stage, and one needs constantly +to be saying to one's self, 'This is no fiction, it is all reality,' in +order to believe it. And how does France appear in your eyes, accustomed +as they have been to gaze on such enchanted scenes?" + +"I think it is a fine country," said Haidee, "but I see France as it +really is, because I look on it with the eyes of a woman; whereas my own +country, which I can only judge of from the impression produced on my +childish mind, always seems enveloped in a vague atmosphere, which is +luminous or otherwise, according as my remembrances of it are sad or +joyous." + +"So young," said Albert, forgetting at the moment the Count's command +that he should ask no questions of the slave herself, "is it possible +that you can have known what suffering is except by name?" + +Haidee turned her eyes towards Monte Cristo, who, making at the same +time some imperceptible sign, murmured,--"Go on." + +"Nothing is ever so firmly impressed on the mind as the memory of our +early childhood, and with the exception of the two scenes I have just +described to you, all my earliest reminiscences are fraught with deepest +sadness." + +"Speak, speak, signora," said Albert, "I am listening with the most +intense delight and interest to all you say." + +Haidee answered his remark with a melancholy smile. "You wish me, then, +to relate the history of my past sorrows?" said she. + +"I beg you to do so," replied Albert. + +"Well, I was but four years old when one night I was suddenly awakened +by my mother. We were in the palace of Yanina; she snatched me from +the cushions on which I was sleeping, and on opening my eyes I saw hers +filled with tears. She took me away without speaking. When I saw her +weeping I began to cry too. 'Hush, child!' said she. At other times in +spite of maternal endearments or threats, I had with a child's caprice +been accustomed to indulge my feelings of sorrow or anger by crying as +much as I felt inclined; but on this occasion there was an intonation +of such extreme terror in my mother's voice when she enjoined me to +silence, that I ceased crying as soon as her command was given. She bore +me rapidly away. + +"I saw then that we were descending a large staircase; around us were +all my mother's servants carrying trunks, bags, ornaments, jewels, +purses of gold, with which they were hurrying away in the greatest +distraction. + +"Behind the women came a guard of twenty men armed with long guns and +pistols, and dressed in the costume which the Greeks have assumed since +they have again become a nation. You may imagine there was something +startling and ominous," said Haidee, shaking her head and turning pale +at the mere remembrance of the scene, "in this long file of slaves and +women only half-aroused from sleep, or at least so they appeared to +me, who was myself scarcely awake. Here and there on the walls of +the staircase, were reflected gigantic shadows, which trembled in the +flickering light of the pine-torches till they seemed to reach to the +vaulted roof above. + +"'Quick!' said a voice at the end of the gallery. This voice made every +one bow before it, resembling in its effect the wind passing over a +field of wheat, by its superior strength forcing every ear to yield +obeisance. As for me, it made me tremble. This voice was that of my +father. He came last, clothed in his splendid robes and holding in his +hand the carbine which your emperor presented him. He was leaning on +the shoulder of his favorite Selim, and he drove us all before him, as +a shepherd would his straggling flock. My father," said Haidee, raising +her head, "was that illustrious man known in Europe under the name of +Ali Tepelini, pasha of Yanina, and before whom Turkey trembled." + +Albert, without knowing why, started on hearing these words pronounced +with such a haughty and dignified accent; it appeared to him as if there +was something supernaturally gloomy and terrible in the expression which +gleamed from the brilliant eyes of Haidee at this moment; she appeared +like a Pythoness evoking a spectre, as she recalled to his mind the +remembrance of the fearful death of this man, to the news of which all +Europe had listened with horror. "Soon," said Haidee, "we halted on our +march, and found ourselves on the borders of a lake. My mother pressed +me to her throbbing heart, and at the distance of a few paces I saw my +father, who was glancing anxiously around. Four marble steps led down to +the water's edge, and below them was a boat floating on the tide. + +"From where we stood I could see in the middle of the lake a large blank +mass; it was the kiosk to which we were going. This kiosk appeared to me +to be at a considerable distance, perhaps on account of the darkness +of the night, which prevented any object from being more than partially +discerned. We stepped into the boat. I remember well that the oars +made no noise whatever in striking the water, and when I leaned over to +ascertain the cause I saw that they were muffled with the sashes of our +Palikares. [*] Besides the rowers, the boat contained only the women, my +father, mother, Selim, and myself. The Palikares had remained on the +shore of the lake, ready to cover our retreat; they were kneeling on the +lowest of the marble steps, and in that manner intended making a rampart +of the three others, in case of pursuit. Our bark flew before the wind. +'Why does the boat go so fast?' asked I of my mother. + + * Greek militiamen in the war for independence.--Ed. + +"'Silence, child! Hush, we are flying!' I did not understand. Why +should my father fly?--he, the all-powerful--he, before whom others were +accustomed to fly--he, who had taken for his device, 'They hate me; then +they fear me!' It was, indeed, a flight which my father was trying +to effect. I have been told since that the garrison of the castle of +Yanina, fatigued with long service"-- + +Here Haidee cast a significant glance at Monte Cristo, whose eyes +had been riveted on her countenance during the whole course of her +narrative. The young girl then continued, speaking slowly, like a person +who is either inventing or suppressing some feature of the history which +he is relating. "You were saying, signora," said Albert, who was paying +the most implicit attention to the recital, "that the garrison of +Yanina, fatigued with long service"-- + +"Had treated with the Serasker [*] Koorshid, who had been sent by the +sultan to gain possession of the person of my father; it was then that +Ali Tepelini--after having sent to the sultan a French officer in whom +he reposed great confidence--resolved to retire to the asylum which he +had long before prepared for himself, and which he called kataphygion, +or the refuge." + +"And this officer," asked Albert, "do you remember his name, signora?" +Monte Cristo exchanged a rapid glance with the young girl, which was +quite unperceived by Albert. "No," said she, "I do not remember it just +at this moment; but if it should occur to me presently, I will tell +you." Albert was on the point of pronouncing his father's name, when +Monte Cristo gently held up his finger in token of reproach; the young +man recollected his promise, and was silent. + + * A Turkish pasha in command of the troops of a province.-- + Ed. + +"It was towards this kiosk that we were rowing. A ground-floor, +ornamented with arabesques, bathing its terraces in the water, and +another floor, looking on the lake, was all which was visible to the +eye. But beneath the ground-floor, stretching out into the island, was +a large subterranean cavern, to which my mother, myself, and the women +were conducted. In this place were together 60,000. pouches and 200 +barrels; the pouches contained 25,000,000 of money in gold, and the +barrels were filled with 30,000. pounds of gunpowder. + +"Near the barrels stood Selim, my father's favorite, whom I mentioned to +you just now. He stood watch day and night with a lance provided with +a lighted slowmatch in his hand, and he had orders to blow up +everything--kiosk, guards, women, gold, and Ali Tepelini himself--at +the first signal given by my father. I remember well that the slaves, +convinced of the precarious tenure on which they held their lives, +passed whole days and nights in praying, crying, and groaning. As for +me, I can never forget the pale complexion and black eyes of the young +soldier, and whenever the angel of death summons me to another world, +I am quite sure I shall recognize Selim. I cannot tell you how long we +remained in this state; at that period I did not even know what time +meant. Sometimes, but very rarely, my father summoned me and my mother +to the terrace of the palace; these were hours of recreation for me, as +I never saw anything in the dismal cavern but the gloomy countenances of +the slaves and Selim's fiery lance. My father was endeavoring to pierce +with his eager looks the remotest verge of the horizon, examining +attentively every black speck which appeared on the lake, while my +mother, reclining by his side, rested her head on his shoulder, and I +played at his feet, admiring everything I saw with that unsophisticated +innocence of childhood which throws a charm round objects insignificant +in themselves, but which in its eyes are invested with the greatest +importance. The heights of Pindus towered above us; the castle of Yanina +rose white and angular from the blue waters of the lake, and the immense +masses of black vegetation which, viewed in the distance, gave the idea +of lichens clinging to the rocks, were in reality gigantic fir-trees and +myrtles. + +"One morning my father sent for us; my mother had been crying all the +night, and was very wretched; we found the pasha calm, but paler than +usual. 'Take courage, Vasiliki,' said he; 'to-day arrives the firman of +the master, and my fate will be decided. If my pardon be complete, we +shall return triumphant to Yanina; if the news be inauspicious, we must +fly this night.'--'But supposing our enemy should not allow us to do +so?' said my mother. 'Oh, make yourself easy on that head,' said Ali, +smiling; 'Selim and his flaming lance will settle that matter. They +would be glad to see me dead, but they would not like themselves to die +with me.' + +"My mother only answered by sighs to consolations which she knew did not +come from my father's heart. She prepared the iced water which he was in +the habit of constantly drinking,--for since his sojourn at the kiosk +he had been parched by the most violent fever,--after which she anointed +his white beard with perfumed oil, and lighted his chibouque, which he +sometimes smoked for hours together, quietly watching the wreaths of +vapor that ascended in spiral clouds and gradually melted away in the +surrounding atmosphere. Presently he made such a sudden movement that I +was paralyzed with fear. Then, without taking his eyes from the object +which had first attracted his attention, he asked for his telescope. +My mother gave it him, and as she did so, looked whiter than the +marble against which she leaned. I saw my father's hand tremble. 'A +boat!--two!--three!' murmured my, father;--'four!' He then arose, +seizing his arms and priming his pistols. 'Vasiliki,' said he to my +mother, trembling perceptibly, 'the instant approaches which will decide +everything. In the space of half an hour we shall know the emperor's +answer. Go into the cavern with Haidee.'--'I will not quit you,' said +Vasiliki; 'if you die, my lord, I will die with you.'--'Go to Selim!' +cried my father. 'Adieu, my lord,' murmured my mother, determining +quietly to await the approach of death. 'Take away Vasiliki!' said my +father to his Palikares. + +"As for me, I had been forgotten in the general confusion; I ran toward +Ali Tepelini; he saw me hold out my arms to him, and he stooped down and +pressed my forehead with his lips. Oh, how distinctly I remember that +kiss!--it was the last he ever gave me, and I feel as if it were still +warm on my forehead. On descending, we saw through the lattice-work +several boats which were gradually becoming more distinct to our view. +At first they appeared like black specks, and now they looked like birds +skimming the surface of the waves. During this time, in the kiosk at my +father's feet, were seated twenty Palikares, concealed from view by an +angle of the wall and watching with eager eyes the arrival of the boats. +They were armed with their long guns inlaid with mother-of-pearl and +silver, and cartridges in great numbers were lying scattered on the +floor. My father looked at his watch, and paced up and down with a +countenance expressive of the greatest anguish. This was the scene which +presented itself to my view as I quitted my father after that last kiss. +My mother and I traversed the gloomy passage leading to the cavern. +Selim was still at his post, and smiled sadly on us as we entered. We +fetched our cushions from the other end of the cavern, and sat down by +Selim. In great dangers the devoted ones cling to each other; and, young +as I was, I quite understood that some imminent danger was hanging over +our heads." + +Albert had often heard--not from his father, for he never spoke on the +subject, but from strangers--the description of the last moments of the +vizier of Yanina; he had read different accounts of his death, but the +story seemed to acquire fresh meaning from the voice and expression of +the young girl, and her sympathetic accent and the melancholy expression +of her countenance at once charmed and horrified him. As to Haidee, +these terrible reminiscences seemed to have overpowered her for a +moment, for she ceased speaking, her head leaning on her hand like a +beautiful flower bowing beneath the violence of the storm; and her eyes +gazing on vacancy indicated that she was mentally contemplating the +green summit of the Pindus and the blue waters of the lake of Yanina, +which, like a magic mirror, seemed to reflect the sombre picture +which she sketched. Monte Cristo looked at her with an indescribable +expression of interest and pity. + +"Go on," said the count in the Romaic language. + +Haidee looked up abruptly, as if the sonorous tones of Monte Cristo's +voice had awakened her from a dream; and she resumed her narrative. +"It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, and although the day was +brilliant out-of-doors, we were enveloped in the gloomy darkness of the +cavern. One single, solitary light was burning there, and it appeared +like a star set in a heaven of blackness; it was Selim's flaming lance. +My mother was a Christian, and she prayed. Selim repeated from time to +time the sacred words: 'God is great!' However, my mother had still +some hope. As she was coming down, she thought she recognized the French +officer who had been sent to Constantinople, and in whom my father +placed so much confidence; for he knew that all the soldiers of the +French emperor were naturally noble and generous. She advanced some +steps towards the staircase, and listened. 'They are approaching,' said +she; 'perhaps they bring us peace and liberty!'--'What do you fear, +Vasiliki?' said Selim, in a voice at once so gentle and yet so proud. +'If they do not bring us peace, we will give them war; if they do not +bring life, we will give them death.' And he renewed the flame of his +lance with a gesture which made one think of Dionysus of Crete. [*] But +I, being only a little child, was terrified by this undaunted courage, +which appeared to me both ferocious and senseless, and I recoiled with +horror from the idea of the frightful death amidst fire and flames which +probably awaited us. + + * The god of fruitfulness in Grecian mythology. In Crete he + was supposed to be slain in winter with the decay of + vegetation and to revive in the spring. Haidee's learned + reference is to the behavior of an actor in the Dionysian + festivals.--Ed. + +"My mother experienced the same sensations, for I felt her tremble. +'Mamma, mamma,' said I, 'are we really to be killed?' And at the +sound of my voice the slaves redoubled their cries and prayers and +lamentations. 'My child,' said Vasiliki, 'may God preserve you from ever +wishing for that death which to-day you so much dread!' Then, whispering +to Selim, she asked what were her master's orders. 'If he send me +his poniard, it will signify that the emperor's intentions are not +favorable, and I am to set fire to the powder; if, on the contrary, he +send me his ring, it will be a sign that the emperor pardons him, and +I am to extinguish the match and leave the magazine untouched.'--'My +friend,' said my mother, 'when your master's orders arrive, if it is the +poniard which he sends, instead of despatching us by that horrible death +which we both so much dread, you will mercifully kill us with this same +poniard, will you not?'--'Yes, Vasiliki,' replied Selim tranquilly. + +"Suddenly we heard loud cries; and, listening, discerned that they +were cries of joy. The name of the French officer who had been sent +to Constantinople resounded on all sides amongst our Palikares; it +was evident that he brought the answer of the emperor, and that it was +favorable." + +"And do you not remember the Frenchman's name?" said Morcerf, quite +ready to aid the memory of the narrator. Monte Cristo made a sign to him +to be silent. + +"I do not recollect it," said Haidee. + +"The noise increased; steps were heard approaching nearer and nearer: +they were descending the steps leading to the cavern. Selim made ready +his lance. Soon a figure appeared in the gray twilight at the entrance +of the cave, formed by the reflection of the few rays of daylight which +had found their way into this gloomy retreat. 'Who are you?' cried +Selim. 'But whoever you may be, I charge you not to advance another +step.'--'Long live the emperor!' said the figure. 'He grants a full +pardon to the Vizier Ali, and not only gives him his life, but restores +to him his fortune and his possessions.' My mother uttered a cry of joy, +and clasped me to her bosom. 'Stop,' said Selim, seeing that she was +about to go out; 'you see I have not yet received the ring,'--'True,' +said my mother. And she fell on her knees, at the same time holding me +up towards heaven, as if she desired, while praying to God in my behalf, +to raise me actually to his presence." + +And for the second time Haidee stopped, overcome by such violent emotion +that the perspiration stood upon her pale brow, and her stifled voice +seemed hardly able to find utterance, so parched and dry were her throat +and lips. Monte Cristo poured a little iced water into a glass, and +presented it to her, saying with a mildness in which was also a shade of +command,--"Courage." + +Haidee dried her eyes, and continued: "By this time our eyes, habituated +to the darkness, had recognized the messenger of the pasha,--it was +a friend. Selim had also recognized him, but the brave young man only +acknowledged one duty, which was to obey. 'In whose name do you come?' +said he to him. 'I come in the name of our master, Ali Tepelini.'--'If +you come from Ali himself,' said Selim, 'you know what you were charged +to remit to me?'--'Yes,' said the messenger, 'and I bring you his ring.' +At these words he raised his hand above his head, to show the token; +but it was too far off, and there was not light enough to enable Selim, +where he was standing, to distinguish and recognize the object presented +to his view. 'I do not see what you have in your hand,' said Selim. +'Approach then,' said the messenger, 'or I will come nearer to you, if +you prefer it.'--'I will agree to neither one nor the other,' replied +the young soldier; 'place the object which I desire to see in the ray of +light which shines there, and retire while I examine it.'--'Be it so,' +said the envoy; and he retired, after having first deposited the token +agreed on in the place pointed out to him by Selim. + +"Oh, how our hearts palpitated; for it did, indeed, seem to be a ring +which was placed there. But was it my father's ring? that was the +question. Selim, still holding in his hand the lighted match, walked +towards the opening in the cavern, and, aided by the faint light which +streamed in through the mouth of the cave, picked up the token. + +"'It is well,' said he, kissing it; 'it is my master's ring!' And +throwing the match on the ground, he trampled on it and extinguished it. +The messenger uttered a cry of joy and clapped his hands. At this signal +four soldiers of the Serasker Koorshid suddenly appeared, and Selim +fell, pierced by five blows. Each man had stabbed him separately, and, +intoxicated by their crime, though still pale with fear, they sought all +over the cavern to discover if there was any fear of fire, after which +they amused themselves by rolling on the bags of gold. At this moment +my mother seized me in her arms, and hurrying noiselessly along numerous +turnings and windings known only to ourselves, she arrived at a private +staircase of the kiosk, where was a scene of frightful tumult and +confusion. The lower rooms were entirely filled with Koorshid's troops; +that is to say, with our enemies. Just as my mother was on the point of +pushing open a small door, we heard the voice of the pasha sounding in +a loud and threatening tone. My mother applied her eye to the crack +between the boards; I luckily found a small opening which afforded me a +view of the apartment and what was passing within. 'What do you want?' +said my father to some people who were holding a paper inscribed with +characters of gold. 'What we want,' replied one, 'is to communicate to +you the will of his highness. Do you see this firman?'--'I do,' said my +father. 'Well, read it; he demands your head.' + +"My father answered with a loud laugh, which was more frightful than +even threats would have been, and he had not ceased when two reports of +a pistol were heard; he had fired them himself, and had killed two men. +The Palikares, who were prostrated at my father's feet, now sprang up +and fired, and the room was filled with fire and smoke. At the same +instant the firing began on the other side, and the balls penetrated the +boards all round us. Oh, how noble did the grand vizier my father look +at that moment, in the midst of the flying bullets, his scimitar in his +hand, and his face blackened with the powder of his enemies! and how he +terrified them, even then, and made them fly before him! 'Selim, Selim!' +cried he, 'guardian of the fire, do your duty!'--'Selim is dead,' +replied a voice which seemed to come from the depths of the earth, 'and +you are lost, Ali!' At the same moment an explosion was heard, and the +flooring of the room in which my father was sitting was suddenly torn up +and shivered to atoms--the troops were firing from underneath. Three or +four Palikares fell with their bodies literally ploughed with wounds. + +"My father howled aloud, plunged his fingers into the holes which the +balls had made, and tore up one of the planks entire. But immediately +through this opening twenty more shots were fired, and the flame, +rushing up like fire from the crater of a volcano, soon reached the +tapestry, which it quickly devoured. In the midst of all this frightful +tumult and these terrific cries, two reports, fearfully distinct, +followed by two shrieks more heartrending than all, froze me with +terror. These two shots had mortally wounded my father, and it was he +who had given utterance to these frightful cries. However, he remained +standing, clinging to a window. My mother tried to force the door, that +she might go and die with him, but it was fastened on the inside. All +around him were lying the Palikares, writhing in convulsive agonies, +while two or three who were only slightly wounded were trying to +escape by springing from the windows. At this crisis the whole flooring +suddenly gave way, my father fell on one knee, and at the same moment +twenty hands were thrust forth, armed with sabres, pistols, and +poniards--twenty blows were instantaneously directed against one man, +and my father disappeared in a whirlwind of fire and smoke kindled by +these demons, and which seemed like hell itself opening beneath his +feet. I felt myself fall to the ground, my mother had fainted." + +Haidee's arms fell by her side, and she uttered a deep groan, at the +same time looking towards the count as if to ask if he were satisfied +with her obedience to his commands. Monte Cristo arose and approached +her, took her hand, and said to her in Romaic, "Calm yourself, my dear +child, and take courage in remembering that there is a God who will +punish traitors." + +"It is a frightful story, count," said Albert, terrified at the paleness +of Haidee's countenance, "and I reproach myself now for having been so +cruel and thoughtless in my request." + +"Oh, it is nothing," said Monte Cristo. Then, patting the young girl on +the head, he continued, "Haidee is very courageous, and she sometimes +even finds consolation in the recital of her misfortunes." + +"Because, my lord," said Haidee eagerly, "my miseries recall to me the +remembrance of your goodness." + +Albert looked at her with curiosity, for she had not yet related what he +most desired to know,--how she had become the slave of the count. Haidee +saw at a glance the same expression pervading the countenances of her +two auditors; she exclaimed, 'When my mother recovered her senses we +were before the serasker. 'Kill,' said she, 'but spare the honor of the +widow of Ali.'--'It is not to me to whom you must address yourself,' +said Koorshid. + +"'To whom, then?'--'To your new master.' + +"'Who and where is he?'--'He is here.' + +"And Koorshid pointed out one who had more than any contributed to the +death of my father," said Haidee, in a tone of chastened anger. "Then," +said Albert, "you became the property of this man?" + +"No," replied Haidee, "he did not dare to keep us, so we were sold to +some slave-merchants who were going to Constantinople. We traversed +Greece, and arrived half dead at the imperial gates. They were +surrounded by a crowd of people, who opened a way for us to pass, +when suddenly my mother, having looked closely at an object which was +attracting their attention, uttered a piercing cry and fell to the +ground, pointing as she did so to a head which was placed over the +gates, and beneath which were inscribed these words: + +"'This is the head of Ali Tepelini Pasha of Yanina.' I cried bitterly, +and tried to raise my mother from the earth, but she was dead! I was +taken to the slave-market, and was purchased by a rich Armenian. He +caused me to be instructed, gave me masters, and when I was thirteen +years of age he sold me to the Sultan Mahmood." + +"Of whom I bought her," said Monte Cristo, "as I told you, Albert, with +the emerald which formed a match to the one I had made into a box for +the purpose of holding my hashish pills." + +"Oh, you are good, you are great, my lord!" said Haidee, kissing the +count's hand, "and I am very fortunate in belonging to such a master!" +Albert remained quite bewildered with all that he had seen and heard. +"Come, finish your cup of coffee," said Monte Cristo; "the history is +ended." + + + +Chapter 78. We hear From Yanina. + +If Valentine could have seen the trembling step and agitated countenance +of Franz when he quitted the chamber of M. Noirtier, even she would have +been constrained to pity him. Villefort had only just given utterance +to a few incoherent sentences, and then retired to his study, where he +received about two hours afterwards the following letter:-- + +"After all the disclosures which were made this morning, M. Noirtier de +Villefort must see the utter impossibility of any alliance being formed +between his family and that of M. Franz d'Epinay. M. d'Epinay must say +that he is shocked and astonished that M. de Villefort, who appeared to +be aware of all the circumstances detailed this morning, should not have +anticipated him in this announcement." + +No one who had seen the magistrate at this moment, so thoroughly +unnerved by the recent inauspicious combination of circumstances, would +have supposed for an instant that he had anticipated the annoyance; +although it certainly never had occurred to him that his father would +carry candor, or rather rudeness, so far as to relate such a history. +And in justice to Villefort, it must be understood that M. Noirtier, +who never cared for the opinion of his son on any subject, had always +omitted to explain the affair to Villefort, so that he had all his life +entertained the belief that General de Quesnel, or the Baron d'Epinay, +as he was alternately styled, according as the speaker wished to +identify him by his own family name, or by the title which had been +conferred on him, fell the victim of assassination, and not that he was +killed fairly in a duel. This harsh letter, coming as it did from a man +generally so polite and respectful, struck a mortal blow at the pride +of Villefort. Hardly had he read the letter, when his wife entered. The +sudden departure of Franz, after being summoned by M. Noirtier, had so +much astonished every one, that the position of Madame de Villefort, +left alone with the notary and the witnesses, became every moment more +embarrassing. Determined to bear it no longer, she arose and left the +room; saying she would go and make some inquiries into the cause of his +sudden disappearance. + +M. de Villefort's communications on the subject were very limited and +concise; he told her, in fact, that an explanation had taken place +between M. Noirtier, M. d'Epinay, and himself, and that the marriage +of Valentine and Franz would consequently be broken off. This was +an awkward and unpleasant thing to have to report to those who were +awaiting her return in the chamber of her father-in-law. She +therefore contented herself with saying that M. Noirtier having at the +commencement of the discussion been attacked by a sort of apoplectic +fit, the affair would necessarily be deferred for some days longer. This +news, false as it was following so singularly in the train of the two +similar misfortunes which had so recently occurred, evidently astonished +the auditors, and they retired without a word. During this time +Valentine, at once terrified and happy, after having embraced and +thanked the feeble old man for thus breaking with a single blow the +chain which she had been accustomed to consider as irrefragable, asked +leave to retire to her own room, in order to recover her composure. +Noirtier looked the permission which she solicited. But instead of going +to her own room, Valentine, having once gained her liberty, entered the +gallery, and, opening a small door at the end of it, found herself at +once in the garden. + +In the midst of all the strange events which had crowded one on the +other, an indefinable sentiment of dread had taken possession of +Valentine's mind. She expected every moment that she should see Morrel +appear, pale and trembling, to forbid the signing of the contract, like +the Laird of Ravenswood in "The Bride of Lammermoor." It was high time +for her to make her appearance at the gate, for Maximilian had long +awaited her coming. He had half guessed what was going on when he saw +Franz quit the cemetery with M. de Villefort. He followed M. d'Epinay, +saw him enter, afterwards go out, and then re-enter with Albert and +Chateau-Renaud. He had no longer any doubts as to the nature of the +conference; he therefore quickly went to the gate in the clover-patch, +prepared to hear the result of the proceedings, and very certain that +Valentine would hasten to him the first moment she should be set at +liberty. He was not mistaken; peering through the crevices of the wooden +partition, he soon discovered the young girl, who cast aside all her +usual precautions and walked at once to the barrier. The first glance +which Maximilian directed towards her entirely reassured him, and the +first words she spoke made his heart bound with delight. + +"We are saved!" said Valentine. "Saved?" repeated Morrel, not being able +to conceive such intense happiness; "by whom?" + +"By my grandfather. Oh, Morrel, pray love him for all his goodness to +us!" Morrel swore to love him with all his soul; and at that moment he +could safely promise to do so, for he felt as though it were not enough +to love him merely as a friend or even as a father. "But tell me, +Valentine, how has it all been effected? What strange means has he used +to compass this blessed end?" + +Valentine was on the point of relating all that had passed, but she +suddenly remembered that in doing so she must reveal a terrible secret +which concerned others as well as her grandfather, and she said, "At +some future time I will tell you all about it." + +"But when will that be?" + +"When I am your wife." + +The conversation had now turned upon a topic so pleasing to Morrel, +that he was ready to accede to anything that Valentine thought fit to +propose, and he likewise felt that a piece of intelligence such as he +just heard ought to be more than sufficient to content him for one day. +However, he would not leave without the promise of seeing Valentine +again the next night. Valentine promised all that Morrel required of +her, and certainly it was less difficult now for her to believe that she +should marry Maximilian than it was an hour ago to assure herself that +she should not marry Franz. + +During the time occupied by the interview we have just detailed, Madame +de Villefort had gone to visit M. Noirtier. The old man looked at her +with that stern and forbidding expression with which he was accustomed +to receive her. + +"Sir," said she, "it is superfluous for me to tell you that Valentine's +marriage is broken off, since it was here that the affair was +concluded." Noirtier's countenance remained immovable. "But one thing +I can tell you, of which I do not think you are aware; that is, that +I have always been opposed to this marriage, and that the contract +was entered into entirely without my consent or approbation." Noirtier +regarded his daughter-in-law with the look of a man desiring an +explanation. "Now that this marriage, which I know you so much disliked, +is done away with, I come to you on an errand which neither M. de +Villefort nor Valentine could consistently undertake." Noirtier's +eyes demanded the nature of her mission. "I come to entreat you, sir," +continued Madame de Villefort, "as the only one who has the right of +doing so, inasmuch as I am the only one who will receive no personal +benefit from the transaction,--I come to entreat you to restore, not +your love, for that she has always possessed, but to restore your +fortune to your granddaughter." + +There was a doubtful expression in Noirtier's eyes; he was evidently +trying to discover the motive of this proceeding, and he could not +succeed in doing so. "May I hope, sir," said Madame de Villefort, "that +your intentions accord with my request?" Noirtier made a sign that they +did. "In that case, sir," rejoined Madame de Villefort, "I will leave +you overwhelmed with gratitude and happiness at your prompt acquiescence +to my wishes." She then bowed to M. Noirtier and retired. + +The next day M. Noirtier sent for the notary; the first will was torn +up and a second made, in which he left the whole of his fortune to +Valentine, on condition that she should never be separated from him. It +was then generally reported that Mademoiselle de Villefort, the heiress +of the marquis and marchioness of Saint-Meran, had regained the +good graces of her grandfather, and that she would ultimately be in +possession of an income of 300,000 livres. + +While all the proceedings relative to the dissolution of the +marriage-contract were being carried on at the house of M. de Villefort, +Monte Cristo had paid his visit to the Count of Morcerf, who, in order +to lose no time in responding to M. Danglars' wishes, and at the same +time to pay all due deference to his position in society, donned his +uniform of lieutenant-general, which he ornamented with all his crosses, +and thus attired, ordered his finest horses and drove to the Rue de la +Chausse d'Antin. + +Danglars was balancing his monthly accounts, and it was perhaps not the +most favorable moment for finding him in his best humor. At the first +sight of his old friend, Danglars assumed his majestic air, and settled +himself in his easy-chair. Morcerf, usually so stiff and formal, +accosted the banker in an affable and smiling manner, and, feeling sure +that the overture he was about to make would be well received, he did not +consider it necessary to adopt any manoeuvres in order to gain his end, +but went at once straight to the point. + +"Well, baron," said he, "here I am at last; some time has elapsed since +our plans were formed, and they are not yet executed." Morcerf paused at +these words, quietly waiting till the cloud should have dispersed which +had gathered on the brow of Danglars, and which he attributed to his +silence; but, on the contrary, to his great surprise, it grew darker and +darker. "To what do you allude, monsieur?" said Danglars; as if he were +trying in vain to guess at the possible meaning of the general's words. + +"Ah," said Morcerf, "I see you are a stickler for forms, my dear sir, +and you would remind me that the ceremonial rites should not be omitted. +Ma foi, I beg your pardon, but as I have but one son, and it is the +first time I have ever thought of marrying him, I am still serving +my apprenticeship, you know; come, I will reform." And Morcerf with a +forced smile arose, and, making a low bow to M. Danglars, said: "Baron, +I have the honor of asking of you the hand of Mademoiselle Eugenie +Danglars for my son, the Vicomte Albert de Morcerf." + +But Danglars, instead of receiving this address in the favorable manner +which Morcerf had expected, knit his brow, and without inviting the +count, who was still standing, to take a seat, he said: "Monsieur, it +will be necessary to reflect before I give you an answer." + +"To reflect?" said Morcerf, more and more astonished; "have you not had +enough time for reflection during the eight years which have elapsed +since this marriage was first discussed between us?" + +"Count," said the banker, "things are constantly occurring in the world +to induce us to lay aside our most established opinions, or at +all events to cause us to remodel them according to the change of +circumstances, which may have placed affairs in a totally different +light to that in which we at first viewed them." + +"I do not understand you, baron," said Morcerf. + +"What I mean to say is this, sir,--that during the last fortnight +unforeseen circumstances have occurred"-- + +"Excuse me," said Morcerf, "but is it a play we are acting?" + +"A play?" + +"Yes, for it is like one; pray let us come more to the point, and +endeavor thoroughly to understand each other." + +"That is quite my desire." + +"You have seen M. de Monte Cristo have you not?" + +"I see him very often," said Danglars, drawing himself up; "he is a +particular friend of mine." + +"Well, in one of your late conversations with him, you said that I +appeared to be forgetful and irresolute concerning this marriage, did +you not?" + +"I did say so." + +"Well, here I am, proving at once that I am really neither the one nor +the other, by entreating you to keep your promise on that score." + +Danglars did not answer. "Have you so soon changed your mind," added +Morcerf, "or have you only provoked my request that you may have the +pleasure of seeing me humbled?" Danglars, seeing that if he continued +the conversation in the same tone in which he had begun it, the whole +thing might turn out to his own disadvantage, turned to Morcerf, and +said: "Count, you must doubtless be surprised at my reserve, and I +assure you it costs me much to act in such a manner towards you; but, +believe me when I say that imperative necessity has imposed the painful +task upon me." + +"These are all so many empty words, my dear sir," said Morcerf: "they +might satisfy a new acquaintance, but the Comte de Morcerf does not rank +in that list; and when a man like him comes to another, recalls to him +his plighted word, and this man fails to redeem the pledge, he has at +least a right to exact from him a good reason for so doing." Danglars +was a coward, but did not wish to appear so; he was piqued at the tone +which Morcerf had just assumed. "I am not without a good reason for my +conduct," replied the banker. + +"What do you mean to say?" + +"I mean to say that I have a good reason, but that it is difficult to +explain." + +"You must be aware, at all events, that it is impossible for me to +understand motives before they are explained to me; but one thing at +least is clear, which is, that you decline allying yourself with my +family." + +"No, sir," said Danglars; "I merely suspend my decision, that is all." + +"And do you really flatter yourself that I shall yield to all your +caprices, and quietly and humbly await the time of again being received +into your good graces?" + +"Then, count, if you will not wait, we must look upon these projects +as if they had never been entertained." The count bit his lips till the +blood almost started, to prevent the ebullition of anger which his proud +and irritable temper scarcely allowed him to restrain; understanding, +however, that in the present state of things the laugh would decidedly +be against him, he turned from the door, towards which he had been +directing his steps, and again confronted the banker. A cloud settled +on his brow, evincing decided anxiety and uneasiness, instead of the +expression of offended pride which had lately reigned there. "My dear +Danglars," said Morcerf, "we have been acquainted for many years, and +consequently we ought to make some allowance for each other's failings. +You owe me an explanation, and really it is but fair that I should know +what circumstance has occurred to deprive my son of your favor." + +"It is from no personal ill-feeling towards the viscount, that is all I +can say, sir," replied Danglars, who resumed his insolent manner as soon +as he perceived that Morcerf was a little softened and calmed down. "And +towards whom do you bear this personal ill-feeling, then?" said Morcerf, +turning pale with anger. The expression of the count's face had not +remained unperceived by the banker; he fixed on him a look of greater +assurance than before, and said: "You may, perhaps, be better satisfied +that I should not go farther into particulars." + +A tremor of suppressed rage shook the whole frame of the count, and +making a violent effort over himself, he said: "I have a right to +insist on your giving me an explanation. Is it Madame de Morcerf who +has displeased you? Is it my fortune which you find insufficient? Is it +because my opinions differ from yours?" + +"Nothing of the kind, sir," replied Danglars: "if such had been the +case, I only should have been to blame, inasmuch as I was aware of all +these things when I made the engagement. No, do not seek any longer to +discover the reason. I really am quite ashamed to have been the cause of +your undergoing such severe self-examination; let us drop the subject, +and adopt the middle course of delay, which implies neither a rupture +nor an engagement. Ma foi, there is no hurry. My daughter is only +seventeen years old, and your son twenty-one. While we wait, time will +be progressing, events will succeed each other; things which in the +evening look dark and obscure, appear but too clearly in the light of +morning, and sometimes the utterance of one word, or the lapse of a +single day, will reveal the most cruel calumnies." + +"Calumnies, did you say, sir?" cried Morcerf, turning livid with rage. +"Does any one dare to slander me?" + +"Monsieur, I told you that I considered it best to avoid all +explanation." + +"Then, sir, I am patiently to submit to your refusal?" + +"Yes, sir, although I assure you the refusal is as painful for me to +give as it is for you to receive, for I had reckoned on the honor +of your alliance, and the breaking off of a marriage contract always +injures the lady more than the gentleman." + +"Enough, sir," said Morcerf, "we will speak no more on the subject." And +clutching his gloves in anger, he left the apartment. Danglars observed +that during the whole conversation Morcerf had never once dared to +ask if it was on his own account that Danglars recalled his word. +That evening he had a long conference with several friends; and M. +Cavalcanti, who had remained in the drawing-room with the ladies, was +the last to leave the banker's house. + +The next morning, as soon as he awoke, Danglars asked for the +newspapers; they were brought to him; he laid aside three or four, and +at last fixed on the Impartial, the paper of which Beauchamp was the +chief editor. He hastily tore off the cover, opened the journal with +nervous precipitation, passed contemptuously over the Paris jottings, +and arriving at the miscellaneous intelligence, stopped with a malicious +smile, at a paragraph headed "We hear from Yanina." "Very good," +observed Danglars, after having read the paragraph; "here is a little +article on Colonel Fernand, which, if I am not mistaken, would render +the explanation which the Comte de Morcerf required of me perfectly +unnecessary." + +At the same moment, that is, at nine o'clock in the morning, Albert de +Morcerf, dressed in a black coat buttoned up to his chin, might have +been seen walking with a quick and agitated step in the direction of +Monte Cristo's house in the Champs Elysees. When he presented himself at +the gate the porter informed him that the Count had gone out about half +an hour previously. "Did he take Baptistin with him?" + +"No, my lord." + +"Call him, then; I wish to speak to him." The concierge went to seek the +valet de chambre, and returned with him in an instant. + +"My good friend," said Albert, "I beg pardon for my intrusion, but I +was anxious to know from your own mouth if your master was really out or +not." + +"He is really out, sir," replied Baptistin. + +"Out, even to me?" + +"I know how happy my master always is to receive the vicomte," said +Baptistin; "and I should therefore never think of including him in any +general order." + +"You are right; and now I wish to see him on an affair of great +importance. Do you think it will be long before he comes in?" + +"No, I think not, for he ordered his breakfast at ten o'clock." + +"Well, I will go and take a turn in the Champs Elysees, and at ten +o'clock I will return here; meanwhile, if the count should come in, will +you beg him not to go out again without seeing me?" + +"You may depend on my doing so, sir," said Baptistin. + +Albert left the cab in which he had come at the count's door, intending +to take a turn on foot. As he was passing the Allee des Veuves, he +thought he saw the count's horses standing at Gosset's shooting-gallery; +he approached, and soon recognized the coachman. "Is the count shooting +in the gallery?" said Morcerf. + +"Yes, sir," replied the coachman. While he was speaking, Albert had +heard the report of two or three pistol-shots. He entered, and on his +way met the waiter. "Excuse me, my lord," said the lad; "but will you +have the kindness to wait a moment?" + +"What for, Philip?" asked Albert, who, being a constant visitor there, +did not understand this opposition to his entrance. + +"Because the person who is now in the gallery prefers being alone, and +never practices in the presence of any one." + +"Not even before you, Philip? Then who loads his pistol?" + +"His servant." + +"A Nubian?" + +"A negro." + +"It is he, then." + +"Do you know this gentleman?" + +"Yes, and I am come to look for him; he is a friend of mine." + +"Oh, that is quite another thing, then. I will go immediately and inform +him of your arrival." And Philip, urged by his own curiosity, entered +the gallery; a second afterwards, Monte Cristo appeared on the +threshold. "I ask your pardon, my dear count," said Albert, "for +following you here, and I must first tell you that it was not the +fault of your servants that I did so; I alone am to blame for the +indiscretion. I went to your house, and they told me you were out, but +that they expected you home at ten o'clock to breakfast. I was walking +about in order to pass away the time till ten o'clock, when I caught +sight of your carriage and horses." + +"What you have just said induces me to hope that you intend breakfasting +with me." + +"No, thank you, I am thinking of other things besides breakfast +just now; perhaps we may take that meal at a later hour and in worse +company." + +"What on earth are you talking of?" + +"I am to fight to-day." + +"For what?" + +"I am going to fight"-- + +"Yes, I understand that, but what is the quarrel? People fight for all +sorts of reasons, you know." + +"I fight in the cause of honor." + +"Ah, that is something serious." + +"So serious, that I come to beg you to render me a service." + +"What is it?" + +"To be my second." + +"That is a serious matter, and we will not discuss it here; let us speak +of nothing till we get home. Ali, bring me some water." The count turned +up his sleeves, and passed into the little vestibule where the gentlemen +were accustomed to wash their hands after shooting. "Come in, my lord," +said Philip in a low tone, "and I will show you something droll." +Morcerf entered, and in place of the usual target, he saw some +playing-cards fixed against the wall. At a distance Albert thought it +was a complete suit, for he counted from the ace to the ten. "Ah, ha," +said Albert, "I see you were preparing for a game of cards." + +"No," said the count, "I was making a suit." + +"How?" said Albert. + +"Those are really aces and twos which you see, but my shots have turned +them into threes, fives, sevens, eights, nines, and tens." Albert +approached. In fact, the bullets had actually pierced the cards in the +exact places which the painted signs would otherwise have occupied, the +lines and distances being as regularly kept as if they had been ruled +with pencil. "Diable," said Morcerf. + +"What would you have, my dear viscount?" said Monte Cristo, wiping his +hands on the towel which Ali had brought him; "I must occupy my leisure +moments in some way or other. But come, I am waiting for you." Both men +entered Monte Cristo's carriage, which in the course of a few minutes +deposited them safely at No. 30. Monte Cristo took Albert into his +study, and pointing to a seat, placed another for himself. "Now let us +talk the matter over quietly," said the count. + +"You see I am perfectly composed," said Albert. + +"With whom are you going to fight?" + +"With Beauchamp." + +"One of your friends!" + +"Of course; it is always with friends that one fights." + +"I suppose you have some cause of quarrel?" + +"I have." + +"What has he done to you?" + +"There appeared in his journal last night--but wait, and read for +yourself." And Albert handed over the paper to the count, who read as +follows:-- + +"A correspondent at Yanina informs us of a fact of which until now we +had remained in ignorance. The castle which formed the protection of +the town was given up to the Turks by a French officer named Fernand, +in whom the grand vizier, Ali Tepelini, had reposed the greatest +confidence." + +"Well," said Monte Cristo, "what do you see in that to annoy you?" + +"What do I see in it?" + +"Yes; what does it signify to you if the castle of Yanina was given up +by a French officer?" + +"It signifies to my father, the Count of Morcerf, whose Christian name +is Fernand!" + +"Did your father serve under Ali Pasha?" + +"Yes; that is to say, he fought for the independence of the Greeks, and +hence arises the calumny." + +"Oh, my dear viscount, do talk reason!" + +"I do not desire to do otherwise." + +"Now, just tell me who the devil should know in France that the officer +Fernand and the Count of Morcerf are one and the same person? and who +cares now about Yanina, which was taken as long ago as the year 1822 or +1823?" + +"That just shows the meanness of this slander. They have allowed all +this time to elapse, and then all of a sudden rake up events which have +been forgotten to furnish materials for scandal, in order to tarnish the +lustre of our high position. I inherit my father's name, and I do not +choose that the shadow of disgrace should darken it. I am going to +Beauchamp, in whose journal this paragraph appears, and I shall insist +on his retracting the assertion before two witnesses." + +"Beauchamp will never retract." + +"Then he must fight." + +"No he will not, for he will tell you, what is very true, that perhaps +there were fifty officers in the Greek army bearing the same name." + +"We will fight, nevertheless. I will efface that blot on my father's +character. My father, who was such a brave soldier, whose career was so +brilliant"-- + +"Oh, well, he will add, 'We are warranted in believing that this +Fernand is not the illustrious Count of Morcerf, who also bears the same +Christian name.'" + +"I am determined not to be content with anything short of an entire +retractation." + +"And you intend to make him do it in the presence of two witnesses, do +you?" + +"Yes." + +"You do wrong." + +"Which means, I suppose, that you refuse the service which I asked of +you?" + +"You know my theory regarding duels; I told you my opinion on that +subject, if you remember, when we were at Rome." + +"Nevertheless, my dear count, I found you this morning engaged in +an occupation but little consistent with the notions you profess to +entertain." + +"Because, my dear fellow, you understand one must never be eccentric. If +one's lot is cast among fools, it is necessary to study folly. I shall +perhaps find myself one day called out by some harebrained scamp, who +has no more real cause of quarrel with me than you have with Beauchamp; +he may take me to task for some foolish trifle or other, he will bring +his witnesses, or will insult me in some public place, and I am expected +to kill him for all that." + +"You admit that you would fight, then? Well, if so, why do you object to +my doing so?" + +"I do not say that you ought not to fight, I only say that a duel is a +serious thing, and ought not to be undertaken without due reflection." + +"Did he reflect before he insulted my father?" + +"If he spoke hastily, and owns that he did so, you ought to be +satisfied." + +"Ah, my dear count, you are far too indulgent." + +"And you are far too exacting. Supposing, for instance, and do not be +angry at what I am going to say"-- + +"Well." + +"Supposing the assertion to be really true?" + +"A son ought not to submit to such a stain on his father's honor." + +"Ma foi, we live in times when there is much to which we must submit." + +"That is precisely the fault of the age." + +"And do you undertake to reform it?" + +"Yes, as far as I am personally concerned." + +"Well, you are indeed exacting, my dear fellow!" + +"Yes, I own it." + +"Are you quite impervious to good advice?" + +"Not when it comes from a friend." + +"And do you account me that title?" + +"Certainly I do." + +"Well, then, before going to Beauchamp with your witnesses, seek further +information on the subject." + +"From whom?" + +"From Haidee." + +"Why, what can be the use of mixing a woman up in the affair?--what can +she do in it?" + +"She can declare to you, for example, that your father had no hand +whatever in the defeat and death of the vizier; or if by chance he had, +indeed, the misfortune to"-- + +"I have told you, my dear count, that I would not for one moment admit +of such a proposition." + +"You reject this means of information, then?" + +"I do--most decidedly." + +"Then let me offer one more word of advice." + +"Do so, then, but let it be the last." + +"You do not wish to hear it, perhaps?" + +"On the contrary, I request it." + +"Do not take any witnesses with you when you go to Beauchamp--visit him +alone." + +"That would be contrary to all custom." + +"Your case is not an ordinary one." + +"And what is your reason for advising me to go alone?" + +"Because then the affair will rest between you and Beauchamp." + +"Explain yourself." + +"I will do so. If Beauchamp be disposed to retract, you ought at least +to give him the opportunity of doing it of his own free will,--the +satisfaction to you will be the same. If, on the contrary, he refuses +to do so, it will then be quite time enough to admit two strangers into +your secret." + +"They will not be strangers, they will be friends." + +"Ah, but the friends of to-day are the enemies of to-morrow; Beauchamp, +for instance." + +"So you recommend"-- + +"I recommend you to be prudent." + +"Then you advise me to go alone to Beauchamp?" + +"I do, and I will tell you why. When you wish to obtain some concession +from a man's self-love, you must avoid even the appearance of wishing to +wound it." + +"I believe you are right." + +"I am glad of it." + +"Then I will go alone." + +"Go; but you would do better still by not going at all." + +"That is impossible." + +"Do so, then; it will be a wiser plan than the first which you +proposed." + +"But if, in spite of all my precautions, I am at last obliged to fight, +will you not be my second?" + +"My dear viscount," said Monte Cristo gravely, "you must have seen +before to-day that at all times and in all places I have been at your +disposal, but the service which you have just demanded of me is one +which it is out of my power to render you." + +"Why?" + +"Perhaps you may know at some future period, and in the mean time +I request you to excuse my declining to put you in possession of my +reasons." + +"Well, I will have Franz and Chateau-Renaud; they will be the very men +for it." + +"Do so, then." + +"But if I do fight, you will surely not object to giving me a lesson or +two in shooting and fencing?" + +"That, too, is impossible." + +"What a singular being you are!--you will not interfere in anything." + +"You are right--that is the principle on which I wish to act." + +"We will say no more about it, then. Good-by, count." Morcerf took his +hat, and left the room. He found his carriage at the door, and doing his +utmost to restrain his anger he went at once to find Beauchamp, who +was in his office. It was a gloomy, dusty-looking apartment, such as +journalists' offices have always been from time immemorial. The servant +announced M. Albert de Morcerf. Beauchamp repeated the name to himself, +as though he could scarcely believe that he had heard aright, and then +gave orders for him to be admitted. Albert entered. Beauchamp uttered an +exclamation of surprise on seeing his friend leap over and trample under +foot all the newspapers which were strewed about the room. "This way, +this way, my dear Albert!" said he, holding out his hand to the young +man. "Are you out of your senses, or do you come peaceably to take +breakfast with me? Try and find a seat--there is one by that geranium, +which is the only thing in the room to remind me that there are other +leaves in the world besides leaves of paper." + +"Beauchamp," said Albert, "it is of your journal that I come to speak." + +"Indeed? What do you wish to say about it?" + +"I desire that a statement contained in it should be rectified." + +"To what do you refer? But pray sit down." + +"Thank you," said Albert, with a cold and formal bow. + +"Will you now have the kindness to explain the nature of the statement +which has displeased you?" + +"An announcement has been made which implicates the honor of a member of +my family." + +"What is it?" said Beauchamp, much surprised; "surely you must be +mistaken." + +"The story sent you from Yanina." + +"Yanina?" + +"Yes; really you appear to be totally ignorant of the cause which brings +me here." + +"Such is really the case, I assure you, upon my honor! Baptiste, give me +yesterday's paper," cried Beauchamp. + +"Here, I have brought mine with me," replied Albert. + +Beauchamp took the paper, and read the article to which Albert pointed +in an undertone. "You see it is a serious annoyance," said Morcerf, when +Beauchamp had finished the perusal of the paragraph. "Is the officer +referred to a relation of yours, then?" demanded the journalist. + +"Yes," said Albert, blushing. + +"Well, what do you wish me to do for you?" said Beauchamp mildly. + +"My dear Beauchamp, I wish you to contradict this statement." Beauchamp +looked at Albert with a benevolent expression. + +"Come," said he, "this matter will want a good deal of talking over; a +retractation is always a serious thing, you know. Sit down, and I will +read it again." Albert resumed his seat, and Beauchamp read, with more +attention than at first, the lines denounced by his friend. "Well," said +Albert in a determined tone, "you see that your paper his insulted a +member of my family, and I insist on a retractation being made." + +"You insist?" + +"Yes, I insist." + +"Permit me to remind you that you are not in the Chamber, my dear +Viscount." + +"Nor do I wish to be there," replied the young man, rising. "I repeat +that I am determined to have the announcement of yesterday contradicted. +You have known me long enough," continued Albert, biting his lips +convulsively, for he saw that Beauchamp's anger was beginning to +rise,--"you have been my friend, and therefore sufficiently intimate +with me to be aware that I am likely to maintain my resolution on this +point." + +"If I have been your friend, Morcerf, your present manner of speaking +would almost lead me to forget that I ever bore that title. But wait a +moment, do not let us get angry, or at least not yet. You are irritated +and vexed--tell me how this Fernand is related to you?" + +"He is merely my father," said Albert--"M. Fernand Mondego, Count of +Morcerf, an old soldier who has fought in twenty battles and whose +honorable scars they would denounce as badges of disgrace." + +"Is it your father?" said Beauchamp; "that is quite another thing. Then I +can well understand your indignation, my dear Albert. I will look at it +again;" and he read the paragraph for the third time, laying a stress +on each word as he proceeded. "But the paper nowhere identifies this +Fernand with your father." + +"No; but the connection will be seen by others, and therefore I will +have the article contradicted." At the words "I will," Beauchamp +steadily raised his eyes to Albert's countenance, and then as gradually +lowering them, he remained thoughtful for a few moments. "You will +retract this assertion, will you not, Beauchamp?" said Albert with +increased though stifled anger. + +"Yes," replied Beauchamp. + +"Immediately?" said Albert. + +"When I am convinced that the statement is false." + +"What?" + +"The thing is worth looking into, and I will take pains to investigate +the matter thoroughly." + +"But what is there to investigate, sir?" said Albert, enraged beyond +measure at Beauchamp's last remark. "If you do not believe that it is my +father, say so immediately; and if, on the contrary, you believe it to +be him, state your reasons for doing so." Beauchamp looked at Albert +with the smile which was so peculiar to him, and which in its numerous +modifications served to express every varied emotion of his mind. "Sir," +replied he, "if you came to me with the idea of demanding satisfaction, +you should have gone at once to the point, and not have entertained me +with the idle conversation to which I have been patiently listening for +the last half hour. Am I to put this construction on your visit?" + +"Yes, if you will not consent to retract that infamous calumny." + +"Wait a moment--no threats, if you please, M. Fernand Mondego, Vicomte +de Morcerf; I never allow them from my enemies, and therefore shall not +put up with them from my friends. You insist on my contradicting the +article relating to General Fernand, an article with which, I assure you +on my word of honor, I had nothing whatever to do?" + +"Yes, I insist on it," said Albert, whose mind was beginning to get +bewildered with the excitement of his feelings. + +"And if I refuse to retract, you wish to fight, do you?" said Beauchamp +in a calm tone. + +"Yes," replied Albert, raising his voice. + +"Well," said Beauchamp, "here is my answer, my dear sir. The article +was not inserted by me--I was not even aware of it; but you have, by the +step you have taken, called my attention to the paragraph in question, +and it will remain until it shall be either contradicted or confirmed by +some one who has a right to do so." + +"Sir," said Albert, rising, "I will do myself the honor of sending my +seconds to you, and you will be kind enough to arrange with them the +place of meeting and the weapons." + +"Certainly, my dear sir." + +"And this evening, if you please, or to-morrow at the latest, we will +meet." + +"No, no, I will be on the ground at the proper time; but in my opinion +(and I have a right to dictate the preliminaries, as it is I who have +received the provocation)--in my opinion the time ought not to be yet. +I know you to be well skilled in the management of the sword, while I am +only moderately so; I know, too, that you are a good marksman--there we +are about equal. I know that a duel between us two would be a serious +affair, because you are brave, and I am brave also. I do not therefore +wish either to kill you, or to be killed myself without a cause. Now, I +am going to put a question to you, and one very much to the purpose too. +Do you insist on this retractation so far as to kill me if I do not make +it, although I have repeated more than once, and affirmed on my honor, +that I was ignorant of the thing with which you charge me, and although +I still declare that it is impossible for any one but you to recognize +the Count of Morcerf under the name of Fernand?" + +"I maintain my original resolution." + +"Very well, my dear sir; then I consent to cut throats with you. But I +require three weeks' preparation; at the end of that time I shall come +and say to you, 'The assertion is false, and I retract it,' or 'The +assertion is true,' when I shall immediately draw the sword from its +sheath, or the pistols from the case, whichever you please." + +"Three weeks!" cried Albert; "they will pass as slowly as three +centuries when I am all the time suffering dishonor." + +"Had you continued to remain on amicable terms with me, I should have +said, 'Patience, my friend;' but you have constituted yourself my enemy, +therefore I say, 'What does that signify to me, sir?'" + +"Well, let it be three weeks then," said Morcerf; "but remember, at the +expiration of that time no delay or subterfuge will justify you in"-- + +"M. Albert de Morcerf," said Beauchamp, rising in his turn, "I cannot +throw you out of window for three weeks--that is to say, for twenty-four +days to come--nor have you any right to split my skull open till that +time has elapsed. To-day is the 29th of August; the 21st of September +will, therefore, be the conclusion of the term agreed on, and till that +time arrives--and it is the advice of a gentleman which I am about to +give you--till then we will refrain from growling and barking like two +dogs chained within sight of each other." When he had concluded his +speech, Beauchamp bowed coldly to Albert, turned his back upon him, and +went to the press-room. + +Albert vented his anger on a pile of newspapers, which he sent flying +all over the office by switching them violently with his stick; after +which ebullition he departed--not, however, without walking several +times to the door of the press-room, as if he had half a mind to enter. +While Albert was lashing the front of his carriage in the same manner +that he had the newspapers which were the innocent agents of his +discomfiture, as he was crossing the barrier he perceived Morrel, who +was walking with a quick step and a bright eye. He was passing the +Chinese Baths, and appeared to have come from the direction of the Porte +Saint-Martin, and to be going towards the Madeleine. "Ah," said Morcerf, +"there goes a happy man!" And it so happened Albert was not mistaken in +his opinion. + + + +Chapter 79. The Lemonade. + +Morrel was, in fact, very happy. M. Noirtier had just sent for him, and +he was in such haste to know the reason of his doing so that he had not +stopped to take a cab, placing infinitely more dependence on his own two +legs than on the four legs of a cab-horse. He had therefore set off at +a furious rate from the Rue Meslay, and was hastening with rapid strides +in the direction of the Faubourg Saint-Honore. Morrel advanced with +a firm, manly tread, and poor Barrois followed him as he best might. +Morrel was only thirty-one, Barrois was sixty years of age; Morrel was +deeply in love, and Barrois was dying with heat and exertion. These +two men, thus opposed in age and interests, resembled two parts of +a triangle, presenting the extremes of separation, yet nevertheless +possessing their point of union. This point of union was Noirtier, and +it was he who had just sent for Morrel, with the request that the latter +would lose no time in coming to him--a command which Morrel obeyed to +the letter, to the great discomfiture of Barrois. On arriving at the +house, Morrel was not even out of breath, for love lends wings to our +desires; but Barrois, who had long forgotten what it was to love, was +sorely fatigued by the expedition he had been constrained to use. + +The old servant introduced Morrel by a private entrance, closed the door +of the study, and soon the rustling of a dress announced the arrival of +Valentine. She looked marvellously beautiful in her deep mourning dress, +and Morrel experienced such intense delight in gazing upon her that he +felt as if he could almost have dispensed with the conversation of her +grandfather. But the easy-chair of the old man was heard rolling +along the floor, and he soon made his appearance in the room. Noirtier +acknowledged by a look of extreme kindness and benevolence the thanks +which Morrel lavished on him for his timely intervention on behalf +of Valentine and himself--an intervention which had saved them from +despair. Morrel then cast on the invalid an interrogative look as to the +new favor which he designed to bestow on him. Valentine was sitting at +a little distance from them, timidly awaiting the moment when she should +be obliged to speak. Noirtier fixed his eyes on her. "Am I to say what +you told me?" asked Valentine. Noirtier made a sign that she was to do +so. + +"Monsieur Morrel," said Valentine to the young man, who was regarding +her with the most intense interest, "my grandfather, M. Noirtier, had a +thousand things to say, which he told me three days ago; and now, he has +sent for you, that I may repeat them to you. I will repeat them, then; +and since he has chosen me as his interpreter, I will be faithful to the +trust, and will not alter a word of his intentions." + +"Oh, I am listening with the greatest impatience," replied the young +man; "speak, I beg of you." Valentine cast down her eyes; this was a +good omen for Morrel, for he knew that nothing but happiness could have +the power of thus overcoming Valentine. "My grandfather intends leaving +this house," said she, "and Barrois is looking out suitable apartments +for him in another." + +"But you, Mademoiselle de Villefort,--you, who are necessary to M. +Noirtier's happiness"-- + +"I?" interrupted Valentine; "I shall not leave my grandfather,--that is +an understood thing between us. My apartment will be close to his. +Now, M. de Villefort must either give his consent to this plan or his +refusal; in the first case, I shall leave directly, and in the second, +I shall wait till I am of age, which will be in about ten months. Then I +shall be free, I shall have an independent fortune, and"-- + +"And what?" demanded Morrel. + +"And with my grandfather's consent I shall fulfil the promise which I +have made you." Valentine pronounced these last few words in such a low +tone, that nothing but Morrel's intense interest in what she was saying +could have enabled him to hear them. "Have I not explained your wishes, +grandpapa?" said Valentine, addressing Noirtier. "Yes," looked the old +man.--"Once under my grandfather's roof, M. Morrel can visit me in the +presence of my good and worthy protector, if we still feel that the +union we contemplated will be likely to insure our future comfort and +happiness; in that case I shall expect M. Morrel to come and claim me +at my own hands. But, alas, I have heard it said that hearts inflamed +by obstacles to their desire grew cold in time of security; I trust we +shall never find it so in our experience!" + +"Oh," cried Morrel, almost tempted to throw himself on his knees before +Noirtier and Valentine, and to adore them as two superior beings, "what +have I ever done in my life to merit such unbounded happiness?" + +"Until that time," continued the young girl in a calm and self-possessed +tone of voice, "we will conform to circumstances, and be guided by the +wishes of our friends, so long as those wishes do not tend finally to +separate us; in a word, and I repeat it, because it expresses all I wish +to convey,--we will wait." + +"And I swear to make all the sacrifices which this word imposes, sir," +said Morrel, "not only with resignation, but with cheerfulness." + +"Therefore," continued Valentine, looking playfully at Maximilian, "no +more inconsiderate actions--no more rash projects; for you surely +would not wish to compromise one who from this day regards herself as +destined, honorably and happily, to bear your name?" + +Morrel looked obedience to her commands. Noirtier regarded the lovers +with a look of ineffable tenderness, while Barrois, who had remained in +the room in the character of a man privileged to know everything that +passed, smiled on the youthful couple as he wiped the perspiration from +his bald forehead. "How hot you look, my good Barrois," said Valentine. + +"Ah, I have been running very fast, mademoiselle, but I must do M. +Morrel the justice to say that he ran still faster." Noirtier directed +their attention to a waiter, on which was placed a decanter containing +lemonade and a glass. The decanter was nearly full, with the exception +of a little, which had been already drunk by M. Noirtier. + +"Come, Barrois," said the young girl, "take some of this lemonade; I see +you are coveting a good draught of it." + +"The fact is, mademoiselle," said Barrois, "I am dying with thirst, and +since you are so kind as to offer it me, I cannot say I should at all +object to drinking your health in a glass of it." + +"Take some, then, and come back immediately." Barrois took away the +waiter, and hardly was he outside the door, which in his haste he forgot +to shut, than they saw him throw back his head and empty to the very +dregs the glass which Valentine had filled. Valentine and Morrel were +exchanging their adieux in the presence of Noirtier when a ring was +heard at the door-bell. It was the signal of a visit. Valentine looked +at her watch. + +"It is past noon," said she, "and to-day is Saturday; I dare say it +is the doctor, grandpapa." Noirtier looked his conviction that she +was right in her supposition. "He will come in here, and M. Morrel had +better go,--do you not think so, grandpapa?" + +"Yes," signed the old man. + +"Barrois," cried Valentine, "Barrois!" + +"I am coming, mademoiselle," replied he. "Barrois will open the door for +you," said Valentine, addressing Morrel. "And now remember one thing, +Monsieur Officer, that my grandfather commands you not to take any rash +or ill-advised step which would be likely to compromise our happiness." + +"I promised him to wait," replied Morrel; "and I will wait." + +At this moment Barrois entered. "Who rang?" asked Valentine. + +"Doctor d'Avrigny," said Barrois, staggering as if he would fall. + +"What is the matter, Barrois?" said Valentine. The old man did not +answer, but looked at his master with wild staring eyes, while with +his cramped hand he grasped a piece of furniture to enable him to stand +upright. "He is going to fall!" cried Morrel. The rigors which had +attacked Barrois gradually increased, the features of the face became +quite altered, and the convulsive movement of the muscles appeared to +indicate the approach of a most serious nervous disorder. Noirtier, +seeing Barrois in this pitiable condition, showed by his looks all the +various emotions of sorrow and sympathy which can animate the heart of +man. Barrois made some steps towards his master. + +"Ah, sir," said he, "tell me what is the matter with me. I am +suffering--I cannot see. A thousand fiery darts are piercing my brain. +Ah, don't touch me, pray don't." By this time his haggard eyes had the +appearance of being ready to start from their sockets; his head fell +back, and the lower extremities of the body began to stiffen. Valentine +uttered a cry of horror; Morrel took her in his arms, as if to defend +her from some unknown danger. "M. d'Avrigny, M. d'Avrigny," cried she, +in a stifled voice. "Help, help!" Barrois turned round and with a great +effort stumbled a few steps, then fell at the feet of Noirtier, and +resting his hand on the knee of the invalid, exclaimed, "My master, my +good master!" At this moment M. de Villefort, attracted by the noise, +appeared on the threshold. Morrel relaxed his hold of Valentine, and +retreating to a distant corner of the room remained half hidden behind +a curtain. Pale as if he had been gazing on a serpent, he fixed his +terrified eye on the agonized sufferer. + +Noirtier, burning with impatience and terror, was in despair at his +utter inability to help his old domestic, whom he regarded more in the +light of a friend than a servant. One might by the fearful swelling of +the veins of his forehead and the contraction of the muscles round the +eye, trace the terrible conflict which was going on between the living +energetic mind and the inanimate and helpless body. Barrois, his +features convulsed, his eyes suffused with blood, and his head thrown +back, was lying at full length, beating the floor with his hands, while +his legs had become so stiff, that they looked as if they would break +rather than bend. A slight appearance of foam was visible around the +mouth, and he breathed painfully, and with extreme difficulty. + +Villefort seemed stupefied with astonishment, and remained gazing +intently on the scene before him without uttering a word. He had not +seen Morrel. After a moment of dumb contemplation, during which his face +became pale and his hair seemed to stand on end, he sprang towards the +door, crying out, "Doctor, doctor! come instantly, pray come!" + +"Madame, madame!" cried Valentine, calling her step-mother, and running +up-stairs to meet her; "come quick, quick!--and bring your bottle of +smelling-salts with you." + +"What is the matter?" said Madame de Villefort in a harsh and +constrained tone. + +"Oh, come, come!" + +"But where is the doctor?" exclaimed Villefort; "where is he?" Madame de +Villefort now deliberately descended the staircase. In one hand she held +her handkerchief, with which she appeared to be wiping her face, and in +the other a bottle of English smelling-salts. Her first look on entering +the room was at Noirtier, whose face, independent of the emotion which +such a scene could not fail of producing, proclaimed him to be in +possession of his usual health; her second glance was at the dying man. +She turned pale, and her eye passed quickly from the servant and rested +on the master. + +"In the name of heaven, madame," said Villefort, "where is the doctor? +He was with you just now. You see this is a fit of apoplexy, and he +might be saved if he could but be bled!" + +"Has he eaten anything lately?" asked Madame de Villefort, eluding +her husband's question. "Madame," replied Valentine, "he has not even +breakfasted. He has been running very fast on an errand with which my +grandfather charged him, and when he returned, took nothing but a glass +of lemonade." + +"Ah," said Madame de Villefort, "why did he not take wine? Lemonade was +a very bad thing for him." + +"Grandpapa's bottle of lemonade was standing just by his side; poor +Barrois was very thirsty, and was thankful to drink anything he could +find." Madame de Villefort started. Noirtier looked at her with a glance +of the most profound scrutiny. "He has such a short neck," said she. +"Madame," said Villefort, "I ask where is M. d'Avrigny? In God's name +answer me!" + +"He is with Edward, who is not quite well," replied Madame de Villefort, +no longer being able to avoid answering. + +Villefort rushed up-stairs to fetch him. "Take this," said Madame de +Villefort, giving her smelling-bottle to Valentine. "They will, no +doubt, bleed him; therefore I will retire, for I cannot endure the sight +of blood;" and she followed her husband up-stairs. Morrel now emerged +from his hiding-place, where he had remained quite unperceived, so +great had been the general confusion. "Go away as quick as you can, +Maximilian," said Valentine, "and stay till I send for you. Go." + +Morrel looked towards Noirtier for permission to retire. The old man, +who had preserved all his usual coolness, made a sign to him to do so. +The young man pressed Valentine's hand to his lips, and then left the +house by a back staircase. At the same moment that he quitted the room, +Villefort and the doctor entered by an opposite door. Barrois was now +showing signs of returning consciousness. The crisis seemed past, a +low moaning was heard, and he raised himself on one knee. D'Avrigny and +Villefort laid him on a couch. "What do you prescribe, doctor?" demanded +Villefort. "Give me some water and ether. You have some in the house, +have you not?" + +"Yes." + +"Send for some oil of turpentine and tartar emetic." + +Villefort immediately despatched a messenger. "And now let every one +retire." + +"Must I go too?" asked Valentine timidly. + +"Yes, mademoiselle, you especially," replied the doctor abruptly. + +Valentine looked at M. d'Avrigny with astonishment, kissed her +grandfather on the forehead, and left the room. The doctor closed the +door after her with a gloomy air. "Look, look, doctor," said Villefort, +"he is quite coming round again; I really do not think, after all, it is +anything of consequence." M. d'Avrigny answered by a melancholy smile. +"How do you feel, Barrois?" asked he. "A little better, sir." + +"Will you drink some of this ether and water?" + +"I will try; but don't touch me." + +"Why not?" + +"Because I feel that if you were only to touch me with the tip of your +finger the fit would return." + +"Drink." + +Barrois took the glass, and, raising it to his purple lips, took about +half of the liquid offered him. "Where do you suffer?" asked the doctor. + +"Everywhere. I feel cramps over my whole body." + +"Do you find any dazzling sensation before the eyes?" + +"Yes." + +"Any noise in the ears?" + +"Frightful." + +"When did you first feel that?" + +"Just now." + +"Suddenly?" + +"Yes, like a clap of thunder." + +"Did you feel nothing of it yesterday or the day before?" + +"Nothing." + +"No drowsiness?" + +"None." + +"What have you eaten to-day?" + +"I have eaten nothing; I only drank a glass of my master's +lemonade--that's all;" and Barrois turned towards Noirtier, who, +immovably fixed in his arm-chair, was contemplating this terrible scene +without allowing a word or a movement to escape him. + +"Where is this lemonade?" asked the doctor eagerly. + +"Down-stairs in the decanter." + +"Whereabouts downstairs?" + +"In the kitchen." + +"Shall I go and fetch it, doctor?" inquired Villefort. + +"No, stay here and try to make Barrois drink the rest of this glass of +ether and water. I will go myself and fetch the lemonade." D'Avrigny +bounded towards the door, flew down the back staircase, and almost +knocked down Madame de Villefort, in his haste, who was herself going +down to the kitchen. She cried out, but d'Avrigny paid no attention to +her; possessed with but one idea, he cleared the last four steps with +a bound, and rushed into the kitchen, where he saw the decanter about +three parts empty still standing on the waiter, where it had been left. +He darted upon it as an eagle would seize upon its prey. Panting with +loss of breath, he returned to the room he had just left. Madame de +Villefort was slowly ascending the steps which led to her room. "Is this +the decanter you spoke of?" asked d'Avrigny. + +"Yes, doctor." + +"Is this the same lemonade of which you partook?" + +"I believe so." + +"What did it taste like?" + +"It had a bitter taste." + +The doctor poured some drops of the lemonade into the palm of his hand, +put his lips to it, and after having rinsed his mouth as a man does when +he is tasting wine, he spat the liquor into the fireplace. + +"It is no doubt the same," said he. "Did you drink some too, M. +Noirtier?" + +"Yes." + +"And did you also discover a bitter taste?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, doctor," cried Barrois, "the fit is coming on again. Oh, do +something for me." The doctor flew to his patient. "That emetic, +Villefort--see if it is coming." Villefort sprang into the passage, +exclaiming, "The emetic! the emetic!--is it come yet?" No one answered. +The most profound terror reigned throughout the house. "If I had +anything by means of which I could inflate the lungs," said d'Avrigny, +looking around him, "perhaps I might prevent suffocation. But there is +nothing which would do--nothing!" "Oh, sir," cried Barrois, "are you +going to let me die without help? Oh, I am dying! Oh, save me!" + +"A pen, a pen!" said the doctor. There was one lying on the table; he +endeavored to introduce it into the mouth of the patient, who, in the +midst of his convulsions, was making vain attempts to vomit; but the +jaws were so clinched that the pen could not pass them. This second +attack was much more violent than the first, and he had slipped from the +couch to the ground, where he was writhing in agony. The doctor left him +in this paroxysm, knowing that he could do nothing to alleviate it, and, +going up to Noirtier, said abruptly, "How do you find yourself?--well?" + +"Yes." + +"Have you any weight on the chest; or does your stomach feel light and +comfortable--eh?" + +"Yes." + +"Then you feel pretty much as you generally do after you have had the +dose which I am accustomed to give you every Sunday?" + +"Yes." + +"Did Barrois make your lemonade?" + +"Yes." + +"Was it you who asked him to drink some of it?" + +"No." + +"Was it M. de Villefort?" + +"No." + +"Madame?" + +"No." + +"It was your granddaughter, then, was it not?" + +"Yes." A groan from Barrois, accompanied by a yawn which seemed to crack +the very jawbones, attracted the attention of M. d'Avrigny; he left M. +Noirtier, and returned to the sick man. "Barrois," said the doctor, "can +you speak?" Barrois muttered a few unintelligible words. "Try and make +an effort to do so, my good man." said d'Avrigny. Barrois reopened his +bloodshot eyes. "Who made the lemonade?" + +"I did." + +"Did you bring it to your master directly it was made?" + +"No." + +"You left it somewhere, then, in the meantime?" + +"Yes; I left it in the pantry, because I was called away." + +"Who brought it into this room, then?" + +"Mademoiselle Valentine." D'Avrigny struck his forehead with his hand. +"Gracious heaven," exclaimed he. "Doctor, doctor!" cried Barrois, who +felt another fit coming. + +"Will they never bring that emetic?" asked the doctor. + +"Here is a glass with one already prepared," said Villefort, entering +the room. + +"Who prepared it?" + +"The chemist who came here with me." + +"Drink it," said the doctor to Barrois. "Impossible, doctor; it is +too late; my throat is closing up. I am choking! Oh, my heart! Ah, my +head!--Oh, what agony!--Shall I suffer like this long?" + +"No, no, friend," replied the doctor, "you will soon cease to suffer." + +"Ah, I understand you," said the unhappy man. "My God, have mercy upon +me!" and, uttering a fearful cry, Barrois fell back as if he had been +struck by lightning. D'Avrigny put his hand to his heart, and placed a +glass before his lips. + +"Well?" said Villefort. "Go to the kitchen and get me some syrup of +violets." Villefort went immediately. "Do not be alarmed, M. Noirtier," +said d'Avrigny; "I am going to take my patient into the next room to +bleed him; this sort of attack is very frightful to witness." + +And taking Barrois under the arms, he dragged him into an adjoining +room; but almost immediately he returned to fetch the lemonade. Noirtier +closed his right eye. "You want Valentine, do you not? I will tell them +to send her to you." Villefort returned, and d'Avrigny met him in +the passage. "Well, how is he now?" asked he. "Come in here," said +d'Avrigny, and he took him into the chamber where the sick man lay. "Is +he still in a fit?" said the procureur. + +"He is dead." + +Villefort drew back a few steps, and, clasping his hands, exclaimed, +with real amazement and sympathy, "Dead?--and so soon too!" + +"Yes, it is very soon," said the doctor, looking at the corpse before +him; "but that ought not to astonish you; Monsieur and Madame de +Saint-Meran died as soon. People die very suddenly in your house, M. de +Villefort." + +"What?" cried the magistrate, with an accent of horror and +consternation, "are you still harping on that terrible idea?" + +"Still, sir; and I shall always do so," replied d'Avrigny, "for it has +never for one instant ceased to retain possession of my mind; and that +you may be quite sure I am not mistaken this time, listen well to what I +am going to say, M. de Villefort." The magistrate trembled convulsively. +"There is a poison which destroys life almost without leaving any +perceptible traces. I know it well; I have studied it in all its forms +and in the effects which it produces. I recognized the presence of +this poison in the case of poor Barrois as well as in that of Madame de +Saint-Meran. There is a way of detecting its presence. It restores the +blue color of litmus-paper reddened by an acid, and it turns syrup of +violets green. We have no litmus-paper, but, see, here they come with +the syrup of violets." + +The doctor was right; steps were heard in the passage. M. d'Avrigny +opened the door, and took from the hands of the chambermaid a cup which +contained two or three spoonfuls of the syrup, he then carefully closed +the door. "Look," said he to the procureur, whose heart beat so loudly +that it might almost be heard, "here is in this cup some syrup of +violets, and this decanter contains the remainder of the lemonade of +which M. Noirtier and Barrois partook. If the lemonade be pure and +inoffensive, the syrup will retain its color; if, on the contrary, +the lemonade be drugged with poison, the syrup will become green. Look +closely!" + +The doctor then slowly poured some drops of the lemonade from the +decanter into the cup, and in an instant a light cloudy sediment began +to form at the bottom of the cup; this sediment first took a blue shade, +then from the color of sapphire it passed to that of opal, and from opal +to emerald. Arrived at this last hue, it changed no more. The result of +the experiment left no doubt whatever on the mind. + +"The unfortunate Barrois has been poisoned," said d'Avrigny, "and I will +maintain this assertion before God and man." Villefort said nothing, but +he clasped his hands, opened his haggard eyes, and, overcome with his +emotion, sank into a chair. + + + +Chapter 80. The Accusation. + +M. D'Avrigny soon restored the magistrate to consciousness, who had +looked like a second corpse in that chamber of death. "Oh, death is in +my house!" cried Villefort. + +"Say, rather, crime!" replied the doctor. + +"M. d'Avrigny," cried Villefort, "I cannot tell you all I feel at this +moment,--terror, grief, madness." + +"Yes," said M. d'Avrigny, with an imposing calmness, "but I think it is +now time to act. I think it is time to stop this torrent of mortality. I +can no longer bear to be in possession of these secrets without the hope +of seeing the victims and society generally revenged." Villefort cast a +gloomy look around him. "In my house," murmured he, "in my house!" + +"Come, magistrate," said M. d'Avrigny, "show yourself a man; as an +interpreter of the law, do honor to your profession by sacrificing your +selfish interests to it." + +"You make me shudder, doctor. Do you talk of a sacrifice?" + +"I do." + +"Do you then suspect any one?" + +"I suspect no one; death raps at your door--it enters--it goes, not +blindfolded, but circumspectly, from room to room. Well, I follow its +course, I track its passage; I adopt the wisdom of the ancients, and +feel my way, for my friendship for your family and my respect for you +are as a twofold bandage over my eyes; well"-- + +"Oh, speak, speak, doctor; I shall have courage." + +"Well, sir, you have in your establishment, or in your family, perhaps, +one of the frightful monstrosities of which each century produces only +one. Locusta and Agrippina, living at the same time, were an exception, +and proved the determination of providence to effect the entire ruin of +the Roman empire, sullied by so many crimes. Brunehilde and Fredegonde +were the results of the painful struggle of civilization in its infancy, +when man was learning to control mind, were it even by an emissary from +the realms of darkness. All these women had been, or were, beautiful. +The same flower of innocence had flourished, or was still flourishing, +on their brow, that is seen on the brow of the culprit in your house." +Villefort shrieked, clasped his hands, and looked at the doctor with a +supplicating air. But the latter went on without pity:-- + +"'Seek whom the crime will profit,' says an axiom of jurisprudence." + +"Doctor," cried Villefort, "alas, doctor, how often has man's justice +been deceived by those fatal words. I know not why, but I feel that this +crime"-- + +"You acknowledge, then, the existence of the crime?" + +"Yes, I see too plainly that it does exist. But it seems that it is +intended to affect me personally. I fear an attack myself, after all +these disasters." + +"Oh, man," murmured d'Avrigny, "the most selfish of all animals, the +most personal of all creatures, who believes the earth turns, the sun +shines, and death strikes for him alone,--an ant cursing God from the +top of a blade of grass! And have those who have lost their lives lost +nothing?--M. de Saint-Meran, Madame de Saint-Meran, M. Noirtier"-- + +"How? M. Noirtier?" + +"Yes; think you it was the poor servant's life was coveted? No, no; +like Shakespeare's 'Polonius,' he died for another. It was Noirtier the +lemonade was intended for--it is Noirtier, logically speaking, who drank +it. The other drank it only by accident, and, although Barrois is dead, +it was Noirtier whose death was wished for." + +"But why did it not kill my father?" + +"I told you one evening in the garden after Madame de Saint-Meran's +death--because his system is accustomed to that very poison, and the +dose was trifling to him, which would be fatal to another; because no +one knows, not even the assassin, that, for the last twelve months, I +have given M. Noirtier brucine for his paralytic affection, while the +assassin is not ignorant, for he has proved that brucine is a violent +poison." + +"Oh, have pity--have pity!" murmured Villefort, wringing his hands. + +"Follow the culprit's steps; he first kills M. de Saint-Meran"-- + +"O doctor!" + +"I would swear to it; what I heard of his symptoms agrees too well with +what I have seen in the other cases." Villefort ceased to contend; he +only groaned. "He first kills M. de Saint-Meran," repeated the doctor, +"then Madame de Saint-Meran,--a double fortune to inherit." Villefort +wiped the perspiration from his forehead. "Listen attentively." + +"Alas," stammered Villefort, "I do not lose a single word." + +"M. Noirtier," resumed M. d'Avrigny in the same pitiless tone,--"M. +Noirtier had once made a will against you--against your family--in favor +of the poor, in fact; M. Noirtier is spared, because nothing is expected +from him. But he has no sooner destroyed his first will and made a +second, than, for fear he should make a third, he is struck down. The +will was made the day before yesterday, I believe; you see there has +been no time lost." + +"Oh, mercy, M. d'Avrigny!" + +"No mercy, sir! The physician has a sacred mission on earth; and +to fulfil it he begins at the source of life, and goes down to the +mysterious darkness of the tomb. When crime has been committed, and +God, doubtless in anger, turns away his face, it is for the physician to +bring the culprit to justice." + +"Have mercy on my child, sir," murmured Villefort. + +"You see it is yourself who have first named her--you, her father." + +"Have pity on Valentine! Listen--it is impossible! I would as willingly +accuse myself! Valentine, whose heart is pure as a diamond or a lily." + +"No pity, procureur; the crime is fragrant. Mademoiselle herself packed +all the medicines which were sent to M. de Saint-Meran; and M. de +Saint-Meran is dead. Mademoiselle de Villefort prepared all the cooling +draughts which Madame de Saint-Meran took, and Madame de Saint-Meran is +dead. Mademoiselle de Villefort took from the hands of Barrois, who was +sent out, the lemonade which M. Noirtier had every morning, and he has +escaped by a miracle. Mademoiselle de Villefort is the culprit--she is +the poisoner! To you, as the king's attorney, I denounce Mademoiselle de +Villefort, do your duty." + +"Doctor, I resist no longer--I can no longer defend myself--I believe +you; but, for pity's sake, spare my life, my honor!" + +"M. de Villefort," replied the doctor, with increased vehemence, "there +are occasions when I dispense with all foolish human circumspection. +If your daughter had committed only one crime, and I saw her meditating +another, I would say 'Warn her, punish her, let her pass the remainder +of her life in a convent, weeping and praying.' If she had committed +two crimes, I would say, 'Here, M. de Villefort, is a poison that the +prisoner is not acquainted with,--one that has no known antidote, quick +as thought, rapid as lightning, mortal as the thunderbolt; give her that +poison, recommending her soul to God, and save your honor and your life, +for it is yours she aims at; and I can picture her approaching your +pillow with her hypocritical smiles and her sweet exhortations. Woe to +you, M. de Villefort, if you do not strike first!' This is what I would +say had she only killed two persons but she has seen three deaths,--has +contemplated three murdered persons,--has knelt by three corpses! To the +scaffold with the poisoner--to the scaffold! Do you talk of your honor? +Do what I tell you, and immortality awaits you!" + +Villefort fell on his knees. "Listen," said he; "I have not the strength +of mind you have, or rather that which you would not have, if instead +of my daughter Valentine your daughter Madeleine were concerned." The +doctor turned pale. "Doctor, every son of woman is born to suffer and to +die; I am content to suffer and to await death." + +"Beware," said M. d'Avrigny, "it may come slowly; you will see it +approach after having struck your father, your wife, perhaps your son." + +Villefort, suffocating, pressed the doctor's arm. "Listen," cried he; +"pity me--help me! No, my daughter is not guilty. If you drag us +both before a tribunal I will still say, 'No, my daughter is not +guilty;--there is no crime in my house. I will not acknowledge a crime +in my house; for when crime enters a dwelling, it is like death--it does +not come alone.' Listen. What does it signify to you if I am murdered? +Are you my friend? Are you a man? Have you a heart? No, you are a +physician! Well, I tell you I will not drag my daughter before a +tribunal, and give her up to the executioner! The bare idea would +kill me--would drive me like a madman to dig my heart out with my +finger-nails! And if you were mistaken, doctor--if it were not my +daughter--if I should come one day, pale as a spectre, and say to you, +'Assassin, you have killed my child!'--hold--if that should happen, +although I am a Christian, M. d'Avrigny, I should kill myself." + +"Well," said the doctor, after a moment's silence, "I will wait." +Villefort looked at him as if he had doubted his words. "Only," +continued M. d'Avrigny, with a slow and solemn tone, "if any one falls +ill in your house, if you feel yourself attacked, do not send for me, +for I will come no more. I will consent to share this dreadful secret +with you, but I will not allow shame and remorse to grow and increase in +my conscience, as crime and misery will in your house." + +"Then you abandon me, doctor?" + +"Yes, for I can follow you no farther, and I only stop at the foot of +the scaffold. Some further discovery will be made, which will bring this +dreadful tragedy to a close. Adieu." + +"I entreat you, doctor!" + +"All the horrors that disturb my thoughts make your house odious and +fatal. Adieu, sir." + +"One word--one single word more, doctor! You go, leaving me in all the +horror of my situation, after increasing it by what you have revealed +to me. But what will be reported of the sudden death of the poor old +servant?" + +"True," said M. d'Avrigny; "we will return." The doctor went out first, +followed by M. de Villefort. The terrified servants were on the stairs +and in the passage where the doctor would pass. "Sir," said d'Avrigny +to Villefort, so loud that all might hear, "poor Barrois has led too +sedentary a life of late; accustomed formerly to ride on horseback, +or in the carriage, to the four corners of Europe, the monotonous walk +around that arm-chair has killed him--his blood has thickened. He was +stout, had a short, thick neck; he was attacked with apoplexy, and I was +called in too late. By the way," added he in a low tone, "take care to +throw away that cup of syrup of violets in the ashes." + +The doctor, without shaking hands with Villefort, without adding a word +to what he had said, went out, amid the tears and lamentations of the +whole household. The same evening all Villefort's servants, who had +assembled in the kitchen, and had a long consultation, came to +tell Madame de Villefort that they wished to leave. No entreaty, no +proposition of increased wages, could induce them to remain; to every +argument they replied, "We must go, for death is in this house." They +all left, in spite of prayers and entreaties, testifying their regret +at leaving so good a master and mistress, and especially Mademoiselle +Valentine, so good, so kind, and so gentle. Villefort looked at +Valentine as they said this. She was in tears, and, strange as it was, +in spite of the emotions he felt at the sight of these tears, he looked +also at Madame de Villefort, and it appeared to him as if a slight +gloomy smile had passed over her thin lips, like a meteor seen passing +inauspiciously between two clouds in a stormy sky. + + + +Chapter 81. The Room of the Retired Baker. + +The evening of the day on which the Count of Morcerf had left Danglars' +house with feelings of shame and anger at the rejection of the projected +alliance, M. Andrea Cavalcanti, with curled hair, mustaches in perfect +order, and white gloves which fitted admirably, had entered the +courtyard of the banker's house in La Chaussee d'Antin. He had not been +more than ten minutes in the drawing-room before he drew Danglars aside +into the recess of a bow-window, and, after an ingenious preamble, +related to him all his anxieties and cares since his noble father's +departure. He acknowledged the extreme kindness which had been shown +him by the banker's family, in which he had been received as a son, and +where, besides, his warmest affections had found an object on which +to centre in Mademoiselle Danglars. Danglars listened with the most +profound attention; he had expected this declaration for the last two or +three days, and when at last it came his eyes glistened as much as +they had lowered on listening to Morcerf. He would not, however, yield +immediately to the young man's request, but made a few conscientious +objections. "Are you not rather young, M. Andrea, to think of marrying?" + +"I think not, sir," replied M. Cavalcanti; "in Italy the nobility +generally marry young. Life is so uncertain, that we ought to secure +happiness while it is within our reach." + +"Well, sir," said Danglars, "in case your proposals, which do me honor, +are accepted by my wife and daughter, by whom shall the preliminary +arrangements be settled? So important a negotiation should, I think, be +conducted by the respective fathers of the young people." + +"Sir, my father is a man of great foresight and prudence. Thinking that +I might wish to settle in France, he left me at his departure, together +with the papers establishing my identity, a letter promising, if he +approved of my choice, 150,000 livres per annum from the day I was +married. So far as I can judge, I suppose this to be a quarter of my +father's revenue." + +"I," said Danglars, "have always intended giving my daughter 500,000 +francs as her dowry; she is, besides, my sole heiress." + +"All would then be easily arranged if the baroness and her daughter +are willing. We should command an annuity of 175,000 livres. Supposing, +also, I should persuade the marquis to give me my capital, which is +not likely, but still is possible, we would place these two or three +millions in your hands, whose talent might make it realize ten per +cent." + +"I never give more than four per cent, and generally only three and a +half; but to my son-in-law I would give five, and we would share the +profit." + +"Very good, father-in-law," said Cavalcanti, yielding to his low-born +nature, which would escape sometimes through the aristocratic gloss with +which he sought to conceal it. Correcting himself immediately, he said, +"Excuse me, sir; hope alone makes me almost mad,--what will not reality +do?" + +"But," said Danglars,--who, on his part, did not perceive how soon +the conversation, which was at first disinterested, was turning to a +business transaction,--"there is, doubtless, a part of your fortune your +father could not refuse you?" + +"Which?" asked the young man. + +"That you inherit from your mother." + +"Truly, from my mother, Leonora Corsinari." + +"How much may it amount to?" + +"Indeed, sir," said Andrea, "I assure you I have never given the subject +a thought, but I suppose it must have been at least two millions." +Danglars felt as much overcome with joy as the miser who finds a lost +treasure, or as the shipwrecked mariner who feels himself on solid +ground instead of in the abyss which he expected would swallow him up. + +"Well, sir," said Andrea, bowing to the banker respectfully, "may I +hope?" + +"You may not only hope," said Danglars, "but consider it a settled +thing, if no obstacle arises on your part." + +"I am, indeed, rejoiced," said Andrea. + +"But," said Danglars thoughtfully, "how is it that your patron, M. +de Monte Cristo, did not make his proposal for you?" Andrea blushed +imperceptibly. "I have just left the count, sir," said he; "he is, +doubtless, a delightful man but inconceivably peculiar in his ideas. He +esteems me highly. He even told me he had not the slightest doubt +that my father would give me the capital instead of the interest of my +property. He has promised to use his influence to obtain it for me; but +he also declared that he never had taken on himself the responsibility +of making proposals for another, and he never would. I must, however, do +him the justice to add that he assured me if ever he had regretted the +repugnance he felt to such a step it was on this occasion, because he +thought the projected union would be a happy and suitable one. Besides, +if he will do nothing officially, he will answer any questions you +propose to him. And now," continued he, with one of his most charming +smiles, "having finished talking to the father-in-law, I must address +myself to the banker." + +"And what may you have to say to him?" said Danglars, laughing in his +turn. + +"That the day after to-morrow I shall have to draw upon you for about +four thousand francs; but the count, expecting my bachelor's revenue +could not suffice for the coming month's outlay, has offered me a draft +for twenty thousand francs. It bears his signature, as you see, which is +all-sufficient." + +"Bring me a million such as that," said Danglars, "I shall be well +pleased," putting the draft in his pocket. "Fix your own hour for +to-morrow, and my cashier shall call on you with a check for eighty +thousand francs." + +"At ten o'clock then, if you please; I should like it early, as I am +going into the country to-morrow." + +"Very well, at ten o'clock; you are still at the Hotel des Princes?" + +"Yes." + +The following morning, with the banker's usual punctuality, the eighty +thousand francs were placed in the young man's hands as he was on the +point of starting, after having left two hundred francs for Caderousse. +He went out chiefly to avoid this dangerous enemy, and returned as +late as possible in the evening. But scarcely had he stepped out of his +carriage when the porter met him with a parcel in his hand. "Sir," said +he, "that man has been here." + +"What man?" said Andrea carelessly, apparently forgetting him whom he +but too well recollected. + +"Him to whom your excellency pays that little annuity." + +"Oh," said Andrea, "my father's old servant. Well, you gave him the two +hundred francs I had left for him?" + +"Yes, your excellency." Andrea had expressed a wish to be thus +addressed. "But," continued the porter, "he would not take them." Andrea +turned pale, but as it was dark his pallor was not perceptible. "What? +he would not take them?" said he with slight emotion. + +"No, he wished to speak to your excellency; I told him you were gone +out, and after some dispute he believed me and gave me this letter, +which he had brought with him already sealed." + +"Give it me," said Andrea, and he read by the light of his +carriage-lamp,--"You know where I live; I expect you tomorrow morning at +nine o'clock." + +Andrea examined it carefully, to ascertain if the letter had been +opened, or if any indiscreet eyes had seen its contents; but it was +so carefully folded, that no one could have read it, and the seal was +perfect. "Very well," said he. "Poor man, he is a worthy creature." +He left the porter to ponder on these words, not knowing which most to +admire, the master or the servant. "Take out the horses quickly, and +come up to me," said Andrea to his groom. In two seconds the young man +had reached his room and burnt Caderousse's letter. The servant entered +just as he had finished. "You are about my height, Pierre," said he. + +"I have that honor, your excellency." + +"You had a new livery yesterday?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I have an engagement with a pretty little girl for this evening, and do +not wish to be known; lend me your livery till to-morrow. I may sleep, +perhaps, at an inn." Pierre obeyed. Five minutes after, Andrea left the +hotel, completely disguised, took a cabriolet, and ordered the driver to +take him to the Cheval Rouge, at Picpus. The next morning he left that +inn as he had left the Hotel des Princes, without being noticed, walked +down the Faubourg St. Antoine, along the boulevard to Rue Menilmontant, +and stopping at the door of the third house on the left looked for some +one of whom to make inquiry in the porter's absence. "For whom are you +looking, my fine fellow?" asked the fruiteress on the opposite side. + +"Monsieur Pailletin, if you please, my good woman," replied Andrea. + +"A retired baker?" asked the fruiteress. + +"Exactly." + +"He lives at the end of the yard, on the left, on the third story." +Andrea went as she directed him, and on the third floor he found a +hare's paw, which, by the hasty ringing of the bell, it was evident he +pulled with considerable ill-temper. A moment after Caderousse's face +appeared at the grating in the door. "Ah, you are punctual," said he, as +he drew back the door. + +"Confound you and your punctuality!" said Andrea, throwing himself into +a chair in a manner which implied that he would rather have flung it at +the head of his host. + +"Come, come, my little fellow, don't be angry. See, I have thought about +you--look at the good breakfast we are going to have; nothing but what +you are fond of." Andrea, indeed, inhaled the scent of something cooking +which was not unwelcome to him, hungry as he was; it was that mixture +of fat and garlic peculiar to provincial kitchens of an inferior order, +added to that of dried fish, and above all, the pungent smell of musk +and cloves. These odors escaped from two deep dishes which were covered +and placed on a stove, and from a copper pan placed in an old iron pot. +In an adjoining room Andrea saw also a tolerably clean table prepared +for two, two bottles of wine sealed, the one with green, the other with +yellow, a supply of brandy in a decanter, and a measure of fruit in a +cabbage-leaf, cleverly arranged on an earthenware plate. + +"What do you think of it, my little fellow?" said Caderousse. "Ay, that +smells good! You know I used to be a famous cook; do you recollect how +you used to lick your fingers? You were among the first who tasted any +of my dishes, and I think you relished them tolerably." While speaking, +Caderousse went on peeling a fresh supply of onions. + +"But," said Andrea, ill-temperedly, "by my faith, if it was only to +breakfast with you, that you disturbed me, I wish the devil had taken +you!" + +"My boy," said Caderousse sententiously, "one can talk while eating. And +then, you ungrateful being, you are not pleased to see an old friend? +I am weeping with joy." He was truly crying, but it would have been +difficult to say whether joy or the onions produced the greatest effect +on the lachrymal glands of the old inn-keeper of the Pont-du-Gard. "Hold +your tongue, hypocrite," said Andrea; "you love me!" + +"Yes, I do, or may the devil take me. I know it is a weakness," said +Caderousse, "but it overpowers me." + +"And yet it has not prevented your sending for me to play me some +trick." + +"Come," said Caderousse, wiping his large knife on his apron, "if I did +not like you, do you think I should endure the wretched life you +lead me? Think for a moment. You have your servant's clothes on--you +therefore keep a servant; I have none, and am obliged to prepare my own +meals. You abuse my cookery because you dine at the table d'hote of +the Hotel des Princes, or the Cafe de Paris. Well, I too could keep a +servant; I too could have a tilbury; I too could dine where I like; but +why do I not? Because I would not annoy my little Benedetto. Come, just +acknowledge that I could, eh?" This address was accompanied by a look +which was by no means difficult to understand. "Well," said Andrea, +"admitting your love, why do you want me to breakfast with you?" + +"That I may have the pleasure of seeing you, my little fellow." + +"What is the use of seeing me after we have made all our arrangements?" + +"Eh, dear friend," said Caderousse, "are wills ever made without +codicils? But you first came to breakfast, did you not? Well, sit down, +and let us begin with these pilchards, and this fresh butter; which I +have put on some vine-leaves to please you, wicked one. Ah, yes; you +look at my room, my four straw chairs, my images, three francs each. But +what do you expect? This is not the Hotel des Princes." + +"Come, you are growing discontented, you are no longer happy; you, who +only wish to live like a retired baker." Caderousse sighed. "Well, what +have you to say? you have seen your dream realized." + +"I can still say it is a dream; a retired baker, my poor Benedetto, is +rich--he has an annuity." + +"Well, you have an annuity." + +"I have?" + +"Yes, since I bring you your two hundred francs." Caderousse shrugged +his shoulders. "It is humiliating," said he, "thus to receive money +given grudgingly,--an uncertain supply which may soon fail. You see I +am obliged to economize, in case your prosperity should cease. Well, my +friend, fortune is inconstant, as the chaplain of the regiment said. I +know your prosperity is great, you rascal; you are to marry the daughter +of Danglars." + +"What? of Danglars?" + +"Yes, to be sure; must I say Baron Danglars? I might as well say Count +Benedetto. He was an old friend of mine and if he had not so bad a +memory he ought to invite me to your wedding, seeing he came to mine. +Yes, yes, to mine; gad, he was not so proud then,--he was an under-clerk +to the good M. Morrel. I have dined many times with him and the Count of +Morcerf, so you see I have some high connections and were I to cultivate +them a little, we might meet in the same drawing-rooms." + +"Come, your jealousy represents everything to you in the wrong light." + +"That is all very fine, Benedetto mio, but I know what I am saying. +Perhaps I may one day put on my best coat, and presenting myself at +the great gate, introduce myself. Meanwhile let us sit down and +eat." Caderousse set the example and attacked the breakfast with good +appetite, praising each dish he set before his visitor. The latter +seemed to have resigned himself; he drew the corks, and partook largely +of the fish with the garlic and fat. "Ah, mate," said Caderousse, "you +are getting on better terms with your old landlord!" + +"Faith, yes," replied Andrea, whose hunger prevailed over every other +feeling. + +"So you like it, you rogue?" + +"So much that I wonder how a man who can cook thus can complain of hard +living." + +"Do you see," said Caderousse, "all my happiness is marred by one +thought?" + +"What is that?" + +"That I am dependent on another, I who have always gained my own +livelihood honestly." + +"Do not let that disturb you, I have enough for two." + +"No, truly; you may believe me if you will; at the end of every month I +am tormented by remorse." + +"Good Caderousse!" + +"So much so, that yesterday I would not take the two hundred francs." + +"Yes, you wished to speak to me; but was it indeed remorse, tell me?" + +"True remorse; and, besides, an idea had struck me." Andrea shuddered; +he always did so at Caderousse's ideas. "It is miserable--do you +see?--always to wait till the end of the month."--"Oh," said Andrea +philosophically, determined to watch his companion narrowly, "does not +life pass in waiting? Do I, for instance, fare better? Well, I wait +patiently, do I not?" + +"Yes; because instead of expecting two hundred wretched francs, you +expect five or six thousand, perhaps ten, perhaps even twelve, for you +take care not to let any one know the utmost. Down there, you always had +little presents and Christmas-boxes which you tried to hide from your +poor friend Caderousse. Fortunately he is a cunning fellow, that friend +Caderousse." + +"There you are beginning again to ramble, to talk again and again of the +past! But what is the use of teasing me with going all over that again?" + +"Ah, you are only one and twenty, and can forget the past; I am fifty, +and am obliged to recollect it. But let us return to business." + +"Yes." + +"I was going to say, if I were in your place"-- + +"Well." + +"I would realize"-- + +"How would you realize?" + +"I would ask for six months' in advance, under pretence of being able to +purchase a farm, then with my six months I would decamp." + +"Well, well," said Andrea, "that isn't a bad idea." + +"My dear friend," said Caderousse, "eat of my bread, and take my advice; +you will be none the worse off, physically or morally." + +"But," said Andrea, "why do you not act on the advice you gave me? Why +do you not realize a six months', a year's advance even, and retire +to Brussels? Instead of living the retired baker, you might live as a +bankrupt, using his privileges; that would be very good." + +"But how the devil would you have me retire on twelve hundred francs?" + +"Ah, Caderousse," said Andrea, "how covetous you are! Two months ago you +were dying with hunger." + +"The appetite grows by what it feeds on," said Caderousse, grinning and +showing his teeth, like a monkey laughing or a tiger growling. "And," +added he, biting off with his large white teeth an enormous mouthful of +bread, "I have formed a plan." Caderousse's plans alarmed Andrea still +more than his ideas; ideas were but the germ, the plan was reality. "Let +me see your plan; I dare say it is a pretty one." + +"Why not? Who formed the plan by which we left the establishment of +M----! eh? was it not I? and it was no bad one I believe, since here we +are!" + +"I do not say," replied Andrea, "that you never make a good one; but let +us see your plan." + +"Well," pursued Caderousse, "can you without expending one sou, put me +in the way of getting fifteen thousand francs? No, fifteen thousand are +not enough,--I cannot again become an honest man with less than thirty +thousand francs." + +"No," replied Andrea, dryly, "no, I cannot." + +"I do not think you understand me," replied Caderousse, calmly; "I said +without your laying out a sou." + +"Do you want me to commit a robbery, to spoil all my good fortune--and +yours with mine--and both of us to be dragged down there again?" + +"It would make very little difference to me," said Caderousse, "if I +were retaken, I am a poor creature to live alone, and sometimes pine +for my old comrades; not like you, heartless creature, who would be glad +never to see them again." Andrea did more than tremble this time, he +turned pale. + +"Come, Caderousse, no nonsense!" said he. + +"Don't alarm yourself, my little Benedetto, but just point out to +me some means of gaining those thirty thousand francs without your +assistance, and I will contrive it." + +"Well, I'll see--I'll try to contrive some way," said Andrea. + +"Meanwhile you will raise my monthly allowance to five hundred francs, +my little fellow? I have a fancy, and mean to get a housekeeper." + +"Well, you shall have your five hundred francs," said Andrea; "but it is +very hard for me, my poor Caderousse--you take advantage"-- + +"Bah," said Caderousse, "when you have access to countless stores." One +would have said Andrea anticipated his companion's words, so did his eye +flash like lightning, but it was but for a moment. "True," he replied, +"and my protector is very kind." + +"That dear protector," said Caderousse; "and how much does he give you +monthly?" + +"Five thousand francs." + +"As many thousands as you give me hundreds! Truly, it is only bastards +who are thus fortunate. Five thousand francs per month! What the devil +can you do with all that?" + +"Oh, it is no trouble to spend that; and I am like you, I want capital." + +"Capital?--yes--I understand--every one would like capital." + +"Well, and I shall get it." + +"Who will give it to you--your prince?" + +"Yes, my prince. But unfortunately I must wait." + +"You must wait for what?" asked Caderousse. + +"For his death." + +"The death of your prince?" + +"Yes." + +"How so?" + +"Because he has made his will in my favor." + +"Indeed?" + +"On my honor." + +"For how much?" + +"For five hundred thousand." + +"Only that? It's little enough." + +"But so it is." + +"No it cannot be!" + +"Are you my friend, Caderousse?" + +"Yes, in life or death." + +"Well, I will tell you a secret." + +"What is it?" + +"But remember"-- + +"Ah, pardieu, mute as a carp." + +"Well, I think"--Andrea stopped and looked around. + +"You think? Do not fear; pardieu, we are alone." + +"I think I have discovered my father." + +"Your true father?" + +"Yes." + +"Not old Cavalcanti?" + +"No, for he has gone again; the true one, as you say." + +"And that father is"-- + +"Well, Caderousse, it is Monte Cristo." + +"Bah!" + +"Yes, you understand, that explains all. He cannot acknowledge me +openly, it appears, but he does it through M. Cavalcanti, and gives him +fifty thousand francs for it." + +"Fifty thousand francs for being your father? I would have done it for +half that, for twenty thousand, for fifteen thousand; why did you not +think of me, ungrateful man?" + +"Did I know anything about it, when it was all done when I was down +there?" + +"Ah, truly? And you say that by his will"-- + +"He leaves me five hundred thousand livres." + +"Are you sure of it?" + +"He showed it me; but that is not all--there is a codicil, as I said +just now." + +"Probably." + +"And in that codicil he acknowledges me." + +"Oh, the good father, the brave father, the very honest father!" said +Caderousse, twirling a plate in the air between his two hands. + +"Now say if I conceal anything from you?" + +"No, and your confidence makes you honorable in my opinion; and your +princely father, is he rich, very rich?" + +"Yes, he is that; he does not himself know the amount of his fortune." + +"Is it possible?" + +"It is evident enough to me, who am always at his house. The other day +a banker's clerk brought him fifty thousand francs in a portfolio about +the size of your plate; yesterday his banker brought him a hundred +thousand francs in gold." Caderousse was filled with wonder; the young +man's words sounded to him like metal, and he thought he could hear the +rushing of cascades of louis. "And you go into that house?" cried he +briskly. + +"When I like." + +Caderousse was thoughtful for a moment. It was easy to perceive he was +revolving some unfortunate idea in his mind. Then suddenly,--"How I +should like to see all that," cried he; "how beautiful it must be!" + +"It is, in fact, magnificent," said Andrea. + +"And does he not live in the Champs-Elysees?" + +"Yes, No. 30." + +"Ah," said Caderousse, "No. 30." + +"Yes, a fine house standing alone, between a court-yard and a +garden,--you must know it." + +"Possibly; but it is not the exterior I care for, it is the interior. +What beautiful furniture there must be in it!" + +"Have you ever seen the Tuileries?" + +"No." + +"Well, it surpasses that." + +"It must be worth one's while to stoop, Andrea, when that good M. Monte +Cristo lets fall his purse." + +"It is not worth while to wait for that," said Andrea; "money is as +plentiful in that house as fruit in an orchard." + +"But you should take me there one day with you." + +"How can I? On what plea?" + +"You are right; but you have made my mouth water. I must absolutely see +it; I shall find a way." + +"No nonsense, Caderousse!" + +"I will offer myself as floor-polisher." + +"The rooms are all carpeted." + +"Well, then, I must be contented to imagine it." + +"That is the best plan, believe me." + +"Try, at least, to give me an idea of what it is." + +"How can I?" + +"Nothing is easier. Is it large?" + +"Middling." + +"How is it arranged?" + +"Faith, I should require pen, ink, and paper to make a plan." + +"They are all here," said Caderousse, briskly. He fetched from an +old secretary a sheet of white paper and pen and ink. "Here," said +Caderousse, "draw me all that on the paper, my boy." Andrea took the pen +with an imperceptible smile and began. "The house, as I said, is between +the court and the garden; in this way, do you see?" Andrea drew the +garden, the court and the house. + +"High walls?" + +"Not more than eight or ten feet." + +"That is not prudent," said Caderousse. + +"In the court are orange-trees in pots, turf, and clumps of flowers." + +"And no steel-traps?" + +"No." + +"The stables?" + +"Are on either side of the gate, which you see there." And Andrea +continued his plan. + +"Let us see the ground floor," said Caderousse. + +"On the ground-floor, dining-room, two drawing-rooms, billiard-room, +staircase in the hall, and a little back staircase." + +"Windows?" + +"Magnificent windows, so beautiful, so large, that I believe a man of +your size should pass through each frame." + +"Why the devil have they any stairs with such windows?" + +"Luxury has everything." + +"But shutters?" + +"Yes, but they are never used. That Count of Monte Cristo is an +original, who loves to look at the sky even at night." + +"And where do the servants sleep?" + +"Oh, they have a house to themselves. Picture to yourself a pretty +coach-house at the right-hand side where the ladders are kept. Well, +over that coach-house are the servants' rooms, with bells corresponding +with the different apartments." + +"Ah, diable--bells did you say?" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Oh, nothing! I only say they cost a load of money to hang, and what is +the use of them, I should like to know?" + +"There used to be a dog let loose in the yard at night, but it has been +taken to the house at Auteuil, to that you went to, you know." + +"Yes." + +"I was saying to him only yesterday, 'You are imprudent, Monsieur Count; +for when you go to Auteuil and take your servants the house is left +unprotected.' 'Well,' said he, 'what next?' 'Well, next, some day you +will be robbed.'" + +"What did he answer?" + +"He quietly said, 'What do I care if I am?'" + +"Andrea, he has some secretary with a spring." + +"How do you know?" + +"Yes, which catches the thief in a trap and plays a tune. I was told +there were such at the last exhibition." + +"He has simply a mahogany secretary, in which the key is always kept." + +"And he is not robbed?" + +"No; his servants are all devoted to him." + +"There ought to be some money in that secretary?" + +"There may be. No one knows what there is." + +"And where is it?" + +"On the first floor." + +"Sketch me the plan of that floor, as you have done of the ground floor, +my boy." + +"That is very simple." Andrea took the pen. "On the first story, do you +see, there is the anteroom and the drawing-room; to the right of the +drawing-room, a library and a study; to the left, a bedroom and a +dressing-room. The famous secretary is in the dressing-room." + +"Is there a window in the dressing-room?" + +"Two,--one here and one there." Andrea sketched two windows in the room, +which formed an angle on the plan, and appeared as a small square added +to the rectangle of the bedroom. Caderousse became thoughtful. "Does he +often go to Auteuil?" added he. + +"Two or three times a week. To-morrow, for instance, he is going to +spend the day and night there." + +"Are you sure of it?" + +"He has invited me to dine there." + +"There's a life for you," said Caderousse; "a town house and a country +house." + +"That is what it is to be rich." + +"And shall you dine there?" + +"Probably." + +"When you dine there, do you sleep there?" + +"If I like; I am at home there." Caderousse looked at the young man, as +if to get at the truth from the bottom of his heart. But Andrea drew +a cigar-case from his pocket, took a Havana, quietly lit it, and began +smoking. "When do you want your twelve hundred francs?" said he to +Caderousse. + +"Now, if you have them." Andrea took five and twenty louis from his +pocket. + +"Yellow boys?" said Caderousse; "no, I thank you." + +"Oh, you despise them." + +"On the contrary, I esteem them, but will not have them." + +"You can change them, idiot; gold is worth five sous." + +"Exactly; and he who changes them will follow friend Caderousse, lay +hands on him, and demand what farmers pay him their rent in gold. No +nonsense, my good fellow; silver simply, round coins with the head of +some monarch or other on them. Anybody may possess a five-franc piece." + +"But do you suppose I carry five hundred francs about with me? I should +want a porter." + +"Well, leave them with your porter; he is to be trusted. I will call for +them." + +"To-day?" + +"No, to-morrow; I shall not have time to day." + +"Well, to-morrow I will leave them when I go to Auteuil." + +"May I depend on it?" + +"Certainly." + +"Because I shall secure my housekeeper on the strength of it." + +"Now see here, will that be all? Eh? And will you not torment me any +more?" + +"Never." Caderousse had become so gloomy that Andrea feared he should be +obliged to notice the change. He redoubled his gayety and carelessness. +"How sprightly you are," said Caderousse; "One would say you were +already in possession of your property." + +"No, unfortunately; but when I do obtain it"-- + +"Well?" + +"I shall remember old friends, I can tell you that." + +"Yes, since you have such a good memory." + +"What do you want? It looks as if you were trying to fleece me?" + +"I? What an idea! I, who am going to give you another piece of good +advice." + +"What is it?" + +"To leave behind you the diamond you have on your finger. We shall both +get into trouble. You will ruin both yourself and me by your folly." + +"How so?" said Andrea. + +"How? You put on a livery, you disguise yourself as a servant, and yet +keep a diamond on your finger worth four or five thousand francs." + +"You guess well." + +"I know something of diamonds; I have had some." + +"You do well to boast of it," said Andrea, who, without becoming angry, +as Caderousse feared, at this new extortion, quietly resigned the ring. +Caderousse looked so closely at it that Andrea well knew that he was +examining to see if all the edges were perfect. + +"It is a false diamond," said Caderousse. + +"You are joking now," replied Andrea. + +"Do not be angry, we can try it." Caderousse went to the window, touched +the glass with it, and found it would cut. + +"Confiteor," said Caderousse, putting the diamond on his little finger; +"I was mistaken; but those thieves of jewellers imitate so well that it +is no longer worth while to rob a jeweller's shop--it is another branch +of industry paralyzed." + +"Have you finished?" said Andrea,--"do you want anything more?--will you +have my waistcoat or my hat? Make free, now you have begun." + +"No; you are, after all, a good companion; I will not detain you, and +will try to cure myself of my ambition." + +"But take care the same thing does not happen to you in selling the +diamond you feared with the gold." + +"I shall not sell it--do not fear." + +"Not at least till the day after to-morrow," thought the young man. + +"Happy rogue," said Caderousse; "you are going to find your servants, +your horses, your carriage, and your betrothed!" + +"Yes," said Andrea. + +"Well, I hope you will make a handsome wedding-present the day you marry +Mademoiselle Danglars." + +"I have already told you it is a fancy you have taken in your head." + +"What fortune has she?" + +"But I tell you"-- + +"A million?" Andrea shrugged his shoulders. + +"Let it be a million," said Caderousse; "you can never have so much as I +wish you." + +"Thank you," said the young man. + +"Oh, I wish it you with all my heart!" added Caderousse with his hoarse +laugh. "Stop, let me show you the way." + +"It is not worth while." + +"Yes, it is." + +"Why?" + +"Because there is a little secret, a precaution I thought it desirable +to take, one of Huret & Fitchet's locks, revised and improved by +Gaspard Caderousse; I will manufacture you a similar one when you are a +capitalist." + +"Thank you," said Andrea; "I will let you know a week beforehand." They +parted. Caderousse remained on the landing until he had not only seen +Andrea go down the three stories, but also cross the court. Then he +returned hastily, shut his door carefully, and began to study, like a +clever architect, the plan Andrea had left him. + +"Dear Benedetto," said he, "I think he will not be sorry to inherit his +fortune, and he who hastens the day when he can touch his five hundred +thousand will not be his worst friend." + + + +Chapter 82. The Burglary. + +The day following that on which the conversation we have related took +place, the Count of Monte Cristo set out for Auteuil, accompanied by +Ali and several attendants, and also taking with him some horses whose +qualities he was desirous of ascertaining. He was induced to undertake +this journey, of which the day before he had not even thought and which +had not occurred to Andrea either, by the arrival of Bertuccio from +Normandy with intelligence respecting the house and sloop. The house was +ready, and the sloop which had arrived a week before lay at anchor in a +small creek with her crew of six men, who had observed all the requisite +formalities and were ready again to put to sea. + +The count praised Bertuccio's zeal, and ordered him to prepare for a +speedy departure, as his stay in France would not be prolonged more than +a month. "Now," said he, "I may require to go in one night from Paris to +Treport; let eight fresh horses be in readiness on the road, which will +enable me to go fifty leagues in ten hours." + +"Your highness had already expressed that wish," said Bertuccio, "and +the horses are ready. I have bought them, and stationed them myself at +the most desirable posts, that is, in villages, where no one generally +stops." + +"That's well," said Monte Cristo; "I remain here a day or two--arrange +accordingly." As Bertuccio was leaving the room to give the requisite +orders, Baptistin opened the door: he held a letter on a silver waiter. + +"What are you doing here?" asked the count, seeing him covered with +dust; "I did not send for you, I think?" + +Baptistin, without answering, approached the count, and presented the +letter. "Important and urgent," said he. The count opened the letter, +and read:-- + +"M. de Monte Cristo is apprised that this night a man will enter his +house in the Champs-Elysees with the intention of carrying off some +papers supposed to be in the secretary in the dressing-room. The count's +well-known courage will render unnecessary the aid of the police, whose +interference might seriously affect him who sends this advice. The +count, by any opening from the bedroom, or by concealing himself in +the dressing-room, would be able to defend his property himself. Many +attendants or apparent precautions would prevent the villain from +the attempt, and M. de Monte Cristo would lose the opportunity of +discovering an enemy whom chance has revealed to him who now sends this +warning to the count,--a warning he might not be able to send another +time, if this first attempt should fail and another be made." + +The count's first idea was that this was an artifice--a gross deception, +to draw his attention from a minor danger in order to expose him to a +greater. He was on the point of sending the letter to the commissary of +police, notwithstanding the advice of his anonymous friend, or perhaps +because of that advice, when suddenly the idea occurred to him that it +might be some personal enemy, whom he alone should recognize and over +whom, if such were the case, he alone would gain any advantage, as +Fiesco [*] had done over the Moor who would have killed him. We know the +Count's vigorous and daring mind, denying anything to be impossible, +with that energy which marks the great man. From his past life, from +his resolution to shrink from nothing, the count had acquired an +inconceivable relish for the contests in which he had engaged, sometimes +against nature, that is to say, against God, and sometimes against the +world, that is, against the devil. + + * The Genoese conspirator. + +"They do not want my papers," said Monte Cristo, "they want to kill +me; they are no robbers, but assassins. I will not allow the prefect of +police to interfere with my private affairs. I am rich enough, forsooth, +to distribute his authority on this occasion." The count recalled +Baptistin, who had left the room after delivering the letter. "Return to +Paris," said he; "assemble the servants who remain there. I want all my +household at Auteuil." + +"But will no one remain in the house, my lord?" asked Baptistin. + +"Yes, the porter." + +"My lord will remember that the lodge is at a distance from the house." + +"Well?" + +"The house might be stripped without his hearing the least noise." + +"By whom?" + +"By thieves." + +"You are a fool, M. Baptistin. Thieves might strip the house--it would +annoy me less than to be disobeyed." Baptistin bowed. + +"You understand me?" said the count. "Bring your comrades here, one and +all; but let everything remain as usual, only close the shutters of the +ground floor." + +"And those of the second floor?" + +"You know they are never closed. Go!" + +The count signified his intention of dining alone, and that no one but +Ali should attend him. Having dined with his usual tranquillity and +moderation, the count, making a signal to Ali to follow him, went out +by the side-gate and on reaching the Bois de Boulogne turned, apparently +without design towards Paris and at twilight; found himself opposite his +house in the Champs-Elysees. All was dark; one solitary, feeble light +was burning in the porter's lodge, about forty paces distant from the +house, as Baptistin had said. Monte Cristo leaned against a tree, and +with that scrutinizing glance which was so rarely deceived, looked up +and down the avenue, examined the passers-by, and carefully looked down +the neighboring streets, to see that no one was concealed. Ten minutes +passed thus, and he was convinced that no one was watching him. He +hastened to the side-door with Ali, entered hurriedly, and by the +servants' staircase, of which he had the key, gained his bedroom without +opening or disarranging a single curtain, without even the porter +having the slightest suspicion that the house, which he supposed empty, +contained its chief occupant. + +Arrived in his bedroom, the count motioned to Ali to stop; then he +passed into the dressing-room, which he examined. Everything appeared +as usual--the precious secretary in its place, and the key in the +secretary. He double locked it, took the key, returned to the bedroom +door, removed the double staple of the bolt, and went in. Meanwhile Ali +had procured the arms the count required--namely, a short carbine and +a pair of double-barrelled pistols, with which as sure an aim might be +taken as with a single-barrelled one. Thus armed, the count held the +lives of five men in his hands. It was about half-past nine. The count +and Ali ate in haste a crust of bread and drank a glass of Spanish wine; +then Monte Cristo slipped aside one of the movable panels, which enabled +him to see into the adjoining room. He had within his reach his pistols +and carbine, and Ali, standing near him, held one of the small Arabian +hatchets, whose form has not varied since the Crusades. Through one of +the windows of the bedroom, on a line with that in the dressing-room, +the count could see into the street. + +Two hours passed thus. It was intensely dark; still Ali, thanks to his +wild nature, and the count, thanks doubtless to his long confinement, +could distinguish in the darkness the slightest movement of the trees. +The little light in the lodge had long been extinct. It might be +expected that the attack, if indeed an attack was projected, would be +made from the staircase of the ground floor, and not from a window; in +Monte Cristo's opinion, the villains sought his life, not his money. It +would be his bedroom they would attack, and they must reach it by the +back staircase, or by the window in the dressing-room. The clock of +the Invalides struck a quarter to twelve; the west wind bore on its +moistened gusts the doleful vibration of the three strokes. + +As the last stroke died away, the count thought he heard a slight noise +in the dressing-room; this first sound, or rather this first grinding, +was followed by a second, then a third; at the fourth, the count knew +what to expect. A firm and well-practised hand was engaged in cutting +the four sides of a pane of glass with a diamond. The count felt his +heart beat more rapidly. Inured as men may be to danger, forewarned as +they may be of peril, they understand, by the fluttering of the heart +and the shuddering of the frame, the enormous difference between a dream +and a reality, between the project and the execution. However, Monte +Cristo only made a sign to apprise Ali, who, understanding that danger +was approaching from the other side, drew nearer to his master. Monte +Cristo was eager to ascertain the strength and number of his enemies. + +The window whence the noise proceeded was opposite the opening by which +the count could see into the dressing-room. He fixed his eyes on that +window--he distinguished a shadow in the darkness; then one of the panes +became quite opaque, as if a sheet of paper were stuck on the outside, +then the square cracked without falling. Through the opening an arm was +passed to find the fastening, then a second; the window turned on its +hinges, and a man entered. He was alone. + +"That's a daring rascal," whispered the count. + +At that moment Ali touched him slightly on the shoulder. He turned; Ali +pointed to the window of the room in which they were, facing the street. +"I see!" said he, "there are two of them; one does the work while the +other stands guard." He made a sign to Ali not to lose sight of the man +in the street, and turned to the one in the dressing-room. + +The glass-cutter had entered, and was feeling his way, his arms +stretched out before him. At last he appeared to have made himself +familiar with his surroundings. There were two doors; he bolted them +both. + +When he drew near to the bedroom door, Monte Cristo expected that he was +coming in, and raised one of his pistols; but he simply heard the sound +of the bolts sliding in their copper rings. It was only a precaution. +The nocturnal visitor, ignorant of the fact that the count had removed +the staples, might now think himself at home, and pursue his purpose +with full security. Alone and free to act as he wished, the man then +drew from his pocket something which the count could not discern, placed +it on a stand, then went straight to the secretary, felt the lock, and +contrary to his expectation found that the key was missing. But the +glass-cutter was a prudent man who had provided for all emergencies. The +count soon heard the rattling of a bunch of skeleton keys, such as the +locksmith brings when called to force a lock, and which thieves call +nightingales, doubtless from the music of their nightly song when they +grind against the bolt. "Ah, ha," whispered Monte Cristo with a smile of +disappointment, "he is only a thief." + +But the man in the dark could not find the right key. He reached the +instrument he had placed on the stand, touched a spring, and immediately +a pale light, just bright enough to render objects distinct, was +reflected on his hands and countenance. "By heavens," exclaimed Monte +Cristo, starting back, "it is"-- + +Ali raised his hatchet. "Don't stir," whispered Monte Cristo, "and put +down your hatchet; we shall require no arms." Then he added some words +in a low tone, for the exclamation which surprise had drawn from the +count, faint as it had been, had startled the man who remained in the +pose of the old knife-grinder. It was an order the count had just given, +for immediately Ali went noiselessly, and returned, bearing a black +dress and a three-cornered hat. Meanwhile Monte Cristo had rapidly taken +off his great-coat, waistcoat, and shirt, and one might distinguish by +the glimmering through the open panel that he wore a pliant tunic of +steel mail, of which the last in France, where daggers are no longer +dreaded, was worn by King Louis XVI., who feared the dagger at his +breast, and whose head was cleft with a hatchet. The tunic soon +disappeared under a long cassock, as did his hair under a priest's wig; +the three-cornered hat over this effectually transformed the count into +an abbe. + +The man, hearing nothing more, stood erect, and while Monte Cristo was +completing his disguise had advanced straight to the secretary, whose +lock was beginning to crack under his nightingale. + +"Try again," whispered the count, who depended on the secret spring, +which was unknown to the picklock, clever as he might be--"try again, +you have a few minutes' work there." And he advanced to the window. +The man whom he had seen seated on a fence had got down, and was still +pacing the street; but, strange as it appeared, he cared not for those +who might pass from the avenue of the Champs-Elysees or by the Faubourg +St. Honore; his attention was engrossed with what was passing at the +count's, and his only aim appeared to be to discern every movement in +the dressing-room. + +Monte Cristo suddenly struck his finger on his forehead and a smile +passed over his lips; then drawing near to Ali, he whispered,-- + +"Remain here, concealed in the dark, and whatever noise you hear, +whatever passes, only come in or show yourself if I call you." Ali bowed +in token of strict obedience. Monte Cristo then drew a lighted taper +from a closet, and when the thief was deeply engaged with his lock, +silently opened the door, taking care that the light should shine +directly on his face. The door opened so quietly that the thief heard no +sound; but, to his astonishment, the room was suddenly illuminated. He +turned. + +"Ah, good-evening, my dear M. Caderousse," said Monte Cristo; "what are +you doing here, at such an hour?" + +"The Abbe Busoni!" exclaimed Caderousse; and, not knowing how this +strange apparition could have entered when he had bolted the doors, he +let fall his bunch of keys, and remained motionless and stupefied. The +count placed himself between Caderousse and the window, thus cutting off +from the thief his only chance of retreat. "The Abbe Busoni!" repeated +Caderousse, fixing his haggard gaze on the count. + +"Yes, undoubtedly, the Abbe Busoni himself," replied Monte Cristo. "And +I am very glad you recognize me, dear M. Caderousse; it proves you have +a good memory, for it must be about ten years since we last met." This +calmness of Busoni, combined with his irony and boldness, staggered +Caderousse. + +"The abbe, the abbe!" murmured he, clinching his fists, and his teeth +chattering. + +"So you would rob the Count of Monte Cristo?" continued the false abbe. + +"Reverend sir," murmured Caderousse, seeking to regain the window, which +the count pitilessly blocked--"reverend sir, I don't know--believe me--I +take my oath"-- + +"A pane of glass out," continued the count, "a dark lantern, a bunch of +false keys, a secretary half forced--it is tolerably evident"-- + +Caderousse was choking; he looked around for some corner to hide in, +some way of escape. + +"Come, come," continued the count, "I see you are still the same,--an +assassin." + +"Reverend sir, since you know everything, you know it was not I--it was +La Carconte; that was proved at the trial, since I was only condemned to +the galleys." + +"Is your time, then, expired, since I find you in a fair way to return +there?" + +"No, reverend sir; I have been liberated by some one." + +"That some one has done society a great kindness." + +"Ah," said Caderousse, "I had promised"-- + +"And you are breaking your promise!" interrupted Monte Cristo. + +"Alas, yes!" said Caderousse very uneasily. + +"A bad relapse, that will lead you, if I mistake not, to the Place de +Greve. So much the worse, so much the worse--diavolo, as they say in my +country." + +"Reverend sir, I am impelled"-- + +"Every criminal says the same thing." + +"Poverty"-- + +"Pshaw!" said Busoni disdainfully; "poverty may make a man beg, steal a +loaf of bread at a baker's door, but not cause him to open a secretary +in a house supposed to be inhabited. And when the jeweller Johannes had +just paid you 40,000. francs for the diamond I had given you, and +you killed him to get the diamond and the money both, was that also +poverty?" + +"Pardon, reverend sir," said Caderousse; "you have saved my life once, +save me again!" + +"That is but poor encouragement." + +"Are you alone, reverend sir, or have you there soldiers ready to seize +me?" + +"I am alone," said the abbe, "and I will again have pity on you, and +will let you escape, at the risk of the fresh miseries my weakness may +lead to, if you tell me the truth." + +"Ah, reverend sir," cried Caderousse, clasping his hands, and drawing +nearer to Monte Cristo, "I may indeed say you are my deliverer!" + +"You mean to say you have been freed from confinement?" + +"Yes, that is true, reverend sir." + +"Who was your liberator?" + +"An Englishman." + +"What was his name?" + +"Lord Wilmore." + +"I know him; I shall know if you lie." + +"Ah, reverend sir, I tell you the simple truth." + +"Was this Englishman protecting you?" + +"No, not me, but a young Corsican, my companion." + +"What was this young Corsican's name?" + +"Benedetto." + +"Is that his Christian name?" + +"He had no other; he was a foundling." + +"Then this young man escaped with you?" + +"He did." + +"In what way?" + +"We were working at St. Mandrier, near Toulon. Do you know St. +Mandrier?" + +"I do." + +"In the hour of rest, between noon and one o'clock"-- + +"Galley-slaves having a nap after dinner! We may well pity the poor +fellows!" said the abbe. + +"Nay," said Caderousse, "one can't always work--one is not a dog." + +"So much the better for the dogs," said Monte Cristo. + +"While the rest slept, then, we went away a short distance; we severed +our fetters with a file the Englishman had given us, and swam away." + +"And what is become of this Benedetto?" + +"I don't know." + +"You ought to know." + +"No, in truth; we parted at Hyeres." And, to give more weight to his +protestation, Caderousse advanced another step towards the abbe, who +remained motionless in his place, as calm as ever, and pursuing +his interrogation. "You lie," said the Abbe Busoni, with a tone of +irresistible authority. + +"Reverend sir!" + +"You lie! This man is still your friend, and you, perhaps, make use of +him as your accomplice." + +"Oh, reverend sir!" + +"Since you left Toulon what have you lived on? Answer me!" + +"On what I could get." + +"You lie," repeated the abbe a third time, with a still more imperative +tone. Caderousse, terrified, looked at the count. "You have lived on the +money he has given you." + +"True," said Caderousse; "Benedetto has become the son of a great lord." + +"How can he be the son of a great lord?" + +"A natural son." + +"And what is that great lord's name?" + +"The Count of Monte Cristo, the very same in whose house we are." + +"Benedetto the count's son?" replied Monte Cristo, astonished in his +turn. + +"Well, I should think so, since the count has found him a false +father--since the count gives him four thousand francs a month, and +leaves him 500,000 francs in his will." + +"Ah, yes," said the factitious abbe, who began to understand; "and what +name does the young man bear meanwhile?" + +"Andrea Cavalcanti." + +"Is it, then, that young man whom my friend the Count of Monte Cristo +has received into his house, and who is going to marry Mademoiselle +Danglars?" + +"Exactly." + +"And you suffer that, you wretch--you, who know his life and his crime?" + +"Why should I stand in a comrade's way?" said Caderousse. + +"You are right; it is not you who should apprise M. Danglars, it is I." + +"Do not do so, reverend sir." + +"Why not?" + +"Because you would bring us to ruin." + +"And you think that to save such villains as you I will become an +abettor of their plot, an accomplice in their crimes?" + +"Reverend sir," said Caderousse, drawing still nearer. + +"I will expose all." + +"To whom?" + +"To M. Danglars." + +"By heaven!" cried Caderousse, drawing from his waistcoat an open knife, +and striking the count in the breast, "you shall disclose nothing, +reverend sir!" To Caderousse's great astonishment, the knife, instead of +piercing the count's breast, flew back blunted. At the same moment the +count seized with his left hand the assassin's wrist, and wrung it +with such strength that the knife fell from his stiffened fingers, and +Caderousse uttered a cry of pain. But the count, disregarding his cry, +continued to wring the bandit's wrist, until, his arm being dislocated, +he fell first on his knees, then flat on the floor. The count then +placed his foot on his head, saying, "I know not what restrains me from +crushing thy skull, rascal." + +"Ah, mercy--mercy!" cried Caderousse. The count withdrew his foot. +"Rise!" said he. Caderousse rose. + +"What a wrist you have, reverend sir!" said Caderousse, stroking his +arm, all bruised by the fleshy pincers which had held it; "what a +wrist!" + +"Silence! God gives me strength to overcome a wild beast like you; in +the name of that God I act,--remember that, wretch,--and to spare thee +at this moment is still serving him." + +"Oh!" said Caderousse, groaning with pain. + +"Take this pen and paper, and write what I dictate." + +"I don't know how to write, reverend sir." + +"You lie! Take this pen, and write!" Caderousse, awed by the superior +power of the abbe, sat down and wrote:-- + +Sir,--The man whom you are receiving at your house, and to whom you +intend to marry your daughter, is a felon who escaped with me from +confinement at Toulon. He was No. 59, and I No. 58. He was called +Benedetto, but he is ignorant of his real name, having never known his +parents. + +"Sign it!" continued the count. + +"But would you ruin me?" + +"If I sought your ruin, fool, I should drag you to the first +guard-house; besides, when that note is delivered, in all probability +you will have no more to fear. Sign it, then!" + +Caderousse signed it. "The address, 'To monsieur the Baron Danglars, +banker, Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin.'" Caderousse wrote the address. The +abbe took the note. "Now," said he, "that suffices--begone!" + +"Which way?" + +"The way you came." + +"You wish me to get out at that window?" + +"You got in very well." + +"Oh, you have some design against me, reverend sir." + +"Idiot! what design can I have?" + +"Why, then, not let me out by the door?" + +"What would be the advantage of waking the porter?"-- + +"Ah, reverend sir, tell me, do you wish me dead?" + +"I wish what God wills." + +"But swear that you will not strike me as I go down." + +"Cowardly fool!" + +"What do you intend doing with me?" + +"I ask you what can I do? I have tried to make you a happy man, and you +have turned out a murderer." + +"Oh, monsieur," said Caderousse, "make one more attempt--try me once +more!" + +"I will," said the count. "Listen--you know if I may be relied on." + +"Yes," said Caderousse. + +"If you arrive safely at home"-- + +"What have I to fear, except from you?" + +"If you reach your home safely, leave Paris, leave France, and wherever +you may be, so long as you conduct yourself well, I will send you a +small annuity; for, if you return home safely, then"-- + +"Then?" asked Caderousse, shuddering. + +"Then I shall believe God has forgiven you, and I will forgive you too." + +"As true as I am a Christian," stammered Caderousse, "you will make me +die of fright!" + +"Now begone," said the count, pointing to the window. + +Caderousse, scarcely yet relying on this promise, put his legs out +of the window and stood on the ladder. "Now go down," said the abbe, +folding his arms. Understanding he had nothing more to fear from him, +Caderousse began to go down. Then the count brought the taper to the +window, that it might be seen in the Champs-Elysees that a man was +getting out of the window while another held a light. + +"What are you doing, reverend sir? Suppose a watchman should pass?" And +he blew out the light. He then descended, but it was only when he felt +his foot touch the ground that he was satisfied of his safety. + +Monte Cristo returned to his bedroom, and, glancing rapidly from the +garden to the street, he saw first Caderousse, who after walking to the +end of the garden, fixed his ladder against the wall at a different part +from where he came in. The count then looking over into the street, saw +the man who appeared to be waiting run in the same direction, and place +himself against the angle of the wall where Caderousse would come over. +Caderousse climbed the ladder slowly, and looked over the coping to see +if the street was quiet. No one could be seen or heard. The clock of +the Invalides struck one. Then Caderousse sat astride the coping, and +drawing up his ladder passed it over the wall; then he began to descend, +or rather to slide down by the two stanchions, which he did with an ease +which proved how accustomed he was to the exercise. But, once started, +he could not stop. In vain did he see a man start from the shadow when +he was halfway down--in vain did he see an arm raised as he touched the +ground. Before he could defend himself that arm struck him so violently +in the back that he let go the ladder, crying, "Help!" A second blow +struck him almost immediately in the side, and he fell, calling, "Help, +murder!" Then, as he rolled on the ground, his adversary seized him by +the hair, and struck him a third blow in the chest. This time Caderousse +endeavored to call again, but he could only utter a groan, and he +shuddered as the blood flowed from his three wounds. The assassin, +finding that he no longer cried out, lifted his head up by the hair; his +eyes were closed, and the mouth was distorted. The murderer, supposing +him dead, let fall his head and disappeared. Then Caderousse, feeling +that he was leaving him, raised himself on his elbow, and with a dying +voice cried with great effort, "Murder! I am dying! Help, reverend +sir,--help!" + +This mournful appeal pierced the darkness. The door of the +back-staircase opened, then the side-gate of the garden, and Ali and his +master were on the spot with lights. + + + +Chapter 83. The Hand of God. + +Caderousse continued to call piteously, "Help, reverend sir, help!" + +"What is the matter?" asked Monte Cristo. + +"Help," cried Caderousse; "I am murdered!" + +"We are here;--take courage." + +"Ah, it's all over! You are come too late--you are come to see me die. +What blows, what blood!" He fainted. Ali and his master conveyed the +wounded man into a room. Monte Cristo motioned to Ali to undress him, +and he then examined his dreadful wounds. "My God!" he exclaimed, "thy +vengeance is sometimes delayed, but only that it may fall the more +effectually." Ali looked at his master for further instructions. "Bring +here immediately the king's attorney, M. de Villefort, who lives in the +Faubourg St. Honore. As you pass the lodge, wake the porter, and send +him for a surgeon." Ali obeyed, leaving the abbe alone with Caderousse, +who had not yet revived. + +When the wretched man again opened his eyes, the count looked at him +with a mournful expression of pity, and his lips moved as if in prayer. +"A surgeon, reverend sir--a surgeon!" said Caderousse. + +"I have sent for one," replied the abbe. + +"I know he cannot save my life, but he may strengthen me to give my +evidence." + +"Against whom?" + +"Against my murderer." + +"Did you recognize him?" + +"Yes; it was Benedetto." + +"The young Corsican?" + +"Himself." + +"Your comrade?" + +"Yes. After giving me the plan of this house, doubtless hoping I should +kill the count and he thus become his heir, or that the count would kill +me and I should be out of his way, he waylaid me, and has murdered me." + +"I have also sent for the procureur." + +"He will not come in time; I feel my life fast ebbing." + +"Wait a moment," said Monte Cristo. He left the room, and returned +in five minutes with a phial. The dying man's eyes were all the time +riveted on the door, through which he hoped succor would arrive. +"Hasten, reverend sir, hasten! I shall faint again!" Monte Cristo +approached, and dropped on his purple lips three or four drops of the +contents of the phial. Caderousse drew a deep breath. "Oh," said he, +"that is life to me; more, more!" + +"Two drops more would kill you," replied the abbe. + +"Oh, send for some one to whom I can denounce the wretch!" + +"Shall I write your deposition? You can sign it." + +"Yes, yes," said Caderousse; and his eyes glistened at the thought of +this posthumous revenge. Monte Cristo wrote:-- + +"I die, murdered by the Corsican Benedetto, my comrade in the galleys at +Toulouse, No. 59." + +"Quick, quick!" said Caderousse, "or I shall be unable to sign it." + +Monte Cristo gave the pen to Caderousse, who collected all his strength, +signed it, and fell back on his bed, saying: "You will relate all the +rest, reverend sir; you will say he calls himself Andrea Cavalcanti. He +lodges at the Hotel des Princes. Oh, I am dying!" He again fainted. The +abbe made him smell the contents of the phial, and he again opened his +eyes. His desire for revenge had not forsaken him. + +"Ah, you will tell all I have said, will you not, reverend sir?" + +"Yes, and much more." + +"What more will you say?" + +"I will say he had doubtless given you the plan of this house, in the +hope the count would kill you. I will say, likewise, he had apprised the +count, by a note, of your intention, and, the count being absent, I read +the note and sat up to await you." + +"And he will be guillotined, will be not?" said Caderousse. "Promise me +that, and I will die with that hope." + +"I will say," continued the count, "that he followed and watched you the +whole time, and when he saw you leave the house, ran to the angle of the +wall to conceal himself." + +"Did you see all that?" + +"Remember my words: 'If you return home safely, I shall believe God has +forgiven you, and I will forgive you also.'" + +"And you did not warn me!" cried Caderousse, raising himself on his +elbows. "You knew I should be killed on leaving this house, and did not +warn me!" + +"No; for I saw God's justice placed in the hands of Benedetto, and +should have thought it sacrilege to oppose the designs of providence." + +"God's justice! Speak not of it, reverend sir. If God were just, you +know how many would be punished who now escape." + +"Patience," said the abbe, in a tone which made the dying man shudder; +"have patience!" Caderousse looked at him with amazement. "Besides," +said the abbe, "God is merciful to all, as he has been to you; he is +first a father, then a judge." + +"Do you then believe in God?" said Caderousse. + +"Had I been so unhappy as not to believe in him until now," said Monte +Cristo, "I must believe on seeing you." Caderousse raised his clinched +hands towards heaven. + +"Listen," said the abbe, extending his hand over the wounded man, as +if to command him to believe; "this is what the God in whom, on your +death-bed, you refuse to believe, has done for you--he gave you health, +strength, regular employment, even friends--a life, in fact, which a man +might enjoy with a calm conscience. Instead of improving these gifts, +rarely granted so abundantly, this has been your course--you have given +yourself up to sloth and drunkenness, and in a fit of intoxication have +ruined your best friend." + +"Help!" cried Caderousse; "I require a surgeon, not a priest; perhaps +I am not mortally wounded--I may not die; perhaps they can yet save my +life." + +"Your wounds are so far mortal that, without the three drops I gave you, +you would now be dead. Listen, then." + +"Ah," murmured Caderousse, "what a strange priest you are; you drive the +dying to despair, instead of consoling them." + +"Listen," continued the abbe. "When you had betrayed your friend God +began not to strike, but to warn you. Poverty overtook you. You had +already passed half your life in coveting that which you might have +honorably acquired; and already you contemplated crime under the excuse +of want, when God worked a miracle in your behalf, sending you, by my +hands, a fortune--brilliant, indeed, for you, who had never possessed +any. But this unexpected, unhoped-for, unheard-of fortune sufficed +you no longer when you once possessed it; you wished to double it, and +how?--by a murder! You succeeded, and then God snatched it from you, and +brought you to justice." + +"It was not I who wished to kill the Jew," said Caderousse; "it was La +Carconte." + +"Yes," said Monte Cristo, "and God,--I cannot say in justice, for his +justice would have slain you,--but God, in his mercy, spared your life." + +"Pardieu, to transport me for life, how merciful!" + +"You thought it a mercy then, miserable wretch! The coward who feared +death rejoiced at perpetual disgrace; for like all galley-slaves, you +said, 'I may escape from prison, I cannot from the grave.' And you said +truly; the way was opened for you unexpectedly. An Englishman visited +Toulon, who had vowed to rescue two men from infamy, and his choice +fell on you and your companion. You received a second fortune, money and +tranquillity were restored to you, and you, who had been condemned to a +felon's life, might live as other men. Then, wretched creature, then you +tempted God a third time. 'I have not enough,' you said, when you had +more than you before possessed, and you committed a third crime, without +reason, without excuse. God is wearied; he has punished you." Caderousse +was fast sinking. "Give me drink," said he: "I thirst--I burn!" Monte +Cristo gave him a glass of water. "And yet that villain, Benedetto, will +escape!" + +"No one, I tell you, will escape; Benedetto will be punished." + +"Then, you, too, will be punished, for you did not do your duty as a +priest--you should have prevented Benedetto from killing me." + +"I?" said the count, with a smile which petrified the dying man, "when +you had just broken your knife against the coat of mail which protected +my breast! Yet perhaps if I had found you humble and penitent, I might +have prevented Benedetto from killing you; but I found you proud and +blood-thirsty, and I left you in the hands of God." + +"I do not believe there is a God," howled Caderousse; "you do not +believe it; you lie--you lie!" + +"Silence," said the abbe; "you will force the last drop of blood from +your veins. What! you do not believe in God when he is striking you +dead? you will not believe in him, who requires but a prayer, a word, a +tear, and he will forgive? God, who might have directed the assassin's +dagger so as to end your career in a moment, has given you this quarter +of an hour for repentance. Reflect, then, wretched man, and repent." + +"No," said Caderousse, "no; I will not repent. There is no God; there is +no providence--all comes by chance."-- + +"There is a providence; there is a God," said Monte Cristo, "of whom you +are a striking proof, as you lie in utter despair, denying him, while I +stand before you, rich, happy, safe and entreating that God in whom you +endeavor not to believe, while in your heart you still believe in him." + +"But who are you, then?" asked Caderousse, fixing his dying eyes on the +count. "Look well at me!" said Monte Cristo, putting the light near his +face. "Well, the abbe--the Abbe Busoni." Monte Cristo took off the wig +which disfigured him, and let fall his black hair, which added so +much to the beauty of his pallid features. "Oh?" said Caderousse, +thunderstruck, "but for that black hair, I should say you were the +Englishman, Lord Wilmore." + +"I am neither the Abbe Busoni nor Lord Wilmore," said Monte Cristo; +"think again,--do you not recollect me?" Those was a magic effect in +the count's words, which once more revived the exhausted powers of the +miserable man. "Yes, indeed," said he; "I think I have seen you and +known you formerly." + +"Yes, Caderousse, you have seen me; you knew me once." + +"Who, then, are you? and why, if you knew me, do you let me die?" + +"Because nothing can save you; your wounds are mortal. Had it been +possible to save you, I should have considered it another proof of God's +mercy, and I would again have endeavored to restore you, I swear by my +father's tomb." + +"By your father's tomb!" said Caderousse, supported by a supernatural +power, and half-raising himself to see more distinctly the man who had +just taken the oath which all men hold sacred; "who, then, are you?" +The count had watched the approach of death. He knew this was the last +struggle. He approached the dying man, and, leaning over him with a calm +and melancholy look, he whispered, "I am--I am"--And his almost closed +lips uttered a name so low that the count himself appeared afraid to +hear it. Caderousse, who had raised himself on his knees, and stretched +out his arm, tried to draw back, then clasping his hands, and raising +them with a desperate effort, "O my God, my God!" said he, "pardon me +for having denied thee; thou dost exist, thou art indeed man's father +in heaven, and his judge on earth. My God, my Lord, I have long despised +thee! Pardon me, my God; receive me, O my Lord!" Caderousse sighed +deeply, and fell back with a groan. The blood no longer flowed from his +wounds. He was dead. + +"One!" said the count mysteriously, his eyes fixed on the corpse, +disfigured by so awful a death. Ten minutes afterwards the surgeon and +the procureur arrived, the one accompanied by the porter, the other by +Ali, and were received by the Abbe Busoni, who was praying by the side +of the corpse. + + + +Chapter 84. Beauchamp. + +The daring attempt to rob the count was the topic of conversation +throughout Paris for the next fortnight. The dying man had signed a +deposition declaring Benedetto to be the assassin. The police had orders +to make the strictest search for the murderer. Caderousse's knife, dark +lantern, bunch of keys, and clothing, excepting the waistcoat, which +could not be found, were deposited at the registry; the corpse was +conveyed to the morgue. The count told every one that this adventure had +happened during his absence at Auteuil, and that he only knew what +was related by the Abbe Busoni, who that evening, by mere chance, had +requested to pass the night in his house, to examine some valuable books +in his library. Bertuccio alone turned pale whenever Benedetto's name +was mentioned in his presence, but there was no reason why any one +should notice his doing so. Villefort, being called on to prove +the crime, was preparing his brief with the same ardor that he was +accustomed to exercise when required to speak in criminal cases. + +But three weeks had already passed, and the most diligent search had +been unsuccessful; the attempted robbery and the murder of the robber +by his comrade were almost forgotten in anticipation of the approaching +marriage of Mademoiselle Danglars to the Count Andrea Cavalcanti. It was +expected that this wedding would shortly take place, as the young +man was received at the banker's as the betrothed. Letters had been +despatched to M. Cavalcanti, as the count's father, who highly approved +of the union, regretted his inability to leave Parma at that time, and +promised a wedding gift of a hundred and fifty thousand livres. It +was agreed that the three millions should be intrusted to Danglars to +invest; some persons had warned the young man of the circumstances of +his future father-in-law, who had of late sustained repeated losses; but +with sublime disinterestedness and confidence the young man refused +to listen, or to express a single doubt to the baron. The baron adored +Count Andrea Cavalcanti: not so Mademoiselle Eugenie Danglars. With an +instinctive hatred of matrimony, she suffered Andrea's attentions +in order to get rid of Morcerf; but when Andrea urged his suit, she +betrayed an entire dislike to him. The baron might possibly have +perceived it, but, attributing it to a caprice, feigned ignorance. + +The delay demanded by Beauchamp had nearly expired. Morcerf appreciated +the advice of Monte Cristo to let things die away of their own accord. +No one had taken up the remark about the general, and no one had +recognized in the officer who betrayed the castle of Yanina the noble +count in the House of Peers. Albert, however felt no less insulted; the +few lines which had irritated him were certainly intended as an insult. +Besides, the manner in which Beauchamp had closed the conference left a +bitter recollection in his heart. He cherished the thought of the duel, +hoping to conceal its true cause even from his seconds. Beauchamp had +not been seen since the day he visited Albert, and those of whom the +latter inquired always told him he was out on a journey which would +detain him some days. Where he was no one knew. + +One morning Albert was awakened by his valet de chambre, who announced +Beauchamp. Albert rubbed his eyes, ordered his servant to introduce +him into the small smoking-room on the ground-floor, dressed himself +quickly, and went down. He found Beauchamp pacing the room; on +perceiving him Beauchamp stopped. "Your arrival here, without waiting my +visit at your house to-day, looks well, sir," said Albert. "Tell me, may +I shake hands with you, saying, 'Beauchamp, acknowledge you have injured +me, and retain my friendship,' or must I simply propose to you a choice +of arms?" + +"Albert," said Beauchamp, with a look of sorrow which stupefied the +young man, "let us first sit down and talk." + +"Rather, sir, before we sit down, I must demand your answer." + +"Albert," said the journalist, "these are questions which it is +difficult to answer." + +"I will facilitate it by repeating the question, 'Will you, or will you +not, retract?'" + +"Morcerf, it is not enough to answer 'yes' or 'no' to questions which +concern the honor, the social interest, and the life of such a man as +Lieutenant-general the Count of Morcerf, peer of France." + +"What must then be done?" + +"What I have done, Albert. I reasoned thus--money, time, and fatigue are +nothing compared with the reputation and interests of a whole family; +probabilities will not suffice, only facts will justify a deadly combat +with a friend. If I strike with the sword, or discharge the contents +of a pistol at man with whom, for three years, I have been on terms of +intimacy, I must, at least, know why I do so; I must meet him with a +heart at ease, and that quiet conscience which a man needs when his own +arm must save his life." + +"Well," said Morcerf, impatiently, "what does all this mean?" + +"It means that I have just returned from Yanina." + +"From Yanina?" + +"Yes." + +"Impossible!" + +"Here is my passport; examine the visa--Geneva, Milan, Venice, Trieste, +Delvino, Yanina. Will you believe the government of a republic, a +kingdom, and an empire?" Albert cast his eyes on the passport, then +raised them in astonishment to Beauchamp. "You have been to Yanina?" +said he. + +"Albert, had you been a stranger, a foreigner, a simple lord, like that +Englishman who came to demand satisfaction three or four months since, +and whom I killed to get rid of, I should not have taken this trouble; +but I thought this mark of consideration due to you. I took a week to +go, another to return, four days of quarantine, and forty-eight hours +to stay there; that makes three weeks. I returned last night, and here I +am." + +"What circumlocution! How long you are before you tell me what I most +wish to know?" + +"Because, in truth, Albert"-- + +"You hesitate?" + +"Yes,--I fear." + +"You fear to acknowledge that your correspondent his deceived you? Oh, +no self-love, Beauchamp. Acknowledge it, Beauchamp; your courage cannot +be doubted." + +"Not so," murmured the journalist; "on the contrary"-- + +Albert turned frightfully pale; he endeavored to speak, but the words +died on his lips. "My friend," said Beauchamp, in the most affectionate +tone, "I should gladly make an apology; but, alas,"-- + +"But what?" + +"The paragraph was correct, my friend." + +"What? That French officer"-- + +"Yes." + +"Fernand?" + +"Yes." + +"The traitor who surrendered the castle of the man in whose service he +was"-- + +"Pardon me, my friend, that man was your father!" Albert advanced +furiously towards Beauchamp, but the latter restrained him more by a +mild look than by his extended hand. + +"My friend," said he, "here is a proof of it." + +Albert opened the paper, it was an attestation of four notable +inhabitants of Yanina, proving that Colonel Fernand Mondego, in the +service of Ali Tepelini, had surrendered the castle for two million +crowns. The signatures were perfectly legal. Albert tottered and fell +overpowered in a chair. It could no longer be doubted; the family +name was fully given. After a moment's mournful silence, his heart +overflowed, and he gave way to a flood of tears. Beauchamp, who had +watched with sincere pity the young man's paroxysm of grief, approached +him. "Now, Albert," said he, "you understand me--do you not? I wished to +see all, and to judge of everything for myself, hoping the explanation +would be in your father's favor, and that I might do him justice. But, +on the contrary, the particulars which are given prove that Fernand +Mondego, raised by Ali Pasha to the rank of governor-general, is no +other than Count Fernand of Morcerf; then, recollecting the honor you +had done me, in admitting me to your friendship, I hastened to you." + +Albert, still extended on the chair, covered his face with both hands, +as if to prevent the light from reaching him. "I hastened to you," +continued Beauchamp, "to tell you, Albert, that in this changing age, +the faults of a father cannot revert upon his children. Few have passed +through this revolutionary period, in the midst of which we were +born, without some stain of infamy or blood to soil the uniform of the +soldier, or the gown of the magistrate. Now I have these proofs, Albert, +and I am in your confidence, no human power can force me to a duel which +your own conscience would reproach you with as criminal, but I come to +offer you what you can no longer demand of me. Do you wish these proofs, +these attestations, which I alone possess, to be destroyed? Do you wish +this frightful secret to remain with us? Confided to me, it shall never +escape my lips; say, Albert, my friend, do you wish it?" + +Albert threw himself on Beauchamp's neck. "Ah, noble fellow!" cried he. + +"Take these," said Beauchamp, presenting the papers to Albert. + +Albert seized them with a convulsive hand, tore them in pieces, and +trembling lest the least vestige should escape and one day appear to +confront him, he approached the wax-light, always kept burning for +cigars, and burned every fragment. "Dear, excellent friend," murmured +Albert, still burning the papers. + +"Let all be forgotten as a sorrowful dream," said Beauchamp; "let it +vanish as the last sparks from the blackened paper, and disappear as the +smoke from those silent ashes." + +"Yes, yes," said Albert, "and may there remain only the eternal +friendship which I promised to my deliverer, which shall be transmitted +to our children's children, and shall always remind me that I owe my +life and the honor of my name to you,--for had this been known, oh, +Beauchamp, I should have destroyed myself; or,--no, my poor mother! I +could not have killed her by the same blow,--I should have fled from my +country." + +"Dear Albert," said Beauchamp. But this sudden and factitious joy soon +forsook the young man, and was succeeded by a still greater grief. + +"Well," said Beauchamp, "what still oppresses you, my friend?" + +"I am broken-hearted," said Albert. "Listen, Beauchamp! I cannot thus, +in a moment relinquish the respect, the confidence, and pride with which +a father's untarnished name inspires a son. Oh, Beauchamp, Beauchamp, +how shall I now approach mine? Shall I draw back my forehead from his +embrace, or withhold my hand from his? I am the most wretched of men. +Ah, my mother, my poor mother!" said Albert, gazing through his tears at +his mother's portrait; "if you know this, how much must you suffer!" + +"Come," said Beauchamp, taking both his hands, "take courage, my +friend." + +"But how came that first note to be inserted in your journal? Some +unknown enemy--an invisible foe--has done this." + +"The more must you fortify yourself, Albert. Let no trace of emotion be +visible on your countenance, bear your grief as the cloud bears within +it ruin and death--a fatal secret, known only when the storm bursts. +Go, my friend, reserve your strength for the moment when the crash shall +come." + +"You think, then, all is not over yet?" said Albert, horror-stricken. + +"I think nothing, my friend; but all things are possible. By the way"-- + +"What?" said Albert, seeing that Beauchamp hesitated. + +"Are you going to marry Mademoiselle Danglars?" + +"Why do you ask me now?" + +"Because the rupture or fulfilment of this engagement is connected with +the person of whom we were speaking." + +"How?" said Albert, whose brow reddened; "you think M. Danglars"-- + +"I ask you only how your engagement stands? Pray put no construction +on my words I do not mean they should convey, and give them no undue +weight." + +"No." said Albert, "the engagement is broken off." + +"Well," said Beauchamp. Then, seeing the young man was about to relapse +into melancholy, "Let us go out, Albert," said he; "a ride in the wood +in the phaeton, or on horseback, will refresh you; we will then return +to breakfast, and you shall attend to your affairs, and I to mine." + +"Willingly," said Albert; "but let us walk. I think a little exertion +would do me good." The two friends walked out on the fortress. When +arrived at the Madeleine,--"Since we are out," said Beauchamp, "let +us call on M. de Monte Cristo; he is admirably adapted to revive one's +spirits, because he never interrogates, and in my opinion those who ask +no questions are the best comforters." + +"Gladly," said Albert; "I love him--let us call." + + + +Chapter 85. The Journey. + +Monte Cristo uttered a joyful exclamation on seeing the young men +together. "Ah, ha!" said he, "I hope all is over, explained and +settled." + +"Yes," said Beauchamp; "the absurd reports have died away, and should +they be renewed, I would be the first to oppose them; so let us speak no +more of it." + +"Albert will tell you," replied the count "that I gave him the same +advice. Look," added he. "I am finishing the most execrable morning's +work." + +"What is it?" said Albert; "arranging your papers, apparently." + +"My papers, thank God, no,--my papers are all in capital order, because +I have none; but M. Cavalcanti's." + +"M. Cavalcanti's?" asked Beauchamp. + +"Yes; do you not know that this is a young man whom the count is +introducing?" said Morcerf. + +"Let us not misunderstand each other," replied Monte Cristo; "I +introduce no one, and certainly not M. Cavalcanti." + +"And who," said Albert with a forced smile, "is to marry Mademoiselle +Danglars instead of me, which grieves me cruelly." + +"What? Cavalcanti is going to marry Mademoiselle Danglars?" asked +Beauchamp. + +"Certainly; do you come from the end of the world?" said Monte Cristo; +"you, a journalist, the husband of renown? It is the talk of all Paris." + +"And you, count, have made this match?" asked Beauchamp. + +"I? Silence, purveyor of gossip, do not spread that report. I make a +match? No, you do not know me; I have done all in my power to oppose +it." + +"Ah, I understand," said Beauchamp, "on our friend Albert's account." + +"On my account?" said the young man; "oh, no, indeed, the count will do +me the justice to assert that I have, on the contrary, always entreated +him to break off my engagement, and happily it is ended. The count +pretends I have not him to thank;--so be it--I will erect an altar Deo +ignoto." + +"Listen," said Monte Cristo; "I have had little to do with it, for I am +at variance both with the father-in-law and the young man; there is only +Mademoiselle Eugenie, who appears but little charmed with the thoughts +of matrimony, and who, seeing how little I was disposed to persuade her +to renounce her dear liberty, retains any affection for me." + +"And do you say this wedding is at hand?" + +"Oh, yes, in spite of all I could say. I do not know the young man; +he is said to be of good family and rich, but I never trust to vague +assertions. I have warned M. Danglars of it till I am tired, but he +is fascinated with his Luccanese. I have even informed him of a +circumstance I consider very serious; the young man was either charmed +by his nurse, stolen by gypsies, or lost by his tutor, I scarcely know +which. But I do know his father lost sight of him for more than ten +years; what he did during these ten years, God only knows. Well, all +that was useless. They have commissioned me to write to the major to +demand papers, and here they are. I send them, but like Pilate--washing +my hands." + +"And what does Mademoiselle d'Armilly say to you for robbing her of her +pupil?" + +"Oh, well, I don't know; but I understand that she is going to +Italy. Madame Danglars asked me for letters of recommendation for the +impresari; I gave her a few lines for the director of the Valle Theatre, +who is under some obligation to me. But what is the matter, Albert? you +look dull; are you, after all, unconsciously in love with Mademoiselle +Eugenie?" + +"I am not aware of it," said Albert, smiling sorrowfully. Beauchamp +turned to look at some paintings. "But," continued Monte Cristo, "you +are not in your usual spirits?" + +"I have a dreadful headache," said Albert. + +"Well, my dear viscount," said Monte Cristo, "I have an infallible +remedy to propose to you." + +"What is that?" asked the young man. + +"A change." + +"Indeed?" said Albert. + +"Yes; and as I am just now excessively annoyed, I shall go from home. +Shall we go together?" + +"You annoyed, count?" said Beauchamp; "and by what?" + +"Ah, you think very lightly of it; I should like to see you with a brief +preparing in your house." + +"What brief?" + +"The one M. de Villefort is preparing against my amiable assassin--some +brigand escaped from the gallows apparently." + +"True," said Beauchamp; "I saw it in the paper. Who is this Caderousse?" + +"Some provincial, it appears. M. de Villefort heard of him at +Marseilles, and M. Danglars recollects having seen him. Consequently, +the procureur is very active in the affair, and the prefect of police +very much interested; and, thanks to that interest, for which I am very +grateful, they send me all the robbers of Paris and the neighborhood, +under pretence of their being Caderousse's murderers, so that in three +months, if this continues, every robber and assassin in France will have +the plan of my house at his fingers' end. I am resolved to desert them +and go to some remote corner of the earth, and shall be happy if you +will accompany me, viscount." + +"Willingly." + +"Then it is settled?" + +"Yes, but where?" + +"I have told you, where the air is pure, where every sound soothes, +where one is sure to be humbled, however proud may be his nature. I love +that humiliation, I, who am master of the universe, as was Augustus." + +"But where are you really going?" + +"To sea, viscount; you know I am a sailor. I was rocked when an infant +in the arms of old ocean, and on the bosom of the beautiful Amphitrite; +I have sported with the green mantle of the one and the azure robe of +the other; I love the sea as a mistress, and pine if I do not often see +her." + +"Let us go, count." + +"To sea?" + +"Yes." + +"You accept my proposal?" + +"I do." + +"Well, Viscount, there will be in my court-yard this evening a good +travelling britzka, with four post-horses, in which one may rest as in a +bed. M. Beauchamp, it holds four very well, will you accompany us?" + +"Thank you, I have just returned from sea." + +"What? you have been to sea?" + +"Yes; I have just made a little excursion to the Borromean Islands." [*] + + * Lake Maggiore. + +"What of that? come with us," said Albert. + +"No, dear Morcerf; you know I only refuse when the thing is impossible. +Besides, it is important," added he in a low tone, "that I should remain +in Paris just now to watch the paper." + +"Ah, you are a good and an excellent friend," said Albert; "yes, you are +right; watch, watch, Beauchamp, and try to discover the enemy who made +this disclosure." Albert and Beauchamp parted, the last pressure of +their hands expressing what their tongues could not before a stranger. + +"Beauchamp is a worthy fellow," said Monte Cristo, when the journalist +was gone; "is he not, Albert?" + +"Yes, and a sincere friend; I love him devotedly. But now we are +alone,--although it is immaterial to me,--where are we going?" + +"Into Normandy, if you like." + +"Delightful; shall we be quite retired? have no society, no neighbors?" + +"Our companions will be riding-horses, dogs to hunt with, and a +fishing-boat." + +"Exactly what I wish for; I will apprise my mother of my intention, and +return to you." + +"But shall you be allowed to go into Normandy?" + +"I may go where I please." + +"Yes, I am aware you may go alone, since I once met you in Italy--but to +accompany the mysterious Monte Cristo?" + +"You forget, count, that I have often told you of the deep interest my +mother takes in you." + +"'Woman is fickle.' said Francis I.; 'woman is like a wave of the sea,' +said Shakespeare; both the great king and the great poet ought to have +known woman's nature well." + +"Woman's, yes; my mother is not woman, but a woman." + +"As I am only a humble foreigner, you must pardon me if I do not +understand all the subtle refinements of your language." + +"What I mean to say is, that my mother is not quick to give her +confidence, but when she does she never changes." + +"Ah, yes, indeed," said Monte Cristo with a sigh; "and do you think she +is in the least interested in me?" + +"I repeat it, you must really be a very strange and superior man, for my +mother is so absorbed by the interest you have excited, that when I am +with her she speaks of no one else." + +"And does she try to make you dislike me?" + +"On the contrary, she often says, 'Morcerf, I believe the count has a +noble nature; try to gain his esteem.'" + +"Indeed?" said Monte Cristo, sighing. + +"You see, then," said Albert, "that instead of opposing, she will +encourage me." + +"Adieu, then, until five o'clock; be punctual, and we shall arrive at +twelve or one." + +"At Treport?" + +"Yes; or in the neighborhood." + +"But can we travel forty-eight leagues in eight hours?" + +"Easily," said Monte Cristo. + +"You are certainly a prodigy; you will soon not only surpass the +railway, which would not be very difficult in France, but even the +telegraph." + +"But, viscount, since we cannot perform the journey in less than seven +or eight hours, do not keep me waiting." + +"Do not fear, I have little to prepare." Monte Cristo smiled as he +nodded to Albert, then remained a moment absorbed in deep meditation. +But passing his hand across his forehead as if to dispel his revery, +he rang the bell twice and Bertuccio entered. "Bertuccio," said he, "I +intend going this evening to Normandy, instead of to-morrow or the +next day. You will have sufficient time before five o'clock; despatch a +messenger to apprise the grooms at the first station. M. de Morcerf will +accompany me." Bertuccio obeyed and despatched a courier to Pontoise to +say the travelling-carriage would arrive at six o'clock. From Pontoise +another express was sent to the next stage, and in six hours all the +horses stationed on the road were ready. Before his departure, the +count went to Haidee's apartments, told her his intention, and resigned +everything to her care. Albert was punctual. The journey soon became +interesting from its rapidity, of which Morcerf had formed no previous +idea. "Truly," said Monte Cristo, "with your posthorses going at the +rate of two leagues an hour, and that absurd law that one traveller +shall not pass another without permission, so that an invalid or +ill-tempered traveller may detain those who are well and active, it is +impossible to move; I escape this annoyance by travelling with my own +postilion and horses; do I not, Ali?" + +The count put his head out of the window and whistled, and the horses +appeared to fly. The carriage rolled with a thundering noise over the +pavement, and every one turned to notice the dazzling meteor. Ali, +smiling, repeated the sound, grasped the reins with a firm hand, and +spurred his horses, whose beautiful manes floated in the breeze. This +child of the desert was in his element, and with his black face and +sparkling eyes appeared, in the cloud of dust he raised, like the genius +of the simoom and the god of the hurricane. "I never knew till now the +delight of speed," said Morcerf, and the last cloud disappeared from +his brow; "but where the devil do you get such horses? Are they made to +order?" + +"Precisely," said the count; "six years since I bought a horse in +Hungary remarkable for its swiftness. The thirty-two that we shall +use to-night are its progeny; they are all entirely black, with the +exception of a star upon the forehead." + +"That is perfectly admirable; but what do you do, count, with all these +horses?" + +"You see, I travel with them." + +"But you are not always travelling." + +"When I no longer require them, Bertuccio will sell them, and he expects +to realize thirty or forty thousand francs by the sale." + +"But no monarch in Europe will be wealthy enough to purchase them." + +"Then he will sell them to some Eastern vizier, who will empty his +coffers to purchase them, and refill them by applying the bastinado to +his subjects." + +"Count, may I suggest one idea to you?" + +"Certainly." + +"It is that, next to you, Bertuccio must be the richest gentleman in +Europe." + +"You are mistaken, viscount; I believe he has not a franc in his +possession." + +"Then he must be a wonder. My dear count, if you tell me many more +marvellous things, I warn you I shall not believe them." + +"I countenance nothing that is marvellous, M. Albert. Tell me, why does +a steward rob his master?" + +"Because, I suppose, it is his nature to do so, for the love of +robbing." + +"You are mistaken; it is because he has a wife and family, and ambitious +desires for himself and them. Also because he is not sure of always +retaining his situation, and wishes to provide for the future. Now, M. +Bertuccio is alone in the world; he uses my property without accounting +for the use he makes of it; he is sure never to leave my service." + +"Why?" + +"Because I should never get a better." + +"Probabilities are deceptive." + +"But I deal in certainties; he is the best servant over whom one has the +power of life and death." + +"Do you possess that right over Bertuccio?" + +"Yes." + +There are words which close a conversation with an iron door; such was +the count's "yes." The whole journey was performed with equal rapidity; +the thirty-two horses, dispersed over seven stages, brought them to +their destination in eight hours. At midnight they arrived at the gate +of a beautiful park. The porter was in attendance; he had been apprised +by the groom of the last stage of the count's approach. At half past two +in the morning Morcerf was conducted to his apartments, where a bath and +supper were prepared. The servant who had travelled at the back of +the carriage waited on him; Baptistin, who rode in front, attended the +count. Albert bathed, took his supper, and went to bed. All night he was +lulled by the melancholy noise of the surf. On rising, he went to his +window, which opened on a terrace, having the sea in front, and at the +back a pretty park bounded by a small forest. In a creek lay a little +sloop, with a narrow keel and high masts, bearing on its flag the Monte +Cristo arms which were a mountain on a sea azure, with a cross gules +on the shield. Around the schooner lay a number of small fishing-boats +belonging to the fishermen of the neighboring village, like humble +subjects awaiting orders from their queen. There, as in every spot where +Monte Cristo stopped, if but for two days, luxury abounded and life went +on with the utmost ease. + +Albert found in his anteroom two guns, with all the accoutrements for +hunting; a lofty room on the ground-floor containing all the ingenious +instruments the English--eminent in piscatory pursuits, since they +are patient and sluggish--have invented for fishing. The day passed in +pursuing those exercises in which Monte Cristo excelled. They killed +a dozen pheasants in the park, as many trout in the stream, dined in a +summer-house overlooking the ocean, and took tea in the library. + +Towards the evening of the third day. Albert, completely exhausted +with the exercise which invigorated Monte Cristo, was sleeping in +an arm-chair near the window, while the count was designing with his +architect the plan of a conservatory in his house, when the sound of +a horse at full speed on the high road made Albert look up. He was +disagreeably surprised to see his own valet de chambre, whom he had not +brought, that he might not inconvenience Monte Cristo. + +"Florentin here!" cried he, starting up; "is my mother ill?" And he +hastened to the door. Monte Cristo watched and saw him approach the +valet, who drew a small sealed parcel from his pocket, containing a +newspaper and a letter. "From whom is this?" said he eagerly. "From M. +Beauchamp," replied Florentin. + +"Did he send you?" + +"Yes, sir; he sent for me to his house, gave me money for my journey, +procured a horse, and made me promise not to stop till I had reached +you, I have come in fifteen hours." + +Albert opened the letter with fear, uttered a shriek on reading the +first line, and seized the paper. His sight was dimmed, his legs sank +under him, and he would have fallen had not Florentin supported him. + +"Poor young man," said Monte Cristo in a low voice; "it is then true +that the sin of the father shall fall on the children to the third and +fourth generation." Meanwhile Albert had revived, and, continuing to +read, he threw back his head, saying, "Florentin, is your horse fit to +return immediately?" + +"It is a poor lame post-horse." + +"In what state was the house when you left?" + +"All was quiet, but on returning from M. Beauchamp's, I found madame in +tears: she had sent for me to know when you would return. I told her my +orders from M. Beauchamp; she first extended her arms to prevent me, but +after a moment's reflection, 'Yes, go, Florentin,' said she, 'and may he +come quickly.'" + +"Yes, my mother," said Albert, "I will return, and woe to the infamous +wretch! But first of all I must get there." + +He went back to the room where he had left Monte Cristo. Five minutes +had sufficed to make a complete transformation in his appearance. His +voice had become rough and hoarse; his face was furrowed with wrinkles; +his eyes burned under the blue-veined lids, and he tottered like a +drunken man. "Count," said he, "I thank you for your hospitality, which +I would gladly have enjoyed longer; but I must return to Paris." + +"What has happened?" + +"A great misfortune, more important to me than life. Don't question me, +I beg of you, but lend me a horse." + +"My stables are at your command, viscount; but you will kill yourself by +riding on horseback. Take a post-chaise or a carriage." + +"No, it would delay me, and I need the fatigue you warn me of; it will +do me good." Albert reeled as if he had been shot, and fell on a chair +near the door. Monte Cristo did not see this second manifestation of +physical exhaustion; he was at the window, calling, "Ali, a horse for +M. de Morcerf--quick! he is in a hurry!" These words restored Albert; +he darted from the room, followed by the count. "Thank you!" cried he, +throwing himself on his horse. "Return as soon as you can, Florentin. +Must I use any password to procure a horse?" + +"Only dismount; another will be immediately saddled." Albert hesitated a +moment. "You may think my departure strange and foolish," said the young +man; "you do not know how a paragraph in a newspaper may exasperate one. +Read that," said he, "when I am gone, that you may not be witness of my +anger." + +While the count picked up the paper he put spurs to his horse, which +leaped in astonishment at such an unusual stimulus, and shot away +with the rapidity of an arrow. The count watched him with a feeling of +compassion, and when he had completely disappeared, read as follows:-- + +"The French officer in the service of Ali Pasha of Yanina alluded to +three weeks since in the Impartial, who not only surrendered the castle +of Yanina, but sold his benefactor to the Turks, styled himself truly at +that time Fernand, as our esteemed contemporary states; but he has since +added to his Christian name a title of nobility and a family name. He +now calls himself the Count of Morcerf, and ranks among the peers." + +Thus the terrible secret, which Beauchamp had so generously destroyed, +appeared again like an armed phantom; and another paper, deriving its +information from some malicious source, had published two days after +Albert's departure for Normandy the few lines which had rendered the +unfortunate young man almost crazy. + + + +Chapter 86. The Trial. + +At eight o'clock in the morning Albert had arrived at Beauchamp's +door. The valet de chambre had received orders to usher him in at once. +Beauchamp was in his bath. "Here I am," said Albert. + +"Well, my poor friend," replied Beauchamp, "I expected you." + +"I need not say I think you are too faithful and too kind to have spoken +of that painful circumstance. Your having sent for me is another proof +of your affection. So, without losing time, tell me, have you the +slightest idea whence this terrible blow proceeds?" + +"I think I have some clew." + +"But first tell me all the particulars of this shameful plot." Beauchamp +proceeded to relate to the young man, who was overwhelmed with shame +and grief, the following facts. Two days previously, the article had +appeared in another paper besides the Impartial, and, what was more +serious, one that was well known as a government paper. Beauchamp was +breakfasting when he read the paragraph. He sent immediately for a +cabriolet, and hastened to the publisher's office. Although professing +diametrically opposite principles from those of the editor of the other +paper, Beauchamp--as it sometimes, we may say often, happens--was +his intimate friend. The editor was reading, with apparent delight, a +leading article in the same paper on beet-sugar, probably a composition +of his own. + +"Ah, pardieu," said Beauchamp, "with the paper in your hand, my friend, +I need not tell you the cause of my visit." + +"Are you interested in the sugar question?" asked the editor of the +ministerial paper. + +"No," replied Beauchamp, "I have not considered the question; a totally +different subject interests me." + +"What is it?" + +"The article relative to Morcerf." + +"Indeed? Is it not a curious affair?" + +"So curious, that I think you are running a great risk of a prosecution +for defamation of character." + +"Not at all; we have received with the information all the requisite +proofs, and we are quite sure M. de Morcerf will not raise his voice +against us; besides, it is rendering a service to one's country to +denounce these wretched criminals who are unworthy of the honor bestowed +on them." Beauchamp was thunderstruck. "Who, then, has so correctly +informed you?" asked he; "for my paper, which gave the first information +on the subject, has been obliged to stop for want of proof; and yet we +are more interested than you in exposing M. de Morcerf, as he is a peer +of France, and we are of the opposition." + +"Oh, that is very simple; we have not sought to scandalize. This news +was brought to us. A man arrived yesterday from Yanina, bringing a +formidable array of documents; and when we hesitated to publish the +accusatory article, he told us it should be inserted in some other +paper." + +Beauchamp understood that nothing remained but to submit, and left the +office to despatch a courier to Morcerf. But he had been unable to send +to Albert the following particulars, as the events had transpired after +the messenger's departure; namely, that the same day a great agitation +was manifest in the House of Peers among the usually calm members of +that dignified assembly. Every one had arrived almost before the usual +hour, and was conversing on the melancholy event which was to attract +the attention of the public towards one of their most illustrious +colleagues. Some were perusing the article, others making comments and +recalling circumstances which substantiated the charges still more. The +Count of Morcerf was no favorite with his colleagues. Like all upstarts, +he had had recourse to a great deal of haughtiness to maintain his +position. The true nobility laughed at him, the talented repelled him, +and the honorable instinctively despised him. He was, in fact, in the +unhappy position of the victim marked for sacrifice; the finger of God +once pointed at him, every one was prepared to raise the hue and cry. + +The Count of Morcerf alone was ignorant of the news. He did not take in +the paper containing the defamatory article, and had passed the morning +in writing letters and in trying a horse. He arrived at his usual hour, +with a proud look and insolent demeanor; he alighted, passed through the +corridors, and entered the house without observing the hesitation of +the door-keepers or the coolness of his colleagues. Business had already +been going on for half an hour when he entered. Every one held the +accusing paper, but, as usual, no one liked to take upon himself the +responsibility of the attack. At length an honorable peer, Morcerf's +acknowledged enemy, ascended the tribune with that solemnity which +announced that the expected moment had arrived. There was an impressive +silence; Morcerf alone knew not why such profound attention was given to +an orator who was not always listened to with so much complacency. The +count did not notice the introduction, in which the speaker announced +that his communication would be of that vital importance that it +demanded the undivided attention of the House; but at the mention of +Yanina and Colonel Fernand, he turned so frightfully pale that every +member shuddered and fixed his eyes upon him. Moral wounds have this +peculiarity,--they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, +always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the +heart. + +The article having been read during the painful hush that followed, a +universal shudder pervaded the assembly, and immediately the closest +attention was given to the orator as he resumed his remarks. He stated +his scruples and the difficulties of the case; it was the honor of M. +de Morcerf, and that of the whole House, he proposed to defend, by +provoking a debate on personal questions, which are always such painful +themes of discussion. He concluded by calling for an investigation, +which might dispose of the calumnious report before it had time to +spread, and restore M. de Morcerf to the position he had long held in +public opinion. Morcerf was so completely overwhelmed by this great and +unexpected calamity that he could scarcely stammer a few words as he +looked around on the assembly. This timidity, which might proceed from +the astonishment of innocence as well as the shame of guilt, conciliated +some in his favor; for men who are truly generous are always ready to +compassionate when the misfortune of their enemy surpasses the limits of +their hatred. + +The president put it to the vote, and it was decided that the +investigation should take place. The count was asked what time he +required to prepare his defence. Morcerf's courage had revived when he +found himself alive after this horrible blow. "My lords," answered +he, "it is not by time I could repel the attack made on me by enemies +unknown to me, and, doubtless, hidden in obscurity; it is immediately, +and by a thunderbolt, that I must repel the flash of lightning which, +for a moment, startled me. Oh, that I could, instead of taking up this +defence, shed my last drop of blood to prove to my noble colleagues that +I am their equal in worth." These words made a favorable impression on +behalf of the accused. "I demand, then, that the examination shall +take place as soon as possible, and I will furnish the house with all +necessary information." + +"What day do you fix?" asked the president. + +"To-day I am at your service," replied the count. The president rang +the bell. "Does the House approve that the examination should take place +to-day?" + +"Yes," was the unanimous answer. + +A committee of twelve members was chosen to examine the proofs brought +forward by Morcerf. The investigation would begin at eight o'clock that +evening in the committee-room, and if postponement were necessary, the +proceedings would be resumed each evening at the same hour. Morcerf +asked leave to retire; he had to collect the documents he had long been +preparing against this storm, which his sagacity had foreseen. + +Albert listened, trembling now with hope, then with anger, and then +again with shame, for from Beauchamp's confidence he knew his father was +guilty, and he asked himself how, since he was guilty, he could prove +his innocence. Beauchamp hesitated to continue his narrative. "What +next?" asked Albert. + +"What next? My friend, you impose a painful task on me. Must you know +all?" + +"Absolutely; and rather from your lips than another's." + +"Muster up all your courage, then, for never have you required it more." +Albert passed his hand over his forehead, as if to try his strength, as +a man who is preparing to defend his life proves his shield and bends +his sword. He thought himself strong enough, for he mistook fever for +energy. "Go on," said he. + +"The evening arrived; all Paris was in expectation. Many said your +father had only to show himself to crush the charge against him; many +others said he would not appear; while some asserted that they had seen +him start for Brussels; and others went to the police-office to inquire +if he had taken out a passport. I used all my influence with one of the +committee, a young peer of my acquaintance, to get admission to one of +the galleries. He called for me at seven o'clock, and, before any one +had arrived, asked one of the door-keepers to place me in a box. I was +concealed by a column, and might witness the whole of the terrible +scene which was about to take place. At eight o'clock all were in their +places, and M. de Morcerf entered at the last stroke. He held some +papers in his hand; his countenance was calm, and his step firm, and he +was dressed with great care in his military uniform, which was buttoned +completely up to the chin. His presence produced a good effect. The +committee was made up of Liberals, several of whom came forward to shake +hands with him." + +Albert felt his heart bursting at these particulars, but gratitude +mingled with his sorrow: he would gladly have embraced those who had +given his father this proof of esteem at a moment when his honor was so +powerfully attacked. "At this moment one of the door-keepers brought +in a letter for the president. 'You are at liberty to speak, M. de +Morcerf,' said the president, as he unsealed the letter; and the count +began his defence, I assure you, Albert, in a most eloquent and skilful +manner. He produced documents proving that the Vizier of Yanina had up +to the last moment honored him with his entire confidence, since he had +interested him with a negotiation of life and death with the emperor. He +produced the ring, his mark of authority, with which Ali Pasha generally +sealed his letters, and which the latter had given him, that he might, +on his return at any hour of the day or night, gain access to the +presence, even in the harem. Unfortunately, the negotiation failed, and +when he returned to defend his benefactor, he was dead. 'But,' said the +count, 'so great was Ali Pasha's confidence, that on his death-bed he +resigned his favorite mistress and her daughter to my care.'" Albert +started on hearing these words; the history of Haidee recurred to him, +and he remembered what she had said of that message and the ring, and +the manner in which she had been sold and made a slave. "And what effect +did this discourse produce?" anxiously inquired Albert. "I acknowledge +it affected me, and, indeed, all the committee also," said Beauchamp. + +"Meanwhile, the president carelessly opened the letter which had been +brought to him; but the first lines aroused his attention; he read them +again and again, and fixing his eyes on M. de Morcerf, 'Count,' said he, +'you have said that the Vizier of Yanina confided his wife and daughter +to your care?'--'Yes, sir,' replied Morcerf; 'but in that, like all the +rest, misfortune pursued me. On my return, Vasiliki and her daughter +Haidee had disappeared.'--'Did you know them?'--'My intimacy with the +pasha and his unlimited confidence had gained me an introduction to +them, and I had seen them above twenty times.' + +"'Have you any idea what became of them?'--'Yes, sir; I heard they had +fallen victims to their sorrow, and, perhaps, to their poverty. I was +not rich; my life was in constant danger; I could not seek them, to my +great regret.' The president frowned imperceptibly. 'Gentlemen,' said +he, 'you have heard the Comte de Morcerf's defence. Can you, sir, +produce any witnesses to the truth of what you have asserted?'--'Alas, +no, monsieur,' replied the count; 'all those who surrounded the vizier, +or who knew me at his court, are either dead or gone away, I know not +where. I believe that I alone, of all my countrymen, survived that +dreadful war. I have only the letters of Ali Tepelini, which I have +placed before you; the ring, a token of his good-will, which is here; +and, lastly, the most convincing proof I can offer, after an anonymous +attack, and that is the absence of any witness against my veracity and +the purity of my military life.' A murmur of approbation ran through the +assembly; and at this moment, Albert, had nothing more transpired, your +father's cause had been gained. It only remained to put it to the vote, +when the president resumed: 'Gentlemen and you, monsieur,--you will +not be displeased, I presume, to listen to one who calls himself a very +important witness, and who has just presented himself. He is, doubtless, +come to prove the perfect innocence of our colleague. Here is a letter +I have just received on the subject; shall it be read, or shall it +be passed over? and shall we take no notice of this incident?' M. de +Morcerf turned pale, and clinched his hands on the papers he held. +The committee decided to hear the letter; the count was thoughtful and +silent. The president read:-- + +"'Mr. President,--I can furnish the committee of inquiry into the +conduct of the Lieutenant-General the Count of Morcerf in Epirus and in +Macedonia with important particulars.' + +"The president paused, and the count turned pale. The president looked +at his auditors. 'Proceed,' was heard on all sides. The president +resumed:-- + +"'I was on the spot at the death of Ali Pasha. I was present during his +last moments. I know what is become of Vasiliki and Haidee. I am at the +command of the committee, and even claim the honor of being heard. I +shall be in the lobby when this note is delivered to you.' + +"'And who is this witness, or rather this enemy?' asked the count, in +a tone in which there was a visible alteration. 'We shall know, +sir,' replied the president. 'Is the committee willing to hear this +witness?'--'Yes, yes,' they all said at once. The door-keeper was +called. 'Is there any one in the lobby?' said the president. + +"'Yes, sir.'--'Who is it?'--'A woman, accompanied by a servant.' Every +one looked at his neighbor. 'Bring her in,' said the president. Five +minutes after the door-keeper again appeared; all eyes were fixed on +the door, and I," said Beauchamp, "shared the general expectation and +anxiety. Behind the door-keeper walked a woman enveloped in a large +veil, which completely concealed her. It was evident, from her figure +and the perfumes she had about her, that she was young and fastidious in +her tastes, but that was all. The president requested her to throw +aside her veil, and it was then seen that she was dressed in the Grecian +costume, and was remarkably beautiful." + +"Ah," said Albert, "it was she." + +"Who?" + +"Haidee." + +"Who told you that?" + +"Alas, I guess it. But go on, Beauchamp. You see I am calm and strong. +And yet we must be drawing near the disclosure." + +"M. de Morcerf," continued Beauchamp, "looked at this woman with +surprise and terror. Her lips were about to pass his sentence of life or +death. To the committee the adventure was so extraordinary and curious, +that the interest they had felt for the count's safety became now quite +a secondary matter. The president himself advanced to place a seat for +the young lady; but she declined availing herself of it. As for the +count, he had fallen on his chair; it was evident that his legs refused +to support him. + +"'Madame,' said the president, 'you have engaged to furnish the +committee with some important particulars respecting the affair +at Yanina, and you have stated that you were an eyewitness of the +event.'--'I was, indeed,' said the stranger, with a tone of sweet +melancholy, and with the sonorous voice peculiar to the East. + +"'But allow me to say that you must have been very young then.'--'I was +four years old; but as those events deeply concerned me, not a single +detail has escaped my memory.'--'In what manner could these events +concern you? and who are you, that they should have made so deep an +impression on you?'--'On them depended my father's life,' replied she. +'I am Haidee, the daughter of Ali Tepelini, pasha of Yanina, and of +Vasiliki, his beloved wife.' + +"The blush of mingled pride and modesty which suddenly suffused the +cheeks of the young woman, the brilliancy of her eye, and her highly +important communication, produced an indescribable effect on the +assembly. As for the count, he could not have been more overwhelmed if +a thunderbolt had fallen at his feet and opened an immense gulf before +him. 'Madame,' replied the president, bowing with profound respect, +'allow me to ask one question; it shall be the last: Can you prove the +authenticity of what you have now stated?'--'I can, sir,' said Haidee, +drawing from under her veil a satin satchel highly perfumed; 'for here +is the register of my birth, signed by my father and his principal +officers, and that of my baptism, my father having consented to my being +brought up in my mother's faith,--this latter has been sealed by the +grand primate of Macedonia and Epirus; and lastly (and perhaps the most +important), the record of the sale of my person and that of my mother +to the Armenian merchant El-Kobbir, by the French officer, who, in his +infamous bargain with the Porte, had reserved as his part of the booty +the wife and daughter of his benefactor, whom he sold for the sum of +four hundred thousand francs.' A greenish pallor spread over the count's +cheeks, and his eyes became bloodshot at these terrible imputations, +which were listened to by the assembly with ominous silence. + +"Haidee, still calm, but with a calmness more dreadful than the anger of +another would have been, handed to the president the record of her sale, +written in Arabic. It had been supposed some of the papers might be in +the Arabian, Romaic, or Turkish language, and the interpreter of the +House was in attendance. One of the noble peers, who was familiar +with the Arabic language, having studied it during the famous Egyptian +campaign, followed with his eye as the translator read aloud:-- + +"'I, El-Kobbir, a slave-merchant, and purveyor of the harem of his +highness, acknowledge having received for transmission to the sublime +emperor, from the French lord, the Count of Monte Cristo, an emerald +valued at eight hundred thousand francs; as the ransom of a young +Christian slave of eleven years of age, named Haidee, the acknowledged +daughter of the late lord Ali Tepelini, pasha of Yanina, and of +Vasiliki, his favorite; she having been sold to me seven years +previously, with her mother, who had died on arriving at Constantinople, +by a French colonel in the service of the Vizier Ali Tepelini, named +Fernand Mondego. The above-mentioned purchase was made on his highness's +account, whose mandate I had, for the sum of four hundred thousand +francs. + +"'Given at Constantinople, by authority of his highness, in the year +1247 of the Hegira. + +"'Signed El-Kobbir.' + +"'That this record should have all due authority, it shall bear the +imperial seal, which the vendor is bound to have affixed to it.' + +"Near the merchant's signature there was, indeed, the seal of the +sublime emperor. A dreadful silence followed the reading of this +document; the count could only stare, and his gaze, fixed as if +unconsciously on Haidee, seemed one of fire and blood. 'Madame,' said +the president, 'may reference be made to the Count of Monte Cristo, +who is now, I believe, in Paris?'--'Sir,' replied Haidee, 'the Count +of Monte Cristo, my foster-father, has been in Normandy the last three +days.' + +"'Who, then, has counselled you to take this step, one for which +the court is deeply indebted to you, and which is perfectly natural, +considering your birth and your misfortunes?'--'Sir,' replied Haidee, +'I have been led to take this step from a feeling of respect and grief. +Although a Christian, may God forgive me, I have always sought to +revenge my illustrious father. Since I set my foot in France, and knew +the traitor lived in Paris, I have watched carefully. I live retired +in the house of my noble protector, but I do it from choice. I love +retirement and silence, because I can live with my thoughts and +recollections of past days. But the Count of Monte Cristo surrounds me +with every paternal care, and I am ignorant of nothing which passes in +the world. I learn all in the silence of my apartments,--for instance, I +see all the newspapers, every periodical, as well as every new piece of +music; and by thus watching the course of the life of others, I learned +what had transpired this morning in the House of Peers, and what was to +take place this evening; then I wrote.' + +"'Then,' remarked the president, 'the Count of Monte Cristo knows +nothing of your present proceedings?'--'He is quite unaware of them, and +I have but one fear, which is that he should disapprove of what I +have done. But it is a glorious day for me,' continued the young girl, +raising her ardent gaze to heaven, 'that on which I find at last an +opportunity of avenging my father!' + +"The count had not uttered one word the whole of this time. His +colleagues looked at him, and doubtless pitied his prospects, blighted +under the perfumed breath of a woman. His misery was depicted in +sinister lines on his countenance. 'M. de Morcerf,' said the president, +'do you recognize this lady as the daughter of Ali Tepelini, pasha of +Yanina?'--'No,' said Morcerf, attempting to rise, 'it is a base plot, +contrived by my enemies.' Haidee, whose eyes had been fixed on the +door, as if expecting some one, turned hastily, and, seeing the count +standing, shrieked, 'You do not know me?' said she. 'Well, I fortunately +recognize you! You are Fernand Mondego, the French officer who led +the troops of my noble father! It is you who surrendered the castle of +Yanina! It is you who, sent by him to Constantinople, to treat with the +emperor for the life or death of your benefactor, brought back a false +mandate granting full pardon! It is you who, with that mandate, obtained +the pasha's ring, which gave you authority over Selim, the fire-keeper! +It is you who stabbed Selim. It is you who sold us, my mother and me, to +the merchant, El-Kobbir! Assassin, assassin, assassin, you have still on +your brow your master's blood! Look, gentlemen, all!' + +"These words had been pronounced with such enthusiasm and evident truth, +that every eye was fixed on the count's forehead, and he himself passed +his hand across it, as if he felt Ali's blood still lingering there. +'You positively recognize M. de Morcerf as the officer, Fernand +Mondego?'--'Indeed I do!' cried Haidee. 'Oh, my mother, it was you who +said, "You were free, you had a beloved father, you were destined to be +almost a queen. Look well at that man; it is he who raised your father's +head on the point of a spear; it is he who sold us; it is he who forsook +us! Look well at his right hand, on which he has a large wound; if you +forgot his features, you would know him by that hand, into which fell, +one by one, the gold pieces of the merchant El-Kobbir!" I know him! +Ah, let him say now if he does not recognize me!' Each word fell like a +dagger on Morcerf, and deprived him of a portion of his energy; as she +uttered the last, he hid his mutilated hand hastily in his bosom, and +fell back on his seat, overwhelmed by wretchedness and despair. This +scene completely changed the opinion of the assembly respecting the +accused count. + +"'Count of Morcerf,' said the president, 'do not allow yourself to be +cast down; answer. The justice of the court is supreme and impartial as +that of God; it will not suffer you to be trampled on by your enemies +without giving you an opportunity of defending yourself. Shall further +inquiries be made? Shall two members of the House be sent to Yanina? +Speak!' Morcerf did not reply. Then all the members looked at each other +with terror. They knew the count's energetic and violent temper; it must +be, indeed, a dreadful blow which would deprive him of courage to defend +himself. They expected that his stupefied silence would be followed by a +fiery outburst. 'Well,' asked the president, 'what is your decision?' + +"'I have no reply to make,' said the count in a low tone. + +"'Has the daughter of Ali Tepelini spoken the truth?' said the +president. 'Is she, then, the terrible witness to whose charge you dare +not plead "Not guilty"? Have you really committed the crimes of which +you are accused?' The count looked around him with an expression which +might have softened tigers, but which could not disarm his judges. Then +he raised his eyes towards the ceiling, but withdrew then, immediately, +as if he feared the roof would open and reveal to his distressed view +that second tribunal called heaven, and that other judge named God. +Then, with a hasty movement, he tore open his coat, which seemed to +stifle him, and flew from the room like a madman; his footstep was heard +one moment in the corridor, then the rattling of his carriage-wheels +as he was driven rapidly away. 'Gentlemen,' said the president, when +silence was restored, 'is the Count of Morcerf convicted of felony, +treason, and conduct unbecoming a member of this House?'--'Yes,' replied +all the members of the committee of inquiry with a unanimous voice. + +"Haidee had remained until the close of the meeting. She heard the +count's sentence pronounced without betraying an expression of joy or +pity; then drawing her veil over her face she bowed majestically to the +councillors, and left with that dignified step which Virgil attributes +to his goddesses." + + + +Chapter 87. The Challenge. + +"Then," continued Beauchamp, "I took advantage of the silence and +the darkness to leave the house without being seen. The usher who +had introduced me was waiting for me at the door, and he conducted me +through the corridors to a private entrance opening into the Rue de +Vaugirard. I left with mingled feelings of sorrow and delight. Excuse +me, Albert,--sorrow on your account, and delight with that noble girl, +thus pursuing paternal vengeance. Yes, Albert, from whatever source the +blow may have proceeded--it may be from an enemy, but that enemy is only +the agent of providence." Albert held his head between his hands; +he raised his face, red with shame and bathed in tears, and seizing +Beauchamp's arm, "My friend," said he, "my life is ended. I cannot +calmly say with you, 'Providence has struck the blow;' but I must +discover who pursues me with this hatred, and when I have found him I +shall kill him, or he will kill me. I rely on your friendship to assist +me, Beauchamp, if contempt has not banished it from your heart." + +"Contempt, my friend? How does this misfortune affect you? No, happily +that unjust prejudice is forgotten which made the son responsible for +the father's actions. Review your life, Albert; although it is only just +beginning, did a lovely summer's day ever dawn with greater purity than +has marked the commencement of your career? No, Albert, take my advice. +You are young and rich--leave Paris--all is soon forgotten in this great +Babylon of excitement and changing tastes. You will return after three +or four years with a Russian princess for a bride, and no one will think +more of what occurred yesterday than if it had happened sixteen years +ago." + +"Thank you, my dear Beauchamp, thank you for the excellent feeling +which prompts your advice; but it cannot be. I have told you my wish, or +rather my determination. You understand that, interested as I am in this +affair, I cannot see it in the same light as you do. What appears to you +to emanate from a celestial source, seems to me to proceed from one far +less pure. Providence appears to me to have no share in this affair; and +happily so, for instead of the invisible, impalpable agent of celestial +rewards and punishments, I shall find one both palpable and visible, +on whom I shall revenge myself, I assure you, for all I have suffered +during the last month. Now, I repeat, Beauchamp, I wish to return +to human and material existence, and if you are still the friend you +profess to be, help me to discover the hand that struck the blow." + +"Be it so," said Beauchamp; "if you must have me descend to earth, I +submit; and if you will seek your enemy, I will assist you, and I +will engage to find him, my honor being almost as deeply interested as +yours." + +"Well, then, you understand, Beauchamp, that we begin our search +immediately. Each moment's delay is an eternity for me. The calumniator +is not yet punished, and he may hope that he will not be; but, on my +honor, if he thinks so, he deceives himself." + +"Well, listen, Morcerf." + +"Ah, Beauchamp, I see you know something already; you will restore me to +life." + +"I do not say there is any truth in what I am going to tell you, but it +is, at least, a ray of light in a dark night; by following it we may, +perhaps, discover something more certain." + +"Tell me; satisfy my impatience." + +"Well, I will tell you what I did not like to mention on my return from +Yanina." + +"Say on." + +"I went, of course, to the chief banker of the town to make inquiries. +At the first word, before I had even mentioned your father's name"-- + +"'Ah,' said he. 'I guess what brings you here.' + +"'How, and why?' + +"'Because a fortnight since I was questioned on the same subject.' + +"'By whom?'--'By a Paris banker, my correspondent.' + +"'Whose name is'-- + +"'Danglars.'" + +"He!" cried Albert; "yes, it is indeed he who has so long pursued my +father with jealous hatred. He, the man who would be popular, cannot +forgive the Count of Morcerf for being created a peer; and this marriage +broken off without a reason being assigned--yes, it is all from the same +cause." + +"Make inquiries, Albert, but do not be angry without reason; make +inquiries, and if it be true"-- + +"Oh, yes, if it be true," cried the young man, "he shall pay me all I +have suffered." + +"Beware, Morcerf, he is already an old man." + +"I will respect his age as he has respected the honor of my family; if +my father had offended him, why did he not attack him personally? Oh, +no, he was afraid to encounter him face to face." + +"I do not condemn you, Albert; I only restrain you. Act prudently." + +"Oh, do not fear; besides, you will accompany me. Beauchamp, solemn +transactions should be sanctioned by a witness. Before this day closes, +if M. Danglars is guilty, he shall cease to live, or I shall die. +Pardieu, Beauchamp, mine shall be a splendid funeral!" + +"When such resolutions are made, Albert, they should be promptly +executed. Do you wish to go to M. Danglars? Let us go immediately." They +sent for a cabriolet. On entering the banker's mansion, they perceived +the phaeton and servant of M. Andrea Cavalcanti. "Ah, parbleu, that's +good," said Albert, with a gloomy tone. "If M. Danglars will not fight +with me, I will kill his son-in-law; Cavalcanti will certainly fight." +The servant announced the young man; but the banker, recollecting +what had transpired the day before, did not wish him admitted. It was, +however, too late; Albert had followed the footman, and, hearing the +order given, forced the door open, and followed by Beauchamp found +himself in the banker's study. "Sir," cried the latter, "am I no longer +at liberty to receive whom I choose in my house? You appear to forget +yourself sadly." + +"No, sir," said Albert, coldly; "there are circumstances in which one +cannot, except through cowardice,--I offer you that refuge,--refuse to +admit certain persons at least." + +"What is your errand, then, with me, sir?" + +"I mean," said Albert, drawing near, and without apparently noticing +Cavalcanti, who stood with his back towards the fireplace--"I mean to +propose a meeting in some retired corner where no one will interrupt us +for ten minutes; that will be sufficient--where two men having met, one +of them will remain on the ground." Danglars turned pale; Cavalcanti +moved a step forward, and Albert turned towards him. "And you, too," +said he, "come, if you like, monsieur; you have a claim, being almost +one of the family, and I will give as many rendezvous of that kind as I +can find persons willing to accept them." Cavalcanti looked at Danglars +with a stupefied air, and the latter, making an effort, arose and +stepped between the two young men. Albert's attack on Andrea had placed +him on a different footing, and he hoped this visit had another cause +than that he had at first supposed. + +"Indeed, sir," said he to Albert, "if you are come to quarrel with this +gentleman because I have preferred him to you, I shall resign the case +to the king's attorney." + +"You mistake, sir," said Morcerf with a gloomy smile; "I am not +referring in the least to matrimony, and I only addressed myself to M. +Cavalcanti because he appeared disposed to interfere between us. In one +respect you are right, for I am ready to quarrel with every one to-day; +but you have the first claim, M. Danglars." + +"Sir," replied Danglars, pale with anger and fear, "I warn you, when +I have the misfortune to meet with a mad dog, I kill it; and far from +thinking myself guilty of a crime, I believe I do society a kindness. +Now, if you are mad and try to bite me, I will kill you without pity. Is +it my fault that your father has dishonored himself?" + +"Yes, miserable wretch!" cried Morcerf, "it is your fault." Danglars +retreated a few steps. "My fault?" said he; "you must be mad! What do +I know of the Grecian affair? Have I travelled in that country? Did I +advise your father to sell the castle of Yanina--to betray"-- + +"Silence!" said Albert, with a thundering voice. "No; it is not you who +have directly made this exposure and brought this sorrow on us, but you +hypocritically provoked it." + +"I?" + +"Yes; you! How came it known?" + +"I suppose you read it in the paper in the account from Yanina?" + +"Who wrote to Yanina?" + +"To Yanina?" + +"Yes. Who wrote for particulars concerning my father?" + +"I imagine any one may write to Yanina." + +"But one person only wrote!" + +"One only?" + +"Yes; and that was you!" + +"I, doubtless, wrote. It appears to me that when about to marry your +daughter to a young man, it is right to make some inquiries respecting +his family; it is not only a right, but a duty." + +"You wrote, sir, knowing what answer you would receive." + +"I, indeed? I assure you," cried Danglars, with a confidence and +security proceeding less from fear than from the interest he really felt +for the young man, "I solemnly declare to you, that I should never +have thought of writing to Yanina, did I know anything of Ali Pasha's +misfortunes." + +"Who, then, urged you to write? Tell me." + +"Pardieu, it was the most simple thing in the world. I was speaking of +your father's past history. I said the origin of his fortune remained +obscure. The person to whom I addressed my scruples asked me where your +father had acquired his property? I answered, 'In Greece.'--'Then,' said +he, 'write to Yanina.'" + +"And who thus advised you?" + +"No other than your friend, Monte Cristo." + +"The Count of Monte Cristo told you to write to Yanina?" + +"Yes; and I wrote, and will show you my correspondence, if you like." +Albert and Beauchamp looked at each other. "Sir," said Beauchamp, who +had not yet spoken, "you appear to accuse the count, who is absent from +Paris at this moment, and cannot justify himself." + +"I accuse no one, sir," said Danglars; "I relate, and I will repeat +before the count what I have said to you." + +"Does the count know what answer you received?" + +"Yes; I showed it to him." + +"Did he know my father's Christian name was Fernand, and his family name +Mondego?" + +"Yes, I had told him that long since, and I did only what any other +would have done in my circumstances, and perhaps less. When, the day +after the arrival of this answer, your father came by the advice of +Monte Cristo to ask my daughter's hand for you, I decidedly refused him, +but without any explanation or exposure. In short, why should I have +any more to do with the affair? How did the honor or disgrace of M. de +Morcerf affect me? It neither increased nor decreased my income." + +Albert felt the blood mounting to his brow; there was no doubt upon the +subject. Danglars defended himself with the baseness, but at the same +time with the assurance, of a man who speaks the truth, at least +in part, if not wholly--not for conscience' sake, but through fear. +Besides, what was Morcerf seeking? It was not whether Danglars or Monte +Cristo was more or less guilty; it was a man who would answer for the +offence, whether trifling or serious; it was a man who would fight, +and it was evident Danglars would not fight. And, in addition to this, +everything forgotten or unperceived before presented itself now to +his recollection. Monte Cristo knew everything, as he had bought the +daughter of Ali Pasha; and, knowing everything, he had advised Danglars +to write to Yanina. The answer known, he had yielded to Albert's wish +to be introduced to Haidee, and allowed the conversation to turn on +the death of Ali, and had not opposed Haidee's recital (but having, +doubtless, warned the young girl, in the few Romaic words he spoke to +her, not to implicate Morcerf's father). Besides, had he not begged of +Morcerf not to mention his father's name before Haidee? Lastly, he had +taken Albert to Normandy when he knew the final blow was near. There +could be no doubt that all had been calculated and previously arranged; +Monte Cristo then was in league with his father's enemies. Albert took +Beauchamp aside, and communicated these ideas to him. + +"You are right," said the latter; "M. Danglars has only been a secondary +agent in this sad affair, and it is of M. de Monte Cristo that you +must demand an explanation." Albert turned. "Sir," said he to Danglars, +"understand that I do not take a final leave of you; I must ascertain if +your insinuations are just, and am going now to inquire of the Count +of Monte Cristo." He bowed to the banker, and went out with Beauchamp, +without appearing to notice Cavalcanti. Danglars accompanied him to the +door, where he again assured Albert that no motive of personal hatred +had influenced him against the Count of Morcerf. + + + +Chapter 88. The Insult. + +At the banker's door Beauchamp stopped Morcerf. "Listen," said he; +"just now I told you it was of M. de Monte Cristo you must demand an +explanation." + +"Yes; and we are going to his house." + +"Reflect, Morcerf, one moment before you go." + +"On what shall I reflect?" + +"On the importance of the step you are taking." + +"Is it more serious than going to M. Danglars?" + +"Yes; M. Danglars is a money-lover, and those who love money, you know, +think too much of what they risk to be easily induced to fight a duel. +The other is, on the contrary, to all appearance a true nobleman; but do +you not fear to find him a bully?" + +"I only fear one thing; namely, to find a man who will not fight." + +"Do not be alarmed," said Beauchamp; "he will meet you. My only fear is +that he will be too strong for you." + +"My friend," said Morcerf, with a sweet smile, "that is what I wish. The +happiest thing that could occur to me, would be to die in my father's +stead; that would save us all." + +"Your mother would die of grief." + +"My poor mother!" said Albert, passing his hand across his eyes, "I know +she would; but better so than die of shame." + +"Are you quite decided, Albert?" + +"Yes; let us go." + +"But do you think we shall find the count at home?" + +"He intended returning some hours after me, and doubtless he is now at +home." They ordered the driver to take them to No. 30 Champs-Elysees. +Beauchamp wished to go in alone, but Albert observed that as this was +an unusual circumstance he might be allowed to deviate from the usual +etiquette in affairs of honor. The cause which the young man espoused +was one so sacred that Beauchamp had only to comply with all his wishes; +he yielded and contented himself with following Morcerf. Albert sprang +from the porter's lodge to the steps. He was received by Baptistin. +The count had, indeed, just arrived, but he was in his bath, and had +forbidden that any one should be admitted. "But after his bath?" asked +Morcerf. + +"My master will go to dinner." + +"And after dinner?" + +"He will sleep an hour." + +"Then?" + +"He is going to the opera." + +"Are you sure of it?" asked Albert. + +"Quite, sir; my master has ordered his horses at eight o'clock +precisely." + +"Very good," replied Albert; "that is all I wished to know." Then, +turning towards Beauchamp, "If you have anything to attend to, +Beauchamp, do it directly; if you have any appointment for this evening, +defer it till tomorrow. I depend on you to accompany me to the opera; +and if you can, bring Chateau-Renaud with you." + +Beauchamp availed himself of Albert's permission, and left him, +promising to call for him at a quarter before eight. On his return home, +Albert expressed his wish to Franz Debray, and Morrel, to see them at +the opera that evening. Then he went to see his mother, who since the +events of the day before had refused to see any one, and had kept +her room. He found her in bed, overwhelmed with grief at this public +humiliation. The sight of Albert produced the effect which might +naturally be expected on Mercedes; she pressed her son's hand and sobbed +aloud, but her tears relieved her. Albert stood one moment speechless by +the side of his mother's bed. It was evident from his pale face and knit +brows that his resolution to revenge himself was growing weaker. "My +dear mother," said he, "do you know if M. de Morcerf has any enemy?" +Mercedes started; she noticed that the young man did not say "my +father." "My son," she said, "persons in the count's situation have many +secret enemies. Those who are known are not the most dangerous." + +"I know it, and appeal to your penetration. You are of so superior a +mind, nothing escapes you." + +"Why do you say so?" + +"Because, for instance, you noticed on the evening of the ball we gave, +that M. de Monte Cristo would eat nothing in our house." Mercedes raised +herself on her feverish arm. "M. de Monte Cristo!" she exclaimed; "and +how is he connected with the question you asked me?" + +"You know, mother, M. de Monte Cristo is almost an Oriental, and it is +customary with the Orientals to secure full liberty for revenge by not +eating or drinking in the houses of their enemies." + +"Do you say M. de Monte Cristo is our enemy?" replied Mercedes, becoming +paler than the sheet which covered her. "Who told you so? Why, you are +mad, Albert! M. de Monte Cristo has only shown us kindness. M. de Monte +Cristo saved your life; you yourself presented him to us. Oh, I entreat +you, my son, if you had entertained such an idea, dispel it; and my +counsel to you--nay, my prayer--is to retain his friendship." + +"Mother," replied the young man, "you have especial reasons for telling +me to conciliate that man." + +"I?" said Mercedes, blushing as rapidly as she had turned pale, and +again becoming paler than ever. + +"Yes, doubtless; and is it not that he may never do us any harm?" +Mercedes shuddered, and, fixing on her son a scrutinizing gaze, "You +speak strangely," said she to Albert, "and you appear to have some +singular prejudices. What has the count done? Three days since you were +with him in Normandy; only three days since we looked on him as our best +friend." + +An ironical smile passed over Albert's lips. Mercedes saw it and with +the double instinct of woman and mother guessed all; but as she was +prudent and strong-minded she concealed both her sorrows and her fears. +Albert was silent; an instant after, the countess resumed: "You came to +inquire after my health; I will candidly acknowledge that I am not well. +You should install yourself here, and cheer my solitude. I do not wish +to be left alone." + +"Mother," said the young man, "you know how gladly I would obey your +wish, but an urgent and important affair obliges me to leave you for the +whole evening." + +"Well," replied Mercedes, sighing, "go, Albert; I will not make you a +slave to your filial piety." Albert pretended he did not hear, bowed +to his mother, and quitted her. Scarcely had he shut her door, when +Mercedes called a confidential servant, and ordered him to follow Albert +wherever he should go that evening, and to come and tell her immediately +what he observed. Then she rang for her lady's maid, and, weak as she +was, she dressed, in order to be ready for whatever might happen. The +footman's mission was an easy one. Albert went to his room, and dressed +with unusual care. At ten minutes to eight Beauchamp arrived; he had +seen Chateau-Renaud, who had promised to be in the orchestra before the +curtain was raised. Both got into Albert's coupe; and, as the young man +had no reason to conceal where he was going, he called aloud, "To +the opera." In his impatience he arrived before the beginning of the +performance. + +Chateau-Renaud was at his post; apprised by Beauchamp of the +circumstances, he required no explanation from Albert. The conduct +of the son in seeking to avenge his father was so natural that +Chateau-Renaud did not seek to dissuade him, and was content with +renewing his assurances of devotion. Debray was not yet come, but Albert +knew that he seldom lost a scene at the opera. Albert wandered about +the theatre until the curtain was drawn up. He hoped to meet with M. de +Monte Cristo either in the lobby or on the stairs. The bell summoned +him to his seat, and he entered the orchestra with Chateau-Renaud and +Beauchamp. But his eyes scarcely quitted the box between the columns, +which remained obstinately closed during the whole of the first act. At +last, as Albert was looking at his watch for about the hundredth time, +at the beginning of the second act the door opened, and Monte Cristo +entered, dressed in black, and, leaning over the front of the box, +looked around the pit. Morrel followed him, and looked also for his +sister and brother in-law; he soon discovered them in another box, and +kissed his hand to them. + +The count, in his survey of the pit, encountered a pale face and +threatening eyes, which evidently sought to gain his attention. He +recognized Albert, but thought it better not to notice him, as he looked +so angry and discomposed. Without communicating his thoughts to his +companion, he sat down, drew out his opera-glass, and looked another +way. Although apparently not noticing Albert, he did not, however, lose +sight of him, and when the curtain fell at the end of the second act, he +saw him leave the orchestra with his two friends. Then his head was +seen passing at the back of the boxes, and the count knew that the +approaching storm was intended to fall on him. He was at the moment +conversing cheerfully with Morrel, but he was well prepared for what +might happen. The door opened, and Monte Cristo, turning round, saw +Albert, pale and trembling, followed by Beauchamp and Chateau-Renaud. + +"Well," cried he, with that benevolent politeness which distinguished +his salutation from the common civilities of the world, "my cavalier has +attained his object. Good-evening, M. de Morcerf." The countenance of +this man, who possessed such extraordinary control over his feelings, +expressed the most perfect cordiality. Morrel only then recollected the +letter he had received from the viscount, in which, without assigning +any reason, he begged him to go to the opera, but he understood that +something terrible was brooding. + +"We are not come here, sir, to exchange hypocritical expressions of +politeness, or false professions of friendship," said Albert, "but to +demand an explanation." The young man's trembling voice was scarcely +audible. "An explanation at the opera?" said the count, with that calm +tone and penetrating eye which characterize the man who knows his cause +is good. "Little acquainted as I am with the habits of Parisians, I +should not have thought this the place for such a demand." + +"Still, if people will shut themselves up," said Albert, "and cannot +be seen because they are bathing, dining, or asleep, we must avail +ourselves of the opportunity whenever they are to be seen." + +"I am not difficult of access, sir; for yesterday, if my memory does not +deceive me, you were at my house." + +"Yesterday I was at your house, sir," said the young man; "because then +I knew not who you were." In pronouncing these words Albert had raised +his voice so as to be heard by those in the adjoining boxes and in the +lobby. Thus the attention of many was attracted by this altercation. +"Where are you come from, sir? You do not appear to be in the possession +of your senses." + +"Provided I understand your perfidy, sir, and succeed in making you +understand that I will be revenged, I shall be reasonable enough," said +Albert furiously. + +"I do not understand you, sir," replied Monte Cristo; "and if I did, +your tone is too high. I am at home here, and I alone have a right +to raise my voice above another's. Leave the box, sir!" Monte Cristo +pointed towards the door with the most commanding dignity. "Ah, I shall +know how to make you leave your home!" replied Albert, clasping in his +convulsed grasp the glove, which Monte Cristo did not lose sight of. + +"Well, well," said Monte Cristo quietly, "I see you wish to quarrel with +me; but I would give you one piece of advice, which you will do well +to keep in mind. It is in poor taste to make a display of a challenge. +Display is not becoming to every one, M. de Morcerf." + +At this name a murmur of astonishment passed around the group of +spectators of this scene. They had talked of no one but Morcerf the +whole day. Albert understood the allusion in a moment, and was about +to throw his glove at the count, when Morrel seized his hand, while +Beauchamp and Chateau-Renaud, fearing the scene would surpass the limits +of a challenge, held him back. But Monte Cristo, without rising, and +leaning forward in his chair, merely stretched out his arm and, taking +the damp, crushed glove from the clinched hand of the young man, "Sir," +said he in a solemn tone, "I consider your glove thrown, and will return +it to you wrapped around a bullet. Now leave me or I will summon my +servants to throw you out at the door." + +Wild, almost unconscious, and with eyes inflamed, Albert stepped back, +and Morrel closed the door. Monte Cristo took up his glass again as if +nothing had happened; his face was like marble, and his heart was like +bronze. Morrel whispered, "What have you done to him?" + +"I? Nothing--at least personally," said Monte Cristo. + +"But there must be some cause for this strange scene." + +"The Count of Morcerf's adventure exasperates the young man." + +"Have you anything to do with it?" + +"It was through Haidee that the Chamber was informed of his father's +treason." + +"Indeed?" said Morrel. "I had been told, but would not credit it, that +the Grecian slave I have seen with you here in this very box was the +daughter of Ali Pasha." + +"It is true, nevertheless." + +"Then," said Morrel, "I understand it all, and this scene was +premeditated." + +"How so?" + +"Yes. Albert wrote to request me to come to the opera, doubtless that I +might be a witness to the insult he meant to offer you." + +"Probably," said Monte Cristo with his imperturbable tranquillity. + +"But what shall you do with him?" + +"With whom?" + +"With Albert." + +"What shall I do with Albert? As certainly, Maximilian, as I now press +your hand, I shall kill him before ten o'clock to-morrow morning." +Morrel, in his turn, took Monte Cristo's hand in both of his, and he +shuddered to feel how cold and steady it was. + +"Ah, Count," said he, "his father loves him so much!" + +"Do not speak to me of that," said Monte Cristo, with the first movement +of anger he had betrayed; "I will make him suffer." Morrel, amazed, let +fall Monte Cristo's hand. "Count, count!" said he. + +"Dear Maximilian," interrupted the count, "listen how adorably Duprez is +singing that line,-- + + 'O Mathilde! idole de mon ame!' + +"I was the first to discover Duprez at Naples, and the first to +applaud him. Bravo, bravo!" Morrel saw it was useless to say more, and +refrained. The curtain, which had risen at the close of the scene with +Albert, again fell, and a rap was heard at the door. + +"Come in," said Monte Cristo with a voice that betrayed not the +least emotion; and immediately Beauchamp appeared. "Good-evening, M. +Beauchamp," said Monte Cristo, as if this was the first time he had seen +the journalist that evening; "be seated." + +Beauchamp bowed, and, sitting down, "Sir," said he, "I just now +accompanied M. de Morcerf, as you saw." + +"And that means," replied Monte Cristo, laughing, "that you had, +probably, just dined together. I am happy to see, M. Beauchamp, that you +are more sober than he was." + +"Sir," said M. Beauchamp, "Albert was wrong, I acknowledge, to betray +so much anger, and I come, on my own account, to apologize for him. And +having done so, entirely on my own account, be it understood, I would +add that I believe you too gentlemanly to refuse giving him some +explanation concerning your connection with Yanina. Then I will add +two words about the young Greek girl." Monte Cristo motioned him to be +silent. "Come," said he, laughing, "there are all my hopes about to be +destroyed." + +"How so?" asked Beauchamp. + +"Doubtless you wish to make me appear a very eccentric character. I am, +in your opinion, a Lara, a Manfred, a Lord Ruthven; then, just as I am +arriving at the climax, you defeat your own end, and seek to make an +ordinary man of me. You bring me down to your own level, and demand +explanations! Indeed, M. Beauchamp, it is quite laughable." + +"Yet," replied Beauchamp haughtily, "there are occasions when probity +commands"-- + +"M. Beauchamp," interposed this strange man, "the Count of Monte Cristo +bows to none but the Count of Monte Cristo himself. Say no more, I +entreat you. I do what I please, M. Beauchamp, and it is always well +done." + +"Sir," replied the young man, "honest men are not to be paid with such +coin. I require honorable guaranties." + +"I am, sir, a living guaranty," replied Monte Cristo, motionless, but +with a threatening look; "we have both blood in our veins which we wish +to shed--that is our mutual guaranty. Tell the viscount so, and that +to-morrow, before ten o'clock, I shall see what color his is." + +"Then I have only to make arrangements for the duel," said Beauchamp. + +"It is quite immaterial to me," said Monte Cristo, "and it was very +unnecessary to disturb me at the opera for such a trifle. In France +people fight with the sword or pistol, in the colonies with the carbine, +in Arabia with the dagger. Tell your client that, although I am the +insulted party, in order to carry out my eccentricity, I leave him the +choice of arms, and will accept without discussion, without dispute, +anything, even combat by drawing lots, which is always stupid, but with +me different from other people, as I am sure to gain." + +"Sure to gain!" repeated Beauchamp, looking with amazement at the count. + +"Certainly," said Monte Cristo, slightly shrugging his shoulders; +"otherwise I would not fight with M. de Morcerf. I shall kill him--I +cannot help it. Only by a single line this evening at my house let me +know the arms and the hour; I do not like to be kept waiting." + +"Pistols, then, at eight o'clock, in the Bois de Vincennes," said +Beauchamp, quite disconcerted, not knowing if he was dealing with an +arrogant braggadocio or a supernatural being. + +"Very well, sir," said Monte Cristo. "Now all that is settled, do let +me see the performance, and tell your friend Albert not to come any more +this evening; he will hurt himself with all his ill-chosen barbarisms: +let him go home and go to sleep." Beauchamp left the box, perfectly +amazed. "Now," said Monte Cristo, turning towards Morrel, "I may depend +upon you, may I not?" + +"Certainly," said Morrel, "I am at your service, count; still"-- + +"What?" + +"It is desirable I should know the real cause." + +"That is to say, you would rather not?" + +"No." + +"The young man himself is acting blindfolded, and knows not the true +cause, which is known only to God and to me; but I give you my word, +Morrel, that God, who does know it, will be on our side." + +"Enough," said Morrel; "who is your second witness?" + +"I know no one in Paris, Morrel, on whom I could confer that honor +besides you and your brother Emmanuel. Do you think Emmanuel would +oblige me?" + +"I will answer for him, count." + +"Well? that is all I require. To-morrow morning, at seven o'clock, you +will be with me, will you not?" + +"We will." + +"Hush, the curtain is rising. Listen! I never lose a note of this opera +if I can avoid it; the music of William Tell is so sweet." + + + +Chapter 89. A Nocturnal Interview. + +Monte Cristo waited, according to his usual custom, until Duprez had +sung his famous "Suivez-moi;" then he rose and went out. Morrel took +leave of him at the door, renewing his promise to be with him the next +morning at seven o'clock, and to bring Emmanuel. Then he stepped into +his coupe, calm and smiling, and was at home in five minutes. No one who +knew the count could mistake his expression when, on entering, he said, +"Ali, bring me my pistols with the ivory cross." + +Ali brought the box to his master, who examined the weapons with a +solicitude very natural to a man who is about to intrust his life to a +little powder and shot. These were pistols of an especial pattern, which +Monte Cristo had had made for target practice in his own room. A cap was +sufficient to drive out the bullet, and from the adjoining room no one +would have suspected that the count was, as sportsmen would say, keeping +his hand in. He was just taking one up and looking for the point to aim +at on a little iron plate which served him as a target, when his study +door opened, and Baptistin entered. Before he had spoken a word, the +count saw in the next room a veiled woman, who had followed closely +after Baptistin, and now, seeing the count with a pistol in his hand and +swords on the table, rushed in. Baptistin looked at his master, who made +a sign to him, and he went out, closing the door after him. "Who are +you, madame?" said the count to the veiled woman. + +The stranger cast one look around her, to be certain that they were +quite alone; then bending as if she would have knelt, and joining her +hands, she said with an accent of despair, "Edmond, you will not kill my +son?" The count retreated a step, uttered a slight exclamation, and let +fall the pistol he held. "What name did you pronounce then, Madame de +Morcerf?" said he. "Yours!" cried she, throwing back her veil,--"yours, +which I alone, perhaps, have not forgotten. Edmond, it is not Madame de +Morcerf who is come to you, it is Mercedes." + +"Mercedes is dead, madame," said Monte Cristo; "I know no one now of +that name." + +"Mercedes lives, sir, and she remembers, for she alone recognized +you when she saw you, and even before she saw you, by your voice, +Edmond,--by the simple sound of your voice; and from that moment she +has followed your steps, watched you, feared you, and she needs not to +inquire what hand has dealt the blow which now strikes M. de Morcerf." + +"Fernand, do you mean?" replied Monte Cristo, with bitter irony; "since +we are recalling names, let us remember them all." Monte Cristo had +pronounced the name of Fernand with such an expression of hatred that +Mercedes felt a thrill of horror run through every vein. "You see, +Edmond, I am not mistaken, and have cause to say, 'Spare my son!'" + +"And who told you, madame, that I have any hostile intentions against +your son?" + +"No one, in truth; but a mother has twofold sight. I guessed all; I +followed him this evening to the opera, and, concealed in a parquet box, +have seen all." + +"If you have seen all, madame, you know that the son of Fernand has +publicly insulted me," said Monte Cristo with awful calmness. + +"Oh, for pity's sake!" + +"You have seen that he would have thrown his glove in my face if Morrel, +one of my friends, had not stopped him." + +"Listen to me, my son has also guessed who you are,--he attributes his +father's misfortunes to you." + +"Madame, you are mistaken, they are not misfortunes,--it is a +punishment. It is not I who strike M. de Morcerf; it is providence which +punishes him." + +"And why do you represent providence?" cried Mercedes. "Why do you +remember when it forgets? What are Yanina and its vizier to you, Edmond? +What injury his Fernand Mondego done you in betraying Ali Tepelini?" + +"Ah, madame," replied Monte Cristo, "all this is an affair between the +French captain and the daughter of Vasiliki. It does not concern me, +you are right; and if I have sworn to revenge myself, it is not on the +French captain, or the Count of Morcerf, but on the fisherman Fernand, +the husband of Mercedes the Catalane." + +"Ah, sir!" cried the countess, "how terrible a vengeance for a fault +which fatality made me commit!--for I am the only culprit, Edmond, and +if you owe revenge to any one, it is to me, who had not fortitude to +bear your absence and my solitude." + +"But," exclaimed Monte Cristo, "why was I absent? And why were you +alone?" + +"Because you had been arrested, Edmond, and were a prisoner." + +"And why was I arrested? Why was I a prisoner?" + +"I do not know," said Mercedes. "You do not, madame; at least, I hope +not. But I will tell you. I was arrested and became a prisoner because, +under the arbor of La Reserve, the day before I was to marry you, a man +named Danglars wrote this letter, which the fisherman Fernand himself +posted." Monte Cristo went to a secretary, opened a drawer by a spring, +from which he took a paper which had lost its original color, and the +ink of which had become of a rusty hue--this he placed in the hands +of Mercedes. It was Danglars' letter to the king's attorney, which the +Count of Monte Cristo, disguised as a clerk from the house of Thomson & +French, had taken from the file against Edmond Dantes, on the day he +had paid the two hundred thousand francs to M. de Boville. Mercedes read +with terror the following lines:-- + +"The king's attorney is informed by a friend to the throne and religion +that one Edmond Dantes, second in command on board the Pharaon, this day +arrived from Smyrna, after having touched at Naples and Porto-Ferrajo, +is the bearer of a letter from Murat to the usurper, and of another +letter from the usurper to the Bonapartist club in Paris. Ample +corroboration of this statement may be obtained by arresting the +above-mentioned Edmond Dantes, who either carries the letter for Paris +about with him, or has it at his father's abode. Should it not be +found in possession of either father or son, then it will assuredly +be discovered in the cabin belonging to the said Dantes on board the +Pharaon." + +"How dreadful!" said Mercedes, passing her hand across her brow, moist +with perspiration; "and that letter"-- + +"I bought it for two hundred thousand francs, madame," said Monte +Cristo; "but that is a trifle, since it enables me to justify myself to +you." + +"And the result of that letter"-- + +"You well know, madame, was my arrest; but you do not know how long that +arrest lasted. You do not know that I remained for fourteen years within +a quarter of a league of you, in a dungeon in the Chateau d'If. You do +not know that every day of those fourteen years I renewed the vow of +vengeance which I had made the first day; and yet I was not aware that +you had married Fernand, my calumniator, and that my father had died of +hunger!" + +"Can it be?" cried Mercedes, shuddering. + +"That is what I heard on leaving my prison fourteen years after I had +entered it; and that is why, on account of the living Mercedes and my +deceased father, I have sworn to revenge myself on Fernand, and--I have +revenged myself." + +"And you are sure the unhappy Fernand did that?" + +"I am satisfied, madame, that he did what I have told you; besides, that +is not much more odious than that a Frenchman by adoption should pass +over to the English; that a Spaniard by birth should have fought against +the Spaniards; that a stipendiary of Ali should have betrayed and +murdered Ali. Compared with such things, what is the letter you have +just read?--a lover's deception, which the woman who has married that +man ought certainly to forgive; but not so the lover who was to have +married her. Well, the French did not avenge themselves on the traitor, +the Spaniards did not shoot the traitor, Ali in his tomb left the +traitor unpunished; but I, betrayed, sacrificed, buried, have risen from +my tomb, by the grace of God, to punish that man. He sends me for that +purpose, and here I am." The poor woman's head and arms fell; her legs +bent under her, and she fell on her knees. "Forgive, Edmond, forgive for +my sake, who love you still!" + +The dignity of the wife checked the fervor of the lover and the mother. +Her forehead almost touched the carpet, when the count sprang forward +and raised her. Then seated on a chair, she looked at the manly +countenance of Monte Cristo, on which grief and hatred still impressed +a threatening expression. "Not crush that accursed race?" murmured he; +"abandon my purpose at the moment of its accomplishment? Impossible, +madame, impossible!" + +"Edmond," said the poor mother, who tried every means, "when I call you +Edmond, why do you not call me Mercedes?" + +"Mercedes!" repeated Monte Cristo; "Mercedes! Well yes, you are right; +that name has still its charms, and this is the first time for a long +period that I have pronounced it so distinctly. Oh, Mercedes, I have +uttered your name with the sigh of melancholy, with the groan of sorrow, +with the last effort of despair; I have uttered it when frozen with +cold, crouched on the straw in my dungeon; I have uttered it, consumed +with heat, rolling on the stone floor of my prison. Mercedes, I must +revenge myself, for I suffered fourteen years,--fourteen years I wept, I +cursed; now I tell you, Mercedes, I must revenge myself." + +The count, fearing to yield to the entreaties of her he had so ardently +loved, called his sufferings to the assistance of his hatred. "Revenge +yourself, then, Edmond," cried the poor mother; "but let your vengeance +fall on the culprits,--on him, on me, but not on my son!" + +"It is written in the good book," said Monte Cristo, "that the sins +of the fathers shall fall upon their children to the third and fourth +generation. Since God himself dictated those words to his prophet, why +should I seek to make myself better than God?" + +"Edmond," continued Mercedes, with her arms extended towards the count, +"since I first knew you, I have adored your name, have respected your +memory. Edmond, my friend, do not compel me to tarnish that noble and +pure image reflected incessantly on the mirror of my heart. Edmond, if +you knew all the prayers I have addressed to God for you while I thought +you were living and since I have thought you must be dead! Yes, dead, +alas! I imagined your dead body buried at the foot of some gloomy tower, +or cast to the bottom of a pit by hateful jailers, and I wept! What +could I do for you, Edmond, besides pray and weep? Listen; for ten +years I dreamed each night the same dream. I had been told that you had +endeavored to escape; that you had taken the place of another prisoner; +that you had slipped into the winding sheet of a dead body; that you had +been thrown alive from the top of the Chateau d'If, and that the cry you +uttered as you dashed upon the rocks first revealed to your jailers that +they were your murderers. Well, Edmond, I swear to you, by the head +of that son for whom I entreat your pity,--Edmond, for ten years I saw +every night every detail of that frightful tragedy, and for ten years +I heard every night the cry which awoke me, shuddering and cold. And +I, too, Edmond--oh! believe me--guilty as I was--oh, yes, I, too, have +suffered much!" + +"Have you known what it is to have your father starve to death in your +absence?" cried Monte Cristo, thrusting his hands into his hair; "have +you seen the woman you loved giving her hand to your rival, while you +were perishing at the bottom of a dungeon?" + +"No," interrupted Mercedes, "but I have seen him whom I loved on the +point of murdering my son." Mercedes uttered these words with such deep +anguish, with an accent of such intense despair, that Monte Cristo could +not restrain a sob. The lion was daunted; the avenger was conquered. +"What do you ask of me?" said he,--"your son's life? Well, he shall +live!" Mercedes uttered a cry which made the tears start from Monte +Cristo's eyes; but these tears disappeared almost instantaneously, for, +doubtless, God had sent some angel to collect them--far more precious +were they in his eyes than the richest pearls of Guzerat and Ophir. + +"Oh," said she, seizing the count's hand and raising it to her lips; +"oh, thank you, thank you, Edmond! Now you are exactly what I dreamt you +were,--the man I always loved. Oh, now I may say so!" + +"So much the better," replied Monte Cristo; "as that poor Edmond will +not have long to be loved by you. Death is about to return to the tomb, +the phantom to retire in darkness." + +"What do you say, Edmond?" + +"I say, since you command me, Mercedes, I must die." + +"Die? and why so? Who talks of dying? Whence have you these ideas of +death?" + +"You do not suppose that, publicly outraged in the face of a +whole theatre, in the presence of your friends and those of your +son--challenged by a boy who will glory in my forgiveness as if it were +a victory--you do not suppose that I can for one moment wish to live. +What I most loved after you, Mercedes, was myself, my dignity, and that +strength which rendered me superior to other men; that strength was my +life. With one word you have crushed it, and I die." + +"But the duel will not take place, Edmond, since you forgive?" + +"It will take place," said Monte Cristo, in a most solemn tone; "but +instead of your son's blood to stain the ground, mine will flow." +Mercedes shrieked, and sprang towards Monte Cristo, but, suddenly +stopping, "Edmond," said she, "there is a God above us, since you live +and since I have seen you again; I trust to him from my heart. While +waiting his assistance I trust to your word; you have said that my son +should live, have you not?" + +"Yes, madame, he shall live," said Monte Cristo, surprised that without +more emotion Mercedes had accepted the heroic sacrifice he made for her. +Mercedes extended her hand to the count. + +"Edmond," said she, and her eyes were wet with tears while looking at +him to whom she spoke, "how noble it is of you, how great the action you +have just performed, how sublime to have taken pity on a poor woman who +appealed to you with every chance against her, Alas, I am grown old with +grief more than with years, and cannot now remind my Edmond by a smile, +or by a look, of that Mercedes whom he once spent so many hours in +contemplating. Ah, believe me, Edmond, as I told you, I too have +suffered much; I repeat, it is melancholy to pass one's life without +having one joy to recall, without preserving a single hope; but that +proves that all is not yet over. No, it is not finished; I feel it by +what remains in my heart. Oh, I repeat it, Edmond; what you have just +done is beautiful--it is grand; it is sublime." + +"Do you say so now, Mercedes?--then what would you say if you knew the +extent of the sacrifice I make to you? Suppose that the Supreme Being, +after having created the world and fertilized chaos, had paused in the +work to spare an angel the tears that might one day flow for mortal sins +from her immortal eyes; suppose that when everything was in readiness +and the moment had come for God to look upon his work and see that it +was good--suppose he had snuffed out the sun and tossed the world back +into eternal night--then--even then, Mercedes, you could not imagine +what I lose in sacrificing my life at this moment." Mercedes looked at +the count in a way which expressed at the same time her astonishment, +her admiration, and her gratitude. Monte Cristo pressed his forehead on +his burning hands, as if his brain could no longer bear alone the weight +of its thoughts. "Edmond," said Mercedes, "I have but one word more to +say to you." The count smiled bitterly. "Edmond," continued she, "you +will see that if my face is pale, if my eyes are dull, if my beauty is +gone; if Mercedes, in short, no longer resembles her former self in her +features, you will see that her heart is still the same. Adieu, then, +Edmond; I have nothing more to ask of heaven--I have seen you again, +and have found you as noble and as great as formerly you were. Adieu, +Edmond, adieu, and thank you." + +But the count did not answer. Mercedes opened the door of the study and +had disappeared before he had recovered from the painful and profound +revery into which his thwarted vengeance had plunged him. The clock +of the Invalides struck one when the carriage which conveyed Madame +de Morcerf away rolled on the pavement of the Champs-Elysees, and made +Monte Cristo raise his head. "What a fool I was," said he, "not to tear +my heart out on the day when I resolved to avenge myself!" + + + +Chapter 90. The Meeting. + +After Mercedes had left Monte Cristo, he fell into profound gloom. +Around him and within him the flight of thought seemed to have stopped; +his energetic mind slumbered, as the body does after extreme fatigue. +"What?" said he to himself, while the lamp and the wax lights were +nearly burnt out, and the servants were waiting impatiently in the +anteroom; "what? this edifice which I have been so long preparing, which +I have reared with so much care and toil, is to be crushed by a single +touch, a word, a breath! Yes, this self, of whom I thought so much, of +whom I was so proud, who had appeared so worthless in the dungeons of +the Chateau d'If, and whom I had succeeded in making so great, will be +but a lump of clay to-morrow. Alas, it is not the death of the body I +regret; for is not the destruction of the vital principle, the repose to +which everything is tending, to which every unhappy being aspires,--is +not this the repose of matter after which I so long sighed, and which +I was seeking to attain by the painful process of starvation when Faria +appeared in my dungeon? What is death for me? One step farther into +rest,--two, perhaps, into silence. + +"No, it is not existence, then, that I regret, but the ruin of projects +so slowly carried out, so laboriously framed. Providence is now opposed +to them, when I most thought it would be propitious. It is not God's +will that they should be accomplished. This burden, almost as heavy as a +world, which I had raised, and I had thought to bear to the end, was too +great for my strength, and I was compelled to lay it down in the middle +of my career. Oh, shall I then, again become a fatalist, whom fourteen +years of despair and ten of hope had rendered a believer in providence? +And all this--all this, because my heart, which I thought dead, was only +sleeping; because it has awakened and has begun to beat again, because +I have yielded to the pain of the emotion excited in my breast by a +woman's voice. Yet," continued the count, becoming each moment more +absorbed in the anticipation of the dreadful sacrifice for the morrow, +which Mercedes had accepted, "yet, it is impossible that so noble-minded +a woman should thus through selfishness consent to my death when I am in +the prime of life and strength; it is impossible that she can carry to +such a point maternal love, or rather delirium. There are virtues which +become crimes by exaggeration. No, she must have conceived some pathetic +scene; she will come and throw herself between us; and what would be +sublime here will there appear ridiculous." The blush of pride mounted +to the count's forehead as this thought passed through his mind. +"Ridiculous?" repeated he; "and the ridicule will fall on me. I +ridiculous? No, I would rather die." + +By thus exaggerating to his own mind the anticipated ill-fortune of the +next day, to which he had condemned himself by promising Mercedes to +spare her son, the count at last exclaimed, "Folly, folly, folly!--to +carry generosity so far as to put myself up as a mark for that young man +to aim at. He will never believe that my death was suicide; and yet it +is important for the honor of my memory,--and this surely is not vanity, +but a justifiable pride,--it is important the world should know that +I have consented, by my free will, to stop my arm, already raised to +strike, and that with the arm which has been so powerful against others +I have struck myself. It must be; it shall be." + +Seizing a pen, he drew a paper from a secret drawer in his desk, and +wrote at the bottom of the document (which was no other than his will, +made since his arrival in Paris) a sort of codicil, clearly explaining +the nature of his death. "I do this, O my God," said he, with his eyes +raised to heaven, "as much for thy honor as for mine. I have during ten +years considered myself the agent of thy vengeance, and other wretches, +like Morcerf, Danglars, Villefort, even Morcerf himself, must not +imagine that chance has freed them from their enemy. Let them know, +on the contrary, that their punishment, which had been decreed by +providence, is only delayed by my present determination, and although +they escape it in this world, it awaits them in another, and that they +are only exchanging time for eternity." + +While he was thus agitated by gloomy uncertainties,--wretched waking +dreams of grief,--the first rays of morning pierced his windows, and +shone upon the pale blue paper on which he had just inscribed his +justification of providence. It was just five o'clock in the morning +when a slight noise like a stifled sigh reached his ear. He turned his +head, looked around him, and saw no one; but the sound was repeated +distinctly enough to convince him of its reality. + +He arose, and quietly opening the door of the drawing-room, saw Haidee, +who had fallen on a chair, with her arms hanging down and her beautiful +head thrown back. She had been standing at the door, to prevent his +going out without seeing her, until sleep, which the young cannot +resist, had overpowered her frame, wearied as she was with watching. The +noise of the door did not awaken her, and Monte Cristo gazed at her with +affectionate regret. "She remembered that she had a son," said he; "and +I forgot I had a daughter." Then, shaking his head sorrowfully, "Poor +Haidee," said he; "she wished to see me, to speak to me; she has feared +or guessed something. Oh, I cannot go without taking leave of her; I +cannot die without confiding her to some one." He quietly regained his +seat, and wrote under the other lines:-- + +"I bequeath to Maximilian Morrel, captain of Spahis,--and son of my +former patron, Pierre Morrel, shipowner at Marseilles,--the sum of +twenty millions, a part of which may be offered to his sister Julia and +brother-in-law Emmanuel, if he does not fear this increase of fortune +may mar their happiness. These twenty millions are concealed in my +grotto at Monte Cristo, of which Bertuccio knows the secret. If his +heart is free, and he will marry Haidee, the daughter of Ali Pasha of +Yanina, whom I have brought up with the love of a father, and who +has shown the love and tenderness of a daughter for me, he will thus +accomplish my last wish. This will has already constituted Haidee +heiress of the rest of my fortune, consisting of lands, funds in +England, Austria, and Holland, furniture in my different palaces and +houses, and which without the twenty millions and the legacies to my +servants, may still amount to sixty millions." + +He was finishing the last line when a cry behind him made him start, and +the pen fell from his hand. "Haidee," said he, "did you read it?" + +"Oh, my lord," said she, "why are you writing thus at such an hour? Why +are you bequeathing all your fortune to me? Are you going to leave me?" + +"I am going on a journey, dear child," said Monte Cristo, with an +expression of infinite tenderness and melancholy; "and if any misfortune +should happen to me." + +The count stopped. "Well?" asked the young girl, with an authoritative +tone the count had never observed before, and which startled him. +"Well, if any misfortune happen to me," replied Monte Cristo, "I wish +my daughter to be happy." Haidee smiled sorrowfully, and shook her head. +"Do you think of dying, my lord?" said she. + +"The wise man, my child, has said, 'It is good to think of death.'" + +"Well, if you die," said she, "bequeath your fortune to others, for if +you die I shall require nothing;" and, taking the paper, she tore it in +four pieces, and threw it into the middle of the room. Then, the effort +having exhausted her strength, she fell not asleep this time, but +fainting on the floor. The count leaned over her and raised her in his +arms; and seeing that sweet pale face, those lovely eyes closed, that +beautiful form motionless and to all appearance lifeless, the idea +occurred to him for the first time, that perhaps she loved him otherwise +than as a daughter loves a father. + +"Alas," murmured he, with intense suffering, "I might, then, have been +happy yet." Then he carried Haidee to her room, resigned her to the care +of her attendants, and returning to his study, which he shut quickly +this time, he again copied the destroyed will. As he was finishing, +the sound of a cabriolet entering the yard was heard. Monte Cristo +approached the window, and saw Maximilian and Emmanuel alight. "Good," +said he; "it was time,"--and he sealed his will with three seals. A +moment afterwards he heard a noise in the drawing-room, and went to open +the door himself. Morrel was there; he had come twenty minutes before +the time appointed. "I am perhaps come too soon, count," said he, "but +I frankly acknowledge that I have not closed my eyes all night, nor +has any one in my house. I need to see you strong in your courageous +assurance, to recover myself." Monte Cristo could not resist this proof +of affection; he not only extended his hand to the young man, but flew +to him with open arms. "Morrel," said he, "it is a happy day for me, to +feel that I am beloved by such a man as you. Good-morning, Emmanuel; you +will come with me then, Maximilian?" + +"Did you doubt it?" said the young captain. + +"But if I were wrong"-- + +"I watched you during the whole scene of that challenge yesterday; I +have been thinking of your firmness all night, and I said to myself that +justice must be on your side, or man's countenance is no longer to be +relied on." + +"But, Morrel, Albert is your friend?" + +"Simply an acquaintance, sir." + +"You met on the same day you first saw me?" + +"Yes, that is true; but I should not have recollected it if you had not +reminded me." + +"Thank you, Morrel." Then ringing the bell once, "Look." said he to Ali, +who came immediately, "take that to my solicitor. It is my will, Morrel. +When I am dead, you will go and examine it." + +"What?" said Morrel, "you dead?" + +"Yes; must I not be prepared for everything, dear friend? But what did +you do yesterday after you left me?" + +"I went to Tortoni's, where, as I expected, I found Beauchamp and +Chateau-Renaud. I own I was seeking them." + +"Why, when all was arranged?" + +"Listen, count; the affair is serious and unavoidable." + +"Did you doubt it!" + +"No; the offence was public, and every one is already talking of it." + +"Well?" + +"Well, I hoped to get an exchange of arms,--to substitute the sword for +the pistol; the pistol is blind." + +"Have you succeeded?" asked Monte Cristo quickly, with an imperceptible +gleam of hope. + +"No; for your skill with the sword is so well known." + +"Ah?--who has betrayed me?" + +"The skilful swordsman whom you have conquered." + +"And you failed?" + +"They positively refused." + +"Morrel," said the count, "have you ever seen me fire a pistol?" + +"Never." + +"Well, we have time; look." Monte Cristo took the pistols he held in his +hand when Mercedes entered, and fixing an ace of clubs against the iron +plate, with four shots he successively shot off the four sides of the +club. At each shot Morrel turned pale. He examined the bullets with +which Monte Cristo performed this dexterous feat, and saw that they were +no larger than buckshot. "It is astonishing," said he. "Look, Emmanuel." +Then turning towards Monte Cristo, "Count," said he, "in the name of +all that is dear to you, I entreat you not to kill Albert!--the unhappy +youth has a mother." + +"You are right," said Monte Cristo; "and I have none." These words +were uttered in a tone which made Morrel shudder. "You are the offended +party, count." + +"Doubtless; what does that imply?" + +"That you will fire first." + +"I fire first?" + +"Oh, I obtained, or rather claimed that; we had conceded enough for them +to yield us that." + +"And at what distance?" + +"Twenty paces." A smile of terrible import passed over the count's lips. +"Morrel," said he, "do not forget what you have just seen." + +"The only chance for Albert's safety, then, will arise from your +emotion." + +"I suffer from emotion?" said Monte Cristo. + +"Or from your generosity, my friend; to so good a marksman as you are, I +may say what would appear absurd to another." + +"What is that?" + +"Break his arm--wound him--but do not kill him." + +"I will tell you, Morrel," said the count, "that I do not need +entreating to spare the life of M. de Morcerf; he shall be so well +spared, that he will return quietly with his two friends, while I"-- + +"And you?" + +"That will be another thing; I shall be brought home." + +"No, no," cried Maximilian, quite unable to restrain his feelings. + +"As I told you, my dear Morrel, M. de Morcerf will kill me." Morrel +looked at him in utter amazement. "But what has happened, then, since +last evening, count?" + +"The same thing that happened to Brutus the night before the battle of +Philippi; I have seen a ghost." + +"And that ghost"-- + +"Told me, Morrel, that I had lived long enough." Maximilian and Emmanuel +looked at each other. Monte Cristo drew out his watch. "Let us go," said +he; "it is five minutes past seven, and the appointment was for eight +o'clock." A carriage was in readiness at the door. Monte Cristo stepped +into it with his two friends. He had stopped a moment in the passage +to listen at a door, and Maximilian and Emmanuel, who had considerately +passed forward a few steps, thought they heard him answer by a sigh to a +sob from within. As the clock struck eight they drove up to the place of +meeting. "We are first," said Morrel, looking out of the window. "Excuse +me, sir," said Baptistin, who had followed his master with indescribable +terror, "but I think I see a carriage down there under the trees." + +Monte Cristo sprang lightly from the carriage, and offered his hand to +assist Emmanuel and Maximilian. The latter retained the count's hand +between his. "I like," said he, "to feel a hand like this, when its +owner relies on the goodness of his cause." + +"It seems to me," said Emmanuel, "that I see two young men down there, +who are evidently, waiting." Monte Cristo drew Morrel a step or two +behind his brother-in-law. "Maximilian," said he, "are your affections +disengaged?" Morrel looked at Monte Cristo with astonishment. "I do not +seek your confidence, my dear friend. I only ask you a simple question; +answer it;--that is all I require." + +"I love a young girl, count." + +"Do you love her much?" + +"More than my life." + +"Another hope defeated!" said the count. Then, with a sigh, "Poor +Haidee!" murmured he. + +"To tell the truth, count, if I knew less of you, I should think that +you were less brave than you are." + +"Because I sigh when thinking of some one I am leaving? Come, Morrel, it +is not like a soldier to be so bad a judge of courage. Do I regret life? +What is it to me, who have passed twenty years between life and death? +Moreover, do not alarm yourself, Morrel; this weakness, if it is such, +is betrayed to you alone. I know the world is a drawing-room, from which +we must retire politely and honestly; that is, with a bow, and our debts +of honor paid." + +"That is to the purpose. Have you brought your arms?" + +"I?--what for? I hope these gentlemen have theirs." + +"I will inquire," said Morrel. + +"Do; but make no treaty--you understand me?" + +"You need not fear." Morrel advanced towards Beauchamp and +Chateau-Renaud, who, seeing his intention, came to meet him. The three +young men bowed to each other courteously, if not affably. + +"Excuse me, gentlemen," said Morrel, "but I do not see M. de Morcerf." + +"He sent us word this morning," replied Chateau-Renaud, "that he would +meet us on the ground." + +"Ah," said Morrel. Beauchamp pulled out his watch. "It is only five +minutes past eight," said he to Morrel; "there is not much time lost +yet." + +"Oh, I made no allusion of that kind," replied Morrel. + +"There is a carriage coming," said Chateau-Renaud. It advanced rapidly +along one of the avenues leading towards the open space where they were +assembled. "You are doubtless provided with pistols, gentlemen? M. de +Monte Cristo yields his right of using his." + +"We had anticipated this kindness on the part of the count," said +Beauchamp, "and I have brought some weapons which I bought eight or ten +days since, thinking to want them on a similar occasion. They are quite +new, and have not yet been used. Will you examine them." + +"Oh, M. Beauchamp, if you assure me that M. de Morcerf does not know +these pistols, you may readily believe that your word will be quite +sufficient." + +"Gentlemen," said Chateau-Renaud, "it is not Morcerf coming in that +carriage;--faith, it is Franz and Debray!" The two young men he +announced were indeed approaching. "What chance brings you here, +gentlemen?" said Chateau-Renaud, shaking hands with each of them. +"Because," said Debray, "Albert sent this morning to request us to +come." Beauchamp and Chateau-Renaud exchanged looks of astonishment. "I +think I understand his reason," said Morrel. + +"What is it?" + +"Yesterday afternoon I received a letter from M. de Morcerf, begging me +to attend the opera." + +"And I," said Debray. + +"And I also," said Franz. + +"And we, too," added Beauchamp and Chateau-Renaud. + +"Having wished you all to witness the challenge, he now wishes you to be +present at the combat." + +"Exactly so," said the young men; "you have probably guessed right." + +"But, after all these arrangements, he does not come himself," said +Chateau-Renaud. "Albert is ten minutes after time." + +"There he comes," said Beauchamp, "on horseback, at full gallop, +followed by a servant." + +"How imprudent," said Chateau-Renaud, "to come on horseback to fight a +duel with pistols, after all the instructions I had given him." + +"And besides," said Beauchamp, "with a collar above his cravat, an +open coat and white waistcoat! Why has he not painted a spot upon his +heart?--it would have been more simple." Meanwhile Albert had arrived +within ten paces of the group formed by the five young men. He jumped +from his horse, threw the bridle on his servant's arms, and joined them. +He was pale, and his eyes were red and swollen; it was evident that he +had not slept. A shade of melancholy gravity overspread his countenance, +which was not natural to him. "I thank you, gentlemen," said he, "for +having complied with my request; I feel extremely grateful for this +mark of friendship." Morrel had stepped back as Morcerf approached, and +remained at a short distance. "And to you also, M. Morrel, my thanks are +due. Come, there cannot be too many." + +"Sir," said Maximilian, "you are not perhaps aware that I am M. de Monte +Cristo's friend?" + +"I was not sure, but I thought it might be so. So much the better; the +more honorable men there are here the better I shall be satisfied." + +"M. Morrel," said Chateau-Renaud, "will you apprise the Count of Monte +Cristo that M. de Morcerf is arrived, and we are at his disposal?" +Morrel was preparing to fulfil his commission. Beauchamp had meanwhile +drawn the box of pistols from the carriage. "Stop, gentlemen," said +Albert; "I have two words to say to the Count of Monte Cristo." + +"In private?" asked Morrel. + +"No, sir; before all who are here." + +Albert's witnesses looked at each other. Franz and Debray exchanged some +words in a whisper, and Morrel, rejoiced at this unexpected incident, +went to fetch the count, who was walking in a retired path with +Emmanuel. "What does he want with me?" said Monte Cristo. + +"I do not know, but he wishes to speak to you." + +"Ah?" said Monte Cristo, "I trust he is not going to tempt me by some +fresh insult!" + +"I do not think that such is his intention," said Morrel. + +The count advanced, accompanied by Maximilian and Emmanuel. His calm and +serene look formed a singular contrast to Albert's grief-stricken face, +who approached also, followed by the other four young men. When at three +paces distant from each other, Albert and the count stopped. + +"Approach, gentlemen," said Albert; "I wish you not to lose one word +of what I am about to have the honor of saying to the Count of Monte +Cristo, for it must be repeated by you to all who will listen to it, +strange as it may appear to you." + +"Proceed, sir," said the count. + +"Sir," said Albert, at first with a tremulous voice, but which gradually +became firmer, "I reproached you with exposing the conduct of M. de +Morcerf in Epirus, for guilty as I knew he was, I thought you had no +right to punish him; but I have since learned that you had that right. +It is not Fernand Mondego's treachery towards Ali Pasha which induces +me so readily to excuse you, but the treachery of the fisherman +Fernand towards you, and the almost unheard-of miseries which were +its consequences; and I say, and proclaim it publicly, that you were +justified in revenging yourself on my father, and I, his son, thank you +for not using greater severity." + +Had a thunderbolt fallen in the midst of the spectators of this +unexpected scene, it would not have surprised them more than did +Albert's declaration. As for Monte Cristo, his eyes slowly rose towards +heaven with an expression of infinite gratitude. He could not understand +how Albert's fiery nature, of which he had seen so much among the Roman +bandits, had suddenly stooped to this humiliation. He recognized the +influence of Mercedes, and saw why her noble heart had not opposed the +sacrifice she knew beforehand would be useless. "Now, sir," said Albert, +"if you think my apology sufficient, pray give me your hand. Next to +the merit of infallibility which you appear to possess, I rank that of +candidly acknowledging a fault. But this confession concerns me only. I +acted well as a man, but you have acted better than man. An angel alone +could have saved one of us from death--that angel came from heaven, if +not to make us friends (which, alas, fatality renders impossible), at +least to make us esteem each other." + +Monte Cristo, with moistened eye, heaving breast, and lips half open, +extended to Albert a hand which the latter pressed with a sentiment +resembling respectful fear. "Gentlemen," said he, "M. de Monte Cristo +receives my apology. I had acted hastily towards him. Hasty actions are +generally bad ones. Now my fault is repaired. I hope the world will not +call me cowardly for acting as my conscience dictated. But if any one +should entertain a false opinion of me," added he, drawing himself up +as if he would challenge both friends and enemies, "I shall endeavor to +correct his mistake." + +"What happened during the night?" asked Beauchamp of Chateau-Renaud; "we +appear to make a very sorry figure here." + +"In truth, what Albert has just done is either very despicable or very +noble," replied the baron. + +"What can it mean?" said Debray to Franz. "The Count of Monte Cristo +acts dishonorably to M. de Morcerf, and is justified by his son! Had I +ten Yaninas in my family, I should only consider myself the more bound +to fight ten times." As for Monte Cristo, his head was bent down, his +arms were powerless. Bowing under the weight of twenty-four +years' reminiscences, he thought not of Albert, of Beauchamp, of +Chateau-Renaud, or of any of that group; but he thought of that +courageous woman who had come to plead for her son's life, to whom +he had offered his, and who had now saved it by the revelation of a +dreadful family secret, capable of destroying forever in that young +man's heart every feeling of filial piety. + +"Providence still," murmured he; "now only am I fully convinced of being +the emissary of God!" + + + +Chapter 91. Mother and Son. + +The Count of Monte Cristo bowed to the five young men with a melancholy +and dignified smile, and got into his carriage with Maximilian and +Emmanuel. Albert, Beauchamp, and Chateau-Renaud remained alone. Albert +looked at his two friends, not timidly, but in a way that appeared to +ask their opinion of what he had just done. + +"Indeed, my dear friend," said Beauchamp first, who had either the most +feeling or the least dissimulation, "allow me to congratulate you; this +is a very unhoped-for conclusion of a very disagreeable affair." + +Albert remained silent and wrapped in thought. Chateau-Renaud contented +himself with tapping his boot with his flexible cane. "Are we not +going?" said he, after this embarrassing silence. "When you please," +replied Beauchamp; "allow me only to compliment M. de Morcerf, who has +given proof to-day of rare chivalric generosity." + +"Oh, yes," said Chateau-Renaud. + +"It is magnificent," continued Beauchamp, "to be able to exercise so +much self-control!" + +"Assuredly; as for me, I should have been incapable of it," said +Chateau-Renaud, with most significant coolness. + +"Gentlemen," interrupted Albert, "I think you did not understand +that something very serious had passed between M. de Monte Cristo and +myself." + +"Possibly, possibly," said Beauchamp immediately; "but every simpleton +would not be able to understand your heroism, and sooner or later you +will find yourself compelled to explain it to them more energetically +than would be convenient to your bodily health and the duration of your +life. May I give you a friendly counsel? Set out for Naples, the Hague, +or St. Petersburg--calm countries, where the point of honor is better +understood than among our hot-headed Parisians. Seek quietude and +oblivion, so that you may return peaceably to France after a few years. +Am I not right, M. de Chateau-Renaud?" + +"That is quite my opinion," said the gentleman; "nothing induces serious +duels so much as a duel forsworn." + +"Thank you, gentlemen," replied Albert, with a smile of indifference; +"I shall follow your advice--not because you give it, but because I had +before intended to quit France. I thank you equally for the service you +have rendered me in being my seconds. It is deeply engraved on my +heart, and, after what you have just said, I remember that only." +Chateau-Renaud and Beauchamp looked at each other; the impression +was the same on both of them, and the tone in which Morcerf had just +expressed his thanks was so determined that the position would have +become embarrassing for all if the conversation had continued. + +"Good-by, Albert," said Beauchamp suddenly, carelessly extending his +hand to the young man. The latter did not appear to arouse from his +lethargy; in fact, he did not notice the offered hand. "Good-by," said +Chateau-Renaud in his turn, keeping his little cane in his left hand, +and saluting with his right. Albert's lips scarcely whispered "Good-by," +but his look was more explicit; it expressed a whole poem of restrained +anger, proud disdain, and generous indignation. He preserved his +melancholy and motionless position for some time after his two friends +had regained their carriage; then suddenly unfastening his horse +from the little tree to which his servant had tied it, he mounted and +galloped off in the direction of Paris. + +In a quarter of an hour he was entering the house in the Rue du Helder. +As he alighted, he thought he saw his father's pale face behind the +curtain of the count's bedroom. Albert turned away his head with a sigh, +and went to his own apartments. He cast one lingering look on all the +luxuries which had rendered life so easy and so happy since his +infancy; he looked at the pictures, whose faces seemed to smile, and the +landscapes, which appeared painted in brighter colors. Then he took away +his mother's portrait, with its oaken frame, leaving the gilt frame from +which he took it black and empty. Then he arranged all his beautiful +Turkish arms, his fine English guns, his Japanese china, his cups +mounted in silver, his artistic bronzes by Feucheres and Barye; examined +the cupboards, and placed the key in each; threw into a drawer of his +secretary, which he left open, all the pocket-money he had about +him, and with it the thousand fancy jewels from his vases and his +jewel-boxes; then he made an exact inventory of everything, and placed +it in the most conspicuous part of the table, after putting aside the +books and papers which had collected there. + +At the beginning of this work, his servant, notwithstanding orders to +the contrary, came to his room. "What do you want?" asked he, with a +more sorrowful than angry tone. "Pardon me, sir," replied the valet; +"you had forbidden me to disturb you, but the Count of Morcerf has +called me." + +"Well!" said Albert. + +"I did not like to go to him without first seeing you." + +"Why?" + +"Because the count is doubtless aware that I accompanied you to the +meeting this morning." + +"It is probable," said Albert. + +"And since he has sent for me, it is doubtless to question me on what +happened there. What must I answer?" + +"The truth." + +"Then I shall say the duel did not take place?" + +"You will say I apologized to the Count of Monte Cristo. Go." + +The valet bowed and retired, and Albert returned to his inventory. As he +was finishing this work, the sound of horses prancing in the yard, and +the wheels of a carriage shaking his window, attracted his attention. He +approached the window, and saw his father get into it, and drive away. +The door was scarcely closed when Albert bent his steps to his mother's +room; and, no one being there to announce him, he advanced to her +bed-chamber, and distressed by what he saw and guessed, stopped for one +moment at the door. As if the same idea had animated these two beings, +Mercedes was doing the same in her apartments that he had just done in +his. Everything was in order,--laces, dresses, jewels, linen, money, all +were arranged in the drawers, and the countess was carefully collecting +the keys. Albert saw all these preparations and understood them, and +exclaiming, "My mother!" he threw his arms around her neck. + +The artist who could have depicted the expression of these two +countenances would certainly have made of them a beautiful picture. All +these proofs of an energetic resolution, which Albert did not fear on +his own account, alarmed him for his mother. "What are you doing?" asked +he. + +"What were you doing?" replied she. + +"Oh, my mother!" exclaimed Albert, so overcome he could scarcely speak; +"it is not the same with you and me--you cannot have made the same +resolution I have, for I have come to warn you that I bid adieu to your +house, and--and to you." + +"I also," replied Mercedes, "am going, and I acknowledge I had depended +on your accompanying me; have I deceived myself?" + +"Mother," said Albert with firmness. "I cannot make you share the fate +I have planned for myself. I must live henceforth without rank and +fortune, and to begin this hard apprenticeship I must borrow from a +friend the loaf I shall eat until I have earned one. So, my dear mother, +I am going at once to ask Franz to lend me the small sum I shall require +to supply my present wants." + +"You, my poor child, suffer poverty and hunger? Oh, do not say so; it +will break my resolutions." + +"But not mine, mother," replied Albert. "I am young and strong; I +believe I am courageous, and since yesterday I have learned the power +of will. Alas, my dear mother, some have suffered so much, and yet +live, and have raised a new fortune on the ruin of all the promises of +happiness which heaven had made them--on the fragments of all the hope +which God had given them! I have seen that, mother; I know that from the +gulf in which their enemies have plunged them they have risen with so +much vigor and glory that in their turn they have ruled their former +conquerors, and have punished them. No, mother; from this moment I have +done with the past, and accept nothing from it--not even a name, because +you can understand that your son cannot bear the name of a man who ought +to blush for it before another." + +"Albert, my child," said Mercedes, "if I had a stronger heart, that is +the counsel I would have given you; your conscience has spoken when my +voice became too weak; listen to its dictates. You had friends, Albert; +break off their acquaintance. But do not despair; you have life before +you, my dear Albert, for you are yet scarcely twenty-two years old; and +as a pure heart like yours wants a spotless name, take my father's--it +was Herrera. I am sure, my dear Albert, whatever may be your career, +you will soon render that name illustrious. Then, my son, return to the +world still more brilliant because of your former sorrows; and if I am +wrong, still let me cherish these hopes, for I have no future to look +forward to. For me the grave opens when I pass the threshold of this +house." + +"I will fulfil all your wishes, my dear mother," said the young man. +"Yes, I share your hopes; the anger of heaven will not pursue us, since +you are pure and I am innocent. But, since our resolution is formed, +let us act promptly. M. de Morcerf went out about half an hour ago; the +opportunity is favorable to avoid an explanation." + +"I am ready, my son," said Mercedes. Albert ran to fetch a carriage. He +recollected that there was a small furnished house to let in the Rue de +Saints Peres, where his mother would find a humble but decent lodging, +and thither he intended conducting the countess. As the carriage stopped +at the door, and Albert was alighting, a man approached and gave him a +letter. Albert recognized the bearer. "From the count," said Bertuccio. +Albert took the letter, opened, and read it, then looked round for +Bertuccio, but he was gone. He returned to Mercedes with tears in his +eyes and heaving breast, and without uttering a word he gave her the +letter. Mercedes read:-- + +Albert,--While showing you that I have discovered your plans, I hope +also to convince you of my delicacy. You are free, you leave the count's +house, and you take your mother to your home; but reflect, Albert, you +owe her more than your poor noble heart can pay her. Keep the struggle +for yourself, bear all the suffering, but spare her the trial of poverty +which must accompany your first efforts; for she deserves not even +the shadow of the misfortune which has this day fallen on her, and +providence is not willing that the innocent should suffer for the +guilty. I know you are going to leave the Rue du Helder without taking +anything with you. Do not seek to know how I discovered it; I know +it--that is sufficient. + +Now, listen, Albert. Twenty-four years ago I returned, proud and joyful, +to my country. I had a betrothed, Albert, a lovely girl whom I adored, +and I was bringing to my betrothed a hundred and fifty louis, painfully +amassed by ceaseless toil. This money was for her; I destined it for +her, and, knowing the treachery of the sea I buried our treasure in +the little garden of the house my father lived in at Marseilles, on the +Allees de Meillan. Your mother, Albert, knows that poor house well. A +short time since I passed through Marseilles, and went to see the old +place, which revived so many painful recollections; and in the evening +I took a spade and dug in the corner of the garden where I had concealed +my treasure. The iron box was there--no one had touched it--under a +beautiful fig-tree my father had planted the day I was born, which +overshadowed the spot. Well, Albert, this money, which was formerly +designed to promote the comfort and tranquillity of the woman I adored, +may now, through strange and painful circumstances, be devoted to the +same purpose. Oh, feel for me, who could offer millions to that poor +woman, but who return her only the piece of black bread forgotten +under my poor roof since the day I was torn from her I loved. You are +a generous man, Albert, but perhaps you may be blinded by pride or +resentment; if you refuse me, if you ask another for what I have a right +to offer you, I will say it is ungenerous of you to refuse the life +of your mother at the hands of a man whose father was allowed by your +father to die in all the horrors of poverty and despair. + +Albert stood pale and motionless to hear what his mother would decide +after she had finished reading this letter. Mercedes turned her eyes +with an ineffable look towards heaven. "I accept it," said she; "he has +a right to pay the dowry, which I shall take with me to some convent!" +Putting the letter in her bosom, she took her son's arm, and with a +firmer step than she even herself expected she went down-stairs. + + + +Chapter 92. The Suicide. + +Meanwhile Monte Cristo had also returned to town with Emmanuel and +Maximilian. Their return was cheerful. Emmanuel did not conceal his +joy at the peaceful termination of the affair, and was loud in his +expressions of delight. Morrel, in a corner of the carriage, allowed his +brother-in-law's gayety to expend itself in words, while he felt equal +inward joy, which, however, betrayed itself only in his countenance. +At the Barriere du Trone they met Bertuccio, who was waiting there, +motionless as a sentinel at his post. Monte Cristo put his head out +of the window, exchanged a few words with him in a low tone, and the +steward disappeared. "Count," said Emmanuel, when they were at the end +of the Place Royale, "put me down at my door, that my wife may not have +a single moment of needless anxiety on my account or yours." + +"If it were not ridiculous to make a display of our triumph, I would +invite the count to our house; besides that, he doubtless has some +trembling heart to comfort. So we will take leave of our friend, and let +him hasten home." + +"Stop a moment," said Monte Cristo; "do not let me lose both my +companions. Return, Emmanuel, to your charming wife, and present my +best compliments to her; and do you, Morrel, accompany me to the Champs +Elysees." + +"Willingly," said Maximilian; "particularly as I have business in that +quarter." + +"Shall we wait breakfast for you?" asked Emmanuel. + +"No," replied the young man. The door was closed, and the carriage +proceeded. "See what good fortune I brought you!" said Morrel, when he +was alone with the count. "Have you not thought so?" + +"Yes," said Monte Cristo; "for that reason I wished to keep you near +me." + +"It is miraculous!" continued Morrel, answering his own thoughts. + +"What?" said Monte Cristo. + +"What has just happened." + +"Yes," said the Count, "you are right--it is miraculous." + +"For Albert is brave," resumed Morrel. + +"Very brave," said Monte Cristo; "I have seen him sleep with a sword +suspended over his head." + +"And I know he has fought two duels," said Morrel. "How can you +reconcile that with his conduct this morning?" + +"All owing to your influence," replied Monte Cristo, smiling. + +"It is well for Albert he is not in the army," said Morrel. + +"Why?" + +"An apology on the ground!" said the young captain, shaking his head. + +"Come," said the count mildly, "do not entertain the prejudices of +ordinary men, Morrel! Acknowledge, that if Albert is brave, he cannot +be a coward; he must then have had some reason for acting as he did this +morning, and confess that his conduct is more heroic than otherwise." + +"Doubtless, doubtless," said Morrel; "but I shall say, like the +Spaniard, 'He has not been so brave to-day as he was yesterday.'" + +"You will breakfast with me, will you not, Morrel?" said the count, to +turn the conversation. + +"No; I must leave you at ten o'clock." + +"Your engagement was for breakfast, then?" said the count. + +Morrel smiled, and shook his head. "Still you must breakfast somewhere." + +"But if I am not hungry?" said the young man. + +"Oh," said the count, "I only know two things which destroy the +appetite,--grief--and as I am happy to see you very cheerful, it is not +that--and love. Now after what you told me this morning of your heart, I +may believe"-- + +"Well, count," replied Morrel gayly, "I will not dispute it." + +"But you will not make me your confidant, Maximilian?" said the count, +in a tone which showed how gladly he would have been admitted to the +secret. + +"I showed you this morning that I had a heart, did I not, count?" Monte +Cristo only answered by extending his hand to the young man. "Well," +continued the latter, "since that heart is no longer with you in the +Bois de Vincennes, it is elsewhere, and I must go and find it." + +"Go," said the count deliberately; "go, dear friend, but promise me if +you meet with any obstacle to remember that I have some power in this +world, that I am happy to use that power in the behalf of those I love, +and that I love you, Morrel." + +"I will remember it," said the young man, "as selfish children recollect +their parents when they want their aid. When I need your assistance, and +the moment arrives, I will come to you, count." + +"Well, I rely upon your promise. Good-by, then." + +"Good-by, till we meet again." They had arrived in the Champs Elysees. +Monte Cristo opened the carriage-door, Morrel sprang out on the +pavement, Bertuccio was waiting on the steps. Morrel disappeared down +the Avenue de Marigny, and Monte Cristo hastened to join Bertuccio. + +"Well?" asked he. + +"She is going to leave her house," said the steward. + +"And her son?" + +"Florentin, his valet, thinks he is going to do the same." + +"Come this way." Monte Cristo took Bertuccio into his study, wrote the +letter we have seen, and gave it to the steward. "Go," said he quickly. +"But first, let Haidee be informed that I have returned." + +"Here I am," said the young girl, who at the sound of the carriage had +run down-stairs and whose face was radiant with joy at seeing the count +return safely. Bertuccio left. Every transport of a daughter finding a +father, all the delight of a mistress seeing an adored lover, were felt +by Haidee during the first moments of this meeting, which she had so +eagerly expected. Doubtless, although less evident, Monte Cristo's joy +was not less intense. Joy to hearts which have suffered long is like the +dew on the ground after a long drought; both the heart and the ground +absorb that beneficent moisture falling on them, and nothing is +outwardly apparent. + +Monte Cristo was beginning to think, what he had not for a long time +dared to believe, that there were two Mercedes in the world, and he +might yet be happy. His eye, elate with happiness, was reading eagerly +the tearful gaze of Haidee, when suddenly the door opened. The count +knit his brow. "M. de Morcerf!" said Baptistin, as if that name sufficed +for his excuse. In fact, the count's face brightened. + +"Which," asked he, "the viscount or the count?" + +"The count." + +"Oh," exclaimed Haidee, "is it not yet over?" + +"I know not if it is finished, my beloved child," said Monte Cristo, +taking the young girl's hands; "but I do know you have nothing more to +fear." + +"But it is the wretched"-- + +"That man cannot injure me, Haidee," said Monte Cristo; "it was his son +alone that there was cause to fear." + +"And what I have suffered," said the young girl, "you shall never know, +my lord." Monte Cristo smiled. "By my father's tomb," said he, extending +his hand over the head of the young girl, "I swear to you, Haidee, that +if any misfortune happens, it will not be to me." + +"I believe you, my lord, as implicitly as if God had spoken to me," said +the young girl, presenting her forehead to him. Monte Cristo pressed on +that pure beautiful forehead a kiss which made two hearts throb at once, +the one violently, the other heavily. "Oh," murmured the count, "shall +I then be permitted to love again? Ask M. de Morcerf into the +drawing-room," said he to Baptistin, while he led the beautiful Greek +girl to a private staircase. + +We must explain this visit, which although expected by Monte Cristo, is +unexpected to our readers. While Mercedes, as we have said, was making +a similar inventory of her property to Albert's, while she was arranging +her jewels, shutting her drawers, collecting her keys, to leave +everything in perfect order, she did not perceive a pale and sinister +face at a glass door which threw light into the passage, from which +everything could be both seen and heard. He who was thus looking, +without being heard or seen, probably heard and saw all that passed in +Madame de Morcerf's apartments. From that glass door the pale-faced +man went to the count's bedroom and raised with a constricted hand the +curtain of a window overlooking the court-yard. He remained there ten +minutes, motionless and dumb, listening to the beating of his own heart. +For him those ten minutes were very long. It was then Albert, returning +from his meeting with the count, perceived his father watching for his +arrival behind a curtain, and turned aside. The count's eye expanded; he +knew Albert had insulted the count dreadfully, and that in every country +in the world such an insult would lead to a deadly duel. Albert returned +safely--then the count was revenged. + +An indescribable ray of joy illumined that wretched countenance like the +last ray of the sun before it disappears behind the clouds which bear +the aspect, not of a downy couch, but of a tomb. But as we have said, he +waited in vain for his son to come to his apartment with the account of +his triumph. He easily understood why his son did not come to see him +before he went to avenge his father's honor; but when that was done, why +did not his son come and throw himself into his arms? + +It was then, when the count could not see Albert, that he sent for his +servant, who he knew was authorized not to conceal anything from him. +Ten minutes afterwards, General Morcerf was seen on the steps in a black +coat with a military collar, black pantaloons, and black gloves. He had +apparently given previous orders, for as he reached the bottom step his +carriage came from the coach-house ready for him. The valet threw into +the carriage his military cloak, in which two swords were wrapped, and, +shutting the door, he took his seat by the side of the coachman. The +coachman stooped down for his orders. + +"To the Champs Elysees," said the general; "the Count of Monte Cristo's. +Hurry!" The horses bounded beneath the whip; and in five minutes they +stopped before the count's door. M. de Morcerf opened the door himself, +and as the carriage rolled away he passed up the walk, rang, and entered +the open door with his servant. + +A moment afterwards, Baptistin announced the Count of Morcerf to Monte +Cristo, and the latter, leading Haidee aside, ordered that Morcerf be +asked into the drawing-room. The general was pacing the room the third +time when, in turning, he perceived Monte Cristo at the door. "Ah, it +is M. de Morcerf," said Monte Cristo quietly; "I thought I had not heard +aright." + +"Yes, it is I," said the count, whom a frightful contraction of the lips +prevented from articulating freely. + +"May I know the cause which procures me the pleasure of seeing M. de +Morcerf so early?" + +"Had you not a meeting with my son this morning?" asked the general. + +"I had," replied the count. + +"And I know my son had good reasons to wish to fight with you, and to +endeavor to kill you." + +"Yes, sir, he had very good ones; but you see that in spite of them he +has not killed me, and did not even fight." + +"Yet he considered you the cause of his father's dishonor, the cause of +the fearful ruin which has fallen on my house." + +"It is true, sir," said Monte Cristo with his dreadful calmness; "a +secondary cause, but not the principal." + +"Doubtless you made, then, some apology or explanation?" + +"I explained nothing, and it is he who apologized to me." + +"But to what do you attribute this conduct?" + +"To the conviction, probably, that there was one more guilty than I." + +"And who was that?" + +"His father." + +"That may be," said the count, turning pale; "but you know the guilty do +not like to find themselves convicted." + +"I know it, and I expected this result." + +"You expected my son would be a coward?" cried the count. + +"M. Albert de Morcerf is no coward!" said Monte Cristo. + +"A man who holds a sword in his hand, and sees a mortal enemy within +reach of that sword, and does not fight, is a coward! Why is he not here +that I may tell him so?" + +"Sir." replied Monte Cristo coldly, "I did not expect that you had come +here to relate to me your little family affairs. Go and tell M. Albert +that, and he may know what to answer you." + +"Oh, no, no," said the general, smiling faintly, "I did not come for +that purpose; you are right. I came to tell you that I also look upon +you as my enemy. I came to tell you that I hate you instinctively; that +it seems as if I had always known you, and always hated you; and, in +short, since the young people of the present day will not fight, it +remains for us to do so. Do you think so, sir?" + +"Certainly. And when I told you I had foreseen the result, it is the +honor of your visit I alluded to." + +"So much the better. Are you prepared?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You know that we shall fight till one of us is dead," said the general, +whose teeth were clinched with rage. "Until one of us dies," repeated +Monte Cristo, moving his head slightly up and down. + +"Let us start, then; we need no witnesses." + +"Very true," said Monte Cristo; "it is unnecessary, we know each other +so well!" + +"On the contrary," said the count, "we know so little of each other." + +"Indeed?" said Monte Cristo, with the same indomitable coolness; "let +us see. Are you not the soldier Fernand who deserted on the eve of the +battle of Waterloo? Are you not the Lieutenant Fernand who served as +guide and spy to the French army in Spain? Are you not the Captain +Fernand who betrayed, sold, and murdered his benefactor, Ali? And have +not all these Fernands, united, made Lieutenant-General, the Count of +Morcerf, peer of France?" + +"Oh," cried the general, as if branded with a hot iron, "wretch,--to +reproach me with my shame when about, perhaps, to kill me! No, I did +not say I was a stranger to you. I know well, demon, that you have +penetrated into the darkness of the past, and that you have read, by the +light of what torch I know not, every page of my life; but perhaps I +may be more honorable in my shame than you under your pompous coverings. +No--no, I am aware you know me; but I know you only as an adventurer +sewn up in gold and jewellery. You call yourself in Paris the Count of +Monte Cristo; in Italy, Sinbad the Sailor; in Malta, I forget what. But +it is your real name I want to know, in the midst of your hundred names, +that I may pronounce it when we meet to fight, at the moment when I +plunge my sword through your heart." + +The Count of Monte Cristo turned dreadfully pale; his eye seemed to +burn with a devouring fire. He leaped towards a dressing-room near his +bedroom, and in less than a moment, tearing off his cravat, his coat +and waistcoat, he put on a sailor's jacket and hat, from beneath which +rolled his long black hair. He returned thus, formidable and implacable, +advancing with his arms crossed on his breast, towards the general, +who could not understand why he had disappeared, but who on seeing him +again, and feeling his teeth chatter and his legs sink under him, drew +back, and only stopped when he found a table to support his clinched +hand. "Fernand," cried he, "of my hundred names I need only tell you +one, to overwhelm you! But you guess it now, do you not?--or, rather, +you remember it? For, notwithstanding all my sorrows and my tortures, +I show you to-day a face which the happiness of revenge makes young +again--a face you must often have seen in your dreams since your +marriage with Mercedes, my betrothed!" + +The general, with his head thrown back, hands extended, gaze fixed, +looked silently at this dreadful apparition; then seeking the wall to +support him, he glided along close to it until he reached the door, +through which he went out backwards, uttering this single mournful, +lamentable, distressing cry,--"Edmond Dantes!" Then, with sighs which +were unlike any human sound, he dragged himself to the door, reeled +across the court-yard, and falling into the arms of his valet, he said +in a voice scarcely intelligible,--"Home, home." The fresh air and the +shame he felt at having exposed himself before his servants, partly +recalled his senses, but the ride was short, and as he drew near his +house all his wretchedness revived. He stopped at a short distance from +the house and alighted. + +The door was wide open, a hackney-coach was standing in the middle of +the yard--a strange sight before so noble a mansion; the count looked +at it with terror, but without daring to inquire its meaning, he rushed +towards his apartment. Two persons were coming down the stairs; he had +only time to creep into an alcove to avoid them. It was Mercedes leaning +on her son's arm and leaving the house. They passed close by the unhappy +being, who, concealed behind the damask curtain, almost felt Mercedes +dress brush past him, and his son's warm breath, pronouncing these +words,--"Courage, mother! Come, this is no longer our home!" The words +died away, the steps were lost in the distance. The general drew himself +up, clinging to the curtain; he uttered the most dreadful sob which ever +escaped from the bosom of a father abandoned at the same time by +his wife and son. He soon heard the clatter of the iron step of the +hackney-coach, then the coachman's voice, and then the rolling of the +heavy vehicle shook the windows. He darted to his bedroom to see once +more all he had loved in the world; but the hackney-coach drove on and +the head of neither Mercedes nor her son appeared at the window to take +a last look at the house or the deserted father and husband. And at the +very moment when the wheels of that coach crossed the gateway a report +was heard, and a thick smoke escaped through one of the panes of the +window, which was broken by the explosion. + + + +Chapter 93. Valentine. + +We may easily conceive where Morrel's appointment was. On leaving Monte +Cristo he walked slowly towards Villefort's; we say slowly, for Morrel +had more than half an hour to spare to go five hundred steps, but he +had hastened to take leave of Monte Cristo because he wished to be alone +with his thoughts. He knew his time well--the hour when Valentine was +giving Noirtier his breakfast, and was sure not to be disturbed in the +performance of this pious duty. Noirtier and Valentine had given him +leave to go twice a week, and he was now availing himself of that +permission. He had arrived; Valentine was expecting him. Uneasy and +almost crazed, she seized his hand and led him to her grandfather. This +uneasiness, amounting almost to frenzy, arose from the report Morcerf's +adventure had made in the world, for the affair at the opera was +generally known. No one at Villefort's doubted that a duel would ensue +from it. Valentine, with her woman's instinct, guessed that Morrel would +be Monte Cristo's second, and from the young man's well-known courage +and his great affection for the count, she feared that he would not +content himself with the passive part assigned to him. We may easily +understand how eagerly the particulars were asked for, given, and +received; and Morrel could read an indescribable joy in the eyes of his +beloved, when she knew that the termination of this affair was as happy +as it was unexpected. + +"Now," said Valentine, motioning to Morrel to sit down near her +grandfather, while she took her seat on his footstool,--"now let us talk +about our own affairs. You know, Maximilian, grandpapa once thought +of leaving this house, and taking an apartment away from M. de +Villefort's." + +"Yes," said Maximilian, "I recollect the project, of which I highly +approved." + +"Well," said Valentine, "you may approve again, for grandpapa is again +thinking of it." + +"Bravo," said Maximilian. + +"And do you know," said Valentine, "what reason grandpapa gives for +leaving this house." Noirtier looked at Valentine to impose silence, +but she did not notice him; her looks, her eyes, her smile, were all for +Morrel. + +"Oh, whatever may be M. Noirtier's reason," answered Morrel, "I can +readily believe it to be a good one." + +"An excellent one," said Valentine. "He pretends the air of the Faubourg +St. Honore is not good for me." + +"Indeed?" said Morrel; "in that M. Noirtier may be right; you have not +seemed to be well for the last fortnight." + +"Not very," said Valentine. "And grandpapa has become my physician, and +I have the greatest confidence in him, because he knows everything." + +"Do you then really suffer?" asked Morrel quickly. + +"Oh, it must not be called suffering; I feel a general uneasiness, that +is all. I have lost my appetite, and my stomach feels as if it were +struggling to get accustomed to something." Noirtier did not lose a +word of what Valentine said. "And what treatment do you adopt for this +singular complaint?" + +"A very simple one," said Valentine. "I swallow every morning a spoonful +of the mixture prepared for my grandfather. When I say one spoonful, +I began by one--now I take four. Grandpapa says it is a panacea." +Valentine smiled, but it was evident that she suffered. + +Maximilian, in his devotedness, gazed silently at her. She was very +beautiful, but her usual pallor had increased; her eyes were more +brilliant than ever, and her hands, which were generally white like +mother-of-pearl, now more resembled wax, to which time was adding a +yellowish hue. From Valentine the young man looked towards Noirtier. The +latter watched with strange and deep interest the young girl, absorbed +by her affection, and he also, like Morrel, followed those traces of +inward suffering which was so little perceptible to a common observer +that they escaped the notice of every one but the grandfather and the +lover. + +"But," said Morrel, "I thought this mixture, of which you now take four +spoonfuls, was prepared for M. Noirtier?" + +"I know it is very bitter," said Valentine; "so bitter, that all I drink +afterwards appears to have the same taste." Noirtier looked inquiringly +at his granddaughter. "Yes, grandpapa," said Valentine; "it is so. Just +now, before I came down to you, I drank a glass of sugared water; I left +half, because it seemed so bitter." Noirtier turned pale, and made a +sign that he wished to speak. Valentine rose to fetch the dictionary. +Noirtier watched her with evident anguish. In fact, the blood was +rushing to the young girl's head already, her cheeks were becoming +red. "Oh," cried she, without losing any of her cheerfulness, "this is +singular! I can't see! Did the sun shine in my eyes?" And she leaned +against the window. + +"The sun is not shining," said Morrel, more alarmed by Noirtier's +expression than by Valentine's indisposition. He ran towards her. The +young girl smiled. "Cheer up," said she to Noirtier. "Do not be alarmed, +Maximilian; it is nothing, and has already passed away. But listen! Do I +not hear a carriage in the court-yard?" She opened Noirtier's door, ran +to a window in the passage, and returned hastily. "Yes," said she, +"it is Madame Danglars and her daughter, who have come to call on us. +Good-by;--I must run away, for they would send here for me, or, rather, +farewell till I see you again. Stay with grandpapa, Maximilian; I +promise you not to persuade them to stay." + +Morrel watched her as she left the room; he heard her ascend the little +staircase which led both to Madame de Villefort's apartments and to +hers. As soon as she was gone, Noirtier made a sign to Morrel to take +the dictionary. Morrel obeyed; guided by Valentine, he had learned how +to understand the old man quickly. Accustomed, however, as he was to the +work, he had to repeat most of the letters of the alphabet and to find +every word in the dictionary, so that it was ten minutes before the +thought of the old man was translated by these words, "Fetch the glass +of water and the decanter from Valentine's room." + +Morrel rang immediately for the servant who had taken Barrois's +situation, and in Noirtier's name gave that order. The servant soon +returned. The decanter and the glass were completely empty. Noirtier +made a sign that he wished to speak. "Why are the glass and decanter +empty?" asked he; "Valentine said she only drank half the glassful." The +translation of this new question occupied another five minutes. "I +do not know," said the servant, "but the housemaid is in Mademoiselle +Valentine's room: perhaps she has emptied them." + +"Ask her," said Morrel, translating Noirtier's thought this time by +his look. The servant went out, but returned almost immediately. +"Mademoiselle Valentine passed through the room to go to Madame de +Villefort's," said he; "and in passing, as she was thirsty, she drank +what remained in the glass; as for the decanter, Master Edward had +emptied that to make a pond for his ducks." Noirtier raised his eyes to +heaven, as a gambler does who stakes his all on one stroke. From that +moment the old man's eyes were fixed on the door, and did not quit it. + +It was indeed Madame Danglars and her daughter whom Valentine had seen; +they had been ushered into Madame de Villefort's room, who had said she +would receive them there. That is why Valentine passed through her room, +which was on a level with Valentine's, and only separated from it by +Edward's. The two ladies entered the drawing-room with that sort of +official stiffness which preludes a formal communication. Among worldly +people manner is contagious. Madame de Villefort received them with +equal solemnity. Valentine entered at this moment, and the formalities +were resumed. "My dear friend," said the baroness, while the two young +people were shaking hands, "I and Eugenie are come to be the first to +announce to you the approaching marriage of my daughter with Prince +Cavalcanti." Danglars kept up the title of prince. The popular banker +found that it answered better than count. "Allow me to present you +my sincere congratulations," replied Madame de Villefort. "Prince +Cavalcanti appears to be a young man of rare qualities." + +"Listen," said the baroness, smiling; "speaking to you as a friend I can +say that the prince does not yet appear all he will be. He has about him +a little of that foreign manner by which French persons recognize, at +first sight, the Italian or German nobleman. Besides, he gives evidence +of great kindness of disposition, much keenness of wit, and as to +suitability, M. Danglars assures me that his fortune is majestic--that +is his word." + +"And then," said Eugenie, while turning over the leaves of Madame de +Villefort's album, "add that you have taken a great fancy to the young +man." + +"And," said Madame de Villefort, "I need not ask you if you share that +fancy." + +"I?" replied Eugenie with her usual candor. "Oh, not the least in the +world, madame! My wish was not to confine myself to domestic cares, or +the caprices of any man, but to be an artist, and consequently free in +heart, in person, and in thought." Eugenie pronounced these words with +so firm a tone that the color mounted to Valentine's cheeks. The timid +girl could not understand that vigorous nature which appeared to have +none of the timidities of woman. + +"At any rate," said she, "since I am to be married whether I will or +not, I ought to be thankful to providence for having released me from my +engagement with M. Albert de Morcerf, or I should this day have been the +wife of a dishonored man." + +"It is true," said the baroness, with that strange simplicity sometimes +met with among fashionable ladies, and of which plebeian intercourse can +never entirely deprive them,--"it is very true that had not the Morcerfs +hesitated, my daughter would have married Monsieur Albert. The general +depended much on it; he even came to force M. Danglars. We have had a +narrow escape." + +"But," said Valentine, timidly, "does all the father's shame revert upon +the son? Monsieur Albert appears to me quite innocent of the treason +charged against the general." + +"Excuse me," said the implacable young girl, "Monsieur Albert claims and +well deserves his share. It appears that after having challenged M. +de Monte Cristo at the Opera yesterday, he apologized on the ground +to-day." + +"Impossible," said Madame de Villefort. + +"Ah, my dear friend," said Madame Danglars, with the same simplicity +we before noticed, "it is a fact. I heard it from M. Debray, who was +present at the explanation." Valentine also knew the truth, but she did +not answer. A single word had reminded her that Morrel was expecting +her in M. Noirtier's room. Deeply engaged with a sort of inward +contemplation, Valentine had ceased for a moment to join in the +conversation. She would, indeed, have found it impossible to repeat what +had been said the last few minutes, when suddenly Madame Danglars' hand, +pressed on her arm, aroused her from her lethargy. + +"What is it?" said she, starting at Madame Danglars' touch as she would +have done from an electric shock. "It is, my dear Valentine," said the +baroness, "that you are, doubtless, suffering." + +"I?" said the young girl, passing her hand across her burning forehead. + +"Yes, look at yourself in that glass; you have turned pale and then red +successively, three or four times in one minute." + +"Indeed," cried Eugenie, "you are very pale!" + +"Oh, do not be alarmed; I have been so for many days." Artless as she +was, the young girl knew that this was an opportunity to leave, +and besides, Madame de Villefort came to her assistance. "Retire, +Valentine," said she; "you are really suffering, and these ladies will +excuse you; drink a glass of pure water, it will restore you." Valentine +kissed Eugenie, bowed to Madame Danglars, who had already risen to take +her leave, and went out. "That poor child," said Madame de Villefort +when Valentine was gone, "she makes me very uneasy, and I should not be +astonished if she had some serious illness." + +Meanwhile, Valentine, in a sort of excitement which she could not quite +understand, had crossed Edward's room without noticing some trick of +the child, and through her own had reached the little staircase. She was +within three steps of the bottom; she already heard Morrel's voice, when +suddenly a cloud passed over her eyes, her stiffened foot missed the +step, her hands had no power to hold the baluster, and falling against +the wall she lost her balance wholly and toppled to the floor. Morrel +bounded to the door, opened it, and found Valentine stretched out at the +bottom of the stairs. Quick as a flash, he raised her in his arms and +placed her in a chair. Valentine opened her eyes. + +"Oh, what a clumsy thing I am," said she with feverish volubility; +"I don't know my way. I forgot there were three more steps before the +landing." + +"You have hurt yourself, perhaps," said Morrel. "What can I do for you, +Valentine?" Valentine looked around her; she saw the deepest terror +depicted in Noirtier's eyes. "Don't worry, dear grandpapa," said she, +endeavoring to smile; "it is nothing--it is nothing; I was giddy, that +is all." + +"Another attack of giddiness," said Morrel, clasping his hands. "Oh, +attend to it, Valentine, I entreat you." + +"But no," said Valentine,--"no, I tell you it is all past, and it was +nothing. Now, let me tell you some news; Eugenie is to be married in +a week, and in three days there is to be a grand feast, a betrothal +festival. We are all invited, my father, Madame de Villefort, and I--at +least, I understood it so." + +"When will it be our turn to think of these things? Oh, Valentine, +you who have so much influence over your grandpapa, try to make him +answer--Soon." + +"And do you," said Valentine, "depend on me to stimulate the tardiness +and arouse the memory of grandpapa?" + +"Yes," cried Morrel, "make haste. So long as you are not mine, +Valentine, I shall always think I may lose you." + +"Oh," replied Valentine with a convulsive movement, "oh, indeed, +Maximilian, you are too timid for an officer, for a soldier who, +they say, never knows fear. Ah, ha, ha!" she burst into a forced and +melancholy laugh, her arms stiffened and twisted, her head fell back +on her chair, and she remained motionless. The cry of terror which +was stopped on Noirtier's lips, seemed to start from his eyes. Morrel +understood it; he knew he must call assistance. The young man rang the +bell violently; the housemaid who had been in Mademoiselle Valentine's +room, and the servant who had replaced Barrois, ran in at the same +moment. Valentine was so pale, so cold, so inanimate that without +listening to what was said to them they were seized with the fear which +pervaded that house, and they flew into the passage crying for help. +Madame Danglars and Eugenie were going out at that moment; they heard +the cause of the disturbance. "I told you so!" exclaimed Madame de +Villefort. "Poor child!" + + + +Chapter 94. Maximilian's Avowal. + +At the same moment M. de Villefort's voice was heard calling from his +study, "What is the matter?" Morrel looked at Noirtier who had recovered +his self-command, and with a glance indicated the closet where once +before under somewhat similar circumstances, he had taken refuge. He had +only time to get his hat and throw himself breathless into the closet +when the procureur's footstep was heard in the passage. Villefort sprang +into the room, ran to Valentine, and took her in his arms. "A physician, +a physician,--M. d'Avrigny!" cried Villefort; "or rather I will go for +him myself." He flew from the apartment, and Morrel at the same moment +darted out at the other door. He had been struck to the heart by a +frightful recollection--the conversation he had heard between the doctor +and Villefort the night of Madame de Saint-Meran's death, recurred to +him; these symptoms, to a less alarming extent, were the same which had +preceded the death of Barrois. At the same time Monte Cristo's voice +seemed to resound in his ear with the words he had heard only two hours +before, "Whatever you want, Morrel, come to me; I have great power." +More rapidly than thought, he darted down the Rue Matignon, and thence +to the Avenue des Champs Elysees. + +Meanwhile M. de Villefort arrived in a hired cabriolet at M. d'Avrigny's +door. He rang so violently that the porter was alarmed. Villefort ran +up-stairs without saying a word. The porter knew him, and let him pass, +only calling to him, "In his study, Monsieur Procureur--in his study!" +Villefort pushed, or rather forced, the door open. "Ah," said the +doctor, "is it you?" + +"Yes," said Villefort, closing the door after him, "it is I, who am +come in my turn to ask you if we are quite alone. Doctor, my house is +accursed!" + +"What?" said the latter with apparent coolness, but with deep emotion, +"have you another invalid?" + +"Yes, doctor," cried Villefort, clutching his hair, "yes!" + +D'Avrigny's look implied, "I told you it would be so." Then he slowly +uttered these words, "Who is now dying in your house? What new victim is +going to accuse you of weakness before God?" A mournful sob burst +from Villefort's heart; he approached the doctor, and seizing his +arm,--"Valentine," said he, "it is Valentine's turn!" + +"Your daughter?" cried d'Avrigny with grief and surprise. + +"You see you were deceived," murmured the magistrate; "come and see her, +and on her bed of agony entreat her pardon for having suspected her." + +"Each time you have applied to me," said the doctor, "it has been too +late; still I will go. But let us make haste, sir; with the enemies you +have to do with there is no time to be lost." + +"Oh, this time, doctor, you shall not have to reproach me with weakness. +This time I will know the assassin, and will pursue him." + +"Let us try first to save the victim before we think of revenging her," +said d'Avrigny. "Come." The same cabriolet which had brought Villefort +took them back at full speed, and at this moment Morrel rapped at Monte +Cristo's door. The count was in his study and was reading with an angry +look something which Bertuccio had brought in haste. Hearing the name +of Morrel, who had left him only two hours before, the count raised his +head, arose, and sprang to meet him. "What is the matter, Maximilian?" +asked he; "you are pale, and the perspiration rolls from your forehead." +Morrel fell into a chair. "Yes," said he, "I came quickly; I wanted to +speak to you." + +"Are all your family well?" asked the count, with an affectionate +benevolence, whose sincerity no one could for a moment doubt. + +"Thank you, count--thank you," said the young man, evidently embarrassed +how to begin the conversation; "yes, every one in my family is well." + +"So much the better; yet you have something to tell me?" replied the +count with increased anxiety. + +"Yes," said Morrel, "it is true; I have but now left a house where death +has just entered, to run to you." + +"Are you then come from M. de Morcerf's?" asked Monte Cristo. + +"No," said Morrel; "is some one dead in his house?" + +"The general has just blown his brains out," replied Monte Cristo with +great coolness. + +"Oh, what a dreadful event!" cried Maximilian. + +"Not for the countess, or for Albert," said Monte Cristo; "a dead father +or husband is better than a dishonored one,--blood washes out shame." + +"Poor countess," said Maximilian, "I pity her very much; she is so noble +a woman!" + +"Pity Albert also, Maximilian; for believe me he is the worthy son +of the countess. But let us return to yourself. You have hastened to +me--can I have the happiness of being useful to you?" + +"Yes, I need your help: that is I thought like a madman that you could +lend me your assistance in a case where God alone can succor me." + +"Tell me what it is," replied Monte Cristo. + +"Oh," said Morrel, "I know not, indeed, if I may reveal this secret +to mortal ears, but fatality impels me, necessity constrains me, +count"--Morrel hesitated. "Do you think I love you?" said Monte Cristo, +taking the young man's hand affectionately in his. + +"Oh, you encourage me, and something tells me there," placing his hand +on his heart, "that I ought to have no secret from you." + +"You are right, Morrel; God is speaking to your heart, and your heart +speaks to you. Tell me what it says." + +"Count, will you allow me to send Baptistin to inquire after some one +you know?" + +"I am at your service, and still more my servants." + +"Oh, I cannot live if she is not better." + +"Shall I ring for Baptistin?" + +"No, I will go and speak to him myself." Morrel went out, called +Baptistin, and whispered a few words to him. The valet ran directly. +"Well, have you sent?" asked Monte Cristo, seeing Morrel return. + +"Yes, and now I shall be more calm." + +"You know I am waiting," said Monte Cristo, smiling. + +"Yes, and I will tell you. One evening I was in a garden; a clump of +trees concealed me; no one suspected I was there. Two persons passed +near me--allow me to conceal their names for the present; they were +speaking in an undertone, and yet I was so interested in what they said +that I did not lose a single word." + +"This is a gloomy introduction, if I may judge from your pallor and +shuddering, Morrel." + +"Oh, yes, very gloomy, my friend. Some one had just died in the house +to which that garden belonged. One of the persons whose conversation +I overheard was the master of the house; the other, the physician. The +former was confiding to the latter his grief and fear, for it was the +second time within a month that death had suddenly and unexpectedly +entered that house which was apparently destined to destruction by some +exterminating angel, as an object of God's anger." + +"Ah, indeed?" said Monte Cristo, looking earnestly at the young man, and +by an imperceptible movement turning his chair, so that he remained +in the shade while the light fell full on Maximilian's face. "Yes," +continued Morrel, "death had entered that house twice within one month." + +"And what did the doctor answer?" asked Monte Cristo. + +"He replied--he replied, that the death was not a natural one, and must +be attributed"-- + +"To what?" + +"To poison." + +"Indeed?" said Monte Cristo with a slight cough which in moments of +extreme emotion helped him to disguise a blush, or his pallor, or the +intense interest with which he listened; "indeed, Maximilian, did you +hear that?" + +"Yes, my dear count, I heard it; and the doctor added that if another +death occurred in a similar way he must appeal to justice." Monte Cristo +listened, or appeared to do so, with the greatest calmness. "Well," +said Maximilian, "death came a third time, and neither the master of +the house nor the doctor said a word. Death is now, perhaps, striking a +fourth blow. Count, what am I bound to do, being in possession of this +secret?" + +"My dear friend," said Monte Cristo, "you appear to be relating an +adventure which we all know by heart. I know the house where you heard +it, or one very similar to it; a house with a garden, a master, a +physician, and where there have been three unexpected and sudden deaths. +Well, I have not intercepted your confidence, and yet I know all that +as well as you, and I have no conscientious scruples. No, it does not +concern me. You say an exterminating angel appears to have devoted that +house to God's anger--well, who says your supposition is not reality? +Do not notice things which those whose interest it is to see them pass +over. If it is God's justice, instead of his anger, which is walking +through that house, Maximilian, turn away your face and let his justice +accomplish its purpose." Morrel shuddered. There was something mournful, +solemn, and terrible in the count's manner. "Besides," continued he, in +so changed a tone that no one would have supposed it was the same person +speaking--"besides, who says that it will begin again?" + +"It has returned, count," exclaimed Morrel; "that is why I hastened to +you." + +"Well, what do you wish me to do? Do you wish me, for instance, to give +information to the procureur?" Monte Cristo uttered the last words with +so much meaning that Morrel, starting up, cried out, "You know of whom I +speak, count, do you not?" + +"Perfectly well, my good friend; and I will prove it to you by putting +the dots to the 'i,' or rather by naming the persons. You were walking +one evening in M. de Villefort's garden; from what you relate, I suppose +it to have been the evening of Madame de Saint-Meran's death. You +heard M. de Villefort talking to M. d'Avrigny about the death of M. de +Saint-Meran, and that no less surprising, of the countess. M. d'Avrigny +said he believed they both proceeded from poison; and you, honest man, +have ever since been asking your heart and sounding your conscience to +know if you ought to expose or conceal this secret. Why do you torment +them? 'Conscience, what hast thou to do with me?' as Sterne said. My +dear fellow, let them sleep on, if they are asleep; let them grow pale +in their drowsiness, if they are disposed to do so, and pray do you +remain in peace, who have no remorse to disturb you." Deep grief was +depicted on Morrel's features; he seized Monte Cristo's hand. "But it is +beginning again, I say!" + +"Well," said the Count, astonished at his perseverance, which he could +not understand, and looking still more earnestly at Maximilian, "let it +begin again,--it is like the house of the Atreidae; [*] God has condemned +them, and they must submit to their punishment. They will all disappear, +like the fabrics children build with cards, and which fall, one by one, +under the breath of their builder, even if there are two hundred of +them. Three months since it was M. de Saint-Meran; Madame de Saint-Meran +two months since; the other day it was Barrois; to-day, the old +Noirtier, or young Valentine." + + * In the old Greek legend the Atreidae, or children of + Atreus, were doomed to punishment because of the abominable + crime of their father. The Agamemnon of Aeschylus is based + on this legend. + +"You knew it?" cried Morrel, in such a paroxysm of terror that Monte +Cristo started,--he whom the falling heavens would have found unmoved; +"you knew it, and said nothing?" + +"And what is it to me?" replied Monte Cristo, shrugging his shoulders; +"do I know those people? and must I lose the one to save the other? +Faith, no, for between the culprit and the victim I have no choice." + +"But I," cried Morrel, groaning with sorrow, "I love her!" + +"You love?--whom?" cried Monte Cristo, starting to his feet, and seizing +the two hands which Morrel was raising towards heaven. + +"I love most fondly--I love madly--I love as a man who would give his +life-blood to spare her a tear--I love Valentine de Villefort, who is +being murdered at this moment! Do you understand me? I love her; and I +ask God and you how I can save her?" Monte Cristo uttered a cry which +those only can conceive who have heard the roar of a wounded lion. +"Unhappy man," cried he, wringing his hands in his turn; "you love +Valentine,--that daughter of an accursed race!" Never had Morrel +witnessed such an expression--never had so terrible an eye flashed +before his face--never had the genius of terror he had so often seen, +either on the battle-field or in the murderous nights of Algeria, shaken +around him more dreadful fire. He drew back terrified. + +As for Monte Cristo, after this ebullition he closed his eyes as +if dazzled by internal light. In a moment he restrained himself so +powerfully that the tempestuous heaving of his breast subsided, as +turbulent and foaming waves yield to the sun's genial influence when the +cloud has passed. This silence, self-control, and struggle lasted about +twenty seconds, then the count raised his pallid face. "See," said he, +"my dear friend, how God punishes the most thoughtless and unfeeling men +for their indifference, by presenting dreadful scenes to their view. I, +who was looking on, an eager and curious spectator,--I, who was watching +the working of this mournful tragedy,--I, who like a wicked angel was +laughing at the evil men committed protected by secrecy (a secret is +easily kept by the rich and powerful), I am in my turn bitten by the +serpent whose tortuous course I was watching, and bitten to the heart!" + +Morrel groaned. "Come, come," continued the count, "complaints are +unavailing, be a man, be strong, be full of hope, for I am here and will +watch over you." Morrel shook his head sorrowfully. "I tell you to +hope. Do you understand me?" cried Monte Cristo. "Remember that I +never uttered a falsehood and am never deceived. It is twelve o'clock, +Maximilian; thank heaven that you came at noon rather than in the +evening, or to-morrow morning. Listen, Morrel--it is noon; if Valentine +is not now dead, she will not die." + +"How so?" cried Morrel, "when I left her dying?" Monte Cristo pressed +his hands to his forehead. What was passing in that brain, so loaded +with dreadful secrets? What does the angel of light or the angel of +darkness say to that mind, at once implacable and generous? God only +knows. + +Monte Cristo raised his head once more, and this time he was calm as +a child awaking from its sleep. "Maximilian," said he, "return home. I +command you not to stir--attempt nothing, not to let your countenance +betray a thought, and I will send you tidings. Go." + +"Oh, count, you overwhelm me with that coolness. Have you, then, power +against death? Are you superhuman? Are you an angel?" And the young +man, who had never shrunk from danger, shrank before Monte Cristo with +indescribable terror. But Monte Cristo looked at him with so melancholy +and sweet a smile, that Maximilian felt the tears filling his eyes. +"I can do much for you, my friend," replied the count. "Go; I must be +alone." Morrel, subdued by the extraordinary ascendancy Monte Cristo +exercised over everything around him, did not endeavor to resist it. He +pressed the count's hand and left. He stopped one moment at the door for +Baptistin, whom he saw in the Rue Matignon, and who was running. + +Meanwhile, Villefort and d'Avrigny had made all possible haste, +Valentine had not revived from her fainting fit on their arrival, and +the doctor examined the invalid with all the care the circumstances +demanded, and with an interest which the knowledge of the secret +intensified twofold. Villefort, closely watching his countenance and his +lips, awaited the result of the examination. Noirtier, paler than even +the young girl, more eager than Villefort for the decision, was watching +also intently and affectionately. At last d'Avrigny slowly uttered these +words:--"she is still alive!" + +"Still?" cried Villefort; "oh, doctor, what a dreadful word is that." + +"Yes," said the physician, "I repeat it; she is still alive, and I am +astonished at it." + +"But is she safe?" asked the father. + +"Yes, since she lives." At that moment d'Avrigny's glance met Noirtier's +eye. It glistened with such extraordinary joy, so rich and full of +thought, that the physician was struck. He placed the young girl again +on the chair,--her lips were scarcely discernible, they were so pale and +white, as well as her whole face,--and remained motionless, looking at +Noirtier, who appeared to anticipate and commend all he did. "Sir," +said d'Avrigny to Villefort, "call Mademoiselle Valentine's maid, if you +please." Villefort went himself to find her; and d'Avrigny approached +Noirtier. "Have you something to tell me?" asked he. The old man +winked his eyes expressively, which we may remember was his only way of +expressing his approval. + +"Privately?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, I will remain with you." At this moment Villefort returned, +followed by the lady's maid; and after her came Madame de Villefort. + +"What is the matter, then, with this dear child? she has just left me, +and she complained of being indisposed, but I did not think seriously of +it." The young woman with tears in her eyes and every mark of affection +of a true mother, approached Valentine and took her hand. D'Avrigny +continued to look at Noirtier; he saw the eyes of the old man dilate and +become round, his cheeks turn pale and tremble; the perspiration stood +in drops upon his forehead. "Ah," said he, involuntarily following +Noirtier's eyes, which were fixed on Madame de Villefort, who +repeated,--"This poor child would be better in bed. Come, Fanny, we +will put her to bed." M. d'Avrigny, who saw that would be a means of +his remaining alone with Noirtier, expressed his opinion that it was the +best thing that could be done; but he forbade that anything should be +given to her except what he ordered. + +They carried Valentine away; she had revived, but could scarcely move +or speak, so shaken was her frame by the attack. She had, however, just +power to give one parting look to her grandfather, who in losing her +seemed to be resigning his very soul. D'Avrigny followed the invalid, +wrote a prescription, ordered Villefort to take a cabriolet, go in +person to a chemist's to get the prescribed medicine, bring it himself, +and wait for him in his daughter's room. Then, having renewed his +injunction not to give Valentine anything, he went down again to +Noirtier, shut the doors carefully, and after convincing himself that +no one was listening,--"Do you," said he, "know anything of this young +lady's illness?" + +"Yes," said the old man. + +"We have no time to lose; I will question, and do you answer me." +Noirtier made a sign that he was ready to answer. "Did you anticipate +the accident which has happened to your granddaughter?" + +"Yes." D'Avrigny reflected a moment; then approaching Noirtier,--"Pardon +what I am going to say," added he, "but no indication should be +neglected in this terrible situation. Did you see poor Barrois die?" +Noirtier raised his eyes to heaven. "Do you know of what he died!" asked +d'Avrigny, placing his hand on Noirtier's shoulder. + +"Yes," replied the old man. + +"Do you think he died a natural death?" A sort of smile was discernible +on the motionless lips of Noirtier. + +"Then you have thought that Barrois was poisoned?" + +"Yes." + +"Do you think the poison he fell a victim to was intended for him?" + +"No." + +"Do you think the same hand which unintentionally struck Barrois has now +attacked Valentine?" + +"Yes." + +"Then will she die too?" asked d'Avrigny, fixing his penetrating gaze on +Noirtier. He watched the effect of this question on the old man. "No," +replied he with an air of triumph which would have puzzled the most +clever diviner. "Then you hope?" said d'Avrigny, with surprise. + +"Yes." + +"What do you hope?" The old man made him understand with his eyes that +he could not answer. "Ah, yes, it is true," murmured d'Avrigny. Then, +turning to Noirtier,--"Do you hope the assassin will be tried?" + +"No." + +"Then you hope the poison will take no effect on Valentine?" + +"Yes." + +"It is no news to you," added d'Avrigny, "to tell you that an +attempt has been made to poison her?" The old man made a sign that he +entertained no doubt upon the subject. "Then how do you hope Valentine +will escape?" Noirtier kept his eyes steadfastly fixed on the same +spot. D'Avrigny followed the direction and saw that they were fixed on a +bottle containing the mixture which he took every morning. "Ah, indeed?" +said d'Avrigny, struck with a sudden thought, "has it occurred to +you"--Noirtier did not let him finish. "Yes," said he. "To prepare her +system to resist poison?" + +"Yes." + +"By accustoming her by degrees"-- + +"Yes, yes, yes," said Noirtier, delighted to be understood. + +"Of course. I had told you that there was brucine in the mixture I give +you." + +"Yes." + +"And by accustoming her to that poison, you have endeavored to +neutralize the effect of a similar poison?" Noirtier's joy continued. +"And you have succeeded," exclaimed d'Avrigny. "Without that precaution +Valentine would have died before assistance could have been procured. +The dose has been excessive, but she has only been shaken by it; and +this time, at any rate, Valentine will not die." A superhuman joy +expanded the old man's eyes, which were raised towards heaven with an +expression of infinite gratitude. At this moment Villefort returned. +"Here, doctor," said he, "is what you sent me for." + +"Was this prepared in your presence?" + +"Yes," replied the procureur. + +"Have you not let it go out of your hands?" + +"No." D'Avrigny took the bottle, poured some drops of the mixture it +contained in the hollow of his hand, and swallowed them. "Well," said +he, "let us go to Valentine; I will give instructions to every one, and +you, M. de Villefort, will yourself see that no one deviates from them." + +At the moment when d'Avrigny was returning to Valentine's room, +accompanied by Villefort, an Italian priest, of serious demeanor and +calm and firm tone, hired for his use the house adjoining the hotel of +M. de Villefort. No one knew how the three former tenants of that house +left it. About two hours afterwards its foundation was reported to be +unsafe; but the report did not prevent the new occupant establishing +himself there with his modest furniture the same day at five o'clock. +The lease was drawn up for three, six, or nine years by the new tenant, +who, according to the rule of the proprietor, paid six months in +advance. This new tenant, who, as we have said, was an Italian, was +called Il Signor Giacomo Busoni. Workmen were immediately called in, +and that same night the passengers at the end of the faubourg saw with +surprise that carpenters and masons were occupied in repairing the lower +part of the tottering house. + + + +Chapter 95. Father and Daughter. + +We saw in a preceding chapter how Madame Danglars went formally to +announce to Madame de Villefort the approaching marriage of Eugenie +Danglars and M. Andrea Cavalcanti. This announcement, which implied or +appeared to imply, the approval of all the persons concerned in this +momentous affair, had been preceded by a scene to which our readers must +be admitted. We beg them to take one step backward, and to transport +themselves, the morning of that day of great catastrophes, into the +showy, gilded salon we have before shown them, and which was the pride +of its owner, Baron Danglars. In this room, at about ten o'clock in the +morning, the banker himself had been walking to and fro for some +minutes thoughtfully and in evident uneasiness, watching both doors, and +listening to every sound. When his patience was exhausted, he called his +valet. "Etienne," said he, "see why Mademoiselle Eugenie has asked me to +meet her in the drawing-room, and why she makes me wait so long." + +Having given this vent to his ill-humor, the baron became more calm; +Mademoiselle Danglars had that morning requested an interview with +her father, and had fixed on the gilded drawing-room as the spot. The +singularity of this step, and above all its formality, had not a +little surprised the banker, who had immediately obeyed his daughter +by repairing first to the drawing-room. Etienne soon returned from his +errand. "Mademoiselle's lady's maid says, sir, that mademoiselle is +finishing her toilette, and will be here shortly." + +Danglars nodded, to signify that he was satisfied. To the world and to +his servants Danglars assumed the character of the good-natured man and +the indulgent father. This was one of his parts in the popular comedy he +was performing,--a make-up he had adopted and which suited him about as +well as the masks worn on the classic stage by paternal actors, who seen +from one side, were the image of geniality, and from the other showed +lips drawn down in chronic ill-temper. Let us hasten to say that in +private the genial side descended to the level of the other, so that +generally the indulgent man disappeared to give place to the brutal +husband and domineering father. "Why the devil does that foolish girl, +who pretends to wish to speak to me, not come into my study? and why on +earth does she want to speak to me at all?" + +He was turning this thought over in his brain for the twentieth time, +when the door opened and Eugenie appeared, attired in a figured black +satin dress, her hair dressed and gloves on, as if she were going to the +Italian Opera. "Well, Eugenie, what is it you want with me? and why in +this solemn drawing-room when the study is so comfortable?" + +"I quite understand why you ask, sir," said Eugenie, making a sign that +her father might be seated, "and in fact your two questions suggest +fully the theme of our conversation. I will answer them both, and +contrary to the usual method, the last first, because it is the least +difficult. I have chosen the drawing-room, sir, as our place of meeting, +in order to avoid the disagreeable impressions and influences of a +banker's study. Those gilded cashbooks, drawers locked like gates of +fortresses, heaps of bank-bills, come from I know not where, and the +quantities of letters from England, Holland, Spain, India, China, and +Peru, have generally a strange influence on a father's mind, and make +him forget that there is in the world an interest greater and more +sacred than the good opinion of his correspondents. I have, therefore, +chosen this drawing-room, where you see, smiling and happy in their +magnificent frames, your portrait, mine, my mother's, and all sorts +of rural landscapes and touching pastorals. I rely much on external +impressions; perhaps, with regard to you, they are immaterial, but I +should be no artist if I had not some fancies." + +"Very well," replied M. Danglars, who had listened to all this preamble +with imperturbable coolness, but without understanding a word, since +like every man burdened with thoughts of the past, he was occupied with +seeking the thread of his own ideas in those of the speaker. + +"There is, then, the second point cleared up, or nearly so," said +Eugenie, without the least confusion, and with that masculine +pointedness which distinguished her gesture and her language; "and you +appear satisfied with the explanation. Now, let us return to the first. +You ask me why I have requested this interview; I will tell you in two +words, sir; I will not marry count Andrea Cavalcanti." + +Danglars leaped from his chair and raised his eyes and arms towards +heaven. + +"Yes, indeed, sir," continued Eugenie, still quite calm; "you are +astonished, I see; for since this little affair began, I have not +manifested the slightest opposition, and yet I am always sure, when the +opportunity arrives, to oppose a determined and absolute will to people +who have not consulted me, and things which displease me. However, this +time, my tranquillity, or passiveness as philosophers say, proceeded +from another source; it proceeded from a wish, like a submissive and +devoted daughter" (a slight smile was observable on the purple lips of +the young girl), "to practice obedience." + +"Well?" asked Danglars. + +"Well, sir," replied Eugenie, "I have tried to the very last and now +that the moment has come, I feel in spite of all my efforts that it is +impossible." + +"But," said Danglars, whose weak mind was at first quite overwhelmed +with the weight of this pitiless logic, marking evident premeditation +and force of will, "what is your reason for this refusal, Eugenie? what +reason do you assign?" + +"My reason?" replied the young girl. "Well, it is not that the man is +more ugly, more foolish, or more disagreeable than any other; no, +M. Andrea Cavalcanti may appear to those who look at men's faces and +figures as a very good specimen of his kind. It is not, either, that +my heart is less touched by him than any other; that would be a +schoolgirl's reason, which I consider quite beneath me. I actually love +no one, sir; you know it, do you not? I do not then see why, without +real necessity, I should encumber my life with a perpetual companion. +Has not some sage said, 'Nothing too much'? and another, 'I carry all my +effects with me'? I have been taught these two aphorisms in Latin and in +Greek; one is, I believe, from Phaedrus, and the other from Bias. +Well, my dear father, in the shipwreck of life--for life is an eternal +shipwreck of our hopes--I cast into the sea my useless encumbrance, that +is all, and I remain with my own will, disposed to live perfectly alone, +and consequently perfectly free." + +"Unhappy girl, unhappy girl!" murmured Danglars, turning pale, for +he knew from long experience the solidity of the obstacle he had so +suddenly encountered. + +"Unhappy girl," replied Eugenie, "unhappy girl, do you say, sir? No, +indeed; the exclamation appears quite theatrical and affected. Happy, on +the contrary, for what am I in want of! The world calls me beautiful. +It is something to be well received. I like a favorable reception; it +expands the countenance, and those around me do not then appear so ugly. +I possess a share of wit, and a certain relative sensibility, which +enables me to draw from life in general, for the support of mine, all I +meet with that is good, like the monkey who cracks the nut to get at its +contents. I am rich, for you have one of the first fortunes in France. I +am your only daughter, and you are not so exacting as the fathers of the +Porte Saint-Martin and Gaiete, who disinherit their daughters for not +giving them grandchildren. Besides, the provident law has deprived you +of the power to disinherit me, at least entirely, as it has also of +the power to compel me to marry Monsieur This or Monsieur That. And +so--being, beautiful, witty, somewhat talented, as the comic operas say, +and rich--and that is happiness, sir--why do you call me unhappy?" + +Danglars, seeing his daughter smiling, and proud even to insolence, +could not entirely repress his brutal feelings, but they betrayed +themselves only by an exclamation. Under the fixed and inquiring gaze +levelled at him from under those beautiful black eyebrows, he prudently +turned away, and calmed himself immediately, daunted by the power of a +resolute mind. "Truly, my daughter," replied he with a smile, "you are +all you boast of being, excepting one thing; I will not too hastily tell +you which, but would rather leave you to guess it." Eugenie looked at +Danglars, much surprised that one flower of her crown of pride, with +which she had so superbly decked herself, should be disputed. "My +daughter," continued the banker, "you have perfectly explained to me the +sentiments which influence a girl like you, who is determined she will +not marry; now it remains for me to tell you the motives of a father +like me, who has decided that his daughter shall marry." Eugenie +bowed, not as a submissive daughter, but as an adversary prepared for a +discussion. + +"My daughter," continued Danglars, "when a father asks his daughter to +choose a husband, he has always some reason for wishing her to marry. +Some are affected with the mania of which you spoke just now, that of +living again in their grandchildren. This is not my weakness, I tell you +at once; family joys have no charm for me. I may acknowledge this to +a daughter whom I know to be philosophical enough to understand my +indifference, and not to impute it to me as a crime." + +"This is not to the purpose," said Eugenie; "let us speak candidly, sir; +I admire candor." + +"Oh," said Danglars, "I can, when circumstances render it desirable, +adopt your system, although it may not be my general practice. I will +therefore proceed. I have proposed to you to marry, not for your sake, +for indeed I did not think of you in the least at the moment (you admire +candor, and will now be satisfied, I hope); but because it suited me +to marry you as soon as possible, on account of certain commercial +speculations I am desirous of entering into." Eugenie became uneasy. + +"It is just as I tell you, I assure you, and you must not be angry with +me, for you have sought this disclosure. I do not willingly enter into +arithmetical explanations with an artist like you, who fears to enter my +study lest she should imbibe disagreeable or anti-poetic impressions and +sensations. But in that same banker's study, where you very willingly +presented yourself yesterday to ask for the thousand francs I give you +monthly for pocket-money, you must know, my dear young lady, that many +things may be learned, useful even to a girl who will not marry. +There one may learn, for instance, what, out of regard to your nervous +susceptibility, I will inform you of in the drawing-room, namely, that +the credit of a banker is his physical and moral life; that credit +sustains him as breath animates the body; and M. de Monte Cristo once +gave me a lecture on that subject, which I have never forgotten. There +we may learn that as credit sinks, the body becomes a corpse, and this +is what must happen very soon to the banker who is proud to own so good +a logician as you for his daughter." But Eugenie, instead of stooping, +drew herself up under the blow. "Ruined?" said she. + +"Exactly, my daughter; that is precisely what I mean," said Danglars, +almost digging his nails into his breast, while he preserved on +his harsh features the smile of the heartless though clever man; +"ruined--yes, that is it." + +"Ah!" said Eugenie. + +"Yes, ruined! Now it is revealed, this secret so full of horror, as +the tragic poet says. Now, my daughter, learn from my lips how you may +alleviate this misfortune, so far as it will affect you." + +"Oh," cried Eugenie, "you are a bad physiognomist, if you imagine +I deplore on my own account the catastrophe of which you warn me. I +ruined? and what will that signify to me? Have I not my talent left? Can +I not, like Pasta, Malibran, Grisi, acquire for myself what you would +never have given me, whatever might have been your fortune, a hundred +or a hundred and fifty thousand livres per annum, for which I shall be +indebted to no one but myself; and which, instead of being given as +you gave me those poor twelve thousand francs, with sour looks and +reproaches for my prodigality, will be accompanied with acclamations, +with bravos, and with flowers? And if I do not possess that talent, +which your smiles prove to me you doubt, should I not still have that +ardent love of independence, which will be a substitute for wealth, and +which in my mind supersedes even the instinct of self-preservation? +No, I grieve not on my own account, I shall always find a resource; my +books, my pencils, my piano, all the things which cost but little, and +which I shall be able to procure, will remain my own. + +"Do you think that I sorrow for Madame Danglars? Undeceive yourself +again; either I am greatly mistaken, or she has provided against the +catastrophe which threatens you, and, which will pass over without +affecting her. She has taken care for herself,--at least I hope so,--for +her attention has not been diverted from her projects by watching over +me. She has fostered my independence by professedly indulging my love +for liberty. Oh, no, sir; from my childhood I have seen too much, and +understood too much, of what has passed around me, for misfortune to +have an undue power over me. From my earliest recollections, I have been +beloved by no one--so much the worse; that has naturally led me to love +no one--so much the better--now you have my profession of faith." + +"Then," said Danglars, pale with anger, which was not at all due to +offended paternal love,--"then, mademoiselle, you persist in your +determination to accelerate my ruin?" + +"Your ruin? I accelerate your ruin? What do you mean? I do not +understand you." + +"So much the better, I have a ray of hope left; listen." + +"I am all attention," said Eugenie, looking so earnestly at her father +that it was an effort for the latter to endure her unrelenting gaze. + +"M. Cavalcanti," continued Danglars, "is about to marry you, and will +place in my hands his fortune, amounting to three million livres." + +"That is admirable!" said Eugenie with sovereign contempt, smoothing her +gloves out one upon the other. + +"You think I shall deprive you of those three millions," said Danglars; +"but do not fear it. They are destined to produce at least ten. I and a +brother banker have obtained a grant of a railway, the only industrial +enterprise which in these days promises to make good the fabulous +prospects that Law once held out to the eternally deluded Parisians, in +the fantastic Mississippi scheme. As I look at it, a millionth part of a +railway is worth fully as much as an acre of waste land on the banks +of the Ohio. We make in our case a deposit, on a mortgage, which is an +advance, as you see, since we gain at least ten, fifteen, twenty, or a +hundred livres' worth of iron in exchange for our money. Well, within +a week I am to deposit four millions for my share; the four millions, I +promise you, will produce ten or twelve." + +"But during my visit to you the day before yesterday, sir, which you +appear to recollect so well," replied Eugenie, "I saw you arranging a +deposit--is not that the term?--of five millions and a half; you +even pointed it out to me in two drafts on the treasury, and you +were astonished that so valuable a paper did not dazzle my eyes like +lightning." + +"Yes, but those five millions and a half are not mine, and are only a +proof of the great confidence placed in me; my title of popular banker +has gained me the confidence of charitable institutions, and the five +millions and a half belong to them; at any other time I should not have +hesitated to make use of them, but the great losses I have recently +sustained are well known, and, as I told you, my credit is rather +shaken. That deposit may be at any moment withdrawn, and if I had +employed it for another purpose, I should bring on me a disgraceful +bankruptcy. I do not despise bankruptcies, believe me, but they must +be those which enrich, not those which ruin. Now, if you marry M. +Cavalcanti, and I get the three millions, or even if it is thought I am +going to get them, my credit will be restored, and my fortune, which +for the last month or two has been swallowed up in gulfs which have +been opened in my path by an inconceivable fatality, will revive. Do you +understand me?" + +"Perfectly; you pledge me for three millions, do you not?" + +"The greater the amount, the more flattering it is to you; it gives you +an idea of your value." + +"Thank you. One word more, sir; do you promise me to make what use +you can of the report of the fortune M. Cavalcanti will bring without +touching the money? This is no act of selfishness, but of delicacy. I am +willing to help rebuild your fortune, but I will not be an accomplice in +the ruin of others." + +"But since I tell you," cried Danglars, "that with these three +million"-- + +"Do you expect to recover your position, sir, without touching those +three million?" + +"I hope so, if the marriage should take place and confirm my credit." + +"Shall you be able to pay M. Cavalcanti the five hundred thousand francs +you promise for my dowry?" + +"He shall receive them on returning from the mayor's." [*] + + * The performance of the civil marriage. + +"Very well!" + +"What next? what more do you want?" + +"I wish to know if, in demanding my signature, you leave me entirely +free in my person?" + +"Absolutely." + +"Then, as I said before, sir,--very well; I am ready to marry M. +Cavalcanti." + +"But what are you up to?" + +"Ah, that is my affair. What advantage should I have over you, if +knowing your secret I were to tell you mine?" Danglars bit his lips. +"Then," said he, "you are ready to pay the official visits, which are +absolutely indispensable?" + +"Yes," replied Eugenie. + +"And to sign the contract in three days?" + +"Yes." + +"Then, in my turn, I also say, very well!" Danglars pressed his +daughter's hand in his. But, extraordinary to relate, the father did not +say, "Thank you, my child," nor did the daughter smile at her father. +"Is the conference ended?" asked Eugenie, rising. Danglars motioned that +he had nothing more to say. Five minutes afterwards the piano resounded +to the touch of Mademoiselle d'Armilly's fingers, and Mademoiselle +Danglars was singing Brabantio's malediction on Desdemona. At the end of +the piece Etienne entered, and announced to Eugenie that the horses were +in the carriage, and that the baroness was waiting for her to pay her +visits. We have seen them at Villefort's; they proceeded then on their +course. + + + +Chapter 96. The Contract. + +Three days after the scene we have just described, namely towards five +o'clock in the afternoon of the day fixed for the signature of +the contract between Mademoiselle Eugenie Danglars and Andrea +Cavalcanti,--whom the banker persisted in calling prince,--a fresh +breeze was stirring the leaves in the little garden in front of the +Count of Monte Cristo's house, and the count was preparing to go out. +While his horses were impatiently pawing the ground,--held in by the +coachman, who had been seated a quarter of an hour on his box,--the +elegant phaeton with which we are familiar rapidly turned the angle of +the entrance-gate, and cast out on the doorsteps M. Andrea Cavalcanti, +as decked up and gay as if he were going to marry a princess. He +inquired after the count with his usual familiarity, and ascending +lightly to the second story met him at the top of the stairs. The count +stopped on seeing the young man. As for Andrea, he was launched, and +when he was once launched nothing stopped him. "Ah, good morning, +my dear count," said he. "Ah, M. Andrea," said the latter, with his +half-jesting tone; "how do you do." + +"Charmingly, as you see. I am come to talk to you about a thousand +things; but, first tell me, were you going out or just returned?" + +"I was going out, sir." + +"Then, in order not to hinder you, I will get up with you if you please +in your carriage, and Tom shall follow with my phaeton in tow." + +"No," said the count, with an imperceptible smile of contempt, for +he had no wish to be seen in the young man's society,--"no; I prefer +listening to you here, my dear M. Andrea; we can chat better in-doors, +and there is no coachman to overhear our conversation." The count +returned to a small drawing-room on the first floor, sat down, and +crossing his legs motioned to the young man to take a seat also. Andrea +assumed his gayest manner. "You know, my dear count," said he, "the +ceremony is to take place this evening. At nine o'clock the contract is +to be signed at my father-in-law's." + +"Ah, indeed?" said Monte Cristo. + +"What; is it news to you? Has not M. Danglars informed you of the +ceremony?" + +"Oh, yes," said the count; "I received a letter from him yesterday, but +I do not think the hour was mentioned." + +"Possibly my father-in-law trusted to its general notoriety." + +"Well," said Monte Cristo, "you are fortunate, M. Cavalcanti; it is a +most suitable alliance you are contracting, and Mademoiselle Danglars is +a handsome girl." + +"Yes, indeed she is," replied Cavalcanti, in a very modest tone. + +"Above all, she is very rich,--at least, I believe so," said Monte +Cristo. + +"Very rich, do you think?" replied the young man. + +"Doubtless; it is said M. Danglars conceals at least half of his +fortune." + +"And he acknowledges fifteen or twenty millions," said Andrea with a +look sparkling with joy. + +"Without reckoning," added Monte Cristo, "that he is on the eve of +entering into a sort of speculation already in vogue in the United +States and in England, but quite novel in France." + +"Yes, yes, I know what you mean,--the railway, of which he has obtained +the grant, is it not?" + +"Precisely; it is generally believed he will gain ten millions by that +affair." + +"Ten millions! Do you think so? It is magnificent!" said Cavalcanti, +who was quite confounded at the metallic sound of these golden words. +"Without reckoning," replied Monte Cristo, "that all his fortune will +come to you, and justly too, since Mademoiselle Danglars is an only +daughter. Besides, your own fortune, as your father assured me, is +almost equal to that of your betrothed. But enough of money matters. +Do you know, M. Andrea, I think you have managed this affair rather +skilfully?" + +"Not badly, by any means," said the young man; "I was born for a +diplomatist." + +"Well, you must become a diplomatist; diplomacy, you know, is something +that is not to be acquired; it is instinctive. Have you lost your +heart?" + +"Indeed, I fear it," replied Andrea, in the tone in which he had heard +Dorante or Valere reply to Alceste [*] at the Theatre Francais. + +"Is your love returned?" + + * In Moliere's comedy, Le Misanthrope. + +"I suppose so," said Andrea with a triumphant smile, "since I am +accepted. But I must not forget one grand point." + +"Which?" + +"That I have been singularly assisted." + +"Nonsense." + +"I have, indeed." + +"By circumstances?" + +"No; by you." + +"By me? Not at all, prince," said Monte Cristo laying a marked stress +on the title, "what have I done for you? Are not your name, your social +position, and your merit sufficient?" + +"No," said Andrea,--"no; it is useless for you to say so, count. I +maintain that the position of a man like you has done more than my name, +my social position, and my merit." + +"You are completely mistaken, sir," said Monte Cristo coldly, who felt +the perfidious manoeuvre of the young man, and understood the bearing +of his words; "you only acquired my protection after the influence +and fortune of your father had been ascertained; for, after all, who +procured for me, who had never seen either you or your illustrious +father, the pleasure of your acquaintance?--two of my good friends, +Lord Wilmore and the Abbe Busoni. What encouraged me not to become your +surety, but to patronize you?--your father's name, so well known in +Italy and so highly honored. Personally, I do not know you." This calm +tone and perfect ease made Andrea feel that he was, for the moment, +restrained by a more muscular hand than his own, and that the restraint +could not be easily broken through. + +"Oh, then my father has really a very large fortune, count?" + +"It appears so, sir," replied Monte Cristo. + +"Do you know if the marriage settlement he promised me has come?" + +"I have been advised of it." + +"But the three millions?" + +"The three millions are probably on the road." + +"Then I shall really have them?" + +"Oh, well," said the count, "I do not think you have yet known the want +of money." Andrea was so surprised that he pondered the matter for a +moment. Then, arousing from his revery,--"Now, sir, I have one request +to make to you, which you will understand, even if it should be +disagreeable to you." + +"Proceed," said Monte Cristo. + +"I have formed an acquaintance, thanks to my good fortune, with many +noted persons, and have, at least for the moment, a crowd of friends. +But marrying, as I am about to do, before all Paris, I ought to be +supported by an illustrious name, and in the absence of the paternal +hand some powerful one ought to lead me to the altar; now, my father is +not coming to Paris, is he? He is old, covered with wounds, and suffers +dreadfully, he says, in travelling." + +"Indeed?" + +"Well, I am come to ask a favor of you." + +"Of me?" + +"Yes, of you." + +"And pray what may it be?" + +"Well, to take his part." + +"Ah, my dear sir! What?--after the varied relations I have had the +happiness to sustain towards you, can it be that you know me so little +as to ask such a thing? Ask me to lend you half a million and, although +such a loan is somewhat rare, on my honor, you would annoy me less! +Know, then, what I thought I had already told you, that in participation +in this world's affairs, more especially in their moral aspects, the +Count of Monte Cristo has never ceased to entertain the scruples and +even the superstitions of the East. I, who have a seraglio at Cairo, one +at Smyrna, and one at Constantinople, preside at a wedding?--never!" + +"Then you refuse me?" + +"Decidedly; and were you my son or my brother I would refuse you in the +same way." + +"But what must be done?" said Andrea, disappointed. + +"You said just now that you had a hundred friends." + +"Very true, but you introduced me at M. Danglars'." + +"Not at all! Let us recall the exact facts. You met him at a dinner +party at my house, and you introduced yourself at his house; that is a +totally different affair." + +"Yes, but, by my marriage, you have forwarded that." + +"I?--not in the least, I beg you to believe. Recollect what I told you +when you asked me to propose you. 'Oh, I never make matches, my dear +prince, it is my settled principle.'" Andrea bit his lips. + +"But, at least, you will be there?" + +"Will all Paris be there?" + +"Oh, certainly." + +"Well, like all Paris, I shall be there too," said the count. + +"And will you sign the contract?" + +"I see no objection to that; my scruples do not go thus far." + +"Well, since you will grant me no more, I must be content with what you +give me. But one word more, count." + +"What is it?" + +"Advice." + +"Be careful; advice is worse than a service." + +"Oh, you can give me this without compromising yourself." + +"Tell me what it is." + +"Is my wife's fortune five hundred thousand livres?" + +"That is the sum M. Danglars himself announced." + +"Must I receive it, or leave it in the hands of the notary?" + +"This is the way such affairs are generally arranged when it is wished +to do them stylishly: Your two solicitors appoint a meeting, when +the contract is signed, for the next or the following day; then they +exchange the two portions, for which they each give a receipt; then, +when the marriage is celebrated, they place the amount at your disposal +as the chief member of the alliance." + +"Because," said Andrea, with a certain ill-concealed uneasiness, "I +thought I heard my father-in-law say that he intended embarking our +property in that famous railway affair of which you spoke just now." + +"Well," replied Monte Cristo, "it will be the way, everybody says, of +trebling your fortune in twelve months. Baron Danglars is a good father, +and knows how to calculate." + +"In that case," said Andrea, "everything is all right, excepting your +refusal, which quite grieves me." + +"You must attribute it only to natural scruples under similar +circumstances." + +"Well," said Andrea, "let it be as you wish. This evening, then, at nine +o'clock." + +"Adieu till then." Notwithstanding a slight resistance on the part of +Monte Cristo, whose lips turned pale, but who preserved his ceremonious +smile, Andrea seized the count's hand, pressed it, jumped into his +phaeton, and disappeared. + +The four or five remaining hours before nine o'clock arrived, Andrea +employed in riding, paying visits,--designed to induce those of whom +he had spoken to appear at the banker's in their gayest +equipages,--dazzling them by promises of shares in schemes which have +since turned every brain, and in which Danglars was just taking the +initiative. In fact, at half-past eight in the evening the grand salon, +the gallery adjoining, and the three other drawing-rooms on the same +floor, were filled with a perfumed crowd, who sympathized but little +in the event, but who all participated in that love of being present +wherever there is anything fresh to be seen. An Academician would say +that the entertainments of the fashionable world are collections of +flowers which attract inconstant butterflies, famished bees, and buzzing +drones. + +No one could deny that the rooms were splendidly illuminated; the light +streamed forth on the gilt mouldings and the silk hangings; and all the +bad taste of decorations, which had only their richness to boast of, +shone in its splendor. Mademoiselle Eugenie was dressed with elegant +simplicity in a figured white silk dress, and a white rose half +concealed in her jet black hair was her only ornament, unaccompanied +by a single jewel. Her eyes, however, betrayed that perfect confidence +which contradicted the girlish simplicity of this modest attire. Madame +Danglars was chatting at a short distance with Debray, Beauchamp, and +Chateau-Renaud. + +Debray was admitted to the house for this grand ceremony, but on the +same plane with every one else, and without any particular privilege. M. +Danglars, surrounded by deputies and men connected with the revenue, was +explaining a new theory of taxation which he intended to adopt when +the course of events had compelled the government to call him into the +ministry. Andrea, on whose arm hung one of the most consummate dandies +of the opera, was explaining to him rather cleverly, since he was +obliged to be bold to appear at ease, his future projects, and the new +luxuries he meant to introduce to Parisian fashions with his hundred and +seventy-five thousand livres per annum. + +The crowd moved to and fro in the rooms like an ebb and flow of +turquoises, rubies, emeralds, opals, and diamonds. As usual, the oldest +women were the most decorated, and the ugliest the most conspicuous. If +there was a beautiful lily, or a sweet rose, you had to search for it, +concealed in some corner behind a mother with a turban, or an aunt with +a bird of paradise. + +At each moment, in the midst of the crowd, the buzzing, and the +laughter, the door-keeper's voice was heard announcing some name well +known in the financial department, respected in the army, or illustrious +in the literary world, and which was acknowledged by a slight movement +in the different groups. But for one whose privilege it was to agitate +that ocean of human waves, how many were received with a look of +indifference or a sneer of disdain! At the moment when the hand of the +massive time-piece, representing Endymion asleep, pointed to nine on its +golden face, and the hammer, the faithful type of mechanical thought, +struck nine times, the name of the Count of Monte Cristo resounded in +its turn, and as if by an electric shock all the assembly turned towards +the door. + +The count was dressed in black and with his habitual simplicity; his +white waistcoat displayed his expansive noble chest and his black +stock was singularly noticeable because of its contrast with the deadly +paleness of his face. His only jewellery was a chain, so fine that the +slender gold thread was scarcely perceptible on his white waistcoat. A +circle was immediately formed around the door. The count perceived at +one glance Madame Danglars at one end of the drawing-room, M. Danglars +at the other, and Eugenie in front of him. He first advanced towards the +baroness, who was chatting with Madame de Villefort, who had come alone, +Valentine being still an invalid; and without turning aside, so clear +was the road left for him, he passed from the baroness to Eugenie, whom +he complimented in such rapid and measured terms, that the proud artist +was quite struck. Near her was Mademoiselle Louise d'Armilly, who +thanked the count for the letters of introduction he had so kindly given +her for Italy, which she intended immediately to make use of. On leaving +these ladies he found himself with Danglars, who had advanced to meet +him. + +Having accomplished these three social duties, Monte Cristo stopped, +looking around him with that expression peculiar to a certain class, +which seems to say, "I have done my duty, now let others do theirs." +Andrea, who was in an adjoining room, had shared in the sensation caused +by the arrival of Monte Cristo, and now came forward to pay his respects +to the count. He found him completely surrounded; all were eager to +speak to him, as is always the case with those whose words are few +and weighty. The solicitors arrived at this moment and arranged their +scrawled papers on the velvet cloth embroidered with gold which covered +the table prepared for the signature; it was a gilt table supported on +lions' claws. One of the notaries sat down, the other remained standing. +They were about to proceed to the reading of the contract, which half +Paris assembled was to sign. All took their places, or rather the ladies +formed a circle, while the gentlemen (more indifferent to the restraints +of what Boileau calls the "energetic style") commented on the feverish +agitation of Andrea, on M. Danglars' riveted attention, Eugenie's +composure, and the light and sprightly manner in which the baroness +treated this important affair. + +The contract was read during a profound silence. But as soon as it was +finished, the buzz was redoubled through all the drawing-rooms; the +brilliant sums, the rolling millions which were to be at the command +of the two young people, and which crowned the display of the wedding +presents and the young lady's diamonds, which had been made in a room +entirely appropriated for that purpose, had exercised to the full their +delusions over the envious assembly. Mademoiselle Danglars' charms were +heightened in the opinion of the young men, and for the moment seemed +to outvie the sun in splendor. As for the ladies, it is needless to say +that while they coveted the millions, they thought they did not need +them for themselves, as they were beautiful enough without them. Andrea, +surrounded by his friends, complimented, flattered, beginning to believe +in the reality of his dream, was almost bewildered. The notary solemnly +took the pen, flourished it above his head, and said, "Gentlemen, we are +about to sign the contract." + +The baron was to sign first, then the representative of M. Cavalcanti, +senior, then the baroness, afterwards the "future couple," as they are +styled in the abominable phraseology of legal documents. The baron took +the pen and signed, then the representative. The baroness approached, +leaning on Madame de Villefort's arm. "My dear," said she, as she took +the pen, "is it not vexatious? An unexpected incident, in the affair of +murder and theft at the Count of Monte Cristo's, in which he nearly fell +a victim, deprives us of the pleasure of seeing M. de Villefort." + +"Indeed?" said M. Danglars, in the same tone in which he would have +said, "Oh, well, what do I care?" + +"As a matter of fact," said Monte Cristo, approaching, "I am much afraid +that I am the involuntary cause of his absence." + +"What, you, count?" said Madame Danglars, signing; "if you are, take +care, for I shall never forgive you." Andrea pricked up his ears. + +"But it is not my fault, as I shall endeavor to prove." Every one +listened eagerly; Monte Cristo who so rarely opened his lips, was about +to speak. "You remember," said the count, during the most profound +silence, "that the unhappy wretch who came to rob me died at my house; +the supposition is that he was stabbed by his accomplice, on attempting +to leave it." + +"Yes," said Danglars. + +"In order that his wounds might be examined he was undressed, and his +clothes were thrown into a corner, where the police picked them up, with +the exception of the waistcoat, which they overlooked." Andrea turned +pale, and drew towards the door; he saw a cloud rising in the horizon, +which appeared to forebode a coming storm. + +"Well, this waistcoat was discovered to-day, covered with blood, and +with a hole over the heart." The ladies screamed, and two or three +prepared to faint. "It was brought to me. No one could guess what the +dirty rag could be; I alone suspected that it was the waistcoat of the +murdered man. My valet, in examining this mournful relic, felt a paper +in the pocket and drew it out; it was a letter addressed to you, baron." + +"To me?" cried Danglars. + +"Yes, indeed, to you; I succeeded in deciphering your name under the +blood with which the letter was stained," replied Monte Cristo, amid the +general outburst of amazement. + +"But," asked Madame Danglars, looking at her husband with uneasiness, +"how could that prevent M. de Villefort"-- + +"In this simple way, madame," replied Monte Cristo; "the waistcoat and +the letter were both what is termed circumstantial evidence; I therefore +sent them to the king's attorney. You understand, my dear baron, that +legal methods are the safest in criminal cases; it was, perhaps, +some plot against you." Andrea looked steadily at Monte Cristo and +disappeared in the second drawing-room. + +"Possibly," said Danglars; "was not this murdered man an old +galley-slave?" + +"Yes," replied the count; "a felon named Caderousse." Danglars +turned slightly pale; Andrea reached the anteroom beyond the little +drawing-room. + +"But go on signing," said Monte Cristo; "I perceive that my story has +caused a general emotion, and I beg to apologize to you, baroness, and +to Mademoiselle Danglars." The baroness, who had signed, returned +the pen to the notary. "Prince Cavalcanti," said the latter; "Prince +Cavalcanti, where are you?" + +"Andrea, Andrea," repeated several young people, who were already on +sufficiently intimate terms with him to call him by his Christian name. + +"Call the prince; inform him that it is his turn to sign," cried +Danglars to one of the floorkeepers. + +But at the same instant the crowd of guests rushed in alarm into the +principal salon as if some frightful monster had entered the apartments, +quaerens quem devoret. There was, indeed, reason to retreat, to be +alarmed, and to scream. An officer was placing two soldiers at the door +of each drawing-room, and was advancing towards Danglars, preceded by a +commissary of police, girded with his scarf. Madame Danglars uttered a +scream and fainted. Danglars, who thought himself threatened (certain +consciences are never calm),--Danglars even before his guests showed a +countenance of abject terror. + +"What is the matter, sir?" asked Monte Cristo, advancing to meet the +commissioner. + +"Which of you gentlemen," asked the magistrate, without replying to the +count, "answers to the name of Andrea Cavalcanti?" A cry of astonishment +was heard from all parts of the room. They searched; they questioned. +"But who then is Andrea Cavalcanti?" asked Danglars in amazement. + +"A galley-slave, escaped from confinement at Toulon." + +"And what crime has he committed?" + +"He is accused," said the commissary with his inflexible voice, "of +having assassinated the man named Caderousse, his former companion in +prison, at the moment he was making his escape from the house of the +Count of Monte Cristo." Monte Cristo cast a rapid glance around him. +Andrea was gone. + + + +Chapter 97. The Departure for Belgium. + +A few minutes after the scene of confusion produced in the salons of M. +Danglars by the unexpected appearance of the brigade of soldiers, and by +the disclosure which had followed, the mansion was deserted with as +much rapidity as if a case of plague or of cholera morbus had broken out +among the guests. In a few minutes, through all the doors, down all the +staircases, by every exit, every one hastened to retire, or rather to +fly; for it was a situation where the ordinary condolences,--which even +the best friends are so eager to offer in great catastrophes,--were +seen to be utterly futile. There remained in the banker's house only +Danglars, closeted in his study, and making his statement to the officer +of gendarmes; Madame Danglars, terrified, in the boudoir with which we +are acquainted; and Eugenie, who with haughty air and disdainful lip had +retired to her room with her inseparable companion, Mademoiselle Louise +d'Armilly. As for the numerous servants (more numerous that evening than +usual, for their number was augmented by cooks and butlers from the Cafe +de Paris), venting on their employers their anger at what they termed +the insult to which they had been subjected, they collected in groups +in the hall, in the kitchens, or in their rooms, thinking very little of +their duty, which was thus naturally interrupted. Of all this household, +only two persons deserve our notice; these are Mademoiselle Eugenie +Danglars and Mademoiselle Louise d'Armilly. + +The betrothed had retired, as we said, with haughty air, disdainful lip, +and the demeanor of an outraged queen, followed by her companion, who +was paler and more disturbed than herself. On reaching her room Eugenie +locked her door, while Louise fell on a chair. "Ah, what a dreadful +thing," said the young musician; "who would have suspected it? M. Andrea +Cavalcanti a murderer--a galley-slave escaped--a convict!" An ironical +smile curled the lip of Eugenie. "In truth I was fated," said she. "I +escaped the Morcerf only to fall into the Cavalcanti." + +"Oh, do not confound the two, Eugenie." + +"Hold your tongue! The men are all infamous, and I am happy to be able +now to do more than detest them--I despise them." + +"What shall we do?" asked Louise. + +"What shall we do?" + +"Yes." + +"Why, the same we had intended doing three days since--set off." + +"What?--although you are not now going to be married, you intend +still"-- + +"Listen, Louise. I hate this life of the fashionable world, always +ordered, measured, ruled, like our music-paper. What I have always +wished for, desired, and coveted, is the life of an artist, free and +independent, relying only on my own resources, and accountable only to +myself. Remain here? What for?--that they may try, a month hence, +to marry me again; and to whom?--M. Debray, perhaps, as it was once +proposed. No, Louise, no! This evening's adventure will serve for my +excuse. I did not seek one, I did not ask for one. God sends me this, +and I hail it joyfully!" + +"How strong and courageous you are!" said the fair, frail girl to her +brunette companion. + +"Did you not yet know me? Come, Louise, let us talk of our affairs. The +post-chaise"-- + +"Was happily bought three days since." + +"Have you had it sent where we are to go for it?" + +"Yes." + +"Our passport?" + +"Here it is." + +And Eugenie, with her usual precision, opened a printed paper, and +read,-- + +"M. Leon d'Armilly, twenty years of age; profession, artist; hair black, +eyes black; travelling with his sister." + +"Capital! How did you get this passport?" + +"When I went to ask M. de Monte Cristo for letters to the directors of +the theatres at Rome and Naples, I expressed my fears of travelling as +a woman; he perfectly understood them, and undertook to procure for me +a man's passport, and two days after I received this, to which I have +added with my own hand, 'travelling with his sister.'" + +"Well," said Eugenie cheerfully, "we have then only to pack up our +trunks; we shall start the evening of the signing of the contract, +instead of the evening of the wedding--that is all." + +"But consider the matter seriously, Eugenie!" + +"Oh, I am done with considering! I am tired of hearing only of market +reports, of the end of the month, of the rise and fall of Spanish funds, +of Haitian bonds. Instead of that, Louise--do you understand?--air, +liberty, melody of birds, plains of Lombardy, Venetian canals, Roman +palaces, the Bay of Naples. How much have we, Louise?" The young girl to +whom this question was addressed drew from an inlaid secretary a small +portfolio with a lock, in which she counted twenty-three bank-notes. + +"Twenty-three thousand francs," said she. + +"And as much, at least, in pearls, diamonds, and jewels," said +Eugenie. "We are rich. With forty-five thousand francs we can live +like princesses for two years, and comfortably for four; but before six +months--you with your music, and I with my voice--we shall double our +capital. Come, you shall take charge of the money, I of the jewel-box; +so that if one of us had the misfortune to lose her treasure, the other +would still have hers left. Now, the portmanteau--let us make haste--the +portmanteau!" + +"Stop!" said Louise, going to listen at Madame Danglars' door. + +"What do you fear?" + +"That we may be discovered." + +"The door is locked." + +"They may tell us to open it." + +"They may if they like, but we will not." + +"You are a perfect Amazon, Eugenie!" And the two young girls began +to heap into a trunk all the things they thought they should require. +"There now," said Eugenie, "while I change my costume do you lock the +portmanteau." Louise pressed with all the strength of her little hands +on the top of the portmanteau. "But I cannot," said she; "I am not +strong enough; do you shut it." + +"Ah, you do well to ask," said Eugenie, laughing; "I forgot that I was +Hercules, and you only the pale Omphale!" And the young girl, kneeling +on the top, pressed the two parts of the portmanteau together, and +Mademoiselle d'Armilly passed the bolt of the padlock through. When this +was done, Eugenie opened a drawer, of which she kept the key, and took +from it a wadded violet silk travelling cloak. "Here," said she, "you +see I have thought of everything; with this cloak you will not be cold." + +"But you?" + +"Oh, I am never cold, you know! Besides, with these men's clothes"-- + +"Will you dress here?" + +"Certainly." + +"Shall you have time?" + +"Do not be uneasy, you little coward! All our servants are busy, +discussing the grand affair. Besides, what is there astonishing, when +you think of the grief I ought to be in, that I shut myself up?--tell +me!" + +"No, truly--you comfort me." + +"Come and help me." + +From the same drawer she took a man's complete costume, from the +boots to the coat, and a provision of linen, where there was nothing +superfluous, but every requisite. Then, with a promptitude which +indicated that this was not the first time she had amused herself by +adopting the garb of the opposite sex, Eugenie drew on the boots and +pantaloons, tied her cravat, buttoned her waistcoat up to the throat, +and put on a coat which admirably fitted her beautiful figure. "Oh, that +is very good--indeed, it is very good!" said Louise, looking at her with +admiration; "but that beautiful black hair, those magnificent braids, +which made all the ladies sigh with envy,--will they go under a man's +hat like the one I see down there?" + +"You shall see," said Eugenie. And with her left hand seizing the thick +mass, which her long fingers could scarcely grasp, she took in her right +hand a pair of long scissors, and soon the steel met through the rich +and splendid hair, which fell in a cluster at her feet as she leaned +back to keep it from her coat. Then she grasped the front hair, which +she also cut off, without expressing the least regret; on the contrary, +her eyes sparkled with greater pleasure than usual under her ebony +eyebrows. "Oh, the magnificent hair!" said Louise, with regret. + +"And am I not a hundred times better thus?" cried Eugenie, smoothing the +scattered curls of her hair, which had now quite a masculine appearance; +"and do you not think me handsomer so?" + +"Oh, you are beautiful--always beautiful!" cried Louise. "Now, where are +you going?" + +"To Brussels, if you like; it is the nearest frontier. We can go to +Brussels, Liege, Aix-la-Chapelle; then up the Rhine to Strasburg. We +will cross Switzerland, and go down into Italy by the Saint-Gothard. +Will that do?" + +"Yes." + +"What are you looking at?" + +"I am looking at you; indeed you are adorable like that! One would say +you were carrying me off." + +"And they would be right, pardieu!" + +"Oh, I think you swore, Eugenie." And the two young girls, whom every +one might have thought plunged in grief, the one on her own account, the +other from interest in her friend, burst out laughing, as they cleared +away every visible trace of the disorder which had naturally accompanied +the preparations for their escape. Then, having blown out the lights, +the two fugitives, looking and listening eagerly, with outstretched +necks, opened the door of a dressing-room which led by a side staircase +down to the yard,--Eugenie going first, and holding with one arm +the portmanteau, which by the opposite handle Mademoiselle d'Armilly +scarcely raised with both hands. The yard was empty; the clock was +striking twelve. The porter was not yet gone to bed. Eugenie approached +softly, and saw the old man sleeping soundly in an arm-chair in his +lodge. She returned to Louise, took up the portmanteau, which she had +placed for a moment on the ground, and they reached the archway under +the shadow of the wall. + +Eugenie concealed Louise in an angle of the gateway, so that if the +porter chanced to awake he might see but one person. Then placing +herself in the full light of the lamp which lit the yard,--"Gate!" cried +she, with her finest contralto voice, and rapping at the window. + +The porter got up as Eugenie expected, and even advanced some steps to +recognize the person who was going out, but seeing a young man striking +his boot impatiently with his riding-whip, he opened it immediately. +Louise slid through the half-open gate like a snake, and bounded lightly +forward. Eugenie, apparently calm, although in all probability her heart +beat somewhat faster than usual, went out in her turn. A porter was +passing and they gave him the portmanteau; then the two young girls, +having told him to take it to No. 36, Rue de la Victoire, walked behind +this man, whose presence comforted Louise. As for Eugenie, she was as +strong as a Judith or a Delilah. They arrived at the appointed spot. +Eugenie ordered the porter to put down the portmanteau, gave him some +pieces of money, and having rapped at the shutter sent him away. The +shutter where Eugenie had rapped was that of a little laundress, who +had been previously warned, and was not yet gone to bed. She opened the +door. + +"Mademoiselle," said Eugenie, "let the porter get the post-chaise from +the coach-house, and fetch some post-horses from the hotel. Here are +five francs for his trouble." + +"Indeed," said Louise, "I admire you, and I could almost say respect +you." The laundress looked on in astonishment, but as she had been +promised twenty louis, she made no remark. + +In a quarter of an hour the porter returned with a post-boy and horses, +which were harnessed, and put in the post-chaise in a minute, while the +porter fastened the portmanteau on with the assistance of a cord and +strap. "Here is the passport," said the postilion, "which way are we +going, young gentleman?" + +"To Fontainebleau," replied Eugenie with an almost masculine voice. + +"What do you say?" said Louise. + +"I am giving them the slip," said Eugenie; "this woman to whom we have +given twenty louis may betray us for forty; we will soon alter our +direction." And the young girl jumped into the britzska, which was +admirably arranged for sleeping in, without scarcely touching the step. +"You are always right," said the music teacher, seating herself by the +side of her friend. + +A quarter of an hour afterwards the postilion, having been put in the +right road, passed with a crack of his whip through the gateway of the +Barriere Saint-Martin. "Ah," said Louise, breathing freely, "here we are +out of Paris." + +"Yes, my dear, the abduction is an accomplished fact," replied Eugenie. +"Yes, and without violence," said Louise. + +"I shall bring that forward as an extenuating circumstance," replied +Eugenie. These words were lost in the noise which the carriage made in +rolling over the pavement of La Villette. M. Danglars no longer had a +daughter. + + + +Chapter 98. The Bell and Bottle Tavern. + +And now let us leave Mademoiselle Danglars and her friend pursuing their +way to Brussels, and return to poor Andrea Cavalcanti, so inopportunely +interrupted in his rise to fortune. Notwithstanding his youth, Master +Andrea was a very skilful and intelligent boy. We have seen that on +the first rumor which reached the salon he had gradually approached the +door, and crossing two or three rooms at last disappeared. But we have +forgotten to mention one circumstance, which nevertheless ought not +to be omitted; in one of the rooms he crossed, the trousseau of the +bride-elect was on exhibition. There were caskets of diamonds, cashmere +shawls, Valenciennes lace, English veilings, and in fact all the +tempting things, the bare mention of which makes the hearts of young +girls bound with joy, and which is called the "corbeille." [*] Now, in +passing through this room, Andrea proved himself not only to be clever +and intelligent, but also provident, for he helped himself to the most +valuable of the ornaments before him. + + * Literally, "the basket," because wedding gifts were + originally brought in such a receptacle. + +Furnished with this plunder, Andrea leaped with a lighter heart from the +window, intending to slip through the hands of the gendarmes. Tall and +well proportioned as an ancient gladiator, and muscular as a Spartan, +he walked for a quarter of an hour without knowing where to direct his +steps, actuated by the sole idea of getting away from the spot where if +he lingered he knew that he would surely be taken. Having passed through +the Rue Mont Blanc, guided by the instinct which leads thieves always to +take the safest path, he found himself at the end of the Rue Lafayette. +There he stopped, breathless and panting. He was quite alone; on one +side was the vast wilderness of the Saint-Lazare, on the other, Paris +enshrouded in darkness. "Am I to be captured?" he cried; "no, not if I +can use more activity than my enemies. My safety is now a mere question +of speed." At this moment he saw a cab at the top of the Faubourg +Poissonniere. The dull driver, smoking his pipe, was plodding along +toward the limits of the Faubourg Saint-Denis, where no doubt he +ordinarily had his station. "Ho, friend!" said Benedetto. + +"What do you want, sir?" asked the driver. + +"Is your horse tired?" + +"Tired? oh, yes, tired enough--he has done nothing the whole of this +blessed day! Four wretched fares, and twenty sous over, making in all +seven francs, are all that I have earned, and I ought to take ten to the +owner." + +"Will you add these twenty francs to the seven you have?" + +"With pleasure, sir; twenty francs are not to be despised. Tell me what +I am to do for this." + +"A very easy thing, if your horse isn't tired." + +"I tell you he'll go like the wind,--only tell me which way to drive." + +"Towards the Louvres." + +"Ah, I know the way--you get good sweetened rum over there." + +"Exactly so; I merely wish to overtake one of my friends, with whom I am +going to hunt to-morrow at Chapelle-en-Serval. He should have waited for +me here with a cabriolet till half-past eleven; it is twelve, and, tired +of waiting, he must have gone on." + +"It is likely." + +"Well, will you try and overtake him?" + +"Nothing I should like better." + +"If you do not overtake him before we reach Bourget you shall have +twenty francs; if not before Louvres, thirty." + +"And if we do overtake him?" + +"Forty," said Andrea, after a moment's hesitation, at the end of which +he remembered that he might safely promise. "That's all right," said the +man; "hop in, and we're off! Who-o-o-p, la!" + +Andrea got into the cab, which passed rapidly through the Faubourg +Saint-Denis, along the Faubourg Saint-Martin, crossed the barrier, and +threaded its way through the interminable Villette. They never overtook +the chimerical friend, yet Andrea frequently inquired of people on foot +whom he passed and at the inns which were not yet closed, for a green +cabriolet and bay horse; and as there are a great many cabriolets to be +seen on the road to the Low Countries, and as nine-tenths of them are +green, the inquiries increased at every step. Every one had just seen +it pass; it was only five hundred, two hundred, one hundred steps in +advance; at length they reached it, but it was not the friend. Once +the cab was also passed by a calash rapidly whirled along by two +post-horses. "Ah," said Cavalcanti to himself, "if I only had that +britzska, those two good post-horses, and above all the passport +that carries them on!" And he sighed deeply. The calash contained +Mademoiselle Danglars and Mademoiselle d'Armilly. "Hurry, hurry!" said +Andrea, "we must overtake him soon." And the poor horse resumed the +desperate gallop it had kept up since leaving the barrier, and arrived +steaming at Louvres. + +"Certainly," said Andrea, "I shall not overtake my friend, but I shall +kill your horse, therefore I had better stop. Here are thirty francs; I +will sleep at the Red Horse, and will secure a place in the first coach. +Good-night, friend." And Andrea, after placing six pieces of five francs +each in the man's hand, leaped lightly on to the pathway. The cabman +joyfully pocketed the sum, and turned back on his road to Paris. Andrea +pretended to go towards the Red Horse inn, but after leaning an instant +against the door, and hearing the last sound of the cab, which was +disappearing from view, he went on his road, and with a lusty stride +soon traversed the space of two leagues. Then he rested; he must be near +Chapelle-en-Serval, where he pretended to be going. It was not fatigue +that stayed Andrea here; it was that he might form some resolution, +adopt some plan. It would be impossible to make use of a diligence, +equally so to engage post-horses; to travel either way a passport was +necessary. It was still more impossible to remain in the department of +the Oise, one of the most open and strictly guarded in France; this was +quite out of the question, especially to a man like Andrea, perfectly +conversant with criminal matters. + +He sat down by the side of the moat, buried his face in his hands and +reflected. Ten minutes after he raised his head; his resolution was +made. He threw some dust over the topcoat, which he had found time to +unhook from the ante-chamber and button over his ball costume, and going +to Chapelle-en-Serval he knocked loudly at the door of the only inn in +the place. The host opened. "My friend," said Andrea, "I was coming from +Montefontaine to Senlis, when my horse, which is a troublesome creature, +stumbled and threw me. I must reach Compiegne to-night, or I shall cause +deep anxiety to my family. Could you let me hire a horse of you?" + +An inn-keeper has always a horse to let, whether it be good or bad. The +host called the stable-boy, and ordered him to saddle "Whitey," then he +awoke his son, a child of seven years, whom he ordered to ride before +the gentleman and bring back the horse. Andrea gave the inn-keeper +twenty francs, and in taking them from his pocket dropped a visiting +card. This belonged to one of his friends at the Cafe de Paris, so that +the innkeeper, picking it up after Andrea had left, was convinced that +he had let his horse to the Count of Mauleon, 25 Rue Saint-Dominique, +that being the name and address on the card. "Whitey" was not a fast +animal, but he kept up an easy, steady pace; in three hours and a +half Andrea had traversed the nine leagues which separated him from +Compiegne, and four o'clock struck as he reached the place where the +coaches stop. There is an excellent tavern at Compiegne, well remembered +by those who have ever been there. Andrea, who had often stayed there +in his rides about Paris, recollected the Bell and Bottle inn; he +turned around, saw the sign by the light of a reflected lamp, and having +dismissed the child, giving him all the small coin he had about him, he +began knocking at the door, very reasonably concluding that having now +three or four hours before him he had best fortify himself against the +fatigues of the morrow by a sound sleep and a good supper. A waiter +opened the door. + +"My friend," said Andrea, "I have been dining at Saint-Jean-au-Bois, and +expected to catch the coach which passes by at midnight, but like a fool +I have lost my way, and have been walking for the last four hours in the +forest. Show me into one of those pretty little rooms which overlook the +court, and bring me a cold fowl and a bottle of Bordeaux." The waiter +had no suspicions; Andrea spoke with perfect composure, he had a cigar +in his mouth, and his hands in the pocket of his top coat; his clothes +were fashionably made, his chin smooth, his boots irreproachable; he +looked merely as if he had stayed out very late, that was all. While +the waiter was preparing his room, the hostess arose; Andrea assumed +his most charming smile, and asked if he could have No. 3, which he had +occupied on his last stay at Compiegne. Unfortunately, No. 3 was engaged +by a young man who was travelling with his sister. Andrea appeared in +despair, but consoled himself when the hostess assured him that No. 7, +prepared for him, was situated precisely the same as No. 3, and while +warming his feet and chatting about the last races at Chantilly, he +waited until they announced his room to be ready. + +Andrea had not spoken without cause of the pretty rooms looking out upon +the court of the Bell Tavern, which with its triple galleries like those +of a theatre, with the jessamine and clematis twining round the light +columns, forms one of the prettiest entrances to an inn that you +can imagine. The fowl was tender, the wine old, the fire clear and +sparkling, and Andrea was surprised to find himself eating with as good +an appetite as though nothing had happened. Then he went to bed and +almost immediately fell into that deep sleep which is sure to visit men +of twenty years of age, even when they are torn with remorse. Now, here +we are obliged to own that Andrea ought to have felt remorse, but that +he did not. This was the plan which had appealed to him to afford the +best chance of his security. Before daybreak he would awake, leave the +inn after rigorously paying his bill, and reaching the forest, he would, +under pretence of making studies in painting, test the hospitality of +some peasants, procure himself the dress of a woodcutter and a hatchet, +casting off the lion's skin to assume that of the woodman; then, with +his hands covered with dirt, his hair darkened by means of a leaden +comb, his complexion embrowned with a preparation for which one of his +old comrades had given him the recipe, he intended, by following the +wooded districts, to reach the nearest frontier, walking by night and +sleeping in the day in the forests and quarries, and only entering +inhabited regions to buy a loaf from time to time. + +Once past the frontier, Andrea proposed making money of his diamonds; +and by uniting the proceeds to ten bank-notes he always carried about +with him in case of accident, he would then find himself possessor of +about 50,000 livres, which he philosophically considered as no very +deplorable condition after all. Moreover, he reckoned much on +the interest of the Danglars to hush up the rumor of their own +misadventures. These were the reasons which, added to the fatigue, +caused Andrea to sleep so soundly. In order that he might awaken early +he did not close the shutters, but contented himself with bolting the +door and placing on the table an unclasped and long-pointed knife, whose +temper he well knew, and which was never absent from him. About seven in +the morning Andrea was awakened by a ray of sunlight, which played, +warm and brilliant, upon his face. In all well-organized brains, the +predominating idea--and there always is one--is sure to be the last +thought before sleeping, and the first upon waking in the morning. +Andrea had scarcely opened his eyes when his predominating idea +presented itself, and whispered in his ear that he had slept too long. +He jumped out of bed and ran to the window. A gendarme was crossing the +court. A gendarme is one of the most striking objects in the world, even +to a man void of uneasiness; but for one who has a timid conscience, and +with good cause too, the yellow, blue, and white uniform is really very +alarming. + +"Why is that gendarme there?" asked Andrea of himself. Then, all at +once, he replied, with that logic which the reader has, doubtless, +remarked in him, "There is nothing astonishing in seeing a gendarme at +an inn; instead of being astonished, let me dress myself." And the youth +dressed himself with a facility his valet de chambre had failed to rob +him of during the two months of fashionable life he had led in Paris. +"Now then," said Andrea, while dressing himself, "I'll wait till he +leaves, and then I'll slip away." And, saying this, Andrea, who had now +put on his boots and cravat, stole gently to the window, and a second +time lifted up the muslin curtain. Not only was the first gendarme still +there, but the young man now perceived a second yellow, blue, and white +uniform at the foot of the staircase, the only one by which he could +descend, while a third, on horseback, holding a musket in his fist, was +posted as a sentinel at the great street door which alone afforded the +means of egress. + +The appearance of the third gendarme settled the matter, for a crowd +of curious loungers was extended before him, effectually blocking the +entrance to the hotel. "They're after me!" was Andrea's first thought. +"The devil!" A pallor overspread the young man's forehead, and he looked +around him with anxiety. His room, like all those on the same floor, had +but one outlet to the gallery in the sight of everybody. "I am lost!" +was his second thought; and, indeed, for a man in Andrea's situation, +an arrest meant the assizes, trial, and death,--death without mercy or +delay. For a moment he convulsively pressed his head within his hands, +and during that brief period he became nearly mad with terror; but soon +a ray of hope glimmered in the multitude of thoughts which bewildered +his mind, and a faint smile played upon his white lips and pallid +cheeks. He looked around and saw the objects of his search upon the +chimney-piece; they were a pen, ink, and paper. With forced composure he +dipped the pen in the ink, and wrote the following lines upon a sheet of +paper:-- + +"I have no money to pay my bill, but I am not a dishonest man; I leave +behind me as a pledge this pin, worth ten times the amount. I shall be +excused for leaving at daybreak, for I was ashamed." + +He then drew the pin from his cravat and placed it on the paper. This +done, instead of leaving the door fastened, he drew back the bolts and +even placed the door ajar, as though he had left the room, forgetting +to close it, and slipping into the chimney like a man accustomed to that +kind of gymnastic exercise, having effaced the marks of his feet upon +the floor, he commenced climbing the only opening which afforded him +the means of escape. At this precise time, the first gendarme Andrea +had noticed walked up-stairs, preceded by the commissary of police, +and supported by the second gendarme who guarded the staircase and was +himself re-enforced by the one stationed at the door. + +Andrea was indebted for this visit to the following circumstances. At +daybreak, the telegraphs were set at work in all directions, and almost +immediately the authorities in every district had exerted their utmost +endeavors to arrest the murderer of Caderousse. Compiegne, that royal +residence and fortified town, is well furnished with authorities, +gendarmes, and commissaries of police; they therefore began operations +as soon as the telegraphic despatch arrived, and the Bell and Bottle +being the best-known hotel in the town, they had naturally directed +their first inquiries there. + +Now, besides the reports of the sentinels guarding the Hotel de Ville, +which is next door to the Bell and Bottle, it had been stated by others +that a number of travellers had arrived during the night. The sentinel +who was relieved at six o'clock in the morning, remembered perfectly +that just as he was taking his post a few minutes past four a young +man arrived on horseback, with a little boy before him. The young man, +having dismissed the boy and horse, knocked at the door of the hotel, +which was opened, and again closed after his entrance. This late arrival +had attracted much suspicion, and the young man being no other than +Andrea, the commissary and gendarme, who was a brigadier, directed their +steps towards his room. + +They found the door ajar. "Oh, ho," said the brigadier, who thoroughly +understood the trick; "a bad sign to find the door open! I would rather +find it triply bolted." And, indeed, the little note and pin upon the +table confirmed, or rather corroborated, the sad truth. Andrea had fled. +We say corroborated, because the brigadier was too experienced to be +convinced by a single proof. He glanced around, looked in the bed, shook +the curtains, opened the closets, and finally stopped at the chimney. +Andrea had taken the precaution to leave no traces of his feet in the +ashes, but still it was an outlet, and in this light was not to be +passed over without serious investigation. + +The brigadier sent for some sticks and straw, and having filled the +chimney with them, set a light to it. The fire crackled, and the smoke +ascended like the dull vapor from a volcano; but still no prisoner fell +down, as they expected. The fact was, that Andrea, at war with society +ever since his youth, was quite as deep as a gendarme, even though he +were advanced to the rank of brigadier, and quite prepared for the +fire, he had climbed out on the roof and was crouching down against +the chimney-pots. At one time he thought he was saved, for he heard +the brigadier exclaim in a loud voice, to the two gendarmes, "He is not +here!" But venturing to peep, he perceived that the latter, instead of +retiring, as might have been reasonably expected upon this announcement, +were watching with increased attention. + +It was now his turn to look about him; the Hotel de Ville, a massive +sixteenth century building, was on his right; any one could descend from +the openings in the tower, and examine every corner of the roof below, +and Andrea expected momentarily to see the head of a gendarme appear at +one of these openings. If once discovered, he knew he would be lost, for +the roof afforded no chance of escape; he therefore resolved to descend, +not through the same chimney by which he had come up, but by a similar +one conducting to another room. He looked around for a chimney from +which no smoke issued, and having reached it, he disappeared through the +orifice without being seen by any one. At the same minute, one of the +little windows of the Hotel de Ville was thrown open, and the head of a +gendarme appeared. For an instant it remained motionless as one of +the stone decorations of the building, then after a long sigh of +disappointment the head disappeared. The brigadier, calm and dignified +as the law he represented, passed through the crowd, without answering +the thousand questions addressed to him, and re-entered the hotel. + +"Well?" asked the two gendarmes. + +"Well, my boys," said the brigadier, "the brigand must really have +escaped early this morning; but we will send to the Villers-Coterets and +Noyon roads, and search the forest, when we shall catch him, no doubt." +The honorable functionary had scarcely expressed himself thus, in that +intonation which is peculiar to brigadiers of the gendarmerie, when a +loud scream, accompanied by the violent ringing of a bell, resounded +through the court of the hotel. "Ah, what is that?" cried the brigadier. + +"Some traveller seems impatient," said the host. "What number was it +that rang?" + +"Number 3." + +"Run, waiter!" At this moment the screams and ringing were redoubled. +"Ah," said the brigadier, stopping the servant, "the person who is +ringing appears to want something more than a waiter; we will attend +upon him with a gendarme. Who occupies Number 3?" + +"The little fellow who arrived last night in a post-chaise with his +sister, and who asked for an apartment with two beds." The bell here +rang for the third time, with another shriek of anguish. + +"Follow me, Mr. Commissary!" said the brigadier; "tread in my steps." + +"Wait an instant," said the host; "Number 3 has two staircases,--inside +and outside." + +"Good," said the brigadier. "I will take charge of the inside one. Are +the carbines loaded?" + +"Yes, brigadier." + +"Well, you guard the exterior, and if he attempts to fly, fire upon him; +he must be a great criminal, from what the telegraph says." + +The brigadier, followed by the commissary, disappeared by the inside +staircase, accompanied by the noise which his assertions respecting +Andrea had excited in the crowd. This is what had happened. Andrea had +very cleverly managed to descend two-thirds of the chimney, but then his +foot slipped, and notwithstanding his endeavors, he came into the room +with more speed and noise than he intended. It would have signified +little had the room been empty, but unfortunately it was occupied. Two +ladies, sleeping in one bed, were awakened by the noise, and fixing +their eyes upon the spot whence the sound proceeded, they saw a man. +One of these ladies, the fair one, uttered those terrible shrieks which +resounded through the house, while the other, rushing to the bell-rope, +rang with all her strength. Andrea, as we can see, was surrounded by +misfortune. + +"For pity's sake," he cried, pale and bewildered, without seeing whom +he was addressing,--"for pity's sake do not call assistance! Save me!--I +will not harm you." + +"Andrea, the murderer!" cried one of the ladies. + +"Eugenie! Mademoiselle Danglars!" exclaimed Andrea, stupefied. + +"Help, help!" cried Mademoiselle d'Armilly, taking the bell from her +companion's hand, and ringing it yet more violently. "Save me, I am +pursued!" said Andrea, clasping his hands. "For pity, for mercy's sake +do not deliver me up!" + +"It is too late, they are coming," said Eugenie. + +"Well, conceal me somewhere; you can say you were needlessly alarmed; +you can turn their suspicions and save my life!" + +The two ladies, pressing closely to one another, and drawing the +bedclothes tightly around them, remained silent to this supplicating +voice, repugnance and fear taking possession of their minds. + +"Well, be it so," at length said Eugenie; "return by the same road you +came, and we will say nothing about you, unhappy wretch." + +"Here he is, here he is!" cried a voice from the landing; "here he is! +I see him!" The brigadier had put his eye to the keyhole, and had +discovered Andrea in a posture of entreaty. A violent blow from the butt +end of the musket burst open the lock, two more forced out the bolts, +and the broken door fell in. Andrea ran to the other door, leading to +the gallery, ready to rush out; but he was stopped short, and he stood +with his body a little thrown back, pale, and with the useless knife in +his clinched hand. + +"Fly, then!" cried Mademoiselle d'Armilly, whose pity returned as her +fears diminished; "fly!" + +"Or kill yourself!" said Eugenie (in a tone which a Vestal in the +amphitheatre would have used, when urging the victorious gladiator to +finish his vanquished adversary). Andrea shuddered, and looked on the +young girl with an expression which proved how little he understood such +ferocious honor. "Kill myself?" he cried, throwing down his knife; "why +should I do so?" + +"Why, you said," answered Mademoiselle Danglars, "that you would be +condemned to die like the worst criminals." + +"Bah," said Cavalcanti, crossing his arms, "one has friends." + +The brigadier advanced to him, sword in hand. "Come, come," said Andrea, +"sheathe your sword, my fine fellow; there is no occasion to make such a +fuss, since I give myself up;" and he held out his hands to be manacled. +The girls looked with horror upon this shameful metamorphosis, the man +of the world shaking off his covering and appearing as a galley-slave. +Andrea turned towards them, and with an impertinent smile asked,--"Have +you any message for your father, Mademoiselle Danglars, for in all +probability I shall return to Paris?" + +Eugenie covered her face with her hands. "Oh, ho!" said Andrea, "you +need not be ashamed, even though you did post after me. Was I not nearly +your husband?" + +And with this raillery Andrea went out, leaving the two girls a prey to +their own feelings of shame, and to the comments of the crowd. An hour +after they stepped into their calash, both dressed in feminine attire. +The gate of the hotel had been closed to screen them from sight, but +they were forced, when the door was open, to pass through a throng of +curious glances and whispering voices. Eugenie closed her eyes; but +though she could not see, she could hear, and the sneers of the crowd +reached her in the carriage. "Oh, why is not the world a wilderness?" +she exclaimed, throwing herself into the arms of Mademoiselle d'Armilly, +her eyes sparkling with the same kind of rage which made Nero wish that +the Roman world had but one neck, that he might sever it at a single +blow. The next day they stopped at the Hotel de Flandre, at Brussels. +The same evening Andrea was incarcerated in the Conciergerie. + + + +Chapter 99. The Law. + +We have seen how quietly Mademoiselle Danglars and Mademoiselle +d'Armilly accomplished their transformation and flight; the fact being +that every one was too much occupied in his or her own affairs to think +of theirs. We will leave the banker contemplating the enormous magnitude +of his debt before the phantom of bankruptcy, and follow the baroness, +who after being momentarily crushed under the weight of the blow which +had struck her, had gone to seek her usual adviser, Lucien Debray. The +baroness had looked forward to this marriage as a means of ridding her +of a guardianship which, over a girl of Eugenie's character, could not +fail to be rather a troublesome undertaking; for in the tacit relations +which maintain the bond of family union, the mother, to maintain her +ascendancy over her daughter, must never fail to be a model of wisdom +and a type of perfection. + +Now, Madame Danglars feared Eugenie's sagacity and the influence of +Mademoiselle d'Armilly; she had frequently observed the contemptuous +expression with which her daughter looked upon Debray,--an expression +which seemed to imply that she understood all her mother's amorous and +pecuniary relationships with the intimate secretary; moreover, she +saw that Eugenie detested Debray,--not only because he was a source of +dissension and scandal under the paternal roof, but because she had at +once classed him in that catalogue of bipeds whom Plato endeavors to +withdraw from the appellation of men, and whom Diogenes designated as +animals upon two legs without feathers. + +Unfortunately, in this world of ours, each person views things through +a certain medium, and so is prevented from seeing in the same light as +others, and Madame Danglars, therefore, very much regretted that the +marriage of Eugenie had not taken place, not only because the match was +good, and likely to insure the happiness of her child, but because it +would also set her at liberty. She ran therefore to Debray, who, after +having like the rest of Paris witnessed the contract scene and the +scandal attending it, had retired in haste to his club, where he was +chatting with some friends upon the events which served as a subject of +conversation for three-fourths of that city known as the capital of the +world. + +At the precise time when Madame Danglars, dressed in black and +concealed in a long veil, was ascending the stairs leading to Debray's +apartments,--notwithstanding the assurances of the concierge that +the young man was not at home,--Debray was occupied in repelling the +insinuations of a friend, who tried to persuade him that after the +terrible scene which had just taken place he ought, as a friend of the +family, to marry Mademoiselle Danglars and her two millions. Debray did +not defend himself very warmly, for the idea had sometimes crossed +his mind; still, when he recollected the independent, proud spirit of +Eugenie, he positively rejected it as utterly impossible, though the +same thought again continually recurred and found a resting-place in +his heart. Tea, play, and the conversation, which had become interesting +during the discussion of such serious affairs, lasted till one o'clock +in the morning. + +Meanwhile Madame Danglars, veiled and uneasy, awaited the return of +Debray in the little green room, seated between two baskets of flowers, +which she had that morning sent, and which, it must be confessed, Debray +had himself arranged and watered with so much care that his absence was +half excused in the eyes of the poor woman. + +At twenty minutes of twelve, Madame Danglars, tired of waiting, returned +home. Women of a certain grade are like prosperous grisettes in one +respect, they seldom return home after twelve o'clock. The baroness +returned to the hotel with as much caution as Eugenie used in leaving +it; she ran lightly up-stairs, and with an aching heart entered her +apartment, contiguous, as we know, to that of Eugenie. She was fearful +of exciting any remark, and believed firmly in her daughter's innocence +and fidelity to the paternal roof. She listened at Eugenie's door, and +hearing no sound tried to enter, but the bolts were in place. Madame +Danglars then concluded that the young girl had been overcome with the +terrible excitement of the evening, and had gone to bed and to sleep. +She called the maid and questioned her. + +"Mademoiselle Eugenie," said the maid, "retired to her apartment with +Mademoiselle d'Armilly; they then took tea together, after which they +desired me to leave, saying that they needed me no longer." Since then +the maid had been below, and like every one else she thought the young +ladies were in their own room; Madame Danglars, therefore, went to bed +without a shadow of suspicion, and began to muse over the recent events. +In proportion as her memory became clearer, the occurrences of the +evening were revealed in their true light; what she had taken for +confusion was a tumult; what she had regarded as something distressing, +was in reality a disgrace. And then the baroness remembered that she had +felt no pity for poor Mercedes, who had been afflicted with as severe a +blow through her husband and son. + +"Eugenie," she said to herself, "is lost, and so are we. The affair, as +it will be reported, will cover us with shame; for in a society such as +ours satire inflicts a painful and incurable wound. How fortunate that +Eugenie is possessed of that strange character which has so often +made me tremble!" And her glance was turned towards heaven, where a +mysterious providence disposes all things, and out of a fault, nay, even +a vice, sometimes produces a blessing. And then her thoughts, cleaving +through space like a bird in the air, rested on Cavalcanti. This Andrea +was a wretch, a robber, an assassin, and yet his manners showed the +effects of a sort of education, if not a complete one; he had been +presented to the world with the appearance of an immense fortune, +supported by an honorable name. How could she extricate herself from +this labyrinth? To whom would she apply to help her out of this painful +situation? Debray, to whom she had run, with the first instinct of a +woman towards the man she loves, and who yet betrays her,--Debray could +but give her advice, she must apply to some one more powerful than he. + +The baroness then thought of M. de Villefort. It was M. de Villefort who +had remorselessly brought misfortune into her family, as though they +had been strangers. But, no; on reflection, the procureur was not a +merciless man; and it was not the magistrate, slave to his duties, but +the friend, the loyal friend, who roughly but firmly cut into the very +core of the corruption; it was not the executioner, but the surgeon, who +wished to withdraw the honor of Danglars from ignominious association +with the disgraced young man they had presented to the world as their +son-in-law. And since Villefort, the friend of Danglars, had acted in +this way, no one could suppose that he had been previously acquainted +with, or had lent himself to, any of Andrea's intrigues. Villefort's +conduct, therefore, upon reflection, appeared to the baroness as +if shaped for their mutual advantage. But the inflexibility of the +procureur should stop there; she would see him the next day, and if she +could not make him fail in his duties as a magistrate, she would, at +least, obtain all the indulgence he could allow. She would invoke +the past, recall old recollections; she would supplicate him by the +remembrance of guilty, yet happy days. M. de Villefort would stifle the +affair; he had only to turn his eyes on one side, and allow Andrea to +fly, and follow up the crime under that shadow of guilt called contempt +of court. And after this reasoning she slept easily. + +At nine o'clock next morning she arose, and without ringing for her maid +or giving the least sign of her activity, she dressed herself in the +same simple style as on the previous night; then running down-stairs, +she left the hotel, walked to the Rue de Provence, called a cab, and +drove to M. de Villefort's house. For the last month this wretched house +had presented the gloomy appearance of a lazaretto infected with the +plague. Some of the apartments were closed within and without; the +shutters were only opened to admit a minute's air, showing the scared +face of a footman, and immediately afterwards the window would be +closed, like a gravestone falling on a sepulchre, and the neighbors +would say to each other in a low voice, "Will there be another funeral +to-day at the procureur's house?" Madame Danglars involuntarily +shuddered at the desolate aspect of the mansion; descending from the +cab, she approached the door with trembling knees, and rang the bell. +Three times did the bell ring with a dull, heavy sound, seeming to +participate, in the general sadness, before the concierge appeared and +peeped through the door, which he opened just wide enough to allow his +words to be heard. He saw a lady, a fashionable, elegantly dressed lady, +and yet the door remained almost closed. + +"Do you intend opening the door?" said the baroness. + +"First, madame, who are you?" + +"Who am I? You know me well enough." + +"We no longer know any one, madame." + +"You must be mad, my friend," said the baroness. + +"Where do you come from?" + +"Oh, this is too much!" + +"Madame, these are my orders; excuse me. Your name?" + +"The baroness Danglars; you have seen me twenty times." + +"Possibly, madame. And now, what do you want?" + +"Oh, how extraordinary! I shall complain to M. de Villefort of the +impertinence of his servants." + +"Madame, this is precaution, not impertinence; no one enters here +without an order from M. d'Avrigny, or without speaking to the +procureur." + +"Well, I have business with the procureur." + +"Is it pressing business?" + +"You can imagine so, since I have not even brought my carriage out yet. +But enough of this--here is my card, take it to your master." + +"Madame will await my return?" + +"Yes; go." The concierge closed the door, leaving Madame Danglars in +the street. She had not long to wait; directly afterwards the door was +opened wide enough to admit her, and when she had passed through, it was +again shut. Without losing sight of her for an instant, the concierge +took a whistle from his pocket as soon as they entered the court, and +blew it. The valet de chambre appeared on the door-steps. "You will +excuse this poor fellow, madame," he said, as he preceded the baroness, +"but his orders are precise, and M. de Villefort begged me to tell you +that he could not act otherwise." + +In the court showing his merchandise, was a tradesman who had been +admitted with the same precautions. The baroness ascended the steps; she +felt herself strongly infected with the sadness which seemed to magnify +her own, and still guided by the valet de chambre, who never lost sight +of her for an instant, she was introduced to the magistrate's study. +Preoccupied as Madame Danglars had been with the object of her visit, +the treatment she had received from these underlings appeared to her so +insulting, that she began by complaining of it. But Villefort, raising +his head, bowed down by grief, looked up at her with so sad a smile that +her complaints died upon her lips. "Forgive my servants," he said, "for +a terror I cannot blame them for; from being suspected they have become +suspicious." + +Madame Danglars had often heard of the terror to which the magistrate +alluded, but without the evidence of her own eyesight she could never +have believed that the sentiment had been carried so far. "You too, +then, are unhappy?" she said. "Yes, madame," replied the magistrate. + +"Then you pity me!" + +"Sincerely, madame." + +"And you understand what brings me here?" + +"You wish to speak to me about the circumstance which has just +happened?" + +"Yes, sir,--a fearful misfortune." + +"You mean a mischance." + +"A mischance?" repeated the baroness. + +"Alas, madame," said the procureur with his imperturbable calmness of +manner, "I consider those alone misfortunes which are irreparable." + +"And do you suppose this will be forgotten?" + +"Everything will be forgotten, madame," said Villefort. "Your daughter +will be married to-morrow, if not to-day--in a week, if not to-morrow; +and I do not think you can regret the intended husband of your +daughter." + +Madame Danglars gazed on Villefort, stupefied to find him so almost +insultingly calm. "Am I come to a friend?" she asked in a tone full of +mournful dignity. "You know that you are, madame," said Villefort, whose +pale cheeks became slightly flushed as he gave her the assurance. And +truly this assurance carried him back to different events from those now +occupying the baroness and him. "Well, then, be more affectionate, my +dear Villefort," said the baroness. "Speak to me not as a magistrate, +but as a friend; and when I am in bitter anguish of spirit, do not tell +me that I ought to be gay." Villefort bowed. "When I hear misfortunes +named, madame," he said, "I have within the last few months contracted +the bad habit of thinking of my own, and then I cannot help drawing up +an egotistical parallel in my mind. That is the reason that by the side +of my misfortunes yours appear to me mere mischances; that is why my +dreadful position makes yours appear enviable. But this annoys you; let +us change the subject. You were saying, madame"-- + +"I came to ask you, my friend," said the baroness, "what will be done +with this impostor?" + +"Impostor," repeated Villefort; "certainly, madame, you appear to +extenuate some cases, and exaggerate others. Impostor, indeed!--M. +Andrea Cavalcanti, or rather M. Benedetto, is nothing more nor less than +an assassin!" + +"Sir, I do not deny the justice of your correction, but the more +severely you arm yourself against that unfortunate man, the more deeply +will you strike our family. Come, forget him for a moment, and instead +of pursuing him let him go." + +"You are too late, madame; the orders are issued." + +"Well, should he be arrested--do they think they will arrest him?" + +"I hope so." + +"If they should arrest him (I know that sometimes prisoners afford means +of escape), will you leave him in prison?"--The procureur shook his +head. "At least keep him there till my daughter be married." + +"Impossible, madame; justice has its formalities." + +"What, even for me?" said the baroness, half jesting, half in earnest. +"For all, even for myself among the rest," replied Villefort. + +"Ah," exclaimed the baroness, without expressing the ideas which the +exclamation betrayed. Villefort looked at her with that piercing glance +which reads the secrets of the heart. "Yes, I know what you mean," he +said; "you refer to the terrible rumors spread abroad in the world, that +the deaths which have kept me in mourning for the last three months, and +from which Valentine has only escaped by a miracle, have not happened by +natural means." + +"I was not thinking of that," replied Madame Danglars quickly. "Yes, you +were thinking of it, and with justice. You could not help thinking of +it, and saying to yourself, 'you, who pursue crime so vindictively, +answer now, why are there unpunished crimes in your dwelling?'" The +baroness became pale. "You were saying this, were you not?" + +"Well, I own it." + +"I will answer you." + +Villefort drew his armchair nearer to Madame Danglars; then resting both +hands upon his desk he said in a voice more hollow than usual: "There +are crimes which remain unpunished because the criminals are unknown, +and we might strike the innocent instead of the guilty; but when the +culprits are discovered" (Villefort here extended his hand toward a +large crucifix placed opposite to his desk)--"when they are discovered, +I swear to you, by all I hold most sacred, that whoever they may be they +shall die. Now, after the oath I have just taken, and which I will keep, +madame, dare you ask for mercy for that wretch!" + +"But, sir, are you sure he is as guilty as they say?" + +"Listen; this is his description: 'Benedetto, condemned, at the age of +sixteen, for five years to the galleys for forgery.' He promised well, +as you see--first a runaway, then an assassin." + +"And who is this wretch?" + +"Who can tell?--a vagabond, a Corsican." + +"Has no one owned him?" + +"No one; his parents are unknown." + +"But who was the man who brought him from Lucca?" + +"Another rascal like himself, perhaps his accomplice." The baroness +clasped her hands. "Villefort," she exclaimed in her softest and most +captivating manner. + +"For heaven's sake, madame," said Villefort, with a firmness of +expression not altogether free from harshness--"for heaven's sake, do +not ask pardon of me for a guilty wretch! What am I?--the law. Has the +law any eyes to witness your grief? Has the law ears to be melted by +your sweet voice? Has the law a memory for all those soft recollections +you endeavor to recall? No, madame; the law has commanded, and when it +commands it strikes. You will tell me that I am a living being, and not +a code--a man, and not a volume. Look at me, madame--look around me. +Have mankind treated me as a brother? Have they loved me? Have they +spared me? Has any one shown the mercy towards me that you now ask at my +hands? No, madame, they struck me, always struck me! + +"Woman, siren that you are, do you persist in fixing on me that +fascinating eye, which reminds me that I ought to blush? Well, be it so; +let me blush for the faults you know, and perhaps--perhaps for even +more than those! But having sinned myself,--it may be more deeply +than others,--I never rest till I have torn the disguises from my +fellow-creatures, and found out their weaknesses. I have always found +them; and more,--I repeat it with joy, with triumph,--I have always +found some proof of human perversity or error. Every criminal I condemn +seems to me living evidence that I am not a hideous exception to the +rest. Alas, alas, alas; all the world is wicked; let us therefore strike +at wickedness!" + +Villefort pronounced these last words with a feverish rage, which gave a +ferocious eloquence to his words. + +"But"' said Madame Danglars, resolving to make a last effort, "this +young man, though a murderer, is an orphan, abandoned by everybody." + +"So much the worse, or rather, so much the better; it has been so +ordained that he may have none to weep his fate." + +"But this is trampling on the weak, sir." + +"The weakness of a murderer!" + +"His dishonor reflects upon us." + +"Is not death in my house?" + +"Oh, sir," exclaimed the baroness, "you are without pity for others, +well, then, I tell you they will have no mercy on you!" + +"Be it so!" said Villefort, raising his arms to heaven. + +"At least, delay the trial till the next assizes; we shall then have six +months before us." + +"No, madame," said Villefort; "instructions have been given. There are +yet five days left; five days are more than I require. Do you not think +that I also long for forgetfulness? While working night and day, I +sometimes lose all recollection of the past, and then I experience the +same sort of happiness I can imagine the dead feel; still, it is better +than suffering." + +"But, sir, he has fled; let him escape--inaction is a pardonable +offence." + +"I tell you it is too late; early this morning the telegraph was +employed, and at this very minute"-- + +"Sir," said the valet de chambre, entering the room, "a dragoon has +brought this despatch from the minister of the interior." Villefort +seized the letter, and hastily broke the seal. Madame Danglars trembled +with fear; Villefort started with joy. "Arrested!" he exclaimed; "he +was taken at Compiegne, and all is over." Madame Danglars rose from her +seat, pale and cold. "Adieu, sir," she said. "Adieu, madame," replied +the king's attorney, as in an almost joyful manner he conducted her to +the door. Then, turning to his desk, he said, striking the letter with +the back of his right hand, "Come, I had a forgery, three robberies, and +two cases of arson, I only wanted a murder, and here it is. It will be a +splendid session!" + + + +Chapter 100. The Apparition. + +As the procureur had told Madame Danglars, Valentine was not yet +recovered. Bowed down with fatigue, she was indeed confined to her bed; +and it was in her own room, and from the lips of Madame de Villefort, +that she heard all the strange events we have related,--we mean the +flight of Eugenie and the arrest of Andrea Cavalcanti, or rather +Benedetto, together with the accusation of murder pronounced against +him. But Valentine was so weak that this recital scarcely produced +the same effect it would have done had she been in her usual state of +health. Indeed, her brain was only the seat of vague ideas, and confused +forms, mingled with strange fancies, alone presented themselves before +her eyes. + +During the daytime Valentine's perceptions remained tolerably clear, +owing to the constant presence of M. Noirtier, who caused himself to be +carried to his granddaughter's room, and watched her with his paternal +tenderness; Villefort also, on his return from the law courts, +frequently passed an hour or two with his father and child. At six +o'clock Villefort retired to his study, at eight M. d'Avrigny himself +arrived, bringing the night draught prepared for the young girl, and +then M. Noirtier was carried away. A nurse of the doctor's choice +succeeded them, and never left till about ten or eleven o'clock, when +Valentine was asleep. As she went down-stairs she gave the keys of +Valentine's room to M. de Villefort, so that no one could reach the +sick-room excepting through that of Madame de Villefort and little +Edward. + +Every morning Morrel called on Noirtier to receive news of Valentine, +and, extraordinary as it seemed, each day found him less uneasy. +Certainly, though Valentine still labored under dreadful nervous +excitement, she was better; and moreover, Monte Cristo had told him +when, half distracted, he had rushed to the count's house, that if +she were not dead in two hours she would be saved. Now four days had +elapsed, and Valentine still lived. + +The nervous excitement of which we speak pursued Valentine even in her +sleep, or rather in that state of somnolence which succeeded her waking +hours; it was then, in the silence of night, in the dim light shed from +the alabaster lamp on the chimney-piece, that she saw the shadows pass +and repass which hover over the bed of sickness, and fan the fever +with their trembling wings. First she fancied she saw her stepmother +threatening her, then Morrel stretched his arms towards her; sometimes +mere strangers, like the Count of Monte Cristo came to visit her; even +the very furniture, in these moments of delirium, seemed to move, and +this state lasted till about three o'clock in the morning, when a deep, +heavy slumber overcame the young girl, from which she did not awake till +daylight. On the evening of the day on which Valentine had learned of +the flight of Eugenie and the arrest of Benedetto,--Villefort having +retired as well as Noirtier and d'Avrigny,--her thoughts wandered in a +confused maze, alternately reviewing her own situation and the events +she had just heard. + +Eleven o'clock had struck. The nurse, having placed the beverage +prepared by the doctor within reach of the patient, and locked the +door, was listening with terror to the comments of the servants in the +kitchen, and storing her memory with all the horrible stories which had +for some months past amused the occupants of the ante-chambers in the +house of the king's attorney. Meanwhile an unexpected scene was passing +in the room which had been so carefully locked. Ten minutes had elapsed +since the nurse had left; Valentine, who for the last hour had +been suffering from the fever which returned nightly, incapable of +controlling her ideas, was forced to yield to the excitement which +exhausted itself in producing and reproducing a succession and +recurrence of the same fancies and images. The night-lamp threw out +countless rays, each resolving itself into some strange form to her +disordered imagination, when suddenly by its flickering light Valentine +thought she saw the door of her library, which was in the recess by the +chimney-piece, open slowly, though she in vain listened for the sound of +the hinges on which it turned. + +At any other time Valentine would have seized the silken bell-pull +and summoned assistance, but nothing astonished her in her present +situation. Her reason told her that all the visions she beheld were but +the children of her imagination, and the conviction was strengthened +by the fact that in the morning no traces remained of the nocturnal +phantoms, who disappeared with the coming of daylight. From behind the +door a human figure appeared, but the girl was too familiar with +such apparitions to be alarmed, and therefore only stared, hoping to +recognize Morrel. The figure advanced towards the bed and appeared to +listen with profound attention. At this moment a ray of light glanced +across the face of the midnight visitor. + +"It is not he," she murmured, and waited, in the assurance that this was +but a dream, for the man to disappear or assume some other form. Still, +she felt her pulse, and finding it throb violently she remembered that +the best method of dispelling such illusions was to drink, for a draught +of the beverage prepared by the doctor to allay her fever seemed to +cause a reaction of the brain, and for a short time she suffered less. +Valentine therefore reached her hand towards the glass, but as soon +as her trembling arm left the bed the apparition advanced more quickly +towards her, and approached the young girl so closely that she fancied +she heard his breath, and felt the pressure of his hand. + +This time the illusion, or rather the reality, surpassed anything +Valentine had before experienced; she began to believe herself really +alive and awake, and the belief that her reason was this time not +deceived made her shudder. The pressure she felt was evidently intended +to arrest her arm, and she slowly withdrew it. Then the figure, from +whom she could not detach her eyes, and who appeared more protecting +than menacing, took the glass, and walking towards the night-light held +it up, as if to test its transparency. This did not seem sufficient; +the man, or rather the ghost--for he trod so softly that no sound was +heard--then poured out about a spoonful into the glass, and drank it. +Valentine witnessed this scene with a sentiment of stupefaction. Every +minute she had expected that it would vanish and give place to another +vision; but the man, instead of dissolving like a shadow, again +approached her, and said in an agitated voice, "Now you may drink." + +Valentine shuddered. It was the first time one of these visions had +ever addressed her in a living voice, and she was about to utter an +exclamation. The man placed his finger on her lips. "The Count of Monte +Cristo!" she murmured. + +It was easy to see that no doubt now remained in the young girl's mind +as to the reality of the scene; her eyes started with terror, her hands +trembled, and she rapidly drew the bedclothes closer to her. Still, the +presence of Monte Cristo at such an hour, his mysterious, fanciful, and +extraordinary entrance into her room through the wall, might well seem +impossibilities to her shattered reason. "Do not call any one--do not be +alarmed," said the Count; "do not let a shade of suspicion or uneasiness +remain in your breast; the man standing before you, Valentine (for this +time it is no ghost), is nothing more than the tenderest father and the +most respectful friend you could dream of." + +Valentine could not reply; the voice which indicated the real presence +of a being in the room, alarmed her so much that she feared to utter a +syllable; still the expression of her eyes seemed to inquire, "If your +intentions are pure, why are you here?" The count's marvellous sagacity +understood all that was passing in the young girl's mind. + +"Listen to me," he said, "or, rather, look upon me; look at my face, +paler even than usual, and my eyes, red with weariness--for four days +I have not closed them, for I have been constantly watching you, to +protect and preserve you for Maximilian." The blood mounted rapidly +to the cheeks of Valentine, for the name just announced by the count +dispelled all the fear with which his presence had inspired her. +"Maximilian!" she exclaimed, and so sweet did the sound appear to her, +that she repeated it--"Maximilian!--has he then owned all to you?" + +"Everything. He told me your life was his, and I have promised him that +you shall live." + +"You have promised him that I shall live?" + +"Yes." + +"But, sir, you spoke of vigilance and protection. Are you a doctor?" + +"Yes; the best you could have at the present time, believe me." + +"But you say you have watched?" said Valentine uneasily; "where have +you been?--I have not seen you." The count extended his hand towards the +library. "I was hidden behind that door," he said, "which leads into the +next house, which I have rented." Valentine turned her eyes away, and, +with an indignant expression of pride and modest fear, exclaimed: "Sir, +I think you have been guilty of an unparalleled intrusion, and that what +you call protection is more like an insult." + +"Valentine," he answered, "during my long watch over you, all I +have observed has been what people visited you, what nourishment was +prepared, and what beverage was served; then, when the latter appeared +dangerous to me, I entered, as I have now done, and substituted, in the +place of the poison, a healthful draught; which, instead of producing +the death intended, caused life to circulate in your veins." + +"Poison--death!" exclaimed Valentine, half believing herself under the +influence of some feverish hallucination; "what are you saying, sir?" + +"Hush, my child," said Monte Cristo, again placing his finger upon her +lips, "I did say poison and death. But drink some of this;" and the +count took a bottle from his pocket, containing a red liquid, of which +he poured a few drops into the glass. "Drink this, and then take nothing +more to-night." Valentine stretched out her hand, but scarcely had she +touched the glass when she drew back in fear. Monte Cristo took the +glass, drank half its contents, and then presented it to Valentine, who +smiled and swallowed the rest. "Oh, yes," she exclaimed, "I recognize +the flavor of my nocturnal beverage which refreshed me so much, and +seemed to ease my aching brain. Thank you, sir, thank you!" + +"This is how you have lived during the last four nights, Valentine," +said the count. "But, oh, how I passed that time! Oh, the wretched hours +I have endured--the torture to which I have submitted when I saw the +deadly poison poured into your glass, and how I trembled lest you should +drink it before I could find time to throw it away!" + +"Sir," said Valentine, at the height of her terror, "you say you endured +tortures when you saw the deadly poison poured into my glass; but if you +saw this, you must also have seen the person who poured it?" + +"Yes." Valentine raised herself in bed, and drew over her chest, which +appeared whiter than snow, the embroidered cambric, still moist with the +cold dews of delirium, to which were now added those of terror. "You saw +the person?" repeated the young girl. "Yes," repeated the count. + +"What you tell me is horrible, sir. You wish to make me believe +something too dreadful. What?--attempt to murder me in my father's +house, in my room, on my bed of sickness? Oh, leave me, sir; you +are tempting me--you make me doubt the goodness of providence--it is +impossible, it cannot be!" + +"Are you the first that this hand has stricken? Have you not seen +M. de Saint-Meran, Madame de Saint-Meran, Barrois, all fall? Would not +M. Noirtier also have fallen a victim, had not the treatment he has +been pursuing for the last three years neutralized the effects of the +poison?" + +"Oh, heaven," said Valentine; "is this the reason why grandpapa has made +me share all his beverages during the last month?" + +"And have they all tasted of a slightly bitter flavor, like that of +dried orange-peel?" + +"Oh, yes, yes!" + +"Then that explains all," said Monte Cristo. "Your grandfather knows, +then, that a poisoner lives here; perhaps he even suspects the person. +He has been fortifying you, his beloved child, against the fatal +effects of the poison, which has failed because your system was already +impregnated with it. But even this would have availed little against a +more deadly medium of death employed four days ago, which is generally +but too fatal." + +"But who, then, is this assassin, this murderer?" + +"Let me also ask you a question. Have you never seen any one enter your +room at night?" + +"Oh, yes; I have frequently seen shadows pass close to me, approach, +and disappear; but I took them for visions raised by my feverish +imagination, and indeed when you entered I thought I was under the +influence of delirium." + +"Then you do not know who it is that attempts your life?" + +"No," said Valentine; "who could desire my death?" + +"You shall know it now, then," said Monte Cristo, listening. + +"How do you mean?" said Valentine, looking anxiously around. + +"Because you are not feverish or delirious to-night, but thoroughly +awake; midnight is striking, which is the hour murderers choose." + +"Oh, heavens," exclaimed Valentine, wiping off the drops which ran down +her forehead. Midnight struck slowly and sadly; every hour seemed to +strike with leaden weight upon the heart of the poor girl. "Valentine," +said the count, "summon up all your courage; still the beatings of your +heart; do not let a sound escape you, and feign to be asleep; then you +will see." Valentine seized the count's hand. "I think I hear a noise," +she said; "leave me." + +"Good-by, for the present," replied the count, walking upon tiptoe +towards the library door, and smiling with an expression so sad and +paternal that the young girl's heart was filled with gratitude. +Before closing the door he turned around once more, and said, "Not a +movement--not a word; let them think you asleep, or perhaps you may be +killed before I have the power of helping you." And with this fearful +injunction the count disappeared through the door, which noiselessly +closed after him. + + + +Chapter 101. Locusta. + +Valentine was alone; two other clocks, slower than that of +Saint-Philippe du Roule, struck the hour of midnight from different +directions, and excepting the rumbling of a few carriages all was +silent. Then Valentine's attention was engrossed by the clock in her +room, which marked the seconds. She began counting them, remarking that +they were much slower than the beatings of her heart; and still she +doubted,--the inoffensive Valentine could not imagine that any one +should desire her death. Why should they? To what end? What had she +done to excite the malice of an enemy? There was no fear of her falling +asleep. One terrible idea pressed upon her mind,--that some one existed +in the world who had attempted to assassinate her, and who was about +to endeavor to do so again. Supposing this person, wearied at the +inefficacy of the poison, should, as Monte Cristo intimated, have +recourse to steel!--What if the count should have no time to run to her +rescue!--What if her last moments were approaching, and she should never +again see Morrel! When this terrible chain of ideas presented itself, +Valentine was nearly persuaded to ring the bell, and call for help. But +through the door she fancied she saw the luminous eye of the count--that +eye which lived in her memory, and the recollection overwhelmed her with +so much shame that she asked herself whether any amount of gratitude +could ever repay his adventurous and devoted friendship. + +Twenty minutes, twenty tedious minutes, passed thus, then ten more, +and at last the clock struck the half-hour. Just then the sound of +finger-nails slightly grating against the door of the library informed +Valentine that the count was still watching, and recommended her to +do the same; at the same time, on the opposite side, that is towards +Edward's room, Valentine fancied that she heard the creaking of the +floor; she listened attentively, holding her breath till she was nearly +suffocated; the lock turned, and the door slowly opened. Valentine had +raised herself upon her elbow, and had scarcely time to throw herself +down on the bed and shade her eyes with her arm; then, trembling, +agitated, and her heart beating with indescribable terror, she awaited +the event. + +Some one approached the bed and drew back the curtains. Valentine +summoned every effort, and breathed with that regular respiration which +announces tranquil sleep. "Valentine!" said a low voice. Still silent: +Valentine had promised not to awake. Then everything was still, +excepting that Valentine heard the almost noiseless sound of some liquid +being poured into the glass she had just emptied. Then she ventured to +open her eyelids, and glance over her extended arm. She saw a woman in a +white dressing-gown pouring a liquor from a phial into her glass. During +this short time Valentine must have held her breath, or moved in some +slight degree, for the woman, disturbed, stopped and leaned over the +bed, in order the better to ascertain whether Valentine slept--it was +Madame de Villefort. + +On recognizing her step-mother, Valentine could not repress a shudder, +which caused a vibration in the bed. Madame de Villefort instantly +stepped back close to the wall, and there, shaded by the bed-curtains, +she silently and attentively watched the slightest movement of +Valentine. The latter recollected the terrible caution of Monte Cristo; +she fancied that the hand not holding the phial clasped a long sharp +knife. Then collecting all her remaining strength, she forced herself to +close her eyes; but this simple operation upon the most delicate organs +of our frame, generally so easy to accomplish, became almost impossible +at this moment, so much did curiosity struggle to retain the eyelid +open and learn the truth. Madame de Villefort, however, reassured by +the silence, which was alone disturbed by the regular breathing of +Valentine, again extended her hand, and half hidden by the curtains +succeeded in emptying the contents of the phial into the glass. Then she +retired so gently that Valentine did not know she had left the room. She +only witnessed the withdrawal of the arm--the fair round arm of a woman +but twenty-five years old, and who yet spread death around her. + +It is impossible to describe the sensations experienced by Valentine +during the minute and a half Madame de Villefort remained in the room. +The grating against the library-door aroused the young girl from +the stupor in which she was plunged, and which almost amounted to +insensibility. She raised her head with an effort. The noiseless door +again turned on its hinges, and the Count of Monte Cristo reappeared. +"Well," said he, "do you still doubt?" + +"Oh," murmured the young girl. + +"Have you seen?" + +"Alas!" + +"Did you recognize?" Valentine groaned. "Oh, yes;" she said, "I saw, but +I cannot believe!" + +"Would you rather die, then, and cause Maximilian's death?" + +"Oh," repeated the young girl, almost bewildered, "can I not leave the +house?--can I not escape?" + +"Valentine, the hand which now threatens you will pursue you everywhere; +your servants will be seduced with gold, and death will be offered to +you disguised in every shape. You will find it in the water you drink +from the spring, in the fruit you pluck from the tree." + +"But did you not say that my kind grandfather's precaution had +neutralized the poison?" + +"Yes, but not against a strong dose; the poison will be changed, and the +quantity increased." He took the glass and raised it to his lips. "It +is already done," he said; "brucine is no longer employed, but a simple +narcotic! I can recognize the flavor of the alcohol in which it has been +dissolved. If you had taken what Madame de Villefort has poured into +your glass, Valentine--Valentine--you would have been doomed!" + +"But," exclaimed the young girl, "why am I thus pursued?" + +"Why?--are you so kind--so good--so unsuspicious of ill, that you cannot +understand, Valentine?" + +"No, I have never injured her." + +"But you are rich, Valentine; you have 200,000 livres a year, and you +prevent her son from enjoying these 200,000. livres." + +"How so? The fortune is not her gift, but is inherited from my +relations." + +"Certainly; and that is why M. and Madame de Saint-Meran have died; that +is why M. Noirtier was sentenced the day he made you his heir; that +is why you, in your turn, are to die--it is because your father would +inherit your property, and your brother, his only son, succeed to his." + +"Edward? Poor child! Are all these crimes committed on his account?" + +"Ah, then you at length understand?" + +"Heaven grant that this may not be visited upon him!" + +"Valentine, you are an angel!" + +"But why is my grandfather allowed to live?" + +"It was considered, that you dead, the fortune would naturally revert +to your brother, unless he were disinherited; and besides, the crime +appearing useless, it would be folly to commit it." + +"And is it possible that this frightful combination of crimes has been +invented by a woman?" + +"Do you recollect in the arbor of the Hotel des Postes, at Perugia, +seeing a man in a brown cloak, whom your stepmother was questioning +upon aqua tofana? Well, ever since then, the infernal project has been +ripening in her brain." + +"Ah, then, indeed, sir," said the sweet girl, bathed in tears, "I see +that I am condemned to die!" + +"No, Valentine, for I have foreseen all their plots; no, your enemy is +conquered since we know her, and you will live, Valentine--live to +be happy yourself, and to confer happiness upon a noble heart; but to +insure this you must rely on me." + +"Command me, sir--what am I to do?" + +"You must blindly take what I give you." + +"Alas, were it only for my own sake, I should prefer to die!" + +"You must not confide in any one--not even in your father." + +"My father is not engaged in this fearful plot, is he, sir?" asked +Valentine, clasping her hands. + +"No; and yet your father, a man accustomed to judicial accusations, +ought to have known that all these deaths have not happened naturally; +it is he who should have watched over you--he should have occupied my +place--he should have emptied that glass--he should have risen against +the assassin. Spectre against spectre!" he murmured in a low voice, as +he concluded his sentence. + +"Sir," said Valentine, "I will do all I can to live, for there are +two beings whose existence depends upon mine--my grandfather and +Maximilian." + +"I will watch over them as I have over you." + +"Well, sir, do as you will with me;" and then she added, in a low voice, +"oh, heavens, what will befall me?" + +"Whatever may happen, Valentine, do not be alarmed; though you suffer; +though you lose sight, hearing, consciousness, fear nothing; though +you should awake and be ignorant where you are, still do not fear; +even though you should find yourself in a sepulchral vault or coffin. +Reassure yourself, then, and say to yourself: 'At this moment, a friend, +a father, who lives for my happiness and that of Maximilian, watches +over me!'" + +"Alas, alas, what a fearful extremity!" + +"Valentine, would you rather denounce your stepmother?" + +"I would rather die a hundred times--oh, yes, die!" + +"No, you will not die; but will you promise me, whatever happens, that +you will not complain, but hope?" + +"I will think of Maximilian!" + +"You are my own darling child, Valentine! I alone can save you, and I +will." Valentine in the extremity of her terror joined her hands,--for +she felt that the moment had arrived to ask for courage,--and began to +pray, and while uttering little more than incoherent words, she forgot +that her white shoulders had no other covering than her long hair, and +that the pulsations of her heart could be seen through the lace of her +nightdress. Monte Cristo gently laid his hand on the young girl's arm, +drew the velvet coverlet close to her throat, and said with a paternal +smile,--"My child, believe in my devotion to you as you believe in the +goodness of providence and the love of Maximilian." + +Then he drew from his waistcoat-pocket the little emerald box, raised +the golden lid, and took from it a pastille about the size of a pea, +which he placed in her hand. She took it, and looked attentively on the +count; there was an expression on the face of her intrepid protector +which commanded her veneration. She evidently interrogated him by her +look. "Yes," said he. Valentine carried the pastille to her mouth, and +swallowed it. "And now, my dear child, adieu for the present. I will try +and gain a little sleep, for you are saved." + +"Go," said Valentine, "whatever happens, I promise you not to fear." + +Monte Cristo for some time kept his eyes fixed on the young girl, who +gradually fell asleep, yielding to the effects of the narcotic the +count had given her. Then he took the glass, emptied three parts of the +contents in the fireplace, that it might be supposed Valentine had taken +it, and replaced it on the table; then he disappeared, after throwing +a farewell glance on Valentine, who slept with the confidence and +innocence of an angel. + + + +Chapter 102. Valentine. + +The night-light continued to burn on the chimney-piece, exhausting the +last drops of oil which floated on the surface of the water. The globe +of the lamp appeared of a reddish hue, and the flame, brightening before +it expired, threw out the last flickerings which in an inanimate object +have been so often compared with the convulsions of a human creature in +its final agonies. A dull and dismal light was shed over the bedclothes +and curtains surrounding the young girl. All noise in the streets had +ceased, and the silence was frightful. It was then that the door of +Edward's room opened, and a head we have before noticed appeared in +the glass opposite; it was Madame de Villefort, who came to witness +the effects of the drink she had prepared. She stopped in the doorway, +listened for a moment to the flickering of the lamp, the only sound in +that deserted room, and then advanced to the table to see if Valentine's +glass were empty. It was still about a quarter full, as we before +stated. Madame de Villefort emptied the contents into the ashes, which +she disturbed that they might the more readily absorb the liquid; then +she carefully rinsed the glass, and wiping it with her handkerchief +replaced it on the table. + +If any one could have looked into the room just then he would have +noticed the hesitation with which Madame de Villefort approached the bed +and looked fixedly on Valentine. The dim light, the profound silence, +and the gloomy thoughts inspired by the hour, and still more by her own +conscience, all combined to produce a sensation of fear; the poisoner +was terrified at the contemplation of her own work. At length she +rallied, drew aside the curtain, and leaning over the pillow gazed +intently on Valentine. The young girl no longer breathed, no breath +issued through the half-closed teeth; the white lips no longer +quivered--the eyes were suffused with a bluish vapor, and the long black +lashes rested on a cheek white as wax. Madame de Villefort gazed upon +the face so expressive even in its stillness; then she ventured to raise +the coverlet and press her hand upon the young girl's heart. It was +cold and motionless. She only felt the pulsation in her own fingers, and +withdrew her hand with a shudder. One arm was hanging out of the bed; +from shoulder to elbow it was moulded after the arms of Germain +Pillon's "Graces," [*] but the fore-arm seemed to be slightly distorted +by convulsion, and the hand, so delicately formed, was resting with +stiff outstretched fingers on the framework of the bed. The nails, too, +were turning blue. + + * Germain Pillon was a famous French sculptor (1535-1598). + His best known work is "The Three Graces," now in the + Louvre. + +Madame de Villefort had no longer any doubt; all was over--she had +consummated the last terrible work she had to accomplish. There was no +more to do in the room, so the poisoner retired stealthily, as though +fearing to hear the sound of her own footsteps; but as she withdrew she +still held aside the curtain, absorbed in the irresistible attraction +always exerted by the picture of death, so long as it is merely +mysterious and does not excite disgust. Just then the lamp again +flickered; the noise startled Madame de Villefort, who shuddered and +dropped the curtain. Immediately afterwards the light expired, and the +room was plunged in frightful obscurity, while the clock at that +minute struck half-past four. Overpowered with agitation, the poisoner +succeeded in groping her way to the door, and reached her room in an +agony of fear. + +The darkness lasted two hours longer; then by degrees a cold light crept +through the Venetian blinds, until at length it revealed the objects in +the room. About this time the nurse's cough was heard on the stairs and +the woman entered the room with a cup in her hand. To the tender eye +of a father or a lover, the first glance would have sufficed to reveal +Valentine's condition; but to this hireling, Valentine only appeared to +sleep. "Good," she exclaimed, approaching the table, "she has taken part +of her draught; the glass is three-quarters empty." + +Then she went to the fireplace and lit the fire, and although she +had just left her bed, she could not resist the temptation offered by +Valentine's sleep, so she threw herself into an arm-chair to snatch a +little more rest. The clock striking eight awoke her. Astonished at the +prolonged slumber of the patient, and frightened to see that the arm was +still hanging out of the bed, she advanced towards Valentine, and for +the first time noticed the white lips. She tried to replace the arm, but +it moved with a frightful rigidity which could not deceive a sick-nurse. +She screamed aloud; then running to the door exclaimed,--"Help, help!" + +"What is the matter?" asked M. d'Avrigny, at the foot of the stairs, it +being the hour he usually visited her. + +"What is it?" asked Villefort, rushing from his room. "Doctor, do you +hear them call for help?" + +"Yes, yes; let us hasten up; it was in Valentine's room." But before the +doctor and the father could reach the room, the servants who were on the +same floor had entered, and seeing Valentine pale and motionless on her +bed, they lifted up their hands towards heaven and stood transfixed, as +though struck by lightening. "Call Madame de Villefort!--Wake Madame +de Villefort!" cried the procureur from the door of his chamber, which +apparently he scarcely dared to leave. But instead of obeying him, the +servants stood watching M. d'Avrigny, who ran to Valentine, and raised +her in his arms. "What?--this one, too?" he exclaimed. "Oh, where will +be the end?" Villefort rushed into the room. "What are you saying, +doctor?" he exclaimed, raising his hands to heaven. + +"I say that Valentine is dead!" replied d'Avrigny, in a voice terrible +in its solemn calm. + +M. de Villefort staggered and buried his head in the bed. On the +exclamation of the doctor and the cry of the father, the servants all +fled with muttered imprecations; they were heard running down the stairs +and through the long passages, then there was a rush in the court, +afterwards all was still; they had, one and all, deserted the accursed +house. Just then, Madame de Villefort, in the act of slipping on +her dressing-gown, threw aside the drapery and for a moment stood +motionless, as though interrogating the occupants of the room, while she +endeavored to call up some rebellious tears. On a sudden she stepped, +or rather bounded, with outstretched arms, towards the table. She saw +d'Avrigny curiously examining the glass, which she felt certain of +having emptied during the night. It was now a third full, just as it +was when she threw the contents into the ashes. The spectre of Valentine +rising before the poisoner would have alarmed her less. It was, indeed, +the same color as the draught she had poured into the glass, and which +Valentine had drunk}; it was indeed the poison, which could not deceive +M. d'Avrigny, which he now examined so closely; it was doubtless a +miracle from heaven, that, notwithstanding her precautions, there should +be some trace, some proof remaining to reveal the crime. While Madame +de Villefort remained rooted to the spot like a statue of terror, and +Villefort, with his head hidden in the bedclothes, saw nothing around +him, d'Avrigny approached the window, that he might the better examine +the contents of the glass, and dipping the tip of his finger in, tasted +it. "Ah," he exclaimed, "it is no longer brucine that is used; let me +see what it is!" + +Then he ran to one of the cupboards in Valentine's room, which had been +transformed into a medicine closet, and taking from its silver case a +small bottle of nitric acid, dropped a little of it into the liquor, +which immediately changed to a blood-red color. "Ah," exclaimed +d'Avrigny, in a voice in which the horror of a judge unveiling the truth +was mingled with the delight of a student making a discovery. Madame +de Villefort was overpowered, her eyes first flashed and then swam, +she staggered towards the door and disappeared. Directly afterwards the +distant sound of a heavy weight falling on the ground was heard, but +no one paid any attention to it; the nurse was engaged in watching +the chemical analysis, and Villefort was still absorbed in grief. M. +d'Avrigny alone had followed Madame de Villefort with his eyes, and +watched her hurried retreat. He lifted up the drapery over the entrance +to Edward's room, and his eye reaching as far as Madame de Villefort's +apartment, he beheld her extended lifeless on the floor. "Go to the +assistance of Madame de Villefort," he said to the nurse. "Madame de +Villefort is ill." + +"But Mademoiselle de Villefort"--stammered the nurse. + +"Mademoiselle de Villefort no longer requires help," said d'Avrigny, +"since she is dead." + +"Dead,--dead!" groaned forth Villefort, in a paroxysm of grief, which +was the more terrible from the novelty of the sensation in the iron +heart of that man. + +"Dead!" repeated a third voice. "Who said Valentine was dead?" + +The two men turned round, and saw Morrel standing at the door, pale and +terror-stricken. This is what had happened. At the usual time, Morrel +had presented himself at the little door leading to Noirtier's room. +Contrary to custom, the door was open, and having no occasion to ring he +entered. He waited for a moment in the hall and called for a servant to +conduct him to M. Noirtier; but no one answered, the servants having, +as we know, deserted the house. Morrel had no particular reason for +uneasiness; Monte Cristo had promised him that Valentine should live, +and so far he had always fulfilled his word. Every night the count had +given him news, which was the next morning confirmed by Noirtier. Still +this extraordinary silence appeared strange to him, and he called a +second and third time; still no answer. Then he determined to go up. +Noirtier's room was opened, like all the rest. The first thing he saw +was the old man sitting in his arm-chair in his usual place, but his +eyes expressed alarm, which was confirmed by the pallor which overspread +his features. + +"How are you, sir?" asked Morrel, with a sickness of heart. + +"Well," answered the old man, by closing his eyes; but his appearance +manifested increasing uneasiness. + +"You are thoughtful, sir," continued Morrel; "you want something; shall +I call one of the servants?" + +"Yes," replied Noirtier. + +Morrel pulled the bell, but though he nearly broke the cord no one +answered. He turned towards Noirtier; the pallor and anguish expressed +on his countenance momentarily increased. + +"Oh," exclaimed Morrel, "why do they not come? Is any one ill in the +house?" The eyes of Noirtier seemed as though they would start from +their sockets. "What is the matter? You alarm me. Valentine? Valentine?" + +"Yes, yes," signed Noirtier. Maximilian tried to speak, but he could +articulate nothing; he staggered, and supported himself against the +wainscot. Then he pointed to the door. + +"Yes, yes, yes!" continued the old man. Maximilian rushed up the little +staircase, while Noirtier's eyes seemed to say,--"Quicker, quicker!" + +In a minute the young man darted through several rooms, till at length +he reached Valentine's. There was no occasion to push the door, it was +wide open. A sob was the only sound he heard. He saw as though in a +mist, a black figure kneeling and buried in a confused mass of white +drapery. A terrible fear transfixed him. It was then he heard a voice +exclaim "Valentine is dead!" and another voice which, like an echo +repeated,--"Dead,--dead!" + + + +Chapter 103. Maximilian. + +Villefort rose, half ashamed of being surprised in such a paroxysm +of grief. The terrible office he had held for twenty-five years had +succeeded in making him more or less than man. His glance, at first +wandering, fixed itself upon Morrel. "Who are you, sir," he asked, "that +forget that this is not the manner to enter a house stricken with death? +Go, sir, go!" But Morrel remained motionless; he could not detach his +eyes from that disordered bed, and the pale corpse of the young girl +who was lying on it. "Go!--do you hear?" said Villefort, while d'Avrigny +advanced to lead Morrel out. Maximilian stared for a moment at the +corpse, gazed all around the room, then upon the two men; he opened +his mouth to speak, but finding it impossible to give utterance to the +innumerable ideas that occupied his brain, he went out, thrusting his +hands through his hair in such a manner that Villefort and d'Avrigny, +for a moment diverted from the engrossing topic, exchanged glances, +which seemed to say,--"He is mad!" + +But in less than five minutes the staircase groaned beneath an +extraordinary weight. Morrel was seen carrying, with superhuman +strength, the arm-chair containing Noirtier up-stairs. When he reached +the landing he placed the arm-chair on the floor and rapidly rolled it +into Valentine's room. This could only have been accomplished by means +of unnatural strength supplied by powerful excitement. But the most +fearful spectacle was Noirtier being pushed towards the bed, his face +expressing all his meaning, and his eyes supplying the want of every +other faculty. That pale face and flaming glance appeared to Villefort +like a frightful apparition. Each time he had been brought into contact +with his father, something terrible had happened. "See what they have +done!" cried Morrel, with one hand leaning on the back of the chair, and +the other extended towards Valentine. "See, my father, see!" + +Villefort drew back and looked with astonishment on the young man, who, +almost a stranger to him, called Noirtier his father. At this moment +the whole soul of the old man seemed centred in his eyes which became +bloodshot; the veins of the throat swelled; his cheeks and temples +became purple, as though he was struck with epilepsy; nothing was +wanting to complete this but the utterance of a cry. And the cry issued +from his pores, if we may thus speak--a cry frightful in its silence. +D'Avrigny rushed towards the old man and made him inhale a powerful +restorative. + +"Sir," cried Morrel, seizing the moist hand of the paralytic, "they ask +me who I am, and what right I have to be here. Oh, you know it, tell +them, tell them!" And the young man's voice was choked by sobs. As for +the old man, his chest heaved with his panting respiration. One could +have thought that he was undergoing the agonies preceding death. At +length, happier than the young man, who sobbed without weeping, tears +glistened in the eyes of Noirtier. "Tell them," said Morrel in a hoarse +voice, "tell them that I am her betrothed. Tell them she was my beloved, +my noble girl, my only blessing in the world. Tell them--oh, tell them, +that corpse belongs to me!" + +The young man overwhelmed by the weight of his anguish, fell heavily +on his knees before the bed, which his fingers grasped with convulsive +energy. D'Avrigny, unable to bear the sight of this touching emotion, +turned away; and Villefort, without seeking any further explanation, +and attracted towards him by the irresistible magnetism which draws us +towards those who have loved the people for whom we mourn, extended his +hand towards the young man. But Morrel saw nothing; he had grasped the +hand of Valentine, and unable to weep vented his agony in groans as +he bit the sheets. For some time nothing was heard in that chamber but +sobs, exclamations, and prayers. At length Villefort, the most composed +of all, spoke: "Sir," said he to Maximilian, "you say you loved +Valentine, that you were betrothed to her. I knew nothing of this +engagement, of this love, yet I, her father, forgive you, for I see that +your grief is real and deep; and besides my own sorrow is too great for +anger to find a place in my heart. But you see that the angel whom +you hoped for has left this earth--she has nothing more to do with the +adoration of men. Take a last farewell, sir, of her sad remains; take +the hand you expected to possess once more within your own, and then +separate yourself from her forever. Valentine now requires only the +ministrations of the priest." + +"You are mistaken, sir," exclaimed Morrel, raising himself on one knee, +his heart pierced by a more acute pang than any he had yet felt--"you +are mistaken; Valentine, dying as she has, not only requires a priest, +but an avenger. You, M. de Villefort, send for the priest; I will be the +avenger." + +"What do you mean, sir?" asked Villefort, trembling at the new idea +inspired by the delirium of Morrel. + +"I tell you, sir, that two persons exist in you; the father has mourned +sufficiently, now let the procureur fulfil his office." + +The eyes of Noirtier glistened, and d'Avrigny approached. + +"Gentlemen," said Morrel, reading all that passed through the minds of +the witnesses to the scene, "I know what I am saying, and you know as +well as I do what I am about to say--Valentine has been assassinated!" +Villefort hung his head, d'Avrigny approached nearer, and Noirtier said +"Yes" with his eyes. "Now, sir," continued Morrel, "in these days no one +can disappear by violent means without some inquiries being made as to +the cause of her disappearance, even were she not a young, beautiful, +and adorable creature like Valentine. Mr. Procureur," said Morrel with +increasing vehemence, "no mercy is allowed; I denounce the crime; it +is your place to seek the assassin." The young man's implacable eyes +interrogated Villefort, who, on his side, glanced from Noirtier to +d'Avrigny. But instead of finding sympathy in the eyes of the doctor +and his father, he only saw an expression as inflexible as that of +Maximilian. "Yes," indicated the old man. + +"Assuredly," said d'Avrigny. + +"Sir," said Villefort, striving to struggle against this triple force +and his own emotion,--"sir, you are deceived; no one commits crimes +here. I am stricken by fate. It is horrible, indeed, but no one +assassinates." + +The eyes of Noirtier lighted up with rage, and d'Avrigny prepared to +speak. Morrel, however, extended his arm, and commanded silence. "And I +say that murders are committed here," said Morrel, whose voice, though +lower in tone, lost none of its terrible distinctness: "I tell you +that this is the fourth victim within the last four months. I tell +you, Valentine's life was attempted by poison four days ago, though she +escaped, owing to the precautions of M. Noirtier. I tell you that the +dose has been double, the poison changed, and that this time it has +succeeded. I tell you that you know these things as well as I do, since +this gentleman has forewarned you, both as a doctor and as a friend." + +"Oh, you rave, sir," exclaimed Villefort, in vain endeavoring to escape +the net in which he was taken. + +"I rave?" said Morrel; "well, then, I appeal to M. d'Avrigny himself. +Ask him, sir, if he recollects the words he uttered in the garden of +this house on the night of Madame de Saint-Meran's death. You thought +yourselves alone, and talked about that tragical death, and the +fatality you mentioned then is the same which has caused the murder +of Valentine." Villefort and d'Avrigny exchanged looks. "Yes, yes," +continued Morrel; "recall the scene, for the words you thought were +only given to silence and solitude fell into my ears. Certainly, after +witnessing the culpable indolence manifested by M. de Villefort towards +his own relations, I ought to have denounced him to the authorities; +then I should not have been an accomplice to thy death, as I now am, +sweet, beloved Valentine; but the accomplice shall become the avenger. +This fourth murder is apparent to all, and if thy father abandon thee, +Valentine, it is I, and I swear it, that shall pursue the assassin." +And this time, as though nature had at least taken compassion on the +vigorous frame, nearly bursting with its own strength, the words of +Morrel were stifled in his throat; his breast heaved; the tears, so long +rebellious, gushed from his eyes; and he threw himself weeping on his +knees by the side of the bed. + +Then d'Avrigny spoke. "And I, too," he exclaimed in a low voice, "I +unite with M. Morrel in demanding justice for crime; my blood boils at +the idea of having encouraged a murderer by my cowardly concession." + +"Oh, merciful heavens!" murmured Villefort. Morrel raised his head, +and reading the eyes of the old man, which gleamed with unnatural +lustre,--"Stay," he said, "M. Noirtier wishes to speak." + +"Yes," indicated Noirtier, with an expression the more terrible, from +all his faculties being centred in his glance. + +"Do you know the assassin?" asked Morrel. + +"Yes," replied Noirtier. + +"And will you direct us?" exclaimed the young man. "Listen, M. +d'Avrigny, listen!" Noirtier looked upon Morrel with one of those +melancholy smiles which had so often made Valentine happy, and thus +fixed his attention. Then, having riveted the eyes of his interlocutor +on his own, he glanced towards the door. + +"Do you wish me to leave?" said Morrel, sadly. + +"Yes," replied Noirtier. + +"Alas, alas, sir, have pity on me!" + +The old man's eyes remained fixed on the door. + +"May I, at least, return?" asked Morrel. + +"Yes." + +"Must I leave alone?" + +"No." + +"Whom am I to take with me? The procureur?" + +"No." + +"The doctor?" + +"Yes." + +"You wish to remain alone with M. de Villefort?" + +"Yes." + +"But can he understand you?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh," said Villefort, inexpressibly delighted to think that the +inquiries were to be made by him alone,--"oh, be satisfied, I can +understand my father." D'Avrigny took the young man's arm, and led +him out of the room. A more than deathlike silence then reigned in +the house. At the end of a quarter of an hour a faltering footstep +was heard, and Villefort appeared at the door of the apartment where +d'Avrigny and Morrel had been staying, one absorbed in meditation, the +other in grief. "You can come," he said, and led them back to Noirtier. +Morrel looked attentively on Villefort. His face was livid, large drops +rolled down his face, and in his fingers he held the fragments of a +quill pen which he had torn to atoms. + +"Gentlemen," he said in a hoarse voice, "give me your word of honor that +this horrible secret shall forever remain buried amongst ourselves!" The +two men drew back. + +"I entreat you."--continued Villefort. + +"But," said Morrel, "the culprit--the murderer--the assassin." + +"Do not alarm yourself, sir; justice will be done," said Villefort. "My +father has revealed the culprit's name; my father thirsts for revenge as +much as you do, yet even he conjures you as I do to keep this secret. Do +you not, father?" + +"Yes," resolutely replied Noirtier. Morrel suffered an exclamation of +horror and surprise to escape him. "Oh, sir," said Villefort, arresting +Maximilian by the arm, "if my father, the inflexible man, makes this +request, it is because he knows, be assured, that Valentine will be +terribly revenged. Is it not so, father?" The old man made a sign in the +affirmative. Villefort continued: "He knows me, and I have pledged my +word to him. Rest assured, gentlemen, that within three days, in a less +time than justice would demand, the revenge I shall have taken for the +murder of my child will be such as to make the boldest heart tremble;" +and as he spoke these words he ground his teeth, and grasped the old +man's senseless hand. + +"Will this promise be fulfilled, M. Noirtier?" asked Morrel, while +d'Avrigny looked inquiringly. + +"Yes," replied Noirtier with an expression of sinister joy. + +"Swear, then," said Villefort, joining the hands of Morrel and +d'Avrigny, "swear that you will spare the honor of my house, and leave +me to avenge my child." D'Avrigny turned round and uttered a very feeble +"Yes," but Morrel, disengaging his hand, rushed to the bed, and after +having pressed the cold lips of Valentine with his own, hurriedly left, +uttering a long, deep groan of despair and anguish. We have before +stated that all the servants had fled. M. de Villefort was therefore +obliged to request M. d'Avrigny to superintend all the arrangements +consequent upon a death in a large city, more especially a death under +such suspicious circumstances. + +It was something terrible to witness the silent agony, the mute despair +of Noirtier, whose tears silently rolled down his cheeks. Villefort +retired to his study, and d'Avrigny left to summon the doctor of the +mayoralty, whose office it is to examine bodies after decease, and who +is expressly named "the doctor of the dead." M. Noirtier could not be +persuaded to quit his grandchild. At the end of a quarter of an hour M. +d'Avrigny returned with his associate; they found the outer gate closed, +and not a servant remaining in the house; Villefort himself was obliged +to open to them. But he stopped on the landing; he had not the courage +to again visit the death chamber. The two doctors, therefore, entered +the room alone. Noirtier was near the bed, pale, motionless, and silent +as the corpse. The district doctor approached with the indifference of +a man accustomed to spend half his time amongst the dead; he then lifted +the sheet which was placed over the face, and just unclosed the lips. + +"Alas," said d'Avrigny, "she is indeed dead, poor child!" + +"Yes," answered the doctor laconically, dropping the sheet he had +raised. Noirtier uttered a kind of hoarse, rattling sound; the old man's +eyes sparkled, and the good doctor understood that he wished to behold +his child. He therefore approached the bed, and while his companion was +dipping the fingers with which he had touched the lips of the corpse in +chloride of lime, he uncovered the calm and pale face, which looked like +that of a sleeping angel. A tear, which appeared in the old man's eye, +expressed his thanks to the doctor. The doctor of the dead then laid his +permit on the corner of the table, and having fulfilled his duty, was +conducted out by d'Avrigny. Villefort met them at the door of his +study; having in a few words thanked the district doctor, he turned to +d'Avrigny, and said,--"And now the priest." + +"Is there any particular priest you wish to pray with Valentine?" asked +d'Avrigny. + +"No." said Villefort; "fetch the nearest." + +"The nearest," said the district doctor, "is a good Italian abbe, who +lives next door to you. Shall I call on him as I pass?" + +"D'Avrigny," said Villefort, "be so kind, I beseech you, as to accompany +this gentleman. Here is the key of the door, so that you can go in and +out as you please; you will bring the priest with you, and will oblige +me by introducing him into my child's room." + +"Do you wish to see him?" + +"I only wish to be alone. You will excuse me, will you not? A priest +can understand a father's grief." And M. de Villefort, giving the key to +d'Avrigny, again bade farewell to the strange doctor, and retired to his +study, where he began to work. For some temperaments work is a remedy +for all afflictions. As the doctors entered the street, they saw a man +in a cassock standing on the threshold of the next door. "This is the +abbe of whom I spoke," said the doctor to d'Avrigny. D'Avrigny accosted +the priest. "Sir," he said, "are you disposed to confer a great +obligation on an unhappy father who has just lost his daughter? I mean +M. de Villefort, the king's attorney." + +"Ah," said the priest, in a marked Italian accent; "yes, I have heard +that death is in that house." + +"Then I need not tell you what kind of service he requires of you." + +"I was about to offer myself, sir," said the priest; "it is our mission +to forestall our duties." + +"It is a young girl." + +"I know it, sir; the servants who fled from the house informed me. I +also know that her name is Valentine, and I have already prayed for +her." + +"Thank you, sir," said d'Avrigny; "since you have commenced your sacred +office, deign to continue it. Come and watch by the dead, and all the +wretched family will be grateful to you." + +"I am going, sir; and I do not hesitate to say that no prayers will be +more fervent than mine." D'Avrigny took the priest's hand, and +without meeting Villefort, who was engaged in his study, they reached +Valentine's room, which on the following night was to be occupied by +the undertakers. On entering the room, Noirtier's eyes met those of the +abbe, and no doubt he read some particular expression in them, for he +remained in the room. D'Avrigny recommended the attention of the priest +to the living as well as to the dead, and the abbe promised to devote +his prayers to Valentine and his attentions to Noirtier. In order, +doubtless, that he might not be disturbed while fulfilling his sacred +mission, the priest rose as soon as d'Avrigny departed, and not only +bolted the door through which the doctor had just left, but also that +leading to Madame de Villefort's room. + + + +Chapter 104. Danglars Signature. + +The next morning dawned dull and cloudy. During the night the +undertakers had executed their melancholy office, and wrapped the corpse +in the winding-sheet, which, whatever may be said about the equality of +death, is at least a last proof of the luxury so pleasing in life. This +winding-sheet was nothing more than a beautiful piece of cambric, which +the young girl had bought a fortnight before. During the evening two +men, engaged for the purpose, had carried Noirtier from Valentine's room +into his own, and contrary to all expectation there was no difficulty +in withdrawing him from his child. The Abbe Busoni had watched till +daylight, and then left without calling any one. D'Avrigny returned +about eight o'clock in the morning; he met Villefort on his way to +Noirtier's room, and accompanied him to see how the old man had slept. +They found him in the large arm-chair, which served him for a bed, +enjoying a calm, nay, almost a smiling sleep. They both stood in +amazement at the door. + +"See," said d'Avrigny to Villefort, "nature knows how to alleviate the +deepest sorrow. No one can say that M. Noirtier did not love his child, +and yet he sleeps." + +"Yes, you are right," replied Villefort, surprised; "he sleeps, indeed! +And this is the more strange, since the least contradiction keeps him +awake all night." + +"Grief has stunned him," replied d'Avrigny; and they both returned +thoughtfully to the procureur's study. + +"See, I have not slept," said Villefort, showing his undisturbed bed; +"grief does not stun me. I have not been in bed for two nights; but +then look at my desk; see what I have written during these two days and +nights. I have filled those papers, and have made out the accusation +against the assassin Benedetto. Oh, work, work,--my passion, my joy, my +delight,--it is for thee to alleviate my sorrows!" and he convulsively +grasped the hand of d'Avrigny. + +"Do you require my services now?" asked d'Avrigny. + +"No," said Villefort; "only return again at eleven o'clock; at twelve +the--the--oh, heavens, my poor, poor child!" and the procureur again +becoming a man, lifted up his eyes and groaned. + +"Shall you be present in the reception room?" + +"No; I have a cousin who has undertaken this sad office. I shall work, +doctor--when I work I forget everything." And, indeed, no sooner had +the doctor left the room, than he was again absorbed in study. On the +doorsteps d'Avrigny met the cousin whom Villefort had mentioned, a +personage as insignificant in our story as in the world he occupied--one +of those beings designed from their birth to make themselves useful to +others. He was punctual, dressed in black, with crape around his hat, +and presented himself at his cousin's with a face made up for the +occasion, and which he could alter as might be required. At twelve +o'clock the mourning-coaches rolled into the paved court, and the Rue du +Faubourg Saint-Honore was filled with a crowd of idlers, equally pleased +to witness the festivities or the mourning of the rich, and who rush +with the same avidity to a funeral procession as to the marriage of a +duchess. + +Gradually the reception-room filled, and some of our old friends +made their appearance--we mean Debray, Chateau-Renaud, and Beauchamp, +accompanied by all the leading men of the day at the bar, in literature, +or the army, for M. de Villefort moved in the first Parisian circles, +less owing to his social position than to his personal merit. The cousin +standing at the door ushered in the guests, and it was rather a relief +to the indifferent to see a person as unmoved as themselves, and who did +not exact a mournful face or force tears, as would have been the case +with a father, a brother, or a lover. Those who were acquainted +soon formed into little groups. One of them was made of Debray, +Chateau-Renaud, and Beauchamp. + +"Poor girl," said Debray, like the rest, paying an involuntary tribute +to the sad event,--"poor girl, so young, so rich, so beautiful! Could +you have imagined this scene, Chateau-Renaud, when we saw her, at the +most three weeks ago, about to sign that contract?" + +"Indeed, no," said Chateau-Renaud--"Did you know her?" + +"I spoke to her once or twice at Madame de Morcerf's, among the rest; +she appeared to me charming, though rather melancholy. Where is her +stepmother? Do you know?" + +"She is spending the day with the wife of the worthy gentleman who is +receiving us." + +"Who is he?" + +"Whom do you mean?" + +"The gentleman who receives us? Is he a deputy?" + +"Oh, no. I am condemned to witness those gentlemen every day," said +Beauchamp; "but he is perfectly unknown to me." + +"Have you mentioned this death in your paper?" + +"It has been mentioned, but the article is not mine; indeed, I doubt if +it will please M. Villefort, for it says that if four successive deaths +had happened anywhere else than in the house of the king's attorney, he +would have interested himself somewhat more about it." + +"Still," said Chateau-Renaud, "Dr. d'Avrigny, who attends my mother, +declares he is in despair about it. But whom are you seeking, Debray?" + +"I am seeking the Count of Monte Cristo" said the young man. + +"I met him on the boulevard, on my way here," said Beauchamp. "I think +he is about to leave Paris; he was going to his banker." + +"His banker? Danglars is his banker, is he not?" asked Chateau-Renaud of +Debray. + +"I believe so," replied the secretary with slight uneasiness. "But Monte +Cristo is not the only one I miss here; I do not see Morrel." + +"Morrel? Do they know him?" asked Chateau-Renaud. "I think he has only +been introduced to Madame de Villefort." + +"Still, he ought to have been here," said Debray; "I wonder what will +be talked about to-night; this funeral is the news of the day. But hush, +here comes our minister of justice; he will feel obliged to make some +little speech to the cousin," and the three young men drew near to +listen. Beauchamp told the truth when he said that on his way to the +funeral he had met Monte Cristo, who was directing his steps towards the +Rue de la Chausse d'Antin, to M. Danglars'. + +The banker saw the carriage of the count enter the court yard, and +advanced to meet him with a sad, though affable smile. "Well," said +he, extending his hand to Monte Cristo, "I suppose you have come to +sympathize with me, for indeed misfortune has taken possession of my +house. When I perceived you, I was just asking myself whether I had not +wished harm towards those poor Morcerfs, which would have justified the +proverb of 'He who wishes misfortunes to happen to others experiences +them himself.' Well, on my word of honor, I answered, 'No!' I wished +no ill to Morcerf; he was a little proud, perhaps, for a man who like +myself has risen from nothing; but we all have our faults. Do you know, +count, that persons of our time of life--not that you belong to the +class, you are still a young man,--but as I was saying, persons of our +time of life have been very unfortunate this year. For example, look at +the puritanical procureur, who has just lost his daughter, and in fact +nearly all his family, in so singular a manner; Morcerf dishonored +and dead; and then myself covered with ridicule through the villany of +Benedetto; besides"-- + +"Besides what?" asked the Count. + +"Alas, do you not know?" + +"What new calamity?" + +"My daughter"-- + +"Mademoiselle Danglars?" + +"Eugenie has left us!" + +"Good heavens, what are you telling me?" + +"The truth, my dear count. Oh, how happy you must be in not having +either wife or children!" + +"Do you think so?" + +"Indeed I do." + +"And so Mademoiselle Danglars"-- + +"She could not endure the insult offered to us by that wretch, so she +asked permission to travel." + +"And is she gone?" + +"The other night she left." + +"With Madame Danglars?" + +"No, with a relation. But still, we have quite lost our dear Eugenie; +for I doubt whether her pride will ever allow her to return to France." + +"Still, baron," said Monte Cristo, "family griefs, or indeed any other +affliction which would crush a man whose child was his only treasure, +are endurable to a millionaire. Philosophers may well say, and practical +men will always support the opinion, that money mitigates many trials; +and if you admit the efficacy of this sovereign balm, you ought to +be very easily consoled--you, the king of finance, the focus of +immeasurable power." + +Danglars looked at him askance, as though to ascertain whether he spoke +seriously. "Yes," he answered, "if a fortune brings consolation, I ought +to be consoled; I am rich." + +"So rich, dear sir, that your fortune resembles the pyramids; if you +wished to demolish them you could not, and if it were possible, you +would not dare!" Danglars smiled at the good-natured pleasantry of the +count. "That reminds me," he said, "that when you entered I was on the +point of signing five little bonds; I have already signed two: will you +allow me to do the same to the others?" + +"Pray do so." + +There was a moment's silence, during which the noise of the banker's pen +was alone heard, while Monte Cristo examined the gilt mouldings on the +ceiling. "Are they Spanish, Haitian, or Neapolitan bonds?" said Monte +Cristo. "No," said Danglars, smiling, "they are bonds on the bank of +France, payable to bearer. Stay, count," he added, "you, who may be +called the emperor, if I claim the title of king of finance, have you +many pieces of paper of this size, each worth a million?" The count took +into his hands the papers, which Danglars had so proudly presented to +him, and read:-- + +"To the Governor of the Bank. Please pay to my order, from the fund +deposited by me, the sum of a million, and charge the same to my +account. + +"Baron Danglars." + +"One, two, three, four, five," said Monte Cristo; "five millions--why +what a Croesus you are!" + +"This is how I transact business," said Danglars. + +"It is really wonderful," said the count; "above all, if, as I suppose, +it is payable at sight." + +"It is, indeed, said Danglars. + +"It is a fine thing to have such credit; really, it is only in France +these things are done. Five millions on five little scraps of paper!--it +must be seen to be believed." + +"You do not doubt it?" + +"No!" + +"You say so with an accent--stay, you shall be convinced; take my clerk +to the bank, and you will see him leave it with an order on the Treasury +for the same sum." + +"No," said Monte Cristo folding the five notes, "most decidedly not; the +thing is so curious, I will make the experiment myself. I am credited +on you for six millions. I have drawn nine hundred thousand francs, you +therefore still owe me five millions and a hundred thousand francs. I +will take the five scraps of paper that I now hold as bonds, with your +signature alone, and here is a receipt in full for the six millions +between us. I had prepared it beforehand, for I am much in want of money +to-day." And Monte Cristo placed the bonds in his pocket with one +hand, while with the other he held out the receipt to Danglars. If +a thunderbolt had fallen at the banker's feet, he could not have +experienced greater terror. + +"What," he stammered, "do you mean to keep that money? Excuse me, +excuse me, but I owe this money to the charity fund,--a deposit which I +promised to pay this morning." + +"Oh, well, then," said Monte Cristo, "I am not particular about these +five notes, pay me in a different form; I wished, from curiosity, to +take these, that I might be able to say that without any advice or +preparation the house of Danglars had paid me five millions without a +minute's delay; it would have been remarkable. But here are your bonds; +pay me differently;" and he held the bonds towards Danglars, who seized +them like a vulture extending its claws to withhold the food that is +being wrested from its grasp. Suddenly he rallied, made a violent effort +to restrain himself, and then a smile gradually widened the features of +his disturbed countenance. + +"Certainly," he said, "your receipt is money." + +"Oh dear, yes; and if you were at Rome, the house of Thomson & French +would make no more difficulty about paying the money on my receipt than +you have just done." + +"Pardon me, count, pardon me." + +"Then I may keep this money?" + +"Yes," said Danglars, while the perspiration started from the roots of +his hair. "Yes, keep it--keep it." + +Monte Cristo replaced the notes in his pocket with that indescribable +expression which seemed to say, "Come, reflect; if you repent there is +still time." + +"No," said Danglars, "no, decidedly no; keep my signatures. But you know +none are so formal as bankers in transacting business; I intended this +money for the charity fund, and I seemed to be robbing them if I did not +pay them with these precise bonds. How absurd--as if one crown were +not as good as another. Excuse me;" and he began to laugh loudly, but +nervously. + +"Certainly, I excuse you," said Monte Cristo graciously, "and pocket +them." And he placed the bonds in his pocket-book. + +"But," said Danglars, "there is still a sum of one hundred thousand +francs?" + +"Oh, a mere nothing," said Monte Cristo. "The balance would come to +about that sum; but keep it, and we shall be quits." + +"Count," said Danglars, "are you speaking seriously?" + +"I never joke with bankers," said Monte Cristo in a freezing manner, +which repelled impertinence; and he turned to the door, just as the +valet de chambre announced,--"M. de Boville, receiver-general of the +charities." + +"Ma foi," said Monte Cristo; "I think I arrived just in time to obtain +your signatures, or they would have been disputed with me." + +Danglars again became pale, and hastened to conduct the count out. Monte +Cristo exchanged a ceremonious bow with M. de Boville, who was standing +in the waiting-room, and who was introduced into Danglars' room as soon +as the count had left. The count's sad face was illumined by a faint +smile, as he noticed the portfolio which the receiver-general held in +his hand. At the door he found his carriage, and was immediately driven +to the bank. Meanwhile Danglars, repressing all emotion, advanced to +meet the receiver-general. We need not say that a smile of condescension +was stamped upon his lips. "Good-morning, creditor," said he; "for I +wager anything it is the creditor who visits me." + +"You are right, baron," answered M. de Boville; "the charities present +themselves to you through me: the widows and orphans depute me to +receive alms to the amount of five millions from you." + +"And yet they say orphans are to be pitied," said Danglars, wishing to +prolong the jest. "Poor things!" + +"Here I am in their name," said M. de Boville; "but did you receive my +letter yesterday?" + +"Yes." + +"I have brought my receipt." + +"My dear M. de Boville, your widows and orphans must oblige me by +waiting twenty-four hours, since M. de Monte Cristo whom you just saw +leaving here--you did see him, I think?" + +"Yes; well?" + +"Well, M. de Monte Cristo has just carried off their five millions." + +"How so?" + +"The count has an unlimited credit upon me; a credit opened by Thomson +& French, of Rome; he came to demand five millions at once, which I paid +him with checks on the bank. My funds are deposited there, and you +can understand that if I draw out ten millions on the same day it will +appear rather strange to the governor. Two days will be a different +thing," said Danglars, smiling. + +"Come," said Boville, with a tone of entire incredulity, "five millions +to that gentleman who just left, and who bowed to me as though he knew +me?" + +"Perhaps he knows you, though you do not know him; M. de Monte Cristo +knows everybody." + +"Five millions!" + +"Here is his receipt. Believe your own eyes." M. de Boville took the +paper Danglars presented him, and read:-- + +"Received of Baron Danglars the sum of five million one hundred thousand +francs, to be repaid on demand by the house of Thomson & French of +Rome." + +"It is really true," said M. de Boville. + +"Do you know the house of Thomson & French?" + +"Yes, I once had business to transact with it to the amount of 200,000 +francs; but since then I have not heard it mentioned." + +"It is one of the best houses in Europe," said Danglars, carelessly +throwing down the receipt on his desk. + +"And he had five millions in your hands alone! Why, this Count of Monte +Cristo must be a nabob?" + +"Indeed I do not know what he is; he has three unlimited credits--one +on me, one on Rothschild, one on Lafitte; and, you see," he added +carelessly, "he has given me the preference, by leaving a balance +of 100,000 francs." M. de Boville manifested signs of extraordinary +admiration. "I must visit him," he said, "and obtain some pious grant +from him." + +"Oh, you may make sure of him; his charities alone amount to 20,000 +francs a month." + +"It is magnificent! I will set before him the example of Madame de +Morcerf and her son." + +"What example?" + +"They gave all their fortune to the hospitals." + +"What fortune?" + +"Their own--M. de Morcerf's, who is deceased." + +"For what reason?" + +"Because they would not spend money so guiltily acquired." + +"And what are they to live upon?" + +"The mother retires into the country, and the son enters the army." + +"Well, I must confess, these are scruples." + +"I registered their deed of gift yesterday." + +"And how much did they possess?" + +"Oh, not much--from twelve to thirteen hundred thousand francs. But to +return to our millions." + +"Certainly," said Danglars, in the most natural tone in the world. "Are +you then pressed for this money?" + +"Yes; for the examination of our cash takes place to-morrow." + +"To-morrow? Why did you not tell me so before? Why, it is as good as a +century! At what hour does the examination take place?" + +"At two o'clock." + +"Send at twelve," said Danglars, smiling. M. de Boville said nothing, +but nodded his head, and took up the portfolio. "Now I think of it, you +can do better," said Danglars. + +"How do you mean?" + +"The receipt of M. de Monte Cristo is as good as money; take it to +Rothschild's or Lafitte's, and they will take it off your hands at +once." + +"What, though payable at Rome?" + +"Certainly; it will only cost you a discount of 5,000 or 6,000 francs." +The receiver started back. "Ma foi," he said, "I prefer waiting till +to-morrow. What a proposition!" + +"I thought, perhaps," said Danglars with supreme impertinence, "that you +had a deficiency to make up?" + +"Indeed," said the receiver. + +"And if that were the case it would be worth while to make some +sacrifice." + +"Thank you, no, sir." + +"Then it will be to-morrow." + +"Yes; but without fail." + +"Ah, you are laughing at me; send to-morrow at twelve, and the bank +shall be notified." + +"I will come myself." + +"Better still, since it will afford me the pleasure of seeing you." They +shook hands. "By the way," said M. de Boville, "are you not going to the +funeral of poor Mademoiselle de Villefort, which I met on my road here?" + +"No," said the banker; "I have appeared rather ridiculous since that +affair of Benedetto, so I remain in the background." + +"Bah, you are wrong. How were you to blame in that affair?" + +"Listen--when one bears an irreproachable name, as I do, one is rather +sensitive." + +"Everybody pities you, sir; and, above all, Mademoiselle Danglars!" + +"Poor Eugenie!" said Danglars; "do you know she is going to embrace a +religious life?" + +"No." + +"Alas, it is unhappily but too true. The day after the event, she +decided on leaving Paris with a nun of her acquaintance; they are gone +to seek a very strict convent in Italy or Spain." + +"Oh, it is terrible!" and M. de Boville retired with this exclamation, +after expressing acute sympathy with the father. But he had scarcely +left before Danglars, with an energy of action those can alone +understand who have seen Robert Macaire represented by Frederic, [*] +exclaimed,--"Fool!" Then enclosing Monte Cristo's receipt in a little +pocket-book, he added:--"Yes, come at twelve o'clock; I shall then be +far away." Then he double-locked his door, emptied all his drawers, +collected about fifty thousand francs in bank-notes, burned several +papers, left others exposed to view, and then commenced writing a letter +which he addressed: + +"To Madame la Baronne Danglars." + + * Frederic Lemaitre--French actor (1800-1876). Robert + Macaire is the hero of two favorite melodramas--"Chien de + Montargis" and "Chien d'Aubry"--and the name is applied to + bold criminals as a term of derision. + +"I will place it on her table myself to-night," he murmured. Then taking +a passport from his drawer he said,--"Good, it is available for two +months longer." + + + +Chapter 105. The Cemetery of Pere-la-Chaise. + +M. de Boville had indeed met the funeral procession which was taking +Valentine to her last home on earth. The weather was dull and stormy, a +cold wind shook the few remaining yellow leaves from the boughs of the +trees, and scattered them among the crowd which filled the boulevards. +M. de Villefort, a true Parisian, considered the cemetery of +Pere-la-Chaise alone worthy of receiving the mortal remains of a +Parisian family; there alone the corpses belonging to him would be +surrounded by worthy associates. He had therefore purchased a vault, +which was quickly occupied by members of his family. On the front of the +monument was inscribed: "The families of Saint-Meran and Villefort," for +such had been the last wish expressed by poor Renee, Valentine's mother. +The pompous procession therefore wended its way towards Pere-la-Chaise +from the Faubourg Saint-Honore. Having crossed Paris, it passed through +the Faubourg du Temple, then leaving the exterior boulevards, it reached +the cemetery. More than fifty private carriages followed the twenty +mourning-coaches, and behind them more than five hundred persons joined +in the procession on foot. + +These last consisted of all the young people whom Valentine's death had +struck like a thunderbolt, and who, notwithstanding the raw chilliness +of the season, could not refrain from paying a last tribute to the +memory of the beautiful, chaste, and adorable girl, thus cut off in the +flower of her youth. As they left Paris, an equipage with four horses, +at full speed, was seen to draw up suddenly; it contained Monte Cristo. +The count left the carriage and mingled in the crowd who followed on +foot. Chateau-Renaud perceived him and immediately alighting from his +coupe, joined him. + +The count looked attentively through every opening in the crowd; he was +evidently watching for some one, but his search ended in disappointment. +"Where is Morrel?" he asked; "do either of these gentlemen know where he +is?" + +"We have already asked that question," said Chateau-Renaud, "for none +of us has seen him." The count was silent, but continued to gaze around +him. At length they arrived at the cemetery. The piercing eye of Monte +Cristo glanced through clusters of bushes and trees, and was soon +relieved from all anxiety, for seeing a shadow glide between the +yew-trees, Monte Cristo recognized him whom he sought. One funeral is +generally very much like another in this magnificent metropolis. Black +figures are seen scattered over the long white avenues; the silence +of earth and heaven is alone broken by the noise made by the crackling +branches of hedges planted around the monuments; then follows the +melancholy chant of the priests, mingled now and then with a sob of +anguish, escaping from some woman concealed behind a mass of flowers. + +The shadow Monte Cristo had noticed passed rapidly behind the tomb of +Abelard and Heloise, placed itself close to the heads of the horses +belonging to the hearse, and following the undertaker's men, arrived +with them at the spot appointed for the burial. Each person's attention +was occupied. Monte Cristo saw nothing but the shadow, which no one else +observed. Twice the count left the ranks to see whether the object of +his interest had any concealed weapon beneath his clothes. When the +procession stopped, this shadow was recognized as Morrel, who, with +his coat buttoned up to his throat, his face livid, and convulsively +crushing his hat between his fingers, leaned against a tree, situated +on an elevation commanding the mausoleum, so that none of the funeral +details could escape his observation. Everything was conducted in +the usual manner. A few men, the least impressed of all by the scene, +pronounced a discourse, some deploring this premature death, others +expatiating on the grief of the father, and one very ingenious person +quoting the fact that Valentine had solicited pardon of her father for +criminals on whom the arm of justice was ready to fall--until at length +they exhausted their stores of metaphor and mournful speeches. + +Monte Cristo heard and saw nothing, or rather he only saw Morrel, whose +calmness had a frightful effect on those who knew what was passing in +his heart. "See," said Beauchamp, pointing out Morrel to Debray. "What +is he doing up there?" And they called Chateau-Renaud's attention to +him. + +"How pale he is!" said Chateau-Renaud, shuddering. + +"He is cold," said Debray. + +"Not at all," said Chateau-Renaud, slowly; "I think he is violently +agitated. He is very susceptible." + +"Bah," said Debray; "he scarcely knew Mademoiselle de Villefort; you +said so yourself." + +"True. Still I remember he danced three times with her at Madame de +Morcerf's. Do you recollect that ball, count, where you produced such an +effect?" + +"No, I do not," replied Monte Cristo, without even knowing of what or +to whom he was speaking, so much was he occupied in watching Morrel, who +was holding his breath with emotion. "The discourse is over; farewell, +gentlemen," said the count. And he disappeared without anyone seeing +whither he went. The funeral being over, the guests returned to Paris. +Chateau-Renaud looked for a moment for Morrel; but while they were +watching the departure of the count, Morrel had quitted his post, and +Chateau-Renaud, failing in his search, joined Debray and Beauchamp. + +Monte Cristo concealed himself behind a large tomb and awaited the +arrival of Morrel, who by degrees approached the tomb now abandoned +by spectators and workmen. Morrel threw a glance around, but before it +reached the spot occupied by Monte Cristo the latter had advanced yet +nearer, still unperceived. The young man knelt down. The count, with +outstretched neck and glaring eyes, stood in an attitude ready to +pounce upon Morrel upon the first occasion. Morrel bent his head till +it touched the stone, then clutching the grating with both hands, +he murmured,--"Oh, Valentine!" The count's heart was pierced by the +utterance of these two words; he stepped forward, and touching the young +man's shoulder, said,--"I was looking for you, my friend." Monte Cristo +expected a burst of passion, but he was deceived, for Morrel turning +round, said calmly,-- + +"You see I was praying." The scrutinizing glance of the count searched +the young man from head to foot. He then seemed more easy. + +"Shall I drive you back to Paris?" he asked. + +"No, thank you." + +"Do you wish anything?" + +"Leave me to pray." The count withdrew without opposition, but it was +only to place himself in a situation where he could watch every movement +of Morrel, who at length arose, brushed the dust from his knees, and +turned towards Paris, without once looking back. He walked slowly down +the Rue de la Roquette. The count, dismissing his carriage, followed him +about a hundred paces behind. Maximilian crossed the canal and entered +the Rue Meslay by the boulevards. Five minutes after the door had been +closed on Morrel's entrance, it was again opened for the count. Julie +was at the entrance of the garden, where she was attentively watching +Penelon, who, entering with zeal into his profession of gardener, was +very busy grafting some Bengal roses. "Ah, count," she exclaimed, with +the delight manifested by every member of the family whenever he visited +the Rue Meslay. + +"Maximilian has just returned, has he not, madame?" asked the count. + +"Yes, I think I saw him pass; but pray, call Emmanuel." + +"Excuse me, madame, but I must go up to Maximilian's room this instant," +replied Monte Cristo, "I have something of the greatest importance to +tell him." + +"Go, then," she said with a charming smile, which accompanied him until +he had disappeared. Monte Cristo soon ran up the staircase conducting +from the ground-floor to Maximilian's room; when he reached the landing +he listened attentively, but all was still. Like many old houses +occupied by a single family, the room door was panelled with glass; but +it was locked, Maximilian was shut in, and it was impossible to see +what was passing in the room, because a red curtain was drawn before the +glass. The count's anxiety was manifested by a bright color which seldom +appeared on the face of that imperturbable man. + +"What shall I do!" he uttered, and reflected for a moment; "shall I +ring? No, the sound of a bell, announcing a visitor, will but accelerate +the resolution of one in Maximilian's situation, and then the bell would +be followed by a louder noise." Monte Cristo trembled from head to +foot and as if his determination had been taken with the rapidity of +lightning, he struck one of the panes of glass with his elbow; the glass +was shivered to atoms, then withdrawing the curtain he saw Morrel, who +had been writing at his desk, bound from his seat at the noise of the +broken window. + +"I beg a thousand pardons," said the count, "there is nothing the +matter, but I slipped down and broke one of your panes of glass with +my elbow. Since it is opened, I will take advantage of it to enter your +room; do not disturb yourself--do not disturb yourself!" And passing +his hand through the broken glass, the count opened the door. Morrel, +evidently discomposed, came to meet Monte Cristo less with the intention +of receiving him than to exclude his entry. "Ma foi," said Monte Cristo, +rubbing his elbow, "it's all your servant's fault; your stairs are so +polished, it is like walking on glass." + +"Are you hurt, sir?" coldly asked Morrel. + +"I believe not. But what are you about there? You were writing." + +"I?" + +"Your fingers are stained with ink." + +"Ah, true, I was writing. I do sometimes, soldier though I am." + +Monte Cristo advanced into the room; Maximilian was obliged to let him +pass, but he followed him. "You were writing?" said Monte Cristo with a +searching look. + +"I have already had the honor of telling you I was," said Morrel. + +The count looked around him. "Your pistols are beside your desk," said +Monte Cristo, pointing with his finger to the pistols on the table. + +"I am on the point of starting on a journey," replied Morrel +disdainfully. + +"My friend," exclaimed Monte Cristo in a tone of exquisite sweetness. + +"Sir?" + +"My friend, my dear Maximilian, do not make a hasty resolution, I +entreat you." + +"I make a hasty resolution?" said Morrel, shrugging his shoulders; "is +there anything extraordinary in a journey?" + +"Maximilian," said the count, "let us both lay aside the mask we have +assumed. You no more deceive me with that false calmness than I impose +upon you with my frivolous solicitude. You can understand, can you not, +that to have acted as I have done, to have broken that glass, to have +intruded on the solitude of a friend--you can understand that, to have +done all this, I must have been actuated by real uneasiness, or rather +by a terrible conviction. Morrel, you are going to destroy yourself!" + +"Indeed, count," said Morrel, shuddering; "what has put this into your +head?" + +"I tell you that you are about to destroy yourself," continued the +count, "and here is proof of what I say;" and, approaching the desk, he +removed the sheet of paper which Morrel had placed over the letter he +had begun, and took the latter in his hands. + +Morrel rushed forward to tear it from him, but Monte Cristo perceiving +his intention, seized his wrist with his iron grasp. "You wish to +destroy yourself," said the count; "you have written it." + +"Well," said Morrel, changing his expression of calmness for one of +violence--"well, and if I do intend to turn this pistol against myself, +who shall prevent me--who will dare prevent me? All my hopes are +blighted, my heart is broken, my life a burden, everything around me is +sad and mournful; earth has become distasteful to me, and human voices +distract me. It is a mercy to let me die, for if I live I shall lose +my reason and become mad. When, sir, I tell you all this with tears of +heartfelt anguish, can you reply that I am wrong, can you prevent my +putting an end to my miserable existence? Tell me, sir, could you have +the courage to do so?" + +"Yes, Morrel," said Monte Cristo, with a calmness which contrasted +strangely with the young man's excitement; "yes, I would do so." + +"You?" exclaimed Morrel, with increasing anger and reproach--"you, who +have deceived me with false hopes, who have cheered and soothed me with +vain promises, when I might, if not have saved her, at least have seen +her die in my arms! You, who pretend to understand everything, even the +hidden sources of knowledge,--and who enact the part of a guardian angel +upon earth, and could not even find an antidote to a poison administered +to a young girl! Ah, sir, indeed you would inspire me with pity, were +you not hateful in my eyes." + +"Morrel"-- + +"Yes; you tell me to lay aside the mask, and I will do so, be satisfied! +When you spoke to me at the cemetery, I answered you--my heart was +softened; when you arrived here, I allowed you to enter. But since +you abuse my confidence, since you have devised a new torture after +I thought I had exhausted them all, then, Count of Monte Cristo my +pretended benefactor--then, Count of Monte Cristo, the universal +guardian, be satisfied, you shall witness the death of your friend;" and +Morrel, with a maniacal laugh, again rushed towards the pistols. + +"And I again repeat, you shall not commit suicide." + +"Prevent me, then!" replied Morrel, with another struggle, which, like +the first, failed in releasing him from the count's iron grasp. + +"I will prevent you." + +"And who are you, then, that arrogate to yourself this tyrannical right +over free and rational beings?" + +"Who am I?" repeated Monte Cristo. "Listen; I am the only man in the +world having the right to say to you, 'Morrel, your father's son shall +not die to-day;'" and Monte Cristo, with an expression of majesty +and sublimity, advanced with arms folded toward the young man, who, +involuntarily overcome by the commanding manner of this man, recoiled a +step. + +"Why do you mention my father?" stammered he; "why do you mingle a +recollection of him with the affairs of today?" + +"Because I am he who saved your father's life when he wished to destroy +himself, as you do to-day--because I am the man who sent the purse +to your young sister, and the Pharaon to old Morrel--because I am the +Edmond Dantes who nursed you, a child, on my knees." Morrel made another +step back, staggering, breathless, crushed; then all his strength +give way, and he fell prostrate at the feet of Monte Cristo. Then his +admirable nature underwent a complete and sudden revulsion; he arose, +rushed out of the room and to the stairs, exclaiming energetically, +"Julie, Julie--Emmanuel, Emmanuel!" + +Monte Cristo endeavored also to leave, but Maximilian would have died +rather than relax his hold of the handle of the door, which he closed +upon the count. Julie, Emmanuel, and some of the servants, ran up in +alarm on hearing the cries of Maximilian. Morrel seized their hands, +and opening the door exclaimed in a voice choked with sobs, "On your +knees--on your knees--he is our benefactor--the saviour of our father! +He is"-- + +He would have added "Edmond Dantes," but the count seized his arm and +prevented him. Julie threw herself into the arms of the count; Emmanuel +embraced him as a guardian angel; Morrel again fell on his knees, and +struck the ground with his forehead. Then the iron-hearted man felt his +heart swell in his breast; a flame seemed to rush from his throat to his +eyes, he bent his head and wept. For a while nothing was heard in the +room but a succession of sobs, while the incense from their grateful +hearts mounted to heaven. Julie had scarcely recovered from her deep +emotion when she rushed out of the room, descended to the next floor, +ran into the drawing-room with childlike joy and raised the crystal +globe which covered the purse given by the unknown of the Allees de +Meillan. Meanwhile, Emmanuel in a broken voice said to the count, +"Oh, count, how could you, hearing us so often speak of our unknown +benefactor, seeing us pay such homage of gratitude and adoration to his +memory,--how could you continue so long without discovering yourself to +us? Oh, it was cruel to us, and--dare I say it?--to you also." + +"Listen, my friends," said the count--"I may call you so since we have +really been friends for the last eleven years--the discovery of this +secret has been occasioned by a great event which you must never know. +I wished to bury it during my whole life in my own bosom, but your brother +Maximilian wrested it from me by a violence he repents of now, I am +sure." Then turning around, and seeing that Morrel, still on his knees, +had thrown himself into an arm-chair, he added in a low voice, pressing +Emmanuel's hand significantly, "Watch over him." + +"Why so?" asked the young man, surprised. + +"I cannot explain myself; but watch over him." Emmanuel looked around +the room and caught sight of the pistols; his eyes rested on the +weapons, and he pointed to them. Monte Cristo bent his head. Emmanuel +went towards the pistols. "Leave them," said Monte Cristo. Then walking +towards Morrel, he took his hand; the tumultuous agitation of the young +man was succeeded by a profound stupor. Julie returned, holding the +silken purse in her hands, while tears of joy rolled down her cheeks, +like dewdrops on the rose. + +"Here is the relic," she said; "do not think it will be less dear to us +now we are acquainted with our benefactor!" + +"My child," said Monte Cristo, coloring, "allow me to take back that +purse? Since you now know my face, I wish to be remembered alone through +the affection I hope you will grant me. + +"Oh," said Julie, pressing the purse to her heart, "no, no, I beseech +you do not take it, for some unhappy day you will leave us, will you +not?" + +"You have guessed rightly, madame," replied Monte Cristo, smiling; "in a +week I shall have left this country, where so many persons who merit the +vengeance of heaven lived happily, while my father perished of hunger +and grief." While announcing his departure, the count fixed his eyes on +Morrel, and remarked that the words, "I shall have left this country," +had failed to rouse him from his lethargy. He then saw that he must make +another struggle against the grief of his friend, and taking the hands +of Emmanuel and Julie, which he pressed within his own, he said with +the mild authority of a father, "My kind friends, leave me alone with +Maximilian." Julie saw the means offered of carrying off her precious +relic, which Monte Cristo had forgotten. She drew her husband to the +door. "Let us leave them," she said. The count was alone with Morrel, +who remained motionless as a statue. + +"Come," said Monte-Cristo, touching his shoulder with his finger, "are +you a man again, Maximilian?" + +"Yes; for I begin to suffer again." + +The count frowned, apparently in gloomy hesitation. + +"Maximilian, Maximilian," he said, "the ideas you yield to are unworthy +of a Christian." + +"Oh, do not fear, my friend," said Morrel, raising his head, and smiling +with a sweet expression on the count; "I shall no longer attempt my +life." + +"Then we are to have no more pistols--no more despair?" + +"No; I have found a better remedy for my grief than either a bullet or a +knife." + +"Poor fellow, what is it?" + +"My grief will kill me of itself." + +"My friend," said Monte Cristo, with an expression of melancholy equal +to his own, "listen to me. One day, in a moment of despair like yours, +since it led to a similar resolution, I also wished to kill myself; one +day your father, equally desperate, wished to kill himself too. If any +one had said to your father, at the moment he raised the pistol to his +head--if any one had told me, when in my prison I pushed back the food I +had not tasted for three days--if anyone had said to either of us +then, 'Live--the day will come when you will be happy, and will bless +life!'--no matter whose voice had spoken, we should have heard him with +the smile of doubt, or the anguish of incredulity,--and yet how many +times has your father blessed life while embracing you--how often have I +myself"-- + +"Ah," exclaimed Morrel, interrupting the count, "you had only lost +your liberty, my father had only lost his fortune, but I have lost +Valentine." + +"Look at me," said Monte Cristo, with that expression which sometimes +made him so eloquent and persuasive--"look at me. There are no tears +in my eyes, nor is there fever in my veins, yet I see you suffer--you, +Maximilian, whom I love as my own son. Well, does not this tell you +that in grief, as in life, there is always something to look forward to +beyond? Now, if I entreat, if I order you to live, Morrel, it is in +the conviction that one day you will thank me for having preserved your +life." + +"Oh, heavens," said the young man, "oh, heavens--what are you saying, +count? Take care. But perhaps you have never loved!" + +"Child!" replied the count. + +"I mean, as I love. You see, I have been a soldier ever since I attained +manhood. I reached the age of twenty-nine without loving, for none of +the feelings I before then experienced merit the appellation of love. +Well, at twenty-nine I saw Valentine; for two years I have loved her, +for two years I have seen written in her heart, as in a book, all the +virtues of a daughter and wife. Count, to possess Valentine would have +been a happiness too infinite, too ecstatic, too complete, too divine +for this world, since it has been denied me; but without Valentine the +earth is desolate." + +"I have told you to hope," said the count. + +"Then have a care, I repeat, for you seek to persuade me, and if you +succeed I should lose my reason, for I should hope that I could again +behold Valentine." The count smiled. "My friend, my father," said Morrel +with excitement, "have a care, I again repeat, for the power you wield +over me alarms me. Weigh your words before you speak, for my eyes have +already become brighter, and my heart beats strongly; be cautious, or +you will make me believe in supernatural agencies. I must obey you, +though you bade me call forth the dead or walk upon the water." + +"Hope, my friend," repeated the count. + +"Ah," said Morrel, falling from the height of excitement to the abyss +of despair--"ah, you are playing with me, like those good, or rather +selfish mothers who soothe their children with honeyed words, because +their screams annoy them. No, my friend, I was wrong to caution you; do +not fear, I will bury my grief so deep in my heart, I will disguise +it so, that you shall not even care to sympathize with me. Adieu, my +friend, adieu!" + +"On the contrary," said the count, "after this time you must live with +me--you must not leave me, and in a week we shall have left France +behind us." + +"And you still bid me hope?" + +"I tell you to hope, because I have a method of curing you." + +"Count, you render me sadder than before, if it be possible. You think +the result of this blow has been to produce an ordinary grief, and +you would cure it by an ordinary remedy--change of scene." And Morrel +dropped his head with disdainful incredulity. "What can I say more?" +asked Monte Cristo. "I have confidence in the remedy I propose, and only +ask you to permit me to assure you of its efficacy." + +"Count, you prolong my agony." + +"Then," said the count, "your feeble spirit will not even grant me the +trial I request? Come--do you know of what the Count of Monte Cristo is +capable? do you know that he holds terrestrial beings under his control? +nay, that he can almost work a miracle? Well, wait for the miracle I +hope to accomplish, or"-- + +"Or?" repeated Morrel. + +"Or, take care, Morrel, lest I call you ungrateful." + +"Have pity on me, count!" + +"I feel so much pity towards you, Maximilian, that--listen to me +attentively--if I do not cure you in a month, to the day, to the very +hour, mark my words, Morrel, I will place loaded pistols before you, +and a cup of the deadliest Italian poison--a poison more sure and prompt +than that which has killed Valentine." + +"Will you promise me?" + +"Yes; for I am a man, and have suffered like yourself, and also +contemplated suicide; indeed, often since misfortune has left me I have +longed for the delights of an eternal sleep." + +"But you are sure you will promise me this?" said Morrel, intoxicated. +"I not only promise, but swear it!" said Monte Cristo extending his +hand. + +"In a month, then, on your honor, if I am not consoled, you will let +me take my life into my own hands, and whatever may happen you will not +call me ungrateful?" + +"In a month, to the day, the very hour and the date are sacred, +Maximilian. I do not know whether you remember that this is the 5th of +September; it is ten years to-day since I saved your father's life, who +wished to die." Morrel seized the count's hand and kissed it; the count +allowed him to pay the homage he felt due to him. "In a month you will +find on the table, at which we shall be then sitting, good pistols and +a delicious draught; but, on the other hand, you must promise me not to +attempt your life before that time." + +"Oh, I also swear it!" Monte Cristo drew the young man towards him, +and pressed him for some time to his heart. "And now," he said, +"after to-day, you will come and live with me; you can occupy Haidee's +apartment, and my daughter will at least be replaced by my son." + +"Haidee?" said Morrel, "what has become of her?" + +"She departed last night." + +"To leave you?" + +"To wait for me. Hold yourself ready then to join me at the Champs +Elysees, and lead me out of this house without any one seeing my +departure." Maximilian hung his head, and obeyed with childlike +reverence. + + + +Chapter 106. Dividing the Proceeds. + +The apartment on the second floor of the house in the Rue +Saint-Germain-des-Pres, where Albert de Morcerf had selected a home for +his mother, was let to a very mysterious person. This was a man whose +face the concierge himself had never seen, for in the winter his chin +was buried in one of the large red handkerchiefs worn by gentlemen's +coachmen on a cold night, and in the summer he made a point of always +blowing his nose just as he approached the door. Contrary to custom, +this gentleman had not been watched, for as the report ran that he was +a person of high rank, and one who would allow no impertinent +interference, his incognito was strictly respected. + +His visits were tolerably regular, though occasionally he appeared +a little before or after his time, but generally, both in summer and +winter, he took possession of his apartment about four o'clock, though +he never spent the night there. At half-past three in the winter the +fire was lighted by the discreet servant, who had the superintendence of +the little apartment, and in the summer ices were placed on the table +at the same hour. At four o'clock, as we have already stated, the +mysterious personage arrived. Twenty minutes afterwards a carriage +stopped at the house, a lady alighted in a black or dark blue dress, and +always thickly veiled; she passed like a shadow through the lodge, and +ran up-stairs without a sound escaping under the touch of her light +foot. No one ever asked her where she was going. Her face, therefore, +like that of the gentleman, was perfectly unknown to the two concierges, +who were perhaps unequalled throughout the capital for discretion. +We need not say she stopped at the second floor. Then she tapped in a +peculiar manner at a door, which after being opened to admit her was +again fastened, and curiosity penetrated no farther. They used the same +precautions in leaving as in entering the house. The lady always left +first, and as soon as she had stepped into her carriage, it drove away, +sometimes towards the right hand, sometimes to the left; then about +twenty minutes afterwards the gentleman would also leave, buried in his +cravat or concealed by his handkerchief. + +The day after Monte Cristo had called upon Danglars, the mysterious +lodger entered at ten o'clock in the morning instead of four in the +afternoon. Almost directly afterwards, without the usual interval of +time, a cab arrived, and the veiled lady ran hastily up-stairs. The +door opened, but before it could be closed, the lady exclaimed: "Oh, +Lucien--oh, my friend!" The concierge therefore heard for the first time +that the lodger's name was Lucien; still, as he was the very perfection +of a door-keeper, he made up his mind not to tell his wife. "Well, +what is the matter, my dear?" asked the gentleman whose name the lady's +agitation revealed; "tell me what is the matter." + +"Oh, Lucien, can I confide in you?" + +"Of course, you know you can do so. But what can be the matter? +Your note of this morning has completely bewildered me. This +precipitation--this unusual appointment. Come, ease me of my anxiety, or +else frighten me at once." + +"Lucien, a great event has happened!" said the lady, glancing +inquiringly at Lucien,--"M. Danglars left last night!" + +"Left?--M. Danglars left? Where has he gone?" + +"I do not know." + +"What do you mean? Has he gone intending not to return?" + +"Undoubtedly;--at ten o'clock at night his horses took him to the +barrier of Charenton; there a post-chaise was waiting for him--he +entered it with his valet de chambre, saying that he was going to +Fontainebleau." + +"Then what did you mean"-- + +"Stay--he left a letter for me." + +"A letter?" + +"Yes; read it." And the baroness took from her pocket a letter which she +gave to Debray. Debray paused a moment before reading, as if trying +to guess its contents, or perhaps while making up his mind how to act, +whatever it might contain. No doubt his ideas were arranged in a few +minutes, for he began reading the letter which caused so much uneasiness +in the heart of the baroness, and which ran as follows:-- + +"Madame and most faithful wife." + +Debray mechanically stopped and looked at the baroness, whose face +became covered with blushes. "Read," she said. + +Debray continued:-- + +"When you receive this, you will no longer have a husband. Oh, you +need not be alarmed, you will only have lost him as you have lost your +daughter; I mean that I shall be travelling on one of the thirty or +forty roads leading out of France. I owe you some explanations for my +conduct, and as you are a woman that can perfectly understand me, I will +give them. Listen, then. I received this morning five millions which I +paid away; almost directly afterwards another demand for the same sum +was presented to me; I put this creditor off till to-morrow and I intend +leaving to-day, to escape that to-morrow, which would be rather too +unpleasant for me to endure. You understand this, do you not, my most +precious wife? I say you understand this, because you are as conversant +with my affairs as I am; indeed, I think you understand them better, +since I am ignorant of what has become of a considerable portion of my +fortune, once very tolerable, while I am sure, madame, that you know +perfectly well. For women have infallible instincts; they can even +explain the marvellous by an algebraic calculation they have invented; +but I, who only understand my own figures, know nothing more than that +one day these figures deceived me. Have you admired the rapidity of my +fall? Have you been slightly dazzled at the sudden fusion of my ingots? +I confess I have seen nothing but the fire; let us hope you have found +some gold among the ashes. With this consoling idea, I leave you, +madame, and most prudent wife, without any conscientious reproach for +abandoning you; you have friends left, and the ashes I have already +mentioned, and above all the liberty I hasten to restore to you. And +here, madame, I must add another word of explanation. So long as I hoped +you were working for the good of our house and for the fortune of our +daughter, I philosophically closed my eyes; but as you have transformed +that house into a vast ruin I will not be the foundation of another +man's fortune. You were rich when I married you, but little respected. +Excuse me for speaking so very candidly, but as this is intended +only for ourselves, I do not see why I should weigh my words. I have +augmented our fortune, and it has continued to increase during the +last fifteen years, till extraordinary and unexpected catastrophes +have suddenly overturned it,--without any fault of mine, I can honestly +declare. You, madame, have only sought to increase your own, and I am +convinced that you have succeeded. I leave you, therefore, as I took +you,--rich, but little respected. Adieu! I also intend from this time +to work on my own account. Accept my acknowledgments for the example you +have set me, and which I intend following. + +"Your very devoted husband, + +"Baron Danglars." + +The baroness had watched Debray while he read this long and painful +letter, and saw him, notwithstanding his self-control, change color +once or twice. When he had ended the perusal, he folded the letter and +resumed his pensive attitude. "Well?" asked Madame Danglars, with an +anxiety easy to be understood. + +"Well, madame?" unhesitatingly repeated Debray. + +"With what ideas does that letter inspire you?" + +"Oh, it is simple enough, madame; it inspires me with the idea that M. +Danglars has left suspiciously." + +"Certainly; but is this all you have to say to me?" + +"I do not understand you," said Debray with freezing coldness. + +"He is gone! Gone, never to return!" + +"Oh, madame, do not think that!" + +"I tell you he will never return. I know his character; he is inflexible +in any resolutions formed for his own interests. If he could have made +any use of me, he would have taken me with him; he leaves me in Paris, +as our separation will conduce to his benefit;--therefore he has gone, +and I am free forever," added Madame Danglars, in the same supplicating +tone. Debray, instead of answering, allowed her to remain in an attitude +of nervous inquiry. "Well?" she said at length, "do you not answer me?" + +"I have but one question to ask you,--what do you intend to do?" + +"I was going to ask you," replied the baroness with a beating heart. + +"Ah, then, you wish to ask advice of me?" + +"Yes; I do wish to ask your advice," said Madame Danglars with anxious +expectation. + +"Then if you wish to take my advice," said the young man coldly, "I +would recommend you to travel." + +"To travel!" she murmured. + +"Certainly; as M. Danglars says, you are rich, and perfectly free. In +my opinion, a withdrawal from Paris is absolutely necessary after the +double catastrophe of Mademoiselle Danglars' broken contract and M. +Danglars' disappearance. The world will think you abandoned and poor, +for the wife of a bankrupt would never be forgiven, were she to keep up +an appearance of opulence. You have only to remain in Paris for about a +fortnight, telling the world you are abandoned, and relating the details +of this desertion to your best friends, who will soon spread the report. +Then you can quit your house, leaving your jewels and giving up your +jointure, and every one's mouth will be filled with praises of your +disinterestedness. They will know you are deserted, and think you also +poor, for I alone know your real financial position, and am quite ready +to give up my accounts as an honest partner." The dread with which the +pale and motionless baroness listened to this, was equalled by the calm +indifference with which Debray had spoken. "Deserted?" she repeated; +"ah, yes, I am, indeed, deserted! You are right, sir, and no one can +doubt my position." These were the only words that this proud and +violently enamoured woman could utter in response to Debray. + +"But then you are rich,--very rich, indeed," continued Debray, taking +out some papers from his pocket-book, which he spread upon the table. +Madame Danglars did not see them; she was engaged in stilling the +beatings of her heart, and restraining the tears which were ready to +gush forth. At length a sense of dignity prevailed, and if she did not +entirely master her agitation, she at least succeeded in preventing the +fall of a single tear. "Madame," said Debray, "it is nearly six months +since we have been associated. You furnished a principal of 100,000 +francs. Our partnership began in the month of April. In May we commenced +operations, and in the course of the month gained 450,000 francs. +In June the profit amounted to 900,000. In July we added 1,700,000 +francs,--it was, you know, the month of the Spanish bonds. In August we +lost 300,000 francs at the beginning of the month, but on the 13th we +made up for it, and we now find that our accounts, reckoning from the +first day of partnership up to yesterday, when I closed them, showed +a capital of 2,400,000 francs, that is, 1,200,000 for each of us. Now, +madame," said Debray, delivering up his accounts in the methodical +manner of a stockbroker, "there are still 80,000 francs, the interest of +this money, in my hands." + +"But," said the baroness, "I thought you never put the money out to +interest." + +"Excuse me, madame," said Debray coldly, "I had your permission to do +so, and I have made use of it. There are, then, 40,000 francs for your +share, besides the 100,000 you furnished me to begin with, making in all +1,340,000 francs for your portion. Now, madame, I took the precaution of +drawing out your money the day before yesterday; it is not long ago, you +see, and I was in continual expectation of being called on to deliver up +my accounts. There is your money,--half in bank-notes, the other half +in checks payable to bearer. I say there, for as I did not consider +my house safe enough, or lawyers sufficiently discreet, and as landed +property carries evidence with it, and moreover since you have no right +to possess anything independent of your husband, I have kept this sum, +now your whole fortune, in a chest concealed under that closet, and for +greater security I myself concealed it there. + +"Now, madame," continued Debray, first opening the closet, then +the chest;--"now, madame, here are 800 notes of 1,000. francs each, +resembling, as you see, a large book bound in iron; to this I add a +certificate in the funds of 25,000. francs; then, for the odd cash, +making I think about 110,000. francs, here is a check upon my banker, +who, not being M. Danglars, will pay you the amount, you may rest +assured." Madame Danglars mechanically took the check, the bond, and the +heap of bank-notes. This enormous fortune made no great appearance on +the table. Madame Danglars, with tearless eyes, but with her breast +heaving with concealed emotion, placed the bank-notes in her bag, put +the certificate and check into her pocket-book, and then, standing pale +and mute, awaited one kind word of consolation. But she waited in vain. + +"Now, madame," said Debray, "you have a splendid fortune, an income of +about 60,000 livres a year, which is enormous for a woman who cannot +keep an establishment here for a year, at least. You will be able +to indulge all your fancies; besides, should you find your income +insufficient, you can, for the sake of the past, madame, make use of +mine; and I am ready to offer you all I possess, on loan." + +"Thank you, sir--thank you," replied the baroness; "you forget that +what you have just paid me is much more than a poor woman requires, who +intends for some time, at least, to retire from the world." + +Debray was, for a moment, surprised, but immediately recovering himself, +he bowed with an air which seemed to say, "As you please, madame." + +Madame Danglars had until then, perhaps, hoped for something; but when +she saw the careless bow of Debray, and the glance by which it was +accompanied, together with his significant silence, she raised her head, +and without passion or violence or even hesitation, ran down-stairs, +disdaining to address a last farewell to one who could thus part from +her. "Bah," said Debray, when she had left, "these are fine projects! +She will remain at home, read novels, and speculate at cards, since she +can no longer do so on the Bourse." Then taking up his account book, he +cancelled with the greatest care all the entries of the amounts he had +just paid away. "I have 1,060,000 francs remaining," he said. "What a +pity Mademoiselle de Villefort is dead! She suited me in every respect, +and I would have married her." And he calmly waited until the twenty +minutes had elapsed after Madame Danglars' departure before he left the +house. During this time he occupied himself in making figures, with his +watch by his side. + +Asmodeus--that diabolical personage, who would have been created by +every fertile imagination if Le Sage had not acquired the priority in +his great masterpiece--would have enjoyed a singular spectacle, if +he had lifted up the roof of the little house in the Rue +Saint-Germain-des-Pres, while Debray was casting up his figures. Above +the room in which Debray had been dividing two millions and a half with +Madame Danglars was another, inhabited by persons who have played too +prominent a part in the incidents we have related for their appearance +not to create some interest. Mercedes and Albert were in that room. +Mercedes was much changed within the last few days; not that even in her +days of fortune she had ever dressed with the magnificent display which +makes us no longer able to recognize a woman when she appears in a +plain and simple attire; nor indeed, had she fallen into that state of +depression where it is impossible to conceal the garb of misery; no, +the change in Mercedes was that her eye no longer sparkled, her lips +no longer smiled, and there was now a hesitation in uttering the words +which formerly sprang so fluently from her ready wit. + +It was not poverty which had broken her spirit; it was not a want +of courage which rendered her poverty burdensome. Mercedes, although +deposed from the exalted position she had occupied, lost in the sphere +she had now chosen, like a person passing from a room splendidly lighted +into utter darkness, appeared like a queen, fallen from her palace to +a hovel, and who, reduced to strict necessity, could neither become +reconciled to the earthen vessels she was herself forced to place +upon the table, nor to the humble pallet which had become her bed. The +beautiful Catalane and noble countess had lost both her proud glance and +charming smile, because she saw nothing but misery around her; the walls +were hung with one of the gray papers which economical landlords choose +as not likely to show the dirt; the floor was uncarpeted; the furniture +attracted the attention to the poor attempt at luxury; indeed, +everything offended eyes accustomed to refinement and elegance. + +Madame de Morcerf had lived there since leaving her house; the continual +silence of the spot oppressed her; still, seeing that Albert continually +watched her countenance to judge the state of her feelings, she +constrained herself to assume a monotonous smile of the lips alone, +which, contrasted with the sweet and beaming expression that usually +shone from her eyes, seemed like "moonlight on a statue,"--yielding +light without warmth. Albert, too, was ill at ease; the remains of +luxury prevented him from sinking into his actual position. If he wished +to go out without gloves, his hands appeared too white; if he wished to +walk through the town, his boots seemed too highly polished. Yet these +two noble and intelligent creatures, united by the indissoluble ties +of maternal and filial love, had succeeded in tacitly understanding one +another, and economizing their stores, and Albert had been able to tell +his mother without extorting a change of countenance,--"Mother, we have +no more money." + +Mercedes had never known misery; she had often, in her youth, spoken of +poverty, but between want and necessity, those synonymous words, there +is a wide difference. Amongst the Catalans, Mercedes wished for a +thousand things, but still she never really wanted any. So long as the +nets were good, they caught fish; and so long as they sold their fish, +they were able to buy twine for new nets. And then, shut out from +friendship, having but one affection, which could not be mixed up with +her ordinary pursuits, she thought of herself--of no one but herself. +Upon the little she earned she lived as well as she could; now there +were two to be supported, and nothing to live upon. + +Winter approached. Mercedes had no fire in that cold and naked +room--she, who was accustomed to stoves which heated the house from +the hall to the boudoir; she had not even one little flower--she whose +apartment had been a conservatory of costly exotics. But she had her +son. Hitherto the excitement of fulfilling a duty had sustained them. +Excitement, like enthusiasm, sometimes renders us unconscious to the +things of earth. But the excitement had calmed down, and they felt +themselves obliged to descend from dreams to reality; after having +exhausted the ideal, they found they must talk of the actual. + +"Mother," exclaimed Albert, just as Madame Danglars was descending the +stairs, "let us reckon our riches, if you please; I want capital to +build my plans upon." + +"Capital--nothing!" replied Mercedes with a mournful smile. + +"No, mother,--capital 3,000 francs. And I have an idea of our leading a +delightful life upon this 3,000 francs." + +"Child!" sighed Mercedes. + +"Alas, dear mother," said the young man, "I have unhappily spent too +much of your money not to know the value of it. These 3,000 francs +are enormous, and I intend building upon this foundation a miraculous +certainty for the future." + +"You say this, my dear boy; but do you think we ought to accept these +3,000 francs?" said Mercedes, coloring. + +"I think so," answered Albert in a firm tone. "We will accept them the +more readily, since we have them not here; you know they are buried in +the garden of the little house in the Allees de Meillan, at Marseilles. +With 200 francs we can reach Marseilles." + +"With 200 francs?--are you sure, Albert?" + +"Oh, as for that, I have made inquiries respecting the diligences and +steamboats, and my calculations are made. You will take your place +in the coupe to Chalons. You see, mother, I treat you handsomely for +thirty-five francs." Albert then took a pen, and wrote:-- + + Frs. + Coupe, thirty-five francs.............................. 35. + From Chalons to Lyons you will go on by the steamboat.. 6. + From Lyons to Avignon (still by steamboat)............. 16. + From Avignon to Marseilles, seven francs............... 7. + Expenses on the road, about fifty francs............... 50. + Total................................................. 114 frs. + +"Let us put down 120," added Albert, smiling. "You see I am generous, am +I not, mother?" + +"But you, my poor child?" + +"I? do you not see that I reserve eighty francs for myself? A young man +does not require luxuries; besides, I know what travelling is." + +"With a post-chaise and valet de chambre?" + +"Any way, mother." + +"Well, be it so. But these 200 francs?" + +"Here they are, and 200 more besides. See, I have sold my watch for +100 francs, and the guard and seals for 300. How fortunate that the +ornaments were worth more than the watch. Still the same story of +superfluities! Now I think we are rich, since instead of the 114 francs +we require for the journey we find ourselves in possession of 250." + +"But we owe something in this house?" + +"Thirty francs; but I pay that out of my 150 francs,--that is +understood,--and as I require only eighty francs for my journey, you see +I am overwhelmed with luxury. But that is not all. What do you say to +this, mother?" + +And Albert took out of a little pocket-book with golden clasps, a +remnant of his old fancies, or perhaps a tender souvenir from one of +the mysterious and veiled ladies who used to knock at his little +door,--Albert took out of this pocket-book a note of 1,000 francs. + +"What is this?" asked Mercedes. + +"A thousand francs." + +"But whence have you obtained them?" + +"Listen to me, mother, and do not yield too much to agitation." And +Albert, rising, kissed his mother on both cheeks, then stood looking at +her. "You cannot imagine, mother, how beautiful I think you!" said the +young man, impressed with a profound feeling of filial love. "You are, +indeed, the most beautiful and most noble woman I ever saw!" + +"Dear child!" said Mercedes, endeavoring in vain to restrain a tear +which glistened in the corner of her eye. "Indeed, you only wanted +misfortune to change my love for you to admiration. I am not unhappy +while I possess my son!" + +"Ah, just so," said Albert; "here begins the trial. Do you know the +decision we have come to, mother?" + +"Have we come to any?" + +"Yes; it is decided that you are to live at Marseilles, and that I am to +leave for Africa, where I will earn for myself the right to use the name +I now bear, instead of the one I have thrown aside." Mercedes sighed. +"Well, mother, I yesterday engaged myself as substitute in the Spahis," +[*] added the young man, lowering his eyes with a certain feeling of +shame, for even he was unconscious of the sublimity of his self- +abasement. "I thought my body was my own, and that I might sell it. I +yesterday took the place of another. I sold myself for more than I +thought I was worth," he added, attempting to smile; "I fetched 2,000 +francs." + + * The Spahis are French cavalry reserved for service in + Africa. + +"Then these 1,000 francs"--said Mercedes, shuddering-- + +"Are the half of the sum, mother; the other will be paid in a year." + +Mercedes raised her eyes to heaven with an expression it would be +impossible to describe, and tears, which had hitherto been restrained, +now yielded to her emotion, and ran down her cheeks. + +"The price of his blood!" she murmured. + +"Yes, if I am killed," said Albert, laughing. "But I assure you, mother, +I have a strong intention of defending my person, and I never felt half +so strong an inclination to live as I do now." + +"Merciful heavens!" + +"Besides, mother, why should you make up your mind that I am to be +killed? Has Lamoriciere, that Ney of the South, been killed? Has +Changarnier been killed? Has Bedeau been killed? Has Morrel, whom we +know, been killed? Think of your joy, mother, when you see me return +with an embroidered uniform! I declare, I expect to look magnificent +in it, and chose that regiment only from vanity." Mercedes sighed while +endeavoring to smile; the devoted mother felt that she ought not to +allow the whole weight of the sacrifice to fall upon her son. "Well, +now you understand, mother!" continued Albert; "here are more than 4,000 +francs settled on you; upon these you can live at least two years." + +"Do you think so?" said Mercedes. These words were uttered in so +mournful a tone that their real meaning did not escape Albert; he felt +his heart beat, and taking his mother's hand within his own he said, +tenderly,-- + +"Yes, you will live!" + +"I shall live!--then you will not leave me, Albert?" + +"Mother, I must go," said Albert in a firm, calm voice; "you love me +too well to wish me to remain useless and idle with you; besides, I have +signed." + +"You will obey your own wish and the will of heaven!" + +"Not my own wish, mother, but reason--necessity. Are we not two +despairing creatures? What is life to you?--Nothing. What is life to +me?--Very little without you, mother; for believe me, but for you I +should have ceased to live on the day I doubted my father and renounced +his name. Well, I will live, if you promise me still to hope; and if +you grant me the care of your future prospects, you will redouble my +strength. Then I will go to the governor of Algeria; he has a royal +heart, and is essentially a soldier; I will tell him my gloomy story. +I will beg him to turn his eyes now and then towards me, and if he +keep his word and interest himself for me, in six months I shall be an +officer, or dead. If I am an officer, your fortune is certain, for I +shall have money enough for both, and, moreover, a name we shall both +be proud of, since it will be our own. If I am killed--well then mother, +you can also die, and there will be an end of our misfortunes." + +"It is well," replied Mercedes, with her eloquent glance; "you are +right, my love; let us prove to those who are watching our actions that +we are worthy of compassion." + +"But let us not yield to gloomy apprehensions," said the young man; "I +assure you we are, or rather we shall be, very happy. You are a woman at +once full of spirit and resignation; I have become simple in my tastes, +and am without passion, I hope. Once in service, I shall be rich--once +in M. Dantes' house, you will be at rest. Let us strive, I beseech +you,--let us strive to be cheerful." + +"Yes, let us strive, for you ought to live, and to be happy, Albert." + +"And so our division is made, mother," said the young man, affecting +ease of mind. "We can now part; come, I shall engage your passage." + +"And you, my dear boy?" + +"I shall stay here for a few days longer; we must accustom ourselves to +parting. I want recommendations and some information relative to Africa. +I will join you again at Marseilles." + +"Well, be it so--let us part," said Mercedes, folding around her +shoulders the only shawl she had taken away, and which accidentally +happened to be a valuable black cashmere. Albert gathered up his papers +hastily, rang the bell to pay the thirty francs he owed to the landlord, +and offering his arm to his mother, they descended the stairs. Some one +was walking down before them, and this person, hearing the rustling of a +silk dress, turned around. "Debray!" muttered Albert. + +"You, Morcerf?" replied the secretary, resting on the stairs. Curiosity +had vanquished the desire of preserving his incognito, and he was +recognized. It was, indeed, strange in this unknown spot to find the +young man whose misfortunes had made so much noise in Paris. + +"Morcerf!" repeated Debray. Then noticing in the dim light the still +youthful and veiled figure of Madame de Morcerf:--"Pardon me," he added +with a smile, "I leave you, Albert." Albert understood his thoughts. +"Mother," he said, turning towards Mercedes, "this is M. Debray, +secretary of the minister for the interior, once a friend of mine." + +"How once?" stammered Debray; "what do you mean?" + +"I say so, M. Debray, because I have no friends now, and I ought not +to have any. I thank you for having recognized me, sir." Debray stepped +forward, and cordially pressed the hand of his interlocutor. "Believe +me, dear Albert," he said, with all the emotion he was capable of +feeling,--"believe me, I feel deeply for your misfortunes, and if in any +way I can serve you, I am yours." + +"Thank you, sir," said Albert, smiling. "In the midst of our +misfortunes, we are still rich enough not to require assistance from any +one. We are leaving Paris, and when our journey is paid, we shall have +5,000 francs left." The blood mounted to the temples of Debray, who held +a million in his pocket-book, and unimaginative as he was he could not +help reflecting that the same house had contained two women, one of +whom, justly dishonored, had left it poor with 1,500,000. francs under +her cloak, while the other, unjustly stricken, but sublime in her +misfortune, was yet rich with a few deniers. This parallel disturbed his +usual politeness, the philosophy he witnessed appalled him, he muttered +a few words of general civility and ran down-stairs. + +That day the minister's clerks and the subordinates had a great deal to +put up with from his ill-humor. But that same night, he found himself +the possessor of a fine house, situated on the Boulevard de la +Madeleine, and an income of 50,000 livres. The next day, just as Debray +was signing the deed, that is about five o'clock in the afternoon, +Madame de Morcerf, after having affectionately embraced her son, entered +the coupe of the diligence, which closed upon her. A man was hidden in +Lafitte's banking-house, behind one of the little arched windows which +are placed above each desk; he saw Mercedes enter the diligence, and he +also saw Albert withdraw. Then he passed his hand across his forehead, +which was clouded with doubt. "Alas," he exclaimed, "how can I restore +the happiness I have taken away from these poor innocent creatures? God +help me!" + + + +Chapter 107. The Lions' Den. + +One division of La Force, in which the most dangerous and desperate +prisoners are confined, is called the court of Saint-Bernard. The +prisoners, in their expressive language, have named it the "Lions' Den," +probably because the captives possess teeth which frequently gnaw the +bars, and sometimes the keepers also. It is a prison within a prison; +the walls are double the thickness of the rest. The gratings are every +day carefully examined by jailers, whose herculean proportions and cold +pitiless expression prove them to have been chosen to reign over their +subjects for their superior activity and intelligence. The court-yard of +this quarter is enclosed by enormous walls, over which the sun glances +obliquely, when it deigns to penetrate into this gulf of moral and +physical deformity. On this paved yard are to be seen,--pacing to and +fro from morning till night, pale, careworn, and haggard, like so +many shadows,--the men whom justice holds beneath the steel she is +sharpening. There, crouched against the side of the wall which attracts +and retains the most heat, they may be seen sometimes talking to one +another, but more frequently alone, watching the door, which sometimes +opens to call forth one from the gloomy assemblage, or to throw in +another outcast from society. + +The court of Saint-Bernard has its own particular apartment for the +reception of guests; it is a long rectangle, divided by two upright +gratings placed at a distance of three feet from one another to prevent +a visitor from shaking hands with or passing anything to the prisoners. +It is a wretched, damp, nay, even horrible spot, more especially when we +consider the agonizing conferences which have taken place between those +iron bars. And yet, frightful though this spot may be, it is looked upon +as a kind of paradise by the men whose days are numbered; it is so rare +for them to leave the Lions' Den for any other place than the barrier +Saint-Jacques or the galleys! + +In the court which we have attempted to describe, and from which a damp +vapor was rising, a young man with his hands in his pockets, who had +excited much curiosity among the inhabitants of the "Den," might be seen +walking. The cut of his clothes would have made him pass for an elegant +man, if those clothes had not been torn to shreds; still they did not +show signs of wear, and the fine cloth, beneath the careful hands of +the prisoner, soon recovered its gloss in the parts which were still +perfect, for the wearer tried his best to make it assume the appearance +of a new coat. He bestowed the same attention upon the cambric front of +a shirt, which had considerably changed in color since his entrance into +the prison, and he polished his varnished boots with the corner of a +handkerchief embroidered with initials surmounted by a coronet. Some +of the inmates of the "Lions' Den" were watching the operations of +the prisoner's toilet with considerable interest. "See, the prince is +pluming himself," said one of the thieves. "He's a fine looking fellow," +said another; "if he had only a comb and hair-grease, he'd take the +shine off the gentlemen in white kids." + +"His coat looks almost new, and his boots shine like a nigger's face. +It's pleasant to have such well-dressed comrades; but didn't those +gendarmes behave shameful?--must 'a been jealous, to tear such clothes!" + +"He looks like a big-bug," said another; "dresses in fine style. And, +then, to be here so young! Oh, what larks!" Meanwhile the object of +this hideous admiration approached the wicket, against which one of the +keepers was leaning. "Come, sir," he said, "lend me twenty francs; you +will soon be paid; you run no risks with me. Remember, I have relations +who possess more millions than you have deniers. Come, I beseech +you, lend me twenty francs, so that I may buy a dressing-gown; it is +intolerable always to be in a coat and boots! And what a coat, sir, for +a prince of the Cavalcanti!" The keeper turned his back, and shrugged +his shoulders; he did not even laugh at what would have caused any one +else to do so; he had heard so many utter the same things,--indeed, he +heard nothing else. + +"Come," said Andrea, "you are a man void of compassion; I'll have you +turned out." This made the keeper turn around, and he burst into a loud +laugh. The prisoners then approached and formed a circle. "I tell you +that with that wretched sum," continued Andrea, "I could obtain a +coat, and a room in which to receive the illustrious visitor I am daily +expecting." + +"Of course--of course," said the prisoners;--"any one can see he's a +gentleman!" + +"Well, then, lend him the twenty francs," said the keeper, leaning on +the other shoulder; "surely you will not refuse a comrade!" + +"I am no comrade of these people," said the young man, proudly, "you +have no right to insult me thus." + +The thieves looked at one another with low murmurs, and a storm gathered +over the head of the aristocratic prisoner, raised less by his own +words than by the manner of the keeper. The latter, sure of quelling +the tempest when the waves became too violent, allowed them to rise to +a certain pitch that he might be revenged on the importunate Andrea, +and besides it would afford him some recreation during the long day. The +thieves had already approached Andrea, some screaming, "La savate--La +savate!" [*] a cruel operation, which consists in cuffing a comrade who +may have fallen into disgrace, not with an old shoe, but with an +iron-heeled one. Others proposed the "anguille," another kind of +recreation, in which a handkerchief is filled with sand, pebbles, and +two-sous pieces, when they have them, which the wretches beat like a +flail over the head and shoulders of the unhappy sufferer. "Let us +horsewhip the fine gentleman!" said others. + + * Savate: an old shoe. + +But Andrea, turning towards them, winked his eyes, rolled his tongue +around his cheeks, and smacked his lips in a manner equivalent to a +hundred words among the bandits when forced to be silent. It was a +Masonic sign Caderousse had taught him. He was immediately recognized as +one of them; the handkerchief was thrown down, and the iron-heeled shoe +replaced on the foot of the wretch to whom it belonged. Some voices were +heard to say that the gentleman was right; that he intended to be +civil, in his way, and that they would set the example of liberty of +conscience,--and the mob retired. The keeper was so stupefied at this +scene that he took Andrea by the hands and began examining his person, +attributing the sudden submission of the inmates of the Lions' Den +to something more substantial than mere fascination. Andrea made no +resistance, although he protested against it. Suddenly a voice was heard +at the wicket. "Benedetto!" exclaimed an inspector. The keeper relaxed +his hold. "I am called," said Andrea. "To the visitors' room!" said the +same voice. + +"You see some one pays me a visit. Ah, my dear sir, you will see whether +a Cavalcanti is to be treated like a common person!" And Andrea, gliding +through the court like a black shadow, rushed out through the wicket, +leaving his comrades, and even the keeper, lost in wonder. Certainly +a call to the visitors' room had scarcely astonished Andrea less than +themselves, for the wily youth, instead of making use of his privilege +of waiting to be claimed on his entry into La Force, had maintained +a rigid silence. "Everything," he said, "proves me to be under the +protection of some powerful person,--this sudden fortune, the facility +with which I have overcome all obstacles, an unexpected family and an +illustrious name awarded to me, gold showered down upon me, and the most +splendid alliances about to be entered into. An unhappy lapse of fortune +and the absence of my protector have cast me down, certainly, but +not forever. The hand which has retreated for a while will be again +stretched forth to save me at the very moment when I shall think myself +sinking into the abyss. Why should I risk an imprudent step? It might +alienate my protector. He has two means of extricating me from this +dilemma,--the one by a mysterious escape, managed through bribery; the +other by buying off my judges with gold. I will say and do nothing until +I am convinced that he has quite abandoned me, and then"-- + +Andrea had formed a plan which was tolerably clever. The unfortunate +youth was intrepid in the attack, and rude in the defence. He had borne +with the public prison, and with privations of all sorts; still, by +degrees nature, or rather custom, had prevailed, and he suffered from +being naked, dirty, and hungry. It was at this moment of discomfort that +the inspector's voice called him to the visiting-room. Andrea felt his +heart leap with joy. It was too soon for a visit from the examining +magistrate, and too late for one from the director of the prison, or the +doctor; it must, then, be the visitor he hoped for. Behind the grating +of the room into which Andrea had been led, he saw, while his eyes +dilated with surprise, the dark and intelligent face of M. Bertuccio, +who was also gazing with sad astonishment upon the iron bars, the bolted +doors, and the shadow which moved behind the other grating. + +"Ah," said Andrea, deeply affected. + +"Good morning, Benedetto," said Bertuccio, with his deep, hollow voice. + +"You--you?" said the young man, looking fearfully around him. + +"Do you not recognize me, unhappy child?" + +"Silence,--be silent!" said Andrea, who knew the delicate sense of +hearing possessed by the walls; "for heaven's sake, do not speak so +loud!" + +"You wish to speak with me alone, do you not?" said Bertuccio. + +"Oh, yes." + +"That is well." And Bertuccio, feeling in his pocket, signed to a keeper +whom he saw through the window of the wicket. + +"Read?" he said. + +"What is that?" asked Andrea. + +"An order to conduct you to a room, and to leave you there to talk to +me." + +"Oh," cried Andrea, leaping with joy. Then he mentally added,--"Still my +unknown protector! I am not forgotten. They wish for secrecy, since we +are to converse in a private room. I understand, Bertuccio has been sent +by my protector." + +The keeper spoke for a moment with an official, then opened the iron +gates and conducted Andrea to a room on the first floor. The room was +whitewashed, as is the custom in prisons, but it looked quite brilliant +to a prisoner, though a stove, a bed, a chair, and a table formed the +whole of its sumptuous furniture. Bertuccio sat down upon the chair, +Andrea threw himself upon the bed; the keeper retired. + +"Now," said the steward, "what have you to tell me?" + +"And you?" said Andrea. + +"You speak first." + +"Oh, no. You must have much to tell me, since you have come to seek me." + +"Well, be it so. You have continued your course of villany; you have +robbed--you have assassinated." + +"Well, I should say! If you had me taken to a private room only to tell +me this, you might have saved yourself the trouble. I know all these +things. But there are some with which, on the contrary, I am not +acquainted. Let us talk of those, if you please. Who sent you?" + +"Come, come, you are going on quickly, M. Benedetto!" + +"Yes, and to the point. Let us dispense with useless words. Who sends +you?" + +"No one." + +"How did you know I was in prison?" + +"I recognized you, some time since, as the insolent dandy who so +gracefully mounted his horse in the Champs Elysees." + +"Oh, the Champs Elysees? Ah, yes; we burn, as they say at the game +of pincette. The Champs Elysees? Come, let us talk a little about my +father." + +"Who, then, am I?" + +"You, sir?--you are my adopted father. But it was not you, I presume, +who placed at my disposal 100,000 francs, which I spent in four or five +months; it was not you who manufactured an Italian gentleman for my +father; it was not you who introduced me into the world, and had me +invited to a certain dinner at Auteuil, which I fancy I am eating +at this moment, in company with the most distinguished people in +Paris--amongst the rest with a certain procureur, whose acquaintance I +did very wrong not to cultivate, for he would have been very useful +to me just now;--it was not you, in fact, who bailed me for one or two +millions, when the fatal discovery of my little secret took place. Come, +speak, my worthy Corsican, speak!" + +"What do you wish me to say?" + +"I will help you. You were speaking of the Champs Elysees just now, +worthy foster-father." + +"Well?" + +"Well, in the Champs Elysees there resides a very rich gentleman." + +"At whose house you robbed and murdered, did you not?" + +"I believe I did." + +"The Count of Monte Cristo?" + +"'Tis you who have named him, as M. Racine says. Well, am I to rush into +his arms, and strain him to my heart, crying, 'My father, my father!' +like Monsieur Pixerecourt." [*] + +"Do not let us jest," gravely replied Bertuccio, "and dare not to utter +that name again as you have pronounced it." + + * Guilbert de Pixerecourt, French dramatist + (1775-1844). + +"Bah," said Andrea, a little overcome, by the solemnity of Bertuccio's +manner, "why not?" + +"Because the person who bears it is too highly favored by heaven to be +the father of such a wretch as you." + +"Oh, these are fine words." + +"And there will be fine doings, if you do not take care." + +"Menaces--I do not fear them. I will say"-- + +"Do you think you are engaged with a pygmy like yourself?" said +Bertuccio, in so calm a tone, and with so steadfast a look, that +Andrea was moved to the very soul. "Do you think you have to do with +galley-slaves, or novices in the world? Benedetto, you are fallen into +terrible hands; they are ready to open for you--make use of them. Do not +play with the thunderbolt they have laid aside for a moment, but which +they can take up again instantly, if you attempt to intercept their +movements." + +"My father--I will know who my father is," said the obstinate youth; "I +will perish if I must, but I will know it. What does scandal signify +to me? What possessions, what reputation, what 'pull,' as Beauchamp +says,--have I? You great people always lose something by scandal, +notwithstanding your millions. Come, who is my father?" + +"I came to tell you." + +"Ah," cried Benedetto, his eyes sparkling with joy. Just then the door +opened, and the jailer, addressing himself to Bertuccio, said,--"Excuse +me, sir, but the examining magistrate is waiting for the prisoner." + +"And so closes our interview," said Andrea to the worthy steward; "I +wish the troublesome fellow were at the devil!" + +"I will return to-morrow," said Bertuccio. + +"Good! Gendarmes, I am at your service. Ah, sir, do leave a few crowns +for me at the gate that I may have some things I am in need of!" + +"It shall be done," replied Bertuccio. Andrea extended his hand; +Bertuccio kept his own in his pocket, and merely jingled a few pieces +of money. "That's what I mean," said Andrea, endeavoring to smile, quite +overcome by the strange tranquillity of Bertuccio. "Can I be deceived?" +he murmured, as he stepped into the oblong and grated vehicle which they +call "the salad basket." "Never mind, we shall see! To-morrow, then!" he +added, turning towards Bertuccio. + +"To-morrow!" replied the steward. + + + +Chapter 108. The Judge. + +We remember that the Abbe Busoni remained alone with Noirtier in the +chamber of death, and that the old man and the priest were the sole +guardians of the young girl's body. Perhaps it was the Christian +exhortations of the abbe, perhaps his kind charity, perhaps his +persuasive words, which had restored the courage of Noirtier, for ever +since he had conversed with the priest his violent despair had yielded +to a calm resignation which surprised all who knew his excessive +affection for Valentine. M. de Villefort had not seen his father since +the morning of the death. The whole establishment had been changed; +another valet was engaged for himself, a new servant for Noirtier, two +women had entered Madame de Villefort's service,--in fact, everywhere, +to the concierge and coachmen, new faces were presented to the different +masters of the house, thus widening the division which had always +existed between the members of the same family. + +The assizes, also, were about to begin, and Villefort, shut up in his +room, exerted himself with feverish anxiety in drawing up the case +against the murderer of Caderousse. This affair, like all those in which +the Count of Monte Cristo had interfered, caused a great sensation in +Paris. The proofs were certainly not convincing, since they rested upon +a few words written by an escaped galley-slave on his death-bed, and who +might have been actuated by hatred or revenge in accusing his companion. +But the mind of the procureur was made up; he felt assured that +Benedetto was guilty, and he hoped by his skill in conducting this +aggravated case to flatter his self-love, which was about the only +vulnerable point left in his frozen heart. + +The case was therefore prepared owing to the incessant labor of +Villefort, who wished it to be the first on the list in the coming +assizes. He had been obliged to seclude himself more than ever, to evade +the enormous number of applications presented to him for the purpose +of obtaining tickets of admission to the court on the day of trial. And +then so short a time had elapsed since the death of poor Valentine, +and the gloom which overshadowed the house was so recent, that no one +wondered to see the father so absorbed in his professional duties, which +were the only means he had of dissipating his grief. + +Once only had Villefort seen his father; it was the day after that upon +which Bertuccio had paid his second visit to Benedetto, when the latter +was to learn his father's name. The magistrate, harassed and fatigued, +had descended to the garden of his house, and in a gloomy mood, similar +to that in which Tarquin lopped off the tallest poppies, he began +knocking off with his cane the long and dying branches of the +rose-trees, which, placed along the avenue, seemed like the spectres of +the brilliant flowers which had bloomed in the past season. More than +once he had reached that part of the garden where the famous boarded +gate stood overlooking the deserted enclosure, always returning by the +same path, to begin his walk again, at the same pace and with the same +gesture, when he accidentally turned his eyes towards the house, whence +he heard the noisy play of his son, who had returned from school to +spend the Sunday and Monday with his mother. While doing so, he observed +M. Noirtier at one of the open windows, where the old man had been +placed that he might enjoy the last rays of the sun which yet yielded +some heat, and was now shining upon the dying flowers and red leaves of +the creeper which twined around the balcony. + +The eye of the old man was riveted upon a spot which Villefort could +scarcely distinguish. His glance was so full of hate, of ferocity, and +savage impatience, that Villefort turned out of the path he had been +pursuing, to see upon what person this dark look was directed. Then he +saw beneath a thick clump of linden-trees, which were nearly divested +of foliage, Madame de Villefort sitting with a book in her hand, the +perusal of which she frequently interrupted to smile upon her son, or +to throw back his elastic ball, which he obstinately threw from the +drawing-room into the garden. Villefort became pale; he understood the +old man's meaning. Noirtier continued to look at the same object, but +suddenly his glance was transferred from the wife to the husband, and +Villefort himself had to submit to the searching investigation of eyes, +which, while changing their direction and even their language, had lost +none of their menacing expression. Madame de Villefort, unconscious of +the passions that exhausted their fire over her head, at that moment +held her son's ball, and was making signs to him to reclaim it with a +kiss. Edward begged for a long while, the maternal kiss probably not +offering sufficient recompense for the trouble he must take to obtain +it; however at length he decided, leaped out of the window into a +cluster of heliotropes and daisies, and ran to his mother, his forehead +streaming with perspiration. Madame de Villefort wiped his forehead, +pressed her lips upon it, and sent him back with the ball in one hand +and some bonbons in the other. + +Villefort, drawn by an irresistible attraction, like that of the bird to +the serpent, walked towards the house. As he approached it, Noirtier's +gaze followed him, and his eyes appeared of such a fiery brightness that +Villefort felt them pierce to the depths of his heart. In that earnest +look might be read a deep reproach, as well as a terrible menace. Then +Noirtier raised his eyes to heaven, as though to remind his son of a +forgotten oath. "It is well, sir," replied Villefort from below,--"it +is well; have patience but one day longer; what I have said I will do." +Noirtier seemed to be calmed by these words, and turned his eyes with +indifference to the other side. Villefort violently unbuttoned his +great-coat, which seemed to strangle him, and passing his livid hand +across his forehead, entered his study. + +The night was cold and still; the family had all retired to rest but +Villefort, who alone remained up, and worked till five o'clock in the +morning, reviewing the last interrogatories made the night before by the +examining magistrates, compiling the depositions of the witnesses, and +putting the finishing stroke to the deed of accusation, which was one of +the most energetic and best conceived of any he had yet delivered. + +The next day, Monday, was the first sitting of the assizes. The morning +dawned dull and gloomy, and Villefort saw the dim gray light shine upon +the lines he had traced in red ink. The magistrate had slept for a short +time while the lamp sent forth its final struggles; its flickerings +awoke him, and he found his fingers as damp and purple as though they +had been dipped in blood. He opened the window; a bright yellow streak +crossed the sky, and seemed to divide in half the poplars, which stood +out in black relief on the horizon. In the clover-fields beyond the +chestnut-trees, a lark was mounting up to heaven, while pouring out her +clear morning song. The damps of the dew bathed the head of Villefort, +and refreshed his memory. "To-day," he said with an effort,--"to-day the +man who holds the blade of justice must strike wherever there is guilt." +Involuntarily his eyes wandered towards the window of Noirtier's room, +where he had seen him the preceding night. The curtain was drawn, and +yet the image of his father was so vivid to his mind that he addressed +the closed window as though it had been open, and as if through the +opening he had beheld the menacing old man. "Yes," he murmured,--"yes, +be satisfied." + +His head dropped upon his chest, and in this position he paced his +study; then he threw himself, dressed as he was, upon a sofa, less to +sleep than to rest his limbs, cramped with cold and study. By degrees +every one awoke. Villefort, from his study, heard the successive noises +which accompany the life of a house,--the opening and shutting of doors, +the ringing of Madame de Villefort's bell, to summon the waiting-maid, +mingled with the first shouts of the child, who rose full of the +enjoyment of his age. Villefort also rang; his new valet brought him the +papers, and with them a cup of chocolate. + +"What are you bringing me?" said he. + +"A cup of chocolate." + +"I did not ask for it. Who has paid me this attention?" + +"My mistress, sir. She said you would have to speak a great deal in +the murder case, and that you should take something to keep up your +strength;" and the valet placed the cup on the table nearest to the +sofa, which was, like all the rest, covered with papers. The valet then +left the room. Villefort looked for an instant with a gloomy expression, +then, suddenly, taking it up with a nervous motion, he swallowed its +contents at one draught. It might have been thought that he hoped the +beverage would be mortal, and that he sought for death to deliver him +from a duty which he would rather die than fulfil. He then rose, and +paced his room with a smile it would have been terrible to witness. +The chocolate was inoffensive, for M. de Villefort felt no effects. The +breakfast-hour arrived, but M. de Villefort was not at table. The valet +re-entered. + +"Madame de Villefort wishes to remind you, sir," he said, "that eleven +o'clock has just struck, and that the trial commences at twelve." + +"Well," said Villefort, "what then?" + +"Madame de Villefort is dressed; she is quite ready, and wishes to know +if she is to accompany you, sir?" + +"Where to?" + +"To the Palais." + +"What to do?" + +"My mistress wishes much to be present at the trial." + +"Ah," said Villefort, with a startling accent; "does she wish +that?"--The man drew back and said, "If you wish to go alone, sir, I +will go and tell my mistress." Villefort remained silent for a moment, +and dented his pale cheeks with his nails. "Tell your mistress," he at +length answered, "that I wish to speak to her, and I beg she will wait +for me in her own room." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Then come to dress and shave me." + +"Directly, sir." The valet re-appeared almost instantly, and, having +shaved his master, assisted him to dress entirely in black. When he had +finished, he said,-- + +"My mistress said she should expect you, sir, as soon as you had +finished dressing." + +"I am going to her." And Villefort, with his papers under his arm and +hat in hand, directed his steps toward the apartment of his wife. At the +door he paused for a moment to wipe his damp, pale brow. He then entered +the room. Madame de Villefort was sitting on an ottoman and impatiently +turning over the leaves of some newspapers and pamphlets which young +Edward, by way of amusing himself, was tearing to pieces before his +mother could finish reading them. She was dressed to go out, her bonnet +was placed beside her on a chair, and her gloves were on her hands. + +"Ah, here you are, monsieur," she said in her naturally calm voice; "but +how pale you are! Have you been working all night? Why did you not come +down to breakfast? Well, will you take me, or shall I take Edward?" +Madame de Villefort had multiplied her questions in order to gain one +answer, but to all her inquiries M. de Villefort remained mute and cold +as a statue. "Edward," said Villefort, fixing an imperious glance on +the child, "go and play in the drawing-room, my dear; I wish to speak +to your mamma." Madame de Villefort shuddered at the sight of that cold +countenance, that resolute tone, and the awfully strange preliminaries. +Edward raised his head, looked at his mother, and then, finding that +she did not confirm the order, began cutting off the heads of his leaden +soldiers. + +"Edward," cried M. de Villefort, so harshly that the child started up +from the floor, "do you hear me?--Go!" The child, unaccustomed to such +treatment, arose, pale and trembling; it would be difficult to say +whether his emotion were caused by fear or passion. His father went up +to him, took him in his arms, and kissed his forehead. "Go," he said: +"go, my child." Edward ran out. M. de Villefort went to the door, which +he closed behind the child, and bolted. "Dear me!" said the young woman, +endeavoring to read her husband's inmost thoughts, while a smile passed +over her countenance which froze the impassibility of Villefort; "what +is the matter?" + +"Madame, where do you keep the poison you generally use?" said the +magistrate, without any introduction, placing himself between his wife +and the door. + +Madame de Villefort must have experienced something of the sensation of +a bird which, looking up, sees the murderous trap closing over its head. +A hoarse, broken tone, which was neither a cry nor a sigh, escaped from +her, while she became deadly pale. "Monsieur," she said, "I--I do not +understand you." And, in her first paroxysm of terror, she had raised +herself from the sofa, in the next, stronger very likely than the other, +she fell down again on the cushions. "I asked you," continued Villefort, +in a perfectly calm tone, "where you conceal the poison by the aid +of which you have killed my father-in-law, M. de Saint-Meran, my +mother-in-law, Madame de Saint-Meran, Barrois, and my daughter +Valentine." + +"Ah, sir," exclaimed Madame de Villefort, clasping her hands, "what do +you say?" + +"It is not for you to interrogate, but to answer." + +"Is it to the judge or to the husband?" stammered Madame de Villefort. +"To the judge--to the judge, madame!" It was terrible to behold the +frightful pallor of that woman, the anguish of her look, the trembling +of her whole frame. "Ah, sir," she muttered, "ah, sir," and this was +all. + +"You do not answer, madame!" exclaimed the terrible interrogator. Then +he added, with a smile yet more terrible than his anger, "It is true, +then; you do not deny it!" She moved forward. "And you cannot deny it!" +added Villefort, extending his hand toward her, as though to seize her +in the name of justice. "You have accomplished these different crimes +with impudent address, but which could only deceive those whose +affections for you blinded them. Since the death of Madame de +Saint-Meran, I have known that a poisoner lived in my house. M. +d'Avrigny warned me of it. After the death of Barrois my suspicions were +directed towards an angel,--those suspicions which, even when there +is no crime, are always alive in my heart; but after the death of +Valentine, there has been no doubt in my mind, madame, and not only in +mine, but in those of others; thus your crime, known by two persons, +suspected by many, will soon become public, and, as I told you just now, +you no longer speak to the husband, but to the judge." + +The young woman hid her face in her hands. "Oh, sir," she stammered, "I +beseech you, do not believe appearances." + +"Are you, then, a coward?" cried Villefort, in a contemptuous voice. +"But I have always observed that poisoners were cowards. Can you be a +coward,--you who have had the courage to witness the death of two old +men and a young girl murdered by you?" + +"Sir! sir!" + +"Can you be a coward?" continued Villefort, with increasing excitement, +"you, who could count, one by one, the minutes of four death agonies? +You, who have arranged your infernal plans, and removed the beverages +with a talent and precision almost miraculous? Have you, then, who have +calculated everything with such nicety, have you forgotten to calculate +one thing--I mean where the revelation of your crimes will lead you to? +Oh, it is impossible--you must have saved some surer, more subtle and +deadly poison than any other, that you might escape the punishment +that you deserve. You have done this--I hope so, at least." Madame de +Villefort stretched out her hands, and fell on her knees. + +"I understand," he said, "you confess; but a confession made to the +judges, a confession made at the last moment, extorted when the crime +cannot be denied, diminishes not the punishment inflicted on the +guilty!" + +"The punishment?" exclaimed Madame de Villefort, "the punishment, +monsieur? Twice you have pronounced that word!" + +"Certainly. Did you hope to escape it because you were four times +guilty? Did you think the punishment would be withheld because you are +the wife of him who pronounces it?--No, madame, no; the scaffold awaits +the poisoner, whoever she may be, unless, as I just said, the poisoner +has taken the precaution of keeping for herself a few drops of her +deadliest potion." Madame de Villefort uttered a wild cry, and a hideous +and uncontrollable terror spread over her distorted features. "Oh, +do not fear the scaffold, madame," said the magistrate; "I will not +dishonor you, since that would be dishonor to myself; no, if you have +heard me distinctly, you will understand that you are not to die on the +scaffold." + +"No, I do not understand; what do you mean?" stammered the unhappy +woman, completely overwhelmed. "I mean that the wife of the first +magistrate in the capital shall not, by her infamy, soil an unblemished +name; that she shall not, with one blow, dishonor her husband and her +child." + +"No, no--oh, no!" + +"Well, madame, it will be a laudable action on your part, and I will +thank you for it!" + +"You will thank me--for what?" + +"For what you have just said." + +"What did I say? Oh, my brain whirls; I no longer understand anything. +Oh, my God, my God!" And she rose, with her hair dishevelled, and her +lips foaming. + +"Have you answered the question I put to you on entering the +room?--where do you keep the poison you generally use, madame?" Madame +de Villefort raised her arms to heaven, and convulsively struck one +hand against the other. "No, no," she vociferated, "no, you cannot wish +that!" + +"What I do not wish, madame, is that you should perish on the scaffold. +Do you understand?" asked Villefort. + +"Oh, mercy, mercy, monsieur!" + +"What I require is, that justice be done. I am on the earth to punish, +madame," he added, with a flaming glance; "any other woman, were it the +queen herself, I would send to the executioner; but to you I shall be +merciful. To you I will say, 'Have you not, madame, put aside some of +the surest, deadliest, most speedy poison?'" + +"Oh, pardon me, sir; let me live!" + +"She is cowardly," said Villefort. + +"Reflect that I am your wife!" + +"You are a poisoner." + +"In the name of heaven!" + +"No!" + +"In the name of the love you once bore me!" + +"No, no!" + +"In the name of our child! Ah, for the sake of our child, let me live!" + +"No, no, no, I tell you; one day, if I allow you to live, you will +perhaps kill him, as you have the others!" + +"I?--I kill my boy?" cried the distracted mother, rushing toward +Villefort; "I kill my son? Ha, ha, ha!" and a frightful, demoniac laugh +finished the sentence, which was lost in a hoarse rattle. Madame de +Villefort fell at her husband's feet. He approached her. "Think of it, +madame," he said; "if, on my return, justice his not been satisfied, I +will denounce you with my own mouth, and arrest you with my own hands!" +She listened, panting, overwhelmed, crushed; her eye alone lived, and +glared horribly. "Do you understand me?" he said. "I am going down there +to pronounce the sentence of death against a murderer. If I find you +alive on my return, you shall sleep to-night in the conciergerie." +Madame de Villefort sighed; her nerves gave way, and she sunk on the +carpet. The king's attorney seemed to experience a sensation of pity; +he looked upon her less severely, and, bowing to her, said slowly, +"Farewell, madame, farewell!" That farewell struck Madame de Villefort +like the executioner's knife. She fainted. The procureur went out, after +having double-locked the door. + + + +Chapter 109. The Assizes. + +The Benedetto affair, as it was called at the Palais, and by people in +general, had produced a tremendous sensation. Frequenting the Cafe de +Paris, the Boulevard de Gand, and the Bois de Boulogne, during his +brief career of splendor, the false Cavalcanti had formed a host of +acquaintances. The papers had related his various adventures, both as +the man of fashion and the galley-slave; and as every one who had been +personally acquainted with Prince Andrea Cavalcanti experienced a +lively curiosity in his fate, they all determined to spare no trouble in +endeavoring to witness the trial of M. Benedetto for the murder of his +comrade in chains. In the eyes of many, Benedetto appeared, if not +a victim to, at least an instance of, the fallibility of the law. M. +Cavalcanti, his father, had been seen in Paris, and it was expected that +he would re-appear to claim the illustrious outcast. Many, also, who +were not aware of the circumstances attending his withdrawal from Paris, +were struck with the worthy appearance, the gentlemanly bearing, and +the knowledge of the world displayed by the old patrician, who certainly +played the nobleman very well, so long as he said nothing, and made no +arithmetical calculations. As for the accused himself, many remembered +him as being so amiable, so handsome, and so liberal, that they chose +to think him the victim of some conspiracy, since in this world large +fortunes frequently excite the malevolence and jealousy of some unknown +enemy. Every one, therefore, ran to the court; some to witness the +sight, others to comment upon it. From seven o'clock in the morning +a crowd was stationed at the iron gates, and an hour before the trial +commenced the hall was full of the privileged. Before the entrance of +the magistrates, and indeed frequently afterwards, a court of justice, +on days when some especial trial is to take place, resembles a +drawing-room where many persons recognize each other and converse if +they can do so without losing their seats; or, if they are separated by +too great a number of lawyers, communicate by signs. + +It was one of the magnificent autumn days which make amends for a short +summer; the clouds which M. de Villefort had perceived at sunrise +had all disappeared as if by magic, and one of the softest and most +brilliant days of September shone forth in all its splendor. + +Beauchamp, one of the kings of the press, and therefore claiming the +right of a throne everywhere, was eying everybody through his monocle. +He perceived Chateau-Renaud and Debray, who had just gained the good +graces of a sergeant-at-arms, and who had persuaded the latter to let +them stand before, instead of behind him, as they ought to have done. +The worthy sergeant had recognized the minister's secretary and the +millionnaire, and, by way of paying extra attention to his noble +neighbors, promised to keep their places while they paid a visit to +Beauchamp. + +"Well," said Beauchamp, "we shall see our friend!" + +"Yes, indeed!" replied Debray. "That worthy prince. Deuce take those +Italian princes!" + +"A man, too, who could boast of Dante for a genealogist, and could +reckon back to the 'Divine Comedy.'" + +"A nobility of the rope!" said Chateau-Renaud phlegmatically. + +"He will be condemned, will he not?" asked Debray of Beauchamp. + +"My dear fellow, I think we should ask you that question; you know such +news much better than we do. Did you see the president at the minister's +last night?" + +"Yes." + +"What did he say?" + +"Something which will surprise you." + +"Oh, make haste and tell me, then; it is a long time since that has +happened." + +"Well, he told me that Benedetto, who is considered a serpent of +subtlety and a giant of cunning, is really but a very commonplace, silly +rascal, and altogether unworthy of the experiments that will be made on +his phrenological organs after his death." + +"Bah," said Beauchamp, "he played the prince very well." + +"Yes, for you who detest those unhappy princes, Beauchamp, and are +always delighted to find fault with them; but not for me, who discover +a gentleman by instinct, and who scent out an aristocratic family like a +very bloodhound of heraldry." + +"Then you never believed in the principality?" + +"Yes.--in the principality, but not in the prince." + +"Not so bad," said Beauchamp; "still, I assure you, he passed very well +with many people; I saw him at the ministers' houses." + +"Ah, yes," said Chateau-Renaud. "The idea of thinking ministers +understand anything about princes!" + +"There is something in what you have just said," said Beauchamp, +laughing. + +"But," said Debray to Beauchamp, "if I spoke to the president, you must +have been with the procureur." + +"It was an impossibility; for the last week M. de Villefort has +secluded himself. It is natural enough; this strange chain of domestic +afflictions, followed by the no less strange death of his daughter"-- + +"Strange? What do you mean, Beauchamp?" + +"Oh, yes; do you pretend that all this has been unobserved at the +minister's?" said Beauchamp, placing his eye-glass in his eye, where he +tried to make it remain. + +"My dear sir," said Chateau-Renaud, "allow me to tell you that you do +not understand that manoeuvre with the eye-glass half so well as Debray. +Give him a lesson, Debray." + +"Stay," said Beauchamp, "surely I am not deceived." + +"What is it?" + +"It is she!" + +"Whom do you mean?" + +"They said she had left." + +"Mademoiselle Eugenie?" said Chateau-Renaud; "has she returned?" + +"No, but her mother." + +"Madame Danglars? Nonsense! Impossible!" said Chateau-Renaud; "only +ten days after the flight of her daughter, and three days from the +bankruptcy of her husband?" + +Debray colored slightly, and followed with his eyes the direction of +Beauchamp's glance. "Come," he said, "it is only a veiled lady, some +foreign princess, perhaps the mother of Cavalcanti. But you were just +speaking on a very interesting topic, Beauchamp." + +"I?" + +"Yes; you were telling us about the extraordinary death of Valentine." + +"Ah, yes, so I was. But how is it that Madame de Villefort is not here?" + +"Poor, dear woman," said Debray, "she is no doubt occupied in distilling +balm for the hospitals, or in making cosmetics for herself or friends. +Do you know she spends two or three thousand crowns a year in this +amusement? But I wonder she is not here. I should have been pleased to +see her, for I like her very much." + +"And I hate her," said Chateau-Renaud. + +"Why?" + +"I do not know. Why do we love? Why do we hate? I detest her, from +antipathy." + +"Or, rather, by instinct." + +"Perhaps so. But to return to what you were saying, Beauchamp." + +"Well, do you know why they die so multitudinously at M. de +Villefort's?" + +"'Multitudinously' is good," said Chateau-Renaud. + +"My good fellow, you'll find the word in Saint-Simon." + +"But the thing itself is at M. de Villefort's; but let's get back to the +subject." + +"Talking of that," said Debray, "Madame was making inquiries about that +house, which for the last three months has been hung with black." + +"Who is Madame?" asked Chateau-Renaud. + +"The minister's wife, pardieu!" + +"Oh, your pardon! I never visit ministers; I leave that to the princes." + +"Really, You were only before sparkling, but now you are brilliant; take +compassion on us, or, like Jupiter, you will wither us up." + +"I will not speak again," said Chateau-Renaud; "pray have compassion +upon me, and do not take up every word I say." + +"Come, let us endeavor to get to the end of our story, Beauchamp; I +told you that yesterday Madame made inquiries of me upon the subject; +enlighten me, and I will then communicate my information to her." + +"Well, gentlemen, the reason people die so multitudinously (I like the +word) at M. de Villefort's is that there is an assassin in the house!" +The two young men shuddered, for the same idea had more than once +occurred to them. "And who is the assassin;" they asked together. + +"Young Edward!" A burst of laughter from the auditors did not in the +least disconcert the speaker, who continued,--"Yes, gentlemen; Edward, +the infant phenomenon, who is quite an adept in the art of killing." + +"You are jesting." + +"Not at all. I yesterday engaged a servant, who had just left M. +de Villefort--I intend sending him away to-morrow, for he eats so +enormously, to make up for the fast imposed upon him by his terror in +that house. Well, now listen." + +"We are listening." + +"It appears the dear child has obtained possession of a bottle +containing some drug, which he every now and then uses against those who +have displeased him. First, M. and Madame de Saint-Meran incurred his +displeasure, so he poured out three drops of his elixir--three drops +were sufficient; then followed Barrois, the old servant of M. Noirtier, +who sometimes rebuffed this little wretch--he therefore received the +same quantity of the elixir; the same happened to Valentine, of whom he +was jealous; he gave her the same dose as the others, and all was over +for her as well as the rest." + +"Why, what nonsense are you telling us?" said Chateau-Renaud. + +"Yes, it is an extraordinary story," said Beauchamp; "is it not?" + +"It is absurd," said Debray. + +"Ah," said Beauchamp, "you doubt me? Well, you can ask my servant, or +rather him who will no longer be my servant to-morrow, it was the talk +of the house." + +"And this elixir, where is it? what is it?" + +"The child conceals it." + +"But where did he find it?" + +"In his mother's laboratory." + +"Does his mother then, keep poisons in her laboratory?" + +"How can I tell? You are questioning me like a king's attorney. I only +repeat what I have been told, and like my informant I can do no more. +The poor devil would eat nothing, from fear." + +"It is incredible!" + +"No, my dear fellow, it is not at all incredible. You saw the child pass +through the Rue Richelieu last year, who amused himself with killing his +brothers and sisters by sticking pins in their ears while they slept. +The generation who follow us are very precocious." + +"Come, Beauchamp," said Chateau-Renaud, "I will bet anything you do not +believe a word of all you have been telling us." + +"I do not see the Count of Monte Cristo here." + +"He is worn out," said Debray; "besides, he could not well appear in +public, since he has been the dupe of the Cavalcanti, who, it appears, +presented themselves to him with false letters of credit, and cheated +him out of 100,000. francs upon the hypothesis of this principality." + +"By the way, M. de Chateau-Renaud," asked Beauchamp, "how is Morrel?" + +"Ma foi, I have called three times without once seeing him. Still, his +sister did not seem uneasy, and told me that though she had not seen him +for two or three days, she was sure he was well." + +"Ah, now I think of it, the Count of Monte Cristo cannot appear in the +hall," said Beauchamp. + +"Why not?" + +"Because he is an actor in the drama." + +"Has he assassinated any one, then?" + +"No, on the contrary, they wished to assassinate him. You know that +it was in leaving his house that M. de Caderousse was murdered by his +friend Benedetto. You know that the famous waistcoat was found in +his house, containing the letter which stopped the signature of +the marriage-contract. Do you see the waistcoat? There it is, all +blood-stained, on the desk, as a testimony of the crime." + +"Ah, very good." + +"Hush, gentlemen, here is the court; let us go back to our places." A +noise was heard in the hall; the sergeant called his two patrons with +an energetic "hem!" and the door-keeper appearing, called out with that +shrill voice peculiar to his order, ever since the days of Beaumarchais, +"The court, gentlemen!" + + + +Chapter 110. The Indictment. + +The judges took their places in the midst of the most profound silence; +the jury took their seats; M. de Villefort, the object of unusual +attention, and we had almost said of general admiration, sat in the +arm-chair and cast a tranquil glance around him. Every one looked +with astonishment on that grave and severe face, whose calm expression +personal griefs had been unable to disturb, and the aspect of a man who +was a stranger to all human emotions excited something very like terror. + +"Gendarmes," said the president, "lead in the accused." + +At these words the public attention became more intense, and all eyes +were turned towards the door through which Benedetto was to enter. +The door soon opened and the accused appeared. The same impression was +experienced by all present, and no one was deceived by the expression +of his countenance. His features bore no sign of that deep emotion +which stops the beating of the heart and blanches the cheek. His hands, +gracefully placed, one upon his hat, the other in the opening of his +white waistcoat, were not at all tremulous; his eye was calm and even +brilliant. Scarcely had he entered the hall when he glanced at the +whole body of magistrates and assistants; his eye rested longer on the +president, and still more so on the king's attorney. By the side of +Andrea was stationed the lawyer who was to conduct his defence, and +who had been appointed by the court, for Andrea disdained to pay +any attention to those details, to which he appeared to attach no +importance. The lawyer was a young man with light hair whose face +expressed a hundred times more emotion than that which characterized the +prisoner. + +The president called for the indictment, revised as we know, by the +clever and implacable pen of Villefort. During the reading of this, +which was long, the public attention was continually drawn towards +Andrea, who bore the inspection with Spartan unconcern. Villefort had +never been so concise and eloquent. The crime was depicted in the most +vivid colors; the former life of the prisoner, his transformation, a +review of his life from the earliest period, were set forth with all the +talent that a knowledge of human life could furnish to a mind like that +of the procureur. Benedetto was thus forever condemned in public opinion +before the sentence of the law could be pronounced. Andrea paid no +attention to the successive charges which were brought against him. M. +de Villefort, who examined him attentively, and who no doubt practiced +upon him all the psychological studies he was accustomed to use, in vain +endeavored to make him lower his eyes, notwithstanding the depth and +profundity of his gaze. At length the reading of the indictment was +ended. + +"Accused," said the president, "your name and surname?" Andrea arose. +"Excuse me, Mr. President," he said, in a clear voice, "but I see you +are going to adopt a course of questions through which I cannot follow +you. I have an idea, which I will explain by and by, of making an +exception to the usual form of accusation. Allow me, then, if you +please, to answer in different order, or I will not do so at all." +The astonished president looked at the jury, who in turn looked at +Villefort. The whole assembly manifested great surprise, but Andrea +appeared quite unmoved. "Your age?" said the president; "will you answer +that question?" + +"I will answer that question, as well as the rest, Mr. President, but in +its turn." + +"Your age?" repeated the president. + +"I am twenty-one years old, or rather I shall be in a few days, as I was +born the night of the 27th of September, 1817." M. de Villefort, who +was busy taking down some notes, raised his head at the mention of this +date. "Where were you born?" continued the president. + +"At Auteuil, near Paris." M. de Villefort a second time raised his head, +looked at Benedetto as if he had been gazing at the head of Medusa, and +became livid. As for Benedetto, he gracefully wiped his lips with a fine +cambric pocket-handkerchief. "Your profession?" + +"First I was a forger," answered Andrea, as calmly as possible; "then I +became a thief, and lately have become an assassin." A murmur, or rather +storm, of indignation burst from all parts of the assembly. The judges +themselves appeared to be stupefied, and the jury manifested tokens of +disgust for cynicism so unexpected in a man of fashion. M. de Villefort +pressed his hand upon his brow, which, at first pale, had become red and +burning; then he suddenly arose and looked around as though he had lost +his senses--he wanted air. + +"Are you looking for anything, Mr. Procureur?" asked Benedetto, with his +most ingratiating smile. M. de Villefort answered nothing, but sat, or +rather threw himself down again upon his chair. "And now, prisoner, +will you consent to tell your name?" said the president. "The brutal +affectation with which you have enumerated and classified your crimes +calls for a severe reprimand on the part of the court, both in the name +of morality, and for the respect due to humanity. You appear to consider +this a point of honor, and it may be for this reason, that you have +delayed acknowledging your name. You wished it to be preceded by all +these titles." + +"It is quite wonderful, Mr. President, how entirely you have read my +thoughts," said Benedetto, in his softest voice and most polite manner. +"This is, indeed, the reason why I begged you to alter the order of the +questions." The public astonishment had reached its height. There was no +longer any deceit or bravado in the manner of the accused. The audience +felt that a startling revelation was to follow this ominous prelude. + +"Well," said the president; "your name?" + +"I cannot tell you my name, since I do not know it; but I know my +father's, and can tell it to you." + +A painful giddiness overwhelmed Villefort; great drops of acrid sweat +fell from his face upon the papers which he held in his convulsed hand. + +"Repeat your father's name," said the president. Not a whisper, not a +breath, was heard in that vast assembly; every one waited anxiously. + +"My father is king's attorney," replied Andrea calmly. + +"King's attorney?" said the president, stupefied, and without noticing +the agitation which spread over the face of M. de Villefort; "king's +attorney?" + +"Yes; and if you wish to know his name, I will tell it,--he is named +Villefort." The explosion, which had been so long restrained from a +feeling of respect to the court of justice, now burst forth like thunder +from the breasts of all present; the court itself did not seek to +restrain the feelings of the audience. The exclamations, the insults +addressed to Benedetto, who remained perfectly unconcerned, the +energetic gestures, the movement of the gendarmes, the sneers of the +scum of the crowd always sure to rise to the surface in case of any +disturbance--all this lasted five minutes, before the door-keepers and +magistrates were able to restore silence. In the midst of this tumult +the voice of the president was heard to exclaim,--"Are you playing with +justice, accused, and do you dare set your fellow-citizens an example of +disorder which even in these times has never been equalled?" + +Several persons hurried up to M. de Villefort, who sat half bowed over +in his chair, offering him consolation, encouragement, and protestations +of zeal and sympathy. Order was re-established in the hall, except that +a few people still moved about and whispered to one another. A lady, +it was said, had just fainted; they had supplied her with a +smelling-bottle, and she had recovered. During the scene of tumult, +Andrea had turned his smiling face towards the assembly; then, leaning +with one hand on the oaken rail of the dock, in the most graceful +attitude possible, he said: "Gentlemen, I assure you I had no idea of +insulting the court, or of making a useless disturbance in the presence +of this honorable assembly. They ask my age; I tell it. They ask where I +was born; I answer. They ask my name, I cannot give it, since my parents +abandoned me. But though I cannot give my own name, not possessing one, +I can tell them my father's. Now I repeat, my father is named M. de +Villefort, and I am ready to prove it." + +There was an energy, a conviction, and a sincerity in the manner of the +young man, which silenced the tumult. All eyes were turned for a moment +towards the procureur, who sat as motionless as though a thunderbolt had +changed him into a corpse. "Gentlemen," said Andrea, commanding silence +by his voice and manner; "I owe you the proofs and explanations of what +I have said." + +"But," said the irritated president, "you called yourself Benedetto, +declared yourself an orphan, and claimed Corsica as your country." + +"I said anything I pleased, in order that the solemn declaration I have +just made should not be withheld, which otherwise would certainly have +been the case. I now repeat that I was born at Auteuil on the night of +the 27th of September, 1817, and that I am the son of the procureur, M. +de Villefort. Do you wish for any further details? I will give them. I +was born in No. 28, Rue de la Fontaine, in a room hung with red damask; +my father took me in his arms, telling my mother I was dead, wrapped +me in a napkin marked with an H and an N, and carried me into a garden, +where he buried me alive." + +A shudder ran through the assembly when they saw that the confidence of +the prisoner increased in proportion to the terror of M. de Villefort. +"But how have you become acquainted with all these details?" asked the +president. + +"I will tell you, Mr. President. A man who had sworn vengeance against +my father, and had long watched his opportunity to kill him, had +introduced himself that night into the garden in which my father buried +me. He was concealed in a thicket; he saw my father bury something in +the ground, and stabbed him; then thinking the deposit might contain +some treasure he turned up the ground, and found me still living. The +man carried me to the foundling asylum, where I was registered under the +number 37. Three months afterwards, a woman travelled from Rogliano to +Paris to fetch me, and having claimed me as her son, carried me away. +Thus, you see, though born in Paris, I was brought up in Corsica." + +There was a moment's silence, during which one could have fancied +the hall empty, so profound was the stillness. "Proceed," said the +president. + +"Certainly, I might have lived happily amongst those good people, who +adored me, but my perverse disposition prevailed over the virtues which +my adopted mother endeavored to instil into my heart. I increased in +wickedness till I committed crime. One day when I cursed Providence for +making me so wicked, and ordaining me to such a fate, my adopted father +said to me, 'Do not blaspheme, unhappy child, the crime is that of your +father, not yours,--of your father, who consigned you to hell if you +died, and to misery if a miracle preserved you alive.' After that I +ceased to blaspheme, but I cursed my father. That is why I have uttered +the words for which you blame me; that is why I have filled this whole +assembly with horror. If I have committed an additional crime, punish +me, but if you will allow that ever since the day of my birth my fate +has been sad, bitter, and lamentable, then pity me." + +"But your mother?" asked the president. + +"My mother thought me dead; she is not guilty. I did not even wish to +know her name, nor do I know it." Just then a piercing cry, ending in a +sob, burst from the centre of the crowd, who encircled the lady who had +before fainted, and who now fell into a violent fit of hysterics. She +was carried out of the hall, the thick veil which concealed her face +dropped off, and Madame Danglars was recognized. Notwithstanding his +shattered nerves, the ringing sensation in his ears, and the madness +which turned his brain, Villefort rose as he perceived her. "The proofs, +the proofs!" said the president; "remember this tissue of horrors must +be supported by the clearest proofs." + +"The proofs?" said Benedetto, laughing; "do you want proofs?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, then, look at M. de Villefort, and then ask me for proofs." + +Every one turned towards the procureur, who, unable to bear the +universal gaze now riveted on him alone, advanced staggering into the +midst of the tribunal, with his hair dishevelled and his face indented +with the mark of his nails. The whole assembly uttered a long murmur of +astonishment. "Father," said Benedetto, "I am asked for proofs, do you +wish me to give them?" + +"No, no, it is useless," stammered M. de Villefort in a hoarse voice; +"no, it is useless!" + +"How useless?" cried the president, "what do you mean?" + +"I mean that I feel it impossible to struggle against this deadly weight +which crushes me. Gentlemen, I know I am in the hands of an avenging +God! We need no proofs; everything relating to this young man is true." +A dull, gloomy silence, like that which precedes some awful phenomenon +of nature, pervaded the assembly, who shuddered in dismay. "What, M. +de Villefort," cried the president, "do you yield to an hallucination? +What, are you no longer in possession of your senses? This strange, +unexpected, terrible accusation has disordered your reason. Come, +recover." + +The procureur dropped his head; his teeth chattered like those of a man +under a violent attack of fever, and yet he was deadly pale. + +"I am in possession of all my senses, sir," he said; "my body alone +suffers, as you may suppose. I acknowledge myself guilty of all the +young man has brought against me, and from this hour hold myself under +the authority of the procureur who will succeed me." + +And as he spoke these words with a hoarse, choking voice, he staggered +towards the door, which was mechanically opened by a door-keeper. +The whole assembly were dumb with astonishment at the revelation and +confession which had produced a catastrophe so different from that which +had been expected during the last fortnight by the Parisian world. + +"Well," said Beauchamp, "let them now say that drama is unnatural!" + +"Ma foi!" said Chateau-Renaud, "I would rather end my career like M. +de Morcerf; a pistol-shot seems quite delightful compared with this +catastrophe." + +"And moreover, it kills," said Beauchamp. + +"And to think that I had an idea of marrying his daughter," said Debray. +"She did well to die, poor girl!" + +"The sitting is adjourned, gentlemen," said the president; "fresh +inquiries will be made, and the case will be tried next session by +another magistrate." As for Andrea, who was calm and more interesting +than ever, he left the hall, escorted by gendarmes, who involuntarily +paid him some attention. "Well, what do you think of this, my fine +fellow?" asked Debray of the sergeant-at-arms, slipping a louis into his +hand. "There will be extenuating circumstances," he replied. + + + +Chapter 111. Expiation. + +Notwithstanding the density of the crowd, M. de Villefort saw it open +before him. There is something so awe-inspiring in great afflictions +that even in the worst times the first emotion of a crowd has generally +been to sympathize with the sufferer in a great catastrophe. Many people +have been assassinated in a tumult, but even criminals have rarely +been insulted during trial. Thus Villefort passed through the mass +of spectators and officers of the Palais, and withdrew. Though he had +acknowledged his guilt, he was protected by his grief. There are +some situations which men understand by instinct, but which reason is +powerless to explain; in such cases the greatest poet is he who gives +utterance to the most natural and vehement outburst of sorrow. Those +who hear the bitter cry are as much impressed as if they listened to +an entire poem, and when the sufferer is sincere they are right in +regarding his outburst as sublime. + +It would be difficult to describe the state of stupor in which Villefort +left the Palais. Every pulse beat with feverish excitement, every nerve +was strained, every vein swollen, and every part of his body seemed +to suffer distinctly from the rest, thus multiplying his agony a +thousand-fold. He made his way along the corridors through force of +habit; he threw aside his magisterial robe, not out of deference to +etiquette, but because it was an unbearable burden, a veritable garb +of Nessus, insatiate in torture. Having staggered as far as the Rue +Dauphine, he perceived his carriage, awoke his sleeping coachman by +opening the door himself, threw himself on the cushions, and pointed +towards the Faubourg Saint-Honore; the carriage drove on. The weight of +his fallen fortunes seemed suddenly to crush him; he could not +foresee the consequences; he could not contemplate the future with the +indifference of the hardened criminal who merely faces a contingency +already familiar. God was still in his heart. "God," he murmured, not +knowing what he said,--"God--God!" Behind the event that had overwhelmed +him he saw the hand of God. The carriage rolled rapidly onward. +Villefort, while turning restlessly on the cushions, felt something +press against him. He put out his hand to remove the object; it was +a fan which Madame de Villefort had left in the carriage; this fan +awakened a recollection which darted through his mind like lightning. He +thought of his wife. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed, as though a redhot iron were piercing his heart. +During the last hour his own crime had alone been presented to his mind; +now another object, not less terrible, suddenly presented itself. His +wife! He had just acted the inexorable judge with her, he had condemned +her to death, and she, crushed by remorse, struck with terror, +covered with the shame inspired by the eloquence of his irreproachable +virtue,--she, a poor, weak woman, without help or the power of defending +herself against his absolute and supreme will,--she might at that very +moment, perhaps, be preparing to die! An hour had elapsed since her +condemnation; at that moment, doubtless, she was recalling all her +crimes to her memory; she was asking pardon for her sins; perhaps +she was even writing a letter imploring forgiveness from her virtuous +husband--a forgiveness she was purchasing with her death! Villefort +again groaned with anguish and despair. "Ah," he exclaimed, "that woman +became criminal only from associating with me! I carried the infection +of crime with me, and she has caught it as she would the typhus fever, +the cholera, the plague! And yet I have punished her--I have dared to +tell her--I have--'Repent and die!' But no, she must not die; she shall +live, and with me. We will flee from Paris and go as far as the earth +reaches. I told her of the scaffold; oh, heavens, I forgot that it +awaits me also! How could I pronounce that word? Yes, we will fly; +I will confess all to her,--I will tell her daily that I also have +committed a crime!--Oh, what an alliance--the tiger and the serpent; +worthy wife of such as I am! She must live that my infamy may diminish +hers." And Villefort dashed open the window in front of the carriage. + +"Faster, faster!" he cried, in a tone which electrified the coachman. +The horses, impelled by fear, flew towards the house. + +"Yes, yes," repeated Villefort, as he approached his home--"yes, that +woman must live; she must repent, and educate my son, the sole survivor, +with the exception of the indestructible old man, of the wreck of +my house. She loves him; it was for his sake she has committed these +crimes. We ought never to despair of softening the heart of a mother who +loves her child. She will repent, and no one will know that she has been +guilty. The events which have taken place in my house, though they now +occupy the public mind, will be forgotten in time, or if, indeed, a few +enemies should persist in remembering them, why then I will add them to +my list of crimes. What will it signify if one, two, or three more are +added? My wife and child shall escape from this gulf, carrying treasures +with them; she will live and may yet be happy, since her child, in whom +all her love is centred, will be with her. I shall have performed a good +action, and my heart will be lighter." And the procureur breathed more +freely than he had done for some time. + +The carriage stopped at the door of the house. Villefort leaped out +of the carriage, and saw that his servants were surprised at his early +return; he could read no other expression on their features. Neither of +them spoke to him; they merely stood aside to let him pass by, as usual, +nothing more. As he passed by M. Noirtier's room, he perceived two +figures through the half-open door; but he experienced no curiosity to +know who was visiting his father: anxiety carried him on further. + +"Come," he said, as he ascended the stairs leading to his wife's room, +"nothing is changed here." He then closed the door of the landing. +"No one must disturb us," he said; "I must speak freely to her, accuse +myself, and say"--he approached the door, touched the crystal handle, +which yielded to his hand. "Not locked," he cried; "that is well." And +he entered the little room in which Edward slept; for though the child +went to school during the day, his mother could not allow him to be +separated from her at night. With a single glance Villefort's eye +ran through the room. "Not here," he said; "doubtless she is in her +bedroom." He rushed towards the door, found it bolted, and stopped, +shuddering. "Heloise!" he cried. He fancied he heard the sound of a +piece of furniture being removed. "Heloise!" he repeated. + +"Who is there?" answered the voice of her he sought. He thought that +voice more feeble than usual. + +"Open the door!" cried Villefort. "Open; it is I." But notwithstanding +this request, notwithstanding the tone of anguish in which it was +uttered, the door remained closed. Villefort burst it open with a +violent blow. At the entrance of the room which led to her boudoir, +Madame de Villefort was standing erect, pale, her features contracted, +and her eyes glaring horribly. "Heloise, Heloise!" he said, "what is the +matter? Speak!" The young woman extended her stiff white hands towards +him. "It is done, monsieur," she said with a rattling noise which seemed +to tear her throat. "What more do you want?" and she fell full length on +the floor. Villefort ran to her and seized her hand, which convulsively +clasped a crystal bottle with a golden stopper. Madame de Villefort was +dead. Villefort, maddened with horror, stepped back to the threshhold +of the door, fixing his eyes on the corpse: "My son!" he exclaimed +suddenly, "where is my son?--Edward, Edward!" and he rushed out of the +room, still crying, "Edward, Edward!" The name was pronounced in such a +tone of anguish that the servants ran up. + +"Where is my son?" asked Villefort; "let him be removed from the house, +that he may not see"-- + +"Master Edward is not down-stairs, sir," replied the valet. + +"Then he must be playing in the garden; go and see." + +"No, sir; Madame de Villefort sent for him half an hour ago; he went +into her room, and has not been down-stairs since." A cold perspiration +burst out on Villefort's brow; his legs trembled, and his thoughts flew +about madly in his brain like the wheels of a disordered watch. "In +Madame de Villefort's room?" he murmured and slowly returned, with one +hand wiping his forehead, and with the other supporting himself +against the wall. To enter the room he must again see the body of his +unfortunate wife. To call Edward he must reawaken the echo of that room +which now appeared like a sepulchre; to speak seemed like violating the +silence of the tomb. His tongue was paralyzed in his mouth. + +"Edward!" he stammered--"Edward!" The child did not answer. Where, then, +could he be, if he had entered his mother's room and not since returned? +He stepped forward. The corpse of Madame de Villefort was stretched +across the doorway leading to the room in which Edward must be; those +glaring eyes seemed to watch over the threshold, and the lips bore the +stamp of a terrible and mysterious irony. Through the open door was +visible a portion of the boudoir, containing an upright piano and a blue +satin couch. Villefort stepped forward two or three paces, and beheld +his child lying--no doubt asleep--on the sofa. The unhappy man uttered +an exclamation of joy; a ray of light seemed to penetrate the abyss of +despair and darkness. He had only to step over the corpse, enter the +boudoir, take the child in his arms, and flee far, far away. + +Villefort was no longer the civilized man; he was a tiger hurt unto +death, gnashing his teeth in his wound. He no longer feared realities, +but phantoms. He leaped over the corpse as if it had been a burning +brazier. He took the child in his arms, embraced him, shook him, called +him, but the child made no response. He pressed his burning lips to the +cheeks, but they were icy cold and pale; he felt the stiffened limbs; he +pressed his hand upon the heart, but it no longer beat,--the child +was dead. A folded paper fell from Edward's breast. Villefort, +thunderstruck, fell upon his knees; the child dropped from his arms, and +rolled on the floor by the side of its mother. He picked up the paper, +and, recognizing his wife's writing, ran his eyes rapidly over its +contents; it ran as follows:-- + +"You know that I was a good mother, since it was for my son's sake I +became criminal. A good mother cannot depart without her son." + +Villefort could not believe his eyes,--he could not believe his reason; +he dragged himself towards the child's body, and examined it as a +lioness contemplates its dead cub. Then a piercing cry escaped from his +breast, and he cried, "Still the hand of God." The presence of the +two victims alarmed him; he could not bear solitude shared only by two +corpses. Until then he had been sustained by rage, by his strength of +mind, by despair, by the supreme agony which led the Titans to scale the +heavens, and Ajax to defy the gods. He now arose, his head bowed beneath +the weight of grief, and, shaking his damp, dishevelled hair, he who had +never felt compassion for any one determined to seek his father, that he +might have some one to whom he could relate his misfortunes,--some one +by whose side he might weep. He descended the little staircase with +which we are acquainted, and entered Noirtier's room. The old man +appeared to be listening attentively and as affectionately as his +infirmities would allow to the Abbe Busoni, who looked cold and calm, as +usual. Villefort, perceiving the abbe, passed his hand across his +brow. He recollected the call he had made upon him after the dinner at +Auteuil, and then the visit the abbe had himself paid to his house on +the day of Valentine's death. "You here, sir!" he exclaimed; "do you, +then, never appear but to act as an escort to death?" + +Busoni turned around, and, perceiving the excitement depicted on the +magistrate's face, the savage lustre of his eyes, he understood that +the revelation had been made at the assizes; but beyond this he was +ignorant. "I came to pray over the body of your daughter." + +"And now why are you here?" + +"I come to tell you that you have sufficiently repaid your debt, and +that from this moment I will pray to God to forgive you, as I do." + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed Villefort, stepping back fearfully, "surely +that is not the voice of the Abbe Busoni!" + +"No!" The abbe threw off his wig, shook his head, and his hair, no +longer confined, fell in black masses around his manly face. + +"It is the face of the Count of Monte Cristo!" exclaimed the procureur, +with a haggard expression. + +"You are not exactly right, M. Procureur; you must go farther back." + +"That voice, that voice!--where did I first hear it?" + +"You heard it for the first time at Marseilles, twenty-three years ago, +the day of your marriage with Mademoiselle de Saint-Meran. Refer to your +papers." + +"You are not Busoni?--you are not Monte Cristo? Oh, heavens--you are, +then, some secret, implacable, and mortal enemy! I must have wronged you +in some way at Marseilles. Oh, woe to me!" + +"Yes; you are now on the right path," said the count, crossing his arms +over his broad chest; "search--search!" + +"But what have I done to you?" exclaimed Villefort, whose mind was +balancing between reason and insanity, in that cloud which is neither a +dream nor reality; "what have I done to you? Tell me, then! Speak!" + +"You condemned me to a horrible, tedious death; you killed my father; +you deprived me of liberty, of love, and happiness." + +"Who are you, then? Who are you?" + +"I am the spectre of a wretch you buried in the dungeons of the Chateau +d'If. God gave that spectre the form of the Count of Monte Cristo when +he at length issued from his tomb, enriched him with gold and diamonds, +and led him to you!" + +"Ah, I recognize you--I recognize you!" exclaimed the king's attorney; +"you are"-- + +"I am Edmond Dantes!" + +"You are Edmond Dantes," cried Villefort, seizing the count by the +wrist; "then come here!" And up the stairs he dragged Monte Cristo; who, +ignorant of what had happened, followed him in astonishment, foreseeing +some new catastrophe. "There, Edmond Dantes!" he said, pointing to the +bodies of his wife and child, "see, are you well avenged?" Monte Cristo +became pale at this horrible sight; he felt that he had passed beyond +the bounds of vengeance, and that he could no longer say, "God is for +and with me." With an expression of indescribable anguish he threw +himself upon the body of the child, reopened its eyes, felt its +pulse, and then rushed with him into Valentine's room, of which he +double-locked the door. "My child," cried Villefort, "he carries away +the body of my child! Oh, curses, woe, death to you!" and he tried to +follow Monte Cristo; but as though in a dream he was transfixed to the +spot,--his eyes glared as though they were starting through the sockets; +he griped the flesh on his chest until his nails were stained with +blood; the veins of his temples swelled and boiled as though they would +burst their narrow boundary, and deluge his brain with living fire. +This lasted several minutes, until the frightful overturn of reason was +accomplished; then uttering a loud cry followed by a burst of laughter, +he rushed down the stairs. + +A quarter of an hour afterwards the door of Valentine's room opened, and +Monte Cristo reappeared. Pale, with a dull eye and heavy heart, all the +noble features of that face, usually so calm and serene, were overcast +by grief. In his arms he held the child, whom no skill had been able to +recall to life. Bending on one knee, he placed it reverently by the side +of its mother, with its head upon her breast. Then, rising, he went +out, and meeting a servant on the stairs, he asked, "Where is M. de +Villefort?" + +The servant, instead of answering, pointed to the garden. Monte Cristo +ran down the steps, and advancing towards the spot designated beheld +Villefort, encircled by his servants, with a spade in his hand, and +digging the earth with fury. "It is not here!" he cried. "It is not +here!" And then he moved farther on, and began again to dig. + +Monte Cristo approached him, and said in a low voice, with an expression +almost humble, "Sir, you have indeed lost a son; but"-- + +Villefort interrupted him; he had neither listened nor heard. "Oh, I +will find it," he cried; "you may pretend he is not here, but I will +find him, though I dig forever!" Monte Cristo drew back in horror. "Oh," +he said, "he is mad!" And as though he feared that the walls of the +accursed house would crumble around him, he rushed into the street, for +the first time doubting whether he had the right to do as he had done. +"Oh, enough of this,--enough of this," he cried; "let me save the last." +On entering his house, he met Morrel, who wandered about like a ghost +awaiting the heavenly mandate for return to the tomb. "Prepare yourself, +Maximilian," he said with a smile; "we leave Paris to-morrow." + +"Have you nothing more to do there?" asked Morrel. + +"No," replied Monte Cristo; "God grant I may not have done too much +already." + +The next day they indeed left, accompanied only by Baptistin. Haidee had +taken away Ali, and Bertuccio remained with Noirtier. + + + +Chapter 112. The Departure. + +The recent event formed the theme of conversation throughout all Paris. +Emmanuel and his wife conversed with natural astonishment in their +little apartment in the Rue Meslay upon the three successive, sudden, +and most unexpected catastrophes of Morcerf, Danglars, and Villefort. +Maximilian, who was paying them a visit, listened to their conversation, +or rather was present at it, plunged in his accustomed state of apathy. +"Indeed," said Julie, "might we not almost fancy, Emmanuel, that +those people, so rich, so happy but yesterday, had forgotten in their +prosperity that an evil genius--like the wicked fairies in Perrault's +stories who present themselves unbidden at a wedding or baptism--hovered +over them, and appeared all at once to revenge himself for their fatal +neglect?" + +"What a dire misfortune!" said Emmanuel, thinking of Morcerf and +Danglars. + +"What dreadful sufferings!" said Julie, remembering Valentine, but whom, +with a delicacy natural to women, she did not name before her brother. + +"If the Supreme Being has directed the fatal blow," said Emmanuel, "it +must be that he in his great goodness has perceived nothing in the past +lives of these people to merit mitigation of their awful punishment." + +"Do you not form a very rash judgment, Emmanuel?" said Julie. "When my +father, with a pistol in his hand, was once on the point of committing +suicide, had any one then said, 'This man deserves his misery,' would +not that person have been deceived?" + +"Yes; but your father was not allowed to fall. A being was commissioned +to arrest the fatal hand of death about to descend on him." + +Emmanuel had scarcely uttered these words when the sound of the bell +was heard, the well-known signal given by the porter that a visitor had +arrived. Nearly at the same instant the door was opened and the Count of +Monte Cristo appeared on the threshold. The young people uttered a +cry of joy, while Maximilian raised his head, but let it fall again +immediately. "Maximilian," said the count, without appearing to notice +the different impressions which his presence produced on the little +circle, "I come to seek you." + +"To seek me?" repeated Morrel, as if awakening from a dream. + +"Yes," said Monte Cristo; "has it not been agreed that I should take you +with me, and did I not tell you yesterday to prepare for departure?" + +"I am ready," said Maximilian; "I came expressly to wish them farewell." + +"Whither are you going, count?" asked Julie. + +"In the first instance to Marseilles, madame." + +"To Marseilles!" exclaimed the young couple. + +"Yes, and I take your brother with me." + +"Oh, count." said Julie, "will you restore him to us cured of his +melancholy?"--Morrel turned away to conceal the confusion of his +countenance. + +"You perceive, then, that he is not happy?" said the count. "Yes," +replied the young woman; "and fear much that he finds our home but a +dull one." + +"I will undertake to divert him," replied the count. + +"I am ready to accompany you, sir," said Maximilian. "Adieu, my kind +friends! Emmanuel--Julie--farewell!" + +"How farewell?" exclaimed Julie; "do you leave us thus, so suddenly, +without any preparations for your journey, without even a passport?" + +"Needless delays but increase the grief of parting," said Monte +Cristo, "and Maximilian has doubtless provided himself with everything +requisite; at least, I advised him to do so." + +"I have a passport, and my clothes are ready packed," said Morrel in his +tranquil but mournful manner. + +"Good," said Monte Cristo, smiling; "in these prompt arrangements we +recognize the order of a well-disciplined soldier." + +"And you leave us," said Julie, "at a moment's warning? you do not give +us a day--no, not even an hour before your departure?" + +"My carriage is at the door, madame, and I must be in Rome in five +days." + +"But does Maximilian go to Rome?" exclaimed Emmanuel. + +"I am going wherever it may please the count to take me," said Morrel, +with a smile full of grief; "I am under his orders for the next month." + +"Oh, heavens, how strangely he expresses himself, count!" said Julie. + +"Maximilian goes with me," said the count, in his kindest and most +persuasive manner; "therefore do not make yourself uneasy on your +brother's account." + +"Once more farewell, my dear sister; Emmanuel, adieu!" Morrel repeated. + +"His carelessness and indifference touch me to the heart," said Julie. +"Oh, Maximilian, Maximilian, you are certainly concealing something from +us." + +"Pshaw!" said Monte Cristo, "you will see him return to you gay, +smiling, and joyful." + +Maximilian cast a look of disdain, almost of anger, on the count. + +"We must leave you," said Monte Cristo. + +"Before you quit us, count," said Julie, "will you permit us to express +to you all that the other day"-- + +"Madame," interrupted the count, taking her two hands in his, "all that +you could say in words would never express what I read in your eyes; the +thoughts of your heart are fully understood by mine. Like benefactors +in romances, I should have left you without seeing you again, but that +would have been a virtue beyond my strength, because I am a weak +and vain man, fond of the tender, kind, and thankful glances of my +fellow-creatures. On the eve of departure I carry my egotism so far as +to say, 'Do not forget me, my kind friends, for probably you will never +see me again.'" + +"Never see you again?" exclaimed Emmanuel, while two large tears rolled +down Julie's cheeks, "never behold you again? It is not a man, then, but +some angel that leaves us, and this angel is on the point of returning +to heaven after having appeared on earth to do good." + +"Say not so," quickly returned Monte Cristo--"say not so, my friends; +angels never err, celestial beings remain where they wish to be. Fate is +not more powerful than they; it is they who, on the contrary, overcome +fate. No, Emmanuel, I am but a man, and your admiration is as unmerited +as your words are sacrilegious." And pressing his lips on the hand of +Julie, who rushed into his arms, he extended his other hand to Emmanuel; +then tearing himself from this abode of peace and happiness, he made a +sign to Maximilian, who followed him passively, with the indifference +which had been perceptible in him ever since the death of Valentine had +so stunned him. "Restore my brother to peace and happiness," whispered +Julie to Monte Cristo. And the count pressed her hand in reply, as he +had done eleven years before on the staircase leading to Morrel's study. + +"You still confide, then, in Sinbad the Sailor?" asked he, smiling. + +"Oh, yes," was the ready answer. + +"Well, then, sleep in peace, and put your trust in heaven." As we have +before said, the postchaise was waiting; four powerful horses were +already pawing the ground with impatience, while Ali, apparently just +arrived from a long walk, was standing at the foot of the steps, his +face bathed in perspiration. "Well," asked the count in Arabic, "have +you been to see the old man?" Ali made a sign in the affirmative. + +"And have you placed the letter before him, as I ordered you to do?" + +The slave respectfully signalized that he had. "And what did he say, or +rather do?" Ali placed himself in the light, so that his master might +see him distinctly, and then imitating in his intelligent manner the +countenance of the old man, he closed his eyes, as Noirtier was in the +custom of doing when saying "Yes." + +"Good; he accepts," said Monte Cristo. "Now let us go." + +These words had scarcely escaped him, when the carriage was on its way, +and the feet of the horses struck a shower of sparks from the pavement. +Maximilian settled himself in his corner without uttering a word. Half +an hour had passed when the carriage stopped suddenly; the count had +just pulled the silken check-string, which was fastened to Ali's finger. +The Nubian immediately descended and opened the carriage door. It was +a lovely starlight night--they had just reached the top of the hill +Villejuif, from whence Paris appears like a sombre sea tossing its +millions of phosphoric waves into light--waves indeed more noisy, more +passionate, more changeable, more furious, more greedy, than those +of the tempestuous ocean,--waves which never rest as those of the sea +sometimes do,--waves ever dashing, ever foaming, ever ingulfing what +falls within their grasp. The count stood alone, and at a sign from his +hand, the carriage went on for a short distance. With folded arms, he +gazed for some time upon the great city. When he had fixed his piercing +look on this modern Babylon, which equally engages the contemplation +of the religious enthusiast, the materialist, and the scoffer,--"Great +city," murmured he, inclining his head, and joining his hands as if in +prayer, "less than six months have elapsed since first I entered thy +gates. I believe that the Spirit of God led my steps to thee and that he +also enables me to quit thee in triumph; the secret cause of my presence +within thy walls I have confided alone to him who only has had the power +to read my heart. God only knows that I retire from thee without pride +or hatred, but not without many regrets; he only knows that the power +confided to me has never been made subservient to my personal good or to +any useless cause. Oh, great city, it is in thy palpitating bosom that +I have found that which I sought; like a patient miner, I have dug +deep into thy very entrails to root out evil thence. Now my work is +accomplished, my mission is terminated, now thou canst neither afford me +pain nor pleasure. Adieu, Paris, adieu!" + +His look wandered over the vast plain like that of some genius of the +night; he passed his hand over his brow, got into the carriage, the door +was closed on him, and the vehicle quickly disappeared down the other +side of the hill in a whirlwind of noise and dust. + +Ten leagues were passed and not a single word was uttered. + +Morrel was dreaming, and Monte Cristo was looking at the dreamer. + +"Morrel," said the count to him at length, "do you repent having +followed me?" + +"No, count; but to leave Paris"-- + +"If I thought happiness might await you in Paris, Morrel, I would have +left you there." + +"Valentine reposes within the walls of Paris, and to leave Paris is like +losing her a second time." + +"Maximilian," said the count, "the friends that we have lost do not +repose in the bosom of the earth, but are buried deep in our hearts, and +it has been thus ordained that we may always be accompanied by them. I +have two friends, who in this way never depart from me; the one who gave +me being, and the other who conferred knowledge and intelligence on me. +Their spirits live in me. I consult them when doubtful, and if I ever do +any good, it is due to their beneficent counsels. Listen to the voice +of your heart, Morrel, and ask it whether you ought to preserve this +melancholy exterior towards me." + +"My friend," said Maximilian, "the voice of my heart is very sorrowful, +and promises me nothing but misfortune." + +"It is the way of weakened minds to see everything through a black +cloud. The soul forms its own horizons; your soul is darkened, and +consequently the sky of the future appears stormy and unpromising." + +"That may possibly be true," said Maximilian, and he again subsided into +his thoughtful mood. + +The journey was performed with that marvellous rapidity which the +unlimited power of the count ever commanded. Towns fled from them like +shadows on their path, and trees shaken by the first winds of autumn +seemed like giants madly rushing on to meet them, and retreating +as rapidly when once reached. The following morning they arrived at +Chalons, where the count's steamboat waited for them. Without the loss +of an instant, the carriage was placed on board and the two travellers +embarked without delay. The boat was built for speed; her two +paddle-wheels were like two wings with which she skimmed the water like +a bird. Morrel was not insensible to that sensation of delight which is +generally experienced in passing rapidly through the air, and the wind +which occasionally raised the hair from his forehead seemed on the point +of dispelling momentarily the clouds collected there. + +As the distance increased between the travellers and Paris, almost +superhuman serenity appeared to surround the count; he might have been +taken for an exile about to revisit his native land. Ere long Marseilles +presented herself to view,--Marseilles, white, fervid, full of life +and energy,--Marseilles, the younger sister of Tyre and Carthage, the +successor to them in the empire of the Mediterranean,--Marseilles, old, +yet always young. Powerful memories were stirred within them by the +sight of the round tower, Fort Saint-Nicolas, the City Hall designed +by Puget, [*] the port with its brick quays, where they had both played +in childhood, and it was with one accord that they stopped on the +Cannebiere. A vessel was setting sail for Algiers, on board of which the +bustle usually attending departure prevailed. The passengers and their +relations crowded on the deck, friends taking a tender but sorrowful +leave of each other, some weeping, others noisy in their grief, the +whole forming a spectacle that might be exciting even to those who +witnessed similar sights daily, but which had no power to disturb the +current of thought that had taken possession of the mind of Maximilian +from the moment he had set foot on the broad pavement of the quay. + + * Pierre Puget, the sculptor-architect, was born at + Marseilles in 1622. + +"Here," said he, leaning heavily on the arm of Monte Cristo,--"here is +the spot where my father stopped, when the Pharaon entered the port; it +was here that the good old man, whom you saved from death and dishonor, +threw himself into my arms. I yet feel his warm tears on my face, and +his were not the only tears shed, for many who witnessed our meeting +wept also." Monte Cristo gently smiled and said,--"I was there;" at the +same time pointing to the corner of a street. As he spoke, and in the +very direction he indicated, a groan, expressive of bitter grief, was +heard, and a woman was seen waving her hand to a passenger on board the +vessel about to sail. Monte Cristo looked at her with an emotion that +must have been remarked by Morrel had not his eyes been fixed on the +vessel. + +"Oh, heavens!" exclaimed Morrel, "I do not deceive myself--that young +man who is waving his hat, that youth in the uniform of a lieutenant, is +Albert de Morcerf!" + +"Yes," said Monte Cristo, "I recognized him." + +"How so?--you were looking the other way." the Count smiled, as he was +in the habit of doing when he did not want to make any reply, and he +again turned towards the veiled woman, who soon disappeared at the +corner of the street. Turning to his friend,--"Dear Maximilian," said +the count, "have you nothing to do in this land?" + +"I have to weep over the grave of my father," replied Morrel in a broken +voice. + +"Well, then, go,--wait for me there, and I will soon join you." + +"You leave me, then?" + +"Yes; I also have a pious visit to pay." + +Morrel allowed his hand to fall into that which the count extended to +him; then with an inexpressibly sorrowful inclination of the head he +quitted the count and bent his steps to the east of the city. Monte +Cristo remained on the same spot until Maximilian was out of sight; he +then walked slowly towards the Allees de Meillan to seek out a small +house with which our readers were made familiar at the beginning of this +story. It yet stood, under the shade of the fine avenue of lime-trees, +which forms one of the most frequent walks of the idlers of Marseilles, +covered by an immense vine, which spreads its aged and blackened +branches over the stone front, burnt yellow by the ardent sun of the +south. Two stone steps worn away by the friction of many feet led to the +door, which was made of three planks; the door had never been painted or +varnished, so great cracks yawned in it during the dry season to +close again when the rains came on. The house, with all its crumbling +antiquity and apparent misery, was yet cheerful and picturesque, and was +the same that old Dantes formerly inhabited--the only difference being +that the old man occupied merely the garret, while the whole house was +now placed at the command of Mercedes by the count. + +The woman whom the count had seen leave the ship with so much regret +entered this house; she had scarcely closed the door after her when +Monte Cristo appeared at the corner of a street, so that he found and +lost her again almost at the same instant. The worn out steps were old +acquaintances of his; he knew better than any one else how to open that +weather-beaten door with the large headed nail which served to raise +the latch within. He entered without knocking, or giving any other +intimation of his presence, as if he had been a friend or the master +of the place. At the end of a passage paved with bricks, was a little +garden, bathed in sunshine, and rich in warmth and light. In this garden +Mercedes had found, at the place indicated by the count, the sum of +money which he, through a sense of delicacy, had described as having +been placed there twenty-four years previously. The trees of the garden +were easily seen from the steps of the street-door. Monte Cristo, on +stepping into the house, heard a sigh that was almost a deep sob; he +looked in the direction whence it came, and there under an arbor of +Virginia jessamine, [*] with its thick foliage and beautiful long purple +flowers, he saw Mercedes seated, with her head bowed, and weeping +bitterly. She had raised her veil, and with her face hidden by her hands +was giving free scope to the sighs and tears which had been so long +restrained by the presence of her son. Monte Cristo advanced a few +steps, which were heard on the gravel. Mercedes raised her head, and +uttered a cry of terror on beholding a man before her. + + * The Carolina--not Virginia--jessamine, gelsemium + sempervirens (properly speaking not a jessamine at all) has + yellow blossoms. The reference is no doubt to the Wistaria + frutescens.--Ed. + +"Madame," said the count, "it is no longer in my power to restore you to +happiness, but I offer you consolation; will you deign to accept it as +coming from a friend?" + +"I am, indeed, most wretched," replied Mercedes. "Alone in the world, I +had but my son, and he has left me!" + +"He possesses a noble heart, madame," replied the count, "and he has +acted rightly. He feels that every man owes a tribute to his country; +some contribute their talents, others their industry; these devote their +blood, those their nightly labors, to the same cause. Had he remained +with you, his life must have become a hateful burden, nor would he have +participated in your griefs. He will increase in strength and honor by +struggling with adversity, which he will convert into prosperity. +Leave him to build up the future for you, and I venture to say you will +confide it to safe hands." + +"Oh," replied the wretched woman, mournfully shaking her head, "the +prosperity of which you speak, and which, from the bottom of my heart, I +pray God in his mercy to grant him, I can never enjoy. The bitter cup of +adversity has been drained by me to the very dregs, and I feel that the +grave is not far distant. You have acted kindly, count, in bringing me +back to the place where I have enjoyed so much bliss. I ought to meet +death on the same spot where happiness was once all my own." + +"Alas," said Monte Cristo, "your words sear and embitter my heart, the +more so as you have every reason to hate me. I have been the cause of +all your misfortunes; but why do you pity, instead of blaming me? You +render me still more unhappy"-- + +"Hate you, blame you--you, Edmond! Hate, reproach, the man that has +spared my son's life! For was it not your fatal and sanguinary intention +to destroy that son of whom M. de Morcerf was so proud? Oh, look at me +closely, and discover if you can even the semblance of a reproach in +me." The count looked up and fixed his eyes on Mercedes, who arose +partly from her seat and extended both her hands towards him. "Oh, look +at me," continued she, with a feeling of profound melancholy, "my eyes +no longer dazzle by their brilliancy, for the time has long fled since I +used to smile on Edmond Dantes, who anxiously looked out for me from +the window of yonder garret, then inhabited by his old father. Years +of grief have created an abyss between those days and the present. I +neither reproach you nor hate you, my friend. Oh, no, Edmond, it is +myself that I blame, myself that I hate! Oh, miserable creature that I +am!" cried she, clasping her hands, and raising her eyes to heaven. "I +once possessed piety, innocence, and love, the three ingredients of the +happiness of angels, and now what am I?" Monte Cristo approached her, +and silently took her hand. "No," said she, withdrawing it gently--"no, +my friend, touch me not. You have spared me, yet of all those who have +fallen under your vengeance I was the most guilty. They were influenced +by hatred, by avarice, and by self-love; but I was base, and for want +of courage acted against my judgment. Nay, do not press my hand, Edmond; +you are thinking, I am sure, of some kind speech to console me, but do +not utter it to me, reserve it for others more worthy of your kindness. +See" (and she exposed her face completely to view)--"see, misfortune +has silvered my hair, my eyes have shed so many tears that they are +encircled by a rim of purple, and my brow is wrinkled. You, Edmond, on +the contrary,--you are still young, handsome, dignified; it is because +you have had faith; because you have had strength, because you have had +trust in God, and God has sustained you. But as for me, I have been a +coward; I have denied God and he has abandoned me." + +Mercedes burst into tears; her woman's heart was breaking under its load +of memories. Monte Cristo took her hand and imprinted a kiss on it; but +she herself felt that it was a kiss of no greater warmth than he would +have bestowed on the hand of some marble statue of a saint. "It often +happens," continued she, "that a first fault destroys the prospects of a +whole life. I believed you dead; why did I survive you? What good has +it done me to mourn for you eternally in the secret recesses of my +heart?--only to make a woman of thirty-nine look like a woman of fifty. +Why, having recognized you, and I the only one to do so--why was I able +to save my son alone? Ought I not also to have rescued the man that I +had accepted for a husband, guilty though he were? Yet I let him die! +What do I say? Oh, merciful heavens, was I not accessory to his death by +my supine insensibility, by my contempt for him, not remembering, or not +willing to remember, that it was for my sake he had become a traitor and +a perjurer? In what am I benefited by accompanying my son so far, since +I now abandon him, and allow him to depart alone to the baneful climate +of Africa? Oh, I have been base, cowardly, I tell you; I have abjured +my affections, and like all renegades I am of evil omen to those who +surround me!" + +"No, Mercedes," said Monte Cristo, "no; you judge yourself with too +much severity. You are a noble-minded woman, and it was your grief +that disarmed me. Still I was but an agent, led on by an invisible and +offended Deity, who chose not to withhold the fatal blow that I was +destined to hurl. I take that God to witness, at whose feet I have +prostrated myself daily for the last ten years, that I would have +sacrificed my life to you, and with my life the projects that were +indissolubly linked with it. But--and I say it with some pride, +Mercedes--God needed me, and I lived. Examine the past and the present, +and endeavor to dive into futurity, and then say whether I am not a +divine instrument. The most dreadful misfortunes, the most frightful +sufferings, the abandonment of all those who loved me, the persecution +of those who did not know me, formed the trials of my youth; when +suddenly, from captivity, solitude, misery, I was restored to light +and liberty, and became the possessor of a fortune so brilliant, +so unbounded, so unheard-of, that I must have been blind not to be +conscious that God had endowed me with it to work out his own great +designs. From that time I looked upon this fortune as something confided +to me for an especial purpose. Not a thought was given to a life which +you once, Mercedes, had the power to render blissful; not one hour +of peaceful calm was mine; but I felt myself driven on like an +exterminating angel. Like adventurous captains about to embark on some +enterprise full of danger, I laid in my provisions, I loaded my weapons, +I collected every means of attack and defence; I inured my body to the +most violent exercises, my soul to the bitterest trials; I taught my +arm to slay, my eyes to behold excruciating sufferings, and my mouth +to smile at the most horrid spectacles. Good-natured, confiding, and +forgiving as I had been, I became revengeful, cunning, and wicked, or +rather, immovable as fate. Then I launched out into the path that was +opened to me. I overcame every obstacle, and reached the goal; but woe +to those who stood in my pathway!" + +"Enough," said Mercedes; "enough, Edmond! Believe me, that she who alone +recognized you has been the only one to comprehend you; and had she +crossed your path, and you had crushed her like glass, still, Edmond, +still she must have admired you! Like the gulf between me and the past, +there is an abyss between you, Edmond, and the rest of mankind; and I +tell you freely that the comparison I draw between you and other men +will ever be one of my greatest tortures. No, there is nothing in the +world to resemble you in worth and goodness! But we must say farewell, +Edmond, and let us part." + +"Before I leave you, Mercedes, have you no request to make?" said the +count. + +"I desire but one thing in this world, Edmond,--the happiness of my +son." + +"Pray to the Almighty to spare his life, and I will take upon myself to +promote his happiness." + +"Thank you, Edmond." + +"But have you no request to make for yourself, Mercedes?" + +"For myself I want nothing. I live, as it were, between two graves. One +is that of Edmond Dantes, lost to me long, long since. He had my love! +That word ill becomes my faded lip now, but it is a memory dear to my +heart, and one that I would not lose for all that the world contains. +The other grave is that of the man who met his death from the hand of +Edmond Dantes. I approve of the deed, but I must pray for the dead." + +"Your son shall be happy, Mercedes," repeated the count. + +"Then I shall enjoy as much happiness as this world can possibly +confer." + +"But what are your intentions?" + +"To say that I shall live here, like the Mercedes of other times, +gaining my bread by labor, would not be true, nor would you believe me. +I have no longer the strength to do anything but to spend my days in +prayer. However, I shall have no occasion to work, for the little sum of +money buried by you, and which I found in the place you mentioned, will +be sufficient to maintain me. Rumor will probably be busy respecting me, +my occupations, my manner of living--that will signify but little." + +"Mercedes," said the count, "I do not say it to blame you, but you +made an unnecessary sacrifice in relinquishing the whole of the fortune +amassed by M. de Morcerf; half of it at least by right belonged to you, +in virtue of your vigilance and economy." + +"I perceive what you are intending to propose to me; but I cannot accept +it, Edmond--my son would not permit it." + +"Nothing shall be done without the full approbation of Albert de +Morcerf. I will make myself acquainted with his intentions and will +submit to them. But if he be willing to accept my offers, will you +oppose them?" + +"You well know, Edmond, that I am no longer a reasoning creature; I +have no will, unless it be the will never to decide. I have been so +overwhelmed by the many storms that have broken over my head, that I +am become passive in the hands of the Almighty, like a sparrow in the +talons of an eagle. I live, because it is not ordained for me to die. If +succor be sent to me, I will accept it." + +"Ah, madame," said Monte Cristo, "you should not talk thus! It is not so +we should evince our resignation to the will of heaven; on the contrary, +we are all free agents." + +"Alas!" exclaimed Mercedes, "if it were so, if I possessed free-will, +but without the power to render that will efficacious, it would drive me +to despair." Monte Cristo dropped his head and shrank from the vehemence +of her grief. "Will you not even say you will see me again?" he asked. + +"On the contrary, we shall meet again," said Mercedes, pointing to +heaven with solemnity. "I tell you so to prove to you that I still +hope." And after pressing her own trembling hand upon that of the count, +Mercedes rushed up the stairs and disappeared. Monte Cristo slowly left +the house and turned towards the quay. But Mercedes did not witness +his departure, although she was seated at the little window of the room +which had been occupied by old Dantes. Her eyes were straining to see +the ship which was carrying her son over the vast sea; but still her +voice involuntarily murmured softly, "Edmond, Edmond, Edmond!" + + + +Chapter 113. The Past. + +The count departed with a sad heart from the house in which he had left +Mercedes, probably never to behold her again. Since the death of little +Edward a great change had taken place in Monte Cristo. Having reached +the summit of his vengeance by a long and tortuous path, he saw an abyss +of doubt yawning before him. More than this, the conversation which +had just taken place between Mercedes and himself had awakened so many +recollections in his heart that he felt it necessary to combat with +them. A man of the count's temperament could not long indulge in that +melancholy which can exist in common minds, but which destroys superior +ones. He thought he must have made an error in his calculations if he +now found cause to blame himself. + +"I cannot have deceived myself," he said; "I must look upon the past in +a false light. What!" he continued, "can I have been following a false +path?--can the end which I proposed be a mistaken end?--can one hour +have sufficed to prove to an architect that the work upon which +he founded all his hopes was an impossible, if not a sacrilegious, +undertaking? I cannot reconcile myself to this idea--it would madden +me. The reason why I am now dissatisfied is that I have not a clear +appreciation of the past. The past, like the country through which we +walk, becomes indistinct as we advance. My position is like that of +a person wounded in a dream; he feels the wound, though he cannot +recollect when he received it. Come, then, thou regenerate man, +thou extravagant prodigal, thou awakened sleeper, thou all-powerful +visionary, thou invincible millionaire,--once again review thy past +life of starvation and wretchedness, revisit the scenes where fate +and misfortune conducted, and where despair received thee. Too many +diamonds, too much gold and splendor, are now reflected by the mirror in +which Monte Cristo seeks to behold Dantes. Hide thy diamonds, bury thy +gold, shroud thy splendor, exchange riches for poverty, liberty for a +prison, a living body for a corpse!" As he thus reasoned, Monte Cristo +walked down the Rue de la Caisserie. It was the same through which, +twenty-four years ago, he had been conducted by a silent and nocturnal +guard; the houses, to-day so smiling and animated, were on that night +dark, mute, and closed. "And yet they were the same," murmured Monte +Cristo, "only now it is broad daylight instead of night; it is the sun +which brightens the place, and makes it appear so cheerful." + +He proceeded towards the quay by the Rue Saint-Laurent, and advanced to +the Consigne; it was the point where he had embarked. A pleasure-boat +with striped awning was going by. Monte Cristo called the owner, who +immediately rowed up to him with the eagerness of a boatman hoping for a +good fare. The weather was magnificent, and the excursion a treat. + +The sun, red and flaming, was sinking into the embrace of the welcoming +ocean. The sea, smooth as crystal, was now and then disturbed by the +leaping of fish, which were pursued by some unseen enemy and sought for +safety in another element; while on the extreme verge of the horizon +might be seen the fishermen's boats, white and graceful as the sea-gull, +or the merchant vessels bound for Corsica or Spain. + +But notwithstanding the serene sky, the gracefully formed boats, and +the golden light in which the whole scene was bathed, the Count of Monte +Cristo, wrapped in his cloak, could think only of this terrible voyage, +the details of which were one by one recalled to his memory. The +solitary light burning at the Catalans; that first sight of the Chateau +d'If, which told him whither they were leading him; the struggle with +the gendarmes when he wished to throw himself overboard; his despair +when he found himself vanquished, and the sensation when the muzzle of +the carbine touched his forehead--all these were brought before him +in vivid and frightful reality. Like the streams which the heat of the +summer has dried up, and which after the autumnal storms gradually begin +oozing drop by drop, so did the count feel his heart gradually fill with +the bitterness which formerly nearly overwhelmed Edmond Dantes. Clear +sky, swift-flitting boats, and brilliant sunshine disappeared; the +heavens were hung with black, and the gigantic structure of the Chateau +d'If seemed like the phantom of a mortal enemy. As they reached the +shore, the count instinctively shrunk to the extreme end of the boat, +and the owner was obliged to call out, in his sweetest tone of voice, +"Sir, we are at the landing." + +Monte Cristo remembered that on that very spot, on the same rock, he had +been violently dragged by the guards, who forced him to ascend the slope +at the points of their bayonets. The journey had seemed very long to +Dantes, but Monte Cristo found it equally short. Each stroke of the oar +seemed to awaken a new throng of ideas, which sprang up with the flying +spray of the sea. + +There had been no prisoners confined in the Chateau d'If since the +revolution of July; it was only inhabited by a guard, kept there for the +prevention of smuggling. A concierge waited at the door to exhibit to +visitors this monument of curiosity, once a scene of terror. The count +inquired whether any of the ancient jailers were still there; but they +had all been pensioned, or had passed on to some other employment. The +concierge who attended him had only been there since 1830. He visited +his own dungeon. He again beheld the dull light vainly endeavoring to +penetrate the narrow opening. His eyes rested upon the spot where had +stood his bed, since then removed, and behind the bed the new stones +indicated where the breach made by the Abbe Faria had been. Monte Cristo +felt his limbs tremble; he seated himself upon a log of wood. + +"Are there any stories connected with this prison besides the one +relating to the poisoning of Mirabeau?" asked the count; "are there any +traditions respecting these dismal abodes,--in which it is difficult to +believe men can ever have imprisoned their fellow-creatures?" + +"Yes, sir; indeed, the jailer Antoine told me one connected with this +very dungeon." + +Monte Cristo shuddered; Antoine had been his jailer. He had almost +forgotten his name and face, but at the mention of the name he recalled +his person as he used to see it, the face encircled by a beard, wearing +the brown jacket, the bunch of keys, the jingling of which he still +seemed to hear. The count turned around, and fancied he saw him in the +corridor, rendered still darker by the torch carried by the concierge. +"Would you like to hear the story, sir?" + +"Yes; relate it," said Monte Cristo, pressing his hand to his heart to +still its violent beatings; he felt afraid of hearing his own history. + +"This dungeon," said the concierge, "was, it appears, some time ago +occupied by a very dangerous prisoner, the more so since he was full of +industry. Another person was confined in the Chateau at the same time, +but he was not wicked, he was only a poor mad priest." + +"Ah, indeed?--mad!" repeated Monte Cristo; "and what was his mania?" + +"He offered millions to any one who would set him at liberty." + +Monte Cristo raised his eyes, but he could not see the heavens; there +was a stone veil between him and the firmament. He thought that there +had been no less thick a veil before the eyes of those to whom Faria +offered the treasures. "Could the prisoners see each other?" he asked. + +"Oh, no, sir, it was expressly forbidden; but they eluded the vigilance +of the guards, and made a passage from one dungeon to the other." + +"And which of them made this passage?" + +"Oh, it must have been the young man, certainly, for he was strong and +industrious, while the abbe was aged and weak; besides, his mind was too +vacillating to allow him to carry out an idea." + +"Blind fools!" murmured the count. + +"However, be that as it may, the young man made a tunnel, how or by +what means no one knows; but he made it, and there is the evidence yet +remaining of his work. Do you see it?" and the man held the torch to the +wall. + +"Ah, yes; I see," said the count, in a voice hoarse from emotion. + +"The result was that the two men communicated with one another; how long +they did so, nobody knows. One day the old man fell ill and died. Now +guess what the young one did?" + +"Tell me." + +"He carried off the corpse, which he placed in his own bed with its face +to the wall; then he entered the empty dungeon, closed the entrance, and +slipped into the sack which had contained the dead body. Did you ever +hear of such an idea?" Monte Cristo closed his eyes, and seemed again +to experience all the sensations he had felt when the coarse canvas, +yet moist with the cold dews of death, had touched his face. The jailer +continued: "Now this was his project. He fancied that they buried the +dead at the Chateau d'If, and imagining they would not expend much labor +on the grave of a prisoner, he calculated on raising the earth with +his shoulders, but unfortunately their arrangements at the Chateau +frustrated his projects. They never buried the dead; they merely +attached a heavy cannon-ball to the feet, and then threw them into the +sea. This is what was done. The young man was thrown from the top of the +rock; the corpse was found on the bed next day, and the whole truth was +guessed, for the men who performed the office then mentioned what they +had not dared to speak of before, that at the moment the corpse was +thrown into the deep, they heard a shriek, which was almost immediately +stifled by the water in which it disappeared." The count breathed with +difficulty; the cold drops ran down his forehead, and his heart was full +of anguish. + +"No," he muttered, "the doubt I felt was but the commencement of +forgetfulness; but here the wound reopens, and the heart again thirsts +for vengeance. And the prisoner," he continued aloud, "was he ever heard +of afterwards?" + +"Oh, no; of course not. You can understand that one of two things must +have happened; he must either have fallen flat, in which case the blow, +from a height of ninety feet, must have killed him instantly, or he must +have fallen upright, and then the weight would have dragged him to the +bottom, where he remained--poor fellow!" + +"Then you pity him?" said the count. + +"Ma foi, yes; though he was in his own element." + +"What do you mean?" + +"The report was that he had been a naval officer, who had been confined +for plotting with the Bonapartists." + +"Great is truth," muttered the count, "fire cannot burn, nor water drown +it! Thus the poor sailor lives in the recollection of those who narrate +his history; his terrible story is recited in the chimney-corner, and a +shudder is felt at the description of his transit through the air to be +swallowed by the deep." Then, the count added aloud, "Was his name ever +known?" + +"Oh, yes; but only as No. 34." + +"Oh, Villefort, Villefort," murmured the count, "this scene must often +have haunted thy sleepless hours!" + +"Do you wish to see anything more, sir?" said the concierge. + +"Yes, especially if you will show me the poor abbe's room." + +"Ah--No. 27." + +"Yes; No. 27." repeated the count, who seemed to hear the voice of the +abbe answering him in those very words through the wall when asked his +name. + +"Come, sir." + +"Wait," said Monte Cristo, "I wish to take one final glance around this +room." + +"This is fortunate," said the guide; "I have forgotten the other key." + +"Go and fetch it." + +"I will leave you the torch, sir." + +"No, take it away; I can see in the dark." + +"Why, you are like No. 34. They said he was so accustomed to darkness +that he could see a pin in the darkest corner of his dungeon." + +"He spent fourteen years to arrive at that," muttered the count. + +The guide carried away the torch. The count had spoken correctly. +Scarcely had a few seconds elapsed, ere he saw everything as distinctly +as by daylight. Then he looked around him, and really recognized his +dungeon. + +"Yes," he said, "there is the stone upon which I used to sit; there is +the impression made by my shoulders on the wall; there is the mark of +my blood made when one day I dashed my head against the wall. Oh, those +figures, how well I remember them! I made them one day to calculate +the age of my father, that I might know whether I should find him still +living, and that of Mercedes, to know if I should find her still free. +After finishing that calculation, I had a minute's hope. I did not +reckon upon hunger and infidelity!" and a bitter laugh escaped the +count. He saw in fancy the burial of his father, and the marriage of +Mercedes. On the other side of the dungeon he perceived an inscription, +the white letters of which were still visible on the green wall. "'O +God,'" he read, "'preserve my memory!' Oh, yes," he cried, "that was +my only prayer at last; I no longer begged for liberty, but memory; +I dreaded to become mad and forgetful. O God, thou hast preserved my +memory; I thank thee, I thank thee!" At this moment the light of the +torch was reflected on the wall; the guide was coming; Monte Cristo went +to meet him. + +"Follow me, sir;" and without ascending the stairs the guide conducted +him by a subterraneous passage to another entrance. There, again, Monte +Cristo was assailed by a multitude of thoughts. The first thing that +met his eye was the meridian, drawn by the abbe on the wall, by which +he calculated the time; then he saw the remains of the bed on which +the poor prisoner had died. The sight of this, instead of exciting the +anguish experienced by the count in the dungeon, filled his heart with a +soft and grateful sentiment, and tears fell from his eyes. + +"This is where the mad abbe was kept, sir, and that is where the young +man entered;" and the guide pointed to the opening, which had remained +unclosed. "From the appearance of the stone," he continued, "a learned +gentleman discovered that the prisoners might have communicated together +for ten years. Poor things! Those must have been ten weary years." + +Dantes took some louis from his pocket, and gave them to the man who +had twice unconsciously pitied him. The guide took them, thinking them +merely a few pieces of little value; but the light of the torch revealed +their true worth. "Sir," he said, "you have made a mistake; you have +given me gold." + +"I know it." The concierge looked upon the count with surprise. "Sir," +he cried, scarcely able to believe his good fortune--"sir, I cannot +understand your generosity!" + +"Oh, it is very simple, my good fellow; I have been a sailor, and your +story touched me more than it would others." + +"Then, sir, since you are so liberal, I ought to offer you something." + +"What have you to offer to me, my friend? Shells? Straw-work? Thank +you!" + +"No, sir, neither of those; something connected with this story." + +"Really? What is it?" + +"Listen," said the guide; "I said to myself, 'Something is always left +in a cell inhabited by one prisoner for fifteen years,' so I began to +sound the wall." + +"Ah," cried Monte Cristo, remembering the abbe's two hiding-places. + +"After some search, I found that the floor gave a hollow sound near the +head of the bed, and at the hearth." + +"Yes," said the count, "yes." + +"I raised the stones, and found"-- + +"A rope-ladder and some tools?" + +"How do you know that?" asked the guide in astonishment. + +"I do not know--I only guess it, because that sort of thing is generally +found in prisoners' cells." + +"Yes, sir, a rope-ladder and tools." + +"And have you them yet?" + +"No, sir; I sold them to visitors, who considered them great +curiosities; but I have still something left." + +"What is it?" asked the count, impatiently. + +"A sort of book, written upon strips of cloth." + +"Go and fetch it, my good fellow; and if it be what I hope, you will do +well." + +"I will run for it, sir;" and the guide went out. Then the count knelt +down by the side of the bed, which death had converted into an altar. +"Oh, second father," he exclaimed, "thou who hast given me liberty, +knowledge, riches; thou who, like beings of a superior order to +ourselves, couldst understand the science of good and evil; if in the +depths of the tomb there still remain something within us which can +respond to the voice of those who are left on earth; if after death the +soul ever revisit the places where we have lived and suffered,--then, +noble heart, sublime soul, then I conjure thee by the paternal love thou +didst bear me, by the filial obedience I vowed to thee, grant me some +sign, some revelation! Remove from me the remains of doubt, which, if +it change not to conviction, must become remorse!" The count bowed his +head, and clasped his hands together. + +"Here, sir," said a voice behind him. + +Monte Cristo shuddered, and arose. The concierge held out the strips of +cloth upon which the Abbe Faria had spread the riches of his mind. The +manuscript was the great work by the Abbe Faria upon the kingdoms of +Italy. The count seized it hastily, his eyes immediately fell upon the +epigraph, and he read, "'Thou shalt tear out the dragons' teeth, and +shall trample the lions under foot, saith the Lord.'" + +"Ah," he exclaimed, "here is my answer. Thanks, father, thanks." +And feeling in his pocket, he took thence a small pocket-book, which +contained ten bank-notes, each of 1,000. francs. + +"Here," he said, "take this pocket-book." + +"Do you give it to me?" + +"Yes; but only on condition that you will not open it till I am gone;" +and placing in his breast the treasure he had just found, which was more +valuable to him than the richest jewel, he rushed out of the corridor, +and reaching his boat, cried, "To Marseilles!" Then, as he departed, he +fixed his eyes upon the gloomy prison. "Woe," he cried, "to those who +confined me in that wretched prison; and woe to those who forgot that +I was there!" As he repassed the Catalans, the count turned around and +burying his head in his cloak murmured the name of a woman. The victory +was complete; twice he had overcome his doubts. The name he pronounced, +in a voice of tenderness, amounting almost to love, was that of Haidee. + +On landing, the count turned towards the cemetery, where he felt sure of +finding Morrel. He, too, ten years ago, had piously sought out a tomb, +and sought it vainly. He, who returned to France with millions, had been +unable to find the grave of his father, who had perished from hunger. +Morrel had indeed placed a cross over the spot, but it had fallen down +and the grave-digger had burnt it, as he did all the old wood in the +churchyard. The worthy merchant had been more fortunate. Dying in the +arms of his children, he had been by them laid by the side of his +wife, who had preceded him in eternity by two years. Two large slabs of +marble, on which were inscribed their names, were placed on either side +of a little enclosure, railed in, and shaded by four cypress-trees. +Morrel was leaning against one of these, mechanically fixing his eyes +on the graves. His grief was so profound that he was nearly unconscious. +"Maximilian," said the count, "you should not look on the graves, but +there;" and he pointed upwards. + +"The dead are everywhere," said Morrel; "did you not yourself tell me so +as we left Paris?" + +"Maximilian," said the count, "you asked me during the journey to allow +you to remain some days at Marseilles. Do you still wish to do so?" + +"I have no wishes, count; only I fancy I could pass the time less +painfully here than anywhere else." + +"So much the better, for I must leave you; but I carry your word with +me, do I not?" + +"Ah, count, I shall forget it." + +"No, you will not forget it, because you are a man of honor, Morrel, +because you have taken an oath, and are about to do so again." + +"Oh, count, have pity upon me. I am so unhappy." + +"I have known a man much more unfortunate than you, Morrel." + +"Impossible!" + +"Alas," said Monte Cristo, "it is the infirmity of our nature always to +believe ourselves much more unhappy than those who groan by our sides!" + +"What can be more wretched than the man who has lost all he loved and +desired in the world?" + +"Listen, Morrel, and pay attention to what I am about to tell you. I +knew a man who like you had fixed all his hopes of happiness upon a +woman. He was young, he had an old father whom he loved, a betrothed +bride whom he adored. He was about to marry her, when one of the +caprices of fate,--which would almost make us doubt the goodness of +providence, if that providence did not afterwards reveal itself by +proving that all is but a means of conducting to an end,--one of those +caprices deprived him of his mistress, of the future of which he had +dreamed (for in his blindness he forgot he could only read the present), +and cast him into a dungeon." + +"Ah," said Morrel, "one quits a dungeon in a week, a month, or a year." + +"He remained there fourteen years, Morrel," said the count, placing his +hand on the young man's shoulder. Maximilian shuddered. + +"Fourteen years!" he muttered--"Fourteen years!" repeated the count. +"During that time he had many moments of despair. He also, Morrel, like +you, considered himself the unhappiest of men." + +"Well?" asked Morrel. + +"Well, at the height of his despair God assisted him through human +means. At first, perhaps, he did not recognize the infinite mercy of the +Lord, but at last he took patience and waited. One day he miraculously +left the prison, transformed, rich, powerful. His first cry was for his +father; but that father was dead." + +"My father, too, is dead," said Morrel. + +"Yes; but your father died in your arms, happy, respected, rich, and +full of years; his father died poor, despairing, almost doubtful of +providence; and when his son sought his grave ten years afterwards, his +tomb had disappeared, and no one could say, 'There sleeps the father you +so well loved.'" + +"Oh!" exclaimed Morrel. + +"He was, then, a more unhappy son than you, Morrel, for he could not +even find his father's grave." + +"But then he had the woman he loved still remaining?" + +"You are deceived, Morrel, that woman"-- + +"She was dead?" + +"Worse than that, she was faithless, and had married one of the +persecutors of her betrothed. You see, then, Morrel, that he was a more +unhappy lover than you." + +"And has he found consolation?" + +"He has at least found peace." + +"And does he ever expect to be happy?" + +"He hopes so, Maximilian." The young man's head fell on his breast. + +"You have my promise," he said, after a minute's pause, extending his +hand to Monte Cristo. "Only remember"-- + +"On the 5th of October, Morrel, I shall expect you at the Island of +Monte Cristo. On the 4th a yacht will wait for you in the port of +Bastia, it will be called the Eurus. You will give your name to the +captain, who will bring you to me. It is understood--is it not?" + +"But, count, do you remember that the 5th of October"-- + +"Child," replied the count, "not to know the value of a man's word! I +have told you twenty times that if you wish to die on that day, I will +assist you. Morrel, farewell!" + +"Do you leave me?" + +"Yes; I have business in Italy. I leave you alone with your misfortunes, +and with hope, Maximilian." + +"When do you leave?" + +"Immediately; the steamer waits, and in an hour I shall be far from you. +Will you accompany me to the harbor, Maximilian?" + +"I am entirely yours, count." Morrel accompanied the count to the +harbor. The white steam was ascending like a plume of feathers from the +black chimney. The steamer soon disappeared, and in an hour afterwards, +as the count had said, was scarcely distinguishable in the horizon +amidst the fogs of the night. + + + +Chapter 114. Peppino. + +At the same time that the steamer disappeared behind Cape Morgion, a man +travelling post on the road from Florence to Rome had just passed the +little town of Aquapendente. He was travelling fast enough to cover a +great deal of ground without exciting suspicion. This man was dressed +in a greatcoat, or rather a surtout, a little worse for the journey, +but which exhibited the ribbon of the Legion of Honor still fresh and +brilliant, a decoration which also ornamented the under coat. He might +be recognized, not only by these signs, but also from the accent with +which he spoke to the postilion, as a Frenchman. Another proof that he +was a native of the universal country was apparent in the fact of his +knowing no other Italian words than the terms used in music, and +which like the "goddam" of Figaro, served all possible linguistic +requirements. "Allegro!" he called out to the postilions at every +ascent. "Moderato!" he cried as they descended. And heaven knows there +are hills enough between Rome and Florence by the way of Aquapendente! +These two words greatly amused the men to whom they were addressed. On +reaching La Storta, the point from whence Rome is first visible, the +traveller evinced none of the enthusiastic curiosity which usually leads +strangers to stand up and endeavor to catch sight of the dome of +St. Peter's, which may be seen long before any other object is +distinguishable. No, he merely drew a pocketbook from his pocket, and +took from it a paper folded in four, and after having examined it in a +manner almost reverential, he said--"Good! I have it still!" + +The carriage entered by the Porto del Popolo, turned to the left, and +stopped at the Hotel d'Espagne. Old Pastrini, our former acquaintance, +received the traveller at the door, hat in hand. The traveller alighted, +ordered a good dinner, and inquired the address of the house of Thomson +& French, which was immediately given to him, as it was one of the most +celebrated in Rome. It was situated in the Via dei Banchi, near St. +Peter's. In Rome, as everywhere else, the arrival of a post-chaise is an +event. Ten young descendants of Marius and the Gracchi, barefooted and +out at elbows, with one hand resting on the hip and the other gracefully +curved above the head, stared at the traveller, the post-chaise, and the +horses; to these were added about fifty little vagabonds from the Papal +States, who earned a pittance by diving into the Tiber at high water +from the bridge of St. Angelo. Now, as these street Arabs of Rome, +more fortunate than those of Paris, understand every language, more +especially the French, they heard the traveller order an apartment, a +dinner, and finally inquire the way to the house of Thomson & French. +The result was that when the new-comer left the hotel with the cicerone, +a man detached himself from the rest of the idlers, and without having +been seen by the traveller, and appearing to excite no attention from +the guide, followed the stranger with as much skill as a Parisian police +agent would have used. + +The Frenchman had been so impatient to reach the house of Thomson & +French that he would not wait for the horses to be harnessed, but left +word for the carriage to overtake him on the road, or to wait for him +at the bankers' door. He reached it before the carriage arrived. The +Frenchman entered, leaving in the anteroom his guide, who immediately +entered into conversation with two or three of the industrious idlers +who are always to be found in Rome at the doors of banking-houses, +churches, museums, or theatres. With the Frenchman, the man who had +followed him entered too; the Frenchman knocked at the inner door, and +entered the first room; his shadow did the same. + +"Messrs. Thomson & French?" inquired the stranger. + +An attendant arose at a sign from a confidential clerk at the first +desk. "Whom shall I announce?" said the attendant. + +"Baron Danglars." + +"Follow me," said the man. A door opened, through which the attendant +and the baron disappeared. The man who had followed Danglars sat down on +a bench. The clerk continued to write for the next five minutes; the man +preserved profound silence, and remained perfectly motionless. Then the +pen of the clerk ceased to move over the paper; he raised his head, and +appearing to be perfectly sure of privacy,--"Ah, ha," he said, "here you +are, Peppino!" + +"Yes," was the laconic reply. "You have found out that there is +something worth having about this large gentleman?" + +"There is no great merit due to me, for we were informed of it." + +"You know his business here, then." + +"Pardieu, he has come to draw, but I don't know how much!" + +"You will know presently, my friend." + +"Very well, only do not give me false information as you did the other +day." + +"What do you mean?--of whom do you speak? Was it the Englishman who +carried off 3,000 crowns from here the other day?" + +"No; he really had 3,000 crowns, and we found them. I mean the Russian +prince, who you said had 30,000 livres, and we only found 22,000." + +"You must have searched badly." + +"Luigi Vampa himself searched." + +"Indeed? But you must let me make my observations, or the Frenchman will +transact his business without my knowing the sum." Peppino nodded, and +taking a rosary from his pocket began to mutter a few prayers while +the clerk disappeared through the same door by which Danglars and the +attendant had gone out. At the expiration of ten minutes the clerk +returned with a beaming countenance. "Well?" asked Peppino of his +friend. + +"Joy, joy--the sum is large!" + +"Five or six millions, is it not?" + +"Yes, you know the amount." + +"On the receipt of the Count of Monte Cristo?" + +"Why, how came you to be so well acquainted with all this?" + +"I told you we were informed beforehand." + +"Then why do you apply to me?" + +"That I may be sure I have the right man." + +"Yes, it is indeed he. Five millions--a pretty sum, eh, Peppino?" + +"Hush--here is our man!" The clerk seized his pen, and Peppino his +beads; one was writing and the other praying when the door opened. +Danglars looked radiant with joy; the banker accompanied him to the +door. Peppino followed Danglars. + +According to the arrangements, the carriage was waiting at the door. The +guide held the door open. Guides are useful people, who will turn their +hands to anything. Danglars leaped into the carriage like a young man of +twenty. The cicerone reclosed the door, and sprang up by the side of the +coachman. Peppino mounted the seat behind. + +"Will your excellency visit St. Peter's?" asked the cicerone. + +"I did not come to Rome to see," said Danglars aloud; then he added +softly, with an avaricious smile, "I came to touch!" and he rapped his +pocket-book, in which he had just placed a letter. + +"Then your excellency is going"-- + +"To the hotel." + +"Casa Pastrini!" said the cicerone to the coachman, and the carriage +drove rapidly on. Ten minutes afterwards the baron entered his +apartment, and Peppino stationed himself on the bench outside the door +of the hotel, after having whispered something in the ear of one of the +descendants of Marius and the Gracchi whom we noticed at the beginning +of the chapter, who immediately ran down the road leading to the Capitol +at his fullest speed. Danglars was tired and sleepy; he therefore went +to bed, placing his pocketbook under his pillow. Peppino had a little +spare time, so he had a game of mora with the facchini, lost three +crowns, and then to console himself drank a bottle of Orvieto. + +The next morning Danglars awoke late, though he went to bed so early; he +had not slept well for five or six nights, even if he had slept at all. +He breakfasted heartily, and caring little, as he said, for the beauties +of the Eternal City, ordered post-horses at noon. But Danglars had not +reckoned upon the formalities of the police and the idleness of the +posting-master. The horses only arrived at two o'clock, and the cicerone +did not bring the passport till three. All these preparations had +collected a number of idlers round the door of Signor Pastrini's; the +descendants of Marius and the Gracchi were also not wanting. The baron +walked triumphantly through the crowd, who for the sake of gain styled +him "your excellency." As Danglars had hitherto contented himself +with being called a baron, he felt rather flattered at the title of +excellency, and distributed a dozen silver coins among the beggars, who +were ready, for twelve more, to call him "your highness." + +"Which road?" asked the postilion in Italian. "The Ancona road," replied +the baron. Signor Pastrini interpreted the question and answer, and the +horses galloped off. Danglars intended travelling to Venice, where he +would receive one part of his fortune, and then proceeding to Vienna, +where he would find the rest, he meant to take up his residence in the +latter town, which he had been told was a city of pleasure. + +He had scarcely advanced three leagues out of Rome when daylight began +to disappear. Danglars had not intended starting so late, or he would +have remained; he put his head out and asked the postilion how long +it would be before they reached the next town. "Non capisco" (do not +understand), was the reply. Danglars bent his head, which he meant to +imply, "Very well." The carriage again moved on. "I will stop at the +first posting-house," said Danglars to himself. + +He still felt the same self-satisfaction which he had experienced the +previous evening, and which had procured him so good a night's rest. He +was luxuriously stretched in a good English calash, with double springs; +he was drawn by four good horses, at full gallop; he knew the relay +to be at a distance of seven leagues. What subject of meditation could +present itself to the banker, so fortunately become bankrupt? + +Danglars thought for ten minutes about his wife in Paris; another ten +minutes about his daughter travelling with Mademoiselle d'Armilly; +the same period was given to his creditors, and the manner in which +he intended spending their money; and then, having no subject left for +contemplation, he shut his eyes, and fell asleep. Now and then a jolt +more violent than the rest caused him to open his eyes; then he felt +that he was still being carried with great rapidity over the same +country, thickly strewn with broken aqueducts, which looked like granite +giants petrified while running a race. But the night was cold, dull, and +rainy, and it was much more pleasant for a traveller to remain in the +warm carriage than to put his head out of the window to make inquiries +of a postilion whose only answer was "Non capisco." + +Danglars therefore continued to sleep, saying to himself that he would +be sure to awake at the posting-house. The carriage stopped. Danglars +fancied that they had reached the long-desired point; he opened his eyes +and looked through the window, expecting to find himself in the midst +of some town, or at least village; but he saw nothing except what +seemed like a ruin, where three or four men went and came like shadows. +Danglars waited a moment, expecting the postilion to come and demand +payment with the termination of his stage. He intended taking advantage +of the opportunity to make fresh inquiries of the new conductor; but the +horses were unharnessed, and others put in their places, without any +one claiming money from the traveller. Danglars, astonished, opened the +door; but a strong hand pushed him back, and the carriage rolled on. The +baron was completely roused. "Eh?" he said to the postilion, "eh, mio +caro?" + +This was another little piece of Italian the baron had learned from +hearing his daughter sing Italian duets with Cavalcanti. But mio caro +did not reply. Danglars then opened the window. + +"Come, my friend," he said, thrusting his hand through the opening, +"where are we going?" + +"Dentro la testa!" answered a solemn and imperious voice, accompanied by +a menacing gesture. Danglars thought dentro la testa meant, "Put in your +head!" He was making rapid progress in Italian. He obeyed, not without +some uneasiness, which, momentarily increasing, caused his mind, instead +of being as unoccupied as it was when he began his journey, to fill with +ideas which were very likely to keep a traveller awake, more especially +one in such a situation as Danglars. His eyes acquired that quality +which in the first moment of strong emotion enables them to see +distinctly, and which afterwards fails from being too much taxed. Before +we are alarmed, we see correctly; when we are alarmed, we see double; +and when we have been alarmed, we see nothing but trouble. Danglars +observed a man in a cloak galloping at the right hand of the carriage. + +"Some gendarme!" he exclaimed. "Can I have been intercepted by French +telegrams to the pontifical authorities?" He resolved to end his +anxiety. "Where are you taking me?" he asked. "Dentro la testa," replied +the same voice, with the same menacing accent. + +Danglars turned to the left; another man on horseback was galloping +on that side. "Decidedly," said Danglars, with the perspiration on his +forehead, "I must be under arrest." And he threw himself back in the +calash, not this time to sleep, but to think. Directly afterwards the +moon rose. He then saw the great aqueducts, those stone phantoms which +he had before remarked, only then they were on the right hand, now they +were on the left. He understood that they had described a circle, and +were bringing him back to Rome. "Oh, unfortunate!" he cried, "they +must have obtained my arrest." The carriage continued to roll on with +frightful speed. An hour of terror elapsed, for every spot they passed +showed that they were on the road back. At length he saw a dark mass, +against which it seemed as if the carriage was about to dash; but the +vehicle turned to one side, leaving the barrier behind and Danglars saw +that it was one of the ramparts encircling Rome. + +"Mon dieu!" cried Danglars, "we are not returning to Rome; then it +is not justice which is pursuing me! Gracious heavens; another idea +presents itself--what if they should be"-- + +His hair stood on end. He remembered those interesting stories, so +little believed in Paris, respecting Roman bandits; he remembered the +adventures that Albert de Morcerf had related when it was intended that +he should marry Mademoiselle Eugenie. "They are robbers, perhaps," he +muttered. Just then the carriage rolled on something harder than gravel +road. Danglars hazarded a look on both sides of the road, and perceived +monuments of a singular form, and his mind now recalled all the details +Morcerf had related, and comparing them with his own situation, he +felt sure that he must be on the Appian Way. On the left, in a sort of +valley, he perceived a circular excavation. It was Caracalla's circus. +On a word from the man who rode at the side of the carriage, it stopped. +At the same time the door was opened. "Scendi!" exclaimed a commanding +voice. Danglars instantly descended; although he did not yet speak +Italian, he understood it very well. More dead than alive, he looked +around him. Four men surrounded him, besides the postilion. + +"Di qua," said one of the men, descending a little path leading out of +the Appian Way. Danglars followed his guide without opposition, and +had no occasion to turn around to see whether the three others were +following him. Still it appeared as though they were stationed at equal +distances from one another, like sentinels. After walking for about ten +minutes, during which Danglars did not exchange a single word with his +guide, he found himself between a hillock and a clump of high weeds; +three men, standing silent, formed a triangle, of which he was the +centre. He wished to speak, but his tongue refused to move. "Avanti!" +said the same sharp and imperative voice. + +This time Danglars had double reason to understand, for if the word +and gesture had not explained the speaker's meaning, it was clearly +expressed by the man walking behind him, who pushed him so rudely that +he struck against the guide. This guide was our friend Peppino, who +dashed into the thicket of high weeds, through a path which none but +lizards or polecats could have imagined to be an open road. Peppino +stopped before a pit overhung by thick hedges; the pit, half open, +afforded a passage to the young man, who disappeared like the evil +spirits in the fairy tales. The voice and gesture of the man who +followed Danglars ordered him to do the same. There was no longer +any doubt, the bankrupt was in the hands of Roman banditti. Danglars +acquitted himself like a man placed between two dangerous positions, +and who is rendered brave by fear. Notwithstanding his large stomach, +certainly not intended to penetrate the fissures of the Campagna, he +slid down like Peppino, and closing his eyes fell upon his feet. As he +touched the ground, he opened his eyes. The path was wide, but dark. +Peppino, who cared little for being recognized now that he was in his +own territories, struck a light and lit a torch. Two other men descended +after Danglars forming the rearguard, and pushing Danglars whenever he +happened to stop, they came by a gentle declivity to the intersection of +two corridors. The walls were hollowed out in sepulchres, one above the +other, and which seemed in contrast with the white stones to open their +large dark eyes, like those which we see on the faces of the dead. A +sentinel struck the rings of his carbine against his left hand. "Who +comes there?" he cried. + +"A friend, a friend!" said Peppino; "but where is the captain?" + +"There," said the sentinel, pointing over his shoulder to a spacious +crypt, hollowed out of the rock, the lights from which shone into the +passage through the large arched openings. "Fine spoil, captain, fine +spoil!" said Peppino in Italian, and taking Danglars by the collar of +his coat he dragged him to an opening resembling a door, through which +they entered the apartment which the captain appeared to have made his +dwelling-place. + +"Is this the man?" asked the captain, who was attentively reading +Plutarch's "Life of Alexander." + +"Himself, captain--himself." + +"Very well, show him to me." At this rather impertinent order, Peppino +raised his torch to the face of Danglars, who hastily withdrew that he +might not have his eyelashes burnt. His agitated features presented +the appearance of pale and hideous terror. "The man is tired," said the +captain, "conduct him to his bed." + +"Oh," murmured Danglars, "that bed is probably one of the coffins +hollowed in the wall, and the sleep I shall enjoy will be death from one +of the poniards I see glistening in the darkness." + +From their beds of dried leaves or wolf-skins at the back of the chamber +now arose the companions of the man who had been found by Albert de +Morcerf reading "Caesar's Commentaries," and by Danglars studying the +"Life of Alexander." The banker uttered a groan and followed his guide; +he neither supplicated nor exclaimed. He no longer possessed strength, +will, power, or feeling; he followed where they led him. At length he +found himself at the foot of a staircase, and he mechanically lifted +his foot five or six times. Then a low door was opened before him, and +bending his head to avoid striking his forehead he entered a small room +cut out of the rock. The cell was clean, though empty, and dry, though +situated at an immeasurable distance under the earth. A bed of dried +grass covered with goat-skins was placed in one corner. Danglars +brightened up on beholding it, fancying that it gave some promise of +safety. "Oh, God be praised," he said; "it is a real bed!" + +"Ecco!" said the guide, and pushing Danglars into the cell, he closed +the door upon him. A bolt grated and Danglars was a prisoner. If there +had been no bolt, it would have been impossible for him to pass through +the midst of the garrison who held the catacombs of St. Sebastian, +encamped round a master whom our readers must have recognized as the +famous Luigi Vampa. Danglars, too, had recognized the bandit, whose +existence he would not believe when Albert de Morcerf mentioned him in +Paris; and not only did he recognize him, but the cell in which Albert +had been confined, and which was probably kept for the accommodation +of strangers. These recollections were dwelt upon with some pleasure +by Danglars, and restored him to some degree of tranquillity. Since the +bandits had not despatched him at once, he felt that they would not kill +him at all. They had arrested him for the purpose of robbery, and as he +had only a few louis about him, he doubted not he would be ransomed. +He remembered that Morcerf had been taxed at 4,000 crowns, and as he +considered himself of much greater importance than Morcerf he fixed +his own price at 8,000 crowns. Eight thousand crowns amounted to 48,000 +livres; he would then have about 5,050,000 francs left. With this sum he +could manage to keep out of difficulties. Therefore, tolerably secure in +being able to extricate himself from his position, provided he were not +rated at the unreasonable sum of 5,050,000 francs, he stretched himself +on his bed, and after turning over two or three times, fell asleep with +the tranquillity of the hero whose life Luigi Vampa was studying. + + + +Chapter 115. Luigi Vampa's Bill of Fare. + +We awake from every sleep except the one dreaded by Danglars. He awoke. +To a Parisian accustomed to silken curtains, walls hung with velvet +drapery, and the soft perfume of burning wood, the white smoke of which +diffuses itself in graceful curves around the room, the appearance of +the whitewashed cell which greeted his eyes on awakening seemed like +the continuation of some disagreeable dream. But in such a situation +a single moment suffices to change the strongest doubt into certainty. +"Yes, yes," he murmured, "I am in the hands of the brigands of whom +Albert de Morcerf spoke." His first idea was to breathe, that he might +know whether he was wounded. He borrowed this from "Don Quixote," the +only book he had ever read, but which he still slightly remembered. + +"No," he cried, "they have not wounded, but perhaps they have robbed +me!" and he thrust his hands into his pockets. They were untouched; the +hundred louis he had reserved for his journey from Rome to Venice were +in his trousers pocket, and in that of his great-coat he found the +little note-case containing his letter of credit for 5,050,000 francs. +"Singular bandits!" he exclaimed; "they have left me my purse and +pocket-book. As I was saying last night, they intend me to be ransomed. +Hallo, here is my watch! Let me see what time it is." Danglars' watch, +one of Breguet's repeaters, which he had carefully wound up on the +previous night, struck half past five. Without this, Danglars would have +been quite ignorant of the time, for daylight did not reach his cell. +Should he demand an explanation from the bandits, or should he wait +patiently for them to propose it? The last alternative seemed the most +prudent, so he waited until twelve o'clock. During all this time a +sentinel, who had been relieved at eight o'clock, had been watching his +door. Danglars suddenly felt a strong inclination to see the person who +kept watch over him. He had noticed that a few rays, not of daylight, +but from a lamp, penetrated through the ill-joined planks of the door; +he approached just as the brigand was refreshing himself with a mouthful +of brandy, which, owing to the leathern bottle containing it, sent +forth an odor which was extremely unpleasant to Danglars. "Faugh!" he +exclaimed, retreating to the farther corner of his cell. + +At twelve this man was replaced by another functionary, and Danglars, +wishing to catch sight of his new guardian, approached the door again. +He was an athletic, gigantic bandit, with large eyes, thick lips, and +a flat nose; his red hair fell in dishevelled masses like snakes around +his shoulders. "Ah, ha," cried Danglars, "this fellow is more like an +ogre than anything else; however, I am rather too old and tough to be +very good eating!" We see that Danglars was collected enough to jest; at +the same time, as though to disprove the ogreish propensities, the man +took some black bread, cheese, and onions from his wallet, which he +began devouring voraciously. "May I be hanged," said Danglars, glancing +at the bandit's dinner through the crevices of the door,--"may I be +hanged if I can understand how people can eat such filth!" and he +withdrew to seat himself upon his goat-skin, which reminded him of the +smell of the brandy. + +But the mysteries of nature are incomprehensible, and there are certain +invitations contained in even the coarsest food which appeal very +irresistibly to a fasting stomach. Danglars felt his own not to be very +well supplied just then, and gradually the man appeared less ugly, the +bread less black, and the cheese more fresh, while those dreadful vulgar +onions recalled to his mind certain sauces and side-dishes, which his +cook prepared in a very superior manner whenever he said, "Monsieur +Deniseau, let me have a nice little fricassee to-day." He got up and +knocked on the door; the bandit raised his head. Danglars knew that +he was heard, so he redoubled his blows. "Che cosa?" asked the bandit. +"Come, come," said Danglars, tapping his fingers against the door, "I +think it is quite time to think of giving me something to eat!" But +whether he did not understand him, or whether he had received no orders +respecting the nourishment of Danglars, the giant, without answering, +went on with his dinner. Danglars' feelings were hurt, and not wishing +to put himself under obligations to the brute, the banker threw himself +down again on his goat-skin and did not breathe another word. + +Four hours passed by and the giant was replaced by another bandit. +Danglars, who really began to experience sundry gnawings at the stomach, +arose softly, again applied his eye to the crack of the door, and +recognized the intelligent countenance of his guide. It was, indeed, +Peppino who was preparing to mount guard as comfortably as possible by +seating himself opposite to the door, and placing between his legs an +earthen pan, containing chick-pease stewed with bacon. Near the pan he +also placed a pretty little basket of Villetri grapes and a flask +of Orvieto. Peppino was decidedly an epicure. Danglars watched these +preparations and his mouth watered. "Come," he said to himself, "let me +try if he will be more tractable than the other;" and he tapped gently +at the door. "On y va," (coming) exclaimed Peppino, who from frequenting +the house of Signor Pastrini understood French perfectly in all its +idioms. + +Danglars immediately recognized him as the man who had called out in +such a furious manner, "Put in your head!" But this was not the time for +recrimination, so he assumed his most agreeable manner and said with a +gracious smile,--"Excuse me, sir, but are they not going to give me any +dinner?" + +"Does your excellency happen to be hungry?" + +"Happen to be hungry,--that's pretty good, when I haven't eaten for +twenty-four hours!" muttered Danglars. Then he added aloud, "Yes, sir, I +am hungry--very hungry." + +"What would your excellency like?" and Peppino placed his pan on the +ground, so that the steam rose directly under the nostrils of Danglars. +"Give your orders." + +"Have you kitchens here?" + +"Kitchens?--of course--complete ones." + +"And cooks?" + +"Excellent!" + +"Well, a fowl, fish, game,--it signifies little, so that I eat." + +"As your excellency pleases. You mentioned a fowl, I think?" + +"Yes, a fowl." Peppino, turning around, shouted, "A fowl for his +excellency!" His voice yet echoed in the archway when a handsome, +graceful, and half-naked young man appeared, bearing a fowl in a silver +dish on his head, without the assistance of his hands. "I could almost +believe myself at the Cafe de Paris," murmured Danglars. + +"Here, your excellency," said Peppino, taking the fowl from the young +bandit and placing it on the worm-eaten table, which with the stool +and the goat-skin bed formed the entire furniture of the cell. Danglars +asked for a knife and fork. "Here, excellency," said Peppino, offering +him a little blunt knife and a boxwood fork. Danglars took the knife in +one hand and the fork in the other, and was about to cut up the fowl. +"Pardon me, excellency," said Peppino, placing his hand on the banker's +shoulder; "people pay here before they eat. They might not be satisfied, +and"-- + +"Ah, ha," thought Danglars, "this is not so much like Paris, except that +I shall probably be skinned! Never mind, I'll fix that all right. I have +always heard how cheap poultry is in Italy; I should think a fowl is +worth about twelve sous at Rome.--There," he said, throwing a louis +down. Peppino picked up the louis, and Danglars again prepared to carve +the fowl. "Stay a moment, your excellency," said Peppino, rising; "you +still owe me something." + +"I said they would skin me," thought Danglars; but resolving to resist +the extortion, he said, "Come, how much do I owe you for this fowl?" + +"Your excellency has given me a louis on account." + +"A louis on account for a fowl?" + +"Certainly; and your excellency now owes me 4,999 louis." Danglars +opened his enormous eyes on hearing this gigantic joke. "Come, come, +this is very droll--very amusing--I allow; but, as I am very hungry, +pray allow me to eat. Stay, here is another louis for you." + +"Then that will make only 4,998 louis more," said Peppino with the same +indifference. "I shall get them all in time." + +"Oh, as for that," said Danglars, angry at this prolongation of the +jest,--"as for that you won't get them at all. Go to the devil! You do +not know with whom you have to deal!" Peppino made a sign, and the youth +hastily removed the fowl. Danglars threw himself upon his goat-skin, +and Peppino, reclosing the door, again began eating his pease and bacon. +Though Danglars could not see Peppino, the noise of his teeth allowed +no doubt as to his occupation. He was certainly eating, and noisily too, +like an ill-bred man. "Brute!" said Danglars. Peppino pretended not to +hear him, and without even turning his head continued to eat slowly. +Danglars' stomach felt so empty, that it seemed as if it would be +impossible ever to fill it again; still he had patience for another +half-hour, which appeared to him like a century. He again arose and went +to the door. "Come, sir, do not keep me starving here any longer, but +tell me what they want." + +"Nay, your excellency, it is you who should tell us what you want. Give +your orders, and we will execute them." + +"Then open the door directly." Peppino obeyed. "Now look here, I want +something to eat! To eat--do you hear?" + +"Are you hungry?" + +"Come, you understand me." + +"What would your excellency like to eat?" + +"A piece of dry bread, since the fowls are beyond all price in this +accursed place." + +"Bread? Very well. Hallo, there, some bread!" he called. The youth +brought a small loaf. "How much?" asked Danglars. + +"Four thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight louis," said Peppino; "You +have paid two louis in advance." + +"What? One hundred thousand francs for a loaf?" + +"One hundred thousand francs," repeated Peppino. + +"But you only asked 100,000 francs for a fowl!" + +"We have a fixed price for all our provisions. It signifies nothing +whether you eat much or little--whether you have ten dishes or one--it +is always the same price." + +"What, still keeping up this silly jest? My dear fellow, it is perfectly +ridiculous--stupid! You had better tell me at once that you intend +starving me to death." + +"Oh, dear, no, your excellency, unless you intend to commit suicide. Pay +and eat." + +"And what am I to pay with, brute?" said Danglars, enraged. "Do you +suppose I carry 100,000 francs in my pocket?" + +"Your excellency has 5,050,000 francs in your pocket; that will be fifty +fowls at 100,000 francs apiece, and half a fowl for the 50,000." + +Danglars shuddered. The bandage fell from his eyes, and he understood +the joke, which he did not think quite so stupid as he had done just +before. "Come," he said, "if I pay you the 100,000 francs, will you be +satisfied, and allow me to eat at my ease?" + +"Certainly," said Peppino. + +"But how can I pay them?" + +"Oh, nothing easier; you have an account open with Messrs. Thomson & +French, Via dei Banchi, Rome; give me a draft for 4,998 louis on these +gentlemen, and our banker shall take it." Danglars thought it as well +to comply with a good grace, so he took the pen, ink, and paper Peppino +offered him, wrote the draft, and signed it. "Here," he said, "here is a +draft at sight." + +"And here is your fowl." Danglars sighed while he carved the fowl; +it appeared very thin for the price it had cost. As for Peppino, he +examined the paper attentively, put it into his pocket, and continued +eating his pease. + + + +Chapter 116. The Pardon. + +The next day Danglars was again hungry; certainly the air of that +dungeon was very provocative of appetite. The prisoner expected that +he would be at no expense that day, for like an economical man he had +concealed half of his fowl and a piece of the bread in the corner of his +cell. But he had no sooner eaten than he felt thirsty; he had forgotten +that. He struggled against his thirst till his tongue clave to the +roof of his mouth; then, no longer able to resist, he called out. The +sentinel opened the door; it was a new face. He thought it would be +better to transact business with his old acquaintance, so he sent for +Peppino. "Here I am, your excellency," said Peppino, with an eagerness +which Danglars thought favorable to him. "What do you want?" + +"Something to drink." + +"Your excellency knows that wine is beyond all price near Rome." + +"Then give me water," cried Danglars, endeavoring to parry the blow. + +"Oh, water is even more scarce than wine, your excellency,--there has +been such a drought." + +"Come," thought Danglars, "it is the same old story." And while he +smiled as he attempted to regard the affair as a joke, he felt his +temples get moist with perspiration. + +"Come, my friend," said Danglars, seeing that he made no impression on +Peppino, "you will not refuse me a glass of wine?" + +"I have already told you that we do not sell at retail." + +"Well, then, let me have a bottle of the least expensive." + +"They are all the same price." + +"And what is that?" + +"Twenty-five thousand francs a bottle." + +"Tell me," cried Danglars, in a tone whose bitterness Harpagon [*] alone +has been capable of revealing--"tell me that you wish to despoil me of +all; it will be sooner over than devouring me piecemeal." + + * The miser in Moliere's comedy of "L'Avare."--Ed. + +"It is possible such may be the master's intention." + +"The master?--who is he?" + +"The person to whom you were conducted yesterday." + +"Where is he?" + +"Here." + +"Let me see him." + +"Certainly." And the next moment Luigi Vampa appeared before Danglars. + +"You sent for me?" he said to the prisoner. + +"Are you, sir, the chief of the people who brought me here?" + +"Yes, your excellency. What then?" + +"How much do you require for my ransom?" + +"Merely the 5,000,000 you have about you." Danglars felt a dreadful +spasm dart through his heart. "But this is all I have left in the +world," he said, "out of an immense fortune. If you deprive me of that, +take away my life also." + +"We are forbidden to shed your blood." + +"And by whom are you forbidden?" + +"By him we obey." + +"You do, then, obey some one?" + +"Yes, a chief." + +"I thought you said you were the chief?" + +"So I am of these men; but there is another over me." + +"And did your superior order you to treat me in this way?" + +"Yes." + +"But my purse will be exhausted." + +"Probably." + +"Come," said Danglars, "will you take a million?" + +"No." + +"Two millions?--three?--four? Come, four? I will give them to you on +condition that you let me go." + +"Why do you offer me 4,000,000 for what is worth 5,000,000? This is a +kind of usury, banker, that I do not understand." + +"Take all, then--take all, I tell you, and kill me!" + +"Come, come, calm yourself. You will excite your blood, and that would +produce an appetite it would require a million a day to satisfy. Be more +economical." + +"But when I have no more money left to pay you?" asked the infuriated +Danglars. + +"Then you must suffer hunger." + +"Suffer hunger?" said Danglars, becoming pale. + +"Most likely," replied Vampa coolly. + +"But you say you do not wish to kill me?" + +"No." + +"And yet you will let me perish with hunger?" + +"Ah, that is a different thing." + +"Well, then, wretches," cried Danglars, "I will defy your infamous +calculations--I would rather die at once! You may torture, torment, kill +me, but you shall not have my signature again!" + +"As your excellency pleases," said Vampa, as he left the cell. Danglars, +raving, threw himself on the goat-skin. Who could these men be? Who was +the invisible chief? What could be his intentions towards him? And why, +when every one else was allowed to be ransomed, might he not also be? +Oh, yes; certainly a speedy, violent death would be a fine means of +deceiving these remorseless enemies, who appeared to pursue him with +such incomprehensible vengeance. But to die? For the first time in his +life, Danglars contemplated death with a mixture of dread and desire; +the time had come when the implacable spectre, which exists in the mind +of every human creature, arrested his attention and called out with +every pulsation of his heart, "Thou shalt die!" + +Danglars resembled a timid animal excited in the chase; first it flies, +then despairs, and at last, by the very force of desperation, sometimes +succeeds in eluding its pursuers. Danglars meditated an escape; but the +walls were solid rock, a man was sitting reading at the only outlet to +the cell, and behind that man shapes armed with guns continually passed. +His resolution not to sign lasted two days, after which he offered a +million for some food. They sent him a magnificent supper, and took his +million. + +From this time the prisoner resolved to suffer no longer, but to have +everything he wanted. At the end of twelve days, after having made a +splendid dinner, he reckoned his accounts, and found that he had only +50,000 francs left. Then a strange reaction took place; he who had just +abandoned 5,000,000 endeavored to save the 50,000 francs he had left, +and sooner than give them up he resolved to enter again upon a life of +privation--he was deluded by the hopefulness that is a premonition of +madness. He who for so long a time had forgotten God, began to +think that miracles were possible--that the accursed cavern might be +discovered by the officers of the Papal States, who would release him; +that then he would have 50,000 remaining, which would be sufficient to +save him from starvation; and finally he prayed that this sum might +be preserved to him, and as he prayed he wept. Three days passed thus, +during which his prayers were frequent, if not heartfelt. Sometimes he +was delirious, and fancied he saw an old man stretched on a pallet; he, +also, was dying of hunger. + +On the fourth, he was no longer a man, but a living corpse. He had +picked up every crumb that had been left from his former meals, and was +beginning to eat the matting which covered the floor of his cell. Then +he entreated Peppino, as he would a guardian angel, to give him food; +he offered him 1,000 francs for a mouthful of bread. But Peppino did not +answer. On the fifth day he dragged himself to the door of the cell. + +"Are you not a Christian?" he said, falling on his knees. "Do you wish +to assassinate a man who, in the eyes of heaven, is a brother? Oh, my +former friends, my former friends!" he murmured, and fell with his face +to the ground. Then rising in despair, he exclaimed, "The chief, the +chief!" + +"Here I am," said Vampa, instantly appearing; "what do you want?" + +"Take my last gold," muttered Danglars, holding out his pocket-book, +"and let me live here; I ask no more for liberty--I only ask to live!" + +"Then you suffer a great deal?" + +"Oh, yes, yes, cruelly!" + +"Still, there have been men who suffered more than you." + +"I do not think so." + +"Yes; those who have died of hunger." + +Danglars thought of the old man whom, in his hours of delirium, he +had seen groaning on his bed. He struck his forehead on the ground and +groaned. "Yes," he said, "there have been some who have suffered more +than I have, but then they must have been martyrs at least." + +"Do you repent?" asked a deep, solemn voice, which caused Danglars' hair +to stand on end. His feeble eyes endeavored to distinguish objects, and +behind the bandit he saw a man enveloped in a cloak, half lost in the +shadow of a stone column. + +"Of what must I repent?" stammered Danglars. + +"Of the evil you have done," said the voice. + +"Oh, yes; oh, yes, I do indeed repent." And he struck his breast with +his emaciated fist. + +"Then I forgive you," said the man, dropping his cloak, and advancing to +the light. + +"The Count of Monte Cristo!" said Danglars, more pale from terror than +he had been just before from hunger and misery. + +"You are mistaken--I am not the Count of Monte Cristo." + +"Then who are you?" + +"I am he whom you sold and dishonored--I am he whose betrothed you +prostituted--I am he upon whom you trampled that you might raise +yourself to fortune--I am he whose father you condemned to die of +hunger--I am he whom you also condemned to starvation, and who yet +forgives you, because he hopes to be forgiven--I am Edmond Dantes!" +Danglars uttered a cry, and fell prostrate. "Rise," said the count, +"your life is safe; the same good fortune has not happened to your +accomplices--one is mad, the other dead. Keep the 50,000 francs you have +left--I give them to you. The 5,000,000 you stole from the hospitals has +been restored to them by an unknown hand. And now eat and drink; I will +entertain you to-night. Vampa, when this man is satisfied, let him be +free." Danglars remained prostrate while the count withdrew; when he +raised his head he saw disappearing down the passage nothing but +a shadow, before which the bandits bowed. According to the count's +directions, Danglars was waited on by Vampa, who brought him the best +wine and fruits of Italy; then, having conducted him to the road, and +pointed to the post-chaise, left him leaning against a tree. He remained +there all night, not knowing where he was. When daylight dawned he saw +that he was near a stream; he was thirsty, and dragged himself towards +it. As he stooped down to drink, he saw that his hair had become +entirely white. + + + +Chapter 117. The Fifth of October. + +It was about six o'clock in the evening; an opal-colored light, through +which an autumnal sun shed its golden rays, descended on the blue ocean. +The heat of the day had gradually decreased, and a light breeze arose, +seeming like the respiration of nature on awakening from the burning +siesta of the south. A delicious zephyr played along the coasts of +the Mediterranean, and wafted from shore to shore the sweet perfume of +plants, mingled with the fresh smell of the sea. + +A light yacht, chaste and elegant in its form, was gliding amidst the +first dews of night over the immense lake, extending from Gibraltar to +the Dardanelles, and from Tunis to Venice. The vessel resembled a +swan with its wings opened towards the wind, gliding on the water. It +advanced swiftly and gracefully, leaving behind it a glittering stretch +of foam. By degrees the sun disappeared behind the western horizon; but +as though to prove the truth of the fanciful ideas in heathen mythology, +its indiscreet rays reappeared on the summit of every wave, as if the +god of fire had just sunk upon the bosom of Amphitrite, who in vain +endeavored to hide her lover beneath her azure mantle. The yacht moved +rapidly on, though there did not appear to be sufficient wind to ruffle +the curls on the head of a young girl. Standing on the prow was a tall +man, of a dark complexion, who saw with dilating eyes that they were +approaching a dark mass of land in the shape of a cone, which rose +from the midst of the waves like the hat of a Catalan. "Is that Monte +Cristo?" asked the traveller, to whose orders the yacht was for the time +submitted, in a melancholy voice. + +"Yes, your excellency," said the captain, "we have reached it." + +"We have reached it!" repeated the traveller in an accent of +indescribable sadness. Then he added, in a low tone, "Yes; that is the +haven." And then he again plunged into a train of thought, the character +of which was better revealed by a sad smile, than it would have been by +tears. A few minutes afterwards a flash of light, which was extinguished +instantly, was seen on the land, and the sound of firearms reached the +yacht. + +"Your excellency," said the captain, "that was the land signal, will you +answer yourself?" + +"What signal?" The captain pointed towards the island, up the side of +which ascended a volume of smoke, increasing as it rose. "Ah, yes," he +said, as if awaking from a dream. "Give it to me." + +The captain gave him a loaded carbine; the traveller slowly raised it, +and fired in the air. Ten minutes afterwards, the sails were furled, and +they cast anchor about a hundred fathoms from the little harbor. The +gig was already lowered, and in it were four oarsmen and a coxswain. +The traveller descended, and instead of sitting down at the stern of the +boat, which had been decorated with a blue carpet for his accommodation, +stood up with his arms crossed. The rowers waited, their oars half +lifted out of the water, like birds drying their wings. + +"Give way," said the traveller. The eight oars fell into the sea +simultaneously without splashing a drop of water, and the boat, yielding +to the impulsion, glided forward. In an instant they found themselves +in a little harbor, formed in a natural creek; the boat grounded on the +fine sand. + +"Will your excellency be so good as to mount the shoulders of two of our +men, they will carry you ashore?" The young man answered this invitation +with a gesture of indifference, and stepped out of the boat; the sea +immediately rose to his waist. "Ah, your excellency," murmured the +pilot, "you should not have done so; our master will scold us for it." +The young man continued to advance, following the sailors, who chose +a firm footing. Thirty strides brought them to dry land; the young man +stamped on the ground to shake off the wet, and looked around for some +one to show him his road, for it was quite dark. Just as he turned, +a hand rested on his shoulder, and a voice which made him shudder +exclaimed,--"Good-evening, Maximilian; you are punctual, thank you!" + +"Ah, is it you, count?" said the young man, in an almost joyful accent, +pressing Monte Cristo's hand with both his own. + +"Yes; you see I am as exact as you are. But you are dripping, my dear +fellow; you must change your clothes, as Calypso said to Telemachus. +Come, I have a habitation prepared for you in which you will soon forget +fatigue and cold." Monte Cristo perceived that the young man had turned +around; indeed, Morrel saw with surprise that the men who had brought +him had left without being paid, or uttering a word. Already the sound +of their oars might be heard as they returned to the yacht. + +"Oh, yes," said the count, "you are looking for the sailors." + +"Yes, I paid them nothing, and yet they are gone." + +"Never mind that, Maximilian," said Monte Cristo, smiling. "I have made +an agreement with the navy, that the access to my island shall be free +of all charge. I have made a bargain." Morrel looked at the count with +surprise. "Count," he said, "you are not the same here as in Paris." + +"How so?" + +"Here you laugh." The count's brow became clouded. "You are right to +recall me to myself, Maximilian," he said; "I was delighted to see you +again, and forgot for the moment that all happiness is fleeting." + +"Oh, no, no, count," cried Maximilian, seizing the count's hands, "pray +laugh; be happy, and prove to me, by your indifference, that life is +endurable to sufferers. Oh, how charitable, kind, and good you are; you +affect this gayety to inspire me with courage." + +"You are wrong, Morrel; I was really happy." + +"Then you forget me, so much the better." + +"How so?" + +"Yes; for as the gladiator said to the emperor, when he entered the +arena, 'He who is about to die salutes you.'" + +"Then you are not consoled?" asked the count, surprised. + +"Oh," exclaimed Morrel, with a glance full of bitter reproach, "do you +think it possible that I could be?" + +"Listen," said the count. "Do you understand the meaning of my words? +You cannot take me for a commonplace man, a mere rattle, emitting a +vague and senseless noise. When I ask you if you are consoled, I speak +to you as a man for whom the human heart has no secrets. Well, Morrel, +let us both examine the depths of your heart. Do you still feel the same +feverish impatience of grief which made you start like a wounded lion? +Have you still that devouring thirst which can only be appeased in the +grave? Are you still actuated by the regret which drags the living to +the pursuit of death; or are you only suffering from the prostration +of fatigue and the weariness of hope deferred? Has the loss of memory +rendered it impossible for you to weep? Oh, my dear friend, if this be +the case,--if you can no longer weep, if your frozen heart be dead, if +you put all your trust in God, then, Maximilian, you are consoled--do +not complain." + +"Count," said Morrel, in a firm and at the same time soft voice, "listen +to me, as to a man whose thoughts are raised to heaven, though he +remains on earth; I come to die in the arms of a friend. Certainly, +there are people whom I love. I love my sister Julie,--I love her +husband Emmanuel; but I require a strong mind to smile on my last +moments. My sister would be bathed in tears and fainting; I could not +bear to see her suffer. Emmanuel would tear the weapon from my hand, and +alarm the house with his cries. You, count, who are more than mortal, +will, I am sure, lead me to death by a pleasant path, will you not?" + +"My friend," said the count, "I have still one doubt,--are you weak +enough to pride yourself upon your sufferings?" + +"No, indeed,--I am calm," said Morrel, giving his hand to the count; "my +pulse does not beat slower or faster than usual. No, I feel that I have +reached the goal, and I will go no farther. You told me to wait and +hope; do you know what you did, unfortunate adviser? I waited a month, +or rather I suffered for a month! I did hope (man is a poor wretched +creature), I did hope. What I cannot tell,--something wonderful, an +absurdity, a miracle,--of what nature he alone can tell who has mingled +with our reason that folly we call hope. Yes, I did wait--yes, I did +hope, count, and during this quarter of an hour we have been talking +together, you have unconsciously wounded, tortured my heart, for every +word you have uttered proved that there was no hope for me. Oh, count, +I shall sleep calmly, deliciously in the arms of death." Morrel uttered +these words with an energy which made the count shudder. "My friend," +continued Morrel, "you named the fifth of October as the end of the +period of waiting,--to-day is the fifth of October," he took out his +watch, "it is now nine o'clock,--I have yet three hours to live." + +"Be it so," said the count, "come." Morrel mechanically followed the +count, and they had entered the grotto before he perceived it. He felt +a carpet under his feet, a door opened, perfumes surrounded him, and +a brilliant light dazzled his eyes. Morrel hesitated to advance; he +dreaded the enervating effect of all that he saw. Monte Cristo drew him +in gently. "Why should we not spend the last three hours remaining to +us of life, like those ancient Romans, who when condemned by Nero, their +emperor and heir, sat down at a table covered with flowers, and gently +glided into death, amid the perfume of heliotropes and roses?" Morrel +smiled. "As you please," he said; "death is always death,--that is +forgetfulness, repose, exclusion from life, and therefore from grief." +He sat down, and Monte Cristo placed himself opposite to him. They were +in the marvellous dining-room before described, where the statues had +baskets on their heads always filled with fruits and flowers. Morrel had +looked carelessly around, and had probably noticed nothing. + +"Let us talk like men," he said, looking at the count. + +"Go on!" + +"Count," said Morrel, "you are the epitome of all human knowledge, and +you seem like a being descended from a wiser and more advanced world +than ours." + +"There is something true in what you say," said the count, with that +smile which made him so handsome; "I have descended from a planet called +grief." + +"I believe all you tell me without questioning its meaning; for +instance, you told me to live, and I did live; you told me to hope, +and I almost did so. I am almost inclined to ask you, as though you had +experienced death, 'is it painful to die?'" + +Monte Cristo looked upon Morrel with indescribable tenderness. "Yes," +he said, "yes, doubtless it is painful, if you violently break the outer +covering which obstinately begs for life. If you plunge a dagger into +your flesh, if you insinuate a bullet into your brain, which the least +shock disorders,--then certainly, you will suffer pain, and you will +repent quitting a life for a repose you have bought at so dear a price." + +"Yes; I know that there is a secret of luxury and pain in death, as well +as in life; the only thing is to understand it." + +"You have spoken truly, Maximilian; according to the care we bestow upon +it, death is either a friend who rocks us gently as a nurse, or an enemy +who violently drags the soul from the body. Some day, when the world +is much older, and when mankind will be masters of all the destructive +powers in nature, to serve for the general good of humanity; when +mankind, as you were just saying, have discovered the secrets of death, +then that death will become as sweet and voluptuous as a slumber in the +arms of your beloved." + +"And if you wished to die, you would choose this death, count?" + +"Yes." + +Morrel extended his hand. "Now I understand," he said, "why you had me +brought here to this desolate spot, in the midst of the ocean, to this +subterranean palace; it was because you loved me, was it not, count? It +was because you loved me well enough to give me one of those sweet means +of death of which we were speaking; a death without agony, a death which +allows me to fade away while pronouncing Valentine's name and pressing +your hand." + +"Yes, you have guessed rightly, Morrel," said the count, "that is what I +intended." + +"Thanks; the idea that tomorrow I shall no longer suffer, is sweet to my +heart." + +"Do you then regret nothing?" + +"No," replied Morrel. + +"Not even me?" asked the count with deep emotion. Morrel's clear eye was +for the moment clouded, then it shone with unusual lustre, and a large +tear rolled down his cheek. + +"What," said the count, "do you still regret anything in the world, and +yet die?" + +"Oh, I entreat you," exclaimed Morrel in a low voice, "do not speak +another word, count; do not prolong my punishment." The count fancied +that he was yielding, and this belief revived the horrible doubt that +had overwhelmed him at the Chateau d'If. "I am endeavoring," he thought, +"to make this man happy; I look upon this restitution as a weight thrown +into the scale to balance the evil I have wrought. Now, supposing I +am deceived, supposing this man has not been unhappy enough to merit +happiness. Alas, what would become of me who can only atone for evil by +doing good?" Then he said aloud: "Listen, Morrel, I see your grief +is great, but still you do not like to risk your soul." Morrel smiled +sadly. "Count," he said, "I swear to you my soul is no longer my own." + +"Maximilian, you know I have no relation in the world. I have accustomed +myself to regard you as my son: well, then, to save my son, I will +sacrifice my life, nay, even my fortune." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean, that you wish to quit life because you do not understand +all the enjoyments which are the fruits of a large fortune. Morrel, I +possess nearly a hundred millions and I give them to you; with such a +fortune you can attain every wish. Are you ambitious? Every career is +open to you. Overturn the world, change its character, yield to mad +ideas, be even criminal--but live." + +"Count, I have your word," said Morrel coldly; then taking out his +watch, he added, "It is half-past eleven." + +"Morrel, can you intend it in my house, under my very eyes?" + +"Then let me go," said Maximilian, "or I shall think you did not love me +for my own sake, but for yours;" and he arose. + +"It is well," said Monte Cristo whose countenance brightened at these +words; "you wish--you are inflexible. Yes, as you said, you are indeed +wretched and a miracle alone can cure you. Sit down, Morrel, and wait." + +Morrel obeyed; the count arose, and unlocking a closet with a key +suspended from his gold chain, took from it a little silver casket, +beautifully carved and chased, the corners of which represented four +bending figures, similar to the Caryatides, the forms of women, symbols +of the angels aspiring to heaven. He placed the casket on the table; +then opening it took out a little golden box, the top of which flew +open when touched by a secret spring. This box contained an unctuous +substance partly solid, of which it was impossible to discover the +color, owing to the reflection of the polished gold, sapphires, rubies, +emeralds, which ornamented the box. It was a mixed mass of blue, red, +and gold. The count took out a small quantity of this with a gilt spoon, +and offered it to Morrel, fixing a long steadfast glance upon him. It +was then observable that the substance was greenish. + +"This is what you asked for," he said, "and what I promised to give +you." + +"I thank you from the depths of my heart," said the young man, taking +the spoon from the hands of Monte Cristo. The count took another spoon, +and again dipped it into the golden box. "What are you going to do, my +friend?" asked Morrel, arresting his hand. + +"Well, the fact is, Morrel, I was thinking that I too am weary of life, +and since an opportunity presents itself"-- + +"Stay!" said the young man. "You who love, and are beloved; you, who +have faith and hope,--oh, do not follow my example. In your case it +would be a crime. Adieu, my noble and generous friend, adieu; I will +go and tell Valentine what you have done for me." And slowly, though +without any hesitation, only waiting to press the count's hand +fervently, he swallowed the mysterious substance offered by Monte +Cristo. Then they were both silent. Ali, mute and attentive, brought the +pipes and coffee, and disappeared. By degrees, the light of the lamps +gradually faded in the hands of the marble statues which held them, and +the perfumes appeared less powerful to Morrel. Seated opposite to him, +Monte Cristo watched him in the shadow, and Morrel saw nothing but the +bright eyes of the count. An overpowering sadness took possession of +the young man, his hands relaxed their hold, the objects in the room +gradually lost their form and color, and his disturbed vision seemed to +perceive doors and curtains open in the walls. + +"Friend," he cried, "I feel that I am dying; thanks!" He made a last +effort to extend his hand, but it fell powerless beside him. Then it +appeared to him that Monte Cristo smiled, not with the strange and +fearful expression which had sometimes revealed to him the secrets of +his heart, but with the benevolent kindness of a father for a child. +At the same time the count appeared to increase in stature, his form, +nearly double its usual height, stood out in relief against the red +tapestry, his black hair was thrown back, and he stood in the attitude +of an avenging angel. Morrel, overpowered, turned around in the +arm-chair; a delicious torpor permeated every vein. A change of +ideas presented themselves to his brain, like a new design on +the kaleidoscope. Enervated, prostrate, and breathless, he became +unconscious of outward objects; he seemed to be entering that vague +delirium preceding death. He wished once again to press the count's +hand, but his own was immovable. He wished to articulate a last +farewell, but his tongue lay motionless and heavy in his throat, like +a stone at the mouth of a sepulchre. Involuntarily his languid eyes +closed, and still through his eyelashes a well-known form seemed to move +amid the obscurity with which he thought himself enveloped. + +The count had just opened a door. Immediately a brilliant light from the +next room, or rather from the palace adjoining, shone upon the room in +which he was gently gliding into his last sleep. Then he saw a woman of +marvellous beauty appear on the threshold of the door separating the +two rooms. Pale, and sweetly smiling, she looked like an angel of mercy +conjuring the angel of vengeance. "Is it heaven that opens before me?" +thought the dying man; "that angel resembles the one I have lost." Monte +Cristo pointed out Morrel to the young woman, who advanced towards him +with clasped hands and a smile upon her lips. + +"Valentine, Valentine!" he mentally ejaculated; but his lips uttered +no sound, and as though all his strength were centred in that internal +emotion, he sighed and closed his eyes. Valentine rushed towards him; +his lips again moved. + +"He is calling you," said the count; "he to whom you have confided your +destiny--he from whom death would have separated you, calls you to him. +Happily, I vanquished death. Henceforth, Valentine, you will never +again be separated on earth, since he has rushed into death to find you. +Without me, you would both have died. May God accept my atonement in the +preservation of these two existences!" + +Valentine seized the count's hand, and in her irresistible impulse of +joy carried it to her lips. + +"Oh, thank me again!" said the count; "tell me till you are weary, that +I have restored you to happiness; you do not know how much I require +this assurance." + +"Oh, yes, yes, I thank you with all my heart," said Valentine; "and if +you doubt the sincerity of my gratitude, oh, then, ask Haidee! ask my +beloved sister Haidee, who ever since our departure from France, has +caused me to wait patiently for this happy day, while talking to me of +you." + +"You then love Haidee?" asked Monte Cristo with an emotion he in vain +endeavored to dissimulate. + +"Oh, yes, with all my soul." + +"Well, then, listen, Valentine," said the count; "I have a favor to ask +of you." + +"Of me? Oh, am I happy enough for that?" + +"Yes; you have called Haidee your sister,--let her become so indeed, +Valentine; render her all the gratitude you fancy that you owe to me; +protect her, for" (the count's voice was thick with emotion) "henceforth +she will be alone in the world." + +"Alone in the world!" repeated a voice behind the count, "and why?" + +Monte Cristo turned around; Haidee was standing pale, motionless, +looking at the count with an expression of fearful amazement. + +"Because to-morrow, Haidee, you will be free; you will then assume +your proper position in society, for I will not allow my destiny to +overshadow yours. Daughter of a prince, I restore to you the riches and +name of your father." + +Haidee became pale, and lifting her transparent hands to heaven, +exclaimed in a voice stifled with tears, "Then you leave me, my lord?" + +"Haidee, Haidee, you are young and beautiful; forget even my name, and +be happy." + +"It is well," said Haidee; "your order shall be executed, my lord; +I will forget even your name, and be happy." And she stepped back to +retire. + +"Oh, heavens," exclaimed Valentine, who was supporting the head of +Morrel on her shoulder, "do you not see how pale she is? Do you not see +how she suffers?" + +Haidee answered with a heartrending expression, "Why should he +understand this, my sister? He is my master, and I am his slave; he has +the right to notice nothing." + +The count shuddered at the tones of a voice which penetrated the inmost +recesses of his heart; his eyes met those of the young girl and he could +not bear their brilliancy. "Oh, heavens," exclaimed Monte Cristo, "can +my suspicions be correct? Haidee, would it please you not to leave me?" + +"I am young," gently replied Haidee; "I love the life you have made so +sweet to me, and I should be sorry to die." + +"You mean, then, that if I leave you, Haidee"-- + +"I should die; yes, my lord." + +"Do you then love me?" + +"Oh, Valentine, he asks if I love him. Valentine, tell him if you love +Maximilian." The count felt his heart dilate and throb; he opened his +arms, and Haidee, uttering a cry, sprang into them. "Oh, yes," she +cried, "I do love you! I love you as one loves a father, brother, +husband! I love you as my life, for you are the best, the noblest of +created beings!" + +"Let it be, then, as you wish, sweet angel; God has sustained me in my +struggle with my enemies, and has given me this reward; he will not let +me end my triumph in suffering; I wished to punish myself, but he has +pardoned me. Love me then, Haidee! Who knows? perhaps your love will +make me forget all that I do not wish to remember." + +"What do you mean, my lord?" + +"I mean that one word from you has enlightened me more than twenty years +of slow experience; I have but you in the world, Haidee; through you +I again take hold on life, through you I shall suffer, through you +rejoice." + +"Do you hear him, Valentine?" exclaimed Haidee; "he says that through me +he will suffer--through me, who would yield my life for his." The count +withdrew for a moment. "Have I discovered the truth?" he said; "but +whether it be for recompense or punishment, I accept my fate. Come, +Haidee, come!" and throwing his arm around the young girl's waist, he +pressed the hand of Valentine, and disappeared. + +An hour had nearly passed, during which Valentine, breathless and +motionless, watched steadfastly over Morrel. At length she felt his +heart beat, a faint breath played upon his lips, a slight shudder, +announcing the return of life, passed through the young man's frame. At +length his eyes opened, but they were at first fixed and expressionless; +then sight returned, and with it feeling and grief. "Oh," he cried, in +an accent of despair, "the count has deceived me; I am yet living;" and +extending his hand towards the table, he seized a knife. + +"Dearest," exclaimed Valentine, with her adorable smile, "awake, and +look at me!" Morrel uttered a loud exclamation, and frantic, doubtful, +dazzled, as though by a celestial vision, he fell upon his knees. + +The next morning at daybreak, Valentine and Morrel were walking +arm-in-arm on the sea-shore, Valentine relating how Monte Cristo had +appeared in her room, explained everything, revealed the crime, and, +finally, how he had saved her life by enabling her to simulate death. +They had found the door of the grotto opened, and gone forth; on the +azure dome of heaven still glittered a few remaining stars. Morrel soon +perceived a man standing among the rocks, apparently awaiting a sign +from them to advance, and pointed him out to Valentine. "Ah, it is +Jacopo," she said, "the captain of the yacht;" and she beckoned him +towards them. + +"Do you wish to speak to us?" asked Morrel. + +"I have a letter to give you from the count." + +"From the count!" murmured the two young people. + +"Yes; read it." Morrel opened the letter, and read:-- + +"My Dear Maximilian,-- + +"There is a felucca for you at anchor. Jacopo will carry you to Leghorn, +where Monsieur Noirtier awaits his granddaughter, whom he wishes to +bless before you lead her to the altar. All that is in this grotto, my +friend, my house in the Champs Elysees, and my chateau at Treport, are +the marriage gifts bestowed by Edmond Dantes upon the son of his old +master, Morrel. Mademoiselle de Villefort will share them with you; for +I entreat her to give to the poor the immense fortune reverting to her +from her father, now a madman, and her brother who died last September +with his mother. Tell the angel who will watch over your future destiny, +Morrel, to pray sometimes for a man, who like Satan thought himself +for an instant equal to God, but who now acknowledges with Christian +humility that God alone possesses supreme power and infinite wisdom. +Perhaps those prayers may soften the remorse he feels in his heart. As +for you, Morrel, this is the secret of my conduct towards you. There is +neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison +of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest +grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt +what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of +living. + +"Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never +forget that until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future +to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,--'_Wait and +hope_.'--Your friend, + +"Edmond Dantes, Count of Monte Cristo." + +During the perusal of this letter, which informed Valentine for the +first time of the madness of her father and the death of her brother, +she became pale, a heavy sigh escaped from her bosom, and tears, not +the less painful because they were silent, ran down her cheeks; her +happiness cost her very dear. Morrel looked around uneasily. "But," he +said, "the count's generosity is too overwhelming; Valentine will be +satisfied with my humble fortune. Where is the count, friend? Lead me +to him." Jacopo pointed towards the horizon. "What do you mean?" asked +Valentine. "Where is the count?--where is Haidee?" + +"Look!" said Jacopo. + +The eyes of both were fixed upon the spot indicated by the sailor, and +on the blue line separating the sky from the Mediterranean Sea, they +perceived a large white sail. "Gone," said Morrel; "gone!--adieu, my +friend--adieu, my father!" + +"Gone," murmured Valentine; "adieu, my sweet Haidee--adieu, my sister!" + +"Who can say whether we shall ever see them again?" said Morrel with +tearful eyes. + +"Darling," replied Valentine, "has not the count just told us that all +human wisdom is summed up in two words?--'_Wait and hope_.'" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, Pere + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO *** + +***** This file should be named 1184.txt or 1184.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/8/1184/ + +Produced by Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteers + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/data/task1/pride_and_prejudice.txt b/data/task1/pride_and_prejudice.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..936e002 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/task1/pride_and_prejudice.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13426 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Pride and Prejudice + +Author: Jane Austen + +Posting Date: August 26, 2008 [EBook #1342] +Release Date: June, 1998 +Last updated: February 15, 2015] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRIDE AND PREJUDICE *** + + + + +Produced by Anonymous Volunteers + + + + + +PRIDE AND PREJUDICE + +By Jane Austen + + + +Chapter 1 + + +It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession +of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. + +However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his +first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds +of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property +of some one or other of their daughters. + +"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that +Netherfield Park is let at last?" + +Mr. Bennet replied that he had not. + +"But it is," returned she; "for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she +told me all about it." + +Mr. Bennet made no answer. + +"Do you not want to know who has taken it?" cried his wife impatiently. + +"_You_ want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it." + +This was invitation enough. + +"Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken +by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came +down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much +delighted with it, that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he +is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to +be in the house by the end of next week." + +"What is his name?" + +"Bingley." + +"Is he married or single?" + +"Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or +five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!" + +"How so? How can it affect them?" + +"My dear Mr. Bennet," replied his wife, "how can you be so tiresome! You +must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them." + +"Is that his design in settling here?" + +"Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he +_may_ fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as +soon as he comes." + +"I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may go, or you may send +them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better, for as you are +as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley may like you the best of the +party." + +"My dear, you flatter me. I certainly _have_ had my share of beauty, but +I do not pretend to be anything extraordinary now. When a woman has five +grown-up daughters, she ought to give over thinking of her own beauty." + +"In such cases, a woman has not often much beauty to think of." + +"But, my dear, you must indeed go and see Mr. Bingley when he comes into +the neighbourhood." + +"It is more than I engage for, I assure you." + +"But consider your daughters. Only think what an establishment it would +be for one of them. Sir William and Lady Lucas are determined to +go, merely on that account, for in general, you know, they visit no +newcomers. Indeed you must go, for it will be impossible for _us_ to +visit him if you do not." + +"You are over-scrupulous, surely. I dare say Mr. Bingley will be very +glad to see you; and I will send a few lines by you to assure him of my +hearty consent to his marrying whichever he chooses of the girls; though +I must throw in a good word for my little Lizzy." + +"I desire you will do no such thing. Lizzy is not a bit better than the +others; and I am sure she is not half so handsome as Jane, nor half so +good-humoured as Lydia. But you are always giving _her_ the preference." + +"They have none of them much to recommend them," replied he; "they are +all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy has something more of +quickness than her sisters." + +"Mr. Bennet, how _can_ you abuse your own children in such a way? You +take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves." + +"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They +are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration +these last twenty years at least." + +"Ah, you do not know what I suffer." + +"But I hope you will get over it, and live to see many young men of four +thousand a year come into the neighbourhood." + +"It will be no use to us, if twenty such should come, since you will not +visit them." + +"Depend upon it, my dear, that when there are twenty, I will visit them +all." + +Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, +reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had +been insufficient to make his wife understand his character. _Her_ mind +was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding, +little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, +she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her +daughters married; its solace was visiting and news. + + + +Chapter 2 + + +Mr. Bennet was among the earliest of those who waited on Mr. Bingley. He +had always intended to visit him, though to the last always assuring +his wife that he should not go; and till the evening after the visit was +paid she had no knowledge of it. It was then disclosed in the following +manner. Observing his second daughter employed in trimming a hat, he +suddenly addressed her with: + +"I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy." + +"We are not in a way to know _what_ Mr. Bingley likes," said her mother +resentfully, "since we are not to visit." + +"But you forget, mamma," said Elizabeth, "that we shall meet him at the +assemblies, and that Mrs. Long promised to introduce him." + +"I do not believe Mrs. Long will do any such thing. She has two nieces +of her own. She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I have no opinion +of her." + +"No more have I," said Mr. Bennet; "and I am glad to find that you do +not depend on her serving you." + +Mrs. Bennet deigned not to make any reply, but, unable to contain +herself, began scolding one of her daughters. + +"Don't keep coughing so, Kitty, for Heaven's sake! Have a little +compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces." + +"Kitty has no discretion in her coughs," said her father; "she times +them ill." + +"I do not cough for my own amusement," replied Kitty fretfully. "When is +your next ball to be, Lizzy?" + +"To-morrow fortnight." + +"Aye, so it is," cried her mother, "and Mrs. Long does not come back +till the day before; so it will be impossible for her to introduce him, +for she will not know him herself." + +"Then, my dear, you may have the advantage of your friend, and introduce +Mr. Bingley to _her_." + +"Impossible, Mr. Bennet, impossible, when I am not acquainted with him +myself; how can you be so teasing?" + +"I honour your circumspection. A fortnight's acquaintance is certainly +very little. One cannot know what a man really is by the end of a +fortnight. But if _we_ do not venture somebody else will; and after all, +Mrs. Long and her neices must stand their chance; and, therefore, as +she will think it an act of kindness, if you decline the office, I will +take it on myself." + +The girls stared at their father. Mrs. Bennet said only, "Nonsense, +nonsense!" + +"What can be the meaning of that emphatic exclamation?" cried he. "Do +you consider the forms of introduction, and the stress that is laid on +them, as nonsense? I cannot quite agree with you _there_. What say you, +Mary? For you are a young lady of deep reflection, I know, and read +great books and make extracts." + +Mary wished to say something sensible, but knew not how. + +"While Mary is adjusting her ideas," he continued, "let us return to Mr. +Bingley." + +"I am sick of Mr. Bingley," cried his wife. + +"I am sorry to hear _that_; but why did not you tell me that before? If +I had known as much this morning I certainly would not have called +on him. It is very unlucky; but as I have actually paid the visit, we +cannot escape the acquaintance now." + +The astonishment of the ladies was just what he wished; that of Mrs. +Bennet perhaps surpassing the rest; though, when the first tumult of joy +was over, she began to declare that it was what she had expected all the +while. + +"How good it was in you, my dear Mr. Bennet! But I knew I should +persuade you at last. I was sure you loved your girls too well to +neglect such an acquaintance. Well, how pleased I am! and it is such a +good joke, too, that you should have gone this morning and never said a +word about it till now." + +"Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you choose," said Mr. Bennet; and, +as he spoke, he left the room, fatigued with the raptures of his wife. + +"What an excellent father you have, girls!" said she, when the door was +shut. "I do not know how you will ever make him amends for his kindness; +or me, either, for that matter. At our time of life it is not so +pleasant, I can tell you, to be making new acquaintances every day; but +for your sakes, we would do anything. Lydia, my love, though you _are_ +the youngest, I dare say Mr. Bingley will dance with you at the next +ball." + +"Oh!" said Lydia stoutly, "I am not afraid; for though I _am_ the +youngest, I'm the tallest." + +The rest of the evening was spent in conjecturing how soon he would +return Mr. Bennet's visit, and determining when they should ask him to +dinner. + + + +Chapter 3 + + +Not all that Mrs. Bennet, however, with the assistance of her five +daughters, could ask on the subject, was sufficient to draw from her +husband any satisfactory description of Mr. Bingley. They attacked him +in various ways--with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and +distant surmises; but he eluded the skill of them all, and they were at +last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour, +Lady Lucas. Her report was highly favourable. Sir William had been +delighted with him. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely +agreeable, and, to crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly +with a large party. Nothing could be more delightful! To be fond of +dancing was a certain step towards falling in love; and very lively +hopes of Mr. Bingley's heart were entertained. + +"If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield," +said Mrs. Bennet to her husband, "and all the others equally well +married, I shall have nothing to wish for." + +In a few days Mr. Bingley returned Mr. Bennet's visit, and sat about +ten minutes with him in his library. He had entertained hopes of being +admitted to a sight of the young ladies, of whose beauty he had +heard much; but he saw only the father. The ladies were somewhat more +fortunate, for they had the advantage of ascertaining from an upper +window that he wore a blue coat, and rode a black horse. + +An invitation to dinner was soon afterwards dispatched; and already +had Mrs. Bennet planned the courses that were to do credit to her +housekeeping, when an answer arrived which deferred it all. Mr. Bingley +was obliged to be in town the following day, and, consequently, unable +to accept the honour of their invitation, etc. Mrs. Bennet was quite +disconcerted. She could not imagine what business he could have in town +so soon after his arrival in Hertfordshire; and she began to fear that +he might be always flying about from one place to another, and never +settled at Netherfield as he ought to be. Lady Lucas quieted her fears +a little by starting the idea of his being gone to London only to get +a large party for the ball; and a report soon followed that Mr. Bingley +was to bring twelve ladies and seven gentlemen with him to the assembly. +The girls grieved over such a number of ladies, but were comforted the +day before the ball by hearing, that instead of twelve he brought only +six with him from London--his five sisters and a cousin. And when +the party entered the assembly room it consisted of only five +altogether--Mr. Bingley, his two sisters, the husband of the eldest, and +another young man. + +Mr. Bingley was good-looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant +countenance, and easy, unaffected manners. His sisters were fine women, +with an air of decided fashion. His brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, merely +looked the gentleman; but his friend Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention +of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and +the report which was in general circulation within five minutes +after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. The gentlemen +pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he +was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great +admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust +which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be +proud; to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all +his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most +forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared +with his friend. + +Mr. Bingley had soon made himself acquainted with all the principal +people in the room; he was lively and unreserved, danced every dance, +was angry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving +one himself at Netherfield. Such amiable qualities must speak for +themselves. What a contrast between him and his friend! Mr. Darcy danced +only once with Mrs. Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, declined being +introduced to any other lady, and spent the rest of the evening in +walking about the room, speaking occasionally to one of his own party. +His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man +in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again. +Amongst the most violent against him was Mrs. Bennet, whose dislike of +his general behaviour was sharpened into particular resentment by his +having slighted one of her daughters. + +Elizabeth Bennet had been obliged, by the scarcity of gentlemen, to sit +down for two dances; and during part of that time, Mr. Darcy had been +standing near enough for her to hear a conversation between him and Mr. +Bingley, who came from the dance for a few minutes, to press his friend +to join it. + +"Come, Darcy," said he, "I must have you dance. I hate to see you +standing about by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better +dance." + +"I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it, unless I am +particularly acquainted with my partner. At such an assembly as this +it would be insupportable. Your sisters are engaged, and there is not +another woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment to me to +stand up with." + +"I would not be so fastidious as you are," cried Mr. Bingley, "for a +kingdom! Upon my honour, I never met with so many pleasant girls in +my life as I have this evening; and there are several of them you see +uncommonly pretty." + +"_You_ are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room," said Mr. +Darcy, looking at the eldest Miss Bennet. + +"Oh! She is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one +of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I +dare say very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you." + +"Which do you mean?" and turning round he looked for a moment at +Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said: +"She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt _me_; I am in no +humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted +by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her +smiles, for you are wasting your time with me." + +Mr. Bingley followed his advice. Mr. Darcy walked off; and Elizabeth +remained with no very cordial feelings toward him. She told the story, +however, with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively, +playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous. + +The evening altogether passed off pleasantly to the whole family. Mrs. +Bennet had seen her eldest daughter much admired by the Netherfield +party. Mr. Bingley had danced with her twice, and she had been +distinguished by his sisters. Jane was as much gratified by this as +her mother could be, though in a quieter way. Elizabeth felt Jane's +pleasure. Mary had heard herself mentioned to Miss Bingley as the most +accomplished girl in the neighbourhood; and Catherine and Lydia had been +fortunate enough never to be without partners, which was all that they +had yet learnt to care for at a ball. They returned, therefore, in good +spirits to Longbourn, the village where they lived, and of which they +were the principal inhabitants. They found Mr. Bennet still up. With +a book he was regardless of time; and on the present occasion he had a +good deal of curiosity as to the event of an evening which had raised +such splendid expectations. He had rather hoped that his wife's views on +the stranger would be disappointed; but he soon found out that he had a +different story to hear. + +"Oh! my dear Mr. Bennet," as she entered the room, "we have had a most +delightful evening, a most excellent ball. I wish you had been there. +Jane was so admired, nothing could be like it. Everybody said how well +she looked; and Mr. Bingley thought her quite beautiful, and danced with +her twice! Only think of _that_, my dear; he actually danced with her +twice! and she was the only creature in the room that he asked a second +time. First of all, he asked Miss Lucas. I was so vexed to see him stand +up with her! But, however, he did not admire her at all; indeed, nobody +can, you know; and he seemed quite struck with Jane as she was going +down the dance. So he inquired who she was, and got introduced, and +asked her for the two next. Then the two third he danced with Miss King, +and the two fourth with Maria Lucas, and the two fifth with Jane again, +and the two sixth with Lizzy, and the _Boulanger_--" + +"If he had had any compassion for _me_," cried her husband impatiently, +"he would not have danced half so much! For God's sake, say no more of +his partners. Oh that he had sprained his ankle in the first dance!" + +"Oh! my dear, I am quite delighted with him. He is so excessively +handsome! And his sisters are charming women. I never in my life saw +anything more elegant than their dresses. I dare say the lace upon Mrs. +Hurst's gown--" + +Here she was interrupted again. Mr. Bennet protested against any +description of finery. She was therefore obliged to seek another branch +of the subject, and related, with much bitterness of spirit and some +exaggeration, the shocking rudeness of Mr. Darcy. + +"But I can assure you," she added, "that Lizzy does not lose much by not +suiting _his_ fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at +all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited that there was no enduring +him! He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very +great! Not handsome enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my +dear, to have given him one of your set-downs. I quite detest the man." + + + +Chapter 4 + + +When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in +her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister just how very +much she admired him. + +"He is just what a young man ought to be," said she, "sensible, +good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners!--so much +ease, with such perfect good breeding!" + +"He is also handsome," replied Elizabeth, "which a young man ought +likewise to be, if he possibly can. His character is thereby complete." + +"I was very much flattered by his asking me to dance a second time. I +did not expect such a compliment." + +"Did not you? I did for you. But that is one great difference between +us. Compliments always take _you_ by surprise, and _me_ never. What +could be more natural than his asking you again? He could not help +seeing that you were about five times as pretty as every other woman +in the room. No thanks to his gallantry for that. Well, he certainly is +very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a +stupider person." + +"Dear Lizzy!" + +"Oh! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. +You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable +in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in your +life." + +"I would not wish to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak +what I think." + +"I know you do; and it is _that_ which makes the wonder. With _your_ +good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of +others! Affectation of candour is common enough--one meets with it +everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design--to take the +good of everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing +of the bad--belongs to you alone. And so you like this man's sisters, +too, do you? Their manners are not equal to his." + +"Certainly not--at first. But they are very pleasing women when you +converse with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother, and keep +his house; and I am much mistaken if we shall not find a very charming +neighbour in her." + +Elizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced; their behaviour at +the assembly had not been calculated to please in general; and with more +quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister, +and with a judgement too unassailed by any attention to herself, she +was very little disposed to approve them. They were in fact very fine +ladies; not deficient in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the +power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and +conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the +first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand +pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of +associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect +entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of +a respectable family in the north of England; a circumstance more deeply +impressed on their memories than that their brother's fortune and their +own had been acquired by trade. + +Mr. Bingley inherited property to the amount of nearly a hundred +thousand pounds from his father, who had intended to purchase an +estate, but did not live to do it. Mr. Bingley intended it likewise, and +sometimes made choice of his county; but as he was now provided with a +good house and the liberty of a manor, it was doubtful to many of those +who best knew the easiness of his temper, whether he might not spend the +remainder of his days at Netherfield, and leave the next generation to +purchase. + +His sisters were anxious for his having an estate of his own; but, +though he was now only established as a tenant, Miss Bingley was by no +means unwilling to preside at his table--nor was Mrs. Hurst, who had +married a man of more fashion than fortune, less disposed to consider +his house as her home when it suited her. Mr. Bingley had not been of +age two years, when he was tempted by an accidental recommendation +to look at Netherfield House. He did look at it, and into it for +half-an-hour--was pleased with the situation and the principal +rooms, satisfied with what the owner said in its praise, and took it +immediately. + +Between him and Darcy there was a very steady friendship, in spite of +great opposition of character. Bingley was endeared to Darcy by the +easiness, openness, and ductility of his temper, though no disposition +could offer a greater contrast to his own, and though with his own he +never appeared dissatisfied. On the strength of Darcy's regard, Bingley +had the firmest reliance, and of his judgement the highest opinion. +In understanding, Darcy was the superior. Bingley was by no means +deficient, but Darcy was clever. He was at the same time haughty, +reserved, and fastidious, and his manners, though well-bred, were not +inviting. In that respect his friend had greatly the advantage. Bingley +was sure of being liked wherever he appeared, Darcy was continually +giving offense. + +The manner in which they spoke of the Meryton assembly was sufficiently +characteristic. Bingley had never met with more pleasant people or +prettier girls in his life; everybody had been most kind and attentive +to him; there had been no formality, no stiffness; he had soon felt +acquainted with all the room; and, as to Miss Bennet, he could not +conceive an angel more beautiful. Darcy, on the contrary, had seen a +collection of people in whom there was little beauty and no fashion, for +none of whom he had felt the smallest interest, and from none received +either attention or pleasure. Miss Bennet he acknowledged to be pretty, +but she smiled too much. + +Mrs. Hurst and her sister allowed it to be so--but still they admired +her and liked her, and pronounced her to be a sweet girl, and one +whom they would not object to know more of. Miss Bennet was therefore +established as a sweet girl, and their brother felt authorized by such +commendation to think of her as he chose. + + + +Chapter 5 + + +Within a short walk of Longbourn lived a family with whom the Bennets +were particularly intimate. Sir William Lucas had been formerly in trade +in Meryton, where he had made a tolerable fortune, and risen to the +honour of knighthood by an address to the king during his mayoralty. +The distinction had perhaps been felt too strongly. It had given him a +disgust to his business, and to his residence in a small market town; +and, in quitting them both, he had removed with his family to a house +about a mile from Meryton, denominated from that period Lucas Lodge, +where he could think with pleasure of his own importance, and, +unshackled by business, occupy himself solely in being civil to all +the world. For, though elated by his rank, it did not render him +supercilious; on the contrary, he was all attention to everybody. By +nature inoffensive, friendly, and obliging, his presentation at St. +James's had made him courteous. + +Lady Lucas was a very good kind of woman, not too clever to be a +valuable neighbour to Mrs. Bennet. They had several children. The eldest +of them, a sensible, intelligent young woman, about twenty-seven, was +Elizabeth's intimate friend. + +That the Miss Lucases and the Miss Bennets should meet to talk over +a ball was absolutely necessary; and the morning after the assembly +brought the former to Longbourn to hear and to communicate. + +"_You_ began the evening well, Charlotte," said Mrs. Bennet with civil +self-command to Miss Lucas. "_You_ were Mr. Bingley's first choice." + +"Yes; but he seemed to like his second better." + +"Oh! you mean Jane, I suppose, because he danced with her twice. To be +sure that _did_ seem as if he admired her--indeed I rather believe he +_did_--I heard something about it--but I hardly know what--something +about Mr. Robinson." + +"Perhaps you mean what I overheard between him and Mr. Robinson; did not +I mention it to you? Mr. Robinson's asking him how he liked our Meryton +assemblies, and whether he did not think there were a great many +pretty women in the room, and _which_ he thought the prettiest? and his +answering immediately to the last question: 'Oh! the eldest Miss Bennet, +beyond a doubt; there cannot be two opinions on that point.'" + +"Upon my word! Well, that is very decided indeed--that does seem as +if--but, however, it may all come to nothing, you know." + +"_My_ overhearings were more to the purpose than _yours_, Eliza," said +Charlotte. "Mr. Darcy is not so well worth listening to as his friend, +is he?--poor Eliza!--to be only just _tolerable_." + +"I beg you would not put it into Lizzy's head to be vexed by his +ill-treatment, for he is such a disagreeable man, that it would be quite +a misfortune to be liked by him. Mrs. Long told me last night that he +sat close to her for half-an-hour without once opening his lips." + +"Are you quite sure, ma'am?--is not there a little mistake?" said Jane. +"I certainly saw Mr. Darcy speaking to her." + +"Aye--because she asked him at last how he liked Netherfield, and he +could not help answering her; but she said he seemed quite angry at +being spoke to." + +"Miss Bingley told me," said Jane, "that he never speaks much, +unless among his intimate acquaintances. With _them_ he is remarkably +agreeable." + +"I do not believe a word of it, my dear. If he had been so very +agreeable, he would have talked to Mrs. Long. But I can guess how it +was; everybody says that he is eat up with pride, and I dare say he had +heard somehow that Mrs. Long does not keep a carriage, and had come to +the ball in a hack chaise." + +"I do not mind his not talking to Mrs. Long," said Miss Lucas, "but I +wish he had danced with Eliza." + +"Another time, Lizzy," said her mother, "I would not dance with _him_, +if I were you." + +"I believe, ma'am, I may safely promise you _never_ to dance with him." + +"His pride," said Miss Lucas, "does not offend _me_ so much as pride +often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that so +very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour, +should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a _right_ +to be proud." + +"That is very true," replied Elizabeth, "and I could easily forgive +_his_ pride, if he had not mortified _mine_." + +"Pride," observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her +reflections, "is a very common failing, I believe. By all that I have +ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed; that human +nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us +who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some +quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different +things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may +be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of +ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us." + +"If I were as rich as Mr. Darcy," cried a young Lucas, who came with +his sisters, "I should not care how proud I was. I would keep a pack of +foxhounds, and drink a bottle of wine a day." + +"Then you would drink a great deal more than you ought," said Mrs. +Bennet; "and if I were to see you at it, I should take away your bottle +directly." + +The boy protested that she should not; she continued to declare that she +would, and the argument ended only with the visit. + + + +Chapter 6 + + +The ladies of Longbourn soon waited on those of Netherfield. The visit +was soon returned in due form. Miss Bennet's pleasing manners grew on +the goodwill of Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley; and though the mother was +found to be intolerable, and the younger sisters not worth speaking to, +a wish of being better acquainted with _them_ was expressed towards +the two eldest. By Jane, this attention was received with the greatest +pleasure, but Elizabeth still saw superciliousness in their treatment +of everybody, hardly excepting even her sister, and could not like them; +though their kindness to Jane, such as it was, had a value as arising in +all probability from the influence of their brother's admiration. It +was generally evident whenever they met, that he _did_ admire her and +to _her_ it was equally evident that Jane was yielding to the preference +which she had begun to entertain for him from the first, and was in a +way to be very much in love; but she considered with pleasure that it +was not likely to be discovered by the world in general, since Jane +united, with great strength of feeling, a composure of temper and a +uniform cheerfulness of manner which would guard her from the suspicions +of the impertinent. She mentioned this to her friend Miss Lucas. + +"It may perhaps be pleasant," replied Charlotte, "to be able to impose +on the public in such a case; but it is sometimes a disadvantage to be +so very guarded. If a woman conceals her affection with the same skill +from the object of it, she may lose the opportunity of fixing him; and +it will then be but poor consolation to believe the world equally in +the dark. There is so much of gratitude or vanity in almost every +attachment, that it is not safe to leave any to itself. We can all +_begin_ freely--a slight preference is natural enough; but there are +very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without +encouragement. In nine cases out of ten a women had better show _more_ +affection than she feels. Bingley likes your sister undoubtedly; but he +may never do more than like her, if she does not help him on." + +"But she does help him on, as much as her nature will allow. If I can +perceive her regard for him, he must be a simpleton, indeed, not to +discover it too." + +"Remember, Eliza, that he does not know Jane's disposition as you do." + +"But if a woman is partial to a man, and does not endeavour to conceal +it, he must find it out." + +"Perhaps he must, if he sees enough of her. But, though Bingley and Jane +meet tolerably often, it is never for many hours together; and, as they +always see each other in large mixed parties, it is impossible that +every moment should be employed in conversing together. Jane should +therefore make the most of every half-hour in which she can command his +attention. When she is secure of him, there will be more leisure for +falling in love as much as she chooses." + +"Your plan is a good one," replied Elizabeth, "where nothing is in +question but the desire of being well married, and if I were determined +to get a rich husband, or any husband, I dare say I should adopt it. But +these are not Jane's feelings; she is not acting by design. As yet, +she cannot even be certain of the degree of her own regard nor of its +reasonableness. She has known him only a fortnight. She danced four +dances with him at Meryton; she saw him one morning at his own house, +and has since dined with him in company four times. This is not quite +enough to make her understand his character." + +"Not as you represent it. Had she merely _dined_ with him, she might +only have discovered whether he had a good appetite; but you must +remember that four evenings have also been spent together--and four +evenings may do a great deal." + +"Yes; these four evenings have enabled them to ascertain that they +both like Vingt-un better than Commerce; but with respect to any other +leading characteristic, I do not imagine that much has been unfolded." + +"Well," said Charlotte, "I wish Jane success with all my heart; and +if she were married to him to-morrow, I should think she had as good a +chance of happiness as if she were to be studying his character for a +twelvemonth. Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If +the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other or +ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the +least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to +have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as +possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your +life." + +"You make me laugh, Charlotte; but it is not sound. You know it is not +sound, and that you would never act in this way yourself." + +Occupied in observing Mr. Bingley's attentions to her sister, Elizabeth +was far from suspecting that she was herself becoming an object of some +interest in the eyes of his friend. Mr. Darcy had at first scarcely +allowed her to be pretty; he had looked at her without admiration at the +ball; and when they next met, he looked at her only to criticise. But no +sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she hardly +had a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered +uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To +this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had +detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry +in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and +pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those +of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness. Of +this she was perfectly unaware; to her he was only the man who made +himself agreeable nowhere, and who had not thought her handsome enough +to dance with. + +He began to wish to know more of her, and as a step towards conversing +with her himself, attended to her conversation with others. His doing so +drew her notice. It was at Sir William Lucas's, where a large party were +assembled. + +"What does Mr. Darcy mean," said she to Charlotte, "by listening to my +conversation with Colonel Forster?" + +"That is a question which Mr. Darcy only can answer." + +"But if he does it any more I shall certainly let him know that I see +what he is about. He has a very satirical eye, and if I do not begin by +being impertinent myself, I shall soon grow afraid of him." + +On his approaching them soon afterwards, though without seeming to have +any intention of speaking, Miss Lucas defied her friend to mention such +a subject to him; which immediately provoking Elizabeth to do it, she +turned to him and said: + +"Did you not think, Mr. Darcy, that I expressed myself uncommonly +well just now, when I was teasing Colonel Forster to give us a ball at +Meryton?" + +"With great energy; but it is always a subject which makes a lady +energetic." + +"You are severe on us." + +"It will be _her_ turn soon to be teased," said Miss Lucas. "I am going +to open the instrument, Eliza, and you know what follows." + +"You are a very strange creature by way of a friend!--always wanting me +to play and sing before anybody and everybody! If my vanity had taken +a musical turn, you would have been invaluable; but as it is, I would +really rather not sit down before those who must be in the habit of +hearing the very best performers." On Miss Lucas's persevering, however, +she added, "Very well, if it must be so, it must." And gravely glancing +at Mr. Darcy, "There is a fine old saying, which everybody here is of +course familiar with: 'Keep your breath to cool your porridge'; and I +shall keep mine to swell my song." + +Her performance was pleasing, though by no means capital. After a song +or two, and before she could reply to the entreaties of several that +she would sing again, she was eagerly succeeded at the instrument by her +sister Mary, who having, in consequence of being the only plain one in +the family, worked hard for knowledge and accomplishments, was always +impatient for display. + +Mary had neither genius nor taste; and though vanity had given her +application, it had given her likewise a pedantic air and conceited +manner, which would have injured a higher degree of excellence than she +had reached. Elizabeth, easy and unaffected, had been listened to with +much more pleasure, though not playing half so well; and Mary, at the +end of a long concerto, was glad to purchase praise and gratitude by +Scotch and Irish airs, at the request of her younger sisters, who, +with some of the Lucases, and two or three officers, joined eagerly in +dancing at one end of the room. + +Mr. Darcy stood near them in silent indignation at such a mode of +passing the evening, to the exclusion of all conversation, and was too +much engrossed by his thoughts to perceive that Sir William Lucas was +his neighbour, till Sir William thus began: + +"What a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There +is nothing like dancing after all. I consider it as one of the first +refinements of polished society." + +"Certainly, sir; and it has the advantage also of being in vogue amongst +the less polished societies of the world. Every savage can dance." + +Sir William only smiled. "Your friend performs delightfully," he +continued after a pause, on seeing Bingley join the group; "and I doubt +not that you are an adept in the science yourself, Mr. Darcy." + +"You saw me dance at Meryton, I believe, sir." + +"Yes, indeed, and received no inconsiderable pleasure from the sight. Do +you often dance at St. James's?" + +"Never, sir." + +"Do you not think it would be a proper compliment to the place?" + +"It is a compliment which I never pay to any place if I can avoid it." + +"You have a house in town, I conclude?" + +Mr. Darcy bowed. + +"I had once had some thought of fixing in town myself--for I am fond +of superior society; but I did not feel quite certain that the air of +London would agree with Lady Lucas." + +He paused in hopes of an answer; but his companion was not disposed +to make any; and Elizabeth at that instant moving towards them, he was +struck with the action of doing a very gallant thing, and called out to +her: + +"My dear Miss Eliza, why are you not dancing? Mr. Darcy, you must allow +me to present this young lady to you as a very desirable partner. You +cannot refuse to dance, I am sure when so much beauty is before you." +And, taking her hand, he would have given it to Mr. Darcy who, though +extremely surprised, was not unwilling to receive it, when she instantly +drew back, and said with some discomposure to Sir William: + +"Indeed, sir, I have not the least intention of dancing. I entreat you +not to suppose that I moved this way in order to beg for a partner." + +Mr. Darcy, with grave propriety, requested to be allowed the honour of +her hand, but in vain. Elizabeth was determined; nor did Sir William at +all shake her purpose by his attempt at persuasion. + +"You excel so much in the dance, Miss Eliza, that it is cruel to deny +me the happiness of seeing you; and though this gentleman dislikes the +amusement in general, he can have no objection, I am sure, to oblige us +for one half-hour." + +"Mr. Darcy is all politeness," said Elizabeth, smiling. + +"He is, indeed; but, considering the inducement, my dear Miss Eliza, +we cannot wonder at his complaisance--for who would object to such a +partner?" + +Elizabeth looked archly, and turned away. Her resistance had not +injured her with the gentleman, and he was thinking of her with some +complacency, when thus accosted by Miss Bingley: + +"I can guess the subject of your reverie." + +"I should imagine not." + +"You are considering how insupportable it would be to pass many evenings +in this manner--in such society; and indeed I am quite of your opinion. +I was never more annoyed! The insipidity, and yet the noise--the +nothingness, and yet the self-importance of all those people! What would +I give to hear your strictures on them!" + +"Your conjecture is totally wrong, I assure you. My mind was more +agreeably engaged. I have been meditating on the very great pleasure +which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow." + +Miss Bingley immediately fixed her eyes on his face, and desired he +would tell her what lady had the credit of inspiring such reflections. +Mr. Darcy replied with great intrepidity: + +"Miss Elizabeth Bennet." + +"Miss Elizabeth Bennet!" repeated Miss Bingley. "I am all astonishment. +How long has she been such a favourite?--and pray, when am I to wish you +joy?" + +"That is exactly the question which I expected you to ask. A lady's +imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love +to matrimony, in a moment. I knew you would be wishing me joy." + +"Nay, if you are serious about it, I shall consider the matter is +absolutely settled. You will be having a charming mother-in-law, indeed; +and, of course, she will always be at Pemberley with you." + +He listened to her with perfect indifference while she chose to +entertain herself in this manner; and as his composure convinced her +that all was safe, her wit flowed long. + + + +Chapter 7 + + +Mr. Bennet's property consisted almost entirely in an estate of two +thousand a year, which, unfortunately for his daughters, was entailed, +in default of heirs male, on a distant relation; and their mother's +fortune, though ample for her situation in life, could but ill supply +the deficiency of his. Her father had been an attorney in Meryton, and +had left her four thousand pounds. + +She had a sister married to a Mr. Phillips, who had been a clerk to +their father and succeeded him in the business, and a brother settled in +London in a respectable line of trade. + +The village of Longbourn was only one mile from Meryton; a most +convenient distance for the young ladies, who were usually tempted +thither three or four times a week, to pay their duty to their aunt and +to a milliner's shop just over the way. The two youngest of the family, +Catherine and Lydia, were particularly frequent in these attentions; +their minds were more vacant than their sisters', and when nothing +better offered, a walk to Meryton was necessary to amuse their morning +hours and furnish conversation for the evening; and however bare of news +the country in general might be, they always contrived to learn some +from their aunt. At present, indeed, they were well supplied both with +news and happiness by the recent arrival of a militia regiment in the +neighbourhood; it was to remain the whole winter, and Meryton was the +headquarters. + +Their visits to Mrs. Phillips were now productive of the most +interesting intelligence. Every day added something to their knowledge +of the officers' names and connections. Their lodgings were not long a +secret, and at length they began to know the officers themselves. Mr. +Phillips visited them all, and this opened to his nieces a store of +felicity unknown before. They could talk of nothing but officers; and +Mr. Bingley's large fortune, the mention of which gave animation +to their mother, was worthless in their eyes when opposed to the +regimentals of an ensign. + +After listening one morning to their effusions on this subject, Mr. +Bennet coolly observed: + +"From all that I can collect by your manner of talking, you must be two +of the silliest girls in the country. I have suspected it some time, but +I am now convinced." + +Catherine was disconcerted, and made no answer; but Lydia, with perfect +indifference, continued to express her admiration of Captain Carter, +and her hope of seeing him in the course of the day, as he was going the +next morning to London. + +"I am astonished, my dear," said Mrs. Bennet, "that you should be so +ready to think your own children silly. If I wished to think slightingly +of anybody's children, it should not be of my own, however." + +"If my children are silly, I must hope to be always sensible of it." + +"Yes--but as it happens, they are all of them very clever." + +"This is the only point, I flatter myself, on which we do not agree. I +had hoped that our sentiments coincided in every particular, but I must +so far differ from you as to think our two youngest daughters uncommonly +foolish." + +"My dear Mr. Bennet, you must not expect such girls to have the sense of +their father and mother. When they get to our age, I dare say they will +not think about officers any more than we do. I remember the time when +I liked a red coat myself very well--and, indeed, so I do still at my +heart; and if a smart young colonel, with five or six thousand a year, +should want one of my girls I shall not say nay to him; and I thought +Colonel Forster looked very becoming the other night at Sir William's in +his regimentals." + +"Mamma," cried Lydia, "my aunt says that Colonel Forster and Captain +Carter do not go so often to Miss Watson's as they did when they first +came; she sees them now very often standing in Clarke's library." + +Mrs. Bennet was prevented replying by the entrance of the footman with +a note for Miss Bennet; it came from Netherfield, and the servant waited +for an answer. Mrs. Bennet's eyes sparkled with pleasure, and she was +eagerly calling out, while her daughter read, + +"Well, Jane, who is it from? What is it about? What does he say? Well, +Jane, make haste and tell us; make haste, my love." + +"It is from Miss Bingley," said Jane, and then read it aloud. + +"MY DEAR FRIEND,-- + +"If you are not so compassionate as to dine to-day with Louisa and me, +we shall be in danger of hating each other for the rest of our lives, +for a whole day's tete-a-tete between two women can never end without a +quarrel. Come as soon as you can on receipt of this. My brother and the +gentlemen are to dine with the officers.--Yours ever, + +"CAROLINE BINGLEY" + +"With the officers!" cried Lydia. "I wonder my aunt did not tell us of +_that_." + +"Dining out," said Mrs. Bennet, "that is very unlucky." + +"Can I have the carriage?" said Jane. + +"No, my dear, you had better go on horseback, because it seems likely to +rain; and then you must stay all night." + +"That would be a good scheme," said Elizabeth, "if you were sure that +they would not offer to send her home." + +"Oh! but the gentlemen will have Mr. Bingley's chaise to go to Meryton, +and the Hursts have no horses to theirs." + +"I had much rather go in the coach." + +"But, my dear, your father cannot spare the horses, I am sure. They are +wanted in the farm, Mr. Bennet, are they not?" + +"They are wanted in the farm much oftener than I can get them." + +"But if you have got them to-day," said Elizabeth, "my mother's purpose +will be answered." + +She did at last extort from her father an acknowledgment that the horses +were engaged. Jane was therefore obliged to go on horseback, and her +mother attended her to the door with many cheerful prognostics of a +bad day. Her hopes were answered; Jane had not been gone long before +it rained hard. Her sisters were uneasy for her, but her mother was +delighted. The rain continued the whole evening without intermission; +Jane certainly could not come back. + +"This was a lucky idea of mine, indeed!" said Mrs. Bennet more than +once, as if the credit of making it rain were all her own. Till the +next morning, however, she was not aware of all the felicity of her +contrivance. Breakfast was scarcely over when a servant from Netherfield +brought the following note for Elizabeth: + +"MY DEAREST LIZZY,-- + +"I find myself very unwell this morning, which, I suppose, is to be +imputed to my getting wet through yesterday. My kind friends will not +hear of my returning till I am better. They insist also on my seeing Mr. +Jones--therefore do not be alarmed if you should hear of his having been +to me--and, excepting a sore throat and headache, there is not much the +matter with me.--Yours, etc." + +"Well, my dear," said Mr. Bennet, when Elizabeth had read the note +aloud, "if your daughter should have a dangerous fit of illness--if she +should die, it would be a comfort to know that it was all in pursuit of +Mr. Bingley, and under your orders." + +"Oh! I am not afraid of her dying. People do not die of little trifling +colds. She will be taken good care of. As long as she stays there, it is +all very well. I would go and see her if I could have the carriage." + +Elizabeth, feeling really anxious, was determined to go to her, though +the carriage was not to be had; and as she was no horsewoman, walking +was her only alternative. She declared her resolution. + +"How can you be so silly," cried her mother, "as to think of such a +thing, in all this dirt! You will not be fit to be seen when you get +there." + +"I shall be very fit to see Jane--which is all I want." + +"Is this a hint to me, Lizzy," said her father, "to send for the +horses?" + +"No, indeed, I do not wish to avoid the walk. The distance is nothing +when one has a motive; only three miles. I shall be back by dinner." + +"I admire the activity of your benevolence," observed Mary, "but every +impulse of feeling should be guided by reason; and, in my opinion, +exertion should always be in proportion to what is required." + +"We will go as far as Meryton with you," said Catherine and Lydia. +Elizabeth accepted their company, and the three young ladies set off +together. + +"If we make haste," said Lydia, as they walked along, "perhaps we may +see something of Captain Carter before he goes." + +In Meryton they parted; the two youngest repaired to the lodgings of one +of the officers' wives, and Elizabeth continued her walk alone, crossing +field after field at a quick pace, jumping over stiles and springing +over puddles with impatient activity, and finding herself at last +within view of the house, with weary ankles, dirty stockings, and a face +glowing with the warmth of exercise. + +She was shown into the breakfast-parlour, where all but Jane were +assembled, and where her appearance created a great deal of surprise. +That she should have walked three miles so early in the day, in such +dirty weather, and by herself, was almost incredible to Mrs. Hurst and +Miss Bingley; and Elizabeth was convinced that they held her in contempt +for it. She was received, however, very politely by them; and in their +brother's manners there was something better than politeness; there +was good humour and kindness. Mr. Darcy said very little, and Mr. +Hurst nothing at all. The former was divided between admiration of the +brilliancy which exercise had given to her complexion, and doubt as +to the occasion's justifying her coming so far alone. The latter was +thinking only of his breakfast. + +Her inquiries after her sister were not very favourably answered. Miss +Bennet had slept ill, and though up, was very feverish, and not +well enough to leave her room. Elizabeth was glad to be taken to her +immediately; and Jane, who had only been withheld by the fear of giving +alarm or inconvenience from expressing in her note how much she longed +for such a visit, was delighted at her entrance. She was not equal, +however, to much conversation, and when Miss Bingley left them +together, could attempt little besides expressions of gratitude for the +extraordinary kindness she was treated with. Elizabeth silently attended +her. + +When breakfast was over they were joined by the sisters; and Elizabeth +began to like them herself, when she saw how much affection and +solicitude they showed for Jane. The apothecary came, and having +examined his patient, said, as might be supposed, that she had caught +a violent cold, and that they must endeavour to get the better of it; +advised her to return to bed, and promised her some draughts. The advice +was followed readily, for the feverish symptoms increased, and her head +ached acutely. Elizabeth did not quit her room for a moment; nor were +the other ladies often absent; the gentlemen being out, they had, in +fact, nothing to do elsewhere. + +When the clock struck three, Elizabeth felt that she must go, and very +unwillingly said so. Miss Bingley offered her the carriage, and she only +wanted a little pressing to accept it, when Jane testified such concern +in parting with her, that Miss Bingley was obliged to convert the offer +of the chaise to an invitation to remain at Netherfield for the present. +Elizabeth most thankfully consented, and a servant was dispatched to +Longbourn to acquaint the family with her stay and bring back a supply +of clothes. + + + +Chapter 8 + + +At five o'clock the two ladies retired to dress, and at half-past six +Elizabeth was summoned to dinner. To the civil inquiries which then +poured in, and amongst which she had the pleasure of distinguishing the +much superior solicitude of Mr. Bingley's, she could not make a very +favourable answer. Jane was by no means better. The sisters, on hearing +this, repeated three or four times how much they were grieved, how +shocking it was to have a bad cold, and how excessively they disliked +being ill themselves; and then thought no more of the matter: and their +indifference towards Jane when not immediately before them restored +Elizabeth to the enjoyment of all her former dislike. + +Their brother, indeed, was the only one of the party whom she could +regard with any complacency. His anxiety for Jane was evident, and his +attentions to herself most pleasing, and they prevented her feeling +herself so much an intruder as she believed she was considered by the +others. She had very little notice from any but him. Miss Bingley was +engrossed by Mr. Darcy, her sister scarcely less so; and as for Mr. +Hurst, by whom Elizabeth sat, he was an indolent man, who lived only to +eat, drink, and play at cards; who, when he found her to prefer a plain +dish to a ragout, had nothing to say to her. + +When dinner was over, she returned directly to Jane, and Miss Bingley +began abusing her as soon as she was out of the room. Her manners were +pronounced to be very bad indeed, a mixture of pride and impertinence; +she had no conversation, no style, no beauty. Mrs. Hurst thought the +same, and added: + +"She has nothing, in short, to recommend her, but being an excellent +walker. I shall never forget her appearance this morning. She really +looked almost wild." + +"She did, indeed, Louisa. I could hardly keep my countenance. Very +nonsensical to come at all! Why must _she_ be scampering about the +country, because her sister had a cold? Her hair, so untidy, so blowsy!" + +"Yes, and her petticoat; I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep +in mud, I am absolutely certain; and the gown which had been let down to +hide it not doing its office." + +"Your picture may be very exact, Louisa," said Bingley; "but this was +all lost upon me. I thought Miss Elizabeth Bennet looked remarkably +well when she came into the room this morning. Her dirty petticoat quite +escaped my notice." + +"_You_ observed it, Mr. Darcy, I am sure," said Miss Bingley; "and I am +inclined to think that you would not wish to see _your_ sister make such +an exhibition." + +"Certainly not." + +"To walk three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or whatever it is, +above her ankles in dirt, and alone, quite alone! What could she mean by +it? It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence, +a most country-town indifference to decorum." + +"It shows an affection for her sister that is very pleasing," said +Bingley. + +"I am afraid, Mr. Darcy," observed Miss Bingley in a half whisper, "that +this adventure has rather affected your admiration of her fine eyes." + +"Not at all," he replied; "they were brightened by the exercise." A +short pause followed this speech, and Mrs. Hurst began again: + +"I have an excessive regard for Miss Jane Bennet, she is really a very +sweet girl, and I wish with all my heart she were well settled. But with +such a father and mother, and such low connections, I am afraid there is +no chance of it." + +"I think I have heard you say that their uncle is an attorney in +Meryton." + +"Yes; and they have another, who lives somewhere near Cheapside." + +"That is capital," added her sister, and they both laughed heartily. + +"If they had uncles enough to fill _all_ Cheapside," cried Bingley, "it +would not make them one jot less agreeable." + +"But it must very materially lessen their chance of marrying men of any +consideration in the world," replied Darcy. + +To this speech Bingley made no answer; but his sisters gave it their +hearty assent, and indulged their mirth for some time at the expense of +their dear friend's vulgar relations. + +With a renewal of tenderness, however, they returned to her room on +leaving the dining-parlour, and sat with her till summoned to coffee. +She was still very poorly, and Elizabeth would not quit her at all, till +late in the evening, when she had the comfort of seeing her sleep, and +when it seemed to her rather right than pleasant that she should go +downstairs herself. On entering the drawing-room she found the whole +party at loo, and was immediately invited to join them; but suspecting +them to be playing high she declined it, and making her sister the +excuse, said she would amuse herself for the short time she could stay +below, with a book. Mr. Hurst looked at her with astonishment. + +"Do you prefer reading to cards?" said he; "that is rather singular." + +"Miss Eliza Bennet," said Miss Bingley, "despises cards. She is a great +reader, and has no pleasure in anything else." + +"I deserve neither such praise nor such censure," cried Elizabeth; "I am +_not_ a great reader, and I have pleasure in many things." + +"In nursing your sister I am sure you have pleasure," said Bingley; "and +I hope it will be soon increased by seeing her quite well." + +Elizabeth thanked him from her heart, and then walked towards the +table where a few books were lying. He immediately offered to fetch her +others--all that his library afforded. + +"And I wish my collection were larger for your benefit and my own +credit; but I am an idle fellow, and though I have not many, I have more +than I ever looked into." + +Elizabeth assured him that she could suit herself perfectly with those +in the room. + +"I am astonished," said Miss Bingley, "that my father should have left +so small a collection of books. What a delightful library you have at +Pemberley, Mr. Darcy!" + +"It ought to be good," he replied, "it has been the work of many +generations." + +"And then you have added so much to it yourself, you are always buying +books." + +"I cannot comprehend the neglect of a family library in such days as +these." + +"Neglect! I am sure you neglect nothing that can add to the beauties of +that noble place. Charles, when you build _your_ house, I wish it may be +half as delightful as Pemberley." + +"I wish it may." + +"But I would really advise you to make your purchase in that +neighbourhood, and take Pemberley for a kind of model. There is not a +finer county in England than Derbyshire." + +"With all my heart; I will buy Pemberley itself if Darcy will sell it." + +"I am talking of possibilities, Charles." + +"Upon my word, Caroline, I should think it more possible to get +Pemberley by purchase than by imitation." + +Elizabeth was so much caught with what passed, as to leave her very +little attention for her book; and soon laying it wholly aside, she drew +near the card-table, and stationed herself between Mr. Bingley and his +eldest sister, to observe the game. + +"Is Miss Darcy much grown since the spring?" said Miss Bingley; "will +she be as tall as I am?" + +"I think she will. She is now about Miss Elizabeth Bennet's height, or +rather taller." + +"How I long to see her again! I never met with anybody who delighted me +so much. Such a countenance, such manners! And so extremely accomplished +for her age! Her performance on the pianoforte is exquisite." + +"It is amazing to me," said Bingley, "how young ladies can have patience +to be so very accomplished as they all are." + +"All young ladies accomplished! My dear Charles, what do you mean?" + +"Yes, all of them, I think. They all paint tables, cover screens, and +net purses. I scarcely know anyone who cannot do all this, and I am sure +I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being +informed that she was very accomplished." + +"Your list of the common extent of accomplishments," said Darcy, "has +too much truth. The word is applied to many a woman who deserves it no +otherwise than by netting a purse or covering a screen. But I am very +far from agreeing with you in your estimation of ladies in general. I +cannot boast of knowing more than half-a-dozen, in the whole range of my +acquaintance, that are really accomplished." + +"Nor I, I am sure," said Miss Bingley. + +"Then," observed Elizabeth, "you must comprehend a great deal in your +idea of an accomplished woman." + +"Yes, I do comprehend a great deal in it." + +"Oh! certainly," cried his faithful assistant, "no one can be really +esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met +with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, +dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides +all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of +walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word +will be but half-deserved." + +"All this she must possess," added Darcy, "and to all this she must +yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by +extensive reading." + +"I am no longer surprised at your knowing _only_ six accomplished women. +I rather wonder now at your knowing _any_." + +"Are you so severe upon your own sex as to doubt the possibility of all +this?" + +"I never saw such a woman. I never saw such capacity, and taste, and +application, and elegance, as you describe united." + +Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley both cried out against the injustice of her +implied doubt, and were both protesting that they knew many women who +answered this description, when Mr. Hurst called them to order, with +bitter complaints of their inattention to what was going forward. As all +conversation was thereby at an end, Elizabeth soon afterwards left the +room. + +"Elizabeth Bennet," said Miss Bingley, when the door was closed on her, +"is one of those young ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the +other sex by undervaluing their own; and with many men, I dare say, it +succeeds. But, in my opinion, it is a paltry device, a very mean art." + +"Undoubtedly," replied Darcy, to whom this remark was chiefly addressed, +"there is a meanness in _all_ the arts which ladies sometimes condescend +to employ for captivation. Whatever bears affinity to cunning is +despicable." + +Miss Bingley was not so entirely satisfied with this reply as to +continue the subject. + +Elizabeth joined them again only to say that her sister was worse, and +that she could not leave her. Bingley urged Mr. Jones being sent for +immediately; while his sisters, convinced that no country advice could +be of any service, recommended an express to town for one of the most +eminent physicians. This she would not hear of; but she was not so +unwilling to comply with their brother's proposal; and it was settled +that Mr. Jones should be sent for early in the morning, if Miss Bennet +were not decidedly better. Bingley was quite uncomfortable; his sisters +declared that they were miserable. They solaced their wretchedness, +however, by duets after supper, while he could find no better relief +to his feelings than by giving his housekeeper directions that every +attention might be paid to the sick lady and her sister. + + + +Chapter 9 + + +Elizabeth passed the chief of the night in her sister's room, and in the +morning had the pleasure of being able to send a tolerable answer to the +inquiries which she very early received from Mr. Bingley by a housemaid, +and some time afterwards from the two elegant ladies who waited on his +sisters. In spite of this amendment, however, she requested to have a +note sent to Longbourn, desiring her mother to visit Jane, and form her +own judgement of her situation. The note was immediately dispatched, and +its contents as quickly complied with. Mrs. Bennet, accompanied by her +two youngest girls, reached Netherfield soon after the family breakfast. + +Had she found Jane in any apparent danger, Mrs. Bennet would have been +very miserable; but being satisfied on seeing her that her illness was +not alarming, she had no wish of her recovering immediately, as her +restoration to health would probably remove her from Netherfield. She +would not listen, therefore, to her daughter's proposal of being carried +home; neither did the apothecary, who arrived about the same time, think +it at all advisable. After sitting a little while with Jane, on Miss +Bingley's appearance and invitation, the mother and three daughters all +attended her into the breakfast parlour. Bingley met them with hopes +that Mrs. Bennet had not found Miss Bennet worse than she expected. + +"Indeed I have, sir," was her answer. "She is a great deal too ill to be +moved. Mr. Jones says we must not think of moving her. We must trespass +a little longer on your kindness." + +"Removed!" cried Bingley. "It must not be thought of. My sister, I am +sure, will not hear of her removal." + +"You may depend upon it, Madam," said Miss Bingley, with cold civility, +"that Miss Bennet will receive every possible attention while she +remains with us." + +Mrs. Bennet was profuse in her acknowledgments. + +"I am sure," she added, "if it was not for such good friends I do not +know what would become of her, for she is very ill indeed, and suffers +a vast deal, though with the greatest patience in the world, which is +always the way with her, for she has, without exception, the sweetest +temper I have ever met with. I often tell my other girls they are +nothing to _her_. You have a sweet room here, Mr. Bingley, and a +charming prospect over the gravel walk. I do not know a place in the +country that is equal to Netherfield. You will not think of quitting it +in a hurry, I hope, though you have but a short lease." + +"Whatever I do is done in a hurry," replied he; "and therefore if I +should resolve to quit Netherfield, I should probably be off in five +minutes. At present, however, I consider myself as quite fixed here." + +"That is exactly what I should have supposed of you," said Elizabeth. + +"You begin to comprehend me, do you?" cried he, turning towards her. + +"Oh! yes--I understand you perfectly." + +"I wish I might take this for a compliment; but to be so easily seen +through I am afraid is pitiful." + +"That is as it happens. It does not follow that a deep, intricate +character is more or less estimable than such a one as yours." + +"Lizzy," cried her mother, "remember where you are, and do not run on in +the wild manner that you are suffered to do at home." + +"I did not know before," continued Bingley immediately, "that you were a +studier of character. It must be an amusing study." + +"Yes, but intricate characters are the _most_ amusing. They have at +least that advantage." + +"The country," said Darcy, "can in general supply but a few subjects for +such a study. In a country neighbourhood you move in a very confined and +unvarying society." + +"But people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be +observed in them for ever." + +"Yes, indeed," cried Mrs. Bennet, offended by his manner of mentioning +a country neighbourhood. "I assure you there is quite as much of _that_ +going on in the country as in town." + +Everybody was surprised, and Darcy, after looking at her for a moment, +turned silently away. Mrs. Bennet, who fancied she had gained a complete +victory over him, continued her triumph. + +"I cannot see that London has any great advantage over the country, for +my part, except the shops and public places. The country is a vast deal +pleasanter, is it not, Mr. Bingley?" + +"When I am in the country," he replied, "I never wish to leave it; +and when I am in town it is pretty much the same. They have each their +advantages, and I can be equally happy in either." + +"Aye--that is because you have the right disposition. But that +gentleman," looking at Darcy, "seemed to think the country was nothing +at all." + +"Indeed, Mamma, you are mistaken," said Elizabeth, blushing for her +mother. "You quite mistook Mr. Darcy. He only meant that there was not +such a variety of people to be met with in the country as in the town, +which you must acknowledge to be true." + +"Certainly, my dear, nobody said there were; but as to not meeting +with many people in this neighbourhood, I believe there are few +neighbourhoods larger. I know we dine with four-and-twenty families." + +Nothing but concern for Elizabeth could enable Bingley to keep his +countenance. His sister was less delicate, and directed her eyes towards +Mr. Darcy with a very expressive smile. Elizabeth, for the sake of +saying something that might turn her mother's thoughts, now asked her if +Charlotte Lucas had been at Longbourn since _her_ coming away. + +"Yes, she called yesterday with her father. What an agreeable man Sir +William is, Mr. Bingley, is not he? So much the man of fashion! So +genteel and easy! He has always something to say to everybody. _That_ +is my idea of good breeding; and those persons who fancy themselves very +important, and never open their mouths, quite mistake the matter." + +"Did Charlotte dine with you?" + +"No, she would go home. I fancy she was wanted about the mince-pies. For +my part, Mr. Bingley, I always keep servants that can do their own work; +_my_ daughters are brought up very differently. But everybody is to +judge for themselves, and the Lucases are a very good sort of girls, +I assure you. It is a pity they are not handsome! Not that I think +Charlotte so _very_ plain--but then she is our particular friend." + +"She seems a very pleasant young woman." + +"Oh! dear, yes; but you must own she is very plain. Lady Lucas herself +has often said so, and envied me Jane's beauty. I do not like to boast +of my own child, but to be sure, Jane--one does not often see anybody +better looking. It is what everybody says. I do not trust my own +partiality. When she was only fifteen, there was a man at my brother +Gardiner's in town so much in love with her that my sister-in-law was +sure he would make her an offer before we came away. But, however, he +did not. Perhaps he thought her too young. However, he wrote some verses +on her, and very pretty they were." + +"And so ended his affection," said Elizabeth impatiently. "There has +been many a one, I fancy, overcome in the same way. I wonder who first +discovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love!" + +"I have been used to consider poetry as the _food_ of love," said Darcy. + +"Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is +strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I +am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away." + +Darcy only smiled; and the general pause which ensued made Elizabeth +tremble lest her mother should be exposing herself again. She longed to +speak, but could think of nothing to say; and after a short silence Mrs. +Bennet began repeating her thanks to Mr. Bingley for his kindness to +Jane, with an apology for troubling him also with Lizzy. Mr. Bingley was +unaffectedly civil in his answer, and forced his younger sister to be +civil also, and say what the occasion required. She performed her part +indeed without much graciousness, but Mrs. Bennet was satisfied, and +soon afterwards ordered her carriage. Upon this signal, the youngest of +her daughters put herself forward. The two girls had been whispering to +each other during the whole visit, and the result of it was, that the +youngest should tax Mr. Bingley with having promised on his first coming +into the country to give a ball at Netherfield. + +Lydia was a stout, well-grown girl of fifteen, with a fine complexion +and good-humoured countenance; a favourite with her mother, whose +affection had brought her into public at an early age. She had high +animal spirits, and a sort of natural self-consequence, which the +attention of the officers, to whom her uncle's good dinners, and her own +easy manners recommended her, had increased into assurance. She was very +equal, therefore, to address Mr. Bingley on the subject of the ball, and +abruptly reminded him of his promise; adding, that it would be the most +shameful thing in the world if he did not keep it. His answer to this +sudden attack was delightful to their mother's ear: + +"I am perfectly ready, I assure you, to keep my engagement; and when +your sister is recovered, you shall, if you please, name the very day of +the ball. But you would not wish to be dancing when she is ill." + +Lydia declared herself satisfied. "Oh! yes--it would be much better to +wait till Jane was well, and by that time most likely Captain Carter +would be at Meryton again. And when you have given _your_ ball," she +added, "I shall insist on their giving one also. I shall tell Colonel +Forster it will be quite a shame if he does not." + +Mrs. Bennet and her daughters then departed, and Elizabeth returned +instantly to Jane, leaving her own and her relations' behaviour to the +remarks of the two ladies and Mr. Darcy; the latter of whom, however, +could not be prevailed on to join in their censure of _her_, in spite of +all Miss Bingley's witticisms on _fine eyes_. + + + +Chapter 10 + + +The day passed much as the day before had done. Mrs. Hurst and Miss +Bingley had spent some hours of the morning with the invalid, who +continued, though slowly, to mend; and in the evening Elizabeth joined +their party in the drawing-room. The loo-table, however, did not appear. +Mr. Darcy was writing, and Miss Bingley, seated near him, was watching +the progress of his letter and repeatedly calling off his attention by +messages to his sister. Mr. Hurst and Mr. Bingley were at piquet, and +Mrs. Hurst was observing their game. + +Elizabeth took up some needlework, and was sufficiently amused in +attending to what passed between Darcy and his companion. The perpetual +commendations of the lady, either on his handwriting, or on the evenness +of his lines, or on the length of his letter, with the perfect unconcern +with which her praises were received, formed a curious dialogue, and was +exactly in union with her opinion of each. + +"How delighted Miss Darcy will be to receive such a letter!" + +He made no answer. + +"You write uncommonly fast." + +"You are mistaken. I write rather slowly." + +"How many letters you must have occasion to write in the course of a +year! Letters of business, too! How odious I should think them!" + +"It is fortunate, then, that they fall to my lot instead of yours." + +"Pray tell your sister that I long to see her." + +"I have already told her so once, by your desire." + +"I am afraid you do not like your pen. Let me mend it for you. I mend +pens remarkably well." + +"Thank you--but I always mend my own." + +"How can you contrive to write so even?" + +He was silent. + +"Tell your sister I am delighted to hear of her improvement on the harp; +and pray let her know that I am quite in raptures with her beautiful +little design for a table, and I think it infinitely superior to Miss +Grantley's." + +"Will you give me leave to defer your raptures till I write again? At +present I have not room to do them justice." + +"Oh! it is of no consequence. I shall see her in January. But do you +always write such charming long letters to her, Mr. Darcy?" + +"They are generally long; but whether always charming it is not for me +to determine." + +"It is a rule with me, that a person who can write a long letter with +ease, cannot write ill." + +"That will not do for a compliment to Darcy, Caroline," cried her +brother, "because he does _not_ write with ease. He studies too much for +words of four syllables. Do not you, Darcy?" + +"My style of writing is very different from yours." + +"Oh!" cried Miss Bingley, "Charles writes in the most careless way +imaginable. He leaves out half his words, and blots the rest." + +"My ideas flow so rapidly that I have not time to express them--by which +means my letters sometimes convey no ideas at all to my correspondents." + +"Your humility, Mr. Bingley," said Elizabeth, "must disarm reproof." + +"Nothing is more deceitful," said Darcy, "than the appearance of +humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an +indirect boast." + +"And which of the two do you call _my_ little recent piece of modesty?" + +"The indirect boast; for you are really proud of your defects in +writing, because you consider them as proceeding from a rapidity of +thought and carelessness of execution, which, if not estimable, you +think at least highly interesting. The power of doing anything with +quickness is always prized much by the possessor, and often without any +attention to the imperfection of the performance. When you told Mrs. +Bennet this morning that if you ever resolved upon quitting Netherfield +you should be gone in five minutes, you meant it to be a sort of +panegyric, of compliment to yourself--and yet what is there so very +laudable in a precipitance which must leave very necessary business +undone, and can be of no real advantage to yourself or anyone else?" + +"Nay," cried Bingley, "this is too much, to remember at night all the +foolish things that were said in the morning. And yet, upon my honour, +I believe what I said of myself to be true, and I believe it at this +moment. At least, therefore, I did not assume the character of needless +precipitance merely to show off before the ladies." + +"I dare say you believed it; but I am by no means convinced that +you would be gone with such celerity. Your conduct would be quite as +dependent on chance as that of any man I know; and if, as you were +mounting your horse, a friend were to say, 'Bingley, you had better +stay till next week,' you would probably do it, you would probably not +go--and at another word, might stay a month." + +"You have only proved by this," cried Elizabeth, "that Mr. Bingley did +not do justice to his own disposition. You have shown him off now much +more than he did himself." + +"I am exceedingly gratified," said Bingley, "by your converting what my +friend says into a compliment on the sweetness of my temper. But I am +afraid you are giving it a turn which that gentleman did by no means +intend; for he would certainly think better of me, if under such a +circumstance I were to give a flat denial, and ride off as fast as I +could." + +"Would Mr. Darcy then consider the rashness of your original intentions +as atoned for by your obstinacy in adhering to it?" + +"Upon my word, I cannot exactly explain the matter; Darcy must speak for +himself." + +"You expect me to account for opinions which you choose to call mine, +but which I have never acknowledged. Allowing the case, however, to +stand according to your representation, you must remember, Miss Bennet, +that the friend who is supposed to desire his return to the house, and +the delay of his plan, has merely desired it, asked it without offering +one argument in favour of its propriety." + +"To yield readily--easily--to the _persuasion_ of a friend is no merit +with you." + +"To yield without conviction is no compliment to the understanding of +either." + +"You appear to me, Mr. Darcy, to allow nothing for the influence of +friendship and affection. A regard for the requester would often make +one readily yield to a request, without waiting for arguments to reason +one into it. I am not particularly speaking of such a case as you have +supposed about Mr. Bingley. We may as well wait, perhaps, till the +circumstance occurs before we discuss the discretion of his behaviour +thereupon. But in general and ordinary cases between friend and friend, +where one of them is desired by the other to change a resolution of no +very great moment, should you think ill of that person for complying +with the desire, without waiting to be argued into it?" + +"Will it not be advisable, before we proceed on this subject, to +arrange with rather more precision the degree of importance which is to +appertain to this request, as well as the degree of intimacy subsisting +between the parties?" + +"By all means," cried Bingley; "let us hear all the particulars, not +forgetting their comparative height and size; for that will have more +weight in the argument, Miss Bennet, than you may be aware of. I assure +you, that if Darcy were not such a great tall fellow, in comparison with +myself, I should not pay him half so much deference. I declare I do not +know a more awful object than Darcy, on particular occasions, and in +particular places; at his own house especially, and of a Sunday evening, +when he has nothing to do." + +Mr. Darcy smiled; but Elizabeth thought she could perceive that he was +rather offended, and therefore checked her laugh. Miss Bingley warmly +resented the indignity he had received, in an expostulation with her +brother for talking such nonsense. + +"I see your design, Bingley," said his friend. "You dislike an argument, +and want to silence this." + +"Perhaps I do. Arguments are too much like disputes. If you and Miss +Bennet will defer yours till I am out of the room, I shall be very +thankful; and then you may say whatever you like of me." + +"What you ask," said Elizabeth, "is no sacrifice on my side; and Mr. +Darcy had much better finish his letter." + +Mr. Darcy took her advice, and did finish his letter. + +When that business was over, he applied to Miss Bingley and Elizabeth +for an indulgence of some music. Miss Bingley moved with some alacrity +to the pianoforte; and, after a polite request that Elizabeth would lead +the way which the other as politely and more earnestly negatived, she +seated herself. + +Mrs. Hurst sang with her sister, and while they were thus employed, +Elizabeth could not help observing, as she turned over some music-books +that lay on the instrument, how frequently Mr. Darcy's eyes were fixed +on her. She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of +admiration to so great a man; and yet that he should look at her +because he disliked her, was still more strange. She could only imagine, +however, at last that she drew his notice because there was something +more wrong and reprehensible, according to his ideas of right, than in +any other person present. The supposition did not pain her. She liked +him too little to care for his approbation. + +After playing some Italian songs, Miss Bingley varied the charm by +a lively Scotch air; and soon afterwards Mr. Darcy, drawing near +Elizabeth, said to her: + +"Do not you feel a great inclination, Miss Bennet, to seize such an +opportunity of dancing a reel?" + +She smiled, but made no answer. He repeated the question, with some +surprise at her silence. + +"Oh!" said she, "I heard you before, but I could not immediately +determine what to say in reply. You wanted me, I know, to say 'Yes,' +that you might have the pleasure of despising my taste; but I always +delight in overthrowing those kind of schemes, and cheating a person of +their premeditated contempt. I have, therefore, made up my mind to tell +you, that I do not want to dance a reel at all--and now despise me if +you dare." + +"Indeed I do not dare." + +Elizabeth, having rather expected to affront him, was amazed at his +gallantry; but there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her +manner which made it difficult for her to affront anybody; and Darcy +had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He really +believed, that were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he +should be in some danger. + +Miss Bingley saw, or suspected enough to be jealous; and her great +anxiety for the recovery of her dear friend Jane received some +assistance from her desire of getting rid of Elizabeth. + +She often tried to provoke Darcy into disliking her guest, by talking of +their supposed marriage, and planning his happiness in such an alliance. + +"I hope," said she, as they were walking together in the shrubbery +the next day, "you will give your mother-in-law a few hints, when this +desirable event takes place, as to the advantage of holding her tongue; +and if you can compass it, do cure the younger girls of running after +officers. And, if I may mention so delicate a subject, endeavour to +check that little something, bordering on conceit and impertinence, +which your lady possesses." + +"Have you anything else to propose for my domestic felicity?" + +"Oh! yes. Do let the portraits of your uncle and aunt Phillips be placed +in the gallery at Pemberley. Put them next to your great-uncle the +judge. They are in the same profession, you know, only in different +lines. As for your Elizabeth's picture, you must not have it taken, for +what painter could do justice to those beautiful eyes?" + +"It would not be easy, indeed, to catch their expression, but their +colour and shape, and the eyelashes, so remarkably fine, might be +copied." + +At that moment they were met from another walk by Mrs. Hurst and +Elizabeth herself. + +"I did not know that you intended to walk," said Miss Bingley, in some +confusion, lest they had been overheard. + +"You used us abominably ill," answered Mrs. Hurst, "running away without +telling us that you were coming out." + +Then taking the disengaged arm of Mr. Darcy, she left Elizabeth to walk +by herself. The path just admitted three. Mr. Darcy felt their rudeness, +and immediately said: + +"This walk is not wide enough for our party. We had better go into the +avenue." + +But Elizabeth, who had not the least inclination to remain with them, +laughingly answered: + +"No, no; stay where you are. You are charmingly grouped, and appear +to uncommon advantage. The picturesque would be spoilt by admitting a +fourth. Good-bye." + +She then ran gaily off, rejoicing as she rambled about, in the hope of +being at home again in a day or two. Jane was already so much recovered +as to intend leaving her room for a couple of hours that evening. + + + +Chapter 11 + + +When the ladies removed after dinner, Elizabeth ran up to her +sister, and seeing her well guarded from cold, attended her into the +drawing-room, where she was welcomed by her two friends with many +professions of pleasure; and Elizabeth had never seen them so agreeable +as they were during the hour which passed before the gentlemen appeared. +Their powers of conversation were considerable. They could describe an +entertainment with accuracy, relate an anecdote with humour, and laugh +at their acquaintance with spirit. + +But when the gentlemen entered, Jane was no longer the first object; +Miss Bingley's eyes were instantly turned toward Darcy, and she had +something to say to him before he had advanced many steps. He addressed +himself to Miss Bennet, with a polite congratulation; Mr. Hurst also +made her a slight bow, and said he was "very glad;" but diffuseness +and warmth remained for Bingley's salutation. He was full of joy and +attention. The first half-hour was spent in piling up the fire, lest she +should suffer from the change of room; and she removed at his desire +to the other side of the fireplace, that she might be further from +the door. He then sat down by her, and talked scarcely to anyone +else. Elizabeth, at work in the opposite corner, saw it all with great +delight. + +When tea was over, Mr. Hurst reminded his sister-in-law of the +card-table--but in vain. She had obtained private intelligence that Mr. +Darcy did not wish for cards; and Mr. Hurst soon found even his open +petition rejected. She assured him that no one intended to play, and +the silence of the whole party on the subject seemed to justify her. Mr. +Hurst had therefore nothing to do, but to stretch himself on one of the +sofas and go to sleep. Darcy took up a book; Miss Bingley did the same; +and Mrs. Hurst, principally occupied in playing with her bracelets +and rings, joined now and then in her brother's conversation with Miss +Bennet. + +Miss Bingley's attention was quite as much engaged in watching Mr. +Darcy's progress through _his_ book, as in reading her own; and she +was perpetually either making some inquiry, or looking at his page. She +could not win him, however, to any conversation; he merely answered her +question, and read on. At length, quite exhausted by the attempt to be +amused with her own book, which she had only chosen because it was the +second volume of his, she gave a great yawn and said, "How pleasant +it is to spend an evening in this way! I declare after all there is no +enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a +book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not +an excellent library." + +No one made any reply. She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and +cast her eyes round the room in quest for some amusement; when hearing +her brother mentioning a ball to Miss Bennet, she turned suddenly +towards him and said: + +"By the bye, Charles, are you really serious in meditating a dance at +Netherfield? I would advise you, before you determine on it, to consult +the wishes of the present party; I am much mistaken if there are +not some among us to whom a ball would be rather a punishment than a +pleasure." + +"If you mean Darcy," cried her brother, "he may go to bed, if he +chooses, before it begins--but as for the ball, it is quite a settled +thing; and as soon as Nicholls has made white soup enough, I shall send +round my cards." + +"I should like balls infinitely better," she replied, "if they were +carried on in a different manner; but there is something insufferably +tedious in the usual process of such a meeting. It would surely be much +more rational if conversation instead of dancing were made the order of +the day." + +"Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say, but it would not be +near so much like a ball." + +Miss Bingley made no answer, and soon afterwards she got up and walked +about the room. Her figure was elegant, and she walked well; but +Darcy, at whom it was all aimed, was still inflexibly studious. In +the desperation of her feelings, she resolved on one effort more, and, +turning to Elizabeth, said: + +"Miss Eliza Bennet, let me persuade you to follow my example, and take a +turn about the room. I assure you it is very refreshing after sitting so +long in one attitude." + +Elizabeth was surprised, but agreed to it immediately. Miss Bingley +succeeded no less in the real object of her civility; Mr. Darcy looked +up. He was as much awake to the novelty of attention in that quarter as +Elizabeth herself could be, and unconsciously closed his book. He was +directly invited to join their party, but he declined it, observing that +he could imagine but two motives for their choosing to walk up and down +the room together, with either of which motives his joining them would +interfere. "What could he mean? She was dying to know what could be his +meaning?"--and asked Elizabeth whether she could at all understand him? + +"Not at all," was her answer; "but depend upon it, he means to be severe +on us, and our surest way of disappointing him will be to ask nothing +about it." + +Miss Bingley, however, was incapable of disappointing Mr. Darcy in +anything, and persevered therefore in requiring an explanation of his +two motives. + +"I have not the smallest objection to explaining them," said he, as soon +as she allowed him to speak. "You either choose this method of passing +the evening because you are in each other's confidence, and have secret +affairs to discuss, or because you are conscious that your figures +appear to the greatest advantage in walking; if the first, I would be +completely in your way, and if the second, I can admire you much better +as I sit by the fire." + +"Oh! shocking!" cried Miss Bingley. "I never heard anything so +abominable. How shall we punish him for such a speech?" + +"Nothing so easy, if you have but the inclination," said Elizabeth. "We +can all plague and punish one another. Tease him--laugh at him. Intimate +as you are, you must know how it is to be done." + +"But upon my honour, I do _not_. I do assure you that my intimacy has +not yet taught me _that_. Tease calmness of manner and presence of +mind! No, no; I feel he may defy us there. And as to laughter, we will +not expose ourselves, if you please, by attempting to laugh without a +subject. Mr. Darcy may hug himself." + +"Mr. Darcy is not to be laughed at!" cried Elizabeth. "That is an +uncommon advantage, and uncommon I hope it will continue, for it would +be a great loss to _me_ to have many such acquaintances. I dearly love a +laugh." + +"Miss Bingley," said he, "has given me more credit than can be. +The wisest and the best of men--nay, the wisest and best of their +actions--may be rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in +life is a joke." + +"Certainly," replied Elizabeth--"there are such people, but I hope I +am not one of _them_. I hope I never ridicule what is wise and good. +Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, _do_ divert me, I own, +and I laugh at them whenever I can. But these, I suppose, are precisely +what you are without." + +"Perhaps that is not possible for anyone. But it has been the study +of my life to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a strong +understanding to ridicule." + +"Such as vanity and pride." + +"Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride--where there is a real +superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation." + +Elizabeth turned away to hide a smile. + +"Your examination of Mr. Darcy is over, I presume," said Miss Bingley; +"and pray what is the result?" + +"I am perfectly convinced by it that Mr. Darcy has no defect. He owns it +himself without disguise." + +"No," said Darcy, "I have made no such pretension. I have faults enough, +but they are not, I hope, of understanding. My temper I dare not vouch +for. It is, I believe, too little yielding--certainly too little for the +convenience of the world. I cannot forget the follies and vices of others +so soon as I ought, nor their offenses against myself. My feelings +are not puffed about with every attempt to move them. My temper +would perhaps be called resentful. My good opinion once lost, is lost +forever." + +"_That_ is a failing indeed!" cried Elizabeth. "Implacable resentment +_is_ a shade in a character. But you have chosen your fault well. I +really cannot _laugh_ at it. You are safe from me." + +"There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular +evil--a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome." + +"And _your_ defect is to hate everybody." + +"And yours," he replied with a smile, "is willfully to misunderstand +them." + +"Do let us have a little music," cried Miss Bingley, tired of a +conversation in which she had no share. "Louisa, you will not mind my +waking Mr. Hurst?" + +Her sister had not the smallest objection, and the pianoforte was +opened; and Darcy, after a few moments' recollection, was not sorry for +it. He began to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention. + + + +Chapter 12 + + +In consequence of an agreement between the sisters, Elizabeth wrote the +next morning to their mother, to beg that the carriage might be sent for +them in the course of the day. But Mrs. Bennet, who had calculated on +her daughters remaining at Netherfield till the following Tuesday, which +would exactly finish Jane's week, could not bring herself to receive +them with pleasure before. Her answer, therefore, was not propitious, at +least not to Elizabeth's wishes, for she was impatient to get home. Mrs. +Bennet sent them word that they could not possibly have the carriage +before Tuesday; and in her postscript it was added, that if Mr. Bingley +and his sister pressed them to stay longer, she could spare them +very well. Against staying longer, however, Elizabeth was positively +resolved--nor did she much expect it would be asked; and fearful, on the +contrary, as being considered as intruding themselves needlessly long, +she urged Jane to borrow Mr. Bingley's carriage immediately, and at +length it was settled that their original design of leaving Netherfield +that morning should be mentioned, and the request made. + +The communication excited many professions of concern; and enough was +said of wishing them to stay at least till the following day to work +on Jane; and till the morrow their going was deferred. Miss Bingley was +then sorry that she had proposed the delay, for her jealousy and dislike +of one sister much exceeded her affection for the other. + +The master of the house heard with real sorrow that they were to go so +soon, and repeatedly tried to persuade Miss Bennet that it would not be +safe for her--that she was not enough recovered; but Jane was firm where +she felt herself to be right. + +To Mr. Darcy it was welcome intelligence--Elizabeth had been at +Netherfield long enough. She attracted him more than he liked--and Miss +Bingley was uncivil to _her_, and more teasing than usual to himself. +He wisely resolved to be particularly careful that no sign of admiration +should _now_ escape him, nothing that could elevate her with the hope +of influencing his felicity; sensible that if such an idea had been +suggested, his behaviour during the last day must have material weight +in confirming or crushing it. Steady to his purpose, he scarcely spoke +ten words to her through the whole of Saturday, and though they were +at one time left by themselves for half-an-hour, he adhered most +conscientiously to his book, and would not even look at her. + +On Sunday, after morning service, the separation, so agreeable to almost +all, took place. Miss Bingley's civility to Elizabeth increased at last +very rapidly, as well as her affection for Jane; and when they parted, +after assuring the latter of the pleasure it would always give her +to see her either at Longbourn or Netherfield, and embracing her most +tenderly, she even shook hands with the former. Elizabeth took leave of +the whole party in the liveliest of spirits. + +They were not welcomed home very cordially by their mother. Mrs. Bennet +wondered at their coming, and thought them very wrong to give so much +trouble, and was sure Jane would have caught cold again. But their +father, though very laconic in his expressions of pleasure, was really +glad to see them; he had felt their importance in the family circle. The +evening conversation, when they were all assembled, had lost much of +its animation, and almost all its sense by the absence of Jane and +Elizabeth. + +They found Mary, as usual, deep in the study of thorough-bass and human +nature; and had some extracts to admire, and some new observations of +threadbare morality to listen to. Catherine and Lydia had information +for them of a different sort. Much had been done and much had been said +in the regiment since the preceding Wednesday; several of the officers +had dined lately with their uncle, a private had been flogged, and it +had actually been hinted that Colonel Forster was going to be married. + + + +Chapter 13 + + +"I hope, my dear," said Mr. Bennet to his wife, as they were at +breakfast the next morning, "that you have ordered a good dinner to-day, +because I have reason to expect an addition to our family party." + +"Who do you mean, my dear? I know of nobody that is coming, I am sure, +unless Charlotte Lucas should happen to call in--and I hope _my_ dinners +are good enough for her. I do not believe she often sees such at home." + +"The person of whom I speak is a gentleman, and a stranger." + +Mrs. Bennet's eyes sparkled. "A gentleman and a stranger! It is Mr. +Bingley, I am sure! Well, I am sure I shall be extremely glad to see Mr. +Bingley. But--good Lord! how unlucky! There is not a bit of fish to be +got to-day. Lydia, my love, ring the bell--I must speak to Hill this +moment." + +"It is _not_ Mr. Bingley," said her husband; "it is a person whom I +never saw in the whole course of my life." + +This roused a general astonishment; and he had the pleasure of being +eagerly questioned by his wife and his five daughters at once. + +After amusing himself some time with their curiosity, he thus explained: + +"About a month ago I received this letter; and about a fortnight ago +I answered it, for I thought it a case of some delicacy, and requiring +early attention. It is from my cousin, Mr. Collins, who, when I am dead, +may turn you all out of this house as soon as he pleases." + +"Oh! my dear," cried his wife, "I cannot bear to hear that mentioned. +Pray do not talk of that odious man. I do think it is the hardest thing +in the world, that your estate should be entailed away from your own +children; and I am sure, if I had been you, I should have tried long ago +to do something or other about it." + +Jane and Elizabeth tried to explain to her the nature of an entail. They +had often attempted to do it before, but it was a subject on which +Mrs. Bennet was beyond the reach of reason, and she continued to rail +bitterly against the cruelty of settling an estate away from a family of +five daughters, in favour of a man whom nobody cared anything about. + +"It certainly is a most iniquitous affair," said Mr. Bennet, "and +nothing can clear Mr. Collins from the guilt of inheriting Longbourn. +But if you will listen to his letter, you may perhaps be a little +softened by his manner of expressing himself." + +"No, that I am sure I shall not; and I think it is very impertinent of +him to write to you at all, and very hypocritical. I hate such false +friends. Why could he not keep on quarreling with you, as his father did +before him?" + +"Why, indeed; he does seem to have had some filial scruples on that +head, as you will hear." + +"Hunsford, near Westerham, Kent, 15th October. + +"Dear Sir,-- + +"The disagreement subsisting between yourself and my late honoured +father always gave me much uneasiness, and since I have had the +misfortune to lose him, I have frequently wished to heal the breach; but +for some time I was kept back by my own doubts, fearing lest it might +seem disrespectful to his memory for me to be on good terms with anyone +with whom it had always pleased him to be at variance.--'There, Mrs. +Bennet.'--My mind, however, is now made up on the subject, for having +received ordination at Easter, I have been so fortunate as to be +distinguished by the patronage of the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de +Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has +preferred me to the valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be +my earnest endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards her +ladyship, and be ever ready to perform those rites and ceremonies which +are instituted by the Church of England. As a clergyman, moreover, I +feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in +all families within the reach of my influence; and on these grounds I +flatter myself that my present overtures are highly commendable, and +that the circumstance of my being next in the entail of Longbourn estate +will be kindly overlooked on your side, and not lead you to reject the +offered olive-branch. I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the +means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg leave to apologise for +it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible +amends--but of this hereafter. If you should have no objection to +receive me into your house, I propose myself the satisfaction of waiting +on you and your family, Monday, November 18th, by four o'clock, and +shall probably trespass on your hospitality till the Saturday se'ennight +following, which I can do without any inconvenience, as Lady Catherine +is far from objecting to my occasional absence on a Sunday, provided +that some other clergyman is engaged to do the duty of the day.--I +remain, dear sir, with respectful compliments to your lady and +daughters, your well-wisher and friend, + +"WILLIAM COLLINS" + +"At four o'clock, therefore, we may expect this peace-making gentleman," +said Mr. Bennet, as he folded up the letter. "He seems to be a most +conscientious and polite young man, upon my word, and I doubt not will +prove a valuable acquaintance, especially if Lady Catherine should be so +indulgent as to let him come to us again." + +"There is some sense in what he says about the girls, however, and if +he is disposed to make them any amends, I shall not be the person to +discourage him." + +"Though it is difficult," said Jane, "to guess in what way he can mean +to make us the atonement he thinks our due, the wish is certainly to his +credit." + +Elizabeth was chiefly struck by his extraordinary deference for Lady +Catherine, and his kind intention of christening, marrying, and burying +his parishioners whenever it were required. + +"He must be an oddity, I think," said she. "I cannot make him +out.--There is something very pompous in his style.--And what can he +mean by apologising for being next in the entail?--We cannot suppose he +would help it if he could.--Could he be a sensible man, sir?" + +"No, my dear, I think not. I have great hopes of finding him quite the +reverse. There is a mixture of servility and self-importance in his +letter, which promises well. I am impatient to see him." + +"In point of composition," said Mary, "the letter does not seem +defective. The idea of the olive-branch perhaps is not wholly new, yet I +think it is well expressed." + +To Catherine and Lydia, neither the letter nor its writer were in any +degree interesting. It was next to impossible that their cousin should +come in a scarlet coat, and it was now some weeks since they had +received pleasure from the society of a man in any other colour. As for +their mother, Mr. Collins's letter had done away much of her ill-will, +and she was preparing to see him with a degree of composure which +astonished her husband and daughters. + +Mr. Collins was punctual to his time, and was received with great +politeness by the whole family. Mr. Bennet indeed said little; but the +ladies were ready enough to talk, and Mr. Collins seemed neither in +need of encouragement, nor inclined to be silent himself. He was a +tall, heavy-looking young man of five-and-twenty. His air was grave and +stately, and his manners were very formal. He had not been long seated +before he complimented Mrs. Bennet on having so fine a family of +daughters; said he had heard much of their beauty, but that in this +instance fame had fallen short of the truth; and added, that he did +not doubt her seeing them all in due time disposed of in marriage. This +gallantry was not much to the taste of some of his hearers; but Mrs. +Bennet, who quarreled with no compliments, answered most readily. + +"You are very kind, I am sure; and I wish with all my heart it may +prove so, for else they will be destitute enough. Things are settled so +oddly." + +"You allude, perhaps, to the entail of this estate." + +"Ah! sir, I do indeed. It is a grievous affair to my poor girls, you +must confess. Not that I mean to find fault with _you_, for such things +I know are all chance in this world. There is no knowing how estates +will go when once they come to be entailed." + +"I am very sensible, madam, of the hardship to my fair cousins, and +could say much on the subject, but that I am cautious of appearing +forward and precipitate. But I can assure the young ladies that I come +prepared to admire them. At present I will not say more; but, perhaps, +when we are better acquainted--" + +He was interrupted by a summons to dinner; and the girls smiled on each +other. They were not the only objects of Mr. Collins's admiration. The +hall, the dining-room, and all its furniture, were examined and praised; +and his commendation of everything would have touched Mrs. Bennet's +heart, but for the mortifying supposition of his viewing it all as his +own future property. The dinner too in its turn was highly admired; and +he begged to know to which of his fair cousins the excellency of its +cooking was owing. But he was set right there by Mrs. Bennet, who +assured him with some asperity that they were very well able to keep a +good cook, and that her daughters had nothing to do in the kitchen. He +begged pardon for having displeased her. In a softened tone she declared +herself not at all offended; but he continued to apologise for about a +quarter of an hour. + + + +Chapter 14 + + +During dinner, Mr. Bennet scarcely spoke at all; but when the servants +were withdrawn, he thought it time to have some conversation with his +guest, and therefore started a subject in which he expected him to +shine, by observing that he seemed very fortunate in his patroness. Lady +Catherine de Bourgh's attention to his wishes, and consideration for +his comfort, appeared very remarkable. Mr. Bennet could not have chosen +better. Mr. Collins was eloquent in her praise. The subject elevated him +to more than usual solemnity of manner, and with a most important aspect +he protested that "he had never in his life witnessed such behaviour in +a person of rank--such affability and condescension, as he had himself +experienced from Lady Catherine. She had been graciously pleased to +approve of both of the discourses which he had already had the honour of +preaching before her. She had also asked him twice to dine at Rosings, +and had sent for him only the Saturday before, to make up her pool of +quadrille in the evening. Lady Catherine was reckoned proud by many +people he knew, but _he_ had never seen anything but affability in her. +She had always spoken to him as she would to any other gentleman; she +made not the smallest objection to his joining in the society of the +neighbourhood nor to his leaving the parish occasionally for a week or +two, to visit his relations. She had even condescended to advise him to +marry as soon as he could, provided he chose with discretion; and had +once paid him a visit in his humble parsonage, where she had perfectly +approved all the alterations he had been making, and had even vouchsafed +to suggest some herself--some shelves in the closet up stairs." + +"That is all very proper and civil, I am sure," said Mrs. Bennet, "and +I dare say she is a very agreeable woman. It is a pity that great ladies +in general are not more like her. Does she live near you, sir?" + +"The garden in which stands my humble abode is separated only by a lane +from Rosings Park, her ladyship's residence." + +"I think you said she was a widow, sir? Has she any family?" + +"She has only one daughter, the heiress of Rosings, and of very +extensive property." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Bennet, shaking her head, "then she is better off than +many girls. And what sort of young lady is she? Is she handsome?" + +"She is a most charming young lady indeed. Lady Catherine herself says +that, in point of true beauty, Miss de Bourgh is far superior to the +handsomest of her sex, because there is that in her features which marks +the young lady of distinguished birth. She is unfortunately of a sickly +constitution, which has prevented her from making that progress in many +accomplishments which she could not have otherwise failed of, as I am +informed by the lady who superintended her education, and who still +resides with them. But she is perfectly amiable, and often condescends +to drive by my humble abode in her little phaeton and ponies." + +"Has she been presented? I do not remember her name among the ladies at +court." + +"Her indifferent state of health unhappily prevents her being in town; +and by that means, as I told Lady Catherine one day, has deprived the +British court of its brightest ornament. Her ladyship seemed pleased +with the idea; and you may imagine that I am happy on every occasion to +offer those little delicate compliments which are always acceptable +to ladies. I have more than once observed to Lady Catherine, that +her charming daughter seemed born to be a duchess, and that the most +elevated rank, instead of giving her consequence, would be adorned by +her. These are the kind of little things which please her ladyship, and +it is a sort of attention which I conceive myself peculiarly bound to +pay." + +"You judge very properly," said Mr. Bennet, "and it is happy for you +that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask +whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the +moment, or are the result of previous study?" + +"They arise chiefly from what is passing at the time, and though I +sometimes amuse myself with suggesting and arranging such little elegant +compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions, I always wish to +give them as unstudied an air as possible." + +Mr. Bennet's expectations were fully answered. His cousin was as absurd +as he had hoped, and he listened to him with the keenest enjoyment, +maintaining at the same time the most resolute composure of countenance, +and, except in an occasional glance at Elizabeth, requiring no partner +in his pleasure. + +By tea-time, however, the dose had been enough, and Mr. Bennet was glad +to take his guest into the drawing-room again, and, when tea was over, +glad to invite him to read aloud to the ladies. Mr. Collins readily +assented, and a book was produced; but, on beholding it (for everything +announced it to be from a circulating library), he started back, and +begging pardon, protested that he never read novels. Kitty stared at +him, and Lydia exclaimed. Other books were produced, and after some +deliberation he chose Fordyce's Sermons. Lydia gaped as he opened the +volume, and before he had, with very monotonous solemnity, read three +pages, she interrupted him with: + +"Do you know, mamma, that my uncle Phillips talks of turning away +Richard; and if he does, Colonel Forster will hire him. My aunt told me +so herself on Saturday. I shall walk to Meryton to-morrow to hear more +about it, and to ask when Mr. Denny comes back from town." + +Lydia was bid by her two eldest sisters to hold her tongue; but Mr. +Collins, much offended, laid aside his book, and said: + +"I have often observed how little young ladies are interested by books +of a serious stamp, though written solely for their benefit. It amazes +me, I confess; for, certainly, there can be nothing so advantageous to +them as instruction. But I will no longer importune my young cousin." + +Then turning to Mr. Bennet, he offered himself as his antagonist at +backgammon. Mr. Bennet accepted the challenge, observing that he acted +very wisely in leaving the girls to their own trifling amusements. +Mrs. Bennet and her daughters apologised most civilly for Lydia's +interruption, and promised that it should not occur again, if he would +resume his book; but Mr. Collins, after assuring them that he bore his +young cousin no ill-will, and should never resent her behaviour as any +affront, seated himself at another table with Mr. Bennet, and prepared +for backgammon. + + + +Chapter 15 + + +Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had +been but little assisted by education or society; the greatest part +of his life having been spent under the guidance of an illiterate and +miserly father; and though he belonged to one of the universities, he +had merely kept the necessary terms, without forming at it any useful +acquaintance. The subjection in which his father had brought him up had +given him originally great humility of manner; but it was now a +good deal counteracted by the self-conceit of a weak head, living in +retirement, and the consequential feelings of early and unexpected +prosperity. A fortunate chance had recommended him to Lady Catherine de +Bourgh when the living of Hunsford was vacant; and the respect which +he felt for her high rank, and his veneration for her as his patroness, +mingling with a very good opinion of himself, of his authority as a +clergyman, and his right as a rector, made him altogether a mixture of +pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility. + +Having now a good house and a very sufficient income, he intended to +marry; and in seeking a reconciliation with the Longbourn family he had +a wife in view, as he meant to choose one of the daughters, if he found +them as handsome and amiable as they were represented by common report. +This was his plan of amends--of atonement--for inheriting their father's +estate; and he thought it an excellent one, full of eligibility and +suitableness, and excessively generous and disinterested on his own +part. + +His plan did not vary on seeing them. Miss Bennet's lovely face +confirmed his views, and established all his strictest notions of what +was due to seniority; and for the first evening _she_ was his settled +choice. The next morning, however, made an alteration; for in a +quarter of an hour's tete-a-tete with Mrs. Bennet before breakfast, a +conversation beginning with his parsonage-house, and leading naturally +to the avowal of his hopes, that a mistress might be found for it at +Longbourn, produced from her, amid very complaisant smiles and general +encouragement, a caution against the very Jane he had fixed on. "As to +her _younger_ daughters, she could not take upon her to say--she could +not positively answer--but she did not _know_ of any prepossession; her +_eldest_ daughter, she must just mention--she felt it incumbent on her +to hint, was likely to be very soon engaged." + +Mr. Collins had only to change from Jane to Elizabeth--and it was soon +done--done while Mrs. Bennet was stirring the fire. Elizabeth, equally +next to Jane in birth and beauty, succeeded her of course. + +Mrs. Bennet treasured up the hint, and trusted that she might soon have +two daughters married; and the man whom she could not bear to speak of +the day before was now high in her good graces. + +Lydia's intention of walking to Meryton was not forgotten; every sister +except Mary agreed to go with her; and Mr. Collins was to attend them, +at the request of Mr. Bennet, who was most anxious to get rid of him, +and have his library to himself; for thither Mr. Collins had followed +him after breakfast; and there he would continue, nominally engaged with +one of the largest folios in the collection, but really talking to Mr. +Bennet, with little cessation, of his house and garden at Hunsford. Such +doings discomposed Mr. Bennet exceedingly. In his library he had been +always sure of leisure and tranquillity; and though prepared, as he told +Elizabeth, to meet with folly and conceit in every other room of the +house, he was used to be free from them there; his civility, therefore, +was most prompt in inviting Mr. Collins to join his daughters in their +walk; and Mr. Collins, being in fact much better fitted for a walker +than a reader, was extremely pleased to close his large book, and go. + +In pompous nothings on his side, and civil assents on that of his +cousins, their time passed till they entered Meryton. The attention of +the younger ones was then no longer to be gained by him. Their eyes were +immediately wandering up in the street in quest of the officers, and +nothing less than a very smart bonnet indeed, or a really new muslin in +a shop window, could recall them. + +But the attention of every lady was soon caught by a young man, whom +they had never seen before, of most gentlemanlike appearance, walking +with another officer on the other side of the way. The officer was +the very Mr. Denny concerning whose return from London Lydia came +to inquire, and he bowed as they passed. All were struck with the +stranger's air, all wondered who he could be; and Kitty and Lydia, +determined if possible to find out, led the way across the street, under +pretense of wanting something in an opposite shop, and fortunately +had just gained the pavement when the two gentlemen, turning back, had +reached the same spot. Mr. Denny addressed them directly, and entreated +permission to introduce his friend, Mr. Wickham, who had returned with +him the day before from town, and he was happy to say had accepted a +commission in their corps. This was exactly as it should be; for the +young man wanted only regimentals to make him completely charming. +His appearance was greatly in his favour; he had all the best part of +beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure, and very pleasing address. +The introduction was followed up on his side by a happy readiness +of conversation--a readiness at the same time perfectly correct and +unassuming; and the whole party were still standing and talking together +very agreeably, when the sound of horses drew their notice, and Darcy +and Bingley were seen riding down the street. On distinguishing the +ladies of the group, the two gentlemen came directly towards them, and +began the usual civilities. Bingley was the principal spokesman, and +Miss Bennet the principal object. He was then, he said, on his way to +Longbourn on purpose to inquire after her. Mr. Darcy corroborated +it with a bow, and was beginning to determine not to fix his eyes +on Elizabeth, when they were suddenly arrested by the sight of the +stranger, and Elizabeth happening to see the countenance of both as they +looked at each other, was all astonishment at the effect of the meeting. +Both changed colour, one looked white, the other red. Mr. Wickham, +after a few moments, touched his hat--a salutation which Mr. Darcy just +deigned to return. What could be the meaning of it? It was impossible to +imagine; it was impossible not to long to know. + +In another minute, Mr. Bingley, but without seeming to have noticed what +passed, took leave and rode on with his friend. + +Mr. Denny and Mr. Wickham walked with the young ladies to the door of +Mr. Phillip's house, and then made their bows, in spite of Miss Lydia's +pressing entreaties that they should come in, and even in spite of +Mrs. Phillips's throwing up the parlour window and loudly seconding the +invitation. + +Mrs. Phillips was always glad to see her nieces; and the two eldest, +from their recent absence, were particularly welcome, and she was +eagerly expressing her surprise at their sudden return home, which, as +their own carriage had not fetched them, she should have known nothing +about, if she had not happened to see Mr. Jones's shop-boy in the +street, who had told her that they were not to send any more draughts to +Netherfield because the Miss Bennets were come away, when her civility +was claimed towards Mr. Collins by Jane's introduction of him. She +received him with her very best politeness, which he returned with +as much more, apologising for his intrusion, without any previous +acquaintance with her, which he could not help flattering himself, +however, might be justified by his relationship to the young ladies who +introduced him to her notice. Mrs. Phillips was quite awed by such an +excess of good breeding; but her contemplation of one stranger was soon +put to an end by exclamations and inquiries about the other; of whom, +however, she could only tell her nieces what they already knew, that +Mr. Denny had brought him from London, and that he was to have a +lieutenant's commission in the ----shire. She had been watching him the +last hour, she said, as he walked up and down the street, and had Mr. +Wickham appeared, Kitty and Lydia would certainly have continued the +occupation, but unluckily no one passed windows now except a few of the +officers, who, in comparison with the stranger, were become "stupid, +disagreeable fellows." Some of them were to dine with the Phillipses +the next day, and their aunt promised to make her husband call on Mr. +Wickham, and give him an invitation also, if the family from Longbourn +would come in the evening. This was agreed to, and Mrs. Phillips +protested that they would have a nice comfortable noisy game of lottery +tickets, and a little bit of hot supper afterwards. The prospect of such +delights was very cheering, and they parted in mutual good spirits. Mr. +Collins repeated his apologies in quitting the room, and was assured +with unwearying civility that they were perfectly needless. + +As they walked home, Elizabeth related to Jane what she had seen pass +between the two gentlemen; but though Jane would have defended either +or both, had they appeared to be in the wrong, she could no more explain +such behaviour than her sister. + +Mr. Collins on his return highly gratified Mrs. Bennet by admiring +Mrs. Phillips's manners and politeness. He protested that, except Lady +Catherine and her daughter, he had never seen a more elegant woman; +for she had not only received him with the utmost civility, but even +pointedly included him in her invitation for the next evening, although +utterly unknown to her before. Something, he supposed, might be +attributed to his connection with them, but yet he had never met with so +much attention in the whole course of his life. + + + +Chapter 16 + + +As no objection was made to the young people's engagement with their +aunt, and all Mr. Collins's scruples of leaving Mr. and Mrs. Bennet for +a single evening during his visit were most steadily resisted, the coach +conveyed him and his five cousins at a suitable hour to Meryton; and +the girls had the pleasure of hearing, as they entered the drawing-room, +that Mr. Wickham had accepted their uncle's invitation, and was then in +the house. + +When this information was given, and they had all taken their seats, Mr. +Collins was at leisure to look around him and admire, and he was so much +struck with the size and furniture of the apartment, that he declared he +might almost have supposed himself in the small summer breakfast +parlour at Rosings; a comparison that did not at first convey much +gratification; but when Mrs. Phillips understood from him what +Rosings was, and who was its proprietor--when she had listened to the +description of only one of Lady Catherine's drawing-rooms, and found +that the chimney-piece alone had cost eight hundred pounds, she felt all +the force of the compliment, and would hardly have resented a comparison +with the housekeeper's room. + +In describing to her all the grandeur of Lady Catherine and her mansion, +with occasional digressions in praise of his own humble abode, and +the improvements it was receiving, he was happily employed until the +gentlemen joined them; and he found in Mrs. Phillips a very attentive +listener, whose opinion of his consequence increased with what she +heard, and who was resolving to retail it all among her neighbours as +soon as she could. To the girls, who could not listen to their cousin, +and who had nothing to do but to wish for an instrument, and examine +their own indifferent imitations of china on the mantelpiece, the +interval of waiting appeared very long. It was over at last, however. +The gentlemen did approach, and when Mr. Wickham walked into the room, +Elizabeth felt that she had neither been seeing him before, nor thinking +of him since, with the smallest degree of unreasonable admiration. +The officers of the ----shire were in general a very creditable, +gentlemanlike set, and the best of them were of the present party; but +Mr. Wickham was as far beyond them all in person, countenance, air, and +walk, as _they_ were superior to the broad-faced, stuffy uncle Phillips, +breathing port wine, who followed them into the room. + +Mr. Wickham was the happy man towards whom almost every female eye was +turned, and Elizabeth was the happy woman by whom he finally seated +himself; and the agreeable manner in which he immediately fell into +conversation, though it was only on its being a wet night, made her feel +that the commonest, dullest, most threadbare topic might be rendered +interesting by the skill of the speaker. + +With such rivals for the notice of the fair as Mr. Wickham and the +officers, Mr. Collins seemed to sink into insignificance; to the young +ladies he certainly was nothing; but he had still at intervals a kind +listener in Mrs. Phillips, and was by her watchfulness, most abundantly +supplied with coffee and muffin. When the card-tables were placed, he +had the opportunity of obliging her in turn, by sitting down to whist. + +"I know little of the game at present," said he, "but I shall be glad +to improve myself, for in my situation in life--" Mrs. Phillips was very +glad for his compliance, but could not wait for his reason. + +Mr. Wickham did not play at whist, and with ready delight was he +received at the other table between Elizabeth and Lydia. At first there +seemed danger of Lydia's engrossing him entirely, for she was a most +determined talker; but being likewise extremely fond of lottery tickets, +she soon grew too much interested in the game, too eager in making bets +and exclaiming after prizes to have attention for anyone in particular. +Allowing for the common demands of the game, Mr. Wickham was therefore +at leisure to talk to Elizabeth, and she was very willing to hear +him, though what she chiefly wished to hear she could not hope to be +told--the history of his acquaintance with Mr. Darcy. She dared not +even mention that gentleman. Her curiosity, however, was unexpectedly +relieved. Mr. Wickham began the subject himself. He inquired how far +Netherfield was from Meryton; and, after receiving her answer, asked in +a hesitating manner how long Mr. Darcy had been staying there. + +"About a month," said Elizabeth; and then, unwilling to let the subject +drop, added, "He is a man of very large property in Derbyshire, I +understand." + +"Yes," replied Mr. Wickham; "his estate there is a noble one. A clear +ten thousand per annum. You could not have met with a person more +capable of giving you certain information on that head than myself, for +I have been connected with his family in a particular manner from my +infancy." + +Elizabeth could not but look surprised. + +"You may well be surprised, Miss Bennet, at such an assertion, after +seeing, as you probably might, the very cold manner of our meeting +yesterday. Are you much acquainted with Mr. Darcy?" + +"As much as I ever wish to be," cried Elizabeth very warmly. "I have +spent four days in the same house with him, and I think him very +disagreeable." + +"I have no right to give _my_ opinion," said Wickham, "as to his being +agreeable or otherwise. I am not qualified to form one. I have known him +too long and too well to be a fair judge. It is impossible for _me_ +to be impartial. But I believe your opinion of him would in general +astonish--and perhaps you would not express it quite so strongly +anywhere else. Here you are in your own family." + +"Upon my word, I say no more _here_ than I might say in any house in +the neighbourhood, except Netherfield. He is not at all liked in +Hertfordshire. Everybody is disgusted with his pride. You will not find +him more favourably spoken of by anyone." + +"I cannot pretend to be sorry," said Wickham, after a short +interruption, "that he or that any man should not be estimated beyond +their deserts; but with _him_ I believe it does not often happen. The +world is blinded by his fortune and consequence, or frightened by his +high and imposing manners, and sees him only as he chooses to be seen." + +"I should take him, even on _my_ slight acquaintance, to be an +ill-tempered man." Wickham only shook his head. + +"I wonder," said he, at the next opportunity of speaking, "whether he is +likely to be in this country much longer." + +"I do not at all know; but I _heard_ nothing of his going away when I +was at Netherfield. I hope your plans in favour of the ----shire will +not be affected by his being in the neighbourhood." + +"Oh! no--it is not for _me_ to be driven away by Mr. Darcy. If _he_ +wishes to avoid seeing _me_, he must go. We are not on friendly terms, +and it always gives me pain to meet him, but I have no reason for +avoiding _him_ but what I might proclaim before all the world, a sense +of very great ill-usage, and most painful regrets at his being what he +is. His father, Miss Bennet, the late Mr. Darcy, was one of the best men +that ever breathed, and the truest friend I ever had; and I can never +be in company with this Mr. Darcy without being grieved to the soul by +a thousand tender recollections. His behaviour to myself has been +scandalous; but I verily believe I could forgive him anything and +everything, rather than his disappointing the hopes and disgracing the +memory of his father." + +Elizabeth found the interest of the subject increase, and listened with +all her heart; but the delicacy of it prevented further inquiry. + +Mr. Wickham began to speak on more general topics, Meryton, the +neighbourhood, the society, appearing highly pleased with all that +he had yet seen, and speaking of the latter with gentle but very +intelligible gallantry. + +"It was the prospect of constant society, and good society," he added, +"which was my chief inducement to enter the ----shire. I knew it to be +a most respectable, agreeable corps, and my friend Denny tempted me +further by his account of their present quarters, and the very great +attentions and excellent acquaintances Meryton had procured them. +Society, I own, is necessary to me. I have been a disappointed man, and +my spirits will not bear solitude. I _must_ have employment and society. +A military life is not what I was intended for, but circumstances have +now made it eligible. The church _ought_ to have been my profession--I +was brought up for the church, and I should at this time have been in +possession of a most valuable living, had it pleased the gentleman we +were speaking of just now." + +"Indeed!" + +"Yes--the late Mr. Darcy bequeathed me the next presentation of the best +living in his gift. He was my godfather, and excessively attached to me. +I cannot do justice to his kindness. He meant to provide for me amply, +and thought he had done it; but when the living fell, it was given +elsewhere." + +"Good heavens!" cried Elizabeth; "but how could _that_ be? How could his +will be disregarded? Why did you not seek legal redress?" + +"There was just such an informality in the terms of the bequest as to +give me no hope from law. A man of honour could not have doubted the +intention, but Mr. Darcy chose to doubt it--or to treat it as a merely +conditional recommendation, and to assert that I had forfeited all claim +to it by extravagance, imprudence--in short anything or nothing. Certain +it is, that the living became vacant two years ago, exactly as I was +of an age to hold it, and that it was given to another man; and no +less certain is it, that I cannot accuse myself of having really done +anything to deserve to lose it. I have a warm, unguarded temper, and +I may have spoken my opinion _of_ him, and _to_ him, too freely. I can +recall nothing worse. But the fact is, that we are very different sort +of men, and that he hates me." + +"This is quite shocking! He deserves to be publicly disgraced." + +"Some time or other he _will_ be--but it shall not be by _me_. Till I +can forget his father, I can never defy or expose _him_." + +Elizabeth honoured him for such feelings, and thought him handsomer than +ever as he expressed them. + +"But what," said she, after a pause, "can have been his motive? What can +have induced him to behave so cruelly?" + +"A thorough, determined dislike of me--a dislike which I cannot but +attribute in some measure to jealousy. Had the late Mr. Darcy liked me +less, his son might have borne with me better; but his father's uncommon +attachment to me irritated him, I believe, very early in life. He had +not a temper to bear the sort of competition in which we stood--the sort +of preference which was often given me." + +"I had not thought Mr. Darcy so bad as this--though I have never liked +him. I had not thought so very ill of him. I had supposed him to be +despising his fellow-creatures in general, but did not suspect him of +descending to such malicious revenge, such injustice, such inhumanity as +this." + +After a few minutes' reflection, however, she continued, "I _do_ +remember his boasting one day, at Netherfield, of the implacability of +his resentments, of his having an unforgiving temper. His disposition +must be dreadful." + +"I will not trust myself on the subject," replied Wickham; "I can hardly +be just to him." + +Elizabeth was again deep in thought, and after a time exclaimed, "To +treat in such a manner the godson, the friend, the favourite of his +father!" She could have added, "A young man, too, like _you_, whose very +countenance may vouch for your being amiable"--but she contented herself +with, "and one, too, who had probably been his companion from childhood, +connected together, as I think you said, in the closest manner!" + +"We were born in the same parish, within the same park; the greatest +part of our youth was passed together; inmates of the same house, +sharing the same amusements, objects of the same parental care. _My_ +father began life in the profession which your uncle, Mr. Phillips, +appears to do so much credit to--but he gave up everything to be of +use to the late Mr. Darcy and devoted all his time to the care of the +Pemberley property. He was most highly esteemed by Mr. Darcy, a most +intimate, confidential friend. Mr. Darcy often acknowledged himself to +be under the greatest obligations to my father's active superintendence, +and when, immediately before my father's death, Mr. Darcy gave him a +voluntary promise of providing for me, I am convinced that he felt it to +be as much a debt of gratitude to _him_, as of his affection to myself." + +"How strange!" cried Elizabeth. "How abominable! I wonder that the very +pride of this Mr. Darcy has not made him just to you! If from no better +motive, that he should not have been too proud to be dishonest--for +dishonesty I must call it." + +"It _is_ wonderful," replied Wickham, "for almost all his actions may +be traced to pride; and pride had often been his best friend. It has +connected him nearer with virtue than with any other feeling. But we are +none of us consistent, and in his behaviour to me there were stronger +impulses even than pride." + +"Can such abominable pride as his have ever done him good?" + +"Yes. It has often led him to be liberal and generous, to give his money +freely, to display hospitality, to assist his tenants, and relieve the +poor. Family pride, and _filial_ pride--for he is very proud of what +his father was--have done this. Not to appear to disgrace his family, +to degenerate from the popular qualities, or lose the influence of the +Pemberley House, is a powerful motive. He has also _brotherly_ pride, +which, with _some_ brotherly affection, makes him a very kind and +careful guardian of his sister, and you will hear him generally cried up +as the most attentive and best of brothers." + +"What sort of girl is Miss Darcy?" + +He shook his head. "I wish I could call her amiable. It gives me pain to +speak ill of a Darcy. But she is too much like her brother--very, very +proud. As a child, she was affectionate and pleasing, and extremely fond +of me; and I have devoted hours and hours to her amusement. But she is +nothing to me now. She is a handsome girl, about fifteen or sixteen, +and, I understand, highly accomplished. Since her father's death, her +home has been London, where a lady lives with her, and superintends her +education." + +After many pauses and many trials of other subjects, Elizabeth could not +help reverting once more to the first, and saying: + +"I am astonished at his intimacy with Mr. Bingley! How can Mr. Bingley, +who seems good humour itself, and is, I really believe, truly amiable, +be in friendship with such a man? How can they suit each other? Do you +know Mr. Bingley?" + +"Not at all." + +"He is a sweet-tempered, amiable, charming man. He cannot know what Mr. +Darcy is." + +"Probably not; but Mr. Darcy can please where he chooses. He does not +want abilities. He can be a conversible companion if he thinks it worth +his while. Among those who are at all his equals in consequence, he is +a very different man from what he is to the less prosperous. His +pride never deserts him; but with the rich he is liberal-minded, just, +sincere, rational, honourable, and perhaps agreeable--allowing something +for fortune and figure." + +The whist party soon afterwards breaking up, the players gathered round +the other table and Mr. Collins took his station between his cousin +Elizabeth and Mrs. Phillips. The usual inquiries as to his success were +made by the latter. It had not been very great; he had lost every +point; but when Mrs. Phillips began to express her concern thereupon, +he assured her with much earnest gravity that it was not of the least +importance, that he considered the money as a mere trifle, and begged +that she would not make herself uneasy. + +"I know very well, madam," said he, "that when persons sit down to a +card-table, they must take their chances of these things, and happily I +am not in such circumstances as to make five shillings any object. There +are undoubtedly many who could not say the same, but thanks to Lady +Catherine de Bourgh, I am removed far beyond the necessity of regarding +little matters." + +Mr. Wickham's attention was caught; and after observing Mr. Collins for +a few moments, he asked Elizabeth in a low voice whether her relation +was very intimately acquainted with the family of de Bourgh. + +"Lady Catherine de Bourgh," she replied, "has very lately given him +a living. I hardly know how Mr. Collins was first introduced to her +notice, but he certainly has not known her long." + +"You know of course that Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Lady Anne Darcy +were sisters; consequently that she is aunt to the present Mr. Darcy." + +"No, indeed, I did not. I knew nothing at all of Lady Catherine's +connections. I never heard of her existence till the day before +yesterday." + +"Her daughter, Miss de Bourgh, will have a very large fortune, and it is +believed that she and her cousin will unite the two estates." + +This information made Elizabeth smile, as she thought of poor Miss +Bingley. Vain indeed must be all her attentions, vain and useless her +affection for his sister and her praise of himself, if he were already +self-destined for another. + +"Mr. Collins," said she, "speaks highly both of Lady Catherine and her +daughter; but from some particulars that he has related of her ladyship, +I suspect his gratitude misleads him, and that in spite of her being his +patroness, she is an arrogant, conceited woman." + +"I believe her to be both in a great degree," replied Wickham; "I have +not seen her for many years, but I very well remember that I never liked +her, and that her manners were dictatorial and insolent. She has the +reputation of being remarkably sensible and clever; but I rather believe +she derives part of her abilities from her rank and fortune, part from +her authoritative manner, and the rest from the pride for her +nephew, who chooses that everyone connected with him should have an +understanding of the first class." + +Elizabeth allowed that he had given a very rational account of it, and +they continued talking together, with mutual satisfaction till supper +put an end to cards, and gave the rest of the ladies their share of Mr. +Wickham's attentions. There could be no conversation in the noise +of Mrs. Phillips's supper party, but his manners recommended him to +everybody. Whatever he said, was said well; and whatever he did, done +gracefully. Elizabeth went away with her head full of him. She could +think of nothing but of Mr. Wickham, and of what he had told her, all +the way home; but there was not time for her even to mention his name +as they went, for neither Lydia nor Mr. Collins were once silent. Lydia +talked incessantly of lottery tickets, of the fish she had lost and the +fish she had won; and Mr. Collins in describing the civility of Mr. and +Mrs. Phillips, protesting that he did not in the least regard his losses +at whist, enumerating all the dishes at supper, and repeatedly fearing +that he crowded his cousins, had more to say than he could well manage +before the carriage stopped at Longbourn House. + + + +Chapter 17 + + +Elizabeth related to Jane the next day what had passed between Mr. +Wickham and herself. Jane listened with astonishment and concern; she +knew not how to believe that Mr. Darcy could be so unworthy of Mr. +Bingley's regard; and yet, it was not in her nature to question the +veracity of a young man of such amiable appearance as Wickham. The +possibility of his having endured such unkindness, was enough to +interest all her tender feelings; and nothing remained therefore to be +done, but to think well of them both, to defend the conduct of each, +and throw into the account of accident or mistake whatever could not be +otherwise explained. + +"They have both," said she, "been deceived, I dare say, in some way +or other, of which we can form no idea. Interested people have perhaps +misrepresented each to the other. It is, in short, impossible for us to +conjecture the causes or circumstances which may have alienated them, +without actual blame on either side." + +"Very true, indeed; and now, my dear Jane, what have you got to say on +behalf of the interested people who have probably been concerned in the +business? Do clear _them_ too, or we shall be obliged to think ill of +somebody." + +"Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my +opinion. My dearest Lizzy, do but consider in what a disgraceful light +it places Mr. Darcy, to be treating his father's favourite in such +a manner, one whom his father had promised to provide for. It is +impossible. No man of common humanity, no man who had any value for his +character, could be capable of it. Can his most intimate friends be so +excessively deceived in him? Oh! no." + +"I can much more easily believe Mr. Bingley's being imposed on, than +that Mr. Wickham should invent such a history of himself as he gave me +last night; names, facts, everything mentioned without ceremony. If it +be not so, let Mr. Darcy contradict it. Besides, there was truth in his +looks." + +"It is difficult indeed--it is distressing. One does not know what to +think." + +"I beg your pardon; one knows exactly what to think." + +But Jane could think with certainty on only one point--that Mr. Bingley, +if he _had_ been imposed on, would have much to suffer when the affair +became public. + +The two young ladies were summoned from the shrubbery, where this +conversation passed, by the arrival of the very persons of whom they had +been speaking; Mr. Bingley and his sisters came to give their personal +invitation for the long-expected ball at Netherfield, which was fixed +for the following Tuesday. The two ladies were delighted to see their +dear friend again, called it an age since they had met, and repeatedly +asked what she had been doing with herself since their separation. To +the rest of the family they paid little attention; avoiding Mrs. Bennet +as much as possible, saying not much to Elizabeth, and nothing at all to +the others. They were soon gone again, rising from their seats with an +activity which took their brother by surprise, and hurrying off as if +eager to escape from Mrs. Bennet's civilities. + +The prospect of the Netherfield ball was extremely agreeable to every +female of the family. Mrs. Bennet chose to consider it as given in +compliment to her eldest daughter, and was particularly flattered +by receiving the invitation from Mr. Bingley himself, instead of a +ceremonious card. Jane pictured to herself a happy evening in the +society of her two friends, and the attentions of their brother; and +Elizabeth thought with pleasure of dancing a great deal with Mr. +Wickham, and of seeing a confirmation of everything in Mr. Darcy's look +and behaviour. The happiness anticipated by Catherine and Lydia depended +less on any single event, or any particular person, for though they +each, like Elizabeth, meant to dance half the evening with Mr. Wickham, +he was by no means the only partner who could satisfy them, and a ball +was, at any rate, a ball. And even Mary could assure her family that she +had no disinclination for it. + +"While I can have my mornings to myself," said she, "it is enough--I +think it is no sacrifice to join occasionally in evening engagements. +Society has claims on us all; and I profess myself one of those +who consider intervals of recreation and amusement as desirable for +everybody." + +Elizabeth's spirits were so high on this occasion, that though she did +not often speak unnecessarily to Mr. Collins, she could not help asking +him whether he intended to accept Mr. Bingley's invitation, and if +he did, whether he would think it proper to join in the evening's +amusement; and she was rather surprised to find that he entertained no +scruple whatever on that head, and was very far from dreading a rebuke +either from the Archbishop, or Lady Catherine de Bourgh, by venturing to +dance. + +"I am by no means of the opinion, I assure you," said he, "that a ball +of this kind, given by a young man of character, to respectable people, +can have any evil tendency; and I am so far from objecting to dancing +myself, that I shall hope to be honoured with the hands of all my fair +cousins in the course of the evening; and I take this opportunity of +soliciting yours, Miss Elizabeth, for the two first dances especially, +a preference which I trust my cousin Jane will attribute to the right +cause, and not to any disrespect for her." + +Elizabeth felt herself completely taken in. She had fully proposed being +engaged by Mr. Wickham for those very dances; and to have Mr. Collins +instead! her liveliness had never been worse timed. There was no help +for it, however. Mr. Wickham's happiness and her own were perforce +delayed a little longer, and Mr. Collins's proposal accepted with as +good a grace as she could. She was not the better pleased with his +gallantry from the idea it suggested of something more. It now first +struck her, that _she_ was selected from among her sisters as worthy +of being mistress of Hunsford Parsonage, and of assisting to form a +quadrille table at Rosings, in the absence of more eligible visitors. +The idea soon reached to conviction, as she observed his increasing +civilities toward herself, and heard his frequent attempt at a +compliment on her wit and vivacity; and though more astonished than +gratified herself by this effect of her charms, it was not long before +her mother gave her to understand that the probability of their marriage +was extremely agreeable to _her_. Elizabeth, however, did not choose +to take the hint, being well aware that a serious dispute must be the +consequence of any reply. Mr. Collins might never make the offer, and +till he did, it was useless to quarrel about him. + +If there had not been a Netherfield ball to prepare for and talk of, the +younger Miss Bennets would have been in a very pitiable state at this +time, for from the day of the invitation, to the day of the ball, there +was such a succession of rain as prevented their walking to Meryton +once. No aunt, no officers, no news could be sought after--the very +shoe-roses for Netherfield were got by proxy. Even Elizabeth might have +found some trial of her patience in weather which totally suspended the +improvement of her acquaintance with Mr. Wickham; and nothing less than +a dance on Tuesday, could have made such a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and +Monday endurable to Kitty and Lydia. + + + +Chapter 18 + + +Till Elizabeth entered the drawing-room at Netherfield, and looked in +vain for Mr. Wickham among the cluster of red coats there assembled, a +doubt of his being present had never occurred to her. The certainty +of meeting him had not been checked by any of those recollections that +might not unreasonably have alarmed her. She had dressed with more than +usual care, and prepared in the highest spirits for the conquest of all +that remained unsubdued of his heart, trusting that it was not more than +might be won in the course of the evening. But in an instant arose +the dreadful suspicion of his being purposely omitted for Mr. Darcy's +pleasure in the Bingleys' invitation to the officers; and though +this was not exactly the case, the absolute fact of his absence was +pronounced by his friend Denny, to whom Lydia eagerly applied, and who +told them that Wickham had been obliged to go to town on business the +day before, and was not yet returned; adding, with a significant smile, +"I do not imagine his business would have called him away just now, if +he had not wanted to avoid a certain gentleman here." + +This part of his intelligence, though unheard by Lydia, was caught by +Elizabeth, and, as it assured her that Darcy was not less answerable for +Wickham's absence than if her first surmise had been just, every +feeling of displeasure against the former was so sharpened by immediate +disappointment, that she could hardly reply with tolerable civility to +the polite inquiries which he directly afterwards approached to make. +Attendance, forbearance, patience with Darcy, was injury to Wickham. She +was resolved against any sort of conversation with him, and turned away +with a degree of ill-humour which she could not wholly surmount even in +speaking to Mr. Bingley, whose blind partiality provoked her. + +But Elizabeth was not formed for ill-humour; and though every prospect +of her own was destroyed for the evening, it could not dwell long on her +spirits; and having told all her griefs to Charlotte Lucas, whom she had +not seen for a week, she was soon able to make a voluntary transition +to the oddities of her cousin, and to point him out to her particular +notice. The first two dances, however, brought a return of distress; +they were dances of mortification. Mr. Collins, awkward and solemn, +apologising instead of attending, and often moving wrong without being +aware of it, gave her all the shame and misery which a disagreeable +partner for a couple of dances can give. The moment of her release from +him was ecstasy. + +She danced next with an officer, and had the refreshment of talking of +Wickham, and of hearing that he was universally liked. When those dances +were over, she returned to Charlotte Lucas, and was in conversation with +her, when she found herself suddenly addressed by Mr. Darcy who took +her so much by surprise in his application for her hand, that, +without knowing what she did, she accepted him. He walked away again +immediately, and she was left to fret over her own want of presence of +mind; Charlotte tried to console her: + +"I dare say you will find him very agreeable." + +"Heaven forbid! _That_ would be the greatest misfortune of all! To find +a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate! Do not wish me such an +evil." + +When the dancing recommenced, however, and Darcy approached to claim her +hand, Charlotte could not help cautioning her in a whisper, not to be a +simpleton, and allow her fancy for Wickham to make her appear unpleasant +in the eyes of a man ten times his consequence. Elizabeth made no +answer, and took her place in the set, amazed at the dignity to which +she was arrived in being allowed to stand opposite to Mr. Darcy, and +reading in her neighbours' looks, their equal amazement in beholding +it. They stood for some time without speaking a word; and she began to +imagine that their silence was to last through the two dances, and at +first was resolved not to break it; till suddenly fancying that it would +be the greater punishment to her partner to oblige him to talk, she made +some slight observation on the dance. He replied, and was again +silent. After a pause of some minutes, she addressed him a second time +with:--"It is _your_ turn to say something now, Mr. Darcy. I talked +about the dance, and _you_ ought to make some sort of remark on the size +of the room, or the number of couples." + +He smiled, and assured her that whatever she wished him to say should be +said. + +"Very well. That reply will do for the present. Perhaps by and by I may +observe that private balls are much pleasanter than public ones. But +_now_ we may be silent." + +"Do you talk by rule, then, while you are dancing?" + +"Sometimes. One must speak a little, you know. It would look odd to be +entirely silent for half an hour together; and yet for the advantage of +_some_, conversation ought to be so arranged, as that they may have the +trouble of saying as little as possible." + +"Are you consulting your own feelings in the present case, or do you +imagine that you are gratifying mine?" + +"Both," replied Elizabeth archly; "for I have always seen a great +similarity in the turn of our minds. We are each of an unsocial, +taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say +something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to +posterity with all the eclat of a proverb." + +"This is no very striking resemblance of your own character, I am sure," +said he. "How near it may be to _mine_, I cannot pretend to say. _You_ +think it a faithful portrait undoubtedly." + +"I must not decide on my own performance." + +He made no answer, and they were again silent till they had gone down +the dance, when he asked her if she and her sisters did not very often +walk to Meryton. She answered in the affirmative, and, unable to resist +the temptation, added, "When you met us there the other day, we had just +been forming a new acquaintance." + +The effect was immediate. A deeper shade of _hauteur_ overspread his +features, but he said not a word, and Elizabeth, though blaming herself +for her own weakness, could not go on. At length Darcy spoke, and in a +constrained manner said, "Mr. Wickham is blessed with such happy manners +as may ensure his _making_ friends--whether he may be equally capable of +_retaining_ them, is less certain." + +"He has been so unlucky as to lose _your_ friendship," replied Elizabeth +with emphasis, "and in a manner which he is likely to suffer from all +his life." + +Darcy made no answer, and seemed desirous of changing the subject. At +that moment, Sir William Lucas appeared close to them, meaning to pass +through the set to the other side of the room; but on perceiving Mr. +Darcy, he stopped with a bow of superior courtesy to compliment him on +his dancing and his partner. + +"I have been most highly gratified indeed, my dear sir. Such very +superior dancing is not often seen. It is evident that you belong to the +first circles. Allow me to say, however, that your fair partner does not +disgrace you, and that I must hope to have this pleasure often repeated, +especially when a certain desirable event, my dear Eliza (glancing at +her sister and Bingley) shall take place. What congratulations will then +flow in! I appeal to Mr. Darcy:--but let me not interrupt you, sir. You +will not thank me for detaining you from the bewitching converse of that +young lady, whose bright eyes are also upbraiding me." + +The latter part of this address was scarcely heard by Darcy; but Sir +William's allusion to his friend seemed to strike him forcibly, and his +eyes were directed with a very serious expression towards Bingley and +Jane, who were dancing together. Recovering himself, however, shortly, +he turned to his partner, and said, "Sir William's interruption has made +me forget what we were talking of." + +"I do not think we were speaking at all. Sir William could not have +interrupted two people in the room who had less to say for themselves. +We have tried two or three subjects already without success, and what we +are to talk of next I cannot imagine." + +"What think you of books?" said he, smiling. + +"Books--oh! no. I am sure we never read the same, or not with the same +feelings." + +"I am sorry you think so; but if that be the case, there can at least be +no want of subject. We may compare our different opinions." + +"No--I cannot talk of books in a ball-room; my head is always full of +something else." + +"The _present_ always occupies you in such scenes--does it?" said he, +with a look of doubt. + +"Yes, always," she replied, without knowing what she said, for her +thoughts had wandered far from the subject, as soon afterwards appeared +by her suddenly exclaiming, "I remember hearing you once say, Mr. Darcy, +that you hardly ever forgave, that your resentment once created was +unappeasable. You are very cautious, I suppose, as to its _being +created_." + +"I am," said he, with a firm voice. + +"And never allow yourself to be blinded by prejudice?" + +"I hope not." + +"It is particularly incumbent on those who never change their opinion, +to be secure of judging properly at first." + +"May I ask to what these questions tend?" + +"Merely to the illustration of _your_ character," said she, endeavouring +to shake off her gravity. "I am trying to make it out." + +"And what is your success?" + +She shook her head. "I do not get on at all. I hear such different +accounts of you as puzzle me exceedingly." + +"I can readily believe," answered he gravely, "that reports may vary +greatly with respect to me; and I could wish, Miss Bennet, that you were +not to sketch my character at the present moment, as there is reason to +fear that the performance would reflect no credit on either." + +"But if I do not take your likeness now, I may never have another +opportunity." + +"I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours," he coldly replied. +She said no more, and they went down the other dance and parted in +silence; and on each side dissatisfied, though not to an equal degree, +for in Darcy's breast there was a tolerably powerful feeling towards +her, which soon procured her pardon, and directed all his anger against +another. + +They had not long separated, when Miss Bingley came towards her, and +with an expression of civil disdain accosted her: + +"So, Miss Eliza, I hear you are quite delighted with George Wickham! +Your sister has been talking to me about him, and asking me a thousand +questions; and I find that the young man quite forgot to tell you, among +his other communication, that he was the son of old Wickham, the late +Mr. Darcy's steward. Let me recommend you, however, as a friend, not to +give implicit confidence to all his assertions; for as to Mr. Darcy's +using him ill, it is perfectly false; for, on the contrary, he has +always been remarkably kind to him, though George Wickham has treated +Mr. Darcy in a most infamous manner. I do not know the particulars, but +I know very well that Mr. Darcy is not in the least to blame, that he +cannot bear to hear George Wickham mentioned, and that though my brother +thought that he could not well avoid including him in his invitation to +the officers, he was excessively glad to find that he had taken himself +out of the way. His coming into the country at all is a most insolent +thing, indeed, and I wonder how he could presume to do it. I pity you, +Miss Eliza, for this discovery of your favourite's guilt; but really, +considering his descent, one could not expect much better." + +"His guilt and his descent appear by your account to be the same," said +Elizabeth angrily; "for I have heard you accuse him of nothing worse +than of being the son of Mr. Darcy's steward, and of _that_, I can +assure you, he informed me himself." + +"I beg your pardon," replied Miss Bingley, turning away with a sneer. +"Excuse my interference--it was kindly meant." + +"Insolent girl!" said Elizabeth to herself. "You are much mistaken +if you expect to influence me by such a paltry attack as this. I see +nothing in it but your own wilful ignorance and the malice of Mr. +Darcy." She then sought her eldest sister, who had undertaken to make +inquiries on the same subject of Bingley. Jane met her with a smile of +such sweet complacency, a glow of such happy expression, as sufficiently +marked how well she was satisfied with the occurrences of the evening. +Elizabeth instantly read her feelings, and at that moment solicitude for +Wickham, resentment against his enemies, and everything else, gave way +before the hope of Jane's being in the fairest way for happiness. + +"I want to know," said she, with a countenance no less smiling than her +sister's, "what you have learnt about Mr. Wickham. But perhaps you have +been too pleasantly engaged to think of any third person; in which case +you may be sure of my pardon." + +"No," replied Jane, "I have not forgotten him; but I have nothing +satisfactory to tell you. Mr. Bingley does not know the whole of +his history, and is quite ignorant of the circumstances which have +principally offended Mr. Darcy; but he will vouch for the good conduct, +the probity, and honour of his friend, and is perfectly convinced that +Mr. Wickham has deserved much less attention from Mr. Darcy than he has +received; and I am sorry to say by his account as well as his sister's, +Mr. Wickham is by no means a respectable young man. I am afraid he has +been very imprudent, and has deserved to lose Mr. Darcy's regard." + +"Mr. Bingley does not know Mr. Wickham himself?" + +"No; he never saw him till the other morning at Meryton." + +"This account then is what he has received from Mr. Darcy. I am +satisfied. But what does he say of the living?" + +"He does not exactly recollect the circumstances, though he has heard +them from Mr. Darcy more than once, but he believes that it was left to +him _conditionally_ only." + +"I have not a doubt of Mr. Bingley's sincerity," said Elizabeth warmly; +"but you must excuse my not being convinced by assurances only. Mr. +Bingley's defense of his friend was a very able one, I dare say; but +since he is unacquainted with several parts of the story, and has learnt +the rest from that friend himself, I shall venture to still think of +both gentlemen as I did before." + +She then changed the discourse to one more gratifying to each, and on +which there could be no difference of sentiment. Elizabeth listened with +delight to the happy, though modest hopes which Jane entertained of Mr. +Bingley's regard, and said all in her power to heighten her confidence +in it. On their being joined by Mr. Bingley himself, Elizabeth withdrew +to Miss Lucas; to whose inquiry after the pleasantness of her last +partner she had scarcely replied, before Mr. Collins came up to them, +and told her with great exultation that he had just been so fortunate as +to make a most important discovery. + +"I have found out," said he, "by a singular accident, that there is now +in the room a near relation of my patroness. I happened to overhear the +gentleman himself mentioning to the young lady who does the honours of +the house the names of his cousin Miss de Bourgh, and of her mother Lady +Catherine. How wonderfully these sort of things occur! Who would have +thought of my meeting with, perhaps, a nephew of Lady Catherine de +Bourgh in this assembly! I am most thankful that the discovery is made +in time for me to pay my respects to him, which I am now going to +do, and trust he will excuse my not having done it before. My total +ignorance of the connection must plead my apology." + +"You are not going to introduce yourself to Mr. Darcy!" + +"Indeed I am. I shall entreat his pardon for not having done it earlier. +I believe him to be Lady Catherine's _nephew_. It will be in my power to +assure him that her ladyship was quite well yesterday se'nnight." + +Elizabeth tried hard to dissuade him from such a scheme, assuring him +that Mr. Darcy would consider his addressing him without introduction +as an impertinent freedom, rather than a compliment to his aunt; that +it was not in the least necessary there should be any notice on either +side; and that if it were, it must belong to Mr. Darcy, the superior in +consequence, to begin the acquaintance. Mr. Collins listened to her +with the determined air of following his own inclination, and, when she +ceased speaking, replied thus: + +"My dear Miss Elizabeth, I have the highest opinion in the world in +your excellent judgement in all matters within the scope of your +understanding; but permit me to say, that there must be a wide +difference between the established forms of ceremony amongst the laity, +and those which regulate the clergy; for, give me leave to observe that +I consider the clerical office as equal in point of dignity with +the highest rank in the kingdom--provided that a proper humility of +behaviour is at the same time maintained. You must therefore allow me to +follow the dictates of my conscience on this occasion, which leads me to +perform what I look on as a point of duty. Pardon me for neglecting to +profit by your advice, which on every other subject shall be my constant +guide, though in the case before us I consider myself more fitted by +education and habitual study to decide on what is right than a young +lady like yourself." And with a low bow he left her to attack Mr. +Darcy, whose reception of his advances she eagerly watched, and whose +astonishment at being so addressed was very evident. Her cousin prefaced +his speech with a solemn bow and though she could not hear a word of +it, she felt as if hearing it all, and saw in the motion of his lips the +words "apology," "Hunsford," and "Lady Catherine de Bourgh." It vexed +her to see him expose himself to such a man. Mr. Darcy was eyeing him +with unrestrained wonder, and when at last Mr. Collins allowed him time +to speak, replied with an air of distant civility. Mr. Collins, however, +was not discouraged from speaking again, and Mr. Darcy's contempt seemed +abundantly increasing with the length of his second speech, and at the +end of it he only made him a slight bow, and moved another way. Mr. +Collins then returned to Elizabeth. + +"I have no reason, I assure you," said he, "to be dissatisfied with my +reception. Mr. Darcy seemed much pleased with the attention. He answered +me with the utmost civility, and even paid me the compliment of saying +that he was so well convinced of Lady Catherine's discernment as to be +certain she could never bestow a favour unworthily. It was really a very +handsome thought. Upon the whole, I am much pleased with him." + +As Elizabeth had no longer any interest of her own to pursue, she turned +her attention almost entirely on her sister and Mr. Bingley; and the +train of agreeable reflections which her observations gave birth to, +made her perhaps almost as happy as Jane. She saw her in idea settled in +that very house, in all the felicity which a marriage of true affection +could bestow; and she felt capable, under such circumstances, of +endeavouring even to like Bingley's two sisters. Her mother's thoughts +she plainly saw were bent the same way, and she determined not to +venture near her, lest she might hear too much. When they sat down to +supper, therefore, she considered it a most unlucky perverseness which +placed them within one of each other; and deeply was she vexed to find +that her mother was talking to that one person (Lady Lucas) freely, +openly, and of nothing else but her expectation that Jane would soon +be married to Mr. Bingley. It was an animating subject, and Mrs. Bennet +seemed incapable of fatigue while enumerating the advantages of the +match. His being such a charming young man, and so rich, and living but +three miles from them, were the first points of self-gratulation; and +then it was such a comfort to think how fond the two sisters were of +Jane, and to be certain that they must desire the connection as much as +she could do. It was, moreover, such a promising thing for her younger +daughters, as Jane's marrying so greatly must throw them in the way of +other rich men; and lastly, it was so pleasant at her time of life to be +able to consign her single daughters to the care of their sister, that +she might not be obliged to go into company more than she liked. It was +necessary to make this circumstance a matter of pleasure, because on +such occasions it is the etiquette; but no one was less likely than Mrs. +Bennet to find comfort in staying home at any period of her life. She +concluded with many good wishes that Lady Lucas might soon be equally +fortunate, though evidently and triumphantly believing there was no +chance of it. + +In vain did Elizabeth endeavour to check the rapidity of her mother's +words, or persuade her to describe her felicity in a less audible +whisper; for, to her inexpressible vexation, she could perceive that the +chief of it was overheard by Mr. Darcy, who sat opposite to them. Her +mother only scolded her for being nonsensical. + +"What is Mr. Darcy to me, pray, that I should be afraid of him? I am +sure we owe him no such particular civility as to be obliged to say +nothing _he_ may not like to hear." + +"For heaven's sake, madam, speak lower. What advantage can it be for you +to offend Mr. Darcy? You will never recommend yourself to his friend by +so doing!" + +Nothing that she could say, however, had any influence. Her mother would +talk of her views in the same intelligible tone. Elizabeth blushed and +blushed again with shame and vexation. She could not help frequently +glancing her eye at Mr. Darcy, though every glance convinced her of what +she dreaded; for though he was not always looking at her mother, she was +convinced that his attention was invariably fixed by her. The expression +of his face changed gradually from indignant contempt to a composed and +steady gravity. + +At length, however, Mrs. Bennet had no more to say; and Lady Lucas, who +had been long yawning at the repetition of delights which she saw no +likelihood of sharing, was left to the comforts of cold ham and +chicken. Elizabeth now began to revive. But not long was the interval of +tranquillity; for, when supper was over, singing was talked of, and +she had the mortification of seeing Mary, after very little entreaty, +preparing to oblige the company. By many significant looks and silent +entreaties, did she endeavour to prevent such a proof of complaisance, +but in vain; Mary would not understand them; such an opportunity of +exhibiting was delightful to her, and she began her song. Elizabeth's +eyes were fixed on her with most painful sensations, and she watched her +progress through the several stanzas with an impatience which was very +ill rewarded at their close; for Mary, on receiving, amongst the thanks +of the table, the hint of a hope that she might be prevailed on to +favour them again, after the pause of half a minute began another. +Mary's powers were by no means fitted for such a display; her voice was +weak, and her manner affected. Elizabeth was in agonies. She looked at +Jane, to see how she bore it; but Jane was very composedly talking to +Bingley. She looked at his two sisters, and saw them making signs +of derision at each other, and at Darcy, who continued, however, +imperturbably grave. She looked at her father to entreat his +interference, lest Mary should be singing all night. He took the hint, +and when Mary had finished her second song, said aloud, "That will do +extremely well, child. You have delighted us long enough. Let the other +young ladies have time to exhibit." + +Mary, though pretending not to hear, was somewhat disconcerted; and +Elizabeth, sorry for her, and sorry for her father's speech, was afraid +her anxiety had done no good. Others of the party were now applied to. + +"If I," said Mr. Collins, "were so fortunate as to be able to sing, I +should have great pleasure, I am sure, in obliging the company with an +air; for I consider music as a very innocent diversion, and perfectly +compatible with the profession of a clergyman. I do not mean, however, +to assert that we can be justified in devoting too much of our time +to music, for there are certainly other things to be attended to. The +rector of a parish has much to do. In the first place, he must make +such an agreement for tithes as may be beneficial to himself and not +offensive to his patron. He must write his own sermons; and the time +that remains will not be too much for his parish duties, and the care +and improvement of his dwelling, which he cannot be excused from making +as comfortable as possible. And I do not think it of light importance +that he should have attentive and conciliatory manners towards everybody, +especially towards those to whom he owes his preferment. I cannot acquit +him of that duty; nor could I think well of the man who should omit an +occasion of testifying his respect towards anybody connected with the +family." And with a bow to Mr. Darcy, he concluded his speech, which had +been spoken so loud as to be heard by half the room. Many stared--many +smiled; but no one looked more amused than Mr. Bennet himself, while his +wife seriously commended Mr. Collins for having spoken so sensibly, +and observed in a half-whisper to Lady Lucas, that he was a remarkably +clever, good kind of young man. + +To Elizabeth it appeared that, had her family made an agreement to +expose themselves as much as they could during the evening, it would +have been impossible for them to play their parts with more spirit or +finer success; and happy did she think it for Bingley and her sister +that some of the exhibition had escaped his notice, and that his +feelings were not of a sort to be much distressed by the folly which he +must have witnessed. That his two sisters and Mr. Darcy, however, should +have such an opportunity of ridiculing her relations, was bad enough, +and she could not determine whether the silent contempt of the +gentleman, or the insolent smiles of the ladies, were more intolerable. + +The rest of the evening brought her little amusement. She was teased by +Mr. Collins, who continued most perseveringly by her side, and though +he could not prevail on her to dance with him again, put it out of her +power to dance with others. In vain did she entreat him to stand up with +somebody else, and offer to introduce him to any young lady in the room. +He assured her, that as to dancing, he was perfectly indifferent to it; +that his chief object was by delicate attentions to recommend himself to +her and that he should therefore make a point of remaining close to her +the whole evening. There was no arguing upon such a project. She owed +her greatest relief to her friend Miss Lucas, who often joined them, and +good-naturedly engaged Mr. Collins's conversation to herself. + +She was at least free from the offense of Mr. Darcy's further notice; +though often standing within a very short distance of her, quite +disengaged, he never came near enough to speak. She felt it to be the +probable consequence of her allusions to Mr. Wickham, and rejoiced in +it. + +The Longbourn party were the last of all the company to depart, and, by +a manoeuvre of Mrs. Bennet, had to wait for their carriage a quarter of +an hour after everybody else was gone, which gave them time to see how +heartily they were wished away by some of the family. Mrs. Hurst and her +sister scarcely opened their mouths, except to complain of fatigue, and +were evidently impatient to have the house to themselves. They repulsed +every attempt of Mrs. Bennet at conversation, and by so doing threw a +languor over the whole party, which was very little relieved by the +long speeches of Mr. Collins, who was complimenting Mr. Bingley and his +sisters on the elegance of their entertainment, and the hospitality and +politeness which had marked their behaviour to their guests. Darcy said +nothing at all. Mr. Bennet, in equal silence, was enjoying the scene. +Mr. Bingley and Jane were standing together, a little detached from the +rest, and talked only to each other. Elizabeth preserved as steady a +silence as either Mrs. Hurst or Miss Bingley; and even Lydia was too +much fatigued to utter more than the occasional exclamation of "Lord, +how tired I am!" accompanied by a violent yawn. + +When at length they arose to take leave, Mrs. Bennet was most pressingly +civil in her hope of seeing the whole family soon at Longbourn, and +addressed herself especially to Mr. Bingley, to assure him how happy he +would make them by eating a family dinner with them at any time, without +the ceremony of a formal invitation. Bingley was all grateful pleasure, +and he readily engaged for taking the earliest opportunity of waiting on +her, after his return from London, whither he was obliged to go the next +day for a short time. + +Mrs. Bennet was perfectly satisfied, and quitted the house under the +delightful persuasion that, allowing for the necessary preparations of +settlements, new carriages, and wedding clothes, she should undoubtedly +see her daughter settled at Netherfield in the course of three or four +months. Of having another daughter married to Mr. Collins, she thought +with equal certainty, and with considerable, though not equal, pleasure. +Elizabeth was the least dear to her of all her children; and though the +man and the match were quite good enough for _her_, the worth of each +was eclipsed by Mr. Bingley and Netherfield. + + + +Chapter 19 + + +The next day opened a new scene at Longbourn. Mr. Collins made his +declaration in form. Having resolved to do it without loss of time, as +his leave of absence extended only to the following Saturday, and having +no feelings of diffidence to make it distressing to himself even at +the moment, he set about it in a very orderly manner, with all the +observances, which he supposed a regular part of the business. On +finding Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth, and one of the younger girls together, +soon after breakfast, he addressed the mother in these words: + +"May I hope, madam, for your interest with your fair daughter Elizabeth, +when I solicit for the honour of a private audience with her in the +course of this morning?" + +Before Elizabeth had time for anything but a blush of surprise, Mrs. +Bennet answered instantly, "Oh dear!--yes--certainly. I am sure Lizzy +will be very happy--I am sure she can have no objection. Come, Kitty, I +want you up stairs." And, gathering her work together, she was hastening +away, when Elizabeth called out: + +"Dear madam, do not go. I beg you will not go. Mr. Collins must excuse +me. He can have nothing to say to me that anybody need not hear. I am +going away myself." + +"No, no, nonsense, Lizzy. I desire you to stay where you are." And upon +Elizabeth's seeming really, with vexed and embarrassed looks, about to +escape, she added: "Lizzy, I _insist_ upon your staying and hearing Mr. +Collins." + +Elizabeth would not oppose such an injunction--and a moment's +consideration making her also sensible that it would be wisest to get it +over as soon and as quietly as possible, she sat down again and tried to +conceal, by incessant employment the feelings which were divided between +distress and diversion. Mrs. Bennet and Kitty walked off, and as soon as +they were gone, Mr. Collins began. + +"Believe me, my dear Miss Elizabeth, that your modesty, so far from +doing you any disservice, rather adds to your other perfections. You +would have been less amiable in my eyes had there _not_ been this little +unwillingness; but allow me to assure you, that I have your respected +mother's permission for this address. You can hardly doubt the +purport of my discourse, however your natural delicacy may lead you to +dissemble; my attentions have been too marked to be mistaken. Almost as +soon as I entered the house, I singled you out as the companion of +my future life. But before I am run away with by my feelings on this +subject, perhaps it would be advisable for me to state my reasons for +marrying--and, moreover, for coming into Hertfordshire with the design +of selecting a wife, as I certainly did." + +The idea of Mr. Collins, with all his solemn composure, being run away +with by his feelings, made Elizabeth so near laughing, that she could +not use the short pause he allowed in any attempt to stop him further, +and he continued: + +"My reasons for marrying are, first, that I think it a right thing for +every clergyman in easy circumstances (like myself) to set the example +of matrimony in his parish; secondly, that I am convinced that it will +add very greatly to my happiness; and thirdly--which perhaps I ought +to have mentioned earlier, that it is the particular advice and +recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honour of calling +patroness. Twice has she condescended to give me her opinion (unasked +too!) on this subject; and it was but the very Saturday night before I +left Hunsford--between our pools at quadrille, while Mrs. Jenkinson was +arranging Miss de Bourgh's footstool, that she said, 'Mr. Collins, you +must marry. A clergyman like you must marry. Choose properly, choose +a gentlewoman for _my_ sake; and for your _own_, let her be an active, +useful sort of person, not brought up high, but able to make a small +income go a good way. This is my advice. Find such a woman as soon as +you can, bring her to Hunsford, and I will visit her.' Allow me, by the +way, to observe, my fair cousin, that I do not reckon the notice +and kindness of Lady Catherine de Bourgh as among the least of the +advantages in my power to offer. You will find her manners beyond +anything I can describe; and your wit and vivacity, I think, must be +acceptable to her, especially when tempered with the silence and +respect which her rank will inevitably excite. Thus much for my general +intention in favour of matrimony; it remains to be told why my views +were directed towards Longbourn instead of my own neighbourhood, where I +can assure you there are many amiable young women. But the fact is, that +being, as I am, to inherit this estate after the death of your honoured +father (who, however, may live many years longer), I could not satisfy +myself without resolving to choose a wife from among his daughters, that +the loss to them might be as little as possible, when the melancholy +event takes place--which, however, as I have already said, may not +be for several years. This has been my motive, my fair cousin, and +I flatter myself it will not sink me in your esteem. And now nothing +remains for me but to assure you in the most animated language of the +violence of my affection. To fortune I am perfectly indifferent, and +shall make no demand of that nature on your father, since I am well +aware that it could not be complied with; and that one thousand pounds +in the four per cents, which will not be yours till after your mother's +decease, is all that you may ever be entitled to. On that head, +therefore, I shall be uniformly silent; and you may assure yourself that +no ungenerous reproach shall ever pass my lips when we are married." + +It was absolutely necessary to interrupt him now. + +"You are too hasty, sir," she cried. "You forget that I have made no +answer. Let me do it without further loss of time. Accept my thanks for +the compliment you are paying me. I am very sensible of the honour of +your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than to +decline them." + +"I am not now to learn," replied Mr. Collins, with a formal wave of the +hand, "that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the +man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their +favour; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second, or even a +third time. I am therefore by no means discouraged by what you have just +said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere long." + +"Upon my word, sir," cried Elizabeth, "your hope is a rather +extraordinary one after my declaration. I do assure you that I am not +one of those young ladies (if such young ladies there are) who are so +daring as to risk their happiness on the chance of being asked a second +time. I am perfectly serious in my refusal. You could not make _me_ +happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who +could make you so. Nay, were your friend Lady Catherine to know me, I +am persuaded she would find me in every respect ill qualified for the +situation." + +"Were it certain that Lady Catherine would think so," said Mr. Collins +very gravely--"but I cannot imagine that her ladyship would at all +disapprove of you. And you may be certain when I have the honour of +seeing her again, I shall speak in the very highest terms of your +modesty, economy, and other amiable qualification." + +"Indeed, Mr. Collins, all praise of me will be unnecessary. You +must give me leave to judge for myself, and pay me the compliment +of believing what I say. I wish you very happy and very rich, and by +refusing your hand, do all in my power to prevent your being otherwise. +In making me the offer, you must have satisfied the delicacy of your +feelings with regard to my family, and may take possession of Longbourn +estate whenever it falls, without any self-reproach. This matter may +be considered, therefore, as finally settled." And rising as she +thus spoke, she would have quitted the room, had Mr. Collins not thus +addressed her: + +"When I do myself the honour of speaking to you next on the subject, I +shall hope to receive a more favourable answer than you have now given +me; though I am far from accusing you of cruelty at present, because I +know it to be the established custom of your sex to reject a man on +the first application, and perhaps you have even now said as much to +encourage my suit as would be consistent with the true delicacy of the +female character." + +"Really, Mr. Collins," cried Elizabeth with some warmth, "you puzzle me +exceedingly. If what I have hitherto said can appear to you in the form +of encouragement, I know not how to express my refusal in such a way as +to convince you of its being one." + +"You must give me leave to flatter myself, my dear cousin, that your +refusal of my addresses is merely words of course. My reasons for +believing it are briefly these: It does not appear to me that my hand is +unworthy of your acceptance, or that the establishment I can offer would +be any other than highly desirable. My situation in life, my connections +with the family of de Bourgh, and my relationship to your own, are +circumstances highly in my favour; and you should take it into further +consideration, that in spite of your manifold attractions, it is by no +means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made you. Your +portion is unhappily so small that it will in all likelihood undo +the effects of your loveliness and amiable qualifications. As I must +therefore conclude that you are not serious in your rejection of me, +I shall choose to attribute it to your wish of increasing my love by +suspense, according to the usual practice of elegant females." + +"I do assure you, sir, that I have no pretensions whatever to that kind +of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man. I would +rather be paid the compliment of being believed sincere. I thank you +again and again for the honour you have done me in your proposals, but +to accept them is absolutely impossible. My feelings in every respect +forbid it. Can I speak plainer? Do not consider me now as an elegant +female, intending to plague you, but as a rational creature, speaking +the truth from her heart." + +"You are uniformly charming!" cried he, with an air of awkward +gallantry; "and I am persuaded that when sanctioned by the express +authority of both your excellent parents, my proposals will not fail of +being acceptable." + +To such perseverance in wilful self-deception Elizabeth would make +no reply, and immediately and in silence withdrew; determined, if +he persisted in considering her repeated refusals as flattering +encouragement, to apply to her father, whose negative might be uttered +in such a manner as to be decisive, and whose behaviour at least could +not be mistaken for the affectation and coquetry of an elegant female. + + + +Chapter 20 + + +Mr. Collins was not left long to the silent contemplation of his +successful love; for Mrs. Bennet, having dawdled about in the vestibule +to watch for the end of the conference, no sooner saw Elizabeth open +the door and with quick step pass her towards the staircase, than she +entered the breakfast-room, and congratulated both him and herself in +warm terms on the happy prospect of their nearer connection. Mr. Collins +received and returned these felicitations with equal pleasure, and then +proceeded to relate the particulars of their interview, with the result +of which he trusted he had every reason to be satisfied, since the +refusal which his cousin had steadfastly given him would naturally flow +from her bashful modesty and the genuine delicacy of her character. + +This information, however, startled Mrs. Bennet; she would have been +glad to be equally satisfied that her daughter had meant to encourage +him by protesting against his proposals, but she dared not believe it, +and could not help saying so. + +"But, depend upon it, Mr. Collins," she added, "that Lizzy shall be +brought to reason. I will speak to her about it directly. She is a very +headstrong, foolish girl, and does not know her own interest but I will +_make_ her know it." + +"Pardon me for interrupting you, madam," cried Mr. Collins; "but if +she is really headstrong and foolish, I know not whether she would +altogether be a very desirable wife to a man in my situation, who +naturally looks for happiness in the marriage state. If therefore she +actually persists in rejecting my suit, perhaps it were better not +to force her into accepting me, because if liable to such defects of +temper, she could not contribute much to my felicity." + +"Sir, you quite misunderstand me," said Mrs. Bennet, alarmed. "Lizzy is +only headstrong in such matters as these. In everything else she is as +good-natured a girl as ever lived. I will go directly to Mr. Bennet, and +we shall very soon settle it with her, I am sure." + +She would not give him time to reply, but hurrying instantly to her +husband, called out as she entered the library, "Oh! Mr. Bennet, you +are wanted immediately; we are all in an uproar. You must come and make +Lizzy marry Mr. Collins, for she vows she will not have him, and if you +do not make haste he will change his mind and not have _her_." + +Mr. Bennet raised his eyes from his book as she entered, and fixed them +on her face with a calm unconcern which was not in the least altered by +her communication. + +"I have not the pleasure of understanding you," said he, when she had +finished her speech. "Of what are you talking?" + +"Of Mr. Collins and Lizzy. Lizzy declares she will not have Mr. Collins, +and Mr. Collins begins to say that he will not have Lizzy." + +"And what am I to do on the occasion? It seems an hopeless business." + +"Speak to Lizzy about it yourself. Tell her that you insist upon her +marrying him." + +"Let her be called down. She shall hear my opinion." + +Mrs. Bennet rang the bell, and Miss Elizabeth was summoned to the +library. + +"Come here, child," cried her father as she appeared. "I have sent for +you on an affair of importance. I understand that Mr. Collins has made +you an offer of marriage. Is it true?" Elizabeth replied that it was. +"Very well--and this offer of marriage you have refused?" + +"I have, sir." + +"Very well. We now come to the point. Your mother insists upon your +accepting it. Is it not so, Mrs. Bennet?" + +"Yes, or I will never see her again." + +"An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must +be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you +again if you do _not_ marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again +if you _do_." + +Elizabeth could not but smile at such a conclusion of such a beginning, +but Mrs. Bennet, who had persuaded herself that her husband regarded the +affair as she wished, was excessively disappointed. + +"What do you mean, Mr. Bennet, in talking this way? You promised me to +_insist_ upon her marrying him." + +"My dear," replied her husband, "I have two small favours to request. +First, that you will allow me the free use of my understanding on the +present occasion; and secondly, of my room. I shall be glad to have the +library to myself as soon as may be." + +Not yet, however, in spite of her disappointment in her husband, did +Mrs. Bennet give up the point. She talked to Elizabeth again and again; +coaxed and threatened her by turns. She endeavoured to secure Jane +in her interest; but Jane, with all possible mildness, declined +interfering; and Elizabeth, sometimes with real earnestness, and +sometimes with playful gaiety, replied to her attacks. Though her manner +varied, however, her determination never did. + +Mr. Collins, meanwhile, was meditating in solitude on what had passed. +He thought too well of himself to comprehend on what motives his cousin +could refuse him; and though his pride was hurt, he suffered in no other +way. His regard for her was quite imaginary; and the possibility of her +deserving her mother's reproach prevented his feeling any regret. + +While the family were in this confusion, Charlotte Lucas came to spend +the day with them. She was met in the vestibule by Lydia, who, flying to +her, cried in a half whisper, "I am glad you are come, for there is such +fun here! What do you think has happened this morning? Mr. Collins has +made an offer to Lizzy, and she will not have him." + +Charlotte hardly had time to answer, before they were joined by Kitty, +who came to tell the same news; and no sooner had they entered the +breakfast-room, where Mrs. Bennet was alone, than she likewise began on +the subject, calling on Miss Lucas for her compassion, and entreating +her to persuade her friend Lizzy to comply with the wishes of all her +family. "Pray do, my dear Miss Lucas," she added in a melancholy tone, +"for nobody is on my side, nobody takes part with me. I am cruelly used, +nobody feels for my poor nerves." + +Charlotte's reply was spared by the entrance of Jane and Elizabeth. + +"Aye, there she comes," continued Mrs. Bennet, "looking as unconcerned +as may be, and caring no more for us than if we were at York, provided +she can have her own way. But I tell you, Miss Lizzy--if you take it +into your head to go on refusing every offer of marriage in this way, +you will never get a husband at all--and I am sure I do not know who is +to maintain you when your father is dead. I shall not be able to keep +you--and so I warn you. I have done with you from this very day. I told +you in the library, you know, that I should never speak to you again, +and you will find me as good as my word. I have no pleasure in talking +to undutiful children. Not that I have much pleasure, indeed, in talking +to anybody. People who suffer as I do from nervous complaints can have +no great inclination for talking. Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it +is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied." + +Her daughters listened in silence to this effusion, sensible that +any attempt to reason with her or soothe her would only increase the +irritation. She talked on, therefore, without interruption from any of +them, till they were joined by Mr. Collins, who entered the room with +an air more stately than usual, and on perceiving whom, she said to +the girls, "Now, I do insist upon it, that you, all of you, hold +your tongues, and let me and Mr. Collins have a little conversation +together." + +Elizabeth passed quietly out of the room, Jane and Kitty followed, but +Lydia stood her ground, determined to hear all she could; and Charlotte, +detained first by the civility of Mr. Collins, whose inquiries after +herself and all her family were very minute, and then by a little +curiosity, satisfied herself with walking to the window and pretending +not to hear. In a doleful voice Mrs. Bennet began the projected +conversation: "Oh! Mr. Collins!" + +"My dear madam," replied he, "let us be for ever silent on this point. +Far be it from me," he presently continued, in a voice that marked his +displeasure, "to resent the behaviour of your daughter. Resignation +to inevitable evils is the duty of us all; the peculiar duty of a +young man who has been so fortunate as I have been in early preferment; +and I trust I am resigned. Perhaps not the less so from feeling a doubt +of my positive happiness had my fair cousin honoured me with her hand; +for I have often observed that resignation is never so perfect as +when the blessing denied begins to lose somewhat of its value in our +estimation. You will not, I hope, consider me as showing any disrespect +to your family, my dear madam, by thus withdrawing my pretensions to +your daughter's favour, without having paid yourself and Mr. Bennet the +compliment of requesting you to interpose your authority in my +behalf. My conduct may, I fear, be objectionable in having accepted my +dismission from your daughter's lips instead of your own. But we are all +liable to error. I have certainly meant well through the whole affair. +My object has been to secure an amiable companion for myself, with due +consideration for the advantage of all your family, and if my _manner_ +has been at all reprehensible, I here beg leave to apologise." + + + +Chapter 21 + + +The discussion of Mr. Collins's offer was now nearly at an end, and +Elizabeth had only to suffer from the uncomfortable feelings necessarily +attending it, and occasionally from some peevish allusions of her +mother. As for the gentleman himself, _his_ feelings were chiefly +expressed, not by embarrassment or dejection, or by trying to avoid her, +but by stiffness of manner and resentful silence. He scarcely ever spoke +to her, and the assiduous attentions which he had been so sensible of +himself were transferred for the rest of the day to Miss Lucas, whose +civility in listening to him was a seasonable relief to them all, and +especially to her friend. + +The morrow produced no abatement of Mrs. Bennet's ill-humour or ill +health. Mr. Collins was also in the same state of angry pride. Elizabeth +had hoped that his resentment might shorten his visit, but his plan did +not appear in the least affected by it. He was always to have gone on +Saturday, and to Saturday he meant to stay. + +After breakfast, the girls walked to Meryton to inquire if Mr. Wickham +were returned, and to lament over his absence from the Netherfield ball. +He joined them on their entering the town, and attended them to their +aunt's where his regret and vexation, and the concern of everybody, was +well talked over. To Elizabeth, however, he voluntarily acknowledged +that the necessity of his absence _had_ been self-imposed. + +"I found," said he, "as the time drew near that I had better not meet +Mr. Darcy; that to be in the same room, the same party with him for so +many hours together, might be more than I could bear, and that scenes +might arise unpleasant to more than myself." + +She highly approved his forbearance, and they had leisure for a full +discussion of it, and for all the commendation which they civilly +bestowed on each other, as Wickham and another officer walked back with +them to Longbourn, and during the walk he particularly attended to +her. His accompanying them was a double advantage; she felt all the +compliment it offered to herself, and it was most acceptable as an +occasion of introducing him to her father and mother. + +Soon after their return, a letter was delivered to Miss Bennet; it came +from Netherfield. The envelope contained a sheet of elegant, little, +hot-pressed paper, well covered with a lady's fair, flowing hand; and +Elizabeth saw her sister's countenance change as she read it, and saw +her dwelling intently on some particular passages. Jane recollected +herself soon, and putting the letter away, tried to join with her usual +cheerfulness in the general conversation; but Elizabeth felt an anxiety +on the subject which drew off her attention even from Wickham; and no +sooner had he and his companion taken leave, than a glance from Jane +invited her to follow her up stairs. When they had gained their own room, +Jane, taking out the letter, said: + +"This is from Caroline Bingley; what it contains has surprised me a good +deal. The whole party have left Netherfield by this time, and are on +their way to town--and without any intention of coming back again. You +shall hear what she says." + +She then read the first sentence aloud, which comprised the information +of their having just resolved to follow their brother to town directly, +and of their meaning to dine in Grosvenor Street, where Mr. Hurst had a +house. The next was in these words: "I do not pretend to regret anything +I shall leave in Hertfordshire, except your society, my dearest friend; +but we will hope, at some future period, to enjoy many returns of that +delightful intercourse we have known, and in the meanwhile may +lessen the pain of separation by a very frequent and most unreserved +correspondence. I depend on you for that." To these highflown +expressions Elizabeth listened with all the insensibility of distrust; +and though the suddenness of their removal surprised her, she saw +nothing in it really to lament; it was not to be supposed that their +absence from Netherfield would prevent Mr. Bingley's being there; and as +to the loss of their society, she was persuaded that Jane must cease to +regard it, in the enjoyment of his. + +"It is unlucky," said she, after a short pause, "that you should not be +able to see your friends before they leave the country. But may we not +hope that the period of future happiness to which Miss Bingley looks +forward may arrive earlier than she is aware, and that the delightful +intercourse you have known as friends will be renewed with yet greater +satisfaction as sisters? Mr. Bingley will not be detained in London by +them." + +"Caroline decidedly says that none of the party will return into +Hertfordshire this winter. I will read it to you:" + +"When my brother left us yesterday, he imagined that the business which +took him to London might be concluded in three or four days; but as we +are certain it cannot be so, and at the same time convinced that when +Charles gets to town he will be in no hurry to leave it again, we have +determined on following him thither, that he may not be obliged to spend +his vacant hours in a comfortless hotel. Many of my acquaintances are +already there for the winter; I wish that I could hear that you, my +dearest friend, had any intention of making one of the crowd--but of +that I despair. I sincerely hope your Christmas in Hertfordshire may +abound in the gaieties which that season generally brings, and that your +beaux will be so numerous as to prevent your feeling the loss of the +three of whom we shall deprive you." + +"It is evident by this," added Jane, "that he comes back no more this +winter." + +"It is only evident that Miss Bingley does not mean that he _should_." + +"Why will you think so? It must be his own doing. He is his own +master. But you do not know _all_. I _will_ read you the passage which +particularly hurts me. I will have no reserves from _you_." + +"Mr. Darcy is impatient to see his sister; and, to confess the truth, +_we_ are scarcely less eager to meet her again. I really do not think +Georgiana Darcy has her equal for beauty, elegance, and accomplishments; +and the affection she inspires in Louisa and myself is heightened into +something still more interesting, from the hope we dare entertain of +her being hereafter our sister. I do not know whether I ever before +mentioned to you my feelings on this subject; but I will not leave the +country without confiding them, and I trust you will not esteem them +unreasonable. My brother admires her greatly already; he will have +frequent opportunity now of seeing her on the most intimate footing; +her relations all wish the connection as much as his own; and a sister's +partiality is not misleading me, I think, when I call Charles most +capable of engaging any woman's heart. With all these circumstances to +favour an attachment, and nothing to prevent it, am I wrong, my dearest +Jane, in indulging the hope of an event which will secure the happiness +of so many?" + +"What do you think of _this_ sentence, my dear Lizzy?" said Jane as she +finished it. "Is it not clear enough? Does it not expressly declare that +Caroline neither expects nor wishes me to be her sister; that she is +perfectly convinced of her brother's indifference; and that if she +suspects the nature of my feelings for him, she means (most kindly!) to +put me on my guard? Can there be any other opinion on the subject?" + +"Yes, there can; for mine is totally different. Will you hear it?" + +"Most willingly." + +"You shall have it in a few words. Miss Bingley sees that her brother is +in love with you, and wants him to marry Miss Darcy. She follows him +to town in hope of keeping him there, and tries to persuade you that he +does not care about you." + +Jane shook her head. + +"Indeed, Jane, you ought to believe me. No one who has ever seen you +together can doubt his affection. Miss Bingley, I am sure, cannot. She +is not such a simpleton. Could she have seen half as much love in Mr. +Darcy for herself, she would have ordered her wedding clothes. But the +case is this: We are not rich enough or grand enough for them; and she +is the more anxious to get Miss Darcy for her brother, from the notion +that when there has been _one_ intermarriage, she may have less trouble +in achieving a second; in which there is certainly some ingenuity, and +I dare say it would succeed, if Miss de Bourgh were out of the way. But, +my dearest Jane, you cannot seriously imagine that because Miss Bingley +tells you her brother greatly admires Miss Darcy, he is in the smallest +degree less sensible of _your_ merit than when he took leave of you on +Tuesday, or that it will be in her power to persuade him that, instead +of being in love with you, he is very much in love with her friend." + +"If we thought alike of Miss Bingley," replied Jane, "your +representation of all this might make me quite easy. But I know the +foundation is unjust. Caroline is incapable of wilfully deceiving +anyone; and all that I can hope in this case is that she is deceiving +herself." + +"That is right. You could not have started a more happy idea, since you +will not take comfort in mine. Believe her to be deceived, by all means. +You have now done your duty by her, and must fret no longer." + +"But, my dear sister, can I be happy, even supposing the best, in +accepting a man whose sisters and friends are all wishing him to marry +elsewhere?" + +"You must decide for yourself," said Elizabeth; "and if, upon mature +deliberation, you find that the misery of disobliging his two sisters is +more than equivalent to the happiness of being his wife, I advise you by +all means to refuse him." + +"How can you talk so?" said Jane, faintly smiling. "You must know that +though I should be exceedingly grieved at their disapprobation, I could +not hesitate." + +"I did not think you would; and that being the case, I cannot consider +your situation with much compassion." + +"But if he returns no more this winter, my choice will never be +required. A thousand things may arise in six months!" + +The idea of his returning no more Elizabeth treated with the utmost +contempt. It appeared to her merely the suggestion of Caroline's +interested wishes, and she could not for a moment suppose that those +wishes, however openly or artfully spoken, could influence a young man +so totally independent of everyone. + +She represented to her sister as forcibly as possible what she felt +on the subject, and had soon the pleasure of seeing its happy effect. +Jane's temper was not desponding, and she was gradually led to hope, +though the diffidence of affection sometimes overcame the hope, that +Bingley would return to Netherfield and answer every wish of her heart. + +They agreed that Mrs. Bennet should only hear of the departure of the +family, without being alarmed on the score of the gentleman's conduct; +but even this partial communication gave her a great deal of concern, +and she bewailed it as exceedingly unlucky that the ladies should happen +to go away just as they were all getting so intimate together. After +lamenting it, however, at some length, she had the consolation that Mr. +Bingley would be soon down again and soon dining at Longbourn, and the +conclusion of all was the comfortable declaration, that though he had +been invited only to a family dinner, she would take care to have two +full courses. + + + +Chapter 22 + + +The Bennets were engaged to dine with the Lucases and again during the +chief of the day was Miss Lucas so kind as to listen to Mr. Collins. +Elizabeth took an opportunity of thanking her. "It keeps him in good +humour," said she, "and I am more obliged to you than I can express." +Charlotte assured her friend of her satisfaction in being useful, and +that it amply repaid her for the little sacrifice of her time. This was +very amiable, but Charlotte's kindness extended farther than Elizabeth +had any conception of; its object was nothing else than to secure her +from any return of Mr. Collins's addresses, by engaging them towards +herself. Such was Miss Lucas's scheme; and appearances were so +favourable, that when they parted at night, she would have felt almost +secure of success if he had not been to leave Hertfordshire so very +soon. But here she did injustice to the fire and independence of his +character, for it led him to escape out of Longbourn House the next +morning with admirable slyness, and hasten to Lucas Lodge to throw +himself at her feet. He was anxious to avoid the notice of his cousins, +from a conviction that if they saw him depart, they could not fail to +conjecture his design, and he was not willing to have the attempt known +till its success might be known likewise; for though feeling almost +secure, and with reason, for Charlotte had been tolerably encouraging, +he was comparatively diffident since the adventure of Wednesday. +His reception, however, was of the most flattering kind. Miss Lucas +perceived him from an upper window as he walked towards the house, and +instantly set out to meet him accidentally in the lane. But little had +she dared to hope that so much love and eloquence awaited her there. + +In as short a time as Mr. Collins's long speeches would allow, +everything was settled between them to the satisfaction of both; and as +they entered the house he earnestly entreated her to name the day that +was to make him the happiest of men; and though such a solicitation must +be waived for the present, the lady felt no inclination to trifle with +his happiness. The stupidity with which he was favoured by nature must +guard his courtship from any charm that could make a woman wish for its +continuance; and Miss Lucas, who accepted him solely from the pure +and disinterested desire of an establishment, cared not how soon that +establishment were gained. + +Sir William and Lady Lucas were speedily applied to for their consent; +and it was bestowed with a most joyful alacrity. Mr. Collins's present +circumstances made it a most eligible match for their daughter, to whom +they could give little fortune; and his prospects of future wealth were +exceedingly fair. Lady Lucas began directly to calculate, with more +interest than the matter had ever excited before, how many years longer +Mr. Bennet was likely to live; and Sir William gave it as his decided +opinion, that whenever Mr. Collins should be in possession of the +Longbourn estate, it would be highly expedient that both he and his wife +should make their appearance at St. James's. The whole family, in short, +were properly overjoyed on the occasion. The younger girls formed hopes +of _coming out_ a year or two sooner than they might otherwise have +done; and the boys were relieved from their apprehension of Charlotte's +dying an old maid. Charlotte herself was tolerably composed. She had +gained her point, and had time to consider of it. Her reflections were +in general satisfactory. Mr. Collins, to be sure, was neither sensible +nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must +be imaginary. But still he would be her husband. Without thinking highly +either of men or matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was +the only provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, +and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest +preservative from want. This preservative she had now obtained; and at +the age of twenty-seven, without having ever been handsome, she felt all +the good luck of it. The least agreeable circumstance in the business +was the surprise it must occasion to Elizabeth Bennet, whose friendship +she valued beyond that of any other person. Elizabeth would wonder, +and probably would blame her; and though her resolution was not to be +shaken, her feelings must be hurt by such a disapprobation. She resolved +to give her the information herself, and therefore charged Mr. Collins, +when he returned to Longbourn to dinner, to drop no hint of what had +passed before any of the family. A promise of secrecy was of course very +dutifully given, but it could not be kept without difficulty; for the +curiosity excited by his long absence burst forth in such very direct +questions on his return as required some ingenuity to evade, and he was +at the same time exercising great self-denial, for he was longing to +publish his prosperous love. + +As he was to begin his journey too early on the morrow to see any of the +family, the ceremony of leave-taking was performed when the ladies moved +for the night; and Mrs. Bennet, with great politeness and cordiality, +said how happy they should be to see him at Longbourn again, whenever +his engagements might allow him to visit them. + +"My dear madam," he replied, "this invitation is particularly +gratifying, because it is what I have been hoping to receive; and +you may be very certain that I shall avail myself of it as soon as +possible." + +They were all astonished; and Mr. Bennet, who could by no means wish for +so speedy a return, immediately said: + +"But is there not danger of Lady Catherine's disapprobation here, my +good sir? You had better neglect your relations than run the risk of +offending your patroness." + +"My dear sir," replied Mr. Collins, "I am particularly obliged to you +for this friendly caution, and you may depend upon my not taking so +material a step without her ladyship's concurrence." + +"You cannot be too much upon your guard. Risk anything rather than her +displeasure; and if you find it likely to be raised by your coming to us +again, which I should think exceedingly probable, stay quietly at home, +and be satisfied that _we_ shall take no offence." + +"Believe me, my dear sir, my gratitude is warmly excited by such +affectionate attention; and depend upon it, you will speedily receive +from me a letter of thanks for this, and for every other mark of your +regard during my stay in Hertfordshire. As for my fair cousins, though +my absence may not be long enough to render it necessary, I shall now +take the liberty of wishing them health and happiness, not excepting my +cousin Elizabeth." + +With proper civilities the ladies then withdrew; all of them equally +surprised that he meditated a quick return. Mrs. Bennet wished to +understand by it that he thought of paying his addresses to one of her +younger girls, and Mary might have been prevailed on to accept him. +She rated his abilities much higher than any of the others; there was +a solidity in his reflections which often struck her, and though by no +means so clever as herself, she thought that if encouraged to read +and improve himself by such an example as hers, he might become a very +agreeable companion. But on the following morning, every hope of this +kind was done away. Miss Lucas called soon after breakfast, and in a +private conference with Elizabeth related the event of the day before. + +The possibility of Mr. Collins's fancying himself in love with her +friend had once occurred to Elizabeth within the last day or two; but +that Charlotte could encourage him seemed almost as far from +possibility as she could encourage him herself, and her astonishment was +consequently so great as to overcome at first the bounds of decorum, and +she could not help crying out: + +"Engaged to Mr. Collins! My dear Charlotte--impossible!" + +The steady countenance which Miss Lucas had commanded in telling her +story, gave way to a momentary confusion here on receiving so direct a +reproach; though, as it was no more than she expected, she soon regained +her composure, and calmly replied: + +"Why should you be surprised, my dear Eliza? Do you think it incredible +that Mr. Collins should be able to procure any woman's good opinion, +because he was not so happy as to succeed with you?" + +But Elizabeth had now recollected herself, and making a strong effort +for it, was able to assure with tolerable firmness that the prospect of +their relationship was highly grateful to her, and that she wished her +all imaginable happiness. + +"I see what you are feeling," replied Charlotte. "You must be surprised, +very much surprised--so lately as Mr. Collins was wishing to marry +you. But when you have had time to think it over, I hope you will be +satisfied with what I have done. I am not romantic, you know; I never +was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins's +character, connection, and situation in life, I am convinced that my +chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on +entering the marriage state." + +Elizabeth quietly answered "Undoubtedly;" and after an awkward pause, +they returned to the rest of the family. Charlotte did not stay much +longer, and Elizabeth was then left to reflect on what she had heard. +It was a long time before she became at all reconciled to the idea of so +unsuitable a match. The strangeness of Mr. Collins's making two offers +of marriage within three days was nothing in comparison of his being now +accepted. She had always felt that Charlotte's opinion of matrimony was +not exactly like her own, but she had not supposed it to be possible +that, when called into action, she would have sacrificed every better +feeling to worldly advantage. Charlotte the wife of Mr. Collins was a +most humiliating picture! And to the pang of a friend disgracing herself +and sunk in her esteem, was added the distressing conviction that it +was impossible for that friend to be tolerably happy in the lot she had +chosen. + + + +Chapter 23 + + +Elizabeth was sitting with her mother and sisters, reflecting on what +she had heard, and doubting whether she was authorised to mention +it, when Sir William Lucas himself appeared, sent by his daughter, to +announce her engagement to the family. With many compliments to them, +and much self-gratulation on the prospect of a connection between the +houses, he unfolded the matter--to an audience not merely wondering, but +incredulous; for Mrs. Bennet, with more perseverance than politeness, +protested he must be entirely mistaken; and Lydia, always unguarded and +often uncivil, boisterously exclaimed: + +"Good Lord! Sir William, how can you tell such a story? Do not you know +that Mr. Collins wants to marry Lizzy?" + +Nothing less than the complaisance of a courtier could have borne +without anger such treatment; but Sir William's good breeding carried +him through it all; and though he begged leave to be positive as to the +truth of his information, he listened to all their impertinence with the +most forbearing courtesy. + +Elizabeth, feeling it incumbent on her to relieve him from so unpleasant +a situation, now put herself forward to confirm his account, by +mentioning her prior knowledge of it from Charlotte herself; and +endeavoured to put a stop to the exclamations of her mother and sisters +by the earnestness of her congratulations to Sir William, in which she +was readily joined by Jane, and by making a variety of remarks on the +happiness that might be expected from the match, the excellent character +of Mr. Collins, and the convenient distance of Hunsford from London. + +Mrs. Bennet was in fact too much overpowered to say a great deal while +Sir William remained; but no sooner had he left them than her feelings +found a rapid vent. In the first place, she persisted in disbelieving +the whole of the matter; secondly, she was very sure that Mr. Collins +had been taken in; thirdly, she trusted that they would never be +happy together; and fourthly, that the match might be broken off. Two +inferences, however, were plainly deduced from the whole: one, that +Elizabeth was the real cause of the mischief; and the other that she +herself had been barbarously misused by them all; and on these two +points she principally dwelt during the rest of the day. Nothing could +console and nothing could appease her. Nor did that day wear out her +resentment. A week elapsed before she could see Elizabeth without +scolding her, a month passed away before she could speak to Sir William +or Lady Lucas without being rude, and many months were gone before she +could at all forgive their daughter. + +Mr. Bennet's emotions were much more tranquil on the occasion, and such +as he did experience he pronounced to be of a most agreeable sort; for +it gratified him, he said, to discover that Charlotte Lucas, whom he had +been used to think tolerably sensible, was as foolish as his wife, and +more foolish than his daughter! + +Jane confessed herself a little surprised at the match; but she said +less of her astonishment than of her earnest desire for their happiness; +nor could Elizabeth persuade her to consider it as improbable. Kitty +and Lydia were far from envying Miss Lucas, for Mr. Collins was only a +clergyman; and it affected them in no other way than as a piece of news +to spread at Meryton. + +Lady Lucas could not be insensible of triumph on being able to retort +on Mrs. Bennet the comfort of having a daughter well married; and she +called at Longbourn rather oftener than usual to say how happy she was, +though Mrs. Bennet's sour looks and ill-natured remarks might have been +enough to drive happiness away. + +Between Elizabeth and Charlotte there was a restraint which kept them +mutually silent on the subject; and Elizabeth felt persuaded that +no real confidence could ever subsist between them again. Her +disappointment in Charlotte made her turn with fonder regard to her +sister, of whose rectitude and delicacy she was sure her opinion could +never be shaken, and for whose happiness she grew daily more anxious, +as Bingley had now been gone a week and nothing more was heard of his +return. + +Jane had sent Caroline an early answer to her letter, and was counting +the days till she might reasonably hope to hear again. The promised +letter of thanks from Mr. Collins arrived on Tuesday, addressed to +their father, and written with all the solemnity of gratitude which a +twelvemonth's abode in the family might have prompted. After discharging +his conscience on that head, he proceeded to inform them, with many +rapturous expressions, of his happiness in having obtained the affection +of their amiable neighbour, Miss Lucas, and then explained that it was +merely with the view of enjoying her society that he had been so ready +to close with their kind wish of seeing him again at Longbourn, whither +he hoped to be able to return on Monday fortnight; for Lady Catherine, +he added, so heartily approved his marriage, that she wished it to take +place as soon as possible, which he trusted would be an unanswerable +argument with his amiable Charlotte to name an early day for making him +the happiest of men. + +Mr. Collins's return into Hertfordshire was no longer a matter of +pleasure to Mrs. Bennet. On the contrary, she was as much disposed to +complain of it as her husband. It was very strange that he should come +to Longbourn instead of to Lucas Lodge; it was also very inconvenient +and exceedingly troublesome. She hated having visitors in the house +while her health was so indifferent, and lovers were of all people the +most disagreeable. Such were the gentle murmurs of Mrs. Bennet, and +they gave way only to the greater distress of Mr. Bingley's continued +absence. + +Neither Jane nor Elizabeth were comfortable on this subject. Day after +day passed away without bringing any other tidings of him than the +report which shortly prevailed in Meryton of his coming no more to +Netherfield the whole winter; a report which highly incensed Mrs. +Bennet, and which she never failed to contradict as a most scandalous +falsehood. + +Even Elizabeth began to fear--not that Bingley was indifferent--but that +his sisters would be successful in keeping him away. Unwilling as +she was to admit an idea so destructive of Jane's happiness, and so +dishonorable to the stability of her lover, she could not prevent its +frequently occurring. The united efforts of his two unfeeling sisters +and of his overpowering friend, assisted by the attractions of Miss +Darcy and the amusements of London might be too much, she feared, for +the strength of his attachment. + +As for Jane, _her_ anxiety under this suspense was, of course, more +painful than Elizabeth's, but whatever she felt she was desirous of +concealing, and between herself and Elizabeth, therefore, the subject +was never alluded to. But as no such delicacy restrained her mother, +an hour seldom passed in which she did not talk of Bingley, express her +impatience for his arrival, or even require Jane to confess that if he +did not come back she would think herself very ill used. It needed +all Jane's steady mildness to bear these attacks with tolerable +tranquillity. + +Mr. Collins returned most punctually on Monday fortnight, but his +reception at Longbourn was not quite so gracious as it had been on his +first introduction. He was too happy, however, to need much attention; +and luckily for the others, the business of love-making relieved them +from a great deal of his company. The chief of every day was spent by +him at Lucas Lodge, and he sometimes returned to Longbourn only in time +to make an apology for his absence before the family went to bed. + +Mrs. Bennet was really in a most pitiable state. The very mention of +anything concerning the match threw her into an agony of ill-humour, +and wherever she went she was sure of hearing it talked of. The sight +of Miss Lucas was odious to her. As her successor in that house, she +regarded her with jealous abhorrence. Whenever Charlotte came to see +them, she concluded her to be anticipating the hour of possession; and +whenever she spoke in a low voice to Mr. Collins, was convinced that +they were talking of the Longbourn estate, and resolving to turn herself +and her daughters out of the house, as soon as Mr. Bennet were dead. She +complained bitterly of all this to her husband. + +"Indeed, Mr. Bennet," said she, "it is very hard to think that Charlotte +Lucas should ever be mistress of this house, that I should be forced to +make way for _her_, and live to see her take her place in it!" + +"My dear, do not give way to such gloomy thoughts. Let us hope for +better things. Let us flatter ourselves that I may be the survivor." + +This was not very consoling to Mrs. Bennet, and therefore, instead of +making any answer, she went on as before. + +"I cannot bear to think that they should have all this estate. If it was +not for the entail, I should not mind it." + +"What should not you mind?" + +"I should not mind anything at all." + +"Let us be thankful that you are preserved from a state of such +insensibility." + +"I never can be thankful, Mr. Bennet, for anything about the entail. How +anyone could have the conscience to entail away an estate from one's own +daughters, I cannot understand; and all for the sake of Mr. Collins too! +Why should _he_ have it more than anybody else?" + +"I leave it to yourself to determine," said Mr. Bennet. + + + +Chapter 24 + + +Miss Bingley's letter arrived, and put an end to doubt. The very first +sentence conveyed the assurance of their being all settled in London for +the winter, and concluded with her brother's regret at not having had +time to pay his respects to his friends in Hertfordshire before he left +the country. + +Hope was over, entirely over; and when Jane could attend to the rest +of the letter, she found little, except the professed affection of the +writer, that could give her any comfort. Miss Darcy's praise occupied +the chief of it. Her many attractions were again dwelt on, and Caroline +boasted joyfully of their increasing intimacy, and ventured to predict +the accomplishment of the wishes which had been unfolded in her former +letter. She wrote also with great pleasure of her brother's being an +inmate of Mr. Darcy's house, and mentioned with raptures some plans of +the latter with regard to new furniture. + +Elizabeth, to whom Jane very soon communicated the chief of all this, +heard it in silent indignation. Her heart was divided between concern +for her sister, and resentment against all others. To Caroline's +assertion of her brother's being partial to Miss Darcy she paid no +credit. That he was really fond of Jane, she doubted no more than she +had ever done; and much as she had always been disposed to like him, she +could not think without anger, hardly without contempt, on that easiness +of temper, that want of proper resolution, which now made him the slave +of his designing friends, and led him to sacrifice of his own happiness +to the caprice of their inclination. Had his own happiness, however, +been the only sacrifice, he might have been allowed to sport with it in +whatever manner he thought best, but her sister's was involved in it, as +she thought he must be sensible himself. It was a subject, in short, +on which reflection would be long indulged, and must be unavailing. She +could think of nothing else; and yet whether Bingley's regard had really +died away, or were suppressed by his friends' interference; whether +he had been aware of Jane's attachment, or whether it had escaped his +observation; whatever were the case, though her opinion of him must be +materially affected by the difference, her sister's situation remained +the same, her peace equally wounded. + +A day or two passed before Jane had courage to speak of her feelings to +Elizabeth; but at last, on Mrs. Bennet's leaving them together, after a +longer irritation than usual about Netherfield and its master, she could +not help saying: + +"Oh, that my dear mother had more command over herself! She can have no +idea of the pain she gives me by her continual reflections on him. But +I will not repine. It cannot last long. He will be forgot, and we shall +all be as we were before." + +Elizabeth looked at her sister with incredulous solicitude, but said +nothing. + +"You doubt me," cried Jane, slightly colouring; "indeed, you have +no reason. He may live in my memory as the most amiable man of my +acquaintance, but that is all. I have nothing either to hope or fear, +and nothing to reproach him with. Thank God! I have not _that_ pain. A +little time, therefore--I shall certainly try to get the better." + +With a stronger voice she soon added, "I have this comfort immediately, +that it has not been more than an error of fancy on my side, and that it +has done no harm to anyone but myself." + +"My dear Jane!" exclaimed Elizabeth, "you are too good. Your sweetness +and disinterestedness are really angelic; I do not know what to say +to you. I feel as if I had never done you justice, or loved you as you +deserve." + +Miss Bennet eagerly disclaimed all extraordinary merit, and threw back +the praise on her sister's warm affection. + +"Nay," said Elizabeth, "this is not fair. _You_ wish to think all the +world respectable, and are hurt if I speak ill of anybody. I only want +to think _you_ perfect, and you set yourself against it. Do not +be afraid of my running into any excess, of my encroaching on your +privilege of universal good-will. You need not. There are few people +whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see +of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms +my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the +little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or +sense. I have met with two instances lately, one I will not mention; the +other is Charlotte's marriage. It is unaccountable! In every view it is +unaccountable!" + +"My dear Lizzy, do not give way to such feelings as these. They will +ruin your happiness. You do not make allowance enough for difference +of situation and temper. Consider Mr. Collins's respectability, and +Charlotte's steady, prudent character. Remember that she is one of a +large family; that as to fortune, it is a most eligible match; and be +ready to believe, for everybody's sake, that she may feel something like +regard and esteem for our cousin." + +"To oblige you, I would try to believe almost anything, but no one else +could be benefited by such a belief as this; for were I persuaded that +Charlotte had any regard for him, I should only think worse of her +understanding than I now do of her heart. My dear Jane, Mr. Collins is a +conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly man; you know he is, as well as +I do; and you must feel, as well as I do, that the woman who married him +cannot have a proper way of thinking. You shall not defend her, though +it is Charlotte Lucas. You shall not, for the sake of one individual, +change the meaning of principle and integrity, nor endeavour to persuade +yourself or me, that selfishness is prudence, and insensibility of +danger security for happiness." + +"I must think your language too strong in speaking of both," replied +Jane; "and I hope you will be convinced of it by seeing them happy +together. But enough of this. You alluded to something else. You +mentioned _two_ instances. I cannot misunderstand you, but I entreat +you, dear Lizzy, not to pain me by thinking _that person_ to blame, and +saying your opinion of him is sunk. We must not be so ready to fancy +ourselves intentionally injured. We must not expect a lively young man +to be always so guarded and circumspect. It is very often nothing but +our own vanity that deceives us. Women fancy admiration means more than +it does." + +"And men take care that they should." + +"If it is designedly done, they cannot be justified; but I have no idea +of there being so much design in the world as some persons imagine." + +"I am far from attributing any part of Mr. Bingley's conduct to design," +said Elizabeth; "but without scheming to do wrong, or to make others +unhappy, there may be error, and there may be misery. Thoughtlessness, +want of attention to other people's feelings, and want of resolution, +will do the business." + +"And do you impute it to either of those?" + +"Yes; to the last. But if I go on, I shall displease you by saying what +I think of persons you esteem. Stop me whilst you can." + +"You persist, then, in supposing his sisters influence him?" + +"Yes, in conjunction with his friend." + +"I cannot believe it. Why should they try to influence him? They can +only wish his happiness; and if he is attached to me, no other woman can +secure it." + +"Your first position is false. They may wish many things besides his +happiness; they may wish his increase of wealth and consequence; they +may wish him to marry a girl who has all the importance of money, great +connections, and pride." + +"Beyond a doubt, they _do_ wish him to choose Miss Darcy," replied Jane; +"but this may be from better feelings than you are supposing. They have +known her much longer than they have known me; no wonder if they love +her better. But, whatever may be their own wishes, it is very unlikely +they should have opposed their brother's. What sister would think +herself at liberty to do it, unless there were something very +objectionable? If they believed him attached to me, they would not try +to part us; if he were so, they could not succeed. By supposing such an +affection, you make everybody acting unnaturally and wrong, and me most +unhappy. Do not distress me by the idea. I am not ashamed of having been +mistaken--or, at least, it is light, it is nothing in comparison of what +I should feel in thinking ill of him or his sisters. Let me take it in +the best light, in the light in which it may be understood." + +Elizabeth could not oppose such a wish; and from this time Mr. Bingley's +name was scarcely ever mentioned between them. + +Mrs. Bennet still continued to wonder and repine at his returning no +more, and though a day seldom passed in which Elizabeth did not account +for it clearly, there was little chance of her ever considering it with +less perplexity. Her daughter endeavoured to convince her of what she +did not believe herself, that his attentions to Jane had been merely the +effect of a common and transient liking, which ceased when he saw her +no more; but though the probability of the statement was admitted at +the time, she had the same story to repeat every day. Mrs. Bennet's best +comfort was that Mr. Bingley must be down again in the summer. + +Mr. Bennet treated the matter differently. "So, Lizzy," said he one day, +"your sister is crossed in love, I find. I congratulate her. Next to +being married, a girl likes to be crossed a little in love now and then. +It is something to think of, and it gives her a sort of distinction +among her companions. When is your turn to come? You will hardly bear to +be long outdone by Jane. Now is your time. Here are officers enough in +Meryton to disappoint all the young ladies in the country. Let Wickham +be _your_ man. He is a pleasant fellow, and would jilt you creditably." + +"Thank you, sir, but a less agreeable man would satisfy me. We must not +all expect Jane's good fortune." + +"True," said Mr. Bennet, "but it is a comfort to think that whatever of +that kind may befall you, you have an affectionate mother who will make +the most of it." + +Mr. Wickham's society was of material service in dispelling the gloom +which the late perverse occurrences had thrown on many of the Longbourn +family. They saw him often, and to his other recommendations was now +added that of general unreserve. The whole of what Elizabeth had already +heard, his claims on Mr. Darcy, and all that he had suffered from him, +was now openly acknowledged and publicly canvassed; and everybody was +pleased to know how much they had always disliked Mr. Darcy before they +had known anything of the matter. + +Miss Bennet was the only creature who could suppose there might be +any extenuating circumstances in the case, unknown to the society +of Hertfordshire; her mild and steady candour always pleaded for +allowances, and urged the possibility of mistakes--but by everybody else +Mr. Darcy was condemned as the worst of men. + + + +Chapter 25 + + +After a week spent in professions of love and schemes of felicity, +Mr. Collins was called from his amiable Charlotte by the arrival of +Saturday. The pain of separation, however, might be alleviated on his +side, by preparations for the reception of his bride; as he had reason +to hope, that shortly after his return into Hertfordshire, the day would +be fixed that was to make him the happiest of men. He took leave of his +relations at Longbourn with as much solemnity as before; wished his fair +cousins health and happiness again, and promised their father another +letter of thanks. + +On the following Monday, Mrs. Bennet had the pleasure of receiving +her brother and his wife, who came as usual to spend the Christmas +at Longbourn. Mr. Gardiner was a sensible, gentlemanlike man, greatly +superior to his sister, as well by nature as education. The Netherfield +ladies would have had difficulty in believing that a man who lived +by trade, and within view of his own warehouses, could have been so +well-bred and agreeable. Mrs. Gardiner, who was several years younger +than Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Phillips, was an amiable, intelligent, elegant +woman, and a great favourite with all her Longbourn nieces. Between the +two eldest and herself especially, there subsisted a particular regard. +They had frequently been staying with her in town. + +The first part of Mrs. Gardiner's business on her arrival was to +distribute her presents and describe the newest fashions. When this was +done she had a less active part to play. It became her turn to listen. +Mrs. Bennet had many grievances to relate, and much to complain of. They +had all been very ill-used since she last saw her sister. Two of her +girls had been upon the point of marriage, and after all there was +nothing in it. + +"I do not blame Jane," she continued, "for Jane would have got Mr. +Bingley if she could. But Lizzy! Oh, sister! It is very hard to think +that she might have been Mr. Collins's wife by this time, had it not +been for her own perverseness. He made her an offer in this very room, +and she refused him. The consequence of it is, that Lady Lucas will have +a daughter married before I have, and that the Longbourn estate is just +as much entailed as ever. The Lucases are very artful people indeed, +sister. They are all for what they can get. I am sorry to say it of +them, but so it is. It makes me very nervous and poorly, to be thwarted +so in my own family, and to have neighbours who think of themselves +before anybody else. However, your coming just at this time is the +greatest of comforts, and I am very glad to hear what you tell us, of +long sleeves." + +Mrs. Gardiner, to whom the chief of this news had been given before, +in the course of Jane and Elizabeth's correspondence with her, made her +sister a slight answer, and, in compassion to her nieces, turned the +conversation. + +When alone with Elizabeth afterwards, she spoke more on the subject. "It +seems likely to have been a desirable match for Jane," said she. "I am +sorry it went off. But these things happen so often! A young man, such +as you describe Mr. Bingley, so easily falls in love with a pretty girl +for a few weeks, and when accident separates them, so easily forgets +her, that these sort of inconsistencies are very frequent." + +"An excellent consolation in its way," said Elizabeth, "but it will not +do for _us_. We do not suffer by _accident_. It does not often +happen that the interference of friends will persuade a young man of +independent fortune to think no more of a girl whom he was violently in +love with only a few days before." + +"But that expression of 'violently in love' is so hackneyed, so +doubtful, so indefinite, that it gives me very little idea. It is as +often applied to feelings which arise from a half-hour's acquaintance, +as to a real, strong attachment. Pray, how _violent was_ Mr. Bingley's +love?" + +"I never saw a more promising inclination; he was growing quite +inattentive to other people, and wholly engrossed by her. Every time +they met, it was more decided and remarkable. At his own ball he +offended two or three young ladies, by not asking them to dance; and I +spoke to him twice myself, without receiving an answer. Could there be +finer symptoms? Is not general incivility the very essence of love?" + +"Oh, yes!--of that kind of love which I suppose him to have felt. Poor +Jane! I am sorry for her, because, with her disposition, she may not get +over it immediately. It had better have happened to _you_, Lizzy; you +would have laughed yourself out of it sooner. But do you think she +would be prevailed upon to go back with us? Change of scene might be +of service--and perhaps a little relief from home may be as useful as +anything." + +Elizabeth was exceedingly pleased with this proposal, and felt persuaded +of her sister's ready acquiescence. + +"I hope," added Mrs. Gardiner, "that no consideration with regard to +this young man will influence her. We live in so different a part of +town, all our connections are so different, and, as you well know, we go +out so little, that it is very improbable that they should meet at all, +unless he really comes to see her." + +"And _that_ is quite impossible; for he is now in the custody of his +friend, and Mr. Darcy would no more suffer him to call on Jane in such +a part of London! My dear aunt, how could you think of it? Mr. Darcy may +perhaps have _heard_ of such a place as Gracechurch Street, but he +would hardly think a month's ablution enough to cleanse him from its +impurities, were he once to enter it; and depend upon it, Mr. Bingley +never stirs without him." + +"So much the better. I hope they will not meet at all. But does not Jane +correspond with his sister? _She_ will not be able to help calling." + +"She will drop the acquaintance entirely." + +But in spite of the certainty in which Elizabeth affected to place this +point, as well as the still more interesting one of Bingley's being +withheld from seeing Jane, she felt a solicitude on the subject which +convinced her, on examination, that she did not consider it entirely +hopeless. It was possible, and sometimes she thought it probable, that +his affection might be reanimated, and the influence of his friends +successfully combated by the more natural influence of Jane's +attractions. + +Miss Bennet accepted her aunt's invitation with pleasure; and the +Bingleys were no otherwise in her thoughts at the same time, than as she +hoped by Caroline's not living in the same house with her brother, +she might occasionally spend a morning with her, without any danger of +seeing him. + +The Gardiners stayed a week at Longbourn; and what with the Phillipses, +the Lucases, and the officers, there was not a day without its +engagement. Mrs. Bennet had so carefully provided for the entertainment +of her brother and sister, that they did not once sit down to a family +dinner. When the engagement was for home, some of the officers always +made part of it--of which officers Mr. Wickham was sure to be one; and +on these occasions, Mrs. Gardiner, rendered suspicious by Elizabeth's +warm commendation, narrowly observed them both. Without supposing them, +from what she saw, to be very seriously in love, their preference +of each other was plain enough to make her a little uneasy; and +she resolved to speak to Elizabeth on the subject before she left +Hertfordshire, and represent to her the imprudence of encouraging such +an attachment. + +To Mrs. Gardiner, Wickham had one means of affording pleasure, +unconnected with his general powers. About ten or a dozen years ago, +before her marriage, she had spent a considerable time in that very +part of Derbyshire to which he belonged. They had, therefore, many +acquaintances in common; and though Wickham had been little there since +the death of Darcy's father, it was yet in his power to give her fresher +intelligence of her former friends than she had been in the way of +procuring. + +Mrs. Gardiner had seen Pemberley, and known the late Mr. Darcy by +character perfectly well. Here consequently was an inexhaustible subject +of discourse. In comparing her recollection of Pemberley with the minute +description which Wickham could give, and in bestowing her tribute of +praise on the character of its late possessor, she was delighting both +him and herself. On being made acquainted with the present Mr. Darcy's +treatment of him, she tried to remember some of that gentleman's +reputed disposition when quite a lad which might agree with it, and +was confident at last that she recollected having heard Mr. Fitzwilliam +Darcy formerly spoken of as a very proud, ill-natured boy. + + + +Chapter 26 + + +Mrs. Gardiner's caution to Elizabeth was punctually and kindly given +on the first favourable opportunity of speaking to her alone; after +honestly telling her what she thought, she thus went on: + +"You are too sensible a girl, Lizzy, to fall in love merely because +you are warned against it; and, therefore, I am not afraid of speaking +openly. Seriously, I would have you be on your guard. Do not involve +yourself or endeavour to involve him in an affection which the want +of fortune would make so very imprudent. I have nothing to say against +_him_; he is a most interesting young man; and if he had the fortune he +ought to have, I should think you could not do better. But as it is, you +must not let your fancy run away with you. You have sense, and we all +expect you to use it. Your father would depend on _your_ resolution and +good conduct, I am sure. You must not disappoint your father." + +"My dear aunt, this is being serious indeed." + +"Yes, and I hope to engage you to be serious likewise." + +"Well, then, you need not be under any alarm. I will take care of +myself, and of Mr. Wickham too. He shall not be in love with me, if I +can prevent it." + +"Elizabeth, you are not serious now." + +"I beg your pardon, I will try again. At present I am not in love with +Mr. Wickham; no, I certainly am not. But he is, beyond all comparison, +the most agreeable man I ever saw--and if he becomes really attached to +me--I believe it will be better that he should not. I see the imprudence +of it. Oh! _that_ abominable Mr. Darcy! My father's opinion of me does +me the greatest honour, and I should be miserable to forfeit it. My +father, however, is partial to Mr. Wickham. In short, my dear aunt, I +should be very sorry to be the means of making any of you unhappy; but +since we see every day that where there is affection, young people +are seldom withheld by immediate want of fortune from entering into +engagements with each other, how can I promise to be wiser than so many +of my fellow-creatures if I am tempted, or how am I even to know that it +would be wisdom to resist? All that I can promise you, therefore, is not +to be in a hurry. I will not be in a hurry to believe myself his first +object. When I am in company with him, I will not be wishing. In short, +I will do my best." + +"Perhaps it will be as well if you discourage his coming here so very +often. At least, you should not _remind_ your mother of inviting him." + +"As I did the other day," said Elizabeth with a conscious smile: "very +true, it will be wise in me to refrain from _that_. But do not imagine +that he is always here so often. It is on your account that he has been +so frequently invited this week. You know my mother's ideas as to the +necessity of constant company for her friends. But really, and upon my +honour, I will try to do what I think to be the wisest; and now I hope +you are satisfied." + +Her aunt assured her that she was, and Elizabeth having thanked her for +the kindness of her hints, they parted; a wonderful instance of advice +being given on such a point, without being resented. + +Mr. Collins returned into Hertfordshire soon after it had been quitted +by the Gardiners and Jane; but as he took up his abode with the Lucases, +his arrival was no great inconvenience to Mrs. Bennet. His marriage was +now fast approaching, and she was at length so far resigned as to think +it inevitable, and even repeatedly to say, in an ill-natured tone, that +she "_wished_ they might be happy." Thursday was to be the wedding day, +and on Wednesday Miss Lucas paid her farewell visit; and when she +rose to take leave, Elizabeth, ashamed of her mother's ungracious and +reluctant good wishes, and sincerely affected herself, accompanied her +out of the room. As they went downstairs together, Charlotte said: + +"I shall depend on hearing from you very often, Eliza." + +"_That_ you certainly shall." + +"And I have another favour to ask you. Will you come and see me?" + +"We shall often meet, I hope, in Hertfordshire." + +"I am not likely to leave Kent for some time. Promise me, therefore, to +come to Hunsford." + +Elizabeth could not refuse, though she foresaw little pleasure in the +visit. + +"My father and Maria are coming to me in March," added Charlotte, "and I +hope you will consent to be of the party. Indeed, Eliza, you will be as +welcome as either of them." + +The wedding took place; the bride and bridegroom set off for Kent from +the church door, and everybody had as much to say, or to hear, on +the subject as usual. Elizabeth soon heard from her friend; and their +correspondence was as regular and frequent as it had ever been; that +it should be equally unreserved was impossible. Elizabeth could never +address her without feeling that all the comfort of intimacy was over, +and though determined not to slacken as a correspondent, it was for the +sake of what had been, rather than what was. Charlotte's first letters +were received with a good deal of eagerness; there could not but be +curiosity to know how she would speak of her new home, how she would +like Lady Catherine, and how happy she would dare pronounce herself to +be; though, when the letters were read, Elizabeth felt that Charlotte +expressed herself on every point exactly as she might have foreseen. She +wrote cheerfully, seemed surrounded with comforts, and mentioned nothing +which she could not praise. The house, furniture, neighbourhood, and +roads, were all to her taste, and Lady Catherine's behaviour was most +friendly and obliging. It was Mr. Collins's picture of Hunsford and +Rosings rationally softened; and Elizabeth perceived that she must wait +for her own visit there to know the rest. + +Jane had already written a few lines to her sister to announce their +safe arrival in London; and when she wrote again, Elizabeth hoped it +would be in her power to say something of the Bingleys. + +Her impatience for this second letter was as well rewarded as impatience +generally is. Jane had been a week in town without either seeing or +hearing from Caroline. She accounted for it, however, by supposing that +her last letter to her friend from Longbourn had by some accident been +lost. + +"My aunt," she continued, "is going to-morrow into that part of the +town, and I shall take the opportunity of calling in Grosvenor Street." + +She wrote again when the visit was paid, and she had seen Miss Bingley. +"I did not think Caroline in spirits," were her words, "but she was very +glad to see me, and reproached me for giving her no notice of my coming +to London. I was right, therefore, my last letter had never reached +her. I inquired after their brother, of course. He was well, but so much +engaged with Mr. Darcy that they scarcely ever saw him. I found that +Miss Darcy was expected to dinner. I wish I could see her. My visit was +not long, as Caroline and Mrs. Hurst were going out. I dare say I shall +see them soon here." + +Elizabeth shook her head over this letter. It convinced her that +accident only could discover to Mr. Bingley her sister's being in town. + +Four weeks passed away, and Jane saw nothing of him. She endeavoured to +persuade herself that she did not regret it; but she could no longer be +blind to Miss Bingley's inattention. After waiting at home every morning +for a fortnight, and inventing every evening a fresh excuse for her, the +visitor did at last appear; but the shortness of her stay, and yet more, +the alteration of her manner would allow Jane to deceive herself no +longer. The letter which she wrote on this occasion to her sister will +prove what she felt. + +"My dearest Lizzy will, I am sure, be incapable of triumphing in her +better judgement, at my expense, when I confess myself to have been +entirely deceived in Miss Bingley's regard for me. But, my dear sister, +though the event has proved you right, do not think me obstinate if I +still assert that, considering what her behaviour was, my confidence was +as natural as your suspicion. I do not at all comprehend her reason for +wishing to be intimate with me; but if the same circumstances were to +happen again, I am sure I should be deceived again. Caroline did not +return my visit till yesterday; and not a note, not a line, did I +receive in the meantime. When she did come, it was very evident that +she had no pleasure in it; she made a slight, formal apology, for not +calling before, said not a word of wishing to see me again, and was +in every respect so altered a creature, that when she went away I was +perfectly resolved to continue the acquaintance no longer. I pity, +though I cannot help blaming her. She was very wrong in singling me out +as she did; I can safely say that every advance to intimacy began on +her side. But I pity her, because she must feel that she has been acting +wrong, and because I am very sure that anxiety for her brother is the +cause of it. I need not explain myself farther; and though _we_ know +this anxiety to be quite needless, yet if she feels it, it will easily +account for her behaviour to me; and so deservedly dear as he is to +his sister, whatever anxiety she must feel on his behalf is natural and +amiable. I cannot but wonder, however, at her having any such fears now, +because, if he had at all cared about me, we must have met, long ago. +He knows of my being in town, I am certain, from something she said +herself; and yet it would seem, by her manner of talking, as if she +wanted to persuade herself that he is really partial to Miss Darcy. I +cannot understand it. If I were not afraid of judging harshly, I should +be almost tempted to say that there is a strong appearance of duplicity +in all this. But I will endeavour to banish every painful thought, +and think only of what will make me happy--your affection, and the +invariable kindness of my dear uncle and aunt. Let me hear from you very +soon. Miss Bingley said something of his never returning to Netherfield +again, of giving up the house, but not with any certainty. We had better +not mention it. I am extremely glad that you have such pleasant accounts +from our friends at Hunsford. Pray go to see them, with Sir William and +Maria. I am sure you will be very comfortable there.--Yours, etc." + +This letter gave Elizabeth some pain; but her spirits returned as she +considered that Jane would no longer be duped, by the sister at least. +All expectation from the brother was now absolutely over. She would not +even wish for a renewal of his attentions. His character sunk on +every review of it; and as a punishment for him, as well as a possible +advantage to Jane, she seriously hoped he might really soon marry Mr. +Darcy's sister, as by Wickham's account, she would make him abundantly +regret what he had thrown away. + +Mrs. Gardiner about this time reminded Elizabeth of her promise +concerning that gentleman, and required information; and Elizabeth +had such to send as might rather give contentment to her aunt than to +herself. His apparent partiality had subsided, his attentions were over, +he was the admirer of some one else. Elizabeth was watchful enough to +see it all, but she could see it and write of it without material pain. +Her heart had been but slightly touched, and her vanity was satisfied +with believing that _she_ would have been his only choice, had fortune +permitted it. The sudden acquisition of ten thousand pounds was the most +remarkable charm of the young lady to whom he was now rendering himself +agreeable; but Elizabeth, less clear-sighted perhaps in this case than +in Charlotte's, did not quarrel with him for his wish of independence. +Nothing, on the contrary, could be more natural; and while able to +suppose that it cost him a few struggles to relinquish her, she was +ready to allow it a wise and desirable measure for both, and could very +sincerely wish him happy. + +All this was acknowledged to Mrs. Gardiner; and after relating the +circumstances, she thus went on: "I am now convinced, my dear aunt, that +I have never been much in love; for had I really experienced that pure +and elevating passion, I should at present detest his very name, and +wish him all manner of evil. But my feelings are not only cordial +towards _him_; they are even impartial towards Miss King. I cannot find +out that I hate her at all, or that I am in the least unwilling to +think her a very good sort of girl. There can be no love in all this. My +watchfulness has been effectual; and though I certainly should be a more +interesting object to all my acquaintances were I distractedly in love +with him, I cannot say that I regret my comparative insignificance. +Importance may sometimes be purchased too dearly. Kitty and Lydia take +his defection much more to heart than I do. They are young in the +ways of the world, and not yet open to the mortifying conviction that +handsome young men must have something to live on as well as the plain." + + + +Chapter 27 + + +With no greater events than these in the Longbourn family, and otherwise +diversified by little beyond the walks to Meryton, sometimes dirty and +sometimes cold, did January and February pass away. March was to take +Elizabeth to Hunsford. She had not at first thought very seriously of +going thither; but Charlotte, she soon found, was depending on the plan +and she gradually learned to consider it herself with greater pleasure +as well as greater certainty. Absence had increased her desire of seeing +Charlotte again, and weakened her disgust of Mr. Collins. There +was novelty in the scheme, and as, with such a mother and such +uncompanionable sisters, home could not be faultless, a little change +was not unwelcome for its own sake. The journey would moreover give her +a peep at Jane; and, in short, as the time drew near, she would have +been very sorry for any delay. Everything, however, went on smoothly, +and was finally settled according to Charlotte's first sketch. She was +to accompany Sir William and his second daughter. The improvement +of spending a night in London was added in time, and the plan became +perfect as plan could be. + +The only pain was in leaving her father, who would certainly miss her, +and who, when it came to the point, so little liked her going, that he +told her to write to him, and almost promised to answer her letter. + +The farewell between herself and Mr. Wickham was perfectly friendly; on +his side even more. His present pursuit could not make him forget that +Elizabeth had been the first to excite and to deserve his attention, the +first to listen and to pity, the first to be admired; and in his manner +of bidding her adieu, wishing her every enjoyment, reminding her of +what she was to expect in Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and trusting their +opinion of her--their opinion of everybody--would always coincide, there +was a solicitude, an interest which she felt must ever attach her to +him with a most sincere regard; and she parted from him convinced that, +whether married or single, he must always be her model of the amiable +and pleasing. + +Her fellow-travellers the next day were not of a kind to make her +think him less agreeable. Sir William Lucas, and his daughter Maria, a +good-humoured girl, but as empty-headed as himself, had nothing to say +that could be worth hearing, and were listened to with about as much +delight as the rattle of the chaise. Elizabeth loved absurdities, but +she had known Sir William's too long. He could tell her nothing new of +the wonders of his presentation and knighthood; and his civilities were +worn out, like his information. + +It was a journey of only twenty-four miles, and they began it so early +as to be in Gracechurch Street by noon. As they drove to Mr. Gardiner's +door, Jane was at a drawing-room window watching their arrival; when +they entered the passage she was there to welcome them, and Elizabeth, +looking earnestly in her face, was pleased to see it healthful and +lovely as ever. On the stairs were a troop of little boys and girls, +whose eagerness for their cousin's appearance would not allow them to +wait in the drawing-room, and whose shyness, as they had not seen +her for a twelvemonth, prevented their coming lower. All was joy and +kindness. The day passed most pleasantly away; the morning in bustle and +shopping, and the evening at one of the theatres. + +Elizabeth then contrived to sit by her aunt. Their first object was her +sister; and she was more grieved than astonished to hear, in reply to +her minute inquiries, that though Jane always struggled to support her +spirits, there were periods of dejection. It was reasonable, however, +to hope that they would not continue long. Mrs. Gardiner gave her the +particulars also of Miss Bingley's visit in Gracechurch Street, and +repeated conversations occurring at different times between Jane and +herself, which proved that the former had, from her heart, given up the +acquaintance. + +Mrs. Gardiner then rallied her niece on Wickham's desertion, and +complimented her on bearing it so well. + +"But my dear Elizabeth," she added, "what sort of girl is Miss King? I +should be sorry to think our friend mercenary." + +"Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial affairs, +between the mercenary and the prudent motive? Where does discretion end, +and avarice begin? Last Christmas you were afraid of his marrying me, +because it would be imprudent; and now, because he is trying to get +a girl with only ten thousand pounds, you want to find out that he is +mercenary." + +"If you will only tell me what sort of girl Miss King is, I shall know +what to think." + +"She is a very good kind of girl, I believe. I know no harm of her." + +"But he paid her not the smallest attention till her grandfather's death +made her mistress of this fortune." + +"No--why should he? If it were not allowable for him to gain _my_ +affections because I had no money, what occasion could there be for +making love to a girl whom he did not care about, and who was equally +poor?" + +"But there seems an indelicacy in directing his attentions towards her +so soon after this event." + +"A man in distressed circumstances has not time for all those elegant +decorums which other people may observe. If _she_ does not object to it, +why should _we_?" + +"_Her_ not objecting does not justify _him_. It only shows her being +deficient in something herself--sense or feeling." + +"Well," cried Elizabeth, "have it as you choose. _He_ shall be +mercenary, and _she_ shall be foolish." + +"No, Lizzy, that is what I do _not_ choose. I should be sorry, you know, +to think ill of a young man who has lived so long in Derbyshire." + +"Oh! if that is all, I have a very poor opinion of young men who live in +Derbyshire; and their intimate friends who live in Hertfordshire are not +much better. I am sick of them all. Thank Heaven! I am going to-morrow +where I shall find a man who has not one agreeable quality, who has +neither manner nor sense to recommend him. Stupid men are the only ones +worth knowing, after all." + +"Take care, Lizzy; that speech savours strongly of disappointment." + +Before they were separated by the conclusion of the play, she had the +unexpected happiness of an invitation to accompany her uncle and aunt in +a tour of pleasure which they proposed taking in the summer. + +"We have not determined how far it shall carry us," said Mrs. Gardiner, +"but, perhaps, to the Lakes." + +No scheme could have been more agreeable to Elizabeth, and her +acceptance of the invitation was most ready and grateful. "Oh, my dear, +dear aunt," she rapturously cried, "what delight! what felicity! You +give me fresh life and vigour. Adieu to disappointment and spleen. What +are young men to rocks and mountains? Oh! what hours of transport +we shall spend! And when we _do_ return, it shall not be like other +travellers, without being able to give one accurate idea of anything. We +_will_ know where we have gone--we _will_ recollect what we have seen. +Lakes, mountains, and rivers shall not be jumbled together in our +imaginations; nor when we attempt to describe any particular scene, +will we begin quarreling about its relative situation. Let _our_ +first effusions be less insupportable than those of the generality of +travellers." + + + +Chapter 28 + + +Every object in the next day's journey was new and interesting to +Elizabeth; and her spirits were in a state of enjoyment; for she had +seen her sister looking so well as to banish all fear for her health, +and the prospect of her northern tour was a constant source of delight. + +When they left the high road for the lane to Hunsford, every eye was in +search of the Parsonage, and every turning expected to bring it in view. +The palings of Rosings Park was their boundary on one side. Elizabeth +smiled at the recollection of all that she had heard of its inhabitants. + +At length the Parsonage was discernible. The garden sloping to the +road, the house standing in it, the green pales, and the laurel hedge, +everything declared they were arriving. Mr. Collins and Charlotte +appeared at the door, and the carriage stopped at the small gate which +led by a short gravel walk to the house, amidst the nods and smiles of +the whole party. In a moment they were all out of the chaise, rejoicing +at the sight of each other. Mrs. Collins welcomed her friend with the +liveliest pleasure, and Elizabeth was more and more satisfied with +coming when she found herself so affectionately received. She saw +instantly that her cousin's manners were not altered by his marriage; +his formal civility was just what it had been, and he detained her some +minutes at the gate to hear and satisfy his inquiries after all her +family. They were then, with no other delay than his pointing out the +neatness of the entrance, taken into the house; and as soon as they +were in the parlour, he welcomed them a second time, with ostentatious +formality to his humble abode, and punctually repeated all his wife's +offers of refreshment. + +Elizabeth was prepared to see him in his glory; and she could not help +in fancying that in displaying the good proportion of the room, its +aspect and its furniture, he addressed himself particularly to her, +as if wishing to make her feel what she had lost in refusing him. But +though everything seemed neat and comfortable, she was not able to +gratify him by any sigh of repentance, and rather looked with wonder at +her friend that she could have so cheerful an air with such a companion. +When Mr. Collins said anything of which his wife might reasonably be +ashamed, which certainly was not unseldom, she involuntarily turned her +eye on Charlotte. Once or twice she could discern a faint blush; but +in general Charlotte wisely did not hear. After sitting long enough to +admire every article of furniture in the room, from the sideboard to +the fender, to give an account of their journey, and of all that had +happened in London, Mr. Collins invited them to take a stroll in the +garden, which was large and well laid out, and to the cultivation of +which he attended himself. To work in this garden was one of his most +respectable pleasures; and Elizabeth admired the command of countenance +with which Charlotte talked of the healthfulness of the exercise, and +owned she encouraged it as much as possible. Here, leading the way +through every walk and cross walk, and scarcely allowing them an +interval to utter the praises he asked for, every view was pointed out +with a minuteness which left beauty entirely behind. He could number the +fields in every direction, and could tell how many trees there were in +the most distant clump. But of all the views which his garden, or which +the country or kingdom could boast, none were to be compared with the +prospect of Rosings, afforded by an opening in the trees that bordered +the park nearly opposite the front of his house. It was a handsome +modern building, well situated on rising ground. + +From his garden, Mr. Collins would have led them round his two meadows; +but the ladies, not having shoes to encounter the remains of a white +frost, turned back; and while Sir William accompanied him, Charlotte +took her sister and friend over the house, extremely well pleased, +probably, to have the opportunity of showing it without her husband's +help. It was rather small, but well built and convenient; and everything +was fitted up and arranged with a neatness and consistency of which +Elizabeth gave Charlotte all the credit. When Mr. Collins could be +forgotten, there was really an air of great comfort throughout, and by +Charlotte's evident enjoyment of it, Elizabeth supposed he must be often +forgotten. + +She had already learnt that Lady Catherine was still in the country. It +was spoken of again while they were at dinner, when Mr. Collins joining +in, observed: + +"Yes, Miss Elizabeth, you will have the honour of seeing Lady Catherine +de Bourgh on the ensuing Sunday at church, and I need not say you will +be delighted with her. She is all affability and condescension, and I +doubt not but you will be honoured with some portion of her notice +when service is over. I have scarcely any hesitation in saying she +will include you and my sister Maria in every invitation with which she +honours us during your stay here. Her behaviour to my dear Charlotte is +charming. We dine at Rosings twice every week, and are never allowed +to walk home. Her ladyship's carriage is regularly ordered for us. I +_should_ say, one of her ladyship's carriages, for she has several." + +"Lady Catherine is a very respectable, sensible woman indeed," added +Charlotte, "and a most attentive neighbour." + +"Very true, my dear, that is exactly what I say. She is the sort of +woman whom one cannot regard with too much deference." + +The evening was spent chiefly in talking over Hertfordshire news, +and telling again what had already been written; and when it closed, +Elizabeth, in the solitude of her chamber, had to meditate upon +Charlotte's degree of contentment, to understand her address in guiding, +and composure in bearing with, her husband, and to acknowledge that it +was all done very well. She had also to anticipate how her visit +would pass, the quiet tenor of their usual employments, the vexatious +interruptions of Mr. Collins, and the gaieties of their intercourse with +Rosings. A lively imagination soon settled it all. + +About the middle of the next day, as she was in her room getting ready +for a walk, a sudden noise below seemed to speak the whole house in +confusion; and, after listening a moment, she heard somebody running +up stairs in a violent hurry, and calling loudly after her. She opened +the door and met Maria in the landing place, who, breathless with +agitation, cried out-- + +"Oh, my dear Eliza! pray make haste and come into the dining-room, for +there is such a sight to be seen! I will not tell you what it is. Make +haste, and come down this moment." + +Elizabeth asked questions in vain; Maria would tell her nothing more, +and down they ran into the dining-room, which fronted the lane, in +quest of this wonder; It was two ladies stopping in a low phaeton at the +garden gate. + +"And is this all?" cried Elizabeth. "I expected at least that the pigs +were got into the garden, and here is nothing but Lady Catherine and her +daughter." + +"La! my dear," said Maria, quite shocked at the mistake, "it is not +Lady Catherine. The old lady is Mrs. Jenkinson, who lives with them; +the other is Miss de Bourgh. Only look at her. She is quite a little +creature. Who would have thought that she could be so thin and small?" + +"She is abominably rude to keep Charlotte out of doors in all this wind. +Why does she not come in?" + +"Oh, Charlotte says she hardly ever does. It is the greatest of favours +when Miss de Bourgh comes in." + +"I like her appearance," said Elizabeth, struck with other ideas. "She +looks sickly and cross. Yes, she will do for him very well. She will +make him a very proper wife." + +Mr. Collins and Charlotte were both standing at the gate in conversation +with the ladies; and Sir William, to Elizabeth's high diversion, was +stationed in the doorway, in earnest contemplation of the greatness +before him, and constantly bowing whenever Miss de Bourgh looked that +way. + +At length there was nothing more to be said; the ladies drove on, and +the others returned into the house. Mr. Collins no sooner saw the two +girls than he began to congratulate them on their good fortune, which +Charlotte explained by letting them know that the whole party was asked +to dine at Rosings the next day. + + + +Chapter 29 + + +Mr. Collins's triumph, in consequence of this invitation, was complete. +The power of displaying the grandeur of his patroness to his wondering +visitors, and of letting them see her civility towards himself and his +wife, was exactly what he had wished for; and that an opportunity +of doing it should be given so soon, was such an instance of Lady +Catherine's condescension, as he knew not how to admire enough. + +"I confess," said he, "that I should not have been at all surprised by +her ladyship's asking us on Sunday to drink tea and spend the evening at +Rosings. I rather expected, from my knowledge of her affability, that it +would happen. But who could have foreseen such an attention as this? Who +could have imagined that we should receive an invitation to dine there +(an invitation, moreover, including the whole party) so immediately +after your arrival!" + +"I am the less surprised at what has happened," replied Sir William, +"from that knowledge of what the manners of the great really are, which +my situation in life has allowed me to acquire. About the court, such +instances of elegant breeding are not uncommon." + +Scarcely anything was talked of the whole day or next morning but their +visit to Rosings. Mr. Collins was carefully instructing them in what +they were to expect, that the sight of such rooms, so many servants, and +so splendid a dinner, might not wholly overpower them. + +When the ladies were separating for the toilette, he said to Elizabeth-- + +"Do not make yourself uneasy, my dear cousin, about your apparel. Lady +Catherine is far from requiring that elegance of dress in us which +becomes herself and her daughter. I would advise you merely to put on +whatever of your clothes is superior to the rest--there is no occasion +for anything more. Lady Catherine will not think the worse of you +for being simply dressed. She likes to have the distinction of rank +preserved." + +While they were dressing, he came two or three times to their different +doors, to recommend their being quick, as Lady Catherine very much +objected to be kept waiting for her dinner. Such formidable accounts of +her ladyship, and her manner of living, quite frightened Maria Lucas +who had been little used to company, and she looked forward to her +introduction at Rosings with as much apprehension as her father had done +to his presentation at St. James's. + +As the weather was fine, they had a pleasant walk of about half a +mile across the park. Every park has its beauty and its prospects; and +Elizabeth saw much to be pleased with, though she could not be in such +raptures as Mr. Collins expected the scene to inspire, and was but +slightly affected by his enumeration of the windows in front of the +house, and his relation of what the glazing altogether had originally +cost Sir Lewis de Bourgh. + +When they ascended the steps to the hall, Maria's alarm was every +moment increasing, and even Sir William did not look perfectly calm. +Elizabeth's courage did not fail her. She had heard nothing of Lady +Catherine that spoke her awful from any extraordinary talents or +miraculous virtue, and the mere stateliness of money or rank she thought +she could witness without trepidation. + +From the entrance-hall, of which Mr. Collins pointed out, with a +rapturous air, the fine proportion and the finished ornaments, they +followed the servants through an ante-chamber, to the room where Lady +Catherine, her daughter, and Mrs. Jenkinson were sitting. Her ladyship, +with great condescension, arose to receive them; and as Mrs. Collins had +settled it with her husband that the office of introduction should +be hers, it was performed in a proper manner, without any of those +apologies and thanks which he would have thought necessary. + +In spite of having been at St. James's, Sir William was so completely +awed by the grandeur surrounding him, that he had but just courage +enough to make a very low bow, and take his seat without saying a word; +and his daughter, frightened almost out of her senses, sat on the edge +of her chair, not knowing which way to look. Elizabeth found herself +quite equal to the scene, and could observe the three ladies before her +composedly. Lady Catherine was a tall, large woman, with strongly-marked +features, which might once have been handsome. Her air was not +conciliating, nor was her manner of receiving them such as to make her +visitors forget their inferior rank. She was not rendered formidable by +silence; but whatever she said was spoken in so authoritative a tone, +as marked her self-importance, and brought Mr. Wickham immediately to +Elizabeth's mind; and from the observation of the day altogether, she +believed Lady Catherine to be exactly what he represented. + +When, after examining the mother, in whose countenance and deportment +she soon found some resemblance of Mr. Darcy, she turned her eyes on the +daughter, she could almost have joined in Maria's astonishment at her +being so thin and so small. There was neither in figure nor face any +likeness between the ladies. Miss de Bourgh was pale and sickly; her +features, though not plain, were insignificant; and she spoke very +little, except in a low voice, to Mrs. Jenkinson, in whose appearance +there was nothing remarkable, and who was entirely engaged in listening +to what she said, and placing a screen in the proper direction before +her eyes. + +After sitting a few minutes, they were all sent to one of the windows to +admire the view, Mr. Collins attending them to point out its beauties, +and Lady Catherine kindly informing them that it was much better worth +looking at in the summer. + +The dinner was exceedingly handsome, and there were all the servants and +all the articles of plate which Mr. Collins had promised; and, as he had +likewise foretold, he took his seat at the bottom of the table, by her +ladyship's desire, and looked as if he felt that life could furnish +nothing greater. He carved, and ate, and praised with delighted +alacrity; and every dish was commended, first by him and then by Sir +William, who was now enough recovered to echo whatever his son-in-law +said, in a manner which Elizabeth wondered Lady Catherine could bear. +But Lady Catherine seemed gratified by their excessive admiration, and +gave most gracious smiles, especially when any dish on the table proved +a novelty to them. The party did not supply much conversation. Elizabeth +was ready to speak whenever there was an opening, but she was seated +between Charlotte and Miss de Bourgh--the former of whom was engaged in +listening to Lady Catherine, and the latter said not a word to her all +dinner-time. Mrs. Jenkinson was chiefly employed in watching how little +Miss de Bourgh ate, pressing her to try some other dish, and fearing +she was indisposed. Maria thought speaking out of the question, and the +gentlemen did nothing but eat and admire. + +When the ladies returned to the drawing-room, there was little to +be done but to hear Lady Catherine talk, which she did without any +intermission till coffee came in, delivering her opinion on every +subject in so decisive a manner, as proved that she was not used to +have her judgement controverted. She inquired into Charlotte's domestic +concerns familiarly and minutely, gave her a great deal of advice as +to the management of them all; told her how everything ought to be +regulated in so small a family as hers, and instructed her as to the +care of her cows and her poultry. Elizabeth found that nothing was +beneath this great lady's attention, which could furnish her with an +occasion of dictating to others. In the intervals of her discourse +with Mrs. Collins, she addressed a variety of questions to Maria and +Elizabeth, but especially to the latter, of whose connections she knew +the least, and who she observed to Mrs. Collins was a very genteel, +pretty kind of girl. She asked her, at different times, how many sisters +she had, whether they were older or younger than herself, whether any of +them were likely to be married, whether they were handsome, where they +had been educated, what carriage her father kept, and what had been +her mother's maiden name? Elizabeth felt all the impertinence of +her questions but answered them very composedly. Lady Catherine then +observed, + +"Your father's estate is entailed on Mr. Collins, I think. For your +sake," turning to Charlotte, "I am glad of it; but otherwise I see no +occasion for entailing estates from the female line. It was not thought +necessary in Sir Lewis de Bourgh's family. Do you play and sing, Miss +Bennet?" + +"A little." + +"Oh! then--some time or other we shall be happy to hear you. Our +instrument is a capital one, probably superior to----You shall try it +some day. Do your sisters play and sing?" + +"One of them does." + +"Why did not you all learn? You ought all to have learned. The Miss +Webbs all play, and their father has not so good an income as yours. Do +you draw?" + +"No, not at all." + +"What, none of you?" + +"Not one." + +"That is very strange. But I suppose you had no opportunity. Your mother +should have taken you to town every spring for the benefit of masters." + +"My mother would have had no objection, but my father hates London." + +"Has your governess left you?" + +"We never had any governess." + +"No governess! How was that possible? Five daughters brought up at home +without a governess! I never heard of such a thing. Your mother must +have been quite a slave to your education." + +Elizabeth could hardly help smiling as she assured her that had not been +the case. + +"Then, who taught you? who attended to you? Without a governess, you +must have been neglected." + +"Compared with some families, I believe we were; but such of us as +wished to learn never wanted the means. We were always encouraged to +read, and had all the masters that were necessary. Those who chose to be +idle, certainly might." + +"Aye, no doubt; but that is what a governess will prevent, and if I had +known your mother, I should have advised her most strenuously to engage +one. I always say that nothing is to be done in education without steady +and regular instruction, and nobody but a governess can give it. It is +wonderful how many families I have been the means of supplying in that +way. I am always glad to get a young person well placed out. Four nieces +of Mrs. Jenkinson are most delightfully situated through my means; and +it was but the other day that I recommended another young person, +who was merely accidentally mentioned to me, and the family are quite +delighted with her. Mrs. Collins, did I tell you of Lady Metcalf's +calling yesterday to thank me? She finds Miss Pope a treasure. 'Lady +Catherine,' said she, 'you have given me a treasure.' Are any of your +younger sisters out, Miss Bennet?" + +"Yes, ma'am, all." + +"All! What, all five out at once? Very odd! And you only the second. The +younger ones out before the elder ones are married! Your younger sisters +must be very young?" + +"Yes, my youngest is not sixteen. Perhaps _she_ is full young to be +much in company. But really, ma'am, I think it would be very hard upon +younger sisters, that they should not have their share of society and +amusement, because the elder may not have the means or inclination to +marry early. The last-born has as good a right to the pleasures of youth +as the first. And to be kept back on _such_ a motive! I think it would +not be very likely to promote sisterly affection or delicacy of mind." + +"Upon my word," said her ladyship, "you give your opinion very decidedly +for so young a person. Pray, what is your age?" + +"With three younger sisters grown up," replied Elizabeth, smiling, "your +ladyship can hardly expect me to own it." + +Lady Catherine seemed quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer; +and Elizabeth suspected herself to be the first creature who had ever +dared to trifle with so much dignified impertinence. + +"You cannot be more than twenty, I am sure, therefore you need not +conceal your age." + +"I am not one-and-twenty." + +When the gentlemen had joined them, and tea was over, the card-tables +were placed. Lady Catherine, Sir William, and Mr. and Mrs. Collins sat +down to quadrille; and as Miss de Bourgh chose to play at cassino, the +two girls had the honour of assisting Mrs. Jenkinson to make up her +party. Their table was superlatively stupid. Scarcely a syllable was +uttered that did not relate to the game, except when Mrs. Jenkinson +expressed her fears of Miss de Bourgh's being too hot or too cold, or +having too much or too little light. A great deal more passed at the +other table. Lady Catherine was generally speaking--stating the mistakes +of the three others, or relating some anecdote of herself. Mr. Collins +was employed in agreeing to everything her ladyship said, thanking her +for every fish he won, and apologising if he thought he won too many. +Sir William did not say much. He was storing his memory with anecdotes +and noble names. + +When Lady Catherine and her daughter had played as long as they chose, +the tables were broken up, the carriage was offered to Mrs. Collins, +gratefully accepted and immediately ordered. The party then gathered +round the fire to hear Lady Catherine determine what weather they were +to have on the morrow. From these instructions they were summoned by +the arrival of the coach; and with many speeches of thankfulness on Mr. +Collins's side and as many bows on Sir William's they departed. As soon +as they had driven from the door, Elizabeth was called on by her cousin +to give her opinion of all that she had seen at Rosings, which, for +Charlotte's sake, she made more favourable than it really was. But her +commendation, though costing her some trouble, could by no means satisfy +Mr. Collins, and he was very soon obliged to take her ladyship's praise +into his own hands. + + + +Chapter 30 + + +Sir William stayed only a week at Hunsford, but his visit was long +enough to convince him of his daughter's being most comfortably settled, +and of her possessing such a husband and such a neighbour as were not +often met with. While Sir William was with them, Mr. Collins devoted his +morning to driving him out in his gig, and showing him the country; but +when he went away, the whole family returned to their usual employments, +and Elizabeth was thankful to find that they did not see more of her +cousin by the alteration, for the chief of the time between breakfast +and dinner was now passed by him either at work in the garden or in +reading and writing, and looking out of the window in his own book-room, +which fronted the road. The room in which the ladies sat was backwards. +Elizabeth had at first rather wondered that Charlotte should not prefer +the dining-parlour for common use; it was a better sized room, and had a +more pleasant aspect; but she soon saw that her friend had an excellent +reason for what she did, for Mr. Collins would undoubtedly have been +much less in his own apartment, had they sat in one equally lively; and +she gave Charlotte credit for the arrangement. + +From the drawing-room they could distinguish nothing in the lane, and +were indebted to Mr. Collins for the knowledge of what carriages went +along, and how often especially Miss de Bourgh drove by in her phaeton, +which he never failed coming to inform them of, though it happened +almost every day. She not unfrequently stopped at the Parsonage, and +had a few minutes' conversation with Charlotte, but was scarcely ever +prevailed upon to get out. + +Very few days passed in which Mr. Collins did not walk to Rosings, and +not many in which his wife did not think it necessary to go likewise; +and till Elizabeth recollected that there might be other family livings +to be disposed of, she could not understand the sacrifice of so many +hours. Now and then they were honoured with a call from her ladyship, +and nothing escaped her observation that was passing in the room during +these visits. She examined into their employments, looked at their work, +and advised them to do it differently; found fault with the arrangement +of the furniture; or detected the housemaid in negligence; and if she +accepted any refreshment, seemed to do it only for the sake of finding +out that Mrs. Collins's joints of meat were too large for her family. + +Elizabeth soon perceived, that though this great lady was not in +commission of the peace of the county, she was a most active magistrate +in her own parish, the minutest concerns of which were carried to her +by Mr. Collins; and whenever any of the cottagers were disposed to +be quarrelsome, discontented, or too poor, she sallied forth into the +village to settle their differences, silence their complaints, and scold +them into harmony and plenty. + +The entertainment of dining at Rosings was repeated about twice a week; +and, allowing for the loss of Sir William, and there being only one +card-table in the evening, every such entertainment was the counterpart +of the first. Their other engagements were few, as the style of living +in the neighbourhood in general was beyond Mr. Collins's reach. This, +however, was no evil to Elizabeth, and upon the whole she spent her time +comfortably enough; there were half-hours of pleasant conversation with +Charlotte, and the weather was so fine for the time of year that she had +often great enjoyment out of doors. Her favourite walk, and where she +frequently went while the others were calling on Lady Catherine, was +along the open grove which edged that side of the park, where there was +a nice sheltered path, which no one seemed to value but herself, and +where she felt beyond the reach of Lady Catherine's curiosity. + +In this quiet way, the first fortnight of her visit soon passed away. +Easter was approaching, and the week preceding it was to bring an +addition to the family at Rosings, which in so small a circle must be +important. Elizabeth had heard soon after her arrival that Mr. Darcy was +expected there in the course of a few weeks, and though there were not +many of her acquaintances whom she did not prefer, his coming would +furnish one comparatively new to look at in their Rosings parties, and +she might be amused in seeing how hopeless Miss Bingley's designs on him +were, by his behaviour to his cousin, for whom he was evidently +destined by Lady Catherine, who talked of his coming with the greatest +satisfaction, spoke of him in terms of the highest admiration, and +seemed almost angry to find that he had already been frequently seen by +Miss Lucas and herself. + +His arrival was soon known at the Parsonage; for Mr. Collins was walking +the whole morning within view of the lodges opening into Hunsford Lane, +in order to have the earliest assurance of it, and after making his +bow as the carriage turned into the Park, hurried home with the great +intelligence. On the following morning he hastened to Rosings to pay his +respects. There were two nephews of Lady Catherine to require them, for +Mr. Darcy had brought with him a Colonel Fitzwilliam, the younger son of +his uncle Lord ----, and, to the great surprise of all the party, when +Mr. Collins returned, the gentlemen accompanied him. Charlotte had seen +them from her husband's room, crossing the road, and immediately running +into the other, told the girls what an honour they might expect, adding: + +"I may thank you, Eliza, for this piece of civility. Mr. Darcy would +never have come so soon to wait upon me." + +Elizabeth had scarcely time to disclaim all right to the compliment, +before their approach was announced by the door-bell, and shortly +afterwards the three gentlemen entered the room. Colonel Fitzwilliam, +who led the way, was about thirty, not handsome, but in person and +address most truly the gentleman. Mr. Darcy looked just as he had been +used to look in Hertfordshire--paid his compliments, with his usual +reserve, to Mrs. Collins, and whatever might be his feelings toward her +friend, met her with every appearance of composure. Elizabeth merely +curtseyed to him without saying a word. + +Colonel Fitzwilliam entered into conversation directly with the +readiness and ease of a well-bred man, and talked very pleasantly; but +his cousin, after having addressed a slight observation on the house and +garden to Mrs. Collins, sat for some time without speaking to anybody. +At length, however, his civility was so far awakened as to inquire of +Elizabeth after the health of her family. She answered him in the usual +way, and after a moment's pause, added: + +"My eldest sister has been in town these three months. Have you never +happened to see her there?" + +She was perfectly sensible that he never had; but she wished to see +whether he would betray any consciousness of what had passed between +the Bingleys and Jane, and she thought he looked a little confused as he +answered that he had never been so fortunate as to meet Miss Bennet. The +subject was pursued no farther, and the gentlemen soon afterwards went +away. + + + +Chapter 31 + + +Colonel Fitzwilliam's manners were very much admired at the Parsonage, +and the ladies all felt that he must add considerably to the pleasures +of their engagements at Rosings. It was some days, however, before they +received any invitation thither--for while there were visitors in the +house, they could not be necessary; and it was not till Easter-day, +almost a week after the gentlemen's arrival, that they were honoured by +such an attention, and then they were merely asked on leaving church to +come there in the evening. For the last week they had seen very little +of Lady Catherine or her daughter. Colonel Fitzwilliam had called at the +Parsonage more than once during the time, but Mr. Darcy they had seen +only at church. + +The invitation was accepted of course, and at a proper hour they joined +the party in Lady Catherine's drawing-room. Her ladyship received +them civilly, but it was plain that their company was by no means so +acceptable as when she could get nobody else; and she was, in fact, +almost engrossed by her nephews, speaking to them, especially to Darcy, +much more than to any other person in the room. + +Colonel Fitzwilliam seemed really glad to see them; anything was a +welcome relief to him at Rosings; and Mrs. Collins's pretty friend had +moreover caught his fancy very much. He now seated himself by her, and +talked so agreeably of Kent and Hertfordshire, of travelling and staying +at home, of new books and music, that Elizabeth had never been half so +well entertained in that room before; and they conversed with so much +spirit and flow, as to draw the attention of Lady Catherine herself, +as well as of Mr. Darcy. _His_ eyes had been soon and repeatedly turned +towards them with a look of curiosity; and that her ladyship, after a +while, shared the feeling, was more openly acknowledged, for she did not +scruple to call out: + +"What is that you are saying, Fitzwilliam? What is it you are talking +of? What are you telling Miss Bennet? Let me hear what it is." + +"We are speaking of music, madam," said he, when no longer able to avoid +a reply. + +"Of music! Then pray speak aloud. It is of all subjects my delight. I +must have my share in the conversation if you are speaking of music. +There are few people in England, I suppose, who have more true enjoyment +of music than myself, or a better natural taste. If I had ever learnt, +I should have been a great proficient. And so would Anne, if her health +had allowed her to apply. I am confident that she would have performed +delightfully. How does Georgiana get on, Darcy?" + +Mr. Darcy spoke with affectionate praise of his sister's proficiency. + +"I am very glad to hear such a good account of her," said Lady +Catherine; "and pray tell her from me, that she cannot expect to excel +if she does not practice a good deal." + +"I assure you, madam," he replied, "that she does not need such advice. +She practises very constantly." + +"So much the better. It cannot be done too much; and when I next write +to her, I shall charge her not to neglect it on any account. I often +tell young ladies that no excellence in music is to be acquired without +constant practice. I have told Miss Bennet several times, that she +will never play really well unless she practises more; and though Mrs. +Collins has no instrument, she is very welcome, as I have often told +her, to come to Rosings every day, and play on the pianoforte in Mrs. +Jenkinson's room. She would be in nobody's way, you know, in that part +of the house." + +Mr. Darcy looked a little ashamed of his aunt's ill-breeding, and made +no answer. + +When coffee was over, Colonel Fitzwilliam reminded Elizabeth of having +promised to play to him; and she sat down directly to the instrument. He +drew a chair near her. Lady Catherine listened to half a song, and then +talked, as before, to her other nephew; till the latter walked away +from her, and making with his usual deliberation towards the pianoforte +stationed himself so as to command a full view of the fair performer's +countenance. Elizabeth saw what he was doing, and at the first +convenient pause, turned to him with an arch smile, and said: + +"You mean to frighten me, Mr. Darcy, by coming in all this state to hear +me? I will not be alarmed though your sister _does_ play so well. There +is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the +will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate +me." + +"I shall not say you are mistaken," he replied, "because you could not +really believe me to entertain any design of alarming you; and I have +had the pleasure of your acquaintance long enough to know that you find +great enjoyment in occasionally professing opinions which in fact are +not your own." + +Elizabeth laughed heartily at this picture of herself, and said to +Colonel Fitzwilliam, "Your cousin will give you a very pretty notion of +me, and teach you not to believe a word I say. I am particularly unlucky +in meeting with a person so able to expose my real character, in a part +of the world where I had hoped to pass myself off with some degree of +credit. Indeed, Mr. Darcy, it is very ungenerous in you to mention all +that you knew to my disadvantage in Hertfordshire--and, give me leave to +say, very impolitic too--for it is provoking me to retaliate, and such +things may come out as will shock your relations to hear." + +"I am not afraid of you," said he, smilingly. + +"Pray let me hear what you have to accuse him of," cried Colonel +Fitzwilliam. "I should like to know how he behaves among strangers." + +"You shall hear then--but prepare yourself for something very dreadful. +The first time of my ever seeing him in Hertfordshire, you must know, +was at a ball--and at this ball, what do you think he did? He danced +only four dances, though gentlemen were scarce; and, to my certain +knowledge, more than one young lady was sitting down in want of a +partner. Mr. Darcy, you cannot deny the fact." + +"I had not at that time the honour of knowing any lady in the assembly +beyond my own party." + +"True; and nobody can ever be introduced in a ball-room. Well, Colonel +Fitzwilliam, what do I play next? My fingers wait your orders." + +"Perhaps," said Darcy, "I should have judged better, had I sought an +introduction; but I am ill-qualified to recommend myself to strangers." + +"Shall we ask your cousin the reason of this?" said Elizabeth, still +addressing Colonel Fitzwilliam. "Shall we ask him why a man of sense and +education, and who has lived in the world, is ill qualified to recommend +himself to strangers?" + +"I can answer your question," said Fitzwilliam, "without applying to +him. It is because he will not give himself the trouble." + +"I certainly have not the talent which some people possess," said Darcy, +"of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot +catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their +concerns, as I often see done." + +"My fingers," said Elizabeth, "do not move over this instrument in the +masterly manner which I see so many women's do. They have not the same +force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression. But then I +have always supposed it to be my own fault--because I will not take the +trouble of practising. It is not that I do not believe _my_ fingers as +capable as any other woman's of superior execution." + +Darcy smiled and said, "You are perfectly right. You have employed your +time much better. No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you can +think anything wanting. We neither of us perform to strangers." + +Here they were interrupted by Lady Catherine, who called out to know +what they were talking of. Elizabeth immediately began playing again. +Lady Catherine approached, and, after listening for a few minutes, said +to Darcy: + +"Miss Bennet would not play at all amiss if she practised more, and +could have the advantage of a London master. She has a very good notion +of fingering, though her taste is not equal to Anne's. Anne would have +been a delightful performer, had her health allowed her to learn." + +Elizabeth looked at Darcy to see how cordially he assented to his +cousin's praise; but neither at that moment nor at any other could she +discern any symptom of love; and from the whole of his behaviour to Miss +de Bourgh she derived this comfort for Miss Bingley, that he might have +been just as likely to marry _her_, had she been his relation. + +Lady Catherine continued her remarks on Elizabeth's performance, mixing +with them many instructions on execution and taste. Elizabeth received +them with all the forbearance of civility, and, at the request of the +gentlemen, remained at the instrument till her ladyship's carriage was +ready to take them all home. + + + +Chapter 32 + + +Elizabeth was sitting by herself the next morning, and writing to Jane +while Mrs. Collins and Maria were gone on business into the village, +when she was startled by a ring at the door, the certain signal of a +visitor. As she had heard no carriage, she thought it not unlikely to +be Lady Catherine, and under that apprehension was putting away her +half-finished letter that she might escape all impertinent questions, +when the door opened, and, to her very great surprise, Mr. Darcy, and +Mr. Darcy only, entered the room. + +He seemed astonished too on finding her alone, and apologised for his +intrusion by letting her know that he had understood all the ladies were +to be within. + +They then sat down, and when her inquiries after Rosings were made, +seemed in danger of sinking into total silence. It was absolutely +necessary, therefore, to think of something, and in this emergence +recollecting _when_ she had seen him last in Hertfordshire, and +feeling curious to know what he would say on the subject of their hasty +departure, she observed: + +"How very suddenly you all quitted Netherfield last November, Mr. Darcy! +It must have been a most agreeable surprise to Mr. Bingley to see you +all after him so soon; for, if I recollect right, he went but the day +before. He and his sisters were well, I hope, when you left London?" + +"Perfectly so, I thank you." + +She found that she was to receive no other answer, and, after a short +pause added: + +"I think I have understood that Mr. Bingley has not much idea of ever +returning to Netherfield again?" + +"I have never heard him say so; but it is probable that he may spend +very little of his time there in the future. He has many friends, and +is at a time of life when friends and engagements are continually +increasing." + +"If he means to be but little at Netherfield, it would be better for +the neighbourhood that he should give up the place entirely, for then we +might possibly get a settled family there. But, perhaps, Mr. Bingley did +not take the house so much for the convenience of the neighbourhood as +for his own, and we must expect him to keep it or quit it on the same +principle." + +"I should not be surprised," said Darcy, "if he were to give it up as +soon as any eligible purchase offers." + +Elizabeth made no answer. She was afraid of talking longer of his +friend; and, having nothing else to say, was now determined to leave the +trouble of finding a subject to him. + +He took the hint, and soon began with, "This seems a very comfortable +house. Lady Catherine, I believe, did a great deal to it when Mr. +Collins first came to Hunsford." + +"I believe she did--and I am sure she could not have bestowed her +kindness on a more grateful object." + +"Mr. Collins appears to be very fortunate in his choice of a wife." + +"Yes, indeed, his friends may well rejoice in his having met with one +of the very few sensible women who would have accepted him, or have made +him happy if they had. My friend has an excellent understanding--though +I am not certain that I consider her marrying Mr. Collins as the +wisest thing she ever did. She seems perfectly happy, however, and in a +prudential light it is certainly a very good match for her." + +"It must be very agreeable for her to be settled within so easy a +distance of her own family and friends." + +"An easy distance, do you call it? It is nearly fifty miles." + +"And what is fifty miles of good road? Little more than half a day's +journey. Yes, I call it a _very_ easy distance." + +"I should never have considered the distance as one of the _advantages_ +of the match," cried Elizabeth. "I should never have said Mrs. Collins +was settled _near_ her family." + +"It is a proof of your own attachment to Hertfordshire. Anything beyond +the very neighbourhood of Longbourn, I suppose, would appear far." + +As he spoke there was a sort of smile which Elizabeth fancied she +understood; he must be supposing her to be thinking of Jane and +Netherfield, and she blushed as she answered: + +"I do not mean to say that a woman may not be settled too near her +family. The far and the near must be relative, and depend on many +varying circumstances. Where there is fortune to make the expenses of +travelling unimportant, distance becomes no evil. But that is not the +case _here_. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have a comfortable income, but not +such a one as will allow of frequent journeys--and I am persuaded my +friend would not call herself _near_ her family under less than _half_ +the present distance." + +Mr. Darcy drew his chair a little towards her, and said, "_You_ cannot +have a right to such very strong local attachment. _You_ cannot have +been always at Longbourn." + +Elizabeth looked surprised. The gentleman experienced some change of +feeling; he drew back his chair, took a newspaper from the table, and +glancing over it, said, in a colder voice: + +"Are you pleased with Kent?" + +A short dialogue on the subject of the country ensued, on either side +calm and concise--and soon put an end to by the entrance of Charlotte +and her sister, just returned from her walk. The tete-a-tete surprised +them. Mr. Darcy related the mistake which had occasioned his intruding +on Miss Bennet, and after sitting a few minutes longer without saying +much to anybody, went away. + +"What can be the meaning of this?" said Charlotte, as soon as he was +gone. "My dear, Eliza, he must be in love with you, or he would never +have called us in this familiar way." + +But when Elizabeth told of his silence, it did not seem very likely, +even to Charlotte's wishes, to be the case; and after various +conjectures, they could at last only suppose his visit to proceed from +the difficulty of finding anything to do, which was the more probable +from the time of year. All field sports were over. Within doors there +was Lady Catherine, books, and a billiard-table, but gentlemen cannot +always be within doors; and in the nearness of the Parsonage, or the +pleasantness of the walk to it, or of the people who lived in it, the +two cousins found a temptation from this period of walking thither +almost every day. They called at various times of the morning, sometimes +separately, sometimes together, and now and then accompanied by their +aunt. It was plain to them all that Colonel Fitzwilliam came because he +had pleasure in their society, a persuasion which of course recommended +him still more; and Elizabeth was reminded by her own satisfaction in +being with him, as well as by his evident admiration of her, of her +former favourite George Wickham; and though, in comparing them, she saw +there was less captivating softness in Colonel Fitzwilliam's manners, +she believed he might have the best informed mind. + +But why Mr. Darcy came so often to the Parsonage, it was more difficult +to understand. It could not be for society, as he frequently sat there +ten minutes together without opening his lips; and when he did speak, +it seemed the effect of necessity rather than of choice--a sacrifice +to propriety, not a pleasure to himself. He seldom appeared really +animated. Mrs. Collins knew not what to make of him. Colonel +Fitzwilliam's occasionally laughing at his stupidity, proved that he was +generally different, which her own knowledge of him could not have told +her; and as she would liked to have believed this change the effect +of love, and the object of that love her friend Eliza, she set herself +seriously to work to find it out. She watched him whenever they were at +Rosings, and whenever he came to Hunsford; but without much success. He +certainly looked at her friend a great deal, but the expression of that +look was disputable. It was an earnest, steadfast gaze, but she often +doubted whether there were much admiration in it, and sometimes it +seemed nothing but absence of mind. + +She had once or twice suggested to Elizabeth the possibility of his +being partial to her, but Elizabeth always laughed at the idea; and Mrs. +Collins did not think it right to press the subject, from the danger of +raising expectations which might only end in disappointment; for in her +opinion it admitted not of a doubt, that all her friend's dislike would +vanish, if she could suppose him to be in her power. + + +In her kind schemes for Elizabeth, she sometimes planned her marrying +Colonel Fitzwilliam. He was beyond comparison the most pleasant man; he +certainly admired her, and his situation in life was most eligible; but, +to counterbalance these advantages, Mr. Darcy had considerable patronage +in the church, and his cousin could have none at all. + + + +Chapter 33 + + +More than once did Elizabeth, in her ramble within the park, +unexpectedly meet Mr. Darcy. She felt all the perverseness of the +mischance that should bring him where no one else was brought, and, to +prevent its ever happening again, took care to inform him at first that +it was a favourite haunt of hers. How it could occur a second time, +therefore, was very odd! Yet it did, and even a third. It seemed like +wilful ill-nature, or a voluntary penance, for on these occasions it was +not merely a few formal inquiries and an awkward pause and then away, +but he actually thought it necessary to turn back and walk with her. He +never said a great deal, nor did she give herself the trouble of talking +or of listening much; but it struck her in the course of their third +rencontre that he was asking some odd unconnected questions--about +her pleasure in being at Hunsford, her love of solitary walks, and her +opinion of Mr. and Mrs. Collins's happiness; and that in speaking of +Rosings and her not perfectly understanding the house, he seemed to +expect that whenever she came into Kent again she would be staying +_there_ too. His words seemed to imply it. Could he have Colonel +Fitzwilliam in his thoughts? She supposed, if he meant anything, he must +mean an allusion to what might arise in that quarter. It distressed +her a little, and she was quite glad to find herself at the gate in the +pales opposite the Parsonage. + +She was engaged one day as she walked, in perusing Jane's last letter, +and dwelling on some passages which proved that Jane had not written in +spirits, when, instead of being again surprised by Mr. Darcy, she saw +on looking up that Colonel Fitzwilliam was meeting her. Putting away the +letter immediately and forcing a smile, she said: + +"I did not know before that you ever walked this way." + +"I have been making the tour of the park," he replied, "as I generally +do every year, and intend to close it with a call at the Parsonage. Are +you going much farther?" + +"No, I should have turned in a moment." + +And accordingly she did turn, and they walked towards the Parsonage +together. + +"Do you certainly leave Kent on Saturday?" said she. + +"Yes--if Darcy does not put it off again. But I am at his disposal. He +arranges the business just as he pleases." + +"And if not able to please himself in the arrangement, he has at least +pleasure in the great power of choice. I do not know anybody who seems +more to enjoy the power of doing what he likes than Mr. Darcy." + +"He likes to have his own way very well," replied Colonel Fitzwilliam. +"But so we all do. It is only that he has better means of having it +than many others, because he is rich, and many others are poor. I speak +feelingly. A younger son, you know, must be inured to self-denial and +dependence." + +"In my opinion, the younger son of an earl can know very little of +either. Now seriously, what have you ever known of self-denial and +dependence? When have you been prevented by want of money from going +wherever you chose, or procuring anything you had a fancy for?" + +"These are home questions--and perhaps I cannot say that I have +experienced many hardships of that nature. But in matters of greater +weight, I may suffer from want of money. Younger sons cannot marry where +they like." + +"Unless where they like women of fortune, which I think they very often +do." + +"Our habits of expense make us too dependent, and there are not many +in my rank of life who can afford to marry without some attention to +money." + +"Is this," thought Elizabeth, "meant for me?" and she coloured at the +idea; but, recovering herself, said in a lively tone, "And pray, what +is the usual price of an earl's younger son? Unless the elder brother is +very sickly, I suppose you would not ask above fifty thousand pounds." + +He answered her in the same style, and the subject dropped. To interrupt +a silence which might make him fancy her affected with what had passed, +she soon afterwards said: + +"I imagine your cousin brought you down with him chiefly for the sake of +having someone at his disposal. I wonder he does not marry, to secure a +lasting convenience of that kind. But, perhaps, his sister does as well +for the present, and, as she is under his sole care, he may do what he +likes with her." + +"No," said Colonel Fitzwilliam, "that is an advantage which he must +divide with me. I am joined with him in the guardianship of Miss Darcy." + +"Are you indeed? And pray what sort of guardians do you make? Does your +charge give you much trouble? Young ladies of her age are sometimes a +little difficult to manage, and if she has the true Darcy spirit, she +may like to have her own way." + +As she spoke she observed him looking at her earnestly; and the manner +in which he immediately asked her why she supposed Miss Darcy likely to +give them any uneasiness, convinced her that she had somehow or other +got pretty near the truth. She directly replied: + +"You need not be frightened. I never heard any harm of her; and I dare +say she is one of the most tractable creatures in the world. She is a +very great favourite with some ladies of my acquaintance, Mrs. Hurst and +Miss Bingley. I think I have heard you say that you know them." + +"I know them a little. Their brother is a pleasant gentlemanlike man--he +is a great friend of Darcy's." + +"Oh! yes," said Elizabeth drily; "Mr. Darcy is uncommonly kind to Mr. +Bingley, and takes a prodigious deal of care of him." + +"Care of him! Yes, I really believe Darcy _does_ take care of him in +those points where he most wants care. From something that he told me in +our journey hither, I have reason to think Bingley very much indebted to +him. But I ought to beg his pardon, for I have no right to suppose that +Bingley was the person meant. It was all conjecture." + +"What is it you mean?" + +"It is a circumstance which Darcy could not wish to be generally known, +because if it were to get round to the lady's family, it would be an +unpleasant thing." + +"You may depend upon my not mentioning it." + +"And remember that I have not much reason for supposing it to be +Bingley. What he told me was merely this: that he congratulated himself +on having lately saved a friend from the inconveniences of a most +imprudent marriage, but without mentioning names or any other +particulars, and I only suspected it to be Bingley from believing +him the kind of young man to get into a scrape of that sort, and from +knowing them to have been together the whole of last summer." + +"Did Mr. Darcy give you reasons for this interference?" + +"I understood that there were some very strong objections against the +lady." + +"And what arts did he use to separate them?" + +"He did not talk to me of his own arts," said Fitzwilliam, smiling. "He +only told me what I have now told you." + +Elizabeth made no answer, and walked on, her heart swelling with +indignation. After watching her a little, Fitzwilliam asked her why she +was so thoughtful. + +"I am thinking of what you have been telling me," said she. "Your +cousin's conduct does not suit my feelings. Why was he to be the judge?" + +"You are rather disposed to call his interference officious?" + +"I do not see what right Mr. Darcy had to decide on the propriety of his +friend's inclination, or why, upon his own judgement alone, he was to +determine and direct in what manner his friend was to be happy. +But," she continued, recollecting herself, "as we know none of the +particulars, it is not fair to condemn him. It is not to be supposed +that there was much affection in the case." + +"That is not an unnatural surmise," said Fitzwilliam, "but it is a +lessening of the honour of my cousin's triumph very sadly." + +This was spoken jestingly; but it appeared to her so just a picture +of Mr. Darcy, that she would not trust herself with an answer, and +therefore, abruptly changing the conversation talked on indifferent +matters until they reached the Parsonage. There, shut into her own room, +as soon as their visitor left them, she could think without interruption +of all that she had heard. It was not to be supposed that any other +people could be meant than those with whom she was connected. There +could not exist in the world _two_ men over whom Mr. Darcy could have +such boundless influence. That he had been concerned in the measures +taken to separate Bingley and Jane she had never doubted; but she had +always attributed to Miss Bingley the principal design and arrangement +of them. If his own vanity, however, did not mislead him, _he_ was +the cause, his pride and caprice were the cause, of all that Jane had +suffered, and still continued to suffer. He had ruined for a while +every hope of happiness for the most affectionate, generous heart in the +world; and no one could say how lasting an evil he might have inflicted. + +"There were some very strong objections against the lady," were Colonel +Fitzwilliam's words; and those strong objections probably were, her +having one uncle who was a country attorney, and another who was in +business in London. + +"To Jane herself," she exclaimed, "there could be no possibility of +objection; all loveliness and goodness as she is!--her understanding +excellent, her mind improved, and her manners captivating. Neither +could anything be urged against my father, who, though with some +peculiarities, has abilities Mr. Darcy himself need not disdain, and +respectability which he will probably never reach." When she thought of +her mother, her confidence gave way a little; but she would not allow +that any objections _there_ had material weight with Mr. Darcy, whose +pride, she was convinced, would receive a deeper wound from the want of +importance in his friend's connections, than from their want of sense; +and she was quite decided, at last, that he had been partly governed +by this worst kind of pride, and partly by the wish of retaining Mr. +Bingley for his sister. + +The agitation and tears which the subject occasioned, brought on a +headache; and it grew so much worse towards the evening, that, added to +her unwillingness to see Mr. Darcy, it determined her not to attend her +cousins to Rosings, where they were engaged to drink tea. Mrs. Collins, +seeing that she was really unwell, did not press her to go and as much +as possible prevented her husband from pressing her; but Mr. Collins +could not conceal his apprehension of Lady Catherine's being rather +displeased by her staying at home. + + + +Chapter 34 + + +When they were gone, Elizabeth, as if intending to exasperate herself +as much as possible against Mr. Darcy, chose for her employment the +examination of all the letters which Jane had written to her since her +being in Kent. They contained no actual complaint, nor was there any +revival of past occurrences, or any communication of present suffering. +But in all, and in almost every line of each, there was a want of that +cheerfulness which had been used to characterise her style, and which, +proceeding from the serenity of a mind at ease with itself and kindly +disposed towards everyone, had been scarcely ever clouded. Elizabeth +noticed every sentence conveying the idea of uneasiness, with an +attention which it had hardly received on the first perusal. Mr. Darcy's +shameful boast of what misery he had been able to inflict, gave her +a keener sense of her sister's sufferings. It was some consolation +to think that his visit to Rosings was to end on the day after the +next--and, a still greater, that in less than a fortnight she should +herself be with Jane again, and enabled to contribute to the recovery of +her spirits, by all that affection could do. + +She could not think of Darcy's leaving Kent without remembering that +his cousin was to go with him; but Colonel Fitzwilliam had made it clear +that he had no intentions at all, and agreeable as he was, she did not +mean to be unhappy about him. + +While settling this point, she was suddenly roused by the sound of the +door-bell, and her spirits were a little fluttered by the idea of its +being Colonel Fitzwilliam himself, who had once before called late in +the evening, and might now come to inquire particularly after her. +But this idea was soon banished, and her spirits were very differently +affected, when, to her utter amazement, she saw Mr. Darcy walk into the +room. In an hurried manner he immediately began an inquiry after her +health, imputing his visit to a wish of hearing that she were better. +She answered him with cold civility. He sat down for a few moments, and +then getting up, walked about the room. Elizabeth was surprised, but +said not a word. After a silence of several minutes, he came towards her +in an agitated manner, and thus began: + +"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be +repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love +you." + +Elizabeth's astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, +doubted, and was silent. This he considered sufficient encouragement; +and the avowal of all that he felt, and had long felt for her, +immediately followed. He spoke well; but there were feelings besides +those of the heart to be detailed; and he was not more eloquent on the +subject of tenderness than of pride. His sense of her inferiority--of +its being a degradation--of the family obstacles which had always +opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to +the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his +suit. + +In spite of her deeply-rooted dislike, she could not be insensible to +the compliment of such a man's affection, and though her intentions did +not vary for an instant, she was at first sorry for the pain he was to +receive; till, roused to resentment by his subsequent language, she +lost all compassion in anger. She tried, however, to compose herself to +answer him with patience, when he should have done. He concluded with +representing to her the strength of that attachment which, in spite +of all his endeavours, he had found impossible to conquer; and with +expressing his hope that it would now be rewarded by her acceptance of +his hand. As he said this, she could easily see that he had no doubt +of a favourable answer. He _spoke_ of apprehension and anxiety, but +his countenance expressed real security. Such a circumstance could +only exasperate farther, and, when he ceased, the colour rose into her +cheeks, and she said: + +"In such cases as this, it is, I believe, the established mode to +express a sense of obligation for the sentiments avowed, however +unequally they may be returned. It is natural that obligation should +be felt, and if I could _feel_ gratitude, I would now thank you. But I +cannot--I have never desired your good opinion, and you have certainly +bestowed it most unwillingly. I am sorry to have occasioned pain to +anyone. It has been most unconsciously done, however, and I hope will be +of short duration. The feelings which, you tell me, have long prevented +the acknowledgment of your regard, can have little difficulty in +overcoming it after this explanation." + +Mr. Darcy, who was leaning against the mantelpiece with his eyes fixed +on her face, seemed to catch her words with no less resentment than +surprise. His complexion became pale with anger, and the disturbance +of his mind was visible in every feature. He was struggling for the +appearance of composure, and would not open his lips till he believed +himself to have attained it. The pause was to Elizabeth's feelings +dreadful. At length, with a voice of forced calmness, he said: + +"And this is all the reply which I am to have the honour of expecting! +I might, perhaps, wish to be informed why, with so little _endeavour_ at +civility, I am thus rejected. But it is of small importance." + +"I might as well inquire," replied she, "why with so evident a desire +of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me +against your will, against your reason, and even against your character? +Was not this some excuse for incivility, if I _was_ uncivil? But I have +other provocations. You know I have. Had not my feelings decided against +you--had they been indifferent, or had they even been favourable, do you +think that any consideration would tempt me to accept the man who has +been the means of ruining, perhaps for ever, the happiness of a most +beloved sister?" + +As she pronounced these words, Mr. Darcy changed colour; but the emotion +was short, and he listened without attempting to interrupt her while she +continued: + +"I have every reason in the world to think ill of you. No motive can +excuse the unjust and ungenerous part you acted _there_. You dare not, +you cannot deny, that you have been the principal, if not the only means +of dividing them from each other--of exposing one to the censure of the +world for caprice and instability, and the other to its derision for +disappointed hopes, and involving them both in misery of the acutest +kind." + +She paused, and saw with no slight indignation that he was listening +with an air which proved him wholly unmoved by any feeling of remorse. +He even looked at her with a smile of affected incredulity. + +"Can you deny that you have done it?" she repeated. + +With assumed tranquillity he then replied: "I have no wish of denying +that I did everything in my power to separate my friend from your +sister, or that I rejoice in my success. Towards _him_ I have been +kinder than towards myself." + +Elizabeth disdained the appearance of noticing this civil reflection, +but its meaning did not escape, nor was it likely to conciliate her. + +"But it is not merely this affair," she continued, "on which my dislike +is founded. Long before it had taken place my opinion of you was +decided. Your character was unfolded in the recital which I received +many months ago from Mr. Wickham. On this subject, what can you have to +say? In what imaginary act of friendship can you here defend yourself? +or under what misrepresentation can you here impose upon others?" + +"You take an eager interest in that gentleman's concerns," said Darcy, +in a less tranquil tone, and with a heightened colour. + +"Who that knows what his misfortunes have been, can help feeling an +interest in him?" + +"His misfortunes!" repeated Darcy contemptuously; "yes, his misfortunes +have been great indeed." + +"And of your infliction," cried Elizabeth with energy. "You have reduced +him to his present state of poverty--comparative poverty. You have +withheld the advantages which you must know to have been designed for +him. You have deprived the best years of his life of that independence +which was no less his due than his desert. You have done all this! +and yet you can treat the mention of his misfortune with contempt and +ridicule." + +"And this," cried Darcy, as he walked with quick steps across the room, +"is your opinion of me! This is the estimation in which you hold me! +I thank you for explaining it so fully. My faults, according to this +calculation, are heavy indeed! But perhaps," added he, stopping in +his walk, and turning towards her, "these offenses might have been +overlooked, had not your pride been hurt by my honest confession of the +scruples that had long prevented my forming any serious design. These +bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I, with greater +policy, concealed my struggles, and flattered you into the belief of +my being impelled by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; by reason, by +reflection, by everything. But disguise of every sort is my abhorrence. +Nor am I ashamed of the feelings I related. They were natural and +just. Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your +connections?--to congratulate myself on the hope of relations, whose +condition in life is so decidedly beneath my own?" + +Elizabeth felt herself growing more angry every moment; yet she tried to +the utmost to speak with composure when she said: + +"You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your +declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared me the concern +which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more +gentlemanlike manner." + +She saw him start at this, but he said nothing, and she continued: + +"You could not have made the offer of your hand in any possible way that +would have tempted me to accept it." + +Again his astonishment was obvious; and he looked at her with an +expression of mingled incredulity and mortification. She went on: + +"From the very beginning--from the first moment, I may almost say--of +my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest +belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of +the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of +disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a +dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the +last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry." + +"You have said quite enough, madam. I perfectly comprehend your +feelings, and have now only to be ashamed of what my own have been. +Forgive me for having taken up so much of your time, and accept my best +wishes for your health and happiness." + +And with these words he hastily left the room, and Elizabeth heard him +the next moment open the front door and quit the house. + +The tumult of her mind, was now painfully great. She knew not how +to support herself, and from actual weakness sat down and cried for +half-an-hour. Her astonishment, as she reflected on what had passed, +was increased by every review of it. That she should receive an offer of +marriage from Mr. Darcy! That he should have been in love with her for +so many months! So much in love as to wish to marry her in spite of +all the objections which had made him prevent his friend's marrying +her sister, and which must appear at least with equal force in his +own case--was almost incredible! It was gratifying to have inspired +unconsciously so strong an affection. But his pride, his abominable +pride--his shameless avowal of what he had done with respect to +Jane--his unpardonable assurance in acknowledging, though he could +not justify it, and the unfeeling manner in which he had mentioned Mr. +Wickham, his cruelty towards whom he had not attempted to deny, soon +overcame the pity which the consideration of his attachment had for +a moment excited. She continued in very agitated reflections till the +sound of Lady Catherine's carriage made her feel how unequal she was to +encounter Charlotte's observation, and hurried her away to her room. + + + +Chapter 35 + + +Elizabeth awoke the next morning to the same thoughts and meditations +which had at length closed her eyes. She could not yet recover from the +surprise of what had happened; it was impossible to think of anything +else; and, totally indisposed for employment, she resolved, soon after +breakfast, to indulge herself in air and exercise. She was proceeding +directly to her favourite walk, when the recollection of Mr. Darcy's +sometimes coming there stopped her, and instead of entering the park, +she turned up the lane, which led farther from the turnpike-road. The +park paling was still the boundary on one side, and she soon passed one +of the gates into the ground. + +After walking two or three times along that part of the lane, she was +tempted, by the pleasantness of the morning, to stop at the gates and +look into the park. The five weeks which she had now passed in Kent had +made a great difference in the country, and every day was adding to the +verdure of the early trees. She was on the point of continuing her walk, +when she caught a glimpse of a gentleman within the sort of grove which +edged the park; he was moving that way; and, fearful of its being Mr. +Darcy, she was directly retreating. But the person who advanced was now +near enough to see her, and stepping forward with eagerness, pronounced +her name. She had turned away; but on hearing herself called, though +in a voice which proved it to be Mr. Darcy, she moved again towards the +gate. He had by that time reached it also, and, holding out a letter, +which she instinctively took, said, with a look of haughty composure, +"I have been walking in the grove some time in the hope of meeting you. +Will you do me the honour of reading that letter?" And then, with a +slight bow, turned again into the plantation, and was soon out of sight. + +With no expectation of pleasure, but with the strongest curiosity, +Elizabeth opened the letter, and, to her still increasing wonder, +perceived an envelope containing two sheets of letter-paper, written +quite through, in a very close hand. The envelope itself was likewise +full. Pursuing her way along the lane, she then began it. It was dated +from Rosings, at eight o'clock in the morning, and was as follows:-- + +"Be not alarmed, madam, on receiving this letter, by the apprehension +of its containing any repetition of those sentiments or renewal of those +offers which were last night so disgusting to you. I write without any +intention of paining you, or humbling myself, by dwelling on wishes +which, for the happiness of both, cannot be too soon forgotten; and the +effort which the formation and the perusal of this letter must occasion, +should have been spared, had not my character required it to be written +and read. You must, therefore, pardon the freedom with which I demand +your attention; your feelings, I know, will bestow it unwillingly, but I +demand it of your justice. + +"Two offenses of a very different nature, and by no means of equal +magnitude, you last night laid to my charge. The first mentioned was, +that, regardless of the sentiments of either, I had detached Mr. Bingley +from your sister, and the other, that I had, in defiance of various +claims, in defiance of honour and humanity, ruined the immediate +prosperity and blasted the prospects of Mr. Wickham. Wilfully and +wantonly to have thrown off the companion of my youth, the acknowledged +favourite of my father, a young man who had scarcely any other +dependence than on our patronage, and who had been brought up to expect +its exertion, would be a depravity, to which the separation of two young +persons, whose affection could be the growth of only a few weeks, could +bear no comparison. But from the severity of that blame which was last +night so liberally bestowed, respecting each circumstance, I shall hope +to be in the future secured, when the following account of my actions +and their motives has been read. If, in the explanation of them, which +is due to myself, I am under the necessity of relating feelings which +may be offensive to yours, I can only say that I am sorry. The necessity +must be obeyed, and further apology would be absurd. + +"I had not been long in Hertfordshire, before I saw, in common with +others, that Bingley preferred your elder sister to any other young +woman in the country. But it was not till the evening of the dance +at Netherfield that I had any apprehension of his feeling a serious +attachment. I had often seen him in love before. At that ball, while I +had the honour of dancing with you, I was first made acquainted, by Sir +William Lucas's accidental information, that Bingley's attentions to +your sister had given rise to a general expectation of their marriage. +He spoke of it as a certain event, of which the time alone could +be undecided. From that moment I observed my friend's behaviour +attentively; and I could then perceive that his partiality for Miss +Bennet was beyond what I had ever witnessed in him. Your sister I also +watched. Her look and manners were open, cheerful, and engaging as ever, +but without any symptom of peculiar regard, and I remained convinced +from the evening's scrutiny, that though she received his attentions +with pleasure, she did not invite them by any participation of +sentiment. If _you_ have not been mistaken here, _I_ must have been +in error. Your superior knowledge of your sister must make the latter +probable. If it be so, if I have been misled by such error to inflict +pain on her, your resentment has not been unreasonable. But I shall not +scruple to assert, that the serenity of your sister's countenance and +air was such as might have given the most acute observer a conviction +that, however amiable her temper, her heart was not likely to be +easily touched. That I was desirous of believing her indifferent is +certain--but I will venture to say that my investigation and decisions +are not usually influenced by my hopes or fears. I did not believe +her to be indifferent because I wished it; I believed it on impartial +conviction, as truly as I wished it in reason. My objections to the +marriage were not merely those which I last night acknowledged to have +the utmost force of passion to put aside, in my own case; the want of +connection could not be so great an evil to my friend as to me. But +there were other causes of repugnance; causes which, though still +existing, and existing to an equal degree in both instances, I had +myself endeavoured to forget, because they were not immediately before +me. These causes must be stated, though briefly. The situation of your +mother's family, though objectionable, was nothing in comparison to that +total want of propriety so frequently, so almost uniformly betrayed by +herself, by your three younger sisters, and occasionally even by your +father. Pardon me. It pains me to offend you. But amidst your concern +for the defects of your nearest relations, and your displeasure at this +representation of them, let it give you consolation to consider that, to +have conducted yourselves so as to avoid any share of the like censure, +is praise no less generally bestowed on you and your elder sister, than +it is honourable to the sense and disposition of both. I will only say +farther that from what passed that evening, my opinion of all parties +was confirmed, and every inducement heightened which could have led +me before, to preserve my friend from what I esteemed a most unhappy +connection. He left Netherfield for London, on the day following, as +you, I am certain, remember, with the design of soon returning. + +"The part which I acted is now to be explained. His sisters' uneasiness +had been equally excited with my own; our coincidence of feeling was +soon discovered, and, alike sensible that no time was to be lost in +detaching their brother, we shortly resolved on joining him directly in +London. We accordingly went--and there I readily engaged in the office +of pointing out to my friend the certain evils of such a choice. I +described, and enforced them earnestly. But, however this remonstrance +might have staggered or delayed his determination, I do not suppose +that it would ultimately have prevented the marriage, had it not been +seconded by the assurance that I hesitated not in giving, of your +sister's indifference. He had before believed her to return his +affection with sincere, if not with equal regard. But Bingley has great +natural modesty, with a stronger dependence on my judgement than on his +own. To convince him, therefore, that he had deceived himself, was +no very difficult point. To persuade him against returning into +Hertfordshire, when that conviction had been given, was scarcely the +work of a moment. I cannot blame myself for having done thus much. There +is but one part of my conduct in the whole affair on which I do not +reflect with satisfaction; it is that I condescended to adopt the +measures of art so far as to conceal from him your sister's being in +town. I knew it myself, as it was known to Miss Bingley; but her +brother is even yet ignorant of it. That they might have met without +ill consequence is perhaps probable; but his regard did not appear to me +enough extinguished for him to see her without some danger. Perhaps this +concealment, this disguise was beneath me; it is done, however, and it +was done for the best. On this subject I have nothing more to say, no +other apology to offer. If I have wounded your sister's feelings, it +was unknowingly done and though the motives which governed me may to +you very naturally appear insufficient, I have not yet learnt to condemn +them. + +"With respect to that other, more weighty accusation, of having injured +Mr. Wickham, I can only refute it by laying before you the whole of his +connection with my family. Of what he has _particularly_ accused me I +am ignorant; but of the truth of what I shall relate, I can summon more +than one witness of undoubted veracity. + +"Mr. Wickham is the son of a very respectable man, who had for many +years the management of all the Pemberley estates, and whose good +conduct in the discharge of his trust naturally inclined my father to +be of service to him; and on George Wickham, who was his godson, his +kindness was therefore liberally bestowed. My father supported him at +school, and afterwards at Cambridge--most important assistance, as his +own father, always poor from the extravagance of his wife, would have +been unable to give him a gentleman's education. My father was not only +fond of this young man's society, whose manners were always engaging; he +had also the highest opinion of him, and hoping the church would be +his profession, intended to provide for him in it. As for myself, it is +many, many years since I first began to think of him in a very different +manner. The vicious propensities--the want of principle, which he was +careful to guard from the knowledge of his best friend, could not escape +the observation of a young man of nearly the same age with himself, +and who had opportunities of seeing him in unguarded moments, which Mr. +Darcy could not have. Here again I shall give you pain--to what degree +you only can tell. But whatever may be the sentiments which Mr. Wickham +has created, a suspicion of their nature shall not prevent me from +unfolding his real character--it adds even another motive. + +"My excellent father died about five years ago; and his attachment to +Mr. Wickham was to the last so steady, that in his will he particularly +recommended it to me, to promote his advancement in the best manner +that his profession might allow--and if he took orders, desired that a +valuable family living might be his as soon as it became vacant. There +was also a legacy of one thousand pounds. His own father did not long +survive mine, and within half a year from these events, Mr. Wickham +wrote to inform me that, having finally resolved against taking orders, +he hoped I should not think it unreasonable for him to expect some more +immediate pecuniary advantage, in lieu of the preferment, by which he +could not be benefited. He had some intention, he added, of studying +law, and I must be aware that the interest of one thousand pounds would +be a very insufficient support therein. I rather wished, than believed +him to be sincere; but, at any rate, was perfectly ready to accede to +his proposal. I knew that Mr. Wickham ought not to be a clergyman; the +business was therefore soon settled--he resigned all claim to assistance +in the church, were it possible that he could ever be in a situation to +receive it, and accepted in return three thousand pounds. All connection +between us seemed now dissolved. I thought too ill of him to invite him +to Pemberley, or admit his society in town. In town I believe he chiefly +lived, but his studying the law was a mere pretence, and being now free +from all restraint, his life was a life of idleness and dissipation. +For about three years I heard little of him; but on the decease of the +incumbent of the living which had been designed for him, he applied to +me again by letter for the presentation. His circumstances, he assured +me, and I had no difficulty in believing it, were exceedingly bad. He +had found the law a most unprofitable study, and was now absolutely +resolved on being ordained, if I would present him to the living in +question--of which he trusted there could be little doubt, as he was +well assured that I had no other person to provide for, and I could not +have forgotten my revered father's intentions. You will hardly blame +me for refusing to comply with this entreaty, or for resisting every +repetition to it. His resentment was in proportion to the distress of +his circumstances--and he was doubtless as violent in his abuse of me +to others as in his reproaches to myself. After this period every +appearance of acquaintance was dropped. How he lived I know not. But +last summer he was again most painfully obtruded on my notice. + +"I must now mention a circumstance which I would wish to forget myself, +and which no obligation less than the present should induce me to unfold +to any human being. Having said thus much, I feel no doubt of your +secrecy. My sister, who is more than ten years my junior, was left to +the guardianship of my mother's nephew, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and myself. +About a year ago, she was taken from school, and an establishment formed +for her in London; and last summer she went with the lady who presided +over it, to Ramsgate; and thither also went Mr. Wickham, undoubtedly by +design; for there proved to have been a prior acquaintance between him +and Mrs. Younge, in whose character we were most unhappily deceived; and +by her connivance and aid, he so far recommended himself to Georgiana, +whose affectionate heart retained a strong impression of his kindness to +her as a child, that she was persuaded to believe herself in love, and +to consent to an elopement. She was then but fifteen, which must be her +excuse; and after stating her imprudence, I am happy to add, that I owed +the knowledge of it to herself. I joined them unexpectedly a day or two +before the intended elopement, and then Georgiana, unable to support the +idea of grieving and offending a brother whom she almost looked up to as +a father, acknowledged the whole to me. You may imagine what I felt and +how I acted. Regard for my sister's credit and feelings prevented +any public exposure; but I wrote to Mr. Wickham, who left the place +immediately, and Mrs. Younge was of course removed from her charge. Mr. +Wickham's chief object was unquestionably my sister's fortune, which +is thirty thousand pounds; but I cannot help supposing that the hope of +revenging himself on me was a strong inducement. His revenge would have +been complete indeed. + +"This, madam, is a faithful narrative of every event in which we have +been concerned together; and if you do not absolutely reject it as +false, you will, I hope, acquit me henceforth of cruelty towards Mr. +Wickham. I know not in what manner, under what form of falsehood he +had imposed on you; but his success is not perhaps to be wondered +at. Ignorant as you previously were of everything concerning either, +detection could not be in your power, and suspicion certainly not in +your inclination. + +"You may possibly wonder why all this was not told you last night; but +I was not then master enough of myself to know what could or ought to +be revealed. For the truth of everything here related, I can appeal more +particularly to the testimony of Colonel Fitzwilliam, who, from our +near relationship and constant intimacy, and, still more, as one of +the executors of my father's will, has been unavoidably acquainted +with every particular of these transactions. If your abhorrence of _me_ +should make _my_ assertions valueless, you cannot be prevented by +the same cause from confiding in my cousin; and that there may be +the possibility of consulting him, I shall endeavour to find some +opportunity of putting this letter in your hands in the course of the +morning. I will only add, God bless you. + +"FITZWILLIAM DARCY" + + + +Chapter 36 + + +If Elizabeth, when Mr. Darcy gave her the letter, did not expect it to +contain a renewal of his offers, she had formed no expectation at all of +its contents. But such as they were, it may well be supposed how eagerly +she went through them, and what a contrariety of emotion they excited. +Her feelings as she read were scarcely to be defined. With amazement did +she first understand that he believed any apology to be in his power; +and steadfastly was she persuaded, that he could have no explanation +to give, which a just sense of shame would not conceal. With a strong +prejudice against everything he might say, she began his account of what +had happened at Netherfield. She read with an eagerness which hardly +left her power of comprehension, and from impatience of knowing what the +next sentence might bring, was incapable of attending to the sense of +the one before her eyes. His belief of her sister's insensibility she +instantly resolved to be false; and his account of the real, the worst +objections to the match, made her too angry to have any wish of doing +him justice. He expressed no regret for what he had done which satisfied +her; his style was not penitent, but haughty. It was all pride and +insolence. + +But when this subject was succeeded by his account of Mr. Wickham--when +she read with somewhat clearer attention a relation of events which, +if true, must overthrow every cherished opinion of his worth, and which +bore so alarming an affinity to his own history of himself--her +feelings were yet more acutely painful and more difficult of definition. +Astonishment, apprehension, and even horror, oppressed her. She wished +to discredit it entirely, repeatedly exclaiming, "This must be false! +This cannot be! This must be the grossest falsehood!"--and when she had +gone through the whole letter, though scarcely knowing anything of the +last page or two, put it hastily away, protesting that she would not +regard it, that she would never look in it again. + +In this perturbed state of mind, with thoughts that could rest on +nothing, she walked on; but it would not do; in half a minute the letter +was unfolded again, and collecting herself as well as she could, she +again began the mortifying perusal of all that related to Wickham, and +commanded herself so far as to examine the meaning of every sentence. +The account of his connection with the Pemberley family was exactly what +he had related himself; and the kindness of the late Mr. Darcy, though +she had not before known its extent, agreed equally well with his own +words. So far each recital confirmed the other; but when she came to the +will, the difference was great. What Wickham had said of the living +was fresh in her memory, and as she recalled his very words, it was +impossible not to feel that there was gross duplicity on one side or the +other; and, for a few moments, she flattered herself that her wishes did +not err. But when she read and re-read with the closest attention, the +particulars immediately following of Wickham's resigning all pretensions +to the living, of his receiving in lieu so considerable a sum as three +thousand pounds, again was she forced to hesitate. She put down +the letter, weighed every circumstance with what she meant to be +impartiality--deliberated on the probability of each statement--but with +little success. On both sides it was only assertion. Again she read +on; but every line proved more clearly that the affair, which she had +believed it impossible that any contrivance could so represent as to +render Mr. Darcy's conduct in it less than infamous, was capable of a +turn which must make him entirely blameless throughout the whole. + +The extravagance and general profligacy which he scrupled not to lay at +Mr. Wickham's charge, exceedingly shocked her; the more so, as she could +bring no proof of its injustice. She had never heard of him before his +entrance into the ----shire Militia, in which he had engaged at the +persuasion of the young man who, on meeting him accidentally in town, +had there renewed a slight acquaintance. Of his former way of life +nothing had been known in Hertfordshire but what he told himself. As +to his real character, had information been in her power, she had +never felt a wish of inquiring. His countenance, voice, and manner had +established him at once in the possession of every virtue. She tried +to recollect some instance of goodness, some distinguished trait of +integrity or benevolence, that might rescue him from the attacks of +Mr. Darcy; or at least, by the predominance of virtue, atone for those +casual errors under which she would endeavour to class what Mr. Darcy +had described as the idleness and vice of many years' continuance. But +no such recollection befriended her. She could see him instantly before +her, in every charm of air and address; but she could remember no more +substantial good than the general approbation of the neighbourhood, and +the regard which his social powers had gained him in the mess. After +pausing on this point a considerable while, she once more continued to +read. But, alas! the story which followed, of his designs on Miss +Darcy, received some confirmation from what had passed between Colonel +Fitzwilliam and herself only the morning before; and at last she was +referred for the truth of every particular to Colonel Fitzwilliam +himself--from whom she had previously received the information of his +near concern in all his cousin's affairs, and whose character she had no +reason to question. At one time she had almost resolved on applying to +him, but the idea was checked by the awkwardness of the application, and +at length wholly banished by the conviction that Mr. Darcy would never +have hazarded such a proposal, if he had not been well assured of his +cousin's corroboration. + +She perfectly remembered everything that had passed in conversation +between Wickham and herself, in their first evening at Mr. Phillips's. +Many of his expressions were still fresh in her memory. She was _now_ +struck with the impropriety of such communications to a stranger, and +wondered it had escaped her before. She saw the indelicacy of putting +himself forward as he had done, and the inconsistency of his professions +with his conduct. She remembered that he had boasted of having no fear +of seeing Mr. Darcy--that Mr. Darcy might leave the country, but that +_he_ should stand his ground; yet he had avoided the Netherfield ball +the very next week. She remembered also that, till the Netherfield +family had quitted the country, he had told his story to no one but +herself; but that after their removal it had been everywhere discussed; +that he had then no reserves, no scruples in sinking Mr. Darcy's +character, though he had assured her that respect for the father would +always prevent his exposing the son. + +How differently did everything now appear in which he was concerned! +His attentions to Miss King were now the consequence of views solely and +hatefully mercenary; and the mediocrity of her fortune proved no longer +the moderation of his wishes, but his eagerness to grasp at anything. +His behaviour to herself could now have had no tolerable motive; he had +either been deceived with regard to her fortune, or had been gratifying +his vanity by encouraging the preference which she believed she had most +incautiously shown. Every lingering struggle in his favour grew fainter +and fainter; and in farther justification of Mr. Darcy, she could not +but allow that Mr. Bingley, when questioned by Jane, had long ago +asserted his blamelessness in the affair; that proud and repulsive as +were his manners, she had never, in the whole course of their +acquaintance--an acquaintance which had latterly brought them much +together, and given her a sort of intimacy with his ways--seen anything +that betrayed him to be unprincipled or unjust--anything that spoke him +of irreligious or immoral habits; that among his own connections he was +esteemed and valued--that even Wickham had allowed him merit as a +brother, and that she had often heard him speak so affectionately of his +sister as to prove him capable of _some_ amiable feeling; that had his +actions been what Mr. Wickham represented them, so gross a violation of +everything right could hardly have been concealed from the world; and +that friendship between a person capable of it, and such an amiable man +as Mr. Bingley, was incomprehensible. + +She grew absolutely ashamed of herself. Of neither Darcy nor Wickham +could she think without feeling she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, +absurd. + +"How despicably I have acted!" she cried; "I, who have prided myself +on my discernment! I, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have +often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified +my vanity in useless or blameable mistrust! How humiliating is this +discovery! Yet, how just a humiliation! Had I been in love, I could +not have been more wretchedly blind! But vanity, not love, has been my +folly. Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect +of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted +prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away, where either were +concerned. Till this moment I never knew myself." + +From herself to Jane--from Jane to Bingley, her thoughts were in a line +which soon brought to her recollection that Mr. Darcy's explanation +_there_ had appeared very insufficient, and she read it again. Widely +different was the effect of a second perusal. How could she deny that +credit to his assertions in one instance, which she had been obliged to +give in the other? He declared himself to be totally unsuspicious of her +sister's attachment; and she could not help remembering what Charlotte's +opinion had always been. Neither could she deny the justice of his +description of Jane. She felt that Jane's feelings, though fervent, were +little displayed, and that there was a constant complacency in her air +and manner not often united with great sensibility. + +When she came to that part of the letter in which her family were +mentioned in terms of such mortifying, yet merited reproach, her sense +of shame was severe. The justice of the charge struck her too forcibly +for denial, and the circumstances to which he particularly alluded as +having passed at the Netherfield ball, and as confirming all his first +disapprobation, could not have made a stronger impression on his mind +than on hers. + +The compliment to herself and her sister was not unfelt. It soothed, +but it could not console her for the contempt which had thus been +self-attracted by the rest of her family; and as she considered +that Jane's disappointment had in fact been the work of her nearest +relations, and reflected how materially the credit of both must be hurt +by such impropriety of conduct, she felt depressed beyond anything she +had ever known before. + +After wandering along the lane for two hours, giving way to every +variety of thought--re-considering events, determining probabilities, +and reconciling herself, as well as she could, to a change so sudden and +so important, fatigue, and a recollection of her long absence, made +her at length return home; and she entered the house with the wish +of appearing cheerful as usual, and the resolution of repressing such +reflections as must make her unfit for conversation. + +She was immediately told that the two gentlemen from Rosings had each +called during her absence; Mr. Darcy, only for a few minutes, to take +leave--but that Colonel Fitzwilliam had been sitting with them at least +an hour, hoping for her return, and almost resolving to walk after her +till she could be found. Elizabeth could but just _affect_ concern +in missing him; she really rejoiced at it. Colonel Fitzwilliam was no +longer an object; she could think only of her letter. + + + +Chapter 37 + + +The two gentlemen left Rosings the next morning, and Mr. Collins having +been in waiting near the lodges, to make them his parting obeisance, was +able to bring home the pleasing intelligence, of their appearing in very +good health, and in as tolerable spirits as could be expected, after the +melancholy scene so lately gone through at Rosings. To Rosings he then +hastened, to console Lady Catherine and her daughter; and on his return +brought back, with great satisfaction, a message from her ladyship, +importing that she felt herself so dull as to make her very desirous of +having them all to dine with her. + +Elizabeth could not see Lady Catherine without recollecting that, had +she chosen it, she might by this time have been presented to her as +her future niece; nor could she think, without a smile, of what her +ladyship's indignation would have been. "What would she have said? how +would she have behaved?" were questions with which she amused herself. + +Their first subject was the diminution of the Rosings party. "I assure +you, I feel it exceedingly," said Lady Catherine; "I believe no one +feels the loss of friends so much as I do. But I am particularly +attached to these young men, and know them to be so much attached to +me! They were excessively sorry to go! But so they always are. The +dear Colonel rallied his spirits tolerably till just at last; but Darcy +seemed to feel it most acutely, more, I think, than last year. His +attachment to Rosings certainly increases." + +Mr. Collins had a compliment, and an allusion to throw in here, which +were kindly smiled on by the mother and daughter. + +Lady Catherine observed, after dinner, that Miss Bennet seemed out of +spirits, and immediately accounting for it by herself, by supposing that +she did not like to go home again so soon, she added: + +"But if that is the case, you must write to your mother and beg that +you may stay a little longer. Mrs. Collins will be very glad of your +company, I am sure." + +"I am much obliged to your ladyship for your kind invitation," replied +Elizabeth, "but it is not in my power to accept it. I must be in town +next Saturday." + +"Why, at that rate, you will have been here only six weeks. I expected +you to stay two months. I told Mrs. Collins so before you came. There +can be no occasion for your going so soon. Mrs. Bennet could certainly +spare you for another fortnight." + +"But my father cannot. He wrote last week to hurry my return." + +"Oh! your father of course may spare you, if your mother can. Daughters +are never of so much consequence to a father. And if you will stay +another _month_ complete, it will be in my power to take one of you as +far as London, for I am going there early in June, for a week; and as +Dawson does not object to the barouche-box, there will be very good room +for one of you--and indeed, if the weather should happen to be cool, I +should not object to taking you both, as you are neither of you large." + +"You are all kindness, madam; but I believe we must abide by our +original plan." + +Lady Catherine seemed resigned. "Mrs. Collins, you must send a servant +with them. You know I always speak my mind, and I cannot bear the idea +of two young women travelling post by themselves. It is highly improper. +You must contrive to send somebody. I have the greatest dislike in +the world to that sort of thing. Young women should always be properly +guarded and attended, according to their situation in life. When my +niece Georgiana went to Ramsgate last summer, I made a point of her +having two men-servants go with her. Miss Darcy, the daughter of +Mr. Darcy, of Pemberley, and Lady Anne, could not have appeared with +propriety in a different manner. I am excessively attentive to all those +things. You must send John with the young ladies, Mrs. Collins. I +am glad it occurred to me to mention it; for it would really be +discreditable to _you_ to let them go alone." + +"My uncle is to send a servant for us." + +"Oh! Your uncle! He keeps a man-servant, does he? I am very glad you +have somebody who thinks of these things. Where shall you change horses? +Oh! Bromley, of course. If you mention my name at the Bell, you will be +attended to." + +Lady Catherine had many other questions to ask respecting their journey, +and as she did not answer them all herself, attention was necessary, +which Elizabeth believed to be lucky for her; or, with a mind so +occupied, she might have forgotten where she was. Reflection must be +reserved for solitary hours; whenever she was alone, she gave way to it +as the greatest relief; and not a day went by without a solitary +walk, in which she might indulge in all the delight of unpleasant +recollections. + +Mr. Darcy's letter she was in a fair way of soon knowing by heart. She +studied every sentence; and her feelings towards its writer were at +times widely different. When she remembered the style of his address, +she was still full of indignation; but when she considered how unjustly +she had condemned and upbraided him, her anger was turned against +herself; and his disappointed feelings became the object of compassion. +His attachment excited gratitude, his general character respect; but she +could not approve him; nor could she for a moment repent her refusal, +or feel the slightest inclination ever to see him again. In her own past +behaviour, there was a constant source of vexation and regret; and in +the unhappy defects of her family, a subject of yet heavier chagrin. +They were hopeless of remedy. Her father, contented with laughing at +them, would never exert himself to restrain the wild giddiness of his +youngest daughters; and her mother, with manners so far from right +herself, was entirely insensible of the evil. Elizabeth had frequently +united with Jane in an endeavour to check the imprudence of Catherine +and Lydia; but while they were supported by their mother's indulgence, +what chance could there be of improvement? Catherine, weak-spirited, +irritable, and completely under Lydia's guidance, had been always +affronted by their advice; and Lydia, self-willed and careless, would +scarcely give them a hearing. They were ignorant, idle, and vain. While +there was an officer in Meryton, they would flirt with him; and while +Meryton was within a walk of Longbourn, they would be going there +forever. + +Anxiety on Jane's behalf was another prevailing concern; and Mr. Darcy's +explanation, by restoring Bingley to all her former good opinion, +heightened the sense of what Jane had lost. His affection was proved +to have been sincere, and his conduct cleared of all blame, unless any +could attach to the implicitness of his confidence in his friend. How +grievous then was the thought that, of a situation so desirable in every +respect, so replete with advantage, so promising for happiness, Jane had +been deprived, by the folly and indecorum of her own family! + +When to these recollections was added the development of Wickham's +character, it may be easily believed that the happy spirits which had +seldom been depressed before, were now so much affected as to make it +almost impossible for her to appear tolerably cheerful. + +Their engagements at Rosings were as frequent during the last week of +her stay as they had been at first. The very last evening was spent +there; and her ladyship again inquired minutely into the particulars of +their journey, gave them directions as to the best method of packing, +and was so urgent on the necessity of placing gowns in the only right +way, that Maria thought herself obliged, on her return, to undo all the +work of the morning, and pack her trunk afresh. + +When they parted, Lady Catherine, with great condescension, wished them +a good journey, and invited them to come to Hunsford again next year; +and Miss de Bourgh exerted herself so far as to curtsey and hold out her +hand to both. + + + +Chapter 38 + + +On Saturday morning Elizabeth and Mr. Collins met for breakfast a few +minutes before the others appeared; and he took the opportunity of +paying the parting civilities which he deemed indispensably necessary. + +"I know not, Miss Elizabeth," said he, "whether Mrs. Collins has yet +expressed her sense of your kindness in coming to us; but I am very +certain you will not leave the house without receiving her thanks for +it. The favour of your company has been much felt, I assure you. We +know how little there is to tempt anyone to our humble abode. Our plain +manner of living, our small rooms and few domestics, and the little we +see of the world, must make Hunsford extremely dull to a young lady like +yourself; but I hope you will believe us grateful for the condescension, +and that we have done everything in our power to prevent your spending +your time unpleasantly." + +Elizabeth was eager with her thanks and assurances of happiness. She +had spent six weeks with great enjoyment; and the pleasure of being with +Charlotte, and the kind attentions she had received, must make _her_ +feel the obliged. Mr. Collins was gratified, and with a more smiling +solemnity replied: + +"It gives me great pleasure to hear that you have passed your time not +disagreeably. We have certainly done our best; and most fortunately +having it in our power to introduce you to very superior society, and, +from our connection with Rosings, the frequent means of varying the +humble home scene, I think we may flatter ourselves that your Hunsford +visit cannot have been entirely irksome. Our situation with regard to +Lady Catherine's family is indeed the sort of extraordinary advantage +and blessing which few can boast. You see on what a footing we are. You +see how continually we are engaged there. In truth I must acknowledge +that, with all the disadvantages of this humble parsonage, I should +not think anyone abiding in it an object of compassion, while they are +sharers of our intimacy at Rosings." + +Words were insufficient for the elevation of his feelings; and he was +obliged to walk about the room, while Elizabeth tried to unite civility +and truth in a few short sentences. + +"You may, in fact, carry a very favourable report of us into +Hertfordshire, my dear cousin. I flatter myself at least that you will +be able to do so. Lady Catherine's great attentions to Mrs. Collins you +have been a daily witness of; and altogether I trust it does not appear +that your friend has drawn an unfortunate--but on this point it will be +as well to be silent. Only let me assure you, my dear Miss Elizabeth, +that I can from my heart most cordially wish you equal felicity in +marriage. My dear Charlotte and I have but one mind and one way of +thinking. There is in everything a most remarkable resemblance of +character and ideas between us. We seem to have been designed for each +other." + +Elizabeth could safely say that it was a great happiness where that was +the case, and with equal sincerity could add, that she firmly believed +and rejoiced in his domestic comforts. She was not sorry, however, to +have the recital of them interrupted by the lady from whom they sprang. +Poor Charlotte! it was melancholy to leave her to such society! But she +had chosen it with her eyes open; and though evidently regretting that +her visitors were to go, she did not seem to ask for compassion. Her +home and her housekeeping, her parish and her poultry, and all their +dependent concerns, had not yet lost their charms. + +At length the chaise arrived, the trunks were fastened on, the parcels +placed within, and it was pronounced to be ready. After an affectionate +parting between the friends, Elizabeth was attended to the carriage by +Mr. Collins, and as they walked down the garden he was commissioning her +with his best respects to all her family, not forgetting his thanks +for the kindness he had received at Longbourn in the winter, and his +compliments to Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, though unknown. He then handed her +in, Maria followed, and the door was on the point of being closed, +when he suddenly reminded them, with some consternation, that they had +hitherto forgotten to leave any message for the ladies at Rosings. + +"But," he added, "you will of course wish to have your humble respects +delivered to them, with your grateful thanks for their kindness to you +while you have been here." + +Elizabeth made no objection; the door was then allowed to be shut, and +the carriage drove off. + +"Good gracious!" cried Maria, after a few minutes' silence, "it seems +but a day or two since we first came! and yet how many things have +happened!" + +"A great many indeed," said her companion with a sigh. + +"We have dined nine times at Rosings, besides drinking tea there twice! +How much I shall have to tell!" + +Elizabeth added privately, "And how much I shall have to conceal!" + +Their journey was performed without much conversation, or any alarm; and +within four hours of their leaving Hunsford they reached Mr. Gardiner's +house, where they were to remain a few days. + +Jane looked well, and Elizabeth had little opportunity of studying her +spirits, amidst the various engagements which the kindness of her +aunt had reserved for them. But Jane was to go home with her, and at +Longbourn there would be leisure enough for observation. + +It was not without an effort, meanwhile, that she could wait even for +Longbourn, before she told her sister of Mr. Darcy's proposals. To know +that she had the power of revealing what would so exceedingly astonish +Jane, and must, at the same time, so highly gratify whatever of her own +vanity she had not yet been able to reason away, was such a temptation +to openness as nothing could have conquered but the state of indecision +in which she remained as to the extent of what she should communicate; +and her fear, if she once entered on the subject, of being hurried +into repeating something of Bingley which might only grieve her sister +further. + + + +Chapter 39 + + +It was the second week in May, in which the three young ladies set out +together from Gracechurch Street for the town of ----, in Hertfordshire; +and, as they drew near the appointed inn where Mr. Bennet's carriage +was to meet them, they quickly perceived, in token of the coachman's +punctuality, both Kitty and Lydia looking out of a dining-room up stairs. +These two girls had been above an hour in the place, happily employed +in visiting an opposite milliner, watching the sentinel on guard, and +dressing a salad and cucumber. + +After welcoming their sisters, they triumphantly displayed a table set +out with such cold meat as an inn larder usually affords, exclaiming, +"Is not this nice? Is not this an agreeable surprise?" + +"And we mean to treat you all," added Lydia, "but you must lend us the +money, for we have just spent ours at the shop out there." Then, showing +her purchases--"Look here, I have bought this bonnet. I do not think +it is very pretty; but I thought I might as well buy it as not. I shall +pull it to pieces as soon as I get home, and see if I can make it up any +better." + +And when her sisters abused it as ugly, she added, with perfect +unconcern, "Oh! but there were two or three much uglier in the shop; and +when I have bought some prettier-coloured satin to trim it with fresh, I +think it will be very tolerable. Besides, it will not much signify what +one wears this summer, after the ----shire have left Meryton, and they +are going in a fortnight." + +"Are they indeed!" cried Elizabeth, with the greatest satisfaction. + +"They are going to be encamped near Brighton; and I do so want papa to +take us all there for the summer! It would be such a delicious scheme; +and I dare say would hardly cost anything at all. Mamma would like to +go too of all things! Only think what a miserable summer else we shall +have!" + +"Yes," thought Elizabeth, "_that_ would be a delightful scheme indeed, +and completely do for us at once. Good Heaven! Brighton, and a whole +campful of soldiers, to us, who have been overset already by one poor +regiment of militia, and the monthly balls of Meryton!" + +"Now I have got some news for you," said Lydia, as they sat down at +table. "What do you think? It is excellent news--capital news--and about +a certain person we all like!" + +Jane and Elizabeth looked at each other, and the waiter was told he need +not stay. Lydia laughed, and said: + +"Aye, that is just like your formality and discretion. You thought the +waiter must not hear, as if he cared! I dare say he often hears worse +things said than I am going to say. But he is an ugly fellow! I am glad +he is gone. I never saw such a long chin in my life. Well, but now for +my news; it is about dear Wickham; too good for the waiter, is it not? +There is no danger of Wickham's marrying Mary King. There's for you! She +is gone down to her uncle at Liverpool: gone to stay. Wickham is safe." + +"And Mary King is safe!" added Elizabeth; "safe from a connection +imprudent as to fortune." + +"She is a great fool for going away, if she liked him." + +"But I hope there is no strong attachment on either side," said Jane. + +"I am sure there is not on _his_. I will answer for it, he never cared +three straws about her--who could about such a nasty little freckled +thing?" + +Elizabeth was shocked to think that, however incapable of such +coarseness of _expression_ herself, the coarseness of the _sentiment_ +was little other than her own breast had harboured and fancied liberal! + +As soon as all had ate, and the elder ones paid, the carriage was +ordered; and after some contrivance, the whole party, with all their +boxes, work-bags, and parcels, and the unwelcome addition of Kitty's and +Lydia's purchases, were seated in it. + +"How nicely we are all crammed in," cried Lydia. "I am glad I bought my +bonnet, if it is only for the fun of having another bandbox! Well, now +let us be quite comfortable and snug, and talk and laugh all the way +home. And in the first place, let us hear what has happened to you all +since you went away. Have you seen any pleasant men? Have you had any +flirting? I was in great hopes that one of you would have got a husband +before you came back. Jane will be quite an old maid soon, I declare. +She is almost three-and-twenty! Lord, how ashamed I should be of not +being married before three-and-twenty! My aunt Phillips wants you so to +get husbands, you can't think. She says Lizzy had better have taken Mr. +Collins; but _I_ do not think there would have been any fun in it. Lord! +how I should like to be married before any of you; and then I would +chaperon you about to all the balls. Dear me! we had such a good piece +of fun the other day at Colonel Forster's. Kitty and me were to spend +the day there, and Mrs. Forster promised to have a little dance in the +evening; (by the bye, Mrs. Forster and me are _such_ friends!) and so +she asked the two Harringtons to come, but Harriet was ill, and so Pen +was forced to come by herself; and then, what do you think we did? We +dressed up Chamberlayne in woman's clothes on purpose to pass for a +lady, only think what fun! Not a soul knew of it, but Colonel and Mrs. +Forster, and Kitty and me, except my aunt, for we were forced to borrow +one of her gowns; and you cannot imagine how well he looked! When Denny, +and Wickham, and Pratt, and two or three more of the men came in, they +did not know him in the least. Lord! how I laughed! and so did Mrs. +Forster. I thought I should have died. And _that_ made the men suspect +something, and then they soon found out what was the matter." + +With such kinds of histories of their parties and good jokes, did +Lydia, assisted by Kitty's hints and additions, endeavour to amuse her +companions all the way to Longbourn. Elizabeth listened as little as she +could, but there was no escaping the frequent mention of Wickham's name. + +Their reception at home was most kind. Mrs. Bennet rejoiced to see Jane +in undiminished beauty; and more than once during dinner did Mr. Bennet +say voluntarily to Elizabeth: + +"I am glad you are come back, Lizzy." + +Their party in the dining-room was large, for almost all the Lucases +came to meet Maria and hear the news; and various were the subjects that +occupied them: Lady Lucas was inquiring of Maria, after the welfare and +poultry of her eldest daughter; Mrs. Bennet was doubly engaged, on one +hand collecting an account of the present fashions from Jane, who sat +some way below her, and, on the other, retailing them all to the younger +Lucases; and Lydia, in a voice rather louder than any other person's, +was enumerating the various pleasures of the morning to anybody who +would hear her. + +"Oh! Mary," said she, "I wish you had gone with us, for we had such fun! +As we went along, Kitty and I drew up the blinds, and pretended there +was nobody in the coach; and I should have gone so all the way, if Kitty +had not been sick; and when we got to the George, I do think we behaved +very handsomely, for we treated the other three with the nicest cold +luncheon in the world, and if you would have gone, we would have treated +you too. And then when we came away it was such fun! I thought we never +should have got into the coach. I was ready to die of laughter. And then +we were so merry all the way home! we talked and laughed so loud, that +anybody might have heard us ten miles off!" + +To this Mary very gravely replied, "Far be it from me, my dear sister, +to depreciate such pleasures! They would doubtless be congenial with the +generality of female minds. But I confess they would have no charms for +_me_--I should infinitely prefer a book." + +But of this answer Lydia heard not a word. She seldom listened to +anybody for more than half a minute, and never attended to Mary at all. + +In the afternoon Lydia was urgent with the rest of the girls to walk +to Meryton, and to see how everybody went on; but Elizabeth steadily +opposed the scheme. It should not be said that the Miss Bennets could +not be at home half a day before they were in pursuit of the officers. +There was another reason too for her opposition. She dreaded seeing Mr. +Wickham again, and was resolved to avoid it as long as possible. The +comfort to _her_ of the regiment's approaching removal was indeed beyond +expression. In a fortnight they were to go--and once gone, she hoped +there could be nothing more to plague her on his account. + +She had not been many hours at home before she found that the Brighton +scheme, of which Lydia had given them a hint at the inn, was under +frequent discussion between her parents. Elizabeth saw directly that her +father had not the smallest intention of yielding; but his answers were +at the same time so vague and equivocal, that her mother, though often +disheartened, had never yet despaired of succeeding at last. + + + +Chapter 40 + + +Elizabeth's impatience to acquaint Jane with what had happened could +no longer be overcome; and at length, resolving to suppress every +particular in which her sister was concerned, and preparing her to be +surprised, she related to her the next morning the chief of the scene +between Mr. Darcy and herself. + +Miss Bennet's astonishment was soon lessened by the strong sisterly +partiality which made any admiration of Elizabeth appear perfectly +natural; and all surprise was shortly lost in other feelings. She was +sorry that Mr. Darcy should have delivered his sentiments in a manner so +little suited to recommend them; but still more was she grieved for the +unhappiness which her sister's refusal must have given him. + +"His being so sure of succeeding was wrong," said she, "and certainly +ought not to have appeared; but consider how much it must increase his +disappointment!" + +"Indeed," replied Elizabeth, "I am heartily sorry for him; but he has +other feelings, which will probably soon drive away his regard for me. +You do not blame me, however, for refusing him?" + +"Blame you! Oh, no." + +"But you blame me for having spoken so warmly of Wickham?" + +"No--I do not know that you were wrong in saying what you did." + +"But you _will_ know it, when I tell you what happened the very next +day." + +She then spoke of the letter, repeating the whole of its contents as far +as they concerned George Wickham. What a stroke was this for poor Jane! +who would willingly have gone through the world without believing that +so much wickedness existed in the whole race of mankind, as was here +collected in one individual. Nor was Darcy's vindication, though +grateful to her feelings, capable of consoling her for such discovery. +Most earnestly did she labour to prove the probability of error, and +seek to clear the one without involving the other. + +"This will not do," said Elizabeth; "you never will be able to make both +of them good for anything. Take your choice, but you must be satisfied +with only one. There is but such a quantity of merit between them; just +enough to make one good sort of man; and of late it has been shifting +about pretty much. For my part, I am inclined to believe it all Darcy's; +but you shall do as you choose." + +It was some time, however, before a smile could be extorted from Jane. + +"I do not know when I have been more shocked," said she. "Wickham so +very bad! It is almost past belief. And poor Mr. Darcy! Dear Lizzy, only +consider what he must have suffered. Such a disappointment! and with the +knowledge of your ill opinion, too! and having to relate such a thing +of his sister! It is really too distressing. I am sure you must feel it +so." + +"Oh! no, my regret and compassion are all done away by seeing you so +full of both. I know you will do him such ample justice, that I am +growing every moment more unconcerned and indifferent. Your profusion +makes me saving; and if you lament over him much longer, my heart will +be as light as a feather." + +"Poor Wickham! there is such an expression of goodness in his +countenance! such an openness and gentleness in his manner!" + +"There certainly was some great mismanagement in the education of those +two young men. One has got all the goodness, and the other all the +appearance of it." + +"I never thought Mr. Darcy so deficient in the _appearance_ of it as you +used to do." + +"And yet I meant to be uncommonly clever in taking so decided a dislike +to him, without any reason. It is such a spur to one's genius, such an +opening for wit, to have a dislike of that kind. One may be continually +abusive without saying anything just; but one cannot always be laughing +at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty." + +"Lizzy, when you first read that letter, I am sure you could not treat +the matter as you do now." + +"Indeed, I could not. I was uncomfortable enough, I may say unhappy. And +with no one to speak to about what I felt, no Jane to comfort me and say +that I had not been so very weak and vain and nonsensical as I knew I +had! Oh! how I wanted you!" + +"How unfortunate that you should have used such very strong expressions +in speaking of Wickham to Mr. Darcy, for now they _do_ appear wholly +undeserved." + +"Certainly. But the misfortune of speaking with bitterness is a most +natural consequence of the prejudices I had been encouraging. There +is one point on which I want your advice. I want to be told whether I +ought, or ought not, to make our acquaintances in general understand +Wickham's character." + +Miss Bennet paused a little, and then replied, "Surely there can be no +occasion for exposing him so dreadfully. What is your opinion?" + +"That it ought not to be attempted. Mr. Darcy has not authorised me +to make his communication public. On the contrary, every particular +relative to his sister was meant to be kept as much as possible to +myself; and if I endeavour to undeceive people as to the rest of his +conduct, who will believe me? The general prejudice against Mr. Darcy +is so violent, that it would be the death of half the good people in +Meryton to attempt to place him in an amiable light. I am not equal +to it. Wickham will soon be gone; and therefore it will not signify to +anyone here what he really is. Some time hence it will be all found out, +and then we may laugh at their stupidity in not knowing it before. At +present I will say nothing about it." + +"You are quite right. To have his errors made public might ruin him for +ever. He is now, perhaps, sorry for what he has done, and anxious to +re-establish a character. We must not make him desperate." + +The tumult of Elizabeth's mind was allayed by this conversation. She had +got rid of two of the secrets which had weighed on her for a fortnight, +and was certain of a willing listener in Jane, whenever she might wish +to talk again of either. But there was still something lurking behind, +of which prudence forbade the disclosure. She dared not relate the other +half of Mr. Darcy's letter, nor explain to her sister how sincerely she +had been valued by her friend. Here was knowledge in which no one +could partake; and she was sensible that nothing less than a perfect +understanding between the parties could justify her in throwing off +this last encumbrance of mystery. "And then," said she, "if that very +improbable event should ever take place, I shall merely be able to +tell what Bingley may tell in a much more agreeable manner himself. The +liberty of communication cannot be mine till it has lost all its value!" + +She was now, on being settled at home, at leisure to observe the real +state of her sister's spirits. Jane was not happy. She still cherished a +very tender affection for Bingley. Having never even fancied herself +in love before, her regard had all the warmth of first attachment, +and, from her age and disposition, greater steadiness than most first +attachments often boast; and so fervently did she value his remembrance, +and prefer him to every other man, that all her good sense, and all her +attention to the feelings of her friends, were requisite to check the +indulgence of those regrets which must have been injurious to her own +health and their tranquillity. + +"Well, Lizzy," said Mrs. Bennet one day, "what is your opinion _now_ of +this sad business of Jane's? For my part, I am determined never to speak +of it again to anybody. I told my sister Phillips so the other day. But +I cannot find out that Jane saw anything of him in London. Well, he is +a very undeserving young man--and I do not suppose there's the least +chance in the world of her ever getting him now. There is no talk of +his coming to Netherfield again in the summer; and I have inquired of +everybody, too, who is likely to know." + +"I do not believe he will ever live at Netherfield any more." + +"Oh well! it is just as he chooses. Nobody wants him to come. Though I +shall always say he used my daughter extremely ill; and if I was her, I +would not have put up with it. Well, my comfort is, I am sure Jane will +die of a broken heart; and then he will be sorry for what he has done." + +But as Elizabeth could not receive comfort from any such expectation, +she made no answer. + +"Well, Lizzy," continued her mother, soon afterwards, "and so the +Collinses live very comfortable, do they? Well, well, I only hope +it will last. And what sort of table do they keep? Charlotte is an +excellent manager, I dare say. If she is half as sharp as her +mother, she is saving enough. There is nothing extravagant in _their_ +housekeeping, I dare say." + +"No, nothing at all." + +"A great deal of good management, depend upon it. Yes, yes, _they_ will +take care not to outrun their income. _They_ will never be distressed +for money. Well, much good may it do them! And so, I suppose, they often +talk of having Longbourn when your father is dead. They look upon it as +quite their own, I dare say, whenever that happens." + +"It was a subject which they could not mention before me." + +"No; it would have been strange if they had; but I make no doubt they +often talk of it between themselves. Well, if they can be easy with an +estate that is not lawfully their own, so much the better. I should be +ashamed of having one that was only entailed on me." + + + +Chapter 41 + + +The first week of their return was soon gone. The second began. It was +the last of the regiment's stay in Meryton, and all the young ladies +in the neighbourhood were drooping apace. The dejection was almost +universal. The elder Miss Bennets alone were still able to eat, drink, +and sleep, and pursue the usual course of their employments. Very +frequently were they reproached for this insensibility by Kitty and +Lydia, whose own misery was extreme, and who could not comprehend such +hard-heartedness in any of the family. + +"Good Heaven! what is to become of us? What are we to do?" would they +often exclaim in the bitterness of woe. "How can you be smiling so, +Lizzy?" + +Their affectionate mother shared all their grief; she remembered what +she had herself endured on a similar occasion, five-and-twenty years +ago. + +"I am sure," said she, "I cried for two days together when Colonel +Miller's regiment went away. I thought I should have broken my heart." + +"I am sure I shall break _mine_," said Lydia. + +"If one could but go to Brighton!" observed Mrs. Bennet. + +"Oh, yes!--if one could but go to Brighton! But papa is so +disagreeable." + +"A little sea-bathing would set me up forever." + +"And my aunt Phillips is sure it would do _me_ a great deal of good," +added Kitty. + +Such were the kind of lamentations resounding perpetually through +Longbourn House. Elizabeth tried to be diverted by them; but all sense +of pleasure was lost in shame. She felt anew the justice of Mr. Darcy's +objections; and never had she been so much disposed to pardon his +interference in the views of his friend. + +But the gloom of Lydia's prospect was shortly cleared away; for she +received an invitation from Mrs. Forster, the wife of the colonel of +the regiment, to accompany her to Brighton. This invaluable friend was a +very young woman, and very lately married. A resemblance in good humour +and good spirits had recommended her and Lydia to each other, and out of +their _three_ months' acquaintance they had been intimate _two_. + +The rapture of Lydia on this occasion, her adoration of Mrs. Forster, +the delight of Mrs. Bennet, and the mortification of Kitty, are scarcely +to be described. Wholly inattentive to her sister's feelings, Lydia +flew about the house in restless ecstasy, calling for everyone's +congratulations, and laughing and talking with more violence than ever; +whilst the luckless Kitty continued in the parlour repined at her fate +in terms as unreasonable as her accent was peevish. + +"I cannot see why Mrs. Forster should not ask _me_ as well as Lydia," +said she, "Though I am _not_ her particular friend. I have just as much +right to be asked as she has, and more too, for I am two years older." + +In vain did Elizabeth attempt to make her reasonable, and Jane to make +her resigned. As for Elizabeth herself, this invitation was so far from +exciting in her the same feelings as in her mother and Lydia, that she +considered it as the death warrant of all possibility of common sense +for the latter; and detestable as such a step must make her were it +known, she could not help secretly advising her father not to let her +go. She represented to him all the improprieties of Lydia's general +behaviour, the little advantage she could derive from the friendship of +such a woman as Mrs. Forster, and the probability of her being yet more +imprudent with such a companion at Brighton, where the temptations must +be greater than at home. He heard her attentively, and then said: + +"Lydia will never be easy until she has exposed herself in some public +place or other, and we can never expect her to do it with so +little expense or inconvenience to her family as under the present +circumstances." + +"If you were aware," said Elizabeth, "of the very great disadvantage to +us all which must arise from the public notice of Lydia's unguarded and +imprudent manner--nay, which has already arisen from it, I am sure you +would judge differently in the affair." + +"Already arisen?" repeated Mr. Bennet. "What, has she frightened away +some of your lovers? Poor little Lizzy! But do not be cast down. Such +squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity +are not worth a regret. Come, let me see the list of pitiful fellows who +have been kept aloof by Lydia's folly." + +"Indeed you are mistaken. I have no such injuries to resent. It is not +of particular, but of general evils, which I am now complaining. Our +importance, our respectability in the world must be affected by the +wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark +Lydia's character. Excuse me, for I must speak plainly. If you, my dear +father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and +of teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of +her life, she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment. Her character +will be fixed, and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt +that ever made herself or her family ridiculous; a flirt, too, in the +worst and meanest degree of flirtation; without any attraction beyond +youth and a tolerable person; and, from the ignorance and emptiness +of her mind, wholly unable to ward off any portion of that universal +contempt which her rage for admiration will excite. In this danger +Kitty also is comprehended. She will follow wherever Lydia leads. Vain, +ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled! Oh! my dear father, can you +suppose it possible that they will not be censured and despised wherever +they are known, and that their sisters will not be often involved in the +disgrace?" + +Mr. Bennet saw that her whole heart was in the subject, and +affectionately taking her hand said in reply: + +"Do not make yourself uneasy, my love. Wherever you and Jane are known +you must be respected and valued; and you will not appear to less +advantage for having a couple of--or I may say, three--very silly +sisters. We shall have no peace at Longbourn if Lydia does not go to +Brighton. Let her go, then. Colonel Forster is a sensible man, and will +keep her out of any real mischief; and she is luckily too poor to be an +object of prey to anybody. At Brighton she will be of less importance +even as a common flirt than she has been here. The officers will find +women better worth their notice. Let us hope, therefore, that her being +there may teach her her own insignificance. At any rate, she cannot grow +many degrees worse, without authorising us to lock her up for the rest +of her life." + +With this answer Elizabeth was forced to be content; but her own opinion +continued the same, and she left him disappointed and sorry. It was not +in her nature, however, to increase her vexations by dwelling on +them. She was confident of having performed her duty, and to fret +over unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety, was no part of her +disposition. + +Had Lydia and her mother known the substance of her conference with her +father, their indignation would hardly have found expression in their +united volubility. In Lydia's imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised +every possibility of earthly happiness. She saw, with the creative eye +of fancy, the streets of that gay bathing-place covered with officers. +She saw herself the object of attention, to tens and to scores of them +at present unknown. She saw all the glories of the camp--its tents +stretched forth in beauteous uniformity of lines, crowded with the young +and the gay, and dazzling with scarlet; and, to complete the view, she +saw herself seated beneath a tent, tenderly flirting with at least six +officers at once. + +Had she known her sister sought to tear her from such prospects and such +realities as these, what would have been her sensations? They could have +been understood only by her mother, who might have felt nearly the same. +Lydia's going to Brighton was all that consoled her for her melancholy +conviction of her husband's never intending to go there himself. + +But they were entirely ignorant of what had passed; and their raptures +continued, with little intermission, to the very day of Lydia's leaving +home. + +Elizabeth was now to see Mr. Wickham for the last time. Having been +frequently in company with him since her return, agitation was pretty +well over; the agitations of former partiality entirely so. She had even +learnt to detect, in the very gentleness which had first delighted +her, an affectation and a sameness to disgust and weary. In his present +behaviour to herself, moreover, she had a fresh source of displeasure, +for the inclination he soon testified of renewing those intentions which +had marked the early part of their acquaintance could only serve, after +what had since passed, to provoke her. She lost all concern for him in +finding herself thus selected as the object of such idle and frivolous +gallantry; and while she steadily repressed it, could not but feel the +reproof contained in his believing, that however long, and for whatever +cause, his attentions had been withdrawn, her vanity would be gratified, +and her preference secured at any time by their renewal. + +On the very last day of the regiment's remaining at Meryton, he dined, +with other of the officers, at Longbourn; and so little was Elizabeth +disposed to part from him in good humour, that on his making some +inquiry as to the manner in which her time had passed at Hunsford, she +mentioned Colonel Fitzwilliam's and Mr. Darcy's having both spent three +weeks at Rosings, and asked him, if he was acquainted with the former. + +He looked surprised, displeased, alarmed; but with a moment's +recollection and a returning smile, replied, that he had formerly seen +him often; and, after observing that he was a very gentlemanlike man, +asked her how she had liked him. Her answer was warmly in his favour. +With an air of indifference he soon afterwards added: + +"How long did you say he was at Rosings?" + +"Nearly three weeks." + +"And you saw him frequently?" + +"Yes, almost every day." + +"His manners are very different from his cousin's." + +"Yes, very different. But I think Mr. Darcy improves upon acquaintance." + +"Indeed!" cried Mr. Wickham with a look which did not escape her. "And +pray, may I ask?--" But checking himself, he added, in a gayer tone, "Is +it in address that he improves? Has he deigned to add aught of civility +to his ordinary style?--for I dare not hope," he continued in a lower +and more serious tone, "that he is improved in essentials." + +"Oh, no!" said Elizabeth. "In essentials, I believe, he is very much +what he ever was." + +While she spoke, Wickham looked as if scarcely knowing whether to +rejoice over her words, or to distrust their meaning. There was a +something in her countenance which made him listen with an apprehensive +and anxious attention, while she added: + +"When I said that he improved on acquaintance, I did not mean that +his mind or his manners were in a state of improvement, but that, from +knowing him better, his disposition was better understood." + +Wickham's alarm now appeared in a heightened complexion and agitated +look; for a few minutes he was silent, till, shaking off his +embarrassment, he turned to her again, and said in the gentlest of +accents: + +"You, who so well know my feeling towards Mr. Darcy, will readily +comprehend how sincerely I must rejoice that he is wise enough to assume +even the _appearance_ of what is right. His pride, in that direction, +may be of service, if not to himself, to many others, for it must only +deter him from such foul misconduct as I have suffered by. I only +fear that the sort of cautiousness to which you, I imagine, have been +alluding, is merely adopted on his visits to his aunt, of whose good +opinion and judgement he stands much in awe. His fear of her has always +operated, I know, when they were together; and a good deal is to be +imputed to his wish of forwarding the match with Miss de Bourgh, which I +am certain he has very much at heart." + +Elizabeth could not repress a smile at this, but she answered only by a +slight inclination of the head. She saw that he wanted to engage her on +the old subject of his grievances, and she was in no humour to indulge +him. The rest of the evening passed with the _appearance_, on his +side, of usual cheerfulness, but with no further attempt to distinguish +Elizabeth; and they parted at last with mutual civility, and possibly a +mutual desire of never meeting again. + +When the party broke up, Lydia returned with Mrs. Forster to Meryton, +from whence they were to set out early the next morning. The separation +between her and her family was rather noisy than pathetic. Kitty was the +only one who shed tears; but she did weep from vexation and envy. Mrs. +Bennet was diffuse in her good wishes for the felicity of her daughter, +and impressive in her injunctions that she should not miss the +opportunity of enjoying herself as much as possible--advice which +there was every reason to believe would be well attended to; and in +the clamorous happiness of Lydia herself in bidding farewell, the more +gentle adieus of her sisters were uttered without being heard. + + + +Chapter 42 + + +Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could +not have formed a very pleasing opinion of conjugal felicity or domestic +comfort. Her father, captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance +of good humour which youth and beauty generally give, had married a +woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in +their marriage put an end to all real affection for her. Respect, +esteem, and confidence had vanished for ever; and all his views +of domestic happiness were overthrown. But Mr. Bennet was not of +a disposition to seek comfort for the disappointment which his own +imprudence had brought on, in any of those pleasures which too often +console the unfortunate for their folly or their vice. He was fond of +the country and of books; and from these tastes had arisen his principal +enjoyments. To his wife he was very little otherwise indebted, than as +her ignorance and folly had contributed to his amusement. This is not +the sort of happiness which a man would in general wish to owe to his +wife; but where other powers of entertainment are wanting, the true +philosopher will derive benefit from such as are given. + +Elizabeth, however, had never been blind to the impropriety of her +father's behaviour as a husband. She had always seen it with pain; but +respecting his abilities, and grateful for his affectionate treatment of +herself, she endeavoured to forget what she could not overlook, and to +banish from her thoughts that continual breach of conjugal obligation +and decorum which, in exposing his wife to the contempt of her own +children, was so highly reprehensible. But she had never felt so +strongly as now the disadvantages which must attend the children of so +unsuitable a marriage, nor ever been so fully aware of the evils arising +from so ill-judged a direction of talents; talents, which, rightly used, +might at least have preserved the respectability of his daughters, even +if incapable of enlarging the mind of his wife. + +When Elizabeth had rejoiced over Wickham's departure she found little +other cause for satisfaction in the loss of the regiment. Their parties +abroad were less varied than before, and at home she had a mother and +sister whose constant repinings at the dullness of everything around +them threw a real gloom over their domestic circle; and, though Kitty +might in time regain her natural degree of sense, since the disturbers +of her brain were removed, her other sister, from whose disposition +greater evil might be apprehended, was likely to be hardened in all +her folly and assurance by a situation of such double danger as a +watering-place and a camp. Upon the whole, therefore, she found, what +has been sometimes found before, that an event to which she had been +looking with impatient desire did not, in taking place, bring all the +satisfaction she had promised herself. It was consequently necessary to +name some other period for the commencement of actual felicity--to have +some other point on which her wishes and hopes might be fixed, and by +again enjoying the pleasure of anticipation, console herself for the +present, and prepare for another disappointment. Her tour to the Lakes +was now the object of her happiest thoughts; it was her best consolation +for all the uncomfortable hours which the discontentedness of her mother +and Kitty made inevitable; and could she have included Jane in the +scheme, every part of it would have been perfect. + +"But it is fortunate," thought she, "that I have something to wish for. +Were the whole arrangement complete, my disappointment would be certain. +But here, by carrying with me one ceaseless source of regret in my +sister's absence, I may reasonably hope to have all my expectations of +pleasure realised. A scheme of which every part promises delight can +never be successful; and general disappointment is only warded off by +the defence of some little peculiar vexation." + +When Lydia went away she promised to write very often and very minutely +to her mother and Kitty; but her letters were always long expected, and +always very short. Those to her mother contained little else than that +they were just returned from the library, where such and such officers +had attended them, and where she had seen such beautiful ornaments as +made her quite wild; that she had a new gown, or a new parasol, which +she would have described more fully, but was obliged to leave off in a +violent hurry, as Mrs. Forster called her, and they were going off to +the camp; and from her correspondence with her sister, there was still +less to be learnt--for her letters to Kitty, though rather longer, were +much too full of lines under the words to be made public. + +After the first fortnight or three weeks of her absence, health, good +humour, and cheerfulness began to reappear at Longbourn. Everything wore +a happier aspect. The families who had been in town for the winter came +back again, and summer finery and summer engagements arose. Mrs. Bennet +was restored to her usual querulous serenity; and, by the middle of +June, Kitty was so much recovered as to be able to enter Meryton without +tears; an event of such happy promise as to make Elizabeth hope that by +the following Christmas she might be so tolerably reasonable as not to +mention an officer above once a day, unless, by some cruel and malicious +arrangement at the War Office, another regiment should be quartered in +Meryton. + +The time fixed for the beginning of their northern tour was now fast +approaching, and a fortnight only was wanting of it, when a letter +arrived from Mrs. Gardiner, which at once delayed its commencement and +curtailed its extent. Mr. Gardiner would be prevented by business from +setting out till a fortnight later in July, and must be in London again +within a month, and as that left too short a period for them to go so +far, and see so much as they had proposed, or at least to see it with +the leisure and comfort they had built on, they were obliged to give up +the Lakes, and substitute a more contracted tour, and, according to the +present plan, were to go no farther northwards than Derbyshire. In that +county there was enough to be seen to occupy the chief of their three +weeks; and to Mrs. Gardiner it had a peculiarly strong attraction. The +town where she had formerly passed some years of her life, and where +they were now to spend a few days, was probably as great an object of +her curiosity as all the celebrated beauties of Matlock, Chatsworth, +Dovedale, or the Peak. + +Elizabeth was excessively disappointed; she had set her heart on seeing +the Lakes, and still thought there might have been time enough. But it +was her business to be satisfied--and certainly her temper to be happy; +and all was soon right again. + +With the mention of Derbyshire there were many ideas connected. It was +impossible for her to see the word without thinking of Pemberley and its +owner. "But surely," said she, "I may enter his county with impunity, +and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me." + +The period of expectation was now doubled. Four weeks were to pass away +before her uncle and aunt's arrival. But they did pass away, and Mr. +and Mrs. Gardiner, with their four children, did at length appear at +Longbourn. The children, two girls of six and eight years old, and two +younger boys, were to be left under the particular care of their +cousin Jane, who was the general favourite, and whose steady sense and +sweetness of temper exactly adapted her for attending to them in every +way--teaching them, playing with them, and loving them. + +The Gardiners stayed only one night at Longbourn, and set off the +next morning with Elizabeth in pursuit of novelty and amusement. +One enjoyment was certain--that of suitableness of companions; +a suitableness which comprehended health and temper to bear +inconveniences--cheerfulness to enhance every pleasure--and affection +and intelligence, which might supply it among themselves if there were +disappointments abroad. + +It is not the object of this work to give a description of Derbyshire, +nor of any of the remarkable places through which their route thither +lay; Oxford, Blenheim, Warwick, Kenilworth, Birmingham, etc. are +sufficiently known. A small part of Derbyshire is all the present +concern. To the little town of Lambton, the scene of Mrs. Gardiner's +former residence, and where she had lately learned some acquaintance +still remained, they bent their steps, after having seen all the +principal wonders of the country; and within five miles of Lambton, +Elizabeth found from her aunt that Pemberley was situated. It was not +in their direct road, nor more than a mile or two out of it. In +talking over their route the evening before, Mrs. Gardiner expressed +an inclination to see the place again. Mr. Gardiner declared his +willingness, and Elizabeth was applied to for her approbation. + +"My love, should not you like to see a place of which you have heard +so much?" said her aunt; "a place, too, with which so many of your +acquaintances are connected. Wickham passed all his youth there, you +know." + +Elizabeth was distressed. She felt that she had no business at +Pemberley, and was obliged to assume a disinclination for seeing it. She +must own that she was tired of seeing great houses; after going over so +many, she really had no pleasure in fine carpets or satin curtains. + +Mrs. Gardiner abused her stupidity. "If it were merely a fine house +richly furnished," said she, "I should not care about it myself; but +the grounds are delightful. They have some of the finest woods in the +country." + +Elizabeth said no more--but her mind could not acquiesce. The +possibility of meeting Mr. Darcy, while viewing the place, instantly +occurred. It would be dreadful! She blushed at the very idea, and +thought it would be better to speak openly to her aunt than to run such +a risk. But against this there were objections; and she finally resolved +that it could be the last resource, if her private inquiries to the +absence of the family were unfavourably answered. + +Accordingly, when she retired at night, she asked the chambermaid +whether Pemberley were not a very fine place? what was the name of its +proprietor? and, with no little alarm, whether the family were down for +the summer? A most welcome negative followed the last question--and her +alarms now being removed, she was at leisure to feel a great deal of +curiosity to see the house herself; and when the subject was revived the +next morning, and she was again applied to, could readily answer, and +with a proper air of indifference, that she had not really any dislike +to the scheme. To Pemberley, therefore, they were to go. + + + +Chapter 43 + + +Elizabeth, as they drove along, watched for the first appearance of +Pemberley Woods with some perturbation; and when at length they turned +in at the lodge, her spirits were in a high flutter. + +The park was very large, and contained great variety of ground. They +entered it in one of its lowest points, and drove for some time through +a beautiful wood stretching over a wide extent. + +Elizabeth's mind was too full for conversation, but she saw and admired +every remarkable spot and point of view. They gradually ascended for +half-a-mile, and then found themselves at the top of a considerable +eminence, where the wood ceased, and the eye was instantly caught by +Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of a valley, into which +the road with some abruptness wound. It was a large, handsome stone +building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of +high woody hills; and in front, a stream of some natural importance was +swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks +were neither formal nor falsely adorned. Elizabeth was delighted. She +had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural +beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were +all of them warm in their admiration; and at that moment she felt that +to be mistress of Pemberley might be something! + +They descended the hill, crossed the bridge, and drove to the door; and, +while examining the nearer aspect of the house, all her apprehension of +meeting its owner returned. She dreaded lest the chambermaid had been +mistaken. On applying to see the place, they were admitted into the +hall; and Elizabeth, as they waited for the housekeeper, had leisure to +wonder at her being where she was. + +The housekeeper came; a respectable-looking elderly woman, much less +fine, and more civil, than she had any notion of finding her. They +followed her into the dining-parlour. It was a large, well proportioned +room, handsomely fitted up. Elizabeth, after slightly surveying it, went +to a window to enjoy its prospect. The hill, crowned with wood, which +they had descended, receiving increased abruptness from the distance, +was a beautiful object. Every disposition of the ground was good; and +she looked on the whole scene, the river, the trees scattered on its +banks and the winding of the valley, as far as she could trace it, +with delight. As they passed into other rooms these objects were taking +different positions; but from every window there were beauties to be +seen. The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to +the fortune of its proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with admiration of +his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less of +splendour, and more real elegance, than the furniture of Rosings. + +"And of this place," thought she, "I might have been mistress! With +these rooms I might now have been familiarly acquainted! Instead of +viewing them as a stranger, I might have rejoiced in them as my own, and +welcomed to them as visitors my uncle and aunt. But no,"--recollecting +herself--"that could never be; my uncle and aunt would have been lost to +me; I should not have been allowed to invite them." + +This was a lucky recollection--it saved her from something very like +regret. + +She longed to inquire of the housekeeper whether her master was really +absent, but had not the courage for it. At length however, the question +was asked by her uncle; and she turned away with alarm, while Mrs. +Reynolds replied that he was, adding, "But we expect him to-morrow, with +a large party of friends." How rejoiced was Elizabeth that their own +journey had not by any circumstance been delayed a day! + +Her aunt now called her to look at a picture. She approached and saw the +likeness of Mr. Wickham, suspended, amongst several other miniatures, +over the mantelpiece. Her aunt asked her, smilingly, how she liked it. +The housekeeper came forward, and told them it was a picture of a young +gentleman, the son of her late master's steward, who had been brought +up by him at his own expense. "He is now gone into the army," she added; +"but I am afraid he has turned out very wild." + +Mrs. Gardiner looked at her niece with a smile, but Elizabeth could not +return it. + +"And that," said Mrs. Reynolds, pointing to another of the miniatures, +"is my master--and very like him. It was drawn at the same time as the +other--about eight years ago." + +"I have heard much of your master's fine person," said Mrs. Gardiner, +looking at the picture; "it is a handsome face. But, Lizzy, you can tell +us whether it is like or not." + +Mrs. Reynolds respect for Elizabeth seemed to increase on this +intimation of her knowing her master. + +"Does that young lady know Mr. Darcy?" + +Elizabeth coloured, and said: "A little." + +"And do not you think him a very handsome gentleman, ma'am?" + +"Yes, very handsome." + +"I am sure I know none so handsome; but in the gallery up stairs you +will see a finer, larger picture of him than this. This room was my late +master's favourite room, and these miniatures are just as they used to +be then. He was very fond of them." + +This accounted to Elizabeth for Mr. Wickham's being among them. + +Mrs. Reynolds then directed their attention to one of Miss Darcy, drawn +when she was only eight years old. + +"And is Miss Darcy as handsome as her brother?" said Mrs. Gardiner. + +"Oh! yes--the handsomest young lady that ever was seen; and so +accomplished!--She plays and sings all day long. In the next room is +a new instrument just come down for her--a present from my master; she +comes here to-morrow with him." + +Mr. Gardiner, whose manners were very easy and pleasant, encouraged her +communicativeness by his questions and remarks; Mrs. Reynolds, either +by pride or attachment, had evidently great pleasure in talking of her +master and his sister. + +"Is your master much at Pemberley in the course of the year?" + +"Not so much as I could wish, sir; but I dare say he may spend half his +time here; and Miss Darcy is always down for the summer months." + +"Except," thought Elizabeth, "when she goes to Ramsgate." + +"If your master would marry, you might see more of him." + +"Yes, sir; but I do not know when _that_ will be. I do not know who is +good enough for him." + +Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner smiled. Elizabeth could not help saying, "It is +very much to his credit, I am sure, that you should think so." + +"I say no more than the truth, and everybody will say that knows him," +replied the other. Elizabeth thought this was going pretty far; and she +listened with increasing astonishment as the housekeeper added, "I have +never known a cross word from him in my life, and I have known him ever +since he was four years old." + +This was praise, of all others most extraordinary, most opposite to her +ideas. That he was not a good-tempered man had been her firmest opinion. +Her keenest attention was awakened; she longed to hear more, and was +grateful to her uncle for saying: + +"There are very few people of whom so much can be said. You are lucky in +having such a master." + +"Yes, sir, I know I am. If I were to go through the world, I could +not meet with a better. But I have always observed, that they who are +good-natured when children, are good-natured when they grow up; and +he was always the sweetest-tempered, most generous-hearted boy in the +world." + +Elizabeth almost stared at her. "Can this be Mr. Darcy?" thought she. + +"His father was an excellent man," said Mrs. Gardiner. + +"Yes, ma'am, that he was indeed; and his son will be just like him--just +as affable to the poor." + +Elizabeth listened, wondered, doubted, and was impatient for more. Mrs. +Reynolds could interest her on no other point. She related the subjects +of the pictures, the dimensions of the rooms, and the price of the +furniture, in vain. Mr. Gardiner, highly amused by the kind of family +prejudice to which he attributed her excessive commendation of her +master, soon led again to the subject; and she dwelt with energy on his +many merits as they proceeded together up the great staircase. + +"He is the best landlord, and the best master," said she, "that ever +lived; not like the wild young men nowadays, who think of nothing but +themselves. There is not one of his tenants or servants but will give +him a good name. Some people call him proud; but I am sure I never saw +anything of it. To my fancy, it is only because he does not rattle away +like other young men." + +"In what an amiable light does this place him!" thought Elizabeth. + +"This fine account of him," whispered her aunt as they walked, "is not +quite consistent with his behaviour to our poor friend." + +"Perhaps we might be deceived." + +"That is not very likely; our authority was too good." + +On reaching the spacious lobby above they were shown into a very pretty +sitting-room, lately fitted up with greater elegance and lightness than +the apartments below; and were informed that it was but just done to +give pleasure to Miss Darcy, who had taken a liking to the room when +last at Pemberley. + +"He is certainly a good brother," said Elizabeth, as she walked towards +one of the windows. + +Mrs. Reynolds anticipated Miss Darcy's delight, when she should enter +the room. "And this is always the way with him," she added. "Whatever +can give his sister any pleasure is sure to be done in a moment. There +is nothing he would not do for her." + +The picture-gallery, and two or three of the principal bedrooms, were +all that remained to be shown. In the former were many good paintings; +but Elizabeth knew nothing of the art; and from such as had been already +visible below, she had willingly turned to look at some drawings of Miss +Darcy's, in crayons, whose subjects were usually more interesting, and +also more intelligible. + +In the gallery there were many family portraits, but they could have +little to fix the attention of a stranger. Elizabeth walked in quest of +the only face whose features would be known to her. At last it arrested +her--and she beheld a striking resemblance to Mr. Darcy, with such a +smile over the face as she remembered to have sometimes seen when he +looked at her. She stood several minutes before the picture, in earnest +contemplation, and returned to it again before they quitted the gallery. +Mrs. Reynolds informed them that it had been taken in his father's +lifetime. + +There was certainly at this moment, in Elizabeth's mind, a more gentle +sensation towards the original than she had ever felt at the height of +their acquaintance. The commendation bestowed on him by Mrs. Reynolds +was of no trifling nature. What praise is more valuable than the praise +of an intelligent servant? As a brother, a landlord, a master, she +considered how many people's happiness were in his guardianship!--how +much of pleasure or pain was it in his power to bestow!--how much of +good or evil must be done by him! Every idea that had been brought +forward by the housekeeper was favourable to his character, and as she +stood before the canvas on which he was represented, and fixed his +eyes upon herself, she thought of his regard with a deeper sentiment of +gratitude than it had ever raised before; she remembered its warmth, and +softened its impropriety of expression. + +When all of the house that was open to general inspection had been seen, +they returned downstairs, and, taking leave of the housekeeper, were +consigned over to the gardener, who met them at the hall-door. + +As they walked across the hall towards the river, Elizabeth turned back +to look again; her uncle and aunt stopped also, and while the former +was conjecturing as to the date of the building, the owner of it himself +suddenly came forward from the road, which led behind it to the stables. + +They were within twenty yards of each other, and so abrupt was his +appearance, that it was impossible to avoid his sight. Their eyes +instantly met, and the cheeks of both were overspread with the deepest +blush. He absolutely started, and for a moment seemed immovable from +surprise; but shortly recovering himself, advanced towards the party, +and spoke to Elizabeth, if not in terms of perfect composure, at least +of perfect civility. + +She had instinctively turned away; but stopping on his approach, +received his compliments with an embarrassment impossible to be +overcome. Had his first appearance, or his resemblance to the picture +they had just been examining, been insufficient to assure the other two +that they now saw Mr. Darcy, the gardener's expression of surprise, on +beholding his master, must immediately have told it. They stood a little +aloof while he was talking to their niece, who, astonished and confused, +scarcely dared lift her eyes to his face, and knew not what answer +she returned to his civil inquiries after her family. Amazed at the +alteration of his manner since they last parted, every sentence that +he uttered was increasing her embarrassment; and every idea of the +impropriety of her being found there recurring to her mind, the few +minutes in which they continued were some of the most uncomfortable in +her life. Nor did he seem much more at ease; when he spoke, his accent +had none of its usual sedateness; and he repeated his inquiries as +to the time of her having left Longbourn, and of her having stayed in +Derbyshire, so often, and in so hurried a way, as plainly spoke the +distraction of his thoughts. + +At length every idea seemed to fail him; and, after standing a few +moments without saying a word, he suddenly recollected himself, and took +leave. + +The others then joined her, and expressed admiration of his figure; but +Elizabeth heard not a word, and wholly engrossed by her own feelings, +followed them in silence. She was overpowered by shame and vexation. Her +coming there was the most unfortunate, the most ill-judged thing in the +world! How strange it must appear to him! In what a disgraceful light +might it not strike so vain a man! It might seem as if she had purposely +thrown herself in his way again! Oh! why did she come? Or, why did he +thus come a day before he was expected? Had they been only ten minutes +sooner, they should have been beyond the reach of his discrimination; +for it was plain that he was that moment arrived--that moment alighted +from his horse or his carriage. She blushed again and again over +the perverseness of the meeting. And his behaviour, so strikingly +altered--what could it mean? That he should even speak to her was +amazing!--but to speak with such civility, to inquire after her family! +Never in her life had she seen his manners so little dignified, never +had he spoken with such gentleness as on this unexpected meeting. What +a contrast did it offer to his last address in Rosings Park, when he put +his letter into her hand! She knew not what to think, or how to account +for it. + +They had now entered a beautiful walk by the side of the water, and +every step was bringing forward a nobler fall of ground, or a finer +reach of the woods to which they were approaching; but it was some time +before Elizabeth was sensible of any of it; and, though she answered +mechanically to the repeated appeals of her uncle and aunt, and +seemed to direct her eyes to such objects as they pointed out, she +distinguished no part of the scene. Her thoughts were all fixed on that +one spot of Pemberley House, whichever it might be, where Mr. Darcy then +was. She longed to know what at the moment was passing in his mind--in +what manner he thought of her, and whether, in defiance of everything, +she was still dear to him. Perhaps he had been civil only because he +felt himself at ease; yet there had been _that_ in his voice which was +not like ease. Whether he had felt more of pain or of pleasure in +seeing her she could not tell, but he certainly had not seen her with +composure. + +At length, however, the remarks of her companions on her absence of mind +aroused her, and she felt the necessity of appearing more like herself. + +They entered the woods, and bidding adieu to the river for a while, +ascended some of the higher grounds; when, in spots where the opening of +the trees gave the eye power to wander, were many charming views of the +valley, the opposite hills, with the long range of woods overspreading +many, and occasionally part of the stream. Mr. Gardiner expressed a wish +of going round the whole park, but feared it might be beyond a walk. +With a triumphant smile they were told that it was ten miles round. +It settled the matter; and they pursued the accustomed circuit; which +brought them again, after some time, in a descent among hanging woods, +to the edge of the water, and one of its narrowest parts. They crossed +it by a simple bridge, in character with the general air of the scene; +it was a spot less adorned than any they had yet visited; and the +valley, here contracted into a glen, allowed room only for the stream, +and a narrow walk amidst the rough coppice-wood which bordered it. +Elizabeth longed to explore its windings; but when they had crossed the +bridge, and perceived their distance from the house, Mrs. Gardiner, +who was not a great walker, could go no farther, and thought only +of returning to the carriage as quickly as possible. Her niece was, +therefore, obliged to submit, and they took their way towards the house +on the opposite side of the river, in the nearest direction; but their +progress was slow, for Mr. Gardiner, though seldom able to indulge the +taste, was very fond of fishing, and was so much engaged in watching the +occasional appearance of some trout in the water, and talking to the +man about them, that he advanced but little. Whilst wandering on in this +slow manner, they were again surprised, and Elizabeth's astonishment +was quite equal to what it had been at first, by the sight of Mr. Darcy +approaching them, and at no great distance. The walk being here +less sheltered than on the other side, allowed them to see him before +they met. Elizabeth, however astonished, was at least more prepared +for an interview than before, and resolved to appear and to speak with +calmness, if he really intended to meet them. For a few moments, indeed, +she felt that he would probably strike into some other path. The idea +lasted while a turning in the walk concealed him from their view; the +turning past, he was immediately before them. With a glance, she saw +that he had lost none of his recent civility; and, to imitate his +politeness, she began, as they met, to admire the beauty of the place; +but she had not got beyond the words "delightful," and "charming," when +some unlucky recollections obtruded, and she fancied that praise of +Pemberley from her might be mischievously construed. Her colour changed, +and she said no more. + +Mrs. Gardiner was standing a little behind; and on her pausing, he asked +her if she would do him the honour of introducing him to her friends. +This was a stroke of civility for which she was quite unprepared; +and she could hardly suppress a smile at his being now seeking the +acquaintance of some of those very people against whom his pride had +revolted in his offer to herself. "What will be his surprise," thought +she, "when he knows who they are? He takes them now for people of +fashion." + +The introduction, however, was immediately made; and as she named their +relationship to herself, she stole a sly look at him, to see how he bore +it, and was not without the expectation of his decamping as fast as he +could from such disgraceful companions. That he was _surprised_ by the +connection was evident; he sustained it, however, with fortitude, and +so far from going away, turned back with them, and entered into +conversation with Mr. Gardiner. Elizabeth could not but be pleased, +could not but triumph. It was consoling that he should know she had +some relations for whom there was no need to blush. She listened most +attentively to all that passed between them, and gloried in every +expression, every sentence of her uncle, which marked his intelligence, +his taste, or his good manners. + +The conversation soon turned upon fishing; and she heard Mr. Darcy +invite him, with the greatest civility, to fish there as often as he +chose while he continued in the neighbourhood, offering at the same time +to supply him with fishing tackle, and pointing out those parts of +the stream where there was usually most sport. Mrs. Gardiner, who was +walking arm-in-arm with Elizabeth, gave her a look expressive of wonder. +Elizabeth said nothing, but it gratified her exceedingly; the compliment +must be all for herself. Her astonishment, however, was extreme, and +continually was she repeating, "Why is he so altered? From what can +it proceed? It cannot be for _me_--it cannot be for _my_ sake that his +manners are thus softened. My reproofs at Hunsford could not work such a +change as this. It is impossible that he should still love me." + +After walking some time in this way, the two ladies in front, the two +gentlemen behind, on resuming their places, after descending to +the brink of the river for the better inspection of some curious +water-plant, there chanced to be a little alteration. It originated +in Mrs. Gardiner, who, fatigued by the exercise of the morning, found +Elizabeth's arm inadequate to her support, and consequently preferred +her husband's. Mr. Darcy took her place by her niece, and they walked on +together. After a short silence, the lady first spoke. She wished him +to know that she had been assured of his absence before she came to the +place, and accordingly began by observing, that his arrival had been +very unexpected--"for your housekeeper," she added, "informed us that +you would certainly not be here till to-morrow; and indeed, before we +left Bakewell, we understood that you were not immediately expected +in the country." He acknowledged the truth of it all, and said that +business with his steward had occasioned his coming forward a few hours +before the rest of the party with whom he had been travelling. "They +will join me early to-morrow," he continued, "and among them are some +who will claim an acquaintance with you--Mr. Bingley and his sisters." + +Elizabeth answered only by a slight bow. Her thoughts were instantly +driven back to the time when Mr. Bingley's name had been the last +mentioned between them; and, if she might judge by his complexion, _his_ +mind was not very differently engaged. + +"There is also one other person in the party," he continued after a +pause, "who more particularly wishes to be known to you. Will you allow +me, or do I ask too much, to introduce my sister to your acquaintance +during your stay at Lambton?" + +The surprise of such an application was great indeed; it was too great +for her to know in what manner she acceded to it. She immediately felt +that whatever desire Miss Darcy might have of being acquainted with her +must be the work of her brother, and, without looking farther, it was +satisfactory; it was gratifying to know that his resentment had not made +him think really ill of her. + +They now walked on in silence, each of them deep in thought. Elizabeth +was not comfortable; that was impossible; but she was flattered and +pleased. His wish of introducing his sister to her was a compliment of +the highest kind. They soon outstripped the others, and when they had +reached the carriage, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner were half a quarter of a +mile behind. + +He then asked her to walk into the house--but she declared herself not +tired, and they stood together on the lawn. At such a time much might +have been said, and silence was very awkward. She wanted to talk, but +there seemed to be an embargo on every subject. At last she recollected +that she had been travelling, and they talked of Matlock and Dove Dale +with great perseverance. Yet time and her aunt moved slowly--and her +patience and her ideas were nearly worn out before the tete-a-tete was +over. On Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner's coming up they were all pressed to go +into the house and take some refreshment; but this was declined, and +they parted on each side with utmost politeness. Mr. Darcy handed the +ladies into the carriage; and when it drove off, Elizabeth saw him +walking slowly towards the house. + +The observations of her uncle and aunt now began; and each of them +pronounced him to be infinitely superior to anything they had expected. +"He is perfectly well behaved, polite, and unassuming," said her uncle. + +"There _is_ something a little stately in him, to be sure," replied her +aunt, "but it is confined to his air, and is not unbecoming. I can now +say with the housekeeper, that though some people may call him proud, I +have seen nothing of it." + +"I was never more surprised than by his behaviour to us. It was more +than civil; it was really attentive; and there was no necessity for such +attention. His acquaintance with Elizabeth was very trifling." + +"To be sure, Lizzy," said her aunt, "he is not so handsome as Wickham; +or, rather, he has not Wickham's countenance, for his features +are perfectly good. But how came you to tell me that he was so +disagreeable?" + +Elizabeth excused herself as well as she could; said that she had liked +him better when they had met in Kent than before, and that she had never +seen him so pleasant as this morning. + +"But perhaps he may be a little whimsical in his civilities," replied +her uncle. "Your great men often are; and therefore I shall not take him +at his word, as he might change his mind another day, and warn me off +his grounds." + +Elizabeth felt that they had entirely misunderstood his character, but +said nothing. + +"From what we have seen of him," continued Mrs. Gardiner, "I really +should not have thought that he could have behaved in so cruel a way by +anybody as he has done by poor Wickham. He has not an ill-natured look. +On the contrary, there is something pleasing about his mouth when he +speaks. And there is something of dignity in his countenance that would +not give one an unfavourable idea of his heart. But, to be sure, the +good lady who showed us his house did give him a most flaming character! +I could hardly help laughing aloud sometimes. But he is a liberal +master, I suppose, and _that_ in the eye of a servant comprehends every +virtue." + +Elizabeth here felt herself called on to say something in vindication of +his behaviour to Wickham; and therefore gave them to understand, in +as guarded a manner as she could, that by what she had heard from +his relations in Kent, his actions were capable of a very different +construction; and that his character was by no means so faulty, nor +Wickham's so amiable, as they had been considered in Hertfordshire. In +confirmation of this, she related the particulars of all the pecuniary +transactions in which they had been connected, without actually naming +her authority, but stating it to be such as might be relied on. + +Mrs. Gardiner was surprised and concerned; but as they were now +approaching the scene of her former pleasures, every idea gave way to +the charm of recollection; and she was too much engaged in pointing out +to her husband all the interesting spots in its environs to think of +anything else. Fatigued as she had been by the morning's walk they +had no sooner dined than she set off again in quest of her former +acquaintance, and the evening was spent in the satisfactions of a +intercourse renewed after many years' discontinuance. + +The occurrences of the day were too full of interest to leave Elizabeth +much attention for any of these new friends; and she could do nothing +but think, and think with wonder, of Mr. Darcy's civility, and, above +all, of his wishing her to be acquainted with his sister. + + + +Chapter 44 + + +Elizabeth had settled it that Mr. Darcy would bring his sister to visit +her the very day after her reaching Pemberley; and was consequently +resolved not to be out of sight of the inn the whole of that morning. +But her conclusion was false; for on the very morning after their +arrival at Lambton, these visitors came. They had been walking about the +place with some of their new friends, and were just returning to the inn +to dress themselves for dining with the same family, when the sound of a +carriage drew them to a window, and they saw a gentleman and a lady in +a curricle driving up the street. Elizabeth immediately recognizing +the livery, guessed what it meant, and imparted no small degree of her +surprise to her relations by acquainting them with the honour which she +expected. Her uncle and aunt were all amazement; and the embarrassment +of her manner as she spoke, joined to the circumstance itself, and many +of the circumstances of the preceding day, opened to them a new idea on +the business. Nothing had ever suggested it before, but they felt that +there was no other way of accounting for such attentions from such a +quarter than by supposing a partiality for their niece. While these +newly-born notions were passing in their heads, the perturbation of +Elizabeth's feelings was at every moment increasing. She was quite +amazed at her own discomposure; but amongst other causes of disquiet, +she dreaded lest the partiality of the brother should have said too much +in her favour; and, more than commonly anxious to please, she naturally +suspected that every power of pleasing would fail her. + +She retreated from the window, fearful of being seen; and as she walked +up and down the room, endeavouring to compose herself, saw such looks of +inquiring surprise in her uncle and aunt as made everything worse. + +Miss Darcy and her brother appeared, and this formidable introduction +took place. With astonishment did Elizabeth see that her new +acquaintance was at least as much embarrassed as herself. Since her +being at Lambton, she had heard that Miss Darcy was exceedingly proud; +but the observation of a very few minutes convinced her that she was +only exceedingly shy. She found it difficult to obtain even a word from +her beyond a monosyllable. + +Miss Darcy was tall, and on a larger scale than Elizabeth; and, though +little more than sixteen, her figure was formed, and her appearance +womanly and graceful. She was less handsome than her brother; but there +was sense and good humour in her face, and her manners were perfectly +unassuming and gentle. Elizabeth, who had expected to find in her as +acute and unembarrassed an observer as ever Mr. Darcy had been, was much +relieved by discerning such different feelings. + +They had not long been together before Mr. Darcy told her that Bingley +was also coming to wait on her; and she had barely time to express her +satisfaction, and prepare for such a visitor, when Bingley's quick +step was heard on the stairs, and in a moment he entered the room. All +Elizabeth's anger against him had been long done away; but had she still +felt any, it could hardly have stood its ground against the unaffected +cordiality with which he expressed himself on seeing her again. He +inquired in a friendly, though general way, after her family, and looked +and spoke with the same good-humoured ease that he had ever done. + +To Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner he was scarcely a less interesting personage +than to herself. They had long wished to see him. The whole party before +them, indeed, excited a lively attention. The suspicions which had just +arisen of Mr. Darcy and their niece directed their observation towards +each with an earnest though guarded inquiry; and they soon drew from +those inquiries the full conviction that one of them at least knew +what it was to love. Of the lady's sensations they remained a little +in doubt; but that the gentleman was overflowing with admiration was +evident enough. + +Elizabeth, on her side, had much to do. She wanted to ascertain the +feelings of each of her visitors; she wanted to compose her own, and +to make herself agreeable to all; and in the latter object, where she +feared most to fail, she was most sure of success, for those to whom she +endeavoured to give pleasure were prepossessed in her favour. Bingley +was ready, Georgiana was eager, and Darcy determined, to be pleased. + +In seeing Bingley, her thoughts naturally flew to her sister; and, oh! +how ardently did she long to know whether any of his were directed in +a like manner. Sometimes she could fancy that he talked less than on +former occasions, and once or twice pleased herself with the notion +that, as he looked at her, he was trying to trace a resemblance. But, +though this might be imaginary, she could not be deceived as to his +behaviour to Miss Darcy, who had been set up as a rival to Jane. No look +appeared on either side that spoke particular regard. Nothing occurred +between them that could justify the hopes of his sister. On this point +she was soon satisfied; and two or three little circumstances occurred +ere they parted, which, in her anxious interpretation, denoted a +recollection of Jane not untinctured by tenderness, and a wish of saying +more that might lead to the mention of her, had he dared. He observed +to her, at a moment when the others were talking together, and in a tone +which had something of real regret, that it "was a very long time since +he had had the pleasure of seeing her;" and, before she could reply, +he added, "It is above eight months. We have not met since the 26th of +November, when we were all dancing together at Netherfield." + +Elizabeth was pleased to find his memory so exact; and he afterwards +took occasion to ask her, when unattended to by any of the rest, whether +_all_ her sisters were at Longbourn. There was not much in the question, +nor in the preceding remark; but there was a look and a manner which +gave them meaning. + +It was not often that she could turn her eyes on Mr. Darcy himself; +but, whenever she did catch a glimpse, she saw an expression of general +complaisance, and in all that he said she heard an accent so removed +from _hauteur_ or disdain of his companions, as convinced her that +the improvement of manners which she had yesterday witnessed however +temporary its existence might prove, had at least outlived one day. When +she saw him thus seeking the acquaintance and courting the good opinion +of people with whom any intercourse a few months ago would have been a +disgrace--when she saw him thus civil, not only to herself, but to the +very relations whom he had openly disdained, and recollected their last +lively scene in Hunsford Parsonage--the difference, the change was +so great, and struck so forcibly on her mind, that she could hardly +restrain her astonishment from being visible. Never, even in the company +of his dear friends at Netherfield, or his dignified relations +at Rosings, had she seen him so desirous to please, so free from +self-consequence or unbending reserve, as now, when no importance +could result from the success of his endeavours, and when even the +acquaintance of those to whom his attentions were addressed would draw +down the ridicule and censure of the ladies both of Netherfield and +Rosings. + +Their visitors stayed with them above half-an-hour; and when they arose +to depart, Mr. Darcy called on his sister to join him in expressing +their wish of seeing Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, and Miss Bennet, to dinner +at Pemberley, before they left the country. Miss Darcy, though with a +diffidence which marked her little in the habit of giving invitations, +readily obeyed. Mrs. Gardiner looked at her niece, desirous of knowing +how _she_, whom the invitation most concerned, felt disposed as to its +acceptance, but Elizabeth had turned away her head. Presuming however, +that this studied avoidance spoke rather a momentary embarrassment than +any dislike of the proposal, and seeing in her husband, who was fond of +society, a perfect willingness to accept it, she ventured to engage for +her attendance, and the day after the next was fixed on. + +Bingley expressed great pleasure in the certainty of seeing Elizabeth +again, having still a great deal to say to her, and many inquiries to +make after all their Hertfordshire friends. Elizabeth, construing all +this into a wish of hearing her speak of her sister, was pleased, and on +this account, as well as some others, found herself, when their +visitors left them, capable of considering the last half-hour with some +satisfaction, though while it was passing, the enjoyment of it had been +little. Eager to be alone, and fearful of inquiries or hints from her +uncle and aunt, she stayed with them only long enough to hear their +favourable opinion of Bingley, and then hurried away to dress. + +But she had no reason to fear Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner's curiosity; it was +not their wish to force her communication. It was evident that she was +much better acquainted with Mr. Darcy than they had before any idea of; +it was evident that he was very much in love with her. They saw much to +interest, but nothing to justify inquiry. + +Of Mr. Darcy it was now a matter of anxiety to think well; and, as far +as their acquaintance reached, there was no fault to find. They could +not be untouched by his politeness; and had they drawn his character +from their own feelings and his servant's report, without any reference +to any other account, the circle in Hertfordshire to which he was known +would not have recognized it for Mr. Darcy. There was now an interest, +however, in believing the housekeeper; and they soon became sensible +that the authority of a servant who had known him since he was four +years old, and whose own manners indicated respectability, was not to be +hastily rejected. Neither had anything occurred in the intelligence of +their Lambton friends that could materially lessen its weight. They had +nothing to accuse him of but pride; pride he probably had, and if not, +it would certainly be imputed by the inhabitants of a small market-town +where the family did not visit. It was acknowledged, however, that he +was a liberal man, and did much good among the poor. + +With respect to Wickham, the travellers soon found that he was not held +there in much estimation; for though the chief of his concerns with the +son of his patron were imperfectly understood, it was yet a well-known +fact that, on his quitting Derbyshire, he had left many debts behind +him, which Mr. Darcy afterwards discharged. + +As for Elizabeth, her thoughts were at Pemberley this evening more than +the last; and the evening, though as it passed it seemed long, was not +long enough to determine her feelings towards _one_ in that mansion; +and she lay awake two whole hours endeavouring to make them out. She +certainly did not hate him. No; hatred had vanished long ago, and she +had almost as long been ashamed of ever feeling a dislike against him, +that could be so called. The respect created by the conviction of his +valuable qualities, though at first unwillingly admitted, had for some +time ceased to be repugnant to her feeling; and it was now heightened +into somewhat of a friendlier nature, by the testimony so highly in +his favour, and bringing forward his disposition in so amiable a light, +which yesterday had produced. But above all, above respect and esteem, +there was a motive within her of goodwill which could not be overlooked. +It was gratitude; gratitude, not merely for having once loved her, +but for loving her still well enough to forgive all the petulance and +acrimony of her manner in rejecting him, and all the unjust accusations +accompanying her rejection. He who, she had been persuaded, would avoid +her as his greatest enemy, seemed, on this accidental meeting, most +eager to preserve the acquaintance, and without any indelicate display +of regard, or any peculiarity of manner, where their two selves only +were concerned, was soliciting the good opinion of her friends, and bent +on making her known to his sister. Such a change in a man of so much +pride exciting not only astonishment but gratitude--for to love, ardent +love, it must be attributed; and as such its impression on her was of a +sort to be encouraged, as by no means unpleasing, though it could not be +exactly defined. She respected, she esteemed, she was grateful to him, +she felt a real interest in his welfare; and she only wanted to know how +far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself, and how far it would +be for the happiness of both that she should employ the power, which her +fancy told her she still possessed, of bringing on her the renewal of +his addresses. + +It had been settled in the evening between the aunt and the niece, that +such a striking civility as Miss Darcy's in coming to see them on the +very day of her arrival at Pemberley, for she had reached it only to a +late breakfast, ought to be imitated, though it could not be equalled, +by some exertion of politeness on their side; and, consequently, that +it would be highly expedient to wait on her at Pemberley the following +morning. They were, therefore, to go. Elizabeth was pleased; though when +she asked herself the reason, she had very little to say in reply. + +Mr. Gardiner left them soon after breakfast. The fishing scheme had been +renewed the day before, and a positive engagement made of his meeting +some of the gentlemen at Pemberley before noon. + + + +Chapter 45 + + +Convinced as Elizabeth now was that Miss Bingley's dislike of her had +originated in jealousy, she could not help feeling how unwelcome her +appearance at Pemberley must be to her, and was curious to know with how +much civility on that lady's side the acquaintance would now be renewed. + +On reaching the house, they were shown through the hall into the saloon, +whose northern aspect rendered it delightful for summer. Its windows +opening to the ground, admitted a most refreshing view of the high woody +hills behind the house, and of the beautiful oaks and Spanish chestnuts +which were scattered over the intermediate lawn. + +In this house they were received by Miss Darcy, who was sitting there +with Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley, and the lady with whom she lived in +London. Georgiana's reception of them was very civil, but attended with +all the embarrassment which, though proceeding from shyness and the fear +of doing wrong, would easily give to those who felt themselves inferior +the belief of her being proud and reserved. Mrs. Gardiner and her niece, +however, did her justice, and pitied her. + +By Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley they were noticed only by a curtsey; and, +on their being seated, a pause, awkward as such pauses must always be, +succeeded for a few moments. It was first broken by Mrs. Annesley, a +genteel, agreeable-looking woman, whose endeavour to introduce some kind +of discourse proved her to be more truly well-bred than either of the +others; and between her and Mrs. Gardiner, with occasional help from +Elizabeth, the conversation was carried on. Miss Darcy looked as if she +wished for courage enough to join in it; and sometimes did venture a +short sentence when there was least danger of its being heard. + +Elizabeth soon saw that she was herself closely watched by Miss Bingley, +and that she could not speak a word, especially to Miss Darcy, without +calling her attention. This observation would not have prevented her +from trying to talk to the latter, had they not been seated at an +inconvenient distance; but she was not sorry to be spared the necessity +of saying much. Her own thoughts were employing her. She expected every +moment that some of the gentlemen would enter the room. She wished, she +feared that the master of the house might be amongst them; and whether +she wished or feared it most, she could scarcely determine. After +sitting in this manner a quarter of an hour without hearing Miss +Bingley's voice, Elizabeth was roused by receiving from her a cold +inquiry after the health of her family. She answered with equal +indifference and brevity, and the other said no more. + +The next variation which their visit afforded was produced by the +entrance of servants with cold meat, cake, and a variety of all the +finest fruits in season; but this did not take place till after many +a significant look and smile from Mrs. Annesley to Miss Darcy had been +given, to remind her of her post. There was now employment for the whole +party--for though they could not all talk, they could all eat; and the +beautiful pyramids of grapes, nectarines, and peaches soon collected +them round the table. + +While thus engaged, Elizabeth had a fair opportunity of deciding whether +she most feared or wished for the appearance of Mr. Darcy, by the +feelings which prevailed on his entering the room; and then, though but +a moment before she had believed her wishes to predominate, she began to +regret that he came. + +He had been some time with Mr. Gardiner, who, with two or three other +gentlemen from the house, was engaged by the river, and had left him +only on learning that the ladies of the family intended a visit to +Georgiana that morning. No sooner did he appear than Elizabeth wisely +resolved to be perfectly easy and unembarrassed; a resolution the more +necessary to be made, but perhaps not the more easily kept, because she +saw that the suspicions of the whole party were awakened against them, +and that there was scarcely an eye which did not watch his behaviour +when he first came into the room. In no countenance was attentive +curiosity so strongly marked as in Miss Bingley's, in spite of the +smiles which overspread her face whenever she spoke to one of its +objects; for jealousy had not yet made her desperate, and her attentions +to Mr. Darcy were by no means over. Miss Darcy, on her brother's +entrance, exerted herself much more to talk, and Elizabeth saw that he +was anxious for his sister and herself to get acquainted, and forwarded +as much as possible, every attempt at conversation on either side. Miss +Bingley saw all this likewise; and, in the imprudence of anger, took the +first opportunity of saying, with sneering civility: + +"Pray, Miss Eliza, are not the ----shire Militia removed from Meryton? +They must be a great loss to _your_ family." + +In Darcy's presence she dared not mention Wickham's name; but Elizabeth +instantly comprehended that he was uppermost in her thoughts; and the +various recollections connected with him gave her a moment's distress; +but exerting herself vigorously to repel the ill-natured attack, she +presently answered the question in a tolerably detached tone. While +she spoke, an involuntary glance showed her Darcy, with a heightened +complexion, earnestly looking at her, and his sister overcome with +confusion, and unable to lift up her eyes. Had Miss Bingley known what +pain she was then giving her beloved friend, she undoubtedly would +have refrained from the hint; but she had merely intended to discompose +Elizabeth by bringing forward the idea of a man to whom she believed +her partial, to make her betray a sensibility which might injure her in +Darcy's opinion, and, perhaps, to remind the latter of all the follies +and absurdities by which some part of her family were connected +with that corps. Not a syllable had ever reached her of Miss Darcy's +meditated elopement. To no creature had it been revealed, where secrecy +was possible, except to Elizabeth; and from all Bingley's connections +her brother was particularly anxious to conceal it, from the very +wish which Elizabeth had long ago attributed to him, of their becoming +hereafter her own. He had certainly formed such a plan, and without +meaning that it should affect his endeavour to separate him from Miss +Bennet, it is probable that it might add something to his lively concern +for the welfare of his friend. + +Elizabeth's collected behaviour, however, soon quieted his emotion; and +as Miss Bingley, vexed and disappointed, dared not approach nearer to +Wickham, Georgiana also recovered in time, though not enough to be able +to speak any more. Her brother, whose eye she feared to meet, scarcely +recollected her interest in the affair, and the very circumstance which +had been designed to turn his thoughts from Elizabeth seemed to have +fixed them on her more and more cheerfully. + +Their visit did not continue long after the question and answer above +mentioned; and while Mr. Darcy was attending them to their carriage Miss +Bingley was venting her feelings in criticisms on Elizabeth's person, +behaviour, and dress. But Georgiana would not join her. Her brother's +recommendation was enough to ensure her favour; his judgement could not +err. And he had spoken in such terms of Elizabeth as to leave Georgiana +without the power of finding her otherwise than lovely and amiable. When +Darcy returned to the saloon, Miss Bingley could not help repeating to +him some part of what she had been saying to his sister. + +"How very ill Miss Eliza Bennet looks this morning, Mr. Darcy," she +cried; "I never in my life saw anyone so much altered as she is since +the winter. She is grown so brown and coarse! Louisa and I were agreeing +that we should not have known her again." + +However little Mr. Darcy might have liked such an address, he contented +himself with coolly replying that he perceived no other alteration than +her being rather tanned, no miraculous consequence of travelling in the +summer. + +"For my own part," she rejoined, "I must confess that I never could +see any beauty in her. Her face is too thin; her complexion has no +brilliancy; and her features are not at all handsome. Her nose +wants character--there is nothing marked in its lines. Her teeth are +tolerable, but not out of the common way; and as for her eyes, +which have sometimes been called so fine, I could never see anything +extraordinary in them. They have a sharp, shrewish look, which I do +not like at all; and in her air altogether there is a self-sufficiency +without fashion, which is intolerable." + +Persuaded as Miss Bingley was that Darcy admired Elizabeth, this was not +the best method of recommending herself; but angry people are not always +wise; and in seeing him at last look somewhat nettled, she had all the +success she expected. He was resolutely silent, however, and, from a +determination of making him speak, she continued: + +"I remember, when we first knew her in Hertfordshire, how amazed we all +were to find that she was a reputed beauty; and I particularly recollect +your saying one night, after they had been dining at Netherfield, '_She_ +a beauty!--I should as soon call her mother a wit.' But afterwards she +seemed to improve on you, and I believe you thought her rather pretty at +one time." + +"Yes," replied Darcy, who could contain himself no longer, "but _that_ +was only when I first saw her, for it is many months since I have +considered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance." + +He then went away, and Miss Bingley was left to all the satisfaction of +having forced him to say what gave no one any pain but herself. + +Mrs. Gardiner and Elizabeth talked of all that had occurred during their +visit, as they returned, except what had particularly interested them +both. The look and behaviour of everybody they had seen were discussed, +except of the person who had mostly engaged their attention. They talked +of his sister, his friends, his house, his fruit--of everything but +himself; yet Elizabeth was longing to know what Mrs. Gardiner thought of +him, and Mrs. Gardiner would have been highly gratified by her niece's +beginning the subject. + + + +Chapter 46 + + +Elizabeth had been a good deal disappointed in not finding a letter from +Jane on their first arrival at Lambton; and this disappointment had been +renewed on each of the mornings that had now been spent there; but +on the third her repining was over, and her sister justified, by the +receipt of two letters from her at once, on one of which was marked that +it had been missent elsewhere. Elizabeth was not surprised at it, as +Jane had written the direction remarkably ill. + +They had just been preparing to walk as the letters came in; and +her uncle and aunt, leaving her to enjoy them in quiet, set off by +themselves. The one missent must first be attended to; it had been +written five days ago. The beginning contained an account of all their +little parties and engagements, with such news as the country afforded; +but the latter half, which was dated a day later, and written in evident +agitation, gave more important intelligence. It was to this effect: + +"Since writing the above, dearest Lizzy, something has occurred of a +most unexpected and serious nature; but I am afraid of alarming you--be +assured that we are all well. What I have to say relates to poor Lydia. +An express came at twelve last night, just as we were all gone to bed, +from Colonel Forster, to inform us that she was gone off to Scotland +with one of his officers; to own the truth, with Wickham! Imagine our +surprise. To Kitty, however, it does not seem so wholly unexpected. I am +very, very sorry. So imprudent a match on both sides! But I am willing +to hope the best, and that his character has been misunderstood. +Thoughtless and indiscreet I can easily believe him, but this step +(and let us rejoice over it) marks nothing bad at heart. His choice is +disinterested at least, for he must know my father can give her nothing. +Our poor mother is sadly grieved. My father bears it better. How +thankful am I that we never let them know what has been said against +him; we must forget it ourselves. They were off Saturday night about +twelve, as is conjectured, but were not missed till yesterday morning at +eight. The express was sent off directly. My dear Lizzy, they must have +passed within ten miles of us. Colonel Forster gives us reason to expect +him here soon. Lydia left a few lines for his wife, informing her of +their intention. I must conclude, for I cannot be long from my poor +mother. I am afraid you will not be able to make it out, but I hardly +know what I have written." + +Without allowing herself time for consideration, and scarcely knowing +what she felt, Elizabeth on finishing this letter instantly seized the +other, and opening it with the utmost impatience, read as follows: it +had been written a day later than the conclusion of the first. + +"By this time, my dearest sister, you have received my hurried letter; I +wish this may be more intelligible, but though not confined for time, my +head is so bewildered that I cannot answer for being coherent. Dearest +Lizzy, I hardly know what I would write, but I have bad news for you, +and it cannot be delayed. Imprudent as the marriage between Mr. Wickham +and our poor Lydia would be, we are now anxious to be assured it has +taken place, for there is but too much reason to fear they are not gone +to Scotland. Colonel Forster came yesterday, having left Brighton the +day before, not many hours after the express. Though Lydia's short +letter to Mrs. F. gave them to understand that they were going to Gretna +Green, something was dropped by Denny expressing his belief that W. +never intended to go there, or to marry Lydia at all, which was +repeated to Colonel F., who, instantly taking the alarm, set off from B. +intending to trace their route. He did trace them easily to Clapham, +but no further; for on entering that place, they removed into a hackney +coach, and dismissed the chaise that brought them from Epsom. All that +is known after this is, that they were seen to continue the London road. +I know not what to think. After making every possible inquiry on that +side London, Colonel F. came on into Hertfordshire, anxiously renewing +them at all the turnpikes, and at the inns in Barnet and Hatfield, but +without any success--no such people had been seen to pass through. With +the kindest concern he came on to Longbourn, and broke his apprehensions +to us in a manner most creditable to his heart. I am sincerely grieved +for him and Mrs. F., but no one can throw any blame on them. Our +distress, my dear Lizzy, is very great. My father and mother believe the +worst, but I cannot think so ill of him. Many circumstances might make +it more eligible for them to be married privately in town than to pursue +their first plan; and even if _he_ could form such a design against a +young woman of Lydia's connections, which is not likely, can I suppose +her so lost to everything? Impossible! I grieve to find, however, that +Colonel F. is not disposed to depend upon their marriage; he shook his +head when I expressed my hopes, and said he feared W. was not a man to +be trusted. My poor mother is really ill, and keeps her room. Could she +exert herself, it would be better; but this is not to be expected. And +as to my father, I never in my life saw him so affected. Poor Kitty has +anger for having concealed their attachment; but as it was a matter of +confidence, one cannot wonder. I am truly glad, dearest Lizzy, that you +have been spared something of these distressing scenes; but now, as the +first shock is over, shall I own that I long for your return? I am not +so selfish, however, as to press for it, if inconvenient. Adieu! I +take up my pen again to do what I have just told you I would not; but +circumstances are such that I cannot help earnestly begging you all to +come here as soon as possible. I know my dear uncle and aunt so well, +that I am not afraid of requesting it, though I have still something +more to ask of the former. My father is going to London with Colonel +Forster instantly, to try to discover her. What he means to do I am sure +I know not; but his excessive distress will not allow him to pursue any +measure in the best and safest way, and Colonel Forster is obliged to +be at Brighton again to-morrow evening. In such an exigence, my +uncle's advice and assistance would be everything in the world; he will +immediately comprehend what I must feel, and I rely upon his goodness." + +"Oh! where, where is my uncle?" cried Elizabeth, darting from her seat +as she finished the letter, in eagerness to follow him, without losing +a moment of the time so precious; but as she reached the door it was +opened by a servant, and Mr. Darcy appeared. Her pale face and impetuous +manner made him start, and before he could recover himself to speak, +she, in whose mind every idea was superseded by Lydia's situation, +hastily exclaimed, "I beg your pardon, but I must leave you. I must find +Mr. Gardiner this moment, on business that cannot be delayed; I have not +an instant to lose." + +"Good God! what is the matter?" cried he, with more feeling than +politeness; then recollecting himself, "I will not detain you a minute; +but let me, or let the servant go after Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. You are +not well enough; you cannot go yourself." + +Elizabeth hesitated, but her knees trembled under her and she felt how +little would be gained by her attempting to pursue them. Calling back +the servant, therefore, she commissioned him, though in so breathless +an accent as made her almost unintelligible, to fetch his master and +mistress home instantly. + +On his quitting the room she sat down, unable to support herself, and +looking so miserably ill, that it was impossible for Darcy to leave her, +or to refrain from saying, in a tone of gentleness and commiseration, +"Let me call your maid. Is there nothing you could take to give you +present relief? A glass of wine; shall I get you one? You are very ill." + +"No, I thank you," she replied, endeavouring to recover herself. "There +is nothing the matter with me. I am quite well; I am only distressed by +some dreadful news which I have just received from Longbourn." + +She burst into tears as she alluded to it, and for a few minutes could +not speak another word. Darcy, in wretched suspense, could only say +something indistinctly of his concern, and observe her in compassionate +silence. At length she spoke again. "I have just had a letter from Jane, +with such dreadful news. It cannot be concealed from anyone. My younger +sister has left all her friends--has eloped; has thrown herself into +the power of--of Mr. Wickham. They are gone off together from Brighton. +_You_ know him too well to doubt the rest. She has no money, no +connections, nothing that can tempt him to--she is lost for ever." + +Darcy was fixed in astonishment. "When I consider," she added in a yet +more agitated voice, "that I might have prevented it! I, who knew what +he was. Had I but explained some part of it only--some part of what I +learnt, to my own family! Had his character been known, this could not +have happened. But it is all--all too late now." + +"I am grieved indeed," cried Darcy; "grieved--shocked. But is it +certain--absolutely certain?" + +"Oh, yes! They left Brighton together on Sunday night, and were traced +almost to London, but not beyond; they are certainly not gone to +Scotland." + +"And what has been done, what has been attempted, to recover her?" + +"My father is gone to London, and Jane has written to beg my uncle's +immediate assistance; and we shall be off, I hope, in half-an-hour. But +nothing can be done--I know very well that nothing can be done. How is +such a man to be worked on? How are they even to be discovered? I have +not the smallest hope. It is every way horrible!" + +Darcy shook his head in silent acquiescence. + +"When _my_ eyes were opened to his real character--Oh! had I known what +I ought, what I dared to do! But I knew not--I was afraid of doing too +much. Wretched, wretched mistake!" + +Darcy made no answer. He seemed scarcely to hear her, and was walking +up and down the room in earnest meditation, his brow contracted, his air +gloomy. Elizabeth soon observed, and instantly understood it. Her +power was sinking; everything _must_ sink under such a proof of family +weakness, such an assurance of the deepest disgrace. She could neither +wonder nor condemn, but the belief of his self-conquest brought nothing +consolatory to her bosom, afforded no palliation of her distress. It +was, on the contrary, exactly calculated to make her understand her own +wishes; and never had she so honestly felt that she could have loved +him, as now, when all love must be vain. + +But self, though it would intrude, could not engross her. Lydia--the +humiliation, the misery she was bringing on them all, soon swallowed +up every private care; and covering her face with her handkerchief, +Elizabeth was soon lost to everything else; and, after a pause of +several minutes, was only recalled to a sense of her situation by +the voice of her companion, who, in a manner which, though it spoke +compassion, spoke likewise restraint, said, "I am afraid you have been +long desiring my absence, nor have I anything to plead in excuse of my +stay, but real, though unavailing concern. Would to Heaven that anything +could be either said or done on my part that might offer consolation to +such distress! But I will not torment you with vain wishes, which may +seem purposely to ask for your thanks. This unfortunate affair will, I +fear, prevent my sister's having the pleasure of seeing you at Pemberley +to-day." + +"Oh, yes. Be so kind as to apologise for us to Miss Darcy. Say that +urgent business calls us home immediately. Conceal the unhappy truth as +long as it is possible, I know it cannot be long." + +He readily assured her of his secrecy; again expressed his sorrow for +her distress, wished it a happier conclusion than there was at present +reason to hope, and leaving his compliments for her relations, with only +one serious, parting look, went away. + +As he quitted the room, Elizabeth felt how improbable it was that they +should ever see each other again on such terms of cordiality as +had marked their several meetings in Derbyshire; and as she threw a +retrospective glance over the whole of their acquaintance, so full +of contradictions and varieties, sighed at the perverseness of those +feelings which would now have promoted its continuance, and would +formerly have rejoiced in its termination. + +If gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection, Elizabeth's +change of sentiment will be neither improbable nor faulty. But if +otherwise--if regard springing from such sources is unreasonable or +unnatural, in comparison of what is so often described as arising on +a first interview with its object, and even before two words have been +exchanged, nothing can be said in her defence, except that she had given +somewhat of a trial to the latter method in her partiality for Wickham, +and that its ill success might, perhaps, authorise her to seek the other +less interesting mode of attachment. Be that as it may, she saw him +go with regret; and in this early example of what Lydia's infamy must +produce, found additional anguish as she reflected on that wretched +business. Never, since reading Jane's second letter, had she entertained +a hope of Wickham's meaning to marry her. No one but Jane, she thought, +could flatter herself with such an expectation. Surprise was the least +of her feelings on this development. While the contents of the first +letter remained in her mind, she was all surprise--all astonishment that +Wickham should marry a girl whom it was impossible he could marry +for money; and how Lydia could ever have attached him had appeared +incomprehensible. But now it was all too natural. For such an attachment +as this she might have sufficient charms; and though she did not suppose +Lydia to be deliberately engaging in an elopement without the intention +of marriage, she had no difficulty in believing that neither her virtue +nor her understanding would preserve her from falling an easy prey. + +She had never perceived, while the regiment was in Hertfordshire, that +Lydia had any partiality for him; but she was convinced that Lydia +wanted only encouragement to attach herself to anybody. Sometimes one +officer, sometimes another, had been her favourite, as their attentions +raised them in her opinion. Her affections had continually been +fluctuating but never without an object. The mischief of neglect and +mistaken indulgence towards such a girl--oh! how acutely did she now +feel it! + +She was wild to be at home--to hear, to see, to be upon the spot to +share with Jane in the cares that must now fall wholly upon her, in a +family so deranged, a father absent, a mother incapable of exertion, and +requiring constant attendance; and though almost persuaded that nothing +could be done for Lydia, her uncle's interference seemed of the utmost +importance, and till he entered the room her impatience was severe. Mr. +and Mrs. Gardiner had hurried back in alarm, supposing by the servant's +account that their niece was taken suddenly ill; but satisfying them +instantly on that head, she eagerly communicated the cause of their +summons, reading the two letters aloud, and dwelling on the postscript +of the last with trembling energy.--Though Lydia had never been a +favourite with them, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner could not but be deeply +afflicted. Not Lydia only, but all were concerned in it; and after the +first exclamations of surprise and horror, Mr. Gardiner promised every +assistance in his power. Elizabeth, though expecting no less, thanked +him with tears of gratitude; and all three being actuated by one spirit, +everything relating to their journey was speedily settled. They were to +be off as soon as possible. "But what is to be done about Pemberley?" +cried Mrs. Gardiner. "John told us Mr. Darcy was here when you sent for +us; was it so?" + +"Yes; and I told him we should not be able to keep our engagement. +_That_ is all settled." + +"What is all settled?" repeated the other, as she ran into her room to +prepare. "And are they upon such terms as for her to disclose the real +truth? Oh, that I knew how it was!" + +But wishes were vain, or at least could only serve to amuse her in the +hurry and confusion of the following hour. Had Elizabeth been at leisure +to be idle, she would have remained certain that all employment was +impossible to one so wretched as herself; but she had her share of +business as well as her aunt, and amongst the rest there were notes to +be written to all their friends at Lambton, with false excuses for their +sudden departure. An hour, however, saw the whole completed; and Mr. +Gardiner meanwhile having settled his account at the inn, nothing +remained to be done but to go; and Elizabeth, after all the misery of +the morning, found herself, in a shorter space of time than she could +have supposed, seated in the carriage, and on the road to Longbourn. + + + +Chapter 47 + + +"I have been thinking it over again, Elizabeth," said her uncle, as they +drove from the town; "and really, upon serious consideration, I am much +more inclined than I was to judge as your eldest sister does on the +matter. It appears to me so very unlikely that any young man should +form such a design against a girl who is by no means unprotected or +friendless, and who was actually staying in his colonel's family, that I +am strongly inclined to hope the best. Could he expect that her friends +would not step forward? Could he expect to be noticed again by the +regiment, after such an affront to Colonel Forster? His temptation is +not adequate to the risk!" + +"Do you really think so?" cried Elizabeth, brightening up for a moment. + +"Upon my word," said Mrs. Gardiner, "I begin to be of your uncle's +opinion. It is really too great a violation of decency, honour, and +interest, for him to be guilty of. I cannot think so very ill of +Wickham. Can you yourself, Lizzy, so wholly give him up, as to believe +him capable of it?" + +"Not, perhaps, of neglecting his own interest; but of every other +neglect I can believe him capable. If, indeed, it should be so! But I +dare not hope it. Why should they not go on to Scotland if that had been +the case?" + +"In the first place," replied Mr. Gardiner, "there is no absolute proof +that they are not gone to Scotland." + +"Oh! but their removing from the chaise into a hackney coach is such +a presumption! And, besides, no traces of them were to be found on the +Barnet road." + +"Well, then--supposing them to be in London. They may be there, though +for the purpose of concealment, for no more exceptional purpose. It is +not likely that money should be very abundant on either side; and it +might strike them that they could be more economically, though less +expeditiously, married in London than in Scotland." + +"But why all this secrecy? Why any fear of detection? Why must their +marriage be private? Oh, no, no--this is not likely. His most particular +friend, you see by Jane's account, was persuaded of his never intending +to marry her. Wickham will never marry a woman without some money. He +cannot afford it. And what claims has Lydia--what attraction has she +beyond youth, health, and good humour that could make him, for her sake, +forego every chance of benefiting himself by marrying well? As to what +restraint the apprehensions of disgrace in the corps might throw on a +dishonourable elopement with her, I am not able to judge; for I know +nothing of the effects that such a step might produce. But as to your +other objection, I am afraid it will hardly hold good. Lydia has +no brothers to step forward; and he might imagine, from my father's +behaviour, from his indolence and the little attention he has ever +seemed to give to what was going forward in his family, that _he_ would +do as little, and think as little about it, as any father could do, in +such a matter." + +"But can you think that Lydia is so lost to everything but love of him +as to consent to live with him on any terms other than marriage?" + +"It does seem, and it is most shocking indeed," replied Elizabeth, with +tears in her eyes, "that a sister's sense of decency and virtue in such +a point should admit of doubt. But, really, I know not what to say. +Perhaps I am not doing her justice. But she is very young; she has never +been taught to think on serious subjects; and for the last half-year, +nay, for a twelvemonth--she has been given up to nothing but amusement +and vanity. She has been allowed to dispose of her time in the most idle +and frivolous manner, and to adopt any opinions that came in her way. +Since the ----shire were first quartered in Meryton, nothing but love, +flirtation, and officers have been in her head. She has been doing +everything in her power by thinking and talking on the subject, to give +greater--what shall I call it? susceptibility to her feelings; which are +naturally lively enough. And we all know that Wickham has every charm of +person and address that can captivate a woman." + +"But you see that Jane," said her aunt, "does not think so very ill of +Wickham as to believe him capable of the attempt." + +"Of whom does Jane ever think ill? And who is there, whatever might be +their former conduct, that she would think capable of such an attempt, +till it were proved against them? But Jane knows, as well as I do, what +Wickham really is. We both know that he has been profligate in every +sense of the word; that he has neither integrity nor honour; that he is +as false and deceitful as he is insinuating." + +"And do you really know all this?" cried Mrs. Gardiner, whose curiosity +as to the mode of her intelligence was all alive. + +"I do indeed," replied Elizabeth, colouring. "I told you, the other day, +of his infamous behaviour to Mr. Darcy; and you yourself, when last at +Longbourn, heard in what manner he spoke of the man who had behaved +with such forbearance and liberality towards him. And there are other +circumstances which I am not at liberty--which it is not worth while to +relate; but his lies about the whole Pemberley family are endless. From +what he said of Miss Darcy I was thoroughly prepared to see a proud, +reserved, disagreeable girl. Yet he knew to the contrary himself. He +must know that she was as amiable and unpretending as we have found +her." + +"But does Lydia know nothing of this? can she be ignorant of what you +and Jane seem so well to understand?" + +"Oh, yes!--that, that is the worst of all. Till I was in Kent, and saw +so much both of Mr. Darcy and his relation Colonel Fitzwilliam, I was +ignorant of the truth myself. And when I returned home, the ----shire +was to leave Meryton in a week or fortnight's time. As that was the +case, neither Jane, to whom I related the whole, nor I, thought it +necessary to make our knowledge public; for of what use could +it apparently be to any one, that the good opinion which all the +neighbourhood had of him should then be overthrown? And even when it was +settled that Lydia should go with Mrs. Forster, the necessity of opening +her eyes to his character never occurred to me. That _she_ could be +in any danger from the deception never entered my head. That such a +consequence as _this_ could ensue, you may easily believe, was far +enough from my thoughts." + +"When they all removed to Brighton, therefore, you had no reason, I +suppose, to believe them fond of each other?" + +"Not the slightest. I can remember no symptom of affection on either +side; and had anything of the kind been perceptible, you must be aware +that ours is not a family on which it could be thrown away. When first +he entered the corps, she was ready enough to admire him; but so we all +were. Every girl in or near Meryton was out of her senses about him for +the first two months; but he never distinguished _her_ by any particular +attention; and, consequently, after a moderate period of extravagant and +wild admiration, her fancy for him gave way, and others of the regiment, +who treated her with more distinction, again became her favourites." + + * * * * * + +It may be easily believed, that however little of novelty could be added +to their fears, hopes, and conjectures, on this interesting subject, by +its repeated discussion, no other could detain them from it long, during +the whole of the journey. From Elizabeth's thoughts it was never absent. +Fixed there by the keenest of all anguish, self-reproach, she could find +no interval of ease or forgetfulness. + +They travelled as expeditiously as possible, and, sleeping one night +on the road, reached Longbourn by dinner time the next day. It was a +comfort to Elizabeth to consider that Jane could not have been wearied +by long expectations. + +The little Gardiners, attracted by the sight of a chaise, were standing +on the steps of the house as they entered the paddock; and, when the +carriage drove up to the door, the joyful surprise that lighted up their +faces, and displayed itself over their whole bodies, in a variety of +capers and frisks, was the first pleasing earnest of their welcome. + +Elizabeth jumped out; and, after giving each of them a hasty kiss, +hurried into the vestibule, where Jane, who came running down from her +mother's apartment, immediately met her. + +Elizabeth, as she affectionately embraced her, whilst tears filled the +eyes of both, lost not a moment in asking whether anything had been +heard of the fugitives. + +"Not yet," replied Jane. "But now that my dear uncle is come, I hope +everything will be well." + +"Is my father in town?" + +"Yes, he went on Tuesday, as I wrote you word." + +"And have you heard from him often?" + +"We have heard only twice. He wrote me a few lines on Wednesday to say +that he had arrived in safety, and to give me his directions, which I +particularly begged him to do. He merely added that he should not write +again till he had something of importance to mention." + +"And my mother--how is she? How are you all?" + +"My mother is tolerably well, I trust; though her spirits are greatly +shaken. She is up stairs and will have great satisfaction in seeing you +all. She does not yet leave her dressing-room. Mary and Kitty, thank +Heaven, are quite well." + +"But you--how are you?" cried Elizabeth. "You look pale. How much you +must have gone through!" + +Her sister, however, assured her of her being perfectly well; and their +conversation, which had been passing while Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner were +engaged with their children, was now put an end to by the approach +of the whole party. Jane ran to her uncle and aunt, and welcomed and +thanked them both, with alternate smiles and tears. + +When they were all in the drawing-room, the questions which Elizabeth +had already asked were of course repeated by the others, and they soon +found that Jane had no intelligence to give. The sanguine hope of +good, however, which the benevolence of her heart suggested had not yet +deserted her; she still expected that it would all end well, and that +every morning would bring some letter, either from Lydia or her father, +to explain their proceedings, and, perhaps, announce their marriage. + +Mrs. Bennet, to whose apartment they all repaired, after a few minutes' +conversation together, received them exactly as might be expected; with +tears and lamentations of regret, invectives against the villainous +conduct of Wickham, and complaints of her own sufferings and ill-usage; +blaming everybody but the person to whose ill-judging indulgence the +errors of her daughter must principally be owing. + +"If I had been able," said she, "to carry my point in going to Brighton, +with all my family, _this_ would not have happened; but poor dear Lydia +had nobody to take care of her. Why did the Forsters ever let her go out +of their sight? I am sure there was some great neglect or other on their +side, for she is not the kind of girl to do such a thing if she had been +well looked after. I always thought they were very unfit to have the +charge of her; but I was overruled, as I always am. Poor dear child! +And now here's Mr. Bennet gone away, and I know he will fight Wickham, +wherever he meets him and then he will be killed, and what is to become +of us all? The Collinses will turn us out before he is cold in his +grave, and if you are not kind to us, brother, I do not know what we +shall do." + +They all exclaimed against such terrific ideas; and Mr. Gardiner, after +general assurances of his affection for her and all her family, told her +that he meant to be in London the very next day, and would assist Mr. +Bennet in every endeavour for recovering Lydia. + +"Do not give way to useless alarm," added he; "though it is right to be +prepared for the worst, there is no occasion to look on it as certain. +It is not quite a week since they left Brighton. In a few days more we +may gain some news of them; and till we know that they are not married, +and have no design of marrying, do not let us give the matter over as +lost. As soon as I get to town I shall go to my brother, and make +him come home with me to Gracechurch Street; and then we may consult +together as to what is to be done." + +"Oh! my dear brother," replied Mrs. Bennet, "that is exactly what I +could most wish for. And now do, when you get to town, find them out, +wherever they may be; and if they are not married already, _make_ them +marry. And as for wedding clothes, do not let them wait for that, but +tell Lydia she shall have as much money as she chooses to buy them, +after they are married. And, above all, keep Mr. Bennet from fighting. +Tell him what a dreadful state I am in, that I am frighted out of my +wits--and have such tremblings, such flutterings, all over me--such +spasms in my side and pains in my head, and such beatings at heart, that +I can get no rest by night nor by day. And tell my dear Lydia not to +give any directions about her clothes till she has seen me, for she does +not know which are the best warehouses. Oh, brother, how kind you are! I +know you will contrive it all." + +But Mr. Gardiner, though he assured her again of his earnest endeavours +in the cause, could not avoid recommending moderation to her, as well +in her hopes as her fear; and after talking with her in this manner till +dinner was on the table, they all left her to vent all her feelings on +the housekeeper, who attended in the absence of her daughters. + +Though her brother and sister were persuaded that there was no real +occasion for such a seclusion from the family, they did not attempt to +oppose it, for they knew that she had not prudence enough to hold her +tongue before the servants, while they waited at table, and judged it +better that _one_ only of the household, and the one whom they could +most trust should comprehend all her fears and solicitude on the +subject. + +In the dining-room they were soon joined by Mary and Kitty, who had been +too busily engaged in their separate apartments to make their appearance +before. One came from her books, and the other from her toilette. The +faces of both, however, were tolerably calm; and no change was visible +in either, except that the loss of her favourite sister, or the anger +which she had herself incurred in this business, had given more of +fretfulness than usual to the accents of Kitty. As for Mary, she was +mistress enough of herself to whisper to Elizabeth, with a countenance +of grave reflection, soon after they were seated at table: + +"This is a most unfortunate affair, and will probably be much talked of. +But we must stem the tide of malice, and pour into the wounded bosoms of +each other the balm of sisterly consolation." + +Then, perceiving in Elizabeth no inclination of replying, she added, +"Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia, we may draw from it this useful +lesson: that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable; that one +false step involves her in endless ruin; that her reputation is no less +brittle than it is beautiful; and that she cannot be too much guarded in +her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex." + +Elizabeth lifted up her eyes in amazement, but was too much oppressed +to make any reply. Mary, however, continued to console herself with such +kind of moral extractions from the evil before them. + +In the afternoon, the two elder Miss Bennets were able to be for +half-an-hour by themselves; and Elizabeth instantly availed herself of +the opportunity of making any inquiries, which Jane was equally eager to +satisfy. After joining in general lamentations over the dreadful sequel +of this event, which Elizabeth considered as all but certain, and Miss +Bennet could not assert to be wholly impossible, the former continued +the subject, by saying, "But tell me all and everything about it which +I have not already heard. Give me further particulars. What did Colonel +Forster say? Had they no apprehension of anything before the elopement +took place? They must have seen them together for ever." + +"Colonel Forster did own that he had often suspected some partiality, +especially on Lydia's side, but nothing to give him any alarm. I am so +grieved for him! His behaviour was attentive and kind to the utmost. He +_was_ coming to us, in order to assure us of his concern, before he had +any idea of their not being gone to Scotland: when that apprehension +first got abroad, it hastened his journey." + +"And was Denny convinced that Wickham would not marry? Did he know of +their intending to go off? Had Colonel Forster seen Denny himself?" + +"Yes; but, when questioned by _him_, Denny denied knowing anything of +their plans, and would not give his real opinion about it. He did not +repeat his persuasion of their not marrying--and from _that_, I am +inclined to hope, he might have been misunderstood before." + +"And till Colonel Forster came himself, not one of you entertained a +doubt, I suppose, of their being really married?" + +"How was it possible that such an idea should enter our brains? I felt +a little uneasy--a little fearful of my sister's happiness with him +in marriage, because I knew that his conduct had not been always quite +right. My father and mother knew nothing of that; they only felt how +imprudent a match it must be. Kitty then owned, with a very natural +triumph on knowing more than the rest of us, that in Lydia's last letter +she had prepared her for such a step. She had known, it seems, of their +being in love with each other, many weeks." + +"But not before they went to Brighton?" + +"No, I believe not." + +"And did Colonel Forster appear to think well of Wickham himself? Does +he know his real character?" + +"I must confess that he did not speak so well of Wickham as he formerly +did. He believed him to be imprudent and extravagant. And since this sad +affair has taken place, it is said that he left Meryton greatly in debt; +but I hope this may be false." + +"Oh, Jane, had we been less secret, had we told what we knew of him, +this could not have happened!" + +"Perhaps it would have been better," replied her sister. "But to expose +the former faults of any person without knowing what their present +feelings were, seemed unjustifiable. We acted with the best intentions." + +"Could Colonel Forster repeat the particulars of Lydia's note to his +wife?" + +"He brought it with him for us to see." + +Jane then took it from her pocket-book, and gave it to Elizabeth. These +were the contents: + +"MY DEAR HARRIET, + +"You will laugh when you know where I am gone, and I cannot help +laughing myself at your surprise to-morrow morning, as soon as I am +missed. I am going to Gretna Green, and if you cannot guess with who, +I shall think you a simpleton, for there is but one man in the world I +love, and he is an angel. I should never be happy without him, so think +it no harm to be off. You need not send them word at Longbourn of my +going, if you do not like it, for it will make the surprise the greater, +when I write to them and sign my name 'Lydia Wickham.' What a good joke +it will be! I can hardly write for laughing. Pray make my excuses to +Pratt for not keeping my engagement, and dancing with him to-night. +Tell him I hope he will excuse me when he knows all; and tell him I will +dance with him at the next ball we meet, with great pleasure. I shall +send for my clothes when I get to Longbourn; but I wish you would tell +Sally to mend a great slit in my worked muslin gown before they are +packed up. Good-bye. Give my love to Colonel Forster. I hope you will +drink to our good journey. + +"Your affectionate friend, + +"LYDIA BENNET." + +"Oh! thoughtless, thoughtless Lydia!" cried Elizabeth when she had +finished it. "What a letter is this, to be written at such a moment! +But at least it shows that _she_ was serious on the subject of their +journey. Whatever he might afterwards persuade her to, it was not on her +side a _scheme_ of infamy. My poor father! how he must have felt it!" + +"I never saw anyone so shocked. He could not speak a word for full ten +minutes. My mother was taken ill immediately, and the whole house in +such confusion!" + +"Oh! Jane," cried Elizabeth, "was there a servant belonging to it who +did not know the whole story before the end of the day?" + +"I do not know. I hope there was. But to be guarded at such a time is +very difficult. My mother was in hysterics, and though I endeavoured to +give her every assistance in my power, I am afraid I did not do so +much as I might have done! But the horror of what might possibly happen +almost took from me my faculties." + +"Your attendance upon her has been too much for you. You do not look +well. Oh that I had been with you! you have had every care and anxiety +upon yourself alone." + +"Mary and Kitty have been very kind, and would have shared in every +fatigue, I am sure; but I did not think it right for either of them. +Kitty is slight and delicate; and Mary studies so much, that her hours +of repose should not be broken in on. My aunt Phillips came to Longbourn +on Tuesday, after my father went away; and was so good as to stay till +Thursday with me. She was of great use and comfort to us all. And +Lady Lucas has been very kind; she walked here on Wednesday morning to +condole with us, and offered her services, or any of her daughters', if +they should be of use to us." + +"She had better have stayed at home," cried Elizabeth; "perhaps she +_meant_ well, but, under such a misfortune as this, one cannot see +too little of one's neighbours. Assistance is impossible; condolence +insufferable. Let them triumph over us at a distance, and be satisfied." + +She then proceeded to inquire into the measures which her father had +intended to pursue, while in town, for the recovery of his daughter. + +"He meant I believe," replied Jane, "to go to Epsom, the place where +they last changed horses, see the postilions and try if anything could +be made out from them. His principal object must be to discover the +number of the hackney coach which took them from Clapham. It had come +with a fare from London; and as he thought that the circumstance of a +gentleman and lady's removing from one carriage into another might +be remarked he meant to make inquiries at Clapham. If he could anyhow +discover at what house the coachman had before set down his fare, he +determined to make inquiries there, and hoped it might not be impossible +to find out the stand and number of the coach. I do not know of any +other designs that he had formed; but he was in such a hurry to be gone, +and his spirits so greatly discomposed, that I had difficulty in finding +out even so much as this." + + + +Chapter 48 + + +The whole party were in hopes of a letter from Mr. Bennet the next +morning, but the post came in without bringing a single line from him. +His family knew him to be, on all common occasions, a most negligent and +dilatory correspondent; but at such a time they had hoped for exertion. +They were forced to conclude that he had no pleasing intelligence to +send; but even of _that_ they would have been glad to be certain. Mr. +Gardiner had waited only for the letters before he set off. + +When he was gone, they were certain at least of receiving constant +information of what was going on, and their uncle promised, at parting, +to prevail on Mr. Bennet to return to Longbourn, as soon as he could, +to the great consolation of his sister, who considered it as the only +security for her husband's not being killed in a duel. + +Mrs. Gardiner and the children were to remain in Hertfordshire a few +days longer, as the former thought her presence might be serviceable +to her nieces. She shared in their attendance on Mrs. Bennet, and was a +great comfort to them in their hours of freedom. Their other aunt also +visited them frequently, and always, as she said, with the design of +cheering and heartening them up--though, as she never came without +reporting some fresh instance of Wickham's extravagance or irregularity, +she seldom went away without leaving them more dispirited than she found +them. + +All Meryton seemed striving to blacken the man who, but three months +before, had been almost an angel of light. He was declared to be in debt +to every tradesman in the place, and his intrigues, all honoured with +the title of seduction, had been extended into every tradesman's family. +Everybody declared that he was the wickedest young man in the world; +and everybody began to find out that they had always distrusted the +appearance of his goodness. Elizabeth, though she did not credit above +half of what was said, believed enough to make her former assurance of +her sister's ruin more certain; and even Jane, who believed still less +of it, became almost hopeless, more especially as the time was now come +when, if they had gone to Scotland, which she had never before entirely +despaired of, they must in all probability have gained some news of +them. + +Mr. Gardiner left Longbourn on Sunday; on Tuesday his wife received a +letter from him; it told them that, on his arrival, he had immediately +found out his brother, and persuaded him to come to Gracechurch Street; +that Mr. Bennet had been to Epsom and Clapham, before his arrival, +but without gaining any satisfactory information; and that he was now +determined to inquire at all the principal hotels in town, as Mr. Bennet +thought it possible they might have gone to one of them, on their first +coming to London, before they procured lodgings. Mr. Gardiner himself +did not expect any success from this measure, but as his brother was +eager in it, he meant to assist him in pursuing it. He added that Mr. +Bennet seemed wholly disinclined at present to leave London and promised +to write again very soon. There was also a postscript to this effect: + +"I have written to Colonel Forster to desire him to find out, if +possible, from some of the young man's intimates in the regiment, +whether Wickham has any relations or connections who would be likely to +know in what part of town he has now concealed himself. If there were +anyone that one could apply to with a probability of gaining such a +clue as that, it might be of essential consequence. At present we have +nothing to guide us. Colonel Forster will, I dare say, do everything in +his power to satisfy us on this head. But, on second thoughts, perhaps, +Lizzy could tell us what relations he has now living, better than any +other person." + +Elizabeth was at no loss to understand from whence this deference to her +authority proceeded; but it was not in her power to give any information +of so satisfactory a nature as the compliment deserved. She had never +heard of his having had any relations, except a father and mother, both +of whom had been dead many years. It was possible, however, that some of +his companions in the ----shire might be able to give more information; +and though she was not very sanguine in expecting it, the application +was a something to look forward to. + +Every day at Longbourn was now a day of anxiety; but the most anxious +part of each was when the post was expected. The arrival of letters +was the grand object of every morning's impatience. Through letters, +whatever of good or bad was to be told would be communicated, and every +succeeding day was expected to bring some news of importance. + +But before they heard again from Mr. Gardiner, a letter arrived for +their father, from a different quarter, from Mr. Collins; which, as Jane +had received directions to open all that came for him in his absence, +she accordingly read; and Elizabeth, who knew what curiosities his +letters always were, looked over her, and read it likewise. It was as +follows: + +"MY DEAR SIR, + +"I feel myself called upon, by our relationship, and my situation +in life, to condole with you on the grievous affliction you are now +suffering under, of which we were yesterday informed by a letter from +Hertfordshire. Be assured, my dear sir, that Mrs. Collins and myself +sincerely sympathise with you and all your respectable family, in +your present distress, which must be of the bitterest kind, because +proceeding from a cause which no time can remove. No arguments shall be +wanting on my part that can alleviate so severe a misfortune--or that +may comfort you, under a circumstance that must be of all others the +most afflicting to a parent's mind. The death of your daughter would +have been a blessing in comparison of this. And it is the more to +be lamented, because there is reason to suppose as my dear Charlotte +informs me, that this licentiousness of behaviour in your daughter has +proceeded from a faulty degree of indulgence; though, at the same time, +for the consolation of yourself and Mrs. Bennet, I am inclined to think +that her own disposition must be naturally bad, or she could not be +guilty of such an enormity, at so early an age. Howsoever that may be, +you are grievously to be pitied; in which opinion I am not only joined +by Mrs. Collins, but likewise by Lady Catherine and her daughter, to +whom I have related the affair. They agree with me in apprehending that +this false step in one daughter will be injurious to the fortunes of +all the others; for who, as Lady Catherine herself condescendingly says, +will connect themselves with such a family? And this consideration leads +me moreover to reflect, with augmented satisfaction, on a certain event +of last November; for had it been otherwise, I must have been involved +in all your sorrow and disgrace. Let me then advise you, dear sir, to +console yourself as much as possible, to throw off your unworthy child +from your affection for ever, and leave her to reap the fruits of her +own heinous offense. + +"I am, dear sir, etc., etc." + +Mr. Gardiner did not write again till he had received an answer from +Colonel Forster; and then he had nothing of a pleasant nature to send. +It was not known that Wickham had a single relationship with whom he +kept up any connection, and it was certain that he had no near one +living. His former acquaintances had been numerous; but since he +had been in the militia, it did not appear that he was on terms of +particular friendship with any of them. There was no one, therefore, +who could be pointed out as likely to give any news of him. And in the +wretched state of his own finances, there was a very powerful motive for +secrecy, in addition to his fear of discovery by Lydia's relations, for +it had just transpired that he had left gaming debts behind him to a +very considerable amount. Colonel Forster believed that more than a +thousand pounds would be necessary to clear his expenses at Brighton. +He owed a good deal in town, but his debts of honour were still more +formidable. Mr. Gardiner did not attempt to conceal these particulars +from the Longbourn family. Jane heard them with horror. "A gamester!" +she cried. "This is wholly unexpected. I had not an idea of it." + +Mr. Gardiner added in his letter, that they might expect to see their +father at home on the following day, which was Saturday. Rendered +spiritless by the ill-success of all their endeavours, he had yielded +to his brother-in-law's entreaty that he would return to his family, and +leave it to him to do whatever occasion might suggest to be advisable +for continuing their pursuit. When Mrs. Bennet was told of this, she did +not express so much satisfaction as her children expected, considering +what her anxiety for his life had been before. + +"What, is he coming home, and without poor Lydia?" she cried. "Sure he +will not leave London before he has found them. Who is to fight Wickham, +and make him marry her, if he comes away?" + +As Mrs. Gardiner began to wish to be at home, it was settled that she +and the children should go to London, at the same time that Mr. Bennet +came from it. The coach, therefore, took them the first stage of their +journey, and brought its master back to Longbourn. + +Mrs. Gardiner went away in all the perplexity about Elizabeth and her +Derbyshire friend that had attended her from that part of the world. His +name had never been voluntarily mentioned before them by her niece; and +the kind of half-expectation which Mrs. Gardiner had formed, of their +being followed by a letter from him, had ended in nothing. Elizabeth had +received none since her return that could come from Pemberley. + +The present unhappy state of the family rendered any other excuse for +the lowness of her spirits unnecessary; nothing, therefore, could be +fairly conjectured from _that_, though Elizabeth, who was by this time +tolerably well acquainted with her own feelings, was perfectly aware +that, had she known nothing of Darcy, she could have borne the dread of +Lydia's infamy somewhat better. It would have spared her, she thought, +one sleepless night out of two. + +When Mr. Bennet arrived, he had all the appearance of his usual +philosophic composure. He said as little as he had ever been in the +habit of saying; made no mention of the business that had taken him +away, and it was some time before his daughters had courage to speak of +it. + +It was not till the afternoon, when he had joined them at tea, that +Elizabeth ventured to introduce the subject; and then, on her briefly +expressing her sorrow for what he must have endured, he replied, "Say +nothing of that. Who should suffer but myself? It has been my own doing, +and I ought to feel it." + +"You must not be too severe upon yourself," replied Elizabeth. + +"You may well warn me against such an evil. Human nature is so prone +to fall into it! No, Lizzy, let me once in my life feel how much I have +been to blame. I am not afraid of being overpowered by the impression. +It will pass away soon enough." + +"Do you suppose them to be in London?" + +"Yes; where else can they be so well concealed?" + +"And Lydia used to want to go to London," added Kitty. + +"She is happy then," said her father drily; "and her residence there +will probably be of some duration." + +Then after a short silence he continued: + +"Lizzy, I bear you no ill-will for being justified in your advice to me +last May, which, considering the event, shows some greatness of mind." + +They were interrupted by Miss Bennet, who came to fetch her mother's +tea. + +"This is a parade," he cried, "which does one good; it gives such an +elegance to misfortune! Another day I will do the same; I will sit in my +library, in my nightcap and powdering gown, and give as much trouble as +I can; or, perhaps, I may defer it till Kitty runs away." + +"I am not going to run away, papa," said Kitty fretfully. "If I should +ever go to Brighton, I would behave better than Lydia." + +"_You_ go to Brighton. I would not trust you so near it as Eastbourne +for fifty pounds! No, Kitty, I have at last learnt to be cautious, and +you will feel the effects of it. No officer is ever to enter into +my house again, nor even to pass through the village. Balls will be +absolutely prohibited, unless you stand up with one of your sisters. +And you are never to stir out of doors till you can prove that you have +spent ten minutes of every day in a rational manner." + +Kitty, who took all these threats in a serious light, began to cry. + +"Well, well," said he, "do not make yourself unhappy. If you are a good +girl for the next ten years, I will take you to a review at the end of +them." + + + +Chapter 49 + + +Two days after Mr. Bennet's return, as Jane and Elizabeth were walking +together in the shrubbery behind the house, they saw the housekeeper +coming towards them, and, concluding that she came to call them to their +mother, went forward to meet her; but, instead of the expected summons, +when they approached her, she said to Miss Bennet, "I beg your pardon, +madam, for interrupting you, but I was in hopes you might have got some +good news from town, so I took the liberty of coming to ask." + +"What do you mean, Hill? We have heard nothing from town." + +"Dear madam," cried Mrs. Hill, in great astonishment, "don't you know +there is an express come for master from Mr. Gardiner? He has been here +this half-hour, and master has had a letter." + +Away ran the girls, too eager to get in to have time for speech. They +ran through the vestibule into the breakfast-room; from thence to the +library; their father was in neither; and they were on the point of +seeking him up stairs with their mother, when they were met by the +butler, who said: + +"If you are looking for my master, ma'am, he is walking towards the +little copse." + +Upon this information, they instantly passed through the hall once +more, and ran across the lawn after their father, who was deliberately +pursuing his way towards a small wood on one side of the paddock. + +Jane, who was not so light nor so much in the habit of running as +Elizabeth, soon lagged behind, while her sister, panting for breath, +came up with him, and eagerly cried out: + +"Oh, papa, what news--what news? Have you heard from my uncle?" + +"Yes I have had a letter from him by express." + +"Well, and what news does it bring--good or bad?" + +"What is there of good to be expected?" said he, taking the letter from +his pocket. "But perhaps you would like to read it." + +Elizabeth impatiently caught it from his hand. Jane now came up. + +"Read it aloud," said their father, "for I hardly know myself what it is +about." + +"Gracechurch Street, Monday, August 2. + +"MY DEAR BROTHER, + +"At last I am able to send you some tidings of my niece, and such as, +upon the whole, I hope it will give you satisfaction. Soon after you +left me on Saturday, I was fortunate enough to find out in what part of +London they were. The particulars I reserve till we meet; it is enough +to know they are discovered. I have seen them both--" + +"Then it is as I always hoped," cried Jane; "they are married!" + +Elizabeth read on: + +"I have seen them both. They are not married, nor can I find there +was any intention of being so; but if you are willing to perform the +engagements which I have ventured to make on your side, I hope it will +not be long before they are. All that is required of you is, to assure +to your daughter, by settlement, her equal share of the five thousand +pounds secured among your children after the decease of yourself and +my sister; and, moreover, to enter into an engagement of allowing her, +during your life, one hundred pounds per annum. These are conditions +which, considering everything, I had no hesitation in complying with, +as far as I thought myself privileged, for you. I shall send this by +express, that no time may be lost in bringing me your answer. You +will easily comprehend, from these particulars, that Mr. Wickham's +circumstances are not so hopeless as they are generally believed to be. +The world has been deceived in that respect; and I am happy to say there +will be some little money, even when all his debts are discharged, to +settle on my niece, in addition to her own fortune. If, as I conclude +will be the case, you send me full powers to act in your name throughout +the whole of this business, I will immediately give directions to +Haggerston for preparing a proper settlement. There will not be the +smallest occasion for your coming to town again; therefore stay quiet at +Longbourn, and depend on my diligence and care. Send back your answer as +fast as you can, and be careful to write explicitly. We have judged it +best that my niece should be married from this house, of which I hope +you will approve. She comes to us to-day. I shall write again as soon as +anything more is determined on. Yours, etc., + +"EDW. GARDINER." + +"Is it possible?" cried Elizabeth, when she had finished. "Can it be +possible that he will marry her?" + +"Wickham is not so undeserving, then, as we thought him," said her +sister. "My dear father, I congratulate you." + +"And have you answered the letter?" cried Elizabeth. + +"No; but it must be done soon." + +Most earnestly did she then entreat him to lose no more time before he +wrote. + +"Oh! my dear father," she cried, "come back and write immediately. +Consider how important every moment is in such a case." + +"Let me write for you," said Jane, "if you dislike the trouble +yourself." + +"I dislike it very much," he replied; "but it must be done." + +And so saying, he turned back with them, and walked towards the house. + +"And may I ask--" said Elizabeth; "but the terms, I suppose, must be +complied with." + +"Complied with! I am only ashamed of his asking so little." + +"And they _must_ marry! Yet he is _such_ a man!" + +"Yes, yes, they must marry. There is nothing else to be done. But there +are two things that I want very much to know; one is, how much money +your uncle has laid down to bring it about; and the other, how am I ever +to pay him." + +"Money! My uncle!" cried Jane, "what do you mean, sir?" + +"I mean, that no man in his senses would marry Lydia on so slight a +temptation as one hundred a year during my life, and fifty after I am +gone." + +"That is very true," said Elizabeth; "though it had not occurred to me +before. His debts to be discharged, and something still to remain! Oh! +it must be my uncle's doings! Generous, good man, I am afraid he has +distressed himself. A small sum could not do all this." + +"No," said her father; "Wickham's a fool if he takes her with a farthing +less than ten thousand pounds. I should be sorry to think so ill of him, +in the very beginning of our relationship." + +"Ten thousand pounds! Heaven forbid! How is half such a sum to be +repaid?" + +Mr. Bennet made no answer, and each of them, deep in thought, continued +silent till they reached the house. Their father then went on to the +library to write, and the girls walked into the breakfast-room. + +"And they are really to be married!" cried Elizabeth, as soon as they +were by themselves. "How strange this is! And for _this_ we are to be +thankful. That they should marry, small as is their chance of happiness, +and wretched as is his character, we are forced to rejoice. Oh, Lydia!" + +"I comfort myself with thinking," replied Jane, "that he certainly would +not marry Lydia if he had not a real regard for her. Though our kind +uncle has done something towards clearing him, I cannot believe that ten +thousand pounds, or anything like it, has been advanced. He has children +of his own, and may have more. How could he spare half ten thousand +pounds?" + +"If he were ever able to learn what Wickham's debts have been," said +Elizabeth, "and how much is settled on his side on our sister, we shall +exactly know what Mr. Gardiner has done for them, because Wickham has +not sixpence of his own. The kindness of my uncle and aunt can never +be requited. Their taking her home, and affording her their personal +protection and countenance, is such a sacrifice to her advantage as +years of gratitude cannot enough acknowledge. By this time she is +actually with them! If such goodness does not make her miserable now, +she will never deserve to be happy! What a meeting for her, when she +first sees my aunt!" + +"We must endeavour to forget all that has passed on either side," said +Jane: "I hope and trust they will yet be happy. His consenting to +marry her is a proof, I will believe, that he is come to a right way of +thinking. Their mutual affection will steady them; and I flatter myself +they will settle so quietly, and live in so rational a manner, as may in +time make their past imprudence forgotten." + +"Their conduct has been such," replied Elizabeth, "as neither you, nor +I, nor anybody can ever forget. It is useless to talk of it." + +It now occurred to the girls that their mother was in all likelihood +perfectly ignorant of what had happened. They went to the library, +therefore, and asked their father whether he would not wish them to make +it known to her. He was writing and, without raising his head, coolly +replied: + +"Just as you please." + +"May we take my uncle's letter to read to her?" + +"Take whatever you like, and get away." + +Elizabeth took the letter from his writing-table, and they went up stairs +together. Mary and Kitty were both with Mrs. Bennet: one communication +would, therefore, do for all. After a slight preparation for good news, +the letter was read aloud. Mrs. Bennet could hardly contain herself. As +soon as Jane had read Mr. Gardiner's hope of Lydia's being soon +married, her joy burst forth, and every following sentence added to its +exuberance. She was now in an irritation as violent from delight, as she +had ever been fidgety from alarm and vexation. To know that her daughter +would be married was enough. She was disturbed by no fear for her +felicity, nor humbled by any remembrance of her misconduct. + +"My dear, dear Lydia!" she cried. "This is delightful indeed! She will +be married! I shall see her again! She will be married at sixteen! +My good, kind brother! I knew how it would be. I knew he would manage +everything! How I long to see her! and to see dear Wickham too! But the +clothes, the wedding clothes! I will write to my sister Gardiner about +them directly. Lizzy, my dear, run down to your father, and ask him +how much he will give her. Stay, stay, I will go myself. Ring the bell, +Kitty, for Hill. I will put on my things in a moment. My dear, dear +Lydia! How merry we shall be together when we meet!" + +Her eldest daughter endeavoured to give some relief to the violence of +these transports, by leading her thoughts to the obligations which Mr. +Gardiner's behaviour laid them all under. + +"For we must attribute this happy conclusion," she added, "in a great +measure to his kindness. We are persuaded that he has pledged himself to +assist Mr. Wickham with money." + +"Well," cried her mother, "it is all very right; who should do it but +her own uncle? If he had not had a family of his own, I and my children +must have had all his money, you know; and it is the first time we have +ever had anything from him, except a few presents. Well! I am so happy! +In a short time I shall have a daughter married. Mrs. Wickham! How well +it sounds! And she was only sixteen last June. My dear Jane, I am in +such a flutter, that I am sure I can't write; so I will dictate, and +you write for me. We will settle with your father about the money +afterwards; but the things should be ordered immediately." + +She was then proceeding to all the particulars of calico, muslin, and +cambric, and would shortly have dictated some very plentiful orders, had +not Jane, though with some difficulty, persuaded her to wait till her +father was at leisure to be consulted. One day's delay, she observed, +would be of small importance; and her mother was too happy to be quite +so obstinate as usual. Other schemes, too, came into her head. + +"I will go to Meryton," said she, "as soon as I am dressed, and tell the +good, good news to my sister Philips. And as I come back, I can call +on Lady Lucas and Mrs. Long. Kitty, run down and order the carriage. +An airing would do me a great deal of good, I am sure. Girls, can I do +anything for you in Meryton? Oh! Here comes Hill! My dear Hill, have you +heard the good news? Miss Lydia is going to be married; and you shall +all have a bowl of punch to make merry at her wedding." + +Mrs. Hill began instantly to express her joy. Elizabeth received her +congratulations amongst the rest, and then, sick of this folly, took +refuge in her own room, that she might think with freedom. + +Poor Lydia's situation must, at best, be bad enough; but that it was +no worse, she had need to be thankful. She felt it so; and though, in +looking forward, neither rational happiness nor worldly prosperity could +be justly expected for her sister, in looking back to what they had +feared, only two hours ago, she felt all the advantages of what they had +gained. + + + +Chapter 50 + + +Mr. Bennet had very often wished before this period of his life that, +instead of spending his whole income, he had laid by an annual sum for +the better provision of his children, and of his wife, if she survived +him. He now wished it more than ever. Had he done his duty in that +respect, Lydia need not have been indebted to her uncle for whatever +of honour or credit could now be purchased for her. The satisfaction of +prevailing on one of the most worthless young men in Great Britain to be +her husband might then have rested in its proper place. + +He was seriously concerned that a cause of so little advantage to anyone +should be forwarded at the sole expense of his brother-in-law, and he +was determined, if possible, to find out the extent of his assistance, +and to discharge the obligation as soon as he could. + +When first Mr. Bennet had married, economy was held to be perfectly +useless, for, of course, they were to have a son. The son was to join +in cutting off the entail, as soon as he should be of age, and the widow +and younger children would by that means be provided for. Five daughters +successively entered the world, but yet the son was to come; and Mrs. +Bennet, for many years after Lydia's birth, had been certain that he +would. This event had at last been despaired of, but it was then +too late to be saving. Mrs. Bennet had no turn for economy, and her +husband's love of independence had alone prevented their exceeding their +income. + +Five thousand pounds was settled by marriage articles on Mrs. Bennet and +the children. But in what proportions it should be divided amongst the +latter depended on the will of the parents. This was one point, with +regard to Lydia, at least, which was now to be settled, and Mr. Bennet +could have no hesitation in acceding to the proposal before him. In +terms of grateful acknowledgment for the kindness of his brother, +though expressed most concisely, he then delivered on paper his perfect +approbation of all that was done, and his willingness to fulfil the +engagements that had been made for him. He had never before supposed +that, could Wickham be prevailed on to marry his daughter, it would +be done with so little inconvenience to himself as by the present +arrangement. He would scarcely be ten pounds a year the loser by the +hundred that was to be paid them; for, what with her board and pocket +allowance, and the continual presents in money which passed to her +through her mother's hands, Lydia's expenses had been very little within +that sum. + +That it would be done with such trifling exertion on his side, too, was +another very welcome surprise; for his wish at present was to have as +little trouble in the business as possible. When the first transports +of rage which had produced his activity in seeking her were over, he +naturally returned to all his former indolence. His letter was soon +dispatched; for, though dilatory in undertaking business, he was quick +in its execution. He begged to know further particulars of what he +was indebted to his brother, but was too angry with Lydia to send any +message to her. + +The good news spread quickly through the house, and with proportionate +speed through the neighbourhood. It was borne in the latter with decent +philosophy. To be sure, it would have been more for the advantage +of conversation had Miss Lydia Bennet come upon the town; or, as the +happiest alternative, been secluded from the world, in some distant +farmhouse. But there was much to be talked of in marrying her; and the +good-natured wishes for her well-doing which had proceeded before from +all the spiteful old ladies in Meryton lost but a little of their spirit +in this change of circumstances, because with such an husband her misery +was considered certain. + +It was a fortnight since Mrs. Bennet had been downstairs; but on this +happy day she again took her seat at the head of her table, and in +spirits oppressively high. No sentiment of shame gave a damp to her +triumph. The marriage of a daughter, which had been the first object +of her wishes since Jane was sixteen, was now on the point of +accomplishment, and her thoughts and her words ran wholly on those +attendants of elegant nuptials, fine muslins, new carriages, and +servants. She was busily searching through the neighbourhood for a +proper situation for her daughter, and, without knowing or considering +what their income might be, rejected many as deficient in size and +importance. + +"Haye Park might do," said she, "if the Gouldings could quit it--or the +great house at Stoke, if the drawing-room were larger; but Ashworth is +too far off! I could not bear to have her ten miles from me; and as for +Pulvis Lodge, the attics are dreadful." + +Her husband allowed her to talk on without interruption while the +servants remained. But when they had withdrawn, he said to her: "Mrs. +Bennet, before you take any or all of these houses for your son and +daughter, let us come to a right understanding. Into _one_ house in this +neighbourhood they shall never have admittance. I will not encourage the +impudence of either, by receiving them at Longbourn." + +A long dispute followed this declaration; but Mr. Bennet was firm. It +soon led to another; and Mrs. Bennet found, with amazement and horror, +that her husband would not advance a guinea to buy clothes for his +daughter. He protested that she should receive from him no mark of +affection whatever on the occasion. Mrs. Bennet could hardly comprehend +it. That his anger could be carried to such a point of inconceivable +resentment as to refuse his daughter a privilege without which her +marriage would scarcely seem valid, exceeded all she could believe +possible. She was more alive to the disgrace which her want of new +clothes must reflect on her daughter's nuptials, than to any sense of +shame at her eloping and living with Wickham a fortnight before they +took place. + +Elizabeth was now most heartily sorry that she had, from the distress of +the moment, been led to make Mr. Darcy acquainted with their fears for +her sister; for since her marriage would so shortly give the +proper termination to the elopement, they might hope to conceal its +unfavourable beginning from all those who were not immediately on the +spot. + +She had no fear of its spreading farther through his means. There were +few people on whose secrecy she would have more confidently depended; +but, at the same time, there was no one whose knowledge of a sister's +frailty would have mortified her so much--not, however, from any fear +of disadvantage from it individually to herself, for, at any rate, +there seemed a gulf impassable between them. Had Lydia's marriage been +concluded on the most honourable terms, it was not to be supposed that +Mr. Darcy would connect himself with a family where, to every other +objection, would now be added an alliance and relationship of the +nearest kind with a man whom he so justly scorned. + +From such a connection she could not wonder that he would shrink. The +wish of procuring her regard, which she had assured herself of his +feeling in Derbyshire, could not in rational expectation survive such a +blow as this. She was humbled, she was grieved; she repented, though she +hardly knew of what. She became jealous of his esteem, when she could no +longer hope to be benefited by it. She wanted to hear of him, when there +seemed the least chance of gaining intelligence. She was convinced that +she could have been happy with him, when it was no longer likely they +should meet. + +What a triumph for him, as she often thought, could he know that the +proposals which she had proudly spurned only four months ago, would now +have been most gladly and gratefully received! He was as generous, she +doubted not, as the most generous of his sex; but while he was mortal, +there must be a triumph. + +She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in +disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and +temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It +was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease +and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved; +and from his judgement, information, and knowledge of the world, she +must have received benefit of greater importance. + +But no such happy marriage could now teach the admiring multitude what +connubial felicity really was. An union of a different tendency, and +precluding the possibility of the other, was soon to be formed in their +family. + +How Wickham and Lydia were to be supported in tolerable independence, +she could not imagine. But how little of permanent happiness could +belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions +were stronger than their virtue, she could easily conjecture. + + * * * * * + +Mr. Gardiner soon wrote again to his brother. To Mr. Bennet's +acknowledgments he briefly replied, with assurance of his eagerness to +promote the welfare of any of his family; and concluded with entreaties +that the subject might never be mentioned to him again. The principal +purport of his letter was to inform them that Mr. Wickham had resolved +on quitting the militia. + +"It was greatly my wish that he should do so," he added, "as soon as +his marriage was fixed on. And I think you will agree with me, in +considering the removal from that corps as highly advisable, both on +his account and my niece's. It is Mr. Wickham's intention to go into +the regulars; and among his former friends, there are still some who +are able and willing to assist him in the army. He has the promise of an +ensigncy in General ----'s regiment, now quartered in the North. It +is an advantage to have it so far from this part of the kingdom. He +promises fairly; and I hope among different people, where they may each +have a character to preserve, they will both be more prudent. I have +written to Colonel Forster, to inform him of our present arrangements, +and to request that he will satisfy the various creditors of Mr. Wickham +in and near Brighton, with assurances of speedy payment, for which I +have pledged myself. And will you give yourself the trouble of carrying +similar assurances to his creditors in Meryton, of whom I shall subjoin +a list according to his information? He has given in all his debts; I +hope at least he has not deceived us. Haggerston has our directions, +and all will be completed in a week. They will then join his regiment, +unless they are first invited to Longbourn; and I understand from Mrs. +Gardiner, that my niece is very desirous of seeing you all before she +leaves the South. She is well, and begs to be dutifully remembered to +you and her mother.--Yours, etc., + +"E. GARDINER." + +Mr. Bennet and his daughters saw all the advantages of Wickham's removal +from the ----shire as clearly as Mr. Gardiner could do. But Mrs. Bennet +was not so well pleased with it. Lydia's being settled in the North, +just when she had expected most pleasure and pride in her company, +for she had by no means given up her plan of their residing in +Hertfordshire, was a severe disappointment; and, besides, it was such a +pity that Lydia should be taken from a regiment where she was acquainted +with everybody, and had so many favourites. + +"She is so fond of Mrs. Forster," said she, "it will be quite shocking +to send her away! And there are several of the young men, too, that she +likes very much. The officers may not be so pleasant in General ----'s +regiment." + +His daughter's request, for such it might be considered, of being +admitted into her family again before she set off for the North, +received at first an absolute negative. But Jane and Elizabeth, +who agreed in wishing, for the sake of their sister's feelings and +consequence, that she should be noticed on her marriage by her parents, +urged him so earnestly yet so rationally and so mildly, to receive her +and her husband at Longbourn, as soon as they were married, that he was +prevailed on to think as they thought, and act as they wished. And their +mother had the satisfaction of knowing that she would be able to show +her married daughter in the neighbourhood before she was banished to the +North. When Mr. Bennet wrote again to his brother, therefore, he sent +his permission for them to come; and it was settled, that as soon as +the ceremony was over, they should proceed to Longbourn. Elizabeth was +surprised, however, that Wickham should consent to such a scheme, and +had she consulted only her own inclination, any meeting with him would +have been the last object of her wishes. + + + +Chapter 51 + + +Their sister's wedding day arrived; and Jane and Elizabeth felt for her +probably more than she felt for herself. The carriage was sent to +meet them at ----, and they were to return in it by dinner-time. Their +arrival was dreaded by the elder Miss Bennets, and Jane more especially, +who gave Lydia the feelings which would have attended herself, had she +been the culprit, and was wretched in the thought of what her sister +must endure. + +They came. The family were assembled in the breakfast room to receive +them. Smiles decked the face of Mrs. Bennet as the carriage drove up to +the door; her husband looked impenetrably grave; her daughters, alarmed, +anxious, uneasy. + +Lydia's voice was heard in the vestibule; the door was thrown open, and +she ran into the room. Her mother stepped forwards, embraced her, and +welcomed her with rapture; gave her hand, with an affectionate smile, +to Wickham, who followed his lady; and wished them both joy with an +alacrity which shewed no doubt of their happiness. + +Their reception from Mr. Bennet, to whom they then turned, was not quite +so cordial. His countenance rather gained in austerity; and he scarcely +opened his lips. The easy assurance of the young couple, indeed, was +enough to provoke him. Elizabeth was disgusted, and even Miss Bennet +was shocked. Lydia was Lydia still; untamed, unabashed, wild, noisy, +and fearless. She turned from sister to sister, demanding their +congratulations; and when at length they all sat down, looked eagerly +round the room, took notice of some little alteration in it, and +observed, with a laugh, that it was a great while since she had been +there. + +Wickham was not at all more distressed than herself, but his manners +were always so pleasing, that had his character and his marriage been +exactly what they ought, his smiles and his easy address, while he +claimed their relationship, would have delighted them all. Elizabeth had +not before believed him quite equal to such assurance; but she sat down, +resolving within herself to draw no limits in future to the impudence +of an impudent man. She blushed, and Jane blushed; but the cheeks of the +two who caused their confusion suffered no variation of colour. + +There was no want of discourse. The bride and her mother could neither +of them talk fast enough; and Wickham, who happened to sit near +Elizabeth, began inquiring after his acquaintance in that neighbourhood, +with a good humoured ease which she felt very unable to equal in her +replies. They seemed each of them to have the happiest memories in the +world. Nothing of the past was recollected with pain; and Lydia led +voluntarily to subjects which her sisters would not have alluded to for +the world. + +"Only think of its being three months," she cried, "since I went away; +it seems but a fortnight I declare; and yet there have been things +enough happened in the time. Good gracious! when I went away, I am sure +I had no more idea of being married till I came back again! though I +thought it would be very good fun if I was." + +Her father lifted up his eyes. Jane was distressed. Elizabeth looked +expressively at Lydia; but she, who never heard nor saw anything of +which she chose to be insensible, gaily continued, "Oh! mamma, do the +people hereabouts know I am married to-day? I was afraid they might not; +and we overtook William Goulding in his curricle, so I was determined he +should know it, and so I let down the side-glass next to him, and took +off my glove, and let my hand just rest upon the window frame, so that +he might see the ring, and then I bowed and smiled like anything." + +Elizabeth could bear it no longer. She got up, and ran out of the room; +and returned no more, till she heard them passing through the hall to +the dining parlour. She then joined them soon enough to see Lydia, with +anxious parade, walk up to her mother's right hand, and hear her say +to her eldest sister, "Ah! Jane, I take your place now, and you must go +lower, because I am a married woman." + +It was not to be supposed that time would give Lydia that embarrassment +from which she had been so wholly free at first. Her ease and good +spirits increased. She longed to see Mrs. Phillips, the Lucases, and +all their other neighbours, and to hear herself called "Mrs. Wickham" +by each of them; and in the mean time, she went after dinner to show her +ring, and boast of being married, to Mrs. Hill and the two housemaids. + +"Well, mamma," said she, when they were all returned to the breakfast +room, "and what do you think of my husband? Is not he a charming man? I +am sure my sisters must all envy me. I only hope they may have half +my good luck. They must all go to Brighton. That is the place to get +husbands. What a pity it is, mamma, we did not all go." + +"Very true; and if I had my will, we should. But my dear Lydia, I don't +at all like your going such a way off. Must it be so?" + +"Oh, lord! yes;--there is nothing in that. I shall like it of all +things. You and papa, and my sisters, must come down and see us. We +shall be at Newcastle all the winter, and I dare say there will be some +balls, and I will take care to get good partners for them all." + +"I should like it beyond anything!" said her mother. + +"And then when you go away, you may leave one or two of my sisters +behind you; and I dare say I shall get husbands for them before the +winter is over." + +"I thank you for my share of the favour," said Elizabeth; "but I do not +particularly like your way of getting husbands." + +Their visitors were not to remain above ten days with them. Mr. Wickham +had received his commission before he left London, and he was to join +his regiment at the end of a fortnight. + +No one but Mrs. Bennet regretted that their stay would be so short; and +she made the most of the time by visiting about with her daughter, and +having very frequent parties at home. These parties were acceptable to +all; to avoid a family circle was even more desirable to such as did +think, than such as did not. + +Wickham's affection for Lydia was just what Elizabeth had expected +to find it; not equal to Lydia's for him. She had scarcely needed her +present observation to be satisfied, from the reason of things, that +their elopement had been brought on by the strength of her love, rather +than by his; and she would have wondered why, without violently caring +for her, he chose to elope with her at all, had she not felt certain +that his flight was rendered necessary by distress of circumstances; and +if that were the case, he was not the young man to resist an opportunity +of having a companion. + +Lydia was exceedingly fond of him. He was her dear Wickham on every +occasion; no one was to be put in competition with him. He did every +thing best in the world; and she was sure he would kill more birds on +the first of September, than any body else in the country. + +One morning, soon after their arrival, as she was sitting with her two +elder sisters, she said to Elizabeth: + +"Lizzy, I never gave _you_ an account of my wedding, I believe. You +were not by, when I told mamma and the others all about it. Are not you +curious to hear how it was managed?" + +"No really," replied Elizabeth; "I think there cannot be too little said +on the subject." + +"La! You are so strange! But I must tell you how it went off. We were +married, you know, at St. Clement's, because Wickham's lodgings were in +that parish. And it was settled that we should all be there by eleven +o'clock. My uncle and aunt and I were to go together; and the others +were to meet us at the church. Well, Monday morning came, and I was in +such a fuss! I was so afraid, you know, that something would happen to +put it off, and then I should have gone quite distracted. And there was +my aunt, all the time I was dressing, preaching and talking away just as +if she was reading a sermon. However, I did not hear above one word in +ten, for I was thinking, you may suppose, of my dear Wickham. I longed +to know whether he would be married in his blue coat." + +"Well, and so we breakfasted at ten as usual; I thought it would never +be over; for, by the bye, you are to understand, that my uncle and aunt +were horrid unpleasant all the time I was with them. If you'll believe +me, I did not once put my foot out of doors, though I was there a +fortnight. Not one party, or scheme, or anything. To be sure London was +rather thin, but, however, the Little Theatre was open. Well, and so +just as the carriage came to the door, my uncle was called away upon +business to that horrid man Mr. Stone. And then, you know, when once +they get together, there is no end of it. Well, I was so frightened I +did not know what to do, for my uncle was to give me away; and if we +were beyond the hour, we could not be married all day. But, luckily, he +came back again in ten minutes' time, and then we all set out. However, +I recollected afterwards that if he had been prevented going, the +wedding need not be put off, for Mr. Darcy might have done as well." + +"Mr. Darcy!" repeated Elizabeth, in utter amazement. + +"Oh, yes!--he was to come there with Wickham, you know. But gracious +me! I quite forgot! I ought not to have said a word about it. I promised +them so faithfully! What will Wickham say? It was to be such a secret!" + +"If it was to be secret," said Jane, "say not another word on the +subject. You may depend upon my seeking no further." + +"Oh! certainly," said Elizabeth, though burning with curiosity; "we will +ask you no questions." + +"Thank you," said Lydia, "for if you did, I should certainly tell you +all, and then Wickham would be angry." + +On such encouragement to ask, Elizabeth was forced to put it out of her +power, by running away. + +But to live in ignorance on such a point was impossible; or at least +it was impossible not to try for information. Mr. Darcy had been at +her sister's wedding. It was exactly a scene, and exactly among people, +where he had apparently least to do, and least temptation to go. +Conjectures as to the meaning of it, rapid and wild, hurried into her +brain; but she was satisfied with none. Those that best pleased her, as +placing his conduct in the noblest light, seemed most improbable. She +could not bear such suspense; and hastily seizing a sheet of paper, +wrote a short letter to her aunt, to request an explanation of what +Lydia had dropt, if it were compatible with the secrecy which had been +intended. + +"You may readily comprehend," she added, "what my curiosity must be +to know how a person unconnected with any of us, and (comparatively +speaking) a stranger to our family, should have been amongst you at such +a time. Pray write instantly, and let me understand it--unless it is, +for very cogent reasons, to remain in the secrecy which Lydia seems +to think necessary; and then I must endeavour to be satisfied with +ignorance." + +"Not that I _shall_, though," she added to herself, as she finished +the letter; "and my dear aunt, if you do not tell me in an honourable +manner, I shall certainly be reduced to tricks and stratagems to find it +out." + +Jane's delicate sense of honour would not allow her to speak to +Elizabeth privately of what Lydia had let fall; Elizabeth was glad +of it;--till it appeared whether her inquiries would receive any +satisfaction, she had rather be without a confidante. + + + +Chapter 52 + + +Elizabeth had the satisfaction of receiving an answer to her letter as +soon as she possibly could. She was no sooner in possession of it +than, hurrying into the little copse, where she was least likely to +be interrupted, she sat down on one of the benches and prepared to +be happy; for the length of the letter convinced her that it did not +contain a denial. + +"Gracechurch street, Sept. 6. + +"MY DEAR NIECE, + +"I have just received your letter, and shall devote this whole morning +to answering it, as I foresee that a _little_ writing will not comprise +what I have to tell you. I must confess myself surprised by your +application; I did not expect it from _you_. Don't think me angry, +however, for I only mean to let you know that I had not imagined such +inquiries to be necessary on _your_ side. If you do not choose to +understand me, forgive my impertinence. Your uncle is as much surprised +as I am--and nothing but the belief of your being a party concerned +would have allowed him to act as he has done. But if you are really +innocent and ignorant, I must be more explicit. + +"On the very day of my coming home from Longbourn, your uncle had a most +unexpected visitor. Mr. Darcy called, and was shut up with him several +hours. It was all over before I arrived; so my curiosity was not so +dreadfully racked as _yours_ seems to have been. He came to tell Mr. +Gardiner that he had found out where your sister and Mr. Wickham were, +and that he had seen and talked with them both; Wickham repeatedly, +Lydia once. From what I can collect, he left Derbyshire only one day +after ourselves, and came to town with the resolution of hunting for +them. The motive professed was his conviction of its being owing to +himself that Wickham's worthlessness had not been so well known as to +make it impossible for any young woman of character to love or confide +in him. He generously imputed the whole to his mistaken pride, and +confessed that he had before thought it beneath him to lay his private +actions open to the world. His character was to speak for itself. He +called it, therefore, his duty to step forward, and endeavour to remedy +an evil which had been brought on by himself. If he _had another_ +motive, I am sure it would never disgrace him. He had been some days +in town, before he was able to discover them; but he had something to +direct his search, which was more than _we_ had; and the consciousness +of this was another reason for his resolving to follow us. + +"There is a lady, it seems, a Mrs. Younge, who was some time ago +governess to Miss Darcy, and was dismissed from her charge on some cause +of disapprobation, though he did not say what. She then took a large +house in Edward-street, and has since maintained herself by letting +lodgings. This Mrs. Younge was, he knew, intimately acquainted with +Wickham; and he went to her for intelligence of him as soon as he got to +town. But it was two or three days before he could get from her what he +wanted. She would not betray her trust, I suppose, without bribery and +corruption, for she really did know where her friend was to be found. +Wickham indeed had gone to her on their first arrival in London, and had +she been able to receive them into her house, they would have taken up +their abode with her. At length, however, our kind friend procured the +wished-for direction. They were in ---- street. He saw Wickham, and +afterwards insisted on seeing Lydia. His first object with her, he +acknowledged, had been to persuade her to quit her present disgraceful +situation, and return to her friends as soon as they could be prevailed +on to receive her, offering his assistance, as far as it would go. But +he found Lydia absolutely resolved on remaining where she was. She cared +for none of her friends; she wanted no help of his; she would not hear +of leaving Wickham. She was sure they should be married some time or +other, and it did not much signify when. Since such were her feelings, +it only remained, he thought, to secure and expedite a marriage, which, +in his very first conversation with Wickham, he easily learnt had never +been _his_ design. He confessed himself obliged to leave the regiment, +on account of some debts of honour, which were very pressing; and +scrupled not to lay all the ill-consequences of Lydia's flight on her +own folly alone. He meant to resign his commission immediately; and as +to his future situation, he could conjecture very little about it. He +must go somewhere, but he did not know where, and he knew he should have +nothing to live on. + +"Mr. Darcy asked him why he had not married your sister at once. Though +Mr. Bennet was not imagined to be very rich, he would have been able +to do something for him, and his situation must have been benefited by +marriage. But he found, in reply to this question, that Wickham still +cherished the hope of more effectually making his fortune by marriage in +some other country. Under such circumstances, however, he was not likely +to be proof against the temptation of immediate relief. + +"They met several times, for there was much to be discussed. Wickham of +course wanted more than he could get; but at length was reduced to be +reasonable. + +"Every thing being settled between _them_, Mr. Darcy's next step was to +make your uncle acquainted with it, and he first called in Gracechurch +street the evening before I came home. But Mr. Gardiner could not be +seen, and Mr. Darcy found, on further inquiry, that your father was +still with him, but would quit town the next morning. He did not judge +your father to be a person whom he could so properly consult as your +uncle, and therefore readily postponed seeing him till after the +departure of the former. He did not leave his name, and till the next +day it was only known that a gentleman had called on business. + +"On Saturday he came again. Your father was gone, your uncle at home, +and, as I said before, they had a great deal of talk together. + +"They met again on Sunday, and then _I_ saw him too. It was not all +settled before Monday: as soon as it was, the express was sent off to +Longbourn. But our visitor was very obstinate. I fancy, Lizzy, that +obstinacy is the real defect of his character, after all. He has been +accused of many faults at different times, but _this_ is the true one. +Nothing was to be done that he did not do himself; though I am sure (and +I do not speak it to be thanked, therefore say nothing about it), your +uncle would most readily have settled the whole. + +"They battled it together for a long time, which was more than either +the gentleman or lady concerned in it deserved. But at last your uncle +was forced to yield, and instead of being allowed to be of use to his +niece, was forced to put up with only having the probable credit of it, +which went sorely against the grain; and I really believe your letter +this morning gave him great pleasure, because it required an explanation +that would rob him of his borrowed feathers, and give the praise where +it was due. But, Lizzy, this must go no farther than yourself, or Jane +at most. + +"You know pretty well, I suppose, what has been done for the young +people. His debts are to be paid, amounting, I believe, to considerably +more than a thousand pounds, another thousand in addition to her own +settled upon _her_, and his commission purchased. The reason why all +this was to be done by him alone, was such as I have given above. It +was owing to him, to his reserve and want of proper consideration, that +Wickham's character had been so misunderstood, and consequently that he +had been received and noticed as he was. Perhaps there was some truth +in _this_; though I doubt whether _his_ reserve, or _anybody's_ reserve, +can be answerable for the event. But in spite of all this fine talking, +my dear Lizzy, you may rest perfectly assured that your uncle would +never have yielded, if we had not given him credit for _another +interest_ in the affair. + +"When all this was resolved on, he returned again to his friends, who +were still staying at Pemberley; but it was agreed that he should be in +London once more when the wedding took place, and all money matters were +then to receive the last finish. + +"I believe I have now told you every thing. It is a relation which +you tell me is to give you great surprise; I hope at least it will not +afford you any displeasure. Lydia came to us; and Wickham had constant +admission to the house. _He_ was exactly what he had been, when I +knew him in Hertfordshire; but I would not tell you how little I was +satisfied with her behaviour while she staid with us, if I had not +perceived, by Jane's letter last Wednesday, that her conduct on coming +home was exactly of a piece with it, and therefore what I now tell +you can give you no fresh pain. I talked to her repeatedly in the most +serious manner, representing to her all the wickedness of what she had +done, and all the unhappiness she had brought on her family. If she +heard me, it was by good luck, for I am sure she did not listen. I was +sometimes quite provoked, but then I recollected my dear Elizabeth and +Jane, and for their sakes had patience with her. + +"Mr. Darcy was punctual in his return, and as Lydia informed you, +attended the wedding. He dined with us the next day, and was to leave +town again on Wednesday or Thursday. Will you be very angry with me, my +dear Lizzy, if I take this opportunity of saying (what I was never bold +enough to say before) how much I like him. His behaviour to us has, +in every respect, been as pleasing as when we were in Derbyshire. His +understanding and opinions all please me; he wants nothing but a little +more liveliness, and _that_, if he marry _prudently_, his wife may teach +him. I thought him very sly;--he hardly ever mentioned your name. But +slyness seems the fashion. + +"Pray forgive me if I have been very presuming, or at least do not +punish me so far as to exclude me from P. I shall never be quite happy +till I have been all round the park. A low phaeton, with a nice little +pair of ponies, would be the very thing. + +"But I must write no more. The children have been wanting me this half +hour. + +"Yours, very sincerely, + +"M. GARDINER." + +The contents of this letter threw Elizabeth into a flutter of spirits, +in which it was difficult to determine whether pleasure or pain bore the +greatest share. The vague and unsettled suspicions which uncertainty had +produced of what Mr. Darcy might have been doing to forward her sister's +match, which she had feared to encourage as an exertion of goodness too +great to be probable, and at the same time dreaded to be just, from the +pain of obligation, were proved beyond their greatest extent to be true! +He had followed them purposely to town, he had taken on himself all +the trouble and mortification attendant on such a research; in which +supplication had been necessary to a woman whom he must abominate and +despise, and where he was reduced to meet, frequently meet, reason +with, persuade, and finally bribe, the man whom he always most wished to +avoid, and whose very name it was punishment to him to pronounce. He had +done all this for a girl whom he could neither regard nor esteem. Her +heart did whisper that he had done it for her. But it was a hope shortly +checked by other considerations, and she soon felt that even her vanity +was insufficient, when required to depend on his affection for her--for +a woman who had already refused him--as able to overcome a sentiment so +natural as abhorrence against relationship with Wickham. Brother-in-law +of Wickham! Every kind of pride must revolt from the connection. He had, +to be sure, done much. She was ashamed to think how much. But he had +given a reason for his interference, which asked no extraordinary +stretch of belief. It was reasonable that he should feel he had been +wrong; he had liberality, and he had the means of exercising it; and +though she would not place herself as his principal inducement, she +could, perhaps, believe that remaining partiality for her might assist +his endeavours in a cause where her peace of mind must be materially +concerned. It was painful, exceedingly painful, to know that they were +under obligations to a person who could never receive a return. They +owed the restoration of Lydia, her character, every thing, to him. Oh! +how heartily did she grieve over every ungracious sensation she had ever +encouraged, every saucy speech she had ever directed towards him. For +herself she was humbled; but she was proud of him. Proud that in a cause +of compassion and honour, he had been able to get the better of himself. +She read over her aunt's commendation of him again and again. It +was hardly enough; but it pleased her. She was even sensible of some +pleasure, though mixed with regret, on finding how steadfastly both she +and her uncle had been persuaded that affection and confidence subsisted +between Mr. Darcy and herself. + +She was roused from her seat, and her reflections, by some one's +approach; and before she could strike into another path, she was +overtaken by Wickham. + +"I am afraid I interrupt your solitary ramble, my dear sister?" said he, +as he joined her. + +"You certainly do," she replied with a smile; "but it does not follow +that the interruption must be unwelcome." + +"I should be sorry indeed, if it were. We were always good friends; and +now we are better." + +"True. Are the others coming out?" + +"I do not know. Mrs. Bennet and Lydia are going in the carriage to +Meryton. And so, my dear sister, I find, from our uncle and aunt, that +you have actually seen Pemberley." + +She replied in the affirmative. + +"I almost envy you the pleasure, and yet I believe it would be too much +for me, or else I could take it in my way to Newcastle. And you saw the +old housekeeper, I suppose? Poor Reynolds, she was always very fond of +me. But of course she did not mention my name to you." + +"Yes, she did." + +"And what did she say?" + +"That you were gone into the army, and she was afraid had--not turned +out well. At such a distance as _that_, you know, things are strangely +misrepresented." + +"Certainly," he replied, biting his lips. Elizabeth hoped she had +silenced him; but he soon afterwards said: + +"I was surprised to see Darcy in town last month. We passed each other +several times. I wonder what he can be doing there." + +"Perhaps preparing for his marriage with Miss de Bourgh," said +Elizabeth. "It must be something particular, to take him there at this +time of year." + +"Undoubtedly. Did you see him while you were at Lambton? I thought I +understood from the Gardiners that you had." + +"Yes; he introduced us to his sister." + +"And do you like her?" + +"Very much." + +"I have heard, indeed, that she is uncommonly improved within this year +or two. When I last saw her, she was not very promising. I am very glad +you liked her. I hope she will turn out well." + +"I dare say she will; she has got over the most trying age." + +"Did you go by the village of Kympton?" + +"I do not recollect that we did." + +"I mention it, because it is the living which I ought to have had. A +most delightful place!--Excellent Parsonage House! It would have suited +me in every respect." + +"How should you have liked making sermons?" + +"Exceedingly well. I should have considered it as part of my duty, +and the exertion would soon have been nothing. One ought not to +repine;--but, to be sure, it would have been such a thing for me! The +quiet, the retirement of such a life would have answered all my ideas +of happiness! But it was not to be. Did you ever hear Darcy mention the +circumstance, when you were in Kent?" + +"I have heard from authority, which I thought _as good_, that it was +left you conditionally only, and at the will of the present patron." + +"You have. Yes, there was something in _that_; I told you so from the +first, you may remember." + +"I _did_ hear, too, that there was a time, when sermon-making was not +so palatable to you as it seems to be at present; that you actually +declared your resolution of never taking orders, and that the business +had been compromised accordingly." + +"You did! and it was not wholly without foundation. You may remember +what I told you on that point, when first we talked of it." + +They were now almost at the door of the house, for she had walked fast +to get rid of him; and unwilling, for her sister's sake, to provoke him, +she only said in reply, with a good-humoured smile: + +"Come, Mr. Wickham, we are brother and sister, you know. Do not let +us quarrel about the past. In future, I hope we shall be always of one +mind." + +She held out her hand; he kissed it with affectionate gallantry, though +he hardly knew how to look, and they entered the house. + + + +Chapter 53 + + +Mr. Wickham was so perfectly satisfied with this conversation that he +never again distressed himself, or provoked his dear sister Elizabeth, +by introducing the subject of it; and she was pleased to find that she +had said enough to keep him quiet. + +The day of his and Lydia's departure soon came, and Mrs. Bennet was +forced to submit to a separation, which, as her husband by no means +entered into her scheme of their all going to Newcastle, was likely to +continue at least a twelvemonth. + +"Oh! my dear Lydia," she cried, "when shall we meet again?" + +"Oh, lord! I don't know. Not these two or three years, perhaps." + +"Write to me very often, my dear." + +"As often as I can. But you know married women have never much time for +writing. My sisters may write to _me_. They will have nothing else to +do." + +Mr. Wickham's adieus were much more affectionate than his wife's. He +smiled, looked handsome, and said many pretty things. + +"He is as fine a fellow," said Mr. Bennet, as soon as they were out of +the house, "as ever I saw. He simpers, and smirks, and makes love to +us all. I am prodigiously proud of him. I defy even Sir William Lucas +himself to produce a more valuable son-in-law." + +The loss of her daughter made Mrs. Bennet very dull for several days. + +"I often think," said she, "that there is nothing so bad as parting with +one's friends. One seems so forlorn without them." + +"This is the consequence, you see, Madam, of marrying a daughter," said +Elizabeth. "It must make you better satisfied that your other four are +single." + +"It is no such thing. Lydia does not leave me because she is married, +but only because her husband's regiment happens to be so far off. If +that had been nearer, she would not have gone so soon." + +But the spiritless condition which this event threw her into was shortly +relieved, and her mind opened again to the agitation of hope, by an +article of news which then began to be in circulation. The housekeeper +at Netherfield had received orders to prepare for the arrival of her +master, who was coming down in a day or two, to shoot there for several +weeks. Mrs. Bennet was quite in the fidgets. She looked at Jane, and +smiled and shook her head by turns. + +"Well, well, and so Mr. Bingley is coming down, sister," (for Mrs. +Phillips first brought her the news). "Well, so much the better. Not +that I care about it, though. He is nothing to us, you know, and I am +sure _I_ never want to see him again. But, however, he is very welcome +to come to Netherfield, if he likes it. And who knows what _may_ happen? +But that is nothing to us. You know, sister, we agreed long ago never to +mention a word about it. And so, is it quite certain he is coming?" + +"You may depend on it," replied the other, "for Mrs. Nicholls was in +Meryton last night; I saw her passing by, and went out myself on purpose +to know the truth of it; and she told me that it was certain true. He +comes down on Thursday at the latest, very likely on Wednesday. She was +going to the butcher's, she told me, on purpose to order in some meat on +Wednesday, and she has got three couple of ducks just fit to be killed." + +Miss Bennet had not been able to hear of his coming without changing +colour. It was many months since she had mentioned his name to +Elizabeth; but now, as soon as they were alone together, she said: + +"I saw you look at me to-day, Lizzy, when my aunt told us of the present +report; and I know I appeared distressed. But don't imagine it was from +any silly cause. I was only confused for the moment, because I felt that +I _should_ be looked at. I do assure you that the news does not affect +me either with pleasure or pain. I am glad of one thing, that he comes +alone; because we shall see the less of him. Not that I am afraid of +_myself_, but I dread other people's remarks." + +Elizabeth did not know what to make of it. Had she not seen him in +Derbyshire, she might have supposed him capable of coming there with no +other view than what was acknowledged; but she still thought him partial +to Jane, and she wavered as to the greater probability of his coming +there _with_ his friend's permission, or being bold enough to come +without it. + +"Yet it is hard," she sometimes thought, "that this poor man cannot +come to a house which he has legally hired, without raising all this +speculation! I _will_ leave him to himself." + +In spite of what her sister declared, and really believed to be her +feelings in the expectation of his arrival, Elizabeth could easily +perceive that her spirits were affected by it. They were more disturbed, +more unequal, than she had often seen them. + +The subject which had been so warmly canvassed between their parents, +about a twelvemonth ago, was now brought forward again. + +"As soon as ever Mr. Bingley comes, my dear," said Mrs. Bennet, "you +will wait on him of course." + +"No, no. You forced me into visiting him last year, and promised, if I +went to see him, he should marry one of my daughters. But it ended in +nothing, and I will not be sent on a fool's errand again." + +His wife represented to him how absolutely necessary such an attention +would be from all the neighbouring gentlemen, on his returning to +Netherfield. + +"'Tis an etiquette I despise," said he. "If he wants our society, +let him seek it. He knows where we live. I will not spend my hours +in running after my neighbours every time they go away and come back +again." + +"Well, all I know is, that it will be abominably rude if you do not wait +on him. But, however, that shan't prevent my asking him to dine here, I +am determined. We must have Mrs. Long and the Gouldings soon. That will +make thirteen with ourselves, so there will be just room at table for +him." + +Consoled by this resolution, she was the better able to bear her +husband's incivility; though it was very mortifying to know that her +neighbours might all see Mr. Bingley, in consequence of it, before +_they_ did. As the day of his arrival drew near,-- + +"I begin to be sorry that he comes at all," said Jane to her sister. "It +would be nothing; I could see him with perfect indifference, but I can +hardly bear to hear it thus perpetually talked of. My mother means well; +but she does not know, no one can know, how much I suffer from what she +says. Happy shall I be, when his stay at Netherfield is over!" + +"I wish I could say anything to comfort you," replied Elizabeth; "but it +is wholly out of my power. You must feel it; and the usual satisfaction +of preaching patience to a sufferer is denied me, because you have +always so much." + +Mr. Bingley arrived. Mrs. Bennet, through the assistance of servants, +contrived to have the earliest tidings of it, that the period of anxiety +and fretfulness on her side might be as long as it could. She counted +the days that must intervene before their invitation could be sent; +hopeless of seeing him before. But on the third morning after his +arrival in Hertfordshire, she saw him, from her dressing-room window, +enter the paddock and ride towards the house. + +Her daughters were eagerly called to partake of her joy. Jane resolutely +kept her place at the table; but Elizabeth, to satisfy her mother, went +to the window--she looked,--she saw Mr. Darcy with him, and sat down +again by her sister. + +"There is a gentleman with him, mamma," said Kitty; "who can it be?" + +"Some acquaintance or other, my dear, I suppose; I am sure I do not +know." + +"La!" replied Kitty, "it looks just like that man that used to be with +him before. Mr. what's-his-name. That tall, proud man." + +"Good gracious! Mr. Darcy!--and so it does, I vow. Well, any friend of +Mr. Bingley's will always be welcome here, to be sure; but else I must +say that I hate the very sight of him." + +Jane looked at Elizabeth with surprise and concern. She knew but little +of their meeting in Derbyshire, and therefore felt for the awkwardness +which must attend her sister, in seeing him almost for the first time +after receiving his explanatory letter. Both sisters were uncomfortable +enough. Each felt for the other, and of course for themselves; and their +mother talked on, of her dislike of Mr. Darcy, and her resolution to be +civil to him only as Mr. Bingley's friend, without being heard by either +of them. But Elizabeth had sources of uneasiness which could not be +suspected by Jane, to whom she had never yet had courage to shew Mrs. +Gardiner's letter, or to relate her own change of sentiment towards him. +To Jane, he could be only a man whose proposals she had refused, +and whose merit she had undervalued; but to her own more extensive +information, he was the person to whom the whole family were indebted +for the first of benefits, and whom she regarded herself with an +interest, if not quite so tender, at least as reasonable and just as +what Jane felt for Bingley. Her astonishment at his coming--at his +coming to Netherfield, to Longbourn, and voluntarily seeking her again, +was almost equal to what she had known on first witnessing his altered +behaviour in Derbyshire. + +The colour which had been driven from her face, returned for half a +minute with an additional glow, and a smile of delight added lustre to +her eyes, as she thought for that space of time that his affection and +wishes must still be unshaken. But she would not be secure. + +"Let me first see how he behaves," said she; "it will then be early +enough for expectation." + +She sat intently at work, striving to be composed, and without daring to +lift up her eyes, till anxious curiosity carried them to the face of +her sister as the servant was approaching the door. Jane looked a little +paler than usual, but more sedate than Elizabeth had expected. On the +gentlemen's appearing, her colour increased; yet she received them with +tolerable ease, and with a propriety of behaviour equally free from any +symptom of resentment or any unnecessary complaisance. + +Elizabeth said as little to either as civility would allow, and sat down +again to her work, with an eagerness which it did not often command. She +had ventured only one glance at Darcy. He looked serious, as usual; and, +she thought, more as he had been used to look in Hertfordshire, than as +she had seen him at Pemberley. But, perhaps he could not in her mother's +presence be what he was before her uncle and aunt. It was a painful, but +not an improbable, conjecture. + +Bingley, she had likewise seen for an instant, and in that short period +saw him looking both pleased and embarrassed. He was received by Mrs. +Bennet with a degree of civility which made her two daughters ashamed, +especially when contrasted with the cold and ceremonious politeness of +her curtsey and address to his friend. + +Elizabeth, particularly, who knew that her mother owed to the latter +the preservation of her favourite daughter from irremediable infamy, +was hurt and distressed to a most painful degree by a distinction so ill +applied. + +Darcy, after inquiring of her how Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner did, a question +which she could not answer without confusion, said scarcely anything. He +was not seated by her; perhaps that was the reason of his silence; but +it had not been so in Derbyshire. There he had talked to her friends, +when he could not to herself. But now several minutes elapsed without +bringing the sound of his voice; and when occasionally, unable to resist +the impulse of curiosity, she raised her eyes to his face, she as often +found him looking at Jane as at herself, and frequently on no object but +the ground. More thoughtfulness and less anxiety to please, than when +they last met, were plainly expressed. She was disappointed, and angry +with herself for being so. + +"Could I expect it to be otherwise!" said she. "Yet why did he come?" + +She was in no humour for conversation with anyone but himself; and to +him she had hardly courage to speak. + +She inquired after his sister, but could do no more. + +"It is a long time, Mr. Bingley, since you went away," said Mrs. Bennet. + +He readily agreed to it. + +"I began to be afraid you would never come back again. People _did_ say +you meant to quit the place entirely at Michaelmas; but, however, I hope +it is not true. A great many changes have happened in the neighbourhood, +since you went away. Miss Lucas is married and settled. And one of my +own daughters. I suppose you have heard of it; indeed, you must have +seen it in the papers. It was in The Times and The Courier, I know; +though it was not put in as it ought to be. It was only said, 'Lately, +George Wickham, Esq. to Miss Lydia Bennet,' without there being a +syllable said of her father, or the place where she lived, or anything. +It was my brother Gardiner's drawing up too, and I wonder how he came to +make such an awkward business of it. Did you see it?" + +Bingley replied that he did, and made his congratulations. Elizabeth +dared not lift up her eyes. How Mr. Darcy looked, therefore, she could +not tell. + +"It is a delightful thing, to be sure, to have a daughter well married," +continued her mother, "but at the same time, Mr. Bingley, it is very +hard to have her taken such a way from me. They are gone down to +Newcastle, a place quite northward, it seems, and there they are to stay +I do not know how long. His regiment is there; for I suppose you have +heard of his leaving the ----shire, and of his being gone into the +regulars. Thank Heaven! he has _some_ friends, though perhaps not so +many as he deserves." + +Elizabeth, who knew this to be levelled at Mr. Darcy, was in such +misery of shame, that she could hardly keep her seat. It drew from her, +however, the exertion of speaking, which nothing else had so effectually +done before; and she asked Bingley whether he meant to make any stay in +the country at present. A few weeks, he believed. + +"When you have killed all your own birds, Mr. Bingley," said her mother, +"I beg you will come here, and shoot as many as you please on Mr. +Bennet's manor. I am sure he will be vastly happy to oblige you, and +will save all the best of the covies for you." + +Elizabeth's misery increased, at such unnecessary, such officious +attention! Were the same fair prospect to arise at present as had +flattered them a year ago, every thing, she was persuaded, would be +hastening to the same vexatious conclusion. At that instant, she felt +that years of happiness could not make Jane or herself amends for +moments of such painful confusion. + +"The first wish of my heart," said she to herself, "is never more to +be in company with either of them. Their society can afford no pleasure +that will atone for such wretchedness as this! Let me never see either +one or the other again!" + +Yet the misery, for which years of happiness were to offer no +compensation, received soon afterwards material relief, from observing +how much the beauty of her sister re-kindled the admiration of her +former lover. When first he came in, he had spoken to her but little; +but every five minutes seemed to be giving her more of his attention. He +found her as handsome as she had been last year; as good natured, and +as unaffected, though not quite so chatty. Jane was anxious that no +difference should be perceived in her at all, and was really persuaded +that she talked as much as ever. But her mind was so busily engaged, +that she did not always know when she was silent. + +When the gentlemen rose to go away, Mrs. Bennet was mindful of her +intended civility, and they were invited and engaged to dine at +Longbourn in a few days time. + +"You are quite a visit in my debt, Mr. Bingley," she added, "for when +you went to town last winter, you promised to take a family dinner with +us, as soon as you returned. I have not forgot, you see; and I assure +you, I was very much disappointed that you did not come back and keep +your engagement." + +Bingley looked a little silly at this reflection, and said something of +his concern at having been prevented by business. They then went away. + +Mrs. Bennet had been strongly inclined to ask them to stay and dine +there that day; but, though she always kept a very good table, she did +not think anything less than two courses could be good enough for a man +on whom she had such anxious designs, or satisfy the appetite and pride +of one who had ten thousand a year. + + + +Chapter 54 + + +As soon as they were gone, Elizabeth walked out to recover her spirits; +or in other words, to dwell without interruption on those subjects that +must deaden them more. Mr. Darcy's behaviour astonished and vexed her. + +"Why, if he came only to be silent, grave, and indifferent," said she, +"did he come at all?" + +She could settle it in no way that gave her pleasure. + +"He could be still amiable, still pleasing, to my uncle and aunt, when +he was in town; and why not to me? If he fears me, why come hither? If +he no longer cares for me, why silent? Teasing, teasing, man! I will +think no more about him." + +Her resolution was for a short time involuntarily kept by the approach +of her sister, who joined her with a cheerful look, which showed her +better satisfied with their visitors, than Elizabeth. + +"Now," said she, "that this first meeting is over, I feel perfectly +easy. I know my own strength, and I shall never be embarrassed again by +his coming. I am glad he dines here on Tuesday. It will then be publicly +seen that, on both sides, we meet only as common and indifferent +acquaintance." + +"Yes, very indifferent indeed," said Elizabeth, laughingly. "Oh, Jane, +take care." + +"My dear Lizzy, you cannot think me so weak, as to be in danger now?" + +"I think you are in very great danger of making him as much in love with +you as ever." + + * * * * * + +They did not see the gentlemen again till Tuesday; and Mrs. Bennet, in +the meanwhile, was giving way to all the happy schemes, which the good +humour and common politeness of Bingley, in half an hour's visit, had +revived. + +On Tuesday there was a large party assembled at Longbourn; and the two +who were most anxiously expected, to the credit of their punctuality +as sportsmen, were in very good time. When they repaired to the +dining-room, Elizabeth eagerly watched to see whether Bingley would take +the place, which, in all their former parties, had belonged to him, by +her sister. Her prudent mother, occupied by the same ideas, forbore +to invite him to sit by herself. On entering the room, he seemed to +hesitate; but Jane happened to look round, and happened to smile: it was +decided. He placed himself by her. + +Elizabeth, with a triumphant sensation, looked towards his friend. +He bore it with noble indifference, and she would have imagined that +Bingley had received his sanction to be happy, had she not seen his eyes +likewise turned towards Mr. Darcy, with an expression of half-laughing +alarm. + +His behaviour to her sister was such, during dinner time, as showed an +admiration of her, which, though more guarded than formerly, persuaded +Elizabeth, that if left wholly to himself, Jane's happiness, and his +own, would be speedily secured. Though she dared not depend upon the +consequence, she yet received pleasure from observing his behaviour. It +gave her all the animation that her spirits could boast; for she was in +no cheerful humour. Mr. Darcy was almost as far from her as the table +could divide them. He was on one side of her mother. She knew how little +such a situation would give pleasure to either, or make either appear to +advantage. She was not near enough to hear any of their discourse, but +she could see how seldom they spoke to each other, and how formal and +cold was their manner whenever they did. Her mother's ungraciousness, +made the sense of what they owed him more painful to Elizabeth's mind; +and she would, at times, have given anything to be privileged to tell +him that his kindness was neither unknown nor unfelt by the whole of the +family. + +She was in hopes that the evening would afford some opportunity of +bringing them together; that the whole of the visit would not pass away +without enabling them to enter into something more of conversation than +the mere ceremonious salutation attending his entrance. Anxious +and uneasy, the period which passed in the drawing-room, before the +gentlemen came, was wearisome and dull to a degree that almost made her +uncivil. She looked forward to their entrance as the point on which all +her chance of pleasure for the evening must depend. + +"If he does not come to me, _then_," said she, "I shall give him up for +ever." + +The gentlemen came; and she thought he looked as if he would have +answered her hopes; but, alas! the ladies had crowded round the table, +where Miss Bennet was making tea, and Elizabeth pouring out the coffee, +in so close a confederacy that there was not a single vacancy near her +which would admit of a chair. And on the gentlemen's approaching, one of +the girls moved closer to her than ever, and said, in a whisper: + +"The men shan't come and part us, I am determined. We want none of them; +do we?" + +Darcy had walked away to another part of the room. She followed him with +her eyes, envied everyone to whom he spoke, had scarcely patience enough +to help anybody to coffee; and then was enraged against herself for +being so silly! + +"A man who has once been refused! How could I ever be foolish enough to +expect a renewal of his love? Is there one among the sex, who would not +protest against such a weakness as a second proposal to the same woman? +There is no indignity so abhorrent to their feelings!" + +She was a little revived, however, by his bringing back his coffee cup +himself; and she seized the opportunity of saying: + +"Is your sister at Pemberley still?" + +"Yes, she will remain there till Christmas." + +"And quite alone? Have all her friends left her?" + +"Mrs. Annesley is with her. The others have been gone on to Scarborough, +these three weeks." + +She could think of nothing more to say; but if he wished to converse +with her, he might have better success. He stood by her, however, for +some minutes, in silence; and, at last, on the young lady's whispering +to Elizabeth again, he walked away. + +When the tea-things were removed, and the card-tables placed, the ladies +all rose, and Elizabeth was then hoping to be soon joined by him, +when all her views were overthrown by seeing him fall a victim to her +mother's rapacity for whist players, and in a few moments after seated +with the rest of the party. She now lost every expectation of pleasure. +They were confined for the evening at different tables, and she had +nothing to hope, but that his eyes were so often turned towards her side +of the room, as to make him play as unsuccessfully as herself. + +Mrs. Bennet had designed to keep the two Netherfield gentlemen to +supper; but their carriage was unluckily ordered before any of the +others, and she had no opportunity of detaining them. + +"Well girls," said she, as soon as they were left to themselves, "What +say you to the day? I think every thing has passed off uncommonly well, +I assure you. The dinner was as well dressed as any I ever saw. The +venison was roasted to a turn--and everybody said they never saw so +fat a haunch. The soup was fifty times better than what we had at the +Lucases' last week; and even Mr. Darcy acknowledged, that the partridges +were remarkably well done; and I suppose he has two or three French +cooks at least. And, my dear Jane, I never saw you look in greater +beauty. Mrs. Long said so too, for I asked her whether you did not. And +what do you think she said besides? 'Ah! Mrs. Bennet, we shall have her +at Netherfield at last.' She did indeed. I do think Mrs. Long is as good +a creature as ever lived--and her nieces are very pretty behaved girls, +and not at all handsome: I like them prodigiously." + +Mrs. Bennet, in short, was in very great spirits; she had seen enough of +Bingley's behaviour to Jane, to be convinced that she would get him at +last; and her expectations of advantage to her family, when in a happy +humour, were so far beyond reason, that she was quite disappointed at +not seeing him there again the next day, to make his proposals. + +"It has been a very agreeable day," said Miss Bennet to Elizabeth. "The +party seemed so well selected, so suitable one with the other. I hope we +may often meet again." + +Elizabeth smiled. + +"Lizzy, you must not do so. You must not suspect me. It mortifies me. +I assure you that I have now learnt to enjoy his conversation as an +agreeable and sensible young man, without having a wish beyond it. I am +perfectly satisfied, from what his manners now are, that he never had +any design of engaging my affection. It is only that he is blessed +with greater sweetness of address, and a stronger desire of generally +pleasing, than any other man." + +"You are very cruel," said her sister, "you will not let me smile, and +are provoking me to it every moment." + +"How hard it is in some cases to be believed!" + +"And how impossible in others!" + +"But why should you wish to persuade me that I feel more than I +acknowledge?" + +"That is a question which I hardly know how to answer. We all love to +instruct, though we can teach only what is not worth knowing. Forgive +me; and if you persist in indifference, do not make me your confidante." + + + +Chapter 55 + + +A few days after this visit, Mr. Bingley called again, and alone. His +friend had left him that morning for London, but was to return home in +ten days time. He sat with them above an hour, and was in remarkably +good spirits. Mrs. Bennet invited him to dine with them; but, with many +expressions of concern, he confessed himself engaged elsewhere. + +"Next time you call," said she, "I hope we shall be more lucky." + +He should be particularly happy at any time, etc. etc.; and if she would +give him leave, would take an early opportunity of waiting on them. + +"Can you come to-morrow?" + +Yes, he had no engagement at all for to-morrow; and her invitation was +accepted with alacrity. + +He came, and in such very good time that the ladies were none of them +dressed. In ran Mrs. Bennet to her daughter's room, in her dressing +gown, and with her hair half finished, crying out: + +"My dear Jane, make haste and hurry down. He is come--Mr. Bingley is +come. He is, indeed. Make haste, make haste. Here, Sarah, come to Miss +Bennet this moment, and help her on with her gown. Never mind Miss +Lizzy's hair." + +"We will be down as soon as we can," said Jane; "but I dare say Kitty is +forwarder than either of us, for she went up stairs half an hour ago." + +"Oh! hang Kitty! what has she to do with it? Come be quick, be quick! +Where is your sash, my dear?" + +But when her mother was gone, Jane would not be prevailed on to go down +without one of her sisters. + +The same anxiety to get them by themselves was visible again in the +evening. After tea, Mr. Bennet retired to the library, as was his +custom, and Mary went up stairs to her instrument. Two obstacles of +the five being thus removed, Mrs. Bennet sat looking and winking at +Elizabeth and Catherine for a considerable time, without making any +impression on them. Elizabeth would not observe her; and when at last +Kitty did, she very innocently said, "What is the matter mamma? What do +you keep winking at me for? What am I to do?" + +"Nothing child, nothing. I did not wink at you." She then sat still +five minutes longer; but unable to waste such a precious occasion, she +suddenly got up, and saying to Kitty, "Come here, my love, I want to +speak to you," took her out of the room. Jane instantly gave a look +at Elizabeth which spoke her distress at such premeditation, and her +entreaty that _she_ would not give in to it. In a few minutes, Mrs. +Bennet half-opened the door and called out: + +"Lizzy, my dear, I want to speak with you." + +Elizabeth was forced to go. + +"We may as well leave them by themselves you know;" said her mother, as +soon as she was in the hall. "Kitty and I are going up stairs to sit in +my dressing-room." + +Elizabeth made no attempt to reason with her mother, but remained +quietly in the hall, till she and Kitty were out of sight, then returned +into the drawing-room. + +Mrs. Bennet's schemes for this day were ineffectual. Bingley was every +thing that was charming, except the professed lover of her daughter. His +ease and cheerfulness rendered him a most agreeable addition to their +evening party; and he bore with the ill-judged officiousness of the +mother, and heard all her silly remarks with a forbearance and command +of countenance particularly grateful to the daughter. + +He scarcely needed an invitation to stay supper; and before he went +away, an engagement was formed, chiefly through his own and Mrs. +Bennet's means, for his coming next morning to shoot with her husband. + +After this day, Jane said no more of her indifference. Not a word passed +between the sisters concerning Bingley; but Elizabeth went to bed in +the happy belief that all must speedily be concluded, unless Mr. Darcy +returned within the stated time. Seriously, however, she felt tolerably +persuaded that all this must have taken place with that gentleman's +concurrence. + +Bingley was punctual to his appointment; and he and Mr. Bennet spent +the morning together, as had been agreed on. The latter was much more +agreeable than his companion expected. There was nothing of presumption +or folly in Bingley that could provoke his ridicule, or disgust him into +silence; and he was more communicative, and less eccentric, than the +other had ever seen him. Bingley of course returned with him to dinner; +and in the evening Mrs. Bennet's invention was again at work to get +every body away from him and her daughter. Elizabeth, who had a letter +to write, went into the breakfast room for that purpose soon after tea; +for as the others were all going to sit down to cards, she could not be +wanted to counteract her mother's schemes. + +But on returning to the drawing-room, when her letter was finished, she +saw, to her infinite surprise, there was reason to fear that her mother +had been too ingenious for her. On opening the door, she perceived her +sister and Bingley standing together over the hearth, as if engaged in +earnest conversation; and had this led to no suspicion, the faces of +both, as they hastily turned round and moved away from each other, would +have told it all. Their situation was awkward enough; but _hers_ she +thought was still worse. Not a syllable was uttered by either; and +Elizabeth was on the point of going away again, when Bingley, who as +well as the other had sat down, suddenly rose, and whispering a few +words to her sister, ran out of the room. + +Jane could have no reserves from Elizabeth, where confidence would give +pleasure; and instantly embracing her, acknowledged, with the liveliest +emotion, that she was the happiest creature in the world. + +"'Tis too much!" she added, "by far too much. I do not deserve it. Oh! +why is not everybody as happy?" + +Elizabeth's congratulations were given with a sincerity, a warmth, +a delight, which words could but poorly express. Every sentence of +kindness was a fresh source of happiness to Jane. But she would not +allow herself to stay with her sister, or say half that remained to be +said for the present. + +"I must go instantly to my mother;" she cried. "I would not on any +account trifle with her affectionate solicitude; or allow her to hear it +from anyone but myself. He is gone to my father already. Oh! Lizzy, to +know that what I have to relate will give such pleasure to all my dear +family! how shall I bear so much happiness!" + +She then hastened away to her mother, who had purposely broken up the +card party, and was sitting up stairs with Kitty. + +Elizabeth, who was left by herself, now smiled at the rapidity and ease +with which an affair was finally settled, that had given them so many +previous months of suspense and vexation. + +"And this," said she, "is the end of all his friend's anxious +circumspection! of all his sister's falsehood and contrivance! the +happiest, wisest, most reasonable end!" + +In a few minutes she was joined by Bingley, whose conference with her +father had been short and to the purpose. + +"Where is your sister?" said he hastily, as he opened the door. + +"With my mother up stairs. She will be down in a moment, I dare say." + +He then shut the door, and, coming up to her, claimed the good wishes +and affection of a sister. Elizabeth honestly and heartily expressed +her delight in the prospect of their relationship. They shook hands with +great cordiality; and then, till her sister came down, she had to listen +to all he had to say of his own happiness, and of Jane's perfections; +and in spite of his being a lover, Elizabeth really believed all his +expectations of felicity to be rationally founded, because they had for +basis the excellent understanding, and super-excellent disposition of +Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and +himself. + +It was an evening of no common delight to them all; the satisfaction of +Miss Bennet's mind gave a glow of such sweet animation to her face, as +made her look handsomer than ever. Kitty simpered and smiled, and hoped +her turn was coming soon. Mrs. Bennet could not give her consent or +speak her approbation in terms warm enough to satisfy her feelings, +though she talked to Bingley of nothing else for half an hour; and when +Mr. Bennet joined them at supper, his voice and manner plainly showed +how really happy he was. + +Not a word, however, passed his lips in allusion to it, till their +visitor took his leave for the night; but as soon as he was gone, he +turned to his daughter, and said: + +"Jane, I congratulate you. You will be a very happy woman." + +Jane went to him instantly, kissed him, and thanked him for his +goodness. + +"You are a good girl;" he replied, "and I have great pleasure in +thinking you will be so happily settled. I have not a doubt of your +doing very well together. Your tempers are by no means unlike. You are +each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so +easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will +always exceed your income." + +"I hope not so. Imprudence or thoughtlessness in money matters would be +unpardonable in me." + +"Exceed their income! My dear Mr. Bennet," cried his wife, "what are you +talking of? Why, he has four or five thousand a year, and very likely +more." Then addressing her daughter, "Oh! my dear, dear Jane, I am so +happy! I am sure I shan't get a wink of sleep all night. I knew how it +would be. I always said it must be so, at last. I was sure you could not +be so beautiful for nothing! I remember, as soon as ever I saw him, when +he first came into Hertfordshire last year, I thought how likely it was +that you should come together. Oh! he is the handsomest young man that +ever was seen!" + +Wickham, Lydia, were all forgotten. Jane was beyond competition her +favourite child. At that moment, she cared for no other. Her younger +sisters soon began to make interest with her for objects of happiness +which she might in future be able to dispense. + +Mary petitioned for the use of the library at Netherfield; and Kitty +begged very hard for a few balls there every winter. + +Bingley, from this time, was of course a daily visitor at Longbourn; +coming frequently before breakfast, and always remaining till after +supper; unless when some barbarous neighbour, who could not be enough +detested, had given him an invitation to dinner which he thought himself +obliged to accept. + +Elizabeth had now but little time for conversation with her sister; for +while he was present, Jane had no attention to bestow on anyone else; +but she found herself considerably useful to both of them in those hours +of separation that must sometimes occur. In the absence of Jane, he +always attached himself to Elizabeth, for the pleasure of talking of +her; and when Bingley was gone, Jane constantly sought the same means of +relief. + +"He has made me so happy," said she, one evening, "by telling me that he +was totally ignorant of my being in town last spring! I had not believed +it possible." + +"I suspected as much," replied Elizabeth. "But how did he account for +it?" + +"It must have been his sister's doing. They were certainly no friends to +his acquaintance with me, which I cannot wonder at, since he might have +chosen so much more advantageously in many respects. But when they see, +as I trust they will, that their brother is happy with me, they will +learn to be contented, and we shall be on good terms again; though we +can never be what we once were to each other." + +"That is the most unforgiving speech," said Elizabeth, "that I ever +heard you utter. Good girl! It would vex me, indeed, to see you again +the dupe of Miss Bingley's pretended regard." + +"Would you believe it, Lizzy, that when he went to town last November, +he really loved me, and nothing but a persuasion of _my_ being +indifferent would have prevented his coming down again!" + +"He made a little mistake to be sure; but it is to the credit of his +modesty." + +This naturally introduced a panegyric from Jane on his diffidence, and +the little value he put on his own good qualities. Elizabeth was pleased +to find that he had not betrayed the interference of his friend; for, +though Jane had the most generous and forgiving heart in the world, she +knew it was a circumstance which must prejudice her against him. + +"I am certainly the most fortunate creature that ever existed!" cried +Jane. "Oh! Lizzy, why am I thus singled from my family, and blessed +above them all! If I could but see _you_ as happy! If there _were_ but +such another man for you!" + +"If you were to give me forty such men, I never could be so happy as +you. Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your +happiness. No, no, let me shift for myself; and, perhaps, if I have very +good luck, I may meet with another Mr. Collins in time." + +The situation of affairs in the Longbourn family could not be long a +secret. Mrs. Bennet was privileged to whisper it to Mrs. Phillips, +and she ventured, without any permission, to do the same by all her +neighbours in Meryton. + +The Bennets were speedily pronounced to be the luckiest family in the +world, though only a few weeks before, when Lydia had first run away, +they had been generally proved to be marked out for misfortune. + + + +Chapter 56 + + +One morning, about a week after Bingley's engagement with Jane had been +formed, as he and the females of the family were sitting together in the +dining-room, their attention was suddenly drawn to the window, by the +sound of a carriage; and they perceived a chaise and four driving up +the lawn. It was too early in the morning for visitors, and besides, the +equipage did not answer to that of any of their neighbours. The horses +were post; and neither the carriage, nor the livery of the servant who +preceded it, were familiar to them. As it was certain, however, that +somebody was coming, Bingley instantly prevailed on Miss Bennet to avoid +the confinement of such an intrusion, and walk away with him into the +shrubbery. They both set off, and the conjectures of the remaining three +continued, though with little satisfaction, till the door was thrown +open and their visitor entered. It was Lady Catherine de Bourgh. + +They were of course all intending to be surprised; but their +astonishment was beyond their expectation; and on the part of Mrs. +Bennet and Kitty, though she was perfectly unknown to them, even +inferior to what Elizabeth felt. + +She entered the room with an air more than usually ungracious, made no +other reply to Elizabeth's salutation than a slight inclination of the +head, and sat down without saying a word. Elizabeth had mentioned her +name to her mother on her ladyship's entrance, though no request of +introduction had been made. + +Mrs. Bennet, all amazement, though flattered by having a guest of such +high importance, received her with the utmost politeness. After sitting +for a moment in silence, she said very stiffly to Elizabeth, + +"I hope you are well, Miss Bennet. That lady, I suppose, is your +mother." + +Elizabeth replied very concisely that she was. + +"And _that_ I suppose is one of your sisters." + +"Yes, madam," said Mrs. Bennet, delighted to speak to Lady Catherine. +"She is my youngest girl but one. My youngest of all is lately married, +and my eldest is somewhere about the grounds, walking with a young man +who, I believe, will soon become a part of the family." + +"You have a very small park here," returned Lady Catherine after a short +silence. + +"It is nothing in comparison of Rosings, my lady, I dare say; but I +assure you it is much larger than Sir William Lucas's." + +"This must be a most inconvenient sitting room for the evening, in +summer; the windows are full west." + +Mrs. Bennet assured her that they never sat there after dinner, and then +added: + +"May I take the liberty of asking your ladyship whether you left Mr. and +Mrs. Collins well." + +"Yes, very well. I saw them the night before last." + +Elizabeth now expected that she would produce a letter for her from +Charlotte, as it seemed the only probable motive for her calling. But no +letter appeared, and she was completely puzzled. + +Mrs. Bennet, with great civility, begged her ladyship to take some +refreshment; but Lady Catherine very resolutely, and not very politely, +declined eating anything; and then, rising up, said to Elizabeth, + +"Miss Bennet, there seemed to be a prettyish kind of a little wilderness +on one side of your lawn. I should be glad to take a turn in it, if you +will favour me with your company." + +"Go, my dear," cried her mother, "and show her ladyship about the +different walks. I think she will be pleased with the hermitage." + +Elizabeth obeyed, and running into her own room for her parasol, +attended her noble guest downstairs. As they passed through the +hall, Lady Catherine opened the doors into the dining-parlour and +drawing-room, and pronouncing them, after a short survey, to be decent +looking rooms, walked on. + +Her carriage remained at the door, and Elizabeth saw that her +waiting-woman was in it. They proceeded in silence along the gravel walk +that led to the copse; Elizabeth was determined to make no effort for +conversation with a woman who was now more than usually insolent and +disagreeable. + +"How could I ever think her like her nephew?" said she, as she looked in +her face. + +As soon as they entered the copse, Lady Catherine began in the following +manner:-- + +"You can be at no loss, Miss Bennet, to understand the reason of my +journey hither. Your own heart, your own conscience, must tell you why I +come." + +Elizabeth looked with unaffected astonishment. + +"Indeed, you are mistaken, Madam. I have not been at all able to account +for the honour of seeing you here." + +"Miss Bennet," replied her ladyship, in an angry tone, "you ought to +know, that I am not to be trifled with. But however insincere _you_ may +choose to be, you shall not find _me_ so. My character has ever been +celebrated for its sincerity and frankness, and in a cause of such +moment as this, I shall certainly not depart from it. A report of a most +alarming nature reached me two days ago. I was told that not only your +sister was on the point of being most advantageously married, but that +you, that Miss Elizabeth Bennet, would, in all likelihood, be soon +afterwards united to my nephew, my own nephew, Mr. Darcy. Though I +_know_ it must be a scandalous falsehood, though I would not injure him +so much as to suppose the truth of it possible, I instantly resolved +on setting off for this place, that I might make my sentiments known to +you." + +"If you believed it impossible to be true," said Elizabeth, colouring +with astonishment and disdain, "I wonder you took the trouble of coming +so far. What could your ladyship propose by it?" + +"At once to insist upon having such a report universally contradicted." + +"Your coming to Longbourn, to see me and my family," said Elizabeth +coolly, "will be rather a confirmation of it; if, indeed, such a report +is in existence." + +"If! Do you then pretend to be ignorant of it? Has it not been +industriously circulated by yourselves? Do you not know that such a +report is spread abroad?" + +"I never heard that it was." + +"And can you likewise declare, that there is no foundation for it?" + +"I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your ladyship. You may +ask questions which I shall not choose to answer." + +"This is not to be borne. Miss Bennet, I insist on being satisfied. Has +he, has my nephew, made you an offer of marriage?" + +"Your ladyship has declared it to be impossible." + +"It ought to be so; it must be so, while he retains the use of his +reason. But your arts and allurements may, in a moment of infatuation, +have made him forget what he owes to himself and to all his family. You +may have drawn him in." + +"If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it." + +"Miss Bennet, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such +language as this. I am almost the nearest relation he has in the world, +and am entitled to know all his dearest concerns." + +"But you are not entitled to know mine; nor will such behaviour as this, +ever induce me to be explicit." + +"Let me be rightly understood. This match, to which you have the +presumption to aspire, can never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is +engaged to my daughter. Now what have you to say?" + +"Only this; that if he is so, you can have no reason to suppose he will +make an offer to me." + +Lady Catherine hesitated for a moment, and then replied: + +"The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy, +they have been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of +_his_ mother, as well as of hers. While in their cradles, we planned +the union: and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would +be accomplished in their marriage, to be prevented by a young woman of +inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to +the family! Do you pay no regard to the wishes of his friends? To his +tacit engagement with Miss de Bourgh? Are you lost to every feeling of +propriety and delicacy? Have you not heard me say that from his earliest +hours he was destined for his cousin?" + +"Yes, and I had heard it before. But what is that to me? If there is +no other objection to my marrying your nephew, I shall certainly not +be kept from it by knowing that his mother and aunt wished him to +marry Miss de Bourgh. You both did as much as you could in planning the +marriage. Its completion depended on others. If Mr. Darcy is neither +by honour nor inclination confined to his cousin, why is not he to make +another choice? And if I am that choice, why may not I accept him?" + +"Because honour, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it. Yes, +Miss Bennet, interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or +friends, if you wilfully act against the inclinations of all. You will +be censured, slighted, and despised, by everyone connected with him. +Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned +by any of us." + +"These are heavy misfortunes," replied Elizabeth. "But the wife of Mr. +Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily +attached to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause +to repine." + +"Obstinate, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude +for my attentions to you last spring? Is nothing due to me on that +score? Let us sit down. You are to understand, Miss Bennet, that I came +here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose; nor will +I be dissuaded from it. I have not been used to submit to any person's +whims. I have not been in the habit of brooking disappointment." + +"_That_ will make your ladyship's situation at present more pitiable; +but it will have no effect on me." + +"I will not be interrupted. Hear me in silence. My daughter and my +nephew are formed for each other. They are descended, on the maternal +side, from the same noble line; and, on the father's, from respectable, +honourable, and ancient--though untitled--families. Their fortune on +both sides is splendid. They are destined for each other by the voice of +every member of their respective houses; and what is to divide them? +The upstart pretensions of a young woman without family, connections, +or fortune. Is this to be endured! But it must not, shall not be. If you +were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere in +which you have been brought up." + +"In marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that +sphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter; so far we are +equal." + +"True. You _are_ a gentleman's daughter. But who was your mother? +Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their +condition." + +"Whatever my connections may be," said Elizabeth, "if your nephew does +not object to them, they can be nothing to _you_." + +"Tell me once for all, are you engaged to him?" + +Though Elizabeth would not, for the mere purpose of obliging Lady +Catherine, have answered this question, she could not but say, after a +moment's deliberation: + +"I am not." + +Lady Catherine seemed pleased. + +"And will you promise me, never to enter into such an engagement?" + +"I will make no promise of the kind." + +"Miss Bennet I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more +reasonable young woman. But do not deceive yourself into a belief that +I will ever recede. I shall not go away till you have given me the +assurance I require." + +"And I certainly _never_ shall give it. I am not to be intimidated into +anything so wholly unreasonable. Your ladyship wants Mr. Darcy to marry +your daughter; but would my giving you the wished-for promise make their +marriage at all more probable? Supposing him to be attached to me, would +my refusing to accept his hand make him wish to bestow it on his cousin? +Allow me to say, Lady Catherine, that the arguments with which you have +supported this extraordinary application have been as frivolous as the +application was ill-judged. You have widely mistaken my character, if +you think I can be worked on by such persuasions as these. How far your +nephew might approve of your interference in his affairs, I cannot tell; +but you have certainly no right to concern yourself in mine. I must beg, +therefore, to be importuned no farther on the subject." + +"Not so hasty, if you please. I have by no means done. To all the +objections I have already urged, I have still another to add. I am +no stranger to the particulars of your youngest sister's infamous +elopement. I know it all; that the young man's marrying her was a +patched-up business, at the expence of your father and uncles. And is +such a girl to be my nephew's sister? Is her husband, is the son of his +late father's steward, to be his brother? Heaven and earth!--of what are +you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?" + +"You can now have nothing further to say," she resentfully answered. +"You have insulted me in every possible method. I must beg to return to +the house." + +And she rose as she spoke. Lady Catherine rose also, and they turned +back. Her ladyship was highly incensed. + +"You have no regard, then, for the honour and credit of my nephew! +Unfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you +must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?" + +"Lady Catherine, I have nothing further to say. You know my sentiments." + +"You are then resolved to have him?" + +"I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner, +which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without +reference to _you_, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me." + +"It is well. You refuse, then, to oblige me. You refuse to obey the +claims of duty, honour, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin him in +the opinion of all his friends, and make him the contempt of the world." + +"Neither duty, nor honour, nor gratitude," replied Elizabeth, "have any +possible claim on me, in the present instance. No principle of either +would be violated by my marriage with Mr. Darcy. And with regard to the +resentment of his family, or the indignation of the world, if the former +_were_ excited by his marrying me, it would not give me one moment's +concern--and the world in general would have too much sense to join in +the scorn." + +"And this is your real opinion! This is your final resolve! Very well. +I shall now know how to act. Do not imagine, Miss Bennet, that your +ambition will ever be gratified. I came to try you. I hoped to find you +reasonable; but, depend upon it, I will carry my point." + +In this manner Lady Catherine talked on, till they were at the door of +the carriage, when, turning hastily round, she added, "I take no leave +of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve +no such attention. I am most seriously displeased." + +Elizabeth made no answer; and without attempting to persuade her +ladyship to return into the house, walked quietly into it herself. She +heard the carriage drive away as she proceeded up stairs. Her mother +impatiently met her at the door of the dressing-room, to ask why Lady +Catherine would not come in again and rest herself. + +"She did not choose it," said her daughter, "she would go." + +"She is a very fine-looking woman! and her calling here was prodigiously +civil! for she only came, I suppose, to tell us the Collinses were +well. She is on her road somewhere, I dare say, and so, passing through +Meryton, thought she might as well call on you. I suppose she had +nothing particular to say to you, Lizzy?" + +Elizabeth was forced to give into a little falsehood here; for to +acknowledge the substance of their conversation was impossible. + + + +Chapter 57 + + +The discomposure of spirits which this extraordinary visit threw +Elizabeth into, could not be easily overcome; nor could she, for many +hours, learn to think of it less than incessantly. Lady Catherine, it +appeared, had actually taken the trouble of this journey from Rosings, +for the sole purpose of breaking off her supposed engagement with Mr. +Darcy. It was a rational scheme, to be sure! but from what the report +of their engagement could originate, Elizabeth was at a loss to imagine; +till she recollected that _his_ being the intimate friend of Bingley, +and _her_ being the sister of Jane, was enough, at a time when the +expectation of one wedding made everybody eager for another, to supply +the idea. She had not herself forgotten to feel that the marriage of her +sister must bring them more frequently together. And her neighbours +at Lucas Lodge, therefore (for through their communication with the +Collinses, the report, she concluded, had reached Lady Catherine), had +only set that down as almost certain and immediate, which she had looked +forward to as possible at some future time. + +In revolving Lady Catherine's expressions, however, she could not help +feeling some uneasiness as to the possible consequence of her persisting +in this interference. From what she had said of her resolution to +prevent their marriage, it occurred to Elizabeth that she must meditate +an application to her nephew; and how _he_ might take a similar +representation of the evils attached to a connection with her, she dared +not pronounce. She knew not the exact degree of his affection for his +aunt, or his dependence on her judgment, but it was natural to suppose +that he thought much higher of her ladyship than _she_ could do; and it +was certain that, in enumerating the miseries of a marriage with _one_, +whose immediate connections were so unequal to his own, his aunt would +address him on his weakest side. With his notions of dignity, he would +probably feel that the arguments, which to Elizabeth had appeared weak +and ridiculous, contained much good sense and solid reasoning. + +If he had been wavering before as to what he should do, which had often +seemed likely, the advice and entreaty of so near a relation might +settle every doubt, and determine him at once to be as happy as dignity +unblemished could make him. In that case he would return no more. Lady +Catherine might see him in her way through town; and his engagement to +Bingley of coming again to Netherfield must give way. + +"If, therefore, an excuse for not keeping his promise should come to his +friend within a few days," she added, "I shall know how to understand +it. I shall then give over every expectation, every wish of his +constancy. If he is satisfied with only regretting me, when he might +have obtained my affections and hand, I shall soon cease to regret him +at all." + + * * * * * + +The surprise of the rest of the family, on hearing who their visitor had +been, was very great; but they obligingly satisfied it, with the same +kind of supposition which had appeased Mrs. Bennet's curiosity; and +Elizabeth was spared from much teasing on the subject. + +The next morning, as she was going downstairs, she was met by her +father, who came out of his library with a letter in his hand. + +"Lizzy," said he, "I was going to look for you; come into my room." + +She followed him thither; and her curiosity to know what he had to +tell her was heightened by the supposition of its being in some manner +connected with the letter he held. It suddenly struck her that it +might be from Lady Catherine; and she anticipated with dismay all the +consequent explanations. + +She followed her father to the fire place, and they both sat down. He +then said, + +"I have received a letter this morning that has astonished me +exceedingly. As it principally concerns yourself, you ought to know its +contents. I did not know before, that I had two daughters on the brink +of matrimony. Let me congratulate you on a very important conquest." + +The colour now rushed into Elizabeth's cheeks in the instantaneous +conviction of its being a letter from the nephew, instead of the aunt; +and she was undetermined whether most to be pleased that he explained +himself at all, or offended that his letter was not rather addressed to +herself; when her father continued: + +"You look conscious. Young ladies have great penetration in such matters +as these; but I think I may defy even _your_ sagacity, to discover the +name of your admirer. This letter is from Mr. Collins." + +"From Mr. Collins! and what can _he_ have to say?" + +"Something very much to the purpose of course. He begins with +congratulations on the approaching nuptials of my eldest daughter, of +which, it seems, he has been told by some of the good-natured, gossiping +Lucases. I shall not sport with your impatience, by reading what he says +on that point. What relates to yourself, is as follows: 'Having thus +offered you the sincere congratulations of Mrs. Collins and myself on +this happy event, let me now add a short hint on the subject of another; +of which we have been advertised by the same authority. Your daughter +Elizabeth, it is presumed, will not long bear the name of Bennet, after +her elder sister has resigned it, and the chosen partner of her fate may +be reasonably looked up to as one of the most illustrious personages in +this land.' + +"Can you possibly guess, Lizzy, who is meant by this? 'This young +gentleman is blessed, in a peculiar way, with every thing the heart of +mortal can most desire,--splendid property, noble kindred, and extensive +patronage. Yet in spite of all these temptations, let me warn my cousin +Elizabeth, and yourself, of what evils you may incur by a precipitate +closure with this gentleman's proposals, which, of course, you will be +inclined to take immediate advantage of.' + +"Have you any idea, Lizzy, who this gentleman is? But now it comes out: + +"'My motive for cautioning you is as follows. We have reason to imagine +that his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, does not look on the match with +a friendly eye.' + +"_Mr. Darcy_, you see, is the man! Now, Lizzy, I think I _have_ +surprised you. Could he, or the Lucases, have pitched on any man within +the circle of our acquaintance, whose name would have given the lie +more effectually to what they related? Mr. Darcy, who never looks at any +woman but to see a blemish, and who probably never looked at you in his +life! It is admirable!" + +Elizabeth tried to join in her father's pleasantry, but could only force +one most reluctant smile. Never had his wit been directed in a manner so +little agreeable to her. + +"Are you not diverted?" + +"Oh! yes. Pray read on." + +"'After mentioning the likelihood of this marriage to her ladyship last +night, she immediately, with her usual condescension, expressed what she +felt on the occasion; when it became apparent, that on the score of some +family objections on the part of my cousin, she would never give her +consent to what she termed so disgraceful a match. I thought it my duty +to give the speediest intelligence of this to my cousin, that she and +her noble admirer may be aware of what they are about, and not run +hastily into a marriage which has not been properly sanctioned.' Mr. +Collins moreover adds, 'I am truly rejoiced that my cousin Lydia's sad +business has been so well hushed up, and am only concerned that their +living together before the marriage took place should be so generally +known. I must not, however, neglect the duties of my station, or refrain +from declaring my amazement at hearing that you received the young +couple into your house as soon as they were married. It was an +encouragement of vice; and had I been the rector of Longbourn, I should +very strenuously have opposed it. You ought certainly to forgive them, +as a Christian, but never to admit them in your sight, or allow their +names to be mentioned in your hearing.' That is his notion of Christian +forgiveness! The rest of his letter is only about his dear Charlotte's +situation, and his expectation of a young olive-branch. But, Lizzy, you +look as if you did not enjoy it. You are not going to be _missish_, +I hope, and pretend to be affronted at an idle report. For what do we +live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our +turn?" + +"Oh!" cried Elizabeth, "I am excessively diverted. But it is so +strange!" + +"Yes--_that_ is what makes it amusing. Had they fixed on any other man +it would have been nothing; but _his_ perfect indifference, and _your_ +pointed dislike, make it so delightfully absurd! Much as I abominate +writing, I would not give up Mr. Collins's correspondence for any +consideration. Nay, when I read a letter of his, I cannot help giving +him the preference even over Wickham, much as I value the impudence and +hypocrisy of my son-in-law. And pray, Lizzy, what said Lady Catherine +about this report? Did she call to refuse her consent?" + +To this question his daughter replied only with a laugh; and as it had +been asked without the least suspicion, she was not distressed by +his repeating it. Elizabeth had never been more at a loss to make her +feelings appear what they were not. It was necessary to laugh, when she +would rather have cried. Her father had most cruelly mortified her, by +what he said of Mr. Darcy's indifference, and she could do nothing but +wonder at such a want of penetration, or fear that perhaps, instead of +his seeing too little, she might have fancied too much. + + + +Chapter 58 + + +Instead of receiving any such letter of excuse from his friend, as +Elizabeth half expected Mr. Bingley to do, he was able to bring Darcy +with him to Longbourn before many days had passed after Lady Catherine's +visit. The gentlemen arrived early; and, before Mrs. Bennet had time +to tell him of their having seen his aunt, of which her daughter sat +in momentary dread, Bingley, who wanted to be alone with Jane, proposed +their all walking out. It was agreed to. Mrs. Bennet was not in the +habit of walking; Mary could never spare time; but the remaining five +set off together. Bingley and Jane, however, soon allowed the others +to outstrip them. They lagged behind, while Elizabeth, Kitty, and Darcy +were to entertain each other. Very little was said by either; Kitty +was too much afraid of him to talk; Elizabeth was secretly forming a +desperate resolution; and perhaps he might be doing the same. + +They walked towards the Lucases, because Kitty wished to call upon +Maria; and as Elizabeth saw no occasion for making it a general concern, +when Kitty left them she went boldly on with him alone. Now was the +moment for her resolution to be executed, and, while her courage was +high, she immediately said: + +"Mr. Darcy, I am a very selfish creature; and, for the sake of giving +relief to my own feelings, care not how much I may be wounding yours. I +can no longer help thanking you for your unexampled kindness to my +poor sister. Ever since I have known it, I have been most anxious to +acknowledge to you how gratefully I feel it. Were it known to the rest +of my family, I should not have merely my own gratitude to express." + +"I am sorry, exceedingly sorry," replied Darcy, in a tone of surprise +and emotion, "that you have ever been informed of what may, in a +mistaken light, have given you uneasiness. I did not think Mrs. Gardiner +was so little to be trusted." + +"You must not blame my aunt. Lydia's thoughtlessness first betrayed to +me that you had been concerned in the matter; and, of course, I could +not rest till I knew the particulars. Let me thank you again and again, +in the name of all my family, for that generous compassion which induced +you to take so much trouble, and bear so many mortifications, for the +sake of discovering them." + +"If you _will_ thank me," he replied, "let it be for yourself alone. +That the wish of giving happiness to you might add force to the other +inducements which led me on, I shall not attempt to deny. But your +_family_ owe me nothing. Much as I respect them, I believe I thought +only of _you_." + +Elizabeth was too much embarrassed to say a word. After a short pause, +her companion added, "You are too generous to trifle with me. If your +feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. _My_ +affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence +me on this subject for ever." + +Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common awkwardness and anxiety of +his situation, now forced herself to speak; and immediately, though not +very fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone +so material a change, since the period to which he alluded, as to make +her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances. The +happiness which this reply produced, was such as he had probably never +felt before; and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as +warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do. Had Elizabeth +been able to encounter his eye, she might have seen how well the +expression of heartfelt delight, diffused over his face, became him; +but, though she could not look, she could listen, and he told her of +feelings, which, in proving of what importance she was to him, made his +affection every moment more valuable. + +They walked on, without knowing in what direction. There was too much to +be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects. She +soon learnt that they were indebted for their present good understanding +to the efforts of his aunt, who did call on him in her return through +London, and there relate her journey to Longbourn, its motive, and the +substance of her conversation with Elizabeth; dwelling emphatically on +every expression of the latter which, in her ladyship's apprehension, +peculiarly denoted her perverseness and assurance; in the belief that +such a relation must assist her endeavours to obtain that promise +from her nephew which she had refused to give. But, unluckily for her +ladyship, its effect had been exactly contrariwise. + +"It taught me to hope," said he, "as I had scarcely ever allowed myself +to hope before. I knew enough of your disposition to be certain that, +had you been absolutely, irrevocably decided against me, you would have +acknowledged it to Lady Catherine, frankly and openly." + +Elizabeth coloured and laughed as she replied, "Yes, you know enough +of my frankness to believe me capable of _that_. After abusing you so +abominably to your face, I could have no scruple in abusing you to all +your relations." + +"What did you say of me, that I did not deserve? For, though your +accusations were ill-founded, formed on mistaken premises, my +behaviour to you at the time had merited the severest reproof. It was +unpardonable. I cannot think of it without abhorrence." + +"We will not quarrel for the greater share of blame annexed to that +evening," said Elizabeth. "The conduct of neither, if strictly examined, +will be irreproachable; but since then, we have both, I hope, improved +in civility." + +"I cannot be so easily reconciled to myself. The recollection of what I +then said, of my conduct, my manners, my expressions during the whole of +it, is now, and has been many months, inexpressibly painful to me. Your +reproof, so well applied, I shall never forget: 'had you behaved in a +more gentlemanlike manner.' Those were your words. You know not, you can +scarcely conceive, how they have tortured me;--though it was some time, +I confess, before I was reasonable enough to allow their justice." + +"I was certainly very far from expecting them to make so strong an +impression. I had not the smallest idea of their being ever felt in such +a way." + +"I can easily believe it. You thought me then devoid of every proper +feeling, I am sure you did. The turn of your countenance I shall never +forget, as you said that I could not have addressed you in any possible +way that would induce you to accept me." + +"Oh! do not repeat what I then said. These recollections will not do at +all. I assure you that I have long been most heartily ashamed of it." + +Darcy mentioned his letter. "Did it," said he, "did it soon make you +think better of me? Did you, on reading it, give any credit to its +contents?" + +She explained what its effect on her had been, and how gradually all her +former prejudices had been removed. + +"I knew," said he, "that what I wrote must give you pain, but it was +necessary. I hope you have destroyed the letter. There was one part +especially, the opening of it, which I should dread your having the +power of reading again. I can remember some expressions which might +justly make you hate me." + +"The letter shall certainly be burnt, if you believe it essential to the +preservation of my regard; but, though we have both reason to think my +opinions not entirely unalterable, they are not, I hope, quite so easily +changed as that implies." + +"When I wrote that letter," replied Darcy, "I believed myself perfectly +calm and cool, but I am since convinced that it was written in a +dreadful bitterness of spirit." + +"The letter, perhaps, began in bitterness, but it did not end so. The +adieu is charity itself. But think no more of the letter. The feelings +of the person who wrote, and the person who received it, are now +so widely different from what they were then, that every unpleasant +circumstance attending it ought to be forgotten. You must learn some +of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you +pleasure." + +"I cannot give you credit for any philosophy of the kind. Your +retrospections must be so totally void of reproach, that the contentment +arising from them is not of philosophy, but, what is much better, of +innocence. But with me, it is not so. Painful recollections will intrude +which cannot, which ought not, to be repelled. I have been a selfish +being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I +was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I +was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit. +Unfortunately an only son (for many years an only child), I was spoilt +by my parents, who, though good themselves (my father, particularly, all +that was benevolent and amiable), allowed, encouraged, almost taught +me to be selfish and overbearing; to care for none beyond my own family +circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least +to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own. Such I +was, from eight to eight and twenty; and such I might still have been +but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! You +taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, +I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. +You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman +worthy of being pleased." + +"Had you then persuaded yourself that I should?" + +"Indeed I had. What will you think of my vanity? I believed you to be +wishing, expecting my addresses." + +"My manners must have been in fault, but not intentionally, I assure +you. I never meant to deceive you, but my spirits might often lead me +wrong. How you must have hated me after _that_ evening?" + +"Hate you! I was angry perhaps at first, but my anger soon began to take +a proper direction." + +"I am almost afraid of asking what you thought of me, when we met at +Pemberley. You blamed me for coming?" + +"No indeed; I felt nothing but surprise." + +"Your surprise could not be greater than _mine_ in being noticed by you. +My conscience told me that I deserved no extraordinary politeness, and I +confess that I did not expect to receive _more_ than my due." + +"My object then," replied Darcy, "was to show you, by every civility in +my power, that I was not so mean as to resent the past; and I hoped to +obtain your forgiveness, to lessen your ill opinion, by letting you +see that your reproofs had been attended to. How soon any other wishes +introduced themselves I can hardly tell, but I believe in about half an +hour after I had seen you." + +He then told her of Georgiana's delight in her acquaintance, and of her +disappointment at its sudden interruption; which naturally leading to +the cause of that interruption, she soon learnt that his resolution of +following her from Derbyshire in quest of her sister had been formed +before he quitted the inn, and that his gravity and thoughtfulness +there had arisen from no other struggles than what such a purpose must +comprehend. + +She expressed her gratitude again, but it was too painful a subject to +each, to be dwelt on farther. + +After walking several miles in a leisurely manner, and too busy to know +anything about it, they found at last, on examining their watches, that +it was time to be at home. + +"What could become of Mr. Bingley and Jane!" was a wonder which +introduced the discussion of their affairs. Darcy was delighted with +their engagement; his friend had given him the earliest information of +it. + +"I must ask whether you were surprised?" said Elizabeth. + +"Not at all. When I went away, I felt that it would soon happen." + +"That is to say, you had given your permission. I guessed as much." And +though he exclaimed at the term, she found that it had been pretty much +the case. + +"On the evening before my going to London," said he, "I made a +confession to him, which I believe I ought to have made long ago. I +told him of all that had occurred to make my former interference in his +affairs absurd and impertinent. His surprise was great. He had never had +the slightest suspicion. I told him, moreover, that I believed myself +mistaken in supposing, as I had done, that your sister was indifferent +to him; and as I could easily perceive that his attachment to her was +unabated, I felt no doubt of their happiness together." + +Elizabeth could not help smiling at his easy manner of directing his +friend. + +"Did you speak from your own observation," said she, "when you told him +that my sister loved him, or merely from my information last spring?" + +"From the former. I had narrowly observed her during the two visits +which I had lately made here; and I was convinced of her affection." + +"And your assurance of it, I suppose, carried immediate conviction to +him." + +"It did. Bingley is most unaffectedly modest. His diffidence had +prevented his depending on his own judgment in so anxious a case, but +his reliance on mine made every thing easy. I was obliged to confess +one thing, which for a time, and not unjustly, offended him. I could not +allow myself to conceal that your sister had been in town three months +last winter, that I had known it, and purposely kept it from him. He was +angry. But his anger, I am persuaded, lasted no longer than he remained +in any doubt of your sister's sentiments. He has heartily forgiven me +now." + +Elizabeth longed to observe that Mr. Bingley had been a most delightful +friend; so easily guided that his worth was invaluable; but she checked +herself. She remembered that he had yet to learn to be laughed at, +and it was rather too early to begin. In anticipating the happiness +of Bingley, which of course was to be inferior only to his own, he +continued the conversation till they reached the house. In the hall they +parted. + + + +Chapter 59 + + +"My dear Lizzy, where can you have been walking to?" was a question +which Elizabeth received from Jane as soon as she entered their room, +and from all the others when they sat down to table. She had only to +say in reply, that they had wandered about, till she was beyond her own +knowledge. She coloured as she spoke; but neither that, nor anything +else, awakened a suspicion of the truth. + +The evening passed quietly, unmarked by anything extraordinary. The +acknowledged lovers talked and laughed, the unacknowledged were silent. +Darcy was not of a disposition in which happiness overflows in mirth; +and Elizabeth, agitated and confused, rather _knew_ that she was happy +than _felt_ herself to be so; for, besides the immediate embarrassment, +there were other evils before her. She anticipated what would be felt +in the family when her situation became known; she was aware that no +one liked him but Jane; and even feared that with the others it was a +dislike which not all his fortune and consequence might do away. + +At night she opened her heart to Jane. Though suspicion was very far +from Miss Bennet's general habits, she was absolutely incredulous here. + +"You are joking, Lizzy. This cannot be!--engaged to Mr. Darcy! No, no, +you shall not deceive me. I know it to be impossible." + +"This is a wretched beginning indeed! My sole dependence was on you; and +I am sure nobody else will believe me, if you do not. Yet, indeed, I am +in earnest. I speak nothing but the truth. He still loves me, and we are +engaged." + +Jane looked at her doubtingly. "Oh, Lizzy! it cannot be. I know how much +you dislike him." + +"You know nothing of the matter. _That_ is all to be forgot. Perhaps I +did not always love him so well as I do now. But in such cases as +these, a good memory is unpardonable. This is the last time I shall ever +remember it myself." + +Miss Bennet still looked all amazement. Elizabeth again, and more +seriously assured her of its truth. + +"Good Heaven! can it be really so! Yet now I must believe you," cried +Jane. "My dear, dear Lizzy, I would--I do congratulate you--but are you +certain? forgive the question--are you quite certain that you can be +happy with him?" + +"There can be no doubt of that. It is settled between us already, that +we are to be the happiest couple in the world. But are you pleased, +Jane? Shall you like to have such a brother?" + +"Very, very much. Nothing could give either Bingley or myself more +delight. But we considered it, we talked of it as impossible. And do you +really love him quite well enough? Oh, Lizzy! do anything rather than +marry without affection. Are you quite sure that you feel what you ought +to do?" + +"Oh, yes! You will only think I feel _more_ than I ought to do, when I +tell you all." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Why, I must confess that I love him better than I do Bingley. I am +afraid you will be angry." + +"My dearest sister, now _be_ serious. I want to talk very seriously. Let +me know every thing that I am to know, without delay. Will you tell me +how long you have loved him?" + +"It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. +But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds +at Pemberley." + +Another entreaty that she would be serious, however, produced the +desired effect; and she soon satisfied Jane by her solemn assurances +of attachment. When convinced on that article, Miss Bennet had nothing +further to wish. + +"Now I am quite happy," said she, "for you will be as happy as myself. +I always had a value for him. Were it for nothing but his love of you, +I must always have esteemed him; but now, as Bingley's friend and your +husband, there can be only Bingley and yourself more dear to me. But +Lizzy, you have been very sly, very reserved with me. How little did you +tell me of what passed at Pemberley and Lambton! I owe all that I know +of it to another, not to you." + +Elizabeth told her the motives of her secrecy. She had been unwilling +to mention Bingley; and the unsettled state of her own feelings had made +her equally avoid the name of his friend. But now she would no longer +conceal from her his share in Lydia's marriage. All was acknowledged, +and half the night spent in conversation. + + * * * * * + +"Good gracious!" cried Mrs. Bennet, as she stood at a window the next +morning, "if that disagreeable Mr. Darcy is not coming here again with +our dear Bingley! What can he mean by being so tiresome as to be always +coming here? I had no notion but he would go a-shooting, or something or +other, and not disturb us with his company. What shall we do with him? +Lizzy, you must walk out with him again, that he may not be in Bingley's +way." + +Elizabeth could hardly help laughing at so convenient a proposal; yet +was really vexed that her mother should be always giving him such an +epithet. + +As soon as they entered, Bingley looked at her so expressively, and +shook hands with such warmth, as left no doubt of his good information; +and he soon afterwards said aloud, "Mrs. Bennet, have you no more lanes +hereabouts in which Lizzy may lose her way again to-day?" + +"I advise Mr. Darcy, and Lizzy, and Kitty," said Mrs. Bennet, "to walk +to Oakham Mount this morning. It is a nice long walk, and Mr. Darcy has +never seen the view." + +"It may do very well for the others," replied Mr. Bingley; "but I am +sure it will be too much for Kitty. Won't it, Kitty?" Kitty owned that +she had rather stay at home. Darcy professed a great curiosity to see +the view from the Mount, and Elizabeth silently consented. As she went +up stairs to get ready, Mrs. Bennet followed her, saying: + +"I am quite sorry, Lizzy, that you should be forced to have that +disagreeable man all to yourself. But I hope you will not mind it: it is +all for Jane's sake, you know; and there is no occasion for talking +to him, except just now and then. So, do not put yourself to +inconvenience." + +During their walk, it was resolved that Mr. Bennet's consent should be +asked in the course of the evening. Elizabeth reserved to herself the +application for her mother's. She could not determine how her mother +would take it; sometimes doubting whether all his wealth and grandeur +would be enough to overcome her abhorrence of the man. But whether she +were violently set against the match, or violently delighted with it, it +was certain that her manner would be equally ill adapted to do credit +to her sense; and she could no more bear that Mr. Darcy should hear +the first raptures of her joy, than the first vehemence of her +disapprobation. + + * * * * * + +In the evening, soon after Mr. Bennet withdrew to the library, she saw +Mr. Darcy rise also and follow him, and her agitation on seeing it was +extreme. She did not fear her father's opposition, but he was going to +be made unhappy; and that it should be through her means--that _she_, +his favourite child, should be distressing him by her choice, should be +filling him with fears and regrets in disposing of her--was a wretched +reflection, and she sat in misery till Mr. Darcy appeared again, when, +looking at him, she was a little relieved by his smile. In a few minutes +he approached the table where she was sitting with Kitty; and, while +pretending to admire her work said in a whisper, "Go to your father, he +wants you in the library." She was gone directly. + +Her father was walking about the room, looking grave and anxious. +"Lizzy," said he, "what are you doing? Are you out of your senses, to be +accepting this man? Have not you always hated him?" + +How earnestly did she then wish that her former opinions had been more +reasonable, her expressions more moderate! It would have spared her from +explanations and professions which it was exceedingly awkward to give; +but they were now necessary, and she assured him, with some confusion, +of her attachment to Mr. Darcy. + +"Or, in other words, you are determined to have him. He is rich, to be +sure, and you may have more fine clothes and fine carriages than Jane. +But will they make you happy?" + +"Have you any other objection," said Elizabeth, "than your belief of my +indifference?" + +"None at all. We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man; but +this would be nothing if you really liked him." + +"I do, I do like him," she replied, with tears in her eyes, "I love him. +Indeed he has no improper pride. He is perfectly amiable. You do not +know what he really is; then pray do not pain me by speaking of him in +such terms." + +"Lizzy," said her father, "I have given him my consent. He is the kind +of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse anything, which he +condescended to ask. I now give it to _you_, if you are resolved on +having him. But let me advise you to think better of it. I know +your disposition, Lizzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor +respectable, unless you truly esteemed your husband; unless you looked +up to him as a superior. Your lively talents would place you in the +greatest danger in an unequal marriage. You could scarcely escape +discredit and misery. My child, let me not have the grief of seeing +_you_ unable to respect your partner in life. You know not what you are +about." + +Elizabeth, still more affected, was earnest and solemn in her reply; and +at length, by repeated assurances that Mr. Darcy was really the object +of her choice, by explaining the gradual change which her estimation of +him had undergone, relating her absolute certainty that his affection +was not the work of a day, but had stood the test of many months' +suspense, and enumerating with energy all his good qualities, she did +conquer her father's incredulity, and reconcile him to the match. + +"Well, my dear," said he, when she ceased speaking, "I have no more to +say. If this be the case, he deserves you. I could not have parted with +you, my Lizzy, to anyone less worthy." + +To complete the favourable impression, she then told him what Mr. Darcy +had voluntarily done for Lydia. He heard her with astonishment. + +"This is an evening of wonders, indeed! And so, Darcy did every thing; +made up the match, gave the money, paid the fellow's debts, and got him +his commission! So much the better. It will save me a world of trouble +and economy. Had it been your uncle's doing, I must and _would_ have +paid him; but these violent young lovers carry every thing their own +way. I shall offer to pay him to-morrow; he will rant and storm about +his love for you, and there will be an end of the matter." + +He then recollected her embarrassment a few days before, on his reading +Mr. Collins's letter; and after laughing at her some time, allowed her +at last to go--saying, as she quitted the room, "If any young men come +for Mary or Kitty, send them in, for I am quite at leisure." + +Elizabeth's mind was now relieved from a very heavy weight; and, after +half an hour's quiet reflection in her own room, she was able to join +the others with tolerable composure. Every thing was too recent for +gaiety, but the evening passed tranquilly away; there was no longer +anything material to be dreaded, and the comfort of ease and familiarity +would come in time. + +When her mother went up to her dressing-room at night, she followed her, +and made the important communication. Its effect was most extraordinary; +for on first hearing it, Mrs. Bennet sat quite still, and unable to +utter a syllable. Nor was it under many, many minutes that she could +comprehend what she heard; though not in general backward to credit +what was for the advantage of her family, or that came in the shape of a +lover to any of them. She began at length to recover, to fidget about in +her chair, get up, sit down again, wonder, and bless herself. + +"Good gracious! Lord bless me! only think! dear me! Mr. Darcy! Who would +have thought it! And is it really true? Oh! my sweetest Lizzy! how rich +and how great you will be! What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages +you will have! Jane's is nothing to it--nothing at all. I am so +pleased--so happy. Such a charming man!--so handsome! so tall!--Oh, my +dear Lizzy! pray apologise for my having disliked him so much before. I +hope he will overlook it. Dear, dear Lizzy. A house in town! Every thing +that is charming! Three daughters married! Ten thousand a year! Oh, +Lord! What will become of me. I shall go distracted." + +This was enough to prove that her approbation need not be doubted: and +Elizabeth, rejoicing that such an effusion was heard only by herself, +soon went away. But before she had been three minutes in her own room, +her mother followed her. + +"My dearest child," she cried, "I can think of nothing else! Ten +thousand a year, and very likely more! 'Tis as good as a Lord! And a +special licence. You must and shall be married by a special licence. But +my dearest love, tell me what dish Mr. Darcy is particularly fond of, +that I may have it to-morrow." + +This was a sad omen of what her mother's behaviour to the gentleman +himself might be; and Elizabeth found that, though in the certain +possession of his warmest affection, and secure of her relations' +consent, there was still something to be wished for. But the morrow +passed off much better than she expected; for Mrs. Bennet luckily stood +in such awe of her intended son-in-law that she ventured not to speak to +him, unless it was in her power to offer him any attention, or mark her +deference for his opinion. + +Elizabeth had the satisfaction of seeing her father taking pains to get +acquainted with him; and Mr. Bennet soon assured her that he was rising +every hour in his esteem. + +"I admire all my three sons-in-law highly," said he. "Wickham, perhaps, +is my favourite; but I think I shall like _your_ husband quite as well +as Jane's." + + + +Chapter 60 + + +Elizabeth's spirits soon rising to playfulness again, she wanted Mr. +Darcy to account for his having ever fallen in love with her. "How could +you begin?" said she. "I can comprehend your going on charmingly, when +you had once made a beginning; but what could set you off in the first +place?" + +"I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which +laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I +knew that I _had_ begun." + +"My beauty you had early withstood, and as for my manners--my behaviour +to _you_ was at least always bordering on the uncivil, and I never spoke +to you without rather wishing to give you pain than not. Now be sincere; +did you admire me for my impertinence?" + +"For the liveliness of your mind, I did." + +"You may as well call it impertinence at once. It was very little less. +The fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of officious +attention. You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking, +and looking, and thinking for _your_ approbation alone. I roused, and +interested you, because I was so unlike _them_. Had you not been really +amiable, you would have hated me for it; but in spite of the pains you +took to disguise yourself, your feelings were always noble and just; and +in your heart, you thoroughly despised the persons who so assiduously +courted you. There--I have saved you the trouble of accounting for +it; and really, all things considered, I begin to think it perfectly +reasonable. To be sure, you knew no actual good of me--but nobody thinks +of _that_ when they fall in love." + +"Was there no good in your affectionate behaviour to Jane while she was +ill at Netherfield?" + +"Dearest Jane! who could have done less for her? But make a virtue of it +by all means. My good qualities are under your protection, and you are +to exaggerate them as much as possible; and, in return, it belongs to me +to find occasions for teasing and quarrelling with you as often as may +be; and I shall begin directly by asking you what made you so unwilling +to come to the point at last. What made you so shy of me, when you first +called, and afterwards dined here? Why, especially, when you called, did +you look as if you did not care about me?" + +"Because you were grave and silent, and gave me no encouragement." + +"But I was embarrassed." + +"And so was I." + +"You might have talked to me more when you came to dinner." + +"A man who had felt less, might." + +"How unlucky that you should have a reasonable answer to give, and that +I should be so reasonable as to admit it! But I wonder how long you +_would_ have gone on, if you had been left to yourself. I wonder when +you _would_ have spoken, if I had not asked you! My resolution of +thanking you for your kindness to Lydia had certainly great effect. +_Too much_, I am afraid; for what becomes of the moral, if our comfort +springs from a breach of promise? for I ought not to have mentioned the +subject. This will never do." + +"You need not distress yourself. The moral will be perfectly fair. Lady +Catherine's unjustifiable endeavours to separate us were the means of +removing all my doubts. I am not indebted for my present happiness to +your eager desire of expressing your gratitude. I was not in a humour +to wait for any opening of yours. My aunt's intelligence had given me +hope, and I was determined at once to know every thing." + +"Lady Catherine has been of infinite use, which ought to make her happy, +for she loves to be of use. But tell me, what did you come down to +Netherfield for? Was it merely to ride to Longbourn and be embarrassed? +or had you intended any more serious consequence?" + +"My real purpose was to see _you_, and to judge, if I could, whether I +might ever hope to make you love me. My avowed one, or what I avowed to +myself, was to see whether your sister were still partial to Bingley, +and if she were, to make the confession to him which I have since made." + +"Shall you ever have courage to announce to Lady Catherine what is to +befall her?" + +"I am more likely to want more time than courage, Elizabeth. But it +ought to be done, and if you will give me a sheet of paper, it shall be +done directly." + +"And if I had not a letter to write myself, I might sit by you and +admire the evenness of your writing, as another young lady once did. But +I have an aunt, too, who must not be longer neglected." + +From an unwillingness to confess how much her intimacy with Mr. Darcy +had been over-rated, Elizabeth had never yet answered Mrs. Gardiner's +long letter; but now, having _that_ to communicate which she knew would +be most welcome, she was almost ashamed to find that her uncle and +aunt had already lost three days of happiness, and immediately wrote as +follows: + +"I would have thanked you before, my dear aunt, as I ought to have done, +for your long, kind, satisfactory, detail of particulars; but to say the +truth, I was too cross to write. You supposed more than really existed. +But _now_ suppose as much as you choose; give a loose rein to your +fancy, indulge your imagination in every possible flight which the +subject will afford, and unless you believe me actually married, you +cannot greatly err. You must write again very soon, and praise him a +great deal more than you did in your last. I thank you, again and again, +for not going to the Lakes. How could I be so silly as to wish it! Your +idea of the ponies is delightful. We will go round the Park every day. I +am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so +before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she +only smiles, I laugh. Mr. Darcy sends you all the love in the world that +he can spare from me. You are all to come to Pemberley at Christmas. +Yours, etc." + +Mr. Darcy's letter to Lady Catherine was in a different style; and still +different from either was what Mr. Bennet sent to Mr. Collins, in reply +to his last. + +"DEAR SIR, + +"I must trouble you once more for congratulations. Elizabeth will soon +be the wife of Mr. Darcy. Console Lady Catherine as well as you can. +But, if I were you, I would stand by the nephew. He has more to give. + +"Yours sincerely, etc." + +Miss Bingley's congratulations to her brother, on his approaching +marriage, were all that was affectionate and insincere. She wrote even +to Jane on the occasion, to express her delight, and repeat all her +former professions of regard. Jane was not deceived, but she was +affected; and though feeling no reliance on her, could not help writing +her a much kinder answer than she knew was deserved. + +The joy which Miss Darcy expressed on receiving similar information, +was as sincere as her brother's in sending it. Four sides of paper were +insufficient to contain all her delight, and all her earnest desire of +being loved by her sister. + +Before any answer could arrive from Mr. Collins, or any congratulations +to Elizabeth from his wife, the Longbourn family heard that the +Collinses were come themselves to Lucas Lodge. The reason of this +sudden removal was soon evident. Lady Catherine had been rendered +so exceedingly angry by the contents of her nephew's letter, that +Charlotte, really rejoicing in the match, was anxious to get away till +the storm was blown over. At such a moment, the arrival of her friend +was a sincere pleasure to Elizabeth, though in the course of their +meetings she must sometimes think the pleasure dearly bought, when she +saw Mr. Darcy exposed to all the parading and obsequious civility of +her husband. He bore it, however, with admirable calmness. He could even +listen to Sir William Lucas, when he complimented him on carrying away +the brightest jewel of the country, and expressed his hopes of their all +meeting frequently at St. James's, with very decent composure. If he did +shrug his shoulders, it was not till Sir William was out of sight. + +Mrs. Phillips's vulgarity was another, and perhaps a greater, tax on his +forbearance; and though Mrs. Phillips, as well as her sister, stood in +too much awe of him to speak with the familiarity which Bingley's good +humour encouraged, yet, whenever she _did_ speak, she must be vulgar. +Nor was her respect for him, though it made her more quiet, at all +likely to make her more elegant. Elizabeth did all she could to shield +him from the frequent notice of either, and was ever anxious to keep +him to herself, and to those of her family with whom he might converse +without mortification; and though the uncomfortable feelings arising +from all this took from the season of courtship much of its pleasure, it +added to the hope of the future; and she looked forward with delight to +the time when they should be removed from society so little pleasing +to either, to all the comfort and elegance of their family party at +Pemberley. + + + +Chapter 61 + + +Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got +rid of her two most deserving daughters. With what delighted pride +she afterwards visited Mrs. Bingley, and talked of Mrs. Darcy, may +be guessed. I wish I could say, for the sake of her family, that the +accomplishment of her earnest desire in the establishment of so many +of her children produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible, +amiable, well-informed woman for the rest of her life; though perhaps it +was lucky for her husband, who might not have relished domestic felicity +in so unusual a form, that she still was occasionally nervous and +invariably silly. + +Mr. Bennet missed his second daughter exceedingly; his affection for her +drew him oftener from home than anything else could do. He delighted in +going to Pemberley, especially when he was least expected. + +Mr. Bingley and Jane remained at Netherfield only a twelvemonth. So near +a vicinity to her mother and Meryton relations was not desirable even to +_his_ easy temper, or _her_ affectionate heart. The darling wish of his +sisters was then gratified; he bought an estate in a neighbouring county +to Derbyshire, and Jane and Elizabeth, in addition to every other source +of happiness, were within thirty miles of each other. + +Kitty, to her very material advantage, spent the chief of her time with +her two elder sisters. In society so superior to what she had generally +known, her improvement was great. She was not of so ungovernable a +temper as Lydia; and, removed from the influence of Lydia's example, +she became, by proper attention and management, less irritable, less +ignorant, and less insipid. From the further disadvantage of Lydia's +society she was of course carefully kept, and though Mrs. Wickham +frequently invited her to come and stay with her, with the promise of +balls and young men, her father would never consent to her going. + +Mary was the only daughter who remained at home; and she was necessarily +drawn from the pursuit of accomplishments by Mrs. Bennet's being quite +unable to sit alone. Mary was obliged to mix more with the world, but +she could still moralize over every morning visit; and as she was no +longer mortified by comparisons between her sisters' beauty and her own, +it was suspected by her father that she submitted to the change without +much reluctance. + +As for Wickham and Lydia, their characters suffered no revolution from +the marriage of her sisters. He bore with philosophy the conviction that +Elizabeth must now become acquainted with whatever of his ingratitude +and falsehood had before been unknown to her; and in spite of every +thing, was not wholly without hope that Darcy might yet be prevailed on +to make his fortune. The congratulatory letter which Elizabeth received +from Lydia on her marriage, explained to her that, by his wife at least, +if not by himself, such a hope was cherished. The letter was to this +effect: + +"MY DEAR LIZZY, + +"I wish you joy. If you love Mr. Darcy half as well as I do my dear +Wickham, you must be very happy. It is a great comfort to have you so +rich, and when you have nothing else to do, I hope you will think of us. +I am sure Wickham would like a place at court very much, and I do not +think we shall have quite money enough to live upon without some help. +Any place would do, of about three or four hundred a year; but however, +do not speak to Mr. Darcy about it, if you had rather not. + +"Yours, etc." + +As it happened that Elizabeth had _much_ rather not, she endeavoured in +her answer to put an end to every entreaty and expectation of the kind. +Such relief, however, as it was in her power to afford, by the practice +of what might be called economy in her own private expences, she +frequently sent them. It had always been evident to her that such an +income as theirs, under the direction of two persons so extravagant in +their wants, and heedless of the future, must be very insufficient to +their support; and whenever they changed their quarters, either Jane or +herself were sure of being applied to for some little assistance +towards discharging their bills. Their manner of living, even when the +restoration of peace dismissed them to a home, was unsettled in the +extreme. They were always moving from place to place in quest of a cheap +situation, and always spending more than they ought. His affection for +her soon sunk into indifference; hers lasted a little longer; and +in spite of her youth and her manners, she retained all the claims to +reputation which her marriage had given her. + +Though Darcy could never receive _him_ at Pemberley, yet, for +Elizabeth's sake, he assisted him further in his profession. Lydia was +occasionally a visitor there, when her husband was gone to enjoy himself +in London or Bath; and with the Bingleys they both of them frequently +staid so long, that even Bingley's good humour was overcome, and he +proceeded so far as to talk of giving them a hint to be gone. + +Miss Bingley was very deeply mortified by Darcy's marriage; but as she +thought it advisable to retain the right of visiting at Pemberley, she +dropt all her resentment; was fonder than ever of Georgiana, almost as +attentive to Darcy as heretofore, and paid off every arrear of civility +to Elizabeth. + +Pemberley was now Georgiana's home; and the attachment of the sisters +was exactly what Darcy had hoped to see. They were able to love each +other even as well as they intended. Georgiana had the highest opinion +in the world of Elizabeth; though at first she often listened with +an astonishment bordering on alarm at her lively, sportive, manner of +talking to her brother. He, who had always inspired in herself a respect +which almost overcame her affection, she now saw the object of open +pleasantry. Her mind received knowledge which had never before fallen +in her way. By Elizabeth's instructions, she began to comprehend that +a woman may take liberties with her husband which a brother will not +always allow in a sister more than ten years younger than himself. + +Lady Catherine was extremely indignant on the marriage of her nephew; +and as she gave way to all the genuine frankness of her character in +her reply to the letter which announced its arrangement, she sent him +language so very abusive, especially of Elizabeth, that for some time +all intercourse was at an end. But at length, by Elizabeth's persuasion, +he was prevailed on to overlook the offence, and seek a reconciliation; +and, after a little further resistance on the part of his aunt, her +resentment gave way, either to her affection for him, or her curiosity +to see how his wife conducted herself; and she condescended to wait +on them at Pemberley, in spite of that pollution which its woods had +received, not merely from the presence of such a mistress, but the +visits of her uncle and aunt from the city. + +With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms. +Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever +sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing +her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRIDE AND PREJUDICE *** + +***** This file should be named 1342.txt or 1342.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/4/1342/ + +Produced by Anonymous Volunteers + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/data/task1/sherlock.txt b/data/task1/sherlock.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4c3130 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/task1/sherlock.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13052 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes + +Author: Arthur Conan Doyle + +Posting Date: April 18, 2011 [EBook #1661] +First Posted: November 29, 2002 + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** + + + + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez + + + + + + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES + +by + +SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + + + + I. A Scandal in Bohemia + II. The Red-headed League + III. A Case of Identity + IV. The Boscombe Valley Mystery + V. The Five Orange Pips + VI. The Man with the Twisted Lip + VII. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle +VIII. The Adventure of the Speckled Band + IX. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb + X. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor + XI. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet + XII. The Adventure of the Copper Beeches + + + + +ADVENTURE I. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA + +I. + +To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard +him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses +and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt +any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that +one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but +admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect +reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a +lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never +spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They +were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the +veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner +to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely +adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which +might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a +sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power +lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a +nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and +that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable +memory. + +I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us +away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the +home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first +finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to +absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of +society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in +Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from +week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the +drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, +as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his +immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in +following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which +had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time +to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons +to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up +of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, +and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so +delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. +Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely +shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of +my former friend and companion. + +One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was +returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to +civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I +passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated +in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the +Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes +again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. +His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw +his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against +the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head +sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who +knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their +own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his +drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new +problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which +had formerly been in part my own. + +His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I +think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly +eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, +and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he +stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular +introspective fashion. + +"Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have +put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." + +"Seven!" I answered. + +"Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, +I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not +tell me that you intended to go into harness." + +"Then, how do you know?" + +"I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting +yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and +careless servant girl?" + +"My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly +have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true +that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful +mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you +deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has +given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it +out." + +He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands +together. + +"It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the +inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, +the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they +have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round +the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. +Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile +weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting +specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a +gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black +mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge +on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted +his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce +him to be an active member of the medical profession." + +I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his +process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I +remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously +simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each +successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you +explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good +as yours." + +"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing +himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. +The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen +the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." + +"Frequently." + +"How often?" + +"Well, some hundreds of times." + +"Then how many are there?" + +"How many? I don't know." + +"Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is +just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, +because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are +interested in these little problems, and since you are good +enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you +may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, +pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. +"It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." + +The note was undated, and without either signature or address. + +"There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight +o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a +matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of +the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may +safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which +can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all +quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do +not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." + +"This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that +it means?" + +"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before +one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit +theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. +What do you deduce from it?" + +I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was +written. + +"The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, +endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper +could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly +strong and stiff." + +"Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an +English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." + +I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a +large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. + +"What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. + +"The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." + +"Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for +'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a +customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for +'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental +Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. +"Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking +country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being +the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous +glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you +make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue +triumphant cloud from his cigarette. + +"The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. + +"Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you +note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of +you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian +could not have written that. It is the German who is so +uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover +what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and +prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if +I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." + +As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and +grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the +bell. Holmes whistled. + +"A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing +out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of +beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in +this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." + +"I think that I had better go, Holmes." + +"Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my +Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity +to miss it." + +"But your client--" + +"Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he +comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best +attention." + +A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and +in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there +was a loud and authoritative tap. + +"Come in!" said Holmes. + +A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six +inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His +dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked +upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed +across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while +the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined +with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch +which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended +halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with +rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence +which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a +broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper +part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black +vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, +for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower +part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, +with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive +of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. + +"You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a +strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He +looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to +address. + +"Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and +colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me +in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" + +"You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. +I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour +and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most +extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate +with you alone." + +I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me +back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say +before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." + +The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said +he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at +the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At +present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it +may have an influence upon European history." + +"I promise," said Holmes. + +"And I." + +"You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The +august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to +you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have +just called myself is not exactly my own." + +"I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. + +"The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution +has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense +scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of +Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House +of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." + +"I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself +down in his armchair and closing his eyes. + +Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, +lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him +as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. +Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his +gigantic client. + +"If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he +remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." + +The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in +uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he +tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You +are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to +conceal it?" + +"Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken +before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich +Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and +hereditary King of Bohemia." + +"But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down +once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you +can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in +my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not +confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I +have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting +you." + +"Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. + +"The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a +lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known +adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." + +"Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without +opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of +docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it +was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not +at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography +sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a +staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea +fishes. + +"Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year +1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera +of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in +London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled +with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and +is now desirous of getting those letters back." + +"Precisely so. But how--" + +"Was there a secret marriage?" + +"None." + +"No legal papers or certificates?" + +"None." + +"Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should +produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is +she to prove their authenticity?" + +"There is the writing." + +"Pooh, pooh! Forgery." + +"My private note-paper." + +"Stolen." + +"My own seal." + +"Imitated." + +"My photograph." + +"Bought." + +"We were both in the photograph." + +"Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an +indiscretion." + +"I was mad--insane." + +"You have compromised yourself seriously." + +"I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." + +"It must be recovered." + +"We have tried and failed." + +"Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." + +"She will not sell." + +"Stolen, then." + +"Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked +her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice +she has been waylaid. There has been no result." + +"No sign of it?" + +"Absolutely none." + +Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. + +"But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. + +"Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the +photograph?" + +"To ruin me." + +"But how?" + +"I am about to be married." + +"So I have heard." + +"To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the +King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her +family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a +doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." + +"And Irene Adler?" + +"Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I +know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul +of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and +the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry +another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not +go--none." + +"You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" + +"I am sure." + +"And why?" + +"Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the +betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." + +"Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That +is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to +look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in +London for the present?" + +"Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the +Count Von Kramm." + +"Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." + +"Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." + +"Then, as to money?" + +"You have carte blanche." + +"Absolutely?" + +"I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom +to have that photograph." + +"And for present expenses?" + +The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak +and laid it on the table. + +"There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in +notes," he said. + +Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and +handed it to him. + +"And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. + +"Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." + +Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the +photograph a cabinet?" + +"It was." + +"Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon +have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, +as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If +you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three +o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." + + +II. + +At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had +not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the +house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down +beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, +however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his +inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and +strange features which were associated with the two crimes which +I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the +exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. +Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my +friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of +a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a +pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the +quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most +inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable +success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to +enter into my head. + +It was close upon four before the door opened, and a +drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an +inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. +Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of +disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it +was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he +emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. +Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in +front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. + +"Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again +until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the +chair. + +"What is it?" + +"It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I +employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." + +"I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the +habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." + +"Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, +however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this +morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a +wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of +them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found +Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but +built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock +to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well +furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those +preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. +Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window +could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round +it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without +noting anything else of interest. + +"I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that +there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the +garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, +and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two +fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire +about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in +the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but +whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." + +"And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. + +"Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is +the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the +Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, +drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for +dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. +Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, +handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and +often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See +the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him +home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. +When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up +and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan +of campaign. + +"This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the +matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the +relation between them, and what the object of his repeated +visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the +former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his +keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this +question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony +Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the +Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my +inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to +let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the +situation." + +"I am following you closely," I answered. + +"I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab +drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a +remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently +the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a +great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the +maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly +at home. + +"He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch +glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and +down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see +nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than +before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from +his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he +shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to +the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if +you do it in twenty minutes!' + +"Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do +well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, +the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under +his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of +the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall +door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, +but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. + +"'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a +sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' + +"This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing +whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her +landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked +twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could +object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign +if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to +twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. + +"My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the +others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their +steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid +the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there +save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who +seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three +standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side +aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. +Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to +me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards +me. + +"'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' + +"'What then?' I asked. + +"'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' + +"I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was +I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, +and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally +assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to +Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and +there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady +on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was +the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my +life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just +now. It seems that there had been some informality about their +license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them +without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance +saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in +search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean +to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." + +"This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what +then?" + +"Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if +the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate +very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church +door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and +she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as +usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove +away in different directions, and I went off to make my own +arrangements." + +"Which are?" + +"Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the +bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to +be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want +your co-operation." + +"I shall be delighted." + +"You don't mind breaking the law?" + +"Not in the least." + +"Nor running a chance of arrest?" + +"Not in a good cause." + +"Oh, the cause is excellent!" + +"Then I am your man." + +"I was sure that I might rely on you." + +"But what is it you wish?" + +"When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to +you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that +our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I +have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must +be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns +from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." + +"And what then?" + +"You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to +occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must +not interfere, come what may. You understand?" + +"I am to be neutral?" + +"To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small +unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being +conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the +sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close +to that open window." + +"Yes." + +"You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." + +"Yes." + +"And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what +I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of +fire. You quite follow me?" + +"Entirely." + +"It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped +roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, +fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. +Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, +it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then +walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten +minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" + +"I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, +and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry +of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." + +"Precisely." + +"Then you may entirely rely on me." + +"That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I +prepare for the new role I have to play." + +He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in +the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist +clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white +tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and +benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have +equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His +expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every +fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as +science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in +crime. + +It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still +wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in +Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just +being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, +waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such +as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, +but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On +the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was +remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men +smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his +wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and +several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with +cigars in their mouths. + +"You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of +the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The +photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are +that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey +Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his +princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the +photograph?" + +"Where, indeed?" + +"It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is +cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's +dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid +and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We +may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." + +"Where, then?" + +"Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But +I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, +and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it +over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but +she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be +brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she +had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she +can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." + +"But it has twice been burgled." + +"Pshaw! They did not know how to look." + +"But how will you look?" + +"I will not look." + +"What then?" + +"I will get her to show me." + +"But she will refuse." + +"She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is +her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." + +As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round +the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which +rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of +the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in +the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another +loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce +quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who +took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, +who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and +in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was +the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who +struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes +dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached +her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood +running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to +their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while +a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle +without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to +attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, +had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her +superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking +back into the street. + +"Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. + +"He is dead," cried several voices. + +"No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be +gone before you can get him to hospital." + +"He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the +lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a +gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." + +"He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" + +"Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable +sofa. This way, please!" + +Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out +in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings +from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the +blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay +upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with +compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I +know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life +than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was +conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited +upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery +to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted +to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under +my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are +but preventing her from injuring another. + +Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man +who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the +window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the +signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The +word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of +spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and +servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds +of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I +caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice +of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. +Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner +of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my +friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. +He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we +had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the +Edgeware Road. + +"You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could +have been better. It is all right." + +"You have the photograph?" + +"I know where it is." + +"And how did you find out?" + +"She showed me, as I told you she would." + +"I am still in the dark." + +"I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter +was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the +street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." + +"I guessed as much." + +"Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in +the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand +to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." + +"That also I could fathom." + +"Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else +could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room +which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was +determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for +air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your +chance." + +"How did that help you?" + +"It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on +fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she +values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have +more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the +Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in +the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; +an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to +me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious +to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. +The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were +enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The +photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the +right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a +glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it +was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed +from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making +my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to +attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had +come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to +wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." + +"And now?" I asked. + +"Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King +to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be +shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is +probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the +photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain +it with his own hands." + +"And when will you call?" + +"At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall +have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage +may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to +the King without delay." + +We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was +searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: + +"Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." + +There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the +greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had +hurried by. + +"I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the +dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have +been." + + +III. + +I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our +toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed +into the room. + +"You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by +either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. + +"Not yet." + +"But you have hopes?" + +"I have hopes." + +"Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." + +"We must have a cab." + +"No, my brougham is waiting." + +"Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off +once more for Briony Lodge. + +"Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. + +"Married! When?" + +"Yesterday." + +"But to whom?" + +"To an English lawyer named Norton." + +"But she could not love him." + +"I am in hopes that she does." + +"And why in hopes?" + +"Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future +annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your +Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason +why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." + +"It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own +station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a +moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in +Serpentine Avenue. + +The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood +upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped +from the brougham. + +"Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. + +"I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a +questioning and rather startled gaze. + +"Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She +left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing +Cross for the Continent." + +"What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and +surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" + +"Never to return." + +"And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." + +"We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the +drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was +scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and +open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before +her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small +sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a +photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler +herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to +"Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend +tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at +midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: + +"MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You +took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a +suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I +began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had +been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly +be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, +you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became +suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind +old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress +myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage +of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to +watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call +them, and came down just as you departed. + +"Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was +really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock +Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and +started for the Temple to see my husband. + +"We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by +so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when +you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in +peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may +do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly +wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a +weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might +take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to +possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, + + "Very truly yours, + "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." + +"What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when +we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick +and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? +Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" + +"From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a +very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am +sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business +to a more successful conclusion." + +"On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be +more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The +photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." + +"I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." + +"I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can +reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from +his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. + +"Your Majesty has something which I should value even more +highly," said Holmes. + +"You have but to name it." + +"This photograph!" + +The King stared at him in amazement. + +"Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." + +"I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the +matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He +bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the +King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his +chambers. + +And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom +of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were +beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the +cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And +when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her +photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. + + + +ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE + +I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the +autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a +very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. +With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when +Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door +behind me. + +"You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear +Watson," he said cordially. + +"I was afraid that you were engaged." + +"So I am. Very much so." + +"Then I can wait in the next room." + +"Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and +helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no +doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." + +The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of +greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small +fat-encircled eyes. + +"Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and +putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in +judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love +of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum +routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by +the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you +will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own +little adventures." + +"Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I +observed. + +"You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we +went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary +Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary +combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more +daring than any effort of the imagination." + +"A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." + +"You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my +view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you +until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to +be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call +upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to +be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some +time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique +things are very often connected not with the larger but with the +smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for +doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I +have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present +case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is +certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. +Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to +recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend +Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the +peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every +possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some +slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide +myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my +memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the +facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." + +The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some +little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the +inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the +advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper +flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and +endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the +indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. + +I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor +bore every mark of being an average commonplace British +tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey +shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, +unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy +Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as +an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a +wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, +look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save +his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and +discontent upon his features. + +Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook +his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. +"Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual +labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has +been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of +writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." + +Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger +upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. + +"How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. +Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did +manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's +carpenter." + +"Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger +than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more +developed." + +"Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" + +"I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, +especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you +use an arc-and-compass breastpin." + +"Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" + +"What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for +five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the +elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" + +"Well, but China?" + +"The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right +wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small +study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature +of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a +delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I +see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter +becomes even more simple." + +Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I +thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see +that there was nothing in it, after all." + +"I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake +in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my +poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I +am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" + +"Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger +planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began +it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." + +I took the paper from him and read as follows: + +"TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late +Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now +another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a +salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All +red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age +of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at +eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 +Pope's Court, Fleet Street." + +"What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice +read over the extraordinary announcement. + +Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when +in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" +said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us +all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this +advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, +Doctor, of the paper and the date." + +"It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months +ago." + +"Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" + +"Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock +Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small +pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a +very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than +just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, +but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but +that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the +business." + +"What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. + +"His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, +either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter +assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better +himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after +all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" + +"Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who +comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience +among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is +not as remarkable as your advertisement." + +"Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a +fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought +to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar +like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his +main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice +in him." + +"He is still with you, I presume?" + +"Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple +cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the +house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very +quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads +and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. + +"The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. +Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight +weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: + +"'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' + +"'Why that?' I asks. + +"'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the +Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who +gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than +there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what +to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's +a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' + +"'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a +very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of +my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting +my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what +was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. + +"'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he +asked with his eyes open. + +"'Never.' + +"'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one +of the vacancies.' + +"'And what are they worth?' I asked. + +"'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, +and it need not interfere very much with one's other +occupations.' + +"Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, +for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an +extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. + +"'Tell me all about it,' said I. + +"'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for +yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address +where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, +the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah +Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself +red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; +so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous +fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the +interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of +that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to +do.' + +"'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who +would apply.' + +"'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is +really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had +started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the +old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your +applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but +real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. +Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be +worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a +few hundred pounds.' + +"Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, +that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed +to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I +stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent +Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might +prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for +the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to +have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for +the address that was given us in the advertisement. + +"I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From +north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in +his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. +Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court +looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought +there were so many in the whole country as were brought together +by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they +were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; +but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real +vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I +would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear +of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and +pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up +to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream +upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back +dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found +ourselves in the office." + +"Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked +Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge +pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." + +"There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs +and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that +was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate +as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in +them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem +to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn +came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of +the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he +might have a private word with us. + +"'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is +willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' + +"'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has +every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so +fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and +gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he +plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my +success. + +"'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, +however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' +With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I +yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as +he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we +have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and +once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which +would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the +window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the +vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, +and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there +was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the +manager. + +"'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of +the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are +you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' + +"I answered that I had not. + +"His face fell immediately. + +"'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am +sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the +propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their +maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a +bachelor.' + +"My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was +not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for +a few minutes he said that it would be all right. + +"'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be +fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a +head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your +new duties?' + +"'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' +said I. + +"'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. +'I should be able to look after that for you.' + +"'What would be the hours?' I asked. + +"'Ten to two.' + +"Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. +Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just +before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in +the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, +and that he would see to anything that turned up. + +"'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' + +"'Is 4 pounds a week.' + +"'And the work?' + +"'Is purely nominal.' + +"'What do you call purely nominal?' + +"'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the +building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole +position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You +don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office +during that time.' + +"'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' +said I. + +"'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness +nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose +your billet.' + +"'And the work?' + +"'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first +volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and +blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be +ready to-morrow?' + +"'Certainly,' I answered. + +"'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you +once more on the important position which you have been fortunate +enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with +my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased +at my own good fortune. + +"Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in +low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the +whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its +object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past +belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay +such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the +'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to +cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the +whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look +at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a +quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for +Pope's Court. + +"Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as +possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross +was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off +upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from +time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he +bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had +written, and locked the door of the office after me. + +"This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the +manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my +week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week +after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I +left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only +once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at +all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an +instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet +was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk +the loss of it. + +"Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about +Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and +hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very +long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly +filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole +business came to an end." + +"To an end?" + +"Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as +usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a +little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the +panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." + +He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet +of note-paper. It read in this fashion: + + THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE + + IS + + DISSOLVED. + + October 9, 1890. + +Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the +rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so +completely overtopped every other consideration that we both +burst out into a roar of laughter. + +"I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our +client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can +do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." + +"No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from +which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for +the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you +will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. +Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the +door?" + +"I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called +at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything +about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant +living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me +what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had +never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan +Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. + +"'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' + +"'What, the red-headed man?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor +and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new +premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' + +"'Where could I find him?' + +"'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 +King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' + +"I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was +a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever +heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." + +"And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. + +"I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my +assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say +that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite +good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place +without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough +to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right +away to you." + +"And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an +exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. +From what you have told me I think that it is possible that +graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." + +"Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four +pound a week." + +"As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do +not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary +league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some +30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have +gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have +lost nothing by them." + +"No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, +and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a +prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it +cost them two and thirty pounds." + +"We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, +one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who +first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he +been with you?" + +"About a month then." + +"How did he come?" + +"In answer to an advertisement." + +"Was he the only applicant?" + +"No, I had a dozen." + +"Why did you pick him?" + +"Because he was handy and would come cheap." + +"At half-wages, in fact." + +"Yes." + +"What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" + +"Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, +though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon +his forehead." + +Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought +as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are +pierced for earrings?" + +"Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he +was a lad." + +"Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still +with you?" + +"Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." + +"And has your business been attended to in your absence?" + +"Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a +morning." + +"That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an +opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is +Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." + +"Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what +do you make of it all?" + +"I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most +mysterious business." + +"As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less +mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless +crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is +the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this +matter." + +"What are you going to do, then?" I asked. + +"To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I +beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled +himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his +hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his +black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. +I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and +indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his +chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put +his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. + +"Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he +remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare +you for a few hours?" + +"I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very +absorbing." + +"Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City +first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that +there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is +rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is +introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" + +We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short +walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular +story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, +little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy +two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in +enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded +laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and +uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with +"JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced +the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. +Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side +and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between +puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down +again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally +he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously +upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up +to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a +bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step +in. + +"Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would +go from here to the Strand." + +"Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, +closing the door. + +"Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, +in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring +I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known +something of him before." + +"Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good +deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you +inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." + +"Not him." + +"What then?" + +"The knees of his trousers." + +"And what did you see?" + +"What I expected to see." + +"Why did you beat the pavement?" + +"My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We +are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg +Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." + +The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the +corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a +contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was +one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City +to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense +stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, +while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of +pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line +of fine shops and stately business premises that they really +abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square +which we had just quitted. + +"Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing +along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the +houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of +London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little +newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, +the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building +depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, +Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A +sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where +all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no +red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." + +My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a +very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All +the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect +happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the +music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes +were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the +relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was +possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature +alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and +astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction +against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally +predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from +extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was +never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been +lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his +black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase +would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning +power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were +unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a +man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him +that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I +felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set +himself to hunt down. + +"You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we +emerged. + +"Yes, it would be as well." + +"And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This +business at Coburg Square is serious." + +"Why serious?" + +"A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to +believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being +Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help +to-night." + +"At what time?" + +"Ten will be early enough." + +"I shall be at Baker Street at ten." + +"Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, +so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his +hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the +crowd. + +I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was +always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings +with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had +seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that +he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to +happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and +grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought +over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed +copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg +Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. +What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? +Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from +Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a +formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to +puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside +until night should bring an explanation. + +It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my +way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker +Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered +the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering +his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, +one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police +agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a +very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. + +"Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his +pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. +"Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me +introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in +to-night's adventure." + +"We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in +his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for +starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do +the running down." + +"I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," +observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. + +"You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said +the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which +are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical +and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It +is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of +the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly +correct than the official force." + +"Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the +stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. +It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I +have not had my rubber." + +"I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will +play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and +that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, +the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will +be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." + +"John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a +young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his +profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on +any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John +Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been +to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and +though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to +find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, +and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. +I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him +yet." + +"I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. +I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I +agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is +past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two +will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the +second." + +Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive +and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in +the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit +streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. + +"We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow +Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the +matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is +not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. +He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as +tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we +are, and they are waiting for us." + +We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had +found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, +following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a +narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. +Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive +iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding +stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. +Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us +down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a +third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all +round with crates and massive boxes. + +"You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he +held up the lantern and gazed about him. + +"Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon +the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite +hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. + +"I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes +severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our +expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit +down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" + +The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a +very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his +knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, +began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few +seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again +and put his glass in his pocket. + +"We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can +hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. +Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their +work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at +present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of +the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. +Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to +you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of +London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at +present." + +"It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had +several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." + +"Your French gold?" + +"Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources +and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of +France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to +unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The +crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between +layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at +present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the +directors have had misgivings upon the subject." + +"Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is +time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an +hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. +Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." + +"And sit in the dark?" + +"I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and +I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your +rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have +gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, +first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, +and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us +some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, +and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a +light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no +compunction about shooting them down." + +I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case +behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front +of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute +darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot +metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready +to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked +up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and +subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the +vault. + +"They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back +through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have +done what I asked you, Jones?" + +"I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." + +"Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent +and wait." + +What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but +an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must +have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs +were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my +nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my +hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle +breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, +heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note +of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case +in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint +of a light. + +At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then +it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, +without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand +appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the +centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the +hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then +it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark +again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between +the stones. + +Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, +tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon +its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed +the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, +boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand +on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and +waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another +instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after +him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face +and a shock of very red hair. + +"It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the +bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" + +Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the +collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of +rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed +upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came +down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone +floor. + +"It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no +chance at all." + +"So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy +that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his +coat-tails." + +"There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. + +"Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I +must compliment you." + +"And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new +and effective." + +"You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker +at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the +derbies." + +"I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," +remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. +"You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have +the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and +'please.'" + +"All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would +you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry +your Highness to the police-station?" + +"That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow +to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the +detective. + +"Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them +from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or +repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated +in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts +at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." + +"I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. +John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over +this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond +that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in +many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of +the Red-headed League." + + +"You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning +as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it +was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible +object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of +the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get +this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of +hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, +really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was +no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his +accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw +him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? +They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary +office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and +together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the +week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for +half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive +for securing the situation." + +"But how could you guess what the motive was?" + +"Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a +mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The +man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his +house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and +such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something +out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's +fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the +cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then +I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I +had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in +London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which +took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once +more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel +to some other building. + +"So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I +surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was +ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. +It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the +assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had +never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his +face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have +remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of +those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they +were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and +Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I +had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I +called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank +directors, with the result that you have seen." + +"And how could you tell that they would make their attempt +to-night?" I asked. + +"Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that +they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other +words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential +that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the +bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than +any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. +For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." + +"You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned +admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings +true." + +"It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already +feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort +to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little +problems help me to do so." + +"And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. + +He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of +some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre +c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." + + + +ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY + +"My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side +of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely +stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We +would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere +commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window +hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the +roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the +strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the +wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and +leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with +its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and +unprofitable." + +"And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which +come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and +vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to +its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, +neither fascinating nor artistic." + +"A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a +realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the +police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the +platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an +observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend +upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." + +I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking +so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser +and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout +three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is +strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper +from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the +first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his +wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without +reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of +course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the +bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of +writers could invent nothing more crude." + +"Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," +said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This +is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged +in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The +husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the +conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of +winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling +them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely +to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a +pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over +you in your example." + +He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in +the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his +homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon +it. + +"Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. +It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my +assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." + +"And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which +sparkled upon his finger. + +"It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in +which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it +even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of +my little problems." + +"And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. + +"Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of +interest. They are important, you understand, without being +interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in +unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, +and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the +charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the +simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is +the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter +which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing +which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, +that I may have something better before very many minutes are +over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." + +He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted +blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. +Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite +there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, +and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was +tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her +ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, +hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated +backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove +buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves +the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp +clang of the bell. + +"I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his +cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always +means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure +that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet +even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously +wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom +is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love +matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or +grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." + +As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons +entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself +loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed +merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed +her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, +having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked +her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was +peculiar to him. + +"Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a +little trying to do so much typewriting?" + +"I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters +are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport +of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear +and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've +heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know +all that?" + +"Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know +things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others +overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" + +"I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, +whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had +given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as +much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in +my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and +I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." + +"Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked +Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to +the ceiling. + +Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss +Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, +"for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. +Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to +the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he +would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, +it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away +to you." + +"Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the +name is different." + +"Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, +too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." + +"And your mother is alive?" + +"Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. +Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and +a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father +was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy +business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the +foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the +business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. +They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't +near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." + +I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this +rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he +had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. + +"Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the +business?" + +"Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle +Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per +cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can +only touch the interest." + +"You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so +large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the +bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in +every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely +upon an income of about 60 pounds." + +"I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you +understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a +burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while +I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the +time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it +over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I +earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can +often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." + +"You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. +"This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as +freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your +connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." + +A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked +nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the +gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets +when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and +sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He +never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I +wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I +was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to +prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all +father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing +fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much +as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, +he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, +mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it +was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." + +"I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from +France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." + +"Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and +shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying +anything to a woman, for she would have her way." + +"I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a +gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." + +"Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if +we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to +say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father +came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house +any more." + +"No?" + +"Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He +wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to +say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But +then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to +begin with, and I had not got mine yet." + +"But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see +you?" + +"Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer +wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each +other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he +used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so +there was no need for father to know." + +"Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" + +"Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that +we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in +Leadenhall Street--and--" + +"What office?" + +"That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." + +"Where did he live, then?" + +"He slept on the premises." + +"And you don't know his address?" + +"No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." + +"Where did you address your letters, then?" + +"To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called +for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be +chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, +so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't +have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come +from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the +machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he +was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think +of." + +"It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom +of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. +Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" + +"He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me +in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to +be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his +voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he +was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, +and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always +well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just +as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." + +"Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, +returned to France?" + +"Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we +should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest +and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever +happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite +right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. +Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder +of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the +week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to +mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother +said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like +that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as +he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do +anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the +company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on +the very morning of the wedding." + +"It missed him, then?" + +"Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." + +"Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for +the Friday. Was it to be in church?" + +"Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near +King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. +Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were +two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a +four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the +street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler +drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and +when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one +there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become +of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was +last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything +since then to throw any light upon what became of him." + +"It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said +Holmes. + +"Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all +the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to +be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to +separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, +and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed +strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since +gives a meaning to it." + +"Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some +unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" + +"Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he +would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw +happened." + +"But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" + +"None." + +"One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" + +"She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter +again." + +"And your father? Did you tell him?" + +"Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had +happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, +what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of +the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my +money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, +there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about +money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what +could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me +half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She +pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob +heavily into it. + +"I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and +I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the +weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind +dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel +vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." + +"Then you don't think I'll see him again?" + +"I fear not." + +"Then what has happened to him?" + +"You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an +accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can +spare." + +"I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. +"Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." + +"Thank you. And your address?" + +"No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." + +"Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your +father's place of business?" + +"He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers +of Fenchurch Street." + +"Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will +leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given +you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it +to affect your life." + +"You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be +true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." + +For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was +something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which +compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon +the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever +she might be summoned. + +Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips +still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, +and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down +from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a +counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with +the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of +infinite languor in his face. + +"Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found +her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, +is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you +consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of +the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, +there were one or two details which were new to me. But the +maiden herself was most instructive." + +"You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite +invisible to me," I remarked. + +"Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to +look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring +you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of +thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. +Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe +it." + +"Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a +feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads +sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her +dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little +purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and +were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't +observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a +general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, +easy-going way." + +Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. + +"'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have +really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed +everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and +you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general +impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My +first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is +perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you +observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most +useful material for showing traces. The double line a little +above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, +was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, +leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side +of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the +broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, +observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I +ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed +to surprise her." + +"It surprised me." + +"But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and +interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots +which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were +really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and +the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower +buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and +fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly +dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, +it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." + +"And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by +my friend's incisive reasoning. + +"I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving +home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right +glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see +that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had +written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been +this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. +All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back +to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised +description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" + +I held the little printed slip to the light. + +"Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman +named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; +strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in +the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted +glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, +in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert +chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over +elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in +Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" + +"That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, +glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no +clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There +is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike +you." + +"They are typewritten," I remarked. + +"Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the +neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you +see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is +rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in +fact, we may call it conclusive." + +"Of what?" + +"My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it +bears upon the case?" + +"I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able +to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were +instituted." + +"No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, +which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the +other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking +him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow +evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the +male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the +answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem +upon the shelf for the interim." + +I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers +of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that +he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy +demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had +been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in +the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler +photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the +Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with +the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle +indeed which he could not unravel. + +I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the +conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would +find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up +to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary +Sutherland. + +A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own +attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at +the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six +o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a +hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too +late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found +Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin +form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable +array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell +of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the +chemical work which was so dear to him. + +"Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. + +"Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." + +"No, no, the mystery!" I cried. + +"Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. +There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said +yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback +is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." + +"Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss +Sutherland?" + +The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet +opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the +passage and a tap at the door. + +"This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said +Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at +six. Come in!" + +The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some +thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a +bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and +penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of +us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a +slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. + +"Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that +this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an +appointment with me for six o'clock?" + +"Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not +quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland +has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far +better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite +against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, +impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily +controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I +did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the +official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family +misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless +expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" + +"On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to +believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." + +Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am +delighted to hear it," he said. + +"It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has +really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless +they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some +letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one +side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that +in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and +a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other +characteristics, but those are the more obvious." + +"We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, +and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing +keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. + +"And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, +Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another +little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its +relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some +little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come +from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not +only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will +observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen +other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." + +Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I +cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," +he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know +when you have done it." + +"Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in +the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" + +"What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips +and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. + +"Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There +is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too +transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that +it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's +right! Sit down and let us talk it over." + +Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a +glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he +stammered. + +"I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, +Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a +petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the +course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." + +The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his +breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up +on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands +in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, +than to us. + +"The man married a woman very much older than himself for her +money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the +daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable +sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have +made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. +The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate +and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with +her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would +not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would +mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her +stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of +keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of +people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not +answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and +finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain +ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an +idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the +connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, +covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with +a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice +into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the +girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off +other lovers by making love himself." + +"It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never +thought that she would have been so carried away." + +"Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very +decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that +her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never +for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the +gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the +loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began +to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as +far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There +were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the +girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the +deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys +to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to +bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it +would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and +prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to +come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and +hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening +on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss +Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to +his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not +listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, +and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished +away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a +four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of +events, Mr. Windibank!" + +Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes +had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold +sneer upon his pale face. + +"It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you +are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is +you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing +actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door +locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal +constraint." + +"The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking +and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who +deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a +friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" +he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon +the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but +here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat +myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he +could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, +the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. +James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. + +"There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he +threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will +rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and +ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not +entirely devoid of interest." + +"I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I +remarked. + +"Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. +Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious +conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really +profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the +stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, +but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was +suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, +which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My +suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in +typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his +handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even +the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, +together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same +direction." + +"And how did you verify them?" + +"Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I +knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed +description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the +result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I +sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me +whether it answered to the description of any of their +travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the +typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business +address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his +reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but +characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from +Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the +description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, +James Windibank. Voilà tout!" + +"And Miss Sutherland?" + +"If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old +Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger +cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' +There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much +knowledge of the world." + + + +ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY + +We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the +maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran +in this way: + +"Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from +the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. +Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. +Leave Paddington by the 11:15." + +"What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. +"Will you go?" + +"I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at +present." + +"Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking +a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, +and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." + +"I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained +through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack +at once, for I have only half an hour." + +My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the +effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were +few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a +cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock +Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt +figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey +travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. + +"It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It +makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on +whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless +or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall +get the tickets." + +We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of +papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged +and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until +we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a +gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. + +"Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. + +"Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." + +"The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just +been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the +particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those +simple cases which are so extremely difficult." + +"That sounds a little paradoxical." + +"But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a +clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more +difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they +have established a very serious case against the son of the +murdered man." + +"It is a murder, then?" + +"Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for +granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into +it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have +been able to understand it, in a very few words. + +"Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in +Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a +Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned +some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he +held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was +also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the +colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to +settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. +Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his +tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect +equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, +a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same +age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have +avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to +have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of +sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the +neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. +Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the +least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the +families. Now for the facts. + +"On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at +Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the +Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out +of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been +out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told +the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of +importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came +back alive. + +"From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a +mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One +was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was +William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both +these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The +game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. +McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the +same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the +father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was +following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in +the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. + +"The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, +the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly +wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the +edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of +the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the +woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she +saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. +McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a +violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very +strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his +hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their +violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached +home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near +Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to +fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came +running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead +in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was +much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right +hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On +following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the +grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated +blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as +might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's +gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the +body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly +arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned +at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the +magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next +Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out +before the coroner and the police-court." + +"I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If +ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so +here." + +"Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes +thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, +but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it +pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something +entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case +looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very +possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people +in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the +daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his +innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect +in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in +his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the +case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are +flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly +digesting their breakfasts at home." + +"I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you +will find little credit to be gained out of this case." + +"There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he +answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some +other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to +Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting +when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by +means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of +understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly +perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand +side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted +even so self-evident a thing as that." + +"How on earth--" + +"My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness +which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this +season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less +and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until +it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the +jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated +than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking +at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a +result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and +inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that +it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before +us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in +the inquest, and which are worth considering." + +"What are they?" + +"It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after +the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary +informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not +surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. +This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any +traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the +coroner's jury." + +"It was a confession," I ejaculated. + +"No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." + +"Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at +least a most suspicious remark." + +"On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I +can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, +he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the +circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared +surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I +should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such +surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, +and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His +frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent +man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and +firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not +unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of +his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day +so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and +even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so +important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The +self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark +appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a +guilty one." + +I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter +evidence," I remarked. + +"So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." + +"What is the young man's own account of the matter?" + +"It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, +though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. +You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." + +He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire +paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the +paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own +statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the +corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this +way: + +"Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called +and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for +three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the +morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at +the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he +had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after +my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, +looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out +of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was +going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of +the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit +warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William +Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but +he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had +no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards +from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal +between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found +him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at +seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A +conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, +for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his +passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned +towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, +however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me +to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, +with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in +my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for +some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, +his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one +near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by +his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and +forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no +active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' + +"The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before +he died? + +"Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some +allusion to a rat. + +"The Coroner: What did you understand by that? + +"Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was +delirious. + +"The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father +had this final quarrel? + +"Witness: I should prefer not to answer. + +"The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. + +"Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can +assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which +followed. + +"The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point +out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case +considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. + +"Witness: I must still refuse. + +"The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common +signal between you and your father? + +"Witness: It was. + +"The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw +you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? + +"Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. + +"A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions +when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father +fatally injured? + +"Witness: Nothing definite. + +"The Coroner: What do you mean? + +"Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into +the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet +I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay +upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be +something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. +When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was +gone. + +"'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' + +"'Yes, it was gone.' + +"'You cannot say what it was?' + +"'No, I had a feeling something was there.' + +"'How far from the body?' + +"'A dozen yards or so.' + +"'And how far from the edge of the wood?' + +"'About the same.' + +"'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen +yards of it?' + +"'Yes, but with my back towards it.' + +"This concluded the examination of the witness." + +"I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner +in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. +He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his +father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his +refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and +his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, +as he remarks, very much against the son." + +Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon +the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some +pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the +young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him +credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too +little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would +give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from +his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying +reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, +sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what +this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that +hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and +not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the +scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be +there in twenty minutes." + +It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through +the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, +found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A +lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for +us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and +leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic +surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of +Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a +room had already been engaged for us. + +"I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup +of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be +happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." + +"It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It +is entirely a question of barometric pressure." + +Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. + +"How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud +in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need +smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country +hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I +shall use the carriage to-night." + +Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed +your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as +plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer +it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a +very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your +opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing +which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my +soul! here is her carriage at the door." + +He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the +most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her +violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her +cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her +overpowering excitement and concern. + +"Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the +other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, +fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I +have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. +I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, +too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each +other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no +one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a +charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." + +"I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. +"You may rely upon my doing all that I can." + +"But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? +Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself +think that he is innocent?" + +"I think that it is very probable." + +"There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking +defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." + +Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague +has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. + +"But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did +it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the +reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because +I was concerned in it." + +"In what way?" asked Holmes. + +"It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had +many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that +there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always +loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young +and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he +naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there +were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." + +"And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a +union?" + +"No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in +favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as +Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. + +"Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father +if I call to-morrow?" + +"I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." + +"The doctor?" + +"Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for +years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken +to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his +nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive +who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." + +"Ha! In Victoria! That is important." + +"Yes, at the mines." + +"Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner +made his money." + +"Yes, certainly." + +"Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to +me." + +"You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you +will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do +tell him that I know him to be innocent." + +"I will, Miss Turner." + +"I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if +I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She +hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we +heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. + +"I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a +few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you +are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I +call it cruel." + +"I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said +Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" + +"Yes, but only for you and me." + +"Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have +still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" + +"Ample." + +"Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very +slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." + +I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through +the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, +where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a +yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, +however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were +groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the +action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and +gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the +day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were +absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely +unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between +the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, +drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was +something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the +nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? +I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which +contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's +deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left +parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been +shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot +upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from +behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when +seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it +did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his +back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call +Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying +reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be +delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become +delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how +he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my +brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident +of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the +murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his +overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to +return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was +kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a +tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I +did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith +in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long +as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young +McCarthy's innocence. + +It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, +for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. + +"The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. +"It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able +to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his +very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not +wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young +McCarthy." + +"And what did you learn from him?" + +"Nothing." + +"Could he throw no light?" + +"None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew +who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced +now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very +quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, +sound at heart." + +"I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact +that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as +this Miss Turner." + +"Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, +insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was +only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away +five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get +into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a +registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can +imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not +doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows +to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort +which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, +at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss +Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, +and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would +have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with +his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in +Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that +point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, +for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious +trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and +has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the +Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I +think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all +that he has suffered." + +"But if he is innocent, who has done it?" + +"Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two +points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with +someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his +son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would +return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry +'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the +crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk +about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all +minor matters until to-morrow." + +There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke +bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with +the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe +Pool. + +"There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is +said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is +despaired of." + +"An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. + +"About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life +abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This +business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend +of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I +have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." + +"Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. + +"Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody +about here speaks of his kindness to him." + +"Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this +McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have +been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of +marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, +heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, +as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would +follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself +was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not +deduce something from that?" + +"We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said +Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, +Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." + +"You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard +to tackle the facts." + +"Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it +difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. + +"And that is--" + +"That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that +all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." + +"Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, +laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley +Farm upon the left." + +"Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking +building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches +of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless +chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight +of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, +when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her +master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the +son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured +these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes +desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed +the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. + +Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent +as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of +Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed +and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, +while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. +His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips +compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, +sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal +lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated +upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell +unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, +impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way +along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of +the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is +all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon +the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either +side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and +once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and +I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, +while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the +conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a +definite end. + +The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water +some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the +Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. +Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see +the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich +landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods +grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass +twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds +which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which +the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, +that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the +fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager +face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read +upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking +up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. + +"What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. + +"I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon +or other trace. But how on earth--" + +"Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its +inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and +there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all +have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo +and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the +lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or +eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of +the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his +waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to +himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he +was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are +deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his +story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are +the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It +is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? +Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite +unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course +that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up +and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we +were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a +great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced +his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon +his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he +remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, +gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and +examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of +the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among +the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then +he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the +highroad, where all traces were lost. + +"It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, +returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on +the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a +word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done +that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, +and I shall be with you presently." + +It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove +back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he +had picked up in the wood. + +"This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. +"The murder was done with it." + +"I see no marks." + +"There are none." + +"How do you know, then?" + +"The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few +days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It +corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other +weapon." + +"And the murderer?" + +"Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears +thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian +cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his +pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be +enough to aid us in our search." + +Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he +said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a +hard-headed British jury." + +"Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own +method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, +and shall probably return to London by the evening train." + +"And leave your case unfinished?" + +"No, finished." + +"But the mystery?" + +"It is solved." + +"Who was the criminal, then?" + +"The gentleman I describe." + +"But who is he?" + +"Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a +populous neighbourhood." + +Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, +"and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking +for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the +laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." + +"All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. +Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before +I leave." + +Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where +we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in +thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds +himself in a perplexing position. + +"Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit +down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't +know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a +cigar and let me expound." + + "Pray do so." + +"Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about +young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, +although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One +was the fact that his father should, according to his account, +cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying +reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but +that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double +point our research must commence, and we will begin it by +presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." + +"What of this 'Cooee!' then?" + +"Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The +son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that +he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the +attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But +'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used +between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the +person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was +someone who had been in Australia." + +"What of the rat, then?" + +Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened +it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," +he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand +over part of the map. "What do you read?" + +"ARAT," I read. + +"And now?" He raised his hand. + +"BALLARAT." + +"Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his +son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter +the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." + +"It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. + +"It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down +considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point +which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a +certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite +conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." + +"Certainly." + +"And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only +be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could +hardly wander." + +"Quite so." + +"Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the +ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that +imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." + +"But how did you gain them?" + +"You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of +trifles." + +"His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length +of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." + +"Yes, they were peculiar boots." + +"But his lameness?" + +"The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than +his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he +was lame." + +"But his left-handedness." + +"You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded +by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from +immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can +that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind +that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had +even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special +knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian +cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and +written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different +varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the +ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss +where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety +which are rolled in Rotterdam." + +"And the cigar-holder?" + +"I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he +used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the +cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." + +"Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which +he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as +truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the +direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" + +"Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of +our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. + +The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His +slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of +decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and +his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual +strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled +hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air +of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an +ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were +tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that +he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. + +"Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my +note?" + +"Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to +see me here to avoid scandal." + +"I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." + +"And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my +companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question +was already answered. + +"Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It +is so. I know all about McCarthy." + +The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. +"But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you +my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at +the Assizes." + +"I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. + +"I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It +would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears +that I am arrested." + +"It may not come to that," said Holmes. + +"What?" + +"I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter +who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. +Young McCarthy must be got off, however." + +"I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for +years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a +month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." + +Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand +and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he +said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson +here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the +last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall +not use it unless it is absolutely needed." + +"It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I +shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I +should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the +thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but +will not take me long to tell. + +"You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil +incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of +such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, +and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be +in his power. + +"It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap +then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at +anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck +with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you +would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and +we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time +to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. +Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party +is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. + +"One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and +we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers +and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of +their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, +however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of +the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the +Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his +wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every +feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made +our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted +from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and +respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in +the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, +to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, +and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. +Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down +the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned +over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was +going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. + +"I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in +Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his +foot. + +"'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be +as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and +you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, +law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman +within hail.' + +"Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking +them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land +ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; +turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my +elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more +afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he +wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without +question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing +which I could not give. He asked for Alice. + +"His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was +known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that +his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was +firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that +I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that +was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do +his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses +to talk it over. + +"When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I +smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. +But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in +me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my +daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she +were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I +and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a +man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and +a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, +I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! +Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I +did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, +I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl +should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more +than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction +than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought +back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I +was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in +my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that +occurred." + +"Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man +signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we +may never be exposed to such a temptation." + +"I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" + +"In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you +will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the +Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is +condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be +seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or +dead, shall be safe with us." + +"Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, +when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace +which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his +giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. + +"God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate +play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such +a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, +'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" + +James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a +number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and +submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven +months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is +every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily +together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their +past. + + + +ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS + +When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes +cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which +present strange and interesting features that it is no easy +matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, +have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have +not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend +possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of +these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his +analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without +an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and +have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and +surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to +him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable +in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted +to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are +points in connection with it which never have been, and probably +never will be, entirely cleared up. + +The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater +or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my +headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the +adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant +Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a +furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the +British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the +Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the +Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, +Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to +prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that +therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a +deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the +case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of +them present such singular features as the strange train of +circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. + +It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales +had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had +screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that +even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced +to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and +to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which +shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like +untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew +higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in +the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the +fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the +other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until +the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, +and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of +the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a +few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker +Street. + +"Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the +bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" + +"Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage +visitors." + +"A client, then?" + +"If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out +on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more +likely to be some crony of the landlady's." + +Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there +came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He +stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and +towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. + +"Come in!" said he. + +The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the +outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of +refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella +which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told +of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about +him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his +face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is +weighed down with some great anxiety. + +"I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to +his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have +brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug +chamber." + +"Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest +here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from +the south-west, I see." + +"Yes, from Horsham." + +"That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is +quite distinctive." + +"I have come for advice." + +"That is easily got." + +"And help." + +"That is not always so easy." + +"I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast +how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." + +"Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." + +"He said that you could solve anything." + +"He said too much." + +"That you are never beaten." + +"I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a +woman." + +"But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" + +"It is true that I have been generally successful." + +"Then you may be so with me." + +"I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me +with some details as to your case." + +"It is no ordinary one." + +"None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of +appeal." + +"And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you +have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of +events than those which have happened in my own family." + +"You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the +essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards +question you as to those details which seem to me to be most +important." + +The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out +towards the blaze. + +"My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, +as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful +business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an +idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the +affair. + +"You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias +and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, +which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He +was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business +met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire +upon a handsome competence. + +"My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and +became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done +very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, +and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When +Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where +he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came +back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. +He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his +reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his +dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to +them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very +foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring +disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I +doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or +three fields round his house, and there he would take his +exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave +his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very +heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any +friends, not even his own brother. + +"He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the +time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This +would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years +in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he +was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be +fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would +make me his representative both with the servants and with the +tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite +master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I +liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in +his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he +had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was +invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or +anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped +through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a +collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such +a room. + +"One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp +lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a +common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all +paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From +India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can +this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little +dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to +laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight +of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his +skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he +still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and +then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' + +"'What is it, uncle?' I cried. + +"'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his +room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope +and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the +gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else +save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his +overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I +ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, +which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small +brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. + +"'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' +said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my +room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' + +"I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to +step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the +grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned +paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I +glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was +printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the +envelope. + +"'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave +my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to +my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to +you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you +cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest +enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't +say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper +where Mr. Fordham shows you.' + +"I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with +him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest +impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every +way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I +could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left +behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed +and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I +could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, +and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his +time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the +inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy +and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a +revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, +and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by +man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would +rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, +like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror +which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen +his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it +were new raised from a basin. + +"Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to +abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those +drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when +we went to search for him, face downward in a little +green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There +was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, +so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, +brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced +from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself +that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, +however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and +of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." + +"One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, +one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me +have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and +the date of his supposed suicide." + +"The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks +later, upon the night of May 2nd." + +"Thank you. Pray proceed." + +"When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my +request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been +always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its +contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a +paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and +'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. +These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had +been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was +nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many +scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in +America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had +done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. +Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern +states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had +evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag +politicians who had been sent down from the North. + +"Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at +Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the +January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my +father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the +breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened +envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the +outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what +he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked +very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon +himself. + +"'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. + +"My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. + +"He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are +the very letters. But what is this written above them?' + +"'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his +shoulder. + +"'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. + +"'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the +papers must be those that are destroyed.' + +"'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a +civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. +Where does the thing come from?' + +"'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. + +"'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do +with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such +nonsense.' + +"'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. + +"'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' + +"'Then let me do so?' + +"'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such +nonsense.' + +"It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate +man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of +forebodings. + +"On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went +from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is +in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad +that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from +danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in +error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram +from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had +fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the +neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I +hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered +his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from +Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, +and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in +bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' +Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I +was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of +murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no +robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. +And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, +and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been +woven round him. + +"In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me +why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well +convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an +incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as +pressing in one house as in another. + +"It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two +years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time +I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that +this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended +with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, +however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in +which it had come upon my father." + +The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and +turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried +orange pips. + +"This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is +London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were +upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the +papers on the sundial.'" + +"What have you done?" asked Holmes. + +"Nothing." + +"Nothing?" + +"To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white +hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor +rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in +the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight +and no precautions can guard against." + +"Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are +lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for +despair." + +"I have seen the police." + +"Ah!" + +"But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that +the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all +practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really +accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with +the warnings." + +Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible +imbecility!" he cried. + +"They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in +the house with me." + +"Has he come with you to-night?" + +"No. His orders were to stay in the house." + +Again Holmes raved in the air. + +"Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you +not come at once?" + +"I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major +Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to +you." + +"It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have +acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than +that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which +might help us?" + +"There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat +pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted +paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," +said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I +observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the +ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet +upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it +may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from +among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond +the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think +myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is +undoubtedly my uncle's." + +Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, +which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from +a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the +following enigmatical notices: + +"4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. + +"7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and + John Swain, of St. Augustine. + +"9th. McCauley cleared. + +"10th. John Swain cleared. + +"12th. Visited Paramore. All well." + +"Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it +to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another +instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told +me. You must get home instantly and act." + +"What shall I do?" + +"There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must +put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass +box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say +that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that +this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such +words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you +must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do +you understand?" + +"Entirely." + +"Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I +think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our +web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first +consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens +you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the +guilty parties." + +"I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his +overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall +certainly do as you advise." + +"Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in +the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that +you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you +go back?" + +"By train from Waterloo." + +"It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that +you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too +closely." + +"I am armed." + +"That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." + +"I shall see you at Horsham, then?" + +"No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek +it." + +"Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news +as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every +particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside +the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered +against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come +to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet +of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them +once more. + +Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk +forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he +lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue +smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. + +"I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we +have had none more fantastic than this." + +"Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." + +"Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems +to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the +Sholtos." + +"But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to +what these perils are?" + +"There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. + +"Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue +this unhappy family?" + +Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the +arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal +reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a +single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the +chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which +would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole +animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who +has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents +should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both +before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the +reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study +which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the +aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest +pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to +utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this +in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all +knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and +encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so +impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge +which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have +endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one +occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits +in a very precise fashion." + +"Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. +Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I +remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the +mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry +eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime +records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and +self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the +main points of my analysis." + +Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as +I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic +stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the +rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he +can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which +has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster +all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the +'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. +Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be +deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong +presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for +leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their +habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for +the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love +of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of +someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis +that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from +America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by +considering the formidable letters which were received by himself +and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those +letters?" + +"The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the +third from London." + +"From East London. What do you deduce from that?" + +"They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." + +"Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that +the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was +on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the +case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and +its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. +Does that suggest anything?" + +"A greater distance to travel." + +"But the letter had also a greater distance to come." + +"Then I do not see the point." + +"There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man +or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send +their singular warning or token before them when starting upon +their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign +when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a +steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. +But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those +seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which +brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the +writer." + +"It is possible." + +"More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly +urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to +caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which +it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one +comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." + +"Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless +persecution?" + +"The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital +importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think +that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. +A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way +as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in +it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. +Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. +In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an +individual and becomes the badge of a society." + +"But of what society?" + +"Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and +sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" + +"I never have." + +Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it +is," said he presently: + +"'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to +the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret +society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the +Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local +branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, +Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was +used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of +the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country +of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually +preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic +but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some +parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this +the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might +fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would +unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and +unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the +society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a +case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with +impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the +perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite +of the efforts of the United States government and of the better +classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year +1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have +been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' + +"You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that +the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the +disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may +well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his +family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. +You can understand that this register and diary may implicate +some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many +who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." + +"Then the page we have seen--" + +"Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent +the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to +them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or +left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a +sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let +some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only +chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have +told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done +to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for +half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable +ways of our fellow-men." + + +It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a +subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the +great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came +down. + +"You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I +foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of +young Openshaw's." + +"What steps will you take?" I asked. + +"It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. +I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." + +"You will not go there first?" + +"No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the +maid will bring up your coffee." + +As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and +glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a +chill to my heart. + +"Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." + +"Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it +done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. + +"My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy +Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: + +"Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H +Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and +a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and +stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it +was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was +given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was +eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman +whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his +pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. +It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch +the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and +the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge +of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body +exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that +the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, +which should have the effect of calling the attention of the +authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." + +We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and +shaken than I had ever seen him. + +"That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty +feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal +matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my +hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that +I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair +and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a +flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and +unclasping of his long thin hands. + +"They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could +they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the +direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too +crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, +we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" + +"To the police?" + +"No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may +take the flies, but not before." + +All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in +the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes +had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he +entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, +and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, +washing it down with a long draught of water. + +"You are hungry," I remarked. + +"Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since +breakfast." + +"Nothing?" + +"Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." + +"And how have you succeeded?" + +"Well." + +"You have a clue?" + +"I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not +long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish +trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" + +"What do you mean?" + +He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he +squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and +thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote +"S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain +James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." + +"That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. +"It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a +precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." + +"And who is this Captain Calhoun?" + +"The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." + +"How did you trace it, then?" + +He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with +dates and names. + +"I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers +and files of the old papers, following the future career of every +vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in +'83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were +reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' +instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported +as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to +one of the states of the Union." + +"Texas, I think." + +"I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must +have an American origin." + +"What then?" + +"I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque +'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a +certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present +in the port of London." + +"Yes?" + +"The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the +Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by +the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired +to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and +as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the +Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." + +"What will you do, then?" + +"Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I +learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are +Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away +from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has +been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship +reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and +the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these +three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." + +There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, +and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the +orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as +resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very +severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for +news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We +did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a +shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough +of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is +all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." + + + +ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP + +Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal +of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to +opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some +foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De +Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had +drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the +same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the +practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many +years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of +mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see +him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point +pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble +man. + +One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, +about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the +clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work +down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. + +"A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." + +I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. + +We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps +upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in +some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. + +"You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, +suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms +about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in +such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." + +"Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. +How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when +you came in." + +"I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was +always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds +to a light-house. + +"It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine +and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or +should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" + +"Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about +Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about +him!" + +It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her +husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend +and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words +as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it +possible that we could bring him back to her? + +It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late +he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the +farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been +confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and +shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him +eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the +dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the +effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar +of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could +she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and +pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? + +There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of +it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second +thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical +adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it +better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would +send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the +address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left +my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding +eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at +the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to +be. + +But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my +adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the +high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east +of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached +by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the +mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. +Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in +the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the +light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch +and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the +brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the +forecastle of an emigrant ship. + +Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying +in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads +thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a +dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black +shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, +now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of +the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to +themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, +monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then +suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own +thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At +the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside +which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old +man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon +his knees, staring into the fire. + +As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe +for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. + +"Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend +of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." + +There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and +peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and +unkempt, staring out at me. + +"My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of +reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what +o'clock is it?" + +"Nearly eleven." + +"Of what day?" + +"Of Friday, June 19th." + +"Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What +d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his +arms and began to sob in a high treble key. + +"I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting +this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" + +"So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here +a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll +go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. +Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" + +"Yes, I have one waiting." + +"Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I +owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." + +I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of +sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying +fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed +the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my +skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look +back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I +glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my +side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very +wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between +his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his +fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my +self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of +astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him +but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull +eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and +grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He +made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he +turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided +into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. + +"Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" + +"As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you +would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend +of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with +you." + +"I have a cab outside." + +"Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he +appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should +recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to +say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait +outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." + +It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for +they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with +such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney +was once confined in the cab my mission was practically +accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better +than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular +adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a +few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him +out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a +very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, +and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two +streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. +Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and +burst into a hearty fit of laughter. + +"I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added +opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little +weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical +views." + +"I was certainly surprised to find you there." + +"But not more so than I to find you." + +"I came to find a friend." + +"And I to find an enemy." + +"An enemy?" + +"Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural +prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable +inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent +ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been +recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an +hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own +purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have +vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that +building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some +strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless +nights." + +"What! You do not mean bodies?" + +"Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds +for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It +is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that +Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our +trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his +teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a +similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle +of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. + +"Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through +the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from +its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" + +"If I can be of use." + +"Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still +more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." + +"The Cedars?" + +"Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I +conduct the inquiry." + +"Where is it, then?" + +"Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." + +"But I am all in the dark." + +"Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up +here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a +crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her +head. So long, then!" + +He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through +the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which +widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad +balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly +beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and +mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of +the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of +revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a +star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of +the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his +breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat +beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which +seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in +upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, +and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban +villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up +his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he +is acting for the best. + +"You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes +you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great +thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are +not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear +little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." + +"You forget that I know nothing about it." + +"I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before +we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can +get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I +can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case +clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a +spark where all is dark to me." + +"Proceed, then." + +"Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee +a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have +plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very +nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made +friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter +of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no +occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into +town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon +Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of +age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very +affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know +him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far +as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while +he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and +Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money +troubles have been weighing upon his mind. + +"Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier +than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important +commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy +home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife +received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his +departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable +value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the +offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up +in your London, you will know that the office of the company is +in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where +you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for +the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, +got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through +Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me +so far?" + +"It is very clear." + +"If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. +Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, +as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. +While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly +heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her +husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning +to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she +distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly +agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then +vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that +he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. +One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that +although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town +in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. + +"Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the +steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which +you found me to-night--and running through the front room she +attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At +the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of +whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who +acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled +with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the +lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of +constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The +inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the +continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to +the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no +sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was +no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, +it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly +swore that no one else had been in the front room during the +afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was +staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had +been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box +which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell +a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had +promised to bring home. + +"This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple +showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. +The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an +abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a +sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon +the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom +window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered +at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The +bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On +examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, +and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of +the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were +all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of +his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were +there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these +garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. +Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no +other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon +the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by +swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of +the tragedy. + +"And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately +implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the +vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was +known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few +seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could +hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence +was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no +knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he +could not account in any way for the presence of the missing +gentleman's clothes. + +"So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who +lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was +certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. +Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which +is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a +professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police +regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some +little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand +side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the +wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, +cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he +is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the +greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I +have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of +making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised +at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His +appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him +without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face +disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has +turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a +pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular +contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid +the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he +is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be +thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now +learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been +the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." + +"But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed +against a man in the prime of life?" + +"He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in +other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. +Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that +weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional +strength in the others." + +"Pray continue your narrative." + +"Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the +window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her +presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. +Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful +examination of the premises, but without finding anything which +threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not +arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes +during which he might have communicated with his friend the +Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and +searched, without anything being found which could incriminate +him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right +shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been +cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from +there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and +that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from +the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. +Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in +his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to +Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband +at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or +dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the +police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in +the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. + +"And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they +had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not +Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And +what do you think they found in the pockets?" + +"I cannot imagine." + +"No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with +pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It +was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a +human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between +the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the +weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked +away into the river." + +"But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the +room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" + +"No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose +that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the +window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. +What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him +that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize +the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it +would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little +time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried +to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his +Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. +There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret +hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he +stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the +pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and +would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard +the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the +window when the police appeared." + +"It certainly sounds feasible." + +"Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a +better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the +station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before +been anything against him. He had for years been known as a +professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very +quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and +the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was +doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is +he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are +all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot +recall any case within my experience which looked at the first +glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." + +While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of +events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great +town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and +we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. +Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered +villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. + +"We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have +touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in +Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. +See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside +that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have +little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." + +"But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I +asked. + +"Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. +Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and +you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for +my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have +no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" + +We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its +own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and +springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding +gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door +flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad +in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy +pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure +outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one +half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head +and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing +question. + +"Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two +of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw +that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. + +"No good news?" + +"None." + +"No bad?" + +"No." + +"Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have +had a long day." + +"This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to +me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it +possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this +investigation." + +"I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. +"You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our +arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so +suddenly upon us." + +"My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were +not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of +any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be +indeed happy." + +"Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a +well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had +been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two +plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain +answer." + +"Certainly, madam." + +"Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given +to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." + +"Upon what point?" + +"In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" + +Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. +"Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking +keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. + +"Frankly, then, madam, I do not." + +"You think that he is dead?" + +"I do." + +"Murdered?" + +"I don't say that. Perhaps." + +"And on what day did he meet his death?" + +"On Monday." + +"Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how +it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." + +Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been +galvanised. + +"What!" he roared. + +"Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of +paper in the air. + +"May I see it?" + +"Certainly." + +He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out +upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I +had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The +envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend +postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day +before, for it was considerably after midnight. + +"Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your +husband's writing, madam." + +"No, but the enclosure is." + +"I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go +and inquire as to the address." + +"How can you tell that?" + +"The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried +itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that +blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight +off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This +man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before +he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not +familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is +nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! +there has been an enclosure here!" + +"Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." + +"And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" + +"One of his hands." + +"One?" + +"His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual +writing, and yet I know it well." + +"'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a +huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. +Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf +of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in +Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been +gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been +chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's +hand, madam?" + +"None. Neville wrote those words." + +"And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, +the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the +danger is over." + +"But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." + +"Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. +The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from +him." + +"No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" + +"Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only +posted to-day." + +"That is possible." + +"If so, much may have happened between." + +"Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is +well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I +should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him +last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room +rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that +something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such +a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" + +"I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman +may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical +reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong +piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband +is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away +from you?" + +"I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." + +"And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" + +"No." + +"And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" + +"Very much so." + +"Was the window open?" + +"Yes." + +"Then he might have called to you?" + +"He might." + +"He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" + +"Yes." + +"A call for help, you thought?" + +"Yes. He waved his hands." + +"But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the +unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" + +"It is possible." + +"And you thought he was pulled back?" + +"He disappeared so suddenly." + +"He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the +room?" + +"No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and +the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." + +"Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his +ordinary clothes on?" + +"But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare +throat." + +"Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" + +"Never." + +"Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" + +"Never." + +"Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about +which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little +supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day +to-morrow." + +A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our +disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary +after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, +who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for +days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, +rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view +until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his +data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now +preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and +waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered +about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from +the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of +Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with +an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front +of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an +old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the +corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, +silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set +aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he +sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found +the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still +between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was +full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of +shag which I had seen upon the previous night. + +"Awake, Watson?" he asked. + +"Yes." + +"Game for a morning drive?" + +"Certainly." + +"Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the +stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He +chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed +a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. + +As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one +was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly +finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was +putting in the horse. + +"I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his +boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the +presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve +to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the +key of the affair now." + +"And where is it?" I asked, smiling. + +"In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he +continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been +there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this +Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will +not fit the lock." + +We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into +the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and +trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both +sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country +carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but +the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as +some city in a dream. + +"It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, +flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been +as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than +never to learn it at all." + +In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily +from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey +side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the +river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the +right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well +known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted +him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. + +"Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. + +"Inspector Bradstreet, sir." + +"Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come +down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged +jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." +"Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, +office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a +telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his +desk. + +"What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" + +"I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged +with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. +Clair, of Lee." + +"Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." + +"So I heard. You have him here?" + +"In the cells." + +"Is he quiet?" + +"Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." + +"Dirty?" + +"Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his +face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been +settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you +saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." + +"I should like to see him very much." + +"Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave +your bag." + +"No, I think that I'll take it." + +"Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a +passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and +brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each +side. + +"The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it +is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door +and glanced through. + +"He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." + +We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his +face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and +heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his +calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his +tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely +dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its +repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right +across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up +one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a +perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over +his eyes and forehead. + +"He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. + +"He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that +he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." +He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my +astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. + +"He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. + +"Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very +quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable +figure." + +"Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't +look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his +key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The +sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep +slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, +and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the +prisoner's face. + +"Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of +Lee, in the county of Kent." + +Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled +off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the +coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had +seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the +repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled +red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, +sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, +rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. +Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and +threw himself down with his face to the pillow. + +"Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing +man. I know him from the photograph." + +The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons +himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I +charged with?" + +"With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be +charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of +it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been +twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." + +"If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime +has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally +detained." + +"No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said +Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." + +"It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. +"God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My +God! What an exposure! What can I do?" + +Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him +kindly on the shoulder. + +"If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said +he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, +if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible +case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the +details should find their way into the papers. Inspector +Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you +might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case +would then never go into court at all." + +"God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have +endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left +my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. + +"You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a +schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent +education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and +finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day +my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the +metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point +from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying +begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to +base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the +secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for +my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my +face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good +scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a +small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of +hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business +part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a +beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned +home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no +less than 26s. 4d. + +"I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, +some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ +served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get +the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's +grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, +and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In +ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. + +"Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous +work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in +a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on +the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my +pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up +reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first +chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets +with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a +low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could +every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings +transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, +a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that +my secret was safe in his possession. + +"Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of +money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London +could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average +takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making +up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by +practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. +All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, +and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. + +"As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the +country, and eventually married, without anyone having a +suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had +business in the City. She little knew what. + +"Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my +room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, +to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the +street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of +surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my +confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from +coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that +she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on +those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's +eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it +occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that +the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening +by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in +the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was +weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from +the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of +the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes +would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of +constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, +I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. +Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. + +"I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I +was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and +hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would +be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the +Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together +with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to +fear." + +"That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. + +"Good God! What a week she must have spent!" + +"The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, +"and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to +post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor +customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." + +"That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt +of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" + +"Many times; but what was a fine to me?" + +"It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are +to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." + +"I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." + +"In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps +may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. +I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for +having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your +results." + +"I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five +pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if +we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." + + + +VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE + +I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second +morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the +compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a +purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the +right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly +studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and +on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable +hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several +places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair +suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the +purpose of examination. + +"You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." + +"Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss +my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his +thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in +connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and +even of instruction." + +I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his +crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows +were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, +homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to +it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of +some mystery and the punishment of some crime." + +"No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of +those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have +four million human beings all jostling each other within the +space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so +dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events +may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be +presented which may be striking and bizarre without being +criminal. We have already had experience of such." + +"So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I +have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any +legal crime." + +"Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler +papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the +adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt +that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. +You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" + +"Yes." + +"It is to him that this trophy belongs." + +"It is his hat." + +"No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will +look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual +problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon +Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I +have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's +fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas +morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was +returning from some small jollification and was making his way +homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in +the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and +carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the +corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger +and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the +man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, +swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. +Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his +assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and +seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, +dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the +labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham +Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of +Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of +battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this +battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." + +"Which surely he restored to their owner?" + +"My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For +Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to +the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. +B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are +some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in +this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any +one of them." + +"What, then, did Peterson do?" + +"He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, +knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. +The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs +that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it +should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried +it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, +while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who +lost his Christmas dinner." + +"Did he not advertise?" + +"No." + +"Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" + +"Only as much as we can deduce." + +"From his hat?" + +"Precisely." + +"But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered +felt?" + +"Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather +yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this +article?" + +I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather +ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round +shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of +red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's +name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were +scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a +hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was +cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, +although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the +discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. + +"I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. + +"On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, +however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in +drawing your inferences." + +"Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" + +He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective +fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less +suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there +are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others +which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That +the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the +face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the +last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He +had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a +moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his +fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, +at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that +his wife has ceased to love him." + +"My dear Holmes!" + +"He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he +continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a +sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is +middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the +last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are +the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, +by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid +on in his house." + +"You are certainly joking, Holmes." + +"Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you +these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" + +"I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I +am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that +this man was intellectual?" + +For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right +over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is +a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a +brain must have something in it." + +"The decline of his fortunes, then?" + +"This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge +came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the +band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could +afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no +hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." + +"Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the +foresight and the moral retrogression?" + +Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting +his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. +"They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a +sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his +way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see +that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace +it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, +which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other +hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the +felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not +entirely lost his self-respect." + +"Your reasoning is certainly plausible." + +"The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is +grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses +lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the +lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of +hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all +appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of +lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey +dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, +showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while +the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the +wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in +the best of training." + +"But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." + +"This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear +Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and +when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear +that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's +affection." + +"But he might be a bachelor." + +"Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his +wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." + +"You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce +that the gas is not laid on in his house?" + +"One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I +see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt +that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with +burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in +one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never +got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" + +"Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as +you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm +done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a +waste of energy." + +Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew +open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment +with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with +astonishment. + +"The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. + +"Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off +through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon +the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. + +"See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out +his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly +scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but +of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric +point in the dark hollow of his hand. + +Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said +he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you +have got?" + +"A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though +it were putty." + +"It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." + +"Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. + +"Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I +have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day +lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be +conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly +not within a twentieth part of the market price." + +"A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire +plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. + +"That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are +sentimental considerations in the background which would induce +the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but +recover the gem." + +"It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I +remarked. + +"Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, +a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's +jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case +has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the +matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, +glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, +doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: + +"Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was +brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., +abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the +valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, +upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect +that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess +of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might +solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had +remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been +called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, +that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco +casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was +accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the +dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was +arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found +either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to +the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on +discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, +where she found matters as described by the last witness. +Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest +of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence +in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for +robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate +refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to +the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion +during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was +carried out of court." + +"Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, +tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the +sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to +the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You +see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much +more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the +stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry +Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other +characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set +ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and +ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To +do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie +undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If +this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." + +"What will you say?" + +"Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at +the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. +Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at +221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." + +"Very. But will he see it?" + +"Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor +man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his +mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson +that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must +have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his +bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to +see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to +it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency +and have this put in the evening papers." + +"In which, sir?" + +"Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, +Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." + +"Very well, sir. And this stone?" + +"Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, +Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here +with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place +of the one which your family is now devouring." + +When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and +held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just +see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and +focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet +baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a +bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found +in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable +in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is +blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has +already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a +vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about +for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. +Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the +gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and +drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." + +"Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" + +"I cannot tell." + +"Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had +anything to do with the matter?" + +"It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an +absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he +was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made +of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple +test if we have an answer to our advertisement." + +"And you can do nothing until then?" + +"Nothing." + +"In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall +come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I +should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." + +"Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I +believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I +ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." + +I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past +six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I +approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a +coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the +bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I +arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to +Holmes' room. + +"Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair +and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he +could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. +Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is +more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have +just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" + +"Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." + +He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a +broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of +grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight +tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his +habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in +front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded +from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a +slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the +impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had +ill-usage at the hands of fortune. + +"We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, +"because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your +address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." + +Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not +been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had +no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off +both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a +hopeless attempt at recovering them." + +"Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to +eat it." + +"To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his +excitement. + +"Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. +But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is +about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your +purpose equally well?" + +"Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of +relief. + +"Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of +your own bird, so if you wish--" + +The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as +relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly +see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are +going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I +will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive +upon the sideboard." + +Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug +of his shoulders. + +"There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the +way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one +from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a +better grown goose." + +"Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly +gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who +frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in +the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our +good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, +on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to +receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the +rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a +Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With +a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and +strode off upon his way. + +"So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the +door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing +whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" + +"Not particularly." + +"Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow +up this clue while it is still hot." + +"By all means." + +It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped +cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly +in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out +into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out +crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, +Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into +Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at +the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one +of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open +the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from +the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. + +"Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," +said he. + +"My geese!" The man seemed surprised. + +"Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, +who was a member of your goose club." + +"Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." + +"Indeed! Whose, then?" + +"Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." + +"Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" + +"Breckinridge is his name." + +"Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, +and prosperity to your house. Good-night." + +"Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat +as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though +we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we +have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal +servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible +that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we +have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, +and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us +follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and +quick march!" + +We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a +zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest +stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor +a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was +helping a boy to put up the shutters. + +"Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. + +The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my +companion. + +"Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the +bare slabs of marble. + +"Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." + +"That's no good." + +"Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." + +"Ah, but I was recommended to you." + +"Who by?" + +"The landlord of the Alpha." + +"Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." + +"Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" + +To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the +salesman. + +"Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms +akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." + +"It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the +geese which you supplied to the Alpha." + +"Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" + +"Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you +should be so warm over such a trifle." + +"Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. +When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end +of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you +sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One +would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the +fuss that is made over them." + +"Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been +making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us +the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my +opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the +bird I ate is country bred." + +"Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped +the salesman. + +"It's nothing of the kind." + +"I say it is." + +"I don't believe it." + +"D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled +them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that +went to the Alpha were town bred." + +"You'll never persuade me to believe that." + +"Will you bet, then?" + +"It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But +I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be +obstinate." + +The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said +he. + +The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great +greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging +lamp. + +"Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I +was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is +still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" + +"Well?" + +"That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, +then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers +after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. +Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a +list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just +read it out to me." + +"Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. + +"Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." + +Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. +Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" + +"Now, then, what's the last entry?" + +"'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" + +"Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" + +"'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" + +"What have you to say now?" + +Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from +his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the +air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off +he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless +fashion which was peculiar to him. + +"When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' +protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," +said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of +him, that man would not have given me such complete information +as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a +wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our +quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is +whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or +whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what +that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves +who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" + +His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke +out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a +little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of +yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while +Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was +shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. + +"I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you +were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more +with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. +Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with +it? Did I buy the geese off you?" + +"No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little +man. + +"Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." + +"She told me to ask you." + +"Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had +enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and +the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. + +"Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. +"Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this +fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who +lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook +the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang +round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of +colour had been driven from his face. + +"Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering +voice. + +"You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help +overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. +I think that I could be of assistance to you." + +"You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" + +"My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other +people don't know." + +"But you can know nothing of this?" + +"Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to +trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton +Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. +Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. +Henry Baker is a member." + +"Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried +the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. +"I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." + +Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that +case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this +wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we +go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." + +The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he +answered with a sidelong glance. + +"No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always +awkward doing business with an alias." + +A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," +said he, "my real name is James Ryder." + +"Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray +step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you +everything which you would wish to know." + +The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with +half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure +whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. +Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in +the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during +our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and +the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous +tension within him. + +"Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. +"The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, +Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my +slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! +You want to know what became of those geese?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in +which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the +tail." + +Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell +me where it went to?" + +"It came here." + +"Here?" + +"Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that +you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was +dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. +I have it here in my museum." + +Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece +with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up +the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, +brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a +drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. + +"The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or +you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, +Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with +impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little +more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" + +For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy +brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring +with frightened eyes at his accuser. + +"I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I +could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. +Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case +complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the +Countess of Morcar's?" + +"It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a +crackling voice. + +"I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of +sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has +been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous +in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the +making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man +Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter +before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. +What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's +room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he +should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled +the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man +arrested. You then--" + +Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my +companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. +"Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I +never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll +swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's +sake, don't!" + +"Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well +to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this +poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." + +"I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the +charge against him will break down." + +"Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account +of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came +the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies +your only hope of safety." + +Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you +it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been +arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get +away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment +the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my +room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. +I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's +house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton +Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there +every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; +and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down +my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me +what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I +had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went +into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would +be best to do. + +"I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and +has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met +me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they +could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to +me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind +to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my +confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. +But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had +gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be +seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat +pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at +the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly +an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the +best detective that ever lived. + +"My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the +pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she +was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in +it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in +the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big +one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill +open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger +could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass +along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped +and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the +matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and +fluttered off among the others. + +"'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. + +"'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I +was feeling which was the fattest.' + +"'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we +call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six +of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen +for the market.' + +"'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, +I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' + +"'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we +fattened it expressly for you.' + +"'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. + +"'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it +you want, then?' + +"'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the +flock.' + +"'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' + +"Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird +all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was +a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed +until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My +heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I +knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, +rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There +was not a bird to be seen there. + +"'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. + +"'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' + +"'Which dealer's?' + +"'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' + +"'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same +as the one I chose?' + +"'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never +tell them apart.' + +"Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my +feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the +lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they +had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always +answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. +Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself +a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which +I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into +convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. + +There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and +by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the +edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. + +"Get out!" said he. + +"What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" + +"No more words. Get out!" + +And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon +the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running +footfalls from the street. + +"After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his +clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their +deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; +but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must +collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just +possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong +again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and +you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of +forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and +whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you +will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin +another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief +feature." + + + +VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND + +On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I +have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend +Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number +merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did +rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of +wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation +which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. +Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which +presented more singular features than that which was associated +with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. +The events in question occurred in the early days of my +association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors +in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them +upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the +time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by +the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It +is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I +have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the +death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even +more terrible than the truth. + +It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to +find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my +bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the +mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I +blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little +resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. + +"Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the +common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she +retorted upon me, and I on you." + +"What is it, then--a fire?" + +"No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a +considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She +is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander +about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock +sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is +something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it +prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to +follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should +call you and give you the chance." + +"My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." + +I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his +professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid +deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a +logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were +submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in +a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A +lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in +the window, rose as we entered. + +"Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock +Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, +before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am +glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the +fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot +coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." + +"It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low +voice, changing her seat as requested. + +"What, then?" + +"It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as +she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable +state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless +frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features +and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot +with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. +Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, +all-comprehensive glances. + +"You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and +patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no +doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." + +"You know me, then?" + +"No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm +of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had +a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached +the station." + +The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my +companion. + +"There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left +arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven +places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a +dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you +sit on the left-hand side of the driver." + +"Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said +she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at +twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I +can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. +I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, +and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, +Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you +helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had +your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, +too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness +which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward +you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be +married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you +shall not find me ungrateful." + +Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small +case-book, which he consulted. + +"Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was +concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, +Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote +the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to +reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty +to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which +suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us +everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the +matter." + +"Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation +lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions +depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to +another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to +look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it +as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can +read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have +heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold +wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid +the dangers which encompass me." + +"I am all attention, madam." + +"My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who +is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in +England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of +Surrey." + +Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. + +"The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the +estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, +and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four +successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, +and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the +days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, +and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under +a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence +there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but +his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to +the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which +enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, +where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he +established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused +by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he +beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital +sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and +afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. + +"When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, +the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. +My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old +at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable +sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she +bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, +with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to +each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return +to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a +railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his +attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us +to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The +money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and +there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. + +"But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. +Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our +neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of +Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in +his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious +quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper +approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the +family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been +intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of +disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the +police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, +and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of +immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. + +"Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a +stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I +could gather together that I was able to avert another public +exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, +and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few +acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, +and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, +wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a +passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a +correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, +which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the +villagers almost as much as their master. + +"You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I +had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with +us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was +but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already +begun to whiten, even as mine has." + +"Your sister is dead, then?" + +"She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish +to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I +have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own +age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden +sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we +were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's +house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there +a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My +stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and +offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of +the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event +occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." + +Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes +closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his +lids now and glanced across at his visitor. + +"Pray be precise as to details," said he. + +"It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful +time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have +already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The +bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms +being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms +the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third +my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open +out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" + +"Perfectly so." + +"The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That +fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we +knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled +by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom +to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where +she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At +eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door +and looked back. + +"'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle +in the dead of the night?' + +"'Never,' said I. + +"'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in +your sleep?' + +"'Certainly not. But why?' + +"'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three +in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, +and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps +from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would +just ask you whether you had heard it.' + +"'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the +plantation.' + +"'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you +did not hear it also.' + +"'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' + +"'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled +back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her +key turn in the lock." + +"Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock +yourselves in at night?" + +"Always." + +"And why?" + +"I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah +and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were +locked." + +"Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." + +"I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending +misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, +were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two +souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind +was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing +against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, +there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew +that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a +shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door +I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and +a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had +fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, +and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it +horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By +the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the +opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for +help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a +drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that +moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. +She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were +dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not +recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out +in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was +the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she +would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the +air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion +seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for +my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his +dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was +unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent +for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for +she slowly sank and died without having recovered her +consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." + +"One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and +metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" + +"That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is +my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of +the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have +been deceived." + +"Was your sister dressed?" + +"No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the +charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." + +"Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when +the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did +the coroner come to?" + +"He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's +conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable +to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that +the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows +were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, +which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, +and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was +also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is +wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, +therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. +Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." + +"How about poison?" + +"The doctors examined her for it, but without success." + +"What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" + +"It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, +though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." + +"Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" + +"Yes, there are nearly always some there." + +"Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a +speckled band?" + +"Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of +delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of +people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not +know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear +over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which +she used." + +Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. + +"These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your +narrative." + +"Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until +lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, +whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask +my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the +second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My +stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to +be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs +were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom +wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the +chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in +which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last +night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I +suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which +had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the +lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to +go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was +daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which +is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on +this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your +advice." + +"You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me +all?" + +"Yes, all." + +"Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." + +"Why, what do you mean?" + +For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which +fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little +livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed +upon the white wrist. + +"You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. + +The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He +is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own +strength." + +There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin +upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. + +"This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a +thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide +upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If +we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for +us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your +stepfather?" + +"As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some +most important business. It is probable that he will be away all +day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a +housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily +get her out of the way." + +"Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" + +"By no means." + +"Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" + +"I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am +in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to +be there in time for your coming." + +"And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some +small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and +breakfast?" + +"No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have +confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you +again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her +face and glided from the room. + +"And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, +leaning back in his chair. + +"It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." + +"Dark enough and sinister enough." + +"Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls +are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, +then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her +mysterious end." + +"What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the +very peculiar words of the dying woman?" + +"I cannot think." + +"When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of +a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, +the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has +an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying +allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner +heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of +those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its +place, I think that there is good ground to think that the +mystery may be cleared along those lines." + +"But what, then, did the gipsies do?" + +"I cannot imagine." + +"I see many objections to any such theory." + +"And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going +to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are +fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of +the devil!" + +The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that +our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had +framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar +mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a +black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, +with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his +hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his +breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, +seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and +marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other +of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, +fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old +bird of prey. + +"Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. + +"My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my +companion quietly. + +"I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." + +"Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." + +"I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I +have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" + +"It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. + +"What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man +furiously. + +"But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my +companion imperturbably. + +"Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step +forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! +I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." + +My friend smiled. + +"Holmes, the busybody!" + +His smile broadened. + +"Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" + +Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most +entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for +there is a decided draught." + +"I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with +my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! +I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped +swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with +his huge brown hands. + +"See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and +hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the +room. + +"He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am +not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him +that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke +he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, +straightened it out again. + +"Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official +detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, +however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer +from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, +Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk +down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may +help us in this matter." + + +It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his +excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled +over with notes and figures. + +"I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To +determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the +present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The +total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little +short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural +prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an +income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, +therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have +had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to +a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, +since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for +standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, +this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is +aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you +are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be +very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your +pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen +who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush +are, I think, all that we need." + +At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for +Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove +for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a +perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the +heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out +their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant +smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange +contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this +sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in +the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over +his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the +deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the +shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. + +"Look there!" said he. + +A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, +thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the +branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a +very old mansion. + +"Stoke Moran?" said he. + +"Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked +the driver. + +"There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is +where we are going." + +"There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of +roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the +house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by +the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is +walking." + +"And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading +his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." + +We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way +to Leatherhead. + +"I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, +"that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or +on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. +Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as +our word." + +Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a +face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for +you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned +out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely +that he will be back before evening." + +"We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," +said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had +occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. + +"Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." + +"So it appears." + +"He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What +will he say when he returns?" + +"He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone +more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself +up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to +your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our +time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to +examine." + +The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high +central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, +thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were +broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly +caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little +better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, +and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up +from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. +Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the +stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any +workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and +down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the +outsides of the windows. + +"This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, +the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main +building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" + +"Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." + +"Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does +not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end +wall." + +"There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from +my room." + +"Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow +wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There +are windows in it, of course?" + +"Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass +through." + +"As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were +unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness +to go into your room and bar your shutters?" + +Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination +through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the +shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through +which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his +lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built +firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his +chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some +difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were +bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon +the matter." + +A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which +the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third +chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss +Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her +fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a +gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A +brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow +white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the +left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small +wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save +for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and +the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old +and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building +of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat +silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, +taking in every detail of the apartment. + +"Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last +pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the +tassel actually lying upon the pillow. + +"It goes to the housekeeper's room." + +"It looks newer than the other things?" + +"Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." + +"Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" + +"No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we +wanted for ourselves." + +"Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. +You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to +this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in +his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining +minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with +the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he +walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and +in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the +bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. + +"Why, it's a dummy," said he. + +"Won't it ring?" + +"No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. +You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where +the little opening for the ventilator is." + +"How very absurd! I never noticed that before." + +"Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are +one or two very singular points about this room. For example, +what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another +room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated +with the outside air!" + +"That is also quite modern," said the lady. + +"Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. + +"Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that +time." + +"They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy +bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your +permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into +the inner apartment." + +Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his +step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small +wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an +armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a +round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things +which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each +and all of them with the keenest interest. + +"What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. + +"My stepfather's business papers." + +"Oh! you have seen inside, then?" + +"Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of +papers." + +"There isn't a cat in it, for example?" + +"No. What a strange idea!" + +"Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which +stood on the top of it. + +"No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." + +"Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a +saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I +daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He +squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat +of it with the greatest attention. + +"Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting +his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" + +The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on +one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself +and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. + +"What do you make of that, Watson?" + +"It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be +tied." + +"That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, +and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst +of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and +with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." + +I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as +it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We +had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss +Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he +roused himself from his reverie. + +"It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should +absolutely follow my advice in every respect." + +"I shall most certainly do so." + +"The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may +depend upon your compliance." + +"I assure you that I am in your hands." + +"In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in +your room." + +Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. + +"Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the +village inn over there?" + +"Yes, that is the Crown." + +"Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" + +"Certainly." + +"You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a +headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him +retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, +undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then +withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want +into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in +spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." + +"Oh, yes, easily." + +"The rest you will leave in our hands." + +"But what will you do?" + +"We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate +the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." + +"I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," +said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. + +"Perhaps I have." + +"Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's +death." + +"I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." + +"You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and +if she died from some sudden fright." + +"No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more +tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if +Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. +Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, +you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers +that threaten you." + +Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and +sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and +from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and +of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw +Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside +the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some +slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard +the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which +he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few +minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as +the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. + +"Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the +gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you +to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." + +"Can I be of assistance?" + +"Your presence might be invaluable." + +"Then I shall certainly come." + +"It is very kind of you." + +"You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms +than was visible to me." + +"No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine +that you saw all that I did." + +"I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose +that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." + +"You saw the ventilator, too?" + +"Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to +have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a +rat could hardly pass through." + +"I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to +Stoke Moran." + +"My dear Holmes!" + +"Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her +sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that +suggested at once that there must be a communication between the +two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been +remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." + +"But what harm can there be in that?" + +"Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A +ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the +bed dies. Does not that strike you?" + +"I cannot as yet see any connection." + +"Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" + +"No." + +"It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened +like that before?" + +"I cannot say that I have." + +"The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same +relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may +call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." + +"Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. +We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible +crime." + +"Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong +he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. +Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. +This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall +be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough +before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet +pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more +cheerful." + + +About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, +and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours +passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of +eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. + +"That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it +comes from the middle window." + +As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, +explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, +and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A +moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing +in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us +through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. + +There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for +unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way +among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about +to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel +bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted +child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and +then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. + +"My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" + +Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like +a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low +laugh and put his lips to my ear. + +"It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." + +I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There +was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders +at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, +after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I +found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed +the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes +round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then +creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered +into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to +distinguish the words: + +"The least sound would be fatal to our plans." + +I nodded to show that I had heard. + +"We must sit without light. He would see it through the +ventilator." + +I nodded again. + +"Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your +pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of +the bed, and you in that chair." + +I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. + +Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon +the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the +stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left +in darkness. + +How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a +sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my +companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same +state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut +off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. + +From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at +our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that +the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the +deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of +an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and +one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for +whatever might befall. + +Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the +direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was +succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. +Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle +sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the +smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. +Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, +soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping +continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes +sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with +his cane at the bell-pull. + +"You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" + +But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I +heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my +weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which +my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face +was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had +ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when +suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most +horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder +and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled +in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the +village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the +sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I +stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it +had died away into the silence from which it rose. + +"What can it mean?" I gasped. + +"It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, +after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will +enter Dr. Roylott's room." + +With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the +corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply +from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his +heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. + +It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a +dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant +beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. +Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott +clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding +beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. +Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we +had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his +eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the +ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with +brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his +head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. + +"The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. + +I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began +to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat +diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. + +"It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in +India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence +does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls +into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this +creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to +some place of shelter and let the county police know what has +happened." + +As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, +and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from +its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into +the iron safe, which he closed upon it. + +Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of +Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a +narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling +how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed +her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, +of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the +conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly +playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn +of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back +next day. + +"I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which +shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from +insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of +the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to +explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of +by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an +entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly +reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me +that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not +come either from the window or the door. My attention was +speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this +ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The +discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to +the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was +there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and +coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, +and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was +furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I +was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of +poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical +test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless +man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such +a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be +an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could +distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where +the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the +whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning +light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by +the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. +He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he +thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the +rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the +occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but +sooner or later she must fall a victim. + +"I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his +room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in +the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary +in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the +safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to +finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic +clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather +hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. +Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in +order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss +as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the +light and attacked it." + +"With the result of driving it through the ventilator." + +"And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master +at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and +roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person +it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. +Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to +weigh very heavily upon my conscience." + + + +IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB + +Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. +Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, +there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his +notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel +Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a +finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was +so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that +it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it +gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of +reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story +has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, +like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when +set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the +facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears +gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads +on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a +deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly +served to weaken the effect. + +It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the +events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned +to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker +Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally +even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come +and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I +happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington +Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of +these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was +never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send +me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. + +One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by +the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come +from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I +dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases +were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my +old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door +tightly behind him. + +"I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his +shoulder; "he's all right." + +"What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was +some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. + +"It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him +round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe +and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the +same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even +giving me time to thank him. + +I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the +table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a +soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of +his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all +over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than +five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but +he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who +was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his +strength of mind to control. + +"I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I +have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by +train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I +might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me +here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon +the side-table." + +I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic +engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, +style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have +kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You +are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself +a monotonous occupation." + +"Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and +laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, +leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical +instincts rose up against that laugh. + +"Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out +some water from a caraffe. + +It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical +outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis +is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very +weary and pale-looking. + +"I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. + +"Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, +and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. + +"That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would +kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb +used to be." + +He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even +my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four +protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the +thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from +the roots. + +"Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have +bled considerably." + +"Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must +have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that +it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very +tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." + +"Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." + +"It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own +province." + +"This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very +heavy and sharp instrument." + +"A thing like a cleaver," said he. + +"An accident, I presume?" + +"By no means." + +"What! a murderous attack?" + +"Very murderous indeed." + +"You horrify me." + +I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered +it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back +without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. + +"How is that?" I asked when I had finished. + +"Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. +I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." + +"Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently +trying to your nerves." + +"Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; +but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing +evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they +believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I +have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, +even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so +vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." + +"Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem +which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you +to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the +official police." + +"Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I +should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of +course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me +an introduction to him?" + +"I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." + +"I should be immensely obliged to you." + +"We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to +have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" + +"Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." + +"Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an +instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my +wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my +new acquaintance to Baker Street. + +Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his +sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The +Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed +of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day +before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the +mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, +ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. +When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the +sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of +brandy and water within his reach. + +"It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, +Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself +absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are +tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." + +"Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since +the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has +completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable +time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar +experiences." + +Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded +expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat +opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story +which our visitor detailed to us. + +"You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, +residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a +hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my +work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & +Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, +having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of +money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in +business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria +Street. + +"I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in +business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. +During two years I have had three consultations and one small +job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought +me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from +nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my +little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to +believe that I should never have any practice at all. + +"Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the +office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who +wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with +the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at +his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle +size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have +ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose +and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over +his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his +natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his +step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly +dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than +thirty. + +"'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. +'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man +who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet +and capable of preserving a secret.' + +"I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an +address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' + +"'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just +at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both +an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' + +"'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if +I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional +qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter +that you wished to speak to me?' + +"'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to +the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute +secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and +of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than +from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' + +"'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely +depend upon my doing so.' + +"He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I +had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. + +"'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. + +"'Yes, I promise.' + +"'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No +reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' + +"'I have already given you my word.' + +"'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning +across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was +empty. + +"'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are +sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk +in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to +stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. + +"A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun +to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. +Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from +showing my impatience. + +"'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time +is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the +words came to my lips. + +"'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. + +"'Most admirably.' + +"'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I +simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which +has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon +set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as +that?' + +"'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' + +"'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last +train.' + +"'Where to?' + +"'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders +of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a +train from Paddington which would bring you there at about +11:15.' + +"'Very good.' + +"'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' + +"'There is a drive, then?' + +"'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good +seven miles from Eyford Station.' + +"'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there +would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop +the night.' + +"'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' + +"'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient +hour?' + +"'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to +recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a +young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the +very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would +like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do +so.' + +"I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they +would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to +accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to +understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to +do.' + +"'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which +we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I +have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all +laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from +eavesdroppers?' + +"'Entirely.' + +"'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that +fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found +in one or two places in England?' + +"'I have heard so.' + +"'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small +place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to +discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my +fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a +comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two +very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, +however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were +absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was +quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my +interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, +but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I +took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they +suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little +deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would +enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been +doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we +erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already +explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the +subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it +once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our +little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts +came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these +fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you +promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are +going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' + +"'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not +quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press +in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out +like gravel from a pit.' + +"'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress +the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing +what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully +into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I +trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at +Eyford at 11:15.' + +"'I shall certainly be there.' + +"'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, +questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank +grasp, he hurried from the room. + +"Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very +much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission +which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was +glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked +had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that +this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face +and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon +me, and I could not think that his explanation of the +fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my +coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell +anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate +a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having +obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. + +"At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. +However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I +reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the +only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the +platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed +out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of +the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a +word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door +of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either +side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the +horse could go." + +"One horse?" interjected Holmes. + +"Yes, only one." + +"Did you observe the colour?" + +"Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the +carriage. It was a chestnut." + +"Tired-looking or fresh?" + +"Oh, fresh and glossy." + +"Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue +your most interesting statement." + +"Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel +Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I +should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the +time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat +at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than +once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me +with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good +in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I +tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we +were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out +nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now +and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the +journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the +conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the +road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, +and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang +out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch +which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of +the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the +most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that +I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, +and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage +drove away. + +"It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled +about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. +Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a +long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew +broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she +held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. +I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which +the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich +material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as +though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a +gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly +fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered +something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room +from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the +lamp in his hand. + +"'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a +few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a +quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the +centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel +Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the +door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and +vanished into the darkness. + +"I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my +ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises +on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked +across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of +the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded +across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old +clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise +everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began +to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were +they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And +where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was +all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no +idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, +were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, +after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, +that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, +humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling +that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. + +"Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the +utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman +was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind +her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and +beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with +fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one +shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few +whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, +like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. + +"'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to +speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no +good for you to do.' + +"'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I +cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' + +"'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass +through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled +and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and +made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love +of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too +late!' + +"But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to +engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I +thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of +the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to +go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried +out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This +woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout +bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I +cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention +of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties +when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps +was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up +her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and +as noiselessly as she had come. + +"The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man +with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double +chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. + +"'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the +way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just +now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' + +"'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I +felt the room to be a little close.' + +"He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had +better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I +will take you up to see the machine.' + +"'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' + +"'Oh, no, it is in the house.' + +"'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' + +"'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. +All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us +know what is wrong with it.' + +"We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the +fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, +with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little +low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the +generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no +signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster +was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in +green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an +air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the +lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon +my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent +man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at +least a fellow-countryman. + +"Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which +he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three +of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, +and the colonel ushered me in. + +"'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and +it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were +to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the +end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of +many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns +of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and +multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine +goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working +of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will +have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set +it right.' + +"I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very +thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of +exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and +pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by +the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed +a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An +examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was +round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to +fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause +of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who +followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical +questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I +had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the +machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. +It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth +was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose +that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a +purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a +large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a +crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was +scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a +muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the +colonel looking down at me. + +"'What are you doing there?' he asked. + +"I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as +that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' +said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to +your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it +was used.' + +"The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of +my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in +his grey eyes. + +"'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He +took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key +in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it +was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and +shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' + +"And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my +heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish +of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp +still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining +the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming +down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than +myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a +shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and +dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let +me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my +cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with +my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it +flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend +very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my +face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to +think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and +yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black +shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand +erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope +back to my heart. + +"I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the +walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw +a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which +broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For +an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door +which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself +through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had +closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few +moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me +how narrow had been my escape. + +"I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and +I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, +while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, +while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend +whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. + +"'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a +moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste +the so-precious time, but come!' + +"This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to +my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding +stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we +reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of +two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we +were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about +her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door +which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon +was shining brightly. + +"'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be +that you can jump it.' + +"As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the +passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark +rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a +butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, +flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and +wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be +more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I +hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between +my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, +then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. +The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at +the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round +him and tried to hold him back. + +"'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise +after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be +silent! Oh, he will be silent!' + +"'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from +her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me +pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the +window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and +was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was +conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the +garden below. + +"I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and +rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I +understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, +however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. +I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and +then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and +that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my +handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my +ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the +rose-bushes. + +"How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been +a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was +breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with +dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded +thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the +particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with +the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But +to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house +nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the +hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a +long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the +very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were +it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed +during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. + +"Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning +train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The +same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I +arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel +Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a +carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was +there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three +miles off. + +"It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined +to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the +police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first +to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to +bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do +exactly what you advise." + +We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to +this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down +from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he +placed his cuttings. + +"Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It +appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: +'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged +twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten +o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was +dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that +the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." + +"Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the +girl said." + +"Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and +desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should +stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out +pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, +every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall +go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for +Eyford." + +Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train +together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. +There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector +Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. +Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the +seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford +for its centre. + +"There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of +ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere +near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." + +"It was an hour's good drive." + +"And you think that they brought you back all that way when you +were unconscious?" + +"They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having +been lifted and conveyed somewhere." + +"What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have +spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. +Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." + +"I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face +in my life." + +"Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I +have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon +it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." + +"I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. + +"Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your +opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is +south, for the country is more deserted there." + +"And I say east," said my patient. + +"I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are +several quiet little villages up there." + +"And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, +and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up +any." + +"Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty +diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do +you give your casting vote to?" + +"You are all wrong." + +"But we can't all be." + +"Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the +centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." + +"But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. + +"Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the +horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that +if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" + +"Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet +thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature +of this gang." + +"None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, +and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the +place of silver." + +"We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," +said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by +the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could +get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that +showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this +lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." + +But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not +destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into +Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed +up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and +hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. + +"A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off +again on its way. + +"Yes, sir!" said the station-master. + +"When did it break out?" + +"I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, +and the whole place is in a blaze." + +"Whose house is it?" + +"Dr. Becher's." + +"Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very +thin, with a long, sharp nose?" + +The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an +Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a +better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, +a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as +if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." + +The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all +hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low +hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in +front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in +the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to +keep the flames under. + +"That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is +the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That +second window is the one that I jumped from." + +"Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon +them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, +when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, +though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to +observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for +your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are +a good hundred miles off by now." + +And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this +no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the +sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a +peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very +bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but +there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' +ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their +whereabouts. + +The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements +which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a +newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. +About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and +they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, +and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save +some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of +the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so +dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored +in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have +explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been +already referred to. + +How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to +the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained +forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a +very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two +persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other +unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the +silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his +companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out +of the way of danger. + +"Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return +once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I +have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what +have I gained?" + +"Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of +value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the +reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your +existence." + + + +X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR + +The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have +long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles +in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have +eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the +gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to +believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to +the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a +considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no +memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of +this remarkable episode. + +It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I +was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came +home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table +waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather +had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and +the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as +a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. +With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had +surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, +saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and +lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the +envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's +noble correspondent could be. + +"Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. +"Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a +fish-monger and a tide-waiter." + +"Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he +answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more +interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social +summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." + +He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. + +"Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." + +"Not social, then?" + +"No, distinctly professional." + +"And from a noble client?" + +"One of the highest in England." + +"My dear fellow, I congratulate you." + +"I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my +client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his +case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be +wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the +papers diligently of late, have you not?" + +"It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in +the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." + +"It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I +read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The +latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent +events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his +wedding?" + +"Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." + +"That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord +St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn +over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. +This is what he says: + +"'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I +may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I +have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you +in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in +connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is +acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no +objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that +it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in +the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that +time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of +paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' + +"It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, +and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink +upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes +as he folded up the epistle. + +"He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an +hour." + +"Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon +the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in +their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client +is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of +reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting +down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham +de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: +Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' +He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was +Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The +Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. +They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on +the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in +all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something +more solid." + +"I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, +"for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as +remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew +that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the +intrusion of other matters." + +"Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square +furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it +was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your +newspaper selections." + +"Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal +column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks +back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if +rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert +St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty +Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San +Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." + +"Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, +thin legs towards the fire. + +"There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society +papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a +call for protection in the marriage market, for the present +free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home +product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great +Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across +the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last +week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by +these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself +for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has +now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty +Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss +Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much +attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, +and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to +considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the +future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has +been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, +and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small +estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress +is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to +make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a +British peeress.'" + +"Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. + +"Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post +to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it +would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen +intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would +return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been +taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on +Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had +taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord +Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices +which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." + +"Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. + +"The vanishing of the lady." + +"When did she vanish, then?" + +"At the wedding breakfast." + +"Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite +dramatic, in fact." + +"Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." + +"They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during +the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt +as this. Pray let me have the details." + +"I warn you that they are very incomplete." + +"Perhaps we may make them less so." + +"Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a +morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is +headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': + +"'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the +greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which +have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as +shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the +previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to +confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently +floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush +the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it +that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what +is a common subject for conversation. + +"'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover +Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the +father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, +Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the +younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia +Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of +Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been +prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a +woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to +force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging +that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a +painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler +and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house +before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast +with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and +retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some +comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that +she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an +ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the +footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus +apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, +believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his +daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with +the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with +the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which +will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very +singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing +had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There +are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the +police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the +original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some +other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange +disappearance of the bride.'" + +"And is that all?" + +"Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is +a suggestive one." + +"And it is--" + +"That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, +has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a +danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom +for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole +case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the +public press." + +"And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would +not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, +Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I +have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not +dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, +if only as a check to my own memory." + +"Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open +the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, +high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about +the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose +pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His +manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue +impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little +bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off +his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin +upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of +foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, +yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. +He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to +right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his +golden eyeglasses. + +"Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray +take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. +Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this +matter over." + +"A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, +Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you +have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, +though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of +society." + +"No, I am descending." + +"I beg pardon." + +"My last client of the sort was a king." + +"Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" + +"The King of Scandinavia." + +"What! Had he lost his wife?" + +"You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the +affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to +you in yours." + +"Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to +my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may +assist you in forming an opinion." + +"Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public +prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this +article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." + +Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it +goes." + +"But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could +offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most +directly by questioning you." + +"Pray do so." + +"When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" + +"In San Francisco, a year ago." + +"You were travelling in the States?" + +"Yes." + +"Did you become engaged then?" + +"No." + +"But you were on a friendly footing?" + +"I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was +amused." + +"Her father is very rich?" + +"He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." + +"And how did he make his money?" + +"In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, +invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." + +"Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your +wife's character?" + +The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down +into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was +twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she +ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or +mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than +from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, +with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of +traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She +is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her +resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the +name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately +cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I +believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that +anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." + +"Have you her photograph?" + +"I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the +full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an +ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect +of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the +exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he +closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. + +"The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your +acquaintance?" + +"Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I +met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now +married her." + +"She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" + +"A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." + +"And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a +fait accompli?" + +"I really have made no inquiries on the subject." + +"Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the +wedding?" + +"Yes." + +"Was she in good spirits?" + +"Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our +future lives." + +"Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the +wedding?" + +"She was as bright as possible--at least until after the +ceremony." + +"And did you observe any change in her then?" + +"Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had +ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident +however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible +bearing upon the case." + +"Pray let us have it, for all that." + +"Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards +the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it +fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the +gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not +appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of +the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our +way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." + +"Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of +the general public were present, then?" + +"Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is +open." + +"This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" + +"No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a +common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But +really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." + +"Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less +cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do +on re-entering her father's house?" + +"I saw her in conversation with her maid." + +"And who is her maid?" + +"Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California +with her." + +"A confidential servant?" + +"A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed +her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they +look upon these things in a different way." + +"How long did she speak to this Alice?" + +"Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." + +"You did not overhear what they said?" + +"Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was +accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she +meant." + +"American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your +wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" + +"She walked into the breakfast-room." + +"On your arm?" + +"No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. +Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose +hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She +never came back." + +"But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to +her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a +bonnet, and went out." + +"Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in +company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who +had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that +morning." + +"Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, +and your relations to her." + +Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. +"We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on +a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have +not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of +complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. +Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and +devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she +heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the +reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I +feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to +Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to +push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my +wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the +possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police +fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. +She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a +row." + +"Did your wife hear all this?" + +"No, thank goodness, she did not." + +"And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" + +"Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as +so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid +some terrible trap for her." + +"Well, it is a possible supposition." + +"You think so, too?" + +"I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon +this as likely?" + +"I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." + +"Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray +what is your own theory as to what took place?" + +"Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I +have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may +say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of +this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a +social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous +disturbance in my wife." + +"In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" + +"Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I +will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to +without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." + +"Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said +Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have +nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the +breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" + +"We could see the other side of the road and the Park." + +"Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. +I shall communicate with you." + +"Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our +client, rising. + +"I have solved it." + +"Eh? What was that?" + +"I say that I have solved it." + +"Where, then, is my wife?" + +"That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." + +Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take +wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a +stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. + +"It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting +it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I +think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all +this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the +case before our client came into the room." + +"My dear Holmes!" + +"I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I +remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination +served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial +evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a +trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." + +"But I have heard all that you have heard." + +"Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which +serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some +years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich +the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these +cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! +You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are +cigars in the box." + +The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, +which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a +black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated +himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. + +"What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You +look dissatisfied." + +"And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage +case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." + +"Really! You surprise me." + +"Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip +through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." + +"And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his +hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. + +"Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." + +"In heaven's name, what for?" + +"In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." + +Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. + +"Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he +asked. + +"Why? What do you mean?" + +"Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in +the one as in the other." + +Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you +know all about it," he snarled. + +"Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." + +"Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in +the matter?" + +"I think it very unlikely." + +"Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found +this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the +floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin +shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked +in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the +top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master +Holmes." + +"Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. +"You dragged them from the Serpentine?" + +"No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. +They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me +that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." + +"By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found +in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope +to arrive at through this?" + +"At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." + +"I am afraid that you will find it difficult." + +"Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I +am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your +deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as +many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." + +"And how?" + +"In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the +card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it +down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will +see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all +along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora +Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was +responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her +initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped +into her hand at the door and which lured her within their +reach." + +"Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are +very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a +listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he +gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," +said he. + +"Ha! you find it so?" + +"Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." + +Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he +shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" + +"On the contrary, this is the right side." + +"The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil +over here." + +"And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel +bill, which interests me deeply." + +"There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. +"'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. +6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." + +"Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the +note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I +congratulate you again." + +"I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in +hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. +Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom +of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them +into the bag, and made for the door. + +"Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival +vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady +St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any +such person." + +Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, +tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and +hurried away. + +He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on +his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about +outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must +leave you to your papers for a little." + +It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had +no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a +confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked +with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and +presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean +little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble +lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold +woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of +ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, +my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian +Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid +for and were ordered to this address. + +Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the +room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his +eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his +conclusions. + +"They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. + +"You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." + +"Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I +am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I +fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." + +It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, +dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very +perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. + +"My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. + +"Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. +Have you good authority for what you say?" + +"The best possible." + +Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his +forehead. + +"What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of +the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" + +"It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any +humiliation." + +"Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." + +"I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the +lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of +doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she +had no one to advise her at such a crisis." + +"It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, +tapping his fingers upon the table. + +"You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so +unprecedented a position." + +"I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have +been shamefully used." + +"I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps +on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view +of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here +who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a +lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to +introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I +think, you have already met." + +At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his +seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand +thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended +dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out +her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was +as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was +one which it was hard to resist. + +"You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every +cause to be." + +"Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. + +"Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I +should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of +rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just +didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't +fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." + +"Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave +the room while you explain this matter?" + +"If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, +"we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business +already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to +hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, +clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. + +"Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here +and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa +was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; +but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, +while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to +nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa +wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took +me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so +he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything +about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just +fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and +make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had +as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of +time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. +'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and +then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your +husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had +fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, +that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek +his fortune, and I went back to pa. + +"The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then +he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New +Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a +miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was +my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was +very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took +me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a +year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really +dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, +and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt +all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place +in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. + +"Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done +my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our +actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make +him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may +imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I +glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the +first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked +again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as +if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I +didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the +words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my +ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make +a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to +know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to +tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, +and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on +the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the +note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a +line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. +Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now +to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. + +"When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, +and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but +to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to +have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before +his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to +run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten +minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of +the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. +I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman +came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to +me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little +secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away +from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and +away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and +that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank +had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to +'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to +England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the +very morning of my second wedding." + +"I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name +and the church but not where the lady lived." + +"Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all +for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I +should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just +sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It +was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting +round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So +Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of +them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away +somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we +should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good +gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how +he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very +clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and +that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so +secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord +St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at +once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if +I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very +meanly of me." + +Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but +had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this +long narrative. + +"Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most +intimate personal affairs in this public manner." + +"Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" + +"Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out +his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. + +"I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us +in a friendly supper." + +"I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his +Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent +developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over +them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a +very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and +stalked out of the room. + +"Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your +company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an +American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the +folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone +years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens +of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a +quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." + +"The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our +visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how +simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight +seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural +than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing +stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. +Lestrade of Scotland Yard." + +"You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" + +"From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that +the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, +the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of +returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the +morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that +something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was +out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she +seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America +because she had spent so short a time in this country that she +could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence +over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change +her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a +process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an +American. Then who could this American be, and why should he +possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might +be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in +rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got +before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us +of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so +transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a +bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very +significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance +means taking possession of that which another person has a prior +claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had +gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a +previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." + +"And how in the world did you find them?" + +"It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held +information in his hands the value of which he did not himself +know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, +but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had +settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." + +"How did you deduce the select?" + +"By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence +for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive +hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. +In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I +learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an +American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking +over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I +had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded +to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate +enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them +some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be +better in every way that they should make their position a little +clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in +particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I +made him keep the appointment." + +"But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was +certainly not very gracious." + +"Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be +very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and +wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of +fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully +and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in +the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for +the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away +these bleak autumnal evenings." + + + +XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET + +"Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking +down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather +sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." + +My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands +in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It +was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day +before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the +wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed +into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and +on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as +when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but +was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer +passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the +Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman +whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. + +He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a +massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was +dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining +hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet +his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress +and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little +springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to +set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and +down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most +extraordinary contortions. + +"What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is +looking up at the numbers of the houses." + +"I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his +hands. + +"Here?" + +"Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I +think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As +he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and +pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the +clanging. + +A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still +gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in +his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and +pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his +body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the +extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his +feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we +both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. +Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting +beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, +soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. + +"You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. +"You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have +recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into +any little problem which you may submit to me." + +The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting +against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his +brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. + +"No doubt you think me mad?" said he. + +"I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. + +"God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my +reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might +have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet +borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; +but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have +been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. +The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found +out of this horrible affair." + +"Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a +clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen +you." + +"My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your +ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & +Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." + +The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior +partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City +of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the +foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We +waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced +himself to tell his story. + +"I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened +here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure +your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and +hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this +snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who +takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the +facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. + +"It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking +business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative +investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection +and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means +of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security +is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction +during the last few years, and there are many noble families to +whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their +pictures, libraries, or plate. + +"Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a +card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I +saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps +even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name +which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, +noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the +honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged +at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry +quickly through a disagreeable task. + +"'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the +habit of advancing money.' + +"'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. + +"'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have +50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a +sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it +a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my +position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place +one's self under obligations.' + +"'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. + +"'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most +certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you +think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the +money should be paid at once.' + +"'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my +own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be +rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do +it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must +insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution +should be taken.' + +"'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a +square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. +'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' + +"'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' +said I. + +"'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, +flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery +which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said +he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The +lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the +sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my +security.' + +"I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some +perplexity from it to my illustrious client. + +"'You doubt its value?' he asked. + +"'Not at all. I only doubt--' + +"'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest +about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely +certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a +pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' + +"'Ample.' + +"'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof +of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I +have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to +refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to +preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I +need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any +harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as +serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the +world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. +I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall +call for it in person on Monday morning.' + +"Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, +calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 +pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the +precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not +but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility +which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it +was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any +misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever +consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter +the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned +once more to my work. + +"When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave +so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had +been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how +terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I +determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always +carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might +never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a +cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel +with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs +and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. + +"And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to +thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep +out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three +maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose +absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy +Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few +months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has +always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has +attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. +That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we +believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. + +"So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it +will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an +only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. +Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am +myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very +likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I +had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a +moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it +would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I +meant it for the best. + +"It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my +business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, +wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the +handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a +member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming +manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long +purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards +and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again +to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his +allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried +more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he +was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir +George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. + +"And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George +Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently +brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could +hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than +Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been +everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of +great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far +away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his +cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that +he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, +too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into +character. + +"And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but +when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the +world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my +daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, +a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and +gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know +what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone +against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for +he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I +think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it +would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his +whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! + +"Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and +I shall continue with my miserable story. + +"When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after +dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious +treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name +of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am +sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. +Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous +coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. + +"'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. + +"'In my own bureau.' + +"'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the +night.' said he. + +"'It is locked up,' I answered. + +"'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I +have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' + +"He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of +what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with +a very grave face. + +"'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let +me have 200 pounds?' + +"'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too +generous with you in money matters.' + +"'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, +or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' + +"'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. + +"'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' +said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money +in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try +other means.' + +"I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the +month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which +he bowed and left the room without another word. + +"When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my +treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go +round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I +usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform +myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself +at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as +I approached. + +"'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little +disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out +to-night?' + +"'Certainly not.' + +"'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she +has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that +it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' + +"'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer +it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' + +"'Quite sure, dad.' + +"'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom +again, where I was soon asleep. + +"I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may +have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question +me upon any point which I do not make clear." + +"On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." + +"I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be +particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety +in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. +About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in +the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an +impression behind it as though a window had gently closed +somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my +horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in +the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, +and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. + +"'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you +touch that coronet?' + +"The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, +dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the +light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be +wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry +he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I +snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with +three of the beryls in it, was missing. + +"'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have +destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the +jewels which you have stolen?' + +"'Stolen!' he cried. + +"'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. + +"'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. + +"'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I +call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to +tear off another piece?' + +"'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it +any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, +since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in +the morning and make my own way in the world.' + +"'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried +half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to +the bottom.' + +"'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such +as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to +call the police, let the police find what they can.' + +"By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my +voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, +at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the +whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the +ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the +investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a +constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with +his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge +him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private +matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was +national property. I was determined that the law should have its +way in everything. + +"'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It +would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the +house for five minutes.' + +"'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you +have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position +in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only +my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at +stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would +convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell +me what he had done with the three missing stones. + +"'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught +in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. +If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling +us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' + +"'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, +turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened +for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for +it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search +was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of +every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed +the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the +wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our +threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after +going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to +you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. +The police have openly confessed that they can at present make +nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think +necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My +God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son +in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" + +He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to +and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got +beyond words. + +Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows +knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. + +"Do you receive much company?" he asked. + +"None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of +Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No +one else, I think." + +"Do you go out much in society?" + +"Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for +it." + +"That is unusual in a young girl." + +"She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She +is four-and-twenty." + +"This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to +her also." + +"Terrible! She is even more affected than I." + +"You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" + +"How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet +in his hands." + +"I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of +the coronet at all injured?" + +"Yes, it was twisted." + +"Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to +straighten it?" + +"God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. +But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If +his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" + +"Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? +His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several +singular points about the case. What did the police think of the +noise which awoke you from your sleep?" + +"They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his +bedroom door." + +"A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door +so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the +disappearance of these gems?" + +"They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture +in the hope of finding them." + +"Have they thought of looking outside the house?" + +"Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has +already been minutely examined." + +"Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now +that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you +or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you +to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider +what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came +down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, +opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main +force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, +concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that +nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six +into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger +of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" + +"But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of +despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain +them?" + +"It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if +you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, +and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into +details." + +My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, +which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy +were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I +confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be +as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such +faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some +grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted +explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the +southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his +hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client +appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope +which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a +desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway +journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest +residence of the great financier. + +Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing +back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a +snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates +which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden +thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges +stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the +tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the +stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a +public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing +at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the +front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden +behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I +went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should +return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and +a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, +slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against +the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever +seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were +bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept +silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of +grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the +more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong +character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding +my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand +over his head with a sweet womanly caress. + +"You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you +not, dad?" she asked. + +"No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." + +"But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's +instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will +be sorry for having acted so harshly." + +"Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" + +"Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should +suspect him." + +"How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with +the coronet in his hand?" + +"Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take +my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say +no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in +prison!" + +"I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! +Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences +to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman +down from London to inquire more deeply into it." + +"This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. + +"No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in +the stable lane now." + +"The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he +hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, +that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, +that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." + +"I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may +prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the +snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing +Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" + +"Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." + +"You heard nothing yourself last night?" + +"Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard +that, and I came down." + +"You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you +fasten all the windows?" + +"Yes." + +"Were they all fastened this morning?" + +"Yes." + +"You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked +to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" + +"Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and +who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." + +"I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her +sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." + +"But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the +banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with +the coronet in his hands?" + +"Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this +girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I +presume?" + +"Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I +met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." + +"Do you know him?" + +"Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. +His name is Francis Prosper." + +"He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to +say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" + +"Yes, he did." + +"And he is a man with a wooden leg?" + +Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive +black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you +know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in +Holmes' thin, eager face. + +"I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall +probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps +I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." + +He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at +the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. +This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill +with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," +said he at last. + +The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little +chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. +Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. + +"Which key was used to open it?" he asked. + +"That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the +lumber-room." + +"Have you it here?" + +"That is it on the dressing-table." + +Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. + +"It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did +not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must +have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem +he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the +jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I +have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, +where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. + +"Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which +corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I +beg that you will break it off." + +The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," +said he. + +"Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but +without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though +I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my +time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do +you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would +be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this +happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard +nothing of it?" + +"I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." + +"But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, +Miss Holder?" + +"I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." + +"Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" + +"He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." + +"Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary +luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault +if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your +permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations +outside." + +He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any +unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an +hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet +heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. + +"I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. +Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my +rooms." + +"But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" + +"I cannot tell." + +The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he +cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" + +"My opinion is in no way altered." + +"Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was +acted in my house last night?" + +"If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow +morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to +make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to +act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you +place no limit on the sum I may draw." + +"I would give my fortune to have them back." + +"Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. +Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here +again before evening." + +It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up +about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than +I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward +journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always +glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in +despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our +rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in +a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned +up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he +was a perfect sample of the class. + +"I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass +above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, +Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in +this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I +shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few +hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, +sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this +rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. + +I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in +excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his +hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a +cup of tea. + +"I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." + +"Where to?" + +"Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time +before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be +late." + +"How are you getting on?" + +"Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham +since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a +very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a +good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get +these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly +respectable self." + +I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for +satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, +and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He +hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of +the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his +congenial hunt. + +I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so +I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away +for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that +his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he +came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there +he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the +other, as fresh and trim as possible. + +"You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but +you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this +morning." + +"Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be +surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." + +It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the +change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally +of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, +while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered +with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than +his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into +the armchair which I pushed forward for him. + +"I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said +he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without +a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured +age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, +Mary, has deserted me." + +"Deserted you?" + +"Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was +empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to +her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had +married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was +thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers +in this note: + +"'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, +and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune +might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my +mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must +leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is +provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will +be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in +death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' + +"What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it +points to suicide?" + +"No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible +solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of +your troubles." + +"Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have +learned something! Where are the gems?" + +"You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for +them?" + +"I would pay ten." + +"That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. +And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? +Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." + +With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes +walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of +gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. + +With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. + +"You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" + +The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and +he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. + +"There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock +Holmes rather sternly. + +"Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." + +"No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that +noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I +should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to +have one." + +"Then it was not Arthur who took them?" + +"I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." + +"You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him +know that the truth is known." + +"He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an +interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the +story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was +right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite +clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his +lips." + +"For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary +mystery!" + +"I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached +it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me +to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding +between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now +fled together." + +"My Mary? Impossible!" + +"It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither +you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you +admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most +dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely +desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece +knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he +had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she +alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, +but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing +him nearly every evening." + +"I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an +ashen face. + +"I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. +Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, +slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which +leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right +through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the +coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he +bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but +there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all +other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had +hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming +downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you +about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, +which was all perfectly true. + +"Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but +he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. +In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, +so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin +walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared +into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad +slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what +would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the +room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw +that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed +down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and +slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see +what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the +window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then +closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close +to where he stood hid behind the curtain. + +"As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action +without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the +instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune +this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it +right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened +the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, +where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George +Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was +a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the +coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son +struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something +suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet +in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your +room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in +the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you +appeared upon the scene." + +"Is it possible?" gasped the banker. + +"You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when +he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not +explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who +certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He +took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her +secret." + +"And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the +coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have +been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! +The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the +scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" + +"When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went +very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in +the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since +the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost +to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but +found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, +however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood +and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed +that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been +disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was +shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had +waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time +that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had +already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed +round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, +which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable +lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in +front of me. + +"There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second +double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked +feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the +latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the +other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over +the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed +after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the +hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while +waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred +yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, +where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, +and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me +that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and +another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been +hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that +the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. + +"On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the +sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could +at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the +outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming +in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what +had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had +brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had +pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged +at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which +neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the +prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So +far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who +was it brought him the coronet? + +"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the +impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the +truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, +so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were +the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in +their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his +cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should +retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful +one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and +how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture +became a certainty. + +"And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, +for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must +feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your +circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir +George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil +reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots +and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur +had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was +safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his +own family. + +"Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took +next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, +managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that +his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at +the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of +his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and +saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." + +"I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," +said Mr. Holder. + +"Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home +and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to +play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert +scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our +hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of +course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every +particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a +life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I +clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he +became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give +him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That +brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, +dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the +three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had +them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I +set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 +pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all +was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after +what I may call a really hard day's work." + +"A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said +the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but +you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your +skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I +must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I +have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my +very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." + +"I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is +wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that +whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than +sufficient punishment." + + + +XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES + +"To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock +Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily +Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest +manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is +pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped +this truth that in these little records of our cases which you +have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, +occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much +to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I +have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been +trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those +faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made +my special province." + +"And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved +from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my +records." + +"You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing +cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood +pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a +disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred +perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your +statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing +upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is +really the only notable feature about the thing." + +"It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," +I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism +which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my +friend's singular character. + +"No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as +was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full +justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a +thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it +is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should +dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of +lectures into a series of tales." + +It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after +breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at +Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of +dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, +shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit +and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for +the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been +silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the +advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, +having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very +sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. + +"At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he +had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, +"you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of +these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself +in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, +at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King +of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the +problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the +incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are +outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I +fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." + +"The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold +to have been novel and of interest." + +"Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant +public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a +compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of +analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot +blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at +least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As +to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an +agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to +young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched +bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my +zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across +to me. + +It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and +ran thus: + +"DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether +I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered +to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I +do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, + "VIOLET HUNTER." + +"Do you know the young lady?" I asked. + +"Not I." + +"It is half-past ten now." + +"Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." + +"It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You +remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to +be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. +It may be so in this case, also." + +"Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, +for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." + +As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. +She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, +freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a +woman who has had her own way to make in the world. + +"You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my +companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange +experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort +from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be +kind enough to tell me what I should do." + +"Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything +that I can to serve you." + +I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner +and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching +fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and +his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. + +"I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the +family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel +received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his +children over to America with him, so that I found myself without +a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but +without success. At last the little money which I had saved began +to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. + +"There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End +called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in +order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. +Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is +really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, +and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, +and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers +and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. + +"Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office +as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A +prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy +chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at +her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very +earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a +jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. + +"'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. +Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his +hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a +comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at +him. + +"'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. + +"'Yes, sir.' + +"'As governess?' + +"'Yes, sir.' + +"'And what salary do you ask?' + +"'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence +Munro.' + +"'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his +fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling +passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with +such attractions and accomplishments?' + +"'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. +'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' + +"'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. +The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment +of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are +not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a +considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have +why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to +accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, +madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' + +"You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, +such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, +however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, +opened a pocket-book and took out a note. + +"'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant +fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid +the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies +half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little +expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' + +"It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so +thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the +advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something +unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know +a little more before I quite committed myself. + +"'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. + +"'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles +on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my +dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' + +"'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would +be.' + +"'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if +you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! +smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back +in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. + +"I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, +but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was +joking. + +"'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single +child?' + +"'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he +cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would +suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided +always that they were such commands as a lady might with +propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' + +"'I should be happy to make myself useful.' + +"'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you +know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress +which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. +Heh?' + +"'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. + +"'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to +you?' + +"'Oh, no.' + +"'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' + +"I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, +my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of +chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of +sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. + +"'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been +watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a +shadow pass over his face as I spoke. + +"'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a +little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, +ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your +hair?' + +"'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. + +"'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a +pity, because in other respects you would really have done very +nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more +of your young ladies.' + +"The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers +without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so +much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting +that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. + +"'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. + +"'If you please, Miss Stoper.' + +"'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the +most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You +can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such +opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong +upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. + +"Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found +little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the +table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very +foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and +expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were +at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few +governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, +what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing +it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was +inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after +I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go +back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open +when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it +here and I will read it to you: + + "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. +"'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your +address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have +reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you +should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of +you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a +year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which +our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My +wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would +like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need +not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one +belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which +would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting +here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that +need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no +doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty +during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain +firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary +may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child +is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall +meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. +Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' + +"That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and +my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, +that before taking the final step I should like to submit the +whole matter to your consideration." + +"Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the +question," said Holmes, smiling. + +"But you would not advise me to refuse?" + +"I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to +see a sister of mine apply for." + +"What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" + +"Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself +formed some opinion?" + +"Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. +Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not +possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the +matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that +he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an +outbreak?" + +"That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is +the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a +nice household for a young lady." + +"But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" + +"Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what +makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when +they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some +strong reason behind." + +"I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would +understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so +much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." + +"Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that +your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has +come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel +about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt +or in danger--" + +"Danger! What danger do you foresee?" + +Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if +we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a +telegram would bring me down to your help." + +"That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the +anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire +quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, +sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester +to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both +good-night and bustled off upon her way. + +"At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending +the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able +to take care of herself." + +"And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much +mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." + +It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. +A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts +turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of +human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual +salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to +something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether +the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond +my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat +frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an +abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his +hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried +impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would +always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever +have accepted such a situation. + +The telegram which we eventually received came late one night +just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down +to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently +indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a +test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came +down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, +and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. + +"Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back +to his chemical studies. + +The summons was a brief and urgent one. + +"Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday +to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." + +"Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. + +"I should wish to." + +"Just look it up, then." + +"There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my +Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." + +"That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my +analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the +morning." + +By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the +old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers +all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he +threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal +spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white +clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining +very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, +which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, +away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and +grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light +green of the new foliage. + +"Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the +enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. + +But Holmes shook his head gravely. + +"Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of +a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with +reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered +houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, +and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their +isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed +there." + +"Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these +dear old homesteads?" + +"They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, +Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest +alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin +than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." + +"You horrify me!" + +"But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion +can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no +lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of +a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among +the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever +so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is +but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these +lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part +with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the +deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, +year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this +lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I +should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of +country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is +not personally threatened." + +"No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." + +"Quite so. She has her freedom." + +"What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" + +"I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would +cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is +correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we +shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of +the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has +to tell." + +The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no +distance from the station, and there we found the young lady +waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch +awaited us upon the table. + +"I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It +is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I +should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." + +"Pray tell us what has happened to you." + +"I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. +Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into +town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." + +"Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long +thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. + +"In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, +with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is +only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and +I am not easy in my mind about them." + +"What can you not understand?" + +"Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just +as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and +drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he +said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, +for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all +stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds +round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which +slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about +a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs +to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord +Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in +front of the hall door has given its name to the place. + +"I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, +and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. +There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to +us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is +not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much +younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, +while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their +conversation I have gathered that they have been married about +seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by +the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. +Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them +was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As +the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite +imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her +father's young wife. + +"Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as +in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. +She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately +devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey +eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every +little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her +also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they +seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, +this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the +saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her +in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of +her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so +utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small +for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. +His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between +savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving +pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea +of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning +the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would +rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he +has little to do with my story." + +"I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they +seem to you to be relevant or not." + +"I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one +unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was +the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a +man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, +uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual +smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been +quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. +His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as +silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most +unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the +nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one +corner of the building. + +"For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was +very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after +breakfast and whispered something to her husband. + +"'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to +you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut +your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest +iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue +dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in +your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should +both be extremely obliged.' + +"The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade +of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it +bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not +have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. +and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which +seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for +me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching +along the entire front of the house, with three long windows +reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the +central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was +asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the +other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest +stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how +comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. +Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so +much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, +anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle +suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the +day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in +the nursery. + +"Two days later this same performance was gone through under +exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I +sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny +stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which +he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and +moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not +fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for +about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then +suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and +to change my dress. + +"You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to +what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly +be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face +away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire +to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be +impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been +broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of +the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst +of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able +with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I +confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that +was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I +perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, +a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in +my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are +usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the +railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I +lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her +eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, +but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my +hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. + +"'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the +road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' + +"'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. + +"'No, I know no one in these parts.' + +"'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to +him to go away.' + +"'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' + +"'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn +round and wave him away like that.' + +"I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew +down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have +not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor +seen the man in the road." + +"Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a +most interesting one." + +"You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may +prove to be little relation between the different incidents of +which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper +Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands +near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp +rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving +about. + +"'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two +planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' + +"I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a +vague figure huddled up in the darkness. + +"'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start +which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, +but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do +anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, +so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose +every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs +upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your +foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life +is worth.' + +"The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to +look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. +It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the +house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was +standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was +aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper +beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It +was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging +jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly +across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. +That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not +think that any burglar could have done. + +"And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as +you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a +great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the +child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the +furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. +There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones +empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two +with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was +naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It +struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, +so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very +first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There +was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never +guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. + +"I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, +and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing +obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in +the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the +contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two +tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was +it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at +all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, +and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that +I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had +locked. + +"I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, +and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. +There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited +at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of +the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. +One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle +coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on +his face which made him a very different person to the round, +jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his +brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his +temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me +without a word or a look. + +"This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the +grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I +could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four +of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the +fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I +strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle +came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. + +"'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you +without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with +business matters.' + +"I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, +'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one +of them has the shutters up.' + +"He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled +at my remark. + +"'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my +dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we +have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever +believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest +in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and +annoyance, but no jest. + +"Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there +was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, +I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, +though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a +feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this +place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's +instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, +and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the +forbidden door. + +"It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, +besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to +do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large +black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been +drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when +I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at +all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both +downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an +admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, +opened the door, and slipped through. + +"There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and +uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. +Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third +of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and +cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so +thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through +them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it +had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked +at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with +stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was +not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the +shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from +beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was +a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the +passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it +might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room +and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little +slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, +unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My +overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran +as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the +skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, +and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting +outside. + +"'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it +must be when I saw the door open.' + +"'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. + +"'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how +caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened +you, my dear young lady?' + +"But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I +was keenly on my guard against him. + +"'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. +'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was +frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in +there!' + +"'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. + +"'Why, what did you think?' I asked. + +"'Why do you think that I lock this door?' + +"'I am sure that I do not know.' + +"'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you +see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. + +"'I am sure if I had known--' + +"'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over +that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into +a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a +demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' + +"I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that +I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing +until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I +thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without +some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the +woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible +to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of +course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was +almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would +send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the +office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then +returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my +mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I +remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of +insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one +in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, +or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and +lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. +I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this +morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and +Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the +evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you +all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you +could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should +do." + +Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. +My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in +his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon +his face. + +"Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. + +"Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do +nothing with him." + +"That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" + +"Yes." + +"Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" + +"Yes, the wine-cellar." + +"You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very +brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could +perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not +think you a quite exceptional woman." + +"I will try. What is it?" + +"We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend +and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, +we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might +give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some +errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate +matters immensely." + +"I will do it." + +"Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of +course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been +brought there to personate someone, and the real person is +imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this +prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice +Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to +America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, +figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very +possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of +course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you +came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some +friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore +the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your +laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, +that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer +desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent +him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly +clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of +the child." + +"What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. + +"My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining +light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the +parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have +frequently gained my first real insight into the character of +parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is +abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he +derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or +from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their +power." + +"I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A +thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you +have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to +this poor creature." + +"We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning +man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall +be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the +mystery." + +We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we +reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside +public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining +like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were +sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been +standing smiling on the door-step. + +"Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. + +A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is +Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring +on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates +of Mr. Rucastle's." + +"You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now +lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black +business." + +We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a +passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss +Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the +transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but +without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence +Holmes' face clouded over. + +"I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss +Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put +your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our +way in." + +It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united +strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There +was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a +basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner +gone. + +"There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty +has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim +off." + +"But how?" + +"Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He +swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the +end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did +it." + +"But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not +there when the Rucastles went away." + +"He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and +dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were +he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it +would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." + +The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at +the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy +stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the +wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and +confronted him. + +"You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" + +The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open +skylight. + +"It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies +and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll +serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he +could go. + +"He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. + +"I have my revolver," said I. + +"Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed +down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we +heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a +horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An +elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out +at a side door. + +"My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been +fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" + +Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with +Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its +black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and +screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and +it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great +creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and +carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid +him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered +Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to +relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door +opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. + +"Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. + +"Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he +went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know +what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains +were wasted." + +"Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. +Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." + +"Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." + +"Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several +points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." + +"I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done +so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's +police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the +one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend +too. + +"She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time +that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no +say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until +after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could +learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so +quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them +but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was +safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming +forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then +her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to +sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use +her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until +she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then +she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her +beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her +young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." + +"Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough +to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce +all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this +system of imprisonment?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of +the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." + +"That was it, sir." + +"But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should +be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain +arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your +interests were the same as his." + +"Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said +Mrs. Toller serenely. + +"And in this way he managed that your good man should have no +want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment +when your master had gone out." + +"You have it, sir, just as it happened." + +"I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for +you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And +here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, +Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, +as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a +questionable one." + +And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the +copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but +was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of +his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who +probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it +difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were +married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their +flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in +the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend +Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further +interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one +of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at +Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by +Arthur Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** + +***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.net + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/data/task1/war_and_peace.txt b/data/task1/war_and_peace.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f68676 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/task1/war_and_peace.txt @@ -0,0 +1,65007 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost +no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it +under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this +eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: War and Peace + +Author: Leo Tolstoy + +Translators: Louise and Aylmer Maude + +Posting Date: January 10, 2009 [EBook #2600] + +Last Updated: March 15, 2013 + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WAR AND PEACE *** + +An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger + + + + + +WAR AND PEACE + +By Leo Tolstoy/Tolstoi + +CONTENTS + +BOOK ONE: 1805 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +CHAPTER XX + +CHAPTER XXI + +CHAPTER XXII + +CHAPTER XXIII + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CHAPTER XXV + +CHAPTER XXVI + +CHAPTER XXVII + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +BOOK TWO: 1805 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +CHAPTER XX + +CHAPTER XXI + +BOOK THREE: 1805 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +BOOK FOUR: 1806 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +BOOK FIVE: 1806 - 07 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +CHAPTER XX + +CHAPTER XXI + +CHAPTER XXII + +BOOK SIX: 1808 - 10 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +CHAPTER XX + +CHAPTER XXI + +CHAPTER XXII + +CHAPTER XXIII + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CHAPTER XXV + +CHAPTER XXVI + +BOOK SEVEN: 1810 - 11 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +BOOK EIGHT: 1811 - 12 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +CHAPTER XX + +CHAPTER XXI + +CHAPTER XXII + +BOOK NINE: 1812 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +CHAPTER XX + +CHAPTER XXI + +CHAPTER XXII + +CHAPTER XXIII + +BOOK TEN: 1812 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +CHAPTER XX + +CHAPTER XXI + +CHAPTER XXII + +CHAPTER XXIII + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CHAPTER XXV + +CHAPTER XXVI + +CHAPTER XXVII + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +CHAPTER XXIX + +CHAPTER XXX + +CHAPTER XXXI + +CHAPTER XXXII + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +CHAPTER XXXV + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +BOOK ELEVEN: 1812 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +CHAPTER XX + +CHAPTER XXI + +CHAPTER XXII + +CHAPTER XXIII + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CHAPTER XXV + +CHAPTER XXVI + +CHAPTER XXVII + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +CHAPTER XXIX + +CHAPTER XXX + +CHAPTER XXXI + +CHAPTER XXXII + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +BOOK TWELVE: 1812 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +BOOK THIRTEEN: 1812 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +BOOK FOURTEEN: 1812 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +BOOK FIFTEEN: 1812 - 13 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CHAPTER XIX + +CHAPTER XX + +FIRST EPILOGUE: 1813 - 20 + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +CHAPTER XIII + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAPTER XV + +CHAPTER XVI + +SECOND EPILOGUE + +CHAPTER I + +CHAPTER II + +CHAPTER III + +CHAPTER IV + +CHAPTER V + +CHAPTER VI + +CHAPTER VII + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHAPTER IX + +CHAPTER X + +CHAPTER XI + +CHAPTER XII + +BOOK ONE: 1805 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +"Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the +Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don't tell me that this means war, +if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that +Antichrist--I really believe he is Antichrist--I will have nothing more +to do with you and you are no longer my friend, no longer my 'faithful +slave,' as you call yourself! But how do you do? I see I have frightened +you--sit down and tell me all the news." + +It was in July, 1805, and the speaker was the well-known Anna Pavlovna +Scherer, maid of honor and favorite of the Empress Marya Fedorovna. With +these words she greeted Prince Vasili Kuragin, a man of high rank and +importance, who was the first to arrive at her reception. Anna Pavlovna +had had a cough for some days. She was, as she said, suffering from la +grippe; grippe being then a new word in St. Petersburg, used only by the +elite. + +All her invitations without exception, written in French, and delivered +by a scarlet-liveried footman that morning, ran as follows: + +"If you have nothing better to do, Count (or Prince), and if the +prospect of spending an evening with a poor invalid is not too terrible, +I shall be very charmed to see you tonight between 7 and 10--Annette +Scherer." + +"Heavens! what a virulent attack!" replied the prince, not in the least +disconcerted by this reception. He had just entered, wearing an +embroidered court uniform, knee breeches, and shoes, and had stars on +his breast and a serene expression on his flat face. He spoke in that +refined French in which our grandfathers not only spoke but thought, and +with the gentle, patronizing intonation natural to a man of importance +who had grown old in society and at court. He went up to Anna Pavlovna, +kissed her hand, presenting to her his bald, scented, and shining head, +and complacently seated himself on the sofa. + +"First of all, dear friend, tell me how you are. Set your friend's mind +at rest," said he without altering his tone, beneath the politeness and +affected sympathy of which indifference and even irony could be +discerned. + +"Can one be well while suffering morally? Can one be calm in times like +these if one has any feeling?" said Anna Pavlovna. "You are staying the +whole evening, I hope?" + +"And the fete at the English ambassador's? Today is Wednesday. I must +put in an appearance there," said the prince. "My daughter is coming for +me to take me there." + +"I thought today's fete had been canceled. I confess all these +festivities and fireworks are becoming wearisome." + +"If they had known that you wished it, the entertainment would have been +put off," said the prince, who, like a wound-up clock, by force of habit +said things he did not even wish to be believed. + +"Don't tease! Well, and what has been decided about Novosiltsev's +dispatch? You know everything." + +"What can one say about it?" replied the prince in a cold, listless +tone. "What has been decided? They have decided that Buonaparte has +burnt his boats, and I believe that we are ready to burn ours." + +Prince Vasili always spoke languidly, like an actor repeating a stale +part. Anna Pavlovna Scherer on the contrary, despite her forty years, +overflowed with animation and impulsiveness. To be an enthusiast had +become her social vocation and, sometimes even when she did not feel +like it, she became enthusiastic in order not to disappoint the +expectations of those who knew her. The subdued smile which, though it +did not suit her faded features, always played round her lips expressed, +as in a spoiled child, a continual consciousness of her charming defect, +which she neither wished, nor could, nor considered it necessary, to +correct. + +In the midst of a conversation on political matters Anna Pavlovna burst +out: + +"Oh, don't speak to me of Austria. Perhaps I don't understand things, +but Austria never has wished, and does not wish, for war. She is +betraying us! Russia alone must save Europe. Our gracious sovereign +recognizes his high vocation and will be true to it. That is the one +thing I have faith in! Our good and wonderful sovereign has to perform +the noblest role on earth, and he is so virtuous and noble that God will +not forsake him. He will fulfill his vocation and crush the hydra of +revolution, which has become more terrible than ever in the person of +this murderer and villain! We alone must avenge the blood of the just +one.... Whom, I ask you, can we rely on?... England with her commercial +spirit will not and cannot understand the Emperor Alexander's loftiness +of soul. She has refused to evacuate Malta. She wanted to find, and +still seeks, some secret motive in our actions. What answer did +Novosiltsev get? None. The English have not understood and cannot +understand the self-abnegation of our Emperor who wants nothing for +himself, but only desires the good of mankind. And what have they +promised? Nothing! And what little they have promised they will not +perform! Prussia has always declared that Buonaparte is invincible, and +that all Europe is powerless before him.... And I don't believe a word +that Hardenburg says, or Haugwitz either. This famous Prussian +neutrality is just a trap. I have faith only in God and the lofty +destiny of our adored monarch. He will save Europe!" + +She suddenly paused, smiling at her own impetuosity. + +"I think," said the prince with a smile, "that if you had been sent +instead of our dear Wintzingerode you would have captured the King of +Prussia's consent by assault. You are so eloquent. Will you give me a +cup of tea?" + +"In a moment. A propos," she added, becoming calm again, "I am expecting +two very interesting men tonight, le Vicomte de Mortemart, who is +connected with the Montmorencys through the Rohans, one of the best +French families. He is one of the genuine emigres, the good ones. And +also the Abbe Morio. Do you know that profound thinker? He has been +received by the Emperor. Had you heard?" + +"I shall be delighted to meet them," said the prince. "But tell me," he +added with studied carelessness as if it had only just occurred to him, +though the question he was about to ask was the chief motive of his +visit, "is it true that the Dowager Empress wants Baron Funke to be +appointed first secretary at Vienna? The baron by all accounts is a poor +creature." + +Prince Vasili wished to obtain this post for his son, but others were +trying through the Dowager Empress Marya Fedorovna to secure it for the +baron. + +Anna Pavlovna almost closed her eyes to indicate that neither she nor +anyone else had a right to criticize what the Empress desired or was +pleased with. + +"Baron Funke has been recommended to the Dowager Empress by her sister," +was all she said, in a dry and mournful tone. + +As she named the Empress, Anna Pavlovna's face suddenly assumed an +expression of profound and sincere devotion and respect mingled with +sadness, and this occurred every time she mentioned her illustrious +patroness. She added that Her Majesty had deigned to show Baron Funke +beaucoup d'estime, and again her face clouded over with sadness. + +The prince was silent and looked indifferent. But, with the womanly and +courtierlike quickness and tact habitual to her, Anna Pavlovna wished +both to rebuke him (for daring to speak as he had done of a man +recommended to the Empress) and at the same time to console him, so she +said: + +"Now about your family. Do you know that since your daughter came out +everyone has been enraptured by her? They say she is amazingly +beautiful." + +The prince bowed to signify his respect and gratitude. + +"I often think," she continued after a short pause, drawing nearer to +the prince and smiling amiably at him as if to show that political and +social topics were ended and the time had come for intimate +conversation--"I often think how unfairly sometimes the joys of life are +distributed. Why has fate given you two such splendid children? I don't +speak of Anatole, your youngest. I don't like him," she added in a tone +admitting of no rejoinder and raising her eyebrows. "Two such charming +children. And really you appreciate them less than anyone, and so you +don't deserve to have them." + +And she smiled her ecstatic smile. + +"I can't help it," said the prince. "Lavater would have said I lack the +bump of paternity." + +"Don't joke; I mean to have a serious talk with you. Do you know I am +dissatisfied with your younger son? Between ourselves" (and her face +assumed its melancholy expression), "he was mentioned at Her Majesty's +and you were pitied...." + +The prince answered nothing, but she looked at him significantly, +awaiting a reply. He frowned. + +"What would you have me do?" he said at last. "You know I did all a +father could for their education, and they have both turned out fools. +Hippolyte is at least a quiet fool, but Anatole is an active one. That +is the only difference between them." He said this smiling in a way more +natural and animated than usual, so that the wrinkles round his mouth +very clearly revealed something unexpectedly coarse and unpleasant. + +"And why are children born to such men as you? If you were not a father +there would be nothing I could reproach you with," said Anna Pavlovna, +looking up pensively. + +"I am your faithful slave and to you alone I can confess that my +children are the bane of my life. It is the cross I have to bear. That +is how I explain it to myself. It can't be helped!" + +He said no more, but expressed his resignation to cruel fate by a +gesture. Anna Pavlovna meditated. + +"Have you never thought of marrying your prodigal son Anatole?" she +asked. "They say old maids have a mania for matchmaking, and though I +don't feel that weakness in myself as yet, I know a little person who is +very unhappy with her father. She is a relation of yours, Princess Mary +Bolkonskaya." + +Prince Vasili did not reply, though, with the quickness of memory and +perception befitting a man of the world, he indicated by a movement of +the head that he was considering this information. + +"Do you know," he said at last, evidently unable to check the sad +current of his thoughts, "that Anatole is costing me forty thousand +rubles a year? And," he went on after a pause, "what will it be in five +years, if he goes on like this?" Presently he added: "That's what we +fathers have to put up with.... Is this princess of yours rich?" + +"Her father is very rich and stingy. He lives in the country. He is the +well-known Prince Bolkonski who had to retire from the army under the +late Emperor, and was nicknamed 'the King of Prussia.' He is very clever +but eccentric, and a bore. The poor girl is very unhappy. She has a +brother; I think you know him, he married Lise Meinen lately. He is an +aide-de-camp of Kutuzov's and will be here tonight." + +"Listen, dear Annette," said the prince, suddenly taking Anna Pavlovna's +hand and for some reason drawing it downwards. "Arrange that affair for +me and I shall always be your most devoted slave-slafe with an f, as a +village elder of mine writes in his reports. She is rich and of good +family and that's all I want." + +And with the familiarity and easy grace peculiar to him, he raised the +maid of honor's hand to his lips, kissed it, and swung it to and fro as +he lay back in his armchair, looking in another direction. + +"Attendez," said Anna Pavlovna, reflecting, "I'll speak to Lise, young +Bolkonski's wife, this very evening, and perhaps the thing can be +arranged. It shall be on your family's behalf that I'll start my +apprenticeship as old maid." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Anna Pavlovna's drawing room was gradually filling. The highest +Petersburg society was assembled there: people differing widely in age +and character but alike in the social circle to which they belonged. +Prince Vasili's daughter, the beautiful Helene, came to take her father +to the ambassador's entertainment; she wore a ball dress and her badge +as maid of honor. The youthful little Princess Bolkonskaya, known as la +femme la plus seduisante de Petersbourg, * was also there. She had been +married during the previous winter, and being pregnant did not go to any +large gatherings, but only to small receptions. Prince Vasili's son, +Hippolyte, had come with Mortemart, whom he introduced. The Abbe Morio +and many others had also come. + + +* The most fascinating woman in Petersburg. + +To each new arrival Anna Pavlovna said, "You have not yet seen my aunt," +or "You do not know my aunt?" and very gravely conducted him or her to a +little old lady, wearing large bows of ribbon in her cap, who had come +sailing in from another room as soon as the guests began to arrive; and +slowly turning her eyes from the visitor to her aunt, Anna Pavlovna +mentioned each one's name and then left them. + +Each visitor performed the ceremony of greeting this old aunt whom not +one of them knew, not one of them wanted to know, and not one of them +cared about; Anna Pavlovna observed these greetings with mournful and +solemn interest and silent approval. The aunt spoke to each of them in +the same words, about their health and her own, and the health of Her +Majesty, "who, thank God, was better today." And each visitor, though +politeness prevented his showing impatience, left the old woman with a +sense of relief at having performed a vexatious duty and did not return +to her the whole evening. + +The young Princess Bolkonskaya had brought some work in a gold- +embroidered velvet bag. Her pretty little upper lip, on which a delicate +dark down was just perceptible, was too short for her teeth, but it +lifted all the more sweetly, and was especially charming when she +occasionally drew it down to meet the lower lip. As is always the case +with a thoroughly attractive woman, her defect--the shortness of her +upper lip and her half-open mouth--seemed to be her own special and +peculiar form of beauty. Everyone brightened at the sight of this pretty +young woman, so soon to become a mother, so full of life and health, and +carrying her burden so lightly. Old men and dull dispirited young ones +who looked at her, after being in her company and talking to her a +little while, felt as if they too were becoming, like her, full of life +and health. All who talked to her, and at each word saw her bright smile +and the constant gleam of her white teeth, thought that they were in a +specially amiable mood that day. + +The little princess went round the table with quick, short, swaying +steps, her workbag on her arm, and gaily spreading out her dress sat +down on a sofa near the silver samovar, as if all she was doing was a +pleasure to herself and to all around her. "I have brought my work," +said she in French, displaying her bag and addressing all present. +"Mind, Annette, I hope you have not played a wicked trick on me," she +added, turning to her hostess. "You wrote that it was to be quite a +small reception, and just see how badly I am dressed." And she spread +out her arms to show her short-waisted, lace-trimmed, dainty gray dress, +girdled with a broad ribbon just below the breast. + +"Soyez tranquille, Lise, you will always be prettier than anyone else," +replied Anna Pavlovna. + +"You know," said the princess in the same tone of voice and still in +French, turning to a general, "my husband is deserting me? He is going +to get himself killed. Tell me what this wretched war is for?" she +added, addressing Prince Vasili, and without waiting for an answer she +turned to speak to his daughter, the beautiful Helene. + +"What a delightful woman this little princess is!" said Prince Vasili to +Anna Pavlovna. + +One of the next arrivals was a stout, heavily built young man with +close-cropped hair, spectacles, the light-colored breeches fashionable +at that time, a very high ruffle, and a brown dress coat. This stout +young man was an illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov, a well-known +grandee of Catherine's time who now lay dying in Moscow. The young man +had not yet entered either the military or civil service, as he had only +just returned from abroad where he had been educated, and this was his +first appearance in society. Anna Pavlovna greeted him with the nod she +accorded to the lowest hierarchy in her drawing room. But in spite of +this lowest-grade greeting, a look of anxiety and fear, as at the sight +of something too large and unsuited to the place, came over her face +when she saw Pierre enter. Though he was certainly rather bigger than +the other men in the room, her anxiety could only have reference to the +clever though shy, but observant and natural, expression which +distinguished him from everyone else in that drawing room. + +"It is very good of you, Monsieur Pierre, to come and visit a poor +invalid," said Anna Pavlovna, exchanging an alarmed glance with her aunt +as she conducted him to her. + +Pierre murmured something unintelligible, and continued to look round as +if in search of something. On his way to the aunt he bowed to the little +princess with a pleased smile, as to an intimate acquaintance. + +Anna Pavlovna's alarm was justified, for Pierre turned away from the +aunt without waiting to hear her speech about Her Majesty's health. Anna +Pavlovna in dismay detained him with the words: "Do you know the Abbe +Morio? He is a most interesting man." + +"Yes, I have heard of his scheme for perpetual peace, and it is very +interesting but hardly feasible." + +"You think so?" rejoined Anna Pavlovna in order to say something and get +away to attend to her duties as hostess. But Pierre now committed a +reverse act of impoliteness. First he had left a lady before she had +finished speaking to him, and now he continued to speak to another who +wished to get away. With his head bent, and his big feet spread apart, +he began explaining his reasons for thinking the abbe's plan chimerical. + +"We will talk of it later," said Anna Pavlovna with a smile. + +And having got rid of this young man who did not know how to behave, she +resumed her duties as hostess and continued to listen and watch, ready +to help at any point where the conversation might happen to flag. As the +foreman of a spinning mill, when he has set the hands to work, goes +round and notices here a spindle that has stopped or there one that +creaks or makes more noise than it should, and hastens to check the +machine or set it in proper motion, so Anna Pavlovna moved about her +drawing room, approaching now a silent, now a too-noisy group, and by a +word or slight rearrangement kept the conversational machine in steady, +proper, and regular motion. But amid these cares her anxiety about +Pierre was evident. She kept an anxious watch on him when he approached +the group round Mortemart to listen to what was being said there, and +again when he passed to another group whose center was the abbe. + +Pierre had been educated abroad, and this reception at Anna Pavlovna's +was the first he had attended in Russia. He knew that all the +intellectual lights of Petersburg were gathered there and, like a child +in a toyshop, did not know which way to look, afraid of missing any +clever conversation that was to be heard. Seeing the self-confident and +refined expression on the faces of those present he was always expecting +to hear something very profound. At last he came up to Morio. Here the +conversation seemed interesting and he stood waiting for an opportunity +to express his own views, as young people are fond of doing. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Anna Pavlovna's reception was in full swing. The spindles hummed +steadily and ceaselessly on all sides. With the exception of the aunt, +beside whom sat only one elderly lady, who with her thin careworn face +was rather out of place in this brilliant society, the whole company had +settled into three groups. One, chiefly masculine, had formed round the +abbe. Another, of young people, was grouped round the beautiful Princess +Helene, Prince Vasili's daughter, and the little Princess Bolkonskaya, +very pretty and rosy, though rather too plump for her age. The third +group was gathered round Mortemart and Anna Pavlovna. + +The vicomte was a nice-looking young man with soft features and polished +manners, who evidently considered himself a celebrity but out of +politeness modestly placed himself at the disposal of the circle in +which he found himself. Anna Pavlovna was obviously serving him up as a +treat to her guests. As a clever maitre d'hotel serves up as a specially +choice delicacy a piece of meat that no one who had seen it in the +kitchen would have cared to eat, so Anna Pavlovna served up to her +guests, first the vicomte and then the abbe, as peculiarly choice +morsels. The group about Mortemart immediately began discussing the +murder of the Duc d'Enghien. The vicomte said that the Duc d'Enghien had +perished by his own magnanimity, and that there were particular reasons +for Buonaparte's hatred of him. + +"Ah, yes! Do tell us all about it, Vicomte," said Anna Pavlovna, with a +pleasant feeling that there was something a la Louis XV in the sound of +that sentence: "Contez nous cela, Vicomte." + +The vicomte bowed and smiled courteously in token of his willingness to +comply. Anna Pavlovna arranged a group round him, inviting everyone to +listen to his tale. + +"The vicomte knew the duc personally," whispered Anna Pavlovna to one of +the guests. "The vicomte is a wonderful raconteur," said she to another. +"How evidently he belongs to the best society," said she to a third; and +the vicomte was served up to the company in the choicest and most +advantageous style, like a well-garnished joint of roast beef on a hot +dish. + +The vicomte wished to begin his story and gave a subtle smile. + +"Come over here, Helene, dear," said Anna Pavlovna to the beautiful +young princess who was sitting some way off, the center of another +group. + +The princess smiled. She rose with the same unchanging smile with which +she had first entered the room--the smile of a perfectly beautiful +woman. With a slight rustle of her white dress trimmed with moss and +ivy, with a gleam of white shoulders, glossy hair, and sparkling +diamonds, she passed between the men who made way for her, not looking +at any of them but smiling on all, as if graciously allowing each the +privilege of admiring her beautiful figure and shapely shoulders, back, +and bosom--which in the fashion of those days were very much exposed-- +and she seemed to bring the glamour of a ballroom with her as she moved +toward Anna Pavlovna. Helene was so lovely that not only did she not +show any trace of coquetry, but on the contrary she even appeared shy of +her unquestionable and all too victorious beauty. She seemed to wish, +but to be unable, to diminish its effect. + +"How lovely!" said everyone who saw her; and the vicomte lifted his +shoulders and dropped his eyes as if startled by something extraordinary +when she took her seat opposite and beamed upon him also with her +unchanging smile. + +"Madame, I doubt my ability before such an audience," said he, smilingly +inclining his head. + +The princess rested her bare round arm on a little table and considered +a reply unnecessary. She smilingly waited. All the time the story was +being told she sat upright, glancing now at her beautiful round arm, +altered in shape by its pressure on the table, now at her still more +beautiful bosom, on which she readjusted a diamond necklace. From time +to time she smoothed the folds of her dress, and whenever the story +produced an effect she glanced at Anna Pavlovna, at once adopted just +the expression she saw on the maid of honor's face, and again relapsed +into her radiant smile. + +The little princess had also left the tea table and followed Helene. + +"Wait a moment, I'll get my work.... Now then, what are you thinking +of?" she went on, turning to Prince Hippolyte. "Fetch me my workbag." + +There was a general movement as the princess, smiling and talking +merrily to everyone at once, sat down and gaily arranged herself in her +seat. + +"Now I am all right," she said, and asking the vicomte to begin, she +took up her work. + +Prince Hippolyte, having brought the workbag, joined the circle and +moving a chair close to hers seated himself beside her. + +Le charmant Hippolyte was surprising by his extraordinary resemblance to +his beautiful sister, but yet more by the fact that in spite of this +resemblance he was exceedingly ugly. His features were like his +sister's, but while in her case everything was lit up by a joyous, self- +satisfied, youthful, and constant smile of animation, and by the +wonderful classic beauty of her figure, his face on the contrary was +dulled by imbecility and a constant expression of sullen self- +confidence, while his body was thin and weak. His eyes, nose, and mouth +all seemed puckered into a vacant, wearied grimace, and his arms and +legs always fell into unnatural positions. + +"It's not going to be a ghost story?" said he, sitting down beside the +princess and hastily adjusting his lorgnette, as if without this +instrument he could not begin to speak. + +"Why no, my dear fellow," said the astonished narrator, shrugging his +shoulders. + +"Because I hate ghost stories," said Prince Hippolyte in a tone which +showed that he only understood the meaning of his words after he had +uttered them. + +He spoke with such self-confidence that his hearers could not be sure +whether what he said was very witty or very stupid. He was dressed in a +dark-green dress coat, knee breeches of the color of cuisse de nymphe +effrayee, as he called it, shoes, and silk stockings. + +The vicomte told his tale very neatly. It was an anecdote, then current, +to the effect that the Duc d'Enghien had gone secretly to Paris to visit +Mademoiselle George; that at her house he came upon Bonaparte, who also +enjoyed the famous actress' favors, and that in his presence Napoleon +happened to fall into one of the fainting fits to which he was subject, +and was thus at the duc's mercy. The latter spared him, and this +magnanimity Bonaparte subsequently repaid by death. + +The story was very pretty and interesting, especially at the point where +the rivals suddenly recognized one another; and the ladies looked +agitated. + +"Charming!" said Anna Pavlovna with an inquiring glance at the little +princess. + +"Charming!" whispered the little princess, sticking the needle into her +work as if to testify that the interest and fascination of the story +prevented her from going on with it. + +The vicomte appreciated this silent praise and smiling gratefully +prepared to continue, but just then Anna Pavlovna, who had kept a +watchful eye on the young man who so alarmed her, noticed that he was +talking too loudly and vehemently with the abbe, so she hurried to the +rescue. Pierre had managed to start a conversation with the abbe about +the balance of power, and the latter, evidently interested by the young +man's simple-minded eagerness, was explaining his pet theory. Both were +talking and listening too eagerly and too naturally, which was why Anna +Pavlovna disapproved. + +"The means are... the balance of power in Europe and the rights of the +people," the abbe was saying. "It is only necessary for one powerful +nation like Russia--barbaric as she is said to be--to place herself +disinterestedly at the head of an alliance having for its object the +maintenance of the balance of power of Europe, and it would save the +world!" + +"But how are you to get that balance?" Pierre was beginning. + +At that moment Anna Pavlovna came up and, looking severely at Pierre, +asked the Italian how he stood Russian climate. The Italian's face +instantly changed and assumed an offensively affected, sugary +expression, evidently habitual to him when conversing with women. + +"I am so enchanted by the brilliancy of the wit and culture of the +society, more especially of the feminine society, in which I have had +the honor of being received, that I have not yet had time to think of +the climate," said he. + +Not letting the abbe and Pierre escape, Anna Pavlovna, the more +conveniently to keep them under observation, brought them into the +larger circle. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Just then another visitor entered the drawing room: Prince Andrew +Bolkonski, the little princess' husband. He was a very handsome young +man, of medium height, with firm, clearcut features. Everything about +him, from his weary, bored expression to his quiet, measured step, +offered a most striking contrast to his quiet, little wife. It was +evident that he not only knew everyone in the drawing room, but had +found them to be so tiresome that it wearied him to look at or listen to +them. And among all these faces that he found so tedious, none seemed to +bore him so much as that of his pretty wife. He turned away from her +with a grimace that distorted his handsome face, kissed Anna Pavlovna's +hand, and screwing up his eyes scanned the whole company. + +"You are off to the war, Prince?" said Anna Pavlovna. + +"General Kutuzov," said Bolkonski, speaking French and stressing the +last syllable of the general's name like a Frenchman, "has been pleased +to take me as an aide-de-camp...." + +"And Lise, your wife?" + +"She will go to the country." + +"Are you not ashamed to deprive us of your charming wife?" + +"Andre," said his wife, addressing her husband in the same coquettish +manner in which she spoke to other men, "the vicomte has been telling us +such a tale about Mademoiselle George and Buonaparte!" + +Prince Andrew screwed up his eyes and turned away. Pierre, who from the +moment Prince Andrew entered the room had watched him with glad, +affectionate eyes, now came up and took his arm. Before he looked round +Prince Andrew frowned again, expressing his annoyance with whoever was +touching his arm, but when he saw Pierre's beaming face he gave him an +unexpectedly kind and pleasant smile. + +"There now!... So you, too, are in the great world?" said he to Pierre. + +"I knew you would be here," replied Pierre. "I will come to supper with +you. May I?" he added in a low voice so as not to disturb the vicomte +who was continuing his story. + +"No, impossible!" said Prince Andrew, laughing and pressing Pierre's +hand to show that there was no need to ask the question. He wished to +say something more, but at that moment Prince Vasili and his daughter +got up to go and the two young men rose to let them pass. + +"You must excuse me, dear Vicomte," said Prince Vasili to the Frenchman, +holding him down by the sleeve in a friendly way to prevent his rising. +"This unfortunate fete at the ambassador's deprives me of a pleasure, +and obliges me to interrupt you. I am very sorry to leave your +enchanting party," said he, turning to Anna Pavlovna. + +His daughter, Princess Helene, passed between the chairs, lightly +holding up the folds of her dress, and the smile shone still more +radiantly on her beautiful face. Pierre gazed at her with rapturous, +almost frightened, eyes as she passed him. + +"Very lovely," said Prince Andrew. + +"Very," said Pierre. + +In passing Prince Vasili seized Pierre's hand and said to Anna Pavlovna: +"Educate this bear for me! He has been staying with me a whole month and +this is the first time I have seen him in society. Nothing is so +necessary for a young man as the society of clever women." + +Anna Pavlovna smiled and promised to take Pierre in hand. She knew his +father to be a connection of Prince Vasili's. The elderly lady who had +been sitting with the old aunt rose hurriedly and overtook Prince Vasili +in the anteroom. All the affectation of interest she had assumed had +left her kindly and tear-worn face and it now expressed only anxiety and +fear. + +"How about my son Boris, Prince?" said she, hurrying after him into the +anteroom. "I can't remain any longer in Petersburg. Tell me what news I +may take back to my poor boy." + +Although Prince Vasili listened reluctantly and not very politely to the +elderly lady, even betraying some impatience, she gave him an +ingratiating and appealing smile, and took his hand that he might not go +away. + +"What would it cost you to say a word to the Emperor, and then he would +be transferred to the Guards at once?" said she. + +"Believe me, Princess, I am ready to do all I can," answered Prince +Vasili, "but it is difficult for me to ask the Emperor. I should advise +you to appeal to Rumyantsev through Prince Golitsyn. That would be the +best way." + +The elderly lady was a Princess Drubetskaya, belonging to one of the +best families in Russia, but she was poor, and having long been out of +society had lost her former influential connections. She had now come to +Petersburg to procure an appointment in the Guards for her only son. It +was, in fact, solely to meet Prince Vasili that she had obtained an +invitation to Anna Pavlovna's reception and had sat listening to the +vicomte's story. Prince Vasili's words frightened her, an embittered +look clouded her once handsome face, but only for a moment; then she +smiled again and clutched Prince Vasili's arm more tightly. + +"Listen to me, Prince," said she. "I have never yet asked you for +anything and I never will again, nor have I ever reminded you of my +father's friendship for you; but now I entreat you for God's sake to do +this for my son--and I shall always regard you as a benefactor," she +added hurriedly. "No, don't be angry, but promise! I have asked Golitsyn +and he has refused. Be the kindhearted man you always were," she said, +trying to smile though tears were in her eyes. + +"Papa, we shall be late," said Princess Helene, turning her beautiful +head and looking over her classically molded shoulder as she stood +waiting by the door. + +Influence in society, however, is a capital which has to be economized +if it is to last. Prince Vasili knew this, and having once realized that +if he asked on behalf of all who begged of him, he would soon be unable +to ask for himself, he became chary of using his influence. But in +Princess Drubetskaya's case he felt, after her second appeal, something +like qualms of conscience. She had reminded him of what was quite true; +he had been indebted to her father for the first steps in his career. +Moreover, he could see by her manners that she was one of those women-- +mostly mothers--who, having once made up their minds, will not rest +until they have gained their end, and are prepared if necessary to go on +insisting day after day and hour after hour, and even to make scenes. +This last consideration moved him. + +"My dear Anna Mikhaylovna," said he with his usual familiarity and +weariness of tone, "it is almost impossible for me to do what you ask; +but to prove my devotion to you and how I respect your father's memory, +I will do the impossible--your son shall be transferred to the Guards. +Here is my hand on it. Are you satisfied?" + +"My dear benefactor! This is what I expected from you--I knew your +kindness!" He turned to go. + +"Wait--just a word! When he has been transferred to the Guards..." she +faltered. "You are on good terms with Michael Ilarionovich Kutuzov... +recommend Boris to him as adjutant! Then I shall be at rest, and +then..." + +Prince Vasili smiled. + +"No, I won't promise that. You don't know how Kutuzov is pestered since +his appointment as Commander in Chief. He told me himself that all the +Moscow ladies have conspired to give him all their sons as adjutants." + +"No, but do promise! I won't let you go! My dear benefactor..." + +"Papa," said his beautiful daughter in the same tone as before, "we +shall be late." + +"Well, au revoir! Good-bye! You hear her?" + +"Then tomorrow you will speak to the Emperor?" + +"Certainly; but about Kutuzov, I don't promise." + +"Do promise, do promise, Vasili!" cried Anna Mikhaylovna as he went, +with the smile of a coquettish girl, which at one time probably came +naturally to her, but was now very ill-suited to her careworn face. + +Apparently she had forgotten her age and by force of habit employed all +the old feminine arts. But as soon as the prince had gone her face +resumed its former cold, artificial expression. She returned to the +group where the vicomte was still talking, and again pretended to +listen, while waiting till it would be time to leave. Her task was +accomplished. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"And what do you think of this latest comedy, the coronation at Milan?" +asked Anna Pavlovna, "and of the comedy of the people of Genoa and Lucca +laying their petitions before Monsieur Buonaparte, and Monsieur +Buonaparte sitting on a throne and granting the petitions of the +nations? Adorable! It is enough to make one's head whirl! It is as if +the whole world had gone crazy." + +Prince Andrew looked Anna Pavlovna straight in the face with a sarcastic +smile. + +"'Dieu me la donne, gare a qui la touche!' * They say he was very fine +when he said that," he remarked, repeating the words in Italian: "'Dio +mi l'ha dato. Guai a chi la tocchi!'" + + +* God has given it to me, let him who touches it beware! + +"I hope this will prove the last drop that will make the glass run +over," Anna Pavlovna continued. "The sovereigns will not be able to +endure this man who is a menace to everything." + +"The sovereigns? I do not speak of Russia," said the vicomte, polite but +hopeless: "The sovereigns, madame... What have they done for Louis XVII, +for the Queen, or for Madame Elizabeth? Nothing!" and he became more +animated. "And believe me, they are reaping the reward of their betrayal +of the Bourbon cause. The sovereigns! Why, they are sending ambassadors +to compliment the usurper." + +And sighing disdainfully, he again changed his position. + +Prince Hippolyte, who had been gazing at the vicomte for some time +through his lorgnette, suddenly turned completely round toward the +little princess, and having asked for a needle began tracing the Conde +coat of arms on the table. He explained this to her with as much gravity +as if she had asked him to do it. + +"Baton de gueules, engrele de gueules d'azur--maison Conde," said he. + +The princess listened, smiling. + +"If Buonaparte remains on the throne of France a year longer," the +vicomte continued, with the air of a man who, in a matter with which he +is better acquainted than anyone else, does not listen to others but +follows the current of his own thoughts, "things will have gone too far. +By intrigues, violence, exile, and executions, French society--I mean +good French society--will have been forever destroyed, and then..." + +He shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands. Pierre wished to +make a remark, for the conversation interested him, but Anna Pavlovna, +who had him under observation, interrupted: + +"The Emperor Alexander," said she, with the melancholy which always +accompanied any reference of hers to the Imperial family, "has declared +that he will leave it to the French people themselves to choose their +own form of government; and I believe that once free from the usurper, +the whole nation will certainly throw itself into the arms of its +rightful king," she concluded, trying to be amiable to the royalist +emigrant. + +"That is doubtful," said Prince Andrew. "Monsieur le Vicomte quite +rightly supposes that matters have already gone too far. I think it will +be difficult to return to the old regime." + +"From what I have heard," said Pierre, blushing and breaking into the +conversation, "almost all the aristocracy has already gone over to +Bonaparte's side." + +"It is the Buonapartists who say that," replied the vicomte without +looking at Pierre. "At the present time it is difficult to know the real +state of French public opinion." + +"Bonaparte has said so," remarked Prince Andrew with a sarcastic smile. + +It was evident that he did not like the vicomte and was aiming his +remarks at him, though without looking at him. + +"'I showed them the path to glory, but they did not follow it,'" Prince +Andrew continued after a short silence, again quoting Napoleon's words. +"'I opened my antechambers and they crowded in.' I do not know how far +he was justified in saying so." + +"Not in the least," replied the vicomte. "After the murder of the duc +even the most partial ceased to regard him as a hero. If to some +people," he went on, turning to Anna Pavlovna, "he ever was a hero, +after the murder of the duc there was one martyr more in heaven and one +hero less on earth." + +Before Anna Pavlovna and the others had time to smile their appreciation +of the vicomte's epigram, Pierre again broke into the conversation, and +though Anna Pavlovna felt sure he would say something inappropriate, she +was unable to stop him. + +"The execution of the Duc d'Enghien," declared Monsieur Pierre, "was a +political necessity, and it seems to me that Napoleon showed greatness +of soul by not fearing to take on himself the whole responsibility of +that deed." + +"Dieu! Mon Dieu!" muttered Anna Pavlovna in a terrified whisper. + +"What, Monsieur Pierre... Do you consider that assassination shows +greatness of soul?" said the little princess, smiling and drawing her +work nearer to her. + +"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed several voices. + +"Capital!" said Prince Hippolyte in English, and began slapping his knee +with the palm of his hand. + +The vicomte merely shrugged his shoulders. Pierre looked solemnly at his +audience over his spectacles and continued. + +"I say so," he continued desperately, "because the Bourbons fled from +the Revolution leaving the people to anarchy, and Napoleon alone +understood the Revolution and quelled it, and so for the general good, +he could not stop short for the sake of one man's life." + +"Won't you come over to the other table?" suggested Anna Pavlovna. + +But Pierre continued his speech without heeding her. + +"No," cried he, becoming more and more eager, "Napoleon is great because +he rose superior to the Revolution, suppressed its abuses, preserved all +that was good in it--equality of citizenship and freedom of speech and +of the press--and only for that reason did he obtain power." + +"Yes, if having obtained power, without availing himself of it to commit +murder he had restored it to the rightful king, I should have called him +a great man," remarked the vicomte. + +"He could not do that. The people only gave him power that he might rid +them of the Bourbons and because they saw that he was a great man. The +Revolution was a grand thing!" continued Monsieur Pierre, betraying by +this desperate and provocative proposition his extreme youth and his +wish to express all that was in his mind. + +"What? Revolution and regicide a grand thing?... Well, after that... But +won't you come to this other table?" repeated Anna Pavlovna. + +"Rousseau's Contrat Social," said the vicomte with a tolerant smile. + +"I am not speaking of regicide, I am speaking about ideas." + +"Yes: ideas of robbery, murder, and regicide," again interjected an +ironical voice. + +"Those were extremes, no doubt, but they are not what is most important. +What is important are the rights of man, emancipation from prejudices, +and equality of citizenship, and all these ideas Napoleon has retained +in full force." + +"Liberty and equality," said the vicomte contemptuously, as if at last +deciding seriously to prove to this youth how foolish his words were, +"high-sounding words which have long been discredited. Who does not love +liberty and equality? Even our Saviour preached liberty and equality. +Have people since the Revolution become happier? On the contrary. We +wanted liberty, but Buonaparte has destroyed it." + +Prince Andrew kept looking with an amused smile from Pierre to the +vicomte and from the vicomte to their hostess. In the first moment of +Pierre's outburst Anna Pavlovna, despite her social experience, was +horror-struck. But when she saw that Pierre's sacrilegious words had not +exasperated the vicomte, and had convinced herself that it was +impossible to stop him, she rallied her forces and joined the vicomte in +a vigorous attack on the orator. + +"But, my dear Monsieur Pierre," said she, "how do you explain the fact +of a great man executing a duc--or even an ordinary man who--is innocent +and untried?" + +"I should like," said the vicomte, "to ask how monsieur explains the +18th Brumaire; was not that an imposture? It was a swindle, and not at +all like the conduct of a great man!" + +"And the prisoners he killed in Africa? That was horrible!" said the +little princess, shrugging her shoulders. + +"He's a low fellow, say what you will," remarked Prince Hippolyte. + +Pierre, not knowing whom to answer, looked at them all and smiled. His +smile was unlike the half-smile of other people. When he smiled, his +grave, even rather gloomy, look was instantaneously replaced by another- +-a childlike, kindly, even rather silly look, which seemed to ask +forgiveness. + +The vicomte who was meeting him for the first time saw clearly that this +young Jacobin was not so terrible as his words suggested. All were +silent. + +"How do you expect him to answer you all at once?" said Prince Andrew. +"Besides, in the actions of a statesman one has to distinguish between +his acts as a private person, as a general, and as an emperor. So it +seems to me." + +"Yes, yes, of course!" Pierre chimed in, pleased at the arrival of this +reinforcement. + +"One must admit," continued Prince Andrew, "that Napoleon as a man was +great on the bridge of Arcola, and in the hospital at Jaffa where he +gave his hand to the plague-stricken; but... but there are other acts +which it is difficult to justify." + +Prince Andrew, who had evidently wished to tone down the awkwardness of +Pierre's remarks, rose and made a sign to his wife that it was time to +go. + +Suddenly Prince Hippolyte started up making signs to everyone to attend, +and asking them all to be seated began: + +"I was told a charming Moscow story today and must treat you to it. +Excuse me, Vicomte--I must tell it in Russian or the point will be +lost...." And Prince Hippolyte began to tell his story in such Russian +as a Frenchman would speak after spending about a year in Russia. +Everyone waited, so emphatically and eagerly did he demand their +attention to his story. + +"There is in Moscow a lady, une dame, and she is very stingy. She must +have two footmen behind her carriage, and very big ones. That was her +taste. And she had a lady's maid, also big. She said..." + +Here Prince Hippolyte paused, evidently collecting his ideas with +difficulty. + +"She said... Oh yes! She said, 'Girl,' to the maid, 'put on a livery, +get up behind the carriage, and come with me while I make some calls.'" + +Here Prince Hippolyte spluttered and burst out laughing long before his +audience, which produced an effect unfavorable to the narrator. Several +persons, among them the elderly lady and Anna Pavlovna, did however +smile. + +"She went. Suddenly there was a great wind. The girl lost her hat and +her long hair came down...." Here he could contain himself no longer and +went on, between gasps of laughter: "And the whole world knew...." + +And so the anecdote ended. Though it was unintelligible why he had told +it, or why it had to be told in Russian, still Anna Pavlovna and the +others appreciated Prince Hippolyte's social tact in so agreeably ending +Pierre's unpleasant and unamiable outburst. After the anecdote the +conversation broke up into insignificant small talk about the last and +next balls, about theatricals, and who would meet whom, and when and +where. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Having thanked Anna Pavlovna for her charming soiree, the guests began +to take their leave. + +Pierre was ungainly. Stout, about the average height, broad, with huge +red hands; he did not know, as the saying is, how to enter a drawing +room and still less how to leave one; that is, how to say something +particularly agreeable before going away. Besides this he was absent- +minded. When he rose to go, he took up instead of his own, the general's +three-cornered hat, and held it, pulling at the plume, till the general +asked him to restore it. All his absent-mindedness and inability to +enter a room and converse in it was, however, redeemed by his kindly, +simple, and modest expression. Anna Pavlovna turned toward him and, with +a Christian mildness that expressed forgiveness of his indiscretion, +nodded and said: "I hope to see you again, but I also hope you will +change your opinions, my dear Monsieur Pierre." + +When she said this, he did not reply and only bowed, but again everybody +saw his smile, which said nothing, unless perhaps, "Opinions are +opinions, but you see what a capital, good-natured fellow I am." And +everyone, including Anna Pavlovna, felt this. + +Prince Andrew had gone out into the hall, and, turning his shoulders to +the footman who was helping him on with his cloak, listened +indifferently to his wife's chatter with Prince Hippolyte who had also +come into the hall. Prince Hippolyte stood close to the pretty, pregnant +princess, and stared fixedly at her through his eyeglass. + +"Go in, Annette, or you will catch cold," said the little princess, +taking leave of Anna Pavlovna. "It is settled," she added in a low +voice. + +Anna Pavlovna had already managed to speak to Lise about the match she +contemplated between Anatole and the little princess' sister-in-law. + +"I rely on you, my dear," said Anna Pavlovna, also in a low tone. "Write +to her and let me know how her father looks at the matter. Au revoir!"-- +and she left the hall. + +Prince Hippolyte approached the little princess and, bending his face +close to her, began to whisper something. + +Two footmen, the princess' and his own, stood holding a shawl and a +cloak, waiting for the conversation to finish. They listened to the +French sentences which to them were meaningless, with an air of +understanding but not wishing to appear to do so. The princess as usual +spoke smilingly and listened with a laugh. + +"I am very glad I did not go to the ambassador's," said Prince Hippolyte +"-so dull-. It has been a delightful evening, has it not? Delightful!" + +"They say the ball will be very good," replied the princess, drawing up +her downy little lip. "All the pretty women in society will be there." + +"Not all, for you will not be there; not all," said Prince Hippolyte +smiling joyfully; and snatching the shawl from the footman, whom he even +pushed aside, he began wrapping it round the princess. Either from +awkwardness or intentionally (no one could have said which) after the +shawl had been adjusted he kept his arm around her for a long time, as +though embracing her. + +Still smiling, she gracefully moved away, turning and glancing at her +husband. Prince Andrew's eyes were closed, so weary and sleepy did he +seem. + +"Are you ready?" he asked his wife, looking past her. + +Prince Hippolyte hurriedly put on his cloak, which in the latest fashion +reached to his very heels, and, stumbling in it, ran out into the porch +following the princess, whom a footman was helping into the carriage. + +"Princesse, au revoir," cried he, stumbling with his tongue as well as +with his feet. + +The princess, picking up her dress, was taking her seat in the dark +carriage, her husband was adjusting his saber; Prince Hippolyte, under +pretense of helping, was in everyone's way. + +"Allow me, sir," said Prince Andrew in Russian in a cold, disagreeable +tone to Prince Hippolyte who was blocking his path. + +"I am expecting you, Pierre," said the same voice, but gently and +affectionately. + +The postilion started, the carriage wheels rattled. Prince Hippolyte +laughed spasmodically as he stood in the porch waiting for the vicomte +whom he had promised to take home. + +"Well, mon cher," said the vicomte, having seated himself beside +Hippolyte in the carriage, "your little princess is very nice, very nice +indeed, quite French," and he kissed the tips of his fingers. Hippolyte +burst out laughing. + +"Do you know, you are a terrible chap for all your innocent airs," +continued the vicomte. "I pity the poor husband, that little officer who +gives himself the airs of a monarch." + +Hippolyte spluttered again, and amid his laughter said, "And you were +saying that the Russian ladies are not equal to the French? One has to +know how to deal with them." + +Pierre reaching the house first went into Prince Andrew's study like one +quite at home, and from habit immediately lay down on the sofa, took +from the shelf the first book that came to his hand (it was Caesar's +Commentaries), and resting on his elbow, began reading it in the middle. + +"What have you done to Mlle Scherer? She will be quite ill now," said +Prince Andrew, as he entered the study, rubbing his small white hands. + +Pierre turned his whole body, making the sofa creak. He lifted his eager +face to Prince Andrew, smiled, and waved his hand. + +"That abbe is very interesting but he does not see the thing in the +right light.... In my opinion perpetual peace is possible but--I do not +know how to express it... not by a balance of political power...." + +It was evident that Prince Andrew was not interested in such abstract +conversation. + +"One can't everywhere say all one thinks, mon cher. Well, have you at +last decided on anything? Are you going to be a guardsman or a +diplomatist?" asked Prince Andrew after a momentary silence. + +Pierre sat up on the sofa, with his legs tucked under him. + +"Really, I don't yet know. I don't like either the one or the other." + +"But you must decide on something! Your father expects it." + +Pierre at the age of ten had been sent abroad with an abbe as tutor, and +had remained away till he was twenty. When he returned to Moscow his +father dismissed the abbe and said to the young man, "Now go to +Petersburg, look round, and choose your profession. I will agree to +anything. Here is a letter to Prince Vasili, and here is money. Write to +me all about it, and I will help you in everything." Pierre had already +been choosing a career for three months, and had not decided on +anything. It was about this choice that Prince Andrew was speaking. +Pierre rubbed his forehead. + +"But he must be a Freemason," said he, referring to the abbe whom he had +met that evening. + +"That is all nonsense." Prince Andrew again interrupted him, "let us +talk business. Have you been to the Horse Guards?" + +"No, I have not; but this is what I have been thinking and wanted to +tell you. There is a war now against Napoleon. If it were a war for +freedom I could understand it and should be the first to enter the army; +but to help England and Austria against the greatest man in the world is +not right." + +Prince Andrew only shrugged his shoulders at Pierre's childish words. He +put on the air of one who finds it impossible to reply to such nonsense, +but it would in fact have been difficult to give any other answer than +the one Prince Andrew gave to this naive question. + +"If no one fought except on his own conviction, there would be no wars," +he said. + +"And that would be splendid," said Pierre. + +Prince Andrew smiled ironically. + +"Very likely it would be splendid, but it will never come about..." + +"Well, why are you going to the war?" asked Pierre. + +"What for? I don't know. I must. Besides that I am going..." He paused. +"I am going because the life I am leading here does not suit me!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The rustle of a woman's dress was heard in the next room. Prince Andrew +shook himself as if waking up, and his face assumed the look it had had +in Anna Pavlovna's drawing room. Pierre removed his feet from the sofa. +The princess came in. She had changed her gown for a house dress as +fresh and elegant as the other. Prince Andrew rose and politely placed a +chair for her. + +"How is it," she began, as usual in French, settling down briskly and +fussily in the easy chair, "how is it Annette never got married? How +stupid you men all are not to have married her! Excuse me for saying so, +but you have no sense about women. What an argumentative fellow you are, +Monsieur Pierre!" + +"And I am still arguing with your husband. I can't understand why he +wants to go to the war," replied Pierre, addressing the princess with +none of the embarrassment so commonly shown by young men in their +intercourse with young women. + +The princess started. Evidently Pierre's words touched her to the quick. + +"Ah, that is just what I tell him!" said she. "I don't understand it; I +don't in the least understand why men can't live without wars. How is it +that we women don't want anything of the kind, don't need it? Now you +shall judge between us. I always tell him: Here he is Uncle's aide-de- +camp, a most brilliant position. He is so well known, so much +appreciated by everyone. The other day at the Apraksins' I heard a lady +asking, 'Is that the famous Prince Andrew?' I did indeed." She laughed. +"He is so well received everywhere. He might easily become aide-de-camp +to the Emperor. You know the Emperor spoke to him most graciously. +Annette and I were speaking of how to arrange it. What do you think?" + +Pierre looked at his friend and, noticing that he did not like the +conversation, gave no reply. + +"When are you starting?" he asked. + +"Oh, don't speak of his going, don't! I won't hear it spoken of," said +the princess in the same petulantly playful tone in which she had spoken +to Hippolyte in the drawing room and which was so plainly ill-suited to +the family circle of which Pierre was almost a member. "Today when I +remembered that all these delightful associations must be broken off... +and then you know, Andre..." (she looked significantly at her husband) +"I'm afraid, I'm afraid!" she whispered, and a shudder ran down her +back. + +Her husband looked at her as if surprised to notice that someone besides +Pierre and himself was in the room, and addressed her in a tone of +frigid politeness. + +"What is it you are afraid of, Lise? I don't understand," said he. + +"There, what egotists men all are: all, all egotists! Just for a whim of +his own, goodness only knows why, he leaves me and locks me up alone in +the country." + +"With my father and sister, remember," said Prince Andrew gently. + +"Alone all the same, without my friends.... And he expects me not to be +afraid." + +Her tone was now querulous and her lip drawn up, giving her not a +joyful, but an animal, squirrel-like expression. She paused as if she +felt it indecorous to speak of her pregnancy before Pierre, though the +gist of the matter lay in that. + +"I still can't understand what you are afraid of," said Prince Andrew +slowly, not taking his eyes off his wife. + +The princess blushed, and raised her arms with a gesture of despair. + +"No, Andrew, I must say you have changed. Oh, how you have..." + +"Your doctor tells you to go to bed earlier," said Prince Andrew. "You +had better go." + +The princess said nothing, but suddenly her short downy lip quivered. +Prince Andrew rose, shrugged his shoulders, and walked about the room. + +Pierre looked over his spectacles with naive surprise, now at him and +now at her, moved as if about to rise too, but changed his mind. + +"Why should I mind Monsieur Pierre being here?" exclaimed the little +princess suddenly, her pretty face all at once distorted by a tearful +grimace. "I have long wanted to ask you, Andrew, why you have changed so +to me? What have I done to you? You are going to the war and have no +pity for me. Why is it?" + +"Lise!" was all Prince Andrew said. But that one word expressed an +entreaty, a threat, and above all conviction that she would herself +regret her words. But she went on hurriedly: + +"You treat me like an invalid or a child. I see it all! Did you behave +like that six months ago?" + +"Lise, I beg you to desist," said Prince Andrew still more emphatically. + +Pierre, who had been growing more and more agitated as he listened to +all this, rose and approached the princess. He seemed unable to bear the +sight of tears and was ready to cry himself. + +"Calm yourself, Princess! It seems so to you because... I assure you I +myself have experienced... and so... because... No, excuse me! An +outsider is out of place here... No, don't distress yourself... Good- +bye!" + +Prince Andrew caught him by the hand. + +"No, wait, Pierre! The princess is too kind to wish to deprive me of the +pleasure of spending the evening with you." + +"No, he thinks only of himself," muttered the princess without +restraining her angry tears. + +"Lise!" said Prince Andrew dryly, raising his voice to the pitch which +indicates that patience is exhausted. + +Suddenly the angry, squirrel-like expression of the princess' pretty +face changed into a winning and piteous look of fear. Her beautiful eyes +glanced askance at her husband's face, and her own assumed the timid, +deprecating expression of a dog when it rapidly but feebly wags its +drooping tail. + +"Mon Dieu, mon Dieu!" she muttered, and lifting her dress with one hand +she went up to her husband and kissed him on the forehead. + +"Good night, Lise," said he, rising and courteously kissing her hand as +he would have done to a stranger. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The friends were silent. Neither cared to begin talking. Pierre +continually glanced at Prince Andrew; Prince Andrew rubbed his forehead +with his small hand. + +"Let us go and have supper," he said with a sigh, going to the door. + +They entered the elegant, newly decorated, and luxurious dining room. +Everything from the table napkins to the silver, china, and glass bore +that imprint of newness found in the households of the newly married. +Halfway through supper Prince Andrew leaned his elbows on the table and, +with a look of nervous agitation such as Pierre had never before seen on +his face, began to talk--as one who has long had something on his mind +and suddenly determines to speak out. + +"Never, never marry, my dear fellow! That's my advice: never marry till +you can say to yourself that you have done all you are capable of, and +until you have ceased to love the woman of your choice and have seen her +plainly as she is, or else you will make a cruel and irrevocable +mistake. Marry when you are old and good for nothing--or all that is +good and noble in you will be lost. It will all be wasted on trifles. +Yes! Yes! Yes! Don't look at me with such surprise. If you marry +expecting anything from yourself in the future, you will feel at every +step that for you all is ended, all is closed except the drawing room, +where you will be ranged side by side with a court lackey and an +idiot!... But what's the good?..." and he waved his arm. + +Pierre took off his spectacles, which made his face seem different and +the good-natured expression still more apparent, and gazed at his friend +in amazement. + +"My wife," continued Prince Andrew, "is an excellent woman, one of those +rare women with whom a man's honor is safe; but, O God, what would I not +give now to be unmarried! You are the first and only one to whom I +mention this, because I like you." + +As he said this Prince Andrew was less than ever like that Bolkonski who +had lolled in Anna Pavlovna's easy chairs and with half-closed eyes had +uttered French phrases between his teeth. Every muscle of his thin face +was now quivering with nervous excitement; his eyes, in which the fire +of life had seemed extinguished, now flashed with brilliant light. It +was evident that the more lifeless he seemed at ordinary times, the more +impassioned he became in these moments of almost morbid irritation. + +"You don't understand why I say this," he continued, "but it is the +whole story of life. You talk of Bonaparte and his career," said he +(though Pierre had not mentioned Bonaparte), "but Bonaparte when he +worked went step by step toward his goal. He was free, he had nothing +but his aim to consider, and he reached it. But tie yourself up with a +woman and, like a chained convict, you lose all freedom! And all you +have of hope and strength merely weighs you down and torments you with +regret. Drawing rooms, gossip, balls, vanity, and triviality--these are +the enchanted circle I cannot escape from. I am now going to the war, +the greatest war there ever was, and I know nothing and am fit for +nothing. I am very amiable and have a caustic wit," continued Prince +Andrew, "and at Anna Pavlovna's they listen to me. And that stupid set +without whom my wife cannot exist, and those women... If you only knew +what those society women are, and women in general! My father is right. +Selfish, vain, stupid, trivial in everything--that's what women are when +you see them in their true colors! When you meet them in society it +seems as if there were something in them, but there's nothing, nothing, +nothing! No, don't marry, my dear fellow; don't marry!" concluded Prince +Andrew. + +"It seems funny to me," said Pierre, "that you, you should consider +yourself incapable and your life a spoiled life. You have everything +before you, everything. And you..." + +He did not finish his sentence, but his tone showed how highly he +thought of his friend and how much he expected of him in the future. + +"How can he talk like that?" thought Pierre. He considered his friend a +model of perfection because Prince Andrew possessed in the highest +degree just the very qualities Pierre lacked, and which might be best +described as strength of will. Pierre was always astonished at Prince +Andrew's calm manner of treating everybody, his extraordinary memory, +his extensive reading (he had read everything, knew everything, and had +an opinion about everything), but above all at his capacity for work and +study. And if Pierre was often struck by Andrew's lack of capacity for +philosophical meditation (to which he himself was particularly +addicted), he regarded even this not as a defect but as a sign of +strength. + +Even in the best, most friendly and simplest relations of life, praise +and commendation are essential, just as grease is necessary to wheels +that they may run smoothly. + +"My part is played out," said Prince Andrew. "What's the use of talking +about me? Let us talk about you," he added after a silence, smiling at +his reassuring thoughts. + +That smile was immediately reflected on Pierre's face. + +"But what is there to say about me?" said Pierre, his face relaxing into +a careless, merry smile. "What am I? An illegitimate son!" He suddenly +blushed crimson, and it was plain that he had made a great effort to say +this. "Without a name and without means... And it really..." But he did +not say what "it really" was. "For the present I am free and am all +right. Only I haven't the least idea what I am to do; I wanted to +consult you seriously." + +Prince Andrew looked kindly at him, yet his glance--friendly and +affectionate as it was--expressed a sense of his own superiority. + +"I am fond of you, especially as you are the one live man among our +whole set. Yes, you're all right! Choose what you will; it's all the +same. You'll be all right anywhere. But look here: give up visiting +those Kuragins and leading that sort of life. It suits you so badly--all +this debauchery, dissipation, and the rest of it!" + +"What would you have, my dear fellow?" answered Pierre, shrugging his +shoulders. "Women, my dear fellow; women!" + +"I don't understand it," replied Prince Andrew. "Women who are comme il +faut, that's a different matter; but the Kuragins' set of women, 'women +and wine' I don't understand!" + +Pierre was staying at Prince Vasili Kuragin's and sharing the dissipated +life of his son Anatole, the son whom they were planning to reform by +marrying him to Prince Andrew's sister. + +"Do you know?" said Pierre, as if suddenly struck by a happy thought, +"seriously, I have long been thinking of it.... Leading such a life I +can't decide or think properly about anything. One's head aches, and one +spends all one's money. He asked me for tonight, but I won't go." + +"You give me your word of honor not to go?" + +"On my honor!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +It was past one o'clock when Pierre left his friend. It was a cloudless, +northern, summer night. Pierre took an open cab intending to drive +straight home. But the nearer he drew to the house the more he felt the +impossibility of going to sleep on such a night. It was light enough to +see a long way in the deserted street and it seemed more like morning or +evening than night. On the way Pierre remembered that Anatole Kuragin +was expecting the usual set for cards that evening, after which there +was generally a drinking bout, finishing with visits of a kind Pierre +was very fond of. + +"I should like to go to Kuragin's," thought he. + +But he immediately recalled his promise to Prince Andrew not to go +there. Then, as happens to people of weak character, he desired so +passionately once more to enjoy that dissipation he was so accustomed to +that he decided to go. The thought immediately occurred to him that his +promise to Prince Andrew was of no account, because before he gave it he +had already promised Prince Anatole to come to his gathering; "besides," +thought he, "all such 'words of honor' are conventional things with no +definite meaning, especially if one considers that by tomorrow one may +be dead, or something so extraordinary may happen to one that honor and +dishonor will be all the same!" Pierre often indulged in reflections of +this sort, nullifying all his decisions and intentions. He went to +Kuragin's. + +Reaching the large house near the Horse Guards' barracks, in which +Anatole lived, Pierre entered the lighted porch, ascended the stairs, +and went in at the open door. There was no one in the anteroom; empty +bottles, cloaks, and overshoes were lying about; there was a smell of +alcohol, and sounds of voices and shouting in the distance. + +Cards and supper were over, but the visitors had not yet dispersed. +Pierre threw off his cloak and entered the first room, in which were the +remains of supper. A footman, thinking no one saw him, was drinking on +the sly what was left in the glasses. From the third room came sounds of +laughter, the shouting of familiar voices, the growling of a bear, and +general commotion. Some eight or nine young men were crowding anxiously +round an open window. Three others were romping with a young bear, one +pulling him by the chain and trying to set him at the others. + +"I bet a hundred on Stevens!" shouted one. + +"Mind, no holding on!" cried another. + +"I bet on Dolokhov!" cried a third. "Kuragin, you part our hands." + +"There, leave Bruin alone; here's a bet on." + +"At one draught, or he loses!" shouted a fourth. + +"Jacob, bring a bottle!" shouted the host, a tall, handsome fellow who +stood in the midst of the group, without a coat, and with his fine linen +shirt unfastened in front. "Wait a bit, you fellows.... Here is Petya! +Good man!" cried he, addressing Pierre. + +Another voice, from a man of medium height with clear blue eyes, +particularly striking among all these drunken voices by its sober ring, +cried from the window: "Come here; part the bets!" This was Dolokhov, an +officer of the Semenov regiment, a notorious gambler and duelist, who +was living with Anatole. Pierre smiled, looking about him merrily. + +"I don't understand. What's it all about?" + +"Wait a bit, he is not drunk yet! A bottle here," said Anatole, taking a +glass from the table he went up to Pierre. + +"First of all you must drink!" + +Pierre drank one glass after another, looking from under his brows at +the tipsy guests who were again crowding round the window, and listening +to their chatter. Anatole kept on refilling Pierre's glass while +explaining that Dolokhov was betting with Stevens, an English naval +officer, that he would drink a bottle of rum sitting on the outer ledge +of the third floor window with his legs hanging out. + +"Go on, you must drink it all," said Anatole, giving Pierre the last +glass, "or I won't let you go!" + +"No, I won't," said Pierre, pushing Anatole aside, and he went up to the +window. + +Dolokhov was holding the Englishman's hand and clearly and distinctly +repeating the terms of the bet, addressing himself particularly to +Anatole and Pierre. + +Dolokhov was of medium height, with curly hair and light-blue eyes. He +was about twenty-five. Like all infantry officers he wore no mustache, +so that his mouth, the most striking feature of his face, was clearly +seen. The lines of that mouth were remarkably finely curved. The middle +of the upper lip formed a sharp wedge and closed firmly on the firm +lower one, and something like two distinct smiles played continually +round the two corners of the mouth; this, together with the resolute, +insolent intelligence of his eyes, produced an effect which made it +impossible not to notice his face. Dolokhov was a man of small means and +no connections. Yet, though Anatole spent tens of thousands of rubles, +Dolokhov lived with him and had placed himself on such a footing that +all who knew them, including Anatole himself, respected him more than +they did Anatole. Dolokhov could play all games and nearly always won. +However much he drank, he never lost his clearheadedness. Both Kuragin +and Dolokhov were at that time notorious among the rakes and scapegraces +of Petersburg. + +The bottle of rum was brought. The window frame which prevented anyone +from sitting on the outer sill was being forced out by two footmen, who +were evidently flurried and intimidated by the directions and shouts of +the gentlemen around. + +Anatole with his swaggering air strode up to the window. He wanted to +smash something. Pushing away the footmen he tugged at the frame, but +could not move it. He smashed a pane. + +"You have a try, Hercules," said he, turning to Pierre. + +Pierre seized the crossbeam, tugged, and wrenched the oak frame out with +a crash. + +"Take it right out, or they'll think I'm holding on," said Dolokhov. + +"Is the Englishman bragging?... Eh? Is it all right?" said Anatole. + +"First-rate," said Pierre, looking at Dolokhov, who with a bottle of rum +in his hand was approaching the window, from which the light of the sky, +the dawn merging with the afterglow of sunset, was visible. + +Dolokhov, the bottle of rum still in his hand, jumped onto the window +sill. "Listen!" cried he, standing there and addressing those in the +room. All were silent. + +"I bet fifty imperials"--he spoke French that the Englishman might +understand him, but he did not speak it very well--"I bet fifty +imperials... or do you wish to make it a hundred?" added he, addressing +the Englishman. + +"No, fifty," replied the latter. + +"All right. Fifty imperials... that I will drink a whole bottle of rum +without taking it from my mouth, sitting outside the window on this +spot" (he stooped and pointed to the sloping ledge outside the window) +"and without holding on to anything. Is that right?" + +"Quite right," said the Englishman. + +Anatole turned to the Englishman and taking him by one of the buttons of +his coat and looking down at him--the Englishman was short--began +repeating the terms of the wager to him in English. + +"Wait!" cried Dolokhov, hammering with the bottle on the window sill to +attract attention. "Wait a bit, Kuragin. Listen! If anyone else does the +same, I will pay him a hundred imperials. Do you understand?" + +The Englishman nodded, but gave no indication whether he intended to +accept this challenge or not. Anatole did not release him, and though he +kept nodding to show that he understood, Anatole went on translating +Dolokhov's words into English. A thin young lad, an hussar of the Life +Guards, who had been losing that evening, climbed on the window sill, +leaned over, and looked down. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" he muttered, looking down from the window at the stones of +the pavement. + +"Shut up!" cried Dolokhov, pushing him away from the window. The lad +jumped awkwardly back into the room, tripping over his spurs. + +Placing the bottle on the window sill where he could reach it easily, +Dolokhov climbed carefully and slowly through the window and lowered his +legs. Pressing against both sides of the window, he adjusted himself on +his seat, lowered his hands, moved a little to the right and then to the +left, and took up the bottle. Anatole brought two candles and placed +them on the window sill, though it was already quite light. Dolokhov's +back in his white shirt, and his curly head, were lit up from both +sides. Everyone crowded to the window, the Englishman in front. Pierre +stood smiling but silent. One man, older than the others present, +suddenly pushed forward with a scared and angry look and wanted to seize +hold of Dolokhov's shirt. + +"I say, this is folly! He'll be killed," said this more sensible man. + +Anatole stopped him. + +"Don't touch him! You'll startle him and then he'll be killed. Eh?... +What then?... Eh?" + +Dolokhov turned round and, again holding on with both hands, arranged +himself on his seat. + +"If anyone comes meddling again," said he, emitting the words separately +through his thin compressed lips, "I will throw him down there. Now +then!" + +Saying this he again turned round, dropped his hands, took the bottle +and lifted it to his lips, threw back his head, and raised his free hand +to balance himself. One of the footmen who had stooped to pick up some +broken glass remained in that position without taking his eyes from the +window and from Dolokhov's back. Anatole stood erect with staring eyes. +The Englishman looked on sideways, pursing up his lips. The man who had +wished to stop the affair ran to a corner of the room and threw himself +on a sofa with his face to the wall. Pierre hid his face, from which a +faint smile forgot to fade though his features now expressed horror and +fear. All were still. Pierre took his hands from his eyes. Dolokhov +still sat in the same position, only his head was thrown further back +till his curly hair touched his shirt collar, and the hand holding the +bottle was lifted higher and higher and trembled with the effort. The +bottle was emptying perceptibly and rising still higher and his head +tilting yet further back. "Why is it so long?" thought Pierre. It seemed +to him that more than half an hour had elapsed. Suddenly Dolokhov made a +backward movement with his spine, and his arm trembled nervously; this +was sufficient to cause his whole body to slip as he sat on the sloping +ledge. As he began slipping down, his head and arm wavered still more +with the strain. One hand moved as if to clutch the window sill, but +refrained from touching it. Pierre again covered his eyes and thought he +would never open them again. Suddenly he was aware of a stir all around. +He looked up: Dolokhov was standing on the window sill, with a pale but +radiant face. + +"It's empty." + +He threw the bottle to the Englishman, who caught it neatly. Dolokhov +jumped down. He smelt strongly of rum. + +"Well done!... Fine fellow!... There's a bet for you!... Devil take +you!" came from different sides. + +The Englishman took out his purse and began counting out the money. +Dolokhov stood frowning and did not speak. Pierre jumped upon the window +sill. + +"Gentlemen, who wishes to bet with me? I'll do the same thing!" he +suddenly cried. "Even without a bet, there! Tell them to bring me a +bottle. I'll do it.... Bring a bottle!" + +"Let him do it, let him do it," said Dolokhov, smiling. + +"What next? Have you gone mad?... No one would let you!... Why, you go +giddy even on a staircase," exclaimed several voices. + +"I'll drink it! Let's have a bottle of rum!" shouted Pierre, banging the +table with a determined and drunken gesture and preparing to climb out +of the window. + +They seized him by his arms; but he was so strong that everyone who +touched him was sent flying. + +"No, you'll never manage him that way," said Anatole. "Wait a bit and +I'll get round him.... Listen! I'll take your bet tomorrow, but now we +are all going to ----'s." + +"Come on then," cried Pierre. "Come on!... And we'll take Bruin with +us." + +And he caught the bear, took it in his arms, lifted it from the ground, +and began dancing round the room with it. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Prince Vasili kept the promise he had given to Princess Drubetskaya who +had spoken to him on behalf of her only son Boris on the evening of Anna +Pavlovna's soiree. The matter was mentioned to the Emperor, an exception +made, and Boris transferred into the regiment of Semenov Guards with the +rank of cornet. He received, however, no appointment to Kutuzov's staff +despite all Anna Mikhaylovna's endeavors and entreaties. Soon after Anna +Pavlovna's reception Anna Mikhaylovna returned to Moscow and went +straight to her rich relations, the Rostovs, with whom she stayed when +in the town and where her darling Bory, who had only just entered a +regiment of the line and was being at once transferred to the Guards as +a cornet, had been educated from childhood and lived for years at a +time. The Guards had already left Petersburg on the tenth of August, and +her son, who had remained in Moscow for his equipment, was to join them +on the march to Radzivilov. + +It was St. Natalia's day and the name day of two of the Rostovs--the +mother and the youngest daughter--both named Nataly. Ever since the +morning, carriages with six horses had been coming and going +continually, bringing visitors to the Countess Rostova's big house on +the Povarskaya, so well known to all Moscow. The countess herself and +her handsome eldest daughter were in the drawing-room with the visitors +who came to congratulate, and who constantly succeeded one another in +relays. + +The countess was a woman of about forty-five, with a thin Oriental type +of face, evidently worn out with childbearing--she had had twelve. A +languor of motion and speech, resulting from weakness, gave her a +distinguished air which inspired respect. Princess Anna Mikhaylovna +Drubetskaya, who as a member of the household was also seated in the +drawing room, helped to receive and entertain the visitors. The young +people were in one of the inner rooms, not considering it necessary to +take part in receiving the visitors. The count met the guests and saw +them off, inviting them all to dinner. + +"I am very, very grateful to you, mon cher," or "ma chere"--he called +everyone without exception and without the slightest variation in his +tone, "my dear," whether they were above or below him in rank--"I thank +you for myself and for our two dear ones whose name day we are keeping. +But mind you come to dinner or I shall be offended, ma chere! On behalf +of the whole family I beg you to come, mon cher!" These words he +repeated to everyone without exception or variation, and with the same +expression on his full, cheerful, clean-shaven face, the same firm +pressure of the hand and the same quick, repeated bows. As soon as he +had seen a visitor off he returned to one of those who were still in the +drawing room, drew a chair toward him or her, and jauntily spreading out +his legs and putting his hands on his knees with the air of a man who +enjoys life and knows how to live, he swayed to and fro with dignity, +offered surmises about the weather, or touched on questions of health, +sometimes in Russian and sometimes in very bad but self-confident +French; then again, like a man weary but unflinching in the fulfillment +of duty, he rose to see some visitors off and, stroking his scanty gray +hairs over his bald patch, also asked them to dinner. Sometimes on his +way back from the anteroom he would pass through the conservatory and +pantry into the large marble dining hall, where tables were being set +out for eighty people; and looking at the footmen, who were bringing in +silver and china, moving tables, and unfolding damask table linen, he +would call Dmitri Vasilevich, a man of good family and the manager of +all his affairs, and while looking with pleasure at the enormous table +would say: "Well, Dmitri, you'll see that things are all as they should +be? That's right! The great thing is the serving, that's it." And with a +complacent sigh he would return to the drawing room. + +"Marya Lvovna Karagina and her daughter!" announced the countess' +gigantic footman in his bass voice, entering the drawing room. The +countess reflected a moment and took a pinch from a gold snuffbox with +her husband's portrait on it. + +"I'm quite worn out by these callers. However, I'll see her and no more. +She is so affected. Ask her in," she said to the footman in a sad voice, +as if saying: "Very well, finish me off." + +A tall, stout, and proud-looking woman, with a round-faced smiling +daughter, entered the drawing room, their dresses rustling. + +"Dear Countess, what an age... She has been laid up, poor child... at +the Razumovski's ball... and Countess Apraksina... I was so +delighted..." came the sounds of animated feminine voices, interrupting +one another and mingling with the rustling of dresses and the scraping +of chairs. Then one of those conversations began which last out until, +at the first pause, the guests rise with a rustle of dresses and say, "I +am so delighted... Mamma's health... and Countess Apraksina..." and +then, again rustling, pass into the anteroom, put on cloaks or mantles, +and drive away. The conversation was on the chief topic of the day: the +illness of the wealthy and celebrated beau of Catherine's day, Count +Bezukhov, and about his illegitimate son Pierre, the one who had behaved +so improperly at Anna Pavlovna's reception. + +"I am so sorry for the poor count," said the visitor. "He is in such bad +health, and now this vexation about his son is enough to kill him!" + +"What is that?" asked the countess as if she did not know what the +visitor alluded to, though she had already heard about the cause of +Count Bezukhov's distress some fifteen times. + +"That's what comes of a modern education," exclaimed the visitor. "It +seems that while he was abroad this young man was allowed to do as he +liked, now in Petersburg I hear he has been doing such terrible things +that he has been expelled by the police." + +"You don't say so!" replied the countess. + +"He chose his friends badly," interposed Anna Mikhaylovna. "Prince +Vasili's son, he, and a certain Dolokhov have, it is said, been up to +heaven only knows what! And they have had to suffer for it. Dolokhov has +been degraded to the ranks and Bezukhov's son sent back to Moscow. +Anatole Kuragin's father managed somehow to get his son's affair hushed +up, but even he was ordered out of Petersburg." + +"But what have they been up to?" asked the countess. + +"They are regular brigands, especially Dolokhov," replied the visitor. +"He is a son of Marya Ivanovna Dolokhova, such a worthy woman, but +there, just fancy! Those three got hold of a bear somewhere, put it in a +carriage, and set off with it to visit some actresses! The police tried +to interfere, and what did the young men do? They tied a policeman and +the bear back to back and put the bear into the Moyka Canal. And there +was the bear swimming about with the policeman on his back!" + +"What a nice figure the policeman must have cut, my dear!" shouted the +count, dying with laughter. + +"Oh, how dreadful! How can you laugh at it, Count?" + +Yet the ladies themselves could not help laughing. + +"It was all they could do to rescue the poor man," continued the +visitor. "And to think it is Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov's son who +amuses himself in this sensible manner! And he was said to be so well +educated and clever. This is all that his foreign education has done for +him! I hope that here in Moscow no one will receive him, in spite of his +money. They wanted to introduce him to me, but I quite declined: I have +my daughters to consider." + +"Why do you say this young man is so rich?" asked the countess, turning +away from the girls, who at once assumed an air of inattention. "His +children are all illegitimate. I think Pierre also is illegitimate." + +The visitor made a gesture with her hand. + +"I should think he has a score of them." + +Princess Anna Mikhaylovna intervened in the conversation, evidently +wishing to show her connections and knowledge of what went on in +society. + +"The fact of the matter is," said she significantly, and also in a half +whisper, "everyone knows Count Cyril's reputation.... He has lost count +of his children, but this Pierre was his favorite." + +"How handsome the old man still was only a year ago!" remarked the +countess. "I have never seen a handsomer man." + +"He is very much altered now," said Anna Mikhaylovna. "Well, as I was +saying, Prince Vasili is the next heir through his wife, but the count +is very fond of Pierre, looked after his education, and wrote to the +Emperor about him; so that in the case of his death--and he is so ill +that he may die at any moment, and Dr. Lorrain has come from Petersburg- +-no one knows who will inherit his immense fortune, Pierre or Prince +Vasili. Forty thousand serfs and millions of rubles! I know it all very +well for Prince Vasili told me himself. Besides, Cyril Vladimirovich is +my mother's second cousin. He's also my Bory's godfather," she added, as +if she attached no importance at all to the fact. + +"Prince Vasili arrived in Moscow yesterday. I hear he has come on some +inspection business," remarked the visitor. + +"Yes, but between ourselves," said the princess, "that is a pretext. The +fact is he has come to see Count Cyril Vladimirovich, hearing how ill he +is." + +"But do you know, my dear, that was a capital joke," said the count; and +seeing that the elder visitor was not listening, he turned to the young +ladies. "I can just imagine what a funny figure that policeman cut!" + +And as he waved his arms to impersonate the policeman, his portly form +again shook with a deep ringing laugh, the laugh of one who always eats +well and, in particular, drinks well. "So do come and dine with us!" he +said. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Silence ensued. The countess looked at her callers, smiling affably, but +not concealing the fact that she would not be distressed if they now +rose and took their leave. The visitor's daughter was already smoothing +down her dress with an inquiring look at her mother, when suddenly from +the next room were heard the footsteps of boys and girls running to the +door and the noise of a chair falling over, and a girl of thirteen, +hiding something in the folds of her short muslin frock, darted in and +stopped short in the middle of the room. It was evident that she had not +intended her flight to bring her so far. Behind her in the doorway +appeared a student with a crimson coat collar, an officer of the Guards, +a girl of fifteen, and a plump rosy-faced boy in a short jacket. + +The count jumped up and, swaying from side to side, spread his arms wide +and threw them round the little girl who had run in. + +"Ah, here she is!" he exclaimed laughing. "My pet, whose name day it is. +My dear pet!" + +"Ma chere, there is a time for everything," said the countess with +feigned severity. "You spoil her, Ilya," she added, turning to her +husband. + +"How do you do, my dear? I wish you many happy returns of your name +day," said the visitor. "What a charming child," she added, addressing +the mother. + +This black-eyed, wide-mouthed girl, not pretty but full of life--with +childish bare shoulders which after her run heaved and shook her bodice, +with black curls tossed backward, thin bare arms, little legs in lace- +frilled drawers, and feet in low slippers--was just at that charming age +when a girl is no longer a child, though the child is not yet a young +woman. Escaping from her father she ran to hide her flushed face in the +lace of her mother's mantilla--not paying the least attention to her +severe remark--and began to laugh. She laughed, and in fragmentary +sentences tried to explain about a doll which she produced from the +folds of her frock. + +"Do you see?... My doll... Mimi... You see..." was all Natasha managed +to utter (to her everything seemed funny). She leaned against her mother +and burst into such a loud, ringing fit of laughter that even the prim +visitor could not help joining in. + +"Now then, go away and take your monstrosity with you," said the mother, +pushing away her daughter with pretended sternness, and turning to the +visitor she added: "She is my youngest girl." + +Natasha, raising her face for a moment from her mother's mantilla, +glanced up at her through tears of laughter, and again hid her face. + +The visitor, compelled to look on at this family scene, thought it +necessary to take some part in it. + +"Tell me, my dear," said she to Natasha, "is Mimi a relation of yours? A +daughter, I suppose?" + +Natasha did not like the visitor's tone of condescension to childish +things. She did not reply, but looked at her seriously. + +Meanwhile the younger generation: Boris, the officer, Anna Mikhaylovna's +son; Nicholas, the undergraduate, the count's eldest son; Sonya, the +count's fifteen-year-old niece, and little Petya, his youngest boy, had +all settled down in the drawing room and were obviously trying to +restrain within the bounds of decorum the excitement and mirth that +shone in all their faces. Evidently in the back rooms, from which they +had dashed out so impetuously, the conversation had been more amusing +than the drawing-room talk of society scandals, the weather, and +Countess Apraksina. Now and then they glanced at one another, hardly +able to suppress their laughter. + +The two young men, the student and the officer, friends from childhood, +were of the same age and both handsome fellows, though not alike. Boris +was tall and fair, and his calm and handsome face had regular, delicate +features. Nicholas was short with curly hair and an open expression. +Dark hairs were already showing on his upper lip, and his whole face +expressed impetuosity and enthusiasm. Nicholas blushed when he entered +the drawing room. He evidently tried to find something to say, but +failed. Boris on the contrary at once found his footing, and related +quietly and humorously how he had known that doll Mimi when she was +still quite a young lady, before her nose was broken; how she had aged +during the five years he had known her, and how her head had cracked +right across the skull. Having said this he glanced at Natasha. She +turned away from him and glanced at her younger brother, who was +screwing up his eyes and shaking with suppressed laughter, and unable to +control herself any longer, she jumped up and rushed from the room as +fast as her nimble little feet would carry her. Boris did not laugh. + +"You were meaning to go out, weren't you, Mamma? Do you want the +carriage?" he asked his mother with a smile. + +"Yes, yes, go and tell them to get it ready," she answered, returning +his smile. + +Boris quietly left the room and went in search of Natasha. The plump boy +ran after them angrily, as if vexed that their program had been +disturbed. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The only young people remaining in the drawing room, not counting the +young lady visitor and the countess' eldest daughter (who was four years +older than her sister and behaved already like a grown-up person), were +Nicholas and Sonya, the niece. Sonya was a slender little brunette with +a tender look in her eyes which were veiled by long lashes, thick black +plaits coiling twice round her head, and a tawny tint in her complexion +and especially in the color of her slender but graceful and muscular +arms and neck. By the grace of her movements, by the softness and +flexibility of her small limbs, and by a certain coyness and reserve of +manner, she reminded one of a pretty, half-grown kitten which promises +to become a beautiful little cat. She evidently considered it proper to +show an interest in the general conversation by smiling, but in spite of +herself her eyes under their thick long lashes watched her cousin who +was going to join the army, with such passionate girlish adoration that +her smile could not for a single instant impose upon anyone, and it was +clear that the kitten had settled down only to spring up with more +energy and again play with her cousin as soon as they too could, like +Natasha and Boris, escape from the drawing room. + +"Ah yes, my dear," said the count, addressing the visitor and pointing +to Nicholas, "his friend Boris has become an officer, and so for +friendship's sake he is leaving the university and me, his old father, +and entering the military service, my dear. And there was a place and +everything waiting for him in the Archives Department! Isn't that +friendship?" remarked the count in an inquiring tone. + +"But they say that war has been declared," replied the visitor. + +"They've been saying so a long while," said the count, "and they'll say +so again and again, and that will be the end of it. My dear, there's +friendship for you," he repeated. "He's joining the hussars." + +The visitor, not knowing what to say, shook her head. + +"It's not at all from friendship," declared Nicholas, flaring up and +turning away as if from a shameful aspersion. "It is not from friendship +at all; I simply feel that the army is my vocation." + +He glanced at his cousin and the young lady visitor; and they were both +regarding him with a smile of approbation. + +"Schubert, the colonel of the Pavlograd Hussars, is dining with us +today. He has been here on leave and is taking Nicholas back with him. +It can't be helped!" said the count, shrugging his shoulders and +speaking playfully of a matter that evidently distressed him. + +"I have already told you, Papa," said his son, "that if you don't wish +to let me go, I'll stay. But I know I am no use anywhere except in the +army; I am not a diplomat or a government clerk.--I don't know how to +hide what I feel." As he spoke he kept glancing with the flirtatiousness +of a handsome youth at Sonya and the young lady visitor. + +The little kitten, feasting her eyes on him, seemed ready at any moment +to start her gambols again and display her kittenish nature. + +"All right, all right!" said the old count. "He always flares up! This +Buonaparte has turned all their heads; they all think of how he rose +from an ensign and became Emperor. Well, well, God grant it," he added, +not noticing his visitor's sarcastic smile. + +The elders began talking about Bonaparte. Julie Karagina turned to young +Rostov. + +"What a pity you weren't at the Arkharovs' on Thursday. It was so dull +without you," said she, giving him a tender smile. + +The young man, flattered, sat down nearer to her with a coquettish +smile, and engaged the smiling Julie in a confidential conversation +without at all noticing that his involuntary smile had stabbed the heart +of Sonya, who blushed and smiled unnaturally. In the midst of his talk +he glanced round at her. She gave him a passionately angry glance, and +hardly able to restrain her tears and maintain the artificial smile on +her lips, she got up and left the room. All Nicholas' animation +vanished. He waited for the first pause in the conversation, and then +with a distressed face left the room to find Sonya. + +"How plainly all these young people wear their hearts on their sleeves!" +said Anna Mikhaylovna, pointing to Nicholas as he went out. "Cousinage-- +dangereux voisinage;" * she added. + + +* Cousinhood is a dangerous neighborhood. + +"Yes," said the countess when the brightness these young people had +brought into the room had vanished; and as if answering a question no +one had put but which was always in her mind, "and how much suffering, +how much anxiety one has had to go through that we might rejoice in them +now! And yet really the anxiety is greater now than the joy. One is +always, always anxious! Especially just at this age, so dangerous both +for girls and boys." + +"It all depends on the bringing up," remarked the visitor. + +"Yes, you're quite right," continued the countess. "Till now I have +always, thank God, been my children's friend and had their full +confidence," said she, repeating the mistake of so many parents who +imagine that their children have no secrets from them. "I know I shall +always be my daughters' first confidante, and that if Nicholas, with his +impulsive nature, does get into mischief (a boy can't help it), he will +all the same never be like those Petersburg young men." + +"Yes, they are splendid, splendid youngsters," chimed in the count, who +always solved questions that seemed to him perplexing by deciding that +everything was splendid. "Just fancy: wants to be an hussar. What's one +to do, my dear?" + +"What a charming creature your younger girl is," said the visitor; "a +little volcano!" + +"Yes, a regular volcano," said the count. "Takes after me! And what a +voice she has; though she's my daughter, I tell the truth when I say +she'll be a singer, a second Salomoni! We have engaged an Italian to +give her lessons." + +"Isn't she too young? I have heard that it harms the voice to train it +at that age." + +"Oh no, not at all too young!" replied the count. "Why, our mothers used +to be married at twelve or thirteen." + +"And she's in love with Boris already. Just fancy!" said the countess +with a gentle smile, looking at Boris and went on, evidently concerned +with a thought that always occupied her: "Now you see if I were to be +severe with her and to forbid it... goodness knows what they might be up +to on the sly" (she meant that they would be kissing), "but as it is, I +know every word she utters. She will come running to me of her own +accord in the evening and tell me everything. Perhaps I spoil her, but +really that seems the best plan. With her elder sister I was stricter." + +"Yes, I was brought up quite differently," remarked the handsome elder +daughter, Countess Vera, with a smile. + +But the smile did not enhance Vera's beauty as smiles generally do; on +the contrary it gave her an unnatural, and therefore unpleasant, +expression. Vera was good-looking, not at all stupid, quick at learning, +was well-brought up, and had a pleasant voice; what she said was true +and appropriate, yet, strange to say, everyone--the visitors and +countess alike--turned to look at her as if wondering why she had said +it, and they all felt awkward. + +"People are always too clever with their eldest children and try to make +something exceptional of them," said the visitor. + +"What's the good of denying it, my dear? Our dear countess was too +clever with Vera," said the count. "Well, what of that? She's turned out +splendidly all the same," he added, winking at Vera. + +The guests got up and took their leave, promising to return to dinner. + +"What manners! I thought they would never go," said the countess, when +she had seen her guests out. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +When Natasha ran out of the drawing room she only went as far as the +conservatory. There she paused and stood listening to the conversation +in the drawing room, waiting for Boris to come out. She was already +growing impatient, and stamped her foot, ready to cry at his not coming +at once, when she heard the young man's discreet steps approaching +neither quickly nor slowly. At this Natasha dashed swiftly among the +flower tubs and hid there. + +Boris paused in the middle of the room, looked round, brushed a little +dust from the sleeve of his uniform, and going up to a mirror examined +his handsome face. Natasha, very still, peered out from her ambush, +waiting to see what he would do. He stood a little while before the +glass, smiled, and walked toward the other door. Natasha was about to +call him but changed her mind. "Let him look for me," thought she. +Hardly had Boris gone than Sonya, flushed, in tears, and muttering +angrily, came in at the other door. Natasha checked her first impulse to +run out to her, and remained in her hiding place, watching--as under an +invisible cap--to see what went on in the world. She was experiencing a +new and peculiar pleasure. Sonya, muttering to herself, kept looking +round toward the drawing-room door. It opened and Nicholas came in. + +"Sonya, what is the matter with you? How can you?" said he, running up +to her. + +"It's nothing, nothing; leave me alone!" sobbed Sonya. + +"Ah, I know what it is." + +"Well, if you do, so much the better, and you can go back to her!" + +"So-o-onya! Look here! How can you torture me and yourself like that, +for a mere fancy?" said Nicholas taking her hand. + +Sonya did not pull it away, and left off crying. Natasha, not stirring +and scarcely breathing, watched from her ambush with sparkling eyes. +"What will happen now?" thought she. + +"Sonya! What is anyone in the world to me? You alone are everything!" +said Nicholas. "And I will prove it to you." + +"I don't like you to talk like that." + +"Well, then, I won't; only forgive me, Sonya!" He drew her to him and +kissed her. + +"Oh, how nice," thought Natasha; and when Sonya and Nicholas had gone +out of the conservatory she followed and called Boris to her. + +"Boris, come here," said she with a sly and significant look. "I have +something to tell you. Here, here!" and she led him into the +conservatory to the place among the tubs where she had been hiding. + +Boris followed her, smiling. + +"What is the something?" asked he. + +She grew confused, glanced round, and, seeing the doll she had thrown +down on one of the tubs, picked it up. + +"Kiss the doll," said she. + +Boris looked attentively and kindly at her eager face, but did not +reply. + +"Don't you want to? Well, then, come here," said she, and went further +in among the plants and threw down the doll. "Closer, closer!" she +whispered. + +She caught the young officer by his cuffs, and a look of solemnity and +fear appeared on her flushed face. + +"And me? Would you like to kiss me?" she whispered almost inaudibly, +glancing up at him from under her brows, smiling, and almost crying from +excitement. + +Boris blushed. + +"How funny you are!" he said, bending down to her and blushing still +more, but he waited and did nothing. + +Suddenly she jumped up onto a tub to be higher than he, embraced him so +that both her slender bare arms clasped him above his neck, and, tossing +back her hair, kissed him full on the lips. + +Then she slipped down among the flowerpots on the other side of the tubs +and stood, hanging her head. + +"Natasha," he said, "you know that I love you, but..." + +"You are in love with me?" Natasha broke in. + +"Yes, I am, but please don't let us do like that.... In another four +years... then I will ask for your hand." + +Natasha considered. + +"Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen," she counted on her slender +little fingers. "All right! Then it's settled?" + +A smile of joy and satisfaction lit up her eager face. + +"Settled!" replied Boris. + +"Forever?" said the little girl. "Till death itself?" + +She took his arm and with a happy face went with him into the adjoining +sitting room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +After receiving her visitors, the countess was so tired that she gave +orders to admit no more, but the porter was told to be sure to invite to +dinner all who came "to congratulate." The countess wished to have a +tête-à-tête talk with the friend of her childhood, Princess Anna +Mikhaylovna, whom she had not seen properly since she returned from +Petersburg. Anna Mikhaylovna, with her tear-worn but pleasant face, drew +her chair nearer to that of the countess. + +"With you I will be quite frank," said Anna Mikhaylovna. "There are not +many left of us old friends! That's why I so value your friendship." + +Anna Mikhaylovna looked at Vera and paused. The countess pressed her +friend's hand. + +"Vera," she said to her eldest daughter who was evidently not a +favorite, "how is it you have so little tact? Don't you see you are not +wanted here? Go to the other girls, or..." + +The handsome Vera smiled contemptuously but did not seem at all hurt. + +"If you had told me sooner, Mamma, I would have gone," she replied as +she rose to go to her own room. + +But as she passed the sitting room she noticed two couples sitting, one +pair at each window. She stopped and smiled scornfully. Sonya was +sitting close to Nicholas who was copying out some verses for her, the +first he had ever written. Boris and Natasha were at the other window +and ceased talking when Vera entered. Sonya and Natasha looked at Vera +with guilty, happy faces. + +It was pleasant and touching to see these little girls in love; but +apparently the sight of them roused no pleasant feeling in Vera. + +"How often have I asked you not to take my things?" she said. "You have +a room of your own," and she took the inkstand from Nicholas. + +"In a minute, in a minute," he said, dipping his pen. + +"You always manage to do things at the wrong time," continued Vera. "You +came rushing into the drawing room so that everyone felt ashamed of +you." + +Though what she said was quite just, perhaps for that very reason no one +replied, and the four simply looked at one another. She lingered in the +room with the inkstand in her hand. + +"And at your age what secrets can there be between Natasha and Boris, or +between you two? It's all nonsense!" + +"Now, Vera, what does it matter to you?" said Natasha in defense, +speaking very gently. + +She seemed that day to be more than ever kind and affectionate to +everyone. + +"Very silly," said Vera. "I am ashamed of you. Secrets indeed!" + +"All have secrets of their own," answered Natasha, getting warmer. "We +don't interfere with you and Berg." + +"I should think not," said Vera, "because there can never be anything +wrong in my behavior. But I'll just tell Mamma how you are behaving with +Boris." + +"Natalya Ilynichna behaves very well to me," remarked Boris. "I have +nothing to complain of." + +"Don't, Boris! You are such a diplomat that it is really tiresome," said +Natasha in a mortified voice that trembled slightly. (She used the word +"diplomat," which was just then much in vogue among the children, in the +special sense they attached to it.) "Why does she bother me?" And she +added, turning to Vera, "You'll never understand it, because you've +never loved anyone. You have no heart! You are a Madame de Genlis and +nothing more" (this nickname, bestowed on Vera by Nicholas, was +considered very stinging), "and your greatest pleasure is to be +unpleasant to people! Go and flirt with Berg as much as you please," she +finished quickly. + +"I shall at any rate not run after a young man before visitors..." + +"Well, now you've done what you wanted," put in Nicholas--"said +unpleasant things to everyone and upset them. Let's go to the nursery." + +All four, like a flock of scared birds, got up and left the room. + +"The unpleasant things were said to me," remarked Vera, "I said none to +anyone." + +"Madame de Genlis! Madame de Genlis!" shouted laughing voices through +the door. + +The handsome Vera, who produced such an irritating and unpleasant effect +on everyone, smiled and, evidently unmoved by what had been said to her, +went to the looking glass and arranged her hair and scarf. Looking at +her own handsome face she seemed to become still colder and calmer. + +In the drawing room the conversation was still going on. + +"Ah, my dear," said the countess, "my life is not all roses either. +Don't I know that at the rate we are living our means won't last long? +It's all the Club and his easygoing nature. Even in the country do we +get any rest? Theatricals, hunting, and heaven knows what besides! But +don't let's talk about me; tell me how you managed everything. I often +wonder at you, Annette--how at your age you can rush off alone in a +carriage to Moscow, to Petersburg, to those ministers and great people, +and know how to deal with them all! It's quite astonishing. How did you +get things settled? I couldn't possibly do it." + +"Ah, my love," answered Anna Mikhaylovna, "God grant you never know what +it is to be left a widow without means and with a son you love to +distraction! One learns many things then," she added with a certain +pride. "That lawsuit taught me much. When I want to see one of those big +people I write a note: 'Princess So-and-So desires an interview with So +and-So,' and then I take a cab and go myself two, three, or four times-- +till I get what I want. I don't mind what they think of me." + +"Well, and to whom did you apply about Bory?" asked the countess. "You +see yours is already an officer in the Guards, while my Nicholas is +going as a cadet. There's no one to interest himself for him. To whom +did you apply?" + +"To Prince Vasili. He was so kind. He at once agreed to everything, and +put the matter before the Emperor," said Princess Anna Mikhaylovna +enthusiastically, quite forgetting all the humiliation she had endured +to gain her end. + +"Has Prince Vasili aged much?" asked the countess. "I have not seen him +since we acted together at the Rumyantsovs' theatricals. I expect he has +forgotten me. He paid me attentions in those days," said the countess, +with a smile. + +"He is just the same as ever," replied Anna Mikhaylovna, "overflowing +with amiability. His position has not turned his head at all. He said to +me, 'I am sorry I can do so little for you, dear Princess. I am at your +command.' Yes, he is a fine fellow and a very kind relation. But, +Nataly, you know my love for my son: I would do anything for his +happiness! And my affairs are in such a bad way that my position is now +a terrible one," continued Anna Mikhaylovna, sadly, dropping her voice. +"My wretched lawsuit takes all I have and makes no progress. Would you +believe it, I have literally not a penny and don't know how to equip +Boris." She took out her handkerchief and began to cry. "I need five +hundred rubles, and have only one twenty-five-ruble note. I am in such a +state.... My only hope now is in Count Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov. If +he will not assist his godson--you know he is Bory's godfather--and +allow him something for his maintenance, all my trouble will have been +thrown away.... I shall not be able to equip him." + +The countess' eyes filled with tears and she pondered in silence. + +"I often think, though, perhaps it's a sin," said the princess, "that +here lives Count Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov so rich, all alone... that +tremendous fortune... and what is his life worth? It's a burden to him, +and Bory's life is only just beginning...." + +"Surely he will leave something to Boris," said the countess. + +"Heaven only knows, my dear! These rich grandees are so selfish. Still, +I will take Boris and go to see him at once, and I shall speak to him +straight out. Let people think what they will of me, it's really all the +same to me when my son's fate is at stake." The princess rose. "It's now +two o'clock and you dine at four. There will just be time." + +And like a practical Petersburg lady who knows how to make the most of +time, Anna Mikhaylovna sent someone to call her son, and went into the +anteroom with him. + +"Good-bye, my dear," said she to the countess who saw her to the door, +and added in a whisper so that her son should not hear, "Wish me good +luck." + +"Are you going to Count Cyril Vladimirovich, my dear?" said the count +coming out from the dining hall into the anteroom, and he added: "If he +is better, ask Pierre to dine with us. He has been to the house, you +know, and danced with the children. Be sure to invite him, my dear. We +will see how Taras distinguishes himself today. He says Count Orlov +never gave such a dinner as ours will be!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"My dear Boris," said Princess Anna Mikhaylovna to her son as Countess +Rostova's carriage in which they were seated drove over the straw +covered street and turned into the wide courtyard of Count Cyril +Vladimirovich Bezukhov's house. "My dear Boris," said the mother, +drawing her hand from beneath her old mantle and laying it timidly and +tenderly on her son's arm, "be affectionate and attentive to him. Count +Cyril Vladimirovich is your godfather after all, your future depends on +him. Remember that, my dear, and be nice to him, as you so well know how +to be." + +"If only I knew that anything besides humiliation would come of it..." +answered her son coldly. "But I have promised and will do it for your +sake." + +Although the hall porter saw someone's carriage standing at the +entrance, after scrutinizing the mother and son (who without asking to +be announced had passed straight through the glass porch between the +rows of statues in niches) and looking significantly at the lady's old +cloak, he asked whether they wanted the count or the princesses, and, +hearing that they wished to see the count, said his excellency was worse +today, and that his excellency was not receiving anyone. + +"We may as well go back," said the son in French. + +"My dear!" exclaimed his mother imploringly, again laying her hand on +his arm as if that touch might soothe or rouse him. + +Boris said no more, but looked inquiringly at his mother without taking +off his cloak. + +"My friend," said Anna Mikhaylovna in gentle tones, addressing the hall +porter, "I know Count Cyril Vladimirovich is very ill... that's why I +have come... I am a relation. I shall not disturb him, my friend... I +only need see Prince Vasili Sergeevich: he is staying here, is he not? +Please announce me." + +The hall porter sullenly pulled a bell that rang upstairs, and turned +away. + +"Princess Drubetskaya to see Prince Vasili Sergeevich," he called to a +footman dressed in knee breeches, shoes, and a swallow-tail coat, who +ran downstairs and looked over from the halfway landing. + +The mother smoothed the folds of her dyed silk dress before a large +Venetian mirror in the wall, and in her trodden-down shoes briskly +ascended the carpeted stairs. + +"My dear," she said to her son, once more stimulating him by a touch, +"you promised me!" + +The son, lowering his eyes, followed her quietly. + +They entered the large hall, from which one of the doors led to the +apartments assigned to Prince Vasili. + +Just as the mother and son, having reached the middle of the hall, were +about to ask their way of an elderly footman who had sprung up as they +entered, the bronze handle of one of the doors turned and Prince Vasili +came out--wearing a velvet coat with a single star on his breast, as was +his custom when at home--taking leave of a good-looking, dark-haired +man. This was the celebrated Petersburg doctor, Lorrain. + +"Then it is certain?" said the prince. + +"Prince, humanum est errare, * but..." replied the doctor, swallowing +his r's, and pronouncing the Latin words with a French accent. + + +* To err is human. + +"Very well, very well..." + +Seeing Anna Mikhaylovna and her son, Prince Vasili dismissed the doctor +with a bow and approached them silently and with a look of inquiry. The +son noticed that an expression of profound sorrow suddenly clouded his +mother's face, and he smiled slightly. + +"Ah, Prince! In what sad circumstances we meet again! And how is our +dear invalid?" said she, as though unaware of the cold offensive look +fixed on her. + +Prince Vasili stared at her and at Boris questioningly and perplexed. +Boris bowed politely. Prince Vasili without acknowledging the bow turned +to Anna Mikhaylovna, answering her query by a movement of the head and +lips indicating very little hope for the patient. + +"Is it possible?" exclaimed Anna Mikhaylovna. "Oh, how awful! It is +terrible to think.... This is my son," she added, indicating Boris. "He +wanted to thank you himself." + +Boris bowed again politely. + +"Believe me, Prince, a mother's heart will never forget what you have +done for us." + +"I am glad I was able to do you a service, my dear Anna Mikhaylovna," +said Prince Vasili, arranging his lace frill, and in tone and manner, +here in Moscow to Anna Mikhaylovna whom he had placed under an +obligation, assuming an air of much greater importance than he had done +in Petersburg at Anna Scherer's reception. + +"Try to serve well and show yourself worthy," added he, addressing Boris +with severity. "I am glad.... Are you here on leave?" he went on in his +usual tone of indifference. + +"I am awaiting orders to join my new regiment, your excellency," replied +Boris, betraying neither annoyance at the prince's brusque manner nor a +desire to enter into conversation, but speaking so quietly and +respectfully that the prince gave him a searching glance. + +"Are you living with your mother?" + +"I am living at Countess Rostova's," replied Boris, again adding, "your +excellency." + +"That is, with Ilya Rostov who married Nataly Shinshina," said Anna +Mikhaylovna. + +"I know, I know," answered Prince Vasili in his monotonous voice. "I +never could understand how Nataly made up her mind to marry that +unlicked bear! A perfectly absurd and stupid fellow, and a gambler too, +I am told." + +"But a very kind man, Prince," said Anna Mikhaylovna with a pathetic +smile, as though she too knew that Count Rostov deserved this censure, +but asked him not to be too hard on the poor old man. "What do the +doctors say?" asked the princess after a pause, her worn face again +expressing deep sorrow. + +"They give little hope," replied the prince. + +"And I should so like to thank Uncle once for all his kindness to me and +Boris. He is his godson," she added, her tone suggesting that this fact +ought to give Prince Vasili much satisfaction. + +Prince Vasili became thoughtful and frowned. Anna Mikhaylovna saw that +he was afraid of finding in her a rival for Count Bezukhov's fortune, +and hastened to reassure him. + +"If it were not for my sincere affection and devotion to Uncle," said +she, uttering the word with peculiar assurance and unconcern, "I know +his character: noble, upright... but you see he has no one with him +except the young princesses.... They are still young...." She bent her +head and continued in a whisper: "Has he performed his final duty, +Prince? How priceless are those last moments! It can make things no +worse, and it is absolutely necessary to prepare him if he is so ill. We +women, Prince," and she smiled tenderly, "always know how to say these +things. I absolutely must see him, however painful it may be for me. I +am used to suffering." + +Evidently the prince understood her, and also understood, as he had done +at Anna Pavlovna's, that it would be difficult to get rid of Anna +Mikhaylovna. + +"Would not such a meeting be too trying for him, dear Anna Mikhaylovna?" +said he. "Let us wait until evening. The doctors are expecting a +crisis." + +"But one cannot delay, Prince, at such a moment! Consider that the +welfare of his soul is at stake. Ah, it is awful: the duties of a +Christian..." + +A door of one of the inner rooms opened and one of the princesses, the +count's niece, entered with a cold, stern face. The length of her body +was strikingly out of proportion to her short legs. Prince Vasili turned +to her. + +"Well, how is he?" + +"Still the same; but what can you expect, this noise..." said the +princess, looking at Anna Mikhaylovna as at a stranger. + +"Ah, my dear, I hardly knew you," said Anna Mikhaylovna with a happy +smile, ambling lightly up to the count's niece. "I have come, and am at +your service to help you nurse my uncle. I imagine what you have gone +through," and she sympathetically turned up her eyes. + +The princess gave no reply and did not even smile, but left the room as +Anna Mikhaylovna took off her gloves and, occupying the position she had +conquered, settled down in an armchair, inviting Prince Vasili to take a +seat beside her. + +"Boris," she said to her son with a smile, "I shall go in to see the +count, my uncle; but you, my dear, had better go to Pierre meanwhile and +don't forget to give him the Rostovs' invitation. They ask him to +dinner. I suppose he won't go?" she continued, turning to the prince. + +"On the contrary," replied the prince, who had plainly become depressed, +"I shall be only too glad if you relieve me of that young man.... Here +he is, and the count has not once asked for him." + +He shrugged his shoulders. A footman conducted Boris down one flight of +stairs and up another, to Pierre's rooms. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Pierre, after all, had not managed to choose a career for himself in +Petersburg, and had been expelled from there for riotous conduct and +sent to Moscow. The story told about him at Count Rostov's was true. +Pierre had taken part in tying a policeman to a bear. He had now been +for some days in Moscow and was staying as usual at his father's house. +Though he expected that the story of his escapade would be already known +in Moscow and that the ladies about his father--who were never favorably +disposed toward him--would have used it to turn the count against him, +he nevertheless on the day of his arrival went to his father's part of +the house. Entering the drawing room, where the princesses spent most of +their time, he greeted the ladies, two of whom were sitting at +embroidery frames while a third read aloud. It was the eldest who was +reading--the one who had met Anna Mikhaylovna. The two younger ones were +embroidering: both were rosy and pretty and they differed only in that +one had a little mole on her lip which made her much prettier. Pierre +was received as if he were a corpse or a leper. The eldest princess +paused in her reading and silently stared at him with frightened eyes; +the second assumed precisely the same expression; while the youngest, +the one with the mole, who was of a cheerful and lively disposition, +bent over her frame to hide a smile probably evoked by the amusing scene +she foresaw. She drew her wool down through the canvas and, scarcely +able to refrain from laughing, stooped as if trying to make out the +pattern. + +"How do you do, cousin?" said Pierre. "You don't recognize me?" + +"I recognize you only too well, too well." + +"How is the count? Can I see him?" asked Pierre, awkwardly as usual, but +unabashed. + +"The count is suffering physically and mentally, and apparently you have +done your best to increase his mental sufferings." + +"Can I see the count?" Pierre again asked. + +"Hm.... If you wish to kill him, to kill him outright, you can see +him... Olga, go and see whether Uncle's beef tea is ready--it is almost +time," she added, giving Pierre to understand that they were busy, and +busy making his father comfortable, while evidently he, Pierre, was only +busy causing him annoyance. + +Olga went out. Pierre stood looking at the sisters; then he bowed and +said: "Then I will go to my rooms. You will let me know when I can see +him." + +And he left the room, followed by the low but ringing laughter of the +sister with the mole. + +Next day Prince Vasili had arrived and settled in the count's house. He +sent for Pierre and said to him: "My dear fellow, if you are going to +behave here as you did in Petersburg, you will end very badly; that is +all I have to say to you. The count is very, very ill, and you must not +see him at all." + +Since then Pierre had not been disturbed and had spent the whole time in +his rooms upstairs. + +When Boris appeared at his door Pierre was pacing up and down his room, +stopping occasionally at a corner to make menacing gestures at the wall, +as if running a sword through an invisible foe, and glaring savagely +over his spectacles, and then again resuming his walk, muttering +indistinct words, shrugging his shoulders and gesticulating. + +"England is done for," said he, scowling and pointing his finger at +someone unseen. "Mr. Pitt, as a traitor to the nation and to the rights +of man, is sentenced to..." But before Pierre--who at that moment +imagined himself to be Napoleon in person and to have just effected the +dangerous crossing of the Straits of Dover and captured London--could +pronounce Pitt's sentence, he saw a well-built and handsome young +officer entering his room. Pierre paused. He had left Moscow when Boris +was a boy of fourteen, and had quite forgotten him, but in his usual +impulsive and hearty way he took Boris by the hand with a friendly +smile. + +"Do you remember me?" asked Boris quietly with a pleasant smile. "I have +come with my mother to see the count, but it seems he is not well." + +"Yes, it seems he is ill. People are always disturbing him," answered +Pierre, trying to remember who this young man was. + +Boris felt that Pierre did not recognize him but did not consider it +necessary to introduce himself, and without experiencing the least +embarrassment looked Pierre straight in the face. + +"Count Rostov asks you to come to dinner today," said he, after a +considerable pause which made Pierre feel uncomfortable. + +"Ah, Count Rostov!" exclaimed Pierre joyfully. "Then you are his son, +Ilya? Only fancy, I didn't know you at first. Do you remember how we +went to the Sparrow Hills with Madame Jacquot?... It's such an age..." + +"You are mistaken," said Boris deliberately, with a bold and slightly +sarcastic smile. "I am Boris, son of Princess Anna Mikhaylovna +Drubetskaya. Rostov, the father, is Ilya, and his son is Nicholas. I +never knew any Madame Jacquot." + +Pierre shook his head and arms as if attacked by mosquitoes or bees. + +"Oh dear, what am I thinking about? I've mixed everything up. One has so +many relatives in Moscow! So you are Boris? Of course. Well, now we know +where we are. And what do you think of the Boulogne expedition? The +English will come off badly, you know, if Napoleon gets across the +Channel. I think the expedition is quite feasible. If only Villeneuve +doesn't make a mess of things!" + +Boris knew nothing about the Boulogne expedition; he did not read the +papers and it was the first time he had heard Villeneuve's name. + +"We here in Moscow are more occupied with dinner parties and scandal +than with politics," said he in his quiet ironical tone. "I know nothing +about it and have not thought about it. Moscow is chiefly busy with +gossip," he continued. "Just now they are talking about you and your +father." + +Pierre smiled in his good-natured way as if afraid for his companion's +sake that the latter might say something he would afterwards regret. But +Boris spoke distinctly, clearly, and dryly, looking straight into +Pierre's eyes. + +"Moscow has nothing else to do but gossip," Boris went on. "Everybody is +wondering to whom the count will leave his fortune, though he may +perhaps outlive us all, as I sincerely hope he will..." + +"Yes, it is all very horrid," interrupted Pierre, "very horrid." + +Pierre was still afraid that this officer might inadvertently say +something disconcerting to himself. + +"And it must seem to you," said Boris flushing slightly, but not +changing his tone or attitude, "it must seem to you that everyone is +trying to get something out of the rich man?" + +"So it does," thought Pierre. + +"But I just wish to say, to avoid misunderstandings, that you are quite +mistaken if you reckon me or my mother among such people. We are very +poor, but for my own part at any rate, for the very reason that your +father is rich, I don't regard myself as a relation of his, and neither +I nor my mother would ever ask or take anything from him." + +For a long time Pierre could not understand, but when he did, he jumped +up from the sofa, seized Boris under the elbow in his quick, clumsy way, +and, blushing far more than Boris, began to speak with a feeling of +mingled shame and vexation. + +"Well, this is strange! Do you suppose I... who could think?... I know +very well..." + +But Boris again interrupted him. + +"I am glad I have spoken out fully. Perhaps you did not like it? You +must excuse me," said he, putting Pierre at ease instead of being put at +ease by him, "but I hope I have not offended you. I always make it a +rule to speak out... Well, what answer am I to take? Will you come to +dinner at the Rostovs'?" + +And Boris, having apparently relieved himself of an onerous duty and +extricated himself from an awkward situation and placed another in it, +became quite pleasant again. + +"No, but I say," said Pierre, calming down, "you are a wonderful fellow! +What you have just said is good, very good. Of course you don't know me. +We have not met for such a long time... not since we were children. You +might think that I... I understand, quite understand. I could not have +done it myself, I should not have had the courage, but it's splendid. I +am very glad to have made your acquaintance. It's queer," he added after +a pause, "that you should have suspected me!" He began to laugh. "Well, +what of it! I hope we'll get better acquainted," and he pressed Boris' +hand. "Do you know, I have not once been in to see the count. He has not +sent for me.... I am sorry for him as a man, but what can one do?" + +"And so you think Napoleon will manage to get an army across?" asked +Boris with a smile. + +Pierre saw that Boris wished to change the subject, and being of the +same mind he began explaining the advantages and disadvantages of the +Boulogne expedition. + +A footman came in to summon Boris--the princess was going. Pierre, in +order to make Boris' better acquaintance, promised to come to dinner, +and warmly pressing his hand looked affectionately over his spectacles +into Boris' eyes. After he had gone Pierre continued pacing up and down +the room for a long time, no longer piercing an imaginary foe with his +imaginary sword, but smiling at the remembrance of that pleasant, +intelligent, and resolute young man. + +As often happens in early youth, especially to one who leads a lonely +life, he felt an unaccountable tenderness for this young man and made up +his mind that they would be friends. + +Prince Vasili saw the princess off. She held a handkerchief to her eyes +and her face was tearful. + +"It is dreadful, dreadful!" she was saying, "but cost me what it may I +shall do my duty. I will come and spend the night. He must not be left +like this. Every moment is precious. I can't think why his nieces put it +off. Perhaps God will help me to find a way to prepare him!... Adieu, +Prince! May God support you..." + +"Adieu, ma bonne," answered Prince Vasili turning away from her. + +"Oh, he is in a dreadful state," said the mother to her son when they +were in the carriage. "He hardly recognizes anybody." + +"I don't understand, Mamma--what is his attitude to Pierre?" asked the +son. + +"The will will show that, my dear; our fate also depends on it." + +"But why do you expect that he will leave us anything?" + +"Ah, my dear! He is so rich, and we are so poor!" + +"Well, that is hardly a sufficient reason, Mamma..." + +"Oh, Heaven! How ill he is!" exclaimed the mother. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +After Anna Mikhaylovna had driven off with her son to visit Count Cyril +Vladimirovich Bezukhov, Countess Rostova sat for a long time all alone +applying her handkerchief to her eyes. At last she rang. + +"What is the matter with you, my dear?" she said crossly to the maid who +kept her waiting some minutes. "Don't you wish to serve me? Then I'll +find you another place." + +The countess was upset by her friend's sorrow and humiliating poverty, +and was therefore out of sorts, a state of mind which with her always +found expression in calling her maid "my dear" and speaking to her with +exaggerated politeness. + +"I am very sorry, ma'am," answered the maid. + +"Ask the count to come to me." + +The count came waddling in to see his wife with a rather guilty look as +usual. + +"Well, little countess? What a saute of game au madere we are to have, +my dear! I tasted it. The thousand rubles I paid for Taras were not ill- +spent. He is worth it!" + +He sat down by his wife, his elbows on his knees and his hands ruffling +his gray hair. + +"What are your commands, little countess?" + +"You see, my dear... What's that mess?" she said, pointing to his +waistcoat. "It's the saute, most likely," she added with a smile. "Well, +you see, Count, I want some money." + +Her face became sad. + +"Oh, little countess!"... and the count began bustling to get out his +pocketbook. + +"I want a great deal, Count! I want five hundred rubles," and taking out +her cambric handkerchief she began wiping her husband's waistcoat. + +"Yes, immediately, immediately! Hey, who's there?" he called out in a +tone only used by persons who are certain that those they call will rush +to obey the summons. "Send Dmitri to me!" + +Dmitri, a man of good family who had been brought up in the count's +house and now managed all his affairs, stepped softly into the room. + +"This is what I want, my dear fellow," said the count to the deferential +young man who had entered. "Bring me..." he reflected a moment, "yes, +bring me seven hundred rubles, yes! But mind, don't bring me such +tattered and dirty notes as last time, but nice clean ones for the +countess." + +"Yes, Dmitri, clean ones, please," said the countess, sighing deeply. + +"When would you like them, your excellency?" asked Dmitri. "Allow me to +inform you... But, don't be uneasy," he added, noticing that the count +was beginning to breathe heavily and quickly which was always a sign of +approaching anger. "I was forgetting... Do you wish it brought at once?" + +"Yes, yes; just so! Bring it. Give it to the countess." + +"What a treasure that Dmitri is," added the count with a smile when the +young man had departed. "There is never any 'impossible' with him. +That's a thing I hate! Everything is possible." + +"Ah, money, Count, money! How much sorrow it causes in the world," said +the countess. "But I am in great need of this sum." + +"You, my little countess, are a notorious spendthrift," said the count, +and having kissed his wife's hand he went back to his study. + +When Anna Mikhaylovna returned from Count Bezukhov's the money, all in +clean notes, was lying ready under a handkerchief on the countess' +little table, and Anna Mikhaylovna noticed that something was agitating +her. + +"Well, my dear?" asked the countess. + +"Oh, what a terrible state he is in! One would not know him, he is so +ill! I was only there a few moments and hardly said a word..." + +"Annette, for heaven's sake don't refuse me," the countess began, with a +blush that looked very strange on her thin, dignified, elderly face, and +she took the money from under the handkerchief. + +Anna Mikhaylovna instantly guessed her intention and stooped to be ready +to embrace the countess at the appropriate moment. + +"This is for Boris from me, for his outfit." + +Anna Mikhaylovna was already embracing her and weeping. The countess +wept too. They wept because they were friends, and because they were +kindhearted, and because they--friends from childhood--had to think +about such a base thing as money, and because their youth was over.... +But those tears were pleasant to them both. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Countess Rostova, with her daughters and a large number of guests, was +already seated in the drawing room. The count took the gentlemen into +his study and showed them his choice collection of Turkish pipes. From +time to time he went out to ask: "Hasn't she come yet?" They were +expecting Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, known in society as le terrible +dragon, a lady distinguished not for wealth or rank, but for common +sense and frank plainness of speech. Marya Dmitrievna was known to the +Imperial family as well as to all Moscow and Petersburg, and both cities +wondered at her, laughed privately at her rudenesses, and told good +stories about her, while none the less all without exception respected +and feared her. + +In the count's room, which was full of tobacco smoke, they talked of war +that had been announced in a manifesto, and about the recruiting. None +of them had yet seen the manifesto, but they all knew it had appeared. +The count sat on the sofa between two guests who were smoking and +talking. He neither smoked nor talked, but bending his head first to one +side and then to the other watched the smokers with evident pleasure and +listened to the conversation of his two neighbors, whom he egged on +against each other. + +One of them was a sallow, clean-shaven civilian with a thin and wrinkled +face, already growing old, though he was dressed like a most fashionable +young man. He sat with his legs up on the sofa as if quite at home and, +having stuck an amber mouthpiece far into his mouth, was inhaling the +smoke spasmodically and screwing up his eyes. This was an old bachelor, +Shinshin, a cousin of the countess', a man with "a sharp tongue" as they +said in Moscow society. He seemed to be condescending to his companion. +The latter, a fresh, rosy officer of the Guards, irreproachably washed, +brushed, and buttoned, held his pipe in the middle of his mouth and with +red lips gently inhaled the smoke, letting it escape from his handsome +mouth in rings. This was Lieutenant Berg, an officer in the Semenov +regiment with whom Boris was to travel to join the army, and about whom +Natasha had teased her elder sister Vera, speaking of Berg as her +"intended." The count sat between them and listened attentively. His +favorite occupation when not playing boston, a card game he was very +fond of, was that of listener, especially when he succeeded in setting +two loquacious talkers at one another. + +"Well, then, old chap, mon tres honorable Alphonse Karlovich," said +Shinshin, laughing ironically and mixing the most ordinary Russian +expressions with the choicest French phrases--which was a peculiarity of +his speech. "Vous comptez vous faire des rentes sur l'etat; * you want +to make something out of your company?" + + +* You expect to make an income out of the government. + +"No, Peter Nikolaevich; I only want to show that in the cavalry the +advantages are far less than in the infantry. Just consider my own +position now, Peter Nikolaevich..." + +Berg always spoke quietly, politely, and with great precision. His +conversation always related entirely to himself; he would remain calm +and silent when the talk related to any topic that had no direct bearing +on himself. He could remain silent for hours without being at all put +out of countenance himself or making others uncomfortable, but as soon +as the conversation concerned himself he would begin to talk +circumstantially and with evident satisfaction. + +"Consider my position, Peter Nikolaevich. Were I in the cavalry I should +get not more than two hundred rubles every four months, even with the +rank of lieutenant; but as it is I receive two hundred and thirty," said +he, looking at Shinshin and the count with a joyful, pleasant smile, as +if it were obvious to him that his success must always be the chief +desire of everyone else. + +"Besides that, Peter Nikolaevich, by exchanging into the Guards I shall +be in a more prominent position," continued Berg, "and vacancies occur +much more frequently in the Foot Guards. Then just think what can be +done with two hundred and thirty rubles! I even manage to put a little +aside and to send something to my father," he went on, emitting a smoke +ring. + +"La balance y est... * A German knows how to skin a flint, as the +proverb says," remarked Shinshin, moving his pipe to the other side of +his mouth and winking at the count. + + +* So that squares matters. + +The count burst out laughing. The other guests seeing that Shinshin was +talking came up to listen. Berg, oblivious of irony or indifference, +continued to explain how by exchanging into the Guards he had already +gained a step on his old comrades of the Cadet Corps; how in wartime the +company commander might get killed and he, as senior in the company, +might easily succeed to the post; how popular he was with everyone in +the regiment, and how satisfied his father was with him. Berg evidently +enjoyed narrating all this, and did not seem to suspect that others, +too, might have their own interests. But all he said was so prettily +sedate, and the naivete of his youthful egotism was so obvious, that he +disarmed his hearers. + +"Well, my boy, you'll get along wherever you go--foot or horse--that +I'll warrant," said Shinshin, patting him on the shoulder and taking his +feet off the sofa. + +Berg smiled joyously. The count, by his guests, went into the drawing +room. + +It was just the moment before a big dinner when the assembled guests, +expecting the summons to zakuska, * avoid engaging in any long +conversation but think it necessary to move about and talk, in order to +show that they are not at all impatient for their food. The host and +hostess look toward the door, and now and then glance at one another, +and the visitors try to guess from these glances who, or what, they are +waiting for--some important relation who has not yet arrived, or a dish +that is not yet ready. + + +* Hors d'oeuvres. + +Pierre had come just at dinnertime and was sitting awkwardly in the +middle of the drawing room on the first chair he had come across, +blocking the way for everyone. The countess tried to make him talk, but +he went on naively looking around through his spectacles as if in search +of somebody and answered all her questions in monosyllables. He was in +the way and was the only one who did not notice the fact. Most of the +guests, knowing of the affair with the bear, looked with curiosity at +this big, stout, quiet man, wondering how such a clumsy, modest fellow +could have played such a prank on a policeman. + +"You have only lately arrived?" the countess asked him. + +"Oui, madame," replied he, looking around him. + +"You have not yet seen my husband?" + +"Non, madame." He smiled quite inappropriately. + +"You have been in Paris recently, I believe? I suppose it's very +interesting." + +"Very interesting." + +The countess exchanged glances with Anna Mikhaylovna. The latter +understood that she was being asked to entertain this young man, and +sitting down beside him she began to speak about his father; but he +answered her, as he had the countess, only in monosyllables. The other +guests were all conversing with one another. "The Razumovskis... It was +charming... You are very kind... Countess Apraksina..." was heard on all +sides. The countess rose and went into the ballroom. + +"Marya Dmitrievna?" came her voice from there. + +"Herself," came the answer in a rough voice, and Marya Dmitrievna +entered the room. + +All the unmarried ladies and even the married ones except the very +oldest rose. Marya Dmitrievna paused at the door. Tall and stout, +holding high her fifty-year-old head with its gray curls, she stood +surveying the guests, and leisurely arranged her wide sleeves as if +rolling them up. Marya Dmitrievna always spoke in Russian. + +"Health and happiness to her whose name day we are keeping and to her +children," she said, in her loud, full-toned voice which drowned all +others. "Well, you old sinner," she went on, turning to the count who +was kissing her hand, "you're feeling dull in Moscow, I daresay? Nowhere +to hunt with your dogs? But what is to be done, old man? Just see how +these nestlings are growing up," and she pointed to the girls. "You must +look for husbands for them whether you like it or not...." + +"Well," said she, "how's my Cossack?" (Marya Dmitrievna always called +Natasha a Cossack) and she stroked the child's arm as she came up +fearless and gay to kiss her hand. "I know she's a scamp of a girl, but +I like her." + +She took a pair of pear-shaped ruby earrings from her huge reticule and, +having given them to the rosy Natasha, who beamed with the pleasure of +her saint's-day fete, turned away at once and addressed herself to +Pierre. + +"Eh, eh, friend! Come here a bit," said she, assuming a soft high tone +of voice. "Come here, my friend..." and she ominously tucked up her +sleeves still higher. Pierre approached, looking at her in a childlike +way through his spectacles. + +"Come nearer, come nearer, friend! I used to be the only one to tell +your father the truth when he was in favor, and in your case it's my +evident duty." She paused. All were silent, expectant of what was to +follow, for this was clearly only a prelude. + +"A fine lad! My word! A fine lad!... His father lies on his deathbed and +he amuses himself setting a policeman astride a bear! For shame, sir, +for shame! It would be better if you went to the war." + +She turned away and gave her hand to the count, who could hardly keep +from laughing. + +"Well, I suppose it is time we were at table?" said Marya Dmitrievna. + +The count went in first with Marya Dmitrievna, the countess followed on +the arm of a colonel of hussars, a man of importance to them because +Nicholas was to go with him to the regiment; then came Anna Mikhaylovna +with Shinshin. Berg gave his arm to Vera. The smiling Julie Karagina +went in with Nicholas. After them other couples followed, filling the +whole dining hall, and last of all the children, tutors, and governesses +followed singly. The footmen began moving about, chairs scraped, the +band struck up in the gallery, and the guests settled down in their +places. Then the strains of the count's household band were replaced by +the clatter of knives and forks, the voices of visitors, and the soft +steps of the footmen. At one end of the table sat the countess with +Marya Dmitrievna on her right and Anna Mikhaylovna on her left, the +other lady visitors were farther down. At the other end sat the count, +with the hussar colonel on his left and Shinshin and the other male +visitors on his right. Midway down the long table on one side sat the +grownup young people: Vera beside Berg, and Pierre beside Boris; and on +the other side, the children, tutors, and governesses. From behind the +crystal decanters and fruit vases, the count kept glancing at his wife +and her tall cap with its light-blue ribbons, and busily filled his +neighbors' glasses, not neglecting his own. The countess in turn, +without omitting her duties as hostess, threw significant glances from +behind the pineapples at her husband whose face and bald head seemed by +their redness to contrast more than usual with his gray hair. At the +ladies' end an even chatter of voices was heard all the time, at the +men's end the voices sounded louder and louder, especially that of the +colonel of hussars who, growing more and more flushed, ate and drank so +much that the count held him up as a pattern to the other guests. Berg +with tender smiles was saying to Vera that love is not an earthly but a +heavenly feeling. Boris was telling his new friend Pierre who the guests +were and exchanging glances with Natasha, who was sitting opposite. +Pierre spoke little but examined the new faces, and ate a great deal. Of +the two soups he chose turtle with savory patties and went on to the +game without omitting a single dish or one of the wines. These latter +the butler thrust mysteriously forward, wrapped in a napkin, from behind +the next man's shoulders and whispered: "Dry Madeira"... "Hungarian"... +or "Rhine wine" as the case might be. Of the four crystal glasses +engraved with the count's monogram that stood before his plate, Pierre +held out one at random and drank with enjoyment, gazing with ever- +increasing amiability at the other guests. Natasha, who sat opposite, +was looking at Boris as girls of thirteen look at the boy they are in +love with and have just kissed for the first time. Sometimes that same +look fell on Pierre, and that funny lively little girl's look made him +inclined to laugh without knowing why. + +Nicholas sat at some distance from Sonya, beside Julie Karagina, to whom +he was again talking with the same involuntary smile. Sonya wore a +company smile but was evidently tormented by jealousy; now she turned +pale, now blushed and strained every nerve to overhear what Nicholas and +Julie were saying to one another. The governess kept looking round +uneasily as if preparing to resent any slight that might be put upon the +children. The German tutor was trying to remember all the dishes, wines, +and kinds of dessert, in order to send a full description of the dinner +to his people in Germany; and he felt greatly offended when the butler +with a bottle wrapped in a napkin passed him by. He frowned, trying to +appear as if he did not want any of that wine, but was mortified because +no one would understand that it was not to quench his thirst or from +greediness that he wanted it, but simply from a conscientious desire for +knowledge. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +At the men's end of the table the talk grew more and more animated. The +colonel told them that the declaration of war had already appeared in +Petersburg and that a copy, which he had himself seen, had that day been +forwarded by courier to the commander-in-chief. + +"And why the deuce are we going to fight Bonaparte?" remarked Shinshin. +"He has stopped Austria's cackle and I fear it will be our turn next." + +The colonel was a stout, tall, plethoric German, evidently devoted to +the service and patriotically Russian. He resented Shinshin's remark. + +"It is for the reasson, my goot sir," said he, speaking with a German +accent, "for the reasson zat ze Emperor knows zat. He declares in ze +manifessto zat he cannot fiew wiz indifference ze danger vreatening +Russia and zat ze safety and dignity of ze Empire as vell as ze sanctity +of its alliances..." he spoke this last word with particular emphasis as +if in it lay the gist of the matter. + +Then with the unerring official memory that characterized him he +repeated from the opening words of the manifesto: + +... and the wish, which constitutes the Emperor's sole and absolute aim- +-to establish peace in Europe on firm foundations--has now decided him +to despatch part of the army abroad and to create a new condition for +the attainment of that purpose. + +"Zat, my dear sir, is vy..." he concluded, drinking a tumbler of wine +with dignity and looking to the count for approval. + +"Connaissez-vous le Proverbe: * 'Jerome, Jerome, do not roam, but turn +spindles at home!'?" said Shinshin, puckering his brows and smiling. +"Cela nous convient a merveille.*(2) Suvorov now--he knew what he was +about; yet they beat him a plate couture,*(3) and where are we to find +Suvorovs now? Je vous demande un peu,"*(4) said he, continually changing +from French to Russian. + + +*Do you know the proverb? + +*(2) That suits us down to the ground. + +*(3) Hollow. + +*(4) I just ask you that. + +"Ve must vight to the last tr-r-op of our plood!" said the colonel, +thumping the table; "and ve must tie for our Emperor, and zen all vill +pe vell. And ve must discuss it as little as po-o-ossible"... he dwelt +particularly on the word possible... "as po-o-ossible," he ended, again +turning to the count. "Zat is how ve old hussars look at it, and zere's +an end of it! And how do you, a young man and a young hussar, how do you +judge of it?" he added, addressing Nicholas, who when he heard that the +war was being discussed had turned from his partner with eyes and ears +intent on the colonel. + +"I am quite of your opinion," replied Nicholas, flaming up, turning his +plate round and moving his wineglasses about with as much decision and +desperation as though he were at that moment facing some great danger. +"I am convinced that we Russians must die or conquer," he concluded, +conscious--as were others--after the words were uttered that his remarks +were too enthusiastic and emphatic for the occasion and were therefore +awkward. + +"What you said just now was splendid!" said his partner Julie. + +Sonya trembled all over and blushed to her ears and behind them and down +to her neck and shoulders while Nicholas was speaking. + +Pierre listened to the colonel's speech and nodded approvingly. + +"That's fine," said he. + +"The young man's a real hussar!" shouted the colonel, again thumping the +table. + +"What are you making such a noise about over there?" Marya Dmitrievna's +deep voice suddenly inquired from the other end of the table. "What are +you thumping the table for?" she demanded of the hussar, "and why are +you exciting yourself? Do you think the French are here?" + +"I am speaking ze truce," replied the hussar with a smile. + +"It's all about the war," the count shouted down the table. "You know my +son's going, Marya Dmitrievna? My son is going." + +"I have four sons in the army but still I don't fret. It is all in God's +hands. You may die in your bed or God may spare you in a battle," +replied Marya Dmitrievna's deep voice, which easily carried the whole +length of the table. + +"That's true!" + +Once more the conversations concentrated, the ladies' at the one end and +the men's at the other. + +"You won't ask," Natasha's little brother was saying; "I know you won't +ask!" + +"I will," replied Natasha. + +Her face suddenly flushed with reckless and joyous resolution. She half +rose, by a glance inviting Pierre, who sat opposite, to listen to what +was coming, and turning to her mother: + +"Mamma!" rang out the clear contralto notes of her childish voice, +audible the whole length of the table. + +"What is it?" asked the countess, startled; but seeing by her daughter's +face that it was only mischief, she shook a finger at her sternly with a +threatening and forbidding movement of her head. + +The conversation was hushed. + +"Mamma! What sweets are we going to have?" and Natasha's voice sounded +still more firm and resolute. + +The countess tried to frown, but could not. Marya Dmitrievna shook her +fat finger. + +"Cossack!" she said threateningly. + +Most of the guests, uncertain how to regard this sally, looked at the +elders. + +"You had better take care!" said the countess. + +"Mamma! What sweets are we going to have?" Natasha again cried boldly, +with saucy gaiety, confident that her prank would be taken in good part. + +Sonya and fat little Petya doubled up with laughter. + +"You see! I have asked," whispered Natasha to her little brother and to +Pierre, glancing at him again. + +"Ice pudding, but you won't get any," said Marya Dmitrievna. + +Natasha saw there was nothing to be afraid of and so she braved even +Marya Dmitrievna. + +"Marya Dmitrievna! What kind of ice pudding? I don't like ice cream." + +"Carrot ices." + +"No! What kind, Marya Dmitrievna? What kind?" she almost screamed; "I +want to know!" + +Marya Dmitrievna and the countess burst out laughing, and all the guests +joined in. Everyone laughed, not at Marya Dmitrievna's answer but at the +incredible boldness and smartness of this little girl who had dared to +treat Marya Dmitrievna in this fashion. + +Natasha only desisted when she had been told that there would be +pineapple ice. Before the ices, champagne was served round. The band +again struck up, the count and countess kissed, and the guests, leaving +their seats, went up to "congratulate" the countess, and reached across +the table to clink glasses with the count, with the children, and with +one another. Again the footmen rushed about, chairs scraped, and in the +same order in which they had entered but with redder faces, the guests +returned to the drawing room and to the count's study. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +The card tables were drawn out, sets made up for boston, and the count's +visitors settled themselves, some in the two drawing rooms, some in the +sitting room, some in the library. + +The count, holding his cards fanwise, kept himself with difficulty from +dropping into his usual after-dinner nap, and laughed at everything. The +young people, at the countess' instigation, gathered round the +clavichord and harp. Julie by general request played first. After she +had played a little air with variations on the harp, she joined the +other young ladies in begging Natasha and Nicholas, who were noted for +their musical talent, to sing something. Natasha, who was treated as +though she were grown up, was evidently very proud of this but at the +same time felt shy. + +"What shall we sing?" she said. + +"'The Brook,'" suggested Nicholas. + +"Well, then, let's be quick. Boris, come here," said Natasha. "But where +is Sonya?" + +She looked round and seeing that her friend was not in the room ran to +look for her. + +Running into Sonya's room and not finding her there, Natasha ran to the +nursery, but Sonya was not there either. Natasha concluded that she must +be on the chest in the passage. The chest in the passage was the place +of mourning for the younger female generation in the Rostov household. +And there in fact was Sonya lying face downward on Nurse's dirty feather +bed on the top of the chest, crumpling her gauzy pink dress under her, +hiding her face with her slender fingers, and sobbing so convulsively +that her bare little shoulders shook. Natasha's face, which had been so +radiantly happy all that saint's day, suddenly changed: her eyes became +fixed, and then a shiver passed down her broad neck and the corners of +her mouth drooped. + +"Sonya! What is it? What is the matter?... Oo... Oo... Oo...!" And +Natasha's large mouth widened, making her look quite ugly, and she began +to wail like a baby without knowing why, except that Sonya was crying. +Sonya tried to lift her head to answer but could not, and hid her face +still deeper in the bed. Natasha wept, sitting on the blue-striped +feather bed and hugging her friend. With an effort Sonya sat up and +began wiping her eyes and explaining. + +"Nicholas is going away in a week's time, his... papers... have come... +he told me himself... but still I should not cry," and she showed a +paper she held in her hand--with the verses Nicholas had written, +"still, I should not cry, but you can't... no one can understand... what +a soul he has!" + +And she began to cry again because he had such a noble soul. + +"It's all very well for you... I am not envious... I love you and Boris +also," she went on, gaining a little strength; "he is nice... there are +no difficulties in your way.... But Nicholas is my cousin... one would +have to... the Metropolitan himself... and even then it can't be done. +And besides, if she tells Mamma" (Sonya looked upon the countess as her +mother and called her so) "that I am spoiling Nicholas' career and am +heartless and ungrateful, while truly... God is my witness," and she +made the sign of the cross, "I love her so much, and all of you, only +Vera... And what for? What have I done to her? I am so grateful to you +that I would willingly sacrifice everything, only I have nothing...." + +Sonya could not continue, and again hid her face in her hands and in the +feather bed. Natasha began consoling her, but her face showed that she +understood all the gravity of her friend's trouble. + +"Sonya," she suddenly exclaimed, as if she had guessed the true reason +of her friend's sorrow, "I'm sure Vera has said something to you since +dinner? Hasn't she?" + +"Yes, these verses Nicholas wrote himself and I copied some others, and +she found them on my table and said she'd show them to Mamma, and that I +was ungrateful, and that Mamma would never allow him to marry me, but +that he'll marry Julie. You see how he's been with her all day... +Natasha, what have I done to deserve it?..." + +And again she began to sob, more bitterly than before. Natasha lifted +her up, hugged her, and, smiling through her tears, began comforting +her. + +"Sonya, don't believe her, darling! Don't believe her! Do you remember +how we and Nicholas, all three of us, talked in the sitting room after +supper? Why, we settled how everything was to be. I don't quite remember +how, but don't you remember that it could all be arranged and how nice +it all was? There's Uncle Shinshin's brother has married his first +cousin. And we are only second cousins, you know. And Boris says it is +quite possible. You know I have told him all about it. And he is so +clever and so good!" said Natasha. "Don't you cry, Sonya, dear love, +darling Sonya!" and she kissed her and laughed. "Vera's spiteful; never +mind her! And all will come right and she won't say anything to Mamma. +Nicholas will tell her himself, and he doesn't care at all for Julie." + +Natasha kissed her on the hair. + +Sonya sat up. The little kitten brightened, its eyes shone, and it +seemed ready to lift its tail, jump down on its soft paws, and begin +playing with the ball of worsted as a kitten should. + +"Do you think so?... Really? Truly?" she said, quickly smoothing her +frock and hair. + +"Really, truly!" answered Natasha, pushing in a crisp lock that had +strayed from under her friend's plaits. + +Both laughed. + +"Well, let's go and sing 'The Brook.'" + +"Come along!" + +"Do you know, that fat Pierre who sat opposite me is so funny!" said +Natasha, stopping suddenly. "I feel so happy!" + +And she set off at a run along the passage. + +Sonya, shaking off some down which clung to her and tucking away the +verses in the bosom of her dress close to her bony little chest, ran +after Natasha down the passage into the sitting room with flushed face +and light, joyous steps. At the visitors' request the young people sang +the quartette, "The Brook," with which everyone was delighted. Then +Nicholas sang a song he had just learned: + + +At nighttime in the moon's fair glow How sweet, as fancies wander free, +To feel that in this world there's one Who still is thinking but of +thee! + +That while her fingers touch the harp Wafting sweet music o'er the lea, +It is for thee thus swells her heart, Sighing its message out to thee... + +A day or two, then bliss unspoilt, But oh! till then I cannot live!... + +He had not finished the last verse before the young people began to get +ready to dance in the large hall, and the sound of the feet and the +coughing of the musicians were heard from the gallery. + +Pierre was sitting in the drawing-room where Shinshin had engaged him, +as a man recently returned from abroad, in a political conversation in +which several others joined but which bored Pierre. When the music began +Natasha came in and walking straight up to Pierre said, laughing and +blushing: + +"Mamma told me to ask you to join the dancers." + +"I am afraid of mixing the figures," Pierre replied; "but if you will be +my teacher..." And lowering his big arm he offered it to the slender +little girl. + +While the couples were arranging themselves and the musicians tuning up, +Pierre sat down with his little partner. Natasha was perfectly happy; +she was dancing with a grown-up man, who had been abroad. She was +sitting in a conspicuous place and talking to him like a grown-up lady. +She had a fan in her hand that one of the ladies had given her to hold. +Assuming quite the pose of a society woman (heaven knows when and where +she had learned it) she talked with her partner, fanning herself and +smiling over the fan. + +"Dear, dear! Just look at her!" exclaimed the countess as she crossed +the ballroom, pointing to Natasha. + +Natasha blushed and laughed. + +"Well, really, Mamma! Why should you? What is there to be surprised at?" + +In the midst of the third ecossaise there was a clatter of chairs being +pushed back in the sitting room where the count and Marya Dmitrievna had +been playing cards with the majority of the more distinguished and older +visitors. They now, stretching themselves after sitting so long, and +replacing their purses and pocketbooks, entered the ballroom. First came +Marya Dmitrievna and the count, both with merry countenances. The count, +with playful ceremony somewhat in ballet style, offered his bent arm to +Marya Dmitrievna. He drew himself up, a smile of debonair gallantry lit +up his face and as soon as the last figure of the ecossaise was ended, +he clapped his hands to the musicians and shouted up to their gallery, +addressing the first violin: + +"Semen! Do you know the Daniel Cooper?" + +This was the count's favorite dance, which he had danced in his youth. +(Strictly speaking, Daniel Cooper was one figure of the anglaise.) + +"Look at Papa!" shouted Natasha to the whole company, and quite +forgetting that she was dancing with a grown-up partner she bent her +curly head to her knees and made the whole room ring with her laughter. + +And indeed everybody in the room looked with a smile of pleasure at the +jovial old gentleman, who standing beside his tall and stout partner, +Marya Dmitrievna, curved his arms, beat time, straightened his +shoulders, turned out his toes, tapped gently with his foot, and, by a +smile that broadened his round face more and more, prepared the +onlookers for what was to follow. As soon as the provocatively gay +strains of Daniel Cooper (somewhat resembling those of a merry peasant +dance) began to sound, all the doorways of the ballroom were suddenly +filled by the domestic serfs--the men on one side and the women on the +other--who with beaming faces had come to see their master making merry. + +"Just look at the master! A regular eagle he is!" loudly remarked the +nurse, as she stood in one of the doorways. + +The count danced well and knew it. But his partner could not and did not +want to dance well. Her enormous figure stood erect, her powerful arms +hanging down (she had handed her reticule to the countess), and only her +stern but handsome face really joined in the dance. What was expressed +by the whole of the count's plump figure, in Marya Dmitrievna found +expression only in her more and more beaming face and quivering nose. +But if the count, getting more and more into the swing of it, charmed +the spectators by the unexpectedness of his adroit maneuvers and the +agility with which he capered about on his light feet, Marya Dmitrievna +produced no less impression by slight exertions--the least effort to +move her shoulders or bend her arms when turning, or stamp her foot-- +which everyone appreciated in view of her size and habitual severity. +The dance grew livelier and livelier. The other couples could not +attract a moment's attention to their own evolutions and did not even +try to do so. All were watching the count and Marya Dmitrievna. Natasha +kept pulling everyone by sleeve or dress, urging them to "look at Papa!" +though as it was they never took their eyes off the couple. In the +intervals of the dance the count, breathing deeply, waved and shouted to +the musicians to play faster. Faster, faster, and faster; lightly, more +lightly, and yet more lightly whirled the count, flying round Marya +Dmitrievna, now on his toes, now on his heels; until, turning his +partner round to her seat, he executed the final pas, raising his soft +foot backwards, bowing his perspiring head, smiling and making a wide +sweep with his arm, amid a thunder of applause and laughter led by +Natasha. Both partners stood still, breathing heavily and wiping their +faces with their cambric handkerchiefs. + +"That's how we used to dance in our time, ma chere," said the count. + +"That was a Daniel Cooper!" exclaimed Marya Dmitrievna, tucking up her +sleeves and puffing heavily. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +While in the Rostovs' ballroom the sixth anglaise was being danced, to a +tune in which the weary musicians blundered, and while tired footmen and +cooks were getting the supper, Count Bezukhov had a sixth stroke. The +doctors pronounced recovery impossible. After a mute confession, +communion was administered to the dying man, preparations made for the +sacrament of unction, and in his house there was the bustle and thrill +of suspense usual at such moments. Outside the house, beyond the gates, +a group of undertakers, who hid whenever a carriage drove up, waited in +expectation of an important order for an expensive funeral. The Military +Governor of Moscow, who had been assiduous in sending aides-de-camp to +inquire after the count's health, came himself that evening to bid a +last farewell to the celebrated grandee of Catherine's court, Count +Bezukhov. + +The magnificent reception room was crowded. Everyone stood up +respectfully when the Military Governor, having stayed about half an +hour alone with the dying man, passed out, slightly acknowledging their +bows and trying to escape as quickly as possible from the glances fixed +on him by the doctors, clergy, and relatives of the family. Prince +Vasili, who had grown thinner and paler during the last few days, +escorted him to the door, repeating something to him several times in +low tones. + +When the Military Governor had gone, Prince Vasili sat down all alone on +a chair in the ballroom, crossing one leg high over the other, leaning +his elbow on his knee and covering his face with his hand. After sitting +so for a while he rose, and, looking about him with frightened eyes, +went with unusually hurried steps down the long corridor leading to the +back of the house, to the room of the eldest princess. + +Those who were in the dimly lit reception room spoke in nervous +whispers, and, whenever anyone went into or came from the dying man's +room, grew silent and gazed with eyes full of curiosity or expectancy at +his door, which creaked slightly when opened. + +"The limits of human life... are fixed and may not be o'erpassed," said +an old priest to a lady who had taken a seat beside him and was +listening naively to his words. + +"I wonder, is it not too late to administer unction?" asked the lady, +adding the priest's clerical title, as if she had no opinion of her own +on the subject. + +"Ah, madam, it is a great sacrament," replied the priest, passing his +hand over the thin grizzled strands of hair combed back across his bald +head. + +"Who was that? The Military Governor himself?" was being asked at the +other side of the room. "How young-looking he is!" + +"Yes, and he is over sixty. I hear the count no longer recognizes +anyone. They wished to administer the sacrament of unction." + +"I knew someone who received that sacrament seven times." + +The second princess had just come from the sickroom with her eyes red +from weeping and sat down beside Dr. Lorrain, who was sitting in a +graceful pose under a portrait of Catherine, leaning his elbow on a +table. + +"Beautiful," said the doctor in answer to a remark about the weather. +"The weather is beautiful, Princess; and besides, in Moscow one feels as +if one were in the country." + +"Yes, indeed," replied the princess with a sigh. "So he may have +something to drink?" + +Lorrain considered. + +"Has he taken his medicine?" + +"Yes." + +The doctor glanced at his watch. + +"Take a glass of boiled water and put a pinch of cream of tartar," and +he indicated with his delicate fingers what he meant by a pinch. + +"Dere has neffer been a gase," a German doctor was saying to an aide-de- +camp, "dat one liffs after de sird stroke." + +"And what a well-preserved man he was!" remarked the aide-de-camp. "And +who will inherit his wealth?" he added in a whisper. + +"It von't go begging," replied the German with a smile. + +Everyone again looked toward the door, which creaked as the second +princess went in with the drink she had prepared according to Lorrain's +instructions. The German doctor went up to Lorrain. + +"Do you think he can last till morning?" asked the German, addressing +Lorrain in French which he pronounced badly. + +Lorrain, pursing up his lips, waved a severely negative finger before +his nose. + +"Tonight, not later," said he in a low voice, and he moved away with a +decorous smile of self-satisfaction at being able clearly to understand +and state the patient's condition. + +Meanwhile Prince Vasili had opened the door into the princess' room. + +In this room it was almost dark; only two tiny lamps were burning before +the icons and there was a pleasant scent of flowers and burnt pastilles. +The room was crowded with small pieces of furniture, whatnots, +cupboards, and little tables. The quilt of a high, white feather bed was +just visible behind a screen. A small dog began to bark. + +"Ah, is it you, cousin?" + +She rose and smoothed her hair, which was as usual so extremely smooth +that it seemed to be made of one piece with her head and covered with +varnish. + +"Has anything happened?" she asked. "I am so terrified." + +"No, there is no change. I only came to have a talk about business, +Catiche," * muttered the prince, seating himself wearily on the chair +she had just vacated. "You have made the place warm, I must say," he +remarked. "Well, sit down: let's have a talk." + + +*Catherine. + +"I thought perhaps something had happened," she said with her unchanging +stonily severe expression; and, sitting down opposite the prince, she +prepared to listen. + +"I wished to get a nap, mon cousin, but I can't." + +"Well, my dear?" said Prince Vasili, taking her hand and bending it +downwards as was his habit. + +It was plain that this "well?" referred to much that they both +understood without naming. + +The princess, who had a straight, rigid body, abnormally long for her +legs, looked directly at Prince Vasili with no sign of emotion in her +prominent gray eyes. Then she shook her head and glanced up at the icons +with a sigh. This might have been taken as an expression of sorrow and +devotion, or of weariness and hope of resting before long. Prince Vasili +understood it as an expression of weariness. + +"And I?" he said; "do you think it is easier for me? I am as worn out as +a post horse, but still I must have a talk with you, Catiche, a very +serious talk." + +Prince Vasili said no more and his cheeks began to twitch nervously, now +on one side, now on the other, giving his face an unpleasant expression +which was never to be seen on it in a drawing room. His eyes too seemed +strange; at one moment they looked impudently sly and at the next +glanced round in alarm. + +The princess, holding her little dog on her lap with her thin bony +hands, looked attentively into Prince Vasili's eyes evidently resolved +not to be the first to break silence, if she had to wait till morning. + +"Well, you see, my dear princess and cousin, Catherine Semenovna," +continued Prince Vasili, returning to his theme, apparently not without +an inner struggle; "at such a moment as this one must think of +everything. One must think of the future, of all of you... I love you +all, like children of my own, as you know." + +The princess continued to look at him without moving, and with the same +dull expression. + +"And then of course my family has also to be considered," Prince Vasili +went on, testily pushing away a little table without looking at her. +"You know, Catiche, that we--you three sisters, Mamontov, and my wife-- +are the count's only direct heirs. I know, I know how hard it is for you +to talk or think of such matters. It is no easier for me; but, my dear, +I am getting on for sixty and must be prepared for anything. Do you know +I have sent for Pierre? The count," pointing to his portrait, +"definitely demanded that he should be called." + +Prince Vasili looked questioningly at the princess, but could not make +out whether she was considering what he had just said or whether she was +simply looking at him. + +"There is one thing I constantly pray God to grant, mon cousin," she +replied, "and it is that He would be merciful to him and would allow his +noble soul peacefully to leave this..." + +"Yes, yes, of course," interrupted Prince Vasili impatiently, rubbing +his bald head and angrily pulling back toward him the little table that +he had pushed away. "But... in short, the fact is... you know yourself +that last winter the count made a will by which he left all his +property, not to us his direct heirs, but to Pierre." + +"He has made wills enough!" quietly remarked the princess. "But he +cannot leave the estate to Pierre. Pierre is illegitimate." + +"But, my dear," said Prince Vasili suddenly, clutching the little table +and becoming more animated and talking more rapidly: "what if a letter +has been written to the Emperor in which the count asks for Pierre's +legitimation? Do you understand that in consideration of the count's +services, his request would be granted?..." + +The princess smiled as people do who think they know more about the +subject under discussion than those they are talking with. + +"I can tell you more," continued Prince Vasili, seizing her hand, "that +letter was written, though it was not sent, and the Emperor knew of it. +The only question is, has it been destroyed or not? If not, then as soon +as all is over," and Prince Vasili sighed to intimate what he meant by +the words all is over, "and the count's papers are opened, the will and +letter will be delivered to the Emperor, and the petition will certainly +be granted. Pierre will get everything as the legitimate son." + +"And our share?" asked the princess smiling ironically, as if anything +might happen, only not that. + +"But, my poor Catiche, it is as clear as daylight! He will then be the +legal heir to everything and you won't get anything. You must know, my +dear, whether the will and letter were written, and whether they have +been destroyed or not. And if they have somehow been overlooked, you +ought to know where they are, and must find them, because..." + +"What next?" the princess interrupted, smiling sardonically and not +changing the expression of her eyes. "I am a woman, and you think we are +all stupid; but I know this: an illegitimate son cannot inherit... un +batard!" * she added, as if supposing that this translation of the word +would effectively prove to Prince Vasili the invalidity of his +contention. + + +* A bastard. + +"Well, really, Catiche! Can't you understand! You are so intelligent, +how is it you don't see that if the count has written a letter to the +Emperor begging him to recognize Pierre as legitimate, it follows that +Pierre will not be Pierre but will become Count Bezukhov, and will then +inherit everything under the will? And if the will and letter are not +destroyed, then you will have nothing but the consolation of having been +dutiful et tout ce qui s'ensuit! * That's certain." + + +* And all that follows therefrom. + +"I know the will was made, but I also know that it is invalid; and you, +mon cousin, seem to consider me a perfect fool," said the princess with +the expression women assume when they suppose they are saying something +witty and stinging. + +"My dear Princess Catherine Semenovna," began Prince Vasili impatiently, +"I came here not to wrangle with you, but to talk about your interests +as with a kinswoman, a good, kind, true relation. And I tell you for the +tenth time that if the letter to the Emperor and the will in Pierre's +favor are among the count's papers, then, my dear girl, you and your +sisters are not heiresses! If you don't believe me, then believe an +expert. I have just been talking to Dmitri Onufrich" (the family +solicitor) "and he says the same." + +At this a sudden change evidently took place in the princess' ideas; her +thin lips grew white, though her eyes did not change, and her voice when +she began to speak passed through such transitions as she herself +evidently did not expect. + +"That would be a fine thing!" said she. "I never wanted anything and I +don't now." + +She pushed the little dog off her lap and smoothed her dress. + +"And this is gratitude--this is recognition for those who have +sacrificed everything for his sake!" she cried. "It's splendid! Fine! I +don't want anything, Prince." + +"Yes, but you are not the only one. There are your sisters..." replied +Prince Vasili. + +But the princess did not listen to him. + +"Yes, I knew it long ago but had forgotten. I knew that I could expect +nothing but meanness, deceit, envy, intrigue, and ingratitude--the +blackest ingratitude--in this house..." + +"Do you or do you not know where that will is?" insisted Prince Vasili, +his cheeks twitching more than ever. + +"Yes, I was a fool! I still believed in people, loved them, and +sacrificed myself. But only the base, the vile succeed! I know who has +been intriguing!" + +The princess wished to rise, but the prince held her by the hand. She +had the air of one who has suddenly lost faith in the whole human race. +She gave her companion an angry glance. + +"There is still time, my dear. You must remember, Catiche, that it was +all done casually in a moment of anger, of illness, and was afterwards +forgotten. Our duty, my dear, is to rectify his mistake, to ease his +last moments by not letting him commit this injustice, and not to let +him die feeling that he is rendering unhappy those who..." + +"Who sacrificed everything for him," chimed in the princess, who would +again have risen had not the prince still held her fast, "though he +never could appreciate it. No, mon cousin," she added with a sigh, "I +shall always remember that in this world one must expect no reward, that +in this world there is neither honor nor justice. In this world one has +to be cunning and cruel." + +"Now come, come! Be reasonable. I know your excellent heart." + +"No, I have a wicked heart." + +"I know your heart," repeated the prince. "I value your friendship and +wish you to have as good an opinion of me. Don't upset yourself, and let +us talk sensibly while there is still time, be it a day or be it but an +hour.... Tell me all you know about the will, and above all where it is. +You must know. We will take it at once and show it to the count. He has, +no doubt, forgotten it and will wish to destroy it. You understand that +my sole desire is conscientiously to carry out his wishes; that is my +only reason for being here. I came simply to help him and you." + +"Now I see it all! I know who has been intriguing--I know!" cried the +princess. + +"That's not the point, my dear." + +"It's that protege of yours, that sweet Princess Drubetskaya, that Anna +Mikhaylovna whom I would not take for a housemaid... the infamous, vile +woman!" + +"Do not let us lose any time..." + +"Ah, don't talk to me! Last winter she wheedled herself in here and told +the count such vile, disgraceful things about us, especially about +Sophie--I can't repeat them--that it made the count quite ill and he +would not see us for a whole fortnight. I know it was then he wrote this +vile, infamous paper, but I thought the thing was invalid." + +"We've got to it at last--why did you not tell me about it sooner?" + +"It's in the inlaid portfolio that he keeps under his pillow," said the +princess, ignoring his question. "Now I know! Yes; if I have a sin, a +great sin, it is hatred of that vile woman!" almost shrieked the +princess, now quite changed. "And what does she come worming herself in +here for? But I will give her a piece of my mind. The time will come!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +While these conversations were going on in the reception room and the +princess' room, a carriage containing Pierre (who had been sent for) and +Anna Mikhaylovna (who found it necessary to accompany him) was driving +into the court of Count Bezukhov's house. As the wheels rolled softly +over the straw beneath the windows, Anna Mikhaylovna, having turned with +words of comfort to her companion, realized that he was asleep in his +corner and woke him up. Rousing himself, Pierre followed Anna +Mikhaylovna out of the carriage, and only then began to think of the +interview with his dying father which awaited him. He noticed that they +had not come to the front entrance but to the back door. While he was +getting down from the carriage steps two men, who looked like +tradespeople, ran hurriedly from the entrance and hid in the shadow of +the wall. Pausing for a moment, Pierre noticed several other men of the +same kind hiding in the shadow of the house on both sides. But neither +Anna Mikhaylovna nor the footman nor the coachman, who could not help +seeing these people, took any notice of them. "It seems to be all +right," Pierre concluded, and followed Anna Mikhaylovna. She hurriedly +ascended the narrow dimly lit stone staircase, calling to Pierre, who +was lagging behind, to follow. Though he did not see why it was +necessary for him to go to the count at all, still less why he had to go +by the back stairs, yet judging by Anna Mikhaylovna's air of assurance +and haste, Pierre concluded that it was all absolutely necessary. +Halfway up the stairs they were almost knocked over by some men who, +carrying pails, came running downstairs, their boots clattering. These +men pressed close to the wall to let Pierre and Anna Mikhaylovna pass +and did not evince the least surprise at seeing them there. + +"Is this the way to the princesses' apartments?" asked Anna Mikhaylovna +of one of them. + +"Yes," replied a footman in a bold loud voice, as if anything were now +permissible; "the door to the left, ma'am." + +"Perhaps the count did not ask for me," said Pierre when he reached the +landing. "I'd better go to my own room." + +Anna Mikhaylovna paused and waited for him to come up. + +"Ah, my friend!" she said, touching his arm as she had done her son's +when speaking to him that afternoon, "believe me I suffer no less than +you do, but be a man!" + +"But really, hadn't I better go away?" he asked, looking kindly at her +over his spectacles. + +"Ah, my dear friend! Forget the wrongs that may have been done you. +Think that he is your father... perhaps in the agony of death." She +sighed. "I have loved you like a son from the first. Trust yourself to +me, Pierre. I shall not forget your interests." + +Pierre did not understand a word, but the conviction that all this had +to be grew stronger, and he meekly followed Anna Mikhaylovna who was +already opening a door. + +This door led into a back anteroom. An old man, a servant of the +princesses, sat in a corner knitting a stocking. Pierre had never been +in this part of the house and did not even know of the existence of +these rooms. Anna Mikhaylovna, addressing a maid who was hurrying past +with a decanter on a tray as "my dear" and "my sweet," asked about the +princess' health and then led Pierre along a stone passage. The first +door on the left led into the princesses' apartments. The maid with the +decanter in her haste had not closed the door (everything in the house +was done in haste at that time), and Pierre and Anna Mikhaylovna in +passing instinctively glanced into the room, where Prince Vasili and the +eldest princess were sitting close together talking. Seeing them pass, +Prince Vasili drew back with obvious impatience, while the princess +jumped up and with a gesture of desperation slammed the door with all +her might. + +This action was so unlike her usual composure and the fear depicted on +Prince Vasili's face so out of keeping with his dignity that Pierre +stopped and glanced inquiringly over his spectacles at his guide. Anna +Mikhaylovna evinced no surprise, she only smiled faintly and sighed, as +if to say that this was no more than she had expected. + +"Be a man, my friend. I will look after your interests," said she in +reply to his look, and went still faster along the passage. + +Pierre could not make out what it was all about, and still less what +"watching over his interests" meant, but he decided that all these +things had to be. From the passage they went into a large, dimly lit +room adjoining the count's reception room. It was one of those sumptuous +but cold apartments known to Pierre only from the front approach, but +even in this room there now stood an empty bath, and water had been +spilled on the carpet. They were met by a deacon with a censer and by a +servant who passed out on tiptoe without heeding them. They went into +the reception room familiar to Pierre, with two Italian windows opening +into the conservatory, with its large bust and full length portrait of +Catherine the Great. The same people were still sitting here in almost +the same positions as before, whispering to one another. All became +silent and turned to look at the pale tear-worn Anna Mikhaylovna as she +entered, and at the big stout figure of Pierre who, hanging his head, +meekly followed her. + +Anna Mikhaylovna's face expressed a consciousness that the decisive +moment had arrived. With the air of a practical Petersburg lady she now, +keeping Pierre close beside her, entered the room even more boldly than +that afternoon. She felt that as she brought with her the person the +dying man wished to see, her own admission was assured. Casting a rapid +glance at all those in the room and noticing the count's confessor +there, she glided up to him with a sort of amble, not exactly bowing yet +seeming to grow suddenly smaller, and respectfully received the blessing +first of one and then of another priest. + +"God be thanked that you are in time," said she to one of the priests; +"all we relatives have been in such anxiety. This young man is the +count's son," she added more softly. "What a terrible moment!" + +Having said this she went up to the doctor. + +"Dear doctor," said she, "this young man is the count's son. Is there +any hope?" + +The doctor cast a rapid glance upwards and silently shrugged his +shoulders. Anna Mikhaylovna with just the same movement raised her +shoulders and eyes, almost closing the latter, sighed, and moved away +from the doctor to Pierre. To him, in a particularly respectful and +tenderly sad voice, she said: + +"Trust in His mercy!" and pointing out a small sofa for him to sit and +wait for her, she went silently toward the door that everyone was +watching and it creaked very slightly as she disappeared behind it. + +Pierre, having made up his mind to obey his monitress implicitly, moved +toward the sofa she had indicated. As soon as Anna Mikhaylovna had +disappeared he noticed that the eyes of all in the room turned to him +with something more than curiosity and sympathy. He noticed that they +whispered to one another, casting significant looks at him with a kind +of awe and even servility. A deference such as he had never before +received was shown him. A strange lady, the one who had been talking to +the priests, rose and offered him her seat; an aide-de-camp picked up +and returned a glove Pierre had dropped; the doctors became respectfully +silent as he passed by, and moved to make way for him. At first Pierre +wished to take another seat so as not to trouble the lady, and also to +pick up the glove himself and to pass round the doctors who were not +even in his way; but all at once he felt that this would not do, and +that tonight he was a person obliged to perform some sort of awful rite +which everyone expected of him, and that he was therefore bound to +accept their services. He took the glove in silence from the aide-de- +camp, and sat down in the lady's chair, placing his huge hands +symmetrically on his knees in the naive attitude of an Egyptian statue, +and decided in his own mind that all was as it should be, and that in +order not to lose his head and do foolish things he must not act on his +own ideas tonight, but must yield himself up entirely to the will of +those who were guiding him. + +Not two minutes had passed before Prince Vasili with head erect +majestically entered the room. He was wearing his long coat with three +stars on his breast. He seemed to have grown thinner since the morning; +his eyes seemed larger than usual when he glanced round and noticed +Pierre. He went up to him, took his hand (a thing he never used to do), +and drew it downwards as if wishing to ascertain whether it was firmly +fixed on. + +"Courage, courage, my friend! He has asked to see you. That is well!" +and he turned to go. + +But Pierre thought it necessary to ask: "How is..." and hesitated, not +knowing whether it would be proper to call the dying man "the count," +yet ashamed to call him "father." + +"He had another stroke about half an hour ago. Courage, my friend..." + +Pierre's mind was in such a confused state that the word "stroke" +suggested to him a blow from something. He looked at Prince Vasili in +perplexity, and only later grasped that a stroke was an attack of +illness. Prince Vasili said something to Lorrain in passing and went +through the door on tiptoe. He could not walk well on tiptoe and his +whole body jerked at each step. The eldest princess followed him, and +the priests and deacons and some servants also went in at the door. +Through that door was heard a noise of things being moved about, and at +last Anna Mikhaylovna, still with the same expression, pale but resolute +in the discharge of duty, ran out and touching Pierre lightly on the arm +said: + +"The divine mercy is inexhaustible! Unction is about to be administered. +Come." + +Pierre went in at the door, stepping on the soft carpet, and noticed +that the strange lady, the aide-de-camp, and some of the servants, all +followed him in, as if there were now no further need for permission to +enter that room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Pierre well knew this large room divided by columns and an arch, its +walls hung round with Persian carpets. The part of the room behind the +columns, with a high silk-curtained mahogany bedstead on one side and on +the other an immense case containing icons, was brightly illuminated +with red light like a Russian church during evening service. Under the +gleaming icons stood a long invalid chair, and in that chair on snowy- +white smooth pillows, evidently freshly changed, Pierre saw--covered to +the waist by a bright green quilt--the familiar, majestic figure of his +father, Count Bezukhov, with that gray mane of hair above his broad +forehead which reminded one of a lion, and the deep characteristically +noble wrinkles of his handsome, ruddy face. He lay just under the icons; +his large thick hands outside the quilt. Into the right hand, which was +lying palm downwards, a wax taper had been thrust between forefinger and +thumb, and an old servant, bending over from behind the chair, held it +in position. By the chair stood the priests, their long hair falling +over their magnificent glittering vestments, with lighted tapers in +their hands, slowly and solemnly conducting the service. A little behind +them stood the two younger princesses holding handkerchiefs to their +eyes, and just in front of them their eldest sister, Catiche, with a +vicious and determined look steadily fixed on the icons, as though +declaring to all that she could not answer for herself should she glance +round. Anna Mikhaylovna, with a meek, sorrowful, and all-forgiving +expression on her face, stood by the door near the strange lady. Prince +Vasili in front of the door, near the invalid chair, a wax taper in his +left hand, was leaning his left arm on the carved back of a velvet chair +he had turned round for the purpose, and was crossing himself with his +right hand, turning his eyes upward each time he touched his forehead. +His face wore a calm look of piety and resignation to the will of God. +"If you do not understand these sentiments," he seemed to be saying, "so +much the worse for you!" + +Behind him stood the aide-de-camp, the doctors, and the menservants; the +men and women had separated as in church. All were silently crossing +themselves, and the reading of the church service, the subdued chanting +of deep bass voices, and in the intervals sighs and the shuffling of +feet were the only sounds that could be heard. Anna Mikhaylovna, with an +air of importance that showed that she felt she quite knew what she was +about, went across the room to where Pierre was standing and gave him a +taper. He lit it and, distracted by observing those around him, began +crossing himself with the hand that held the taper. + +Sophie, the rosy, laughter-loving, youngest princess with the mole, +watched him. She smiled, hid her face in her handkerchief, and remained +with it hidden for awhile; then looking up and seeing Pierre she again +began to laugh. She evidently felt unable to look at him without +laughing, but could not resist looking at him: so to be out of +temptation she slipped quietly behind one of the columns. In the midst +of the service the voices of the priests suddenly ceased, they whispered +to one another, and the old servant who was holding the count's hand got +up and said something to the ladies. Anna Mikhaylovna stepped forward +and, stooping over the dying man, beckoned to Lorrain from behind her +back. The French doctor held no taper; he was leaning against one of the +columns in a respectful attitude implying that he, a foreigner, in spite +of all differences of faith, understood the full importance of the rite +now being performed and even approved of it. He now approached the sick +man with the noiseless step of one in full vigor of life, with his +delicate white fingers raised from the green quilt the hand that was +free, and turning sideways felt the pulse and reflected a moment. The +sick man was given something to drink, there was a stir around him, then +the people resumed their places and the service continued. During this +interval Pierre noticed that Prince Vasili left the chair on which he +had been leaning, and--with an air which intimated that he knew what he +was about and if others did not understand him it was so much the worse +for them--did not go up to the dying man, but passed by him, joined the +eldest princess, and moved with her to the side of the room where stood +the high bedstead with its silken hangings. On leaving the bed both +Prince Vasili and the princess passed out by a back door, but returned +to their places one after the other before the service was concluded. +Pierre paid no more attention to this occurrence than to the rest of +what went on, having made up his mind once for all that what he saw +happening around him that evening was in some way essential. + +The chanting of the service ceased, and the voice of the priest was +heard respectfully congratulating the dying man on having received the +sacrament. The dying man lay as lifeless and immovable as before. Around +him everyone began to stir: steps were audible and whispers, among which +Anna Mikhaylovna's was the most distinct. + +Pierre heard her say: + +"Certainly he must be moved onto the bed; here it will be impossible..." + +The sick man was so surrounded by doctors, princesses, and servants that +Pierre could no longer see the reddish-yellow face with its gray mane-- +which, though he saw other faces as well, he had not lost sight of for a +single moment during the whole service. He judged by the cautious +movements of those who crowded round the invalid chair that they had +lifted the dying man and were moving him. + +"Catch hold of my arm or you'll drop him!" he heard one of the servants +say in a frightened whisper. "Catch hold from underneath. Here!" +exclaimed different voices; and the heavy breathing of the bearers and +the shuffling of their feet grew more hurried, as if the weight they +were carrying were too much for them. + +As the bearers, among whom was Anna Mikhaylovna, passed the young man he +caught a momentary glimpse between their heads and backs of the dying +man's high, stout, uncovered chest and powerful shoulders, raised by +those who were holding him under the armpits, and of his gray, curly, +leonine head. This head, with its remarkably broad brow and cheekbones, +its handsome, sensual mouth, and its cold, majestic expression, was not +disfigured by the approach of death. It was the same as Pierre +remembered it three months before, when the count had sent him to +Petersburg. But now this head was swaying helplessly with the uneven +movements of the bearers, and the cold listless gaze fixed itself upon +nothing. + +After a few minutes' bustle beside the high bedstead, those who had +carried the sick man dispersed. Anna Mikhaylovna touched Pierre's hand +and said, "Come." Pierre went with her to the bed on which the sick man +had been laid in a stately pose in keeping with the ceremony just +completed. He lay with his head propped high on the pillows. His hands +were symmetrically placed on the green silk quilt, the palms downward. +When Pierre came up the count was gazing straight at him, but with a +look the significance of which could not be understood by mortal man. +Either this look meant nothing but that as long as one has eyes they +must look somewhere, or it meant too much. Pierre hesitated, not knowing +what to do, and glanced inquiringly at his guide. Anna Mikhaylovna made +a hurried sign with her eyes, glancing at the sick man's hand and moving +her lips as if to send it a kiss. Pierre, carefully stretching his neck +so as not to touch the quilt, followed her suggestion and pressed his +lips to the large boned, fleshy hand. Neither the hand nor a single +muscle of the count's face stirred. Once more Pierre looked +questioningly at Anna Mikhaylovna to see what he was to do next. Anna +Mikhaylovna with her eyes indicated a chair that stood beside the bed. +Pierre obediently sat down, his eyes asking if he were doing right. Anna +Mikhaylovna nodded approvingly. Again Pierre fell into the naively +symmetrical pose of an Egyptian statue, evidently distressed that his +stout and clumsy body took up so much room and doing his utmost to look +as small as possible. He looked at the count, who still gazed at the +spot where Pierre's face had been before he sat down. Anna Mikhaylovna +indicated by her attitude her consciousness of the pathetic importance +of these last moments of meeting between the father and son. This lasted +about two minutes, which to Pierre seemed an hour. Suddenly the broad +muscles and lines of the count's face began to twitch. The twitching +increased, the handsome mouth was drawn to one side (only now did Pierre +realize how near death his father was), and from that distorted mouth +issued an indistinct, hoarse sound. Anna Mikhaylovna looked attentively +at the sick man's eyes, trying to guess what he wanted; she pointed +first to Pierre, then to some drink, then named Prince Vasili in an +inquiring whisper, then pointed to the quilt. The eyes and face of the +sick man showed impatience. He made an effort to look at the servant who +stood constantly at the head of the bed. + +"Wants to turn on the other side," whispered the servant, and got up to +turn the count's heavy body toward the wall. + +Pierre rose to help him. + +While the count was being turned over, one of his arms fell back +helplessly and he made a fruitless effort to pull it forward. Whether he +noticed the look of terror with which Pierre regarded that lifeless arm, +or whether some other thought flitted across his dying brain, at any +rate he glanced at the refractory arm, at Pierre's terror-stricken face, +and again at the arm, and on his face a feeble, piteous smile appeared, +quite out of keeping with his features, that seemed to deride his own +helplessness. At sight of this smile Pierre felt an unexpected quivering +in his breast and a tickling in his nose, and tears dimmed his eyes. The +sick man was turned on to his side with his face to the wall. He sighed. + +"He is dozing," said Anna Mikhaylovna, observing that one of the +princesses was coming to take her turn at watching. "Let us go." + +Pierre went out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +There was now no one in the reception room except Prince Vasili and the +eldest princess, who were sitting under the portrait of Catherine the +Great and talking eagerly. As soon as they saw Pierre and his companion +they became silent, and Pierre thought he saw the princess hide +something as she whispered: + +"I can't bear the sight of that woman." + +"Catiche has had tea served in the small drawing room," said Prince +Vasili to Anna Mikhaylovna. "Go and take something, my poor Anna +Mikhaylovna, or you will not hold out." + +To Pierre he said nothing, merely giving his arm a sympathetic squeeze +below the shoulder. Pierre went with Anna Mikhaylovna into the small +drawing room. + +"There is nothing so refreshing after a sleepless night as a cup of this +delicious Russian tea," Lorrain was saying with an air of restrained +animation as he stood sipping tea from a delicate Chinese handleless cup +before a table on which tea and a cold supper were laid in the small +circular room. Around the table all who were at Count Bezukhov's house +that night had gathered to fortify themselves. Pierre well remembered +this small circular drawing room with its mirrors and little tables. +During balls given at the house Pierre, who did not know how to dance, +had liked sitting in this room to watch the ladies who, as they passed +through in their ball dresses with diamonds and pearls on their bare +shoulders, looked at themselves in the brilliantly lighted mirrors which +repeated their reflections several times. Now this same room was dimly +lighted by two candles. On one small table tea things and supper dishes +stood in disorder, and in the middle of the night a motley throng of +people sat there, not merrymaking, but somberly whispering, and +betraying by every word and movement that they none of them forgot what +was happening and what was about to happen in the bedroom. Pierre did +not eat anything though he would very much have liked to. He looked +inquiringly at his monitress and saw that she was again going on tiptoe +to the reception room where they had left Prince Vasili and the eldest +princess. Pierre concluded that this also was essential, and after a +short interval followed her. Anna Mikhaylovna was standing beside the +princess, and they were both speaking in excited whispers. + +"Permit me, Princess, to know what is necessary and what is not +necessary," said the younger of the two speakers, evidently in the same +state of excitement as when she had slammed the door of her room. + +"But, my dear princess," answered Anna Mikhaylovna blandly but +impressively, blocking the way to the bedroom and preventing the other +from passing, "won't this be too much for poor Uncle at a moment when he +needs repose? Worldly conversation at a moment when his soul is already +prepared..." + +Prince Vasili was seated in an easy chair in his familiar attitude, with +one leg crossed high above the other. His cheeks, which were so flabby +that they looked heavier below, were twitching violently; but he wore +the air of a man little concerned in what the two ladies were saying. + +"Come, my dear Anna Mikhaylovna, let Catiche do as she pleases. You know +how fond the count is of her." + +"I don't even know what is in this paper," said the younger of the two +ladies, addressing Prince Vasili and pointing to an inlaid portfolio she +held in her hand. "All I know is that his real will is in his writing +table, and this is a paper he has forgotten...." + +She tried to pass Anna Mikhaylovna, but the latter sprang so as to bar +her path. + +"I know, my dear, kind princess," said Anna Mikhaylovna, seizing the +portfolio so firmly that it was plain she would not let go easily. "Dear +princess, I beg and implore you, have some pity on him! Je vous en +conjure..." + +The princess did not reply. Their efforts in the struggle for the +portfolio were the only sounds audible, but it was evident that if the +princess did speak, her words would not be flattering to Anna +Mikhaylovna. Though the latter held on tenaciously, her voice lost none +of its honeyed firmness and softness. + +"Pierre, my dear, come here. I think he will not be out of place in a +family consultation; is it not so, Prince?" + +"Why don't you speak, cousin?" suddenly shrieked the princess so loud +that those in the drawing room heard her and were startled. "Why do you +remain silent when heaven knows who permits herself to interfere, making +a scene on the very threshold of a dying man's room? Intriguer!" she +hissed viciously, and tugged with all her might at the portfolio. + +But Anna Mikhaylovna went forward a step or two to keep her hold on the +portfolio, and changed her grip. + +Prince Vasili rose. "Oh!" said he with reproach and surprise, "this is +absurd! Come, let go I tell you." + +The princess let go. + +"And you too!" + +But Anna Mikhaylovna did not obey him. + +"Let go, I tell you! I will take the responsibility. I myself will go +and ask him, I!... does that satisfy you?" + +"But, Prince," said Anna Mikhaylovna, "after such a solemn sacrament, +allow him a moment's peace! Here, Pierre, tell them your opinion," said +she, turning to the young man who, having come quite close, was gazing +with astonishment at the angry face of the princess which had lost all +dignity, and at the twitching cheeks of Prince Vasili. + +"Remember that you will answer for the consequences," said Prince Vasili +severely. "You don't know what you are doing." + +"Vile woman!" shouted the princess, darting unexpectedly at Anna +Mikhaylovna and snatching the portfolio from her. + +Prince Vasili bent his head and spread out his hands. + +At this moment that terrible door, which Pierre had watched so long and +which had always opened so quietly, burst noisily open and banged +against the wall, and the second of the three sisters rushed out +wringing her hands. + +"What are you doing!" she cried vehemently. "He is dying and you leave +me alone with him!" + +Her sister dropped the portfolio. Anna Mikhaylovna, stooping, quickly +caught up the object of contention and ran into the bedroom. The eldest +princess and Prince Vasili, recovering themselves, followed her. A few +minutes later the eldest sister came out with a pale hard face, again +biting her underlip. At sight of Pierre her expression showed an +irrepressible hatred. + +"Yes, now you may be glad!" said she; "this is what you have been +waiting for." And bursting into tears she hid her face in her +handkerchief and rushed from the room. + +Prince Vasili came next. He staggered to the sofa on which Pierre was +sitting and dropped onto it, covering his face with his hand. Pierre +noticed that he was pale and that his jaw quivered and shook as if in an +ague. + +"Ah, my friend!" said he, taking Pierre by the elbow; and there was in +his voice a sincerity and weakness Pierre had never observed in it +before. "How often we sin, how much we deceive, and all for what? I am +near sixty, dear friend... I too... All will end in death, all! Death is +awful..." and he burst into tears. + +Anna Mikhaylovna came out last. She approached Pierre with slow, quiet +steps. + +"Pierre!" she said. + +Pierre gave her an inquiring look. She kissed the young man on his +forehead, wetting him with her tears. Then after a pause she said: + +"He is no more...." + +Pierre looked at her over his spectacles. + +"Come, I will go with you. Try to weep, nothing gives such relief as +tears." + +She led him into the dark drawing room and Pierre was glad no one could +see his face. Anna Mikhaylovna left him, and when she returned he was +fast asleep with his head on his arm. + +In the morning Anna Mikhaylovna said to Pierre: + +"Yes, my dear, this is a great loss for us all, not to speak of you. But +God will support you: you are young, and are now, I hope, in command of +an immense fortune. The will has not yet been opened. I know you well +enough to be sure that this will not turn your head, but it imposes +duties on you, and you must be a man." + +Pierre was silent. + +"Perhaps later on I may tell you, my dear boy, that if I had not been +there, God only knows what would have happened! You know, Uncle promised +me only the day before yesterday not to forget Boris. But he had no +time. I hope, my dear friend, you will carry out your father's wish?" + +Pierre understood nothing of all this and coloring shyly looked in +silence at Princess Anna Mikhaylovna. After her talk with Pierre, Anna +Mikhaylovna returned to the Rostovs' and went to bed. On waking in the +morning she told the Rostovs and all her acquaintances the details of +Count Bezukhov's death. She said the count had died as she would herself +wish to die, that his end was not only touching but edifying. As to the +last meeting between father and son, it was so touching that she could +not think of it without tears, and did not know which had behaved better +during those awful moments--the father who so remembered everything and +everybody at last and had spoken such pathetic words to the son, or +Pierre, whom it had been pitiful to see, so stricken was he with grief, +though he tried hard to hide it in order not to sadden his dying father. +"It is painful, but it does one good. It uplifts the soul to see such +men as the old count and his worthy son," said she. Of the behavior of +the eldest princess and Prince Vasili she spoke disapprovingly, but in +whispers and as a great secret. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +At Bald Hills, Prince Nicholas Andreevich Bolkonski's estate, the +arrival of young Prince Andrew and his wife was daily expected, but this +expectation did not upset the regular routine of life in the old +prince's household. General in Chief Prince Nicholas Andreevich +(nicknamed in society, "the King of Prussia") ever since the Emperor +Paul had exiled him to his country estate had lived there continuously +with his daughter, Princess Mary, and her companion, Mademoiselle +Bourienne. Though in the new reign he was free to return to the +capitals, he still continued to live in the country, remarking that +anyone who wanted to see him could come the hundred miles from Moscow to +Bald Hills, while he himself needed no one and nothing. He used to say +that there are only two sources of human vice--idleness and +superstition, and only two virtues--activity and intelligence. He +himself undertook his daughter's education, and to develop these two +cardinal virtues in her gave her lessons in algebra and geometry till +she was twenty, and arranged her life so that her whole time was +occupied. He was himself always occupied: writing his memoirs, solving +problems in higher mathematics, turning snuffboxes on a lathe, working +in the garden, or superintending the building that was always going on +at his estate. As regularity is a prime condition facilitating activity, +regularity in his household was carried to the highest point of +exactitude. He always came to table under precisely the same conditions, +and not only at the same hour but at the same minute. With those about +him, from his daughter to his serfs, the prince was sharp and invariably +exacting, so that without being a hardhearted man he inspired such fear +and respect as few hardhearted men would have aroused. Although he was +in retirement and had now no influence in political affairs, every high +official appointed to the province in which the prince's estate lay +considered it his duty to visit him and waited in the lofty antechamber +just as the architect, gardener, or Princess Mary did, till the prince +appeared punctually to the appointed hour. Everyone sitting in this +antechamber experienced the same feeling of respect and even fear when +the enormously high study door opened and showed the figure of a rather +small old man, with powdered wig, small withered hands, and bushy gray +eyebrows which, when he frowned, sometimes hid the gleam of his shrewd, +youthfully glittering eyes. + +On the morning of the day that the young couple were to arrive, Princess +Mary entered the antechamber as usual at the time appointed for the +morning greeting, crossing herself with trepidation and repeating a +silent prayer. Every morning she came in like that, and every morning +prayed that the daily interview might pass off well. + +An old powdered manservant who was sitting in the antechamber rose +quietly and said in a whisper: "Please walk in." + +Through the door came the regular hum of a lathe. The princess timidly +opened the door which moved noiselessly and easily. She paused at the +entrance. The prince was working at the lathe and after glancing round +continued his work. + +The enormous study was full of things evidently in constant use. The +large table covered with books and plans, the tall glass-fronted +bookcases with keys in the locks, the high desk for writing while +standing up, on which lay an open exercise book, and the lathe with +tools laid ready to hand and shavings scattered around--all indicated +continuous, varied, and orderly activity. The motion of the small foot +shod in a Tartar boot embroidered with silver, and the firm pressure of +the lean sinewy hand, showed that the prince still possessed the +tenacious endurance and vigor of hardy old age. After a few more turns +of the lathe he removed his foot from the pedal, wiped his chisel, +dropped it into a leather pouch attached to the lathe, and, approaching +the table, summoned his daughter. He never gave his children a blessing, +so he simply held out his bristly cheek (as yet unshaven) and, regarding +her tenderly and attentively, said severely: + +"Quite well? All right then, sit down." He took the exercise book +containing lessons in geometry written by himself and drew up a chair +with his foot. + +"For tomorrow!" said he, quickly finding the page and making a scratch +from one paragraph to another with his hard nail. + +The princess bent over the exercise book on the table. + +"Wait a bit, here's a letter for you," said the old man suddenly, taking +a letter addressed in a woman's hand from a bag hanging above the table, +onto which he threw it. + +At the sight of the letter red patches showed themselves on the +princess' face. She took it quickly and bent her head over it. + +"From Heloise?" asked the prince with a cold smile that showed his still +sound, yellowish teeth. + +"Yes, it's from Julie," replied the princess with a timid glance and a +timid smile. + +"I'll let two more letters pass, but the third I'll read," said the +prince sternly; "I'm afraid you write much nonsense. I'll read the +third!" + +"Read this if you like, Father," said the princess, blushing still more +and holding out the letter. + +"The third, I said the third!" cried the prince abruptly, pushing the +letter away, and leaning his elbows on the table he drew toward him the +exercise book containing geometrical figures. + +"Well, madam," he began, stooping over the book close to his daughter +and placing an arm on the back of the chair on which she sat, so that +she felt herself surrounded on all sides by the acrid scent of old age +and tobacco, which she had known so long. "Now, madam, these triangles +are equal; please note that the angle ABC..." + +The princess looked in a scared way at her father's eyes glittering +close to her; the red patches on her face came and went, and it was +plain that she understood nothing and was so frightened that her fear +would prevent her understanding any of her father's further +explanations, however clear they might be. Whether it was the teacher's +fault or the pupil's, this same thing happened every day: the princess' +eyes grew dim, she could not see and could not hear anything, but was +only conscious of her stern father's withered face close to her, of his +breath and the smell of him, and could think only of how to get away +quickly to her own room to make out the problem in peace. The old man +was beside himself: moved the chair on which he was sitting noisily +backward and forward, made efforts to control himself and not become +vehement, but almost always did become vehement, scolded, and sometimes +flung the exercise book away. + +The princess gave a wrong answer. + +"Well now, isn't she a fool!" shouted the prince, pushing the book aside +and turning sharply away; but rising immediately, he paced up and down, +lightly touched his daughter's hair and sat down again. + +He drew up his chair, and continued to explain. + +"This won't do, Princess; it won't do," said he, when Princess Mary, +having taken and closed the exercise book with the next day's lesson, +was about to leave: "Mathematics are most important, madam! I don't want +to have you like our silly ladies. Get used to it and you'll like it," +and he patted her cheek. "It will drive all the nonsense out of your +head." + +She turned to go, but he stopped her with a gesture and took an uncut +book from the high desk. + +"Here is some sort of Key to the Mysteries that your Heloise has sent +you. Religious! I don't interfere with anyone's belief... I have looked +at it. Take it. Well, now go. Go." + +He patted her on the shoulder and himself closed the door after her. + +Princess Mary went back to her room with the sad, scared expression that +rarely left her and which made her plain, sickly face yet plainer. She +sat down at her writing table, on which stood miniature portraits and +which was littered with books and papers. The princess was as untidy as +her father was tidy. She put down the geometry book and eagerly broke +the seal of her letter. It was from her most intimate friend from +childhood; that same Julie Karagina who had been at the Rostovs' name- +day party. + +Julie wrote in French: + +Dear and precious Friend, How terrible and frightful a thing is +separation! Though I tell myself that half my life and half my happiness +are wrapped up in you, and that in spite of the distance separating us +our hearts are united by indissoluble bonds, my heart rebels against +fate and in spite of the pleasures and distractions around me I cannot +overcome a certain secret sorrow that has been in my heart ever since we +parted. Why are we not together as we were last summer, in your big +study, on the blue sofa, the confidential sofa? Why cannot I now, as +three months ago, draw fresh moral strength from your look, so gentle, +calm, and penetrating, a look I loved so well and seem to see before me +as I write? + +Having read thus far, Princess Mary sighed and glanced into the mirror +which stood on her right. It reflected a weak, ungraceful figure and +thin face. Her eyes, always sad, now looked with particular hopelessness +at her reflection in the glass. "She flatters me," thought the princess, +turning away and continuing to read. But Julie did not flatter her +friend, the princess' eyes--large, deep and luminous (it seemed as if at +times there radiated from them shafts of warm light)--were so beautiful +that very often in spite of the plainness of her face they gave her an +attraction more powerful than that of beauty. But the princess never saw +the beautiful expression of her own eyes--the look they had when she was +not thinking of herself. As with everyone, her face assumed a forced +unnatural expression as soon as she looked in a glass. She went on +reading: + +All Moscow talks of nothing but war. One of my two brothers is already +abroad, the other is with the Guards, who are starting on their march to +the frontier. Our dear Emperor has left Petersburg and it is thought +intends to expose his precious person to the chances of war. God grant +that the Corsican monster who is destroying the peace of Europe may be +overthrown by the angel whom it has pleased the Almighty, in His +goodness, to give us as sovereign! To say nothing of my brothers, this +war has deprived me of one of the associations nearest my heart. I mean +young Nicholas Rostov, who with his enthusiasm could not bear to remain +inactive and has left the university to join the army. I will confess to +you, dear Mary, that in spite of his extreme youth his departure for the +army was a great grief to me. This young man, of whom I spoke to you +last summer, is so noble-minded and full of that real youthfulness which +one seldom finds nowadays among our old men of twenty and, particularly, +he is so frank and has so much heart. He is so pure and poetic that my +relations with him, transient as they were, have been one of the +sweetest comforts to my poor heart, which has already suffered so much. +Someday I will tell you about our parting and all that was said then. +That is still too fresh. Ah, dear friend, you are happy not to know +these poignant joys and sorrows. You are fortunate, for the latter are +generally the stronger! I know very well that Count Nicholas is too +young ever to be more to me than a friend, but this sweet friendship, +this poetic and pure intimacy, were what my heart needed. But enough of +this! The chief news, about which all Moscow gossips, is the death of +old Count Bezukhov, and his inheritance. Fancy! The three princesses +have received very little, Prince Vasili nothing, and it is Monsieur +Pierre who has inherited all the property and has besides been +recognized as legitimate; so that he is now Count Bezukhov and possessor +of the finest fortune in Russia. It is rumored that Prince Vasili played +a very despicable part in this affair and that he returned to Petersburg +quite crestfallen. + +I confess I understand very little about all these matters of wills and +inheritance; but I do know that since this young man, whom we all used +to know as plain Monsieur Pierre, has become Count Bezukhov and the +owner of one of the largest fortunes in Russia, I am much amused to +watch the change in the tone and manners of the mammas burdened by +marriageable daughters, and of the young ladies themselves, toward him, +though, between you and me, he always seemed to me a poor sort of +fellow. As for the past two years people have amused themselves by +finding husbands for me (most of whom I don't even know), the +matchmaking chronicles of Moscow now speak of me as the future Countess +Bezukhova. But you will understand that I have no desire for the post. A +propos of marriages: do you know that a while ago that universal auntie +Anna Mikhaylovna told me, under the seal of strict secrecy, of a plan of +marriage for you. It is neither more nor less than with Prince Vasili's +son Anatole, whom they wish to reform by marrying him to someone rich +and distinguee, and it is on you that his relations' choice has fallen. +I don't know what you will think of it, but I consider it my duty to let +you know of it. He is said to be very handsome and a terrible +scapegrace. That is all I have been able to find out about him. + +But enough of gossip. I am at the end of my second sheet of paper, and +Mamma has sent for me to go and dine at the Apraksins'. Read the +mystical book I am sending you; it has an enormous success here. Though +there are things in it difficult for the feeble human mind to grasp, it +is an admirable book which calms and elevates the soul. Adieu! Give my +respects to monsieur your father and my compliments to Mademoiselle +Bourienne. I embrace you as I love you. + +JULIE + +P.S. Let me have news of your brother and his charming little wife. + +The princess pondered awhile with a thoughtful smile and her luminous +eyes lit up so that her face was entirely transformed. Then she suddenly +rose and with her heavy tread went up to the table. She took a sheet of +paper and her hand moved rapidly over it. This is the reply she wrote, +also in French: + +Dear and precious Friend, Your letter of the 13th has given me great +delight. So you still love me, my romantic Julie? Separation, of which +you say so much that is bad, does not seem to have had its usual effect +on you. You complain of our separation. What then should I say, if I +dared complain, I who am deprived of all who are dear to me? Ah, if we +had not religion to console us life would be very sad. Why do you +suppose that I should look severely on your affection for that young +man? On such matters I am only severe with myself. I understand such +feelings in others, and if never having felt them I cannot approve of +them, neither do I condemn them. Only it seems to me that Christian +love, love of one's neighbor, love of one's enemy, is worthier, sweeter, +and better than the feelings which the beautiful eyes of a young man can +inspire in a romantic and loving young girl like yourself. + +The news of Count Bezukhov's death reached us before your letter and my +father was much affected by it. He says the count was the last +representative but one of the great century, and that it is his own turn +now, but that he will do all he can to let his turn come as late as +possible. God preserve us from that terrible misfortune! + +I cannot agree with you about Pierre, whom I knew as a child. He always +seemed to me to have an excellent heart, and that is the quality I value +most in people. As to his inheritance and the part played by Prince +Vasili, it is very sad for both. Ah, my dear friend, our divine +Saviour's words, that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of +a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, are terribly +true. I pity Prince Vasili but am still more sorry for Pierre. So young, +and burdened with such riches--to what temptations he will be exposed! +If I were asked what I desire most on earth, it would be to be poorer +than the poorest beggar. A thousand thanks, dear friend, for the volume +you have sent me and which has such success in Moscow. Yet since you +tell me that among some good things it contains others which our weak +human understanding cannot grasp, it seems to me rather useless to spend +time in reading what is unintelligible and can therefore bear no fruit. +I never could understand the fondness some people have for confusing +their minds by dwelling on mystical books that merely awaken their +doubts and excite their imagination, giving them a bent for exaggeration +quite contrary to Christian simplicity. Let us rather read the Epistles +and Gospels. Let us not seek to penetrate what mysteries they contain; +for how can we, miserable sinners that we are, know the terrible and +holy secrets of Providence while we remain in this flesh which forms an +impenetrable veil between us and the Eternal? Let us rather confine +ourselves to studying those sublime rules which our divine Saviour has +left for our guidance here below. Let us try to conform to them and +follow them, and let us be persuaded that the less we let our feeble +human minds roam, the better we shall please God, who rejects all +knowledge that does not come from Him; and the less we seek to fathom +what He has been pleased to conceal from us, the sooner will He +vouchsafe its revelation to us through His divine Spirit. + +My father has not spoken to me of a suitor, but has only told me that he +has received a letter and is expecting a visit from Prince Vasili. In +regard to this project of marriage for me, I will tell you, dear sweet +friend, that I look on marriage as a divine institution to which we must +conform. However painful it may be to me, should the Almighty lay the +duties of wife and mother upon me I shall try to perform them as +faithfully as I can, without disquieting myself by examining my feelings +toward him whom He may give me for husband. + +I have had a letter from my brother, who announces his speedy arrival at +Bald Hills with his wife. This pleasure will be but a brief one, +however, for he will leave us again to take part in this unhappy war +into which we have been drawn, God knows how or why. Not only where you +are--at the heart of affairs and of the world--is the talk all of war, +even here amid fieldwork and the calm of nature--which townsfolk +consider characteristic of the country--rumors of war are heard and +painfully felt. My father talks of nothing but marches and +countermarches, things of which I understand nothing; and the day before +yesterday during my daily walk through the village I witnessed a +heartrending scene.... It was a convoy of conscripts enrolled from our +people and starting to join the army. You should have seen the state of +the mothers, wives, and children of the men who were going and should +have heard the sobs. It seems as though mankind has forgotten the laws +of its divine Saviour, Who preached love and forgiveness of injuries-- +and that men attribute the greatest merit to skill in killing one +another. + +Adieu, dear and kind friend; may our divine Saviour and His most Holy +Mother keep you in their holy and all-powerful care! + +MARY + +"Ah, you are sending off a letter, Princess? I have already dispatched +mine. I have written to my poor mother," said the smiling Mademoiselle +Bourienne rapidly, in her pleasant mellow tones and with guttural r's. +She brought into Princess Mary's strenuous, mournful, and gloomy world a +quite different atmosphere, careless, lighthearted, and self-satisfied. + +"Princess, I must warn you," she added, lowering her voice and evidently +listening to herself with pleasure, and speaking with exaggerated +grasseyement, "the prince has been scolding Michael Ivanovich. He is in +a very bad humor, very morose. Be prepared." + +"Ah, dear friend," replied Princess Mary, "I have asked you never to +warn me of the humor my father is in. I do not allow myself to judge him +and would not have others do so." + +The princess glanced at her watch and, seeing that she was five minutes +late in starting her practice on the clavichord, went into the sitting +room with a look of alarm. Between twelve and two o'clock, as the day +was mapped out, the prince rested and the princess played the +clavichord. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +The gray-haired valet was sitting drowsily listening to the snoring of +the prince, who was in his large study. From the far side of the house +through the closed doors came the sound of difficult passages--twenty +times repeated--of a sonata by Dussek. + +Just then a closed carriage and another with a hood drove up to the +porch. Prince Andrew got out of the carriage, helped his little wife to +alight, and let her pass into the house before him. Old Tikhon, wearing +a wig, put his head out of the door of the antechamber, reported in a +whisper that the prince was sleeping, and hastily closed the door. +Tikhon knew that neither the son's arrival nor any other unusual event +must be allowed to disturb the appointed order of the day. Prince Andrew +apparently knew this as well as Tikhon; he looked at his watch as if to +ascertain whether his father's habits had changed since he was at home +last, and, having assured himself that they had not, he turned to his +wife. + +"He will get up in twenty minutes. Let us go across to Mary's room," he +said. + +The little princess had grown stouter during this time, but her eyes and +her short, downy, smiling lip lifted when she began to speak just as +merrily and prettily as ever. + +"Why, this is a palace!" she said to her husband, looking around with +the expression with which people compliment their host at a ball. "Let's +come, quick, quick!" And with a glance round, she smiled at Tikhon, at +her husband, and at the footman who accompanied them. + +"Is that Mary practicing? Let's go quietly and take her by surprise." + +Prince Andrew followed her with a courteous but sad expression. + +"You've grown older, Tikhon," he said in passing to the old man, who +kissed his hand. + +Before they reached the room from which the sounds of the clavichord +came, the pretty, fair haired Frenchwoman, Mademoiselle Bourienne, +rushed out apparently beside herself with delight. + +"Ah! what joy for the princess!" exclaimed she: "At last! I must let her +know." + +"No, no, please not... You are Mademoiselle Bourienne," said the little +princess, kissing her. "I know you already through my sister-in-law's +friendship for you. She was not expecting us?" + +They went up to the door of the sitting room from which came the sound +of the oft-repeated passage of the sonata. Prince Andrew stopped and +made a grimace, as if expecting something unpleasant. + +The little princess entered the room. The passage broke off in the +middle, a cry was heard, then Princess Mary's heavy tread and the sound +of kissing. When Prince Andrew went in the two princesses, who had only +met once before for a short time at his wedding, were in each other's +arms warmly pressing their lips to whatever place they happened to +touch. Mademoiselle Bourienne stood near them pressing her hand to her +heart, with a beatific smile and obviously equally ready to cry or to +laugh. Prince Andrew shrugged his shoulders and frowned, as lovers of +music do when they hear a false note. The two women let go of one +another, and then, as if afraid of being too late, seized each other's +hands, kissing them and pulling them away, and again began kissing each +other on the face, and then to Prince Andrew's surprise both began to +cry and kissed again. Mademoiselle Bourienne also began to cry. Prince +Andrew evidently felt ill at ease, but to the two women it seemed quite +natural that they should cry, and apparently it never entered their +heads that it could have been otherwise at this meeting. + +"Ah! my dear!... Ah! Mary!" they suddenly exclaimed, and then laughed. +"I dreamed last night..."--"You were not expecting us?..." "Ah! Mary, +you have got thinner?..." "And you have grown stouter!..." + +"I knew the princess at once," put in Mademoiselle Bourienne. + +"And I had no idea!..." exclaimed Princess Mary. "Ah, Andrew, I did not +see you." + +Prince Andrew and his sister, hand in hand, kissed one another, and he +told her she was still the same crybaby as ever. Princess Mary had +turned toward her brother, and through her tears the loving, warm, +gentle look of her large luminous eyes, very beautiful at that moment, +rested on Prince Andrew's face. + +The little princess talked incessantly, her short, downy upper lip +continually and rapidly touching her rosy nether lip when necessary and +drawing up again next moment when her face broke into a smile of +glittering teeth and sparkling eyes. She told of an accident they had +had on the Spasski Hill which might have been serious for her in her +condition, and immediately after that informed them that she had left +all her clothes in Petersburg and that heaven knew what she would have +to dress in here; and that Andrew had quite changed, and that Kitty +Odyntsova had married an old man, and that there was a suitor for Mary, +a real one, but that they would talk of that later. Princess Mary was +still looking silently at her brother and her beautiful eyes were full +of love and sadness. It was plain that she was following a train of +thought independent of her sister-in-law's words. In the midst of a +description of the last Petersburg fete she addressed her brother: + +"So you are really going to the war, Andrew?" she said sighing. + +Lise sighed too. + +"Yes, and even tomorrow," replied her brother. + +"He is leaving me here, God knows why, when he might have had +promotion..." + +Princess Mary did not listen to the end, but continuing her train of +thought turned to her sister-in-law with a tender glance at her figure. + +"Is it certain?" she said. + +The face of the little princess changed. She sighed and said: "Yes, +quite certain. Ah! it is very dreadful..." + +Her lip descended. She brought her face close to her sister-in-law's and +unexpectedly again began to cry. + +"She needs rest," said Prince Andrew with a frown. "Don't you, Lise? +Take her to your room and I'll go to Father. How is he? Just the same?" + +"Yes, just the same. Though I don't know what your opinion will be," +answered the princess joyfully. + +"And are the hours the same? And the walks in the avenues? And the +lathe?" asked Prince Andrew with a scarcely perceptible smile which +showed that, in spite of all his love and respect for his father, he was +aware of his weaknesses. + +"The hours are the same, and the lathe, and also the mathematics and my +geometry lessons," said Princess Mary gleefully, as if her lessons in +geometry were among the greatest delights of her life. + +When the twenty minutes had elapsed and the time had come for the old +prince to get up, Tikhon came to call the young prince to his father. +The old man made a departure from his usual routine in honor of his +son's arrival: he gave orders to admit him to his apartments while he +dressed for dinner. The old prince always dressed in old-fashioned +style, wearing an antique coat and powdered hair; and when Prince Andrew +entered his father's dressing room (not with the contemptuous look and +manner he wore in drawing rooms, but with the animated face with which +he talked to Pierre), the old man was sitting on a large leather-covered +chair, wrapped in a powdering mantle, entrusting his head to Tikhon. + +"Ah! here's the warrior! Wants to vanquish Buonaparte?" said the old +man, shaking his powdered head as much as the tail, which Tikhon was +holding fast to plait, would allow. + +"You at least must tackle him properly, or else if he goes on like this +he'll soon have us, too, for his subjects! How are you?" And he held out +his cheek. + +The old man was in a good temper after his nap before dinner. (He used +to say that a nap "after dinner was silver--before dinner, golden.") He +cast happy, sidelong glances at his son from under his thick, bushy +eyebrows. Prince Andrew went up and kissed his father on the spot +indicated to him. He made no reply on his father's favorite topic-- +making fun of the military men of the day, and more particularly of +Bonaparte. + +"Yes, Father, I have come to you and brought my wife who is pregnant," +said Prince Andrew, following every movement of his father's face with +an eager and respectful look. "How is your health?" + +"Only fools and rakes fall ill, my boy. You know me: I am busy from +morning till night and abstemious, so of course I am well." + +"Thank God," said his son smiling. + +"God has nothing to do with it! Well, go on," he continued, returning to +his hobby; "tell me how the Germans have taught you to fight Bonaparte +by this new science you call 'strategy.'" + +Prince Andrew smiled. + +"Give me time to collect my wits, Father," said he, with a smile that +showed that his father's foibles did not prevent his son from loving and +honoring him. "Why, I have not yet had time to settle down!" + +"Nonsense, nonsense!" cried the old man, shaking his pigtail to see +whether it was firmly plaited, and grasping his by the hand. "The house +for your wife is ready. Princess Mary will take her there and show her +over, and they'll talk nineteen to the dozen. That's their woman's way! +I am glad to have her. Sit down and talk. About Mikhelson's army I +understand--Tolstoy's too... a simultaneous expedition.... But what's +the southern army to do? Prussia is neutral... I know that. What about +Austria?" said he, rising from his chair and pacing up and down the room +followed by Tikhon, who ran after him, handing him different articles of +clothing. "What of Sweden? How will they cross Pomerania?" + +Prince Andrew, seeing that his father insisted, began--at first +reluctantly, but gradually with more and more animation, and from habit +changing unconsciously from Russian to French as he went on--to explain +the plan of operation for the coming campaign. He explained how an army, +ninety thousand strong, was to threaten Prussia so as to bring her out +of her neutrality and draw her into the war; how part of that army was +to join some Swedish forces at Stralsund; how two hundred and twenty +thousand Austrians, with a hundred thousand Russians, were to operate in +Italy and on the Rhine; how fifty thousand Russians and as many English +were to land at Naples, and how a total force of five hundred thousand +men was to attack the French from different sides. The old prince did +not evince the least interest during this explanation, but as if he were +not listening to it continued to dress while walking about, and three +times unexpectedly interrupted. Once he stopped it by shouting: "The +white one, the white one!" + +This meant that Tikhon was not handing him the waistcoat he wanted. +Another time he interrupted, saying: + +"And will she soon be confined?" and shaking his head reproachfully +said: "That's bad! Go on, go on." + +The third interruption came when Prince Andrew was finishing his +description. The old man began to sing, in the cracked voice of old age: +"Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre. Dieu sait quand reviendra." * + + +* "Marlborough is going to the wars; God knows when he'll return." + +His son only smiled. + +"I don't say it's a plan I approve of," said the son; "I am only telling +you what it is. Napoleon has also formed his plan by now, not worse than +this one." + +"Well, you've told me nothing new," and the old man repeated, +meditatively and rapidly: + +"Dieu sait quand reviendra. Go to the dining room." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +At the appointed hour the prince, powdered and shaven, entered the +dining room where his daughter-in-law, Princess Mary, and Mademoiselle +Bourienne were already awaiting him together with his architect, who by +a strange caprice of his employer's was admitted to table though the +position of that insignificant individual was such as could certainly +not have caused him to expect that honor. The prince, who generally kept +very strictly to social distinctions and rarely admitted even important +government officials to his table, had unexpectedly selected Michael +Ivanovich (who always went into a corner to blow his nose on his checked +handkerchief) to illustrate the theory that all men are equals, and had +more than once impressed on his daughter that Michael Ivanovich was "not +a whit worse than you or I." At dinner the prince usually spoke to the +taciturn Michael Ivanovich more often than to anyone else. + +In the dining room, which like all the rooms in the house was +exceedingly lofty, the members of the household and the footmen--one +behind each chair--stood waiting for the prince to enter. The head +butler, napkin on arm, was scanning the setting of the table, making +signs to the footmen, and anxiously glancing from the clock to the door +by which the prince was to enter. Prince Andrew was looking at a large +gilt frame, new to him, containing the genealogical tree of the Princes +Bolkonski, opposite which hung another such frame with a badly painted +portrait (evidently by the hand of the artist belonging to the estate) +of a ruling prince, in a crown--an alleged descendant of Rurik and +ancestor of the Bolkonskis. Prince Andrew, looking again at that +genealogical tree, shook his head, laughing as a man laughs who looks at +a portrait so characteristic of the original as to be amusing. + +"How thoroughly like him that is!" he said to Princess Mary, who had +come up to him. + +Princess Mary looked at her brother in surprise. She did not understand +what he was laughing at. Everything her father did inspired her with +reverence and was beyond question. + +"Everyone has his Achilles' heel," continued Prince Andrew. "Fancy, with +his powerful mind, indulging in such nonsense!" + +Princess Mary could not understand the boldness of her brother's +criticism and was about to reply, when the expected footsteps were heard +coming from the study. The prince walked in quickly and jauntily as was +his wont, as if intentionally contrasting the briskness of his manners +with the strict formality of his house. At that moment the great clock +struck two and another with a shrill tone joined in from the drawing +room. The prince stood still; his lively glittering eyes from under +their thick, bushy eyebrows sternly scanned all present and rested on +the little princess. She felt, as courtiers do when the Tsar enters, the +sensation of fear and respect which the old man inspired in all around +him. He stroked her hair and then patted her awkwardly on the back of +her neck. + +"I'm glad, glad, to see you," he said, looking attentively into her +eyes, and then quickly went to his place and sat down. "Sit down, sit +down! Sit down, Michael Ianovich!" + +He indicated a place beside him to his daughter-in-law. A footman moved +the chair for her. + +"Ho, ho!" said the old man, casting his eyes on her rounded figure. +"You've been in a hurry. That's bad!" + +He laughed in his usual dry, cold, unpleasant way, with his lips only +and not with his eyes. + +"You must walk, walk as much as possible, as much as possible," he said. + +The little princess did not, or did not wish to, hear his words. She was +silent and seemed confused. The prince asked her about her father, and +she began to smile and talk. He asked about mutual acquaintances, and +she became still more animated and chattered away giving him greetings +from various people and retelling the town gossip. + +"Countess Apraksina, poor thing, has lost her husband and she has cried +her eyes out," she said, growing more and more lively. + +As she became animated the prince looked at her more and more sternly, +and suddenly, as if he had studied her sufficiently and had formed a +definite idea of her, he turned away and addressed Michael Ivanovich. + +"Well, Michael Ivanovich, our Bonaparte will be having a bad time of it. +Prince Andrew" (he always spoke thus of his son) "has been telling me +what forces are being collected against him! While you and I never +thought much of him." + +Michael Ivanovich did not at all know when "you and I" had said such +things about Bonaparte, but understanding that he was wanted as a peg on +which to hang the prince's favorite topic, he looked inquiringly at the +young prince, wondering what would follow. + +"He is a great tactician!" said the prince to his son, pointing to the +architect. + +And the conversation again turned on the war, on Bonaparte, and the +generals and statesmen of the day. The old prince seemed convinced not +only that all the men of the day were mere babies who did not know the A +B C of war or of politics, and that Bonaparte was an insignificant +little Frenchy, successful only because there were no longer any +Potemkins or Suvorovs left to oppose him; but he was also convinced that +there were no political difficulties in Europe and no real war, but only +a sort of puppet show at which the men of the day were playing, +pretending to do something real. Prince Andrew gaily bore with his +father's ridicule of the new men, and drew him on and listened to him +with evident pleasure. + +"The past always seems good," said he, "but did not Suvorov himself fall +into a trap Moreau set him, and from which he did not know how to +escape?" + +"Who told you that? Who?" cried the prince. "Suvorov!" And he jerked +away his plate, which Tikhon briskly caught. "Suvorov!... Consider, +Prince Andrew. Two... Frederick and Suvorov; Moreau!... Moreau would +have been a prisoner if Suvorov had had a free hand; but he had the +Hofs-kriegs-wurst-schnapps-Rath on his hands. It would have puzzled the +devil himself! When you get there you'll find out what those Hofs- +kriegs-wurst-Raths are! Suvorov couldn't manage them so what chance has +Michael Kutuzov? No, my dear boy," he continued, "you and your generals +won't get on against Buonaparte; you'll have to call in the French, so +that birds of a feather may fight together. The German, Pahlen, has been +sent to New York in America, to fetch the Frenchman, Moreau," he said, +alluding to the invitation made that year to Moreau to enter the Russian +service.... "Wonderful!... Were the Potemkins, Suvorovs, and Orlovs +Germans? No, lad, either you fellows have all lost your wits, or I have +outlived mine. May God help you, but we'll see what will happen. +Buonaparte has become a great commander among them! Hm!..." + +"I don't at all say that all the plans are good," said Prince Andrew, "I +am only surprised at your opinion of Bonaparte. You may laugh as much as +you like, but all the same Bonaparte is a great general!" + +"Michael Ivanovich!" cried the old prince to the architect who, busy +with his roast meat, hoped he had been forgotten: "Didn't I tell you +Buonaparte was a great tactician? Here, he says the same thing." + +"To be sure, your excellency," replied the architect. + +The prince again laughed his frigid laugh. + +"Buonaparte was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He has got +splendid soldiers. Besides he began by attacking Germans. And only +idlers have failed to beat the Germans. Since the world began everybody +has beaten the Germans. They beat no one--except one another. He made +his reputation fighting them." + +And the prince began explaining all the blunders which, according to +him, Bonaparte had made in his campaigns and even in politics. His son +made no rejoinder, but it was evident that whatever arguments were +presented he was as little able as his father to change his opinion. He +listened, refraining from a reply, and involuntarily wondered how this +old man, living alone in the country for so many years, could know and +discuss so minutely and acutely all the recent European military and +political events. + +"You think I'm an old man and don't understand the present state of +affairs?" concluded his father. "But it troubles me. I don't sleep at +night. Come now, where has this great commander of yours shown his +skill?" he concluded. + +"That would take too long to tell," answered the son. + +"Well, then go to your Buonaparte! Mademoiselle Bourienne, here's +another admirer of that powder-monkey emperor of yours," he exclaimed in +excellent French. + +"You know, Prince, I am not a Bonapartist!" + +"Dieu sait quand reviendra..." hummed the prince out of tune and, with a +laugh still more so, he quitted the table. + +The little princess during the whole discussion and the rest of the +dinner sat silent, glancing with a frightened look now at her father-in- +law and now at Princess Mary. When they left the table she took her +sister-in-law's arm and drew her into another room. + +"What a clever man your father is," said she; "perhaps that is why I am +afraid of him." + +"Oh, he is so kind!" answered Princess Mary. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +Prince Andrew was to leave next evening. The old prince, not altering +his routine, retired as usual after dinner. The little princess was in +her sister-in-law's room. Prince Andrew in a traveling coat without +epaulettes had been packing with his valet in the rooms assigned to him. +After inspecting the carriage himself and seeing the trunks put in, he +ordered the horses to be harnessed. Only those things he always kept +with him remained in his room; a small box, a large canteen fitted with +silver plate, two Turkish pistols and a saber--a present from his father +who had brought it from the siege of Ochakov. All these traveling +effects of Prince Andrew's were in very good order: new, clean, and in +cloth covers carefully tied with tapes. + +When starting on a journey or changing their mode of life, men capable +of reflection are generally in a serious frame of mind. At such moments +one reviews the past and plans for the future. Prince Andrew's face +looked very thoughtful and tender. With his hands behind him he paced +briskly from corner to corner of the room, looking straight before him +and thoughtfully shaking his head. Did he fear going to the war, or was +he sad at leaving his wife?--perhaps both, but evidently he did not wish +to be seen in that mood, for hearing footsteps in the passage he +hurriedly unclasped his hands, stopped at a table as if tying the cover +of the small box, and assumed his usual tranquil and impenetrable +expression. It was the heavy tread of Princess Mary that he heard. + +"I hear you have given orders to harness," she cried, panting (she had +apparently been running), "and I did so wish to have another talk with +you alone! God knows how long we may again be parted. You are not angry +with me for coming? You have changed so, Andrusha," she added, as if to +explain such a question. + +She smiled as she uttered his pet name, "Andrusha." It was obviously +strange to her to think that this stern handsome man should be Andrusha- +-the slender mischievous boy who had been her playfellow in childhood. + +"And where is Lise?" he asked, answering her question only by a smile. + +"She was so tired that she has fallen asleep on the sofa in my room. Oh, +Andrew! What a treasure of a wife you have," said she, sitting down on +the sofa, facing her brother. "She is quite a child: such a dear, merry +child. I have grown so fond of her." + +Prince Andrew was silent, but the princess noticed the ironical and +contemptuous look that showed itself on his face. + +"One must be indulgent to little weaknesses; who is free from them, +Andrew? Don't forget that she has grown up and been educated in society, +and so her position now is not a rosy one. We should enter into +everyone's situation. Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner. * Think +what it must be for her, poor thing, after what she has been used to, to +be parted from her husband and be left alone in the country, in her +condition! It's very hard." + + +* To understand all is to forgive all. + +Prince Andrew smiled as he looked at his sister, as we smile at those we +think we thoroughly understand. + +"You live in the country and don't think the life terrible," he replied. + +"I... that's different. Why speak of me? I don't want any other life, +and can't, for I know no other. But think, Andrew: for a young society +woman to be buried in the country during the best years of her life, all +alone--for Papa is always busy, and I... well, you know what poor +resources I have for entertaining a woman used to the best society. +There is only Mademoiselle Bourienne...." + +"I don't like your Mademoiselle Bourienne at all," said Prince Andrew. + +"No? She is very nice and kind and, above all, she's much to be pitied. +She has no one, no one. To tell the truth, I don't need her, and she's +even in my way. You know I always was a savage, and now am even more so. +I like being alone.... Father likes her very much. She and Michael +Ivanovich are the two people to whom he is always gentle and kind, +because he has been a benefactor to them both. As Sterne says: 'We don't +love people so much for the good they have done us, as for the good we +have done them.' Father took her when she was homeless after losing her +own father. She is very good-natured, and my father likes her way of +reading. She reads to him in the evenings and reads splendidly." + +"To be quite frank, Mary, I expect Father's character sometimes makes +things trying for you, doesn't it?" Prince Andrew asked suddenly. + +Princess Mary was first surprised and then aghast at this question. + +"For me? For me?... Trying for me!..." said she. + +"He always was rather harsh; and now I should think he's getting very +trying," said Prince Andrew, apparently speaking lightly of their father +in order to puzzle or test his sister. + +"You are good in every way, Andrew, but you have a kind of intellectual +pride," said the princess, following the train of her own thoughts +rather than the trend of the conversation--"and that's a great sin. How +can one judge Father? But even if one might, what feeling except +veneration could such a man as my father evoke? And I am so contented +and happy with him. I only wish you were all as happy as I am." + +Her brother shook his head incredulously. + +"The only thing that is hard for me... I will tell you the truth, +Andrew... is Father's way of treating religious subjects. I don't +understand how a man of his immense intellect can fail to see what is as +clear as day, and can go so far astray. That is the only thing that +makes me unhappy. But even in this I can see lately a shade of +improvement. His satire has been less bitter of late, and there was a +monk he received and had a long talk with." + +"Ah! my dear, I am afraid you and your monk are wasting your powder," +said Prince Andrew banteringly yet tenderly. + +"Ah! mon ami, I only pray, and hope that God will hear me. Andrew..." +she said timidly after a moment's silence, "I have a great favor to ask +of you." + +"What is it, dear?" + +"No--promise that you will not refuse! It will give you no trouble and +is nothing unworthy of you, but it will comfort me. Promise, +Andrusha!..." said she, putting her hand in her reticule but not yet +taking out what she was holding inside it, as if what she held were the +subject of her request and must not be shown before the request was +granted. + +She looked timidly at her brother. + +"Even if it were a great deal of trouble..." answered Prince Andrew, as +if guessing what it was about. + +"Think what you please! I know you are just like Father. Think as you +please, but do this for my sake! Please do! Father's father, our +grandfather, wore it in all his wars." (She still did not take out what +she was holding in her reticule.) "So you promise?" + +"Of course. What is it?" + +"Andrew, I bless you with this icon and you must promise me you will +never take it off. Do you promise?" + +"If it does not weigh a hundredweight and won't break my neck... To +please you..." said Prince Andrew. But immediately, noticing the pained +expression his joke had brought to his sister's face, he repented and +added: "I am glad; really, dear, I am very glad." + +"Against your will He will save and have mercy on you and bring you to +Himself, for in Him alone is truth and peace," said she in a voice +trembling with emotion, solemnly holding up in both hands before her +brother a small, oval, antique, dark-faced icon of the Saviour in a gold +setting, on a finely wrought silver chain. + +She crossed herself, kissed the icon, and handed it to Andrew. + +"Please, Andrew, for my sake!..." + +Rays of gentle light shone from her large, timid eyes. Those eyes lit up +the whole of her thin, sickly face and made it beautiful. Her brother +would have taken the icon, but she stopped him. Andrew understood, +crossed himself and kissed the icon. There was a look of tenderness, for +he was touched, but also a gleam of irony on his face. + +"Thank you, my dear." She kissed him on the forehead and sat down again +on the sofa. They were silent for a while. + +"As I was saying to you, Andrew, be kind and generous as you always used +to be. Don't judge Lise harshly," she began. "She is so sweet, so good- +natured, and her position now is a very hard one." + +"I do not think I have complained of my wife to you, Masha, or blamed +her. Why do you say all this to me?" + +Red patches appeared on Princess Mary's face and she was silent as if +she felt guilty. + +"I have said nothing to you, but you have already been talked to. And I +am sorry for that," he went on. + +The patches grew deeper on her forehead, neck, and cheeks. She tried to +say something but could not. Her brother had guessed right: the little +princess had been crying after dinner and had spoken of her forebodings +about her confinement, and how she dreaded it, and had complained of her +fate, her father-in-law, and her husband. After crying she had fallen +asleep. Prince Andrew felt sorry for his sister. + +"Know this, Masha: I can't reproach, have not reproached, and never +shall reproach my wife with anything, and I cannot reproach myself with +anything in regard to her; and that always will be so in whatever +circumstances I may be placed. But if you want to know the truth... if +you want to know whether I am happy? No! Is she happy? No! But why this +is so I don't know..." + +As he said this he rose, went to his sister, and, stooping, kissed her +forehead. His fine eyes lit up with a thoughtful, kindly, and +unaccustomed brightness, but he was looking not at his sister but over +her head toward the darkness of the open doorway. + +"Let us go to her, I must say good-by. Or--go and wake and I'll come in +a moment. Petrushka!" he called to his valet: "Come here, take these +away. Put this on the seat and this to the right." + +Princess Mary rose and moved to the door, then stopped and said: +"Andrew, if you had faith you would have turned to God and asked Him to +give you the love you do not feel, and your prayer would have been +answered." + +"Well, may be!" said Prince Andrew. "Go, Masha; I'll come immediately." + +On the way to his sister's room, in the passage which connected one wing +with the other, Prince Andrew met Mademoiselle Bourienne smiling +sweetly. It was the third time that day that, with an ecstatic and +artless smile, she had met him in secluded passages. + +"Oh! I thought you were in your room," she said, for some reason +blushing and dropping her eyes. + +Prince Andrew looked sternly at her and an expression of anger suddenly +came over his face. He said nothing to her but looked at her forehead +and hair, without looking at her eyes, with such contempt that the +Frenchwoman blushed and went away without a word. When he reached his +sister's room his wife was already awake and her merry voice, hurrying +one word after another, came through the open door. She was speaking as +usual in French, and as if after long self-restraint she wished to make +up for lost time. + +"No, but imagine the old Countess Zubova, with false curls and her mouth +full of false teeth, as if she were trying to cheat old age.... Ha, ha, +ha! Mary!" + +This very sentence about Countess Zubova and this same laugh Prince +Andrew had already heard from his wife in the presence of others some +five times. He entered the room softly. The little princess, plump and +rosy, was sitting in an easy chair with her work in her hands, talking +incessantly, repeating Petersburg reminiscences and even phrases. Prince +Andrew came up, stroked her hair, and asked if she felt rested after +their journey. She answered him and continued her chatter. + +The coach with six horses was waiting at the porch. It was an autumn +night, so dark that the coachman could not see the carriage pole. +Servants with lanterns were bustling about in the porch. The immense +house was brilliant with lights shining through its lofty windows. The +domestic serfs were crowding in the hall, waiting to bid good-by to the +young prince. The members of the household were all gathered in the +reception hall: Michael Ivanovich, Mademoiselle Bourienne, Princess +Mary, and the little princess. Prince Andrew had been called to his +father's study as the latter wished to say good-by to him alone. All +were waiting for them to come out. + +When Prince Andrew entered the study the old man in his old-age +spectacles and white dressing gown, in which he received no one but his +son, sat at the table writing. He glanced round. + +"Going?" And he went on writing. + +"I've come to say good-by." + +"Kiss me here," and he touched his cheek: "Thanks, thanks!" + +"What do you thank me for?" + +"For not dilly-dallying and not hanging to a woman's apron strings. The +Service before everything. Thanks, thanks!" And he went on writing, so +that his quill spluttered and squeaked. "If you have anything to say, +say it. These two things can be done together," he added. + +"About my wife... I am ashamed as it is to leave her on your hands..." + +"Why talk nonsense? Say what you want." + +"When her confinement is due, send to Moscow for an accoucheur.... Let +him be here...." + +The old prince stopped writing and, as if not understanding, fixed his +stern eyes on his son. + +"I know that no one can help if nature does not do her work," said +Prince Andrew, evidently confused. "I know that out of a million cases +only one goes wrong, but it is her fancy and mine. They have been +telling her things. She has had a dream and is frightened." + +"Hm... Hm..." muttered the old prince to himself, finishing what he was +writing. "I'll do it." + +He signed with a flourish and suddenly turning to his son began to +laugh. + +"It's a bad business, eh?" + +"What is bad, Father?" + +"The wife!" said the old prince, briefly and significantly. + +"I don't understand!" said Prince Andrew. + +"No, it can't be helped, lad," said the prince. "They're all like that; +one can't unmarry. Don't be afraid; I won't tell anyone, but you know it +yourself." + +He seized his son by the hand with small bony fingers, shook it, looked +straight into his son's face with keen eyes which seemed to see through +him, and again laughed his frigid laugh. + +The son sighed, thus admitting that his father had understood him. The +old man continued to fold and seal his letter, snatching up and throwing +down the wax, the seal, and the paper, with his accustomed rapidity. + +"What's to be done? She's pretty! I will do everything. Make your mind +easy," said he in abrupt sentences while sealing his letter. + +Andrew did not speak; he was both pleased and displeased that his father +understood him. The old man got up and gave the letter to his son. + +"Listen!" said he; "don't worry about your wife: what can be done shall +be. Now listen! Give this letter to Michael Ilarionovich. * I have +written that he should make use of you in proper places and not keep you +long as an adjutant: a bad position! Tell him I remember and like him. +Write and tell me how he receives you. If he is all right--serve him. +Nicholas Bolkonski's son need not serve under anyone if he is in +disfavor. Now come here." + + +*Kutuzov. + +He spoke so rapidly that he did not finish half his words, but his son +was accustomed to understand him. He led him to the desk, raised the +lid, drew out a drawer, and took out an exercise book filled with his +bold, tall, close handwriting. + +"I shall probably die before you. So remember, these are my memoirs; +hand them to the Emperor after my death. Now here is a Lombard bond and +a letter; it is a premium for the man who writes a history of Suvorov's +wars. Send it to the Academy. Here are some jottings for you to read +when I am gone. You will find them useful." + +Andrew did not tell his father that he would no doubt live a long time +yet. He felt that he must not say it. + +"I will do it all, Father," he said. + +"Well, now, good-by!" He gave his son his hand to kiss, and embraced +him. "Remember this, Prince Andrew, if they kill you it will hurt me, +your old father..." he paused unexpectedly, and then in a querulous +voice suddenly shrieked: "but if I hear that you have not behaved like a +son of Nicholas Bolkonski, I shall be ashamed!" + +"You need not have said that to me, Father," said the son with a smile. + +The old man was silent. + +"I also wanted to ask you," continued Prince Andrew, "if I'm killed and +if I have a son, do not let him be taken away from you--as I said +yesterday... let him grow up with you.... Please." + +"Not let the wife have him?" said the old man, and laughed. + +They stood silent, facing one another. The old man's sharp eyes were +fixed straight on his son's. Something twitched in the lower part of the +old prince's face. + +"We've said good-by. Go!" he suddenly shouted in a loud, angry voice, +opening his door. + +"What is it? What?" asked both princesses when they saw for a moment at +the door Prince Andrew and the figure of the old man in a white dressing +gown, spectacled and wigless, shouting in an angry voice. + +Prince Andrew sighed and made no reply. + +"Well!" he said, turning to his wife. + +And this "Well!" sounded coldly ironic, as if he were saying,: "Now go +through your performance." + +"Andrew, already!" said the little princess, turning pale and looking +with dismay at her husband. + +He embraced her. She screamed and fell unconscious on his shoulder. + +He cautiously released the shoulder she leaned on, looked into her face, +and carefully placed her in an easy chair. + +"Adieu, Mary," said he gently to his sister, taking her by the hand and +kissing her, and then he left the room with rapid steps. + +The little princess lay in the armchair, Mademoiselle Bourienne chafing +her temples. Princess Mary, supporting her sister-in-law, still looked +with her beautiful eyes full of tears at the door through which Prince +Andrew had gone and made the sign of the cross in his direction. From +the study, like pistol shots, came the frequent sound of the old man +angrily blowing his nose. Hardly had Prince Andrew gone when the study +door opened quickly and the stern figure of the old man in the white +dressing gown looked out. + +"Gone? That's all right!" said he; and looking angrily at the +unconscious little princess, he shook his head reprovingly and slammed +the door. + +BOOK TWO: 1805 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +In October, 1805, a Russian army was occupying the villages and towns of +the Archduchy of Austria, and yet other regiments freshly arriving from +Russia were settling near the fortress of Braunau and burdening the +inhabitants on whom they were quartered. Braunau was the headquarters of +the commander-in-chief, Kutuzov. + +On October 11, 1805, one of the infantry regiments that had just reached +Braunau had halted half a mile from the town, waiting to be inspected by +the commander-in-chief. Despite the un-Russian appearance of the +locality and surroundings--fruit gardens, stone fences, tiled roofs, and +hills in the distance--and despite the fact that the inhabitants (who +gazed with curiosity at the soldiers) were not Russians, the regiment +had just the appearance of any Russian regiment preparing for an +inspection anywhere in the heart of Russia. + +On the evening of the last day's march an order had been received that +the commander-in-chief would inspect the regiment on the march. Though +the words of the order were not clear to the regimental commander, and +the question arose whether the troops were to be in marching order or +not, it was decided at a consultation between the battalion commanders +to present the regiment in parade order, on the principle that it is +always better to "bow too low than not bow low enough." So the soldiers, +after a twenty-mile march, were kept mending and cleaning all night long +without closing their eyes, while the adjutants and company commanders +calculated and reckoned, and by morning the regiment--instead of the +straggling, disorderly crowd it had been on its last march the day +before--presented a well-ordered array of two thousand men each of whom +knew his place and his duty, had every button and every strap in place, +and shone with cleanliness. And not only externally was all in order, +but had it pleased the commander-in-chief to look under the uniforms he +would have found on every man a clean shirt, and in every knapsack the +appointed number of articles, "awl, soap, and all," as the soldiers say. +There was only one circumstance concerning which no one could be at +ease. It was the state of the soldiers' boots. More than half the men's +boots were in holes. But this defect was not due to any fault of the +regimental commander, for in spite of repeated demands boots had not +been issued by the Austrian commissariat, and the regiment had marched +some seven hundred miles. + +The commander of the regiment was an elderly, choleric, stout, and +thick-set general with grizzled eyebrows and whiskers, and wider from +chest to back than across the shoulders. He had on a brand-new uniform +showing the creases where it had been folded and thick gold epaulettes +which seemed to stand rather than lie down on his massive shoulders. He +had the air of a man happily performing one of the most solemn duties of +his life. He walked about in front of the line and at every step pulled +himself up, slightly arching his back. It was plain that the commander +admired his regiment, rejoiced in it, and that his whole mind was +engrossed by it, yet his strut seemed to indicate that, besides military +matters, social interests and the fair sex occupied no small part of his +thoughts. + +"Well, Michael Mitrich, sir?" he said, addressing one of the battalion +commanders who smilingly pressed forward (it was plain that they both +felt happy). "We had our hands full last night. However, I think the +regiment is not a bad one, eh?" + +The battalion commander perceived the jovial irony and laughed. + +"It would not be turned off the field even on the Tsaritsin Meadow." + +"What?" asked the commander. + +At that moment, on the road from the town on which signalers had been +posted, two men appeared on horse back. They were an aide-de-camp +followed by a Cossack. + +The aide-de-camp was sent to confirm the order which had not been +clearly worded the day before, namely, that the commander-in-chief +wished to see the regiment just in the state in which it had been on the +march: in their greatcoats, and packs, and without any preparation +whatever. + +A member of the Hofkriegsrath from Vienna had come to Kutuzov the day +before with proposals and demands for him to join up with the army of +the Archduke Ferdinand and Mack, and Kutuzov, not considering this +junction advisable, meant, among other arguments in support of his view, +to show the Austrian general the wretched state in which the troops +arrived from Russia. With this object he intended to meet the regiment; +so the worse the condition it was in, the better pleased the commander- +in-chief would be. Though the aide-de-camp did not know these +circumstances, he nevertheless delivered the definite order that the men +should be in their greatcoats and in marching order, and that the +commander-in-chief would otherwise be dissatisfied. On hearing this the +regimental commander hung his head, silently shrugged his shoulders, and +spread out his arms with a choleric gesture. + +"A fine mess we've made of it!" he remarked. + +"There now! Didn't I tell you, Michael Mitrich, that if it was said 'on +the march' it meant in greatcoats?" said he reproachfully to the +battalion commander. "Oh, my God!" he added, stepping resolutely +forward. "Company commanders!" he shouted in a voice accustomed to +command. "Sergeants major!... How soon will he be here?" he asked the +aide-de-camp with a respectful politeness evidently relating to the +personage he was referring to. + +"In an hour's time, I should say." + +"Shall we have time to change clothes?" + +"I don't know, General...." + +The regimental commander, going up to the line himself, ordered the +soldiers to change into their greatcoats. The company commanders ran off +to their companies, the sergeants major began bustling (the greatcoats +were not in very good condition), and instantly the squares that had up +to then been in regular order and silent began to sway and stretch and +hum with voices. On all sides soldiers were running to and fro, throwing +up their knapsacks with a jerk of their shoulders and pulling the straps +over their heads, unstrapping their overcoats and drawing the sleeves on +with upraised arms. + +In half an hour all was again in order, only the squares had become gray +instead of black. The regimental commander walked with his jerky steps +to the front of the regiment and examined it from a distance. + +"Whatever is this? This!" he shouted and stood still. "Commander of the +third company!" + +"Commander of the third company wanted by the general!... commander to +the general... third company to the commander." The words passed along +the lines and an adjutant ran to look for the missing officer. + +When the eager but misrepeated words had reached their destination in a +cry of: "The general to the third company," the missing officer appeared +from behind his company and, though he was a middle-aged man and not in +the habit of running, trotted awkwardly stumbling on his toes toward the +general. The captain's face showed the uneasiness of a schoolboy who is +told to repeat a lesson he has not learned. Spots appeared on his nose, +the redness of which was evidently due to intemperance, and his mouth +twitched nervously. The general looked the captain up and down as he +came up panting, slackening his pace as he approached. + +"You will soon be dressing your men in petticoats! What is this?" +shouted the regimental commander, thrusting forward his jaw and pointing +at a soldier in the ranks of the third company in a greatcoat of bluish +cloth, which contrasted with the others. "What have you been after? The +commander in chief is expected and you leave your place? Eh? I'll teach +you to dress the men in fancy coats for a parade.... Eh...?" + +The commander of the company, with his eyes fixed on his superior, +pressed two fingers more and more rigidly to his cap, as if in this +pressure lay his only hope of salvation. + +"Well, why don't you speak? Whom have you got there dressed up as a +Hungarian?" said the commander with an austere gibe. + +"Your excellency..." + +"Well, your excellency, what? Your excellency! But what about your +excellency?... nobody knows." + +"Your excellency, it's the officer Dolokhov, who has been reduced to the +ranks," said the captain softly. + +"Well? Has he been degraded into a field marshal, or into a soldier? If +a soldier, he should be dressed in regulation uniform like the others." + +"Your excellency, you gave him leave yourself, on the march." + +"Gave him leave? Leave? That's just like you young men," said the +regimental commander cooling down a little. "Leave indeed.... One says a +word to you and you... What?" he added with renewed irritation, "I beg +you to dress your men decently." + +And the commander, turning to look at the adjutant, directed his jerky +steps down the line. He was evidently pleased at his own display of +anger and walking up to the regiment wished to find a further excuse for +wrath. Having snapped at an officer for an unpolished badge, at another +because his line was not straight, he reached the third company. + +"H-o-o-w are you standing? Where's your leg? Your leg?" shouted the +commander with a tone of suffering in his voice, while there were still +five men between him and Dolokhov with his bluish-gray uniform. + +Dolokhov slowly straightened his bent knee, looking straight with his +clear, insolent eyes in the general's face. + +"Why a blue coat? Off with it... Sergeant major! Change his coat... the +ras..." he did not finish. + +"General, I must obey orders, but I am not bound to endure..." Dolokhov +hurriedly interrupted. + +"No talking in the ranks!... No talking, no talking!" + +"Not bound to endure insults," Dolokhov concluded in loud, ringing +tones. + +The eyes of the general and the soldier met. The general became silent, +angrily pulling down his tight scarf. + +"I request you to have the goodness to change your coat," he said as he +turned away. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"He's coming!" shouted the signaler at that moment. + +The regimental commander, flushing, ran to his horse, seized the stirrup +with trembling hands, threw his body across the saddle, righted himself, +drew his saber, and with a happy and resolute countenance, opening his +mouth awry, prepared to shout. The regiment fluttered like a bird +preening its plumage and became motionless. + +"Att-ention!" shouted the regimental commander in a soul-shaking voice +which expressed joy for himself, severity for the regiment, and welcome +for the approaching chief. + +Along the broad country road, edged on both sides by trees, came a high, +light blue Viennese caleche, slightly creaking on its springs and drawn +by six horses at a smart trot. Behind the caleche galloped the suite and +a convoy of Croats. Beside Kutuzov sat an Austrian general, in a white +uniform that looked strange among the Russian black ones. The caleche +stopped in front of the regiment. Kutuzov and the Austrian general were +talking in low voices and Kutuzov smiled slightly as treading heavily he +stepped down from the carriage just as if those two thousand men +breathlessly gazing at him and the regimental commander did not exist. + +The word of command rang out, and again the regiment quivered, as with a +jingling sound it presented arms. Then amidst a dead silence the feeble +voice of the commander-in-chief was heard. The regiment roared, "Health +to your ex... len... len... lency!" and again all became silent. At +first Kutuzov stood still while the regiment moved; then he and the +general in white, accompanied by the suite, walked between the ranks. + +From the way the regimental commander saluted the commander-in-chief and +devoured him with his eyes, drawing himself up obsequiously, and from +the way he walked through the ranks behind the generals, bending forward +and hardly able to restrain his jerky movements, and from the way he +darted forward at every word or gesture of the commander-in-chief, it +was evident that he performed his duty as a subordinate with even +greater zeal than his duty as a commander. Thanks to the strictness and +assiduity of its commander the regiment, in comparison with others that +had reached Braunau at the same time, was in splendid condition. There +were only 217 sick and stragglers. Everything was in good order except +the boots. + +Kutuzov walked through the ranks, sometimes stopping to say a few +friendly words to officers he had known in the Turkish war, sometimes +also to the soldiers. Looking at their boots he several times shook his +head sadly, pointing them out to the Austrian general with an expression +which seemed to say that he was not blaming anyone, but could not help +noticing what a bad state of things it was. The regimental commander ran +forward on each such occasion, fearing to miss a single word of the +commander-in-chief's regarding the regiment. Behind Kutuzov, at a +distance that allowed every softly spoken word to be heard, followed +some twenty men of his suite. These gentlemen talked among themselves +and sometimes laughed. Nearest of all to the commander-in-chief walked a +handsome adjutant. This was Prince Bolkonski. Beside him was his comrade +Nesvitski, a tall staff officer, extremely stout, with a kindly, +smiling, handsome face and moist eyes. Nesvitski could hardly keep from +laughter provoked by a swarthy hussar officer who walked beside him. +This hussar, with a grave face and without a smile or a change in the +expression of his fixed eyes, watched the regimental commander's back +and mimicked his every movement. Each time the commander started and +bent forward, the hussar started and bent forward in exactly the same +manner. Nesvitski laughed and nudged the others to make them look at the +wag. + +Kutuzov walked slowly and languidly past thousands of eyes which were +starting from their sockets to watch their chief. On reaching the third +company he suddenly stopped. His suite, not having expected this, +involuntarily came closer to him. + +"Ah, Timokhin!" said he, recognizing the red-nosed captain who had been +reprimanded on account of the blue greatcoat. + +One would have thought it impossible for a man to stretch himself more +than Timokhin had done when he was reprimanded by the regimental +commander, but now that the commander-in-chief addressed him he drew +himself up to such an extent that it seemed he could not have sustained +it had the commander-in-chief continued to look at him, and so Kutuzov, +who evidently understood his case and wished him nothing but good, +quickly turned away, a scarcely perceptible smile flitting over his +scarred and puffy face. + +"Another Ismail comrade," said he. "A brave officer! Are you satisfied +with him?" he asked the regimental commander. + +And the latter--unconscious that he was being reflected in the hussar +officer as in a looking glass--started, moved forward, and answered: +"Highly satisfied, your excellency!" + +"We all have our weaknesses," said Kutuzov smiling and walking away from +him. "He used to have a predilection for Bacchus." + +The regimental commander was afraid he might be blamed for this and did +not answer. The hussar at that moment noticed the face of the red-nosed +captain and his drawn-in stomach, and mimicked his expression and pose +with such exactitude that Nesvitski could not help laughing. Kutuzov +turned round. The officer evidently had complete control of his face, +and while Kutuzov was turning managed to make a grimace and then assume +a most serious, deferential, and innocent expression. + +The third company was the last, and Kutuzov pondered, apparently trying +to recollect something. Prince Andrew stepped forward from among the +suite and said in French: + +"You told me to remind you of the officer Dolokhov, reduced to the ranks +in this regiment." + +"Where is Dolokhov?" asked Kutuzov. + +Dolokhov, who had already changed into a soldier's gray greatcoat, did +not wait to be called. The shapely figure of the fair-haired soldier, +with his clear blue eyes, stepped forward from the ranks, went up to the +commander in chief, and presented arms. + +"Have you a complaint to make?" Kutuzov asked with a slight frown. + +"This is Dolokhov," said Prince Andrew. + +"Ah!" said Kutuzov. "I hope this will be a lesson to you. Do your duty. +The Emperor is gracious, and I shan't forget you if you deserve well." + +The clear blue eyes looked at the commander-in-chief just as boldly as +they had looked at the regimental commander, seeming by their expression +to tear open the veil of convention that separates a commander-in-chief +so widely from a private. + +"One thing I ask of your excellency," Dolokhov said in his firm, +ringing, deliberate voice. "I ask an opportunity to atone for my fault +and prove my devotion to His Majesty the Emperor and to Russia!" + +Kutuzov turned away. The same smile of the eyes with which he had turned +from Captain Timokhin again flitted over his face. He turned away with a +grimace as if to say that everything Dolokhov had said to him and +everything he could say had long been known to him, that he was weary of +it and it was not at all what he wanted. He turned away and went to the +carriage. + +The regiment broke up into companies, which went to their appointed +quarters near Braunau, where they hoped to receive boots and clothes and +to rest after their hard marches. + +"You won't bear me a grudge, Prokhor Ignatych?" said the regimental +commander, overtaking the third company on its way to its quarters and +riding up to Captain Timokhin who was walking in front. (The regimental +commander's face now that the inspection was happily over beamed with +irrepressible delight.) "It's in the Emperor's service... it can't be +helped... one is sometimes a bit hasty on parade... I am the first to +apologize, you know me!... He was very pleased!" And he held out his +hand to the captain. + +"Don't mention it, General, as if I'd be so bold!" replied the captain, +his nose growing redder as he gave a smile which showed where two front +teeth were missing that had been knocked out by the butt end of a gun at +Ismail. + +"And tell Mr. Dolokhov that I won't forget him--he may be quite easy. +And tell me, please--I've been meaning to ask--how is he behaving +himself, and in general..." + +"As far as the service goes he is quite punctilious, your excellency; +but his character..." said Timokhin. + +"And what about his character?" asked the regimental commander. + +"It's different on different days," answered the captain. "One day he is +sensible, well educated, and good-natured, and the next he's a wild +beast.... In Poland, if you please, he nearly killed a Jew." + +"Oh, well, well!" remarked the regimental commander. "Still, one must +have pity on a young man in misfortune. You know he has important +connections... Well, then, you just..." + +"I will, your excellency," said Timokhin, showing by his smile that he +understood his commander's wish. + +"Well, of course, of course!" + +The regimental commander sought out Dolokhov in the ranks and, reining +in his horse, said to him: + +"After the next affair... epaulettes." + +Dolokhov looked round but did not say anything, nor did the mocking +smile on his lips change. + +"Well, that's all right," continued the regimental commander. "A cup of +vodka for the men from me," he added so that the soldiers could hear. "I +thank you all! God be praised!" and he rode past that company and +overtook the next one. + +"Well, he's really a good fellow, one can serve under him," said +Timokhin to the subaltern beside him. + +"In a word, a hearty one..." said the subaltern, laughing (the +regimental commander was nicknamed King of Hearts). + +The cheerful mood of their officers after the inspection infected the +soldiers. The company marched on gaily. The soldiers' voices could be +heard on every side. + +"And they said Kutuzov was blind of one eye?" + +"And so he is! Quite blind!" + +"No, friend, he is sharper-eyed than you are. Boots and leg bands... he +noticed everything..." + +"When he looked at my feet, friend... well, thinks I..." + +"And that other one with him, the Austrian, looked as if he were smeared +with chalk--as white as flour! I suppose they polish him up as they do +the guns." + +"I say, Fedeshon!... Did he say when the battles are to begin? You were +near him. Everybody said that Buonaparte himself was at Braunau." + +"Buonaparte himself!... Just listen to the fool, what he doesn't know! +The Prussians are up in arms now. The Austrians, you see, are putting +them down. When they've been put down, the war with Buonaparte will +begin. And he says Buonaparte is in Braunau! Shows you're a fool. You'd +better listen more carefully!" + +"What devils these quartermasters are! See, the fifth company is turning +into the village already... they will have their buckwheat cooked before +we reach our quarters." + +"Give me a biscuit, you devil!" + +"And did you give me tobacco yesterday? That's just it, friend! Ah, +well, never mind, here you are." + +"They might call a halt here or we'll have to do another four miles +without eating." + +"Wasn't it fine when those Germans gave us lifts! You just sit still and +are drawn along." + +"And here, friend, the people are quite beggarly. There they all seemed +to be Poles--all under the Russian crown--but here they're all regular +Germans." + +"Singers to the front" came the captain's order. + +And from the different ranks some twenty men ran to the front. A +drummer, their leader, turned round facing the singers, and flourishing +his arm, began a long-drawn-out soldiers' song, commencing with the +words: "Morning dawned, the sun was rising," and concluding: "On then, +brothers, on to glory, led by Father Kamenski." This song had been +composed in the Turkish campaign and now being sung in Austria, the only +change being that the words "Father Kamenski" were replaced by "Father +Kutuzov." + +Having jerked out these last words as soldiers do and waved his arms as +if flinging something to the ground, the drummer--a lean, handsome +soldier of forty--looked sternly at the singers and screwed up his eyes. +Then having satisfied himself that all eyes were fixed on him, he raised +both arms as if carefully lifting some invisible but precious object +above his head and, holding it there for some seconds, suddenly flung it +down and began: + +"Oh, my bower, oh, my bower...!" + +"Oh, my bower new...!" chimed in twenty voices, and the castanet player, +in spite of the burden of his equipment, rushed out to the front and, +walking backwards before the company, jerked his shoulders and +flourished his castanets as if threatening someone. The soldiers, +swinging their arms and keeping time spontaneously, marched with long +steps. Behind the company the sound of wheels, the creaking of springs, +and the tramp of horses' hoofs were heard. Kutuzov and his suite were +returning to the town. The commander-in-chief made a sign that the men +should continue to march at ease, and he and all his suite showed +pleasure at the sound of the singing and the sight of the dancing +soldier and the gay and smartly marching men. In the second file from +the right flank, beside which the carriage passed the company, a blue- +eyed soldier involuntarily attracted notice. It was Dolokhov marching +with particular grace and boldness in time to the song and looking at +those driving past as if he pitied all who were not at that moment +marching with the company. The hussar cornet of Kutuzov's suite who had +mimicked the regimental commander, fell back from the carriage and rode +up to Dolokhov. + +Hussar cornet Zherkov had at one time, in Petersburg, belonged to the +wild set led by Dolokhov. Zherkov had met Dolokhov abroad as a private +and had not seen fit to recognize him. But now that Kutuzov had spoken +to the gentleman ranker, he addressed him with the cordiality of an old +friend. + +"My dear fellow, how are you?" said he through the singing, making his +horse keep pace with the company. + +"How am I?" Dolokhov answered coldly. "I am as you see." + +The lively song gave a special flavor to the tone of free and easy +gaiety with which Zherkov spoke, and to the intentional coldness of +Dolokhov's reply. + +"And how do you get on with the officers?" inquired Zherkov. + +"All right. They are good fellows. And how have you wriggled onto the +staff?" + +"I was attached; I'm on duty." + +Both were silent. + +"She let the hawk fly upward from her wide right sleeve," went the song, +arousing an involuntary sensation of courage and cheerfulness. Their +conversation would probably have been different but for the effect of +that song. + +"Is it true that Austrians have been beaten?" asked Dolokhov. + +"The devil only knows! They say so." + +"I'm glad," answered Dolokhov briefly and clearly, as the song demanded. + +"I say, come round some evening and we'll have a game of faro!" said +Zherkov. + +"Why, have you too much money?" + +"Do come." + +"I can't. I've sworn not to. I won't drink and won't play till I get +reinstated." + +"Well, that's only till the first engagement." + +"We shall see." + +They were again silent. + +"Come if you need anything. One can at least be of use on the staff..." + +Dolokhov smiled. "Don't trouble. If I want anything, I won't beg--I'll +take it!" + +"Well, never mind; I only..." + +"And I only..." + +"Good-bye." + +"Good health..." + + +"It's a long, long way. To my native land..." + +Zherkov touched his horse with the spurs; it pranced excitedly from foot +to foot uncertain with which to start, then settled down, galloped past +the company, and overtook the carriage, still keeping time to the song. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +On returning from the review, Kutuzov took the Austrian general into his +private room and, calling his adjutant, asked for some papers relating +to the condition of the troops on their arrival, and the letters that +had come from the Archduke Ferdinand, who was in command of the advanced +army. Prince Andrew Bolkonski came into the room with the required +papers. Kutuzov and the Austrian member of the Hofkriegsrath were +sitting at the table on which a plan was spread out. + +"Ah!..." said Kutuzov glancing at Bolkonski as if by this exclamation he +was asking the adjutant to wait, and he went on with the conversation in +French. + +"All I can say, General," said he with a pleasant elegance of expression +and intonation that obliged one to listen to each deliberately spoken +word. It was evident that Kutuzov himself listened with pleasure to his +own voice. "All I can say, General, is that if the matter depended on my +personal wishes, the will of His Majesty the Emperor Francis would have +been fulfilled long ago. I should long ago have joined the archduke. And +believe me on my honour that to me personally it would be a pleasure to +hand over the supreme command of the army into the hands of a better +informed and more skillful general--of whom Austria has so many--and to +lay down all this heavy responsibility. But circumstances are sometimes +too strong for us, General." + +And Kutuzov smiled in a way that seemed to say, "You are quite at +liberty not to believe me and I don't even care whether you do or not, +but you have no grounds for telling me so. And that is the whole point." + +The Austrian general looked dissatisfied, but had no option but to reply +in the same tone. + +"On the contrary," he said, in a querulous and angry tone that +contrasted with his flattering words, "on the contrary, your +excellency's participation in the common action is highly valued by His +Majesty; but we think the present delay is depriving the splendid +Russian troops and their commander of the laurels they have been +accustomed to win in their battles," he concluded his evidently +prearranged sentence. + +Kutuzov bowed with the same smile. + +"But that is my conviction, and judging by the last letter with which +His Highness the Archduke Ferdinand has honored me, I imagine that the +Austrian troops, under the direction of so skillful a leader as General +Mack, have by now already gained a decisive victory and no longer need +our aid," said Kutuzov. + +The general frowned. Though there was no definite news of an Austrian +defeat, there were many circumstances confirming the unfavorable rumors +that were afloat, and so Kutuzov's suggestion of an Austrian victory +sounded much like irony. But Kutuzov went on blandly smiling with the +same expression, which seemed to say that he had a right to suppose so. +And, in fact, the last letter he had received from Mack's army informed +him of a victory and stated strategically the position of the army was +very favorable. + +"Give me that letter," said Kutuzov turning to Prince Andrew. "Please +have a look at it"--and Kutuzov with an ironical smile about the corners +of his mouth read to the Austrian general the following passage, in +German, from the Archduke Ferdinand's letter: + +We have fully concentrated forces of nearly seventy thousand men with +which to attack and defeat the enemy should he cross the Lech. Also, as +we are masters of Ulm, we cannot be deprived of the advantage of +commanding both sides of the Danube, so that should the enemy not cross +the Lech, we can cross the Danube, throw ourselves on his line of +communications, recross the river lower down, and frustrate his +intention should he try to direct his whole force against our faithful +ally. We shall therefore confidently await the moment when the Imperial +Russian army will be fully equipped, and shall then, in conjunction with +it, easily find a way to prepare for the enemy the fate he deserves. + +Kutuzov sighed deeply on finishing this paragraph and looked at the +member of the Hofkriegsrath mildly and attentively. + +"But you know the wise maxim your excellency, advising one to expect the +worst," said the Austrian general, evidently wishing to have done with +jests and to come to business. He involuntarily looked round at the +aide-de-camp. + +"Excuse me, General," interrupted Kutuzov, also turning to Prince +Andrew. "Look here, my dear fellow, get from Kozlovski all the reports +from our scouts. Here are two letters from Count Nostitz and here is one +from His Highness the Archduke Ferdinand and here are these," he said, +handing him several papers, "make a neat memorandum in French out of all +this, showing all the news we have had of the movements of the Austrian +army, and then give it to his excellency." + +Prince Andrew bowed his head in token of having understood from the +first not only what had been said but also what Kutuzov would have liked +to tell him. He gathered up the papers and with a bow to both, stepped +softly over the carpet and went out into the waiting room. + +Though not much time had passed since Prince Andrew had left Russia, he +had changed greatly during that period. In the expression of his face, +in his movements, in his walk, scarcely a trace was left of his former +affected languor and indolence. He now looked like a man who has time to +think of the impression he makes on others, but is occupied with +agreeable and interesting work. His face expressed more satisfaction +with himself and those around him, his smile and glance were brighter +and more attractive. + +Kutuzov, whom he had overtaken in Poland, had received him very kindly, +promised not to forget him, distinguished him above the other adjutants, +and had taken him to Vienna and given him the more serious commissions. +From Vienna Kutuzov wrote to his old comrade, Prince Andrew's father. + +Your son bids fair to become an officer distinguished by his industry, +firmness, and expedition. I consider myself fortunate to have such a +subordinate by me. + +On Kutuzov's staff, among his fellow officers and in the army generally, +Prince Andrew had, as he had had in Petersburg society, two quite +opposite reputations. Some, a minority, acknowledged him to be different +from themselves and from everyone else, expected great things of him, +listened to him, admired, and imitated him, and with them Prince Andrew +was natural and pleasant. Others, the majority, disliked him and +considered him conceited, cold, and disagreeable. But among these people +Prince Andrew knew how to take his stand so that they respected and even +feared him. + +Coming out of Kutuzov's room into the waiting room with the papers in +his hand Prince Andrew came up to his comrade, the aide-de-camp on duty, +Kozlovski, who was sitting at the window with a book. + +"Well, Prince?" asked Kozlovski. + +"I am ordered to write a memorandum explaining why we are not +advancing." + +"And why is it?" + +Prince Andrew shrugged his shoulders. + +"Any news from Mack?" + +"No." + +"If it were true that he has been beaten, news would have come." + +"Probably," said Prince Andrew moving toward the outer door. + +But at that instant a tall Austrian general in a greatcoat, with the +order of Maria Theresa on his neck and a black bandage round his head, +who had evidently just arrived, entered quickly, slamming the door. +Prince Andrew stopped short. + +"Commander in Chief Kutuzov?" said the newly arrived general speaking +quickly with a harsh German accent, looking to both sides and advancing +straight toward the inner door. + +"The commander-in-chief is engaged," said Kozlovski, going hurriedly up +to the unknown general and blocking his way to the door. "Whom shall I +announce?" + +The unknown general looked disdainfully down at Kozlovski, who was +rather short, as if surprised that anyone should not know him. + +"The commander-in-chief is engaged," repeated Kozlovski calmly. + +The general's face clouded, his lips quivered and trembled. He took out +a notebook, hurriedly scribbled something in pencil, tore out the leaf, +gave it to Kozlovski, stepped quickly to the window, and threw himself +into a chair, gazing at those in the room as if asking, "Why do they +look at me?" Then he lifted his head, stretched his neck as if he +intended to say something, but immediately, with affected indifference, +began to hum to himself, producing a queer sound which immediately broke +off. The door of the private room opened and Kutuzov appeared in the +doorway. The general with the bandaged head bent forward as though +running away from some danger, and, making long, quick strides with his +thin legs, went up to Kutuzov. + +"Vous voyez le malheureux Mack," he uttered in a broken voice. + +Kutuzov's face as he stood in the open doorway remained perfectly +immobile for a few moments. Then wrinkles ran over his face like a wave +and his forehead became smooth again, he bowed his head respectfully, +closed his eyes, silently let Mack enter his room before him, and closed +the door himself behind him. + +The report which had been circulated that the Austrians had been beaten +and that the whole army had surrendered at Ulm proved to be correct. +Within half an hour adjutants had been sent in various directions with +orders which showed that the Russian troops, who had hitherto been +inactive, would also soon have to meet the enemy. + +Prince Andrew was one of those rare staff officers whose chief interest +lay in the general progress of the war. When he saw Mack and heard the +details of his disaster he understood that half the campaign was lost, +understood all the difficulties of the Russian army's position, and +vividly imagined what awaited it and the part he would have to play. +Involuntarily he felt a joyful agitation at the thought of the +humiliation of arrogant Austria and that in a week's time he might, +perhaps, see and take part in the first Russian encounter with the +French since Suvorov met them. He feared that Bonaparte's genius might +outweigh all the courage of the Russian troops, and at the same time +could not admit the idea of his hero being disgraced. + +Excited and irritated by these thoughts Prince Andrew went toward his +room to write to his father, to whom he wrote every day. In the corridor +he met Nesvitski, with whom he shared a room, and the wag Zherkov; they +were as usual laughing. + +"Why are you so glum?" asked Nesvitski noticing Prince Andrew's pale +face and glittering eyes. + +"There's nothing to be gay about," answered Bolkonski. + +Just as Prince Andrew met Nesvitski and Zherkov, there came toward them +from the other end of the corridor, Strauch, an Austrian general who on +Kutuzov's staff in charge of the provisioning of the Russian army, and +the member of the Hofkriegsrath who had arrived the previous evening. +There was room enough in the wide corridor for the generals to pass the +three officers quite easily, but Zherkov, pushing Nesvitski aside with +his arm, said in a breathless voice, + +"They're coming!... they're coming!... Stand aside, make way, please +make way!" + +The generals were passing by, looking as if they wished to avoid +embarrassing attentions. On the face of the wag Zherkov there suddenly +appeared a stupid smile of glee which he seemed unable to suppress. + +"Your excellency," said he in German, stepping forward and addressing +the Austrian general, "I have the honor to congratulate you." + +He bowed his head and scraped first with one foot and then with the +other, awkwardly, like a child at a dancing lesson. + +The member of the Hofkriegsrath looked at him severely but, seeing the +seriousness of his stupid smile, could not but give him a moment's +attention. He screwed up his eyes showing that he was listening. + +"I have the honor to congratulate you. General Mack has arrived, quite +well, only a little bruised just here," he added, pointing with a +beaming smile to his head. + +The general frowned, turned away, and went on. + +"Gott, wie naiv!" * said he angrily, after he had gone a few steps. + + +* "Good God, what simplicity!" + +Nesvitski with a laugh threw his arms round Prince Andrew, but +Bolkonski, turning still paler, pushed him away with an angry look and +turned to Zherkov. The nervous irritation aroused by the appearance of +Mack, the news of his defeat, and the thought of what lay before the +Russian army found vent in anger at Zherkov's untimely jest. + +"If you, sir, choose to make a buffoon of yourself," he said sharply, +with a slight trembling of the lower jaw, "I can't prevent your doing +so; but I warn you that if you dare to play the fool in my presence, I +will teach you to behave yourself." + +Nesvitski and Zherkov were so surprised by this outburst that they gazed +at Bolkonski silently with wide-open eyes. + +"What's the matter? I only congratulated them," said Zherkov. + +"I am not jesting with you; please be silent!" cried Bolkonski, and +taking Nesvitski's arm he left Zherkov, who did not know what to say. + +"Come, what's the matter, old fellow?" said Nesvitski trying to soothe +him. + +"What's the matter?" exclaimed Prince Andrew standing still in his +excitement. "Don't you understand that either we are officers serving +our Tsar and our country, rejoicing in the successes and grieving at the +misfortunes of our common cause, or we are merely lackeys who care +nothing for their master's business. Quarante mille hommes massacres et +l'armee de nos allies detruite, et vous trouvez la le mot pour rire," * +he said, as if strengthening his views by this French sentence. "C'est +bien pour un garcon de rien comme cet individu dont vous avez fait un +ami, mais pas pour vous, pas pour vous. *(2) Only a hobbledehoy could +amuse himself in this way," he added in Russian--but pronouncing the +word with a French accent--having noticed that Zherkov could still hear +him. + + +* "Forty thousand men massacred and the army of our allies destroyed, +and you find that a cause for jesting!" + +* (2) "It is all very well for that good-for-nothing fellow of whom you +have made a friend, but not for you, not for you." + +He waited a moment to see whether the cornet would answer, but he turned +and went out of the corridor. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Pavlograd Hussars were stationed two miles from Braunau. The +squadron in which Nicholas Rostov served as a cadet was quartered in the +German village of Salzeneck. The best quarters in the village were +assigned to cavalry-captain Denisov, the squadron commander, known +throughout the whole cavalry division as Vaska Denisov. Cadet Rostov, +ever since he had overtaken the regiment in Poland, had lived with the +squadron commander. + +On October 11, the day when all was astir at headquarters over the news +of Mack's defeat, the camp life of the officers of this squadron was +proceeding as usual. Denisov, who had been losing at cards all night, +had not yet come home when Rostov rode back early in the morning from a +foraging expedition. Rostov in his cadet uniform, with a jerk to his +horse, rode up to the porch, swung his leg over the saddle with a supple +youthful movement, stood for a moment in the stirrup as if loathe to +part from his horse, and at last sprang down and called to his orderly. + +"Ah, Bondarenko, dear friend!" said he to the hussar who rushed up +headlong to the horse. "Walk him up and down, my dear fellow," he +continued, with that gay brotherly cordiality which goodhearted young +people show to everyone when they are happy. + +"Yes, your excellency," answered the Ukrainian gaily, tossing his head. + +"Mind, walk him up and down well!" + +Another hussar also rushed toward the horse, but Bondarenko had already +thrown the reins of the snaffle bridle over the horse's head. It was +evident that the cadet was liberal with his tips and that it paid to +serve him. Rostov patted the horse's neck and then his flank, and +lingered for a moment. + +"Splendid! What a horse he will be!" he thought with a smile, and +holding up his saber, his spurs jingling, he ran up the steps of the +porch. His landlord, who in a waistcoat and a pointed cap, pitchfork in +hand, was clearing manure from the cowhouse, looked out, and his face +immediately brightened on seeing Rostov. "Schon gut Morgen! Schon gut +Morgen!" * he said winking with a merry smile, evidently pleased to +greet the young man. + + +* "A very good morning! A very good morning!" + +"Schon fleissig?" * said Rostov with the same gay brotherly smile which +did not leave his eager face. "Hoch Oestreicher! Hoch Russen! Kaiser +Alexander hoch!" *(2) said he, quoting words often repeated by the +German landlord. + + +* "Busy already?" + +* (2) "Hurrah for the Austrians! Hurrah for the Russians! Hurrah for +Emperor Alexander!" + +The German laughed, came out of the cowshed, pulled off his cap, and +waving it above his head cried: + +"Und die ganze Welt hoch!" * + + +* "And hurrah for the whole world!" + +Rostov waved his cap above his head like the German and cried laughing, +"Und vivat die ganze Welt!" Though neither the German cleaning his +cowshed nor Rostov back with his platoon from foraging for hay had any +reason for rejoicing, they looked at each other with joyful delight and +brotherly love, wagged their heads in token of their mutual affection, +and parted smiling, the German returning to his cowshed and Rostov going +to the cottage he occupied with Denisov. + +"What about your master?" he asked Lavrushka, Denisov's orderly, whom +all the regiment knew for a rogue. + +"Hasn't been in since the evening. Must have been losing," answered +Lavrushka. "I know by now, if he wins he comes back early to brag about +it, but if he stays out till morning it means he's lost and will come +back in a rage. Will you have coffee?" + +"Yes, bring some." + +Ten minutes later Lavrushka brought the coffee. "He's coming!" said he. +"Now for trouble!" Rostov looked out of the window and saw Denisov +coming home. Denisov was a small man with a red face, sparkling black +eyes, and black tousled mustache and hair. He wore an unfastened cloak, +wide breeches hanging down in creases, and a crumpled shako on the back +of his head. He came up to the porch gloomily, hanging his head. + +"Lavwuska!" he shouted loudly and angrily, "take it off, blockhead!" + +"Well, I am taking it off," replied Lavrushka's voice. + +"Ah, you're up already," said Denisov, entering the room. + +"Long ago," answered Rostov, "I have already been for the hay, and have +seen Fraulein Mathilde." + +"Weally! And I've been losing, bwother. I lost yesterday like a damned +fool!" cried Denisov, not pronouncing his r's. "Such ill luck! Such ill +luck. As soon as you left, it began and went on. Hullo there! Tea!" + +Puckering up his face though smiling, and showing his short strong +teeth, he began with stubby fingers of both hands to ruffle up his thick +tangled black hair. + +"And what devil made me go to that wat?" (an officer nicknamed "the +rat") he said, rubbing his forehead and whole face with both hands. +"Just fancy, he didn't let me win a single cahd, not one cahd." + +He took the lighted pipe that was offered to him, gripped it in his +fist, and tapped it on the floor, making the sparks fly, while he +continued to shout. + +"He lets one win the singles and collahs it as soon as one doubles it; +gives the singles and snatches the doubles!" + +He scattered the burning tobacco, smashed the pipe, and threw it away. +Then he remained silent for a while, and all at once looked cheerfully +with his glittering, black eyes at Rostov. + +"If at least we had some women here; but there's nothing foh one to do +but dwink. If we could only get to fighting soon. Hullo, who's there?" +he said, turning to the door as he heard a tread of heavy boots and the +clinking of spurs that came to a stop, and a respectful cough. + +"The squadron quartermaster!" said Lavrushka. + +Denisov's face puckered still more. + +"Wetched!" he muttered, throwing down a purse with some gold in it. +"Wostov, deah fellow, just see how much there is left and shove the +purse undah the pillow," he said, and went out to the quartermaster. + +Rostov took the money and, mechanically arranging the old and new coins +in separate piles, began counting them. + +"Ah! Telyanin! How d'ye do? They plucked me last night," came Denisov's +voice from the next room. + +"Where? At Bykov's, at the rat's... I knew it," replied a piping voice, +and Lieutenant Telyanin, a small officer of the same squadron, entered +the room. + +Rostov thrust the purse under the pillow and shook the damp little hand +which was offered him. Telyanin for some reason had been transferred +from the Guards just before this campaign. He behaved very well in the +regiment but was not liked; Rostov especially detested him and was +unable to overcome or conceal his groundless antipathy to the man. + +"Well, young cavalryman, how is my Rook behaving?" he asked. (Rook was a +young horse Telyanin had sold to Rostov.) + +The lieutenant never looked the man he was speaking to straight in the +face; his eyes continually wandered from one object to another. + +"I saw you riding this morning..." he added. + +"Oh, he's all right, a good horse," answered Rostov, though the horse +for which he had paid seven hundred rubbles was not worth half that sum. +"He's begun to go a little lame on the left foreleg," he added. + +"The hoof's cracked! That's nothing. I'll teach you what to do and show +you what kind of rivet to use." + +"Yes, please do," said Rostov. + +"I'll show you, I'll show you! It's not a secret. And it's a horse +you'll thank me for." + +"Then I'll have it brought round," said Rostov wishing to avoid +Telyanin, and he went out to give the order. + +In the passage Denisov, with a pipe, was squatting on the threshold +facing the quartermaster who was reporting to him. On seeing Rostov, +Denisov screwed up his face and pointing over his shoulder with his +thumb to the room where Telyanin was sitting, he frowned and gave a +shudder of disgust. + +"Ugh! I don't like that fellow," he said, regardless of the +quartermaster's presence. + +Rostov shrugged his shoulders as much as to say: "Nor do I, but what's +one to do?" and, having given his order, he returned to Telyanin. + +Telyanin was sitting in the same indolent pose in which Rostov had left +him, rubbing his small white hands. + +"Well there certainly are disgusting people," thought Rostov as he +entered. + +"Have you told them to bring the horse?" asked Telyanin, getting up and +looking carelessly about him. + +"I have." + +"Let us go ourselves. I only came round to ask Denisov about yesterday's +order. Have you got it, Denisov?" + +"Not yet. But where are you off to?" + +"I want to teach this young man how to shoe a horse," said Telyanin. + +They went through the porch and into the stable. The lieutenant +explained how to rivet the hoof and went away to his own quarters. + +When Rostov went back there was a bottle of vodka and a sausage on the +table. Denisov was sitting there scratching with his pen on a sheet of +paper. He looked gloomily in Rostov's face and said: "I am witing to +her." + +He leaned his elbows on the table with his pen in his hand and, +evidently glad of a chance to say quicker in words what he wanted to +write, told Rostov the contents of his letter. + +"You see, my fwiend," he said, "we sleep when we don't love. We are +childwen of the dust... but one falls in love and one is a God, one is +pua' as on the first day of cweation... Who's that now? Send him to the +devil, I'm busy!" he shouted to Lavrushka, who went up to him not in the +least abashed. + +"Who should it be? You yourself told him to come. It's the quartermaster +for the money." + +Denisov frowned and was about to shout some reply but stopped. + +"Wetched business," he muttered to himself. "How much is left in the +puhse?" he asked, turning to Rostov. + +"Seven new and three old imperials." + +"Oh, it's wetched! Well, what are you standing there for, you sca'cwow? +Call the quahtehmasteh," he shouted to Lavrushka. + +"Please, Denisov, let me lend you some: I have some, you know," said +Rostov, blushing. + +"Don't like bowwowing from my own fellows, I don't," growled Denisov. + +"But if you won't accept money from me like a comrade, you will offend +me. Really I have some," Rostov repeated. + +"No, I tell you." + +And Denisov went to the bed to get the purse from under the pillow. + +"Where have you put it, Wostov?" + +"Under the lower pillow." + +"It's not there." + +Denisov threw both pillows on the floor. The purse was not there. + +"That's a miwacle." + +"Wait, haven't you dropped it?" said Rostov, picking up the pillows one +at a time and shaking them. + +He pulled off the quilt and shook it. The purse was not there. + +"Dear me, can I have forgotten? No, I remember thinking that you kept it +under your head like a treasure," said Rostov. "I put it just here. +Where is it?" he asked, turning to Lavrushka. + +"I haven't been in the room. It must be where you put it." + +"But it isn't?..." + +"You're always like that; you thwow a thing down anywhere and forget it. +Feel in your pockets." + +"No, if I hadn't thought of it being a treasure," said Rostov, "but I +remember putting it there." + +Lavrushka turned all the bedding over, looked under the bed and under +the table, searched everywhere, and stood still in the middle of the +room. Denisov silently watched Lavrushka's movements, and when the +latter threw up his arms in surprise saying it was nowhere to be found +Denisov glanced at Rostov. + +"Wostov, you've not been playing schoolboy twicks..." + +Rostov felt Denisov's gaze fixed on him, raised his eyes, and instantly +dropped them again. All the blood which had seemed congested somewhere +below his throat rushed to his face and eyes. He could not draw breath. + +"And there hasn't been anyone in the room except the lieutenant and +yourselves. It must be here somewhere," said Lavrushka. + +"Now then, you devil's puppet, look alive and hunt for it!" shouted +Denisov, suddenly, turning purple and rushing at the man with a +threatening gesture. "If the purse isn't found I'll flog you, I'll flog +you all." + +Rostov, his eyes avoiding Denisov, began buttoning his coat, buckled on +his saber, and put on his cap. + +"I must have that purse, I tell you," shouted Denisov, shaking his +orderly by the shoulders and knocking him against the wall. + +"Denisov, let him alone, I know who has taken it," said Rostov, going +toward the door without raising his eyes. Denisov paused, thought a +moment, and, evidently understanding what Rostov hinted at, seized his +arm. + +"Nonsense!" he cried, and the veins on his forehead and neck stood out +like cords. "You are mad, I tell you. I won't allow it. The purse is +here! I'll flay this scoundwel alive, and it will be found." + +"I know who has taken it," repeated Rostov in an unsteady voice, and +went to the door. + +"And I tell you, don't you dahe to do it!" shouted Denisov, rushing at +the cadet to restrain him. + +But Rostov pulled away his arm and, with as much anger as though Denisov +were his worst enemy, firmly fixed his eyes directly on his face. + +"Do you understand what you're saying?" he said in a trembling voice. +"There was no one else in the room except myself. So that if it is not +so, then..." + +He could not finish, and ran out of the room. + +"Ah, may the devil take you and evewybody," were the last words Rostov +heard. + +Rostov went to Telyanin's quarters. + +"The master is not in, he's gone to headquarters," said Telyanin's +orderly. "Has something happened?" he added, surprised at the cadet's +troubled face. + +"No, nothing." + +"You've only just missed him," said the orderly. + +The headquarters were situated two miles away from Salzeneck, and +Rostov, without returning home, took a horse and rode there. There was +an inn in the village which the officers frequented. Rostov rode up to +it and saw Telyanin's horse at the porch. + +In the second room of the inn the lieutenant was sitting over a dish of +sausages and a bottle of wine. + +"Ah, you've come here too, young man!" he said, smiling and raising his +eyebrows. + +"Yes," said Rostov as if it cost him a great deal to utter the word; and +he sat down at the nearest table. + +Both were silent. There were two Germans and a Russian officer in the +room. No one spoke and the only sounds heard were the clatter of knives +and the munching of the lieutenant. + +When Telyanin had finished his lunch he took out of his pocket a double +purse and, drawing its rings aside with his small, white, turned-up +fingers, drew out a gold imperial, and lifting his eyebrows gave it to +the waiter. + +"Please be quick," he said. + +The coin was a new one. Rostov rose and went up to Telyanin. + +"Allow me to look at your purse," he said in a low, almost inaudible, +voice. + +With shifting eyes but eyebrows still raised, Telyanin handed him the +purse. + +"Yes, it's a nice purse. Yes, yes," he said, growing suddenly pale, and +added, "Look at it, young man." + +Rostov took the purse in his hand, examined it and the money in it, and +looked at Telyanin. The lieutenant was looking about in his usual way +and suddenly seemed to grow very merry. + +"If we get to Vienna I'll get rid of it there but in these wretched +little towns there's nowhere to spend it," said he. "Well, let me have +it, young man, I'm going." + +Rostov did not speak. + +"And you? Are you going to have lunch too? They feed you quite decently +here," continued Telyanin. "Now then, let me have it." + +He stretched out his hand to take hold of the purse. Rostov let go of +it. Telyanin took the purse and began carelessly slipping it into the +pocket of his riding breeches, with his eyebrows lifted and his mouth +slightly open, as if to say, "Yes, yes, I am putting my purse in my +pocket and that's quite simple and is no one else's business." + +"Well, young man?" he said with a sigh, and from under his lifted brows +he glanced into Rostov's eyes. + +Some flash as of an electric spark shot from Telyanin's eyes to Rostov's +and back, and back again and again in an instant. + +"Come here," said Rostov, catching hold of Telyanin's arm and almost +dragging him to the window. "That money is Denisov's; you took it..." he +whispered just above Telyanin's ear. + +"What? What? How dare you? What?" said Telyanin. + +But these words came like a piteous, despairing cry and an entreaty for +pardon. As soon as Rostov heard them, an enormous load of doubt fell +from him. He was glad, and at the same instant began to pity the +miserable man who stood before him, but the task he had begun had to be +completed. + +"Heaven only knows what the people here may imagine," muttered Telyanin, +taking up his cap and moving toward a small empty room. "We must have an +explanation..." + +"I know it and shall prove it," said Rostov. + +"I..." + +Every muscle of Telyanin's pale, terrified face began to quiver, his +eyes still shifted from side to side but with a downward look not rising +to Rostov's face, and his sobs were audible. + +"Count!... Don't ruin a young fellow... here is this wretched money, +take it..." He threw it on the table. "I have an old father and +mother!..." + +Rostov took the money, avoiding Telyanin's eyes, and went out of the +room without a word. But at the door he stopped and then retraced his +steps. "O God," he said with tears in his eyes, "how could you do it?" + +"Count..." said Telyanin drawing nearer to him. + +"Don't touch me," said Rostov, drawing back. "If you need it, take the +money," and he threw the purse to him and ran out of the inn. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +That same evening there was an animated discussion among the squadron's +officers in Denisov's quarters. + +"And I tell you, Rostov, that you must apologize to the colonel!" said a +tall, grizzly-haired staff captain, with enormous mustaches and many +wrinkles on his large features, to Rostov who was crimson with +excitement. + +The staff captain, Kirsten, had twice been reduced to the ranks for +affairs of honor and had twice regained his commission. + +"I will allow no one to call me a liar!" cried Rostov. "He told me I +lied, and I told him he lied. And there it rests. He may keep me on duty +every day, or may place me under arrest, but no one can make me +apologize, because if he, as commander of this regiment, thinks it +beneath his dignity to give me satisfaction, then..." + +"You just wait a moment, my dear fellow, and listen," interrupted the +staff captain in his deep bass, calmly stroking his long mustache. "You +tell the colonel in the presence of other officers that an officer has +stolen..." + +"I'm not to blame that the conversation began in the presence of other +officers. Perhaps I ought not to have spoken before them, but I am not a +diplomatist. That's why I joined the hussars, thinking that here one +would not need finesse; and he tells me that I am lying--so let him give +me satisfaction..." + +"That's all right. No one thinks you a coward, but that's not the point. +Ask Denisov whether it is not out of the question for a cadet to demand +satisfaction of his regimental commander?" + +Denisov sat gloomily biting his mustache and listening to the +conversation, evidently with no wish to take part in it. He answered the +staff captain's question by a disapproving shake of his head. + +"You speak to the colonel about this nasty business before other +officers," continued the staff captain, "and Bogdanich" (the colonel was +called Bogdanich) "shuts you up." + +"He did not shut me up, he said I was telling an untruth." + +"Well, have it so, and you talked a lot of nonsense to him and must +apologize." + +"Not on any account!" exclaimed Rostov. + +"I did not expect this of you," said the staff captain seriously and +severely. "You don't wish to apologize, but, man, it's not only to him +but to the whole regiment--all of us--you're to blame all round. The +case is this: you ought to have thought the matter over and taken +advice; but no, you go and blurt it all straight out before the +officers. Now what was the colonel to do? Have the officer tried and +disgrace the whole regiment? Disgrace the whole regiment because of one +scoundrel? Is that how you look at it? We don't see it like that. And +Bogdanich was a brick: he told you you were saying what was not true. +It's not pleasant, but what's to be done, my dear fellow? You landed +yourself in it. And now, when one wants to smooth the thing over, some +conceit prevents your apologizing, and you wish to make the whole affair +public. You are offended at being put on duty a bit, but why not +apologize to an old and honorable officer? Whatever Bogdanich may be, +anyway he is an honorable and brave old colonel! You're quick at taking +offense, but you don't mind disgracing the whole regiment!" The staff +captain's voice began to tremble. "You have been in the regiment next to +no time, my lad, you're here today and tomorrow you'll be appointed +adjutant somewhere and can snap your fingers when it is said 'There are +thieves among the Pavlograd officers!' But it's not all the same to us! +Am I not right, Denisov? It's not the same!" + +Denisov remained silent and did not move, but occasionally looked with +his glittering black eyes at Rostov. + +"You value your own pride and don't wish to apologize," continued the +staff captain, "but we old fellows, who have grown up in and, God +willing, are going to die in the regiment, we prize the honor of the +regiment, and Bogdanich knows it. Oh, we do prize it, old fellow! And +all this is not right, it's not right! You may take offense or not but I +always stick to mother truth. It's not right!" + +And the staff captain rose and turned away from Rostov. + + +"That's twue, devil take it!" shouted Denisov, jumping up. "Now then, +Wostov, now then!" + +Rostov, growing red and pale alternately, looked first at one officer +and then at the other. + +"No, gentlemen, no... you mustn't think... I quite understand. You're +wrong to think that of me... I... for me... for the honor of the +regiment I'd... Ah well, I'll show that in action, and for me the honor +of the flag... Well, never mind, it's true I'm to blame, to blame all +round. Well, what else do you want?..." + +"Come, that's right, Count!" cried the staff captain, turning round and +clapping Rostov on the shoulder with his big hand. + +"I tell you," shouted Denisov, "he's a fine fellow." + +"That's better, Count," said the staff captain, beginning to address +Rostov by his title, as if in recognition of his confession. "Go and +apologize, your excellency. Yes, go!" + +"Gentlemen, I'll do anything. No one shall hear a word from me," said +Rostov in an imploring voice, "but I can't apologize, by God I can't, do +what you will! How can I go and apologize like a little boy asking +forgiveness?" + +Denisov began to laugh. + +"It'll be worse for you. Bogdanich is vindictive and you'll pay for your +obstinacy," said Kirsten. + +"No, on my word it's not obstinacy! I can't describe the feeling. I +can't..." + +"Well, it's as you like," said the staff captain. "And what has become +of that scoundrel?" he asked Denisov. + +"He has weported himself sick, he's to be stwuck off the list tomowwow," +muttered Denisov. + +"It is an illness, there's no other way of explaining it," said the +staff captain. + +"Illness or not, he'd better not cwoss my path. I'd kill him!" shouted +Denisov in a bloodthirsty tone. + +Just then Zherkov entered the room. + +"What brings you here?" cried the officers turning to the newcomer. + +"We're to go into action, gentlemen! Mack has surrendered with his whole +army." + +"It's not true!" + +"I've seen him myself!" + +"What? Saw the real Mack? With hands and feet?" + +"Into action! Into action! Bring him a bottle for such news! But how did +you come here?" + +"I've been sent back to the regiment all on account of that devil, Mack. +An Austrian general complained of me. I congratulated him on Mack's +arrival... What's the matter, Rostov? You look as if you'd just come out +of a hot bath." + +"Oh, my dear fellow, we're in such a stew here these last two days." + +The regimental adjutant came in and confirmed the news brought by +Zherkov. They were under orders to advance next day. + +"We're going into action, gentlemen!" + +"Well, thank God! We've been sitting here too long!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Kutuzov fell back toward Vienna, destroying behind him the bridges over +the rivers Inn (at Braunau) and Traun (near Linz). On October 23 the +Russian troops were crossing the river Enns. At midday the Russian +baggage train, the artillery, and columns of troops were defiling +through the town of Enns on both sides of the bridge. + +It was a warm, rainy, autumnal day. The wide expanse that opened out +before the heights on which the Russian batteries stood guarding the +bridge was at times veiled by a diaphanous curtain of slanting rain, and +then, suddenly spread out in the sunlight, far-distant objects could be +clearly seen glittering as though freshly varnished. Down below, the +little town could be seen with its white, red-roofed houses, its +cathedral, and its bridge, on both sides of which streamed jostling +masses of Russian troops. At the bend of the Danube, vessels, an island, +and a castle with a park surrounded by the waters of the confluence of +the Enns and the Danube became visible, and the rocky left bank of the +Danube covered with pine forests, with a mystic background of green +treetops and bluish gorges. The turrets of a convent stood out beyond a +wild virgin pine forest, and far away on the other side of the Enns the +enemy's horse patrols could be discerned. + +Among the field guns on the brow of the hill the general in command of +the rearguard stood with a staff officer, scanning the country through +his fieldglass. A little behind them Nesvitski, who had been sent to the +rearguard by the commander-in-chief, was sitting on the trail of a gun +carriage. A Cossack who accompanied him had handed him a knapsack and a +flask, and Nesvitski was treating some officers to pies and real +doppelkummel. The officers gladly gathered round him, some on their +knees, some squatting Turkish fashion on the wet grass. + +"Yes, the Austrian prince who built that castle was no fool. It's a fine +place! Why are you not eating anything, gentlemen?" Nesvitski was +saying. + +"Thank you very much, Prince," answered one of the officers, pleased to +be talking to a staff officer of such importance. "It's a lovely place! +We passed close to the park and saw two deer... and what a splendid +house!" + +"Look, Prince," said another, who would have dearly liked to take +another pie but felt shy, and therefore pretended to be examining the +countryside--"See, our infantrymen have already got there. Look there in +the meadow behind the village, three of them are dragging something. +They'll ransack that castle," he remarked with evident approval. + +"So they will," said Nesvitski. "No, but what I should like," added he, +munching a pie in his moist-lipped handsome mouth, "would be to slip in +over there." + +He pointed with a smile to a turreted nunnery, and his eyes narrowed and +gleamed. + +"That would be fine, gentlemen!" + +The officers laughed. + +"Just to flutter the nuns a bit. They say there are Italian girls among +them. On my word I'd give five years of my life for it!" + +"They must be feeling dull, too," said one of the bolder officers, +laughing. + +Meanwhile the staff officer standing in front pointed out something to +the general, who looked through his field glass. + +"Yes, so it is, so it is," said the general angrily, lowering the field +glass and shrugging his shoulders, "so it is! They'll be fired on at the +crossing. And why are they dawdling there?" + +On the opposite side the enemy could be seen by the naked eye, and from +their battery a milk-white cloud arose. Then came the distant report of +a shot, and our troops could be seen hurrying to the crossing. + +Nesvitski rose, puffing, and went up to the general, smiling. + +"Would not your excellency like a little refreshment?" he said. + +"It's a bad business," said the general without answering him, "our men +have been wasting time." + +"Hadn't I better ride over, your excellency?" asked Nesvitski. + +"Yes, please do," answered the general, and he repeated the order that +had already once been given in detail: "and tell the hussars that they +are to cross last and to fire the bridge as I ordered; and the +inflammable material on the bridge must be reinspected." + +"Very good," answered Nesvitski. + +He called the Cossack with his horse, told him to put away the knapsack +and flask, and swung his heavy person easily into the saddle. + +"I'll really call in on the nuns," he said to the officers who watched +him smilingly, and he rode off by the winding path down the hill. + +"Now then, let's see how far it will carry, Captain. Just try!" said the +general, turning to an artillery officer. "Have a little fun to pass the +time." + +"Crew, to your guns!" commanded the officer. + +In a moment the men came running gaily from their campfires and began +loading. + +"One!" came the command. + +Number one jumped briskly aside. The gun rang out with a deafening +metallic roar, and a whistling grenade flew above the heads of our +troops below the hill and fell far short of the enemy, a little smoke +showing the spot where it burst. + +The faces of officers and men brightened up at the sound. Everyone got +up and began watching the movements of our troops below, as plainly +visible as if but a stone's throw away, and the movements of the +approaching enemy farther off. At the same instant the sun came fully +out from behind the clouds, and the clear sound of the solitary shot and +the brilliance of the bright sunshine merged in a single joyous and +spirited impression. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Two of the enemy's shots had already flown across the bridge, where +there was a crush. Halfway across stood Prince Nesvitski, who had +alighted from his horse and whose big body was jammed against the +railings. He looked back laughing to the Cossack who stood a few steps +behind him holding two horses by their bridles. Each time Prince +Nesvitski tried to move on, soldiers and carts pushed him back again and +pressed him against the railings, and all he could do was to smile. + +"What a fine fellow you are, friend!" said the Cossack to a convoy +soldier with a wagon, who was pressing onto the infantrymen who were +crowded together close to his wheels and his horses. "What a fellow! You +can't wait a moment! Don't you see the general wants to pass?" + +But the convoyman took no notice of the word "general" and shouted at +the soldiers who were blocking his way. "Hi there, boys! Keep to the +left! Wait a bit." But the soldiers, crowded together shoulder to +shoulder, their bayonets interlocking, moved over the bridge in a dense +mass. Looking down over the rails Prince Nesvitski saw the rapid, noisy +little waves of the Enns, which rippling and eddying round the piles of +the bridge chased each other along. Looking on the bridge he saw equally +uniform living waves of soldiers, shoulder straps, covered shakos, +knapsacks, bayonets, long muskets, and, under the shakos, faces with +broad cheekbones, sunken cheeks, and listless tired expressions, and +feet that moved through the sticky mud that covered the planks of the +bridge. Sometimes through the monotonous waves of men, like a fleck of +white foam on the waves of the Enns, an officer, in a cloak and with a +type of face different from that of the men, squeezed his way along; +sometimes like a chip of wood whirling in the river, an hussar on foot, +an orderly, or a townsman was carried through the waves of infantry; and +sometimes like a log floating down the river, an officers' or company's +baggage wagon, piled high, leather covered, and hemmed in on all sides, +moved across the bridge. + +"It's as if a dam had burst," said the Cossack hopelessly. "Are there +many more of you to come?" + +"A million all but one!" replied a waggish soldier in a torn coat, with +a wink, and passed on followed by another, an old man. + +"If he" (he meant the enemy) "begins popping at the bridge now," said +the old soldier dismally to a comrade, "you'll forget to scratch +yourself." + +That soldier passed on, and after him came another sitting on a cart. + +"Where the devil have the leg bands been shoved to?" said an orderly, +running behind the cart and fumbling in the back of it. + +And he also passed on with the wagon. Then came some merry soldiers who +had evidently been drinking. + +"And then, old fellow, he gives him one in the teeth with the butt end +of his gun..." a soldier whose greatcoat was well tucked up said gaily, +with a wide swing of his arm. + +"Yes, the ham was just delicious..." answered another with a loud laugh. +And they, too, passed on, so that Nesvitski did not learn who had been +struck on the teeth, or what the ham had to do with it. + +"Bah! How they scurry. He just sends a ball and they think they'll all +be killed," a sergeant was saying angrily and reproachfully. + +"As it flies past me, Daddy, the ball I mean," said a young soldier with +an enormous mouth, hardly refraining from laughing, "I felt like dying +of fright. I did, 'pon my word, I got that frightened!" said he, as if +bragging of having been frightened. + +That one also passed. Then followed a cart unlike any that had gone +before. It was a German cart with a pair of horses led by a German, and +seemed loaded with a whole houseful of effects. A fine brindled cow with +a large udder was attached to the cart behind. A woman with an unweaned +baby, an old woman, and a healthy German girl with bright red cheeks +were sitting on some feather beds. Evidently these fugitives were +allowed to pass by special permission. The eyes of all the soldiers +turned toward the women, and while the vehicle was passing at foot pace +all the soldiers' remarks related to the two young ones. Every face bore +almost the same smile, expressing unseemly thoughts about the women. + +"Just see, the German sausage is making tracks, too!" + +"Sell me the missis," said another soldier, addressing the German, who, +angry and frightened, strode energetically along with downcast eyes. + +"See how smart she's made herself! Oh, the devils!" + +"There, Fedotov, you should be quartered on them!" + +"I have seen as much before now, mate!" + +"Where are you going?" asked an infantry officer who was eating an +apple, also half smiling as he looked at the handsome girl. + +The German closed his eyes, signifying that he did not understand. + +"Take it if you like," said the officer, giving the girl an apple. + +The girl smiled and took it. Nesvitski like the rest of the men on the +bridge did not take his eyes off the women till they had passed. When +they had gone by, the same stream of soldiers followed, with the same +kind of talk, and at last all stopped. As often happens, the horses of a +convoy wagon became restive at the end of the bridge, and the whole +crowd had to wait. + +"And why are they stopping? There's no proper order!" said the soldiers. +"Where are you shoving to? Devil take you! Can't you wait? It'll be +worse if he fires the bridge. See, here's an officer jammed in too"-- +different voices were saying in the crowd, as the men looked at one +another, and all pressed toward the exit from the bridge. + +Looking down at the waters of the Enns under the bridge, Nesvitski +suddenly heard a sound new to him, of something swiftly approaching... +something big, that splashed into the water. + +"Just see where it carries to!" a soldier near by said sternly, looking +round at the sound. + +"Encouraging us to get along quicker," said another uneasily. + +The crowd moved on again. Nesvitski realized that it was a cannon ball. + +"Hey, Cossack, my horse!" he said. "Now, then, you there! get out of the +way! Make way!" + +With great difficulty he managed to get to his horse, and shouting +continually he moved on. The soldiers squeezed themselves to make way +for him, but again pressed on him so that they jammed his leg, and those +nearest him were not to blame for they were themselves pressed still +harder from behind. + +"Nesvitski, Nesvitski! you numskull!" came a hoarse voice from behind +him. + +Nesvitski looked round and saw, some fifteen paces away but separated by +the living mass of moving infantry, Vaska Denisov, red and shaggy, with +his cap on the back of his black head and a cloak hanging jauntily over +his shoulder. + +"Tell these devils, these fiends, to let me pass!" shouted Denisov +evidently in a fit of rage, his coal-black eyes with their bloodshot +whites glittering and rolling as he waved his sheathed saber in a small +bare hand as red as his face. + +"Ah, Vaska!" joyfully replied Nesvitski. "What's up with you?" + +"The squadwon can't pass," shouted Vaska Denisov, showing his white +teeth fiercely and spurring his black thoroughbred Arab, which twitched +its ears as the bayonets touched it, and snorted, spurting white foam +from his bit, tramping the planks of the bridge with his hoofs, and +apparently ready to jump over the railings had his rider let him. "What +is this? They're like sheep! Just like sheep! Out of the way!... Let us +pass!... Stop there, you devil with the cart! I'll hack you with my +saber!" he shouted, actually drawing his saber from its scabbard and +flourishing it. + +The soldiers crowded against one another with terrified faces, and +Denisov joined Nesvitski. + +"How's it you're not drunk today?" said Nesvitski when the other had +ridden up to him. + +"They don't even give one time to dwink!" answered Vaska Denisov. "They +keep dwagging the wegiment to and fwo all day. If they mean to fight, +let's fight. But the devil knows what this is." + +"What a dandy you are today!" said Nesvitski, looking at Denisov's new +cloak and saddlecloth. + +Denisov smiled, took out of his sabretache a handkerchief that diffused +a smell of perfume, and put it to Nesvitski's nose. + +"Of course. I'm going into action! I've shaved, bwushed my teeth, and +scented myself." + +The imposing figure of Nesvitski followed by his Cossack, and the +determination of Denisov who flourished his sword and shouted +frantically, had such an effect that they managed to squeeze through to +the farther side of the bridge and stopped the infantry. Beside the +bridge Nesvitski found the colonel to whom he had to deliver the order, +and having done this he rode back. + +Having cleared the way Denisov stopped at the end of the bridge. +Carelessly holding in his stallion that was neighing and pawing the +ground, eager to rejoin its fellows, he watched his squadron draw +nearer. Then the clang of hoofs, as of several horses galloping, +resounded on the planks of the bridge, and the squadron, officers in +front and men four abreast, spread across the bridge and began to emerge +on his side of it. + +The infantry who had been stopped crowded near the bridge in the +trampled mud and gazed with that particular feeling of ill-will, +estrangement, and ridicule with which troops of different arms usually +encounter one another at the clean, smart hussars who moved past them in +regular order. + +"Smart lads! Only fit for a fair!" said one. + +"What good are they? They're led about just for show!" remarked another. + +"Don't kick up the dust, you infantry!" jested an hussar whose prancing +horse had splashed mud over some foot soldiers. + +"I'd like to put you on a two days' march with a knapsack! Your fine +cords would soon get a bit rubbed," said an infantryman, wiping the mud +off his face with his sleeve. "Perched up there, you're more like a bird +than a man." + +"There now, Zikin, they ought to put you on a horse. You'd look fine," +said a corporal, chaffing a thin little soldier who bent under the +weight of his knapsack. + +"Take a stick between your legs, that'll suit you for a horse!" the +hussar shouted back. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The last of the infantry hurriedly crossed the bridge, squeezing +together as they approached it as if passing through a funnel. At last +the baggage wagons had all crossed, the crush was less, and the last +battalion came onto the bridge. Only Denisov's squadron of hussars +remained on the farther side of the bridge facing the enemy, who could +be seen from the hill on the opposite bank but was not yet visible from +the bridge, for the horizon as seen from the valley through which the +river flowed was formed by the rising ground only half a mile away. At +the foot of the hill lay wasteland over which a few groups of our +Cossack scouts were moving. Suddenly on the road at the top of the high +ground, artillery and troops in blue uniform were seen. These were the +French. A group of Cossack scouts retired down the hill at a trot. All +the officers and men of Denisov's squadron, though they tried to talk of +other things and to look in other directions, thought only of what was +there on the hilltop, and kept constantly looking at the patches +appearing on the skyline, which they knew to be the enemy's troops. The +weather had cleared again since noon and the sun was descending brightly +upon the Danube and the dark hills around it. It was calm, and at +intervals the bugle calls and the shouts of the enemy could be heard +from the hill. There was no one now between the squadron and the enemy +except a few scattered skirmishers. An empty space of some seven hundred +yards was all that separated them. The enemy ceased firing, and that +stern, threatening, inaccessible, and intangible line which separates +two hostile armies was all the more clearly felt. + +"One step beyond that boundary line which resembles the line dividing +the living from the dead lies uncertainty, suffering, and death. And +what is there? Who is there?--there beyond that field, that tree, that +roof lit up by the sun? No one knows, but one wants to know. You fear +and yet long to cross that line, and know that sooner or later it must +be crossed and you will have to find out what is there, just as you will +inevitably have to learn what lies the other side of death. But you are +strong, healthy, cheerful, and excited, and are surrounded by other such +excitedly animated and healthy men." So thinks, or at any rate feels, +anyone who comes in sight of the enemy, and that feeling gives a +particular glamour and glad keenness of impression to everything that +takes place at such moments. + +On the high ground where the enemy was, the smoke of a cannon rose, and +a ball flew whistling over the heads of the hussar squadron. The +officers who had been standing together rode off to their places. The +hussars began carefully aligning their horses. Silence fell on the whole +squadron. All were looking at the enemy in front and at the squadron +commander, awaiting the word of command. A second and a third cannon +ball flew past. Evidently they were firing at the hussars, but the balls +with rapid rhythmic whistle flew over the heads of the horsemen and fell +somewhere beyond them. The hussars did not look round, but at the sound +of each shot, as at the word of command, the whole squadron with its +rows of faces so alike yet so different, holding its breath while the +ball flew past, rose in the stirrups and sank back again. The soldiers +without turning their heads glanced at one another, curious to see their +comrades' impression. Every face, from Denisov's to that of the bugler, +showed one common expression of conflict, irritation, and excitement, +around chin and mouth. The quartermaster frowned, looking at the +soldiers as if threatening to punish them. Cadet Mironov ducked every +time a ball flew past. Rostov on the left flank, mounted on his Rook--a +handsome horse despite its game leg--had the happy air of a schoolboy +called up before a large audience for an examination in which he feels +sure he will distinguish himself. He was glancing at everyone with a +clear, bright expression, as if asking them to notice how calmly he sat +under fire. But despite himself, on his face too that same indication of +something new and stern showed round the mouth. + +"Who's that curtseying there? Cadet Miwonov! That's not wight! Look at +me," cried Denisov who, unable to keep still on one spot, kept turning +his horse in front of the squadron. + +The black, hairy, snub-nosed face of Vaska Denisov, and his whole short +sturdy figure with the sinewy hairy hand and stumpy fingers in which he +held the hilt of his naked saber, looked just as it usually did, +especially toward evening when he had emptied his second bottle; he was +only redder than usual. With his shaggy head thrown back like birds when +they drink, pressing his spurs mercilessly into the sides of his good +horse, Bedouin, and sitting as though falling backwards in the saddle, +he galloped to the other flank of the squadron and shouted in a hoarse +voice to the men to look to their pistols. He rode up to Kirsten. The +staff captain on his broad-backed, steady mare came at a walk to meet +him. His face with its long mustache was serious as always, only his +eyes were brighter than usual. + +"Well, what about it?" said he to Denisov. "It won't come to a fight. +You'll see--we shall retire." + +"The devil only knows what they're about!" muttered Denisov. "Ah, +Wostov," he cried noticing the cadet's bright face, "you've got it at +last." + +And he smiled approvingly, evidently pleased with the cadet. Rostov felt +perfectly happy. Just then the commander appeared on the bridge. Denisov +galloped up to him. + +"Your excellency! Let us attack them! I'll dwive them off." + +"Attack indeed!" said the colonel in a bored voice, puckering up his +face as if driving off a troublesome fly. "And why are you stopping +here? Don't you see the skirmishers are retreating? Lead the squadron +back." + +The squadron crossed the bridge and drew out of range of fire without +having lost a single man. The second squadron that had been in the front +line followed them across and the last Cossacks quitted the farther side +of the river. + +The two Pavlograd squadrons, having crossed the bridge, retired up the +hill one after the other. Their colonel, Karl Bogdanich Schubert, came +up to Denisov's squadron and rode at a footpace not far from Rostov, +without taking any notice of him although they were now meeting for the +first time since their encounter concerning Telyanin. Rostov, feeling +that he was at the front and in the power of a man toward whom he now +admitted that he had been to blame, did not lift his eyes from the +colonel's athletic back, his nape covered with light hair, and his red +neck. It seemed to Rostov that Bogdanich was only pretending not to +notice him, and that his whole aim now was to test the cadet's courage, +so he drew himself up and looked around him merrily; then it seemed to +him that Bogdanich rode so near in order to show him his courage. Next +he thought that his enemy would send the squadron on a desperate attack +just to punish him--Rostov. Then he imagined how, after the attack, +Bogdanich would come up to him as he lay wounded and would magnanimously +extend the hand of reconciliation. + +The high-shouldered figure of Zherkov, familiar to the Pavlograds as he +had but recently left their regiment, rode up to the colonel. After his +dismissal from headquarters Zherkov had not remained in the regiment, +saying he was not such a fool as to slave at the front when he could get +more rewards by doing nothing on the staff, and had succeeded in +attaching himself as an orderly officer to Prince Bagration. He now came +to his former chief with an order from the commander of the rear guard. + +"Colonel," he said, addressing Rostov's enemy with an air of gloomy +gravity and glancing round at his comrades, "there is an order to stop +and fire the bridge." + +"An order to who?" asked the colonel morosely. + +"I don't myself know 'to who,'" replied the cornet in a serious tone, +"but the prince told me to 'go and tell the colonel that the hussars +must return quickly and fire the bridge.'" + +Zherkov was followed by an officer of the suite who rode up to the +colonel of hussars with the same order. After him the stout Nesvitski +came galloping up on a Cossack horse that could scarcely carry his +weight. + +"How's this, Colonel?" he shouted as he approached. "I told you to fire +the bridge, and now someone has gone and blundered; they are all beside +themselves over there and one can't make anything out." + +The colonel deliberately stopped the regiment and turned to Nesvitski. + +"You spoke to me of inflammable material," said he, "but you said +nothing about firing it." + +"But, my dear sir," said Nesvitski as he drew up, taking off his cap and +smoothing his hair wet with perspiration with his plump hand, "wasn't I +telling you to fire the bridge, when inflammable material had been put +in position?" + +"I am not your 'dear sir,' Mr. Staff Officer, and you did not tell me to +burn the bridge! I know the service, and it is my habit orders strictly +to obey. You said the bridge would be burned, but who would it burn, I +could not know by the holy spirit!" + +"Ah, that's always the way!" said Nesvitski with a wave of the hand. +"How did you get here?" said he, turning to Zherkov. + +"On the same business. But you are damp! Let me wring you out!" + +"You were saying, Mr. Staff Officer..." continued the colonel in an +offended tone. + +"Colonel," interrupted the officer of the suite, "You must be quick or +the enemy will bring up his guns to use grapeshot." + +The colonel looked silently at the officer of the suite, at the stout +staff officer, and at Zherkov, and he frowned. + +"I will the bridge fire," he said in a solemn tone as if to announce +that in spite of all the unpleasantness he had to endure he would still +do the right thing. + +Striking his horse with his long muscular legs as if it were to blame +for everything, the colonel moved forward and ordered the second +squadron, that in which Rostov was serving under Denisov, to return to +the bridge. + +"There, it's just as I thought," said Rostov to himself. "He wishes to +test me!" His heart contracted and the blood rushed to his face. "Let +him see whether I am a coward!" he thought. + +Again on all the bright faces of the squadron the serious expression +appeared that they had worn when under fire. Rostov watched his enemy, +the colonel, closely--to find in his face confirmation of his own +conjecture, but the colonel did not once glance at Rostov, and looked as +he always did when at the front, solemn and stern. Then came the word of +command. + +"Look sharp! Look sharp!" several voices repeated around him. + +Their sabers catching in the bridles and their spurs jingling, the +hussars hastily dismounted, not knowing what they were to do. The men +were crossing themselves. Rostov no longer looked at the colonel, he had +no time. He was afraid of falling behind the hussars, so much afraid +that his heart stood still. His hand trembled as he gave his horse into +an orderly's charge, and he felt the blood rush to his heart with a +thud. Denisov rode past him, leaning back and shouting something. Rostov +saw nothing but the hussars running all around him, their spurs catching +and their sabers clattering. + +"Stretchers!" shouted someone behind him. + +Rostov did not think what this call for stretchers meant; he ran on, +trying only to be ahead of the others; but just at the bridge, not +looking at the ground, he came on some sticky, trodden mud, stumbled, +and fell on his hands. The others outstripped him. + +"At boss zides, Captain," he heard the voice of the colonel, who, having +ridden ahead, had pulled up his horse near the bridge, with a +triumphant, cheerful face. + +Rostov wiping his muddy hands on his breeches looked at his enemy and +was about to run on, thinking that the farther he went to the front the +better. But Bogdanich, without looking at or recognizing Rostov, shouted +to him: + +"Who's that running on the middle of the bridge? To the right! Come +back, Cadet!" he cried angrily; and turning to Denisov, who, showing off +his courage, had ridden on to the planks of the bridge: + +"Why run risks, Captain? You should dismount," he said. + +"Oh, every bullet has its billet," answered Vaska Denisov, turning in +his saddle. + +Meanwhile Nesvitski, Zherkov, and the officer of the suite were standing +together out of range of the shots, watching, now the small group of men +with yellow shakos, dark-green jackets braided with cord, and blue +riding breeches, who were swarming near the bridge, and then at what was +approaching in the distance from the opposite side--the blue uniforms +and groups with horses, easily recognizable as artillery. + +"Will they burn the bridge or not? Who'll get there first? Will they get +there and fire the bridge or will the French get within grapeshot range +and wipe them out?" These were the questions each man of the troops on +the high ground above the bridge involuntarily asked himself with a +sinking heart--watching the bridge and the hussars in the bright evening +light and the blue tunics advancing from the other side with their +bayonets and guns. + +"Ugh. The hussars will get it hot!" said Nesvitski; "they are within +grapeshot range now." + +"He shouldn't have taken so many men," said the officer of the suite. + +"True enough," answered Nesvitski; "two smart fellows could have done +the job just as well." + +"Ah, your excellency," put in Zherkov, his eyes fixed on the hussars, +but still with that naive air that made it impossible to know whether he +was speaking in jest or in earnest. "Ah, your excellency! How you look +at things! Send two men? And who then would give us the Vladimir medal +and ribbon? But now, even if they do get peppered, the squadron may be +recommended for honors and he may get a ribbon. Our Bogdanich knows how +things are done." + +"There now!" said the officer of the suite, "that's grapeshot." + +He pointed to the French guns, the limbers of which were being detached +and hurriedly removed. + +On the French side, amid the groups with cannon, a cloud of smoke +appeared, then a second and a third almost simultaneously, and at the +moment when the first report was heard a fourth was seen. Then two +reports one after another, and a third. + +"Oh! Oh!" groaned Nesvitski as if in fierce pain, seizing the officer of +the suite by the arm. "Look! A man has fallen! Fallen, fallen!" + +"Two, I think." + +"If I were Tsar I would never go to war," said Nesvitski, turning away. + +The French guns were hastily reloaded. The infantry in their blue +uniforms advanced toward the bridge at a run. Smoke appeared again but +at irregular intervals, and grapeshot cracked and rattled onto the +bridge. But this time Nesvitski could not see what was happening there, +as a dense cloud of smoke arose from it. The hussars had succeeded in +setting it on fire and the French batteries were now firing at them, no +longer to hinder them but because the guns were trained and there was +someone to fire at. + +The French had time to fire three rounds of grapeshot before the hussars +got back to their horses. Two were misdirected and the shot went too +high, but the last round fell in the midst of a group of hussars and +knocked three of them over. + +Rostov, absorbed by his relations with Bogdanich, had paused on the +bridge not knowing what to do. There was no one to hew down (as he had +always imagined battles to himself), nor could he help to fire the +bridge because he had not brought any burning straw with him like the +other soldiers. He stood looking about him, when suddenly he heard a +rattle on the bridge as if nuts were being spilt, and the hussar nearest +to him fell against the rails with a groan. Rostov ran up to him with +the others. Again someone shouted, "Stretchers!" Four men seized the +hussar and began lifting him. + +"Oooh! For Christ's sake let me alone!" cried the wounded man, but still +he was lifted and laid on the stretcher. + +Nicholas Rostov turned away and, as if searching for something, gazed +into the distance, at the waters of the Danube, at the sky, and at the +sun. How beautiful the sky looked; how blue, how calm, and how deep! How +bright and glorious was the setting sun! With what soft glitter the +waters of the distant Danube shone. And fairer still were the faraway +blue mountains beyond the river, the nunnery, the mysterious gorges, and +the pine forests veiled in the mist of their summits... There was peace +and happiness... "I should wish for nothing else, nothing, if only I +were there," thought Rostov. "In myself alone and in that sunshine there +is so much happiness; but here... groans, suffering, fear, and this +uncertainty and hurry... There--they are shouting again, and again are +all running back somewhere, and I shall run with them, and it, death, is +here above me and around... Another instant and I shall never again see +the sun, this water, that gorge!..." + +At that instant the sun began to hide behind the clouds, and other +stretchers came into view before Rostov. And the fear of death and of +the stretchers, and love of the sun and of life, all merged into one +feeling of sickening agitation. + +"O Lord God! Thou who art in that heaven, save, forgive, and protect +me!" Rostov whispered. + +The hussars ran back to the men who held their horses; their voices +sounded louder and calmer, the stretchers disappeared from sight. + +"Well, fwiend? So you've smelt powdah!" shouted Vaska Denisov just above +his ear. + +"It's all over; but I am a coward--yes, a coward!" thought Rostov, and +sighing deeply he took Rook, his horse, which stood resting one foot, +from the orderly and began to mount. + +"Was that grapeshot?" he asked Denisov. + +"Yes and no mistake!" cried Denisov. "You worked like wegular bwicks and +it's nasty work! An attack's pleasant work! Hacking away at the dogs! +But this sort of thing is the very devil, with them shooting at you like +a target." + +And Denisov rode up to a group that had stopped near Rostov, composed of +the colonel, Nesvitski, Zherkov, and the officer from the suite. + +"Well, it seems that no one has noticed," thought Rostov. And this was +true. No one had taken any notice, for everyone knew the sensation which +the cadet under fire for the first time had experienced. + +"Here's something for you to report," said Zherkov. "See if I don't get +promoted to a sublieutenancy." + +"Inform the prince that I the bridge fired!" said the colonel +triumphantly and gaily. + +"And if he asks about the losses?" + +"A trifle," said the colonel in his bass voice: "two hussars wounded, +and one knocked out," he added, unable to restrain a happy smile, and +pronouncing the phrase "knocked out" with ringing distinctness. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Pursued by the French army of a hundred thousand men under the command +of Bonaparte, encountering a population that was unfriendly to it, +losing confidence in its allies, suffering from shortness of supplies, +and compelled to act under conditions of war unlike anything that had +been foreseen, the Russian army of thirty-five thousand men commanded by +Kutuzov was hurriedly retreating along the Danube, stopping where +overtaken by the enemy and fighting rearguard actions only as far as +necessary to enable it to retreat without losing its heavy equipment. +There had been actions at Lambach, Amstetten, and Melk; but despite the +courage and endurance--acknowledged even by the enemy--with which the +Russians fought, the only consequence of these actions was a yet more +rapid retreat. Austrian troops that had escaped capture at Ulm and had +joined Kutuzov at Braunau now separated from the Russian army, and +Kutuzov was left with only his own weak and exhausted forces. The +defense of Vienna was no longer to be thought of. Instead of an +offensive, the plan of which, carefully prepared in accord with the +modern science of strategics, had been handed to Kutuzov when he was in +Vienna by the Austrian Hofkriegsrath, the sole and almost unattainable +aim remaining for him was to effect a junction with the forces that were +advancing from Russia, without losing his army as Mack had done at Ulm. + +On the twenty-eighth of October Kutuzov with his army crossed to the +left bank of the Danube and took up a position for the first time with +the river between himself and the main body of the French. On the +thirtieth he attacked Mortier's division, which was on the left bank, +and broke it up. In this action for the first time trophies were taken: +banners, cannon, and two enemy generals. For the first time, after a +fortnight's retreat, the Russian troops had halted and after a fight had +not only held the field but had repulsed the French. Though the troops +were ill-clad, exhausted, and had lost a third of their number in +killed, wounded, sick, and stragglers; though a number of sick and +wounded had been abandoned on the other side of the Danube with a letter +in which Kutuzov entrusted them to the humanity of the enemy; and though +the big hospitals and the houses in Krems converted into military +hospitals could no longer accommodate all the sick and wounded, yet the +stand made at Krems and the victory over Mortier raised the spirits of +the army considerably. Throughout the whole army and at headquarters +most joyful though erroneous rumors were rife of the imaginary approach +of columns from Russia, of some victory gained by the Austrians, and of +the retreat of the frightened Bonaparte. + +Prince Andrew during the battle had been in attendance on the Austrian +General Schmidt, who was killed in the action. His horse had been +wounded under him and his own arm slightly grazed by a bullet. As a mark +of the commander-in-chief's special favor he was sent with the news of +this victory to the Austrian court, now no longer at Vienna (which was +threatened by the French) but at Brunn. Despite his apparently delicate +build Prince Andrew could endure physical fatigue far better than many +very muscular men, and on the night of the battle, having arrived at +Krems excited but not weary, with dispatches from Dokhturov to Kutuzov, +he was sent immediately with a special dispatch to Brunn. To be so sent +meant not only a reward but an important step toward promotion. + +The night was dark but starry, the road showed black in the snow that +had fallen the previous day--the day of the battle. Reviewing his +impressions of the recent battle, picturing pleasantly to himself the +impression his news of a victory would create, or recalling the send-off +given him by the commander-in-chief and his fellow officers, Prince +Andrew was galloping along in a post chaise enjoying the feelings of a +man who has at length begun to attain a long-desired happiness. As soon +as he closed his eyes his ears seemed filled with the rattle of the +wheels and the sensation of victory. Then he began to imagine that the +Russians were running away and that he himself was killed, but he +quickly roused himself with a feeling of joy, as if learning afresh that +this was not so but that on the contrary the French had run away. He +again recalled all the details of the victory and his own calm courage +during the battle, and feeling reassured he dozed off.... The dark +starry night was followed by a bright cheerful morning. The snow was +thawing in the sunshine, the horses galloped quickly, and on both sides +of the road were forests of different kinds, fields, and villages. + +At one of the post stations he overtook a convoy of Russian wounded. The +Russian officer in charge of the transport lolled back in the front +cart, shouting and scolding a soldier with coarse abuse. In each of the +long German carts six or more pale, dirty, bandaged men were being +jolted over the stony road. Some of them were talking (he heard Russian +words), others were eating bread; the more severely wounded looked +silently, with the languid interest of sick children, at the envoy +hurrying past them. + +Prince Andrew told his driver to stop, and asked a soldier in what +action they had been wounded. "Day before yesterday, on the Danube," +answered the soldier. Prince Andrew took out his purse and gave the +soldier three gold pieces. + +"That's for them all," he said to the officer who came up. + +"Get well soon, lads!" he continued, turning to the soldiers. "There's +plenty to do still." + +"What news, sir?" asked the officer, evidently anxious to start a +conversation. + +"Good news!... Go on!" he shouted to the driver, and they galloped on. + +It was already quite dark when Prince Andrew rattled over the paved +streets of Brunn and found himself surrounded by high buildings, the +lights of shops, houses, and street lamps, fine carriages, and all that +atmosphere of a large and active town which is always so attractive to a +soldier after camp life. Despite his rapid journey and sleepless night, +Prince Andrew when he drove up to the palace felt even more vigorous and +alert than he had done the day before. Only his eyes gleamed feverishly +and his thoughts followed one another with extraordinary clearness and +rapidity. He again vividly recalled the details of the battle, no longer +dim, but definite and in the concise form in which he imagined himself +stating them to the Emperor Francis. He vividly imagined the casual +questions that might be put to him and the answers he would give. He +expected to be at once presented to the Emperor. At the chief entrance +to the palace, however, an official came running out to meet him, and +learning that he was a special messenger led him to another entrance. + +"To the right from the corridor, Euer Hochgeboren! There you will find +the adjutant on duty," said the official. "He will conduct you to the +Minister of War." + +The adjutant on duty, meeting Prince Andrew, asked him to wait, and went +in to the Minister of War. Five minutes later he returned and bowing +with particular courtesy ushered Prince Andrew before him along a +corridor to the cabinet where the Minister of War was at work. The +adjutant by his elaborate courtesy appeared to wish to ward off any +attempt at familiarity on the part of the Russian messenger. + +Prince Andrew's joyous feeling was considerably weakened as he +approached the door of the minister's room. He felt offended, and +without his noticing it the feeling of offense immediately turned into +one of disdain which was quite uncalled for. His fertile mind instantly +suggested to him a point of view which gave him a right to despise the +adjutant and the minister. "Away from the smell of powder, they probably +think it easy to gain victories!" he thought. His eyes narrowed +disdainfully, he entered the room of the Minister of War with peculiarly +deliberate steps. This feeling of disdain was heightened when he saw the +minister seated at a large table reading some papers and making pencil +notes on them, and for the first two or three minutes taking no notice +of his arrival. A wax candle stood at each side of the minister's bent +bald head with its gray temples. He went on reading to the end, without +raising his eyes at the opening of the door and the sound of footsteps. + +"Take this and deliver it," said he to his adjutant, handing him the +papers and still taking no notice of the special messenger. + +Prince Andrew felt that either the actions of Kutuzov's army interested +the Minister of War less than any of the other matters he was concerned +with, or he wanted to give the Russian special messenger that +impression. "But that is a matter of perfect indifference to me," he +thought. The minister drew the remaining papers together, arranged them +evenly, and then raised his head. He had an intellectual and distinctive +head, but the instant he turned to Prince Andrew the firm, intelligent +expression on his face changed in a way evidently deliberate and +habitual to him. His face took on the stupid artificial smile (which +does not even attempt to hide its artificiality) of a man who is +continually receiving many petitioners one after another. + +"From General Field Marshal Kutuzov?" he asked. "I hope it is good news? +There has been an encounter with Mortier? A victory? It was high time!" + +He took the dispatch which was addressed to him and began to read it +with a mournful expression. + +"Oh, my God! My God! Schmidt!" he exclaimed in German. "What a calamity! +What a calamity!" + +Having glanced through the dispatch he laid it on the table and looked +at Prince Andrew, evidently considering something. + +"Ah what a calamity! You say the affair was decisive? But Mortier is not +captured." Again he pondered. "I am very glad you have brought good +news, though Schmidt's death is a heavy price to pay for the victory. +His Majesty will no doubt wish to see you, but not today. I thank you! +You must have a rest. Be at the levee tomorrow after the parade. +However, I will let you know." + +The stupid smile, which had left his face while he was speaking, +reappeared. + +"Au revoir! Thank you very much. His Majesty will probably desire to see +you," he added, bowing his head. + +When Prince Andrew left the palace he felt that all the interest and +happiness the victory had afforded him had been now left in the +indifferent hands of the Minister of War and the polite adjutant. The +whole tenor of his thoughts instantaneously changed; the battle seemed +the memory of a remote event long past. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Prince Andrew stayed at Brunn with Bilibin, a Russian acquaintance of +his in the diplomatic service. + +"Ah, my dear prince! I could not have a more welcome visitor," said +Bilibin as he came out to meet Prince Andrew. "Franz, put the prince's +things in my bedroom," said he to the servant who was ushering Bolkonski +in. "So you're a messenger of victory, eh? Splendid! And I am sitting +here ill, as you see." + +After washing and dressing, Prince Andrew came into the diplomat's +luxurious study and sat down to the dinner prepared for him. Bilibin +settled down comfortably beside the fire. + +After his journey and the campaign during which he had been deprived of +all the comforts of cleanliness and all the refinements of life, Prince +Andrew felt a pleasant sense of repose among luxurious surroundings such +as he had been accustomed to from childhood. Besides it was pleasant, +after his reception by the Austrians, to speak if not in Russian (for +they were speaking French) at least with a Russian who would, he +supposed, share the general Russian antipathy to the Austrians which was +then particularly strong. + +Bilibin was a man of thirty-five, a bachelor, and of the same circle as +Prince Andrew. They had known each other previously in Petersburg, but +had become more intimate when Prince Andrew was in Vienna with Kutuzov. +Just as Prince Andrew was a young man who gave promise of rising high in +the military profession, so to an even greater extent Bilibin gave +promise of rising in his diplomatic career. He still a young man but no +longer a young diplomat, as he had entered the service at the age of +sixteen, had been in Paris and Copenhagen, and now held a rather +important post in Vienna. Both the foreign minister and our ambassador +in Vienna knew him and valued him. He was not one of those many +diplomats who are esteemed because they have certain negative qualities, +avoid doing certain things, and speak French. He was one of those, who, +liking work, knew how to do it, and despite his indolence would +sometimes spend a whole night at his writing table. He worked well +whatever the import of his work. It was not the question "What for?" but +the question "How?" that interested him. What the diplomatic matter +might be he did not care, but it gave him great pleasure to prepare a +circular, memorandum, or report, skillfully, pointedly, and elegantly. +Bilibin's services were valued not only for what he wrote, but also for +his skill in dealing and conversing with those in the highest spheres. + +Bilibin liked conversation as he liked work, only when it could be made +elegantly witty. In society he always awaited an opportunity to say +something striking and took part in a conversation only when that was +possible. His conversation was always sprinkled with wittily original, +finished phrases of general interest. These sayings were prepared in the +inner laboratory of his mind in a portable form as if intentionally, so +that insignificant society people might carry them from drawing room to +drawing room. And, in fact, Bilibin's witticisms were hawked about in +the Viennese drawing rooms and often had an influence on matters +considered important. + +His thin, worn, sallow face was covered with deep wrinkles, which always +looked as clean and well washed as the tips of one's fingers after a +Russian bath. The movement of these wrinkles formed the principal play +of expression on his face. Now his forehead would pucker into deep folds +and his eyebrows were lifted, then his eyebrows would descend and deep +wrinkles would crease his cheeks. His small, deep-set eyes always +twinkled and looked out straight. + +"Well, now tell me about your exploits," said he. + +Bolkonski, very modestly without once mentioning himself, described the +engagement and his reception by the Minister of War. + +"They received me and my news as one receives a dog in a game of +skittles," said he in conclusion. + +Bilibin smiled and the wrinkles on his face disappeared. + +"Cependant, mon cher," he remarked, examining his nails from a distance +and puckering the skin above his left eye, "malgre la haute estime que +je professe pour the Orthodox Russian army, j'avoue que votre victoire +n'est pas des plus victorieuses." * + + +* "But my dear fellow, with all my respect for the Orthodox Russian +army, I must say that your victory was not particularly victorious." + +He went on talking in this way in French, uttering only those words in +Russian on which he wished to put a contemptuous emphasis. + +"Come now! You with all your forces fall on the unfortunate Mortier and +his one division, and even then Mortier slips through your fingers! +Where's the victory?" + +"But seriously," said Prince Andrew, "we can at any rate say without +boasting that it was a little better than at Ulm..." + +"Why didn't you capture one, just one, marshal for us?" + +"Because not everything happens as one expects or with the smoothness of +a parade. We had expected, as I told you, to get at their rear by seven +in the morning but had not reached it by five in the afternoon." + +"And why didn't you do it at seven in the morning? You ought to have +been there at seven in the morning," returned Bilibin with a smile. "You +ought to have been there at seven in the morning." + +"Why did you not succeed in impressing on Bonaparte by diplomatic +methods that he had better leave Genoa alone?" retorted Prince Andrew in +the same tone. + +"I know," interrupted Bilibin, "you're thinking it's very easy to take +marshals, sitting on a sofa by the fire! That is true, but still why +didn't you capture him? So don't be surprised if not only the Minister +of War but also his Most August Majesty the Emperor and King Francis is +not much delighted by your victory. Even I, a poor secretary of the +Russian Embassy, do not feel any need in token of my joy to give my +Franz a thaler, or let him go with his Liebchen to the Prater... True, +we have no Prater here..." + +He looked straight at Prince Andrew and suddenly unwrinkled his +forehead. + +"It is now my turn to ask you 'why?' mon cher," said Bolkonski. "I +confess I do not understand: perhaps there are diplomatic subtleties +here beyond my feeble intelligence, but I can't make it out. Mack loses +a whole army, the Archduke Ferdinand and the Archduke Karl give no signs +of life and make blunder after blunder. Kutuzov alone at last gains a +real victory, destroying the spell of the invincibility of the French, +and the Minister of War does not even care to hear the details." + +"That's just it, my dear fellow. You see it's hurrah for the Tsar, for +Russia, for the Orthodox Greek faith! All that is beautiful, but what do +we, I mean the Austrian court, care for your victories? Bring us nice +news of a victory by the Archduke Karl or Ferdinand (one archduke's as +good as another, as you know) and even if it is only over a fire brigade +of Bonaparte's, that will be another story and we'll fire off some +cannon! But this sort of thing seems done on purpose to vex us. The +Archduke Karl does nothing, the Archduke Ferdinand disgraces himself. +You abandon Vienna, give up its defense--as much as to say: 'Heaven is +with us, but heaven help you and your capital!' The one general whom we +all loved, Schmidt, you expose to a bullet, and then you congratulate us +on the victory! Admit that more irritating news than yours could not +have been conceived. It's as if it had been done on purpose, on purpose. +Besides, suppose you did gain a brilliant victory, if even the Archduke +Karl gained a victory, what effect would that have on the general course +of events? It's too late now when Vienna is occupied by the French +army!" + +"What? Occupied? Vienna occupied?" + +"Not only occupied, but Bonaparte is at Schonbrunn, and the count, our +dear Count Vrbna, goes to him for orders." + +After the fatigues and impressions of the journey, his reception, and +especially after having dined, Bolkonski felt that he could not take in +the full significance of the words he heard. + +"Count Lichtenfels was here this morning," Bilibin continued, "and +showed me a letter in which the parade of the French in Vienna was fully +described: Prince Murat et tout le tremblement... You see that your +victory is not a matter for great rejoicing and that you can't be +received as a savior." + +"Really I don't care about that, I don't care at all," said Prince +Andrew, beginning to understand that his news of the battle before Krems +was really of small importance in view of such events as the fall of +Austria's capital. "How is it Vienna was taken? What of the bridge and +its celebrated bridgehead and Prince Auersperg? We heard reports that +Prince Auersperg was defending Vienna?" he said. + +"Prince Auersperg is on this, on our side of the river, and is defending +us--doing it very badly, I think, but still he is defending us. But +Vienna is on the other side. No, the bridge has not yet been taken and I +hope it will not be, for it is mined and orders have been given to blow +it up. Otherwise we should long ago have been in the mountains of +Bohemia, and you and your army would have spent a bad quarter of an hour +between two fires." + +"But still this does not mean that the campaign is over," said Prince +Andrew. + +"Well, I think it is. The bigwigs here think so too, but they daren't +say so. It will be as I said at the beginning of the campaign, it won't +be your skirmishing at Durrenstein, or gunpowder at all, that will +decide the matter, but those who devised it," said Bilibin quoting one +of his own mots, releasing the wrinkles on his forehead, and pausing. +"The only question is what will come of the meeting between the Emperor +Alexander and the King of Prussia in Berlin? If Prussia joins the +Allies, Austria's hand will be forced and there will be war. If not it +is merely a question of settling where the preliminaries of the new +Campo Formio are to be drawn up." + +"What an extraordinary genius!" Prince Andrew suddenly exclaimed, +clenching his small hand and striking the table with it, "and what luck +the man has!" + +"Buonaparte?" said Bilibin inquiringly, puckering up his forehead to +indicate that he was about to say something witty. "Buonaparte?" he +repeated, accentuating the u: "I think, however, now that he lays down +laws for Austria at Schonbrunn, il faut lui faire grace de l'u! * I +shall certainly adopt an innovation and call him simply Bonaparte!" + + +* "We must let him off the u!" + +"But joking apart," said Prince Andrew, "do you really think the +campaign is over?" + +"This is what I think. Austria has been made a fool of, and she is not +used to it. She will retaliate. And she has been fooled in the first +place because her provinces have been pillaged--they say the Holy +Russian army loots terribly--her army is destroyed, her capital taken, +and all this for the beaux yeux * of His Sardinian Majesty. And +therefore--this is between ourselves--I instinctively feel that we are +being deceived, my instinct tells me of negotiations with France and +projects for peace, a secret peace concluded separately." + + +* Fine eyes. + +"Impossible!" cried Prince Andrew. "That would be too base." + +"If we live we shall see," replied Bilibin, his face again becoming +smooth as a sign that the conversation was at an end. + +When Prince Andrew reached the room prepared for him and lay down in a +clean shirt on the feather bed with its warmed and fragrant pillows, he +felt that the battle of which he had brought tidings was far, far away +from him. The alliance with Prussia, Austria's treachery, Bonaparte's +new triumph, tomorrow's levee and parade, and the audience with the +Emperor Francis occupied his thoughts. + +He closed his eyes, and immediately a sound of cannonading, of musketry +and the rattling of carriage wheels seemed to fill his ears, and now +again drawn out in a thin line the musketeers were descending the hill, +the French were firing, and he felt his heart palpitating as he rode +forward beside Schmidt with the bullets merrily whistling all around, +and he experienced tenfold the joy of living, as he had not done since +childhood. + +He woke up... + +"Yes, that all happened!" he said, and, smiling happily to himself like +a child, he fell into a deep, youthful slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Next day he woke late. Recalling his recent impressions, the first +thought that came into his mind was that today he had to be presented to +the Emperor Francis; he remembered the Minister of War, the polite +Austrian adjutant, Bilibin, and last night's conversation. Having +dressed for his attendance at court in full parade uniform, which he had +not worn for a long time, he went into Bilibin's study fresh, animated, +and handsome, with his hand bandaged. In the study were four gentlemen +of the diplomatic corps. With Prince Hippolyte Kuragin, who was a +secretary to the embassy, Bolkonski was already acquainted. Bilibin +introduced him to the others. + +The gentlemen assembled at Bilibin's were young, wealthy, gay society +men, who here, as in Vienna, formed a special set which Bilibin, their +leader, called les notres. * This set, consisting almost exclusively of +diplomats, evidently had its own interests which had nothing to do with +war or politics but related to high society, to certain women, and to +the official side of the service. These gentlemen received Prince Andrew +as one of themselves, an honor they did not extend to many. From +politeness and to start conversation, they asked him a few questions +about the army and the battle, and then the talk went off into merry +jests and gossip. + + +* Ours. + +"But the best of it was," said one, telling of the misfortune of a +fellow diplomat, "that the Chancellor told him flatly that his +appointment to London was a promotion and that he was so to regard it. +Can you fancy the figure he cut?..." + +"But the worst of it, gentlemen--I am giving Kuragin away to you--is +that that man suffers, and this Don Juan, wicked fellow, is taking +advantage of it!" + +Prince Hippolyte was lolling in a lounge chair with his legs over its +arm. He began to laugh. + +"Tell me about that!" he said. + +"Oh, you Don Juan! You serpent!" cried several voices. + +"You, Bolkonski, don't know," said Bilibin turning to Prince Andrew, +"that all the atrocities of the French army (I nearly said of the +Russian army) are nothing compared to what this man has been doing among +the women!" + +"La femme est la compagne de l'homme," * announced Prince Hippolyte, and +began looking through a lorgnette at his elevated legs. + + +* "Woman is man's companion." + +Bilibin and the rest of "ours" burst out laughing in Hippolyte's face, +and Prince Andrew saw that Hippolyte, of whom--he had to admit--he had +almost been jealous on his wife's account, was the butt of this set. + +"Oh, I must give you a treat," Bilibin whispered to Bolkonski. "Kuragin +is exquisite when he discusses politics--you should see his gravity!" + +He sat down beside Hippolyte and wrinkling his forehead began talking to +him about politics. Prince Andrew and the others gathered round these +two. + +"The Berlin cabinet cannot express a feeling of alliance," began +Hippolyte gazing round with importance at the others, "without +expressing... as in its last note... you understand... Besides, unless +His Majesty the Emperor derogates from the principle of our alliance... + +"Wait, I have not finished..." he said to Prince Andrew, seizing him by +the arm, "I believe that intervention will be stronger than +nonintervention. And..." he paused. "Finally one cannot impute the +nonreceipt of our dispatch of November 18. That is how it will end." And +he released Bolkonski's arm to indicate that he had now quite finished. + +"Demosthenes, I know thee by the pebble thou secretest in thy golden +mouth!" said Bilibin, and the mop of hair on his head moved with +satisfaction. + +Everybody laughed, and Hippolyte louder than anyone. He was evidently +distressed, and breathed painfully, but could not restrain the wild +laughter that convulsed his usually impassive features. + +"Well now, gentlemen," said Bilibin, "Bolkonski is my guest in this +house and in Brunn itself. I want to entertain him as far as I can, with +all the pleasures of life here. If we were in Vienna it would be easy, +but here, in this wretched Moravian hole, it is more difficult, and I +beg you all to help me. Brunn's attractions must be shown him. You can +undertake the theater, I society, and you, Hippolyte, of course the +women." + +"We must let him see Amelie, she's exquisite!" said one of "ours," +kissing his finger tips. + +"In general we must turn this bloodthirsty soldier to more humane +interests," said Bilibin. + +"I shall scarcely be able to avail myself of your hospitality, +gentlemen, it is already time for me to go," replied Prince Andrew +looking at his watch. + +"Where to?" + +"To the Emperor." + +"Oh! Oh! Oh! Well, au revoir, Bolkonski! Au revoir, Prince! Come back +early to dinner," cried several voices. "We'll take you in hand." + +"When speaking to the Emperor, try as far as you can to praise the way +that provisions are supplied and the routes indicated," said Bilibin, +accompanying him to the hall. + +"I should like to speak well of them, but as far as I know the facts, I +can't," replied Bolkonski, smiling. + +"Well, talk as much as you can, anyway. He has a passion for giving +audiences, but he does not like talking himself and can't do it, as you +will see." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +At the levee Prince Andrew stood among the Austrian officers as he had +been told to, and the Emperor Francis merely looked fixedly into his +face and just nodded to him with his long head. But after it was over, +the adjutant he had seen the previous day ceremoniously informed +Bolkonski that the Emperor desired to give him an audience. The Emperor +Francis received him standing in the middle of the room. Before the +conversation began Prince Andrew was struck by the fact that the Emperor +seemed confused and blushed as if not knowing what to say. + +"Tell me, when did the battle begin?" he asked hurriedly. + +Prince Andrew replied. Then followed other questions just as simple: +"Was Kutuzov well? When had he left Krems?" and so on. The Emperor spoke +as if his sole aim were to put a given number of questions--the answers +to these questions, as was only too evident, did not interest him. + +"At what o'clock did the battle begin?" asked the Emperor. + +"I cannot inform Your Majesty at what o'clock the battle began at the +front, but at Durrenstein, where I was, our attack began after five in +the afternoon," replied Bolkonski growing more animated and expecting +that he would have a chance to give a reliable account, which he had +ready in his mind, of all he knew and had seen. But the Emperor smiled +and interrupted him. + +"How many miles?" + +"From where to where, Your Majesty?" + +"From Durrenstein to Krems." + +"Three and a half miles, Your Majesty." + +"The French have abandoned the left bank?" + +"According to the scouts the last of them crossed on rafts during the +night." + +"Is there sufficient forage in Krems?" + +"Forage has not been supplied to the extent..." + +The Emperor interrupted him. + +"At what o'clock was General Schmidt killed?" + +"At seven o'clock, I believe." + +"At seven o'clock? It's very sad, very sad!" + +The Emperor thanked Prince Andrew and bowed. Prince Andrew withdrew and +was immediately surrounded by courtiers on all sides. Everywhere he saw +friendly looks and heard friendly words. Yesterday's adjutant reproached +him for not having stayed at the palace, and offered him his own house. +The Minister of War came up and congratulated him on the Maria Theresa +Order of the third grade, which the Emperor was conferring on him. The +Empress' chamberlain invited him to see Her Majesty. The archduchess +also wished to see him. He did not know whom to answer, and for a few +seconds collected his thoughts. Then the Russian ambassador took him by +the shoulder, led him to the window, and began to talk to him. + +Contrary to Bilibin's forecast the news he had brought was joyfully +received. A thanksgiving service was arranged, Kutuzov was awarded the +Grand Cross of Maria Theresa, and the whole army received rewards. +Bolkonski was invited everywhere, and had to spend the whole morning +calling on the principal Austrian dignitaries. Between four and five in +the afternoon, having made all his calls, he was returning to Bilibin's +house thinking out a letter to his father about the battle and his visit +to Brunn. At the door he found a vehicle half full of luggage. Franz, +Bilibin's man, was dragging a portmanteau with some difficulty out of +the front door. + +Before returning to Bilibin's Prince Andrew had gone to a bookshop to +provide himself with some books for the campaign, and had spent some +time in the shop. + +"What is it?" he asked. + +"Oh, your excellency!" said Franz, with difficulty rolling the +portmanteau into the vehicle, "we are to move on still farther. The +scoundrel is again at our heels!" + +"Eh? What?" asked Prince Andrew. + +Bilibin came out to meet him. His usually calm face showed excitement. + +"There now! Confess that this is delightful," said he. "This affair of +the Thabor Bridge, at Vienna.... They have crossed without striking a +blow!" + +Prince Andrew could not understand. + +"But where do you come from not to know what every coachman in the town +knows?" + +"I come from the archduchess'. I heard nothing there." + +"And you didn't see that everybody is packing up?" + +"I did not... What is it all about?" inquired Prince Andrew impatiently. + +"What's it all about? Why, the French have crossed the bridge that +Auersperg was defending, and the bridge was not blown up: so Murat is +now rushing along the road to Brunn and will be here in a day or two." + +"What? Here? But why did they not blow up the bridge, if it was mined?" + +"That is what I ask you. No one, not even Bonaparte, knows why." + +Bolkonski shrugged his shoulders. + +"But if the bridge is crossed it means that the army too is lost? It +will be cut off," said he. + +"That's just it," answered Bilibin. "Listen! The French entered Vienna +as I told you. Very well. Next day, which was yesterday, those +gentlemen, messieurs les marechaux, * Murat, Lannes, and Belliard, mount +and ride to the bridge. (Observe that all three are Gascons.) +'Gentlemen,' says one of them, 'you know the Thabor Bridge is mined and +doubly mined and that there are menacing fortifications at its head and +an army of fifteen thousand men has been ordered to blow up the bridge +and not let us cross? But it will please our sovereign the Emperor +Napoleon if we take this bridge, so let us three go and take it!' 'Yes, +let's!' say the others. And off they go and take the bridge, cross it, +and now with their whole army are on this side of the Danube, marching +on us, you, and your lines of communication." + + +* The marshalls. + +"Stop jesting," said Prince Andrew sadly and seriously. This news +grieved him and yet he was pleased. + +As soon as he learned that the Russian army was in such a hopeless +situation it occurred to him that it was he who was destined to lead it +out of this position; that here was the Toulon that would lift him from +the ranks of obscure officers and offer him the first step to fame! +Listening to Bilibin he was already imagining how on reaching the army +he would give an opinion at the war council which would be the only one +that could save the army, and how he alone would be entrusted with the +executing of the plan. + +"Stop this jesting," he said. + +"I am not jesting," Bilibin went on. "Nothing is truer or sadder. These +gentlemen ride onto the bridge alone and wave white handkerchiefs; they +assure the officer on duty that they, the marshals, are on their way to +negotiate with Prince Auersperg. He lets them enter the tête-de-pont. * +They spin him a thousand gasconades, saying that the war is over, that +the Emperor Francis is arranging a meeting with Bonaparte, that they +desire to see Prince Auersperg, and so on. The officer sends for +Auersperg; these gentlemen embrace the officers, crack jokes, sit on the +cannon, and meanwhile a French battalion gets to the bridge unobserved, +flings the bags of incendiary material into the water, and approaches +the tête-de-pont. At length appears the lieutenant general, our dear +Prince Auersperg von Mautern himself. 'Dearest foe! Flower of the +Austrian army, hero of the Turkish wars Hostilities are ended, we can +shake one another's hand.... The Emperor Napoleon burns with impatience +to make Prince Auersperg's acquaintance.' In a word, those gentlemen, +Gascons indeed, so bewildered him with fine words, and he is so +flattered by his rapidly established intimacy with the French marshals, +and so dazzled by the sight of Murat's mantle and ostrich plumes, qu'il +n'y voit que du feu, et oublie celui qu'il devait faire faire sur +l'ennemi!" *(2) In spite of the animation of his speech, Bilibin did not +forget to pause after this mot to give time for its due appreciation. +"The French battalion rushes to the bridgehead, spikes the guns, and the +bridge is taken! But what is best of all," he went on, his excitement +subsiding under the delightful interest of his own story, "is that the +sergeant in charge of the cannon which was to give the signal to fire +the mines and blow up the bridge, this sergeant, seeing that the French +troops were running onto the bridge, was about to fire, but Lannes +stayed his hand. The sergeant, who was evidently wiser than his general, +goes up to Auersperg and says: 'Prince, you are being deceived, here are +the French!' Murat, seeing that all is lost if the sergeant is allowed +to speak, turns to Auersperg with feigned astonishment (he is a true +Gascon) and says: 'I don't recognize the world-famous Austrian +discipline, if you allow a subordinate to address you like that!' It was +a stroke of genius. Prince Auersperg feels his dignity at stake and +orders the sergeant to be arrested. Come, you must own that this affair +of the Thabor Bridge is delightful! It is not exactly stupidity, nor +rascality...." + + +* Bridgehead. + +* (2) That their fire gets into his eyes and he forgets that he ought to +be firing at the enemy. + +"It may be treachery," said Prince Andrew, vividly imagining the gray +overcoats, wounds, the smoke of gunpowder, the sounds of firing, and the +glory that awaited him. + +"Not that either. That puts the court in too bad a light," replied +Bilibin. "It's not treachery nor rascality nor stupidity: it is just as +at Ulm... it is..."--he seemed to be trying to find the right +expression. "C'est... c'est du Mack. Nous sommes mackes (It is... it is +a bit of Mack. We are Macked)," he concluded, feeling that he had +produced a good epigram, a fresh one that would be repeated. His +hitherto puckered brow became smooth as a sign of pleasure, and with a +slight smile he began to examine his nails. + +"Where are you off to?" he said suddenly to Prince Andrew who had risen +and was going toward his room. + +"I am going away." + +"Where to?" + +"To the army." + +"But you meant to stay another two days?" + +"But now I am off at once." + +And Prince Andrew after giving directions about his departure went to +his room. + +"Do you know, mon cher," said Bilibin following him, "I have been +thinking about you. Why are you going?" + +And in proof of the conclusiveness of his opinion all the wrinkles +vanished from his face. + +Prince Andrew looked inquiringly at him and gave no reply. + +"Why are you going? I know you think it your duty to gallop back to the +army now that it is in danger. I understand that. Mon cher, it is +heroism!" + +"Not at all," said Prince Andrew. + +"But as you are a philosopher, be a consistent one, look at the other +side of the question and you will see that your duty, on the contrary, +is to take care of yourself. Leave it to those who are no longer fit for +anything else.... You have not been ordered to return and have not been +dismissed from here; therefore, you can stay and go with us wherever our +ill luck takes us. They say we are going to Olmutz, and Olmutz is a very +decent town. You and I will travel comfortably in my caleche." + +"Do stop joking, Bilibin," cried Bolkonski. + +"I am speaking sincerely as a friend! Consider! Where and why are you +going, when you might remain here? You are faced by one of two things," +and the skin over his left temple puckered, "either you will not reach +your regiment before peace is concluded, or you will share defeat and +disgrace with Kutuzov's whole army." + +And Bilibin unwrinkled his temple, feeling that the dilemma was +insoluble. + +"I cannot argue about it," replied Prince Andrew coldly, but he thought: +"I am going to save the army." + +"My dear fellow, you are a hero!" said Bilibin. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +That same night, having taken leave of the Minister of War, Bolkonski +set off to rejoin the army, not knowing where he would find it and +fearing to be captured by the French on the way to Krems. + +In Brunn everybody attached to the court was packing up, and the heavy +baggage was already being dispatched to Olmutz. Near Hetzelsdorf Prince +Andrew struck the high road along which the Russian army was moving with +great haste and in the greatest disorder. The road was so obstructed +with carts that it was impossible to get by in a carriage. Prince Andrew +took a horse and a Cossack from a Cossack commander, and hungry and +weary, making his way past the baggage wagons, rode in search of the +commander-in-chief and of his own luggage. Very sinister reports of the +position of the army reached him as he went along, and the appearance of +the troops in their disorderly flight confirmed these rumors. + +"Cette armee russe que l'or de l'Angleterre a transportee des extremites +de l'univers, nous allons lui faire eprouver le meme sort--(le sort de +l'armee d'Ulm)." * He remembered these words in Bonaparte's address to +his army at the beginning of the campaign, and they awoke in him +astonishment at the genius of his hero, a feeling of wounded pride, and +a hope of glory. "And should there be nothing left but to die?" he +thought. "Well, if need be, I shall do it no worse than others." + + +* "That Russian army which has been brought from the ends of the earth +by English gold, we shall cause to share the same fate--(the fate of the +army at Ulm)." + +He looked with disdain at the endless confused mass of detachments, +carts, guns, artillery, and again baggage wagons and vehicles of all +kinds overtaking one another and blocking the muddy road, three and +sometimes four abreast. From all sides, behind and before, as far as ear +could reach, there were the rattle of wheels, the creaking of carts and +gun carriages, the tramp of horses, the crack of whips, shouts, the +urging of horses, and the swearing of soldiers, orderlies, and officers. +All along the sides of the road fallen horses were to be seen, some +flayed, some not, and broken-down carts beside which solitary soldiers +sat waiting for something, and again soldiers straggling from their +companies, crowds of whom set off to the neighboring villages, or +returned from them dragging sheep, fowls, hay, and bulging sacks. At +each ascent or descent of the road the crowds were yet denser and the +din of shouting more incessant. Soldiers floundering knee-deep in mud +pushed the guns and wagons themselves. Whips cracked, hoofs slipped, +traces broke, and lungs were strained with shouting. The officers +directing the march rode backward and forward between the carts. Their +voices were but feebly heard amid the uproar and one saw by their faces +that they despaired of the possibility of checking this disorder. + +"Here is our dear Orthodox Russian army," thought Bolkonski, recalling +Bilibin's words. + +Wishing to find out where the commander-in-chief was, he rode up to a +convoy. Directly opposite to him came a strange one-horse vehicle, +evidently rigged up by soldiers out of any available materials and +looking like something between a cart, a cabriolet, and a caleche. A +soldier was driving, and a woman enveloped in shawls sat behind the +apron under the leather hood of the vehicle. Prince Andrew rode up and +was just putting his question to a soldier when his attention was +diverted by the desperate shrieks of the woman in the vehicle. An +officer in charge of transport was beating the soldier who was driving +the woman's vehicle for trying to get ahead of others, and the strokes +of his whip fell on the apron of the equipage. The woman screamed +piercingly. Seeing Prince Andrew she leaned out from behind the apron +and, waving her thin arms from under the woolen shawl, cried: + +"Mr. Aide-de-camp! Mr. Aide-de-camp!... For heaven's sake... Protect me! +What will become of us? I am the wife of the doctor of the Seventh +Chasseurs.... They won't let us pass, we are left behind and have lost +our people..." + +"I'll flatten you into a pancake!" shouted the angry officer to the +soldier. "Turn back with your slut!" + +"Mr. Aide-de-camp! Help me!... What does it all mean?" screamed the +doctor's wife. + +"Kindly let this cart pass. Don't you see it's a woman?" said Prince +Andrew riding up to the officer. + +The officer glanced at him, and without replying turned again to the +soldier. "I'll teach you to push on!... Back!" + +"Let them pass, I tell you!" repeated Prince Andrew, compressing his +lips. + +"And who are you?" cried the officer, turning on him with tipsy rage, +"who are you? Are you in command here? Eh? I am commander here, not you! +Go back or I'll flatten you into a pancake," repeated he. This +expression evidently pleased him. + +"That was a nice snub for the little aide-de-camp," came a voice from +behind. + +Prince Andrew saw that the officer was in that state of senseless, tipsy +rage when a man does not know what he is saying. He saw that his +championship of the doctor's wife in her queer trap might expose him to +what he dreaded more than anything in the world--to ridicule; but his +instinct urged him on. Before the officer finished his sentence Prince +Andrew, his face distorted with fury, rode up to him and raised his +riding whip. + +"Kind...ly let--them--pass!" + +The officer flourished his arm and hastily rode away. + +"It's all the fault of these fellows on the staff that there's this +disorder," he muttered. "Do as you like." + +Prince Andrew without lifting his eyes rode hastily away from the +doctor's wife, who was calling him her deliverer, and recalling with a +sense of disgust the minutest details of this humiliating scene he +galloped on to the village where he was told that the commander-in-chief +was. + +On reaching the village he dismounted and went to the nearest house, +intending to rest if but for a moment, eat something, and try to sort +out the stinging and tormenting thoughts that confused his mind. "This +is a mob of scoundrels and not an army," he was thinking as he went up +to the window of the first house, when a familiar voice called him by +name. + +He turned round. Nesvitski's handsome face looked out of the little +window. Nesvitski, moving his moist lips as he chewed something, and +flourishing his arm, called him to enter. + +"Bolkonski! Bolkonski!... Don't you hear? Eh? Come quick..." he shouted. + +Entering the house, Prince Andrew saw Nesvitski and another adjutant +having something to eat. They hastily turned round to him asking if he +had any news. On their familiar faces he read agitation and alarm. This +was particularly noticeable on Nesvitski's usually laughing countenance. + +"Where is the commander-in-chief?" asked Bolkonski. + +"Here, in that house," answered the adjutant. + +"Well, is it true that it's peace and capitulation?" asked Nesvitski. + +"I was going to ask you. I know nothing except that it was all I could +do to get here." + +"And we, my dear boy! It's terrible! I was wrong to laugh at Mack, we're +getting it still worse," said Nesvitski. "But sit down and have +something to eat." + +"You won't be able to find either your baggage or anything else now, +Prince. And God only knows where your man Peter is," said the other +adjutant. + +"Where are headquarters?" + +"We are to spend the night in Znaim." + +"Well, I have got all I need into packs for two horses," said Nesvitski. +"They've made up splendid packs for me--fit to cross the Bohemian +mountains with. It's a bad lookout, old fellow! But what's the matter +with you? You must be ill to shiver like that," he added, noticing that +Prince Andrew winced as at an electric shock. + +"It's nothing," replied Prince Andrew. + +He had just remembered his recent encounter with the doctor's wife and +the convoy officer. + +"What is the commander-in-chief doing here?" he asked. + +"I can't make out at all," said Nesvitski. + +"Well, all I can make out is that everything is abominable, abominable, +quite abominable!" said Prince Andrew, and he went off to the house +where the commander-in-chief was. + +Passing by Kutuzov's carriage and the exhausted saddle horses of his +suite, with their Cossacks who were talking loudly together, Prince +Andrew entered the passage. Kutuzov himself, he was told, was in the +house with Prince Bagration and Weyrother. Weyrother was the Austrian +general who had succeeded Schmidt. In the passage little Kozlovski was +squatting on his heels in front of a clerk. The clerk, with cuffs turned +up, was hastily writing at a tub turned bottom upwards. Kozlovski's face +looked worn--he too had evidently not slept all night. He glanced at +Prince Andrew and did not even nod to him. + +"Second line... have you written it?" he continued dictating to the +clerk. "The Kiev Grenadiers, Podolian..." + +"One can't write so fast, your honor," said the clerk, glancing angrily +and disrespectfully at Kozlovski. + +Through the door came the sounds of Kutuzov's voice, excited and +dissatisfied, interrupted by another, an unfamiliar voice. From the +sound of these voices, the inattentive way Kozlovski looked at him, the +disrespectful manner of the exhausted clerk, the fact that the clerk and +Kozlovski were squatting on the floor by a tub so near to the commander +in chief, and from the noisy laughter of the Cossacks holding the horses +near the window, Prince Andrew felt that something important and +disastrous was about to happen. + +He turned to Kozlovski with urgent questions. + +"Immediately, Prince," said Kozlovski. "Dispositions for Bagration." + +"What about capitulation?" + +"Nothing of the sort. Orders are issued for a battle." + +Prince Andrew moved toward the door from whence voices were heard. Just +as he was going to open it the sounds ceased, the door opened, and +Kutuzov with his eagle nose and puffy face appeared in the doorway. +Prince Andrew stood right in front of Kutuzov but the expression of the +commander in chief's one sound eye showed him to be so preoccupied with +thoughts and anxieties as to be oblivious of his presence. He looked +straight at his adjutant's face without recognizing him. + +"Well, have you finished?" said he to Kozlovski. + +"One moment, your excellency." + +Bagration, a gaunt middle-aged man of medium height with a firm, +impassive face of Oriental type, came out after the commander-in-chief. + +"I have the honor to present myself," repeated Prince Andrew rather +loudly, handing Kutuzov an envelope. + +"Ah, from Vienna? Very good. Later, later!" + +Kutuzov went out into the porch with Bagration. + +"Well, good-by, Prince," said he to Bagration. "My blessing, and may +Christ be with you in your great endeavor!" + +His face suddenly softened and tears came into his eyes. With his left +hand he drew Bagration toward him, and with his right, on which he wore +a ring, he made the sign of the cross over him with a gesture evidently +habitual, offering his puffy cheek, but Bagration kissed him on the neck +instead. + +"Christ be with you!" Kutuzov repeated and went toward his carriage. +"Get in with me," said he to Bolkonski. + +"Your excellency, I should like to be of use here. Allow me to remain +with Prince Bagration's detachment." + +"Get in," said Kutuzov, and noticing that Bolkonski still delayed, he +added: "I need good officers myself, need them myself!" + +They got into the carriage and drove for a few minutes in silence. + +"There is still much, much before us," he said, as if with an old man's +penetration he understood all that was passing in Bolkonski's mind. "If +a tenth part of his detachment returns I shall thank God," he added as +if speaking to himself. + +Prince Andrew glanced at Kutuzov's face only a foot distant from him and +involuntarily noticed the carefully washed seams of the scar near his +temple, where an Ismail bullet had pierced his skull, and the empty eye +socket. "Yes, he has a right to speak so calmly of those men's death," +thought Bolkonski. + +"That is why I beg to be sent to that detachment," he said. + +Kutuzov did not reply. He seemed to have forgotten what he had been +saying, and sat plunged in thought. Five minutes later, gently swaying +on the soft springs of the carriage, he turned to Prince Andrew. There +was not a trace of agitation on his face. With delicate irony he +questioned Prince Andrew about the details of his interview with the +Emperor, about the remarks he had heard at court concerning the Krems +affair, and about some ladies they both knew. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +On November 1 Kutuzov had received, through a spy, news that the army he +commanded was in an almost hopeless position. The spy reported that the +French, after crossing the bridge at Vienna, were advancing in immense +force upon Kutuzov's line of communication with the troops that were +arriving from Russia. If Kutuzov decided to remain at Krems, Napoleon's +army of one hundred and fifty thousand men would cut him off completely +and surround his exhausted army of forty thousand, and he would find +himself in the position of Mack at Ulm. If Kutuzov decided to abandon +the road connecting him with the troops arriving from Russia, he would +have to march with no road into unknown parts of the Bohemian mountains, +defending himself against superior forces of the enemy and abandoning +all hope of a junction with Buxhowden. If Kutuzov decided to retreat +along the road from Krems to Olmutz, to unite with the troops arriving +from Russia, he risked being forestalled on that road by the French who +had crossed the Vienna bridge, and encumbered by his baggage and +transport, having to accept battle on the march against an enemy three +times as strong, who would hem him in from two sides. + +Kutuzov chose this latter course. + +The French, the spy reported, having crossed the Vienna bridge, were +advancing by forced marches toward Znaim, which lay sixty-six miles off +on the line of Kutuzov's retreat. If he reached Znaim before the French, +there would be great hope of saving the army; to let the French +forestall him at Znaim meant the exposure of his whole army to a +disgrace such as that of Ulm, or to utter destruction. But to forestall +the French with his whole army was impossible. The road for the French +from Vienna to Znaim was shorter and better than the road for the +Russians from Krems to Znaim. + +The night he received the news, Kutuzov sent Bagration's vanguard, four +thousand strong, to the right across the hills from the Krems-Znaim to +the Vienna-Znaim road. Bagration was to make this march without resting, +and to halt facing Vienna with Znaim to his rear, and if he succeeded in +forestalling the French he was to delay them as long as possible. +Kutuzov himself with all his transport took the road to Znaim. + +Marching thirty miles that stormy night across roadless hills, with his +hungry, ill-shod soldiers, and losing a third of his men as stragglers +by the way, Bagration came out on the Vienna-Znaim road at Hollabrunn a +few hours ahead of the French who were approaching Hollabrunn from +Vienna. Kutuzov with his transport had still to march for some days +before he could reach Znaim. Hence Bagration with his four thousand +hungry, exhausted men would have to detain for days the whole enemy army +that came upon him at Hollabrunn, which was clearly impossible. But a +freak of fate made the impossible possible. The success of the trick +that had placed the Vienna bridge in the hands of the French without a +fight led Murat to try to deceive Kutuzov in a similar way. Meeting +Bagration's weak detachment on the Znaim road he supposed it to be +Kutuzov's whole army. To be able to crush it absolutely he awaited the +arrival of the rest of the troops who were on their way from Vienna, and +with this object offered a three days' truce on condition that both +armies should remain in position without moving. Murat declared that +negotiations for peace were already proceeding, and that he therefore +offered this truce to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Count Nostitz, the +Austrian general occupying the advanced posts, believed Murat's emissary +and retired, leaving Bagration's division exposed. Another emissary rode +to the Russian line to announce the peace negotiations and to offer the +Russian army the three days' truce. Bagration replied that he was not +authorized either to accept or refuse a truce and sent his adjutant to +Kutuzov to report the offer he had received. + +A truce was Kutuzov's sole chance of gaining time, giving Bagration's +exhausted troops some rest, and letting the transport and heavy convoys +(whose movements were concealed from the French) advance if but one +stage nearer Znaim. The offer of a truce gave the only, and a quite +unexpected, chance of saving the army. On receiving the news he +immediately dispatched Adjutant General Wintzingerode, who was in +attendance on him, to the enemy camp. Wintzingerode was not merely to +agree to the truce but also to offer terms of capitulation, and +meanwhile Kutuzov sent his adjutants back to hasten to the utmost the +movements of the baggage trains of the entire army along the Krems-Znaim +road. Bagration's exhausted and hungry detachment, which alone covered +this movement of the transport and of the whole army, had to remain +stationary in face of an enemy eight times as strong as itself. + +Kutuzov's expectations that the proposals of capitulation (which were in +no way binding) might give time for part of the transport to pass, and +also that Murat's mistake would very soon be discovered, proved correct. +As soon as Bonaparte (who was at Schonbrunn, sixteen miles from +Hollabrunn) received Murat's dispatch with the proposal of a truce and a +capitulation, he detected a ruse and wrote the following letter to +Murat: + +Schonbrunn, 25th Brumaire, 1805, + +at eight o'clock in the morning + +To PRINCE MURAT, + +I cannot find words to express to you my displeasure. You command only +my advance guard, and have no right to arrange an armistice without my +order. You are causing me to lose the fruits of a campaign. Break the +armistice immediately and march on the enemy. Inform him that the +general who signed that capitulation had no right to do so, and that no +one but the Emperor of Russia has that right. + +If, however, the Emperor of Russia ratifies that convention, I will +ratify it; but it is only a trick. March on, destroy the Russian +army.... You are in a position to seize its baggage and artillery. + +The Russian Emperor's aide-de-camp is an impostor. Officers are nothing +when they have no powers; this one had none.... The Austrians let +themselves be tricked at the crossing of the Vienna bridge, you are +letting yourself be tricked by an aide-de-camp of the Emperor. + +NAPOLEON + +Bonaparte's adjutant rode full gallop with this menacing letter to +Murat. Bonaparte himself, not trusting to his generals, moved with all +the Guards to the field of battle, afraid of letting a ready victim +escape, and Bagration's four thousand men merrily lighted campfires, +dried and warmed themselves, cooked their porridge for the first time +for three days, and not one of them knew or imagined what was in store +for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon Prince Andrew, who had +persisted in his request to Kutuzov, arrived at Grunth and reported +himself to Bagration. Bonaparte's adjutant had not yet reached Murat's +detachment and the battle had not yet begun. In Bagration's detachment +no one knew anything of the general position of affairs. They talked of +peace but did not believe in its possibility; others talked of a battle +but also disbelieved in the nearness of an engagement. Bagration, +knowing Bolkonski to be a favorite and trusted adjutant, received him +with distinction and special marks of favor, explaining to him that +there would probably be an engagement that day or the next, and giving +him full liberty to remain with him during the battle or to join the +rearguard and have an eye on the order of retreat, "which is also very +important." + +"However, there will hardly be an engagement today," said Bagration as +if to reassure Prince Andrew. + +"If he is one of the ordinary little staff dandies sent to earn a medal +he can get his reward just as well in the rearguard, but if he wishes to +stay with me, let him... he'll be of use here if he's a brave officer," +thought Bagration. Prince Andrew, without replying, asked the prince's +permission to ride round the position to see the disposition of the +forces, so as to know his bearings should he be sent to execute an +order. The officer on duty, a handsome, elegantly dressed man with a +diamond ring on his forefinger, who was fond of speaking French though +he spoke it badly, offered to conduct Prince Andrew. + +On all sides they saw rain-soaked officers with dejected faces who +seemed to be seeking something, and soldiers dragging doors, benches, +and fencing from the village. + +"There now, Prince! We can't stop those fellows," said the staff officer +pointing to the soldiers. "The officers don't keep them in hand. And +there," he pointed to a sutler's tent, "they crowd in and sit. This +morning I turned them all out and now look, it's full again. I must go +there, Prince, and scare them a bit. It won't take a moment." + +"Yes, let's go in and I will get myself a roll and some cheese," said +Prince Andrew who had not yet had time to eat anything. + +"Why didn't you mention it, Prince? I would have offered you something." + +They dismounted and entered the tent. Several officers, with flushed and +weary faces, were sitting at the table eating and drinking. + +"Now what does this mean, gentlemen?" said the staff officer, in the +reproachful tone of a man who has repeated the same thing more than +once. "You know it won't do to leave your posts like this. The prince +gave orders that no one should leave his post. Now you, Captain," and he +turned to a thin, dirty little artillery officer who without his boots +(he had given them to the canteen keeper to dry), in only his stockings, +rose when they entered, smiling not altogether comfortably. + +"Well, aren't you ashamed of yourself, Captain Tushin?" he continued. +"One would think that as an artillery officer you would set a good +example, yet here you are without your boots! The alarm will be sounded +and you'll be in a pretty position without your boots!" (The staff +officer smiled.) "Kindly return to your posts, gentlemen, all of you, +all!" he added in a tone of command. + +Prince Andrew smiled involuntarily as he looked at the artillery officer +Tushin, who silent and smiling, shifting from one stockinged foot to the +other, glanced inquiringly with his large, intelligent, kindly eyes from +Prince Andrew to the staff officer. + +"The soldiers say it feels easier without boots," said Captain Tushin +smiling shyly in his uncomfortable position, evidently wishing to adopt +a jocular tone. But before he had finished he felt that his jest was +unacceptable and had not come off. He grew confused. + +"Kindly return to your posts," said the staff officer trying to preserve +his gravity. + +Prince Andrew glanced again at the artillery officer's small figure. +There was something peculiar about it, quite unsoldierly, rather comic, +but extremely attractive. + +The staff officer and Prince Andrew mounted their horses and rode on. + +Having ridden beyond the village, continually meeting and overtaking +soldiers and officers of various regiments, they saw on their left some +entrenchments being thrown up, the freshly dug clay of which showed up +red. Several battalions of soldiers, in their shirt sleeves despite the +cold wind, swarmed in these earthworks like a host of white ants; +spadefuls of red clay were continually being thrown up from behind the +bank by unseen hands. Prince Andrew and the officer rode up, looked at +the entrenchment, and went on again. Just behind it they came upon some +dozens of soldiers, continually replaced by others, who ran from the +entrenchment. They had to hold their noses and put their horses to a +trot to escape from the poisoned atmosphere of these latrines. + +"Voila l'agrement des camps, monsieur le Prince," * said the staff +officer. + + +* "This is a pleasure one gets in camp, Prince." + +They rode up the opposite hill. From there the French could already be +seen. Prince Andrew stopped and began examining the position. + +"That's our battery," said the staff officer indicating the highest +point. "It's in charge of the queer fellow we saw without his boots. You +can see everything from there; let's go there, Prince." + +"Thank you very much, I will go on alone," said Prince Andrew, wishing +to rid himself of this staff officer's company, "please don't trouble +yourself further." + +The staff officer remained behind and Prince Andrew rode on alone. + +The farther forward and nearer the enemy he went, the more orderly and +cheerful were the troops. The greatest disorder and depression had been +in the baggage train he had passed that morning on the Znaim road seven +miles away from the French. At Grunth also some apprehension and alarm +could be felt, but the nearer Prince Andrew came to the French lines the +more confident was the appearance of our troops. The soldiers in their +greatcoats were ranged in lines, the sergeants major and company +officers were counting the men, poking the last man in each section in +the ribs and telling him to hold his hand up. Soldiers scattered over +the whole place were dragging logs and brushwood and were building +shelters with merry chatter and laughter; around the fires sat others, +dressed and undressed, drying their shirts and leg bands or mending +boots or overcoats and crowding round the boilers and porridge cookers. +In one company dinner was ready, and the soldiers were gazing eagerly at +the steaming boiler, waiting till the sample, which a quartermaster +sergeant was carrying in a wooden bowl to an officer who sat on a log +before his shelter, had been tasted. + +Another company, a lucky one for not all the companies had vodka, +crowded round a pockmarked, broad-shouldered sergeant major who, tilting +a keg, filled one after another the canteen lids held out to him. The +soldiers lifted the canteen lids to their lips with reverential faces, +emptied them, rolling the vodka in their mouths, and walked away from +the sergeant major with brightened expressions, licking their lips and +wiping them on the sleeves of their greatcoats. All their faces were as +serene as if all this were happening at home awaiting peaceful +encampment, and not within sight of the enemy before an action in which +at least half of them would be left on the field. After passing a +chasseur regiment and in the lines of the Kiev grenadiers--fine fellows +busy with similar peaceful affairs--near the shelter of the regimental +commander, higher than and different from the others, Prince Andrew came +out in front of a platoon of grenadiers before whom lay a naked man. Two +soldiers held him while two others were flourishing their switches and +striking him regularly on his bare back. The man shrieked unnaturally. A +stout major was pacing up and down the line, and regardless of the +screams kept repeating: + +"It's a shame for a soldier to steal; a soldier must be honest, +honorable, and brave, but if he robs his fellows there is no honor in +him, he's a scoundrel. Go on! Go on!" + +So the swishing sound of the strokes, and the desperate but unnatural +screams, continued. + +"Go on, go on!" said the major. + +A young officer with a bewildered and pained expression on his face +stepped away from the man and looked round inquiringly at the adjutant +as he rode by. + +Prince Andrew, having reached the front line, rode along it. Our front +line and that of the enemy were far apart on the right and left flanks, +but in the center where the men with a flag of truce had passed that +morning, the lines were so near together that the men could see one +another's faces and speak to one another. Besides the soldiers who +formed the picket line on either side, there were many curious onlookers +who, jesting and laughing, stared at their strange foreign enemies. + +Since early morning--despite an injunction not to approach the picket +line--the officers had been unable to keep sight-seers away. The +soldiers forming the picket line, like showmen exhibiting a curiosity, +no longer looked at the French but paid attention to the sight-seers and +grew weary waiting to be relieved. Prince Andrew halted to have a look +at the French. + +"Look! Look there!" one soldier was saying to another, pointing to a +Russian musketeer who had gone up to the picket line with an officer and +was rapidly and excitedly talking to a French grenadier. "Hark to him +jabbering! Fine, isn't it? It's all the Frenchy can do to keep up with +him. There now, Sidorov!" + +"Wait a bit and listen. It's fine!" answered Sidorov, who was considered +an adept at French. + +The soldier to whom the laughers referred was Dolokhov. Prince Andrew +recognized him and stopped to listen to what he was saying. Dolokhov had +come from the left flank where their regiment was stationed, with his +captain. + +"Now then, go on, go on!" incited the officer, bending forward and +trying not to lose a word of the speech which was incomprehensible to +him. "More, please: more! What's he saying?" + +Dolokhov did not answer the captain; he had been drawn into a hot +dispute with the French grenadier. They were naturally talking about the +campaign. The Frenchman, confusing the Austrians with the Russians, was +trying to prove that the Russians had surrendered and had fled all the +way from Ulm, while Dolokhov maintained that the Russians had not +surrendered but had beaten the French. + +"We have orders to drive you off here, and we shall drive you off," said +Dolokhov. + +"Only take care you and your Cossacks are not all captured!" said the +French grenadier. + +The French onlookers and listeners laughed. + +"We'll make you dance as we did under Suvorov...," * said Dolokhov. + + +* "On vous fera danser." + +"Qu' est-ce qu'il chante?" * asked a Frenchman. + + +* "What's he singing about?" + +"It's ancient history," said another, guessing that it referred to a +former war. "The Emperor will teach your Suvara as he has taught the +others..." + +"Bonaparte..." began Dolokhov, but the Frenchman interrupted him. + +"Not Bonaparte. He is the Emperor! Sacre nom...!" cried he angrily. + +"The devil skin your Emperor." + +And Dolokhov swore at him in coarse soldier's Russian and shouldering +his musket walked away. + +"Let us go, Ivan Lukich," he said to the captain. + +"Ah, that's the way to talk French," said the picket soldiers. "Now, +Sidorov, you have a try!" + +Sidorov, turning to the French, winked, and began to jabber meaningless +sounds very fast: "Kari, mala, tafa, safi, muter, Kaska," he said, +trying to give an expressive intonation to his voice. + +"Ho! ho! ho! Ha! ha! ha! ha! Ouh! ouh!" came peals of such healthy and +good-humored laughter from the soldiers that it infected the French +involuntarily, so much so that the only thing left to do seemed to be to +unload the muskets, explode the ammunition, and all return home as +quickly as possible. + +But the guns remained loaded, the loopholes in blockhouses and +entrenchments looked out just as menacingly, and the unlimbered cannon +confronted one another as before. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Having ridden round the whole line from right flank to left, Prince +Andrew made his way up to the battery from which the staff officer had +told him the whole field could be seen. Here he dismounted, and stopped +beside the farthest of the four unlimbered cannon. Before the guns an +artillery sentry was pacing up and down; he stood at attention when the +officer arrived, but at a sign resumed his measured, monotonous pacing. +Behind the guns were their limbers and still farther back picket ropes +and artillerymen's bonfires. To the left, not far from the farthest +cannon, was a small, newly constructed wattle shed from which came the +sound of officers' voices in eager conversation. + +It was true that a view over nearly the whole Russian position and the +greater part of the enemy's opened out from this battery. Just facing +it, on the crest of the opposite hill, the village of Schon Grabern +could be seen, and in three places to left and right the French troops +amid the smoke of their campfires, the greater part of whom were +evidently in the village itself and behind the hill. To the left from +that village, amid the smoke, was something resembling a battery, but it +was impossible to see it clearly with the naked eye. Our right flank was +posted on a rather steep incline which dominated the French position. +Our infantry were stationed there, and at the farthest point the +dragoons. In the center, where Tushin's battery stood and from which +Prince Andrew was surveying the position, was the easiest and most +direct descent and ascent to the brook separating us from Schon Grabern. +On the left our troops were close to a copse, in which smoked the +bonfires of our infantry who were felling wood. The French line was +wider than ours, and it was plain that they could easily outflank us on +both sides. Behind our position was a steep and deep dip, making it +difficult for artillery and cavalry to retire. Prince Andrew took out +his notebook and, leaning on the cannon, sketched a plan of the +position. He made some notes on two points, intending to mention them to +Bagration. His idea was, first, to concentrate all the artillery in the +center, and secondly, to withdraw the cavalry to the other side of the +dip. Prince Andrew, being always near the commander in chief, closely +following the mass movements and general orders, and constantly studying +historical accounts of battles, involuntarily pictured to himself the +course of events in the forthcoming action in broad outline. He imagined +only important possibilities: "If the enemy attacks the right flank," he +said to himself, "the Kiev grenadiers and the Podolsk chasseurs must +hold their position till reserves from the center come up. In that case +the dragoons could successfully make a flank counterattack. If they +attack our center we, having the center battery on this high ground, +shall withdraw the left flank under its cover, and retreat to the dip by +echelons." So he reasoned.... All the time he had been beside the gun, +he had heard the voices of the officers distinctly, but as often happens +had not understood a word of what they were saying. Suddenly, however, +he was struck by a voice coming from the shed, and its tone was so +sincere that he could not but listen. + +"No, friend," said a pleasant and, as it seemed to Prince Andrew, a +familiar voice, "what I say is that if it were possible to know what is +beyond death, none of us would be afraid of it. That's so, friend." + +Another, a younger voice, interrupted him: "Afraid or not, you can't +escape it anyhow." + +"All the same, one is afraid! Oh, you clever people," said a third manly +voice interrupting them both. "Of course you artillery men are very +wise, because you can take everything along with you--vodka and snacks." + +And the owner of the manly voice, evidently an infantry officer, +laughed. + +"Yes, one is afraid," continued the first speaker, he of the familiar +voice. "One is afraid of the unknown, that's what it is. Whatever we may +say about the soul going to the sky... we know there is no sky but only +an atmosphere." + +The manly voice again interrupted the artillery officer. + +"Well, stand us some of your herb vodka, Tushin," it said. + +"Why," thought Prince Andrew, "that's the captain who stood up in the +sutler's hut without his boots." He recognized the agreeable, +philosophizing voice with pleasure. + +"Some herb vodka? Certainly!" said Tushin. "But still, to conceive a +future life..." + +He did not finish. Just then there was a whistle in the air; nearer and +nearer, faster and louder, louder and faster, a cannon ball, as if it +had not finished saying what was necessary, thudded into the ground near +the shed with super human force, throwing up a mass of earth. The ground +seemed to groan at the terrible impact. + +And immediately Tushin, with a short pipe in the corner of his mouth and +his kind, intelligent face rather pale, rushed out of the shed followed +by the owner of the manly voice, a dashing infantry officer who hurried +off to his company, buttoning up his coat as he ran. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Mounting his horse again Prince Andrew lingered with the battery, +looking at the puff from the gun that had sent the ball. His eyes ran +rapidly over the wide space, but he only saw that the hitherto +motionless masses of the French now swayed and that there really was a +battery to their left. The smoke above it had not yet dispersed. Two +mounted Frenchmen, probably adjutants, were galloping up the hill. A +small but distinctly visible enemy column was moving down the hill, +probably to strengthen the front line. The smoke of the first shot had +not yet dispersed before another puff appeared, followed by a report. +The battle had begun! Prince Andrew turned his horse and galloped back +to Grunth to find Prince Bagration. He heard the cannonade behind him +growing louder and more frequent. Evidently our guns had begun to reply. +From the bottom of the slope, where the parleys had taken place, came +the report of musketry. + +Lemarrois had just arrived at a gallop with Bonaparte's stern letter, +and Murat, humiliated and anxious to expiate his fault, had at once +moved his forces to attack the center and outflank both the Russian +wings, hoping before evening and before the arrival of the Emperor to +crush the contemptible detachment that stood before him. + +"It has begun. Here it is!" thought Prince Andrew, feeling the blood +rush to his heart. "But where and how will my Toulon present itself?" + +Passing between the companies that had been eating porridge and drinking +vodka a quarter of an hour before, he saw everywhere the same rapid +movement of soldiers forming ranks and getting their muskets ready, and +on all their faces he recognized the same eagerness that filled his +heart. "It has begun! Here it is, dreadful but enjoyable!" was what the +face of each soldier and each officer seemed to say. + +Before he had reached the embankments that were being thrown up, he saw, +in the light of the dull autumn evening, mounted men coming toward him. +The foremost, wearing a Cossack cloak and lambskin cap and riding a +white horse, was Prince Bagration. Prince Andrew stopped, waiting for +him to come up; Prince Bagration reined in his horse and recognizing +Prince Andrew nodded to him. He still looked ahead while Prince Andrew +told him what he had seen. + +The feeling, "It has begun! Here it is!" was seen even on Prince +Bagration's hard brown face with its half-closed, dull, sleepy eyes. +Prince Andrew gazed with anxious curiosity at that impassive face and +wished he could tell what, if anything, this man was thinking and +feeling at that moment. "Is there anything at all behind that impassive +face?" Prince Andrew asked himself as he looked. Prince Bagration bent +his head in sign of agreement with what Prince Andrew told him, and +said, "Very good!" in a tone that seemed to imply that everything that +took place and was reported to him was exactly what he had foreseen. +Prince Andrew, out of breath with his rapid ride, spoke quickly. Prince +Bagration, uttering his words with an Oriental accent, spoke +particularly slowly, as if to impress the fact that there was no need to +hurry. However, he put his horse to a trot in the direction of Tushin's +battery. Prince Andrew followed with the suite. Behind Prince Bagration +rode an officer of the suite, the prince's personal adjutant, Zherkov, +an orderly officer, the staff officer on duty, riding a fine bobtailed +horse, and a civilian--an accountant who had asked permission to be +present at the battle out of curiosity. The accountant, a stout, full- +faced man, looked around him with a naive smile of satisfaction and +presented a strange appearance among the hussars, Cossacks, and +adjutants, in his camlet coat, as he jolted on his horse with a convoy +officer's saddle. + +"He wants to see a battle," said Zherkov to Bolkonski, pointing to the +accountant, "but he feels a pain in the pit of his stomach already." + +"Oh, leave off!" said the accountant with a beaming but rather cunning +smile, as if flattered at being made the subject of Zherkov's joke, and +purposely trying to appear stupider than he really was. + +"It is very strange, mon Monsieur Prince," said the staff officer. (He +remembered that in French there is some peculiar way of addressing a +prince, but could not get it quite right.) + +By this time they were all approaching Tushin's battery, and a ball +struck the ground in front of them. + +"What's that that has fallen?" asked the accountant with a naive smile. + +"A French pancake," answered Zherkov. + +"So that's what they hit with?" asked the accountant. "How awful!" + +He seemed to swell with satisfaction. He had hardly finished speaking +when they again heard an unexpectedly violent whistling which suddenly +ended with a thud into something soft... f-f-flop! and a Cossack, riding +a little to their right and behind the accountant, crashed to earth with +his horse. Zherkov and the staff officer bent over their saddles and +turned their horses away. The accountant stopped, facing the Cossack, +and examined him with attentive curiosity. The Cossack was dead, but the +horse still struggled. + +Prince Bagration screwed up his eyes, looked round, and, seeing the +cause of the confusion, turned away with indifference, as if to say, "Is +it worth while noticing trifles?" He reined in his horse with the care +of a skillful rider and, slightly bending over, disengaged his saber +which had caught in his cloak. It was an old-fashioned saber of a kind +no longer in general use. Prince Andrew remembered the story of Suvorov +giving his saber to Bagration in Italy, and the recollection was +particularly pleasant at that moment. They had reached the battery at +which Prince Andrew had been when he examined the battlefield. + +"Whose company?" asked Prince Bagration of an artilleryman standing by +the ammunition wagon. + +He asked, "Whose company?" but he really meant, "Are you frightened +here?" and the artilleryman understood him. + +"Captain Tushin's, your excellency!" shouted the red-haired, freckled +gunner in a merry voice, standing to attention. + +"Yes, yes," muttered Bagration as if considering something, and he rode +past the limbers to the farthest cannon. + +As he approached, a ringing shot issued from it deafening him and his +suite, and in the smoke that suddenly surrounded the gun they could see +the gunners who had seized it straining to roll it quickly back to its +former position. A huge, broad-shouldered gunner, Number One, holding a +mop, his legs far apart, sprang to the wheel; while Number Two with a +trembling hand placed a charge in the cannon's mouth. The short, round- +shouldered Captain Tushin, stumbling over the tail of the gun carriage, +moved forward and, not noticing the general, looked out shading his eyes +with his small hand. + +"Lift it two lines more and it will be just right," cried he in a feeble +voice to which he tried to impart a dashing note, ill-suited to his weak +figure. "Number Two!" he squeaked. "Fire, Medvedev!" + +Bagration called to him, and Tushin, raising three fingers to his cap +with a bashful and awkward gesture not at all like a military salute but +like a priest's benediction, approached the general. Though Tushin's +guns had been intended to cannonade the valley, he was firing incendiary +balls at the village of Schon Grabern visible just opposite, in front of +which large masses of French were advancing. + +No one had given Tushin orders where and at what to fire, but after +consulting his sergeant major, Zakharchenko, for whom he had great +respect, he had decided that it would be a good thing to set fire to the +village. "Very good!" said Bagration in reply to the officer's report, +and began deliberately to examine the whole battlefield extended before +him. The French had advanced nearest on our right. Below the height on +which the Kiev regiment was stationed, in the hollow where the rivulet +flowed, the soul-stirring rolling and crackling of musketry was heard, +and much farther to the right beyond the dragoons, the officer of the +suite pointed out to Bagration a French column that was outflanking us. +To the left the horizon bounded by the adjacent wood. Prince Bagration +ordered two battalions from the center to be sent to reinforce the right +flank. The officer of the suite ventured to remark to the prince that if +these battalions went away, the guns would remain without support. +Prince Bagration turned to the officer and with his dull eyes looked at +him in silence. It seemed to Prince Andrew that the officer's remark was +just and that really no answer could be made to it. But at that moment +an adjutant galloped up with a message from the commander of the +regiment in the hollow and news that immense masses of the French were +coming down upon them and that his regiment was in disorder and was +retreating upon the Kiev grenadiers. Prince Bagration bowed his head in +sign of assent and approval. He rode off at a walk to the right and sent +an adjutant to the dragoons with orders to attack the French. But this +adjutant returned half an hour later with the news that the commander of +the dragoons had already retreated beyond the dip in the ground, as a +heavy fire had been opened on him and he was losing men uselessly, and +so had hastened to throw some sharpshooters into the wood. + +"Very good!" said Bagration. + +As he was leaving the battery, firing was heard on the left also, and as +it was too far to the left flank for him to have time to go there +himself, Prince Bagration sent Zherkov to tell the general in command +(the one who had paraded his regiment before Kutuzov at Braunau) that he +must retreat as quickly as possible behind the hollow in the rear, as +the right flank would probably not be able to withstand the enemy's +attack very long. About Tushin and the battalion that had been in +support of his battery all was forgotten. Prince Andrew listened +attentively to Bagration's colloquies with the commanding officers and +the orders he gave them and, to his surprise, found that no orders were +really given, but that Prince Bagration tried to make it appear that +everything done by necessity, by accident, or by the will of subordinate +commanders was done, if not by his direct command, at least in accord +with his intentions. Prince Andrew noticed, however, that though what +happened was due to chance and was independent of the commander's will, +owing to the tact Bagration showed, his presence was very valuable. +Officers who approached him with disturbed countenances became calm; +soldiers and officers greeted him gaily, grew more cheerful in his +presence, and were evidently anxious to display their courage before +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Prince Bagration, having reached the highest point of our right flank, +began riding downhill to where the roll of musketry was heard but where +on account of the smoke nothing could be seen. The nearer they got to +the hollow the less they could see but the more they felt the nearness +of the actual battlefield. They began to meet wounded men. One with a +bleeding head and no cap was being dragged along by two soldiers who +supported him under the arms. There was a gurgle in his throat and he +was spitting blood. A bullet had evidently hit him in the throat or +mouth. Another was walking sturdily by himself but without his musket, +groaning aloud and swinging his arm which had just been hurt, while +blood from it was streaming over his greatcoat as from a bottle. He had +that moment been wounded and his face showed fear rather than suffering. +Crossing a road they descended a steep incline and saw several men lying +on the ground; they also met a crowd of soldiers some of whom were +unwounded. The soldiers were ascending the hill breathing heavily, and +despite the general's presence were talking loudly and gesticulating. In +front of them rows of gray cloaks were already visible through the +smoke, and an officer catching sight of Bagration rushed shouting after +the crowd of retreating soldiers, ordering them back. Bagration rode up +to the ranks along which shots crackled now here and now there, drowning +the sound of voices and the shouts of command. The whole air reeked with +smoke. The excited faces of the soldiers were blackened with it. Some +were using their ramrods, others putting powder on the touchpans or +taking charges from their pouches, while others were firing, though who +they were firing at could not be seen for the smoke which there was no +wind to carry away. A pleasant humming and whistling of bullets were +often heard. "What is this?" thought Prince Andrew approaching the crowd +of soldiers. "It can't be an attack, for they are not moving; it can't +be a square--for they are not drawn up for that." + +The commander of the regiment, a thin, feeble-looking old man with a +pleasant smile--his eyelids drooping more than half over his old eyes, +giving him a mild expression, rode up to Bagration and welcomed him as a +host welcomes an honored guest. He reported that his regiment had been +attacked by French cavalry and that, though the attack had been +repulsed, he had lost more than half his men. He said the attack had +been repulsed, employing this military term to describe what had +occurred to his regiment, but in reality he did not himself know what +had happened during that half-hour to the troops entrusted to him, and +could not say with certainty whether the attack had been repulsed or his +regiment had been broken up. All he knew was that at the commencement of +the action balls and shells began flying all over his regiment and +hitting men and that afterwards someone had shouted "Cavalry!" and our +men had begun firing. They were still firing, not at the cavalry which +had disappeared, but at French infantry who had come into the hollow and +were firing at our men. Prince Bagration bowed his head as a sign that +this was exactly what he had desired and expected. Turning to his +adjutant he ordered him to bring down the two battalions of the Sixth +Chasseurs whom they had just passed. Prince Andrew was struck by the +changed expression on Prince Bagration's face at this moment. It +expressed the concentrated and happy resolution you see on the face of a +man who on a hot day takes a final run before plunging into the water. +The dull, sleepy expression was no longer there, nor the affectation of +profound thought. The round, steady, hawk's eyes looked before him +eagerly and rather disdainfully, not resting on anything although his +movements were still slow and measured. + +The commander of the regiment turned to Prince Bagration, entreating him +to go back as it was too dangerous to remain where they were. "Please, +your excellency, for God's sake!" he kept saying, glancing for support +at an officer of the suite who turned away from him. "There, you see!" +and he drew attention to the bullets whistling, singing, and hissing +continually around them. He spoke in the tone of entreaty and reproach +that a carpenter uses to a gentleman who has picked up an ax: "We are +used to it, but you, sir, will blister your hands." He spoke as if those +bullets could not kill him, and his half-closed eyes gave still more +persuasiveness to his words. The staff officer joined in the colonel's +appeals, but Bagration did not reply; he only gave an order to cease +firing and re-form, so as to give room for the two approaching +battalions. While he was speaking, the curtain of smoke that had +concealed the hollow, driven by a rising wind, began to move from right +to left as if drawn by an invisible hand, and the hill opposite, with +the French moving about on it, opened out before them. All eyes fastened +involuntarily on this French column advancing against them and winding +down over the uneven ground. One could already see the soldiers' shaggy +caps, distinguish the officers from the men, and see the standard +flapping against its staff. + +"They march splendidly," remarked someone in Bagration's suite. + +The head of the column had already descended into the hollow. The clash +would take place on this side of it... + +The remains of our regiment which had been in action rapidly formed up +and moved to the right; from behind it, dispersing the laggards, came +two battalions of the Sixth Chasseurs in fine order. Before they had +reached Bagration, the weighty tread of the mass of men marching in step +could be heard. On their left flank, nearest to Bagration, marched a +company commander, a fine round-faced man, with a stupid and happy +expression--the same man who had rushed out of the wattle shed. At that +moment he was clearly thinking of nothing but how dashing a fellow he +would appear as he passed the commander. + +With the self-satisfaction of a man on parade, he stepped lightly with +his muscular legs as if sailing along, stretching himself to his full +height without the smallest effort, his ease contrasting with the heavy +tread of the soldiers who were keeping step with him. He carried close +to his leg a narrow unsheathed sword (small, curved, and not like a real +weapon) and looked now at the superior officers and now back at the men +without losing step, his whole powerful body turning flexibly. It was as +if all the powers of his soul were concentrated on passing the commander +in the best possible manner, and feeling that he was doing it well he +was happy. "Left... left... left..." he seemed to repeat to himself at +each alternate step; and in time to this, with stern but varied faces, +the wall of soldiers burdened with knapsacks and muskets marched in +step, and each one of these hundreds of soldiers seemed to be repeating +to himself at each alternate step, "Left... left... left..." A fat major +skirted a bush, puffing and falling out of step; a soldier who had +fallen behind, his face showing alarm at his defection, ran at a trot, +panting to catch up with his company. A cannon ball, cleaving the air, +flew over the heads of Bagration and his suite, and fell into the column +to the measure of "Left... left!" "Close up!" came the company +commander's voice in jaunty tones. The soldiers passed in a semicircle +round something where the ball had fallen, and an old trooper on the +flank, a noncommissioned officer who had stopped beside the dead men, +ran to catch up his line and, falling into step with a hop, looked back +angrily, and through the ominous silence and the regular tramp of feet +beating the ground in unison, one seemed to hear left... left... left. + +"Well done, lads!" said Prince Bagration. + +"Glad to do our best, your ex'len-lency!" came a confused shout from the +ranks. A morose soldier marching on the left turned his eyes on +Bagration as he shouted, with an expression that seemed to say: "We know +that ourselves!" Another, without looking round, as though fearing to +relax, shouted with his mouth wide open and passed on. + +The order was given to halt and down knapsacks. + +Bagration rode round the ranks that had marched past him and dismounted. +He gave the reins to a Cossack, took off and handed over his felt coat, +stretched his legs, and set his cap straight. The head of the French +column, with its officers leading, appeared from below the hill. + +"Forward, with God!" said Bagration, in a resolute, sonorous voice, +turning for a moment to the front line, and slightly swinging his arms, +he went forward uneasily over the rough field with the awkward gait of a +cavalryman. Prince Andrew felt that an invisible power was leading him +forward, and experienced great happiness. + +The French were already near. Prince Andrew, walking beside Bagration, +could clearly distinguish their bandoliers, red epaulets, and even their +faces. (He distinctly saw an old French officer who, with gaitered legs +and turned-out toes, climbed the hill with difficulty.) Prince Bagration +gave no further orders and silently continued to walk on in front of the +ranks. Suddenly one shot after another rang out from the French, smoke +appeared all along their uneven ranks, and musket shots sounded. Several +of our men fell, among them the round-faced officer who had marched so +gaily and complacently. But at the moment the first report was heard, +Bagration looked round and shouted, "Hurrah!" + +"Hurrah--ah!--ah!" rang a long-drawn shout from our ranks, and passing +Bagration and racing one another they rushed in an irregular but joyous +and eager crowd down the hill at their disordered foe. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +The attack of the Sixth Chasseurs secured the retreat of our right +flank. In the center Tushin's forgotten battery, which had managed to +set fire to the Schon Grabern village, delayed the French advance. The +French were putting out the fire which the wind was spreading, and thus +gave us time to retreat. The retirement of the center to the other side +of the dip in the ground at the rear was hurried and noisy, but the +different companies did not get mixed. But our left--which consisted of +the Azov and Podolsk infantry and the Pavlograd hussars--was +simultaneously attacked and outflanked by superior French forces under +Lannes and was thrown into confusion. Bagration had sent Zherkov to the +general commanding that left flank with orders to retreat immediately. + +Zherkov, not removing his hand from his cap, turned his horse about and +galloped off. But no sooner had he left Bagration than his courage +failed him. He was seized by panic and could not go where it was +dangerous. + +Having reached the left flank, instead of going to the front where the +firing was, he began to look for the general and his staff where they +could not possibly be, and so did not deliver the order. + +The command of the left flank belonged by seniority to the commander of +the regiment Kutuzov had reviewed at Braunau and in which Dolokhov was +serving as a private. But the command of the extreme left flank had been +assigned to the commander of the Pavlograd regiment in which Rostov was +serving, and a misunderstanding arose. The two commanders were much +exasperated with one another and, long after the action had begun on the +right flank and the French were already advancing, were engaged in +discussion with the sole object of offending one another. But the +regiments, both cavalry and infantry, were by no means ready for the +impending action. From privates to general they were not expecting a +battle and were engaged in peaceful occupations, the cavalry feeding the +horses and the infantry collecting wood. + +"He higher iss dan I in rank," said the German colonel of the hussars, +flushing and addressing an adjutant who had ridden up, "so let him do +what he vill, but I cannot sacrifice my hussars... Bugler, sount ze +retreat!" + +But haste was becoming imperative. Cannon and musketry, mingling +together, thundered on the right and in the center, while the capotes of +Lannes' sharpshooters were already seen crossing the milldam and forming +up within twice the range of a musket shot. The general in command of +the infantry went toward his horse with jerky steps, and having mounted +drew himself up very straight and tall and rode to the Pavlograd +commander. The commanders met with polite bows but with secret +malevolence in their hearts. + +"Once again, Colonel," said the general, "I can't leave half my men in +the wood. I beg of you, I beg of you," he repeated, "to occupy the +position and prepare for an attack." + +"I peg of you yourself not to mix in vot is not your business!" suddenly +replied the irate colonel. "If you vere in the cavalry..." + +"I am not in the cavalry, Colonel, but I am a Russian general and if you +are not aware of the fact..." + +"Quite avare, your excellency," suddenly shouted the colonel, touching +his horse and turning purple in the face. "Vill you be so goot to come +to ze front and see dat zis position iss no goot? I don't vish to +destroy my men for your pleasure!" + +"You forget yourself, Colonel. I am not considering my own pleasure and +I won't allow it to be said!" + +Taking the colonel's outburst as a challenge to his courage, the general +expanded his chest and rode, frowning, beside him to the front line, as +if their differences would be settled there amongst the bullets. They +reached the front, several bullets sped over them, and they halted in +silence. There was nothing fresh to be seen from the line, for from +where they had been before it had been evident that it was impossible +for cavalry to act among the bushes and broken ground, as well as that +the French were outflanking our left. The general and colonel looked +sternly and significantly at one another like two fighting cocks +preparing for battle, each vainly trying to detect signs of cowardice in +the other. Both passed the examination successfully. As there was +nothing to be said, and neither wished to give occasion for it to be +alleged that he had been the first to leave the range of fire, they +would have remained there for a long time testing each other's courage +had it not been that just then they heard the rattle of musketry and a +muffled shout almost behind them in the wood. The French had attacked +the men collecting wood in the copse. It was no longer possible for the +hussars to retreat with the infantry. They were cut off from the line of +retreat on the left by the French. However inconvenient the position, it +was now necessary to attack in order to cut a way through for +themselves. + +The squadron in which Rostov was serving had scarcely time to mount +before it was halted facing the enemy. Again, as at the Enns bridge, +there was nothing between the squadron and the enemy, and again that +terrible dividing line of uncertainty and fear--resembling the line +separating the living from the dead--lay between them. All were +conscious of this unseen line, and the question whether they would cross +it or not, and how they would cross it, agitated them all. + +The colonel rode to the front, angrily gave some reply to questions put +to him by the officers, and, like a man desperately insisting on having +his own way, gave an order. No one said anything definite, but the rumor +of an attack spread through the squadron. The command to form up rang +out and the sabers whizzed as they were drawn from their scabbards. +Still no one moved. The troops of the left flank, infantry and hussars +alike, felt that the commander did not himself know what to do, and this +irresolution communicated itself to the men. + +"If only they would be quick!" thought Rostov, feeling that at last the +time had come to experience the joy of an attack of which he had so +often heard from his fellow hussars. + +"Fo'ward, with God, lads!" rang out Denisov's voice. "At a twot +fo'ward!" + +The horses' croups began to sway in the front line. Rook pulled at the +reins and started of his own accord. + +Before him, on the right, Rostov saw the front lines of his hussars and +still farther ahead a dark line which he could not see distinctly but +took to be the enemy. Shots could be heard, but some way off. + +"Faster!" came the word of command, and Rostov felt Rook's flanks +drooping as he broke into a gallop. + +Rostov anticipated his horse's movements and became more and more +elated. He had noticed a solitary tree ahead of him. This tree had been +in the middle of the line that had seemed so terrible--and now he had +crossed that line and not only was there nothing terrible, but +everything was becoming more and more happy and animated. "Oh, how I +will slash at him!" thought Rostov, gripping the hilt of his saber. + +"Hur-a-a-a-ah!" came a roar of voices. "Let anyone come my way now," +thought Rostov driving his spurs into Rook and letting him go at a full +gallop so that he outstripped the others. Ahead, the enemy was already +visible. Suddenly something like a birch broom seemed to sweep over the +squadron. Rostov raised his saber, ready to strike, but at that instant +the trooper Nikitenko, who was galloping ahead, shot away from him, and +Rostov felt as in a dream that he continued to be carried forward with +unnatural speed but yet stayed on the same spot. From behind him +Bondarchuk, an hussar he knew, jolted against him and looked angrily at +him. Bondarchuk's horse swerved and galloped past. + +"How is it I am not moving? I have fallen, I am killed!" Rostov asked +and answered at the same instant. He was alone in the middle of a field. +Instead of the moving horses and hussars' backs, he saw nothing before +him but the motionless earth and the stubble around him. There was warm +blood under his arm. "No, I am wounded and the horse is killed." Rook +tried to rise on his forelegs but fell back, pinning his rider's leg. +Blood was flowing from his head; he struggled but could not rise. Rostov +also tried to rise but fell back, his sabretache having become entangled +in the saddle. Where our men were, and where the French, he did not +know. There was no one near. + +Having disentangled his leg, he rose. "Where, on which side, was now the +line that had so sharply divided the two armies?" he asked himself and +could not answer. "Can something bad have happened to me?" he wondered +as he got up: and at that moment he felt that something superfluous was +hanging on his benumbed left arm. The wrist felt as if it were not his. +He examined his hand carefully, vainly trying to find blood on it. "Ah, +here are people coming," he thought joyfully, seeing some men running +toward him. "They will help me!" In front came a man wearing a strange +shako and a blue cloak, swarthy, sunburned, and with a hooked nose. Then +came two more, and many more running behind. One of them said something +strange, not in Russian. In among the hindmost of these men wearing +similar shakos was a Russian hussar. He was being held by the arms and +his horse was being led behind him. + +"It must be one of ours, a prisoner. Yes. Can it be that they will take +me too? Who are these men?" thought Rostov, scarcely believing his eyes. +"Can they be French?" He looked at the approaching Frenchmen, and though +but a moment before he had been galloping to get at them and hack them +to pieces, their proximity now seemed so awful that he could not believe +his eyes. "Who are they? Why are they running? Can they be coming at me? +And why? To kill me? Me whom everyone is so fond of?" He remembered his +mother's love for him, and his family's, and his friends', and the +enemy's intention to kill him seemed impossible. "But perhaps they may +do it!" For more than ten seconds he stood not moving from the spot or +realizing the situation. The foremost Frenchman, the one with the hooked +nose, was already so close that the expression of his face could be +seen. And the excited, alien face of that man, his bayonet hanging down, +holding his breath, and running so lightly, frightened Rostov. He seized +his pistol and, instead of firing it, flung it at the Frenchman and ran +with all his might toward the bushes. He did not now run with the +feeling of doubt and conflict with which he had trodden the Enns bridge, +but with the feeling of a hare fleeing from the hounds. One single +sentiment, that of fear for his young and happy life, possessed his +whole being. Rapidly leaping the furrows, he fled across the field with +the impetuosity he used to show at catchplay, now and then turning his +good-natured, pale, young face to look back. A shudder of terror went +through him: "No, better not look," he thought, but having reached the +bushes he glanced round once more. The French had fallen behind, and +just as he looked round the first man changed his run to a walk and, +turning, shouted something loudly to a comrade farther back. Rostov +paused. "No, there's some mistake," thought he. "They can't have wanted +to kill me." But at the same time, his left arm felt as heavy as if a +seventy-pound weight were tied to it. He could run no more. The +Frenchman also stopped and took aim. Rostov closed his eyes and stooped +down. One bullet and then another whistled past him. He mustered his +last remaining strength, took hold of his left hand with his right, and +reached the bushes. Behind these were some Russian sharpshooters. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +The infantry regiments that had been caught unawares in the outskirts of +the wood ran out of it, the different companies getting mixed, and +retreated as a disorderly crowd. One soldier, in his fear, uttered the +senseless cry, "Cut off!" that is so terrible in battle, and that word +infected the whole crowd with a feeling of panic. + +"Surrounded! Cut off? We're lost!" shouted the fugitives. + +The moment he heard the firing and the cry from behind, the general +realized that something dreadful had happened to his regiment, and the +thought that he, an exemplary officer of many years' service who had +never been to blame, might be held responsible at headquarters for +negligence or inefficiency so staggered him that, forgetting the +recalcitrant cavalry colonel, his own dignity as a general, and above +all quite forgetting the danger and all regard for self-preservation, he +clutched the crupper of his saddle and, spurring his horse, galloped to +the regiment under a hail of bullets which fell around, but fortunately +missed him. His one desire was to know what was happening and at any +cost correct, or remedy, the mistake if he had made one, so that he, an +exemplary officer of twenty-two years' service, who had never been +censured, should not be held to blame. + +Having galloped safely through the French, he reached a field behind the +copse across which our men, regardless of orders, were running and +descending the valley. That moment of moral hesitation which decides the +fate of battles had arrived. Would this disorderly crowd of soldiers +attend to the voice of their commander, or would they, disregarding him, +continue their flight? Despite his desperate shouts that used to seem so +terrible to the soldiers, despite his furious purple countenance +distorted out of all likeness to his former self, and the flourishing of +his saber, the soldiers all continued to run, talking, firing into the +air, and disobeying orders. The moral hesitation which decided the fate +of battles was evidently culminating in a panic. + +The general had a fit of coughing as a result of shouting and of the +powder smoke and stopped in despair. Everything seemed lost. But at that +moment the French who were attacking, suddenly and without any apparent +reason, ran back and disappeared from the outskirts, and Russian +sharpshooters showed themselves in the copse. It was Timokhin's company, +which alone had maintained its order in the wood and, having lain in +ambush in a ditch, now attacked the French unexpectedly. Timokhin, armed +only with a sword, had rushed at the enemy with such a desperate cry and +such mad, drunken determination that, taken by surprise, the French had +thrown down their muskets and run. Dolokhov, running beside Timokhin, +killed a Frenchman at close quarters and was the first to seize the +surrendering French officer by his collar. Our fugitives returned, the +battalions re-formed, and the French who had nearly cut our left flank +in half were for the moment repulsed. Our reserve units were able to +join up, and the fight was at an end. The regimental commander and Major +Ekonomov had stopped beside a bridge, letting the retreating companies +pass by them, when a soldier came up and took hold of the commander's +stirrup, almost leaning against him. The man was wearing a bluish coat +of broadcloth, he had no knapsack or cap, his head was bandaged, and +over his shoulder a French munition pouch was slung. He had an officer's +sword in his hand. The soldier was pale, his blue eyes looked impudently +into the commander's face, and his lips were smiling. Though the +commander was occupied in giving instructions to Major Ekonomov, he +could not help taking notice of the soldier. + +"Your excellency, here are two trophies," said Dolokhov, pointing to the +French sword and pouch. "I have taken an officer prisoner. I stopped the +company." Dolokhov breathed heavily from weariness and spoke in abrupt +sentences. "The whole company can bear witness. I beg you will remember +this, your excellency!" + +"All right, all right," replied the commander, and turned to Major +Ekonomov. + +But Dolokhov did not go away; he untied the handkerchief around his +head, pulled it off, and showed the blood congealed on his hair. + +"A bayonet wound. I remained at the front. Remember, your excellency!" + +Tushin's battery had been forgotten and only at the very end of the +action did Prince Bagration, still hearing the cannonade in the center, +send his orderly staff officer, and later Prince Andrew also, to order +the battery to retire as quickly as possible. When the supports attached +to Tushin's battery had been moved away in the middle of the action by +someone's order, the battery had continued firing and was only not +captured by the French because the enemy could not surmise that anyone +could have the effrontery to continue firing from four quite undefended +guns. On the contrary, the energetic action of that battery led the +French to suppose that here--in the center--the main Russian forces were +concentrated. Twice they had attempted to attack this point, but on each +occasion had been driven back by grapeshot from the four isolated guns +on the hillock. + +Soon after Prince Bagration had left him, Tushin had succeeded in +setting fire to Schon Grabern. + +"Look at them scurrying! It's burning! Just see the smoke! Fine! Grand! +Look at the smoke, the smoke!" exclaimed the artillerymen, brightening +up. + +All the guns, without waiting for orders, were being fired in the +direction of the conflagration. As if urging each other on, the soldiers +cried at each shot: "Fine! That's good! Look at it... Grand!" The fire, +fanned by the breeze, was rapidly spreading. The French columns that had +advanced beyond the village went back; but as though in revenge for this +failure, the enemy placed ten guns to the right of the village and began +firing them at Tushin's battery. + +In their childlike glee, aroused by the fire and their luck in +successfully cannonading the French, our artillerymen only noticed this +battery when two balls, and then four more, fell among our guns, one +knocking over two horses and another tearing off a munition-wagon +driver's leg. Their spirits once roused were, however, not diminished, +but only changed character. The horses were replaced by others from a +reserve gun carriage, the wounded were carried away, and the four guns +were turned against the ten-gun battery. Tushin's companion officer had +been killed at the beginning of the engagement and within an hour +seventeen of the forty men of the guns' crews had been disabled, but the +artillerymen were still as merry and lively as ever. Twice they noticed +the French appearing below them, and then they fired grapeshot at them. + +Little Tushin, moving feebly and awkwardly, kept telling his orderly to +"refill my pipe for that one!" and then, scattering sparks from it, ran +forward shading his eyes with his small hand to look at the French. + +"Smack at 'em, lads!" he kept saying, seizing the guns by the wheels and +working the screws himself. + +Amid the smoke, deafened by the incessant reports which always made him +jump, Tushin not taking his pipe from his mouth ran from gun to gun, now +aiming, now counting the charges, now giving orders about replacing dead +or wounded horses and harnessing fresh ones, and shouting in his feeble +voice, so high pitched and irresolute. His face grew more and more +animated. Only when a man was killed or wounded did he frown and turn +away from the sight, shouting angrily at the men who, as is always the +case, hesitated about lifting the injured or dead. The soldiers, for the +most part handsome fellows and, as is always the case in an artillery +company, a head and shoulders taller and twice as broad as their +officer--all looked at their commander like children in an embarrassing +situation, and the expression on his face was invariably reflected on +theirs. + +Owing to the terrible uproar and the necessity for concentration and +activity, Tushin did not experience the slightest unpleasant sense of +fear, and the thought that he might be killed or badly wounded never +occurred to him. On the contrary, he became more and more elated. It +seemed to him that it was a very long time ago, almost a day, since he +had first seen the enemy and fired the first shot, and that the corner +of the field he stood on was well-known and familiar ground. Though he +thought of everything, considered everything, and did everything the +best of officers could do in his position, he was in a state akin to +feverish delirium or drunkenness. + +From the deafening sounds of his own guns around him, the whistle and +thud of the enemy's cannon balls, from the flushed and perspiring faces +of the crew bustling round the guns, from the sight of the blood of men +and horses, from the little puffs of smoke on the enemy's side (always +followed by a ball flying past and striking the earth, a man, a gun, a +horse), from the sight of all these things a fantastic world of his own +had taken possession of his brain and at that moment afforded him +pleasure. The enemy's guns were in his fancy not guns but pipes from +which occasional puffs were blown by an invisible smoker. + +"There... he's puffing again," muttered Tushin to himself, as a small +cloud rose from the hill and was borne in a streak to the left by the +wind. + +"Now look out for the ball... we'll throw it back." + +"What do you want, your honor?" asked an artilleryman, standing close +by, who heard him muttering. + +"Nothing... only a shell..." he answered. + +"Come along, our Matvevna!" he said to himself. "Matvevna" * was the +name his fancy gave to the farthest gun of the battery, which was large +and of an old pattern. The French swarming round their guns seemed to +him like ants. In that world, the handsome drunkard Number One of the +second gun's crew was "uncle"; Tushin looked at him more often than at +anyone else and took delight in his every movement. The sound of +musketry at the foot of the hill, now diminishing, now increasing, +seemed like someone's breathing. He listened intently to the ebb and +flow of these sounds. + + +* Daughter of Matthew. + +"Ah! Breathing again, breathing!" he muttered to himself. + +He imagined himself as an enormously tall, powerful man who was throwing +cannon balls at the French with both hands. + +"Now then, Matvevna, dear old lady, don't let me down!" he was saying as +he moved from the gun, when a strange, unfamiliar voice called above his +head: "Captain Tushin! Captain!" + +Tushin turned round in dismay. It was the staff officer who had turned +him out of the booth at Grunth. He was shouting in a gasping voice: + +"Are you mad? You have twice been ordered to retreat, and you..." + +"Why are they down on me?" thought Tushin, looking in alarm at his +superior. + +"I... don't..." he muttered, holding up two fingers to his cap. "I..." + +But the staff officer did not finish what he wanted to say. A cannon +ball, flying close to him, caused him to duck and bend over his horse. +He paused, and just as he was about to say something more, another ball +stopped him. He turned his horse and galloped off. + +"Retire! All to retire!" he shouted from a distance. + +The soldiers laughed. A moment later, an adjutant arrived with the same +order. + +It was Prince Andrew. The first thing he saw on riding up to the space +where Tushin's guns were stationed was an unharnessed horse with a +broken leg, that lay screaming piteously beside the harnessed horses. +Blood was gushing from its leg as from a spring. Among the limbers lay +several dead men. One ball after another passed over as he approached +and he felt a nervous shudder run down his spine. But the mere thought +of being afraid roused him again. "I cannot be afraid," thought he, and +dismounted slowly among the guns. He delivered the order and did not +leave the battery. He decided to have the guns removed from their +positions and withdrawn in his presence. Together with Tushin, stepping +across the bodies and under a terrible fire from the French, he attended +to the removal of the guns. + +"A staff officer was here a minute ago, but skipped off," said an +artilleryman to Prince Andrew. "Not like your honor!" + +Prince Andrew said nothing to Tushin. They were both so busy as to seem +not to notice one another. When having limbered up the only two cannon +that remained uninjured out of the four, they began moving down the hill +(one shattered gun and one unicorn were left behind), Prince Andrew rode +up to Tushin. + +"Well, till we meet again..." he said, holding out his hand to Tushin. + +"Good-bye, my dear fellow," said Tushin. "Dear soul! Good-bye, my dear +fellow!" and for some unknown reason tears suddenly filled his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +The wind had fallen and black clouds, merging with the powder smoke, +hung low over the field of battle on the horizon. It was growing dark +and the glow of two conflagrations was the more conspicuous. The +cannonade was dying down, but the rattle of musketry behind and on the +right sounded oftener and nearer. As soon as Tushin with his guns, +continually driving round or coming upon wounded men, was out of range +of fire and had descended into the dip, he was met by some of the staff, +among them the staff officer and Zherkov, who had been twice sent to +Tushin's battery but had never reached it. Interrupting one another, +they all gave, and transmitted, orders as to how to proceed, +reprimanding and reproaching him. Tushin gave no orders, and, silently-- +fearing to speak because at every word he felt ready to weep without +knowing why--rode behind on his artillery nag. Though the orders were to +abandon the wounded, many of them dragged themselves after troops and +begged for seats on the gun carriages. The jaunty infantry officer who +just before the battle had rushed out of Tushin's wattle shed was laid, +with a bullet in his stomach, on "Matvevna's" carriage. At the foot of +the hill, a pale hussar cadet, supporting one hand with the other, came +up to Tushin and asked for a seat. + +"Captain, for God's sake! I've hurt my arm," he said timidly. "For God's +sake... I can't walk. For God's sake!" + +It was plain that this cadet had already repeatedly asked for a lift and +been refused. He asked in a hesitating, piteous voice. + +"Tell them to give me a seat, for God's sake!" + +"Give him a seat," said Tushin. "Lay a cloak for him to sit on, lad," he +said, addressing his favorite soldier. "And where is the wounded +officer?" + +"He has been set down. He died," replied someone. + +"Help him up. Sit down, dear fellow, sit down! Spread out the cloak, +Antonov." + +The cadet was Rostov. With one hand he supported the other; he was pale +and his jaw trembled, shivering feverishly. He was placed on "Matvevna," +the gun from which they had removed the dead officer. The cloak they +spread under him was wet with blood which stained his breeches and arm. + +"What, are you wounded, my lad?" said Tushin, approaching the gun on +which Rostov sat. + +"No, it's a sprain." + +"Then what is this blood on the gun carriage?" inquired Tushin. + +"It was the officer, your honor, stained it," answered the artilleryman, +wiping away the blood with his coat sleeve, as if apologizing for the +state of his gun. + +It was all that they could do to get the guns up the rise aided by the +infantry, and having reached the village of Gruntersdorf they halted. It +had grown so dark that one could not distinguish the uniforms ten paces +off, and the firing had begun to subside. Suddenly, near by on the +right, shouting and firing were again heard. Flashes of shot gleamed in +the darkness. This was the last French attack and was met by soldiers +who had sheltered in the village houses. They all rushed out of the +village again, but Tushin's guns could not move, and the artillerymen, +Tushin, and the cadet exchanged silent glances as they awaited their +fate. The firing died down and soldiers, talking eagerly, streamed out +of a side street. + +"Not hurt, Petrov?" asked one. + +"We've given it 'em hot, mate! They won't make another push now," said +another. + +"You couldn't see a thing. How they shot at their own fellows! Nothing +could be seen. Pitch-dark, brother! Isn't there something to drink?" + +The French had been repulsed for the last time. And again and again in +the complete darkness Tushin's guns moved forward, surrounded by the +humming infantry as by a frame. + +In the darkness, it seemed as though a gloomy unseen river was flowing +always in one direction, humming with whispers and talk and the sound of +hoofs and wheels. Amid the general rumble, the groans and voices of the +wounded were more distinctly heard than any other sound in the darkness +of the night. The gloom that enveloped the army was filled with their +groans, which seemed to melt into one with the darkness of the night. +After a while the moving mass became agitated, someone rode past on a +white horse followed by his suite, and said something in passing: "What +did he say? Where to, now? Halt, is it? Did he thank us?" came eager +questions from all sides. The whole moving mass began pressing closer +together and a report spread that they were ordered to halt: evidently +those in front had halted. All remained where they were in the middle of +the muddy road. + +Fires were lighted and the talk became more audible. Captain Tushin, +having given orders to his company, sent a soldier to find a dressing +station or a doctor for the cadet, and sat down by a bonfire the +soldiers had kindled on the road. Rostov, too, dragged himself to the +fire. From pain, cold, and damp, a feverish shivering shook his whole +body. Drowsiness was irresistibly mastering him, but he kept awake by an +excruciating pain in his arm, for which he could find no satisfactory +position. He kept closing his eyes and then again looking at the fire, +which seemed to him dazzlingly red, and at the feeble, round-shouldered +figure of Tushin who was sitting cross-legged like a Turk beside him. +Tushin's large, kind, intelligent eyes were fixed with sympathy and +commiseration on Rostov, who saw that Tushin with his whole heart wished +to help him but could not. + +From all sides were heard the footsteps and talk of the infantry, who +were walking, driving past, and settling down all around. The sound of +voices, the tramping feet, the horses' hoofs moving in mud, the +crackling of wood fires near and afar, merged into one tremulous rumble. + +It was no longer, as before, a dark, unseen river flowing through the +gloom, but a dark sea swelling and gradually subsiding after a storm. +Rostov looked at and listened listlessly to what passed before and +around him. An infantryman came to the fire, squatted on his heels, held +his hands to the blaze, and turned away his face. + +"You don't mind your honor?" he asked Tushin. "I've lost my company, +your honor. I don't know where... such bad luck!" + +With the soldier, an infantry officer with a bandaged cheek came up to +the bonfire, and addressing Tushin asked him to have the guns moved a +trifle to let a wagon go past. After he had gone, two soldiers rushed to +the campfire. They were quarreling and fighting desperately, each trying +to snatch from the other a boot they were both holding on to. + +"You picked it up?... I dare say! You're very smart!" one of them +shouted hoarsely. + +Then a thin, pale soldier, his neck bandaged with a bloodstained leg +band, came up and in angry tones asked the artillerymen for water. + +"Must one die like a dog?" said he. + +Tushin told them to give the man some water. Then a cheerful soldier ran +up, begging a little fire for the infantry. + +"A nice little hot torch for the infantry! Good luck to you, fellow +countrymen. Thanks for the fire--we'll return it with interest," said +he, carrying away into the darkness a glowing stick. + +Next came four soldiers, carrying something heavy on a cloak, and passed +by the fire. One of them stumbled. + +"Who the devil has put the logs on the road?" snarled he. + +"He's dead--why carry him?" said another. + +"Shut up!" + +And they disappeared into the darkness with their load. + +"Still aching?" Tushin asked Rostov in a whisper. + +"Yes." + +"Your honor, you're wanted by the general. He is in the hut here," said +a gunner, coming up to Tushin. + +"Coming, friend." + +Tushin rose and, buttoning his greatcoat and pulling it straight, walked +away from the fire. + +Not far from the artillery campfire, in a hut that had been prepared for +him, Prince Bagration sat at dinner, talking with some commanding +officers who had gathered at his quarters. The little old man with the +half-closed eyes was there greedily gnawing a mutton bone, and the +general who had served blamelessly for twenty-two years, flushed by a +glass of vodka and the dinner; and the staff officer with the signet +ring, and Zherkov, uneasily glancing at them all, and Prince Andrew, +pale, with compressed lips and feverishly glittering eyes. + +In a corner of the hut stood a standard captured from the French, and +the accountant with the naive face was feeling its texture, shaking his +head in perplexity--perhaps because the banner really interested him, +perhaps because it was hard for him, hungry as he was, to look on at a +dinner where there was no place for him. In the next hut there was a +French colonel who had been taken prisoner by our dragoons. Our officers +were flocking in to look at him. Prince Bagration was thanking the +individual commanders and inquiring into details of the action and our +losses. The general whose regiment had been inspected at Braunau was +informing the prince that as soon as the action began he had withdrawn +from the wood, mustered the men who were woodcutting, and, allowing the +French to pass him, had made a bayonet charge with two battalions and +had broken up the French troops. + +"When I saw, your excellency, that their first battalion was +disorganized, I stopped in the road and thought: 'I'll let them come on +and will meet them with the fire of the whole battalion'--and that's +what I did." + +The general had so wished to do this and was so sorry he had not managed +to do it that it seemed to him as if it had really happened. Perhaps it +might really have been so? Could one possibly make out amid all that +confusion what did or did not happen? + +"By the way, your excellency, I should inform you," he continued-- +remembering Dolokhov's conversation with Kutuzov and his last interview +with the gentleman-ranker--"that Private Dolokhov, who was reduced to +the ranks, took a French officer prisoner in my presence and +particularly distinguished himself." + +"I saw the Pavlograd hussars attack there, your excellency," chimed in +Zherkov, looking uneasily around. He had not seen the hussars all that +day, but had heard about them from an infantry officer. "They broke up +two squares, your excellency." + +Several of those present smiled at Zherkov's words, expecting one of his +usual jokes, but noticing that what he was saying redounded to the glory +of our arms and of the day's work, they assumed a serious expression, +though many of them knew that what he was saying was a lie devoid of any +foundation. Prince Bagration turned to the old colonel: + +"Gentlemen, I thank you all; all arms have behaved heroically: infantry, +cavalry, and artillery. How was it that two guns were abandoned in the +center?" he inquired, searching with his eyes for someone. (Prince +Bagration did not ask about the guns on the left flank; he knew that all +the guns there had been abandoned at the very beginning of the action.) +"I think I sent you?" he added, turning to the staff officer on duty. + +"One was damaged," answered the staff officer, "and the other I can't +understand. I was there all the time giving orders and had only just +left.... It is true that it was hot there," he added, modestly. + +Someone mentioned that Captain Tushin was bivouacking close to the +village and had already been sent for. + +"Oh, but you were there?" said Prince Bagration, addressing Prince +Andrew. + +"Of course, we only just missed one another," said the staff officer, +with a smile to Bolkonski. + +"I had not the pleasure of seeing you," said Prince Andrew, coldly and +abruptly. + +All were silent. Tushin appeared at the threshold and made his way +timidly from behind the backs of the generals. As he stepped past the +generals in the crowded hut, feeling embarrassed as he always was by the +sight of his superiors, he did not notice the staff of the banner and +stumbled over it. Several of those present laughed. + +"How was it a gun was abandoned?" asked Bagration, frowning, not so much +at the captain as at those who were laughing, among whom Zherkov laughed +loudest. + +Only now, when he was confronted by the stern authorities, did his guilt +and the disgrace of having lost two guns and yet remaining alive present +themselves to Tushin in all their horror. He had been so excited that he +had not thought about it until that moment. The officers' laughter +confused him still more. He stood before Bagration with his lower jaw +trembling and was hardly able to mutter: "I don't know... your +excellency... I had no men... your excellency." + +"You might have taken some from the covering troops." + +Tushin did not say that there were no covering troops, though that was +perfectly true. He was afraid of getting some other officer into +trouble, and silently fixed his eyes on Bagration as a schoolboy who has +blundered looks at an examiner. + +The silence lasted some time. Prince Bagration, apparently not wishing +to be severe, found nothing to say; the others did not venture to +intervene. Prince Andrew looked at Tushin from under his brows and his +fingers twitched nervously. + +"Your excellency!" Prince Andrew broke the silence with his abrupt +voice, "you were pleased to send me to Captain Tushin's battery. I went +there and found two thirds of the men and horses knocked out, two guns +smashed, and no supports at all." + +Prince Bagration and Tushin looked with equal intentness at Bolkonski, +who spoke with suppressed agitation. + +"And, if your excellency will allow me to express my opinion," he +continued, "we owe today's success chiefly to the action of that battery +and the heroic endurance of Captain Tushin and his company," and without +awaiting a reply, Prince Andrew rose and left the table. + +Prince Bagration looked at Tushin, evidently reluctant to show distrust +in Bolkonski's emphatic opinion yet not feeling able fully to credit it, +bent his head, and told Tushin that he could go. Prince Andrew went out +with him. + +"Thank you; you saved me, my dear fellow!" said Tushin. + +Prince Andrew gave him a look, but said nothing and went away. He felt +sad and depressed. It was all so strange, so unlike what he had hoped. + +"Who are they? Why are they here? What do they want? And when will all +this end?" thought Rostov, looking at the changing shadows before him. +The pain in his arm became more and more intense. Irresistible +drowsiness overpowered him, red rings danced before his eyes, and the +impression of those voices and faces and a sense of loneliness merged +with the physical pain. It was they, these soldiers--wounded and +unwounded--it was they who were crushing, weighing down, and twisting +the sinews and scorching the flesh of his sprained arm and shoulder. To +rid himself of them he closed his eyes. + +For a moment he dozed, but in that short interval innumerable things +appeared to him in a dream: his mother and her large white hand, Sonya's +thin little shoulders, Natasha's eyes and laughter, Denisov with his +voice and mustache, and Telyanin and all that affair with Telyanin and +Bogdanich. That affair was the same thing as this soldier with the harsh +voice, and it was that affair and this soldier that were so agonizingly, +incessantly pulling and pressing his arm and always dragging it in one +direction. He tried to get away from them, but they would not for an +instant let his shoulder move a hair's breadth. It would not ache--it +would be well--if only they did not pull it, but it was impossible to +get rid of them. + +He opened his eyes and looked up. The black canopy of night hung less +than a yard above the glow of the charcoal. Flakes of falling snow were +fluttering in that light. Tushin had not returned, the doctor had not +come. He was alone now, except for a soldier who was sitting naked at +the other side of the fire, warming his thin yellow body. + +"Nobody wants me!" thought Rostov. "There is no one to help me or pity +me. Yet I was once at home, strong, happy, and loved." He sighed and, +doing so, groaned involuntarily. + +"Eh, is anything hurting you?" asked the soldier, shaking his shirt out +over the fire, and not waiting for an answer he gave a grunt and added: +"What a lot of men have been crippled today--frightful!" + +Rostov did not listen to the soldier. He looked at the snowflakes +fluttering above the fire and remembered a Russian winter at his warm, +bright home, his fluffy fur coat, his quickly gliding sleigh, his +healthy body, and all the affection and care of his family. "And why did +I come here?" he wondered. + +Next day the French army did not renew their attack, and the remnant of +Bagration's detachment was reunited to Kutuzov's army. + +BOOK THREE: 1805 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Prince Vasili was not a man who deliberately thought out his plans. +Still less did he think of injuring anyone for his own advantage. He was +merely a man of the world who had got on and to whom getting on had +become a habit. Schemes and devices for which he never rightly accounted +to himself, but which formed the whole interest of his life, were +constantly shaping themselves in his mind, arising from the +circumstances and persons he met. Of these plans he had not merely one +or two in his head but dozens, some only beginning to form themselves, +some approaching achievement, and some in course of disintegration. He +did not, for instance, say to himself: "This man now has influence, I +must gain his confidence and friendship and through him obtain a special +grant." Nor did he say to himself: "Pierre is a rich man, I must entice +him to marry my daughter and lend me the forty thousand rubles I need." +But when he came across a man of position his instinct immediately told +him that this man could be useful, and without any premeditation Prince +Vasili took the first opportunity to gain his confidence, flatter him, +become intimate with him, and finally make his request. + +He had Pierre at hand in Moscow and procured for him an appointment as +Gentleman of the Bedchamber, which at that time conferred the status of +Councilor of State, and insisted on the young man accompanying him to +Petersburg and staying at his house. With apparent absent-mindedness, +yet with unhesitating assurance that he was doing the right thing, +Prince Vasili did everything to get Pierre to marry his daughter. Had he +thought out his plans beforehand he could not have been so natural and +shown such unaffected familiarity in intercourse with everybody both +above and below him in social standing. Something always drew him toward +those richer and more powerful than himself and he had rare skill in +seizing the most opportune moment for making use of people. + +Pierre, on unexpectedly becoming Count Bezukhov and a rich man, felt +himself after his recent loneliness and freedom from cares so beset and +preoccupied that only in bed was he able to be by himself. He had to +sign papers, to present himself at government offices, the purpose of +which was not clear to him, to question his chief steward, to visit his +estate near Moscow, and to receive many people who formerly did not even +wish to know of his existence but would now have been offended and +grieved had he chosen not to see them. These different people-- +businessmen, relations, and acquaintances alike--were all disposed to +treat the young heir in the most friendly and flattering manner: they +were all evidently firmly convinced of Pierre's noble qualities. He was +always hearing such words as: "With your remarkable kindness," or, "With +your excellent heart," "You are yourself so honorable Count," or, "Were +he as clever as you," and so on, till he began sincerely to believe in +his own exceptional kindness and extraordinary intelligence, the more so +as in the depth of his heart it had always seemed to him that he really +was very kind and intelligent. Even people who had formerly been +spiteful toward him and evidently unfriendly now became gentle and +affectionate. The angry eldest princess, with the long waist and hair +plastered down like a doll's, had come into Pierre's room after the +funeral. With drooping eyes and frequent blushes she told him she was +very sorry about their past misunderstandings and did not now feel she +had a right to ask him for anything, except only for permission, after +the blow she had received, to remain for a few weeks longer in the house +she so loved and where she had sacrificed so much. She could not refrain +from weeping at these words. Touched that this statuesque princess could +so change, Pierre took her hand and begged her forgiveness, without +knowing what for. From that day the eldest princess quite changed toward +Pierre and began knitting a striped scarf for him. + +"Do this for my sake, mon cher; after all, she had to put up with a +great deal from the deceased," said Prince Vasili to him, handing him a +deed to sign for the princess' benefit. + +Prince Vasili had come to the conclusion that it was necessary to throw +this bone--a bill for thirty thousand rubles--to the poor princess that +it might not occur to her to speak of his share in the affair of the +inlaid portfolio. Pierre signed the deed and after that the princess +grew still kinder. The younger sisters also became affectionate to him, +especially the youngest, the pretty one with the mole, who often made +him feel confused by her smiles and her own confusion when meeting him. + +It seemed so natural to Pierre that everyone should like him, and it +would have seemed so unnatural had anyone disliked him, that he could +not but believe in the sincerity of those around him. Besides, he had no +time to ask himself whether these people were sincere or not. He was +always busy and always felt in a state of mild and cheerful +intoxication. He felt as though he were the center of some important and +general movement; that something was constantly expected of him, that if +he did not do it he would grieve and disappoint many people, but if he +did this and that, all would be well; and he did what was demanded of +him, but still that happy result always remained in the future. + +More than anyone else, Prince Vasili took possession of Pierre's affairs +and of Pierre himself in those early days. From the death of Count +Bezukhov he did not let go his hold of the lad. He had the air of a man +oppressed by business, weary and suffering, who yet would not, for +pity's sake, leave this helpless youth who, after all, was the son of +his old friend and the possessor of such enormous wealth, to the caprice +of fate and the designs of rogues. During the few days he spent in +Moscow after the death of Count Bezukhov, he would call Pierre, or go to +him himself, and tell him what ought to be done in a tone of weariness +and assurance, as if he were adding every time: "You know I am +overwhelmed with business and it is purely out of charity that I trouble +myself about you, and you also know quite well that what I propose is +the only thing possible." + +"Well, my dear fellow, tomorrow we are off at last," said Prince Vasili +one day, closing his eyes and fingering Pierre's elbow, speaking as if +he were saying something which had long since been agreed upon and could +not now be altered. "We start tomorrow and I'm giving you a place in my +carriage. I am very glad. All our important business here is now +settled, and I ought to have been off long ago. Here is something I have +received from the chancellor. I asked him for you, and you have been +entered in the diplomatic corps and made a Gentleman of the Bedchamber. +The diplomatic career now lies open before you." + +Notwithstanding the tone of wearied assurance with which these words +were pronounced, Pierre, who had so long been considering his career, +wished to make some suggestion. But Prince Vasili interrupted him in the +special deep cooing tone, precluding the possibility of interrupting his +speech, which he used in extreme cases when special persuasion was +needed. + +"Mais, mon cher, I did this for my own sake, to satisfy my conscience, +and there is nothing to thank me for. No one has ever complained yet of +being too much loved; and besides, you are free, you could throw it up +tomorrow. But you will see everything for yourself when you get to +Petersburg. It is high time for you to get away from these terrible +recollections." Prince Vasili sighed. "Yes, yes, my boy. And my valet +can go in your carriage. Ah! I was nearly forgetting," he added. "You +know, mon cher, your father and I had some accounts to settle, so I have +received what was due from the Ryazan estate and will keep it; you won't +require it. We'll go into the accounts later." + +By "what was due from the Ryazan estate" Prince Vasili meant several +thousand rubles quitrent received from Pierre's peasants, which the +prince had retained for himself. + +In Petersburg, as in Moscow, Pierre found the same atmosphere of +gentleness and affection. He could not refuse the post, or rather the +rank (for he did nothing), that Prince Vasili had procured for him, and +acquaintances, invitations, and social occupations were so numerous +that, even more than in Moscow, he felt a sense of bewilderment, bustle, +and continual expectation of some good, always in front of him but never +attained. + +Of his former bachelor acquaintances many were no longer in Petersburg. +The Guards had gone to the front; Dolokhov had been reduced to the +ranks; Anatole was in the army somewhere in the provinces; Prince Andrew +was abroad; so Pierre had not the opportunity to spend his nights as he +used to like to spend them, or to open his mind by intimate talks with a +friend older than himself and whom he respected. His whole time was +taken up with dinners and balls and was spent chiefly at Prince Vasili's +house in the company of the stout princess, his wife, and his beautiful +daughter Helene. + +Like the others, Anna Pavlovna Scherer showed Pierre the change of +attitude toward him that had taken place in society. + +Formerly in Anna Pavlovna's presence, Pierre had always felt that what +he was saying was out of place, tactless and unsuitable, that remarks +which seemed to him clever while they formed in his mind became foolish +as soon as he uttered them, while on the contrary Hippolyte's stupidest +remarks came out clever and apt. Now everything Pierre said was +charmant. Even if Anna Pavlovna did not say so, he could see that she +wished to and only refrained out of regard for his modesty. + +In the beginning of the winter of 1805-6 Pierre received one of Anna +Pavlovna's usual pink notes with an invitation to which was added: "You +will find the beautiful Helene here, whom it is always delightful to +see." + +When he read that sentence, Pierre felt for the first time that some +link which other people recognized had grown up between himself and +Helene, and that thought both alarmed him, as if some obligation were +being imposed on him which he could not fulfill, and pleased him as an +entertaining supposition. + +Anna Pavlovna's "At Home" was like the former one, only the novelty she +offered her guests this time was not Mortemart, but a diplomatist fresh +from Berlin with the very latest details of the Emperor Alexander's +visit to Potsdam, and of how the two august friends had pledged +themselves in an indissoluble alliance to uphold the cause of justice +against the enemy of the human race. Anna Pavlovna received Pierre with +a shade of melancholy, evidently relating to the young man's recent loss +by the death of Count Bezukhov (everyone constantly considered it a duty +to assure Pierre that he was greatly afflicted by the death of the +father he had hardly known), and her melancholy was just like the august +melancholy she showed at the mention of her most august Majesty the +Empress Marya Fedorovna. Pierre felt flattered by this. Anna Pavlovna +arranged the different groups in her drawing room with her habitual +skill. The large group, in which were Prince Vasili and the generals, +had the benefit of the diplomat. Another group was at the tea table. +Pierre wished to join the former, but Anna Pavlovna--who was in the +excited condition of a commander on a battlefield to whom thousands of +new and brilliant ideas occur which there is hardly time to put in +action--seeing Pierre, touched his sleeve with her finger, saying: + +"Wait a bit, I have something in view for you this evening." (She +glanced at Helene and smiled at her.) "My dear Helene, be charitable to +my poor aunt who adores you. Go and keep her company for ten minutes. +And that it will not be too dull, here is the dear count who will not +refuse to accompany you." + +The beauty went to the aunt, but Anna Pavlovna detained Pierre, looking +as if she had to give some final necessary instructions. + +"Isn't she exquisite?" she said to Pierre, pointing to the stately +beauty as she glided away. "And how she carries herself! For so young a +girl, such tact, such masterly perfection of manner! It comes from her +heart. Happy the man who wins her! With her the least worldly of men +would occupy a most brilliant position in society. Don't you think so? I +only wanted to know your opinion," and Anna Pavlovna let Pierre go. + +Pierre, in reply, sincerely agreed with her as to Helene's perfection of +manner. If he ever thought of Helene, it was just of her beauty and her +remarkable skill in appearing silently dignified in society. + +The old aunt received the two young people in her corner, but seemed +desirous of hiding her adoration for Helene and inclined rather to show +her fear of Anna Pavlovna. She looked at her niece, as if inquiring what +she was to do with these people. On leaving them, Anna Pavlovna again +touched Pierre's sleeve, saying: "I hope you won't say that it is dull +in my house again," and she glanced at Helene. + +Helene smiled, with a look implying that she did not admit the +possibility of anyone seeing her without being enchanted. The aunt +coughed, swallowed, and said in French that she was very pleased to see +Helene, then she turned to Pierre with the same words of welcome and the +same look. In the middle of a dull and halting conversation, Helene +turned to Pierre with the beautiful bright smile that she gave to +everyone. Pierre was so used to that smile, and it had so little meaning +for him, that he paid no attention to it. The aunt was just speaking of +a collection of snuffboxes that had belonged to Pierre's father, Count +Bezukhov, and showed them her own box. Princess Helene asked to see the +portrait of the aunt's husband on the box lid. + +"That is probably the work of Vinesse," said Pierre, mentioning a +celebrated miniaturist, and he leaned over the table to take the +snuffbox while trying to hear what was being said at the other table. + +He half rose, meaning to go round, but the aunt handed him the snuffbox, +passing it across Helene's back. Helene stooped forward to make room, +and looked round with a smile. She was, as always at evening parties, +wearing a dress such as was then fashionable, cut very low at front and +back. Her bust, which had always seemed like marble to Pierre, was so +close to him that his shortsighted eyes could not but perceive the +living charm of her neck and shoulders, so near to his lips that he need +only have bent his head a little to have touched them. He was conscious +of the warmth of her body, the scent of perfume, and the creaking of her +corset as she moved. He did not see her marble beauty forming a complete +whole with her dress, but all the charm of her body only covered by her +garments. And having once seen this he could not help being aware of it, +just as we cannot renew an illusion we have once seen through. + +"So you have never noticed before how beautiful I am?" Helene seemed to +say. "You had not noticed that I am a woman? Yes, I am a woman who may +belong to anyone--to you too," said her glance. And at that moment +Pierre felt that Helene not only could, but must, be his wife, and that +it could not be otherwise. + +He knew this at that moment as surely as if he had been standing at the +altar with her. How and when this would be he did not know, he did not +even know if it would be a good thing (he even felt, he knew not why, +that it would be a bad thing), but he knew it would happen. + +Pierre dropped his eyes, lifted them again, and wished once more to see +her as a distant beauty far removed from him, as he had seen her every +day until then, but he could no longer do it. He could not, any more +than a man who has been looking at a tuft of steppe grass through the +mist and taking it for a tree can again take it for a tree after he has +once recognized it to be a tuft of grass. She was terribly close to him. +She already had power over him, and between them there was no longer any +barrier except the barrier of his own will. + +"Well, I will leave you in your little corner," came Anna Pavlovna's +voice, "I see you are all right there." + +And Pierre, anxiously trying to remember whether he had done anything +reprehensible, looked round with a blush. It seemed to him that everyone +knew what had happened to him as he knew it himself. + +A little later when he went up to the large circle, Anna Pavlovna said +to him: "I hear you are refitting your Petersburg house?" + +This was true. The architect had told him that it was necessary, and +Pierre, without knowing why, was having his enormous Petersburg house +done up. + +"That's a good thing, but don't move from Prince Vasili's. It is good to +have a friend like the prince," she said, smiling at Prince Vasili. "I +know something about that. Don't I? And you are still so young. You need +advice. Don't be angry with me for exercising an old woman's privilege." + +She paused, as women always do, expecting something after they have +mentioned their age. "If you marry it will be a different thing," she +continued, uniting them both in one glance. Pierre did not look at +Helene nor she at him. But she was just as terribly close to him. He +muttered something and colored. + +When he got home he could not sleep for a long time for thinking of what +had happened. What had happened? Nothing. He had merely understood that +the woman he had known as a child, of whom when her beauty was mentioned +he had said absent-mindedly: "Yes, she's good looking," he had +understood that this woman might belong to him. + +"But she's stupid. I have myself said she is stupid," he thought. "There +is something nasty, something wrong, in the feeling she excites in me. I +have been told that her brother Anatole was in love with her and she +with him, that there was quite a scandal and that that's why he was sent +away. Hippolyte is her brother... Prince Vasili is her father... It's +bad...." he reflected, but while he was thinking this (the reflection +was still incomplete), he caught himself smiling and was conscious that +another line of thought had sprung up, and while thinking of her +worthlessness he was also dreaming of how she would be his wife, how she +would love him become quite different, and how all he had thought and +heard of her might be false. And he again saw her not as the daughter of +Prince Vasili, but visualized her whole body only veiled by its gray +dress. "But no! Why did this thought never occur to me before?" and +again he told himself that it was impossible, that there would be +something unnatural, and as it seemed to him dishonorable, in this +marriage. He recalled her former words and looks and the words and looks +of those who had seen them together. He recalled Anna Pavlovna's words +and looks when she spoke to him about his house, recalled thousands of +such hints from Prince Vasili and others, and was seized by terror lest +he had already, in some way, bound himself to do something that was +evidently wrong and that he ought not to do. But at the very time he was +expressing this conviction to himself, in another part of his mind her +image rose in all its womanly beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +In November, 1805, Prince Vasili had to go on a tour of inspection in +four different provinces. He had arranged this for himself so as to +visit his neglected estates at the same time and pick up his son Anatole +where his regiment was stationed, and take him to visit Prince Nicholas +Bolkonski in order to arrange a match for him with the daughter of that +rich old man. But before leaving home and undertaking these new affairs, +Prince Vasili had to settle matters with Pierre, who, it is true, had +latterly spent whole days at home, that is, in Prince Vasili's house +where he was staying, and had been absurd, excited, and foolish in +Helene's presence (as a lover should be), but had not yet proposed to +her. + +"This is all very fine, but things must be settled," said Prince Vasili +to himself, with a sorrowful sigh, one morning, feeling that Pierre who +was under such obligations to him ("But never mind that") was not +behaving very well in this matter. "Youth, frivolity... well, God be +with him," thought he, relishing his own goodness of heart, "but it must +be brought to a head. The day after tomorrow will be Lelya's name day. I +will invite two or three people, and if he does not understand what he +ought to do then it will be my affair--yes, my affair. I am her father." + +Six weeks after Anna Pavlovna's "At Home" and after the sleepless night +when he had decided that to marry Helene would be a calamity and that he +ought to avoid her and go away, Pierre, despite that decision, had not +left Prince Vasili's and felt with terror that in people's eyes he was +every day more and more connected with her, that it was impossible for +him to return to his former conception of her, that he could not break +away from her, and that though it would be a terrible thing he would +have to unite his fate with hers. He might perhaps have been able to +free himself but that Prince Vasili (who had rarely before given +receptions) now hardly let a day go by without having an evening party +at which Pierre had to be present unless he wished to spoil the general +pleasure and disappoint everyone's expectation. Prince Vasili, in the +rare moments when he was at home, would take Pierre's hand in passing +and draw it downwards, or absent-mindedly hold out his wrinkled, clean- +shaven cheek for Pierre to kiss and would say: "Till tomorrow," or, "Be +in to dinner or I shall not see you," or, "I am staying in for your +sake," and so on. And though Prince Vasili, when he stayed in (as he +said) for Pierre's sake, hardly exchanged a couple of words with him, +Pierre felt unable to disappoint him. Every day he said to himself one +and the same thing: "It is time I understood her and made up my mind +what she really is. Was I mistaken before, or am I mistaken now? No, she +is not stupid, she is an excellent girl," he sometimes said to himself +"she never makes a mistake, never says anything stupid. She says little, +but what she does say is always clear and simple, so she is not stupid. +She never was abashed and is not abashed now, so she cannot be a bad +woman!" He had often begun to make reflections or think aloud in her +company, and she had always answered him either by a brief but +appropriate remark--showing that it did not interest her--or by a silent +look and smile which more palpably than anything else showed Pierre her +superiority. She was right in regarding all arguments as nonsense in +comparison with that smile. + +She always addressed him with a radiantly confiding smile meant for him +alone, in which there was something more significant than in the general +smile that usually brightened her face. Pierre knew that everyone was +waiting for him to say a word and cross a certain line, and he knew that +sooner or later he would step across it, but an incomprehensible terror +seized him at the thought of that dreadful step. A thousand times during +that month and a half while he felt himself drawn nearer and nearer to +that dreadful abyss, Pierre said to himself: "What am I doing? I need +resolution. Can it be that I have none?" + +He wished to take a decision, but felt with dismay that in this matter +he lacked that strength of will which he had known in himself and really +possessed. Pierre was one of those who are only strong when they feel +themselves quite innocent, and since that day when he was overpowered by +a feeling of desire while stooping over the snuffbox at Anna Pavlovna's, +an unacknowledged sense of the guilt of that desire paralyzed his will. + +On Helene's name day, a small party of just their own people--as his +wife said--met for supper at Prince Vasili's. All these friends and +relations had been given to understand that the fate of the young girl +would be decided that evening. The visitors were seated at supper. +Princess Kuragina, a portly imposing woman who had once been handsome, +was sitting at the head of the table. On either side of her sat the more +important guests--an old general and his wife, and Anna Pavlovna +Scherer. At the other end sat the younger and less important guests, and +there too sat the members of the family, and Pierre and Helene, side by +side. Prince Vasili was not having any supper: he went round the table +in a merry mood, sitting down now by one, now by another, of the guests. +To each of them he made some careless and agreeable remark except to +Pierre and Helene, whose presence he seemed not to notice. He enlivened +the whole party. The wax candles burned brightly, the silver and crystal +gleamed, so did the ladies' toilets and the gold and silver of the men's +epaulets; servants in scarlet liveries moved round the table, the +clatter of plates, knives, and glasses mingled with the animated hum of +several conversations. At one end of the table, the old chamberlain was +heard assuring an old baroness that he loved her passionately, at which +she laughed; at the other could be heard the story of the misfortunes of +some Mary Viktorovna or other. At the center of the table, Prince Vasili +attracted everybody's attention. With a facetious smile on his face, he +was telling the ladies about last Wednesday's meeting of the Imperial +Council, at which Sergey Kuzmich Vyazmitinov, the new military governor +general of Petersburg, had received and read the then famous rescript of +the Emperor Alexander from the army to Sergey Kuzmich, in which the +Emperor said that he was receiving from all sides declarations of the +people's loyalty, that the declaration from Petersburg gave him +particular pleasure, and that he was proud to be at the head of such a +nation and would endeavor to be worthy of it. This rescript began with +the words: "Sergey Kuzmich, From all sides reports reach me," etc. + +"Well, and so he never got farther than: 'Sergey Kuzmich'?" asked one of +the ladies. + +"Exactly, not a hair's breadth farther," answered Prince Vasili, +laughing, "'Sergey Kuzmich... From all sides... From all sides... Sergey +Kuzmich...' Poor Vyazmitinov could not get any farther! He began the +rescript again and again, but as soon as he uttered 'Sergey' he sobbed, +'Kuz-mi-ch,' tears, and 'From all sides' was smothered in sobs and he +could get no farther. And again his handkerchief, and again: 'Sergey +Kuzmich, From all sides,'... and tears, till at last somebody else was +asked to read it." + +"Kuzmich... From all sides... and then tears," someone repeated +laughing. + +"Don't be unkind," cried Anna Pavlovna from her end of the table holding +up a threatening finger. "He is such a worthy and excellent man, our +dear Vyazmitinov...." + +Everybody laughed a great deal. At the head of the table, where the +honored guests sat, everyone seemed to be in high spirits and under the +influence of a variety of exciting sensations. Only Pierre and Helene +sat silently side by side almost at the bottom of the table, a +suppressed smile brightening both their faces, a smile that had nothing +to do with Sergey Kuzmich--a smile of bashfulness at their own feelings. +But much as all the rest laughed, talked, and joked, much as they +enjoyed their Rhine wine, saute, and ices, and however they avoided +looking at the young couple, and heedless and unobservant as they seemed +of them, one could feel by the occasional glances they gave that the +story about Sergey Kuzmich, the laughter, and the food were all a +pretense, and that the whole attention of that company was directed to-- +Pierre and Helene. Prince Vasili mimicked the sobbing of Sergey Kuzmich +and at the same time his eyes glanced toward his daughter, and while he +laughed the expression on his face clearly said: "Yes... it's getting +on, it will all be settled today." Anna Pavlovna threatened him on +behalf of "our dear Vyazmitinov," and in her eyes, which, for an +instant, glanced at Pierre, Prince Vasili read a congratulation on his +future son-in-law and on his daughter's happiness. The old princess +sighed sadly as she offered some wine to the old lady next to her and +glanced angrily at her daughter, and her sigh seemed to say: "Yes, +there's nothing left for you and me but to sip sweet wine, my dear, now +that the time has come for these young ones to be thus boldly, +provocatively happy." "And what nonsense all this is that I am saying!" +thought a diplomatist, glancing at the happy faces of the lovers. +"That's happiness!" + +Into the insignificant, trifling, and artificial interests uniting that +society had entered the simple feeling of the attraction of a healthy +and handsome young man and woman for one another. And this human feeling +dominated everything else and soared above all their affected chatter. +Jests fell flat, news was not interesting, and the animation was +evidently forced. Not only the guests but even the footmen waiting at +table seemed to feel this, and they forgot their duties as they looked +at the beautiful Helene with her radiant face and at the red, broad, and +happy though uneasy face of Pierre. It seemed as if the very light of +the candles was focused on those two happy faces alone. + +Pierre felt that he was the center of it all, and this both pleased and +embarrassed him. He was like a man entirely absorbed in some occupation. +He did not see, hear, or understand anything clearly. Only now and then +detached ideas and impressions from the world of reality shot +unexpectedly through his mind. + +"So it is all finished!" he thought. "And how has it all happened? How +quickly! Now I know that not because of her alone, nor of myself alone, +but because of everyone, it must inevitably come about. They are all +expecting it, they are so sure that it will happen that I cannot, I +cannot, disappoint them. But how will it be? I do not know, but it will +certainly happen!" thought Pierre, glancing at those dazzling shoulders +close to his eyes. + +Or he would suddenly feel ashamed of he knew not what. He felt it +awkward to attract everyone's attention and to be considered a lucky man +and, with his plain face, to be looked on as a sort of Paris possessed +of a Helen. "But no doubt it always is and must be so!" he consoled +himself. "And besides, what have I done to bring it about? How did it +begin? I traveled from Moscow with Prince Vasili. Then there was +nothing. So why should I not stay at his house? Then I played cards with +her and picked up her reticule and drove out with her. How did it begin, +when did it all come about?" And here he was sitting by her side as her +betrothed, seeing, hearing, feeling her nearness, her breathing, her +movements, her beauty. Then it would suddenly seem to him that it was +not she but he was so unusually beautiful, and that that was why they +all looked so at him, and flattered by this general admiration he would +expand his chest, raise his head, and rejoice at his good fortune. +Suddenly he heard a familiar voice repeating something to him a second +time. But Pierre was so absorbed that he did not understand what was +said. + +"I am asking you when you last heard from Bolkonski," repeated Prince +Vasili a third time. "How absent-minded you are, my dear fellow." + +Prince Vasili smiled, and Pierre noticed that everyone was smiling at +him and Helene. "Well, what of it, if you all know it?" thought Pierre. +"What of it? It's the truth!" and he himself smiled his gentle childlike +smile, and Helene smiled too. + +"When did you get the letter? Was it from Olmutz?" repeated Prince +Vasili, who pretended to want to know this in order to settle a dispute. + +"How can one talk or think of such trifles?" thought Pierre. + +"Yes, from Olmutz," he answered, with a sigh. + +After supper Pierre with his partner followed the others into the +drawing room. The guests began to disperse, some without taking leave of +Helene. Some, as if unwilling to distract her from an important +occupation, came up to her for a moment and made haste to go away, +refusing to let her see them off. The diplomatist preserved a mournful +silence as he left the drawing room. He pictured the vanity of his +diplomatic career in comparison with Pierre's happiness. The old general +grumbled at his wife when she asked how his leg was. "Oh, the old fool," +he thought. "That Princess Helene will be beautiful still when she's +fifty." + +"I think I may congratulate you," whispered Anna Pavlovna to the old +princess, kissing her soundly. "If I hadn't this headache I'd have +stayed longer." + +The old princess did not reply, she was tormented by jealousy of her +daughter's happiness. + +While the guests were taking their leave Pierre remained for a long time +alone with Helene in the little drawing room where they were sitting. He +had often before, during the last six weeks, remained alone with her, +but had never spoken to her of love. Now he felt that it was inevitable, +but he could not make up his mind to take the final step. He felt +ashamed; he felt that he was occupying someone else's place here beside +Helene. "This happiness is not for you," some inner voice whispered to +him. "This happiness is for those who have not in them what there is in +you." + +But, as he had to say something, he began by asking her whether she was +satisfied with the party. She replied in her usual simple manner that +this name day of hers had been one of the pleasantest she had ever had. + +Some of the nearest relatives had not yet left. They were sitting in the +large drawing room. Prince Vasili came up to Pierre with languid +footsteps. Pierre rose and said it was getting late. Prince Vasili gave +him a look of stern inquiry, as though what Pierre had just said was so +strange that one could not take it in. But then the expression of +severity changed, and he drew Pierre's hand downwards, made him sit +down, and smiled affectionately. + +"Well, Lelya?" he asked, turning instantly to his daughter and +addressing her with the careless tone of habitual tenderness natural to +parents who have petted their children from babyhood, but which Prince +Vasili had only acquired by imitating other parents. + +And he again turned to Pierre. + +"Sergey Kuzmich--From all sides-" he said, unbuttoning the top button of +his waistcoat. + +Pierre smiled, but his smile showed that he knew it was not the story +about Sergey Kuzmich that interested Prince Vasili just then, and Prince +Vasili saw that Pierre knew this. He suddenly muttered something and +went away. It seemed to Pierre that even the prince was disconcerted. +The sight of the discomposure of that old man of the world touched +Pierre: he looked at Helene and she too seemed disconcerted, and her +look seemed to say: "Well, it is your own fault." + +"The step must be taken but I cannot, I cannot!" thought Pierre, and he +again began speaking about indifferent matters, about Sergey Kuzmich, +asking what the point of the story was as he had not heard it properly. +Helene answered with a smile that she too had missed it. + +When Prince Vasili returned to the drawing room, the princess, his wife, +was talking in low tones to the elderly lady about Pierre. + +"Of course, it is a very brilliant match, but happiness, my dear..." + +"Marriages are made in heaven," replied the elderly lady. + +Prince Vasili passed by, seeming not to hear the ladies, and sat down on +a sofa in a far corner of the room. He closed his eyes and seemed to be +dozing. His head sank forward and then he roused himself. + +"Aline," he said to his wife, "go and see what they are about." + +The princess went up to the door, passed by it with a dignified and +indifferent air, and glanced into the little drawing room. Pierre and +Helene still sat talking just as before. + +"Still the same," she said to her husband. + +Prince Vasili frowned, twisting his mouth, his cheeks quivered and his +face assumed the coarse, unpleasant expression peculiar to him. Shaking +himself, he rose, threw back his head, and with resolute steps went past +the ladies into the little drawing room. With quick steps he went +joyfully up to Pierre. His face was so unusually triumphant that Pierre +rose in alarm on seeing it. + +"Thank God!" said Prince Vasili. "My wife has told me everything!" (He +put one arm around Pierre and the other around his daughter.)--"My dear +boy... Lelya... I am very pleased." (His voice trembled.) "I loved your +father... and she will make you a good wife... God bless you!..." + +He embraced his daughter, and then again Pierre, and kissed him with his +malodorous mouth. Tears actually moistened his cheeks. + +"Princess, come here!" he shouted. + +The old princess came in and also wept. The elderly lady was using her +handkerchief too. Pierre was kissed, and he kissed the beautiful +Helene's hand several times. After a while they were left alone again. + +"All this had to be and could not be otherwise," thought Pierre, "so it +is useless to ask whether it is good or bad. It is good because it's +definite and one is rid of the old tormenting doubt." Pierre held the +hand of his betrothed in silence, looking at her beautiful bosom as it +rose and fell. + +"Helene!" he said aloud and paused. + +"Something special is always said in such cases," he thought, but could +not remember what it was that people say. He looked at her face. She +drew nearer to him. Her face flushed. + +"Oh, take those off... those..." she said, pointing to his spectacles. + +Pierre took them off, and his eyes, besides the strange look eyes have +from which spectacles have just been removed, had also a frightened and +inquiring look. He was about to stoop over her hand and kiss it, but +with a rapid, almost brutal movement of her head, she intercepted his +lips and met them with her own. Her face struck Pierre, by its altered, +unpleasantly excited expression. + +"It is too late now, it's done; besides I love her," thought Pierre. + +"Je vous aime!" * he said, remembering what has to be said at such +moments: but his words sounded so weak that he felt ashamed of himself. + + +* "I love you." + +Six weeks later he was married, and settled in Count Bezukhov's large, +newly furnished Petersburg house, the happy possessor, as people said, +of a wife who was a celebrated beauty and of millions of money. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Old Prince Nicholas Bolkonski received a letter from Prince Vasili in +November, 1805, announcing that he and his son would be paying him a +visit. "I am starting on a journey of inspection, and of course I shall +think nothing of an extra seventy miles to come and see you at the same +time, my honored benefactor," wrote Prince Vasili. "My son Anatole is +accompanying me on his way to the army, so I hope you will allow him +personally to express the deep respect that, emulating his father, he +feels for you." + +"It seems that there will be no need to bring Mary out, suitors are +coming to us of their own accord," incautiously remarked the little +princess on hearing the news. + +Prince Nicholas frowned, but said nothing. + +A fortnight after the letter Prince Vasili's servants came one evening +in advance of him, and he and his son arrived next day. + +Old Bolkonski had always had a poor opinion of Prince Vasili's +character, but more so recently, since in the new reigns of Paul and +Alexander Prince Vasili had risen to high position and honors. And now, +from the hints contained in his letter and given by the little princess, +he saw which way the wind was blowing, and his low opinion changed into +a feeling of contemptuous ill will. He snorted whenever he mentioned +him. On the day of Prince Vasili's arrival, Prince Bolkonski was +particularly discontented and out of temper. Whether he was in a bad +temper because Prince Vasili was coming, or whether his being in a bad +temper made him specially annoyed at Prince Vasili's visit, he was in a +bad temper, and in the morning Tikhon had already advised the architect +not to go to the prince with his report. + +"Do you hear how he's walking?" said Tikhon, drawing the architect's +attention to the sound of the prince's footsteps. "Stepping flat on his +heels--we know what that means...." + +However, at nine o'clock the prince, in his velvet coat with a sable +collar and cap, went out for his usual walk. It had snowed the day +before and the path to the hothouse, along which the prince was in the +habit of walking, had been swept: the marks of the broom were still +visible in the snow and a shovel had been left sticking in one of the +soft snowbanks that bordered both sides of the path. The prince went +through the conservatories, the serfs' quarters, and the outbuildings, +frowning and silent. + +"Can a sleigh pass?" he asked his overseer, a venerable man, resembling +his master in manners and looks, who was accompanying him back to the +house. + +"The snow is deep. I am having the avenue swept, your honor." + +The prince bowed his head and went up to the porch. "God be thanked," +thought the overseer, "the storm has blown over!" + +"It would have been hard to drive up, your honor," he added. "I heard, +your honor, that a minister is coming to visit your honor." + +The prince turned round to the overseer and fixed his eyes on him, +frowning. + +"What? A minister? What minister? Who gave orders?" he said in his +shrill, harsh voice. "The road is not swept for the princess my +daughter, but for a minister! For me, there are no ministers!" + +"Your honor, I thought..." + +"You thought!" shouted the prince, his words coming more and more +rapidly and indistinctly. "You thought!... Rascals! Blackguards!... I'll +teach you to think!" and lifting his stick he swung it and would have +hit Alpatych, the overseer, had not the latter instinctively avoided the +blow. "Thought... Blackguards..." shouted the prince rapidly. + +But although Alpatych, frightened at his own temerity in avoiding the +stroke, came up to the prince, bowing his bald head resignedly before +him, or perhaps for that very reason, the prince, though he continued to +shout: "Blackguards!... Throw the snow back on the road!" did not lift +his stick again but hurried into the house. + +Before dinner, Princess Mary and Mademoiselle Bourienne, who knew that +the prince was in a bad humor, stood awaiting him; Mademoiselle +Bourienne with a radiant face that said: "I know nothing, I am the same +as usual," and Princess Mary pale, frightened, and with downcast eyes. +What she found hardest to bear was to know that on such occasions she +ought to behave like Mademoiselle Bourienne, but could not. She thought: +"If I seem not to notice he will think that I do not sympathize with +him; if I seem sad and out of spirits myself, he will say (as he has +done before) that I'm in the dumps." + +The prince looked at his daughter's frightened face and snorted. + +"Fool... or dummy!" he muttered. + +"And the other one is not here. They've been telling tales," he thought- +-referring to the little princess who was not in the dining room. + +"Where is the princess?" he asked. "Hiding?" + +"She is not very well," answered Mademoiselle Bourienne with a bright +smile, "so she won't come down. It is natural in her state." + +"Hm! Hm!" muttered the prince, sitting down. + +His plate seemed to him not quite clean, and pointing to a spot he flung +it away. Tikhon caught it and handed it to a footman. The little +princess was not unwell, but had such an overpowering fear of the prince +that, hearing he was in a bad humor, she had decided not to appear. + +"I am afraid for the baby," she said to Mademoiselle Bourienne: "Heaven +knows what a fright might do." + +In general at Bald Hills the little princess lived in constant fear, and +with a sense of antipathy to the old prince which she did not realize +because the fear was so much the stronger feeling. The prince +reciprocated this antipathy, but it was overpowered by his contempt for +her. When the little princess had grown accustomed to life at Bald +Hills, she took a special fancy to Mademoiselle Bourienne, spent whole +days with her, asked her to sleep in her room, and often talked with her +about the old prince and criticized him. + +"So we are to have visitors, mon prince?" remarked Mademoiselle +Bourienne, unfolding her white napkin with her rosy fingers. "His +Excellency Prince Vasili Kuragin and his son, I understand?" she said +inquiringly. + +"Hm!--his excellency is a puppy.... I got him his appointment in the +service," said the prince disdainfully. "Why his son is coming I don't +understand. Perhaps Princess Elizabeth and Princess Mary know. I don't +want him." (He looked at his blushing daughter.) "Are you unwell today? +Eh? Afraid of the 'minister' as that idiot Alpatych called him this +morning?" + +"No, mon pere." + +Though Mademoiselle Bourienne had been so unsuccessful in her choice of +a subject, she did not stop talking, but chattered about the +conservatories and the beauty of a flower that had just opened, and +after the soup the prince became more genial. + +After dinner, he went to see his daughter-in-law. The little princess +was sitting at a small table, chattering with Masha, her maid. She grew +pale on seeing her father-in-law. + +She was much altered. She was now plain rather than pretty. Her cheeks +had sunk, her lip was drawn up, and her eyes drawn down. + +"Yes, I feel a kind of oppression," she said in reply to the prince's +question as to how she felt. + +"Do you want anything?" + +"No, merci, mon pere." + +"Well, all right, all right." + +He left the room and went to the waiting room where Alpatych stood with +bowed head. + +"Has the snow been shoveled back?" + +"Yes, your excellency. Forgive me for heaven's sake... It was only my +stupidity." + +"All right, all right," interrupted the prince, and laughing his +unnatural way, he stretched out his hand for Alpatych to kiss, and then +proceeded to his study. + +Prince Vasili arrived that evening. He was met in the avenue by coachmen +and footmen, who, with loud shouts, dragged his sleighs up to one of the +lodges over the road purposely laden with snow. + +Prince Vasili and Anatole had separate rooms assigned to them. + +Anatole, having taken off his overcoat, sat with arms akimbo before a +table on a corner of which he smilingly and absent-mindedly fixed his +large and handsome eyes. He regarded his whole life as a continual round +of amusement which someone for some reason had to provide for him. And +he looked on this visit to a churlish old man and a rich and ugly +heiress in the same way. All this might, he thought, turn out very well +and amusingly. "And why not marry her if she really has so much money? +That never does any harm," thought Anatole. + +He shaved and scented himself with the care and elegance which had +become habitual to him and, his handsome head held high, entered his +father's room with the good-humored and victorious air natural to him. +Prince Vasili's two valets were busy dressing him, and he looked round +with much animation and cheerfully nodded to his son as the latter +entered, as if to say: "Yes, that's how I want you to look." + +"I say, Father, joking apart, is she very hideous?" Anatole asked, as if +continuing a conversation the subject of which had often been mentioned +during the journey. + +"Enough! What nonsense! Above all, try to be respectful and cautious +with the old prince." + +"If he starts a row I'll go away," said Prince Anatole. "I can't bear +those old men! Eh?" + +"Remember, for you everything depends on this." + +In the meantime, not only was it known in the maidservants' rooms that +the minister and his son had arrived, but the appearance of both had +been minutely described. Princess Mary was sitting alone in her room, +vainly trying to master her agitation. + +"Why did they write, why did Lise tell me about it? It can never +happen!" she said, looking at herself in the glass. "How shall I enter +the drawing room? Even if I like him I can't now be myself with him." +The mere thought of her father's look filled her with terror. The little +princess and Mademoiselle Bourienne had already received from Masha, the +lady's maid, the necessary report of how handsome the minister's son +was, with his rosy cheeks and dark eyebrows, and with what difficulty +the father had dragged his legs upstairs while the son had followed him +like an eagle, three steps at a time. Having received this information, +the little princess and Mademoiselle Bourienne, whose chattering voices +had reached her from the corridor, went into Princess Mary's room. + +"You know they've come, Marie?" said the little princess, waddling in, +and sinking heavily into an armchair. + +She was no longer in the loose gown she generally wore in the morning, +but had on one of her best dresses. Her hair was carefully done and her +face was animated, which, however, did not conceal its sunken and faded +outlines. Dressed as she used to be in Petersburg society, it was still +more noticeable how much plainer she had become. Some unobtrusive touch +had been added to Mademoiselle Bourienne's toilet which rendered her +fresh and pretty face yet more attractive. + +"What! Are you going to remain as you are, dear princess?" she began. +"They'll be announcing that the gentlemen are in the drawing room and we +shall have to go down, and you have not smartened yourself up at all!" + +The little princess got up, rang for the maid, and hurriedly and merrily +began to devise and carry out a plan of how Princess Mary should be +dressed. Princess Mary's self-esteem was wounded by the fact that the +arrival of a suitor agitated her, and still more so by both her +companions' not having the least conception that it could be otherwise. +To tell them that she felt ashamed for herself and for them would be to +betray her agitation, while to decline their offers to dress her would +prolong their banter and insistence. She flushed, her beautiful eyes +grew dim, red blotches came on her face, and it took on the unattractive +martyrlike expression it so often wore, as she submitted herself to +Mademoiselle Bourienne and Lise. Both these women quite sincerely tried +to make her look pretty. She was so plain that neither of them could +think of her as a rival, so they began dressing her with perfect +sincerity, and with the naive and firm conviction women have that dress +can make a face pretty. + +"No really, my dear, this dress is not pretty," said Lise, looking +sideways at Princess Mary from a little distance. "You have a maroon +dress, have it fetched. Really! You know the fate of your whole life may +be at stake. But this one is too light, it's not becoming!" + +It was not the dress, but the face and whole figure of Princess Mary +that was not pretty, but neither Mademoiselle Bourienne nor the little +princess felt this; they still thought that if a blue ribbon were placed +in the hair, the hair combed up, and the blue scarf arranged lower on +the best maroon dress, and so on, all would be well. They forgot that +the frightened face and the figure could not be altered, and that +however they might change the setting and adornment of that face, it +would still remain piteous and plain. After two or three changes to +which Princess Mary meekly submitted, just as her hair had been arranged +on the top of her head (a style that quite altered and spoiled her +looks) and she had put on a maroon dress with a pale-blue scarf, the +little princess walked twice round her, now adjusting a fold of the +dress with her little hand, now arranging the scarf and looking at her +with her head bent first on one side and then on the other. + +"No, it will not do," she said decidedly, clasping her hands. "No, Mary, +really this dress does not suit you. I prefer you in your little gray +everyday dress. Now please, do it for my sake. Katie," she said to the +maid, "bring the princess her gray dress, and you'll see, Mademoiselle +Bourienne, how I shall arrange it," she added, smiling with a foretaste +of artistic pleasure. + +But when Katie brought the required dress, Princess Mary remained +sitting motionless before the glass, looking at her face, and saw in the +mirror her eyes full of tears and her mouth quivering, ready to burst +into sobs. + +"Come, dear princess," said Mademoiselle Bourienne, "just one more +little effort." + +The little princess, taking the dress from the maid, came up to Princess +Mary. + +"Well, now we'll arrange something quite simple and becoming," she said. + +The three voices, hers, Mademoiselle Bourienne's, and Katie's, who was +laughing at something, mingled in a merry sound, like the chirping of +birds. + +"No, leave me alone," said Princess Mary. + +Her voice sounded so serious and so sad that the chirping of the birds +was silenced at once. They looked at the beautiful, large, thoughtful +eyes full of tears and of thoughts, gazing shiningly and imploringly at +them, and understood that it was useless and even cruel to insist. + +"At least, change your coiffure," said the little princess. "Didn't I +tell you," she went on, turning reproachfully to Mademoiselle Bourienne, +"Mary's is a face which such a coiffure does not suit in the least. Not +in the least! Please change it." + +"Leave me alone, please leave me alone! It is all quite the same to me," +answered a voice struggling with tears. + +Mademoiselle Bourienne and the little princess had to own to themselves +that Princess Mary in this guise looked very plain, worse than usual, +but it was too late. She was looking at them with an expression they +both knew, an expression thoughtful and sad. This expression in Princess +Mary did not frighten them (she never inspired fear in anyone), but they +knew that when it appeared on her face, she became mute and was not to +be shaken in her determination. + +"You will change it, won't you?" said Lise. And as Princess Mary gave no +answer, she left the room. + +Princess Mary was left alone. She did not comply with Lise's request, +she not only left her hair as it was, but did not even look in her +glass. Letting her arms fall helplessly, she sat with downcast eyes and +pondered. A husband, a man, a strong dominant and strangely attractive +being rose in her imagination, and carried her into a totally different +happy world of his own. She fancied a child, her own--such as she had +seen the day before in the arms of her nurse's daughter--at her own +breast, the husband standing by and gazing tenderly at her and the +child. "But no, it is impossible, I am too ugly," she thought. + +"Please come to tea. The prince will be out in a moment," came the +maid's voice at the door. + +She roused herself, and felt appalled at what she had been thinking, and +before going down she went into the room where the icons hung and, her +eyes fixed on the dark face of a large icon of the Saviour lit by a +lamp, she stood before it with folded hands for a few moments. A painful +doubt filled her soul. Could the joy of love, of earthly love for a man, +be for her? In her thoughts of marriage Princess Mary dreamed of +happiness and of children, but her strongest, most deeply hidden longing +was for earthly love. The more she tried to hide this feeling from +others and even from herself, the stronger it grew. "O God," she said, +"how am I to stifle in my heart these temptations of the devil? How am I +to renounce forever these vile fancies, so as peacefully to fulfill Thy +will?" And scarcely had she put that question than God gave her the +answer in her own heart. "Desire nothing for thyself, seek nothing, be +not anxious or envious. Man's future and thy own fate must remain hidden +from thee, but live so that thou mayest be ready for anything. If it be +God's will to prove thee in the duties of marriage, be ready to fulfill +His will." With this consoling thought (but yet with a hope for the +fulfillment of her forbidden earthly longing) Princess Mary sighed, and +having crossed herself went down, thinking neither of her gown and +coiffure nor of how she would go in nor of what she would say. What +could all that matter in comparison with the will of God, without Whose +care not a hair of man's head can fall? + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +When Princess Mary came down, Prince Vasili and his son were already in +the drawing room, talking to the little princess and Mademoiselle +Bourienne. When she entered with her heavy step, treading on her heels, +the gentlemen and Mademoiselle Bourienne rose and the little princess, +indicating her to the gentlemen, said: "Voila Marie!" Princess Mary saw +them all and saw them in detail. She saw Prince Vasili's face, serious +for an instant at the sight of her, but immediately smiling again, and +the little princess curiously noting the impression "Marie" produced on +the visitors. And she saw Mademoiselle Bourienne, with her ribbon and +pretty face, and her unusually animated look which was fixed on him, but +him she could not see, she only saw something large, brilliant, and +handsome moving toward her as she entered the room. Prince Vasili +approached first, and she kissed the bold forehead that bent over her +hand and answered his question by saying that, on the contrary, she +remembered him quite well. Then Anatole came up to her. She still could +not see him. She only felt a soft hand taking hers firmly, and she +touched with her lips a white forehead, over which was beautiful light- +brown hair smelling of pomade. When she looked up at him she was struck +by his beauty. Anatole stood with his right thumb under a button of his +uniform, his chest expanded and his back drawn in, slightly swinging one +foot, and, with his head a little bent, looked with beaming face at the +princess without speaking and evidently not thinking about her at all. +Anatole was not quick-witted, nor ready or eloquent in conversation, but +he had the faculty, so invaluable in society, of composure and +imperturbable self-possession. If a man lacking in self-confidence +remains dumb on a first introduction and betrays a consciousness of the +impropriety of such silence and an anxiety to find something to say, the +effect is bad. But Anatole was dumb, swung his foot, and smilingly +examined the princess' hair. It was evident that he could be silent in +this way for a very long time. "If anyone finds this silence +inconvenient, let him talk, but I don't want to," he seemed to say. +Besides this, in his behavior to women Anatole had a manner which +particularly inspires in them curiosity, awe, and even love--a +supercilious consciousness of his own superiority. It was as if he said +to them: "I know you, I know you, but why should I bother about you? +You'd be only too glad, of course." Perhaps he did not really think this +when he met women--even probably he did not, for in general he thought +very little--but his looks and manner gave that impression. The princess +felt this, and as if wishing to show him that she did not even dare +expect to interest him, she turned to his father. The conversation was +general and animated, thanks to Princess Lise's voice and little downy +lip that lifted over her white teeth. She met Prince Vasili with that +playful manner often employed by lively chatty people, and consisting in +the assumption that between the person they so address and themselves +there are some semi-private, long-established jokes and amusing +reminiscences, though no such reminiscences really exist--just as none +existed in this case. Prince Vasili readily adopted her tone and the +little princess also drew Anatole, whom she hardly knew, into these +amusing recollections of things that had never occurred. Mademoiselle +Bourienne also shared them and even Princess Mary felt herself +pleasantly made to share in these merry reminiscences. + +"Here at least we shall have the benefit of your company all to +ourselves, dear prince," said the little princess (of course, in French) +to Prince Vasili. "It's not as at Annette's * receptions where you +always ran away; you remember cette chere Annette!" + + +* Anna Pavlovna. + +"Ah, but you won't talk politics to me like Annette!" + +"And our little tea table?" + +"Oh, yes!" + +"Why is it you were never at Annette's?" the little princess asked +Anatole. "Ah, I know, I know," she said with a sly glance, "your brother +Hippolyte told me about your goings on. Oh!" and she shook her finger at +him, "I have even heard of your doings in Paris!" + +"And didn't Hippolyte tell you?" asked Prince Vasili, turning to his son +and seizing the little princess' arm as if she would have run away and +he had just managed to catch her, "didn't he tell you how he himself was +pining for the dear princess, and how she showed him the door? Oh, she +is a pearl among women, Princess," he added, turning to Princess Mary. + +When Paris was mentioned, Mademoiselle Bourienne for her part seized the +opportunity of joining in the general current of recollections. + +She took the liberty of inquiring whether it was long since Anatole had +left Paris and how he had liked that city. Anatole answered the +Frenchwoman very readily and, looking at her with a smile, talked to her +about her native land. When he saw the pretty little Bourienne, Anatole +came to the conclusion that he would not find Bald Hills dull either. +"Not at all bad!" he thought, examining her, "not at all bad, that +little companion! I hope she will bring her along with her when we're +married, la petite est gentille." * + + +* The little one is charming. + +The old prince dressed leisurely in his study, frowning and considering +what he was to do. The coming of these visitors annoyed him. "What are +Prince Vasili and that son of his to me? Prince Vasili is a shallow +braggart and his son, no doubt, is a fine specimen," he grumbled to +himself. What angered him was that the coming of these visitors revived +in his mind an unsettled question he always tried to stifle, one about +which he always deceived himself. The question was whether he could ever +bring himself to part from his daughter and give her to a husband. The +prince never directly asked himself that question, knowing beforehand +that he would have to answer it justly, and justice clashed not only +with his feelings but with the very possibility of life. Life without +Princess Mary, little as he seemed to value her, was unthinkable to him. +"And why should she marry?" he thought. "To be unhappy for certain. +There's Lise, married to Andrew--a better husband one would think could +hardly be found nowadays--but is she contented with her lot? And who +would marry Marie for love? Plain and awkward! They'll take her for her +connections and wealth. Are there no women living unmarried, and even +the happier for it?" So thought Prince Bolkonski while dressing, and yet +the question he was always putting off demanded an immediate answer. +Prince Vasili had brought his son with the evident intention of +proposing, and today or tomorrow he would probably ask for an answer. +His birth and position in society were not bad. "Well, I've nothing +against it," the prince said to himself, "but he must be worthy of her. +And that is what we shall see." + +"That is what we shall see! That is what we shall see!" he added aloud. + +He entered the drawing room with his usual alert step, glancing rapidly +round the company. He noticed the change in the little princess' dress, +Mademoiselle Bourienne's ribbon, Princess Mary's unbecoming coiffure, +Mademoiselle Bourienne's and Anatole's smiles, and the loneliness of his +daughter amid the general conversation. "Got herself up like a fool!" he +thought, looking irritably at her. "She is shameless, and he ignores +her!" + +He went straight up to Prince Vasili. + +"Well! How d'ye do? How d'ye do? Glad to see you!" + +"Friendship laughs at distance," began Prince Vasili in his usual rapid, +self-confident, familiar tone. "Here is my second son; please love and +befriend him." + +Prince Bolkonski surveyed Anatole. + +"Fine young fellow! Fine young fellow!" he said. "Well, come and kiss +me," and he offered his cheek. + +Anatole kissed the old man, and looked at him with curiosity and perfect +composure, waiting for a display of the eccentricities his father had +told him to expect. + +Prince Bolkonski sat down in his usual place in the corner of the sofa +and, drawing up an armchair for Prince Vasili, pointed to it and began +questioning him about political affairs and news. He seemed to listen +attentively to what Prince Vasili said, but kept glancing at Princess +Mary. + +"And so they are writing from Potsdam already?" he said, repeating +Prince Vasili's last words. Then rising, he suddenly went up to his +daughter. + +"Is it for visitors you've got yourself up like that, eh?" said he. +"Fine, very fine! You have done up your hair in this new way for the +visitors, and before the visitors I tell you that in future you are +never to dare to change your way of dress without my consent." + +"It was my fault, mon pere," interceded the little princess, with a +blush. + +"You must do as you please," said Prince Bolkonski, bowing to his +daughter-in-law, "but she need not make a fool of herself, she's plain +enough as it is." + +And he sat down again, paying no more attention to his daughter, who was +reduced to tears. + +"On the contrary, that coiffure suits the princess very well," said +Prince Vasili. + +"Now you, young prince, what's your name?" said Prince Bolkonski, +turning to Anatole, "come here, let us talk and get acquainted." + +"Now the fun begins," thought Anatole, sitting down with a smile beside +the old prince. + +"Well, my dear boy, I hear you've been educated abroad, not taught to +read and write by the deacon, like your father and me. Now tell me, my +dear boy, are you serving in the Horse Guards?" asked the old man, +scrutinizing Anatole closely and intently. + +"No, I have been transferred to the line," said Anatole, hardly able to +restrain his laughter. + +"Ah! That's a good thing. So, my dear boy, you wish to serve the Tsar +and the country? It is wartime. Such a fine fellow must serve. Well, are +you off to the front?" + +"No, Prince, our regiment has gone to the front, but I am attached... +what is it I am attached to, Papa?" said Anatole, turning to his father +with a laugh. + +"A splendid soldier, splendid! 'What am I attached to!' Ha, ha, ha!" +laughed Prince Bolkonski, and Anatole laughed still louder. Suddenly +Prince Bolkonski frowned. + +"You may go," he said to Anatole. + +Anatole returned smiling to the ladies. + +"And so you've had him educated abroad, Prince Vasili, haven't you?" +said the old prince to Prince Vasili. + +"I have done my best for him, and I can assure you the education there +is much better than ours." + +"Yes, everything is different nowadays, everything is changed. The lad's +a fine fellow, a fine fellow! Well, come with me now." He took Prince +Vasili's arm and led him to his study. As soon as they were alone +together, Prince Vasili announced his hopes and wishes to the old +prince. + +"Well, do you think I shall prevent her, that I can't part from her?" +said the old prince angrily. "What an idea! I'm ready for it tomorrow! +Only let me tell you, I want to know my son-in-law better. You know my +principles--everything aboveboard? I will ask her tomorrow in your +presence; if she is willing, then he can stay on. He can stay and I'll +see." The old prince snorted. "Let her marry, it's all the same to me!" +he screamed in the same piercing tone as when parting from his son. + +"I will tell you frankly," said Prince Vasili in the tone of a crafty +man convinced of the futility of being cunning with so keen-sighted a +companion. "You know, you see right through people. Anatole is no +genius, but he is an honest, goodhearted lad; an excellent son or +kinsman." + +"All right, all right, we'll see!" + +As always happens when women lead lonely lives for any length of time +without male society, on Anatole's appearance all the three women of +Prince Bolkonski's household felt that their life had not been real till +then. Their powers of reasoning, feeling, and observing immediately +increased tenfold, and their life, which seemed to have been passed in +darkness, was suddenly lit up by a new brightness, full of significance. + +Princess Mary grew quite unconscious of her face and coiffure. The +handsome open face of the man who might perhaps be her husband absorbed +all her attention. He seemed to her kind, brave, determined, manly, and +magnanimous. She felt convinced of that. Thousands of dreams of a future +family life continually rose in her imagination. She drove them away and +tried to conceal them. + +"But am I not too cold with him?" thought the princess. "I try to be +reserved because in the depth of my soul I feel too near to him already, +but then he cannot know what I think of him and may imagine that I do +not like him." + +And Princess Mary tried, but could not manage, to be cordial to her new +guest. "Poor girl, she's devilish ugly!" thought Anatole. + +Mademoiselle Bourienne, also roused to great excitement by Anatole's +arrival, thought in another way. Of course, she, a handsome young woman +without any definite position, without relations or even a country, did +not intend to devote her life to serving Prince Bolkonski, to reading +aloud to him and being friends with Princess Mary. Mademoiselle +Bourienne had long been waiting for a Russian prince who, able to +appreciate at a glance her superiority to the plain, badly dressed, +ungainly Russian princesses, would fall in love with her and carry her +off; and here at last was a Russian prince. Mademoiselle Bourienne knew +a story, heard from her aunt but finished in her own way, which she +liked to repeat to herself. It was the story of a girl who had been +seduced, and to whom her poor mother (sa pauvre mere) appeared, and +reproached her for yielding to a man without being married. Mademoiselle +Bourienne was often touched to tears as in imagination she told this +story to him, her seducer. And now he, a real Russian prince, had +appeared. He would carry her away and then sa pauvre mere would appear +and he would marry her. So her future shaped itself in Mademoiselle +Bourienne's head at the very time she was talking to Anatole about +Paris. It was not calculation that guided her (she did not even for a +moment consider what she should do), but all this had long been familiar +to her, and now that Anatole had appeared it just grouped itself around +him and she wished and tried to please him as much as possible. + +The little princess, like an old war horse that hears the trumpet, +unconsciously and quite forgetting her condition, prepared for the +familiar gallop of coquetry, without any ulterior motive or any +struggle, but with naive and lighthearted gaiety. + +Although in female society Anatole usually assumed the role of a man +tired of being run after by women, his vanity was flattered by the +spectacle of his power over these three women. Besides that, he was +beginning to feel for the pretty and provocative Mademoiselle Bourienne +that passionate animal feeling which was apt to master him with great +suddenness and prompt him to the coarsest and most reckless actions. + +After tea, the company went into the sitting room and Princess Mary was +asked to play on the clavichord. Anatole, laughing and in high spirits, +came and leaned on his elbows, facing her and beside Mademoiselle +Bourienne. Princess Mary felt his look with a painfully joyous emotion. +Her favorite sonata bore her into a most intimately poetic world and the +look she felt upon her made that world still more poetic. But Anatole's +expression, though his eyes were fixed on her, referred not to her but +to the movements of Mademoiselle Bourienne's little foot, which he was +then touching with his own under the clavichord. Mademoiselle Bourienne +was also looking at Princess Mary, and in her lovely eyes there was a +look of fearful joy and hope that was also new to the princess. + +"How she loves me!" thought Princess Mary. "How happy I am now, and how +happy I may be with such a friend and such a husband! Husband? Can it be +possible?" she thought, not daring to look at his face, but still +feeling his eyes gazing at her. + +In the evening, after supper, when all were about to retire, Anatole +kissed Princess Mary's hand. She did not know how she found the courage, +but she looked straight into his handsome face as it came near to her +shortsighted eyes. Turning from Princess Mary he went up and kissed +Mademoiselle Bourienne's hand. (This was not etiquette, but then he did +everything so simply and with such assurance!) Mademoiselle Bourienne +flushed, and gave the princess a frightened look. + +"What delicacy!" thought the princess. "Is it possible that Amelie" +(Mademoiselle Bourienne) "thinks I could be jealous of her, and not +value her pure affection and devotion to me?" She went up to her and +kissed her warmly. Anatole went up to kiss the little princess' hand. + +"No! No! No! When your father writes to tell me that you are behaving +well I will give you my hand to kiss. Not till then!" she said. And +smilingly raising a finger at him, she left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +They all separated, but, except Anatole who fell asleep as soon as he +got into bed, all kept awake a long time that night. + +"Is he really to be my husband, this stranger who is so kind--yes, kind, +that is the chief thing," thought Princess Mary; and fear, which she had +seldom experienced, came upon her. She feared to look round, it seemed +to her that someone was there standing behind the screen in the dark +corner. And this someone was he--the devil--and he was also this man +with the white forehead, black eyebrows, and red lips. + +She rang for her maid and asked her to sleep in her room. + +Mademoiselle Bourienne walked up and down the conservatory for a long +time that evening, vainly expecting someone, now smiling at someone, now +working herself up to tears with the imaginary words of her pauvre mere +rebuking her for her fall. + +The little princess grumbled to her maid that her bed was badly made. +She could not lie either on her face or on her side. Every position was +awkward and uncomfortable, and her burden oppressed her now more than +ever because Anatole's presence had vividly recalled to her the time +when she was not like that and when everything was light and gay. She +sat in an armchair in her dressing jacket and nightcap and Katie, sleepy +and disheveled, beat and turned the heavy feather bed for the third +time, muttering to herself. + +"I told you it was all lumps and holes!" the little princess repeated. +"I should be glad enough to fall asleep, so it's not my fault!" and her +voice quivered like that of a child about to cry. + +The old prince did not sleep either. Tikhon, half asleep, heard him +pacing angrily about and snorting. The old prince felt as though he had +been insulted through his daughter. The insult was the more pointed +because it concerned not himself but another, his daughter, whom he +loved more than himself. He kept telling himself that he would consider +the whole matter and decide what was right and how he should act, but +instead of that he only excited himself more and more. + +"The first man that turns up--she forgets her father and everything +else, runs upstairs and does up her hair and wags her tail and is unlike +herself! Glad to throw her father over! And she knew I should notice it. +Fr... fr... fr! And don't I see that that idiot had eyes only for +Bourienne--I shall have to get rid of her. And how is it she has not +pride enough to see it? If she has no pride for herself she might at +least have some for my sake! She must be shown that the blockhead thinks +nothing of her and looks only at Bourienne. No, she has no pride... but +I'll let her see...." + +The old prince knew that if he told his daughter she was making a +mistake and that Anatole meant to flirt with Mademoiselle Bourienne, +Princess Mary's self-esteem would be wounded and his point (not to be +parted from her) would be gained, so pacifying himself with this +thought, he called Tikhon and began to undress. + +"What devil brought them here?" thought he, while Tikhon was putting the +nightshirt over his dried-up old body and gray-haired chest. "I never +invited them. They came to disturb my life--and there is not much of it +left." + +"Devil take 'em!" he muttered, while his head was still covered by the +shirt. + +Tikhon knew his master's habit of sometimes thinking aloud, and +therefore met with unaltered looks the angrily inquisitive expression of +the face that emerged from the shirt. + +"Gone to bed?" asked the prince. + +Tikhon, like all good valets, instinctively knew the direction of his +master's thoughts. He guessed that the question referred to Prince +Vasili and his son. + +"They have gone to bed and put out their lights, your excellency." + +"No good... no good..." said the prince rapidly, and thrusting his feet +into his slippers and his arms into the sleeves of his dressing gown, he +went to the couch on which he slept. + +Though no words had passed between Anatole and Mademoiselle Bourienne, +they quite understood one another as to the first part of their romance, +up to the appearance of the pauvre mere; they understood that they had +much to say to one another in private and so they had been seeking an +opportunity since morning to meet one another alone. When Princess Mary +went to her father's room at the usual hour, Mademoiselle Bourienne and +Anatole met in the conservatory. + +Princess Mary went to the door of the study with special trepidation. It +seemed to her that not only did everybody know that her fate would be +decided that day, but that they also knew what she thought about it. She +read this in Tikhon's face and in that of Prince Vasili's valet, who +made her a low bow when she met him in the corridor carrying hot water. + +The old prince was very affectionate and careful in his treatment of his +daughter that morning. Princess Mary well knew this painstaking +expression of her father's. His face wore that expression when his dry +hands clenched with vexation at her not understanding a sum in +arithmetic, when rising from his chair he would walk away from her, +repeating in a low voice the same words several times over. + +He came to the point at once, treating her ceremoniously. + +"I have had a proposition made me concerning you," he said with an +unnatural smile. "I expect you have guessed that Prince Vasili has not +come and brought his pupil with him" (for some reason Prince Bolkonski +referred to Anatole as a "pupil") "for the sake of my beautiful eyes. +Last night a proposition was made me on your account and, as you know my +principles, I refer it to you." + +"How am I to understand you, mon pere?" said the princess, growing pale +and then blushing. + +"How understand me!" cried her father angrily. "Prince Vasili finds you +to his taste as a daughter-in-law and makes a proposal to you on his +pupil's behalf. That's how it's to be understood! 'How understand +it'!... And I ask you!" + +"I do not know what you think, Father," whispered the princess. + +"I? I? What of me? Leave me out of the question. I'm not going to get +married. What about you? That's what I want to know." + +The princess saw that her father regarded the matter with disapproval, +but at that moment the thought occurred to her that her fate would be +decided now or never. She lowered her eyes so as not to see the gaze +under which she felt that she could not think, but would only be able to +submit from habit, and she said: "I wish only to do your will, but if I +had to express my own desire..." She had no time to finish. The old +prince interrupted her. + +"That's admirable!" he shouted. "He will take you with your dowry and +take Mademoiselle Bourienne into the bargain. She'll be the wife, while +you..." + +The prince stopped. He saw the effect these words had produced on his +daughter. She lowered her head and was ready to burst into tears. + +"Now then, now then, I'm only joking!" he said. "Remember this, +Princess, I hold to the principle that a maiden has a full right to +choose. I give you freedom. Only remember that your life's happiness +depends on your decision. Never mind me!" + +"But I do not know, Father!" + +"There's no need to talk! He receives his orders and will marry you or +anybody; but you are free to choose.... Go to your room, think it over, +and come back in an hour and tell me in his presence: yes or no. I know +you will pray over it. Well, pray if you like, but you had better think +it over. Go! Yes or no, yes or no, yes or no!" he still shouted when the +princess, as if lost in a fog, had already staggered out of the study. + +Her fate was decided and happily decided. But what her father had said +about Mademoiselle Bourienne was dreadful. It was untrue to be sure, but +still it was terrible, and she could not help thinking of it. She was +going straight on through the conservatory, neither seeing nor hearing +anything, when suddenly the well-known whispering of Mademoiselle +Bourienne aroused her. She raised her eyes, and two steps away saw +Anatole embracing the Frenchwoman and whispering something to her. With +a horrified expression on his handsome face, Anatole looked at Princess +Mary, but did not at once take his arm from the waist of Mademoiselle +Bourienne who had not yet seen her. + +"Who's that? Why? Wait a moment!" Anatole's face seemed to say. Princess +Mary looked at them in silence. She could not understand it. At last +Mademoiselle Bourienne gave a scream and ran away. Anatole bowed to +Princess Mary with a gay smile, as if inviting her to join in a laugh at +this strange incident, and then shrugging his shoulders went to the door +that led to his own apartments. + +An hour later, Tikhon came to call Princess Mary to the old prince; he +added that Prince Vasili was also there. When Tikhon came to her +Princess Mary was sitting on the sofa in her room, holding the weeping +Mademoiselle Bourienne in her arms and gently stroking her hair. The +princess' beautiful eyes with all their former calm radiance were +looking with tender affection and pity at Mademoiselle Bourienne's +pretty face. + +"No, Princess, I have lost your affection forever!" said Mademoiselle +Bourienne. + +"Why? I love you more than ever," said Princess Mary, "and I will try to +do all I can for your happiness." + +"But you despise me. You who are so pure can never understand being so +carried away by passion. Oh, only my poor mother..." + +"I quite understand," answered Princess Mary, with a sad smile. "Calm +yourself, my dear. I will go to my father," she said, and went out. + +Prince Vasili, with one leg thrown high over the other and a snuffbox in +his hand, was sitting there with a smile of deep emotion on his face, as +if stirred to his heart's core and himself regretting and laughing at +his own sensibility, when Princess Mary entered. He hurriedly took a +pinch of snuff. + +"Ah, my dear, my dear!" he began, rising and taking her by both hands. +Then, sighing, he added: "My son's fate is in your hands. Decide, my +dear, good, gentle Marie, whom I have always loved as a daughter!" + +He drew back and a real tear appeared in his eye. + +"Fr... fr..." snorted Prince Bolkonski. "The prince is making a +proposition to you in his pupil's--I mean, his son's--name. Do you wish +or not to be Prince Anatole Kuragin's wife? Reply: yes or no," he +shouted, "and then I shall reserve the right to state my opinion also. +Yes, my opinion, and only my opinion," added Prince Bolkonski, turning +to Prince Vasili and answering his imploring look. "Yes, or no?" + +"My desire is never to leave you, Father, never to separate my life from +yours. I don't wish to marry," she answered positively, glancing at +Prince Vasili and at her father with her beautiful eyes. + +"Humbug! Nonsense! Humbug, humbug, humbug!" cried Prince Bolkonski, +frowning and taking his daughter's hand; he did not kiss her, but only +bending his forehead to hers just touched it, and pressed her hand so +that she winced and uttered a cry. + +Prince Vasili rose. + +"My dear, I must tell you that this is a moment I shall never, never +forget. But, my dear, will you not give us a little hope of touching +this heart, so kind and generous? Say 'perhaps'... The future is so +long. Say 'perhaps.'" + +"Prince, what I have said is all there is in my heart. I thank you for +the honor, but I shall never be your son's wife." + +"Well, so that's finished, my dear fellow! I am very glad to have seen +you. Very glad! Go back to your rooms, Princess. Go!" said the old +prince. "Very, very glad to have seen you," repeated he, embracing +Prince Vasili. + +"My vocation is a different one," thought Princess Mary. "My vocation is +to be happy with another kind of happiness, the happiness of love and +self-sacrifice. And cost what it may, I will arrange poor Amelie's +happiness, she loves him so passionately, and so passionately repents. I +will do all I can to arrange the match between them. If he is not rich I +will give her the means; I will ask my father and Andrew. I shall be so +happy when she is his wife. She is so unfortunate, a stranger, alone, +helpless! And, oh God, how passionately she must love him if she could +so far forget herself! Perhaps I might have done the same!..." thought +Princess Mary. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +It was long since the Rostovs had news of Nicholas. Not till midwinter +was the count at last handed a letter addressed in his son's +handwriting. On receiving it, he ran on tiptoe to his study in alarm and +haste, trying to escape notice, closed the door, and began to read the +letter. + +Anna Mikhaylovna, who always knew everything that passed in the house, +on hearing of the arrival of the letter went softly into the room and +found the count with it in his hand, sobbing and laughing at the same +time. + +Anna Mikhaylovna, though her circumstances had improved, was still +living with the Rostovs. + +"My dear friend?" said she, in a tone of pathetic inquiry, prepared to +sympathize in any way. + +The count sobbed yet more. + +"Nikolenka... a letter... wa... a... s... wounded... my darling boy... +the countess... promoted to be an officer... thank God... How tell the +little countess!" + +Anna Mikhaylovna sat down beside him, with her own handkerchief wiped +the tears from his eyes and from the letter, then having dried her own +eyes she comforted the count, and decided that at dinner and till +teatime she would prepare the countess, and after tea, with God's help, +would inform her. + +At dinner Anna Mikhaylovna talked the whole time about the war news and +about Nikolenka, twice asked when the last letter had been received from +him, though she knew that already, and remarked that they might very +likely be getting a letter from him that day. Each time that these hints +began to make the countess anxious and she glanced uneasily at the count +and at Anna Mikhaylovna, the latter very adroitly turned the +conversation to insignificant matters. Natasha, who, of the whole +family, was the most gifted with a capacity to feel any shades of +intonation, look, and expression, pricked up her ears from the beginning +of the meal and was certain that there was some secret between her +father and Anna Mikhaylovna, that it had something to do with her +brother, and that Anna Mikhaylovna was preparing them for it. Bold as +she was, Natasha, who knew how sensitive her mother was to anything +relating to Nikolenka, did not venture to ask any questions at dinner, +but she was too excited to eat anything and kept wriggling about on her +chair regardless of her governess' remarks. After dinner, she rushed +head long after Anna Mikhaylovna and, dashing at her, flung herself on +her neck as soon as she overtook her in the sitting room. + +"Auntie, darling, do tell me what it is!" + +"Nothing, my dear." + +"No, dearest, sweet one, honey, I won't give up--I know you know +something." + +Anna Mikhaylovna shook her head. + +"You are a little slyboots," she said. + +"A letter from Nikolenka! I'm sure of it!" exclaimed Natasha, reading +confirmation in Anna Mikhaylovna's face. + +"But for God's sake, be careful, you know how it may affect your mamma." + +"I will, I will, only tell me! You won't? Then I will go and tell at +once." + +Anna Mikhaylovna, in a few words, told her the contents of the letter, +on condition that she should tell no one. + +"No, on my true word of honor," said Natasha, crossing herself, "I won't +tell anyone!" and she ran off at once to Sonya. + +"Nikolenka... wounded... a letter," she announced in gleeful triumph. + +"Nicholas!" was all Sonya said, instantly turning white. + +Natasha, seeing the impression the news of her brother's wound produced +on Sonya, felt for the first time the sorrowful side of the news. + +She rushed to Sonya, hugged her, and began to cry. + +"A little wound, but he has been made an officer; he is well now, he +wrote himself," said she through her tears. + +"There now! It's true that all you women are crybabies," remarked Petya, +pacing the room with large, resolute strides. "Now I'm very glad, very +glad indeed, that my brother has distinguished himself so. You are all +blubberers and understand nothing." + +Natasha smiled through her tears. + +"You haven't read the letter?" asked Sonya. + +"No, but she said that it was all over and that he's now an officer." + +"Thank God!" said Sonya, crossing herself. "But perhaps she deceived +you. Let us go to Mamma." + +Petya paced the room in silence for a time. + +"If I'd been in Nikolenka's place I would have killed even more of those +Frenchmen," he said. "What nasty brutes they are! I'd have killed so +many that there'd have been a heap of them." + +"Hold your tongue, Petya, what a goose you are!" + +"I'm not a goose, but they are who cry about trifles," said Petya. + +"Do you remember him?" Natasha suddenly asked, after a moment's silence. + +Sonya smiled. + +"Do I remember Nicholas?" + +"No, Sonya, but do you remember so that you remember him perfectly, +remember everything?" said Natasha, with an expressive gesture, +evidently wishing to give her words a very definite meaning. "I remember +Nikolenka too, I remember him well," she said. "But I don't remember +Boris. I don't remember him a bit." + +"What! You don't remember Boris?" asked Sonya in surprise. + +"It's not that I don't remember--I know what he is like, but not as I +remember Nikolenka. Him--I just shut my eyes and remember, but Boris... +No!" (She shut her eyes.) "No! there's nothing at all." + +"Oh, Natasha!" said Sonya, looking ecstatically and earnestly at her +friend as if she did not consider her worthy to hear what she meant to +say and as if she were saying it to someone else, with whom joking was +out of the question, "I am in love with your brother once for all and, +whatever may happen to him or to me, shall never cease to love him as +long as I live." + +Natasha looked at Sonya with wondering and inquisitive eyes, and said +nothing. She felt that Sonya was speaking the truth, that there was such +love as Sonya was speaking of. But Natasha had not yet felt anything +like it. She believed it could be, but did not understand it. + +"Shall you write to him?" she asked. + +Sonya became thoughtful. The question of how to write to Nicholas, and +whether she ought to write, tormented her. Now that he was already an +officer and a wounded hero, would it be right to remind him of herself +and, as it might seem, of the obligations to her he had taken on +himself? + +"I don't know. I think if he writes, I will write too," she said, +blushing. + +"And you won't feel ashamed to write to him?" + +Sonya smiled. + +"No." + +"And I should be ashamed to write to Boris. I'm not going to." + +"Why should you be ashamed?" + +"Well, I don't know. It's awkward and would make me ashamed." + +"And I know why she'd be ashamed," said Petya, offended by Natasha's +previous remark. "It's because she was in love with that fat one in +spectacles" (that was how Petya described his namesake, the new Count +Bezukhov) "and now she's in love with that singer" (he meant Natasha's +Italian singing master), "that's why she's ashamed!" + +"Petya, you're a stupid!" said Natasha. + +"Not more stupid than you, madam," said the nine-year-old Petya, with +the air of an old brigadier. + +The countess had been prepared by Anna Mikhaylovna's hints at dinner. On +retiring to her own room, she sat in an armchair, her eyes fixed on a +miniature portrait of her son on the lid of a snuffbox, while the tears +kept coming into her eyes. Anna Mikhaylovna, with the letter, came on +tiptoe to the countess' door and paused. + +"Don't come in," she said to the old count who was following her. "Come +later." And she went in, closing the door behind her. + +The count put his ear to the keyhole and listened. + +At first he heard the sound of indifferent voices, then Anna +Mikhaylovna's voice alone in a long speech, then a cry, then silence, +then both voices together with glad intonations, and then footsteps. +Anna Mikhaylovna opened the door. Her face wore the proud expression of +a surgeon who has just performed a difficult operation and admits the +public to appreciate his skill. + +"It is done!" she said to the count, pointing triumphantly to the +countess, who sat holding in one hand the snuffbox with its portrait and +in the other the letter, and pressing them alternately to her lips. + +When she saw the count, she stretched out her arms to him, embraced his +bald head, over which she again looked at the letter and the portrait, +and in order to press them again to her lips, she slightly pushed away +the bald head. Vera, Natasha, Sonya, and Petya now entered the room, and +the reading of the letter began. After a brief description of the +campaign and the two battles in which he had taken part, and his +promotion, Nicholas said that he kissed his father's and mother's hands +asking for their blessing, and that he kissed Vera, Natasha, and Petya. +Besides that, he sent greetings to Monsieur Schelling, Madame Schoss, +and his old nurse, and asked them to kiss for him "dear Sonya, whom he +loved and thought of just the same as ever." When she heard this Sonya +blushed so that tears came into her eyes and, unable to bear the looks +turned upon her, ran away into the dancing hall, whirled round it at +full speed with her dress puffed out like a balloon, and, flushed and +smiling, plumped down on the floor. The countess was crying. + +"Why are you crying, Mamma?" asked Vera. "From all he says one should be +glad and not cry." + +This was quite true, but the count, the countess, and Natasha looked at +her reproachfully. "And who is it she takes after?" thought the +countess. + +Nicholas' letter was read over hundreds of times, and those who were +considered worthy to hear it had to come to the countess, for she did +not let it out of her hands. The tutors came, and the nurses, and +Dmitri, and several acquaintances, and the countess reread the letter +each time with fresh pleasure and each time discovered in it fresh +proofs of Nikolenka's virtues. How strange, how extraordinary, how +joyful it seemed, that her son, the scarcely perceptible motion of whose +tiny limbs she had felt twenty years ago within her, that son about whom +she used to have quarrels with the too indulgent count, that son who had +first learned to say "pear" and then "granny," that this son should now +be away in a foreign land amid strange surroundings, a manly warrior +doing some kind of man's work of his own, without help or guidance. The +universal experience of ages, showing that children do grow +imperceptibly from the cradle to manhood, did not exist for the +countess. Her son's growth toward manhood, at each of its stages, had +seemed as extraordinary to her as if there had never existed the +millions of human beings who grew up in the same way. As twenty years +before, it seemed impossible that the little creature who lived +somewhere under her heart would ever cry, suck her breast, and begin to +speak, so now she could not believe that that little creature could be +this strong, brave man, this model son and officer that, judging by this +letter, he now was. + +"What a style! How charmingly he describes!" said she, reading the +descriptive part of the letter. "And what a soul! Not a word about +himself.... Not a word! About some Denisov or other, though he himself, +I dare say, is braver than any of them. He says nothing about his +sufferings. What a heart! How like him it is! And how he has remembered +everybody! Not forgetting anyone. I always said when he was only so +high--I always said...." + +For more than a week preparations were being made, rough drafts of +letters to Nicholas from all the household were written and copied out, +while under the supervision of the countess and the solicitude of the +count, money and all things necessary for the uniform and equipment of +the newly commissioned officer were collected. Anna Mikhaylovna, +practical woman that she was, had even managed by favor with army +authorities to secure advantageous means of communication for herself +and her son. She had opportunities of sending her letters to the Grand +Duke Constantine Pavlovich, who commanded the Guards. The Rostovs +supposed that The Russian Guards, Abroad, was quite a definite address, +and that if a letter reached the Grand Duke in command of the Guards +there was no reason why it should not reach the Pavlograd regiment, +which was presumably somewhere in the same neighborhood. And so it was +decided to send the letters and money by the Grand Duke's courier to +Boris and Boris was to forward them to Nicholas. The letters were from +the old count, the countess, Petya, Vera, Natasha, and Sonya, and +finally there were six thousand rubles for his outfit and various other +things the old count sent to his son. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +On the twelfth of November, Kutuzov's active army, in camp before +Olmutz, was preparing to be reviewed next day by the two Emperors--the +Russian and the Austrian. The Guards, just arrived from Russia, spent +the night ten miles from Olmutz and next morning were to come straight +to the review, reaching the field at Olmutz by ten o'clock. + +That day Nicholas Rostov received a letter from Boris, telling him that +the Ismaylov regiment was quartered for the night ten miles from Olmutz +and that he wanted to see him as he had a letter and money for him. +Rostov was particularly in need of money now that the troops, after +their active service, were stationed near Olmutz and the camp swarmed +with well-provisioned sutlers and Austrian Jews offering all sorts of +tempting wares. The Pavlograds held feast after feast, celebrating +awards they had received for the campaign, and made expeditions to +Olmutz to visit a certain Caroline the Hungarian, who had recently +opened a restaurant there with girls as waitresses. Rostov, who had just +celebrated his promotion to a cornetcy and bought Denisov's horse, +Bedouin, was in debt all round, to his comrades and the sutlers. On +receiving Boris' letter he rode with a fellow officer to Olmutz, dined +there, drank a bottle of wine, and then set off alone to the Guards' +camp to find his old playmate. Rostov had not yet had time to get his +uniform. He had on a shabby cadet jacket, decorated with a soldier's +cross, equally shabby cadet's riding breeches lined with worn leather, +and an officer's saber with a sword knot. The Don horse he was riding +was one he had bought from a Cossack during the campaign, and he wore a +crumpled hussar cap stuck jauntily back on one side of his head. As he +rode up to the camp he thought how he would impress Boris and all his +comrades of the Guards by his appearance--that of a fighting hussar who +had been under fire. + +The Guards had made their whole march as if on a pleasure trip, parading +their cleanliness and discipline. They had come by easy stages, their +knapsacks conveyed on carts, and the Austrian authorities had provided +excellent dinners for the officers at every halting place. The regiments +had entered and left the town with their bands playing, and by the Grand +Duke's orders the men had marched all the way in step (a practice on +which the Guards prided themselves), the officers on foot and at their +proper posts. Boris had been quartered, and had marched all the way, +with Berg who was already in command of a company. Berg, who had +obtained his captaincy during the campaign, had gained the confidence of +his superiors by his promptitude and accuracy and had arranged his money +matters very satisfactorily. Boris, during the campaign, had made the +acquaintance of many persons who might prove useful to him, and by a +letter of recommendation he had brought from Pierre had become +acquainted with Prince Andrew Bolkonski, through whom he hoped to obtain +a post on the commander-in-chief's staff. Berg and Boris, having rested +after yesterday's march, were sitting, clean and neatly dressed, at a +round table in the clean quarters allotted to them, playing chess. Berg +held a smoking pipe between his knees. Boris, in the accurate way +characteristic of him, was building a little pyramid of chessmen with +his delicate white fingers while awaiting Berg's move, and watched his +opponent's face, evidently thinking about the game as he always thought +only of whatever he was engaged on. + +"Well, how are you going to get out of that?" he remarked. + +"We'll try to," replied Berg, touching a pawn and then removing his +hand. + +At that moment the door opened. + +"Here he is at last!" shouted Rostov. "And Berg too! Oh, you +petisenfans, allay cushay dormir!" he exclaimed, imitating his Russian +nurse's French, at which he and Boris used to laugh long ago. + +"Dear me, how you have changed!" + +Boris rose to meet Rostov, but in doing so did not omit to steady and +replace some chessmen that were falling. He was about to embrace his +friend, but Nicholas avoided him. With that peculiar feeling of youth, +that dread of beaten tracks, and wish to express itself in a manner +different from that of its elders which is often insincere, Nicholas +wished to do something special on meeting his friend. He wanted to pinch +him, push him, do anything but kiss him--a thing everybody did. But +notwithstanding this, Boris embraced him in a quiet, friendly way and +kissed him three times. + +They had not met for nearly half a year and, being at the age when young +men take their first steps on life's road, each saw immense changes in +the other, quite a new reflection of the society in which they had taken +those first steps. Both had changed greatly since they last met and both +were in a hurry to show the changes that had taken place in them. + +"Oh, you damned dandies! Clean and fresh as if you'd been to a fete, not +like us sinners of the line," cried Rostov, with martial swagger and +with baritone notes in his voice, new to Boris, pointing to his own mud- +bespattered breeches. The German landlady, hearing Rostov's loud voice, +popped her head in at the door. + +"Eh, is she pretty?" he asked with a wink. + +"Why do you shout so? You'll frighten them!" said Boris. "I did not +expect you today," he added. "I only sent you the note yesterday by +Bolkonski--an adjutant of Kutuzov's, who's a friend of mine. I did not +think he would get it to you so quickly.... Well, how are you? Been +under fire already?" asked Boris. + +Without answering, Rostov shook the soldier's Cross of St. George +fastened to the cording of his uniform and, indicating a bandaged arm, +glanced at Berg with a smile. + +"As you see," he said. + +"Indeed? Yes, yes!" said Boris, with a smile. "And we too have had a +splendid march. You know, of course, that His Imperial Highness rode +with our regiment all the time, so that we had every comfort and every +advantage. What receptions we had in Poland! What dinners and balls! I +can't tell you. And the Tsarevich was very gracious to all our +officers." + +And the two friends told each other of their doings, the one of his +hussar revels and life in the fighting line, the other of the pleasures +and advantages of service under members of the Imperial family. + +"Oh, you Guards!" said Rostov. "I say, send for some wine." + +Boris made a grimace. + +"If you really want it," said he. + +He went to his bed, drew a purse from under the clean pillow, and sent +for wine. + +"Yes, and I have some money and a letter to give you," he added. + +Rostov took the letter and, throwing the money on the sofa, put both +arms on the table and began to read. After reading a few lines, he +glanced angrily at Berg, then, meeting his eyes, hid his face behind the +letter. + +"Well, they've sent you a tidy sum," said Berg, eying the heavy purse +that sank into the sofa. "As for us, Count, we get along on our pay. I +can tell you for myself..." + +"I say, Berg, my dear fellow," said Rostov, "when you get a letter from +home and meet one of your own people whom you want to talk everything +over with, and I happen to be there, I'll go at once, to be out of your +way! Do go somewhere, anywhere... to the devil!" he exclaimed, and +immediately seizing him by the shoulder and looking amiably into his +face, evidently wishing to soften the rudeness of his words, he added, +"Don't be hurt, my dear fellow; you know I speak from my heart as to an +old acquaintance." + +"Oh, don't mention it, Count! I quite understand," said Berg, getting up +and speaking in a muffled and guttural voice. + +"Go across to our hosts: they invited you," added Boris. + +Berg put on the cleanest of coats, without a spot or speck of dust, +stood before a looking glass and brushed the hair on his temples +upwards, in the way affected by the Emperor Alexander, and, having +assured himself from the way Rostov looked at it that his coat had been +noticed, left the room with a pleasant smile. + +"Oh dear, what a beast I am!" muttered Rostov, as he read the letter. + +"Why?" + +"Oh, what a pig I am, not to have written and to have given them such a +fright! Oh, what a pig I am!" he repeated, flushing suddenly. "Well, +have you sent Gabriel for some wine? All right let's have some!" + +In the letter from his parents was enclosed a letter of recommendation +to Bagration which the old countess at Anna Mikhaylovna's advice had +obtained through an acquaintance and sent to her son, asking him to take +it to its destination and make use of it. + +"What nonsense! Much I need it!" said Rostov, throwing the letter under +the table. + +"Why have you thrown that away?" asked Boris. + +"It is some letter of recommendation... what the devil do I want it +for!" + +"Why 'What the devil'?" said Boris, picking it up and reading the +address. "This letter would be of great use to you." + +"I want nothing, and I won't be anyone's adjutant." + +"Why not?" inquired Boris. + +"It's a lackey's job!" + +"You are still the same dreamer, I see," remarked Boris, shaking his +head. + +"And you're still the same diplomatist! But that's not the point... +Come, how are you?" asked Rostov. + +"Well, as you see. So far everything's all right, but I confess I should +much like to be an adjutant and not remain at the front." + +"Why?" + +"Because when once a man starts on military service, he should try to +make as successful a career of it as possible." + +"Oh, that's it!" said Rostov, evidently thinking of something else. + +He looked intently and inquiringly into his friend's eyes, evidently +trying in vain to find the answer to some question. + +Old Gabriel brought in the wine. + +"Shouldn't we now send for Berg?" asked Boris. "He would drink with you. +I can't." + +"Well, send for him... and how do you get on with that German?" asked +Rostov, with a contemptuous smile. + +"He is a very, very nice, honest, and pleasant fellow," answered Boris. + +Again Rostov looked intently into Boris' eyes and sighed. Berg returned, +and over the bottle of wine conversation between the three officers +became animated. The Guardsmen told Rostov of their march and how they +had been made much of in Russia, Poland, and abroad. They spoke of the +sayings and doings of their commander, the Grand Duke, and told stories +of his kindness and irascibility. Berg, as usual, kept silent when the +subject did not relate to himself, but in connection with the stories of +the Grand Duke's quick temper he related with gusto how in Galicia he +had managed to deal with the Grand Duke when the latter made a tour of +the regiments and was annoyed at the irregularity of a movement. With a +pleasant smile Berg related how the Grand Duke had ridden up to him in a +violent passion, shouting: "Arnauts!" ("Arnauts" was the Tsarevich's +favorite expression when he was in a rage) and called for the company +commander. + +"Would you believe it, Count, I was not at all alarmed, because I knew I +was right. Without boasting, you know, I may say that I know the Army +Orders by heart and know the Regulations as well as I do the Lord's +Prayer. So, Count, there never is any negligence in my company, and so +my conscience was at ease. I came forward...." (Berg stood up and showed +how he presented himself, with his hand to his cap, and really it would +have been difficult for a face to express greater respect and self- +complacency than his did.) "Well, he stormed at me, as the saying is, +stormed and stormed and stormed! It was not a matter of life but rather +of death, as the saying is. 'Albanians!' and 'devils!' and 'To +Siberia!'" said Berg with a sagacious smile. "I knew I was in the right +so I kept silent; was not that best, Count?... 'Hey, are you dumb?' he +shouted. Still I remained silent. And what do you think, Count? The next +day it was not even mentioned in the Orders of the Day. That's what +keeping one's head means. That's the way, Count," said Berg, lighting +his pipe and emitting rings of smoke. + +"Yes, that was fine," said Rostov, smiling. + +But Boris noticed that he was preparing to make fun of Berg, and +skillfully changed the subject. He asked him to tell them how and where +he got his wound. This pleased Rostov and he began talking about it, and +as he went on became more and more animated. He told them of his Schon +Grabern affair, just as those who have taken part in a battle generally +do describe it, that is, as they would like it to have been, as they +have heard it described by others, and as sounds well, but not at all as +it really was. Rostov was a truthful young man and would on no account +have told a deliberate lie. He began his story meaning to tell +everything just as it happened, but imperceptibly, involuntarily, and +inevitably he lapsed into falsehood. If he had told the truth to his +hearers--who like himself had often heard stories of attacks and had +formed a definite idea of what an attack was and were expecting to hear +just such a story--they would either not have believed him or, still +worse, would have thought that Rostov was himself to blame since what +generally happens to the narrators of cavalry attacks had not happened +to him. He could not tell them simply that everyone went at a trot and +that he fell off his horse and sprained his arm and then ran as hard as +he could from a Frenchman into the wood. Besides, to tell everything as +it really happened, it would have been necessary to make an effort of +will to tell only what happened. It is very difficult to tell the truth, +and young people are rarely capable of it. His hearers expected a story +of how beside himself and all aflame with excitement, he had flown like +a storm at the square, cut his way in, slashed right and left, how his +saber had tasted flesh and he had fallen exhausted, and so on. And so he +told them all that. + +In the middle of his story, just as he was saying: "You cannot imagine +what a strange frenzy one experiences during an attack," Prince Andrew, +whom Boris was expecting, entered the room. Prince Andrew, who liked to +help young men, was flattered by being asked for his assistance and +being well disposed toward Boris, who had managed to please him the day +before, he wished to do what the young man wanted. Having been sent with +papers from Kutuzov to the Tsarevich, he looked in on Boris, hoping to +find him alone. When he came in and saw an hussar of the line recounting +his military exploits (Prince Andrew could not endure that sort of man), +he gave Boris a pleasant smile, frowned as with half-closed eyes he +looked at Rostov, bowed slightly and wearily, and sat down languidly on +the sofa: he felt it unpleasant to have dropped in on bad company. +Rostov flushed up on noticing this, but he did not care, this was a mere +stranger. Glancing, however, at Boris, he saw that he too seemed ashamed +of the hussar of the line. + +In spite of Prince Andrew's disagreeable, ironical tone, in spite of the +contempt with which Rostov, from his fighting army point of view, +regarded all these little adjutants on the staff of whom the newcomer +was evidently one, Rostov felt confused, blushed, and became silent. +Boris inquired what news there might be on the staff, and what, without +indiscretion, one might ask about our plans. + +"We shall probably advance," replied Bolkonski, evidently reluctant to +say more in the presence of a stranger. + +Berg took the opportunity to ask, with great politeness, whether, as was +rumored, the allowance of forage money to captains of companies would be +doubled. To this Prince Andrew answered with a smile that he could give +no opinion on such an important government order, and Berg laughed +gaily. + +"As to your business," Prince Andrew continued, addressing Boris, "we +will talk of it later" (and he looked round at Rostov). "Come to me +after the review and we will do what is possible." + +And, having glanced round the room, Prince Andrew turned to Rostov, +whose state of unconquerable childish embarrassment now changing to +anger he did not condescend to notice, and said: "I think you were +talking of the Schon Grabern affair? Were you there?" + +"I was there," said Rostov angrily, as if intending to insult the aide- +de-camp. + +Bolkonski noticed the hussar's state of mind, and it amused him. With a +slightly contemptuous smile, he said: "Yes, there are many stories now +told about that affair!" + +"Yes, stories!" repeated Rostov loudly, looking with eyes suddenly grown +furious, now at Boris, now at Bolkonski. "Yes, many stories! But our +stories are the stories of men who have been under the enemy's fire! Our +stories have some weight, not like the stories of those fellows on the +staff who get rewards without doing anything!" + +"Of whom you imagine me to be one?" said Prince Andrew, with a quiet and +particularly amiable smile. + +A strange feeling of exasperation and yet of respect for this man's +self-possession mingled at that moment in Rostov's soul. + +"I am not talking about you," he said, "I don't know you and, frankly, I +don't want to. I am speaking of the staff in general." + +"And I will tell you this," Prince Andrew interrupted in a tone of quiet +authority, "you wish to insult me, and I am ready to agree with you that +it would be very easy to do so if you haven't sufficient self-respect, +but admit that the time and place are very badly chosen. In a day or two +we shall all have to take part in a greater and more serious duel, and +besides, Drubetskoy, who says he is an old friend of yours, is not at +all to blame that my face has the misfortune to displease you. However," +he added rising, "you know my name and where to find me, but don't +forget that I do not regard either myself or you as having been at all +insulted, and as a man older than you, my advice is to let the matter +drop. Well then, on Friday after the review I shall expect you, +Drubetskoy. Au revoir!" exclaimed Prince Andrew, and with a bow to them +both he went out. + +Only when Prince Andrew was gone did Rostov think of what he ought to +have said. And he was still more angry at having omitted to say it. He +ordered his horse at once and, coldly taking leave of Boris, rode home. +Should he go to headquarters next day and challenge that affected +adjutant, or really let the matter drop, was the question that worried +him all the way. He thought angrily of the pleasure he would have at +seeing the fright of that small and frail but proud man when covered by +his pistol, and then he felt with surprise that of all the men he knew +there was none he would so much like to have for a friend as that very +adjutant whom he so hated. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The day after Rostov had been to see Boris, a review was held of the +Austrian and Russian troops, both those freshly arrived from Russia and +those who had been campaigning under Kutuzov. The two Emperors, the +Russian with his heir the Tsarevich, and the Austrian with the Archduke, +inspected the allied army of eighty thousand men. + +From early morning the smart clean troops were on the move, forming up +on the field before the fortress. Now thousands of feet and bayonets +moved and halted at the officers' command, turned with banners flying, +formed up at intervals, and wheeled round other similar masses of +infantry in different uniforms; now was heard the rhythmic beat of hoofs +and the jingling of showy cavalry in blue, red, and green braided +uniforms, with smartly dressed bandsmen in front mounted on black, roan, +or gray horses; then again, spreading out with the brazen clatter of the +polished shining cannon that quivered on the gun carriages and with the +smell of linstocks, came the artillery which crawled between the +infantry and cavalry and took up its appointed position. Not only the +generals in full parade uniforms, with their thin or thick waists drawn +in to the utmost, their red necks squeezed into their stiff collars, and +wearing scarves and all their decorations, not only the elegant, pomaded +officers, but every soldier with his freshly washed and shaven face and +his weapons clean and polished to the utmost, and every horse groomed +till its coat shone like satin and every hair of its wetted mane lay +smooth--felt that no small matter was happening, but an important and +solemn affair. Every general and every soldier was conscious of his own +insignificance, aware of being but a drop in that ocean of men, and yet +at the same time was conscious of his strength as a part of that +enormous whole. + +From early morning strenuous activities and efforts had begun and by ten +o'clock all had been brought into due order. The ranks were drawn up on +the vast field. The whole army was extended in three lines: the cavalry +in front, behind it the artillery, and behind that again the infantry. + +A space like a street was left between each two lines of troops. The +three parts of that army were sharply distinguished: Kutuzov's fighting +army (with the Pavlograds on the right flank of the front); those +recently arrived from Russia, both Guards and regiments of the line; and +the Austrian troops. But they all stood in the same lines, under one +command, and in a like order. + +Like wind over leaves ran an excited whisper: "They're coming! They're +coming!" Alarmed voices were heard, and a stir of final preparation +swept over all the troops. + +From the direction of Olmutz in front of them, a group was seen +approaching. And at that moment, though the day was still, a light gust +of wind blowing over the army slightly stirred the streamers on the +lances and the unfolded standards fluttered against their staffs. It +looked as if by that slight motion the army itself was expressing its +joy at the approach of the Emperors. One voice was heard shouting: "Eyes +front!" Then, like the crowing of cocks at sunrise, this was repeated by +others from various sides and all became silent. + +In the deathlike stillness only the tramp of horses was heard. This was +the Emperors' suites. The Emperors rode up to the flank, and the +trumpets of the first cavalry regiment played the general march. It +seemed as though not the trumpeters were playing, but as if the army +itself, rejoicing at the Emperors' approach, had naturally burst into +music. Amid these sounds, only the youthful kindly voice of the Emperor +Alexander was clearly heard. He gave the words of greeting, and the +first regiment roared "Hurrah!" so deafeningly, continuously, and +joyfully that the men themselves were awed by their multitude and the +immensity of the power they constituted. + +Rostov, standing in the front lines of Kutuzov's army which the Tsar +approached first, experienced the same feeling as every other man in +that army: a feeling of self-forgetfulness, a proud consciousness of +might, and a passionate attraction to him who was the cause of this +triumph. + +He felt that at a single word from that man all this vast mass (and he +himself an insignificant atom in it) would go through fire and water, +commit crime, die, or perform deeds of highest heroism, and so he could +not but tremble and his heart stand still at the imminence of that word. + +"Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" thundered from all sides, one regiment after +another greeting the Tsar with the strains of the march, and then +"Hurrah!"... Then the general march, and again "Hurrah! Hurrah!" growing +ever stronger and fuller and merging into a deafening roar. + +Till the Tsar reached it, each regiment in its silence and immobility +seemed like a lifeless body, but as soon as he came up it became alive, +its thunder joining the roar of the whole line along which he had +already passed. Through the terrible and deafening roar of those voices, +amid the square masses of troops standing motionless as if turned to +stone, hundreds of riders composing the suites moved carelessly but +symmetrically and above all freely, and in front of them two men--the +Emperors. Upon them the undivided, tensely passionate attention of that +whole mass of men was concentrated. + +The handsome young Emperor Alexander, in the uniform of the Horse +Guards, wearing a cocked hat with its peaks front and back, with his +pleasant face and resonant though not loud voice, attracted everyone's +attention. + +Rostov was not far from the trumpeters, and with his keen sight had +recognized the Tsar and watched his approach. When he was within twenty +paces, and Nicholas could clearly distinguish every detail of his +handsome, happy young face, he experienced a feeling of tenderness and +ecstasy such as he had never before known. Every trait and every +movement of the Tsar's seemed to him enchanting. + +Stopping in front of the Pavlograds, the Tsar said something in French +to the Austrian Emperor and smiled. + +Seeing that smile, Rostov involuntarily smiled himself and felt a still +stronger flow of love for his sovereign. He longed to show that love in +some way and knowing that this was impossible was ready to cry. The Tsar +called the colonel of the regiment and said a few words to him. + +"Oh God, what would happen to me if the Emperor spoke to me?" thought +Rostov. "I should die of happiness!" + +The Tsar addressed the officers also: "I thank you all, gentlemen, I +thank you with my whole heart." To Rostov every word sounded like a +voice from heaven. How gladly would he have died at once for his Tsar! + +"You have earned the St. George's standards and will be worthy of them." + +"Oh, to die, to die for him," thought Rostov. + +The Tsar said something more which Rostov did not hear, and the +soldiers, straining their lungs, shouted "Hurrah!" + +Rostov too, bending over his saddle, shouted "Hurrah!" with all his +might, feeling that he would like to injure himself by that shout, if +only to express his rapture fully. + +The Tsar stopped a few minutes in front of the hussars as if undecided. + +"How can the Emperor be undecided?" thought Rostov, but then even this +indecision appeared to him majestic and enchanting, like everything else +the Tsar did. + +That hesitation lasted only an instant. The Tsar's foot, in the narrow +pointed boot then fashionable, touched the groin of the bobtailed bay +mare he rode, his hand in a white glove gathered up the reins, and he +moved off accompanied by an irregularly swaying sea of aides-de-camp. +Farther and farther he rode away, stopping at other regiments, till at +last only his white plumes were visible to Rostov from amid the suites +that surrounded the Emperors. + +Among the gentlemen of the suite, Rostov noticed Bolkonski, sitting his +horse indolently and carelessly. Rostov recalled their quarrel of +yesterday and the question presented itself whether he ought or ought +not to challenge Bolkonski. "Of course not!" he now thought. "Is it +worth thinking or speaking of it at such a moment? At a time of such +love, such rapture, and such self-sacrifice, what do any of our quarrels +and affronts matter? I love and forgive everybody now." + +When the Emperor had passed nearly all the regiments, the troops began a +ceremonial march past him, and Rostov on Bedouin, recently purchased +from Denisov, rode past too, at the rear of his squadron--that is, alone +and in full view of the Emperor. + +Before he reached him, Rostov, who was a splendid horseman, spurred +Bedouin twice and successfully put him to the showy trot in which the +animal went when excited. Bending his foaming muzzle to his chest, his +tail extended, Bedouin, as if also conscious of the Emperor's eye upon +him, passed splendidly, lifting his feet with a high and graceful +action, as if flying through the air without touching the ground. + +Rostov himself, his legs well back and his stomach drawn in and feeling +himself one with his horse, rode past the Emperor with a frowning but +blissful face "like a vewy devil," as Denisov expressed it. + +"Fine fellows, the Pavlograds!" remarked the Emperor. + +"My God, how happy I should be if he ordered me to leap into the fire +this instant!" thought Rostov. + +When the review was over, the newly arrived officers, and also +Kutuzov's, collected in groups and began to talk about the awards, about +the Austrians and their uniforms, about their lines, about Bonaparte, +and how badly the latter would fare now, especially if the Essen corps +arrived and Prussia took our side. + +But the talk in every group was chiefly about the Emperor Alexander. His +every word and movement was described with ecstasy. + +They all had but one wish: to advance as soon as possible against the +enemy under the Emperor's command. Commanded by the Emperor himself they +could not fail to vanquish anyone, be it whom it might: so thought +Rostov and most of the officers after the review. + +All were then more confident of victory than the winning of two battles +would have made them. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The day after the review, Boris, in his best uniform and with his +comrade Berg's best wishes for success, rode to Olmutz to see Bolkonski, +wishing to profit by his friendliness and obtain for himself the best +post he could--preferably that of adjutant to some important personage, +a position in the army which seemed to him most attractive. "It is all +very well for Rostov, whose father sends him ten thousand rubles at a +time, to talk about not wishing to cringe to anybody and not be anyone's +lackey, but I who have nothing but my brains have to make a career and +must not miss opportunities, but must avail myself of them!" he +reflected. + +He did not find Prince Andrew in Olmutz that day, but the appearance of +the town where the headquarters and the diplomatic corps were stationed +and the two Emperors were living with their suites, households, and +courts only strengthened his desire to belong to that higher world. + +He knew no one, and despite his smart Guardsman's uniform, all these +exalted personages passing in the streets in their elegant carriages +with their plumes, ribbons, and medals, both courtiers and military men, +seemed so immeasurably above him, an insignificant officer of the +Guards, that they not only did not wish to, but simply could not, be +aware of his existence. At the quarters of the commander-in-chief, +Kutuzov, where he inquired for Bolkonski, all the adjutants and even the +orderlies looked at him as if they wished to impress on him that a great +many officers like him were always coming there and that everybody was +heartily sick of them. In spite of this, or rather because of it, next +day, November 15, after dinner he again went to Olmutz and, entering the +house occupied by Kutuzov, asked for Bolkonski. Prince Andrew was in and +Boris was shown into a large hall probably formerly used for dancing, +but in which five beds now stood, and furniture of various kinds: a +table, chairs, and a clavichord. One adjutant, nearest the door, was +sitting at the table in a Persian dressing gown, writing. Another, the +red, stout Nesvitski, lay on a bed with his arms under his head, +laughing with an officer who had sat down beside him. A third was +playing a Viennese waltz on the clavichord, while a fourth, lying on the +clavichord, sang the tune. Bolkonski was not there. None of these +gentlemen changed his position on seeing Boris. The one who was writing +and whom Boris addressed turned round crossly and told him Bolkonski was +on duty and that he should go through the door on the left into the +reception room if he wished to see him. Boris thanked him and went to +the reception room, where he found some ten officers and generals. + +When he entered, Prince Andrew, his eyes drooping contemptuously (with +that peculiar expression of polite weariness which plainly says, "If it +were not my duty I would not talk to you for a moment"), was listening +to an old Russian general with decorations, who stood very erect, almost +on tiptoe, with a soldier's obsequious expression on his purple face, +reporting something. + +"Very well, then, be so good as to wait," said Prince Andrew to the +general, in Russian, speaking with the French intonation he affected +when he wished to speak contemptuously, and noticing Boris, Prince +Andrew, paying no more heed to the general who ran after him imploring +him to hear something more, nodded and turned to him with a cheerful +smile. + +At that moment Boris clearly realized what he had before surmised, that +in the army, besides the subordination and discipline prescribed in the +military code, which he and the others knew in the regiment, there was +another, more important, subordination, which made this tight-laced, +purple-faced general wait respectfully while Captain Prince Andrew, for +his own pleasure, chose to chat with Lieutenant Drubetskoy. More than +ever was Boris resolved to serve in future not according to the written +code, but under this unwritten law. He felt now that merely by having +been recommended to Prince Andrew he had already risen above the general +who at the front had the power to annihilate him, a lieutenant of the +Guards. Prince Andrew came up to him and took his hand. + +"I am very sorry you did not find me in yesterday. I was fussing about +with Germans all day. We went with Weyrother to survey the dispositions. +When Germans start being accurate, there's no end to it!" + +Boris smiled, as if he understood what Prince Andrew was alluding to as +something generally known. But it was the first time he had heard +Weyrother's name, or even the term "dispositions." + +"Well, my dear fellow, so you still want to be an adjutant? I have been +thinking about you." + +"Yes, I was thinking"--for some reason Boris could not help blushing-- +"of asking the commander-in-chief. He has had a letter from Prince +Kuragin about me. I only wanted to ask because I fear the Guards won't +be in action," he added as if in apology. + +"All right, all right. We'll talk it over," replied Prince Andrew. "Only +let me report this gentleman's business, and I shall be at your +disposal." + +While Prince Andrew went to report about the purple-faced general, that +gentleman--evidently not sharing Boris' conception of the advantages of +the unwritten code of subordination--looked so fixedly at the +presumptuous lieutenant who had prevented his finishing what he had to +say to the adjutant that Boris felt uncomfortable. He turned away and +waited impatiently for Prince Andrew's return from the commander-in- +chief's room. + +"You see, my dear fellow, I have been thinking about you," said Prince +Andrew when they had gone into the large room where the clavichord was. +"It's no use your going to the commander-in-chief. He would say a lot of +pleasant things, ask you to dinner" ("That would not be bad as regards +the unwritten code," thought Boris), "but nothing more would come of it. +There will soon be a battalion of us aides-de-camp and adjutants! But +this is what we'll do: I have a good friend, an adjutant general and an +excellent fellow, Prince Dolgorukov; and though you may not know it, the +fact is that now Kutuzov with his staff and all of us count for nothing. +Everything is now centered round the Emperor. So we will go to +Dolgorukov; I have to go there anyhow and I have already spoken to him +about you. We shall see whether he cannot attach you to himself or find +a place for you somewhere nearer the sun." + +Prince Andrew always became specially keen when he had to guide a young +man and help him to worldly success. Under cover of obtaining help of +this kind for another, which from pride he would never accept for +himself, he kept in touch with the circle which confers success and +which attracted him. He very readily took up Boris' cause and went with +him to Dolgorukov. + +It was late in the evening when they entered the palace at Olmutz +occupied by the Emperors and their retinues. + +That same day a council of war had been held in which all the members of +the Hofkriegsrath and both Emperors took part. At that council, contrary +to the views of the old generals Kutuzov and Prince Schwartzenberg, it +had been decided to advance immediately and give battle to Bonaparte. +The council of war was just over when Prince Andrew accompanied by Boris +arrived at the palace to find Dolgorukov. Everyone at headquarters was +still under the spell of the day's council, at which the party of the +young had triumphed. The voices of those who counseled delay and advised +waiting for something else before advancing had been so completely +silenced and their arguments confuted by such conclusive evidence of the +advantages of attacking that what had been discussed at the council--the +coming battle and the victory that would certainly result from it--no +longer seemed to be in the future but in the past. All the advantages +were on our side. Our enormous forces, undoubtedly superior to +Napoleon's, were concentrated in one place, the troops inspired by the +Emperors' presence were eager for action. The strategic position where +the operations would take place was familiar in all its details to the +Austrian General Weyrother: a lucky accident had ordained that the +Austrian army should maneuver the previous year on the very fields where +the French had now to be fought; the adjacent locality was known and +shown in every detail on the maps, and Bonaparte, evidently weakened, +was undertaking nothing. + +Dolgorukov, one of the warmest advocates of an attack, had just returned +from the council, tired and exhausted but eager and proud of the victory +that had been gained. Prince Andrew introduced his protege, but Prince +Dolgorukov politely and firmly pressing his hand said nothing to Boris +and, evidently unable to suppress the thoughts which were uppermost in +his mind at that moment, addressed Prince Andrew in French. + +"Ah, my dear fellow, what a battle we have gained! God grant that the +one that will result from it will be as victorious! However, dear +fellow," he said abruptly and eagerly, "I must confess to having been +unjust to the Austrians and especially to Weyrother. What exactitude, +what minuteness, what knowledge of the locality, what foresight for +every eventuality, every possibility even to the smallest detail! No, my +dear fellow, no conditions better than our present ones could have been +devised. This combination of Austrian precision with Russian valor--what +more could be wished for?" + +"So the attack is definitely resolved on?" asked Bolkonski. + +"And do you know, my dear fellow, it seems to me that Bonaparte has +decidedly lost bearings, you know that a letter was received from him +today for the Emperor." Dolgorukov smiled significantly. + +"Is that so? And what did he say?" inquired Bolkonski. + +"What can he say? Tra-di-ri-di-ra and so on... merely to gain time. I +tell you he is in our hands, that's certain! But what was most amusing," +he continued, with a sudden, good-natured laugh, "was that we could not +think how to address the reply! If not as 'Consul' and of course not as +'Emperor,' it seemed to me it should be to 'General Bonaparte.'" + +"But between not recognizing him as Emperor and calling him General +Bonaparte, there is a difference," remarked Bolkonski. + +"That's just it," interrupted Dolgorukov quickly, laughing. "You know +Bilibin--he's a very clever fellow. He suggested addressing him as +'Usurper and Enemy of Mankind.'" + +Dolgorukov laughed merrily. + +"Only that?" said Bolkonski. + +"All the same, it was Bilibin who found a suitable form for the address. +He is a wise and clever fellow." + +"What was it?" + +"To the Head of the French Government... Au chef du gouvernement +francais," said Dolgorukov, with grave satisfaction. "Good, wasn't it?" + +"Yes, but he will dislike it extremely," said Bolkonski. + +"Oh yes, very much! My brother knows him, he's dined with him--the +present Emperor--more than once in Paris, and tells me he never met a +more cunning or subtle diplomatist--you know, a combination of French +adroitness and Italian play-acting! Do you know the tale about him and +Count Markov? Count Markov was the only man who knew how to handle him. +You know the story of the handkerchief? It is delightful!" + +And the talkative Dolgorukov, turning now to Boris, now to Prince +Andrew, told how Bonaparte wishing to test Markov, our ambassador, +purposely dropped a handkerchief in front of him and stood looking at +Markov, probably expecting Markov to pick it up for him, and how Markov +immediately dropped his own beside it and picked it up without touching +Bonaparte's. + +"Delightful!" said Bolkonski. "But I have come to you, Prince, as a +petitioner on behalf of this young man. You see..." but before Prince +Andrew could finish, an aide-de-camp came in to summon Dolgorukov to the +Emperor. + +"Oh, what a nuisance," said Dolgorukov, getting up hurriedly and +pressing the hands of Prince Andrew and Boris. "You know I should be +very glad to do all in my power both for you and for this dear young +man." Again he pressed the hand of the latter with an expression of +good-natured, sincere, and animated levity. "But you see... another +time!" + +Boris was excited by the thought of being so close to the higher powers +as he felt himself to be at that moment. He was conscious that here he +was in contact with the springs that set in motion the enormous +movements of the mass of which in his regiment he felt himself a tiny, +obedient, and insignificant atom. They followed Prince Dolgorukov out +into the corridor and met--coming out of the door of the Emperor's room +by which Dolgorukov had entered--a short man in civilian clothes with a +clever face and sharply projecting jaw which, without spoiling his face, +gave him a peculiar vivacity and shiftiness of expression. This short +man nodded to Dolgorukov as to an intimate friend and stared at Prince +Andrew with cool intensity, walking straight toward him and evidently +expecting him to bow or to step out of his way. Prince Andrew did +neither: a look of animosity appeared on his face and the other turned +away and went down the side of the corridor. + +"Who was that?" asked Boris. + +"He is one of the most remarkable, but to me most unpleasant of men--the +Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Adam Czartoryski.... It is such men +as he who decide the fate of nations," added Bolkonski with a sigh he +could not suppress, as they passed out of the palace. + +Next day, the army began its campaign, and up to the very battle of +Austerlitz, Boris was unable to see either Prince Andrew or Dolgorukov +again and remained for a while with the Ismaylov regiment. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +At dawn on the sixteenth of November, Denisov's squadron, in which +Nicholas Rostov served and which was in Prince Bagration's detachment, +moved from the place where it had spent the night, advancing into action +as arranged, and after going behind other columns for about two thirds +of a mile was stopped on the highroad. Rostov saw the Cossacks and then +the first and second squadrons of hussars and infantry battalions and +artillery pass by and go forward and then Generals Bagration and +Dolgorukov ride past with their adjutants. All the fear before action +which he had experienced as previously, all the inner struggle to +conquer that fear, all his dreams of distinguishing himself as a true +hussar in this battle, had been wasted. Their squadron remained in +reserve and Nicholas Rostov spent that day in a dull and wretched mood. +At nine in the morning, he heard firing in front and shouts of hurrah, +and saw wounded being brought back (there were not many of them), and at +last he saw how a whole detachment of French cavalry was brought in, +convoyed by a sotnya of Cossacks. Evidently the affair was over and, +though not big, had been a successful engagement. The men and officers +returning spoke of a brilliant victory, of the occupation of the town of +Wischau and the capture of a whole French squadron. The day was bright +and sunny after a sharp night frost, and the cheerful glitter of that +autumn day was in keeping with the news of victory which was conveyed, +not only by the tales of those who had taken part in it, but also by the +joyful expression on the faces of soldiers, officers, generals, and +adjutants, as they passed Rostov going or coming. And Nicholas, who had +vainly suffered all the dread that precedes a battle and had spent that +happy day in inactivity, was all the more depressed. + +"Come here, Wostov. Let's dwink to dwown our gwief!" shouted Denisov, +who had settled down by the roadside with a flask and some food. + +The officers gathered round Denisov's canteen, eating and talking. + +"There! They are bringing another!" cried one of the officers, +indicating a captive French dragoon who was being brought in on foot by +two Cossacks. + +One of them was leading by the bridle a fine large French horse he had +taken from the prisoner. + +"Sell us that horse!" Denisov called out to the Cossacks. + +"If you like, your honor!" + +The officers got up and stood round the Cossacks and their prisoner. The +French dragoon was a young Alsatian who spoke French with a German +accent. He was breathless with agitation, his face was red, and when he +heard some French spoken he at once began speaking to the officers, +addressing first one, then another. He said he would not have been +taken, it was not his fault but the corporal's who had sent him to seize +some horsecloths, though he had told him the Russians were there. And at +every word he added: "But don't hurt my little horse!" and stroked the +animal. It was plain that he did not quite grasp where he was. Now he +excused himself for having been taken prisoner and now, imagining +himself before his own officers, insisted on his soldierly discipline +and zeal in the service. He brought with him into our rearguard all the +freshness of atmosphere of the French army, which was so alien to us. + +The Cossacks sold the horse for two gold pieces, and Rostov, being the +richest of the officers now that he had received his money, bought it. + +"But don't hurt my little horse!" said the Alsatian good-naturedly to +Rostov when the animal was handed over to the hussar. + +Rostov smilingly reassured the dragoon and gave him money. + +"Alley! Alley!" said the Cossack, touching the prisoner's arm to make +him go on. + +"The Emperor! The Emperor!" was suddenly heard among the hussars. + +All began to run and bustle, and Rostov saw coming up the road behind +him several riders with white plumes in their hats. In a moment everyone +was in his place, waiting. + +Rostov did not know or remember how he ran to his place and mounted. +Instantly his regret at not having been in action and his dejected mood +amid people of whom he was weary had gone, instantly every thought of +himself had vanished. He was filled with happiness at his nearness to +the Emperor. He felt that this nearness by itself made up to him for the +day he had lost. He was happy as a lover when the longed-for moment of +meeting arrives. Not daring to look round and without looking round, he +was ecstatically conscious of his approach. He felt it not only from the +sound of the hoofs of the approaching cavalcade, but because as he drew +near everything grew brighter, more joyful, more significant, and more +festive around him. Nearer and nearer to Rostov came that sun shedding +beams of mild and majestic light around, and already he felt himself +enveloped in those beams, he heard his voice, that kindly, calm, and +majestic voice that was yet so simple! And as if in accord with Rostov's +feeling, there was a deathly stillness amid which was heard the +Emperor's voice. + +"The Pavlograd hussars?" he inquired. + +"The reserves, sire!" replied a voice, a very human one compared to that +which had said: "The Pavlograd hussars?" + +The Emperor drew level with Rostov and halted. Alexander's face was even +more beautiful than it had been three days before at the review. It +shone with such gaiety and youth, such innocent youth, that it suggested +the liveliness of a fourteen-year-old boy, and yet it was the face of +the majestic Emperor. Casually, while surveying the squadron, the +Emperor's eyes met Rostov's and rested on them for not more than two +seconds. Whether or no the Emperor understood what was going on in +Rostov's soul (it seemed to Rostov that he understood everything), at +any rate his light-blue eyes gazed for about two seconds into Rostov's +face. A gentle, mild light poured from them. Then all at once he raised +his eyebrows, abruptly touched his horse with his left foot, and +galloped on. + +The younger Emperor could not restrain his wish to be present at the +battle and, in spite of the remonstrances of his courtiers, at twelve +o'clock left the third column with which he had been and galloped toward +the vanguard. Before he came up with the hussars, several adjutants met +him with news of the successful result of the action. + +This battle, which consisted in the capture of a French squadron, was +represented as a brilliant victory over the French, and so the Emperor +and the whole army, especially while the smoke hung over the +battlefield, believed that the French had been defeated and were +retreating against their will. A few minutes after the Emperor had +passed, the Pavlograd division was ordered to advance. In Wischau +itself, a petty German town, Rostov saw the Emperor again. In the market +place, where there had been some rather heavy firing before the +Emperor's arrival, lay several killed and wounded soldiers whom there +had not been time to move. The Emperor, surrounded by his suite of +officers and courtiers, was riding a bobtailed chestnut mare, a +different one from that which he had ridden at the review, and bending +to one side he gracefully held a gold lorgnette to his eyes and looked +at a soldier who lay prone, with blood on his uncovered head. The +wounded soldier was so dirty, coarse, and revolting that his proximity +to the Emperor shocked Rostov. Rostov saw how the Emperor's rather round +shoulders shuddered as if a cold shiver had run down them, how his left +foot began convulsively tapping the horse's side with the spur, and how +the well-trained horse looked round unconcerned and did not stir. An +adjutant, dismounting, lifted the soldier under the arms to place him on +a stretcher that had been brought. The soldier groaned. + +"Gently, gently! Can't you do it more gently?" said the Emperor +apparently suffering more than the dying soldier, and he rode away. + +Rostov saw tears filling the Emperor's eyes and heard him, as he was +riding away, say to Czartoryski: "What a terrible thing war is: what a +terrible thing! Quelle terrible chose que la guerre!" + +The troops of the vanguard were stationed before Wischau, within sight +of the enemy's lines, which all day long had yielded ground to us at the +least firing. The Emperor's gratitude was announced to the vanguard, +rewards were promised, and the men received a double ration of vodka. +The campfires crackled and the soldiers' songs resounded even more +merrily than on the previous night. Denisov celebrated his promotion to +the rank of major, and Rostov, who had already drunk enough, at the end +of the feast proposed the Emperor's health. "Not 'our Sovereign, the +Emperor,' as they say at official dinners," said he, "but the health of +our Sovereign, that good, enchanting, and great man! Let us drink to his +health and to the certain defeat of the French!" + +"If we fought before," he said, "not letting the French pass, as at +Schon Grabern, what shall we not do now when he is at the front? We will +all die for him gladly! Is it not so, gentlemen? Perhaps I am not saying +it right, I have drunk a good deal--but that is how I feel, and so do +you too! To the health of Alexander the First! Hurrah!" + +"Hurrah!" rang the enthusiastic voices of the officers. + +And the old cavalry captain, Kirsten, shouted enthusiastically and no +less sincerely than the twenty-year-old Rostov. + +When the officers had emptied and smashed their glasses, Kirsten filled +others and, in shirt sleeves and breeches, went glass in hand to the +soldiers' bonfires and with his long gray mustache, his white chest +showing under his open shirt, he stood in a majestic pose in the light +of the campfire, waving his uplifted arm. + +"Lads! here's to our Sovereign, the Emperor, and victory over our +enemies! Hurrah!" he exclaimed in his dashing, old, hussar's baritone. + +The hussars crowded round and responded heartily with loud shouts. + +Late that night, when all had separated, Denisov with his short hand +patted his favorite, Rostov, on the shoulder. + +"As there's no one to fall in love with on campaign, he's fallen in love +with the Tsar," he said. + +"Denisov, don't make fun of it!" cried Rostov. "It is such a lofty, +beautiful feeling, such a..." + +"I believe it, I believe it, fwiend, and I share and appwove..." + +"No, you don't understand!" + +And Rostov got up and went wandering among the campfires, dreaming of +what happiness it would be to die--not in saving the Emperor's life (he +did not even dare to dream of that), but simply to die before his eyes. +He really was in love with the Tsar and the glory of the Russian arms +and the hope of future triumph. And he was not the only man to +experience that feeling during those memorable days preceding the battle +of Austerlitz: nine tenths of the men in the Russian army were then in +love, though less ecstatically, with their Tsar and the glory of the +Russian arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The next day the Emperor stopped at Wischau, and Villier, his physician, +was repeatedly summoned to see him. At headquarters and among the troops +near by the news spread that the Emperor was unwell. He ate nothing and +had slept badly that night, those around him reported. The cause of this +indisposition was the strong impression made on his sensitive mind by +the sight of the killed and wounded. + +At daybreak on the seventeenth, a French officer who had come with a +flag of truce, demanding an audience with the Russian Emperor, was +brought into Wischau from our outposts. This officer was Savary. The +Emperor had only just fallen asleep and so Savary had to wait. At midday +he was admitted to the Emperor, and an hour later he rode off with +Prince Dolgorukov to the advanced post of the French army. + +It was rumored that Savary had been sent to propose to Alexander a +meeting with Napoleon. To the joy and pride of the whole army, a +personal interview was refused, and instead of the Sovereign, Prince +Dolgorukov, the victor at Wischau, was sent with Savary to negotiate +with Napoleon if, contrary to expectations, these negotiations were +actuated by a real desire for peace. + +Toward evening Dolgorukov came back, went straight to the Tsar, and +remained alone with him for a long time. + +On the eighteenth and nineteenth of November, the army advanced two +days' march and the enemy's outposts after a brief interchange of shots +retreated. In the highest army circles from midday on the nineteenth, a +great, excitedly bustling activity began which lasted till the morning +of the twentieth, when the memorable battle of Austerlitz was fought. + +Till midday on the nineteenth, the activity--the eager talk, running to +and fro, and dispatching of adjutants--was confined to the Emperor's +headquarters. But on the afternoon of that day, this activity reached +Kutuzov's headquarters and the staffs of the commanders of columns. By +evening, the adjutants had spread it to all ends and parts of the army, +and in the night from the nineteenth to the twentieth, the whole eighty +thousand allied troops rose from their bivouacs to the hum of voices, +and the army swayed and started in one enormous mass six miles long. + +The concentrated activity which had begun at the Emperor's headquarters +in the morning and had started the whole movement that followed was like +the first movement of the main wheel of a large tower clock. One wheel +slowly moved, another was set in motion, and a third, and wheels began +to revolve faster and faster, levers and cogwheels to work, chimes to +play, figures to pop out, and the hands to advance with regular motion +as a result of all that activity. + +Just as in the mechanism of a clock, so in the mechanism of the military +machine, an impulse once given leads to the final result; and just as +indifferently quiescent till the moment when motion is transmitted to +them are the parts of the mechanism which the impulse has not yet +reached. Wheels creak on their axles as the cogs engage one another and +the revolving pulleys whirr with the rapidity of their movement, but a +neighboring wheel is as quiet and motionless as though it were prepared +to remain so for a hundred years; but the moment comes when the lever +catches it and obeying the impulse that wheel begins to creak and joins +in the common motion the result and aim of which are beyond its ken. + +Just as in a clock, the result of the complicated motion of innumerable +wheels and pulleys is merely a slow and regular movement of the hands +which show the time, so the result of all the complicated human +activities of 160,000 Russians and French--all their passions, desires, +remorse, humiliations, sufferings, outbursts of pride, fear, and +enthusiasm--was only the loss of the battle of Austerlitz, the so-called +battle of the three Emperors--that is to say, a slow movement of the +hand on the dial of human history. + +Prince Andrew was on duty that day and in constant attendance on the +commander-in-chief. + +At six in the evening, Kutuzov went to the Emperor's headquarters and +after staying but a short time with the Tsar went to see the grand +marshal of the court, Count Tolstoy. + +Bolkonski took the opportunity to go in to get some details of the +coming action from Dolgorukov. He felt that Kutuzov was upset and +dissatisfied about something and that at headquarters they were +dissatisfied with him, and also that at the Emperor's headquarters +everyone adopted toward him the tone of men who know something others do +not know: he therefore wished to speak to Dolgorukov. + +"Well, how d'you do, my dear fellow?" said Dolgorukov, who was sitting +at tea with Bilibin. "The fete is for tomorrow. How is your old fellow? +Out of sorts?" + +"I won't say he is out of sorts, but I fancy he would like to be heard." + +"But they heard him at the council of war and will hear him when he +talks sense, but to temporize and wait for something now when Bonaparte +fears nothing so much as a general battle is impossible." + +"Yes, you have seen him?" said Prince Andrew. "Well, what is Bonaparte +like? How did he impress you?" + +"Yes, I saw him, and am convinced that he fears nothing so much as a +general engagement," repeated Dolgorukov, evidently prizing this general +conclusion which he had arrived at from his interview with Napoleon. "If +he weren't afraid of a battle why did he ask for that interview? Why +negotiate, and above all why retreat, when to retreat is so contrary to +his method of conducting war? Believe me, he is afraid, afraid of a +general battle. His hour has come! Mark my words!" + +"But tell me, what is he like, eh?" said Prince Andrew again. + +"He is a man in a gray overcoat, very anxious that I should call him +'Your Majesty,' but who, to his chagrin, got no title from me! That's +the sort of man he is, and nothing more," replied Dolgorukov, looking +round at Bilibin with a smile. + +"Despite my great respect for old Kutuzov," he continued, "we should be +a nice set of fellows if we were to wait about and so give him a chance +to escape, or to trick us, now that we certainly have him in our hands! +No, we mustn't forget Suvorov and his rule--not to put yourself in a +position to be attacked, but yourself to attack. Believe me in war the +energy of young men often shows the way better than all the experience +of old Cunctators." + +"But in what position are we going to attack him? I have been at the +outposts today and it is impossible to say where his chief forces are +situated," said Prince Andrew. + +He wished to explain to Dolgorukov a plan of attack he had himself +formed. + +"Oh, that is all the same," Dolgorukov said quickly, and getting up he +spread a map on the table. "All eventualities have been foreseen. If he +is standing before Brunn..." + +And Prince Dolgorukov rapidly but indistinctly explained Weyrother's +plan of a flanking movement. + +Prince Andrew began to reply and to state his own plan, which might have +been as good as Weyrother's, but for the disadvantage that Weyrother's +had already been approved. As soon as Prince Andrew began to demonstrate +the defects of the latter and the merits of his own plan, Prince +Dolgorukov ceased to listen to him and gazed absent-mindedly not at the +map, but at Prince Andrew's face. + +"There will be a council of war at Kutuzov's tonight, though; you can +say all this there," remarked Dolgorukov. + +"I will do so," said Prince Andrew, moving away from the map. + +"Whatever are you bothering about, gentlemen?" said Bilibin, who, till +then, had listened with an amused smile to their conversation and now +was evidently ready with a joke. "Whether tomorrow brings victory or +defeat, the glory of our Russian arms is secure. Except your Kutuzov, +there is not a single Russian in command of a column! The commanders +are: Herr General Wimpfen, le Comte de Langeron, le Prince de +Lichtenstein, le Prince, de Hohenlohe, and finally Prishprish, and so on +like all those Polish names." + +"Be quiet, backbiter!" said Dolgorukov. "It is not true; there are now +two Russians, Miloradovich, and Dokhturov, and there would be a third, +Count Arakcheev, if his nerves were not too weak." + +"However, I think General Kutuzov has come out," said Prince Andrew. "I +wish you good luck and success, gentlemen!" he added and went out after +shaking hands with Dolgorukov and Bilibin. + +On the way home, Prince Andrew could not refrain from asking Kutuzov, +who was sitting silently beside him, what he thought of tomorrow's +battle. + +Kutuzov looked sternly at his adjutant and, after a pause, replied: "I +think the battle will be lost, and so I told Count Tolstoy and asked him +to tell the Emperor. What do you think he replied? 'But, my dear +general, I am engaged with rice and cutlets, look after military matters +yourself!' Yes... That was the answer I got!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Shortly after nine o'clock that evening, Weyrother drove with his plans +to Kutuzov's quarters where the council of war was to be held. All the +commanders of columns were summoned to the commander-in-chief's and with +the exception of Prince Bagration, who declined to come, were all there +at the appointed time. + +Weyrother, who was in full control of the proposed battle, by his +eagerness and briskness presented a marked contrast to the dissatisfied +and drowsy Kutuzov, who reluctantly played the part of chairman and +president of the council of war. Weyrother evidently felt himself to be +at the head of a movement that had already become unrestrainable. He was +like a horse running downhill harnessed to a heavy cart. Whether he was +pulling it or being pushed by it he did not know, but rushed along at +headlong speed with no time to consider what this movement might lead +to. Weyrother had been twice that evening to the enemy's picket line to +reconnoiter personally, and twice to the Emperors, Russian and Austrian, +to report and explain, and to his headquarters where he had dictated the +dispositions in German, and now, much exhausted, he arrived at +Kutuzov's. + +He was evidently so busy that he even forgot to be polite to the +commander in chief. He interrupted him, talked rapidly and indistinctly, +without looking at the man he was addressing, and did not reply to +questions put to him. He was bespattered with mud and had a pitiful, +weary, and distracted air, though at the same time he was haughty and +self-confident. + +Kutuzov was occupying a nobleman's castle of modest dimensions near +Ostralitz. In the large drawing room which had become the commander in +chief's office were gathered Kutuzov himself, Weyrother, and the members +of the council of war. They were drinking tea, and only awaited Prince +Bagration to begin the council. At last Bagration's orderly came with +the news that the prince could not attend. Prince Andrew came in to +inform the commander-in-chief of this and, availing himself of +permission previously given him by Kutuzov to be present at the council, +he remained in the room. + +"Since Prince Bagration is not coming, we may begin," said Weyrother, +hurriedly rising from his seat and going up to the table on which an +enormous map of the environs of Brunn was spread out. + +Kutuzov, with his uniform unbuttoned so that his fat neck bulged over +his collar as if escaping, was sitting almost asleep in a low chair, +with his podgy old hands resting symmetrically on its arms. At the sound +of Weyrother's voice, he opened his one eye with an effort. + +"Yes, yes, if you please! It is already late," said he, and nodding his +head he let it droop and again closed his eye. + +If at first the members of the council thought that Kutuzov was +pretending to sleep, the sounds his nose emitted during the reading that +followed proved that the commander-in-chief at that moment was absorbed +by a far more serious matter than a desire to show his contempt for the +dispositions or anything else--he was engaged in satisfying the +irresistible human need for sleep. He really was asleep. Weyrother, with +the gesture of a man too busy to lose a moment, glanced at Kutuzov and, +having convinced himself that he was asleep, took up a paper and in a +loud, monotonous voice began to read out the dispositions for the +impending battle, under a heading which he also read out: + +"Dispositions for an attack on the enemy position behind Kobelnitz and +Sokolnitz, November 30, 1805." + +The dispositions were very complicated and difficult. They began as +follows: + +"As the enemy's left wing rests on wooded hills and his right extends +along Kobelnitz and Sokolnitz behind the ponds that are there, while we, +on the other hand, with our left wing by far outflank his right, it is +advantageous to attack the enemy's latter wing especially if we occupy +the villages of Sokolnitz and Kobelnitz, whereby we can both fall on his +flank and pursue him over the plain between Schlappanitz and the +Thuerassa forest, avoiding the defiles of Schlappanitz and Bellowitz +which cover the enemy's front. For this object it is necessary that... +The first column marches... The second column marches... The third +column marches..." and so on, read Weyrother. + +The generals seemed to listen reluctantly to the difficult dispositions. +The tall, fair-haired General Buxhowden stood, leaning his back against +the wall, his eyes fixed on a burning candle, and seemed not to listen +or even to wish to be thought to listen. Exactly opposite Weyrother, +with his glistening wide-open eyes fixed upon him and his mustache +twisted upwards, sat the ruddy Miloradovich in a military pose, his +elbows turned outwards, his hands on his knees, and his shoulders +raised. He remained stubbornly silent, gazing at Weyrother's face, and +only turned away his eyes when the Austrian chief of staff finished +reading. Then Miloradovich looked round significantly at the other +generals. But one could not tell from that significant look whether he +agreed or disagreed and was satisfied or not with the arrangements. Next +to Weyrother sat Count Langeron who, with a subtle smile that never left +his typically southern French face during the whole time of the reading, +gazed at his delicate fingers which rapidly twirled by its corners a +gold snuffbox on which was a portrait. In the middle of one of the +longest sentences, he stopped the rotary motion of the snuffbox, raised +his head, and with inimical politeness lurking in the corners of his +thin lips interrupted Weyrother, wishing to say something. But the +Austrian general, continuing to read, frowned angrily and jerked his +elbows, as if to say: "You can tell me your views later, but now be so +good as to look at the map and listen." Langeron lifted his eyes with an +expression of perplexity, turned round to Miloradovich as if seeking an +explanation, but meeting the latter's impressive but meaningless gaze +drooped his eyes sadly and again took to twirling his snuffbox. + +"A geography lesson!" he muttered as if to himself, but loud enough to +be heard. + +Przebyszewski, with respectful but dignified politeness, held his hand +to his ear toward Weyrother, with the air of a man absorbed in +attention. Dohkturov, a little man, sat opposite Weyrother, with an +assiduous and modest mien, and stooping over the outspread map +conscientiously studied the dispositions and the unfamiliar locality. He +asked Weyrother several times to repeat words he had not clearly heard +and the difficult names of villages. Weyrother complied and Dohkturov +noted them down. + +When the reading which lasted more than an hour was over, Langeron again +brought his snuffbox to rest and, without looking at Weyrother or at +anyone in particular, began to say how difficult it was to carry out +such a plan in which the enemy's position was assumed to be known, +whereas it was perhaps not known, since the enemy was in movement. +Langeron's objections were valid but it was obvious that their chief aim +was to show General Weyrother--who had read his dispositions with as +much self-confidence as if he were addressing school children--that he +had to do, not with fools, but with men who could teach him something in +military matters. + +When the monotonous sound of Weyrother's voice ceased, Kutuzov opened +his eye as a miller wakes up when the soporific drone of the mill wheel +is interrupted. He listened to what Langeron said, as if remarking, "So +you are still at that silly business!" quickly closed his eye again, and +let his head sink still lower. + +Langeron, trying as virulently as possible to sting Weyrother's vanity +as author of the military plan, argued that Bonaparte might easily +attack instead of being attacked, and so render the whole of this plan +perfectly worthless. Weyrother met all objections with a firm and +contemptuous smile, evidently prepared beforehand to meet all objections +be they what they might. + +"If he could attack us, he would have done so today," said he. + +"So you think he is powerless?" said Langeron. + +"He has forty thousand men at most," replied Weyrother, with the smile +of a doctor to whom an old wife wishes to explain the treatment of a +case. + +"In that case he is inviting his doom by awaiting our attack," said +Langeron, with a subtly ironical smile, again glancing round for support +to Miloradovich who was near him. + +But Miloradovich was at that moment evidently thinking of anything +rather than of what the generals were disputing about. + +"Ma foi!" said he, "tomorrow we shall see all that on the battlefield." + +Weyrother again gave that smile which seemed to say that to him it was +strange and ridiculous to meet objections from Russian generals and to +have to prove to them what he had not merely convinced himself of, but +had also convinced the sovereign Emperors of. + +"The enemy has quenched his fires and a continual noise is heard from +his camp," said he. "What does that mean? Either he is retreating, which +is the only thing we need fear, or he is changing his position." (He +smiled ironically.) "But even if he also took up a position in the +Thuerassa, he merely saves us a great deal of trouble and all our +arrangements to the minutest detail remain the same." + +"How is that?..." began Prince Andrew, who had for long been waiting an +opportunity to express his doubts. + +Kutuzov here woke up, coughed heavily, and looked round at the generals. + +"Gentlemen, the dispositions for tomorrow--or rather for today, for it +is past midnight--cannot now be altered," said he. "You have heard them, +and we shall all do our duty. But before a battle, there is nothing more +important..." he paused, "than to have a good sleep." + +He moved as if to rise. The generals bowed and retired. It was past +midnight. Prince Andrew went out. + +The council of war, at which Prince Andrew had not been able to express +his opinion as he had hoped to, left on him a vague and uneasy +impression. Whether Dolgorukov and Weyrother, or Kutuzov, Langeron, and +the others who did not approve of the plan of attack, were right--he did +not know. "But was it really not possible for Kutuzov to state his views +plainly to the Emperor? Is it possible that on account of court and +personal considerations tens of thousands of lives, and my life, my +life," he thought, "must be risked?" + +"Yes, it is very likely that I shall be killed tomorrow," he thought. +And suddenly, at this thought of death, a whole series of most distant, +most intimate, memories rose in his imagination: he remembered his last +parting from his father and his wife; he remembered the days when he +first loved her. He thought of her pregnancy and felt sorry for her and +for himself, and in a nervously emotional and softened mood he went out +of the hut in which he was billeted with Nesvitski and began to walk up +and down before it. + +The night was foggy and through the fog the moonlight gleamed +mysteriously. "Yes, tomorrow, tomorrow!" he thought. "Tomorrow +everything may be over for me! All these memories will be no more, none +of them will have any meaning for me. Tomorrow perhaps, even certainly, +I have a presentiment that for the first time I shall have to show all I +can do." And his fancy pictured the battle, its loss, the concentration +of fighting at one point, and the hesitation of all the commanders. And +then that happy moment, that Toulon for which he had so long waited, +presents itself to him at last. He firmly and clearly expresses his +opinion to Kutuzov, to Weyrother, and to the Emperors. All are struck by +the justness of his views, but no one undertakes to carry them out, so +he takes a regiment, a division-stipulates that no one is to interfere +with his arrangements--leads his division to the decisive point, and +gains the victory alone. "But death and suffering?" suggested another +voice. Prince Andrew, however, did not answer that voice and went on +dreaming of his triumphs. The dispositions for the next battle are +planned by him alone. Nominally he is only an adjutant on Kutuzov's +staff, but he does everything alone. The next battle is won by him +alone. Kutuzov is removed and he is appointed... "Well and then?" asked +the other voice. "If before that you are not ten times wounded, killed, +or betrayed, well... what then?..." "Well then," Prince Andrew answered +himself, "I don't know what will happen and don't want to know, and +can't, but if I want this--want glory, want to be known to men, want to +be loved by them, it is not my fault that I want it and want nothing but +that and live only for that. Yes, for that alone! I shall never tell +anyone, but, oh God! what am I to do if I love nothing but fame and +men's esteem? Death, wounds, the loss of family--I fear nothing. And +precious and dear as many persons are to me--father, sister, wife--those +dearest to me--yet dreadful and unnatural as it seems, I would give them +all at once for a moment of glory, of triumph over men, of love from men +I don't know and never shall know, for the love of these men here," he +thought, as he listened to voices in Kutuzov's courtyard. The voices +were those of the orderlies who were packing up; one voice, probably a +coachman's, was teasing Kutuzov's old cook whom Prince Andrew knew, and +who was called Tit. He was saying, "Tit, I say, Tit!" + +"Well?" returned the old man. + +"Go, Tit, thresh a bit!" said the wag. + +"Oh, go to the devil!" called out a voice, drowned by the laughter of +the orderlies and servants. + +"All the same, I love and value nothing but triumph over them all, I +value this mystic power and glory that is floating here above me in this +mist!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +That same night, Rostov was with a platoon on skirmishing duty in front +of Bagration's detachment. His hussars were placed along the line in +couples and he himself rode along the line trying to master the +sleepiness that kept coming over him. An enormous space, with our army's +campfires dimly glowing in the fog, could be seen behind him; in front +of him was misty darkness. Rostov could see nothing, peer as he would +into that foggy distance: now something gleamed gray, now there was +something black, now little lights seemed to glimmer where the enemy +ought to be, now he fancied it was only something in his own eyes. His +eyes kept closing, and in his fancy appeared--now the Emperor, now +Denisov, and now Moscow memories--and he again hurriedly opened his eyes +and saw close before him the head and ears of the horse he was riding, +and sometimes, when he came within six paces of them, the black figures +of hussars, but in the distance was still the same misty darkness. "Why +not?... It might easily happen," thought Rostov, "that the Emperor will +meet me and give me an order as he would to any other officer; he'll +say: 'Go and find out what's there.' There are many stories of his +getting to know an officer in just such a chance way and attaching him +to himself! What if he gave me a place near him? Oh, how I would guard +him, how I would tell him the truth, how I would unmask his deceivers!" +And in order to realize vividly his love devotion to the sovereign, +Rostov pictured to himself an enemy or a deceitful German, whom he would +not only kill with pleasure but whom he would slap in the face before +the Emperor. Suddenly a distant shout aroused him. He started and opened +his eyes. + +"Where am I? Oh yes, in the skirmishing line... pass and watchword-- +shaft, Olmutz. What a nuisance that our squadron will be in reserve +tomorrow," he thought. "I'll ask leave to go to the front, this may be +my only chance of seeing the Emperor. It won't be long now before I am +off duty. I'll take another turn and when I get back I'll go to the +general and ask him." He readjusted himself in the saddle and touched up +his horse to ride once more round his hussars. It seemed to him that it +was getting lighter. To the left he saw a sloping descent lit up, and +facing it a black knoll that seemed as steep as a wall. On this knoll +there was a white patch that Rostov could not at all make out: was it a +glade in the wood lit up by the moon, or some unmelted snow, or some +white houses? He even thought something moved on that white spot. "I +expect it's snow... that spot... a spot--une tache," he thought. "There +now... it's not a tache... Natasha... sister, black eyes... Na... +tasha... (Won't she be surprised when I tell her how I've seen the +Emperor?) Natasha... take my sabretache..."--"Keep to the right, your +honor, there are bushes here," came the voice of an hussar, past whom +Rostov was riding in the act of falling asleep. Rostov lifted his head +that had sunk almost to his horse's mane and pulled up beside the +hussar. He was succumbing to irresistible, youthful, childish +drowsiness. "But what was I thinking? I mustn't forget. How shall I +speak to the Emperor? No, that's not it--that's tomorrow. Oh yes! +Natasha... sabretache... saber them... Whom? The hussars... Ah, the +hussars with mustaches. Along the Tverskaya Street rode the hussar with +mustaches... I thought about him too, just opposite Guryev's house... +Old Guryev.... Oh, but Denisov's a fine fellow. But that's all nonsense. +The chief thing is that the Emperor is here. How he looked at me and +wished to say something, but dared not.... No, it was I who dared not. +But that's nonsense, the chief thing is not to forget the important +thing I was thinking of. Yes, Na-tasha, sabretache, oh, yes, yes! That's +right!" And his head once more sank to his horse's neck. All at once it +seemed to him that he was being fired at. "What? What? What?... Cut them +down! What?..." said Rostov, waking up. At the moment he opened his eyes +he heard in front of him, where the enemy was, the long-drawn shouts of +thousands of voices. His horse and the horse of the hussar near him +pricked their ears at these shouts. Over there, where the shouting came +from, a fire flared up and went out again, then another, and all along +the French line on the hill fires flared up and the shouting grew louder +and louder. Rostov could hear the sound of French words but could not +distinguish them. The din of many voices was too great; all he could +hear was: "ahahah!" and "rrrr!" + +"What's that? What do you make of it?" said Rostov to the hussar beside +him. "That must be the enemy's camp!" + +The hussar did not reply. + +"Why, don't you hear it?" Rostov asked again, after waiting for a reply. + +"Who can tell, your honor?" replied the hussar reluctantly. + +"From the direction, it must be the enemy," repeated Rostov. + +"It may be he or it may be nothing," muttered the hussar. "It's dark... +Steady!" he cried to his fidgeting horse. + +Rostov's horse was also getting restive: it pawed the frozen ground, +pricking its ears at the noise and looking at the lights. The shouting +grew still louder and merged into a general roar that only an army of +several thousand men could produce. The lights spread farther and +farther, probably along the line of the French camp. Rostov no longer +wanted to sleep. The gay triumphant shouting of the enemy army had a +stimulating effect on him. "Vive l'Empereur! L'Empereur!" he now heard +distinctly. + +"They can't be far off, probably just beyond the stream," he said to the +hussar beside him. + +The hussar only sighed without replying and coughed angrily. The sound +of horse's hoofs approaching at a trot along the line of hussars was +heard, and out of the foggy darkness the figure of a sergeant of hussars +suddenly appeared, looming huge as an elephant. + +"Your honor, the generals!" said the sergeant, riding up to Rostov. + +Rostov, still looking round toward the fires and the shouts, rode with +the sergeant to meet some mounted men who were riding along the line. +One was on a white horse. Prince Bagration and Prince Dolgorukov with +their adjutants had come to witness the curious phenomenon of the lights +and shouts in the enemy's camp. Rostov rode up to Bagration, reported to +him, and then joined the adjutants listening to what the generals were +saying. + +"Believe me," said Prince Dolgorukov, addressing Bagration, "it is +nothing but a trick! He has retreated and ordered the rearguard to +kindle fires and make a noise to deceive us." + +"Hardly," said Bagration. "I saw them this evening on that knoll; if +they had retreated they would have withdrawn from that too.... Officer!" +said Bagration to Rostov, "are the enemy's skirmishers still there?" + +"They were there this evening, but now I don't know, your excellency. +Shall I go with some of my hussars to see?" replied Rostov. + +Bagration stopped and, before replying, tried to see Rostov's face in +the mist. + +"Well, go and see," he said, after a pause. + +"Yes, sir." + +Rostov spurred his horse, called to Sergeant Fedchenko and two other +hussars, told them to follow him, and trotted downhill in the direction +from which the shouting came. He felt both frightened and pleased to be +riding alone with three hussars into that mysterious and dangerous misty +distance where no one had been before him. Bagration called to him from +the hill not to go beyond the stream, but Rostov pretended not to hear +him and did not stop but rode on and on, continually mistaking bushes +for trees and gullies for men and continually discovering his mistakes. +Having descended the hill at a trot, he no longer saw either our own or +the enemy's fires, but heard the shouting of the French more loudly and +distinctly. In the valley he saw before him something like a river, but +when he reached it he found it was a road. Having come out onto the road +he reined in his horse, hesitating whether to ride along it or cross it +and ride over the black field up the hillside. To keep to the road which +gleamed white in the mist would have been safer because it would be +easier to see people coming along it. "Follow me!" said he, crossed the +road, and began riding up the hill at a gallop toward the point where +the French pickets had been standing that evening. + +"Your honor, there he is!" cried one of the hussars behind him. And +before Rostov had time to make out what the black thing was that had +suddenly appeared in the fog, there was a flash, followed by a report, +and a bullet whizzing high up in the mist with a plaintive sound passed +out of hearing. Another musket missed fire but flashed in the pan. +Rostov turned his horse and galloped back. Four more reports followed at +intervals, and the bullets passed somewhere in the fog singing in +different tones. Rostov reined in his horse, whose spirits had risen, +like his own, at the firing, and went back at a footpace. "Well, some +more! Some more!" a merry voice was saying in his soul. But no more +shots came. + +Only when approaching Bagration did Rostov let his horse gallop again, +and with his hand at the salute rode up to the general. + +Dolgorukov was still insisting that the French had retreated and had +only lit fires to deceive us. + +"What does that prove?" he was saying as Rostov rode up. "They might +retreat and leave the pickets." + +"It's plain that they have not all gone yet, Prince," said Bagration. +"Wait till tomorrow morning, we'll find out everything tomorrow." + +"The picket is still on the hill, your excellency, just where it was in +the evening," reported Rostov, stooping forward with his hand at the +salute and unable to repress the smile of delight induced by his ride +and especially by the sound of the bullets. + +"Very good, very good," said Bagration. "Thank you, officer." + +"Your excellency," said Rostov, "may I ask a favor?" + +"What is it?" + +"Tomorrow our squadron is to be in reserve. May I ask to be attached to +the first squadron?" + +"What's your name?" + +"Count Rostov." + +"Oh, very well, you may stay in attendance on me." + +"Count Ilya Rostov's son?" asked Dolgorukov. + +But Rostov did not reply. + +"Then I may reckon on it, your excellency?" + +"I will give the order." + +"Tomorrow very likely I may be sent with some message to the Emperor," +thought Rostov. + +"Thank God!" + +The fires and shouting in the enemy's army were occasioned by the fact +that while Napoleon's proclamation was being read to the troops the +Emperor himself rode round his bivouacs. The soldiers, on seeing him, +lit wisps of straw and ran after him, shouting, "Vive l'Empereur!" +Napoleon's proclamation was as follows: + +Soldiers! The Russian army is advancing against you to avenge the +Austrian army of Ulm. They are the same battalions you broke at +Hollabrunn and have pursued ever since to this place. The position we +occupy is a strong one, and while they are marching to go round me on +the right they will expose a flank to me. Soldiers! I will myself direct +your battalions. I will keep out of fire if you with your habitual valor +carry disorder and confusion into the enemy's ranks, but should victory +be in doubt, even for a moment, you will see your Emperor exposing +himself to the first blows of the enemy, for there must be no doubt of +victory, especially on this day when what is at stake is the honor of +the French infantry, so necessary to the honor of our nation. + +Do not break your ranks on the plea of removing the wounded! Let every +man be fully imbued with the thought that we must defeat these hirelings +of England, inspired by such hatred of our nation! This victory will +conclude our campaign and we can return to winter quarters, where fresh +French troops who are being raised in France will join us, and the peace +I shall conclude will be worthy of my people, of you, and of myself. + +NAPOLEON + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +At five in the morning it was still quite dark. The troops of the +center, the reserves, and Bagration's right flank had not yet moved, but +on the left flank the columns of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, which +were to be the first to descend the heights to attack the French right +flank and drive it into the Bohemian mountains according to plan, were +already up and astir. The smoke of the campfires, into which they were +throwing everything superfluous, made the eyes smart. It was cold and +dark. The officers were hurriedly drinking tea and breakfasting, the +soldiers, munching biscuit and beating a tattoo with their feet to warm +themselves, gathering round the fires throwing into the flames the +remains of sheds, chairs, tables, wheels, tubs, and everything that they +did not want or could not carry away with them. Austrian column guides +were moving in and out among the Russian troops and served as heralds of +the advance. As soon as an Austrian officer showed himself near a +commanding officer's quarters, the regiment began to move: the soldiers +ran from the fires, thrust their pipes into their boots, their bags into +the carts, got their muskets ready, and formed rank. The officers +buttoned up their coats, buckled on their swords and pouches, and moved +along the ranks shouting. The train drivers and orderlies harnessed and +packed the wagons and tied on the loads. The adjutants and battalion and +regimental commanders mounted, crossed themselves, gave final +instructions, orders, and commissions to the baggage men who remained +behind, and the monotonous tramp of thousands of feet resounded. The +column moved forward without knowing where and unable, from the masses +around them, the smoke and the increasing fog, to see either the place +they were leaving or that to which they were going. + +A soldier on the march is hemmed in and borne along by his regiment as +much as a sailor is by his ship. However far he has walked, whatever +strange, unknown, and dangerous places he reaches, just as a sailor is +always surrounded by the same decks, masts, and rigging of his ship, so +the soldier always has around him the same comrades, the same ranks, the +same sergeant major Ivan Mitrich, the same company dog Jack, and the +same commanders. The sailor rarely cares to know the latitude in which +his ship is sailing, but on the day of battle--heaven knows how and +whence--a stern note of which all are conscious sounds in the moral +atmosphere of an army, announcing the approach of something decisive and +solemn, and awakening in the men an unusual curiosity. On the day of +battle the soldiers excitedly try to get beyond the interests of their +regiment, they listen intently, look about, and eagerly ask concerning +what is going on around them. + +The fog had grown so dense that though it was growing light they could +not see ten paces ahead. Bushes looked like gigantic trees and level +ground like cliffs and slopes. Anywhere, on any side, one might +encounter an enemy invisible ten paces off. But the columns advanced for +a long time, always in the same fog, descending and ascending hills, +avoiding gardens and enclosures, going over new and unknown ground, and +nowhere encountering the enemy. On the contrary, the soldiers became +aware that in front, behind, and on all sides, other Russian columns +were moving in the same direction. Every soldier felt glad to know that +to the unknown place where he was going, many more of our men were going +too. + +"There now, the Kurskies have also gone past," was being said in the +ranks. + +"It's wonderful what a lot of our troops have gathered, lads! Last night +I looked at the campfires and there was no end of them. A regular +Moscow!" + +Though none of the column commanders rode up to the ranks or talked to +the men (the commanders, as we saw at the council of war, were out of +humor and dissatisfied with the affair, and so did not exert themselves +to cheer the men but merely carried out the orders), yet the troops +marched gaily, as they always do when going into action, especially to +an attack. But when they had marched for about an hour in the dense fog, +the greater part of the men had to halt and an unpleasant consciousness +of some dislocation and blunder spread through the ranks. How such a +consciousness is communicated is very difficult to define, but it +certainly is communicated very surely, and flows rapidly, imperceptibly, +and irrepressibly, as water does in a creek. Had the Russian army been +alone without any allies, it might perhaps have been a long time before +this consciousness of mismanagement became a general conviction, but as +it was, the disorder was readily and naturally attributed to the stupid +Germans, and everyone was convinced that a dangerous muddle had been +occasioned by the sausage eaters. + +"Why have we stopped? Is the way blocked? Or have we already come up +against the French?" + +"No, one can't hear them. They'd be firing if we had." + +"They were in a hurry enough to start us, and now here we stand in the +middle of a field without rhyme or reason. It's all those damned +Germans' muddling! What stupid devils!" + +"Yes, I'd send them on in front, but no fear, they're crowding up +behind. And now here we stand hungry." + +"I say, shall we soon be clear? They say the cavalry are blocking the +way," said an officer. + +"Ah, those damned Germans! They don't know their own country!" said +another. + +"What division are you?" shouted an adjutant, riding up. + +"The Eighteenth." + +"Then why are you here? You should have gone on long ago, now you won't +get there till evening." + +"What stupid orders! They don't themselves know what they are doing!" +said the officer and rode off. + +Then a general rode past shouting something angrily, not in Russian. + +"Tafa-lafa! But what he's jabbering no one can make out," said a +soldier, mimicking the general who had ridden away. "I'd shoot them, the +scoundrels!" + +"We were ordered to be at the place before nine, but we haven't got +halfway. Fine orders!" was being repeated on different sides. + +And the feeling of energy with which the troops had started began to +turn into vexation and anger at the stupid arrangements and at the +Germans. + +The cause of the confusion was that while the Austrian cavalry was +moving toward our left flank, the higher command found that our center +was too far separated from our right flank and the cavalry were all +ordered to turn back to the right. Several thousand cavalry crossed in +front of the infantry, who had to wait. + +At the front an altercation occurred between an Austrian guide and a +Russian general. The general shouted a demand that the cavalry should be +halted, the Austrian argued that not he, but the higher command, was to +blame. The troops meanwhile stood growing listless and dispirited. After +an hour's delay they at last moved on, descending the hill. The fog that +was dispersing on the hill lay still more densely below, where they were +descending. In front in the fog a shot was heard and then another, at +first irregularly at varying intervals--trata... tat--and then more and +more regularly and rapidly, and the action at the Goldbach Stream began. + +Not expecting to come on the enemy down by the stream, and having +stumbled on him in the fog, hearing no encouraging word from their +commanders, and with a consciousness of being too late spreading through +the ranks, and above all being unable to see anything in front or around +them in the thick fog, the Russians exchanged shots with the enemy +lazily and advanced and again halted, receiving no timely orders from +the officers or adjutants who wandered about in the fog in those unknown +surroundings unable to find their own regiments. In this way the action +began for the first, second, and third columns, which had gone down into +the valley. The fourth column, with which Kutuzov was, stood on the +Pratzen Heights. + +Below, where the fight was beginning, there was still thick fog; on the +higher ground it was clearing, but nothing could be seen of what was +going on in front. Whether all the enemy forces were, as we supposed, +six miles away, or whether they were near by in that sea of mist, no one +knew till after eight o'clock. + +It was nine o'clock in the morning. The fog lay unbroken like a sea down +below, but higher up at the village of Schlappanitz where Napoleon stood +with his marshals around him, it was quite light. Above him was a clear +blue sky, and the sun's vast orb quivered like a huge hollow, crimson +float on the surface of that milky sea of mist. The whole French army, +and even Napoleon himself with his staff, were not on the far side of +the streams and hollows of Sokolnitz and Schlappanitz beyond which we +intended to take up our position and begin the action, but were on this +side, so close to our own forces that Napoleon with the naked eye could +distinguish a mounted man from one on foot. Napoleon, in the blue cloak +which he had worn on his Italian campaign, sat on his small gray Arab +horse a little in front of his marshals. He gazed silently at the hills +which seemed to rise out of the sea of mist and on which the Russian +troops were moving in the distance, and he listened to the sounds of +firing in the valley. Not a single muscle of his face--which in those +days was still thin--moved. His gleaming eyes were fixed intently on one +spot. His predictions were being justified. Part of the Russian force +had already descended into the valley toward the ponds and lakes and +part were leaving these Pratzen Heights which he intended to attack and +regarded as the key to the position. He saw over the mist that in a +hollow between two hills near the village of Pratzen, the Russian +columns, their bayonets glittering, were moving continuously in one +direction toward the valley and disappearing one after another into the +mist. From information he had received the evening before, from the +sound of wheels and footsteps heard by the outposts during the night, by +the disorderly movement of the Russian columns, and from all +indications, he saw clearly that the allies believed him to be far away +in front of them, and that the columns moving near Pratzen constituted +the center of the Russian army, and that that center was already +sufficiently weakened to be successfully attacked. But still he did not +begin the engagement. + +Today was a great day for him--the anniversary of his coronation. Before +dawn he had slept for a few hours, and refreshed, vigorous, and in good +spirits, he mounted his horse and rode out into the field in that happy +mood in which everything seems possible and everything succeeds. He sat +motionless, looking at the heights visible above the mist, and his cold +face wore that special look of confident, self-complacent happiness that +one sees on the face of a boy happily in love. The marshals stood behind +him not venturing to distract his attention. He looked now at the +Pratzen Heights, now at the sun floating up out of the mist. + +When the sun had entirely emerged from the fog, and fields and mist were +aglow with dazzling light--as if he had only awaited this to begin the +action--he drew the glove from his shapely white hand, made a sign with +it to the marshals, and ordered the action to begin. The marshals, +accompanied by adjutants, galloped off in different directions, and a +few minutes later the chief forces of the French army moved rapidly +toward those Pratzen Heights which were being more and more denuded by +Russian troops moving down the valley to their left. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +At eight o'clock Kutuzov rode to Pratzen at the head of the fourth +column, Miloradovich's, the one that was to take the place of +Przebyszewski's and Langeron's columns which had already gone down into +the valley. He greeted the men of the foremost regiment and gave them +the order to march, thereby indicating that he intended to lead that +column himself. When he had reached the village of Pratzen he halted. +Prince Andrew was behind, among the immense number forming the +commander-in-chief's suite. He was in a state of suppressed excitement +and irritation, though controlledly calm as a man is at the approach of +a long-awaited moment. He was firmly convinced that this was the day of +his Toulon, or his bridge of Arcola. How it would come about he did not +know, but he felt sure it would do so. The locality and the position of +our troops were known to him as far as they could be known to anyone in +our army. His own strategic plan, which obviously could not now be +carried out, was forgotten. Now, entering into Weyrother's plan, Prince +Andrew considered possible contingencies and formed new projects such as +might call for his rapidity of perception and decision. + +To the left down below in the mist, the musketry fire of unseen forces +could be heard. It was there Prince Andrew thought the fight would +concentrate. "There we shall encounter difficulties, and there," thought +he, "I shall be sent with a brigade or division, and there, standard in +hand, I shall go forward and break whatever is in front of me." + +He could not look calmly at the standards of the passing battalions. +Seeing them he kept thinking, "That may be the very standard with which +I shall lead the army." + +In the morning all that was left of the night mist on the heights was a +hoar frost now turning to dew, but in the valleys it still lay like a +milk-white sea. Nothing was visible in the valley to the left into which +our troops had descended and from whence came the sounds of firing. +Above the heights was the dark clear sky, and to the right the vast orb +of the sun. In front, far off on the farther shore of that sea of mist, +some wooded hills were discernible, and it was there the enemy probably +was, for something could be descried. On the right the Guards were +entering the misty region with a sound of hoofs and wheels and now and +then a gleam of bayonets; to the left beyond the village similar masses +of cavalry came up and disappeared in the sea of mist. In front and +behind moved infantry. The commander-in-chief was standing at the end of +the village letting the troops pass by him. That morning Kutuzov seemed +worn and irritable. The infantry passing before him came to a halt +without any command being given, apparently obstructed by something in +front. + +"Do order them to form into battalion columns and go round the village!" +he said angrily to a general who had ridden up. "Don't you understand, +your excellency, my dear sir, that you must not defile through narrow +village streets when we are marching against the enemy?" + +"I intended to re-form them beyond the village, your excellency," +answered the general. + +Kutuzov laughed bitterly. + +"You'll make a fine thing of it, deploying in sight of the enemy! Very +fine!" + +"The enemy is still far away, your excellency. According to the +dispositions..." + +"The dispositions!" exclaimed Kutuzov bitterly. "Who told you that?... +Kindly do as you are ordered." + +"Yes, sir." + +"My dear fellow," Nesvitski whispered to Prince Andrew, "the old man is +as surly as a dog." + +An Austrian officer in a white uniform with green plumes in his hat +galloped up to Kutuzov and asked in the Emperor's name had the fourth +column advanced into action. + +Kutuzov turned round without answering and his eye happened to fall upon +Prince Andrew, who was beside him. Seeing him, Kutuzov's malevolent and +caustic expression softened, as if admitting that what was being done +was not his adjutant's fault, and still not answering the Austrian +adjutant, he addressed Bolkonski. + +"Go, my dear fellow, and see whether the third division has passed the +village. Tell it to stop and await my orders." + +Hardly had Prince Andrew started than he stopped him. + +"And ask whether sharpshooters have been posted," he added. "What are +they doing? What are they doing?" he murmured to himself, still not +replying to the Austrian. + +Prince Andrew galloped off to execute the order. + +Overtaking the battalions that continued to advance, he stopped the +third division and convinced himself that there really were no +sharpshooters in front of our columns. The colonel at the head of the +regiment was much surprised at the commander-in-chief's order to throw +out skirmishers. He had felt perfectly sure that there were other troops +in front of him and that the enemy must be at least six miles away. +There was really nothing to be seen in front except a barren descent +hidden by dense mist. Having given orders in the commander-in-chief's +name to rectify this omission, Prince Andrew galloped back. Kutuzov +still in the same place, his stout body resting heavily in the saddle +with the lassitude of age, sat yawning wearily with closed eyes. The +troops were no longer moving, but stood with the butts of their muskets +on the ground. + +"All right, all right!" he said to Prince Andrew, and turned to a +general who, watch in hand, was saying it was time they started as all +the left-flank columns had already descended. + +"Plenty of time, your excellency," muttered Kutuzov in the midst of a +yawn. "Plenty of time," he repeated. + +Just then at a distance behind Kutuzov was heard the sound of regiments +saluting, and this sound rapidly came nearer along the whole extended +line of the advancing Russian columns. Evidently the person they were +greeting was riding quickly. When the soldiers of the regiment in front +of which Kutuzov was standing began to shout, he rode a little to one +side and looked round with a frown. Along the road from Pratzen galloped +what looked like a squadron of horsemen in various uniforms. Two of them +rode side by side in front, at full gallop. One in a black uniform with +white plumes in his hat rode a bobtailed chestnut horse, the other who +was in a white uniform rode a black one. These were the two Emperors +followed by their suites. Kutuzov, affecting the manners of an old +soldier at the front, gave the command "Attention!" and rode up to the +Emperors with a salute. His whole appearance and manner were suddenly +transformed. He put on the air of a subordinate who obeys without +reasoning. With an affectation of respect which evidently struck +Alexander unpleasantly, he rode up and saluted. + +This unpleasant impression merely flitted over the young and happy face +of the Emperor like a cloud of haze across a clear sky and vanished. +After his illness he looked rather thinner that day than on the field of +Olmutz where Bolkonski had seen him for the first time abroad, but there +was still the same bewitching combination of majesty and mildness in his +fine gray eyes, and on his delicate lips the same capacity for varying +expression and the same prevalent appearance of goodhearted innocent +youth. + +At the Olmutz review he had seemed more majestic; here he seemed +brighter and more energetic. He was slightly flushed after galloping two +miles, and reining in his horse he sighed restfully and looked round at +the faces of his suite, young and animated as his own. Czartoryski, +Novosiltsev, Prince Volkonsky, Strogonov, and the others, all richly +dressed gay young men on splendid, well-groomed, fresh, only slightly +heated horses, exchanging remarks and smiling, had stopped behind the +Emperor. The Emperor Francis, a rosy, long faced young man, sat very +erect on his handsome black horse, looking about him in a leisurely and +preoccupied manner. He beckoned to one of his white adjutants and asked +some question--"Most likely he is asking at what o'clock they started," +thought Prince Andrew, watching his old acquaintance with a smile he +could not repress as he recalled his reception at Brunn. In the +Emperors' suite were the picked young orderly officers of the Guard and +line regiments, Russian and Austrian. Among them were grooms leading the +Tsar's beautiful relay horses covered with embroidered cloths. + +As when a window is opened a whiff of fresh air from the fields enters a +stuffy room, so a whiff of youthfulness, energy, and confidence of +success reached Kutuzov's cheerless staff with the galloping advent of +all these brilliant young men. + +"Why aren't you beginning, Michael Ilarionovich?" said the Emperor +Alexander hurriedly to Kutuzov, glancing courteously at the same time at +the Emperor Francis. + +"I am waiting, Your Majesty," answered Kutuzov, bending forward +respectfully. + +The Emperor, frowning slightly, bent his ear forward as if he had not +quite heard. + +"Waiting, Your Majesty," repeated Kutuzov. (Prince Andrew noted that +Kutuzov's upper lip twitched unnaturally as he said the word "waiting.") +"Not all the columns have formed up yet, Your Majesty." + +The Tsar heard but obviously did not like the reply; he shrugged his +rather round shoulders and glanced at Novosiltsev who was near him, as +if complaining of Kutuzov. + +"You know, Michael Ilarionovich, we are not on the Empress' Field where +a parade does not begin till all the troops are assembled," said the +Tsar with another glance at the Emperor Francis, as if inviting him if +not to join in at least to listen to what he was saying. But the Emperor +Francis continued to look about him and did not listen. + +"That is just why I do not begin, sire," said Kutuzov in a resounding +voice, apparently to preclude the possibility of not being heard, and +again something in his face twitched--"That is just why I do not begin, +sire, because we are not on parade and not on the Empress' Field," said +clearly and distinctly. + +In the Emperor's suite all exchanged rapid looks that expressed +dissatisfaction and reproach. "Old though he may be, he should not, he +certainly should not, speak like that," their glances seemed to say. + +The Tsar looked intently and observantly into Kutuzov's eye waiting to +hear whether he would say anything more. But Kutuzov, with respectfully +bowed head, seemed also to be waiting. The silence lasted for about a +minute. + +"However, if you command it, Your Majesty," said Kutuzov, lifting his +head and again assuming his former tone of a dull, unreasoning, but +submissive general. + +He touched his horse and having called Miloradovich, the commander of +the column, gave him the order to advance. + +The troops again began to move, and two battalions of the Novgorod and +one of the Apsheron regiment went forward past the Emperor. + +As this Apsheron battalion marched by, the red-faced Miloradovich, +without his greatcoat, with his Orders on his breast and an enormous +tuft of plumes in his cocked hat worn on one side with its corners front +and back, galloped strenuously forward, and with a dashing salute reined +in his horse before the Emperor. + +"God be with you, general!" said the Emperor. + +"Ma foi, sire, nous ferons ce qui sera dans notre possibilite, sire," * +he answered gaily, raising nevertheless ironic smiles among the +gentlemen of the Tsar's suite by his poor French. + + +* "Indeed, Sire, we shall do everything it is possible to do, Sire." + +Miloradovich wheeled his horse sharply and stationed himself a little +behind the Emperor. The Apsheron men, excited by the Tsar's presence, +passed in step before the Emperors and their suites at a bold, brisk +pace. + +"Lads!" shouted Miloradovich in a loud, self-confident, and cheery +voice, obviously so elated by the sound of firing, by the prospect of +battle, and by the sight of the gallant Apsherons, his comrades in +Suvorov's time, now passing so gallantly before the Emperors, that he +forgot the sovereigns' presence. "Lads, it's not the first village +you've had to take," cried he. + +"Glad to do our best!" shouted the soldiers. + +The Emperor's horse started at the sudden cry. This horse that had +carried the sovereign at reviews in Russia bore him also here on the +field of Austerlitz, enduring the heedless blows of his left foot and +pricking its ears at the sound of shots just as it had done on the +Empress' Field, not understanding the significance of the firing, nor of +the nearness of the Emperor Francis' black cob, nor of all that was +being said, thought, and felt that day by its rider. + +The Emperor turned with a smile to one of his followers and made a +remark to him, pointing to the gallant Apsherons. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Kutuzov accompanied by his adjutants rode at a walking pace behind the +carabineers. + +When he had gone less than half a mile in the rear of the column he +stopped at a solitary, deserted house that had probably once been an +inn, where two roads parted. Both of them led downhill and troops were +marching along both. + +The fog had begun to clear and enemy troops were already dimly visible +about a mile and a half off on the opposite heights. Down below, on the +left, the firing became more distinct. Kutuzov had stopped and was +speaking to an Austrian general. Prince Andrew, who was a little behind +looking at them, turned to an adjutant to ask him for a field glass. + +"Look, look!" said this adjutant, looking not at the troops in the +distance, but down the hill before him. "It's the French!" + +The two generals and the adjutant took hold of the field glass, trying +to snatch it from one another. The expression on all their faces +suddenly changed to one of horror. The French were supposed to be a mile +and a half away, but had suddenly and unexpectedly appeared just in +front of us. + +"It's the enemy?... No!... Yes, see it is!... for certain.... But how is +that?" said different voices. + +With the naked eye Prince Andrew saw below them to the right, not more +than five hundred paces from where Kutuzov was standing, a dense French +column coming up to meet the Apsherons. + +"Here it is! The decisive moment has arrived. My turn has come," thought +Prince Andrew, and striking his horse he rode up to Kutuzov. + +"The Apsherons must be stopped, your excellency," cried he. But at that +very instant a cloud of smoke spread all round, firing was heard quite +close at hand, and a voice of naive terror barely two steps from Prince +Andrew shouted, "Brothers! All's lost!" And at this as if at a command, +everyone began to run. + +Confused and ever-increasing crowds were running back to where five +minutes before the troops had passed the Emperors. Not only would it +have been difficult to stop that crowd, it was even impossible not to be +carried back with it oneself. Bolkonski only tried not to lose touch +with it, and looked around bewildered and unable to grasp what was +happening in front of him. Nesvitski with an angry face, red and unlike +himself, was shouting to Kutuzov that if he did not ride away at once he +would certainly be taken prisoner. Kutuzov remained in the same place +and without answering drew out a handkerchief. Blood was flowing from +his cheek. Prince Andrew forced his way to him. + +"You are wounded?" he asked, hardly able to master the trembling of his +lower jaw. + +"The wound is not here, it is there!" said Kutuzov, pressing the +handkerchief to his wounded cheek and pointing to the fleeing soldiers. +"Stop them!" he shouted, and at the same moment, probably realizing that +it was impossible to stop them, spurred his horse and rode to the right. + +A fresh wave of the flying mob caught him and bore him back with it. + +The troops were running in such a dense mass that once surrounded by +them it was difficult to get out again. One was shouting, "Get on! Why +are you hindering us?" Another in the same place turned round and fired +in the air; a third was striking the horse Kutuzov himself rode. Having +by a great effort got away to the left from that flood of men, Kutuzov, +with his suite diminished by more than half, rode toward a sound of +artillery fire near by. Having forced his way out of the crowd of +fugitives, Prince Andrew, trying to keep near Kutuzov, saw on the slope +of the hill amid the smoke a Russian battery that was still firing and +Frenchmen running toward it. Higher up stood some Russian infantry, +neither moving forward to protect the battery nor backward with the +fleeing crowd. A mounted general separated himself from the infantry and +approached Kutuzov. Of Kutuzov's suite only four remained. They were all +pale and exchanged looks in silence. + +"Stop those wretches!" gasped Kutuzov to the regimental commander, +pointing to the flying soldiers; but at that instant, as if to punish +him for those words, bullets flew hissing across the regiment and across +Kutuzov's suite like a flock of little birds. + +The French had attacked the battery and, seeing Kutuzov, were firing at +him. After this volley the regimental commander clutched at his leg; +several soldiers fell, and a second lieutenant who was holding the flag +let it fall from his hands. It swayed and fell, but caught on the +muskets of the nearest soldiers. The soldiers started firing without +orders. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" groaned Kutuzov despairingly and looked around.... +"Bolkonski!" he whispered, his voice trembling from a consciousness of +the feebleness of age, "Bolkonski!" he whispered, pointing to the +disordered battalion and at the enemy, "what's that?" + +But before he had finished speaking, Prince Andrew, feeling tears of +shame and anger choking him, had already leapt from his horse and run to +the standard. + +"Forward, lads!" he shouted in a voice piercing as a child's. + +"Here it is!" thought he, seizing the staff of the standard and hearing +with pleasure the whistle of bullets evidently aimed at him. Several +soldiers fell. + +"Hurrah!" shouted Prince Andrew, and, scarcely able to hold up the heavy +standard, he ran forward with full confidence that the whole battalion +would follow him. + +And really he only ran a few steps alone. One soldier moved and then +another and soon the whole battalion ran forward shouting "Hurrah!" and +overtook him. A sergeant of the battalion ran up and took the flag that +was swaying from its weight in Prince Andrew's hands, but he was +immediately killed. Prince Andrew again seized the standard and, +dragging it by the staff, ran on with the battalion. In front he saw our +artillerymen, some of whom were fighting, while others, having abandoned +their guns, were running toward him. He also saw French infantry +soldiers who were seizing the artillery horses and turning the guns +round. Prince Andrew and the battalion were already within twenty paces +of the cannon. He heard the whistle of bullets above him unceasingly and +to right and left of him soldiers continually groaned and dropped. But +he did not look at them: he looked only at what was going on in front of +him--at the battery. He now saw clearly the figure of a red-haired +gunner with his shako knocked awry, pulling one end of a mop while a +French soldier tugged at the other. He could distinctly see the +distraught yet angry expression on the faces of these two men, who +evidently did not realize what they were doing. + +"What are they about?" thought Prince Andrew as he gazed at them. "Why +doesn't the red-haired gunner run away as he is unarmed? Why doesn't the +Frenchman stab him? He will not get away before the Frenchman remembers +his bayonet and stabs him...." + +And really another French soldier, trailing his musket, ran up to the +struggling men, and the fate of the red-haired gunner, who had +triumphantly secured the mop and still did not realize what awaited him, +was about to be decided. But Prince Andrew did not see how it ended. It +seemed to him as though one of the soldiers near him hit him on the head +with the full swing of a bludgeon. It hurt a little, but the worst of it +was that the pain distracted him and prevented his seeing what he had +been looking at. + +"What's this? Am I falling? My legs are giving way," thought he, and +fell on his back. He opened his eyes, hoping to see how the struggle of +the Frenchmen with the gunners ended, whether the red-haired gunner had +been killed or not and whether the cannon had been captured or saved. +But he saw nothing. Above him there was now nothing but the sky--the +lofty sky, not clear yet still immeasurably lofty, with gray clouds +gliding slowly across it. "How quiet, peaceful, and solemn; not at all +as I ran," thought Prince Andrew--"not as we ran, shouting and fighting, +not at all as the gunner and the Frenchman with frightened and angry +faces struggled for the mop: how differently do those clouds glide +across that lofty infinite sky! How was it I did not see that lofty sky +before? And how happy I am to have found it at last! Yes! All is vanity, +all falsehood, except that infinite sky. There is nothing, nothing, but +that. But even it does not exist, there is nothing but quiet and peace. +Thank God!..." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +On our right flank commanded by Bagration, at nine o'clock the battle +had not yet begun. Not wishing to agree to Dolgorukov's demand to +commence the action, and wishing to avert responsibility from himself, +Prince Bagration proposed to Dolgorukov to send to inquire of the +commander-in-chief. Bagration knew that as the distance between the two +flanks was more than six miles, even if the messenger were not killed +(which he very likely would be), and found the commander-in-chief (which +would be very difficult), he would not be able to get back before +evening. + +Bagration cast his large, expressionless, sleepy eyes round his suite, +and the boyish face Rostov, breathless with excitement and hope, was the +first to catch his eye. He sent him. + +"And if I should meet His Majesty before I meet the commander-in-chief, +your excellency?" said Rostov, with his hand to his cap. + +"You can give the message to His Majesty," said Dolgorukov, hurriedly +interrupting Bagration. + +On being relieved from picket duty Rostov had managed to get a few +hours' sleep before morning and felt cheerful, bold, and resolute, with +elasticity of movement, faith in his good fortune, and generally in that +state of mind which makes everything seem possible, pleasant, and easy. + +All his wishes were being fulfilled that morning: there was to be a +general engagement in which he was taking part, more than that, he was +orderly to the bravest general, and still more, he was going with a +message to Kutuzov, perhaps even to the sovereign himself. The morning +was bright, he had a good horse under him, and his heart was full of joy +and happiness. On receiving the order he gave his horse the rein and +galloped along the line. At first he rode along the line of Bagration's +troops, which had not yet advanced into action but were standing +motionless; then he came to the region occupied by Uvarov's cavalry and +here he noticed a stir and signs of preparation for battle; having +passed Uvarov's cavalry he clearly heard the sound of cannon and +musketry ahead of him. The firing grew louder and louder. + +In the fresh morning air were now heard, not two or three musket shots +at irregular intervals as before, followed by one or two cannon shots, +but a roll of volleys of musketry from the slopes of the hill before +Pratzen, interrupted by such frequent reports of cannon that sometimes +several of them were not separated from one another but merged into a +general roar. + +He could see puffs of musketry smoke that seemed to chase one another +down the hillsides, and clouds of cannon smoke rolling, spreading, and +mingling with one another. He could also, by the gleam of bayonets +visible through the smoke, make out moving masses of infantry and narrow +lines of artillery with green caissons. + +Rostov stopped his horse for a moment on a hillock to see what was going +on, but strain his attention as he would he could not understand or make +out anything of what was happening: there in the smoke men of some sort +were moving about, in front and behind moved lines of troops; but why, +whither, and who they were, it was impossible to make out. These sights +and sounds had no depressing or intimidating effect on him; on the +contrary, they stimulated his energy and determination. + +"Go on! Go on! Give it them!" he mentally exclaimed at these sounds, and +again proceeded to gallop along the line, penetrating farther and +farther into the region where the army was already in action. + +"How it will be there I don't know, but all will be well!" thought +Rostov. + +After passing some Austrian troops he noticed that the next part of the +line (the Guards) was already in action. + +"So much the better! I shall see it close," he thought. + +He was riding almost along the front line. A handful of men came +galloping toward him. They were our uhlans who with disordered ranks +were returning from the attack. Rostov got out of their way, +involuntarily noticed that one of them was bleeding, and galloped on. + +"That is no business of mine," he thought. He had not ridden many +hundred yards after that before he saw to his left, across the whole +width of the field, an enormous mass of cavalry in brilliant white +uniforms, mounted on black horses, trotting straight toward him and +across his path. Rostov put his horse to full gallop to get out of the +way of these men, and he would have got clear had they continued at the +same speed, but they kept increasing their pace, so that some of the +horses were already galloping. Rostov heard the thud of their hoofs and +the jingle of their weapons and saw their horses, their figures, and +even their faces, more and more distinctly. They were our Horse Guards, +advancing to attack the French cavalry that was coming to meet them. + +The Horse Guards were galloping, but still holding in their horses. +Rostov could already see their faces and heard the command: "Charge!" +shouted by an officer who was urging his thoroughbred to full speed. +Rostov, fearing to be crushed or swept into the attack on the French, +galloped along the front as hard as his horse could go, but still was +not in time to avoid them. + +The last of the Horse Guards, a huge pockmarked fellow, frowned angrily +on seeing Rostov before him, with whom he would inevitably collide. This +Guardsman would certainly have bowled Rostov and his Bedouin over +(Rostov felt himself quite tiny and weak compared to these gigantic men +and horses) had it not occurred to Rostov to flourish his whip before +the eyes of the Guardsman's horse. The heavy black horse, sixteen hands +high, shied, throwing back its ears; but the pockmarked Guardsman drove +his huge spurs in violently, and the horse, flourishing its tail and +extending its neck, galloped on yet faster. Hardly had the Horse Guards +passed Rostov before he heard them shout, "Hurrah!" and looking back saw +that their foremost ranks were mixed up with some foreign cavalry with +red epaulets, probably French. He could see nothing more, for +immediately afterwards cannon began firing from somewhere and smoke +enveloped everything. + +At that moment, as the Horse Guards, having passed him, disappeared in +the smoke, Rostov hesitated whether to gallop after them or to go where +he was sent. This was the brilliant charge of the Horse Guards that +amazed the French themselves. Rostov was horrified to hear later that of +all that mass of huge and handsome men, of all those brilliant, rich +youths, officers and cadets, who had galloped past him on their +thousand-ruble horses, only eighteen were left after the charge. + +"Why should I envy them? My chance is not lost, and maybe I shall see +the Emperor immediately!" thought Rostov and galloped on. + +When he came level with the Foot Guards he noticed that about them and +around them cannon balls were flying, of which he was aware not so much +because he heard their sound as because he saw uneasiness on the +soldiers' faces and unnatural warlike solemnity on those of the +officers. + +Passing behind one of the lines of a regiment of Foot Guards he heard a +voice calling him by name. + +"Rostov!" + +"What?" he answered, not recognizing Boris. + +"I say, we've been in the front line! Our regiment attacked!" said Boris +with the happy smile seen on the faces of young men who have been under +fire for the first time. + +Rostov stopped. + +"Have you?" he said. "Well, how did it go?" + +"We drove them back!" said Boris with animation, growing talkative. "Can +you imagine it?" and he began describing how the Guards, having taken up +their position and seeing troops before them, thought they were +Austrians, and all at once discovered from the cannon balls discharged +by those troops that they were themselves in the front line and had +unexpectedly to go into action. Rostov without hearing Boris to the end +spurred his horse. + +"Where are you off to?" asked Boris. + +"With a message to His Majesty." + +"There he is!" said Boris, thinking Rostov had said "His Highness," and +pointing to the Grand Duke who with his high shoulders and frowning +brows stood a hundred paces away from them in his helmet and Horse +Guards' jacket, shouting something to a pale, white uniformed Austrian +officer. + +"But that's the Grand Duke, and I want the commander-in-chief or the +Emperor," said Rostov, and was about to spur his horse. + +"Count! Count!" shouted Berg who ran up from the other side as eager as +Boris. "Count! I am wounded in my right hand" (and he showed his +bleeding hand with a handkerchief tied round it) "and I remained at the +front. I held my sword in my left hand, Count. All our family--the von +Bergs--have been knights!" + +He said something more, but Rostov did not wait to hear it and rode +away. + +Having passed the Guards and traversed an empty space, Rostov, to avoid +again getting in front of the first line as he had done when the Horse +Guards charged, followed the line of reserves, going far round the place +where the hottest musket fire and cannonade were heard. Suddenly he +heard musket fire quite close in front of him and behind our troops, +where he could never have expected the enemy to be. + +"What can it be?" he thought. "The enemy in the rear of our army? +Impossible!" And suddenly he was seized by a panic of fear for himself +and for the issue of the whole battle. "But be that what it may," he +reflected, "there is no riding round it now. I must look for the +commander in chief here, and if all is lost it is for me to perish with +the rest." + +The foreboding of evil that had suddenly come over Rostov was more and +more confirmed the farther he rode into the region behind the village of +Pratzen, which was full of troops of all kinds. + +"What does it mean? What is it? Whom are they firing at? Who is firing?" +Rostov kept asking as he came up to Russian and Austrian soldiers +running in confused crowds across his path. + +"The devil knows! They've killed everybody! It's all up now!" he was +told in Russian, German, and Czech by the crowd of fugitives who +understood what was happening as little as he did. + +"Kill the Germans!" shouted one. + +"May the devil take them--the traitors!" + +"Zum Henker diese Russen!" * muttered a German. + + +* "Hang these Russians!" + +Several wounded men passed along the road, and words of abuse, screams, +and groans mingled in a general hubbub, then the firing died down. +Rostov learned later that Russian and Austrian soldiers had been firing +at one another. + +"My God! What does it all mean?" thought he. "And here, where at any +moment the Emperor may see them.... But no, these must be only a handful +of scoundrels. It will soon be over, it can't be that, it can't be! Only +to get past them quicker, quicker!" + +The idea of defeat and flight could not enter Rostov's head. Though he +saw French cannon and French troops on the Pratzen Heights just where he +had been ordered to look for the commander-in-chief, he could not, did +not wish to, believe that. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Rostov had been ordered to look for Kutuzov and the Emperor near the +village of Pratzen. But neither they nor a single commanding officer +were there, only disorganized crowds of troops of various kinds. He +urged on his already weary horse to get quickly past these crowds, but +the farther he went the more disorganized they were. The highroad on +which he had come out was thronged with caleches, carriages of all +sorts, and Russian and Austrian soldiers of all arms, some wounded and +some not. This whole mass droned and jostled in confusion under the +dismal influence of cannon balls flying from the French batteries +stationed on the Pratzen Heights. + +"Where is the Emperor? Where is Kutuzov?" Rostov kept asking everyone he +could stop, but got no answer from anyone. + +At last seizing a soldier by his collar he forced him to answer. + +"Eh, brother! They've all bolted long ago!" said the soldier, laughing +for some reason and shaking himself free. + +Having left that soldier who was evidently drunk, Rostov stopped the +horse of a batman or groom of some important personage and began to +question him. The man announced that the Tsar had been driven in a +carriage at full speed about an hour before along that very road and +that he was dangerously wounded. + +"It can't be!" said Rostov. "It must have been someone else." + +"I saw him myself," replied the man with a self-confident smile of +derision. "I ought to know the Emperor by now, after the times I've seen +him in Petersburg. I saw him just as I see you.... There he sat in the +carriage as pale as anything. How they made the four black horses fly! +Gracious me, they did rattle past! It's time I knew the Imperial horses +and Ilya Ivanych. I don't think Ilya drives anyone except the Tsar!" + +Rostov let go of the horse and was about to ride on, when a wounded +officer passing by addressed him: + +"Who is it you want?" he asked. "The commander-in-chief? He was killed +by a cannon ball--struck in the breast before our regiment." + +"Not killed--wounded!" another officer corrected him. + +"Who? Kutuzov?" asked Rostov. + +"Not Kutuzov, but what's his name--well, never mind... there are not +many left alive. Go that way, to that village, all the commanders are +there," said the officer, pointing to the village of Hosjeradek, and he +walked on. + +Rostov rode on at a footpace not knowing why or to whom he was now +going. The Emperor was wounded, the battle lost. It was impossible to +doubt it now. Rostov rode in the direction pointed out to him, in which +he saw turrets and a church. What need to hurry? What was he now to say +to the Tsar or to Kutuzov, even if they were alive and unwounded? + +"Take this road, your honor, that way you will be killed at once!" a +soldier shouted to him. "They'd kill you there!" + +"Oh, what are you talking about?" said another. "Where is he to go? That +way is nearer." + +Rostov considered, and then went in the direction where they said he +would be killed. + +"It's all the same now. If the Emperor is wounded, am I to try to save +myself?" he thought. He rode on to the region where the greatest number +of men had perished in fleeing from Pratzen. The French had not yet +occupied that region, and the Russians--the uninjured and slightly +wounded--had left it long ago. All about the field, like heaps of manure +on well-kept plowland, lay from ten to fifteen dead and wounded to each +couple of acres. The wounded crept together in twos and threes and one +could hear their distressing screams and groans, sometimes feigned--or +so it seemed to Rostov. He put his horse to a trot to avoid seeing all +these suffering men, and he felt afraid--afraid not for his life, but +for the courage he needed and which he knew would not stand the sight of +these unfortunates. + +The French, who had ceased firing at this field strewn with dead and +wounded where there was no one left to fire at, on seeing an adjutant +riding over it trained a gun on him and fired several shots. The +sensation of those terrible whistling sounds and of the corpses around +him merged in Rostov's mind into a single feeling of terror and pity for +himself. He remembered his mother's last letter. "What would she feel," +thought he, "if she saw me here now on this field with the cannon aimed +at me?" + +In the village of Hosjeradek there were Russian troops retiring from the +field of battle, who though still in some confusion were less +disordered. The French cannon did not reach there and the musketry fire +sounded far away. Here everyone clearly saw and said that the battle was +lost. No one whom Rostov asked could tell him where the Emperor or +Kutuzov was. Some said the report that the Emperor was wounded was +correct, others that it was not, and explained the false rumor that had +spread by the fact that the Emperor's carriage had really galloped from +the field of battle with the pale and terrified Ober-Hofmarschal Count +Tolstoy, who had ridden out to the battlefield with others in the +Emperor's suite. One officer told Rostov that he had seen someone from +headquarters behind the village to the left, and thither Rostov rode, +not hoping to find anyone but merely to ease his conscience. When he had +ridden about two miles and had passed the last of the Russian troops, he +saw, near a kitchen garden with a ditch round it, two men on horseback +facing the ditch. One with a white plume in his hat seemed familiar to +Rostov; the other on a beautiful chestnut horse (which Rostov fancied he +had seen before) rode up to the ditch, struck his horse with his spurs, +and giving it the rein leaped lightly over. Only a little earth crumbled +from the bank under the horse's hind hoofs. Turning the horse sharply, +he again jumped the ditch, and deferentially addressed the horseman with +the white plumes, evidently suggesting that he should do the same. The +rider, whose figure seemed familiar to Rostov and involuntarily riveted +his attention, made a gesture of refusal with his head and hand and by +that gesture Rostov instantly recognized his lamented and adored +monarch. + +"But it can't be he, alone in the midst of this empty field!" thought +Rostov. At that moment Alexander turned his head and Rostov saw the +beloved features that were so deeply engraved on his memory. The Emperor +was pale, his cheeks sunken and his eyes hollow, but the charm, the +mildness of his features, was all the greater. Rostov was happy in the +assurance that the rumors about the Emperor being wounded were false. He +was happy to be seeing him. He knew that he might and even ought to go +straight to him and give the message Dolgorukov had ordered him to +deliver. + +But as a youth in love trembles, is unnerved, and dares not utter the +thoughts he has dreamed of for nights, but looks around for help or a +chance of delay and flight when the longed-for moment comes and he is +alone with her, so Rostov, now that he had attained what he had longed +for more than anything else in the world, did not know how to approach +the Emperor, and a thousand reasons occurred to him why it would be +inconvenient, unseemly, and impossible to do so. + +"What! It is as if I were glad of a chance to take advantage of his +being alone and despondent! A strange face may seem unpleasant or +painful to him at this moment of sorrow; besides, what can I say to him +now, when my heart fails me and my mouth feels dry at the mere sight of +him?" Not one of the innumerable speeches addressed to the Emperor that +he had composed in his imagination could he now recall. Those speeches +were intended for quite other conditions, they were for the most part to +be spoken at a moment of victory and triumph, generally when he was +dying of wounds and the sovereign had thanked him for heroic deeds, and +while dying he expressed the love his actions had proved. + +"Besides how can I ask the Emperor for his instructions for the right +flank now that it is nearly four o'clock and the battle is lost? No, +certainly I must not approach him, I must not intrude on his +reflections. Better die a thousand times than risk receiving an unkind +look or bad opinion from him," Rostov decided; and sorrowfully and with +a heart full despair he rode away, continually looking back at the Tsar, +who still remained in the same attitude of indecision. + +While Rostov was thus arguing with himself and riding sadly away, +Captain von Toll chanced to ride to the same spot, and seeing the +Emperor at once rode up to him, offered his services, and assisted him +to cross the ditch on foot. The Emperor, wishing to rest and feeling +unwell, sat down under an apple tree and von Toll remained beside him. +Rostov from a distance saw with envy and remorse how von Toll spoke long +and warmly to the Emperor and how the Emperor, evidently weeping, +covered his eyes with his hand and pressed von Toll's hand. + +"And I might have been in his place!" thought Rostov, and hardly +restraining his tears of pity for the Emperor, he rode on in utter +despair, not knowing where to or why he was now riding. + +His despair was all the greater from feeling that his own weakness was +the cause of his grief. + +He might... not only might but should, have gone up to the sovereign. It +was a unique chance to show his devotion to the Emperor and he had not +made use of it.... "What have I done?" thought he. And he turned round +and galloped back to the place where he had seen the Emperor, but there +was no one beyond the ditch now. Only some carts and carriages were +passing by. From one of the drivers he learned that Kutuzov's staff were +not far off, in the village the vehicles were going to. Rostov followed +them. In front of him walked Kutuzov's groom leading horses in +horsecloths. Then came a cart, and behind that walked an old, bandy- +legged domestic serf in a peaked cap and sheepskin coat. + +"Tit! I say, Tit!" said the groom. + +"What?" answered the old man absent-mindedly. + +"Go, Tit! Thresh a bit!" + +"Oh, you fool!" said the old man, spitting angrily. Some time passed in +silence, and then the same joke was repeated. + +Before five in the evening the battle had been lost at all points. More +than a hundred cannon were already in the hands of the French. + +Przebyszewski and his corps had laid down their arms. Other columns +after losing half their men were retreating in disorderly confused +masses. + +The remains of Langeron's and Dokhturov's mingled forces were crowding +around the dams and banks of the ponds near the village of Augesd. + +After five o'clock it was only at the Augesd Dam that a hot cannonade +(delivered by the French alone) was still to be heard from numerous +batteries ranged on the slopes of the Pratzen Heights, directed at our +retreating forces. + +In the rearguard, Dokhturov and others rallying some battalions kept up +a musketry fire at the French cavalry that was pursuing our troops. It +was growing dusk. On the narrow Augesd Dam where for so many years the +old miller had been accustomed to sit in his tasseled cap peacefully +angling, while his grandson, with shirt sleeves rolled up, handled the +floundering silvery fish in the watering can, on that dam over which for +so many years Moravians in shaggy caps and blue jackets had peacefully +driven their two-horse carts loaded with wheat and had returned dusty +with flour whitening their carts--on that narrow dam amid the wagons and +the cannon, under the horses' hoofs and between the wagon wheels, men +disfigured by fear of death now crowded together, crushing one another, +dying, stepping over the dying and killing one another, only to move on +a few steps and be killed themselves in the same way. + +Every ten seconds a cannon ball flew compressing the air around, or a +shell burst in the midst of that dense throng, killing some and +splashing with blood those near them. + +Dolokhov--now an officer--wounded in the arm, and on foot, with the +regimental commander on horseback and some ten men of his company, +represented all that was left of that whole regiment. Impelled by the +crowd, they had got wedged in at the approach to the dam and, jammed in +on all sides, had stopped because a horse in front had fallen under a +cannon and the crowd were dragging it out. A cannon ball killed someone +behind them, another fell in front and splashed Dolokhov with blood. The +crowd, pushing forward desperately, squeezed together, moved a few +steps, and again stopped. + +"Move on a hundred yards and we are certainly saved, remain here another +two minutes and it is certain death," thought each one. + +Dolokhov who was in the midst of the crowd forced his way to the edge of +the dam, throwing two soldiers off their feet, and ran onto the slippery +ice that covered the millpool. + +"Turn this way!" he shouted, jumping over the ice which creaked under +him; "turn this way!" he shouted to those with the gun. "It bears!..." + +The ice bore him but it swayed and creaked, and it was plain that it +would give way not only under a cannon or a crowd, but very soon even +under his weight alone. The men looked at him and pressed to the bank, +hesitating to step onto the ice. The general on horseback at the +entrance to the dam raised his hand and opened his mouth to address +Dolokhov. Suddenly a cannon ball hissed so low above the crowd that +everyone ducked. It flopped into something moist, and the general fell +from his horse in a pool of blood. Nobody gave him a look or thought of +raising him. + +"Get onto the ice, over the ice! Go on! Turn! Don't you hear? Go on!" +innumerable voices suddenly shouted after the ball had struck the +general, the men themselves not knowing what, or why, they were +shouting. + +One of the hindmost guns that was going onto the dam turned off onto the +ice. Crowds of soldiers from the dam began running onto the frozen pond. +The ice gave way under one of the foremost soldiers, and one leg slipped +into the water. He tried to right himself but fell in up to his waist. +The nearest soldiers shrank back, the gun driver stopped his horse, but +from behind still came the shouts: "Onto the ice, why do you stop? Go +on! Go on!" And cries of horror were heard in the crowd. The soldiers +near the gun waved their arms and beat the horses to make them turn and +move on. The horses moved off the bank. The ice, that had held under +those on foot, collapsed in a great mass, and some forty men who were on +it dashed, some forward and some back, drowning one another. + +Still the cannon balls continued regularly to whistle and flop onto the +ice and into the water and oftenest of all among the crowd that covered +the dam, the pond, and the bank. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +On the Pratzen Heights, where he had fallen with the flagstaff in his +hand, lay Prince Andrew Bolkonski bleeding profusely and unconsciously +uttering a gentle, piteous, and childlike moan. + +Toward evening he ceased moaning and became quite still. He did not know +how long his unconsciousness lasted. Suddenly he again felt that he was +alive and suffering from a burning, lacerating pain in his head. + +"Where is it, that lofty sky that I did not know till now, but saw +today?" was his first thought. "And I did not know this suffering +either," he thought. "Yes, I did not know anything, anything at all till +now. But where am I?" + +He listened and heard the sound of approaching horses, and voices +speaking French. He opened his eyes. Above him again was the same lofty +sky with clouds that had risen and were floating still higher, and +between them gleamed blue infinity. He did not turn his head and did not +see those who, judging by the sound of hoofs and voices, had ridden up +and stopped near him. + +It was Napoleon accompanied by two aides-de-camp. Bonaparte riding over +the battlefield had given final orders to strengthen the batteries +firing at the Augesd Dam and was looking at the killed and wounded left +on the field. + +"Fine men!" remarked Napoleon, looking at a dead Russian grenadier, who, +with his face buried in the ground and a blackened nape, lay on his +stomach with an already stiffened arm flung wide. + +"The ammunition for the guns in position is exhausted, Your Majesty," +said an adjutant who had come from the batteries that were firing at +Augesd. + +"Have some brought from the reserve," said Napoleon, and having gone on +a few steps he stopped before Prince Andrew, who lay on his back with +the flagstaff that had been dropped beside him. (The flag had already +been taken by the French as a trophy.) + +"That's a fine death!" said Napoleon as he gazed at Bolkonski. + +Prince Andrew understood that this was said of him and that it was +Napoleon who said it. He heard the speaker addressed as Sire. But he +heard the words as he might have heard the buzzing of a fly. Not only +did they not interest him, but he took no notice of them and at once +forgot them. His head was burning, he felt himself bleeding to death, +and he saw above him the remote, lofty, and everlasting sky. He knew it +was Napoleon--his hero--but at that moment Napoleon seemed to him such a +small, insignificant creature compared with what was passing now between +himself and that lofty infinite sky with the clouds flying over it. At +that moment it meant nothing to him who might be standing over him, or +what was said of him; he was only glad that people were standing near +him and only wished that they would help him and bring him back to life, +which seemed to him so beautiful now that he had today learned to +understand it so differently. He collected all his strength, to stir and +utter a sound. He feebly moved his leg and uttered a weak, sickly groan +which aroused his own pity. + +"Ah! He is alive," said Napoleon. "Lift this young man up and carry him +to the dressing station." + +Having said this, Napoleon rode on to meet Marshal Lannes, who, hat in +hand, rode up smiling to the Emperor to congratulate him on the victory. + +Prince Andrew remembered nothing more: he lost consciousness from the +terrible pain of being lifted onto the stretcher, the jolting while +being moved, and the probing of his wound at the dressing station. He +did not regain consciousness till late in the day, when with other +wounded and captured Russian officers he was carried to the hospital. +During this transfer he felt a little stronger and was able to look +about him and even speak. + +The first words he heard on coming to his senses were those of a French +convoy officer, who said rapidly: "We must halt here: the Emperor will +pass here immediately; it will please him to see these gentlemen +prisoners." + +"There are so many prisoners today, nearly the whole Russian army, that +he is probably tired of them," said another officer. + +"All the same! They say this one is the commander of all the Emperor +Alexander's Guards," said the first one, indicating a Russian officer in +the white uniform of the Horse Guards. + +Bolkonski recognized Prince Repnin whom he had met in Petersburg +society. Beside him stood a lad of nineteen, also a wounded officer of +the Horse Guards. + +Bonaparte, having come up at a gallop, stopped his horse. + +"Which is the senior?" he asked, on seeing the prisoners. + +They named the colonel, Prince Repnin. + +"You are the commander of the Emperor Alexander's regiment of Horse +Guards?" asked Napoleon. + +"I commanded a squadron," replied Repnin. + +"Your regiment fulfilled its duty honorably," said Napoleon. + +"The praise of a great commander is a soldier's highest reward," said +Repnin. + +"I bestow it with pleasure," said Napoleon. "And who is that young man +beside you?" + +Prince Repnin named Lieutenant Sukhtelen. + +After looking at him Napoleon smiled. + +"He's very young to come to meddle with us." + +"Youth is no hindrance to courage," muttered Sukhtelen in a failing +voice. + +"A splendid reply!" said Napoleon. "Young man, you will go far!" + +Prince Andrew, who had also been brought forward before the Emperor's +eyes to complete the show of prisoners, could not fail to attract his +attention. Napoleon apparently remembered seeing him on the battlefield +and, addressing him, again used the epithet "young man" that was +connected in his memory with Prince Andrew. + +"Well, and you, young man," said he. "How do you feel, mon brave?" + +Though five minutes before, Prince Andrew had been able to say a few +words to the soldiers who were carrying him, now with his eyes fixed +straight on Napoleon, he was silent.... So insignificant at that moment +seemed to him all the interests that engrossed Napoleon, so mean did his +hero himself with his paltry vanity and joy in victory appear, compared +to the lofty, equitable, and kindly sky which he had seen and +understood, that he could not answer him. + +Everything seemed so futile and insignificant in comparison with the +stern and solemn train of thought that weakness from loss of blood, +suffering, and the nearness of death aroused in him. Looking into +Napoleon's eyes Prince Andrew thought of the insignificance of +greatness, the unimportance of life which no one could understand, and +the still greater unimportance of death, the meaning of which no one +alive could understand or explain. + +The Emperor without waiting for an answer turned away and said to one of +the officers as he went: "Have these gentlemen attended to and taken to +my bivouac; let my doctor, Larrey, examine their wounds. Au revoir, +Prince Repnin!" and he spurred his horse and galloped away. + +His face shone with self-satisfaction and pleasure. + +The soldiers who had carried Prince Andrew had noticed and taken the +little gold icon Princess Mary had hung round her brother's neck, but +seeing the favor the Emperor showed the prisoners, they now hastened to +return the holy image. + +Prince Andrew did not see how and by whom it was replaced, but the +little icon with its thin gold chain suddenly appeared upon his chest +outside his uniform. + +"It would be good," thought Prince Andrew, glancing at the icon his +sister had hung round his neck with such emotion and reverence, "it +would be good if everything were as clear and simple as it seems to +Mary. How good it would be to know where to seek for help in this life, +and what to expect after it beyond the grave! How happy and calm I +should be if I could now say: 'Lord, have mercy on me!'... But to whom +should I say that? Either to a Power indefinable, incomprehensible, +which I not only cannot address but which I cannot even express in +words--the Great All or Nothing-" said he to himself, "or to that God +who has been sewn into this amulet by Mary! There is nothing certain, +nothing at all except the unimportance of everything I understand, and +the greatness of something incomprehensible but all-important." + +The stretchers moved on. At every jolt he again felt unendurable pain; +his feverishness increased and he grew delirious. Visions of his father, +wife, sister, and future son, and the tenderness he had felt the night +before the battle, the figure of the insignificant little Napoleon, and +above all this the lofty sky, formed the chief subjects of his delirious +fancies. + +The quiet home life and peaceful happiness of Bald Hills presented +itself to him. He was already enjoying that happiness when that little +Napoleon had suddenly appeared with his unsympathizing look of +shortsighted delight at the misery of others, and doubts and torments +had followed, and only the heavens promised peace. Toward morning all +these dreams melted and merged into the chaos and darkness of +unconciousness and oblivion which in the opinion of Napoleon's doctor, +Larrey, was much more likely to end in death than in convalescence. + +"He is a nervous, bilious subject," said Larrey, "and will not recover." + +And Prince Andrew, with others fatally wounded, was left to the care of +the inhabitants of the district. + +BOOK FOUR: 1806 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Early in the year 1806 Nicholas Rostov returned home on leave. Denisov +was going home to Voronezh and Rostov persuaded him to travel with him +as far as Moscow and to stay with him there. Meeting a comrade at the +last post station but one before Moscow, Denisov had drunk three bottles +of wine with him and, despite the jolting ruts across the snow-covered +road, did not once wake up on the way to Moscow, but lay at the bottom +of the sleigh beside Rostov, who grew more and more impatient the nearer +they got to Moscow. + +"How much longer? How much longer? Oh, these insufferable streets, +shops, bakers' signboards, street lamps, and sleighs!" thought Rostov, +when their leave permits had been passed at the town gate and they had +entered Moscow. + +"Denisov! We're here! He's asleep," he added, leaning forward with his +whole body as if in that position he hoped to hasten the speed of the +sleigh. + +Denisov gave no answer. + +"There's the corner at the crossroads, where the cabman, Zakhar, has his +stand, and there's Zakhar himself and still the same horse! And here's +the little shop where we used to buy gingerbread! Can't you hurry up? +Now then!" + +"Which house is it?" asked the driver. + +"Why, that one, right at the end, the big one. Don't you see? That's our +house," said Rostov. "Of course, it's our house! Denisov, Denisov! We're +almost there!" + +Denisov raised his head, coughed, and made no answer. + +"Dmitri," said Rostov to his valet on the box, "those lights are in our +house, aren't they?" + +"Yes, sir, and there's a light in your father's study." + +"Then they've not gone to bed yet? What do you think? Mind now, don't +forget to put out my new coat," added Rostov, fingering his new +mustache. "Now then, get on," he shouted to the driver. "Do wake up, +Vaska!" he went on, turning to Denisov, whose head was again nodding. +"Come, get on! You shall have three rubles for vodka--get on!" Rostov +shouted, when the sleigh was only three houses from his door. It seemed +to him the horses were not moving at all. At last the sleigh bore to the +right, drew up at an entrance, and Rostov saw overhead the old familiar +cornice with a bit of plaster broken off, the porch, and the post by the +side of the pavement. He sprang out before the sleigh stopped, and ran +into the hall. The house stood cold and silent, as if quite regardless +of who had come to it. There was no one in the hall. "Oh God! Is +everyone all right?" he thought, stopping for a moment with a sinking +heart, and then immediately starting to run along the hall and up the +warped steps of the familiar staircase. The well-known old door handle, +which always angered the countess when it was not properly cleaned, +turned as loosely as ever. A solitary tallow candle burned in the +anteroom. + +Old Michael was asleep on the chest. Prokofy, the footman, who was so +strong that he could lift the back of the carriage from behind, sat +plaiting slippers out of cloth selvedges. He looked up at the opening +door and his expression of sleepy indifference suddenly changed to one +of delighted amazement. + +"Gracious heavens! The young count!" he cried, recognizing his young +master. "Can it be? My treasure!" and Prokofy, trembling with +excitement, rushed toward the drawing-room door, probably in order to +announce him, but, changing his mind, came back and stooped to kiss the +young man's shoulder. + +"All well?" asked Rostov, drawing away his arm. + +"Yes, God be thanked! Yes! They've just finished supper. Let me have a +look at you, your excellency." + +"Is everything quite all right?" + +"The Lord be thanked, yes!" + +Rostov, who had completely forgotten Denisov, not wishing anyone to +forestall him, threw off his fur coat and ran on tiptoe through the +large dark ballroom. All was the same: there were the same old card +tables and the same chandelier with a cover over it; but someone had +already seen the young master, and, before he had reached the drawing +room, something flew out from a side door like a tornado and began +hugging and kissing him. Another and yet another creature of the same +kind sprang from a second door and a third; more hugging, more kissing, +more outcries, and tears of joy. He could not distinguish which was +Papa, which Natasha, and which Petya. Everyone shouted, talked, and +kissed him at the same time. Only his mother was not there, he noticed +that. + +"And I did not know... Nicholas... My darling!..." + +"Here he is... our own... Kolya, * dear fellow... How he has changed!... +Where are the candles?... Tea!..." + + +* Nicholas. + +"And me, kiss me!" + +"Dearest... and me!" + +Sonya, Natasha, Petya, Anna Mikhaylovna, Vera, and the old count were +all hugging him, and the serfs, men and maids, flocked into the room, +exclaiming and oh-ing and ah-ing. + +Petya, clinging to his legs, kept shouting, "And me too!" + +Natasha, after she had pulled him down toward her and covered his face +with kisses, holding him tight by the skirt of his coat, sprang away and +pranced up and down in one place like a goat and shrieked piercingly. + +All around were loving eyes glistening with tears of joy, and all around +were lips seeking a kiss. + +Sonya too, all rosy red, clung to his arm and, radiant with bliss, +looked eagerly toward his eyes, waiting for the look for which she +longed. Sonya now was sixteen and she was very pretty, especially at +this moment of happy, rapturous excitement. She gazed at him, not taking +her eyes off him, and smiling and holding her breath. He gave her a +grateful look, but was still expectant and looking for someone. The old +countess had not yet come. But now steps were heard at the door, steps +so rapid that they could hardly be his mother's. + +Yet it was she, dressed in a new gown which he did not know, made since +he had left. All the others let him go, and he ran to her. When they +met, she fell on his breast, sobbing. She could not lift her face, but +only pressed it to the cold braiding of his hussar's jacket. Denisov, +who had come into the room unnoticed by anyone, stood there and wiped +his eyes at the sight. + +"Vasili Denisov, your son's friend," he said, introducing himself to the +count, who was looking inquiringly at him. + +"You are most welcome! I know, I know," said the count, kissing and +embracing Denisov. "Nicholas wrote us... Natasha, Vera, look! Here is +Denisov!" + +The same happy, rapturous faces turned to the shaggy figure of Denisov. + +"Darling Denisov!" screamed Natasha, beside herself with rapture, +springing to him, putting her arms round him, and kissing him. This +escapade made everybody feel confused. Denisov blushed too, but smiled +and, taking Natasha's hand, kissed it. + +Denisov was shown to the room prepared for him, and the Rostovs all +gathered round Nicholas in the sitting room. + +The old countess, not letting go of his hand and kissing it every +moment, sat beside him: the rest, crowding round him, watched every +movement, word, or look of his, never taking their blissfully adoring +eyes off him. His brother and sisters struggled for the places nearest +to him and disputed with one another who should bring him his tea, +handkerchief, and pipe. + +Rostov was very happy in the love they showed him; but the first moment +of meeting had been so beatific that his present joy seemed +insufficient, and he kept expecting something more, more and yet more. + +Next morning, after the fatigues of their journey, the travelers slept +till ten o'clock. + +In the room next their bedroom there was a confusion of sabers, +satchels, sabretaches, open portmanteaus, and dirty boots. Two freshly +cleaned pairs with spurs had just been placed by the wall. The servants +were bringing in jugs and basins, hot water for shaving, and their well- +brushed clothes. There was a masculine odor and a smell of tobacco. + +"Hallo, Gwiska--my pipe!" came Vasili Denisov's husky voice. "Wostov, +get up!" + +Rostov, rubbing his eyes that seemed glued together, raised his +disheveled head from the hot pillow. + +"Why, is it late?" + +"Late! It's nearly ten o'clock," answered Natasha's voice. A rustle of +starched petticoats and the whispering and laughter of girls' voices +came from the adjoining room. The door was opened a crack and there was +a glimpse of something blue, of ribbons, black hair, and merry faces. It +was Natasha, Sonya, and Petya, who had come to see whether they were +getting up. + +"Nicholas! Get up!" Natasha's voice was again heard at the door. + +"Directly!" + +Meanwhile, Petya, having found and seized the sabers in the outer room, +with the delight boys feel at the sight of a military elder brother, and +forgetting that it was unbecoming for the girls to see men undressed, +opened the bedroom door. + +"Is this your saber?" he shouted. + +The girls sprang aside. Denisov hid his hairy legs under the blanket, +looking with a scared face at his comrade for help. The door, having let +Petya in, closed again. A sound of laughter came from behind it. + +"Nicholas! Come out in your dressing gown!" said Natasha's voice. + +"Is this your saber?" asked Petya. "Or is it yours?" he said, addressing +the black-mustached Denisov with servile deference. + +Rostov hurriedly put something on his feet, drew on his dressing gown, +and went out. Natasha had put on one spurred boot and was just getting +her foot into the other. Sonya, when he came in, was twirling round and +was about to expand her dresses into a balloon and sit down. They were +dressed alike, in new pale-blue frocks, and were both fresh, rosy, and +bright. Sonya ran away, but Natasha, taking her brother's arm, led him +into the sitting room, where they began talking. They hardly gave one +another time to ask questions and give replies concerning a thousand +little matters which could not interest anyone but themselves. Natasha +laughed at every word he said or that she said herself, not because what +they were saying was amusing, but because she felt happy and was unable +to control her joy which expressed itself by laughter. + +"Oh, how nice, how splendid!" she said to everything. + +Rostov felt that, under the influence of the warm rays of love, that +childlike smile which had not once appeared on his face since he left +home now for the first time after eighteen months again brightened his +soul and his face. + +"No, but listen," she said, "now you are quite a man, aren't you? I'm +awfully glad you're my brother." She touched his mustache. "I want to +know what you men are like. Are you the same as we? No?" + +"Why did Sonya run away?" asked Rostov. + +"Ah, yes! That's a whole long story! How are you going to speak to her-- +thou or you?" + +"As may happen," said Rostov. + +"No, call her you, please! I'll tell you all about it some other time. +No, I'll tell you now. You know Sonya's my dearest friend. Such a friend +that I burned my arm for her sake. Look here!" + +She pulled up her muslin sleeve and showed him a red scar on her long, +slender, delicate arm, high above the elbow on that part that is covered +even by a ball dress. + +"I burned this to prove my love for her. I just heated a ruler in the +fire and pressed it there!" + +Sitting on the sofa with the little cushions on its arms, in what used +to be his old schoolroom, and looking into Natasha's wildly bright eyes, +Rostov re-entered that world of home and childhood which had no meaning +for anyone else, but gave him some of the best joys of his life; and the +burning of an arm with a ruler as a proof of love did not seem to him +senseless, he understood and was not surprised at it. + +"Well, and is that all?" he asked. + +"We are such friends, such friends! All that ruler business was just +nonsense, but we are friends forever. She, if she loves anyone, does it +for life, but I don't understand that, I forget quickly." + +"Well, what then?" + +"Well, she loves me and you like that." + +Natasha suddenly flushed. + +"Why, you remember before you went away?... Well, she says you are to +forget all that.... She says: 'I shall love him always, but let him be +free.' Isn't that lovely and noble! Yes, very noble? Isn't it?" asked +Natasha, so seriously and excitedly that it was evident that what she +was now saying she had talked of before, with tears. + +Rostov became thoughtful. + +"I never go back on my word," he said. "Besides, Sonya is so charming +that only a fool would renounce such happiness." + +"No, no!" cried Natasha, "she and I have already talked it over. We knew +you'd say so. But it won't do, because you see, if you say that--if you +consider yourself bound by your promise--it will seem as if she had not +meant it seriously. It makes it as if you were marrying her because you +must, and that wouldn't do at all." + +Rostov saw that it had been well considered by them. Sonya had already +struck him by her beauty on the preceding day. Today, when he had caught +a glimpse of her, she seemed still more lovely. She was a charming girl +of sixteen, evidently passionately in love with him (he did not doubt +that for an instant). Why should he not love her now, and even marry +her, Rostov thought, but just now there were so many other pleasures and +interests before him! "Yes, they have taken a wise decision," he +thought, "I must remain free." + +"Well then, that's excellent," said he. "We'll talk it over later on. +Oh, how glad I am to have you!" + +"Well, and are you still true to Boris?" he continued. + +"Oh, what nonsense!" cried Natasha, laughing. "I don't think about him +or anyone else, and I don't want anything of the kind." + +"Dear me! Then what are you up to now?" + +"Now?" repeated Natasha, and a happy smile lit up her face. "Have you +seen Duport?" + +"No." + +"Not seen Duport--the famous dancer? Well then, you won't understand. +That's what I'm up to." + +Curving her arms, Natasha held out her skirts as dancers do, ran back a +few steps, turned, cut a caper, brought her little feet sharply +together, and made some steps on the very tips of her toes. + +"See, I'm standing! See!" she said, but could not maintain herself on +her toes any longer. "So that's what I'm up to! I'll never marry anyone, +but will be a dancer. Only don't tell anyone." + +Rostov laughed so loud and merrily that Denisov, in his bedroom, felt +envious and Natasha could not help joining in. + +"No, but don't you think it's nice?" she kept repeating. + +"Nice! And so you no longer wish to marry Boris?" + +Natasha flared up. "I don't want to marry anyone. And I'll tell him so +when I see him!" + +"Dear me!" said Rostov. + +"But that's all rubbish," Natasha chattered on. "And is Denisov nice?" +she asked. + +"Yes, indeed!" + +"Oh, well then, good-by: go and dress. Is he very terrible, Denisov?" + +"Why terrible?" asked Nicholas. "No, Vaska is a splendid fellow." + +"You call him Vaska? That's funny! And is he very nice?" + +"Very." + +"Well then, be quick. We'll all have breakfast together." + +And Natasha rose and went out of the room on tiptoe, like a ballet +dancer, but smiling as only happy girls of fifteen can smile. When +Rostov met Sonya in the drawing room, he reddened. He did not know how +to behave with her. The evening before, in the first happy moment of +meeting, they had kissed each other, but today they felt it could not be +done; he felt that everybody, including his mother and sisters, was +looking inquiringly at him and watching to see how he would behave with +her. He kissed her hand and addressed her not as thou but as you--Sonya. +But their eyes met and said thou, and exchanged tender kisses. Her looks +asked him to forgive her for having dared, by Natasha's intermediacy, to +remind him of his promise, and then thanked him for his love. His looks +thanked her for offering him his freedom and told her that one way or +another he would never cease to love her, for that would be impossible. + +"How strange it is," said Vera, selecting a moment when all were silent, +"that Sonya and Nicholas now say you to one another and meet like +strangers." + +Vera's remark was correct, as her remarks always were, but, like most of +her observations, it made everyone feel uncomfortable, not only Sonya, +Nicholas, and Natasha, but even the old countess, who--dreading this +love affair which might hinder Nicholas from making a brilliant match-- +blushed like a girl. + +Denisov, to Rostov's surprise, appeared in the drawing room with pomaded +hair, perfumed, and in a new uniform, looking just as smart as he made +himself when going into battle, and he was more amiable to the ladies +and gentlemen than Rostov had ever expected to see him. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +On his return to Moscow from the army, Nicholas Rostov was welcomed by +his home circle as the best of sons, a hero, and their darling +Nikolenka; by his relations as a charming, attractive, and polite young +man; by his acquaintances as a handsome lieutenant of hussars, a good +dancer, and one of the best matches in the city. + +The Rostovs knew everybody in Moscow. The old count had money enough +that year, as all his estates had been remortgaged, and so Nicholas, +acquiring a trotter of his own, very stylish riding breeches of the +latest cut, such as no one else yet had in Moscow, and boots of the +latest fashion, with extremely pointed toes and small silver spurs, +passed his time very gaily. After a short period of adapting himself to +the old conditions of life, Nicholas found it very pleasant to be at +home again. He felt that he had grown up and matured very much. His +despair at failing in a Scripture examination, his borrowing money from +Gavril to pay a sleigh driver, his kissing Sonya on the sly--he now +recalled all this as childishness he had left immeasurably behind. Now +he was a lieutenant of hussars, in a jacket laced with silver, and +wearing the Cross of St. George, awarded to soldiers for bravery in +action, and in the company of well-known, elderly, and respected racing +men was training a trotter of his own for a race. He knew a lady on one +of the boulevards whom he visited of an evening. He led the mazurka at +the Arkharovs' ball, talked about the war with Field Marshal Kamenski, +visited the English Club, and was on intimate terms with a colonel of +forty to whom Denisov had introduced him. + +His passion for the Emperor had cooled somewhat in Moscow. But still, as +he did not see him and had no opportunity of seeing him, he often spoke +about him and about his love for him, letting it be understood that he +had not told all and that there was something in his feelings for the +Emperor not everyone could understand, and with his whole soul he shared +the adoration then common in Moscow for the Emperor, who was spoken of +as the "angel incarnate." + +During Rostov's short stay in Moscow, before rejoining the army, he did +not draw closer to Sonya, but rather drifted away from her. She was very +pretty and sweet, and evidently deeply in love with him, but he was at +the period of youth when there seems so much to do that there is no time +for that sort of thing and a young man fears to bind himself and prizes +his freedom which he needs for so many other things. When he thought of +Sonya, during this stay in Moscow, he said to himself, "Ah, there will +be, and there are, many more such girls somewhere whom I do not yet +know. There will be time enough to think about love when I want to, but +now I have no time." Besides, it seemed to him that the society of women +was rather derogatory to his manhood. He went to balls and into ladies' +society with an affectation of doing so against his will. The races, the +English Club, sprees with Denisov, and visits to a certain house--that +was another matter and quite the thing for a dashing young hussar! + +At the beginning of March, old Count Ilya Rostov was very busy arranging +a dinner in honor of Prince Bagration at the English Club. + +The count walked up and down the hall in his dressing gown, giving +orders to the club steward and to the famous Feoktist, the club's head +cook, about asparagus, fresh cucumbers, strawberries, veal, and fish for +this dinner. The count had been a member and on the committee of the +club from the day it was founded. To him the club entrusted the +arrangement of the festival in honor of Bagration, for few men knew so +well how to arrange a feast on an open-handed, hospitable scale, and +still fewer men would be so well able and willing to make up out of +their own resources what might be needed for the success of the fete. +The club cook and the steward listened to the count's orders with +pleased faces, for they knew that under no other management could they +so easily extract a good profit for themselves from a dinner costing +several thousand rubles. + +"Well then, mind and have cocks' comb in the turtle soup, you know!" + +"Shall we have three cold dishes then?" asked the cook. + +The count considered. + +"We can't have less--yes, three... the mayonnaise, that's one," said he, +bending down a finger. + +"Then am I to order those large sterlets?" asked the steward. + +"Yes, it can't be helped if they won't take less. Ah, dear me! I was +forgetting. We must have another entree. Ah, goodness gracious!" he +clutched at his head. "Who is going to get me the flowers? Dmitri! Eh, +Dmitri! Gallop off to our Moscow estate," he said to the factotum who +appeared at his call. "Hurry off and tell Maksim, the gardener, to set +the serfs to work. Say that everything out of the hothouses must be +brought here well wrapped up in felt. I must have two hundred pots here +on Friday." + +Having given several more orders, he was about to go to his "little +countess" to have a rest, but remembering something else of importance, +he returned again, called back the cook and the club steward, and again +began giving orders. A light footstep and the clinking of spurs were +heard at the door, and the young count, handsome, rosy, with a dark +little mustache, evidently rested and made sleeker by his easy life in +Moscow, entered the room. + +"Ah, my boy, my head's in a whirl!" said the old man with a smile, as if +he felt a little confused before his son. "Now, if you would only help a +bit! I must have singers too. I shall have my own orchestra, but +shouldn't we get the gypsy singers as well? You military men like that +sort of thing." + +"Really, Papa, I believe Prince Bagration worried himself less before +the battle of Schon Grabern than you do now," said his son with a smile. + +The old count pretended to be angry. + +"Yes, you talk, but try it yourself!" + +And the count turned to the cook, who, with a shrewd and respectful +expression, looked observantly and sympathetically at the father and +son. + +"What have the young people come to nowadays, eh, Feoktist?" said he. +"Laughing at us old fellows!" + +"That's so, your excellency, all they have to do is to eat a good +dinner, but providing it and serving it all up, that's not their +business!" + +"That's it, that's it!" exclaimed the count, and gaily seizing his son +by both hands, he cried, "Now I've got you, so take the sleigh and pair +at once, and go to Bezukhov's, and tell him 'Count Ilya has sent you to +ask for strawberries and fresh pineapples.' We can't get them from +anyone else. He's not there himself, so you'll have to go in and ask the +princesses; and from there go on to the Rasgulyay--the coachman Ipatka +knows--and look up the gypsy Ilyushka, the one who danced at Count +Orlov's, you remember, in a white Cossack coat, and bring him along to +me." + +"And am I to bring the gypsy girls along with him?" asked Nicholas, +laughing. "Dear, dear!..." + +At that moment, with noiseless footsteps and with the businesslike, +preoccupied, yet meekly Christian look which never left her face, Anna +Mikhaylovna entered the hall. Though she came upon the count in his +dressing gown every day, he invariably became confused and begged her to +excuse his costume. + +"No matter at all, my dear count," she said, meekly closing her eyes. +"But I'll go to Bezukhov's myself. Pierre has arrived, and now we shall +get anything we want from his hothouses. I have to see him in any case. +He has forwarded me a letter from Boris. Thank God, Boris is now on the +staff." + +The count was delighted at Anna Mikhaylovna's taking upon herself one of +his commissions and ordered the small closed carriage for her. + +"Tell Bezukhov to come. I'll put his name down. Is his wife with him?" +he asked. + +Anna Mikhaylovna turned up her eyes, and profound sadness was depicted +on her face. + +"Ah, my dear friend, he is very unfortunate," she said. "If what we hear +is true, it is dreadful. How little we dreamed of such a thing when we +were rejoicing at his happiness! And such a lofty angelic soul as young +Bezukhov! Yes, I pity him from my heart, and shall try to give him what +consolation I can." + +"Wh-what is the matter?" asked both the young and old Rostov. + +Anna Mikhaylovna sighed deeply. + +"Dolokhov, Mary Ivanovna's son," she said in a mysterious whisper, "has +compromised her completely, they say. Pierre took him up, invited him to +his house in Petersburg, and now... she has come here and that daredevil +after her!" said Anna Mikhaylovna, wishing to show her sympathy for +Pierre, but by involuntary intonations and a half smile betraying her +sympathy for the "daredevil," as she called Dolokhov. "They say Pierre +is quite broken by his misfortune." + +"Dear, dear! But still tell him to come to the club--it will all blow +over. It will be a tremendous banquet." + +Next day, the third of March, soon after one o'clock, two hundred and +fifty members of the English Club and fifty guests were awaiting the +guest of honor and hero of the Austrian campaign, Prince Bagration, to +dinner. + +On the first arrival of the news of the battle of Austerlitz, Moscow had +been bewildered. At that time, the Russians were so used to victories +that on receiving news of the defeat some would simply not believe it, +while others sought some extraordinary explanation of so strange an +event. In the English Club, where all who were distinguished, important, +and well informed foregathered when the news began to arrive in +December, nothing was said about the war and the last battle, as though +all were in a conspiracy of silence. The men who set the tone in +conversation--Count Rostopchin, Prince Yuri Dolgorukov, Valuev, Count +Markov, and Prince Vyazemski--did not show themselves at the club, but +met in private houses in intimate circles, and the Moscovites who took +their opinions from others--Ilya Rostov among them--remained for a while +without any definite opinion on the subject of the war and without +leaders. The Moscovites felt that something was wrong and that to +discuss the bad news was difficult, and so it was best to be silent. But +after a while, just as a jury comes out of its room, the bigwigs who +guided the club's opinion reappeared, and everybody began speaking +clearly and definitely. Reasons were found for the incredible, unheard- +of, and impossible event of a Russian defeat, everything became clear, +and in all corners of Moscow the same things began to be said. These +reasons were the treachery of the Austrians, a defective commissariat, +the treachery of the Pole Przebyszewski and of the Frenchman Langeron, +Kutuzov's incapacity, and (it was whispered) the youth and inexperience +of the sovereign, who had trusted worthless and insignificant people. +But the army, the Russian army, everyone declared, was extraordinary and +had achieved miracles of valor. The soldiers, officers, and generals +were heroes. But the hero of heroes was Prince Bagration, distinguished +by his Schon Grabern affair and by the retreat from Austerlitz, where he +alone had withdrawn his column unbroken and had all day beaten back an +enemy force twice as numerous as his own. What also conduced to +Bagration's being selected as Moscow's hero was the fact that he had no +connections in the city and was a stranger there. In his person, honor +was shown to a simple fighting Russian soldier without connections and +intrigues, and to one who was associated by memories of the Italian +campaign with the name of Suvorov. Moreover, paying such honor to +Bagration was the best way of expressing disapproval and dislike of +Kutuzov. + +"Had there been no Bagration, it would have been necessary to invent +him," said the wit Shinshin, parodying the words of Voltaire. Kutuzov no +one spoke of, except some who abused him in whispers, calling him a +court weathercock and an old satyr. + +All Moscow repeated Prince Dolgorukov's saying: "If you go on modeling +and modeling you must get smeared with clay," suggesting consolation for +our defeat by the memory of former victories; and the words of +Rostopchin, that French soldiers have to be incited to battle by +highfalutin words, and Germans by logical arguments to show them that it +is more dangerous to run away than to advance, but that Russian soldiers +only need to be restrained and held back! On all sides, new and fresh +anecdotes were heard of individual examples of heroism shown by our +officers and men at Austerlitz. One had saved a standard, another had +killed five Frenchmen, a third had loaded five cannon singlehanded. Berg +was mentioned, by those who did not know him, as having, when wounded in +the right hand, taken his sword in the left, and gone forward. Of +Bolkonski, nothing was said, and only those who knew him intimately +regretted that he had died so young, leaving a pregnant wife with his +eccentric father. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +On that third of March, all the rooms in the English Club were filled +with a hum of conversation, like the hum of bees swarming in springtime. +The members and guests of the club wandered hither and thither, sat, +stood, met, and separated, some in uniform and some in evening dress, +and a few here and there with powdered hair and in Russian kaftans. +Powdered footmen, in livery with buckled shoes and smart stockings, +stood at every door anxiously noting visitors' every movement in order +to offer their services. Most of those present were elderly, respected +men with broad, self-confident faces, fat fingers, and resolute gestures +and voices. This class of guests and members sat in certain habitual +places and met in certain habitual groups. A minority of those present +were casual guests--chiefly young men, among whom were Denisov, Rostov, +and Dolokhov--who was now again an officer in the Semenov regiment. The +faces of these young people, especially those who were military men, +bore that expression of condescending respect for their elders which +seems to say to the older generation, "We are prepared to respect and +honor you, but all the same remember that the future belongs to us." + +Nesvitski was there as an old member of the club. Pierre, who at his +wife's command had let his hair grow and abandoned his spectacles, went +about the rooms fashionably dressed but looking sad and dull. Here, as +elsewhere, he was surrounded by an atmosphere of subservience to his +wealth, and being in the habit of lording it over these people, he +treated them with absent-minded contempt. + +By his age he should have belonged to the younger men, but by his wealth +and connections he belonged to the groups of old and honored guests, and +so he went from one group to another. Some of the most important old men +were the center of groups which even strangers approached respectfully +to hear the voices of well-known men. The largest circles formed round +Count Rostopchin, Valuev, and Naryshkin. Rostopchin was describing how +the Russians had been overwhelmed by flying Austrians and had had to +force their way through them with bayonets. + +Valuev was confidentially telling that Uvarov had been sent from +Petersburg to ascertain what Moscow was thinking about Austerlitz. + +In the third circle, Naryshkin was speaking of the meeting of the +Austrian Council of War at which Suvorov crowed like a cock in reply to +the nonsense talked by the Austrian generals. Shinshin, standing close +by, tried to make a joke, saying that Kutuzov had evidently failed to +learn from Suvorov even so simple a thing as the art of crowing like a +cock, but the elder members glanced severely at the wit, making him feel +that in that place and on that day, it was improper to speak so of +Kutuzov. + +Count Ilya Rostov, hurried and preoccupied, went about in his soft boots +between the dining and drawing rooms, hastily greeting the important and +unimportant, all of whom he knew, as if they were all equals, while his +eyes occasionally sought out his fine well-set-up young son, resting on +him and winking joyfully at him. Young Rostov stood at a window with +Dolokhov, whose acquaintance he had lately made and highly valued. The +old count came up to them and pressed Dolokhov's hand. + +"Please come and visit us... you know my brave boy... been together out +there... both playing the hero... Ah, Vasili Ignatovich... How d'ye do, +old fellow?" he said, turning to an old man who was passing, but before +he had finished his greeting there was a general stir, and a footman who +had run in announced, with a frightened face: "He's arrived!" + +Bells rang, the stewards rushed forward, and--like rye shaken together +in a shovel--the guests who had been scattered about in different rooms +came together and crowded in the large drawing room by the door of the +ballroom. + +Bagration appeared in the doorway of the anteroom without hat or sword, +which, in accord with the club custom, he had given up to the hall +porter. He had no lambskin cap on his head, nor had he a loaded whip +over his shoulder, as when Rostov had seen him on the eve of the battle +of Austerlitz, but wore a tight new uniform with Russian and foreign +Orders, and the Star of St. George on his left breast. Evidently just +before coming to the dinner he had had his hair and whiskers trimmed, +which changed his appearance for the worse. There was something naively +festive in his air, which, in conjunction with his firm and virile +features, gave him a rather comical expression. Bekleshev and Theodore +Uvarov, who had arrived with him, paused at the doorway to allow him, as +the guest of honor, to enter first. Bagration was embarrassed, not +wishing to avail himself of their courtesy, and this caused some delay +at the doors, but after all he did at last enter first. He walked shyly +and awkwardly over the parquet floor of the reception room, not knowing +what to do with his hands; he was more accustomed to walk over a plowed +field under fire, as he had done at the head of the Kursk regiment at +Schon Grabern--and he would have found that easier. The committeemen met +him at the first door and, expressing their delight at seeing such a +highly honored guest, took possession of him as it were, without waiting +for his reply, surrounded him, and led him to the drawing room. It was +at first impossible to enter the drawing-room door for the crowd of +members and guests jostling one another and trying to get a good look at +Bagration over each other's shoulders, as if he were some rare animal. +Count Ilya Rostov, laughing and repeating the words, "Make way, dear +boy! Make way, make way!" pushed through the crowd more energetically +than anyone, led the guests into the drawing room, and seated them on +the center sofa. The bigwigs, the most respected members of the club, +beset the new arrivals. Count Ilya, again thrusting his way through the +crowd, went out of the drawing room and reappeared a minute later with +another committeeman, carrying a large silver salver which he presented +to Prince Bagration. On the salver lay some verses composed and printed +in the hero's honor. Bagration, on seeing the salver, glanced around in +dismay, as though seeking help. But all eyes demanded that he should +submit. Feeling himself in their power, he resolutely took the salver +with both hands and looked sternly and reproachfully at the count who +had presented it to him. Someone obligingly took the dish from Bagration +(or he would, it seemed, have held it till evening and have gone in to +dinner with it) and drew his attention to the verses. + +"Well, I will read them, then!" Bagration seemed to say, and, fixing his +weary eyes on the paper, began to read them with a fixed and serious +expression. But the author himself took the verses and began reading +them aloud. Bagration bowed his head and listened: + + +Bring glory then to Alexander's reign And on the throne our Titus +shield. A dreaded foe be thou, kindhearted as a man, A Rhipheus at home, +a Caesar in the field! E'en fortunate Napoleon Knows by experience, now, +Bagration, And dare not Herculean Russians trouble... + +But before he had finished reading, a stentorian major-domo announced +that dinner was ready! The door opened, and from the dining room came +the resounding strains of the polonaise: + + +Conquest's joyful thunder waken, Triumph, valiant Russians, now!... + +and Count Rostov, glancing angrily at the author who went on reading his +verses, bowed to Bagration. Everyone rose, feeling that dinner was more +important than verses, and Bagration, again preceding all the rest, went +in to dinner. He was seated in the place of honor between two +Alexanders--Bekleshev and Naryshkin--which was a significant allusion to +the name of the sovereign. Three hundred persons took their seats in the +dining room, according to their rank and importance: the more important +nearer to the honored guest, as naturally as water flows deepest where +the land lies lowest. + +Just before dinner, Count Ilya Rostov presented his son to Bagration, +who recognized him and said a few words to him, disjointed and awkward, +as were all the words he spoke that day, and Count Ilya looked joyfully +and proudly around while Bagration spoke to his son. + +Nicholas Rostov, with Denisov and his new acquaintance, Dolokhov, sat +almost at the middle of the table. Facing them sat Pierre, beside Prince +Nesvitski. Count Ilya Rostov with the other members of the committee sat +facing Bagration and, as the very personification of Moscow hospitality, +did the honors to the prince. + +His efforts had not been in vain. The dinner, both the Lenten and the +other fare, was splendid, yet he could not feel quite at ease till the +end of the meal. He winked at the butler, whispered directions to the +footmen, and awaited each expected dish with some anxiety. Everything +was excellent. With the second course, a gigantic sterlet (at sight of +which Ilya Rostov blushed with self-conscious pleasure), the footmen +began popping corks and filling the champagne glasses. After the fish, +which made a certain sensation, the count exchanged glances with the +other committeemen. "There will be many toasts, it's time to begin," he +whispered, and taking up his glass, he rose. All were silent, waiting +for what he would say. + +"To the health of our Sovereign, the Emperor!" he cried, and at the same +moment his kindly eyes grew moist with tears of joy and enthusiasm. The +band immediately struck up "Conquest's joyful thunder waken..." All rose +and cried "Hurrah!" Bagration also rose and shouted "Hurrah!" in exactly +the same voice in which he had shouted it on the field at Schon Grabern. +Young Rostov's ecstatic voice could be heard above the three hundred +others. He nearly wept. "To the health of our Sovereign, the Emperor!" +he roared, "Hurrah!" and emptying his glass at one gulp he dashed it to +the floor. Many followed his example, and the loud shouting continued +for a long time. When the voices subsided, the footmen cleared away the +broken glass and everybody sat down again, smiling at the noise they had +made and exchanging remarks. The old count rose once more, glanced at a +note lying beside his plate, and proposed a toast, "To the health of the +hero of our last campaign, Prince Peter Ivanovich Bagration!" and again +his blue eyes grew moist. "Hurrah!" cried the three hundred voices +again, but instead of the band a choir began singing a cantata composed +by Paul Ivanovich Kutuzov: + + +Russians! O'er all barriers on! Courage conquest guarantees; Have we not +Bagration? He brings foe men to their knees,... etc. + +As soon as the singing was over, another and another toast was proposed +and Count Ilya Rostov became more and more moved, more glass was +smashed, and the shouting grew louder. They drank to Bekleshev, +Naryshkin, Uvarov, Dolgorukov, Apraksin, Valuev, to the committee, to +all the club members and to all the club guests, and finally to Count +Ilya Rostov separately, as the organizer of the banquet. At that toast, +the count took out his handkerchief and, covering his face, wept +outright. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Pierre sat opposite Dolokhov and Nicholas Rostov. As usual, he ate and +drank much, and eagerly. But those who knew him intimately noticed that +some great change had come over him that day. He was silent all through +dinner and looked about, blinking and scowling, or, with fixed eyes and +a look of complete absent-mindedness, kept rubbing the bridge of his +nose. His face was depressed and gloomy. He seemed to see and hear +nothing of what was going on around him and to be absorbed by some +depressing and unsolved problem. + +The unsolved problem that tormented him was caused by hints given by the +princess, his cousin, at Moscow, concerning Dolokhov's intimacy with his +wife, and by an anonymous letter he had received that morning, which in +the mean jocular way common to anonymous letters said that he saw badly +through his spectacles, but that his wife's connection with Dolokhov was +a secret to no one but himself. Pierre absolutely disbelieved both the +princess' hints and the letter, but he feared now to look at Dolokhov, +who was sitting opposite him. Every time he chanced to meet Dolokhov's +handsome insolent eyes, Pierre felt something terrible and monstrous +rising in his soul and turned quickly away. Involuntarily recalling his +wife's past and her relations with Dolokhov, Pierre saw clearly that +what was said in the letter might be true, or might at least seem to be +true had it not referred to his wife. He involuntarily remembered how +Dolokhov, who had fully recovered his former position after the +campaign, had returned to Petersburg and come to him. Availing himself +of his friendly relations with Pierre as a boon companion, Dolokhov had +come straight to his house, and Pierre had put him up and lent him +money. Pierre recalled how Helene had smilingly expressed disapproval of +Dolokhov's living at their house, and how cynically Dolokhov had praised +his wife's beauty to him and from that time till they came to Moscow had +not left them for a day. + +"Yes, he is very handsome," thought Pierre, "and I know him. It would be +particularly pleasant to him to dishonor my name and ridicule me, just +because I have exerted myself on his behalf, befriended him, and helped +him. I know and understand what a spice that would add to the pleasure +of deceiving me, if it really were true. Yes, if it were true, but I do +not believe it. I have no right to, and can't, believe it." He +remembered the expression Dolokhov's face assumed in his moments of +cruelty, as when tying the policeman to the bear and dropping them into +the water, or when he challenged a man to a duel without any reason, or +shot a post-boy's horse with a pistol. That expression was often on +Dolokhov's face when looking at him. "Yes, he is a bully," thought +Pierre, "to kill a man means nothing to him. It must seem to him that +everyone is afraid of him, and that must please him. He must think that +I, too, am afraid of him--and in fact I am afraid of him," he thought, +and again he felt something terrible and monstrous rising in his soul. +Dolokhov, Denisov, and Rostov were now sitting opposite Pierre and +seemed very gay. Rostov was talking merrily to his two friends, one of +whom was a dashing hussar and the other a notorious duelist and rake, +and every now and then he glanced ironically at Pierre, whose +preoccupied, absent-minded, and massive figure was a very noticeable one +at the dinner. Rostov looked inimically at Pierre, first because Pierre +appeared to his hussar eyes as a rich civilian, the husband of a beauty, +and in a word--an old woman; and secondly because Pierre in his +preoccupation and absent-mindedness had not recognized Rostov and had +not responded to his greeting. When the Emperor's health was drunk, +Pierre, lost in thought, did not rise or lift his glass. + +"What are you about?" shouted Rostov, looking at him in an ecstasy of +exasperation. "Don't you hear it's His Majesty the Emperor's health?" + +Pierre sighed, rose submissively, emptied his glass, and, waiting till +all were seated again, turned with his kindly smile to Rostov. + +"Why, I didn't recognize you!" he said. But Rostov was otherwise +engaged; he was shouting "Hurrah!" + +"Why don't you renew the acquaintance?" said Dolokhov to Rostov. + +"Confound him, he's a fool!" said Rostov. + +"One should make up to the husbands of pretty women," said Denisov. + +Pierre did not catch what they were saying, but knew they were talking +about him. He reddened and turned away. + +"Well, now to the health of handsome women!" said Dolokhov, and with a +serious expression, but with a smile lurking at the corners of his +mouth, he turned with his glass to Pierre. + +"Here's to the health of lovely women, Peterkin--and their lovers!" he +added. + +Pierre, with downcast eyes, drank out of his glass without looking at +Dolokhov or answering him. The footman, who was distributing leaflets +with Kutuzov's cantata, laid one before Pierre as one of the principal +guests. He was just going to take it when Dolokhov, leaning across, +snatched it from his hand and began reading it. Pierre looked at +Dolokhov and his eyes dropped, the something terrible and monstrous that +had tormented him all dinnertime rose and took possession of him. He +leaned his whole massive body across the table. + +"How dare you take it?" he shouted. + +Hearing that cry and seeing to whom it was addressed, Nesvitski and the +neighbor on his right quickly turned in alarm to Bezukhov. + +"Don't! Don't! What are you about?" whispered their frightened voices. + +Dolokhov looked at Pierre with clear, mirthful, cruel eyes, and that +smile of his which seemed to say, "Ah! This is what I like!" + +"You shan't have it!" he said distinctly. + +Pale, with quivering lips, Pierre snatched the copy. + +"You...! you... scoundrel! I challenge you!" he ejaculated, and, pushing +back his chair, he rose from the table. + +At the very instant he did this and uttered those words, Pierre felt +that the question of his wife's guilt which had been tormenting him the +whole day was finally and indubitably answered in the affirmative. He +hated her and was forever sundered from her. Despite Denisov's request +that he would take no part in the matter, Rostov agreed to be Dolokhov's +second, and after dinner he discussed the arrangements for the duel with +Nesvitski, Bezukhov's second. Pierre went home, but Rostov with Dolokhov +and Denisov stayed on at the club till late, listening to the gypsies +and other singers. + +"Well then, till tomorrow at Sokolniki," said Dolokhov, as he took leave +of Rostov in the club porch. + +"And do you feel quite calm?" Rostov asked. + +Dolokhov paused. + +"Well, you see, I'll tell you the whole secret of dueling in two words. +If you are going to fight a duel, and you make a will and write +affectionate letters to your parents, and if you think you may be +killed, you are a fool and are lost for certain. But go with the firm +intention of killing your man as quickly and surely as possible, and +then all will be right, as our bear huntsman at Kostroma used to tell +me. 'Everyone fears a bear,' he says, 'but when you see one your fear's +all gone, and your only thought is not to let him get away!' And that's +how it is with me. A demain, mon cher." * + + +* Till tomorrow, my dear fellow. + +Next day, at eight in the morning, Pierre and Nesvitski drove to the +Sokolniki forest and found Dolokhov, Denisov, and Rostov already there. +Pierre had the air of a man preoccupied with considerations which had no +connection with the matter in hand. His haggard face was yellow. He had +evidently not slept that night. He looked about distractedly and screwed +up his eyes as if dazzled by the sun. He was entirely absorbed by two +considerations: his wife's guilt, of which after his sleepless night he +had not the slightest doubt, and the guiltlessness of Dolokhov, who had +no reason to preserve the honor of a man who was nothing to him.... "I +should perhaps have done the same thing in his place," thought Pierre. +"It's even certain that I should have done the same, then why this duel, +this murder? Either I shall kill him, or he will hit me in the head, or +elbow, or knee. Can't I go away from here, run away, bury myself +somewhere?" passed through his mind. But just at moments when such +thoughts occurred to him, he would ask in a particularly calm and +absent-minded way, which inspired the respect of the onlookers, "Will it +be long? Are things ready?" + +When all was ready, the sabers stuck in the snow to mark the barriers, +and the pistols loaded, Nesvitski went up to Pierre. + +"I should not be doing my duty, Count," he said in timid tones, "and +should not justify your confidence and the honor you have done me in +choosing me for your second, if at this grave, this very grave, moment I +did not tell you the whole truth. I think there is no sufficient ground +for this affair, or for blood to be shed over it.... You were not right, +not quite in the right, you were impetuous..." + +"Oh yes, it is horribly stupid," said Pierre. + +"Then allow me to express your regrets, and I am sure your opponent will +accept them," said Nesvitski (who like the others concerned in the +affair, and like everyone in similar cases, did not yet believe that the +affair had come to an actual duel). "You know, Count, it is much more +honorable to admit one's mistake than to let matters become irreparable. +There was no insult on either side. Allow me to convey...." + +"No! What is there to talk about?" said Pierre. "It's all the same.... +Is everything ready?" he added. "Only tell me where to go and where to +shoot," he said with an unnaturally gentle smile. + +He took the pistol in his hand and began asking about the working of the +trigger, as he had not before held a pistol in his hand--a fact that he +did not wish to confess. + +"Oh yes, like that, I know, I only forgot," said he. + +"No apologies, none whatever," said Dolokhov to Denisov (who on his side +had been attempting a reconciliation), and he also went up to the +appointed place. + +The spot chosen for the duel was some eighty paces from the road, where +the sleighs had been left, in a small clearing in the pine forest +covered with melting snow, the frost having begun to break up during the +last few days. The antagonists stood forty paces apart at the farther +edge of the clearing. The seconds, measuring the paces, left tracks in +the deep wet snow between the place where they had been standing and +Nesvitski's and Dolokhov's sabers, which were stuck into the ground ten +paces apart to mark the barrier. It was thawing and misty; at forty +paces' distance nothing could be seen. For three minutes all had been +ready, but they still delayed and all were silent. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"Well begin!" said Dolokhov. + +"All right," said Pierre, still smiling in the same way. A feeling of +dread was in the air. It was evident that the affair so lightly begun +could no longer be averted but was taking its course independently of +men's will. + +Denisov first went to the barrier and announced: "As the adve'sawies +have wefused a weconciliation, please pwoceed. Take your pistols, and at +the word thwee begin to advance. + +"O-ne! T-wo! Thwee!" he shouted angrily and stepped aside. + +The combatants advanced along the trodden tracks, nearer and nearer to +one another, beginning to see one another through the mist. They had the +right to fire when they liked as they approached the barrier. Dolokhov +walked slowly without raising his pistol, looking intently with his +bright, sparkling blue eyes into his antagonist's face. His mouth wore +its usual semblance of a smile. + +"So I can fire when I like!" said Pierre, and at the word "three," he +went quickly forward, missing the trodden path and stepping into the +deep snow. He held the pistol in his right hand at arm's length, +apparently afraid of shooting himself with it. His left hand he held +carefully back, because he wished to support his right hand with it and +knew he must not do so. Having advanced six paces and strayed off the +track into the snow, Pierre looked down at his feet, then quickly +glanced at Dolokhov and, bending his finger as he had been shown, fired. +Not at all expecting so loud a report, Pierre shuddered at the sound and +then, smiling at his own sensations, stood still. The smoke, rendered +denser by the mist, prevented him from seeing anything for an instant, +but there was no second report as he had expected. He only heard +Dolokhov's hurried steps, and his figure came in view through the smoke. +He was pressing one hand to his left side, while the other clutched his +drooping pistol. His face was pale. Rostov ran toward him and said +something. + +"No-o-o!" muttered Dolokhov through his teeth, "no, it's not over." And +after stumbling a few staggering steps right up to the saber, he sank on +the snow beside it. His left hand was bloody; he wiped it on his coat +and supported himself with it. His frowning face was pallid and +quivered. + +"Plea..." began Dolokhov, but could not at first pronounce the word. + +"Please," he uttered with an effort. + +Pierre, hardly restraining his sobs, began running toward Dolokhov and +was about to cross the space between the barriers, when Dolokhov cried: + +"To your barrier!" and Pierre, grasping what was meant, stopped by his +saber. Only ten paces divided them. Dolokhov lowered his head to the +snow, greedily bit at it, again raised his head, adjusted himself, drew +in his legs and sat up, seeking a firm center of gravity. He sucked and +swallowed the cold snow, his lips quivered but his eyes, still smiling, +glittered with effort and exasperation as he mustered his remaining +strength. He raised his pistol and aimed. + +"Sideways! Cover yourself with your pistol!" ejaculated Nesvitski. + +"Cover yourself!" even Denisov cried to his adversary. + +Pierre, with a gentle smile of pity and remorse, his arms and legs +helplessly spread out, stood with his broad chest directly facing +Dolokhov looked sorrowfully at him. Denisov, Rostov, and Nesvitski +closed their eyes. At the same instant they heard a report and +Dolokhov's angry cry. + +"Missed!" shouted Dolokhov, and he lay helplessly, face downwards on the +snow. + +Pierre clutched his temples, and turning round went into the forest, +trampling through the deep snow, and muttering incoherent words: + +"Folly... folly! Death... lies..." he repeated, puckering his face. + +Nesvitski stopped him and took him home. + +Rostov and Denisov drove away with the wounded Dolokhov. + +The latter lay silent in the sleigh with closed eyes and did not answer +a word to the questions addressed to him. But on entering Moscow he +suddenly came to and, lifting his head with an effort, took Rostov, who +was sitting beside him, by the hand. Rostov was struck by the totally +altered and unexpectedly rapturous and tender expression on Dolokhov's +face. + +"Well? How do you feel?" he asked. + +"Bad! But it's not that, my friend-" said Dolokhov with a gasping voice. +"Where are we? In Moscow, I know. I don't matter, but I have killed her, +killed... She won't get over it! She won't survive...." + +"Who?" asked Rostov. + +"My mother! My mother, my angel, my adored angel mother," and Dolokhov +pressed Rostov's hand and burst into tears. + +When he had become a little quieter, he explained to Rostov that he was +living with his mother, who, if she saw him dying, would not survive it. +He implored Rostov to go on and prepare her. + +Rostov went on ahead to do what was asked, and to his great surprise +learned that Dolokhov the brawler, Dolokhov the bully, lived in Moscow +with an old mother and a hunchback sister, and was the most affectionate +of sons and brothers. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Pierre had of late rarely seen his wife alone. Both in Petersburg and in +Moscow their house was always full of visitors. The night after the duel +he did not go to his bedroom but, as he often did, remained in his +father's room, that huge room in which Count Bezukhov had died. + +He lay down on the sofa meaning to fall asleep and forget all that had +happened to him, but could not do so. Such a storm of feelings, +thoughts, and memories suddenly arose within him that he could not fall +asleep, nor even remain in one place, but had to jump up and pace the +room with rapid steps. Now he seemed to see her in the early days of +their marriage, with bare shoulders and a languid, passionate look on +her face, and then immediately he saw beside her Dolokhov's handsome, +insolent, hard, and mocking face as he had seen it at the banquet, and +then that same face pale, quivering, and suffering, as it had been when +he reeled and sank on the snow. + +"What has happened?" he asked himself. "I have killed her lover, yes, +killed my wife's lover. Yes, that was it! And why? How did I come to do +it?"--"Because you married her," answered an inner voice. + +"But in what was I to blame?" he asked. "In marrying her without loving +her; in deceiving yourself and her." And he vividly recalled that moment +after supper at Prince Vasili's, when he spoke those words he had found +so difficult to utter: "I love you." "It all comes from that! Even then +I felt it," he thought. "I felt then that it was not so, that I had no +right to do it. And so it turns out." + +He remembered his honeymoon and blushed at the recollection. +Particularly vivid, humiliating, and shameful was the recollection of +how one day soon after his marriage he came out of the bedroom into his +study a little before noon in his silk dressing gown and found his head +steward there, who, bowing respectfully, looked into his face and at his +dressing gown and smiled slightly, as if expressing respectful +understanding of his employer's happiness. + +"But how often I have felt proud of her, proud of her majestic beauty +and social tact," thought he; "been proud of my house, in which she +received all Petersburg, proud of her unapproachability and beauty. So +this is what I was proud of! I then thought that I did not understand +her. How often when considering her character I have told myself that I +was to blame for not understanding her, for not understanding that +constant composure and complacency and lack of all interests or desires, +and the whole secret lies in the terrible truth that she is a depraved +woman. Now I have spoken that terrible word to myself all has become +clear. + +"Anatole used to come to borrow money from her and used to kiss her +naked shoulders. She did not give him the money, but let herself be +kissed. Her father in jest tried to rouse her jealousy, and she replied +with a calm smile that she was not so stupid as to be jealous: 'Let him +do what he pleases,' she used to say of me. One day I asked her if she +felt any symptoms of pregnancy. She laughed contemptuously and said she +was not a fool to want to have children, and that she was not going to +have any children by me." + +Then he recalled the coarseness and bluntness of her thoughts and the +vulgarity of the expressions that were natural to her, though she had +been brought up in the most aristocratic circles. + +"I'm not such a fool.... Just you try it on.... Allez-vous promener," * +she used to say. Often seeing the success she had with young and old men +and women Pierre could not understand why he did not love her. + + +* "You clear out of this." + +"Yes, I never loved her," said he to himself; "I knew she was a depraved +woman," he repeated, "but dared not admit it to myself. And now there's +Dolokhov sitting in the snow with a forced smile and perhaps dying, +while meeting my remorse with some forced bravado!" + +Pierre was one of those people who, in spite of an appearance of what is +called weak character, do not seek a confidant in their troubles. He +digested his sufferings alone. + +"It is all, all her fault," he said to himself; "but what of that? Why +did I bind myself to her? Why did I say 'Je vous aime' * to her, which +was a lie, and worse than a lie? I am guilty and must endure... what? A +slur on my name? A misfortune for life? Oh, that's nonsense," he +thought. "The slur on my name and honor--that's all apart from myself." + + +* I love you. + +"Louis XVI was executed because they said he was dishonorable and a +criminal," came into Pierre's head, "and from their point of view they +were right, as were those too who canonized him and died a martyr's +death for his sake. Then Robespierre was beheaded for being a despot. +Who is right and who is wrong? No one! But if you are alive--live: +tomorrow you'll die as I might have died an hour ago. And is it worth +tormenting oneself, when one has only a moment of life in comparison +with eternity?" + +But at the moment when he imagined himself calmed by such reflections, +she suddenly came into his mind as she was at the moments when he had +most strongly expressed his insincere love for her, and he felt the +blood rush to his heart and had again to get up and move about and break +and tear whatever came to his hand. "Why did I tell her that 'Je vous +aime'?" he kept repeating to himself. And when he had said it for the +tenth time, Moliere's words: "Mais que diable allait-il faire dans cette +galere?"* occurred to him, and he began to laugh at himself. + + +* "But what the devil was he doing in that galley?" + +In the night he called his valet and told him to pack up to go to +Petersburg. He could not imagine how he could speak to her now. He +resolved to go away next day and leave a letter informing her of his +intention to part from her forever. + +Next morning when the valet came into the room with his coffee, Pierre +was lying asleep on the ottoman with an open book in his hand. + +He woke up and looked round for a while with a startled expression, +unable to realize where he was. + +"The countess told me to inquire whether your excellency was at home," +said the valet. + +But before Pierre could decide what answer he would send, the countess +herself in a white satin dressing gown embroidered with silver and with +simply dressed hair (two immense plaits twice round her lovely head like +a coronet) entered the room, calm and majestic, except that there was a +wrathful wrinkle on her rather prominent marble brow. With her +imperturbable calm she did not begin to speak in front of the valet. She +knew of the duel and had come to speak about it. She waited till the +valet had set down the coffee things and left the room. Pierre looked at +her timidly over his spectacles, and like a hare surrounded by hounds +who lays back her ears and continues to crouch motionless before her +enemies, he tried to continue reading. But feeling this to be senseless +and impossible, he again glanced timidly at her. She did not sit down +but looked at him with a contemptuous smile, waiting for the valet to +go. + +"Well, what's this now? What have you been up to now, I should like to +know?" she asked sternly. + +"I? What have I...?" stammered Pierre. + +"So it seems you're a hero, eh? Come now, what was this duel about? What +is it meant to prove? What? I ask you." + +Pierre turned over heavily on the ottoman and opened his mouth, but +could not reply. + +"If you won't answer, I'll tell you..." Helene went on. "You believe +everything you're told. You were told..." Helene laughed, "that Dolokhov +was my lover," she said in French with her coarse plainness of speech, +uttering the word amant as casually as any other word, "and you believed +it! Well, what have you proved? What does this duel prove? That you're a +fool, que vous etes un sot, but everybody knew that. What will be the +result? That I shall be the laughingstock of all Moscow, that everyone +will say that you, drunk and not knowing what you were about, challenged +a man you are jealous of without cause." Helene raised her voice and +became more and more excited, "A man who's a better man than you in +every way..." + +"Hm... Hm...!" growled Pierre, frowning without looking at her, and not +moving a muscle. + +"And how could you believe he was my lover? Why? Because I like his +company? If you were cleverer and more agreeable, I should prefer +yours." + +"Don't speak to me... I beg you," muttered Pierre hoarsely. + +"Why shouldn't I speak? I can speak as I like, and I tell you plainly +that there are not many wives with husbands such as you who would not +have taken lovers (des amants), but I have not done so," said she. + +Pierre wished to say something, looked at her with eyes whose strange +expression she did not understand, and lay down again. He was suffering +physically at that moment, there was a weight on his chest and he could +not breathe. He knew that he must do something to put an end to this +suffering, but what he wanted to do was too terrible. + +"We had better separate," he muttered in a broken voice. + +"Separate? Very well, but only if you give me a fortune," said Helene. +"Separate! That's a thing to frighten me with!" + +Pierre leaped up from the sofa and rushed staggering toward her. + +"I'll kill you!" he shouted, and seizing the marble top of a table with +a strength he had never before felt, he made a step toward her +brandishing the slab. + +Helene's face became terrible, she shrieked and sprang aside. His +father's nature showed itself in Pierre. He felt the fascination and +delight of frenzy. He flung down the slab, broke it, and swooping down +on her with outstretched hands shouted, "Get out!" in such a terrible +voice that the whole house heard it with horror. God knows what he would +have done at that moment had Helene not fled from the room. + +A week later Pierre gave his wife full power to control all his estates +in Great Russia, which formed the larger part of his property, and left +for Petersburg alone. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Two months had elapsed since the news of the battle of Austerlitz and +the loss of Prince Andrew had reached Bald Hills, and in spite of the +letters sent through the embassy and all the searches made, his body had +not been found nor was he on the list of prisoners. What was worst of +all for his relations was the fact that there was still a possibility of +his having been picked up on the battlefield by the people of the place +and that he might now be lying, recovering or dying, alone among +strangers and unable to send news of himself. The gazettes from which +the old prince first heard of the defeat at Austerlitz stated, as usual +very briefly and vaguely, that after brilliant engagements the Russians +had had to retreat and had made their withdrawal in perfect order. The +old prince understood from this official report that our army had been +defeated. A week after the gazette report of the battle of Austerlitz +came a letter from Kutuzov informing the prince of the fate that had +befallen his son. + +"Your son," wrote Kutuzov, "fell before my eyes, a standard in his hand +and at the head of a regiment--he fell as a hero, worthy of his father +and his fatherland. To the great regret of myself and of the whole army +it is still uncertain whether he is alive or not. I comfort myself and +you with the hope that your son is alive, for otherwise he would have +been mentioned among the officers found on the field of battle, a list +of whom has been sent me under flag of truce." + +After receiving this news late in the evening, when he was alone in his +study, the old prince went for his walk as usual next morning, but he +was silent with his steward, the gardener, and the architect, and though +he looked very grim he said nothing to anyone. + +When Princess Mary went to him at the usual hour he was working at his +lathe and, as usual, did not look round at her. + +"Ah, Princess Mary!" he said suddenly in an unnatural voice, throwing +down his chisel. (The wheel continued to revolve by its own impetus, and +Princess Mary long remembered the dying creak of that wheel, which +merged in her memory with what followed.) + +She approached him, saw his face, and something gave way within her. Her +eyes grew dim. By the expression of her father's face, not sad, not +crushed, but angry and working unnaturally, she saw that hanging over +her and about to crush her was some terrible misfortune, the worst in +life, one she had not yet experienced, irreparable and incomprehensible- +-the death of one she loved. + +"Father! Andrew!"--said the ungraceful, awkward princess with such an +indescribable charm of sorrow and self-forgetfulness that her father +could not bear her look but turned away with a sob. + +"Bad news! He's not among the prisoners nor among the killed! Kutuzov +writes..." and he screamed as piercingly as if he wished to drive the +princess away by that scream... "Killed!" + +The princess did not fall down or faint. She was already pale, but on +hearing these words her face changed and something brightened in her +beautiful, radiant eyes. It was as if joy--a supreme joy apart from the +joys and sorrows of this world--overflowed the great grief within her. +She forgot all fear of her father, went up to him, took his hand, and +drawing him down put her arm round his thin, scraggy neck. + +"Father," she said, "do not turn away from me, let us weep together." + +"Scoundrels! Blackguards!" shrieked the old man, turning his face away +from her. "Destroying the army, destroying the men! And why? Go, go and +tell Lise." + +The princess sank helplessly into an armchair beside her father and +wept. She saw her brother now as he had been at the moment when he took +leave of her and of Lise, his look tender yet proud. She saw him tender +and amused as he was when he put on the little icon. "Did he believe? +Had he repented of his unbelief? Was he now there? There in the realms +of eternal peace and blessedness?" she thought. + +"Father, tell me how it happened," she asked through her tears. + +"Go! Go! Killed in battle, where the best of Russian men and Russia's +glory were led to destruction. Go, Princess Mary. Go and tell Lise. I +will follow." + +When Princess Mary returned from her father, the little princess sat +working and looked up with that curious expression of inner, happy calm +peculiar to pregnant women. It was evident that her eyes did not see +Princess Mary but were looking within... into herself... at something +joyful and mysterious taking place within her. + +"Mary," she said, moving away from the embroidery frame and lying back, +"give me your hand." She took her sister-in-law's hand and held it below +her waist. + +Her eyes were smiling expectantly, her downy lip rose and remained +lifted in childlike happiness. + +Princess Mary knelt down before her and hid her face in the folds of her +sister-in-law's dress. + +"There, there! Do you feel it? I feel so strange. And do you know, Mary, +I am going to love him very much," said Lise, looking with bright and +happy eyes at her sister-in-law. + +Princess Mary could not lift her head, she was weeping. + +"What is the matter, Mary?" + +"Nothing... only I feel sad... sad about Andrew," she said, wiping away +her tears on her sister-in-law's knee. + +Several times in the course of the morning Princess Mary began trying to +prepare her sister-in-law, and every time began to cry. Unobservant as +was the little princess, these tears, the cause of which she did not +understand, agitated her. She said nothing but looked about uneasily as +if in search of something. Before dinner the old prince, of whom she was +always afraid, came into her room with a peculiarly restless and malign +expression and went out again without saying a word. She looked at +Princess Mary, then sat thinking for a while with that expression of +attention to something within her that is only seen in pregnant women, +and suddenly began to cry. + +"Has anything come from Andrew?" she asked. + +"No, you know it's too soon for news. But my father is anxious and I +feel afraid." + +"So there's nothing?" + +"Nothing," answered Princess Mary, looking firmly with her radiant eyes +at her sister-in-law. + +She had determined not to tell her and persuaded her father to hide the +terrible news from her till after her confinement, which was expected +within a few days. Princess Mary and the old prince each bore and hid +their grief in their own way. The old prince would not cherish any hope: +he made up his mind that Prince Andrew had been killed, and though he +sent an official to Austria to seek for traces of his son, he ordered a +monument from Moscow which he intended to erect in his own garden to his +memory, and he told everybody that his son had been killed. He tried not +to change his former way of life, but his strength failed him. He walked +less, ate less, slept less, and became weaker every day. Princess Mary +hoped. She prayed for her brother as living and was always awaiting news +of his return. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"Dearest," said the little princess after breakfast on the morning of +the nineteenth March, and her downy little lip rose from old habit, but +as sorrow was manifest in every smile, the sound of every word, and even +every footstep in that house since the terrible news had come, so now +the smile of the little princess--influenced by the general mood though +without knowing its cause--was such as to remind one still more of the +general sorrow. + +"Dearest, I'm afraid this morning's fruschtique *--as Foka the cook +calls it--has disagreed with me." + + +* Fruhstuck: breakfast. + +"What is the matter with you, my darling? You look pale. Oh, you are +very pale!" said Princess Mary in alarm, running with her soft, +ponderous steps up to her sister-in-law. + +"Your excellency, should not Mary Bogdanovna be sent for?" said one of +the maids who was present. (Mary Bogdanovna was a midwife from the +neighboring town, who had been at Bald Hills for the last fortnight.) + +"Oh yes," assented Princess Mary, "perhaps that's it. I'll go. Courage, +my angel." She kissed Lise and was about to leave the room. + +"Oh, no, no!" And besides the pallor and the physical suffering on the +little princess' face, an expression of childish fear of inevitable pain +showed itself. + +"No, it's only indigestion?... Say it's only indigestion, say so, Mary! +Say..." And the little princess began to cry capriciously like a +suffering child and to wring her little hands even with some +affectation. Princess Mary ran out of the room to fetch Mary Bogdanovna. + +"Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! Oh!" she heard as she left the room. + +The midwife was already on her way to meet her, rubbing her small, plump +white hands with an air of calm importance. + +"Mary Bogdanovna, I think it's beginning!" said Princess Mary looking at +the midwife with wide-open eyes of alarm. + +"Well, the Lord be thanked, Princess," said Mary Bogdanovna, not +hastening her steps. "You young ladies should not know anything about +it." + +"But how is it the doctor from Moscow is not here yet?" said the +princess. (In accordance with Lise's and Prince Andrew's wishes they had +sent in good time to Moscow for a doctor and were expecting him at any +moment.) + +"No matter, Princess, don't be alarmed," said Mary Bogdanovna. "We'll +manage very well without a doctor." + +Five minutes later Princess Mary from her room heard something heavy +being carried by. She looked out. The men servants were carrying the +large leather sofa from Prince Andrew's study into the bedroom. On their +faces was a quiet and solemn look. + +Princess Mary sat alone in her room listening to the sounds in the +house, now and then opening her door when someone passed and watching +what was going on in the passage. Some women passing with quiet steps in +and out of the bedroom glanced at the princess and turned away. She did +not venture to ask any questions, and shut the door again, now sitting +down in her easy chair, now taking her prayer book, now kneeling before +the icon stand. To her surprise and distress she found that her prayers +did not calm her excitement. Suddenly her door opened softly and her old +nurse, Praskovya Savishna, who hardly ever came to that room as the old +prince had forbidden it, appeared on the threshold with a shawl round +her head. + +"I've come to sit with you a bit, Masha," said the nurse, "and here I've +brought the prince's wedding candles to light before his saint, my +angel," she said with a sigh. + +"Oh, nurse, I'm so glad!" + +"God is merciful, birdie." + +The nurse lit the gilt candles before the icons and sat down by the door +with her knitting. Princess Mary took a book and began reading. Only +when footsteps or voices were heard did they look at one another, the +princess anxious and inquiring, the nurse encouraging. Everyone in the +house was dominated by the same feeling that Princess Mary experienced +as she sat in her room. But owing to the superstition that the fewer the +people who know of it the less a woman in travail suffers, everyone +tried to pretend not to know; no one spoke of it, but apart from the +ordinary staid and respectful good manners habitual in the prince's +household, a common anxiety, a softening of the heart, and a +consciousness that something great and mysterious was being accomplished +at that moment made itself felt. + +There was no laughter in the maids' large hall. In the men servants' +hall all sat waiting, silently and alert. In the outlying serfs' +quarters torches and candles were burning and no one slept. The old +prince, stepping on his heels, paced up and down his study and sent +Tikhon to ask Mary Bogdanovna what news.--"Say only that 'the prince +told me to ask,' and come and tell me her answer." + +"Inform the prince that labor has begun," said Mary Bogdanovna, giving +the messenger a significant look. + +Tikhon went and told the prince. + +"Very good!" said the prince closing the door behind him, and Tikhon did +not hear the slightest sound from the study after that. + +After a while he re-entered it as if to snuff the candles, and, seeing +the prince was lying on the sofa, looked at him, noticed his perturbed +face, shook his head, and going up to him silently kissed him on the +shoulder and left the room without snuffing the candles or saying why he +had entered. The most solemn mystery in the world continued its course. +Evening passed, night came, and the feeling of suspense and softening of +heart in the presence of the unfathomable did not lessen but increased. +No one slept. + +It was one of those March nights when winter seems to wish to resume its +sway and scatters its last snows and storms with desperate fury. A relay +of horses had been sent up the highroad to meet the German doctor from +Moscow who was expected every moment, and men on horseback with lanterns +were sent to the crossroads to guide him over the country road with its +hollows and snow-covered pools of water. + +Princess Mary had long since put aside her book: she sat silent, her +luminous eyes fixed on her nurse's wrinkled face (every line of which +she knew so well), on the lock of gray hair that escaped from under the +kerchief, and the loose skin that hung under her chin. + +Nurse Savishna, knitting in hand, was telling in low tones, scarcely +hearing or understanding her own words, what she had told hundreds of +times before: how the late princess had given birth to Princess Mary in +Kishenev with only a Moldavian peasant woman to help instead of a +midwife. + +"God is merciful, doctors are never needed," she said. + +Suddenly a gust of wind beat violently against the casement of the +window, from which the double frame had been removed (by order of the +prince, one window frame was removed in each room as soon as the larks +returned), and, forcing open a loosely closed latch, set the damask +curtain flapping and blew out the candle with its chill, snowy draft. +Princess Mary shuddered; her nurse, putting down the stocking she was +knitting, went to the window and leaning out tried to catch the open +casement. The cold wind flapped the ends of her kerchief and her loose +locks of gray hair. + +"Princess, my dear, there's someone driving up the avenue!" she said, +holding the casement and not closing it. "With lanterns. Most likely the +doctor." + +"Oh, my God! thank God!" said Princess Mary. "I must go and meet him, he +does not know Russian." + +Princess Mary threw a shawl over her head and ran to meet the newcomer. +As she was crossing the anteroom she saw through the window a carriage +with lanterns, standing at the entrance. She went out on the stairs. On +a banister post stood a tallow candle which guttered in the draft. On +the landing below, Philip, the footman, stood looking scared and holding +another candle. Still lower, beyond the turn of the staircase, one could +hear the footstep of someone in thick felt boots, and a voice that +seemed familiar to Princess Mary was saying something. + +"Thank God!" said the voice. "And Father?" + +"Gone to bed," replied the voice of Demyan the house steward, who was +downstairs. + +Then the voice said something more, Demyan replied, and the steps in the +felt boots approached the unseen bend of the staircase more rapidly. + +"It's Andrew!" thought Princess Mary. "No it can't be, that would be too +extraordinary," and at the very moment she thought this, the face and +figure of Prince Andrew, in a fur cloak the deep collar of which covered +with snow, appeared on the landing where the footman stood with the +candle. Yes, it was he, pale, thin, with a changed and strangely +softened but agitated expression on his face. He came up the stairs and +embraced his sister. + +"You did not get my letter?" he asked, and not waiting for a reply-- +which he would not have received, for the princess was unable to speak-- +he turned back, rapidly mounted the stairs again with the doctor who had +entered the hall after him (they had met at the last post station), and +again embraced his sister. + +"What a strange fate, Masha darling!" And having taken off his cloak and +felt boots, he went to the little princess' apartment. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The little princess lay supported by pillows, with a white cap on her +head (the pains had just left her). Strands of her black hair lay round +her inflamed and perspiring cheeks, her charming rosy mouth with its +downy lip was open and she was smiling joyfully. Prince Andrew entered +and paused facing her at the foot of the sofa on which she was lying. +Her glittering eyes, filled with childlike fear and excitement, rested +on him without changing their expression. "I love you all and have done +no harm to anyone; why must I suffer so? Help me!" her look seemed to +say. She saw her husband, but did not realize the significance of his +appearance before her now. Prince Andrew went round the sofa and kissed +her forehead. + +"My darling!" he said--a word he had never used to her before. "God is +merciful...." + +She looked at him inquiringly and with childlike reproach. + +"I expected help from you and I get none, none from you either!" said +her eyes. She was not surprised at his having come; she did not realize +that he had come. His coming had nothing to do with her sufferings or +with their relief. The pangs began again and Mary Bogdanovna advised +Prince Andrew to leave the room. + +The doctor entered. Prince Andrew went out and, meeting Princess Mary, +again joined her. They began talking in whispers, but their talk broke +off at every moment. They waited and listened. + +"Go, dear," said Princess Mary. + +Prince Andrew went again to his wife and sat waiting in the room next to +hers. A woman came from the bedroom with a frightened face and became +confused when she saw Prince Andrew. He covered his face with his hands +and remained so for some minutes. Piteous, helpless, animal moans came +through the door. Prince Andrew got up, went to the door, and tried to +open it. Someone was holding it shut. + +"You can't come in! You can't!" said a terrified voice from within. + +He began pacing the room. The screaming ceased, and a few more seconds +went by. Then suddenly a terrible shriek--it could not be hers, she +could not scream like that--came from the bedroom. Prince Andrew ran to +the door; the scream ceased and he heard the wail of an infant. + +"What have they taken a baby in there for?" thought Prince Andrew in the +first second. "A baby? What baby...? Why is there a baby there? Or is +the baby born?" + +Then suddenly he realized the joyful significance of that wail; tears +choked him, and leaning his elbows on the window sill be began to cry, +sobbing like a child. The door opened. The doctor with his shirt sleeves +tucked up, without a coat, pale and with a trembling jaw, came out of +the room. Prince Andrew turned to him, but the doctor gave him a +bewildered look and passed by without a word. A woman rushed out and +seeing Prince Andrew stopped, hesitating on the threshold. He went into +his wife's room. She was lying dead, in the same position he had seen +her in five minutes before and, despite the fixed eyes and the pallor of +the cheeks, the same expression was on her charming childlike face with +its upper lip covered with tiny black hair. + +"I love you all, and have done no harm to anyone; and what have you done +to me?"--said her charming, pathetic, dead face. + +In a corner of the room something red and tiny gave a grunt and squealed +in Mary Bogdanovna's trembling white hands. + +Two hours later Prince Andrew, stepping softly, went into his father's +room. The old man already knew everything. He was standing close to the +door and as soon as it opened his rough old arms closed like a vise +round his son's neck, and without a word he began to sob like a child. + +Three days later the little princess was buried, and Prince Andrew went +up the steps to where the coffin stood, to give her the farewell kiss. +And there in the coffin was the same face, though with closed eyes. "Ah, +what have you done to me?" it still seemed to say, and Prince Andrew +felt that something gave way in his soul and that he was guilty of a sin +he could neither remedy nor forget. He could not weep. The old man too +came up and kissed the waxen little hands that lay quietly crossed one +on the other on her breast, and to him, too, her face seemed to say: +"Ah, what have you done to me, and why?" And at the sight the old man +turned angrily away. + +Another five days passed, and then the young Prince Nicholas Andreevich +was baptized. The wet nurse supported the coverlet with her chin, while +the priest with a goose feather anointed the boy's little red and +wrinkled soles and palms. + +His grandfather, who was his godfather, trembling and afraid of dropping +him, carried the infant round the battered tin font and handed him over +to the godmother, Princess Mary. Prince Andrew sat in another room, +faint with fear lest the baby should be drowned in the font, and awaited +the termination of the ceremony. He looked up joyfully at the baby when +the nurse brought it to him and nodded approval when she told him that +the wax with the baby's hair had not sunk in the font but had floated. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Rostov's share in Dolokhov's duel with Bezukhov was hushed up by the +efforts of the old count, and instead of being degraded to the ranks as +he expected he was appointed an adjutant to the governor general of +Moscow. As a result he could not go to the country with the rest of the +family, but was kept all summer in Moscow by his new duties. Dolokhov +recovered, and Rostov became very friendly with him during his +convalescence. Dolokhov lay ill at his mother's who loved him +passionately and tenderly, and old Mary Ivanovna, who had grown fond of +Rostov for his friendship to her Fedya, often talked to him about her +son. + +"Yes, Count," she would say, "he is too noble and pure-souled for our +present, depraved world. No one now loves virtue; it seems like a +reproach to everyone. Now tell me, Count, was it right, was it +honorable, of Bezukhov? And Fedya, with his noble spirit, loved him and +even now never says a word against him. Those pranks in Petersburg when +they played some tricks on a policeman, didn't they do it together? And +there! Bezukhov got off scotfree, while Fedya had to bear the whole +burden on his shoulders. Fancy what he had to go through! It's true he +has been reinstated, but how could they fail to do that? I think there +were not many such gallant sons of the fatherland out there as he. And +now--this duel! Have these people no feeling, or honor? Knowing him to +be an only son, to challenge him and shoot so straight! It's well God +had mercy on us. And what was it for? Who doesn't have intrigues +nowadays? Why, if he was so jealous, as I see things he should have +shown it sooner, but he lets it go on for months. And then to call him +out, reckoning on Fedya not fighting because he owed him money! What +baseness! What meanness! I know you understand Fedya, my dear count; +that, believe me, is why I am so fond of you. Few people do understand +him. He is such a lofty, heavenly soul!" + +Dolokhov himself during his convalescence spoke to Rostov in a way no +one would have expected of him. + +"I know people consider me a bad man!" he said. "Let them! I don't care +a straw about anyone but those I love; but those I love, I love so that +I would give my life for them, and the others I'd throttle if they stood +in my way. I have an adored, a priceless mother, and two or three +friends--you among them--and as for the rest I only care about them in +so far as they are harmful or useful. And most of them are harmful, +especially the women. Yes, dear boy," he continued, "I have met loving, +noble, high-minded men, but I have not yet met any women--countesses or +cooks--who were not venal. I have not yet met that divine purity and +devotion I look for in women. If I found such a one I'd give my life for +her! But those!..." and he made a gesture of contempt. "And believe me, +if I still value my life it is only because I still hope to meet such a +divine creature, who will regenerate, purify, and elevate me. But you +don't understand it." + +"Oh, yes, I quite understand," answered Rostov, who was under his new +friend's influence. + +In the autumn the Rostovs returned to Moscow. Early in the winter +Denisov also came back and stayed with them. The first half of the +winter of 1806, which Nicholas Rostov spent in Moscow, was one of the +happiest, merriest times for him and the whole family. Nicholas brought +many young men to his parents' house. Vera was a handsome girl of +twenty; Sonya a girl of sixteen with all the charm of an opening flower; +Natasha, half grown up and half child, was now childishly amusing, now +girlishly enchanting. + +At that time in the Rostovs' house there prevailed an amorous atmosphere +characteristic of homes where there are very young and very charming +girls. Every young man who came to the house--seeing those +impressionable, smiling young faces (smiling probably at their own +happiness), feeling the eager bustle around him, and hearing the fitful +bursts of song and music and the inconsequent but friendly prattle of +young girls ready for anything and full of hope--experienced the same +feeling; sharing with the young folk of the Rostovs' household a +readiness to fall in love and an expectation of happiness. + +Among the young men introduced by Rostov one of the first was Dolokhov, +whom everyone in the house liked except Natasha. She almost quarreled +with her brother about him. She insisted that he was a bad man, and that +in the duel with Bezukhov, Pierre was right and Dolokhov wrong, and +further that he was disagreeable and unnatural. + +"There's nothing for me to understand," she cried out with resolute +self-will, "he is wicked and heartless. There now, I like your Denisov +though he is a rake and all that, still I like him; so you see I do +understand. I don't know how to put it... with this one everything is +calculated, and I don't like that. But Denisov..." + +"Oh, Denisov is quite different," replied Nicholas, implying that even +Denisov was nothing compared to Dolokhov--"you must understand what a +soul there is in Dolokhov, you should see him with his mother. What a +heart!" + +"Well, I don't know about that, but I am uncomfortable with him. And do +you know he has fallen in love with Sonya?" + +"What nonsense..." + +"I'm certain of it; you'll see." + +Natasha's prediction proved true. Dolokhov, who did not usually care for +the society of ladies, began to come often to the house, and the +question for whose sake he came (though no one spoke of it) was soon +settled. He came because of Sonya. And Sonya, though she would never +have dared to say so, knew it and blushed scarlet every time Dolokhov +appeared. + +Dolokhov often dined at the Rostovs', never missed a performance at +which they were present, and went to Iogel's balls for young people +which the Rostovs always attended. He was pointedly attentive to Sonya +and looked at her in such a way that not only could she not bear his +glances without coloring, but even the old countess and Natasha blushed +when they saw his looks. + +It was evident that this strange, strong man was under the irresistible +influence of the dark, graceful girl who loved another. + +Rostov noticed something new in Dolokhov's relations with Sonya, but he +did not explain to himself what these new relations were. "They're +always in love with someone," he thought of Sonya and Natasha. But he +was not as much at ease with Sonya and Dolokhov as before and was less +frequently at home. + +In the autumn of 1806 everybody had again begun talking of the war with +Napoleon with even greater warmth than the year before. Orders were +given to raise recruits, ten men in every thousand for the regular army, +and besides this, nine men in every thousand for the militia. Everywhere +Bonaparte was anathematized and in Moscow nothing but the coming war was +talked of. For the Rostov family the whole interest of these +preparations for war lay in the fact that Nicholas would not hear of +remaining in Moscow, and only awaited the termination of Denisov's +furlough after Christmas to return with him to their regiment. His +approaching departure did not prevent his amusing himself, but rather +gave zest to his pleasures. He spent the greater part of his time away +from home, at dinners, parties, and balls. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +On the third day after Christmas Nicholas dined at home, a thing he had +rarely done of late. It was a grand farewell dinner, as he and Denisov +were leaving to join their regiment after Epiphany. About twenty people +were present, including Dolokhov and Denisov. + +Never had love been so much in the air, and never had the amorous +atmosphere made itself so strongly felt in the Rostovs' house as at this +holiday time. "Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That +is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing +we are interested in here," said the spirit of the place. + +Nicholas, having as usual exhausted two pairs of horses, without +visiting all the places he meant to go to and where he had been invited, +returned home just before dinner. As soon as he entered he noticed and +felt the tension of the amorous air in the house, and also noticed a +curious embarrassment among some of those present. Sonya, Dolokhov, and +the old countess were especially disturbed, and to a lesser degree +Natasha. Nicholas understood that something must have happened between +Sonya and Dolokhov before dinner, and with the kindly sensitiveness +natural to him was very gentle and wary with them both at dinner. On +that same evening there was to be one of the balls that Iogel (the +dancing master) gave for his pupils during the holidays. + +"Nicholas, will you come to Iogel's? Please do!" said Natasha. "He asked +you, and Vasili Dmitrich * is also going." + + +* Denisov. + +"Where would I not go at the countess' command!" said Denisov, who at +the Rostovs' had jocularly assumed the role of Natasha's knight. "I'm +even weady to dance the pas de chale." + +"If I have time," answered Nicholas. "But I promised the Arkharovs; they +have a party." + +"And you?" he asked Dolokhov, but as soon as he had asked the question +he noticed that it should not have been put. + +"Perhaps," coldly and angrily replied Dolokhov, glancing at Sonya, and, +scowling, he gave Nicholas just such a look as he had given Pierre at +the club dinner. + +"There is something up," thought Nicholas, and he was further confirmed +in this conclusion by the fact that Dolokhov left immediately after +dinner. He called Natasha and asked her what was the matter. + +"And I was looking for you," said Natasha running out to him. "I told +you, but you would not believe it," she said triumphantly. "He has +proposed to Sonya!" + +Little as Nicholas had occupied himself with Sonya of late, something +seemed to give way within him at this news. Dolokhov was a suitable and +in some respects a brilliant match for the dowerless, orphan girl. From +the point of view of the old countess and of society it was out of the +question for her to refuse him. And therefore Nicholas' first feeling on +hearing the news was one of anger with Sonya.... He tried to say, +"That's capital; of course she'll forget her childish promises and +accept the offer," but before he had time to say it Natasha began again. + +"And fancy! she refused him quite definitely!" adding, after a pause, +"she told him she loved another." + +"Yes, my Sonya could not have done otherwise!" thought Nicholas. + +"Much as Mamma pressed her, she refused, and I know she won't change +once she has said..." + +"And Mamma pressed her!" said Nicholas reproachfully. + +"Yes," said Natasha. "Do you know, Nicholas--don't be angry--but I know +you will not marry her. I know, heaven knows how, but I know for certain +that you won't marry her." + +"Now you don't know that at all!" said Nicholas. "But I must talk to +her. What a darling Sonya is!" he added with a smile. + +"Ah, she is indeed a darling! I'll send her to you." + +And Natasha kissed her brother and ran away. + +A minute later Sonya came in with a frightened, guilty, and scared look. +Nicholas went up to her and kissed her hand. This was the first time +since his return that they had talked alone and about their love. + +"Sophie," he began, timidly at first and then more and more boldly, "if +you wish to refuse one who is not only a brilliant and advantageous +match but a splendid, noble fellow... he is my friend..." + +Sonya interrupted him. + +"I have already refused," she said hurriedly. + +"If you are refusing for my sake, I am afraid that I..." + +Sonya again interrupted. She gave him an imploring, frightened look. + +"Nicholas, don't tell me that!" she said. + +"No, but I must. It may be arrogant of me, but still it is best to say +it. If you refuse him on my account, I must tell you the whole truth. I +love you, and I think I love you more than anyone else...." + +"That is enough for me," said Sonya, blushing. + +"No, but I have been in love a thousand times and shall fall in love +again, though for no one have I such a feeling of friendship, +confidence, and love as I have for you. Then I am young. Mamma does not +wish it. In a word, I make no promise. And I beg you to consider +Dolokhov's offer," he said, articulating his friend's name with +difficulty. + +"Don't say that to me! I want nothing. I love you as a brother and +always shall, and I want nothing more." + +"You are an angel: I am not worthy of you, but I am afraid of misleading +you." + +And Nicholas again kissed her hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Iogel's were the most enjoyable balls in Moscow. So said the mothers as +they watched their young people executing their newly learned steps, and +so said the youths and maidens themselves as they danced till they were +ready to drop, and so said the grown-up young men and women who came to +these balls with an air of condescension and found them most enjoyable. +That year two marriages had come of these balls. The two pretty young +Princesses Gorchakov met suitors there and were married and so further +increased the fame of these dances. What distinguished them from others +was the absence of host or hostess and the presence of the good-natured +Iogel, flying about like a feather and bowing according to the rules of +his art, as he collected the tickets from all his visitors. There was +the fact that only those came who wished to dance and amuse themselves +as girls of thirteen and fourteen do who are wearing long dresses for +the first time. With scarcely any exceptions they all were, or seemed to +be, pretty--so rapturous were their smiles and so sparkling their eyes. +Sometimes the best of the pupils, of whom Natasha, who was exceptionally +graceful, was first, even danced the pas de chale, but at this last ball +only the ecossaise, the anglaise, and the mazurka, which was just coming +into fashion, were danced. Iogel had taken a ballroom in Bezukhov's +house, and the ball, as everyone said, was a great success. There were +many pretty girls and the Rostov girls were among the prettiest. They +were both particularly happy and gay. That evening, proud of Dolokhov's +proposal, her refusal, and her explanation with Nicholas, Sonya twirled +about before she left home so that the maid could hardly get her hair +plaited, and she was transparently radiant with impulsive joy. + +Natasha no less proud of her first long dress and of being at a real +ball was even happier. They were both dressed in white muslin with pink +ribbons. + +Natasha fell in love the very moment she entered the ballroom. She was +not in love with anyone in particular, but with everyone. Whatever +person she happened to look at she was in love with for that moment. + +"Oh, how delightful it is!" she kept saying, running up to Sonya. + +Nicholas and Denisov were walking up and down, looking with kindly +patronage at the dancers. + +"How sweet she is--she will be a weal beauty!" said Denisov. + +"Who?" + +"Countess Natasha," answered Denisov. + +"And how she dances! What gwace!" he said again after a pause. + +"Who are you talking about?" + +"About your sister," ejaculated Denisov testily. + +Rostov smiled. + +"My dear count, you were one of my best pupils--you must dance," said +little Iogel coming up to Nicholas. "Look how many charming young +ladies-" He turned with the same request to Denisov who was also a +former pupil of his. + +"No, my dear fellow, I'll be a wallflower," said Denisov. "Don't you +wecollect what bad use I made of your lessons?" + + +"Oh no!" said Iogel, hastening to reassure him. "You were only +inattentive, but you had talent--oh yes, you had talent!" + +The band struck up the newly introduced mazurka. Nicholas could not +refuse Iogel and asked Sonya to dance. Denisov sat down by the old +ladies and, leaning on his saber and beating time with his foot, told +them something funny and kept them amused, while he watched the young +people dancing, Iogel with Natasha, his pride and his best pupil, were +the first couple. Noiselessly, skillfully stepping with his little feet +in low shoes, Iogel flew first across the hall with Natasha, who, though +shy, went on carefully executing her steps. Denisov did not take his +eyes off her and beat time with his saber in a way that clearly +indicated that if he was not dancing it was because he would not and not +because he could not. In the middle of a figure he beckoned to Rostov +who was passing: + +"This is not at all the thing," he said. "What sort of Polish mazuwka is +this? But she does dance splendidly." + +Knowing that Denisov had a reputation even in Poland for the masterly +way in which he danced the mazurka, Nicholas ran up to Natasha: + +"Go and choose Denisov. He is a real dancer, a wonder!" he said. + +When it came to Natasha's turn to choose a partner, she rose and, +tripping rapidly across in her little shoes trimmed with bows, ran +timidly to the corner where Denisov sat. She saw that everybody was +looking at her and waiting. Nicholas saw that Denisov was refusing +though he smiled delightedly. He ran up to them. + +"Please, Vasili Dmitrich," Natasha was saying, "do come!" + +"Oh no, let me off, Countess," Denisov replied. + +"Now then, Vaska," said Nicholas. + +"They coax me as if I were Vaska the cat!" said Denisov jokingly. + +"I'll sing for you a whole evening," said Natasha. + +"Oh, the faiwy! She can do anything with me!" said Denisov, and he +unhooked his saber. He came out from behind the chairs, clasped his +partner's hand firmly, threw back his head, and advanced his foot, +waiting for the beat. Only on horse back and in the mazurka was +Denisov's short stature not noticeable and he looked the fine fellow he +felt himself to be. At the right beat of the music he looked sideways at +his partner with a merry and triumphant air, suddenly stamped with one +foot, bounded from the floor like a ball, and flew round the room taking +his partner with him. He glided silently on one foot half across the +room, and seeming not to notice the chairs was dashing straight at them, +when suddenly, clinking his spurs and spreading out his legs, he stopped +short on his heels, stood so a second, stamped on the spot clanking his +spurs, whirled rapidly round, and, striking his left heel against his +right, flew round again in a circle. Natasha guessed what he meant to +do, and abandoning herself to him followed his lead hardly knowing how. +First he spun her round, holding her now with his left, now with his +right hand, then falling on one knee he twirled her round him, and again +jumping up, dashed so impetuously forward that it seemed as if he would +rush through the whole suite of rooms without drawing breath, and then +he suddenly stopped and performed some new and unexpected steps. When at +last, smartly whirling his partner round in front of her chair, he drew +up with a click of his spurs and bowed to her, Natasha did not even make +him a curtsy. She fixed her eyes on him in amazement, smiling as if she +did not recognize him. + +"What does this mean?" she brought out. + +Although Iogel did not acknowledge this to be the real mazurka, everyone +was delighted with Denisov's skill, he was asked again and again as a +partner, and the old men began smilingly to talk about Poland and the +good old days. Denisov, flushed after the mazurka and mopping himself +with his handkerchief, sat down by Natasha and did not leave her for the +rest of the evening. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +For two days after that Rostov did not see Dolokhov at his own or at +Dolokhov's home: on the third day he received a note from him: + +As I do not intend to be at your house again for reasons you know of, +and am going to rejoin my regiment, I am giving a farewell supper +tonight to my friends--come to the English Hotel. + +About ten o'clock Rostov went to the English Hotel straight from the +theater, where he had been with his family and Denisov. He was at once +shown to the best room, which Dolokhov had taken for that evening. Some +twenty men were gathered round a table at which Dolokhov sat between two +candles. On the table was a pile of gold and paper money, and he was +keeping the bank. Rostov had not seen him since his proposal and Sonya's +refusal and felt uncomfortable at the thought of how they would meet. + +Dolokhov's clear, cold glance met Rostov as soon as he entered the door, +as though he had long expected him. + +"It's a long time since we met," he said. "Thanks for coming. I'll just +finish dealing, and then Ilyushka will come with his chorus." + +"I called once or twice at your house," said Rostov, reddening. + +Dolokhov made no reply. + +"You may punt," he said. + +Rostov recalled at that moment a strange conversation he had once had +with Dolokhov. "None but fools trust to luck in play," Dolokhov had then +said. + +"Or are you afraid to play with me?" Dolokhov now asked as if guessing +Rostov's thought. + +Beneath his smile Rostov saw in him the mood he had shown at the club +dinner and at other times, when as if tired of everyday life he had felt +a need to escape from it by some strange, and usually cruel, action. + +Rostov felt ill at ease. He tried, but failed, to find some joke with +which to reply to Dolokhov's words. But before he had thought of +anything, Dolokhov, looking straight in his face, said slowly and +deliberately so that everyone could hear: + +"Do you remember we had a talk about cards... 'He's a fool who trusts to +luck, one should make certain,' and I want to try." + +"To try his luck or the certainty?" Rostov asked himself. + +"Well, you'd better not play," Dolokhov added, and springing a new pack +of cards said: "Bank, gentlemen!" + +Moving the money forward he prepared to deal. Rostov sat down by his +side and at first did not play. Dolokhov kept glancing at him. + +"Why don't you play?" he asked. + +And strange to say Nicholas felt that he could not help taking up a +card, putting a small stake on it, and beginning to play. + +"I have no money with me," he said. + +"I'll trust you." + +Rostov staked five rubles on a card and lost, staked again, and again +lost. Dolokhov "killed," that is, beat, ten cards of Rostov's running. + +"Gentlemen," said Dolokhov after he had dealt for some time. "Please +place your money on the cards or I may get muddled in the reckoning." + +One of the players said he hoped he might be trusted. + +"Yes, you might, but I am afraid of getting the accounts mixed. So I ask +you to put the money on your cards," replied Dolokhov. "Don't stint +yourself, we'll settle afterwards," he added, turning to Rostov. + +The game continued; a waiter kept handing round champagne. + +All Rostov's cards were beaten and he had eight hundred rubles scored up +against him. He wrote "800 rubles" on a card, but while the waiter +filled his glass he changed his mind and altered it to his usual stake +of twenty rubles. + +"Leave it," said Dolokhov, though he did not seem to be even looking at +Rostov, "you'll win it back all the sooner. I lose to the others but win +from you. Or are you afraid of me?" he asked again. + +Rostov submitted. He let the eight hundred remain and laid down a seven +of hearts with a torn corner, which he had picked up from the floor. He +well remembered that seven afterwards. He laid down the seven of hearts, +on which with a broken bit of chalk he had written "800 rubles" in clear +upright figures; he emptied the glass of warm champagne that was handed +him, smiled at Dolokhov's words, and with a sinking heart, waiting for a +seven to turn up, gazed at Dolokhov's hands which held the pack. Much +depended on Rostov's winning or losing on that seven of hearts. On the +previous Sunday the old count had given his son two thousand rubles, and +though he always disliked speaking of money difficulties had told +Nicholas that this was all he could let him have till May, and asked him +to be more economical this time. Nicholas had replied that it would be +more than enough for him and that he gave his word of honor not to take +anything more till the spring. Now only twelve hundred rubles was left +of that money, so that this seven of hearts meant for him not only the +loss of sixteen hundred rubles, but the necessity of going back on his +word. With a sinking heart he watched Dolokhov's hands and thought, "Now +then, make haste and let me have this card and I'll take my cap and +drive home to supper with Denisov, Natasha, and Sonya, and will +certainly never touch a card again." At that moment his home life, jokes +with Petya, talks with Sonya, duets with Natasha, piquet with his +father, and even his comfortable bed in the house on the Povarskaya rose +before him with such vividness, clearness, and charm that it seemed as +if it were all a lost and unappreciated bliss, long past. He could not +conceive that a stupid chance, letting the seven be dealt to the right +rather than to the left, might deprive him of all this happiness, newly +appreciated and newly illumined, and plunge him into the depths of +unknown and undefined misery. That could not be, yet he awaited with a +sinking heart the movement of Dolokhov's hands. Those broad, reddish +hands, with hairy wrists visible from under the shirt cuffs, laid down +the pack and took up a glass and a pipe that were handed him. + +"So you are not afraid to play with me?" repeated Dolokhov, and as if +about to tell a good story he put down the cards, leaned back in his +chair, and began deliberately with a smile: + +"Yes, gentlemen, I've been told there's a rumor going about Moscow that +I'm a sharper, so I advise you to be careful." + +"Come now, deal!" exclaimed Rostov. + +"Oh, those Moscow gossips!" said Dolokhov, and he took up the cards with +a smile. + +"Aah!" Rostov almost screamed lifting both hands to his head. The seven +he needed was lying uppermost, the first card in the pack. He had lost +more than he could pay. + +"Still, don't ruin yourself!" said Dolokhov with a side glance at Rostov +as he continued to deal. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +An hour and a half later most of the players were but little interested +in their own play. + +The whole interest was concentrated on Rostov. Instead of sixteen +hundred rubles he had a long column of figures scored against him, which +he had reckoned up to ten thousand, but that now, as he vaguely +supposed, must have risen to fifteen thousand. In reality it already +exceeded twenty thousand rubles. Dolokhov was no longer listening to +stories or telling them, but followed every movement of Rostov's hands +and occasionally ran his eyes over the score against him. He had decided +to play until that score reached forty-three thousand. He had fixed on +that number because forty-three was the sum of his and Sonya's joint +ages. Rostov, leaning his head on both hands, sat at the table which was +scrawled over with figures, wet with spilled wine, and littered with +cards. One tormenting impression did not leave him: that those broad- +boned reddish hands with hairy wrists visible from under the shirt +sleeves, those hands which he loved and hated, held him in their power. + +"Six hundred rubles, ace, a corner, a nine... winning it back's +impossible... Oh, how pleasant it was at home!... The knave, double or +quits... it can't be!... And why is he doing this to me?" Rostov +pondered. Sometimes he staked a large sum, but Dolokhov refused to +accept it and fixed the stake himself. Nicholas submitted to him, and at +one moment prayed to God as he had done on the battlefield at the bridge +over the Enns, and then guessed that the card that came first to hand +from the crumpled heap under the table would save him, now counted the +cords on his coat and took a card with that number and tried staking the +total of his losses on it, then he looked round for aid from the other +players, or peered at the now cold face of Dolokhov and tried to read +what was passing in his mind. + +"He knows of course what this loss means to me. He can't want my ruin. +Wasn't he my friend? Wasn't I fond of him? But it's not his fault. +What's he to do if he has such luck?... And it's not my fault either," +he thought to himself, "I have done nothing wrong. Have I killed anyone, +or insulted or wished harm to anyone? Why such a terrible misfortune? +And when did it begin? Such a little while ago I came to this table with +the thought of winning a hundred rubles to buy that casket for Mamma's +name day and then going home. I was so happy, so free, so lighthearted! +And I did not realize how happy I was! When did that end and when did +this new, terrible state of things begin? What marked the change? I sat +all the time in this same place at this table, chose and placed cards, +and watched those broad-boned agile hands in the same way. When did it +happen and what has happened? I am well and strong and still the same +and in the same place. No, it can't be! Surely it will all end in +nothing!" + +He was flushed and bathed in perspiration, though the room was not hot. +His face was terrible and piteous to see, especially from its helpless +efforts to seem calm. + +The score against him reached the fateful sum of forty-three thousand. +Rostov had just prepared a card, by bending the corner of which he meant +to double the three thousand just put down to his score, when Dolokhov, +slamming down the pack of cards, put it aside and began rapidly adding +up the total of Rostov's debt, breaking the chalk as he marked the +figures in his clear, bold hand. + +"Supper, it's time for supper! And here are the gypsies!" + +Some swarthy men and women were really entering from the cold outside +and saying something in their gypsy accents. Nicholas understood that it +was all over; but he said in an indifferent tone: + +"Well, won't you go on? I had a splendid card all ready," as if it were +the fun of the game which interested him most. + +"It's all up! I'm lost!" thought he. "Now a bullet through my brain-- +that's all that's left me!" And at the same time he said in a cheerful +voice: + +"Come now, just this one more little card!" + +"All right!" said Dolokhov, having finished the addition. "All right! +Twenty-one rubles," he said, pointing to the figure twenty-one by which +the total exceeded the round sum of forty-three thousand; and taking up +a pack he prepared to deal. Rostov submissively unbent the corner of his +card and, instead of the six thousand he had intended, carefully wrote +twenty-one. + +"It's all the same to me," he said. "I only want to see whether you will +let me win this ten, or beat it." + +Dolokhov began to deal seriously. Oh, how Rostov detested at that moment +those hands with their short reddish fingers and hairy wrists, which +held him in their power.... The ten fell to him. + +"You owe forty-three thousand, Count," said Dolokhov, and stretching +himself he rose from the table. "One does get tired sitting so long," he +added. + +"Yes, I'm tired too," said Rostov. + +Dolokhov cut him short, as if to remind him that it was not for him to +jest. + +"When am I to receive the money, Count?" + +Rostov, flushing, drew Dolokhov into the next room. + +"I cannot pay it all immediately. Will you take an I.O.U.?" he said. + +"I say, Rostov," said Dolokhov clearly, smiling and looking Nicholas +straight in the eyes, "you know the saying, 'Lucky in love, unlucky at +cards.' Your cousin is in love with you, I know." + +"Oh, it's terrible to feel oneself so in this man's power," thought +Rostov. He knew what a shock he would inflict on his father and mother +by the news of this loss, he knew what a relief it would be to escape it +all, and felt that Dolokhov knew that he could save him from all this +shame and sorrow, but wanted now to play with him as a cat does with a +mouse. + +"Your cousin..." Dolokhov started to say, but Nicholas interrupted him. + +"My cousin has nothing to do with this and it's not necessary to mention +her!" he exclaimed fiercely. + +"Then when am I to have it?" + +"Tomorrow," replied Rostov and left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +To say "tomorrow" and keep up a dignified tone was not difficult, but to +go home alone, see his sisters, brother, mother, and father, confess and +ask for money he had no right to after giving his word of honor, was +terrible. + +At home, they had not yet gone to bed. The young people, after returning +from the theater, had had supper and were grouped round the clavichord. +As soon as Nicholas entered, he was enfolded in that poetic atmosphere +of love which pervaded the Rostov household that winter and, now after +Dolokhov's proposal and Iogel's ball, seemed to have grown thicker round +Sonya and Natasha as the air does before a thunderstorm. Sonya and +Natasha, in the light-blue dresses they had worn at the theater, looking +pretty and conscious of it, were standing by the clavichord, happy and +smiling. Vera was playing chess with Shinshin in the drawing room. The +old countess, waiting for the return of her husband and son, sat playing +patience with the old gentlewoman who lived in their house. Denisov, +with sparkling eyes and ruffled hair, sat at the clavichord striking +chords with his short fingers, his legs thrown back and his eyes rolling +as he sang, with his small, husky, but true voice, some verses called +"Enchantress," which he had composed, and to which he was trying to fit +music: + + +Enchantress, say, to my forsaken lyre What magic power is this recalls +me still? What spark has set my inmost soul on fire, What is this bliss +that makes my fingers thrill? + +He was singing in passionate tones, gazing with his sparkling black- +agate eyes at the frightened and happy Natasha. + +"Splendid! Excellent!" exclaimed Natasha. "Another verse," she said, +without noticing Nicholas. + +"Everything's still the same with them," thought Nicholas, glancing into +the drawing room, where he saw Vera and his mother with the old lady. + +"Ah, and here's Nicholas!" cried Natasha, running up to him. + +"Is Papa at home?" he asked. + +"I am so glad you've come!" said Natasha, without answering him. "We are +enjoying ourselves! Vasili Dmitrich is staying a day longer for my sake! +Did you know?" + +"No, Papa is not back yet," said Sonya. + +"Nicholas, have you come? Come here, dear!" called the old countess from +the drawing room. + +Nicholas went to her, kissed her hand, and sitting down silently at her +table began to watch her hands arranging the cards. From the dancing +room, they still heard the laughter and merry voices trying to persuade +Natasha to sing. + +"All wight! All wight!" shouted Denisov. "It's no good making excuses +now! It's your turn to sing the ba'cawolla--I entweat you!" + +The countess glanced at her silent son. + +"What is the matter?" she asked. + +"Oh, nothing," said he, as if weary of being continually asked the same +question. "Will Papa be back soon?" + +"I expect so." + +"Everything's the same with them. They know nothing about it! Where am I +to go?" thought Nicholas, and went again into the dancing room where the +clavichord stood. + +Sonya was sitting at the clavichord, playing the prelude to Denisov's +favorite barcarolle. Natasha was preparing to sing. Denisov was looking +at her with enraptured eyes. + +Nicholas began pacing up and down the room. + +"Why do they want to make her sing? How can she sing? There's nothing to +be happy about!" thought he. + +Sonya struck the first chord of the prelude. + +"My God, I'm a ruined and dishonored man! A bullet through my brain is +the only thing left me--not singing!" his thoughts ran on. "Go away? But +where to? It's one--let them sing!" + +He continued to pace the room, looking gloomily at Denisov and the girls +and avoiding their eyes. + +"Nikolenka, what is the matter?" Sonya's eyes fixed on him seemed to +ask. She noticed at once that something had happened to him. + +Nicholas turned away from her. Natasha too, with her quick instinct, had +instantly noticed her brother's condition. But, though she noticed it, +she was herself in such high spirits at that moment, so far from sorrow, +sadness, or self-reproach, that she purposely deceived herself as young +people often do. "No, I am too happy now to spoil my enjoyment by +sympathy with anyone's sorrow," she felt, and she said to herself: "No, +I must be mistaken, he must be feeling happy, just as I am." + +"Now, Sonya!" she said, going to the very middle of the room, where she +considered the resonance was best. + +Having lifted her head and let her arms droop lifelessly, as ballet +dancers do, Natasha, rising energetically from her heels to her toes, +stepped to the middle of the room and stood still. + +"Yes, that's me!" she seemed to say, answering the rapt gaze with which +Denisov followed her. + +"And what is she so pleased about?" thought Nicholas, looking at his +sister. "Why isn't she dull and ashamed?" + +Natasha took the first note, her throat swelled, her chest rose, her +eyes became serious. At that moment she was oblivious of her +surroundings, and from her smiling lips flowed sounds which anyone may +produce at the same intervals and hold for the same time, but which +leave you cold a thousand times and the thousand and first time thrill +you and make you weep. + +Natasha, that winter, had for the first time begun to sing seriously, +mainly because Denisov so delighted in her singing. She no longer sang +as a child, there was no longer in her singing that comical, childish, +painstaking effect that had been in it before; but she did not yet sing +well, as all the connoisseurs who heard her said: "It is not trained, +but it is a beautiful voice that must be trained." Only they generally +said this some time after she had finished singing. While that untrained +voice, with its incorrect breathing and labored transitions, was +sounding, even the connoisseurs said nothing, but only delighted in it +and wished to hear it again. In her voice there was a virginal +freshness, an unconsciousness of her own powers, and an as yet untrained +velvety softness, which so mingled with her lack of art in singing that +it seemed as if nothing in that voice could be altered without spoiling +it. + +"What is this?" thought Nicholas, listening to her with widely opened +eyes. "What has happened to her? How she is singing today!" And suddenly +the whole world centered for him on anticipation of the next note, the +next phrase, and everything in the world was divided into three beats: +"Oh mio crudele affetto."... One, two, three... one, two, three... +One... "Oh mio crudele affetto."... One, two, three... One. "Oh, this +senseless life of ours!" thought Nicholas. "All this misery, and money, +and Dolokhov, and anger, and honor--it's all nonsense... but this is +real.... Now then, Natasha, now then, dearest! Now then, darling! How +will she take that si? She's taken it! Thank God!" And without noticing +that he was singing, to strengthen the si he sung a second, a third +below the high note. "Ah, God! How fine! Did I really take it? How +fortunate!" he thought. + +Oh, how that chord vibrated, and how moved was something that was finest +in Rostov's soul! And this something was apart from everything else in +the world and above everything in the world. "What were losses, and +Dolokhov, and words of honor?... All nonsense! One might kill and rob +and yet be happy..." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +It was long since Rostov had felt such enjoyment from music as he did +that day. But no sooner had Natasha finished her barcarolle than reality +again presented itself. He got up without saying a word and went +downstairs to his own room. A quarter of an hour later the old count +came in from his club, cheerful and contented. Nicholas, hearing him +drive up, went to meet him. + +"Well--had a good time?" said the old count, smiling gaily and proudly +at his son. + +Nicholas tried to say "Yes," but could not: and he nearly burst into +sobs. The count was lighting his pipe and did not notice his son's +condition. + +"Ah, it can't be avoided!" thought Nicholas, for the first and last +time. And suddenly, in the most casual tone, which made him feel ashamed +of himself, he said, as if merely asking his father to let him have the +carriage to drive to town: + +"Papa, I have come on a matter of business. I was nearly forgetting. I +need some money." + +"Dear me!" said his father, who was in a specially good humor. "I told +you it would not be enough. How much?" + +"Very much," said Nicholas flushing, and with a stupid careless smile, +for which he was long unable to forgive himself, "I have lost a little, +I mean a good deal, a great deal--forty three thousand." + +"What! To whom?... Nonsense!" cried the count, suddenly reddening with +an apoplectic flush over neck and nape as old people do. + +"I promised to pay tomorrow," said Nicholas. + +"Well!..." said the old count, spreading out his arms and sinking +helplessly on the sofa. + +"It can't be helped It happens to everyone!" said the son, with a bold, +free, and easy tone, while in his soul he regarded himself as a +worthless scoundrel whose whole life could not atone for his crime. He +longed to kiss his father's hands and kneel to beg his forgiveness, but +said, in a careless and even rude voice, that it happens to everyone! + +The old count cast down his eyes on hearing his son's words and began +bustlingly searching for something. + +"Yes, yes," he muttered, "it will be difficult, I fear, difficult to +raise... happens to everybody! Yes, who has not done it?" + +And with a furtive glance at his son's face, the count went out of the +room.... Nicholas had been prepared for resistance, but had not at all +expected this. + +"Papa! Pa-pa!" he called after him, sobbing, "forgive me!" And seizing +his father's hand, he pressed it to his lips and burst into tears. + +While father and son were having their explanation, the mother and +daughter were having one not less important. Natasha came running to her +mother, quite excited. + +"Mamma!... Mamma!... He has made me..." + +"Made what?" + +"Made, made me an offer, Mamma! Mamma!" she exclaimed. + +The countess did not believe her ears. Denisov had proposed. To whom? To +this chit of a girl, Natasha, who not so long ago was playing with dolls +and who was still having lessons. + +"Don't, Natasha! What nonsense!" she said, hoping it was a joke. + +"Nonsense, indeed! I am telling you the fact," said Natasha indignantly. +"I come to ask you what to do, and you call it 'nonsense!'" + +The countess shrugged her shoulders. + +"If it is true that Monsieur Denisov has made you a proposal, tell him +he is a fool, that's all!" + +"No, he's not a fool!" replied Natasha indignantly and seriously. + +"Well then, what do you want? You're all in love nowadays. Well, if you +are in love, marry him!" said the countess, with a laugh of annoyance. +"Good luck to you!" + +"No, Mamma, I'm not in love with him, I suppose I'm not in love with +him." + +"Well then, tell him so." + +"Mamma, are you cross? Don't be cross, dear! Is it my fault?" + +"No, but what is it, my dear? Do you want me to go and tell him?" said +the countess smiling. + +"No, I will do it myself, only tell me what to say. It's all very well +for you," said Natasha, with a responsive smile. "You should have seen +how he said it! I know he did not mean to say it, but it came out +accidently." + +"Well, all the same, you must refuse him." + +"No, I mustn't. I am so sorry for him! He's so nice." + +"Well then, accept his offer. It's high time for you to be married," +answered the countess sharply and sarcastically. + +"No, Mamma, but I'm so sorry for him. I don't know how I'm to say it." + +"And there's nothing for you to say. I shall speak to him myself," said +the countess, indignant that they should have dared to treat this little +Natasha as grown up. + +"No, not on any account! I will tell him myself, and you'll listen at +the door," and Natasha ran across the drawing room to the dancing hall, +where Denisov was sitting on the same chair by the clavichord with his +face in his hands. + +He jumped up at the sound of her light step. + +"Nataly," he said, moving with rapid steps toward her, "decide my fate. +It is in your hands." + +"Vasili Dmitrich, I'm so sorry for you!... No, but you are so nice... +but it won't do...not that... but as a friend, I shall always love you." + +Denisov bent over her hand and she heard strange sounds she did not +understand. She kissed his rough curly black head. At this instant, they +heard the quick rustle of the countess' dress. She came up to them. + +"Vasili Dmitrich, I thank you for the honor," she said, with an +embarrassed voice, though it sounded severe to Denisov--"but my daughter +is so young, and I thought that, as my son's friend, you would have +addressed yourself first to me. In that case you would not have obliged +me to give this refusal." + +"Countess..." said Denisov, with downcast eyes and a guilty face. He +tried to say more, but faltered. + +Natasha could not remain calm, seeing him in such a plight. She began to +sob aloud. + +"Countess, I have done w'ong," Denisov went on in an unsteady voice, +"but believe me, I so adore your daughter and all your family that I +would give my life twice over..." He looked at the countess, and seeing +her severe face said: "Well, good-by, Countess," and kissing her hand, +he left the room with quick resolute strides, without looking at +Natasha. + +Next day Rostov saw Denisov off. He did not wish to stay another day in +Moscow. All Denisov's Moscow friends gave him a farewell entertainment +at the gypsies', with the result that he had no recollection of how he +was put in the sleigh or of the first three stages of his journey. + +After Denisov's departure, Rostov spent another fortnight in Moscow, +without going out of the house, waiting for the money his father could +not at once raise, and he spent most of his time in the girls' room. + +Sonya was more tender and devoted to him than ever. It was as if she +wanted to show him that his losses were an achievement that made her +love him all the more, but Nicholas now considered himself unworthy of +her. + +He filled the girls' albums with verses and music, and having at last +sent Dolokhov the whole forty-three thousand rubles and received his +receipt, he left at the end of November, without taking leave of any of +his acquaintances, to overtake his regiment which was already in Poland. + +BOOK FIVE: 1806 - 07 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +After his interview with his wife Pierre left for Petersburg. At the +Torzhok post station, either there were no horses or the postmaster +would not supply them. Pierre was obliged to wait. Without undressing, +he lay down on the leather sofa in front of a round table, put his big +feet in their overboots on the table, and began to reflect. + +"Will you have the portmanteaus brought in? And a bed got ready, and +tea?" asked his valet. + +Pierre gave no answer, for he neither heard nor saw anything. He had +begun to think of the last station and was still pondering on the same +question--one so important that he took no notice of what went on around +him. Not only was he indifferent as to whether he got to Petersburg +earlier or later, or whether he secured accommodation at this station, +but compared to the thoughts that now occupied him it was a matter of +indifference whether he remained there for a few hours or for the rest +of his life. + +The postmaster, his wife, the valet, and a peasant woman selling Torzhok +embroidery came into the room offering their services. Without changing +his careless attitude, Pierre looked at them over his spectacles unable +to understand what they wanted or how they could go on living without +having solved the problems that so absorbed him. He had been engrossed +by the same thoughts ever since the day he returned from Sokolniki after +the duel and had spent that first agonizing, sleepless night. But now, +in the solitude of the journey, they seized him with special force. No +matter what he thought about, he always returned to these same questions +which he could not solve and yet could not cease to ask himself. It was +as if the thread of the chief screw which held his life together were +stripped, so that the screw could not get in or out, but went on turning +uselessly in the same place. + +The postmaster came in and began obsequiously to beg his excellency to +wait only two hours, when, come what might, he would let his excellency +have the courier horses. It was plain that he was lying and only wanted +to get more money from the traveler. + +"Is this good or bad?" Pierre asked himself. "It is good for me, bad for +another traveler, and for himself it's unavoidable, because he needs +money for food; the man said an officer had once given him a thrashing +for letting a private traveler have the courier horses. But the officer +thrashed him because he had to get on as quickly as possible. And I," +continued Pierre, "shot Dolokhov because I considered myself injured, +and Louis XVI was executed because they considered him a criminal, and a +year later they executed those who executed him--also for some reason. +What is bad? What is good? What should one love and what hate? What does +one live for? And what am I? What is life, and what is death? What power +governs all?" + +There was no answer to any of these questions, except one, and that not +a logical answer and not at all a reply to them. The answer was: "You'll +die and all will end. You'll die and know all, or cease asking." But +dying was also dreadful. + +The Torzhok peddler woman, in a whining voice, went on offering her +wares, especially a pair of goatskin slippers. "I have hundreds of +rubles I don't know what to do with, and she stands in her tattered +cloak looking timidly at me," he thought. "And what does she want the +money for? As if that money could add a hair's breadth to happiness or +peace of mind. Can anything in the world make her or me less a prey to +evil and death?--death which ends all and must come today or tomorrow-- +at any rate, in an instant as compared with eternity." And again he +twisted the screw with the stripped thread, and again it turned +uselessly in the same place. + +His servant handed him a half-cut novel, in the form of letters, by +Madame de Souza. He began reading about the sufferings and virtuous +struggles of a certain Emilie de Mansfeld. "And why did she resist her +seducer when she loved him?" he thought. "God could not have put into +her heart an impulse that was against His will. My wife--as she once +was--did not struggle, and perhaps she was right. Nothing has been found +out, nothing discovered," Pierre again said to himself. "All we can know +is that we know nothing. And that's the height of human wisdom." + +Everything within and around him seemed confused, senseless, and +repellent. Yet in this very repugnance to all his circumstances Pierre +found a kind of tantalizing satisfaction. + +"I make bold to ask your excellency to move a little for this +gentleman," said the postmaster, entering the room followed by another +traveler, also detained for lack of horses. + +The newcomer was a short, large-boned, yellow-faced, wrinkled old man, +with gray bushy eyebrows overhanging bright eyes of an indefinite +grayish color. + +Pierre took his feet off the table, stood up, and lay down on a bed that +had been got ready for him, glancing now and then at the newcomer, who, +with a gloomy and tired face, was wearily taking off his wraps with the +aid of his servant, and not looking at Pierre. With a pair of felt boots +on his thin bony legs, and keeping on a worn, nankeen-covered, sheepskin +coat, the traveler sat down on the sofa, leaned back his big head with +its broad temples and close-cropped hair, and looked at Bezukhov. The +stern, shrewd, and penetrating expression of that look struck Pierre. He +felt a wish to speak to the stranger, but by the time he had made up his +mind to ask him a question about the roads, the traveler had closed his +eyes. His shriveled old hands were folded and on the finger of one of +them Pierre noticed a large cast iron ring with a seal representing a +death's head. The stranger sat without stirring, either resting or, as +it seemed to Pierre, sunk in profound and calm meditation. His servant +was also a yellow, wrinkled old man, without beard or mustache, +evidently not because he was shaven but because they had never grown. +This active old servant was unpacking the traveler's canteen and +preparing tea. He brought in a boiling samovar. When everything was +ready, the stranger opened his eyes, moved to the table, filled a +tumbler with tea for himself and one for the beardless old man to whom +he passed it. Pierre began to feel a sense of uneasiness, and the need, +even the inevitability, of entering into conversation with this +stranger. + +The servant brought back his tumbler turned upside down, * with an +unfinished bit of nibbled sugar, and asked if anything more would be +wanted. + + +* To indicate he did not want more tea. + +"No. Give me the book," said the stranger. + +The servant handed him a book which Pierre took to be a devotional work, +and the traveler became absorbed in it. Pierre looked at him. All at +once the stranger closed the book, putting in a marker, and again, +leaning with his arms on the back of the sofa, sat in his former +position with his eyes shut. Pierre looked at him and had not time to +turn away when the old man, opening his eyes, fixed his steady and +severe gaze straight on Pierre's face. + +Pierre felt confused and wished to avoid that look, but the bright old +eyes attracted him irresistibly. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"I have the pleasure of addressing Count Bezukhov, if I am not +mistaken," said the stranger in a deliberate and loud voice. + +Pierre looked silently and inquiringly at him over his spectacles. + +"I have heard of you, my dear sir," continued the stranger, "and of your +misfortune." He seemed to emphasize the last word, as if to say--"Yes, +misfortune! Call it what you please, I know that what happened to you in +Moscow was a misfortune."--"I regret it very much, my dear sir." + +Pierre flushed and, hurriedly putting his legs down from the bed, bent +forward toward the old man with a forced and timid smile. + +"I have not referred to this out of curiosity, my dear sir, but for +greater reasons." + +He paused, his gaze still on Pierre, and moved aside on the sofa by way +of inviting the other to take a seat beside him. Pierre felt reluctant +to enter into conversation with this old man, but, submitting to him +involuntarily, came up and sat down beside him. + +"You are unhappy, my dear sir," the stranger continued. "You are young +and I am old. I should like to help you as far as lies in my power." + +"Oh, yes!" said Pierre, with a forced smile. "I am very grateful to you. +Where are you traveling from?" + +The stranger's face was not genial, it was even cold and severe, but in +spite of this, both the face and words of his new acquaintance were +irresistibly attractive to Pierre. + +"But if for reason you don't feel inclined to talk to me," said the old +man, "say so, my dear sir." And he suddenly smiled, in an unexpected and +tenderly paternal way. + +"Oh no, not at all! On the contrary, I am very glad to make your +acquaintance," said Pierre. And again, glancing at the stranger's hands, +he looked more closely at the ring, with its skull--a masonic sign. + +"Allow me to ask," he said, "are you a Mason?" + +"Yes, I belong to the Brotherhood of the Freemasons," said the stranger, +looking deeper and deeper into Pierre's eyes. "And in their name and my +own I hold out a brotherly hand to you." + +"I am afraid," said Pierre, smiling, and wavering between the confidence +the personality of the Freemason inspired in him and his own habit of +ridiculing the masonic beliefs--"I am afraid I am very far from +understanding--how am I to put it?--I am afraid my way of looking at the +world is so opposed to yours that we shall not understand one another." + +"I know your outlook," said the Mason, "and the view of life you +mention, and which you think is the result of your own mental efforts, +is the one held by the majority of people, and is the invariable fruit +of pride, indolence, and ignorance. Forgive me, my dear sir, but if I +had not known it I should not have addressed you. Your view of life is a +regrettable delusion." + +"Just as I may suppose you to be deluded," said Pierre, with a faint +smile. + +"I should never dare to say that I know the truth," said the Mason, +whose words struck Pierre more and more by their precision and firmness. +"No one can attain to truth by himself. Only by laying stone on stone +with the cooperation of all, by the millions of generations from our +forefather Adam to our own times, is that temple reared which is to be a +worthy dwelling place of the Great God," he added, and closed his eyes. + +"I ought to tell you that I do not believe... do not believe in God," +said Pierre, regretfully and with an effort, feeling it essential to +speak the whole truth. + +The Mason looked intently at Pierre and smiled as a rich man with +millions in hand might smile at a poor fellow who told him that he, poor +man, had not the five rubles that would make him happy. + +"Yes, you do not know Him, my dear sir," said the Mason. "You cannot +know Him. You do not know Him and that is why you are unhappy." + +"Yes, yes, I am unhappy," assented Pierre. "But what am I to do?" + +"You know Him not, my dear sir, and so you are very unhappy. You do not +know Him, but He is here, He is in me, He is in my words, He is in thee, +and even in those blasphemous words thou hast just uttered!" pronounced +the Mason in a stern and tremulous voice. + +He paused and sighed, evidently trying to calm himself. + +"If He were not," he said quietly, "you and I would not be speaking of +Him, my dear sir. Of what, of whom, are we speaking? Whom hast thou +denied?" he suddenly asked with exulting austerity and authority in his +voice. "Who invented Him, if He did not exist? Whence came thy +conception of the existence of such an incomprehensible Being? didst +thou, and why did the whole world, conceive the idea of the existence of +such an incomprehensible Being, a Being all-powerful, eternal, and +infinite in all His attributes?..." + +He stopped and remained silent for a long time. + +Pierre could not and did not wish to break this silence. + +"He exists, but to understand Him is hard," the Mason began again, +looking not at Pierre but straight before him, and turning the leaves of +his book with his old hands which from excitement he could not keep +still. "If it were a man whose existence thou didst doubt I could bring +him to thee, could take him by the hand and show him to thee. But how +can I, an insignificant mortal, show His omnipotence, His infinity, and +all His mercy to one who is blind, or who shuts his eyes that he may not +see or understand Him and may not see or understand his own vileness and +sinfulness?" He paused again. "Who art thou? Thou dreamest that thou art +wise because thou couldst utter those blasphemous words," he went on, +with a somber and scornful smile. "And thou art more foolish and +unreasonable than a little child, who, playing with the parts of a +skillfully made watch, dares to say that, as he does not understand its +use, he does not believe in the master who made it. To know Him is +hard.... For ages, from our forefather Adam to our own day, we labor to +attain that knowledge and are still infinitely far from our aim; but in +our lack of understanding we see only our weakness and His +greatness...." + +Pierre listened with swelling heart, gazing into the Mason's face with +shining eyes, not interrupting or questioning him, but believing with +his whole soul what the stranger said. Whether he accepted the wise +reasoning contained in the Mason's words, or believed as a child +believes, in the speaker's tone of conviction and earnestness, or the +tremor of the speaker's voice--which sometimes almost broke--or those +brilliant aged eyes grown old in this conviction, or the calm firmness +and certainty of his vocation, which radiated from his whole being (and +which struck Pierre especially by contrast with his own dejection and +hopelessness)--at any rate, Pierre longed with his whole soul to believe +and he did believe, and felt a joyful sense of comfort, regeneration, +and return to life. + +"He is not to be apprehended by reason, but by life," said the Mason. + +"I do not understand," said Pierre, feeling with dismay doubts +reawakening. He was afraid of any want of clearness, any weakness, in +the Mason's arguments; he dreaded not to be able to believe in him. "I +don't understand," he said, "how it is that the mind of man cannot +attain the knowledge of which you speak." + +The Mason smiled with his gentle fatherly smile. + +"The highest wisdom and truth are like the purest liquid we may wish to +imbibe," he said. "Can I receive that pure liquid into an impure vessel +and judge of its purity? Only by the inner purification of myself can I +retain in some degree of purity the liquid I receive." + +"Yes, yes, that is so," said Pierre joyfully. + +"The highest wisdom is not founded on reason alone, not on those worldly +sciences of physics, history, chemistry, and the like, into which +intellectual knowledge is divided. The highest wisdom is one. The +highest wisdom has but one science--the science of the whole--the +science explaining the whole creation and man's place in it. To receive +that science it is necessary to purify and renew one's inner self, and +so before one can know, it is necessary to believe and to perfect one's +self. And to attain this end, we have the light called conscience that +God has implanted in our souls." + +"Yes, yes," assented Pierre. + +"Look then at thy inner self with the eyes of the spirit, and ask +thyself whether thou art content with thyself. What hast thou attained +relying on reason only? What art thou? You are young, you are rich, you +are clever, you are well educated. And what have you done with all these +good gifts? Are you content with yourself and with your life?" + +"No, I hate my life," Pierre muttered, wincing. + +"Thou hatest it. Then change it, purify thyself; and as thou art +purified, thou wilt gain wisdom. Look at your life, my dear sir. How +have you spent it? In riotous orgies and debauchery, receiving +everything from society and giving nothing in return. You have become +the possessor of wealth. How have you used it? What have you done for +your neighbor? Have you ever thought of your tens of thousands of +slaves? Have you helped them physically and morally? No! You have +profited by their toil to lead a profligate life. That is what you have +done. Have you chosen a post in which you might be of service to your +neighbor? No! You have spent your life in idleness. Then you married, my +dear sir--took on yourself responsibility for the guidance of a young +woman; and what have you done? You have not helped her to find the way +of truth, my dear sir, but have thrust her into an abyss of deceit and +misery. A man offended you and you shot him, and you say you do not know +God and hate your life. There is nothing strange in that, my dear sir!" + +After these words, the Mason, as if tired by his long discourse, again +leaned his arms on the back of the sofa and closed his eyes. Pierre +looked at that aged, stern, motionless, almost lifeless face and moved +his lips without uttering a sound. He wished to say, "Yes, a vile, idle, +vicious life!" but dared not break the silence. + +The Mason cleared his throat huskily, as old men do, and called his +servant. + +"How about the horses?" he asked, without looking at Pierre. + +"The exchange horses have just come," answered the servant. "Will you +not rest here?" + +"No, tell them to harness." + +"Can he really be going away leaving me alone without having told me +all, and without promising to help me?" thought Pierre, rising with +downcast head; and he began to pace the room, glancing occasionally at +the Mason. "Yes, I never thought of it, but I have led a contemptible +and profligate life, though I did not like it and did not want to," +thought Pierre. "But this man knows the truth and, if he wished to, +could disclose it to me." + +Pierre wished to say this to the Mason, but did not dare to. The +traveler, having packed his things with his practiced hands, began +fastening his coat. When he had finished, he turned to Bezukhov, and +said in a tone of indifferent politeness: + +"Where are you going to now, my dear sir?" + +"I?... I'm going to Petersburg," answered Pierre, in a childlike, +hesitating voice. "I thank you. I agree with all you have said. But do +not suppose me to be so bad. With my whole soul I wish to be what you +would have me be, but I have never had help from anyone.... But it is I, +above all, who am to blame for everything. Help me, teach me, and +perhaps I may..." + +Pierre could not go on. He gulped and turned away. + +The Mason remained silent for a long time, evidently considering. + +"Help comes from God alone," he said, "but such measure of help as our +Order can bestow it will render you, my dear sir. You are going to +Petersburg. Hand this to Count Willarski" (he took out his notebook and +wrote a few words on a large sheet of paper folded in four). "Allow me +to give you a piece of advice. When you reach the capital, first of all +devote some time to solitude and self-examination and do not resume your +former way of life. And now I wish you a good journey, my dear sir," he +added, seeing that his servant had entered... "and success." + +The traveler was Joseph Alexeevich Bazdeev, as Pierre saw from the +postmaster's book. Bazdeev had been one of the best-known Freemasons and +Martinists, even in Novikov's time. For a long while after he had gone, +Pierre did not go to bed or order horses but paced up and down the room, +pondering over his vicious past, and with a rapturous sense of beginning +anew pictured to himself the blissful, irreproachable, virtuous future +that seemed to him so easy. It seemed to him that he had been vicious +only because he had somehow forgotten how good it is to be virtuous. Not +a trace of his former doubts remained in his soul. He firmly believed in +the possibility of the brotherhood of men united in the aim of +supporting one another in the path of virtue, and that is how +Freemasonry presented itself to him. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +On reaching Petersburg Pierre did not let anyone know of his arrival, he +went nowhere and spent whole days in reading Thomas a Kempis, whose book +had been sent him by someone unknown. One thing he continually realized +as he read that book: the joy, hitherto unknown to him, of believing in +the possibility of attaining perfection, and in the possibility of +active brotherly love among men, which Joseph Alexeevich had revealed to +him. A week after his arrival, the young Polish count, Willarski, whom +Pierre had known slightly in Petersburg society, came into his room one +evening in the official and ceremonious manner in which Dolokhov's +second had called on him, and, having closed the door behind him and +satisfied himself that there was nobody else in the room, addressed +Pierre. + +"I have come to you with a message and an offer, Count," he said without +sitting down. "A person of very high standing in our Brotherhood has +made application for you to be received into our Order before the usual +term and has proposed to me to be your sponsor. I consider it a sacred +duty to fulfill that person's wishes. Do you wish to enter the +Brotherhood of Freemasons under my sponsorship?" + +The cold, austere tone of this man, whom he had almost always before met +at balls, amiably smiling in the society of the most brilliant women, +surprised Pierre. + +"Yes, I do wish it," said he. + +Willarski bowed his head. + +"One more question, Count," he said, "which I beg you to answer in all +sincerity--not as a future Mason but as an honest man: have you +renounced your former convictions--do you believe in God?" + +Pierre considered. + +"Yes... yes, I believe in God," he said. + +"In that case..." began Willarski, but Pierre interrupted him. + +"Yes, I do believe in God," he repeated. + +"In that case we can go," said Willarski. "My carriage is at your +service." + +Willarski was silent throughout the drive. To Pierre's inquiries as to +what he must do and how he should answer, Willarski only replied that +brothers more worthy than he would test him and that Pierre had only to +tell the truth. + +Having entered the courtyard of a large house where the Lodge had its +headquarters, and having ascended a dark staircase, they entered a small +well-lit anteroom where they took off their cloaks without the aid of a +servant. From there they passed into another room. A man in strange +attire appeared at the door. Willarski, stepping toward him, said +something to him in French in an undertone and then went up to a small +wardrobe in which Pierre noticed garments such as he had never seen +before. Having taken a kerchief from the cupboard, Willarski bound +Pierre's eyes with it and tied it in a knot behind, catching some hairs +painfully in the knot. Then he drew his face down, kissed him, and +taking him by the hand led him forward. The hairs tied in the knot hurt +Pierre and there were lines of pain on his face and a shamefaced smile. +His huge figure, with arms hanging down and with a puckered, though +smiling face, moved after Willarski with uncertain, timid steps. + +Having led him about ten paces, Willarski stopped. + +"Whatever happens to you," he said, "you must bear it all manfully if +you have firmly resolved to join our Brotherhood." (Pierre nodded +affirmatively.) "When you hear a knock at the door, you will uncover +your eyes," added Willarski. "I wish you courage and success," and, +pressing Pierre's hand, he went out. + +Left alone, Pierre went on smiling in the same way. Once or twice he +shrugged his shoulders and raised his hand to the kerchief, as if +wishing to take it off, but let it drop again. The five minutes spent +with his eyes bandaged seemed to him an hour. His arms felt numb, his +legs almost gave way, it seemed to him that he was tired out. He +experienced a variety of most complex sensations. He felt afraid of what +would happen to him and still more afraid of showing his fear. He felt +curious to know what was going to happen and what would be revealed to +him; but most of all, he felt joyful that the moment had come when he +would at last start on that path of regeneration and on the actively +virtuous life of which he had been dreaming since he met Joseph +Alexeevich. Loud knocks were heard at the door. Pierre took the bandage +off his eyes and glanced around him. The room was in black darkness, +only a small lamp was burning inside something white. Pierre went nearer +and saw that the lamp stood on a black table on which lay an open book. +The book was the Gospel, and the white thing with the lamp inside was a +human skull with its cavities and teeth. After reading the first words +of the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with +God," Pierre went round the table and saw a large open box filled with +something. It was a coffin with bones inside. He was not at all +surprised by what he saw. Hoping to enter on an entirely new life quite +unlike the old one, he expected everything to be unusual, even more +unusual than what he was seeing. A skull, a coffin, the Gospel--it +seemed to him that he had expected all this and even more. Trying to +stimulate his emotions he looked around. "God, death, love, the +brotherhood of man," he kept saying to himself, associating these words +with vague yet joyful ideas. The door opened and someone came in. + +By the dim light, to which Pierre had already become accustomed, he saw +a rather short man. Having evidently come from the light into the +darkness, the man paused, then moved with cautious steps toward the +table and placed on it his small leather-gloved hands. + +This short man had on a white leather apron which covered his chest and +part of his legs; he had on a kind of necklace above which rose a high +white ruffle, outlining his rather long face which was lit up from +below. + +"For what have you come hither?" asked the newcomer, turning in Pierre's +direction at a slight rustle made by the latter. "Why have you, who do +not believe in the truth of the light and who have not seen the light, +come here? What do you seek from us? Wisdom, virtue, enlightenment?" + +At the moment the door opened and the stranger came in, Pierre felt a +sense of awe and veneration such as he had experienced in his boyhood at +confession; he felt himself in the presence of one socially a complete +stranger, yet nearer to him through the brotherhood of man. With bated +breath and beating heart he moved toward the Rhetor (by which name the +brother who prepared a seeker for entrance into the Brotherhood was +known). Drawing nearer, he recognized in the Rhetor a man he knew, +Smolyaninov, and it mortified him to think that the newcomer was an +acquaintance--he wished him simply a brother and a virtuous instructor. +For a long time he could not utter a word, so that the Rhetor had to +repeat his question. + +"Yes... I... I... desire regeneration," Pierre uttered with difficulty. + +"Very well," said Smolyaninov, and went on at once: "Have you any idea +of the means by which our holy Order will help you to reach your aim?" +said he quietly and quickly. + +"I... hope... for guidance... help... in regeneration," said Pierre, +with a trembling voice and some difficulty in utterance due to his +excitement and to being unaccustomed to speak of abstract matters in +Russian. + +"What is your conception of Freemasonry?" + +"I imagine that Freemasonry is the fraternity and equality of men who +have virtuous aims," said Pierre, feeling ashamed of the inadequacy of +his words for the solemnity of the moment, as he spoke. "I imagine..." + +"Good!" said the Rhetor quickly, apparently satisfied with this answer. +"Have you sought for means of attaining your aim in religion?" + +"No, I considered it erroneous and did not follow it," said Pierre, so +softly that the Rhetor did not hear him and asked him what he was +saying. "I have been an atheist," answered Pierre. + +"You are seeking for truth in order to follow its laws in your life, +therefore you seek wisdom and virtue. Is that not so?" said the Rhetor, +after a moment's pause. + +"Yes, yes," assented Pierre. + +The Rhetor cleared his throat, crossed his gloved hands on his breast, +and began to speak. + +"Now I must disclose to you the chief aim of our Order," he said, "and +if this aim coincides with yours, you may enter our Brotherhood with +profit. The first and chief object of our Order, the foundation on which +it rests and which no human power can destroy, is the preservation and +handing on to posterity of a certain important mystery... which has come +down to us from the remotest ages, even from the first man--a mystery on +which perhaps the fate of mankind depends. But since this mystery is of +such a nature that nobody can know or use it unless he be prepared by +long and diligent self-purification, not everyone can hope to attain it +quickly. Hence we have a secondary aim, that of preparing our members as +much as possible to reform their hearts, to purify and enlighten their +minds, by means handed on to us by tradition from those who have striven +to attain this mystery, and thereby to render them capable of receiving +it. + +"By purifying and regenerating our members we try, thirdly, to improve +the whole human race, offering it in our members an example of piety and +virtue, and thereby try with all our might to combat the evil which +sways the world. Think this over and I will come to you again." + +"To combat the evil which sways the world..." Pierre repeated, and a +mental image of his future activity in this direction rose in his mind. +He imagined men such as he had himself been a fortnight ago, and he +addressed an edifying exhortation to them. He imagined to himself +vicious and unfortunate people whom he would assist by word and deed, +imagined oppressors whose victims he would rescue. Of the three objects +mentioned by the Rhetor, this last, that of improving mankind, +especially appealed to Pierre. The important mystery mentioned by the +Rhetor, though it aroused his curiosity, did not seem to him essential, +and the second aim, that of purifying and regenerating himself, did not +much interest him because at that moment he felt with delight that he +was already perfectly cured of his former faults and was ready for all +that was good. + +Half an hour later, the Rhetor returned to inform the seeker of the +seven virtues, corresponding to the seven steps of Solomon's temple, +which every Freemason should cultivate in himself. These virtues were: +1. Discretion, the keeping of the secrets of the Order. 2. Obedience to +those of higher ranks in the Order. 3. Morality. 4. Love of mankind. 5. +Courage. 6. Generosity. 7. The love of death. + +"In the seventh place, try, by the frequent thought of death," the +Rhetor said, "to bring yourself to regard it not as a dreaded foe, but +as a friend that frees the soul grown weary in the labors of virtue from +this distressful life, and leads it to its place of recompense and +peace." + +"Yes, that must be so," thought Pierre, when after these words the +Rhetor went away, leaving him to solitary meditation. "It must be so, +but I am still so weak that I love my life, the meaning of which is only +now gradually opening before me." But five of the other virtues which +Pierre recalled, counting them on his fingers, he felt already in his +soul: courage, generosity, morality, love of mankind, and especially +obedience--which did not even seem to him a virtue, but a joy. (He now +felt so glad to be free from his own lawlessness and to submit his will +to those who knew the indubitable truth.) He forgot what the seventh +virtue was and could not recall it. + +The third time the Rhetor came back more quickly and asked Pierre +whether he was still firm in his intention and determined to submit to +all that would be required of him. + +"I am ready for everything," said Pierre. + +"I must also inform you," said the Rhetor, "that our Order delivers its +teaching not in words only but also by other means, which may perhaps +have a stronger effect on the sincere seeker after wisdom and virtue +than mere words. This chamber with what you see therein should already +have suggested to your heart, if it is sincere, more than words could +do. You will perhaps also see in your further initiation a like method +of enlightenment. Our Order imitates the ancient societies that +explained their teaching by hieroglyphics. A hieroglyph," said the +Rhetor, "is an emblem of something not cognizable by the senses but +which possesses qualities resembling those of the symbol." + +Pierre knew very well what a hieroglyph was, but dared not speak. He +listened to the Rhetor in silence, feeling from all he said that his +ordeal was about to begin. + +"If you are resolved, I must begin your initiation," said the Rhetor +coming closer to Pierre. "In token of generosity I ask you to give me +all your valuables." + +"But I have nothing here," replied Pierre, supposing that he was asked +to give up all he possessed. + +"What you have with you: watch, money, rings...." + +Pierre quickly took out his purse and watch, but could not manage for +some time to get the wedding ring off his fat finger. When that had been +done, the Rhetor said: + +"In token of obedience, I ask you to undress." + +Pierre took off his coat, waistcoat, and left boot according to the +Rhetor's instructions. The Mason drew the shirt back from Pierre's left +breast, and stooping down pulled up the left leg of his trousers to +above the knee. Pierre hurriedly began taking off his right boot also +and was going to tuck up the other trouser leg to save this stranger the +trouble, but the Mason told him that was not necessary and gave him a +slipper for his left foot. With a childlike smile of embarrassment, +doubt, and self-derision, which appeared on his face against his will, +Pierre stood with his arms hanging down and legs apart, before his +brother Rhetor, and awaited his further commands. + +"And now, in token of candor, I ask you to reveal to me your chief +passion," said the latter. + +"My passion! I have had so many," replied Pierre. + +"That passion which more than all others caused you to waver on the path +of virtue," said the Mason. + +Pierre paused, seeking a reply. + +"Wine? Gluttony? Idleness? Laziness? Irritability? Anger? Women?" He +went over his vices in his mind, not knowing to which of them to give +the pre-eminence. + +"Women," he said in a low, scarcely audible voice. + +The Mason did not move and for a long time said nothing after this +answer. At last he moved up to Pierre and, taking the kerchief that lay +on the table, again bound his eyes. + +"For the last time I say to you--turn all your attention upon yourself, +put a bridle on your senses, and seek blessedness, not in passion but in +your own heart. The source of blessedness is not without us but +within...." + +Pierre had already long been feeling in himself that refreshing source +of blessedness which now flooded his heart with glad emotion. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Soon after this there came into the dark chamber to fetch Pierre, not +the Rhetor but Pierre's sponsor, Willarski, whom he recognized by his +voice. To fresh questions as to the firmness of his resolution Pierre +replied: "Yes, yes, I agree," and with a beaming, childlike smile, his +fat chest uncovered, stepping unevenly and timidly in one slippered and +one booted foot, he advanced, while Willarski held a sword to his bare +chest. He was conducted from that room along passages that turned +backwards and forwards and was at last brought to the doors of the +Lodge. Willarski coughed, he was answered by the masonic knock with +mallets, the doors opened before them. A bass voice (Pierre was still +blindfolded) questioned him as to who he was, when and where he was +born, and so on. Then he was again led somewhere still blindfolded, and +as they went along he was told allegories of the toils of his +pilgrimage, of holy friendship, of the Eternal Architect of the +universe, and of the courage with which he should endure toils and +dangers. During these wanderings, Pierre noticed that he was spoken of +now as the "Seeker," now as the "Sufferer," and now as the "Postulant," +to the accompaniment of various knockings with mallets and swords. As he +was being led up to some object he noticed a hesitation and uncertainty +among his conductors. He heard those around him disputing in whispers +and one of them insisting that he should be led along a certain carpet. +After that they took his right hand, placed it on something, and told +him to hold a pair of compasses to his left breast with the other hand +and to repeat after someone who read aloud an oath of fidelity to the +laws of the Order. The candles were then extinguished and some spirit +lighted, as Pierre knew by the smell, and he was told that he would now +see the lesser light. The bandage was taken off his eyes and, by the +faint light of the burning spirit, Pierre, as in a dream, saw several +men standing before him, wearing aprons like the Rhetor's and holding +swords in their hands pointed at his breast. Among them stood a man +whose white shirt was stained with blood. On seeing this, Pierre moved +forward with his breast toward the swords, meaning them to pierce it. +But the swords were drawn back from him and he was at once blindfolded +again. + +"Now thou hast seen the lesser light," uttered a voice. Then the candles +were relit and he was told that he would see the full light; the bandage +was again removed and more than ten voices said together: "Sic transit +gloria mundi." + +Pierre gradually began to recover himself and looked about at the room +and at the people in it. Round a long table covered with black sat some +twelve men in garments like those he had already seen. Some of them +Pierre had met in Petersburg society. In the President's chair sat a +young man he did not know, with a peculiar cross hanging from his neck. +On his right sat the Italian abbe whom Pierre had met at Anna Pavlovna's +two years before. There were also present a very distinguished dignitary +and a Swiss who had formerly been tutor at the Kuragins'. All maintained +a solemn silence, listening to the words of the President, who held a +mallet in his hand. Let into the wall was a star-shaped light. At one +side of the table was a small carpet with various figures worked upon +it, at the other was something resembling an altar on which lay a +Testament and a skull. Round it stood seven large candlesticks like +those used in churches. Two of the brothers led Pierre up to the altar, +placed his feet at right angles, and bade him lie down, saying that he +must prostrate himself at the Gates of the Temple. + +"He must first receive the trowel," whispered one of the brothers. + +"Oh, hush, please!" said another. + +Pierre, perplexed, looked round with his shortsighted eyes without +obeying, and suddenly doubts arose in his mind. "Where am I? What am I +doing? Aren't they laughing at me? Shan't I be ashamed to remember +this?" But these doubts only lasted a moment. Pierre glanced at the +serious faces of those around, remembered all he had already gone +through, and realized that he could not stop halfway. He was aghast at +his hesitation and, trying to arouse his former devotional feeling, +prostrated himself before the Gates of the Temple. And really, the +feeling of devotion returned to him even more strongly than before. When +he had lain there some time, he was told to get up, and a white leather +apron, such as the others wore, was put on him: he was given a trowel +and three pairs of gloves, and then the Grand Master addressed him. He +told him that he should try to do nothing to stain the whiteness of that +apron, which symbolized strength and purity; then of the unexplained +trowel, he told him to toil with it to cleanse his own heart from vice, +and indulgently to smooth with it the heart of his neighbor. As to the +first pair of gloves, a man's, he said that Pierre could not know their +meaning but must keep them. The second pair of man's gloves he was to +wear at the meetings, and finally of the third, a pair of women's +gloves, he said: "Dear brother, these woman's gloves are intended for +you too. Give them to the woman whom you shall honor most of all. This +gift will be a pledge of your purity of heart to her whom you select to +be your worthy helpmeet in Masonry." And after a pause, he added: "But +beware, dear brother, that these gloves do not deck hands that are +unclean." While the Grand Master said these last words it seemed to +Pierre that he grew embarrassed. Pierre himself grew still more +confused, blushed like a child till tears came to his eyes, began +looking about him uneasily, and an awkward pause followed. + +This silence was broken by one of the brethren, who led Pierre up to the +rug and began reading to him from a manuscript book an explanation of +all the figures on it: the sun, the moon, a hammer, a plumb line, a +trowel, a rough stone and a squared stone, a pillar, three windows, and +so on. Then a place was assigned to Pierre, he was shown the signs of +the Lodge, told the password, and at last was permitted to sit down. The +Grand Master began reading the statutes. They were very long, and +Pierre, from joy, agitation, and embarrassment, was not in a state to +understand what was being read. He managed to follow only the last words +of the statutes and these remained in his mind. + +"In our temples we recognize no other distinctions," read the Grand +Master, "but those between virtue and vice. Beware of making any +distinctions which may infringe equality. Fly to a brother's aid whoever +he may be, exhort him who goeth astray, raise him that falleth, never +bear malice or enmity toward thy brother. Be kindly and courteous. +Kindle in all hearts the flame of virtue. Share thy happiness with thy +neighbor, and may envy never dim the purity of that bliss. Forgive thy +enemy, do not avenge thyself except by doing him good. Thus fulfilling +the highest law thou shalt regain traces of the ancient dignity which +thou hast lost." + +He finished and, getting up, embraced and kissed Pierre, who, with tears +of joy in his eyes, looked round him, not knowing how to answer the +congratulations and greetings from acquaintances that met him on all +sides. He acknowledged no acquaintances but saw in all these men only +brothers, and burned with impatience to set to work with them. + +The Grand Master rapped with his mallet. All the Masons sat down in +their places, and one of them read an exhortation on the necessity of +humility. + +The Grand Master proposed that the last duty should be performed, and +the distinguished dignitary who bore the title of "Collector of Alms" +went round to all the brothers. Pierre would have liked to subscribe all +he had, but fearing that it might look like pride subscribed the same +amount as the others. + +The meeting was at an end, and on reaching home Pierre felt as if he had +returned from a long journey on which he had spent dozens of years, had +become completely changed, and had quite left behind his former habits +and way of life. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The day after he had been received into the Lodge, Pierre was sitting at +home reading a book and trying to fathom the significance of the Square, +one side of which symbolized God, another moral things, a third physical +things, and the fourth a combination of these. Now and then his +attention wandered from the book and the Square and he formed in +imagination a new plan of life. On the previous evening at the Lodge, he +had heard that a rumor of his duel had reached the Emperor and that it +would be wiser for him to leave Petersburg. Pierre proposed going to his +estates in the south and there attending to the welfare of his serfs. He +was joyfully planning this new life, when Prince Vasili suddenly entered +the room. + +"My dear fellow, what have you been up to in Moscow? Why have you +quarreled with Helene, mon cher? You are under a delusion," said Prince +Vasili, as he entered. "I know all about it, and I can tell you +positively that Helene is as innocent before you as Christ was before +the Jews." + +Pierre was about to reply, but Prince Vasili interrupted him. + +"And why didn't you simply come straight to me as to a friend? I know +all about it and understand it all," he said. "You behaved as becomes a +man who values his honor, perhaps too hastily, but we won't go into +that. But consider the position in which you are placing her and me in +the eyes of society, and even of the court," he added, lowering his +voice. "She is living in Moscow and you are here. Remember, dear boy," +and he drew Pierre's arm downwards, "it is simply a misunderstanding. I +expect you feel it so yourself. Let us write her a letter at once, and +she'll come here and all will be explained, or else, my dear boy, let me +tell you it's quite likely you'll have to suffer for it." + +Prince Vasili gave Pierre a significant look. + +"I know from reliable sources that the Dowager Empress is taking a keen +interest in the whole affair. You know she is very gracious to Helene." + +Pierre tried several times to speak, but, on one hand, Prince Vasili did +not let him and, on the other, Pierre himself feared to begin to speak +in the tone of decided refusal and disagreement in which he had firmly +resolved to answer his father-in-law. Moreover, the words of the masonic +statutes, "be kindly and courteous," recurred to him. He blinked, went +red, got up and sat down again, struggling with himself to do what was +for him the most difficult thing in life--to say an unpleasant thing to +a man's face, to say what the other, whoever he might be, did not +expect. He was so used to submitting to Prince Vasili's tone of careless +self-assurance that he felt he would be unable to withstand it now, but +he also felt that on what he said now his future depended--whether he +would follow the same old road, or that new path so attractively shown +him by the Masons, on which he firmly believed he would be reborn to a +new life. + +"Now, dear boy," said Prince Vasili playfully, "say 'yes,' and I'll +write to her myself, and we will kill the fatted calf." + +But before Prince Vasili had finished his playful speech, Pierre, +without looking at him, and with a kind of fury that made him like his +father, muttered in a whisper: + +"Prince, I did not ask you here. Go, please go!" And he jumped up and +opened the door for him. + +"Go!" he repeated, amazed at himself and glad to see the look of +confusion and fear that showed itself on Prince Vasili's face. + +"What's the matter with you? Are you ill?" + +"Go!" the quivering voice repeated. And Prince Vasili had to go without +receiving any explanation. + +A week later, Pierre, having taken leave of his new friends, the Masons, +and leaving large sums of money with them for alms, went away to his +estates. His new brethren gave him letters to the Kiev and Odessa Masons +and promised to write to him and guide him in his new activity. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The duel between Pierre and Dolokhov was hushed up and, in spite of the +Emperor's severity regarding duels at that time, neither the principals +nor their seconds suffered for it. But the story of the duel, confirmed +by Pierre's rupture with his wife, was the talk of society. Pierre who +had been regarded with patronizing condescension when he was an +illegitimate son, and petted and extolled when he was the best match in +Russia, had sunk greatly in the esteem of society after his marriage-- +when the marriageable daughters and their mothers had nothing to hope +from him--especially as he did not know how, and did not wish, to court +society's favor. Now he alone was blamed for what had happened, he was +said to be insanely jealous and subject like his father to fits of +bloodthirsty rage. And when after Pierre's departure Helene returned to +Petersburg, she was received by all her acquaintances not only +cordially, but even with a shade of deference due to her misfortune. +When conversation turned on her husband Helene assumed a dignified +expression, which with characteristic tact she had acquired though she +did not understand its significance. This expression suggested that she +had resolved to endure her troubles uncomplainingly and that her husband +was a cross laid upon her by God. Prince Vasili expressed his opinion +more openly. He shrugged his shoulders when Pierre was mentioned and, +pointing to his forehead, remarked: + +"A bit touched--I always said so." + +"I said from the first," declared Anna Pavlovna referring to Pierre, "I +said at the time and before anyone else" (she insisted on her priority) +"that that senseless young man was spoiled by the depraved ideas of +these days. I said so even at the time when everybody was in raptures +about him, when he had just returned from abroad, and when, if you +remember, he posed as a sort of Marat at one of my soirees. And how has +it ended? I was against this marriage even then and foretold all that +has happened." + +Anna Pavlovna continued to give on free evenings the same kind of +soirees as before--such as she alone had the gift of arranging--at which +was to be found "the cream of really good society, the bloom of the +intellectual essence of Petersburg," as she herself put it. Besides this +refined selection of society Anna Pavlovna's receptions were also +distinguished by the fact that she always presented some new and +interesting person to the visitors and that nowhere else was the state +of the political thermometer of legitimate Petersburg court society so +dearly and distinctly indicated. + +Toward the end of 1806, when all the sad details of Napoleon's +destruction of the Prussian army at Jena and Auerstadt and the surrender +of most of the Prussian fortresses had been received, when our troops +had already entered Prussia and our second war with Napoleon was +beginning, Anna Pavlovna gave one of her soirees. The "cream of really +good society" consisted of the fascinating Helene, forsaken by her +husband, Mortemart, the delightful Prince Hippolyte who had just +returned from Vienna, two diplomatists, the old aunt, a young man +referred to in that drawing room as "a man of great merit" (un homme de +beaucoup de merite), a newly appointed maid of honor and her mother, and +several other less noteworthy persons. + +The novelty Anna Pavlovna was setting before her guests that evening was +Boris Drubetskoy, who had just arrived as a special messenger from the +Prussian army and was aide-de-camp to a very important personage. + +The temperature shown by the political thermometer to the company that +evening was this: + +"Whatever the European sovereigns and commanders may do to countenance +Bonaparte, and to cause me, and us in general, annoyance and +mortification, our opinion of Bonaparte cannot alter. We shall not cease +to express our sincere views on that subject, and can only say to the +King of Prussia and others: 'So much the worse for you. Tu l'as voulu, +George Dandin,' that's all we have to say about it!" + +When Boris, who was to be served up to the guests, entered the drawing +room, almost all the company had assembled, and the conversation, guided +by Anna Pavlovna, was about our diplomatic relations with Austria and +the hope of an alliance with her. + +Boris, grown more manly and looking fresh, rosy and self-possessed, +entered the drawing room elegantly dressed in the uniform of an aide-de- +camp and was duly conducted to pay his respects to the aunt and then +brought back to the general circle. + +Anna Pavlovna gave him her shriveled hand to kiss and introduced him to +several persons whom he did not know, giving him a whispered description +of each. + +"Prince Hippolyte Kuragin, M. Krug, the charge d'affaires from +Copenhagen--a profound intellect," and simply, "Mr. Shitov--a man of +great merit"--this of the man usually so described. + +Thanks to Anna Mikhaylovna's efforts, his own tastes, and the +peculiarities of his reserved nature, Boris had managed during his +service to place himself very advantageously. He was aide-de-camp to a +very important personage, had been sent on a very important mission to +Prussia, and had just returned from there as a special messenger. He had +become thoroughly conversant with that unwritten code with which he had +been so pleased at Olmutz and according to which an ensign might rank +incomparably higher than a general, and according to which what was +needed for success in the service was not effort or work, or courage, or +perseverance, but only the knowledge of how to get on with those who can +grant rewards, and he was himself often surprised at the rapidity of his +success and at the inability of others to understand these things. In +consequence of this discovery his whole manner of life, all his +relations with old friends, all his plans for his future, were +completely altered. He was not rich, but would spend his last groat to +be better dressed than others, and would rather deprive himself of many +pleasures than allow himself to be seen in a shabby equipage or appear +in the streets of Petersburg in an old uniform. He made friends with and +sought the acquaintance of only those above him in position and who +could therefore be of use to him. He liked Petersburg and despised +Moscow. The remembrance of the Rostovs' house and of his childish love +for Natasha was unpleasant to him and he had not once been to see the +Rostovs since the day of his departure for the army. To be in Anna +Pavlovna's drawing room he considered an important step up in the +service, and he at once understood his role, letting his hostess make +use of whatever interest he had to offer. He himself carefully scanned +each face, appraising the possibilities of establishing intimacy with +each of those present, and the advantages that might accrue. He took the +seat indicated to him beside the fair Helene and listened to the general +conversation. + +"Vienna considers the bases of the proposed treaty so unattainable that +not even a continuity of most brilliant successes would secure them, and +she doubts the means we have of gaining them. That is the actual phrase +used by the Vienna cabinet," said the Danish charge d'affaires. + +"The doubt is flattering," said "the man of profound intellect," with a +subtle smile. + +"We must distinguish between the Vienna cabinet and the Emperor of +Austria," said Mortemart. "The Emperor of Austria can never have thought +of such a thing, it is only the cabinet that says it." + +"Ah, my dear vicomte," put in Anna Pavlovna, "L'Urope" (for some reason +she called it Urope as if that were a specially refined French +pronunciation which she could allow herself when conversing with a +Frenchman), "L'Urope ne sera jamais notre alliee sincere." * + + +* "Europe will never be our sincere ally." + +After that Anna Pavlovna led up to the courage and firmness of the King +of Prussia, in order to draw Boris into the conversation. + +Boris listened attentively to each of the speakers, awaiting his turn, +but managed meanwhile to look round repeatedly at his neighbor, the +beautiful Helene, whose eyes several times met those of the handsome +young aide-de-camp with a smile. + +Speaking of the position of Prussia, Anna Pavlovna very naturally asked +Boris to tell them about his journey to Glogau and in what state he +found the Prussian army. Boris, speaking with deliberation, told them in +pure, correct French many interesting details about the armies and the +court, carefully abstaining from expressing an opinion of his own about +the facts he was recounting. For some time he engrossed the general +attention, and Anna Pavlovna felt that the novelty she had served up was +received with pleasure by all her visitors. The greatest attention of +all to Boris' narrative was shown by Helene. She asked him several +questions about his journey and seemed greatly interested in the state +of the Prussian army. As soon as he had finished she turned to him with +her usual smile. + +"You absolutely must come and see me," she said in a tone that implied +that, for certain considerations he could not know of, this was +absolutely necessary. + +"On Tuesday between eight and nine. It will give me great pleasure." + +Boris promised to fulfill her wish and was about to begin a conversation +with her, when Anna Pavlovna called him away on the pretext that her +aunt wished to hear him. + +"You know her husband, of course?" said Anna Pavlovna, closing her eyes +and indicating Helene with a sorrowful gesture. "Ah, she is such an +unfortunate and charming woman! Don't mention him before her--please +don't! It is too painful for her!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +When Boris and Anna Pavlovna returned to the others Prince Hippolyte had +the ear of the company. + +Bending forward in his armchair he said: "Le Roi de Prusse!" and having +said this laughed. Everyone turned toward him. + +"Le Roi de Prusse?" Hippolyte said interrogatively, again laughing, and +then calmly and seriously sat back in his chair. Anna Pavlovna waited +for him to go on, but as he seemed quite decided to say no more she +began to tell of how at Potsdam the impious Bonaparte had stolen the +sword of Frederick the Great. + +"It is the sword of Frederick the Great which I..." she began, but +Hippolyte interrupted her with the words: "Le Roi de Prusse..." and +again, as soon as all turned toward him, excused himself and said no +more. + +Anna Pavlovna frowned. Mortemart, Hippolyte's friend, addressed him +firmly. + +"Come now, what about your Roi de Prusse?" + +Hippolyte laughed as if ashamed of laughing. + +"Oh, it's nothing. I only wished to say..." (he wanted to repeat a joke +he had heard in Vienna and which he had been trying all that evening to +get in) "I only wished to say that we are wrong to fight pour le Roi de +Prusse!" + +Boris smiled circumspectly, so that it might be taken as ironical or +appreciative according to the way the joke was received. Everybody +laughed. + +"Your joke is too bad, it's witty but unjust," said Anna Pavlovna, +shaking her little shriveled finger at him. + +"We are not fighting pour le Roi de Prusse, but for right principles. +Oh, that wicked Prince Hippolyte!" she said. + +The conversation did not flag all evening and turned chiefly on the +political news. It became particularly animated toward the end of the +evening when the rewards bestowed by the Emperor were mentioned. + +"You know N-- N-- received a snuffbox with the portrait last year?" said +"the man of profound intellect." "Why shouldn't S-- S-- get the same +distinction?" + +"Pardon me! A snuffbox with the Emperor's portrait is a reward but not a +distinction," said the diplomatist--"a gift, rather." + +"There are precedents, I may mention Schwarzenberg." + +"It's impossible," replied another. + +"Will you bet? The ribbon of the order is a different matter...." + +When everybody rose to go, Helene who had spoken very little all the +evening again turned to Boris, asking him in a tone of caressing +significant command to come to her on Tuesday. + +"It is of great importance to me," she said, turning with a smile toward +Anna Pavlovna, and Anna Pavlovna, with the same sad smile with which she +spoke of her exalted patroness, supported Helene's wish. + +It seemed as if from some words Boris had spoken that evening about the +Prussian army, Helene had suddenly found it necessary to see him. She +seemed to promise to explain that necessity to him when he came on +Tuesday. + +But on Tuesday evening, having come to Helene's splendid salon, Boris +received no clear explanation of why it had been necessary for him to +come. There were other guests and the countess talked little to him, and +only as he kissed her hand on taking leave said unexpectedly and in a +whisper, with a strangely unsmiling face: "Come to dinner tomorrow... in +the evening. You must come.... Come!" + +During that stay in Petersburg, Boris became an intimate in the +countess' house. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The war was flaming up and nearing the Russian frontier. Everywhere one +heard curses on Bonaparte, "the enemy of mankind." Militiamen and +recruits were being enrolled in the villages, and from the seat of war +came contradictory news, false as usual and therefore variously +interpreted. The life of old Prince Bolkonski, Prince Andrew, and +Princess Mary had greatly changed since 1805. + +In 1806 the old prince was made one of the eight commanders in chief +then appointed to supervise the enrollment decreed throughout Russia. +Despite the weakness of age, which had become particularly noticeable +since the time when he thought his son had been killed, he did not think +it right to refuse a duty to which he had been appointed by the Emperor +himself, and this fresh opportunity for action gave him new energy and +strength. He was continually traveling through the three provinces +entrusted to him, was pedantic in the fulfillment of his duties, severe +to cruel with his subordinates, and went into everything down to the +minutest details himself. Princess Mary had ceased taking lessons in +mathematics from her father, and when the old prince was at home went to +his study with the wet nurse and little Prince Nicholas (as his +grandfather called him). The baby Prince Nicholas lived with his wet +nurse and nurse Savishna in the late princess' rooms and Princess Mary +spent most of the day in the nursery, taking a mother's place to her +little nephew as best she could. Mademoiselle Bourienne, too, seemed +passionately fond of the boy, and Princess Mary often deprived herself +to give her friend the pleasure of dandling the little angel--as she +called her nephew--and playing with him. + +Near the altar of the church at Bald Hills there was a chapel over the +tomb of the little princess, and in this chapel was a marble monument +brought from Italy, representing an angel with outspread wings ready to +fly upwards. The angel's upper lip was slightly raised as though about +to smile, and once on coming out of the chapel Prince Andrew and +Princess Mary admitted to one another that the angel's face reminded +them strangely of the little princess. But what was still stranger, +though of this Prince Andrew said nothing to his sister, was that in the +expression the sculptor had happened to give the angel's face, Prince +Andrew read the same mild reproach he had read on the face of his dead +wife: "Ah, why have you done this to me?" + +Soon after Prince Andrew's return the old prince made over to him a +large estate, Bogucharovo, about twenty-five miles from Bald Hills. +Partly because of the depressing memories associated with Bald Hills, +partly because Prince Andrew did not always feel equal to bearing with +his father's peculiarities, and partly because he needed solitude, +Prince Andrew made use of Bogucharovo, began building and spent most of +his time there. + +After the Austerlitz campaign Prince Andrew had firmly resolved not to +continue his military service, and when the war recommenced and +everybody had to serve, he took a post under his father in the +recruitment so as to avoid active service. The old prince and his son +seemed to have changed roles since the campaign of 1805. The old man, +roused by activity, expected the best results from the new campaign, +while Prince Andrew on the contrary, taking no part in the war and +secretly regretting this, saw only the dark side. + +On February 26, 1807, the old prince set off on one of his circuits. +Prince Andrew remained at Bald Hills as usual during his father's +absence. Little Nicholas had been unwell for four days. The coachman who +had driven the old prince to town returned bringing papers and letters +for Prince Andrew. + +Not finding the young prince in his study the valet went with the +letters to Princess Mary's apartments, but did not find him there. He +was told that the prince had gone to the nursery. + +"If you please, your excellency, Petrusha has brought some papers," said +one of the nursemaids to Prince Andrew who was sitting on a child's +little chair while, frowning and with trembling hands, he poured drops +from a medicine bottle into a wineglass half full of water. + +"What is it?" he said crossly, and, his hand shaking unintentionally, he +poured too many drops into the glass. He threw the mixture onto the +floor and asked for some more water. The maid brought it. + +There were in the room a child's cot, two boxes, two armchairs, a table, +a child's table, and the little chair on which Prince Andrew was +sitting. The curtains were drawn, and a single candle was burning on the +table, screened by a bound music book so that the light did not fall on +the cot. + +"My dear," said Princess Mary, addressing her brother from beside the +cot where she was standing, "better wait a bit... later..." + +"Oh, leave off, you always talk nonsense and keep putting things off-- +and this is what comes of it!" said Prince Andrew in an exasperated +whisper, evidently meaning to wound his sister. + +"My dear, really... it's better not to wake him... he's asleep," said +the princess in a tone of entreaty. + +Prince Andrew got up and went on tiptoe up to the little bed, wineglass +in hand. + +"Perhaps we'd really better not wake him," he said hesitating. + +"As you please... really... I think so... but as you please," said +Princess Mary, evidently intimidated and confused that her opinion had +prevailed. She drew her brother's attention to the maid who was calling +him in a whisper. + +It was the second night that neither of them had slept, watching the boy +who was in a high fever. These last days, mistrusting their household +doctor and expecting another for whom they had sent to town, they had +been trying first one remedy and then another. Worn out by sleeplessness +and anxiety they threw their burden of sorrow on one another and +reproached and disputed with each other. + +"Petrusha has come with papers from your father," whispered the maid. + +Prince Andrew went out. + +"Devil take them!" he muttered, and after listening to the verbal +instructions his father had sent and taking the correspondence and his +father's letter, he returned to the nursery. + +"Well?" he asked. + +"Still the same. Wait, for heaven's sake. Karl Ivanich always says that +sleep is more important than anything," whispered Princess Mary with a +sigh. + +Prince Andrew went up to the child and felt him. He was burning hot. + +"Confound you and your Karl Ivanich!" He took the glass with the drops +and again went up to the cot. + +"Andrew, don't!" said Princess Mary. + +But he scowled at her angrily though also with suffering in his eyes, +and stooped glass in hand over the infant. + +"But I wish it," he said. "I beg you--give it him!" + +Princess Mary shrugged her shoulders but took the glass submissively and +calling the nurse began giving the medicine. The child screamed +hoarsely. Prince Andrew winced and, clutching his head, went out and sat +down on a sofa in the next room. + +He still had all the letters in his hand. Opening them mechanically he +began reading. The old prince, now and then using abbreviations, wrote +in his large elongated hand on blue paper as follows: + +Have just this moment received by special messenger very joyful news--if +it's not false. Bennigsen seems to have obtained a complete victory over +Buonaparte at Eylau. In Petersburg everyone is rejoicing, and the +rewards sent to the army are innumerable. Though he is a German--I +congratulate him! I can't make out what the commander at Korchevo--a +certain Khandrikov--is up to; till now the additional men and provisions +have not arrived. Gallop off to him at once and say I'll have his head +off if everything is not here in a week. Have received another letter +about the Preussisch-Eylau battle from Petenka--he took part in it--and +it's all true. When mischief-makers don't meddle even a German beats +Buonaparte. He is said to be fleeing in great disorder. Mind you gallop +off to Korchevo without delay and carry out instructions! + +Prince Andrew sighed and broke the seal of another envelope. It was a +closely written letter of two sheets from Bilibin. He folded it up +without reading it and reread his father's letter, ending with the +words: "Gallop off to Korchevo and carry out instructions!" + +"No, pardon me, I won't go now till the child is better," thought he, +going to the door and looking into the nursery. + +Princess Mary was still standing by the cot, gently rocking the baby. + +"Ah yes, and what else did he say that's unpleasant?" thought Prince +Andrew, recalling his father's letter. "Yes, we have gained a victory +over Bonaparte, just when I'm not serving. Yes, yes, he's always poking +fun at me.... Ah, well! Let him!" And he began reading Bilibin's letter +which was written in French. He read without understanding half of it, +read only to forget, if but for a moment, what he had too long been +thinking of so painfully to the exclusion of all else. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Bilibin was now at army headquarters in a diplomatic capacity, and +though he wrote in French and used French jests and French idioms, he +described the whole campaign with a fearless self-censure and self- +derision genuinely Russian. Bilibin wrote that the obligation of +diplomatic discretion tormented him, and he was happy to have in Prince +Andrew a reliable correspondent to whom he could pour out the bile he +had accumulated at the sight of all that was being done in the army. The +letter was old, having been written before the battle at Preussisch- +Eylau. + +"Since the day of our brilliant success at Austerlitz," wrote Bilibin, +"as you know, my dear prince, I never leave headquarters. I have +certainly acquired a taste for war, and it is just as well for me; what +I have seen during these last three months is incredible. + +"I begin ab ovo. 'The enemy of the human race,' as you know, attacks the +Prussians. The Prussians are our faithful allies who have only betrayed +us three times in three years. We take up their cause, but it turns out +that 'the enemy of the human race' pays no heed to our fine speeches and +in his rude and savage way throws himself on the Prussians without +giving them time to finish the parade they had begun, and in two twists +of the hand he breaks them to smithereens and installs himself in the +palace at Potsdam. + +"'I most ardently desire,' writes the King of Prussia to Bonaparte, +'that Your Majesty should be received and treated in my palace in a +manner agreeable to yourself, and in so far as circumstances allowed, I +have hastened to take all steps to that end. May I have succeeded!' The +Prussian generals pride themselves on being polite to the French and lay +down their arms at the first demand. + +"The head of the garrison at Glogau, with ten thousand men, asks the +King of Prussia what he is to do if he is summoned to surrender.... All +this is absolutely true. + +"In short, hoping to settle matters by taking up a warlike attitude, it +turns out that we have landed ourselves in war, and what is more, in war +on our own frontiers, with and for the King of Prussia. We have +everything in perfect order, only one little thing is lacking, namely, a +commander in chief. As it was considered that the Austerlitz success +might have been more decisive had the commander-in-chief not been so +young, all our octogenarians were reviewed, and of Prozorovski and +Kamenski the latter was preferred. The general comes to us, Suvorov- +like, in a kibitka, and is received with acclamations of joy and +triumph. + +"On the 4th, the first courier arrives from Petersburg. The mails are +taken to the field marshal's room, for he likes to do everything +himself. I am called in to help sort the letters and take those meant +for us. The field marshal looks on and waits for letters addressed to +him. We search, but none are to be found. The field marshal grows +impatient and sets to work himself and finds letters from the Emperor to +Count T., Prince V., and others. Then he bursts into one of his wild +furies and rages at everyone and everything, seizes the letters, opens +them, and reads those from the Emperor addressed to others. 'Ah! So +that's the way they treat me! No confidence in me! Ah, ordered to keep +an eye on me! Very well then! Get along with you!' So he writes the +famous order of the day to General Bennigsen: + +'I am wounded and cannot ride and consequently cannot command the army. +You have brought your army corps to Pultusk, routed: here it is exposed, +and without fuel or forage, so something must be done, and, as you +yourself reported to Count Buxhowden yesterday, you must think of +retreating to our frontier--which do today.' + +"'From all my riding,' he writes to the Emperor, 'I have got a saddle +sore which, coming after all my previous journeys, quite prevents my +riding and commanding so vast an army, so I have passed on the command +to the general next in seniority, Count Buxhowden, having sent him my +whole staff and all that belongs to it, advising him if there is a lack +of bread, to move farther into the interior of Prussia, for only one +day's ration of bread remains, and in some regiments none at all, as +reported by the division commanders, Ostermann and Sedmoretzki, and all +that the peasants had has been eaten up. I myself will remain in +hospital at Ostrolenka till I recover. In regard to which I humbly +submit my report, with the information that if the army remains in its +present bivouac another fortnight there will not be a healthy man left +in it by spring. + +"'Grant leave to retire to his country seat to an old man who is already +in any case dishonored by being unable to fulfill the great and glorious +task for which he was chosen. I shall await your most gracious +permission here in hospital, that I may not have to play the part of a +secretary rather than commander in the army. My removal from the army +does not produce the slightest stir--a blind man has left it. There are +thousands such as I in Russia.' + +"The field marshal is angry with the Emperor and he punishes us all, +isn't it logical? + +"This is the first act. Those that follow are naturally increasingly +interesting and entertaining. After the field marshal's departure it +appears that we are within sight of the enemy and must give battle. +Buxhowden is commander-in-chief by seniority, but General Bennigsen does +not quite see it; more particularly as it is he and his corps who are +within sight of the enemy and he wishes to profit by the opportunity to +fight a battle 'on his own hand' as the Germans say. He does so. This is +the battle of Pultusk, which is considered a great victory but in my +opinion was nothing of the kind. We civilians, as you know, have a very +bad way of deciding whether a battle was won or lost. Those who retreat +after a battle have lost it is what we say; and according to that it is +we who lost the battle of Pultusk. In short, we retreat after the battle +but send a courier to Petersburg with news of a victory, and General +Bennigsen, hoping to receive from Petersburg the post of commander in +chief as a reward for his victory, does not give up the command of the +army to General Buxhowden. During this interregnum we begin a very +original and interesting series of maneuvers. Our aim is no longer, as +it should be, to avoid or attack the enemy, but solely to avoid General +Buxhowden who by right of seniority should be our chief. So +energetically do we pursue this aim that after crossing an unfordable +river we burn the bridges to separate ourselves from our enemy, who at +the moment is not Bonaparte but Buxhowden. General Buxhowden was all but +attacked and captured by a superior enemy force as a result of one of +these maneuvers that enabled us to escape him. Buxhowden pursues us--we +scuttle. He hardly crosses the river to our side before we recross to +the other. At last our enemy, Buxhowden, catches us and attacks. Both +generals are angry, and the result is a challenge on Buxhowden's part +and an epileptic fit on Bennigsen's. But at the critical moment the +courier who carried the news of our victory at Pultusk to Petersburg +returns bringing our appointment as commander-in-chief, and our first +foe, Buxhowden, is vanquished; we can now turn our thoughts to the +second, Bonaparte. But as it turns out, just at that moment a third +enemy rises before us--namely the Orthodox Russian soldiers, loudly +demanding bread, meat, biscuits, fodder, and whatnot! The stores are +empty, the roads impassable. The Orthodox begin looting, and in a way of +which our last campaign can give you no idea. Half the regiments form +bands and scour the countryside and put everything to fire and sword. +The inhabitants are totally ruined, the hospitals overflow with sick, +and famine is everywhere. Twice the marauders even attack our +headquarters, and the commander-in-chief has to ask for a battalion to +disperse them. During one of these attacks they carried off my empty +portmanteau and my dressing gown. The Emperor proposes to give all +commanders of divisions the right to shoot marauders, but I much fear +this will oblige one half the army to shoot the other." + +At first Prince Andrew read with his eyes only, but after a while, in +spite of himself (although he knew how far it was safe to trust +Bilibin), what he had read began to interest him more and more. When he +had read thus far, he crumpled the letter up and threw it away. It was +not what he had read that vexed him, but the fact that the life out +there in which he had now no part could perturb him. He shut his eyes, +rubbed his forehead as if to rid himself of all interest in what he had +read, and listened to what was passing in the nursery. Suddenly he +thought he heard a strange noise through the door. He was seized with +alarm lest something should have happened to the child while he was +reading the letter. He went on tiptoe to the nursery door and opened it. + +Just as he went in he saw that the nurse was hiding something from him +with a scared look and that Princess Mary was no longer by the cot. + +"My dear," he heard what seemed to him her despairing whisper behind +him. + +As often happens after long sleeplessness and long anxiety, he was +seized by an unreasoning panic--it occurred to him that the child was +dead. All that he saw and heard seemed to confirm this terror. + +"All is over," he thought, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. +He went to the cot in confusion, sure that he would find it empty and +that the nurse had been hiding the dead baby. He drew the curtain aside +and for some time his frightened, restless eyes could not find the baby. +At last he saw him: the rosy boy had tossed about till he lay across the +bed with his head lower than the pillow, and was smacking his lips in +his sleep and breathing evenly. + +Prince Andrew was as glad to find the boy like that, as if he had +already lost him. He bent over him and, as his sister had taught him, +tried with his lips whether the child was still feverish. The soft +forehead was moist. Prince Andrew touched the head with his hand; even +the hair was wet, so profusely had the child perspired. He was not dead, +but evidently the crisis was over and he was convalescent. Prince Andrew +longed to snatch up, to squeeze, to hold to his heart, this helpless +little creature, but dared not do so. He stood over him, gazing at his +head and at the little arms and legs which showed under the blanket. He +heard a rustle behind him and a shadow appeared under the curtain of the +cot. He did not look round, but still gazing at the infant's face +listened to his regular breathing. The dark shadow was Princess Mary, +who had come up to the cot with noiseless steps, lifted the curtain, and +dropped it again behind her. Prince Andrew recognized her without +looking and held out his hand to her. She pressed it. + +"He has perspired," said Prince Andrew. + +"I was coming to tell you so." + +The child moved slightly in his sleep, smiled, and rubbed his forehead +against the pillow. + +Prince Andrew looked at his sister. In the dim shadow of the curtain her +luminous eyes shone more brightly than usual from the tears of joy that +were in them. She leaned over to her brother and kissed him, slightly +catching the curtain of the cot. Each made the other a warning gesture +and stood still in the dim light beneath the curtain as if not wishing +to leave that seclusion where they three were shut off from all the +world. Prince Andrew was the first to move away, ruffling his hair +against the muslin of the curtain. + +"Yes, this is the one thing left me now," he said with a sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Soon after his admission to the masonic Brotherhood, Pierre went to the +Kiev province, where he had the greatest number of serfs, taking with +him full directions which he had written down for his own guidance as to +what he should do on his estates. + +When he reached Kiev he sent for all his stewards to the head office and +explained to them his intentions and wishes. He told them that steps +would be taken immediately to free his serfs--and that till then they +were not to be overburdened with labor, women while nursing their babies +were not to be sent to work, assistance was to be given to the serfs, +punishments were to be admonitory and not corporal, and hospitals, +asylums, and schools were to be established on all the estates. Some of +the stewards (there were semiliterate foremen among them) listened with +alarm, supposing these words to mean that the young count was displeased +with their management and embezzlement of money, some after their first +fright were amused by Pierre's lisp and the new words they had not heard +before, others simply enjoyed hearing how the master talked, while the +cleverest among them, including the chief steward, understood from this +speech how they could best handle the master for their own ends. + +The chief steward expressed great sympathy with Pierre's intentions, but +remarked that besides these changes it would be necessary to go into the +general state of affairs which was far from satisfactory. + +Despite Count Bezukhov's enormous wealth, since he had come into an +income which was said to amount to five hundred thousand rubles a year, +Pierre felt himself far poorer than when his father had made him an +allowance of ten thousand rubles. He had a dim perception of the +following budget: + +About 80,000 went in payments on all the estates to the Land Bank, about +30,000 went for the upkeep of the estate near Moscow, the town house, +and the allowance to the three princesses; about 15,000 was given in +pensions and the same amount for asylums; 150,000 alimony was sent to +the countess; about 70,000 went for interest on debts. The building of a +new church, previously begun, had cost about 10,000 in each of the last +two years, and he did not know how the rest, about 100,000 rubles, was +spent, and almost every year he was obliged to borrow. Besides this the +chief steward wrote every year telling him of fires and bad harvests, or +of the necessity of rebuilding factories and workshops. So the first +task Pierre had to face was one for which he had very little aptitude or +inclination--practical business. + +He discussed estate affairs every day with his chief steward. But he +felt that this did not forward matters at all. He felt that these +consultations were detached from real affairs and did not link up with +them or make them move. On the one hand, the chief steward put the state +of things to him in the very worst light, pointing out the necessity of +paying off the debts and undertaking new activities with serf labor, to +which Pierre did not agree. On the other hand, Pierre demanded that +steps should be taken to liberate the serfs, which the steward met by +showing the necessity of first paying off the loans from the Land Bank, +and the consequent impossibility of a speedy emancipation. + +The steward did not say it was quite impossible, but suggested selling +the forests in the province of Kostroma, the land lower down the river, +and the Crimean estate, in order to make it possible: all of which +operations according to him were connected with such complicated +measures--the removal of injunctions, petitions, permits, and so on-- +that Pierre became quite bewildered and only replied: + +"Yes, yes, do so." + +Pierre had none of the practical persistence that would have enabled him +to attend to the business himself and so he disliked it and only tried +to pretend to the steward that he was attending to it. The steward for +his part tried to pretend to the count that he considered these +consultations very valuable for the proprietor and troublesome to +himself. + +In Kiev Pierre found some people he knew, and strangers hastened to make +his acquaintance and joyfully welcomed the rich newcomer, the largest +landowner of the province. Temptations to Pierre's greatest weakness-- +the one to which he had confessed when admitted to the Lodge--were so +strong that he could not resist them. Again whole days, weeks, and +months of his life passed in as great a rush and were as much occupied +with evening parties, dinners, lunches, and balls, giving him no time +for reflection, as in Petersburg. Instead of the new life he had hoped +to lead he still lived the old life, only in new surroundings. + +Of the three precepts of Freemasonry Pierre realized that he did not +fulfill the one which enjoined every Mason to set an example of moral +life, and that of the seven virtues he lacked two--morality and the love +of death. He consoled himself with the thought that he fulfilled another +of the precepts--that of reforming the human race--and had other +virtues--love of his neighbor, and especially generosity. + +In the spring of 1807 he decided to return to Petersburg. On the way he +intended to visit all his estates and see for himself how far his orders +had been carried out and in what state were the serfs whom God had +entrusted to his care and whom he intended to benefit. + +The chief steward, who considered the young count's attempts almost +insane--unprofitable to himself, to the count, and to the serfs--made +some concessions. Continuing to represent the liberation of the serfs as +impracticable, he arranged for the erection of large buildings--schools, +hospitals, and asylums--on all the estates before the master arrived. +Everywhere preparations were made not for ceremonious welcomes (which he +knew Pierre would not like), but for just such gratefully religious +ones, with offerings of icons and the bread and salt of hospitality, as, +according to his understanding of his master, would touch and delude +him. + +The southern spring, the comfortable rapid traveling in a Vienna +carriage, and the solitude of the road, all had a gladdening effect on +Pierre. The estates he had not before visited were each more picturesque +than the other; the serfs everywhere seemed thriving and touchingly +grateful for the benefits conferred on them. Everywhere were receptions, +which though they embarrassed Pierre awakened a joyful feeling in the +depth of his heart. In one place the peasants presented him with bread +and salt and an icon of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, asking permission, +as a mark of their gratitude for the benefits he had conferred on them, +to build a new chantry to the church at their own expense in honor of +Peter and Paul, his patron saints. In another place the women with +infants in arms met him to thank him for releasing them from hard work. +On a third estate the priest, bearing a cross, came to meet him +surrounded by children whom, by the count's generosity, he was +instructing in reading, writing, and religion. On all his estates Pierre +saw with his own eyes brick buildings erected or in course of erection, +all on one plan, for hospitals, schools, and almshouses, which were soon +to be opened. Everywhere he saw the stewards' accounts, according to +which the serfs' manorial labor had been diminished, and heard the +touching thanks of deputations of serfs in their full-skirted blue +coats. + +What Pierre did not know was that the place where they presented him +with bread and salt and wished to build a chantry in honor of Peter and +Paul was a market village where a fair was held on St. Peter's day, and +that the richest peasants (who formed the deputation) had begun the +chantry long before, but that nine tenths of the peasants in that +villages were in a state of the greatest poverty. He did not know that +since the nursing mothers were no longer sent to work on his land, they +did still harder work on their own land. He did not know that the priest +who met him with the cross oppressed the peasants by his exactions, and +that the pupils' parents wept at having to let him take their children +and secured their release by heavy payments. He did not know that the +brick buildings, built to plan, were being built by serfs whose manorial +labor was thus increased, though lessened on paper. He did not know that +where the steward had shown him in the accounts that the serfs' payments +had been diminished by a third, their obligatory manorial work had been +increased by a half. And so Pierre was delighted with his visit to his +estates and quite recovered the philanthropic mood in which he had left +Petersburg, and wrote enthusiastic letters to his "brother-instructor" +as he called the Grand Master. + +"How easy it is, how little effort it needs, to do so much good," +thought Pierre, "and how little attention we pay to it!" + +He was pleased at the gratitude he received, but felt abashed at +receiving it. This gratitude reminded him of how much more he might do +for these simple, kindly people. + +The chief steward, a very stupid but cunning man who saw perfectly +through the naive and intelligent count and played with him as with a +toy, seeing the effect these prearranged receptions had on Pierre, +pressed him still harder with proofs of the impossibility and above all +the uselessness of freeing the serfs, who were quite happy as it was. + +Pierre in his secret soul agreed with the steward that it would be +difficult to imagine happier people, and that God only knew what would +happen to them when they were free, but he insisted, though reluctantly, +on what he thought right. The steward promised to do all in his power to +carry out the count's wishes, seeing clearly that not only would the +count never be able to find out whether all measures had been taken for +the sale of the land and forests and to release them from the Land Bank, +but would probably never even inquire and would never know that the +newly erected buildings were standing empty and that the serfs continued +to give in money and work all that other people's serfs gave--that is to +say, all that could be got out of them. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Returning from his journey through South Russia in the happiest state of +mind, Pierre carried out an intention he had long had of visiting his +friend Bolkonski, whom he had not seen for two years. + +Bogucharovo lay in a flat uninteresting part of the country among fields +and forests of fir and birch, which were partly cut down. The house lay +behind a newly dug pond filled with water to the brink and with banks +still bare of grass. It was at the end of a village that stretched along +the highroad in the midst of a young copse in which were a few fir +trees. + +The homestead consisted of a threshing floor, outhouses, stables, a +bathhouse, a lodge, and a large brick house with semicircular facade +still in course of construction. Round the house was a garden newly laid +out. The fences and gates were new and solid; two fire pumps and a water +cart, painted green, stood in a shed; the paths were straight, the +bridges were strong and had handrails. Everything bore an impress of +tidiness and good management. Some domestic serfs Pierre met, in reply +to inquiries as to where the prince lived, pointed out a small newly +built lodge close to the pond. Anton, a man who had looked after Prince +Andrew in his boyhood, helped Pierre out of his carriage, said that the +prince was at home, and showed him into a clean little anteroom. + +Pierre was struck by the modesty of the small though clean house after +the brilliant surroundings in which he had last met his friend in +Petersburg. + +He quickly entered the small reception room with its still-unplastered +wooden walls redolent of pine, and would have gone farther, but Anton +ran ahead on tiptoe and knocked at a door. + +"Well, what is it?" came a sharp, unpleasant voice. + +"A visitor," answered Anton. + +"Ask him to wait," and the sound was heard of a chair being pushed back. + +Pierre went with rapid steps to the door and suddenly came face to face +with Prince Andrew, who came out frowning and looking old. Pierre +embraced him and lifting his spectacles kissed his friend on the cheek +and looked at him closely. + +"Well, I did not expect you, I am very glad," said Prince Andrew. + +Pierre said nothing; he looked fixedly at his friend with surprise. He +was struck by the change in him. His words were kindly and there was a +smile on his lips and face, but his eyes were dull and lifeless and in +spite of his evident wish to do so he could not give them a joyous and +glad sparkle. Prince Andrew had grown thinner, paler, and more manly- +looking, but what amazed and estranged Pierre till he got used to it +were his inertia and a wrinkle on his brow indicating prolonged +concentration on some one thought. + +As is usually the case with people meeting after a prolonged separation, +it was long before their conversation could settle on anything. They put +questions and gave brief replies about things they knew ought to be +talked over at length. At last the conversation gradually settled on +some of the topics at first lightly touched on: their past life, plans +for the future, Pierre's journeys and occupations, the war, and so on. +The preoccupation and despondency which Pierre had noticed in his +friend's look was now still more clearly expressed in the smile with +which he listened to Pierre, especially when he spoke with joyful +animation of the past or the future. It was as if Prince Andrew would +have liked to sympathize with what Pierre was saying, but could not. The +latter began to feel that it was in bad taste to speak of his +enthusiasms, dreams, and hopes of happiness or goodness, in Prince +Andrew's presence. He was ashamed to express his new masonic views, +which had been particularly revived and strengthened by his late tour. +He checked himself, fearing to seem naive, yet he felt an irresistible +desire to show his friend as soon as possible that he was now a quite +different, and better, Pierre than he had been in Petersburg. + +"I can't tell you how much I have lived through since then. I hardly +know myself again." + +"Yes, we have altered much, very much, since then," said Prince Andrew. + +"Well, and you? What are your plans?" + +"Plans!" repeated Prince Andrew ironically. "My plans?" he said, as if +astonished at the word. "Well, you see, I'm building. I mean to settle +here altogether next year...." + +Pierre looked silently and searchingly into Prince Andrew's face, which +had grown much older. + +"No, I meant to ask..." Pierre began, but Prince Andrew interrupted him. + +"But why talk of me?... Talk to me, yes, tell me about your travels and +all you have been doing on your estates." + +Pierre began describing what he had done on his estates, trying as far +as possible to conceal his own part in the improvements that had been +made. Prince Andrew several times prompted Pierre's story of what he had +been doing, as though it were all an old-time story, and he listened not +only without interest but even as if ashamed of what Pierre was telling +him. + +Pierre felt uncomfortable and even depressed in his friend's company and +at last became silent. + +"I'll tell you what, my dear fellow," said Prince Andrew, who evidently +also felt depressed and constrained with his visitor, "I am only +bivouacking here and have just come to look round. I am going back to my +sister today. I will introduce you to her. But of course you know her +already," he said, evidently trying to entertain a visitor with whom he +now found nothing in common. "We will go after dinner. And would you now +like to look round my place?" + +They went out and walked about till dinnertime, talking of the political +news and common acquaintances like people who do not know each other +intimately. Prince Andrew spoke with some animation and interest only of +the new homestead he was constructing and its buildings, but even here, +while on the scaffolding, in the midst of a talk explaining the future +arrangements of the house, he interrupted himself: + +"However, this is not at all interesting. Let us have dinner, and then +we'll set off." + +At dinner, conversation turned on Pierre's marriage. + +"I was very much surprised when I heard of it," said Prince Andrew. + +Pierre blushed, as he always did when it was mentioned, and said +hurriedly: "I will tell you some time how it all happened. But you know +it is all over, and forever." + +"Forever?" said Prince Andrew. "Nothing's forever." + +"But you know how it all ended, don't you? You heard of the duel?" + +"And so you had to go through that too!" + +"One thing I thank God for is that I did not kill that man," said +Pierre. + +"Why so?" asked Prince Andrew. "To kill a vicious dog is a very good +thing really." + +"No, to kill a man is bad--wrong." + +"Why is it wrong?" urged Prince Andrew. "It is not given to man to know +what is right and what is wrong. Men always did and always will err, and +in nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong." + +"What does harm to another is wrong," said Pierre, feeling with pleasure +that for the first time since his arrival Prince Andrew was roused, had +begun to talk, and wanted to express what had brought him to his present +state. + +"And who has told you what is bad for another man?" he asked. + +"Bad! Bad!" exclaimed Pierre. "We all know what is bad for ourselves." + +"Yes, we know that, but the harm I am conscious of in myself is +something I cannot inflict on others," said Prince Andrew, growing more +and more animated and evidently wishing to express his new outlook to +Pierre. He spoke in French. "I only know two very real evils in life: +remorse and illness. The only good is the absence of those evils. To +live for myself avoiding those two evils is my whole philosophy now." + +"And love of one's neighbor, and self-sacrifice?" began Pierre. "No, I +can't agree with you! To live only so as not to do evil and not to have +to repent is not enough. I lived like that, I lived for myself and +ruined my life. And only now when I am living, or at least trying" +(Pierre's modesty made him correct himself) "to live for others, only +now have I understood all the happiness of life. No, I shall not agree +with you, and you do not really believe what you are saying." Prince +Andrew looked silently at Pierre with an ironic smile. + +"When you see my sister, Princess Mary, you'll get on with her," he +said. "Perhaps you are right for yourself," he added after a short +pause, "but everyone lives in his own way. You lived for yourself and +say you nearly ruined your life and only found happiness when you began +living for others. I experienced just the reverse. I lived for glory.-- +And after all what is glory? The same love of others, a desire to do +something for them, a desire for their approval.--So I lived for others, +and not almost, but quite, ruined my life. And I have become calmer +since I began to live only for myself." + +"But what do you mean by living only for yourself?" asked Pierre, +growing excited. "What about your son, your sister, and your father?" + +"But that's just the same as myself--they are not others," explained +Prince Andrew. "The others, one's neighbors, le prochain, as you and +Princess Mary call it, are the chief source of all error and evil. Le +prochain--your Kiev peasants to whom you want to do good." + +And he looked at Pierre with a mocking, challenging expression. He +evidently wished to draw him on. + +"You are joking," replied Pierre, growing more and more excited. "What +error or evil can there be in my wishing to do good, and even doing a +little--though I did very little and did it very badly? What evil can +there be in it if unfortunate people, our serfs, people like ourselves, +were growing up and dying with no idea of God and truth beyond +ceremonies and meaningless prayers and are now instructed in a +comforting belief in future life, retribution, recompense, and +consolation? What evil and error are there in it, if people were dying +of disease without help while material assistance could so easily be +rendered, and I supplied them with a doctor, a hospital, and an asylum +for the aged? And is it not a palpable, unquestionable good if a +peasant, or a woman with a baby, has no rest day or night and I give +them rest and leisure?" said Pierre, hurrying and lisping. "And I have +done that though badly and to a small extent; but I have done something +toward it and you cannot persuade me that it was not a good action, and +more than that, you can't make me believe that you do not think so +yourself. And the main thing is," he continued, "that I know, and know +for certain, that the enjoyment of doing this good is the only sure +happiness in life." + +"Yes, if you put it like that it's quite a different matter," said +Prince Andrew. "I build a house and lay out a garden, and you build +hospitals. The one and the other may serve as a pastime. But what's +right and what's good must be judged by one who knows all, but not by +us. Well, you want an argument," he added, "come on then." + +They rose from the table and sat down in the entrance porch which served +as a veranda. + +"Come, let's argue then," said Prince Andrew, "You talk of schools," he +went on, crooking a finger, "education and so forth; that is, you want +to raise him" (pointing to a peasant who passed by them taking off his +cap) "from his animal condition and awaken in him spiritual needs, while +it seems to me that animal happiness is the only happiness possible, and +that is just what you want to deprive him of. I envy him, but you want +to make him what I am, without giving him my means. Then you say, +'lighten his toil.' But as I see it, physical labor is as essential to +him, as much a condition of his existence, as mental activity is to you +or me. You can't help thinking. I go to bed after two in the morning, +thoughts come and I can't sleep but toss about till dawn, because I +think and can't help thinking, just as he can't help plowing and mowing; +if he didn't, he would go to the drink shop or fall ill. Just as I could +not stand his terrible physical labor but should die of it in a week, so +he could not stand my physical idleness, but would grow fat and die. The +third thing--what else was it you talked about?" and Prince Andrew +crooked a third finger. "Ah, yes, hospitals, medicine. He has a fit, he +is dying, and you come and bleed him and patch him up. He will drag +about as a cripple, a burden to everybody, for another ten years. It +would be far easier and simpler for him to die. Others are being born +and there are plenty of them as it is. It would be different if you +grudged losing a laborer--that's how I regard him--but you want to cure +him from love of him. And he does not want that. And besides, what a +notion that medicine ever cured anyone! Killed them, yes!" said he, +frowning angrily and turning away from Pierre. + +Prince Andrew expressed his ideas so clearly and distinctly that it was +evident he had reflected on this subject more than once, and he spoke +readily and rapidly like a man who has not talked for a long time. His +glance became more animated as his conclusions became more hopeless. + +"Oh, that is dreadful, dreadful!" said Pierre. "I don't understand how +one can live with such ideas. I had such moments myself not long ago, in +Moscow and when traveling, but at such times I collapsed so that I don't +live at all--everything seems hateful to me... myself most of all. Then +I don't eat, don't wash... and how is it with you?..." + +"Why not wash? That is not cleanly," said Prince Andrew; "on the +contrary one must try to make one's life as pleasant as possible. I'm +alive, that is not my fault, so I must live out my life as best I can +without hurting others." + +"But with such ideas what motive have you for living? One would sit +without moving, undertaking nothing...." + +"Life as it is leaves one no peace. I should be thankful to do nothing, +but here on the one hand the local nobility have done me the honor to +choose me to be their marshal; it was all I could do to get out of it. +They could not understand that I have not the necessary qualifications +for it--the kind of good-natured, fussy shallowness necessary for the +position. Then there's this house, which must be built in order to have +a nook of one's own in which to be quiet. And now there's this +recruiting." + +"Why aren't you serving in the army?" + +"After Austerlitz!" said Prince Andrew gloomily. "No, thank you very +much! I have promised myself not to serve again in the active Russian +army. And I won't--not even if Bonaparte were here at Smolensk +threatening Bald Hills--even then I wouldn't serve in the Russian army! +Well, as I was saying," he continued, recovering his composure, "now +there's this recruiting. My father is chief in command of the Third +District, and my only way of avoiding active service is to serve under +him." + +"Then you are serving?" + +"I am." + +He paused a little while. + +"And why do you serve?" + +"Why, for this reason! My father is one of the most remarkable men of +his time. But he is growing old, and though not exactly cruel he has too +energetic a character. He is so accustomed to unlimited power that he is +terrible, and now he has this authority of a commander-in-chief of the +recruiting, granted by the Emperor. If I had been two hours late a +fortnight ago he would have had a paymaster's clerk at Yukhnovna +hanged," said Prince Andrew with a smile. "So I am serving because I +alone have any influence with my father, and now and then can save him +from actions which would torment him afterwards." + +"Well, there you see!" + +"Yes, but it is not as you imagine," Prince Andrew continued. "I did +not, and do not, in the least care about that scoundrel of a clerk who +had stolen some boots from the recruits; I should even have been very +glad to see him hanged, but I was sorry for my father--that again is for +myself." + +Prince Andrew grew more and more animated. His eyes glittered feverishly +while he tried to prove to Pierre that in his actions there was no +desire to do good to his neighbor. + +"There now, you wish to liberate your serfs," he continued; "that is a +very good thing, but not for you--I don't suppose you ever had anyone +flogged or sent to Siberia--and still less for your serfs. If they are +beaten, flogged, or sent to Siberia, I don't suppose they are any the +worse off. In Siberia they lead the same animal life, and the stripes on +their bodies heal, and they are happy as before. But it is a good thing +for proprietors who perish morally, bring remorse upon themselves, +stifle this remorse and grow callous, as a result of being able to +inflict punishments justly and unjustly. It is those people I pity, and +for their sake I should like to liberate the serfs. You may not have +seen, but I have seen, how good men brought up in those traditions of +unlimited power, in time when they grow more irritable, become cruel and +harsh, are conscious of it, but cannot restrain themselves and grow more +and more miserable." + +Prince Andrew spoke so earnestly that Pierre could not help thinking +that these thoughts had been suggested to Prince Andrew by his father's +case. + +He did not reply. + +"So that's what I'm sorry for--human dignity, peace of mind, purity, and +not the serfs' backs and foreheads, which, beat and shave as you may, +always remain the same backs and foreheads." + +"No, no! A thousand times no! I shall never agree with you," said +Pierre. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +In the evening Andrew and Pierre got into the open carriage and drove to +Bald Hills. Prince Andrew, glancing at Pierre, broke the silence now and +then with remarks which showed that he was in a good temper. + +Pointing to the fields, he spoke of the improvements he was making in +his husbandry. + +Pierre remained gloomily silent, answering in monosyllables and +apparently immersed in his own thoughts. + +He was thinking that Prince Andrew was unhappy, had gone astray, did not +see the true light, and that he, Pierre, ought to aid, enlighten, and +raise him. But as soon as he thought of what he should say, he felt that +Prince Andrew with one word, one argument, would upset all his teaching, +and he shrank from beginning, afraid of exposing to possible ridicule +what to him was precious and sacred. + +"No, but why do you think so?" Pierre suddenly began, lowering his head +and looking like a bull about to charge, "why do you think so? You +should not think so." + +"Think? What about?" asked Prince Andrew with surprise. + +"About life, about man's destiny. It can't be so. I myself thought like +that, and do you know what saved me? Freemasonry! No, don't smile. +Freemasonry is not a religious ceremonial sect, as I thought it was: +Freemasonry is the best expression of the best, the eternal, aspects of +humanity." + +And he began to explain Freemasonry as he understood it to Prince +Andrew. He said that Freemasonry is the teaching of Christianity freed +from the bonds of State and Church, a teaching of equality, brotherhood, +and love. + +"Only our holy brotherhood has the real meaning of life, all the rest is +a dream," said Pierre. "Understand, my dear fellow, that outside this +union all is filled with deceit and falsehood and I agree with you that +nothing is left for an intelligent and good man but to live out his +life, like you, merely trying not to harm others. But make our +fundamental convictions your own, join our brotherhood, give yourself up +to us, let yourself be guided, and you will at once feel yourself, as I +have felt myself, a part of that vast invisible chain the beginning of +which is hidden in heaven," said Pierre. + +Prince Andrew, looking straight in front of him, listened in silence to +Pierre's words. More than once, when the noise of the wheels prevented +his catching what Pierre said, he asked him to repeat it, and by the +peculiar glow that came into Prince Andrew's eyes and by his silence, +Pierre saw that his words were not in vain and that Prince Andrew would +not interrupt him or laugh at what he said. + +They reached a river that had overflowed its banks and which they had to +cross by ferry. While the carriage and horses were being placed on it, +they also stepped on the raft. + +Prince Andrew, leaning his arms on the raft railing, gazed silently at +the flooding waters glittering in the setting sun. + +"Well, what do you think about it?" Pierre asked. "Why are you silent?" + +"What do I think about it? I am listening to you. It's all very well.... +You say: join our brotherhood and we will show you the aim of life, the +destiny of man, and the laws which govern the world. But who are we? +Men. How is it you know everything? Why do I alone not see what you see? +You see a reign of goodness and truth on earth, but I don't see it." + +Pierre interrupted him. + +"Do you believe in a future life?" he asked. + +"A future life?" Prince Andrew repeated, but Pierre, giving him no time +to reply, took the repetition for a denial, the more readily as he knew +Prince Andrew's former atheistic convictions. + +"You say you can't see a reign of goodness and truth on earth. Nor could +I, and it cannot be seen if one looks on our life here as the end of +everything. On earth, here on this earth" (Pierre pointed to the +fields), "there is no truth, all is false and evil; but in the universe, +in the whole universe there is a kingdom of truth, and we who are now +the children of earth are--eternally--children of the whole universe. +Don't I feel in my soul that I am part of this vast harmonious whole? +Don't I feel that I form one link, one step, between the lower and +higher beings, in this vast harmonious multitude of beings in whom the +Deity--the Supreme Power if you prefer the term--is manifest? If I see, +clearly see, that ladder leading from plant to man, why should I suppose +it breaks off at me and does not go farther and farther? I feel that I +cannot vanish, since nothing vanishes in this world, but that I shall +always exist and always have existed. I feel that beyond me and above me +there are spirits, and that in this world there is truth." + +"Yes, that is Herder's theory," said Prince Andrew, "but it is not that +which can convince me, dear friend--life and death are what convince. +What convinces is when one sees a being dear to one, bound up with one's +own life, before whom one was to blame and had hoped to make it right" +(Prince Andrew's voice trembled and he turned away), "and suddenly that +being is seized with pain, suffers, and ceases to exist.... Why? It +cannot be that there is no answer. And I believe there is.... That's +what convinces, that is what has convinced me," said Prince Andrew. + +"Yes, yes, of course," said Pierre, "isn't that what I'm saying?" + +"No. All I say is that it is not argument that convinces me of the +necessity of a future life, but this: when you go hand in hand with +someone and all at once that person vanishes there, into nowhere, and +you yourself are left facing that abyss, and look in. And I have looked +in...." + +"Well, that's it then! You know that there is a there and there is a +Someone? There is the future life. The Someone is--God." + +Prince Andrew did not reply. The carriage and horses had long since been +taken off, onto the farther bank, and reharnessed. The sun had sunk half +below the horizon and an evening frost was starring the puddles near the +ferry, but Pierre and Andrew, to the astonishment of the footmen, +coachmen, and ferrymen, still stood on the raft and talked. + +"If there is a God and future life, there is truth and good, and man's +highest happiness consists in striving to attain them. We must live, we +must love, and we must believe that we live not only today on this scrap +of earth, but have lived and shall live forever, there, in the Whole," +said Pierre, and he pointed to the sky. + +Prince Andrew stood leaning on the railing of the raft listening to +Pierre, and he gazed with his eyes fixed on the red reflection of the +sun gleaming on the blue waters. There was perfect stillness. Pierre +became silent. The raft had long since stopped and only the waves of the +current beat softly against it below. Prince Andrew felt as if the sound +of the waves kept up a refrain to Pierre's words, whispering: + +"It is true, believe it." + +He sighed, and glanced with a radiant, childlike, tender look at +Pierre's face, flushed and rapturous, but yet shy before his superior +friend. + +"Yes, if it only were so!" said Prince Andrew. "However, it is time to +get on," he added, and, stepping off the raft, he looked up at the sky +to which Pierre had pointed, and for the first time since Austerlitz saw +that high, everlasting sky he had seen while lying on that battlefield; +and something that had long been slumbering, something that was best +within him, suddenly awoke, joyful and youthful, in his soul. It +vanished as soon as he returned to the customary conditions of his life, +but he knew that this feeling which he did not know how to develop +existed within him. His meeting with Pierre formed an epoch in Prince +Andrew's life. Though outwardly he continued to live in the same old +way, inwardly he began a new life. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +It was getting dusk when Prince Andrew and Pierre drove up to the front +entrance of the house at Bald Hills. As they approached the house, +Prince Andrew with a smile drew Pierre's attention to a commotion going +on at the back porch. A woman, bent with age, with a wallet on her back, +and a short, long-haired, young man in a black garment had rushed back +to the gate on seeing the carriage driving up. Two women ran out after +them, and all four, looking round at the carriage, ran in dismay up the +steps of the back porch. + +"Those are Mary's 'God's folk,'" said Prince Andrew. "They have mistaken +us for my father. This is the one matter in which she disobeys him. He +orders these pilgrims to be driven away, but she receives them." + +"But what are 'God's folk'?" asked Pierre. + +Prince Andrew had no time to answer. The servants came out to meet them, +and he asked where the old prince was and whether he was expected back +soon. + +The old prince had gone to the town and was expected back any minute. + +Prince Andrew led Pierre to his own apartments, which were always kept +in perfect order and readiness for him in his father's house; he himself +went to the nursery. + +"Let us go and see my sister," he said to Pierre when he returned. "I +have not found her yet, she is hiding now, sitting with her 'God's +folk.' It will serve her right, she will be confused, but you will see +her 'God's folk.' It's really very curious." + +"What are 'God's folk'?" asked Pierre. + +"Come, and you'll see for yourself." + +Princess Mary really was disconcerted and red patches came on her face +when they went in. In her snug room, with lamps burning before the icon +stand, a young lad with a long nose and long hair, wearing a monk's +cassock, sat on the sofa beside her, behind a samovar. Near them, in an +armchair, sat a thin, shriveled, old woman, with a meek expression on +her childlike face. + +"Andrew, why didn't you warn me?" said the princess, with mild reproach, +as she stood before her pilgrims like a hen before her chickens. + +"Charmee de vous voir. Je suis tres contente de vous voir," * she said +to Pierre as he kissed her hand. She had known him as a child, and now +his friendship with Andrew, his misfortune with his wife, and above all +his kindly, simple face disposed her favorably toward him. She looked at +him with her beautiful radiant eyes and seemed to say, "I like you very +much, but please don't laugh at my people." After exchanging the first +greetings, they sat down. + + +* "Delighted to see you. I am very glad to see you." + +"Ah, and Ivanushka is here too!" said Prince Andrew, glancing with a +smile at the young pilgrim. + +"Andrew!" said Princess Mary, imploringly. "Il faut que vous sachiez que +c'est une femme," * said Prince Andrew to Pierre. + +"Andrew, au nom de Dieu!" *(2) Princess Mary repeated. + + +* "You must know that this is a woman." + +* (2) "For heaven's sake." + +It was evident that Prince Andrew's ironical tone toward the pilgrims +and Princess Mary's helpless attempts to protect them were their +customary long-established relations on the matter. + +"Mais, ma bonne amie," said Prince Andrew, "vous devriez au contraire +m'être reconnaissante de ce que j'explique a Pierre votre intimité avec +ce jeune homme." * + + +* "But, my dear, you ought on the contrary to be grateful to me for +explaining to Pierre your intimacy with this young man." + +"Really?" said Pierre, gazing over his spectacles with curiosity and +seriousness (for which Princess Mary was specially grateful to him) into +Ivanushka's face, who, seeing that she was being spoken about, looked +round at them all with crafty eyes. + +Princess Mary's embarrassment on her people's account was quite +unnecessary. They were not in the least abashed. The old woman, lowering +her eyes but casting side glances at the newcomers, had turned her cup +upside down and placed a nibbled bit of sugar beside it, and sat quietly +in her armchair, though hoping to be offered another cup of tea. +Ivanushka, sipping out of her saucer, looked with sly womanish eyes from +under her brows at the young men. + +"Where have you been? To Kiev?" Prince Andrew asked the old woman. + +"I have, good sir," she answered garrulously. "Just at Christmastime I +was deemed worthy to partake of the holy and heavenly sacrament at the +shrine of the saint. And now I'm from Kolyazin, master, where a great +and wonderful blessing has been revealed." + +"And was Ivanushka with you?" + +"I go by myself, benefactor," said Ivanushka, trying to speak in a bass +voice. "I only came across Pelageya in Yukhnovo..." + +Pelageya interrupted her companion; she evidently wished to tell what +she had seen. + +"In Kolyazin, master, a wonderful blessing has been revealed." + +"What is it? Some new relics?" asked Prince Andrew. + +"Andrew, do leave off," said Princess Mary. "Don't tell him, Pelageya." + +"No... why not, my dear, why shouldn't I? I like him. He is kind, he is +one of God's chosen, he's a benefactor, he once gave me ten rubles, I +remember. When I was in Kiev, Crazy Cyril says to me (he's one of God's +own and goes barefoot summer and winter), he says, 'Why are you not +going to the right place? Go to Kolyazin where a wonder-working icon of +the Holy Mother of God has been revealed.' On hearing those words I said +good-by to the holy folk and went." + +All were silent, only the pilgrim woman went on in measured tones, +drawing in her breath. + +"So I come, master, and the people say to me: 'A great blessing has been +revealed, holy oil trickles from the cheeks of our blessed Mother, the +Holy Virgin Mother of God'...." + +"All right, all right, you can tell us afterwards," said Princess Mary, +flushing. + +"Let me ask her," said Pierre. "Did you see it yourselves?" he inquired. + +"Oh, yes, master, I was found worthy. Such a brightness on the face like +the light of heaven, and from the blessed Mother's cheek it drops and +drops...." + +"But, dear me, that must be a fraud!" said Pierre, naively, who had +listened attentively to the pilgrim. + +"Oh, master, what are you saying?" exclaimed the horrified Pelageya, +turning to Princess Mary for support. + +"They impose on the people," he repeated. + +"Lord Jesus Christ!" exclaimed the pilgrim woman, crossing herself. "Oh, +don't speak so, master! There was a general who did not believe, and +said, 'The monks cheat,' and as soon as he'd said it he went blind. And +he dreamed that the Holy Virgin Mother of the Kiev catacombs came to him +and said, 'Believe in me and I will make you whole.' So he begged: 'Take +me to her, take me to her.' It's the real truth I'm telling you, I saw +it myself. So he was brought, quite blind, straight to her, and he goes +up to her and falls down and says, 'Make me whole,' says he, 'and I'll +give thee what the Tsar bestowed on me.' I saw it myself, master, the +star is fixed into the icon. Well, and what do you think? He received +his sight! It's a sin to speak so. God will punish you," she said +admonishingly, turning to Pierre. + +"How did the star get into the icon?" Pierre asked. + +"And was the Holy Mother promoted to the rank of general?" said Prince +Andrew, with a smile. + +Pelageya suddenly grew quite pale and clasped her hands. + +"Oh, master, master, what a sin! And you who have a son!" she began, her +pallor suddenly turning to a vivid red. "Master, what have you said? God +forgive you!" And she crossed herself. "Lord forgive him! My dear, what +does it mean?..." she asked, turning to Princess Mary. She got up and, +almost crying, began to arrange her wallet. She evidently felt +frightened and ashamed to have accepted charity in a house where such +things could be said, and was at the same time sorry to have now to +forgo the charity of this house. + +"Now, why need you do it?" said Princess Mary. "Why did you come to +me?..." + +"Come, Pelageya, I was joking," said Pierre. "Princesse, ma parole, je +n'ai pas voulu l'offenser. * I did not mean anything, I was only +joking," he said, smiling shyly and trying to efface his offense. "It +was all my fault, and Andrew was only joking." + + +* "Princess, on my word, I did not wish to offend her." + +Pelageya stopped doubtfully, but in Pierre's face there was such a look +of sincere penitence, and Prince Andrew glanced so meekly now at her and +now at Pierre, that she was gradually reassured. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +The pilgrim woman was appeased and, being encouraged to talk, gave a +long account of Father Amphilochus, who led so holy a life that his +hands smelled of incense, and how on her last visit to Kiev some monks +she knew let her have the keys of the catacombs, and how she, taking +some dried bread with her, had spent two days in the catacombs with the +saints. "I'd pray awhile to one, ponder awhile, then go on to another. +I'd sleep a bit and then again go and kiss the relics, and there was +such peace all around, such blessedness, that one don't want to come +out, even into the light of heaven again." + +Pierre listened to her attentively and seriously. Prince Andrew went out +of the room, and then, leaving "God's folk" to finish their tea, +Princess Mary took Pierre into the drawing room. + +"You are very kind," she said to him. + +"Oh, I really did not mean to hurt her feelings. I understand them so +well and have the greatest respect for them." + +Princess Mary looked at him silently and smiled affectionately. + +"I have known you a long time, you see, and am as fond of you as of a +brother," she said. "How do you find Andrew?" she added hurriedly, not +giving him time to reply to her affectionate words. "I am very anxious +about him. His health was better in the winter, but last spring his +wound reopened and the doctor said he ought to go away for a cure. And I +am also very much afraid for him spiritually. He has not a character +like us women who, when we suffer, can weep away our sorrows. He keeps +it all within him. Today he is cheerful and in good spirits, but that is +the effect of your visit--he is not often like that. If you could +persuade him to go abroad. He needs activity, and this quiet regular +life is very bad for him. Others don't notice it, but I see it." + +Toward ten o'clock the men servants rushed to the front door, hearing +the bells of the old prince's carriage approaching. Prince Andrew and +Pierre also went out into the porch. + +"Who's that?" asked the old prince, noticing Pierre as he got out of the +carriage. + +"Ah! Very glad! Kiss me," he said, having learned who the young stranger +was. + +The old prince was in a good temper and very gracious to Pierre. + +Before supper, Prince Andrew, coming back to his father's study, found +him disputing hotly with his visitor. Pierre was maintaining that a time +would come when there would be no more wars. The old prince disputed it +chaffingly, but without getting angry. + +"Drain the blood from men's veins and put in water instead, then there +will be no more war! Old women's nonsense--old women's nonsense!" he +repeated, but still he patted Pierre affectionately on the shoulder, and +then went up to the table where Prince Andrew, evidently not wishing to +join in the conversation, was looking over the papers his father had +brought from town. The old prince went up to him and began to talk +business. + +"The marshal, a Count Rostov, hasn't sent half his contingent. He came +to town and wanted to invite me to dinner--I gave him a pretty +dinner!... And there, look at this.... Well, my boy," the old prince +went on, addressing his son and patting Pierre on the shoulder. "A fine +fellow--your friend--I like him! He stirs me up. Another says clever +things and one doesn't care to listen, but this one talks rubbish yet +stirs an old fellow up. Well, go! Get along! Perhaps I'll come and sit +with you at supper. We'll have another dispute. Make friends with my +little fool, Princess Mary," he shouted after Pierre, through the door. + +Only now, on his visit to Bald Hills, did Pierre fully realize the +strength and charm of his friendship with Prince Andrew. That charm was +not expressed so much in his relations with him as with all his family +and with the household. With the stern old prince and the gentle, timid +Princess Mary, though he had scarcely known them, Pierre at once felt +like an old friend. They were all fond of him already. Not only Princess +Mary, who had been won by his gentleness with the pilgrims, gave him her +most radiant looks, but even the one-year-old "Prince Nicholas" (as his +grandfather called him) smiled at Pierre and let himself be taken in his +arms, and Michael Ivanovich and Mademoiselle Bourienne looked at him +with pleasant smiles when he talked to the old prince. + +The old prince came in to supper; this was evidently on Pierre's +account. And during the two days of the young man's visit he was +extremely kind to him and told him to visit them again. + +When Pierre had gone and the members of the household met together, they +began to express their opinions of him as people always do after a new +acquaintance has left, but as seldom happens, no one said anything but +what was good of him. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +When returning from his leave, Rostov felt, for the first time, how +close was the bond that united him to Denisov and the whole regiment. + +On approaching it, Rostov felt as he had done when approaching his home +in Moscow. When he saw the first hussar with the unbuttoned uniform of +his regiment, when he recognized red-haired Dementyev and saw the picket +ropes of the roan horses, when Lavrushka gleefully shouted to his +master, "The count has come!" and Denisov, who had been asleep on his +bed, ran all disheveled out of the mud hut to embrace him, and the +officers collected round to greet the new arrival, Rostov experienced +the same feeling as when his mother, his father, and his sister had +embraced him, and tears of joy choked him so that he could not speak. +The regiment was also a home, and as unalterably dear and precious as +his parents' house. + +When he had reported himself to the commander of the regiment and had +been reassigned to his former squadron, had been on duty and had gone +out foraging, when he had again entered into all the little interests of +the regiment and felt himself deprived of liberty and bound in one +narrow, unchanging frame, he experienced the same sense of peace, of +moral support, and the same sense of being at home here in his own +place, as he had felt under the parental roof. But here was none of all +that turmoil of the world at large, where he did not know his right +place and took mistaken decisions; here was no Sonya with whom he ought, +or ought not, to have an explanation; here was no possibility of going +there or not going there; here there were not twenty-four hours in the +day which could be spent in such a variety of ways; there was not that +innumerable crowd of people of whom not one was nearer to him or farther +from him than another; there were none of those uncertain and undefined +money relations with his father, and nothing to recall that terrible +loss to Dolokhov. Here, in the regiment, all was clear and simple. The +whole world was divided into two unequal parts: one, our Pavlograd +regiment; the other, all the rest. And the rest was no concern of his. +In the regiment, everything was definite: who was lieutenant, who +captain, who was a good fellow, who a bad one, and most of all, who was +a comrade. The canteenkeeper gave one credit, one's pay came every four +months, there was nothing to think out or decide, you had only to do +nothing that was considered bad in the Pavlograd regiment and, when +given an order, to do what was clearly, distinctly, and definitely +ordered--and all would be well. + +Having once more entered into the definite conditions of this regimental +life, Rostov felt the joy and relief a tired man feels on lying down to +rest. Life in the regiment, during this campaign, was all the pleasanter +for him, because, after his loss to Dolokhov (for which, in spite of all +his family's efforts to console him, he could not forgive himself), he +had made up his mind to atone for his fault by serving, not as he had +done before, but really well, and by being a perfectly first-rate +comrade and officer--in a word, a splendid man altogether, a thing which +seemed so difficult out in the world, but so possible in the regiment. + +After his losses, he had determined to pay back his debt to his parents +in five years. He received ten thousand rubles a year, but now resolved +to take only two thousand and leave the rest to repay the debt to his +parents. + +Our army, after repeated retreats and advances and battles at Pultusk +and Preussisch-Eylau, was concentrated near Bartenstein. It was awaiting +the Emperor's arrival and the beginning of a new campaign. + +The Pavlograd regiment, belonging to that part of the army which had +served in the 1805 campaign, had been recruiting up to strength in +Russia, and arrived too late to take part in the first actions of the +campaign. It had been neither at Pultusk nor at Preussisch-Eylau and, +when it joined the army in the field in the second half of the campaign, +was attached to Platov's division. + +Platov's division was acting independently of the main army. Several +times parts of the Pavlograd regiment had exchanged shots with the +enemy, had taken prisoners, and once had even captured Marshal Oudinot's +carriages. In April the Pavlograds were stationed immovably for some +weeks near a totally ruined and deserted German village. + +A thaw had set in, it was muddy and cold, the ice on the river broke, +and the roads became impassable. For days neither provisions for the men +nor fodder for the horses had been issued. As no transports could +arrive, the men dispersed about the abandoned and deserted villages, +searching for potatoes, but found few even of these. + +Everything had been eaten up and the inhabitants had all fled--if any +remained, they were worse than beggars and nothing more could be taken +from them; even the soldiers, usually pitiless enough, instead of taking +anything from them, often gave them the last of their rations. + +The Pavlograd regiment had had only two men wounded in action, but had +lost nearly half its men from hunger and sickness. In the hospitals, +death was so certain that soldiers suffering from fever, or the swelling +that came from bad food, preferred to remain on duty, and hardly able to +drag their legs went to the front rather than to the hospitals. When +spring came on, the soldiers found a plant just showing out of the +ground that looked like asparagus, which, for some reason, they called +"Mashka's sweet root." It was very bitter, but they wandered about the +fields seeking it and dug it out with their sabers and ate it, though +they were ordered not to do so, as it was a noxious plant. That spring a +new disease broke out among the soldiers, a swelling of the arms, legs, +and face, which the doctors attributed to eating this root. But in spite +of all this, the soldiers of Denisov's squadron fed chiefly on "Mashka's +sweet root," because it was the second week that the last of the +biscuits were being doled out at the rate of half a pound a man and the +last potatoes received had sprouted and frozen. + +The horses also had been fed for a fortnight on straw from the thatched +roofs and had become terribly thin, though still covered with tufts of +felty winter hair. + +Despite this destitution, the soldiers and officers went on living just +as usual. Despite their pale swollen faces and tattered uniforms, the +hussars formed line for roll call, kept things in order, groomed their +horses, polished their arms, brought in straw from the thatched roofs in +place of fodder, and sat down to dine round the caldrons from which they +rose up hungry, joking about their nasty food and their hunger. As +usual, in their spare time, they lit bonfires, steamed themselves before +them naked; smoked, picked out and baked sprouting rotten potatoes, told +and listened to stories of Potemkin's and Suvorov's campaigns, or to +legends of Alesha the Sly, or the priest's laborer Mikolka. + +The officers, as usual, lived in twos and threes in the roofless, half- +ruined houses. The seniors tried to collect straw and potatoes and, in +general, food for the men. The younger ones occupied themselves as +before, some playing cards (there was plenty of money, though there was +no food), some with more innocent games, such as quoits and skittles. +The general trend of the campaign was rarely spoken of, partly because +nothing certain was known about it, partly because there was a vague +feeling that in the main it was going badly. + +Rostov lived, as before, with Denisov, and since their furlough they had +become more friendly than ever. Denisov never spoke of Rostov's family, +but by the tender friendship his commander showed him, Rostov felt that +the elder hussar's luckless love for Natasha played a part in +strengthening their friendship. Denisov evidently tried to expose Rostov +to danger as seldom as possible, and after an action greeted his safe +return with evident joy. On one of his foraging expeditions, in a +deserted and ruined village to which he had come in search of +provisions, Rostov found a family consisting of an old Pole and his +daughter with an infant in arms. They were half clad, hungry, too weak +to get away on foot and had no means of obtaining a conveyance. Rostov +brought them to his quarters, placed them in his own lodging, and kept +them for some weeks while the old man was recovering. One of his +comrades, talking of women, began chaffing Rostov, saying that he was +more wily than any of them and that it would not be a bad thing if he +introduced to them the pretty Polish girl he had saved. Rostov took the +joke as an insult, flared up, and said such unpleasant things to the +officer that it was all Denisov could do to prevent a duel. When the +officer had gone away, Denisov, who did not himself know what Rostov's +relations with the Polish girl might be, began to upbraid him for his +quickness of temper, and Rostov replied: + +"Say what you like.... She is like a sister to me, and I can't tell you +how it offended me... because... well, for that reason...." + +Denisov patted him on the shoulder and began rapidly pacing the room +without looking at Rostov, as was his way at moments of deep feeling. + +"Ah, what a mad bweed you Wostovs are!" he muttered, and Rostov noticed +tears in his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +In April the troops were enlivened by news of the Emperor's arrival, but +Rostov had no chance of being present at the review he held at +Bartenstein, as the Pavlograds were at the outposts far beyond that +place. + +They were bivouacking. Denisov and Rostov were living in an earth hut, +dug out for them by the soldiers and roofed with branches and turf. The +hut was made in the following manner, which had then come into vogue. A +trench was dug three and a half feet wide, four feet eight inches deep, +and eight feet long. At one end of the trench, steps were cut out and +these formed the entrance and vestibule. The trench itself was the room, +in which the lucky ones, such as the squadron commander, had a board, +lying on piles at the end opposite the entrance, to serve as a table. On +each side of the trench, the earth was cut out to a breadth of about two +and a half feet, and this did duty for bedsteads and couches. The roof +was so constructed that one could stand up in the middle of the trench +and could even sit up on the beds if one drew close to the table. +Denisov, who was living luxuriously because the soldiers of his squadron +liked him, had also a board in the roof at the farther end, with a piece +of (broken but mended) glass in it for a window. When it was very cold, +embers from the soldiers' campfire were placed on a bent sheet of iron +on the steps in the "reception room"--as Denisov called that part of the +hut--and it was then so warm that the officers, of whom there were +always some with Denisov and Rostov, sat in their shirt sleeves. + +In April, Rostov was on orderly duty. One morning, between seven and +eight, returning after a sleepless night, he sent for embers, changed +his rain-soaked underclothes, said his prayers, drank tea, got warm, +then tidied up the things on the table and in his own corner, and, his +face glowing from exposure to the wind and with nothing on but his +shirt, lay down on his back, putting his arms under his head. He was +pleasantly considering the probability of being promoted in a few days +for his last reconnoitering expedition, and was awaiting Denisov, who +had gone out somewhere and with whom he wanted a talk. + +Suddenly he heard Denisov shouting in a vibrating voice behind the hut, +evidently much excited. Rostov moved to the window to see whom he was +speaking to, and saw the quartermaster, Topcheenko. + +"I ordered you not to let them eat that Mashka woot stuff!" Denisov was +shouting. "And I saw with my own eyes how Lazarchuk bwought some fwom +the fields." + +"I have given the order again and again, your honor, but they don't +obey," answered the quartermaster. + +Rostov lay down again on his bed and thought complacently: "Let him fuss +and bustle now, my job's done and I'm lying down--capitally!" He could +hear that Lavrushka--that sly, bold orderly of Denisov's--was talking, +as well as the quartermaster. Lavrushka was saying something about +loaded wagons, biscuits, and oxen he had seen when he had gone out for +provisions. + +Then Denisov's voice was heard shouting farther and farther away. +"Saddle! Second platoon!" + +"Where are they off to now?" thought Rostov. + +Five minutes later, Denisov came into the hut, climbed with muddy boots +on the bed, lit his pipe, furiously scattered his things about, took his +leaded whip, buckled on his saber, and went out again. In answer to +Rostov's inquiry where he was going, he answered vaguely and crossly +that he had some business. + +"Let God and our gweat monarch judge me afterwards!" said Denisov going +out, and Rostov heard the hoofs of several horses splashing through the +mud. He did not even trouble to find out where Denisov had gone. Having +got warm in his corner, he fell asleep and did not leave the hut till +toward evening. Denisov had not yet returned. The weather had cleared +up, and near the next hut two officers and a cadet were playing svayka, +laughing as they threw their missiles which buried themselves in the +soft mud. Rostov joined them. In the middle of the game, the officers +saw some wagons approaching with fifteen hussars on their skinny horses +behind them. The wagons escorted by the hussars drew up to the picket +ropes and a crowd of hussars surrounded them. + +"There now, Denisov has been worrying," said Rostov, "and here are the +provisions." + +"So they are!" said the officers. "Won't the soldiers be glad!" + +A little behind the hussars came Denisov, accompanied by two infantry +officers with whom he was talking. + +Rostov went to meet them. + +"I warn you, Captain," one of the officers, a short thin man, evidently +very angry, was saying. + +"Haven't I told you I won't give them up?" replied Denisov. + +"You will answer for it, Captain. It is mutiny--seizing the transport of +one's own army. Our men have had nothing to eat for two days." + +"And mine have had nothing for two weeks," said Denisov. + +"It is robbery! You'll answer for it, sir!" said the infantry officer, +raising his voice. + +"Now, what are you pestewing me for?" cried Denisov, suddenly losing his +temper. "I shall answer for it and not you, and you'd better not buzz +about here till you get hurt. Be off! Go!" he shouted at the officers. + +"Very well, then!" shouted the little officer, undaunted and not riding +away. "If you are determined to rob, I'll..." + +"Go to the devil! quick ma'ch, while you're safe and sound!" and Denisov +turned his horse on the officer. + +"Very well, very well!" muttered the officer, threateningly, and turning +his horse he trotted away, jolting in his saddle. + +"A dog astwide a fence! A weal dog astwide a fence!" shouted Denisov +after him (the most insulting expression a cavalryman can address to a +mounted infantryman) and riding up to Rostov, he burst out laughing. + +"I've taken twansports from the infantwy by force!" he said. "After all, +can't let our men starve." + +The wagons that had reached the hussars had been consigned to an +infantry regiment, but learning from Lavrushka that the transport was +unescorted, Denisov with his hussars had seized it by force. The +soldiers had biscuits dealt out to them freely, and they even shared +them with the other squadrons. + +The next day the regimental commander sent for Denisov, and holding his +fingers spread out before his eyes said: + +"This is how I look at this affair: I know nothing about it and won't +begin proceedings, but I advise you to ride over to the staff and settle +the business there in the commissariat department and if possible sign a +receipt for such and such stores received. If not, as the demand was +booked against an infantry regiment, there will be a row and the affair +may end badly." + +From the regimental commander's, Denisov rode straight to the staff with +a sincere desire to act on this advice. In the evening he came back to +his dugout in a state such as Rostov had never yet seen him in. Denisov +could not speak and gasped for breath. When Rostov asked what was the +matter, he only uttered some incoherent oaths and threats in a hoarse, +feeble voice. + +Alarmed at Denisov's condition, Rostov suggested that he should undress, +drink some water, and send for the doctor. + +"Twy me for wobbewy... oh! Some more water... Let them twy me, but I'll +always thwash scoundwels... and I'll tell the Empewo'... Ice..." he +muttered. + +The regimental doctor, when he came, said it was absolutely necessary to +bleed Denisov. A deep saucer of black blood was taken from his hairy arm +and only then was he able to relate what had happened to him. + +"I get there," began Denisov. "'Now then, where's your chief's +quarters?' They were pointed out. 'Please to wait.' 'I've widden twenty +miles and have duties to attend to and no time to wait. Announce me.' +Vewy well, so out comes their head chief--also took it into his head to +lecture me: 'It's wobbewy!'--'Wobbewy,' I say, 'is not done by man who +seizes pwovisions to feed his soldiers, but by him who takes them to +fill his own pockets!' 'Will you please be silent?' 'Vewy good!' Then he +says: 'Go and give a weceipt to the commissioner, but your affair will +be passed on to headquarters.' I go to the commissioner. I enter, and at +the table... who do you think? No, but wait a bit!... Who is it that's +starving us?" shouted Denisov, hitting the table with the fist of his +newly bled arm so violently that the table nearly broke down and the +tumblers on it jumped about. "Telyanin! 'What? So it's you who's +starving us to death! Is it? Take this and this!' and I hit him so pat, +stwaight on his snout... 'Ah, what a... what a...!' and I sta'ted +fwashing him... Well, I've had a bit of fun I can tell you!" cried +Denisov, gleeful and yet angry, his white teeth showing under his black +mustache. "I'd have killed him if they hadn't taken him away!" + +"But what are you shouting for? Calm yourself," said Rostov. "You've set +your arm bleeding afresh. Wait, we must tie it up again." + +Denisov was bandaged up again and put to bed. Next day he woke calm and +cheerful. + +But at noon the adjutant of the regiment came into Rostov's and +Denisov's dugout with a grave and serious face and regretfully showed +them a paper addressed to Major Denisov from the regimental commander in +which inquiries were made about yesterday's occurrence. The adjutant +told them that the affair was likely to take a very bad turn: that a +court-martial had been appointed, and that in view of the severity with +which marauding and insubordination were now regarded, degradation to +the ranks would be the best that could be hoped for. + +The case, as represented by the offended parties, was that, after +seizing the transports, Major Denisov, being drunk, went to the chief +quartermaster and without any provocation called him a thief, threatened +to strike him, and on being led out had rushed into the office and given +two officials a thrashing, and dislocated the arm of one of them. + +In answer to Rostov's renewed questions, Denisov said, laughing, that he +thought he remembered that some other fellow had got mixed up in it, but +that it was all nonsense and rubbish, and he did not in the least fear +any kind of trial, and that if those scoundrels dared attack him he +would give them an answer that they would not easily forget. + +Denisov spoke contemptuously of the whole matter, but Rostov knew him +too well not to detect that (while hiding it from others) at heart he +feared a court-martial and was worried over the affair, which was +evidently taking a bad turn. Every day, letters of inquiry and notices +from the court arrived, and on the first of May, Denisov was ordered to +hand the squadron over to the next in seniority and appear before the +staff of his division to explain his violence at the commissariat +office. On the previous day Platov reconnoitered with two Cossack +regiments and two squadrons of hussars. Denisov, as was his wont, rode +out in front of the outposts, parading his courage. A bullet fired by a +French sharpshooter hit him in the fleshy part of his leg. Perhaps at +another time Denisov would not have left the regiment for so slight a +wound, but now he took advantage of it to excuse himself from appearing +at the staff and went into hospital. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +In June the battle of Friedland was fought, in which the Pavlograds did +not take part, and after that an armistice was proclaimed. Rostov, who +felt his friend's absence very much, having no news of him since he left +and feeling very anxious about his wound and the progress of his +affairs, took advantage of the armistice to get leave to visit Denisov +in hospital. + +The hospital was in a small Prussian town that had been twice devastated +by Russian and French troops. Because it was summer, when it is so +beautiful out in the fields, the little town presented a particularly +dismal appearance with its broken roofs and fences, its foul streets, +tattered inhabitants, and the sick and drunken soldiers wandering about. + +The hospital was in a brick building with some of the window frames and +panes broken and a courtyard surrounded by the remains of a wooden fence +that had been pulled to pieces. Several bandaged soldiers, with pale +swollen faces, were sitting or walking about in the sunshine in the +yard. + +Directly Rostov entered the door he was enveloped by a smell of +putrefaction and hospital air. On the stairs he met a Russian army +doctor smoking a cigar. The doctor was followed by a Russian assistant. + +"I can't tear myself to pieces," the doctor was saying. "Come to Makar +Alexeevich in the evening. I shall be there." + +The assistant asked some further questions. + +"Oh, do the best you can! Isn't it all the same?" The doctor noticed +Rostov coming upstairs. + +"What do you want, sir?" said the doctor. "What do you want? The bullets +having spared you, do you want to try typhus? This is a pesthouse, sir." + +"How so?" asked Rostov. + +"Typhus, sir. It's death to go in. Only we two, Makeev and I" (he +pointed to the assistant), "keep on here. Some five of us doctors have +died in this place.... When a new one comes he is done for in a week," +said the doctor with evident satisfaction. "Prussian doctors have been +invited here, but our allies don't like it at all." + +Rostov explained that he wanted to see Major Denisov of the hussars, who +was wounded. + +"I don't know. I can't tell you, sir. Only think! I am alone in charge +of three hospitals with more than four hundred patients! It's well that +the charitable Prussian ladies send us two pounds of coffee and some +lint each month or we should be lost!" he laughed. "Four hundred, sir, +and they're always sending me fresh ones. There are four hundred? Eh?" +he asked, turning to the assistant. + +The assistant looked fagged out. He was evidently vexed and impatient +for the talkative doctor to go. + +"Major Denisov," Rostov said again. "He was wounded at Molliten." + +"Dead, I fancy. Eh, Makeev?" queried the doctor, in a tone of +indifference. + +The assistant, however, did not confirm the doctor's words. + +"Is he tall and with reddish hair?" asked the doctor. + +Rostov described Denisov's appearance. + +"There was one like that," said the doctor, as if pleased. "That one is +dead, I fancy. However, I'll look up our list. We had a list. Have you +got it, Makeev?" + +"Makar Alexeevich has the list," answered the assistant. "But if you'll +step into the officers' wards you'll see for yourself," he added, +turning to Rostov. + +"Ah, you'd better not go, sir," said the doctor, "or you may have to +stay here yourself." + +But Rostov bowed himself away from the doctor and asked the assistant to +show him the way. + +"Only don't blame me!" the doctor shouted up after him. + +Rostov and the assistant went into the dark corridor. The smell was so +strong there that Rostov held his nose and had to pause and collect his +strength before he could go on. A door opened to the right, and an +emaciated sallow man on crutches, barefoot and in underclothing, limped +out and, leaning against the doorpost, looked with glittering envious +eyes at those who were passing. Glancing in at the door, Rostov saw that +the sick and wounded were lying on the floor on straw and overcoats. + +"May I go in and look?" + +"What is there to see?" said the assistant. + +But, just because the assistant evidently did not want him to go in, +Rostov entered the soldiers' ward. The foul air, to which he had already +begun to get used in the corridor, was still stronger here. It was a +little different, more pungent, and one felt that this was where it +originated. + +In the long room, brightly lit up by the sun through the large windows, +the sick and wounded lay in two rows with their heads to the walls, and +leaving a passage in the middle. Most of them were unconscious and paid +no attention to the newcomers. Those who were conscious raised +themselves or lifted their thin yellow faces, and all looked intently at +Rostov with the same expression of hope, of relief, reproach, and envy +of another's health. Rostov went to the middle of the room and looking +through the open doors into the two adjoining rooms saw the same thing +there. He stood still, looking silently around. He had not at all +expected such a sight. Just before him, almost across the middle of the +passage on the bare floor, lay a sick man, probably a Cossack to judge +by the cut of his hair. The man lay on his back, his huge arms and legs +outstretched. His face was purple, his eyes were rolled back so that +only the whites were seen, and on his bare legs and arms which were +still red, the veins stood out like cords. He was knocking the back of +his head against the floor, hoarsely uttering some word which he kept +repeating. Rostov listened and made out the word. It was "drink, drink, +a drink!" Rostov glanced round, looking for someone who would put this +man back in his place and bring him water. + +"Who looks after the sick here?" he asked the assistant. + +Just then a commissariat soldier, a hospital orderly, came in from the +next room, marching stiffly, and drew up in front of Rostov. + +"Good day, your honor!" he shouted, rolling his eyes at Rostov and +evidently mistaking him for one of the hospital authorities. + +"Get him to his place and give him some water," said Rostov, pointing to +the Cossack. + +"Yes, your honor," the soldier replied complacently, and rolling his +eyes more than ever he drew himself up still straighter, but did not +move. + +"No, it's impossible to do anything here," thought Rostov, lowering his +eyes, and he was going out, but became aware of an intense look fixed on +him on his right, and he turned. Close to the corner, on an overcoat, +sat an old, unshaven, gray-bearded soldier as thin as a skeleton, with a +stern sallow face and eyes intently fixed on Rostov. The man's neighbor +on one side whispered something to him, pointing at Rostov, who noticed +that the old man wanted to speak to him. He drew nearer and saw that the +old man had only one leg bent under him, the other had been amputated +above the knee. His neighbor on the other side, who lay motionless some +distance from him with his head thrown back, was a young soldier with a +snub nose. His pale waxen face was still freckled and his eyes were +rolled back. Rostov looked at the young soldier and a cold chill ran +down his back. + +"Why, this one seems..." he began, turning to the assistant. + +"And how we've been begging, your honor," said the old soldier, his jaw +quivering. "He's been dead since morning. After all we're men, not +dogs." + +"I'll send someone at once. He shall be taken away--taken away at once," +said the assistant hurriedly. "Let us go, your honor." + +"Yes, yes, let us go," said Rostov hastily, and lowering his eyes and +shrinking, he tried to pass unnoticed between the rows of reproachful +envious eyes that were fixed upon him, and went out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Going along the corridor, the assistant led Rostov to the officers' +wards, consisting of three rooms, the doors of which stood open. There +were beds in these rooms and the sick and wounded officers were lying or +sitting on them. Some were walking about the rooms in hospital dressing +gowns. The first person Rostov met in the officers' ward was a thin +little man with one arm, who was walking about the first room in a +nightcap and hospital dressing gown, with a pipe between his teeth. +Rostov looked at him, trying to remember where he had seen him before. + +"See where we've met again!" said the little man. "Tushin, Tushin, don't +you remember, who gave you a lift at Schon Grabern? And I've had a bit +cut off, you see..." he went on with a smile, pointing to the empty +sleeve of his dressing gown. "Looking for Vasili Dmitrich Denisov? My +neighbor," he added, when he heard who Rostov wanted. "Here, here," and +Tushin led him into the next room, from whence came sounds of several +laughing voices. + +"How can they laugh, or even live at all here?" thought Rostov, still +aware of that smell of decomposing flesh that had been so strong in the +soldiers' ward, and still seeming to see fixed on him those envious +looks which had followed him out from both sides, and the face of that +young soldier with eyes rolled back. + +Denisov lay asleep on his bed with his head under the blanket, though it +was nearly noon. + +"Ah, Wostov? How are you, how are you?" he called out, still in the same +voice as in the regiment, but Rostov noticed sadly that under this +habitual ease and animation some new, sinister, hidden feeling showed +itself in the expression of Denisov's face and the intonations of his +voice. + +His wound, though a slight one, had not yet healed even now, six weeks +after he had been hit. His face had the same swollen pallor as the faces +of the other hospital patients, but it was not this that struck Rostov. +What struck him was that Denisov did not seem glad to see him, and +smiled at him unnaturally. He did not ask about the regiment, nor about +the general state of affairs, and when Rostov spoke of these matters did +not listen. + +Rostov even noticed that Denisov did not like to be reminded of the +regiment, or in general of that other free life which was going on +outside the hospital. He seemed to try to forget that old life and was +only interested in the affair with the commissariat officers. On +Rostov's inquiry as to how the matter stood, he at once produced from +under his pillow a paper he had received from the commission and the +rough draft of his answer to it. He became animated when he began +reading his paper and specially drew Rostov's attention to the stinging +rejoinders he made to his enemies. His hospital companions, who had +gathered round Rostov--a fresh arrival from the world outside--gradually +began to disperse as soon as Denisov began reading his answer. Rostov +noticed by their faces that all those gentlemen had already heard that +story more than once and were tired of it. Only the man who had the next +bed, a stout Uhlan, continued to sit on his bed, gloomily frowning and +smoking a pipe, and little one-armed Tushin still listened, shaking his +head disapprovingly. In the middle of the reading, the Uhlan interrupted +Denisov. + +"But what I say is," he said, turning to Rostov, "it would be best +simply to petition the Emperor for pardon. They say great rewards will +now be distributed, and surely a pardon would be granted...." + +"Me petition the Empewo'!" exclaimed Denisov, in a voice to which he +tried hard to give the old energy and fire, but which sounded like an +expression of irritable impotence. "What for? If I were a wobber I would +ask mercy, but I'm being court-martialed for bwinging wobbers to book. +Let them twy me, I'm not afwaid of anyone. I've served the Tsar and my +countwy honowably and have not stolen! And am I to be degwaded?... +Listen, I'm w'iting to them stwaight. This is what I say: 'If I had +wobbed the Tweasuwy...'" + +"It's certainly well written," said Tushin, "but that's not the point, +Vasili Dmitrich," and he also turned to Rostov. "One has to submit, and +Vasili Dmitrich doesn't want to. You know the auditor told you it was a +bad business." + +"Well, let it be bad," said Denisov. + +"The auditor wrote out a petition for you," continued Tushin, "and you +ought to sign it and ask this gentleman to take it. No doubt he" +(indicating Rostov) "has connections on the staff. You won't find a +better opportunity." + +"Haven't I said I'm not going to gwovel?" Denisov interrupted him, went +on reading his paper. + +Rostov had not the courage to persuade Denisov, though he instinctively +felt that the way advised by Tushin and the other officers was the +safest, and though he would have been glad to be of service to Denisov. +He knew his stubborn will and straightforward hasty temper. + +When the reading of Denisov's virulent reply, which took more than an +hour, was over, Rostov said nothing, and he spent the rest of the day in +a most dejected state of mind amid Denisov's hospital comrades, who had +gathered round him, telling them what he knew and listening to their +stories. Denisov was moodily silent all the evening. + +Late in the evening, when Rostov was about to leave, he asked Denisov +whether he had no commission for him. + +"Yes, wait a bit," said Denisov, glancing round at the officers, and +taking his papers from under his pillow he went to the window, where he +had an inkpot, and sat down to write. + +"It seems it's no use knocking one's head against a wall!" he said, +coming from the window and giving Rostov a large envelope. In it was the +petition to the Emperor drawn up by the auditor, in which Denisov, +without alluding to the offenses of the commissariat officials, simply +asked for pardon. + +"Hand it in. It seems..." + +He did not finish, but gave a painfully unnatural smile. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Having returned to the regiment and told the commander the state of +Denisov's affairs, Rostov rode to Tilsit with the letter to the Emperor. + +On the thirteenth of June the French and Russian Emperors arrived in +Tilsit. Boris Drubetskoy had asked the important personage on whom he +was in attendance, to include him in the suite appointed for the stay at +Tilsit. + +"I should like to see the great man," he said, alluding to Napoleon, +whom hitherto he, like everyone else, had always called Buonaparte. + +"You are speaking of Buonaparte?" asked the general, smiling. + +Boris looked at his general inquiringly and immediately saw that he was +being tested. + +"I am speaking, Prince, of the Emperor Napoleon," he replied. The +general patted him on the shoulder, with a smile. + +"You will go far," he said, and took him to Tilsit with him. + +Boris was among the few present at the Niemen on the day the two +Emperors met. He saw the raft, decorated with monograms, saw Napoleon +pass before the French Guards on the farther bank of the river, saw the +pensive face of the Emperor Alexander as he sat in silence in a tavern +on the bank of the Niemen awaiting Napoleon's arrival, saw both Emperors +get into boats, and saw how Napoleon--reaching the raft first--stepped +quickly forward to meet Alexander and held out his hand to him, and how +they both retired into the pavilion. Since he had begun to move in the +highest circles Boris had made it his habit to watch attentively all +that went on around him and to note it down. At the time of the meeting +at Tilsit he asked the names of those who had come with Napoleon and +about the uniforms they wore, and listened attentively to words spoken +by important personages. At the moment the Emperors went into the +pavilion he looked at his watch, and did not forget to look at it again +when Alexander came out. The interview had lasted an hour and fifty- +three minutes. He noted this down that same evening, among other facts +he felt to be of historic importance. As the Emperor's suite was a very +small one, it was a matter of great importance, for a man who valued his +success in the service, to be at Tilsit on the occasion of this +interview between the two Emperors, and having succeeded in this, Boris +felt that henceforth his position was fully assured. He had not only +become known, but people had grown accustomed to him and accepted him. +Twice he had executed commissions to the Emperor himself, so that the +latter knew his face, and all those at court, far from cold-shouldering +him as at first when they considered him a newcomer, would now have been +surprised had he been absent. + +Boris lodged with another adjutant, the Polish Count Zhilinski. +Zhilinski, a Pole brought up in Paris, was rich, and passionately fond +of the French, and almost every day of the stay at Tilsit, French +officers of the Guard and from French headquarters were dining and +lunching with him and Boris. + +On the evening of the twenty-fourth of June, Count Zhilinski arranged a +supper for his French friends. The guest of honor was an aide-de-camp of +Napoleon's, there were also several French officers of the Guard, and a +page of Napoleon's, a young lad of an old aristocratic French family. +That same day, Rostov, profiting by the darkness to avoid being +recognized in civilian dress, came to Tilsit and went to the lodging +occupied by Boris and Zhilinski. + +Rostov, in common with the whole army from which he came, was far from +having experienced the change of feeling toward Napoleon and the French- +-who from being foes had suddenly become friends--that had taken place +at headquarters and in Boris. In the army, Bonaparte and the French were +still regarded with mingled feelings of anger, contempt, and fear. Only +recently, talking with one of Platov's Cossack officers, Rostov had +argued that if Napoleon were taken prisoner he would be treated not as a +sovereign, but as a criminal. Quite lately, happening to meet a wounded +French colonel on the road, Rostov had maintained with heat that peace +was impossible between a legitimate sovereign and the criminal +Bonaparte. Rostov was therefore unpleasantly struck by the presence of +French officers in Boris' lodging, dressed in uniforms he had been +accustomed to see from quite a different point of view from the outposts +of the flank. As soon as he noticed a French officer, who thrust his +head out of the door, that warlike feeling of hostility which he always +experienced at the sight of the enemy suddenly seized him. He stopped at +the threshold and asked in Russian whether Drubetskoy lived there. +Boris, hearing a strange voice in the anteroom, came out to meet him. An +expression of annoyance showed itself for a moment on his face on first +recognizing Rostov. + +"Ah, it's you? Very glad, very glad to see you," he said, however, +coming toward him with a smile. But Rostov had noticed his first +impulse. + +"I've come at a bad time I think. I should not have come, but I have +business," he said coldly. + +"No, I only wonder how you managed to get away from your regiment. Dans +un moment je suis a vous," * he said, answering someone who called him. + + +* "In a minute I shall be at your disposal." + +"I see I'm intruding," Rostov repeated. + +The look of annoyance had already disappeared from Boris' face: having +evidently reflected and decided how to act, he very quietly took both +Rostov's hands and led him into the next room. His eyes, looking +serenely and steadily at Rostov, seemed to be veiled by something, as if +screened by blue spectacles of conventionality. So it seemed to Rostov. + +"Oh, come now! As if you could come at a wrong time!" said Boris, and he +led him into the room where the supper table was laid and introduced him +to his guests, explaining that he was not a civilian, but an hussar +officer, and an old friend of his. + +"Count Zhilinski--le Comte N. N.--le Capitaine S. S.," said he, naming +his guests. Rostov looked frowningly at the Frenchmen, bowed +reluctantly, and remained silent. + +Zhilinski evidently did not receive this new Russian person very +willingly into his circle and did not speak to Rostov. Boris did not +appear to notice the constraint the newcomer produced and, with the same +pleasant composure and the same veiled look in his eyes with which he +had met Rostov, tried to enliven the conversation. One of the Frenchmen, +with the politeness characteristic of his countrymen, addressed the +obstinately taciturn Rostov, saying that the latter had probably come to +Tilsit to see the Emperor. + +"No, I came on business," replied Rostov, briefly. + +Rostov had been out of humor from the moment he noticed the look of +dissatisfaction on Boris' face, and as always happens to those in a bad +humor, it seemed to him that everyone regarded him with aversion and +that he was in everybody's way. He really was in their way, for he alone +took no part in the conversation which again became general. The looks +the visitors cast on him seemed to say: "And what is he sitting here +for?" He rose and went up to Boris. + +"Anyhow, I'm in your way," he said in a low tone. "Come and talk over my +business and I'll go away." + +"Oh, no, not at all," said Boris. "But if you are tired, come and lie +down in my room and have a rest." + +"Yes, really..." + +They went into the little room where Boris slept. Rostov, without +sitting down, began at once, irritably (as if Boris were to blame in +some way) telling him about Denisov's affair, asking him whether, +through his general, he could and would intercede with the Emperor on +Denisov's behalf and get Denisov's petition handed in. When he and Boris +were alone, Rostov felt for the first time that he could not look Boris +in the face without a sense of awkwardness. Boris, with one leg crossed +over the other and stroking his left hand with the slender fingers of +his right, listened to Rostov as a general listens to the report of a +subordinate, now looking aside and now gazing straight into Rostov's +eyes with the same veiled look. Each time this happened Rostov felt +uncomfortable and cast down his eyes. + +"I have heard of such cases and know that His Majesty is very severe in +such affairs. I think it would be best not to bring it before the +Emperor, but to apply to the commander of the corps.... But in general, +I think..." + +"So you don't want to do anything? Well then, say so!" Rostov almost +shouted, not looking Boris in the face. + +Boris smiled. + +"On the contrary, I will do what I can. Only I thought..." + +At that moment Zhilinski's voice was heard calling Boris. + +"Well then, go, go, go..." said Rostov, and refusing supper and +remaining alone in the little room, he walked up and down for a long +time, hearing the lighthearted French conversation from the next room. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Rostov had come to Tilsit the day least suitable for a petition on +Denisov's behalf. He could not himself go to the general in attendance +as he was in mufti and had come to Tilsit without permission to do so, +and Boris, even had he wished to, could not have done so on the +following day. On that day, June 27, the preliminaries of peace were +signed. The Emperors exchanged decorations: Alexander received the Cross +of the Legion of Honor and Napoleon the Order of St. Andrew of the First +Degree, and a dinner had been arranged for the evening, given by a +battalion of the French Guards to the Preobrazhensk battalion. The +Emperors were to be present at that banquet. + +Rostov felt so ill at ease and uncomfortable with Boris that, when the +latter looked in after supper, he pretended to be asleep, and early next +morning went away, avoiding Boris. In his civilian clothes and a round +hat, he wandered about the town, staring at the French and their +uniforms and at the streets and houses where the Russian and French +Emperors were staying. In a square he saw tables being set up and +preparations made for the dinner; he saw the Russian and French colors +draped from side to side of the streets, with huge monograms A and N. In +the windows of the houses also flags and bunting were displayed. + +"Boris doesn't want to help me and I don't want to ask him. That's +settled," thought Nicholas. "All is over between us, but I won't leave +here without having done all I can for Denisov and certainly not without +getting his letter to the Emperor. The Emperor!... He is here!" thought +Rostov, who had unconsciously returned to the house where Alexander +lodged. + +Saddled horses were standing before the house and the suite were +assembling, evidently preparing for the Emperor to come out. + +"I may see him at any moment," thought Rostov. "If only I were to hand +the letter direct to him and tell him all... could they really arrest me +for my civilian clothes? Surely not! He would understand on whose side +justice lies. He understands everything, knows everything. Who can be +more just, more magnanimous than he? And even if they did arrest me for +being here, what would it matter?" thought he, looking at an officer who +was entering the house the Emperor occupied. "After all, people do go +in.... It's all nonsense! I'll go in and hand the letter to the Emperor +myself so much the worse for Drubetskoy who drives me to it!" And +suddenly with a determination he himself did not expect, Rostov felt for +the letter in his pocket and went straight to the house. + +"No, I won't miss my opportunity now, as I did after Austerlitz," he +thought, expecting every moment to meet the monarch, and conscious of +the blood that rushed to his heart at the thought. "I will fall at his +feet and beseech him. He will lift me up, will listen, and will even +thank me. 'I am happy when I can do good, but to remedy injustice is the +greatest happiness,'" Rostov fancied the sovereign saying. And passing +people who looked after him with curiosity, he entered the porch of the +Emperor's house. + +A broad staircase led straight up from the entry, and to the right he +saw a closed door. Below, under the staircase, was a door leading to the +lower floor. + +"Whom do you want?" someone inquired. + +"To hand in a letter, a petition, to His Majesty," said Nicholas, with a +tremor in his voice. + +"A petition? This way, to the officer on duty" (he was shown the door +leading downstairs), "only it won't be accepted." + +On hearing this indifferent voice, Rostov grew frightened at what he was +doing; the thought of meeting the Emperor at any moment was so +fascinating and consequently so alarming that he was ready to run away, +but the official who had questioned him opened the door, and Rostov +entered. + +A short stout man of about thirty, in white breeches and high boots and +a batiste shirt that he had evidently only just put on, standing in that +room, and his valet was buttoning on to the back of his breeches a new +pair of handsome silk-embroidered braces that, for some reason, +attracted Rostov's attention. This man was speaking to someone in the +adjoining room. + +"A good figure and in her first bloom," he was saying, but on seeing +Rostov, he stopped short and frowned. + +"What is it? A petition?" + +"What is it?" asked the person in the other room. + +"Another petitioner," answered the man with the braces. + +"Tell him to come later. He'll be coming out directly, we must go." + +"Later... later! Tomorrow. It's too late..." + +Rostov turned and was about to go, but the man in the braces stopped +him. + +"Whom have you come from? Who are you?" + +"I come from Major Denisov," answered Rostov. + +"Are you an officer?" + +"Lieutenant Count Rostov." + +"What audacity! Hand it in through your commander. And go along with +you... go," and he continued to put on the uniform the valet handed him. + +Rostov went back into the hall and noticed that in the porch there were +many officers and generals in full parade uniform, whom he had to pass. + +Cursing his temerity, his heart sinking at the thought of finding +himself at any moment face to face with the Emperor and being put to +shame and arrested in his presence, fully alive now to the impropriety +of his conduct and repenting of it, Rostov, with downcast eyes, was +making his way out of the house through the brilliant suite when a +familiar voice called him and a hand detained him. + +"What are you doing here, sir, in civilian dress?" asked a deep voice. + +It was a cavalry general who had obtained the Emperor's special favor +during this campaign, and who had formerly commanded the division in +which Rostov was serving. + +Rostov, in dismay, began justifying himself, but seeing the kindly, +jocular face of the general, he took him aside and in an excited voice +told him the whole affair, asking him to intercede for Denisov, whom the +general knew. Having heard Rostov to the end, the general shook his head +gravely. + +"I'm sorry, sorry for that fine fellow. Give me the letter." + +Hardly had Rostov handed him the letter and finished explaining +Denisov's case, when hasty steps and the jingling of spurs were heard on +the stairs, and the general, leaving him, went to the porch. The +gentlemen of the Emperor's suite ran down the stairs and went to their +horses. Hayne, the same groom who had been at Austerlitz, led up the +Emperor's horse, and the faint creak of a footstep Rostov knew at once +was heard on the stairs. Forgetting the danger of being recognized, +Rostov went close to the porch, together with some inquisitive +civilians, and again, after two years, saw those features he adored: +that same face and same look and step, and the same union of majesty and +mildness.... And the feeling of enthusiasm and love for his sovereign +rose again in Rostov's soul in all its old force. In the uniform of the +Preobrazhensk regiment--white chamois-leather breeches and high boots-- +and wearing a star Rostov did not know (it was that of the Legion +d'honneur), the monarch came out into the porch, putting on his gloves +and carrying his hat under his arm. He stopped and looked about him, +brightening everything around by his glance. He spoke a few words to +some of the generals, and, recognizing the former commander of Rostov's +division, smiled and beckoned to him. + +All the suite drew back and Rostov saw the general talking for some time +to the Emperor. + +The Emperor said a few words to him and took a step toward his horse. +Again the crowd of members of the suite and street gazers (among whom +was Rostov) moved nearer to the Emperor. Stopping beside his horse, with +his hand on the saddle, the Emperor turned to the cavalry general and +said in a loud voice, evidently wishing to be heard by all: + +"I cannot do it, General. I cannot, because the law is stronger than I," +and he raised his foot to the stirrup. + +The general bowed his head respectfully, and the monarch mounted and +rode down the street at a gallop. Beside himself with enthusiasm, Rostov +ran after him with the crowd. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +The Emperor rode to the square where, facing one another, a battalion of +the Preobrazhensk regiment stood on the right and a battalion of the +French Guards in their bearskin caps on the left. + +As the Tsar rode up to one flank of the battalions, which presented +arms, another group of horsemen galloped up to the opposite flank, and +at the head of them Rostov recognized Napoleon. It could be no one else. +He came at a gallop, wearing a small hat, a blue uniform open over a +white vest, and the St. Andrew ribbon over his shoulder. He was riding a +very fine thoroughbred gray Arab horse with a crimson gold-embroidered +saddlecloth. On approaching Alexander he raised his hat, and as he did +so, Rostov, with his cavalryman's eye, could not help noticing that +Napoleon did not sit well or firmly in the saddle. The battalions +shouted "Hurrah!" and "Vive l'Empereur!" Napoleon said something to +Alexander, and both Emperors dismounted and took each other's hands. +Napoleon's face wore an unpleasant and artificial smile. Alexander was +saying something affable to him. + +In spite of the trampling of the French gendarmes' horses, which were +pushing back the crowd, Rostov kept his eyes on every movement of +Alexander and Bonaparte. It struck him as a surprise that Alexander +treated Bonaparte as an equal and that the latter was quite at ease with +the Tsar, as if such relations with an Emperor were an everyday matter +to him. + +Alexander and Napoleon, with the long train of their suites, approached +the right flank of the Preobrazhensk battalion and came straight up to +the crowd standing there. The crowd unexpectedly found itself so close +to the Emperors that Rostov, standing in the front row, was afraid he +might be recognized. + +"Sire, I ask your permission to present the Legion of Honor to the +bravest of your soldiers," said a sharp, precise voice, articulating +every letter. + +This was said by the undersized Napoleon, looking up straight into +Alexander's eyes. Alexander listened attentively to what was said to him +and, bending his head, smiled pleasantly. + +"To him who has borne himself most bravely in this last war," added +Napoleon, accentuating each syllable, as with a composure and assurance +exasperating to Rostov, he ran his eyes over the Russian ranks drawn up +before him, who all presented arms with their eyes fixed on their +Emperor. + +"Will Your Majesty allow me to consult the colonel?" said Alexander and +took a few hasty steps toward Prince Kozlovski, the commander of the +battalion. + +Bonaparte meanwhile began taking the glove off his small white hand, +tore it in doing so, and threw it away. An aide-de-camp behind him +rushed forward and picked it up. + +"To whom shall it be given?" the Emperor Alexander asked Koslovski, in +Russian in a low voice. + +"To whomever Your Majesty commands." + +The Emperor knit his brows with dissatisfaction and, glancing back, +remarked: + +"But we must give him an answer." + +Kozlovski scanned the ranks resolutely and included Rostov in his +scrutiny. + +"Can it be me?" thought Rostov. + +"Lazarev!" the colonel called, with a frown, and Lazarev, the first +soldier in the rank, stepped briskly forward. + +"Where are you off to? Stop here!" voices whispered to Lazarev who did +not know where to go. Lazarev stopped, casting a sidelong look at his +colonel in alarm. His face twitched, as often happens to soldiers called +before the ranks. + +Napoleon slightly turned his head, and put his plump little hand out +behind him as if to take something. The members of his suite, guessing +at once what he wanted, moved about and whispered as they passed +something from one to another, and a page--the same one Rostov had seen +the previous evening at Boris'--ran forward and, bowing respectfully +over the outstretched hand and not keeping it waiting a moment, laid in +it an Order on a red ribbon. Napoleon, without looking, pressed two +fingers together and the badge was between them. Then he approached +Lazarev (who rolled his eyes and persistently gazed at his own monarch), +looked round at the Emperor Alexander to imply that what he was now +doing was done for the sake of his ally, and the small white hand +holding the Order touched one of Lazarev's buttons. It was as if +Napoleon knew that it was only necessary for his hand to deign to touch +that soldier's breast for the soldier to be forever happy, rewarded, and +distinguished from everyone else in the world. Napoleon merely laid the +cross on Lazarev's breast and, dropping his hand, turned toward +Alexander as though sure that the cross would adhere there. And it +really did. + +Officious hands, Russian and French, immediately seized the cross and +fastened it to the uniform. Lazarev glanced morosely at the little man +with white hands who was doing something to him and, still standing +motionless presenting arms, looked again straight into Alexander's eyes, +as if asking whether he should stand there, or go away, or do something +else. But receiving no orders, he remained for some time in that rigid +position. + +The Emperors remounted and rode away. The Preobrazhensk battalion, +breaking rank, mingled with the French Guards and sat down at the tables +prepared for them. + +Lazarev sat in the place of honor. Russian and French officers embraced +him, congratulated him, and pressed his hands. Crowds of officers and +civilians drew near merely to see him. A rumble of Russian and French +voices and laughter filled the air round the tables in the square. Two +officers with flushed faces, looking cheerful and happy, passed by +Rostov. + +"What d'you think of the treat? All on silver plate," one of them was +saying. "Have you seen Lazarev?" + +"I have." + +"Tomorrow, I hear, the Preobrazhenskis will give them a dinner." + +"Yes, but what luck for Lazarev! Twelve hundred francs' pension for +life." + +"Here's a cap, lads!" shouted a Preobrazhensk soldier, donning a shaggy +French cap. + +"It's a fine thing! First-rate!" + +"Have you heard the password?" asked one Guards' officer of another. +"The day before yesterday it was 'Napoleon, France, bravoure'; +yesterday, 'Alexandre, Russie, grandeur.' One day our Emperor gives it +and next day Napoleon. Tomorrow our Emperor will send a St. George's +Cross to the bravest of the French Guards. It has to be done. He must +respond in kind." + +Boris, too, with his friend Zhilinski, came to see the Preobrazhensk +banquet. On his way back, he noticed Rostov standing by the corner of a +house. + +"Rostov! How d'you do? We missed one another," he said, and could not +refrain from asking what was the matter, so strangely dismal and +troubled was Rostov's face. + +"Nothing, nothing," replied Rostov. + +"You'll call round?" + +"Yes, I will." + +Rostov stood at that corner for a long time, watching the feast from a +distance. In his mind, a painful process was going on which he could not +bring to a conclusion. Terrible doubts rose in his soul. Now he +remembered Denisov with his changed expression, his submission, and the +whole hospital, with arms and legs torn off and its dirt and disease. So +vividly did he recall that hospital stench of dead flesh that he looked +round to see where the smell came from. Next he thought of that self- +satisfied Bonaparte, with his small white hand, who was now an Emperor, +liked and respected by Alexander. Then why those severed arms and legs +and those dead men?... Then again he thought of Lazarev rewarded and +Denisov punished and unpardoned. He caught himself harboring such +strange thoughts that he was frightened. + +The smell of the food the Preobrazhenskis were eating and a sense of +hunger recalled him from these reflections; he had to get something to +eat before going away. He went to a hotel he had noticed that morning. +There he found so many people, among them officers who, like himself, +had come in civilian clothes, that he had difficulty in getting a +dinner. Two officers of his own division joined him. The conversation +naturally turned on the peace. The officers, his comrades, like most of +the army, were dissatisfied with the peace concluded after the battle of +Friedland. They said that had we held out a little longer Napoleon would +have been done for, as his troops had neither provisions nor ammunition. +Nicholas ate and drank (chiefly the latter) in silence. He finished a +couple of bottles of wine by himself. The process in his mind went on +tormenting him without reaching a conclusion. He feared to give way to +his thoughts, yet could not get rid of them. Suddenly, on one of the +officers' saying that it was humiliating to look at the French, Rostov +began shouting with uncalled-for wrath, and therefore much to the +surprise of the officers: + +"How can you judge what's best?" he cried, the blood suddenly rushing to +his face. "How can you judge the Emperor's actions? What right have we +to argue? We cannot comprehend either the Emperor's aims or his +actions!" + +"But I never said a word about the Emperor!" said the officer, +justifying himself, and unable to understand Rostov's outburst, except +on the supposition that he was drunk. + +But Rostov did not listen to him. + +"We are not diplomatic officials, we are soldiers and nothing more," he +went on. "If we are ordered to die, we must die. If we're punished, it +means that we have deserved it, it's not for us to judge. If the Emperor +pleases to recognize Bonaparte as Emperor and to conclude an alliance +with him, it means that that is the right thing to do. If once we begin +judging and arguing about everything, nothing sacred will be left! That +way we shall be saying there is no God--nothing!" shouted Nicholas, +banging the table--very little to the point as it seemed to his +listeners, but quite relevantly to the course of his own thoughts. + +"Our business is to do our duty, to fight and not to think! That's +all...." said he. + +"And to drink," said one of the officers, not wishing to quarrel. + +"Yes, and to drink," assented Nicholas. "Hullo there! Another bottle!" +he shouted. + +In 1808 the Emperor Alexander went to Erfurt for a fresh interview with +the Emperor Napoleon, and in the upper circles of Petersburg there was +much talk of the grandeur of this important meeting. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +In 1809 the intimacy between "the world's two arbiters," as Napoleon and +Alexander were called, was such that when Napoleon declared war on +Austria a Russian corps crossed the frontier to co-operate with our old +enemy Bonaparte against our old ally the Emperor of Austria, and in +court circles the possibility of marriage between Napoleon and one of +Alexander's sisters was spoken of. But besides considerations of foreign +policy, the attention of Russian society was at that time keenly +directed on the internal changes that were being undertaken in all the +departments of government. + +Life meanwhile--real life, with its essential interests of health and +sickness, toil and rest, and its intellectual interests in thought, +science, poetry, music, love, friendship, hatred, and passions--went on +as usual, independently of and apart from political friendship or enmity +with Napoleon Bonaparte and from all the schemes of reconstruction. + +BOOK SIX: 1808 - 10 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Prince Andrew had spent two years continuously in the country. + +All the plans Pierre had attempted on his estates--and constantly +changing from one thing to another had never accomplished--were carried +out by Prince Andrew without display and without perceptible difficulty. + +He had in the highest degree a practical tenacity which Pierre lacked, +and without fuss or strain on his part this set things going. + +On one of his estates the three hundred serfs were liberated and became +free agricultural laborers--this being one of the first examples of the +kind in Russia. On other estates the serfs' compulsory labor was +commuted for a quitrent. A trained midwife was engaged for Bogucharovo +at his expense, and a priest was paid to teach reading and writing to +the children of the peasants and household serfs. + +Prince Andrew spent half his time at Bald Hills with his father and his +son, who was still in the care of nurses. The other half he spent in +"Bogucharovo Cloister," as his father called Prince Andrew's estate. +Despite the indifference to the affairs of the world he had expressed to +Pierre, he diligently followed all that went on, received many books, +and to his surprise noticed that when he or his father had visitors from +Petersburg, the very vortex of life, these people lagged behind himself- +-who never left the country--in knowledge of what was happening in home +and foreign affairs. + +Besides being occupied with his estates and reading a great variety of +books, Prince Andrew was at this time busy with a critical survey of our +last two unfortunate campaigns, and with drawing up a proposal for a +reform of the army rules and regulations. + +In the spring of 1809 he went to visit the Ryazan estates which had been +inherited by his son, whose guardian he was. + +Warmed by the spring sunshine he sat in the caleche looking at the new +grass, the first leaves on the birches, and the first puffs of white +spring clouds floating across the clear blue sky. He was not thinking of +anything, but looked absent-mindedly and cheerfully from side to side. + +They crossed the ferry where he had talked with Pierre the year before. +They went through the muddy village, past threshing floors and green +fields of winter rye, downhill where snow still lodged near the bridge, +uphill where the clay had been liquefied by the rain, past strips of +stubble land and bushes touched with green here and there, and into a +birch forest growing on both sides of the road. In the forest it was +almost hot, no wind could be felt. The birches with their sticky green +leaves were motionless, and lilac-colored flowers and the first blades +of green grass were pushing up and lifting last year's leaves. The +coarse evergreen color of the small fir trees scattered here and there +among the birches was an unpleasant reminder of winter. On entering the +forest the horses began to snort and sweated visibly. + +Peter the footman made some remark to the coachman; the latter assented. +But apparently the coachman's sympathy was not enough for Peter, and he +turned on the box toward his master. + +"How pleasant it is, your excellency!" he said with a respectful smile. + +"What?" + +"It's pleasant, your excellency!" + + +"What is he talking about?" thought Prince Andrew. "Oh, the spring, I +suppose," he thought as he turned round. "Yes, really everything is +green already.... How early! The birches and cherry and alders too are +coming out.... But the oaks show no sign yet. Ah, here is one oak!" + +At the edge of the road stood an oak. Probably ten times the age of the +birches that formed the forest, it was ten times as thick and twice as +tall as they. It was an enormous tree, its girth twice as great as a man +could embrace, and evidently long ago some of its branches had been +broken off and its bark scarred. With its huge ungainly limbs sprawling +unsymmetrically, and its gnarled hands and fingers, it stood an aged, +stern, and scornful monster among the smiling birch trees. Only the +dead-looking evergreen firs dotted about in the forest, and this oak, +refused to yield to the charm of spring or notice either the spring or +the sunshine. + +"Spring, love, happiness!" this oak seemed to say. "Are you not weary of +that stupid, meaningless, constantly repeated fraud? Always the same and +always a fraud? There is no spring, no sun, no happiness! Look at those +cramped dead firs, ever the same, and at me too, sticking out my broken +and barked fingers just where they have grown, whether from my back or +my sides: as they have grown so I stand, and I do not believe in your +hopes and your lies." + +As he passed through the forest Prince Andrew turned several times to +look at that oak, as if expecting something from it. Under the oak, too, +were flowers and grass, but it stood among them scowling, rigid, +misshapen, and grim as ever. + +"Yes, the oak is right, a thousand times right," thought Prince Andrew. +"Let others--the young--yield afresh to that fraud, but we know life, +our life is finished!" + +A whole sequence of new thoughts, hopeless but mournfully pleasant, rose +in his soul in connection with that tree. During this journey he, as it +were, considered his life afresh and arrived at his old conclusion, +restful in its hopelessness: that it was not for him to begin anything +anew--but that he must live out his life, content to do no harm, and not +disturbing himself or desiring anything. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Prince Andrew had to see the Marshal of the Nobility for the district in +connection with the affairs of the Ryazan estate of which he was +trustee. This Marshal was Count Ilya Rostov, and in the middle of May +Prince Andrew went to visit him. + +It was now hot spring weather. The whole forest was already clothed in +green. It was dusty and so hot that on passing near water one longed to +bathe. + +Prince Andrew, depressed and preoccupied with the business about which +he had to speak to the Marshal, was driving up the avenue in the grounds +of the Rostovs' house at Otradnoe. He heard merry girlish cries behind +some trees on the right and saw a group of girls running to cross the +path of his caleche. Ahead of the rest and nearer to him ran a dark- +haired, remarkably slim, pretty girl in a yellow chintz dress, with a +white handkerchief on her head from under which loose locks of hair +escaped. The girl was shouting something but, seeing that he was a +stranger, ran back laughing without looking at him. + +Suddenly, he did not know why, he felt a pang. The day was so beautiful, +the sun so bright, everything around so gay, but that slim pretty girl +did not know, or wish to know, of his existence and was contented and +cheerful in her own separate--probably foolish--but bright and happy +life. "What is she so glad about? What is she thinking of? Not of the +military regulations or of the arrangement of the Ryazan serfs' +quitrents. Of what is she thinking? Why is she so happy?" Prince Andrew +asked himself with instinctive curiosity. + +In 1809 Count Ilya Rostov was living at Otradnoe just as he had done in +former years, that is, entertaining almost the whole province with +hunts, theatricals, dinners, and music. He was glad to see Prince +Andrew, as he was to see any new visitor, and insisted on his staying +the night. + +During the dull day, in the course of which he was entertained by his +elderly hosts and by the more important of the visitors (the old count's +house was crowded on account of an approaching name day), Prince Andrew +repeatedly glanced at Natasha, gay and laughing among the younger +members of the company, and asked himself each time, "What is she +thinking about? Why is she so glad?" + +That night, alone in new surroundings, he was long unable to sleep. He +read awhile and then put out his candle, but relit it. It was hot in the +room, the inside shutters of which were closed. He was cross with the +stupid old man (as he called Rostov), who had made him stay by assuring +him that some necessary documents had not yet arrived from town, and he +was vexed with himself for having stayed. + +He got up and went to the window to open it. As soon as he opened the +shutters the moonlight, as if it had long been watching for this, burst +into the room. He opened the casement. The night was fresh, bright, and +very still. Just before the window was a row of pollard trees, looking +black on one side and with a silvery light on the other. Beneath the +trees grew some kind of lush, wet, bushy vegetation with silver-lit +leaves and stems here and there. Farther back beyond the dark trees a +roof glittered with dew, to the right was a leafy tree with brilliantly +white trunk and branches, and above it shone the moon, nearly at its +full, in a pale, almost starless, spring sky. Prince Andrew leaned his +elbows on the window ledge and his eyes rested on that sky. + +His room was on the first floor. Those in the rooms above were also +awake. He heard female voices overhead. + +"Just once more," said a girlish voice above him which Prince Andrew +recognized at once. + +"But when are you coming to bed?" replied another voice. + +"I won't, I can't sleep, what's the use? Come now for the last time." + + +Two girlish voices sang a musical passage--the end of some song. + +"Oh, how lovely! Now go to sleep, and there's an end of it." + +"You go to sleep, but I can't," said the first voice, coming nearer to +the window. She was evidently leaning right out, for the rustle of her +dress and even her breathing could be heard. Everything was stone-still, +like the moon and its light and the shadows. Prince Andrew, too, dared +not stir, for fear of betraying his unintentional presence. + +"Sonya! Sonya!" he again heard the first speaker. "Oh, how can you +sleep? Only look how glorious it is! Ah, how glorious! Do wake up, +Sonya!" she said almost with tears in her voice. "There never, never was +such a lovely night before!" + +Sonya made some reluctant reply. + +"Do just come and see what a moon!... Oh, how lovely! Come here.... +Darling, sweetheart, come here! There, you see? I feel like sitting down +on my heels, putting my arms round my knees like this, straining tight, +as tight as possible, and flying away! Like this...." + +"Take care, you'll fall out." + +He heard the sound of a scuffle and Sonya's disapproving voice: "It's +past one o'clock." + +"Oh, you only spoil things for me. All right, go, go!" + +Again all was silent, but Prince Andrew knew she was still sitting +there. From time to time he heard a soft rustle and at times a sigh. + +"O God, O God! What does it mean?" she suddenly exclaimed. "To bed then, +if it must be!" and she slammed the casement. + +"For her I might as well not exist!" thought Prince Andrew while he +listened to her voice, for some reason expecting yet fearing that she +might say something about him. "There she is again! As if it were on +purpose," thought he. + +In his soul there suddenly arose such an unexpected turmoil of youthful +thoughts and hopes, contrary to the whole tenor of his life, that unable +to explain his condition to himself he lay down and fell asleep at once. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Next morning, having taken leave of no one but the count, and not +waiting for the ladies to appear, Prince Andrew set off for home. + +It was already the beginning of June when on his return journey he drove +into the birch forest where the gnarled old oak had made so strange and +memorable an impression on him. In the forest the harness bells sounded +yet more muffled than they had done six weeks before, for now all was +thick, shady, and dense, and the young firs dotted about in the forest +did not jar on the general beauty but, lending themselves to the mood +around, were delicately green with fluffy young shoots. + +The whole day had been hot. Somewhere a storm was gathering, but only a +small cloud had scattered some raindrops lightly, sprinkling the road +and the sappy leaves. The left side of the forest was dark in the shade, +the right side glittered in the sunlight, wet and shiny and scarcely +swayed by the breeze. Everything was in blossom, the nightingales +trilled, and their voices reverberated now near, now far away. + +"Yes, here in this forest was that oak with which I agreed," thought +Prince Andrew. "But where is it?" he again wondered, gazing at the left +side of the road, and without recognizing it he looked with admiration +at the very oak he sought. The old oak, quite transfigured, spreading +out a canopy of sappy dark-green foliage, stood rapt and slightly +trembling in the rays of the evening sun. Neither gnarled fingers nor +old scars nor old doubts and sorrows were any of them in evidence now. +Through the hard century-old bark, even where there were no twigs, +leaves had sprouted such as one could hardly believe the old veteran +could have produced. + +"Yes, it is the same oak," thought Prince Andrew, and all at once he was +seized by an unreasoning springtime feeling of joy and renewal. All the +best moments of his life suddenly rose to his memory. Austerlitz with +the lofty heavens, his wife's dead reproachful face, Pierre at the +ferry, that girl thrilled by the beauty of the night, and that night +itself and the moon, and.... all this rushed suddenly to his mind. + +"No, life is not over at thirty-one!" Prince Andrew suddenly decided +finally and decisively. "It is not enough for me to know what I have in +me--everyone must know it: Pierre, and that young girl who wanted to fly +away into the sky, everyone must know me, so that my life may not be +lived for myself alone while others live so apart from it, but so that +it may be reflected in them all, and they and I may live in harmony!" + +On reaching home Prince Andrew decided to go to Petersburg that autumn +and found all sorts of reasons for this decision. A whole series of +sensible and logical considerations showing it to be essential for him +to go to Petersburg, and even to re-enter the service, kept springing up +in his mind. He could not now understand how he could ever even have +doubted the necessity of taking an active share in life, just as a month +before he had not understood how the idea of leaving the quiet country +could ever enter his head. It now seemed clear to him that all his +experience of life must be senselessly wasted unless he applied it to +some kind of work and again played an active part in life. He did not +even remember how formerly, on the strength of similar wretched logical +arguments, it had seemed obvious that he would be degrading himself if +he now, after the lessons he had had in life, allowed himself to believe +in the possibility of being useful and in the possibility of happiness +or love. Now reason suggested quite the opposite. After that journey to +Ryazan he found the country dull; his former pursuits no longer +interested him, and often when sitting alone in his study he got up, +went to the mirror, and gazed a long time at his own face. Then he would +turn away to the portrait of his dead Lise, who with hair curled a la +grecque looked tenderly and gaily at him out of the gilt frame. She did +not now say those former terrible words to him, but looked simply, +merrily, and inquisitively at him. And Prince Andrew, crossing his arms +behind him, long paced the room, now frowning, now smiling, as he +reflected on those irrational, inexpressible thoughts, secret as a +crime, which altered his whole life and were connected with Pierre, with +fame, with the girl at the window, the oak, and woman's beauty and love. +And if anyone came into his room at such moments he was particularly +cold, stern, and above all unpleasantly logical. + +"My dear," Princess Mary entering at such a moment would say, "little +Nicholas can't go out today, it's very cold." + +"If it were hot," Prince Andrew would reply at such times very dryly to +his sister, "he could go out in his smock, but as it is cold he must +wear warm clothes, which were designed for that purpose. That is what +follows from the fact that it is cold; and not that a child who needs +fresh air should remain at home," he would add with extreme logic, as if +punishing someone for those secret illogical emotions that stirred +within him. + +At such moments Princess Mary would think how intellectual work dries +men up. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Prince Andrew arrived in Petersburg in August, 1809. It was the time +when the youthful Speranski was at the zenith of his fame and his +reforms were being pushed forward with the greatest energy. That same +August the Emperor was thrown from his caleche, injured his leg, and +remained three weeks at Peterhof, receiving Speranski every day and no +one else. At that time the two famous decrees were being prepared that +so agitated society--abolishing court ranks and introducing examinations +to qualify for the grades of Collegiate Assessor and State Councilor-- +and not merely these but a whole state constitution, intended to change +the existing order of government in Russia: legal, administrative, and +financial, from the Council of State down to the district tribunals. Now +those vague liberal dreams with which the Emperor Alexander had ascended +the throne, and which he had tried to put into effect with the aid of +his associates, Czartoryski, Novosiltsev, Kochubey, and Strogonov--whom +he himself in jest had called his Comite de salut public--were taking +shape and being realized. + +Now all these men were replaced by Speranski on the civil side, and +Arakcheev on the military. Soon after his arrival Prince Andrew, as a +gentleman of the chamber, presented himself at court and at a levee. The +Emperor, though he met him twice, did not favor him with a single word. +It had always seemed to Prince Andrew before that he was antipathetic to +the Emperor and that the latter disliked his face and personality +generally, and in the cold, repellent glance the Emperor gave him, he +now found further confirmation of this surmise. The courtiers explained +the Emperor's neglect of him by His Majesty's displeasure at Bolkonski's +not having served since 1805. + +"I know myself that one cannot help one's sympathies and antipathies," +thought Prince Andrew, "so it will not do to present my proposal for the +reform of the army regulations to the Emperor personally, but the +project will speak for itself." + +He mentioned what he had written to an old field marshal, a friend of +his father's. The field marshal made an appointment to see him, received +him graciously, and promised to inform the Emperor. A few days later +Prince Andrew received notice that he was to go to see the Minister of +War, Count Arakcheev. + +On the appointed day Prince Andrew entered Count Arakcheev's waiting +room at nine in the morning. + +He did not know Arakcheev personally, had never seen him, and all he had +heard of him inspired him with but little respect for the man. + +"He is Minister of War, a man trusted by the Emperor, and I need not +concern myself about his personal qualities: he has been commissioned to +consider my project, so he alone can get it adopted," thought Prince +Andrew as he waited among a number of important and unimportant people +in Count Arakcheev's waiting room. + +During his service, chiefly as an adjutant, Prince Andrew had seen the +anterooms of many important men, and the different types of such rooms +were well known to him. Count Arakcheev's anteroom had quite a special +character. The faces of the unimportant people awaiting their turn for +an audience showed embarrassment and servility; the faces of those of +higher rank expressed a common feeling of awkwardness, covered by a mask +of unconcern and ridicule of themselves, their situation, and the person +for whom they were waiting. Some walked thoughtfully up and down, others +whispered and laughed. Prince Andrew heard the nickname "Sila +Andreevich" and the words, "Uncle will give it to us hot," in reference +to Count Arakcheev. One general (an important personage), evidently +feeling offended at having to wait so long, sat crossing and uncrossing +his legs and smiling contemptuously to himself. + +But the moment the door opened one feeling alone appeared on all faces-- +that of fear. Prince Andrew for the second time asked the adjutant on +duty to take in his name, but received an ironical look and was told +that his turn would come in due course. After some others had been shown +in and out of the minister's room by the adjutant on duty, an officer +who struck Prince Andrew by his humiliated and frightened air was +admitted at that terrible door. This officer's audience lasted a long +time. Then suddenly the grating sound of a harsh voice was heard from +the other side of the door, and the officer--with pale face and +trembling lips--came out and passed through the waiting room, clutching +his head. + +After this Prince Andrew was conducted to the door and the officer on +duty said in a whisper, "To the right, at the window." + +Prince Andrew entered a plain tidy room and saw at the table a man of +forty with a long waist, a long closely cropped head, deep wrinkles, +scowling brows above dull greenish-hazel eyes and an overhanging red +nose. Arakcheev turned his head toward him without looking at him. + +"What is your petition?" asked Arakcheev. + +"I am not petitioning, your excellency," returned Prince Andrew quietly. + +Arakcheev's eyes turned toward him. + +"Sit down," said he. "Prince Bolkonski?" + +"I am not petitioning about anything. His Majesty the Emperor has +deigned to send your excellency a project submitted by me..." + +"You see, my dear sir, I have read your project," interrupted Arakcheev, +uttering only the first words amiably and then--again without looking at +Prince Andrew--relapsing gradually into a tone of grumbling contempt. +"You are proposing new military laws? There are many laws but no one to +carry out the old ones. Nowadays everybody designs laws, it is easier +writing than doing." + +"I came at His Majesty the Emperor's wish to learn from your excellency +how you propose to deal with the memorandum I have presented," said +Prince Andrew politely. + +"I have endorsed a resolution on your memorandum and sent it to the +committee. I do not approve of it," said Arakcheev, rising and taking a +paper from his writing table. "Here!" and he handed it to Prince Andrew. + +Across the paper was scrawled in pencil, without capital letters, +misspelled, and without punctuation: "Unsoundly constructed because +resembles an imitation of the French military code and from the Articles +of War needlessly deviating." + +"To what committee has the memorandum been referred?" inquired Prince +Andrew. + +"To the Committee on Army Regulations, and I have recommended that your +honor should be appointed a member, but without a salary." + +Prince Andrew smiled. + +"I don't want one." + +"A member without salary," repeated Arakcheev. "I have the honor... Eh! +Call the next one! Who else is there?" he shouted, bowing to Prince +Andrew. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +While waiting for the announcement of his appointment to the committee +Prince Andrew looked up his former acquaintances, particularly those he +knew to be in power and whose aid he might need. In Petersburg he now +experienced the same feeling he had had on the eve of a battle, when +troubled by anxious curiosity and irresistibly attracted to the ruling +circles where the future, on which the fate of millions depended, was +being shaped. From the irritation of the older men, the curiosity of the +uninitiated, the reserve of the initiated, the hurry and preoccupation +of everyone, and the innumerable committees and commissions of whose +existence he learned every day, he felt that now, in 1809, here in +Petersburg a vast civil conflict was in preparation, the commander in +chief of which was a mysterious person he did not know, but who was +supposed to be a man of genius--Speranski. And this movement of +reconstruction of which Prince Andrew had a vague idea, and Speranski +its chief promoter, began to interest him so keenly that the question of +the army regulations quickly receded to a secondary place in his +consciousness. + +Prince Andrew was most favorably placed to secure good reception in the +highest and most diverse Petersburg circles of the day. The reforming +party cordially welcomed and courted him, in the first place because he +was reputed to be clever and very well read, and secondly because by +liberating his serfs he had obtained the reputation of being a liberal. +The party of the old and dissatisfied, who censured the innovations, +turned to him expecting his sympathy in their disapproval of the +reforms, simply because he was the son of his father. The feminine +society world welcomed him gladly, because he was rich, distinguished, a +good match, and almost a newcomer, with a halo of romance on account of +his supposed death and the tragic loss of his wife. Besides this the +general opinion of all who had known him previously was that he had +greatly improved during these last five years, having softened and grown +more manly, lost his former affectation, pride, and contemptuous irony, +and acquired the serenity that comes with years. People talked about +him, were interested in him, and wanted to meet him. + +The day after his interview with Count Arakcheev, Prince Andrew spent +the evening at Count Kochubey's. He told the count of his interview with +Sila Andreevich (Kochubey spoke of Arakcheev by that nickname with the +same vague irony Prince Andrew had noticed in the Minister of War's +anteroom). + +"Mon cher, even in this case you can't do without Michael Mikhaylovich +Speranski. He manages everything. I'll speak to him. He has promised to +come this evening." + +"What has Speranski to do with the army regulations?" asked Prince +Andrew. + +Kochubey shook his head smilingly, as if surprised at Bolkonski's +simplicity. + +"We were talking to him about you a few days ago," Kochubey continued, +"and about your freed plowmen." + +"Oh, is it you, Prince, who have freed your serfs?" said an old man of +Catherine's day, turning contemptuously toward Bolkonski. + +"It was a small estate that brought in no profit," replied Prince +Andrew, trying to extenuate his action so as not to irritate the old man +uselessly. + +"Afraid of being late..." said the old man, looking at Kochubey. + +"There's one thing I don't understand," he continued. "Who will plow the +land if they are set free? It is easy to write laws, but difficult to +rule.... Just the same as now--I ask you, Count--who will be heads of +the departments when everybody has to pass examinations?" + +"Those who pass the examinations, I suppose," replied Kochubey, crossing +his legs and glancing round. + +"Well, I have Pryanichnikov serving under me, a splendid man, a +priceless man, but he's sixty. Is he to go up for examination?" + +"Yes, that's a difficulty, as education is not at all general, but..." + +Count Kochubey did not finish. He rose, took Prince Andrew by the arm, +and went to meet a tall, bald, fair man of about forty with a large open +forehead and a long face of unusual and peculiar whiteness, who was just +entering. The newcomer wore a blue swallow-tail coat with a cross +suspended from his neck and a star on his left breast. It was Speranski. +Prince Andrew recognized him at once, and felt a throb within him, as +happens at critical moments of life. Whether it was from respect, envy, +or anticipation, he did not know. Speranski's whole figure was of a +peculiar type that made him easily recognizable. In the society in which +Prince Andrew lived he had never seen anyone who together with awkward +and clumsy gestures possessed such calmness and self-assurance; he had +never seen so resolute yet gentle an expression as that in those half- +closed, rather humid eyes, or so firm a smile that expressed nothing; +nor had he heard such a refined, smooth, soft voice; above all he had +never seen such delicate whiteness of face or hands--hands which were +broad, but very plump, soft, and white. Such whiteness and softness +Prince Andrew had only seen on the faces of soldiers who had been long +in hospital. This was Speranski, Secretary of State, reporter to the +Emperor and his companion at Erfurt, where he had more than once met and +talked with Napoleon. + +Speranski did not shift his eyes from one face to another as people +involuntarily do on entering a large company and was in no hurry to +speak. He spoke slowly, with assurance that he would be listened to, and +he looked only at the person with whom he was conversing. + +Prince Andrew followed Speranski's every word and movement with +particular attention. As happens to some people, especially to men who +judge those near to them severely, he always on meeting anyone new-- +especially anyone whom, like Speranski, he knew by reputation--expected +to discover in him the perfection of human qualities. + +Speranski told Kochubey he was sorry he had been unable to come sooner +as he had been detained at the palace. He did not say that the Emperor +had kept him, and Prince Andrew noticed this affectation of modesty. +When Kochubey introduced Prince Andrew, Speranski slowly turned his eyes +to Bolkonski with his customary smile and looked at him in silence. + +"I am very glad to make your acquaintance. I had heard of you, as +everyone has," he said after a pause. + +Kochubey said a few words about the reception Arakcheev had given +Bolkonski. Speranski smiled more markedly. + +"The chairman of the Committee on Army Regulations is my good friend +Monsieur Magnitski," he said, fully articulating every word and +syllable, "and if you like I can put you in touch with him." He paused +at the full stop. "I hope you will find him sympathetic and ready to co- +operate in promoting all that is reasonable." + +A circle soon formed round Speranski, and the old man who had talked +about his subordinate Pryanichnikov addressed a question to him. + +Prince Andrew without joining in the conversation watched every movement +of Speranski's: this man, not long since an insignificant divinity +student, who now, Bolkonski thought, held in his hands--those plump +white hands--the fate of Russia. Prince Andrew was struck by the +extraordinarily disdainful composure with which Speranski answered the +old man. He appeared to address condescending words to him from an +immeasurable height. When the old man began to speak too loud, Speranski +smiled and said he could not judge of the advantage or disadvantage of +what pleased the sovereign. + +Having talked for a little while in the general circle, Speranski rose +and coming up to Prince Andrew took him along to the other end of the +room. It was clear that he thought it necessary to interest himself in +Bolkonski. + +"I had no chance to talk with you, Prince, during the animated +conversation in which that venerable gentleman involved me," he said +with a mildly contemptuous smile, as if intimating by that smile that he +and Prince Andrew understood the insignificance of the people with whom +he had just been talking. This flattered Prince Andrew. "I have known of +you for a long time: first from your action with regard to your serfs, a +first example, of which it is very desirable that there should be more +imitators; and secondly because you are one of those gentlemen of the +chamber who have not considered themselves offended by the new decree +concerning the ranks allotted to courtiers, which is causing so much +gossip and tittle-tattle." + +"No," said Prince Andrew, "my father did not wish me to take advantage +of the privilege. I began the service from the lower grade." + +"Your father, a man of the last century, evidently stands above our +contemporaries who so condemn this measure which merely reestablishes +natural justice." + +"I think, however, that these condemnations have some ground," returned +Prince Andrew, trying to resist Speranski's influence, of which he began +to be conscious. He did not like to agree with him in everything and +felt a wish to contradict. Though he usually spoke easily and well, he +felt a difficulty in expressing himself now while talking with +Speranski. He was too much absorbed in observing the famous man's +personality. + +"Grounds of personal ambition maybe," Speranski put in quietly. + +"And of state interest to some extent," said Prince Andrew. + +"What do you mean?" asked Speranski quietly, lowering his eyes. + +"I am an admirer of Montesquieu," replied Prince Andrew, "and his idea +that le principe des monarchies est l'honneur me parait incontestable. +Certains droits et privileges de la noblesse me paraissent etre des +moyens de soutenir ce sentiment." * + + +* "The principle of monarchies is honor seems to me incontestable. +Certain rights and privileges for the aristocracy appear to me a means +of maintaining that sentiment." + +The smile vanished from Speranski's white face, which was much improved +by the change. Probably Prince Andrew's thought interested him. + +"Si vous envisagez la question sous ce point de vue," * he began, +pronouncing French with evident difficulty, and speaking even slower +than in Russian but quite calmly. + + +* "If you regard the question from that point of view." + +Speranski went on to say that honor, l'honneur, cannot be upheld by +privileges harmful to the service; that honor, l'honneur, is either a +negative concept of not doing what is blameworthy or it is a source of +emulation in pursuit of commendation and rewards, which recognize it. +His arguments were concise, simple, and clear. + +"An institution upholding honor, the source of emulation, is one similar +to the Legion d'honneur of the great Emperor Napoleon, not harmful but +helpful to the success of the service, but not a class or court +privilege." + +"I do not dispute that, but it cannot be denied that court privileges +have attained the same end," returned Prince Andrew. "Every courtier +considers himself bound to maintain his position worthily." + +"Yet you do not care to avail yourself of the privilege, Prince," said +Speranski, indicating by a smile that he wished to finish amiably an +argument which was embarrassing for his companion. "If you will do me +the honor of calling on me on Wednesday," he added, "I will, after +talking with Magnitski, let you know what may interest you, and shall +also have the pleasure of a more detailed chat with you." + +Closing his eyes, he bowed a la francaise, without taking leave, and +trying to attract as little attention as possible, he left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +During the first weeks of his stay in Petersburg Prince Andrew felt the +whole trend of thought he had formed during his life of seclusion quite +overshadowed by the trifling cares that engrossed him in that city. + +On returning home in the evening he would jot down in his notebook four +or five necessary calls or appointments for certain hours. The mechanism +of life, the arrangement of the day so as to be in time everywhere, +absorbed the greater part of his vital energy. He did nothing, did not +even think or find time to think, but only talked, and talked +successfully, of what he had thought while in the country. + +He sometimes noticed with dissatisfaction that he repeated the same +remark on the same day in different circles. But he was so busy for +whole days together that he had no time to notice that he was thinking +of nothing. + +As he had done on their first meeting at Kochubey's, Speranski produced +a strong impression on Prince Andrew on the Wednesday, when he received +him tête-à-tête at his own house and talked to him long and +confidentially. + +To Bolkonski so many people appeared contemptible and insignificant +creatures, and he so longed to find in someone the living ideal of that +perfection toward which he strove, that he readily believed that in +Speranski he had found this ideal of a perfectly rational and virtuous +man. Had Speranski sprung from the same class as himself and possessed +the same breeding and traditions, Bolkonski would soon have discovered +his weak, human, unheroic sides; but as it was, Speranski's strange and +logical turn of mind inspired him with respect all the more because he +did not quite understand him. Moreover, Speranski, either because he +appreciated the other's capacity or because he considered it necessary +to win him to his side, showed off his dispassionate calm reasonableness +before Prince Andrew and flattered him with that subtle flattery which +goes hand in hand with self-assurance and consists in a tacit assumption +that one's companion is the only man besides oneself capable of +understanding the folly of the rest of mankind and the reasonableness +and profundity of one's own ideas. + +During their long conversation on Wednesday evening, Speranski more than +once remarked: "We regard everything that is above the common level of +rooted custom..." or, with a smile: "But we want the wolves to be fed +and the sheep to be safe..." or: "They cannot understand this..." and +all in a way that seemed to say: "We, you and I, understand what they +are and who we are." + +This first long conversation with Speranski only strengthened in Prince +Andrew the feeling he had experienced toward him at their first meeting. +He saw in him a remarkable, clear-thinking man of vast intellect who by +his energy and persistence had attained power, which he was using solely +for the welfare of Russia. In Prince Andrew's eyes Speranski was the man +he would himself have wished to be--one who explained all the facts of +life reasonably, considered important only what was rational, and was +capable of applying the standard of reason to everything. Everything +seemed so simple and clear in Speranski's exposition that Prince Andrew +involuntarily agreed with him about everything. If he replied and +argued, it was only because he wished to maintain his independence and +not submit to Speranski's opinions entirely. Everything was right and +everything was as it should be: only one thing disconcerted Prince +Andrew. This was Speranski's cold, mirrorlike look, which did not allow +one to penetrate to his soul, and his delicate white hands, which Prince +Andrew involuntarily watched as one does watch the hands of those who +possess power. This mirrorlike gaze and those delicate hands irritated +Prince Andrew, he knew not why. He was unpleasantly struck, too, by the +excessive contempt for others that he observed in Speranski, and by the +diversity of lines of argument he used to support his opinions. He made +use of every kind of mental device, except analogy, and passed too +boldly, it seemed to Prince Andrew, from one to another. Now he would +take up the position of a practical man and condemn dreamers; now that +of a satirist, and laugh ironically at his opponents; now grow severely +logical, or suddenly rise to the realm of metaphysics. (This last +resource was one he very frequently employed.) He would transfer a +question to metaphysical heights, pass on to definitions of space, time, +and thought, and, having deduced the refutation he needed, would again +descend to the level of the original discussion. + +In general the trait of Speranski's mentality which struck Prince Andrew +most was his absolute and unshakable belief in the power and authority +of reason. It was evident that the thought could never occur to him +which to Prince Andrew seemed so natural, namely, that it is after all +impossible to express all one thinks; and that he had never felt the +doubt, "Is not all I think and believe nonsense?" And it was just this +peculiarity of Speranski's mind that particularly attracted Prince +Andrew. + +During the first period of their acquaintance Bolkonski felt a +passionate admiration for him similar to that which he had once felt for +Bonaparte. The fact that Speranski was the son of a village priest, and +that stupid people might meanly despise him on account of his humble +origin (as in fact many did), caused Prince Andrew to cherish his +sentiment for him the more, and unconsciously to strengthen it. + +On that first evening Bolkonski spent with him, having mentioned the +Commission for the Revision of the Code of Laws, Speranski told him +sarcastically that the Commission had existed for a hundred and fifty +years, had cost millions, and had done nothing except that Rosenkampf +had stuck labels on the corresponding paragraphs of the different codes. + +"And that is all the state has for the millions it has spent," said he. +"We want to give the Senate new juridical powers, but we have no laws. +That is why it is a sin for men like you, Prince, not to serve in these +times!" + +Prince Andrew said that for that work an education in jurisprudence was +needed which he did not possess. + +"But nobody possesses it, so what would you have? It is a vicious circle +from which we must break a way out." + +A week later Prince Andrew was a member of the Committee on Army +Regulations and--what he had not at all expected--was chairman of a +section of the committee for the revision of the laws. At Speranski's +request he took the first part of the Civil Code that was being drawn up +and, with the aid of the Code Napoleon and the Institutes of Justinian, +he worked at formulating the section on Personal Rights. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Nearly two years before this, in 1808, Pierre on returning to Petersburg +after visiting his estates had involuntarily found himself in a leading +position among the Petersburg Freemasons. He arranged dining and funeral +lodge meetings, enrolled new members, and busied himself uniting various +lodges and acquiring authentic charters. He gave money for the erection +of temples and supplemented as far as he could the collection of alms, +in regard to which the majority of members were stingy and irregular. He +supported almost singlehanded a poorhouse the order had founded in +Petersburg. + +His life meanwhile continued as before, with the same infatuations and +dissipations. He liked to dine and drink well, and though he considered +it immoral and humiliating could not resist the temptations of the +bachelor circles in which he moved. + +Amid the turmoil of his activities and distractions, however, Pierre at +the end of a year began to feel that the more firmly he tried to rest +upon it, the more masonic ground on which he stood gave way under him. +At the same time he felt that the deeper the ground sank under him the +closer bound he involuntarily became to the order. When he had joined +the Freemasons he had experienced the feeling of one who confidently +steps onto the smooth surface of a bog. When he put his foot down it +sank in. To make quite sure of the firmness of the ground, he put his +other foot down and sank deeper still, became stuck in it, and +involuntarily waded knee-deep in the bog. + +Joseph Alexeevich was not in Petersburg--he had of late stood aside from +the affairs of the Petersburg lodges, and lived almost entirely in +Moscow. All the members of the lodges were men Pierre knew in ordinary +life, and it was difficult for him to regard them merely as Brothers in +Freemasonry and not as Prince B. or Ivan Vasilevich D., whom he knew in +society mostly as weak and insignificant men. Under the masonic aprons +and insignia he saw the uniforms and decorations at which they aimed in +ordinary life. Often after collecting alms, and reckoning up twenty to +thirty rubles received for the most part in promises from a dozen +members, of whom half were as well able to pay as himself, Pierre +remembered the masonic vow in which each Brother promised to devote all +his belongings to his neighbor, and doubts on which he tried not to +dwell arose in his soul. + +He divided the Brothers he knew into four categories. In the first he +put those who did not take an active part in the affairs of the lodges +or in human affairs, but were exclusively occupied with the mystical +science of the order: with questions of the threefold designation of +God, the three primordial elements--sulphur, mercury, and salt--or the +meaning of the square and all the various figures of the temple of +Solomon. Pierre respected this class of Brothers to which the elder ones +chiefly belonged, including, Pierre thought, Joseph Alexeevich himself, +but he did not share their interests. His heart was not in the mystical +aspect of Freemasonry. + +In the second category Pierre reckoned himself and others like him, +seeking and vacillating, who had not yet found in Freemasonry a straight +and comprehensible path, but hoped to do so. + +In the third category he included those Brothers (the majority) who saw +nothing in Freemasonry but the external forms and ceremonies, and prized +the strict performance of these forms without troubling about their +purport or significance. Such were Willarski and even the Grand Master +of the principal lodge. + +Finally, to the fourth category also a great many Brothers belonged, +particularly those who had lately joined. These according to Pierre's +observations were men who had no belief in anything, nor desire for +anything, but joined the Freemasons merely to associate with the wealthy +young Brothers who were influential through their connections or rank, +and of whom there were very many in the lodge. + +Pierre began to feel dissatisfied with what he was doing. Freemasonry, +at any rate as he saw it here, sometimes seemed to him based merely on +externals. He did not think of doubting Freemasonry itself, but +suspected that Russian Masonry had taken a wrong path and deviated from +its original principles. And so toward the end of the year he went +abroad to be initiated into the higher secrets of the order. + +In the summer of 1809 Pierre returned to Petersburg. Our Freemasons knew +from correspondence with those abroad that Bezukhov had obtained the +confidence of many highly placed persons, had been initiated into many +mysteries, had been raised to a higher grade, and was bringing back with +him much that might conduce to the advantage of the masonic cause in +Russia. The Petersburg Freemasons all came to see him, tried to +ingratiate themselves with him, and it seemed to them all that he was +preparing something for them and concealing it. + +A solemn meeting of the lodge of the second degree was convened, at +which Pierre promised to communicate to the Petersburg Brothers what he +had to deliver to them from the highest leaders of their order. The +meeting was a full one. After the usual ceremonies Pierre rose and began +his address. + +"Dear Brothers," he began, blushing and stammering, with a written +speech in his hand, "it is not sufficient to observe our mysteries in +the seclusion of our lodge--we must act--act! We are drowsing, but we +must act." Pierre raised his notebook and began to read. + +"For the dissemination of pure truth and to secure the triumph of +virtue," he read, "we must cleanse men from prejudice, diffuse +principles in harmony with the spirit of the times, undertake the +education of the young, unite ourselves in indissoluble bonds with the +wisest men, boldly yet prudently overcome superstitions, infidelity, and +folly, and form of those devoted to us a body linked together by unity +of purpose and possessed of authority and power. + +"To attain this end we must secure a preponderance of virtue over vice +and must endeavor to secure that the honest man may, even in this world, +receive a lasting reward for his virtue. But in these great endeavors we +are gravely hampered by the political institutions of today. What is to +be done in these circumstances? To favor revolutions, overthrow +everything, repel force by force?... No! We are very far from that. +Every violent reform deserves censure, for it quite fails to remedy evil +while men remain what they are, and also because wisdom needs no +violence. + +"The whole plan of our order should be based on the idea of preparing +men of firmness and virtue bound together by unity of conviction--aiming +at the punishment of vice and folly, and patronizing talent and virtue: +raising worthy men from the dust and attaching them to our Brotherhood. +Only then will our order have the power unobtrusively to bind the hands +of the protectors of disorder and to control them without their being +aware of it. In a word, we must found a form of government holding +universal sway, which should be diffused over the whole world without +destroying the bonds of citizenship, and beside which all other +governments can continue in their customary course and do everything +except what impedes the great aim of our order, which is to obtain for +virtue the victory over vice. This aim was that of Christianity itself. +It taught men to be wise and good and for their own benefit to follow +the example and instruction of the best and wisest men. + +"At that time, when everything was plunged in darkness, preaching alone +was of course sufficient. The novelty of Truth endowed her with special +strength, but now we need much more powerful methods. It is now +necessary that man, governed by his senses, should find in virtue a +charm palpable to those senses. It is impossible to eradicate the +passions; but we must strive to direct them to a noble aim, and it is +therefore necessary that everyone should be able to satisfy his passions +within the limits of virtue. Our order should provide means to that end. + +"As soon as we have a certain number of worthy men in every state, each +of them again training two others and all being closely united, +everything will be possible for our order, which has already in secret +accomplished much for the welfare of mankind." + +This speech not only made a strong impression, but created excitement in +the lodge. The majority of the Brothers, seeing in it dangerous designs +of Illuminism, * met it with a coldness that surprised Pierre. The Grand +Master began answering him, and Pierre began developing his views with +more and more warmth. It was long since there had been so stormy a +meeting. Parties were formed, some accusing Pierre of Illuminism, others +supporting him. At that meeting he was struck for the first time by the +endless variety of men's minds, which prevents a truth from ever +presenting itself identically to two persons. Even those members who +seemed to be on his side understood him in their own way with +limitations and alterations he could not agree to, as what he always +wanted most was to convey his thought to others just as he himself +understood it. + + +* The Illuminati sought to substitute republican for monarchical +institutions. + +At the end of the meeting the Grand Master with irony and ill-will +reproved Bezukhov for his vehemence and said it was not love of virtue +alone, but also a love of strife that had moved him in the dispute. +Pierre did not answer him and asked briefly whether his proposal would +be accepted. He was told that it would not, and without waiting for the +usual formalities he left the lodge and went home. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Again Pierre was overtaken by the depression he so dreaded. For three +days after the delivery of his speech at the lodge he lay on a sofa at +home receiving no one and going nowhere. + +It was just then that he received a letter from his wife, who implored +him to see her, telling him how grieved she was about him and how she +wished to devote her whole life to him. + +At the end of the letter she informed him that in a few days she would +return to Petersburg from abroad. + +Following this letter one of the masonic Brothers whom Pierre respected +less than the others forced his way in to see him and, turning the +conversation upon Pierre's matrimonial affairs, by way of fraternal +advice expressed the opinion that his severity to his wife was wrong and +that he was neglecting one of the first rules of Freemasonry by not +forgiving the penitent. + +At the same time his mother-in-law, Prince Vasili's wife, sent to him +imploring him to come if only for a few minutes to discuss a most +important matter. Pierre saw that there was a conspiracy against him and +that they wanted to reunite him with his wife, and in the mood he then +was, this was not even unpleasant to him. Nothing mattered to him. +Nothing in life seemed to him of much importance, and under the +influence of the depression that possessed him he valued neither his +liberty nor his resolution to punish his wife. + +"No one is right and no one is to blame; so she too is not to blame," he +thought. + +If he did not at once give his consent to a reunion with his wife, it +was only because in his state of depression he did not feel able to take +any step. Had his wife come to him, he would not have turned her away. +Compared to what preoccupied him, was it not a matter of indifference +whether he lived with his wife or not? + +Without replying either to his wife or his mother-in-law, Pierre late +one night prepared for a journey and started for Moscow to see Joseph +Alexeevich. This is what he noted in his diary: + +Moscow, 17th November + +I have just returned from my benefactor, and hasten to write down what I +have experienced. Joseph Alexeevich is living poorly and has for three +years been suffering from a painful disease of the bladder. No one has +ever heard him utter a groan or a word of complaint. From morning till +late at night, except when he eats his very plain food, he is working at +science. He received me graciously and made me sit down on the bed on +which he lay. I made the sign of the Knights of the East and of +Jerusalem, and he responded in the same manner, asking me with a mild +smile what I had learned and gained in the Prussian and Scottish lodges. +I told him everything as best I could, and told him what I had proposed +to our Petersburg lodge, of the bad reception I had encountered, and of +my rupture with the Brothers. Joseph Alexeevich, having remained silent +and thoughtful for a good while, told me his view of the matter, which +at once lit up for me my whole past and the future path I should follow. +He surprised me by asking whether I remembered the threefold aim of the +order: (1) The preservation and study of the mystery. (2) The +purification and reformation of oneself for its reception, and (3) The +improvement of the human race by striving for such purification. Which +is the principal aim of these three? Certainly self-reformation and +self-purification. Only to this aim can we always strive independently +of circumstances. But at the same time just this aim demands the +greatest efforts of us; and so, led astray by pride, losing sight of +this aim, we occupy ourselves either with the mystery which in our +impurity we are unworthy to receive, or seek the reformation of the +human race while ourselves setting an example of baseness and +profligacy. Illuminism is not a pure doctrine, just because it is +attracted by social activity and puffed up by pride. On this ground +Joseph Alexeevich condemned my speech and my whole activity, and in the +depth of my soul I agreed with him. Talking of my family affairs he said +to me, "the chief duty of a true Mason, as I have told you, lies in +perfecting himself. We often think that by removing all the difficulties +of our life we shall more quickly reach our aim, but on the contrary, my +dear sir, it is only in the midst of worldly cares that we can attain +our three chief aims: (1) Self-knowledge--for man can only know himself +by comparison, (2) Self-perfecting, which can only be attained by +conflict, and (3) The attainment of the chief virtue--love of death. +Only the vicissitudes of life can show us its vanity and develop our +innate love of death or of rebirth to a new life." These words are all +the more remarkable because, in spite of his great physical sufferings, +Joseph Alexeevich is never weary of life though he loves death, for +which--in spite of the purity and loftiness of his inner man--he does +not yet feel himself sufficiently prepared. My benefactor then explained +to me fully the meaning of the Great Square of creation and pointed out +to me that the numbers three and seven are the basis of everything. He +advised me not to avoid intercourse with the Petersburg Brothers, but to +take up only second-grade posts in the lodge, to try, while diverting +the Brothers from pride, to turn them toward the true path self- +knowledge and self-perfecting. Besides this he advised me for myself +personally above all to keep a watch over myself, and to that end he +gave me a notebook, the one I am now writing in and in which I will in +future note down all my actions. + +Petersburg, 23rd November + +I am again living with my wife. My mother-in-law came to me in tears and +said that Helene was here and that she implored me to hear her; that she +was innocent and unhappy at my desertion, and much more. I knew that if +I once let myself see her I should not have strength to go on refusing +what she wanted. In my perplexity I did not know whose aid and advice to +seek. Had my benefactor been here he would have told me what to do. I +went to my room and reread Joseph Alexeevich's letters and recalled my +conversations with him, and deduced from it all that I ought not to +refuse a supplicant, and ought to reach a helping hand to everyone-- +especially to one so closely bound to me--and that I must bear my cross. +But if I forgive her for the sake of doing right, then let union with +her have only a spiritual aim. That is what I decided, and what I wrote +to Joseph Alexeevich. I told my wife that I begged her to forget the +past, to forgive me whatever wrong I may have done her, and that I had +nothing to forgive. It gave me joy to tell her this. She need not know +how hard it was for me to see her again. I have settled on the upper +floor of this big house and am experiencing a happy feeling of +regeneration. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +At that time, as always happens, the highest society that met at court +and at the grand balls was divided into several circles, each with its +own particular tone. The largest of these was the French circle of the +Napoleonic alliance, the circle of Count Rumyantsev and Caulaincourt. In +this group Helene, as soon as she had settled in Petersburg with her +husband, took a very prominent place. She was visited by the members of +the French embassy and by many belonging to that circle and noted for +their intellect and polished manners. + +Helene had been at Erfurt during the famous meeting of the Emperors and +had brought from there these connections with the Napoleonic +notabilities. At Erfurt her success had been brilliant. Napoleon himself +had noticed her in the theater and said of her: "C'est un superbe +animal." * Her success as a beautiful and elegant woman did not surprise +Pierre, for she had become even handsomer than before. What did surprise +him was that during these last two years his wife had succeeded in +gaining the reputation "d' une femme charmante, aussi spirituelle que +belle." *(2) The distinguished Prince de Ligne wrote her eight-page +letters. Bilibin saved up his epigrams to produce them in Countess +Bezukhova's presence. To be received in the Countess Bezukhova's salon +was regarded as a diploma of intellect. Young men read books before +attending Helene's evenings, to have something to say in her salon, and +secretaries of the embassy, and even ambassadors, confided diplomatic +secrets to her, so that in a way Helene was a power. Pierre, who knew +she was very stupid, sometimes attended, with a strange feeling of +perplexity and fear, her evenings and dinner parties, where politics, +poetry, and philosophy were discussed. At these parties his feelings +were like those of a conjuror who always expects his trick to be found +out at any moment. But whether because stupidity was just what was +needed to run such a salon, or because those who were deceived found +pleasure in the deception, at any rate it remained unexposed and Helene +Bezukhova's reputation as a lovely and clever woman became so firmly +established that she could say the emptiest and stupidest things and +everybody would go into raptures over every word of hers and look for a +profound meaning in it of which she herself had no conception. + + +* "That's a superb animal." + +* (2) "Of a charming woman, as witty as she is lovely." + +Pierre was just the husband needed for a brilliant society woman. He was +that absent-minded crank, a grand seigneur husband who was in no one's +way, and far from spoiling the high tone and general impression of the +drawing room, he served, by the contrast he presented to her, as an +advantageous background to his elegant and tactful wife. Pierre during +the last two years, as a result of his continual absorption in abstract +interests and his sincere contempt for all else, had acquired in his +wife's circle, which did not interest him, that air of unconcern, +indifference, and benevolence toward all, which cannot be acquired +artificially and therefore inspires involuntary respect. He entered his +wife's drawing room as one enters a theater, was acquainted with +everybody, equally pleased to see everyone, and equally indifferent to +them all. Sometimes he joined in a conversation which interested him +and, regardless of whether any "gentlemen of the embassy" were present +or not, lispingly expressed his views, which were sometimes not at all +in accord with the accepted tone of the moment. But the general opinion +concerning the queer husband of "the most distinguished woman in +Petersburg" was so well established that no one took his freaks +seriously. + +Among the many young men who frequented her house every day, Boris +Drubetskoy, who had already achieved great success in the service, was +the most intimate friend of the Bezukhov household since Helene's return +from Erfurt. Helene spoke of him as "mon page" and treated him like a +child. Her smile for him was the same as for everybody, but sometimes +that smile made Pierre uncomfortable. Toward him Boris behaved with a +particularly dignified and sad deference. This shade of deference also +disturbed Pierre. He had suffered so painfully three years before from +the mortification to which his wife had subjected him that he now +protected himself from the danger of its repetition, first by not being +a husband to his wife, and secondly by not allowing himself to suspect. + +"No, now that she has become a bluestocking she has finally renounced +her former infatuations," he told himself. "There has never been an +instance of a bluestocking being carried away by affairs of the heart"-- +a statement which, though gathered from an unknown source, he believed +implicitly. Yet strange to say Boris' presence in his wife's drawing +room (and he was almost always there) had a physical effect upon Pierre; +it constricted his limbs and destroyed the unconsciousness and freedom +of his movements. + +"What a strange antipathy," thought Pierre, "yet I used to like him very +much." + +In the eyes of the world Pierre was a great gentleman, the rather blind +and absurd husband of a distinguished wife, a clever crank who did +nothing but harmed nobody and was a first-rate, good-natured fellow. But +a complex and difficult process of internal development was taking place +all this time in Pierre's soul, revealing much to him and causing him +many spiritual doubts and joys. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Pierre went on with his diary, and this is what he wrote in it during +that time: + +24th November + +Got up at eight, read the Scriptures, then went to my duties. (By Joseph +Alexeevich's advice Pierre had entered the service of the state and +served on one of the committees.) Returned home for dinner and dined +alone--the countess had many visitors I do not like. I ate and drank +moderately and after dinner copied out some passages for the Brothers. +In the evening I went down to the countess and told a funny story about +B., and only remembered that I ought not to have done so when everybody +laughed loudly at it. + +I am going to bed with a happy and tranquil mind. Great God, help me to +walk in Thy paths, (1) to conquer anger by calmness and deliberation, +(2) to vanquish lust by self-restraint and repulsion, (3) to withdraw +from worldliness, but not avoid (a) the service of the state, (b) family +duties, (c) relations with my friends, and the management of my affairs. + +27th November + +I got up late. On waking I lay long in bed yielding to sloth. O God, +help and strengthen me that I may walk in Thy ways! Read the Scriptures, +but without proper feeling. Brother Urusov came and we talked about +worldly vanities. He told me of the Emperor's new projects. I began to +criticize them, but remembered my rules and my benefactor's words--that +a true Freemason should be a zealous worker for the state when his aid +is required and a quiet onlooker when not called on to assist. My tongue +is my enemy. Brothers G. V. and O. visited me and we had a preliminary +talk about the reception of a new Brother. They laid on me the duty of +Rhetor. I feel myself weak and unworthy. Then our talk turned to the +interpretation of the seven pillars and steps of the Temple, the seven +sciences, the seven virtues, the seven vices, and the seven gifts of the +Holy Spirit. Brother O. was very eloquent. In the evening the admission +took place. The new decoration of the Premises contributed much to the +magnificence of the spectacle. It was Boris Drubetskoy who was admitted. +I nominated him and was the Rhetor. A strange feeling agitated me all +the time I was alone with him in the dark chamber. I caught myself +harboring a feeling of hatred toward him which I vainly tried to +overcome. That is why I should really like to save him from evil and +lead him into the path of truth, but evil thoughts of him did not leave +me. It seemed to me that his object in entering the Brotherhood was +merely to be intimate and in favor with members of our lodge. Apart from +the fact that he had asked me several times whether N. and S. were +members of our lodge (a question to which I could not reply) and that +according to my observation he is incapable of feeling respect for our +holy order and is too preoccupied and satisfied with the outer man to +desire spiritual improvement, I had no cause to doubt him, but he seemed +to me insincere, and all the time I stood alone with him in the dark +temple it seemed to me that he was smiling contemptuously at my words, +and I wished really to stab his bare breast with the sword I held to it. +I could not be eloquent, nor could I frankly mention my doubts to the +Brothers and to the Grand Master. Great Architect of Nature, help me to +find the true path out of the labyrinth of lies! + + +After this, three pages were left blank in the diary, and then the +following was written: + +I have had a long and instructive talk alone with Brother V., who +advised me to hold fast by Brother A. Though I am unworthy, much was +revealed to me. Adonai is the name of the creator of the world. Elohim +is the name of the ruler of all. The third name is the name unutterable +which means the All. Talks with Brother V. strengthen, refresh, and +support me in the path of virtue. In his presence doubt has no place. +The distinction between the poor teachings of mundane science and our +sacred all-embracing teaching is clear to me. Human sciences dissect +everything to comprehend it, and kill everything to examine it. In the +holy science of our order all is one, all is known in its entirety and +life. The Trinity--the three elements of matter--are sulphur, mercury, +and salt. Sulphur is of an oily and fiery nature; in combination with +salt by its fiery nature it arouses a desire in the latter by means of +which it attracts mercury, seizes it, holds it, and in combination +produces other bodies. Mercury is a fluid, volatile, spiritual essence. +Christ, the Holy Spirit, Him!... + +3rd December + +Awoke late, read the Scriptures but was apathetic. Afterwards went and +paced up and down the large hall. I wished to meditate, but instead my +imagination pictured an occurrence of four years ago, when Dolokhov, +meeting me in Moscow after our duel, said he hoped I was enjoying +perfect peace of mind in spite of my wife's absence. At the time I gave +him no answer. Now I recalled every detail of that meeting and in my +mind gave him the most malevolent and bitter replies. I recollected +myself and drove away that thought only when I found myself glowing with +anger, but I did not sufficiently repent. Afterwards Boris Drubetskoy +came and began relating various adventures. His coming vexed me from the +first, and I said something disagreeable to him. He replied. I flared up +and said much that was unpleasant and even rude to him. He became +silent, and I recollected myself only when it was too late. My God, I +cannot get on with him at all. The cause of this is my egotism. I set +myself above him and so become much worse than he, for he is lenient to +my rudeness while I on the contrary nourish contempt for him. O God, +grant that in his presence I may rather see my own vileness, and behave +so that he too may benefit. After dinner I fell asleep and as I was +drowsing off I clearly heard a voice saying in my left ear, "Thy day!" + +I dreamed that I was walking in the dark and was suddenly surrounded by +dogs, but I went on undismayed. Suddenly a smallish dog seized my left +thigh with its teeth and would not let go. I began to throttle it with +my hands. Scarcely had I torn it off before another, a bigger one, began +biting me. I lifted it up, but the higher I lifted it the bigger and +heavier it grew. And suddenly Brother A. came and, taking my arm, led me +to a building to enter which we had to pass along a narrow plank. I +stepped on it, but it bent and gave way and I began to clamber up a +fence which I could scarcely reach with my hands. After much effort I +dragged myself up, so that my leg hung down on one side and my body on +the other. I looked round and saw Brother A. standing on the fence and +pointing me to a broad avenue and garden, and in the garden was a large +and beautiful building. I woke up. O Lord, great Architect of Nature, +help me to tear from myself these dogs--my passions especially the last, +which unites in itself the strength of all the former ones, and aid me +to enter that temple of virtue to a vision of which I attained in my +dream. + +7th December + +I dreamed that Joseph Alexeevich was sitting in my house, and that I was +very glad and wished to entertain him. It seemed as if I chattered +incessantly with other people and suddenly remembered that this could +not please him, and I wished to come close to him and embrace him. But +as soon as I drew near I saw that his face had changed and grown young, +and he was quietly telling me something about the teaching of our order, +but so softly that I could not hear it. Then it seemed that we all left +the room and something strange happened. We were sitting or lying on the +floor. He was telling me something, and I wished to show him my +sensibility, and not listening to what he was saying I began picturing +to myself the condition of my inner man and the grace of God sanctifying +me. And tears came into my eyes, and I was glad he noticed this. But he +looked at me with vexation and jumped up, breaking off his remarks. I +felt abashed and asked whether what he had been saying did not concern +me; but he did not reply, gave me a kind look, and then we suddenly +found ourselves in my bedroom where there is a double bed. He lay down +on the edge of it and I burned with longing to caress him and lie down +too. And he said, "Tell me frankly what is your chief temptation? Do you +know it? I think you know it already." Abashed by this question, I +replied that sloth was my chief temptation. He shook his head +incredulously; and even more abashed, I said that though I was living +with my wife as he advised, I was not living with her as her husband. To +this he replied that one should not deprive a wife of one's embraces and +gave me to understand that that was my duty. But I replied that I should +be ashamed to do it, and suddenly everything vanished. And I awoke and +found in my mind the text from the Gospel: "The life was the light of +men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it +not." Joseph Alexeevich's face had looked young and bright. That day I +received a letter from my benefactor in which he wrote about "conjugal +duties." + +9th December + +I had a dream from which I awoke with a throbbing heart. I saw that I +was in Moscow in my house, in the big sitting room, and Joseph +Alexeevich came in from the drawing room. I seemed to know at once that +the process of regeneration had already taken place in him, and I rushed +to meet him. I embraced him and kissed his hands, and he said, "Hast +thou noticed that my face is different?" I looked at him, still holding +him in my arms, and saw that his face was young, but that he had no hair +on his head and his features were quite changed. And I said, "I should +have known you had I met you by chance," and I thought to myself, "Am I +telling the truth?" And suddenly I saw him lying like a dead body; then +he gradually recovered and went with me into my study carrying a large +book of sheets of drawing paper; I said, "I drew that," and he answered +by bowing his head. I opened the book, and on all the pages there were +excellent drawings. And in my dream I knew that these drawings +represented the love adventures of the soul with its beloved. And on its +pages I saw a beautiful representation of a maiden in transparent +garments and with a transparent body, flying up to the clouds. And I +seemed to know that this maiden was nothing else than a representation +of the Song of Songs. And looking at those drawings I dreamed I felt +that I was doing wrong, but could not tear myself away from them. Lord, +help me! My God, if Thy forsaking me is Thy doing, Thy will be done; but +if I am myself the cause, teach me what I should do! I shall perish of +my debauchery if Thou utterly desertest me! + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The Rostovs' monetary affairs had not improved during the two years they +had spent in the country. + +Though Nicholas Rostov had kept firmly to his resolution and was still +serving modestly in an obscure regiment, spending comparatively little, +the way of life at Otradnoe--Mitenka's management of affairs, in +particular--was such that the debts inevitably increased every year. The +only resource obviously presenting itself to the old count was to apply +for an official post, so he had come to Petersburg to look for one and +also, as he said, to let the lassies enjoy themselves for the last time. + +Soon after their arrival in Petersburg Berg proposed to Vera and was +accepted. + +Though in Moscow the Rostovs belonged to the best society without +themselves giving it a thought, yet in Petersburg their circle of +acquaintances was a mixed and indefinite one. In Petersburg they were +provincials, and the very people they had entertained in Moscow without +inquiring to what set they belonged, here looked down on them. + +The Rostovs lived in the same hospitable way in Petersburg as in Moscow, +and the most diverse people met at their suppers. Country neighbors from +Otradnoe, impoverished old squires and their daughters, Peronskaya a +maid of honor, Pierre Bezukhov, and the son of their district postmaster +who had obtained a post in Petersburg. Among the men who very soon +became frequent visitors at the Rostovs' house in Petersburg were Boris, +Pierre whom the count had met in the street and dragged home with him, +and Berg who spent whole days at the Rostovs' and paid the eldest +daughter, Countess Vera, the attentions a young man pays when he intends +to propose. + +Not in vain had Berg shown everybody his right hand wounded at +Austerlitz and held a perfectly unnecessary sword in his left. He +narrated that episode so persistently and with so important an air that +everyone believed in the merit and usefulness of his deed, and he had +obtained two decorations for Austerlitz. + +In the Finnish war he also managed to distinguish himself. He had picked +up the scrap of a grenade that had killed an aide-de-camp standing near +the commander-in-chief and had taken it to his commander. Just as he had +done after Austerlitz, he related this occurrence at such length and so +insistently that everyone again believed it had been necessary to do +this, and he received two decorations for the Finnish war also. In 1809 +he was a captain in the Guards, wore medals, and held some special +lucrative posts in Petersburg. + +Though some skeptics smiled when told of Berg's merits, it could not be +denied that he was a painstaking and brave officer, on excellent terms +with his superiors, and a moral young man with a brilliant career before +him and an assured position in society. + +Four years before, meeting a German comrade in the stalls of a Moscow +theater, Berg had pointed out Vera Rostova to him and had said in +German, "das soll mein Weib werden," * and from that moment had made up +his mind to marry her. Now in Petersburg, having considered the Rostovs' +position and his own, he decided that the time had come to propose. + + +* "That girl shall be my wife." + +Berg's proposal was at first received with a perplexity that was not +flattering to him. At first it seemed strange that the son of an obscure +Livonian gentleman should propose marriage to a Countess Rostova; but +Berg's chief characteristic was such a naive and good natured egotism +that the Rostovs involuntarily came to think it would be a good thing, +since he himself was so firmly convinced that it was good, indeed +excellent. Moreover, the Rostovs' affairs were seriously embarrassed, as +the suitor could not but know; and above all, Vera was twenty-four, had +been taken out everywhere, and though she was certainly good-looking and +sensible, no one up to now had proposed to her. So they gave their +consent. + +"You see," said Berg to his comrade, whom he called "friend" only +because he knew that everyone has friends, "you see, I have considered +it all, and should not marry if I had not thought it all out or if it +were in any way unsuitable. But on the contrary, my papa and mamma are +now provided for--I have arranged that rent for them in the Baltic +Provinces--and I can live in Petersburg on my pay, and with her fortune +and my good management we can get along nicely. I am not marrying for +money--I consider that dishonorable--but a wife should bring her share +and a husband his. I have my position in the service, she has +connections and some means. In our times that is worth something, isn't +it? But above all, she is a handsome, estimable girl, and she loves +me..." + +Berg blushed and smiled. + +"And I love her, because her character is sensible and very good. Now +the other sister, though they are the same family, is quite different-- +an unpleasant character and has not the same intelligence. She is so... +you know?... Unpleasant... But my fiancee!... Well, you will be coming," +he was going to say, "to dine," but changed his mind and said "to take +tea with us," and quickly doubling up his tongue he blew a small round +ring of tobacco smoke, perfectly embodying his dream of happiness. + +After the first feeling of perplexity aroused in the parents by Berg's +proposal, the holiday tone of joyousness usual at such times took +possession of the family, but the rejoicing was external and insincere. +In the family's feeling toward this wedding a certain awkwardness and +constraint was evident, as if they were ashamed of not having loved Vera +sufficiently and of being so ready to get her off their hands. The old +count felt this most. He would probably have been unable to state the +cause of his embarrassment, but it resulted from the state of his +affairs. He did not know at all how much he had, what his debts amounted +to, or what dowry he could give Vera. When his daughters were born he +had assigned to each of them, for her dowry, an estate with three +hundred serfs; but one of these estates had already been sold, and the +other was mortgaged and the interest so much in arrears that it would +have to be sold, so that it was impossible to give it to Vera. Nor had +he any money. + +Berg had already been engaged a month, and only a week remained before +the wedding, but the count had not yet decided in his own mind the +question of the dowry, nor spoken to his wife about it. At one time the +count thought of giving her the Ryazan estate or of selling a forest, at +another time of borrowing money on a note of hand. A few days before the +wedding Berg entered the count's study early one morning and, with a +pleasant smile, respectfully asked his future father-in-law to let him +know what Vera's dowry would be. The count was so disconcerted by this +long-foreseen inquiry that without consideration he gave the first reply +that came into his head. "I like your being businesslike about it.... I +like it. You shall be satisfied...." + +And patting Berg on the shoulder he got up, wishing to end the +conversation. But Berg, smiling pleasantly, explained that if he did not +know for certain how much Vera would have and did not receive at least +part of the dowry in advance, he would have to break matters off. + +"Because, consider, Count--if I allowed myself to marry now without +having definite means to maintain my wife, I should be acting badly...." + +The conversation ended by the count, who wished to be generous and to +avoid further importunity, saying that he would give a note of hand for +eighty thousand rubles. Berg smiled meekly, kissed the count on the +shoulder, and said that he was very grateful, but that it was impossible +for him to arrange his new life without receiving thirty thousand in +ready money. "Or at least twenty thousand, Count," he added, "and then a +note of hand for only sixty thousand." + +"Yes, yes, all right!" said the count hurriedly. "Only excuse me, my +dear fellow, I'll give you twenty thousand and a note of hand for eighty +thousand as well. Yes, yes! Kiss me." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Natasha was sixteen and it was the year 1809, the very year to which she +had counted on her fingers with Boris after they had kissed four years +ago. Since then she had not seen him. Before Sonya and her mother, if +Boris happened to be mentioned, she spoke quite freely of that episode +as of some childish, long-forgotten matter that was not worth +mentioning. But in the secret depths of her soul the question whether +her engagement to Boris was a jest or an important, binding promise +tormented her. + +Since Boris left Moscow in 1805 to join the army he had not seen the +Rostovs. He had been in Moscow several times, and had passed near +Otradnoe, but had never been to see them. + +Sometimes it occurred to Natasha that he did not wish to see her, and +this conjecture was confirmed by the sad tone in which her elders spoke +of him. + +"Nowadays old friends are not remembered," the countess would say when +Boris was mentioned. + +Anna Mikhaylovna also had of late visited them less frequently, seemed +to hold herself with particular dignity, and always spoke rapturously +and gratefully of the merits of her son and the brilliant career on +which he had entered. When the Rostovs came to Petersburg Boris called +on them. + +He drove to their house in some agitation. The memory of Natasha was his +most poetic recollection. But he went with the firm intention of letting +her and her parents feel that the childish relations between himself and +Natasha could not be binding either on her or on him. He had a brilliant +position in society thanks to his intimacy with Countess Bezukhova, a +brilliant position in the service thanks to the patronage of an +important personage whose complete confidence he enjoyed, and he was +beginning to make plans for marrying one of the richest heiresses in +Petersburg, plans which might very easily be realized. When he entered +the Rostovs' drawing room Natasha was in her own room. When she heard of +his arrival she almost ran into the drawing room, flushed and beaming +with a more than cordial smile. + +Boris remembered Natasha in a short dress, with dark eyes shining from +under her curls and boisterous, childish laughter, as he had known her +four years before; and so he was taken aback when quite a different +Natasha entered, and his face expressed rapturous astonishment. This +expression on his face pleased Natasha. + +"Well, do you recognize your little madcap playmate?" asked the +countess. + +Boris kissed Natasha's hand and said that he was astonished at the +change in her. + +"How handsome you have grown!" + +"I should think so!" replied Natasha's laughing eyes. + +"And is Papa older?" she asked. + +Natasha sat down and, without joining in Boris' conversation with the +countess, silently and minutely studied her childhood's suitor. He felt +the weight of that resolute and affectionate scrutiny and glanced at her +occasionally. + +Boris' uniform, spurs, tie, and the way his hair was brushed were all +comme il faut and in the latest fashion. This Natasha noticed at once. +He sat rather sideways in the armchair next to the countess, arranging +with his right hand the cleanest of gloves that fitted his left hand +like a skin, and he spoke with a particularly refined compression of his +lips about the amusements of the highest Petersburg society, recalling +with mild irony old times in Moscow and Moscow acquaintances. It was not +accidentally, Natasha felt, that he alluded, when speaking of the +highest aristocracy, to an ambassador's ball he had attended, and to +invitations he had received from N.N. and S.S. + +All this time Natasha sat silent, glancing up at him from under her +brows. This gaze disturbed and confused Boris more and more. He looked +round more frequently toward her, and broke off in what he was saying. +He did not stay more than ten minutes, then rose and took his leave. The +same inquisitive, challenging, and rather mocking eyes still looked at +him. After his first visit Boris said to himself that Natasha attracted +him just as much as ever, but that he must not yield to that feeling, +because to marry her, a girl almost without fortune, would mean ruin to +his career, while to renew their former relations without intending to +marry her would be dishonorable. Boris made up his mind to avoid meeting +Natasha, but despite that resolution he called again a few days later +and began calling often and spending whole days at the Rostovs'. It +seemed to him that he ought to have an explanation with Natasha and tell +her that the old times must be forgotten, that in spite of everything... +she could not be his wife, that he had no means, and they would never +let her marry him. But he failed to do so and felt awkward about +entering on such an explanation. From day to day he became more and more +entangled. It seemed to her mother and Sonya that Natasha was in love +with Boris as of old. She sang him his favorite songs, showed him her +album, making him write in it, did not allow him to allude to the past, +letting it be understood how delightful was the present; and every day +he went away in a fog, without having said what he meant to, and not +knowing what he was doing or why he came, or how it would all end. He +left off visiting Helene and received reproachful notes from her every +day, and yet he continued to spend whole days with the Rostovs. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +One night when the old countess, in nightcap and dressing jacket, +without her false curls, and with her poor little knob of hair showing +under her white cotton cap, knelt sighing and groaning on a rug and +bowing to the ground in prayer, her door creaked and Natasha, also in a +dressing jacket with slippers on her bare feet and her hair in +curlpapers, ran in. The countess--her prayerful mood dispelled--looked +round and frowned. She was finishing her last prayer: "Can it be that +this couch will be my grave?" Natasha, flushed and eager, seeing her +mother in prayer, suddenly checked her rush, half sat down, and +unconsciously put out her tongue as if chiding herself. Seeing that her +mother was still praying she ran on tiptoe to the bed and, rapidly +slipping one little foot against the other, pushed off her slippers and +jumped onto the bed the countess had feared might become her grave. This +couch was high, with a feather bed and five pillows each smaller than +the one below. Natasha jumped on it, sank into the feather bed, rolled +over to the wall, and began snuggling up the bedclothes as she settled +down, raising her knees to her chin, kicking out and laughing almost +inaudibly, now covering herself up head and all, and now peeping at her +mother. The countess finished her prayers and came to the bed with a +stern face, but seeing, that Natasha's head was covered, she smiled in +her kind, weak way. + +"Now then, now then!" said she. + +"Mamma, can we have a talk? Yes?" said Natasha. "Now, just one on your +throat and another... that'll do!" And seizing her mother round the +neck, she kissed her on the throat. In her behavior to her mother +Natasha seemed rough, but she was so sensitive and tactful that however +she clasped her mother she always managed to do it without hurting her +or making her feel uncomfortable or displeased. + +"Well, what is it tonight?" said the mother, having arranged her pillows +and waited until Natasha, after turning over a couple of times, had +settled down beside her under the quilt, spread out her arms, and +assumed a serious expression. + +These visits of Natasha's at night before the count returned from his +club were one of the greatest pleasures of both mother, and daughter. + +"What is it tonight?--But I have to tell you..." + +Natasha put her hand on her mother's mouth. + +"About Boris... I know," she said seriously; "that's what I have come +about. Don't say it--I know. No, do tell me!" and she removed her hand. +"Tell me, Mamma! He's nice?" + +"Natasha, you are sixteen. At your age I was married. You say Boris is +nice. He is very nice, and I love him like a son. But what then?... What +are you thinking about? You have quite turned his head, I can see +that...." + +As she said this the countess looked round at her daughter. Natasha was +lying looking steadily straight before her at one of the mahogany +sphinxes carved on the corners of the bedstead, so that the countess +only saw her daughter's face in profile. That face struck her by its +peculiarly serious and concentrated expression. + +Natasha was listening and considering. + +"Well, what then?" said she. + +"You have quite turned his head, and why? What do you want of him? You +know you can't marry him." + +"Why not?" said Natasha, without changing her position. + +"Because he is young, because he is poor, because he is a relation... +and because you yourself don't love him." + +"How do you know?" + +"I know. It is not right, darling!" + + +"But if I want to..." said Natasha. + +"Leave off talking nonsense," said the countess. + +"But if I want to..." + +"Natasha, I am in earnest..." + +Natasha did not let her finish. She drew the countess' large hand to +her, kissed it on the back and then on the palm, then again turned it +over and began kissing first one knuckle, then the space between the +knuckles, then the next knuckle, whispering, "January, February, March, +April, May. Speak, Mamma, why don't you say anything? Speak!" said she, +turning to her mother, who was tenderly gazing at her daughter and in +that contemplation seemed to have forgotten all she had wished to say. + +"It won't do, my love! Not everyone will understand this friendship +dating from your childish days, and to see him so intimate with you may +injure you in the eyes of other young men who visit us, and above all it +torments him for nothing. He may already have found a suitable and +wealthy match, and now he's half crazy." + +"Crazy?" repeated Natasha. + +"I'll tell you some things about myself. I had a cousin..." + +"I know! Cyril Matveich... but he is old." + +"He was not always old. But this is what I'll do, Natasha, I'll have a +talk with Boris. He need not come so often...." + +"Why not, if he likes to?" + +"Because I know it will end in nothing...." + +"How can you know? No, Mamma, don't speak to him! What nonsense!" said +Natasha in the tone of one being deprived of her property. "Well, I +won't marry, but let him come if he enjoys it and I enjoy it." Natasha +smiled and looked at her mother. "Not to marry, but just so," she added. + +"How so, my pet?" + +"Just so. There's no need for me to marry him. But... just so." + +"Just so, just so," repeated the countess, and shaking all over, she +went off into a good humored, unexpected, elderly laugh. + +"Don't laugh, stop!" cried Natasha. "You're shaking the whole bed! +You're awfully like me, just such another giggler.... Wait..." and she +seized the countess' hands and kissed a knuckle of the little finger, +saying, "June," and continued, kissing, "July, August," on the other +hand. "But, Mamma, is he very much in love? What do you think? Was +anybody ever so much in love with you? And he's very nice, very, very +nice. Only not quite my taste--he is so narrow, like the dining-room +clock.... Don't you understand? Narrow, you know--gray, light gray..." + +"What rubbish you're talking!" said the countess. + +Natasha continued: "Don't you really understand? Nicholas would +understand.... Bezukhov, now, is blue, dark-blue and red, and he is +square." + +"You flirt with him too," said the countess, laughing. + +"No, he is a Freemason, I have found out. He is fine, dark-blue and +red.... How can I explain it to you?" + +"Little countess!" the count's voice called from behind the door. +"You're not asleep?" Natasha jumped up, snatched up her slippers, and +ran barefoot to her own room. + +It was a long time before she could sleep. She kept thinking that no one +could understand all that she understood and all there was in her. + +"Sonya?" she thought, glancing at that curled-up, sleeping little kitten +with her enormous plait of hair. "No, how could she? She's virtuous. She +fell in love with Nicholas and does not wish to know anything more. Even +Mamma does not understand. It is wonderful how clever I am and how... +charming she is," she went on, speaking of herself in the third person, +and imagining it was some very wise man--the wisest and best of men--who +was saying it of her. "There is everything, everything in her," +continued this man. "She is unusually intelligent, charming... and then +she is pretty, uncommonly pretty, and agile--she swims and rides +splendidly... and her voice! One can really say it's a wonderful voice!" + +She hummed a scrap from her favorite opera by Cherubini, threw herself +on her bed, laughed at the pleasant thought that she would immediately +fall asleep, called Dunyasha the maid to put out the candle, and before +Dunyasha had left the room had already passed into yet another happier +world of dreams, where everything was as light and beautiful as in +reality, and even more so because it was different. + +Next day the countess called Boris aside and had a talk with him, after +which he ceased coming to the Rostovs'. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +On the thirty-first of December, New Year's Eve, 1809 - 10 an old +grandee of Catherine's day was giving a ball and midnight supper. The +diplomatic corps and the Emperor himself were to be present. + +The grandee's well-known mansion on the English Quay glittered with +innumerable lights. Police were stationed at the brightly lit entrance +which was carpeted with red baize, and not only gendarmes but dozens of +police officers and even the police master himself stood at the porch. +Carriages kept driving away and fresh ones arriving, with red-liveried +footmen and footmen in plumed hats. From the carriages emerged men +wearing uniforms, stars, and ribbons, while ladies in satin and ermine +cautiously descended the carriage steps which were let down for them +with a clatter, and then walked hurriedly and noiselessly over the baize +at the entrance. + +Almost every time a new carriage drove up a whisper ran through the +crowd and caps were doffed. + +"The Emperor?... No, a minister.... prince... ambassador. Don't you see +the plumes?..." was whispered among the crowd. + +One person, better dressed than the rest, seemed to know everyone and +mentioned by name the greatest dignitaries of the day. + +A third of the visitors had already arrived, but the Rostovs, who were +to be present, were still hurrying to get dressed. + +There had been many discussions and preparations for this ball in the +Rostov family, many fears that the invitation would not arrive, that the +dresses would not be ready, or that something would not be arranged as +it should be. + +Marya Ignatevna Peronskaya, a thin and shallow maid of honor at the +court of the Dowager Empress, who was a friend and relation of the +countess and piloted the provincial Rostovs in Petersburg high society, +was to accompany them to the ball. + +They were to call for her at her house in the Taurida Gardens at ten +o'clock, but it was already five minutes to ten, and the girls were not +yet dressed. + +Natasha was going to her first grand ball. She had got up at eight that +morning and had been in a fever of excitement and activity all day. All +her powers since morning had been concentrated on ensuring that they +all--she herself, Mamma, and Sonya--should be as well dressed as +possible. Sonya and her mother put themselves entirely in her hands. The +countess was to wear a claret-colored velvet dress, and the two girls +white gauze over pink silk slips, with roses on their bodices and their +hair dressed a la grecque. + +Everything essential had already been done; feet, hands, necks, and ears +washed, perfumed, and powdered, as befits a ball; the openwork silk +stockings and white satin shoes with ribbons were already on; the +hairdressing was almost done. Sonya was finishing dressing and so was +the countess, but Natasha, who had bustled about helping them all, was +behindhand. She was still sitting before a looking-glass with a dressing +jacket thrown over her slender shoulders. Sonya stood ready dressed in +the middle of the room and, pressing the head of a pin till it hurt her +dainty finger, was fixing on a last ribbon that squeaked as the pin went +through it. + +"That's not the way, that's not the way, Sonya!" cried Natasha turning +her head and clutching with both hands at her hair which the maid who +was dressing it had not time to release. "That bow is not right. Come +here!" + +Sonya sat down and Natasha pinned the ribbon on differently. + +"Allow me, Miss! I can't do it like that," said the maid who was holding +Natasha's hair. + +"Oh, dear! Well then, wait. That's right, Sonya." + +"Aren't you ready? It is nearly ten," came the countess' voice. + +"Directly! Directly! And you, Mamma?" + +"I have only my cap to pin on." + +"Don't do it without me!" called Natasha. "You won't do it right." + +"But it's already ten." + +They had decided to be at the ball by half past ten, and Natasha had +still to get dressed and they had to call at the Taurida Gardens. + +When her hair was done, Natasha, in her short petticoat from under which +her dancing shoes showed, and in her mother's dressing jacket, ran up to +Sonya, scrutinized her, and then ran to her mother. Turning her mother's +head this way and that, she fastened on the cap and, hurriedly kissing +her gray hair, ran back to the maids who were turning up the hem of her +skirt. + +The cause of the delay was Natasha's skirt, which was too long. Two +maids were turning up the hem and hurriedly biting off the ends of +thread. A third with pins in her mouth was running about between the +countess and Sonya, and a fourth held the whole of the gossamer garment +up high on one uplifted hand. + +"Mavra, quicker, darling!" + +"Give me my thimble, Miss, from there..." + +"Whenever will you be ready?" asked the count coming to the door. "Here +is some scent. Peronskaya must be tired of waiting." + +"It's ready, Miss," said the maid, holding up the shortened gauze dress +with two fingers, and blowing and shaking something off it, as if by +this to express a consciousness of the airiness and purity of what she +held. + +Natasha began putting on the dress. + +"In a minute! In a minute! Don't come in, Papa!" she cried to her father +as he opened the door--speaking from under the filmy skirt which still +covered her whole face. + +Sonya slammed the door to. A minute later they let the count in. He was +wearing a blue swallow-tail coat, shoes and stockings, and was perfumed +and his hair pomaded. + +"Oh, Papa! how nice you look! Charming!" cried Natasha, as she stood in +the middle of the room smoothing out the folds of the gauze. + +"If you please, Miss! allow me," said the maid, who on her knees was +pulling the skirt straight and shifting the pins from one side of her +mouth to the other with her tongue. + +"Say what you like," exclaimed Sonya, in a despairing voice as she +looked at Natasha, "say what you like, it's still too long." + +Natasha stepped back to look at herself in the pier glass. The dress was +too long. + +"Really, madam, it is not at all too long," said Mavra, crawling on her +knees after her young lady. + +"Well, if it's too long we'll tack it up... we'll tack it up in one +minute," said the resolute Dunyasha taking a needle that was stuck on +the front of her little shawl and, still kneeling on the floor, set to +work once more. + +At that moment, with soft steps, the countess came in shyly, in her cap +and velvet gown. + +"Oo-oo, my beauty!" exclaimed the count, "she looks better than any of +you!" + +He would have embraced her but, blushing, she stepped aside fearing to +be rumpled. + +"Mamma, your cap, more to this side," said Natasha. "I'll arrange it," +and she rushed forward so that the maids who were tacking up her skirt +could not move fast enough and a piece of gauze was torn off. + +"Oh goodness! What has happened? Really it was not my fault!" + +"Never mind, I'll run it up, it won't show," said Dunyasha. + +"What a beauty--a very queen!" said the nurse as she came to the door. +"And Sonya! They are lovely!" + +At a quarter past ten they at last got into their carriages and started. +But they had still to call at the Taurida Gardens. + +Peronskaya was quite ready. In spite of her age and plainness she had +gone through the same process as the Rostovs, but with less flurry--for +to her it was a matter of routine. Her ugly old body was washed, +perfumed, and powdered in just the same way. She had washed behind her +ears just as carefully, and when she entered her drawing room in her +yellow dress, wearing her badge as maid of honor, her old lady's maid +was as full of rapturous admiration as the Rostovs' servants had been. + +She praised the Rostovs' toilets. They praised her taste and toilet, and +at eleven o'clock, careful of their coiffures and dresses, they settled +themselves in their carriages and drove off. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Natasha had not had a moment free since early morning and had not once +had time to think of what lay before her. + +In the damp chill air and crowded closeness of the swaying carriage, she +for the first time vividly imagined what was in store for her there at +the ball, in those brightly lighted rooms--with music, flowers, dances, +the Emperor, and all the brilliant young people of Petersburg. The +prospect was so splendid that she hardly believed it would come true, so +out of keeping was it with the chill darkness and closeness of the +carriage. She understood all that awaited her only when, after stepping +over the red baize at the entrance, she entered the hall, took off her +fur cloak, and, beside Sonya and in front of her mother, mounted the +brightly illuminated stairs between the flowers. Only then did she +remember how she must behave at a ball, and tried to assume the majestic +air she considered indispensable for a girl on such an occasion. But, +fortunately for her, she felt her eyes growing misty, she saw nothing +clearly, her pulse beat a hundred to the minute, and the blood throbbed +at her heart. She could not assume that pose, which would have made her +ridiculous, and she moved on almost fainting from excitement and trying +with all her might to conceal it. And this was the very attitude that +became her best. Before and behind them other visitors were entering, +also talking in low tones and wearing ball dresses. The mirrors on the +landing reflected ladies in white, pale-blue, and pink dresses, with +diamonds and pearls on their bare necks and arms. + +Natasha looked in the mirrors and could not distinguish her reflection +from the others. All was blended into one brilliant procession. On +entering the ballroom the regular hum of voices, footsteps, and +greetings deafened Natasha, and the light and glitter dazzled her still +more. The host and hostess, who had already been standing at the door +for half an hour repeating the same words to the various arrivals, +"Charme de vous voir," * greeted the Rostovs and Peronskaya in the same +manner. + + +* "Delighted to see you." + +The two girls in their white dresses, each with a rose in her black +hair, both curtsied in the same way, but the hostess' eye involuntarily +rested longer on the slim Natasha. She looked at her and gave her alone +a special smile in addition to her usual smile as hostess. Looking at +her she may have recalled the golden, irrecoverable days of her own +girlhood and her own first ball. The host also followed Natasha with his +eyes and asked the count which was his daughter. + +"Charming!" said he, kissing the tips of his fingers. + +In the ballroom guests stood crowding at the entrance doors awaiting the +Emperor. The countess took up a position in one of the front rows of +that crowd. Natasha heard and felt that several people were asking about +her and looking at her. She realized that those noticing her liked her, +and this observation helped to calm her. + +"There are some like ourselves and some worse," she thought. + +Peronskaya was pointing out to the countess the most important people at +the ball. + +"That is the Dutch ambassador, do you see? That gray-haired man," she +said, indicating an old man with a profusion of silver-gray curly hair, +who was surrounded by ladies laughing at something he said. + +"Ah, here she is, the Queen of Petersburg, Countess Bezukhova," said +Peronskaya, indicating Helene who had just entered. "How lovely! She is +quite equal to Marya Antonovna. See how the men, young and old, pay +court to her. Beautiful and clever... they say Prince--is quite mad +about her. But see, those two, though not good-looking, are even more +run after." + +She pointed to a lady who was crossing the room followed by a very plain +daughter. + +"She is a splendid match, a millionairess," said Peronskaya. "And look, +here come her suitors." + +"That is Bezukhova's brother, Anatole Kuragin," she said, indicating a +handsome officer of the Horse Guards who passed by them with head erect, +looking at something over the heads of the ladies. "He's handsome, isn't +he? I hear they will marry him to that rich girl. But your cousin, +Drubetskoy, is also very attentive to her. They say she has millions. Oh +yes, that's the French ambassador himself!" she replied to the countess' +inquiry about Caulaincourt. "Looks as if he were a king! All the same, +the French are charming, very charming. No one more charming in society. +Ah, here she is! Yes, she is still the most beautiful of them all, our +Marya Antonovna! And how simply she is dressed! Lovely! And that stout +one in spectacles is the universal Freemason," she went on, indicating +Pierre. "Put him beside his wife and he looks a regular buffoon!" + +Pierre, swaying his stout body, advanced, making way through the crowd +and nodding to right and left as casually and good-naturedly as if he +were passing through a crowd at a fair. He pushed through, evidently +looking for someone. + +Natasha looked joyfully at the familiar face of Pierre, "the buffoon," +as Peronskaya had called him, and knew he was looking for them, and for +her in particular. He had promised to be at the ball and introduce +partners to her. + +But before he reached them Pierre stopped beside a very handsome, dark +man of middle height, and in a white uniform, who stood by a window +talking to a tall man wearing stars and a ribbon. Natasha at once +recognized the shorter and younger man in the white uniform: it was +Bolkonski, who seemed to her to have grown much younger, happier, and +better-looking. + +"There's someone else we know--Bolkonski, do you see, Mamma?" said +Natasha, pointing out Prince Andrew. "You remember, he stayed a night +with us at Otradnoe." + +"Oh, you know him?" said Peronskaya. "I can't bear him. Il fait a +present la pluie et le beau temps. * He's too proud for anything. Takes +after his father. And he's hand in glove with Speranski, writing some +project or other. Just look how he treats the ladies! There's one +talking to him and he has turned away," she said, pointing at him. "I'd +give it to him if he treated me as he does those ladies." + + +* "He is all the rage just now." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Suddenly everybody stirred, began talking, and pressed forward and then +back, and between the two rows, which separated, the Emperor entered to +the sounds of music that had immediately struck up. Behind him walked +his host and hostess. He walked in rapidly, bowing to right and left as +if anxious to get the first moments of the reception over. The band +played the polonaise in vogue at that time on account of the words that +had been set to it, beginning: "Alexander, Elisaveta, all our hearts you +ravish quite..." The Emperor passed on to the drawing room, the crowd +made a rush for the doors, and several persons with excited faces +hurried there and back again. Then the crowd hastily retired from the +drawing-room door, at which the Emperor reappeared talking to the +hostess. A young man, looking distraught, pounced down on the ladies, +asking them to move aside. Some ladies, with faces betraying complete +forgetfulness of all the rules of decorum, pushed forward to the +detriment of their toilets. The men began to choose partners and take +their places for the polonaise. + +Everyone moved back, and the Emperor came smiling out of the drawing +room leading his hostess by the hand but not keeping time to the music. +The host followed with Marya Antonovna Naryshkina; then came +ambassadors, ministers, and various generals, whom Peronskaya diligently +named. More than half the ladies already had partners and were taking +up, or preparing to take up, their positions for the polonaise. Natasha +felt that she would be left with her mother and Sonya among a minority +of women who crowded near the wall, not having been invited to dance. +She stood with her slender arms hanging down, her scarcely defined bosom +rising and falling regularly, and with bated breath and glittering, +frightened eyes gazed straight before her, evidently prepared for the +height of joy or misery. She was not concerned about the Emperor or any +of those great people whom Peronskaya was pointing out--she had but one +thought: "Is it possible no one will ask me, that I shall not be among +the first to dance? Is it possible that not one of all these men will +notice me? They do not even seem to see me, or if they do they look as +if they were saying, 'Ah, she's not the one I'm after, so it's not worth +looking at her!' No, it's impossible," she thought. "They must know how +I long to dance, how splendidly I dance, and how they would enjoy +dancing with me." + +The strains of the polonaise, which had continued for a considerable +time, had begun to sound like a sad reminiscence to Natasha's ears. She +wanted to cry. Peronskaya had left them. The count was at the other end +of the room. She and the countess and Sonya were standing by themselves +as in the depths of a forest amid that crowd of strangers, with no one +interested in them and not wanted by anyone. Prince Andrew with a lady +passed by, evidently not recognizing them. The handsome Anatole was +smilingly talking to a partner on his arm and looked at Natasha as one +looks at a wall. Boris passed them twice and each time turned away. Berg +and his wife, who were not dancing, came up to them. + +This family gathering seemed humiliating to Natasha--as if there were +nowhere else for the family to talk but here at the ball. She did not +listen to or look at Vera, who was telling her something about her own +green dress. + +At last the Emperor stopped beside his last partner (he had danced with +three) and the music ceased. A worried aide-de-camp ran up to the +Rostovs requesting them to stand farther back, though as it was they +were already close to the wall, and from the gallery resounded the +distinct, precise, enticingly rhythmical strains of a waltz. The Emperor +looked smilingly down the room. A minute passed but no one had yet begun +dancing. An aide-de-camp, the Master of Ceremonies, went up to Countess +Bezukhova and asked her to dance. She smilingly raised her hand and laid +it on his shoulder without looking at him. The aide-de-camp, an adept in +his art, grasping his partner firmly round her waist, with confident +deliberation started smoothly, gliding first round the edge of the +circle, then at the corner of the room he caught Helene's left hand and +turned her, the only sound audible, apart from the ever-quickening +music, being the rhythmic click of the spurs on his rapid, agile feet, +while at every third beat his partner's velvet dress spread out and +seemed to flash as she whirled round. Natasha gazed at them and was +ready to cry because it was not she who was dancing that first turn of +the waltz. + +Prince Andrew, in the white uniform of a cavalry colonel, wearing +stockings and dancing shoes, stood looking animated and bright in the +front row of the circle not far from the Rostovs. Baron Firhoff was +talking to him about the first sitting of the Council of State to be +held next day. Prince Andrew, as one closely connected with Speranski +and participating in the work of the legislative commission, could give +reliable information about that sitting, concerning which various rumors +were current. But not listening to what Firhoff was saying, he was +gazing now at the sovereign and now at the men intending to dance who +had not yet gathered courage to enter the circle. + +Prince Andrew was watching these men abashed by the Emperor's presence, +and the women who were breathlessly longing to be asked to dance. + +Pierre came up to him and caught him by the arm. + +"You always dance. I have a protegee, the young Rostova, here. Ask her," +he said. + +"Where is she?" asked Bolkonski. "Excuse me!" he added, turning to the +baron, "we will finish this conversation elsewhere--at a ball one must +dance." He stepped forward in the direction Pierre indicated. The +despairing, dejected expression of Natasha's face caught his eye. He +recognized her, guessed her feelings, saw that it was her debut, +remembered her conversation at the window, and with an expression of +pleasure on his face approached Countess Rostova. + +"Allow me to introduce you to my daughter," said the countess, with +heightened color. + +"I have the pleasure of being already acquainted, if the countess +remembers me," said Prince Andrew with a low and courteous bow quite +belying Peronskaya's remarks about his rudeness, and approaching Natasha +he held out his arm to grasp her waist before he had completed his +invitation. He asked her to waltz. That tremulous expression on +Natasha's face, prepared either for despair or rapture, suddenly +brightened into a happy, grateful, childlike smile. + +"I have long been waiting for you," that frightened happy little girl +seemed to say by the smile that replaced the threatened tears, as she +raised her hand to Prince Andrew's shoulder. They were the second couple +to enter the circle. Prince Andrew was one of the best dancers of his +day and Natasha danced exquisitely. Her little feet in their white satin +dancing shoes did their work swiftly, lightly, and independently of +herself, while her face beamed with ecstatic happiness. Her slender bare +arms and neck were not beautiful--compared to Helene's her shoulders +looked thin and her bosom undeveloped. But Helene seemed, as it were, +hardened by a varnish left by the thousands of looks that had scanned +her person, while Natasha was like a girl exposed for the first time, +who would have felt very much ashamed had she not been assured that this +was absolutely necessary. + +Prince Andrew liked dancing, and wishing to escape as quickly as +possible from the political and clever talk which everyone addressed to +him, wishing also to break up the circle of restraint he disliked, +caused by the Emperor's presence, he danced, and had chosen Natasha +because Pierre pointed her out to him and because she was the first +pretty girl who caught his eye; but scarcely had he embraced that +slender supple figure and felt her stirring so close to him and smiling +so near him than the wine of her charm rose to his head, and he felt +himself revived and rejuvenated when after leaving her he stood +breathing deeply and watching the other dancers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +After Prince Andrew, Boris came up to ask Natasha for a dance, and then +the aide-de-camp who had opened the ball, and several other young men, +so that, flushed and happy, and passing on her superfluous partners to +Sonya, she did not cease dancing all the evening. She noticed and saw +nothing of what occupied everyone else. Not only did she fail to notice +that the Emperor talked a long time with the French ambassador, and how +particularly gracious he was to a certain lady, or that Prince So-and-so +and So-and-so did and said this and that, and that Helene had great +success and was honored by the special attention of So-and-so, but she +did not even see the Emperor, and only noticed that he had gone because +the ball became livelier after his departure. For one of the merry +cotillions before supper Prince Andrew was again her partner. He +reminded her of their first encounter in the Otradnoe avenue, and how +she had been unable to sleep that moonlight night, and told her how he +had involuntarily overheard her. Natasha blushed at that recollection +and tried to excuse herself, as if there had been something to be +ashamed of in what Prince Andrew had overheard. + +Like all men who have grown up in society, Prince Andrew liked meeting +someone there not of the conventional society stamp. And such was +Natasha, with her surprise, her delight, her shyness, and even her +mistakes in speaking French. With her he behaved with special care and +tenderness, sitting beside her and talking of the simplest and most +unimportant matters; he admired her shy grace. In the middle of the +cotillion, having completed one of the figures, Natasha, still out of +breath, was returning to her seat when another dancer chose her. She was +tired and panting and evidently thought of declining, but immediately +put her hand gaily on the man's shoulder, smiling at Prince Andrew. + +"I'd be glad to sit beside you and rest: I'm tired; but you see how they +keep asking me, and I'm glad of it, I'm happy and I love everybody, and +you and I understand it all," and much, much more was said in her smile. +When her partner left her Natasha ran across the room to choose two +ladies for the figure. + +"If she goes to her cousin first and then to another lady, she will be +my wife," said Prince Andrew to himself quite to his own surprise, as he +watched her. She did go first to her cousin. + +"What rubbish sometimes enters one's head!" thought Prince Andrew, "but +what is certain is that that girl is so charming, so original, that she +won't be dancing here a month before she will be married.... Such as she +are rare here," he thought, as Natasha, readjusting a rose that was +slipping on her bodice, settled herself beside him. + +When the cotillion was over the old count in his blue coat came up to +the dancers. He invited Prince Andrew to come and see them, and asked +his daughter whether she was enjoying herself. Natasha did not answer at +once but only looked up with a smile that said reproachfully: "How can +you ask such a question?" + +"I have never enjoyed myself so much before!" she said, and Prince +Andrew noticed how her thin arms rose quickly as if to embrace her +father and instantly dropped again. Natasha was happier than she had +ever been in her life. She was at that height of bliss when one becomes +completely kind and good and does not believe in the possibility of +evil, unhappiness, or sorrow. + +At that ball Pierre for the first time felt humiliated by the position +his wife occupied in court circles. He was gloomy and absent-minded. A +deep furrow ran across his forehead, and standing by a window he stared +over his spectacles seeing no one. + +On her way to supper Natasha passed him. + +Pierre's gloomy, unhappy look struck her. She stopped in front of him. +She wished to help him, to bestow on him the superabundance of her own +happiness. + +"How delightful it is, Count!" said she. "Isn't it?" + +Pierre smiled absent-mindedly, evidently not grasping what she said. + +"Yes, I am very glad," he said. + +"How can people be dissatisfied with anything?" thought Natasha. +"Especially such a capital fellow as Bezukhov!" In Natasha's eyes all +the people at the ball alike were good, kind, and splendid people, +loving one another; none of them capable of injuring another--and so +they ought all to be happy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Next day Prince Andrew thought of the ball, but his mind did not dwell +on it long. "Yes, it was a very brilliant ball," and then... "Yes, that +little Rostova is very charming. There's something fresh, original, un- +Petersburg-like about her that distinguishes her." That was all he +thought about yesterday's ball, and after his morning tea he set to +work. + +But either from fatigue or want of sleep he was ill-disposed for work +and could get nothing done. He kept criticizing his own work, as he +often did, and was glad when he heard someone coming. + +The visitor was Bitski, who served on various committees, frequented all +the societies in Petersburg, and a passionate devotee of the new ideas +and of Speranski, and a diligent Petersburg newsmonger--one of those men +who choose their opinions like their clothes according to the fashion, +but who for that very reason appear to be the warmest partisans. Hardly +had he got rid of his hat before he ran into Prince Andrew's room with a +preoccupied air and at once began talking. He had just heard particulars +of that morning's sitting of the Council of State opened by the Emperor, +and he spoke of it enthusiastically. The Emperor's speech had been +extraordinary. It had been a speech such as only constitutional monarchs +deliver. "The Sovereign plainly said that the Council and Senate are +estates of the realm, he said that the government must rest not on +authority but on secure bases. The Emperor said that the fiscal system +must be reorganized and the accounts published," recounted Bitski, +emphasizing certain words and opening his eyes significantly. + +"Ah, yes! Today's events mark an epoch, the greatest epoch in our +history," he concluded. + +Prince Andrew listened to the account of the opening of the Council of +State, which he had so impatiently awaited and to which he had attached +such importance, and was surprised that this event, now that it had +taken place, did not affect him, and even seemed quite insignificant. He +listened with quiet irony to Bitski's enthusiastic account of it. A very +simple thought occurred to him: "What does it matter to me or to Bitski +what the Emperor was pleased to say at the Council? Can all that make me +any happier or better?" + +And this simple reflection suddenly destroyed all the interest Prince +Andrew had felt in the impending reforms. He was going to dine that +evening at Speranski's, "with only a few friends," as the host had said +when inviting him. The prospect of that dinner in the intimate home +circle of the man he so admired had greatly interested Prince Andrew, +especially as he had not yet seen Speranski in his domestic +surroundings, but now he felt disinclined to go to it. + +At the appointed hour, however, he entered the modest house Speranski +owned in the Taurida Gardens. In the parqueted dining room this small +house, remarkable for its extreme cleanliness (suggesting that of a +monastery), Prince Andrew, who was rather late, found the friendly +gathering of Speranski's intimate acquaintances already assembled at +five o'clock. There were no ladies present except Speranski's little +daughter (long-faced like her father) and her governess. The other +guests were Gervais, Magnitski, and Stolypin. While still in the +anteroom Prince Andrew heard loud voices and a ringing staccato laugh--a +laugh such as one hears on the stage. Someone--it sounded like +Speranski--was distinctly ejaculating ha-ha-ha. Prince Andrew had never +before heard Speranski's famous laugh, and this ringing, high-pitched +laughter from a statesman made a strange impression on him. + +He entered the dining room. The whole company were standing between two +windows at a small table laid with hors-d'oeuvres. Speranski, wearing a +gray swallow-tail coat with a star on the breast, and evidently still +the same waistcoat and high white stock he had worn at the meeting of +the Council of State, stood at the table with a beaming countenance. His +guests surrounded him. Magnitski, addressing himself to Speranski, was +relating an anecdote, and Speranski was laughing in advance at what +Magnitski was going to say. When Prince Andrew entered the room +Magnitski's words were again crowned by laughter. Stolypin gave a deep +bass guffaw as he munched a piece of bread and cheese. Gervais laughed +softly with a hissing chuckle, and Speranski in a high-pitched staccato +manner. + +Still laughing, Speranski held out his soft white hand to Prince Andrew. + +"Very pleased to see you, Prince," he said. "One moment..." he went on, +turning to Magnitski and interrupting his story. "We have agreed that +this is a dinner for recreation, with not a word about business!" and +turning again to the narrator he began to laugh afresh. + +Prince Andrew looked at the laughing Speranski with astonishment, +regret, and disillusionment. It seemed to him that this was not +Speranski but someone else. Everything that had formerly appeared +mysterious and fascinating in Speranski suddenly became plain and +unattractive. + +At dinner the conversation did not cease for a moment and seemed to +consist of the contents of a book of funny anecdotes. Before Magnitski +had finished his story someone else was anxious to relate something +still funnier. Most of the anecdotes, if not relating to the state +service, related to people in the service. It seemed that in this +company the insignificance of those people was so definitely accepted +that the only possible attitude toward them was one of good humored +ridicule. Speranski related how at the Council that morning a deaf +dignitary, when asked his opinion, replied that he thought so too. +Gervais gave a long account of an official revision, remarkable for the +stupidity of everybody concerned. Stolypin, stuttering, broke into the +conversation and began excitedly talking of the abuses that existed +under the former order of things--threatening to give a serious turn to +the conversation. Magnitski starting quizzing Stolypin about his +vehemence. Gervais intervened with a joke, and the talk reverted to its +former lively tone. + +Evidently Speranski liked to rest after his labors and find amusement in +a circle of friends, and his guests, understanding his wish, tried to +enliven him and amuse themselves. But their gaiety seemed to Prince +Andrew mirthless and tiresome. Speranski's high-pitched voice struck him +unpleasantly, and the incessant laughter grated on him like a false +note. Prince Andrew did not laugh and feared that he would be a damper +on the spirits of the company, but no one took any notice of his being +out of harmony with the general mood. They all seemed very gay. + +He tried several times to join in the conversation, but his remarks were +tossed aside each time like a cork thrown out of the water, and he could +not jest with them. + +There was nothing wrong or unseemly in what they said, it was witty and +might have been funny, but it lacked just that something which is the +salt of mirth, and they were not even aware that such a thing existed. + +After dinner Speranski's daughter and her governess rose. He patted the +little girl with his white hand and kissed her. And that gesture, too, +seemed unnatural to Prince Andrew. + +The men remained at table over their port--English fashion. In the midst +of a conversation that was started about Napoleon's Spanish affairs, +which they all agreed in approving, Prince Andrew began to express a +contrary opinion. Speranski smiled and, with an evident wish to prevent +the conversation from taking an unpleasant course, told a story that had +no connection with the previous conversation. For a few moments all were +silent. + +Having sat some time at table, Speranski corked a bottle of wine and, +remarking, "Nowadays good wine rides in a carriage and pair," passed it +to the servant and got up. All rose and continuing to talk loudly went +into the drawing room. Two letters brought by a courier were handed to +Speranski and he took them to his study. As soon as he had left the room +the general merriment stopped and the guests began to converse sensibly +and quietly with one another. + +"Now for the recitation!" said Speranski on returning from his study. "A +wonderful talent!" he said to Prince Andrew, and Magnitski immediately +assumed a pose and began reciting some humorous verses in French which +he had composed about various well-known Petersburg people. He was +interrupted several times by applause. When the verses were finished +Prince Andrew went up to Speranski and took his leave. + +"Where are you off to so early?" asked Speranski. + +"I promised to go to a reception." + +They said no more. Prince Andrew looked closely into those mirrorlike, +impenetrable eyes, and felt that it had been ridiculous of him to have +expected anything from Speranski and from any of his own activities +connected with him, or ever to have attributed importance to what +Speranski was doing. That precise, mirthless laughter rang in Prince +Andrew's ears long after he had left the house. + +When he reached home Prince Andrew began thinking of his life in +Petersburg during those last four months as if it were something new. He +recalled his exertions and solicitations, and the history of his project +of army reform, which had been accepted for consideration and which they +were trying to pass over in silence simply because another, a very poor +one, had already been prepared and submitted to the Emperor. He thought +of the meetings of a committee of which Berg was a member. He remembered +how carefully and at what length everything relating to form and +procedure was discussed at those meetings, and how sedulously and +promptly all that related to the gist of the business was evaded. He +recalled his labors on the Legal Code, and how painstakingly he had +translated the articles of the Roman and French codes into Russian, and +he felt ashamed of himself. Then he vividly pictured to himself +Bogucharovo, his occupations in the country, his journey to Ryazan; he +remembered the peasants and Dron the village elder, and mentally +applying to them the Personal Rights he had divided into paragraphs, he +felt astonished that he could have spent so much time on such useless +work. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Next day Prince Andrew called at a few houses he had not visited before, +and among them at the Rostovs' with whom he had renewed acquaintance at +the ball. Apart from considerations of politeness which demanded the +call, he wanted to see that original, eager girl who had left such a +pleasant impression on his mind, in her own home. + +Natasha was one of the first to meet him. She was wearing a dark-blue +house dress in which Prince Andrew thought her even prettier than in her +ball dress. She and all the Rostov family welcomed him as an old friend, +simply and cordially. The whole family, whom he had formerly judged +severely, now seemed to him to consist of excellent, simple, and kindly +people. The old count's hospitality and good nature, which struck one +especially in Petersburg as a pleasant surprise, were such that Prince +Andrew could not refuse to stay to dinner. "Yes," he thought, "they are +capital people, who of course have not the slightest idea what a +treasure they possess in Natasha; but they are kindly folk and form the +best possible setting for this strikingly poetic, charming girl, +overflowing with life!" + +In Natasha Prince Andrew was conscious of a strange world completely +alien to him and brimful of joys unknown to him, a different world, that +in the Otradnoe avenue and at the window that moonlight night had +already begun to disconcert him. Now this world disconcerted him no +longer and was no longer alien to him, but he himself having entered it +found in it a new enjoyment. + +After dinner Natasha, at Prince Andrew's request, went to the clavichord +and began singing. Prince Andrew stood by a window talking to the ladies +and listened to her. In the midst of a phrase he ceased speaking and +suddenly felt tears choking him, a thing he had thought impossible for +him. He looked at Natasha as she sang, and something new and joyful +stirred in his soul. He felt happy and at the same time sad. He had +absolutely nothing to weep about yet he was ready to weep. What about? +His former love? The little princess? His disillusionments?... His hopes +for the future?... Yes and no. The chief reason was a sudden, vivid +sense of the terrible contrast between something infinitely great and +illimitable within him and that limited and material something that he, +and even she, was. This contrast weighed on and yet cheered him while +she sang. + +As soon as Natasha had finished she went up to him and asked how he +liked her voice. She asked this and then became confused, feeling that +she ought not to have asked it. He smiled, looking at her, and said he +liked her singing as he liked everything she did. + +Prince Andrew left the Rostovs' late in the evening. He went to bed from +habit, but soon realized that he could not sleep. Having lit his candle +he sat up in bed, then got up, then lay down again not at all troubled +by his sleeplessness: his soul was as fresh and joyful as if he had +stepped out of a stuffy room into God's own fresh air. It did not enter +his head that he was in love with Natasha; he was not thinking about +her, but only picturing her to himself, and in consequence all life +appeared in a new light. "Why do I strive, why do I toil in this narrow, +confined frame, when life, all life with all its joys, is open to me?" +said he to himself. And for the first time for a very long while he +began making happy plans for the future. He decided that he must attend +to his son's education by finding a tutor and putting the boy in his +charge, then he ought to retire from the service and go abroad, and see +England, Switzerland and Italy. "I must use my freedom while I feel so +much strength and youth in me," he said to himself. "Pierre was right +when he said one must believe in the possibility of happiness in order +to be happy, and now I do believe in it. Let the dead bury their dead, +but while one has life one must live and be happy!" thought he. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +One morning Colonel Berg, whom Pierre knew as he knew everybody in +Moscow and Petersburg, came to see him. Berg arrived in an immaculate +brand-new uniform, with his hair pomaded and brushed forward over his +temples as the Emperor Alexander wore his hair. + +"I have just been to see the countess, your wife. Unfortunately she +could not grant my request, but I hope, Count, I shall be more fortunate +with you," he said with a smile. + +"What is it you wish, Colonel? I am at your service." + +"I have now quite settled in my new rooms, Count" (Berg said this with +perfect conviction that this information could not but be agreeable), +"and so I wish to arrange just a small party for my own and my wife's +friends." (He smiled still more pleasantly.) "I wished to ask the +countess and you to do me the honor of coming to tea and to supper." + +Only Countess Helene, considering the society of such people as the +Bergs beneath her, could be cruel enough to refuse such an invitation. +Berg explained so clearly why he wanted to collect at his house a small +but select company, and why this would give him pleasure, and why though +he grudged spending money on cards or anything harmful, he was prepared +to run into some expense for the sake of good society--that Pierre could +not refuse, and promised to come. + +"But don't be late, Count, if I may venture to ask; about ten minutes to +eight, please. We shall make up a rubber. Our general is coming. He is +very good to me. We shall have supper, Count. So you will do me the +favor." + +Contrary to his habit of being late, Pierre on that day arrived at the +Bergs' house, not at ten but at fifteen minutes to eight. + +Having prepared everything necessary for the party, the Bergs were ready +for their guests' arrival. + +In their new, clean, and light study with its small busts and pictures +and new furniture sat Berg and his wife. Berg, closely buttoned up in +his new uniform, sat beside his wife explaining to her that one always +could and should be acquainted with people above one, because only then +does one get satisfaction from acquaintances. + +"You can get to know something, you can ask for something. See how I +managed from my first promotion." (Berg measured his life not by years +but by promotions.) "My comrades are still nobodies, while I am only +waiting for a vacancy to command a regiment, and have the happiness to +be your husband." (He rose and kissed Vera's hand, and on the way to her +straightened out a turned-up corner of the carpet.) "And how have I +obtained all this? Chiefly by knowing how to choose my aquaintances. It +goes without saying that one must be conscientious and methodical." + +Berg smiled with a sense of his superiority over a weak woman, and +paused, reflecting that this dear wife of his was after all but a weak +woman who could not understand all that constitutes a man's dignity, +what it was ein Mann zu sein. * Vera at the same time smiling with a +sense of superiority over her good, conscientious husband, who all the +same understood life wrongly, as according to Vera all men did. Berg, +judging by his wife, thought all women weak and foolish. Vera, judging +only by her husband and generalizing from that observation, supposed +that all men, though they understand nothing and are conceited and +selfish, ascribe common sense to themselves alone. + + +* To be a man. + +Berg rose and embraced his wife carefully, so as not to crush her lace +fichu for which he had paid a good price, kissing her straight on the +lips. + +"The only thing is, we mustn't have children too soon," he continued, +following an unconscious sequence of ideas. + +"Yes," answered Vera, "I don't at all want that. We must live for +society." + +"Princess Yusupova wore one exactly like this," said Berg, pointing to +the fichu with a happy and kindly smile. + +Just then Count Bezukhov was announced. Husband and wife glanced at one +another, both smiling with self-satisfaction, and each mentally claiming +the honor of this visit. + +"This is what comes of knowing how to make acquaintances," thought Berg. +"This is what comes of knowing how to conduct oneself." + +"But please don't interrupt me when I am entertaining the guests," said +Vera, "because I know what interests each of them and what to say to +different people." + +Berg smiled again. + +"It can't be helped: men must sometimes have masculine conversation," +said he. + +They received Pierre in their small, new drawing-room, where it was +impossible to sit down anywhere without disturbing its symmetry, +neatness, and order; so it was quite comprehensible and not strange that +Berg, having generously offered to disturb the symmetry of an armchair +or of the sofa for his dear guest, but being apparently painfully +undecided on the matter himself, eventually left the visitor to settle +the question of selection. Pierre disturbed the symmetry by moving a +chair for himself, and Berg and Vera immediately began their evening +party, interrupting each other in their efforts to entertain their +guest. + +Vera, having decided in her own mind that Pierre ought to be entertained +with conversation about the French embassy, at once began accordingly. +Berg, having decided that masculine conversation was required, +interrupted his wife's remarks and touched on the question of the war +with Austria, and unconsciously jumped from the general subject to +personal considerations as to the proposals made him to take part in the +Austrian campaign and the reasons why he had declined them. Though the +conversation was very incoherent and Vera was angry at the intrusion of +the masculine element, both husband and wife felt with satisfaction +that, even if only one guest was present, their evening had begun very +well and was as like as two peas to every other evening party with its +talk, tea, and lighted candles. + +Before long Boris, Berg's old comrade, arrived. There was a shade of +condescension and patronage in his treatment of Berg and Vera. After +Boris came a lady with the colonel, then the general himself, then the +Rostovs, and the party became unquestionably exactly like all other +evening parties. Berg and Vera could not repress their smiles of +satisfaction at the sight of all this movement in their drawing room, at +the sound of the disconnected talk, the rustling of dresses, and the +bowing and scraping. Everything was just as everybody always has it, +especially so the general, who admired the apartment, patted Berg on the +shoulder, and with parental authority superintended the setting out of +the table for boston. The general sat down by Count Ilya Rostov, who was +next to himself the most important guest. The old people sat with the +old, the young with the young, and the hostess at the tea table, on +which stood exactly the same kind of cakes in a silver cake basket as +the Panins had at their party. Everything was just as it was everywhere +else. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Pierre, as one of the principal guests, had to sit down to boston with +Count Rostov, the general, and the colonel. At the card table he +happened to be directly facing Natasha, and was struck by a curious +change that had come over her since the ball. She was silent, and not +only less pretty than at the ball, but only redeemed from plainness by +her look of gentle indifference to everything around. + +"What's the matter with her?" thought Pierre, glancing at her. She was +sitting by her sister at the tea table, and reluctantly, without looking +at him, made some reply to Boris who sat down beside her. After playing +out a whole suit and to his partner's delight taking five tricks, +Pierre, hearing greetings and the steps of someone who had entered the +room while he was picking up his tricks, glanced again at Natasha. + +"What has happened to her?" he asked himself with still greater +surprise. + +Prince Andrew was standing before her, saying something to her with a +look of tender solicitude. She, having raised her head, was looking up +at him, flushed and evidently trying to master her rapid breathing. And +the bright glow of some inner fire that had been suppressed was again +alight in her. She was completely transformed and from a plain girl had +again become what she had been at the ball. + +Prince Andrew went up to Pierre, and the latter noticed a new and +youthful expression in his friend's face. + +Pierre changed places several times during the game, sitting now with +his back to Natasha and now facing her, but during the whole of the six +rubbers he watched her and his friend. + +"Something very important is happening between them," thought Pierre, +and a feeling that was both joyful and painful agitated him and made him +neglect the game. + +After six rubbers the general got up, saying that it was no use playing +like that, and Pierre was released. Natasha on one side was talking with +Sonya and Boris, and Vera with a subtle smile was saying something to +Prince Andrew. Pierre went up to his friend and, asking whether they +were talking secrets, sat down beside them. Vera, having noticed Prince +Andrew's attentions to Natasha, decided that at a party, a real evening +party, subtle allusions to the tender passion were absolutely necessary +and, seizing a moment when Prince Andrew was alone, began a conversation +with him about feelings in general and about her sister. With so +intellectual a guest as she considered Prince Andrew to be, she felt +that she had to employ her diplomatic tact. + +When Pierre went up to them he noticed that Vera was being carried away +by her self-satisfied talk, but that Prince Andrew seemed embarrassed, a +thing that rarely happened with him. + +"What do you think?" Vera was saying with an arch smile. "You are so +discerning, Prince, and understand people's characters so well at a +glance. What do you think of Natalie? Could she be constant in her +attachments? Could she, like other women" (Vera meant herself), "love a +man once for all and remain true to him forever? That is what I consider +true love. What do you think, Prince?" + +"I know your sister too little," replied Prince Andrew, with a sarcastic +smile under which he wished to hide his embarrassment, "to be able to +solve so delicate a question, and then I have noticed that the less +attractive a woman is the more constant she is likely to be," he added, +and looked up at Pierre who was just approaching them. + +"Yes, that is true, Prince. In our days," continued Vera--mentioning +"our days" as people of limited intelligence are fond of doing, +imagining that they have discovered and appraised the peculiarities of +"our days" and that human characteristics change with the times--"in our +days a girl has so much freedom that the pleasure of being courted often +stifles real feeling in her. And it must be confessed that Natalie is +very susceptible." This return to the subject of Natalie caused Prince +Andrew to knit his brows with discomfort: he was about to rise, but Vera +continued with a still more subtle smile: + +"I think no one has been more courted than she," she went on, "but till +quite lately she never cared seriously for anyone. Now you know, Count," +she said to Pierre, "even our dear cousin Boris, who, between ourselves, +was very far gone in the land of tenderness..." (alluding to a map of +love much in vogue at that time). + +Prince Andrew frowned and remained silent. + +"You are friendly with Boris, aren't you?" asked Vera. + +"Yes, I know him..." + +"I expect he has told you of his childish love for Natasha?" + +"Oh, there was childish love?" suddenly asked Prince Andrew, blushing +unexpectedly. + +"Yes, you know between cousins intimacy often leads to love. Le +cousinage est un dangereux voisinage. * Don't you think so?" + + +* "Cousinhood is a dangerous neighborhood." + +"Oh, undoubtedly!" said Prince Andrew, and with sudden and unnatural +liveliness he began chaffing Pierre about the need to be very careful +with his fifty-year-old Moscow cousins, and in the midst of these +jesting remarks he rose, taking Pierre by the arm, and drew him aside. + +"Well?" asked Pierre, seeing his friend's strange animation with +surprise, and noticing the glance he turned on Natasha as he rose. + +"I must... I must have a talk with you," said Prince Andrew. "You know +that pair of women's gloves?" (He referred to the masonic gloves given +to a newly initiated Brother to present to the woman he loved.) "I... +but no, I will talk to you later on," and with a strange light in his +eyes and restlessness in his movements, Prince Andrew approached Natasha +and sat down beside her. Pierre saw how Prince Andrew asked her +something and how she flushed as she replied. + +But at that moment Berg came to Pierre and began insisting that he +should take part in an argument between the general and the colonel on +the affairs in Spain. + +Berg was satisfied and happy. The smile of pleasure never left his face. +The party was very successful and quite like other parties he had seen. +Everything was similar: the ladies' subtle talk, the cards, the general +raising his voice at the card table, and the samovar and the tea cakes; +only one thing was lacking that he had always seen at the evening +parties he wished to imitate. They had not yet had a loud conversation +among the men and a dispute about something important and clever. Now +the general had begun such a discussion and so Berg drew Pierre to it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +Next day, having been invited by the count, Prince Andrew dined with the +Rostovs and spent the rest of the day there. + +Everyone in the house realized for whose sake Prince Andrew came, and +without concealing it he tried to be with Natasha all day. Not only in +the soul of the frightened yet happy and enraptured Natasha, but in the +whole house, there was a feeling of awe at something important that was +bound to happen. The countess looked with sad and sternly serious eyes +at Prince Andrew when he talked to Natasha and timidly started some +artificial conversation about trifles as soon as he looked her way. +Sonya was afraid to leave Natasha and afraid of being in the way when +she was with them. Natasha grew pale, in a panic of expectation, when +she remained alone with him for a moment. Prince Andrew surprised her by +his timidity. She felt that he wanted to say something to her but could +not bring himself to do so. + +In the evening, when Prince Andrew had left, the countess went up to +Natasha and whispered: "Well, what?" + +"Mamma! For heaven's sake don't ask me anything now! One can't talk +about that," said Natasha. + +But all the same that night Natasha, now agitated and now frightened, +lay a long time in her mother's bed gazing straight before her. She told +her how he had complimented her, how he told her he was going abroad, +asked her where they were going to spend the summer, and then how he had +asked her about Boris. + +"But such a... such a... never happened to me before!" she said. "Only I +feel afraid in his presence. I am always afraid when I'm with him. What +does that mean? Does it mean that it's the real thing? Yes? Mamma, are +you asleep?" + +"No, my love; I am frightened myself," answered her mother. "Now go!" + +"All the same I shan't sleep. What silliness, to sleep! Mummy! Mummy! +such a thing never happened to me before," she said, surprised and +alarmed at the feeling she was aware of in herself. "And could we ever +have thought!..." + +It seemed to Natasha that even at the time she first saw Prince Andrew +at Otradnoe she had fallen in love with him. It was as if she feared +this strange, unexpected happiness of meeting again the very man she had +then chosen (she was firmly convinced she had done so) and of finding +him, as it seemed, not indifferent to her. + +"And it had to happen that he should come specially to Petersburg while +we are here. And it had to happen that we should meet at that ball. It +is fate. Clearly it is fate that everything led up to this! Already +then, directly I saw him I felt something peculiar." + +"What else did he say to you? What are those verses? Read them..." said +her mother, thoughtfully, referring to some verses Prince Andrew had +written in Natasha's album. + +"Mamma, one need not be ashamed of his being a widower?" + +"Don't, Natasha! Pray to God. 'Marriages are made in heaven,'" said her +mother. + +"Darling Mummy, how I love you! How happy I am!" cried Natasha, shedding +tears of joy and excitement and embracing her mother. + +At that very time Prince Andrew was sitting with Pierre and telling him +of his love for Natasha and his firm resolve to make her his wife. + +That day Countess Helene had a reception at her house. The French +ambassador was there, and a foreign prince of the blood who had of late +become a frequent visitor of hers, and many brilliant ladies and +gentlemen. Pierre, who had come downstairs, walked through the rooms and +struck everyone by his preoccupied, absent-minded, and morose air. + +Since the ball he had felt the approach of a fit of nervous depression +and had made desperate efforts to combat it. Since the intimacy of his +wife with the royal prince, Pierre had unexpectedly been made a +gentleman of the bedchamber, and from that time he had begun to feel +oppressed and ashamed in court society, and dark thoughts of the vanity +of all things human came to him oftener than before. At the same time +the feeling he had noticed between his protegee Natasha and Prince +Andrew accentuated his gloom by the contrast between his own position +and his friend's. He tried equally to avoid thinking about his wife, and +about Natasha and Prince Andrew; and again everything seemed to him +insignificant in comparison with eternity; again the question: for what? +presented itself; and he forced himself to work day and night at masonic +labors, hoping to drive away the evil spirit that threatened him. Toward +midnight, after he had left the countess' apartments, he was sitting +upstairs in a shabby dressing gown, copying out the original transaction +of the Scottish lodge of Freemasons at a table in his low room cloudy +with tobacco smoke, when someone came in. It was Prince Andrew. + +"Ah, it's you!" said Pierre with a preoccupied, dissatisfied air. "And +I, you see, am hard at it." He pointed to his manuscript book with that +air of escaping from the ills of life with which unhappy people look at +their work. + +Prince Andrew, with a beaming, ecstatic expression of renewed life on +his face, paused in front of Pierre and, not noticing his sad look, +smiled at him with the egotism of joy. + +"Well, dear heart," said he, "I wanted to tell you about it yesterday +and I have come to do so today. I never experienced anything like it +before. I am in love, my friend!" + +Suddenly Pierre heaved a deep sigh and dumped his heavy person down on +the sofa beside Prince Andrew. + +"With Natasha Rostova, yes?" said he. + +"Yes, yes! Who else should it be? I should never have believed it, but +the feeling is stronger than I. Yesterday I tormented myself and +suffered, but I would not exchange even that torment for anything in the +world, I have not lived till now. At last I live, but I can't live +without her! But can she love me?... I am too old for her.... Why don't +you speak?" + +"I? I? What did I tell you?" said Pierre suddenly, rising and beginning +to pace up and down the room. "I always thought it.... That girl is such +a treasure... she is a rare girl.... My dear friend, I entreat you, +don't philosophize, don't doubt, marry, marry, marry.... And I am sure +there will not be a happier man than you." + +"But what of her?" + +"She loves you." + +"Don't talk rubbish..." said Prince Andrew, smiling and looking into +Pierre's eyes. + +"She does, I know," Pierre cried fiercely. + +"But do listen," returned Prince Andrew, holding him by the arm. "Do you +know the condition I am in? I must talk about it to someone." + +"Well, go on, go on. I am very glad," said Pierre, and his face really +changed, his brow became smooth, and he listened gladly to Prince +Andrew. Prince Andrew seemed, and really was, quite a different, quite a +new man. Where was his spleen, his contempt for life, his +disillusionment? Pierre was the only person to whom he made up his mind +to speak openly; and to him he told all that was in his soul. Now he +boldly and lightly made plans for an extended future, said he could not +sacrifice his own happiness to his father's caprice, and spoke of how he +would either make his father consent to this marriage and love her, or +would do without his consent; then he marveled at the feeling that had +mastered him as at something strange, apart from and independent of +himself. + +"I should not have believed anyone who told me that I was capable of +such love," said Prince Andrew. "It is not at all the same feeling that +I knew in the past. The whole world is now for me divided into two +halves: one half is she, and there all is joy, hope, light: the other +half is everything where she is not, and there is all gloom and +darkness...." + +"Darkness and gloom," reiterated Pierre: "yes, yes, I understand that." + +"I cannot help loving the light, it is not my fault. And I am very +happy! You understand me? I know you are glad for my sake." + +"Yes, yes," Pierre assented, looking at his friend with a touched and +sad expression in his eyes. The brighter Prince Andrew's lot appeared to +him, the gloomier seemed his own. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Prince Andrew needed his father's consent to his marriage, and to obtain +this he started for the country next day. + +His father received his son's communication with external composure, but +inward wrath. He could not comprehend how anyone could wish to alter his +life or introduce anything new into it, when his own life was already +ending. "If only they would let me end my days as I want to," thought +the old man, "then they might do as they please." With his son, however, +he employed the diplomacy he reserved for important occasions and, +adopting a quiet tone, discussed the whole matter. + +In the first place the marriage was not a brilliant one as regards +birth, wealth, or rank. Secondly, Prince Andrew was no longer as young +as he had been and his health was poor (the old man laid special stress +on this), while she was very young. Thirdly, he had a son whom it would +be a pity to entrust to a chit of a girl. "Fourthly and finally," the +father said, looking ironically at his son, "I beg you to put it off for +a year: go abroad, take a cure, look out as you wanted to for a German +tutor for Prince Nicholas. Then if your love or passion or obstinacy--as +you please--is still as great, marry! And that's my last word on it. +Mind, the last..." concluded the prince, in a tone which showed that +nothing would make him alter his decision. + +Prince Andrew saw clearly that the old man hoped that his feelings, or +his fiancee's, would not stand a year's test, or that he (the old prince +himself) would die before then, and he decided to conform to his +father's wish--to propose, and postpone the wedding for a year. + +Three weeks after the last evening he had spent with the Rostovs, Prince +Andrew returned to Petersburg. + +Next day after her talk with her mother Natasha expected Bolkonski all +day, but he did not come. On the second and third day it was the same. +Pierre did not come either and Natasha, not knowing that Prince Andrew +had gone to see his father, could not explain his absence to herself. + +Three weeks passed in this way. Natasha had no desire to go out anywhere +and wandered from room to room like a shadow, idle and listless; she +wept secretly at night and did not go to her mother in the evenings. She +blushed continually and was irritable. It seemed to her that everybody +knew about her disappointment and was laughing at her and pitying her. +Strong as was her inward grief, this wound to her vanity intensified her +misery. + +Once she came to her mother, tried to say something, and suddenly began +to cry. Her tears were those of an offended child who does not know why +it is being punished. + +The countess began to soothe Natasha, who after first listening to her +mother's words, suddenly interrupted her: + +"Leave off, Mamma! I don't think, and don't want to think about it! He +just came and then left off, left off..." + +Her voice trembled, and she again nearly cried, but recovered and went +on quietly: + +"And I don't at all want to get married. And I am afraid of him; I have +now become quite calm, quite calm." + +The day after this conversation Natasha put on the old dress which she +knew had the peculiar property of conducing to cheerfulness in the +mornings, and that day she returned to the old way of life which she had +abandoned since the ball. Having finished her morning tea she went to +the ballroom, which she particularly liked for its loud resonance, and +began singing her solfeggio. When she had finished her first exercise +she stood still in the middle of the room and sang a musical phrase that +particularly pleased her. She listened joyfully (as though she had not +expected it) to the charm of the notes reverberating, filling the whole +empty ballroom, and slowly dying away; and all at once she felt +cheerful. "What's the good of making so much of it? Things are nice as +it is," she said to herself, and she began walking up and down the room, +not stepping simply on the resounding parquet but treading with each +step from the heel to the toe (she had on a new and favorite pair of +shoes) and listening to the regular tap of the heel and creak of the toe +as gladly as she had to the sounds of her own voice. Passing a mirror +she glanced into it. "There, that's me!" the expression of her face +seemed to say as she caught sight of herself. "Well, and very nice too! +I need nobody." + +A footman wanted to come in to clear away something in the room but she +would not let him, and having closed the door behind him continued her +walk. That morning she had returned to her favorite mood--love of, and +delight in, herself. "How charming that Natasha is!" she said again, +speaking as some third, collective, male person. "Pretty, a good voice, +young, and in nobody's way if only they leave her in peace." But however +much they left her in peace she could not now be at peace, and +immediately felt this. + +In the hall the porch door opened, and someone asked, "At home?" and +then footsteps were heard. Natasha was looking at the mirror, but did +not see herself. She listened to the sounds in the hall. When she saw +herself, her face was pale. It was he. She knew this for certain, though +she hardly heard his voice through the closed doors. + +Pale and agitated, Natasha ran into the drawing room. + +"Mamma! Bolkonski has come!" she said. "Mamma, it is awful, it is +unbearable! I don't want... to be tormented? What am I to do?..." + +Before the countess could answer, Prince Andrew entered the room with an +agitated and serious face. As soon as he saw Natasha his face +brightened. He kissed the countess' hand and Natasha's, and sat down +beside the sofa. + +"It is long since we had the pleasure..." began the countess, but Prince +Andrew interrupted her by answering her intended question, obviously in +haste to say what he had to. + +"I have not been to see you all this time because I have been at my +father's. I had to talk over a very important matter with him. I only +got back last night," he said glancing at Natasha; "I want to have a +talk with you, Countess," he added after a moment's pause. + +The countess lowered her eyes, sighing deeply. + +"I am at your disposal," she murmured. + +Natasha knew that she ought to go away, but was unable to do so: +something gripped her throat, and regardless of manners she stared +straight at Prince Andrew with wide-open eyes. + +"At once? This instant!... No, it can't be!" she thought. + +Again he glanced at her, and that glance convinced her that she was not +mistaken. Yes, at once, that very instant, her fate would be decided. + +"Go, Natasha! I will call you," said the countess in a whisper. + +Natasha glanced with frightened imploring eyes at Prince Andrew and at +her mother and went out. + +"I have come, Countess, to ask for your daughter's hand," said Prince +Andrew. + +The countess' face flushed hotly, but she said nothing. + +"Your offer..." she began at last sedately. He remained silent, looking +into her eyes. "Your offer..." (she grew confused) "is agreeable to us, +and I accept your offer. I am glad. And my husband... I hope... but it +will depend on her...." + +"I will speak to her when I have your consent.... Do you give it to me?" +said Prince Andrew. + +"Yes," replied the countess. She held out her hand to him, and with a +mixed feeling of estrangement and tenderness pressed her lips to his +forehead as he stooped to kiss her hand. She wished to love him as a +son, but felt that to her he was a stranger and a terrifying man. "I am +sure my husband will consent," said the countess, "but your father..." + +"My father, to whom I have told my plans, has made it an express +condition of his consent that the wedding is not to take place for a +year. And I wished to tell you of that," said Prince Andrew. + +"It is true that Natasha is still young, but--so long as that?..." + +"It is unavoidable," said Prince Andrew with a sigh. + +"I will send her to you," said the countess, and left the room. + +"Lord have mercy upon us!" she repeated while seeking her daughter. + +Sonya said that Natasha was in her bedroom. Natasha was sitting on the +bed, pale and dry eyed, and was gazing at the icons and whispering +something as she rapidly crossed herself. Seeing her mother she jumped +up and flew to her. + +"Well, Mamma?... Well?..." + +"Go, go to him. He is asking for your hand," said the countess, coldly +it seemed to Natasha. "Go... go," said the mother, sadly and +reproachfully, with a deep sigh, as her daughter ran away. + +Natasha never remembered how she entered the drawing room. When she came +in and saw him she paused. "Is it possible that this stranger has now +become everything to me?" she asked herself, and immediately answered, +"Yes, everything! He alone is now dearer to me than everything in the +world." Prince Andrew came up to her with downcast eyes. + +"I have loved you from the very first moment I saw you. May I hope?" + +He looked at her and was struck by the serious impassioned expression of +her face. Her face said: "Why ask? Why doubt what you cannot but know? +Why speak, when words cannot express what one feels?" + +She drew near to him and stopped. He took her hand and kissed it. + +"Do you love me?" + +"Yes, yes!" Natasha murmured as if in vexation. Then she sighed loudly +and, catching her breath more and more quickly, began to sob. + +"What is it? What's the matter?" + +"Oh, I am so happy!" she replied, smiled through her tears, bent over +closer to him, paused for an instant as if asking herself whether she +might, and then kissed him. + +Prince Andrew held her hands, looked into her eyes, and did not find in +his heart his former love for her. Something in him had suddenly +changed; there was no longer the former poetic and mystic charm of +desire, but there was pity for her feminine and childish weakness, fear +at her devotion and trustfulness, and an oppressive yet joyful sense of +the duty that now bound him to her forever. The present feeling, though +not so bright and poetic as the former, was stronger and more serious. + +"Did your mother tell you that it cannot be for a year?" asked Prince +Andrew, still looking into her eyes. + +"Is it possible that I--the 'chit of a girl,' as everybody called me," +thought Natasha--"is it possible that I am now to be the wife and the +equal of this strange, dear, clever man whom even my father looks up to? +Can it be true? Can it be true that there can be no more playing with +life, that now I am grown up, that on me now lies a responsibility for +my every word and deed? Yes, but what did he ask me?" + +"No," she replied, but she had not understood his question. + +"Forgive me!" he said. "But you are so young, and I have already been +through so much in life. I am afraid for you, you do not yet know +yourself." + +Natasha listened with concentrated attention, trying but failing to take +in the meaning of his words. + +"Hard as this year which delays my happiness will be," continued Prince +Andrew, "it will give you time to be sure of yourself. I ask you to make +me happy in a year, but you are free: our engagement shall remain a +secret, and should you find that you do not love me, or should you come +to love..." said Prince Andrew with an unnatural smile. + +"Why do you say that?" Natasha interrupted him. "You know that from the +very day you first came to Otradnoe I have loved you," she cried, quite +convinced that she spoke the truth. + +"In a year you will learn to know yourself...." + +"A whole year!" Natasha repeated suddenly, only now realizing that the +marriage was to be postponed for a year. "But why a year? Why a +year?..." + +Prince Andrew began to explain to her the reasons for this delay. +Natasha did not hear him. + +"And can't it be helped?" she asked. Prince Andrew did not reply, but +his face expressed the impossibility of altering that decision. + +"It's awful! Oh, it's awful! awful!" Natasha suddenly cried, and again +burst into sobs. "I shall die, waiting a year: it's impossible, it's +awful!" She looked into her lover's face and saw in it a look of +commiseration and perplexity. + +"No, no! I'll do anything!" she said, suddenly checking her tears. "I am +so happy." + +The father and mother came into the room and gave the betrothed couple +their blessing. + +From that day Prince Andrew began to frequent the Rostovs' as Natasha's +affianced lover. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +No betrothal ceremony took place and Natasha's engagement to Bolkonski +was not announced; Prince Andrew insisted on that. He said that as he +was responsible for the delay he ought to bear the whole burden of it; +that he had given his word and bound himself forever, but that he did +not wish to bind Natasha and gave her perfect freedom. If after six +months she felt that she did not love him she would have full right to +reject him. Naturally neither Natasha nor her parents wished to hear of +this, but Prince Andrew was firm. He came every day to the Rostovs', but +did not behave to Natasha as an affianced lover: he did not use the +familiar thou, but said you to her, and kissed only her hand. After +their engagement, quite different, intimate, and natural relations +sprang up between them. It was as if they had not known each other till +now. Both liked to recall how they had regarded each other when as yet +they were nothing to one another; they felt themselves now quite +different beings: then they were artificial, now natural and sincere. At +first the family felt some constraint in intercourse with Prince Andrew; +he seemed a man from another world, and for a long time Natasha trained +the family to get used to him, proudly assuring them all that he only +appeared to be different, but was really just like all of them, and that +she was not afraid of him and no one else ought to be. After a few days +they grew accustomed to him, and without restraint in his presence +pursued their usual way of life, in which he took his part. He could +talk about rural economy with the count, fashions with the countess and +Natasha, and about albums and fancywork with Sonya. Sometimes the +household both among themselves and in his presence expressed their +wonder at how it had all happened, and at the evident omens there had +been of it: Prince Andrew's coming to Otradnoe and their coming to +Petersburg, and the likeness between Natasha and Prince Andrew which her +nurse had noticed on his first visit, and Andrew's encounter with +Nicholas in 1805, and many other incidents betokening that it had to be. + +In the house that poetic dullness and quiet reigned which always +accompanies the presence of a betrothed couple. Often when all sitting +together everyone kept silent. Sometimes the others would get up and go +away and the couple, left alone, still remained silent. They rarely +spoke of their future life. Prince Andrew was afraid and ashamed to +speak of it. Natasha shared this as she did all his feelings, which she +constantly divined. Once she began questioning him about his son. Prince +Andrew blushed, as he often did now--Natasha particularly liked it in +him--and said that his son would not live with them. + +"Why not?" asked Natasha in a frightened tone. + +"I cannot take him away from his grandfather, and besides..." + +"How I should have loved him!" said Natasha, immediately guessing his +thought; "but I know you wish to avoid any pretext for finding fault +with us." + +Sometimes the old count would come up, kiss Prince Andrew, and ask his +advice about Petya's education or Nicholas' service. The old countess +sighed as she looked at them; Sonya was always getting frightened lest +she should be in the way and tried to find excuses for leaving them +alone, even when they did not wish it. When Prince Andrew spoke (he +could tell a story very well), Natasha listened to him with pride; when +she spoke she noticed with fear and joy that he gazed attentively and +scrutinizingly at her. She asked herself in perplexity: "What does he +look for in me? He is trying to discover something by looking at me! +What if what he seeks in me is not there?" Sometimes she fell into one +of the mad, merry moods characteristic of her, and then she particularly +loved to hear and see how Prince Andrew laughed. He seldom laughed, but +when he did he abandoned himself entirely to his laughter, and after +such a laugh she always felt nearer to him. Natasha would have been +completely happy if the thought of the separation awaiting her and +drawing near had not terrified her, just as the mere thought of it made +him turn pale and cold. + +On the eve of his departure from Petersburg Prince Andrew brought with +him Pierre, who had not been to the Rostovs' once since the ball. Pierre +seemed disconcerted and embarrassed. He was talking to the countess, and +Natasha sat down beside a little chess table with Sonya, thereby +inviting Prince Andrew to come too. He did so. + +"You have known Bezukhov a long time?" he asked. "Do you like him?" + +"Yes, he's a dear, but very absurd." + +And as usual when speaking of Pierre, she began to tell anecdotes of his +absent-mindedness, some of which had even been invented about him. + +"Do you know I have entrusted him with our secret? I have known him from +childhood. He has a heart of gold. I beg you, Natalie," Prince Andrew +said with sudden seriousness--"I am going away and heaven knows what may +happen. You may cease to... all right, I know I am not to say that. Only +this, then: whatever may happen to you when I am not here..." + +"What can happen?" + +"Whatever trouble may come," Prince Andrew continued, "I beg you, +Mademoiselle Sophie, whatever may happen, to turn to him alone for +advice and help! He is a most absent-minded and absurd fellow, but he +has a heart of gold." + +Neither her father, nor her mother, nor Sonya, nor Prince Andrew himself +could have foreseen how the separation from her lover would act on +Natasha. Flushed and agitated she went about the house all that day, +dry-eyed, occupied with most trivial matters as if not understanding +what awaited her. She did not even cry when, on taking leave, he kissed +her hand for the last time. "Don't go!" she said in a tone that made him +wonder whether he really ought not to stay and which he remembered long +afterwards. Nor did she cry when he was gone; but for several days she +sat in her room dry-eyed, taking no interest in anything and only saying +now and then, "Oh, why did he go away?" + +But a fortnight after his departure, to the surprise of those around +her, she recovered from her mental sickness just as suddenly and became +her old self again, but with a change in her moral physiognomy, as a +child gets up after a long illness with a changed expression of face. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +During that year after his son's departure, Prince Nicholas Bolkonski's +health and temper became much worse. He grew still more irritable, and +it was Princess Mary who generally bore the brunt of his frequent fits +of unprovoked anger. He seemed carefully to seek out her tender spots so +as to torture her mentally as harshly as possible. Princess Mary had two +passions and consequently two joys--her nephew, little Nicholas, and +religion--and these were the favorite subjects of the prince's attacks +and ridicule. Whatever was spoken of he would bring round to the +superstitiousness of old maids, or the petting and spoiling of children. +"You want to make him"--little Nicholas--"into an old maid like +yourself! A pity! Prince Andrew wants a son and not an old maid," he +would say. Or, turning to Mademoiselle Bourienne, he would ask her in +Princess Mary's presence how she liked our village priests and icons and +would joke about them. + +He continually hurt Princess Mary's feelings and tormented her, but it +cost her no effort to forgive him. Could he be to blame toward her, or +could her father, whom she knew loved her in spite of it all, be unjust? +And what is justice? The princess never thought of that proud word +"justice." All the complex laws of man centered for her in one clear and +simple law--the law of love and self-sacrifice taught us by Him who +lovingly suffered for mankind though He Himself was God. What had she to +do with the justice or injustice of other people? She had to endure and +love, and that she did. + +During the winter Prince Andrew had come to Bald Hills and had been gay, +gentle, and more affectionate than Princess Mary had known him for a +long time past. She felt that something had happened to him, but he said +nothing to her about his love. Before he left he had a long talk with +his father about something, and Princess Mary noticed that before his +departure they were dissatisfied with one another. + +Soon after Prince Andrew had gone, Princess Mary wrote to her friend +Julie Karagina in Petersburg, whom she had dreamed (as all girls dream) +of marrying to her brother, and who was at that time in mourning for her +own brother, killed in Turkey. + +Sorrow, it seems, is our common lot, my dear, tender friend Julie. + +Your loss is so terrible that I can only explain it to myself as a +special providence of God who, loving you, wishes to try you and your +excellent mother. Oh, my friend! Religion, and religion alone, can--I +will not say comfort us--but save us from despair. Religion alone can +explain to us what without its help man cannot comprehend: why, for what +cause, kind and noble beings able to find happiness in life--not merely +harming no one but necessary to the happiness of others--are called away +to God, while cruel, useless, harmful persons, or such as are a burden +to themselves and to others, are left living. The first death I saw, and +one I shall never forget--that of my dear sister-in-law--left that +impression on me. Just as you ask destiny why your splendid brother had +to die, so I asked why that angel Lise, who not only never wronged +anyone, but in whose soul there were never any unkind thoughts, had to +die. And what do you think, dear friend? Five years have passed since +then, and already I, with my petty understanding, begin to see clearly +why she had to die, and in what way that death was but an expression of +the infinite goodness of the Creator, whose every action, though +generally incomprehensible to us, is but a manifestation of His infinite +love for His creatures. Perhaps, I often think, she was too angelically +innocent to have the strength to perform all a mother's duties. As a +young wife she was irreproachable; perhaps she could not have been so as +a mother. As it is, not only has she left us, and particularly Prince +Andrew, with the purest regrets and memories, but probably she will +there receive a place I dare not hope for myself. But not to speak of +her alone, that early and terrible death has had the most beneficent +influence on me and on my brother in spite of all our grief. Then, at +the moment of our loss, these thoughts could not occur to me; I should +then have dismissed them with horror, but now they are very clear and +certain. I write all this to you, dear friend, only to convince you of +the Gospel truth which has become for me a principle of life: not a +single hair of our heads will fall without His will. And His will is +governed only by infinite love for us, and so whatever befalls us is for +our good. + +You ask whether we shall spend next winter in Moscow. In spite of my +wish to see you, I do not think so and do not want to do so. You will be +surprised to hear that the reason for this is Buonaparte! The case is +this: my father's health is growing noticeably worse, he cannot stand +any contradiction and is becoming irritable. This irritability is, as +you know, chiefly directed to political questions. He cannot endure the +notion that Buonaparte is negotiating on equal terms with all the +sovereigns of Europe and particularly with our own, the grandson of the +Great Catherine! As you know, I am quite indifferent to politics, but +from my father's remarks and his talks with Michael Ivanovich I know all +that goes on in the world and especially about the honors conferred on +Buonaparte, who only at Bald Hills in the whole world, it seems, is not +accepted as a great man, still less as Emperor of France. And my father +cannot stand this. It seems to me that it is chiefly because of his +political views that my father is reluctant to speak of going to Moscow; +for he foresees the encounters that would result from his way of +expressing his views regardless of anybody. All the benefit he might +derive from a course of treatment he would lose as a result of the +disputes about Buonaparte which would be inevitable. In any case it will +be decided very shortly. + +Our family life goes on in the old way except for my brother Andrew's +absence. He, as I wrote you before, has changed very much of late. After +his sorrow he only this year quite recovered his spirits. He has again +become as I used to know him when a child: kind, affectionate, with that +heart of gold to which I know no equal. He has realized, it seems to me, +that life is not over for him. But together with this mental change he +has grown physically much weaker. He has become thinner and more +nervous. I am anxious about him and glad he is taking this trip abroad +which the doctors recommended long ago. I hope it will cure him. You +write that in Petersburg he is spoken of as one of the most active, +cultivated, and capable of the young men. Forgive my vanity as a +relation, but I never doubted it. The good he has done to everybody +here, from his peasants up to the gentry, is incalculable. On his +arrival in Petersburg he received only his due. I always wonder at the +way rumors fly from Petersburg to Moscow, especially such false ones as +that you write about--I mean the report of my brother's betrothal to the +little Rostova. I do not think my brother will ever marry again, and +certainly not her; and this is why: first, I know that though he rarely +speaks about the wife he has lost, the grief of that loss has gone too +deep in his heart for him ever to decide to give her a successor and our +little angel a stepmother. Secondly because, as far as I know, that girl +is not the kind of girl who could please Prince Andrew. I do not think +he would choose her for a wife, and frankly I do not wish it. But I am +running on too long and am at the end of my second sheet. Good-bye, my +dear friend. May God keep you in His holy and mighty care. My dear +friend, Mademoiselle Bourienne, sends you kisses. + +MARY + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +In the middle of the summer Princess Mary received an unexpected letter +from Prince Andrew in Switzerland in which he gave her strange and +surprising news. He informed her of his engagement to Natasha Rostova. +The whole letter breathed loving rapture for his betrothed and tender +and confiding affection for his sister. He wrote that he had never loved +as he did now and that only now did he understand and know what life +was. He asked his sister to forgive him for not having told her of his +resolve when he had last visited Bald Hills, though he had spoken of it +to his father. He had not done so for fear Princess Mary should ask her +father to give his consent, irritating him and having to bear the brunt +of his displeasure without attaining her object. "Besides," he wrote, +"the matter was not then so definitely settled as it is now. My father +then insisted on a delay of a year and now already six months, half of +that period, have passed, and my resolution is firmer than ever. If the +doctors did not keep me here at the spas I should be back in Russia, but +as it is I have to postpone my return for three months. You know me and +my relations with Father. I want nothing from him. I have been and +always shall be independent; but to go against his will and arouse his +anger, now that he may perhaps remain with us such a short time, would +destroy half my happiness. I am now writing to him about the same +question, and beg you to choose a good moment to hand him the letter and +to let me know how he looks at the whole matter and whether there is +hope that he may consent to reduce the term by four months." + +After long hesitations, doubts, and prayers, Princess Mary gave the +letter to her father. The next day the old prince said to her quietly: + +"Write and tell your brother to wait till I am dead.... It won't be +long--I shall soon set him free." + +The princess was about to reply, but her father would not let her speak +and, raising his voice more and more, cried: + +"Marry, marry, my boy!... A good family!... Clever people, eh? Rich, eh? +Yes, a nice stepmother little Nicholas will have! Write and tell him +that he may marry tomorrow if he likes. She will be little Nicholas' +stepmother and I'll marry Bourienne!... Ha, ha, ha! He mustn't be +without a stepmother either! Only one thing, no more women are wanted in +my house--let him marry and live by himself. Perhaps you will go and +live with him too?" he added, turning to Princess Mary. "Go in heaven's +name! Go out into the frost... the frost... the frost!" + +After this outburst the prince did not speak any more about the matter. +But repressed vexation at his son's poor-spirited behavior found +expression in his treatment of his daughter. To his former pretexts for +irony a fresh one was now added--allusions to stepmothers and +amiabilities to Mademoiselle Bourienne. + +"Why shouldn't I marry her?" he asked his daughter. "She'll make a +splendid princess!" + +And latterly, to her surprise and bewilderment, Princess Mary noticed +that her father was really associating more and more with the +Frenchwoman. She wrote to Prince Andrew about the reception of his +letter, but comforted him with hopes of reconciling their father to the +idea. + +Little Nicholas and his education, her brother Andrew, and religion were +Princess Mary's joys and consolations; but besides that, since everyone +must have personal hopes, Princess Mary in the profoundest depths of her +heart had a hidden dream and hope that supplied the chief consolation of +her life. This comforting dream and hope were given her by God's folk-- +the half-witted and other pilgrims who visited her without the prince's +knowledge. The longer she lived, the more experience and observation she +had of life, the greater was her wonder at the short-sightedness of men +who seek enjoyment and happiness here on earth: toiling, suffering, +struggling, and harming one another, to obtain that impossible, +visionary, sinful happiness. Prince Andrew had loved his wife, she died, +but that was not enough: he wanted to bind his happiness to another +woman. Her father objected to this because he wanted a more +distinguished and wealthier match for Andrew. And they all struggled and +suffered and tormented one another and injured their souls, their +eternal souls, for the attainment of benefits which endure but for an +instant. Not only do we know this ourselves, but Christ, the Son of God, +came down to earth and told us that this life is but for a moment and is +a probation; yet we cling to it and think to find happiness in it. "How +is it that no one realizes this?" thought Princess Mary. "No one except +these despised God's folk who, wallet on back, come to me by the back +door, afraid of being seen by the prince, not for fear of ill-usage by +him but for fear of causing him to sin. To leave family, home, and all +the cares of worldly welfare, in order without clinging to anything to +wander in hempen rags from place to place under an assumed name, doing +no one any harm but praying for all--for those who drive one away as +well as for those who protect one: higher than that life and truth there +is no life or truth!" + +There was one pilgrim, a quiet pockmarked little woman of fifty called +Theodosia, who for over thirty years had gone about barefoot and worn +heavy chains. Princess Mary was particularly fond of her. Once, when in +a room with a lamp dimly lit before the icon Theodosia was talking of +her life, the thought that Theodosia alone had found the true path of +life suddenly came to Princess Mary with such force that she resolved to +become a pilgrim herself. When Theodosia had gone to sleep Princess Mary +thought about this for a long time, and at last made up her mind that, +strange as it might seem, she must go on a pilgrimage. She disclosed +this thought to no one but to her confessor, Father Akinfi, the monk, +and he approved of her intention. Under guise of a present for the +pilgrims, Princess Mary prepared a pilgrim's complete costume for +herself: a coarse smock, bast shoes, a rough coat, and a black kerchief. +Often, approaching the chest of drawers containing this secret treasure, +Princess Mary paused, uncertain whether the time had not already come to +put her project into execution. + +Often, listening to the pilgrims' tales, she was so stimulated by their +simple speech, mechanical to them but to her so full of deep meaning, +that several times she was on the point of abandoning everything and +running away from home. In imagination she already pictured herself by +Theodosia's side, dressed in coarse rags, walking with a staff, a wallet +on her back, along the dusty road, directing her wanderings from one +saint's shrine to another, free from envy, earthly love, or desire, and +reaching at last the place where there is no more sorrow or sighing, but +eternal joy and bliss. + +"I shall come to a place and pray there, and before having time to get +used to it or getting to love it, I shall go farther. I will go on till +my legs fail, and I'll lie down and die somewhere, and shall at last +reach that eternal, quiet haven, where there is neither sorrow nor +sighing..." thought Princess Mary. + +But afterwards, when she saw her father and especially little Koko +(Nicholas), her resolve weakened. She wept quietly, and felt that she +was a sinner who loved her father and little nephew more than God. + +BOOK SEVEN: 1810 - 11 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +The Bible legend tells us that the absence of labor--idleness--was a +condition of the first man's blessedness before the Fall. Fallen man has +retained a love of idleness, but the curse weighs on the race not only +because we have to seek our bread in the sweat of our brows, but because +our moral nature is such that we cannot be both idle and at ease. An +inner voice tells us we are in the wrong if we are idle. If man could +find a state in which he felt that though idle he was fulfilling his +duty, he would have found one of the conditions of man's primitive +blessedness. And such a state of obligatory and irreproachable idleness +is the lot of a whole class--the military. The chief attraction of +military service has consisted and will consist in this compulsory and +irreproachable idleness. + +Nicholas Rostov experienced this blissful condition to the full when, +after 1807, he continued to serve in the Pavlograd regiment, in which he +already commanded the squadron he had taken over from Denisov. + +Rostov had become a bluff, good-natured fellow, whom his Moscow +acquaintances would have considered rather bad form, but who was liked +and respected by his comrades, subordinates, and superiors, and was well +contented with his life. Of late, in 1809, he found in letters from home +more frequent complaints from his mother that their affairs were falling +into greater and greater disorder, and that it was time for him to come +back to gladden and comfort his old parents. + +Reading these letters, Nicholas felt a dread of their wanting to take +him away from surroundings in which, protected from all the +entanglements of life, he was living so calmly and quietly. He felt that +sooner or later he would have to re-enter that whirlpool of life, with +its embarrassments and affairs to be straightened out, its accounts with +stewards, quarrels, and intrigues, its ties, society, and with Sonya's +love and his promise to her. It was all dreadfully difficult and +complicated; and he replied to his mother in cold, formal letters in +French, beginning: "My dear Mamma," and ending: "Your obedient son," +which said nothing of when he would return. In 1810 he received letters +from his parents, in which they told him of Natasha's engagement to +Bolkonski, and that the wedding would be in a year's time because the +old prince made difficulties. This letter grieved and mortified +Nicholas. In the first place he was sorry that Natasha, for whom he +cared more than for anyone else in the family, should be lost to the +home; and secondly, from his hussar point of view, he regretted not to +have been there to show that fellow Bolkonski that connection with him +was no such great honor after all, and that if he loved Natasha he might +dispense with permission from his dotard father. For a moment he +hesitated whether he should not apply for leave in order to see Natasha +before she was married, but then came the maneuvers, and considerations +about Sonya and about the confusion of their affairs, and Nicholas again +put it off. But in the spring of that year, he received a letter from +his mother, written without his father's knowledge, and that letter +persuaded him to return. She wrote that if he did not come and take +matters in hand, their whole property would be sold by auction and they +would all have to go begging. The count was so weak, and trusted Mitenka +so much, and was so good-natured, that everybody took advantage of him +and things were going from bad to worse. "For God's sake, I implore you, +come at once if you do not wish to make me and the whole family +wretched," wrote the countess. + +This letter touched Nicholas. He had that common sense of a matter-of- +fact man which showed him what he ought to do. + +The right thing now was, if not to retire from the service, at any rate +to go home on leave. Why he had to go he did not know; but after his +after-dinner nap he gave orders to saddle Mars, an extremely vicious +gray stallion that had not been ridden for a long time, and when he +returned with the horse all in a lather, he informed Lavrushka +(Denisov's servant who had remained with him) and his comrades who +turned up in the evening that he was applying for leave and was going +home. Difficult and strange as it was for him to reflect that he would +go away without having heard from the staff--and this interested him +extremely--whether he was promoted to a captaincy or would receive the +Order of St. Anne for the last maneuvers; strange as it was to think +that he would go away without having sold his three roans to the Polish +Count Golukhovski, who was bargaining for the horses Rostov had betted +he would sell for two thousand rubles; incomprehensible as it seemed +that the ball the hussars were giving in honor of the Polish +Mademoiselle Przazdziecka (out of rivalry to the uhlans who had given +one in honor of their Polish Mademoiselle Borzozowska) would take place +without him--he knew he must go away from this good, bright world to +somewhere where everything was stupid and confused. A week later he +obtained his leave. His hussar comrades--not only those of his own +regiment, but the whole brigade--gave Rostov a dinner to which the +subscription was fifteen rubles a head, and at which there were two +bands and two choirs of singers. Rostov danced the Trepak with Major +Basov; the tipsy officers tossed, embraced, and dropped Rostov; the +soldiers of the third squadron tossed him too, and shouted "hurrah!" and +then they put him in his sleigh and escorted him as far as the first +post station. + +During the first half of the journey--from Kremenchug to Kiev--all +Rostov's thoughts, as is usual in such cases, were behind him, with the +squadron; but when he had gone more than halfway he began to forget his +three roans and Dozhoyveyko, his quartermaster, and to wonder anxiously +how things would be at Otradnoe and what he would find there. Thoughts +of home grew stronger the nearer he approached it--far stronger, as +though this feeling of his was subject to the law by which the force of +attraction is in inverse proportion to the square of the distance. At +the last post station before Otradnoe he gave the driver a three-ruble +tip, and on arriving he ran breathlessly, like a boy, up the steps of +his home. + +After the rapture of meeting, and after that odd feeling of unsatisfied +expectation--the feeling that "everything is just the same, so why did I +hurry?"--Nicholas began to settle down in his old home world. His father +and mother were much the same, only a little older. What was new in them +was a certain uneasiness and occasional discord, which there used not to +be, and which, as Nicholas soon found out, was due to the bad state of +their affairs. Sonya was nearly twenty; she had stopped growing prettier +and promised nothing more than she was already, but that was enough. She +exhaled happiness and love from the time Nicholas returned, and the +faithful, unalterable love of this girl had a gladdening effect on him. +Petya and Natasha surprised Nicholas most. Petya was a big handsome boy +of thirteen, merry, witty, and mischievous, with a voice that was +already breaking. As for Natasha, for a long while Nicholas wondered and +laughed whenever he looked at her. + +"You're not the same at all," he said. + +"How? Am I uglier?" + +"On the contrary, but what dignity? A princess!" he whispered to her. + +"Yes, yes, yes!" cried Natasha, joyfully. + +She told him about her romance with Prince Andrew and of his visit to +Otradnoe and showed him his last letter. + +"Well, are you glad?" Natasha asked. "I am so tranquil and happy now." + +"Very glad," answered Nicholas. "He is an excellent fellow.... And are +you very much in love?" + +"How shall I put it?" replied Natasha. "I was in love with Boris, with +my teacher, and with Denisov, but this is quite different. I feel at +peace and settled. I know that no better man than he exists, and I am +calm and contented now. Not at all as before." + +Nicholas expressed his disapproval of the postponement of the marriage +for a year; but Natasha attacked her brother with exasperation, proving +to him that it could not be otherwise, and that it would be a bad thing +to enter a family against the father's will, and that she herself wished +it so. + +"You don't at all understand," she said. + +Nicholas was silent and agreed with her. + +Her brother often wondered as he looked at her. She did not seem at all +like a girl in love and parted from her affianced husband. She was even- +tempered and calm and quite as cheerful as of old. This amazed Nicholas +and even made him regard Bolkonski's courtship skeptically. He could not +believe that her fate was sealed, especially as he had not seen her with +Prince Andrew. It always seemed to him that there was something not +quite right about this intended marriage. + +"Why this delay? Why no betrothal?" he thought. Once, when he had +touched on this topic with his mother, he discovered, to his surprise +and somewhat to his satisfaction, that in the depth of her soul she too +had doubts about this marriage. + +"You see he writes," said she, showing her son a letter of Prince +Andrew's, with that latent grudge a mother always has in regard to a +daughter's future married happiness, "he writes that he won't come +before December. What can be keeping him? Illness, probably! His health +is very delicate. Don't tell Natasha. And don't attach importance to her +being so bright: that's because she's living through the last days of +her girlhood, but I know what she is like every time we receive a letter +from him! However, God grant that everything turns out well!" (She +always ended with these words.) "He is an excellent man!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +After reaching home Nicholas was at first serious and even dull. He was +worried by the impending necessity of interfering in the stupid business +matters for which his mother had called him home. To throw off this +burden as quickly as possible, on the third day after his arrival he +went, angry and scowling and without answering questions as to where he +was going, to Mitenka's lodge and demanded an account of everything. But +what an account of everything might be Nicholas knew even less than the +frightened and bewildered Mitenka. The conversation and the examination +of the accounts with Mitenka did not last long. The village elder, a +peasant delegate, and the village clerk, who were waiting in the +passage, heard with fear and delight first the young count's voice +roaring and snapping and rising louder and louder, and then words of +abuse, dreadful words, ejaculated one after the other. + +"Robber!... Ungrateful wretch!... I'll hack the dog to pieces! I'm not +my father!... Robbing us!..." and so on. + +Then with no less fear and delight they saw how the young count, red in +the face and with bloodshot eyes, dragged Mitenka out by the scruff of +the neck and applied his foot and knee to his behind with great agility +at convenient moments between the words, shouting, "Be off! Never let me +see your face here again, you villain!" + +Mitenka flew headlong down the six steps and ran away into the +shrubbery. (This shrubbery was a well-known haven of refuge for culprits +at Otradnoe. Mitenka himself, returning tipsy from the town, used to +hide there, and many of the residents at Otradnoe, hiding from Mitenka, +knew of its protective qualities.) + +Mitenka's wife and sisters-in-law thrust their heads and frightened +faces out of the door of a room where a bright samovar was boiling and +where the steward's high bedstead stood with its patchwork quilt. + +The young count paid no heed to them, but, breathing hard, passed by +with resolute strides and went into the house. + +The countess, who heard at once from the maids what had happened at the +lodge, was calmed by the thought that now their affairs would certainly +improve, but on the other hand felt anxious as to the effect this +excitement might have on her son. She went several times to his door on +tiptoe and listened, as he lighted one pipe after another. + +Next day the old count called his son aside and, with an embarrassed +smile, said to him: + +"But you know, my dear boy, it's a pity you got excited! Mitenka has +told me all about it." + +"I knew," thought Nicholas, "that I should never understand anything in +this crazy world." + +"You were angry that he had not entered those 700 rubles. But they were +carried forward--and you did not look at the other page." + +"Papa, he is a blackguard and a thief! I know he is! And what I have +done, I have done; but, if you like, I won't speak to him again." + +"No, my dear boy" (the count, too, felt embarrassed. He knew he had +mismanaged his wife's property and was to blame toward his children, but +he did not know how to remedy it). "No, I beg you to attend to the +business. I am old. I..." + +"No, Papa. Forgive me if I have caused you unpleasantness. I understand +it all less than you do." + +"Devil take all these peasants, and money matters, and carryings forward +from page to page," he thought. "I used to understand what a 'corner' +and the stakes at cards meant, but carrying forward to another page I +don't understand at all," said he to himself, and after that he did not +meddle in business affairs. But once the countess called her son and +informed him that she had a promissory note from Anna Mikhaylovna for +two thousand rubles, and asked him what he thought of doing with it. + +"This," answered Nicholas. "You say it rests with me. Well, I don't like +Anna Mikhaylovna and I don't like Boris, but they were our friends and +poor. Well then, this!" and he tore up the note, and by so doing caused +the old countess to weep tears of joy. After that, young Rostov took no +further part in any business affairs, but devoted himself with +passionate enthusiasm to what was to him a new pursuit--the chase--for +which his father kept a large establishment. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The weather was already growing wintry and morning frosts congealed an +earth saturated by autumn rains. The verdure had thickened and its +bright green stood out sharply against the brownish strips of winter rye +trodden down by the cattle, and against the pale-yellow stubble of the +spring buckwheat. The wooded ravines and the copses, which at the end of +August had still been green islands amid black fields and stubble, had +become golden and bright-red islands amid the green winter rye. The +hares had already half changed their summer coats, the fox cubs were +beginning to scatter, and the young wolves were bigger than dogs. It was +the best time of the year for the chase. The hounds of that ardent young +sportsman Rostov had not merely reached hard winter condition, but were +so jaded that at a meeting of the huntsmen it was decided to give them a +three days' rest and then, on the sixteenth of September, to go on a +distant expedition, starting from the oak grove where there was an +undisturbed litter of wolf cubs. + +All that day the hounds remained at home. It was frosty and the air was +sharp, but toward evening the sky became overcast and it began to thaw. +On the fifteenth, when young Rostov, in his dressing gown, looked out of +the window, he saw it was an unsurpassable morning for hunting: it was +as if the sky were melting and sinking to the earth without any wind. +The only motion in the air was that of the dripping, microscopic +particles of drizzling mist. The bare twigs in the garden were hung with +transparent drops which fell on the freshly fallen leaves. The earth in +the kitchen garden looked wet and black and glistened like poppy seed +and at a short distance merged into the dull, moist veil of mist. +Nicholas went out into the wet and muddy porch. There was a smell of +decaying leaves and of dog. Milka, a black-spotted, broad-haunched bitch +with prominent black eyes, got up on seeing her master, stretched her +hind legs, lay down like a hare, and then suddenly jumped up and licked +him right on his nose and mustache. Another borzoi, a dog, catching +sight of his master from the garden path, arched his back and, rushing +headlong toward the porch with lifted tail, began rubbing himself +against his legs. + +"O-hoy!" came at that moment, that inimitable huntsman's call which +unites the deepest bass with the shrillest tenor, and round the corner +came Daniel the head huntsman and head kennelman, a gray, wrinkled old +man with hair cut straight over his forehead, Ukrainian fashion, a long +bent whip in his hand, and that look of independence and scorn of +everything that is only seen in huntsmen. He doffed his Circassian cap +to his master and looked at him scornfully. This scorn was not offensive +to his master. Nicholas knew that this Daniel, disdainful of everybody +and who considered himself above them, was all the same his serf and +huntsman. + +"Daniel!" Nicholas said timidly, conscious at the sight of the weather, +the hounds, and the huntsman that he was being carried away by that +irresistible passion for sport which makes a man forget all his previous +resolutions, as a lover forgets in the presence of his mistress. + +"What orders, your excellency?" said the huntsman in his deep bass, deep +as a proto-deacon's and hoarse with hallooing--and two flashing black +eyes gazed from under his brows at his master, who was silent. "Can you +resist it?" those eyes seemed to be asking. + +"It's a good day, eh? For a hunt and a gallop, eh?" asked Nicholas, +scratching Milka behind the ears. + +Daniel did not answer, but winked instead. + +"I sent Uvarka at dawn to listen," his bass boomed out after a minute's +pause. "He says she's moved them into the Otradnoe enclosure. They were +howling there." (This meant that the she-wolf, about whom they both +knew, had moved with her cubs to the Otradnoe copse, a small place a +mile and a half from the house.) + +"We ought to go, don't you think so?" said Nicholas. "Come to me with +Uvarka." + +"As you please." + +"Then put off feeding them." + +"Yes, sir." + +Five minutes later Daniel and Uvarka were standing in Nicholas' big +study. Though Daniel was not a big man, to see him in a room was like +seeing a horse or a bear on the floor among the furniture and +surroundings of human life. Daniel himself felt this, and as usual stood +just inside the door, trying to speak softly and not move, for fear of +breaking something in the master's apartment, and he hastened to say all +that was necessary so as to get from under that ceiling, out into the +open under the sky once more. + +Having finished his inquiries and extorted from Daniel an opinion that +the hounds were fit (Daniel himself wished to go hunting), Nicholas +ordered the horses to be saddled. But just as Daniel was about to go +Natasha came in with rapid steps, not having done up her hair or +finished dressing and with her old nurse's big shawl wrapped round her. +Petya ran in at the same time. + +"You are going?" asked Natasha. "I knew you would! Sonya said you +wouldn't go, but I knew that today is the sort of day when you couldn't +help going." + +"Yes, we are going," replied Nicholas reluctantly, for today, as he +intended to hunt seriously, he did not want to take Natasha and Petya. +"We are going, but only wolf hunting: it would be dull for you." + +"You know it is my greatest pleasure," said Natasha. "It's not fair; you +are going by yourself, are having the horses saddled and said nothing to +us about it." + +"'No barrier bars a Russian's path'--we'll go!" shouted Petya. + +"But you can't. Mamma said you mustn't," said Nicholas to Natasha. + +"Yes, I'll go. I shall certainly go," said Natasha decisively. "Daniel, +tell them to saddle for us, and Michael must come with my dogs," she +added to the huntsman. + +It seemed to Daniel irksome and improper to be in a room at all, but to +have anything to do with a young lady seemed to him impossible. He cast +down his eyes and hurried out as if it were none of his business, +careful as he went not to inflict any accidental injury on the young +lady. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The old count, who had always kept up an enormous hunting establishment +but had now handed it all completely over to his son's care, being in +very good spirits on this fifteenth of September, prepared to go out +with the others. + +In an hour's time the whole hunting party was at the porch. Nicholas, +with a stern and serious air which showed that now was no time for +attending to trifles, went past Natasha and Petya who were trying to +tell him something. He had a look at all the details of the hunt, sent a +pack of hounds and huntsmen on ahead to find the quarry, mounted his +chestnut Donets, and whistling to his own leash of borzois, set off +across the threshing ground to a field leading to the Otradnoe wood. The +old count's horse, a sorrel gelding called Viflyanka, was led by the +groom in attendance on him, while the count himself was to drive in a +small trap straight to a spot reserved for him. + +They were taking fifty-four hounds, with six hunt attendants and +whippers-in. Besides the family, there were eight borzoi kennelmen and +more than forty borzois, so that, with the borzois on the leash +belonging to members of the family, there were about a hundred and +thirty dogs and twenty horsemen. + +Each dog knew its master and its call. Each man in the hunt knew his +business, his place, what he had to do. As soon as they had passed the +fence they all spread out evenly and quietly, without noise or talk, +along the road and field leading to the Otradnoe covert. + +The horses stepped over the field as over a thick carpet, now and then +splashing into puddles as they crossed a road. The misty sky still +seemed to descend evenly and imperceptibly toward the earth, the air was +still, warm, and silent. Occasionally the whistle of a huntsman, the +snort of a horse, the crack of a whip, or the whine of a straggling +hound could be heard. + +When they had gone a little less than a mile, five more riders with dogs +appeared out of the mist, approaching the Rostovs. In front rode a +fresh-looking, handsome old man with a large gray mustache. + +"Good morning, Uncle!" said Nicholas, when the old man drew near. + +"That's it. Come on!... I was sure of it," began "Uncle." (He was a +distant relative of the Rostovs', a man of small means, and their +neighbor.) "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist it and it's a good +thing you're going. That's it! Come on!" (This was "Uncle's" favorite +expression.) "Take the covert at once, for my Girchik says the Ilagins +are at Korniki with their hounds. That's it. Come on!... They'll take +the cubs from under your very nose." + +"That's where I'm going. Shall we join up our packs?" asked Nicholas. + +The hounds were joined into one pack, and "Uncle" and Nicholas rode on +side by side. Natasha, muffled up in shawls which did not hide her eager +face and shining eyes, galloped up to them. She was followed by Petya +who always kept close to her, by Michael, a huntsman, and by a groom +appointed to look after her. Petya, who was laughing, whipped and pulled +at his horse. Natasha sat easily and confidently on her black Arabchik +and reined him in without effort with a firm hand. + +"Uncle" looked round disapprovingly at Petya and Natasha. He did not +like to combine frivolity with the serious business of hunting. + +"Good morning, Uncle! We are going too!" shouted Petya. + +"Good morning, good morning! But don't go overriding the hounds," said +"Uncle" sternly. + +"Nicholas, what a fine dog Trunila is! He knew me," said Natasha, +referring to her favorite hound. + +"In the first place, Trunila is not a 'dog,' but a harrier," thought +Nicholas, and looked sternly at his sister, trying to make her feel the +distance that ought to separate them at that moment. Natasha understood +it. + +"You mustn't think we'll be in anyone's way, Uncle," she said. "We'll go +to our places and won't budge." + +"A good thing too, little countess," said "Uncle," "only mind you don't +fall off your horse," he added, "because--that's it, come on!--you've +nothing to hold on to." + +The oasis of the Otradnoe covert came in sight a few hundred yards off, +the huntsmen were already nearing it. Rostov, having finally settled +with "Uncle" where they should set on the hounds, and having shown +Natasha where she was to stand--a spot where nothing could possibly run +out--went round above the ravine. + +"Well, nephew, you're going for a big wolf," said "Uncle." "Mind and +don't let her slip!" + +"That's as may happen," answered Rostov. "Karay, here!" he shouted, +answering "Uncle's" remark by this call to his borzoi. Karay was a +shaggy old dog with a hanging jowl, famous for having tackled a big wolf +unaided. They all took up their places. + +The old count, knowing his son's ardor in the hunt, hurried so as not to +be late, and the huntsmen had not yet reached their places when Count +Ilya Rostov, cheerful, flushed, and with quivering cheeks, drove up with +his black horses over the winter rye to the place reserved for him, +where a wolf might come out. Having straightened his coat and fastened +on his hunting knives and horn, he mounted his good, sleek, well-fed, +and comfortable horse, Viflyanka, which was turning gray, like himself. +His horses and trap were sent home. Count Ilya Rostov, though not at +heart a keen sportsman, knew the rules of the hunt well, and rode to the +bushy edge of the road where he was to stand, arranged his reins, +settled himself in the saddle, and, feeling that he was ready, looked +about with a smile. + +Beside him was Simon Chekmar, his personal attendant, an old horseman +now somewhat stiff in the saddle. Chekmar held in leash three formidable +wolfhounds, who had, however, grown fat like their master and his horse. +Two wise old dogs lay down unleashed. Some hundred paces farther along +the edge of the wood stood Mitka, the count's other groom, a daring +horseman and keen rider to hounds. Before the hunt, by old custom, the +count had drunk a silver cupful of mulled brandy, taken a snack, and +washed it down with half a bottle of his favorite Bordeaux. + +He was somewhat flushed with the wine and the drive. His eyes were +rather moist and glittered more than usual, and as he sat in his saddle, +wrapped up in his fur coat, he looked like a child taken out for an +outing. + +The thin, hollow-cheeked Chekmar, having got everything ready, kept +glancing at his master with whom he had lived on the best of terms for +thirty years, and understanding the mood he was in expected a pleasant +chat. A third person rode up circumspectly through the wood (it was +plain that he had had a lesson) and stopped behind the count. This +person was a gray-bearded old man in a woman's cloak, with a tall peaked +cap on his head. He was the buffoon, who went by a woman's name, +Nastasya Ivanovna. + +"Well, Nastasya Ivanovna!" whispered the count, winking at him. "If you +scare away the beast, Daniel'll give it you!" + +"I know a thing or two myself!" said Nastasya Ivanovna. + +"Hush!" whispered the count and turned to Simon. "Have you seen the +young countess?" he asked. "Where is she?" + +"With young Count Peter, by the Zharov rank grass," answered Simon, +smiling. "Though she's a lady, she's very fond of hunting." + +"And you're surprised at the way she rides, Simon, eh?" said the count. +"She's as good as many a man!" + +"Of course! It's marvelous. So bold, so easy!" + +"And Nicholas? Where is he? By the Lyadov upland, isn't he?" + +"Yes, sir. He knows where to stand. He understands the matter so well +that Daniel and I are often quite astounded," said Simon, well knowing +what would please his master. + +"Rides well, eh? And how well he looks on his horse, eh?" + +"A perfect picture! How he chased a fox out of the rank grass by the +Zavarzinsk thicket the other day! Leaped a fearful place; what a sight +when they rushed from the covert... the horse worth a thousand rubles +and the rider beyond all price! Yes, one would have to search far to +find another as smart." + +"To search far..." repeated the count, evidently sorry Simon had not +said more. "To search far," he said, turning back the skirt of his coat +to get at his snuffbox. + +"The other day when he came out from Mass in full uniform, Michael +Sidorych..." Simon did not finish, for on the still air he had +distinctly caught the music of the hunt with only two or three hounds +giving tongue. He bent down his head and listened, shaking a warning +finger at his master. "They are on the scent of the cubs..." he +whispered, "straight to the Lyadov uplands." + +The count, forgetting to smooth out the smile on his face, looked into +the distance straight before him, down the narrow open space, holding +the snuffbox in his hand but not taking any. After the cry of the hounds +came the deep tones of the wolf call from Daniel's hunting horn; the +pack joined the first three hounds and they could be heard in full cry, +with that peculiar lift in the note that indicates that they are after a +wolf. The whippers-in no longer set on the hounds, but changed to the +cry of ulyulyu, and above the others rose Daniel's voice, now a deep +bass, now piercingly shrill. His voice seemed to fill the whole wood and +carried far beyond out into the open field. + +After listening a few moments in silence, the count and his attendant +convinced themselves that the hounds had separated into two packs: the +sound of the larger pack, eagerly giving tongue, began to die away in +the distance, the other pack rushed by the wood past the count, and it +was with this that Daniel's voice was heard calling ulyulyu. The sounds +of both packs mingled and broke apart again, but both were becoming more +distant. + +Simon sighed and stooped to straighten the leash a young borzoi had +entangled; the count too sighed and, noticing the snuffbox in his hand, +opened it and took a pinch. "Back!" cried Simon to a borzoi that was +pushing forward out of the wood. The count started and dropped the +snuffbox. Nastasya Ivanovna dismounted to pick it up. The count and +Simon were looking at him. + +Then, unexpectedly, as often happens, the sound of the hunt suddenly +approached, as if the hounds in full cry and Daniel ulyulyuing were just +in front of them. + +The count turned and saw on his right Mitka staring at him with eyes +starting out of his head, raising his cap and pointing before him to the +other side. + +"Look out!" he shouted, in a voice plainly showing that he had long +fretted to utter that word, and letting the borzois slip he galloped +toward the count. + +The count and Simon galloped out of the wood and saw on their left a +wolf which, softly swaying from side to side, was coming at a quiet lope +farther to the left to the very place where they were standing. The +angry borzois whined and getting free of the leash rushed past the +horses' feet at the wolf. + +The wolf paused, turned its heavy forehead toward the dogs awkwardly, +like a man suffering from the quinsy, and, still slightly swaying from +side to side, gave a couple of leaps and with a swish of its tail +disappeared into the skirt of the wood. At the same instant, with a cry +like a wail, first one hound, then another, and then another, sprang +helter-skelter from the wood opposite and the whole pack rushed across +the field toward the very spot where the wolf had disappeared. The hazel +bushes parted behind the hounds and Daniel's chestnut horse appeared, +dark with sweat. On its long back sat Daniel, hunched forward, capless, +his disheveled gray hair hanging over his flushed, perspiring face. + +"Ulyulyulyu! ulyulyu!..." he cried. When he caught sight of the count +his eyes flashed lightning. + +"Blast you!" he shouted, holding up his whip threateningly at the count. + +"You've let the wolf go!... What sportsmen!" and as if scorning to say +more to the frightened and shamefaced count, he lashed the heaving +flanks of his sweating chestnut gelding with all the anger the count had +aroused and flew off after the hounds. The count, like a punished +schoolboy, looked round, trying by a smile to win Simon's sympathy for +his plight. But Simon was no longer there. He was galloping round by the +bushes while the field was coming up on both sides, all trying to head +the wolf, but it vanished into the wood before they could do so. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Nicholas Rostov meanwhile remained at his post, waiting for the wolf. By +the way the hunt approached and receded, by the cries of the dogs whose +notes were familiar to him, by the way the voices of the huntsmen +approached, receded, and rose, he realized what was happening at the +copse. He knew that young and old wolves were there, that the hounds had +separated into two packs, that somewhere a wolf was being chased, and +that something had gone wrong. He expected the wolf to come his way any +moment. He made thousands of different conjectures as to where and from +what side the beast would come and how he would set upon it. Hope +alternated with despair. Several times he addressed a prayer to God that +the wolf should come his way. He prayed with that passionate and +shamefaced feeling with which men pray at moments of great excitement +arising from trivial causes. "What would it be to Thee to do this for +me?" he said to God. "I know Thou art great, and that it is a sin to ask +this of Thee, but for God's sake do let the old wolf come my way and let +Karay spring at it--in sight of 'Uncle' who is watching from over there- +-and seize it by the throat in a death grip!" A thousand times during +that half-hour Rostov cast eager and restless glances over the edge of +the wood, with the two scraggy oaks rising above the aspen undergrowth +and the gully with its water-worn side and "Uncle's" cap just visible +above the bush on his right. + +"No, I shan't have such luck," thought Rostov, "yet what wouldn't it be +worth! It is not to be! Everywhere, at cards and in war, I am always +unlucky." Memories of Austerlitz and of Dolokhov flashed rapidly and +clearly through his mind. "Only once in my life to get an old wolf, I +want only that!" thought he, straining eyes and ears and looking to the +left and then to the right and listening to the slightest variation of +note in the cries of the dogs. + +Again he looked to the right and saw something running toward him across +the deserted field. "No, it can't be!" thought Rostov, taking a deep +breath, as a man does at the coming of something long hoped for. The +height of happiness was reached--and so simply, without warning, or +noise, or display, that Rostov could not believe his eyes and remained +in doubt for over a second. The wolf ran forward and jumped heavily over +a gully that lay in her path. She was an old animal with a gray back and +big reddish belly. She ran without hurry, evidently feeling sure that no +one saw her. Rostov, holding his breath, looked round at the borzois. +They stood or lay not seeing the wolf or understanding the situation. +Old Karay had turned his head and was angrily searching for fleas, +baring his yellow teeth and snapping at his hind legs. + +"Ulyulyulyu!" whispered Rostov, pouting his lips. The borzois jumped up, +jerking the rings of the leashes and pricking their ears. Karay finished +scratching his hindquarters and, cocking his ears, got up with quivering +tail from which tufts of matted hair hung down. + +"Shall I loose them or not?" Nicholas asked himself as the wolf +approached him coming from the copse. Suddenly the wolf's whole +physiognomy changed: she shuddered, seeing what she had probably never +seen before--human eyes fixed upon her--and turning her head a little +toward Rostov, she paused. + +"Back or forward? Eh, no matter, forward..." the wolf seemed to say to +herself, and she moved forward without again looking round and with a +quiet, long, easy yet resolute lope. + +"Ulyulyu!" cried Nicholas, in a voice not his own, and of its own accord +his good horse darted headlong downhill, leaping over gullies to head +off the wolf, and the borzois passed it, running faster still. Nicholas +did not hear his own cry nor feel that he was galloping, nor see the +borzois, nor the ground over which he went: he saw only the wolf, who, +increasing her speed, bounded on in the same direction along the hollow. +The first to come into view was Milka, with her black markings and +powerful quarters, gaining upon the wolf. Nearer and nearer... now she +was ahead of it; but the wolf turned its head to face her, and instead +of putting on speed as she usually did Milka suddenly raised her tail +and stiffened her forelegs. + +"Ulyulyulyulyu!" shouted Nicholas. + +The reddish Lyubim rushed forward from behind Milka, sprang impetuously +at the wolf, and seized it by its hindquarters, but immediately jumped +aside in terror. The wolf crouched, gnashed her teeth, and again rose +and bounded forward, followed at the distance of a couple of feet by all +the borzois, who did not get any closer to her. + +"She'll get away! No, it's impossible!" thought Nicholas, still shouting +with a hoarse voice. + +"Karay, ulyulyu!..." he shouted, looking round for the old borzoi who +was now his only hope. Karay, with all the strength age had left him, +stretched himself to the utmost and, watching the wolf, galloped heavily +aside to intercept it. But the quickness of the wolf's lope and the +borzoi's slower pace made it plain that Karay had miscalculated. +Nicholas could already see not far in front of him the wood where the +wolf would certainly escape should she reach it. But, coming toward him, +he saw hounds and a huntsman galloping almost straight at the wolf. +There was still hope. A long, yellowish young borzoi, one Nicholas did +not know, from another leash, rushed impetuously at the wolf from in +front and almost knocked her over. But the wolf jumped up more quickly +than anyone could have expected and, gnashing her teeth, flew at the +yellowish borzoi, which, with a piercing yelp, fell with its head on the +ground, bleeding from a gash in its side. + +"Karay? Old fellow!..." wailed Nicholas. + +Thanks to the delay caused by this crossing of the wolf's path, the old +dog with its felted hair hanging from its thigh was within five paces of +it. As if aware of her danger, the wolf turned her eyes on Karay, tucked +her tail yet further between her legs, and increased her speed. But here +Nicholas only saw that something happened to Karay--the borzoi was +suddenly on the wolf, and they rolled together down into a gully just in +front of them. + +That instant, when Nicholas saw the wolf struggling in the gully with +the dogs, while from under them could be seen her gray hair and +outstretched hind leg and her frightened choking head, with her ears +laid back (Karay was pinning her by the throat), was the happiest moment +of his life. With his hand on his saddlebow, he was ready to dismount +and stab the wolf, when she suddenly thrust her head up from among that +mass of dogs, and then her forepaws were on the edge of the gully. She +clicked her teeth (Karay no longer had her by the throat), leaped with a +movement of her hind legs out of the gully, and having disengaged +herself from the dogs, with tail tucked in again, went forward. Karay, +his hair bristling, and probably bruised or wounded, climbed with +difficulty out of the gully. + +"Oh my God! Why?" Nicholas cried in despair. + +"Uncle's" huntsman was galloping from the other side across the wolf's +path and his borzois once more stopped the animal's advance. She was +again hemmed in. + +Nicholas and his attendant, with "Uncle" and his huntsman, were all +riding round the wolf, crying "ulyulyu!" shouting and preparing to +dismount each moment that the wolf crouched back, and starting forward +again every time she shook herself and moved toward the wood where she +would be safe. + +Already, at the beginning of this chase, Daniel, hearing the ulyulyuing, +had rushed out from the wood. He saw Karay seize the wolf, and checked +his horse, supposing the affair to be over. But when he saw that the +horsemen did not dismount and that the wolf shook herself and ran for +safety, Daniel set his chestnut galloping, not at the wolf but straight +toward the wood, just as Karay had run to cut the animal off. As a +result of this, he galloped up to the wolf just when she had been +stopped a second time by "Uncle's" borzois. + +Daniel galloped up silently, holding a naked dagger in his left hand and +thrashing the laboring sides of his chestnut horse with his whip as if +it were a flail. + +Nicholas neither saw nor heard Daniel until the chestnut, breathing +heavily, panted past him, and he heard the fall of a body and saw Daniel +lying on the wolf's back among the dogs, trying to seize her by the +ears. It was evident to the dogs, the hunters, and to the wolf herself +that all was now over. The terrified wolf pressed back her ears and +tried to rise, but the borzois stuck to her. Daniel rose a little, took +a step, and with his whole weight, as if lying down to rest, fell on the +wolf, seizing her by the ears. Nicholas was about to stab her, but +Daniel whispered, "Don't! We'll gag her!" and, changing his position, +set his foot on the wolf's neck. A stick was thrust between her jaws and +she was fastened with a leash, as if bridled, her legs were bound +together, and Daniel rolled her over once or twice from side to side. + +With happy, exhausted faces, they laid the old wolf, alive, on a shying +and snorting horse and, accompanied by the dogs yelping at her, took her +to the place where they were all to meet. The hounds had killed two of +the cubs and the borzois three. The huntsmen assembled with their booty +and their stories, and all came to look at the wolf, which, with her +broad-browed head hanging down and the bitten stick between her jaws, +gazed with great glassy eyes at this crowd of dogs and men surrounding +her. When she was touched, she jerked her bound legs and looked wildly +yet simply at everybody. Old Count Rostov also rode up and touched the +wolf. + +"Oh, what a formidable one!" said he. "A formidable one, eh?" he asked +Daniel, who was standing near. + +"Yes, your excellency," answered Daniel, quickly doffing his cap. + +The count remembered the wolf he had let slip and his encounter with +Daniel. + +"Ah, but you are a crusty fellow, friend!" said the count. + +For sole reply Daniel gave him a shy, childlike, meek, and amiable +smile. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The old count went home, and Natasha and Petya promised to return very +soon, but as it was still early the hunt went farther. At midday they +put the hounds into a ravine thickly overgrown with young trees. +Nicholas standing in a fallow field could see all his whips. + +Facing him lay a field of winter rye, there his own huntsman stood alone +in a hollow behind a hazel bush. The hounds had scarcely been loosed +before Nicholas heard one he knew, Voltorn, giving tongue at intervals; +other hounds joined in, now pausing and now again giving tongue. A +moment later he heard a cry from the wooded ravine that a fox had been +found, and the whole pack, joining together, rushed along the ravine +toward the ryefield and away from Nicholas. + +He saw the whips in their red caps galloping along the edge of the +ravine, he even saw the hounds, and was expecting a fox to show itself +at any moment on the ryefield opposite. + +The huntsman standing in the hollow moved and loosed his borzois, and +Nicholas saw a queer, short-legged red fox with a fine brush going hard +across the field. The borzois bore down on it.... Now they drew close to +the fox which began to dodge between the field in sharper and sharper +curves, trailing its brush, when suddenly a strange white borzoi dashed +in followed by a black one, and everything was in confusion; the borzois +formed a star-shaped figure, scarcely swaying their bodies and with +tails turned away from the center of the group. Two huntsmen galloped up +to the dogs; one in a red cap, the other, a stranger, in a green coat. + +"What's this?" thought Nicholas. "Where's that huntsman from? He is not +'Uncle's' man." + +The huntsmen got the fox, but stayed there a long time without strapping +it to the saddle. Their horses, bridled and with high saddles, stood +near them and there too the dogs were lying. The huntsmen waved their +arms and did something to the fox. Then from that spot came the sound of +a horn, with the signal agreed on in case of a fight. + +"That's Ilagin's huntsman having a row with our Ivan," said Nicholas' +groom. + +Nicholas sent the man to call Natasha and Petya to him, and rode at a +footpace to the place where the whips were getting the hounds together. +Several of the field galloped to the spot where the fight was going on. + +Nicholas dismounted, and with Natasha and Petya, who had ridden up, +stopped near the hounds, waiting to see how the matter would end. Out of +the bushes came the huntsman who had been fighting and rode toward his +young master, with the fox tied to his crupper. While still at a +distance he took off his cap and tried to speak respectfully, but he was +pale and breathless and his face was angry. One of his eyes was black, +but he probably was not even aware of it. + +"What has happened?" asked Nicholas. + +"A likely thing, killing a fox our dogs had hunted! And it was my gray +bitch that caught it! Go to law, indeed!... He snatches at the fox! I +gave him one with the fox. Here it is on my saddle! Do you want a taste +of this?..." said the huntsman, pointing to his dagger and probably +imagining himself still speaking to his foe. + +Nicholas, not stopping to talk to the man, asked his sister and Petya to +wait for him and rode to the spot where the enemy's, Ilagin's, hunting +party was. + +The victorious huntsman rode off to join the field, and there, +surrounded by inquiring sympathizers, recounted his exploits. + +The facts were that Ilagin, with whom the Rostovs had a quarrel and were +at law, hunted over places that belonged by custom to the Rostovs, and +had now, as if purposely, sent his men to the very woods the Rostovs +were hunting and let his man snatch a fox their dogs had chased. + +Nicholas, though he had never seen Ilagin, with his usual absence of +moderation in judgment, hated him cordially from reports of his +arbitrariness and violence, and regarded him as his bitterest foe. He +rode in angry agitation toward him, firmly grasping his whip and fully +prepared to take the most resolute and desperate steps to punish his +enemy. + +Hardly had he passed an angle of the wood before a stout gentleman in a +beaver cap came riding toward him on a handsome raven-black horse, +accompanied by two hunt servants. + +Instead of an enemy, Nicholas found in Ilagin a stately and courteous +gentleman who was particularly anxious to make the young count's +acquaintance. Having ridden up to Nicholas, Ilagin raised his beaver cap +and said he much regretted what had occurred and would have the man +punished who had allowed himself to seize a fox hunted by someone else's +borzois. He hoped to become better acquainted with the count and invited +him to draw his covert. + +Natasha, afraid that her brother would do something dreadful, had +followed him in some excitement. Seeing the enemies exchanging friendly +greetings, she rode up to them. Ilagin lifted his beaver cap still +higher to Natasha and said, with a pleasant smile, that the young +countess resembled Diana in her passion for the chase as well as in her +beauty, of which he had heard much. + +To expiate his huntsman's offense, Ilagin pressed the Rostovs to come to +an upland of his about a mile away which he usually kept for himself and +which, he said, swarmed with hares. Nicholas agreed, and the hunt, now +doubled, moved on. + +The way to Iligin's upland was across the fields. The hunt servants fell +into line. The masters rode together. "Uncle," Rostov, and Ilagin kept +stealthily glancing at one another's dogs, trying not to be observed by +their companions and searching uneasily for rivals to their own borzois. + +Rostov was particularly struck by the beauty of a small, pure-bred, red- +spotted bitch on Ilagin's leash, slender but with muscles like steel, a +delicate muzzle, and prominent black eyes. He had heard of the swiftness +of Ilagin's borzois, and in that beautiful bitch saw a rival to his own +Milka. + +In the middle of a sober conversation begun by Ilagin about the year's +harvest, Nicholas pointed to the red-spotted bitch. + +"A fine little bitch, that!" said he in a careless tone. "Is she swift?" + +"That one? Yes, she's a good dog, gets what she's after," answered +Ilagin indifferently, of the red-spotted bitch Erza, for which, a year +before, he had given a neighbor three families of house serfs. "So in +your parts, too, the harvest is nothing to boast of, Count?" he went on, +continuing the conversation they had begun. And considering it polite to +return the young count's compliment, Ilagin looked at his borzois and +picked out Milka who attracted his attention by her breadth. "That +black-spotted one of yours is fine--well shaped!" said he. + +"Yes, she's fast enough," replied Nicholas, and thought: "If only a +full-grown hare would cross the field now I'd show you what sort of +borzoi she is," and turning to his groom, he said he would give a ruble +to anyone who found a hare. + +"I don't understand," continued Ilagin, "how some sportsmen can be so +jealous about game and dogs. For myself, I can tell you, Count, I enjoy +riding in company such as this... what could be better?" (he again +raised his cap to Natasha) "but as for counting skins and what one +takes, I don't care about that." + +"Of course not!" + +"Or being upset because someone else's borzoi and not mine catches +something. All I care about is to enjoy seeing the chase, is it not so, +Count? For I consider that..." + +"A-tu!" came the long-drawn cry of one of the borzoi whippers-in, who +had halted. He stood on a knoll in the stubble, holding his whip aloft, +and again repeated his long-drawn cry, "A-tu!" (This call and the +uplifted whip meant that he saw a sitting hare.) + +"Ah, he has found one, I think," said Ilagin carelessly. "Yes, we must +ride up.... Shall we both course it?" answered Nicholas, seeing in Erza +and "Uncle's" red Rugay two rivals he had never yet had a chance of +pitting against his own borzois. "And suppose they outdo my Milka at +once!" he thought as he rode with "Uncle" and Ilagin toward the hare. + +"A full-grown one?" asked Ilagin as he approached the whip who had +sighted the hare--and not without agitation he looked round and whistled +to Erza. + +"And you, Michael Nikanorovich?" he said, addressing "Uncle." + +The latter was riding with a sullen expression on his face. + +"How can I join in? Why, you've given a village for each of your +borzois! That's it, come on! Yours are worth thousands. Try yours +against one another, you two, and I'll look on!" + +"Rugay, hey, hey!" he shouted. "Rugayushka!" he added, involuntarily by +this diminutive expressing his affection and the hopes he placed on this +red borzoi. Natasha saw and felt the agitation the two elderly men and +her brother were trying to conceal, and was herself excited by it. + +The huntsman stood halfway up the knoll holding up his whip and the +gentlefolk rode up to him at a footpace; the hounds that were far off on +the horizon turned away from the hare, and the whips, but not the +gentlefolk, also moved away. All were moving slowly and sedately. + +"How is it pointing?" asked Nicholas, riding a hundred paces toward the +whip who had sighted the hare. + +But before the whip could reply, the hare, scenting the frost coming +next morning, was unable to rest and leaped up. The pack on leash rushed +downhill in full cry after the hare, and from all sides the borzois that +were not on leash darted after the hounds and the hare. All the hunt, +who had been moving slowly, shouted, "Stop!" calling in the hounds, +while the borzoi whips, with a cry of "A-tu!" galloped across the field +setting the borzois on the hare. The tranquil Ilagin, Nicholas, Natasha, +and "Uncle" flew, reckless of where and how they went, seeing only the +borzois and the hare and fearing only to lose sight even for an instant +of the chase. The hare they had started was a strong and swift one. When +he jumped up he did not run at once, but pricked his ears listening to +the shouting and trampling that resounded from all sides at once. He +took a dozen bounds, not very quickly, letting the borzois gain on him, +and, finally having chosen his direction and realized his danger, laid +back his ears and rushed off headlong. He had been lying in the stubble, +but in front of him was the autumn sowing where the ground was soft. The +two borzois of the huntsman who had sighted him, having been the +nearest, were the first to see and pursue him, but they had not gone far +before Ilagin's red-spotted Erza passed them, got within a length, flew +at the hare with terrible swiftness aiming at his scut, and, thinking +she had seized him, rolled over like a ball. The hare arched his back +and bounded off yet more swiftly. From behind Erza rushed the broad- +haunched, black-spotted Milka and began rapidly gaining on the hare. + +"Milashka, dear!" rose Nicholas' triumphant cry. It looked as if Milka +would immediately pounce on the hare, but she overtook him and flew +past. The hare had squatted. Again the beautiful Erza reached him, but +when close to the hare's scut paused as if measuring the distance, so as +not to make a mistake this time but seize his hind leg. + +"Erza, darling!" Ilagin wailed in a voice unlike his own. Erza did not +hearken to his appeal. At the very moment when she would have seized her +prey, the hare moved and darted along the balk between the winter rye +and the stubble. Again Erza and Milka were abreast, running like a pair +of carriage horses, and began to overtake the hare, but it was easier +for the hare to run on the balk and the borzois did not overtake him so +quickly. + +"Rugay, Rugayushka! That's it, come on!" came a third voice just then, +and "Uncle's" red borzoi, straining and curving its back, caught up with +the two foremost borzois, pushed ahead of them regardless of the +terrible strain, put on speed close to the hare, knocked it off the balk +onto the ryefield, again put on speed still more viciously, sinking to +his knees in the muddy field, and all one could see was how, muddying +his back, he rolled over with the hare. A ring of borzois surrounded +him. A moment later everyone had drawn up round the crowd of dogs. Only +the delighted "Uncle" dismounted, and cut off a pad, shaking the hare +for the blood to drip off, and anxiously glancing round with restless +eyes while his arms and legs twitched. He spoke without himself knowing +whom to or what about. "That's it, come on! That's a dog!... There, it +has beaten them all, the thousand-ruble as well as the one-ruble +borzois. That's it, come on!" said he, panting and looking wrathfully +around as if he were abusing someone, as if they were all his enemies +and had insulted him, and only now had he at last succeeded in +justifying himself. "There are your thousand-ruble ones.... That's it, +come on!..." + +"Rugay, here's a pad for you!" he said, throwing down the hare's muddy +pad. "You've deserved it, that's it, come on!" + +"She'd tired herself out, she'd run it down three times by herself," +said Nicholas, also not listening to anyone and regardless of whether he +were heard or not. + +"But what is there in running across it like that?" said Ilagin's groom. + +"Once she had missed it and turned it away, any mongrel could take it," +Ilagin was saying at the same time, breathless from his gallop and his +excitement. At the same moment Natasha, without drawing breath, screamed +joyously, ecstatically, and so piercingly that it set everyone's ear +tingling. By that shriek she expressed what the others expressed by all +talking at once, and it was so strange that she must herself have been +ashamed of so wild a cry and everyone else would have been amazed at it +at any other time. "Uncle" himself twisted up the hare, threw it neatly +and smartly across his horse's back as if by that gesture he meant to +rebuke everybody, and, with an air of not wishing to speak to anyone, +mounted his bay and rode off. The others all followed, dispirited and +shamefaced, and only much later were they able to regain their former +affectation of indifference. For a long time they continued to look at +red Rugay who, his arched back spattered with mud and clanking the ring +of his leash, walked along just behind "Uncle's" horse with the serene +air of a conqueror. + +"Well, I am like any other dog as long as it's not a question of +coursing. But when it is, then look out!" his appearance seemed to +Nicholas to be saying. + +When, much later, "Uncle" rode up to Nicholas and began talking to him, +he felt flattered that, after what had happened, "Uncle" deigned to +speak to him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Toward evening Ilagin took leave of Nicholas, who found that they were +so far from home that he accepted "Uncle's" offer that the hunting party +should spend the night in his little village of Mikhaylovna. + +"And if you put up at my house that will be better still. That's it, +come on!" said "Uncle." "You see it's damp weather, and you could rest, +and the little countess could be driven home in a trap." + +"Uncle's" offer was accepted. A huntsman was sent to Otradnoe for a +trap, while Nicholas rode with Natasha and Petya to "Uncle's" house. + +Some five male domestic serfs, big and little, rushed out to the front +porch to meet their master. A score of women serfs, old and young, as +well as children, popped out from the back entrance to have a look at +the hunters who were arriving. The presence of Natasha--a woman, a lady, +and on horseback--raised the curiosity of the serfs to such a degree +that many of them came up to her, stared her in the face, and unabashed +by her presence made remarks about her as though she were some prodigy +on show and not a human being able to hear or understand what was said +about her. + +"Arinka! Look, she sits sideways! There she sits and her skirt +dangles.... See, she's got a little hunting horn!" + +"Goodness gracious! See her knife?..." + +"Isn't she a Tartar!" + +"How is it you didn't go head over heels?" asked the boldest of all, +addressing Natasha directly. + +"Uncle" dismounted at the porch of his little wooden house which stood +in the midst of an overgrown garden and, after a glance at his +retainers, shouted authoritatively that the superfluous ones should take +themselves off and that all necessary preparations should be made to +receive the guests and the visitors. + +The serfs all dispersed. "Uncle" lifted Natasha off her horse and taking +her hand led her up the rickety wooden steps of the porch. The house, +with its bare, unplastered log walls, was not overclean--it did not seem +that those living in it aimed at keeping it spotless--but neither was it +noticeably neglected. In the entry there was a smell of fresh apples, +and wolf and fox skins hung about. + +"Uncle" led the visitors through the anteroom into a small hall with a +folding table and red chairs, then into the drawing room with a round +birchwood table and a sofa, and finally into his private room where +there was a tattered sofa, a worn carpet, and portraits of Suvorov, of +the host's father and mother, and of himself in military uniform. The +study smelt strongly of tobacco and dogs. "Uncle" asked his visitors to +sit down and make themselves at home, and then went out of the room. +Rugay, his back still muddy, came into the room and lay down on the +sofa, cleaning himself with his tongue and teeth. Leading from the study +was a passage in which a partition with ragged curtains could be seen. +From behind this came women's laughter and whispers. Natasha, Nicholas, +and Petya took off their wraps and sat down on the sofa. Petya, leaning +on his elbow, fell asleep at once. Natasha and Nicholas were silent. +Their faces glowed, they were hungry and very cheerful. They looked at +one another (now that the hunt was over and they were in the house, +Nicholas no longer considered it necessary to show his manly superiority +over his sister), Natasha gave him a wink, and neither refrained long +from bursting into a peal of ringing laughter even before they had a +pretext ready to account for it. + +After a while "Uncle" came in, in a Cossack coat, blue trousers, and +small top boots. And Natasha felt that this costume, the very one she +had regarded with surprise and amusement at Otradnoe, was just the right +thing and not at all worse than a swallow-tail or frock coat. "Uncle" +too was in high spirits and far from being offended by the brother's and +sister's laughter (it could never enter his head that they might be +laughing at his way of life) he himself joined in the merriment. + +"That's right, young countess, that's it, come on! I never saw anyone +like her!" said he, offering Nicholas a pipe with a long stem and, with +a practiced motion of three fingers, taking down another that had been +cut short. "She's ridden all day like a man, and is as fresh as ever!" + +Soon after "Uncle's" reappearance the door was opened, evidently from +the sound by a barefooted girl, and a stout, rosy, good-looking woman of +about forty, with a double chin and full red lips, entered carrying a +large loaded tray. With hospitable dignity and cordiality in her glance +and in every motion, she looked at the visitors and, with a pleasant +smile, bowed respectfully. In spite of her exceptional stoutness, which +caused her to protrude her chest and stomach and throw back her head, +this woman (who was "Uncle's" housekeeper) trod very lightly. She went +to the table, set down the tray, and with her plump white hands deftly +took from it the bottles and various hors d'oeuvres and dishes and +arranged them on the table. When she had finished, she stepped aside and +stopped at the door with a smile on her face. "Here I am. I am she! Now +do you understand 'Uncle'?" her expression said to Rostov. How could one +help understanding? Not only Nicholas, but even Natasha understood the +meaning of his puckered brow and the happy complacent smile that +slightly puckered his lips when Anisya Fedorovna entered. On the tray +was a bottle of herb wine, different kinds of vodka, pickled mushrooms, +rye cakes made with buttermilk, honey in the comb, still mead and +sparkling mead, apples, nuts (raw and roasted), and nut-and-honey +sweets. Afterwards she brought a freshly roasted chicken, ham, preserves +made with honey, and preserves made with sugar. + +All this was the fruit of Anisya Fedorovna's housekeeping, gathered and +prepared by her. The smell and taste of it all had a smack of Anisya +Fedorovna herself: a savor of juiciness, cleanliness, whiteness, and +pleasant smiles. + +"Take this, little Lady-Countess!" she kept saying, as she offered +Natasha first one thing and then another. + +Natasha ate of everything and thought she had never seen or eaten such +buttermilk cakes, such aromatic jam, such honey-and-nut sweets, or such +a chicken anywhere. Anisya Fedorovna left the room. + +After supper, over their cherry brandy, Rostov and "Uncle" talked of +past and future hunts, of Rugay and Ilagin's dogs, while Natasha sat +upright on the sofa and listened with sparkling eyes. She tried several +times to wake Petya that he might eat something, but he only muttered +incoherent words without waking up. Natasha felt so lighthearted and +happy in these novel surroundings that she only feared the trap would +come for her too soon. After a casual pause, such as often occurs when +receiving friends for the first time in one's own house, "Uncle," +answering a thought that was in his visitors' minds, said: + +"This, you see, is how I am finishing my days... Death will come. That's +it, come on! Nothing will remain. Then why harm anyone?" + +"Uncle's" face was very significant and even handsome as he said this. +Involuntarily Rostov recalled all the good he had heard about him from +his father and the neighbors. Throughout the whole province "Uncle" had +the reputation of being the most honorable and disinterested of cranks. +They called him in to decide family disputes, chose him as executor, +confided secrets to him, elected him to be a justice and to other posts; +but he always persistently refused public appointments, passing the +autumn and spring in the fields on his bay gelding, sitting at home in +winter, and lying in his overgrown garden in summer. + +"Why don't you enter the service, Uncle?" + +"I did once, but gave it up. I am not fit for it. That's it, come on! I +can't make head or tail of it. That's for you--I haven't brains enough. +Now, hunting is another matter--that's it, come on! Open the door, +there!" he shouted. "Why have you shut it?" + +The door at the end of the passage led to the huntsmen's room, as they +called the room for the hunt servants. + +There was a rapid patter of bare feet, and an unseen hand opened the +door into the huntsmen's room, from which came the clear sounds of a +balalayka on which someone, who was evidently a master of the art, was +playing. Natasha had been listening to those strains for some time and +now went out into the passage to hear better. + +"That's Mitka, my coachman.... I have got him a good balalayka. I'm fond +of it," said "Uncle." + +It was the custom for Mitka to play the balalayka in the huntsmen's room +when "Uncle" returned from the chase. "Uncle" was fond of such music. + +"How good! Really very good!" said Nicholas with some unintentional +superciliousness, as if ashamed to confess that the sounds pleased him +very much. + +"Very good?" said Natasha reproachfully, noticing her brother's tone. +"Not 'very good' it's simply delicious!" + +Just as "Uncle's" pickled mushrooms, honey, and cherry brandy had seemed +to her the best in the world, so also that song, at that moment, seemed +to her the acme of musical delight. + +"More, please, more!" cried Natasha at the door as soon as the balalayka +ceased. Mitka tuned up afresh, and recommenced thrumming the balalayka +to the air of My Lady, with trills and variations. "Uncle" sat +listening, slightly smiling, with his head on one side. The air was +repeated a hundred times. The balalayka was retuned several times and +the same notes were thrummed again, but the listeners did not grow weary +of it and wished to hear it again and again. Anisya Fedorovna came in +and leaned her portly person against the doorpost. + +"You like listening?" she said to Natasha, with a smile extremely like +"Uncle's." "That's a good player of ours," she added. + +"He doesn't play that part right!" said "Uncle" suddenly, with an +energetic gesture. "Here he ought to burst out--that's it, come on!-- +ought to burst out." + +"Do you play then?" asked Natasha. + +"Uncle" did not answer, but smiled. + +"Anisya, go and see if the strings of my guitar are all right. I haven't +touched it for a long time. That's it--come on! I've given it up." + +Anisya Fedorovna, with her light step, willingly went to fulfill her +errand and brought back the guitar. + +Without looking at anyone, "Uncle" blew the dust off it and, tapping the +case with his bony fingers, tuned the guitar and settled himself in his +armchair. He took the guitar a little above the fingerboard, arching his +left elbow with a somewhat theatrical gesture, and, with a wink at +Anisya Fedorovna, struck a single chord, pure and sonorous, and then +quietly, smoothly, and confidently began playing in very slow time, not +My Lady, but the well-known song: Came a maiden down the street. The +tune, played with precision and in exact time, began to thrill in the +hearts of Nicholas and Natasha, arousing in them the same kind of sober +mirth as radiated from Anisya Fedorovna's whole being. Anisya Fedorovna +flushed, and drawing her kerchief over her face went laughing out of the +room. "Uncle" continued to play correctly, carefully, with energetic +firmness, looking with a changed and inspired expression at the spot +where Anisya Fedorovna had just stood. Something seemed to be laughing a +little on one side of his face under his gray mustaches, especially as +the song grew brisker and the time quicker and when, here and there, as +he ran his fingers over the strings, something seemed to snap. + +"Lovely, lovely! Go on, Uncle, go on!" shouted Natasha as soon as he had +finished. She jumped up and hugged and kissed him. "Nicholas, Nicholas!" +she said, turning to her brother, as if asking him: "What is it moves me +so?" + +Nicholas too was greatly pleased by "Uncle's" playing, and "Uncle" +played the piece over again. Anisya Fedorovna's smiling face reappeared +in the doorway and behind hers other faces... + + +Fetching water clear and sweet, Stop, dear maiden, I entreat-- + +played "Uncle" once more, running his fingers skillfully over the +strings, and then he stopped short and jerked his shoulders. + +"Go on, Uncle dear," Natasha wailed in an imploring tone as if her life +depended on it. + +"Uncle" rose, and it was as if there were two men in him: one of them +smiled seriously at the merry fellow, while the merry fellow struck a +naive and precise attitude preparatory to a folk dance. + +"Now then, niece!" he exclaimed, waving to Natasha the hand that had +just struck a chord. + +Natasha threw off the shawl from her shoulders, ran forward to face +"Uncle," and setting her arms akimbo also made a motion with her +shoulders and struck an attitude. + +Where, how, and when had this young countess, educated by an emigree +French governess, imbibed from the Russian air she breathed that spirit +and obtained that manner which the pas de chale * would, one would have +supposed, long ago have effaced? But the spirit and the movements were +those inimitable and unteachable Russian ones that "Uncle" had expected +of her. As soon as she had struck her pose, and smiled triumphantly, +proudly, and with sly merriment, the fear that had at first seized +Nicholas and the others that she might not do the right thing was at an +end, and they were already admiring her. + + +* The French shawl dance. + +She did the right thing with such precision, such complete precision, +that Anisya Fedorovna, who had at once handed her the handkerchief she +needed for the dance, had tears in her eyes, though she laughed as she +watched this slim, graceful countess, reared in silks and velvets and so +different from herself, who yet was able to understand all that was in +Anisya and in Anisya's father and mother and aunt, and in every Russian +man and woman. + +"Well, little countess; that's it--come on!" cried "Uncle," with a +joyous laugh, having finished the dance. "Well done, niece! Now a fine +young fellow must be found as husband for you. That's it--come on!" + +"He's chosen already," said Nicholas smiling. + +"Oh?" said "Uncle" in surprise, looking inquiringly at Natasha, who +nodded her head with a happy smile. + +"And such a one!" she said. But as soon as she had said it a new train +of thoughts and feelings arose in her. "What did Nicholas' smile mean +when he said 'chosen already'? Is he glad of it or not? It is as if he +thought my Bolkonski would not approve of or understand our gaiety. But +he would understand it all. Where is he now?" she thought, and her face +suddenly became serious. But this lasted only a second. "Don't dare to +think about it," she said to herself, and sat down again smilingly +beside "Uncle," begging him to play something more. + +"Uncle" played another song and a valse; then after a pause he cleared +his throat and sang his favorite hunting song: + + +As 'twas growing dark last night Fell the snow so soft and light... + +"Uncle" sang as peasants sing, with full and naive conviction that the +whole meaning of a song lies in the words and that the tune comes of +itself, and that apart from the words there is no tune, which exists +only to give measure to the words. As a result of this the unconsidered +tune, like the song of a bird, was extraordinarily good. Natasha was in +ecstasies over "Uncle's" singing. She resolved to give up learning the +harp and to play only the guitar. She asked "Uncle" for his guitar and +at once found the chords of the song. + +After nine o'clock two traps and three mounted men, who had been sent to +look for them, arrived to fetch Natasha and Petya. The count and +countess did not know where they were and were very anxious, said one of +the men. + +Petya was carried out like a log and laid in the larger of the two +traps. Natasha and Nicholas got into the other. "Uncle" wrapped Natasha +up warmly and took leave of her with quite a new tenderness. He +accompanied them on foot as far as the bridge that could not be crossed, +so that they had to go round by the ford, and he sent huntsmen to ride +in front with lanterns. + +"Good-bye, dear niece," his voice called out of the darkness--not the +voice Natasha had known previously, but the one that had sung As 'twas +growing dark last night. + +In the village through which they passed there were red lights and a +cheerful smell of smoke. + +"What a darling Uncle is!" said Natasha, when they had come out onto the +highroad. + +"Yes," returned Nicholas. "You're not cold?" + +"No. I'm quite, quite all right. I feel so comfortable!" answered +Natasha, almost perplexed by her feelings. They remained silent a long +while. The night was dark and damp. They could not see the horses, but +only heard them splashing through the unseen mud. + +What was passing in that receptive childlike soul that so eagerly caught +and assimilated all the diverse impressions of life? How did they all +find place in her? But she was very happy. As they were nearing home she +suddenly struck up the air of As 'twas growing dark last night--the tune +of which she had all the way been trying to get and had at last caught. + +"Got it?" said Nicholas. + +"What were you thinking about just now, Nicholas?" inquired Natasha. + +They were fond of asking one another that question. + +"I?" said Nicholas, trying to remember. "Well, you see, first I thought +that Rugay, the red hound, was like Uncle, and that if he were a man he +would always keep Uncle near him, if not for his riding, then for his +manner. What a good fellow Uncle is! Don't you think so?... Well, and +you?" + +"I? Wait a bit, wait.... Yes, first I thought that we are driving along +and imagining that we are going home, but that heaven knows where we are +really going in the darkness, and that we shall arrive and suddenly find +that we are not in Otradnoe, but in Fairyland. And then I thought... No, +nothing else." + +"I know, I expect you thought of him," said Nicholas, smiling as Natasha +knew by the sound of his voice. + +"No," said Natasha, though she had in reality been thinking about Prince +Andrew at the same time as of the rest, and of how he would have liked +"Uncle." "And then I was saying to myself all the way, 'How well Anisya +carried herself, how well!'" And Nicholas heard her spontaneous, happy, +ringing laughter. "And do you know," she suddenly said, "I know that I +shall never again be as happy and tranquil as I am now." + +"Rubbish, nonsense, humbug!" exclaimed Nicholas, and he thought: "How +charming this Natasha of mine is! I have no other friend like her and +never shall have. Why should she marry? We might always drive about +together!" + +"What a darling this Nicholas of mine is!" thought Natasha. + +"Ah, there are still lights in the drawing-room!" she said, pointing to +the windows of the house that gleamed invitingly in the moist velvety +darkness of the night. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Count Ilya Rostov had resigned the position of Marshal of the Nobility +because it involved him in too much expense, but still his affairs did +not improve. Natasha and Nicholas often noticed their parents conferring +together anxiously and privately and heard suggestions of selling the +fine ancestral Rostov house and estate near Moscow. It was not necessary +to entertain so freely as when the count had been Marshal, and life at +Otradnoe was quieter than in former years, but still the enormous house +and its lodges were full of people and more than twenty sat down to +table every day. These were all their own people who had settled down in +the house almost as members of the family, or persons who were, it +seemed, obliged to live in the count's house. Such were Dimmler the +musician and his wife, Vogel the dancing master and his family, Belova, +an old maiden lady, an inmate of the house, and many others such as +Petya's tutors, the girls' former governess, and other people who simply +found it preferable and more advantageous to live in the count's house +than at home. They had not as many visitors as before, but the old +habits of life without which the count and countess could not conceive +of existence remained unchanged. There was still the hunting +establishment which Nicholas had even enlarged, the same fifty horses +and fifteen grooms in the stables, the same expensive presents and +dinner parties to the whole district on name days; there were still the +count's games of whist and boston, at which--spreading out his cards so +that everybody could see them--he let himself be plundered of hundreds +of rubles every day by his neighbors, who looked upon an opportunity to +play a rubber with Count Rostov as a most profitable source of income. + +The count moved in his affairs as in a huge net, trying not to believe +that he was entangled but becoming more and more so at every step, and +feeling too feeble to break the meshes or to set to work carefully and +patiently to disentangle them. The countess, with her loving heart, felt +that her children were being ruined, that it was not the count's fault +for he could not help being what he was--that (though he tried to hide +it) he himself suffered from the consciousness of his own and his +children's ruin, and she tried to find means of remedying the position. +From her feminine point of view she could see only one solution, namely, +for Nicholas to marry a rich heiress. She felt this to be their last +hope and that if Nicholas refused the match she had found for him, she +would have to abandon the hope of ever getting matters right. This match +was with Julie Karagina, the daughter of excellent and virtuous parents, +a girl the Rostovs had known from childhood, and who had now become a +wealthy heiress through the death of the last of her brothers. + +The countess had written direct to Julie's mother in Moscow suggesting a +marriage between their children and had received a favorable answer from +her. Karagina had replied that for her part she was agreeable, and +everything depend on her daughter's inclination. She invited Nicholas to +come to Moscow. + +Several times the countess, with tears in her eyes, told her son that +now both her daughters were settled, her only wish was to see him +married. She said she could lie down in her grave peacefully if that +were accomplished. Then she told him that she knew of a splendid girl +and tried to discover what he thought about marriage. + +At other times she praised Julie to him and advised him to go to Moscow +during the holidays to amuse himself. Nicholas guessed what his mother's +remarks were leading to and during one of these conversations induced +her to speak quite frankly. She told him that her only hope of getting +their affairs disentangled now lay in his marrying Julie Karagina. + +"But, Mamma, suppose I loved a girl who has no fortune, would you expect +me to sacrifice my feelings and my honor for the sake of money?" he +asked his mother, not realizing the cruelty of his question and only +wishing to show his noble-mindedness. + +"No, you have not understood me," said his mother, not knowing how to +justify herself. "You have not understood me, Nikolenka. It is your +happiness I wish for," she added, feeling that she was telling an +untruth and was becoming entangled. She began to cry. + +"Mamma, don't cry! Only tell me that you wish it, and you know I will +give my life, anything, to put you at ease," said Nicholas. "I would +sacrifice anything for you--even my feelings." + +But the countess did not want the question put like that: she did not +want a sacrifice from her son, she herself wished to make a sacrifice +for him. + +"No, you have not understood me, don't let us talk about it," she +replied, wiping away her tears. + +"Maybe I do love a poor girl," said Nicholas to himself. "Am I to +sacrifice my feelings and my honor for money? I wonder how Mamma could +speak so to me. Because Sonya is poor I must not love her," he thought, +"must not respond to her faithful, devoted love? Yet I should certainly +be happier with her than with some doll-like Julie. I can always +sacrifice my feelings for my family's welfare," he said to himself, "but +I can't coerce my feelings. If I love Sonya, that feeling is for me +stronger and higher than all else." + +Nicholas did not go to Moscow, and the countess did not renew the +conversation with him about marriage. She saw with sorrow, and sometimes +with exasperation, symptoms of a growing attachment between her son and +the portionless Sonya. Though she blamed herself for it, she could not +refrain from grumbling at and worrying Sonya, often pulling her up +without reason, addressing her stiffly as "my dear," and using the +formal "you" instead of the intimate "thou" in speaking to her. The +kindhearted countess was the more vexed with Sonya because that poor, +dark-eyed niece of hers was so meek, so kind, so devotedly grateful to +her benefactors, and so faithfully, unchangingly, and unselfishly in +love with Nicholas, that there were no grounds for finding fault with +her. + +Nicholas was spending the last of his leave at home. A fourth letter had +come from Prince Andrew, from Rome, in which he wrote that he would have +been on his way back to Russia long ago had not his wound unexpectedly +reopened in the warm climate, which obliged him to defer his return till +the beginning of the new year. Natasha was still as much in love with +her betrothed, found the same comfort in that love, and was still as +ready to throw herself into all the pleasures of life as before; but at +the end of the fourth month of their separation she began to have fits +of depression which she could not master. She felt sorry for herself: +sorry that she was being wasted all this time and of no use to anyone-- +while she felt herself so capable of loving and being loved. + +Things were not cheerful in the Rostovs' home. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Christmas came and except for the ceremonial Mass, the solemn and +wearisome Christmas congratulations from neighbors and servants, and the +new dresses everyone put on, there were no special festivities, though +the calm frost of twenty degrees Reaumur, the dazzling sunshine by day, +and the starlight of the winter nights seemed to call for some special +celebration of the season. + +On the third day of Christmas week, after the midday dinner, all the +inmates of the house dispersed to various rooms. It was the dullest time +of the day. Nicholas, who had been visiting some neighbors that morning, +was asleep on the sitting-room sofa. The old count was resting in his +study. Sonya sat in the drawing room at the round table, copying a +design for embroidery. The countess was playing patience. Nastasya +Ivanovna the buffoon sat with a sad face at the window with two old +ladies. Natasha came into the room, went up to Sonya, glanced at what +she was doing, and then went up to her mother and stood without +speaking. + +"Why are you wandering about like an outcast?" asked her mother. "What +do you want?" + +"Him... I want him... now, this minute! I want him!" said Natasha, with +glittering eyes and no sign of a smile. + +The countess lifted her head and looked attentively at her daughter. + +"Don't look at me, Mamma! Don't look; I shall cry directly." + +"Sit down with me a little," said the countess. + +"Mamma, I want him. Why should I be wasted like this, Mamma?" + +Her voice broke, tears gushed from her eyes, and she turned quickly to +hide them and left the room. + +She passed into the sitting room, stood there thinking awhile, and then +went into the maids' room. There an old maidservant was grumbling at a +young girl who stood panting, having just run in through the cold from +the serfs' quarters. + +"Stop playing--there's a time for everything," said the old woman. + +"Let her alone, Kondratevna," said Natasha. "Go, Mavrushka, go." + +Having released Mavrushka, Natasha crossed the dancing hall and went to +the vestibule. There an old footman and two young ones were playing +cards. They broke off and rose as she entered. + +"What can I do with them?" thought Natasha. + +"Oh, Nikita, please go... where can I send him?... Yes, go to the yard +and fetch a fowl, please, a cock, and you, Misha, bring me some oats." + +"Just a few oats?" said Misha, cheerfully and readily. + +"Go, go quickly," the old man urged him. + +"And you, Theodore, get me a piece of chalk." + +On her way past the butler's pantry she told them to set a samovar, +though it was not at all the time for tea. + +Foka, the butler, was the most ill-tempered person in the house. Natasha +liked to test her power over him. He distrusted the order and asked +whether the samovar was really wanted. + +"Oh dear, what a young lady!" said Foka, pretending to frown at Natasha. + +No one in the house sent people about or gave them as much trouble as +Natasha did. She could not see people unconcernedly, but had to send +them on some errand. She seemed to be trying whether any of them would +get angry or sulky with her; but the serfs fulfilled no one's orders so +readily as they did hers. "What can I do, where can I go?" thought she, +as she went slowly along the passage. + +"Nastasya Ivanovna, what sort of children shall I have?" she asked the +buffoon, who was coming toward her in a woman's jacket. + +"Why, fleas, crickets, grasshoppers," answered the buffoon. + +"O Lord, O Lord, it's always the same! Oh, where am I to go? What am I +to do with myself?" And tapping with her heels, she ran quickly upstairs +to see Vogel and his wife who lived on the upper story. + +Two governesses were sitting with the Vogels at a table, on which were +plates of raisins, walnuts, and almonds. The governesses were discussing +whether it was cheaper to live in Moscow or Odessa. Natasha sat down, +listened to their talk with a serious and thoughtful air, and then got +up again. + +"The island of Madagascar," she said, "Ma-da-gas-car," she repeated, +articulating each syllable distinctly, and, not replying to Madame +Schoss who asked her what she was saying, she went out of the room. + +Her brother Petya was upstairs too; with the man in attendance on him he +was preparing fireworks to let off that night. + +"Petya! Petya!" she called to him. "Carry me downstairs." + +Petya ran up and offered her his back. She jumped on it, putting her +arms round his neck, and he pranced along with her. + +"No, don't... the island of Madagascar!" she said, and jumping off his +back she went downstairs. + +Having as it were reviewed her kingdom, tested her power, and made sure +that everyone was submissive, but that all the same it was dull, Natasha +betook herself to the ballroom, picked up her guitar, sat down in a dark +corner behind a bookcase, and began to run her fingers over the strings +in the bass, picking out a passage she recalled from an opera she had +heard in Petersburg with Prince Andrew. What she drew from the guitar +would have had no meaning for other listeners, but in her imagination a +whole series of reminiscences arose from those sounds. She sat behind +the bookcase with her eyes fixed on a streak of light escaping from the +pantry door and listened to herself and pondered. She was in a mood for +brooding on the past. + +Sonya passed to the pantry with a glass in her hand. Natasha glanced at +her and at the crack in the pantry door, and it seemed to her that she +remembered the light falling through that crack once before and Sonya +passing with a glass in her hand. "Yes it was exactly the same," thought +Natasha. + +"Sonya, what is this?" she cried, twanging a thick string. + +"Oh, you are there!" said Sonya with a start, and came near and +listened. "I don't know. A storm?" she ventured timidly, afraid of being +wrong. + +"There! That's just how she started and just how she came up smiling +timidly when all this happened before," thought Natasha, "and in just +the same way I thought there was something lacking in her." + +"No, it's the chorus from The Water-Carrier, listen!" and Natasha sang +the air of the chorus so that Sonya should catch it. "Where were you +going?" she asked. + +"To change the water in this glass. I am just finishing the design." + +"You always find something to do, but I can't," said Natasha. "And +where's Nicholas?" + +"Asleep, I think." + +"Sonya, go and wake him," said Natasha. "Tell him I want him to come and +sing." + +She sat awhile, wondering what the meaning of it all having happened +before could be, and without solving this problem, or at all regretting +not having done so, she again passed in fancy to the time when she was +with him and he was looking at her with a lover's eyes. + +"Oh, if only he would come quicker! I am so afraid it will never be! +And, worst of all, I am growing old--that's the thing! There won't then +be in me what there is now. But perhaps he'll come today, will come +immediately. Perhaps he has come and is sitting in the drawing room. +Perhaps he came yesterday and I have forgotten it." She rose, put down +the guitar, and went to the drawing room. + +All the domestic circle, tutors, governesses, and guests, were already +at the tea table. The servants stood round the table--but Prince Andrew +was not there and life was going on as before. + +"Ah, here she is!" said the old count, when he saw Natasha enter. "Well, +sit down by me." But Natasha stayed by her mother and glanced round as +if looking for something. + +"Mamma!" she muttered, "give him to me, give him, Mamma, quickly, +quickly!" and she again had difficulty in repressing her sobs. + +She sat down at the table and listened to the conversation between the +elders and Nicholas, who had also come to the table. "My God, my God! +The same faces, the same talk, Papa holding his cup and blowing in the +same way!" thought Natasha, feeling with horror a sense of repulsion +rising up in her for the whole household, because they were always the +same. + +After tea, Nicholas, Sonya, and Natasha went to the sitting room, to +their favorite corner where their most intimate talks always began. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +"Does it ever happen to you," said Natasha to her brother, when they +settled down in the sitting room, "does it ever happen to you to feel as +if there were nothing more to come--nothing; that everything good is +past? And to feel not exactly dull, but sad?" + +"I should think so!" he replied. "I have felt like that when everything +was all right and everyone was cheerful. The thought has come into my +mind that I was already tired of it all, and that we must all die. Once +in the regiment I had not gone to some merrymaking where there was +music... and suddenly I felt so depressed..." + +"Oh yes, I know, I know, I know!" Natasha interrupted him. "When I was +quite little that used to be so with me. Do you remember when I was +punished once about some plums? You were all dancing, and I sat sobbing +in the schoolroom? I shall never forget it: I felt sad and sorry for +everyone, for myself, and for everyone. And I was innocent--that was the +chief thing," said Natasha. "Do you remember?" + +"I remember," answered Nicholas. "I remember that I came to you +afterwards and wanted to comfort you, but do you know, I felt ashamed +to. We were terribly absurd. I had a funny doll then and wanted to give +it to you. Do you remember?" + +"And do you remember," Natasha asked with a pensive smile, "how once, +long, long ago, when we were quite little, Uncle called us into the +study--that was in the old house--and it was dark--we went in and +suddenly there stood..." + +"A Negro," chimed in Nicholas with a smile of delight. "Of course I +remember. Even now I don't know whether there really was a Negro, or if +we only dreamed it or were told about him." + +"He was gray, you remember, and had white teeth, and stood and looked at +us..." + +"Sonya, do you remember?" asked Nicholas. + +"Yes, yes, I do remember something too," Sonya answered timidly. + +"You know I have asked Papa and Mamma about that Negro," said Natasha, +"and they say there was no Negro at all. But you see, you remember!" + +"Of course I do, I remember his teeth as if I had just seen them." + +"How strange it is! It's as if it were a dream! I like that." + +"And do you remember how we rolled hard-boiled eggs in the ballroom, and +suddenly two old women began spinning round on the carpet? Was that real +or not? Do you remember what fun it was?" + +"Yes, and you remember how Papa in his blue overcoat fired a gun in the +porch?" + +So they went through their memories, smiling with pleasure: not the sad +memories of old age, but poetic, youthful ones--those impressions of +one's most distant past in which dreams and realities blend--and they +laughed with quiet enjoyment. + +Sonya, as always, did not quite keep pace with them, though they shared +the same reminiscences. + +Much that they remembered had slipped from her mind, and what she +recalled did not arouse the same poetic feeling as they experienced. She +simply enjoyed their pleasure and tried to fit in with it. + +She only really took part when they recalled Sonya's first arrival. She +told them how afraid she had been of Nicholas because he had on a corded +jacket and her nurse had told her that she, too, would be sewn up with +cords. + +"And I remember their telling me that you had been born under a +cabbage," said Natasha, "and I remember that I dared not disbelieve it +then, but knew that it was not true, and I felt so uncomfortable." + +While they were talking a maid thrust her head in at the other door of +the sitting room. + +"They have brought the cock, Miss," she said in a whisper. + +"It isn't wanted, Petya. Tell them to take it away," replied Natasha. + +In the middle of their talk in the sitting room, Dimmler came in and +went up to the harp that stood there in a corner. He took off its cloth +covering, and the harp gave out a jarring sound. + +"Mr. Dimmler, please play my favorite nocturne by Field," came the old +countess' voice from the drawing room. + +Dimmler struck a chord and, turning to Natasha, Nicholas, and Sonya, +remarked: "How quiet you young people are!" + +"Yes, we're philosophizing," said Natasha, glancing round for a moment +and then continuing the conversation. They were now discussing dreams. + +Dimmler began to play; Natasha went on tiptoe noiselessly to the table, +took up a candle, carried it out, and returned, seating herself quietly +in her former place. It was dark in the room especially where they were +sitting on the sofa, but through the big windows the silvery light of +the full moon fell on the floor. Dimmler had finished the piece but +still sat softly running his fingers over the strings, evidently +uncertain whether to stop or to play something else. + +"Do you know," said Natasha in a whisper, moving closer to Nicholas and +Sonya, "that when one goes on and on recalling memories, one at last +begins to remember what happened before one was in the world..." + +"That is metempsychosis," said Sonya, who had always learned well, and +remembered everything. "The Egyptians believed that our souls have lived +in animals, and will go back into animals again." + +"No, I don't believe we ever were in animals," said Natasha, still in a +whisper though the music had ceased. "But I am certain that we were +angels somewhere there, and have been here, and that is why we +remember...." + +"May I join you?" said Dimmler who had come up quietly, and he sat down +by them. + +"If we have been angels, why have we fallen lower?" said Nicholas. "No, +that can't be!" + +"Not lower, who said we were lower?... How do I know what I was before?" +Natasha rejoined with conviction. "The soul is immortal--well then, if I +shall always live I must have lived before, lived for a whole eternity." + +"Yes, but it is hard for us to imagine eternity," remarked Dimmler, who +had joined the young folk with a mildly condescending smile but now +spoke as quietly and seriously as they. + +"Why is it hard to imagine eternity?" said Natasha. "It is now today, +and it will be tomorrow, and always; and there was yesterday, and the +day before..." + +"Natasha! Now it's your turn. Sing me something," they heard the +countess say. "Why are you sitting there like conspirators?" + +"Mamma, I don't at all want to," replied Natasha, but all the same she +rose. + +None of them, not even the middle-aged Dimmler, wanted to break off +their conversation and quit that corner in the sitting room, but Natasha +got up and Nicholas sat down at the clavichord. Standing as usual in the +middle of the hall and choosing the place where the resonance was best, +Natasha began to sing her mother's favorite song. + +She had said she did not want to sing, but it was long since she had +sung, and long before she again sang, as she did that evening. The +count, from his study where he was talking to Mitenka, heard her and, +like a schoolboy in a hurry to run out to play, blundered in his talk +while giving orders to the steward, and at last stopped, while Mitenka +stood in front of him also listening and smiling. Nicholas did not take +his eyes off his sister and drew breath in time with her. Sonya, as she +listened, thought of the immense difference there was between herself +and her friend, and how impossible it was for her to be anything like as +bewitching as her cousin. The old countess sat with a blissful yet sad +smile and with tears in her eyes, occasionally shaking her head. She +thought of Natasha and of her own youth, and of how there was something +unnatural and dreadful in this impending marriage of Natasha and Prince +Andrew. + +Dimmler, who had seated himself beside the countess, listened with +closed eyes. + +"Ah, Countess," he said at last, "that's a European talent, she has +nothing to learn--what softness, tenderness, and strength...." + +"Ah, how afraid I am for her, how afraid I am!" said the countess, not +realizing to whom she was speaking. Her maternal instinct told her that +Natasha had too much of something, and that because of this she would +not be happy. Before Natasha had finished singing, fourteen-year-old +Petya rushed in delightedly, to say that some mummers had arrived. + +Natasha stopped abruptly. + +"Idiot!" she screamed at her brother and, running to a chair, threw +herself on it, sobbing so violently that she could not stop for a long +time. + +"It's nothing, Mamma, really it's nothing; only Petya startled me," she +said, trying to smile, but her tears still flowed and sobs still choked +her. + +The mummers (some of the house serfs) dressed up as bears, Turks, +innkeepers, and ladies--frightening and funny--bringing in with them the +cold from outside and a feeling of gaiety, crowded, at first timidly, +into the anteroom, then hiding behind one another they pushed into the +ballroom where, shyly at first and then more and more merrily and +heartily, they started singing, dancing, and playing Christmas games. +The countess, when she had identified them and laughed at their +costumes, went into the drawing room. The count sat in the ballroom, +smiling radiantly and applauding the players. The young people had +disappeared. + +Half an hour later there appeared among the other mummers in the +ballroom an old lady in a hooped skirt--this was Nicholas. A Turkish +girl was Petya. A clown was Dimmler. An hussar was Natasha, and a +Circassian was Sonya with burnt-cork mustache and eyebrows. + +After the condescending surprise, nonrecognition, and praise, from those +who were not themselves dressed up, the young people decided that their +costumes were so good that they ought to be shown elsewhere. + +Nicholas, who, as the roads were in splendid condition, wanted to take +them all for a drive in his troyka, proposed to take with them about a +dozen of the serf mummers and drive to "Uncle's." + +"No, why disturb the old fellow?" said the countess. "Besides, you +wouldn't have room to turn round there. If you must go, go to the +Melyukovs'." + +Melyukova was a widow, who, with her family and their tutors and +governesses, lived three miles from the Rostovs. + +"That's right, my dear," chimed in the old count, thoroughly aroused. +"I'll dress up at once and go with them. I'll make Pashette open her +eyes." + +But the countess would not agree to his going; he had had a bad leg all +these last days. It was decided that the count must not go, but that if +Louisa Ivanovna (Madame Schoss) would go with them, the young ladies +might go to the Melyukovs', Sonya, generally so timid and shy, more +urgently than anyone begging Louisa Ivanovna not to refuse. + +Sonya's costume was the best of all. Her mustache and eyebrows were +extraordinarily becoming. Everyone told her she looked very handsome, +and she was in a spirited and energetic mood unusual with her. Some +inner voice told her that now or never her fate would be decided, and in +her male attire she seemed quite a different person. Louisa Ivanovna +consented to go, and in half an hour four troyka sleighs with large and +small bells, their runners squeaking and whistling over the frozen snow, +drove up to the porch. + +Natasha was foremost in setting a merry holiday tone, which, passing +from one to another, grew stronger and reached its climax when they all +came out into the frost and got into the sleighs, talking, calling to +one another, laughing, and shouting. + +Two of the troykas were the usual household sleighs, the third was the +old count's with a trotter from the Orlov stud as shaft horse, the +fourth was Nicholas' own with a short shaggy black shaft horse. +Nicholas, in his old lady's dress over which he had belted his hussar +overcoat, stood in the middle of the sleigh, reins in hand. + +It was so light that he could see the moonlight reflected from the metal +harness disks and from the eyes of the horses, who looked round in alarm +at the noisy party under the shadow of the porch roof. + +Natasha, Sonya, Madame Schoss, and two maids got into Nicholas' sleigh; +Dimmler, his wife, and Petya, into the old count's, and the rest of the +mummers seated themselves in the other two sleighs. + +"You go ahead, Zakhar!" shouted Nicholas to his father's coachman, +wishing for a chance to race past him. + +The old count's troyka, with Dimmler and his party, started forward, +squeaking on its runners as though freezing to the snow, its deep-toned +bell clanging. The side horses, pressing against the shafts of the +middle horse, sank in the snow, which was dry and glittered like sugar, +and threw it up. + +Nicholas set off, following the first sleigh; behind him the others +moved noisily, their runners squeaking. At first they drove at a steady +trot along the narrow road. While they drove past the garden the shadows +of the bare trees often fell across the road and hid the brilliant +moonlight, but as soon as they were past the fence, the snowy plain +bathed in moonlight and motionless spread out before them glittering +like diamonds and dappled with bluish shadows. Bang, bang! went the +first sleigh over a cradle hole in the snow of the road, and each of the +other sleighs jolted in the same way, and rudely breaking the frost- +bound stillness, the troykas began to speed along the road, one after +the other. + +"A hare's track, a lot of tracks!" rang out Natasha's voice through the +frost-bound air. + +"How light it is, Nicholas!" came Sonya's voice. + +Nicholas glanced round at Sonya, and bent down to see her face closer. +Quite a new, sweet face with black eyebrows and mustaches peeped up at +him from her sable furs--so close and yet so distant--in the moonlight. + +"That used to be Sonya," thought he, and looked at her closer and +smiled. + +"What is it, Nicholas?" + +"Nothing," said he and turned again to the horses. + +When they came out onto the beaten highroad--polished by sleigh runners +and cut up by rough-shod hoofs, the marks of which were visible in the +moonlight--the horses began to tug at the reins of their own accord and +increased their pace. The near side horse, arching his head and breaking +into a short canter, tugged at his traces. The shaft horse swayed from +side to side, moving his ears as if asking: "Isn't it time to begin +now?" In front, already far ahead the deep bell of the sleigh ringing +farther and farther off, the black horses driven by Zakhar could be +clearly seen against the white snow. From that sleigh one could hear the +shouts, laughter, and voices of the mummers. + +"Gee up, my darlings!" shouted Nicholas, pulling the reins to one side +and flourishing the whip. + +It was only by the keener wind that met them and the jerks given by the +side horses who pulled harder--ever increasing their gallop--that one +noticed how fast the troyka was flying. Nicholas looked back. With +screams squeals, and waving of whips that caused even the shaft horses +to gallop--the other sleighs followed. The shaft horse swung steadily +beneath the bow over its head, with no thought of slackening pace and +ready to put on speed when required. + +Nicholas overtook the first sleigh. They were driving downhill and +coming out upon a broad trodden track across a meadow, near a river. + +"Where are we?" thought he. "It's the Kosoy meadow, I suppose. But no-- +this is something new I've never seen before. This isn't the Kosoy +meadow nor the Demkin hill, and heaven only knows what it is! It is +something new and enchanted. Well, whatever it may be..." And shouting +to his horses, he began to pass the first sleigh. + +Zakhar held back his horses and turned his face, which was already +covered with hoarfrost to his eyebrows. + +Nicholas gave the horses the rein, and Zakhar, stretching out his arms, +clucked his tongue and let his horses go. + +"Now, look out, master!" he cried. + +Faster still the two troykas flew side by side, and faster moved the +feet of the galloping side horses. Nicholas began to draw ahead. Zakhar, +while still keeping his arms extended, raised one hand with the reins. + +"No you won't, master!" he shouted. + +Nicholas put all his horses to a gallop and passed Zakhar. The horses +showered the fine dry snow on the faces of those in the sleigh--beside +them sounded quick ringing bells and they caught confused glimpses of +swiftly moving legs and the shadows of the troyka they were passing. The +whistling sound of the runners on the snow and the voices of girls +shrieking were heard from different sides. + +Again checking his horses, Nicholas looked around him. They were still +surrounded by the magic plain bathed in moonlight and spangled with +stars. + +"Zakhar is shouting that I should turn to the left, but why to the +left?" thought Nicholas. "Are we getting to the Melyukovs'? Is this +Melyukovka? Heaven only knows where we are going, and heaven knows what +is happening to us--but it is very strange and pleasant whatever it is." +And he looked round in the sleigh. + +"Look, his mustache and eyelashes are all white!" said one of the +strange, pretty, unfamiliar people--the one with fine eyebrows and +mustache. + +"I think this used to be Natasha," thought Nicholas, "and that was +Madame Schoss, but perhaps it's not, and this Circassian with the +mustache I don't know, but I love her." + +"Aren't you cold?" he asked. + +They did not answer but began to laugh. Dimmler from the sleigh behind +shouted something--probably something funny--but they could not make out +what he said. + +"Yes, yes!" some voices answered, laughing. + +"But here was a fairy forest with black moving shadows, and a glitter of +diamonds and a flight of marble steps and the silver roofs of fairy +buildings and the shrill yells of some animals. And if this is really +Melyukovka, it is still stranger that we drove heaven knows where and +have come to Melyukovka," thought Nicholas. + +It really was Melyukovka, and maids and footmen with merry faces came +running, out to the porch carrying candles. + +"Who is it?" asked someone in the porch. + +"The mummers from the count's. I know by the horses," replied some +voices. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Pelageya Danilovna Melyukova, a broadly built, energetic woman wearing +spectacles, sat in the drawing room in a loose dress, surrounded by her +daughters whom she was trying to keep from feeling dull. They were +quietly dropping melted wax into snow and looking at the shadows the wax +figures would throw on the wall, when they heard the steps and voices of +new arrivals in the vestibule. + +Hussars, ladies, witches, clowns, and bears, after clearing their +throats and wiping the hoarfrost from their faces in the vestibule, came +into the ballroom where candles were hurriedly lighted. The clown-- +Dimmler--and the lady--Nicholas--started a dance. Surrounded by the +screaming children the mummers, covering their faces and disguising +their voices, bowed to their hostess and arranged themselves about the +room. + +"Dear me! there's no recognizing them! And Natasha! See whom she looks +like! She really reminds me of somebody. But Herr Dimmler--isn't he +good! I didn't know him! And how he dances. Dear me, there's a +Circassian. Really, how becoming it is to dear Sonya. And who is that? +Well, you have cheered us up! Nikita and Vanya--clear away the tables! +And we were sitting so quietly. Ha, ha, ha!... The hussar, the hussar! +Just like a boy! And the legs!... I can't look at him..." different +voices were saying. + +Natasha, the young Melyukovs' favorite, disappeared with them into the +back rooms where a cork and various dressing gowns and male garments +were called for and received from the footman by bare girlish arms from +behind the door. Ten minutes later, all the young Melyukovs joined the +mummers. + +Pelageya Danilovna, having given orders to clear the rooms for the +visitors and arranged about refreshments for the gentry and the serfs, +went about among the mummers without removing her spectacles, peering +into their faces with a suppressed smile and failing to recognize any of +them. It was not merely Dimmler and the Rostovs she failed to recognize, +she did not even recognize her own daughters, or her late husband's, +dressing gowns and uniforms, which they had put on. + +"And who is this?" she asked her governess, peering into the face of her +own daughter dressed up as a Kazan-Tartar. "I suppose it is one of the +Rostovs! Well, Mr. Hussar, and what regiment do you serve in?" she asked +Natasha. "Here, hand some fruit jelly to the Turk!" she ordered the +butler who was handing things round. "That's not forbidden by his law." + +Sometimes, as she looked at the strange but amusing capers cut by the +dancers, who--having decided once for all that being disguised, no one +would recognize them--were not at all shy, Pelageya Danilovna hid her +face in her handkerchief, and her whole stout body shook with +irrepressible, kindly, elderly laughter. + +"My little Sasha! Look at Sasha!" she said. + +After Russian country dances and chorus dances, Pelageya Danilovna made +the serfs and gentry join in one large circle: a ring, a string, and a +silver ruble were fetched and they all played games together. + +In an hour, all the costumes were crumpled and disordered. The corked +eyebrows and mustaches were smeared over the perspiring, flushed, and +merry faces. Pelageya Danilovna began to recognize the mummers, admired +their cleverly contrived costumes, and particularly how they suited the +young ladies, and she thanked them all for having entertained her so +well. The visitors were invited to supper in the drawing room, and the +serfs had something served to them in the ballroom. + +"Now to tell one's fortune in the empty bathhouse is frightening!" said +an old maid who lived with the Melyukovs, during supper. + +"Why?" said the eldest Melyukov girl. + +"You wouldn't go, it takes courage..." + +"I'll go," said Sonya. + +"Tell what happened to the young lady!" said the second Melyukov girl. + +"Well," began the old maid, "a young lady once went out, took a cock, +laid the table for two, all properly, and sat down. After sitting a +while, she suddenly hears someone coming... a sleigh drives up with +harness bells; she hears him coming! He comes in, just in the shape of a +man, like an officer--comes in and sits down to table with her." + +"Ah! ah!" screamed Natasha, rolling her eyes with horror. + +"Yes? And how... did he speak?" + +"Yes, like a man. Everything quite all right, and he began persuading +her; and she should have kept him talking till cockcrow, but she got +frightened, just got frightened and hid her face in her hands. Then he +caught her up. It was lucky the maids ran in just then..." + +"Now, why frighten them?" said Pelageya Danilovna. + +"Mamma, you used to try your fate yourself..." said her daughter. + +"And how does one do it in a barn?" inquired Sonya. + +"Well, say you went to the barn now, and listened. It depends on what +you hear; hammering and knocking--that's bad; but a sound of shifting +grain is good and one sometimes hears that, too." + +"Mamma, tell us what happened to you in the barn." + +Pelageya Danilovna smiled. + +"Oh, I've forgotten..." she replied. "But none of you would go?" + +"Yes, I will; Pelageya Danilovna, let me! I'll go," said Sonya. + +"Well, why not, if you're not afraid?" + +"Louisa Ivanovna, may I?" asked Sonya. + +Whether they were playing the ring and string game or the ruble game or +talking as now, Nicholas did not leave Sonya's side, and gazed at her +with quite new eyes. It seemed to him that it was only today, thanks to +that burnt-cork mustache, that he had fully learned to know her. And +really, that evening, Sonya was brighter, more animated, and prettier +than Nicholas had ever seen her before. + +"So that's what she is like; what a fool I have been!" he thought gazing +at her sparkling eyes, and under the mustache a happy rapturous smile +dimpled her cheeks, a smile he had never seen before. + +"I'm not afraid of anything," said Sonya. "May I go at once?" She got +up. + +They told her where the barn was and how she should stand and listen, +and they handed her a fur cloak. She threw this over her head and +shoulders and glanced at Nicholas. + +"What a darling that girl is!" thought he. "And what have I been +thinking of till now?" + +Sonya went out into the passage to go to the barn. Nicholas went hastily +to the front porch, saying he felt too hot. The crowd of people really +had made the house stuffy. + +Outside, there was the same cold stillness and the same moon, but even +brighter than before. The light was so strong and the snow sparkled with +so many stars that one did not wish to look up at the sky and the real +stars were unnoticed. The sky was black and dreary, while the earth was +gay. + +"I am a fool, a fool! what have I been waiting for?" thought Nicholas, +and running out from the porch he went round the corner of the house and +along the path that led to the back porch. He knew Sonya would pass that +way. Halfway lay some snow-covered piles of firewood and across and +along them a network of shadows from the bare old lime trees fell on the +snow and on the path. This path led to the barn. The log walls of the +barn and its snow-covered roof, that looked as if hewn out of some +precious stone, sparkled in the moonlight. A tree in the garden snapped +with the frost, and then all was again perfectly silent. His bosom +seemed to inhale not air but the strength of eternal youth and gladness. + +From the back porch came the sound of feet descending the steps, the +bottom step upon which snow had fallen gave a ringing creak and he heard +the voice of an old maidservant saying, "Straight, straight, along the +path, Miss. Only, don't look back." + +"I am not afraid," answered Sonya's voice, and along the path toward +Nicholas came the crunching, whistling sound of Sonya's feet in her thin +shoes. + +Sonya came along, wrapped in her cloak. She was only a couple of paces +away when she saw him, and to her too he was not the Nicholas she had +known and always slightly feared. He was in a woman's dress, with +tousled hair and a happy smile new to Sonya. She ran rapidly toward him. + +"Quite different and yet the same," thought Nicholas, looking at her +face all lit up by the moonlight. He slipped his arms under the cloak +that covered her head, embraced her, pressed her to him, and kissed her +on the lips that wore a mustache and had a smell of burnt cork. Sonya +kissed him full on the lips, and disengaging her little hands pressed +them to his cheeks. + +"Sonya!... Nicholas!"... was all they said. They ran to the barn and +then back again, re-entering, he by the front and she by the back porch. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +When they all drove back from Pelageya Danilovna's, Natasha, who always +saw and noticed everything, arranged that she and Madame Schoss should +go back in the sleigh with Dimmler, and Sonya with Nicholas and the +maids. + +On the way back Nicholas drove at a steady pace instead of racing and +kept peering by that fantastic all-transforming light into Sonya's face +and searching beneath the eyebrows and mustache for his former and his +present Sonya from whom he had resolved never to be parted again. He +looked and recognizing in her both the old and the new Sonya, and being +reminded by the smell of burnt cork of the sensation of her kiss, +inhaled the frosty air with a full breast and, looking at the ground +flying beneath him and at the sparkling sky, felt himself again in +fairyland. + +"Sonya, is it well with thee?" he asked from time to time. + +"Yes!" she replied. "And with thee?" + +When halfway home Nicholas handed the reins to the coachman and ran for +a moment to Natasha's sleigh and stood on its wing. + +"Natasha!" he whispered in French, "do you know I have made up my mind +about Sonya?" + +"Have you told her?" asked Natasha, suddenly beaming all over with joy. + +"Oh, how strange you are with that mustache and those eyebrows!... +Natasha--are you glad?" + +"I am so glad, so glad! I was beginning to be vexed with you. I did not +tell you, but you have been treating her badly. What a heart she has, +Nicholas! I am horrid sometimes, but I was ashamed to be happy while +Sonya was not," continued Natasha. "Now I am so glad! Well, run back to +her." + +"No, wait a bit.... Oh, how funny you look!" cried Nicholas, peering +into her face and finding in his sister too something new, unusual, and +bewitchingly tender that he had not seen in her before. "Natasha, it's +magical, isn't it?" + +"Yes," she replied. "You have done splendidly." + +"Had I seen her before as she is now," thought Nicholas, "I should long +ago have asked her what to do and have done whatever she told me, and +all would have been well." + +"So you are glad and I have done right?" + +"Oh, quite right! I had a quarrel with Mamma some time ago about it. +Mamma said she was angling for you. How could she say such a thing! I +nearly stormed at Mamma. I will never let anyone say anything bad of +Sonya, for there is nothing but good in her." + +"Then it's all right?" said Nicholas, again scrutinizing the expression +of his sister's face to see if she was in earnest. Then he jumped down +and, his boots scrunching the snow, ran back to his sleigh. The same +happy, smiling Circassian, with mustache and beaming eyes looking up +from under a sable hood, was still sitting there, and that Circassian +was Sonya, and that Sonya was certainly his future happy and loving +wife. + +When they reached home and had told their mother how they had spent the +evening at the Melyukovs', the girls went to their bedroom. When they +had undressed, but without washing off the cork mustaches, they sat a +long time talking of their happiness. They talked of how they would live +when they were married, how their husbands would be friends, and how +happy they would be. On Natasha's table stood two looking glasses which +Dunyasha had prepared beforehand. + +"Only when will all that be? I am afraid never.... It would be too +good!" said Natasha, rising and going to the looking glasses. + +"Sit down, Natasha; perhaps you'll see him," said Sonya. + +Natasha lit the candles, one on each side of one of the looking glasses, +and sat down. + +"I see someone with a mustache," said Natasha, seeing her own face. + +"You mustn't laugh, Miss," said Dunyasha. + +With Sonya's help and the maid's, Natasha got the glass she held into +the right position opposite the other; her face assumed a serious +expression and she sat silent. She sat a long time looking at the +receding line of candles reflected in the glasses and expecting (from +tales she had heard) to see a coffin, or him, Prince Andrew, in that +last dim, indistinctly outlined square. But ready as she was to take the +smallest speck for the image of a man or of a coffin, she saw nothing. +She began blinking rapidly and moved away from the looking glasses. + +"Why is it others see things and I don't?" she said. "You sit down now, +Sonya. You absolutely must, tonight! Do it for me.... Today I feel so +frightened!" + +Sonya sat down before the glasses, got the right position, and began +looking. + +"Now, Miss Sonya is sure to see something," whispered Dunyasha; "while +you do nothing but laugh." + +Sonya heard this and Natasha's whisper: + +"I know she will. She saw something last year." + +For about three minutes all were silent. + +"Of course she will!" whispered Natasha, but did not finish... suddenly +Sonya pushed away the glass she was holding and covered her eyes with +her hand. + +"Oh, Natasha!" she cried. + +"Did you see? Did you? What was it?" exclaimed Natasha, holding up the +looking glass. + +Sonya had not seen anything, she was just wanting to blink and to get up +when she heard Natasha say, "Of course she will!" She did not wish to +disappoint either Dunyasha or Natasha, but it was hard to sit still. She +did not herself know how or why the exclamation escaped her when she +covered her eyes. + +"You saw him?" urged Natasha, seizing her hand. + +"Yes. Wait a bit... I... saw him," Sonya could not help saying, not yet +knowing whom Natasha meant by him, Nicholas or Prince Andrew. + +"But why shouldn't I say I saw something? Others do see! Besides who can +tell whether I saw anything or not?" flashed through Sonya's mind. + +"Yes, I saw him," she said. + +"How? Standing or lying?" + +"No, I saw... At first there was nothing, then I saw him lying down." + +"Andrew lying? Is he ill?" asked Natasha, her frightened eyes fixed on +her friend. + +"No, on the contrary, on the contrary! His face was cheerful, and he +turned to me." And when saying this she herself fancied she had really +seen what she described. + +"Well, and then, Sonya?..." + +"After that, I could not make out what there was; something blue and +red..." + +"Sonya! When will he come back? When shall I see him! O, God, how afraid +I am for him and for myself and about everything!..." Natasha began, and +without replying to Sonya's words of comfort she got into bed, and long +after her candle was out lay open-eyed and motionless, gazing at the +moonlight through the frosty windowpanes. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Soon after the Christmas holidays Nicholas told his mother of his love +for Sonya and of his firm resolve to marry her. The countess, who had +long noticed what was going on between them and was expecting this +declaration, listened to him in silence and then told her son that he +might marry whom he pleased, but that neither she nor his father would +give their blessing to such a marriage. Nicholas, for the first time, +felt that his mother was displeased with him and that, despite her love +for him, she would not give way. Coldly, without looking at her son, she +sent for her husband and, when he came, tried briefly and coldly to +inform him of the facts, in her son's presence, but unable to restrain +herself she burst into tears of vexation and left the room. The old +count began irresolutely to admonish Nicholas and beg him to abandon his +purpose. Nicholas replied that he could not go back on his word, and his +father, sighing and evidently disconcerted, very soon became silent and +went in to the countess. In all his encounters with his son, the count +was always conscious of his own guilt toward him for having wasted the +family fortune, and so he could not be angry with him for refusing to +marry an heiress and choosing the dowerless Sonya. On this occasion, he +was only more vividly conscious of the fact that if his affairs had not +been in disorder, no better wife for Nicholas than Sonya could have been +wished for, and that no one but himself with his Mitenka and his +uncomfortable habits was to blame for the condition of the family +finances. + +The father and mother did not speak of the matter to their son again, +but a few days later the countess sent for Sonya and, with a cruelty +neither of them expected, reproached her niece for trying to catch +Nicholas and for ingratitude. Sonya listened silently with downcast eyes +to the countess' cruel words, without understanding what was required of +her. She was ready to sacrifice everything for her benefactors. Self- +sacrifice was her most cherished idea but in this case she could not see +what she ought to sacrifice, or for whom. She could not help loving the +countess and the whole Rostov family, but neither could she help loving +Nicholas and knowing that his happiness depended on that love. She was +silent and sad and did not reply. Nicholas felt the situation to be +intolerable and went to have an explanation with his mother. He first +implored her to forgive him and Sonya and consent to their marriage, +then he threatened that if she molested Sonya he would at once marry her +secretly. + +The countess, with a coldness her son had never seen in her before, +replied that he was of age, that Prince Andrew was marrying without his +father's consent, and he could do the same, but that she would never +receive that intriguer as her daughter. + +Exploding at the word intriguer, Nicholas, raising his voice, told his +mother he had never expected her to try to force him to sell his +feelings, but if that were so, he would say for the last time.... But he +had no time to utter the decisive word which the expression of his face +caused his mother to await with terror, and which would perhaps have +forever remained a cruel memory to them both. He had not time to say it, +for Natasha, with a pale and set face, entered the room from the door at +which she had been listening. + +"Nicholas, you are talking nonsense! Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet, I +tell you!..." she almost screamed, so as to drown his voice. + +"Mamma darling, it's not at all so... my poor, sweet darling," she said +to her mother, who conscious that they had been on the brink of a +rupture gazed at her son with terror, but in the obstinacy and +excitement of the conflict could not and would not give way. + +"Nicholas, I'll explain to you. Go away! Listen, Mamma darling," said +Natasha. + +Her words were incoherent, but they attained the purpose at which she +was aiming. + +The countess, sobbing heavily, hid her face on her daughter's breast, +while Nicholas rose, clutching his head, and left the room. + +Natasha set to work to effect a reconciliation, and so far succeeded +that Nicholas received a promise from his mother that Sonya should not +be troubled, while he on his side promised not to undertake anything +without his parents' knowledge. + +Firmly resolved, after putting his affairs in order in the regiment, to +retire from the army and return and marry Sonya, Nicholas, serious, +sorrowful, and at variance with his parents, but, as it seemed to him, +passionately in love, left at the beginning of January to rejoin his +regiment. + +After Nicholas had gone things in the Rostov household were more +depressing than ever, and the countess fell ill from mental agitation. + +Sonya was unhappy at the separation from Nicholas and still more so on +account of the hostile tone the countess could not help adopting toward +her. The count was more perturbed than ever by the condition of his +affairs, which called for some decisive action. Their town house and +estate near Moscow had inevitably to be sold, and for this they had to +go to Moscow. But the countess' health obliged them to delay their +departure from day to day. + +Natasha, who had borne the first period of separation from her betrothed +lightly and even cheerfully, now grew more agitated and impatient every +day. The thought that her best days, which she would have employed in +loving him, were being vainly wasted, with no advantage to anyone, +tormented her incessantly. His letters for the most part irritated her. +It hurt her to think that while she lived only in the thought of him, he +was living a real life, seeing new places and new people that interested +him. The more interesting his letters were the more vexed she felt. Her +letters to him, far from giving her any comfort, seemed to her a +wearisome and artificial obligation. She could not write, because she +could not conceive the possibility of expressing sincerely in a letter +even a thousandth part of what she expressed by voice, smile, and +glance. She wrote to him formal, monotonous, and dry letters, to which +she attached no importance herself, and in the rough copies of which the +countess corrected her mistakes in spelling. + +There was still no improvement in the countess' health, but it was +impossible to defer the journey to Moscow any longer. Natasha's +trousseau had to be ordered and the house sold. Moreover, Prince Andrew +was expected in Moscow, where old Prince Bolkonski was spending the +winter, and Natasha felt sure he had already arrived. + +So the countess remained in the country, and the count, taking Sonya and +Natasha with him, went to Moscow at the end of January. + +BOOK EIGHT: 1811 - 12 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +After Prince Andrew's engagement to Natasha, Pierre without any apparent +cause suddenly felt it impossible to go on living as before. Firmly +convinced as he was of the truths revealed to him by his benefactor, and +happy as he had been in perfecting his inner man, to which he had +devoted himself with such ardor--all the zest of such a life vanished +after the engagement of Andrew and Natasha and the death of Joseph +Alexeevich, the news of which reached him almost at the same time. Only +the skeleton of life remained: his house, a brilliant wife who now +enjoyed the favors of a very important personage, acquaintance with all +Petersburg, and his court service with its dull formalities. And this +life suddenly seemed to Pierre unexpectedly loathsome. He ceased keeping +a diary, avoided the company of the Brothers, began going to the club +again, drank a great deal, and came once more in touch with the bachelor +sets, leading such a life that the Countess Helene thought it necessary +to speak severely to him about it. Pierre felt that she was right, and +to avoid compromising her went away to Moscow. + +In Moscow as soon as he entered his huge house in which the faded and +fading princesses still lived, with its enormous retinue; as soon as, +driving through the town, he saw the Iberian shrine with innumerable +tapers burning before the golden covers of the icons, the Kremlin Square +with its snow undisturbed by vehicles, the sleigh drivers and hovels of +the Sivtsev Vrazhok, those old Moscovites who desired nothing, hurried +nowhere, and were ending their days leisurely; when he saw those old +Moscow ladies, the Moscow balls, and the English Club, he felt himself +at home in a quiet haven. In Moscow he felt at peace, at home, warm and +dirty as in an old dressing gown. + +Moscow society, from the old women down to the children, received Pierre +like a long-expected guest whose place was always ready awaiting him. +For Moscow society Pierre was the nicest, kindest, most intellectual, +merriest, and most magnanimous of cranks, a heedless, genial nobleman of +the old Russian type. His purse was always empty because it was open to +everyone. + +Benefit performances, poor pictures, statues, benevolent societies, +gypsy choirs, schools, subscription dinners, sprees, Freemasons, +churches, and books--no one and nothing met with a refusal from him, and +had it not been for two friends who had borrowed large sums from him and +taken him under their protection, he would have given everything away. +There was never a dinner or soiree at the club without him. As soon as +he sank into his place on the sofa after two bottles of Margaux he was +surrounded, and talking, disputing, and joking began. When there were +quarrels, his kindly smile and well-timed jests reconciled the +antagonists. The masonic dinners were dull and dreary when he was not +there. + +When after a bachelor supper he rose with his amiable and kindly smile, +yielding to the entreaties of the festive company to drive off somewhere +with them, shouts of delight and triumph arose among the young men. At +balls he danced if a partner was needed. Young ladies, married and +unmarried, liked him because without making love to any of them, he was +equally amiable to all, especially after supper. "Il est charmant; il +n'a pas de sexe," * they said of him. + + +* "He is charming; he has no sex." + +Pierre was one of those retired gentlemen-in-waiting of whom there were +hundreds good-humoredly ending their days in Moscow. + +How horrified he would have been seven years before, when he first +arrived from abroad, had he been told that there was no need for him to +seek or plan anything, that his rut had long been shaped, eternally +predetermined, and that wriggle as he might, he would be what all in his +position were. He could not have believed it! Had he not at one time +longed with all his heart to establish a republic in Russia; then +himself to be a Napoleon; then to be a philosopher; and then a +strategist and the conqueror of Napoleon? Had he not seen the +possibility of, and passionately desired, the regeneration of the sinful +human race, and his own progress to the highest degree of perfection? +Had he not established schools and hospitals and liberated his serfs? + +But instead of all that--here he was, the wealthy husband of an +unfaithful wife, a retired gentleman-in-waiting, fond of eating and +drinking and, as he unbuttoned his waistcoat, of abusing the government +a bit, a member of the Moscow English Club, and a universal favorite in +Moscow society. For a long time he could not reconcile himself to the +idea that he was one of those same retired Moscow gentlemen-in-waiting +he had so despised seven years before. + +Sometimes he consoled himself with the thought that he was only living +this life temporarily; but then he was shocked by the thought of how +many, like himself, had entered that life and that club temporarily, +with all their teeth and hair, and had only left it when not a single +tooth or hair remained. + +In moments of pride, when he thought of his position it seemed to him +that he was quite different and distinct from those other retired +gentlemen-in-waiting he had formerly despised: they were empty, stupid, +contented fellows, satisfied with their position, "while I am still +discontented and want to do something for mankind. But perhaps all these +comrades of mine struggled just like me and sought something new, a path +in life of their own, and like me were brought by force of +circumstances, society, and race--by that elemental force against which +man is powerless--to the condition I am in," said he to himself in +moments of humility; and after living some time in Moscow he no longer +despised, but began to grow fond of, to respect, and to pity his +comrades in destiny, as he pitied himself. + +Pierre no longer suffered moments of despair, hypochondria, and disgust +with life, but the malady that had formerly found expression in such +acute attacks was driven inwards and never left him for a moment. "What +for? Why? What is going on in the world?" he would ask himself in +perplexity several times a day, involuntarily beginning to reflect anew +on the meaning of the phenomena of life; but knowing by experience that +there were no answers to these questions he made haste to turn away from +them, and took up a book, or hurried off to the club or to Apollon +Nikolaevich's, to exchange the gossip of the town. + +"Helene, who has never cared for anything but her own body and is one of +the stupidest women in the world," thought Pierre, "is regarded by +people as the acme of intelligence and refinement, and they pay homage +to her. Napoleon Bonaparte was despised by all as long as he was great, +but now that he has become a wretched comedian the Emperor Francis wants +to offer him his daughter in an illegal marriage. The Spaniards, through +the Catholic clergy, offer praise to God for their victory over the +French on the fourteenth of June, and the French, also through the +Catholic clergy, offer praise because on that same fourteenth of June +they defeated the Spaniards. My brother Masons swear by the blood that +they are ready to sacrifice everything for their neighbor, but they do +not give a ruble each to the collections for the poor, and they +intrigue, the Astraea Lodge against the Manna Seekers, and fuss about an +authentic Scotch carpet and a charter that nobody needs, and the meaning +of which the very man who wrote it does not understand. We all profess +the Christian law of forgiveness of injuries and love of our neighbors, +the law in honor of which we have built in Moscow forty times forty +churches--but yesterday a deserter was knouted to death and a minister +of that same law of love and forgiveness, a priest, gave the soldier a +cross to kiss before his execution." So thought Pierre, and the whole of +this general deception which everyone accepts, accustomed as he was to +it, astonished him each time as if it were something new. "I understand +the deception and confusion," he thought, "but how am I to tell them all +that I see? I have tried, and have always found that they too in the +depths of their souls understand it as I do, and only try not to see it. +So it appears that it must be so! But I--what is to become of me?" +thought he. He had the unfortunate capacity many men, especially +Russians, have of seeing and believing in the possibility of goodness +and truth, but of seeing the evil and falsehood of life too clearly to +be able to take a serious part in it. Every sphere of work was +connected, in his eyes, with evil and deception. Whatever he tried to +be, whatever he engaged in, the evil and falsehood of it repulsed him +and blocked every path of activity. Yet he had to live and to find +occupation. It was too dreadful to be under the burden of these +insoluble problems, so he abandoned himself to any distraction in order +to forget them. He frequented every kind of society, drank much, bought +pictures, engaged in building, and above all--read. + +He read, and read everything that came to hand. On coming home, while +his valets were still taking off his things, he picked up a book and +began to read. From reading he passed to sleeping, from sleeping to +gossip in drawing rooms of the club, from gossip to carousals and women; +from carousals back to gossip, reading, and wine. Drinking became more +and more a physical and also a moral necessity. Though the doctors +warned him that with his corpulence wine was dangerous for him, he drank +a great deal. He was only quite at ease when having poured several +glasses of wine mechanically into his large mouth he felt a pleasant +warmth in his body, an amiability toward all his fellows, and a +readiness to respond superficially to every idea without probing it +deeply. Only after emptying a bottle or two did he feel dimly that the +terribly tangled skein of life which previously had terrified him was +not as dreadful as he had thought. He was always conscious of some +aspect of that skein, as with a buzzing in his head after dinner or +supper he chatted or listened to conversation or read. But under the +influence of wine he said to himself: "It doesn't matter. I'll get it +unraveled. I have a solution ready, but have no time now--I'll think it +all out later on!" But the later on never came. + +In the morning, on an empty stomach, all the old questions appeared as +insoluble and terrible as ever, and Pierre hastily picked up a book, and +if anyone came to see him he was glad. + +Sometimes he remembered how he had heard that soldiers in war when +entrenched under the enemy's fire, if they have nothing to do, try hard +to find some occupation the more easily to bear the danger. To Pierre +all men seemed like those soldiers, seeking refuge from life: some in +ambition, some in cards, some in framing laws, some in women, some in +toys, some in horses, some in politics, some in sport, some in wine, and +some in governmental affairs. "Nothing is trivial, and nothing is +important, it's all the same--only to save oneself from it as best one +can," thought Pierre. "Only not to see it, that dreadful it!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +At the beginning of winter Prince Nicholas Bolkonski and his daughter +moved to Moscow. At that time enthusiasm for the Emperor Alexander's +regime had weakened and a patriotic and anti-French tendency prevailed +there, and this, together with his past and his intellect and his +originality, at once made Prince Nicholas Bolkonski an object of +particular respect to the Moscovites and the center of the Moscow +opposition to the government. + +The prince had aged very much that year. He showed marked signs of +senility by a tendency to fall asleep, forgetfulness of quite recent +events, remembrance of remote ones, and the childish vanity with which +he accepted the role of head of the Moscow opposition. In spite of this +the old man inspired in all his visitors alike a feeling of respectful +veneration--especially of an evening when he came in to tea in his old- +fashioned coat and powdered wig and, aroused by anyone, told his abrupt +stories of the past, or uttered yet more abrupt and scathing criticisms +of the present. For them all, that old-fashioned house with its gigantic +mirrors, pre-Revolution furniture, powdered footmen, and the stern +shrewd old man (himself a relic of the past century) with his gentle +daughter and the pretty Frenchwoman who were reverently devoted to him +presented a majestic and agreeable spectacle. But the visitors did not +reflect that besides the couple of hours during which they saw their +host, there were also twenty-two hours in the day during which the +private and intimate life of the house continued. + +Latterly that private life had become very trying for Princess Mary. +There in Moscow she was deprived of her greatest pleasures--talks with +the pilgrims and the solitude which refreshed her at Bald Hills--and she +had none of the advantages and pleasures of city life. She did not go +out into society; everyone knew that her father would not let her go +anywhere without him, and his failing health prevented his going out +himself, so that she was not invited to dinners and evening parties. She +had quite abandoned the hope of getting married. She saw the coldness +and malevolence with which the old prince received and dismissed the +young men, possible suitors, who sometimes appeared at their house. She +had no friends: during this visit to Moscow she had been disappointed in +the two who had been nearest to her. Mademoiselle Bourienne, with whom +she had never been able to be quite frank, had now become unpleasant to +her, and for various reasons Princess Mary avoided her. Julie, with whom +she had corresponded for the last five years, was in Moscow, but proved +to be quite alien to her when they met. Just then Julie, who by the +death of her brothers had become one of the richest heiresses in Moscow, +was in the full whirl of society pleasures. She was surrounded by young +men who, she fancied, had suddenly learned to appreciate her worth. +Julie was at that stage in the life of a society woman when she feels +that her last chance of marrying has come and that her fate must be +decided now or never. On Thursdays Princess Mary remembered with a +mournful smile that she now had no one to write to, since Julie--whose +presence gave her no pleasure was here and they met every week. Like the +old emigre who declined to marry the lady with whom he had spent his +evenings for years, she regretted Julie's presence and having no one to +write to. In Moscow Princess Mary had no one to talk to, no one to whom +to confide her sorrow, and much sorrow fell to her lot just then. The +time for Prince Andrew's return and marriage was approaching, but his +request to her to prepare his father for it had not been carried out; in +fact, it seemed as if matters were quite hopeless, for at every mention +of the young Countess Rostova the old prince (who apart from that was +usually in a bad temper) lost control of himself. Another lately added +sorrow arose from the lessons she gave her six year-old nephew. To her +consternation she detected in herself in relation to little Nicholas +some symptoms of her father's irritability. However often she told +herself that she must not get irritable when teaching her nephew, almost +every time that, pointer in hand, she sat down to show him the French +alphabet, she so longed to pour her own knowledge quickly and easily +into the child--who was already afraid that Auntie might at any moment +get angry--that at his slightest inattention she trembled, became +flustered and heated, raised her voice, and sometimes pulled him by the +arm and put him in the corner. Having put him in the corner she would +herself begin to cry over her cruel, evil nature, and little Nicholas, +following her example, would sob, and without permission would leave his +corner, come to her, pull her wet hands from her face, and comfort her. +But what distressed the princess most of all was her father's +irritability, which was always directed against her and had of late +amounted to cruelty. Had he forced her to prostrate herself to the +ground all night, had he beaten her or made her fetch wood or water, it +would never have entered her mind to think her position hard; but this +loving despot--the more cruel because he loved her and for that reason +tormented himself and her--knew how not merely to hurt and humiliate her +deliberately, but to show her that she was always to blame for +everything. Of late he had exhibited a new trait that tormented Princess +Mary more than anything else; this was his ever-increasing intimacy with +Mademoiselle Bourienne. The idea that at the first moment of receiving +the news of his son's intentions had occurred to him in jest--that if +Andrew got married he himself would marry Bourienne--had evidently +pleased him, and latterly he had persistently, and as it seemed to +Princess Mary merely to offend her, shown special endearments to the +companion and expressed his dissatisfaction with his daughter by +demonstrations of love of Bourienne. + +One day in Moscow in Princess Mary's presence (she thought her father +did it purposely when she was there) the old prince kissed Mademoiselle +Bourienne's hand and, drawing her to him, embraced her affectionately. +Princess Mary flushed and ran out of the room. A few minutes later +Mademoiselle Bourienne came into Princess Mary's room smiling and making +cheerful remarks in her agreeable voice. Princess Mary hastily wiped +away her tears, went resolutely up to Mademoiselle Bourienne, and +evidently unconscious of what she was doing began shouting in angry +haste at the Frenchwoman, her voice breaking: "It's horrible, vile, +inhuman, to take advantage of the weakness..." She did not finish. +"Leave my room," she exclaimed, and burst into sobs. + +Next day the prince did not say a word to his daughter, but she noticed +that at dinner he gave orders that Mademoiselle Bourienne should be +served first. After dinner, when the footman handed coffee and from +habit began with the princess, the prince suddenly grew furious, threw +his stick at Philip, and instantly gave instructions to have him +conscripted for the army. + +"He doesn't obey... I said it twice... and he doesn't obey! She is the +first person in this house; she's my best friend," cried the prince. +"And if you allow yourself," he screamed in a fury, addressing Princess +Mary for the first time, "to forget yourself again before her as you +dared to do yesterday, I will show you who is master in this house. Go! +Don't let me set eyes on you; beg her pardon!" + +Princess Mary asked Mademoiselle Bourienne's pardon, and also her +father's pardon for herself and for Philip the footman, who had begged +for her intervention. + +At such moments something like a pride of sacrifice gathered in her +soul. And suddenly that father whom she had judged would look for his +spectacles in her presence, fumbling near them and not seeing them, or +would forget something that had just occurred, or take a false step with +his failing legs and turn to see if anyone had noticed his feebleness, +or, worst of all, at dinner when there were no visitors to excite him +would suddenly fall asleep, letting his napkin drop and his shaking head +sink over his plate. "He is old and feeble, and I dare to condemn him!" +she thought at such moments, with a feeling of revulsion against +herself. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +In 1811 there was living in Moscow a French doctor--Metivier--who had +rapidly become the fashion. He was enormously tall, handsome, amiable as +Frenchmen are, and was, as all Moscow said, an extraordinarily clever +doctor. He was received in the best houses not merely as a doctor, but +as an equal. + +Prince Nicholas had always ridiculed medicine, but latterly on +Mademoiselle Bourienne's advice had allowed this doctor to visit him and +had grown accustomed to him. Metivier came to see the prince about twice +a week. + +On December 6--St. Nicholas' Day and the prince's name day--all Moscow +came to the prince's front door but he gave orders to admit no one and +to invite to dinner only a small number, a list of whom he gave to +Princess Mary. + +Metivier, who came in the morning with his felicitations, considered it +proper in his quality of doctor de forcer la consigne, * as he told +Princess Mary, and went in to see the prince. It happened that on that +morning of his name day the prince was in one of his worst moods. He had +been going about the house all the morning finding fault with everyone +and pretending not to understand what was said to him and not to be +understood himself. Princess Mary well knew this mood of quiet absorbed +querulousness, which generally culminated in a burst of rage, and she +went about all that morning as though facing a cocked and loaded gun and +awaited the inevitable explosion. Until the doctor's arrival the morning +had passed off safely. After admitting the doctor, Princess Mary sat +down with a book in the drawing room near the door through which she +could hear all that passed in the study. + + +* To force the guard. + +At first she heard only Metivier's voice, then her father's, then both +voices began speaking at the same time, the door was flung open, and on +the threshold appeared the handsome figure of the terrified Metivier +with his shock of black hair, and the prince in his dressing gown and +fez, his face distorted with fury and the pupils of his eyes rolled +downwards. + +"You don't understand?" shouted the prince, "but I do! French spy, slave +of Buonaparte, spy, get out of my house! Be off, I tell you..." + +Metivier, shrugging his shoulders, went up to Mademoiselle Bourienne who +at the sound of shouting had run in from an adjoining room. + +"The prince is not very well: bile and rush of blood to the head. Keep +calm, I will call again tomorrow," said Metivier; and putting his +fingers to his lips he hastened away. + +Through the study door came the sound of slippered feet and the cry: +"Spies, traitors, traitors everywhere! Not a moment's peace in my own +house!" + +After Metivier's departure the old prince called his daughter in, and +the whole weight of his wrath fell on her. She was to blame that a spy +had been admitted. Had he not told her, yes, told her to make a list, +and not to admit anyone who was not on that list? Then why was that +scoundrel admitted? She was the cause of it all. With her, he said, he +could not have a moment's peace and could not die quietly. + +"No, ma'am! We must part, we must part! Understand that, understand it! +I cannot endure any more," he said, and left the room. Then, as if +afraid she might find some means of consolation, he returned and trying +to appear calm added: "And don't imagine I have said this in a moment of +anger. I am calm. I have thought it over, and it will be carried out--we +must part; so find some place for yourself...." But he could not +restrain himself and with the virulence of which only one who loves is +capable, evidently suffering himself, he shook his fists at her and +screamed: + +"If only some fool would marry her!" Then he slammed the door, sent for +Mademoiselle Bourienne, and subsided into his study. + +At two o'clock the six chosen guests assembled for dinner. + +These guests--the famous Count Rostopchin, Prince Lopukhin with his +nephew, General Chatrov an old war comrade of the prince's, and of the +younger generation Pierre and Boris Drubetskoy--awaited the prince in +the drawing room. + +Boris, who had come to Moscow on leave a few days before, had been +anxious to be presented to Prince Nicholas Bolkonski, and had contrived +to ingratiate himself so well that the old prince in his case made an +exception to the rule of not receiving bachelors in his house. + +The prince's house did not belong to what is known as fashionable +society, but his little circle--though not much talked about in town-- +was one it was more flattering to be received in than any other. Boris +had realized this the week before when the commander-in-chief in his +presence invited Rostopchin to dinner on St. Nicholas' Day, and +Rostopchin had replied that he could not come: + +"On that day I always go to pay my devotions to the relics of Prince +Nicholas Bolkonski." + +"Oh, yes, yes!" replied the commander-in-chief. "How is he?..." + +The small group that assembled before dinner in the lofty old-fashioned +drawing room with its old furniture resembled the solemn gathering of a +court of justice. All were silent or talked in low tones. Prince +Nicholas came in serious and taciturn. Princess Mary seemed even quieter +and more diffident than usual. The guests were reluctant to address her, +feeling that she was in no mood for their conversation. Count Rostopchin +alone kept the conversation going, now relating the latest town news, +and now the latest political gossip. + +Lopukhin and the old general occasionally took part in the conversation. +Prince Bolkonski listened as a presiding judge receives a report, only +now and then, silently or by a brief word, showing that he took heed of +what was being reported to him. The tone of the conversation was such as +indicated that no one approved of what was being done in the political +world. Incidents were related evidently confirming the opinion that +everything was going from bad to worse, but whether telling a story or +giving an opinion the speaker always stopped, or was stopped, at the +point beyond which his criticism might touch the sovereign himself. + +At dinner the talk turned on the latest political news: Napoleon's +seizure of the Duke of Oldenburg's territory, and the Russian Note, +hostile to Napoleon, which had been sent to all the European courts. + +"Bonaparte treats Europe as a pirate does a captured vessel," said Count +Rostopchin, repeating a phrase he had uttered several times before. "One +only wonders at the long-suffering or blindness of the crowned heads. +Now the Pope's turn has come and Bonaparte doesn't scruple to depose the +head of the Catholic Church--yet all keep silent! Our sovereign alone +has protested against the seizure of the Duke of Oldenburg's territory, +and even..." Count Rostopchin paused, feeling that he had reached the +limit beyond which censure was impossible. + +"Other territories have been offered in exchange for the Duchy of +Oldenburg," said Prince Bolkonski. "He shifts the Dukes about as I might +move my serfs from Bald Hills to Bogucharovo or my Ryazan estates." + +"The Duke of Oldenburg bears his misfortunes with admirable strength of +character and resignation," remarked Boris, joining in respectfully. + +He said this because on his journey from Petersburg he had had the honor +of being presented to the Duke. Prince Bolkonski glanced at the young +man as if about to say something in reply, but changed his mind, +evidently considering him too young. + +"I have read our protests about the Oldenburg affair and was surprised +how badly the Note was worded," remarked Count Rostopchin in the casual +tone of a man dealing with a subject quite familiar to him. + +Pierre looked at Rostopchin with naive astonishment, not understanding +why he should be disturbed by the bad composition of the Note. + +"Does it matter, Count, how the Note is worded," he asked, "so long as +its substance is forcible?" + +"My dear fellow, with our five hundred thousand troops it should be easy +to have a good style," returned Count Rostopchin. + +Pierre now understood the count's dissatisfaction with the wording of +the Note. + +"One would have thought quill drivers enough had sprung up," remarked +the old prince. "There in Petersburg they are always writing--not notes +only but even new laws. My Andrew there has written a whole volume of +laws for Russia. Nowadays they are always writing!" and he laughed +unnaturally. + +There was a momentary pause in the conversation; the old general cleared +his throat to draw attention. + +"Did you hear of the last event at the review in Petersburg? The figure +cut by the new French ambassador." + +"Eh? Yes, I heard something: he said something awkward in His Majesty's +presence." + +"His Majesty drew attention to the Grenadier division and to the march +past," continued the general, "and it seems the ambassador took no +notice and allowed himself to reply that: 'We in France pay no attention +to such trifles!' The Emperor did not condescend to reply. At the next +review, they say, the Emperor did not once deign to address him." + +All were silent. On this fact relating to the Emperor personally, it was +impossible to pass any judgment. + +"Impudent fellows!" said the prince. "You know Metivier? I turned him +out of my house this morning. He was here; they admitted him in spite of +my request that they should let no one in," he went on, glancing angrily +at his daughter. + +And he narrated his whole conversation with the French doctor and the +reasons that convinced him that Metivier was a spy. Though these reasons +were very insufficient and obscure, no one made any rejoinder. + +After the roast, champagne was served. The guests rose to congratulate +the old prince. Princess Mary, too, went round to him. + +He gave her a cold, angry look and offered her his wrinkled, clean- +shaven cheek to kiss. The whole expression of his face told her that he +had not forgotten the morning's talk, that his decision remained in +force, and only the presence of visitors hindered his speaking of it to +her now. + +When they went into the drawing room where coffee was served, the old +men sat together. + +Prince Nicholas grew more animated and expressed his views on the +impending war. + +He said that our wars with Bonaparte would be disastrous so long as we +sought alliances with the Germans and thrust ourselves into European +affairs, into which we had been drawn by the Peace of Tilsit. "We ought +not to fight either for or against Austria. Our political interests are +all in the East, and in regard to Bonaparte the only thing is to have an +armed frontier and a firm policy, and he will never dare to cross the +Russian frontier, as was the case in 1807!" + +"How can we fight the French, Prince?" said Count Rostopchin. "Can we +arm ourselves against our teachers and divinities? Look at our youths, +look at our ladies! The French are our Gods: Paris is our Kingdom of +Heaven." + +He began speaking louder, evidently to be heard by everyone. + +"French dresses, French ideas, French feelings! There now, you turned +Metivier out by the scruff of his neck because he is a Frenchman and a +scoundrel, but our ladies crawl after him on their knees. I went to a +party last night, and there out of five ladies three were Roman +Catholics and had the Pope's indulgence for doing woolwork on Sundays. +And they themselves sit there nearly naked, like the signboards at our +Public Baths if I may say so. Ah, when one looks at our young people, +Prince, one would like to take Peter the Great's old cudgel out of the +museum and belabor them in the Russian way till all the nonsense jumps +out of them." + +All were silent. The old prince looked at Rostopchin with a smile and +wagged his head approvingly. + +"Well, good-by, your excellency, keep well!" said Rostopchin, getting up +with characteristic briskness and holding out his hand to the prince. + +"Good-bye, my dear fellow.... His words are music, I never tire of +hearing him!" said the old prince, keeping hold of the hand and offering +his cheek to be kissed. + +Following Rostopchin's example the others also rose. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Princess Mary as she sat listening to the old men's talk and +faultfinding, understood nothing of what she heard; she only wondered +whether the guests had all observed her father's hostile attitude toward +her. She did not even notice the special attentions and amiabilities +shown her during dinner by Boris Drubetskoy, who was visiting them for +the third time already. + +Princess Mary turned with absent-minded questioning look to Pierre, who +hat in hand and with a smile on his face was the last of the guests to +approach her after the old prince had gone out and they were left alone +in the drawing room. + +"May I stay a little longer?" he said, letting his stout body sink into +an armchair beside her. + +"Oh yes," she answered. "You noticed nothing?" her look asked. + +Pierre was in an agreeable after-dinner mood. He looked straight before +him and smiled quietly. + +"Have you known that young man long, Princess?" he asked. + +"Who?" + +"Drubetskoy." + +"No, not long..." + +"Do you like him?" + +"Yes, he is an agreeable young man.... Why do you ask me that?" said +Princess Mary, still thinking of that morning's conversation with her +father. + +"Because I have noticed that when a young man comes on leave from +Petersburg to Moscow it is usually with the object of marrying an +heiress." + +"You have observed that?" said Princess Mary. + +"Yes," returned Pierre with a smile, "and this young man now manages +matters so that where there is a wealthy heiress there he is too. I can +read him like a book. At present he is hesitating whom to lay siege to-- +you or Mademoiselle Julie Karagina. He is very attentive to her." + +"He visits them?" + +"Yes, very often. And do you know the new way of courting?" said Pierre +with an amused smile, evidently in that cheerful mood of good humored +raillery for which he so often reproached himself in his diary. + +"No," replied Princess Mary. + +"To please Moscow girls nowadays one has to be melancholy. He is very +melancholy with Mademoiselle Karagina," said Pierre. + +"Really?" asked Princess Mary, looking into Pierre's kindly face and +still thinking of her own sorrow. "It would be a relief," thought she, +"if I ventured to confide what I am feeling to someone. I should like to +tell everything to Pierre. He is kind and generous. It would be a +relief. He would give me advice." + +"Would you marry him?" + +"Oh, my God, Count, there are moments when I would marry anybody!" she +cried suddenly to her own surprise and with tears in her voice. "Ah, how +bitter it is to love someone near to you and to feel that..." she went +on in a trembling voice, "that you can do nothing for him but grieve +him, and to know that you cannot alter this. Then there is only one +thing left--to go away, but where could I go?" + +"What is wrong? What is it, Princess?" + +But without finishing what she was saying, Princess Mary burst into +tears. + +"I don't know what is the matter with me today. Don't take any notice-- +forget what I have said!" + +Pierre's gaiety vanished completely. He anxiously questioned the +princess, asked her to speak out fully and confide her grief to him; but +she only repeated that she begged him to forget what she had said, that +she did not remember what she had said, and that she had no trouble +except the one he knew of--that Prince Andrew's marriage threatened to +cause a rupture between father and son. + +"Have you any news of the Rostovs?" she asked, to change the subject. "I +was told they are coming soon. I am also expecting Andrew any day. I +should like them to meet here." + +"And how does he now regard the matter?" asked Pierre, referring to the +old prince. + +Princess Mary shook her head. + +"What is to be done? In a few months the year will be up. The thing is +impossible. I only wish I could spare my brother the first moments. I +wish they would come sooner. I hope to be friends with her. You have +known them a long time," said Princess Mary. "Tell me honestly the whole +truth: what sort of girl is she, and what do you think of her?--The real +truth, because you know Andrew is risking so much doing this against his +father's will that I should like to know..." + +An undefined instinct told Pierre that these explanations, and repeated +requests to be told the whole truth, expressed ill-will on the princess' +part toward her future sister-in-law and a wish that he should +disapprove of Andrew's choice; but in reply he said what he felt rather +than what he thought. + +"I don't know how to answer your question," he said, blushing without +knowing why. "I really don't know what sort of girl she is; I can't +analyze her at all. She is enchanting, but what makes her so I don't +know. That is all one can say about her." + +Princess Mary sighed, and the expression on her face said: "Yes, that's +what I expected and feared." + +"Is she clever?" she asked. + +Pierre considered. + +"I think not," he said, "and yet--yes. She does not deign to be +clever.... Oh no, she is simply enchanting, and that is all." + +Princess Mary again shook her head disapprovingly. + +"Ah, I so long to like her! Tell her so if you see her before I do." + +"I hear they are expected very soon," said Pierre. + +Princess Mary told Pierre of her plan to become intimate with her future +sister-in-law as soon as the Rostovs arrived and to try to accustom the +old prince to her. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Boris had not succeeded in making a wealthy match in Petersburg, so with +the same object in view he came to Moscow. There he wavered between the +two richest heiresses, Julie and Princess Mary. Though Princess Mary +despite her plainness seemed to him more attractive than Julie, he, +without knowing why, felt awkward about paying court to her. When they +had last met on the old prince's name day, she had answered at random +all his attempts to talk sentimentally, evidently not listening to what +he was saying. + +Julie on the contrary accepted his attentions readily, though in a +manner peculiar to herself. + +She was twenty-seven. After the death of her brothers she had become +very wealthy. She was by now decidedly plain, but thought herself not +merely as good-looking as before but even far more attractive. She was +confirmed in this delusion by the fact that she had become a very +wealthy heiress and also by the fact that the older she grew the less +dangerous she became to men, and the more freely they could associate +with her and avail themselves of her suppers, soirees, and the animated +company that assembled at her house, without incurring any obligation. A +man who would have been afraid ten years before of going every day to +the house when there was a girl of seventeen there, for fear of +compromising her and committing himself, would now go boldly every day +and treat her not as a marriageable girl but as a sexless acquaintance. + +That winter the Karagins' house was the most agreeable and hospitable in +Moscow. In addition to the formal evening and dinner parties, a large +company, chiefly of men, gathered there every day, supping at midnight +and staying till three in the morning. Julie never missed a ball, a +promenade, or a play. Her dresses were always of the latest fashion. But +in spite of that she seemed to be disillusioned about everything and +told everyone that she did not believe either in friendship or in love, +or any of the joys of life, and expected peace only "yonder." She +adopted the tone of one who has suffered a great disappointment, like a +girl who has either lost the man she loved or been cruelly deceived by +him. Though nothing of the kind had happened to her she was regarded in +that light, and had even herself come to believe that she had suffered +much in life. This melancholy, which did not prevent her amusing +herself, did not hinder the young people who came to her house from +passing the time pleasantly. Every visitor who came to the house paid +his tribute to the melancholy mood of the hostess, and then amused +himself with society gossip, dancing, intellectual games, and bouts +rimes, which were in vogue at the Karagins'. Only a few of these young +men, among them Boris, entered more deeply into Julie's melancholy, and +with these she had prolonged conversations in private on the vanity of +all worldly things, and to them she showed her albums filled with +mournful sketches, maxims, and verses. + +To Boris, Julie was particularly gracious: she regretted his early +disillusionment with life, offered him such consolation of friendship as +she who had herself suffered so much could render, and showed him her +album. Boris sketched two trees in the album and wrote: "Rustic trees, +your dark branches shed gloom and melancholy upon me." + +On another page he drew a tomb, and wrote: + + +La mort est secourable et la mort est tranquille. Ah! contre les +douleurs il n'y a pas d'autre asile. * + + +* Death gives relief and death is peaceful. + +Ah! from suffering there is no other refuge. + +Julie said this was charming + +"There is something so enchanting in the smile of melancholy," she said +to Boris, repeating word for word a passage she had copied from a book. +"It is a ray of light in the darkness, a shade between sadness and +despair, showing the possibility of consolation." + +In reply Boris wrote these lines: + + +Aliment de poison d'une ame trop sensible, Toi, sans qui le bonheur me +serait impossible, Tendre melancholie, ah, viens me consoler, Viens +calmer les tourments de ma sombre retraite, Et mele une douceur secrete +A ces pleurs que je sens couler. * + + +*Poisonous nourishment of a too sensitive soul, Thou, without whom +happiness would for me be impossible, Tender melancholy, ah, come to +console me, Come to calm the torments of my gloomy retreat, And mingle a +secret sweetness With these tears that I feel to be flowing. + +For Boris, Julie played most doleful nocturnes on her harp. Boris read +'Poor Liza' aloud to her, and more than once interrupted the reading +because of the emotions that choked him. Meeting at large gatherings +Julie and Boris looked on one another as the only souls who understood +one another in a world of indifferent people. + +Anna Mikhaylovna, who often visited the Karagins, while playing cards +with the mother made careful inquiries as to Julie's dowry (she was to +have two estates in Penza and the Nizhegorod forests). Anna Mikhaylovna +regarded the refined sadness that united her son to the wealthy Julie +with emotion, and resignation to the Divine will. + +"You are always charming and melancholy, my dear Julie," she said to the +daughter. "Boris says his soul finds repose at your house. He has +suffered so many disappointments and is so sensitive," said she to the +mother. "Ah, my dear, I can't tell you how fond I have grown of Julie +latterly," she said to her son. "But who could help loving her? She is +an angelic being! Ah, Boris, Boris!"--she paused. "And how I pity her +mother," she went on; "today she showed me her accounts and letters from +Penza (they have enormous estates there), and she, poor thing, has no +one to help her, and they do cheat her so!" + +Boris smiled almost imperceptibly while listening to his mother. He +laughed blandly at her naive diplomacy but listened to what she had to +say, and sometimes questioned her carefully about the Penza and +Nizhegorod estates. + +Julie had long been expecting a proposal from her melancholy adorer and +was ready to accept it; but some secret feeling of repulsion for her, +for her passionate desire to get married, for her artificiality, and a +feeling of horror at renouncing the possibility of real love still +restrained Boris. His leave was expiring. He spent every day and whole +days at the Karagins', and every day on thinking the matter over told +himself that he would propose tomorrow. But in Julie's presence, looking +at her red face and chin (nearly always powdered), her moist eyes, and +her expression of continual readiness to pass at once from melancholy to +an unnatural rapture of married bliss, Boris could not utter the +decisive words, though in imagination he had long regarded himself as +the possessor of those Penza and Nizhegorod estates and had apportioned +the use of the income from them. Julie saw Boris' indecision, and +sometimes the thought occurred to her that she was repulsive to him, but +her feminine self-deception immediately supplied her with consolation, +and she told herself that he was only shy from love. Her melancholy, +however, began to turn to irritability, and not long before Boris' +departure she formed a definite plan of action. Just as Boris' leave of +absence was expiring, Anatole Kuragin made his appearance in Moscow, and +of course in the Karagins' drawing room, and Julie, suddenly abandoning +her melancholy, became cheerful and very attentive to Kuragin. + +"My dear," said Anna Mikhaylovna to her son, "I know from a reliable +source that Prince Vasili has sent his son to Moscow to get him married +to Julie. I am so fond of Julie that I should be sorry for her. What do +you think of it, my dear?" + +The idea of being made a fool of and of having thrown away that whole +month of arduous melancholy service to Julie, and of seeing all the +revenue from the Penza estates which he had already mentally apportioned +and put to proper use fall into the hands of another, and especially +into the hands of that idiot Anatole, pained Boris. He drove to the +Karagins' with the firm intention of proposing. Julie met him in a gay, +careless manner, spoke casually of how she had enjoyed yesterday's ball, +and asked when he was leaving. Though Boris had come intentionally to +speak of his love and therefore meant to be tender, he began speaking +irritably of feminine inconstancy, of how easily women can turn from +sadness to joy, and how their moods depend solely on who happens to be +paying court to them. Julie was offended and replied that it was true +that a woman needs variety, and the same thing over and over again would +weary anyone. + +"Then I should advise you..." Boris began, wishing to sting her; but at +that instant the galling thought occurred to him that he might have to +leave Moscow without having accomplished his aim, and have vainly wasted +his efforts--which was a thing he never allowed to happen. + +He checked himself in the middle of the sentence, lowered his eyes to +avoid seeing her unpleasantly irritated and irresolute face, and said: + +"I did not come here at all to quarrel with you. On the contrary..." + +He glanced at her to make sure that he might go on. Her irritability had +suddenly quite vanished, and her anxious, imploring eyes were fixed on +him with greedy expectation. "I can always arrange so as not to see her +often," thought Boris. "The affair has been begun and must be finished!" +He blushed hotly, raised his eyes to hers, and said: + +"You know my feelings for you!" + +There was no need to say more: Julie's face shone with triumph and self- +satisfaction; but she forced Boris to say all that is said on such +occasions--that he loved her and had never loved any other woman more +than her. She knew that for the Penza estates and Nizhegorod forests she +could demand this, and she received what she demanded. + +The affianced couple, no longer alluding to trees that shed gloom and +melancholy upon them, planned the arrangements of a splendid house in +Petersburg, paid calls, and prepared everything for a brilliant wedding. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +At the end of January old Count Rostov went to Moscow with Natasha and +Sonya. The countess was still unwell and unable to travel but it was +impossible to wait for her recovery. Prince Andrew was expected in +Moscow any day, the trousseau had to be ordered and the estate near +Moscow had to be sold, besides which the opportunity of presenting his +future daughter-in-law to old Prince Bolkonski while he was in Moscow +could not be missed. The Rostovs' Moscow house had not been heated that +winter and, as they had come only for a short time and the countess was +not with them, the count decided to stay with Marya Dmitrievna +Akhrosimova, who had long been pressing her hospitality on them. + +Late one evening the Rostovs' four sleighs drove into Marya Dmitrievna's +courtyard in the old Konyusheny street. Marya Dmitrievna lived alone. +She had already married off her daughter, and her sons were all in the +service. + +She held herself as erect, told everyone her opinion as candidly, +loudly, and bluntly as ever, and her whole bearing seemed a reproach to +others for any weakness, passion, or temptation--the possibility of +which she did not admit. From early in the morning, wearing a dressing +jacket, she attended to her household affairs, and then she drove out: +on holy days to church and after the service to jails and prisons on +affairs of which she never spoke to anyone. On ordinary days, after +dressing, she received petitioners of various classes, of whom there +were always some. Then she had dinner, a substantial and appetizing meal +at which there were always three or four guests; after dinner she played +a game of boston, and at night she had the newspapers or a new book read +to her while she knitted. She rarely made an exception and went out to +pay visits, and then only to the most important persons in the town. + +She had not yet gone to bed when the Rostovs arrived and the pulley of +the hall door squeaked from the cold as it let in the Rostovs and their +servants. Marya Dmitrievna, with her spectacles hanging down on her nose +and her head flung back, stood in the hall doorway looking with a stern, +grim face at the new arrivals. One might have thought she was angry with +the travelers and would immediately turn them out, had she not at the +same time been giving careful instructions to the servants for the +accommodation of the visitors and their belongings. + +"The count's things? Bring them here," she said, pointing to the +portmanteaus and not greeting anyone. "The young ladies'? There to the +left. Now what are you dawdling for?" she cried to the maids. "Get the +samovar ready!... You've grown plumper and prettier," she remarked, +drawing Natasha (whose cheeks were glowing from the cold) to her by the +hood. "Foo! You are cold! Now take off your things, quick!" she shouted +to the count who was going to kiss her hand. "You're half frozen, I'm +sure! Bring some rum for tea!... Bonjour, Sonya dear!" she added, +turning to Sonya and indicating by this French greeting her slightly +contemptuous though affectionate attitude toward her. + +When they came in to tea, having taken off their outdoor things and +tidied themselves up after their journey, Marya Dmitrievna kissed them +all in due order. + +"I'm heartily glad you have come and are staying with me. It was high +time," she said, giving Natasha a significant look. "The old man is here +and his son's expected any day. You'll have to make his acquaintance. +But we'll speak of that later on," she added, glancing at Sonya with a +look that showed she did not want to speak of it in her presence. "Now +listen," she said to the count. "What do you want tomorrow? Whom will +you send for? Shinshin?" she crooked one of her fingers. "The sniveling +Anna Mikhaylovna? That's two. She's here with her son. The son is +getting married! Then Bezukhov, eh? He is here too, with his wife. He +ran away from her and she came galloping after him. He dined with me on +Wednesday. As for them"--and she pointed to the girls--"tomorrow I'll +take them first to the Iberian shrine of the Mother of God, and then +we'll drive to the Super-Rogue's. I suppose you'll have everything new. +Don't judge by me: sleeves nowadays are this size! The other day young +Princess Irina Vasilevna came to see me; she was an awful sight--looked +as if she had put two barrels on her arms. You know not a day passes now +without some new fashion.... And what have you to do yourself?" she +asked the count sternly. + +"One thing has come on top of another: her rags to buy, and now a +purchaser has turned up for the Moscow estate and for the house. If you +will be so kind, I'll fix a time and go down to the estate just for a +day, and leave my lassies with you." + +"All right. All right. They'll be safe with me, as safe as in Chancery! +I'll take them where they must go, scold them a bit, and pet them a +bit," said Marya Dmitrievna, touching her goddaughter and favorite, +Natasha, on the cheek with her large hand. + +Next morning Marya Dmitrievna took the young ladies to the Iberian +shrine of the Mother of God and to Madame Suppert-Roguet, who was so +afraid of Marya Dmitrievna that she always let her have costumes at a +loss merely to get rid of her. Marya Dmitrievna ordered almost the whole +trousseau. When they got home she turned everybody out of the room +except Natasha, and then called her pet to her armchair. + +"Well, now we'll talk. I congratulate you on your betrothed. You've +hooked a fine fellow! I am glad for your sake and I've known him since +he was so high." She held her hand a couple of feet from the ground. +Natasha blushed happily. "I like him and all his family. Now listen! You +know that old Prince Nicholas much dislikes his son's marrying. The old +fellow's crotchety! Of course Prince Andrew is not a child and can shift +without him, but it's not nice to enter a family against a father's +will. One wants to do it peacefully and lovingly. You're a clever girl +and you'll know how to manage. Be kind, and use your wits. Then all will +be well." + +Natasha remained silent, from shyness Marya Dmitrievna supposed, but +really because she disliked anyone interfering in what touched her love +of Prince Andrew, which seemed to her so apart from all human affairs +that no one could understand it. She loved and knew Prince Andrew, he +loved her only, and was to come one of these days and take her. She +wanted nothing more. + +"You see I have known him a long time and am also fond of Mary, your +future sister-in-law. 'Husbands' sisters bring up blisters,' but this +one wouldn't hurt a fly. She has asked me to bring you two together. +Tomorrow you'll go with your father to see her. Be very nice and +affectionate to her: you're younger than she. When he comes, he'll find +you already know his sister and father and are liked by them. Am I right +or not? Won't that be best?" + +"Yes, it will," Natasha answered reluctantly. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Next day, by Marya Dmitrievna's advice, Count Rostov took Natasha to +call on Prince Nicholas Bolkonski. The count did not set out cheerfully +on this visit, at heart he felt afraid. He well remembered the last +interview he had had with the old prince at the time of the enrollment, +when in reply to an invitation to dinner he had had to listen to an +angry reprimand for not having provided his full quota of men. Natasha, +on the other hand, having put on her best gown, was in the highest +spirits. "They can't help liking me," she thought. "Everybody always has +liked me, and I am so willing to do anything they wish, so ready to be +fond of him--for being his father--and of her--for being his sister-- +that there is no reason for them not to like me..." + +They drove up to the gloomy old house on the Vozdvizhenka and entered +the vestibule. + +"Well, the Lord have mercy on us!" said the count, half in jest, half in +earnest; but Natasha noticed that her father was flurried on entering +the anteroom and inquired timidly and softly whether the prince and +princess were at home. + +When they had been announced a perturbation was noticeable among the +servants. The footman who had gone to announce them was stopped by +another in the large hall and they whispered to one another. Then a +maidservant ran into the hall and hurriedly said something, mentioning +the princess. At last an old, cross looking footman came and announced +to the Rostovs that the prince was not receiving, but that the princess +begged them to walk up. The first person who came to meet the visitors +was Mademoiselle Bourienne. She greeted the father and daughter with +special politeness and showed them to the princess' room. The princess, +looking excited and nervous, her face flushed in patches, ran in to meet +the visitors, treading heavily, and vainly trying to appear cordial and +at ease. From the first glance Princess Mary did not like Natasha. She +thought her too fashionably dressed, frivolously gay and vain. She did +not at all realize that before having seen her future sister-in-law she +was prejudiced against her by involuntary envy of her beauty, youth, and +happiness, as well as by jealousy of her brother's love for her. Apart +from this insuperable antipathy to her, Princess Mary was agitated just +then because on the Rostovs' being announced, the old prince had shouted +that he did not wish to see them, that Princess Mary might do so if she +chose, but they were not to be admitted to him. She had decided to +receive them, but feared lest the prince might at any moment indulge in +some freak, as he seemed much upset by the Rostovs' visit. + +"There, my dear princess, I've brought you my songstress," said the +count, bowing and looking round uneasily as if afraid the old prince +might appear. "I am so glad you should get to know one another... very +sorry the prince is still ailing," and after a few more commonplace +remarks he rose. "If you'll allow me to leave my Natasha in your hands +for a quarter of an hour, Princess, I'll drive round to see Anna +Semenovna, it's quite near in the Dogs' Square, and then I'll come back +for her." + +The count had devised this diplomatic ruse (as he afterwards told his +daughter) to give the future sisters-in-law an opportunity to talk to +one another freely, but another motive was to avoid the danger of +encountering the old prince, of whom he was afraid. He did not mention +this to his daughter, but Natasha noticed her father's nervousness and +anxiety and felt mortified by it. She blushed for him, grew still +angrier at having blushed, and looked at the princess with a bold and +defiant expression which said that she was not afraid of anybody. The +princess told the count that she would be delighted, and only begged him +to stay longer at Anna Semenovna's, and he departed. + +Despite the uneasy glances thrown at her by Princess Mary--who wished to +have a tête-à-tête with Natasha--Mademoiselle Bourienne remained in the +room and persistently talked about Moscow amusements and theaters. +Natasha felt offended by the hesitation she had noticed in the anteroom, +by her father's nervousness, and by the unnatural manner of the princess +who--she thought--was making a favor of receiving her, and so everything +displeased her. She did not like Princess Mary, whom she thought very +plain, affected, and dry. Natasha suddenly shrank into herself and +involuntarily assumed an offhand air which alienated Princess Mary still +more. After five minutes of irksome, constrained conversation, they +heard the sound of slippered feet rapidly approaching. Princess Mary +looked frightened. + +The door opened and the old prince, in a dressing gown and a white +nightcap, came in. + +"Ah, madam!" he began. "Madam, Countess... Countess Rostova, if I am not +mistaken... I beg you to excuse me, to excuse me... I did not know, +madam. God is my witness, I did not know you had honored us with a +visit, and I came in such a costume only to see my daughter. I beg you +to excuse me... God is my witness, I didn't know-" he repeated, +stressing the word "God" so unnaturally and so unpleasantly that +Princess Mary stood with downcast eyes not daring to look either at her +father or at Natasha. + +Nor did the latter, having risen and curtsied, know what to do. +Mademoiselle Bourienne alone smiled agreeably. + +"I beg you to excuse me, excuse me! God is my witness, I did not know," +muttered the old man, and after looking Natasha over from head to foot +he went out. + +Mademoiselle Bourienne was the first to recover herself after this +apparition and began speaking about the prince's indisposition. Natasha +and Princess Mary looked at one another in silence, and the longer they +did so without saying what they wanted to say, the greater grew their +antipathy to one another. + +When the count returned, Natasha was impolitely pleased and hastened to +get away: at that moment she hated the stiff, elderly princess, who +could place her in such an embarrassing position and had spent half an +hour with her without once mentioning Prince Andrew. "I couldn't begin +talking about him in the presence of that Frenchwoman," thought Natasha. +The same thought was meanwhile tormenting Princess Mary. She knew what +she ought to have said to Natasha, but she had been unable to say it +because Mademoiselle Bourienne was in the way, and because, without +knowing why, she felt it very difficult to speak of the marriage. When +the count was already leaving the room, Princess Mary went up hurriedly +to Natasha, took her by the hand, and said with a deep sigh: + +"Wait, I must..." + +Natasha glanced at her ironically without knowing why. + +"Dear Natalie," said Princess Mary, "I want you to know that I am glad +my brother has found happiness...." + +She paused, feeling that she was not telling the truth. Natasha noticed +this and guessed its reason. + +"I think, Princess, it is not convenient to speak of that now," she said +with external dignity and coldness, though she felt the tears choking +her. + +"What have I said and what have I done?" thought she, as soon as she was +out of the room. + +They waited a long time for Natasha to come to dinner that day. She sat +in her room crying like a child, blowing her nose and sobbing. Sonya +stood beside her, kissing her hair. + +"Natasha, what is it about?" she asked. "What do they matter to you? It +will all pass, Natasha." + +"But if you only knew how offensive it was... as if I..." + +"Don't talk about it, Natasha. It wasn't your fault so why should you +mind? Kiss me," said Sonya. + +Natasha raised her head and, kissing her friend on the lips, pressed her +wet face against her. + +"I can't tell you, I don't know. No one's to blame," said Natasha--"It's +my fault. But it all hurts terribly. Oh, why doesn't he come?..." + +She came in to dinner with red eyes. Marya Dmitrievna, who knew how the +prince had received the Rostovs, pretended not to notice how upset +Natasha was and jested resolutely and loudly at table with the count and +the other guests. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +That evening the Rostovs went to the Opera, for which Marya Dmitrievna +had taken a box. + +Natasha did not want to go, but could not refuse Marya Dmitrievna's kind +offer which was intended expressly for her. When she came ready dressed +into the ballroom to await her father, and looking in the large mirror +there saw that she was pretty, very pretty, she felt even more sad, but +it was a sweet, tender sadness. + +"O God, if he were here now I would not behave as I did then, but +differently. I would not be silly and afraid of things, I would simply +embrace him, cling to him, and make him look at me with those searching +inquiring eyes with which he has so often looked at me, and then I would +make him laugh as he used to laugh. And his eyes--how I see those eyes!" +thought Natasha. "And what do his father and sister matter to me? I love +him alone, him, him, with that face and those eyes, with his smile, +manly and yet childlike.... No, I had better not think of him; not think +of him but forget him, quite forget him for the present. I can't bear +this waiting and I shall cry in a minute!" and she turned away from the +glass, making an effort not to cry. "And how can Sonya love Nicholas so +calmly and quietly and wait so long and so patiently?" thought she, +looking at Sonya, who also came in quite ready, with a fan in her hand. +"No, she's altogether different. I can't!" + +Natasha at that moment felt so softened and tender that it was not +enough for her to love and know she was beloved, she wanted now, at +once, to embrace the man she loved, to speak and hear from him words of +love such as filled her heart. While she sat in the carriage beside her +father, pensively watching the lights of the street lamps flickering on +the frozen window, she felt still sadder and more in love, and forgot +where she was going and with whom. Having fallen into the line of +carriages, the Rostovs' carriage drove up to the theater, its wheels +squeaking over the snow. Natasha and Sonya, holding up their dresses, +jumped out quickly. The count got out helped by the footmen, and, +passing among men and women who were entering and the program sellers, +they all three went along the corridor to the first row of boxes. +Through the closed doors the music was already audible. + +"Natasha, your hair!..." whispered Sonya. + +An attendant deferentially and quickly slipped before the ladies and +opened the door of their box. The music sounded louder and through the +door rows of brightly lit boxes in which ladies sat with bare arms and +shoulders, and noisy stalls brilliant with uniforms, glittered before +their eyes. A lady entering the next box shot a glance of feminine envy +at Natasha. The curtain had not yet risen and the overture was being +played. Natasha, smoothing her gown, went in with Sonya and sat down, +scanning the brilliant tiers of boxes opposite. A sensation she had not +experienced for a long time--that of hundreds of eyes looking at her +bare arms and neck--suddenly affected her both agreeably and +disagreeably and called up a whole crowd of memories, desires and +emotions associated with that feeling. + +The two remarkably pretty girls, Natasha and Sonya, with Count Rostov +who had not been seen in Moscow for a long time, attracted general +attention. Moreover, everybody knew vaguely of Natasha's engagement to +Prince Andrew, and knew that the Rostovs had lived in the country ever +since, and all looked with curiosity at a fiancee who was making one of +the best matches in Russia. + +Natasha's looks, as everyone told her, had improved in the country, and +that evening thanks to her agitation she was particularly pretty. She +struck those who saw her by her fullness of life and beauty, combined +with her indifference to everything about her. Her black eyes looked at +the crowd without seeking anyone, and her delicate arm, bare to above +the elbow, lay on the velvet edge of the box, while, evidently +unconsciously, she opened and closed her hand in time to the music, +crumpling her program. "Look, there's Alenina," said Sonya, "with her +mother, isn't it?" + +"Dear me, Michael Kirilovich has grown still stouter!" remarked the +count. + +"Look at our Anna Mikhaylovna--what a headdress she has on!" + +"The Karagins, Julie--and Boris with them. One can see at once that +they're engaged...." + +"Drubetskoy has proposed?" + +"Oh yes, I heard it today," said Shinshin, coming into the Rostovs' box. + +Natasha looked in the direction in which her father's eyes were turned +and saw Julie sitting beside her mother with a happy look on her face +and a string of pearls round her thick red neck--which Natasha knew was +covered with powder. Behind them, wearing a smile and leaning over with +an ear to Julie's mouth, was Boris' handsome smoothly brushed head. He +looked at the Rostovs from under his brows and said something, smiling, +to his betrothed. + +"They are talking about us, about me and him!" thought Natasha. "And he +no doubt is calming her jealousy of me. They needn't trouble themselves! +If only they knew how little I am concerned about any of them." + +Behind them sat Anna Mikhaylovna wearing a green headdress and with a +happy look of resignation to the will of God on her face. Their box was +pervaded by that atmosphere of an affianced couple which Natasha knew so +well and liked so much. She turned away and suddenly remembered all that +had been so humiliating in her morning's visit. + +"What right has he not to wish to receive me into his family? Oh, better +not think of it--not till he comes back!" she told herself, and began +looking at the faces, some strange and some familiar, in the stalls. In +the front, in the very center, leaning back against the orchestra rail, +stood Dolokhov in a Persian dress, his curly hair brushed up into a huge +shock. He stood in full view of the audience, well aware that he was +attracting everyone's attention, yet as much at ease as though he were +in his own room. Around him thronged Moscow's most brilliant young men, +whom he evidently dominated. + +The count, laughing, nudged the blushing Sonya and pointed to her former +adorer. + +"Do you recognize him?" said he. "And where has he sprung from?" he +asked, turning to Shinshin. "Didn't he vanish somewhere?" + +"He did," replied Shinshin. "He was in the Caucasus and ran away from +there. They say he has been acting as minister to some ruling prince in +Persia, where he killed the Shah's brother. Now all the Moscow ladies +are mad about him! It's 'Dolokhov the Persian' that does it! We never +hear a word but Dolokhov is mentioned. They swear by him, they offer him +to you as they would a dish of choice sterlet. Dolokhov and Anatole +Kuragin have turned all our ladies' heads." + +A tall, beautiful woman with a mass of plaited hair and much exposed +plump white shoulders and neck, round which she wore a double string of +large pearls, entered the adjoining box rustling her heavy silk dress +and took a long time settling into her place. + +Natasha involuntarily gazed at that neck, those shoulders, and pearls +and coiffure, and admired the beauty of the shoulders and the pearls. +While Natasha was fixing her gaze on her for the second time the lady +looked round and, meeting the count's eyes, nodded to him and smiled. +She was the Countess Bezukhova, Pierre's wife, and the count, who knew +everyone in society, leaned over and spoke to her. + +"Have you been here long, Countess?" he inquired. "I'll call, I'll call +to kiss your hand. I'm here on business and have brought my girls with +me. They say Semenova acts marvelously. Count Pierre never used to +forget us. Is he here?" + +"Yes, he meant to look in," answered Helene, and glanced attentively at +Natasha. + +Count Rostov resumed his seat. + +"Handsome, isn't she?" he whispered to Natasha. + +"Wonderful!" answered Natasha. "She's a woman one could easily fall in +love with." + +Just then the last chords of the overture were heard and the conductor +tapped with his stick. Some latecomers took their seats in the stalls, +and the curtain rose. + +As soon as it rose everyone in the boxes and stalls became silent, and +all the men, old and young, in uniform and evening dress, and all the +women with gems on their bare flesh, turned their whole attention with +eager curiosity to the stage. Natasha too began to look at it. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The floor of the stage consisted of smooth boards, at the sides was some +painted cardboard representing trees, and at the back was a cloth +stretched over boards. In the center of the stage sat some girls in red +bodices and white skirts. One very fat girl in a white silk dress sat +apart on a low bench, to the back of which a piece of green cardboard +was glued. They all sang something. When they had finished their song +the girl in white went up to the prompter's box and a man with tight +silk trousers over his stout legs, and holding a plume and a dagger, +went up to her and began singing, waving his arms about. + +First the man in the tight trousers sang alone, then she sang, then they +both paused while the orchestra played and the man fingered the hand of +the girl in white, obviously awaiting the beat to start singing with +her. They sang together and everyone in the theater began clapping and +shouting, while the man and woman on the stage--who represented lovers-- +began smiling, spreading out their arms, and bowing. + +After her life in the country, and in her present serious mood, all this +seemed grotesque and amazing to Natasha. She could not follow the opera +nor even listen to the music; she saw only the painted cardboard and the +queerly dressed men and women who moved, spoke, and sang so strangely in +that brilliant light. She knew what it was all meant to represent, but +it was so pretentiously false and unnatural that she first felt ashamed +for the actors and then amused at them. She looked at the faces of the +audience, seeking in them the same sense of ridicule and perplexity she +herself experienced, but they all seemed attentive to what was happening +on the stage, and expressed delight which to Natasha seemed feigned. "I +suppose it has to be like this!" she thought. She kept looking round in +turn at the rows of pomaded heads in the stalls and then at the seminude +women in the boxes, especially at Helene in the next box, who-- +apparently quite unclothed--sat with a quiet tranquil smile, not taking +her eyes off the stage. And feeling the bright light that flooded the +whole place and the warm air heated by the crowd, Natasha little by +little began to pass into a state of intoxication she had not +experienced for a long while. She did not realize who and where she was, +nor what was going on before her. As she looked and thought, the +strangest fancies unexpectedly and disconnectedly passed through her +mind: the idea occurred to her of jumping onto the edge of the box and +singing the air the actress was singing, then she wished to touch with +her fan an old gentleman sitting not far from her, then to lean over to +Helene and tickle her. + +At a moment when all was quiet before the commencement of a song, a door +leading to the stalls on the side nearest the Rostovs' box creaked, and +the steps of a belated arrival were heard. "There's Kuragin!" whispered +Shinshin. Countess Bezukhova turned smiling to the newcomer, and +Natasha, following the direction of that look, saw an exceptionally +handsome adjutant approaching their box with a self-assured yet +courteous bearing. This was Anatole Kuragin whom she had seen and +noticed long ago at the ball in Petersburg. He was now in an adjutant's +uniform with one epaulet and a shoulder knot. He moved with a restrained +swagger which would have been ridiculous had he not been so good-looking +and had his handsome face not worn such an expression of good-humored +complacency and gaiety. Though the performance was proceeding, he walked +deliberately down the carpeted gangway, his sword and spurs slightly +jingling and his handsome perfumed head held high. Having looked at +Natasha he approached his sister, laid his well gloved hand on the edge +of her box, nodded to her, and leaning forward asked a question, with a +motion toward Natasha. + +"Mais charmante!" said he, evidently referring to Natasha, who did not +exactly hear his words but understood them from the movement of his +lips. Then he took his place in the first row of the stalls and sat down +beside Dolokhov, nudging with his elbow in a friendly and offhand way +that Dolokhov whom others treated so fawningly. He winked at him gaily, +smiled, and rested his foot against the orchestra screen. + +"How like the brother is to the sister," remarked the count. "And how +handsome they both are!" + +Shinshin, lowering his voice, began to tell the count of some intrigue +of Kuragin's in Moscow, and Natasha tried to overhear it just because he +had said she was "charmante." + +The first act was over. In the stalls everyone began moving about, going +out and coming in. + +Boris came to the Rostovs' box, received their congratulations very +simply, and raising his eyebrows with an absent-minded smile conveyed to +Natasha and Sonya his fiancee's invitation to her wedding, and went +away. Natasha with a gay, coquettish smile talked to him, and +congratulated on his approaching wedding that same Boris with whom she +had formerly been in love. In the state of intoxication she was in, +everything seemed simple and natural. + +The scantily clad Helene smiled at everyone in the same way, and Natasha +gave Boris a similar smile. + +Helene's box was filled and surrounded from the stalls by the most +distinguished and intellectual men, who seemed to vie with one another +in their wish to let everyone see that they knew her. + +During the whole of that entr'acte Kuragin stood with Dolokhov in front +of the orchestra partition, looking at the Rostovs' box. Natasha knew he +was talking about her and this afforded her pleasure. She even turned so +that he should see her profile in what she thought was its most becoming +aspect. Before the beginning of the second act Pierre appeared in the +stalls. The Rostovs had not seen him since their arrival. His face +looked sad, and he had grown still stouter since Natasha last saw him. +He passed up to the front rows, not noticing anyone. Anatole went up to +him and began speaking to him, looking at and indicating the Rostovs' +box. On seeing Natasha Pierre grew animated and, hastily passing between +the rows, came toward their box. When he got there he leaned on his +elbows and, smiling, talked to her for a long time. While conversing +with Pierre, Natasha heard a man's voice in Countess Bezukhova's box and +something told her it was Kuragin. She turned and their eyes met. Almost +smiling, he gazed straight into her eyes with such an enraptured +caressing look that it seemed strange to be so near him, to look at him +like that, to be so sure he admired her, and not to be acquainted with +him. + +In the second act there was scenery representing tombstones, there was a +round hole in the canvas to represent the moon, shades were raised over +the footlights, and from horns and contrabass came deep notes while many +people appeared from right and left wearing black cloaks and holding +things like daggers in their hands. They began waving their arms. Then +some other people ran in and began dragging away the maiden who had been +in white and was now in light blue. They did not drag her away at once, +but sang with her for a long time and then at last dragged her off, and +behind the scenes something metallic was struck three times and everyone +knelt down and sang a prayer. All these things were repeatedly +interrupted by the enthusiastic shouts of the audience. + +During this act every time Natasha looked toward the stalls she saw +Anatole Kuragin with an arm thrown across the back of his chair, staring +at her. She was pleased to see that he was captivated by her and it did +not occur to her that there was anything wrong in it. + +When the second act was over Countess Bezukhova rose, turned to the +Rostovs' box--her whole bosom completely exposed--beckoned the old count +with a gloved finger, and paying no attention to those who had entered +her box began talking to him with an amiable smile. + +"Do make me acquainted with your charming daughters," said she. "The +whole town is singing their praises and I don't even know them!" + +Natasha rose and curtsied to the splendid countess. She was so pleased +by praise from this brilliant beauty that she blushed with pleasure. + +"I want to become a Moscovite too, now," said Helene. "How is it you're +not ashamed to bury such pearls in the country?" + +Countess Bezukhova quite deserved her reputation of being a fascinating +woman. She could say what she did not think--especially what was +flattering--quite simply and naturally. + +"Dear count, you must let me look after your daughters! Though I am not +staying here long this time--nor are you--I will try to amuse them. I +have already heard much of you in Petersburg and wanted to get to know +you," said she to Natasha with her stereotyped and lovely smile. "I had +heard about you from my page, Drubetskoy. Have you heard he is getting +married? And also from my husband's friend Bolkonski, Prince Andrew +Bolkonski," she went on with special emphasis, implying that she knew of +his relation to Natasha. To get better acquainted she asked that one of +the young ladies should come into her box for the rest of the +performance, and Natasha moved over to it. + +The scene of the third act represented a palace in which many candles +were burning and pictures of knights with short beards hung on the +walls. In the middle stood what were probably a king and a queen. The +king waved his right arm and, evidently nervous, sang something badly +and sat down on a crimson throne. The maiden who had been first in white +and then in light blue, now wore only a smock, and stood beside the +throne with her hair down. She sang something mournfully, addressing the +queen, but the king waved his arm severely, and men and women with bare +legs came in from both sides and began dancing all together. Then the +violins played very shrilly and merrily and one of the women with thick +bare legs and thin arms, separating from the others, went behind the +wings, adjusted her bodice, returned to the middle of the stage, and +began jumping and striking one foot rapidly against the other. In the +stalls everyone clapped and shouted "bravo!" Then one of the men went +into a corner of the stage. The cymbals and horns in the orchestra +struck up more loudly, and this man with bare legs jumped very high and +waved his feet about very rapidly. (He was Duport, who received sixty +thousand rubles a year for this art.) Everybody in the stalls, boxes, +and galleries began clapping and shouting with all their might, and the +man stopped and began smiling and bowing to all sides. Then other men +and women danced with bare legs. Then the king again shouted to the +sound of music, and they all began singing. But suddenly a storm came +on, chromatic scales and diminished sevenths were heard in the +orchestra, everyone ran off, again dragging one of their number away, +and the curtain dropped. Once more there was a terrible noise and +clatter among the audience, and with rapturous faces everyone began +shouting: "Duport! Duport! Duport!" Natasha no longer thought this +strange. She looked about with pleasure, smiling joyfully. + +"Isn't Duport delightful?" Helene asked her. + +"Oh, yes," replied Natasha. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +During the entr'acte a whiff of cold air came into Helene's box, the +door opened, and Anatole entered, stooping and trying not to brush +against anyone. + +"Let me introduce my brother to you," said Helene, her eyes shifting +uneasily from Natasha to Anatole. + +Natasha turned her pretty little head toward the elegant young officer +and smiled at him over her bare shoulder. Anatole, who was as handsome +at close quarters as at a distance, sat down beside her and told her he +had long wished to have this happiness--ever since the Naryshkins' ball +in fact, at which he had had the well-remembered pleasure of seeing her. +Kuragin was much more sensible and simple with women than among men. He +talked boldly and naturally, and Natasha was strangely and agreeably +struck by the fact that there was nothing formidable in this man about +whom there was so much talk, but that on the contrary his smile was most +naive, cheerful, and good-natured. + +Kuragin asked her opinion of the performance and told her how at a +previous performance Semenova had fallen down on the stage. + +"And do you know, Countess," he said, suddenly addressing her as an old, +familiar acquaintance, "we are getting up a costume tournament; you +ought to take part in it! It will be great fun. We shall all meet at the +Karagins'! Please come! No! Really, eh?" said he. + +While saying this he never removed his smiling eyes from her face, her +neck, and her bare arms. Natasha knew for certain that he was enraptured +by her. This pleased her, yet his presence made her feel constrained and +oppressed. When she was not looking at him she felt that he was looking +at her shoulders, and she involuntarily caught his eye so that he should +look into hers rather than this. But looking into his eyes she was +frightened, realizing that there was not that barrier of modesty she had +always felt between herself and other men. She did not know how it was +that within five minutes she had come to feel herself terribly near to +this man. When she turned away she feared he might seize her from behind +by her bare arm and kiss her on the neck. They spoke of most ordinary +things, yet she felt that they were closer to one another than she had +ever been to any man. Natasha kept turning to Helene and to her father, +as if asking what it all meant, but Helene was engaged in conversation +with a general and did not answer her look, and her father's eyes said +nothing but what they always said: "Having a good time? Well, I'm glad +of it!" + +During one of these moments of awkward silence when Anatole's prominent +eyes were gazing calmly and fixedly at her, Natasha, to break the +silence, asked him how he liked Moscow. She asked the question and +blushed. She felt all the time that by talking to him she was doing +something improper. Anatole smiled as though to encourage her. + +"At first I did not like it much, because what makes a town pleasant ce +sont les jolies femmes, * isn't that so? But now I like it very much +indeed," he said, looking at her significantly. "You'll come to the +costume tournament, Countess? Do come!" and putting out his hand to her +bouquet and dropping his voice, he added, "You will be the prettiest +there. Do come, dear countess, and give me this flower as a pledge!" + + +* Are the pretty women. + +Natasha did not understand what he was saying any more than he did +himself, but she felt that his incomprehensible words had an improper +intention. She did not know what to say and turned away as if she had +not heard his remark. But as soon as she had turned away she felt that +he was there, behind, so close behind her. + +"How is he now? Confused? Angry? Ought I to put it right?" she asked +herself, and she could not refrain from turning round. She looked +straight into his eyes, and his nearness, self-assurance, and the good- +natured tenderness of his smile vanquished her. She smiled just as he +was doing, gazing straight into his eyes. And again she felt with horror +that no barrier lay between him and her. + +The curtain rose again. Anatole left the box, serene and gay. Natasha +went back to her father in the other box, now quite submissive to the +world she found herself in. All that was going on before her now seemed +quite natural, but on the other hand all her previous thoughts of her +betrothed, of Princess Mary, or of life in the country did not once +recur to her mind and were as if belonging to a remote past. + +In the fourth act there was some sort of devil who sang waving his arm +about, till the boards were withdrawn from under him and he disappeared +down below. That was the only part of the fourth act that Natasha saw. +She felt agitated and tormented, and the cause of this was Kuragin whom +she could not help watching. As they were leaving the theater Anatole +came up to them, called their carriage, and helped them in. As he was +putting Natasha in he pressed her arm above the elbow. Agitated and +flushed she turned round. He was looking at her with glittering eyes, +smiling tenderly. + +Only after she had reached home was Natasha able clearly to think over +what had happened to her, and suddenly remembering Prince Andrew she was +horrified, and at tea to which all had sat down after the opera, she +gave a loud exclamation, flushed, and ran out of the room. + +"O God! I am lost!" she said to herself. "How could I let him?" She sat +for a long time hiding her flushed face in her hands trying to realize +what had happened to her, but was unable either to understand what had +happened or what she felt. Everything seemed dark, obscure, and +terrible. There in that enormous, illuminated theater where the bare- +legged Duport, in a tinsel-decorated jacket, jumped about to the music +on wet boards, and young girls and old men, and the nearly naked Helene +with her proud, calm smile, rapturously cried "bravo!"--there in the +presence of that Helene it had all seemed clear and simple; but now, +alone by herself, it was incomprehensible. "What is it? What was that +terror I felt of him? What is this gnawing of conscience I am feeling +now?" she thought. + +Only to the old countess at night in bed could Natasha have told all she +was feeling. She knew that Sonya with her severe and simple views would +either not understand it at all or would be horrified at such a +confession. So Natasha tried to solve what was torturing her by herself. + +"Am I spoiled for Andrew's love or not?" she asked herself, and with +soothing irony replied: "What a fool I am to ask that! What did happen +to me? Nothing! I have done nothing, I didn't lead him on at all. Nobody +will know and I shall never see him again," she told herself. "So it is +plain that nothing has happened and there is nothing to repent of, and +Andrew can love me still. But why 'still?' O God, why isn't he here?" +Natasha quieted herself for a moment, but again some instinct told her +that though all this was true, and though nothing had happened, yet the +former purity of her love for Prince Andrew had perished. And again in +imagination she went over her whole conversation with Kuragin, and again +saw the face, gestures, and tender smile of that bold handsome man when +he pressed her arm. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Anatole Kuragin was staying in Moscow because his father had sent him +away from Petersburg, where he had been spending twenty thousand rubles +a year in cash, besides running up debts for as much more, which his +creditors demanded from his father. + +His father announced to him that he would now pay half his debts for the +last time, but only on condition that he went to Moscow as adjutant to +the commander-in-chief--a post his father had procured for him--and +would at last try to make a good match there. He indicated to him +Princess Mary and Julie Karagina. + +Anatole consented and went to Moscow, where he put up at Pierre's house. +Pierre received him unwillingly at first, but got used to him after a +while, sometimes even accompanied him on his carousals, and gave him +money under the guise of loans. + +As Shinshin had remarked, from the time of his arrival Anatole had +turned the heads of the Moscow ladies, especially by the fact that he +slighted them and plainly preferred the gypsy girls and French +actresses--with the chief of whom, Mademoiselle George, he was said to +be on intimate relations. He had never missed a carousal at Danilov's or +other Moscow revelers', drank whole nights through, outvying everyone +else, and was at all the balls and parties of the best society. There +was talk of his intrigues with some of the ladies, and he flirted with a +few of them at the balls. But he did not run after the unmarried girls, +especially the rich heiresses who were most of them plain. There was a +special reason for this, as he had got married two years before--a fact +known only to his most intimate friends. At that time while with his +regiment in Poland, a Polish landowner of small means had forced him to +marry his daughter. Anatole had very soon abandoned his wife and, for a +payment which he agreed to send to his father-in-law, had arranged to be +free to pass himself off as a bachelor. + +Anatole was always content with his position, with himself, and with +others. He was instinctively and thoroughly convinced that it was +impossible for him to live otherwise than as he did and that he had +never in his life done anything base. He was incapable of considering +how his actions might affect others or what the consequences of this or +that action of his might be. He was convinced that, as a duck is so made +that it must live in water, so God had made him such that he must spend +thirty thousand rubles a year and always occupy a prominent position in +society. He believed this so firmly that others, looking at him, were +persuaded of it too and did not refuse him either a leading place in +society or money, which he borrowed from anyone and everyone and +evidently would not repay. + +He was not a gambler, at any rate he did not care about winning. He was +not vain. He did not mind what people thought of him. Still less could +he be accused of ambition. More than once he had vexed his father by +spoiling his own career, and he laughed at distinctions of all kinds. He +was not mean, and did not refuse anyone who asked of him. All he cared +about was gaiety and women, and as according to his ideas there was +nothing dishonorable in these tastes, and he was incapable of +considering what the gratification of his tastes entailed for others, he +honestly considered himself irreproachable, sincerely despised rogues +and bad people, and with a tranquil conscience carried his head high. + +Rakes, those male Magdalenes, have a secret feeling of innocence similar +to that which female Magdalenes have, based on the same hope of +forgiveness. "All will be forgiven her, for she loved much; and all will +be forgiven him, for he enjoyed much." + +Dolokhov, who had reappeared that year in Moscow after his exile and his +Persian adventures, and was leading a life of luxury, gambling, and +dissipation, associated with his old Petersburg comrade Kuragin and made +use of him for his own ends. + +Anatole was sincerely fond of Dolokhov for his cleverness and audacity. +Dolokhov, who needed Anatole Kuragin's name, position, and connections +as a bait to draw rich young men into his gambling set, made use of him +and amused himself at his expense without letting the other feel it. +Apart from the advantage he derived from Anatole, the very process of +dominating another's will was in itself a pleasure, a habit, and a +necessity to Dolokhov. + +Natasha had made a strong impression on Kuragin. At supper after the +opera he described to Dolokhov with the air of a connoisseur the +attractions of her arms, shoulders, feet, and hair and expressed his +intention of making love to her. Anatole had no notion and was incapable +of considering what might come of such love-making, as he never had any +notion of the outcome of any of his actions. + +"She's first-rate, my dear fellow, but not for us," replied Dolokhov. + +"I will tell my sister to ask her to dinner," said Anatole. "Eh?" + +"You'd better wait till she's married...." + +"You know, I adore little girls, they lose their heads at once," pursued +Anatole. + +"You have been caught once already by a 'little girl,'" said Dolokhov +who knew of Kuragin's marriage. "Take care!" + +"Well, that can't happen twice! Eh?" said Anatole, with a good-humored +laugh. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The day after the opera the Rostovs went nowhere and nobody came to see +them. Marya Dmitrievna talked to the count about something which they +concealed from Natasha. Natasha guessed they were talking about the old +prince and planning something, and this disquieted and offended her. She +was expecting Prince Andrew any moment and twice that day sent a +manservant to the Vozdvizhenka to ascertain whether he had come. He had +not arrived. She suffered more now than during her first days in Moscow. +To her impatience and pining for him were now added the unpleasant +recollection of her interview with Princess Mary and the old prince, and +a fear and anxiety of which she did not understand the cause. She +continually fancied that either he would never come or that something +would happen to her before he came. She could no longer think of him by +herself calmly and continuously as she had done before. As soon as she +began to think of him, the recollection of the old prince, of Princess +Mary, of the theater, and of Kuragin mingled with her thoughts. The +question again presented itself whether she was not guilty, whether she +had not already broken faith with Prince Andrew, and again she found +herself recalling to the minutest detail every word, every gesture, and +every shade in the play of expression on the face of the man who had +been able to arouse in her such an incomprehensible and terrifying +feeling. To the family Natasha seemed livelier than usual, but she was +far less tranquil and happy than before. + +On Sunday morning Marya Dmitrievna invited her visitors to Mass at her +parish church--the Church of the Assumption built over the graves of +victims of the plague. + +"I don't like those fashionable churches," she said, evidently priding +herself on her independence of thought. "God is the same everywhere. We +have an excellent priest, he conducts the service decently and with +dignity, and the deacon is the same. What holiness is there in giving +concerts in the choir? I don't like it, it's just self-indulgence!" + +Marya Dmitrievna liked Sundays and knew how to keep them. Her whole +house was scrubbed and cleaned on Saturdays; neither she nor the +servants worked, and they all wore holiday dress and went to church. At +her table there were extra dishes at dinner, and the servants had vodka +and roast goose or suckling pig. But in nothing in the house was the +holiday so noticeable as in Marya Dmitrievna's broad, stern face, which +on that day wore an invariable look of solemn festivity. + +After Mass, when they had finished their coffee in the dining room where +the loose covers had been removed from the furniture, a servant +announced that the carriage was ready, and Marya Dmitrievna rose with a +stern air. She wore her holiday shawl, in which she paid calls, and +announced that she was going to see Prince Nicholas Bolkonski to have an +explanation with him about Natasha. + +After she had gone, a dressmaker from Madame Suppert-Roguet waited on +the Rostovs, and Natasha, very glad of this diversion, having shut +herself into a room adjoining the drawing room, occupied herself trying +on the new dresses. Just as she had put on a bodice without sleeves and +only tacked together, and was turning her head to see in the glass how +the back fitted, she heard in the drawing room the animated sounds of +her father's voice and another's--a woman's--that made her flush. It was +Helene. Natasha had not time to take off the bodice before the door +opened and Countess Bezukhova, dressed in a purple velvet gown with a +high collar, came into the room beaming with good-humored amiable +smiles. + +"Oh, my enchantress!" she cried to the blushing Natasha. "Charming! No, +this is really beyond anything, my dear count," said she to Count Rostov +who had followed her in. "How can you live in Moscow and go nowhere? No, +I won't let you off! Mademoiselle George will recite at my house tonight +and there'll be some people, and if you don't bring your lovely girls-- +who are prettier than Mademoiselle George--I won't know you! My husband +is away in Tver or I would send him to fetch you. You must come. You +positively must! Between eight and nine." + +She nodded to the dressmaker, whom she knew and who had curtsied +respectfully to her, and seated herself in an armchair beside the +looking glass, draping the folds of her velvet dress picturesquely. She +did not cease chattering good-naturedly and gaily, continually praising +Natasha's beauty. She looked at Natasha's dresses and praised them, as +well as a new dress of her own made of "metallic gauze," which she had +received from Paris, and advised Natasha to have one like it. + +"But anything suits you, my charmer!" she remarked. + +A smile of pleasure never left Natasha's face. She felt happy and as if +she were blossoming under the praise of this dear Countess Bezukhova who +had formerly seemed to her so unapproachable and important and was now +so kind to her. Natasha brightened up and felt almost in love with this +woman, who was so beautiful and so kind. Helene for her part was +sincerely delighted with Natasha and wished to give her a good time. +Anatole had asked her to bring him and Natasha together, and she was +calling on the Rostovs for that purpose. The idea of throwing her +brother and Natasha together amused her. + +Though at one time, in Petersburg, she had been annoyed with Natasha for +drawing Boris away, she did not think of that now, and in her own way +heartily wished Natasha well. As she was leaving the Rostovs she called +her protegee aside. + +"My brother dined with me yesterday--we nearly died of laughter--he ate +nothing and kept sighing for you, my charmer! He is madly, quite madly, +in love with you, my dear." + +Natasha blushed scarlet when she heard this. + +"How she blushes, how she blushes, my pretty!" said Helene. "You must +certainly come. If you love somebody, my charmer, that is not a reason +to shut yourself up. Even if you are engaged, I am sure your fiance +would wish you to go into society rather than be bored to death." + +"So she knows I am engaged, and she and her husband Pierre--that good +Pierre--have talked and laughed about this. So it's all right." And +again, under Helene's influence, what had seemed terrible now seemed +simple and natural. "And she is such a grande dame, so kind, and +evidently likes me so much. And why not enjoy myself?" thought Natasha, +gazing at Helene with wide-open, wondering eyes. + +Marya Dmitrievna came back to dinner taciturn and serious, having +evidently suffered a defeat at the old prince's. She was still too +agitated by the encounter to be able to talk of the affair calmly. In +answer to the count's inquiries she replied that things were all right +and that she would tell about it next day. On hearing of Countess +Bezukhova's visit and the invitation for that evening, Marya Dmitrievna +remarked: + +"I don't care to have anything to do with Bezukhova and don't advise you +to; however, if you've promised--go. It will divert your thoughts," she +added, addressing Natasha. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Count Rostov took the girls to Countess Bezukhova's. There were a good +many people there, but nearly all strangers to Natasha. Count Rostov was +displeased to see that the company consisted almost entirely of men and +women known for the freedom of their conduct. Mademoiselle George was +standing in a corner of the drawing room surrounded by young men. There +were several Frenchmen present, among them Metivier who from the time +Helene reached Moscow had been an intimate in her house. The count +decided not to sit down to cards or let his girls out of his sight and +to get away as soon as Mademoiselle George's performance was over. + +Anatole was at the door, evidently on the lookout for the Rostovs. +Immediately after greeting the count he went up to Natasha and followed +her. As soon as she saw him she was seized by the same feeling she had +had at the opera--gratified vanity at his admiration of her and fear at +the absence of a moral barrier between them. + +Helene welcomed Natasha delightedly and was loud in admiration of her +beauty and her dress. Soon after their arrival Mademoiselle George went +out of the room to change her costume. In the drawing room people began +arranging the chairs and taking their seats. Anatole moved a chair for +Natasha and was about to sit down beside her, but the count, who never +lost sight of her, took the seat himself. Anatole sat down behind her. + +Mademoiselle George, with her bare, fat, dimpled arms, and a red shawl +draped over one shoulder, came into the space left vacant for her, and +assumed an unnatural pose. Enthusiastic whispering was audible. + +Mademoiselle George looked sternly and gloomily at the audience and +began reciting some French verses describing her guilty love for her +son. In some places she raised her voice, in others she whispered, +lifting her head triumphantly; sometimes she paused and uttered hoarse +sounds, rolling her eyes. + +"Adorable! divine! delicious!" was heard from every side. + +Natasha looked at the fat actress, but neither saw nor heard nor +understood anything of what went on before her. She only felt herself +again completely borne away into this strange senseless world--so remote +from her old world--a world in which it was impossible to know what was +good or bad, reasonable or senseless. Behind her sat Anatole, and +conscious of his proximity she experienced a frightened sense of +expectancy. + +After the first monologue the whole company rose and surrounded +Mademoiselle George, expressing their enthusiasm. + +"How beautiful she is!" Natasha remarked to her father who had also +risen and was moving through the crowd toward the actress. + +"I don't think so when I look at you!" said Anatole, following Natasha. +He said this at a moment when she alone could hear him. "You are +enchanting... from the moment I saw you I have never ceased..." + +"Come, come, Natasha!" said the count, as he turned back for his +daughter. "How beautiful she is!" Natasha without saying anything +stepped up to her father and looked at him with surprised inquiring +eyes. + +After giving several recitations, Mademoiselle George left, and Countess +Bezukhova asked her visitors into the ballroom. + +The count wished to go home, but Helene entreated him not to spoil her +improvised ball, and the Rostovs stayed on. Anatole asked Natasha for a +valse and as they danced he pressed her waist and hand and told her she +was bewitching and that he loved her. During the ecossaise, which she +also danced with him, Anatole said nothing when they happened to be by +themselves, but merely gazed at her. Natasha lifted her frightened eyes +to him, but there was such confident tenderness in his affectionate look +and smile that she could not, whilst looking at him, say what she had to +say. She lowered her eyes. + +"Don't say such things to me. I am betrothed and love another," she said +rapidly.... She glanced at him. + +Anatole was not upset or pained by what she had said. + +"Don't speak to me of that! What can I do?" said he. "I tell you I am +madly, madly, in love with you! Is it my fault that you are +enchanting?... It's our turn to begin." + +Natasha, animated and excited, looked about her with wide-open +frightened eyes and seemed merrier than usual. She understood hardly +anything that went on that evening. They danced the ecossaise and the +Grossvater. Her father asked her to come home, but she begged to remain. +Wherever she went and whomever she was speaking to, she felt his eyes +upon her. Later on she recalled how she had asked her father to let her +go to the dressing room to rearrange her dress, that Helene had followed +her and spoken laughingly of her brother's love, and that she again met +Anatole in the little sitting room. Helene had disappeared leaving them +alone, and Anatole had taken her hand and said in a tender voice: + +"I cannot come to visit you but is it possible that I shall never see +you? I love you madly. Can I never...?" and, blocking her path, he +brought his face close to hers. + +His large, glittering, masculine eyes were so close to hers that she saw +nothing but them. + +"Natalie?" he whispered inquiringly while she felt her hands being +painfully pressed. "Natalie?" + +"I don't understand. I have nothing to say," her eyes replied. + +Burning lips were pressed to hers, and at the same instant she felt +herself released, and Helene's footsteps and the rustle of her dress +were heard in the room. Natasha looked round at her, and then, red and +trembling, threw a frightened look of inquiry at Anatole and moved +toward the door. + +"One word, just one, for God's sake!" cried Anatole. + +She paused. She so wanted a word from him that would explain to her what +had happened and to which she could find no answer. + +"Natalie, just a word, only one!" he kept repeating, evidently not +knowing what to say and he repeated it till Helene came up to them. + +Helene returned with Natasha to the drawing room. The Rostovs went away +without staying for supper. + +After reaching home Natasha did not sleep all night. She was tormented +by the insoluble question whether she loved Anatole or Prince Andrew. +She loved Prince Andrew--she remembered distinctly how deeply she loved +him. But she also loved Anatole, of that there was no doubt. "Else how +could all this have happened?" thought she. "If, after that, I could +return his smile when saying good-by, if I was able to let it come to +that, it means that I loved him from the first. It means that he is +kind, noble, and splendid, and I could not help loving him. What am I to +do if I love him and the other one too?" she asked herself, unable to +find an answer to these terrible questions. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Morning came with its cares and bustle. Everyone got up and began to +move about and talk, dressmakers came again. Marya Dmitrievna appeared, +and they were called to breakfast. Natasha kept looking uneasily at +everybody with wide-open eyes, as if wishing to intercept every glance +directed toward her, and tried to appear the same as usual. + +After breakfast, which was her best time, Marya Dmitrievna sat down in +her armchair and called Natasha and the count to her. + +"Well, friends, I have now thought the whole matter over and this is my +advice," she began. "Yesterday, as you know, I went to see Prince +Bolkonski. Well, I had a talk with him.... He took it into his head to +begin shouting, but I am not one to be shouted down. I said what I had +to say!" + +"Well, and he?" asked the count. + +"He? He's crazy... he did not want to listen. But what's the use of +talking? As it is we have worn the poor girl out," said Marya +Dmitrievna. "My advice to you is finish your business and go back home +to Otradnoe... and wait there." + +"Oh, no!" exclaimed Natasha. + +"Yes, go back," said Marya Dmitrievna, "and wait there. If your +betrothed comes here now--there will be no avoiding a quarrel; but alone +with the old man he will talk things over and then come on to you." + +Count Rostov approved of this suggestion, appreciating its +reasonableness. If the old man came round it would be all the better to +visit him in Moscow or at Bald Hills later on; and if not, the wedding, +against his wishes, could only be arranged at Otradnoe. + +"That is perfectly true. And I am sorry I went to see him and took her," +said the old count. + +"No, why be sorry? Being here, you had to pay your respects. But if he +won't--that's his affair," said Marya Dmitrievna, looking for something +in her reticule. "Besides, the trousseau is ready, so there is nothing +to wait for; and what is not ready I'll send after you. Though I don't +like letting you go, it is the best way. So go, with God's blessing!" + +Having found what she was looking for in the reticule she handed it to +Natasha. It was a letter from Princess Mary. + +"She has written to you. How she torments herself, poor thing! She's +afraid you might think that she does not like you." + +"But she doesn't like me," said Natasha. + +"Don't talk nonsense!" cried Marya Dmitrievna. + +"I shan't believe anyone, I know she doesn't like me," replied Natasha +boldly as she took the letter, and her face expressed a cold and angry +resolution that caused Marya Dmitrievna to look at her more intently and +to frown. + +"Don't answer like that, my good girl!" she said. "What I say is true! +Write an answer!" Natasha did not reply and went to her own room to read +Princess Mary's letter. + +Princess Mary wrote that she was in despair at the misunderstanding that +had occurred between them. Whatever her father's feelings might be, she +begged Natasha to believe that she could not help loving her as the one +chosen by her brother, for whose happiness she was ready to sacrifice +everything. + +"Do not think, however," she wrote, "that my father is ill-disposed +toward you. He is an invalid and an old man who must be forgiven; but he +is good and magnanimous and will love her who makes his son happy." +Princess Mary went on to ask Natasha to fix a time when she could see +her again. + +After reading the letter Natasha sat down at the writing table to answer +it. "Dear Princess," she wrote in French quickly and mechanically, and +then paused. What more could she write after all that had happened the +evening before? "Yes, yes! All that has happened, and now all is +changed," she thought as she sat with the letter she had begun before +her. "Must I break off with him? Must I really? That's awful..." and to +escape from these dreadful thoughts she went to Sonya and began sorting +patterns with her. + +After dinner Natasha went to her room and again took up Princess Mary's +letter. "Can it be that it is all over?" she thought. "Can it be that +all this has happened so quickly and has destroyed all that went +before?" She recalled her love for Prince Andrew in all its former +strength, and at the same time felt that she loved Kuragin. She vividly +pictured herself as Prince Andrew's wife, and the scenes of happiness +with him she had so often repeated in her imagination, and at the same +time, aglow with excitement, recalled every detail of yesterday's +interview with Anatole. + +"Why could that not be as well?" she sometimes asked herself in complete +bewilderment. "Only so could I be completely happy; but now I have to +choose, and I can't be happy without either of them. Only," she thought, +"to tell Prince Andrew what has happened or to hide it from him are both +equally impossible. But with that one nothing is spoiled. But am I +really to abandon forever the joy of Prince Andrew's love, in which I +have lived so long?" + +"Please, Miss!" whispered a maid entering the room with a mysterious +air. "A man told me to give you this-" and she handed Natasha a letter. + +"Only, for Christ's sake..." the girl went on, as Natasha, without +thinking, mechanically broke the seal and read a love letter from +Anatole, of which, without taking in a word, she understood only that it +was a letter from him--from the man she loved. Yes, she loved him, or +else how could that have happened which had happened? And how could she +have a love letter from him in her hand? + +With trembling hands Natasha held that passionate love letter which +Dolokhov had composed for Anatole, and as she read it she found in it an +echo of all that she herself imagined she was feeling. + +"Since yesterday evening my fate has been sealed; to be loved by you or +to die. There is no other way for me," the letter began. Then he went on +to say that he knew her parents would not give her to him--for this +there were secret reasons he could reveal only to her--but that if she +loved him she need only say the word yes, and no human power could +hinder their bliss. Love would conquer all. He would steal her away and +carry her off to the ends of the earth. + +"Yes, yes! I love him!" thought Natasha, reading the letter for the +twentieth time and finding some peculiarly deep meaning in each word of +it. + +That evening Marya Dmitrievna was going to the Akharovs' and proposed to +take the girls with her. Natasha, pleading a headache, remained at home. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +On returning late in the evening Sonya went to Natasha's room, and to +her surprise found her still dressed and asleep on the sofa. Open on the +table, beside her lay Anatole's letter. Sonya picked it up and read it. + +As she read she glanced at the sleeping Natasha, trying to find in her +face an explanation of what she was reading, but did not find it. Her +face was calm, gentle, and happy. Clutching her breast to keep herself +from choking, Sonya, pale and trembling with fear and agitation, sat +down in an armchair and burst into tears. + +"How was it I noticed nothing? How could it go so far? Can she have left +off loving Prince Andrew? And how could she let Kuragin go to such +lengths? He is a deceiver and a villain, that's plain! What will +Nicholas, dear noble Nicholas, do when he hears of it? So this is the +meaning of her excited, resolute, unnatural look the day before +yesterday, yesterday, and today," thought Sonya. "But it can't be that +she loves him! She probably opened the letter without knowing who it was +from. Probably she is offended by it. She could not do such a thing!" + +Sonya wiped away her tears and went up to Natasha, again scanning her +face. + +"Natasha!" she said, just audibly. + +Natasha awoke and saw Sonya. + +"Ah, you're back?" + +And with the decision and tenderness that often come at the moment of +awakening, she embraced her friend, but noticing Sonya's look of +embarrassment, her own face expressed confusion and suspicion. + +"Sonya, you've read that letter?" she demanded. + +"Yes," answered Sonya softly. + +Natasha smiled rapturously. + +"No, Sonya, I can't any longer!" she said. "I can't hide it from you any +longer. You know, we love one another! Sonya, darling, he writes... +Sonya..." + +Sonya stared open-eyed at Natasha, unable to believe her ears. + +"And Bolkonski?" she asked. + +"Ah, Sonya, if you only knew how happy I am!" cried Natasha. "You don't +know what love is...." + +"But, Natasha, can that be all over?" + +Natasha looked at Sonya with wide-open eyes as if she could not grasp +the question. + +"Well, then, are you refusing Prince Andrew?" said Sonya. + +"Oh, you don't understand anything! Don't talk nonsense, just listen!" +said Natasha, with momentary vexation. + +"But I can't believe it," insisted Sonya. "I don't understand. How is it +you have loved a man for a whole year and suddenly... Why, you have only +seen him three times! Natasha, I don't believe you, you're joking! In +three days to forget everything and so..." + +"Three days?" said Natasha. "It seems to me I've loved him a hundred +years. It seems to me that I have never loved anyone before. You can't +understand it.... Sonya, wait a bit, sit here," and Natasha embraced and +kissed her. + +"I had heard that it happens like this, and you must have heard it too, +but it's only now that I feel such love. It's not the same as before. As +soon as I saw him I felt he was my master and I his slave, and that I +could not help loving him. Yes, his slave! Whatever he orders I shall +do. You don't understand that. What can I do? What can I do, Sonya?" +cried Natasha with a happy yet frightened expression. + +"But think what you are doing," cried Sonya. "I can't leave it like +this. This secret correspondence... How could you let him go so far?" +she went on, with a horror and disgust she could hardly conceal. + +"I told you that I have no will," Natasha replied. "Why can't you +understand? I love him!" + +"Then I won't let it come to that... I shall tell!" cried Sonya, +bursting into tears. + +"What do you mean? For God's sake... If you tell, you are my enemy!" +declared Natasha. "You want me to be miserable, you want us to be +separated...." + +When she saw Natasha's fright, Sonya shed tears of shame and pity for +her friend. + +"But what has happened between you?" she asked. "What has he said to +you? Why doesn't he come to the house?" + +Natasha did not answer her questions. + +"For God's sake, Sonya, don't tell anyone, don't torture me," Natasha +entreated. "Remember no one ought to interfere in such matters! I have +confided in you...." + +"But why this secrecy? Why doesn't he come to the house?" asked Sonya. +"Why doesn't he openly ask for your hand? You know Prince Andrew gave +you complete freedom--if it is really so; but I don't believe it! +Natasha, have you considered what these secret reasons can be?" + +Natasha looked at Sonya with astonishment. Evidently this question +presented itself to her mind for the first time and she did not know how +to answer it. + +"I don't know what the reasons are. But there must be reasons!" + +Sonya sighed and shook her head incredulously. + +"If there were reasons..." she began. + +But Natasha, guessing her doubts, interrupted her in alarm. + +"Sonya, one can't doubt him! One can't, one can't! Don't you +understand?" she cried. + +"Does he love you?" + +"Does he love me?" Natasha repeated with a smile of pity at her friend's +lack of comprehension. "Why, you have read his letter and you have seen +him." + +"But if he is dishonorable?" + +"He! dishonorable? If you only knew!" exclaimed Natasha. + +"If he is an honorable man he should either declare his intentions or +cease seeing you; and if you won't do this, I will. I will write to him, +and I will tell Papa!" said Sonya resolutely. + +"But I can't live without him!" cried Natasha. + +"Natasha, I don't understand you. And what are you saying! Think of your +father and of Nicholas." + +"I don't want anyone, I don't love anyone but him. How dare you say he +is dishonorable? Don't you know that I love him?" screamed Natasha. "Go +away, Sonya! I don't want to quarrel with you, but go, for God's sake +go! You see how I am suffering!" Natasha cried angrily, in a voice of +despair and repressed irritation. Sonya burst into sobs and ran from the +room. + +Natasha went to the table and without a moment's reflection wrote that +answer to Princess Mary which she had been unable to write all the +morning. In this letter she said briefly that all their +misunderstandings were at an end; that availing herself of the +magnanimity of Prince Andrew who when he went abroad had given her her +freedom, she begged Princess Mary to forget everything and forgive her +if she had been to blame toward her, but that she could not be his wife. +At that moment this all seemed quite easy, simple, and clear to Natasha. + +On Friday the Rostovs were to return to the country, but on Wednesday +the count went with the prospective purchaser to his estate near Moscow. + +On the day the count left, Sonya and Natasha were invited to a big +dinner party at the Karagins', and Marya Dmitrievna took them there. At +that party Natasha again met Anatole, and Sonya noticed that she spoke +to him, trying not to be overheard, and that all through dinner she was +more agitated than ever. When they got home Natasha was the first to +begin the explanation Sonya expected. + +"There, Sonya, you were talking all sorts of nonsense about him," +Natasha began in a mild voice such as children use when they wish to be +praised. "We have had an explanation today." + +"Well, what happened? What did he say? Natasha, how glad I am you're not +angry with me! Tell me everything--the whole truth. What did he say?" + +Natasha became thoughtful. + +"Oh, Sonya, if you knew him as I do! He said... He asked me what I had +promised Bolkonski. He was glad I was free to refuse him." + +Sonya sighed sorrowfully. + +"But you haven't refused Bolkonski?" said she. + +"Perhaps I have. Perhaps all is over between me and Bolkonski. Why do +you think so badly of me?" + +"I don't think anything, only I don't understand this..." + +"Wait a bit, Sonya, you'll understand everything. You'll see what a man +he is! Now don't think badly of me or of him. I don't think badly of +anyone: I love and pity everybody. But what am I to do?" + +Sonya did not succumb to the tender tone Natasha used toward her. The +more emotional and ingratiating the expression of Natasha's face became, +the more serious and stern grew Sonya's. + +"Natasha," said she, "you asked me not to speak to you, and I haven't +spoken, but now you yourself have begun. I don't trust him, Natasha. Why +this secrecy?" + +"Again, again!" interrupted Natasha. + +"Natasha, I am afraid for you!" + +"Afraid of what?" + +"I am afraid you're going to your ruin," said Sonya resolutely, and was +herself horrified at what she had said. + +Anger again showed in Natasha's face. + +"And I'll go to my ruin, I will, as soon as possible! It's not your +business! It won't be you, but I, who'll suffer. Leave me alone, leave +me alone! I hate you!" + +"Natasha!" moaned Sonya, aghast. + +"I hate you, I hate you! You're my enemy forever!" And Natasha ran out +of the room. + +Natasha did not speak to Sonya again and avoided her. With the same +expression of agitated surprise and guilt she went about the house, +taking up now one occupation, now another, and at once abandoning them. + +Hard as it was for Sonya, she watched her friend and did not let her out +of her sight. + +The day before the count was to return, Sonya noticed that Natasha sat +by the drawing-room window all the morning as if expecting something and +that she made a sign to an officer who drove past, whom Sonya took to be +Anatole. + +Sonya began watching her friend still more attentively and noticed that +at dinner and all that evening Natasha was in a strange and unnatural +state. She answered questions at random, began sentences she did not +finish, and laughed at everything. + +After tea Sonya noticed a housemaid at Natasha's door timidly waiting to +let her pass. She let the girl go in, and then listening at the door +learned that another letter had been delivered. + +Then suddenly it became clear to Sonya that Natasha had some dreadful +plan for that evening. Sonya knocked at her door. Natasha did not let +her in. + +"She will run away with him!" thought Sonya. "She is capable of +anything. There was something particularly pathetic and resolute in her +face today. She cried as she said good-by to Uncle," Sonya remembered. +"Yes, that's it, she means to elope with him, but what am I to do?" +thought she, recalling all the signs that clearly indicated that Natasha +had some terrible intention. "The count is away. What am I to do? Write +to Kuragin demanding an explanation? But what is there to oblige him to +reply? Write to Pierre, as Prince Andrew asked me to in case of some +misfortune?... But perhaps she really has already refused Bolkonski--she +sent a letter to Princess Mary yesterday. And Uncle is away...." To tell +Marya Dmitrievna who had such faith in Natasha seemed to Sonya terrible. +"Well, anyway," thought Sonya as she stood in the dark passage, "now or +never I must prove that I remember the family's goodness to me and that +I love Nicholas. Yes! If I don't sleep for three nights I'll not leave +this passage and will hold her back by force and will and not let the +family be disgraced," thought she. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Anatole had lately moved to Dolokhov's. The plan for Natalie Rostova's +abduction had been arranged and the preparations made by Dolokhov a few +days before, and on the day that Sonya, after listening at Natasha's +door, resolved to safeguard her, it was to have been put into execution. +Natasha had promised to come out to Kuragin at the back porch at ten +that evening. Kuragin was to put her into a troyka he would have ready +and to drive her forty miles to the village of Kamenka, where an +unfrocked priest was in readiness to perform a marriage ceremony over +them. At Kamenka a relay of horses was to wait which would take them to +the Warsaw highroad, and from there they would hasten abroad with post +horses. + +Anatole had a passport, an order for post horses, ten thousand rubles he +had taken from his sister and another ten thousand borrowed with +Dolokhov's help. + +Two witnesses for the mock marriage--Khvostikov, a retired petty +official whom Dolokhov made use of in his gambling transactions, and +Makarin, a retired hussar, a kindly, weak fellow who had an unbounded +affection for Kuragin--were sitting at tea in Dolokhov's front room. + +In his large study, the walls of which were hung to the ceiling with +Persian rugs, bearskins, and weapons, sat Dolokhov in a traveling cloak +and high boots, at an open desk on which lay an abacus and some bundles of +paper money. Anatole, with uniform unbuttoned, walked to and fro from +the room where the witnesses were sitting, through the study to the room +behind, where his French valet and others were packing the last of his +things. Dolokhov was counting the money and noting something down. + +"Well," he said, "Khvostikov must have two thousand." + +"Give it to him, then," said Anatole. + +"Makarka" (their name for Makarin) "will go through fire and water for +you for nothing. So here are our accounts all settled," said Dolokhov, +showing him the memorandum. "Is that right?" + +"Yes, of course," returned Anatole, evidently not listening to Dolokhov +and looking straight before him with a smile that did not leave his +face. + +Dolokhov banged down the lid of his desk and turned to Anatole with an +ironic smile: + +"Do you know? You'd really better drop it all. There's still time!" + +"Fool," retorted Anatole. "Don't talk nonsense! If you only knew... it's +the devil knows what!" + +"No, really, give it up!" said Dolokhov. "I am speaking seriously. It's +no joke, this plot you've hatched." + +"What, teasing again? Go to the devil! Eh?" said Anatole, making a +grimace. "Really it's no time for your stupid jokes," and he left the +room. + +Dolokhov smiled contemptuously and condescendingly when Anatole had gone +out. + +"You wait a bit," he called after him. "I'm not joking, I'm talking +sense. Come here, come here!" + +Anatole returned and looked at Dolokhov, trying to give him his +attention and evidently submitting to him involuntarily. + +"Now listen to me. I'm telling you this for the last time. Why should I +joke about it? Did I hinder you? Who arranged everything for you? Who +found the priest and got the passport? Who raised the money? I did it +all." + +"Well, thank you for it. Do you think I am not grateful?" And Anatole +sighed and embraced Dolokhov. + +"I helped you, but all the same I must tell you the truth; it is a +dangerous business, and if you think about it--a stupid business. Well, +you'll carry her off--all right! Will they let it stop at that? It will +come out that you're already married. Why, they'll have you in the +criminal court...." + +"Oh, nonsense, nonsense!" Anatole ejaculated and again made a grimace. +"Didn't I explain to you? What?" And Anatole, with the partiality dull- +witted people have for any conclusion they have reached by their own +reasoning, repeated the argument he had already put to Dolokhov a +hundred times. "Didn't I explain to you that I have come to this +conclusion: if this marriage is invalid," he went on, crooking one +finger, "then I have nothing to answer for; but if it is valid, no +matter! Abroad no one will know anything about it. Isn't that so? And +don't talk to me, don't, don't." + +"Seriously, you'd better drop it! You'll only get yourself into a mess!" + +"Go to the devil!" cried Anatole and, clutching his hair, left the room, +but returned at once and dropped into an armchair in front of Dolokhov +with his feet turned under him. "It's the very devil! What? Feel how it +beats!" He took Dolokhov's hand and put it on his heart. "What a foot, +my dear fellow! What a glance! A goddess!" he added in French. "What?" + +Dolokhov with a cold smile and a gleam in his handsome insolent eyes +looked at him--evidently wishing to get some more amusement out of him. + +"Well and when the money's gone, what then?" + +"What then? Eh?" repeated Anatole, sincerely perplexed by a thought of +the future. "What then?... Then, I don't know.... But why talk +nonsense!" He glanced at his watch. "It's time!" + +Anatole went into the back room. + +"Now then! Nearly ready? You're dawdling!" he shouted to the servants. + +Dolokhov put away the money, called a footman whom he ordered to bring +something for them to eat and drink before the journey, and went into +the room where Khvostikov and Makarin were sitting. + +Anatole lay on the sofa in the study leaning on his elbow and smiling +pensively, while his handsome lips muttered tenderly to himself. + +"Come and eat something. Have a drink!" Dolokhov shouted to him from the +other room. + +"I don't want to," answered Anatole continuing to smile. + +"Come! Balaga is here." + +Anatole rose and went into the dining room. Balaga was a famous troyka +driver who had known Dolokhov and Anatole some six years and had given +them good service with his troykas. More than once when Anatole's +regiment was stationed at Tver he had taken him from Tver in the +evening, brought him to Moscow by daybreak, and driven him back again +the next night. More than once he had enabled Dolokhov to escape when +pursued. More than once he had driven them through the town with gypsies +and "ladykins" as he called the cocottes. More than once in their +service he had run over pedestrians and upset vehicles in the streets of +Moscow and had always been protected from the consequences by "my +gentlemen" as he called them. He had ruined more than one horse in their +service. More than once they had beaten him, and more than once they had +made him drunk on champagne and Madeira, which he loved; and he knew +more than one thing about each of them which would long ago have sent an +ordinary man to Siberia. They often called Balaga into their orgies and +made him drink and dance at the gypsies', and more than one thousand +rubles of their money had passed through his hands. In their service he +risked his skin and his life twenty times a year, and in their service +had lost more horses than the money he had from them would buy. But he +liked them; liked that mad driving at twelve miles an hour, liked +upsetting a driver or running down a pedestrian, and flying at full +gallop through the Moscow streets. He liked to hear those wild, tipsy +shouts behind him: "Get on! Get on!" when it was impossible to go any +faster. He liked giving a painful lash on the neck to some peasant who, +more dead than alive, was already hurrying out of his way. "Real +gentlemen!" he considered them. + +Anatole and Dolokhov liked Balaga too for his masterly driving and +because he liked the things they liked. With others Balaga bargained, +charging twenty-five rubles for a two hours' drive, and rarely drove +himself, generally letting his young men do so. But with "his gentlemen" +he always drove himself and never demanded anything for his work. Only a +couple of times a year--when he knew from their valets that they had +money in hand--he would turn up of a morning quite sober and with a deep +bow would ask them to help him. The gentlemen always made him sit down. + +"Do help me out, Theodore Ivanych, sir," or "your excellency," he would +say. "I am quite out of horses. Let me have what you can to go to the +fair." + +And Anatole and Dolokhov, when they had money, would give him a thousand +or a couple of thousand rubles. + +Balaga was a fair-haired, short, and snub-nosed peasant of about twenty- +seven; red-faced, with a particularly red thick neck, glittering little +eyes, and a small beard. He wore a fine, dark-blue, silk-lined cloth +coat over a sheepskin. + +On entering the room now he crossed himself, turning toward the front +corner of the room, and went up to Dolokhov, holding out a small, black +hand. + +"Theodore Ivanych!" he said, bowing. + +"How d'you do, friend? Well, here he is!" + +"Good day, your excellency!" he said, again holding out his hand to +Anatole who had just come in. + +"I say, Balaga," said Anatole, putting his hands on the man's shoulders, +"do you care for me or not? Eh? Now, do me a service.... What horses +have you come with? Eh?" + +"As your messenger ordered, your special beasts," replied Balaga. + +"Well, listen, Balaga! Drive all three to death but get me there in +three hours. Eh?" + +"When they are dead, what shall I drive?" said Balaga with a wink. + +"Mind, I'll smash your face in! Don't make jokes!" cried Anatole, +suddenly rolling his eyes. + +"Why joke?" said the driver, laughing. "As if I'd grudge my gentlemen +anything! As fast as ever the horses can gallop, so fast we'll go!" + +"Ah!" said Anatole. "Well, sit down." + +"Yes, sit down!" said Dolokhov. + +"I'll stand, Theodore Ivanych." + +"Sit down; nonsense! Have a drink!" said Anatole, and filled a large +glass of Madeira for him. + +The driver's eyes sparkled at the sight of the wine. After refusing it +for manners' sake, he drank it and wiped his mouth with a red silk +handkerchief he took out of his cap. + +"And when are we to start, your excellency?" + +"Well..." Anatole looked at his watch. "We'll start at once. Mind, +Balaga! You'll get there in time? Eh?" + +"That depends on our luck in starting, else why shouldn't we be there in +time?" replied Balaga. "Didn't we get you to Tver in seven hours? I +think you remember that, your excellency?" + +"Do you know, one Christmas I drove from Tver," said Anatole, smilingly +at the recollection and turning to Makarin who gazed rapturously at him +with wide-open eyes. "Will you believe it, Makarka, it took one's breath +away, the rate we flew. We came across a train of loaded sleighs and +drove right over two of them. Eh?" + +"Those were horses!" Balaga continued the tale. "That time I'd harnessed +two young side horses with the bay in the shafts," he went on, turning +to Dolokhov. "Will you believe it, Theodore Ivanych, those animals flew +forty miles? I couldn't hold them in, my hands grew numb in the sharp +frost so that I threw down the reins--'Catch hold yourself, your +excellency!' says I, and I just tumbled on the bottom of the sleigh and +sprawled there. It wasn't a case of urging them on, there was no holding +them in till we reached the place. The devils took us there in three +hours! Only the near one died of it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Anatole went out of the room and returned a few minutes later wearing a +fur coat girt with a silver belt, and a sable cap jauntily set on one +side and very becoming to his handsome face. Having looked in a mirror, +and standing before Dolokhov in the same pose he had assumed before it, +he lifted a glass of wine. + +"Well, good-by, Theodore. Thank you for everything and farewell!" said +Anatole. "Well, comrades and friends..." he considered for a moment +"...of my youth, farewell!" he said, turning to Makarin and the others. + +Though they were all going with him, Anatole evidently wished to make +something touching and solemn out of this address to his comrades. He +spoke slowly in a loud voice and throwing out his chest slightly swayed +one leg. + +"All take glasses; you too, Balaga. Well, comrades and friends of my +youth, we've had our fling and lived and reveled. Eh? And now, when +shall we meet again? I am going abroad. We have had a good time--now +farewell, lads! To our health! Hurrah!..." he cried, and emptying his +glass flung it on the floor. + +"To your health!" said Balaga who also emptied his glass, and wiped his +mouth with his handkerchief. + +Makarin embraced Anatole with tears in his eyes. + +"Ah, Prince, how sorry I am to part from you! + +"Let's go. Let's go!" cried Anatole. + +Balaga was about to leave the room. + +"No, stop!" said Anatole. "Shut the door; we have first to sit down. +That's the way." + +They shut the door and all sat down. + +"Now, quick march, lads!" said Anatole, rising. + +Joseph, his valet, handed him his sabretache and saber, and they all +went out into the vestibule. + +"And where's the fur cloak?" asked Dolokhov. "Hey, Ignatka! Go to +Matrena Matrevna and ask her for the sable cloak. I have heard what +elopements are like," continued Dolokhov with a wink. "Why, she'll rush +out more dead than alive just in the things she is wearing; if you delay +at all there'll be tears and 'Papa' and 'Mamma,' and she's frozen in a +minute and must go back--but you wrap the fur cloak round her first +thing and carry her to the sleigh." + +The valet brought a woman's fox-lined cloak. + +"Fool, I told you the sable one! Hey, Matrena, the sable!" he shouted so +that his voice rang far through the rooms. + +A handsome, slim, and pale-faced gypsy girl with glittering black eyes +and curly blue-black hair, wearing a red shawl, ran out with a sable +mantle on her arm. + +"Here, I don't grudge it--take it!" she said, evidently afraid of her +master and yet regretful of her cloak. + +Dolokhov, without answering, took the cloak, threw it over Matrena, and +wrapped her up in it. + +"That's the way," said Dolokhov, "and then so!" and he turned the collar +up round her head, leaving only a little of the face uncovered. "And +then so, do you see?" and he pushed Anatole's head forward to meet the +gap left by the collar, through which Matrena's brilliant smile was +seen. + +"Well, good-by, Matrena," said Anatole, kissing her. "Ah, my revels here +are over. Remember me to Steshka. There, good-by! Good-bye, Matrena, +wish me luck!" + +"Well, Prince, may God give you great luck!" said Matrena in her gypsy +accent. + +Two troykas were standing before the porch and two young drivers were +holding the horses. Balaga took his seat in the front one and holding +his elbows high arranged the reins deliberately. Anatole and Dolokhov +got in with him. Makarin, Khvostikov, and a valet seated themselves in +the other sleigh. + +"Well, are you ready?" asked Balaga. + +"Go!" he cried, twisting the reins round his hands, and the troyka tore +down the Nikitski Boulevard. + +"Tproo! Get out of the way! Hi!... Tproo!..." The shouting of Balaga and +of the sturdy young fellow seated on the box was all that could be +heard. On the Arbat Square the troyka caught against a carriage; +something cracked, shouts were heard, and the troyka flew along the +Arbat Street. + +After taking a turn along the Podnovinski Boulevard, Balaga began to +rein in, and turning back drew up at the crossing of the old Konyusheny +Street. + +The young fellow on the box jumped down to hold the horses and Anatole +and Dolokhov went along the pavement. When they reached the gate +Dolokhov whistled. The whistle was answered, and a maidservant ran out. + +"Come into the courtyard or you'll be seen; she'll come out directly," +said she. + +Dolokhov stayed by the gate. Anatole followed the maid into the +courtyard, turned the corner, and ran up into the porch. + +He was met by Gabriel, Marya Dmitrievna's gigantic footman. + +"Come to the mistress, please," said the footman in his deep bass, +intercepting any retreat. + +"To what Mistress? Who are you?" asked Anatole in a breathless whisper. + +"Kindly step in, my orders are to bring you in." + +"Kuragin! Come back!" shouted Dolokhov. "Betrayed! Back!" + +Dolokhov, after Anatole entered, had remained at the wicket gate and was +struggling with the yard porter who was trying to lock it. With a last +desperate effort Dolokhov pushed the porter aside, and when Anatole ran +back seized him by the arm, pulled him through the wicket, and ran back +with him to the troyka. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Marya Dmitrievna, having found Sonya weeping in the corridor, made her +confess everything, and intercepting the note to Natasha she read it and +went into Natasha's room with it in her hand. + +"You shameless good-for-nothing!" said she. "I won't hear a word." + +Pushing back Natasha who looked at her with astonished but tearless +eyes, she locked her in; and having given orders to the yard porter to +admit the persons who would be coming that evening, but not to let them +out again, and having told the footman to bring them up to her, she +seated herself in the drawing room to await the abductors. + +When Gabriel came to inform her that the men who had come had run away +again, she rose frowning, and clasping her hands behind her paced +through the rooms a long time considering what she should do. Toward +midnight she went to Natasha's room fingering the key in her pocket. +Sonya was sitting sobbing in the corridor. "Marya Dmitrievna, for God's +sake let me in to her!" she pleaded, but Marya Dmitrievna unlocked the +door and went in without giving her an answer.... "Disgusting, +abominable... In my house... horrid girl, hussy! I'm only sorry for her +father!" thought she, trying to restrain her wrath. "Hard as it may be, +I'll tell them all to hold their tongues and will hide it from the +count." She entered the room with resolute steps. Natasha lying on the +sofa, her head hidden in her hands, and she did not stir. She was in +just the same position in which Marya Dmitrievna had left her. + +"A nice girl! Very nice!" said Marya Dmitrievna. "Arranging meetings +with lovers in my house! It's no use pretending: you listen when I speak +to you!" And Marya Dmitrievna touched her arm. "Listen when I speak! +You've disgraced yourself like the lowest of hussies. I'd treat you +differently, but I'm sorry for your father, so I will conceal it." + +Natasha did not change her position, but her whole body heaved with +noiseless, convulsive sobs which choked her. Marya Dmitrievna glanced +round at Sonya and seated herself on the sofa beside Natasha. + +"It's lucky for him that he escaped me; but I'll find him!" she said in +her rough voice. "Do you hear what I am saying or not?" she added. + +She put her large hand under Natasha's face and turned it toward her. +Both Marya Dmitrievna and Sonya were amazed when they saw how Natasha +looked. Her eyes were dry and glistening, her lips compressed, her +cheeks sunken. + +"Let me be!... What is it to me?... I shall die!" she muttered, +wrenching herself from Marya Dmitrievna's hands with a vicious effort +and sinking down again into her former position. + +"Natalie!" said Marya Dmitrievna. "I wish for your good. Lie still, stay +like that then, I won't touch you. But listen. I won't tell you how +guilty you are. You know that yourself. But when your father comes back +tomorrow what am I to tell him? Eh?" + +Again Natasha's body shook with sobs. + +"Suppose he finds out, and your brother, and your betrothed?" + +"I have no betrothed: I have refused him!" cried Natasha. + +"That's all the same," continued Marya Dmitrievna. "If they hear of +this, will they let it pass? He, your father, I know him... if he +challenges him to a duel will that be all right? Eh?" + +"Oh, let me be! Why have you interfered at all? Why? Why? Who asked you +to?" shouted Natasha, raising herself on the sofa and looking +malignantly at Marya Dmitrievna. + +"But what did you want?" cried Marya Dmitrievna, growing angry again. +"Were you kept under lock and key? Who hindered his coming to the house? +Why carry you off as if you were some gypsy singing girl?... Well, if he +had carried you off... do you think they wouldn't have found him? Your +father, or brother, or your betrothed? And he's a scoundrel, a wretch-- +that's a fact!" + +"He is better than any of you!" exclaimed Natasha getting up. "If you +hadn't interfered... Oh, my God! What is it all? What is it? Sonya, +why?... Go away!" + +And she burst into sobs with the despairing vehemence with which people +bewail disasters they feel they have themselves occasioned. Marya +Dmitrievna was to speak again but Natasha cried out: + +"Go away! Go away! You all hate and despise me!" and she threw herself +back on the sofa. + +Marya Dmitrievna went on admonishing her for some time, enjoining on her +that it must all be kept from her father and assuring her that nobody +would know anything about it if only Natasha herself would undertake to +forget it all and not let anyone see that something had happened. +Natasha did not reply, nor did she sob any longer, but she grew cold and +had a shivering fit. Marya Dmitrievna put a pillow under her head, +covered her with two quilts, and herself brought her some lime-flower +water, but Natasha did not respond to her. + +"Well, let her sleep," said Marya Dmitrievna as she went out of the room +supposing Natasha to be asleep. + +But Natasha was not asleep; with pale face and fixed wide-open eyes she +looked straight before her. All that night she did not sleep or weep and +did not speak to Sonya who got up and went to her several times. + +Next day Count Rostov returned from his estate near Moscow in time for +lunch as he had promised. He was in very good spirits; the affair with +the purchaser was going on satisfactorily, and there was nothing to keep +him any longer in Moscow, away from the countess whom he missed. Marya +Dmitrievna met him and told him that Natasha had been very unwell the +day before and that they had sent for the doctor, but that she was +better now. Natasha had not left her room that morning. With compressed +and parched lips and dry fixed eyes, she sat at the window, uneasily +watching the people who drove past and hurriedly glancing round at +anyone who entered the room. She was evidently expecting news of him and +that he would come or would write to her. + +When the count came to see her she turned anxiously round at the sound +of a man's footstep, and then her face resumed its cold and malevolent +expression. She did not even get up to greet him. "What is the matter +with you, my angel? Are you ill?" asked the count. + +After a moment's silence Natasha answered: "Yes, ill." + +In reply to the count's anxious inquiries as to why she was so dejected +and whether anything had happened to her betrothed, she assured him that +nothing had happened and asked him not to worry. Marya Dmitrievna +confirmed Natasha's assurances that nothing had happened. From the +pretense of illness, from his daughter's distress, and by the +embarrassed faces of Sonya and Marya Dmitrievna, the count saw clearly +that something had gone wrong during his absence, but it was so terrible +for him to think that anything disgraceful had happened to his beloved +daughter, and he so prized his own cheerful tranquillity, that he +avoided inquiries and tried to assure himself that nothing particularly +had happened; and he was only dissatisfied that her indisposition +delayed their return to the country. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +From the day his wife arrived in Moscow Pierre had been intending to go +away somewhere, so as not to be near her. Soon after the Rostovs came to +Moscow the effect Natasha had on him made him hasten to carry out his +intention. He went to Tver to see Joseph Alexeevich's widow, who had +long since promised to hand over to him some papers of her deceased +husband's. + +When he returned to Moscow Pierre was handed a letter from Marya +Dmitrievna asking him to come and see her on a matter of great +importance relating to Andrew Bolkonski and his betrothed. Pierre had +been avoiding Natasha because it seemed to him that his feeling for her +was stronger than a married man's should be for his friend's fiancee. +Yet some fate constantly threw them together. + +"What can have happened? And what can they want with me?" thought he as +he dressed to go to Marya Dmitrievna's. "If only Prince Andrew would +hurry up and come and marry her!" thought he on his way to the house. + +On the Tverskoy Boulevard a familiar voice called to him. + +"Pierre! Been back long?" someone shouted. Pierre raised his head. In a +sleigh drawn by two gray trotting-horses that were bespattering the +dashboard with snow, Anatole and his constant companion Makarin dashed +past. Anatole was sitting upright in the classic pose of military +dandies, the lower part of his face hidden by his beaver collar and his +head slightly bent. His face was fresh and rosy, his white-plumed hat, +tilted to one side, disclosed his curled and pomaded hair besprinkled +with powdery snow. + +"Yes, indeed, that's a true sage," thought Pierre. "He sees nothing +beyond the pleasure of the moment, nothing troubles him and so he is +always cheerful, satisfied, and serene. What wouldn't I give to be like +him!" he thought enviously. + +In Marya Dmitrievna's anteroom the footman who helped him off with his +fur coat said that the mistress asked him to come to her bedroom. + +When he opened the ballroom door Pierre saw Natasha sitting at the +window, with a thin, pale, and spiteful face. She glanced round at him, +frowned, and left the room with an expression of cold dignity. + +"What has happened?" asked Pierre, entering Marya Dmitrievna's room. + +"Fine doings!" answered Dmitrievna. "For fifty-eight years have I lived +in this world and never known anything so disgraceful!" + +And having put him on his honor not to repeat anything she told him, +Marya Dmitrievna informed him that Natasha had refused Prince Andrew +without her parents' knowledge and that the cause of this was Anatole +Kuragin into whose society Pierre's wife had thrown her and with whom +Natasha had tried to elope during her father's absence, in order to be +married secretly. + +Pierre raised his shoulders and listened open-mouthed to what was told +him, scarcely able to believe his own ears. That Prince Andrew's deeply +loved affianced wife--the same Natasha Rostova who used to be so +charming--should give up Bolkonski for that fool Anatole who was already +secretly married (as Pierre knew), and should be so in love with him as +to agree to run away with him, was something Pierre could not conceive +and could not imagine. + +He could not reconcile the charming impression he had of Natasha, whom +he had known from a child, with this new conception of her baseness, +folly, and cruelty. He thought of his wife. "They are all alike!" he +said to himself, reflecting that he was not the only man unfortunate +enough to be tied to a bad woman. But still he pitied Prince Andrew to +the point of tears and sympathized with his wounded pride, and the more +he pitied his friend the more did he think with contempt and even with +disgust of that Natasha who had just passed him in the ballroom with +such a look of cold dignity. He did not know that Natasha's soul was +overflowing with despair, shame, and humiliation, and that it was not +her fault that her face happened to assume an expression of calm dignity +and severity. + +"But how get married?" said Pierre, in answer to Marya Dmitrievna. "He +could not marry--he is married!" + +"Things get worse from hour to hour!" ejaculated Marya Dmitrievna. "A +nice youth! What a scoundrel! And she's expecting him--expecting him +since yesterday. She must be told! Then at least she won't go on +expecting him." + +After hearing the details of Anatole's marriage from Pierre, and giving +vent to her anger against Anatole in words of abuse, Marya Dmitrievna +told Pierre why she had sent for him. She was afraid that the count or +Bolkonski, who might arrive at any moment, if they knew of this affair +(which she hoped to hide from them) might challenge Anatole to a duel, +and she therefore asked Pierre to tell his brother-in-law in her name to +leave Moscow and not dare to let her set eyes on him again. Pierre--only +now realizing the danger to the old count, Nicholas, and Prince Andrew-- +promised to do as she wished. Having briefly and exactly explained her +wishes to him, she let him go to the drawing room. + +"Mind, the count knows nothing. Behave as if you know nothing either," +she said. "And I will go and tell her it is no use expecting him! And +stay to dinner if you care to!" she called after Pierre. + +Pierre met the old count, who seemed nervous and upset. That morning +Natasha had told him that she had rejected Bolkonski. + +"Troubles, troubles, my dear fellow!" he said to Pierre. "What troubles +one has with these girls without their mother! I do so regret having +come here.... I will be frank with you. Have you heard she has broken +off her engagement without consulting anybody? It's true this engagement +never was much to my liking. Of course he is an excellent man, but +still, with his father's disapproval they wouldn't have been happy, and +Natasha won't lack suitors. Still, it has been going on so long, and to +take such a step without father's or mother's consent! And now she's +ill, and God knows what! It's hard, Count, hard to manage daughters in +their mother's absence...." + +Pierre saw that the count was much upset and tried to change the +subject, but the count returned to his troubles. + +Sonya entered the room with an agitated face. + +"Natasha is not quite well; she's in her room and would like to see you. +Marya Dmitrievna is with her and she too asks you to come." + +"Yes, you are a great friend of Bolkonski's, no doubt she wants to send +him a message," said the count. "Oh dear! Oh dear! How happy it all +was!" + +And clutching the spare gray locks on his temples the count left the +room. + +When Marya Dmitrievna told Natasha that Anatole was married, Natasha did +not wish to believe it and insisted on having it confirmed by Pierre +himself. Sonya told Pierre this as she led him along the corridor to +Natasha's room. + +Natasha, pale and stern, was sitting beside Marya Dmitrievna, and her +eyes, glittering feverishly, met Pierre with a questioning look the +moment he entered. She did not smile or nod, but only gazed fixedly at +him, and her look asked only one thing: was he a friend, or like the +others an enemy in regard to Anatole? As for Pierre, he evidently did +not exist for her. + +"He knows all about it," said Marya Dmitrievna pointing to Pierre and +addressing Natasha. "Let him tell you whether I have told the truth." + +Natasha looked from one to the other as a hunted and wounded animal +looks at the approaching dogs and sportsmen. + +"Natalya Ilynichna," Pierre began, dropping his eyes with a feeling of +pity for her and loathing for the thing he had to do, "whether it is +true or not should make no difference to you, because..." + +"Then it is not true that he's married!" + +"Yes, it is true." + +"Has he been married long?" she asked. "On your honor?..." + +Pierre gave his word of honor. + +"Is he still here?" she asked, quickly. + +"Yes, I have just seen him." + +She was evidently unable to speak and made a sign with her hands that +they should leave her alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Pierre did not stay for dinner, but left the room and went away at once. +He drove through the town seeking Anatole Kuragin, at the thought of +whom now the blood rushed to his heart and he felt a difficulty in +breathing. He was not at the ice hills, nor at the gypsies', nor at +Komoneno's. Pierre drove to the club. In the club all was going on as +usual. The members who were assembling for dinner were sitting about in +groups; they greeted Pierre and spoke of the town news. The footman +having greeted him, knowing his habits and his acquaintances, told him +there was a place left for him in the small dining room and that Prince +Michael Zakharych was in the library, but Paul Timofeevich had not yet +arrived. One of Pierre's acquaintances, while they were talking about +the weather, asked if he had heard of Kuragin's abduction of Rostova +which was talked of in the town, and was it true? Pierre laughed and +said it was nonsense for he had just come from the Rostovs'. He asked +everyone about Anatole. One man told him he had not come yet, and +another that he was coming to dinner. Pierre felt it strange to see this +calm, indifferent crowd of people unaware of what was going on in his +soul. He paced through the ballroom, waited till everyone had come, and +as Anatole had not turned up did not stay for dinner but drove home. + +Anatole, for whom Pierre was looking, dined that day with Dolokhov, +consulting him as to how to remedy this unfortunate affair. It seemed to +him essential to see Natasha. In the evening he drove to his sister's to +discuss with her how to arrange a meeting. When Pierre returned home +after vainly hunting all over Moscow, his valet informed him that Prince +Anatole was with the countess. The countess' drawing room was full of +guests. + +Pierre without greeting his wife whom he had not seen since his return-- +at that moment she was more repulsive to him than ever--entered the +drawing room and seeing Anatole went up to him. + +"Ah, Pierre," said the countess going up to her husband. "You don't know +what a plight our Anatole..." + +She stopped, seeing in the forward thrust of her husband's head, in his +glowing eyes and his resolute gait, the terrible indications of that +rage and strength which she knew and had herself experienced after his +duel with Dolokhov. + +"Where you are, there is vice and evil!" said Pierre to his wife. +"Anatole, come with me! I must speak to you," he added in French. + +Anatole glanced round at his sister and rose submissively, ready to +follow Pierre. Pierre, taking him by the arm, pulled him toward himself +and was leading him from the room. + +"If you allow yourself in my drawing room..." whispered Helene, but +Pierre did not reply and went out of the room. + +Anatole followed him with his usual jaunty step but his face betrayed +anxiety. + +Having entered his study Pierre closed the door and addressed Anatole +without looking at him. + +"You promised Countess Rostova to marry her and were about to elope with +her, is that so?" + +"Mon cher," answered Anatole (their whole conversation was in French), +"I don't consider myself bound to answer questions put to me in that +tone." + +Pierre's face, already pale, became distorted by fury. He seized Anatole +by the collar of his uniform with his big hand and shook him from side +to side till Anatole's face showed a sufficient degree of terror. + +"When I tell you that I must talk to you!..." repeated Pierre. + +"Come now, this is stupid. What?" said Anatole, fingering a button of +his collar that had been wrenched loose with a bit of the cloth. + +"You're a scoundrel and a blackguard, and I don't know what deprives me +from the pleasure of smashing your head with this!" said Pierre, +expressing himself so artificially because he was talking French. + +He took a heavy paperweight and lifted it threateningly, but at once put +it back in its place. + +"Did you promise to marry her?" + +"I... I didn't think of it. I never promised, because..." + +Pierre interrupted him. + +"Have you any letters of hers? Any letters?" he said, moving toward +Anatole. + +Anatole glanced at him and immediately thrust his hand into his pocket +and drew out his pocketbook. + +Pierre took the letter Anatole handed him and, pushing aside a table +that stood in his way, threw himself on the sofa. + +"I shan't be violent, don't be afraid!" said Pierre in answer to a +frightened gesture of Anatole's. "First, the letters," said he, as if +repeating a lesson to himself. "Secondly," he continued after a short +pause, again rising and again pacing the room, "tomorrow you must get +out of Moscow." + +"But how can I?..." + +"Thirdly," Pierre continued without listening to him, "you must never +breathe a word of what has passed between you and Countess Rostova. I +know I can't prevent your doing so, but if you have a spark of +conscience..." Pierre paced the room several times in silence. + +Anatole sat at a table frowning and biting his lips. + +"After all, you must understand that besides your pleasure there is such +a thing as other people's happiness and peace, and that you are ruining +a whole life for the sake of amusing yourself! Amuse yourself with women +like my wife--with them you are within your rights, for they know what +you want of them. They are armed against you by the same experience of +debauchery; but to promise a maid to marry her... to deceive, to +kidnap.... Don't you understand that it is as mean as beating an old man +or a child?..." + +Pierre paused and looked at Anatole no longer with an angry but with a +questioning look. + +"I don't know about that, eh?" said Anatole, growing more confident as +Pierre mastered his wrath. "I don't know that and don't want to," he +said, not looking at Pierre and with a slight tremor of his lower jaw, +"but you have used such words to me--'mean' and so on--which as a man of +honor I can't allow anyone to use." + +Pierre glanced at him with amazement, unable to understand what he +wanted. + +"Though it was tête-à-tête," Anatole continued, "still I can't..." + +"Is it satisfaction you want?" said Pierre ironically. + +"You could at least take back your words. What? If you want me to do as +you wish, eh?" + +"I take them back, I take them back!" said Pierre, "and I ask you to +forgive me." Pierre involuntarily glanced at the loose button. "And if +you require money for your journey..." + +Anatole smiled. The expression of that base and cringing smile, which +Pierre knew so well in his wife, revolted him. + +"Oh, vile and heartless brood!" he exclaimed, and left the room. + +Next day Anatole left for Petersburg. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Pierre drove to Marya Dmitrievna's to tell her of the fulfillment of her +wish that Kuragin should be banished from Moscow. The whole house was in +a state of alarm and commotion. Natasha was very ill, having, as Marya +Dmitrievna told him in secret, poisoned herself the night after she had +been told that Anatole was married, with some arsenic she had stealthily +procured. After swallowing a little she had been so frightened that she +woke Sonya and told her what she had done. The necessary antidotes had +been administered in time and she was now out of danger, though still so +weak that it was out of the question to move her to the country, and so +the countess had been sent for. Pierre saw the distracted count, and +Sonya, who had a tear-stained face, but he could not see Natasha. + +Pierre dined at the club that day and heard on all sides gossip about +the attempted abduction of Rostova. He resolutely denied these rumors, +assuring everyone that nothing had happened except that his brother-in- +law had proposed to her and been refused. It seemed to Pierre that it +was his duty to conceal the whole affair and re-establish Natasha's +reputation. + +He was awaiting Prince Andrew's return with dread and went every day to +the old prince's for news of him. + +Old Prince Bolkonski heard all the rumors current in the town from +Mademoiselle Bourienne and had read the note to Princess Mary in which +Natasha had broken off her engagement. He seemed in better spirits than +usual and awaited his son with great impatience. + +Some days after Anatole's departure Pierre received a note from Prince +Andrew, informing him of his arrival and asking him to come to see him. + +As soon as he reached Moscow, Prince Andrew had received from his father +Natasha's note to Princess Mary breaking off her engagement +(Mademoiselle Bourienne had purloined it from Princess Mary and given it +to the old prince), and he heard from him the story of Natasha's +elopement, with additions. + +Prince Andrew had arrived in the evening and Pierre came to see him next +morning. Pierre expected to find Prince Andrew in almost the same state +as Natasha and was therefore surprised on entering the drawing room to +hear him in the study talking in a loud animated voice about some +intrigue going on in Petersburg. The old prince's voice and another now +and then interrupted him. Princess Mary came out to meet Pierre. She +sighed, looking toward the door of the room where Prince Andrew was, +evidently intending to express her sympathy with his sorrow, but Pierre +saw by her face that she was glad both at what had happened and at the +way her brother had taken the news of Natasha's faithlessness. + +"He says he expected it," she remarked. "I know his pride will not let +him express his feelings, but still he has taken it better, far better, +than I expected. Evidently it had to be...." + +"But is it possible that all is really ended?" asked Pierre. + +Princess Mary looked at him with astonishment. She did not understand +how he could ask such a question. Pierre went into the study. Prince +Andrew, greatly changed and plainly in better health, but with a fresh +horizontal wrinkle between his brows, stood in civilian dress facing his +father and Prince Meshcherski, warmly disputing and vigorously +gesticulating. The conversation was about Speranski--the news of whose +sudden exile and alleged treachery had just reached Moscow. + +"Now he is censured and accused by all who were enthusiastic about him a +month ago," Prince Andrew was saying, "and by those who were unable to +understand his aims. To judge a man who is in disfavor and to throw on +him all the blame of other men's mistakes is very easy, but I maintain +that if anything good has been accomplished in this reign it was done by +him, by him alone." + +He paused at the sight of Pierre. His face quivered and immediately +assumed a vindictive expression. + +"Posterity will do him justice," he concluded, and at once turned to +Pierre. + +"Well, how are you? Still getting stouter?" he said with animation, but +the new wrinkle on his forehead deepened. "Yes, I am well," he said in +answer to Pierre's question, and smiled. + +To Pierre that smile said plainly: "I am well, but my health is now of +no use to anyone." + +After a few words to Pierre about the awful roads from the Polish +frontier, about people he had met in Switzerland who knew Pierre, and +about M. Dessalles, whom he had brought from abroad to be his son's +tutor, Prince Andrew again joined warmly in the conversation about +Speranski which was still going on between the two old men. + +"If there were treason, or proofs of secret relations with Napoleon, +they would have been made public," he said with warmth and haste. "I do +not, and never did, like Speranski personally, but I like justice!" + +Pierre now recognized in his friend a need with which he was only too +familiar, to get excited and to have arguments about extraneous matters +in order to stifle thoughts that were too oppressive and too intimate. +When Prince Meshcherski had left, Prince Andrew took Pierre's arm and +asked him into the room that had been assigned him. A bed had been made +up there, and some open portmanteaus and trunks stood about. Prince +Andrew went to one and took out a small casket, from which he drew a +packet wrapped in paper. He did it all silently and very quickly. He +stood up and coughed. His face was gloomy and his lips compressed. + +"Forgive me for troubling you..." + +Pierre saw that Prince Andrew was going to speak of Natasha, and his +broad face expressed pity and sympathy. This expression irritated Prince +Andrew, and in a determined, ringing, and unpleasant tone he continued: + +"I have received a refusal from Countess Rostova and have heard reports +of your brother-in-law having sought her hand, or something of that +kind. Is that true?" + +"Both true and untrue," Pierre began; but Prince Andrew interrupted him. + +"Here are her letters and her portrait," said he. + +He took the packet from the table and handed it to Pierre. + +"Give this to the countess... if you see her." + +"She is very ill," said Pierre. + +"Then she is here still?" said Prince Andrew. "And Prince Kuragin?" he +added quickly. + +"He left long ago. She has been at death's door." + +"I much regret her illness," said Prince Andrew; and he smiled like his +father, coldly, maliciously, and unpleasantly. + +"So Monsieur Kuragin has not honored Countess Rostova with his hand?" +said Prince Andrew, and he snorted several times. + +"He could not marry, for he was married already," said Pierre. + +Prince Andrew laughed disagreeably, again reminding one of his father. + +"And where is your brother-in-law now, if I may ask?" he said. + +"He has gone to Peters... But I don't know," said Pierre. + +"Well, it doesn't matter," said Prince Andrew. "Tell Countess Rostova +that she was and is perfectly free and that I wish her all that is +good." + +Pierre took the packet. Prince Andrew, as if trying to remember whether +he had something more to say, or waiting to see if Pierre would say +anything, looked fixedly at him. + +"I say, do you remember our discussion in Petersburg?" asked Pierre, +"about..." + +"Yes," returned Prince Andrew hastily. "I said that a fallen woman +should be forgiven, but I didn't say I could forgive her. I can't." + +"But can this be compared...?" said Pierre. + +Prince Andrew interrupted him and cried sharply: "Yes, ask her hand +again, be magnanimous, and so on?... Yes, that would be very noble, but +I am unable to follow in that gentleman's footsteps. If you wish to be +my friend never speak to me of that... of all that! Well, good-by. So +you'll give her the packet?" + +Pierre left the room and went to the old prince and Princess Mary. + +The old man seemed livelier than usual. Princess Mary was the same as +always, but beneath her sympathy for her brother, Pierre noticed her +satisfaction that the engagement had been broken off. Looking at them +Pierre realized what contempt and animosity they all felt for the +Rostovs, and that it was impossible in their presence even to mention +the name of her who could give up Prince Andrew for anyone else. + +At dinner the talk turned on the war, the approach of which was becoming +evident. Prince Andrew talked incessantly, arguing now with his father, +now with the Swiss tutor Dessalles, and showing an unnatural animation, +the cause of which Pierre so well understood. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +That same evening Pierre went to the Rostovs' to fulfill the commission +entrusted to him. Natasha was in bed, the count at the club, and Pierre, +after giving the letters to Sonya, went to Marya Dmitrievna who was +interested to know how Prince Andrew had taken the news. Ten minutes +later Sonya came to Marya Dmitrievna. + +"Natasha insists on seeing Count Peter Kirilovich," said she. + +"But how? Are we to take him up to her? The room there has not been +tidied up." + +"No, she has dressed and gone into the drawing room," said Sonya. + +Marya Dmitrievna only shrugged her shoulders. + +"When will her mother come? She has worried me to death! Now mind, don't +tell her everything!" said she to Pierre. "One hasn't the heart to scold +her, she is so much to be pitied, so much to be pitied." + +Natasha was standing in the middle of the drawing room, emaciated, with +a pale set face, but not at all shamefaced as Pierre expected to find +her. When he appeared at the door she grew flurried, evidently undecided +whether to go to meet him or to wait till he came up. + +Pierre hastened to her. He thought she would give him her hand as usual; +but she, stepping up to him, stopped, breathing heavily, her arms +hanging lifelessly just in the pose she used to stand in when she went +to the middle of the ballroom to sing, but with quite a different +expression of face. + +"Peter Kirilovich," she began rapidly, "Prince Bolkonski was your +friend--is your friend," she corrected herself. (It seemed to her that +everything that had once been must now be different.) "He told me once +to apply to you..." + +Pierre sniffed as he looked at her, but did not speak. Till then he had +reproached her in his heart and tried to despise her, but he now felt so +sorry for her that there was no room in his soul for reproach. + +"He is here now: tell him... to for... forgive me!" She stopped and +breathed still more quickly, but did not shed tears. + +"Yes... I will tell him," answered Pierre; "but..." + +He did not know what to say. + +Natasha was evidently dismayed at the thought of what he might think she +had meant. + +"No, I know all is over," she said hurriedly. "No, that can never be. +I'm only tormented by the wrong I have done him. Tell him only that I +beg him to forgive, forgive, forgive me for everything...." + +She trembled all over and sat down on a chair. + +A sense of pity he had never before known overflowed Pierre's heart. + +"I will tell him, I will tell him everything once more," said Pierre. +"But... I should like to know one thing...." + +"Know what?" Natasha's eyes asked. + +"I should like to know, did you love..." Pierre did not know how to +refer to Anatole and flushed at the thought of him--"did you love that +bad man?" + +"Don't call him bad!" said Natasha. "But I don't know, don't know at +all...." + +She began to cry and a still greater sense of pity, tenderness, and love +welled up in Pierre. He felt the tears trickle under his spectacles and +hoped they would not be noticed. + +"We won't speak of it any more, my dear," said Pierre, and his gentle, +cordial tone suddenly seemed very strange to Natasha. + +"We won't speak of it, my dear--I'll tell him everything; but one thing +I beg of you, consider me your friend and if you want help, advice, or +simply to open your heart to someone--not now, but when your mind is +clearer think of me!" He took her hand and kissed it. "I shall be happy +if it's in my power..." + +Pierre grew confused. + +"Don't speak to me like that. I am not worth it!" exclaimed Natasha and +turned to leave the room, but Pierre held her hand. + +He knew he had something more to say to her. But when he said it he was +amazed at his own words. + +"Stop, stop! You have your whole life before you," said he to her. + + +"Before me? No! All is over for me," she replied with shame and self- +abasement. + +"All over?" he repeated. "If I were not myself, but the handsomest, +cleverest, and best man in the world, and were free, I would this moment +ask on my knees for your hand and your love!" + +For the first time for many days Natasha wept tears of gratitude and +tenderness, and glancing at Pierre she went out of the room. + +Pierre too when she had gone almost ran into the anteroom, restraining +tears of tenderness and joy that choked him, and without finding the +sleeves of his fur cloak threw it on and got into his sleigh. + +"Where to now, your excellency?" asked the coachman. + +"Where to?" Pierre asked himself. "Where can I go now? Surely not to the +club or to pay calls?" All men seemed so pitiful, so poor, in comparison +with this feeling of tenderness and love he experienced: in comparison +with that softened, grateful, last look she had given him through her +tears. + +"Home!" said Pierre, and despite twenty-two degrees of frost Fahrenheit +he threw open the bearskin cloak from his broad chest and inhaled the +air with joy. + +It was clear and frosty. Above the dirty, ill-lit streets, above the +black roofs, stretched the dark starry sky. Only looking up at the sky +did Pierre cease to feel how sordid and humiliating were all mundane +things compared with the heights to which his soul had just been raised. +At the entrance to the Arbat Square an immense expanse of dark starry +sky presented itself to his eyes. Almost in the center of it, above the +Prechistenka Boulevard, surrounded and sprinkled on all sides by stars +but distinguished from them all by its nearness to the earth, its white +light, and its long uplifted tail, shone the enormous and brilliant +comet of 1812--the comet which was said to portend all kinds of woes and +the end of the world. In Pierre, however, that comet with its long +luminous tail aroused no feeling of fear. On the contrary he gazed +joyfully, his eyes moist with tears, at this bright comet which, having +traveled in its orbit with inconceivable velocity through immeasurable +space, seemed suddenly--like an arrow piercing the earth--to remain +fixed in a chosen spot, vigorously holding its tail erect, shining and +displaying its white light amid countless other scintillating stars. It +seemed to Pierre that this comet fully responded to what was passing in +his own softened and uplifted soul, now blossoming into a new life. + +BOOK NINE: 1812 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +From the close of the year 1811 intensified arming and concentrating of +the forces of Western Europe began, and in 1812 these forces--millions +of men, reckoning those transporting and feeding the army--moved from +the west eastwards to the Russian frontier, toward which since 1811 +Russian forces had been similarly drawn. On the twelfth of June, 1812, +the forces of Western Europe crossed the Russian frontier and war began, +that is, an event took place opposed to human reason and to human +nature. Millions of men perpetrated against one another such innumerable +crimes, frauds, treacheries, thefts, forgeries, issues of false money, +burglaries, incendiarisms, and murders as in whole centuries are not +recorded in the annals of all the law courts of the world, but which +those who committed them did not at the time regard as being crimes. + +What produced this extraordinary occurrence? What were its causes? The +historians tell us with naive assurance that its causes were the wrongs +inflicted on the Duke of Oldenburg, the nonobservance of the Continental +System, the ambition of Napoleon, the firmness of Alexander, the +mistakes of the diplomatists, and so on. + +Consequently, it would only have been necessary for Metternich, +Rumyantsev, or Talleyrand, between a levee and an evening party, to have +taken proper pains and written a more adroit note, or for Napoleon to +have written to Alexander: "My respected Brother, I consent to restore +the duchy to the Duke of Oldenburg"--and there would have been no war. + +We can understand that the matter seemed like that to contemporaries. It +naturally seemed to Napoleon that the war was caused by England's +intrigues (as in fact he said on the island of St. Helena). It naturally +seemed to members of the English Parliament that the cause of the war +was Napoleon's ambition; to the Duke of Oldenburg, that the cause of the +war was the violence done to him; to businessmen that the cause of the +war was the Continental System which was ruining Europe; to the generals +and old soldiers that the chief reason for the war was the necessity of +giving them employment; to the legitimists of that day that it was the +need of re-establishing les bons principes, and to the diplomatists of +that time that it all resulted from the fact that the alliance between +Russia and Austria in 1809 had not been sufficiently well concealed from +Napoleon, and from the awkward wording of Memorandum No. 178. It is +natural that these and a countless and infinite quantity of other +reasons, the number depending on the endless diversity of points of +view, presented themselves to the men of that day; but to us, to +posterity who view the thing that happened in all its magnitude and +perceive its plain and terrible meaning, these causes seem insufficient. +To us it is incomprehensible that millions of Christian men killed and +tortured each other either because Napoleon was ambitious or Alexander +was firm, or because England's policy was astute or the Duke of +Oldenburg wronged. We cannot grasp what connection such circumstances +have with the actual fact of slaughter and violence: why because the +Duke was wronged, thousands of men from the other side of Europe killed +and ruined the people of Smolensk and Moscow and were killed by them. + +To us, their descendants, who are not historians and are not carried +away by the process of research and can therefore regard the event with +unclouded common sense, an incalculable number of causes present +themselves. The deeper we delve in search of these causes the more of +them we find; and each separate cause or whole series of causes appears +to us equally valid in itself and equally false by its insignificance +compared to the magnitude of the events, and by its impotence--apart +from the cooperation of all the other coincident causes--to occasion the +event. To us, the wish or objection of this or that French corporal to +serve a second term appears as much a cause as Napoleon's refusal to +withdraw his troops beyond the Vistula and to restore the duchy of +Oldenburg; for had he not wished to serve, and had a second, a third, +and a thousandth corporal and private also refused, there would have +been so many less men in Napoleon's army and the war could not have +occurred. + +Had Napoleon not taken offense at the demand that he should withdraw +beyond the Vistula, and not ordered his troops to advance, there would +have been no war; but had all his sergeants objected to serving a second +term then also there could have been no war. Nor could there have been a +war had there been no English intrigues and no Duke of Oldenburg, and +had Alexander not felt insulted, and had there not been an autocratic +government in Russia, or a Revolution in France and a subsequent +dictatorship and Empire, or all the things that produced the French +Revolution, and so on. Without each of these causes nothing could have +happened. So all these causes--myriads of causes--coincided to bring it +about. And so there was no one cause for that occurrence, but it had to +occur because it had to. Millions of men, renouncing their human +feelings and reason, had to go from west to east to slay their fellows, +just as some centuries previously hordes of men had come from the east +to the west, slaying their fellows. + +The actions of Napoleon and Alexander, on whose words the event seemed +to hang, were as little voluntary as the actions of any soldier who was +drawn into the campaign by lot or by conscription. This could not be +otherwise, for in order that the will of Napoleon and Alexander (on whom +the event seemed to depend) should be carried out, the concurrence of +innumerable circumstances was needed without any one of which the event +could not have taken place. It was necessary that millions of men in +whose hands lay the real power--the soldiers who fired, or transported +provisions and guns--should consent to carry out the will of these weak +individuals, and should have been induced to do so by an infinite number +of diverse and complex causes. + +We are forced to fall back on fatalism as an explanation of irrational +events (that is to say, events the reasonableness of which we do not +understand). The more we try to explain such events in history +reasonably, the more unreasonable and incomprehensible do they become to +us. + +Each man lives for himself, using his freedom to attain his personal +aims, and feels with his whole being that he can now do or abstain from +doing this or that action; but as soon as he has done it, that action +performed at a certain moment in time becomes irrevocable and belongs to +history, in which it has not a free but a predestined significance. + +There are two sides to the life of every man, his individual life, which +is the more free the more abstract its interests, and his elemental hive +life in which he inevitably obeys laws laid down for him. + +Man lives consciously for himself, but is an unconscious instrument in +the attainment of the historic, universal, aims of humanity. A deed done +is irrevocable, and its result coinciding in time with the actions of +millions of other men assumes an historic significance. The higher a man +stands on the social ladder, the more people he is connected with and +the more power he has over others, the more evident is the +predestination and inevitability of his every action. + +"The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord." + +A king is history's slave. + +History, that is, the unconscious, general, hive life of mankind, uses +every moment of the life of kings as a tool for its own purposes. + +Though Napoleon at that time, in 1812, was more convinced than ever that +it depended on him, verser (ou ne pas verser) le sang de ses peuples *-- +as Alexander expressed it in the last letter he wrote him--he had never +been so much in the grip of inevitable laws, which compelled him, while +thinking that he was acting on his own volition, to perform for the hive +life--that is to say, for history--whatever had to be performed. + + +* "To shed (or not to shed) the blood of his peoples." + +The people of the west moved eastwards to slay their fellow men, and by +the law of coincidence thousands of minute causes fitted in and co- +ordinated to produce that movement and war: reproaches for the +nonobservance of the Continental System, the Duke of Oldenburg's wrongs, +the movement of troops into Prussia--undertaken (as it seemed to +Napoleon) only for the purpose of securing an armed peace, the French +Emperor's love and habit of war coinciding with his people's +inclinations, allurement by the grandeur of the preparations, and the +expenditure on those preparations and the need of obtaining advantages +to compensate for that expenditure, the intoxicating honors he received +in Dresden, the diplomatic negotiations which, in the opinion of +contemporaries, were carried on with a sincere desire to attain peace, +but which only wounded the self-love of both sides, and millions of +other causes that adapted themselves to the event that was happening or +coincided with it. + +When an apple has ripened and falls, why does it fall? Because of its +attraction to the earth, because its stalk withers, because it is dried +by the sun, because it grows heavier, because the wind shakes it, or +because the boy standing below wants to eat it? + +Nothing is the cause. All this is only the coincidence of conditions in +which all vital organic and elemental events occur. And the botanist who +finds that the apple falls because the cellular tissue decays and so +forth is equally right with the child who stands under the tree and says +the apple fell because he wanted to eat it and prayed for it. Equally +right or wrong is he who says that Napoleon went to Moscow because he +wanted to, and perished because Alexander desired his destruction, and +he who says that an undermined hill weighing a million tons fell because +the last navvy struck it for the last time with his mattock. In historic +events the so-called great men are labels giving names to events, and +like labels they have but the smallest connection with the event itself. + +Every act of theirs, which appears to them an act of their own will, is +in an historical sense involuntary and is related to the whole course of +history and predestined from eternity. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +On the twenty-ninth of May Napoleon left Dresden, where he had spent +three weeks surrounded by a court that included princes, dukes, kings, +and even an emperor. Before leaving, Napoleon showed favor to the +emperor, kings, and princes who had deserved it, reprimanded the kings +and princes with whom he was dissatisfied, presented pearls and diamonds +of his own--that is, which he had taken from other kings--to the Empress +of Austria, and having, as his historian tells us, tenderly embraced the +Empress Marie Louise--who regarded him as her husband, though he had +left another wife in Paris--left her grieved by the parting which she +seemed hardly able to bear. Though the diplomatists still firmly +believed in the possibility of peace and worked zealously to that end, +and though the Emperor Napoleon himself wrote a letter to Alexander, +calling him Monsieur mon frere, and sincerely assured him that he did +not want war and would always love and honor him--yet he set off to join +his army, and at every station gave fresh orders to accelerate the +movement of his troops from west to east. He went in a traveling coach +with six horses, surrounded by pages, aides-de-camp, and an escort, +along the road to Posen, Thorn, Danzig, and Konigsberg. At each of these +towns thousands of people met him with excitement and enthusiasm. + +The army was moving from west to east, and relays of six horses carried +him in the same direction. On the tenth of June, * coming up with the +army, he spent the night in apartments prepared for him on the estate of +a Polish count in the Vilkavisski forest. + + +* Old style. + +Next day, overtaking the army, he went in a carriage to the Niemen, and, +changing into a Polish uniform, he drove to the riverbank in order to +select a place for the crossing. + +Seeing, on the other side, some Cossacks (les Cosaques) and the wide- +spreading steppes in the midst of which lay the holy city of Moscow +(Moscou, la ville sainte), the capital of a realm such as the Scythia +into which Alexander the Great had marched--Napoleon unexpectedly, and +contrary alike to strategic and diplomatic considerations, ordered an +advance, and the next day his army began to cross the Niemen. + +Early in the morning of the twelfth of June he came out of his tent, +which was pitched that day on the steep left bank of the Niemen, and +looked through a spyglass at the streams of his troops pouring out of +the Vilkavisski forest and flowing over the three bridges thrown across +the river. The troops, knowing of the Emperor's presence, were on the +lookout for him, and when they caught sight of a figure in an overcoat +and a cocked hat standing apart from his suite in front of his tent on +the hill, they threw up their caps and shouted: "Vive l'Empereur!" and +one after another poured in a ceaseless stream out of the vast forest +that had concealed them and, separating, flowed on and on by the three +bridges to the other side. + +"Now we'll go into action. Oh, when he takes it in hand himself, things +get hot... by heaven!... There he is!... Vive l'Empereur! So these are +the steppes of Asia! It's a nasty country all the same. Au revoir, +Beauche; I'll keep the best palace in Moscow for you! Au revoir. Good +luck!... Did you see the Emperor? Vive l'Empereur!... preur!--If they +make me Governor of India, Gerard, I'll make you Minister of Kashmir-- +that's settled. Vive l'Empereur! Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah! The Cossacks-- +those rascals--see how they run! Vive l'Empereur! There he is, do you +see him? I've seen him twice, as I see you now. The little corporal... I +saw him give the cross to one of the veterans.... Vive l'Empereur!" came +the voices of men, old and young, of most diverse characters and social +positions. On the faces of all was one common expression of joy at the +commencement of the long-expected campaign and of rapture and devotion +to the man in the gray coat who was standing on the hill. + +On the thirteenth of June a rather small, thoroughbred Arab horse was +brought to Napoleon. He mounted it and rode at a gallop to one of the +bridges over the Niemen, deafened continually by incessant and rapturous +acclamations which he evidently endured only because it was impossible +to forbid the soldiers to express their love of him by such shouting, +but the shouting which accompanied him everywhere disturbed him and +distracted him from the military cares that had occupied him from the +time he joined the army. He rode across one of the swaying pontoon +bridges to the farther side, turned sharply to the left, and galloped in +the direction of Kovno, preceded by enraptured, mounted chasseurs of the +Guard who, breathless with delight, galloped ahead to clear a path for +him through the troops. On reaching the broad river Viliya, he stopped +near a regiment of Polish uhlans stationed by the river. + +"Vivat!" shouted the Poles, ecstatically, breaking their ranks and +pressing against one another to see him. + +Napoleon looked up and down the river, dismounted, and sat down on a log +that lay on the bank. At a mute sign from him, a telescope was handed +him which he rested on the back of a happy page who had run up to him, +and he gazed at the opposite bank. Then he became absorbed in a map laid +out on the logs. Without lifting his head he said something, and two of +his aides-de-camp galloped off to the Polish uhlans. + +"What? What did he say?" was heard in the ranks of the Polish uhlans +when one of the aides-de-camp rode up to them. + +The order was to find a ford and to cross the river. The colonel of the +Polish uhlans, a handsome old man, flushed and, fumbling in his speech +from excitement, asked the aide-de-camp whether he would be permitted to +swim the river with his uhlans instead of seeking a ford. In evident +fear of refusal, like a boy asking for permission to get on a horse, he +begged to be allowed to swim across the river before the Emperor's eyes. +The aide-de-camp replied that probably the Emperor would not be +displeased at this excess of zeal. + +As soon as the aide-de-camp had said this, the old mustached officer, +with happy face and sparkling eyes, raised his saber, shouted "Vivat!" +and, commanding the uhlans to follow him, spurred his horse and galloped +into the river. He gave an angry thrust to his horse, which had grown +restive under him, and plunged into the water, heading for the deepest +part where the current was swift. Hundreds of uhlans galloped in after +him. It was cold and uncanny in the rapid current in the middle of the +stream, and the uhlans caught hold of one another as they fell off their +horses. Some of the horses were drowned and some of the men; the others +tried to swim on, some in the saddle and some clinging to their horses' +manes. They tried to make their way forward to the opposite bank and, +though there was a ford one third of a mile away, were proud that they +were swimming and drowning in this river under the eyes of the man who +sat on the log and was not even looking at what they were doing. When +the aide-de-camp, having returned and choosing an opportune moment, +ventured to draw the Emperor's attention to the devotion of the Poles to +his person, the little man in the gray overcoat got up and, having +summoned Berthier, began pacing up and down the bank with him, giving +him instructions and occasionally glancing disapprovingly at the +drowning uhlans who distracted his attention. + +For him it was no new conviction that his presence in any part of the +world, from Africa to the steppes of Muscovy alike, was enough to +dumfound people and impel them to insane self-oblivion. He called for +his horse and rode to his quarters. + +Some forty uhlans were drowned in the river, though boats were sent to +their assistance. The majority struggled back to the bank from which +they had started. The colonel and some of his men got across and with +difficulty clambered out on the further bank. And as soon as they had +got out, in their soaked and streaming clothes, they shouted "Vivat!" +and looked ecstatically at the spot where Napoleon had been but where he +no longer was and at that moment considered themselves happy. + +That evening, between issuing one order that the forged Russian paper +money prepared for use in Russia should be delivered as quickly as +possible and another that a Saxon should be shot, on whom a letter +containing information about the orders to the French army had been +found, Napoleon also gave instructions that the Polish colonel who had +needlessly plunged into the river should be enrolled in the Legion +d'honneur of which Napoleon was himself the head. + +Quos vult perdere dementat. * + + +* Those whom (God) wishes to destroy he drives mad. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Emperor of Russia had, meanwhile, been in Vilna for more than a +month, reviewing troops and holding maneuvers. Nothing was ready for the +war that everyone expected and to prepare for which the Emperor had come +from Petersburg. There was no general plan of action. The vacillation +between the various plans that were proposed had even increased after +the Emperor had been at headquarters for a month. Each of the three +armies had its own commander-in-chief, but there was no supreme +commander of all the forces, and the Emperor did not assume that +responsibility himself. + +The longer the Emperor remained in Vilna the less did everybody--tired +of waiting--prepare for the war. All the efforts of those who surrounded +the sovereign seemed directed merely to making him spend his time +pleasantly and forget that war was impending. + +In June, after many balls and fetes given by the Polish magnates, by the +courtiers, and by the Emperor himself, it occurred to one of the Polish +aides-de-camp in attendance that a dinner and ball should be given for +the Emperor by his aides-de-camp. This idea was eagerly received. The +Emperor gave his consent. The aides-de-camp collected money by +subscription. The lady who was thought to be most pleasing to the +Emperor was invited to act as hostess. Count Bennigsen, being a +landowner in the Vilna province, offered his country house for the fete, +and the thirteenth of June was fixed for a ball, dinner, regatta, and +fireworks at Zakret, Count Bennigsen's country seat. + +The very day that Napoleon issued the order to cross the Niemen, and his +vanguard, driving off the Cossacks, crossed the Russian frontier, +Alexander spent the evening at the entertainment given by his aides-de- +camp at Bennigsen's country house. + +It was a gay and brilliant fete. Connoisseurs of such matters declared +that rarely had so many beautiful women been assembled in one place. +Countess Bezukhova was present among other Russian ladies who had +followed the sovereign from Petersburg to Vilna and eclipsed the refined +Polish ladies by her massive, so-called Russian type of beauty. The +Emperor noticed her and honored her with a dance. + +Boris Drubetskoy, having left his wife in Moscow and being for the +present en garcon (as he phrased it), was also there and, though not an +aide-de-camp, had subscribed a large sum toward the expenses. Boris was +now a rich man who had risen to high honors and no longer sought +patronage but stood on an equal footing with the highest of those of his +own age. He was meeting Helene in Vilna after not having seen her for a +long time and did not recall the past, but as Helene was enjoying the +favors of a very important personage and Boris had only recently +married, they met as good friends of long standing. + +At midnight dancing was still going on. Helene, not having a suitable +partner, herself offered to dance the mazurka with Boris. They were the +third couple. Boris, coolly looking at Helene's dazzling bare shoulders +which emerged from a dark, gold-embroidered, gauze gown, talked to her +of old acquaintances and at the same time, unaware of it himself and +unnoticed by others, never for an instant ceased to observe the Emperor +who was in the same room. The Emperor was not dancing, he stood in the +doorway, stopping now one pair and now another with gracious words which +he alone knew how to utter. + +As the mazurka began, Boris saw that Adjutant General Balashev, one of +those in closest attendance on the Emperor, went up to him and contrary +to court etiquette stood near him while he was talking to a Polish lady. +Having finished speaking to her, the Emperor looked inquiringly at +Balashev and, evidently understanding that he only acted thus because +there were important reasons for so doing, nodded slightly to the lady +and turned to him. Hardly had Balashev begun to speak before a look of +amazement appeared on the Emperor's face. He took Balashev by the arm +and crossed the room with him, unconsciously clearing a path seven yards +wide as the people on both sides made way for him. Boris noticed +Arakcheev's excited face when the sovereign went out with Balashev. +Arakcheev looked at the Emperor from under his brow and, sniffing with +his red nose, stepped forward from the crowd as if expecting the Emperor +to address him. (Boris understood that Arakcheev envied Balashev and was +displeased that evidently important news had reached the Emperor +otherwise than through himself.) + +But the Emperor and Balashev passed out into the illuminated garden +without noticing Arakcheev who, holding his sword and glancing +wrathfully around, followed some twenty paces behind them. + +All the time Boris was going through the figures of the mazurka, he was +worried by the question of what news Balashev had brought and how he +could find it out before others. In the figure in which he had to choose +two ladies, he whispered to Helene that he meant to choose Countess +Potocka who, he thought, had gone out onto the veranda, and glided over +the parquet to the door opening into the garden, where, seeing Balashev +and the Emperor returning to the veranda, he stood still. They were +moving toward the door. Boris, fluttering as if he had not had time to +withdraw, respectfully pressed close to the doorpost with bowed head. + +The Emperor, with the agitation of one who has been personally +affronted, was finishing with these words: + +"To enter Russia without declaring war! I will not make peace as long as +a single armed enemy remains in my country!" It seemed to Boris that it +gave the Emperor pleasure to utter these words. He was satisfied with +the form in which he had expressed his thoughts, but displeased that +Boris had overheard it. + +"Let no one know of it!" the Emperor added with a frown. + +Boris understood that this was meant for him and, closing his eyes, +slightly bowed his head. The Emperor re-entered the ballroom and +remained there about another half-hour. + +Boris was thus the first to learn the news that the French army had +crossed the Niemen and, thanks to this, was able to show certain +important personages that much that was concealed from others was +usually known to him, and by this means he rose higher in their +estimation. + +The unexpected news of the French having crossed the Niemen was +particularly startling after a month of unfulfilled expectations, and at +a ball. On first receiving the news, under the influence of indignation +and resentment the Emperor had found a phrase that pleased him, fully +expressed his feelings, and has since become famous. On returning home +at two o'clock that night he sent for his secretary, Shishkov, and told +him to write an order to the troops and a rescript to Field Marshal +Prince Saltykov, in which he insisted on the words being inserted that +he would not make peace so long as a single armed Frenchman remained on +Russian soil. + +Next day the following letter was sent to Napoleon: + +Monsieur mon frere, + +Yesterday I learned that, despite the loyalty with which I have kept my +engagements with Your Majesty, your troops have crossed the Russian +frontier, and I have this moment received from Petersburg a note, in +which Count Lauriston informs me, as a reason for this aggression, that +Your Majesty has considered yourself to be in a state of war with me +from the time Prince Kuragin asked for his passports. The reasons on +which the Duc de Bassano based his refusal to deliver them to him would +never have led me to suppose that that could serve as a pretext for +aggression. In fact, the ambassador, as he himself has declared, was +never authorized to make that demand, and as soon as I was informed of +it I let him know how much I disapproved of it and ordered him to remain +at his post. If Your Majesty does not intend to shed the blood of our +peoples for such a misunderstanding, and consents to withdraw your +troops from Russian territory, I will regard what has passed as not +having occurred and an understanding between us will be possible. In the +contrary case, Your Majesty, I shall see myself forced to repel an +attack that nothing on my part has provoked. It still depends on Your +Majesty to preserve humanity from the calamity of another war. I am, +etc., + +(signed) Alexander. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +At two in the morning of the fourteenth of June, the Emperor, having +sent for Balashev and read him his letter to Napoleon, ordered him to +take it and hand it personally to the French Emperor. When dispatching +Balashev, the Emperor repeated to him the words that he would not make +peace so long as a single armed enemy remained on Russian soil and told +him to transmit those words to Napoleon. Alexander did not insert them +in his letter to Napoleon, because with his characteristic tact he felt +it would be injudicious to use them at a moment when a last attempt at +reconciliation was being made, but he definitely instructed Balashev to +repeat them personally to Napoleon. + +Having set off in the small hours of the fourteenth, accompanied by a +bugler and two Cossacks, Balashev reached the French outposts at the +village of Rykonty, on the Russian side of the Niemen, by dawn. There he +was stopped by French cavalry sentinels. + +A French noncommissioned officer of hussars, in crimson uniform and a +shaggy cap, shouted to the approaching Balashev to halt. Balashev did +not do so at once, but continued to advance along the road at a walking +pace. + +The noncommissioned officer frowned and, muttering words of abuse, +advanced his horse's chest against Balashev, put his hand to his saber, +and shouted rudely at the Russian general, asking: was he deaf that he +did not do as he was told? Balashev mentioned who he was. The +noncommissioned officer began talking with his comrades about regimental +matters without looking at the Russian general. + +After living at the seat of the highest authority and power, after +conversing with the Emperor less than three hours before, and in general +being accustomed to the respect due to his rank in the service, Balashev +found it very strange here on Russian soil to encounter this hostile, +and still more this disrespectful, application of brute force to +himself. + +The sun was only just appearing from behind the clouds, the air was +fresh and dewy. A herd of cattle was being driven along the road from +the village, and over the fields the larks rose trilling, one after +another, like bubbles rising in water. + +Balashev looked around him, awaiting the arrival of an officer from the +village. The Russian Cossacks and bugler and the French hussars looked +silently at one another from time to time. + +A French colonel of hussars, who had evidently just left his bed, came +riding from the village on a handsome sleek gray horse, accompanied by +two hussars. The officer, the soldiers, and their horses all looked +smart and well kept. + +It was that first period of a campaign when troops are still in full +trim, almost like that of peacetime maneuvers, but with a shade of +martial swagger in their clothes, and a touch of the gaiety and spirit +of enterprise which always accompany the opening of a campaign. + +The French colonel with difficulty repressed a yawn, but was polite and +evidently understood Balashev's importance. He led him past his soldiers +and behind the outposts and told him that his wish to be presented to +the Emperor would most likely be satisfied immediately, as the Emperor's +quarters were, he believed, not far off. + +They rode through the village of Rykonty, past tethered French hussar +horses, past sentinels and men who saluted their colonel and stared with +curiosity at a Russian uniform, and came out at the other end of the +village. The colonel said that the commander of the division was a mile +and a quarter away and would receive Balashev and conduct him to his +destination. + +The sun had by now risen and shone gaily on the bright verdure. + +They had hardly ridden up a hill, past a tavern, before they saw a group +of horsemen coming toward them. In front of the group, on a black horse +with trappings that glittered in the sun, rode a tall man with plumes in +his hat and black hair curling down to his shoulders. He wore a red +mantle, and stretched his long legs forward in French fashion. This man +rode toward Balashev at a gallop, his plumes flowing and his gems and +gold lace glittering in the bright June sunshine. + +Balashev was only two horses' length from the equestrian with the +bracelets, plumes, necklaces, and gold embroidery, who was galloping +toward him with a theatrically solemn countenance, when Julner, the +French colonel, whispered respectfully: "The King of Naples!" It was, in +fact, Murat, now called "King of Naples." Though it was quite +incomprehensible why he should be King of Naples, he was called so, and +was himself convinced that he was so, and therefore assumed a more +solemn and important air than formerly. He was so sure that he really +was the King of Naples that when, on the eve of his departure from that +city, while walking through the streets with his wife, some Italians +called out to him: "Viva il re!" * he turned to his wife with a pensive +smile and said: "Poor fellows, they don't know that I am leaving them +tomorrow!" + + +* "Long live the king." + +But though he firmly believed himself to be King of Naples and pitied +the grief felt by the subjects he was abandoning, latterly, after he had +been ordered to return to military service--and especially since his +last interview with Napoleon in Danzig, when his august brother-in-law +had told him: "I made you King that you should reign in my way, but not +in yours!"--he had cheerfully taken up his familiar business, and--like +a well-fed but not overfat horse that feels himself in harness and grows +skittish between the shafts--he dressed up in clothes as variegated and +expensive as possible, and gaily and contentedly galloped along the +roads of Poland, without himself knowing why or whither. + +On seeing the Russian general he threw back his head, with its long hair +curling to his shoulders, in a majestically royal manner, and looked +inquiringly at the French colonel. The colonel respectfully informed His +Majesty of Balashev's mission, whose name he could not pronounce. + +"De Bal-macheve!" said the King (overcoming by his assurance the +difficulty that had presented itself to the colonel). "Charmed to make +your acquaintance, General!" he added, with a gesture of kingly +condescension. + +As soon as the King began to speak loud and fast his royal dignity +instantly forsook him, and without noticing it he passed into his +natural tone of good-natured familiarity. He laid his hand on the +withers of Balashev's horse and said: + +"Well, General, it all looks like war," as if regretting a circumstance +of which he was unable to judge. + +"Your Majesty," replied Balashev, "my master, the Emperor, does not +desire war and as Your Majesty sees..." said Balashev, using the words +Your Majesty at every opportunity, with the affectation unavoidable in +frequently addressing one to whom the title was still a novelty. + +Murat's face beamed with stupid satisfaction as he listened to "Monsieur +de Bal-macheve." But royaute oblige! * and he felt it incumbent on him, +as a king and an ally, to confer on state affairs with Alexander's +envoy. He dismounted, took Balashev's arm, and moving a few steps away +from his suite, which waited respectfully, began to pace up and down +with him, trying to speak significantly. He referred to the fact that +the Emperor Napoleon had resented the demand that he should withdraw his +troops from Prussia, especially when that demand became generally known +and the dignity of France was thereby offended. + + +* "Royalty has its obligations." + +Balashev replied that there was "nothing offensive in the demand, +because..." but Murat interrupted him. + +"Then you don't consider the Emperor Alexander the aggressor?" he asked +unexpectedly, with a kindly and foolish smile. + +Balashev told him why he considered Napoleon to be the originator of the +war. + +"Oh, my dear general!" Murat again interrupted him, "with all my heart I +wish the Emperors may arrange the affair between them, and that the war +begun by no wish of mine may finish as quickly as possible!" said he, in +the tone of a servant who wants to remain good friends with another +despite a quarrel between their masters. + +And he went on to inquiries about the Grand Duke and the state of his +health, and to reminiscences of the gay and amusing times he had spent +with him in Naples. Then suddenly, as if remembering his royal dignity, +Murat solemnly drew himself up, assumed the pose in which he had stood +at his coronation, and, waving his right arm, said: + +"I won't detain you longer, General. I wish success to your mission," +and with his embroidered red mantle, his flowing feathers, and his +glittering ornaments, he rejoined his suite who were respectfully +awaiting him. + +Balashev rode on, supposing from Murat's words that he would very soon +be brought before Napoleon himself. But instead of that, at the next +village the sentinels of Davout's infantry corps detained him as the +pickets of the vanguard had done, and an adjutant of the corps +commander, who was fetched, conducted him into the village to Marshal +Davout. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Davout was to Napoleon what Arakcheev was to Alexander--though not a +coward like Arakcheev, he was as precise, as cruel, and as unable to +express his devotion to his monarch except by cruelty. + +In the organism of states such men are necessary, as wolves are +necessary in the organism of nature, and they always exist, always +appear and hold their own, however incongruous their presence and their +proximity to the head of the government may be. This inevitability alone +can explain how the cruel Arakcheev, who tore out a grenadier's mustache +with his own hands, whose weak nerves rendered him unable to face +danger, and who was neither an educated man nor a courtier, was able to +maintain his powerful position with Alexander, whose own character was +chivalrous, noble, and gentle. + +Balashev found Davout seated on a barrel in the shed of a peasant's hut, +writing--he was auditing accounts. Better quarters could have been found +him, but Marshal Davout was one of those men who purposely put +themselves in most depressing conditions to have a justification for +being gloomy. For the same reason they are always hard at work and in a +hurry. "How can I think of the bright side of life when, as you see, I +am sitting on a barrel and working in a dirty shed?" the expression of +his face seemed to say. The chief pleasure and necessity of such men, +when they encounter anyone who shows animation, is to flaunt their own +dreary, persistent activity. Davout allowed himself that pleasure when +Balashev was brought in. He became still more absorbed in his task when +the Russian general entered, and after glancing over his spectacles at +Balashev's face, which was animated by the beauty of the morning and by +his talk with Murat, he did not rise or even stir, but scowled still +more and sneered malevolently. + +When he noticed in Balashev's face the disagreeable impression this +reception produced, Davout raised his head and coldly asked what he +wanted. + +Thinking he could have been received in such a manner only because +Davout did not know that he was adjutant general to the Emperor +Alexander and even his envoy to Napoleon, Balashev hastened to inform +him of his rank and mission. Contrary to his expectation, Davout, after +hearing him, became still surlier and ruder. + +"Where is your dispatch?" he inquired. "Give it to me. I will send it to +the Emperor." + +Balashev replied that he had been ordered to hand it personally to the +Emperor. + +"Your Emperor's orders are obeyed in your army, but here," said Davout, +"you must do as you're told." + +And, as if to make the Russian general still more conscious of his +dependence on brute force, Davout sent an adjutant to call the officer +on duty. + +Balashev took out the packet containing the Emperor's letter and laid it +on the table (made of a door with its hinges still hanging on it, laid +across two barrels). Davout took the packet and read the inscription. + +"You are perfectly at liberty to treat me with respect or not," +protested Balashev, "but permit me to observe that I have the honor to +be adjutant general to His Majesty...." + +Davout glanced at him silently and plainly derived pleasure from the +signs of agitation and confusion which appeared on Balashev's face. + +"You will be treated as is fitting," said he and, putting the packet in +his pocket, left the shed. + +A minute later the marshal's adjutant, de Castres, came in and conducted +Balashev to the quarters assigned him. + +That day he dined with the marshal, at the same board on the barrels. + +Next day Davout rode out early and, after asking Balashev to come to +him, peremptorily requested him to remain there, to move on with the +baggage train should orders come for it to move, and to talk to no one +except Monsieur de Castres. + +After four days of solitude, ennui, and consciousness of his impotence +and insignificance--particularly acute by contrast with the sphere of +power in which he had so lately moved--and after several marches with +the marshal's baggage and the French army, which occupied the whole +district, Balashev was brought to Vilna--now occupied by the French-- +through the very gate by which he had left it four days previously. + +Next day the imperial gentleman-in-waiting, the Comte de Turenne, came +to Balashev and informed him of the Emperor Napoleon's wish to honor him +with an audience. + +Four days before, sentinels of the Preobrazhensk regiment had stood in +front of the house to which Balashev was conducted, and now two French +grenadiers stood there in blue uniforms unfastened in front and with +shaggy caps on their heads, and an escort of hussars and uhlans and a +brilliant suite of aides-de-camp, pages, and generals, who were waiting +for Napoleon to come out, were standing at the porch, round his saddle +horse and his Mameluke, Rustan. Napoleon received Balashev in the very +house in Vilna from which Alexander had dispatched him on his mission. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Though Balashev was used to imperial pomp, he was amazed at the luxury +and magnificence of Napoleon's court. + +The Comte de Turenne showed him into a big reception room where many +generals, gentlemen-in-waiting, and Polish magnates--several of whom +Balashev had seen at the court of the Emperor of Russia--were waiting. +Duroc said that Napoleon would receive the Russian general before going +for his ride. + +After some minutes, the gentleman-in-waiting who was on duty came into +the great reception room and, bowing politely, asked Balashev to follow +him. + +Balashev went into a small reception room, one door of which led into a +study, the very one from which the Russian Emperor had dispatched him on +his mission. He stood a minute or two, waiting. He heard hurried +footsteps beyond the door, both halves of it were opened rapidly; all +was silent and then from the study the sound was heard of other steps, +firm and resolute--they were those of Napoleon. He had just finished +dressing for his ride, and wore a blue uniform, opening in front over a +white waistcoat so long that it covered his rotund stomach, white +leather breeches tightly fitting the fat thighs of his short legs, and +Hessian boots. His short hair had evidently just been brushed, but one +lock hung down in the middle of his broad forehead. His plump white neck +stood out sharply above the black collar of his uniform, and he smelled +of Eau de Cologne. His full face, rather young-looking, with its +prominent chin, wore a gracious and majestic expression of imperial +welcome. + +He entered briskly, with a jerk at every step and his head slightly +thrown back. His whole short corpulent figure with broad thick +shoulders, and chest and stomach involuntarily protruding, had that +imposing and stately appearance one sees in men of forty who live in +comfort. It was evident, too, that he was in the best of spirits that +day. + +He nodded in answer to Balashav's low and respectful bow, and coming up +to him at once began speaking like a man who values every moment of his +time and does not condescend to prepare what he has to say but is sure +he will always say the right thing and say it well. + +"Good day, General!" said he. "I have received the letter you brought +from the Emperor Alexander and am very glad to see you." He glanced with +his large eyes into Balashav's face and immediately looked past him. + +It was plain that Balashev's personality did not interest him at all. +Evidently only what took place within his own mind interested him. +Nothing outside himself had any significance for him, because everything +in the world, it seemed to him, depended entirely on his will. + +"I do not, and did not, desire war," he continued, "but it has been +forced on me. Even now" (he emphasized the word) "I am ready to receive +any explanations you can give me." + +And he began clearly and concisely to explain his reasons for +dissatisfaction with the Russian government. Judging by the calmly +moderate and amicable tone in which the French Emperor spoke, Balashev +was firmly persuaded that he wished for peace and intended to enter into +negotiations. + +When Napoleon, having finished speaking, looked inquiringly at the +Russian envoy, Balashev began a speech he had prepared long before: +"Sire! The Emperor, my master..." but the sight of the Emperor's eyes +bent on him confused him. "You are flurried--compose yourself!" Napoleon +seemed to say, as with a scarcely perceptible smile he looked at +Balashev's uniform and sword. + +Balashev recovered himself and began to speak. He said that the Emperor +Alexander did not consider Kurakin's demand for his passports a +sufficient cause for war; that Kurakin had acted on his own initiative +and without his sovereign's assent, that the Emperor Alexander did not +desire war, and had no relations with England. + +"Not yet!" interposed Napoleon, and, as if fearing to give vent to his +feelings, he frowned and nodded slightly as a sign that Balashev might +proceed. + +After saying all he had been instructed to say, Balashev added that the +Emperor Alexander wished for peace, but would not enter into +negotiations except on condition that... Here Balashev hesitated: he +remembered the words the Emperor Alexander had not written in his +letter, but had specially inserted in the rescript to Saltykov and had +told Balashev to repeat to Napoleon. Balashev remembered these words, +"So long as a single armed foe remains on Russian soil," but some +complex feeling restrained him. He could not utter them, though he +wished to do so. He grew confused and said: "On condition that the +French army retires beyond the Niemen." + +Napoleon noticed Balashev's embarrassment when uttering these last +words; his face twitched and the calf of his left leg began to quiver +rhythmically. Without moving from where he stood he began speaking in a +louder tone and more hurriedly than before. During the speech that +followed, Balashev, who more than once lowered his eyes, involuntarily +noticed the quivering of Napoleon's left leg which increased the more +Napoleon raised his voice. + +"I desire peace, no less than the Emperor Alexander," he began. "Have I +not for eighteen months been doing everything to obtain it? I have +waited eighteen months for explanations. But in order to begin +negotiations, what is demanded of me?" he said, frowning and making an +energetic gesture of inquiry with his small white plump hand. + +"The withdrawal of your army beyond the Niemen, sire," replied Balashev. + +"The Niemen?" repeated Napoleon. "So now you want me to retire beyond +the Niemen--only the Niemen?" repeated Napoleon, looking straight at +Balashev. + +The latter bowed his head respectfully. + +Instead of the demand of four months earlier to withdraw from Pomerania, +only a withdrawal beyond the Niemen was now demanded. Napoleon turned +quickly and began to pace the room. + +"You say the demand now is that I am to withdraw beyond the Niemen +before commencing negotiations, but in just the same way two months ago +the demand was that I should withdraw beyond the Vistula and the Oder, +and yet you are willing to negotiate." + +He went in silence from one corner of the room to the other and again +stopped in front of Balashev. Balashev noticed that his left leg was +quivering faster than before and his face seemed petrified in its stern +expression. This quivering of his left leg was a thing Napoleon was +conscious of. "The vibration of my left calf is a great sign with me," +he remarked at a later date. + +"Such demands as to retreat beyond the Vistula and Oder may be made to a +Prince of Baden, but not to me!" Napoleon almost screamed, quite to his +own surprise. "If you gave me Petersburg and Moscow I could not accept +such conditions. You say I have begun this war! But who first joined his +army? The Emperor Alexander, not I! And you offer me negotiations when I +have expended millions, when you are in alliance with England, and when +your position is a bad one. You offer me negotiations! But what is the +aim of your alliance with England? What has she given you?" he continued +hurriedly, evidently no longer trying to show the advantages of peace +and discuss its possibility, but only to prove his own rectitude and +power and Alexander's errors and duplicity. + +The commencement of his speech had obviously been made with the +intention of demonstrating the advantages of his position and showing +that he was nevertheless willing to negotiate. But he had begun talking, +and the more he talked the less could he control his words. + +The whole purport of his remarks now was evidently to exalt himself and +insult Alexander--just what he had least desired at the commencement of +the interview. + +"I hear you have made peace with Turkey?" + +Balashev bowed his head affirmatively. + +"Peace has been concluded..." he began. + +But Napoleon did not let him speak. He evidently wanted to do all the +talking himself, and continued to talk with the sort of eloquence and +unrestrained irritability to which spoiled people are so prone. + +"Yes, I know you have made peace with the Turks without obtaining +Moldavia and Wallachia; I would have given your sovereign those +provinces as I gave him Finland. Yes," he went on, "I promised and would +have given the Emperor Alexander Moldavia and Wallachia, and now he +won't have those splendid provinces. Yet he might have united them to +his empire and in a single reign would have extended Russia from the +Gulf of Bothnia to the mouths of the Danube. Catherine the Great could +not have done more," said Napoleon, growing more and more excited as he +paced up and down the room, repeating to Balashev almost the very words +he had used to Alexander himself at Tilsit. "All that, he would have +owed to my friendship. Oh, what a splendid reign!" he repeated several +times, then paused, drew from his pocket a gold snuffbox, lifted it to +his nose, and greedily sniffed at it. + +"What a splendid reign the Emperor Alexander's might have been!" + +He looked compassionately at Balashev, and as soon as the latter tried +to make some rejoinder hastily interrupted him. + +"What could he wish or look for that he would not have obtained through +my friendship?" demanded Napoleon, shrugging his shoulders in +perplexity. "But no, he has preferred to surround himself with my +enemies, and with whom? With Steins, Armfeldts, Bennigsens, and +Wintzingerodes! Stein, a traitor expelled from his own country; +Armfeldt, a rake and an intriguer; Wintzingerode, a fugitive French +subject; Bennigsen, rather more of a soldier than the others, but all +the same an incompetent who was unable to do anything in 1807 and who +should awaken terrible memories in the Emperor Alexander's mind.... +Granted that were they competent they might be made use of," continued +Napoleon--hardly able to keep pace in words with the rush of thoughts +that incessantly sprang up, proving how right and strong he was (in his +perception the two were one and the same)--"but they are not even that! +They are neither fit for war nor peace! Barclay is said to be the most +capable of them all, but I cannot say so, judging by his first +movements. And what are they doing, all these courtiers? Pfuel proposes, +Armfeldt disputes, Bennigsen considers, and Barclay, called on to act, +does not know what to decide on, and time passes bringing no result. +Bagration alone is a military man. He's stupid, but he has experience, a +quick eye, and resolution.... And what role is your young monarch +playing in that monstrous crowd? They compromise him and throw on him +the responsibility for all that happens. A sovereign should not be with +the army unless he is a general!" said Napoleon, evidently uttering +these words as a direct challenge to the Emperor. He knew how Alexander +desired to be a military commander. + +"The campaign began only a week ago, and you haven't even been able to +defend Vilna. You are cut in two and have been driven out of the Polish +provinces. Your army is grumbling." + +"On the contrary, Your Majesty," said Balashev, hardly able to remember +what had been said to him and following these verbal fireworks with +difficulty, "the troops are burning with eagerness..." + +"I know everything!" Napoleon interrupted him. "I know everything. I +know the number of your battalions as exactly as I know my own. You have +not two hundred thousand men, and I have three times that number. I give +you my word of honor," said Napoleon, forgetting that his word of honor +could carry no weight--"I give you my word of honor that I have five +hundred and thirty thousand men this side of the Vistula. The Turks will +be of no use to you; they are worth nothing and have shown it by making +peace with you. As for the Swedes--it is their fate to be governed by +mad kings. Their king was insane and they changed him for another-- +Bernadotte, who promptly went mad--for no Swede would ally himself with +Russia unless he were mad." + +Napoleon grinned maliciously and again raised his snuffbox to his nose. + +Balashev knew how to reply to each of Napoleon's remarks, and would have +done so; he continually made the gesture of a man wishing to say +something, but Napoleon always interrupted him. To the alleged insanity +of the Swedes, Balashev wished to reply that when Russia is on her side +Sweden is practically an island: but Napoleon gave an angry exclamation +to drown his voice. Napoleon was in that state of irritability in which +a man has to talk, talk, and talk, merely to convince himself that he is +in the right. Balashev began to feel uncomfortable: as envoy he feared +to demean his dignity and felt the necessity of replying; but, as a man, +he shrank before the transport of groundless wrath that had evidently +seized Napoleon. He knew that none of the words now uttered by Napoleon +had any significance, and that Napoleon himself would be ashamed of them +when he came to his senses. Balashev stood with downcast eyes, looking +at the movements of Napoleon's stout legs and trying to avoid meeting +his eyes. + +"But what do I care about your allies?" said Napoleon. "I have allies-- +the Poles. There are eighty thousand of them and they fight like lions. +And there will be two hundred thousand of them." + +And probably still more perturbed by the fact that he had uttered this +obvious falsehood, and that Balashev still stood silently before him in +the same attitude of submission to fate, Napoleon abruptly turned round, +drew close to Balashev's face, and, gesticulating rapidly and +energetically with his white hands, almost shouted: + +"Know that if you stir up Prussia against me, I'll wipe it off the map +of Europe!" he declared, his face pale and distorted by anger, and he +struck one of his small hands energetically with the other. "Yes, I will +throw you back beyond the Dvina and beyond the Dnieper, and will re- +erect against you that barrier which it was criminal and blind of Europe +to allow to be destroyed. Yes, that is what will happen to you. That is +what you have gained by alienating me!" And he walked silently several +times up and down the room, his fat shoulders twitching. + +He put his snuffbox into his waistcoat pocket, took it out again, lifted +it several times to his nose, and stopped in front of Balashev. He +paused, looked ironically straight into Balashev's eyes, and said in a +quiet voice: + +"And yet what a splendid reign your master might have had!" + +Balashev, feeling it incumbent on him to reply, said that from the +Russian side things did not appear in so gloomy a light. Napoleon was +silent, still looking derisively at him and evidently not listening to +him. Balashev said that in Russia the best results were expected from +the war. Napoleon nodded condescendingly, as if to say, "I know it's +your duty to say that, but you don't believe it yourself. I have +convinced you." + +When Balashev had ended, Napoleon again took out his snuffbox, sniffed +at it, and stamped his foot twice on the floor as a signal. The door +opened, a gentleman-in-waiting, bending respectfully, handed the Emperor +his hat and gloves; another brought him a pocket handkerchief. Napoleon, +without giving them a glance, turned to Balashev: + +"Assure the Emperor Alexander from me," said he, taking his hat, "that I +am as devoted to him as before: I know him thoroughly and very highly +esteem his lofty qualities. I will detain you no longer, General; you +shall receive my letter to the Emperor." + +And Napoleon went quickly to the door. Everyone in the reception room +rushed forward and descended the staircase. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +After all that Napoleon had said to him--those bursts of anger and the +last dryly spoken words: "I will detain you no longer, General; you +shall receive my letter," Balashev felt convinced that Napoleon would +not wish to see him, and would even avoid another meeting with him--an +insulted envoy--especially as he had witnessed his unseemly anger. But, +to his surprise, Balashev received, through Duroc, an invitation to dine +with the Emperor that day. + +Bessieres, Caulaincourt, and Berthier were present at that dinner. + +Napoleon met Balashev cheerfully and amiably. He not only showed no sign +of constraint or self-reproach on account of his outburst that morning, +but, on the contrary, tried to reassure Balashev. It was evident that he +had long been convinced that it was impossible for him to make a +mistake, and that in his perception whatever he did was right, not +because it harmonized with any idea of right and wrong, but because he +did it. + +The Emperor was in very good spirits after his ride through Vilna, where +crowds of people had rapturously greeted and followed him. From all the +windows of the streets through which he rode, rugs, flags, and his +monogram were displayed, and the Polish ladies, welcoming him, waved +their handkerchiefs to him. + +At dinner, having placed Balashev beside him, Napoleon not only treated +him amiably but behaved as if Balashev were one of his own courtiers, +one of those who sympathized with his plans and ought to rejoice at his +success. In the course of conversation he mentioned Moscow and +questioned Balashev about the Russian capital, not merely as an +interested traveler asks about a new city he intends to visit, but as if +convinced that Balashev, as a Russian, must be flattered by his +curiosity. + +"How many inhabitants are there in Moscow? How many houses? Is it true +that Moscow is called 'Holy Moscow'? How many churches are there in +Moscow?" he asked. + +And receiving the reply that there were more than two hundred churches, +he remarked: + +"Why such a quantity of churches?" + +"The Russians are very devout," replied Balashev. + +"But a large number of monasteries and churches is always a sign of the +backwardness of a people," said Napoleon, turning to Caulaincourt for +appreciation of this remark. + +Balashev respectfully ventured to disagree with the French Emperor. + +"Every country has its own character," said he. + +"But nowhere in Europe is there anything like that," said Napoleon. + +"I beg your Majesty's pardon," returned Balashev, "besides Russia there +is Spain, where there are also many churches and monasteries." + +This reply of Balashev's, which hinted at the recent defeats of the +French in Spain, was much appreciated when he related it at Alexander's +court, but it was not much appreciated at Napoleon's dinner, where it +passed unnoticed. + +The uninterested and perplexed faces of the marshals showed that they +were puzzled as to what Balashev's tone suggested. "If there is a point +we don't see it, or it is not at all witty," their expressions seemed to +say. So little was his rejoinder appreciated that Napoleon did not +notice it at all and naively asked Balashev through what towns the +direct road from there to Moscow passed. Balashev, who was on the alert +all through the dinner, replied that just as "all roads lead to Rome," +so all roads lead to Moscow: there were many roads, and "among them the +road through Poltava, which Charles XII chose." Balashev involuntarily +flushed with pleasure at the aptitude of this reply, but hardly had he +uttered the word Poltava before Caulaincourt began speaking of the +badness of the road from Petersburg to Moscow and of his Petersburg +reminiscences. + +After dinner they went to drink coffee in Napoleon's study, which four +days previously had been that of the Emperor Alexander. Napoleon sat +down, toying with his Sevres coffee cup, and motioned Balashev to a +chair beside him. + +Napoleon was in that well-known after-dinner mood which, more than any +reasoned cause, makes a man contented with himself and disposed to +consider everyone his friend. It seemed to him that he was surrounded by +men who adored him: and he felt convinced that, after his dinner, +Balashev too was his friend and worshiper. Napoleon turned to him with a +pleasant, though slightly ironic, smile. + +"They tell me this is the room the Emperor Alexander occupied? Strange, +isn't it, General?" he said, evidently not doubting that this remark +would be agreeable to his hearer since it went to prove his, Napoleon's, +superiority to Alexander. + +Balashev made no reply and bowed his head in silence. + +"Yes. Four days ago in this room, Wintzingerode and Stein were +deliberating," continued Napoleon with the same derisive and self- +confident smile. "What I can't understand," he went on, "is that the +Emperor Alexander has surrounded himself with my personal enemies. That +I do not... understand. Has he not thought that I may do the same?" and +he turned inquiringly to Balashev, and evidently this thought turned him +back on to the track of his morning's anger, which was still fresh in +him. + +"And let him know that I will do so!" said Napoleon, rising and pushing +his cup away with his hand. "I'll drive all his Wurttemberg, Baden, and +Weimar relations out of Germany.... Yes. I'll drive them out. Let him +prepare an asylum for them in Russia!" + +Balashev bowed his head with an air indicating that he would like to +make his bow and leave, and only listened because he could not help +hearing what was said to him. Napoleon did not notice this expression; +he treated Balashev not as an envoy from his enemy, but as a man now +fully devoted to him and who must rejoice at his former master's +humiliation. + +"And why has the Emperor Alexander taken command of the armies? What is +the good of that? War is my profession, but his business is to reign and +not to command armies! Why has he taken on himself such a +responsibility?" + +Again Napoleon brought out his snuffbox, paced several times up and down +the room in silence, and then, suddenly and unexpectedly, went up to +Balashev and with a slight smile, as confidently, quickly, and simply as +if he were doing something not merely important but pleasing to +Balashev, he raised his hand to the forty-year-old Russian general's +face and, taking him by the ear, pulled it gently, smiling with his lips +only. + +To have one's ear pulled by the Emperor was considered the greatest +honor and mark of favor at the French court. + +"Well, adorer and courtier of the Emperor Alexander, why don't you say +anything?" said he, as if it was ridiculous, in his presence, to be the +adorer and courtier of anyone but himself, Napoleon. "Are the horses +ready for the general?" he added, with a slight inclination of his head +in reply to Balashev's bow. "Let him have mine, he has a long way to +go!" + +The letter taken by Balashev was the last Napoleon sent to Alexander. +Every detail of the interview was communicated to the Russian monarch, +and the war began... + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +After his interview with Pierre in Moscow, Prince Andrew went to +Petersburg, on business as he told his family, but really to meet +Anatole Kuragin whom he felt it necessary to encounter. On reaching +Petersburg he inquired for Kuragin but the latter had already left the +city. Pierre had warned his brother-in-law that Prince Andrew was on his +track. Anatole Kuragin promptly obtained an appointment from the +Minister of War and went to join the army in Moldavia. While in +Petersburg Prince Andrew met Kutuzov, his former commander who was +always well disposed toward him, and Kutuzov suggested that he should +accompany him to the army in Moldavia, to which the old general had been +appointed commander-in-chief. So Prince Andrew, having received an +appointment on the headquarters staff, left for Turkey. + +Prince Andrew did not think it proper to write and challenge Kuragin. He +thought that if he challenged him without some fresh cause it might +compromise the young Countess Rostova and so he wanted to meet Kuragin +personally in order to find a fresh pretext for a duel. But he again +failed to meet Kuragin in Turkey, for soon after Prince Andrew arrived, +the latter returned to Russia. In a new country, amid new conditions, +Prince Andrew found life easier to bear. After his betrothed had broken +faith with him--which he felt the more acutely the more he tried to +conceal its effects--the surroundings in which he had been happy became +trying to him, and the freedom and independence he had once prized so +highly were still more so. Not only could he no longer think the +thoughts that had first come to him as he lay gazing at the sky on the +field of Austerlitz and had later enlarged upon with Pierre, and which +had filled his solitude at Bogucharovo and then in Switzerland and Rome, +but he even dreaded to recall them and the bright and boundless horizons +they had revealed. He was now concerned only with the nearest practical +matters unrelated to his past interests, and he seized on these the more +eagerly the more those past interests were closed to him. It was as if +that lofty, infinite canopy of heaven that had once towered above him +had suddenly turned into a low, solid vault that weighed him down, in +which all was clear, but nothing eternal or mysterious. + +Of the activities that presented themselves to him, army service was the +simplest and most familiar. As a general on duty on Kutuzov's staff, he +applied himself to business with zeal and perseverance and surprised +Kutuzov by his willingness and accuracy in work. Not having found +Kuragin in Turkey, Prince Andrew did not think it necessary to rush back +to Russia after him, but all the same he knew that however long it might +be before he met Kuragin, despite his contempt for him and despite all +the proofs he deduced to convince himself that it was not worth stooping +to a conflict with him--he knew that when he did meet him he would not +be able to resist calling him out, any more than a ravenous man can help +snatching at food. And the consciousness that the insult was not yet +avenged, that his rancor was still unspent, weighed on his heart and +poisoned the artificial tranquillity which he managed to obtain in +Turkey by means of restless, plodding, and rather vainglorious and +ambitious activity. + +In the year 1812, when news of the war with Napoleon reached Bucharest-- +where Kutuzov had been living for two months, passing his days and +nights with a Wallachian woman--Prince Andrew asked Kutuzov to transfer +him to the Western Army. Kutuzov, who was already weary of Bolkonski's +activity which seemed to reproach his own idleness, very readily let him +go and gave him a mission to Barclay de Tolly. + +Before joining the Western Army which was then, in May, encamped at +Drissa, Prince Andrew visited Bald Hills which was directly on his way, +being only two miles off the Smolensk highroad. During the last three +years there had been so many changes in his life, he had thought, felt, +and seen so much (having traveled both in the east and the west), that +on reaching Bald Hills it struck him as strange and unexpected to find +the way of life there unchanged and still the same in every detail. He +entered through the gates with their stone pillars and drove up the +avenue leading to the house as if he were entering an enchanted, +sleeping castle. The same old stateliness, the same cleanliness, the +same stillness reigned there, and inside there was the same furniture, +the same walls, sounds, and smell, and the same timid faces, only +somewhat older. Princess Mary was still the same timid, plain maiden +getting on in years, uselessly and joylessly passing the best years of +her life in fear and constant suffering. Mademoiselle Bourienne was the +same coquettish, self-satisfied girl, enjoying every moment of her +existence and full of joyous hopes for the future. She had merely become +more self-confident, Prince Andrew thought. Dessalles, the tutor he had +brought from Switzerland, was wearing a coat of Russian cut and talking +broken Russian to the servants, but was still the same narrowly +intelligent, conscientious, and pedantic preceptor. The old prince had +changed in appearance only by the loss of a tooth, which left a +noticeable gap on one side of his mouth; in character he was the same as +ever, only showing still more irritability and skepticism as to what was +happening in the world. Little Nicholas alone had changed. He had grown, +become rosier, had curly dark hair, and, when merry and laughing, quite +unconsciously lifted the upper lip of his pretty little mouth just as +the little princess used to do. He alone did not obey the law of +immutability in the enchanted, sleeping castle. But though externally +all remained as of old, the inner relations of all these people had +changed since Prince Andrew had seen them last. The household was +divided into two alien and hostile camps, who changed their habits for +his sake and only met because he was there. To the one camp belonged the +old prince, Mademoiselle Bourienne, and the architect; to the other +Princess Mary, Dessalles, little Nicholas, and all the old nurses and +maids. + +During his stay at Bald Hills all the family dined together, but they +were ill at ease and Prince Andrew felt that he was a visitor for whose +sake an exception was being made and that his presence made them all +feel awkward. Involuntarily feeling this at dinner on the first day, he +was taciturn, and the old prince noticing this also became morosely dumb +and retired to his apartments directly after dinner. In the evening, +when Prince Andrew went to him and, trying to rouse him, began to tell +him of the young Count Kamensky's campaign, the old prince began +unexpectedly to talk about Princess Mary, blaming her for her +superstitions and her dislike of Mademoiselle Bourienne, who, he said, +was the only person really attached to him. + +The old prince said that if he was ill it was only because of Princess +Mary: that she purposely worried and irritated him, and that by +indulgence and silly talk she was spoiling little Prince Nicholas. The +old prince knew very well that he tormented his daughter and that her +life was very hard, but he also knew that he could not help tormenting +her and that she deserved it. "Why does Prince Andrew, who sees this, +say nothing to me about his sister? Does he think me a scoundrel, or an +old fool who, without any reason, keeps his own daughter at a distance +and attaches this Frenchwoman to himself? He doesn't understand, so I +must explain it, and he must hear me out," thought the old prince. And +he began explaining why he could not put up with his daughter's +unreasonable character. + +"If you ask me," said Prince Andrew, without looking up (he was +censuring his father for the first time in his life), "I did not wish to +speak about it, but as you ask me I will give you my frank opinion. If +there is any misunderstanding and discord between you and Mary, I can't +blame her for it at all. I know how she loves and respects you. Since +you ask me," continued Prince Andrew, becoming irritable--as he was +always liable to do of late--"I can only say that if there are any +misunderstandings they are caused by that worthless woman, who is not +fit to be my sister's companion." + +The old man at first stared fixedly at his son, and an unnatural smile +disclosed the fresh gap between his teeth to which Prince Andrew could +not get accustomed. + +"What companion, my dear boy? Eh? You've already been talking it over! +Eh?" + +"Father, I did not want to judge," said Prince Andrew, in a hard and +bitter tone, "but you challenged me, and I have said, and always shall +say, that Mary is not to blame, but those to blame--the one to blame--is +that Frenchwoman." + +"Ah, he has passed judgment... passed judgement!" said the old man in a +low voice and, as it seemed to Prince Andrew, with some embarrassment, +but then he suddenly jumped up and cried: "Be off, be off! Let not a +trace of you remain here!..." + +Prince Andrew wished to leave at once, but Princess Mary persuaded him +to stay another day. That day he did not see his father, who did not +leave his room and admitted no one but Mademoiselle Bourienne and +Tikhon, but asked several times whether his son had gone. Next day, +before leaving, Prince Andrew went to his son's rooms. The boy, curly- +headed like his mother and glowing with health, sat on his knee, and +Prince Andrew began telling him the story of Bluebeard, but fell into a +reverie without finishing the story. He thought not of this pretty +child, his son whom he held on his knee, but of himself. He sought in +himself either remorse for having angered his father or regret at +leaving home for the first time in his life on bad terms with him, and +was horrified to find neither. What meant still more to him was that he +sought and did not find in himself the former tenderness for his son +which he had hoped to reawaken by caressing the boy and taking him on +his knee. + +"Well, go on!" said his son. + +Prince Andrew, without replying, put him down from his knee and went out +of the room. + +As soon as Prince Andrew had given up his daily occupations, and +especially on returning to the old conditions of life amid which he had +been happy, weariness of life overcame him with its former intensity, +and he hastened to escape from these memories and to find some work as +soon as possible. + +"So you've decided to go, Andrew?" asked his sister. + +"Thank God that I can," replied Prince Andrew. "I am very sorry you +can't." + +"Why do you say that?" replied Princess Mary. "Why do you say that, when +you are going to this terrible war, and he is so old? Mademoiselle +Bourienne says he has been asking about you...." + +As soon as she began to speak of that, her lips trembled and her tears +began to fall. Prince Andrew turned away and began pacing the room. + +"Ah, my God! my God! When one thinks who and what--what trash--can cause +people misery!" he said with a malignity that alarmed Princess Mary. + +She understood that when speaking of "trash" he referred not only to +Mademoiselle Bourienne, the cause of her misery, but also to the man who +had ruined his own happiness. + +"Andrew! One thing I beg, I entreat of you!" she said, touching his +elbow and looking at him with eyes that shone through her tears. "I +understand you" (she looked down). "Don't imagine that sorrow is the +work of men. Men are His tools." She looked a little above Prince +Andrew's head with the confident, accustomed look with which one looks +at the place where a familiar portrait hangs. "Sorrow is sent by Him, +not by men. Men are His instruments, they are not to blame. If you think +someone has wronged you, forget it and forgive! We have no right to +punish. And then you will know the happiness of forgiving." + +"If I were a woman I would do so, Mary. That is a woman's virtue. But a +man should not and cannot forgive and forget," he replied, and though +till that moment he had not been thinking of Kuragin, all his unexpended +anger suddenly swelled up in his heart. + +"If Mary is already persuading me to forgive, it means that I ought long +ago to have punished him," he thought. And giving her no further reply, +he began thinking of the glad vindictive moment when he would meet +Kuragin who he knew was now in the army. + +Princess Mary begged him to stay one day more, saying that she knew how +unhappy her father would be if Andrew left without being reconciled to +him, but Prince Andrew replied that he would probably soon be back again +from the army and would certainly write to his father, but that the +longer he stayed now the more embittered their differences would become. + +"Good-bye, Andrew! Remember that misfortunes come from God, and men are +never to blame," were the last words he heard from his sister when he +took leave of her. + +"Then it must be so!" thought Prince Andrew as he drove out of the +avenue from the house at Bald Hills. "She, poor innocent creature, is +left to be victimized by an old man who has outlived his wits. The old +man feels he is guilty, but cannot change himself. My boy is growing up +and rejoices in life, in which like everybody else he will deceive or be +deceived. And I am off to the army. Why? I myself don't know. I want to +meet that man whom I despise, so as to give him a chance to kill and +laugh at me!" + +These conditions of life had been the same before, but then they were +all connected, while now they had all tumbled to pieces. Only senseless +things, lacking coherence, presented themselves one after another to +Prince Andrew's mind. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Prince Andrew reached the general headquarters of the army at the end of +June. The first army, with which was the Emperor, occupied the fortified +camp at Drissa; the second army was retreating, trying to effect a +junction with the first one from which it was said to be cut off by +large French forces. Everyone was dissatisfied with the general course +of affairs in the Russian army, but no one anticipated any danger of +invasion of the Russian provinces, and no one thought the war would +extend farther than the western, the Polish, provinces. + +Prince Andrew found Barclay de Tolly, to whom he had been assigned, on +the bank of the Drissa. As there was not a single town or large village +in the vicinity of the camp, the immense number of generals and +courtiers accompanying the army were living in the best houses of the +villages on both sides of the river, over a radius of six miles. Barclay +de Tolly was quartered nearly three miles from the Emperor. He received +Bolkonski stiffly and coldly and told him in his foreign accent that he +would mention him to the Emperor for a decision as to his employment, +but asked him meanwhile to remain on his staff. Anatole Kuragin, whom +Prince Andrew had hoped to find with the army, was not there. He had +gone to Petersburg, but Prince Andrew was glad to hear this. His mind +was occupied by the interests of the center that was conducting a +gigantic war, and he was glad to be free for a while from the +distraction caused by the thought of Kuragin. During the first four +days, while no duties were required of him, Prince Andrew rode round the +whole fortified camp and, by the aid of his own knowledge and by talks +with experts, tried to form a definite opinion about it. But the +question whether the camp was advantageous or disadvantageous remained +for him undecided. Already from his military experience and what he had +seen in the Austrian campaign, he had come to the conclusion that in war +the most deeply considered plans have no significance and that all +depends on the way unexpected movements of the enemy--that cannot be +foreseen--are met, and on how and by whom the whole matter is handled. +To clear up this last point for himself, Prince Andrew, utilizing his +position and acquaintances, tried to fathom the character of the control +of the army and of the men and parties engaged in it, and he deduced for +himself the following of the state of affairs. + +While the Emperor had still been at Vilna, the forces had been divided +into three armies. First, the army under Barclay de Tolly, secondly, the +army under Bagration, and thirdly, the one commanded by Tormasov. The +Emperor was with the first army, but not as commander-in-chief. In the +orders issued it was stated, not that the Emperor would take command, +but only that he would be with the army. The Emperor, moreover, had with +him not a commander-in-chief's staff but the imperial headquarters +staff. In attendance on him was the head of the imperial staff, +Quartermaster General Prince Volkonski, as well as generals, imperial +aides-de-camp, diplomatic officials, and a large number of foreigners, +but not the army staff. Besides these, there were in attendance on the +Emperor without any definite appointments: Arakcheev, the ex-Minister of +War; Count Bennigsen, the senior general in rank; the Grand Duke +Tsarevich Constantine Pavlovich; Count Rumyantsev, the Chancellor; +Stein, a former Prussian minister; Armfeldt, a Swedish general; Pfuel, +the chief author of the plan of campaign; Paulucci, an adjutant general +and Sardinian emigre; Wolzogen--and many others. Though these men had no +military appointment in the army, their position gave them influence, +and often a corps commander, or even the commander-in-chief, did not +know in what capacity he was questioned by Bennigsen, the Grand Duke, +Arakcheev, or Prince Volkonski, or was given this or that advice and did +not know whether a certain order received in the form of advice emanated +from the man who gave it or from the Emperor and whether it had to be +executed or not. But this was only the external condition; the essential +significance of the presence of the Emperor and of all these people, +from a courtier's point of view (and in an Emperor's vicinity all became +courtiers), was clear to everyone. It was this: the Emperor did not +assume the title of commander-in-chief, but disposed of all the armies; +the men around him were his assistants. Arakcheev was a faithful +custodian to enforce order and acted as the sovereign's bodyguard. +Bennigsen was a landlord in the Vilna province who appeared to be doing +the honors of the district, but was in reality a good general, useful as +an adviser and ready at hand to replace Barclay. The Grand Duke was +there because it suited him to be. The ex-Minister Stein was there +because his advice was useful and the Emperor Alexander held him in high +esteem personally. Armfeldt virulently hated Napoleon and was a general +full of self-confidence, a quality that always influenced Alexander. +Paulucci was there because he was bold and decided in speech. The +adjutants general were there because they always accompanied the +Emperor, and lastly and chiefly Pfuel was there because he had drawn up +the plan of campaign against Napoleon and, having induced Alexander to +believe in the efficacy of that plan, was directing the whole business +of the war. With Pfuel was Wolzogen, who expressed Pfuel's thoughts in a +more comprehensible way than Pfuel himself (who was a harsh, bookish +theorist, self-confident to the point of despising everyone else) was +able to do. + +Besides these Russians and foreigners who propounded new and unexpected +ideas every day--especially the foreigners, who did so with a boldness +characteristic of people employed in a country not their own--there were +many secondary personages accompanying the army because their principals +were there. + +Among the opinions and voices in this immense, restless, brilliant, and +proud sphere, Prince Andrew noticed the following sharply defined +subdivisions of tendencies and parties: + +The first party consisted of Pfuel and his adherents--military theorists +who believed in a science of war with immutable laws--laws of oblique +movements, outflankings, and so forth. Pfuel and his adherents demanded +a retirement into the depths of the country in accordance with precise +laws defined by a pseudo-theory of war, and they saw only barbarism, +ignorance, or evil intention in every deviation from that theory. To +this party belonged the foreign nobles, Wolzogen, Wintzingerode, and +others, chiefly Germans. + +The second party was directly opposed to the first; one extreme, as +always happens, was met by representatives of the other. The members of +this party were those who had demanded an advance from Vilna into Poland +and freedom from all prearranged plans. Besides being advocates of bold +action, this section also represented nationalism, which made them still +more one-sided in the dispute. They were Russians: Bagration, Ermolov +(who was beginning to come to the front), and others. At that time a +famous joke of Ermolov's was being circulated, that as a great favor he +had petitioned the Emperor to make him a German. The men of that party, +remembering Suvorov, said that what one had to do was not to reason, or +stick pins into maps, but to fight, beat the enemy, keep him out of +Russia, and not let the army get discouraged. + +To the third party--in which the Emperor had most confidence--belonged +the courtiers who tried to arrange compromises between the other two. +The members of this party, chiefly civilians and to whom Arakcheev +belonged, thought and said what men who have no convictions but wish to +seem to have some generally say. They said that undoubtedly war, +particularly against such a genius as Bonaparte (they called him +Bonaparte now), needs most deeply devised plans and profound scientific +knowledge and in that respect Pfuel was a genius, but at the same time +it had to be acknowledged that the theorists are often one-sided, and +therefore one should not trust them absolutely, but should also listen +to what Pfuel's opponents and practical men of experience in warfare had +to say, and then choose a middle course. They insisted on the retention +of the camp at Drissa, according to Pfuel's plan, but on changing the +movements of the other armies. Though, by this course, neither one aim +nor the other could be attained, yet it seemed best to the adherents of +this third party. + +Of a fourth opinion the most conspicuous representative was the +Tsarevich, who could not forget his disillusionment at Austerlitz, where +he had ridden out at the head of the Guards, in his casque and cavalry +uniform as to a review, expecting to crush the French gallantly; but +unexpectedly finding himself in the front line had narrowly escaped amid +the general confusion. The men of this party had both the quality and +the defect of frankness in their opinions. They feared Napoleon, +recognized his strength and their own weakness, and frankly said so. +They said: "Nothing but sorrow, shame, and ruin will come of all this! +We have abandoned Vilna and Vitebsk and shall abandon Drissa. The only +reasonable thing left to do is to conclude peace as soon as possible, +before we are turned out of Petersburg." + +This view was very general in the upper army circles and found support +also in Petersburg and from the chancellor, Rumyantsev, who, for other +reasons of state, was in favor of peace. + +The fifth party consisted of those who were adherents of Barclay de +Tolly, not so much as a man but as minister of war and commander-in- +chief. "Be he what he may" (they always began like that), "he is an +honest, practical man and we have nobody better. Give him real power, +for war cannot be conducted successfully without unity of command, and +he will show what he can do, as he did in Finland. If our army is well +organized and strong and has withdrawn to Drissa without suffering any +defeats, we owe this entirely to Barclay. If Barclay is now to be +superseded by Bennigsen all will be lost, for Bennigsen showed his +incapacity already in 1807." + +The sixth party, the Bennigsenites, said, on the contrary, that at any +rate there was no one more active and experienced than Bennigsen: "and +twist about as you may, you will have to come to Bennigsen eventually. +Let the others make mistakes now!" said they, arguing that our +retirement to Drissa was a most shameful reverse and an unbroken series +of blunders. "The more mistakes that are made the better. It will at any +rate be understood all the sooner that things cannot go on like this. +What is wanted is not some Barclay or other, but a man like Bennigsen, +who made his mark in 1807, and to whom Napoleon himself did justice--a +man whose authority would be willingly recognized, and Bennigsen is the +only such man." + +The seventh party consisted of the sort of people who are always to be +found, especially around young sovereigns, and of whom there were +particularly many round Alexander--generals and imperial aides-de-camp +passionately devoted to the Emperor, not merely as a monarch but as a +man, adoring him sincerely and disinterestedly, as Rostov had done in +1805, and who saw in him not only all the virtues but all human +capabilities as well. These men, though enchanted with the sovereign for +refusing the command of the army, yet blamed him for such excessive +modesty, and only desired and insisted that their adored sovereign +should abandon his diffidence and openly announce that he would place +himself at the head of the army, gather round him a commander-in-chief's +staff, and, consulting experienced theoreticians and practical men where +necessary, would himself lead the troops, whose spirits would thereby be +raised to the highest pitch. + +The eighth and largest group, which in its enormous numbers was to the +others as ninety-nine to one, consisted of men who desired neither peace +nor war, neither an advance nor a defensive camp at the Drissa or +anywhere else, neither Barclay nor the Emperor, neither Pfuel nor +Bennigsen, but only the one most essential thing--as much advantage and +pleasure for themselves as possible. In the troubled waters of +conflicting and intersecting intrigues that eddied about the Emperor's +headquarters, it was possible to succeed in many ways unthinkable at +other times. A man who simply wished to retain his lucrative post would +today agree with Pfuel, tomorrow with his opponent, and the day after, +merely to avoid responsibility or to please the Emperor, would declare +that he had no opinion at all on the matter. Another who wished to gain +some advantage would attract the Emperor's attention by loudly +advocating the very thing the Emperor had hinted at the day before, and +would dispute and shout at the council, beating his breast and +challenging those who did not agree with him to duels, thereby proving +that he was prepared to sacrifice himself for the common good. A third, +in the absence of opponents, between two councils would simply solicit a +special gratuity for his faithful services, well knowing that at that +moment people would be too busy to refuse him. A fourth while seemingly +overwhelmed with work would often come accidentally under the Emperor's +eye. A fifth, to achieve his long-cherished aim of dining with the +Emperor, would stubbornly insist on the correctness or falsity of some +newly emerging opinion and for this object would produce arguments more +or less forcible and correct. + +All the men of this party were fishing for rubles, decorations, and +promotions, and in this pursuit watched only the weathercock of imperial +favor, and directly they noticed it turning in any direction, this whole +drone population of the army began blowing hard that way, so that it was +all the harder for the Emperor to turn it elsewhere. Amid the +uncertainties of the position, with the menace of serious danger giving +a peculiarly threatening character to everything, amid this vortex of +intrigue, egotism, conflict of views and feelings, and the diversity of +race among these people--this eighth and largest party of those +preoccupied with personal interests imparted great confusion and +obscurity to the common task. Whatever question arose, a swarm of these +drones, without having finished their buzzing on a previous theme, flew +over to the new one and by their hum drowned and obscured the voices of +those who were disputing honestly. + +From among all these parties, just at the time Prince Andrew reached the +army, another, a ninth party, was being formed and was beginning to +raise its voice. This was the party of the elders, reasonable men +experienced and capable in state affairs, who, without sharing any of +those conflicting opinions, were able to take a detached view of what +was going on at the staff at headquarters and to consider means of +escape from this muddle, indecision, intricacy, and weakness. + +The men of this party said and thought that what was wrong resulted +chiefly from the Emperor's presence in the army with his military court +and from the consequent presence there of an indefinite, conditional, +and unsteady fluctuation of relations, which is in place at court but +harmful in an army; that a sovereign should reign but not command the +army, and that the only way out of the position would be for the Emperor +and his court to leave the army; that the mere presence of the Emperor +paralyzed the action of fifty thousand men required to secure his +personal safety, and that the worst commander-in-chief, if independent, +would be better than the very best one trammeled by the presence and +authority of the monarch. + +Just at the time Prince Andrew was living unoccupied at Drissa, +Shishkov, the Secretary of State and one of the chief representatives of +this party, wrote a letter to the Emperor which Arakcheev and Balashev +agreed to sign. In this letter, availing himself of permission given him +by the Emperor to discuss the general course of affairs, he respectfully +suggested--on the plea that it was necessary for the sovereign to arouse +a warlike spirit in the people of the capital--that the Emperor should +leave the army. + +That arousing of the people by their sovereign and his call to them to +defend their country--the very incitement which was the chief cause of +Russia's triumph in so far as it was produced by the Tsar's personal +presence in Moscow--was suggested to the Emperor, and accepted by him, +as a pretext for quitting the army. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +This letter had not yet been presented to the Emperor when Barclay, one +day at dinner, informed Bolkonski that the sovereign wished to see him +personally, to question him about Turkey, and that Prince Andrew was to +present himself at Bennigsen's quarters at six that evening. + +News was received at the Emperor's quarters that very day of a fresh +movement by Napoleon which might endanger the army--news subsequently +found to be false. And that morning Colonel Michaud had ridden round the +Drissa fortifications with the Emperor and had pointed out to him that +this fortified camp constructed by Pfuel, and till then considered a +chef-d'oeuvre of tactical science which would ensure Napoleon's +destruction, was an absurdity, threatening the destruction of the +Russian army. + +Prince Andrew arrived at Bennigsen's quarters--a country gentleman's +house of moderate size, situated on the very banks of the river. Neither +Bennigsen nor the Emperor was there, but Chernyshev, the Emperor's aide- +de-camp, received Bolkonski and informed him that the Emperor, +accompanied by General Bennigsen and Marquis Paulucci, had gone a second +time that day to inspect the fortifications of the Drissa camp, of the +suitability of which serious doubts were beginning to be felt. + +Chernyshev was sitting at a window in the first room with a French novel +in his hand. This room had probably been a music room; there was still +an organ in it on which some rugs were piled, and in one corner stood +the folding bedstead of Bennigsen's adjutant. This adjutant was also +there and sat dozing on the rolled-up bedding, evidently exhausted by +work or by feasting. Two doors led from the room, one straight on into +what had been the drawing room, and another, on the right, to the study. +Through the first door came the sound of voices conversing in German and +occasionally in French. In that drawing room were gathered, by the +Emperor's wish, not a military council (the Emperor preferred +indefiniteness), but certain persons whose opinions he wished to know in +view of the impending difficulties. It was not a council of war, but, as +it were, a council to elucidate certain questions for the Emperor +personally. To this semicouncil had been invited the Swedish General +Armfeldt, Adjutant General Wolzogen, Wintzingerode (whom Napoleon had +referred to as a renegade French subject), Michaud, Toll, Count Stein +who was not a military man at all, and Pfuel himself, who, as Prince +Andrew had heard, was the mainspring of the whole affair. Prince Andrew +had an opportunity of getting a good look at him, for Pfuel arrived soon +after himself and, in passing through to the drawing room, stopped a +minute to speak to Chernyshev. + +At first sight, Pfuel, in his ill-made uniform of a Russian general, +which fitted him badly like a fancy costume, seemed familiar to Prince +Andrew, though he saw him now for the first time. There was about him +something of Weyrother, Mack, and Schmidt, and many other German +theorist-generals whom Prince Andrew had seen in 1805, but he was more +typical than any of them. Prince Andrew had never yet seen a German +theorist in whom all the characteristics of those others were united to +such an extent. + +Pfuel was short and very thin but broad-boned, of coarse, robust build, +broad in the hips, and with prominent shoulder blades. His face was much +wrinkled and his eyes deep set. His hair had evidently been hastily +brushed smooth in front of the temples, but stuck up behind in quaint +little tufts. He entered the room, looking restlessly and angrily +around, as if afraid of everything in that large apartment. Awkwardly +holding up his sword, he addressed Chernyshev and asked in German where +the Emperor was. One could see that he wished to pass through the rooms +as quickly as possible, finish with the bows and greetings, and sit down +to business in front of a map, where he would feel at home. He nodded +hurriedly in reply to Chernyshev, and smiled ironically on hearing that +the sovereign was inspecting the fortifications that he, Pfuel, had +planned in accord with his theory. He muttered something to himself +abruptly and in a bass voice, as self-assured Germans do--it might have +been "stupid fellow"... or "the whole affair will be ruined," or +"something absurd will come of it."... Prince Andrew did not catch what +he said and would have passed on, but Chernyshev introduced him to +Pfuel, remarking that Prince Andrew was just back from Turkey where the +war had terminated so fortunately. Pfuel barely glanced--not so much at +Prince Andrew as past him--and said, with a laugh: "That must have been +a fine tactical war"; and, laughing contemptuously, went on into the +room from which the sound of voices was heard. + +Pfuel, always inclined to be irritably sarcastic, was particularly +disturbed that day, evidently by the fact that they had dared to inspect +and criticize his camp in his absence. From this short interview with +Pfuel, Prince Andrew, thanks to his Austerlitz experiences, was able to +form a clear conception of the man. Pfuel was one of those hopelessly +and immutably self-confident men, self-confident to the point of +martyrdom as only Germans are, because only Germans are self-confident +on the basis of an abstract notion--science, that is, the supposed +knowledge of absolute truth. A Frenchman is self-assured because he +regards himself personally, both in mind and body, as irresistibly +attractive to men and women. An Englishman is self-assured, as being a +citizen of the best-organized state in the world, and therefore as an +Englishman always knows what he should do and knows that all he does as +an Englishman is undoubtedly correct. An Italian is self-assured because +he is excitable and easily forgets himself and other people. A Russian +is self-assured just because he knows nothing and does not want to know +anything, since he does not believe that anything can be known. The +German's self-assurance is worst of all, stronger and more repulsive +than any other, because he imagines that he knows the truth--science-- +which he himself has invented but which is for him the absolute truth. + +Pfuel was evidently of that sort. He had a science--the theory of +oblique movements deduced by him from the history of Frederick the +Great's wars, and all he came across in the history of more recent +warfare seemed to him absurd and barbarous--monstrous collisions in +which so many blunders were committed by both sides that these wars +could not be called wars, they did not accord with the theory, and +therefore could not serve as material for science. + +In 1806 Pfuel had been one of those responsible, for the plan of +campaign that ended in Jena and Auerstadt, but he did not see the least +proof of the fallibility of his theory in the disasters of that war. On +the contrary, the deviations made from his theory were, in his opinion, +the sole cause of the whole disaster, and with characteristically +gleeful sarcasm he would remark, "There, I said the whole affair would +go to the devil!" Pfuel was one of those theoreticians who so love their +theory that they lose sight of the theory's object--its practical +application. His love of theory made him hate everything practical, and +he would not listen to it. He was even pleased by failures, for failures +resulting from deviations in practice from the theory only proved to him +the accuracy of his theory. + +He said a few words to Prince Andrew and Chernyshev about the present +war, with the air of a man who knows beforehand that all will go wrong, +and who is not displeased that it should be so. The unbrushed tufts of +hair sticking up behind and the hastily brushed hair on his temples +expressed this most eloquently. + +He passed into the next room, and the deep, querulous sounds of his +voice were at once heard from there. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Prince Andrew's eyes were still following Pfuel out of the room when +Count Bennigsen entered hurriedly, and nodding to Bolkonski, but not +pausing, went into the study, giving instructions to his adjutant as he +went. The Emperor was following him, and Bennigsen had hastened on to +make some preparations and to be ready to receive the sovereign. +Chernyshev and Prince Andrew went out into the porch, where the Emperor, +who looked fatigued, was dismounting. Marquis Paulucci was talking to +him with particular warmth and the Emperor, with his head bent to the +left, was listening with a dissatisfied air. The Emperor moved forward +evidently wishing to end the conversation, but the flushed and excited +Italian, oblivious of decorum, followed him and continued to speak. + +"And as for the man who advised forming this camp--the Drissa camp," +said Paulucci, as the Emperor mounted the steps and noticing Prince +Andrew scanned his unfamiliar face, "as to that person, sire..." +continued Paulucci, desperately, apparently unable to restrain himself, +"the man who advised the Drissa camp--I see no alternative but the +lunatic asylum or the gallows!" + +Without heeding the end of the Italian's remarks, and as though not +hearing them, the Emperor, recognizing Bolkonski, addressed him +graciously. + +"I am very glad to see you! Go in there where they are meeting, and wait +for me." + +The Emperor went into the study. He was followed by Prince Peter +Mikhaylovich Volkonski and Baron Stein, and the door closed behind them. +Prince Andrew, taking advantage of the Emperor's permission, accompanied +Paulucci, whom he had known in Turkey, into the drawing room where the +council was assembled. + +Prince Peter Mikhaylovich Volkonski occupied the position, as it were, +of chief of the Emperor's staff. He came out of the study into the +drawing room with some maps which he spread on a table, and put +questions on which he wished to hear the opinion of the gentlemen +present. What had happened was that news (which afterwards proved to be +false) had been received during the night of a movement by the French to +outflank the Drissa camp. + +The first to speak was General Armfeldt who, to meet the difficulty that +presented itself, unexpectedly proposed a perfectly new position away +from the Petersburg and Moscow roads. The reason for this was +inexplicable (unless he wished to show that he, too, could have an +opinion), but he urged that at this point the army should unite and +there await the enemy. It was plain that Armfeldt had thought out that +plan long ago and now expounded it not so much to answer the questions +put--which, in fact, his plan did not answer--as to avail himself of the +opportunity to air it. It was one of the millions of proposals, one as +good as another, that could be made as long as it was quite unknown what +character the war would take. Some disputed his arguments, others +defended them. Young Count Toll objected to the Swedish general's views +more warmly than anyone else, and in the course of the dispute drew from +his side pocket a well-filled notebook, which he asked permission to +read to them. In these voluminous notes Toll suggested another scheme, +totally different from Armfeldt's or Pfuel's plan of campaign. In answer +to Toll, Paulucci suggested an advance and an attack, which, he urged, +could alone extricate us from the present uncertainty and from the trap +(as he called the Drissa camp) in which we were situated. + +During all these discussions Pfuel and his interpreter, Wolzogen (his +"bridge" in court relations), were silent. Pfuel only snorted +contemptuously and turned away, to show that he would never demean +himself by replying to such nonsense as he was now hearing. So when +Prince Volkonski, who was in the chair, called on him to give his +opinion, he merely said: + +"Why ask me? General Armfeldt has proposed a splendid position with an +exposed rear, or why not this Italian gentleman's attack--very fine, or +a retreat, also good! Why ask me?" said he. "Why, you yourselves know +everything better than I do." + +But when Volkonski said, with a frown, that it was in the Emperor's name +that he asked his opinion, Pfuel rose and, suddenly growing animated, +began to speak: + +"Everything has been spoiled, everything muddled, everybody thought they +knew better than I did, and now you come to me! How mend matters? There +is nothing to mend! The principles laid down by me must be strictly +adhered to," said he, drumming on the table with his bony fingers. "What +is the difficulty? Nonsense, childishness!" + +He went up to the map and speaking rapidly began proving that no +eventuality could alter the efficiency of the Drissa camp, that +everything had been foreseen, and that if the enemy were really going to +outflank it, the enemy would inevitably be destroyed. + +Paulucci, who did not know German, began questioning him in French. +Wolzogen came to the assistance of his chief, who spoke French badly, +and began translating for him, hardly able to keep pace with Pfuel, who +was rapidly demonstrating that not only all that had happened, but all +that could happen, had been foreseen in his scheme, and that if there +were now any difficulties the whole fault lay in the fact that his plan +had not been precisely executed. He kept laughing sarcastically, he +demonstrated, and at last contemptuously ceased to demonstrate, like a +mathematician who ceases to prove in various ways the accuracy of a +problem that has already been proved. Wolzogen took his place and +continued to explain his views in French, every now and then turning to +Pfuel and saying, "Is it not so, your excellency?" But Pfuel, like a man +heated in a fight who strikes those on his own side, shouted angrily at +his own supporter, Wolzogen: + +"Well, of course, what more is there to explain?" + +Paulucci and Michaud both attacked Wolzogen simultaneously in French. +Armfeldt addressed Pfuel in German. Toll explained to Volkonski in +Russian. Prince Andrew listened and observed in silence. + +Of all these men Prince Andrew sympathized most with Pfuel, angry, +determined, and absurdly self-confident as he was. Of all those present, +evidently he alone was not seeking anything for himself, nursed no +hatred against anyone, and only desired that the plan, formed on a +theory arrived at by years of toil, should be carried out. He was +ridiculous, and unpleasantly sarcastic, but yet he inspired involuntary +respect by his boundless devotion to an idea. Besides this, the remarks +of all except Pfuel had one common trait that had not been noticeable at +the council of war in 1805: there was now a panic fear of Napoleon's +genius, which, though concealed, was noticeable in every rejoinder. +Everything was assumed to be possible for Napoleon, they expected him +from every side, and invoked his terrible name to shatter each other's +proposals. Pfuel alone seemed to consider Napoleon a barbarian like +everyone else who opposed his theory. But besides this feeling of +respect, Pfuel evoked pity in Prince Andrew. From the tone in which the +courtiers addressed him and the way Paulucci had allowed himself to +speak of him to the Emperor, but above all from a certain desperation in +Pfuel's own expressions, it was clear that the others knew, and Pfuel +himself felt, that his fall was at hand. And despite his self-confidence +and grumpy German sarcasm he was pitiable, with his hair smoothly +brushed on the temples and sticking up in tufts behind. Though he +concealed the fact under a show of irritation and contempt, he was +evidently in despair that the sole remaining chance of verifying his +theory by a huge experiment and proving its soundness to the whole world +was slipping away from him. + +The discussions continued a long time, and the longer they lasted the +more heated became the disputes, culminating in shouts and +personalities, and the less was it possible to arrive at any general +conclusion from all that had been said. Prince Andrew, listening to this +polyglot talk and to these surmises, plans, refutations, and shouts, +felt nothing but amazement at what they were saying. A thought that had +long since and often occurred to him during his military activities--the +idea that there is not and cannot be any science of war, and that +therefore there can be no such thing as a military genius--now appeared +to him an obvious truth. "What theory and science is possible about a +matter the conditions and circumstances of which are unknown and cannot +be defined, especially when the strength of the acting forces cannot be +ascertained? No one was or is able to foresee in what condition our or +the enemy's armies will be in a day's time, and no one can gauge the +force of this or that detachment. Sometimes--when there is not a coward +at the front to shout, 'We are cut off!' and start running, but a brave +and jolly lad who shouts, 'Hurrah!'--a detachment of five thousand is +worth thirty thousand, as at Schon Grabern, while at times fifty +thousand run from eight thousand, as at Austerlitz. What science can +there be in a matter in which, as in all practical matters, nothing can +be defined and everything depends on innumerable conditions, the +significance of which is determined at a particular moment which arrives +no one knows when? Armfeldt says our army is cut in half, and Paulucci +says we have got the French army between two fires; Michaud says that +the worthlessness of the Drissa camp lies in having the river behind it, +and Pfuel says that is what constitutes its strength; Toll proposes one +plan, Armfeldt another, and they are all good and all bad, and the +advantages of any suggestions can be seen only at the moment of trial. +And why do they all speak of a 'military genius'? Is a man a genius who +can order bread to be brought up at the right time and say who is to go +to the right and who to the left? It is only because military men are +invested with pomp and power and crowds of sychophants flatter power, +attributing to it qualities of genius it does not possess. The best +generals I have known were, on the contrary, stupid or absent-minded +men. Bagration was the best, Napoleon himself admitted that. And of +Bonaparte himself! I remember his limited, self-satisfied face on the +field of Austerlitz. Not only does a good army commander not need any +special qualities, on the contrary he needs the absence of the highest +and best human attributes--love, poetry, tenderness, and philosophic +inquiring doubt. He should be limited, firmly convinced that what he is +doing is very important (otherwise he will not have sufficient +patience), and only then will he be a brave leader. God forbid that he +should be humane, should love, or pity, or think of what is just and +unjust. It is understandable that a theory of their 'genius' was +invented for them long ago because they have power! The success of a +military action depends not on them, but on the man in the ranks who +shouts, 'We are lost!' or who shouts, 'Hurrah!' And only in the ranks +can one serve with assurance of being useful." + +So thought Prince Andrew as he listened to the talking, and he roused +himself only when Paulucci called him and everyone was leaving. + +At the review next day the Emperor asked Prince Andrew where he would +like to serve, and Prince Andrew lost his standing in court circles +forever by not asking to remain attached to the sovereign's person, but +for permission to serve in the army. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Before the beginning of the campaign, Rostov had received a letter from +his parents in which they told him briefly of Natasha's illness and the +breaking off of her engagement to Prince Andrew (which they explained by +Natasha's having rejected him) and again asked Nicholas to retire from +the army and return home. On receiving this letter, Nicholas did not +even make any attempt to get leave of absence or to retire from the +army, but wrote to his parents that he was sorry Natasha was ill and her +engagement broken off, and that he would do all he could to meet their +wishes. To Sonya he wrote separately. + +"Adored friend of my soul!" he wrote. "Nothing but honor could keep me +from returning to the country. But now, at the commencement of the +campaign, I should feel dishonored, not only in my comrades' eyes but in +my own, if I preferred my own happiness to my love and duty to the +Fatherland. But this shall be our last separation. Believe me, directly +the war is over, if I am still alive and still loved by you, I will +throw up everything and fly to you, to press you forever to my ardent +breast." + +It was, in fact, only the commencement of the campaign that prevented +Rostov from returning home as he had promised and marrying Sonya. The +autumn in Otradnoe with the hunting, and the winter with the Christmas +holidays and Sonya's love, had opened out to him a vista of tranquil +rural joys and peace such as he had never known before, and which now +allured him. "A splendid wife, children, a good pack of hounds, a dozen +leashes of smart borzois, agriculture, neighbors, service by +election..." thought he. But now the campaign was beginning, and he had +to remain with his regiment. And since it had to be so, Nicholas Rostov, +as was natural to him, felt contented with the life he led in the +regiment and was able to find pleasure in that life. + +On his return from his furlough Nicholas, having been joyfully welcomed +by his comrades, was sent to obtain remounts and brought back from the +Ukraine excellent horses which pleased him and earned him commendation +from his commanders. During his absence he had been promoted captain, +and when the regiment was put on war footing with an increase in +numbers, he was again allotted his old squadron. + +The campaign began, the regiment was moved into Poland on double pay, +new officers arrived, new men and horses, and above all everybody was +infected with the merrily excited mood that goes with the commencement +of a war, and Rostov, conscious of his advantageous position in the +regiment, devoted himself entirely to the pleasures and interests of +military service, though he knew that sooner or later he would have to +relinquish them. + +The troops retired from Vilna for various complicated reasons of state, +political and strategic. Each step of the retreat was accompanied by a +complicated interplay of interests, arguments, and passions at +headquarters. For the Pavlograd hussars, however, the whole of this +retreat during the finest period of summer and with sufficient supplies +was a very simple and agreeable business. + +It was only at headquarters that there was depression, uneasiness, and +intriguing; in the body of the army they did not ask themselves where +they were going or why. If they regretted having to retreat, it was only +because they had to leave billets they had grown accustomed to, or some +pretty young Polish lady. If the thought that things looked bad chanced +to enter anyone's head, he tried to be as cheerful as befits a good +soldier and not to think of the general trend of affairs, but only of +the task nearest to hand. First they camped gaily before Vilna, making +acquaintance with the Polish landowners, preparing for reviews and being +reviewed by the Emperor and other high commanders. Then came an order to +retreat to Sventsyani and destroy any provisions they could not carry +away with them. Sventsyani was remembered by the hussars only as the +drunken camp, a name the whole army gave to their encampment there, and +because many complaints were made against the troops, who, taking +advantage of the order to collect provisions, took also horses, +carriages, and carpets from the Polish proprietors. Rostov remembered +Sventsyani, because on the first day of their arrival at that small town +he changed his sergeant major and was unable to manage all the drunken +men of his squadron who, unknown to him, had appropriated five barrels +of old beer. From Sventsyani they retired farther and farther to Drissa, +and thence again beyond Drissa, drawing near to the frontier of Russia +proper. + +On the thirteenth of July the Pavlograds took part in a serious action +for the first time. + +On the twelfth of July, on the eve of that action, there was a heavy +storm of rain and hail. In general, the summer of 1812 was remarkable +for its storms. + +The two Pavlograd squadrons were bivouacking on a field of rye, which +was already in ear but had been completely trodden down by cattle and +horses. The rain was descending in torrents, and Rostov, with a young +officer named Ilyin, his protege, was sitting in a hastily constructed +shelter. An officer of their regiment, with long mustaches extending +onto his cheeks, who after riding to the staff had been overtaken by the +rain, entered Rostov's shelter. + +"I have come from the staff, Count. Have you heard of Raevski's +exploit?" + +And the officer gave them details of the Saltanov battle, which he had +heard at the staff. + +Rostov, smoking his pipe and turning his head about as the water +trickled down his neck, listened inattentively, with an occasional +glance at Ilyin, who was pressing close to him. This officer, a lad of +sixteen who had recently joined the regiment, was now in the same +relation to Nicholas that Nicholas had been to Denisov seven years +before. Ilyin tried to imitate Rostov in everything and adored him as a +girl might have done. + +Zdrzhinski, the officer with the long mustache, spoke grandiloquently of +the Saltanov dam being "a Russian Thermopylae," and of how a deed worthy +of antiquity had been performed by General Raevski. He recounted how +Raevski had led his two sons onto the dam under terrific fire and had +charged with them beside him. Rostov heard the story and not only said +nothing to encourage Zdrzhinski's enthusiasm but, on the contrary, +looked like a man ashamed of what he was hearing, though with no +intention of contradicting it. Since the campaigns of Austerlitz and of +1807 Rostov knew by experience that men always lie when describing +military exploits, as he himself had done when recounting them; besides +that, he had experience enough to know that nothing happens in war at +all as we can imagine or relate it. And so he did not like Zdrzhinski's +tale, nor did he like Zdrzhinski himself who, with his mustaches +extending over his cheeks, bent low over the face of his hearer, as was +his habit, and crowded Rostov in the narrow shanty. Rostov looked at him +in silence. "In the first place, there must have been such a confusion +and crowding on the dam that was being attacked that if Raevski did lead +his sons there, it could have had no effect except perhaps on some dozen +men nearest to him," thought he, "the rest could not have seen how or +with whom Raevski came onto the dam. And even those who did see it would +not have been much stimulated by it, for what had they to do with +Raevski's tender paternal feelings when their own skins were in danger? +And besides, the fate of the Fatherland did not depend on whether they +took the Saltanov dam or not, as we are told was the case at +Thermopylae. So why should he have made such a sacrifice? And why expose +his own children in the battle? I would not have taken my brother Petya +there, or even Ilyin, who's a stranger to me but a nice lad, but would +have tried to put them somewhere under cover," Nicholas continued to +think, as he listened to Zdrzhinski. But he did not express his +thoughts, for in such matters, too, he had gained experience. He knew +that this tale redounded to the glory of our arms and so one had to +pretend not to doubt it. And he acted accordingly. + +"I can't stand this any more," said Ilyin, noticing that Rostov did not +relish Zdrzhinski's conversation. "My stockings and shirt... and the +water is running on my seat! I'll go and look for shelter. The rain +seems less heavy." + +Ilyin went out and Zdrzhinski rode away. + +Five minutes later Ilyin, splashing through the mud, came running back +to the shanty. + +"Hurrah! Rostov, come quick! I've found it! About two hundred yards away +there's a tavern where ours have already gathered. We can at least get +dry there, and Mary Hendrikhovna's there." + +Mary Hendrikhovna was the wife of the regimental doctor, a pretty young +German woman he had married in Poland. The doctor, whether from lack of +means or because he did not like to part from his young wife in the +early days of their marriage, took her about with him wherever the +hussar regiment went and his jealousy had become a standing joke among +the hussar officers. + +Rostov threw his cloak over his shoulders, shouted to Lavrushka to +follow with the things, and--now slipping in the mud, now splashing +right through it--set off with Ilyin in the lessening rain and the +darkness that was occasionally rent by distant lightning. + +"Rostov, where are you?" + +"Here. What lightning!" they called to one another. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +In the tavern, before which stood the doctor's covered cart, there were +already some five officers. Mary Hendrikhovna, a plump little blonde +German, in a dressing jacket and nightcap, was sitting on a broad bench +in the front corner. Her husband, the doctor, lay asleep behind her. +Rostov and Ilyin, on entering the room, were welcomed with merry shouts +and laughter. + +"Dear me, how jolly we are!" said Rostov laughing. + +"And why do you stand there gaping?" + +"What swells they are! Why, the water streams from them! Don't make our +drawing room so wet." + +"Don't mess Mary Hendrikhovna's dress!" cried other voices. + +Rostov and Ilyin hastened to find a corner where they could change into +dry clothes without offending Mary Hendrikhovna's modesty. They were +going into a tiny recess behind a partition to change, but found it +completely filled by three officers who sat playing cards by the light +of a solitary candle on an empty box, and these officers would on no +account yield their position. Mary Hendrikhovna obliged them with the +loan of a petticoat to be used as a curtain, and behind that screen +Rostov and Ilyin, helped by Lavrushka who had brought their kits, +changed their wet things for dry ones. + +A fire was made up in the dilapidated brick stove. A board was found, +fixed on two saddles and covered with a horsecloth, a small samovar was +produced and a cellaret and half a bottle of rum, and having asked Mary +Hendrikhovna to preside, they all crowded round her. One offered her a +clean handkerchief to wipe her charming hands, another spread a jacket +under her little feet to keep them from the damp, another hung his coat +over the window to keep out the draft, and yet another waved the flies +off her husband's face, lest he should wake up. + +"Leave him alone," said Mary Hendrikhovna, smiling timidly and happily. +"He is sleeping well as it is, after a sleepless night." + +"Oh, no, Mary Hendrikhovna," replied the officer, "one must look after +the doctor. Perhaps he'll take pity on me someday, when it comes to +cutting off a leg or an arm for me." + +There were only three tumblers, the water was so muddy that one could +not make out whether the tea was strong or weak, and the samovar held +only six tumblers of water, but this made it all the pleasanter to take +turns in order of seniority to receive one's tumbler from Mary +Hendrikhovna's plump little hands with their short and not overclean +nails. All the officers appeared to be, and really were, in love with +her that evening. Even those playing cards behind the partition soon +left their game and came over to the samovar, yielding to the general +mood of courting Mary Hendrikhovna. She, seeing herself surrounded by +such brilliant and polite young men, beamed with satisfaction, try as +she might to hide it, and perturbed as she evidently was each time her +husband moved in his sleep behind her. + +There was only one spoon, sugar was more plentiful than anything else, +but it took too long to dissolve, so it was decided that Mary +Hendrikhovna should stir the sugar for everyone in turn. Rostov received +his tumbler, and adding some rum to it asked Mary Hendrikhovna to stir +it. + +"But you take it without sugar?" she said, smiling all the time, as if +everything she said and everything the others said was very amusing and +had a double meaning. + +"It is not the sugar I want, but only that your little hand should stir +my tea." + +Mary Hendrikhovna assented and began looking for the spoon which someone +meanwhile had pounced on. + +"Use your finger, Mary Hendrikhovna, it will be still nicer," said +Rostov. + +"Too hot!" she replied, blushing with pleasure. + +Ilyin put a few drops of rum into the bucket of water and brought it to +Mary Hendrikhovna, asking her to stir it with her finger. + +"This is my cup," said he. "Only dip your finger in it and I'll drink it +all up." + +When they had emptied the samovar, Rostov took a pack of cards and +proposed that they should play "Kings" with Mary Hendrikhovna. They drew +lots to settle who should make up her set. At Rostov's suggestion it was +agreed that whoever became "King" should have the right to kiss Mary +Hendrikhovna's hand, and that the "Booby" should go to refill and reheat +the samovar for the doctor when the latter awoke. + +"Well, but supposing Mary Hendrikhovna is 'King'?" asked Ilyin. + +"As it is, she is Queen, and her word is law!" + +They had hardly begun to play before the doctor's disheveled head +suddenly appeared from behind Mary Hendrikhovna. He had been awake for +some time, listening to what was being said, and evidently found nothing +entertaining or amusing in what was going on. His face was sad and +depressed. Without greeting the officers, he scratched himself and asked +to be allowed to pass as they were blocking the way. As soon as he had +left the room all the officers burst into loud laughter and Mary +Hendrikhovna blushed till her eyes filled with tears and thereby became +still more attractive to them. Returning from the yard, the doctor told +his wife (who had ceased to smile so happily, and looked at him in +alarm, awaiting her sentence) that the rain had ceased and they must go +to sleep in their covered cart, or everything in it would be stolen. + +"But I'll send an orderly.... Two of them!" said Rostov. "What an idea, +doctor!" + +"I'll stand guard on it myself!" said Ilyin. + +"No, gentlemen, you have had your sleep, but I have not slept for two +nights," replied the doctor, and he sat down morosely beside his wife, +waiting for the game to end. + +Seeing his gloomy face as he frowned at his wife, the officers grew +still merrier, and some of them could not refrain from laughter, for +which they hurriedly sought plausible pretexts. When he had gone, taking +his wife with him, and had settled down with her in their covered cart, +the officers lay down in the tavern, covering themselves with their wet +cloaks, but they did not sleep for a long time; now they exchanged +remarks, recalling the doctor's uneasiness and his wife's delight, now +they ran out into the porch and reported what was taking place in the +covered trap. Several times Rostov, covering his head, tried to go to +sleep, but some remark would arouse him and conversation would be +resumed, to the accompaniment of unreasoning, merry, childlike laughter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +It was nearly three o'clock but no one was yet asleep, when the +quartermaster appeared with an order to move on to the little town of +Ostrovna. Still laughing and talking, the officers began hurriedly +getting ready and again boiled some muddy water in the samovar. But +Rostov went off to his squadron without waiting for tea. Day was +breaking, the rain had ceased, and the clouds were dispersing. It felt +damp and cold, especially in clothes that were still moist. As they left +the tavern in the twilight of the dawn, Rostov and Ilyin both glanced +under the wet and glistening leather hood of the doctor's cart, from +under the apron of which his feet were sticking out, and in the middle +of which his wife's nightcap was visible and her sleepy breathing +audible. + +"She really is a dear little thing," said Rostov to Ilyin, who was +following him. + +"A charming woman!" said Ilyin, with all the gravity of a boy of +sixteen. + +Half an hour later the squadron was lined up on the road. The command +was heard to "mount" and the soldiers crossed themselves and mounted. +Rostov riding in front gave the order "Forward!" and the hussars, with +clanking sabers and subdued talk, their horses' hoofs splashing in the +mud, defiled in fours and moved along the broad road planted with birch +trees on each side, following the infantry and a battery that had gone +on in front. + +Tattered, blue-purple clouds, reddening in the east, were scudding +before the wind. It was growing lighter and lighter. That curly grass +which always grows by country roadsides became clearly visible, still +wet with the night's rain; the drooping branches of the birches, also +wet, swayed in the wind and flung down bright drops of water to one +side. The soldiers' faces were more and more clearly visible. Rostov, +always closely followed by Ilyin, rode along the side of the road +between two rows of birch trees. + +When campaigning, Rostov allowed himself the indulgence of riding not a +regimental but a Cossack horse. A judge of horses and a sportsman, he +had lately procured himself a large, fine, mettlesome, Donets horse, +dun-colored, with light mane and tail, and when he rode it no one could +outgallop him. To ride this horse was a pleasure to him, and he thought +of the horse, of the morning, of the doctor's wife, but not once of the +impending danger. + +Formerly, when going into action, Rostov had felt afraid; now he had not +the least feeling of fear. He was fearless, not because he had grown +used to being under fire (one cannot grow used to danger), but because +he had learned how to manage his thoughts when in danger. He had grown +accustomed when going into action to think about anything but what would +seem most likely to interest him--the impending danger. During the first +period of his service, hard as he tried and much as he reproached +himself with cowardice, he had not been able to do this, but with time +it had come of itself. Now he rode beside Ilyin under the birch trees, +occasionally plucking leaves from a branch that met his hand, sometimes +touching his horse's side with his foot, or, without turning round, +handing a pipe he had finished to an hussar riding behind him, with as +calm and careless an air as though he were merely out for a ride. He +glanced with pity at the excited face of Ilyin, who talked much and in +great agitation. He knew from experience the tormenting expectation of +terror and death the cornet was suffering and knew that only time could +help him. + +As soon as the sun appeared in a clear strip of sky beneath the clouds, +the wind fell, as if it dared not spoil the beauty of the summer morning +after the storm; drops still continued to fall, but vertically now, and +all was still. The whole sun appeared on the horizon and disappeared +behind a long narrow cloud that hung above it. A few minutes later it +reappeared brighter still from behind the top of the cloud, tearing its +edge. Everything grew bright and glittered. And with that light, and as +if in reply to it, came the sound of guns ahead of them. + +Before Rostov had had time to consider and determine the distance of +that firing, Count Ostermann-Tolstoy's adjutant came galloping from +Vitebsk with orders to advance at a trot along the road. + +The squadron overtook and passed the infantry and the battery--which had +also quickened their pace--rode down a hill, and passing through an +empty and deserted village again ascended. The horses began to lather +and the men to flush. + +"Halt! Dress your ranks!" the order of the regimental commander was +heard ahead. "Forward by the left. Walk, march!" came the order from in +front. + +And the hussars, passing along the line of troops on the left flank of +our position, halted behind our uhlans who were in the front line. To +the right stood our infantry in a dense column: they were the reserve. +Higher up the hill, on the very horizon, our guns were visible through +the wonderfully clear air, brightly illuminated by slanting morning +sunbeams. In front, beyond a hollow dale, could be seen the enemy's +columns and guns. Our advanced line, already in action, could be heard +briskly exchanging shots with the enemy in the dale. + +At these sounds, long unheard, Rostov's spirits rose, as at the strains +of the merriest music. Trap-ta-ta-tap! cracked the shots, now together, +now several quickly one after another. Again all was silent and then +again it sounded as if someone were walking on detonators and exploding +them. + +The hussars remained in the same place for about an hour. A cannonade +began. Count Ostermann with his suite rode up behind the squadron, +halted, spoke to the commander of the regiment, and rode up the hill to +the guns. + +After Ostermann had gone, a command rang out to the uhlans. + +"Form column! Prepare to charge!" + +The infantry in front of them parted into platoons to allow the cavalry +to pass. The uhlans started, the streamers on their spears fluttering, +and trotted downhill toward the French cavalry which was seen below to +the left. + +As soon as the uhlans descended the hill, the hussars were ordered up +the hill to support the battery. As they took the places vacated by the +uhlans, bullets came from the front, whining and whistling, but fell +spent without taking effect. + +The sounds, which he had not heard for so long, had an even more +pleasurable and exhilarating effect on Rostov than the previous sounds +of firing. Drawing himself up, he viewed the field of battle opening out +before him from the hill, and with his whole soul followed the movement +of the uhlans. They swooped down close to the French dragoons, something +confused happened there amid the smoke, and five minutes later our +uhlans were galloping back, not to the place they had occupied but more +to the left, and among the orange-colored uhlans on chestnut horses and +behind them, in a large group, blue French dragoons on gray horses could +be seen. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Rostov, with his keen sportsman's eye, was one of the first to catch +sight of these blue French dragoons pursuing our uhlans. Nearer and +nearer in disorderly crowds came the uhlans and the French dragoons +pursuing them. He could already see how these men, who looked so small +at the foot of the hill, jostled and overtook one another, waving their +arms and their sabers in the air. + +Rostov gazed at what was happening before him as at a hunt. He felt +instinctively that if the hussars struck at the French dragoons now, the +latter could not withstand them, but if a charge was to be made it must +be done now, at that very moment, or it would be too late. He looked +around. A captain, standing beside him, was gazing like himself with +eyes fixed on the cavalry below them. + +"Andrew Sevastyanych!" said Rostov. "You know, we could crush them...." + +"A fine thing too!" replied the captain, "and really..." + +Rostov, without waiting to hear him out, touched his horse, galloped to +the front of his squadron, and before he had time to finish giving the +word of command, the whole squadron, sharing his feeling, was following +him. Rostov himself did not know how or why he did it. He acted as he +did when hunting, without reflecting or considering. He saw the dragoons +near and that they were galloping in disorder; he knew they could not +withstand an attack--knew there was only that moment and that if he let +it slip it would not return. The bullets were whining and whistling so +stimulatingly around him and his horse was so eager to go that he could +not restrain himself. He touched his horse, gave the word of command, +and immediately, hearing behind him the tramp of the horses of his +deployed squadron, rode at full trot downhill toward the dragoons. +Hardly had they reached the bottom of the hill before their pace +instinctively changed to a gallop, which grew faster and faster as they +drew nearer to our uhlans and the French dragoons who galloped after +them. The dragoons were now close at hand. On seeing the hussars, the +foremost began to turn, while those behind began to halt. With the same +feeling with which he had galloped across the path of a wolf, Rostov +gave rein to his Donets horse and galloped to intersect the path of the +dragoons' disordered lines. One Uhlan stopped, another who was on foot +flung himself to the ground to avoid being knocked over, and a riderless +horse fell in among the hussars. Nearly all the French dragoons were +galloping back. Rostov, picking out one on a gray horse, dashed after +him. On the way he came upon a bush, his gallant horse cleared it, and +almost before he had righted himself in his saddle he saw that he would +immediately overtake the enemy he had selected. That Frenchman, by his +uniform an officer, was going at a gallop, crouching on his gray horse +and urging it on with his saber. In another moment Rostov's horse dashed +its breast against the hindquarters of the officer's horse, almost +knocking it over, and at the same instant Rostov, without knowing why, +raised his saber and struck the Frenchman with it. + +The instant he had done this, all Rostov's animation vanished. The +officer fell, not so much from the blow--which had but slightly cut his +arm above the elbow--as from the shock to his horse and from fright. +Rostov reined in his horse, and his eyes sought his foe to see whom he +had vanquished. The French dragoon officer was hopping with one foot on +the ground, the other being caught in the stirrup. His eyes, screwed up +with fear as if he every moment expected another blow, gazed up at +Rostov with shrinking terror. His pale and mud-stained face--fair and +young, with a dimple in the chin and light-blue eyes--was not an enemy's +face at all suited to a battlefield, but a most ordinary, homelike face. +Before Rostov had decided what to do with him, the officer cried, "I +surrender!" He hurriedly but vainly tried to get his foot out of the +stirrup and did not remove his frightened blue eyes from Rostov's face. +Some hussars who galloped up disengaged his foot and helped him into the +saddle. On all sides, the hussars were busy with the dragoons; one was +wounded, but though his face was bleeding, he would not give up his +horse; another was perched up behind an hussar with his arms round him; +a third was being helped by an hussar to mount his horse. In front, the +French infantry were firing as they ran. The hussars galloped hastily +back with their prisoners. Rostov galloped back with the rest, aware of +an unpleasant feeling of depression in his heart. Something vague and +confused, which he could not at all account for, had come over him with +the capture of that officer and the blow he had dealt him. + +Count Ostermann-Tolstoy met the returning hussars, sent for Rostov, +thanked him, and said he would report his gallant deed to the Emperor +and would recommend him for a St. George's Cross. When sent for by Count +Ostermann, Rostov, remembering that he had charged without orders, felt +sure his commander was sending for him to punish him for breach of +discipline. Ostermann's flattering words and promise of a reward should +therefore have struck him all the more pleasantly, but he still felt +that same vaguely disagreeable feeling of moral nausea. "But what on +earth is worrying me?" he asked himself as he rode back from the +general. "Ilyin? No, he's safe. Have I disgraced myself in any way? No, +that's not it." Something else, resembling remorse, tormented him. "Yes, +oh yes, that French officer with the dimple. And I remember how my arm +paused when I raised it." + +Rostov saw the prisoners being led away and galloped after them to have +a look at his Frenchman with the dimple on his chin. He was sitting in +his foreign uniform on an hussar packhorse and looked anxiously about +him; The sword cut on his arm could scarcely be called a wound. He +glanced at Rostov with a feigned smile and waved his hand in greeting. +Rostov still had the same indefinite feeling, as of shame. + +All that day and the next his friends and comrades noticed that Rostov, +without being dull or angry, was silent, thoughtful, and preoccupied. He +drank reluctantly, tried to remain alone, and kept turning something +over in his mind. + +Rostov was always thinking about that brilliant exploit of his, which to +his amazement had gained him the St. George's Cross and even given him a +reputation for bravery, and there was something he could not at all +understand. "So others are even more afraid than I am!" he thought. "So +that's all there is in what is called heroism! And did I do it for my +country's sake? And how was he to blame, with his dimple and blue eyes? +And how frightened he was! He thought that I should kill him. Why should +I kill him? My hand trembled. And they have given me a St. George's +Cross.... I can't make it out at all." + +But while Nicholas was considering these questions and still could reach +no clear solution of what puzzled him so, the wheel of fortune in the +service, as often happens, turned in his favor. After the affair at +Ostrovna he was brought into notice, received command of an hussar +battalion, and when a brave officer was needed he was chosen. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +On receiving news of Natasha's illness, the countess, though not quite +well yet and still weak, went to Moscow with Petya and the rest of the +household, and the whole family moved from Marya Dmitrievna's house to +their own and settled down in town. + +Natasha's illness was so serious that, fortunately for her and for her +parents, the consideration of all that had caused the illness, her +conduct and the breaking off of her engagement, receded into the +background. She was so ill that it was impossible for them to consider +in how far she was to blame for what had happened. She could not eat or +sleep, grew visibly thinner, coughed, and, as the doctors made them +feel, was in danger. They could not think of anything but how to help +her. Doctors came to see her singly and in consultation, talked much in +French, German, and Latin, blamed one another, and prescribed a great +variety of medicines for all the diseases known to them, but the simple +idea never occurred to any of them that they could not know the disease +Natasha was suffering from, as no disease suffered by a live man can be +known, for every living person has his own peculiarities and always has +his own peculiar, personal, novel, complicated disease, unknown to +medicine--not a disease of the lungs, liver, skin, heart, nerves, and so +on mentioned in medical books, but a disease consisting of one of the +innumerable combinations of the maladies of those organs. This simple +thought could not occur to the doctors (as it cannot occur to a wizard +that he is unable to work his charms) because the business of their +lives was to cure, and they received money for it and had spent the best +years of their lives on that business. But, above all, that thought was +kept out of their minds by the fact that they saw they were really +useful, as in fact they were to the whole Rostov family. Their +usefulness did not depend on making the patient swallow substances for +the most part harmful (the harm was scarcely perceptible, as they were +given in small doses), but they were useful, necessary, and +indispensable because they satisfied a mental need of the invalid and of +those who loved her--and that is why there are, and always will be, +pseudo-healers, wise women, homeopaths, and allopaths. They satisfied +that eternal human need for hope of relief, for sympathy, and that +something should be done, which is felt by those who are suffering. They +satisfied the need seen in its most elementary form in a child, when it +wants to have a place rubbed that has been hurt. A child knocks itself +and runs at once to the arms of its mother or nurse to have the aching +spot rubbed or kissed, and it feels better when this is done. The child +cannot believe that the strongest and wisest of its people have no +remedy for its pain, and the hope of relief and the expression of its +mother's sympathy while she rubs the bump comforts it. The doctors were +of use to Natasha because they kissed and rubbed her bump, assuring her +that it would soon pass if only the coachman went to the chemist's in +the Arbat and got a powder and some pills in a pretty box for a ruble +and seventy kopeks, and if she took those powders in boiled water at +intervals of precisely two hours, neither more nor less. + +What would Sonya and the count and countess have done, how would they +have looked, if nothing had been done, if there had not been those pills +to give by the clock, the warm drinks, the chicken cutlets, and all the +other details of life ordered by the doctors, the carrying out of which +supplied an occupation and consolation to the family circle? How would +the count have borne his dearly loved daughter's illness had he not +known that it was costing him a thousand rubles, and that he would not +grudge thousands more to benefit her, or had he not known that if her +illness continued he would not grudge yet other thousands and would take +her abroad for consultations there, and had he not been able to explain +the details of how Metivier and Feller had not understood the symptoms, +but Frise had, and Mudrov had diagnosed them even better? What would the +countess have done had she not been able sometimes to scold the invalid +for not strictly obeying the doctor's orders? + +"You'll never get well like that," she would say, forgetting her grief +in her vexation, "if you won't obey the doctor and take your medicine at +the right time! You mustn't trifle with it, you know, or it may turn to +pneumonia," she would go on, deriving much comfort from the utterance of +that foreign word, incomprehensible to others as well as to herself. + +What would Sonya have done without the glad consciousness that she had +not undressed during the first three nights, in order to be ready to +carry out all the doctor's injunctions with precision, and that she +still kept awake at night so as not to miss the proper time when the +slightly harmful pills in the little gilt box had to be administered? +Even to Natasha herself it was pleasant to see that so many sacrifices +were being made for her sake, and to know that she had to take medicine +at certain hours, though she declared that no medicine would cure her +and that it was all nonsense. And it was even pleasant to be able to +show, by disregarding the orders, that she did not believe in medical +treatment and did not value her life. + +The doctor came every day, felt her pulse, looked at her tongue, and +regardless of her grief-stricken face joked with her. But when he had +gone into another room, to which the countess hurriedly followed him, he +assumed a grave air and thoughtfully shaking his head said that though +there was danger, he had hopes of the effect of this last medicine and +one must wait and see, that the malady was chiefly mental, but... And +the countess, trying to conceal the action from herself and from him, +slipped a gold coin into his hand and always returned to the patient +with a more tranquil mind. + +The symptoms of Natasha's illness were that she ate little, slept +little, coughed, and was always low-spirited. The doctors said that she +could not get on without medical treatment, so they kept her in the +stifling atmosphere of the town, and the Rostovs did not move to the +country that summer of 1812. + +In spite of the many pills she swallowed and the drops and powders out +of the little bottles and boxes of which Madame Schoss who was fond of +such things made a large collection, and in spite of being deprived of +the country life to which she was accustomed, youth prevailed. Natasha's +grief began to be overlaid by the impressions of daily life, it ceased +to press so painfully on her heart, it gradually faded into the past, +and she began to recover physically. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Natasha was calmer but no happier. She not merely avoided all external +forms of pleasure--balls, promenades, concerts, and theaters--but she +never laughed without a sound of tears in her laughter. She could not +sing. As soon as she began to laugh, or tried to sing by herself, tears +choked her: tears of remorse, tears at the recollection of those pure +times which could never return, tears of vexation that she should so +uselessly have ruined her young life which might have been so happy. +Laughter and singing in particular seemed to her like a blasphemy, in +face of her sorrow. Without any need of self-restraint, no wish to +coquet ever entered her head. She said and felt at that time that no man +was more to her than Nastasya Ivanovna, the buffoon. Something stood +sentinel within her and forbade her every joy. Besides, she had lost all +the old interests of her carefree girlish life that had been so full of +hope. The previous autumn, the hunting, "Uncle," and the Christmas +holidays spent with Nicholas at Otradnoe were what she recalled oftenest +and most painfully. What would she not have given to bring back even a +single day of that time! But it was gone forever. Her presentiment at +the time had not deceived her--that that state of freedom and readiness +for any enjoyment would not return again. Yet it was necessary to live +on. + +It comforted her to reflect that she was not better as she had formerly +imagined, but worse, much worse, than anybody else in the world. But +this was not enough. She knew that, and asked herself, "What next?" But +there was nothing to come. There was no joy in life, yet life was +passing. Natasha apparently tried not to be a burden or a hindrance to +anyone, but wanted nothing for herself. She kept away from everyone in +the house and felt at ease only with her brother Petya. She liked to be +with him better than with the others, and when alone with him she +sometimes laughed. She hardly ever left the house and of those who came +to see them was glad to see only one person, Pierre. It would have been +impossible to treat her with more delicacy, greater care, and at the +same time more seriously than did Count Bezukhov. Natasha unconsciously +felt this delicacy and so found great pleasure in his society. But she +was not even grateful to him for it; nothing good on Pierre's part +seemed to her to be an effort, it seemed so natural for him to be kind +to everyone that there was no merit in his kindness. Sometimes Natasha +noticed embarrassment and awkwardness on his part in her presence, +especially when he wanted to do something to please her, or feared that +something they spoke of would awaken memories distressing to her. She +noticed this and attributed it to his general kindness and shyness, +which she imagined must be the same toward everyone as it was to her. +After those involuntary words--that if he were free he would have asked +on his knees for her hand and her love--uttered at a moment when she was +so strongly agitated, Pierre never spoke to Natasha of his feelings; and +it seemed plain to her that those words, which had then so comforted +her, were spoken as all sorts of meaningless words are spoken to comfort +a crying child. It was not because Pierre was a married man, but because +Natasha felt very strongly with him that moral barrier the absence of +which she had experienced with Kuragin that it never entered her head +that the relations between him and herself could lead to love on her +part, still less on his, or even to the kind of tender, self-conscious, +romantic friendship between a man and a woman of which she had known +several instances. + +Before the end of the fast of St. Peter, Agrafena Ivanovna Belova, a +country neighbor of the Rostovs, came to Moscow to pay her devotions at +the shrines of the Moscow saints. She suggested that Natasha should fast +and prepare for Holy Communion, and Natasha gladly welcomed the idea. +Despite the doctor's orders that she should not go out early in the +morning, Natasha insisted on fasting and preparing for the sacrament, +not as they generally prepared for it in the Rostov family by attending +three services in their own house, but as Agrafena Ivanovna did, by +going to church every day for a week and not once missing Vespers, +Matins, or Mass. + +The countess was pleased with Natasha's zeal; after the poor results of +the medical treatment, in the depths of her heart she hoped that prayer +might help her daughter more than medicines and, though not without fear +and concealing it from the doctor, she agreed to Natasha's wish and +entrusted her to Belova. Agrafena Ivanovna used to come to wake Natasha +at three in the morning, but generally found her already awake. She was +afraid of being late for Matins. Hastily washing, and meekly putting on +her shabbiest dress and an old mantilla, Natasha, shivering in the fresh +air, went out into the deserted streets lit by the clear light of dawn. +By Agrafena Ivanovna's advice Natasha prepared herself not in their own +parish, but at a church where, according to the devout Agrafena +Ivanovna, the priest was a man of very severe and lofty life. There were +never many people in the church; Natasha always stood beside Belova in +the customary place before an icon of the Blessed Virgin, let into the +screen before the choir on the left side, and a feeling, new to her, of +humility before something great and incomprehensible, seized her when at +that unusual morning hour, gazing at the dark face of the Virgin +illuminated by the candles burning before it and by the morning light +falling from the window, she listened to the words of the service which +she tried to follow with understanding. When she understood them her +personal feeling became interwoven in the prayers with shades of its +own. When she did not understand, it was sweeter still to think that the +wish to understand everything is pride, that it is impossible to +understand all, that it is only necessary to believe and to commit +oneself to God, whom she felt guiding her soul at those moments. She +crossed herself, bowed low, and when she did not understand, in horror +at her own vileness, simply asked God to forgive her everything, +everything, to have mercy upon her. The prayers to which she surrendered +herself most of all were those of repentance. On her way home at an +early hour when she met no one but bricklayers going to work or men +sweeping the street, and everybody within the houses was still asleep, +Natasha experienced a feeling new to her, a sense of the possibility of +correcting her faults, the possibility of a new, clean life, and of +happiness. + +During the whole week she spent in this way, that feeling grew every +day. And the happiness of taking communion, or "communing" as Agrafena +Ivanovna, joyously playing with the word, called it, seemed to Natasha +so great that she felt she should never live till that blessed Sunday. + +But the happy day came, and on that memorable Sunday, when, dressed in +white muslin, she returned home after communion, for the first time for +many months she felt calm and not oppressed by the thought of the life +that lay before her. + +The doctor who came to see her that day ordered her to continue the +powders he had prescribed a fortnight previously. + +"She must certainly go on taking them morning and evening," said he, +evidently sincerely satisfied with his success. "Only, please be +particular about it. + +"Be quite easy," he continued playfully, as he adroitly took the gold +coin in his palm. "She will soon be singing and frolicking about. The +last medicine has done her a very great deal of good. She has freshened +up very much." + +The countess, with a cheerful expression on her face, looked down at her +nails and spat a little for luck as she returned to the drawing room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +At the beginning of July more and more disquieting reports about the war +began to spread in Moscow; people spoke of an appeal by the Emperor to +the people, and of his coming himself from the army to Moscow. And as up +to the eleventh of July no manifesto or appeal had been received, +exaggerated reports became current about them and about the position of +Russia. It was said that the Emperor was leaving the army because it was +in danger, it was said that Smolensk had surrendered, that Napoleon had +an army of a million and only a miracle could save Russia. + +On the eleventh of July, which was Saturday, the manifesto was received +but was not yet in print, and Pierre, who was at the Rostovs', promised +to come to dinner next day, Sunday, and bring a copy of the manifesto +and appeal, which he would obtain from Count Rostopchin. + +That Sunday, the Rostovs went to Mass at the Razumovskis' private chapel +as usual. It was a hot July day. Even at ten o'clock, when the Rostovs +got out of their carriage at the chapel, the sultry air, the shouts of +hawkers, the light and gay summer clothes of the crowd, the dusty leaves +of the trees on the boulevard, the sounds of the band and the white +trousers of a battalion marching to parade, the rattling of wheels on +the cobblestones, and the brilliant, hot sunshine were all full of that +summer languor, that content and discontent with the present, which is +most strongly felt on a bright, hot day in town. All the Moscow +notabilities, all the Rostovs' acquaintances, were at the Razumovskis' +chapel, for, as if expecting something to happen, many wealthy families +who usually left town for their country estates had not gone away that +summer. As Natasha, at her mother's side, passed through the crowd +behind a liveried footman who cleared the way for them, she heard a +young man speaking about her in too loud a whisper. + +"That's Rostova, the one who..." + +"She's much thinner, but all the same she's pretty!" + +She heard, or thought she heard, the names of Kuragin and Bolkonski. But +she was always imagining that. It always seemed to her that everyone who +looked at her was thinking only of what had happened to her. With a +sinking heart, wretched as she always was now when she found herself in +a crowd, Natasha in her lilac silk dress trimmed with black lace walked- +-as women can walk--with the more repose and stateliness the greater the +pain and shame in her soul. She knew for certain that she was pretty, +but this no longer gave her satisfaction as it used to. On the contrary +it tormented her more than anything else of late, and particularly so on +this bright, hot summer day in town. "It's Sunday again--another week +past," she thought, recalling that she had been here the Sunday before, +"and always the same life that is no life, and the same surroundings in +which it used to be so easy to live. I'm pretty, I'm young, and I know +that now I am good. I used to be bad, but now I know I am good," she +thought, "but yet my best years are slipping by and are no good to +anyone." She stood by her mother's side and exchanged nods with +acquaintances near her. From habit she scrutinized the ladies' dresses, +condemned the bearing of a lady standing close by who was not crossing +herself properly but in a cramped manner, and again she thought with +vexation that she was herself being judged and was judging others, and +suddenly, at the sound of the service, she felt horrified at her own +vileness, horrified that the former purity of her soul was again lost to +her. + +A comely, fresh-looking old man was conducting the service with that +mild solemnity which has so elevating and soothing an effect on the +souls of the worshipers. The gates of the sanctuary screen were closed, +the curtain was slowly drawn, and from behind it a soft mysterious voice +pronounced some words. Tears, the cause of which she herself did not +understand, made Natasha's breast heave, and a joyous but oppressive +feeling agitated her. + +"Teach me what I should do, how to live my life, how I may grow good +forever, forever!" she pleaded. + +The deacon came out onto the raised space before the altar screen and, +holding his thumb extended, drew his long hair from under his dalmatic +and, making the sign of the cross on his breast, began in a loud and +solemn voice to recite the words of the prayer... + +"In peace let us pray unto the Lord." + +"As one community, without distinction of class, without enmity, united +by brotherly love--let us pray!" thought Natasha. + +"For the peace that is from above, and for the salvation of our souls." + +"For the world of angels and all the spirits who dwell above us," prayed +Natasha. + +When they prayed for the warriors, she thought of her brother and +Denisov. When they prayed for all traveling by land and sea, she +remembered Prince Andrew, prayed for him, and asked God to forgive her +all the wrongs she had done him. When they prayed for those who love us, +she prayed for the members of her own family, her father and mother and +Sonya, realizing for the first time how wrongly she had acted toward +them, and feeling all the strength of her love for them. When they +prayed for those who hate us, she tried to think of her enemies and +people who hated her, in order to pray for them. She included among her +enemies the creditors and all who had business dealings with her father, +and always at the thought of enemies and those who hated her she +remembered Anatole who had done her so much harm--and though he did not +hate her she gladly prayed for him as for an enemy. Only at prayer did +she feel able to think clearly and calmly of Prince Andrew and Anatole, +as men for whom her feelings were as nothing compared with her awe and +devotion to God. When they prayed for the Imperial family and the Synod, +she bowed very low and made the sign of the cross, saying to herself +that even if she did not understand, still she could not doubt, and at +any rate loved the governing Synod and prayed for it. + +When he had finished the Litany the deacon crossed the stole over his +breast and said, "Let us commit ourselves and our whole lives to Christ +the Lord!" + +"Commit ourselves to God," Natasha inwardly repeated. "Lord God, I +submit myself to Thy will!" she thought. "I want nothing, wish for +nothing; teach me what to do and how to use my will! Take me, take me!" +prayed Natasha, with impatient emotion in her heart, not crossing +herself but letting her slender arms hang down as if expecting some +invisible power at any moment to take her and deliver her from herself, +from her regrets, desires, remorse, hopes, and sins. + +The countess looked round several times at her daughter's softened face +and shining eyes and prayed God to help her. + +Unexpectedly, in the middle of the service, and not in the usual order +Natasha knew so well, the deacon brought out a small stool, the one he +knelt on when praying on Trinity Sunday, and placed it before the doors +of the sanctuary screen. The priest came out with his purple velvet +biretta on his head, adjusted his hair, and knelt down with an effort. +Everybody followed his example and they looked at one another in +surprise. Then came the prayer just received from the Synod--a prayer +for the deliverance of Russia from hostile invasion. + +"Lord God of might, God of our salvation!" began the priest in that +voice, clear, not grandiloquent but mild, in which only the Slav clergy +read and which acts so irresistibly on a Russian heart. + +"Lord God of might, God of our salvation! Look this day in mercy and +blessing on Thy humble people, and graciously hear us, spare us, and +have mercy upon us! This foe confounding Thy land, desiring to lay waste +the whole world, rises against us; these lawless men are gathered +together to overthrow Thy kingdom, to destroy Thy dear Jerusalem, Thy +beloved Russia; to defile Thy temples, to overthrow Thine altars, and to +desecrate our holy shrines. How long, O Lord, how long shall the wicked +triumph? How long shall they wield unlawful power? + +"Lord God! Hear us when we pray to Thee; strengthen with Thy might our +most gracious sovereign lord, the Emperor Alexander Pavlovich; be +mindful of his uprightness and meekness, reward him according to his +righteousness, and let it preserve us, Thy chosen Israel! Bless his +counsels, his undertakings, and his work; strengthen his kingdom by +Thine almighty hand, and give him victory over his enemy, even as Thou +gavest Moses the victory over Amalek, Gideon over Midian, and David over +Goliath. Preserve his army, put a bow of brass in the hands of those who +have armed themselves in Thy Name, and gird their loins with strength +for the fight. Take up the spear and shield and arise to help us; +confound and put to shame those who have devised evil against us, may +they be before the faces of Thy faithful warriors as dust before the +wind, and may Thy mighty Angel confound them and put them to flight; may +they be ensnared when they know it not, and may the plots they have laid +in secret be turned against them; let them fall before Thy servants' +feet and be laid low by our hosts! Lord, Thou art able to save both +great and small; Thou art God, and man cannot prevail against Thee! + +"God of our fathers! Remember Thy bounteous mercy and loving-kindness +which are from of old; turn not Thy face from us, but be gracious to our +unworthiness, and in Thy great goodness and Thy many mercies regard not +our transgressions and iniquities! Create in us a clean heart and renew +a right spirit within us, strengthen us all in Thy faith, fortify our +hope, inspire us with true love one for another, arm us with unity of +spirit in the righteous defense of the heritage Thou gavest to us and to +our fathers, and let not the scepter of the wicked be exalted against +the destiny of those Thou hast sanctified. + +"O Lord our God, in whom we believe and in whom we put our trust, let us +not be confounded in our hope of Thy mercy, and give us a token of Thy +blessing, that those who hate us and our Orthodox faith may see it and +be put to shame and perish, and may all the nations know that Thou art +the Lord and we are Thy people. Show Thy mercy upon us this day, O Lord, +and grant us Thy salvation; make the hearts of Thy servants to rejoice +in Thy mercy; smite down our enemies and destroy them swiftly beneath +the feet of Thy faithful servants! For Thou art the defense, the succor, +and the victory of them that put their trust in Thee, and to Thee be all +glory, to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and forever, world without +end. Amen." + +In Natasha's receptive condition of soul this prayer affected her +strongly. She listened to every word about the victory of Moses over +Amalek, of Gideon over Midian, and of David over Goliath, and about the +destruction of "Thy Jerusalem," and she prayed to God with the +tenderness and emotion with which her heart was overflowing, but without +fully understanding what she was asking of God in that prayer. She +shared with all her heart in the prayer for the spirit of righteousness, +for the strengthening of the heart by faith and hope, and its animation +by love. But she could not pray that her enemies might be trampled under +foot when but a few minutes before she had been wishing she had more of +them that she might pray for them. But neither could she doubt the +righteousness of the prayer that was being read on bended knees. She +felt in her heart a devout and tremulous awe at the thought of the +punishment that overtakes men for their sins, and especially of her own +sins, and she prayed to God to forgive them all, and her too, and to +give them all, and her too, peace and happiness. And it seemed to her +that God heard her prayer. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +From the day when Pierre, after leaving the Rostovs' with Natasha's +grateful look fresh in his mind, had gazed at the comet that seemed to +be fixed in the sky and felt that something new was appearing on his own +horizon--from that day the problem of the vanity and uselessness of all +earthly things, that had incessantly tormented him, no longer presented +itself. That terrible question "Why?" "Wherefore?" which had come to him +amid every occupation, was now replaced, not by another question or by a +reply to the former question, but by her image. When he listened to, or +himself took part in, trivial conversations, when he read or heard of +human baseness or folly, he was not horrified as formerly, and did not +ask himself why men struggled so about these things when all is so +transient and incomprehensible--but he remembered her as he had last +seen her, and all his doubts vanished--not because she had answered the +questions that had haunted him, but because his conception of her +transferred him instantly to another, a brighter, realm of spiritual +activity in which no one could be justified or guilty--a realm of beauty +and love which it was worth living for. Whatever worldly baseness +presented itself to him, he said to himself: + +"Well, supposing N. N. swindled the country and the Tsar, and the +country and the Tsar confer honors upon him, what does that matter? She +smiled at me yesterday and asked me to come again, and I love her, and +no one will ever know it." And his soul felt calm and peaceful. + +Pierre still went into society, drank as much and led the same idle and +dissipated life, because besides the hours he spent at the Rostovs' +there were other hours he had to spend somehow, and the habits and +acquaintances he had made in Moscow formed a current that bore him along +irresistibly. But latterly, when more and more disquieting reports came +from the seat of war and Natasha's health began to improve and she no +longer aroused in him the former feeling of careful pity, an ever- +increasing restlessness, which he could not explain, took possession of +him. He felt that the condition he was in could not continue long, that +a catastrophe was coming which would change his whole life, and he +impatiently sought everywhere for signs of that approaching catastrophe. +One of his brother Masons had revealed to Pierre the following prophecy +concerning Napoleon, drawn from the Revelation of St. John. + +In chapter 13, verse 18, of the Apocalypse, it is said: + +Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the +beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred +threescore and six. + +And in the fifth verse of the same chapter: + +And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and +blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two +months. + +The French alphabet, written out with the same numerical values as the +Hebrew, in which the first nine letters denote units and the others +tens, will have the following significance: + + +a b c d e f g h i k 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +10 l m n o p q r s 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 +90 t u v w x y 100 110 120 130 140 150 z 160 + +Writing the words L'Empereur Napoleon in numbers, it appears that the +sum of them is 666, and that Napoleon was therefore the beast foretold +in the Apocalypse. Moreover, by applying the same system to the words +quarante-deux, * which was the term allowed to the beast that "spoke +great things and blasphemies," the same number 666 was obtained; from +which it followed that the limit fixed for Napoleon's power had come in +the year 1812 when the French emperor was forty-two. This prophecy +pleased Pierre very much and he often asked himself what would put an +end to the power of the beast, that is, of Napoleon, and tried by the +same system of using letters as numbers and adding them up, to find an +answer to the question that engrossed him. He wrote the words L'Empereur +Alexandre, La nation russe and added up their numbers, but the sums were +either more or less than 666. Once when making such calculations he +wrote down his own name in French, Comte Pierre Besouhoff, but the sum +of the numbers did not come right. Then he changed the spelling, +substituting a z for the s and adding de and the article le, still +without obtaining the desired result. Then it occurred to him: if the +answer to the question were contained in his name, his nationality would +also be given in the answer. So he wrote Le russe Besuhof and adding up +the numbers got 671. This was only five too much, and five was +represented by e, the very letter elided from the article le before the +word Empereur. By omitting the e, though incorrectly, Pierre got the +answer he sought. L'russe Besuhof made 666. This discovery excited him. +How, or by what means, he was connected with the great event foretold in +the Apocalypse he did not know, but he did not doubt that connection for +a moment. His love for Natasha, Antichrist, Napoleon, the invasion, the +comet, 666, L'Empereur Napoleon, and L'russe Besuhof--all this had to +mature and culminate, to lift him out of that spellbound, petty sphere +of Moscow habits in which he felt himself held captive and lead him to a +great achievement and great happiness. + + +* Forty-two. + +On the eve of the Sunday when the special prayer was read, Pierre had +promised the Rostovs to bring them, from Count Rostopchin whom he knew +well, both the appeal to the people and the news from the army. In the +morning, when he went to call at Rostopchin's he met there a courier +fresh from the army, an acquaintance of his own, who often danced at +Moscow balls. + +"Do, please, for heaven's sake, relieve me of something!" said the +courier. "I have a sackful of letters to parents." + +Among these letters was one from Nicholas Rostov to his father. Pierre +took that letter, and Rostopchin also gave him the Emperor's appeal to +Moscow, which had just been printed, the last army orders, and his own +most recent bulletin. Glancing through the army orders, Pierre found in +one of them, in the lists of killed, wounded, and rewarded, the name of +Nicholas Rostov, awarded a St. George's Cross of the Fourth Class for +courage shown in the Ostrovna affair, and in the same order the name of +Prince Andrew Bolkonski, appointed to the command of a regiment of +Chasseurs. Though he did not want to remind the Rostovs of Bolkonski, +Pierre could not refrain from making them happy by the news of their +son's having received a decoration, so he sent that printed army order +and Nicholas' letter to the Rostovs, keeping the appeal, the bulletin, +and the other orders to take with him when he went to dinner. + +His conversation with Count Rostopchin and the latter's tone of anxious +hurry, the meeting with the courier who talked casually of how badly +things were going in the army, the rumors of the discovery of spies in +Moscow and of a leaflet in circulation stating that Napoleon promised to +be in both the Russian capitals by the autumn, and the talk of the +Emperor's being expected to arrive next day--all aroused with fresh +force that feeling of agitation and expectation in Pierre which he had +been conscious of ever since the appearance of the comet, and especially +since the beginning of the war. + +He had long been thinking of entering the army and would have done so +had he not been hindered, first, by his membership of the Society of +Freemasons to which he was bound by oath and which preached perpetual +peace and the abolition of war, and secondly, by the fact that when he +saw the great mass of Muscovites who had donned uniform and were talking +patriotism, he somehow felt ashamed to take the step. But the chief +reason for not carrying out his intention to enter the army lay in the +vague idea that he was L'russe Besuhof who had the number of the beast, +666; that his part in the great affair of setting a limit to the power +of the beast that spoke great and blasphemous things had been +predestined from eternity, and that therefore he ought not to undertake +anything, but wait for what was bound to come to pass. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A few intimate friends were dining with the Rostovs that day, as usual +on Sundays. + +Pierre came early so as to find them alone. + +He had grown so stout this year that he would have been abnormal had he +not been so tall, so broad of limb, and so strong that he carried his +bulk with evident ease. + +He went up the stairs, puffing and muttering something. His coachman did +not even ask whether he was to wait. He knew that when his master was at +the Rostovs' he stayed till midnight. The Rostovs' footman rushed +eagerly forward to help him off with his cloak and take his hat and +stick. Pierre, from club habit, always left both hat and stick in the +anteroom. + +The first person he saw in the house was Natasha. Even before he saw +her, while taking off his cloak, he heard her. She was practicing solfa +exercises in the music room. He knew that she had not sung since her +illness, and so the sound of her voice surprised and delighted him. He +opened the door softly and saw her, in the lilac dress she had worn at +church, walking about the room singing. She had her back to him when he +opened the door, but when, turning quickly, she saw his broad, surprised +face, she blushed and came rapidly up to him. + +"I want to try to sing again," she said, adding as if by way of excuse, +"it is, at least, something to do." + +"That's capital!" + +"How glad I am you've come! I am so happy today," she said, with the old +animation Pierre had not seen in her for a long time. "You know Nicholas +has received a St. George's Cross? I am so proud of him." + +"Oh yes, I sent that announcement. But I don't want to interrupt you," +he added, and was about to go to the drawing room. + +Natasha stopped him. + +"Count, is it wrong of me to sing?" she said blushing, and fixing her +eyes inquiringly on him. + +"No... Why should it be? On the contrary... But why do you ask me?" + +"I don't know myself," Natasha answered quickly, "but I should not like +to do anything you disapproved of. I believe in you completely. You +don't know how important you are to me, how much you've done for me...." +She spoke rapidly and did not notice how Pierre flushed at her words. "I +saw in that same army order that he, Bolkonski" (she whispered the name +hastily), "is in Russia, and in the army again. What do you think?"--she +was speaking hurriedly, evidently afraid her strength might fail her-- +"Will he ever forgive me? Will he not always have a bitter feeling +toward me? What do you think? What do you think?" + +"I think..." Pierre replied, "that he has nothing to forgive.... If I +were in his place..." + +By association of ideas, Pierre was at once carried back to the day +when, trying to comfort her, he had said that if he were not himself but +the best man in the world and free, he would ask on his knees for her +hand; and the same feeling of pity, tenderness, and love took possession +of him and the same words rose to his lips. But she did not give him +time to say them. + +"Yes, you... you..." she said, uttering the word you rapturously-- +"that's a different thing. I know no one kinder, more generous, or +better than you; nobody could be! Had you not been there then, and now +too, I don't know what would have become of me, because..." + +Tears suddenly rose in her eyes, she turned away, lifted her music +before her eyes, began singing again, and again began walking up and +down the room. + +Just then Petya came running in from the drawing room. + +Petya was now a handsome rosy lad of fifteen with full red lips and +resembled Natasha. He was preparing to enter the university, but he and +his friend Obolenski had lately, in secret, agreed to join the hussars. + +Petya had come rushing out to talk to his namesake about this affair. He +had asked Pierre to find out whether he would be accepted in the +hussars. + +Pierre walked up and down the drawing room, not listening to what Petya +was saying. + +Petya pulled him by the arm to attract his attention. + +"Well, what about my plan? Peter Kirilych, for heaven's sake! You are my +only hope," said Petya. + +"Oh yes, your plan. To join the hussars? I'll mention it, I'll bring it +all up today." + +"Well, mon cher, have you got the manifesto?" asked the old count. "The +countess has been to Mass at the Razumovskis' and heard the new prayer. +She says it's very fine." + +"Yes, I've got it," said Pierre. "The Emperor is to be here tomorrow... +there's to be an Extraordinary Meeting of the nobility, and they are +talking of a levy of ten men per thousand. Oh yes, let me congratulate +you!" + +"Yes, yes, thank God! Well, and what news from the army?" + +"We are again retreating. They say we're already near Smolensk," replied +Pierre. + +"O Lord, O Lord!" exclaimed the count. "Where is the manifesto?" + +"The Emperor's appeal? Oh yes!" + +Pierre began feeling in his pockets for the papers, but could not find +them. Still slapping his pockets, he kissed the hand of the countess who +entered the room and glanced uneasily around, evidently expecting +Natasha, who had left off singing but had not yet come into the drawing +room. + +"On my word, I don't know what I've done with it," he said. + +"There he is, always losing everything!" remarked the countess. + +Natasha entered with a softened and agitated expression of face and sat +down looking silently at Pierre. As soon as she entered, Pierre's +features, which had been gloomy, suddenly lighted up, and while still +searching for the papers he glanced at her several times. + +"No, really! I'll drive home, I must have left them there. I'll +certainly..." + +"But you'll be late for dinner." + +"Oh! And my coachman has gone." + +But Sonya, who had gone to look for the papers in the anteroom, had +found them in Pierre's hat, where he had carefully tucked them under the +lining. Pierre was about to begin reading. + +"No, after dinner," said the old count, evidently expecting much +enjoyment from that reading. + +At dinner, at which champagne was drunk to the health of the new +chevalier of St. George, Shinshin told them the town news, of the +illness of the old Georgian princess, of Metivier's disappearance from +Moscow, and of how some German fellow had been brought to Rostopchin and +accused of being a French "spyer" (so Count Rostopchin had told the +story), and how Rostopchin let him go and assured the people that he was +"not a spire at all, but only an old German ruin." + +"People are being arrested..." said the count. "I've told the countess +she should not speak French so much. It's not the time for it now." + +"And have you heard?" Shinshin asked. "Prince Golitsyn has engaged a +master to teach him Russian. It is becoming dangerous to speak French in +the streets." + +"And how about you, Count Peter Kirilych? If they call up the militia, +you too will have to mount a horse," remarked the old count, addressing +Pierre. + +Pierre had been silent and preoccupied all through dinner, seeming not +to grasp what was said. He looked at the count. + +"Oh yes, the war," he said. "No! What sort of warrior should I make? And +yet everything is so strange, so strange! I can't make it out. I don't +know, I am very far from having military tastes, but in these times no +one can answer for himself." + +After dinner the count settled himself comfortably in an easy chair and +with a serious face asked Sonya, who was considered an excellent reader, +to read the appeal. + +"To Moscow, our ancient Capital! + +"The enemy has entered the borders of Russia with immense forces. He +comes to despoil our beloved country." + +Sonya read painstakingly in her high-pitched voice. The count listened +with closed eyes, heaving abrupt sighs at certain passages. + +Natasha sat erect, gazing with a searching look now at her father and +now at Pierre. + +Pierre felt her eyes on him and tried not to look round. The countess +shook her head disapprovingly and angrily at every solemn expression in +the manifesto. In all these words she saw only that the danger +threatening her son would not soon be over. Shinshin, with a sarcastic +smile on his lips, was evidently preparing to make fun of anything that +gave him the opportunity: Sonya's reading, any remark of the count's, or +even the manifesto itself should no better pretext present itself. + +After reading about the dangers that threatened Russia, the hopes the +Emperor placed on Moscow and especially on its illustrious nobility, +Sonya, with a quiver in her voice due chiefly to the attention that was +being paid to her, read the last words: + +"We ourselves will not delay to appear among our people in that Capital +and in other parts of our realm for consultation, and for the direction +of all our levies, both those now barring the enemy's path and those +freshly formed to defeat him wherever he may appear. May the ruin he +hopes to bring upon us recoil on his own head, and may Europe delivered +from bondage glorify the name of Russia!" + +"Yes, that's it!" cried the count, opening his moist eyes and sniffing +repeatedly, as if a strong vinaigrette had been held to his nose; and he +added, "Let the Emperor but say the word and we'll sacrifice everything +and begrudge nothing." + +Before Shinshin had time to utter the joke he was ready to make on the +count's patriotism, Natasha jumped up from her place and ran to her +father. + +"What a darling our Papa is!" she cried, kissing him, and she again +looked at Pierre with the unconscious coquetry that had returned to her +with her better spirits. + +"There! Here's a patriot for you!" said Shinshin. + +"Not a patriot at all, but simply..." Natasha replied in an injured +tone. "Everything seems funny to you, but this isn't at all a joke...." + +"A joke indeed!" put in the count. "Let him but say the word and we'll +all go.... We're not Germans!" + +"But did you notice, it says, 'for consultation'?" said Pierre. + +"Never mind what it's for...." + +At this moment, Petya, to whom nobody was paying any attention, came up +to his father with a very flushed face and said in his breaking voice +that was now deep and now shrill: + +"Well, Papa, I tell you definitely, and Mamma too, it's as you please, +but I say definitely that you must let me enter the army, because I +can't... that's all...." + +The countess, in dismay, looked up to heaven, clasped her hands, and +turned angrily to her husband. + +"That comes of your talking!" said she. + +But the count had already recovered from his excitement. + +"Come, come!" said he. "Here's a fine warrior! No! Nonsense! You must +study." + +"It's not nonsense, Papa. Fedya Obolenski is younger than I, and he's +going too. Besides, all the same I can't study now when..." Petya +stopped short, flushed till he perspired, but still got out the words, +"when our Fatherland is in danger." + +"That'll do, that'll do--nonsense...." + +"But you said yourself that we would sacrifice everything." + +"Petya! Be quiet, I tell you!" cried the count, with a glance at his +wife, who had turned pale and was staring fixedly at her son. + +"And I tell you--Peter Kirilych here will also tell you..." + +"Nonsense, I tell you. Your mother's milk has hardly dried on your lips +and you want to go into the army! There, there, I tell you," and the +count moved to go out of the room, taking the papers, probably to reread +them in his study before having a nap. + +"Well, Peter Kirilych, let's go and have a smoke," he said. + +Pierre was agitated and undecided. Natasha's unwontedly brilliant eyes, +continually glancing at him with a more than cordial look, had reduced +him to this condition. + +"No, I think I'll go home." + +"Home? Why, you meant to spend the evening with us.... You don't often +come nowadays as it is, and this girl of mine," said the count good- +naturedly, pointing to Natasha, "only brightens up when you're here." + +"Yes, I had forgotten... I really must go home... business..." said +Pierre hurriedly. + +"Well, then, au revoir!" said the count, and went out of the room. + +"Why are you going? Why are you upset?" asked Natasha, and she looked +challengingly into Pierre's eyes. + +"Because I love you!" was what he wanted to say, but he did not say it, +and only blushed till the tears came, and lowered his eyes. + +"Because it is better for me to come less often... because... No, simply +I have business...." + +"Why? No, tell me!" Natasha began resolutely and suddenly stopped. + +They looked at each other with dismayed and embarrassed faces. He tried +to smile but could not: his smile expressed suffering, and he silently +kissed her hand and went out. + +Pierre made up his mind not to go to the Rostovs' any more. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +After the definite refusal he had received, Petya went to his room and +there locked himself in and wept bitterly. When he came in to tea, +silent, morose, and with tear-stained face, everybody pretended not to +notice anything. + +Next day the Emperor arrived in Moscow, and several of the Rostovs' +domestic serfs begged permission to go to have a look at him. That +morning Petya was a long time dressing and arranging his hair and collar +to look like a grown-up man. He frowned before his looking glass, +gesticulated, shrugged his shoulders, and finally, without saying a word +to anyone, took his cap and left the house by the back door, trying to +avoid notice. Petya decided to go straight to where the Emperor was and +to explain frankly to some gentleman-in-waiting (he imagined the Emperor +to be always surrounded by gentlemen-in-waiting) that he, Count Rostov, +in spite of his youth wished to serve his country; that youth could be +no hindrance to loyalty, and that he was ready to... While dressing, +Petya had prepared many fine things he meant to say to the gentleman-in- +waiting. + +It was on the very fact of being so young that Petya counted for success +in reaching the Emperor--he even thought how surprised everyone would be +at his youthfulness--and yet in the arrangement of his collar and hair +and by his sedate deliberate walk he wished to appear a grown-up man. +But the farther he went and the more his attention was diverted by the +ever-increasing crowds moving toward the Kremlin, the less he remembered +to walk with the sedateness and deliberation of a man. As he approached +the Kremlin he even began to avoid being crushed and resolutely stuck +out his elbows in a menacing way. But within the Trinity Gateway he was +so pressed to the wall by people who probably were unaware of the +patriotic intentions with which he had come that in spite of all his +determination he had to give in, and stop while carriages passed in, +rumbling beneath the archway. Beside Petya stood a peasant woman, a +footman, two tradesmen, and a discharged soldier. After standing some +time in the gateway, Petya tried to move forward in front of the others +without waiting for all the carriages to pass, and he began resolutely +working his way with his elbows, but the woman just in front of him, who +was the first against whom he directed his efforts, angrily shouted at +him: + +"What are you shoving for, young lordling? Don't you see we're all +standing still? Then why push?" + +"Anybody can shove," said the footman, and also began working his elbows +to such effect that he pushed Petya into a very filthy corner of the +gateway. + +Petya wiped his perspiring face with his hands and pulled up the damp +collar which he had arranged so well at home to seem like a man's. + +He felt that he no longer looked presentable, and feared that if he were +now to approach the gentlemen-in-waiting in that plight he would not be +admitted to the Emperor. But it was impossible to smarten oneself up or +move to another place, because of the crowd. One of the generals who +drove past was an acquaintance of the Rostovs', and Petya thought of +asking his help, but came to the conclusion that that would not be a +manly thing to do. When the carriages had all passed in, the crowd, +carrying Petya with it, streamed forward into the Kremlin Square which +was already full of people. There were people not only in the square, +but everywhere--on the slopes and on the roofs. As soon as Petya found +himself in the square he clearly heard the sound of bells and the joyous +voices of the crowd that filled the whole Kremlin. + +For a while the crowd was less dense, but suddenly all heads were bared, +and everyone rushed forward in one direction. Petya was being pressed so +that he could scarcely breathe, and everybody shouted, "Hurrah! hurrah! +hurrah!" Petya stood on tiptoe and pushed and pinched, but could see +nothing except the people about him. + +All the faces bore the same expression of excitement and enthusiasm. A +tradesman's wife standing beside Petya sobbed, and the tears ran down +her cheeks. + +"Father! Angel! Dear one!" she kept repeating, wiping away her tears +with her fingers. + +"Hurrah!" was heard on all sides. + +For a moment the crowd stood still, but then it made another rush +forward. + +Quite beside himself, Petya, clinching his teeth and rolling his eyes +ferociously, pushed forward, elbowing his way and shouting "hurrah!" as +if he were prepared that instant to kill himself and everyone else, but +on both sides of him other people with similarly ferocious faces pushed +forward and everybody shouted "hurrah!" + +"So this is what the Emperor is!" thought Petya. "No, I can't petition +him myself--that would be too bold." But in spite of this he continued +to struggle desperately forward, and from between the backs of those in +front he caught glimpses of an open space with a strip of red cloth +spread out on it; but just then the crowd swayed back--the police in +front were pushing back those who had pressed too close to the +procession: the Emperor was passing from the palace to the Cathedral of +the Assumption--and Petya unexpectedly received such a blow on his side +and ribs and was squeezed so hard that suddenly everything grew dim +before his eyes and he lost consciousness. When he came to himself, a +man of clerical appearance with a tuft of gray hair at the back of his +head and wearing a shabby blue cassock--probably a church clerk and +chanter--was holding him under the arm with one hand while warding off +the pressure of the crowd with the other. + +"You've crushed the young gentleman!" said the clerk. "What are you up +to? Gently!... They've crushed him, crushed him!" + +The Emperor entered the Cathedral of the Assumption. The crowd spread +out again more evenly, and the clerk led Petya--pale and breathless--to +the Tsar-cannon. Several people were sorry for Petya, and suddenly a +crowd turned toward him and pressed round him. Those who stood nearest +him attended to him, unbuttoned his coat, seated him on the raised +platform of the cannon, and reproached those others (whoever they might +be) who had crushed him. + +"One might easily get killed that way! What do they mean by it? Killing +people! Poor dear, he's as white as a sheet!"--various voices were heard +saying. + +Petya soon came to himself, the color returned to his face, the pain had +passed, and at the cost of that temporary unpleasantness he had obtained +a place by the cannon from where he hoped to see the Emperor who would +be returning that way. Petya no longer thought of presenting his +petition. If he could only see the Emperor he would be happy! + +While the service was proceeding in the Cathedral of the Assumption--it +was a combined service of prayer on the occasion of the Emperor's +arrival and of thanksgiving for the conclusion of peace with the Turks-- +the crowd outside spread out and hawkers appeared, selling kvas, +gingerbread, and poppyseed sweets (of which Petya was particularly +fond), and ordinary conversation could again be heard. A tradesman's +wife was showing a rent in her shawl and telling how much the shawl had +cost; another was saying that all silk goods had now got dear. The clerk +who had rescued Petya was talking to a functionary about the priests who +were officiating that day with the bishop. The clerk several times used +the word "plenary" (of the service), a word Petya did not understand. +Two young citizens were joking with some serf girls who were cracking +nuts. All these conversations, especially the joking with the girls, +were such as might have had a particular charm for Petya at his age, but +they did not interest him now. He sat on his elevation--the pedestal of +the cannon--still agitated as before by the thought of the Emperor and +by his love for him. The feeling of pain and fear he had experienced +when he was being crushed, together with that of rapture, still further +intensified his sense of the importance of the occasion. + +Suddenly the sound of a firing of cannon was heard from the embankment, +to celebrate the signing of peace with the Turks, and the crowd rushed +impetuously toward the embankment to watch the firing. Petya too would +have run there, but the clerk who had taken the young gentleman under +his protection stopped him. The firing was still proceeding when +officers, generals, and gentlemen-in-waiting came running out of the +cathedral, and after them others in a more leisurely manner: caps were +again raised, and those who had run to look at the cannon ran back +again. At last four men in uniforms and sashes emerged from the +cathedral doors. "Hurrah! hurrah!" shouted the crowd again. + +"Which is he? Which?" asked Petya in a tearful voice, of those around +him, but no one answered him, everybody was too excited; and Petya, +fixing on one of those four men, whom he could not clearly see for the +tears of joy that filled his eyes, concentrated all his enthusiasm on +him--though it happened not to be the Emperor--frantically shouted +"Hurrah!" and resolved that tomorrow, come what might, he would join the +army. + +The crowd ran after the Emperor, followed him to the palace, and began +to disperse. It was already late, and Petya had not eaten anything and +was drenched with perspiration, yet he did not go home but stood with +that diminishing, but still considerable, crowd before the palace while +the Emperor dined--looking in at the palace windows, expecting he knew +not what, and envying alike the notables he saw arriving at the entrance +to dine with the Emperor and the court footmen who served at table, +glimpses of whom could be seen through the windows. + +While the Emperor was dining, Valuev, looking out of the window, said: + +"The people are still hoping to see Your Majesty again." + +The dinner was nearly over, and the Emperor, munching a biscuit, rose +and went out onto the balcony. The people, with Petya among them, rushed +toward the balcony. + +"Angel! Dear one! Hurrah! Father!..." cried the crowd, and Petya with +it, and again the women and men of weaker mold, Petya among them, wept +with joy. + +A largish piece of the biscuit the Emperor was holding in his hand broke +off, fell on the balcony parapet, and then to the ground. A coachman in +a jerkin, who stood nearest, sprang forward and snatched it up. Several +people in the crowd rushed at the coachman. Seeing this the Emperor had +a plateful of biscuits brought him and began throwing them down from the +balcony. Petya's eyes grew bloodshot, and still more excited by the +danger of being crushed, he rushed at the biscuits. He did not know why, +but he had to have a biscuit from the Tsar's hand and he felt that he +must not give way. He sprang forward and upset an old woman who was +catching at a biscuit; the old woman did not consider herself defeated +though she was lying on the ground--she grabbed at some biscuits but her +hand did not reach them. Petya pushed her hand away with his knee, +seized a biscuit, and as if fearing to be too late, again shouted +"Hurrah!" with a voice already hoarse. + +The Emperor went in, and after that the greater part of the crowd began +to disperse. + +"There! I said if only we waited--and so it was!" was being joyfully +said by various people. + +Happy as Petya was, he felt sad at having to go home knowing that all +the enjoyment of that day was over. He did not go straight home from the +Kremlin, but called on his friend Obolenski, who was fifteen and was +also entering the regiment. On returning home Petya announced resolutely +and firmly that if he was not allowed to enter the service he would run +away. And next day, Count Ilya Rostov--though he had not yet quite +yielded--went to inquire how he could arrange for Petya to serve where +there would be least danger. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +Two days later, on the fifteenth of July, an immense number of carriages +were standing outside the Sloboda Palace. + +The great halls were full. In the first were the nobility and gentry in +their uniforms, in the second bearded merchants in full-skirted coats of +blue cloth and wearing medals. In the noblemen's hall there was an +incessant movement and buzz of voices. The chief magnates sat on high- +backed chairs at a large table under the portrait of the Emperor, but +most of the gentry were strolling about the room. + +All these nobles, whom Pierre met every day at the club or in their own +houses, were in uniform--some in that of Catherine's day, others in that +of Emperor Paul, others again in the new uniforms of Alexander's time or +the ordinary uniform of the nobility, and the general characteristic of +being in uniform imparted something strange and fantastic to these +diverse and familiar personalities, both old and young. The old men, +dim-eyed, toothless, bald, sallow, and bloated, or gaunt and wrinkled, +were especially striking. For the most part they sat quietly in their +places and were silent, or, if they walked about and talked, attached +themselves to someone younger. On all these faces, as on the faces of +the crowd Petya had seen in the Square, there was a striking +contradiction: the general expectation of a solemn event, and at the +same time the everyday interests in a boston card party, Peter the cook, +Zinaida Dmitrievna's health, and so on. + +Pierre was there too, buttoned up since early morning in a nobleman's +uniform that had become too tight for him. He was agitated; this +extraordinary gathering not only of nobles but also of the merchant- +class--les etats generaux (States-General)--evoked in him a whole series +of ideas he had long laid aside but which were deeply graven in his +soul: thoughts of the Contrat Social and the French Revolution. The +words that had struck him in the Emperor's appeal--that the sovereign +was coming to the capital for consultation with his people--strengthened +this idea. And imagining that in this direction something important +which he had long awaited was drawing near, he strolled about watching +and listening to conversations, but nowhere finding any confirmation of +the ideas that occupied him. + +The Emperor's manifesto was read, evoking enthusiasm, and then all moved +about discussing it. Besides the ordinary topics of conversation, Pierre +heard questions of where the marshals of the nobility were to stand when +the Emperor entered, when a ball should be given in the Emperor's honor, +whether they should group themselves by districts or by whole +provinces... and so on; but as soon as the war was touched on, or what +the nobility had been convened for, the talk became undecided and +indefinite. Then all preferred listening to speaking. + +A middle-aged man, handsome and virile, in the uniform of a retired +naval officer, was speaking in one of the rooms, and a small crowd was +pressing round him. Pierre went up to the circle that had formed round +the speaker and listened. Count Ilya Rostov, in a military uniform of +Catherine's time, was sauntering with a pleasant smile among the crowd, +with all of whom he was acquainted. He too approached that group and +listened with a kindly smile and nods of approval, as he always did, to +what the speaker was saying. The retired naval man was speaking very +boldly, as was evident from the expression on the faces of the listeners +and from the fact that some people Pierre knew as the meekest and +quietest of men walked away disapprovingly or expressed disagreement +with him. Pierre pushed his way into the middle of the group, listened, +and convinced himself that the man was indeed a liberal, but of views +quite different from his own. The naval officer spoke in a particularly +sonorous, musical, and aristocratic baritone voice, pleasantly +swallowing his r's and generally slurring his consonants: the voice of a +man calling out to his servant, "Heah! Bwing me my pipe!" It was +indicative of dissipation and the exercise of authority. + +"What if the Smolensk people have offahd to waise militia for the +Empewah? Ah we to take Smolensk as our patte'n? If the noble awistocwacy +of the pwovince of Moscow thinks fit, it can show its loyalty to our +sov'weign the Empewah in other ways. Have we fo'gotten the waising of +the militia in the yeah 'seven? All that did was to enwich the pwiests' +sons and thieves and wobbahs...." + +Count Ilya Rostov smiled blandly and nodded approval. + +"And was our militia of any use to the Empia? Not at all! It only wuined +our farming! Bettah have another conscwiption... o' ou' men will wetu'n +neithah soldiers no' peasants, and we'll get only depwavity fwom them. +The nobility don't gwudge theah lives--evewy one of us will go and bwing +in more wecwuits, and the sov'weign" (that was the way he referred to +the Emperor) "need only say the word and we'll all die fo' him!" added +the orator with animation. + +Count Rostov's mouth watered with pleasure and he nudged Pierre, but +Pierre wanted to speak himself. He pushed forward, feeling stirred, but +not yet sure what stirred him or what he would say. Scarcely had he +opened his mouth when one of the senators, a man without a tooth in his +head, with a shrewd though angry expression, standing near the first +speaker, interrupted him. Evidently accustomed to managing debates and +to maintaining an argument, he began in low but distinct tones: + +"I imagine, sir," said he, mumbling with his toothless mouth, "that we +have been summoned here not to discuss whether it's best for the empire +at the present moment to adopt conscription or to call out the militia. +We have been summoned to reply to the appeal with which our sovereign +the Emperor has honored us. But to judge what is best--conscription or +the militia--we can leave to the supreme authority...." + +Pierre suddenly saw an outlet for his excitement. He hardened his heart +against the senator who was introducing this set and narrow attitude +into the deliberations of the nobility. Pierre stepped forward and +interrupted him. He himself did not yet know what he would say, but he +began to speak eagerly, occasionally lapsing into French or expressing +himself in bookish Russian. + +"Excuse me, your excellency," he began. (He was well acquainted with the +senator, but thought it necessary on this occasion to address him +formally.) "Though I don't agree with the gentleman..." (he hesitated: +he wished to say, "Mon tres honorable preopinant"--"My very honorable +opponent") "with the gentleman... whom I have not the honor of knowing, +I suppose that the nobility have been summoned not merely to express +their sympathy and enthusiasm but also to consider the means by which we +can assist our Fatherland! I imagine," he went on, warming to his +subject, "that the Emperor himself would not be satisfied to find in us +merely owners of serfs whom we are willing to devote to his service, and +chair a canon * we are ready to make of ourselves--and not to obtain +from us any co-co-counsel." + + +* "Food for cannon." + +Many persons withdrew from the circle, noticing the senator's sarcastic +smile and the freedom of Pierre's remarks. Only Count Rostov was pleased +with them as he had been pleased with those of the naval officer, the +senator, and in general with whatever speech he had last heard. + +"I think that before discussing these questions," Pierre continued, "we +should ask the Emperor--most respectfully ask His Majesty--to let us +know the number of our troops and the position in which our army and our +forces now are, and then..." + +But scarcely had Pierre uttered these words before he was attacked from +three sides. The most vigorous attack came from an old acquaintance, a +boston player who had always been well disposed toward him, Stepan +Stepanovich Adraksin. Adraksin was in uniform, and whether as a result +of the uniform or from some other cause Pierre saw before him quite a +different man. With a sudden expression of malevolence on his aged face, +Adraksin shouted at Pierre: + +"In the first place, I tell you we have no right to question the Emperor +about that, and secondly, if the Russian nobility had that right, the +Emperor could not answer such a question. The troops are moved according +to the enemy's movements and the number of men increases and +decreases..." + +Another voice, that of a nobleman of medium height and about forty years +of age, whom Pierre had formerly met at the gypsies' and knew as a bad +cardplayer, and who, also transformed by his uniform, came up to Pierre, +interrupted Adraksin. + +"Yes, and this is not a time for discussing," he continued, "but for +acting: there is war in Russia! The enemy is advancing to destroy +Russia, to desecrate the tombs of our fathers, to carry off our wives +and children." The nobleman smote his breast. "We will all arise, every +one of us will go, for our father the Tsar!" he shouted, rolling his +bloodshot eyes. Several approving voices were heard in the crowd. "We +are Russians and will not grudge our blood in defense of our faith, the +throne, and the Fatherland! We must cease raving if we are sons of our +Fatherland! We will show Europe how Russia rises to the defense of +Russia!" + +Pierre wished to reply, but could not get in a word. He felt that his +words, apart from what meaning they conveyed, were less audible than the +sound of his opponent's voice. + +Count Rostov at the back of the crowd was expressing approval; several +persons, briskly turning a shoulder to the orator at the end of a +phrase, said: + +"That's right, quite right! Just so!" + +Pierre wished to say that he was ready to sacrifice his money, his +serfs, or himself, only one ought to know the state of affairs in order +to be able to improve it, but he was unable to speak. Many voices +shouted and talked at the same time, so that Count Rostov had not time +to signify his approval of them all, and the group increased, dispersed, +re-formed, and then moved with a hum of talk into the largest hall and +to the big table. Not only was Pierre's attempt to speak unsuccessful, +but he was rudely interrupted, pushed aside, and people turned away from +him as from a common enemy. This happened not because they were +displeased by the substance of his speech, which had even been forgotten +after the many subsequent speeches, but to animate it the crowd needed a +tangible object to love and a tangible object to hate. Pierre became the +latter. Many other orators spoke after the excited nobleman, and all in +the same tone. Many spoke eloquently and with originality. + +Glinka, the editor of the Russian Messenger, who was recognized (cries +of "author! author!" were heard in the crowd), said that "hell must be +repulsed by hell," and that he had seen a child smiling at lightning +flashes and thunderclaps, but "we will not be that child." + +"Yes, yes, at thunderclaps!" was repeated approvingly in the back rows +of the crowd. + +The crowd drew up to the large table, at which sat gray-haired or bald +seventy-year-old magnates, uniformed and besashed almost all of whom +Pierre had seen in their own homes with their buffoons, or playing +boston at the clubs. With an incessant hum of voices the crowd advanced +to the table. Pressed by the throng against the high backs of the +chairs, the orators spoke one after another and sometimes two together. +Those standing behind noticed what a speaker omitted to say and hastened +to supply it. Others in that heat and crush racked their brains to find +some thought and hastened to utter it. The old magnates, whom Pierre +knew, sat and turned to look first at one and then at another, and their +faces for the most part only expressed the fact that they found it very +hot. Pierre, however, felt excited, and the general desire to show that +they were ready to go to all lengths--which found expression in the +tones and looks more than in the substance of the speeches--infected him +too. He did not renounce his opinions, but felt himself in some way to +blame and wished to justify himself. + +"I only said that it would be more to the purpose to make sacrifices +when we know what is needed!" said he, trying to be heard above the +other voices. + +One of the old men nearest to him looked round, but his attention was +immediately diverted by an exclamation at the other side of the table. + +"Yes, Moscow will be surrendered! She will be our expiation!" shouted +one man. + +"He is the enemy of mankind!" cried another. "Allow me to speak...." +"Gentlemen, you are crushing me!..." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +At that moment Count Rostopchin with his protruding chin and alert eyes, +wearing the uniform of a general with sash over his shoulder, entered +the room, stepping briskly to the front of the crowd of gentry. + +"Our sovereign the Emperor will be here in a moment," said Rostopchin. +"I am straight from the palace. Seeing the position we are in, I think +there is little need for discussion. The Emperor has deigned to summon +us and the merchants. Millions will pour forth from there"--he pointed +to the merchants' hall--"but our business is to supply men and not spare +ourselves... That is the least we can do!" + +A conference took place confined to the magnates sitting at the table. +The whole consultation passed more than quietly. After all the preceding +noise the sound of their old voices saying one after another, "I agree," +or for variety, "I too am of that opinion," and so on had even a +mournful effect. + +The secretary was told to write down the resolution of the Moscow +nobility and gentry, that they would furnish ten men, fully equipped, +out of every thousand serfs, as the Smolensk gentry had done. Their +chairs made a scraping noise as the gentlemen who had conferred rose +with apparent relief, and began walking up and down, arm in arm, to +stretch their legs and converse in couples. + +"The Emperor! The Emperor!" a sudden cry resounded through the halls and +the whole throng hurried to the entrance. + +The Emperor entered the hall through a broad path between two lines of +nobles. Every face expressed respectful, awe-struck curiosity. Pierre +stood rather far off and could not hear all that the Emperor said. From +what he did hear he understood that the Emperor spoke of the danger +threatening the empire and of the hopes he placed on the Moscow +nobility. He was answered by a voice which informed him of the +resolution just arrived at. + +"Gentlemen!" said the Emperor with a quivering voice. + +There was a rustling among the crowd and it again subsided, so that +Pierre distinctly heard the pleasantly human voice of the Emperor saying +with emotion: + +"I never doubted the devotion of the Russian nobles, but today it has +surpassed my expectations. I thank you in the name of the Fatherland! +Gentlemen, let us act! Time is most precious..." + +The Emperor ceased speaking, the crowd began pressing round him, and +rapturous exclamations were heard from all sides. + +"Yes, most precious... a royal word," said Count Rostov, with a sob. He +stood at the back, and, though he had heard hardly anything, understood +everything in his own way. + +From the hall of the nobility the Emperor went to that of the merchants. +There he remained about ten minutes. Pierre was among those who saw him +come out from the merchants' hall with tears of emotion in his eyes. As +became known later, he had scarcely begun to address the merchants +before tears gushed from his eyes and he concluded in a trembling voice. +When Pierre saw the Emperor he was coming out accompanied by two +merchants, one of whom Pierre knew, a fat otkupshchik. The other was the +mayor, a man with a thin sallow face and narrow beard. Both were +weeping. Tears filled the thin man's eyes, and the fat otkupshchik +sobbed outright like a child and kept repeating: + +"Our lives and property--take them, Your Majesty!" + +Pierre's one feeling at the moment was a desire to show that he was +ready to go all lengths and was prepared to sacrifice everything. He now +felt ashamed of his speech with its constitutional tendency and sought +an opportunity of effacing it. Having heard that Count Mamonov was +furnishing a regiment, Bezukhov at once informed Rostopchin that he +would give a thousand men and their maintenance. + +Old Rostov could not tell his wife of what had passed without tears, and +at once consented to Petya's request and went himself to enter his name. + +Next day the Emperor left Moscow. The assembled nobles all took off +their uniforms and settled down again in their homes and clubs, and not +without some groans gave orders to their stewards about the enrollment, +feeling amazed themselves at what they had done. + +BOOK TEN: 1812 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Napoleon began the war with Russia because he could not resist going to +Dresden, could not help having his head turned by the homage he +received, could not help donning a Polish uniform and yielding to the +stimulating influence of a June morning, and could not refrain from +bursts of anger in the presence of Kurakin and then of Balashev. + +Alexander refused negotiations because he felt himself to be personally +insulted. Barclay de Tolly tried to command the army in the best way, +because he wished to fulfill his duty and earn fame as a great +commander. Rostov charged the French because he could not restrain his +wish for a gallop across a level field; and in the same way the +innumerable people who took part in the war acted in accord with their +personal characteristics, habits, circumstances, and aims. They were +moved by fear or vanity, rejoiced or were indignant, reasoned, imagining +that they knew what they were doing and did it of their own free will, +but they all were involuntary tools of history, carrying on a work +concealed from them but comprehensible to us. Such is the inevitable +fate of men of action, and the higher they stand in the social hierarchy +the less are they free. + +The actors of 1812 have long since left the stage, their personal +interests have vanished leaving no trace, and nothing remains of that +time but its historic results. + +Providence compelled all these men, striving to attain personal aims, to +further the accomplishment of a stupendous result no one of them at all +expected--neither Napoleon, nor Alexander, nor still less any of those +who did the actual fighting. + +The cause of the destruction of the French army in 1812 is clear to us +now. No one will deny that that cause was, on the one hand, its advance +into the heart of Russia late in the season without any preparation for +a winter campaign and, on the other, the character given to the war by +the burning of Russian towns and the hatred of the foe this aroused +among the Russian people. But no one at the time foresaw (what now seems +so evident) that this was the only way an army of eight hundred thousand +men--the best in the world and led by the best general--could be +destroyed in conflict with a raw army of half its numerical strength, +and led by inexperienced commanders as the Russian army was. Not only +did no one see this, but on the Russian side every effort was made to +hinder the only thing that could save Russia, while on the French side, +despite Napoleon's experience and so-called military genius, every +effort was directed to pushing on to Moscow at the end of the summer, +that is, to doing the very thing that was bound to lead to destruction. + +In historical works on the year 1812 French writers are very fond of +saying that Napoleon felt the danger of extending his line, that he +sought a battle and that his marshals advised him to stop at Smolensk, +and of making similar statements to show that the danger of the campaign +was even then understood. Russian authors are still fonder of telling us +that from the commencement of the campaign a Scythian war plan was +adopted to lure Napoleon into the depths of Russia, and this plan some +of them attribute to Pfuel, others to a certain Frenchman, others to +Toll, and others again to Alexander himself--pointing to notes, +projects, and letters which contain hints of such a line of action. But +all these hints at what happened, both from the French side and the +Russian, are advanced only because they fit in with the event. Had that +event not occurred these hints would have been forgotten, as we have +forgotten the thousands and millions of hints and expectations to the +contrary which were current then but have now been forgotten because the +event falsified them. There are always so many conjectures as to the +issue of any event that however it may end there will always be people +to say: "I said then that it would be so," quite forgetting that amid +their innumerable conjectures many were to quite the contrary effect. + +Conjectures as to Napoleon's awareness of the danger of extending his +line, and (on the Russian side) as to luring the enemy into the depths +of Russia, are evidently of that kind, and only by much straining can +historians attribute such conceptions to Napoleon and his marshals, or +such plans to the Russian commanders. All the facts are in flat +contradiction to such conjectures. During the whole period of the war +not only was there no wish on the Russian side to draw the French into +the heart of the country, but from their first entry into Russia +everything was done to stop them. And not only was Napoleon not afraid +to extend his line, but he welcomed every step forward as a triumph and +did not seek battle as eagerly as in former campaigns, but very lazily. + +At the very beginning of the war our armies were divided, and our sole +aim was to unite them, though uniting the armies was no advantage if we +meant to retire and lure the enemy into the depths of the country. Our +Emperor joined the army to encourage it to defend every inch of Russian +soil and not to retreat. The enormous Drissa camp was formed on Pfuel's +plan, and there was no intention of retiring farther. The Emperor +reproached the commanders in chief for every step they retired. He could +not bear the idea of letting the enemy even reach Smolensk, still less +could he contemplate the burning of Moscow, and when our armies did +unite he was displeased that Smolensk was abandoned and burned without a +general engagement having been fought under its walls. + +So thought the Emperor, and the Russian commanders and people were still +more provoked at the thought that our forces were retreating into the +depths of the country. + +Napoleon having cut our armies apart advanced far into the country and +missed several chances of forcing an engagement. In August he was at +Smolensk and thought only of how to advance farther, though as we now +see that advance was evidently ruinous to him. + +The facts clearly show that Napoleon did not foresee the danger of the +advance on Moscow, nor did Alexander and the Russian commanders then +think of luring Napoleon on, but quite the contrary. The luring of +Napoleon into the depths of the country was not the result of any plan, +for no one believed it to be possible; it resulted from a most complex +interplay of intrigues, aims, and wishes among those who took part in +the war and had no perception whatever of the inevitable, or of the one +way of saving Russia. Everything came about fortuitously. The armies +were divided at the commencement of the campaign. We tried to unite +them, with the evident intention of giving battle and checking the +enemy's advance, and by this effort to unite them while avoiding battle +with a much stronger enemy, and necessarily withdrawing the armies at an +acute angle--we led the French on to Smolensk. But we withdrew at an +acute angle not only because the French advanced between our two armies; +the angle became still more acute and we withdrew still farther, because +Barclay de Tolly was an unpopular foreigner disliked by Bagration (who +would come under his command), and Bagration--being in command of the +second army--tried to postpone joining up and coming under Barclay's +command as long as he could. Bagration was slow in effecting the +junction--though that was the chief aim of all at headquarters--because, +as he alleged, he exposed his army to danger on this march, and it was +best for him to retire more to the left and more to the south, worrying +the enemy from flank and rear and securing from the Ukraine recruits for +his army; and it looks as if he planned this in order not to come under +the command of the detested foreigner Barclay, whose rank was inferior +to his own. + +The Emperor was with the army to encourage it, but his presence and +ignorance of what steps to take, and the enormous number of advisers and +plans, destroyed the first army's energy and it retired. + +The intention was to make a stand at the Drissa camp, but Paulucci, +aiming at becoming commander-in-chief, unexpectedly employed his energy +to influence Alexander, and Pfuel's whole plan was abandoned and the +command entrusted to Barclay. But as Barclay did not inspire confidence +his power was limited. The armies were divided, there was no unity of +command, and Barclay was unpopular; but from this confusion, division, +and the unpopularity of the foreign commander-in-chief, there resulted +on the one hand indecision and the avoidance of a battle (which we could +not have refrained from had the armies been united and had someone else, +instead of Barclay, been in command) and on the other an ever-increasing +indignation against the foreigners and an increase in patriotic zeal. + +At last the Emperor left the army, and as the most convenient and indeed +the only pretext for his departure it was decided that it was necessary +for him to inspire the people in the capitals and arouse the nation in +general to a patriotic war. And by this visit of the Emperor to Moscow +the strength of the Russian army was trebled. + +He left in order not to obstruct the commander-in-chief's undivided +control of the army, and hoping that more decisive action would then be +taken, but the command of the armies became still more confused and +enfeebled. Bennigsen, the Tsarevich, and a swarm of adjutants general +remained with the army to keep the commander-in-chief under observation +and arouse his energy, and Barclay, feeling less free than ever under +the observation of all these "eyes of the Emperor," became still more +cautious of undertaking any decisive action and avoided giving battle. + +Barclay stood for caution. The Tsarevich hinted at treachery and +demanded a general engagement. Lubomirski, Bronnitski, Wlocki, and the +others of that group stirred up so much trouble that Barclay, under +pretext of sending papers to the Emperor, dispatched these Polish +adjutants general to Petersburg and plunged into an open struggle with +Bennigsen and the Tsarevich. + +At Smolensk the armies at last reunited, much as Bagration disliked it. + +Bagration drove up in a carriage to the house occupied by Barclay. +Barclay donned his sash and came out to meet and report to his senior +officer Bagration. + +Despite his seniority in rank Bagration, in this contest of magnanimity, +took his orders from Barclay, but, having submitted, agreed with him +less than ever. By the Emperor's orders Bagration reported direct to +him. He wrote to Arakcheev, the Emperor's confidant: "It must be as my +sovereign pleases, but I cannot work with the Minister (meaning +Barclay). For God's sake send me somewhere else if only in command of a +regiment. I cannot stand it here. Headquarters are so full of Germans +that a Russian cannot exist and there is no sense in anything. I thought +I was really serving my sovereign and the Fatherland, but it turns out +that I am serving Barclay. I confess I do not want to." + +The swarm of Bronnitskis and Wintzingerodes and their like still further +embittered the relations between the commanders in chief, and even less +unity resulted. Preparations were made to fight the French before +Smolensk. A general was sent to survey the position. This general, +hating Barclay, rode to visit a friend of his own, a corps commander, +and, having spent the day with him, returned to Barclay and condemned, +as unsuitable from every point of view, the battleground he had not +seen. + +While disputes and intrigues were going on about the future field of +battle, and while we were looking for the French--having lost touch with +them--the French stumbled upon Neverovski's division and reached the +walls of Smolensk. + +It was necessary to fight an unexpected battle at Smolensk to save our +lines of communication. The battle was fought and thousands were killed +on both sides. + +Smolensk was abandoned contrary to the wishes of the Emperor and of the +whole people. But Smolensk was burned by its own inhabitants-who had +been misled by their governor. And these ruined inhabitants, setting an +example to other Russians, went to Moscow thinking only of their own +losses but kindling hatred of the foe. Napoleon advanced farther and we +retired, thus arriving at the very result which caused his destruction. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +The day after his son had left, Prince Nicholas sent for Princess Mary +to come to his study. + +"Well? Are you satisfied now?" said he. "You've made me quarrel with my +son! Satisfied, are you? That's all you wanted! Satisfied?... It hurts +me, it hurts. I'm old and weak and this is what you wanted. Well then, +gloat over it! Gloat over it!" + +After that Princess Mary did not see her father for a whole week. He was +ill and did not leave his study. + +Princess Mary noticed to her surprise that during this illness the old +prince not only excluded her from his room, but did not admit +Mademoiselle Bourienne either. Tikhon alone attended him. + +At the end of the week the prince reappeared and resumed his former way +of life, devoting himself with special activity to building operations +and the arrangement of the gardens and completely breaking off his +relations with Mademoiselle Bourienne. His looks and cold tone to his +daughter seemed to say: "There, you see? You plotted against me, you +lied to Prince Andrew about my relations with that Frenchwoman and made +me quarrel with him, but you see I need neither her nor you!" + +Princess Mary spent half of every day with little Nicholas, watching his +lessons, teaching him Russian and music herself, and talking to +Dessalles; the rest of the day she spent over her books, with her old +nurse, or with "God's folk" who sometimes came by the back door to see +her. + +Of the war Princess Mary thought as women do think about wars. She +feared for her brother who was in it, was horrified by and amazed at the +strange cruelty that impels men to kill one another, but she did not +understand the significance of this war, which seemed to her like all +previous wars. She did not realize the significance of this war, though +Dessalles with whom she constantly conversed was passionately interested +in its progress and tried to explain his own conception of it to her, +and though the "God's folk" who came to see her reported, in their own +way, the rumors current among the people of an invasion by Antichrist, +and though Julie (now Princess Drubetskaya), who had resumed +correspondence with her, wrote patriotic letters from Moscow. + +"I write you in Russian, my good friend," wrote Julie in her Frenchified +Russian, "because I have a detestation for all the French, and the same +for their language which I cannot support to hear spoken.... We in +Moscow are elated by enthusiasm for our adored Emperor. + +"My poor husband is enduring pains and hunger in Jewish taverns, but the +news which I have inspires me yet more. + +"You heard probably of the heroic exploit of Raevski, embracing his two +sons and saying: 'I will perish with them but we will not be shaken!' +And truly though the enemy was twice stronger than we, we were +unshakable. We pass the time as we can, but in war as in war! The +princesses Aline and Sophie sit whole days with me, and we, unhappy +widows of live men, make beautiful conversations over our 'charpie', +only you, my friend, are missing..." and so on. + +The chief reason Princess Mary did not realize the full significance of +this war was that the old prince never spoke of it, did not recognize +it, and laughed at Dessalles when he mentioned it at dinner. The +prince's tone was so calm and confident that Princess Mary +unhesitatingly believed him. + +All that July the old prince was exceedingly active and even animated. +He planned another garden and began a new building for the domestic +serfs. The only thing that made Princess Mary anxious about him was that +he slept very little and, instead of sleeping in his study as usual, +changed his sleeping place every day. One day he would order his camp +bed to be set up in the glass gallery, another day he remained on the +couch or on the lounge chair in the drawing room and dozed there without +undressing, while--instead of Mademoiselle Bourienne--a serf boy read to +him. Then again he would spend a night in the dining room. + +On August 1, a second letter was received from Prince Andrew. In his +first letter which came soon after he had left home, Prince Andrew had +dutifully asked his father's forgiveness for what he had allowed himself +to say and begged to be restored to his favor. To this letter the old +prince had replied affectionately, and from that time had kept the +Frenchwoman at a distance. Prince Andrew's second letter, written near +Vitebsk after the French had occupied that town, gave a brief account of +the whole campaign, enclosed for them a plan he had drawn and forecasts +as to the further progress of the war. In this letter Prince Andrew +pointed out to his father the danger of staying at Bald Hills, so near +the theater of war and on the army's direct line of march, and advised +him to move to Moscow. + +At dinner that day, on Dessalles' mentioning that the French were said +to have already entered Vitebsk, the old prince remembered his son's +letter. + +"There was a letter from Prince Andrew today," he said to Princess Mary- +-"Haven't you read it?" + +"No, Father," she replied in a frightened voice. + +She could not have read the letter as she did not even know it had +arrived. + +"He writes about this war," said the prince, with the ironic smile that +had become habitual to him in speaking of the present war. + +"That must be very interesting," said Dessalles. "Prince Andrew is in a +position to know..." + +"Oh, very interesting!" said Mademoiselle Bourienne. + +"Go and get it for me," said the old prince to Mademoiselle Bourienne. +"You know--under the paperweight on the little table." + +Mademoiselle Bourienne jumped up eagerly. + +"No, don't!" he exclaimed with a frown. "You go, Michael Ivanovich." + +Michael Ivanovich rose and went to the study. But as soon as he had left +the room the old prince, looking uneasily round, threw down his napkin +and went himself. + +"They can't do anything... always make some muddle," he muttered. + +While he was away Princess Mary, Dessalles, Mademoiselle Bourienne, and +even little Nicholas exchanged looks in silence. The old prince returned +with quick steps, accompanied by Michael Ivanovich, bringing the letter +and a plan. These he put down beside him--not letting anyone read them +at dinner. + +On moving to the drawing room he handed the letter to Princess Mary and, +spreading out before him the plan of the new building and fixing his +eyes upon it, told her to read the letter aloud. When she had done so +Princess Mary looked inquiringly at her father. He was examining the +plan, evidently engrossed in his own ideas. + +"What do you think of it, Prince?" Dessalles ventured to ask. + +"I? I?..." said the prince as if unpleasantly awakened, and not taking +his eyes from the plan of the building. + +"Very possibly the theater of war will move so near to us that..." + +"Ha ha ha! The theater of war!" said the prince. "I have said and still +say that the theater of war is Poland and the enemy will never get +beyond the Niemen." + +Dessalles looked in amazement at the prince, who was talking of the +Niemen when the enemy was already at the Dnieper, but Princess Mary, +forgetting the geographical position of the Niemen, thought that what +her father was saying was correct. + +"When the snow melts they'll sink in the Polish swamps. Only they could +fail to see it," the prince continued, evidently thinking of the +campaign of 1807 which seemed to him so recent. "Bennigsen should have +advanced into Prussia sooner, then things would have taken a different +turn..." + +"But, Prince," Dessalles began timidly, "the letter mentions +Vitebsk...." + +"Ah, the letter? Yes..." replied the prince peevishly. "Yes... yes..." +His face suddenly took on a morose expression. He paused. "Yes, he +writes that the French were beaten at... at... what river is it?" + +Dessalles dropped his eyes. + +"The prince says nothing about that," he remarked gently. + +"Doesn't he? But I didn't invent it myself." + +No one spoke for a long time. + +"Yes... yes... Well, Michael Ivanovich," he suddenly went on, raising +his head and pointing to the plan of the building, "tell me how you mean +to alter it...." + +Michael Ivanovich went up to the plan, and the prince after speaking to +him about the building looked angrily at Princess Mary and Dessalles and +went to his own room. + +Princess Mary saw Dessalles' embarrassed and astonished look fixed on +her father, noticed his silence, and was struck by the fact that her +father had forgotten his son's letter on the drawing-room table; but she +was not only afraid to speak of it and ask Dessalles the reason of his +confusion and silence, but was afraid even to think about it. + +In the evening Michael Ivanovich, sent by the prince, came to Princess +Mary for Prince Andrew's letter which had been forgotten in the drawing +room. She gave it to him and, unpleasant as it was to her to do so, +ventured to ask him what her father was doing. + +"Always busy," replied Michael Ivanovich with a respectfully ironic +smile which caused Princess Mary to turn pale. "He's worrying very much +about the new building. He has been reading a little, but now"--Michael +Ivanovich went on, lowering his voice--"now he's at his desk, busy with +his will, I expect." (One of the prince's favorite occupations of late +had been the preparation of some papers he meant to leave at his death +and which he called his "will.") + +"And Alpatych is being sent to Smolensk?" asked Princess Mary. + +"Oh, yes, he has been waiting to start for some time." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +When Michael Ivanovich returned to the study with the letter, the old +prince, with spectacles on and a shade over his eyes, was sitting at his +open bureau with screened candles, holding a paper in his outstretched +hand, and in a somewhat dramatic attitude was reading his manuscript-- +his "Remarks" as he termed it--which was to be transmitted to the +Emperor after his death. + +When Michael Ivanovich went in there were tears in the prince's eyes +evoked by the memory of the time when the paper he was now reading had +been written. He took the letter from Michael Ivanovich's hand, put it +in his pocket, folded up his papers, and called in Alpatych who had long +been waiting. + +The prince had a list of things to be bought in Smolensk and, walking up +and down the room past Alpatych who stood by the door, he gave his +instructions. + +"First, notepaper--do you hear? Eight quires, like this sample, gilt- +edged... it must be exactly like the sample. Varnish, sealing wax, as in +Michael Ivanovich's list." + +He paced up and down for a while and glanced at his notes. + +"Then hand to the governor in person a letter about the deed." + +Next, bolts for the doors of the new building were wanted and had to be +of a special shape the prince had himself designed, and a leather case +had to be ordered to keep the "will" in. + +The instructions to Alpatych took over two hours and still the prince +did not let him go. He sat down, sank into thought, closed his eyes, and +dozed off. Alpatych made a slight movement. + +"Well, go, go! If anything more is wanted I'll send after you." + +Alpatych went out. The prince again went to his bureau, glanced into it, +fingered his papers, closed the bureau again, and sat down at the table +to write to the governor. + +It was already late when he rose after sealing the letter. He wished to +sleep, but he knew he would not be able to and that most depressing +thoughts came to him in bed. So he called Tikhon and went through the +rooms with him to show him where to set up the bed for that night. + +He went about looking at every corner. Every place seemed +unsatisfactory, but worst of all was his customary couch in the study. +That couch was dreadful to him, probably because of the oppressive +thoughts he had had when lying there. It was unsatisfactory everywhere, +but the corner behind the piano in the sitting room was better than +other places: he had never slept there yet. + +With the help of a footman Tikhon brought in the bedstead and began +putting it up. + +"That's not right! That's not right!" cried the prince, and himself +pushed it a few inches from the corner and then closer in again. + +"Well, at last I've finished, now I'll rest," thought the prince, and +let Tikhon undress him. + +Frowning with vexation at the effort necessary to divest himself of his +coat and trousers, the prince undressed, sat down heavily on the bed, +and appeared to be meditating as he looked contemptuously at his +withered yellow legs. He was not meditating, but only deferring the +moment of making the effort to lift those legs up and turn over on the +bed. "Ugh, how hard it is! Oh, that this toil might end and you would +release me!" thought he. Pressing his lips together he made that effort +for the twenty-thousandth time and lay down. But hardly had he done so +before he felt the bed rocking backwards and forwards beneath him as if +it were breathing heavily and jolting. This happened to him almost every +night. He opened his eyes as they were closing. + +"No peace, damn them!" he muttered, angry he knew not with whom. "Ah +yes, there was something else important, very important, that I was +keeping till I should be in bed. The bolts? No, I told him about them. +No, it was something, something in the drawing room. Princess Mary +talked some nonsense. Dessalles, that fool, said something. Something in +my pocket--can't remember..." + +"Tikhon, what did we talk about at dinner?" + +"About Prince Michael..." + +"Be quiet, quiet!" The prince slapped his hand on the table. "Yes, I +know, Prince Andrew's letter! Princess Mary read it. Dessalles said +something about Vitebsk. Now I'll read it." + +He had the letter taken from his pocket and the table--on which stood a +glass of lemonade and a spiral wax candle--moved close to the bed, and +putting on his spectacles he began reading. Only now in the stillness of +the night, reading it by the faint light under the green shade, did he +grasp its meaning for a moment. + +"The French at Vitebsk, in four days' march they may be at Smolensk; +perhaps are already there! Tikhon!" Tikhon jumped up. "No, no, I don't +want anything!" he shouted. + +He put the letter under the candlestick and closed his eyes. And there +rose before him the Danube at bright noonday: reeds, the Russian camp, +and himself a young general without a wrinkle on his ruddy face, +vigorous and alert, entering Potemkin's gaily colored tent, and a +burning sense of jealousy of "the favorite" agitated him now as strongly +as it had done then. He recalled all the words spoken at that first +meeting with Potemkin. And he saw before him a plump, rather sallow- +faced, short, stout woman, the Empress Mother, with her smile and her +words at her first gracious reception of him, and then that same face on +the catafalque, and the encounter he had with Zubov over her coffin +about his right to kiss her hand. + +"Oh, quicker, quicker! To get back to that time and have done with all +the present! Quicker, quicker--and that they should leave me in peace!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Bald Hills, Prince Nicholas Bolkonski's estate, lay forty miles east +from Smolensk and two miles from the main road to Moscow. + +The same evening that the prince gave his instructions to Alpatych, +Dessalles, having asked to see Princess Mary, told her that, as the +prince was not very well and was taking no steps to secure his safety, +though from Prince Andrew's letter it was evident that to remain at Bald +Hills might be dangerous, he respectfully advised her to send a letter +by Alpatych to the Provincial Governor at Smolensk, asking him to let +her know the state of affairs and the extent of the danger to which Bald +Hills was exposed. Dessalles wrote this letter to the Governor for +Princess Mary, she signed it, and it was given to Alpatych with +instructions to hand it to the Governor and to come back as quickly as +possible if there was danger. + +Having received all his orders Alpatych, wearing a white beaver hat--a +present from the prince--and carrying a stick as the prince did, went +out accompanied by his family. Three well-fed roans stood ready +harnessed to a small conveyance with a leather hood. + +The larger bell was muffled and the little bells on the harness stuffed +with paper. The prince allowed no one at Bald Hills to drive with +ringing bells; but on a long journey Alpatych liked to have them. His +satellites--the senior clerk, a countinghouse clerk, a scullery maid, a +cook, two old women, a little pageboy, the coachman, and various +domestic serfs--were seeing him off. + +His daughter placed chintz-covered down cushions for him to sit on and +behind his back. His old sister-in-law popped in a small bundle, and one +of the coachmen helped him into the vehicle. + +"There! There! Women's fuss! Women, women!" said Alpatych, puffing and +speaking rapidly just as the prince did, and he climbed into the trap. + +After giving the clerk orders about the work to be done, Alpatych, not +trying to imitate the prince now, lifted the hat from his bald head and +crossed himself three times. + +"If there is anything... come back, Yakov Alpatych! For Christ's sake +think of us!" cried his wife, referring to the rumors of war and the +enemy. + +"Women, women! Women's fuss!" muttered Alpatych to himself and started +on his journey, looking round at the fields of yellow rye and the still- +green, thickly growing oats, and at other quite black fields just being +plowed a second time. + +As he went along he looked with pleasure at the year's splendid crop of +corn, scrutinized the strips of ryefield which here and there were +already being reaped, made his calculations as to the sowing and the +harvest, and asked himself whether he had not forgotten any of the +prince's orders. + +Having baited the horses twice on the way, he arrived at the town toward +evening on the fourth of August. + +Alpatych kept meeting and overtaking baggage trains and troops on the +road. As he approached Smolensk he heard the sounds of distant firing, +but these did not impress him. What struck him most was the sight of a +splendid field of oats in which a camp had been pitched and which was +being mown down by the soldiers, evidently for fodder. This fact +impressed Alpatych, but in thinking about his own business he soon +forgot it. + +All the interests of his life for more than thirty years had been +bounded by the will of the prince, and he never went beyond that limit. +Everything not connected with the execution of the prince's orders did +not interest and did not even exist for Alpatych. + +On reaching Smolensk on the evening of the fourth of August he put up in +the Gachina suburb across the Dnieper, at the inn kept by Ferapontov, +where he had been in the habit of putting up for the last thirty years. +Some thirty years ago Ferapontov, by Alpatych's advice, had bought a +wood from the prince, had begun to trade, and now had a house, an inn, +and a corn dealer's shop in that province. He was a stout, dark, red- +faced peasant in the forties, with thick lips, a broad knob of a nose, +similar knobs over his black frowning brows, and a round belly. + +Wearing a waistcoat over his cotton shirt, Ferapontov was standing +before his shop which opened onto the street. On seeing Alpatych he went +up to him. + +"You're welcome, Yakov Alpatych. Folks are leaving the town, but you +have come to it," said he. + +"Why are they leaving the town?" asked Alpatych. + +"That's what I say. Folks are foolish! Always afraid of the French." + +"Women's fuss, women's fuss!" said Alpatych. + +"Just what I think, Yakov Alpatych. What I say is: orders have been +given not to let them in, so that must be right. And the peasants are +asking three rubles for carting--it isn't Christian!" + +Yakov Alpatych heard without heeding. He asked for a samovar and for hay +for his horses, and when he had had his tea he went to bed. + +All night long troops were moving past the inn. Next morning Alpatych +donned a jacket he wore only in town and went out on business. It was a +sunny morning and by eight o'clock it was already hot. "A good day for +harvesting," thought Alpatych. + +From beyond the town firing had been heard since early morning. At eight +o'clock the booming of cannon was added to the sound of musketry. Many +people were hurrying through the streets and there were many soldiers, +but cabs were still driving about, tradesmen stood at their shops, and +service was being held in the churches as usual. Alpatych went to the +shops, to government offices, to the post office, and to the Governor's. +In the offices and shops and at the post office everyone was talking +about the army and about the enemy who was already attacking the town, +everybody was asking what should be done, and all were trying to calm +one another. + +In front of the Governor's house Alpatych found a large number of +people, Cossacks, and a traveling carriage of the Governor's. At the +porch he met two of the landed gentry, one of whom he knew. This man, an +ex-captain of police, was saying angrily: + +"It's no joke, you know! It's all very well if you're single. 'One man +though undone is but one,' as the proverb says, but with thirteen in +your family and all the property... They've brought us to utter ruin! +What sort of governors are they to do that? They ought to be hanged--the +brigands!..." + +"Oh come, that's enough!" said the other. + +"What do I care? Let him hear! We're not dogs," said the ex-captain of +police, and looking round he noticed Alpatych. + +"Oh, Yakov Alpatych! What have you come for?" + +"To see the Governor by his excellency's order," answered Alpatych, +lifting his head and proudly thrusting his hand into the bosom of his +coat as he always did when he mentioned the prince.... "He has ordered +me to inquire into the position of affairs," he added. + +"Yes, go and find out!" shouted the angry gentleman. "They've brought +things to such a pass that there are no carts or anything!... There it +is again, do you hear?" said he, pointing in the direction whence came +the sounds of firing. + +"They've brought us all to ruin... the brigands!" he repeated, and +descended the porch steps. + +Alpatych swayed his head and went upstairs. In the waiting room were +tradesmen, women, and officials, looking silently at one another. The +door of the Governor's room opened and they all rose and moved forward. +An official ran out, said some words to a merchant, called a stout +official with a cross hanging on his neck to follow him, and vanished +again, evidently wishing to avoid the inquiring looks and questions +addressed to him. Alpatych moved forward and next time the official came +out addressed him, one hand placed in the breast of his buttoned coat, +and handed him two letters. + +"To his Honor Baron Asch, from General-in-Chief Prince Bolkonski," he +announced with such solemnity and significance that the official turned +to him and took the letters. + +A few minutes later the Governor received Alpatych and hurriedly said to +him: + +"Inform the prince and princess that I knew nothing: I acted on the +highest instructions--here..." and he handed a paper to Alpatych. +"Still, as the prince is unwell my advice is that they should go to +Moscow. I am just starting myself. Inform them..." + +But the Governor did not finish: a dusty perspiring officer ran into the +room and began to say something in French. The Governor's face expressed +terror. + +"Go," he said, nodding his head to Alpatych, and began questioning the +officer. + +Eager, frightened, helpless glances were turned on Alpatych when he came +out of the Governor's room. Involuntarily listening now to the firing, +which had drawn nearer and was increasing in strength, Alpatych hurried +to his inn. The paper handed to him by the Governor said this: + +"I assure you that the town of Smolensk is not in the slightest danger +as yet and it is unlikely that it will be threatened with any. I from +the one side and Prince Bagration from the other are marching to unite +our forces before Smolensk, which junction will be effected on the 22nd +instant, and both armies with their united forces will defend our +compatriots of the province entrusted to your care till our efforts +shall have beaten back the enemies of our Fatherland, or till the last +warrior in our valiant ranks has perished. From this you will see that +you have a perfect right to reassure the inhabitants of Smolensk, for +those defended by two such brave armies may feel assured of victory." +(Instructions from Barclay de Tolly to Baron Asch, the civil governor of +Smolensk, 1812.) + +People were anxiously roaming about the streets. + +Carts piled high with household utensils, chairs, and cupboards kept +emerging from the gates of the yards and moving along the streets. +Loaded carts stood at the house next to Ferapontov's and women were +wailing and lamenting as they said good-by. A small watchdog ran round +barking in front of the harnessed horses. + +Alpatych entered the innyard at a quicker pace than usual and went +straight to the shed where his horses and trap were. The coachman was +asleep. He woke him up, told him to harness, and went into the passage. +From the host's room came the sounds of a child crying, the despairing +sobs of a woman, and the hoarse angry shouting of Ferapontov. The cook +began running hither and thither in the passage like a frightened hen, +just as Alpatych entered. + +"He's done her to death. Killed the mistress!... Beat her... dragged her +about so!..." + +"What for?" asked Alpatych. + +"She kept begging to go away. She's a woman! 'Take me away,' says she, +'don't let me perish with my little children! Folks,' she says, 'are all +gone, so why,' she says, 'don't we go?' And he began beating and pulling +her about so!" + +At these words Alpatych nodded as if in approval, and not wishing to +hear more went to the door of the room opposite the innkeeper's, where +he had left his purchases. + +"You brute, you murderer!" screamed a thin, pale woman who, with a baby +in her arms and her kerchief torn from her head, burst through the door +at that moment and down the steps into the yard. + +Ferapontov came out after her, but on seeing Alpatych adjusted his +waistcoat, smoothed his hair, yawned, and followed Alpatych into the +opposite room. + +"Going already?" said he. + +Alpatych, without answering or looking at his host, sorted his packages +and asked how much he owed. + +"We'll reckon up! Well, have you been to the Governor's?" asked +Ferapontov. "What has been decided?" + +Alpatych replied that the Governor had not told him anything definite. + +"With our business, how can we get away?" said Ferapontov. "We'd have to +pay seven rubles a cartload to Dorogobuzh and I tell them they're not +Christians to ask it! Selivanov, now, did a good stroke last Thursday-- +sold flour to the army at nine rubles a sack. Will you have some tea?" +he added. + +While the horses were being harnessed Alpatych and Ferapontov over their +tea talked of the price of corn, the crops, and the good weather for +harvesting. + +"Well, it seems to be getting quieter," remarked Ferapontov, finishing +his third cup of tea and getting up. "Ours must have got the best of it. +The orders were not to let them in. So we're in force, it seems.... They +say the other day Matthew Ivanych Platov drove them into the river +Marina and drowned some eighteen thousand in one day." + +Alpatych collected his parcels, handed them to the coachman who had come +in, and settled up with the innkeeper. The noise of wheels, hoofs, and +bells was heard from the gateway as a little trap passed out. + +It was by now late in the afternoon. Half the street was in shadow, the +other half brightly lit by the sun. Alpatych looked out of the window +and went to the door. Suddenly the strange sound of a far-off whistling +and thud was heard, followed by a boom of cannon blending into a dull +roar that set the windows rattling. + +He went out into the street: two men were running past toward the +bridge. From different sides came whistling sounds and the thud of +cannon balls and bursting shells falling on the town. But these sounds +were hardly heard in comparison with the noise of the firing outside the +town and attracted little attention from the inhabitants. The town was +being bombarded by a hundred and thirty guns which Napoleon had ordered +up after four o'clock. The people did not at once realize the meaning of +this bombardment. + +At first the noise of the falling bombs and shells only aroused +curiosity. Ferapontov's wife, who till then had not ceased wailing under +the shed, became quiet and with the baby in her arms went to the gate, +listening to the sounds and looking in silence at the people. + +The cook and a shop assistant came to the gate. With lively curiosity +everyone tried to get a glimpse of the projectiles as they flew over +their heads. Several people came round the corner talking eagerly. + +"What force!" remarked one. "Knocked the roof and ceiling all to +splinters!" + +"Routed up the earth like a pig," said another. + +"That's grand, it bucks one up!" laughed the first. "Lucky you jumped +aside, or it would have wiped you out!" + +Others joined those men and stopped and told how cannon balls had fallen +on a house close to them. Meanwhile still more projectiles, now with the +swift sinister whistle of a cannon ball, now with the agreeable +intermittent whistle of a shell, flew over people's heads incessantly, +but not one fell close by, they all flew over. Alpatych was getting into +his trap. The innkeeper stood at the gate. + +"What are you staring at?" he shouted to the cook, who in her red skirt, +with sleeves rolled up, swinging her bare elbows, had stepped to the +corner to listen to what was being said. + +"What marvels!" she exclaimed, but hearing her master's voice she turned +back, pulling down her tucked-up skirt. + +Once more something whistled, but this time quite close, swooping +downwards like a little bird; a flame flashed in the middle of the +street, something exploded, and the street was shrouded in smoke. + +"Scoundrel, what are you doing?" shouted the innkeeper, rushing to the +cook. + +At that moment the pitiful wailing of women was heard from different +sides, the frightened baby began to cry, and people crowded silently +with pale faces round the cook. The loudest sound in that crowd was her +wailing. + +"Oh-h-h! Dear souls, dear kind souls! Don't let me die! My good +souls!..." + +Five minutes later no one remained in the street. The cook, with her +thigh broken by a shell splinter, had been carried into the kitchen. +Alpatych, his coachman, Ferapontov's wife and children and the house +porter were all sitting in the cellar, listening. The roar of guns, the +whistling of projectiles, and the piteous moaning of the cook, which +rose above the other sounds, did not cease for a moment. The mistress +rocked and hushed her baby and when anyone came into the cellar asked in +a pathetic whisper what had become of her husband who had remained in +the street. A shopman who entered told her that her husband had gone +with others to the cathedral, whence they were fetching the wonder- +working icon of Smolensk. + +Toward dusk the cannonade began to subside. Alpatych left the cellar and +stopped in the doorway. The evening sky that had been so clear was +clouded with smoke, through which, high up, the sickle of the new moon +shone strangely. Now that the terrible din of the guns had ceased a hush +seemed to reign over the town, broken only by the rustle of footsteps, +the moaning, the distant cries, and the crackle of fires which seemed +widespread everywhere. The cook's moans had now subsided. On two sides +black curling clouds of smoke rose and spread from the fires. Through +the streets soldiers in various uniforms walked or ran confusedly in +different directions like ants from a ruined ant-hill. Several of them +ran into Ferapontov's yard before Alpatych's eyes. Alpatych went out to +the gate. A retreating regiment, thronging and hurrying, blocked the +street. + +Noticing him, an officer said: "The town is being abandoned. Get away, +get away!" and then, turning to the soldiers, shouted: + +"I'll teach you to run into the yards!" + +Alpatych went back to the house, called the coachman, and told him to +set off. Ferapontov's whole household came out too, following Alpatych +and the coachman. The women, who had been silent till then, suddenly +began to wail as they looked at the fires--the smoke and even the flames +of which could be seen in the failing twilight--and as if in reply the +same kind of lamentation was heard from other parts of the street. +Inside the shed Alpatych and the coachman arranged the tangled reins and +traces of their horses with trembling hands. + +As Alpatych was driving out of the gate he saw some ten soldiers in +Ferapontov's open shop, talking loudly and filling their bags and +knapsacks with flour and sunflower seeds. Just then Ferapontov returned +and entered his shop. On seeing the soldiers he was about to shout at +them, but suddenly stopped and, clutching at his hair, burst into sobs +and laughter: + +"Loot everything, lads! Don't let those devils get it!" he cried, taking +some bags of flour himself and throwing them into the street. + +Some of the soldiers were frightened and ran away, others went on +filling their bags. On seeing Alpatych, Ferapontov turned to him: + +"Russia is done for!" he cried. "Alpatych, I'll set the place on fire +myself. We're done for!..." and Ferapontov ran into the yard. + +Soldiers were passing in a constant stream along the street blocking it +completely, so that Alpatych could not pass out and had to wait. +Ferapontov's wife and children were also sitting in a cart waiting till +it was possible to drive out. + +Night had come. There were stars in the sky and the new moon shone out +amid the smoke that screened it. On the sloping descent to the Dnieper +Alpatych's cart and that of the innkeeper's wife, which were slowly +moving amid the rows of soldiers and of other vehicles, had to stop. In +a side street near the crossroads where the vehicles had stopped, a +house and some shops were on fire. This fire was already burning itself +out. The flames now died down and were lost in the black smoke, now +suddenly flared up again brightly, lighting up with strange distinctness +the faces of the people crowding at the crossroads. Black figures +flitted about before the fire, and through the incessant crackling of +the flames talking and shouting could be heard. Seeing that his trap +would not be able to move on for some time, Alpatych got down and turned +into the side street to look at the fire. Soldiers were continually +rushing backwards and forwards near it, and he saw two of them and a man +in a frieze coat dragging burning beams into another yard across the +street, while others carried bundles of hay. + +Alpatych went up to a large crowd standing before a high barn which was +blazing briskly. The walls were all on fire and the back wall had fallen +in, the wooden roof was collapsing, and the rafters were alight. The +crowd was evidently watching for the roof to fall in, and Alpatych +watched for it too. + +"Alpatych!" a familiar voice suddenly hailed the old man. + +"Mercy on us! Your excellency!" answered Alpatych, immediately +recognizing the voice of his young prince. + +Prince Andrew in his riding cloak, mounted on a black horse, was looking +at Alpatych from the back of the crowd. + +"Why are you here?" he asked. + +"Your... your excellency," stammered Alpatych and broke into sobs. "Are +we really lost? Master!..." + +"Why are you here?" Prince Andrew repeated. + +At that moment the flames flared up and showed his young master's pale +worn face. Alpatych told how he had been sent there and how difficult it +was to get away. + +"Are we really quite lost, your excellency?" he asked again. + +Prince Andrew without replying took out a notebook and raising his knee +began writing in pencil on a page he tore out. He wrote to his sister: + +"Smolensk is being abandoned. Bald Hills will be occupied by the enemy +within a week. Set off immediately for Moscow. Let me know at once when +you will start. Send by special messenger to Usvyazh." + +Having written this and given the paper to Alpatych, he told him how to +arrange for departure of the prince, the princess, his son, and the +boy's tutor, and how and where to let him know immediately. Before he +had had time to finish giving these instructions, a chief of staff +followed by a suite galloped up to him. + +"You are a colonel?" shouted the chief of staff with a German accent, in +a voice familiar to Prince Andrew. "Houses are set on fire in your +presence and you stand by! What does this mean? You will answer for it!" +shouted Berg, who was now assistant to the chief of staff of the +commander of the left flank of the infantry of the first army, a place, +as Berg said, "very agreeable and well en evidence." + +Prince Andrew looked at him and without replying went on speaking to +Alpatych. + +"So tell them that I shall await a reply till the tenth, and if by the +tenth I don't receive news that they have all got away I shall have to +throw up everything and come myself to Bald Hills." + +"Prince," said Berg, recognizing Prince Andrew, "I only spoke because I +have to obey orders, because I always do obey exactly.... You must +please excuse me," he went on apologetically. + +Something cracked in the flames. The fire died down for a moment and +wreaths of black smoke rolled from under the roof. There was another +terrible crash and something huge collapsed. + +"Ou-rou-rou!" yelled the crowd, echoing the crash of the collapsing roof +of the barn, the burning grain in which diffused a cakelike aroma all +around. The flames flared up again, lighting the animated, delighted, +exhausted faces of the spectators. + +The man in the frieze coat raised his arms and shouted: + +"It's fine, lads! Now it's raging... It's fine!" + +"That's the owner himself," cried several voices. + +"Well then," continued Prince Andrew to Alpatych, "report to them as I +have told you"; and not replying a word to Berg who was now mute beside +him, he touched his horse and rode down the side street. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +From Smolensk the troops continued to retreat, followed by the enemy. On +the tenth of August the regiment Prince Andrew commanded was marching +along the highroad past the avenue leading to Bald Hills. Heat and +drought had continued for more than three weeks. Each day fleecy clouds +floated across the sky and occasionally veiled the sun, but toward +evening the sky cleared again and the sun set in reddish-brown mist. +Heavy night dews alone refreshed the earth. The unreaped corn was +scorched and shed its grain. The marshes dried up. The cattle lowed from +hunger, finding no food on the sun-parched meadows. Only at night and in +the forests while the dew lasted was there any freshness. But on the +road, the highroad along which the troops marched, there was no such +freshness even at night or when the road passed through the forest; the +dew was imperceptible on the sandy dust churned up more than six inches +deep. As soon as day dawned the march began. The artillery and baggage +wagons moved noiselessly through the deep dust that rose to the very +hubs of the wheels, and the infantry sank ankle-deep in that soft, +choking, hot dust that never cooled even at night. Some of this dust was +kneaded by the feet and wheels, while the rest rose and hung like a +cloud over the troops, settling in eyes, ears, hair, and nostrils, and +worst of all in the lungs of the men and beasts as they moved along that +road. The higher the sun rose the higher rose that cloud of dust, and +through the screen of its hot fine particles one could look with naked +eye at the sun, which showed like a huge crimson ball in the unclouded +sky. There was no wind, and the men choked in that motionless +atmosphere. They marched with handkerchiefs tied over their noses and +mouths. When they passed through a village they all rushed to the wells +and fought for the water and drank it down to the mud. + +Prince Andrew was in command of a regiment, and the management of that +regiment, the welfare of the men and the necessity of receiving and +giving orders, engrossed him. The burning of Smolensk and its +abandonment made an epoch in his life. A novel feeling of anger against +the foe made him forget his own sorrow. He was entirely devoted to the +affairs of his regiment and was considerate and kind to his men and +officers. In the regiment they called him "our prince," were proud of +him and loved him. But he was kind and gentle only to those of his +regiment, to Timokhin and the like--people quite new to him, belonging +to a different world and who could not know and understand his past. As +soon as he came across a former acquaintance or anyone from the staff, +he bristled up immediately and grew spiteful, ironical, and +contemptuous. Everything that reminded him of his past was repugnant to +him, and so in his relations with that former circle he confined himself +to trying to do his duty and not to be unfair. + +In truth everything presented itself in a dark and gloomy light to +Prince Andrew, especially after the abandonment of Smolensk on the sixth +of August (he considered that it could and should have been defended) +and after his sick father had had to flee to Moscow, abandoning to +pillage his dearly beloved Bald Hills which he had built and peopled. +But despite this, thanks to his regiment, Prince Andrew had something to +think about entirely apart from general questions. Two days previously +he had received news that his father, son, and sister had left for +Moscow; and though there was nothing for him to do at Bald Hills, Prince +Andrew with a characteristic desire to foment his own grief decided that +he must ride there. + +He ordered his horse to be saddled and, leaving his regiment on the +march, rode to his father's estate where he had been born and spent his +childhood. Riding past the pond where there used always to be dozens of +women chattering as they rinsed their linen or beat it with wooden +beetles, Prince Andrew noticed that there was not a soul about and that +the little washing wharf, torn from its place and half submerged, was +floating on its side in the middle of the pond. He rode to the keeper's +lodge. No one at the stone entrance gates of the drive and the door +stood open. Grass had already begun to grow on the garden paths, and +horses and calves were straying in the English park. Prince Andrew rode +up to the hothouse; some of the glass panes were broken, and of the +trees in tubs some were overturned and others dried up. He called for +Taras the gardener, but no one replied. Having gone round the corner of +the hothouse to the ornamental garden, he saw that the carved garden +fence was broken and branches of the plum trees had been torn off with +the fruit. An old peasant whom Prince Andrew in his childhood had often +seen at the gate was sitting on a green garden seat, plaiting a bast +shoe. + +He was deaf and did not hear Prince Andrew ride up. He was sitting on +the seat the old prince used to like to sit on, and beside him strips of +bast were hanging on the broken and withered branch of a magnolia. + +Prince Andrew rode up to the house. Several limes in the old garden had +been cut down and a piebald mare and her foal were wandering in front of +the house among the rosebushes. The shutters were all closed, except at +one window which was open. A little serf boy, seeing Prince Andrew, ran +into the house. Alpatych, having sent his family away, was alone at Bald +Hills and was sitting indoors reading the Lives of the Saints. On +hearing that Prince Andrew had come, he went out with his spectacles on +his nose, buttoning his coat, and, hastily stepping up, without a word +began weeping and kissing Prince Andrew's knee. + +Then, vexed at his own weakness, he turned away and began to report on +the position of affairs. Everything precious and valuable had been +removed to Bogucharovo. Seventy quarters of grain had also been carted +away. The hay and the spring corn, of which Alpatych said there had been +a remarkable crop that year, had been commandeered by the troops and +mown down while still green. The peasants were ruined; some of them too +had gone to Bogucharovo, only a few remained. + +Without waiting to hear him out, Prince Andrew asked: + +"When did my father and sister leave?" meaning when did they leave for +Moscow. + +Alpatych, understanding the question to refer to their departure for +Bogucharovo, replied that they had left on the seventh and again went +into details concerning the estate management, asking for instructions. + +"Am I to let the troops have the oats, and to take a receipt for them? +We have still six hundred quarters left," he inquired. + +"What am I to say to him?" thought Prince Andrew, looking down on the +old man's bald head shining in the sun and seeing by the expression on +his face that the old man himself understood how untimely such questions +were and only asked them to allay his grief. + +"Yes, let them have it," replied Prince Andrew. + +"If you noticed some disorder in the garden," said Alpatych, "it was +impossible to prevent it. Three regiments have been here and spent the +night, dragoons mostly. I took down the name and rank of their +commanding officer, to hand in a complaint about it." + +"Well, and what are you going to do? Will you stay here if the enemy +occupies the place?" asked Prince Andrew. + +Alpatych turned his face to Prince Andrew, looked at him, and suddenly +with a solemn gesture raised his arm. + +"He is my refuge! His will be done!" he exclaimed. + +A group of bareheaded peasants was approaching across the meadow toward +the prince. + +"Well, good-by!" said Prince Andrew, bending over to Alpatych. "You must +go away too, take away what you can and tell the serfs to go to the +Ryazan estate or to the one near Moscow." + +Alpatych clung to Prince Andrew's leg and burst into sobs. Gently +disengaging himself, the prince spurred his horse and rode down the +avenue at a gallop. + +The old man was still sitting in the ornamental garden, like a fly +impassive on the face of a loved one who is dead, tapping the last on +which he was making the bast shoe, and two little girls, running out +from the hot house carrying in their skirts plums they had plucked from +the trees there, came upon Prince Andrew. On seeing the young master, +the elder one with frightened look clutched her younger companion by the +hand and hid with her behind a birch tree, not stopping to pick up some +green plums they had dropped. + +Prince Andrew turned away with startled haste, unwilling to let them see +that they had been observed. He was sorry for the pretty frightened +little girl, was afraid of looking at her, and yet felt an irresistible +desire to do so. A new sensation of comfort and relief came over him +when, seeing these girls, he realized the existence of other human +interests entirely aloof from his own and just as legitimate as those +that occupied him. Evidently these girls passionately desired one thing- +-to carry away and eat those green plums without being caught--and +Prince Andrew shared their wish for the success of their enterprise. He +could not resist looking at them once more. Believing their danger past, +they sprang from their ambush and, chirruping something in their shrill +little voices and holding up their skirts, their bare little sunburned +feet scampered merrily and quickly across the meadow grass. + +Prince Andrew was somewhat refreshed by having ridden off the dusty +highroad along which the troops were moving. But not far from Bald Hills +he again came out on the road and overtook his regiment at its halting +place by the dam of a small pond. It was past one o'clock. The sun, a +red ball through the dust, burned and scorched his back intolerably +through his black coat. The dust always hung motionless above the buzz +of talk that came from the resting troops. There was no wind. As he +crossed the dam Prince Andrew smelled the ooze and freshness of the +pond. He longed to get into that water, however dirty it might be, and +he glanced round at the pool from whence came sounds of shrieks and +laughter. The small, muddy, green pond had risen visibly more than a +foot, flooding the dam, because it was full of the naked white bodies of +soldiers with brick-red hands, necks, and faces, who were splashing +about in it. All this naked white human flesh, laughing and shrieking, +floundered about in that dirty pool like carp stuffed into a watering +can, and the suggestion of merriment in that floundering mass rendered +it specially pathetic. + +One fair-haired young soldier of the third company, whom Prince Andrew +knew and who had a strap round the calf of one leg, crossed himself, +stepped back to get a good run, and plunged into the water; another, a +dark noncommissioned officer who was always shaggy, stood up to his +waist in the water joyfully wriggling his muscular figure and snorted +with satisfaction as he poured the water over his head with hands +blackened to the wrists. There were sounds of men slapping one another, +yelling, and puffing. + +Everywhere on the bank, on the dam, and in the pond, there was healthy, +white, muscular flesh. The officer, Timokhin, with his red little nose, +standing on the dam wiping himself with a towel, felt confused at seeing +the prince, but made up his mind to address him nevertheless. + +"It's very nice, your excellency! Wouldn't you like to?" said he. + +"It's dirty," replied Prince Andrew, making a grimace. + +"We'll clear it out for you in a minute," said Timokhin, and, still +undressed, ran off to clear the men out of the pond. + +"The prince wants to bathe." + +"What prince? Ours?" said many voices, and the men were in such haste to +clear out that the prince could hardly stop them. He decided that he +would rather wash himself with water in the barn. + +"Flesh, bodies, cannon fodder!" he thought, and he looked at his own +naked body and shuddered, not from cold but from a sense of disgust and +horror he did not himself understand, aroused by the sight of that +immense number of bodies splashing about in the dirty pond. + +On the seventh of August Prince Bagration wrote as follows from his +quarters at Mikhaylovna on the Smolensk road: + +Dear Count Alexis Andreevich--(He was writing to Arakcheev but knew that +his letter would be read by the Emperor, and therefore weighed every +word in it to the best of his ability.) + +I expect the Minister (Barclay de Tolly) has already reported the +abandonment of Smolensk to the enemy. It is pitiable and sad, and the +whole army is in despair that this most important place has been +wantonly abandoned. I, for my part, begged him personally most urgently +and finally wrote him, but nothing would induce him to consent. I swear +to you on my honor that Napoleon was in such a fix as never before and +might have lost half his army but could not have taken Smolensk. Our +troops fought, and are fighting, as never before. With fifteen thousand +men I held the enemy at bay for thirty-five hours and beat him; but he +would not hold out even for fourteen hours. It is disgraceful, a stain +on our army, and as for him, he ought, it seems to me, not to live. If +he reports that our losses were great, it is not true; perhaps about +four thousand, not more, and not even that; but even were they ten +thousand, that's war! But the enemy has lost masses... + +What would it have cost him to hold out for another two days? They would +have had to retire of their own accord, for they had no water for men or +horses. He gave me his word he would not retreat, but suddenly sent +instructions that he was retiring that night. We cannot fight in this +way, or we may soon bring the enemy to Moscow... + +There is a rumor that you are thinking of peace. God forbid that you +should make peace after all our sacrifices and such insane retreats! You +would set all Russia against you and every one of us would feel ashamed +to wear the uniform. If it has come to this--we must fight as long as +Russia can and as long as there are men able to stand... + +One man ought to be in command, and not two. Your Minister may perhaps +be good as a Minister, but as a general he is not merely bad but +execrable, yet to him is entrusted the fate of our whole country.... I +am really frantic with vexation; forgive my writing boldly. It is clear +that the man who advocates the conclusion of a peace, and that the +Minister should command the army, does not love our sovereign and +desires the ruin of us all. So I write you frankly: call out the +militia. For the Minister is leading these visitors after him to Moscow +in a most masterly way. The whole army feels great suspicion of the +Imperial aide-de-camp Wolzogen. He is said to be more Napoleon's man +than ours, and he is always advising the Minister. I am not merely civil +to him but obey him like a corporal, though I am his senior. This is +painful, but, loving my benefactor and sovereign, I submit. Only I am +sorry for the Emperor that he entrusts our fine army to such as he. +Consider that on our retreat we have lost by fatigue and left in the +hospital more than fifteen thousand men, and had we attacked this would +not have happened. Tell me, for God's sake, what will Russia, our mother +Russia, say to our being so frightened, and why are we abandoning our +good and gallant Fatherland to such rabble and implanting feelings of +hatred and shame in all our subjects? What are we scared at and of whom +are we afraid? I am not to blame that the Minister is vacillating, a +coward, dense, dilatory, and has all bad qualities. The whole army +bewails it and calls down curses upon him... + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Among the innumerable categories applicable to the phenomena of human +life one may discriminate between those in which substance prevails and +those in which form prevails. To the latter--as distinguished from +village, country, provincial, or even Moscow life--we may allot +Petersburg life, and especially the life of its salons. That life of the +salons is unchanging. Since the year 1805 we had made peace and had +again quarreled with Bonaparte and had made constitutions and unmade +them again, but the salons of Anna Pavlovna and Helene remained just as +they had been--the one seven and the other five years before. At Anna +Pavlovna's they talked with perplexity of Bonaparte's successes just as +before and saw in them and in the subservience shown to him by the +European sovereigns a malicious conspiracy, the sole object of which was +to cause unpleasantness and anxiety to the court circle of which Anna +Pavlovna was the representative. And in Helene's salon, which Rumyantsev +himself honored with his visits, regarding Helene as a remarkably +intelligent woman, they talked with the same ecstasy in 1812 as in 1808 +of the "great nation" and the "great man," and regretted our rupture +with France, a rupture which, according to them, ought to be promptly +terminated by peace. + +Of late, since the Emperor's return from the army, there had been some +excitement in these conflicting salon circles and some demonstrations of +hostility to one another, but each camp retained its own tendency. In +Anna Pavlovna's circle only those Frenchmen were admitted who were deep- +rooted legitimists, and patriotic views were expressed to the effect +that one ought not to go to the French theater and that to maintain the +French troupe was costing the government as much as a whole army corps. +The progress of the war was eagerly followed, and only the reports most +flattering to our army were circulated. In the French circle of Helene +and Rumyantsev the reports of the cruelty of the enemy and of the war +were contradicted and all Napoleon's attempts at conciliation were +discussed. In that circle they discountenanced those who advised hurried +preparations for a removal to Kazan of the court and the girls' +educational establishments under the patronage of the Dowager Empress. +In Helene's circle the war in general was regarded as a series of formal +demonstrations which would very soon end in peace, and the view +prevailed expressed by Bilibin--who now in Petersburg was quite at home +in Helene's house, which every clever man was obliged to visit--that not +by gunpowder but by those who invented it would matters be settled. In +that circle the Moscow enthusiasm--news of which had reached Petersburg +simultaneously with the Emperor's return--was ridiculed sarcastically +and very cleverly, though with much caution. + +Anna Pavlovna's circle on the contrary was enraptured by this enthusiasm +and spoke of it as Plutarch speaks of the deeds of the ancients. Prince +Vasili, who still occupied his former important posts, formed a +connecting link between these two circles. He visited his "good friend +Anna Pavlovna" as well as his daughter's "diplomatic salon," and often +in his constant comings and goings between the two camps became confused +and said at Helene's what he should have said at Anna Pavlovna's and +vice versa. + +Soon after the Emperor's return Prince Vasili in a conversation about +the war at Anna Pavlovna's severely condemned Barclay de Tolly, but was +undecided as to who ought to be appointed commander-in-chief. One of the +visitors, usually spoken of as "a man of great merit," having described +how he had that day seen Kutuzov, the newly chosen chief of the +Petersburg militia, presiding over the enrollment of recruits at the +Treasury, cautiously ventured to suggest that Kutuzov would be the man +to satisfy all requirements. + +Anna Pavlovna remarked with a melancholy smile that Kutuzov had done +nothing but cause the Emperor annoyance. + +"I have talked and talked at the Assembly of the Nobility," Prince +Vasili interrupted, "but they did not listen to me. I told them his +election as chief of the militia would not please the Emperor. They did +not listen to me. + +"It's all this mania for opposition," he went on. "And who for? It is +all because we want to ape the foolish enthusiasm of those Muscovites," +Prince Vasili continued, forgetting for a moment that though at Helene's +one had to ridicule the Moscow enthusiasm, at Anna Pavlovna's one had to +be ecstatic about it. But he retrieved his mistake at once. "Now, is it +suitable that Count Kutuzov, the oldest general in Russia, should +preside at that tribunal? He will get nothing for his pains! How could +they make a man commander-in-chief who cannot mount a horse, who drops +asleep at a council, and has the very worst morals! A good reputation he +made for himself at Bucharest! I don't speak of his capacity as a +general, but at a time like this how they appoint a decrepit, blind old +man, positively blind? A fine idea to have a blind general! He can't see +anything. To play blindman's bluff? He can't see at all!" + +No one replied to his remarks. + +This was quite correct on the twenty-fourth of July. But on the twenty- +ninth of July Kutuzov received the title of Prince. This might indicate +a wish to get rid of him, and therefore Prince Vasili's opinion +continued to be correct though he was not now in any hurry to express +it. But on the eighth of August a committee, consisting of Field Marshal +Saltykov, Arakcheev, Vyazmitinov, Lopukhin, and Kochubey met to consider +the progress of the war. This committee came to the conclusion that our +failures were due to a want of unity in the command and though the +members of the committee were aware of the Emperor's dislike of Kutuzov, +after a short deliberation they agreed to advise his appointment as +commander in chief. That same day Kutuzov was appointed commander-in- +chief with full powers over the armies and over the whole region +occupied by them. + +On the ninth of August Prince Vasili at Anna Pavlovna's again met the +"man of great merit." The latter was very attentive to Anna Pavlovna +because he wanted to be appointed director of one of the educational +establishments for young ladies. Prince Vasili entered the room with the +air of a happy conqueror who has attained the object of his desires. + +"Well, have you heard the great news? Prince Kutuzov is field marshal! +All dissensions are at an end! I am so glad, so delighted! At last we +have a man!" said he, glancing sternly and significantly round at +everyone in the drawing room. + +The "man of great merit," despite his desire to obtain the post of +director, could not refrain from reminding Prince Vasili of his former +opinion. Though this was impolite to Prince Vasili in Anna Pavlovna's +drawing room, and also to Anna Pavlovna herself who had received the +news with delight, he could not resist the temptation. + +"But, Prince, they say he is blind!" said he, reminding Prince Vasili of +his own words. + +"Eh? Nonsense! He sees well enough," said Prince Vasili rapidly, in a +deep voice and with a slight cough--the voice and cough with which he +was wont to dispose of all difficulties. + +"He sees well enough," he added. "And what I am so pleased about," he +went on, "is that our sovereign has given him full powers over all the +armies and the whole region--powers no commander-in-chief ever had +before. He is a second autocrat," he concluded with a victorious smile. + +"God grant it! God grant it!" said Anna Pavlovna. + +The "man of great merit," who was still a novice in court circles, +wishing to flatter Anna Pavlovna by defending her former position on +this question, observed: + +"It is said that the Emperor was reluctant to give Kutuzov those powers. +They say he blushed like a girl to whom Joconde is read, when he said to +Kutuzov: 'Your Emperor and the Fatherland award you this honor.'" + +"Perhaps the heart took no part in that speech," said Anna Pavlovna. + +"Oh, no, no!" warmly rejoined Prince Vasili, who would not now yield +Kutuzov to anyone; in his opinion Kutuzov was not only admirable +himself, but was adored by everybody. "No, that's impossible," said he, +"for our sovereign appreciated him so highly before." + +"God grant only that Prince Kutuzov assumes real power and does not +allow anyone to put a spoke in his wheel," observed Anna Pavlovna. + +Understanding at once to whom she alluded, Prince Vasili said in a +whisper: + +"I know for a fact that Kutuzov made it an absolute condition that the +Tsarevich should not be with the army. Do you know what he said to the +Emperor?" + +And Prince Vasili repeated the words supposed to have been spoken by +Kutuzov to the Emperor. "I can neither punish him if he does wrong nor +reward him if he does right." + +"Oh, a very wise man is Prince Kutuzov! I have known him a long time!" + +"They even say," remarked the "man of great merit" who did not yet +possess courtly tact, "that his excellency made it an express condition +that the sovereign himself should not be with the army." + +As soon as he said this both Prince Vasili and Anna Pavlovna turned away +from him and glanced sadly at one another with a sigh at his naivete. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +While this was taking place in Petersburg the French had already passed +Smolensk and were drawing nearer and nearer to Moscow. Napoleon's +historian Thiers, like other of his historians, trying to justify his +hero says that he was drawn to the walls of Moscow against his will. He +is as right as other historians who look for the explanation of historic +events in the will of one man; he is as right as the Russian historians +who maintain that Napoleon was drawn to Moscow by the skill of the +Russian commanders. Here besides the law of retrospection, which regards +all the past as a preparation for events that subsequently occur, the +law of reciprocity comes in, confusing the whole matter. A good +chessplayer having lost a game is sincerely convinced that his loss +resulted from a mistake he made and looks for that mistake in the +opening, but forgets that at each stage of the game there were similar +mistakes and that none of his moves were perfect. He only notices the +mistake to which he pays attention, because his opponent took advantage +of it. How much more complex than this is the game of war, which occurs +under certain limits of time, and where it is not one will that +manipulates lifeless objects, but everything results from innumerable +conflicts of various wills! + +After Smolensk Napoleon sought a battle beyond Dorogobuzh at Vyazma, and +then at Tsarevo-Zaymishche, but it happened that owing to a conjunction +of innumerable circumstances the Russians could not give battle till +they reached Borodino, seventy miles from Moscow. From Vyazma Napoleon +ordered a direct advance on Moscow. + +Moscou, la capitale asiatique de ce grand empire, la ville sacree des +peuples d'Alexandre, Moscou avec ses innombrables eglises en forme de +pagodes chinoises, * this Moscow gave Napoleon's imagination no rest. On +the march from Vyazma to Tsarevo-Zaymishche he rode his light bay +bobtailed ambler accompanied by his Guards, his bodyguard, his pages, +and aides-de-camp. Berthier, his chief of staff, dropped behind to +question a Russian prisoner captured by the cavalry. Followed by +Lelorgne d'Ideville, an interpreter, he overtook Napoleon at a gallop +and reined in his horse with an amused expression. + + +* "Moscow, the Asiatic capital of this great empire, the sacred city of +Alexander's people, Moscow with its innumerable churches shaped like +Chinese pagodas." + +"Well?" asked Napoleon. + +"One of Platov's Cossacks says that Platov's corps is joining up with +the main army and that Kutuzov has been appointed commander-in-chief. He +is a very shrewd and garrulous fellow." + +Napoleon smiled and told them to give the Cossack a horse and bring the +man to him. He wished to talk to him himself. Several adjutants galloped +off, and an hour later, Lavrushka, the serf Denisov had handed over to +Rostov, rode up to Napoleon in an orderly's jacket and on a French +cavalry saddle, with a merry, and tipsy face. Napoleon told him to ride +by his side and began questioning him. + +"You are a Cossack?" + +"Yes, a Cossack, your Honor." + +"The Cossack, not knowing in what company he was, for Napoleon's plain +appearance had nothing about it that would reveal to an Oriental mind +the presence of a monarch, talked with extreme familiarity of the +incidents of the war," says Thiers, narrating this episode. In reality +Lavrushka, having got drunk the day before and left his master +dinnerless, had been whipped and sent to the village in quest of +chickens, where he engaged in looting till the French took him prisoner. +Lavrushka was one of those coarse, bare-faced lackeys who have seen all +sorts of things, consider it necessary to do everything in a mean and +cunning way, are ready to render any sort of service to their master, +and are keen at guessing their master's baser impulses, especially those +prompted by vanity and pettiness. + +Finding himself in the company of Napoleon, whose identity he had easily +and surely recognized, Lavrushka was not in the least abashed but merely +did his utmost to gain his new master's favor. + +He knew very well that this was Napoleon, but Napoleon's presence could +no more intimidate him than Rostov's, or a sergeant major's with the +rods, would have done, for he had nothing that either the sergeant major +or Napoleon could deprive him of. + +So he rattled on, telling all the gossip he had heard among the +orderlies. Much of it true. But when Napoleon asked him whether the +Russians thought they would beat Bonaparte or not, Lavrushka screwed up +his eyes and considered. + +In this question he saw subtle cunning, as men of his type see cunning +in everything, so he frowned and did not answer immediately. + +"It's like this," he said thoughtfully, "if there's a battle soon, yours +will win. That's right. But if three days pass, then after that, well, +then that same battle will not soon be over." + +Lelorgne d'Ideville smilingly interpreted this speech to Napoleon thus: +"If a battle takes place within the next three days the French will win, +but if later, God knows what will happen." Napoleon did not smile, +though he was evidently in high good humor, and he ordered these words +to be repeated. + +Lavrushka noticed this and to entertain him further, pretending not to +know who Napoleon was, added: + +"We know that you have Bonaparte and that he has beaten everybody in the +world, but we are a different matter..."--without knowing why or how +this bit of boastful patriotism slipped out at the end. + +The interpreter translated these words without the last phrase, and +Bonaparte smiled. "The young Cossack made his mighty interlocutor +smile," says Thiers. After riding a few paces in silence, Napoleon +turned to Berthier and said he wished to see how the news that he was +talking to the Emperor himself, to that very Emperor who had written his +immortally victorious name on the Pyramids, would affect this enfant du +Don. * + + +* "Child of the Don." + +The fact was accordingly conveyed to Lavrushka. + +Lavrushka, understanding that this was done to perplex him and that +Napoleon expected him to be frightened, to gratify his new masters +promptly pretended to be astonished and awe-struck, opened his eyes +wide, and assumed the expression he usually put on when taken to be +whipped. "As soon as Napoleon's interpreter had spoken," says Thiers, +"the Cossack, seized by amazement, did not utter another word, but rode +on, his eyes fixed on the conqueror whose fame had reached him across +the steppes of the East. All his loquacity was suddenly arrested and +replaced by a naive and silent feeling of admiration. Napoleon, after +making the Cossack a present, had him set free like a bird restored to +its native fields." + +Napoleon rode on, dreaming of the Moscow that so appealed to his +imagination, and "the bird restored to its native fields" galloped to +our outposts, inventing on the way all that had not taken place but that +he meant to relate to his comrades. What had really taken place he did +not wish to relate because it seemed to him not worth telling. He found +the Cossacks, inquired for the regiment operating with Platov's +detachment and by evening found his master, Nicholas Rostov, quartered +at Yankovo. Rostov was just mounting to go for a ride round the +neighboring villages with Ilyin; he let Lavrushka have another horse and +took him along with him. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Princess Mary was not in Moscow and out of danger as Prince Andrew +supposed. + +After the return of Alpatych from Smolensk the old prince suddenly +seemed to awake as from a dream. He ordered the militiamen to be called +up from the villages and armed, and wrote a letter to the commander-in- +chief informing him that he had resolved to remain at Bald Hills to the +last extremity and to defend it, leaving to the commander-in-chief's +discretion to take measures or not for the defense of Bald Hills, where +one of Russia's oldest generals would be captured or killed, and he +announced to his household that he would remain at Bald Hills. + +But while himself remaining, he gave instructions for the departure of +the princess and Dessalles with the little prince to Bogucharovo and +thence to Moscow. Princess Mary, alarmed by her father's feverish and +sleepless activity after his previous apathy, could not bring herself to +leave him alone and for the first time in her life ventured to disobey +him. She refused to go away and her father's fury broke over her in a +terrible storm. He repeated every injustice he had ever inflicted on +her. Trying to convict her, he told her she had worn him out, had caused +his quarrel with his son, had harbored nasty suspicions of him, making +it the object of her life to poison his existence, and he drove her from +his study telling her that if she did not go away it was all the same to +him. He declared that he did not wish to remember her existence and +warned her not to dare to let him see her. The fact that he did not, as +she had feared, order her to be carried away by force but only told her +not to let him see her cheered Princess Mary. She knew it was a proof +that in the depth of his soul he was glad she was remaining at home and +had not gone away. + +The morning after little Nicholas had left, the old prince donned his +full uniform and prepared to visit the commander-in-chief. His caleche +was already at the door. Princess Mary saw him walk out of the house in +his uniform wearing all his orders and go down the garden to review his +armed peasants and domestic serfs. She sat by the window listening to +his voice which reached her from the garden. Suddenly several men came +running up the avenue with frightened faces. + +Princess Mary ran out to the porch, down the flower-bordered path, and +into the avenue. A large crowd of militiamen and domestics were moving +toward her, and in their midst several men were supporting by the +armpits and dragging along a little old man in a uniform and +decorations. She ran up to him and, in the play of the sunlight that +fell in small round spots through the shade of the lime-tree avenue, +could not be sure what change there was in his face. All she could see +was that his former stern and determined expression had altered to one +of timidity and submission. On seeing his daughter he moved his helpless +lips and made a hoarse sound. It was impossible to make out what he +wanted. He was lifted up, carried to his study, and laid on the very +couch he had so feared of late. + +The doctor, who was fetched that same night, bled him and said that the +prince had had a seizure paralyzing his right side. + +It was becoming more and more dangerous to remain at Bald Hills, and +next day they moved the prince to Bogucharovo, the doctor accompanying +him. + +By the time they reached Bogucharovo, Dessalles and the little prince +had already left for Moscow. + +For three weeks the old prince lay stricken by paralysis in the new +house Prince Andrew had built at Bogucharovo, ever in the same state, +getting neither better nor worse. He was unconscious and lay like a +distorted corpse. He muttered unceasingly, his eyebrows and lips +twitching, and it was impossible to tell whether he understood what was +going on around him or not. One thing was certain--that he was suffering +and wished to say something. But what it was, no one could tell: it +might be some caprice of a sick and half-crazy man, or it might relate +to public affairs, or possibly to family concerns. + +The doctor said this restlessness did not mean anything and was due to +physical causes; but Princess Mary thought he wished to tell her +something, and the fact that her presence always increased his +restlessness confirmed her opinion. + +He was evidently suffering both physically and mentally. There was no +hope of recovery. It was impossible for him to travel, it would not do +to let him die on the road. "Would it not be better if the end did come, +the very end?" Princess Mary sometimes thought. Night and day, hardly +sleeping at all, she watched him and, terrible to say, often watched him +not with hope of finding signs of improvement but wishing to find +symptoms of the approach of the end. + +Strange as it was to her to acknowledge this feeling in herself, yet +there it was. And what seemed still more terrible to her was that since +her father's illness began (perhaps even sooner, when she stayed with +him expecting something to happen), all the personal desires and hopes +that had been forgotten or sleeping within her had awakened. Thoughts +that had not entered her mind for years--thoughts of a life free from +the fear of her father, and even the possibility of love and of family +happiness--floated continually in her imagination like temptations of +the devil. Thrust them aside as she would, questions continually +recurred to her as to how she would order her life now, after that. +These were temptations of the devil and Princess Mary knew it. She knew +that the sole weapon against him was prayer, and she tried to pray. She +assumed an attitude of prayer, looked at the icons, repeated the words +of a prayer, but she could not pray. She felt that a different world had +now taken possession of her--the life of a world of strenuous and free +activity, quite opposed to the spiritual world in which till now she had +been confined and in which her greatest comfort had been prayer. She +could not pray, could not weep, and worldly cares took possession of +her. + +It was becoming dangerous to remain in Bogucharovo. News of the approach +of the French came from all sides, and in one village, ten miles from +Bogucharovo, a homestead had been looted by French marauders. + +The doctor insisted on the necessity of moving the prince; the +provincial Marshal of the Nobility sent an official to Princess Mary to +persuade her to get away as quickly as possible, and the head of the +rural police having come to Bogucharovo urged the same thing, saying +that the French were only some twenty-five miles away, that French +proclamations were circulating in the villages, and that if the princess +did not take her father away before the fifteenth, he could not answer +for the consequences. + +The princess decided to leave on the fifteenth. The cares of preparation +and giving orders, for which everyone came to her, occupied her all day. +She spent the night of the fourteenth as usual, without undressing, in +the room next to the one where the prince lay. Several times, waking up, +she heard his groans and muttering, the creak of his bed, and the steps +of Tikhon and the doctor when they turned him over. Several times she +listened at the door, and it seemed to her that his mutterings were +louder than usual and that they turned him over oftener. She could not +sleep and several times went to the door and listened, wishing to enter +but not deciding to do so. Though he did not speak, Princess Mary saw +and knew how unpleasant every sign of anxiety on his account was to him. +She had noticed with what dissatisfaction he turned from the look she +sometimes involuntarily fixed on him. She knew that her going in during +the night at an unusual hour would irritate him. + +But never had she felt so grieved for him or so much afraid of losing +him. She recalled all her life with him and in every word and act of his +found an expression of his love of her. Occasionally amid these memories +temptations of the devil would surge into her imagination: thoughts of +how things would be after his death, and how her new, liberated life +would be ordered. But she drove these thoughts away with disgust. Toward +morning he became quiet and she fell asleep. + +She woke late. That sincerity which often comes with waking showed her +clearly what chiefly concerned her about her father's illness. On waking +she listened to what was going on behind the door and, hearing him +groan, said to herself with a sigh that things were still the same. + +"But what could have happened? What did I want? I want his death!" she +cried with a feeling of loathing for herself. + +She washed, dressed, said her prayers, and went out to the porch. In +front of it stood carriages without horses and things were being packed +into the vehicles. + +It was a warm, gray morning. Princess Mary stopped at the porch, still +horrified by her spiritual baseness and trying to arrange her thoughts +before going to her father. The doctor came downstairs and went out to +her. + +"He is a little better today," said he. "I was looking for you. One can +make out something of what he is saying. His head is clearer. Come in, +he is asking for you..." + +Princess Mary's heart beat so violently at this news that she grew pale +and leaned against the wall to keep from falling. To see him, talk to +him, feel his eyes on her now that her whole soul was overflowing with +those dreadful, wicked temptations, was a torment of joy and terror. + +"Come," said the doctor. + +Princess Mary entered her father's room and went up to his bed. He was +lying on his back propped up high, and his small bony hands with their +knotted purple veins were lying on the quilt; his left eye gazed +straight before him, his right eye was awry, and his brows and lips +motionless. He seemed altogether so thin, small, and pathetic. His face +seemed to have shriveled or melted; his features had grown smaller. +Princess Mary went up and kissed his hand. His left hand pressed hers so +that she understood that he had long been waiting for her to come. He +twitched her hand, and his brows and lips quivered angrily. + +She looked at him in dismay trying to guess what he wanted of her. When +she changed her position so that his left eye could see her face he +calmed down, not taking his eyes off her for some seconds. Then his lips +and tongue moved, sounds came, and he began to speak, gazing timidly and +imploringly at her, evidently afraid that she might not understand. + +Straining all her faculties Princess Mary looked at him. The comic +efforts with which he moved his tongue made her drop her eyes and with +difficulty repress the sobs that rose to her throat. He said something, +repeating the same words several times. She could not understand them, +but tried to guess what he was saying and inquiringly repeated the words +he uttered. + +"Mmm...ar...ate...ate..." he repeated several times. + +It was quite impossible to understand these sounds. The doctor thought +he had guessed them, and inquiringly repeated: "Mary, are you afraid?" +The prince shook his head, again repeated the same sounds. + +"My mind, my mind aches?" questioned Princess Mary. + +He made a mumbling sound in confirmation of this, took her hand, and +began pressing it to different parts of his breast as if trying to find +the right place for it. + +"Always thoughts... about you... thoughts..." he then uttered much more +clearly than he had done before, now that he was sure of being +understood. + +Princess Mary pressed her head against his hand, trying to hide her sobs +and tears. + +He moved his hand over her hair. + +"I have been calling you all night..." he brought out. + +"If only I had known..." she said through her tears. "I was afraid to +come in." + +He pressed her hand. + +"Weren't you asleep?" + +"No, I did not sleep," said Princess Mary, shaking her head. + +Unconsciously imitating her father, she now tried to express herself as +he did, as much as possible by signs, and her tongue too seemed to move +with difficulty. + +"Dear one... Dearest..." Princess Mary could not quite make out what he +had said, but from his look it was clear that he had uttered a tender +caressing word such as he had never used to her before. "Why didn't you +come in?" + +"And I was wishing for his death!" thought Princess Mary. + +He was silent awhile. + +"Thank you... daughter dear!... for all, for all... forgive!... thank +you!... forgive!... thank you!..." and tears began to flow from his +eyes. "Call Andrew!" he said suddenly, and a childish, timid expression +of doubt showed itself on his face as he spoke. + +He himself seemed aware that his demand was meaningless. So at least it +seemed to Princess Mary. + +"I have a letter from him," she replied. + +He glanced at her with timid surprise. + +"Where is he?" + +"He's with the army, Father, at Smolensk." + +He closed his eyes and remained silent a long time. Then as if in answer +to his doubts and to confirm the fact that now he understood and +remembered everything, he nodded his head and reopened his eyes. + +"Yes," he said, softly and distinctly. "Russia has perished. They've +destroyed her." + +And he began to sob, and again tears flowed from his eyes. Princess Mary +could no longer restrain herself and wept while she gazed at his face. + +Again he closed his eyes. His sobs ceased, he pointed to his eyes, and +Tikhon, understanding him, wiped away the tears. + +Then he again opened his eyes and said something none of them could +understand for a long time, till at last Tikhon understood and repeated +it. Princess Mary had sought the meaning of his words in the mood in +which he had just been speaking. She thought he was speaking of Russia, +or Prince Andrew, of herself, of his grandson, or of his own death, and +so she could not guess his words. + +"Put on your white dress. I like it," was what he said. + +Having understood this Princess Mary sobbed still louder, and the doctor +taking her arm led her out to the veranda, soothing her and trying to +persuade her to prepare for her journey. When she had left the room the +prince again began speaking about his son, about the war, and about the +Emperor, angrily twitching his brows and raising his hoarse voice, and +then he had a second and final stroke. + +Princess Mary stayed on the veranda. The day had cleared, it was hot and +sunny. She could understand nothing, think of nothing and feel nothing, +except passionate love for her father, love such as she thought she had +never felt till that moment. She ran out sobbing into the garden and as +far as the pond, along the avenues of young lime trees Prince Andrew had +planted. + +"Yes... I... I... I wished for his death! Yes, I wanted it to end +quicker.... I wished to be at peace.... And what will become of me? What +use will peace be when he is no longer here?" Princess Mary murmured, +pacing the garden with hurried steps and pressing her hands to her bosom +which heaved with convulsive sobs. + +When she had completed the tour of the garden, which brought her again +to the house, she saw Mademoiselle Bourienne--who had remained at +Bogucharovo and did not wish to leave it--coming toward her with a +stranger. This was the Marshal of the Nobility of the district, who had +come personally to point out to the princess the necessity for her +prompt departure. Princess Mary listened without understanding him; she +led him to the house, offered him lunch, and sat down with him. Then, +excusing herself, she went to the door of the old prince's room. The +doctor came out with an agitated face and said she could not enter. + +"Go away, Princess! Go away... go away!" + +She returned to the garden and sat down on the grass at the foot of the +slope by the pond, where no one could see her. She did not know how long +she had been there when she was aroused by the sound of a woman's +footsteps running along the path. She rose and saw Dunyasha her maid, +who was evidently looking for her, and who stopped suddenly as if in +alarm on seeing her mistress. + +"Please come, Princess... The Prince," said Dunyasha in a breaking +voice. + +"Immediately, I'm coming, I'm coming!" replied the princess hurriedly, +not giving Dunyasha time to finish what she was saying, and trying to +avoid seeing the girl she ran toward the house. + +"Princess, it's God's will! You must be prepared for everything," said +the Marshal, meeting her at the house door. + +"Let me alone; it's not true!" she cried angrily to him. + +The doctor tried to stop her. She pushed him aside and ran to her +father's door. "Why are these people with frightened faces stopping me? +I don't want any of them! And what are they doing here?" she thought. +She opened the door and the bright daylight in that previously darkened +room startled her. In the room were her nurse and other women. They all +drew back from the bed, making way for her. He was still lying on the +bed as before, but the stern expression of his quiet face made Princess +Mary stop short on the threshold. + +"No, he's not dead--it's impossible!" she told herself and approached +him, and repressing the terror that seized her, she pressed her lips to +his cheek. But she stepped back immediately. All the force of the +tenderness she had been feeling for him vanished instantly and was +replaced by a feeling of horror at what lay there before her. "No, he is +no more! He is not, but here where he was is something unfamiliar and +hostile, some dreadful, terrifying, and repellent mystery!" And hiding +her face in her hands, Princess Mary sank into the arms of the doctor, +who held her up. + +In the presence of Tikhon and the doctor the women washed what had been +the prince, tied his head up with a handkerchief that the mouth should +not stiffen while open, and with another handkerchief tied together the +legs that were already spreading apart. Then they dressed him in uniform +with his decorations and placed his shriveled little body on a table. +Heaven only knows who arranged all this and when, but it all got done as +if of its own accord. Toward night candles were burning round his +coffin, a pall was spread over it, the floor was strewn with sprays of +juniper, a printed band was tucked in under his shriveled head, and in a +corner of the room sat a chanter reading the psalms. + +Just as horses shy and snort and gather about a dead horse, so the +inmates of the house and strangers crowded into the drawing room round +the coffin--the Marshal, the village Elder, peasant women--and all with +fixed and frightened eyes, crossing themselves, bowed and kissed the old +prince's cold and stiffened hand. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Until Prince Andrew settled in Bogucharovo its owners had always been +absentees, and its peasants were of quite a different character from +those of Bald Hills. They differed from them in speech, dress, and +disposition. They were called steppe peasants. The old prince used to +approve of them for their endurance at work when they came to Bald Hills +to help with the harvest or to dig ponds, and ditches, but he disliked +them for their boorishness. + +Prince Andrew's last stay at Bogucharovo, when he introduced hospitals +and schools and reduced the quitrent the peasants had to pay, had not +softened their disposition but had on the contrary strengthened in them +the traits of character the old prince called boorishness. Various +obscure rumors were always current among them: at one time a rumor that +they would all be enrolled as Cossacks; at another of a new religion to +which they were all to be converted; then of some proclamation of the +Tsar's and of an oath to the Tsar Paul in 1797 (in connection with which +it was rumored that freedom had been granted them but the landowners had +stopped it), then of Peter Fedorovich's return to the throne in seven +years' time, when everything would be made free and so "simple" that +there would be no restrictions. Rumors of the war with Bonaparte and his +invasion were connected in their minds with the same sort of vague +notions of Antichrist, the end of the world, and "pure freedom." + +In the vicinity of Bogucharovo were large villages belonging to the +crown or to owners whose serfs paid quitrent and could work where they +pleased. There were very few resident landlords in the neighborhood and +also very few domestic or literate serfs, and in the lives of the +peasantry of those parts the mysterious undercurrents in the life of the +Russian people, the causes and meaning of which are so baffling to +contemporaries, were more clearly and strongly noticeable than among +others. One instance, which had occurred some twenty years before, was a +movement among the peasants to emigrate to some unknown "warm rivers." +Hundreds of peasants, among them the Bogucharovo folk, suddenly began +selling their cattle and moving in whole families toward the southeast. +As birds migrate to somewhere beyond the sea, so these men with their +wives and children streamed to the southeast, to parts where none of +them had ever been. They set off in caravans, bought their freedom one +by one or ran away, and drove or walked toward the "warm rivers." Many +of them were punished, some sent to Siberia, many died of cold and +hunger on the road, many returned of their own accord, and the movement +died down of itself just as it had sprung up, without apparent reason. +But such undercurrents still existed among the people and gathered new +forces ready to manifest themselves just as strangely, unexpectedly, and +at the same time simply, naturally, and forcibly. Now in 1812, to anyone +living in close touch with these people it was apparent that these +undercurrents were acting strongly and nearing an eruption. + +Alpatych, who had reached Bogucharovo shortly before the old prince's +death, noticed an agitation among the peasants, and that contrary to +what was happening in the Bald Hills district, where over a radius of +forty miles all the peasants were moving away and leaving their villages +to be devastated by the Cossacks, the peasants in the steppe region +round Bogucharovo were, it was rumored, in touch with the French, +received leaflets from them that passed from hand to hand, and did not +migrate. He learned from domestic serfs loyal to him that the peasant +Karp, who possessed great influence in the village commune and had +recently been away driving a government transport, had returned with +news that the Cossacks were destroying deserted villages, but that the +French did not harm them. Alpatych also knew that on the previous day +another peasant had even brought from the village of Visloukhovo, which +was occupied by the French, a proclamation by a French general that no +harm would be done to the inhabitants, and if they remained they would +be paid for anything taken from them. As proof of this the peasant had +brought from Visloukhovo a hundred rubles in notes (he did not know that +they were false) paid to him in advance for hay. + +More important still, Alpatych learned that on the morning of the very +day he gave the village Elder orders to collect carts to move the +princess' luggage from Bogucharovo, there had been a village meeting at +which it had been decided not to move but to wait. Yet there was no time +to waste. On the fifteenth, the day of the old prince's death, the +Marshal had insisted on Princess Mary's leaving at once, as it was +becoming dangerous. He had told her that after the sixteenth he could +not be responsible for what might happen. On the evening of the day the +old prince died the Marshal went away, promising to return next day for +the funeral. But this he was unable to do, for he received tidings that +the French had unexpectedly advanced, and had barely time to remove his +own family and valuables from his estate. + +For some thirty years Bogucharovo had been managed by the village Elder, +Dron, whom the old prince called by the diminutive "Dronushka." + +Dron was one of those physically and mentally vigorous peasants who grow +big beards as soon as they are of age and go on unchanged till they are +sixty or seventy, without a gray hair or the loss of a tooth, as +straight and strong at sixty as at thirty. + +Soon after the migration to the "warm rivers," in which he had taken +part like the rest, Dron was made village Elder and overseer of +Bogucharovo, and had since filled that post irreproachably for twenty- +three years. The peasants feared him more than they did their master. +The masters, both the old prince and the young, and the steward +respected him and jestingly called him "the Minister." During the whole +time of his service Dron had never been drunk or ill, never after +sleepless nights or the hardest tasks had he shown the least fatigue, +and though he could not read he had never forgotten a single money +account or the number of quarters of flour in any of the endless +cartloads he sold for the prince, nor a single shock of the whole corn +crop on any single acre of the Bogucharovo fields. + +Alpatych, arriving from the devastated Bald Hills estate, sent for his +Dron on the day of the prince's funeral and told him to have twelve +horses got ready for the princess' carriages and eighteen carts for the +things to be removed from Bogucharovo. Though the peasants paid +quitrent, Alpatych thought no difficulty would be made about complying +with this order, for there were two hundred and thirty households at +work in Bogucharovo and the peasants were well to do. But on hearing the +order Dron lowered his eyes and remained silent. Alpatych named certain +peasants he knew, from whom he told him to take the carts. + +Dron replied that the horses of these peasants were away carting. +Alpatych named others, but they too, according to Dron, had no horses +available: some horses were carting for the government, others were too +weak, and others had died for want of fodder. It seemed that no horses +could be had even for the carriages, much less for the carting. + +Alpatych looked intently at Dron and frowned. Just as Dron was a model +village Elder, so Alpatych had not managed the prince's estates for +twenty years in vain. He was a model steward, possessing in the highest +degree the faculty of divining the needs and instincts of those he dealt +with. Having glanced at Dron he at once understood that his answers did +not express his personal views but the general mood of the Bogucharovo +commune, by which the Elder had already been carried away. But he also +knew that Dron, who had acquired property and was hated by the commune, +must be hesitating between the two camps: the masters' and the serfs'. +He noticed this hesitation in Dron's look and therefore frowned and +moved closer up to him. + +"Now just listen, Dronushka," said he. "Don't talk nonsense to me. His +excellency Prince Andrew himself gave me orders to move all the people +away and not leave them with the enemy, and there is an order from the +Tsar about it too. Anyone who stays is a traitor to the Tsar. Do you +hear?" + +"I hear," Dron answered without lifting his eyes. + +Alpatych was not satisfied with this reply. + +"Eh, Dron, it will turn out badly!" he said, shaking his head. + +"The power is in your hands," Dron rejoined sadly. + +"Eh, Dron, drop it!" Alpatych repeated, withdrawing his hand from his +bosom and solemnly pointing to the floor at Dron's feet. "I can see +through you and three yards into the ground under you," he continued, +gazing at the floor in front of Dron. + +Dron was disconcerted, glanced furtively at Alpatych and again lowered +his eyes. + +"You drop this nonsense and tell the people to get ready to leave their +homes and go to Moscow and to get carts ready for tomorrow morning for +the princess' things. And don't go to any meeting yourself, do you +hear?" + +Dron suddenly fell on his knees. + +"Yakov Alpatych, discharge me! Take the keys from me and discharge me, +for Christ's sake!" + +"Stop that!" cried Alpatych sternly. "I see through you and three yards +under you," he repeated, knowing that his skill in beekeeping, his +knowledge of the right time to sow the oats, and the fact that he had +been able to retain the old prince's favor for twenty years had long +since gained him the reputation of being a wizard, and that the power of +seeing three yards under a man is considered an attribute of wizards. + +Dron got up and was about to say something, but Alpatych interrupted +him. + +"What is it you have got into your heads, eh?... What are you thinking +of, eh?" + +"What am I to do with the people?" said Dron. "They're quite beside +themselves; I have already told them..." + +"'Told them,' I dare say!" said Alpatych. "Are they drinking?" he asked +abruptly. + +"Quite beside themselves, Yakov Alpatych; they've fetched another +barrel." + +"Well, then, listen! I'll go to the police officer, and you tell them +so, and that they must stop this and the carts must be got ready." + +"I understand." + +Alpatych did not insist further. He had managed people for a long time +and knew that the chief way to make them obey is to show no suspicion +that they can possibly disobey. Having wrung a submissive "I understand" +from Dron, Alpatych contented himself with that, though he not only +doubted but felt almost certain that without the help of troops the +carts would not be forthcoming. + +And so it was, for when evening came no carts had been provided. In the +village, outside the drink shop, another meeting was being held, which +decided that the horses should be driven out into the woods and the +carts should not be provided. Without saying anything of this to the +princess, Alpatych had his own belongings taken out of the carts which +had arrived from Bald Hills and had those horses got ready for the +princess' carriages. Meanwhile he went himself to the police +authorities. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +After her father's funeral Princess Mary shut herself up in her room and +did not admit anyone. A maid came to the door to say that Alpatych was +asking for orders about their departure. (This was before his talk with +Dron.) Princess Mary raised herself on the sofa on which she had been +lying and replied through the closed door that she did not mean to go +away and begged to be left in peace. + +The windows of the room in which she was lying looked westward. She lay +on the sofa with her face to the wall, fingering the buttons of the +leather cushion and seeing nothing but that cushion, and her confused +thoughts were centered on one subject--the irrevocability of death and +her own spiritual baseness, which she had not suspected, but which had +shown itself during her father's illness. She wished to pray but did not +dare to, dared not in her present state of mind address herself to God. +She lay for a long time in that position. + +The sun had reached the other side of the house, and its slanting rays +shone into the open window, lighting up the room and part of the morocco +cushion at which Princess Mary was looking. The flow of her thoughts +suddenly stopped. Unconsciously she sat up, smoothed her hair, got up, +and went to the window, involuntarily inhaling the freshness of the +clear but windy evening. + +"Yes, you can well enjoy the evening now! He is gone and no one will +hinder you," she said to herself, and sinking into a chair she let her +head fall on the window sill. + +Someone spoke her name in a soft and tender voice from the garden and +kissed her head. She looked up. It was Mademoiselle Bourienne in a black +dress and weepers. She softly approached Princess Mary, sighed, kissed +her, and immediately began to cry. The princess looked up at her. All +their former disharmony and her own jealousy recurred to her mind. But +she remembered too how he had changed of late toward Mademoiselle +Bourienne and could not bear to see her, thereby showing how unjust were +the reproaches Princess Mary had mentally addressed to her. "Besides, is +it for me, for me who desired his death, to condemn anyone?" she +thought. + +Princess Mary vividly pictured to herself the position of Mademoiselle +Bourienne, whom she had of late kept at a distance, but who yet was +dependent on her and living in her house. She felt sorry for her and +held out her hand with a glance of gentle inquiry. Mademoiselle +Bourienne at once began crying again and kissed that hand, speaking of +the princess' sorrow and making herself a partner in it. She said her +only consolation was the fact that the princess allowed her to share her +sorrow, that all the old misunderstandings should sink into nothing but +this great grief; that she felt herself blameless in regard to everyone, +and that he, from above, saw her affection and gratitude. The princess +heard her, not heeding her words but occasionally looking up at her and +listening to the sound of her voice. + +"Your position is doubly terrible, dear princess," said Mademoiselle +Bourienne after a pause. "I understand that you could not, and cannot, +think of yourself, but with my love for you I must do so.... Has +Alpatych been to you? Has he spoken to you of going away?" she asked. + +Princess Mary did not answer. She did not understand who was to go or +where to. "Is it possible to plan or think of anything now? Is it not +all the same?" she thought, and did not reply. + +"You know, chere Marie," said Mademoiselle Bourienne, "that we are in +danger--are surrounded by the French. It would be dangerous to move now. +If we go we are almost sure to be taken prisoners, and God knows..." + +Princess Mary looked at her companion without understanding what she was +talking about. + +"Oh, if anyone knew how little anything matters to me now," she said. +"Of course I would on no account wish to go away from him.... Alpatych +did say something about going.... Speak to him; I can do nothing, +nothing, and don't want to...." + +"I've spoken to him. He hopes we should be in time to get away tomorrow, +but I think it would now be better to stay here," said Mademoiselle +Bourienne. "Because, you will agree, chere Marie, to fall into the hands +of the soldiers or of riotous peasants would be terrible." + +Mademoiselle Bourienne took from her reticule a proclamation (not +printed on ordinary Russian paper) of General Rameau's, telling people +not to leave their homes and that the French authorities would afford +them proper protection. She handed this to the princess. + +"I think it would be best to appeal to that general," she continued, +"and I am sure that all due respect would be shown you." + +Princess Mary read the paper, and her face began to quiver with stifled +sobs. + +"From whom did you get this?" she asked. + +"They probably recognized that I am French, by my name," replied +Mademoiselle Bourienne blushing. + +Princess Mary, with the paper in her hand, rose from the window and with +a pale face went out of the room and into what had been Prince Andrew's +study. + +"Dunyasha, send Alpatych, or Dronushka, or somebody to me!" she said, +"and tell Mademoiselle Bourienne not to come to me," she added, hearing +Mademoiselle Bourienne's voice. "We must go at once, at once!" she said, +appalled at the thought of being left in the hands of the French. + +"If Prince Andrew heard that I was in the power of the French! That I, +the daughter of Prince Nicholas Bolkonski, asked General Rameau for +protection and accepted his favor!" This idea horrified her, made her +shudder, blush, and feel such a rush of anger and pride as she had never +experienced before. All that was distressing, and especially all that +was humiliating, in her position rose vividly to her mind. "They, the +French, would settle in this house: M. le General Rameau would occupy +Prince Andrew's study and amuse himself by looking through and reading +his letters and papers. Mademoiselle Bourienne would do the honors of +Bogucharovo for him. I should be given a small room as a favor, the +soldiers would violate my father's newly dug grave to steal his crosses +and stars, they would tell me of their victories over the Russians, and +would pretend to sympathize with my sorrow..." thought Princess Mary, +not thinking her own thoughts but feeling bound to think like her father +and her brother. For herself she did not care where she remained or what +happened to her, but she felt herself the representative of her dead +father and of Prince Andrew. Involuntarily she thought their thoughts +and felt their feelings. What they would have said and what they would +have done she felt bound to say and do. She went into Prince Andrew's +study, trying to enter completely into his ideas, and considered her +position. + +The demands of life, which had seemed to her annihilated by her father's +death, all at once rose before her with a new, previously unknown force +and took possession of her. + +Agitated and flushed she paced the room, sending now for Michael +Ivanovich and now for Tikhon or Dron. Dunyasha, the nurse, and the other +maids could not say in how far Mademoiselle Bourienne's statement was +correct. Alpatych was not at home, he had gone to the police. Neither +could the architect Michael Ivanovich, who on being sent for came in +with sleepy eyes, tell Princess Mary anything. With just the same smile +of agreement with which for fifteen years he had been accustomed to +answer the old prince without expressing views of his own, he now +replied to Princess Mary, so that nothing definite could be got from his +answers. The old valet Tikhon, with sunken, emaciated face that bore the +stamp of inconsolable grief, replied: "Yes, Princess" to all Princess +Mary's questions and hardly refrained from sobbing as he looked at her. + +At length Dron, the village Elder, entered the room and with a deep bow +to Princess Mary came to a halt by the doorpost. + +Princess Mary walked up and down the room and stopped in front of him. + +"Dronushka," she said, regarding as a sure friend this Dronushka who +always used to bring a special kind of gingerbread from his visit to the +fair at Vyazma every year and smilingly offer it to her, "Dronushka, now +since our misfortune..." she began, but could not go on. + +"We are all in God's hands," said he, with a sigh. + +They were silent for a while. + +"Dronushka, Alpatych has gone off somewhere and I have no one to turn +to. Is it true, as they tell me, that I can't even go away?" + +"Why shouldn't you go away, your excellency? You can go," said Dron. + +"I was told it would be dangerous because of the enemy. Dear friend, I +can do nothing. I understand nothing. I have nobody! I want to go away +tonight or early tomorrow morning." + +Dron paused. He looked askance at Princess Mary and said: "There are no +horses; I told Yakov Alpatych so." + +"Why are there none?" asked the princess. + +"It's all God's scourge," said Dron. "What horses we had have been taken +for the army or have died--this is such a year! It's not a case of +feeding horses--we may die of hunger ourselves! As it is, some go three +days without eating. We've nothing, we've been ruined." + +Princess Mary listened attentively to what he told her. + +"The peasants are ruined? They have no bread?" she asked. + +"They're dying of hunger," said Dron. "It's not a case of carting." + +"But why didn't you tell me, Dronushka? Isn't it possible to help them? +I'll do all I can...." + +To Princess Mary it was strange that now, at a moment when such sorrow +was filling her soul, there could be rich people and poor, and the rich +could refrain from helping the poor. She had heard vaguely that there +was such a thing as "landlord's corn" which was sometimes given to the +peasants. She also knew that neither her father nor her brother would +refuse to help the peasants in need, she only feared to make some +mistake in speaking about the distribution of the grain she wished to +give. She was glad such cares presented themselves, enabling her without +scruple to forget her own grief. She began asking Dron about the +peasants' needs and what there was in Bogucharovo that belonged to the +landlord. + +"But we have grain belonging to my brother?" she said. + +"The landlord's grain is all safe," replied Dron proudly. "Our prince +did not order it to be sold." + +"Give it to the peasants, let them have all they need; I give you leave +in my brother's name," said she. + +Dron made no answer but sighed deeply. + +"Give them that corn if there is enough of it. Distribute it all. I give +this order in my brother's name; and tell them that what is ours is +theirs. We do not grudge them anything. Tell them so." + +Dron looked intently at the princess while she was speaking. + +"Discharge me, little mother, for God's sake! Order the keys to be taken +from me," said he. "I have served twenty-three years and have done no +wrong. Discharge me, for God's sake!" + +Princess Mary did not understand what he wanted of her or why he was +asking to be discharged. She replied that she had never doubted his +devotion and that she was ready to do anything for him and for the +peasants. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +An hour later Dunyasha came to tell the princess that Dron had come, and +all the peasants had assembled at the barn by the princess' order and +wished to have word with their mistress. + +"But I never told them to come," said Princess Mary. "I only told Dron +to let them have the grain." + +"Only, for God's sake, Princess dear, have them sent away and don't go +out to them. It's all a trick," said Dunyasha, "and when Yakov Alpatych +returns let us get away... and please don't..." + +"What is a trick?" asked Princess Mary in surprise. + +"I know it is, only listen to me for God's sake! Ask nurse too. They say +they don't agree to leave Bogucharovo as you ordered." + +"You're making some mistake. I never ordered them to go away," said +Princess Mary. "Call Dronushka." + +Dron came and confirmed Dunyasha's words; the peasants had come by the +princess' order. + +"But I never sent for them," declared the princess. "You must have given +my message wrong. I only said that you were to give them the grain." + +Dron only sighed in reply. + +"If you order it they will go away," said he. + +"No, no. I'll go out to them," said Princess Mary, and in spite of the +nurse's and Dunyasha's protests she went out into the porch; Dron, +Dunyasha, the nurse, and Michael Ivanovich following her. + +"They probably think I am offering them the grain to bribe them to +remain here, while I myself go away leaving them to the mercy of the +French," thought Princess Mary. "I will offer them monthly rations and +housing at our Moscow estate. I am sure Andrew would do even more in my +place," she thought as she went out in the twilight toward the crowd +standing on the pasture by the barn. + +The men crowded closer together, stirred, and rapidly took off their +hats. Princess Mary lowered her eyes and, tripping over her skirt, came +close up to them. So many different eyes, old and young, were fixed on +her, and there were so many different faces, that she could not +distinguish any of them and, feeling that she must speak to them all at +once, did not know how to do it. But again the sense that she +represented her father and her brother gave her courage, and she boldly +began her speech. + +"I am very glad you have come," she said without raising her eyes, and +feeling her heart beating quickly and violently. "Dronushka tells me +that the war has ruined you. That is our common misfortune, and I shall +grudge nothing to help you. I am myself going away because it is +dangerous here... the enemy is near... because... I am giving you +everything, my friends, and I beg you to take everything, all our grain, +so that you may not suffer want! And if you have been told that I am +giving you the grain to keep you here--that is not true. On the +contrary, I ask you to go with all your belongings to our estate near +Moscow, and I promise you I will see to it that there you shall want for +nothing. You shall be given food and lodging." + +The princess stopped. Sighs were the only sound heard in the crowd. + +"I am not doing this on my own account," she continued, "I do it in the +name of my dead father, who was a good master to you, and of my brother +and his son." + +Again she paused. No one broke the silence. + +"Ours is a common misfortune and we will share it together. All that is +mine is yours," she concluded, scanning the faces before her. + +All eyes were gazing at her with one and the same expression. She could +not fathom whether it was curiosity, devotion, gratitude, or +apprehension and distrust--but the expression on all the faces was +identical. + +"We are all very thankful for your bounty, but it won't do for us to +take the landlord's grain," said a voice at the back of the crowd. + +"But why not?" asked the princess. + +No one replied and Princess Mary, looking round at the crowd, found that +every eye she met now was immediately dropped. + +"But why don't you want to take it?" she asked again. + +No one answered. + +The silence began to oppress the princess and she tried to catch +someone's eye. + +"Why don't you speak?" she inquired of a very old man who stood just in +front of her leaning on his stick. "If you think something more is +wanted, tell me! I will do anything," said she, catching his eye. + +But as if this angered him, he bent his head quite low and muttered: + +"Why should we agree? We don't want the grain." + +"Why should we give up everything? We don't agree. Don't agree.... We +are sorry for you, but we're not willing. Go away yourself, alone..." +came from various sides of the crowd. + +And again all the faces in that crowd bore an identical expression, +though now it was certainly not an expression of curiosity or gratitude, +but of angry resolve. + +"But you can't have understood me," said Princess Mary with a sad smile. +"Why don't you want to go? I promise to house and feed you, while here +the enemy would ruin you..." + +But her voice was drowned by the voices of the crowd. + +"We're not willing. Let them ruin us! We won't take your grain. We don't +agree." + +Again Princess Mary tried to catch someone's eye, but not a single eye +in the crowd was turned to her; evidently they were all trying to avoid +her look. She felt strange and awkward. + +"Oh yes, an artful tale! Follow her into slavery! Pull down your houses +and go into bondage! I dare say! 'I'll give you grain, indeed!' she +says," voices in the crowd were heard saying. + +With drooping head Princess Mary left the crowd and went back to the +house. Having repeated her order to Dron to have horses ready for her +departure next morning, she went to her room and remained alone with her +own thoughts. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +For a long time that night Princess Mary sat by the open window of her +room hearing the sound of the peasants' voices that reached her from the +village, but it was not of them she was thinking. She felt that she +could not understand them however much she might think about them. She +thought only of one thing, her sorrow, which, after the break caused by +cares for the present, seemed already to belong to the past. Now she +could remember it and weep or pray. + +After sunset the wind had dropped. The night was calm and fresh. Toward +midnight the voices began to subside, a cock crowed, the full moon began +to show from behind the lime trees, a fresh white dewy mist began to +rise, and stillness reigned over the village and the house. + +Pictures of the near past--her father's illness and last moments--rose +one after another to her memory. With mournful pleasure she now lingered +over these images, repelling with horror only the last one, the picture +of his death, which she felt she could not contemplate even in +imagination at this still and mystic hour of night. And these pictures +presented themselves to her so clearly and in such detail that they +seemed now present, now past, and now future. + +She vividly recalled the moment when he had his first stroke and was +being dragged along by his armpits through the garden at Bald Hills, +muttering something with his helpless tongue, twitching his gray +eyebrows and looking uneasily and timidly at her. + +"Even then he wanted to tell me what he told me the day he died," she +thought. "He had always thought what he said then." And she recalled in +all its detail the night at Bald Hills before he had the last stroke, +when with a foreboding of disaster she had remained at home against his +will. She had not slept and had stolen downstairs on tiptoe, and going +to the door of the conservatory where he slept that night had listened +at the door. In a suffering and weary voice he was saying something to +Tikhon, speaking of the Crimea and its warm nights and of the Empress. +Evidently he had wanted to talk. "And why didn't he call me? Why didn't +he let me be there instead of Tikhon?" Princess Mary had thought and +thought again now. "Now he will never tell anyone what he had in his +soul. Never will that moment return for him or for me when he might have +said all he longed to say, and not Tikhon but I might have heard and +understood him. Why didn't I enter the room?" she thought. "Perhaps he +would then have said to me what he said the day he died. While talking +to Tikhon he asked about me twice. He wanted to see me, and I was +standing close by, outside the door. It was sad and painful for him to +talk to Tikhon who did not understand him. I remember how he began +speaking to him about Lise as if she were alive--he had forgotten she +was dead--and Tikhon reminded him that she was no more, and he shouted, +'Fool!' He was greatly depressed. From behind the door I heard how he +lay down on his bed groaning and loudly exclaimed, 'My God!' Why didn't +I go in then? What could he have done to me? What could I have lost? And +perhaps he would then have been comforted and would have said that word +to me." And Princess Mary uttered aloud the caressing word he had said +to her on the day of his death. "Dear-est!" she repeated, and began +sobbing, with tears that relieved her soul. She now saw his face before +her. And not the face she had known ever since she could remember and +had always seen at a distance, but the timid, feeble face she had seen +for the first time quite closely, with all its wrinkles and details, +when she stooped near to his mouth to catch what he said. + +"Dear-est!" she repeated again. + +"What was he thinking when he uttered that word? What is he thinking +now?" This question suddenly presented itself to her, and in answer she +saw him before her with the expression that was on his face as he lay in +his coffin with his chin bound up with a white handkerchief. And the +horror that had seized her when she touched him and convinced herself +that that was not he, but something mysterious and horrible, seized her +again. She tried to think of something else and to pray, but could do +neither. With wide-open eyes she gazed at the moonlight and the shadows, +expecting every moment to see his dead face, and she felt that the +silence brooding over the house and within it held her fast. + +"Dunyasha," she whispered. "Dunyasha!" she screamed wildly, and tearing +herself out of this silence she ran to the servants' quarters to meet +her old nurse and the maidservants who came running toward her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +On the seventeenth of August Rostov and Ilyin, accompanied by Lavrushka +who had just returned from captivity and by an hussar orderly, left +their quarters at Yankovo, ten miles from Bogucharovo, and went for a +ride--to try a new horse Ilyin had bought and to find out whether there +was any hay to be had in the villages. + +For the last three days Bogucharovo had lain between the two hostile +armies, so that it was as easy for the Russian rearguard to get to it as +for the French vanguard; Rostov, as a careful squadron commander, wished +to take such provisions as remained at Bogucharovo before the French +could get them. + +Rostov and Ilyin were in the merriest of moods. On the way to +Bogucharovo, a princely estate with a dwelling house and farm where they +hoped to find many domestic serfs and pretty girls, they questioned +Lavrushka about Napoleon and laughed at his stories, and raced one +another to try Ilyin's horse. + +Rostov had no idea that the village he was entering was the property of +that very Bolkonski who had been engaged to his sister. + +Rostov and Ilyin gave rein to their horses for a last race along the +incline before reaching Bogucharovo, and Rostov, outstripping Ilyin, was +the first to gallop into the village street. + +"You're first!" cried Ilyin, flushed. + +"Yes, always first both on the grassland and here," answered Rostov, +stroking his heated Donets horse. + +"And I'd have won on my Frenchy, your excellency," said Lavrushka from +behind, alluding to his shabby cart horse, "only I didn't wish to +mortify you." + +They rode at a footpace to the barn, where a large crowd of peasants was +standing. + +Some of the men bared their heads, others stared at the new arrivals +without doffing their caps. Two tall old peasants with wrinkled faces +and scanty beards emerged from the tavern, smiling, staggering, and +singing some incoherent song, and approached the officers. + +"Fine fellows!" said Rostov laughing. "Is there any hay here?" + +"And how like one another," said Ilyin. + +"A mo-o-st me-r-r-y co-o-m-pa...!" sang one of the peasants with a +blissful smile. + +One of the men came out of the crowd and went up to Rostov. + +"Who do you belong to?" he asked. + +"The French," replied Ilyin jestingly, "and here is Napoleon himself"-- +and he pointed to Lavrushka. + +"Then you are Russians?" the peasant asked again. + +"And is there a large force of you here?" said another, a short man, +coming up. + +"Very large," answered Rostov. "But why have you collected here?" he +added. "Is it a holiday?" + +"The old men have met to talk over the business of the commune," replied +the peasant, moving away. + +At that moment, on the road leading from the big house, two women and a +man in a white hat were seen coming toward the officers. + +"The one in pink is mine, so keep off!" said Ilyin on seeing Dunyasha +running resolutely toward him. + +"She'll be ours!" said Lavrushka to Ilyin, winking. + +"What do you want, my pretty?" said Ilyin with a smile. + +"The princess ordered me to ask your regiment and your name." + +"This is Count Rostov, squadron commander, and I am your humble +servant." + +"Co-o-om-pa-ny!" roared the tipsy peasant with a beatific smile as he +looked at Ilyin talking to the girl. Following Dunyasha, Alpatych +advanced to Rostov, having bared his head while still at a distance. + +"May I make bold to trouble your honor?" said he respectfully, but with +a shade of contempt for the youthfulness of this officer and with a hand +thrust into his bosom. "My mistress, daughter of General in Chief Prince +Nicholas Bolkonski who died on the fifteenth of this month, finding +herself in difficulties owing to the boorishness of these people"--he +pointed to the peasants--"asks you to come up to the house.... Won't +you, please, ride on a little farther," said Alpatych with a melancholy +smile, "as it is not convenient in the presence of...?" He pointed to +the two peasants who kept as close to him as horseflies to a horse. + +"Ah!... Alpatych... Ah, Yakov Alpatych... Grand! Forgive us for Christ's +sake, eh?" said the peasants, smiling joyfully at him. + +Rostov looked at the tipsy peasants and smiled. + +"Or perhaps they amuse your honor?" remarked Alpatych with a staid air, +as he pointed at the old men with his free hand. + +"No, there's not much to be amused at here," said Rostov, and rode on a +little way. "What's the matter?" he asked. + +"I make bold to inform your honor that the rude peasants here don't wish +to let the mistress leave the estate, and threaten to unharness her +horses, so that though everything has been packed up since morning, her +excellency cannot get away." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Rostov. + +"I have the honor to report to you the actual truth," said Alpatych. + +Rostov dismounted, gave his horse to the orderly, and followed Alpatych +to the house, questioning him as to the state of affairs. It appeared +that the princess' offer of corn to the peasants the previous day, and +her talk with Dron and at the meeting, had actually had so bad an effect +that Dron had finally given up the keys and joined the peasants and had +not appeared when Alpatych sent for him; and that in the morning when +the princess gave orders to harness for her journey, the peasants had +come in a large crowd to the barn and sent word that they would not let +her leave the village: that there was an order not to move, and that +they would unharness the horses. Alpatych had gone out to admonish them, +but was told (it was chiefly Karp who did the talking, Dron not showing +himself in the crowd) that they could not let the princess go, that +there was an order to the contrary, but that if she stayed they would +serve her as before and obey her in everything. + +At the moment when Rostov and Ilyin were galloping along the road, +Princess Mary, despite the dissuasions of Alpatych, her nurse, and the +maids, had given orders to harness and intended to start, but when the +cavalrymen were espied they were taken for Frenchmen, the coachman ran +away, and the women in the house began to wail. + +"Father! Benefactor! God has sent you!" exclaimed deeply moved voices as +Rostov passed through the anteroom. + +Princess Mary was sitting helpless and bewildered in the large sitting +room, when Rostov was shown in. She could not grasp who he was and why +he had come, or what was happening to her. When she saw his Russian +face, and by his walk and the first words he uttered recognized him as a +man of her own class, she glanced at him with her deep radiant look and +began speaking in a voice that faltered and trembled with emotion. This +meeting immediately struck Rostov as a romantic event. "A helpless girl +overwhelmed with grief, left to the mercy of coarse, rioting peasants! +And what a strange fate sent me here! What gentleness and nobility there +are in her features and expression!" thought he as he looked at her and +listened to her timid story. + +When she began to tell him that all this had happened the day after her +father's funeral, her voice trembled. She turned away, and then, as if +fearing he might take her words as meant to move him to pity, looked at +him with an apprehensive glance of inquiry. There were tears in Rostov's +eyes. Princess Mary noticed this and glanced gratefully at him with that +radiant look which caused the plainness of her face to be forgotten. + +"I cannot express, Princess, how glad I am that I happened to ride here +and am able to show my readiness to serve you," said Rostov, rising. "Go +when you please, and I give you my word of honor that no one shall dare +to cause you annoyance if only you will allow me to act as your escort." +And bowing respectfully, as if to a lady of royal blood, he moved toward +the door. + +Rostov's deferential tone seemed to indicate that though he would +consider himself happy to be acquainted with her, he did not wish to +take advantage of her misfortunes to intrude upon her. + +Princess Mary understood this and appreciated his delicacy. + +"I am very, very grateful to you," she said in French, "but I hope it +was all a misunderstanding and that no one is to blame for it." She +suddenly began to cry. + +"Excuse me!" she said. + +Rostov, knitting his brows, left the room with another low bow. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"Well, is she pretty? Ah, friend--my pink one is delicious; her name is +Dunyasha...." + +But on glancing at Rostov's face Ilyin stopped short. He saw that his +hero and commander was following quite a different train of thought. + +Rostov glanced angrily at Ilyin and without replying strode off with +rapid steps to the village. + +"I'll show them; I'll give it to them, the brigands!" said he to +himself. + +Alpatych at a gliding trot, only just managing not to run, kept up with +him with difficulty. + +"What decision have you been pleased to come to?" said he. + +Rostov stopped and, clenching his fists, suddenly and sternly turned on +Alpatych. + +"Decision? What decision? Old dotard!..." cried he. "What have you been +about? Eh? The peasants are rioting, and you can't manage them? You're a +traitor yourself! I know you. I'll flay you all alive!..." And as if +afraid of wasting his store of anger, he left Alpatych and went rapidly +forward. Alpatych, mastering his offended feelings, kept pace with +Rostov at a gliding gait and continued to impart his views. He said the +peasants were obdurate and that at the present moment it would be +imprudent to "overresist" them without an armed force, and would it not +be better first to send for the military? + +"I'll give them armed force... I'll 'overresist' them!" uttered Rostov +meaninglessly, breathless with irrational animal fury and the need to +vent it. + +Without considering what he would do he moved unconciously with quick, +resolute steps toward the crowd. And the nearer he drew to it the more +Alpatych felt that this unreasonable action might produce good results. +The peasants in the crowd were similarly impressed when they saw +Rostov's rapid, firm steps and resolute, frowning face. + +After the hussars had come to the village and Rostov had gone to see the +princess, a certain confusion and dissension had arisen among the crowd. +Some of the peasants said that these new arrivals were Russians and +might take it amiss that the mistress was being detained. Dron was of +this opinion, but as soon as he expressed it Karp and others attacked +their ex-Elder. + +"How many years have you been fattening on the commune?" Karp shouted at +him. "It's all one to you! You'll dig up your pot of money and take it +away with you.... What does it matter to you whether our homes are +ruined or not?" + +"We've been told to keep order, and that no one is to leave their homes +or take away a single grain, and that's all about it!" cried another. + +"It was your son's turn to be conscripted, but no fear! You begrudged +your lump of a son," a little old man suddenly began attacking Dron-- +"and so they took my Vanka to be shaved for a soldier! But we all have +to die." + +"To be sure, we all have to die. I'm not against the commune," said +Dron. + +"That's it--not against it! You've filled your belly...." + +The two tall peasants had their say. As soon as Rostov, followed by +Ilyin, Lavrushka, and Alpatych, came up to the crowd, Karp, thrusting +his fingers into his belt and smiling a little, walked to the front. +Dron on the contrary retired to the rear and the crowd drew closer +together. + +"Who is your Elder here? Hey?" shouted Rostov, coming up to the crowd +with quick steps. + +"The Elder? What do you want with him?..." asked Karp. + +But before the words were well out of his mouth, his cap flew off and a +fierce blow jerked his head to one side. + +"Caps off, traitors!" shouted Rostov in a wrathful voice. "Where's the +Elder?" he cried furiously. + +"The Elder.... He wants the Elder!... Dron Zakharych, you!" meek and +flustered voices here and there were heard calling and caps began to +come off their heads. + +"We don't riot, we're following the orders," declared Karp, and at that +moment several voices began speaking together. + +"It's as the old men have decided--there's too many of you giving +orders." + +"Arguing? Mutiny!... Brigands! Traitors!" cried Rostov unmeaningly in a +voice not his own, gripping Karp by the collar. "Bind him, bind him!" he +shouted, though there was no one to bind him but Lavrushka and Alpatych. + +Lavrushka, however, ran up to Karp and seized him by the arms from +behind. + +"Shall I call up our men from beyond the hill?" he called out. + +Alpatych turned to the peasants and ordered two of them by name to come +and bind Karp. The men obediently came out of the crowd and began taking +off their belts. + +"Where's the Elder?" demanded Rostov in a loud voice. + +With a pale and frowning face Dron stepped out of the crowd. + +"Are you the Elder? Bind him, Lavrushka!" shouted Rostov, as if that +order, too, could not possibly meet with any opposition. + +And in fact two more peasants began binding Dron, who took off his own +belt and handed it to them, as if to aid them. + +"And you all listen to me!" said Rostov to the peasants. "Be off to your +houses at once, and don't let one of your voices be heard!" + +"Why, we've not done any harm! We did it just out of foolishness. It's +all nonsense... I said then that it was not in order," voices were heard +bickering with one another. + + +"There! What did I say?" said Alpatych, coming into his own again. "It's +wrong, lads!" + +"All our stupidity, Yakov Alpatych," came the answers, and the crowd +began at once to disperse through the village. + +The two bound men were led off to the master's house. The two drunken +peasants followed them. + +"Aye, when I look at you!..." said one of them to Karp. + +"How can one talk to the masters like that? What were you thinking of, +you fool?" added the other--"A real fool!" + +Two hours later the carts were standing in the courtyard of the +Bogucharovo house. The peasants were briskly carrying out the +proprietor's goods and packing them on the carts, and Dron, liberated at +Princess Mary's wish from the cupboard where he had been confined, was +standing in the yard directing the men. + +"Don't put it in so carelessly," said one of the peasants, a man with a +round smiling face, taking a casket from a housemaid. "You know it has +cost money! How can you chuck it in like that or shove it under the cord +where it'll get rubbed? I don't like that way of doing things. Let it +all be done properly, according to rule. Look here, put it under the +bast matting and cover it with hay--that's the way!" + +"Eh, books, books!" said another peasant, bringing out Prince Andrew's +library cupboards. "Don't catch up against it! It's heavy, lads--solid +books." + +"Yes, they worked all day and didn't play!" remarked the tall, round- +faced peasant gravely, pointing with a significant wink at the +dictionaries that were on the top. + +Unwilling to obtrude himself on the princess, Rostov did not go back to +the house but remained in the village awaiting her departure. When her +carriage drove out of the house, he mounted and accompanied her eight +miles from Bogucharovo to where the road was occupied by our troops. At +the inn at Yankovo he respectfully took leave of her, for the first time +permitting himself to kiss her hand. + +"How can you speak so!" he blushingly replied to Princess Mary's +expressions of gratitude for her deliverance, as she termed what had +occurred. "Any police officer would have done as much! If we had had +only peasants to fight, we should not have let the enemy come so far," +said he with a sense of shame and wishing to change the subject. "I am +only happy to have had the opportunity of making your acquaintance. +Good-bye, Princess. I wish you happiness and consolation and hope to +meet you again in happier circumstances. If you don't want to make me +blush, please don't thank me!" + +But the princess, if she did not again thank him in words, thanked him +with the whole expression of her face, radiant with gratitude and +tenderness. She could not believe that there was nothing to thank him +for. On the contrary, it seemed to her certain that had he not been +there she would have perished at the hands of the mutineers and of the +French, and that he had exposed himself to terrible and obvious danger +to save her, and even more certain was it that he was a man of lofty and +noble soul, able to understand her position and her sorrow. His kind, +honest eyes, with the tears rising in them when she herself had begun to +cry as she spoke of her loss, did not leave her memory. + +When she had taken leave of him and remained alone she suddenly felt her +eyes filling with tears, and then not for the first time the strange +question presented itself to her: did she love him? + +On the rest of the way to Moscow, though the princess' position was not +a cheerful one, Dunyasha, who went with her in the carriage, more than +once noticed that her mistress leaned out of the window and smiled at +something with an expression of mingled joy and sorrow. + +"Well, supposing I do love him?" thought Princess Mary. + +Ashamed as she was of acknowledging to herself that she had fallen in +love with a man who would perhaps never love her, she comforted herself +with the thought that no one would ever know it and that she would not +be to blame if, without ever speaking of it to anyone, she continued to +the end of her life to love the man with whom she had fallen in love for +the first and last time in her life. + +Sometimes when she recalled his looks, his sympathy, and his words, +happiness did not appear impossible to her. It was at those moments that +Dunyasha noticed her smiling as she looked out of the carriage window. + +"Was it not fate that brought him to Bogucharovo, and at that very +moment?" thought Princess Mary. "And that caused his sister to refuse my +brother?" And in all this Princess Mary saw the hand of Providence. + +The impression the princess made on Rostov was a very agreeable one. To +remember her gave him pleasure, and when his comrades, hearing of his +adventure at Bogucharovo, rallied him on having gone to look for hay and +having picked up one of the wealthiest heiresses in Russia, he grew +angry. It made him angry just because the idea of marrying the gentle +Princess Mary, who was attractive to him and had an enormous fortune, +had against his will more than once entered his head. For himself +personally Nicholas could not wish for a better wife: by marrying her he +would make the countess his mother happy, would be able to put his +father's affairs in order, and would even--he felt it--ensure Princess +Mary's happiness. + +But Sonya? And his plighted word? That was why Rostov grew angry when he +was rallied about Princess Bolkonskaya. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +On receiving command of the armies Kutuzov remembered Prince Andrew and +sent an order for him to report at headquarters. + +Prince Andrew arrived at Tsarevo-Zaymishche on the very day and at the +very hour that Kutuzov was reviewing the troops for the first time. He +stopped in the village at the priest's house in front of which stood the +commander-in-chief's carriage, and he sat down on the bench at the gate +awaiting his Serene Highness, as everyone now called Kutuzov. From the +field beyond the village came now sounds of regimental music and now the +roar of many voices shouting "Hurrah!" to the new commander-in-chief. +Two orderlies, a courier and a major-domo, stood near by, some ten paces +from Prince Andrew, availing themselves of Kutuzov's absence and of the +fine weather. A short, swarthy lieutenant colonel of hussars with thick +mustaches and whiskers rode up to the gate and, glancing at Prince +Andrew, inquired whether his Serene Highness was putting up there and +whether he would soon be back. + +Prince Andrew replied that he was not on his Serene Highness' staff but +was himself a new arrival. The lieutenant colonel turned to a smart +orderly, who, with the peculiar contempt with which a commander-in- +chief's orderly speaks to officers, replied: + +"What? His Serene Highness? I expect he'll be here soon. What do you +want?" + +The lieutenant colonel of hussars smiled beneath his mustache at the +orderly's tone, dismounted, gave his horse to a dispatch runner, and +approached Bolkonski with a slight bow. Bolkonski made room for him on +the bench and the lieutenant colonel sat down beside him. + +"You're also waiting for the commander-in-chief?" said he. "They say he +weceives evewyone, thank God!... It's awful with those sausage eaters! +Ermolov had weason to ask to be pwomoted to be a German! Now p'waps +Wussians will get a look in. As it was, devil only knows what was +happening. We kept wetweating and wetweating. Did you take part in the +campaign?" he asked. + +"I had the pleasure," replied Prince Andrew, "not only of taking part in +the retreat but of losing in that retreat all I held dear--not to +mention the estate and home of my birth--my father, who died of grief. I +belong to the province of Smolensk." + +"Ah? You're Pwince Bolkonski? Vewy glad to make your acquaintance! I'm +Lieutenant Colonel Denisov, better known as 'Vaska,'" said Denisov, +pressing Prince Andrew's hand and looking into his face with a +particularly kindly attention. "Yes, I heard," said he sympathetically, +and after a short pause added: "Yes, it's Scythian warfare. It's all +vewy well--only not for those who get it in the neck. So you are Pwince +Andwew Bolkonski?" He swayed his head. "Vewy pleased, Pwince, to make +your acquaintance!" he repeated again, smiling sadly, and he again +pressed Prince Andrew's hand. + +Prince Andrew knew Denisov from what Natasha had told him of her first +suitor. This memory carried him sadly and sweetly back to those painful +feelings of which he had not thought lately, but which still found place +in his soul. Of late he had received so many new and very serious +impressions--such as the retreat from Smolensk, his visit to Bald Hills, +and the recent news of his father's death--and had experienced so many +emotions, that for a long time past those memories had not entered his +mind, and now that they did, they did not act on him with nearly their +former strength. For Denisov, too, the memories awakened by the name of +Bolkonski belonged to a distant, romantic past, when after supper and +after Natasha's singing he had proposed to a little girl of fifteen +without realizing what he was doing. He smiled at the recollection of +that time and of his love for Natasha, and passed at once to what now +interested him passionately and exclusively. This was a plan of campaign +he had devised while serving at the outposts during the retreat. He had +proposed that plan to Barclay de Tolly and now wished to propose it to +Kutuzov. The plan was based on the fact that the French line of +operation was too extended, and it proposed that instead of, or +concurrently with, action on the front to bar the advance of the French, +we should attack their line of communication. He began explaining his +plan to Prince Andrew. + +"They can't hold all that line. It's impossible. I will undertake to +bweak thwough. Give me five hundwed men and I will bweak the line, +that's certain! There's only one way--guewilla warfare!" + +Denisov rose and began gesticulating as he explained his plan to +Bolkonski. In the midst of his explanation shouts were heard from the +army, growing more incoherent and more diffused, mingling with music and +songs and coming from the field where the review was held. Sounds of +hoofs and shouts were nearing the village. + +"He's coming! He's coming!" shouted a Cossack standing at the gate. + +Bolkonski and Denisov moved to the gate, at which a knot of soldiers (a +guard of honor) was standing, and they saw Kutuzov coming down the +street mounted on a rather small sorrel horse. A huge suite of generals +rode behind him. Barclay was riding almost beside him, and a crowd of +officers ran after and around them shouting, "Hurrah!" + +His adjutants galloped into the yard before him. Kutuzov was impatiently +urging on his horse, which ambled smoothly under his weight, and he +raised his hand to his white Horse Guard's cap with a red band and no +peak, nodding his head continually. When he came up to the guard of +honor, a fine set of Grenadiers mostly wearing decorations, who were +giving him the salute, he looked at them silently and attentively for +nearly a minute with the steady gaze of a commander and then turned to +the crowd of generals and officers surrounding him. Suddenly his face +assumed a subtle expression, he shrugged his shoulders with an air of +perplexity. + +"And with such fine fellows to retreat and retreat! Well, good-by, +General," he added, and rode into the yard past Prince Andrew and +Denisov. + +"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" shouted those behind him. + +Since Prince Andrew had last seen him Kutuzov had grown still more +corpulent, flaccid, and fat. But the bleached eyeball, the scar, and the +familiar weariness of his expression were still the same. He was wearing +the white Horse Guard's cap and a military overcoat with a whip hanging +over his shoulder by a thin strap. He sat heavily and swayed limply on +his brisk little horse. + +"Whew... whew... whew!" he whistled just audibly as he rode into the +yard. His face expressed the relief of relaxed strain felt by a man who +means to rest after a ceremony. He drew his left foot out of the stirrup +and, lurching with his whole body and puckering his face with the +effort, raised it with difficulty onto the saddle, leaned on his knee, +groaned, and slipped down into the arms of the Cossacks and adjutants +who stood ready to assist him. + +He pulled himself together, looked round, screwing up his eyes, glanced +at Prince Andrew, and, evidently not recognizing him, moved with his +waddling gait to the porch. "Whew... whew... whew!" he whistled, and +again glanced at Prince Andrew. As often occurs with old men, it was +only after some seconds that the impression produced by Prince Andrew's +face linked itself up with Kutuzov's remembrance of his personality. + +"Ah, how do you do, my dear prince? How do you do, my dear boy? Come +along..." said he, glancing wearily round, and he stepped onto the porch +which creaked under his weight. + +He unbuttoned his coat and sat down on a bench in the porch. + +"And how's your father?" + +"I received news of his death, yesterday," replied Prince Andrew +abruptly. + +Kutuzov looked at him with eyes wide open with dismay and then took off +his cap and crossed himself: + +"May the kingdom of Heaven be his! God's will be done to us all!" He +sighed deeply, his whole chest heaving, and was silent for a while. "I +loved him and respected him, and sympathize with you with all my heart." + +He embraced Prince Andrew, pressing him to his fat breast, and for some +time did not let him go. When he released him Prince Andrew saw that +Kutuzov's flabby lips were trembling and that tears were in his eyes. He +sighed and pressed on the bench with both hands to raise himself. + +"Come! Come with me, we'll have a talk," said he. + +But at that moment Denisov, no more intimidated by his superiors than by +the enemy, came with jingling spurs up the steps of the porch, despite +the angry whispers of the adjutants who tried to stop him. Kutuzov, his +hands still pressed on the seat, glanced at him glumly. Denisov, having +given his name, announced that he had to communicate to his Serene +Highness a matter of great importance for their country's welfare. +Kutuzov looked wearily at him and, lifting his hands with a gesture of +annoyance, folded them across his stomach, repeating the words: "For our +country's welfare? Well, what is it? Speak!" Denisov blushed like a girl +(it was strange to see the color rise in that shaggy, bibulous, time- +worn face) and boldly began to expound his plan of cutting the enemy's +lines of communication between Smolensk and Vyazma. Denisov came from +those parts and knew the country well. His plan seemed decidedly a good +one, especially from the strength of conviction with which he spoke. +Kutuzov looked down at his own legs, occasionally glancing at the door +of the adjoining hut as if expecting something unpleasant to emerge from +it. And from that hut, while Denisov was speaking, a general with a +portfolio under his arm really did appear. + +"What?" said Kutuzov, in the midst of Denisov's explanations, "are you +ready so soon?" + +"Ready, your Serene Highness," replied the general. + +Kutuzov swayed his head, as much as to say: "How is one man to deal with +it all?" and again listened to Denisov. + +"I give my word of honor as a Wussian officer," said Denisov, "that I +can bweak Napoleon's line of communication!" + +"What relation are you to Intendant General Kiril Andreevich Denisov?" +asked Kutuzov, interrupting him. + +"He is my uncle, your Sewene Highness." + +"Ah, we were friends," said Kutuzov cheerfully. "All right, all right, +friend, stay here at the staff and tomorrow we'll have a talk." + +With a nod to Denisov he turned away and put out his hand for the papers +Konovnitsyn had brought him. + +"Would not your Serene Highness like to come inside?" said the general +on duty in a discontented voice, "the plans must be examined and several +papers have to be signed." + +An adjutant came out and announced that everything was in readiness +within. But Kutuzov evidently did not wish to enter that room till he +was disengaged. He made a grimace... + +"No, tell them to bring a small table out here, my dear boy. I'll look +at them here," said he. "Don't go away," he added, turning to Prince +Andrew, who remained in the porch and listened to the general's report. + +While this was being given, Prince Andrew heard the whisper of a woman's +voice and the rustle of a silk dress behind the door. Several times on +glancing that way he noticed behind that door a plump, rosy, handsome +woman in a pink dress with a lilac silk kerchief on her head, holding a +dish and evidently awaiting the entrance of the commander-in-chief. +Kutuzov's adjutant whispered to Prince Andrew that this was the wife of +the priest whose home it was, and that she intended to offer his Serene +Highness bread and salt. "Her husband has welcomed his Serene Highness +with the cross at the church, and she intends to welcome him in the +house.... She's very pretty," added the adjutant with a smile. At those +words Kutuzov looked round. He was listening to the general's report-- +which consisted chiefly of a criticism of the position at Tsarevo- +Zaymishche--as he had listened to Denisov, and seven years previously +had listened to the discussion at the Austerlitz council of war. He +evidently listened only because he had ears which, though there was a +piece of tow in one of them, could not help hearing; but it was evident +that nothing the general could say would surprise or even interest him, +that he knew all that would be said beforehand, and heard it all only +because he had to, as one has to listen to the chanting of a service of +prayer. All that Denisov had said was clever and to the point. What the +general was saying was even more clever and to the point, but it was +evident that Kutuzov despised knowledge and cleverness, and knew of +something else that would decide the matter--something independent of +cleverness and knowledge. Prince Andrew watched the commander-in-chief's +face attentively, and the only expression he could see there was one of +boredom, curiosity as to the meaning of the feminine whispering behind +the door, and a desire to observe propriety. It was evident that Kutuzov +despised cleverness and learning and even the patriotic feeling shown by +Denisov, but despised them not because of his own intellect, feelings, +or knowledge--he did not try to display any of these--but because of +something else. He despised them because of his old age and experience +of life. The only instruction Kutuzov gave of his own accord during that +report referred to looting by the Russian troops. At the end of the +report the general put before him for signature a paper relating to the +recovery of payment from army commanders for green oats mown down by the +soldiers, when landowners lodged petitions for compensation. + +After hearing the matter, Kutuzov smacked his lips together and shook +his head. + +"Into the stove... into the fire with it! I tell you once for all, my +dear fellow," said he, "into the fire with all such things! Let them cut +the crops and burn wood to their hearts' content. I don't order it or +allow it, but I don't exact compensation either. One can't get on +without it. 'When wood is chopped the chips will fly.'" He looked at the +paper again. "Oh, this German precision!" he muttered, shaking his head. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"Well, that's all!" said Kutuzov as he signed the last of the documents, +and rising heavily and smoothing out the folds in his fat white neck he +moved toward the door with a more cheerful expression. + +The priest's wife, flushing rosy red, caught up the dish she had after +all not managed to present at the right moment, though she had so long +been preparing for it, and with a low bow offered it to Kutuzov. + +He screwed up his eyes, smiled, lifted her chin with his hand, and said: + +"Ah, what a beauty! Thank you, sweetheart!" + +He took some gold pieces from his trouser pocket and put them on the +dish for her. "Well, my dear, and how are we getting on?" he asked, +moving to the door of the room assigned to him. The priest's wife +smiled, and with dimples in her rosy cheeks followed him into the room. +The adjutant came out to the porch and asked Prince Andrew to lunch with +him. Half an hour later Prince Andrew was again called to Kutuzov. He +found him reclining in an armchair, still in the same unbuttoned +overcoat. He had in his hand a French book which he closed as Prince +Andrew entered, marking the place with a knife. Prince Andrew saw by the +cover that it was Les Chevaliers du Cygne by Madame de Genlis. + +"Well, sit down, sit down here. Let's have a talk," said Kutuzov. "It's +sad, very sad. But remember, my dear fellow, that I am a father to you, +a second father...." + +Prince Andrew told Kutuzov all he knew of his father's death, and what +he had seen at Bald Hills when he passed through it. + +"What... what they have brought us to!" Kutuzov suddenly cried in an +agitated voice, evidently picturing vividly to himself from Prince +Andrew's story the condition Russia was in. "But give me time, give me +time!" he said with a grim look, evidently not wishing to continue this +agitating conversation, and added: "I sent for you to keep you with me." + +"I thank your Serene Highness, but I fear I am no longer fit for the +staff," replied Prince Andrew with a smile which Kutuzov noticed. + +Kutuzov glanced inquiringly at him. + +"But above all," added Prince Andrew, "I have grown used to my regiment, +am fond of the officers, and I fancy the men also like me. I should be +sorry to leave the regiment. If I decline the honor of being with you, +believe me..." + +A shrewd, kindly, yet subtly derisive expression lit up Kutuzov's podgy +face. He cut Bolkonski short. + +"I am sorry, for I need you. But you're right, you're right! It's not +here that men are needed. Advisers are always plentiful, but men are +not. The regiments would not be what they are if the would-be advisers +served there as you do. I remember you at Austerlitz.... I remember, +yes, I remember you with the standard!" said Kutuzov, and a flush of +pleasure suffused Prince Andrew's face at this recollection. + +Taking his hand and drawing him downwards, Kutuzov offered his cheek to +be kissed, and again Prince Andrew noticed tears in the old man's eyes. +Though Prince Andrew knew that Kutuzov's tears came easily, and that he +was particularly tender to and considerate of him from a wish to show +sympathy with his loss, yet this reminder of Austerlitz was both +pleasant and flattering to him. + +"Go your way and God be with you. I know your path is the path of +honor!" He paused. "I missed you at Bucharest, but I needed someone to +send." And changing the subject, Kutuzov began to speak of the Turkish +war and the peace that had been concluded. "Yes, I have been much +blamed," he said, "both for that war and the peace... but everything +came at the right time. Tout vient a point a celui qui sait attendre. * +And there were as many advisers there as here..." he went on, returning +to the subject of "advisers" which evidently occupied him. "Ah, those +advisers!" said he. "If we had listened to them all we should not have +made peace with Turkey and should not have been through with that war. +Everything in haste, but more haste, less speed. Kamenski would have +been lost if he had not died. He stormed fortresses with thirty thousand +men. It is not difficult to capture a fortress but it is difficult to +win a campaign. For that, not storming and attacking but patience and +time are wanted. Kamenski sent soldiers to Rustchuk, but I only employed +these two things and took more fortresses than Kamenski and made them +Turks eat horseflesh!" He swayed his head. "And the French shall too, +believe me," he went on, growing warmer and beating his chest, "I'll +make them eat horseflesh!" And tears again dimmed his eyes. + + +* "Everything comes in time to him who knows how to wait." + +"But shan't we have to accept battle?" remarked Prince Andrew. + +"We shall if everybody wants it; it can't be helped.... But believe me, +my dear boy, there is nothing stronger than those two: patience and +time, they will do it all. But the advisers n'entendent pas de cette +oreille, voila le mal. * Some want a thing--others don't. What's one to +do?" he asked, evidently expecting an answer. "Well, what do you want us +to do?" he repeated and his eye shone with a deep, shrewd look. "I'll +tell you what to do," he continued, as Prince Andrew still did not +reply: "I will tell you what to do, and what I do. Dans le doute, mon +cher," he paused, "abstiens-toi" *(2)--he articulated the French proverb +deliberately. + + +* "Don't see it that way, that's the trouble." + +* (2) "When in doubt, my dear fellow, do nothing." + +"Well, good-by, my dear fellow; remember that with all my heart I share +your sorrow, and that for you I am not a Serene Highness, nor a prince, +nor a commander-in-chief, but a father! If you want anything come +straight to me. Good-bye, my dear boy." + +Again he embraced and kissed Prince Andrew, but before the latter had +left the room Kutuzov gave a sigh of relief and went on with his +unfinished novel, Les Chevaliers du Cygne by Madame de Genlis. + +Prince Andrew could not have explained how or why it was, but after that +interview with Kutuzov he went back to his regiment reassured as to the +general course of affairs and as to the man to whom it had been +entrusted. The more he realized the absence of all personal motive in +that old man--in whom there seemed to remain only the habit of passions, +and in place of an intellect (grouping events and drawing conclusions) +only the capacity calmly to contemplate the course of events--the more +reassured he was that everything would be as it should. "He will not +bring in any plan of his own. He will not devise or undertake anything," +thought Prince Andrew, "but he will hear everything, remember +everything, and put everything in its place. He will not hinder anything +useful nor allow anything harmful. He understands that there is +something stronger and more important than his own will--the inevitable +course of events, and he can see them and grasp their significance, and +seeing that significance can refrain from meddling and renounce his +personal wish directed to something else. And above all," thought Prince +Andrew, "one believes in him because he's Russian, despite the novel by +Genlis and the French proverbs, and because his voice shook when he +said: 'What they have brought us to!' and had a sob in it when he said +he would 'make them eat horseflesh!'" + +On such feelings, more or less dimly shared by all, the unanimity and +general approval were founded with which, despite court influences, the +popular choice of Kutuzov as commander-in-chief was received. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +After the Emperor had left Moscow, life flowed on there in its usual +course, and its course was so very usual that it was difficult to +remember the recent days of patriotic elation and ardor, hard to believe +that Russia was really in danger and that the members of the English +Club were also sons of the Fatherland ready to sacrifice everything for +it. The one thing that recalled the patriotic fervor everyone had +displayed during the Emperor's stay was the call for contributions of +men and money, a necessity that as soon as the promises had been made +assumed a legal, official form and became unavoidable. + +With the enemy's approach to Moscow, the Moscovites' view of their +situation did not grow more serious but on the contrary became even more +frivolous, as always happens with people who see a great danger +approaching. At the approach of danger there are always two voices that +speak with equal power in the human soul: one very reasonably tells a +man to consider the nature of the danger and the means of escaping it; +the other, still more reasonably, says that it is too depressing and +painful to think of the danger, since it is not in man's power to +foresee everything and avert the general course of events, and it is +therefore better to disregard what is painful till it comes, and to +think about what is pleasant. In solitude a man generally listens to the +first voice, but in society to the second. So it was now with the +inhabitants of Moscow. It was long since people had been as gay in +Moscow as that year. + +Rostopchin's broadsheets, headed by woodcuts of a drink shop, a potman, +and a Moscow burgher called Karpushka Chigirin, "who--having been a +militiaman and having had rather too much at the pub--heard that +Napoleon wished to come to Moscow, grew angry, abused the French in very +bad language, came out of the drink shop, and, under the sign of the +eagle, began to address the assembled people," were read and discussed, +together with the latest of Vasili Lvovich Pushkin's bouts rimes. + +In the corner room at the club, members gathered to read these +broadsheets, and some liked the way Karpushka jeered at the French, +saying: "They will swell up with Russian cabbage, burst with our +buckwheat porridge, and choke themselves with cabbage soup. They are all +dwarfs and one peasant woman will toss three of them with a hayfork." +Others did not like that tone and said it was stupid and vulgar. It was +said that Rostopchin had expelled all Frenchmen and even all foreigners +from Moscow, and that there had been some spies and agents of Napoleon +among them; but this was told chiefly to introduce Rostopchin's witty +remark on that occasion. The foreigners were deported to Nizhni by boat, +and Rostopchin had said to them in French: "Rentrez en vousmemes; entrez +dans la barque, et n'en faites pas une barque de Charon." * There was +talk of all the government offices having been already removed from +Moscow, and to this Shinshin's witticism was added--that for that alone +Moscow ought to be grateful to Napoleon. It was said that Mamonov's +regiment would cost him eight hundred thousand rubles, and that Bezukhov +had spent even more on his, but that the best thing about Bezukhov's +action was that he himself was going to don a uniform and ride at the +head of his regiment without charging anything for the show. + + +* "Think it over; get into the barque, and take care not to make it a +barque of Charon." + +"You don't spare anyone," said Julie Drubetskaya as she collected and +pressed together a bunch of raveled lint with her thin, beringed +fingers. + +Julie was preparing to leave Moscow next day and was giving a farewell +soiree. + +"Bezukhov est ridicule, but he is so kind and good-natured. What +pleasure is there to be so caustique?" + +"A forfeit!" cried a young man in militia uniform whom Julie called "mon +chevalier," and who was going with her to Nizhni. + +In Julie's set, as in many other circles in Moscow, it had been agreed +that they would speak nothing but Russian and that those who made a slip +and spoke French should pay fines to the Committee of Voluntary +Contributions. + +"Another forfeit for a Gallicism," said a Russian writer who was +present. "'What pleasure is there to be' is not Russian!" + +"You spare no one," continued Julie to the young man without heeding the +author's remark. + +"For caustique--I am guilty and will pay, and I am prepared to pay again +for the pleasure of telling you the truth. For Gallicisms I won't be +responsible," she remarked, turning to the author: "I have neither the +money nor the time, like Prince Galitsyn, to engage a master to teach me +Russian!" + +"Ah, here he is!" she added. "Quand on... No, no," she said to the +militia officer, "you won't catch me. Speak of the sun and you see its +rays!" and she smiled amiably at Pierre. "We were just talking of you," +she said with the facility in lying natural to a society woman. "We were +saying that your regiment would be sure to be better than Mamonov's." + +"Oh, don't talk to me of my regiment," replied Pierre, kissing his +hostess' hand and taking a seat beside her. "I am so sick of it." + +"You will, of course, command it yourself?" said Julie, directing a sly, +sarcastic glance toward the militia officer. + +The latter in Pierre's presence had ceased to be caustic, and his face +expressed perplexity as to what Julie's smile might mean. In spite of +his absent-mindedness and good nature, Pierre's personality immediately +checked any attempt to ridicule him to his face. + +"No," said Pierre, with a laughing glance at his big, stout body. "I +should make too good a target for the French, besides I am afraid I +should hardly be able to climb onto a horse." + +Among those whom Julie's guests happened to choose to gossip about were +the Rostovs. + +"I hear that their affairs are in a very bad way," said Julie. "And he +is so unreasonable, the count himself I mean. The Razumovskis wanted to +buy his house and his estate near Moscow, but it drags on and on. He +asks too much." + +"No, I think the sale will come off in a few days," said someone. +"Though it is madness to buy anything in Moscow now." + +"Why?" asked Julie. "You don't think Moscow is in danger?" + +"Then why are you leaving?" + +"I? What a question! I am going because... well, because everyone is +going: and besides--I am not Joan of Arc or an Amazon." + +"Well, of course, of course! Let me have some more strips of linen." + +"If he manages the business properly he will be able to pay off all his +debts," said the militia officer, speaking of Rostov. + +"A kindly old man but not up to much. And why do they stay on so long in +Moscow? They meant to leave for the country long ago. Natalie is quite +well again now, isn't she?" Julie asked Pierre with a knowing smile. + +"They are waiting for their younger son," Pierre replied. "He joined +Obolenski's Cossacks and went to Belaya Tserkov where the regiment is +being formed. But now they have had him transferred to my regiment and +are expecting him every day. The count wanted to leave long ago, but the +countess won't on any account leave Moscow till her son returns." + +"I met them the day before yesterday at the Arkharovs'. Natalie has +recovered her looks and is brighter. She sang a song. How easily some +people get over everything!" + +"Get over what?" inquired Pierre, looking displeased. + +Julie smiled. + +"You know, Count, such knights as you are only found in Madame de +Souza's novels." + +"What knights? What do you mean?" demanded Pierre, blushing. + +"Oh, come, my dear count! C'est la fable de tout Moscou. Je vous admire, +ma parole d'honneur!" * + + +* "It is the talk of all Moscow. My word, I admire you!" + +"Forfeit, forfeit!" cried the militia officer. + +"All right, one can't talk--how tiresome!" + +"What is 'the talk of all Moscow'?" Pierre asked angrily, rising to his +feet. + +"Come now, Count, you know!" + +"I don't know anything about it," said Pierre. + +"I know you were friendly with Natalie, and so... but I was always more +friendly with Vera--that dear Vera." + +"No, madame!" Pierre continued in a tone of displeasure, "I have not +taken on myself the role of Natalie Rostova's knight at all, and have +not been to their house for nearly a month. But I cannot understand the +cruelty..." + +"Qui s'excuse s'accuse," * said Julie, smiling and waving the lint +triumphantly, and to have the last word she promptly changed the +subject. "Do you know what I heard today? Poor Mary Bolkonskaya arrived +in Moscow yesterday. Do you know that she has lost her father?" + + +* "Who excuses himself, accuses himself." + +"Really? Where is she? I should like very much to see her," said Pierre. + +"I spent the evening with her yesterday. She is going to their estate +near Moscow either today or tomorrow morning, with her nephew." + +"Well, and how is she?" asked Pierre. + +"She is well, but sad. But do you know who rescued her? It is quite a +romance. Nicholas Rostov! She was surrounded, and they wanted to kill +her and had wounded some of her people. He rushed in and saved her...." + +"Another romance," said the militia officer. "Really, this general +flight has been arranged to get all the old maids married off. Catiche +is one and Princess Bolkonskaya another." + +"Do you know, I really believe she is un petit peu amoureuse du jeune +homme." * + + +* "A little bit in love with the young man." + +"Forfeit, forfeit, forfeit!" + +"But how could one say that in Russian?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +When Pierre returned home he was handed two of Rostopchin's broadsheets +that had been brought that day. + +The first declared that the report that Count Rostopchin had forbidden +people to leave Moscow was false; on the contrary he was glad that +ladies and tradesmen's wives were leaving the city. "There will be less +panic and less gossip," ran the broadsheet "but I will stake my life on +it that scoundrel will not enter Moscow." These words showed Pierre +clearly for the first time that the French would enter Moscow. The +second broadsheet stated that our headquarters were at Vyazma, that +Count Wittgenstein had defeated the French, but that as many of the +inhabitants of Moscow wished to be armed, weapons were ready for them at +the arsenal: sabers, pistols, and muskets which could be had at a low +price. The tone of the proclamation was not as jocose as in the former +Chigirin talks. Pierre pondered over these broadsheets. Evidently the +terrible stormcloud he had desired with the whole strength of his soul +but which yet aroused involuntary horror in him was drawing near. + +"Shall I join the army and enter the service, or wait?" he asked himself +for the hundredth time. He took a pack of cards that lay on the table +and began to lay them out for a game of patience. + +"If this patience comes out," he said to himself after shuffling the +cards, holding them in his hand, and lifting his head, "if it comes out, +it means... what does it mean?" + +He had not decided what it should mean when he heard the voice of the +eldest princess at the door asking whether she might come in. + +"Then it will mean that I must go to the army," said Pierre to himself. +"Come in, come in!" he added to the princess. + +Only the eldest princess, the one with the stony face and long waist, +was still living in Pierre's house. The two younger ones had both +married. + +"Excuse my coming to you, cousin," she said in a reproachful and +agitated voice. "You know some decision must be come to. What is going +to happen? Everyone has left Moscow and the people are rioting. How is +it that we are staying on?" + +"On the contrary, things seem satisfactory, ma cousine," said Pierre in +the bantering tone he habitually adopted toward her, always feeling +uncomfortable in the role of her benefactor. + +"Satisfactory, indeed! Very satisfactory! Barbara Ivanovna told me today +how our troops are distinguishing themselves. It certainly does them +credit! And the people too are quite mutinous--they no longer obey, even +my maid has taken to being rude. At this rate they will soon begin +beating us. One can't walk in the streets. But, above all, the French +will be here any day now, so what are we waiting for? I ask just one +thing of you, cousin," she went on, "arrange for me to be taken to +Petersburg. Whatever I may be, I can't live under Bonaparte's rule." + +"Oh, come, ma cousine! Where do you get your information from? On the +contrary..." + +"I won't submit to your Napoleon! Others may if they please.... If you +don't want to do this..." + +"But I will, I'll give the order at once." + +The princess was apparently vexed at not having anyone to be angry with. +Muttering to herself, she sat down on a chair. + +"But you have been misinformed," said Pierre. "Everything is quiet in +the city and there is not the slightest danger. See! I've just been +reading..." He showed her the broadsheet. "Count Rostopchin writes that +he will stake his life on it that the enemy will not enter Moscow." + +"Oh, that count of yours!" said the princess malevolently. "He is a +hypocrite, a rascal who has himself roused the people to riot. Didn't he +write in those idiotic broadsheets that anyone, 'whoever it might be, +should be dragged to the lockup by his hair'? (How silly!) 'And honor +and glory to whoever captures him,' he says. This is what his cajolery +has brought us to! Barbara Ivanovna told me the mob near killed her +because she said something in French." + +"Oh, but it's so... You take everything so to heart," said Pierre, and +began laying out his cards for patience. + +Although that patience did come out, Pierre did not join the army, but +remained in deserted Moscow ever in the same state of agitation, +irresolution, and alarm, yet at the same time joyfully expecting +something terrible. + +Next day toward evening the princess set off, and Pierre's head steward +came to inform him that the money needed for the equipment of his +regiment could not be found without selling one of the estates. In +general the head steward made out to Pierre that his project of raising +a regiment would ruin him. Pierre listened to him, scarcely able to +repress a smile. + +"Well then, sell it," said he. "What's to be done? I can't draw back +now!" + +The worse everything became, especially his own affairs, the better was +Pierre pleased and the more evident was it that the catastrophe he +expected was approaching. Hardly anyone he knew was left in town. Julie +had gone, and so had Princess Mary. Of his intimate friends only the +Rostovs remained, but he did not go to see them. + +To distract his thoughts he drove that day to the village of Vorontsovo +to see the great balloon Leppich was constructing to destroy the foe, +and a trial balloon that was to go up next day. The balloon was not yet +ready, but Pierre learned that it was being constructed by the Emperor's +desire. The Emperor had written to Count Rostopchin as follows: + +As soon as Leppich is ready, get together a crew of reliable and +intelligent men for his car and send a courier to General Kutuzov to let +him know. I have informed him of the matter. + +Please impress upon Leppich to be very careful where he descends for the +first time, that he may not make a mistake and fall into the enemy's +hands. It is essential for him to combine his movements with those of +the commander-in-chief. + +On his way home from Vorontsovo, as he was passing the Bolotnoe Place +Pierre, seeing a large crowd round the Lobnoe Place, stopped and got out +of his trap. A French cook accused of being a spy was being flogged. The +flogging was only just over, and the executioner was releasing from the +flogging bench a stout man with red whiskers, in blue stockings and a +green jacket, who was moaning piteously. Another criminal, thin and +pale, stood near. Judging by their faces they were both Frenchmen. With +a frightened and suffering look resembling that on the thin Frenchman's +face, Pierre pushed his way in through the crowd. + +"What is it? Who is it? What is it for?" he kept asking. + +But the attention of the crowd--officials, burghers, shopkeepers, +peasants, and women in cloaks and in pelisses--was so eagerly centered +on what was passing in Lobnoe Place that no one answered him. The stout +man rose, frowned, shrugged his shoulders, and evidently trying to +appear firm began to pull on his jacket without looking about him, but +suddenly his lips trembled and he began to cry, in the way full-blooded +grown-up men cry, though angry with himself for doing so. In the crowd +people began talking loudly, to stifle their feelings of pity as it +seemed to Pierre. + +"He's cook to some prince." + +"Eh, mounseer, Russian sauce seems to be sour to a Frenchman... sets his +teeth on edge!" said a wrinkled clerk who was standing behind Pierre, +when the Frenchman began to cry. + +The clerk glanced round, evidently hoping that his joke would be +appreciated. Some people began to laugh, others continued to watch in +dismay the executioner who was undressing the other man. + +Pierre choked, his face puckered, and he turned hastily away, went back +to his trap muttering something to himself as he went, and took his +seat. As they drove along he shuddered and exclaimed several times so +audibly that the coachman asked him: + +"What is your pleasure?" + +"Where are you going?" shouted Pierre to the man, who was driving to +Lubyanka Street. + +"To the Governor's, as you ordered," answered the coachman. + +"Fool! Idiot!" shouted Pierre, abusing his coachman--a thing he rarely +did. "Home, I told you! And drive faster, blockhead!" "I must get away +this very day," he murmured to himself. + +At the sight of the tortured Frenchman and the crowd surrounding the +Lobnoe Place, Pierre had so definitely made up his mind that he could no +longer remain in Moscow and would leave for the army that very day that +it seemed to him that either he had told the coachman this or that the +man ought to have known it for himself. + +On reaching home Pierre gave orders to Evstafey--his head coachman who +knew everything, could do anything, and was known to all Moscow--that he +would leave that night for the army at Mozhaysk, and that his saddle +horses should be sent there. This could not all be arranged that day, so +on Evstafey's representation Pierre had to put off his departure till +next day to allow time for the relay horses to be sent on in advance. + +On the twenty-fourth the weather cleared up after a spell of rain, and +after dinner Pierre left Moscow. When changing horses that night in +Perkhushkovo, he learned that there had been a great battle that +evening. (This was the battle of Shevardino.) He was told that there in +Perkhushkovo the earth trembled from the firing, but nobody could answer +his questions as to who had won. At dawn next day Pierre was approaching +Mozhaysk. + +Every house in Mozhaysk had soldiers quartered in it, and at the hostel +where Pierre was met by his groom and coachman there was no room to be +had. It was full of officers. + +Everywhere in Mozhaysk and beyond it, troops were stationed or on the +march. Cossacks, foot and horse soldiers, wagons, caissons, and cannon +were everywhere. Pierre pushed forward as fast as he could, and the +farther he left Moscow behind and the deeper he plunged into that sea of +troops the more was he overcome by restless agitation and a new and +joyful feeling he had not experienced before. It was a feeling akin to +what he had felt at the Sloboda Palace during the Emperor's visit--a +sense of the necessity of undertaking something and sacrificing +something. He now experienced a glad consciousness that everything that +constitutes men's happiness--the comforts of life, wealth, even life +itself--is rubbish it is pleasant to throw away, compared with +something... With what? Pierre could not say, and he did not try to +determine for whom and for what he felt such particular delight in +sacrificing everything. He was not occupied with the question of what to +sacrifice for; the fact of sacrificing in itself afforded him a new and +joyous sensation. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +On the twenty-fourth of August the battle of the Shevardino Redoubt was +fought, on the twenty-fifth not a shot was fired by either side, and on +the twenty-sixth the battle of Borodino itself took place. + +Why and how were the battles of Shevardino and Borodino given and +accepted? Why was the battle of Borodino fought? There was not the least +sense in it for either the French or the Russians. Its immediate result +for the Russians was, and was bound to be, that we were brought nearer +to the destruction of Moscow--which we feared more than anything in the +world; and for the French its immediate result was that they were +brought nearer to the destruction of their whole army--which they feared +more than anything in the world. What the result must be was quite +obvious, and yet Napoleon offered and Kutuzov accepted that battle. + +If the commanders had been guided by reason, it would seem that it must +have been obvious to Napoleon that by advancing thirteen hundred miles +and giving battle with a probability of losing a quarter of his army, he +was advancing to certain destruction, and it must have been equally +clear to Kutuzov that by accepting battle and risking the loss of a +quarter of his army he would certainly lose Moscow. For Kutuzov this was +mathematically clear, as it is that if when playing draughts I have one +man less and go on exchanging, I shall certainly lose, and therefore +should not exchange. When my opponent has sixteen men and I have +fourteen, I am only one eighth weaker than he, but when I have exchanged +thirteen more men he will be three times as strong as I am. + +Before the battle of Borodino our strength in proportion to the French +was about as five to six, but after that battle it was little more than +one to two: previously we had a hundred thousand against a hundred and +twenty thousand; afterwards little more than fifty thousand against a +hundred thousand. Yet the shrewd and experienced Kutuzov accepted the +battle, while Napoleon, who was said to be a commander of genius, gave +it, losing a quarter of his army and lengthening his lines of +communication still more. If it is said that he expected to end the +campaign by occupying Moscow as he had ended a previous campaign by +occupying Vienna, there is much evidence to the contrary. Napoleon's +historians themselves tell us that from Smolensk onwards he wished to +stop, knew the danger of his extended position, and knew that the +occupation of Moscow would not be the end of the campaign, for he had +seen at Smolensk the state in which Russian towns were left to him, and +had not received a single reply to his repeated announcements of his +wish to negotiate. + +In giving and accepting battle at Borodino, Kutuzov acted involuntarily +and irrationally. But later on, to fit what had occurred, the historians +provided cunningly devised evidence of the foresight and genius of the +generals who, of all the blind tools of history were the most enslaved +and involuntary. + +The ancients have left us model heroic poems in which the heroes furnish +the whole interest of the story, and we are still unable to accustom +ourselves to the fact that for our epoch histories of that kind are +meaningless. + +On the other question, how the battle of Borodino and the preceding +battle of Shevardino were fought, there also exists a definite and well- +known, but quite false, conception. All the historians describe the +affair as follows: + +The Russian army, they say, in its retreat from Smolensk sought out for +itself the best position for a general engagement and found such a +position at Borodino. + +The Russians, they say, fortified this position in advance on the left +of the highroad (from Moscow to Smolensk) and almost at a right angle to +it, from Borodino to Utitsa, at the very place where the battle was +fought. + +In front of this position, they say, a fortified outpost was set up on +the Shevardino mound to observe the enemy. On the twenty-fourth, we are +told, Napoleon attacked this advanced post and took it, and, on the +twenty-sixth, attacked the whole Russian army, which was in position on +the field of Borodino. + +So the histories say, and it is all quite wrong, as anyone who cares to +look into the matter can easily convince himself. + +The Russians did not seek out the best position but, on the contrary, +during the retreat passed many positions better than Borodino. They did +not stop at any one of these positions because Kutuzov did not wish to +occupy a position he had not himself chosen, because the popular demand +for a battle had not yet expressed itself strongly enough, and because +Miloradovich had not yet arrived with the militia, and for many other +reasons. The fact is that other positions they had passed were stronger, +and that the position at Borodino (the one where the battle was fought), +far from being strong, was no more a position than any other spot one +might find in the Russian Empire by sticking a pin into the map at +hazard. + +Not only did the Russians not fortify the position on the field of +Borodino to the left of, and at a right angle to, the highroad (that is, +the position on which the battle took place), but never till the twenty- +fifth of August, 1812, did they think that a battle might be fought +there. This was shown first by the fact that there were no entrenchments +there by the twenty fifth and that those begun on the twenty-fifth and +twenty-sixth were not completed, and secondly, by the position of the +Shevardino Redoubt. That redoubt was quite senseless in front of the +position where the battle was accepted. Why was it more strongly +fortified than any other post? And why were all efforts exhausted and +six thousand men sacrificed to defend it till late at night on the +twenty-fourth? A Cossack patrol would have sufficed to observe the +enemy. Thirdly, as proof that the position on which the battle was +fought had not been foreseen and that the Shevardino Redoubt was not an +advanced post of that position, we have the fact that up to the twenty- +fifth, Barclay de Tolly and Bagration were convinced that the Shevardino +Redoubt was the left flank of the position, and that Kutuzov himself in +his report, written in hot haste after the battle, speaks of the +Shevardino Redoubt as the left flank of the position. It was much later, +when reports on the battle of Borodino were written at leisure, that the +incorrect and extraordinary statement was invented (probably to justify +the mistakes of a commander-in-chief who had to be represented as +infallible) that the Shevardino Redoubt was an advanced post--whereas in +reality it was simply a fortified point on the left flank--and that the +battle of Borodino was fought by us on an entrenched position previously +selected, where as it was fought on a quite unexpected spot which was +almost unentrenched. + +The case was evidently this: a position was selected along the river +Kolocha--which crosses the highroad not at a right angle but at an acute +angle--so that the left flank was at Shevardino, the right flank near +the village of Novoe, and the center at Borodino at the confluence of +the rivers Kolocha and Voyna. + +To anyone who looks at the field of Borodino without thinking of how the +battle was actually fought, this position, protected by the river +Kolocha, presents itself as obvious for an army whose object was to +prevent an enemy from advancing along the Smolensk road to Moscow. + +Napoleon, riding to Valuevo on the twenty-fourth, did not see (as the +history books say he did) the position of the Russians from Utitsa to +Borodino (he could not have seen that position because it did not +exist), nor did he see an advanced post of the Russian army, but while +pursuing the Russian rearguard he came upon the left flank of the +Russian position--at the Shevardino Redoubt--and unexpectedly for the +Russians moved his army across the Kolocha. And the Russians, not having +time to begin a general engagement, withdrew their left wing from the +position they had intended to occupy and took up a new position which +had not been foreseen and was not fortified. By crossing to the other +side of the Kolocha to the left of the highroad, Napoleon shifted the +whole forthcoming battle from right to left (looking from the Russian +side) and transferred it to the plain between Utitsa, Semenovsk, and +Borodino--a plain no more advantageous as a position than any other +plain in Russia--and there the whole battle of the twenty-sixth of +August took place. + +Had Napoleon not ridden out on the evening of the twenty-fourth to the +Kolocha, and had he not then ordered an immediate attack on the redoubt +but had begun the attack next morning, no one would have doubted that +the Shevardino Redoubt was the left flank of our position, and the +battle would have taken place where we expected it. In that case we +should probably have defended the Shevardino Redoubt--our left flank-- +still more obstinately. We should have attacked Napoleon in the center +or on the right, and the engagement would have taken place on the +twenty-fifth, in the position we intended and had fortified. But as the +attack on our left flank took place in the evening after the retreat of +our rear guard (that is, immediately after the fight at Gridneva), and +as the Russian commanders did not wish, or were not in time, to begin a +general engagement then on the evening of the twenty-fourth, the first +and chief action of the battle of Borodino was already lost on the +twenty-fourth, and obviously led to the loss of the one fought on the +twenty-sixth. + +After the loss of the Shevardino Redoubt, we found ourselves on the +morning of the twenty-fifth without a position for our left flank, and +were forced to bend it back and hastily entrench it where it chanced to +be. + +Not only was the Russian army on the twenty-sixth defended by weak, +unfinished entrenchments, but the disadvantage of that position was +increased by the fact that the Russian commanders--not having fully +realized what had happened, namely the loss of our position on the left +flank and the shifting of the whole field of the forthcoming battle from +right to left--maintained their extended position from the village of +Novoe to Utitsa, and consequently had to move their forces from right to +left during the battle. So it happened that throughout the whole battle +the Russians opposed the entire French army launched against our left +flank with but half as many men. (Poniatowski's action against Utitsa, +and Uvarov's on the right flank against the French, were actions +distinct from the main course of the battle.) So the battle of Borodino +did not take place at all as (in an effort to conceal our commanders' +mistakes even at the cost of diminishing the glory due to the Russian +army and people) it has been described. The battle of Borodino was not +fought on a chosen and entrenched position with forces only slightly +weaker than those of the enemy, but, as a result of the loss of the +Shevardino Redoubt, the Russians fought the battle of Borodino on an +open and almost unentrenched position, with forces only half as numerous +as the French; that is to say, under conditions in which it was not +merely unthinkable to fight for ten hours and secure an indecisive +result, but unthinkable to keep an army even from complete +disintegration and flight. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +On the morning of the twenty-fifth Pierre was leaving Mozhaysk. At the +descent of the high steep hill, down which a winding road led out of the +town past the cathedral on the right, where a service was being held and +the bells were ringing, Pierre got out of his vehicle and proceeded on +foot. Behind him a cavalry regiment was coming down the hill preceded by +its singers. Coming up toward him was a train of carts carrying men who +had been wounded in the engagement the day before. The peasant drivers, +shouting and lashing their horses, kept crossing from side to side. The +carts, in each of which three or four wounded soldiers were lying or +sitting, jolted over the stones that had been thrown on the steep +incline to make it something like a road. The wounded, bandaged with +rags, with pale cheeks, compressed lips, and knitted brows, held on to +the sides of the carts as they were jolted against one another. Almost +all of them stared with naive, childlike curiosity at Pierre's white hat +and green swallow-tail coat. + +Pierre's coachman shouted angrily at the convoy of wounded to keep to +one side of the road. The cavalry regiment, as it descended the hill +with its singers, surrounded Pierre's carriage and blocked the road. +Pierre stopped, being pressed against the side of the cutting in which +the road ran. The sunshine from behind the hill did not penetrate into +the cutting and there it was cold and damp, but above Pierre's head was +the bright August sunshine and the bells sounded merrily. One of the +carts with wounded stopped by the side of the road close to Pierre. The +driver in his bast shoes ran panting up to it, placed a stone under one +of its tireless hind wheels, and began arranging the breech-band on his +little horse. + +One of the wounded, an old soldier with a bandaged arm who was following +the cart on foot, caught hold of it with his sound hand and turned to +look at Pierre. + +"I say, fellow countryman! Will they set us down here or take us on to +Moscow?" he asked. + +Pierre was so deep in thought that he did not hear the question. He was +looking now at the cavalry regiment that had met the convoy of wounded, +now at the cart by which he was standing, in which two wounded men were +sitting and one was lying. One of those sitting up in the cart had +probably been wounded in the cheek. His whole head was wrapped in rags +and one cheek was swollen to the size of a baby's head. His nose and +mouth were twisted to one side. This soldier was looking at the +cathedral and crossing himself. Another, a young lad, a fair-haired +recruit as white as though there was no blood in his thin face, looked +at Pierre kindly, with a fixed smile. The third lay prone so that his +face was not visible. The cavalry singers were passing close by: + + +Ah lost, quite lost... is my head so keen, Living in a foreign land. + +they sang their soldiers' dance song. + +As if responding to them but with a different sort of merriment, the +metallic sound of the bells reverberated high above and the hot rays of +the sun bathed the top of the opposite slope with yet another sort of +merriment. But beneath the slope, by the cart with the wounded near the +panting little nag where Pierre stood, it was damp, somber, and sad. + +The soldier with the swollen cheek looked angrily at the cavalry +singers. + +"Oh, the coxcombs!" he muttered reproachfully. + +"It's not the soldiers only, but I've seen peasants today, too.... The +peasants--even they have to go," said the soldier behind the cart, +addressing Pierre with a sad smile. "No distinctions made nowadays.... +They want the whole nation to fall on them--in a word, it's Moscow! They +want to make an end of it." + +In spite of the obscurity of the soldier's words Pierre understood what +he wanted to say and nodded approval. + +The road was clear again; Pierre descended the hill and drove on. + +He kept looking to either side of the road for familiar faces, but only +saw everywhere the unfamiliar faces of various military men of different +branches of the service, who all looked with astonishment at his white +hat and green tail coat. + +Having gone nearly three miles he at last met an acquaintance and +eagerly addressed him. This was one of the head army doctors. He was +driving toward Pierre in a covered gig, sitting beside a young surgeon, +and on recognizing Pierre he told the Cossack who occupied the driver's +seat to pull up. + +"Count! Your excellency, how come you to be here?" asked the doctor. + +"Well, you know, I wanted to see..." + +"Yes, yes, there will be something to see...." + +Pierre got out and talked to the doctor, explaining his intention of +taking part in a battle. + +The doctor advised him to apply direct to Kutuzov. + +"Why should you be God knows where out of sight, during the battle?" he +said, exchanging glances with his young companion. "Anyhow his Serene +Highness knows you and will receive you graciously. That's what you must +do." + +The doctor seemed tired and in a hurry. + +"You think so?... Ah, I also wanted to ask you where our position is +exactly?" said Pierre. + +"The position?" repeated the doctor. "Well, that's not my line. Drive +past Tatarinova, a lot of digging is going on there. Go up the hillock +and you'll see." + +"Can one see from there?... If you would..." + +But the doctor interrupted him and moved toward his gig. + +"I would go with you but on my honor I'm up to here"--and he pointed to +his throat. "I'm galloping to the commander of the corps. How do matters +stand?... You know, Count, there'll be a battle tomorrow. Out of an army +of a hundred thousand we must expect at least twenty thousand wounded, +and we haven't stretchers, or bunks, or dressers, or doctors enough for +six thousand. We have ten thousand carts, but we need other things as +well--we must manage as best we can!" + +The strange thought that of the thousands of men, young and old, who had +stared with merry surprise at his hat (perhaps the very men he had +noticed), twenty thousand were inevitably doomed to wounds and death +amazed Pierre. + +"They may die tomorrow; why are they thinking of anything but death?" +And by some latent sequence of thought the descent of the Mozhaysk hill, +the carts with the wounded, the ringing bells, the slanting rays of the +sun, and the songs of the cavalrymen vividly recurred to his mind. + +"The cavalry ride to battle and meet the wounded and do not for a moment +think of what awaits them, but pass by, winking at the wounded. Yet from +among these men twenty thousand are doomed to die, and they wonder at my +hat! Strange!" thought Pierre, continuing his way to Tatarinova. + +In front of a landowner's house to the left of the road stood carriages, +wagons, and crowds of orderlies and sentinels. The commander-in-chief +was putting up there, but just when Pierre arrived he was not in and +hardly any of the staff were there--they had gone to the church service. +Pierre drove on toward Gorki. + +When he had ascended the hill and reached the little village street, he +saw for the first time peasant militiamen in their white shirts and with +crosses on their caps, who, talking and laughing loudly, animated and +perspiring, were at work on a huge knoll overgrown with grass to the +right of the road. + +Some of them were digging, others were wheeling barrowloads of earth +along planks, while others stood about doing nothing. + +Two officers were standing on the knoll, directing the men. On seeing +these peasants, who were evidently still amused by the novelty of their +position as soldiers, Pierre once more thought of the wounded men at +Mozhaysk and understood what the soldier had meant when he said: "They +want the whole nation to fall on them." The sight of these bearded +peasants at work on the battlefield, with their queer, clumsy boots and +perspiring necks, and their shirts opening from the left toward the +middle, unfastened, exposing their sunburned collarbones, impressed +Pierre more strongly with the solemnity and importance of the moment +than anything he had yet seen or heard. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Pierre stepped out of his carriage and, passing the toiling militiamen, +ascended the knoll from which, according to the doctor, the battlefield +could be seen. + +It was about eleven o'clock. The sun shone somewhat to the left and +behind him and brightly lit up the enormous panorama which, rising like +an amphitheater, extended before him in the clear rarefied atmosphere. + +From above on the left, bisecting that amphitheater, wound the Smolensk +highroad, passing through a village with a white church some five +hundred paces in front of the knoll and below it. This was Borodino. +Below the village the road crossed the river by a bridge and, winding +down and up, rose higher and higher to the village of Valuevo visible +about four miles away, where Napoleon was then stationed. Beyond Valuevo +the road disappeared into a yellowing forest on the horizon. Far in the +distance in that birch and fir forest to the right of the road, the +cross and belfry of the Kolocha Monastery gleamed in the sun. Here and +there over the whole of that blue expanse, to right and left of the +forest and the road, smoking campfires could be seen and indefinite +masses of troops--ours and the enemy's. The ground to the right--along +the course of the Kolocha and Moskva rivers--was broken and hilly. +Between the hollows the villages of Bezubova and Zakharino showed in the +distance. On the left the ground was more level; there were fields of +grain, and the smoking ruins of Semenovsk, which had been burned down, +could be seen. + +All that Pierre saw was so indefinite that neither the left nor the +right side of the field fully satisfied his expectations. Nowhere could +he see the battlefield he had expected to find, but only fields, +meadows, troops, woods, the smoke of campfires, villages, mounds, and +streams; and try as he would he could descry no military "position" in +this place which teemed with life, nor could he even distinguish our +troops from the enemy's. + +"I must ask someone who knows," he thought, and addressed an officer who +was looking with curiosity at his huge unmilitary figure. + +"May I ask you," said Pierre, "what village that is in front?" + +"Burdino, isn't it?" said the officer, turning to his companion. + +"Borodino," the other corrected him. + +The officer, evidently glad of an opportunity for a talk, moved up to +Pierre. + +"Are those our men there?" Pierre inquired. + +"Yes, and there, further on, are the French," said the officer. "There +they are, there... you can see them." + +"Where? Where?" asked Pierre. + +"One can see them with the naked eye... Why, there!" + +The officer pointed with his hand to the smoke visible on the left +beyond the river, and the same stern and serious expression that Pierre +had noticed on many of the faces he had met came into his face. + +"Ah, those are the French! And over there?..." Pierre pointed to a knoll +on the left, near which some troops could be seen. + +"Those are ours." + +"Ah, ours! And there?..." Pierre pointed to another knoll in the +distance with a big tree on it, near a village that lay in a hollow +where also some campfires were smoking and something black was visible. + +"That's his again," said the officer. (It was the Shevardino Redoubt.) +"It was ours yesterday, but now it is his." + +"Then how about our position?" + +"Our position?" replied the officer with a smile of satisfaction. "I can +tell you quite clearly, because I constructed nearly all our +entrenchments. There, you see? There's our center, at Borodino, just +there," and he pointed to the village in front of them with the white +church. "That's where one crosses the Kolocha. You see down there where +the rows of hay are lying in the hollow, there's the bridge. That's our +center. Our right flank is over there"--he pointed sharply to the right, +far away in the broken ground--"That's where the Moskva River is, and we +have thrown up three redoubts there, very strong ones. The left +flank..." here the officer paused. "Well, you see, that's difficult to +explain.... Yesterday our left flank was there at Shevardino, you see, +where the oak is, but now we have withdrawn our left wing--now it is +over there, do you see that village and the smoke? That's Semenovsk, +yes, there," he pointed to Raevski's knoll. "But the battle will hardly +be there. His having moved his troops there is only a ruse; he will +probably pass round to the right of the Moskva. But wherever it may be, +many a man will be missing tomorrow!" he remarked. + +An elderly sergeant who had approached the officer while he was giving +these explanations had waited in silence for him to finish speaking, but +at this point, evidently not liking the officer's remark, interrupted +him. + +"Gabions must be sent for," said he sternly. + +The officer appeared abashed, as though he understood that one might +think of how many men would be missing tomorrow but ought not to speak +of it. + +"Well, send number three company again," the officer replied hurriedly. + +"And you, are you one of the doctors?" + +"No, I've come on my own," answered Pierre, and he went down the hill +again, passing the militiamen. + +"Oh, those damned fellows!" muttered the officer who followed him, +holding his nose as he ran past the men at work. + +"There they are... bringing her, coming... There they are... They'll be +here in a minute..." voices were suddenly heard saying; and officers, +soldiers, and militiamen began running forward along the road. + +A church procession was coming up the hill from Borodino. First along +the dusty road came the infantry in ranks, bareheaded and with arms +reversed. From behind them came the sound of church singing. + +Soldiers and militiamen ran bareheaded past Pierre toward the +procession. + +"They are bringing her, our Protectress!... The Iberian Mother of God!" +someone cried. + +"The Smolensk Mother of God," another corrected him. + +The militiamen, both those who had been in the village and those who had +been at work on the battery, threw down their spades and ran to meet the +church procession. Following the battalion that marched along the dusty +road came priests in their vestments--one little old man in a hood with +attendants and singers. Behind them soldiers and officers bore a large, +dark-faced icon with an embossed metal cover. This was the icon that had +been brought from Smolensk and had since accompanied the army. Behind, +before, and on both sides, crowds of militiamen with bared heads walked, +ran, and bowed to the ground. + +At the summit of the hill they stopped with the icon; the men who had +been holding it up by the linen bands attached to it were relieved by +others, the chanters relit their censers, and service began. The hot +rays of the sun beat down vertically and a fresh soft wind played with +the hair of the bared heads and with the ribbons decorating the icon. +The singing did not sound loud under the open sky. An immense crowd of +bareheaded officers, soldiers, and militiamen surrounded the icon. +Behind the priest and a chanter stood the notabilities on a spot +reserved for them. A bald general with a St. George's Cross on his neck +stood just behind the priest's back, and without crossing himself (he +was evidently a German) patiently awaited the end of the service, which +he considered it necessary to hear to the end, probably to arouse the +patriotism of the Russian people. Another general stood in a martial +pose, crossing himself by shaking his hand in front of his chest while +looking about him. Standing among the crowd of peasants, Pierre +recognized several acquaintances among these notables, but did not look +at them--his whole attention was absorbed in watching the serious +expression on the faces of the crowd of soldiers and militiamen who were +all gazing eagerly at the icon. As soon as the tired chanters, who were +singing the service for the twentieth time that day, began lazily and +mechanically to sing: "Save from calamity Thy servants, O Mother of +God," and the priest and deacon chimed in: "For to Thee under God we all +flee as to an inviolable bulwark and protection," there again kindled in +all those faces the same expression of consciousness of the solemnity of +the impending moment that Pierre had seen on the faces at the foot of +the hill at Mozhaysk and momentarily on many and many faces he had met +that morning; and heads were bowed more frequently and hair tossed back, +and sighs and the sound men made as they crossed themselves were heard. + +The crowd round the icon suddenly parted and pressed against Pierre. +Someone, a very important personage judging by the haste with which way +was made for him, was approaching the icon. + +It was Kutuzov, who had been riding round the position and on his way +back to Tatarinova had stopped where the service was being held. Pierre +recognized him at once by his peculiar figure, which distinguished him +from everybody else. + +With a long overcoat on his exceedingly stout, round-shouldered body, +with uncovered white head and puffy face showing the white ball of the +eye he had lost, Kutuzov walked with plunging, swaying gait into the +crowd and stopped behind the priest. He crossed himself with an +accustomed movement, bent till he touched the ground with his hand, and +bowed his white head with a deep sigh. Behind Kutuzov was Bennigsen and +the suite. Despite the presence of the commander-in-chief, who attracted +the attention of all the superior officers, the militiamen and soldiers +continued their prayers without looking at him. + +When the service was over, Kutuzov stepped up to the icon, sank heavily +to his knees, bowed to the ground, and for a long time tried vainly to +rise, but could not do so on account of his weakness and weight. His +white head twitched with the effort. At last he rose, kissed the icon as +a child does with naively pouting lips, and again bowed till he touched +the ground with his hand. The other generals followed his example, then +the officers, and after them with excited faces, pressing on one +another, crowding, panting, and pushing, scrambled the soldiers and +militiamen. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +Staggering amid the crush, Pierre looked about him. + +"Count Peter Kirilovich! How did you get here?" said a voice. + +Pierre looked round. Boris Drubetskoy, brushing his knees with his hand +(he had probably soiled them when he, too, had knelt before the icon), +came up to him smiling. Boris was elegantly dressed, with a slightly +martial touch appropriate to a campaign. He wore a long coat and like +Kutuzov had a whip slung across his shoulder. + +Meanwhile Kutuzov had reached the village and seated himself in the +shade of the nearest house, on a bench which one Cossack had run to +fetch and another had hastily covered with a rug. An immense and +brilliant suite surrounded him. + +The icon was carried further, accompanied by the throng. Pierre stopped +some thirty paces from Kutuzov, talking to Boris. + +He explained his wish to be present at the battle and to see the +position. + +"This is what you must do," said Boris. "I will do the honors of the +camp to you. You will see everything best from where Count Bennigsen +will be. I am in attendance on him, you know; I'll mention it to him. +But if you want to ride round the position, come along with us. We are +just going to the left flank. Then when we get back, do spend the night +with me and we'll arrange a game of cards. Of course you know Dmitri +Sergeevich? Those are his quarters," and he pointed to the third house +in the village of Gorki. + +"But I should like to see the right flank. They say it's very strong," +said Pierre. "I should like to start from the Moskva River and ride +round the whole position." + +"Well, you can do that later, but the chief thing is the left flank." + +"Yes, yes. But where is Prince Bolkonski's regiment? Can you point it +out to me?" + +"Prince Andrew's? We shall pass it and I'll take you to him." + +"What about the left flank?" asked Pierre + +"To tell you the truth, between ourselves, God only knows what state our +left flank is in," said Boris confidentially lowering his voice. "It is +not at all what Count Bennigsen intended. He meant to fortify that knoll +quite differently, but..." Boris shrugged his shoulders, "his Serene +Highness would not have it, or someone persuaded him. You see..." but +Boris did not finish, for at that moment Kaysarov, Kutuzov's adjutant, +came up to Pierre. "Ah, Kaysarov!" said Boris, addressing him with an +unembarrassed smile, "I was just trying to explain our position to the +count. It is amazing how his Serene Highness could so foresee the +intentions of the French!" + +"You mean the left flank?" asked Kaysarov. + +"Yes, exactly; the left flank is now extremely strong." + +Though Kutuzov had dismissed all unnecessary men from the staff, Boris +had contrived to remain at headquarters after the changes. He had +established himself with Count Bennigsen, who, like all on whom Boris +had been in attendance, considered young Prince Drubetskoy an invaluable +man. + +In the higher command there were two sharply defined parties: Kutuzov's +party and that of Bennigsen, the chief of staff. Boris belonged to the +latter and no one else, while showing servile respect to Kutuzov, could +so create an impression that the old fellow was not much good and that +Bennigsen managed everything. Now the decisive moment of battle had come +when Kutuzov would be destroyed and the power pass to Bennigsen, or even +if Kutuzov won the battle it would be felt that everything was done by +Bennigsen. In any case many great rewards would have to be given for +tomorrow's action, and new men would come to the front. So Boris was +full of nervous vivacity all day. + +After Kaysarov, others whom Pierre knew came up to him, and he had not +time to reply to all the questions about Moscow that were showered upon +him, or to listen to all that was told him. The faces all expressed +animation and apprehension, but it seemed to Pierre that the cause of +the excitement shown in some of these faces lay chiefly in questions of +personal success; his mind, however, was occupied by the different +expression he saw on other faces--an expression that spoke not of +personal matters but of the universal questions of life and death. +Kutuzov noticed Pierre's figure and the group gathered round him. + +"Call him to me," said Kutuzov. + +An adjutant told Pierre of his Serene Highness' wish, and Pierre went +toward Kutuzov's bench. But a militiaman got there before him. It was +Dolokhov. + +"How did that fellow get here?" asked Pierre. + +"He's a creature that wriggles in anywhere!" was the answer. "He has +been degraded, you know. Now he wants to bob up again. He's been +proposing some scheme or other and has crawled into the enemy's picket +line at night.... He's a brave fellow." + +Pierre took off his hat and bowed respectfully to Kutuzov. + +"I concluded that if I reported to your Serene Highness you might send +me away or say that you knew what I was reporting, but then I shouldn't +lose anything..." Dolokhov was saying. + +"Yes, yes." + +"But if I were right, I should be rendering a service to my Fatherland +for which I am ready to die." + +"Yes, yes." + +"And should your Serene Highness require a man who will not spare his +skin, please think of me.... Perhaps I may prove useful to your Serene +Highness." + +"Yes... Yes..." Kutuzov repeated, his laughing eye narrowing more and +more as he looked at Pierre. + +Just then Boris, with his courtierlike adroitness, stepped up to +Pierre's side near Kutuzov and in a most natural manner, without raising +his voice, said to Pierre, as though continuing an interrupted +conversation: + +"The militia have put on clean white shirts to be ready to die. What +heroism, Count!" + +Boris evidently said this to Pierre in order to be overheard by his +Serene Highness. He knew Kutuzov's attention would be caught by those +words, and so it was. + +"What are you saying about the militia?" he asked Boris. + +"Preparing for tomorrow, your Serene Highness--for death--they have put +on clean shirts." + +"Ah... a wonderful, a matchless people!" said Kutuzov; and he closed his +eyes and swayed his head. "A matchless people!" he repeated with a sigh. + +"So you want to smell gunpowder?" he said to Pierre. "Yes, it's a +pleasant smell. I have the honor to be one of your wife's adorers. Is +she well? My quarters are at your service." + +And as often happens with old people, Kutuzov began looking about +absent-mindedly as if forgetting all he wanted to say or do. + +Then, evidently remembering what he wanted, he beckoned to Andrew +Kaysarov, his adjutant's brother. + +"Those verses... those verses of Marin's... how do they go, eh? Those he +wrote about Gerakov: 'Lectures for the corps inditing'... Recite them, +recite them!" said he, evidently preparing to laugh. + +Kaysarov recited.... Kutuzov smilingly nodded his head to the rhythm of +the verses. + +When Pierre had left Kutuzov, Dolokhov came up to him and took his hand. + +"I am very glad to meet you here, Count," he said aloud, regardless of +the presence of strangers and in a particularly resolute and solemn +tone. "On the eve of a day when God alone knows who of us is fated to +survive, I am glad of this opportunity to tell you that I regret the +misunderstandings that occurred between us and should wish you not to +have any ill feeling for me. I beg you to forgive me." + +Pierre looked at Dolokhov with a smile, not knowing what to say to him. +With tears in his eyes Dolokhov embraced Pierre and kissed him. + +Boris said a few words to his general, and Count Bennigsen turned to +Pierre and proposed that he should ride with him along the line. + +"It will interest you," said he. + +"Yes, very much," replied Pierre. + +Half an hour later Kutuzov left for Tatarinova, and Bennigsen and his +suite, with Pierre among them, set out on their ride along the line. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +From Gorki, Bennigsen descended the highroad to the bridge which, when +they had looked at it from the hill, the officer had pointed out as +being the center of our position and where rows of fragrant new-mown hay +lay by the riverside. They rode across that bridge into the village of +Borodino and thence turned to the left, passing an enormous number of +troops and guns, and came to a high knoll where militiamen were digging. +This was the redoubt, as yet unnamed, which afterwards became known as +the Raevski Redoubt, or the Knoll Battery, but Pierre paid no special +attention to it. He did not know that it would become more memorable to +him than any other spot on the plain of Borodino. + +They then crossed the hollow to Semenovsk, where the soldiers were +dragging away the last logs from the huts and barns. Then they rode +downhill and uphill, across a ryefield trodden and beaten down as if by +hail, following a track freshly made by the artillery over the furrows +of the plowed land, and reached some fleches * which were still being +dug. + + +* A kind of entrenchment. + +At the fleches Bennigsen stopped and began looking at the Shevardino +Redoubt opposite, which had been ours the day before and where several +horsemen could be descried. The officers said that either Napoleon or +Murat was there, and they all gazed eagerly at this little group of +horsemen. Pierre also looked at them, trying to guess which of the +scarcely discernible figures was Napoleon. At last those mounted men +rode away from the mound and disappeared. + +Bennigsen spoke to a general who approached him, and began explaining +the whole position of our troops. Pierre listened to him, straining each +faculty to understand the essential points of the impending battle, but +was mortified to feel that his mental capacity was inadequate for the +task. He could make nothing of it. Bennigsen stopped speaking and, +noticing that Pierre was listening, suddenly said to him: + +"I don't think this interests you?" + +"On the contrary it's very interesting!" replied Pierre not quite +truthfully. + +From the fleches they rode still farther to the left, along a road +winding through a thick, low-growing birch wood. In the middle of the +wood a brown hare with white feet sprang out and, scared by the tramp of +the many horses, grew so confused that it leaped along the road in front +of them for some time, arousing general attention and laughter, and only +when several voices shouted at it did it dart to one side and disappear +in the thicket. After going through the wood for about a mile and a half +they came out on a glade where troops of Tuchkov's corps were stationed +to defend the left flank. + +Here, at the extreme left flank, Bennigsen talked a great deal and with +much heat, and, as it seemed to Pierre, gave orders of great military +importance. In front of Tuchkov's troops was some high ground not +occupied by troops. Bennigsen loudly criticized this mistake, saying +that it was madness to leave a height which commanded the country around +unoccupied and to place troops below it. Some of the generals expressed +the same opinion. One in particular declared with martial heat that they +were put there to be slaughtered. Bennigsen on his own authority ordered +the troops to occupy the high ground. This disposition on the left flank +increased Pierre's doubt of his own capacity to understand military +matters. Listening to Bennigsen and the generals criticizing the +position of the troops behind the hill, he quite understood them and +shared their opinion, but for that very reason he could not understand +how the man who put them there behind the hill could have made so gross +and palpable a blunder. + +Pierre did not know that these troops were not, as Bennigsen supposed, +put there to defend the position, but were in a concealed position as an +ambush, that they should not be seen and might be able to strike an +approaching enemy unexpectedly. Bennigsen did not know this and moved +the troops forward according to his own ideas without mentioning the +matter to the commander-in-chief. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +On that bright evening of August 25, Prince Andrew lay leaning on his +elbow in a broken-down shed in the village of Knyazkovo at the further +end of his regiment's encampment. Through a gap in the broken wall he +could see, beside the wooden fence, a row of thirty year-old birches +with their lower branches lopped off, a field on which shocks of oats +were standing, and some bushes near which rose the smoke of campfires-- +the soldiers' kitchens. + +Narrow and burdensome and useless to anyone as his life now seemed to +him, Prince Andrew on the eve of battle felt agitated and irritable as +he had done seven years before at Austerlitz. + +He had received and given the orders for next day's battle and had +nothing more to do. But his thoughts--the simplest, clearest, and +therefore most terrible thoughts--would give him no peace. He knew that +tomorrow's battle would be the most terrible of all he had taken part +in, and for the first time in his life the possibility of death +presented itself to him--not in relation to any worldly matter or with +reference to its effect on others, but simply in relation to himself, to +his own soul--vividly, plainly, terribly, and almost as a certainty. And +from the height of this perception all that had previously tormented and +preoccupied him suddenly became illumined by a cold white light without +shadows, without perspective, without distinction of outline. All life +appeared to him like magic-lantern pictures at which he had long been +gazing by artificial light through a glass. Now he suddenly saw those +badly daubed pictures in clear daylight and without a glass. "Yes, yes! +There they are, those false images that agitated, enraptured, and +tormented me," said he to himself, passing in review the principal +pictures of the magic lantern of life and regarding them now in the cold +white daylight of his clear perception of death. "There they are, those +rudely painted figures that once seemed splendid and mysterious. Glory, +the good of society, love of a woman, the Fatherland itself--how +important these pictures appeared to me, with what profound meaning they +seemed to be filled! And it is all so simple, pale, and crude in the +cold white light of this morning which I feel is dawning for me." The +three great sorrows of his life held his attention in particular: his +love for a woman, his father's death, and the French invasion which had +overrun half Russia. "Love... that little girl who seemed to me brimming +over with mystic forces! Yes, indeed, I loved her. I made romantic plans +of love and happiness with her! Oh, what a boy I was!" he said aloud +bitterly. "Ah me! I believed in some ideal love which was to keep her +faithful to me for the whole year of my absence! Like the gentle dove in +the fable she was to pine apart from me.... But it was much simpler +really.... It was all very simple and horrible." + +"When my father built Bald Hills he thought the place was his: his land, +his air, his peasants. But Napoleon came and swept him aside, +unconscious of his existence, as he might brush a chip from his path, +and his Bald Hills and his whole life fell to pieces. Princess Mary says +it is a trial sent from above. What is the trial for, when he is not +here and will never return? He is not here! For whom then is the trial +intended? The Fatherland, the destruction of Moscow! And tomorrow I +shall be killed, perhaps not even by a Frenchman but by one of our own +men, by a soldier discharging a musket close to my ear as one of them +did yesterday, and the French will come and take me by head and heels +and fling me into a hole that I may not stink under their noses, and new +conditions of life will arise, which will seem quite ordinary to others +and about which I shall know nothing. I shall not exist..." + +He looked at the row of birches shining in the sunshine, with their +motionless green and yellow foliage and white bark. "To die... to be +killed tomorrow... That I should not exist... That all this should still +be, but no me...." + +And the birches with their light and shade, the curly clouds, the smoke +of the campfires, and all that was around him changed and seemed +terrible and menacing. A cold shiver ran down his spine. He rose +quickly, went out of the shed, and began to walk about. + +After he had returned, voices were heard outside the shed. "Who's that?" +he cried. + +The red-nosed Captain Timokhin, formerly Dolokhov's squadron commander, +but now from lack of officers a battalion commander, shyly entered the +shed followed by an adjutant and the regimental paymaster. + +Prince Andrew rose hastily, listened to the business they had come +about, gave them some further instructions, and was about to dismiss +them when he heard a familiar, lisping, voice behind the shed. + +"Devil take it!" said the voice of a man stumbling over something. + +Prince Andrew looked out of the shed and saw Pierre, who had tripped +over a pole on the ground and had nearly fallen, coming his way. It was +unpleasant to Prince Andrew to meet people of his own set in general, +and Pierre especially, for he reminded him of all the painful moments of +his last visit to Moscow. + +"You? What a surprise!" said he. "What brings you here? This is +unexpected!" + +As he said this his eyes and face expressed more than coldness--they +expressed hostility, which Pierre noticed at once. He had approached the +shed full of animation, but on seeing Prince Andrew's face he felt +constrained and ill at ease. + +"I have come... simply... you know... come... it interests me," said +Pierre, who had so often that day senselessly repeated that word +"interesting." "I wish to see the battle." + +"Oh yes, and what do the masonic brothers say about war? How would they +stop it?" said Prince Andrew sarcastically. "Well, and how's Moscow? And +my people? Have they reached Moscow at last?" he asked seriously. + +"Yes, they have. Julie Drubetskaya told me so. I went to see them, but +missed them. They have gone to your estate near Moscow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +The officers were about to take leave, but Prince Andrew, apparently +reluctant to be left alone with his friend, asked them to stay and have +tea. Seats were brought in and so was the tea. The officers gazed with +surprise at Pierre's huge stout figure and listened to his talk of +Moscow and the position of our army, round which he had ridden. Prince +Andrew remained silent, and his expression was so forbidding that Pierre +addressed his remarks chiefly to the good-natured battalion commander. + +"So you understand the whole position of our troops?" Prince Andrew +interrupted him. + +"Yes--that is, how do you mean?" said Pierre. "Not being a military man +I can't say I have understood it fully, but I understand the general +position." + +"Well, then, you know more than anyone else, be it who it may," said +Prince Andrew. + +"Oh!" said Pierre, looking over his spectacles in perplexity at Prince +Andrew. "Well, and what do you think of Kutuzov's appointment?" he +asked. + +"I was very glad of his appointment, that's all I know," replied Prince +Andrew. + +"And tell me your opinion of Barclay de Tolly. In Moscow they are saying +heaven knows what about him.... What do you think of him?" + +"Ask them," replied Prince Andrew, indicating the officers. + +Pierre looked at Timokhin with the condescendingly interrogative smile +with which everybody involuntarily addressed that officer. + +"We see light again, since his Serenity has been appointed, your +excellency," said Timokhin timidly, and continually turning to glance at +his colonel. + +"Why so?" asked Pierre. + +"Well, to mention only firewood and fodder, let me inform you. Why, when +we were retreating from Sventsyani we dare not touch a stick or a wisp +of hay or anything. You see, we were going away, so he would get it all; +wasn't it so, your excellency?" and again Timokhin turned to the prince. +"But we daren't. In our regiment two officers were court-martialed for +that kind of thing. But when his Serenity took command everything became +straight forward. Now we see light..." + +"Then why was it forbidden?" + +Timokhin looked about in confusion, not knowing what or how to answer +such a question. Pierre put the same question to Prince Andrew. + +"Why, so as not to lay waste the country we were abandoning to the +enemy," said Prince Andrew with venomous irony. "It is very sound: one +can't permit the land to be pillaged and accustom the troops to +marauding. At Smolensk too he judged correctly that the French might +outflank us, as they had larger forces. But he could not understand +this," cried Prince Andrew in a shrill voice that seemed to escape him +involuntarily: "he could not understand that there, for the first time, +we were fighting for Russian soil, and that there was a spirit in the +men such as I had never seen before, that we had held the French for two +days, and that that success had increased our strength tenfold. He +ordered us to retreat, and all our efforts and losses went for nothing. +He had no thought of betraying us, he tried to do the best he could, he +thought out everything, and that is why he is unsuitable. He is +unsuitable now, just because he plans out everything very thoroughly and +accurately as every German has to. How can I explain?... Well, say your +father has a German valet, and he is a splendid valet and satisfies your +father's requirements better than you could, then it's all right to let +him serve. But if your father is mortally sick you'll send the valet +away and attend to your father with your own unpracticed, awkward hands, +and will soothe him better than a skilled man who is a stranger could. +So it has been with Barclay. While Russia was well, a foreigner could +serve her and be a splendid minister; but as soon as she is in danger +she needs one of her own kin. But in your club they have been making him +out a traitor! They slander him as a traitor, and the only result will +be that afterwards, ashamed of their false accusations, they will make +him out a hero or a genius instead of a traitor, and that will be still +more unjust. He is an honest and very punctilious German." + +"And they say he's a skillful commander," rejoined Pierre. + +"I don't understand what is meant by 'a skillful commander,'" replied +Prince Andrew ironically. + +"A skillful commander?" replied Pierre. "Why, one who foresees all +contingencies... and foresees the adversary's intentions." + +"But that's impossible," said Prince Andrew as if it were a matter +settled long ago. + +Pierre looked at him in surprise. + +"And yet they say that war is like a game of chess?" he remarked. + +"Yes," replied Prince Andrew, "but with this little difference, that in +chess you may think over each move as long as you please and are not +limited for time, and with this difference too, that a knight is always +stronger than a pawn, and two pawns are always stronger than one, while +in war a battalion is sometimes stronger than a division and sometimes +weaker than a company. The relative strength of bodies of troops can +never be known to anyone. Believe me," he went on, "if things depended +on arrangements made by the staff, I should be there making +arrangements, but instead of that I have the honor to serve here in the +regiment with these gentlemen, and I consider that on us tomorrow's +battle will depend and not on those others.... Success never depends, +and never will depend, on position, or equipment, or even on numbers, +and least of all on position." + +"But on what then?" + +"On the feeling that is in me and in him," he pointed to Timokhin, "and +in each soldier." + +Prince Andrew glanced at Timokhin, who looked at his commander in alarm +and bewilderment. In contrast to his former reticent taciturnity Prince +Andrew now seemed excited. He could apparently not refrain from +expressing the thoughts that had suddenly occurred to him. + +"A battle is won by those who firmly resolve to win it! Why did we lose +the battle at Austerlitz? The French losses were almost equal to ours, +but very early we said to ourselves that we were losing the battle, and +we did lose it. And we said so because we had nothing to fight for +there, we wanted to get away from the battlefield as soon as we could. +'We've lost, so let us run,' and we ran. If we had not said that till +the evening, heaven knows what might not have happened. But tomorrow we +shan't say it! You talk about our position, the left flank weak and the +right flank too extended," he went on. "That's all nonsense, there's +nothing of the kind. But what awaits us tomorrow? A hundred million most +diverse chances which will be decided on the instant by the fact that +our men or theirs run or do not run, and that this man or that man is +killed, but all that is being done at present is only play. The fact is +that those men with whom you have ridden round the position not only do +not help matters, but hinder. They are only concerned with their own +petty interests." + +"At such a moment?" said Pierre reproachfully. + +"At such a moment!" Prince Andrew repeated. "To them it is only a moment +affording opportunities to undermine a rival and obtain an extra cross +or ribbon. For me tomorrow means this: a Russian army of a hundred +thousand and a French army of a hundred thousand have met to fight, and +the thing is that these two hundred thousand men will fight and the side +that fights more fiercely and spares itself least will win. And if you +like I will tell you that whatever happens and whatever muddles those at +the top may make, we shall win tomorrow's battle. Tomorrow, happen what +may, we shall win!" + +"There now, your excellency! That's the truth, the real truth," said +Timokhin. "Who would spare himself now? The soldiers in my battalion, +believe me, wouldn't drink their vodka! 'It's not the day for that!' +they say." + +All were silent. The officers rose. Prince Andrew went out of the shed +with them, giving final orders to the adjutant. After they had gone +Pierre approached Prince Andrew and was about to start a conversation +when they heard the clatter of three horses' hoofs on the road not far +from the shed, and looking in that direction Prince Andrew recognized +Wolzogen and Clausewitz accompanied by a Cossack. They rode close by +continuing to converse, and Prince Andrew involuntarily heard these +words: + +"Der Krieg muss in Raum verlegt werden. Der Ansicht kann ich nicht genug +Preis geben," * said one of them. + + +* "The war must be extended widely. I cannot sufficiently commend that +view." + +"Oh, ja," said the other, "der Zweck ist nur den Feind zu schwächen, so +kann man gewiss nicht den Verlust der Privat-Personen in Achtung +nehmen." * + + +* "Oh, yes, the only aim is to weaken the enemy, so of course one cannot +take into account the loss of private individuals." + +"Oh, no," agreed the other. + +"Extend widely!" said Prince Andrew with an angry snort, when they had +ridden past. "In that 'extend' were my father, son, and sister, at Bald +Hills. That's all the same to him! That's what I was saying to you-- +those German gentlemen won't win the battle tomorrow but will only make +all the mess they can, because they have nothing in their German heads +but theories not worth an empty eggshell and haven't in their hearts the +one thing needed tomorrow--that which Timokhin has. They have yielded up +all Europe to him, and have now come to teach us. Fine teachers!" and +again his voice grew shrill. + +"So you think we shall win tomorrow's battle?" asked Pierre. + +"Yes, yes," answered Prince Andrew absently. "One thing I would do if I +had the power," he began again, "I would not take prisoners. Why take +prisoners? It's chivalry! The French have destroyed my home and are on +their way to destroy Moscow, they have outraged and are outraging me +every moment. They are my enemies. In my opinion they are all criminals. +And so thinks Timokhin and the whole army. They should be executed! +Since they are my foes they cannot be my friends, whatever may have been +said at Tilsit." + +"Yes, yes," muttered Pierre, looking with shining eyes at Prince Andrew. +"I quite agree with you!" + +The question that had perturbed Pierre on the Mozhaysk hill and all that +day now seemed to him quite clear and completely solved. He now +understood the whole meaning and importance of this war and of the +impending battle. All he had seen that day, all the significant and +stern expressions on the faces he had seen in passing, were lit up for +him by a new light. He understood that latent heat (as they say in +physics) of patriotism which was present in all these men he had seen, +and this explained to him why they all prepared for death calmly, and as +it were lightheartedly. + +"Not take prisoners," Prince Andrew continued: "That by itself would +quite change the whole war and make it less cruel. As it is we have +played at war--that's what's vile! We play at magnanimity and all that +stuff. Such magnanimity and sensibility are like the magnanimity and +sensibility of a lady who faints when she sees a calf being killed: she +is so kindhearted that she can't look at blood, but enjoys eating the +calf served up with sauce. They talk to us of the rules of war, of +chivalry, of flags of truce, of mercy to the unfortunate and so on. It's +all rubbish! I saw chivalry and flags of truce in 1805; they humbugged +us and we humbugged them. They plunder other people's houses, issue +false paper money, and worst of all they kill my children and my father, +and then talk of rules of war and magnanimity to foes! Take no +prisoners, but kill and be killed! He who has come to this as I have +through the same sufferings..." + +Prince Andrew, who had thought it was all the same to him whether or not +Moscow was taken as Smolensk had been, was suddenly checked in his +speech by an unexpected cramp in his throat. He paced up and down a few +times in silence, but his eyes glittered feverishly and his lips +quivered as he began speaking. + +"If there was none of this magnanimity in war, we should go to war only +when it was worth while going to certain death, as now. Then there would +not be war because Paul Ivanovich had offended Michael Ivanovich. And +when there was a war, like this one, it would be war! And then the +determination of the troops would be quite different. Then all these +Westphalians and Hessians whom Napoleon is leading would not follow him +into Russia, and we should not go to fight in Austria and Prussia +without knowing why. War is not courtesy but the most horrible thing in +life; and we ought to understand that and not play at war. We ought to +accept this terrible necessity sternly and seriously. It all lies in +that: get rid of falsehood and let war be war and not a game. As it is +now, war is the favorite pastime of the idle and frivolous. The military +calling is the most highly honored. + +"But what is war? What is needed for success in warfare? What are the +habits of the military? The aim of war is murder; the methods of war are +spying, treachery, and their encouragement, the ruin of a country's +inhabitants, robbing them or stealing to provision the army, and fraud +and falsehood termed military craft. The habits of the military class +are the absence of freedom, that is, discipline, idleness, ignorance, +cruelty, debauchery, and drunkenness. And in spite of all this it is the +highest class, respected by everyone. All the kings, except the Chinese, +wear military uniforms, and he who kills most people receives the +highest rewards. + +"They meet, as we shall meet tomorrow, to murder one another; they kill +and maim tens of thousands, and then have thanksgiving services for +having killed so many people (they even exaggerate the number), and they +announce a victory, supposing that the more people they have killed the +greater their achievement. How does God above look at them and hear +them?" exclaimed Prince Andrew in a shrill, piercing voice. "Ah, my +friend, it has of late become hard for me to live. I see that I have +begun to understand too much. And it doesn't do for man to taste of the +tree of knowledge of good and evil.... Ah, well, it's not for long!" he +added. + +"However, you're sleepy, and it's time for me to sleep. Go back to +Gorki!" said Prince Andrew suddenly. + +"Oh no!" Pierre replied, looking at Prince Andrew with frightened, +compassionate eyes. + +"Go, go! Before a battle one must have one's sleep out," repeated Prince +Andrew. + +He came quickly up to Pierre and embraced and kissed him. "Good-bye, be +off!" he shouted. "Whether we meet again or not..." and turning away +hurriedly he entered the shed. + +It was already dark, and Pierre could not make out whether the +expression of Prince Andrew's face was angry or tender. + +For some time he stood in silence considering whether he should follow +him or go away. "No, he does not want it!" Pierre concluded. "And I know +that this is our last meeting!" He sighed deeply and rode back to Gorki. + +On re-entering the shed Prince Andrew lay down on a rug, but he could +not sleep. + +He closed his eyes. One picture succeeded another in his imagination. On +one of them he dwelt long and joyfully. He vividly recalled an evening +in Petersburg. Natasha with animated and excited face was telling him +how she had gone to look for mushrooms the previous summer and had lost +her way in the big forest. She incoherently described the depths of the +forest, her feelings, and a talk with a beekeeper she met, and +constantly interrupted her story to say: "No, I can't! I'm not telling +it right; no, you don't understand," though he encouraged her by saying +that he did understand, and he really had understood all she wanted to +say. But Natasha was not satisfied with her own words: she felt that +they did not convey the passionately poetic feeling she had experienced +that day and wished to convey. "He was such a delightful old man, and it +was so dark in the forest... and he had such kind... No, I can't +describe it," she had said, flushed and excited. Prince Andrew smiled +now the same happy smile as then when he had looked into her eyes. "I +understood her," he thought. "I not only understood her, but it was just +that inner, spiritual force, that sincerity, that frankness of soul-- +that very soul of hers which seemed to be fettered by her body--it was +that soul I loved in her... loved so strongly and happily..." and +suddenly he remembered how his love had ended. "He did not need anything +of that kind. He neither saw nor understood anything of the sort. He +only saw in her a pretty and fresh young girl, with whom he did not +deign to unite his fate. And I?... and he is still alive and gay!" + +Prince Andrew jumped up as if someone had burned him, and again began +pacing up and down in front of the shed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +On August 25, the eve of the battle of Borodino, M. de Beausset, prefect +of the French Emperor's palace, arrived at Napoleon's quarters at +Valuevo with Colonel Fabvier, the former from Paris and the latter from +Madrid. + +Donning his court uniform, M. de Beausset ordered a box he had brought +for the Emperor to be carried before him and entered the first +compartment of Napoleon's tent, where he began opening the box while +conversing with Napoleon's aides-de-camp who surrounded him. + +Fabvier, not entering the tent, remained at the entrance talking to some +generals of his acquaintance. + +The Emperor Napoleon had not yet left his bedroom and was finishing his +toilet. Slightly snorting and grunting, he presented now his back and +now his plump hairy chest to the brush with which his valet was rubbing +him down. Another valet, with his finger over the mouth of a bottle, was +sprinkling Eau de Cologne on the Emperor's pampered body with an +expression which seemed to say that he alone knew where and how much Eau +de Cologne should be sprinkled. Napoleon's short hair was wet and matted +on the forehead, but his face, though puffy and yellow, expressed +physical satisfaction. "Go on, harder, go on!" he muttered to the valet +who was rubbing him, slightly twitching and grunting. An aide-de-camp, +who had entered the bedroom to report to the Emperor the number of +prisoners taken in yesterday's action, was standing by the door after +delivering his message, awaiting permission to withdraw. Napoleon, +frowning, looked at him from under his brows. + +"No prisoners!" said he, repeating the aide-de-camp's words. "They are +forcing us to exterminate them. So much the worse for the Russian +army.... Go on... harder, harder!" he muttered, hunching his back and +presenting his fat shoulders. + +"All right. Let Monsieur de Beausset enter, and Fabvier too," he said, +nodding to the aide-de-camp. + +"Yes, sire," and the aide-de-camp disappeared through the door of the +tent. + +Two valets rapidly dressed His Majesty, and wearing the blue uniform of +the Guards he went with firm quick steps to the reception room. + +De Beausset's hands meanwhile were busily engaged arranging the present +he had brought from the Empress, on two chairs directly in front of the +entrance. But Napoleon had dressed and come out with such unexpected +rapidity that he had not time to finish arranging the surprise. + +Napoleon noticed at once what they were about and guessed that they were +not ready. He did not wish to deprive them of the pleasure of giving him +a surprise, so he pretended not to see de Beausset and called Fabvier to +him, listening silently and with a stern frown to what Fabvier told him +of the heroism and devotion of his troops fighting at Salamanca, at the +other end of Europe, with but one thought--to be worthy of their +Emperor--and but one fear--to fail to please him. The result of that +battle had been deplorable. Napoleon made ironic remarks during +Fabvier's account, as if he had not expected that matters could go +otherwise in his absence. + +"I must make up for that in Moscow," said Napoleon. "I'll see you +later," he added, and summoned de Beausset, who by that time had +prepared the surprise, having placed something on the chairs and covered +it with a cloth. + +De Beausset bowed low, with that courtly French bow which only the old +retainers of the Bourbons knew how to make, and approached him, +presenting an envelope. + +Napoleon turned to him gaily and pulled his ear. + +"You have hurried here. I am very glad. Well, what is Paris saying?" he +asked, suddenly changing his former stern expression for a most cordial +tone. + +"Sire, all Paris regrets your absence," replied de Beausset as was +proper. + +But though Napoleon knew that de Beausset had to say something of this +kind, and though in his lucid moments he knew it was untrue, he was +pleased to hear it from him. Again he honored him by touching his ear. + +"I am very sorry to have made you travel so far," said he. + +"Sire, I expected nothing less than to find you at the gates of Moscow," +replied de Beausset. + +Napoleon smiled and, lifting his head absent-mindedly, glanced to the +right. An aide-de-camp approached with gliding steps and offered him a +gold snuffbox, which he took. + +"Yes, it has happened luckily for you," he said, raising the open +snuffbox to his nose. "You are fond of travel, and in three days you +will see Moscow. You surely did not expect to see that Asiatic capital. +You will have a pleasant journey." + +De Beausset bowed gratefully at this regard for his taste for travel (of +which he had not till then been aware). + +"Ha, what's this?" asked Napoleon, noticing that all the courtiers were +looking at something concealed under a cloth. + +With courtly adroitness de Beausset half turned and without turning his +back to the Emperor retired two steps, twitching off the cloth at the +same time, and said: + +"A present to Your Majesty from the Empress." + +It was a portrait, painted in bright colors by Gerard, of the son borne +to Napoleon by the daughter of the Emperor of Austria, the boy whom for +some reason everyone called "The King of Rome." + +A very pretty curly-headed boy with a look of the Christ in the Sistine +Madonna was depicted playing at stick and ball. The ball represented the +terrestrial globe and the stick in his other hand a scepter. + +Though it was not clear what the artist meant to express by depicting +the so-called King of Rome spiking the earth with a stick, the allegory +apparently seemed to Napoleon, as it had done to all who had seen it in +Paris, quite clear and very pleasing. + +"The King of Rome!" he said, pointing to the portrait with a graceful +gesture. "Admirable!" + +With the natural capacity of an Italian for changing the expression of +his face at will, he drew nearer to the portrait and assumed a look of +pensive tenderness. He felt that what he now said and did would be +historical, and it seemed to him that it would now be best for him-- +whose grandeur enabled his son to play stick and ball with the +terrestrial globe--to show, in contrast to that grandeur, the simplest +paternal tenderness. His eyes grew dim, he moved forward, glanced round +at a chair (which seemed to place itself under him), and sat down on it +before the portrait. At a single gesture from him everyone went out on +tiptoe, leaving the great man to himself and his emotion. + +Having sat still for a while he touched--himself not knowing why--the +thick spot of paint representing the highest light in the portrait, +rose, and recalled de Beausset and the officer on duty. He ordered the +portrait to be carried outside his tent, that the Old Guard, stationed +round it, might not be deprived of the pleasure of seeing the King of +Rome, the son and heir of their adored monarch. + +And while he was doing M. de Beausset the honor of breakfasting with +him, they heard, as Napoleon had anticipated, the rapturous cries of the +officers and men of the Old Guard who had run up to see the portrait. + +"Vive l'Empereur! Vive le roi de Rome! Vive l'Empereur!" came those +ecstatic cries. + +After breakfast Napoleon in de Beausset's presence dictated his order of +the day to the army. + +"Short and energetic!" he remarked when he had read over the +proclamation which he had dictated straight off without corrections. It +ran: + +Soldiers! This is the battle you have so longed for. Victory depends on +you. It is essential for us; it will give us all we need: comfortable +quarters and a speedy return to our country. Behave as you did at +Austerlitz, Friedland, Vitebsk, and Smolensk. Let our remotest posterity +recall your achievements this day with pride. Let it be said of each of +you: "He was in the great battle before Moscow!" + +"Before Moscow!" repeated Napoleon, and inviting M. de Beausset, who was +so fond of travel, to accompany him on his ride, he went out of the tent +to where the horses stood saddled. + +"Your Majesty is too kind!" replied de Beausset to the invitation to +accompany the Emperor; he wanted to sleep, did not know how to ride and +was afraid of doing so. + +But Napoleon nodded to the traveler, and de Beausset had to mount. When +Napoleon came out of the tent the shouting of the Guards before his +son's portrait grew still louder. Napoleon frowned. + +"Take him away!" he said, pointing with a gracefully majestic gesture to +the portrait. "It is too soon for him to see a field of battle." + +De Beausset closed his eyes, bowed his head, and sighed deeply, to +indicate how profoundly he valued and comprehended the Emperor's words. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +On the twenty-fifth of August, so his historians tell us, Napoleon spent +the whole day on horseback inspecting the locality, considering plans +submitted to him by his marshals, and personally giving commands to his +generals. + +The original line of the Russian forces along the river Kolocha had been +dislocated by the capture of the Shevardino Redoubt on the twenty- +fourth, and part of the line--the left flank--had been drawn back. That +part of the line was not entrenched and in front of it the ground was +more open and level than elsewhere. It was evident to anyone, military +or not, that it was here the French should attack. It would seem that +not much consideration was needed to reach this conclusion, nor any +particular care or trouble on the part of the Emperor and his marshals, +nor was there any need of that special and supreme quality called genius +that people are so apt to ascribe to Napoleon; yet the historians who +described the event later and the men who then surrounded Napoleon, and +he himself, thought otherwise. + +Napoleon rode over the plain and surveyed the locality with a profound +air and in silence, nodded with approval or shook his head dubiously, +and without communicating to the generals around him the profound course +of ideas which guided his decisions merely gave them his final +conclusions in the form of commands. Having listened to a suggestion +from Davout, who was now called Prince d'Eckmuhl, to turn the Russian +left wing, Napoleon said it should not be done, without explaining why +not. To a proposal made by General Campan (who was to attack the +fleches) to lead his division through the woods, Napoleon agreed, though +the so-called Duke of Elchingen (Ney) ventured to remark that a movement +through the woods was dangerous and might disorder the division. + +Having inspected the country opposite the Shevardino Redoubt, Napoleon +pondered a little in silence and then indicated the spots where two +batteries should be set up by the morrow to act against the Russian +entrenchments, and the places where, in line with them, the field +artillery should be placed. + +After giving these and other commands he returned to his tent, and the +dispositions for the battle were written down from his dictation. + +These dispositions, of which the French historians write with enthusiasm +and other historians with profound respect, were as follows: + +At dawn the two new batteries established during the night on the plain +occupied by the Prince d'Eckmuhl will open fire on the opposing +batteries of the enemy. + +At the same time the commander of the artillery of the 1st Corps, +General Pernetti, with thirty cannon of Campan's division and all the +howitzers of Dessaix's and Friant's divisions, will move forward, open +fire, and overwhelm with shellfire the enemy's battery, against which +will operate: + + +24 guns of the artillery of the Guards 30 guns of Campan's division + +and 8 guns of Friant's and Dessaix's divisions -- + +in all 62 guns. + +The commander of the artillery of the 3rd Corps, General Fouche, will +place the howitzers of the 3rd and 8th Corps, sixteen in all, on the +flanks of the battery that is to bombard the entrenchment on the left, +which will have forty guns in all directed against it. + +General Sorbier must be ready at the first order to advance with all the +howitzers of the Guard's artillery against either one or other of the +entrenchments. + +During the cannonade Prince Poniatowski is to advance through the wood +on the village and turn the enemy's position. + +General Campan will move through the wood to seize the first +fortification. + +After the advance has begun in this manner, orders will be given in +accordance with the enemy's movements. + +The cannonade on the left flank will begin as soon as the guns of the +right wing are heard. The sharpshooters of Morand's division and of the +vice-King's division will open a heavy fire on seeing the attack +commence on the right wing. + +The vice-King will occupy the village and cross by its three bridges, +advancing to the same heights as Morand's and Gibrard's divisions, which +under his leadership will be directed against the redoubt and come into +line with the rest of the forces. + +All this must be done in good order (le tout se fera avec ordre et +methode) as far as possible retaining troops in reserve. + +The Imperial Camp near Mozhaysk, + +September, 6, 1812. + +These dispositions, which are very obscure and confused if one allows +oneself to regard the arrangements without religious awe of his genius, +related to Napoleon's orders to deal with four points--four different +orders. Not one of these was, or could be, carried out. + +In the disposition it is said first that the batteries placed on the +spot chosen by Napoleon, with the guns of Pernetti and Fouche; which +were to come in line with them, 102 guns in all, were to open fire and +shower shells on the Russian fleches and redoubts. This could not be +done, as from the spots selected by Napoleon the projectiles did not +carry to the Russian works, and those 102 guns shot into the air until +the nearest commander, contrary to Napoleon's instructions, moved them +forward. + +The second order was that Poniatowski, moving to the village through the +wood, should turn the Russian left flank. This could not be done and was +not done, because Poniatowski, advancing on the village through the +wood, met Tuchkov there barring his way, and could not and did not turn +the Russian position. + +The third order was: General Campan will move through the wood to seize +the first fortification. General Campan's division did not seize the +first fortification but was driven back, for on emerging from the wood +it had to reform under grapeshot, of which Napoleon was unaware. + +The fourth order was: The vice-King will occupy the village (Borodino) +and cross by its three bridges, advancing to the same heights as +Morand's and Gibrard's divisions (for whose movements no directions are +given), which under his leadership will be directed against the redoubt +and come into line with the rest of the forces. + +As far as one can make out, not so much from this unintelligible +sentence as from the attempts the vice-King made to execute the orders +given him, he was to advance from the left through Borodino to the +redoubt while the divisions of Morand and Gerard were to advance +simultaneously from the front. + +All this, like the other parts of the disposition, was not and could not +be executed. After passing through Borodino the vice-King was driven +back to the Kolocha and could get no farther; while the divisions of +Morand and Gerard did not take the redoubt but were driven back, and the +redoubt was only taken at the end of the battle by the cavalry (a thing +probably unforeseen and not heard of by Napoleon). So not one of the +orders in the disposition was, or could be, executed. But in the +disposition it is said that, after the fight has commenced in this +manner, orders will be given in accordance with the enemy's movements, +and so it might be supposed that all necessary arrangements would be +made by Napoleon during the battle. But this was not and could not be +done, for during the whole battle Napoleon was so far away that, as +appeared later, he could not know the course of the battle and not one +of his orders during the fight could be executed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +Many historians say that the French did not win the battle of Borodino +because Napoleon had a cold, and that if he had not had a cold the +orders he gave before and during the battle would have been still more +full of genius and Russia would have been lost and the face of the world +have been changed. To historians who believe that Russia was shaped by +the will of one man--Peter the Great--and that France from a republic +became an empire and French armies went to Russia at the will of one +man--Napoleon--to say that Russia remained a power because Napoleon had +a bad cold on the twenty-fourth of August may seem logical and +convincing. + +If it had depended on Napoleon's will to fight or not to fight the +battle of Borodino, and if this or that other arrangement depended on +his will, then evidently a cold affecting the manifestation of his will +might have saved Russia, and consequently the valet who omitted to bring +Napoleon his waterproof boots on the twenty-fourth would have been the +savior of Russia. Along that line of thought such a deduction is +indubitable, as indubitable as the deduction Voltaire made in jest +(without knowing what he was jesting at) when he saw that the Massacre +of St. Bartholomew was due to Charles IX's stomach being deranged. But +to men who do not admit that Russia was formed by the will of one man, +Peter I, or that the French Empire was formed and the war with Russia +begun by the will of one man, Napoleon, that argument seems not merely +untrue and irrational, but contrary to all human reality. To the +question of what causes historic events another answer presents itself, +namely, that the course of human events is predetermined from on high-- +depends on the coincidence of the wills of all who take part in the +events, and that a Napoleon's influence on the course of these events is +purely external and fictitious. + +Strange as at first glance it may seem to suppose that the Massacre of +St. Bartholomew was not due to Charles IX's will, though he gave the +order for it and thought it was done as a result of that order; and +strange as it may seem to suppose that the slaughter of eighty thousand +men at Borodino was not due to Napoleon's will, though he ordered the +commencement and conduct of the battle and thought it was done because +he ordered it; strange as these suppositions appear, yet human dignity-- +which tells me that each of us is, if not more at least not less a man +than the great Napoleon--demands the acceptance of that solution of the +question, and historic investigation abundantly confirms it. + +At the battle of Borodino Napoleon shot at no one and killed no one. +That was all done by the soldiers. Therefore it was not he who killed +people. + +The French soldiers went to kill and be killed at the battle of Borodino +not because of Napoleon's orders but by their own volition. The whole +army--French, Italian, German, Polish, and Dutch--hungry, ragged, and +weary of the campaign, felt at the sight of an army blocking their road +to Moscow that the wine was drawn and must be drunk. Had Napoleon then +forbidden them to fight the Russians, they would have killed him and +have proceeded to fight the Russians because it was inevitable. + +When they heard Napoleon's proclamation offering them, as compensation +for mutilation and death, the words of posterity about their having been +in the battle before Moscow, they cried "Vive l'Empereur!" just as they +had cried "Vive l'Empereur!" at the sight of the portrait of the boy +piercing the terrestrial globe with a toy stick, and just as they would +have cried "Vive l'Empereur!" at any nonsense that might be told them. +There was nothing left for them to do but cry "Vive l'Empereur!" and go +to fight, in order to get food and rest as conquerors in Moscow. So it +was not because of Napoleon's commands that they killed their fellow +men. + +And it was not Napoleon who directed the course of the battle, for none +of his orders were executed and during the battle he did not know what +was going on before him. So the way in which these people killed one +another was not decided by Napoleon's will but occurred independently of +him, in accord with the will of hundreds of thousands of people who took +part in the common action. It only seemed to Napoleon that it all took +place by his will. And so the question whether he had or had not a cold +has no more historic interest than the cold of the least of the +transport soldiers. + +Moreover, the assertion made by various writers that his cold was the +cause of his dispositions not being as well-planned as on former +occasions, and of his orders during the battle not being as good as +previously, is quite baseless, which again shows that Napoleon's cold on +the twenty-sixth of August was unimportant. + +The dispositions cited above are not at all worse, but are even better, +than previous dispositions by which he had won victories. His pseudo- +orders during the battle were also no worse than formerly, but much the +same as usual. These dispositions and orders only seem worse than +previous ones because the battle of Borodino was the first Napoleon did +not win. The profoundest and most excellent dispositions and orders seem +very bad, and every learned militarist criticizes them with looks of +importance, when they relate to a battle that has been lost, and the +very worst dispositions and orders seem very good, and serious people +fill whole volumes to demonstrate their merits, when they relate to a +battle that has been won. + +The dispositions drawn up by Weyrother for the battle of Austerlitz were +a model of perfection for that kind of composition, but still they were +criticized--criticized for their very perfection, for their excessive +minuteness. + +Napoleon at the battle of Borodino fulfilled his office as +representative of authority as well as, and even better than, at other +battles. He did nothing harmful to the progress of the battle; he +inclined to the most reasonable opinions, he made no confusion, did not +contradict himself, did not get frightened or run away from the field of +battle, but with his great tact and military experience carried out his +role of appearing to command, calmly and with dignity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +On returning from a second inspection of the lines, Napoleon remarked: + +"The chessmen are set up, the game will begin tomorrow!" + +Having ordered punch and summoned de Beausset, he began to talk to him +about Paris and about some changes he meant to make in the Empress' +household, surprising the prefect by his memory of minute details +relating to the court. + +He showed an interest in trifles, joked about de Beausset's love of +travel, and chatted carelessly, as a famous, self-confident surgeon who +knows his job does when turning up his sleeves and putting on his apron +while a patient is being strapped to the operating table. "The matter is +in my hands and is clear and definite in my head. When the time comes to +set to work I shall do it as no one else could, but now I can jest, and +the more I jest and the calmer I am the more tranquil and confident you +ought to be, and the more amazed at my genius." + +Having finished his second glass of punch, Napoleon went to rest before +the serious business which, he considered, awaited him next day. He was +so much interested in that task that he was unable to sleep, and in +spite of his cold which had grown worse from the dampness of the +evening, he went into the large division of the tent at three o'clock in +the morning, loudly blowing his nose. He asked whether the Russians had +not withdrawn, and was told that the enemy's fires were still in the +same places. He nodded approval. + +The adjutant in attendance came into the tent. + +"Well, Rapp, do you think we shall do good business today?" Napoleon +asked him. + +"Without doubt, sire," replied Rapp. + +Napoleon looked at him. + +"Do you remember, sire, what you did me the honor to say at Smolensk?" +continued Rapp. "The wine is drawn and must be drunk." + +Napoleon frowned and sat silent for a long time leaning his head on his +hand. + +"This poor army!" he suddenly remarked. "It has diminished greatly since +Smolensk. Fortune is frankly a courtesan, Rapp. I have always said so +and I am beginning to experience it. But the Guards, Rapp, the Guards +are intact?" he remarked interrogatively. + +"Yes, sire," replied Rapp. + +Napoleon took a lozenge, put it in his mouth, and glanced at his watch. +He was not sleepy and it was still not nearly morning. It was impossible +to give further orders for the sake of killing time, for the orders had +all been given and were now being executed. + +"Have the biscuits and rice been served out to the regiments of the +Guards?" asked Napoleon sternly. + +"Yes, sire." + +"The rice too?" + +Rapp replied that he had given the Emperor's order about the rice, but +Napoleon shook his head in dissatisfaction as if not believing that his +order had been executed. An attendant came in with punch. Napoleon +ordered another glass to be brought for Rapp, and silently sipped his +own. + +"I have neither taste nor smell," he remarked, sniffing at his glass. +"This cold is tiresome. They talk about medicine--what is the good of +medicine when it can't cure a cold! Corvisart gave me these lozenges but +they don't help at all. What can doctors cure? One can't cure anything. +Our body is a machine for living. It is organized for that, it is its +nature. Let life go on in it unhindered and let it defend itself, it +will do more than if you paralyze it by encumbering it with remedies. +Our body is like a perfect watch that should go for a certain time; the +watchmaker cannot open it, he can only adjust it by fumbling, and that +blindfold.... Yes, our body is just a machine for living, that is all." + +And having entered on the path of definition, of which he was fond, +Napoleon suddenly and unexpectedly gave a new one. + +"Do you know, Rapp, what military art is?" asked he. "It is the art of +being stronger than the enemy at a given moment. That's all." + +Rapp made no reply. + +"Tomorrow we shall have to deal with Kutuzov!" said Napoleon. "We shall +see! Do you remember at Braunau he commanded an army for three weeks and +did not once mount a horse to inspect his entrenchments.... We shall +see!" + +He looked at his watch. It was still only four o'clock. He did not feel +sleepy. The punch was finished and there was still nothing to do. He +rose, walked to and fro, put on a warm overcoat and a hat, and went out +of the tent. The night was dark and damp, a scarcely perceptible +moisture was descending from above. Near by, the campfires were dimly +burning among the French Guards, and in the distance those of the +Russian line shone through the smoke. The weather was calm, and the +rustle and tramp of the French troops already beginning to move to take +up their positions were clearly audible. + +Napoleon walked about in front of his tent, looked at the fires and +listened to these sounds, and as he was passing a tall guardsman in a +shaggy cap, who was standing sentinel before his tent and had drawn +himself up like a black pillar at sight of the Emperor, Napoleon stopped +in front of him. + +"What year did you enter the service?" he asked with that affectation of +military bluntness and geniality with which he always addressed the +soldiers. + +The man answered the question. + +"Ah! One of the old ones! Has your regiment had its rice?" + +"It has, Your Majesty." + +Napoleon nodded and walked away. + +At half-past five Napoleon rode to the village of Shevardino. + +It was growing light, the sky was clearing, only a single cloud lay in +the east. The abandoned campfires were burning themselves out in the +faint morning light. + +On the right a single deep report of a cannon resounded and died away in +the prevailing silence. Some minutes passed. A second and a third report +shook the air, then a fourth and a fifth boomed solemnly near by on the +right. + +The first shots had not yet ceased to reverberate before others rang out +and yet more were heard mingling with and overtaking one another. + +Napoleon with his suite rode up to the Shevardino Redoubt where he +dismounted. The game had begun. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +On returning to Gorki after having seen Prince Andrew, Pierre ordered +his groom to get the horses ready and to call him early in the morning, +and then immediately fell asleep behind a partition in a corner Boris +had given up to him. + +Before he was thoroughly awake next morning everybody had already left +the hut. The panes were rattling in the little windows and his groom was +shaking him. + +"Your excellency! Your excellency! Your excellency!" he kept repeating +pertinaciously while he shook Pierre by the shoulder without looking at +him, having apparently lost hope of getting him to wake up. + +"What? Has it begun? Is it time?" Pierre asked, waking up. + +"Hear the firing," said the groom, a discharged soldier. "All the +gentlemen have gone out, and his Serene Highness himself rode past long +ago." + +Pierre dressed hastily and ran out to the porch. Outside all was bright, +fresh, dewy, and cheerful. The sun, just bursting forth from behind a +cloud that had concealed it, was shining, with rays still half broken by +the clouds, over the roofs of the street opposite, on the dew- +besprinkled dust of the road, on the walls of the houses, on the +windows, the fence, and on Pierre's horses standing before the hut. The +roar of guns sounded more distinct outside. An adjutant accompanied by a +Cossack passed by at a sharp trot. + +"It's time, Count; it's time!" cried the adjutant. + +Telling the groom to follow him with the horses, Pierre went down the +street to the knoll from which he had looked at the field of battle the +day before. A crowd of military men was assembled there, members of the +staff could be heard conversing in French, and Kutuzov's gray head in a +white cap with a red band was visible, his gray nape sunk between his +shoulders. He was looking through a field glass down the highroad before +him. + +Mounting the steps to the knoll Pierre looked at the scene before him, +spellbound by beauty. It was the same panorama he had admired from that +spot the day before, but now the whole place was full of troops and +covered by smoke clouds from the guns, and the slanting rays of the +bright sun, rising slightly to the left behind Pierre, cast upon it +through the clear morning air penetrating streaks of rosy, golden-tinted +light and long dark shadows. The forest at the farthest extremity of the +panorama seemed carved in some precious stone of a yellowish-green +color; its undulating outline was silhouetted against the horizon and +was pierced beyond Valuevo by the Smolensk highroad crowded with troops. +Nearer at hand glittered golden cornfields interspersed with copses. +There were troops to be seen everywhere, in front and to the right and +left. All this was vivid, majestic, and unexpected; but what impressed +Pierre most of all was the view of the battlefield itself, of Borodino +and the hollows on both sides of the Kolocha. + +Above the Kolocha, in Borodino and on both sides of it, especially to +the left where the Voyna flowing between its marshy banks falls into the +Kolocha, a mist had spread which seemed to melt, to dissolve, and to +become translucent when the brilliant sun appeared and magically colored +and outlined everything. The smoke of the guns mingled with this mist, +and over the whole expanse and through that mist the rays of the morning +sun were reflected, flashing back like lightning from the water, from +the dew, and from the bayonets of the troops crowded together by the +riverbanks and in Borodino. A white church could be seen through the +mist, and here and there the roofs of huts in Borodino as well as dense +masses of soldiers, or green ammunition chests and ordnance. And all +this moved, or seemed to move, as the smoke and mist spread out over the +whole space. Just as in the mist-enveloped hollow near Borodino, so +along the entire line outside and above it and especially in the woods +and fields to the left, in the valleys and on the summits of the high +ground, clouds of powder smoke seemed continually to spring up out of +nothing, now singly, now several at a time, some translucent, others +dense, which, swelling, growing, rolling, and blending, extended over +the whole expanse. + +These puffs of smoke and (strange to say) the sound of the firing +produced the chief beauty of the spectacle. + +"Puff!"--suddenly a round compact cloud of smoke was seen merging from +violet into gray and milky white, and "boom!" came the report a second +later. + +"Puff! puff!"--and two clouds arose pushing one another and blending +together; and "boom, boom!" came the sounds confirming what the eye had +seen. + +Pierre glanced round at the first cloud, which he had seen as a round +compact ball, and in its place already were balloons of smoke floating +to one side, and--"puff" (with a pause)--"puff, puff!" three and then +four more appeared and then from each, with the same interval--"boom-- +boom, boom!" came the fine, firm, precise sounds in reply. It seemed as +if those smoke clouds sometimes ran and sometimes stood still while +woods, fields, and glittering bayonets ran past them. From the left, +over fields and bushes, those large balls of smoke were continually +appearing followed by their solemn reports, while nearer still, in the +hollows and woods, there burst from the muskets small cloudlets that had +no time to become balls, but had their little echoes in just the same +way. "Trakh-ta-ta-takh!" came the frequent crackle of musketry, but it +was irregular and feeble in comparison with the reports of the cannon. + +Pierre wished to be there with that smoke, those shining bayonets, that +movement, and those sounds. He turned to look at Kutuzov and his suite, +to compare his impressions with those of others. They were all looking +at the field of battle as he was, and, as it seemed to him, with the +same feelings. All their faces were now shining with that latent warmth +of feeling Pierre had noticed the day before and had fully understood +after his talk with Prince Andrew. + +"Go, my dear fellow, go... and Christ be with you!" Kutuzov was saying +to a general who stood beside him, not taking his eye from the +battlefield. + +Having received this order the general passed by Pierre on his way down +the knoll. + +"To the crossing!" said the general coldly and sternly in reply to one +of the staff who asked where he was going. + +"I'll go there too, I too!" thought Pierre, and followed the general. + +The general mounted a horse a Cossack had brought him. Pierre went to +his groom who was holding his horses and, asking which was the quietest, +clambered onto it, seized it by the mane, and turning out his toes +pressed his heels against its sides and, feeling that his spectacles +were slipping off but unable to let go of the mane and reins, he +galloped after the general, causing the staff officers to smile as they +watched him from the knoll. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +Having descended the hill the general after whom Pierre was galloping +turned sharply to the left, and Pierre, losing sight of him, galloped in +among some ranks of infantry marching ahead of him. He tried to pass +either in front of them or to the right or left, but there were soldiers +everywhere, all with the same preoccupied expression and busy with some +unseen but evidently important task. They all gazed with the same +dissatisfied and inquiring expression at this stout man in a white hat, +who for some unknown reason threatened to trample them under his horse's +hoofs. + +"Why ride into the middle of the battalion?" one of them shouted at him. + +Another prodded his horse with the butt end of a musket, and Pierre, +bending over his saddlebow and hardly able to control his shying horse, +galloped ahead of the soldiers where there was a free space. + +There was a bridge ahead of him, where other soldiers stood firing. +Pierre rode up to them. Without being aware of it he had come to the +bridge across the Kolocha between Gorki and Borodino, which the French +(having occupied Borodino) were attacking in the first phase of the +battle. Pierre saw that there was a bridge in front of him and that +soldiers were doing something on both sides of it and in the meadow, +among the rows of new-mown hay which he had taken no notice of amid the +smoke of the campfires the day before; but despite the incessant firing +going on there he had no idea that this was the field of battle. He did +not notice the sound of the bullets whistling from every side, or the +projectiles that flew over him, did not see the enemy on the other side +of the river, and for a long time did not notice the killed and wounded, +though many fell near him. He looked about him with a smile which did +not leave his face. + +"Why's that fellow in front of the line?" shouted somebody at him again. + +"To the left!... Keep to the right!" the men shouted to him. + +Pierre went to the right, and unexpectedly encountered one of Raevski's +adjutants whom he knew. The adjutant looked angrily at him, evidently +also intending to shout at him, but on recognizing him he nodded. + +"How have you got here?" he said, and galloped on. + +Pierre, feeling out of place there, having nothing to do, and afraid of +getting in someone's way again, galloped after the adjutant. + +"What's happening here? May I come with you?" he asked. + +"One moment, one moment!" replied the adjutant, and riding up to a stout +colonel who was standing in the meadow, he gave him some message and +then addressed Pierre. + +"Why have you come here, Count?" he asked with a smile. "Still +inquisitive?" + +"Yes, yes," assented Pierre. + +But the adjutant turned his horse about and rode on. + +"Here it's tolerable," said he, "but with Bagration on the left flank +they're getting it frightfully hot." + +"Really?" said Pierre. "Where is that?" + +"Come along with me to our knoll. We can get a view from there and in +our battery it is still bearable," said the adjutant. "Will you come?" + +"Yes, I'll come with you," replied Pierre, looking round for his groom. + +It was only now that he noticed wounded men staggering along or being +carried on stretchers. On that very meadow he had ridden over the day +before, a soldier was lying athwart the rows of scented hay, with his +head thrown awkwardly back and his shako off. + +"Why haven't they carried him away?" Pierre was about to ask, but seeing +the stern expression of the adjutant who was also looking that way, he +checked himself. + +Pierre did not find his groom and rode along the hollow with the +adjutant to Raevski's Redoubt. His horse lagged behind the adjutant's +and jolted him at every step. + +"You don't seem to be used to riding, Count?" remarked the adjutant. + +"No it's not that, but her action seems so jerky," said Pierre in a +puzzled tone. + +"Why... she's wounded!" said the adjutant. "In the off foreleg above the +knee. A bullet, no doubt. I congratulate you, Count, on your baptism of +fire!" + +Having ridden in the smoke past the Sixth Corps, behind the artillery +which had been moved forward and was in action, deafening them with the +noise of firing, they came to a small wood. There it was cool and quiet, +with a scent of autumn. Pierre and the adjutant dismounted and walked up +the hill on foot. + +"Is the general here?" asked the adjutant on reaching the knoll. + +"He was here a minute ago but has just gone that way," someone told him, +pointing to the right. + +The adjutant looked at Pierre as if puzzled what to do with him now. + +"Don't trouble about me," said Pierre. "I'll go up onto the knoll if I +may?" + +"Yes, do. You'll see everything from there and it's less dangerous, and +I'll come for you." + +Pierre went to the battery and the adjutant rode on. They did not meet +again, and only much later did Pierre learn that he lost an arm that +day. + +The knoll to which Pierre ascended was that famous one afterwards known +to the Russians as the Knoll Battery or Raevski's Redoubt, and to the +French as la grande redoute, la fatale redoute, la redoute du centre, +around which tens of thousands fell, and which the French regarded as +the key to the whole position. + +This redoubt consisted of a knoll, on three sides of which trenches had +been dug. Within the entrenchment stood ten guns that were being fired +through openings in the earthwork. + +In line with the knoll on both sides stood other guns which also fired +incessantly. A little behind the guns stood infantry. When ascending +that knoll Pierre had no notion that this spot, on which small trenches +had been dug and from which a few guns were firing, was the most +important point of the battle. + +On the contrary, just because he happened to be there he thought it one +of the least significant parts of the field. + +Having reached the knoll, Pierre sat down at one end of a trench +surrounding the battery and gazed at what was going on around him with +an unconsciously happy smile. Occasionally he rose and walked about the +battery still with that same smile, trying not to obstruct the soldiers +who were loading, hauling the guns, and continually running past him +with bags and charges. The guns of that battery were being fired +continually one after another with a deafening roar, enveloping the +whole neighborhood in powder smoke. + +In contrast with the dread felt by the infantrymen placed in support, +here in the battery where a small number of men busy at their work were +separated from the rest by a trench, everyone experienced a common and +as it were family feeling of animation. + +The intrusion of Pierre's nonmilitary figure in a white hat made an +unpleasant impression at first. The soldiers looked askance at him with +surprise and even alarm as they went past him. The senior artillery +officer, a tall, long-legged, pockmarked man, moved over to Pierre as if +to see the action of the farthest gun and looked at him with curiosity. + +A young round-faced officer, quite a boy still and evidently only just +out of the Cadet College, who was zealously commanding the two guns +entrusted to him, addressed Pierre sternly. + +"Sir," he said, "permit me to ask you to stand aside. You must not be +here." + +The soldiers shook their heads disapprovingly as they looked at Pierre. +But when they had convinced themselves that this man in the white hat +was doing no harm, but either sat quietly on the slope of the trench +with a shy smile or, politely making way for the soldiers, paced up and +down the battery under fire as calmly as if he were on a boulevard, +their feeling of hostile distrust gradually began to change into a +kindly and bantering sympathy, such as soldiers feel for their dogs, +cocks, goats, and in general for the animals that live with the +regiment. The men soon accepted Pierre into their family, adopted him, +gave him a nickname ("our gentleman"), and made kindly fun of him among +themselves. + +A shell tore up the earth two paces from Pierre and he looked around +with a smile as he brushed from his clothes some earth it had thrown up. + +"And how's it you're not afraid, sir, really now?" a red-faced, broad- +shouldered soldier asked Pierre, with a grin that disclosed a set of +sound, white teeth. + +"Are you afraid, then?" said Pierre. + +"What else do you expect?" answered the soldier. "She has no mercy, you +know! When she comes spluttering down, out go your innards. One can't +help being afraid," he said laughing. + +Several of the men, with bright kindly faces, stopped beside Pierre. +They seemed not to have expected him to talk like anybody else, and the +discovery that he did so delighted them. + +"It's the business of us soldiers. But in a gentleman it's wonderful! +There's a gentleman for you!" + +"To your places!" cried the young officer to the men gathered round +Pierre. + +The young officer was evidently exercising his duties for the first or +second time and therefore treated both his superiors and the men with +great precision and formality. + +The booming cannonade and the fusillade of musketry were growing more +intense over the whole field, especially to the left where Bagration's +fleches were, but where Pierre was the smoke of the firing made it +almost impossible to distinguish anything. Moreover, his whole attention +was engrossed by watching the family circle--separated from all else-- +formed by the men in the battery. His first unconscious feeling of +joyful animation produced by the sights and sounds of the battlefield +was now replaced by another, especially since he had seen that soldier +lying alone in the hayfield. Now, seated on the slope of the trench, he +observed the faces of those around him. + +By ten o'clock some twenty men had already been carried away from the +battery; two guns were smashed and cannon balls fell more and more +frequently on the battery and spent bullets buzzed and whistled around. +But the men in the battery seemed not to notice this, and merry voices +and jokes were heard on all sides. + +"A live one!" shouted a man as a whistling shell approached. + +"Not this way! To the infantry!" added another with loud laughter, +seeing the shell fly past and fall into the ranks of the supports. + +"Are you bowing to a friend, eh?" remarked another, chaffing a peasant +who ducked low as a cannon ball flew over. + +Several soldiers gathered by the wall of the trench, looking out to see +what was happening in front. + +"They've withdrawn the front line, it has retired," said they, pointing +over the earthwork. + +"Mind your own business," an old sergeant shouted at them. "If they've +retired it's because there's work for them to do farther back." + +And the sergeant, taking one of the men by the shoulders, gave him a +shove with his knee. This was followed by a burst of laughter. + +"To the fifth gun, wheel it up!" came shouts from one side. + +"Now then, all together, like bargees!" rose the merry voices of those +who were moving the gun. + +"Oh, she nearly knocked our gentleman's hat off!" cried the red-faced +humorist, showing his teeth chaffing Pierre. "Awkward baggage!" he added +reproachfully to a cannon ball that struck a cannon wheel and a man's +leg. + +"Now then, you foxes!" said another, laughing at some militiamen who, +stooping low, entered the battery to carry away the wounded man. + +"So this gruel isn't to your taste? Oh, you crows! You're scared!" they +shouted at the militiamen who stood hesitating before the man whose leg +had been torn off. + +"There, lads... oh, oh!" they mimicked the peasants, "they don't like it +at all!" + +Pierre noticed that after every ball that hit the redoubt, and after +every loss, the liveliness increased more and more. + +As the flames of the fire hidden within come more and more vividly and +rapidly from an approaching thundercloud, so, as if in opposition to +what was taking place, the lightning of hidden fire growing more and +more intense glowed in the faces of these men. + +Pierre did not look out at the battlefield and was not concerned to know +what was happening there; he was entirely absorbed in watching this fire +which burned ever more brightly and which he felt was flaming up in the +same way in his own soul. + +At ten o'clock the infantry that had been among the bushes in front of +the battery and along the Kamenka streamlet retreated. From the battery +they could be seen running back past it carrying their wounded on their +muskets. A general with his suite came to the battery, and after +speaking to the colonel gave Pierre an angry look and went away again +having ordered the infantry supports behind the battery to lie down, so +as to be less exposed to fire. After this from amid the ranks of +infantry to the right of the battery came the sound of a drum and shouts +of command, and from the battery one saw how those ranks of infantry +moved forward. + +Pierre looked over the wall of the trench and was particularly struck by +a pale young officer who, letting his sword hang down, was walking +backwards and kept glancing uneasily around. + +The ranks of the infantry disappeared amid the smoke but their long- +drawn shout and rapid musketry firing could still be heard. A few +minutes later crowds of wounded men and stretcher-bearers came back from +that direction. Projectiles began to fall still more frequently in the +battery. Several men were lying about who had not been removed. Around +the cannon the men moved still more briskly and busily. No one any +longer took notice of Pierre. Once or twice he was shouted at for being +in the way. The senior officer moved with big, rapid strides from one +gun to another with a frowning face. The young officer, with his face +still more flushed, commanded the men more scrupulously than ever. The +soldiers handed up the charges, turned, loaded, and did their business +with strained smartness. They gave little jumps as they walked, as +though they were on springs. + +The stormcloud had come upon them, and in every face the fire which +Pierre had watched kindle burned up brightly. Pierre standing beside the +commanding officer. The young officer, his hand to his shako, ran up to +his superior. + +"I have the honor to report, sir, that only eight rounds are left. Are +we to continue firing?" he asked. + +"Grapeshot!" the senior shouted, without answering the question, looking +over the wall of the trench. + +Suddenly something happened: the young officer gave a gasp and bending +double sat down on the ground like a bird shot on the wing. Everything +became strange, confused, and misty in Pierre's eyes. + +One cannon ball after another whistled by and struck the earthwork, a +soldier, or a gun. Pierre, who had not noticed these sounds before, now +heard nothing else. On the right of the battery soldiers shouting +"Hurrah!" were running not forwards but backwards, it seemed to Pierre. + +A cannon ball struck the very end of the earth work by which he was +standing, crumbling down the earth; a black ball flashed before his eyes +and at the same instant plumped into something. Some militiamen who were +entering the battery ran back. + +"All with grapeshot!" shouted the officer. + +The sergeant ran up to the officer and in a frightened whisper informed +him (as a butler at dinner informs his master that there is no more of +some wine asked for) that there were no more charges. + +"The scoundrels! What are they doing?" shouted the officer, turning to +Pierre. + +The officer's face was red and perspiring and his eyes glittered under +his frowning brow. + +"Run to the reserves and bring up the ammunition boxes!" he yelled, +angrily avoiding Pierre with his eyes and speaking to his men. + +"I'll go," said Pierre. + +The officer, without answering him, strode across to the opposite side. + +"Don't fire.... Wait!" he shouted. + +The man who had been ordered to go for ammunition stumbled against +Pierre. + +"Eh, sir, this is no place for you," said he, and ran down the slope. + +Pierre ran after him, avoiding the spot where the young officer was +sitting. + +One cannon ball, another, and a third flew over him, falling in front, +beside, and behind him. Pierre ran down the slope. "Where am I going?" +he suddenly asked himself when he was already near the green ammunition +wagons. He halted irresolutely, not knowing whether to return or go on. +Suddenly a terrible concussion threw him backwards to the ground. At the +same instant he was dazzled by a great flash of flame, and immediately a +deafening roar, crackling, and whistling made his ears tingle. + +When he came to himself he was sitting on the ground leaning on his +hands; the ammunition wagons he had been approaching no longer existed, +only charred green boards and rags littered the scorched grass, and a +horse, dangling fragments of its shaft behind it, galloped past, while +another horse lay, like Pierre, on the ground, uttering prolonged and +piercing cries. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +Beside himself with terror Pierre jumped up and ran back to the battery, +as to the only refuge from the horrors that surrounded him. + +On entering the earthwork he noticed that there were men doing something +there but that no shots were being fired from the battery. He had no +time to realize who these men were. He saw the senior officer lying on +the earth wall with his back turned as if he were examining something +down below and that one of the soldiers he had noticed before was +struggling forward shouting "Brothers!" and trying to free himself from +some men who were holding him by the arm. He also saw something else +that was strange. + +But he had not time to realize that the colonel had been killed, that +the soldier shouting "Brothers!" was a prisoner, and that another man +had been bayoneted in the back before his eyes, for hardly had he run +into the redoubt before a thin, sallow-faced, perspiring man in a blue +uniform rushed on him sword in hand, shouting something. Instinctively +guarding against the shock--for they had been running together at full +speed before they saw one another--Pierre put out his hands and seized +the man (a French officer) by the shoulder with one hand and by the +throat with the other. The officer, dropping his sword, seized Pierre by +his collar. + +For some seconds they gazed with frightened eyes at one another's +unfamiliar faces and both were perplexed at what they had done and what +they were to do next. "Am I taken prisoner or have I taken him +prisoner?" each was thinking. But the French officer was evidently more +inclined to think he had been taken prisoner because Pierre's strong +hand, impelled by instinctive fear, squeezed his throat ever tighter and +tighter. The Frenchman was about to say something, when just above their +heads, terrible and low, a cannon ball whistled, and it seemed to Pierre +that the French officer's head had been torn off, so swiftly had he +ducked it. + +Pierre too bent his head and let his hands fall. Without further thought +as to who had taken whom prisoner, the Frenchman ran back to the battery +and Pierre ran down the slope stumbling over the dead and wounded who, +it seemed to him, caught at his feet. But before he reached the foot of +the knoll he was met by a dense crowd of Russian soldiers who, +stumbling, tripping up, and shouting, ran merrily and wildly toward the +battery. (This was the attack for which Ermolov claimed the credit, +declaring that only his courage and good luck made such a feat possible: +it was the attack in which he was said to have thrown some St. George's +Crosses he had in his pocket into the battery for the first soldiers to +take who got there.) + +The French who had occupied the battery fled, and our troops shouting +"Hurrah!" pursued them so far beyond the battery that it was difficult +to call them back. + +The prisoners were brought down from the battery and among them was a +wounded French general, whom the officers surrounded. Crowds of wounded- +-some known to Pierre and some unknown--Russians and French, with faces +distorted by suffering, walked, crawled, and were carried on stretchers +from the battery. Pierre again went up onto the knoll where he had spent +over an hour, and of that family circle which had received him as a +member he did not find a single one. There were many dead whom he did +not know, but some he recognized. The young officer still sat in the +same way, bent double, in a pool of blood at the edge of the earth wall. +The red-faced man was still twitching, but they did not carry him away. + +Pierre ran down the slope once more. + +"Now they will stop it, now they will be horrified at what they have +done!" he thought, aimlessly going toward a crowd of stretcher bearers +moving from the battlefield. + +But behind the veil of smoke the sun was still high, and in front and +especially to the left, near Semenovsk, something seemed to be seething +in the smoke, and the roar of cannon and musketry did not diminish, but +even increased to desperation like a man who, straining himself, shrieks +with all his remaining strength. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +The chief action of the battle of Borodino was fought within the seven +thousand feet between Borodino and Bagration's fleches. Beyond that +space there was, on the one side, a demonstration made by the Russians +with Uvarov's cavalry at midday, and on the other side, beyond Utitsa, +Poniatowski's collision with Tuchkov; but these two were detached and +feeble actions in comparison with what took place in the center of the +battlefield. On the field between Borodino and the fleches, beside the +wood, the chief action of the day took place on an open space visible +from both sides and was fought in the simplest and most artless way. + +The battle began on both sides with a cannonade from several hundred +guns. + +Then when the whole field was covered with smoke, two divisions, +Campan's and Dessaix's, advanced from the French right, while Murat's +troops advanced on Borodino from their left. + +From the Shevardino Redoubt where Napoleon was standing the fleches were +two thirds of a mile away, and it was more than a mile as the crow flies +to Borodino, so that Napoleon could not see what was happening there, +especially as the smoke mingling with the mist hid the whole locality. +The soldiers of Dessaix's division advancing against the fleches could +only be seen till they had entered the hollow that lay between them and +the fleches. As soon as they had descended into that hollow, the smoke +of the guns and musketry on the fleches grew so dense that it covered +the whole approach on that side of it. Through the smoke glimpses could +be caught of something black--probably men--and at times the glint of +bayonets. But whether they were moving or stationary, whether they were +French or Russian, could not be discovered from the Shevardino Redoubt. + +The sun had risen brightly and its slanting rays struck straight into +Napoleon's face as, shading his eyes with his hand, he looked at the +fleches. The smoke spread out before them, and at times it looked as if +the smoke were moving, at times as if the troops moved. Sometimes shouts +were heard through the firing, but it was impossible to tell what was +being done there. + +Napoleon, standing on the knoll, looked through a field glass, and in +its small circlet saw smoke and men, sometimes his own and sometimes +Russians, but when he looked again with the naked eye, he could not tell +where what he had seen was. + +He descended the knoll and began walking up and down before it. + +Occasionally he stopped, listened to the firing, and gazed intently at +the battlefield. + +But not only was it impossible to make out what was happening from where +he was standing down below, or from the knoll above on which some of his +generals had taken their stand, but even from the fleches themselves--in +which by this time there were now Russian and now French soldiers, +alternately or together, dead, wounded, alive, frightened, or maddened-- +even at those fleches themselves it was impossible to make out what was +taking place. There for several hours amid incessant cannon and musketry +fire, now Russians were seen alone, now Frenchmen alone, now infantry, +and now cavalry: they appeared, fired, fell, collided, not knowing what +to do with one another, screamed, and ran back again. + +From the battlefield adjutants he had sent out, and orderlies from his +marshals, kept galloping up to Napoleon with reports of the progress of +the action, but all these reports were false, both because it was +impossible in the heat of battle to say what was happening at any given +moment and because many of the adjutants did not go to the actual place +of conflict but reported what they had heard from others; and also +because while an adjutant was riding more than a mile to Napoleon +circumstances changed and the news he brought was already becoming +false. Thus an adjutant galloped up from Murat with tidings that +Borodino had been occupied and the bridge over the Kolocha was in the +hands of the French. The adjutant asked whether Napoleon wished the +troops to cross it? Napoleon gave orders that the troops should form up +on the farther side and wait. But before that order was given--almost as +soon in fact as the adjutant had left Borodino--the bridge had been +retaken by the Russians and burned, in the very skirmish at which Pierre +had been present at the beginning of the battle. + +An adjutant galloped up from the fleches with a pale and frightened face +and reported to Napoleon that their attack had been repulsed, Campan +wounded, and Davout killed; yet at the very time the adjutant had been +told that the French had been repulsed, the fleches had in fact been +recaptured by other French troops, and Davout was alive and only +slightly bruised. On the basis of these necessarily untrustworthy +reports Napoleon gave his orders, which had either been executed before +he gave them or could not be and were not executed. + +The marshals and generals, who were nearer to the field of battle but, +like Napoleon, did not take part in the actual fighting and only +occasionally went within musket range, made their own arrangements +without asking Napoleon and issued orders where and in what direction to +fire and where cavalry should gallop and infantry should run. But even +their orders, like Napoleon's, were seldom carried out, and then but +partially. For the most part things happened contrary to their orders. +Soldiers ordered to advance ran back on meeting grapeshot; soldiers +ordered to remain where they were, suddenly, seeing Russians +unexpectedly before them, sometimes rushed back and sometimes forward, +and the cavalry dashed without orders in pursuit of the flying Russians. +In this way two cavalry regiments galloped through the Semenovsk hollow +and as soon as they reached the top of the incline turned round and +galloped full speed back again. The infantry moved in the same way, +sometimes running to quite other places than those they were ordered to +go to. All orders as to where and when to move the guns, when to send +infantry to shoot or horsemen to ride down the Russian infantry--all +such orders were given by the officers on the spot nearest to the units +concerned, without asking either Ney, Davout, or Murat, much less +Napoleon. They did not fear getting into trouble for not fulfilling +orders or for acting on their own initiative, for in battle what is at +stake is what is dearest to man--his own life--and it sometimes seems +that safety lies in running back, sometimes in running forward; and +these men who were right in the heat of the battle acted according to +the mood of the moment. In reality, however, all these movements forward +and backward did not improve or alter the position of the troops. All +their rushing and galloping at one another did little harm, the harm of +disablement and death was caused by the balls and bullets that flew over +the fields on which these men were floundering about. As soon as they +left the place where the balls and bullets were flying about, their +superiors, located in the background, re-formed them and brought them +under discipline and under the influence of that discipline led them +back to the zone of fire, where under the influence of fear of death +they lost their discipline and rushed about according to the chance +promptings of the throng. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +Napoleon's generals--Davout, Ney, and Murat, who were near that region +of fire and sometimes even entered it--repeatedly led into it huge +masses of well-ordered troops. But contrary to what had always happened +in their former battles, instead of the news they expected of the +enemy's flight, these orderly masses returned thence as disorganized and +terrified mobs. The generals re-formed them, but their numbers +constantly decreased. In the middle of the day Murat sent his adjutant +to Napoleon to demand reinforcements. + +Napoleon sat at the foot of the knoll, drinking punch, when Murat's +adjutant galloped up with an assurance that the Russians would be routed +if His Majesty would let him have another division. + +"Reinforcements?" said Napoleon in a tone of stern surprise, looking at +the adjutant--a handsome lad with long black curls arranged like Murat's +own--as though he did not understand his words. + +"Reinforcements!" thought Napoleon to himself. "How can they need +reinforcements when they already have half the army directed against a +weak, unentrenched Russian wing?" + +"Tell the King of Naples," said he sternly, "that it is not noon yet, +and I don't yet see my chessboard clearly. Go!..." + +The handsome boy adjutant with the long hair sighed deeply without +removing his hand from his hat and galloped back to where men were being +slaughtered. + +Napoleon rose and having summoned Caulaincourt and Berthier began +talking to them about matters unconnected with the battle. + +In the midst of this conversation, which was beginning to interest +Napoleon, Berthier's eyes turned to look at a general with a suite, who +was galloping toward the knoll on a lathering horse. It was Belliard. +Having dismounted he went up to the Emperor with rapid strides and in a +loud voice began boldly demonstrating the necessity of sending +reinforcements. He swore on his honor that the Russians were lost if the +Emperor would give another division. + +Napoleon shrugged his shoulders and continued to pace up and down +without replying. Belliard began talking loudly and eagerly to the +generals of the suite around him. + +"You are very fiery, Belliard," said Napoleon, when he again came up to +the general. "In the heat of a battle it is easy to make a mistake. Go +and have another look and then come back to me." + +Before Belliard was out of sight, a messenger from another part of the +battlefield galloped up. + +"Now then, what do you want?" asked Napoleon in the tone of a man +irritated at being continually disturbed. + +"Sire, the prince..." began the adjutant. + +"Asks for reinforcements?" said Napoleon with an angry gesture. + +The adjutant bent his head affirmatively and began to report, but the +Emperor turned from him, took a couple of steps, stopped, came back, and +called Berthier. + +"We must give reserves," he said, moving his arms slightly apart. "Who +do you think should be sent there?" he asked of Berthier (whom he +subsequently termed "that gosling I have made an eagle"). + +"Send Claparede's division, sire," replied Berthier, who knew all the +division's regiments, and battalions by heart. + +Napoleon nodded assent. + +The adjutant galloped to Claparede's division and a few minutes later +the Young Guards stationed behind the knoll moved forward. Napoleon +gazed silently in that direction. + +"No!" he suddenly said to Berthier. "I can't send Claparede. Send +Friant's division." + +Though there was no advantage in sending Friant's division instead of +Claparede's, and even an obvious inconvenience and delay in stopping +Claparede and sending Friant now, the order was carried out exactly. +Napoleon did not notice that in regard to his army he was playing the +part of a doctor who hinders by his medicines--a role he so justly +understood and condemned. + +Friant's division disappeared as the others had done into the smoke of +the battlefield. From all sides adjutants continued to arrive at a +gallop and as if by agreement all said the same thing. They all asked +for reinforcements and all said that the Russians were holding their +positions and maintaining a hellish fire under which the French army was +melting away. + +Napoleon sat on a campstool, wrapped in thought. + +M. de Beausset, the man so fond of travel, having fasted since morning, +came up to the Emperor and ventured respectfully to suggest lunch to His +Majesty. + +"I hope I may now congratulate Your Majesty on a victory?" said he. + +Napoleon silently shook his head in negation. Assuming the negation to +refer only to the victory and not to the lunch, M. de Beausset ventured +with respectful jocularity to remark that there is no reason for not +having lunch when one can get it. + +"Go away..." exclaimed Napoleon suddenly and morosely, and turned aside. + +A beatific smile of regret, repentance, and ecstasy beamed on M. de +Beausset's face and he glided away to the other generals. + +Napoleon was experiencing a feeling of depression like that of an ever- +lucky gambler who, after recklessly flinging money about and always +winning, suddenly just when he has calculated all the chances of the +game, finds that the more he considers his play the more surely he +loses. + +His troops were the same, his generals the same, the same preparations +had been made, the same dispositions, and the same proclamation courte +et energique, he himself was still the same: he knew that and knew that +he was now even more experienced and skillful than before. Even the +enemy was the same as at Austerlitz and Friedland--yet the terrible +stroke of his arm had supernaturally become impotent. + +All the old methods that had been unfailingly crowned with success: the +concentration of batteries on one point, an attack by reserves to break +the enemy's line, and a cavalry attack by "the men of iron," all these +methods had already been employed, yet not only was there no victory, +but from all sides came the same news of generals killed and wounded, of +reinforcements needed, of the impossibility of driving back the +Russians, and of disorganization among his own troops. + +Formerly, after he had given two or three orders and uttered a few +phrases, marshals and adjutants had come galloping up with +congratulations and happy faces, announcing the trophies taken, the +corps of prisoners, bundles of enemy eagles and standards, cannon and +stores, and Murat had only begged leave to loose the cavalry to gather +in the baggage wagons. So it had been at Lodi, Marengo, Arcola, Jena, +Austerlitz, Wagram, and so on. But now something strange was happening +to his troops. + +Despite news of the capture of the fleches, Napoleon saw that this was +not the same, not at all the same, as what had happened in his former +battles. He saw that what he was feeling was felt by all the men about +him experienced in the art of war. All their faces looked dejected, and +they all shunned one another's eyes--only a de Beausset could fail to +grasp the meaning of what was happening. + +But Napoleon with his long experience of war well knew the meaning of a +battle not gained by the attacking side in eight hours, after all +efforts had been expended. He knew that it was a lost battle and that +the least accident might now--with the fight balanced on such a strained +center--destroy him and his army. + +When he ran his mind over the whole of this strange Russian campaign in +which not one battle had been won, and in which not a flag, or cannon, +or army corps had been captured in two months, when he looked at the +concealed depression on the faces around him and heard reports of the +Russians still holding their ground--a terrible feeling like a nightmare +took possession of him, and all the unlucky accidents that might destroy +him occurred to his mind. The Russians might fall on his left wing, +might break through his center, he himself might be killed by a stray +cannon ball. All this was possible. In former battles he had only +considered the possibilities of success, but now innumerable unlucky +chances presented themselves, and he expected them all. Yes, it was like +a dream in which a man fancies that a ruffian is coming to attack him, +and raises his arm to strike that ruffian a terrible blow which he knows +should annihilate him, but then feels that his arm drops powerless and +limp like a rag, and the horror of unavoidable destruction seizes him in +his helplessness. + +The news that the Russians were attacking the left flank of the French +army aroused that horror in Napoleon. He sat silently on a campstool +below the knoll, with head bowed and elbows on his knees. Berthier +approached and suggested that they should ride along the line to +ascertain the position of affairs. + +"What? What do you say?" asked Napoleon. "Yes, tell them to bring me my +horse." + +He mounted and rode toward Semenovsk. + +Amid the powder smoke, slowly dispersing over the whole space through +which Napoleon rode, horses and men were lying in pools of blood, singly +or in heaps. Neither Napoleon nor any of his generals had ever before +seen such horrors or so many slain in such a small area. The roar of +guns, that had not ceased for ten hours, wearied the ear and gave a +peculiar significance to the spectacle, as music does to tableaux +vivants. Napoleon rode up the high ground at Semenovsk, and through the +smoke saw ranks of men in uniforms of a color unfamiliar to him. They +were Russians. + +The Russians stood in serried ranks behind Semenovsk village and its +knoll, and their guns boomed incessantly along their line and sent forth +clouds of smoke. It was no longer a battle: it was a continuous +slaughter which could be of no avail either to the French or the +Russians. Napoleon stopped his horse and again fell into the reverie +from which Berthier had aroused him. He could not stop what was going on +before him and around him and was supposed to be directed by him and to +depend on him, and from its lack of success this affair, for the first +time, seemed to him unnecessary and horrible. + +One of the generals rode up to Napoleon and ventured to offer to lead +the Old Guard into action. Ney and Berthier, standing near Napoleon, +exchanged looks and smiled contemptuously at this general's senseless +offer. + +Napoleon bowed his head and remained silent a long time. + +"At eight hundred leagues from France, I will not have my Guard +destroyed!" he said, and turning his horse rode back to Shevardino. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +On the rug-covered bench where Pierre had seen him in the morning sat +Kutuzov, his gray head hanging, his heavy body relaxed. He gave no +orders, but only assented to or dissented from what others suggested. + +"Yes, yes, do that," he replied to various proposals. "Yes, yes: go, +dear boy, and have a look," he would say to one or another of those +about him; or, "No, don't, we'd better wait!" He listened to the reports +that were brought him and gave directions when his subordinates demanded +that of him; but when listening to the reports it seemed as if he were +not interested in the import of the words spoken, but rather in +something else--in the expression of face and tone of voice of those who +were reporting. By long years of military experience he knew, and with +the wisdom of age understood, that it is impossible for one man to +direct hundreds of thousands of others struggling with death, and he +knew that the result of a battle is decided not by the orders of a +commander-in-chief, nor the place where the troops are stationed, nor by +the number of cannon or of slaughtered men, but by that intangible force +called the spirit of the army, and he watched this force and guided it +in as far as that was in his power. + +Kutuzov's general expression was one of concentrated quiet attention, +and his face wore a strained look as if he found it difficult to master +the fatigue of his old and feeble body. + +At eleven o'clock they brought him news that the fleches captured by the +French had been retaken, but that Prince Bagration was wounded. Kutuzov +groaned and swayed his head. + +"Ride over to Prince Peter Ivanovich and find out about it exactly," he +said to one of his adjutants, and then turned to the Duke of Wurttemberg +who was standing behind him. + +"Will Your Highness please take command of the first army?" + +Soon after the duke's departure--before he could possibly have reached +Semenovsk--his adjutant came back from him and told Kutuzov that the +duke asked for more troops. + +Kutuzov made a grimace and sent an order to Dokhturov to take over the +command of the first army, and a request to the duke--whom he said he +could not spare at such an important moment--to return to him. When they +brought him news that Murat had been taken prisoner, and the staff +officers congratulated him, Kutuzov smiled. + +"Wait a little, gentlemen," said he. "The battle is won, and there is +nothing extraordinary in the capture of Murat. Still, it is better to +wait before we rejoice." + +But he sent an adjutant to take the news round the army. + +When Scherbinin came galloping from the left flank with news that the +French had captured the fleches and the village of Semenovsk, Kutuzov, +guessing by the sounds of the battle and by Scherbinin's looks that the +news was bad, rose as if to stretch his legs and, taking Scherbinin's +arm, led him aside. + +"Go, my dear fellow," he said to Ermolov, "and see whether something +can't be done." + +Kutuzov was in Gorki, near the center of the Russian position. The +attack directed by Napoleon against our left flank had been several +times repulsed. In the center the French had not got beyond Borodino, +and on their left flank Uvarov's cavalry had put the French to flight. + +Toward three o'clock the French attacks ceased. On the faces of all who +came from the field of battle, and of those who stood around him, +Kutuzov noticed an expression of extreme tension. He was satisfied with +the day's success--a success exceeding his expectations, but the old +man's strength was failing him. Several times his head dropped low as if +it were falling and he dozed off. Dinner was brought him. + +Adjutant General Wolzogen, the man who when riding past Prince Andrew +had said, "the war should be extended widely," and whom Bagration so +detested, rode up while Kutuzov was at dinner. Wolzogen had come from +Barclay de Tolly to report on the progress of affairs on the left flank. +The sagacious Barclay de Tolly, seeing crowds of wounded men running +back and the disordered rear of the army, weighed all the circumstances, +concluded that the battle was lost, and sent his favorite officer to the +commander in chief with that news. + +Kutuzov was chewing a piece of roast chicken with difficulty and glanced +at Wolzogen with eyes that brightened under their puckering lids. + +Wolzogen, nonchalantly stretching his legs, approached Kutuzov with a +half-contemptuous smile on his lips, scarcely touching the peak of his +cap. + +He treated his Serene Highness with a somewhat affected nonchalance +intended to show that, as a highly trained military man, he left it to +Russians to make an idol of this useless old man, but that he knew whom +he was dealing with. "Der alte Herr" (as in their own set the Germans +called Kutuzov) "is making himself very comfortable," thought Wolzogen, +and looking severely at the dishes in front of Kutuzov he began to +report to "the old gentleman" the position of affairs on the left flank +as Barclay had ordered him to and as he himself had seen and understood +it. + +"All the points of our position are in the enemy's hands and we cannot +dislodge them for lack of troops, the men are running away and it is +impossible to stop them," he reported. + +Kutuzov ceased chewing and fixed an astonished gaze on Wolzogen, as if +not understanding what was said to him. Wolzogen, noticing "the old +gentleman's" agitation, said with a smile: + +"I have not considered it right to conceal from your Serene Highness +what I have seen. The troops are in complete disorder..." + +"You have seen? You have seen?..." Kutuzov shouted. Frowning and rising +quickly, he went up to Wolzogen. + +"How... how dare you!..." he shouted, choking and making a threatening +gesture with his trembling arms: "How dare you, sir, say that to me? You +know nothing about it. Tell General Barclay from me that his information +is incorrect and that the real course of the battle is better known to +me, the commander-in-chief, than to him." + +Wolzogen was about to make a rejoinder, but Kutuzov interrupted him. + +"The enemy has been repulsed on the left and defeated on the right +flank. If you have seen amiss, sir, do not allow yourself to say what +you don't know! Be so good as to ride to General Barclay and inform him +of my firm intention to attack the enemy tomorrow," said Kutuzov +sternly. + +All were silent, and the only sound audible was the heavy breathing of +the panting old general. + +"They are repulsed everywhere, for which I thank God and our brave army! +The enemy is beaten, and tomorrow we shall drive him from the sacred +soil of Russia," said Kutuzov crossing himself, and he suddenly sobbed +as his eyes filled with tears. + +Wolzogen, shrugging his shoulders and curling his lips, stepped silently +aside, marveling at "the old gentleman's" conceited stupidity. + +"Ah, here he is, my hero!" said Kutuzov to a portly, handsome, dark- +haired general who was just ascending the knoll. + +This was Raevski, who had spent the whole day at the most important part +of the field of Borodino. + +Raevski reported that the troops were firmly holding their ground and +that the French no longer ventured to attack. + +After hearing him, Kutuzov said in French: + +"Then you do not think, like some others, that we must retreat?" + +"On the contrary, your Highness, in indecisive actions it is always the +most stubborn who remain victors," replied Raevski, "and in my +opinion..." + +"Kaysarov!" Kutuzov called to his adjutant. "Sit down and write out the +order of the day for tomorrow. And you," he continued, addressing +another, "ride along the line and announce that tomorrow we attack." + +While Kutuzov was talking to Raevski and dictating the order of the day, +Wolzogen returned from Barclay and said that General Barclay wished to +have written confirmation of the order the field marshal had given. + +Kutuzov, without looking at Wolzogen, gave directions for the order to +be written out which the former commander-in-chief, to avoid personal +responsibility, very judiciously wished to receive. + +And by means of that mysterious indefinable bond which maintains +throughout an army one and the same temper, known as "the spirit of the +army," and which constitutes the sinew of war, Kutuzov's words, his +order for a battle next day, immediately became known from one end of +the army to the other. + +It was far from being the same words or the same order that reached the +farthest links of that chain. The tales passing from mouth to mouth at +different ends of the army did not even resemble what Kutuzov had said, +but the sense of his words spread everywhere because what he said was +not the outcome of cunning calculations, but of a feeling that lay in +the commander-in-chief's soul as in that of every Russian. + +And on learning that tomorrow they were to attack the enemy, and hearing +from the highest quarters a confirmation of what they wanted to believe, +the exhausted, wavering men felt comforted and inspirited. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +Prince Andrew's regiment was among the reserves which till after one +o'clock were stationed inactive behind Semenovsk, under heavy artillery +fire. Toward two o'clock the regiment, having already lost more than two +hundred men, was moved forward into a trampled oatfield in the gap +between Semenovsk and the Knoll Battery, where thousands of men perished +that day and on which an intense, concentrated fire from several hundred +enemy guns was directed between one and two o'clock. + +Without moving from that spot or firing a single shot the regiment here +lost another third of its men. From in front and especially from the +right, in the unlifting smoke the guns boomed, and out of the mysterious +domain of smoke that overlay the whole space in front, quick hissing +cannon balls and slow whistling shells flew unceasingly. At times, as if +to allow them a respite, a quarter of an hour passed during which the +cannon balls and shells all flew overhead, but sometimes several men +were torn from the regiment in a minute and the slain were continually +being dragged away and the wounded carried off. + +With each fresh blow less and less chance of life remained for those not +yet killed. The regiment stood in columns of battalion, three hundred +paces apart, but nevertheless the men were always in one and the same +mood. All alike were taciturn and morose. Talk was rarely heard in the +ranks, and it ceased altogether every time the thud of a successful shot +and the cry of "stretchers!" was heard. Most of the time, by their +officers' order, the men sat on the ground. One, having taken off his +shako, carefully loosened the gathers of its lining and drew them tight +again; another, rubbing some dry clay between his palms, polished his +bayonet; another fingered the strap and pulled the buckle of his +bandolier, while another smoothed and refolded his leg bands and put his +boots on again. Some built little houses of the tufts in the plowed +ground, or plaited baskets from the straw in the cornfield. All seemed +fully absorbed in these pursuits. When men were killed or wounded, when +rows of stretchers went past, when some troops retreated, and when great +masses of the enemy came into view through the smoke, no one paid any +attention to these things. But when our artillery or cavalry advanced or +some of our infantry were seen to move forward, words of approval were +heard on all sides. But the liveliest attention was attracted by +occurrences quite apart from, and unconnected with, the battle. It was +as if the minds of these morally exhausted men found relief in everyday, +commonplace occurrences. A battery of artillery was passing in front of +the regiment. The horse of an ammunition cart put its leg over a trace. +"Hey, look at the trace horse!... Get her leg out! She'll fall.... Ah, +they don't see it!" came identical shouts from the ranks all along the +regiment. Another time, general attention was attracted by a small brown +dog, coming heaven knows whence, which trotted in a preoccupied manner +in front of the ranks with tail stiffly erect till suddenly a shell fell +close by, when it yelped, tucked its tail between its legs, and darted +aside. Yells and shrieks of laughter rose from the whole regiment. But +such distractions lasted only a moment, and for eight hours the men had +been inactive, without food, in constant fear of death, and their pale +and gloomy faces grew ever paler and gloomier. + +Prince Andrew, pale and gloomy like everyone in the regiment, paced up +and down from the border of one patch to another, at the edge of the +meadow beside an oatfield, with head bowed and arms behind his back. +There was nothing for him to do and no orders to be given. Everything +went on of itself. The killed were dragged from the front, the wounded +carried away, and the ranks closed up. If any soldiers ran to the rear +they returned immediately and hastily. At first Prince Andrew, +considering it his duty to rouse the courage of the men and to set them +an example, walked about among the ranks, but he soon became convinced +that this was unnecessary and that there was nothing he could teach +them. All the powers of his soul, as of every soldier there, were +unconsciously bent on avoiding the contemplation of the horrors of their +situation. He walked along the meadow, dragging his feet, rustling the +grass, and gazing at the dust that covered his boots; now he took big +strides trying to keep to the footprints left on the meadow by the +mowers, then he counted his steps, calculating how often he must walk +from one strip to another to walk a mile, then he stripped the flowers +from the wormwood that grew along a boundary rut, rubbed them in his +palms, and smelled their pungent, sweetly bitter scent. Nothing remained +of the previous day's thoughts. He thought of nothing. He listened with +weary ears to the ever-recurring sounds, distinguishing the whistle of +flying projectiles from the booming of the reports, glanced at the +tiresomely familiar faces of the men of the first battalion, and waited. +"Here it comes... this one is coming our way again!" he thought, +listening to an approaching whistle in the hidden region of smoke. "One, +another! Again! It has hit...." He stopped and looked at the ranks. "No, +it has gone over. But this one has hit!" And again he started trying to +reach the boundary strip in sixteen paces. A whizz and a thud! Five +paces from him, a cannon ball tore up the dry earth and disappeared. A +chill ran down his back. Again he glanced at the ranks. Probably many +had been hit--a large crowd had gathered near the second battalion. + +"Adjutant!" he shouted. "Order them not to crowd together." + +The adjutant, having obeyed this instruction, approached Prince Andrew. +From the other side a battalion commander rode up. + +"Look out!" came a frightened cry from a soldier and, like a bird +whirring in rapid flight and alighting on the ground, a shell dropped +with little noise within two steps of Prince Andrew and close to the +battalion commander's horse. The horse first, regardless of whether it +was right or wrong to show fear, snorted, reared almost throwing the +major, and galloped aside. The horse's terror infected the men. + +"Lie down!" cried the adjutant, throwing himself flat on the ground. + +Prince Andrew hesitated. The smoking shell spun like a top between him +and the prostrate adjutant, near a wormwood plant between the field and +the meadow. + +"Can this be death?" thought Prince Andrew, looking with a quite new, +envious glance at the grass, the wormwood, and the streamlet of smoke +that curled up from the rotating black ball. "I cannot, I do not wish to +die. I love life--I love this grass, this earth, this air...." He +thought this, and at the same time remembered that people were looking +at him. + +"It's shameful, sir!" he said to the adjutant. "What..." + +He did not finish speaking. At one and the same moment came the sound of +an explosion, a whistle of splinters as from a breaking window frame, a +suffocating smell of powder, and Prince Andrew started to one side, +raising his arm, and fell on his chest. Several officers ran up to him. +From the right side of his abdomen, blood was welling out making a large +stain on the grass. + +The militiamen with stretchers who were called up stood behind the +officers. Prince Andrew lay on his chest with his face in the grass, +breathing heavily and noisily. + +"What are you waiting for? Come along!" + +The peasants went up and took him by his shoulders and legs, but he +moaned piteously and, exchanging looks, they set him down again. + +"Pick him up, lift him, it's all the same!" cried someone. + +They again took him by the shoulders and laid him on the stretcher. + +"Ah, God! My God! What is it? The stomach? That means death! My God!"-- +voices among the officers were heard saying. + +"It flew a hair's breadth past my ear," said the adjutant. + +The peasants, adjusting the stretcher to their shoulders, started +hurriedly along the path they had trodden down, to the dressing station. + +"Keep in step! Ah... those peasants!" shouted an officer, seizing by +their shoulders and checking the peasants, who were walking unevenly and +jolting the stretcher. + +"Get into step, Fedor... I say, Fedor!" said the foremost peasant. + +"Now that's right!" said the one behind joyfully, when he had got into +step. + +"Your excellency! Eh, Prince!" said the trembling voice of Timokhin, who +had run up and was looking down on the stretcher. + +Prince Andrew opened his eyes and looked up at the speaker from the +stretcher into which his head had sunk deep and again his eyelids +drooped. + +The militiamen carried Prince Andrew to the dressing station by the +wood, where wagons were stationed. The dressing station consisted of +three tents with flaps turned back, pitched at the edge of a birch wood. +In the wood, wagons and horses were standing. The horses were eating +oats from their movable troughs and sparrows flew down and pecked the +grains that fell. Some crows, scenting blood, flew among the birch trees +cawing impatiently. Around the tents, over more than five acres, +bloodstained men in various garbs stood, sat, or lay. Around the wounded +stood crowds of soldier stretcher-bearers with dismal and attentive +faces, whom the officers keeping order tried in vain to drive from the +spot. Disregarding the officers' orders, the soldiers stood leaning +against their stretchers and gazing intently, as if trying to comprehend +the difficult problem of what was taking place before them. From the +tents came now loud angry cries and now plaintive groans. Occasionally +dressers ran out to fetch water, or to point out those who were to be +brought in next. The wounded men awaiting their turn outside the tents +groaned, sighed, wept, screamed, swore, or asked for vodka. Some were +delirious. Prince Andrew's bearers, stepping over the wounded who had +not yet been bandaged, took him, as a regimental commander, close up to +one of the tents and there stopped, awaiting instructions. Prince Andrew +opened his eyes and for a long time could not make out what was going on +around him. He remembered the meadow, the wormwood, the field, the +whirling black ball, and his sudden rush of passionate love of life. Two +steps from him, leaning against a branch and talking loudly and +attracting general attention, stood a tall, handsome, black-haired +noncommissioned officer with a bandaged head. He had been wounded in the +head and leg by bullets. Around him, eagerly listening to his talk, a +crowd of wounded and stretcher-bearers was gathered. + +"We kicked him out from there so that he chucked everything, we grabbed +the King himself!" cried he, looking around him with eyes that glittered +with fever. "If only reserves had come up just then, lads, there +wouldn't have been nothing left of him! I tell you surely..." + +Like all the others near the speaker, Prince Andrew looked at him with +shining eyes and experienced a sense of comfort. "But isn't it all the +same now?" thought he. "And what will be there, and what has there been +here? Why was I so reluctant to part with life? There was something in +this life I did not and do not understand." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +One of the doctors came out of the tent in a bloodstained apron, holding +a cigar between the thumb and little finger of one of his small +bloodstained hands, so as not to smear it. He raised his head and looked +about him, but above the level of the wounded men. He evidently wanted a +little respite. After turning his head from right to left for some time, +he sighed and looked down. + +"All right, immediately," he replied to a dresser who pointed Prince +Andrew out to him, and he told them to carry him into the tent. + +Murmurs arose among the wounded who were waiting. + +"It seems that even in the next world only the gentry are to have a +chance!" remarked one. + +Prince Andrew was carried in and laid on a table that had only just been +cleared and which a dresser was washing down. Prince Andrew could not +make out distinctly what was in that tent. The pitiful groans from all +sides and the torturing pain in his thigh, stomach, and back distracted +him. All he saw about him merged into a general impression of naked, +bleeding human bodies that seemed to fill the whole of the low tent, as +a few weeks previously, on that hot August day, such bodies had filled +the dirty pond beside the Smolensk road. Yes, it was the same flesh, the +same chair a canon, the sight of which had even then filled him with +horror, as by a presentiment. + +There were three operating tables in the tent. Two were occupied, and on +the third they placed Prince Andrew. For a little while he was left +alone and involuntarily witnessed what was taking place on the other two +tables. On the nearest one sat a Tartar, probably a Cossack, judging by +the uniform thrown down beside him. Four soldiers were holding him, and +a spectacled doctor was cutting into his muscular brown back. + +"Ooh, ooh, ooh!" grunted the Tartar, and suddenly lifting up his swarthy +snub-nosed face with its high cheekbones, and baring his white teeth, he +began to wriggle and twitch his body and utter piercing, ringing, and +prolonged yells. On the other table, round which many people were +crowding, a tall well-fed man lay on his back with his head thrown back. +His curly hair, its color, and the shape of his head seemed strangely +familiar to Prince Andrew. Several dressers were pressing on his chest +to hold him down. One large, white, plump leg twitched rapidly all the +time with a feverish tremor. The man was sobbing and choking +convulsively. Two doctors--one of whom was pale and trembling--were +silently doing something to this man's other, gory leg. When he had +finished with the Tartar, whom they covered with an overcoat, the +spectacled doctor came up to Prince Andrew, wiping his hands. + +He glanced at Prince Andrew's face and quickly turned away. + +"Undress him! What are you waiting for?" he cried angrily to the +dressers. + +His very first, remotest recollections of childhood came back to Prince +Andrew's mind when the dresser with sleeves rolled up began hastily to +undo the buttons of his clothes and undressed him. The doctor bent down +over the wound, felt it, and sighed deeply. Then he made a sign to +someone, and the torturing pain in his abdomen caused Prince Andrew to +lose consciousness. When he came to himself the splintered portions of +his thighbone had been extracted, the torn flesh cut away, and the wound +bandaged. Water was being sprinkled on his face. As soon as Prince +Andrew opened his eyes, the doctor bent over, kissed him silently on the +lips, and hurried away. + +After the sufferings he had been enduring, Prince Andrew enjoyed a +blissful feeling such as he had not experienced for a long time. All the +best and happiest moments of his life--especially his earliest +childhood, when he used to be undressed and put to bed, and when leaning +over him his nurse sang him to sleep and he, burying his head in the +pillow, felt happy in the mere consciousness of life--returned to his +memory, not merely as something past but as something present. + +The doctors were busily engaged with the wounded man the shape of whose +head seemed familiar to Prince Andrew: they were lifting him up and +trying to quiet him. + +"Show it to me.... Oh, ooh... Oh! Oh, ooh!" his frightened moans could +be heard, subdued by suffering and broken by sobs. + +Hearing those moans Prince Andrew wanted to weep. Whether because he was +dying without glory, or because he was sorry to part with life, or +because of those memories of a childhood that could not return, or +because he was suffering and others were suffering and that man near him +was groaning so piteously--he felt like weeping childlike, kindly, and +almost happy tears. + +The wounded man was shown his amputated leg stained with clotted blood +and with the boot still on. + +"Oh! Oh, ooh!" he sobbed, like a woman. + +The doctor who had been standing beside him, preventing Prince Andrew +from seeing his face, moved away. + +"My God! What is this? Why is he here?" said Prince Andrew to himself. + +In the miserable, sobbing, enfeebled man whose leg had just been +amputated, he recognized Anatole Kuragin. Men were supporting him in +their arms and offering him a glass of water, but his trembling, swollen +lips could not grasp its rim. Anatole was sobbing painfully. "Yes, it is +he! Yes, that man is somehow closely and painfully connected with me," +thought Prince Andrew, not yet clearly grasping what he saw before him. +"What is the connection of that man with my childhood and life?" he +asked himself without finding an answer. And suddenly a new unexpected +memory from that realm of pure and loving childhood presented itself to +him. He remembered Natasha as he had seen her for the first time at the +ball in 1810, with her slender neck and arms and with a frightened happy +face ready for rapture, and love and tenderness for her, stronger and +more vivid than ever, awoke in his soul. He now remembered the +connection that existed between himself and this man who was dimly +gazing at him through tears that filled his swollen eyes. He remembered +everything, and ecstatic pity and love for that man overflowed his happy +heart. + +Prince Andrew could no longer restrain himself and wept tender loving +tears for his fellow men, for himself, and for his own and their errors. + +"Compassion, love of our brothers, for those who love us and for those +who hate us, love of our enemies; yes, that love which God preached on +earth and which Princess Mary taught me and I did not understand--that +is what made me sorry to part with life, that is what remained for me +had I lived. But now it is too late. I know it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +The terrible spectacle of the battlefield covered with dead and wounded, +together with the heaviness of his head and the news that some twenty +generals he knew personally had been killed or wounded, and the +consciousness of the impotence of his once mighty arm, produced an +unexpected impression on Napoleon who usually liked to look at the +killed and wounded, thereby, he considered, testing his strength of +mind. This day the horrible appearance of the battlefield overcame that +strength of mind which he thought constituted his merit and his +greatness. He rode hurriedly from the battlefield and returned to the +Shevardino knoll, where he sat on his campstool, his sallow face swollen +and heavy, his eyes dim, his nose red, and his voice hoarse, +involuntarily listening, with downcast eyes, to the sounds of firing. +With painful dejection he awaited the end of this action, in which he +regarded himself as a participant and which he was unable to arrest. A +personal, human feeling for a brief moment got the better of the +artificial phantasm of life he had served so long. He felt in his own +person the sufferings and death he had witnessed on the battlefield. The +heaviness of his head and chest reminded him of the possibility of +suffering and death for himself. At that moment he did not desire +Moscow, or victory, or glory (what need had he for any more glory?). The +one thing he wished for was rest, tranquillity, and freedom. But when he +had been on the Semenovsk heights the artillery commander had proposed +to him to bring several batteries of artillery up to those heights to +strengthen the fire on the Russian troops crowded in front of Knyazkovo. +Napoleon had assented and had given orders that news should be brought +to him of the effect those batteries produced. + +An adjutant came now to inform him that the fire of two hundred guns had +been concentrated on the Russians, as he had ordered, but that they +still held their ground. + +"Our fire is mowing them down by rows, but still they hold on," said the +adjutant. + +"They want more!..." said Napoleon in a hoarse voice. + +"Sire?" asked the adjutant who had not heard the remark. + +"They want more!" croaked Napoleon frowning. "Let them have it!" + +Even before he gave that order the thing he did not desire, and for +which he gave the order only because he thought it was expected of him, +was being done. And he fell back into that artificial realm of imaginary +greatness, and again--as a horse walking a treadmill thinks it is doing +something for itself--he submissively fulfilled the cruel, sad, gloomy, +and inhuman role predestined for him. + +And not for that day and hour alone were the mind and conscience +darkened of this man on whom the responsibility for what was happening +lay more than on all the others who took part in it. Never to the end of +his life could he understand goodness, beauty, or truth, or the +significance of his actions which were too contrary to goodness and +truth, too remote from everything human, for him ever to be able to +grasp their meaning. He could not disavow his actions, belauded as they +were by half the world, and so he had to repudiate truth, goodness, and +all humanity. + +Not only on that day, as he rode over the battlefield strewn with men +killed and maimed (by his will as he believed), did he reckon as he +looked at them how many Russians there were for each Frenchman and, +deceiving himself, find reason for rejoicing in the calculation that +there were five Russians for every Frenchman. Not on that day alone did +he write in a letter to Paris that "the battle field was superb," +because fifty thousand corpses lay there, but even on the island of St. +Helena in the peaceful solitude where he said he intended to devote his +leisure to an account of the great deeds he had done, he wrote: + +The Russian war should have been the most popular war of modern times: +it was a war of good sense, for real interests, for the tranquillity and +security of all; it was purely pacific and conservative. + +It was a war for a great cause, the end of uncertainties and the +beginning of security. A new horizon and new labors were opening out, +full of well-being and prosperity for all. The European system was +already founded; all that remained was to organize it. + +Satisfied on these great points and with tranquility everywhere, I too +should have had my Congress and my Holy Alliance. Those ideas were +stolen from me. In that reunion of great sovereigns we should have +discussed our interests like one family, and have rendered account to +the peoples as clerk to master. + +Europe would in this way soon have been, in fact, but one people, and +anyone who traveled anywhere would have found himself always in the +common fatherland. I should have demanded the freedom of all navigable +rivers for everybody, that the seas should be common to all, and that +the great standing armies should be reduced henceforth to mere guards +for the sovereigns. + +On returning to France, to the bosom of the great, strong, magnificent, +peaceful, and glorious fatherland, I should have proclaimed her +frontiers immutable; all future wars purely defensive, all +aggrandizement antinational. I should have associated my son in the +Empire; my dictatorship would have been finished, and his constitutional +reign would have begun. + +Paris would have been the capital of the world, and the French the envy +of the nations! + +My leisure then, and my old age, would have been devoted, in company +with the Empress and during the royal apprenticeship of my son, to +leisurely visiting, with our own horses and like a true country couple, +every corner of the Empire, receiving complaints, redressing wrongs, and +scattering public buildings and benefactions on all sides and +everywhere. + +Napoleon, predestined by Providence for the gloomy role of executioner +of the peoples, assured himself that the aim of his actions had been the +peoples' welfare and that he could control the fate of millions and by +the employment of power confer benefactions. + +"Of four hundred thousand who crossed the Vistula," he wrote further of +the Russian war, "half were Austrians, Prussians, Saxons, Poles, +Bavarians, Wurttembergers, Mecklenburgers, Spaniards, Italians, and +Neapolitans. The Imperial army, strictly speaking, was one third +composed of Dutch, Belgians, men from the borders of the Rhine, +Piedmontese, Swiss, Genevese, Tuscans, Romans, inhabitants of the +Thirty-second Military Division, of Bremen, of Hamburg, and so on: it +included scarcely a hundred and forty thousand who spoke French. The +Russian expedition actually cost France less than fifty thousand men; +the Russian army in its retreat from Vilna to Moscow lost in the various +battles four times more men than the French army; the burning of Moscow +cost the lives of a hundred thousand Russians who died of cold and want +in the woods; finally, in its march from Moscow to the Oder the Russian +army also suffered from the severity of the season; so that by the time +it reached Vilna it numbered only fifty thousand, and at Kalisch less +than eighteen thousand." + +He imagined that the war with Russia came about by his will, and the +horrors that occurred did not stagger his soul. He boldly took the whole +responsibility for what happened, and his darkened mind found +justification in the belief that among the hundreds of thousands who +perished there were fewer Frenchmen than Hessians and Bavarians. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +Several tens of thousands of the slain lay in diverse postures and +various uniforms on the fields and meadows belonging to the Davydov +family and to the crown serfs--those fields and meadows where for +hundreds of years the peasants of Borodino, Gorki, Shevardino, and +Semenovsk had reaped their harvests and pastured their cattle. At the +dressing stations the grass and earth were soaked with blood for a space +of some three acres around. Crowds of men of various arms, wounded and +unwounded, with frightened faces, dragged themselves back to Mozhaysk +from the one army and back to Valuevo from the other. Other crowds, +exhausted and hungry, went forward led by their officers. Others held +their ground and continued to fire. + +Over the whole field, previously so gaily beautiful with the glitter of +bayonets and cloudlets of smoke in the morning sun, there now spread a +mist of damp and smoke and a strange acid smell of saltpeter and blood. +Clouds gathered and drops of rain began to fall on the dead and wounded, +on the frightened, exhausted, and hesitating men, as if to say: "Enough, +men! Enough! Cease... bethink yourselves! What are you doing?" + +To the men of both sides alike, worn out by want of food and rest, it +began equally to appear doubtful whether they should continue to +slaughter one another; all the faces expressed hesitation, and the +question arose in every soul: "For what, for whom, must I kill and be +killed?... You may go and kill whom you please, but I don't want to do +so anymore!" By evening this thought had ripened in every soul. At any +moment these men might have been seized with horror at what they were +doing and might have thrown up everything and run away anywhere. + +But though toward the end of the battle the men felt all the horror of +what they were doing, though they would have been glad to leave off, +some incomprehensible, mysterious power continued to control them, and +they still brought up the charges, loaded, aimed, and applied the match, +though only one artilleryman survived out of every three, and though +they stumbled and panted with fatigue, perspiring and stained with blood +and powder. The cannon balls flew just as swiftly and cruelly from both +sides, crushing human bodies, and that terrible work which was not done +by the will of a man but at the will of Him who governs men and worlds +continued. + +Anyone looking at the disorganized rear of the Russian army would have +said that, if only the French made one more slight effort, it would +disappear; and anyone looking at the rear of the French army would have +said that the Russians need only make one more slight effort and the +French would be destroyed. But neither the French nor the Russians made +that effort, and the flame of battle burned slowly out. + +The Russians did not make that effort because they were not attacking +the French. At the beginning of the battle they stood blocking the way +to Moscow and they still did so at the end of the battle as at the +beginning. But even had the aim of the Russians been to drive the French +from their positions, they could not have made this last effort, for all +the Russian troops had been broken up, there was no part of the Russian +army that had not suffered in the battle, and though still holding their +positions they had lost ONE HALF of their army. + +The French, with the memory of all their former victories during fifteen +years, with the assurance of Napoleon's invincibility, with the +consciousness that they had captured part of the battlefield and had +lost only a quarter of their men and still had their Guards intact, +twenty thousand strong, might easily have made that effort. The French +who had attacked the Russian army in order to drive it from its position +ought to have made that effort, for as long as the Russians continued to +block the road to Moscow as before, the aim of the French had not been +attained and all their efforts and losses were in vain. But the French +did not make that effort. Some historians say that Napoleon need only +have used his Old Guards, who were intact, and the battle would have +been won. To speak of what would have happened had Napoleon sent his +Guards is like talking of what would happen if autumn became spring. It +could not be. Napoleon did not give his Guards, not because he did not +want to, but because it could not be done. All the generals, officers, +and soldiers of the French army knew it could not be done, because the +flagging spirit of the troops would not permit it. + +It was not Napoleon alone who had experienced that nightmare feeling of +the mighty arm being stricken powerless, but all the generals and +soldiers of his army whether they had taken part in the battle or not, +after all their experience of previous battles--when after one tenth of +such efforts the enemy had fled--experienced a similar feeling of terror +before an enemy who, after losing HALF his men, stood as threateningly +at the end as at the beginning of the battle. The moral force of the +attacking French army was exhausted. Not that sort of victory which is +defined by the capture of pieces of material fastened to sticks, called +standards, and of the ground on which the troops had stood and were +standing, but a moral victory that convinces the enemy of the moral +superiority of his opponent and of his own impotence was gained by the +Russians at Borodino. The French invaders, like an infuriated animal +that has in its onslaught received a mortal wound, felt that they were +perishing, but could not stop, any more than the Russian army, weaker by +one half, could help swerving. By impetus gained, the French army was +still able to roll forward to Moscow, but there, without further effort +on the part of the Russians, it had to perish, bleeding from the mortal +wound it had received at Borodino. The direct consequence of the battle +of Borodino was Napoleon's senseless flight from Moscow, his retreat +along the old Smolensk road, the destruction of the invading army of +five hundred thousand men, and the downfall of Napoleonic France, on +which at Borodino for the first time the hand of an opponent of stronger +spirit had been laid. + +BOOK ELEVEN: 1812 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Absolute continuity of motion is not comprehensible to the human mind. +Laws of motion of any kind become comprehensible to man only when he +examines arbitrarily selected elements of that motion; but at the same +time, a large proportion of human error comes from the arbitrary +division of continuous motion into discontinuous elements. There is a +well known, so-called sophism of the ancients consisting in this, that +Achilles could never catch up with a tortoise he was following, in spite +of the fact that he traveled ten times as fast as the tortoise. By the +time Achilles has covered the distance that separated him from the +tortoise, the tortoise has covered one tenth of that distance ahead of +him: when Achilles has covered that tenth, the tortoise has covered +another one hundredth, and so on forever. This problem seemed to the +ancients insoluble. The absurd answer (that Achilles could never +overtake the tortoise) resulted from this: that motion was arbitrarily +divided into discontinuous elements, whereas the motion both of Achilles +and of the tortoise was continuous. + +By adopting smaller and smaller elements of motion we only approach a +solution of the problem, but never reach it. Only when we have admitted +the conception of the infinitely small, and the resulting geometrical +progression with a common ratio of one tenth, and have found the sum of +this progression to infinity, do we reach a solution of the problem. + +A modern branch of mathematics having achieved the art of dealing with +the infinitely small can now yield solutions in other more complex +problems of motion which used to appear insoluble. + +This modern branch of mathematics, unknown to the ancients, when dealing +with problems of motion admits the conception of the infinitely small, +and so conforms to the chief condition of motion (absolute continuity) +and thereby corrects the inevitable error which the human mind cannot +avoid when it deals with separate elements of motion instead of +examining continuous motion. + +In seeking the laws of historical movement just the same thing happens. +The movement of humanity, arising as it does from innumerable arbitrary +human wills, is continuous. + +To understand the laws of this continuous movement is the aim of +history. But to arrive at these laws, resulting from the sum of all +those human wills, man's mind postulates arbitrary and disconnected +units. The first method of history is to take an arbitrarily selected +series of continuous events and examine it apart from others, though +there is and can be no beginning to any event, for one event always +flows uninterruptedly from another. + +The second method is to consider the actions of some one man--a king or +a commander--as equivalent to the sum of many individual wills; whereas +the sum of individual wills is never expressed by the activity of a +single historic personage. + +Historical science in its endeavor to draw nearer to truth continually +takes smaller and smaller units for examination. But however small the +units it takes, we feel that to take any unit disconnected from others, +or to assume a beginning of any phenomenon, or to say that the will of +many men is expressed by the actions of any one historic personage, is +in itself false. + +It needs no critical exertion to reduce utterly to dust any deductions +drawn from history. It is merely necessary to select some larger or +smaller unit as the subject of observation--as criticism has every right +to do, seeing that whatever unit history observes must always be +arbitrarily selected. + +Only by taking infinitesimally small units for observation (the +differential of history, that is, the individual tendencies of men) and +attaining to the art of integrating them (that is, finding the sum of +these infinitesimals) can we hope to arrive at the laws of history. + +The first fifteen years of the nineteenth century in Europe present an +extraordinary movement of millions of people. Men leave their customary +pursuits, hasten from one side of Europe to the other, plunder and +slaughter one another, triumph and are plunged in despair, and for some +years the whole course of life is altered and presents an intensive +movement which first increases and then slackens. What was the cause of +this movement, by what laws was it governed? asks the mind of man. + +The historians, replying to this question, lay before us the sayings and +doings of a few dozen men in a building in the city of Paris, calling +these sayings and doings "the Revolution"; then they give a detailed +biography of Napoleon and of certain people favorable or hostile to him; +tell of the influence some of these people had on others, and say: that +is why this movement took place and those are its laws. + +But the mind of man not only refuses to believe this explanation, but +plainly says that this method of explanation is fallacious, because in +it a weaker phenomenon is taken as the cause of a stronger. The sum of +human wills produced the Revolution and Napoleon, and only the sum of +those wills first tolerated and then destroyed them. + +"But every time there have been conquests there have been conquerors; +every time there has been a revolution in any state there have been +great men," says history. And, indeed, human reason replies: every time +conquerors appear there have been wars, but this does not prove that the +conquerors caused the wars and that it is possible to find the laws of a +war in the personal activity of a single man. Whenever I look at my +watch and its hands point to ten, I hear the bells of the neighboring +church; but because the bells begin to ring when the hands of the clock +reach ten, I have no right to assume that the movement of the bells is +caused by the position of the hands of the watch. + +Whenever I see the movement of a locomotive I hear the whistle and see +the valves opening and wheels turning; but I have no right to conclude +that the whistling and the turning of wheels are the cause of the +movement of the engine. + +The peasants say that a cold wind blows in late spring because the oaks +are budding, and really every spring cold winds do blow when the oak is +budding. But though I do not know what causes the cold winds to blow +when the oak buds unfold, I cannot agree with the peasants that the +unfolding of the oak buds is the cause of the cold wind, for the force +of the wind is beyond the influence of the buds. I see only a +coincidence of occurrences such as happens with all the phenomena of +life, and I see that however much and however carefully I observe the +hands of the watch, and the valves and wheels of the engine, and the +oak, I shall not discover the cause of the bells ringing, the engine +moving, or of the winds of spring. To that I must entirely change my +point of view and study the laws of the movement of steam, of the bells, +and of the wind. History must do the same. And attempts in this +direction have already been made. + +To study the laws of history we must completely change the subject of +our observation, must leave aside kings, ministers, and generals, and +study the common, infinitesimally small elements by which the masses are +moved. No one can say in how far it is possible for man to advance in +this way toward an understanding of the laws of history; but it is +evident that only along that path does the possibility of discovering +the laws of history lie, and that as yet not a millionth part as much +mental effort has been applied in this direction by historians as has +been devoted to describing the actions of various kings, commanders, and +ministers and propounding the historians' own reflections concerning +these actions. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +The forces of a dozen European nations burst into Russia. The Russian +army and people avoided a collision till Smolensk was reached, and again +from Smolensk to Borodino. The French army pushed on to Moscow, its +goal, its impetus ever increasing as it neared its aim, just as the +velocity of a falling body increases as it approaches the earth. Behind +it were seven hundred miles of hunger-stricken, hostile country; ahead +were a few dozen miles separating it from its goal. Every soldier in +Napoleon's army felt this and the invasion moved on by its own momentum. + +The more the Russian army retreated the more fiercely a spirit of hatred +of the enemy flared up, and while it retreated the army increased and +consolidated. At Borodino a collision took place. Neither army was +broken up, but the Russian army retreated immediately after the +collision as inevitably as a ball recoils after colliding with another +having a greater momentum, and with equal inevitability the ball of +invasion that had advanced with such momentum rolled on for some +distance, though the collision had deprived it of all its force. + +The Russians retreated eighty miles--to beyond Moscow--and the French +reached Moscow and there came to a standstill. For five weeks after that +there was not a single battle. The French did not move. As a bleeding, +mortally wounded animal licks its wounds, they remained inert in Moscow +for five weeks, and then suddenly, with no fresh reason, fled back: they +made a dash for the Kaluga road, and (after a victory--for at Malo- +Yaroslavets the field of conflict again remained theirs) without +undertaking a single serious battle, they fled still more rapidly back +to Smolensk, beyond Smolensk, beyond the Berezina, beyond Vilna, and +farther still. + +On the evening of the twenty-sixth of August, Kutuzov and the whole +Russian army were convinced that the battle of Borodino was a victory. +Kutuzov reported so to the Emperor. He gave orders to prepare for a +fresh conflict to finish the enemy and did this not to deceive anyone, +but because he knew that the enemy was beaten, as everyone who had taken +part in the battle knew it. + +But all that evening and next day reports came in one after another of +unheard-of losses, of the loss of half the army, and a fresh battle +proved physically impossible. + +It was impossible to give battle before information had been collected, +the wounded gathered in, the supplies of ammunition replenished, the +slain reckoned up, new officers appointed to replace those who had been +killed, and before the men had had food and sleep. And meanwhile, the +very next morning after the battle, the French army advanced of itself +upon the Russians, carried forward by the force of its own momentum now +seemingly increased in inverse proportion to the square of the distance +from its aim. Kutuzov's wish was to attack next day, and the whole army +desired to do so. But to make an attack the wish to do so is not +sufficient, there must also be a possibility of doing it, and that +possibility did not exist. It was impossible not to retreat a day's +march, and then in the same way it was impossible not to retreat another +and a third day's march, and at last, on the first of September when the +army drew near Moscow--despite the strength of the feeling that had +arisen in all ranks--the force of circumstances compelled it to retire +beyond Moscow. And the troops retired one more, last, day's march, and +abandoned Moscow to the enemy. + +For people accustomed to think that plans of campaign and battles are +made by generals--as any one of us sitting over a map in his study may +imagine how he would have arranged things in this or that battle--the +questions present themselves: Why did Kutuzov during the retreat not do +this or that? Why did he not take up a position before reaching Fili? +Why did he not retire at once by the Kaluga road, abandoning Moscow? and +so on. People accustomed to think in that way forget, or do not know, +the inevitable conditions which always limit the activities of any +commander in chief. The activity of a commander-in-chief does not at all +resemble the activity we imagine to ourselves when we sit at ease in our +studies examining some campaign on the map, with a certain number of +troops on this and that side in a certain known locality, and begin our +plans from some given moment. A commander-in-chief is never dealing with +the beginning of any event--the position from which we always +contemplate it. The commander-in-chief is always in the midst of a +series of shifting events and so he never can at any moment consider the +whole import of an event that is occurring. Moment by moment the event +is imperceptibly shaping itself, and at every moment of this continuous, +uninterrupted shaping of events the commander-in-chief is in the midst +of a most complex play of intrigues, worries, contingencies, +authorities, projects, counsels, threats, and deceptions and is +continually obliged to reply to innumerable questions addressed to him, +which constantly conflict with one another. + +Learned military authorities quite seriously tell us that Kutuzov should +have moved his army to the Kaluga road long before reaching Fili, and +that somebody actually submitted such a proposal to him. But a commander +in chief, especially at a difficult moment, has always before him not +one proposal but dozens simultaneously. And all these proposals, based +on strategics and tactics, contradict each other. + +A commander-in-chief's business, it would seem, is simply to choose one +of these projects. But even that he cannot do. Events and time do not +wait. For instance, on the twenty-eighth it is suggested to him to cross +to the Kaluga road, but just then an adjutant gallops up from +Miloradovich asking whether he is to engage the French or retire. An +order must be given him at once, that instant. And the order to retreat +carries us past the turn to the Kaluga road. And after the adjutant +comes the commissary general asking where the stores are to be taken, +and the chief of the hospitals asks where the wounded are to go, and a +courier from Petersburg brings a letter from the sovereign which does +not admit of the possibility of abandoning Moscow, and the commander-in- +chief's rival, the man who is undermining him (and there are always not +merely one but several such), presents a new project diametrically +opposed to that of turning to the Kaluga road, and the commander-in- +chief himself needs sleep and refreshment to maintain his energy and a +respectable general who has been overlooked in the distribution of +rewards comes to complain, and the inhabitants of the district pray to +be defended, and an officer sent to inspect the locality comes in and +gives a report quite contrary to what was said by the officer previously +sent; and a spy, a prisoner, and a general who has been on +reconnaissance, all describe the position of the enemy's army +differently. People accustomed to misunderstand or to forget these +inevitable conditions of a commander-in-chief's actions describe to us, +for instance, the position of the army at Fili and assume that the +commander-in-chief could, on the first of September, quite freely decide +whether to abandon Moscow or defend it; whereas, with the Russian army +less than four miles from Moscow, no such question existed. When had +that question been settled? At Drissa and at Smolensk and most palpably +of all on the twenty-fourth of August at Shevardino and on the twenty- +sixth at Borodino, and each day and hour and minute of the retreat from +Borodino to Fili. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +When Ermolov, having been sent by Kutuzov to inspect the position, told +the field marshal that it was impossible to fight there before Moscow +and that they must retreat, Kutuzov looked at him in silence. + +"Give me your hand," said he and, turning it over so as to feel the +pulse, added: "You are not well, my dear fellow. Think what you are +saying!" + +Kutuzov could not yet admit the possibility of retreating beyond Moscow +without a battle. + +On the Poklonny Hill, four miles from the Dorogomilov gate of Moscow, +Kutuzov got out of his carriage and sat down on a bench by the roadside. +A great crowd of generals gathered round him, and Count Rostopchin, who +had come out from Moscow, joined them. This brilliant company separated +into several groups who all discussed the advantages and disadvantages +of the position, the state of the army, the plans suggested, the +situation of Moscow, and military questions generally. Though they had +not been summoned for the purpose, and though it was not so called, they +all felt that this was really a council of war. The conversations all +dealt with public questions. If anyone gave or asked for personal news, +it was done in a whisper and they immediately reverted to general +matters. No jokes, or laughter, or smiles even, were seen among all +these men. They evidently all made an effort to hold themselves at the +height the situation demanded. And all these groups, while talking among +themselves, tried to keep near the commander-in-chief (whose bench +formed the center of the gathering) and to speak so that he might +overhear them. The commander in chief listened to what was being said +and sometimes asked them to repeat their remarks, but did not himself +take part in the conversations or express any opinion. After hearing +what was being said by one or other of these groups he generally turned +away with an air of disappointment, as though they were not speaking of +anything he wished to hear. Some discussed the position that had been +chosen, criticizing not the position itself so much as the mental +capacity of those who had chosen it. Others argued that a mistake had +been made earlier and that a battle should have been fought two days +before. Others again spoke of the battle of Salamanca, which was +described by Crosart, a newly arrived Frenchman in a Spanish uniform. +(This Frenchman and one of the German princes serving with the Russian +army were discussing the siege of Saragossa and considering the +possibility of defending Moscow in a similar manner.) Count Rostopchin +was telling a fourth group that he was prepared to die with the city +train bands under the walls of the capital, but that he still could not +help regretting having been left in ignorance of what was happening, and +that had he known it sooner things would have been different.... A fifth +group, displaying the profundity of their strategic perceptions, +discussed the direction the troops would now have to take. A sixth group +was talking absolute nonsense. Kutuzov's expression grew more and more +preoccupied and gloomy. From all this talk he saw only one thing: that +to defend Moscow was a physical impossibility in the full meaning of +those words, that is to say, so utterly impossible that if any senseless +commander were to give orders to fight, confusion would result but the +battle would still not take place. It would not take place because the +commanders not merely all recognized the position to be impossible, but +in their conversations were only discussing what would happen after its +inevitable abandonment. How could the commanders lead their troops to a +field of battle they considered impossible to hold? The lower-grade +officers and even the soldiers (who too reason) also considered the +position impossible and therefore could not go to fight, fully convinced +as they were of defeat. If Bennigsen insisted on the position being +defended and others still discussed it, the question was no longer +important in itself but only as a pretext for disputes and intrigue. +This Kutuzov knew well. + +Bennigsen, who had chosen the position, warmly displayed his Russian +patriotism (Kutuzov could not listen to this without wincing) by +insisting that Moscow must be defended. His aim was as clear as daylight +to Kutuzov: if the defense failed, to throw the blame on Kutuzov who had +brought the army as far as the Sparrow Hills without giving battle; if +it succeeded, to claim the success as his own; or if battle were not +given, to clear himself of the crime of abandoning Moscow. But this +intrigue did not now occupy the old man's mind. One terrible question +absorbed him and to that question he heard no reply from anyone. The +question for him now was: "Have I really allowed Napoleon to reach +Moscow, and when did I do so? When was it decided? Can it have been +yesterday when I ordered Platov to retreat, or was it the evening +before, when I had a nap and told Bennigsen to issue orders? Or was it +earlier still?... When, when was this terrible affair decided? Moscow +must be abandoned. The army must retreat and the order to do so must be +given." To give that terrible order seemed to him equivalent to +resigning the command of the army. And not only did he love power to +which he was accustomed (the honours awarded to Prince Prozorovski, +under whom he had served in Turkey, galled him), but he was convinced +that he was destined to save Russia and that that was why, against the +Emperor's wish and by the will of the people, he had been chosen +commander-in-chief. He was convinced that he alone could maintain +command of the army in these difficult circumstances, and that in all +the world he alone could encounter the invincible Napoleon without fear, +and he was horrified at the thought of the order he had to issue. But +something had to be decided, and these conversations around him which +were assuming too free a character must be stopped. + +He called the most important generals to him. + +"My head, be it good or bad, must depend on itself," said he, rising +from the bench, and he rode to Fili where his carriages were waiting. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Council of War began to assemble at two in the afternoon in the +better and roomier part of Andrew Savostyanov's hut. The men, women, and +children of the large peasant family crowded into the back room across +the passage. Only Malasha, Andrew's six-year-old granddaughter whom his +Serene Highness had petted and to whom he had given a lump of sugar +while drinking his tea, remained on the top of the brick oven in the +larger room. Malasha looked down from the oven with shy delight at the +faces, uniforms, and decorations of the generals, who one after another +came into the room and sat down on the broad benches in the corner under +the icons. "Granddad" himself, as Malasha in her own mind called +Kutuzov, sat apart in a dark corner behind the oven. He sat, sunk deep +in a folding armchair, and continually cleared his throat and pulled at +the collar of his coat which, though it was unbuttoned, still seemed to +pinch his neck. Those who entered went up one by one to the field +marshal; he pressed the hands of some and nodded to others. His adjutant +Kaysarov was about to draw back the curtain of the window facing +Kutuzov, but the latter moved his hand angrily and Kaysarov understood +that his Serene Highness did not wish his face to be seen. + +Round the peasant's deal table, on which lay maps, plans, pencils, and +papers, so many people gathered that the orderlies brought in another +bench and put it beside the table. Ermolov, Kaysarov, and Toll, who had +just arrived, sat down on this bench. In the foremost place, immediately +under the icons, sat Barclay de Tolly, his high forehead merging into +his bald crown. He had a St. George's Cross round his neck and looked +pale and ill. He had been feverish for two days and was now shivering +and in pain. Beside him sat Uvarov, who with rapid gesticulations was +giving him some information, speaking in low tones as they all did. +Chubby little Dokhturov was listening attentively with eyebrows raised +and arms folded on his stomach. On the other side sat Count Ostermann- +Tolstoy, seemingly absorbed in his own thoughts. His broad head with its +bold features and glittering eyes was resting on his hand. Raevski, +twitching forward the black hair on his temples as was his habit, +glanced now at Kutuzov and now at the door with a look of impatience. +Konovnitsyn's firm, handsome, and kindly face was lit up by a tender, +sly smile. His glance met Malasha's, and the expression of his eyes +caused the little girl to smile. + +They were all waiting for Bennigsen, who on the pretext of inspecting +the position was finishing his savory dinner. They waited for him from +four till six o'clock and did not begin their deliberations all that +time but talked in low tones of other matters. + +Only when Bennigsen had entered the hut did Kutuzov leave his corner and +draw toward the table, but not near enough for the candles that had been +placed there to light up his face. + +Bennigsen opened the council with the question: "Are we to abandon +Russia's ancient and sacred capital without a struggle, or are we to +defend it?" A prolonged and general silence followed. There was a frown +on every face and only Kutuzov's angry grunts and occasional cough broke +the silence. All eyes were gazing at him. Malasha too looked at +"Granddad." She was nearest to him and saw how his face puckered; he +seemed about to cry, but this did not last long. + +"Russia's ancient and sacred capital!" he suddenly said, repeating +Bennigsen's words in an angry voice and thereby drawing attention to the +false note in them. "Allow me to tell you, your excellency, that that +question has no meaning for a Russian." (He lurched his heavy body +forward.) "Such a question cannot be put; it is senseless! The question +I have asked these gentlemen to meet to discuss is a military one. The +question is that of saving Russia. Is it better to give up Moscow +without a battle, or by accepting battle to risk losing the army as well +as Moscow? That is the question on which I want your opinion," and he +sank back in his chair. + +The discussion began. Bennigsen did not yet consider his game lost. +Admitting the view of Barclay and others that a defensive battle at Fili +was impossible, but imbued with Russian patriotism and the love of +Moscow, he proposed to move troops from the right to the left flank +during the night and attack the French right flank the following day. +Opinions were divided, and arguments were advanced for and against that +project. Ermolov, Dokhturov, and Raevski agreed with Bennigsen. Whether +feeling it necessary to make a sacrifice before abandoning the capital +or guided by other, personal considerations, these generals seemed not +to understand that this council could not alter the inevitable course of +events and that Moscow was in effect already abandoned. The other +generals, however, understood it and, leaving aside the question of +Moscow, spoke of the direction the army should take in its retreat. +Malasha, who kept her eyes fixed on what was going on before her, +understood the meaning of the council differently. It seemed to her that +it was only a personal struggle between "Granddad" and "Long-coat" as +she termed Bennigsen. She saw that they grew spiteful when they spoke to +one another, and in her heart she sided with "Granddad." In the midst of +the conversation she noticed "Granddad" give Bennigsen a quick, subtle +glance, and then to her joys she saw that "Granddad" said something to +"Long-coat" which settled him. Bennigsen suddenly reddened and paced +angrily up and down the room. What so affected him was Kutuzov's calm +and quiet comment on the advantage or disadvantage of Bennigsen's +proposal to move troops by night from the right to the left flank to +attack the French right wing. + +"Gentlemen," said Kutuzov, "I cannot approve of the count's plan. Moving +troops in close proximity to an enemy is always dangerous, and military +history supports that view. For instance..." Kutuzov seemed to reflect, +searching for an example, then with a clear, naive look at Bennigsen he +added: "Oh yes; take the battle of Friedland, which I think the count +well remembers, and which was... not fully successful, only because our +troops were rearranged too near the enemy..." + +There followed a momentary pause, which seemed very long to them all. + +The discussion recommenced, but pauses frequently occurred and they all +felt that there was no more to be said. + +During one of these pauses Kutuzov heaved a deep sigh as if preparing to +speak. They all looked at him. + +"Well, gentlemen, I see that it is I who will have to pay for the broken +crockery," said he, and rising slowly he moved to the table. "Gentlemen, +I have heard your views. Some of you will not agree with me. But I," he +paused, "by the authority entrusted to me by my Sovereign and country, +order a retreat." + +After that the generals began to disperse with the solemnity and +circumspect silence of people who are leaving, after a funeral. + +Some of the generals, in low tones and in a strain very different from +the way they had spoken during the council, communicated something to +their commander-in-chief. + +Malasha, who had long been expected for supper, climbed carefully +backwards down from the oven, her bare little feet catching at its +projections, and slipping between the legs of the generals she darted +out of the room. + +When he had dismissed the generals Kutuzov sat a long time with his +elbows on the table, thinking always of the same terrible question: +"When, when did the abandonment of Moscow become inevitable? When was +that done which settled the matter? And who was to blame for it?" + +"I did not expect this," said he to his adjutant Schneider when the +latter came in late that night. "I did not expect this! I did not think +this would happen." + +"You should take some rest, your Serene Highness," replied Schneider. + +"But no! They shall eat horseflesh yet, like the Turks!" exclaimed +Kutuzov without replying, striking the table with his podgy fist. "They +shall too, if only..." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +At that very time, in circumstances even more important than retreating +without a battle, namely the evacuation and burning of Moscow, +Rostopchin, who is usually represented as being the instigator of that +event, acted in an altogether different manner from Kutuzov. + +After the battle of Borodino the abandonment and burning of Moscow was +as inevitable as the retreat of the army beyond Moscow without fighting. + +Every Russian might have predicted it, not by reasoning but by the +feeling implanted in each of us and in our fathers. + +The same thing that took place in Moscow had happened in all the towns +and villages on Russian soil beginning with Smolensk, without the +participation of Count Rostopchin and his broadsheets. The people +awaited the enemy unconcernedly, did not riot or become excited or tear +anyone to pieces, but faced its fate, feeling within it the strength to +find what it should do at that most difficult moment. And as soon as the +enemy drew near the wealthy classes went away abandoning their property, +while the poorer remained and burned and destroyed what was left. + +The consciousness that this would be so and would always be so was and +is present in the heart of every Russian. And a consciousness of this, +and a foreboding that Moscow would be taken, was present in Russian +Moscow society in 1812. Those who had quitted Moscow already in July and +at the beginning of August showed that they expected this. Those who +went away, taking what they could and abandoning their houses and half +their belongings, did so from the latent patriotism which expresses +itself not by phrases or by giving one's children to save the fatherland +and similar unnatural exploits, but unobtrusively, simply, organically, +and therefore in the way that always produces the most powerful results. + +"It is disgraceful to run away from danger; only cowards are running +away from Moscow," they were told. In his broadsheets Rostopchin +impressed on them that to leave Moscow was shameful. They were ashamed +to be called cowards, ashamed to leave, but still they left, knowing it +had to be done. Why did they go? It is impossible to suppose that +Rostopchin had scared them by his accounts of horrors Napoleon had +committed in conquered countries. The first people to go away were the +rich educated people who knew quite well that Vienna and Berlin had +remained intact and that during Napoleon's occupation the inhabitants +had spent their time pleasantly in the company of the charming Frenchmen +whom the Russians, and especially the Russian ladies, then liked so +much. + +They went away because for Russians there could be no question as to +whether things would go well or ill under French rule in Moscow. It was +out of the question to be under French rule, it would be the worst thing +that could happen. They went away even before the battle of Borodino and +still more rapidly after it, despite Rostopchin's calls to defend Moscow +or the announcement of his intention to take the wonder-working icon of +the Iberian Mother of God and go to fight, or of the balloons that were +to destroy the French, and despite all the nonsense Rostopchin wrote in +his broadsheets. They knew that it was for the army to fight, and that +if it could not succeed it would not do to take young ladies and house +serfs to the Three Hills quarter of Moscow to fight Napoleon, and that +they must go away, sorry as they were to abandon their property to +destruction. They went away without thinking of the tremendous +significance of that immense and wealthy city being given over to +destruction, for a great city with wooden buildings was certain when +abandoned by its inhabitants to be burned. They went away each on his +own account, and yet it was only in consequence of their going away that +the momentous event was accomplished that will always remain the +greatest glory of the Russian people. The lady who, afraid of being +stopped by Count Rostopchin's orders, had already in June moved with her +Negroes and her women jesters from Moscow to her Saratov estate, with a +vague consciousness that she was not Bonaparte's servant, was really, +simply, and truly carrying out the great work which saved Russia. But +Count Rostopchin, who now taunted those who left Moscow and now had the +government offices removed; now distributed quite useless weapons to the +drunken rabble; now had processions displaying the icons, and now +forbade Father Augustin to remove icons or the relics of saints; now +seized all the private carts in Moscow and on one hundred and thirty-six +of them removed the balloon that was being constructed by Leppich; now +hinted that he would burn Moscow and related how he had set fire to his +own house; now wrote a proclamation to the French solemnly upbraiding +them for having destroyed his Orphanage; now claimed the glory of having +hinted that he would burn Moscow and now repudiated the deed; now +ordered the people to catch all spies and bring them to him, and now +reproached them for doing so; now expelled all the French residents from +Moscow, and now allowed Madame Aubert-Chalme (the center of the whole +French colony in Moscow) to remain, but ordered the venerable old +postmaster Klyucharev to be arrested and exiled for no particular +offense; now assembled the people at the Three Hills to fight the French +and now, to get rid of them, handed over to them a man to be killed and +himself drove away by a back gate; now declared that he would not +survive the fall of Moscow, and now wrote French verses in albums +concerning his share in the affair--this man did not understand the +meaning of what was happening but merely wanted to do something himself +that would astonish people, to perform some patriotically heroic feat; +and like a child he made sport of the momentous, and unavoidable event-- +the abandonment and burning of Moscow--and tried with his puny hand now +to speed and now to stay the enormous, popular tide that bore him along +with it. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Helene, having returned with the court from Vilna to Petersburg, found +herself in a difficult position. + +In Petersburg she had enjoyed the special protection of a grandee who +occupied one of the highest posts in the Empire. In Vilna she had formed +an intimacy with a young foreign prince. When she returned to Petersburg +both the magnate and the prince were there, and both claimed their +rights. Helene was faced by a new problem--how to preserve her intimacy +with both without offending either. + +What would have seemed difficult or even impossible to another woman did +not cause the least embarrassment to Countess Bezukhova, who evidently +deserved her reputation of being a very clever woman. Had she attempted +concealment, or tried to extricate herself from her awkward position by +cunning, she would have spoiled her case by acknowledging herself +guilty. But Helene, like a really great man who can do whatever he +pleases, at once assumed her own position to be correct, as she +sincerely believed it to be, and that everyone else was to blame. + +The first time the young foreigner allowed himself to reproach her, she +lifted her beautiful head and, half turning to him, said firmly: "That's +just like a man--selfish and cruel! I expected nothing else. A woman +sacrifices herself for you, she suffers, and this is her reward! What +right have you, monseigneur, to demand an account of my attachments and +friendships? He is a man who has been more than a father to me!" The +prince was about to say something, but Helene interrupted him. + +"Well, yes," said she, "it may be that he has other sentiments for me +than those of a father, but that is not a reason for me to shut my door +on him. I am not a man, that I should repay kindness with ingratitude! +Know, monseigneur, that in all that relates to my intimate feelings I +render account only to God and to my conscience," she concluded, laying +her hand on her beautiful, fully expanded bosom and looking up to +heaven. + +"But for heaven's sake listen to me!" + +"Marry me, and I will be your slave!" + +"But that's impossible." + +"You won't deign to demean yourself by marrying me, you..." said Helene, +beginning to cry. + +The prince tried to comfort her, but Helene, as if quite distraught, +said through her tears that there was nothing to prevent her marrying, +that there were precedents (there were up to that time very few, but she +mentioned Napoleon and some other exalted personages), that she had +never been her husband's wife, and that she had been sacrificed. + +"But the law, religion..." said the prince, already yielding. + +"The law, religion... What have they been invented for if they can't +arrange that?" said Helene. + +The prince was surprised that so simple an idea had not occurred to him, +and he applied for advice to the holy brethren of the Society of Jesus, +with whom he was on intimate terms. + +A few days later at one of those enchanting fetes which Helene gave at +her country house on the Stone Island, the charming Monsieur de Jobert, +a man no longer young, with snow white hair and brilliant black eyes, a +Jesuit a robe courte * was presented to her, and in the garden by the +light of the illuminations and to the sound of music talked to her for a +long time of the love of God, of Christ, of the Sacred Heart, and of the +consolations the one true Catholic religion affords in this world and +the next. Helene was touched, and more than once tears rose to her eyes +and to those of Monsieur de Jobert and their voices trembled. A dance, +for which her partner came to seek her, put an end to her discourse with +her future directeur de conscience, but the next evening Monsieur de +Jobert came to see Helene when she was alone, and after that often came +again. + + +* Lay member of the Society of Jesus. + +One day he took the countess to a Roman Catholic church, where she knelt +down before the altar to which she was led. The enchanting, middle-aged +Frenchman laid his hands on her head and, as she herself afterward +described it, she felt something like a fresh breeze wafted into her +soul. It was explained to her that this was la grace. + +After that a long-frocked abbe was brought to her. She confessed to him, +and he absolved her from her sins. Next day she received a box +containing the Sacred Host, which was left at her house for her to +partake of. A few days later Helene learned with pleasure that she had +now been admitted to the true Catholic Church and that in a few days the +Pope himself would hear of her and would send her a certain document. + +All that was done around her and to her at this time, all the attention +devoted to her by so many clever men and expressed in such pleasant, +refined ways, and the state of dove-like purity she was now in (she wore +only white dresses and white ribbons all that time) gave her pleasure, +but her pleasure did not cause her for a moment to forget her aim. And +as it always happens in contests of cunning that a stupid person gets +the better of cleverer ones, Helene--having realized that the main +object of all these words and all this trouble was, after converting her +to Catholicism, to obtain money from her for Jesuit institutions (as to +which she received indications)-before parting with her money insisted +that the various operations necessary to free her from her husband +should be performed. In her view the aim of every religion was merely to +preserve certain proprieties while affording satisfaction to human +desires. And with this aim, in one of her talks with her Father +Confessor, she insisted on an answer to the question, in how far was she +bound by her marriage? + +They were sitting in the twilight by a window in the drawing room. The +scent of flowers came in at the window. Helene was wearing a white +dress, transparent over her shoulders and bosom. The abbe, a well-fed +man with a plump, clean-shaven chin, a pleasant firm mouth, and white +hands meekly folded on his knees, sat close to Helene and, with a subtle +smile on his lips and a peaceful look of delight at her beauty, +occasionally glanced at her face as he explained his opinion on the +subject. Helene with an uneasy smile looked at his curly hair and his +plump, clean-shaven, blackish cheeks and every moment expected the +conversation to take a fresh turn. But the abbe, though he evidently +enjoyed the beauty of his companion, was absorbed in his mastery of the +matter. + +The course of the Father Confessor's arguments ran as follows: "Ignorant +of the import of what you were undertaking, you made a vow of conjugal +fidelity to a man who on his part, by entering the married state without +faith in the religious significance of marriage, committed an act of +sacrilege. That marriage lacked the dual significance it should have +had. Yet in spite of this your vow was binding. You swerved from it. +What did you commit by so acting? A venial, or a mortal, sin? A venial +sin, for you acted without evil intention. If now you married again with +the object of bearing children, your sin might be forgiven. But the +question is again a twofold one: firstly..." + +But suddenly Helene, who was getting bored, said with one of her +bewitching smiles: "But I think that having espoused the true religion I +cannot be bound by what a false religion laid upon me." + +The director of her conscience was astounded at having the case +presented to him thus with the simplicity of Columbus' egg. He was +delighted at the unexpected rapidity of his pupil's progress, but could +not abandon the edifice of argument he had laboriously constructed. + +"Let us understand one another, Countess," said he with a smile, and +began refuting his spiritual daughter's arguments. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Helene understood that the question was very simple and easy from the +ecclesiastical point of view, and that her directors were making +difficulties only because they were apprehensive as to how the matter +would be regarded by the secular authorities. + +So she decided that it was necessary to prepare the opinion of society. +She provoked the jealousy of the elderly magnate and told him what she +had told her other suitor; that is, she put the matter so that the only +way for him to obtain a right over her was to marry her. The elderly +magnate was at first as much taken aback by this suggestion of marriage +with a woman whose husband was alive, as the younger man had been, but +Helene's imperturbable conviction that it was as simple and natural as +marrying a maiden had its effect on him too. Had Helene herself shown +the least sign of hesitation, shame, or secrecy, her cause would +certainly have been lost; but not only did she show no signs of secrecy +or shame, on the contrary, with good-natured naivete she told her +intimate friends (and these were all Petersburg) that both the prince +and the magnate had proposed to her and that she loved both and was +afraid of grieving either. + +A rumor immediately spread in Petersburg, not that Helene wanted to be +divorced from her husband (had such a report spread many would have +opposed so illegal an intention) but simply that the unfortunate and +interesting Helene was in doubt which of the two men she should marry. +The question was no longer whether this was possible, but only which was +the better match and how the matter would be regarded at court. There +were, it is true, some rigid individuals unable to rise to the height of +such a question, who saw in the project a desecration of the sacrament +of marriage, but there were not many such and they remained silent, +while the majority were interested in Helene's good fortune and in the +question which match would be the more advantageous. Whether it was +right or wrong to remarry while one had a husband living they did not +discuss, for that question had evidently been settled by people "wiser +than you or me," as they said, and to doubt the correctness of that +decision would be to risk exposing one's stupidity and incapacity to +live in society. + +Only Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, who had come to Petersburg that +summer to see one of her sons, allowed herself plainly to express an +opinion contrary to the general one. Meeting Helene at a ball she +stopped her in the middle of the room and, amid general silence, said in +her gruff voice: "So wives of living men have started marrying again! +Perhaps you think you have invented a novelty? You have been +forestalled, my dear! It was thought of long ago. It is done in all the +brothels," and with these words Marya Dmitrievna, turning up her wide +sleeves with her usual threatening gesture and glancing sternly round, +moved across the room. + +Though people were afraid of Marya Dmitrievna she was regarded in +Petersburg as a buffoon, and so of what she had said they only noticed, +and repeated in a whisper, the one coarse word she had used, supposing +the whole sting of her remark to lie in that word. + +Prince Vasili, who of late very often forgot what he had said and +repeated one and the same thing a hundred times, remarked to his +daughter whenever he chanced to see her: + +"Helene, I have a word to say to you," and he would lead her aside, +drawing her hand downward. "I have heard of certain projects +concerning... you know. Well my dear child, you know how your father's +heart rejoices to know that you... You have suffered so much.... But, my +dear child, consult only your own heart. That is all I have to say," and +concealing his unvarying emotion he would press his cheek against his +daughter's and move away. + +Bilibin, who had not lost his reputation of an exceedingly clever man, +and who was one of the disinterested friends so brilliant a woman as +Helene always has--men friends who can never change into lovers--once +gave her his view of the matter at a small and intimate gathering. + +"Listen, Bilibin," said Helene (she always called friends of that sort +by their surnames), and she touched his coat sleeve with her white, +beringed fingers. "Tell me, as you would a sister, what I ought to do. +Which of the two?" + +Bilibin wrinkled up the skin over his eyebrows and pondered, with a +smile on his lips. + +"You are not taking me unawares, you know," said he. "As a true friend, +I have thought and thought again about your affair. You see, if you +marry the prince"--he meant the younger man--and he crooked one finger, +"you forever lose the chance of marrying the other, and you will +displease the court besides. (You know there is some kind of +connection.) But if you marry the old count you will make his last days +happy, and as widow of the Grand... the prince would no longer be making +a mesalliance by marrying you," and Bilibin smoothed out his forehead. + +"That's a true friend!" said Helene beaming, and again touching +Bilibin's sleeve. "But I love them, you know, and don't want to distress +either of them. I would give my life for the happiness of them both." + +Bilibin shrugged his shoulders, as much as to say that not even he could +help in that difficulty. + +"Une maitresse-femme! * That's what is called putting things squarely. +She would like to be married to all three at the same time," thought he. + + +* A masterly woman. + +"But tell me, how will your husband look at the matter?" Bilibin asked, +his reputation being so well established that he did not fear to ask so +naive a question. "Will he agree?" + +"Oh, he loves me so!" said Helene, who for some reason imagined that +Pierre too loved her. "He will do anything for me." + +Bilibin puckered his skin in preparation for something witty. + +"Even divorce you?" said he. + +Helene laughed. + +Among those who ventured to doubt the justifiability of the proposed +marriage was Helene's mother, Princess Kuragina. She was continually +tormented by jealousy of her daughter, and now that jealousy concerned a +subject near to her own heart, she could not reconcile herself to the +idea. She consulted a Russian priest as to the possibility of divorce +and remarriage during a husband's lifetime, and the priest told her that +it was impossible, and to her delight showed her a text in the Gospel +which (as it seemed to him) plainly forbids remarriage while the husband +is alive. + +Armed with these arguments, which appeared to her unanswerable, she +drove to her daughter's early one morning so as to find her alone. + +Having listened to her mother's objections, Helene smiled blandly and +ironically. + +"But it says plainly: 'Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced...'" +said the old princess. + +"Ah, Maman, ne dites pas de betises. Vous ne comprenez rien. Dans ma +position j'ai des devoirs," * said Helene changing from Russian, in +which language she always felt that her case did not sound quite clear, +into French which suited it better. + + +* "Oh, Mamma, don't talk nonsense! You don't understand anything. In my +position I have obligations." + +"But, my dear...." + +"Oh, Mamma, how is it you don't understand that the Holy Father, who has +the right to grant dispensations..." + +Just then the lady companion who lived with Helene came in to announce +that His Highness was in the ballroom and wished to see her. + +"Non, dites-lui que je ne veux pas le voir, que je suis furieuse contre +lui, parce qu'il m'a manque parole." * + + +* "No, tell him I don't wish to see him, I am furious with him for not +keeping his word to me." + +"Comtesse, a tout peche misericorde," * said a fair-haired young man +with a long face and nose, as he entered the room. + + +* "Countess, there is mercy for every sin." + +The old princess rose respectfully and curtsied. The young man who had +entered took no notice of her. The princess nodded to her daughter and +sidled out of the room. + +"Yes, she is right," thought the old princess, all her convictions +dissipated by the appearance of His Highness. "She is right, but how is +it that we in our irrecoverable youth did not know it? Yet it is so +simple," she thought as she got into her carriage. + +By the beginning of August Helene's affairs were clearly defined and she +wrote a letter to her husband--who, as she imagined, loved her very +much--informing him of her intention to marry N.N. and of her having +embraced the one true faith, and asking him to carry out all the +formalities necessary for a divorce, which would be explained to him by +the bearer of the letter. + +And so I pray God to have you, my friend, in His holy and powerful +keeping--Your friend Helene. + +This letter was brought to Pierre's house when he was on the field of +Borodino. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Toward the end of the battle of Borodino, Pierre, having run down from +Raevski's battery a second time, made his way through a gully to +Knyazkovo with a crowd of soldiers, reached the dressing station, and +seeing blood and hearing cries and groans hurried on, still entangled in +the crowds of soldiers. + +The one thing he now desired with his whole soul was to get away quickly +from the terrible sensations amid which he had lived that day and return +to ordinary conditions of life and sleep quietly in a room in his own +bed. He felt that only in the ordinary conditions of life would he be +able to understand himself and all he had seen and felt. But such +ordinary conditions of life were nowhere to be found. + +Though shells and bullets did not whistle over the road along which he +was going, still on all sides there was what there had been on the field +of battle. There were still the same suffering, exhausted, and sometimes +strangely indifferent faces, the same blood, the same soldiers' +overcoats, the same sounds of firing which, though distant now, still +aroused terror, and besides this there were the foul air and the dust. + +Having gone a couple of miles along the Mozhaysk road, Pierre sat down +by the roadside. + +Dusk had fallen, and the roar of guns died away. Pierre lay leaning on +his elbow for a long time, gazing at the shadows that moved past him in +the darkness. He was continually imagining that a cannon ball was flying +toward him with a terrific whizz, and then he shuddered and sat up. He +had no idea how long he had been there. In the middle of the night three +soldiers, having brought some firewood, settled down near him and began +lighting a fire. + +The soldiers, who threw sidelong glances at Pierre, got the fire to burn +and placed an iron pot on it into which they broke some dried bread and +put a little dripping. The pleasant odor of greasy viands mingled with +the smell of smoke. Pierre sat up and sighed. The three soldiers were +eating and talking among themselves, taking no notice of him. + +"And who may you be?" one of them suddenly asked Pierre, evidently +meaning what Pierre himself had in mind, namely: "If you want to eat +we'll give you some food, only let us know whether you are an honest +man." + +"I, I..." said Pierre, feeling it necessary to minimize his social +position as much as possible so as to be nearer to the soldiers and +better understood by them. "By rights I am a militia officer, but my men +are not here. I came to the battle and have lost them." + +"There now!" said one of the soldiers. + +Another shook his head. + +"Would you like a little mash?" the first soldier asked, and handed +Pierre a wooden spoon after licking it clean. + +Pierre sat down by the fire and began eating the mash, as they called +the food in the cauldron, and he thought it more delicious than any food +he had ever tasted. As he sat bending greedily over it, helping himself +to large spoonfuls and chewing one after another, his face was lit up by +the fire and the soldiers looked at him in silence. + +"Where have you to go to? Tell us!" said one of them. + +"To Mozhaysk." + +"You're a gentleman, aren't you?" + +"Yes." + +"And what's your name?" + +"Peter Kirilych." + +"Well then, Peter Kirilych, come along with us, we'll take you there." + +In the total darkness the soldiers walked with Pierre to Mozhaysk. + +By the time they got near Mozhaysk and began ascending the steep hill +into the town, the cocks were already crowing. Pierre went on with the +soldiers, quite forgetting that his inn was at the bottom of the hill +and that he had already passed it. He would not soon have remembered +this, such was his state of forgetfulness, had he not halfway up the +hill stumbled upon his groom, who had been to look for him in the town +and was returning to the inn. The groom recognized Pierre in the +darkness by his white hat. + +"Your excellency!" he said. "Why, we were beginning to despair! How is +it you are on foot? And where are you going, please?" + +"Oh, yes!" said Pierre. + +The soldiers stopped. + +"So you've found your folk?" said one of them. "Well, good-by, Peter +Kirilych--isn't it?" + +"Good-bye, Peter Kirilych!" Pierre heard the other voices repeat. + +"Good-bye!" he said and turned with his groom toward the inn. + +"I ought to give them something!" he thought, and felt in his pocket. +"No, better not!" said another, inner voice. + +There was not a room to be had at the inn, they were all occupied. +Pierre went out into the yard and, covering himself up head and all, lay +down in his carriage. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Scarcely had Pierre laid his head on the pillow before he felt himself +falling asleep, but suddenly, almost with the distinctness of reality, +he heard the boom, boom, boom of firing, the thud of projectiles, groans +and cries, and smelled blood and powder, and a feeling of horror and +dread of death seized him. Filled with fright he opened his eyes and +lifted his head from under his cloak. All was tranquil in the yard. Only +someone's orderly passed through the gateway, splashing through the mud, +and talked to the innkeeper. Above Pierre's head some pigeons, disturbed +by the movement he had made in sitting up, fluttered under the dark roof +of the penthouse. The whole courtyard was permeated by a strong peaceful +smell of stable yards, delightful to Pierre at that moment. He could see +the clear starry sky between the dark roofs of two penthouses. + +"Thank God, there is no more of that!" he thought, covering up his head +again. "Oh, what a terrible thing is fear, and how shamefully I yielded +to it! But they... they were steady and calm all the time, to the +end..." thought he. + +They, in Pierre's mind, were the soldiers, those who had been at the +battery, those who had given him food, and those who had prayed before +the icon. They, those strange men he had not previously known, stood out +clearly and sharply from everyone else. + +"To be a soldier, just a soldier!" thought Pierre as he fell asleep, "to +enter communal life completely, to be imbued by what makes them what +they are. But how cast off all the superfluous, devilish burden of my +outer man? There was a time when I could have done it. I could have run +away from my father, as I wanted to. Or I might have been sent to serve +as a soldier after the duel with Dolokhov." And the memory of the dinner +at the English Club when he had challenged Dolokhov flashed through +Pierre's mind, and then he remembered his benefactor at Torzhok. And now +a picture of a solemn meeting of the lodge presented itself to his mind. +It was taking place at the English Club and someone near and dear to him +sat at the end of the table. "Yes, that is he! It is my benefactor. But +he died!" thought Pierre. "Yes, he died, and I did not know he was +alive. How sorry I am that he died, and how glad I am that he is alive +again!" On one side of the table sat Anatole, Dolokhov, Nesvitski, +Denisov, and others like them (in his dream the category to which these +men belonged was as clearly defined in his mind as the category of those +he termed they), and he heard those people, Anatole and Dolokhov, +shouting and singing loudly; yet through their shouting the voice of his +benefactor was heard speaking all the time and the sound of his words +was as weighty and uninterrupted as the booming on the battlefield, but +pleasant and comforting. Pierre did not understand what his benefactor +was saying, but he knew (the categories of thoughts were also quite +distinct in his dream) that he was talking of goodness and the +possibility of being what they were. And they with their simple, kind, +firm faces surrounded his benefactor on all sides. But though they were +kindly they did not look at Pierre and did not know him. Wishing to +speak and to attract their attention, he got up, but at that moment his +legs grew cold and bare. + +He felt ashamed, and with one arm covered his legs from which his cloak +had in fact slipped. For a moment as he was rearranging his cloak Pierre +opened his eyes and saw the same penthouse roofs, posts, and yard, but +now they were all bluish, lit up, and glittering with frost or dew. + +"It is dawn," thought Pierre. "But that's not what I want. I want to +hear and understand my benefactor's words." Again he covered himself up +with his cloak, but now neither the lodge nor his benefactor was there. +There were only thoughts clearly expressed in words, thoughts that +someone was uttering or that he himself was formulating. + +Afterwards when he recalled those thoughts Pierre was convinced that +someone outside himself had spoken them, though the impressions of that +day had evoked them. He had never, it seemed to him, been able to think +and express his thoughts like that when awake. + +"To endure war is the most difficult subordination of man's freedom to +the law of God," the voice had said. "Simplicity is submission to the +will of God; you cannot escape from Him. And they are simple. They do +not talk, but act. The spoken word is silver but the unspoken is golden. +Man can be master of nothing while he fears death, but he who does not +fear it possesses all. If there were no suffering, man would not know +his limitations, would not know himself. The hardest thing (Pierre went +on thinking, or hearing, in his dream) is to be able in your soul to +unite the meaning of all. To unite all?" he asked himself. "No, not to +unite. Thoughts cannot be united, but to harness all these thoughts +together is what we need! Yes, one must harness them, must harness +them!" he repeated to himself with inward rapture, feeling that these +words and they alone expressed what he wanted to say and solved the +question that tormented him. + +"Yes, one must harness, it is time to harness." + +"Time to harness, time to harness, your excellency! Your excellency!" +some voice was repeating. "We must harness, it is time to harness...." + +It was the voice of the groom, trying to wake him. The sun shone +straight into Pierre's face. He glanced at the dirty innyard in the +middle of which soldiers were watering their lean horses at the pump +while carts were passing out of the gate. Pierre turned away with +repugnance, and closing his eyes quickly fell back on the carriage seat. +"No, I don't want that, I don't want to see and understand that. I want +to understand what was revealing itself to me in my dream. One second +more and I should have understood it all! But what am I to do? Harness, +but how can I harness everything?" and Pierre felt with horror that the +meaning of all he had seen and thought in the dream had been destroyed. + +The groom, the coachman, and the innkeeper told Pierre that an officer +had come with news that the French were already near Mozhaysk and that +our men were leaving it. + +Pierre got up and, having told them to harness and overtake him, went on +foot through the town. + +The troops were moving on, leaving about ten thousand wounded behind +them. There were wounded in the yards, at the windows of the houses, and +the streets were crowded with them. In the streets, around carts that +were to take some of the wounded away, shouts, curses, and blows could +be heard. Pierre offered the use of his carriage, which had overtaken +him, to a wounded general he knew, and drove with him to Moscow. On the +way Pierre was told of the death of his brother-in-law Anatole and of +that of Prince Andrew. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +On the thirteenth of August Pierre reached Moscow. Close to the gates of +the city he was met by Count Rostopchin's adjutant. + +"We have been looking for you everywhere," said the adjutant. "The count +wants to see you particularly. He asks you to come to him at once on a +very important matter." + +Without going home, Pierre took a cab and drove to see the Moscow +commander-in-chief. + +Count Rostopchin had only that morning returned to town from his summer +villa at Sokolniki. The anteroom and reception room of his house were +full of officials who had been summoned or had come for orders. +Vasilchikov and Platov had already seen the count and explained to him +that it was impossible to defend Moscow and that it would have to be +surrendered. Though this news was being concealed from the inhabitants, +the officials--the heads of the various government departments--knew +that Moscow would soon be in the enemy's hands, just as Count Rostopchin +himself knew it, and to escape personal responsibility they had all come +to the governor to ask how they were to deal with their various +departments. + +As Pierre was entering the reception room a courier from the army came +out of Rostopchin's private room. + +In answer to questions with which he was greeted, the courier made a +despairing gesture with his hand and passed through the room. + +While waiting in the reception room Pierre with weary eyes watched the +various officials, old and young, military and civilian, who were there. +They all seemed dissatisfied and uneasy. Pierre went up to a group of +men, one of whom he knew. After greeting Pierre they continued their +conversation. + +"If they're sent out and brought back again later on it will do no harm, +but as things are now one can't answer for anything." + +"But you see what he writes..." said another, pointing to a printed +sheet he held in his hand. + +"That's another matter. That's necessary for the people," said the +first. + +"What is it?" asked Pierre. + +"Oh, it's a fresh broadsheet." + +Pierre took it and began reading. + +His Serene Highness has passed through Mozhaysk in order to join up with +the troops moving toward him and has taken up a strong position where +the enemy will not soon attack him. Forty eight guns with ammunition +have been sent him from here, and his Serene Highness says he will +defend Moscow to the last drop of blood and is even ready to fight in +the streets. Do not be upset, brothers, that the law courts are closed; +things have to be put in order, and we will deal with villains in our +own way! When the time comes I shall want both town and peasant lads and +will raise the cry a day or two beforehand, but they are not wanted yet +so I hold my peace. An ax will be useful, a hunting spear not bad, but a +three-pronged fork will be best of all: a Frenchman is no heavier than a +sheaf of rye. Tomorrow after dinner I shall take the Iberian icon of the +Mother of God to the wounded in the Catherine Hospital where we will +have some water blessed. That will help them to get well quicker. I, +too, am well now: one of my eyes was sore but now I am on the lookout +with both. + +"But military men have told me that it is impossible to fight in the +town," said Pierre, "and that the position..." + +"Well, of course! That's what we were saying," replied the first +speaker. + +"And what does he mean by 'One of my eyes was sore but now I am on the +lookout with both'?" asked Pierre. + +"The count had a sty," replied the adjutant smiling, "and was very much +upset when I told him people had come to ask what was the matter with +him. By the by, Count," he added suddenly, addressing Pierre with a +smile, "we heard that you have family troubles and that the countess, +your wife..." + +"I have heard nothing," Pierre replied unconcernedly. "But what have you +heard?" + +"Oh, well, you know people often invent things. I only say what I +heard." + +"But what did you hear?" + +"Well, they say," continued the adjutant with the same smile, "that the +countess, your wife, is preparing to go abroad. I expect it's +nonsense...." + +"Possibly," remarked Pierre, looking about him absent-mindedly. "And who +is that?" he asked, indicating a short old man in a clean blue peasant +overcoat, with a big snow-white beard and eyebrows and a ruddy face. + +"He? That's a tradesman, that is to say, he's the restaurant keeper, +Vereshchagin. Perhaps you have heard of that affair with the +proclamation." + +"Oh, so that is Vereshchagin!" said Pierre, looking at the firm, calm +face of the old man and seeking any indication of his being a traitor. + +"That's not he himself, that's the father of the fellow who wrote the +proclamation," said the adjutant. "The young man is in prison and I +expect it will go hard with him." + +An old gentleman wearing a star and another official, a German wearing a +cross round his neck, approached the speaker. + + +"It's a complicated story, you know," said the adjutant. "That +proclamation appeared about two months ago. The count was informed of +it. He gave orders to investigate the matter. Gabriel Ivanovich here +made the inquiries. The proclamation had passed through exactly sixty- +three hands. He asked one, 'From whom did you get it?' 'From so-and-so.' +He went to the next one. 'From whom did you get it?' and so on till he +reached Vereshchagin, a half educated tradesman, you know, 'a pet of a +trader,'" said the adjutant smiling. "They asked him, 'Who gave it you?' +And the point is that we knew whom he had it from. He could only have +had it from the Postmaster. But evidently they had come to some +understanding. He replied: 'From no one; I made it up myself.' They +threatened and questioned him, but he stuck to that: 'I made it up +myself.' And so it was reported to the count, who sent for the man. +'From whom did you get the proclamation?' 'I wrote it myself.' Well, you +know the count," said the adjutant cheerfully, with a smile of pride, +"he flared up dreadfully--and just think of the fellow's audacity, +lying, and obstinacy!" + +"And the count wanted him to say it was from Klyucharev? I understand!" +said Pierre. + +"Not at all," rejoined the adjutant in dismay. "Klyucharev had his own +sins to answer for without that and that is why he has been banished. +But the point is that the count was much annoyed. 'How could you have +written it yourself?' said he, and he took up the Hamburg Gazette that +was lying on the table. 'Here it is! You did not write it yourself but +translated it, and translated it abominably, because you don't even know +French, you fool.' And what do you think? 'No,' said he, 'I have not +read any papers, I made it up myself.' 'If that's so, you're a traitor +and I'll have you tried, and you'll be hanged! Say from whom you had +it.' 'I have seen no papers, I made it up myself.' And that was the end +of it. The count had the father fetched, but the fellow stuck to it. He +was sent for trial and condemned to hard labor, I believe. Now the +father has come to intercede for him. But he's a good-for-nothing lad! +You know that sort of tradesman's son, a dandy and lady-killer. He +attended some lectures somewhere and imagines that the devil is no match +for him. That's the sort of fellow he is. His father keeps a cookshop +here by the Stone Bridge, and you know there was a large icon of God +Almighty painted with a scepter in one hand and an orb in the other. +Well, he took that icon home with him for a few days and what did he do? +He found some scoundrel of a painter..." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +In the middle of this fresh tale Pierre was summoned to the commander in +chief. + +When he entered the private room Count Rostopchin, puckering his face, +was rubbing his forehead and eyes with his hand. A short man was saying +something, but when Pierre entered he stopped speaking and went out. + +"Ah, how do you do, great warrior?" said Rostopchin as soon as the short +man had left the room. "We have heard of your prowess. But that's not +the point. Between ourselves, mon cher, do you belong to the Masons?" he +went on severely, as though there were something wrong about it which he +nevertheless intended to pardon. Pierre remained silent. "I am well +informed, my friend, but I am aware that there are Masons and I hope +that you are not one of those who on pretense of saving mankind wish to +ruin Russia." + +"Yes, I am a Mason," Pierre replied. + +"There, you see, mon cher! I expect you know that Messrs. Speranski and +Magnitski have been deported to their proper place. Mr. Klyucharev has +been treated in the same way, and so have others who on the plea of +building up the temple of Solomon have tried to destroy the temple of +their fatherland. You can understand that there are reasons for this and +that I could not have exiled the Postmaster had he not been a harmful +person. It has now come to my knowledge that you lent him your carriage +for his removal from town, and that you have even accepted papers from +him for safe custody. I like you and don't wish you any harm and--as you +are only half my age--I advise you, as a father would, to cease all +communication with men of that stamp and to leave here as soon as +possible." + +"But what did Klyucharev do wrong, Count?" asked Pierre. + +"That is for me to know, but not for you to ask," shouted Rostopchin. + +"If he is accused of circulating Napoleon's proclamation it is not +proved that he did so," said Pierre without looking at Rostopchin, "and +Vereshchagin..." + +"There we are!" Rostopchin shouted at Pierre louder than before, +frowning suddenly. "Vereshchagin is a renegade and a traitor who will be +punished as he deserves," said he with the vindictive heat with which +people speak when recalling an insult. "But I did not summon you to +discuss my actions, but to give you advice--or an order if you prefer +it. I beg you to leave the town and break off all communication with +such men as Klyucharev. And I will knock the nonsense out of anybody"-- +but probably realizing that he was shouting at Bezukhov who so far was +not guilty of anything, he added, taking Pierre's hand in a friendly +manner, "We are on the eve of a public disaster and I haven't time to be +polite to everybody who has business with me. My head is sometimes in a +whirl. Well, mon cher, what are you doing personally?" + +"Why, nothing," answered Pierre without raising his eyes or changing the +thoughtful expression of his face. + +The count frowned. + +"A word of friendly advice, mon cher. Be off as soon as you can, that's +all I have to tell you. Happy he who has ears to hear. Good-bye, my dear +fellow. Oh, by the by!" he shouted through the doorway after Pierre, "is +it true that the countess has fallen into the clutches of the holy +fathers of the Society of Jesus?" + +Pierre did not answer and left Rostopchin's room more sullen and angry +than he had ever before shown himself. + +When he reached home it was already getting dark. Some eight people had +come to see him that evening: the secretary of a committee, the colonel +of his battalion, his steward, his major-domo, and various petitioners. +They all had business with Pierre and wanted decisions from him. Pierre +did not understand and was not interested in any of these questions and +only answered them in order to get rid of these people. When left alone +at last he opened and read his wife's letter. + +"They, the soldiers at the battery, Prince Andrew killed... that old +man... Simplicity is submission to God. Suffering is necessary... the +meaning of all... one must harness... my wife is getting married... One +must forget and understand..." And going to his bed he threw himself on +it without undressing and immediately fell asleep. + +When he awoke next morning the major-domo came to inform him that a +special messenger, a police officer, had come from Count Rostopchin to +know whether Count Bezukhov had left or was leaving the town. + +A dozen persons who had business with Pierre were awaiting him in the +drawing room. Pierre dressed hurriedly and, instead of going to see +them, went to the back porch and out through the gate. + +From that time till the end of the destruction of Moscow no one of +Bezukhov's household, despite all the search they made, saw Pierre again +or knew where he was. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Rostovs remained in Moscow till the first of September, that is, +till the eve of the enemy's entry into the city. + +After Petya had joined Obolenski's regiment of Cossacks and left for +Belaya Tserkov where that regiment was forming, the countess was seized +with terror. The thought that both her sons were at the war, had both +gone from under her wing, that today or tomorrow either or both of them +might be killed like the three sons of one of her acquaintances, struck +her that summer for the first time with cruel clearness. She tried to +get Nicholas back and wished to go herself to join Petya, or to get him +an appointment somewhere in Petersburg, but neither of these proved +possible. Petya could not return unless his regiment did so or unless he +was transferred to another regiment on active service. Nicholas was +somewhere with the army and had not sent a word since his last letter, +in which he had given a detailed account of his meeting with Princess +Mary. The countess did not sleep at night, or when she did fall asleep +dreamed that she saw her sons lying dead. After many consultations and +conversations, the count at last devised means to tranquillize her. He +got Petya transferred from Obolenski's regiment to Bezukhov's, which was +in training near Moscow. Though Petya would remain in the service, this +transfer would give the countess the consolation of seeing at least one +of her sons under her wing, and she hoped to arrange matters for her +Petya so as not to let him go again, but always get him appointed to +places where he could not possibly take part in a battle. As long as +Nicholas alone was in danger the countess imagined that she loved her +first-born more than all her other children and even reproached herself +for it; but when her youngest: the scapegrace who had been bad at +lessons, was always breaking things in the house and making himself a +nuisance to everybody, that snub-nosed Petya with his merry black eyes +and fresh rosy cheeks where soft down was just beginning to show--when +he was thrown amid those big, dreadful, cruel men who were fighting +somewhere about something and apparently finding pleasure in it--then +his mother thought she loved him more, much more, than all her other +children. The nearer the time came for Petya to return, the more uneasy +grew the countess. She began to think she would never live to see such +happiness. The presence of Sonya, of her beloved Natasha, or even of her +husband irritated her. "What do I want with them? I want no one but +Petya," she thought. + +At the end of August the Rostovs received another letter from Nicholas. +He wrote from the province of Voronezh where he had been sent to procure +remounts, but that letter did not set the countess at ease. Knowing that +one son was out of danger she became the more anxious about Petya. + +Though by the twentieth of August nearly all the Rostovs' acquaintances +had left Moscow, and though everybody tried to persuade the countess to +get away as quickly as possible, she would not hear of leaving before +her treasure, her adored Petya, returned. On the twenty-eighth of August +he arrived. The passionate tenderness with which his mother received him +did not please the sixteen-year-old officer. Though she concealed from +him her intention of keeping him under her wing, Petya guessed her +designs, and instinctively fearing that he might give way to emotion +when with her--might "become womanish" as he termed it to himself--he +treated her coldly, avoided her, and during his stay in Moscow attached +himself exclusively to Natasha for whom he had always had a particularly +brotherly tenderness, almost lover-like. + +Owing to the count's customary carelessness nothing was ready for their +departure by the twenty-eighth of August and the carts that were to come +from their Ryazan and Moscow estates to remove their household +belongings did not arrive till the thirtieth. + +From the twenty-eighth till the thirty-first all Moscow was in a bustle +and commotion. Every day thousands of men wounded at Borodino were +brought in by the Dorogomilov gate and taken to various parts of Moscow, +and thousands of carts conveyed the inhabitants and their possessions +out by the other gates. In spite of Rostopchin's broadsheets, or because +of them or independently of them, the strangest and most contradictory +rumors were current in the town. Some said that no one was to be allowed +to leave the city, others on the contrary said that all the icons had +been taken out of the churches and everybody was to be ordered to leave. +Some said there had been another battle after Borodino at which the +French had been routed, while others on the contrary reported that the +Russian army had been destroyed. Some talked about the Moscow militia +which, preceded by the clergy, would go to the Three Hills; others +whispered that Augustin had been forbidden to leave, that traitors had +been seized, that the peasants were rioting and robbing people on their +way from Moscow, and so on. But all this was only talk; in reality +(though the Council of Fili, at which it was decided to abandon Moscow, +had not yet been held) both those who went away and those who remained +behind felt, though they did not show it, that Moscow would certainly be +abandoned, and that they ought to get away as quickly as possible and +save their belongings. It was felt that everything would suddenly break +up and change, but up to the first of September nothing had done so. As +a criminal who is being led to execution knows that he must die +immediately, but yet looks about him and straightens the cap that is +awry on his head, so Moscow involuntarily continued its wonted life, +though it knew that the time of its destruction was near when the +conditions of life to which its people were accustomed to submit would +be completely upset. + +During the three days preceding the occupation of Moscow the whole +Rostov family was absorbed in various activities. The head of the +family, Count Ilya Rostov, continually drove about the city collecting +the current rumors from all sides and gave superficial and hasty orders +at home about the preparations for their departure. + +The countess watched the things being packed, was dissatisfied with +everything, was constantly in pursuit of Petya who was always running +away from her, and was jealous of Natasha with whom he spent all his +time. Sonya alone directed the practical side of matters by getting +things packed. But of late Sonya had been particularly sad and silent. +Nicholas' letter in which he mentioned Princess Mary had elicited, in +her presence, joyous comments from the countess, who saw an intervention +of Providence in this meeting of the princess and Nicholas. + +"I was never pleased at Bolkonski's engagement to Natasha," said the +countess, "but I always wanted Nicholas to marry the princess, and had a +presentiment that it would happen. What a good thing it would be!" + +Sonya felt that this was true: that the only possibility of retrieving +the Rostovs' affairs was by Nicholas marrying a rich woman, and that the +princess was a good match. It was very bitter for her. But despite her +grief, or perhaps just because of it, she took on herself all the +difficult work of directing the storing and packing of their things and +was busy for whole days. The count and countess turned to her when they +had any orders to give. Petya and Natasha on the contrary, far from +helping their parents, were generally a nuisance and a hindrance to +everyone. Almost all day long the house resounded with their running +feet, their cries, and their spontaneous laughter. They laughed and were +gay not because there was any reason to laugh, but because gaiety and +mirth were in their hearts and so everything that happened was a cause +for gaiety and laughter to them. Petya was in high spirits because +having left home a boy he had returned (as everybody told him) a fine +young man, because he was at home, because he had left Belaya Tserkov +where there was no hope of soon taking part in a battle and had come to +Moscow where there was to be fighting in a few days, and chiefly because +Natasha, whose lead he always followed, was in high spirits. Natasha was +gay because she had been sad too long and now nothing reminded her of +the cause of her sadness, and because she was feeling well. She was also +happy because she had someone to adore her: the adoration of others was +a lubricant the wheels of her machine needed to make them run freely-- +and Petya adored her. Above all, they were gay because there was a war +near Moscow, there would be fighting at the town gates, arms were being +given out, everybody was escaping--going away somewhere, and in general +something extraordinary was happening, and that is always exciting, +especially to the young. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +On Saturday, the thirty-first of August, everything in the Rostovs' +house seemed topsy-turvy. All the doors were open, all the furniture was +being carried out or moved about, and the mirrors and pictures had been +taken down. There were trunks in the rooms, and hay, wrapping paper, and +ropes were scattered about. The peasants and house serfs carrying out +the things were treading heavily on the parquet floors. The yard was +crowded with peasant carts, some loaded high and already corded up, +others still empty. + +The voices and footsteps of the many servants and of the peasants who +had come with the carts resounded as they shouted to one another in the +yard and in the house. The count had been out since morning. The +countess had a headache brought on by all the noise and turmoil and was +lying down in the new sitting room with a vinegar compress on her head. +Petya was not at home, he had gone to visit a friend with whom he meant +to obtain a transfer from the militia to the active army. Sonya was in +the ballroom looking after the packing of the glass and china. Natasha +was sitting on the floor of her dismantled room with dresses, ribbons, +and scarves strewn all about her, gazing fixedly at the floor and +holding in her hands the old ball dress (already out of fashion) which +she had worn at her first Petersburg ball. + +Natasha was ashamed of doing nothing when everyone else was so busy, and +several times that morning had tried to set to work, but her heart was +not in it, and she could not and did not know how to do anything except +with all her heart and all her might. For a while she had stood beside +Sonya while the china was being packed and tried to help, but soon gave +it up and went to her room to pack her own things. At first she found it +amusing to give away dresses and ribbons to the maids, but when that was +done and what was left had still to be packed, she found it dull. + +"Dunyasha, you pack! You will, won't you, dear?" And when Dunyasha +willingly promised to do it all for her, Natasha sat down on the floor, +took her old ball dress, and fell into a reverie quite unrelated to what +ought to have occupied her thoughts now. She was roused from her reverie +by the talk of the maids in the next room (which was theirs) and by the +sound of their hurried footsteps going to the back porch. Natasha got up +and looked out of the window. An enormously long row of carts full of +wounded men had stopped in the street. + +The housekeeper, the old nurse, the cooks, coachmen, maids, footmen, +postilions, and scullions stood at the gate, staring at the wounded. + +Natasha, throwing a clean pocket handkerchief over her hair and holding +an end of it in each hand, went out into the street. + +The former housekeeper, old Mavra Kuzminichna, had stepped out of the +crowd by the gate, gone up to a cart with a hood constructed of bast +mats, and was speaking to a pale young officer who lay inside. Natasha +moved a few steps forward and stopped shyly, still holding her +handkerchief, and listened to what the housekeeper was saying. + +"Then you have nobody in Moscow?" she was saying. "You would be more +comfortable somewhere in a house... in ours, for instance... the family +are leaving." + +"I don't know if it would be allowed," replied the officer in a weak +voice. "Here is our commanding officer... ask him," and he pointed to a +stout major who was walking back along the street past the row of carts. + +Natasha glanced with frightened eyes at the face of the wounded officer +and at once went to meet the major. + +"May the wounded men stay in our house?" she asked. + +The major raised his hand to his cap with a smile. + +"Which one do you want, Ma'am'selle?" said he, screwing up his eyes and +smiling. + +Natasha quietly repeated her question, and her face and whole manner +were so serious, though she was still holding the ends of her +handkerchief, that the major ceased smiling and after some reflection-- +as if considering in how far the thing was possible--replied in the +affirmative. + +"Oh yes, why not? They may," he said. + +With a slight inclination of her head, Natasha stepped back quickly to +Mavra Kuzminichna, who stood talking compassionately to the officer. + +"They may. He says they may!" whispered Natasha. + +The cart in which the officer lay was turned into the Rostovs' yard, and +dozens of carts with wounded men began at the invitation of the +townsfolk to turn into the yards and to draw up at the entrances of the +houses in Povarskaya Street. Natasha was evidently pleased to be dealing +with new people outside the ordinary routine of her life. She and Mavra +Kuzminichna tried to get as many of the wounded as possible into their +yard. + +"Your Papa must be told, though," said Mavra Kuzminichna. + +"Never mind, never mind, what does it matter? For one day we can move +into the drawing room. They can have all our half of the house." + +"There now, young lady, you do take things into your head! Even if we +put them into the wing, the men's room, or the nurse's room, we must ask +permission." + +"Well, I'll ask." + +Natasha ran into the house and went on tiptoe through the half-open door +into the sitting room, where there was a smell of vinegar and Hoffman's +drops. + +"Are you asleep, Mamma?" + +"Oh, what sleep-?" said the countess, waking up just as she was dropping +into a doze. + +"Mamma darling!" said Natasha, kneeling by her mother and bringing her +face close to her mother's, "I am sorry, forgive me, I'll never do it +again; I woke you up! Mavra Kuzminichna has sent me: they have brought +some wounded here--officers. Will you let them come? They have nowhere +to go. I knew you'd let them come!" she said quickly all in one breath. + +"What officers? Whom have they brought? I don't understand anything +about it," said the countess. + +Natasha laughed, and the countess too smiled slightly. + +"I knew you'd give permission... so I'll tell them," and, having kissed +her mother, Natasha got up and went to the door. + +In the hall she met her father, who had returned with bad news. + +"We've stayed too long!" said the count with involuntary vexation. "The +club is closed and the police are leaving." + +"Papa, is it all right--I've invited some of the wounded into the +house?" said Natasha. + +"Of course it is," he answered absently. "That's not the point. I beg +you not to indulge in trifles now, but to help to pack, and tomorrow we +must go, go, go!...." + +And the count gave a similar order to the major-domo and the servants. + +At dinner Petya having returned home told them the news he had heard. He +said the people had been getting arms in the Kremlin, and that though +Rostopchin's broadsheet had said that he would sound a call two or three +days in advance, the order had certainly already been given for everyone +to go armed to the Three Hills tomorrow, and that there would be a big +battle there. + +The countess looked with timid horror at her son's eager, excited face +as he said this. She realized that if she said a word about his not +going to the battle (she knew he enjoyed the thought of the impending +engagement) he would say something about men, honor, and the fatherland- +-something senseless, masculine, and obstinate which there would be no +contradicting, and her plans would be spoiled; and so, hoping to arrange +to leave before then and take Petya with her as their protector and +defender, she did not answer him, but after dinner called the count +aside and implored him with tears to take her away quickly, that very +night if possible. With a woman's involuntary loving cunning she, who +till then had not shown any alarm, said that she would die of fright if +they did not leave that very night. Without any pretense she was now +afraid of everything. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Madame Schoss, who had been out to visit her daughter, increased the +countess' fears still more by telling what she had seen at a spirit +dealer's in Myasnitski Street. When returning by that street she had +been unable to pass because of a drunken crowd rioting in front of the +shop. She had taken a cab and driven home by a side street and the +cabman had told her that the people were breaking open the barrels at +the drink store, having received orders to do so. + +After dinner the whole Rostov household set to work with enthusiastic +haste packing their belongings and preparing for their departure. The +old count, suddenly setting to work, kept passing from the yard to the +house and back again, shouting confused instructions to the hurrying +people, and flurrying them still more. Petya directed things in the +yard. Sonya, owing to the count's contradictory orders, lost her head +and did not know what to do. The servants ran noisily about the house +and yard, shouting and disputing. Natasha, with the ardor characteristic +of all she did suddenly set to work too. At first her intervention in +the business of packing was received skeptically. Everybody expected +some prank from her and did not wish to obey her; but she resolutely and +passionately demanded obedience, grew angry and nearly cried because +they did not heed her, and at last succeeded in making them believe her. +Her first exploit, which cost her immense effort and established her +authority, was the packing of the carpets. The count had valuable +Gobelin tapestries and Persian carpets in the house. When Natasha set to +work two cases were standing open in the ballroom, one almost full up +with crockery, the other with carpets. There was also much china +standing on the tables, and still more was being brought in from the +storeroom. A third case was needed and servants had gone to fetch it. + +"Sonya, wait a bit--we'll pack everything into these," said Natasha. + +"You can't, Miss, we have tried to," said the butler's assistant. + +"No, wait a minute, please." + +And Natasha began rapidly taking out of the case dishes and plates +wrapped in paper. + +"The dishes must go in here among the carpets," said she. + +"Why, it's a mercy if we can get the carpets alone into three cases," +said the butler's assistant. + +"Oh, wait, please!" And Natasha began rapidly and deftly sorting out the +things. "These aren't needed," said she, putting aside some plates of +Kiev ware. "These--yes, these must go among the carpets," she said, +referring to the Saxony china dishes. + +"Don't, Natasha! Leave it alone! We'll get it all packed," urged Sonya +reproachfully. + +"What a young lady she is!" remarked the major-domo. + +But Natasha would not give in. She turned everything out and began +quickly repacking, deciding that the inferior Russian carpets and +unnecessary crockery should not be taken at all. When everything had +been taken out of the cases, they recommenced packing, and it turned out +that when the cheaper things not worth taking had nearly all been +rejected, the valuable ones really did all go into the two cases. Only +the lid of the case containing the carpets would not shut down. A few +more things might have been taken out, but Natasha insisted on having +her own way. She packed, repacked, pressed, made the butler's assistant +and Petya--whom she had drawn into the business of packing--press on the +lid, and made desperate efforts herself. + +"That's enough, Natasha," said Sonya. "I see you were right, but just +take out the top one." + +"I won't!" cried Natasha, with one hand holding back the hair that hung +over her perspiring face, while with the other she pressed down the +carpets. "Now press, Petya! Press, Vasilich, press hard!" she cried. + +The carpets yielded and the lid closed; Natasha, clapping her hands, +screamed with delight and tears fell from her eyes. But this only lasted +a moment. She at once set to work afresh and they now trusted her +completely. The count was not angry even when they told him that Natasha +had countermanded an order of his, and the servants now came to her to +ask whether a cart was sufficiently loaded, and whether it might be +corded up. Thanks to Natasha's directions the work now went on +expeditiously, unnecessary things were left, and the most valuable +packed as compactly as possible. + +But hard as they all worked till quite late that night, they could not +get everything packed. The countess had fallen asleep and the count, +having put off their departure till next morning, went to bed. + +Sonya and Natasha slept in the sitting room without undressing. + +That night another wounded man was driven down the Povarskaya, and Mavra +Kuzminichna, who was standing at the gate, had him brought into the +Rostovs' yard. Mavra Kuzminichna concluded that he was a very important +man. He was being conveyed in a caleche with a raised hood, and was +quite covered by an apron. On the box beside the driver sat a venerable +old attendant. A doctor and two soldiers followed the carriage in a +cart. + +"Please come in here. The masters are going away and the whole house +will be empty," said the old woman to the old attendant. + +"Well, perhaps," said he with a sigh. "We don't expect to get him home +alive! We have a house of our own in Moscow, but it's a long way from +here, and there's nobody living in it." + +"Do us the honor to come in, there's plenty of everything in the +master's house. Come in," said Mavra Kuzminichna. "Is he very ill?" she +asked. + +The attendant made a hopeless gesture. + +"We don't expect to get him home! We must ask the doctor." + +And the old servant got down from the box and went up to the cart. + +"All right!" said the doctor. + +The old servant returned to the caleche, looked into it, shook his head +disconsolately, told the driver to turn into the yard, and stopped +beside Mavra Kuzminichna. + +"O, Lord Jesus Christ!" she murmured. + +She invited them to take the wounded man into the house. + +"The masters won't object..." she said. + +But they had to avoid carrying the man upstairs, and so they took him +into the wing and put him in the room that had been Madame Schoss'. + +This wounded man was Prince Andrew Bolkonski. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Moscow's last day had come. It was a clear bright autumn day, a Sunday. +The church bells everywhere were ringing for service, just as usual on +Sundays. Nobody seemed yet to realize what awaited the city. + +Only two things indicated the social condition of Moscow--the rabble, +that is the poor people, and the price of commodities. An enormous crowd +of factory hands, house serfs, and peasants, with whom some officials, +seminarists, and gentry were mingled, had gone early that morning to the +Three Hills. Having waited there for Rostopchin who did not turn up, +they became convinced that Moscow would be surrendered, and then +dispersed all about the town to the public houses and cookshops. Prices +too that day indicated the state of affairs. The price of weapons, of +gold, of carts and horses, kept rising, but the value of paper money and +city articles kept falling, so that by midday there were instances of +carters removing valuable goods, such as cloth, and receiving in payment +a half of what they carted, while peasant horses were fetching five +hundred rubles each, and furniture, mirrors, and bronzes were being +given away for nothing. + +In the Rostovs' staid old-fashioned house the dissolution of former +conditions of life was but little noticeable. As to the serfs the only +indication was that three out of their huge retinue disappeared during +the night, but nothing was stolen; and as to the value of their +possessions, the thirty peasant carts that had come in from their +estates and which many people envied proved to be extremely valuable and +they were offered enormous sums of money for them. Not only were huge +sums offered for the horses and carts, but on the previous evening and +early in the morning of the first of September, orderlies and servants +sent by wounded officers came to the Rostovs' and wounded men dragged +themselves there from the Rostovs' and from neighboring houses where +they were accommodated, entreating the servants to try to get them a +lift out of Moscow. The major-domo to whom these entreaties were +addressed, though he was sorry for the wounded, resolutely refused, +saying that he dare not even mention the matter to the count. Pity these +wounded men as one might, it was evident that if they were given one +cart there would be no reason to refuse another, or all the carts and +one's own carriages as well. Thirty carts could not save all the wounded +and in the general catastrophe one could not disregard oneself and one's +own family. So thought the major-domo on his master's behalf. + +On waking up that morning Count Ilya Rostov left his bedroom softly, so +as not to wake the countess who had fallen asleep only toward morning, +and came out to the porch in his lilac silk dressing gown. In the yard +stood the carts ready corded. The carriages were at the front porch. The +major-domo stood at the porch talking to an elderly orderly and to a +pale young officer with a bandaged arm. On seeing the count the major- +domo made a significant and stern gesture to them both to go away. + +"Well, Vasilich, is everything ready?" asked the count, and stroking his +bald head he looked good-naturedly at the officer and the orderly and +nodded to them. (He liked to see new faces.) + +"We can harness at once, your excellency." + +"Well, that's right. As soon as the countess wakes we'll be off, God +willing! What is it, gentlemen?" he added, turning to the officer. "Are +you staying in my house?" + +The officer came nearer and suddenly his face flushed crimson. + +"Count, be so good as to allow me... for God's sake, to get into some +corner of one of your carts! I have nothing here with me.... I shall be +all right on a loaded cart..." + +Before the officer had finished speaking the orderly made the same +request on behalf of his master. + +"Oh, yes, yes, yes!" said the count hastily. "I shall be very pleased, +very pleased. Vasilich, you'll see to it. Just unload one or two carts. +Well, what of it... do what's necessary..." said the count, muttering +some indefinite order. + +But at the same moment an expression of warm gratitude on the officer's +face had already sealed the order. The count looked around him. In the +yard, at the gates, at the window of the wings, wounded officers and +their orderlies were to be seen. They were all looking at the count and +moving toward the porch. + +"Please step into the gallery, your excellency," said the major-domo. +"What are your orders about the pictures?" + +The count went into the house with him, repeating his order not to +refuse the wounded who asked for a lift. + +"Well, never mind, some of the things can be unloaded," he added in a +soft, confidential voice, as though afraid of being overheard. + +At nine o'clock the countess woke up, and Matrena Timofeevna, who had +been her lady's maid before her marriage and now performed a sort of +chief gendarme's duty for her, came to say that Madame Schoss was much +offended and the young ladies' summer dresses could not be left behind. +On inquiry, the countess learned that Madame Schoss was offended because +her trunk had been taken down from its cart, and all the loads were +being uncorded and the luggage taken out of the carts to make room for +wounded men whom the count in the simplicity of his heart had ordered +that they should take with them. The countess sent for her husband. + +"What is this, my dear? I hear that the luggage is being unloaded." + +"You know, love, I wanted to tell you... Countess dear... an officer +came to me to ask for a few carts for the wounded. After all, ours are +things that can be bought but think what being left behind means to +them!... Really now, in our own yard--we asked them in ourselves and +there are officers among them.... You know, I think, my dear... let them +be taken... where's the hurry?" + +The count spoke timidly, as he always did when talking of money matters. +The countess was accustomed to this tone as a precursor of news of +something detrimental to the children's interests, such as the building +of a new gallery or conservatory, the inauguration of a private theater +or an orchestra. She was accustomed always to oppose anything announced +in that timid tone and considered it her duty to do so. + +She assumed her dolefully submissive manner and said to her husband: +"Listen to me, Count, you have managed matters so that we are getting +nothing for the house, and now you wish to throw away all our--all the +children's property! You said yourself that we have a hundred thousand +rubles' worth of things in the house. I don't consent, my dear, I don't! +Do as you please! It's the government's business to look after the +wounded; they know that. Look at the Lopukhins opposite, they cleared +out everything two days ago. That's what other people do. It's only we +who are such fools. If you have no pity on me, have some for the +children." + +Flourishing his arms in despair the count left the room without +replying. + +"Papa, what are you doing that for?" asked Natasha, who had followed him +into her mother's room. + +"Nothing! What business is it of yours?" muttered the count angrily. + +"But I heard," said Natasha. "Why does Mamma object?" + +"What business is it of yours?" cried the count. + +Natasha stepped up to the window and pondered. + +"Papa! Here's Berg coming to see us," said she, looking out of the +window. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Berg, the Rostovs' son-in-law, was already a colonel wearing the orders +of Vladimir and Anna, and he still filled the quiet and agreeable post +of assistant to the head of the staff of the assistant commander of the +first division of the Second Army. + +On the first of September he had come to Moscow from the army. + +He had nothing to do in Moscow, but he had noticed that everyone in the +army was asking for leave to visit Moscow and had something to do there. +So he considered it necessary to ask for leave of absence for family and +domestic reasons. + +Berg drove up to his father-in-law's house in his spruce little trap +with a pair of sleek roans, exactly like those of a certain prince. He +looked attentively at the carts in the yard and while going up to the +porch took out a clean pocket handkerchief and tied a knot in it. + +From the anteroom Berg ran with smooth though impatient steps into the +drawing room, where he embraced the count, kissed the hands of Natasha +and Sonya, and hastened to inquire after "Mamma's" health. + +"Health, at a time like this?" said the count. "Come, tell us the news! +Is the army retreating or will there be another battle?" + +"God Almighty alone can decide the fate of our fatherland, Papa," said +Berg. "The army is burning with a spirit of heroism and the leaders, so +to say, have now assembled in council. No one knows what is coming. But +in general I can tell you, Papa, that such a heroic spirit, the truly +antique valor of the Russian army, which they--which it" (he corrected +himself) "has shown or displayed in the battle of the twenty-sixth-- +there are no words worthy to do it justice! I tell you, Papa" (he smote +himself on the breast as a general he had heard speaking had done, but +Berg did it a trifle late for he should have struck his breast at the +words "Russian army"), "I tell you frankly that we, the commanders, far +from having to urge the men on or anything of that kind, could hardly +restrain those... those... yes, those exploits of antique valor," he +went on rapidly. "General Barclay de Tolly risked his life everywhere at +the head of the troops, I can assure you. Our corps was stationed on a +hillside. You can imagine!" + +And Berg related all that he remembered of the various tales he had +heard those days. Natasha watched him with an intent gaze that confused +him, as if she were trying to find in his face the answer to some +question. + +"Altogether such heroism as was displayed by the Russian warriors cannot +be imagined or adequately praised!" said Berg, glancing round at +Natasha, and as if anxious to conciliate her, replying to her intent +look with a smile. "'Russia is not in Moscow, she lives in the hearts of +her sons!' Isn't it so, Papa?" said he. + +Just then the countess came in from the sitting room with a weary and +dissatisfied expression. Berg hurriedly jumped up, kissed her hand, +asked about her health, and, swaying his head from side to side to +express sympathy, remained standing beside her. + +"Yes, Mamma, I tell you sincerely that these are hard and sad times for +every Russian. But why are you so anxious? You have still time to get +away...." + +"I can't think what the servants are about," said the countess, turning +to her husband. "I have just been told that nothing is ready yet. +Somebody after all must see to things. One misses Mitenka at such times. +There won't be any end to it." + +The count was about to say something, but evidently restrained himself. +He got up from his chair and went to the door. + +At that moment Berg drew out his handkerchief as if to blow his nose +and, seeing the knot in it, pondered, shaking his head sadly and +significantly. + +"And I have a great favor to ask of you, Papa," said he. + +"Hm..." said the count, and stopped. + +"I was driving past Yusupov's house just now," said Berg with a laugh, +"when the steward, a man I know, ran out and asked me whether I wouldn't +buy something. I went in out of curiosity, you know, and there is a +small chiffonier and a dressing table. You know how dear Vera wanted a +chiffonier like that and how we had a dispute about it." (At the mention +of the chiffonier and dressing table Berg involuntarily changed his tone +to one of pleasure at his admirable domestic arrangements.) "And it's +such a beauty! It pulls out and has a secret English drawer, you know! +And dear Vera has long wanted one. I wish to give her a surprise, you +see. I saw so many of those peasant carts in your yard. Please let me +have one, I will pay the man well, and..." + +The count frowned and coughed. + +"Ask the countess, I don't give orders." + +"If it's inconvenient, please don't," said Berg. "Only I so wanted it, +for dear Vera's sake." + +"Oh, go to the devil, all of you! To the devil, the devil, the devil..." +cried the old count. "My head's in a whirl!" + +And he left the room. The countess began to cry. + +"Yes, Mamma! Yes, these are very hard times!" said Berg. + +Natasha left the room with her father and, as if finding it difficult to +reach some decision, first followed him and then ran downstairs. + +Petya was in the porch, engaged in giving out weapons to the servants +who were to leave Moscow. The loaded carts were still standing in the +yard. Two of them had been uncorded and a wounded officer was climbing +into one of them helped by an orderly. + +"Do you know what it's about?" Petya asked Natasha. + +She understood that he meant what were their parents quarreling about. +She did not answer. + +"It's because Papa wanted to give up all the carts to the wounded," said +Petya. "Vasilich told me. I consider..." + +"I consider," Natasha suddenly almost shouted, turning her angry face to +Petya, "I consider it so horrid, so abominable, so... I don't know what. +Are we despicable Germans?" + +Her throat quivered with convulsive sobs and, afraid of weakening and +letting the force of her anger run to waste, she turned and rushed +headlong up the stairs. + +Berg was sitting beside the countess consoling her with the respectful +attention of a relative. The count, pipe in hand, was pacing up and down +the room, when Natasha, her face distorted by anger, burst in like a +tempest and approached her mother with rapid steps. + +"It's horrid! It's abominable!" she screamed. "You can't possibly have +ordered it!" + +Berg and the countess looked at her, perplexed and frightened. The count +stood still at the window and listened. + +"Mamma, it's impossible: see what is going on in the yard!" she cried. +"They will be left!..." + +"What's the matter with you? Who are 'they'? What do you want?" + +"Why, the wounded! It's impossible, Mamma. It's monstrous!... No, Mamma +darling, it's not the thing. Please forgive me, darling.... Mamma, what +does it matter what we take away? Only look what is going on in the +yard... Mamma!... It's impossible!" + +The count stood by the window and listened without turning round. +Suddenly he sniffed and put his face closer to the window. + +The countess glanced at her daughter, saw her face full of shame for her +mother, saw her agitation, and understood why her husband did not turn +to look at her now, and she glanced round quite disconcerted. + +"Oh, do as you like! Am I hindering anyone?" she said, not surrendering +at once. + +"Mamma, darling, forgive me!" + +But the countess pushed her daughter away and went up to her husband. + +"My dear, you order what is right.... You know I don't understand about +it," said she, dropping her eyes shamefacedly. + +"The eggs... the eggs are teaching the hen," muttered the count through +tears of joy, and he embraced his wife who was glad to hide her look of +shame on his breast. + +"Papa! Mamma! May I see to it? May I?..." asked Natasha. "We will still +take all the most necessary things." + +The count nodded affirmatively, and Natasha, at the rapid pace at which +she used to run when playing at tag, ran through the ballroom to the +anteroom and downstairs into the yard. + +The servants gathered round Natasha, but could not believe the strange +order she brought them until the count himself, in his wife's name, +confirmed the order to give up all the carts to the wounded and take the +trunks to the storerooms. When they understood that order the servants +set to work at this new task with pleasure and zeal. It no longer seemed +strange to them but on the contrary it seemed the only thing that could +be done, just as a quarter of an hour before it had not seemed strange +to anyone that the wounded should be left behind and the goods carted +away but that had seemed the only thing to do. + +The whole household, as if to atone for not having done it sooner, set +eagerly to work at the new task of placing the wounded in the carts. The +wounded dragged themselves out of their rooms and stood with pale but +happy faces round the carts. The news that carts were to be had spread +to the neighboring houses, from which wounded men began to come into the +Rostovs' yard. Many of the wounded asked them not to unload the carts +but only to let them sit on the top of the things. But the work of +unloading, once started, could not be arrested. It seemed not to matter +whether all or only half the things were left behind. Cases full of +china, bronzes, pictures, and mirrors that had been so carefully packed +the night before now lay about the yard, and still they went on +searching for and finding possibilities of unloading this or that and +letting the wounded have another and yet another cart. + +"We can take four more men," said the steward. "They can have my trap, +or else what is to become of them?" + +"Let them have my wardrobe cart," said the countess. "Dunyasha can go +with me in the carriage." + +They unloaded the wardrobe cart and sent it to take wounded men from a +house two doors off. The whole household, servants included, was bright +and animated. Natasha was in a state of rapturous excitement such as she +had not known for a long time. + +"What could we fasten this onto?" asked the servants, trying to fix a +trunk on the narrow footboard behind a carriage. "We must keep at least +one cart." + +"What's in it?" asked Natasha. + +"The count's books." + +"Leave it, Vasilich will put it away. It's not wanted." + +The phaeton was full of people and there was a doubt as to where Count +Peter could sit. + +"On the box. You'll sit on the box, won't you, Petya?" cried Natasha. + +Sonya too was busy all this time, but the aim of her efforts was quite +different from Natasha's. She was putting away the things that had to be +left behind and making a list of them as the countess wished, and she +tried to get as much taken away with them as possible. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Before two o'clock in the afternoon the Rostovs' four carriages, packed +full and with the horses harnessed, stood at the front door. One by one +the carts with the wounded had moved out of the yard. + +The caleche in which Prince Andrew was being taken attracted Sonya's +attention as it passed the front porch. With the help of a maid she was +arranging a seat for the countess in the huge high coach that stood at +the entrance. + +"Whose caleche is that?" she inquired, leaning out of the carriage +window. + +"Why, didn't you know, Miss?" replied the maid. "The wounded prince: he +spent the night in our house and is going with us." + +"But who is it? What's his name?" + +"It's our intended that was--Prince Bolkonski himself! They say he is +dying," replied the maid with a sigh. + +Sonya jumped out of the coach and ran to the countess. The countess, +tired out and already dressed in shawl and bonnet for her journey, was +pacing up and down the drawing room, waiting for the household to +assemble for the usual silent prayer with closed doors before starting. +Natasha was not in the room. + +"Mamma," said Sonya, "Prince Andrew is here, mortally wounded. He is +going with us." + +The countess opened her eyes in dismay and, seizing Sonya's arm, glanced +around. + +"Natasha?" she murmured. + +At that moment this news had only one significance for both of them. +They knew their Natasha, and alarm as to what would happen if she heard +this news stifled all sympathy for the man they both liked. + +"Natasha does not know yet, but he is going with us," said Sonya. + +"You say he is dying?" + +Sonya nodded. + +The countess put her arms around Sonya and began to cry. + +"The ways of God are past finding out!" she thought, feeling that the +Almighty Hand, hitherto unseen, was becoming manifest in all that was +now taking place. + +"Well, Mamma? Everything is ready. What's the matter?" asked Natasha, as +with animated face she ran into the room. + +"Nothing," answered the countess. "If everything is ready let us start." + +And the countess bent over her reticule to hide her agitated face. Sonya +embraced Natasha and kissed her. + +Natasha looked at her inquiringly. + +"What is it? What has happened?" + +"Nothing... No..." + +"Is it something very bad for me? What is it?" persisted Natasha with +her quick intuition. + +Sonya sighed and made no reply. The count, Petya, Madame Schoss, Mavra +Kuzminichna, and Vasilich came into the drawing room and, having closed +the doors, they all sat down and remained for some moments silently +seated without looking at one another. + +The count was the first to rise, and with a loud sigh crossed himself +before the icon. All the others did the same. Then the count embraced +Mavra Kuzminichna and Vasilich, who were to remain in Moscow, and while +they caught at his hand and kissed his shoulder he patted their backs +lightly with some vaguely affectionate and comforting words. The +countess went into the oratory and there Sonya found her on her knees +before the icons that had been left here and there hanging on the wall. +(The most precious ones, with which some family tradition was connected, +were being taken with them.) + +In the porch and in the yard the men whom Petya had armed with swords +and daggers, with trousers tucked inside their high boots and with belts +and girdles tightened, were taking leave of those remaining behind. + +As is always the case at a departure, much had been forgotten or put in +the wrong place, and for a long time two menservants stood one on each +side of the open door and the carriage steps waiting to help the +countess in, while maids rushed with cushions and bundles from the house +to the carriages, the caleche, the phaeton, and back again. + +"They always will forget everything!" said the countess. "Don't you know +I can't sit like that?" + +And Dunyasha, with clenched teeth, without replying but with an +aggrieved look on her face, hastily got into the coach to rearrange the +seat. + +"Oh, those servants!" said the count, swaying his head. + +Efim, the old coachman, who was the only one the countess trusted to +drive her, sat perched up high on the box and did not so much as glance +round at what was going on behind him. From thirty years' experience he +knew it would be some time yet before the order, "Be off, in God's +name!" would be given him: and he knew that even when it was said he +would be stopped once or twice more while they sent back to fetch +something that had been forgotten, and even after that he would again be +stopped and the countess herself would lean out of the window and beg +him for the love of heaven to drive carefully down the hill. He knew all +this and therefore waited calmly for what would happen, with more +patience than the horses, especially the near one, the chestnut Falcon, +who was pawing the ground and champing his bit. At last all were seated, +the carriage steps were folded and pulled up, the door was shut, +somebody was sent for a traveling case, and the countess leaned out and +said what she had to say. Then Efim deliberately doffed his hat and +began crossing himself. The postilion and all the other servants did the +same. "Off, in God's name!" said Efim, putting on his hat. "Start!" The +postilion started the horses, the off pole horse tugged at his collar, +the high springs creaked, and the body of the coach swayed. The footman +sprang onto the box of the moving coach which jolted as it passed out of +the yard onto the uneven roadway; the other vehicles jolted in their +turn, and the procession of carriages moved up the street. In the +carriages, the caleche, and the phaeton, all crossed themselves as they +passed the church opposite the house. Those who were to remain in Moscow +walked on either side of the vehicles seeing the travelers off. + +Rarely had Natasha experienced so joyful a feeling as now, sitting in +the carriage beside the countess and gazing at the slowly receding walls +of forsaken, agitated Moscow. Occasionally she leaned out of the +carriage window and looked back and then forward at the long train of +wounded in front of them. Almost at the head of the line she could see +the raised hood of Prince Andrew's caleche. She did not know who was in +it, but each time she looked at the procession her eyes sought that +caleche. She knew it was right in front. + +In Kudrino, from the Nikitski, Presnya, and Podnovinsk Streets came +several other trains of vehicles similar to the Rostovs', and as they +passed along the Sadovaya Street the carriages and carts formed two rows +abreast. + +As they were going round the Sukharev water tower Natasha, who was +inquisitively and alertly scrutinizing the people driving or walking +past, suddenly cried out in joyful surprise: + +"Dear me! Mamma, Sonya, look, it's he!" + +"Who? Who?" + +"Look! Yes, on my word, it's Bezukhov!" said Natasha, putting her head +out of the carriage and staring at a tall, stout man in a coachman's +long coat, who from his manner of walking and moving was evidently a +gentleman in disguise, and who was passing under the arch of the +Sukharev tower accompanied by a small, sallow-faced, beardless old man +in a frieze coat. + +"Yes, it really is Bezukhov in a coachman's coat, with a queer-looking +old boy. Really," said Natasha, "look, look!" + +"No, it's not he. How can you talk such nonsense?" + +"Mamma," screamed Natasha, "I'll stake my head it's he! I assure you! +Stop, stop!" she cried to the coachman. + +But the coachman could not stop, for from the Meshchanski Street came +more carts and carriages, and the Rostovs were being shouted at to move +on and not block the way. + +In fact, however, though now much farther off than before, the Rostovs +all saw Pierre--or someone extraordinarily like him--in a coachman's +coat, going down the street with head bent and a serious face beside a +small, beardless old man who looked like a footman. That old man noticed +a face thrust out of the carriage window gazing at them, and +respectfully touching Pierre's elbow said something to him and pointed +to the carriage. Pierre, evidently engrossed in thought, could not at +first understand him. At length when he had understood and looked in the +direction the old man indicated, he recognized Natasha, and following +his first impulse stepped instantly and rapidly toward the coach. But +having taken a dozen steps he seemed to remember something and stopped. + +Natasha's face, leaning out of the window, beamed with quizzical +kindliness. + +"Peter Kirilovich, come here! We have recognized you! This is +wonderful!" she cried, holding out her hand to him. "What are you doing? +Why are you like this?" + +Pierre took her outstretched hand and kissed it awkwardly as he walked +along beside her while the coach still moved on. + +"What is the matter, Count?" asked the countess in a surprised and +commiserating tone. + +"What? What? Why? Don't ask me," said Pierre, and looked round at +Natasha whose radiant, happy expression--of which he was conscious +without looking at her--filled him with enchantment. + +"Are you remaining in Moscow, then?" + +Pierre hesitated. + +"In Moscow?" he said in a questioning tone. "Yes, in Moscow. Good-bye!" + +"Ah, if only I were a man! I'd certainly stay with you. How splendid!" +said Natasha. "Mamma, if you'll let me, I'll stay!" + +Pierre glanced absently at Natasha and was about to say something, but +the countess interrupted him. + +"You were at the battle, we heard." + +"Yes, I was," Pierre answered. "There will be another battle +tomorrow..." he began, but Natasha interrupted him. + +"But what is the matter with you, Count? You are not like yourself...." + +"Oh, don't ask me, don't ask me! I don't know myself. Tomorrow... But +no! Good-bye, good-by!" he muttered. "It's an awful time!" and dropping +behind the carriage he stepped onto the pavement. + +Natasha continued to lean out of the window for a long time, beaming at +him with her kindly, slightly quizzical, happy smile. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +For the last two days, ever since leaving home, Pierre had been living +in the empty house of his deceased benefactor, Bazdeev. This is how it +happened. + +When he woke up on the morning after his return to Moscow and his +interview with Count Rostopchin, he could not for some time make out +where he was and what was expected of him. When he was informed that +among others awaiting him in his reception room there was a Frenchman +who had brought a letter from his wife, the Countess Helene, he felt +suddenly overcome by that sense of confusion and hopelessness to which +he was apt to succumb. He felt that everything was now at an end, all +was in confusion and crumbling to pieces, that nobody was right or +wrong, the future held nothing, and there was no escape from this +position. Smiling unnaturally and muttering to himself, he first sat +down on the sofa in an attitude of despair, then rose, went to the door +of the reception room and peeped through the crack, returned flourishing +his arms, and took up a book. His major-domo came in a second time to +say that the Frenchman who had brought the letter from the countess was +very anxious to see him if only for a minute, and that someone from +Bazdeev's widow had called to ask Pierre to take charge of her husband's +books, as she herself was leaving for the country. + +"Oh, yes, in a minute; wait... or no! No, of course... go and say I will +come directly," Pierre replied to the major-domo. + +But as soon as the man had left the room Pierre took up his hat which +was lying on the table and went out of his study by the other door. +There was no one in the passage. He went along the whole length of this +passage to the stairs and, frowning and rubbing his forehead with both +hands, went down as far as the first landing. The hall porter was +standing at the front door. From the landing where Pierre stood there +was a second staircase leading to the back entrance. He went down that +staircase and out into the yard. No one had seen him. But there were +some carriages waiting, and as soon as Pierre stepped out of the gate +the coachmen and the yard porter noticed him and raised their caps to +him. When he felt he was being looked at he behaved like an ostrich +which hides its head in a bush in order not to be seen: he hung his head +and quickening his pace went down the street. + +Of all the affairs awaiting Pierre that day the sorting of Joseph +Bazdeev's books and papers appeared to him the most necessary. + +He hired the first cab he met and told the driver to go to the +Patriarch's Ponds, where the widow Bazdeev's house was. + +Continually turning round to look at the rows of loaded carts that were +making their way from all sides out of Moscow, and balancing his bulky +body so as not to slip out of the ramshackle old vehicle, Pierre, +experiencing the joyful feeling of a boy escaping from school, began to +talk to his driver. + +The man told him that arms were being distributed today at the Kremlin +and that tomorrow everyone would be sent out beyond the Three Hills +gates and a great battle would be fought there. + +Having reached the Patriarch's Ponds Pierre found the Bazdeevs' house, +where he had not been for a long time past. He went up to the gate. +Gerasim, that sallow beardless old man Pierre had seen at Torzhok five +years before with Joseph Bazdeev, came out in answer to his knock. + +"At home?" asked Pierre. + +"Owing to the present state of things Sophia Danilovna has gone to the +Torzhok estate with the children, your excellency." + +"I will come in all the same, I have to look through the books," said +Pierre. + +"Be so good as to step in. Makar Alexeevich, the brother of my late +master--may the kingdom of heaven be his--has remained here, but he is +in a weak state as you know," said the old servant. + +Pierre knew that Makar Alexeevich was Joseph Bazdeev's half-insane +brother and a hard drinker. + +"Yes, yes, I know. Let us go in..." said Pierre and entered the house. + +A tall, bald-headed old man with a red nose, wearing a dressing gown and +with galoshes on his bare feet, stood in the anteroom. On seeing Pierre +he muttered something angrily and went away along the passage. + +"He was a very clever man but has now grown quite feeble, as your honor +sees," said Gerasim. "Will you step into the study?" Pierre nodded. "As +it was sealed up so it has remained, but Sophia Danilovna gave orders +that if anyone should come from you they were to have the books." + +Pierre went into that gloomy study which he had entered with such +trepidation in his benefactor's lifetime. The room, dusty and untouched +since the death of Joseph Bazdeev was now even gloomier. + +Gerasim opened one of the shutters and left the room on tiptoe. Pierre +went round the study, approached the cupboard in which the manuscripts +were kept, and took out what had once been one of the most important, +the holy of holies of the order. This was the authentic Scotch Acts with +Bazdeev's notes and explanations. He sat down at the dusty writing +table, and, having laid the manuscripts before him, opened them out, +closed them, finally pushed them away, and resting his head on his hand +sank into meditation. + +Gerasim looked cautiously into the study several times and saw Pierre +always sitting in the same attitude. + +More than two hours passed and Gerasim took the liberty of making a +slight noise at the door to attract his attention, but Pierre did not +hear him. + +"Is the cabman to be discharged, your honor?" + +"Oh yes!" said Pierre, rousing himself and rising hurriedly. "Look +here," he added, taking Gerasim by a button of his coat and looking down +at the old man with moist, shining, and ecstatic eyes, "I say, do you +know that there is going to be a battle tomorrow?" + +"We heard so," replied the man. + +"I beg you not to tell anyone who I am, and to do what I ask you." + +"Yes, your excellency," replied Gerasim. "Will you have something to +eat?" + +"No, but I want something else. I want peasant clothes and a pistol," +said Pierre, unexpectedly blushing. + +"Yes, your excellency," said Gerasim after thinking for a moment. + +All the rest of that day Pierre spent alone in his benefactor's study, +and Gerasim heard him pacing restlessly from one corner to another and +talking to himself. And he spent the night on a bed made up for him +there. + +Gerasim, being a servant who in his time had seen many strange things, +accepted Pierre's taking up his residence in the house without surprise, +and seemed pleased to have someone to wait on. That same evening-- +without even asking himself what they were wanted for--he procured a +coachman's coat and cap for Pierre, and promised to get him the pistol +next day. Makar Alexeevich came twice that evening shuffling along in +his galoshes as far as the door and stopped and looked ingratiatingly at +Pierre. But as soon as Pierre turned toward him he wrapped his dressing +gown around him with a shamefaced and angry look and hurried away. It +was when Pierre (wearing the coachman's coat which Gerasim had procured +for him and had disinfected by steam) was on his way with the old man to +buy the pistol at the Sukharev market that he met the Rostovs. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Kutuzov's order to retreat through Moscow to the Ryazan road was issued +at night on the first of September. + +The first troops started at once, and during the night they marched +slowly and steadily without hurry. At daybreak, however, those nearing +the town at the Dorogomilov bridge saw ahead of them masses of soldiers +crowding and hurrying across the bridge, ascending on the opposite side +and blocking the streets and alleys, while endless masses of troops were +bearing down on them from behind, and an unreasoning hurry and alarm +overcame them. They all rushed forward to the bridge, onto it, and to +the fords and the boats. Kutuzov himself had driven round by side +streets to the other side of Moscow. + +By ten o'clock in the morning of the second of September, only the rear +guard remained in the Dorogomilov suburb, where they had ample room. The +main army was on the other side of Moscow or beyond it. + +At that very time, at ten in the morning of the second of September, +Napoleon was standing among his troops on the Poklonny Hill looking at +the panorama spread out before him. From the twenty-sixth of August to +the second of September, that is from the battle of Borodino to the +entry of the French into Moscow, during the whole of that agitating, +memorable week, there had been the extraordinary autumn weather that +always comes as a surprise, when the sun hangs low and gives more heat +than in spring, when everything shines so brightly in the rare clear +atmosphere that the eyes smart, when the lungs are strengthened and +refreshed by inhaling the aromatic autumn air, when even the nights are +warm, and when in those dark warm nights, golden stars startle and +delight us continually by falling from the sky. + +At ten in the morning of the second of September this weather still +held. + +The brightness of the morning was magical. Moscow seen from the Poklonny +Hill lay spaciously spread out with her river, her gardens, and her +churches, and she seemed to be living her usual life, her cupolas +glittering like stars in the sunlight. + +The view of the strange city with its peculiar architecture, such as he +had never seen before, filled Napoleon with the rather envious and +uneasy curiosity men feel when they see an alien form of life that has +no knowledge of them. This city was evidently living with the full force +of its own life. By the indefinite signs which, even at a distance, +distinguish a living body from a dead one, Napoleon from the Poklonny +Hill perceived the throb of life in the town and felt, as it were, the +breathing of that great and beautiful body. + +Every Russian looking at Moscow feels her to be a mother; every +foreigner who sees her, even if ignorant of her significance as the +mother city, must feel her feminine character, and Napoleon felt it. + +"Cette ville asiatique aux innombrables eglises, Moscou la sainte. La +voila done enfin, cette fameuse ville! Il etait temps," * said he, and +dismounting he ordered a plan of Moscow to be spread out before him, and +summoned Lelorgne d'Ideville, the interpreter. + + +* "That Asiatic city of the innumerable churches, holy Moscow! Here it +is then at last, that famous city. It was high time." + +"A town captured by the enemy is like a maid who has lost her honor," +thought he (he had said so to Tuchkov at Smolensk). From that point of +view he gazed at the Oriental beauty he had not seen before. It seemed +strange to him that his long-felt wish, which had seemed unattainable, +had at last been realized. In the clear morning light he gazed now at +the city and now at the plan, considering its details, and the assurance +of possessing it agitated and awed him. + +"But could it be otherwise?" he thought. "Here is this capital at my +feet. Where is Alexander now, and of what is he thinking? A strange, +beautiful, and majestic city; and a strange and majestic moment! In what +light must I appear to them!" thought he, thinking of his troops. "Here +she is, the reward for all those fainthearted men," he reflected, +glancing at those near him and at the troops who were approaching and +forming up. "One word from me, one movement of my hand, and that ancient +capital of the Tsars would perish. But my clemency is always ready to +descend upon the vanquished. I must be magnanimous and truly great. But +no, it can't be true that I am in Moscow," he suddenly thought. "Yet +here she is lying at my feet, with her golden domes and crosses +scintillating and twinkling in the sunshine. But I shall spare her. On +the ancient monuments of barbarism and despotism I will inscribe great +words of justice and mercy.... It is just this which Alexander will feel +most painfully, I know him." (It seemed to Napoleon that the chief +import of what was taking place lay in the personal struggle between +himself and Alexander.) "From the height of the Kremlin--yes, there is +the Kremlin, yes--I will give them just laws; I will teach them the +meaning of true civilization, I will make generations of boyars remember +their conqueror with love. I will tell the deputation that I did not, +and do not, desire war, that I have waged war only against the false +policy of their court; that I love and respect Alexander and that in +Moscow I will accept terms of peace worthy of myself and of my people. I +do not wish to utilize the fortunes of war to humiliate an honored +monarch. 'Boyars,' I will say to them, 'I do not desire war, I desire +the peace and welfare of all my subjects.' However, I know their +presence will inspire me, and I shall speak to them as I always do: +clearly, impressively, and majestically. But can it be true that I am in +Moscow? Yes, there she lies." + +"Qu'on m'amene les boyars," * said he to his suite. + + +* "Bring the boyars to me." + +A general with a brilliant suite galloped off at once to fetch the +boyars. + +Two hours passed. Napoleon had lunched and was again standing in the +same place on the Poklonny Hill awaiting the deputation. His speech to +the boyars had already taken definite shape in his imagination. That +speech was full of dignity and greatness as Napoleon understood it. + +He was himself carried away by the tone of magnanimity he intended to +adopt toward Moscow. In his imagination he appointed days for assemblies +at the palace of the Tsars, at which Russian notables and his own would +mingle. He mentally appointed a governor, one who would win the hearts +of the people. Having learned that there were many charitable +institutions in Moscow he mentally decided that he would shower favors +on them all. He thought that, as in Africa he had to put on a burnoose +and sit in a mosque, so in Moscow he must be beneficent like the Tsars. +And in order finally to touch the hearts of the Russians--and being like +all Frenchmen unable to imagine anything sentimental without a reference +to ma chere, ma tendre, ma pauvre mere * --he decided that he would +place an inscription on all these establishments in large letters: "This +establishment is dedicated to my dear mother." Or no, it should be +simply: Maison de ma Mere, *(2) he concluded. "But am I really in +Moscow? Yes, here it lies before me, but why is the deputation from the +city so long in appearing?" he wondered. + + +* "My dear, my tender, my poor mother." + +* (2) "House of my Mother." + +Meanwhile an agitated consultation was being carried on in whispers +among his generals and marshals at the rear of his suite. Those sent to +fetch the deputation had returned with the news that Moscow was empty, +that everyone had left it. The faces of those who were not conferring +together were pale and perturbed. They were not alarmed by the fact that +Moscow had been abandoned by its inhabitants (grave as that fact +seemed), but by the question how to tell the Emperor--without putting +him in the terrible position of appearing ridiculous--that he had been +awaiting the boyars so long in vain: that there were drunken mobs left +in Moscow but no one else. Some said that a deputation of some sort must +be scraped together, others disputed that opinion and maintained that +the Emperor should first be carefully and skillfully prepared, and then +told the truth. + +"He will have to be told, all the same," said some gentlemen of the +suite. "But, gentlemen..." + +The position was the more awkward because the Emperor, meditating upon +his magnanimous plans, was pacing patiently up and down before the +outspread map, occasionally glancing along the road to Moscow from under +his lifted hand with a bright and proud smile. + +"But it's impossible..." declared the gentlemen of the suite, shrugging +their shoulders but not venturing to utter the implied word--le +ridicule... + +At last the Emperor, tired of futile expectation, his actor's instinct +suggesting to him that the sublime moment having been too long drawn out +was beginning to lose its sublimity, gave a sign with his hand. A single +report of a signaling gun followed, and the troops, who were already +spread out on different sides of Moscow, moved into the city through +Tver, Kaluga, and Dorogomilov gates. Faster and faster, vying with one +another, they moved at the double or at a trot, vanishing amid the +clouds of dust they raised and making the air ring with a deafening roar +of mingling shouts. + +Drawn on by the movement of his troops Napoleon rode with them as far as +the Dorogomilov gate, but there again stopped and, dismounting from his +horse, paced for a long time by the Kammer-Kollezski rampart, awaiting +the deputation. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Meanwhile Moscow was empty. There were still people in it, perhaps a +fiftieth part of its former inhabitants had remained, but it was empty. +It was empty in the sense that a dying queenless hive is empty. + +In a queenless hive no life is left though to a superficial glance it +seems as much alive as other hives. + +The bees circle round a queenless hive in the hot beams of the midday +sun as gaily as around the living hives; from a distance it smells of +honey like the others, and bees fly in and out in the same way. But one +has only to observe that hive to realize that there is no longer any +life in it. The bees do not fly in the same way, the smell and the sound +that meet the beekeeper are not the same. To the beekeeper's tap on the +wall of the sick hive, instead of the former instant unanimous humming +of tens of thousands of bees with their abdomens threateningly +compressed, and producing by the rapid vibration of their wings an +aerial living sound, the only reply is a disconnected buzzing from +different parts of the deserted hive. From the alighting board, instead +of the former spirituous fragrant smell of honey and venom, and the warm +whiffs of crowded life, comes an odor of emptiness and decay mingling +with the smell of honey. There are no longer sentinels sounding the +alarm with their abdomens raised, and ready to die in defense of the +hive. There is no longer the measured quiet sound of throbbing activity, +like the sound of boiling water, but diverse discordant sounds of +disorder. In and out of the hive long black robber bees smeared with +honey fly timidly and shiftily. They do not sting, but crawl away from +danger. Formerly only bees laden with honey flew into the hive, and they +flew out empty; now they fly out laden. The beekeeper opens the lower +part of the hive and peers in. Instead of black, glossy bees--tamed by +toil, clinging to one another's legs and drawing out the wax, with a +ceaseless hum of labor--that used to hang in long clusters down to the +floor of the hive, drowsy shriveled bees crawl about separately in +various directions on the floor and walls of the hive. Instead of a +neatly glued floor, swept by the bees with the fanning of their wings, +there is a floor littered with bits of wax, excrement, dying bees +scarcely moving their legs, and dead ones that have not been cleared +away. + +The beekeeper opens the upper part of the hive and examines the super. +Instead of serried rows of bees sealing up every gap in the combs and +keeping the brood warm, he sees the skillful complex structures of the +combs, but no longer in their former state of purity. All is neglected +and foul. Black robber bees are swiftly and stealthily prowling about +the combs, and the short home bees, shriveled and listless as if they +were old, creep slowly about without trying to hinder the robbers, +having lost all motive and all sense of life. Drones, bumblebees, wasps, +and butterflies knock awkwardly against the walls of the hive in their +flight. Here and there among the cells containing dead brood and honey +an angry buzzing can sometimes be heard. Here and there a couple of +bees, by force of habit and custom cleaning out the brood cells, with +efforts beyond their strength laboriously drag away a dead bee or +bumblebee without knowing why they do it. In another corner two old bees +are languidly fighting, or cleaning themselves, or feeding one another, +without themselves knowing whether they do it with friendly or hostile +intent. In a third place a crowd of bees, crushing one another, attack +some victim and fight and smother it, and the victim, enfeebled or +killed, drops from above slowly and lightly as a feather, among the heap +of corpses. The keeper opens the two center partitions to examine the +brood cells. In place of the former close dark circles formed by +thousands of bees sitting back to back and guarding the high mystery of +generation, he sees hundreds of dull, listless, and sleepy shells of +bees. They have almost all died unawares, sitting in the sanctuary they +had guarded and which is now no more. They reek of decay and death. Only +a few of them still move, rise, and feebly fly to settle on the enemy's +hand, lacking the spirit to die stinging him; the rest are dead and fall +as lightly as fish scales. The beekeeper closes the hive, chalks a mark +on it, and when he has time tears out its contents and burns it clean. + +So in the same way Moscow was empty when Napoleon, weary, uneasy, and +morose, paced up and down in front of the Kammer-Kollezski rampart, +awaiting what to his mind was a necessary, if but formal, observance of +the proprieties--a deputation. + +In various corners of Moscow there still remained a few people aimlessly +moving about, following their old habits and hardly aware of what they +were doing. + +When with due circumspection Napoleon was informed that Moscow was +empty, he looked angrily at his informant, turned away, and silently +continued to walk to and fro. + +"My carriage!" he said. + +He took his seat beside the aide-de-camp on duty and drove into the +suburb. "Moscow deserted!" he said to himself. "What an incredible +event!" + +He did not drive into the town, but put up at an inn in the Dorogomilov +suburb. + +The coup de theatre had not come off. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +The Russian troops were passing through Moscow from two o'clock at night +till two in the afternoon and bore away with them the wounded and the +last of the inhabitants who were leaving. + +The greatest crush during the movement of the troops took place at the +Stone, Moskva, and Yauza bridges. + +While the troops, dividing into two parts when passing around the +Kremlin, were thronging the Moskva and the Stone bridges, a great many +soldiers, taking advantage of the stoppage and congestion, turned back +from the bridges and slipped stealthily and silently past the church of +Vasili the Beatified and under the Borovitski gate, back up the hill to +the Red Square where some instinct told them they could easily take +things not belonging to them. Crowds of the kind seen at cheap sales +filled all the passages and alleys of the Bazaar. But there were no +dealers with voices of ingratiating affability inviting customers to +enter; there were no hawkers, nor the usual motley crowd of female +purchasers--but only soldiers, in uniforms and overcoats though without +muskets, entering the Bazaar empty-handed and silently making their way +out through its passages with bundles. Tradesmen and their assistants +(of whom there were but few) moved about among the soldiers quite +bewildered. They unlocked their shops and locked them up again, and +themselves carried goods away with the help of their assistants. On the +square in front of the Bazaar were drummers beating the muster call. But +the roll of the drums did not make the looting soldiers run in the +direction of the drum as formerly, but made them, on the contrary, run +farther away. Among the soldiers in the shops and passages some men were +to be seen in gray coats, with closely shaven heads. Two officers, one +with a scarf over his uniform and mounted on a lean, dark-gray horse, +the other in an overcoat and on foot, stood at the corner of Ilyinka +Street, talking. A third officer galloped up to them. + +"The general orders them all to be driven out at once, without fail. +This is outrageous! Half the men have dispersed." + +"Where are you off to?... Where?..." he shouted to three infantrymen +without muskets who, holding up the skirts of their overcoats, were +slipping past him into the Bazaar passage. "Stop, you rascals!" + +"But how are you going to stop them?" replied another officer. "There is +no getting them together. The army should push on before the rest bolt, +that's all!" + +"How can one push on? They are stuck there, wedged on the bridge, and +don't move. Shouldn't we put a cordon round to prevent the rest from +running away?" + +"Come, go in there and drive them out!" shouted the senior officer. + +The officer in the scarf dismounted, called up a drummer, and went with +him into the arcade. Some soldiers started running away in a group. A +shopkeeper with red pimples on his cheeks near the nose, and a calm, +persistent, calculating expression on his plump face, hurriedly and +ostentatiously approached the officer, swinging his arms. + +"Your honor!" said he. "Be so good as to protect us! We won't grudge +trifles, you are welcome to anything--we shall be delighted! Pray!... +I'll fetch a piece of cloth at once for such an honorable gentleman, or +even two pieces with pleasure. For we feel how it is; but what's all +this--sheer robbery! If you please, could not guards be placed if only +to let us close the shop...." + +Several shopkeepers crowded round the officer. + +"Eh, what twaddle!" said one of them, a thin, stern-looking man. "When +one's head is gone one doesn't weep for one's hair! Take what any of you +like!" And flourishing his arm energetically he turned sideways to the +officer. + +"It's all very well for you, Ivan Sidorych, to talk," said the first +tradesman angrily. "Please step inside, your honor!" + +"Talk indeed!" cried the thin one. "In my three shops here I have a +hundred thousand rubles' worth of goods. Can they be saved when the army +has gone? Eh, what people! 'Against God's might our hands can't fight.'" + +"Come inside, your honor!" repeated the tradesman, bowing. + +The officer stood perplexed and his face showed indecision. + +"It's not my business!" he exclaimed, and strode on quickly down one of +the passages. + +From one open shop came the sound of blows and vituperation, and just as +the officer came up to it a man in a gray coat with a shaven head was +flung out violently. + +This man, bent double, rushed past the tradesman and the officer. The +officer pounced on the soldiers who were in the shops, but at that +moment fearful screams reached them from the huge crowd on the Moskva +bridge and the officer ran out into the square. + +"What is it? What is it?" he asked, but his comrade was already +galloping off past Vasili the Beatified in the direction from which the +screams came. + +The officer mounted his horse and rode after him. When he reached the +bridge he saw two unlimbered guns, the infantry crossing the bridge, +several overturned carts, and frightened and laughing faces among the +troops. Beside the cannon a cart was standing to which two horses were +harnessed. Four borzois with collars were pressing close to the wheels. +The cart was loaded high, and at the very top, beside a child's chair +with its legs in the air, sat a peasant woman uttering piercing and +desperate shrieks. He was told by his fellow officers that the screams +of the crowd and the shrieks of the woman were due to the fact that +General Ermolov, coming up to the crowd and learning that soldiers were +dispersing among the shops while crowds of civilians blocked the bridge, +had ordered two guns to be unlimbered and made a show of firing at the +bridge. The crowd, crushing one another, upsetting carts, and shouting +and squeezing desperately, had cleared off the bridge and the troops +were now moving forward. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +Meanwhile, the city itself was deserted. There was hardly anyone in the +streets. The gates and shops were all closed, only here and there round +the taverns solitary shouts or drunken songs could be heard. Nobody +drove through the streets and footsteps were rarely heard. The +Povarskaya was quite still and deserted. The huge courtyard of the +Rostovs' house was littered with wisps of hay and with dung from the +horses, and not a soul was to be seen there. In the great drawing room +of the house, which had been left with all it contained, were two +people. They were the yard porter Ignat, and the page boy Mishka, +Vasilich's grandson who had stayed in Moscow with his grandfather. +Mishka had opened the clavichord and was strumming on it with one +finger. The yard porter, his arms akimbo, stood smiling with +satisfaction before the large mirror. + +"Isn't it fine, eh, Uncle Ignat?" said the boy, suddenly beginning to +strike the keyboard with both hands. + +"Only fancy!" answered Ignat, surprised at the broadening grin on his +face in the mirror. + +"Impudence! Impudence!" they heard behind them the voice of Mavra +Kuzminichna who had entered silently. "How he's grinning, the fat mug! +Is that what you're here for? Nothing's cleared away down there and +Vasilich is worn out. Just you wait a bit!" + +Ignat left off smiling, adjusted his belt, and went out of the room with +meekly downcast eyes. + +"Aunt, I did it gently," said the boy. + +"I'll give you something gently, you monkey you!" cried Mavra +Kuzminichna, raising her arm threateningly. "Go and get the samovar to +boil for your grandfather." + +Mavra Kuzminichna flicked the dust off the clavichord and closed it, and +with a deep sigh left the drawing room and locked its main door. + +Going out into the yard she paused to consider where she should go next- +-to drink tea in the servants' wing with Vasilich, or into the storeroom +to put away what still lay about. + +She heard the sound of quick footsteps in the quiet street. Someone +stopped at the gate, and the latch rattled as someone tried to open it. +Mavra Kuzminichna went to the gate. + +"Who do you want?" + +"The count--Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov." + +"And who are you?" + +"An officer, I have to see him," came the reply in a pleasant, well-bred +Russian voice. + +Mavra Kuzminichna opened the gate and an officer of eighteen, with the +round face of a Rostov, entered the yard. + +"They have gone away, sir. Went away yesterday at vespertime," said +Mavra Kuzminichna cordially. + +The young officer standing in the gateway, as if hesitating whether to +enter or not, clicked his tongue. + +"Ah, how annoying!" he muttered. "I should have come yesterday.... Ah, +what a pity." + +Meanwhile, Mavra Kuzminichna was attentively and sympathetically +examining the familiar Rostov features of the young man's face, his +tattered coat and trodden-down boots. + +"What did you want to see the count for?" she asked. + +"Oh well... it can't be helped!" said he in a tone of vexation and +placed his hand on the gate as if to leave. + +He again paused in indecision. + +"You see," he suddenly said, "I am a kinsman of the count's and he has +been very kind to me. As you see" (he glanced with an amused air and +good-natured smile at his coat and boots) "my things are worn out and I +have no money, so I was going to ask the count..." + +Mavra Kuzminichna did not let him finish. + +"Just wait a minute, sir. One little moment," said she. + +And as soon as the officer let go of the gate handle she turned and, +hurrying away on her old legs, went through the back yard to the +servants' quarters. + +While Mavra Kuzminichna was running to her room the officer walked about +the yard gazing at his worn-out boots with lowered head and a faint +smile on his lips. "What a pity I've missed Uncle! What a nice old +woman! Where has she run off to? And how am I to find the nearest way to +overtake my regiment, which must by now be getting near the Rogozhski +gate?" thought he. Just then Mavra Kuzminichna appeared from behind the +corner of the house with a frightened yet resolute look, carrying a +rolled-up check kerchief in her hand. While still a few steps from the +officer she unfolded the kerchief and took out of it a white twenty- +five-ruble assignat and hastily handed it to him. + +"If his excellency had been at home, as a kinsman he would of course... +but as it is..." + +Mavra Kuzminichna grew abashed and confused. The officer did not +decline, but took the note quietly and thanked her. + +"If the count had been at home..." Mavra Kuzminichna went on +apologetically. "Christ be with you, sir! May God preserve you!" said +she, bowing as she saw him out. + +Swaying his head and smiling as if amused at himself, the officer ran +almost at a trot through the deserted streets toward the Yauza bridge to +overtake his regiment. + +But Mavra Kuzminichna stood at the closed gate for some time with moist +eyes, pensively swaying her head and feeling an unexpected flow of +motherly tenderness and pity for the unknown young officer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +From an unfinished house on the Varvarka, the ground floor of which was +a dramshop, came drunken shouts and songs. On benches round the tables +in a dirty little room sat some ten factory hands. Tipsy and perspiring, +with dim eyes and wide-open mouths, they were all laboriously singing +some song or other. They were singing discordantly, arduously, and with +great effort, evidently not because they wished to sing, but because +they wanted to show they were drunk and on a spree. One, a tall, fair- +haired lad in a clean blue coat, was standing over the others. His face +with its fine straight nose would have been handsome had it not been for +his thin, compressed, twitching lips and dull, gloomy, fixed eyes. +Evidently possessed by some idea, he stood over those who were singing, +and solemnly and jerkily flourished above their heads his white arm with +the sleeve turned up to the elbow, trying unnaturally to spread out his +dirty fingers. The sleeve of his coat kept slipping down and he always +carefully rolled it up again with his left hand, as if it were most +important that the sinewy white arm he was flourishing should be bare. +In the midst of the song cries were heard, and fighting and blows in the +passage and porch. The tall lad waved his arm. + +"Stop it!" he exclaimed peremptorily. "There's a fight, lads!" And, +still rolling up his sleeve, he went out to the porch. + +The factory hands followed him. These men, who under the leadership of +the tall lad were drinking in the dramshop that morning, had brought the +publican some skins from the factory and for this had had drink served +them. The blacksmiths from a neighboring smithy, hearing the sounds of +revelry in the tavern and supposing it to have been broken into, wished +to force their way in too and a fight in the porch had resulted. + +The publican was fighting one of the smiths at the door, and when the +workmen came out the smith, wrenching himself free from the tavern +keeper, fell face downward on the pavement. + +Another smith tried to enter the doorway, pressing against the publican +with his chest. + +The lad with the turned-up sleeve gave the smith a blow in the face and +cried wildly: "They're fighting us, lads!" + +At that moment the first smith got up and, scratching his bruised face +to make it bleed, shouted in a tearful voice: "Police! Murder!... +They've killed a man, lads!" + +"Oh, gracious me, a man beaten to death--killed!..." screamed a woman +coming out of a gate close by. + +A crowd gathered round the bloodstained smith. + +"Haven't you robbed people enough--taking their last shirts?" said a +voice addressing the publican. "What have you killed a man for, you +thief?" + +The tall lad, standing in the porch, turned his bleared eyes from the +publican to the smith and back again as if considering whom he ought to +fight now. + +"Murderer!" he shouted suddenly to the publican. "Bind him, lads!" + +"I daresay you would like to bind me!" shouted the publican, pushing +away the men advancing on him, and snatching his cap from his head he +flung it on the ground. + +As if this action had some mysterious and menacing significance, the +workmen surrounding the publican paused in indecision. + +"I know the law very well, mates! I'll take the matter to the captain of +police. You think I won't get to him? Robbery is not permitted to +anybody now a days!" shouted the publican, picking up his cap. + +"Come along then! Come along then!" the publican and the tall young +fellow repeated one after the other, and they moved up the street +together. + +The bloodstained smith went beside them. The factory hands and others +followed behind, talking and shouting. + +At the corner of the Moroseyka, opposite a large house with closed +shutters and bearing a bootmaker's signboard, stood a score of thin, +worn-out, gloomy-faced bootmakers, wearing overalls and long tattered +coats. + +"He should pay folks off properly," a thin workingman, with frowning +brows and a straggly beard, was saying. + +"But he's sucked our blood and now he thinks he's quit of us. He's been +misleading us all the week and now that he's brought us to this pass +he's made off." + +On seeing the crowd and the bloodstained man the workman ceased +speaking, and with eager curiosity all the bootmakers joined the moving +crowd. + +"Where are all the folks going?" + +"Why, to the police, of course!" + +"I say, is it true that we have been beaten?" "And what did you think? +Look what folks are saying." + +Questions and answers were heard. The publican, taking advantage of the +increased crowd, dropped behind and returned to his tavern. + +The tall youth, not noticing the disappearance of his foe, waved his +bare arm and went on talking incessantly, attracting general attention +to himself. It was around him that the people chiefly crowded, expecting +answers from him to the questions that occupied all their minds. + +"He must keep order, keep the law, that's what the government is there +for. Am I not right, good Christians?" said the tall youth, with a +scarcely perceptible smile. "He thinks there's no government! How can +one do without government? Or else there would be plenty who'd rob us." + +"Why talk nonsense?" rejoined voices in the crowd. "Will they give up +Moscow like this? They told you that for fun, and you believed it! +Aren't there plenty of troops on the march? Let him in, indeed! That's +what the government is for. You'd better listen to what people are +saying," said some of the mob pointing to the tall youth. + +By the wall of China-Town a smaller group of people were gathered round +a man in a frieze coat who held a paper in his hand. + +"An ukase, they are reading an ukase! Reading an ukase!" cried voices in +the crowd, and the people rushed toward the reader. + +The man in the frieze coat was reading the broadsheet of August 31. When +the crowd collected round him he seemed confused, but at the demand of +the tall lad who had pushed his way up to him, he began in a rather +tremulous voice to read the sheet from the beginning. + +"Early tomorrow I shall go to his Serene Highness," he read ("Sirin +Highness," said the tall fellow with a triumphant smile on his lips and +a frown on his brow), "to consult with him to act, and to aid the army +to exterminate these scoundrels. We too will take part..." the reader +went on, and then paused ("Do you see," shouted the youth victoriously, +"he's going to clear up the whole affair for you...."), "in destroying +them, and will send these visitors to the devil. I will come back to +dinner, and we'll set to work. We will do, completely do, and undo these +scoundrels." + +The last words were read out in the midst of complete silence. The tall +lad hung his head gloomily. It was evident that no one had understood +the last part. In particular, the words "I will come back to dinner," +evidently displeased both reader and audience. The people's minds were +tuned to a high pitch and this was too simple and needlessly +comprehensible--it was what any one of them might have said and +therefore was what an ukase emanating from the highest authority should +not say. + +They all stood despondent and silent. The tall youth moved his lips and +swayed from side to side. + +"We should ask him... that's he himself?"... "Yes, ask him indeed!... +Why not? He'll explain"... voices in the rear of the crowd were suddenly +heard saying, and the general attention turned to the police +superintendent's trap which drove into the square attended by two +mounted dragoons. + +The superintendent of police, who had gone that morning by Count +Rostopchin's orders to burn the barges and had in connection with that +matter acquired a large sum of money which was at that moment in his +pocket, on seeing a crowd bearing down upon him told his coachman to +stop. + +"What people are these?" he shouted to the men, who were moving singly +and timidly in the direction of his trap. + +"What people are these?" he shouted again, receiving no answer. + +"Your honor..." replied the shopman in the frieze coat, "your honor, in +accord with the proclamation of his highest excellency the count, they +desire to serve, not sparing their lives, and it is not any kind of +riot, but as his highest excellence said..." + +"The count has not left, he is here, and an order will be issued +concerning you," said the superintendent of police. "Go on!" he ordered +his coachman. + +The crowd halted, pressing around those who had heard what the +superintendent had said, and looking at the departing trap. + +The superintendent of police turned round at that moment with a scared +look, said something to his coachman, and his horses increased their +speed. + +"It's a fraud, lads! Lead the way to him, himself!" shouted the tall +youth. "Don't let him go, lads! Let him answer us! Keep him!" shouted +different people and the people dashed in pursuit of the trap. + +Following the superintendent of police and talking loudly the crowd went +in the direction of the Lubyanka Street. + +"There now, the gentry and merchants have gone away and left us to +perish. Do they think we're dogs?" voices in the crowd were heard saying +more and more frequently. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +On the evening of the first of September, after his interview with +Kutuzov, Count Rostopchin had returned to Moscow mortified and offended +because he had not been invited to attend the council of war, and +because Kutuzov had paid no attention to his offer to take part in the +defense of the city; amazed also at the novel outlook revealed to him at +the camp, which treated the tranquillity of the capital and its +patriotic fervor as not merely secondary but quite irrelevant and +unimportant matters. Distressed, offended, and surprised by all this, +Rostopchin had returned to Moscow. After supper he lay down on a sofa +without undressing, and was awakened soon after midnight by a courier +bringing him a letter from Kutuzov. This letter requested the count to +send police officers to guide the troops through the town, as the army +was retreating to the Ryazan road beyond Moscow. This was not news to +Rostopchin. He had known that Moscow would be abandoned not merely since +his interview the previous day with Kutuzov on the Poklonny Hill but +ever since the battle of Borodino, for all the generals who came to +Moscow after that battle had said unanimously that it was impossible to +fight another battle, and since then the government property had been +removed every night, and half the inhabitants had left the city with +Rostopchin's own permission. Yet all the same this information +astonished and irritated the count, coming as it did in the form of a +simple note with an order from Kutuzov, and received at night, breaking +in on his beauty sleep. + +When later on in his memoirs Count Rostopchin explained his actions at +this time, he repeatedly says that he was then actuated by two important +considerations: to maintain tranquillity in Moscow and expedite the +departure of the inhabitants. If one accepts this twofold aim all +Rostopchin's actions appear irreproachable. "Why were the holy relics, +the arms, ammunition, gunpowder, and stores of corn not removed? Why +were thousands of inhabitants deceived into believing that Moscow would +not be given up--and thereby ruined?" "To preserve the tranquillity of +the city," explains Count Rostopchin. "Why were bundles of useless +papers from the government offices, and Leppich's balloon and other +articles removed?" "To leave the town empty," explains Count Rostopchin. +One need only admit that public tranquillity is in danger and any action +finds a justification. + +All the horrors of the reign of terror were based only on solicitude for +public tranquillity. + +On what, then, was Count Rostopchin's fear for the tranquillity of +Moscow based in 1812? What reason was there for assuming any probability +of an uprising in the city? The inhabitants were leaving it and the +retreating troops were filling it. Why should that cause the masses to +riot? + +Neither in Moscow nor anywhere in Russia did anything resembling an +insurrection ever occur when the enemy entered a town. More than ten +thousand people were still in Moscow on the first and second of +September, and except for a mob in the governor's courtyard, assembled +there at his bidding, nothing happened. It is obvious that there would +have been even less reason to expect a disturbance among the people if +after the battle of Borodino, when the surrender of Moscow became +certain or at least probable, Rostopchin instead of exciting the people +by distributing arms and broadsheets had taken steps to remove all the +holy relics, the gunpowder, munitions, and money, and had told the +population plainly that the town would be abandoned. + +Rostopchin, though he had patriotic sentiments, was a sanguine and +impulsive man who had always moved in the highest administrative circles +and had no understanding at all of the people he supposed himself to be +guiding. Ever since the enemy's entry into Smolensk he had in +imagination been playing the role of director of the popular feeling of +"the heart of Russia." Not only did it seem to him (as to all +administrators) that he controlled the external actions of Moscow's +inhabitants, but he also thought he controlled their mental attitude by +means of his broadsheets and posters, written in a coarse tone which the +people despise in their own class and do not understand from those in +authority. Rostopchin was so pleased with the fine role of leader of +popular feeling, and had grown so used to it, that the necessity of +relinquishing that role and abandoning Moscow without any heroic display +took him unawares and he suddenly felt the ground slip away from under +his feet, so that he positively did not know what to do. Though he knew +it was coming, he did not till the last moment wholeheartedly believe +that Moscow would be abandoned, and did not prepare for it. The +inhabitants left against his wishes. If the government offices were +removed, this was only done on the demand of officials to whom the count +yielded reluctantly. He was absorbed in the role he had created for +himself. As is often the case with those gifted with an ardent +imagination, though he had long known that Moscow would be abandoned he +knew it only with his intellect, he did not believe it in his heart and +did not adapt himself mentally to this new position of affairs. + +All his painstaking and energetic activity (in how far it was useful and +had any effect on the people is another question) had been simply +directed toward arousing in the masses his own feeling of patriotic +hatred of the French. + +But when events assumed their true historical character, when expressing +hatred for the French in words proved insufficient, when it was not even +possible to express that hatred by fighting a battle, when self- +confidence was of no avail in relation to the one question before +Moscow, when the whole population streamed out of Moscow as one man, +abandoning their belongings and proving by that negative action all the +depth of their national feeling, then the role chosen by Rostopchin +suddenly appeared senseless. He unexpectedly felt himself ridiculous, +weak, and alone, with no ground to stand on. + +When, awakened from his sleep, he received that cold, peremptory note +from Kutuzov, he felt the more irritated the more he felt himself to +blame. All that he had been specially put in charge of, the state +property which he should have removed, was still in Moscow and it was no +longer possible to take the whole of it away. + +"Who is to blame for it? Who has let things come to such a pass?" he +ruminated. "Not I, of course. I had everything ready. I had Moscow +firmly in hand. And this is what they have let it come to! Villains! +Traitors!" he thought, without clearly defining who the villains and +traitors were, but feeling it necessary to hate those traitors whoever +they might be who were to blame for the false and ridiculous position in +which he found himself. + +All that night Count Rostopchin issued orders, for which people came to +him from all parts of Moscow. Those about him had never seen the count +so morose and irritable. + +"Your excellency, the Director of the Registrar's Department has sent +for instructions... From the Consistory, from the Senate, from the +University, from the Foundling Hospital, the Suffragan has sent... +asking for information.... What are your orders about the Fire Brigade? +From the governor of the prison... from the superintendent of the +lunatic asylum..." All night long such announcements were continually +being received by the count. + +To all these inquiries he gave brief and angry replies indicating that +orders from him were not now needed, that the whole affair, carefully +prepared by him, had now been ruined by somebody, and that that somebody +would have to bear the whole responsibility for all that might happen. + +"Oh, tell that blockhead," he said in reply to the question from the +Registrar's Department, "that he should remain to guard his documents. +Now why are you asking silly questions about the Fire Brigade? They have +horses, let them be off to Vladimir, and not leave them to the French." + +"Your excellency, the superintendent of the lunatic asylum has come: +what are your commands?" + +"My commands? Let them go away, that's all.... And let the lunatics out +into the town. When lunatics command our armies God evidently means +these other madmen to be free." + +In reply to an inquiry about the convicts in the prison, Count +Rostopchin shouted angrily at the governor: + +"Do you expect me to give you two battalions--which we have not got--for +a convoy? Release them, that's all about it!" + +"Your excellency, there are some political prisoners, Meshkov, +Vereshchagin..." + +"Vereshchagin! Hasn't he been hanged yet?" shouted Rostopchin. "Bring +him to me!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +Toward nine o'clock in the morning, when the troops were already moving +through Moscow, nobody came to the count any more for instructions. +Those who were able to get away were going of their own accord, those +who remained behind decided for themselves what they must do. + +The count ordered his carriage that he might drive to Sokolniki, and sat +in his study with folded hands, morose, sallow, and taciturn. + +In quiet and untroubled times it seems to every administrator that it is +only by his efforts that the whole population under his rule is kept +going, and in this consciousness of being indispensable every +administrator finds the chief reward of his labor and efforts. While the +sea of history remains calm the ruler-administrator in his frail bark, +holding on with a boat hook to the ship of the people and himself +moving, naturally imagines that his efforts move the ship he is holding +on to. But as soon as a storm arises and the sea begins to heave and the +ship to move, such a delusion is no longer possible. The ship moves +independently with its own enormous motion, the boat hook no longer +reaches the moving vessel, and suddenly the administrator, instead of +appearing a ruler and a source of power, becomes an insignificant, +useless, feeble man. + +Rostopchin felt this, and it was this which exasperated him. + +The superintendent of police, whom the crowd had stopped, went in to see +him at the same time as an adjutant who informed the count that the +horses were harnessed. They were both pale, and the superintendent of +police, after reporting that he had executed the instructions he had +received, informed the count that an immense crowd had collected in the +courtyard and wished to see him. + +Without saying a word Rostopchin rose and walked hastily to his light, +luxurious drawing room, went to the balcony door, took hold of the +handle, let it go again, and went to the window from which he had a +better view of the whole crowd. The tall lad was standing in front, +flourishing his arm and saying something with a stern look. The blood- +stained smith stood beside him with a gloomy face. A drone of voices was +audible through the closed window. + +"Is my carriage ready?" asked Rostopchin, stepping back from the window. + +"It is, your excellency," replied the adjutant. + +Rostopchin went again to the balcony door. + +"But what do they want?" he asked the superintendent of police. + +"Your excellency, they say they have got ready, according to your +orders, to go against the French, and they shouted something about +treachery. But it is a turbulent crowd, your excellency--I hardly +managed to get away from it. Your excellency, I venture to suggest..." + +"You may go. I don't need you to tell me what to do!" exclaimed +Rostopchin angrily. + +He stood by the balcony door looking at the crowd. + +"This is what they have done with Russia! This is what they have done +with me!" thought he, full of an irrepressible fury that welled up +within him against the someone to whom what was happening might be +attributed. As often happens with passionate people, he was mastered by +anger but was still seeking an object on which to vent it. "Here is that +mob, the dregs of the people," he thought as he gazed at the crowd: +"this rabble they have roused by their folly! They want a victim," he +thought as he looked at the tall lad flourishing his arm. And this +thought occurred to him just because he himself desired a victim, +something on which to vent his rage. + +"Is the carriage ready?" he asked again. + +"Yes, your excellency. What are your orders about Vereshchagin? He is +waiting at the porch," said the adjutant. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Rostopchin, as if struck by an unexpected recollection. + +And rapidly opening the door he went resolutely out onto the balcony. +The talking instantly ceased, hats and caps were doffed, and all eyes +were raised to the count. + +"Good morning, lads!" said the count briskly and loudly. "Thank you for +coming. I'll come out to you in a moment, but we must first settle with +the villain. We must punish the villain who has caused the ruin of +Moscow. Wait for me!" + +And the count stepped as briskly back into the room and slammed the door +behind him. + +A murmur of approbation and satisfaction ran through the crowd. "He'll +settle with all the villains, you'll see! And you said the French... +He'll show you what law is!" the mob were saying as if reproving one +another for their lack of confidence. + +A few minutes later an officer came hurriedly out of the front door, +gave an order, and the dragoons formed up in line. The crowd moved +eagerly from the balcony toward the porch. Rostopchin, coming out there +with quick angry steps, looked hastily around as if seeking someone. + +"Where is he?" he inquired. And as he spoke he saw a young man coming +round the corner of the house between two dragoons. He had a long thin +neck, and his head, that had been half shaved, was again covered by +short hair. This young man was dressed in a threadbare blue cloth coat +lined with fox fur, that had once been smart, and dirty hempen convict +trousers, over which were pulled his thin, dirty, trodden-down boots. On +his thin, weak legs were heavy chains which hampered his irresolute +movements. + +"Ah!" said Rostopchin, hurriedly turning away his eyes from the young +man in the fur-lined coat and pointing to the bottom step of the porch. +"Put him there." + +The young man in his clattering chains stepped clumsily to the spot +indicated, holding away with one finger the coat collar which chafed his +neck, turned his long neck twice this way and that, sighed, and +submissively folded before him his thin hands, unused to work. + +For several seconds while the young man was taking his place on the step +the silence continued. Only among the back rows of the people, who were +all pressing toward the one spot, could sighs, groans, and the shuffling +of feet be heard. + +While waiting for the young man to take his place on the step Rostopchin +stood frowning and rubbing his face with his hand. + +"Lads!" said he, with a metallic ring in his voice. "This man, +Vereshchagin, is the scoundrel by whose doing Moscow is perishing." + +The young man in the fur-lined coat, stooping a little, stood in a +submissive attitude, his fingers clasped before him. His emaciated young +face, disfigured by the half-shaven head, hung down hopelessly. At the +count's first words he raised it slowly and looked up at him as if +wishing to say something or at least to meet his eye. But Rostopchin did +not look at him. A vein in the young man's long thin neck swelled like a +cord and went blue behind the ear, and suddenly his face flushed. + +All eyes were fixed on him. He looked at the crowd, and rendered more +hopeful by the expression he read on the faces there, he smiled sadly +and timidly, and lowering his head shifted his feet on the step. + +"He has betrayed his Tsar and his country, he has gone over to +Bonaparte. He alone of all the Russians has disgraced the Russian name, +he has caused Moscow to perish," said Rostopchin in a sharp, even voice, +but suddenly he glanced down at Vereshchagin who continued to stand in +the same submissive attitude. As if inflamed by the sight, he raised his +arm and addressed the people, almost shouting: + +"Deal with him as you think fit! I hand him over to you." + +The crowd remained silent and only pressed closer and closer to one +another. To keep one another back, to breathe in that stifling +atmosphere, to be unable to stir, and to await something unknown, +uncomprehended, and terrible, was becoming unbearable. Those standing in +front, who had seen and heard what had taken place before them, all +stood with wide-open eyes and mouths, straining with all their strength, +and held back the crowd that was pushing behind them. + +"Beat him!... Let the traitor perish and not disgrace the Russian name!" +shouted Rostopchin. "Cut him down. I command it." + +Hearing not so much the words as the angry tone of Rostopchin's voice, +the crowd moaned and heaved forward, but again paused. + +"Count!" exclaimed the timid yet theatrical voice of Vereshchagin in the +midst of the momentary silence that ensued, "Count! One God is above us +both...." He lifted his head and again the thick vein in his thin neck +filled with blood and the color rapidly came and went in his face. + +He did not finish what he wished to say. + +"Cut him down! I command it..." shouted Rostopchin, suddenly growing +pale like Vereshchagin. + +"Draw sabers!" cried the dragoon officer, drawing his own. + +Another still stronger wave flowed through the crowd and reaching the +front ranks carried it swaying to the very steps of the porch. The tall +youth, with a stony look on his face, and rigid and uplifted arm, stood +beside Vereshchagin. + +"Saber him!" the dragoon officer almost whispered. + +And one of the soldiers, his face all at once distorted with fury, +struck Vereshchagin on the head with the blunt side of his saber. + +"Ah!" cried Vereshchagin in meek surprise, looking round with a +frightened glance as if not understanding why this was done to him. A +similar moan of surprise and horror ran through the crowd. "O Lord!" +exclaimed a sorrowful voice. + +But after the exclamation of surprise that had escaped from Vereshchagin +he uttered a plaintive cry of pain, and that cry was fatal. The barrier +of human feeling, strained to the utmost, that had held the crowd in +check suddenly broke. The crime had begun and must now be completed. The +plaintive moan of reproach was drowned by the threatening and angry roar +of the crowd. Like the seventh and last wave that shatters a ship, that +last irresistible wave burst from the rear and reached the front ranks, +carrying them off their feet and engulfing them all. The dragoon was +about to repeat his blow. Vereshchagin with a cry of horror, covering +his head with his hands, rushed toward the crowd. The tall youth, +against whom he stumbled, seized his thin neck with his hands and, +yelling wildly, fell with him under the feet of the pressing, struggling +crowd. + +Some beat and tore at Vereshchagin, others at the tall youth. And the +screams of those that were being trampled on and of those who tried to +rescue the tall lad only increased the fury of the crowd. It was a long +time before the dragoons could extricate the bleeding youth, beaten +almost to death. And for a long time, despite the feverish haste with +which the mob tried to end the work that had been begun, those who were +hitting, throttling, and tearing at Vereshchagin were unable to kill +him, for the crowd pressed from all sides, swaying as one mass with them +in the center and rendering it impossible for them either to kill him or +let him go. + +"Hit him with an ax, eh!... Crushed?... Traitor, he sold Christ.... +Still alive... tenacious... serves him right! Torture serves a thief +right. Use the hatchet!... What--still alive?" + +Only when the victim ceased to struggle and his cries changed to a long- +drawn, measured death rattle did the crowd around his prostrate, +bleeding corpse begin rapidly to change places. Each one came up, +glanced at what had been done, and with horror, reproach, and +astonishment pushed back again. + +"O Lord! The people are like wild beasts! How could he be alive?" voices +in the crowd could be heard saying. "Quite a young fellow too... must +have been a merchant's son. What men!... and they say he's not the right +one.... How not the right one?... O Lord! And there's another has been +beaten too--they say he's nearly done for.... Oh, the people... Aren't +they afraid of sinning?..." said the same mob now, looking with pained +distress at the dead body with its long, thin, half-severed neck and its +livid face stained with blood and dust. + +A painstaking police officer, considering the presence of a corpse in +his excellency's courtyard unseemly, told the dragoons to take it away. +Two dragoons took it by its distorted legs and dragged it along the +ground. The gory, dust-stained, half-shaven head with its long neck +trailed twisting along the ground. The crowd shrank back from it. + +At the moment when Vereshchagin fell and the crowd closed in with savage +yells and swayed about him, Rostopchin suddenly turned pale and, instead +of going to the back entrance where his carriage awaited him, went with +hurried steps and bent head, not knowing where and why, along the +passage leading to the rooms on the ground floor. The count's face was +white and he could not control the feverish twitching of his lower jaw. + +"This way, your excellency... Where are you going?... This way, +please..." said a trembling, frightened voice behind him. + +Count Rostopchin was unable to reply and, turning obediently, went in +the direction indicated. At the back entrance stood his caleche. The +distant roar of the yelling crowd was audible even there. He hastily +took his seat and told the coachman to drive him to his country house in +Sokolniki. + +When they reached the Myasnitski Street and could no longer hear the +shouts of the mob, the count began to repent. He remembered with +dissatisfaction the agitation and fear he had betrayed before his +subordinates. "The mob is terrible--disgusting," he said to himself in +French. "They are like wolves whom nothing but flesh can appease." +"Count! One God is above us both!"--Vereshchagin's words suddenly +recurred to him, and a disagreeable shiver ran down his back. But this +was only a momentary feeling and Count Rostopchin smiled disdainfully at +himself. "I had other duties," thought he. "The people had to be +appeased. Many other victims have perished and are perishing for the +public good"--and he began thinking of his social duties to his family +and to the city entrusted to him, and of himself--not himself as +Theodore Vasilyevich Rostopchin (he fancied that Theodore Vasilyevich +Rostopchin was sacrificing himself for the public good) but himself as +governor, the representative of authority and of the Tsar. "Had I been +simply Theodore Vasilyevich my course of action would have been quite +different, but it was my duty to safeguard my life and dignity as +commander-in-chief." + +Lightly swaying on the flexible springs of his carriage and no longer +hearing the terrible sounds of the crowd, Rostopchin grew physically +calm and, as always happens, as soon as he became physically tranquil +his mind devised reasons why he should be mentally tranquil too. The +thought which tranquillized Rostopchin was not a new one. Since the +world began and men have killed one another no one has ever committed +such a crime against his fellow man without comforting himself with this +same idea. This idea is le bien public, the hypothetical welfare of +other people. + +To a man not swayed by passion that welfare is never certain, but he who +commits such a crime always knows just where that welfare lies. And +Rostopchin now knew it. + +Not only did his reason not reproach him for what he had done, but he +even found cause for self-satisfaction in having so successfully +contrived to avail himself of a convenient opportunity to punish a +criminal and at the same time pacify the mob. + +"Vereshchagin was tried and condemned to death," thought Rostopchin +(though the Senate had only condemned Vereshchagin to hard labor), "he +was a traitor and a spy. I could not let him go unpunished and so I have +killed two birds with one stone: to appease the mob I gave them a victim +and at the same time punished a miscreant." + +Having reached his country house and begun to give orders about domestic +arrangements, the count grew quite tranquil. + +Half an hour later he was driving with his fast horses across the +Sokolniki field, no longer thinking of what had occurred but considering +what was to come. He was driving to the Yauza bridge where he had heard +that Kutuzov was. Count Rostopchin was mentally preparing the angry and +stinging reproaches he meant to address to Kutuzov for his deception. He +would make that foxy old courtier feel that the responsibility for all +the calamities that would follow the abandonment of the city and the +ruin of Russia (as Rostopchin regarded it) would fall upon his doting +old head. Planning beforehand what he would say to Kutuzov, Rostopchin +turned angrily in his caleche and gazed sternly from side to side. + +The Sokolniki field was deserted. Only at the end of it, in front of the +almshouse and the lunatic asylum, could be seen some people in white and +others like them walking singly across the field shouting and +gesticulating. + +One of these was running to cross the path of Count Rostopchin's +carriage, and the count himself, his coachman, and his dragoons looked +with vague horror and curiosity at these released lunatics and +especially at the one running toward them. + +Swaying from side to side on his long, thin legs in his fluttering +dressing gown, this lunatic was running impetuously, his gaze fixed on +Rostopchin, shouting something in a hoarse voice and making signs to him +to stop. The lunatic's solemn, gloomy face was thin and yellow, with its +beard growing in uneven tufts. His black, agate pupils with saffron- +yellow whites moved restlessly near the lower eyelids. + +"Stop! Pull up, I tell you!" he cried in a piercing voice, and again +shouted something breathlessly with emphatic intonations and gestures. + +Coming abreast of the caleche he ran beside it. + +"Thrice have they slain me, thrice have I risen from the dead. They +stoned me, crucified me... I shall rise... shall rise... shall rise. +They have torn my body. The kingdom of God will be overthrown... Thrice +will I overthrow it and thrice re-establish it!" he cried, raising his +voice higher and higher. + +Count Rostopchin suddenly grew pale as he had done when the crowd closed +in on Vereshchagin. He turned away. "Go fas... faster!" he cried in a +trembling voice to his coachman. The caleche flew over the ground as +fast as the horses could draw it, but for a long time Count Rostopchin +still heard the insane despairing screams growing fainter in the +distance, while his eyes saw nothing but the astonished, frightened, +bloodstained face of "the traitor" in the fur-lined coat. + +Recent as that mental picture was, Rostopchin already felt that it had +cut deep into his heart and drawn blood. Even now he felt clearly that +the gory trace of that recollection would not pass with time, but that +the terrible memory would, on the contrary, dwell in his heart ever more +cruelly and painfully to the end of his life. He seemed still to hear +the sound of his own words: "Cut him down! I command it...." + +"Why did I utter those words? It was by some accident I said them.... I +need not have said them," he thought. "And then nothing would have +happened." He saw the frightened and then infuriated face of the dragoon +who dealt the blow, the look of silent, timid reproach that boy in the +fur-lined coat had turned upon him. "But I did not do it for my own +sake. I was bound to act that way.... The mob, the traitor... the public +welfare," thought he. + +Troops were still crowding at the Yauza bridge. It was hot. Kutuzov, +dejected and frowning, sat on a bench by the bridge toying with his whip +in the sand when a caleche dashed up noisily. A man in a general's +uniform with plumes in his hat went up to Kutuzov and said something in +French. It was Count Rostopchin. He told Kutuzov that he had come +because Moscow, the capital, was no more and only the army remained. + +"Things would have been different if your Serene Highness had not told +me that you would not abandon Moscow without another battle; all this +would not have happened," he said. + +Kutuzov looked at Rostopchin as if, not grasping what was said to him, +he was trying to read something peculiar written at that moment on the +face of the man addressing him. Rostopchin grew confused and became +silent. Kutuzov slightly shook his head and not taking his penetrating +gaze from Rostopchin's face muttered softly: + +"No! I shall not give up Moscow without a battle!" + +Whether Kutuzov was thinking of something entirely different when he +spoke those words, or uttered them purposely, knowing them to be +meaningless, at any rate Rostopchin made no reply and hastily left him. +And strange to say, the Governor of Moscow, the proud Count Rostopchin, +took up a Cossack whip and went to the bridge where he began with shouts +to drive on the carts that blocked the way. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +Toward four o'clock in the afternoon Murat's troops were entering +Moscow. In front rode a detachment of Wurttemberg hussars and behind +them rode the King of Naples himself accompanied by a numerous suite. + +About the middle of the Arbat Street, near the Church of the Miraculous +Icon of St. Nicholas, Murat halted to await news from the advanced +detachment as to the condition in which they had found the citadel, le +Kremlin. + +Around Murat gathered a group of those who had remained in Moscow. They +all stared in timid bewilderment at the strange, long-haired commander +dressed up in feathers and gold. + +"Is that their Tsar himself? He's not bad!" low voices could be heard +saying. + +An interpreter rode up to the group. + +"Take off your cap... your caps!" These words went from one to another +in the crowd. The interpreter addressed an old porter and asked if it +was far to the Kremlin. The porter, listening in perplexity to the +unfamiliar Polish accent and not realizing that the interpreter was +speaking Russian, did not understand what was being said to him and +slipped behind the others. + +Murat approached the interpreter and told him to ask where the Russian +army was. One of the Russians understood what was asked and several +voices at once began answering the interpreter. A French officer, +returning from the advanced detachment, rode up to Murat and reported +that the gates of the citadel had been barricaded and that there was +probably an ambuscade there. + +"Good!" said Murat and, turning to one of the gentlemen in his suite, +ordered four light guns to be moved forward to fire at the gates. + +The guns emerged at a trot from the column following Murat and advanced +up the Arbat. When they reached the end of the Vozdvizhenka Street they +halted and drew in the Square. Several French officers superintended the +placing of the guns and looked at the Kremlin through field glasses. + +The bells in the Kremlin were ringing for vespers, and this sound +troubled the French. They imagined it to be a call to arms. A few +infantrymen ran to the Kutafyev Gate. Beams and wooden screens had been +put there, and two musket shots rang out from under the gate as soon as +an officer and men began to run toward it. A general who was standing by +the guns shouted some words of command to the officer, and the latter +ran back again with his men. + +The sound of three more shots came from the gate. + +One shot struck a French soldier's foot, and from behind the screens +came the strange sound of a few voices shouting. Instantly as at a word +of command the expression of cheerful serenity on the faces of the +French general, officers, and men changed to one of determined +concentrated readiness for strife and suffering. To all of them from the +marshal to the least soldier, that place was not the Vozdvizhenka, +Mokhavaya, or Kutafyev Street, nor the Troitsa Gate (places familiar in +Moscow), but a new battlefield which would probably prove sanguinary. +And all made ready for that battle. The cries from the gates ceased. The +guns were advanced, the artillerymen blew the ash off their linstocks, +and an officer gave the word "Fire!" This was followed by two whistling +sounds of canister shot, one after another. The shot rattled against the +stone of the gate and upon the wooden beams and screens, and two +wavering clouds of smoke rose over the Square. + +A few instants after the echo of the reports resounding over the stone- +built Kremlin had died away the French heard a strange sound above their +head. Thousands of crows rose above the walls and circled in the air, +cawing and noisily flapping their wings. Together with that sound came a +solitary human cry from the gateway and amid the smoke appeared the +figure of a bareheaded man in a peasant's coat. He grasped a musket and +took aim at the French. "Fire!" repeated the officer once more, and the +reports of a musket and of two cannon shots were heard simultaneously. +The gate was again hidden by smoke. + +Nothing more stirred behind the screens and the French infantry soldiers +and officers advanced to the gate. In the gateway lay three wounded and +four dead. Two men in peasant coats ran away at the foot of the wall, +toward the Znamenka. + +"Clear that away!" said the officer, pointing to the beams and the +corpses, and the French soldiers, after dispatching the wounded, threw +the corpses over the parapet. + +Who these men were nobody knew. "Clear that away!" was all that was said +of them, and they were thrown over the parapet and removed later on that +they might not stink. Thiers alone dedicates a few eloquent lines to +their memory: "These wretches had occupied the sacred citadel, having +supplied themselves with guns from the arsenal, and fired" (the +wretches) "at the French. Some of them were sabered and the Kremlin was +purged of their presence." + +Murat was informed that the way had been cleared. The French entered the +gates and began pitching their camp in the Senate Square. Out of the +windows of the Senate House the soldiers threw chairs into the Square +for fuel and kindled fires there. + +Other detachments passed through the Kremlin and encamped along the +Moroseyka, the Lubyanka, and Pokrovka Streets. Others quartered +themselves along the Vozdvizhenka, the Nikolski, and the Tverskoy +Streets. No masters of the houses being found anywhere, the French were +not billeted on the inhabitants as is usual in towns but lived in it as +in a camp. + +Though tattered, hungry, worn out, and reduced to a third of their +original number, the French entered Moscow in good marching order. It +was a weary and famished, but still a fighting and menacing army. But it +remained an army only until its soldiers had dispersed into their +different lodgings. As soon as the men of the various regiments began to +disperse among the wealthy and deserted houses, the army was lost +forever and there came into being something nondescript, neither +citizens nor soldiers but what are known as marauders. When five weeks +later these same men left Moscow, they no longer formed an army. They +were a mob of marauders, each carrying a quantity of articles which +seemed to him valuable or useful. The aim of each man when he left +Moscow was no longer, as it had been, to conquer, but merely to keep +what he had acquired. Like a monkey which puts its paw into the narrow +neck of a jug, and having seized a handful of nuts will not open its +fist for fear of losing what it holds, and therefore perishes, the +French when they left Moscow had inevitably to perish because they +carried their loot with them, yet to abandon what they had stolen was as +impossible for them as it is for the monkey to open its paw and let go +of its nuts. Ten minutes after each regiment had entered a Moscow +district, not a soldier or officer was left. Men in military uniforms +and Hessian boots could be seen through the windows, laughing and +walking through the rooms. In cellars and storerooms similar men were +busy among the provisions, and in the yards unlocking or breaking open +coach house and stable doors, lighting fires in kitchens and kneading +and baking bread with rolled-up sleeves, and cooking; or frightening, +amusing, or caressing women and children. There were many such men both +in the shops and houses--but there was no army. + +Order after order was issued by the French commanders that day +forbidding the men to disperse about the town, sternly forbidding any +violence to the inhabitants or any looting, and announcing a roll call +for that very evening. But despite all these measures the men, who had +till then constituted an army, flowed all over the wealthy, deserted +city with its comforts and plentiful supplies. As a hungry herd of +cattle keeps well together when crossing a barren field, but gets out of +hand and at once disperses uncontrollably as soon as it reaches rich +pastures, so did the army disperse all over the wealthy city. + +No residents were left in Moscow, and the soldiers--like water +percolating through sand--spread irresistibly through the city in all +directions from the Kremlin into which they had first marched. The +cavalry, on entering a merchant's house that had been abandoned and +finding there stabling more than sufficient for their horses, went on, +all the same, to the next house which seemed to them better. Many of +them appropriated several houses, chalked their names on them, and +quarreled and even fought with other companies for them. Before they had +had time to secure quarters the soldiers ran out into the streets to see +the city and, hearing that everything had been abandoned, rushed to +places where valuables were to be had for the taking. The officers +followed to check the soldiers and were involuntarily drawn into doing +the same. In Carriage Row carriages had been left in the shops, and +generals flocked there to select caleches and coaches for themselves. +The few inhabitants who had remained invited commanding officers to +their houses, hoping thereby to secure themselves from being plundered. +There were masses of wealth and there seemed no end to it. All around +the quarters occupied by the French were other regions still unexplored +and unoccupied where, they thought, yet greater riches might be found. +And Moscow engulfed the army ever deeper and deeper. When water is +spilled on dry ground both the dry ground and the water disappear and +mud results; and in the same way the entry of the famished army into the +rich and deserted city resulted in fires and looting and the destruction +of both the army and the wealthy city. + +The French attributed the Fire of Moscow au patriotisme feroce de +Rostopchine, * the Russians to the barbarity of the French. In reality, +however, it was not, and could not be, possible to explain the burning +of Moscow by making any individual, or any group of people, responsible +for it. Moscow was burned because it found itself in a position in which +any town built of wood was bound to burn, quite apart from whether it +had, or had not, a hundred and thirty inferior fire engines. Deserted +Moscow had to burn as inevitably as a heap of shavings has to burn on +which sparks continually fall for several days. A town built of wood, +where scarcely a day passes without conflagrations when the house owners +are in residence and a police force is present, cannot help burning when +its inhabitants have left it and it is occupied by soldiers who smoke +pipes, make campfires of the Senate chairs in the Senate Square, and +cook themselves meals twice a day. In peacetime it is only necessary to +billet troops in the villages of any district and the number of fires in +that district immediately increases. How much then must the probability +of fire be increased in an abandoned, wooden town where foreign troops +are quartered. "Le patriotisme feroce de Rostopchine" and the barbarity +of the French were not to blame in the matter. Moscow was set on fire by +the soldiers' pipes, kitchens, and campfires, and by the carelessness of +enemy soldiers occupying houses they did not own. Even if there was any +arson (which is very doubtful, for no one had any reason to burn the +houses--in any case a troublesome and dangerous thing to do), arson +cannot be regarded as the cause, for the same thing would have happened +without any incendiarism. + + +* To Rostopchin's ferocious patriotism. + +However tempting it might be for the French to blame Rostopchin's +ferocity and for Russians to blame the scoundrel Bonaparte, or later on +to place an heroic torch in the hands of their own people, it is +impossible not to see that there could be no such direct cause of the +fire, for Moscow had to burn as every village, factory, or house must +burn which is left by its owners and in which strangers are allowed to +live and cook their porridge. Moscow was burned by its inhabitants, it +is true, but by those who had abandoned it and not by those who remained +in it. Moscow when occupied by the enemy did not remain intact like +Berlin, Vienna, and other towns, simply because its inhabitants +abandoned it and did not welcome the French with bread and salt, nor +bring them the keys of the city. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +The absorption of the French by Moscow, radiating starwise as it did, +only reached the quarter where Pierre was staying by the evening of the +second of September. + +After the last two days spent in solitude and unusual circumstances, +Pierre was in a state bordering on insanity. He was completely obsessed +by one persistent thought. He did not know how or when this thought had +taken such possession of him, but he remembered nothing of the past, +understood nothing of the present, and all he saw and heard appeared to +him like a dream. + +He had left home only to escape the intricate tangle of life's demands +that enmeshed him, and which in his present condition he was unable to +unravel. He had gone to Joseph Alexeevich's house, on the plea of +sorting the deceased's books and papers, only in search of rest from +life's turmoil, for in his mind the memory of Joseph Alexeevich was +connected with a world of eternal, solemn, and calm thoughts, quite +contrary to the restless confusion into which he felt himself being +drawn. He sought a quiet refuge, and in Joseph Alexeevich's study he +really found it. When he sat with his elbows on the dusty writing table +in the deathlike stillness of the study, calm and significant memories +of the last few days rose one after another in his imagination, +particularly of the battle of Borodino and of that vague sense of his +own insignificance and insincerity compared with the truth, simplicity, +and strength of the class of men he mentally classed as they. When +Gerasim roused him from his reverie the idea occurred to him of taking +part in the popular defense of Moscow which he knew was projected. And +with that object he had asked Gerasim to get him a peasant's coat and a +pistol, confiding to him his intentions of remaining in Joseph +Alexeevich's house and keeping his name secret. Then during the first +day spent in inaction and solitude (he tried several times to fix his +attention on the masonic manuscripts, but was unable to do so) the idea +that had previously occurred to him of the cabalistic significance of +his name in connection with Bonaparte's more than once vaguely presented +itself. But the idea that he, L'russe Besuhof, was destined to set a +limit to the power of the Beast was as yet only one of the fancies that +often passed through his mind and left no trace behind. + +When, having bought the coat merely with the object of taking part among +the people in the defense of Moscow, Pierre had met the Rostovs and +Natasha had said to him: "Are you remaining in Moscow?... How splendid!" +the thought flashed into his mind that it really would be a good thing, +even if Moscow were taken, for him to remain there and do what he was +predestined to do. + +Next day, with the sole idea of not sparing himself and not lagging in +any way behind them, Pierre went to the Three Hills gate. But when he +returned to the house convinced that Moscow would not be defended, he +suddenly felt that what before had seemed to him merely a possibility +had now become absolutely necessary and inevitable. He must remain in +Moscow, concealing his name, and must meet Napoleon and kill him, and +either perish or put an end to the misery of all Europe--which it seemed +to him was solely due to Napoleon. + +Pierre knew all the details of the attempt on Bonaparte's life in 1809 +by a German student in Vienna, and knew that the student had been shot. +And the risk to which he would expose his life by carrying out his +design excited him still more. + +Two equally strong feelings drew Pierre irresistibly to this purpose. +The first was a feeling of the necessity of sacrifice and suffering in +view of the common calamity, the same feeling that had caused him to go +to Mozhaysk on the twenty-fifth and to make his way to the very thick of +the battle and had now caused him to run away from his home and, in +place of the luxury and comfort to which he was accustomed, to sleep on +a hard sofa without undressing and eat the same food as Gerasim. The +other was that vague and quite Russian feeling of contempt for +everything conventional, artificial, and human--for everything the +majority of men regard as the greatest good in the world. Pierre had +first experienced this strange and fascinating feeling at the Sloboda +Palace, when he had suddenly felt that wealth, power, and life--all that +men so painstakingly acquire and guard--if it has any worth has so only +by reason of the joy with which it can all be renounced. + +It was the feeling that induces a volunteer recruit to spend his last +penny on drink, and a drunken man to smash mirrors or glasses for no +apparent reason and knowing that it will cost him all the money he +possesses: the feeling which causes a man to perform actions which from +an ordinary point of view are insane, to test, as it were, his personal +power and strength, affirming the existence of a higher, nonhuman +criterion of life. + +From the very day Pierre had experienced this feeling for the first time +at the Sloboda Palace he had been continuously under its influence, but +only now found full satisfaction for it. Moreover, at this moment Pierre +was supported in his design and prevented from renouncing it by what he +had already done in that direction. If he were now to leave Moscow like +everyone else, his flight from home, the peasant coat, the pistol, and +his announcement to the Rostovs that he would remain in Moscow would all +become not merely meaningless but contemptible and ridiculous, and to +this Pierre was very sensitive. + +Pierre's physical condition, as is always the case, corresponded to his +mental state. The unaccustomed coarse food, the vodka he drank during +those days, the absence of wine and cigars, his dirty unchanged linen, +two almost sleepless nights passed on a short sofa without bedding--all +this kept him in a state of excitement bordering on insanity. + +It was two o'clock in the afternoon. The French had already entered +Moscow. Pierre knew this, but instead of acting he only thought about +his undertaking, going over its minutest details in his mind. In his +fancy he did not clearly picture to himself either the striking of the +blow or the death of Napoleon, but with extraordinary vividness and +melancholy enjoyment imagined his own destruction and heroic endurance. + +"Yes, alone, for the sake of all, I must do it or perish!" he thought. +"Yes, I will approach... and then suddenly... with pistol or dagger? But +that is all the same! 'It is not I but the hand of Providence that +punishes thee,' I shall say," thought he, imagining what he would say +when killing Napoleon. "Well then, take me and execute me!" he went on, +speaking to himself and bowing his head with a sad but firm expression. + +While Pierre, standing in the middle of the room, was talking to himself +in this way, the study door opened and on the threshold appeared the +figure of Makar Alexeevich, always so timid before but now quite +transformed. + +His dressing gown was unfastened, his face red and distorted. He was +obviously drunk. On seeing Pierre he grew confused at first, but +noticing embarrassment on Pierre's face immediately grew bold and, +staggering on his thin legs, advanced into the middle of the room. + +"They're frightened," he said confidentially in a hoarse voice. "I say I +won't surrender, I say... Am I not right, sir?" + +He paused and then suddenly seeing the pistol on the table seized it +with unexpected rapidity and ran out into the corridor. + +Gerasim and the porter, who had followed Makar Alexeevich, stopped him +in the vestibule and tried to take the pistol from him. Pierre, coming +out into the corridor, looked with pity and repulsion at the half-crazy +old man. Makar Alexeevich, frowning with exertion, held on to the pistol +and screamed hoarsely, evidently with some heroic fancy in his head. + +"To arms! Board them! No, you shan't get it," he yelled. + +"That will do, please, that will do. Have the goodness--please, sir, to +let go! Please, sir..." pleaded Gerasim, trying carefully to steer Makar +Alexeevich by the elbows back to the door. + +"Who are you? Bonaparte!..." shouted Makar Alexeevich. + +"That's not right, sir. Come to your room, please, and rest. Allow me to +have the pistol." + +"Be off, thou base slave! Touch me not! See this?" shouted Makar +Alexeevich, brandishing the pistol. "Board them!" + +"Catch hold!" whispered Gerasim to the porter. + +They seized Makar Alexeevich by the arms and dragged him to the door. + +The vestibule was filled with the discordant sounds of a struggle and of +a tipsy, hoarse voice. + +Suddenly a fresh sound, a piercing feminine scream, reverberated from +the porch and the cook came running into the vestibule. + +"It's them! Gracious heavens! O Lord, four of them, horsemen!" she +cried. + +Gerasim and the porter let Makar Alexeevich go, and in the now silent +corridor the sound of several hands knocking at the front door could be +heard. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +Pierre, having decided that until he had carried out his design he would +disclose neither his identity nor his knowledge of French, stood at the +half-open door of the corridor, intending to conceal himself as soon as +the French entered. But the French entered and still Pierre did not +retire--an irresistible curiosity kept him there. + +There were two of them. One was an officer--a tall, soldierly, handsome +man--the other evidently a private or an orderly, sunburned, short, and +thin, with sunken cheeks and a dull expression. The officer walked in +front, leaning on a stick and slightly limping. When he had advanced a +few steps he stopped, having apparently decided that these were good +quarters, turned round to the soldiers standing at the entrance, and in +a loud voice of command ordered them to put up the horses. Having done +that, the officer, lifting his elbow with a smart gesture, stroked his +mustache and lightly touched his hat. + +"Bonjour, la compagnie!" * said he gaily, smiling and looking about him. + + +* "Good day, everybody!" + +No one gave any reply. + +"Vous etes le bourgeois?" * the officer asked Gerasim. + + +* "Are you the master here?" + +Gerasim gazed at the officer with an alarmed and inquiring look. + +"Quartier, quartier, logement!" said the officer, looking down at the +little man with a condescending and good-natured smile. "Les francais +sont de bons enfants. Que diable! Voyons! Ne nous fachons pas, mon +vieux!" * added he, clapping the scared and silent Gerasim on the +shoulder. "Well, does no one speak French in this establishment?" he +asked again in French, looking around and meeting Pierre's eyes. Pierre +moved away from the door. + + +* "Quarters, quarters, lodgings! The French are good fellows. What the +devil! There, don't let us be cross, old fellow!" + +Again the officer turned to Gerasim and asked him to show him the rooms +in the house. + +"Master, not here--don't understand... me, you..." said Gerasim, trying +to render his words more comprehensible by contorting them. + +Still smiling, the French officer spread out his hands before Gerasim's +nose, intimating that he did not understand him either, and moved, +limping, to the door at which Pierre was standing. Pierre wished to go +away and conceal himself, but at that moment he saw Makar Alexeevich +appearing at the open kitchen door with the pistol in his hand. With a +madman's cunning, Makar Alexeevich eyed the Frenchman, raised his +pistol, and took aim. + +"Board them!" yelled the tipsy man, trying to press the trigger. Hearing +the yell the officer turned round, and at the same moment Pierre threw +himself on the drunkard. Just when Pierre snatched at and struck up the +pistol Makar Alexeevich at last got his fingers on the trigger, there +was a deafening report, and all were enveloped in a cloud of smoke. The +Frenchman turned pale and rushed to the door. + +Forgetting his intention of concealing his knowledge of French, Pierre, +snatching away the pistol and throwing it down, ran up to the officer +and addressed him in French. + +"You are not wounded?" he asked. + +"I think not," answered the Frenchman, feeling himself over. "But I have +had a lucky escape this time," he added, pointing to the damaged plaster +of the wall. "Who is that man?" said he, looking sternly at Pierre. + +"Oh, I am really in despair at what has occurred," said Pierre rapidly, +quite forgetting the part he had intended to play. "He is an unfortunate +madman who did not know what he was doing." + +The officer went up to Makar Alexeevich and took him by the collar. + +Makar Alexeevich was standing with parted lips, swaying, as if about to +fall asleep, as he leaned against the wall. + +"Brigand! You shall pay for this," said the Frenchman, letting go of +him. "We French are merciful after victory, but we do not pardon +traitors," he added, with a look of gloomy dignity and a fine energetic +gesture. + +Pierre continued, in French, to persuade the officer not to hold that +drunken imbecile to account. The Frenchman listened in silence with the +same gloomy expression, but suddenly turned to Pierre with a smile. For +a few seconds he looked at him in silence. His handsome face assumed a +melodramatically gentle expression and he held out his hand. + +"You have saved my life. You are French," said he. + +For a Frenchman that deduction was indubitable. Only a Frenchman could +perform a great deed, and to save his life--the life of M. Ramballe, +captain of the 13th Light Regiment--was undoubtedly a very great deed. + +But however indubitable that conclusion and the officer's conviction +based upon it, Pierre felt it necessary to disillusion him. + +"I am Russian," he said quickly. + +"Tut, tut, tut! Tell that to others," said the officer, waving his +finger before his nose and smiling. "You shall tell me all about that +presently. I am delighted to meet a compatriot. Well, and what are we to +do with this man?" he added, addressing himself to Pierre as to a +brother. + +Even if Pierre were not a Frenchman, having once received that loftiest +of human appellations he could not renounce it, said the officer's look +and tone. In reply to his last question Pierre again explained who Makar +Alexeevich was and how just before their arrival that drunken imbecile +had seized the loaded pistol which they had not had time to recover from +him, and begged the officer to let the deed go unpunished. + +The Frenchman expanded his chest and made a majestic gesture with his +arm. + +"You have saved my life! You are French. You ask his pardon? I grant it +you. Lead that man away!" said he quickly and energetically, and taking +the arm of Pierre whom he had promoted to be a Frenchman for saving his +life, he went with him into the room. + +The soldiers in the yard, hearing the shot, came into the passage asking +what had happened, and expressed their readiness to punish the culprits, +but the officer sternly checked them. + +"You will be called in when you are wanted," he said. + +The soldiers went out again, and the orderly, who had meanwhile had time +to visit the kitchen, came up to his officer. + +"Captain, there is soup and a leg of mutton in the kitchen," said he. +"Shall I serve them up?" + +"Yes, and some wine," answered the captain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +When the French officer went into the room with Pierre the latter again +thought it his duty to assure him that he was not French and wished to +go away, but the officer would not hear of it. He was so very polite, +amiable, good-natured, and genuinely grateful to Pierre for saving his +life that Pierre had not the heart to refuse, and sat down with him in +the parlor--the first room they entered. To Pierre's assurances that he +was not a Frenchman, the captain, evidently not understanding how anyone +could decline so flattering an appellation, shrugged his shoulders and +said that if Pierre absolutely insisted on passing for a Russian let it +be so, but for all that he would be forever bound to Pierre by gratitude +for saving his life. + +Had this man been endowed with the slightest capacity for perceiving the +feelings of others, and had he at all understood what Pierre's feelings +were, the latter would probably have left him, but the man's animated +obtuseness to everything other than himself disarmed Pierre. + +"A Frenchman or a Russian prince incognito," said the officer, looking +at Pierre's fine though dirty linen and at the ring on his finger. "I +owe my life to you and offer you my friendship. A Frenchman never +forgets either an insult or a service. I offer you my friendship. That +is all I can say." + +There was so much good nature and nobility (in the French sense of the +word) in the officer's voice, in the expression of his face and in his +gestures, that Pierre, unconsciously smiling in response to the +Frenchman's smile, pressed the hand held out to him. + +"Captain Ramballe, of the 13th Light Regiment, Chevalier of the Legion +of Honor for the affair on the seventh of September," he introduced +himself, a self-satisfied irrepressible smile puckering his lips under +his mustache. "Will you now be so good as to tell me with whom I have +the honor of conversing so pleasantly, instead of being in the ambulance +with that maniac's bullet in my body?" + +Pierre replied that he could not tell him his name and, blushing, began +to try to invent a name and to say something about his reason for +concealing it, but the Frenchman hastily interrupted him. + +"Oh, please!" said he. "I understand your reasons. You are an officer... +a superior officer perhaps. You have borne arms against us. That's not +my business. I owe you my life. That is enough for me. I am quite at +your service. You belong to the gentry?" he concluded with a shade of +inquiry in his tone. Pierre bent his head. "Your baptismal name, if you +please. That is all I ask. Monsieur Pierre, you say.... That's all I +want to know." + +When the mutton and an omelet had been served and a samovar and vodka +brought, with some wine which the French had taken from a Russian cellar +and brought with them, Ramballe invited Pierre to share his dinner, and +himself began to eat greedily and quickly like a healthy and hungry man, +munching his food rapidly with his strong teeth, continually smacking +his lips, and repeating--"Excellent! Delicious!" His face grew red and +was covered with perspiration. Pierre was hungry and shared the dinner +with pleasure. Morel, the orderly, brought some hot water in a saucepan +and placed a bottle of claret in it. He also brought a bottle of kvass, +taken from the kitchen for them to try. That beverage was already known +to the French and had been given a special name. They called it limonade +de cochon (pig's lemonade), and Morel spoke well of the limonade de +cochon he had found in the kitchen. But as the captain had the wine they +had taken while passing through Moscow, he left the kvass to Morel and +applied himself to the bottle of Bordeaux. He wrapped the bottle up to +its neck in a table napkin and poured out wine for himself and for +Pierre. The satisfaction of his hunger and the wine rendered the captain +still more lively and he chatted incessantly all through dinner. + +"Yes, my dear Monsieur Pierre, I owe you a fine votive candle for saving +me from that maniac.... You see, I have bullets enough in my body +already. Here is one I got at Wagram" (he touched his side) "and a +second at Smolensk"--he showed a scar on his cheek--"and this leg which +as you see does not want to march, I got that on the seventh at the +great battle of la Moskowa. Sacre Dieu! It was splendid! That deluge of +fire was worth seeing. It was a tough job you set us there, my word! You +may be proud of it! And on my honor, in spite of the cough I caught +there, I should be ready to begin again. I pity those who did not see +it." + +"I was there," said Pierre. + +"Bah, really? So much the better! You are certainly brave foes. The +great redoubt held out well, by my pipe!" continued the Frenchman. "And +you made us pay dear for it. I was at it three times--sure as I sit +here. Three times we reached the guns and three times we were thrown +back like cardboard figures. Oh, it was beautiful, Monsieur Pierre! Your +grenadiers were splendid, by heaven! I saw them close up their ranks six +times in succession and march as if on parade. Fine fellows! Our King of +Naples, who knows what's what, cried 'Bravo!' Ha, ha! So you are one of +us soldiers!" he added, smiling, after a momentary pause. "So much the +better, so much the better, Monsieur Pierre! Terrible in battle... +gallant... with the fair" (he winked and smiled), "that's what the +French are, Monsieur Pierre, aren't they?" + +The captain was so naively and good-humoredly gay, so real, and so +pleased with himself that Pierre almost winked back as he looked merrily +at him. Probably the word "gallant" turned the captain's thoughts to the +state of Moscow. + +"Apropos, tell me please, is it true that the women have all left +Moscow? What a queer idea! What had they to be afraid of?" + +"Would not the French ladies leave Paris if the Russians entered it?" +asked Pierre. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" The Frenchman emitted a merry, sanguine chuckle, patting +Pierre on the shoulder. "What a thing to say!" he exclaimed. "Paris?... +But Paris, Paris..." + +"Paris--the capital of the world," Pierre finished his remark for him. + +The captain looked at Pierre. He had a habit of stopping short in the +middle of his talk and gazing intently with his laughing, kindly eyes. + +"Well, if you hadn't told me you were Russian, I should have wagered +that you were Parisian! You have that... I don't know what, that..." and +having uttered this compliment, he again gazed at him in silence. + +"I have been in Paris. I spent years there," said Pierre. + +"Oh yes, one sees that plainly. Paris!... A man who doesn't know Paris +is a savage. You can tell a Parisian two leagues off. Paris is Talma, la +Duchenois, Potier, the Sorbonne, the boulevards," and noticing that his +conclusion was weaker than what had gone before, he added quickly: +"There is only one Paris in the world. You have been to Paris and have +remained Russian. Well, I don't esteem you the less for it." + +Under the influence of the wine he had drunk, and after the days he had +spent alone with his depressing thoughts, Pierre involuntarily enjoyed +talking with this cheerful and good-natured man. + +"To return to your ladies--I hear they are lovely. What a wretched idea +to go and bury themselves in the steppes when the French army is in +Moscow. What a chance those girls have missed! Your peasants, now-- +that's another thing; but you civilized people, you ought to know us +better than that. We took Vienna, Berlin, Madrid, Naples, Rome, Warsaw, +all the world's capitals.... We are feared, but we are loved. We are +nice to know. And then the Emperor..." he began, but Pierre interrupted +him. + +"The Emperor," Pierre repeated, and his face suddenly became sad and +embarrassed, "is the Emperor...?" + +"The Emperor? He is generosity, mercy, justice, order, genius--that's +what the Emperor is! It is I, Ramballe, who tell you so.... I assure you +I was his enemy eight years ago. My father was an emigrant count.... But +that man has vanquished me. He has taken hold of me. I could not resist +the sight of the grandeur and glory with which he has covered France. +When I understood what he wanted--when I saw that he was preparing a bed +of laurels for us, you know, I said to myself: 'That is a monarch,' and +I devoted myself to him! So there! Oh yes, mon cher, he is the greatest +man of the ages past or future." + +"Is he in Moscow?" Pierre stammered with a guilty look. + +The Frenchman looked at his guilty face and smiled. + +"No, he will make his entry tomorrow," he replied, and continued his +talk. + +Their conversation was interrupted by the cries of several voices at the +gate and by Morel, who came to say that some Wurttemberg hussars had +come and wanted to put up their horses in the yard where the captain's +horses were. This difficulty had arisen chiefly because the hussars did +not understand what was said to them in French. + +The captain had their senior sergeant called in, and in a stern voice +asked him to what regiment he belonged, who was his commanding officer, +and by what right he allowed himself to claim quarters that were already +occupied. The German who knew little French, answered the two first +questions by giving the names of his regiment and of his commanding +officer, but in reply to the third question which he did not understand +said, introducing broken French into his own German, that he was the +quartermaster of the regiment and his commander had ordered him to +occupy all the houses one after another. Pierre, who knew German, +translated what the German said to the captain and gave the captain's +reply to the Wurttemberg hussar in German. When he had understood what +was said to him, the German submitted and took his men elsewhere. The +captain went out into the porch and gave some orders in a loud voice. + +When he returned to the room Pierre was sitting in the same place as +before, with his head in his hands. His face expressed suffering. He +really was suffering at that moment. When the captain went out and he +was left alone, suddenly he came to himself and realized the position he +was in. It was not that Moscow had been taken or that the happy +conquerors were masters in it and were patronizing him. Painful as that +was it was not that which tormented Pierre at the moment. He was +tormented by the consciousness of his own weakness. The few glasses of +wine he had drunk and the conversation with this good-natured man had +destroyed the mood of concentrated gloom in which he had spent the last +few days and which was essential for the execution of his design. The +pistol, dagger, and peasant coat were ready. Napoleon was to enter the +town next day. Pierre still considered that it would be a useful and +worthy action to slay the evildoer, but now he felt that he would not do +it. He did not know why, but he felt a foreboding that he would not +carry out his intention. He struggled against the confession of his +weakness but dimly felt that he could not overcome it and that his +former gloomy frame of mind, concerning vengeance, killing, and self- +sacrifice, had been dispersed like dust by contact with the first man he +met. + +The captain returned to the room, limping slightly and whistling a tune. + +The Frenchman's chatter which had previously amused Pierre now repelled +him. The tune he was whistling, his gait, and the gesture with which he +twirled his mustache, all now seemed offensive. "I will go away +immediately. I won't say another word to him," thought Pierre. He +thought this, but still sat in the same place. A strange feeling of +weakness tied him to the spot; he wished to get up and go away, but +could not do so. + +The captain, on the other hand, seemed very cheerful. He paced up and +down the room twice. His eyes shone and his mustache twitched as if he +were smiling to himself at some amusing thought. + +"The colonel of those Wurttembergers is delightful," he suddenly said. +"He's a German, but a nice fellow all the same.... But he's a German." +He sat down facing Pierre. "By the way, you know German, then?" + +Pierre looked at him in silence. + +"What is the German for 'shelter'?" + +"Shelter?" Pierre repeated. "The German for shelter is Unterkunft." + +"How do you say it?" the captain asked quickly and doubtfully. + +"Unterkunft," Pierre repeated. + +"Onterkoff," said the captain and looked at Pierre for some seconds with +laughing eyes. "These Germans are first-rate fools, don't you think so, +Monsieur Pierre?" he concluded. + +"Well, let's have another bottle of this Moscow Bordeaux, shall we? +Morel will warm us up another little bottle. Morel!" he called out +gaily. + +Morel brought candles and a bottle of wine. The captain looked at Pierre +by the candlelight and was evidently struck by the troubled expression +on his companion's face. Ramballe, with genuine distress and sympathy in +his face, went up to Pierre and bent over him. + +"There now, we're sad," said he, touching Pierre's hand. "Have I upset +you? No, really, have you anything against me?" he asked Pierre. +"Perhaps it's the state of affairs?" + +Pierre did not answer, but looked cordially into the Frenchman's eyes +whose expression of sympathy was pleasing to him. + +"Honestly, without speaking of what I owe you, I feel friendship for +you. Can I do anything for you? Dispose of me. It is for life and death. +I say it with my hand on my heart!" said he, striking his chest. + +"Thank you," said Pierre. + +The captain gazed intently at him as he had done when he learned that +"shelter" was Unterkunft in German, and his face suddenly brightened. + +"Well, in that case, I drink to our friendship!" he cried gaily, filling +two glasses with wine. + +Pierre took one of the glasses and emptied it. Ramballe emptied his too, +again pressed Pierre's hand, and leaned his elbows on the table in a +pensive attitude. + +"Yes, my dear friend," he began, "such is fortune's caprice. Who would +have said that I should be a soldier and a captain of dragoons in the +service of Bonaparte, as we used to call him? Yet here I am in Moscow +with him. I must tell you, mon cher," he continued in the sad and +measured tones of a man who intends to tell a long story, "that our name +is one of the most ancient in France." + +And with a Frenchman's easy and naive frankness the captain told Pierre +the story of his ancestors, his childhood, youth, and manhood, and all +about his relations and his financial and family affairs, "ma pauvre +mere" playing of course an important part in the story. + +"But all that is only life's setting, the real thing is love--love! Am I +not right, Monsieur Pierre?" said he, growing animated. "Another glass?" + +Pierre again emptied his glass and poured himself out a third. + +"Oh, women, women!" and the captain, looking with glistening eyes at +Pierre, began talking of love and of his love affairs. + +There were very many of these, as one could easily believe, looking at +the officer's handsome, self-satisfied face, and noting the eager +enthusiasm with which he spoke of women. Though all Ramballe's love +stories had the sensual character which Frenchmen regard as the special +charm and poetry of love, yet he told his story with such sincere +conviction that he alone had experienced and known all the charm of love +and he described women so alluringly that Pierre listened to him with +curiosity. + +It was plain that l'amour which the Frenchman was so fond of was not +that low and simple kind that Pierre had once felt for his wife, nor was +it the romantic love stimulated by himself that he experienced for +Natasha. (Ramballe despised both these kinds of love equally: the one he +considered the "love of clodhoppers" and the other the "love of +simpletons.") L'amour which the Frenchman worshiped consisted +principally in the unnaturalness of his relation to the woman and in a +combination of incongruities giving the chief charm to the feeling. + +Thus the captain touchingly recounted the story of his love for a +fascinating marquise of thirty-five and at the same time for a charming, +innocent child of seventeen, daughter of the bewitching marquise. The +conflict of magnanimity between the mother and the daughter, ending in +the mother's sacrificing herself and offering her daughter in marriage +to her lover, even now agitated the captain, though it was the memory of +a distant past. Then he recounted an episode in which the husband played +the part of the lover, and he--the lover--assumed the role of the +husband, as well as several droll incidents from his recollections of +Germany, where "shelter" is called Unterkunft and where the husbands eat +sauerkraut and the young girls are "too blonde." + +Finally, the latest episode in Poland still fresh in the captain's +memory, and which he narrated with rapid gestures and glowing face, was +of how he had saved the life of a Pole (in general, the saving of life +continually occurred in the captain's stories) and the Pole had +entrusted to him his enchanting wife (parisienne de coeur) while himself +entering the French service. The captain was happy, the enchanting +Polish lady wished to elope with him, but, prompted by magnanimity, the +captain restored the wife to the husband, saying as he did so: "I have +saved your life, and I save your honor!" Having repeated these words the +captain wiped his eyes and gave himself a shake, as if driving away the +weakness which assailed him at this touching recollection. + +Listening to the captain's tales, Pierre--as often happens late in the +evening and under the influence of wine--followed all that was told him, +understood it all, and at the same time followed a train of personal +memories which, he knew not why, suddenly arose in his mind. While +listening to these love stories his own love for Natasha unexpectedly +rose to his mind, and going over the pictures of that love in his +imagination he mentally compared them with Ramballe's tales. Listening +to the story of the struggle between love and duty, Pierre saw before +his eyes every minutest detail of his last meeting with the object of +his love at the Sukharev water tower. At the time of that meeting it had +not produced an effect upon him--he had not even once recalled it. But +now it seemed to him that that meeting had had in it something very +important and poetic. + +"Peter Kirilovich, come here! We have recognized you," he now seemed to +hear the words she had uttered and to see before him her eyes, her +smile, her traveling hood, and a stray lock of her hair... and there +seemed to him something pathetic and touching in all this. + +Having finished his tale about the enchanting Polish lady, the captain +asked Pierre if he had ever experienced a similar impulse to sacrifice +himself for love and a feeling of envy of the legitimate husband. + +Challenged by this question Pierre raised his head and felt a need to +express the thoughts that filled his mind. He began to explain that he +understood love for a women somewhat differently. He said that in all +his life he had loved and still loved only one woman, and that she could +never be his. + +"Tiens!" said the captain. + +Pierre then explained that he had loved this woman from his earliest +years, but that he had not dared to think of her because she was too +young, and because he had been an illegitimate son without a name. +Afterwards when he had received a name and wealth he dared not think of +her because he loved her too well, placing her far above everything in +the world, and especially therefore above himself. + +When he had reached this point, Pierre asked the captain whether he +understood that. + +The captain made a gesture signifying that even if he did not understand +it he begged Pierre to continue. + +"Platonic love, clouds..." he muttered. + +Whether it was the wine he had drunk, or an impulse of frankness, or the +thought that this man did not, and never would, know any of those who +played a part in his story, or whether it was all these things together, +something loosened Pierre's tongue. Speaking thickly and with a faraway +look in his shining eyes, he told the whole story of his life: his +marriage, Natasha's love for his best friend, her betrayal of him, and +all his own simple relations with her. Urged on by Ramballe's questions +he also told what he had at first concealed--his own position and even +his name. + +More than anything else in Pierre's story the captain was impressed by +the fact that Pierre was very rich, had two mansions in Moscow, and that +he had abandoned everything and not left the city, but remained there +concealing his name and station. + +When it was late at night they went out together into the street. The +night was warm and light. To the left of the house on the Pokrovka a +fire glowed--the first of those that were beginning in Moscow. To the +right and high up in the sky was the sickle of the waning moon and +opposite to it hung that bright comet which was connected in Pierre's +heart with his love. At the gate stood Gerasim, the cook, and two +Frenchmen. Their laughter and their mutually incomprehensible remarks in +two languages could be heard. They were looking at the glow seen in the +town. + +There was nothing terrible in the one small, distant fire in the immense +city. + +Gazing at the high starry sky, at the moon, at the comet, and at the +glow from the fire, Pierre experienced a joyful emotion. "There now, how +good it is, what more does one need?" thought he. And suddenly +remembering his intention he grew dizzy and felt so faint that he leaned +against the fence to save himself from falling. + +Without taking leave of his new friend, Pierre left the gate with +unsteady steps and returning to his room lay down on the sofa and +immediately fell asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +The glow of the first fire that began on the second of September was +watched from the various roads by the fugitive Muscovites and by the +retreating troops, with many different feelings. + +The Rostov party spent the night at Mytishchi, fourteen miles from +Moscow. They had started so late on the first of September, the road had +been so blocked by vehicles and troops, so many things had been +forgotten for which servants were sent back, that they had decided to +spend that night at a place three miles out of Moscow. The next morning +they woke late and were again delayed so often that they only got as far +as Great Mytishchi. At ten o'clock that evening the Rostov family and +the wounded traveling with them were all distributed in the yards and +huts of that large village. The Rostovs' servants and coachmen and the +orderlies of the wounded officers, after attending to their masters, had +supper, fed the horses, and came out into the porches. + +In a neighboring hut lay Raevski's adjutant with a fractured wrist. The +awful pain he suffered made him moan incessantly and piteously, and his +moaning sounded terrible in the darkness of the autumn night. He had +spent the first night in the same yard as the Rostovs. The countess said +she had been unable to close her eyes on account of his moaning, and at +Mytishchi she moved into a worse hut simply to be farther away from the +wounded man. + +In the darkness of the night one of the servants noticed, above the high +body of a coach standing before the porch, the small glow of another +fire. One glow had long been visible and everybody knew that it was +Little Mytishchi burning--set on fire by Mamonov's Cossacks. + +"But look here, brothers, there's another fire!" remarked an orderly. + +All turned their attention to the glow. + +"But they told us Little Mytishchi had been set on fire by Mamonov's +Cossacks." + +"But that's not Mytishchi, it's farther away." + +"Look, it must be in Moscow!" + +Two of the gazers went round to the other side of the coach and sat down +on its steps. + +"It's more to the left, why, Little Mytishchi is over there, and this is +right on the other side." + +Several men joined the first two. + +"See how it's flaring," said one. "That's a fire in Moscow: either in +the Sushchevski or the Rogozhski quarter." + +No one replied to this remark and for some time they all gazed silently +at the spreading flames of the second fire in the distance. + +Old Daniel Terentich, the count's valet (as he was called), came up to +the group and shouted at Mishka. + +"What are you staring at, you good-for-nothing?... The count will be +calling and there's nobody there; go and gather the clothes together." + +"I only ran out to get some water," said Mishka. + +"But what do you think, Daniel Terentich? Doesn't it look as if that +glow were in Moscow?" remarked one of the footmen. + +Daniel Terentich made no reply, and again for a long time they were all +silent. The glow spread, rising and falling, farther and farther still. + +"God have mercy.... It's windy and dry..." said another voice. + +"Just look! See what it's doing now. O Lord! You can even see the crows +flying. Lord have mercy on us sinners!" + +"They'll put it out, no fear!" + +"Who's to put it out?" Daniel Terentich, who had hitherto been silent, +was heard to say. His voice was calm and deliberate. "Moscow it is, +brothers," said he. "Mother Moscow, the white..." his voice faltered, +and he gave way to an old man's sob. + +And it was as if they had all only waited for this to realize the +significance for them of the glow they were watching. Sighs were heard, +words of prayer, and the sobbing of the count's old valet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +The valet, returning to the cottage, informed the count that Moscow was +burning. The count donned his dressing gown and went out to look. Sonya +and Madame Schoss, who had not yet undressed, went out with him. Only +Natasha and the countess remained in the room. Petya was no longer with +the family, he had gone on with his regiment which was making for +Troitsa. + +The countess, on hearing that Moscow was on fire, began to cry. Natasha, +pale, with a fixed look, was sitting on the bench under the icons just +where she had sat down on arriving and paid no attention to her father's +words. She was listening to the ceaseless moaning of the adjutant, three +houses off. + +"Oh, how terrible," said Sonya returning from the yard chilled and +frightened. "I believe the whole of Moscow will burn, there's an awful +glow! Natasha, do look! You can see it from the window," she said to her +cousin, evidently wishing to distract her mind. + +But Natasha looked at her as if not understanding what was said to her +and again fixed her eyes on the corner of the stove. She had been in +this condition of stupor since the morning, when Sonya, to the surprise +and annoyance of the countess, had for some unaccountable reason found +it necessary to tell Natasha of Prince Andrew's wound and of his being +with their party. The countess had seldom been so angry with anyone as +she was with Sonya. Sonya had cried and begged to be forgiven and now, +as if trying to atone for her fault, paid unceasing attention to her +cousin. + +"Look, Natasha, how dreadfully it is burning!" said she. + +"What's burning?" asked Natasha. "Oh, yes, Moscow." + +And as if in order not to offend Sonya and to get rid of her, she turned +her face to the window, looked out in such a way that it was evident +that she could not see anything, and again settled down in her former +attitude. + +"But you didn't see it!" + +"Yes, really I did," Natasha replied in a voice that pleaded to be left +in peace. + +Both the countess and Sonya understood that, naturally, neither Moscow +nor the burning of Moscow nor anything else could seem of importance to +Natasha. + +The count returned and lay down behind the partition. The countess went +up to her daughter and touched her head with the back of her hand as she +was wont to do when Natasha was ill, then touched her forehead with her +lips as if to feel whether she was feverish, and finally kissed her. + +"You are cold. You are trembling all over. You'd better lie down," said +the countess. + +"Lie down? All right, I will. I'll lie down at once," said Natasha. + +When Natasha had been told that morning that Prince Andrew was seriously +wounded and was traveling with their party, she had at first asked many +questions: Where was he going? How was he wounded? Was it serious? And +could she see him? But after she had been told that she could not see +him, that he was seriously wounded but that his life was not in danger, +she ceased to ask questions or to speak at all, evidently disbelieving +what they told her, and convinced that say what she might she would +still be told the same. All the way she had sat motionless in a corner +of the coach with wide open eyes, and the expression in them which the +countess knew so well and feared so much, and now she sat in the same +way on the bench where she had seated herself on arriving. She was +planning something and either deciding or had already decided something +in her mind. The countess knew this, but what it might be she did not +know, and this alarmed and tormented her. + +"Natasha, undress, darling; lie down on my bed." + +A bed had been made on a bedstead for the countess only. Madame Schoss +and the two girls were to sleep on some hay on the floor. + +"No, Mamma, I will lie down here on the floor," Natasha replied +irritably and she went to the window and opened it. Through the open +window the moans of the adjutant could be heard more distinctly. She put +her head out into the damp night air, and the countess saw her slim neck +shaking with sobs and throbbing against the window frame. Natasha knew +it was not Prince Andrew who was moaning. She knew Prince Andrew was in +the same yard as themselves and in a part of the hut across the passage; +but this dreadful incessant moaning made her sob. The countess exchanged +a look with Sonya. + +"Lie down, darling; lie down, my pet," said the countess, softly +touching Natasha's shoulders. "Come, lie down." + +"Oh, yes... I'll lie down at once," said Natasha, and began hurriedly +undressing, tugging at the tapes of her petticoat. + +When she had thrown off her dress and put on a dressing jacket, she sat +down with her foot under her on the bed that had been made up on the +floor, jerked her thin and rather short plait of hair to the front, and +began replaiting it. Her long, thin, practiced fingers rapidly +unplaited, replaited, and tied up her plait. Her head moved from side to +side from habit, but her eyes, feverishly wide, looked fixedly before +her. When her toilet for the night was finished she sank gently onto the +sheet spread over the hay on the side nearest the door. + +"Natasha, you'd better lie in the middle," said Sonya. + +"I'll stay here," muttered Natasha. "Do lie down," she added crossly, +and buried her face in the pillow. + +The countess, Madame Schoss, and Sonya undressed hastily and lay down. +The small lamp in front of the icons was the only light left in the +room. But in the yard there was a light from the fire at Little +Mytishchi a mile and a half away, and through the night came the noise +of people shouting at a tavern Mamonov's Cossacks had set up across the +street, and the adjutant's unceasing moans could still be heard. + +For a long time Natasha listened attentively to the sounds that reached +her from inside and outside the room and did not move. First she heard +her mother praying and sighing and the creaking of her bed under her, +then Madame Schoss' familiar whistling snore and Sonya's gentle +breathing. Then the countess called to Natasha. Natasha did not answer. + +"I think she's asleep, Mamma," said Sonya softly. + +After a short silence the countess spoke again but this time no one +replied. + +Soon after that Natasha heard her mother's even breathing. Natasha did +not move, though her little bare foot, thrust out from under the quilt, +was growing cold on the bare floor. + +As if to celebrate a victory over everybody, a cricket chirped in a +crack in the wall. A cock crowed far off and another replied near by. +The shouting in the tavern had died down; only the moaning of the +adjutant was heard. Natasha sat up. + +"Sonya, are you asleep? Mamma?" she whispered. + +No one replied. Natasha rose slowly and carefully, crossed herself, and +stepped cautiously on the cold and dirty floor with her slim, supple, +bare feet. The boards of the floor creaked. Stepping cautiously from one +foot to the other she ran like a kitten the few steps to the door and +grasped the cold door handle. + +It seemed to her that something heavy was beating rhythmically against +all the walls of the room: it was her own heart, sinking with alarm and +terror and overflowing with love. + +She opened the door and stepped across the threshold and onto the cold, +damp earthen floor of the passage. The cold she felt refreshed her. With +her bare feet she touched a sleeping man, stepped over him, and opened +the door into the part of the hut where Prince Andrew lay. It was dark +in there. In the farthest corner, on a bench beside a bed on which +something was lying, stood a tallow candle with a long, thick, and +smoldering wick. + +From the moment she had been told that morning of Prince Andrew's wound +and his presence there, Natasha had resolved to see him. She did not +know why she had to, she knew the meeting would be painful, but felt the +more convinced that it was necessary. + +All day she had lived only in hope of seeing him that night. But now +that the moment had come she was filled with dread of what she might +see. How was he maimed? What was left of him? Was he like that incessant +moaning of the adjutant's? Yes, he was altogether like that. In her +imagination he was that terrible moaning personified. When she saw an +indistinct shape in the corner, and mistook his knees raised under the +quilt for his shoulders, she imagined a horrible body there, and stood +still in terror. But an irresistible impulse drew her forward. She +cautiously took one step and then another, and found herself in the +middle of a small room containing baggage. Another man--Timokhin--was +lying in a corner on the benches beneath the icons, and two others--the +doctor and a valet--lay on the floor. + +The valet sat up and whispered something. Timokhin, kept awake by the +pain in his wounded leg, gazed with wide-open eyes at this strange +apparition of a girl in a white chemise, dressing jacket, and nightcap. +The valet's sleepy, frightened exclamation, "What do you want? What's +the matter?" made Natasha approach more swiftly to what was lying in the +corner. Horribly unlike a man as that body looked, she must see him. She +passed the valet, the snuff fell from the candle wick, and she saw +Prince Andrew clearly with his arms outside the quilt, and such as she +had always seen him. + +He was the same as ever, but the feverish color of his face, his +glittering eyes rapturously turned toward her, and especially his neck, +delicate as a child's, revealed by the turn-down collar of his shirt, +gave him a peculiarly innocent, childlike look, such as she had never +seen on him before. She went up to him and with a swift, flexible, +youthful movement dropped on her knees. + +He smiled and held out his hand to her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +Seven days had passed since Prince Andrew found himself in the ambulance +station on the field of Borodino. His feverish state and the +inflammation of his bowels, which were injured, were in the doctor's +opinion sure to carry him off. But on the seventh day he ate with +pleasure a piece of bread with some tea, and the doctor noticed that his +temperature was lower. He had regained consciousness that morning. The +first night after they left Moscow had been fairly warm and he had +remained in the caleche, but at Mytishchi the wounded man himself asked +to be taken out and given some tea. The pain caused by his removal into +the hut had made him groan aloud and again lose consciousness. When he +had been placed on his camp bed he lay for a long time motionless with +closed eyes. Then he opened them and whispered softly: "And the tea?" +His remembering such a small detail of everyday life astonished the +doctor. He felt Prince Andrew's pulse, and to his surprise and +dissatisfaction found it had improved. He was dissatisfied because he +knew by experience that if his patient did not die now, he would do so a +little later with greater suffering. Timokhin, the red-nosed major of +Prince Andrew's regiment, had joined him in Moscow and was being taken +along with him, having been wounded in the leg at the battle of +Borodino. They were accompanied by a doctor, Prince Andrew's valet, his +coachman, and two orderlies. + +They gave Prince Andrew some tea. He drank it eagerly, looking with +feverish eyes at the door in front of him as if trying to understand and +remember something. + +"I don't want any more. Is Timokhin here?" he asked. + +Timokhin crept along the bench to him. + +"I am here, your excellency." + +"How's your wound?" + +"Mine, sir? All right. But how about you?" + +Prince Andrew again pondered as if trying to remember something. + +"Couldn't one get a book?" he asked. + +"What book?" + +"The Gospels. I haven't one." + +The doctor promised to procure it for him and began to ask how he was +feeling. Prince Andrew answered all his questions reluctantly but +reasonably, and then said he wanted a bolster placed under him as he was +uncomfortable and in great pain. The doctor and valet lifted the cloak +with which he was covered and, making wry faces at the noisome smell of +mortifying flesh that came from the wound, began examining that dreadful +place. The doctor was very much displeased about something and made a +change in the dressings, turning the wounded man over so that he groaned +again and grew unconscious and delirious from the agony. He kept asking +them to get him the book and put it under him. + +"What trouble would it be to you?" he said. "I have not got one. Please +get it for me and put it under for a moment," he pleaded in a piteous +voice. + +The doctor went into the passage to wash his hands. + +"You fellows have no conscience," said he to the valet who was pouring +water over his hands. "For just one moment I didn't look after you... +It's such pain, you know, that I wonder how he can bear it." + +"By the Lord Jesus Christ, I thought we had put something under him!" +said the valet. + +The first time Prince Andrew understood where he was and what was the +matter with him and remembered being wounded and how was when he asked +to be carried into the hut after his caleche had stopped at Mytishchi. +After growing confused from pain while being carried into the hut he +again regained consciousness, and while drinking tea once more recalled +all that had happened to him, and above all vividly remembered the +moment at the ambulance station when, at the sight of the sufferings of +a man he disliked, those new thoughts had come to him which promised him +happiness. And those thoughts, though now vague and indefinite, again +possessed his soul. He remembered that he had now a new source of +happiness and that this happiness had something to do with the Gospels. +That was why he asked for a copy of them. The uncomfortable position in +which they had put him and turned him over again confused his thoughts, +and when he came to himself a third time it was in the complete +stillness of the night. Everybody near him was sleeping. A cricket +chirped from across the passage; someone was shouting and singing in the +street; cockroaches rustled on the table, on the icons, and on the +walls, and a big fly flopped at the head of the bed and around the +candle beside him, the wick of which was charred and had shaped itself +like a mushroom. + +His mind was not in a normal state. A healthy man usually thinks of, +feels, and remembers innumerable things simultaneously, but has the +power and will to select one sequence of thoughts or events on which to +fix his whole attention. A healthy man can tear himself away from the +deepest reflections to say a civil word to someone who comes in and can +then return again to his own thoughts. But Prince Andrew's mind was not +in a normal state in that respect. All the powers of his mind were more +active and clearer than ever, but they acted apart from his will. Most +diverse thoughts and images occupied him simultaneously. At times his +brain suddenly began to work with a vigor, clearness, and depth it had +never reached when he was in health, but suddenly in the midst of its +work it would turn to some unexpected idea and he had not the strength +to turn it back again. + +"Yes, a new happiness was revealed to me of which man cannot be +deprived," he thought as he lay in the semidarkness of the quiet hut, +gazing fixedly before him with feverish wide open eyes. "A happiness +lying beyond material forces, outside the material influences that act +on man--a happiness of the soul alone, the happiness of loving. Every +man can understand it, but to conceive it and enjoin it was possible +only for God. But how did God enjoin that law? And why was the Son...?" + +And suddenly the sequence of these thoughts broke off, and Prince Andrew +heard (without knowing whether it was a delusion or reality) a soft +whispering voice incessantly and rhythmically repeating "piti-piti- +piti," and then "titi," and then again "piti-piti-piti," and "ti-ti" +once more. At the same time he felt that above his face, above the very +middle of it, some strange airy structure was being erected out of +slender needles or splinters, to the sound of this whispered music. He +felt that he had to balance carefully (though it was difficult) so that +this airy structure should not collapse; but nevertheless it kept +collapsing and again slowly rising to the sound of whispered rhythmic +music--"it stretches, stretches, spreading out and stretching," said +Prince Andrew to himself. While listening to this whispering and feeling +the sensation of this drawing out and the construction of this edifice +of needles, he also saw by glimpses a red halo round the candle, and +heard the rustle of the cockroaches and the buzzing of the fly that +flopped against his pillow and his face. Each time the fly touched his +face it gave him a burning sensation and yet to his surprise it did not +destroy the structure, though it knocked against the very region of his +face where it was rising. But besides this there was something else of +importance. It was something white by the door--the statue of a sphinx, +which also oppressed him. + +"But perhaps that's my shirt on the table," he thought, "and that's my +legs, and that is the door, but why is it always stretching and drawing +itself out, and 'piti-piti-piti' and 'ti-ti' and 'piti-piti-piti'...? +That's enough, please leave off!" Prince Andrew painfully entreated +someone. And suddenly thoughts and feelings again swam to the surface of +his mind with peculiar clearness and force. + +"Yes--love," he thought again quite clearly. "But not love which loves +for something, for some quality, for some purpose, or for some reason, +but the love which I--while dying--first experienced when I saw my enemy +and yet loved him. I experienced that feeling of love which is the very +essence of the soul and does not require an object. Now again I feel +that bliss. To love one's neighbors, to love one's enemies, to love +everything, to love God in all His manifestations. It is possible to +love someone dear to you with human love, but an enemy can only be loved +by divine love. That is why I experienced such joy when I felt that I +loved that man. What has become of him? Is he alive?... + +"When loving with human love one may pass from love to hatred, but +divine love cannot change. No, neither death nor anything else can +destroy it. It is the very essence of the soul. Yet how many people have +I hated in my life? And of them all, I loved and hated none as I did +her." And he vividly pictured to himself Natasha, not as he had done in +the past with nothing but her charms which gave him delight, but for the +first time picturing to himself her soul. And he understood her +feelings, her sufferings, shame, and remorse. He now understood for the +first time all the cruelty of his rejection of her, the cruelty of his +rupture with her. "If only it were possible for me to see her once more! +Just once, looking into those eyes to say..." + +"Piti-piti-piti and ti-ti and piti-piti-piti boom!" flopped the fly... +And his attention was suddenly carried into another world, a world of +reality and delirium in which something particular was happening. In +that world some structure was still being erected and did not fall, +something was still stretching out, and the candle with its red halo was +still burning, and the same shirtlike sphinx lay near the door; but +besides all this something creaked, there was a whiff of fresh air, and +a new white sphinx appeared, standing at the door. And that sphinx had +the pale face and shining eyes of the very Natasha of whom he had just +been thinking. + +"Oh, how oppressive this continual delirium is," thought Prince Andrew, +trying to drive that face from his imagination. But the face remained +before him with the force of reality and drew nearer. Prince Andrew +wished to return to that former world of pure thought, but he could not, +and delirium drew him back into its domain. The soft whispering voice +continued its rhythmic murmur, something oppressed him and stretched +out, and the strange face was before him. Prince Andrew collected all +his strength in an effort to recover his senses, he moved a little, and +suddenly there was a ringing in his ears, a dimness in his eyes, and +like a man plunged into water he lost consciousness. When he came to +himself, Natasha, that same living Natasha whom of all people he most +longed to love with this new pure divine love that had been revealed to +him, was kneeling before him. He realized that it was the real living +Natasha, and he was not surprised but quietly happy. Natasha, motionless +on her knees (she was unable to stir), with frightened eyes riveted on +him, was restraining her sobs. Her face was pale and rigid. Only in the +lower part of it something quivered. + +Prince Andrew sighed with relief, smiled, and held out his hand. + +"You?" he said. "How fortunate!" + +With a rapid but careful movement Natasha drew nearer to him on her +knees and, taking his hand carefully, bent her face over it and began +kissing it, just touching it lightly with her lips. + +"Forgive me!" she whispered, raising her head and glancing at him. +"Forgive me!" + +"I love you," said Prince Andrew. + +"Forgive...!" + +"Forgive what?" he asked. + +"Forgive me for what I ha-ve do-ne!" faltered Natasha in a scarcely +audible, broken whisper, and began kissing his hand more rapidly, just +touching it with her lips. + +"I love you more, better than before," said Prince Andrew, lifting her +face with his hand so as to look into her eyes. + +Those eyes, filled with happy tears, gazed at him timidly, +compassionately, and with joyous love. Natasha's thin pale face, with +its swollen lips, was more than plain--it was dreadful. But Prince +Andrew did not see that, he saw her shining eyes which were beautiful. +They heard the sound of voices behind them. + +Peter the valet, who was now wide awake, had roused the doctor. +Timokhin, who had not slept at all because of the pain in his leg, had +long been watching all that was going on, carefully covering his bare +body with the sheet as he huddled up on his bench. + +"What's this?" said the doctor, rising from his bed. "Please go away, +madam!" + +At that moment a maid sent by the countess, who had noticed her +daughter's absence, knocked at the door. + +Like a somnambulist aroused from her sleep Natasha went out of the room +and, returning to her hut, fell sobbing on her bed. + +From that time, during all the rest of the Rostovs' journey, at every +halting place and wherever they spent a night, Natasha never left the +wounded Bolkonski, and the doctor had to admit that he had not expected +from a young girl either such firmness or such skill in nursing a +wounded man. + +Dreadful as the countess imagined it would be should Prince Andrew die +in her daughter's arms during the journey--as, judging by what the +doctor said, it seemed might easily happen--she could not oppose +Natasha. Though with the intimacy now established between the wounded +man and Natasha the thought occurred that should he recover their former +engagement would be renewed, no one--least of all Natasha and Prince +Andrew--spoke of this: the unsettled question of life and death, which +hung not only over Bolkonski but over all Russia, shut out all other +considerations. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +On the third of September Pierre awoke late. His head was aching, the +clothes in which he had slept without undressing felt uncomfortable on +his body, and his mind had a dim consciousness of something shameful he +had done the day before. That something shameful was his yesterday's +conversation with Captain Ramballe. + +It was eleven by the clock, but it seemed peculiarly dark out of doors. +Pierre rose, rubbed his eyes, and seeing the pistol with an engraved +stock which Gerasim had replaced on the writing table, he remembered +where he was and what lay before him that very day. + +"Am I not too late?" he thought. "No, probably he won't make his entry +into Moscow before noon." + +Pierre did not allow himself to reflect on what lay before him, but +hastened to act. + +After arranging his clothes, he took the pistol and was about to go out. +But it then occurred to him for the first time that he certainly could +not carry the weapon in his hand through the streets. It was difficult +to hide such a big pistol even under his wide coat. He could not carry +it unnoticed in his belt or under his arm. Besides, it had been +discharged, and he had not had time to reload it. "No matter, dagger +will do," he said to himself, though when planning his design he had +more than once come to the conclusion that the chief mistake made by the +student in 1809 had been to try to kill Napoleon with a dagger. But as +his chief aim consisted not in carrying out his design, but in proving +to himself that he would not abandon his intention and was doing all he +could to achieve it, Pierre hastily took the blunt jagged dagger in a +green sheath which he had bought at the Sukharev market with the pistol, +and hid it under his waistcoat. + +Having tied a girdle over his coat and pulled his cap low on his head, +Pierre went down the corridor, trying to avoid making a noise or meeting +the captain, and passed out into the street. + +The conflagration, at which he had looked with so much indifference the +evening before, had greatly increased during the night. Moscow was on +fire in several places. The buildings in Carriage Row, across the river, +in the Bazaar and the Povarskoy, as well as the barges on the Moskva +River and the timber yards by the Dorogomilov Bridge, were all ablaze. + +Pierre's way led through side streets to the Povarskoy and from there to +the church of St. Nicholas on the Arbat, where he had long before +decided that the deed should be done. The gates of most of the houses +were locked and the shutters up. The streets and lanes were deserted. +The air was full of smoke and the smell of burning. Now and then he met +Russians with anxious and timid faces, and Frenchmen with an air not of +the city but of the camp, walking in the middle of the streets. Both the +Russians and the French looked at Pierre with surprise. Besides his +height and stoutness, and the strange morose look of suffering in his +face and whole figure, the Russians stared at Pierre because they could +not make out to what class he could belong. The French followed him with +astonishment in their eyes chiefly because Pierre, unlike all the other +Russians who gazed at the French with fear and curiosity, paid no +attention to them. At the gate of one house three Frenchmen, who were +explaining something to some Russians who did not understand them, +stopped Pierre asking if he did not know French. + +Pierre shook his head and went on. In another side street a sentinel +standing beside a green caisson shouted at him, but only when the shout +was threateningly repeated and he heard the click of the man's musket as +he raised it did Pierre understand that he had to pass on the other side +of the street. He heard nothing and saw nothing of what went on around +him. He carried his resolution within himself in terror and haste, like +something dreadful and alien to him, for, after the previous night's +experience, he was afraid of losing it. But he was not destined to bring +his mood safely to his destination. And even had he not been hindered by +anything on the way, his intention could not now have been carried out, +for Napoleon had passed the Arbat more than four hours previously on his +way from the Dorogomilov suburb to the Kremlin, and was now sitting in a +very gloomy frame of mind in a royal study in the Kremlin, giving +detailed and exact orders as to measures to be taken immediately to +extinguish the fire, to prevent looting, and to reassure the +inhabitants. But Pierre did not know this; he was entirely absorbed in +what lay before him, and was tortured--as those are who obstinately +undertake a task that is impossible for them not because of its +difficulty but because of its incompatibility with their natures--by the +fear of weakening at the decisive moment and so losing his self-esteem. + +Though he heard and saw nothing around him he found his way by instinct +and did not go wrong in the side streets that led to the Povarskoy. + +As Pierre approached that street the smoke became denser and denser--he +even felt the heat of the fire. Occasionally curly tongues of flame rose +from under the roofs of the houses. He met more people in the streets +and they were more excited. But Pierre, though he felt that something +unusual was happening around him, did not realize that he was +approaching the fire. As he was going along a foot path across a wide- +open space adjoining the Povarskoy on one side and the gardens of Prince +Gruzinski's house on the other, Pierre suddenly heard the desperate +weeping of a woman close to him. He stopped as if awakening from a dream +and lifted his head. + +By the side of the path, on the dusty dry grass, all sorts of household +goods lay in a heap: featherbeds, a samovar, icons, and trunks. On the +ground, beside the trunks, sat a thin woman no longer young, with long, +prominent upper teeth, and wearing a black cloak and cap. This woman, +swaying to and fro and muttering something, was choking with sobs. Two +girls of about ten and twelve, dressed in dirty short frocks and cloaks, +were staring at their mother with a look of stupefaction on their pale +frightened faces. The youngest child, a boy of about seven, who wore an +overcoat and an immense cap evidently not his own, was crying in his old +nurse's arms. A dirty, barefooted maid was sitting on a trunk, and, +having undone her pale-colored plait, was pulling it straight and +sniffing at her singed hair. The woman's husband, a short, round- +shouldered man in the undress uniform of a civilian official, with +sausage-shaped whiskers and showing under his square-set cap the hair +smoothly brushed forward over his temples, with expressionless face was +moving the trunks, which were placed one on another, and was dragging +some garments from under them. + +As soon as she saw Pierre, the woman almost threw herself at his feet. + +"Dear people, good Christians, save me, help me, dear friends... help +us, somebody," she muttered between her sobs. "My girl... My daughter! +My youngest daughter is left behind. She's burned! Ooh! Was it for this +I nursed you.... Ooh!" + +"Don't, Mary Nikolievna!" said her husband to her in a low voice, +evidently only to justify himself before the stranger. "Sister must have +taken her, or else where can she be?" he added. + +"Monster! Villain!" shouted the woman angrily, suddenly ceasing to weep. +"You have no heart, you don't feel for your own child! Another man would +have rescued her from the fire. But this is a monster and neither a man +nor a father! You, honored sir, are a noble man," she went on, +addressing Pierre rapidly between her sobs. "The fire broke out +alongside, and blew our way, the maid called out 'Fire!' and we rushed +to collect our things. We ran out just as we were.... This is what we +have brought away.... The icons, and my dowry bed, all the rest is lost. +We seized the children. But not Katie! Ooh! O Lord!..." and again she +began to sob. "My child, my dear one! Burned, burned!" + +"But where was she left?" asked Pierre. + +From the expression of his animated face the woman saw that this man +might help her. + +"Oh, dear sir!" she cried, seizing him by the legs. "My benefactor, set +my heart at ease.... Aniska, go, you horrid girl, show him the way!" she +cried to the maid, angrily opening her mouth and still farther exposing +her long teeth. + +"Show me the way, show me, I... I'll do it," gasped Pierre rapidly. + +The dirty maidservant stepped from behind the trunk, put up her plait, +sighed, and went on her short, bare feet along the path. Pierre felt as +if he had come back to life after a heavy swoon. He held his head +higher, his eyes shone with the light of life, and with swift steps he +followed the maid, overtook her, and came out on the Povarskoy. The +whole street was full of clouds of black smoke. Tongues of flame here +and there broke through that cloud. A great number of people crowded in +front of the conflagration. In the middle of the street stood a French +general saying something to those around him. Pierre, accompanied by the +maid, was advancing to the spot where the general stood, but the French +soldiers stopped him. + +"On ne passe pas!" * cried a voice. + + +* "You can't pass!" + +"This way, uncle," cried the girl. "We'll pass through the side street, +by the Nikulins'!" + +Pierre turned back, giving a spring now and then to keep up with her. +She ran across the street, turned down a side street to the left, and, +passing three houses, turned into a yard on the right. + +"It's here, close by," said she and, running across the yard, opened a +gate in a wooden fence and, stopping, pointed out to him a small wooden +wing of the house, which was burning brightly and fiercely. One of its +sides had fallen in, another was on fire, and bright flames issued from +the openings of the windows and from under the roof. + +As Pierre passed through the fence gate, he was enveloped by hot air and +involuntarily stopped. + +"Which is it? Which is your house?" he asked. + +"Ooh!" wailed the girl, pointing to the wing. "That's it, that was our +lodging. You've burned to death, our treasure, Katie, my precious little +missy! Ooh!" lamented Aniska, who at the sight of the fire felt that she +too must give expression to her feelings. + +Pierre rushed to the wing, but the heat was so great that he +involuntarily passed round in a curve and came upon the large house that +was as yet burning only at one end, just below the roof, and around +which swarmed a crowd of Frenchmen. At first Pierre did not realize what +these men, who were dragging something out, were about; but seeing +before him a Frenchman hitting a peasant with a blunt saber and trying +to take from him a fox-fur coat, he vaguely understood that looting was +going on there, but he had no time to dwell on that idea. + +The sounds of crackling and the din of falling walls and ceilings, the +whistle and hiss of the flames, the excited shouts of the people, and +the sight of the swaying smoke, now gathering into thick black clouds +and now soaring up with glittering sparks, with here and there dense +sheaves of flame (now red and now like golden fish scales creeping along +the walls), and the heat and smoke and rapidity of motion, produced on +Pierre the usual animating effects of a conflagration. It had a +peculiarly strong effect on him because at the sight of the fire he felt +himself suddenly freed from the ideas that had weighed him down. He felt +young, bright, adroit, and resolute. He ran round to the other side of +the lodge and was about to dash into that part of it which was still +standing, when just above his head he heard several voices shouting and +then a cracking sound and the ring of something heavy falling close +beside him. + +Pierre looked up and saw at a window of the large house some Frenchmen +who had just thrown out the drawer of a chest, filled with metal +articles. Other French soldiers standing below went up to the drawer. + +"What does this fellow want?" shouted one of them referring to Pierre. + +"There's a child in that house. Haven't you seen a child?" cried Pierre. + +"What's he talking about? Get along!" said several voices, and one of +the soldiers, evidently afraid that Pierre might want to take from them +some of the plate and bronzes that were in the drawer, moved +threateningly toward him. + +"A child?" shouted a Frenchman from above. "I did hear something +squealing in the garden. Perhaps it's his brat that the fellow is +looking for. After all, one must be human, you know...." + +"Where is it? Where?" said Pierre. + +"There! There!" shouted the Frenchman at the window, pointing to the +garden at the back of the house. "Wait a bit--I'm coming down." + +And a minute or two later the Frenchman, a black-eyed fellow with a spot +on his cheek, in shirt sleeves, really did jump out of a window on the +ground floor, and clapping Pierre on the shoulder ran with him into the +garden. + +"Hurry up, you others!" he called out to his comrades. "It's getting +hot." + +When they reached a gravel path behind the house the Frenchman pulled +Pierre by the arm and pointed to a round, graveled space where a three- +year-old girl in a pink dress was lying under a seat. + +"There is your child! Oh, a girl, so much the better!" said the +Frenchman. "Good-bye, Fatty. We must be human, we are all mortal you +know!" and the Frenchman with the spot on his cheek ran back to his +comrades. + +Breathless with joy, Pierre ran to the little girl and was going to take +her in his arms. But seeing a stranger the sickly, scrofulous-looking +child, unattractively like her mother, began to yell and run away. +Pierre, however, seized her and lifted her in his arms. She screamed +desperately and angrily and tried with her little hands to pull Pierre's +hands away and to bite them with her slobbering mouth. Pierre was seized +by a sense of horror and repulsion such as he had experienced when +touching some nasty little animal. But he made an effort not to throw +the child down and ran with her to the large house. It was now, however, +impossible to get back the way he had come; the maid, Aniska, was no +longer there, and Pierre with a feeling of pity and disgust pressed the +wet, painfully sobbing child to himself as tenderly as he could and ran +with her through the garden seeking another way out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +Having run through different yards and side streets, Pierre got back +with his little burden to the Gruzinski garden at the corner of the +Povarskoy. He did not at first recognize the place from which he had set +out to look for the child, so crowded was it now with people and goods +that had been dragged out of the houses. Besides Russian families who +had taken refuge here from the fire with their belongings, there were +several French soldiers in a variety of clothing. Pierre took no notice +of them. He hurried to find the family of that civil servant in order to +restore the daughter to her mother and go to save someone else. Pierre +felt that he had still much to do and to do quickly. Glowing with the +heat and from running, he felt at that moment more strongly than ever +the sense of youth, animation, and determination that had come on him +when he ran to save the child. She had now become quiet and, clinging +with her little hands to Pierre's coat, sat on his arm gazing about her +like some little wild animal. He glanced at her occasionally with a +slight smile. He fancied he saw something pathetically innocent in that +frightened, sickly little face. + +He did not find the civil servant or his wife where he had left them. He +walked among the crowd with rapid steps, scanning the various faces he +met. Involuntarily he noticed a Georgian or Armenian family consisting +of a very handsome old man of Oriental type, wearing a new, cloth- +covered, sheepskin coat and new boots, an old woman of similar type, and +a young woman. That very young woman seemed to Pierre the perfection of +Oriental beauty, with her sharply outlined, arched, black eyebrows and +the extraordinarily soft, bright color of her long, beautiful, +expressionless face. Amid the scattered property and the crowd on the +open space, she, in her rich satin cloak with a bright lilac shawl on +her head, suggested a delicate exotic plant thrown out onto the snow. +She was sitting on some bundles a little behind the old woman, and +looked from under her long lashes with motionless, large, almond-shaped +eyes at the ground before her. Evidently she was aware of her beauty and +fearful because of it. Her face struck Pierre and, hurrying along by the +fence, he turned several times to look at her. When he had reached the +fence, still without finding those he sought, he stopped and looked +about him. + +With the child in his arms his figure was now more conspicuous than +before, and a group of Russians, both men and women, gathered about him. + +"Have you lost anyone, my dear fellow? You're of the gentry yourself, +aren't you? Whose child is it?" they asked him. + +Pierre replied that the child belonged to a woman in a black coat who +had been sitting there with her other children, and he asked whether +anyone knew where she had gone. + +"Why, that must be the Anferovs," said an old deacon, addressing a +pockmarked peasant woman. "Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy!" he added +in his customary bass. + +"The Anferovs? No," said the woman. "They left in the morning. That must +be either Mary Nikolievna's or the Ivanovs'!" + +"He says 'a woman,' and Mary Nikolievna is a lady," remarked a house +serf. + +"Do you know her? She's thin, with long teeth," said Pierre. + +"That's Mary Nikolievna! They went inside the garden when these wolves +swooped down," said the woman, pointing to the French soldiers. + +"O Lord, have mercy!" added the deacon. + +"Go over that way, they're there. It's she! She kept on lamenting and +crying," continued the woman. "It's she. Here, this way!" + +But Pierre was not listening to the woman. He had for some seconds been +intently watching what was going on a few steps away. He was looking at +the Armenian family and at two French soldiers who had gone up to them. +One of these, a nimble little man, was wearing a blue coat tied round +the waist with a rope. He had a nightcap on his head and his feet were +bare. The other, whose appearance particularly struck Pierre, was a +long, lank, round-shouldered, fair-haired man, slow in his movements and +with an idiotic expression of face. He wore a woman's loose gown of +frieze, blue trousers, and large torn Hessian boots. The little +barefooted Frenchman in the blue coat went up to the Armenians and, +saying something, immediately seized the old man by his legs and the old +man at once began pulling off his boots. The other in the frieze gown +stopped in front of the beautiful Armenian girl and with his hands in +his pockets stood staring at her, motionless and silent. + +"Here, take the child!" said Pierre peremptorily and hurriedly to the +woman, handing the little girl to her. "Give her back to them, give her +back!" he almost shouted, putting the child, who began screaming, on the +ground, and again looking at the Frenchman and the Armenian family. + +The old man was already sitting barefoot. The little Frenchman had +secured his second boot and was slapping one boot against the other. The +old man was saying something in a voice broken by sobs, but Pierre +caught but a glimpse of this, his whole attention was directed to the +Frenchman in the frieze gown who meanwhile, swaying slowly from side to +side, had drawn nearer to the young woman and taking his hands from his +pockets had seized her by the neck. + +The beautiful Armenian still sat motionless and in the same attitude, +with her long lashes drooping as if she did not see or feel what the +soldier was doing to her. + +While Pierre was running the few steps that separated him from the +Frenchman, the tall marauder in the frieze gown was already tearing from +her neck the necklace the young Armenian was wearing, and the young +woman, clutching at her neck, screamed piercingly. + +"Let that woman alone!" exclaimed Pierre hoarsely in a furious voice, +seizing the soldier by his round shoulders and throwing him aside. + +The soldier fell, got up, and ran away. But his comrade, throwing down +the boots and drawing his sword, moved threateningly toward Pierre. + +"Voyons, Pas de betises!" * he cried. + + +* "Look here, no nonsense!" + +Pierre was in such a transport of rage that he remembered nothing and +his strength increased tenfold. He rushed at the barefooted Frenchman +and, before the latter had time to draw his sword, knocked him off his +feet and hammered him with his fists. Shouts of approval were heard from +the crowd around, and at the same moment a mounted patrol of French +uhlans appeared from round the corner. The uhlans came up at a trot to +Pierre and the Frenchman and surrounded them. Pierre remembered nothing +of what happened after that. He only remembered beating someone and +being beaten and finally feeling that his hands were bound and that a +crowd of French soldiers stood around him and were searching him. + +"Lieutenant, he has a dagger," were the first words Pierre understood. + +"Ah, a weapon?" said the officer and turned to the barefooted soldier +who had been arrested with Pierre. "All right, you can tell all about it +at the court-martial." Then he turned to Pierre. "Do you speak French?" + +Pierre looked around him with bloodshot eyes and did not reply. His face +probably looked very terrible, for the officer said something in a +whisper and four more uhlans left the ranks and placed themselves on +both sides of Pierre. + +"Do you speak French?" the officer asked again, keeping at a distance +from Pierre. "Call the interpreter." + +A little man in Russian civilian clothes rode out from the ranks, and by +his clothes and manner of speaking Pierre at once knew him to be a +French salesman from one of the Moscow shops. + +"He does not look like a common man," said the interpreter, after a +searching look at Pierre. + +"Ah, he looks very much like an incendiary," remarked the officer. "And +ask him who he is," he added. + +"Who are you?" asked the interpreter in poor Russian. "You must answer +the chief." + +"I will not tell you who I am. I am your prisoner--take me!" Pierre +suddenly replied in French. + +"Ah, ah!" muttered the officer with a frown. "Well then, march!" + +A crowd had collected round the uhlans. Nearest to Pierre stood the +pockmarked peasant woman with the little girl, and when the patrol +started she moved forward. + +"Where are they taking you to, you poor dear?" said she. "And the little +girl, the little girl, what am I to do with her if she's not theirs?" +said the woman. + +"What does that woman want?" asked the officer. + +Pierre was as if intoxicated. His elation increased at the sight of the +little girl he had saved. + +"What does she want?" he murmured. "She is bringing me my daughter whom +I have just saved from the flames," said he. "Good-bye!" And without +knowing how this aimless lie had escaped him, he went along with +resolute and triumphant steps between the French soldiers. + +The French patrol was one of those sent out through the various streets +of Moscow by Durosnel's order to put a stop to the pillage, and +especially to catch the incendiaries who, according to the general +opinion which had that day originated among the higher French officers, +were the cause of the conflagrations. After marching through a number of +streets the patrol arrested five more Russian suspects: a small +shopkeeper, two seminary students, a peasant, and a house serf, besides +several looters. But of all these various suspected characters, Pierre +was considered to be the most suspicious of all. When they had all been +brought for the night to a large house on the Zubov Rampart that was +being used as a guardhouse, Pierre was placed apart under strict guard. + +BOOK TWELVE: 1812 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +In Petersburg at that time a complicated struggle was being carried on +with greater heat than ever in the highest circles, between the parties +of Rumyantsev, the French, Marya Fedorovna, the Tsarevich, and others, +drowned as usual by the buzzing of the court drones. But the calm, +luxurious life of Petersburg, concerned only about phantoms and +reflections of real life, went on in its old way and made it hard, +except by a great effort, to realize the danger and the difficult +position of the Russian people. There were the same receptions and +balls, the same French theater, the same court interests and service +interests and intrigues as usual. Only in the very highest circles were +attempts made to keep in mind the difficulties of the actual position. +Stories were whispered of how differently the two Empresses behaved in +these difficult circumstances. The Empress Marya, concerned for the +welfare of the charitable and educational institutions under her +patronage, had given directions that they should all be removed to +Kazan, and the things belonging to these institutions had already been +packed up. The Empress Elisabeth, however, when asked what instructions +she would be pleased to give--with her characteristic Russian patriotism +had replied that she could give no directions about state institutions +for that was the affair of the sovereign, but as far as she personally +was concerned she would be the last to quit Petersburg. + +At Anna Pavlovna's on the twenty-sixth of August, the very day of the +battle of Borodino, there was a soiree, the chief feature of which was +to be the reading of a letter from His Lordship the Bishop when sending +the Emperor an icon of the Venerable Sergius. It was regarded as a model +of ecclesiastical, patriotic eloquence. Prince Vasili himself, famed for +his elocution, was to read it. (He used to read at the Empress'.) The +art of his reading was supposed to lie in rolling out the words, quite +independently of their meaning, in a loud and singsong voice alternating +between a despairing wail and a tender murmur, so that the wail fell +quite at random on one word and the murmur on another. This reading, as +was always the case at Anna Pavlovna's soirees, had a political +significance. That evening she expected several important personages who +had to be made ashamed of their visits to the French theater and aroused +to a patriotic temper. A good many people had already arrived, but Anna +Pavlovna, not yet seeing all those whom she wanted in her drawing room, +did not let the reading begin but wound up the springs of a general +conversation. + +The news of the day in Petersburg was the illness of Countess Bezukhova. +She had fallen ill unexpectedly a few days previously, had missed +several gatherings of which she was usually ornament, and was said to be +receiving no one, and instead of the celebrated Petersburg doctors who +usually attended her had entrusted herself to some Italian doctor who +was treating her in some new and unusual way. + +They all knew very well that the enchanting countess' illness arose from +an inconvenience resulting from marrying two husbands at the same time, +and that the Italian's cure consisted in removing such inconvenience; +but in Anna Pavlovna's presence no one dared to think of this or even +appear to know it. + +"They say the poor countess is very ill. The doctor says it is angina +pectoris." + +"Angina? Oh, that's a terrible illness!" + +"They say that the rivals are reconciled, thanks to the angina..." and +the word angina was repeated with great satisfaction. + +"The count is pathetic, they say. He cried like a child when the doctor +told him the case was dangerous." + +"Oh, it would be a terrible loss, she is an enchanting woman." + +"You are speaking of the poor countess?" said Anna Pavlovna, coming up +just then. "I sent to ask for news, and hear that she is a little +better. Oh, she is certainly the most charming woman in the world," she +went on, with a smile at her own enthusiasm. "We belong to different +camps, but that does not prevent my esteeming her as she deserves. She +is very unfortunate!" added Anna Pavlovna. + +Supposing that by these words Anna Pavlovna was somewhat lifting the +veil from the secret of the countess' malady, an unwary young man +ventured to express surprise that well known doctors had not been called +in and that the countess was being attended by a charlatan who might +employ dangerous remedies. + +"Your information may be better than mine," Anna Pavlovna suddenly and +venomously retorted on the inexperienced young man, "but I know on good +authority that this doctor is a very learned and able man. He is private +physician to the Queen of Spain." + +And having thus demolished the young man, Anna Pavlovna turned to +another group where Bilibin was talking about the Austrians: having +wrinkled up his face he was evidently preparing to smooth it out again +and utter one of his mots. + +"I think it is delightful," he said, referring to a diplomatic note that +had been sent to Vienna with some Austrian banners captured from the +French by Wittgenstein, "the hero of Petropol" as he was then called in +Petersburg. + +"What? What's that?" asked Anna Pavlovna, securing silence for the mot, +which she had heard before. + +And Bilibin repeated the actual words of the diplomatic dispatch, which +he had himself composed. + +"The Emperor returns these Austrian banners," said Bilibin, "friendly +banners gone astray and found on a wrong path," and his brow became +smooth again. + +"Charming, charming!" observed Prince Vasili. + +"The path to Warsaw, perhaps," Prince Hippolyte remarked loudly and +unexpectedly. Everybody looked at him, understanding what he meant. +Prince Hippolyte himself glanced around with amused surprise. He knew no +more than the others what his words meant. During his diplomatic career +he had more than once noticed that such utterances were received as very +witty, and at every opportunity he uttered in that way the first words +that entered his head. "It may turn out very well," he thought, "but if +not, they'll know how to arrange matters." And really, during the +awkward silence that ensued, that insufficiently patriotic person +entered whom Anna Pavlovna had been waiting for and wished to convert, +and she, smiling and shaking a finger at Hippolyte, invited Prince +Vasili to the table and bringing him two candles and the manuscript +begged him to begin. Everyone became silent. + +"Most Gracious Sovereign and Emperor!" Prince Vasili sternly declaimed, +looking round at his audience as if to inquire whether anyone had +anything to say to the contrary. But no one said anything. "Moscow, our +ancient capital, the New Jerusalem, receives her Christ"--he placed a +sudden emphasis on the word her--"as a mother receives her zealous sons +into her arms, and through the gathering mists, foreseeing the brilliant +glory of thy rule, sings in exultation, 'Hosanna, blessed is he that +cometh!'" + +Prince Vasili pronounced these last words in a tearful voice. + +Bilibin attentively examined his nails, and many of those present +appeared intimidated, as if asking in what they were to blame. Anna +Pavlovna whispered the next words in advance, like an old woman +muttering the prayer at Communion: "Let the bold and insolent +Goliath..." she whispered. + +Prince Vasili continued. + +"Let the bold and insolent Goliath from the borders of France encompass +the realms of Russia with death-bearing terrors; humble Faith, the sling +of the Russian David, shall suddenly smite his head in his bloodthirsty +pride. This icon of the Venerable Sergius, the servant of God and +zealous champion of old of our country's weal, is offered to Your +Imperial Majesty. I grieve that my waning strength prevents rejoicing in +the sight of your most gracious presence. I raise fervent prayers to +Heaven that the Almighty may exalt the race of the just, and mercifully +fulfill the desires of Your Majesty." + +"What force! What a style!" was uttered in approval both of reader and +of author. + +Animated by that address Anna Pavlovna's guests talked for a long time +of the state of the fatherland and offered various conjectures as to the +result of the battle to be fought in a few days. + +"You will see," said Anna Pavlovna, "that tomorrow, on the Emperor's +birthday, we shall receive news. I have a favorable presentiment!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Anna Pavlovna's presentiment was in fact fulfilled. Next day during the +service at the palace church in honor of the Emperor's birthday, Prince +Volkonski was called out of the church and received a dispatch from +Prince Kutuzov. It was Kutuzov's report, written from Tatarinova on the +day of the battle. Kutuzov wrote that the Russians had not retreated a +step, that the French losses were much heavier than ours, and that he +was writing in haste from the field of battle before collecting full +information. It followed that there must have been a victory. And at +once, without leaving the church, thanks were rendered to the Creator +for His help and for the victory. + +Anna Pavlovna's presentiment was justified, and all that morning a +joyously festive mood reigned in the city. Everyone believed the victory +to have been complete, and some even spoke of Napoleon's having been +captured, of his deposition, and of the choice of a new ruler for +France. + +It is very difficult for events to be reflected in their real strength +and completeness amid the conditions of court life and far from the +scene of action. General events involuntarily group themselves around +some particular incident. So now the courtiers' pleasure was based as +much on the fact that the news had arrived on the Emperor's birthday as +on the fact of the victory itself. It was like a successfully arranged +surprise. Mention was made in Kutuzov's report of the Russian losses, +among which figured the names of Tuchkov, Bagration, and Kutaysov. In +the Petersburg world this sad side of the affair again involuntarily +centered round a single incident: Kutaysov's death. Everybody knew him, +the Emperor liked him, and he was young and interesting. That day +everyone met with the words: + +"What a wonderful coincidence! Just during the service. But what a loss +Kutaysov is! How sorry I am!" + +"What did I tell about Kutuzov?" Prince Vasili now said with a prophet's +pride. "I always said he was the only man capable of defeating +Napoleon." + +But next day no news arrived from the army and the public mood grew +anxious. The courtiers suffered because of the suffering the suspense +occasioned the Emperor. + +"Fancy the Emperor's position!" said they, and instead of extolling +Kutuzov as they had done the day before, they condemned him as the cause +of the Emperor's anxiety. That day Prince Vasili no longer boasted of +his protege Kutuzov, but remained silent when the commander-in-chief was +mentioned. Moreover, toward evening, as if everything conspired to make +Petersburg society anxious and uneasy, a terrible piece of news was +added. Countess Helene Bezukhova had suddenly died of that terrible +malady it had been so agreeable to mention. Officially, at large +gatherings, everyone said that Countess Bezukhova had died of a terrible +attack of angina pectoris, but in intimate circles details were +mentioned of how the private physician of the Queen of Spain had +prescribed small doses of a certain drug to produce a certain effect; +but Helene, tortured by the fact that the old count suspected her and +that her husband to whom she had written (that wretched, profligate +Pierre) had not replied, had suddenly taken a very large dose of the +drug, and had died in agony before assistance could be rendered her. It +was said that Prince Vasili and the old count had turned upon the +Italian, but the latter had produced such letters from the unfortunate +deceased that they had immediately let the matter drop. + +Talk in general centered round three melancholy facts: the Emperor's +lack of news, the loss of Kutaysov, and the death of Helene. + +On the third day after Kutuzov's report a country gentleman arrived from +Moscow, and news of the surrender of Moscow to the French spread through +the whole town. This was terrible! What a position for the Emperor to be +in! Kutuzov was a traitor, and Prince Vasili during the visits of +condolence paid to him on the occasion of his daughter's death said of +Kutuzov, whom he had formerly praised (it was excusable for him in his +grief to forget what he had said), that it was impossible to expect +anything else from a blind and depraved old man. + +"I only wonder that the fate of Russia could have been entrusted to such +a man." + +As long as this news remained unofficial it was possible to doubt it, +but the next day the following communication was received from Count +Rostopchin: + +Prince Kutuzov's adjutant has brought me a letter in which he demands +police officers to guide the army to the Ryazan road. He writes that he +is regretfully abandoning Moscow. Sire! Kutuzov's action decides the +fate of the capital and of your empire! Russia will shudder to learn of +the abandonment of the city in which her greatness is centered and in +which lie the ashes of your ancestors! I shall follow the army. I have +had everything removed, and it only remains for me to weep over the fate +of my fatherland. + +On receiving this dispatch the Emperor sent Prince Volkonski to Kutuzov +with the following rescript: + +Prince Michael Ilarionovich! Since the twenty-ninth of August I have +received no communication from you, yet on the first of September I +received from the commander-in-chief of Moscow, via Yaroslavl, the sad +news that you, with the army, have decided to abandon Moscow. You can +yourself imagine the effect this news has had on me, and your silence +increases my astonishment. I am sending this by Adjutant-General Prince +Volkonski, to hear from you the situation of the army and the reasons +that have induced you to take this melancholy decision. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Nine days after the abandonment of Moscow, a messenger from Kutuzov +reached Petersburg with the official announcement of that event. This +messenger was Michaud, a Frenchman who did not know Russian, but who was +quoique etranger, russe de coeur et d'ame, * as he said of himself. + + +* Though a foreigner, Russian in heart and soul. + +The Emperor at once received this messenger in his study at the palace +on Stone Island. Michaud, who had never seen Moscow before the campaign +and who did not know Russian, yet felt deeply moved (as he wrote) when +he appeared before notre tres gracieux souverain * with the news of the +burning of Moscow, dont les flammes eclairaient sa route. *(2) + + +* Our most gracious sovereign. + +* (2) Whose flames illumined his route. + +Though the source of M. Michaud's chagrin must have been different from +that which caused Russians to grieve, he had such a sad face when shown +into the Emperor's study that the latter at once asked: + +"Have you brought me sad news, Colonel?" + +"Very sad, sire," replied Michaud, lowering his eyes with a sigh. "The +abandonment of Moscow." + +"Have they surrendered my ancient capital without a battle?" asked the +Emperor quickly, his face suddenly flushing. + +Michaud respectfully delivered the message Kutuzov had entrusted to him, +which was that it had been impossible to fight before Moscow, and that +as the only remaining choice was between losing the army as well as +Moscow, or losing Moscow alone, the field marshal had to choose the +latter. + +The Emperor listened in silence, not looking at Michaud. + +"Has the enemy entered the city?" he asked. + +"Yes, sire, and Moscow is now in ashes. I left it all in flames," +replied Michaud in a decided tone, but glancing at the Emperor he was +frightened by what he had done. + +The Emperor began to breathe heavily and rapidly, his lower lip +trembled, and tears instantly appeared in his fine blue eyes. + +But this lasted only a moment. He suddenly frowned, as if blaming +himself for his weakness, and raising his head addressed Michaud in a +firm voice: + +"I see, Colonel, from all that is happening, that Providence requires +great sacrifices of us... I am ready to submit myself in all things to +His will; but tell me, Michaud, how did you leave the army when it saw +my ancient capital abandoned without a battle? Did you not notice +discouragement?..." + +Seeing that his most gracious ruler was calm once more, Michaud also +grew calm, but was not immediately ready to reply to the Emperor's +direct and relevant question which required a direct answer. + +"Sire, will you allow me to speak frankly as befits a loyal soldier?" he +asked to gain time. + +"Colonel, I always require it," replied the Emperor. "Conceal nothing +from me, I wish to know absolutely how things are." + +"Sire!" said Michaud with a subtle, scarcely perceptible smile on his +lips, having now prepared a well-phrased reply, "sire, I left the whole +army, from its chiefs to the lowest soldier, without exception in +desperate and agonized terror..." + +"How is that?" the Emperor interrupted him, frowning sternly. "Would +misfortune make my Russians lose heart?... Never!" + +Michaud had only waited for this to bring out the phrase he had +prepared. + +"Sire," he said, with respectful playfulness, "they are only afraid lest +Your Majesty, in the goodness of your heart, should allow yourself to be +persuaded to make peace. They are burning for the combat," declared this +representative of the Russian nation, "and to prove to Your Majesty by +the sacrifice of their lives how devoted they are...." + +"Ah!" said the Emperor reassured, and with a kindly gleam in his eyes, +he patted Michaud on the shoulder. "You set me at ease, Colonel." + +He bent his head and was silent for some time. + +"Well, then, go back to the army," he said, drawing himself up to his +full height and addressing Michaud with a gracious and majestic gesture, +"and tell our brave men and all my good subjects wherever you go that +when I have not a soldier left I shall put myself at the head of my +beloved nobility and my good peasants and so use the last resources of +my empire. It still offers me more than my enemies suppose," said the +Emperor growing more and more animated; "but should it ever be ordained +by Divine Providence," he continued, raising to heaven his fine eyes +shining with emotion, "that my dynasty should cease to reign on the +throne of my ancestors, then after exhausting all the means at my +command, I shall let my beard grow to here" (he pointed halfway down his +chest) "and go and eat potatoes with the meanest of my peasants, rather +than sign the disgrace of my country and of my beloved people whose +sacrifices I know how to appreciate." + +Having uttered these words in an agitated voice the Emperor suddenly +turned away as if to hide from Michaud the tears that rose to his eyes, +and went to the further end of his study. Having stood there a few +moments, he strode back to Michaud and pressed his arm below the elbow +with a vigorous movement. The Emperor's mild and handsome face was +flushed and his eyes gleamed with resolution and anger. + +"Colonel Michaud, do not forget what I say to you here, perhaps we may +recall it with pleasure someday... Napoleon or I," said the Emperor, +touching his breast. "We can no longer both reign together. I have +learned to know him, and he will not deceive me any more...." + +And the Emperor paused, with a frown. + +When he heard these words and saw the expression of firm resolution in +the Emperor's eyes, Michaud--quoique etranger, russe de coeur et d'ame-- +at that solemn moment felt himself enraptured by all that he had heard +(as he used afterwards to say), and gave expression to his own feelings +and those of the Russian people whose representative he considered +himself to be, in the following words: + +"Sire!" said he, "Your Majesty is at this moment signing the glory of +the nation and the salvation of Europe!" + +With an inclination of the head the Emperor dismissed him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +It is natural for us who were not living in those days to imagine that +when half Russia had been conquered and the inhabitants were fleeing to +distant provinces, and one levy after another was being raised for the +defense of the fatherland, all Russians from the greatest to the least +were solely engaged in sacrificing themselves, saving their fatherland, +or weeping over its downfall. The tales and descriptions of that time +without exception speak only of the self-sacrifice, patriotic devotion, +despair, grief, and the heroism of the Russians. But it was not really +so. It appears so to us because we see only the general historic +interest of that time and do not see all the personal human interests +that people had. Yet in reality those personal interests of the moment +so much transcend the general interests that they always prevent the +public interest from being felt or even noticed. Most of the people at +that time paid no attention to the general progress of events but were +guided only by their private interests, and they were the very people +whose activities at that period were most useful. + +Those who tried to understand the general course of events and to take +part in it by self-sacrifice and heroism were the most useless members +of society, they saw everything upside down, and all they did for the +common good turned out to be useless and foolish--like Pierre's and +Mamonov's regiments which looted Russian villages, and the lint the +young ladies prepared and that never reached the wounded, and so on. +Even those, fond of intellectual talk and of expressing their feelings, +who discussed Russia's position at the time involuntarily introduced +into their conversation either a shade of pretense and falsehood or +useless condemnation and anger directed against people accused of +actions no one could possibly be guilty of. In historic events the rule +forbidding us to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is specially +applicable. Only unconscious action bears fruit, and he who plays a part +in an historic event never understands its significance. If he tries to +realize it his efforts are fruitless. + +The more closely a man was engaged in the events then taking place in +Russia the less did he realize their significance. In Petersburg and in +the provinces at a distance from Moscow, ladies, and gentlemen in +militia uniforms, wept for Russia and its ancient capital and talked of +self-sacrifice and so on; but in the army which retired beyond Moscow +there was little talk or thought of Moscow, and when they caught sight +of its burned ruins no one swore to be avenged on the French, but they +thought about their next pay, their next quarters, of Matreshka the +vivandiere, and like matters. + +As the war had caught him in the service, Nicholas Rostov took a close +and prolonged part in the defense of his country, but did so casually, +without any aim at self-sacrifice, and he therefore looked at what was +going on in Russia without despair and without dismally racking his +brains over it. Had he been asked what he thought of the state of +Russia, he would have said that it was not his business to think about +it, that Kutuzov and others were there for that purpose, but that he had +heard that the regiments were to be made up to their full strength, that +fighting would probably go on for a long time yet, and that things being +so it was quite likely he might be in command of a regiment in a couple +of years' time. + +As he looked at the matter in this way, he learned that he was being +sent to Voronezh to buy remounts for his division, not only without +regret at being prevented from taking part in the coming battle, but +with the greatest pleasure--which he did not conceal and which his +comrades fully understood. + +A few days before the battle of Borodino, Nicholas received the +necessary money and warrants, and having sent some hussars on in +advance, he set out with post horses for Voronezh. + +Only a man who has experienced it--that is, has passed some months +continuously in an atmosphere of campaigning and war--can understand the +delight Nicholas felt when he escaped from the region covered by the +army's foraging operations, provision trains, and hospitals. When--free +from soldiers, wagons, and the filthy traces of a camp--he saw villages +with peasants and peasant women, gentlemen's country houses, fields +where cattle were grazing, posthouses with stationmasters asleep in +them, he rejoiced as though seeing all this for the first time. What for +a long while specially surprised and delighted him were the women, young +and healthy, without a dozen officers making up to each of them; women, +too, who were pleased and flattered that a passing officer should joke +with them. + +In the highest spirits Nicholas arrived at night at a hotel in Voronezh, +ordered things he had long been deprived of in camp, and next day, very +clean-shaven and in a full-dress uniform he had not worn for a long +time, went to present himself to the authorities. + +The commander of the militia was a civilian general, an old man who was +evidently pleased with his military designation and rank. He received +Nicholas brusquely (imagining this to be characteristically military) +and questioned him with an important air, as if considering the general +progress of affairs and approving and disapproving with full right to do +so. Nicholas was in such good spirits that this merely amused him. + +From the commander of the militia he drove to the governor. The governor +was a brisk little man, very simple and affable. He indicated the stud +farms at which Nicholas might procure horses, recommended to him a horse +dealer in the town and a landowner fourteen miles out of town who had +the best horses, and promised to assist him in every way. + +"You are Count Ilya Rostov's son? My wife was a great friend of your +mother's. We are at home on Thursdays--today is Thursday, so please come +and see us quite informally," said the governor, taking leave of him. + +Immediately on leaving the governor's, Nicholas hired post horses and, +taking his squadron quartermaster with him, drove at a gallop to the +landowner, fourteen miles away, who had the stud. Everything seemed to +him pleasant and easy during that first part of his stay in Voronezh +and, as usually happens when a man is in a pleasant state of mind, +everything went well and easily. + +The landowner to whom Nicholas went was a bachelor, an old cavalryman, a +horse fancier, a sportsman, the possessor of some century-old brandy and +some old Hungarian wine, who had a snuggery where he smoked, and who +owned some splendid horses. + +In very few words Nicholas bought seventeen picked stallions for six +thousand rubles--to serve, as he said, as samples of his remounts. After +dining and taking rather too much of the Hungarian wine, Nicholas-- +having exchanged kisses with the landowner, with whom he was already on +the friendliest terms--galloped back over abominable roads, in the +brightest frame of mind, continually urging on the driver so as to be in +time for the governor's party. + +When he had changed, poured water over his head, and scented himself, +Nicholas arrived at the governor's rather late, but with the phrase +"better late than never" on his lips. + +It was not a ball, nor had dancing been announced, but everyone knew +that Catherine Petrovna would play valses and the ecossaise on the +clavichord and that there would be dancing, and so everyone had come as +to a ball. + +Provincial life in 1812 went on very much as usual, but with this +difference, that it was livelier in the towns in consequence of the +arrival of many wealthy families from Moscow, and as in everything that +went on in Russia at that time a special recklessness was noticeable, an +"in for a penny, in for a pound--who cares?" spirit, and the inevitable +small talk, instead of turning on the weather and mutual acquaintances, +now turned on Moscow, the army, and Napoleon. + +The society gathered together at the governor's was the best in +Voronezh. + +There were a great many ladies and some of Nicholas' Moscow +acquaintances, but there were no men who could at all vie with the +cavalier of St. George, the hussar remount officer, the good-natured and +well-bred Count Rostov. Among the men was an Italian prisoner, an +officer of the French army; and Nicholas felt that the presence of that +prisoner enhanced his own importance as a Russian hero. The Italian was, +as it were, a war trophy. Nicholas felt this, it seemed to him that +everyone regarded the Italian in the same light, and he treated him +cordially though with dignity and restraint. + +As soon as Nicholas entered in his hussar uniform, diffusing around him +a fragrance of perfume and wine, and had uttered the words "better late +than never" and heard them repeated several times by others, people +clustered around him; all eyes turned on him, and he felt at once that +he had entered into his proper position in the province--that of a +universal favorite: a very pleasant position, and intoxicatingly so +after his long privations. At posting stations, at inns, and in the +landowner's snuggery, maidservants had been flattered by his notice, and +here too at the governor's party there were (as it seemed to Nicholas) +an inexhaustible number of pretty young women, married and unmarried, +impatiently awaiting his notice. The women and girls flirted with him +and, from the first day, the people concerned themselves to get this +fine young daredevil of an hussar married and settled down. Among these +was the governor's wife herself, who welcomed Rostov as a near relative +and called him "Nicholas." + +Catherine Petrovna did actually play valses and the ecossaise, and +dancing began in which Nicholas still further captivated the provincial +society by his agility. His particularly free manner of dancing even +surprised them all. Nicholas was himself rather surprised at the way he +danced that evening. He had never danced like that in Moscow and would +even have considered such a very free and easy manner improper and in +bad form, but here he felt it incumbent on him to astonish them all by +something unusual, something they would have to accept as the regular +thing in the capital though new to them in the provinces. + +All the evening Nicholas paid attention to a blue-eyed, plump and +pleasing little blonde, the wife of one of the provincial officials. +With the naive conviction of young men in a merry mood that other men's +wives were created for them, Rostov did not leave the lady's side and +treated her husband in a friendly and conspiratorial style, as if, +without speaking of it, they knew how capitally Nicholas and the lady +would get on together. The husband, however, did not seem to share that +conviction and tried to behave morosely with Rostov. But the latter's +good-natured naivete was so boundless that sometimes even he +involuntarily yielded to Nicholas' good humor. Toward the end of the +evening, however, as the wife's face grew more flushed and animated, the +husband's became more and more melancholy and solemn, as though there +were but a given amount of animation between them and as the wife's +share increased the husband's diminished. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Nicholas sat leaning slightly forward in an armchair, bending closely +over the blonde lady and paying her mythological compliments with a +smile that never left his face. Jauntily shifting the position of his +legs in their tight riding breeches, diffusing an odor of perfume, and +admiring his partner, himself, and the fine outlines of his legs in +their well-fitting Hessian boots, Nicholas told the blonde lady that he +wished to run away with a certain lady here in Voronezh. + +"Which lady?" + +"A charming lady, a divine one. Her eyes" (Nicholas looked at his +partner) "are blue, her mouth coral and ivory; her figure" (he glanced +at her shoulders) "like Diana's...." + +The husband came up and sullenly asked his wife what she was talking +about. + +"Ah, Nikita Ivanych!" cried Nicholas, rising politely, and as if wishing +Nikita Ivanych to share his joke, he began to tell him of his intention +to elope with a blonde lady. + +The husband smiled gloomily, the wife gaily. The governor's good-natured +wife came up with a look of disapproval. + +"Anna Ignatyevna wants to see you, Nicholas," said she, pronouncing the +name so that Nicholas at once understood that Anna Ignatyevna was a very +important person. "Come, Nicholas! You know you let me call you so?" + +"Oh, yes, Aunt. Who is she?" + +"Anna Ignatyevna Malvintseva. She has heard from her niece how you +rescued her... Can you guess?" + +"I rescued such a lot of them!" said Nicholas. + +"Her niece, Princess Bolkonskaya. She is here in Voronezh with her aunt. +Oho! How you blush. Why, are...?" + +"Not a bit! Please don't, Aunt!" + +"Very well, very well!... Oh, what a fellow you are!" + +The governor's wife led him up to a tall and very stout old lady with a +blue headdress, who had just finished her game of cards with the most +important personages of the town. This was Malvintseva, Princess Mary's +aunt on her mother's side, a rich, childless widow who always lived in +Voronezh. When Rostov approached her she was standing settling up for +the game. She looked at him and, screwing up her eyes sternly, continued +to upbraid the general who had won from her. + +"Very pleased, mon cher," she then said, holding out her hand to +Nicholas. "Pray come and see me." + +After a few words about Princess Mary and her late father, whom +Malvintseva had evidently not liked, and having asked what Nicholas knew +of Prince Andrew, who also was evidently no favorite of hers, the +important old lady dismissed Nicholas after repeating her invitation to +come to see her. + +Nicholas promised to come and blushed again as he bowed. At the mention +of Princess Mary he experienced a feeling of shyness and even of fear, +which he himself did not understand. + +When he had parted from Malvintseva Nicholas wished to return to the +dancing, but the governor's little wife placed her plump hand on his +sleeve and, saying that she wanted to have a talk with him, led him to +her sitting room, from which those who were there immediately withdrew +so as not to be in her way. + +"Do you know, dear boy," began the governor's wife with a serious +expression on her kind little face, "that really would be the match for +you: would you like me to arrange it?" + +"Whom do you mean, Aunt?" asked Nicholas. + +"I will make a match for you with the princess. Catherine Petrovna +speaks of Lily, but I say, no--the princess! Do you want me to do it? I +am sure your mother will be grateful to me. What a charming girl she is, +really! And she is not at all so plain, either." + +"Not at all," replied Nicholas as if offended at the idea. "As befits a +soldier, Aunt, I don't force myself on anyone or refuse anything," he +said before he had time to consider what he was saying. + +"Well then, remember, this is not a joke!" + +"Of course not!" + +"Yes, yes," the governor's wife said as if talking to herself. "But, my +dear boy, among other things you are too attentive to the other, the +blonde. One is sorry for the husband, really...." + +"Oh no, we are good friends with him," said Nicholas in the simplicity +of his heart; it did not enter his head that a pastime so pleasant to +himself might not be pleasant to someone else. + +"But what nonsense I have been saying to the governor's wife!" thought +Nicholas suddenly at supper. "She will really begin to arrange a +match... and Sonya...?" And on taking leave of the governor's wife, when +she again smilingly said to him, "Well then, remember!" he drew her +aside. + +"But see here, to tell the truth, Aunt..." + +"What is it, my dear? Come, let's sit down here," said she. + +Nicholas suddenly felt a desire and need to tell his most intimate +thoughts (which he would not have told to his mother, his sister, or his +friend) to this woman who was almost a stranger. When he afterwards +recalled that impulse to unsolicited and inexplicable frankness which +had very important results for him, it seemed to him--as it seems to +everyone in such cases--that it was merely some silly whim that seized +him: yet that burst of frankness, together with other trifling events, +had immense consequences for him and for all his family. + +"You see, Aunt, Mamma has long wanted me to marry an heiress, but the +very idea of marrying for money is repugnant to me." + +"Oh yes, I understand," said the governor's wife. + +"But Princess Bolkonskaya--that's another matter. I will tell you the +truth. In the first place I like her very much, I feel drawn to her; and +then, after I met her under such circumstances--so strangely, the idea +often occurred to me: 'This is fate.' Especially if you remember that +Mamma had long been thinking of it; but I had never happened to meet her +before, somehow it had always happened that we did not meet. And as long +as my sister Natasha was engaged to her brother it was of course out of +the question for me to think of marrying her. And it must needs happen +that I should meet her just when Natasha's engagement had been broken +off... and then everything... So you see... I never told this to anyone +and never will, only to you." + +The governor's wife pressed his elbow gratefully. + +"You know Sonya, my cousin? I love her, and promised to marry her, and +will do so.... So you see there can be no question about-" said Nicholas +incoherently and blushing. + +"My dear boy, what a way to look at it! You know Sonya has nothing and +you yourself say your Papa's affairs are in a very bad way. And what +about your mother? It would kill her, that's one thing. And what sort of +life would it be for Sonya--if she's a girl with a heart? Your mother in +despair, and you all ruined.... No, my dear, you and Sonya ought to +understand that." + +Nicholas remained silent. It comforted him to hear these arguments. + +"All the same, Aunt, it is impossible," he rejoined with a sigh, after a +short pause. "Besides, would the princess have me? And besides, she is +now in mourning. How can one think of it!" + +"But you don't suppose I'm going to get you married at once? There is +always a right way of doing things," replied the governor's wife. + +"What a matchmaker you are, Aunt..." said Nicholas, kissing her plump +little hand. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +On reaching Moscow after her meeting with Rostov, Princess Mary had +found her nephew there with his tutor, and a letter from Prince Andrew +giving her instructions how to get to her Aunt Malvintseva at Voronezh. +That feeling akin to temptation which had tormented her during her +father's illness, since his death, and especially since her meeting with +Rostov was smothered by arrangements for the journey, anxiety about her +brother, settling in a new house, meeting new people, and attending to +her nephew's education. She was sad. Now, after a month passed in quiet +surroundings, she felt more and more deeply the loss of her father which +was associated in her mind with the ruin of Russia. She was agitated and +incessantly tortured by the thought of the dangers to which her brother, +the only intimate person now remaining to her, was exposed. She was +worried too about her nephew's education for which she had always felt +herself incompetent, but in the depths of her soul she felt at peace--a +peace arising from consciousness of having stifled those personal dreams +and hopes that had been on the point of awakening within her and were +related to her meeting with Rostov. + +The day after her party the governor's wife came to see Malvintseva and, +after discussing her plan with the aunt, remarked that though under +present circumstances a formal betrothal was, of course, not to be +thought of, all the same the young people might be brought together and +could get to know one another. Malvintseva expressed approval, and the +governor's wife began to speak of Rostov in Mary's presence, praising +him and telling how he had blushed when Princess Mary's name was +mentioned. But Princess Mary experienced a painful rather than a joyful +feeling--her mental tranquillity was destroyed, and desires, doubts, +self-reproach, and hopes reawoke. + +During the two days that elapsed before Rostov called, Princess Mary +continually thought of how she ought to behave to him. First she decided +not to come to the drawing room when he called to see her aunt--that it +would not be proper for her, in her deep mourning, to receive visitors; +then she thought this would be rude after what he had done for her; then +it occurred to her that her aunt and the governor's wife had intentions +concerning herself and Rostov--their looks and words at times seemed to +confirm this supposition--then she told herself that only she, with her +sinful nature, could think this of them: they could not forget that +situated as she was, while still wearing deep mourning, such matchmaking +would be an insult to her and to her father's memory. Assuming that she +did go down to see him, Princess Mary imagined the words he would say to +her and what she would say to him, and these words sometimes seemed +undeservedly cold and then to mean too much. More than anything she +feared lest the confusion she felt might overwhelm her and betray her as +soon as she saw him. + +But when on Sunday after church the footman announced in the drawing +room that Count Rostov had called, the princess showed no confusion, +only a slight blush suffused her cheeks and her eyes lit up with a new +and radiant light. + +"You have met him, Aunt?" said she in a calm voice, unable herself to +understand that she could be outwardly so calm and natural. + +When Rostov entered the room, the princess dropped her eyes for an +instant, as if to give the visitor time to greet her aunt, and then just +as Nicholas turned to her she raised her head and met his look with +shining eyes. With a movement full of dignity and grace she half rose +with a smile of pleasure, held out her slender, delicate hand to him, +and began to speak in a voice in which for the first time new deep +womanly notes vibrated. Mademoiselle Bourienne, who was in the drawing +room, looked at Princess Mary in bewildered surprise. Herself a +consummate coquette, she could not have maneuvered better on meeting a +man she wished to attract. + +"Either black is particularly becoming to her or she really has greatly +improved without my having noticed it. And above all, what tact and +grace!" thought Mademoiselle Bourienne. + +Had Princess Mary been capable of reflection at that moment, she would +have been more surprised than Mademoiselle Bourienne at the change that +had taken place in herself. From the moment she recognized that dear, +loved face, a new life force took possession of her and compelled her to +speak and act apart from her own will. From the time Rostov entered, her +face became suddenly transformed. It was as if a light had been kindled +in a carved and painted lantern and the intricate, skillful, artistic +work on its sides, that previously seemed dark, coarse, and meaningless, +was suddenly shown up in unexpected and striking beauty. For the first +time all that pure, spiritual, inward travail through which she had +lived appeared on the surface. All her inward labor, her dissatisfaction +with herself, her sufferings, her strivings after goodness, her +meekness, love, and self-sacrifice--all this now shone in those radiant +eyes, in her delicate smile, and in every trait of her gentle face. + +Rostov saw all this as clearly as if he had known her whole life. He +felt that the being before him was quite different from, and better +than, anyone he had met before, and above all better than himself. + +Their conversation was very simple and unimportant. They spoke of the +war, and like everyone else unconsciously exaggerated their sorrow about +it; they spoke of their last meeting--Nicholas trying to change the +subject--they talked of the governor's kind wife, of Nicholas' +relations, and of Princess Mary's. + +She did not talk about her brother, diverting the conversation as soon +as her aunt mentioned Andrew. Evidently she could speak of Russia's +misfortunes with a certain artificiality, but her brother was too near +her heart and she neither could nor would speak lightly of him. Nicholas +noticed this, as he noticed every shade of Princess Mary's character +with an observation unusual to him, and everything confirmed his +conviction that she was a quite unusual and extraordinary being. +Nicholas blushed and was confused when people spoke to him about the +princess (as she did when he was mentioned) and even when he thought of +her, but in her presence he felt quite at ease, and said not at all what +he had prepared, but what, quite appropriately, occurred to him at the +moment. + +When a pause occurred during his short visit, Nicholas, as is usual when +there are children, turned to Prince Andrew's little son, caressing him +and asking whether he would like to be an hussar. He took the boy on his +knee, played with him, and looked round at Princess Mary. With a +softened, happy, timid look she watched the boy she loved in the arms of +the man she loved. Nicholas also noticed that look and, as if +understanding it, flushed with pleasure and began to kiss the boy with +good natured playfulness. + +As she was in mourning Princess Mary did not go out into society, and +Nicholas did not think it the proper thing to visit her again; but all +the same the governor's wife went on with her matchmaking, passing on to +Nicholas the flattering things Princess Mary said of him and vice versa, +and insisting on his declaring himself to Princess Mary. For this +purpose she arranged a meeting between the young people at the bishop's +house before Mass. + +Though Rostov told the governor's wife that he would not make any +declaration to Princess Mary, he promised to go. + +As at Tilsit Rostov had not allowed himself to doubt that what everybody +considered right was right, so now, after a short but sincere struggle +between his effort to arrange his life by his own sense of justice, and +in obedient submission to circumstances, he chose the latter and yielded +to the power he felt irresistibly carrying him he knew not where. He +knew that after his promise to Sonya it would be what he deemed base to +declare his feelings to Princess Mary. And he knew that he would never +act basely. But he also knew (or rather felt at the bottom of his heart) +that by resigning himself now to the force of circumstances and to those +who were guiding him, he was not only doing nothing wrong, but was doing +something very important--more important than anything he had ever done +in his life. + +After meeting Princess Mary, though the course of his life went on +externally as before, all his former amusements lost their charm for him +and he often thought about her. But he never thought about her as he had +thought of all the young ladies without exception whom he had met in +society, nor as he had for a long time, and at one time rapturously, +thought about Sonya. He had pictured each of those young ladies as +almost all honest-hearted young men do, that is, as a possible wife, +adapting her in his imagination to all the conditions of married life: a +white dressing gown, his wife at the tea table, his wife's carriage, +little ones, Mamma and Papa, their relations to her, and so on--and +these pictures of the future had given him pleasure. But with Princess +Mary, to whom they were trying to get him engaged, he could never +picture anything of future married life. If he tried, his pictures +seemed incongruous and false. It made him afraid. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The dreadful news of the battle of Borodino, of our losses in killed and +wounded, and the still more terrible news of the loss of Moscow reached +Voronezh in the middle of September. Princess Mary, having learned of +her brother's wound only from the Gazette and having no definite news of +him, prepared (so Nicholas heard, he had not seen her again himself) to +set off in search of Prince Andrew. + +When he received the news of the battle of Borodino and the abandonment +of Moscow, Rostov was not seized with despair, anger, the desire for +vengeance, or any feeling of that kind, but everything in Voronezh +suddenly seemed to him dull and tiresome, and he experienced an +indefinite feeling of shame and awkwardness. The conversations he heard +seemed to him insincere; he did not know how to judge all these affairs +and felt that only in the regiment would everything again become clear +to him. He made haste to finish buying the horses, and often became +unreasonably angry with his servant and squadron quartermaster. + +A few days before his departure a special thanksgiving, at which +Nicholas was present, was held in the cathedral for the Russian victory. +He stood a little behind the governor and held himself with military +decorum through the service, meditating on a great variety of subjects. +When the service was over the governor's wife beckoned him to her. + +"Have you seen the princess?" she asked, indicating with a movement of +her head a lady standing on the opposite side, beyond the choir. + +Nicholas immediately recognized Princess Mary not so much by the profile +he saw under her bonnet as by the feeling of solicitude, timidity, and +pity that immediately overcame him. Princess Mary, evidently engrossed +by her thoughts, was crossing herself for the last time before leaving +the church. + +Nicholas looked at her face with surprise. It was the same face he had +seen before, there was the same general expression of refined, inner, +spiritual labor, but now it was quite differently lit up. There was a +pathetic expression of sorrow, prayer, and hope in it. As had occurred +before when she was present, Nicholas went up to her without waiting to +be prompted by the governor's wife and not asking himself whether or not +it was right and proper to address her here in church, and told her he +had heard of her trouble and sympathized with his whole soul. As soon as +she heard his voice a vivid glow kindled in her face, lighting up both +her sorrow and her joy. + +"There is one thing I wanted to tell you, Princess," said Rostov. "It is +that if your brother, Prince Andrew Nikolievich, were not living, it +would have been at once announced in the Gazette, as he is a colonel." + +The princess looked at him, not grasping what he was saying, but cheered +by the expression of regretful sympathy on his face. + +"And I have known so many cases of a splinter wound" (the Gazette said +it was a shell) "either proving fatal at once or being very slight," +continued Nicholas. "We must hope for the best, and I am sure..." + +Princess Mary interrupted him. + +"Oh, that would be so dread..." she began and, prevented by agitation +from finishing, she bent her head with a movement as graceful as +everything she did in his presence and, looking up at him gratefully, +went out, following her aunt. + +That evening Nicholas did not go out, but stayed at home to settle some +accounts with the horse dealers. When he had finished that business it +was already too late to go anywhere but still too early to go to bed, +and for a long time he paced up and down the room, reflecting on his +life, a thing he rarely did. + +Princess Mary had made an agreeable impression on him when he had met +her in Smolensk province. His having encountered her in such exceptional +circumstances, and his mother having at one time mentioned her to him as +a good match, had drawn his particular attention to her. When he met her +again in Voronezh the impression she made on him was not merely pleasing +but powerful. Nicholas had been struck by the peculiar moral beauty he +observed in her at this time. He was, however, preparing to go away and +it had not entered his head to regret that he was thus depriving himself +of chances of meeting her. But that day's encounter in church had, he +felt, sunk deeper than was desirable for his peace of mind. That pale, +sad, refined face, that radiant look, those gentle graceful gestures, +and especially the deep and tender sorrow expressed in all her features +agitated him and evoked his sympathy. In men Rostov could not bear to +see the expression of a higher spiritual life (that was why he did not +like Prince Andrew) and he referred to it contemptuously as philosophy +and dreaminess, but in Princess Mary that very sorrow which revealed the +depth of a whole spiritual world foreign to him was an irresistible +attraction. + +"She must be a wonderful woman. A real angel!" he said to himself. "Why +am I not free? Why was I in such a hurry with Sonya?" And he +involuntarily compared the two: the lack of spirituality in the one and +the abundance of it in the other--a spirituality he himself lacked and +therefore valued most highly. He tried to picture what would happen were +he free. How he would propose to her and how she would become his wife. +But no, he could not imagine that. He felt awed, and no clear picture +presented itself to his mind. He had long ago pictured to himself a +future with Sonya, and that was all clear and simple just because it had +all been thought out and he knew all there was in Sonya, but it was +impossible to picture a future with Princess Mary, because he did not +understand her but simply loved her. + +Reveries about Sonya had had something merry and playful in them, but to +dream of Princess Mary was always difficult and a little frightening. + +"How she prayed!" he thought. "It was plain that her whole soul was in +her prayer. Yes, that was the prayer that moves mountains, and I am sure +her prayer will be answered. Why don't I pray for what I want?" he +suddenly thought. "What do I want? To be free, released from Sonya... +She was right," he thought, remembering what the governor's wife had +said: "Nothing but misfortune can come of marrying Sonya. Muddles, grief +for Mamma... business difficulties... muddles, terrible muddles! +Besides, I don't love her--not as I should. O, God! release me from this +dreadful, inextricable position!" he suddenly began to pray. "Yes, +prayer can move mountains, but one must have faith and not pray as +Natasha and I used to as children, that the snow might turn into sugar-- +and then run out into the yard to see whether it had done so. No, but I +am not praying for trifles now," he thought as he put his pipe down in a +corner, and folding his hands placed himself before the icon. Softened +by memories of Princess Mary he began to pray as he had not done for a +long time. Tears were in his eyes and in his throat when the door opened +and Lavrushka came in with some papers. + +"Blockhead! Why do you come in without being called?" cried Nicholas, +quickly changing his attitude. + +"From the governor," said Lavrushka in a sleepy voice. "A courier has +arrived and there's a letter for you." + +"Well, all right, thanks. You can go!" + +Nicholas took the two letters, one of which was from his mother and the +other from Sonya. He recognized them by the handwriting and opened +Sonya's first. He had read only a few lines when he turned pale and his +eyes opened wide with fear and joy. + +"No, it's not possible!" he cried aloud. + +Unable to sit still he paced up and down the room holding the letter and +reading it. He glanced through it, then read it again, and then again, +and standing still in the middle of the room he raised his shoulders, +stretching out his hands, with his mouth wide open and his eyes fixed. +What he had just been praying for with confidence that God would hear +him had come to pass; but Nicholas was as much astonished as if it were +something extraordinary and unexpected, and as if the very fact that it +had happened so quickly proved that it had not come from God to whom he +had prayed, but by some ordinary coincidence. + +This unexpected and, as it seemed to Nicholas, quite voluntary letter +from Sonya freed him from the knot that fettered him and from which +there had seemed no escape. She wrote that the last unfortunate events-- +the loss of almost the whole of the Rostovs' Moscow property--and the +countess' repeatedly expressed wish that Nicholas should marry Princess +Bolkonskaya, together with his silence and coldness of late, had all +combined to make her decide to release him from his promise and set him +completely free. + +It would be too painful to me to think that I might be a cause of sorrow +or discord in the family that has been so good to me (she wrote), and my +love has no aim but the happiness of those I love; so, Nicholas, I beg +you to consider yourself free, and to be assured that, in spite of +everything, no one can love you more than does + +Your Sonya + +Both letters were written from Troitsa. The other, from the countess, +described their last days in Moscow, their departure, the fire, and the +destruction of all their property. In this letter the countess also +mentioned that Prince Andrew was among the wounded traveling with them; +his state was very critical, but the doctor said there was now more +hope. Sonya and Natasha were nursing him. + +Next day Nicholas took his mother's letter and went to see Princess +Mary. Neither he nor she said a word about what "Natasha nursing him" +might mean, but thanks to this letter Nicholas suddenly became almost as +intimate with the princess as if they were relations. + +The following day he saw Princess Mary off on her journey to Yaroslavl, +and a few days later left to rejoin his regiment. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Sonya's letter written from Troitsa, which had come as an answer to +Nicholas' prayer, was prompted by this: the thought of getting Nicholas +married to an heiress occupied the old countess' mind more and more. She +knew that Sonya was the chief obstacle to this happening, and Sonya's +life in the countess' house had grown harder and harder, especially +after they had received a letter from Nicholas telling of his meeting +with Princess Mary in Bogucharovo. The countess let no occasion slip of +making humiliating or cruel allusions to Sonya. + +But a few days before they left Moscow, moved and excited by all that +was going on, she called Sonya to her and, instead of reproaching and +making demands on her, tearfully implored her to sacrifice herself and +repay all that the family had done for her by breaking off her +engagement with Nicholas. + +"I shall not be at peace till you promise me this." + +Sonya burst into hysterical tears and replied through her sobs that she +would do anything and was prepared for anything, but gave no actual +promise and could not bring herself to decide to do what was demanded of +her. She must sacrifice herself for the family that had reared and +brought her up. To sacrifice herself for others was Sonya's habit. Her +position in the house was such that only by sacrifice could she show her +worth, and she was accustomed to this and loved doing it. But in all her +former acts of self-sacrifice she had been happily conscious that they +raised her in her own esteem and in that of others, and so made her more +worthy of Nicholas whom she loved more than anything in the world. But +now they wanted her to sacrifice the very thing that constituted the +whole reward for her self-sacrifice and the whole meaning of her life. +And for the first time she felt bitterness against those who had been +her benefactors only to torture her the more painfully; she felt jealous +of Natasha who had never experienced anything of this sort, had never +needed to sacrifice herself, but made others sacrifice themselves for +her and yet was beloved by everybody. And for the first time Sonya felt +that out of her pure, quiet love for Nicholas a passionate feeling was +beginning to grow up which was stronger than principle, virtue, or +religion. Under the influence of this feeling Sonya, whose life of +dependence had taught her involuntarily to be secretive, having answered +the countess in vague general terms, avoided talking with her and +resolved to wait till she should see Nicholas, not in order to set him +free but on the contrary at that meeting to bind him to her forever. + +The bustle and terror of the Rostovs' last days in Moscow stifled the +gloomy thoughts that oppressed Sonya. She was glad to find escape from +them in practical activity. But when she heard of Prince Andrew's +presence in their house, despite her sincere pity for him and for +Natasha, she was seized by a joyful and superstitious feeling that God +did not intend her to be separated from Nicholas. She knew that Natasha +loved no one but Prince Andrew and had never ceased to love him. She +knew that being thrown together again under such terrible circumstances +they would again fall in love with one another, and that Nicholas would +then not be able to marry Princess Mary as they would be within the +prohibited degrees of affinity. Despite all the terror of what had +happened during those last days and during the first days of their +journey, this feeling that Providence was intervening in her personal +affairs cheered Sonya. + +At the Troitsa monastery the Rostovs first broke their journey for a +whole day. + +Three large rooms were assigned to them in the monastery hostelry, one +of which was occupied by Prince Andrew. The wounded man was much better +that day and Natasha was sitting with him. In the next room sat the +count and countess respectfully conversing with the prior, who was +calling on them as old acquaintances and benefactors of the monastery. +Sonya was there too, tormented by curiosity as to what Prince Andrew and +Natasha were talking about. She heard the sound of their voices through +the door. That door opened and Natasha came out, looking excited. Not +noticing the monk, who had risen to greet her and was drawing back the +wide sleeve on his right arm, she went up to Sonya and took her hand. + +"Natasha, what are you about? Come here!" said the countess. + +Natasha went up to the monk for his blessing, and he advised her to pray +for aid to God and His saint. + +As soon as the prior withdrew, Natasha took her friend by the hand and +went with her into the unoccupied room. + +"Sonya, will he live?" she asked. "Sonya, how happy I am, and how +unhappy!... Sonya, dovey, everything is as it used to be. If only he +lives! He cannot... because... because... of" and Natasha burst into +tears. + +"Yes! I knew it! Thank God!" murmured Sonya. "He will live." + +Sonya was not less agitated than her friend by the latter's fear and +grief and by her own personal feelings which she shared with no one. +Sobbing, she kissed and comforted Natasha. "If only he lives!" she +thought. Having wept, talked, and wiped away their tears, the two +friends went together to Prince Andrew's door. Natasha opened it +cautiously and glanced into the room, Sonya standing beside her at the +half-open door. + +Prince Andrew was lying raised high on three pillows. His pale face was +calm, his eyes closed, and they could see his regular breathing. + +"O, Natasha!" Sonya suddenly almost screamed, catching her companion's +arm and stepping back from the door. + +"What? What is it?" asked Natasha. + +"It's that, that..." said Sonya, with a white face and trembling lips. + +Natasha softly closed the door and went with Sonya to the window, not +yet understanding what the latter was telling her. + +"You remember," said Sonya with a solemn and frightened expression. "You +remember when I looked in the mirror for you... at Otradnoe at +Christmas? Do you remember what I saw?" + +"Yes, yes!" cried Natasha opening her eyes wide, and vaguely recalling +that Sonya had told her something about Prince Andrew whom she had seen +lying down. + +"You remember?" Sonya went on. "I saw it then and told everybody, you +and Dunyasha. I saw him lying on a bed," said she, making a gesture with +her hand and a lifted finger at each detail, "and that he had his eyes +closed and was covered just with a pink quilt, and that his hands were +folded," she concluded, convincing herself that the details she had just +seen were exactly what she had seen in the mirror. + +She had in fact seen nothing then but had mentioned the first thing that +came into her head, but what she had invented then seemed to her now as +real as any other recollection. She not only remembered what she had +then said--that he turned to look at her and smiled and was covered with +something red--but was firmly convinced that she had then seen and said +that he was covered with a pink quilt and that his eyes were closed. + +"Yes, yes, it really was pink!" cried Natasha, who now thought she too +remembered the word pink being used, and saw in this the most +extraordinary and mysterious part of the prediction. + +"But what does it mean?" she added meditatively. + +"Oh, I don't know, it is all so strange," replied Sonya, clutching at +her head. + +A few minutes later Prince Andrew rang and Natasha went to him, but +Sonya, feeling unusually excited and touched, remained at the window +thinking about the strangeness of what had occurred. + +They had an opportunity that day to send letters to the army, and the +countess was writing to her son. + +"Sonya!" said the countess, raising her eyes from her letter as her +niece passed, "Sonya, won't you write to Nicholas?" She spoke in a soft, +tremulous voice, and in the weary eyes that looked over her spectacles +Sonya read all that the countess meant to convey with these words. Those +eyes expressed entreaty, shame at having to ask, fear of a refusal, and +readiness for relentless hatred in case of such refusal. + +Sonya went up to the countess and, kneeling down, kissed her hand. + +"Yes, Mamma, I will write," said she. + +Sonya was softened, excited, and touched by all that had occurred that +day, especially by the mysterious fulfillment she had just seen of her +vision. Now that she knew that the renewal of Natasha's relations with +Prince Andrew would prevent Nicholas from marrying Princess Mary, she +was joyfully conscious of a return of that self-sacrificing spirit in +which she was accustomed to live and loved to live. So with a joyful +consciousness of performing a magnanimous deed--interrupted several +times by the tears that dimmed her velvety black eyes--she wrote that +touching letter the arrival of which had so amazed Nicholas. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The officer and soldiers who had arrested Pierre treated him with +hostility but yet with respect, in the guardhouse to which he was taken. +In their attitude toward him could still be felt both uncertainty as to +who he might be--perhaps a very important person--and hostility as a +result of their recent personal conflict with him. + +But when the guard was relieved next morning, Pierre felt that for the +new guard--both officers and men--he was not as interesting as he had +been to his captors; and in fact the guard of the second day did not +recognize in this big, stout man in a peasant coat the vigorous person +who had fought so desperately with the marauder and the convoy and had +uttered those solemn words about saving a child; they saw in him only +No. 17 of the captured Russians, arrested and detained for some reason +by order of the Higher Command. If they noticed anything remarkable +about Pierre, it was only his unabashed, meditative concentration and +thoughtfulness, and the way he spoke French, which struck them as +surprisingly good. In spite of this he was placed that day with the +other arrested suspects, as the separate room he had occupied was +required by an officer. + +All the Russians confined with Pierre were men of the lowest class and, +recognizing him as a gentleman, they all avoided him, more especially as +he spoke French. Pierre felt sad at hearing them making fun of him. + +That evening he learned that all these prisoners (he, probably, among +them) were to be tried for incendiarism. On the third day he was taken +with the others to a house where a French general with a white mustache +sat with two colonels and other Frenchmen with scarves on their arms. +With the precision and definiteness customary in addressing prisoners, +and which is supposed to preclude human frailty, Pierre like the others +was questioned as to who he was, where he had been, with what object, +and so on. + +These questions, like questions put at trials generally, left the +essence of the matter aside, shut out the possibility of that essence's +being revealed, and were designed only to form a channel through which +the judges wished the answers of the accused to flow so as to lead to +the desired result, namely a conviction. As soon as Pierre began to say +anything that did not fit in with that aim, the channel was removed and +the water could flow to waste. Pierre felt, moreover, what the accused +always feel at their trial, perplexity as to why these questions were +put to him. He had a feeling that it was only out of condescension or a +kind of civility that this device of placing a channel was employed. He +knew he was in these men's power, that only by force had they brought +him there, that force alone gave them the right to demand answers to +their questions, and that the sole object of that assembly was to +inculpate him. And so, as they had the power and wish to inculpate him, +this expedient of an inquiry and trial seemed unnecessary. It was +evident that any answer would lead to conviction. When asked what he was +doing when he was arrested, Pierre replied in a rather tragic manner +that he was restoring to its parents a child he had saved from the +flames. Why had he fought the marauder? Pierre answered that he "was +protecting a woman," and that "to protect a woman who was being insulted +was the duty of every man; that..." They interrupted him, for this was +not to the point. Why was he in the yard of a burning house where +witnesses had seen him? He replied that he had gone out to see what was +happening in Moscow. Again they interrupted him: they had not asked +where he was going, but why he was found near the fire? Who was he? they +asked, repeating their first question, which he had declined to answer. +Again he replied that he could not answer it. + +"Put that down, that's bad... very bad," sternly remarked the general +with the white mustache and red flushed face. + +On the fourth day fires broke out on the Zubovski rampart. + +Pierre and thirteen others were moved to the coach house of a merchant's +house near the Crimean bridge. On his way through the streets Pierre +felt stifled by the smoke which seemed to hang over the whole city. +Fires were visible on all sides. He did not then realize the +significance of the burning of Moscow, and looked at the fires with +horror. + +He passed four days in the coach house near the Crimean bridge and +during that time learned, from the talk of the French soldiers, that all +those confined there were awaiting a decision which might come any day +from the marshal. What marshal this was, Pierre could not learn from the +soldiers. Evidently for them "the marshal" represented a very high and +rather mysterious power. + +These first days, before the eighth of September when the prisoners were +had up for a second examination, were the hardest of all for Pierre. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +On the eighth of September an officer--a very important one judging by +the respect the guards showed him--entered the coach house where the +prisoners were. This officer, probably someone on the staff, was holding +a paper in his hand, and called over all the Russians there, naming +Pierre as "the man who does not give his name." Glancing indolently and +indifferently at all the prisoners, he ordered the officer in charge to +have them decently dressed and tidied up before taking them to the +marshal. An hour later a squad of soldiers arrived and Pierre with +thirteen others was led to the Virgin's Field. It was a fine day, sunny +after rain, and the air was unusually pure. The smoke did not hang low +as on the day when Pierre had been taken from the guardhouse on the +Zubovski rampart, but rose through the pure air in columns. No flames +were seen, but columns of smoke rose on all sides, and all Moscow as far +as Pierre could see was one vast charred ruin. On all sides there were +waste spaces with only stoves and chimney stacks still standing, and +here and there the blackened walls of some brick houses. Pierre gazed at +the ruins and did not recognize districts he had known well. Here and +there he could see churches that had not been burned. The Kremlin, which +was not destroyed, gleamed white in the distance with its towers and the +belfry of Ivan the Great. The domes of the New Convent of the Virgin +glittered brightly and its bells were ringing particularly clearly. +These bells reminded Pierre that it was Sunday and the feast of the +Nativity of the Virgin. But there seemed to be no one to celebrate this +holiday: everywhere were blackened ruins, and the few Russians to be +seen were tattered and frightened people who tried to hide when they saw +the French. + +It was plain that the Russian nest was ruined and destroyed, but in +place of the Russian order of life that had been destroyed, Pierre +unconsciously felt that a quite different, firm, French order had been +established over this ruined nest. He felt this in the looks of the +soldiers who, marching in regular ranks briskly and gaily, were +escorting him and the other criminals; he felt it in the looks of an +important French official in a carriage and pair driven by a soldier, +whom they met on the way. He felt it in the merry sounds of regimental +music he heard from the left side of the field, and felt and realized it +especially from the list of prisoners the French officer had read out +when he came that morning. Pierre had been taken by one set of soldiers +and led first to one and then to another place with dozens of other men, +and it seemed that they might have forgotten him, or confused him with +the others. But no: the answers he had given when questioned had come +back to him in his designation as "the man who does not give his name," +and under that appellation, which to Pierre seemed terrible, they were +now leading him somewhere with unhesitating assurance on their faces +that he and all the other prisoners were exactly the ones they wanted +and that they were being taken to the proper place. Pierre felt himself +to be an insignificant chip fallen among the wheels of a machine whose +action he did not understand but which was working well. + +He and the other prisoners were taken to the right side of the Virgin's +Field, to a large white house with an immense garden not far from the +convent. This was Prince Shcherbitov's house, where Pierre had often +been in other days, and which, as he learned from the talk of the +soldiers, was now occupied by the marshal, the Duke of Eckmuhl (Davout). + +They were taken to the entrance and led into the house one by one. +Pierre was the sixth to enter. He was conducted through a glass gallery, +an anteroom, and a hall, which were familiar to him, into a long low +study at the door of which stood an adjutant. + +Davout, spectacles on nose, sat bent over a table at the further end of +the room. Pierre went close up to him, but Davout, evidently consulting +a paper that lay before him, did not look up. Without raising his eyes, +he said in a low voice: + +"Who are you?" + +Pierre was silent because he was incapable of uttering a word. To him +Davout was not merely a French general, but a man notorious for his +cruelty. Looking at his cold face, as he sat like a stern schoolmaster +who was prepared to wait awhile for an answer, Pierre felt that every +instant of delay might cost him his life; but he did not know what to +say. He did not venture to repeat what he had said at his first +examination, yet to disclose his rank and position was dangerous and +embarrassing. So he was silent. But before he had decided what to do, +Davout raised his head, pushed his spectacles back on his forehead, +screwed up his eyes, and looked intently at him. + +"I know that man," he said in a cold, measured tone, evidently +calculated to frighten Pierre. + +The chill that had been running down Pierre's back now seized his head +as in a vise. + +"You cannot know me, General, I have never seen you..." + +"He is a Russian spy," Davout interrupted, addressing another general +who was present, but whom Pierre had not noticed. + +Davout turned away. With an unexpected reverberation in his voice Pierre +rapidly began: + +"No, monseigneur," he said, suddenly remembering that Davout was a duke. +"No, monseigneur, you cannot have known me. I am a militia officer and +have not quitted Moscow." + +"Your name?" asked Davout. + +"Bezukhov." + +"What proof have I that you are not lying?" + +"Monseigneur!" exclaimed Pierre, not in an offended but in a pleading +voice. + +Davout looked up and gazed intently at him. For some seconds they looked +at one another, and that look saved Pierre. Apart from conditions of war +and law, that look established human relations between the two men. At +that moment an immense number of things passed dimly through both their +minds, and they realized that they were both children of humanity and +were brothers. + +At the first glance, when Davout had only raised his head from the +papers where human affairs and lives were indicated by numbers, Pierre +was merely a circumstance, and Davout could have shot him without +burdening his conscience with an evil deed, but now he saw in him a +human being. He reflected for a moment. + +"How can you show me that you are telling the truth?" said Davout +coldly. + +Pierre remembered Ramballe, and named him and his regiment and the +street where the house was. + +"You are not what you say," returned Davout. + +In a trembling, faltering voice Pierre began adducing proofs of the +truth of his statements. + +But at that moment an adjutant entered and reported something to Davout. + +Davout brightened up at the news the adjutant brought, and began +buttoning up his uniform. It seemed that he had quite forgotten Pierre. + +When the adjutant reminded him of the prisoner, he jerked his head in +Pierre's direction with a frown and ordered him to be led away. But +where they were to take him Pierre did not know: back to the coach house +or to the place of execution his companions had pointed out to him as +they crossed the Virgin's Field. + +He turned his head and saw that the adjutant was putting another +question to Davout. + +"Yes, of course!" replied Davout, but what this "yes" meant, Pierre did +not know. + +Pierre could not afterwards remember how he went, whether it was far, or +in which direction. His faculties were quite numbed, he was stupefied, +and noticing nothing around him went on moving his legs as the others +did till they all stopped and he stopped too. The only thought in his +mind at that time was: who was it that had really sentenced him to +death? Not the men on the commission that had first examined him--not +one of them wished to or, evidently, could have done it. It was not +Davout, who had looked at him in so human a way. In another moment +Davout would have realized that he was doing wrong, but just then the +adjutant had come in and interrupted him. The adjutant, also, had +evidently had no evil intent though he might have refrained from coming +in. Then who was executing him, killing him, depriving him of life--him, +Pierre, with all his memories, aspirations, hopes, and thoughts? Who was +doing this? And Pierre felt that it was no one. + +It was a system--a concurrence of circumstances. + +A system of some sort was killing him--Pierre--depriving him of life, of +everything, annihilating him. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +From Prince Shcherbatov's house the prisoners were led straight down the +Virgin's Field, to the left of the nunnery, as far as a kitchen garden +in which a post had been set up. Beyond that post a fresh pit had been +dug in the ground, and near the post and the pit a large crowd stood in +a semicircle. The crowd consisted of a few Russians and many of +Napoleon's soldiers who were not on duty--Germans, Italians, and +Frenchmen, in a variety of uniforms. To the right and left of the post +stood rows of French troops in blue uniforms with red epaulets and high +boots and shakos. + +The prisoners were placed in a certain order, according to the list +(Pierre was sixth), and were led to the post. Several drums suddenly +began to beat on both sides of them, and at that sound Pierre felt as if +part of his soul had been torn away. He lost the power of thinking or +understanding. He could only hear and see. And he had only one wish-- +that the frightful thing that had to happen should happen quickly. +Pierre looked round at his fellow prisoners and scrutinized them. + +The two first were convicts with shaven heads. One was tall and thin, +the other dark, shaggy, and sinewy, with a flat nose. The third was a +domestic serf, about forty-five years old, with grizzled hair and a +plump, well-nourished body. The fourth was a peasant, a very handsome +man with a broad, light-brown beard and black eyes. The fifth was a +factory hand, a thin, sallow-faced lad of eighteen in a loose coat. + +Pierre heard the French consulting whether to shoot them separately or +two at a time. "In couples," replied the officer in command in a calm +voice. There was a stir in the ranks of the soldiers and it was evident +that they were all hurrying--not as men hurry to do something they +understand, but as people hurry to finish a necessary but unpleasant and +incomprehensible task. + +A French official wearing a scarf came up to the right of the row of +prisoners and read out the sentence in Russian and in French. + +Then two pairs of Frenchmen approached the criminals and at the +officer's command took the two convicts who stood first in the row. The +convicts stopped when they reached the post and, while sacks were being +brought, looked dumbly around as a wounded beast looks at an approaching +huntsman. One crossed himself continually, the other scratched his back +and made a movement of the lips resembling a smile. With hurried hands +the soldiers blindfolded them, drawing the sacks over their heads, and +bound them to the post. + +Twelve sharpshooters with muskets stepped out of the ranks with a firm +regular tread and halted eight paces from the post. Pierre turned away +to avoid seeing what was going to happen. Suddenly a crackling, rolling +noise was heard which seemed to him louder than the most terrific +thunder, and he looked round. There was some smoke, and the Frenchmen +were doing something near the pit, with pale faces and trembling hands. +Two more prisoners were led up. In the same way and with similar looks, +these two glanced vainly at the onlookers with only a silent appeal for +protection in their eyes, evidently unable to understand or believe what +was going to happen to them. They could not believe it because they +alone knew what their life meant to them, and so they neither understood +nor believed that it could be taken from them. + +Again Pierre did not wish to look and again turned away; but again the +sound as of a frightful explosion struck his ear, and at the same moment +he saw smoke, blood, and the pale, scared faces of the Frenchmen who +were again doing something by the post, their trembling hands impeding +one another. Pierre, breathing heavily, looked around as if asking what +it meant. The same question was expressed in all the looks that met his. + +On the faces of all the Russians and of the French soldiers and officers +without exception, he read the same dismay, horror, and conflict that +were in his own heart. "But who, after all, is doing this? They are all +suffering as I am. Who then is it? Who?" flashed for an instant through +his mind. + +"Sharpshooters of the 86th, forward!" shouted someone. The fifth +prisoner, the one next to Pierre, was led away--alone. Pierre did not +understand that he was saved, that he and the rest had been brought +there only to witness the execution. With ever-growing horror, and no +sense of joy or relief, he gazed at what was taking place. The fifth man +was the factory lad in the loose cloak. The moment they laid hands on +him he sprang aside in terror and clutched at Pierre. (Pierre shuddered +and shook himself free.) The lad was unable to walk. They dragged him +along, holding him up under the arms, and he screamed. When they got him +to the post he grew quiet, as if he suddenly understood something. +Whether he understood that screaming was useless or whether he thought +it incredible that men should kill him, at any rate he took his stand at +the post, waiting to be blindfolded like the others, and like a wounded +animal looked around him with glittering eyes. + +Pierre was no longer able to turn away and close his eyes. His curiosity +and agitation, like that of the whole crowd, reached the highest pitch +at this fifth murder. Like the others this fifth man seemed calm; he +wrapped his loose cloak closer and rubbed one bare foot with the other. + +When they began to blindfold him he himself adjusted the knot which hurt +the back of his head; then when they propped him against the +bloodstained post, he leaned back and, not being comfortable in that +position, straightened himself, adjusted his feet, and leaned back again +more comfortably. Pierre did not take his eyes from him and did not miss +his slightest movement. + +Probably a word of command was given and was followed by the reports of +eight muskets; but try as he would Pierre could not afterwards remember +having heard the slightest sound of the shots. He only saw how the +workman suddenly sank down on the cords that held him, how blood showed +itself in two places, how the ropes slackened under the weight of the +hanging body, and how the workman sat down, his head hanging unnaturally +and one leg bent under him. Pierre ran up to the post. No one hindered +him. Pale, frightened people were doing something around the workman. +The lower jaw of an old Frenchman with a thick mustache trembled as he +untied the ropes. The body collapsed. The soldiers dragged it awkwardly +from the post and began pushing it into the pit. + +They all plainly and certainly knew that they were criminals who must +hide the traces of their guilt as quickly as possible. + +Pierre glanced into the pit and saw that the factory lad was lying with +his knees close up to his head and one shoulder higher than the other. +That shoulder rose and fell rhythmically and convulsively, but spadefuls +of earth were already being thrown over the whole body. One of the +soldiers, evidently suffering, shouted gruffly and angrily at Pierre to +go back. But Pierre did not understand him and remained near the post, +and no one drove him away. + +When the pit had been filled up a command was given. Pierre was taken +back to his place, and the rows of troops on both sides of the post made +a half turn and went past it at a measured pace. The twenty-four +sharpshooters with discharged muskets, standing in the center of the +circle, ran back to their places as the companies passed by. + +Pierre gazed now with dazed eyes at these sharpshooters who ran in +couples out of the circle. All but one rejoined their companies. This +one, a young soldier, his face deadly pale, his shako pushed back, and +his musket resting on the ground, still stood near the pit at the spot +from which he had fired. He swayed like a drunken man, taking some steps +forward and back to save himself from falling. An old, noncommissioned +officer ran out of the ranks and taking him by the elbow dragged him to +his company. The crowd of Russians and Frenchmen began to disperse. They +all went away silently and with drooping heads. + +"That will teach them to start fires," said one of the Frenchmen. + +Pierre glanced round at the speaker and saw that it was a soldier who +was trying to find some relief after what had been done, but was not +able to do so. Without finishing what he had begun to say he made a +hopeless movement with his arm and went away. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +After the execution Pierre was separated from the rest of the prisoners +and placed alone in a small, ruined, and befouled church. + +Toward evening a noncommissioned officer entered with two soldiers and +told him that he had been pardoned and would now go to the barracks for +the prisoners of war. Without understanding what was said to him, Pierre +got up and went with the soldiers. They took him to the upper end of the +field, where there were some sheds built of charred planks, beams, and +battens, and led him into one of them. In the darkness some twenty +different men surrounded Pierre. He looked at them without understanding +who they were, why they were there, or what they wanted of him. He heard +what they said, but did not understand the meaning of the words and made +no kind of deduction from or application of them. He replied to +questions they put to him, but did not consider who was listening to his +replies, nor how they would understand them. He looked at their faces +and figures, but they all seemed to him equally meaningless. + +From the moment Pierre had witnessed those terrible murders committed by +men who did not wish to commit them, it was as if the mainspring of his +life, on which everything depended and which made everything appear +alive, had suddenly been wrenched out and everything had collapsed into +a heap of meaningless rubbish. Though he did not acknowledge it to +himself, his faith in the right ordering of the universe, in humanity, +in his own soul, and in God, had been destroyed. He had experienced this +before, but never so strongly as now. When similar doubts had assailed +him before, they had been the result of his own wrongdoing, and at the +bottom of his heart he had felt that relief from his despair and from +those doubts was to be found within himself. But now he felt that the +universe had crumbled before his eyes and only meaningless ruins +remained, and this not by any fault of his own. He felt that it was not +in his power to regain faith in the meaning of life. + +Around him in the darkness men were standing and evidently something +about him interested them greatly. They were telling him something and +asking him something. Then they led him away somewhere, and at last he +found himself in a corner of the shed among men who were laughing and +talking on all sides. + +"Well, then, mates... that very prince who..." some voice at the other +end of the shed was saying, with a strong emphasis on the word who. + +Sitting silent and motionless on a heap of straw against the wall, +Pierre sometimes opened and sometimes closed his eyes. But as soon as he +closed them he saw before him the dreadful face of the factory lad-- +especially dreadful because of its simplicity--and the faces of the +murderers, even more dreadful because of their disquiet. And he opened +his eyes again and stared vacantly into the darkness around him. + +Beside him in a stooping position sat a small man of whose presence he +was first made aware by a strong smell of perspiration which came from +him every time he moved. This man was doing something to his legs in the +darkness, and though Pierre could not see his face he felt that the man +continually glanced at him. On growing used to the darkness Pierre saw +that the man was taking off his leg bands, and the way he did it aroused +Pierre's interest. + +Having unwound the string that tied the band on one leg, he carefully +coiled it up and immediately set to work on the other leg, glancing up +at Pierre. While one hand hung up the first string the other was already +unwinding the band on the second leg. In this way, having carefully +removed the leg bands by deft circular motions of his arm following one +another uninterruptedly, the man hung the leg bands up on some pegs +fixed above his head. Then he took out a knife, cut something, closed +the knife, placed it under the head of his bed, and, seating himself +comfortably, clasped his arms round his lifted knees and fixed his eyes +on Pierre. The latter was conscious of something pleasant, comforting, +and well-rounded in these deft movements, in the man's well-ordered +arrangements in his corner, and even in his very smell, and he looked at +the man without taking his eyes from him. + +"You've seen a lot of trouble, sir, eh?" the little man suddenly said. + +And there was so much kindliness and simplicity in his singsong voice +that Pierre tried to reply, but his jaw trembled and he felt tears +rising to his eyes. The little fellow, giving Pierre no time to betray +his confusion, instantly continued in the same pleasant tones: + +"Eh, lad, don't fret!" said he, in the tender singsong caressing voice +old Russian peasant women employ. "Don't fret, friend--'suffer an hour, +live for an age!' that's how it is, my dear fellow. And here we live, +thank heaven, without offense. Among these folk, too, there are good men +as well as bad," said he, and still speaking, he turned on his knees +with a supple movement, got up, coughed, and went off to another part of +the shed. + +"Eh, you rascal!" Pierre heard the same kind voice saying at the other +end of the shed. "So you've come, you rascal? She remembers... Now, now, +that'll do!" + +And the soldier, pushing away a little dog that was jumping up at him, +returned to his place and sat down. In his hands he had something +wrapped in a rag. + +"Here, eat a bit, sir," said he, resuming his former respectful tone as +he unwrapped and offered Pierre some baked potatoes. "We had soup for +dinner and the potatoes are grand!" + +Pierre had not eaten all day and the smell of the potatoes seemed +extremely pleasant to him. He thanked the soldier and began to eat. + +"Well, are they all right?" said the soldier with a smile. "You should +do like this." + +He took a potato, drew out his clasp knife, cut the potato into two +equal halves on the palm of his hand, sprinkled some salt on it from the +rag, and handed it to Pierre. + +"The potatoes are grand!" he said once more. "Eat some like that!" + +Pierre thought he had never eaten anything that tasted better. + +"Oh, I'm all right," said he, "but why did they shoot those poor +fellows? The last one was hardly twenty." + +"Tss, tt...!" said the little man. "Ah, what a sin... what a sin!" he +added quickly, and as if his words were always waiting ready in his +mouth and flew out involuntarily he went on: "How was it, sir, that you +stayed in Moscow?" + +"I didn't think they would come so soon. I stayed accidentally," replied +Pierre. + +"And how did they arrest you, dear lad? At your house?" + +"No, I went to look at the fire, and they arrested me there, and tried +me as an incendiary." + +"Where there's law there's injustice," put in the little man. + +"And have you been here long?" Pierre asked as he munched the last of +the potato. + +"I? It was last Sunday they took me, out of a hospital in Moscow." + +"Why, are you a soldier then?" + +"Yes, we are soldiers of the Apsheron regiment. I was dying of fever. We +weren't told anything. There were some twenty of us lying there. We had +no idea, never guessed at all." + +"And do you feel sad here?" Pierre inquired. + +"How can one help it, lad? My name is Platon, and the surname is +Karataev," he added, evidently wishing to make it easier for Pierre to +address him. "They call me 'little falcon' in the regiment. How is one +to help feeling sad? Moscow--she's the mother of cities. How can one see +all this and not feel sad? But 'the maggot gnaws the cabbage, yet dies +first'; that's what the old folks used to tell us," he added rapidly. + +"What? What did you say?" asked Pierre. + +"Who? I?" said Karataev. "I say things happen not as we plan but as God +judges," he replied, thinking that he was repeating what he had said +before, and immediately continued: + +"Well, and you, have you a family estate, sir? And a house? So you have +abundance, then? And a housewife? And your old parents, are they still +living?" he asked. + +And though it was too dark for Pierre to see, he felt that a suppressed +smile of kindliness puckered the soldier's lips as he put these +questions. He seemed grieved that Pierre had no parents, especially that +he had no mother. + +"A wife for counsel, a mother-in-law for welcome, but there's none as +dear as one's own mother!" said he. "Well, and have you little ones?" he +went on asking. + +Again Pierre's negative answer seemed to distress him, and he hastened +to add: + +"Never mind! You're young folks yet, and please God may still have some. +The great thing is to live in harmony...." + +"But it's all the same now," Pierre could not help saying. + +"Ah, my dear fellow!" rejoined Karataev, "never decline a prison or a +beggar's sack!" + +He seated himself more comfortably and coughed, evidently preparing to +tell a long story. + +"Well, my dear fellow, I was still living at home," he began. "We had a +well-to-do homestead, plenty of land, we peasants lived well and our +house was one to thank God for. When Father and we went out mowing there +were seven of us. We lived well. We were real peasants. It so +happened..." + +And Platon Karataev told a long story of how he had gone into someone's +copse to take wood, how he had been caught by the keeper, had been +tried, flogged, and sent to serve as a soldier. + +"Well, lad," and a smile changed the tone of his voice "we thought it +was a misfortune but it turned out a blessing! If it had not been for my +sin, my brother would have had to go as a soldier. But he, my younger +brother, had five little ones, while I, you see, only left a wife +behind. We had a little girl, but God took her before I went as a +soldier. I come home on leave and I'll tell you how it was, I look and +see that they are living better than before. The yard full of cattle, +the women at home, two brothers away earning wages, and only Michael the +youngest, at home. Father, he says, 'All my children are the same to me: +it hurts the same whichever finger gets bitten. But if Platon hadn't +been shaved for a soldier, Michael would have had to go.' called us all +to him and, will you believe it, placed us in front of the icons. +'Michael,' he says, 'come here and bow down to his feet; and you, young +woman, you bow down too; and you, grandchildren, also bow down before +him! Do you understand?' he says. That's how it is, dear fellow. Fate +looks for a head. But we are always judging, 'that's not well--that's +not right!' Our luck is like water in a dragnet: you pull at it and it +bulges, but when you've drawn it out it's empty! That's how it is." + +And Platon shifted his seat on the straw. + +After a short silence he rose. + +"Well, I think you must be sleepy," said he, and began rapidly crossing +himself and repeating: + +"Lord Jesus Christ, holy Saint Nicholas, Frola and Lavra! Lord Jesus +Christ, holy Saint Nicholas, Frola and Lavra! Lord Jesus Christ, have +mercy on us and save us!" he concluded, then bowed to the ground, got +up, sighed, and sat down again on his heap of straw. "That's the way. +Lay me down like a stone, O God, and raise me up like a loaf," he +muttered as he lay down, pulling his coat over him. + +"What prayer was that you were saying?" asked Pierre. + +"Eh?" murmured Platon, who had almost fallen asleep. "What was I saying? +I was praying. Don't you pray?" + +"Yes, I do," said Pierre. "But what was that you said: Frola and Lavra?" + +"Well, of course," replied Platon quickly, "the horses' saints. One must +pity the animals too. Eh, the rascal! Now you've curled up and got warm, +you daughter of a bitch!" said Karataev, touching the dog that lay at +his feet, and again turning over he fell asleep immediately. + +Sounds of crying and screaming came from somewhere in the distance +outside, and flames were visible through the cracks of the shed, but +inside it was quiet and dark. For a long time Pierre did not sleep, but +lay with eyes open in the darkness, listening to the regular snoring of +Platon who lay beside him, and he felt that the world that had been +shattered was once more stirring in his soul with a new beauty and on +new and unshakable foundations. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Twenty-three soldiers, three officers, and two officials were confined +in the shed in which Pierre had been placed and where he remained for +four weeks. + +When Pierre remembered them afterwards they all seemed misty figures to +him except Platon Karataev, who always remained in his mind a most vivid +and precious memory and the personification of everything Russian, +kindly, and round. When Pierre saw his neighbor next morning at dawn the +first impression of him, as of something round, was fully confirmed: +Platon's whole figure--in a French overcoat girdled with a cord, a +soldier's cap, and bast shoes--was round. His head was quite round, his +back, chest, shoulders, and even his arms, which he held as if ever +ready to embrace something, were rounded, his pleasant smile and his +large, gentle brown eyes were also round. + +Platon Karataev must have been fifty, judging by his stories of +campaigns he had been in, told as by an old soldier. He did not himself +know his age and was quite unable to determine it. But his brilliantly +white, strong teeth which showed in two unbroken semicircles when he +laughed--as he often did--were all sound and good, there was not a gray +hair in his beard or on his head, and his whole body gave an impression +of suppleness and especially of firmness and endurance. + +His face, despite its fine, rounded wrinkles, had an expression of +innocence and youth, his voice was pleasant and musical. But the chief +peculiarity of his speech was its directness and appositeness. It was +evident that he never considered what he had said or was going to say, +and consequently the rapidity and justice of his intonation had an +irresistible persuasiveness. + +His physical strength and agility during the first days of his +imprisonment were such that he seemed not to know what fatigue and +sickness meant. Every night before lying down, he said: "Lord, lay me +down as a stone and raise me up as a loaf!" and every morning on getting +up, he said: "I lay down and curled up, I get up and shake myself." And +indeed he only had to lie down, to fall asleep like a stone, and he only +had to shake himself, to be ready without a moment's delay for some +work, just as children are ready to play directly they awake. He could +do everything, not very well but not badly. He baked, cooked, sewed, +planed, and mended boots. He was always busy, and only at night allowed +himself conversation--of which he was fond--and songs. He did not sing +like a trained singer who knows he is listened to, but like the birds, +evidently giving vent to the sounds in the same way that one stretches +oneself or walks about to get rid of stiffness, and the sounds were +always high-pitched, mournful, delicate, and almost feminine, and his +face at such times was very serious. + +Having been taken prisoner and allowed his beard to grow, he seemed to +have thrown off all that had been forced upon him--everything military +and alien to himself--and had returned to his former peasant habits. + +"A soldier on leave--a shirt outside breeches," he would say. + +He did not like talking about his life as a soldier, though he did not +complain, and often mentioned that he had not been flogged once during +the whole of his army service. When he related anything it was generally +some old and evidently precious memory of his "Christian" life, as he +called his peasant existence. The proverbs, of which his talk was full, +were for the most part not the coarse and indecent saws soldiers employ, +but those folk sayings which taken without a context seem so +insignificant, but when used appositely suddenly acquire a significance +of profound wisdom. + +He would often say the exact opposite of what he had said on a previous +occasion, yet both would be right. He liked to talk and he talked well, +adorning his speech with terms of endearment and with folk sayings which +Pierre thought he invented himself, but the chief charm of his talk lay +in the fact that the commonest events--sometimes just such as Pierre had +witnessed without taking notice of them--assumed in Karataev's a +character of solemn fitness. He liked to hear the folk tales one of the +soldiers used to tell of an evening (they were always the same), but +most of all he liked to hear stories of real life. He would smile +joyfully when listening to such stories, now and then putting in a word +or asking a question to make the moral beauty of what he was told clear +to himself. Karataev had no attachments, friendships, or love, as Pierre +understood them, but loved and lived affectionately with everything life +brought him in contact with, particularly with man--not any particular +man, but those with whom he happened to be. He loved his dog, his +comrades, the French, and Pierre who was his neighbor, but Pierre felt +that in spite of Karataev's affectionate tenderness for him (by which he +unconsciously gave Pierre's spiritual life its due) he would not have +grieved for a moment at parting from him. And Pierre began to feel in +the same way toward Karataev. + +To all the other prisoners Platon Karataev seemed a most ordinary +soldier. They called him "little falcon" or "Platosha," chaffed him +good-naturedly, and sent him on errands. But to Pierre he always +remained what he had seemed that first night: an unfathomable, rounded, +eternal personification of the spirit of simplicity and truth. + +Platon Karataev knew nothing by heart except his prayers. When he began +to speak he seemed not to know how he would conclude. + +Sometimes Pierre, struck by the meaning of his words, would ask him to +repeat them, but Platon could never recall what he had said a moment +before, just as he never could repeat to Pierre the words of his +favorite song: native and birch tree and my heart is sick occurred in +it, but when spoken and not sung, no meaning could be got out of it. He +did not, and could not, understand the meaning of words apart from their +context. Every word and action of his was the manifestation of an +activity unknown to him, which was his life. But his life, as he +regarded it, had no meaning as a separate thing. It had meaning only as +part of a whole of which he was always conscious. His words and actions +flowed from him as evenly, inevitably, and spontaneously as fragrance +exhales from a flower. He could not understand the value or significance +of any word or deed taken separately. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +When Princess Mary heard from Nicholas that her brother was with the +Rostovs at Yaroslavl she at once prepared to go there, in spite of her +aunt's efforts to dissuade her--and not merely to go herself but to take +her nephew with her. Whether it were difficult or easy, possible or +impossible, she did not ask and did not want to know: it was her duty, +not only to herself, to be near her brother who was perhaps dying, but +to do everything possible to take his son to him, and so she prepared to +set off. That she had not heard from Prince Andrew himself, Princess +Mary attributed to his being too weak to write or to his considering the +long journey too hard and too dangerous for her and his son. + +In a few days Princess Mary was ready to start. Her equipages were the +huge family coach in which she had traveled to Voronezh, a semiopen +trap, and a baggage cart. With her traveled Mademoiselle Bourienne, +little Nicholas and his tutor, her old nurse, three maids, Tikhon, and a +young footman and courier her aunt had sent to accompany her. + +The usual route through Moscow could not be thought of, and the +roundabout way Princess Mary was obliged to take through Lipetsk, +Ryazan, Vladimir, and Shuya was very long and, as post horses were not +everywhere obtainable, very difficult, and near Ryazan where the French +were said to have shown themselves was even dangerous. + +During this difficult journey Mademoiselle Bourienne, Dessalles, and +Princess Mary's servants were astonished at her energy and firmness of +spirit. She went to bed later and rose earlier than any of them, and no +difficulties daunted her. Thanks to her activity and energy, which +infected her fellow travelers, they approached Yaroslavl by the end of +the second week. + +The last days of her stay in Voronezh had been the happiest of her life. +Her love for Rostov no longer tormented or agitated her. It filled her +whole soul, had become an integral part of herself, and she no longer +struggled against it. Latterly she had become convinced that she loved +and was beloved, though she never said this definitely to herself in +words. She had become convinced of it at her last interview with +Nicholas, when he had come to tell her that her brother was with the +Rostovs. Not by a single word had Nicholas alluded to the fact that +Prince Andrew's relations with Natasha might, if he recovered, be +renewed, but Princess Mary saw by his face that he knew and thought of +this. + +Yet in spite of that, his relation to her--considerate, delicate, and +loving--not only remained unchanged, but it sometimes seemed to Princess +Mary that he was even glad that the family connection between them +allowed him to express his friendship more freely. She knew that she +loved for the first and only time in her life and felt that she was +beloved, and was happy in regard to it. + +But this happiness on one side of her spiritual nature did not prevent +her feeling grief for her brother with full force; on the contrary, that +spiritual tranquility on the one side made it the more possible for her +to give full play to her feeling for her brother. That feeling was so +strong at the moment of leaving Voronezh that those who saw her off, as +they looked at her careworn, despairing face, felt sure she would fall +ill on the journey. But the very difficulties and preoccupations of the +journey, which she took so actively in hand, saved her for a while from +her grief and gave her strength. + +As always happens when traveling, Princess Mary thought only of the +journey itself, forgetting its object. But as she approached Yaroslavl +the thought of what might await her there--not after many days, but that +very evening--again presented itself to her and her agitation increased +to its utmost limit. + +The courier who had been sent on in advance to find out where the +Rostovs were staying in Yaroslavl, and in what condition Prince Andrew +was, when he met the big coach just entering the town gates was appalled +by the terrible pallor of the princess' face that looked out at him from +the window. + +"I have found out everything, your excellency: the Rostovs are staying +at the merchant Bronnikov's house, in the Square not far from here, +right above the Volga," said the courier. + +Princess Mary looked at him with frightened inquiry, not understanding +why he did not reply to what she chiefly wanted to know: how was her +brother? Mademoiselle Bourienne put that question for her. + +"How is the prince?" she asked. + +"His excellency is staying in the same house with them." + +"Then he is alive," thought Princess Mary, and asked in a low voice: +"How is he?" + +"The servants say he is still the same." + +What "still the same" might mean Princess Mary did not ask, but with an +unnoticed glance at little seven-year-old Nicholas, who was sitting in +front of her looking with pleasure at the town, she bowed her head and +did not raise it again till the heavy coach, rumbling, shaking and +swaying, came to a stop. The carriage steps clattered as they were let +down. + +The carriage door was opened. On the left there was water--a great +river--and on the right a porch. There were people at the entrance: +servants, and a rosy girl with a large plait of black hair, smiling as +it seemed to Princess Mary in an unpleasantly affected way. (This was +Sonya.) Princess Mary ran up the steps. "This way, this way!" said the +girl, with the same artificial smile, and the princess found herself in +the hall facing an elderly woman of Oriental type, who came rapidly to +meet her with a look of emotion. This was the countess. She embraced +Princess Mary and kissed her. + +"Mon enfant!" she muttered, "je vous aime et vous connais depuis +longtemps." * + + +* "My child! I love you and have known you a long time." + + +Despite her excitement, Princess Mary realized that this was the +countess and that it was necessary to say something to her. Hardly +knowing how she did it, she contrived to utter a few polite phrases in +French in the same tone as those that had been addressed to her, and +asked: "How is he?" + +"The doctor says that he is not in danger," said the countess, but as +she spoke she raised her eyes with a sigh, and her gesture conveyed a +contradiction of her words. + +"Where is he? Can I see him--can I?" asked the princess. + +"One moment, Princess, one moment, my dear! Is this his son?" said the +countess, turning to little Nicholas who was coming in with Dessalles. +"There will be room for everybody, this is a big house. Oh, what a +lovely boy!" + +The countess took Princess Mary into the drawing room, where Sonya was +talking to Mademoiselle Bourienne. The countess caressed the boy, and +the old count came in and welcomed the princess. He had changed very +much since Princess Mary had last seen him. Then he had been a brisk, +cheerful, self-assured old man; now he seemed a pitiful, bewildered +person. While talking to Princess Mary he continually looked round as if +asking everyone whether he was doing the right thing. After the +destruction of Moscow and of his property, thrown out of his accustomed +groove he seemed to have lost the sense of his own significance and to +feel that there was no longer a place for him in life. + +In spite of her one desire to see her brother as soon as possible, and +her vexation that at the moment when all she wanted was to see him they +should be trying to entertain her and pretending to admire her nephew, +the princess noticed all that was going on around her and felt the +necessity of submitting, for a time, to this new order of things which +she had entered. She knew it to be necessary, and though it was hard for +her she was not vexed with these people. + +"This is my niece," said the count, introducing Sonya--"You don't know +her, Princess?" + +Princess Mary turned to Sonya and, trying to stifle the hostile feeling +that arose in her toward the girl, she kissed her. But she felt +oppressed by the fact that the mood of everyone around her was so far +from what was in her own heart. + +"Where is he?" she asked again, addressing them all. + +"He is downstairs. Natasha is with him," answered Sonya, flushing. "We +have sent to ask. I think you must be tired, Princess." + +Tears of vexation showed themselves in Princess Mary's eyes. She turned +away and was about to ask the countess again how to go to him, when +light, impetuous, and seemingly buoyant steps were heard at the door. +The princess looked round and saw Natasha coming in, almost running-- +that Natasha whom she had liked so little at their meeting in Moscow +long since. + +But hardly had the princess looked at Natasha's face before she realized +that here was a real comrade in her grief, and consequently a friend. +She ran to meet her, embraced her, and began to cry on her shoulder. + +As soon as Natasha, sitting at the head of Prince Andrew's bed, heard of +Princess Mary's arrival, she softly left his room and hastened to her +with those swift steps that had sounded buoyant to Princess Mary. + +There was only one expression on her agitated face when she ran into the +drawing room--that of love--boundless love for him, for her, and for all +that was near to the man she loved; and of pity, suffering for others, +and passionate desire to give herself entirely to helping them. It was +plain that at that moment there was in Natasha's heart no thought of +herself or of her own relations with Prince Andrew. + +Princess Mary, with her acute sensibility, understood all this at the +first glance at Natasha's face, and wept on her shoulder with sorrowful +pleasure. + +"Come, come to him, Mary," said Natasha, leading her into the other +room. + +Princess Mary raised her head, dried her eyes, and turned to Natasha. +She felt that from her she would be able to understand and learn +everything. + +"How..." she began her question but stopped short. + +She felt that it was impossible to ask, or to answer, in words. +Natasha's face and eyes would have to tell her all more clearly and +profoundly. + +Natasha was gazing at her, but seemed afraid and in doubt whether to say +all she knew or not; she seemed to feel that before those luminous eyes +which penetrated into the very depths of her heart, it was impossible +not to tell the whole truth which she saw. And suddenly, Natasha's lips +twitched, ugly wrinkles gathered round her mouth, and covering her face +with her hands she burst into sobs. + +Princess Mary understood. + +But she still hoped, and asked, in words she herself did not trust: + +"But how is his wound? What is his general condition?" + +"You, you... will see," was all Natasha could say. + +They sat a little while downstairs near his room till they had left off +crying and were able to go to him with calm faces. + +"How has his whole illness gone? Is it long since he grew worse? When +did this happen?" Princess Mary inquired. + +Natasha told her that at first there had been danger from his feverish +condition and the pain he suffered, but at Troitsa that had passed and +the doctor had only been afraid of gangrene. That danger had also +passed. When they reached Yaroslavl the wound had begun to fester +(Natasha knew all about such things as festering) and the doctor had +said that the festering might take a normal course. Then fever set in, +but the doctor had said the fever was not very serious. + +"But two days ago this suddenly happened," said Natasha, struggling with +her sobs. "I don't know why, but you will see what he is like." + +"Is he weaker? Thinner?" asked the princess. + +"No, it's not that, but worse. You will see. O, Mary, he is too good, he +cannot, cannot live, because..." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +When Natasha opened Prince Andrew's door with a familiar movement and +let Princess Mary pass into the room before her, the princess felt the +sobs in her throat. Hard as she had tried to prepare herself, and now +tried to remain tranquil, she knew that she would be unable to look at +him without tears. + +The princess understood what Natasha had meant by the words: "two days +ago this suddenly happened." She understood those words to mean that he +had suddenly softened and that this softening and gentleness were signs +of approaching death. As she stepped to the door she already saw in +imagination Andrew's face as she remembered it in childhood, a gentle, +mild, sympathetic face which he had rarely shown, and which therefore +affected her very strongly. She was sure he would speak soft, tender +words to her such as her father had uttered before his death, and that +she would not be able to bear it and would burst into sobs in his +presence. Yet sooner or later it had to be, and she went in. The sobs +rose higher and higher in her throat as she more and more clearly +distinguished his form and her shortsighted eyes tried to make out his +features, and then she saw his face and met his gaze. + +He was lying in a squirrel-fur dressing gown on a divan, surrounded by +pillows. He was thin and pale. In one thin, translucently white hand he +held a handkerchief, while with the other he stroked the delicate +mustache he had grown, moving his fingers slowly. His eyes gazed at them +as they entered. + +On seeing his face and meeting his eyes Princess Mary's pace suddenly +slackened, she felt her tears dry up and her sobs ceased. She suddenly +felt guilty and grew timid on catching the expression of his face and +eyes. + +"But in what am I to blame?" she asked herself. And his cold, stern look +replied: "Because you are alive and thinking of the living, while I..." + +In the deep gaze that seemed to look not outwards but inwards there was +an almost hostile expression as he slowly regarded his sister and +Natasha. + +He kissed his sister, holding her hand in his as was their wont. + +"How are you, Mary? How did you manage to get here?" said he in a voice +as calm and aloof as his look. + +Had he screamed in agony, that scream would not have struck such horror +into Princess Mary's heart as the tone of his voice. + +"And have you brought little Nicholas?" he asked in the same slow, quiet +manner and with an obvious effort to remember. + +"How are you now?" said Princess Mary, herself surprised at what she was +saying. + +"That, my dear, you must ask the doctor," he replied, and again making +an evident effort to be affectionate, he said with his lips only (his +words clearly did not correspond to his thoughts): + +"Merci, chere amie, d'etre venue." * + + +* "Thank you for coming, my dear." + +Princess Mary pressed his hand. The pressure made him wince just +perceptibly. He was silent, and she did not know what to say. She now +understood what had happened to him two days before. In his words, his +tone, and especially in that calm, almost antagonistic look could be +felt an estrangement from everything belonging to this world, terrible +in one who is alive. Evidently only with an effort did he understand +anything living; but it was obvious that he failed to understand, not +because he lacked the power to do so but because he understood something +else--something the living did not and could not understand--and which +wholly occupied his mind. + +"There, you see how strangely fate has brought us together," said he, +breaking the silence and pointing to Natasha. "She looks after me all +the time." + +Princess Mary heard him and did not understand how he could say such a +thing. He, the sensitive, tender Prince Andrew, how could he say that, +before her whom he loved and who loved him? Had he expected to live he +could not have said those words in that offensively cold tone. If he had +not known that he was dying, how could he have failed to pity her and +how could he speak like that in her presence? The only explanation was +that he was indifferent, because something else, much more important, +had been revealed to him. + +The conversation was cold and disconnected and continually broke off. + +"Mary came by way of Ryazan," said Natasha. + +Prince Andrew did not notice that she called his sister Mary, and only +after calling her so in his presence did Natasha notice it herself. + +"Really?" he asked. + +"They told her that all Moscow has been burned down, and that..." + +Natasha stopped. It was impossible to talk. It was plain that he was +making an effort to listen, but could not do so. + +"Yes, they say it's burned," he said. "It's a great pity," and he gazed +straight before him, absently stroking his mustache with his fingers. + +"And so you have met Count Nicholas, Mary?" Prince Andrew suddenly said, +evidently wishing to speak pleasantly to them. "He wrote here that he +took a great liking to you," he went on simply and calmly, evidently +unable to understand all the complex significance his words had for +living people. "If you liked him too, it would be a good thing for you +to get married," he added rather more quickly, as if pleased at having +found words he had long been seeking. + +Princess Mary heard his words but they had no meaning for her, except as +a proof of how far away he now was from everything living. + +"Why talk of me?" she said quietly and glanced at Natasha. + +Natasha, who felt her glance, did not look at her. All three were again +silent. + +"Andrew, would you like..." Princess Mary suddenly said in a trembling +voice, "would you like to see little Nicholas? He is always talking +about you!" + +Prince Andrew smiled just perceptibly and for the first time, but +Princess Mary, who knew his face so well, saw with horror that he did +not smile with pleasure or affection for his son, but with quiet, gentle +irony because he thought she was trying what she believed to be the last +means of arousing him. + +"Yes, I shall be very glad to see him. Is he quite well?" + +When little Nicholas was brought into Prince Andrew's room he looked at +his father with frightened eyes, but did not cry, because no one else +was crying. Prince Andrew kissed him and evidently did not know what to +say to him. + +When Nicholas had been led away, Princess Mary again went up to her +brother, kissed him, and unable to restrain her tears any longer began +to cry. + +He looked at her attentively. + +"Is it about Nicholas?" he asked. + +Princess Mary nodded her head, weeping. + +"Mary, you know the Gosp..." but he broke off. + +"What did you say?" + +"Nothing. You mustn't cry here," he said, looking at her with the same +cold expression. + +When Princess Mary began to cry, he understood that she was crying at +the thought that little Nicholas would be left without a father. With a +great effort he tried to return to life and to see things from their +point of view. + +"Yes, to them it must seem sad!" he thought. "But how simple it is. + +"The fowls of the air sow not, neither do they reap, yet your Father +feedeth them," he said to himself and wished to say to Princess Mary; +"but no, they will take it their own way, they won't understand! They +can't understand that all those feelings they prize so--all our +feelings, all those ideas that seem so important to us, are unnecessary. +We cannot understand one another," and he remained silent. + +Prince Andrew's little son was seven. He could scarcely read, and knew +nothing. After that day he lived through many things, gaining knowledge, +observation, and experience, but had he possessed all the faculties he +afterwards acquired, he could not have had a better or more profound +understanding of the meaning of the scene he had witnessed between his +father, Mary, and Natasha, than he had then. He understood it +completely, and, leaving the room without crying, went silently up to +Natasha who had come out with him and looked shyly at her with his +beautiful, thoughtful eyes, then his uplifted, rosy upper lip trembled +and leaning his head against her he began to cry. + +After that he avoided Dessalles and the countess who caressed him and +either sat alone or came timidly to Princess Mary, or to Natasha of whom +he seemed even fonder than of his aunt, and clung to them quietly and +shyly. + +When Princess Mary had left Prince Andrew she fully understood what +Natasha's face had told her. She did not speak any more to Natasha of +hopes of saving his life. She took turns with her beside his sofa, and +did not cry any more, but prayed continually, turning in soul to that +Eternal and Unfathomable, whose presence above the dying man was now so +evident. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Not only did Prince Andrew know he would die, but he felt that he was +dying and was already half dead. He was conscious of an aloofness from +everything earthly and a strange and joyous lightness of existence. +Without haste or agitation he awaited what was coming. That inexorable, +eternal, distant, and unknown the presence of which he had felt +continually all his life--was now near to him and, by the strange +lightness he experienced, almost comprehensible and palpable... + + +Formerly he had feared the end. He had twice experienced that terribly +tormenting fear of death--the end--but now he no longer understood that +fear. + +He had felt it for the first time when the shell spun like a top before +him, and he looked at the fallow field, the bushes, and the sky, and +knew that he was face to face with death. When he came to himself after +being wounded and the flower of eternal, unfettered love had instantly +unfolded itself in his soul as if freed from the bondage of life that +had restrained it, he no longer feared death and ceased to think about +it. + +During the hours of solitude, suffering, and partial delirium he spent +after he was wounded, the more deeply he penetrated into the new +principle of eternal love revealed to him, the more he unconsciously +detached himself from earthly life. To love everything and everybody and +always to sacrifice oneself for love meant not to love anyone, not to +live this earthly life. And the more imbued he became with that +principle of love, the more he renounced life and the more completely he +destroyed that dreadful barrier which--in the absence of such love-- +stands between life and death. When during those first days he +remembered that he would have to die, he said to himself: "Well, what of +it? So much the better!" + +But after the night in Mytishchi when, half delirious, he had seen her +for whom he longed appear before him and, having pressed her hand to his +lips, had shed gentle, happy tears, love for a particular woman again +crept unobserved into his heart and once more bound him to life. And +joyful and agitating thoughts began to occupy his mind. Recalling the +moment at the ambulance station when he had seen Kuragin, he could not +now regain the feeling he then had, but was tormented by the question +whether Kuragin was alive. And he dared not inquire. + +His illness pursued its normal physical course, but what Natasha +referred to when she said: "This suddenly happened," had occurred two +days before Princess Mary arrived. It was the last spiritual struggle +between life and death, in which death gained the victory. It was the +unexpected realization of the fact that he still valued life as +presented to him in the form of his love for Natasha, and a last, though +ultimately vanquished, attack of terror before the unknown. + +It was evening. As usual after dinner he was slightly feverish, and his +thoughts were preternaturally clear. Sonya was sitting by the table. He +began to doze. Suddenly a feeling of happiness seized him. + +"Ah, she has come!" thought he. + +And so it was: in Sonya's place sat Natasha who had just come in +noiselessly. + +Since she had begun looking after him, he had always experienced this +physical consciousness of her nearness. She was sitting in an armchair +placed sideways, screening the light of the candle from him, and was +knitting a stocking. She had learned to knit stockings since Prince +Andrew had casually mentioned that no one nursed the sick so well as old +nurses who knit stockings, and that there is something soothing in the +knitting of stockings. The needles clicked lightly in her slender, +rapidly moving hands, and he could clearly see the thoughtful profile of +her drooping face. She moved, and the ball rolled off her knees. She +started, glanced round at him, and screening the candle with her hand +stooped carefully with a supple and exact movement, picked up the ball, +and regained her former position. + +He looked at her without moving and saw that she wanted to draw a deep +breath after stooping, but refrained from doing so and breathed +cautiously. + +At the Troitsa monastery they had spoken of the past, and he had told +her that if he lived he would always thank God for his wound which had +brought them together again, but after that they never spoke of the +future. + +"Can it or can it not be?" he now thought as he looked at her and +listened to the light click of the steel needles. "Can fate have brought +me to her so strangely only for me to die?... Is it possible that the +truth of life has been revealed to me only to show me that I have spent +my life in falsity? I love her more than anything in the world! But what +am I to do if I love her?" he thought, and he involuntarily groaned, +from a habit acquired during his sufferings. + +On hearing that sound Natasha put down the stocking, leaned nearer to +him, and suddenly, noticing his shining eyes, stepped lightly up to him +and bent over him. + +"You are not asleep?" + +"No, I have been looking at you a long time. I felt you come in. No one +else gives me that sense of soft tranquillity that you do... that light. +I want to weep for joy." + +Natasha drew closer to him. Her face shone with rapturous joy. + +"Natasha, I love you too much! More than anything in the world." + +"And I!"--She turned away for an instant. "Why too much?" she asked. + +"Why too much?... Well, what do you, what do you feel in your soul, your +whole soul--shall I live? What do you think?" + +"I am sure of it, sure!" Natasha almost shouted, taking hold of both his +hands with a passionate movement. + +He remained silent awhile. + +"How good it would be!" and taking her hand he kissed it. + +Natasha felt happy and agitated, but at once remembered that this would +not do and that he had to be quiet. + +"But you have not slept," she said, repressing her joy. "Try to sleep... +please!" + +He pressed her hand and released it, and she went back to the candle and +sat down again in her former position. Twice she turned and looked at +him, and her eyes met his beaming at her. She set herself a task on her +stocking and resolved not to turn round till it was finished. + +Soon he really shut his eyes and fell asleep. He did not sleep long and +suddenly awoke with a start and in a cold perspiration. + +As he fell asleep he had still been thinking of the subject that now +always occupied his mind--about life and death, and chiefly about death. +He felt himself nearer to it. + +"Love? What is love?" he thought. + +"Love hinders death. Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I +understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only +because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to +die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and +eternal source." These thoughts seemed to him comforting. But they were +only thoughts. Something was lacking in them, they were not clear, they +were too one-sidedly personal and brain-spun. And there was the former +agitation and obscurity. He fell asleep. + +He dreamed that he was lying in the room he really was in, but that he +was quite well and unwounded. Many various, indifferent, and +insignificant people appeared before him. He talked to them and +discussed something trivial. They were preparing to go away somewhere. +Prince Andrew dimly realized that all this was trivial and that he had +more important cares, but he continued to speak, surprising them by +empty witticisms. Gradually, unnoticed, all these persons began to +disappear and a single question, that of the closed door, superseded all +else. He rose and went to the door to bolt and lock it. Everything +depended on whether he was, or was not, in time to lock it. He went, and +tried to hurry, but his legs refused to move and he knew he would not be +in time to lock the door though he painfully strained all his powers. He +was seized by an agonizing fear. And that fear was the fear of death. It +stood behind the door. But just when he was clumsily creeping toward the +door, that dreadful something on the other side was already pressing +against it and forcing its way in. Something not human--death--was +breaking in through that door, and had to be kept out. He seized the +door, making a final effort to hold it back--to lock it was no longer +possible--but his efforts were weak and clumsy and the door, pushed from +behind by that terror, opened and closed again. + +Once again it pushed from outside. His last superhuman efforts were vain +and both halves of the door noiselessly opened. It entered, and it was +death, and Prince Andrew died. + +But at the instant he died, Prince Andrew remembered that he was asleep, +and at the very instant he died, having made an effort, he awoke. + +"Yes, it was death! I died--and woke up. Yes, death is an awakening!" +And all at once it grew light in his soul and the veil that had till +then concealed the unknown was lifted from his spiritual vision. He felt +as if powers till then confined within him had been liberated, and that +strange lightness did not again leave him. + +When, waking in a cold perspiration, he moved on the divan, Natasha went +up and asked him what was the matter. He did not answer and looked at +her strangely, not understanding. + +That was what had happened to him two days before Princess Mary's +arrival. From that day, as the doctor expressed it, the wasting fever +assumed a malignant character, but what the doctor said did not interest +Natasha, she saw the terrible moral symptoms which to her were more +convincing. + +From that day an awakening from life came to Prince Andrew together with +his awakening from sleep. And compared to the duration of life it did +not seem to him slower than an awakening from sleep compared to the +duration of a dream. + +There was nothing terrible or violent in this comparatively slow +awakening. + +His last days and hours passed in an ordinary and simple way. Both +Princess Mary and Natasha, who did not leave him, felt this. They did +not weep or shudder and during these last days they themselves felt that +they were not attending on him (he was no longer there, he had left +them) but on what reminded them most closely of him--his body. Both felt +this so strongly that the outward and terrible side of death did not +affect them and they did not feel it necessary to foment their grief. +Neither in his presence nor out of it did they weep, nor did they ever +talk to one another about him. They felt that they could not express in +words what they understood. + +They both saw that he was sinking slowly and quietly, deeper and deeper, +away from them, and they both knew that this had to be so and that it +was right. + +He confessed, and received communion: everyone came to take leave of +him. When they brought his son to him, he pressed his lips to the boy's +and turned away, not because he felt it hard and sad (Princess Mary and +Natasha understood that) but simply because he thought it was all that +was required of him, but when they told him to bless the boy, he did +what was demanded and looked round as if asking whether there was +anything else he should do. + +When the last convulsions of the body, which the spirit was leaving, +occurred, Princess Mary and Natasha were present. + +"Is it over?" said Princess Mary when his body had for a few minutes +lain motionless, growing cold before them. Natasha went up, looked at +the dead eyes, and hastened to close them. She closed them but did not +kiss them, but clung to that which reminded her most nearly of him--his +body. + +"Where has he gone? Where is he now?..." + +When the body, washed and dressed, lay in the coffin on a table, +everyone came to take leave of him and they all wept. + +Little Nicholas cried because his heart was rent by painful perplexity. +The countess and Sonya cried from pity for Natasha and because he was no +more. The old count cried because he felt that before long, he, too, +must take the same terrible step. + +Natasha and Princess Mary also wept now, but not because of their own +personal grief; they wept with a reverent and softening emotion which +had taken possession of their souls at the consciousness of the simple +and solemn mystery of death that had been accomplished in their +presence. + +BOOK THIRTEEN: 1812 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Man's mind cannot grasp the causes of events in their completeness, but +the desire to find those causes is implanted in man's soul. And without +considering the multiplicity and complexity of the conditions any one of +which taken separately may seem to be the cause, he snatches at the +first approximation to a cause that seems to him intelligible and says: +"This is the cause!" In historical events (where the actions of men are +the subject of observation) the first and most primitive approximation +to present itself was the will of the gods and, after that, the will of +those who stood in the most prominent position--the heroes of history. +But we need only penetrate to the essence of any historic event--which +lies in the activity of the general mass of men who take part in it--to +be convinced that the will of the historic hero does not control the +actions of the mass but is itself continually controlled. It may seem to +be a matter of indifference whether we understand the meaning of +historical events this way or that; yet there is the same difference +between a man who says that the people of the West moved on the East +because Napoleon wished it and a man who says that this happened because +it had to happen, as there is between those who declared that the earth +was stationary and that the planets moved round it and those who +admitted that they did not know what upheld the earth, but knew there +were laws directing its movement and that of the other planets. There +is, and can be, no cause of an historical event except the one cause of +all causes. But there are laws directing events, and some of these laws +are known to us while we are conscious of others we cannot comprehend. +The discovery of these laws is only possible when we have quite +abandoned the attempt to find the cause in the will of some one man, +just as the discovery of the laws of the motion of the planets was +possible only when men abandoned the conception of the fixity of the +earth. + +The historians consider that, next to the battle of Borodino and the +occupation of Moscow by the enemy and its destruction by fire, the most +important episode of the war of 1812 was the movement of the Russian +army from the Ryazana to the Kaluga road and to the Tarutino camp--the +so-called flank march across the Krasnaya Pakhra River. They ascribe the +glory of that achievement of genius to different men and dispute as to +whom the honor is due. Even foreign historians, including the French, +acknowledge the genius of the Russian commanders when they speak of that +flank march. But it is hard to understand why military writers, and +following them others, consider this flank march to be the profound +conception of some one man who saved Russia and destroyed Napoleon. In +the first place it is hard to understand where the profundity and genius +of this movement lay, for not much mental effort was needed to see that +the best position for an army when it is not being attacked is where +there are most provisions; and even a dull boy of thirteen could have +guessed that the best position for an army after its retreat from Moscow +in 1812 was on the Kaluga road. So it is impossible to understand by +what reasoning the historians reach the conclusion that this maneuver +was a profound one. And it is even more difficult to understand just why +they think that this maneuver was calculated to save Russia and destroy +the French; for this flank march, had it been preceded, accompanied, or +followed by other circumstances, might have proved ruinous to the +Russians and salutary for the French. If the position of the Russian +army really began to improve from the time of that march, it does not at +all follow that the march was the cause of it. + +That flank march might not only have failed to give any advantage to the +Russian army, but might in other circumstances have led to its +destruction. What would have happened had Moscow not burned down? If +Murat had not lost sight of the Russians? If Napoleon had not remained +inactive? If the Russian army at Krasnaya Pakhra had given battle as +Bennigsen and Barclay advised? What would have happened had the French +attacked the Russians while they were marching beyond the Pakhra? What +would have happened if on approaching Tarutino, Napoleon had attacked +the Russians with but a tenth of the energy he had shown when he +attacked them at Smolensk? What would have happened had the French moved +on Petersburg?... In any of these eventualities the flank march that +brought salvation might have proved disastrous. + +The third and most incomprehensible thing is that people studying +history deliberately avoid seeing that this flank march cannot be +attributed to any one man, that no one ever foresaw it, and that in +reality, like the retreat from Fili, it did not suggest itself to anyone +in its entirety, but resulted--moment by moment, step by step, event by +event--from an endless number of most diverse circumstances and was only +seen in its entirety when it had been accomplished and belonged to the +past. + +At the council at Fili the prevailing thought in the minds of the +Russian commanders was the one naturally suggesting itself, namely, a +direct retreat by the Nizhni road. In proof of this there is the fact +that the majority of the council voted for such a retreat, and above all +there is the well-known conversation after the council, between the +commander in chief and Lanskoy, who was in charge of the commissariat +department. Lanskoy informed the commander-in-chief that the army +supplies were for the most part stored along the Oka in the Tula and +Ryazan provinces, and that if they retreated on Nizhni the army would be +separated from its supplies by the broad river Oka, which cannot be +crossed early in winter. This was the first indication of the necessity +of deviating from what had previously seemed the most natural course--a +direct retreat on Nizhni-Novgorod. The army turned more to the south, +along the Ryazan road and nearer to its supplies. Subsequently the +inactivity of the French (who even lost sight of the Russian army), +concern for the safety of the arsenal at Tula, and especially the +advantages of drawing nearer to its supplies caused the army to turn +still further south to the Tula road. Having crossed over, by a forced +march, to the Tula road beyond the Pakhra, the Russian commanders +intended to remain at Podolsk and had no thought of the Tarutino +position; but innumerable circumstances and the reappearance of French +troops who had for a time lost touch with the Russians, and projects of +giving battle, and above all the abundance of provisions in Kaluga +province, obliged our army to turn still more to the south and to cross +from the Tula to the Kaluga road and go to Tarutino, which was between +the roads along which those supplies lay. Just as it is impossible to +say when it was decided to abandon Moscow, so it is impossible to say +precisely when, or by whom, it was decided to move to Tarutino. Only +when the army had got there, as the result of innumerable and varying +forces, did people begin to assure themselves that they had desired this +movement and long ago foreseen its result. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +The famous flank movement merely consisted in this: after the advance of +the French had ceased, the Russian army, which had been continually +retreating straight back from the invaders, deviated from that direct +course and, not finding itself pursued, was naturally drawn toward the +district where supplies were abundant. + +If instead of imagining to ourselves commanders of genius leading the +Russian army, we picture that army without any leaders, it could not +have done anything but make a return movement toward Moscow, describing +an arc in the direction where most provisions were to be found and where +the country was richest. + +That movement from the Nizhni to the Ryazan, Tula, and Kaluga roads was +so natural that even the Russian marauders moved in that direction, and +demands were sent from Petersburg for Kutuzov to take his army that way. +At Tarutino Kutuzov received what was almost a reprimand from the +Emperor for having moved his army along the Ryazan road, and the +Emperor's letter indicated to him the very position he had already +occupied near Kaluga. + +Having rolled like a ball in the direction of the impetus given by the +whole campaign and by the battle of Borodino, the Russian army--when the +strength of that impetus was exhausted and no fresh push was received-- +assumed the position natural to it. + +Kutuzov's merit lay, not in any strategic maneuver of genius, as it is +called, but in the fact that he alone understood the significance of +what had happened. He alone then understood the meaning of the French +army's inactivity, he alone continued to assert that the battle of +Borodino had been a victory, he alone--who as commander-in-chief might +have been expected to be eager to attack--employed his whole strength to +restrain the Russian army from useless engagements. + +The beast wounded at Borodino was lying where the fleeing hunter had +left him; but whether he was still alive, whether he was strong and +merely lying low, the hunter did not know. Suddenly the beast was heard +to moan. + +The moan of that wounded beast (the French army) which betrayed its +calamitous condition was the sending of Lauriston to Kutuzov's camp with +overtures for peace. + +Napoleon, with his usual assurance that whatever entered his head was +right, wrote to Kutuzov the first words that occurred to him, though +they were meaningless. + +MONSIEUR LE PRINCE KOUTOUZOV: I am sending one of my adjutants-general +to discuss several interesting questions with you. I beg your Highness +to credit what he says to you, especially when he expresses the +sentiment of esteem and special regard I have long entertained for your +person. This letter having no other object, I pray God, monsieur le +Prince Koutouzov, to keep you in His holy and gracious protection! + +NAPOLEON MOSCOW, OCTOBER 30, 1812 + +Kutuzov replied: "I should be cursed by posterity were I looked on as +the initiator of a settlement of any sort. Such is the present spirit of +my nation." But he continued to exert all his powers to restrain his +troops from attacking. + +During the month that the French troops were pillaging in Moscow and the +Russian troops were quietly encamped at Tarutino, a change had taken +place in the relative strength of the two armies--both in spirit and in +number--as a result of which the superiority had passed to the Russian +side. Though the condition and numbers of the French army were unknown +to the Russians, as soon as that change occurred the need of attacking +at once showed itself by countless signs. These signs were: Lauriston's +mission; the abundance of provisions at Tarutino; the reports coming in +from all sides of the inactivity and disorder of the French; the flow of +recruits to our regiments; the fine weather; the long rest the Russian +soldiers had enjoyed, and the impatience to do what they had been +assembled for, which usually shows itself in an army that has been +resting; curiosity as to what the French army, so long lost sight of, +was doing; the boldness with which our outposts now scouted close up to +the French stationed at Tarutino; the news of easy successes gained by +peasants and guerrilla troops over the French, the envy aroused by this; +the desire for revenge that lay in the heart of every Russian as long as +the French were in Moscow, and (above all) a dim consciousness in every +soldier's mind that the relative strength of the armies had changed and +that the advantage was now on our side. There was a substantial change +in the relative strength, and an advance had become inevitable. And at +once, as a clock begins to strike and chime as soon as the minute hand +has completed a full circle, this change was shown by an increased +activity, whirring, and chiming in the higher spheres. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Russian army was commanded by Kutuzov and his staff, and also by the +Emperor from Petersburg. Before the news of the abandonment of Moscow +had been received in Petersburg, a detailed plan of the whole campaign +had been drawn up and sent to Kutuzov for his guidance. Though this plan +had been drawn up on the supposition that Moscow was still in our hands, +it was approved by the staff and accepted as a basis for action. Kutuzov +only replied that movements arranged from a distance were always +difficult to execute. So fresh instructions were sent for the solution +of difficulties that might be encountered, as well as fresh people who +were to watch Kutuzov's actions and report upon them. + +Besides this, the whole staff of the Russian army was now reorganized. +The posts left vacant by Bagration, who had been killed, and by Barclay, +who had gone away in dudgeon, had to be filled. Very serious +consideration was given to the question whether it would be better to +put A in B's place and B in D's, or on the contrary to put D in A's +place, and so on--as if anything more than A's or B's satisfaction +depended on this. + +As a result of the hostility between Kutuzov and Bennigsen, his Chief of +Staff, the presence of confidential representatives of the Emperor, and +these transfers, a more than usually complicated play of parties was +going on among the staff of the army. A was undermining B, D was +undermining C, and so on in all possible combinations and permutations. +In all these plottings the subject of intrigue was generally the conduct +of the war, which all these men believed they were directing; but this +affair of the war went on independently of them, as it had to go: that +is, never in the way people devised, but flowing always from the +essential attitude of the masses. Only in the highest spheres did all +these schemes, crossings, and interminglings appear to be a true +reflection of what had to happen. + +Prince Michael Ilarionovich! (wrote the Emperor on the second of October +in a letter that reached Kutuzov after the battle at Tarutino) Since +September 2 Moscow has been in the hands of the enemy. Your last reports +were written on the twentieth, and during all this time not only has no +action been taken against the enemy or for the relief of the ancient +capital, but according to your last report you have even retreated +farther. Serpukhov is already occupied by an enemy detachment and Tula +with its famous arsenal so indispensable to the army, is in danger. From +General Wintzingerode's reports, I see that an enemy corps of ten +thousand men is moving on the Petersburg road. Another corps of several +thousand men is moving on Dmitrov. A third has advanced along the +Vladimir road, and a fourth, rather considerable detachment is stationed +between Ruza and Mozhaysk. Napoleon himself was in Moscow as late as the +twenty-fifth. In view of all this information, when the enemy has +scattered his forces in large detachments, and with Napoleon and his +Guards in Moscow, is it possible that the enemy's forces confronting you +are so considerable as not to allow of your taking the offensive? On the +contrary, he is probably pursuing you with detachments, or at most with +an army corps much weaker than the army entrusted to you. It would seem +that, availing yourself of these circumstances, you might advantageously +attack a weaker one and annihilate him, or at least oblige him to +retreat, retaining in our hands an important part of the provinces now +occupied by the enemy, and thereby averting danger from Tula and other +towns in the interior. You will be responsible if the enemy is able to +direct a force of any size against Petersburg to threaten this capital +in which it has not been possible to retain many troops; for with the +army entrusted to you, and acting with resolution and energy, you have +ample means to avert this fresh calamity. Remember that you have still +to answer to our offended country for the loss of Moscow. You have +experienced my readiness to reward you. That readiness will not weaken +in me, but I and Russia have a right to expect from you all the zeal, +firmness, and success which your intellect, military talent, and the +courage of the troops you command justify us in expecting. + +But by the time this letter, which proved that the real relation of the +forces had already made itself felt in Petersburg, was dispatched, +Kutuzov had found himself unable any longer to restrain the army he +commanded from attacking and a battle had taken place. + +On the second of October a Cossack, Shapovalov, who was out scouting, +killed one hare and wounded another. Following the wounded hare he made +his way far into the forest and came upon the left flank of Murat's +army, encamped there without any precautions. The Cossack laughingly +told his comrades how he had almost fallen into the hands of the French. +A cornet, hearing the story, informed his commander. + +The Cossack was sent for and questioned. The Cossack officers wished to +take advantage of this chance to capture some horses, but one of the +superior officers, who was acquainted with the higher authorities, +reported the incident to a general on the staff. The state of things on +the staff had of late been exceedingly strained. Ermolov had been to see +Bennigsen a few days previously and had entreated him to use his +influence with the commander-in-chief to induce him to take the +offensive. + +"If I did not know you I should think you did not want what you are +asking for. I need only advise anything and his Highness is sure to do +the opposite," replied Bennigsen. + +The Cossack's report, confirmed by horse patrols who were sent out, was +the final proof that events had matured. The tightly coiled spring was +released, the clock began to whirr and the chimes to play. Despite all +his supposed power, his intellect, his experience, and his knowledge of +men, Kutuzov--having taken into consideration the Cossack's report, a +note from Bennigsen who sent personal reports to the Emperor, the wishes +he supposed the Emperor to hold, and the fact that all the generals +expressed the same wish--could no longer check the inevitable movement, +and gave the order to do what he regarded as useless and harmful--gave +his approval, that is, to the accomplished fact. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Bennigsen's note and the Cossack's information that the left flank of +the French was unguarded were merely final indications that it was +necessary to order an attack, and it was fixed for the fifth of October. + +On the morning of the fourth of October Kutuzov signed the dispositions. +Toll read them to Ermolov, asking him to attend to the further +arrangements. + +"All right--all right. I haven't time just now," replied Ermolov, and +left the hut. + +The dispositions drawn up by Toll were very good. As in the Austerlitz +dispositions, it was written--though not in German this time: + +"The First Column will march here and here," "the Second Column will +march there and there," and so on; and on paper, all these columns +arrived at their places at the appointed time and destroyed the enemy. +Everything had been admirably thought out as is usual in dispositions, +and as is always the case, not a single column reached its place at the +appointed time. + +When the necessary number of copies of the dispositions had been +prepared, an officer was summoned and sent to deliver them to Ermolov to +deal with. A young officer of the Horse Guards, Kutuzov's orderly, +pleased at the importance of the mission entrusted to him, went to +Ermolov's quarters. + +"Gone away," said Ermolov's orderly. + +The officer of the Horse Guards went to a general with whom Ermolov was +often to be found. + +"No, and the general's out too." + +The officer, mounting his horse, rode off to someone else. + +"No, he's gone out." + +"If only they don't make me responsible for this delay! What a nuisance +it is!" thought the officer, and he rode round the whole camp. One man +said he had seen Ermolov ride past with some other generals, others said +he must have returned home. The officer searched till six o'clock in the +evening without even stopping to eat. Ermolov was nowhere to be found +and no one knew where he was. The officer snatched a little food at a +comrade's, and rode again to the vanguard to find Miloradovich. +Miloradovich too was away, but here he was told that he had gone to a +ball at General Kikin's and that Ermolov was probably there too. + +"But where is it?" + +"Why, there, over at Echkino," said a Cossack officer, pointing to a +country house in the far distance. + +"What, outside our line?" + +"They've put two regiments as outposts, and they're having such a spree +there, it's awful! Two bands and three sets of singers!" + +The officer rode out beyond our lines to Echkino. While still at a +distance he heard as he rode the merry sounds of a soldier's dance song +proceeding from the house. + +"In the meadows... in the meadows!" he heard, accompanied by whistling +and the sound of a torban, drowned every now and then by shouts. These +sounds made his spirits rise, but at the same time he was afraid that he +would be blamed for not having executed sooner the important order +entrusted to him. It was already past eight o'clock. He dismounted and +went up into the porch of a large country house which had remained +intact between the Russian and French forces. In the refreshment room +and the hall, footmen were bustling about with wine and viands. Groups +of singers stood outside the windows. The officer was admitted and +immediately saw all the chief generals of the army together, and among +them Ermolov's big imposing figure. They all had their coats unbuttoned +and were standing in a semicircle with flushed and animated faces, +laughing loudly. In the middle of the room a short handsome general with +a red face was dancing the trepak with much spirit and agility. + +"Ha, ha, ha! Bravo, Nicholas Ivanych! Ha, ha, ha!" + +The officer felt that by arriving with important orders at such a moment +he was doubly to blame, and he would have preferred to wait; but one of +the generals espied him and, hearing what he had come about, informed +Ermolov. + +Ermolov came forward with a frown on his face and, hearing what the +officer had to say, took the papers from him without a word. + +"You think he went off just by chance?" said a comrade, who was on the +staff that evening, to the officer of the Horse Guards, referring to +Ermolov. "It was a trick. It was done on purpose to get Konovnitsyn into +trouble. You'll see what a mess there'll be tomorrow." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Next day the decrepit Kutuzov, having given orders to be called early, +said his prayers, dressed, and, with an unpleasant consciousness of +having to direct a battle he did not approve of, got into his caleche +and drove from Letashovka (a village three and a half miles from +Tarutino) to the place where the attacking columns were to meet. He sat +in the caleche, dozing and waking up by turns, and listening for any +sound of firing on the right as an indication that the action had begun. +But all was still quiet. A damp dull autumn morning was just dawning. On +approaching Tarutino Kutuzov noticed cavalrymen leading their horses to +water across the road along which he was driving. Kutuzov looked at them +searchingly, stopped his carriage, and inquired what regiment they +belonged to. They belonged to a column that should have been far in +front and in ambush long before then. "It may be a mistake," thought the +old commander-in-chief. But a little further on he saw infantry +regiments with their arms piled and the soldiers, only partly dressed, +eating their rye porridge and carrying fuel. He sent for an officer. The +officer reported that no order to advance had been received. + +"How! Not rec..." Kutuzov began, but checked himself immediately and +sent for a senior officer. Getting out of his caleche, he waited with +drooping head and breathing heavily, pacing silently up and down. When +Eykhen, the officer of the general staff whom he had summoned, appeared, +Kutuzov went purple in the face, not because that officer was to blame +for the mistake, but because he was an object of sufficient importance +for him to vent his wrath on. Trembling and panting the old man fell +into that state of fury in which he sometimes used to roll on the +ground, and he fell upon Eykhen, threatening him with his hands, +shouting and loading him with gross abuse. Another man, Captain Brozin, +who happened to turn up and who was not at all to blame, suffered the +same fate. + +"What sort of another blackguard are you? I'll have you shot! +Scoundrels!" yelled Kutuzov in a hoarse voice, waving his arms and +reeling. + +He was suffering physically. He, the commander-in-chief, a Serene +Highness who everybody said possessed powers such as no man had ever had +in Russia, to be placed in this position--made the laughingstock of the +whole army! "I needn't have been in such a hurry to pray about today, or +have kept awake thinking everything over all night," thought he to +himself. "When I was a chit of an officer no one would have dared to +mock me so... and now!" He was in a state of physical suffering as if +from corporal punishment, and could not avoid expressing it by cries of +anger and distress. But his strength soon began to fail him, and looking +about him, conscious of having said much that was amiss, he again got +into his caleche and drove back in silence. + +His wrath, once expended, did not return, and blinking feebly he +listened to excuses and self-justifications (Ermolov did not come to see +him till the next day) and to the insistence of Bennigsen, Konovnitsyn, +and Toll that the movement that had miscarried should be executed next +day. And once more Kutuzov had to consent. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Next day the troops assembled in their appointed places in the evening +and advanced during the night. It was an autumn night with dark purple +clouds, but no rain. The ground was damp but not muddy, and the troops +advanced noiselessly, only occasionally a jingling of the artillery +could be faintly heard. The men were forbidden to talk out loud, to +smoke their pipes, or to strike a light, and they tried to prevent their +horses neighing. The secrecy of the undertaking heightened its charm and +they marched gaily. Some columns, supposing they had reached their +destination, halted, piled arms, and settled down on the cold ground, +but the majority marched all night and arrived at places where they +evidently should not have been. + +Only Count Orlov-Denisov with his Cossacks (the least important +detachment of all) got to his appointed place at the right time. This +detachment halted at the outskirts of a forest, on the path leading from +the village of Stromilova to Dmitrovsk. + +Toward dawn, Count Orlov-Denisov, who had dozed off, was awakened by a +deserter from the French army being brought to him. This was a Polish +sergeant of Poniatowski's corps, who explained in Polish that he had +come over because he had been slighted in the service: that he ought +long ago to have been made an officer, that he was braver than any of +them, and so he had left them and wished to pay them out. He said that +Murat was spending the night less than a mile from where they were, and +that if they would let him have a convoy of a hundred men he would +capture him alive. Count Orlov-Denisov consulted his fellow officers. + +The offer was too tempting to be refused. Everyone volunteered to go and +everybody advised making the attempt. After much disputing and arguing, +Major-General Grekov with two Cossack regiments decided to go with the +Polish sergeant. + +"Now, remember," said Count Orlov-Denisov to the sergeant at parting, +"if you have been lying I'll have you hanged like a dog; but if it's +true you shall have a hundred gold pieces!" + +Without replying, the sergeant, with a resolute air, mounted and rode +away with Grekov whose men had quickly assembled. They disappeared into +the forest, and Count Orlov-Denisov, having seen Grekov off, returned, +shivering from the freshness of the early dawn and excited by what he +had undertaken on his own responsibility, and began looking at the enemy +camp, now just visible in the deceptive light of dawn and the dying +campfires. Our columns ought to have begun to appear on an open +declivity to his right. He looked in that direction, but though the +columns would have been visible quite far off, they were not to be seen. +It seemed to the count that things were beginning to stir in the French +camp, and his keen-sighted adjutant confirmed this. + +"Oh, it is really too late," said Count Orlov, looking at the camp. + +As often happens when someone we have trusted is no longer before our +eyes, it suddenly seemed quite clear and obvious to him that the +sergeant was an impostor, that he had lied, and that the whole Russian +attack would be ruined by the absence of those two regiments, which he +would lead away heaven only knew where. How could one capture a +commander-in-chief from among such a mass of troops! + +"I am sure that rascal was lying," said the count. + +"They can still be called back," said one of his suite, who like Count +Orlov felt distrustful of the adventure when he looked at the enemy's +camp. + +"Eh? Really... what do you think? Should we let them go on or not?" + +"Will you have them fetched back?" + +"Fetch them back, fetch them back!" said Count Orlov with sudden +determination, looking at his watch. "It will be too late. It is quite +light." + +And the adjutant galloped through the forest after Grekov. When Grekov +returned, Count Orlov-Denisov, excited both by the abandoned attempt and +by vainly awaiting the infantry columns that still did not appear, as +well as by the proximity of the enemy, resolved to advance. All his men +felt the same excitement. + +"Mount!" he commanded in a whisper. The men took their places and +crossed themselves.... "Forward, with God's aid!" + +"Hurrah-ah-ah!" reverberated in the forest, and the Cossack companies, +trailing their lances and advancing one after another as if poured out +of a sack, dashed gaily across the brook toward the camp. + +One desperate, frightened yell from the first French soldier who saw the +Cossacks, and all who were in the camp, undressed and only just waking +up, ran off in all directions, abandoning cannons, muskets, and horses. + +Had the Cossacks pursued the French, without heeding what was behind and +around them, they would have captured Murat and everything there. That +was what the officers desired. But it was impossible to make the +Cossacks budge when once they had got booty and prisoners. None of them +listened to orders. Fifteen hundred prisoners and thirty-eight guns were +taken on the spot, besides standards and (what seemed most important to +the Cossacks) horses, saddles, horsecloths, and the like. All this had +to be dealt with, the prisoners and guns secured, the booty divided--not +without some shouting and even a little fighting among themselves--and +it was on this that the Cossacks all busied themselves. + +The French, not being farther pursued, began to recover themselves: they +formed into detachments and began firing. Orlov-Denisov, still waiting +for the other columns to arrive, advanced no further. + +Meantime, according to the dispositions which said that "the First +Column will march" and so on, the infantry of the belated columns, +commanded by Bennigsen and directed by Toll, had started in due order +and, as always happens, had got somewhere, but not to their appointed +places. As always happens the men, starting cheerfully, began to halt; +murmurs were heard, there was a sense of confusion, and finally a +backward movement. Adjutants and generals galloped about, shouted, grew +angry, quarreled, said they had come quite wrong and were late, gave +vent to a little abuse, and at last gave it all up and went forward, +simply to get somewhere. "We shall get somewhere or other!" And they did +indeed get somewhere, though not to their right places; a few eventually +even got to their right place, but too late to be of any use and only in +time to be fired at. Toll, who in this battle played the part of +Weyrother at Austerlitz, galloped assiduously from place to place, +finding everything upside down everywhere. Thus he stumbled on Bagovut's +corps in a wood when it was already broad daylight, though the corps +should long before have joined Orlov-Denisov. Excited and vexed by the +failure and supposing that someone must be responsible for it, Toll +galloped up to the commander of the corps and began upbraiding him +severely, saying that he ought to be shot. General Bagovut, a fighting +old soldier of placid temperament, being also upset by all the delay, +confusion, and cross-purposes, fell into a rage to everybody's surprise +and quite contrary to his usual character and said disagreeable things +to Toll. + +"I prefer not to take lessons from anyone, but I can die with my men as +well as anybody," he said, and advanced with a single division. + +Coming out onto a field under the enemy's fire, this brave general went +straight ahead, leading his men under fire, without considering in his +agitation whether going into action now, with a single division, would +be of any use or no. Danger, cannon balls, and bullets were just what he +needed in his angry mood. One of the first bullets killed him, and other +bullets killed many of his men. And his division remained under fire for +some time quite uselessly. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Meanwhile another column was to have attacked the French from the front, +but Kutuzov accompanied that column. He well knew that nothing but +confusion would come of this battle undertaken against his will, and as +far as was in his power held the troops back. He did not advance. + +He rode silently on his small gray horse, indolently answering +suggestions that they should attack. + +"The word attack is always on your tongue, but you don't see that we are +unable to execute complicated maneuvers," said he to Miloradovich who +asked permission to advance. + +"We couldn't take Murat prisoner this morning or get to the place in +time, and nothing can be done now!" he replied to someone else. + +When Kutuzov was informed that at the French rear--where according to +the reports of the Cossacks there had previously been nobody--there were +now two battalions of Poles, he gave a sidelong glance at Ermolov who +was behind him and to whom he had not spoken since the previous day. + +"You see! They are asking to attack and making plans of all kinds, but +as soon as one gets to business nothing is ready, and the enemy, +forewarned, takes measures accordingly." + +Ermolov screwed up his eyes and smiled faintly on hearing these words. +He understood that for him the storm had blown over, and that Kutuzov +would content himself with that hint. + +"He's having a little fun at my expense," said Ermolov softly, nudging +with his knee Raevski who was at his side. + +Soon after this, Ermolov moved up to Kutuzov and respectfully remarked: + +"It is not too late yet, your Highness--the enemy has not gone away--if +you were to order an attack! If not, the Guards will not so much as see +a little smoke." + +Kutuzov did not reply, but when they reported to him that Murat's troops +were in retreat he ordered an advance, though at every hundred paces he +halted for three quarters of an hour. + +The whole battle consisted in what Orlov-Denisov's Cossacks had done: +the rest of the army merely lost some hundreds of men uselessly. + +In consequence of this battle Kutuzov received a diamond decoration, and +Bennigsen some diamonds and a hundred thousand rubles, others also +received pleasant recognitions corresponding to their various grades, +and following the battle fresh changes were made in the staff. + +"That's how everything is done with us, all topsy-turvy!" said the +Russian officers and generals after the Tarutino battle, letting it be +understood that some fool there is doing things all wrong but that we +ourselves should not have done so, just as people speak today. But +people who talk like that either do not know what they are talking about +or deliberately deceive themselves. No battle--Tarutino, Borodino, or +Austerlitz--takes place as those who planned it anticipated. That is an +essential condition. + +A countless number of free forces (for nowhere is man freer than during +a battle, where it is a question of life and death) influence the course +taken by the fight, and that course never can be known in advance and +never coincides with the direction of any one force. + +If many simultaneously and variously directed forces act on a given +body, the direction of its motion cannot coincide with any one of those +forces, but will always be a mean--what in mechanics is represented by +the diagonal of a parallelogram of forces. + +If in the descriptions given by historians, especially French ones, we +find their wars and battles carried out in accordance with previously +formed plans, the only conclusion to be drawn is that those descriptions +are false. + +The battle of Tarutino obviously did not attain the aim Toll had in +view--to lead the troops into action in the order prescribed by the +dispositions; nor that which Count Orlov-Denisov may have had in view-- +to take Murat prisoner; nor the result of immediately destroying the +whole corps, which Bennigsen and others may have had in view; nor the +aim of the officer who wished to go into action to distinguish himself; +nor that of the Cossack who wanted more booty than he got, and so on. +But if the aim of the battle was what actually resulted and what all the +Russians of that day desired--to drive the French out of Russia and +destroy their army--it is quite clear that the battle of Tarutino, just +because of its incongruities, was exactly what was wanted at that stage +of the campaign. It would be difficult and even impossible to imagine +any result more opportune than the actual outcome of this battle. With a +minimum of effort and insignificant losses, despite the greatest +confusion, the most important results of the whole campaign were +attained: the transition from retreat to advance, an exposure of the +weakness of the French, and the administration of that shock which +Napoleon's army had only awaited to begin its flight. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Napoleon enters Moscow after the brilliant victory de la Moskowa; there +can be no doubt about the victory for the battlefield remains in the +hands of the French. The Russians retreat and abandon their ancient +capital. Moscow, abounding in provisions, arms, munitions, and +incalculable wealth, is in Napoleon's hands. The Russian army, only half +the strength of the French, does not make a single attempt to attack for +a whole month. Napoleon's position is most brilliant. He can either fall +on the Russian army with double its strength and destroy it; negotiate +an advantageous peace, or in case of a refusal make a menacing move on +Petersburg, or even, in the case of a reverse, return to Smolensk or +Vilna; or remain in Moscow; in short, no special genius would seem to be +required to retain the brilliant position the French held at that time. +For that, only very simple and easy steps were necessary: not to allow +the troops to loot, to prepare winter clothing--of which there was +sufficient in Moscow for the whole army--and methodically to collect the +provisions, of which (according to the French historians) there were +enough in Moscow to supply the whole army for six months. Yet Napoleon, +that greatest of all geniuses, who the historians declare had control of +the army, took none of these steps. + +He not merely did nothing of the kind, but on the contrary he used his +power to select the most foolish and ruinous of all the courses open to +him. Of all that Napoleon might have done: wintering in Moscow, +advancing on Petersburg or on Nizhni-Novgorod, or retiring by a more +northerly or more southerly route (say by the road Kutuzov afterwards +took), nothing more stupid or disastrous can be imagined than what he +actually did. He remained in Moscow till October, letting the troops +plunder the city; then, hesitating whether to leave a garrison behind +him, he quitted Moscow, approached Kutuzov without joining battle, +turned to the right and reached Malo-Yaroslavets, again without +attempting to break through and take the road Kutuzov took, but retiring +instead to Mozhaysk along the devastated Smolensk road. Nothing more +stupid than that could have been devised, or more disastrous for the +army, as the sequel showed. Had Napoleon's aim been to destroy his army, +the most skillful strategist could hardly have devised any series of +actions that would so completely have accomplished that purpose, +independently of anything the Russian army might do. + +Napoleon, the man of genius, did this! But to say that he destroyed his +army because he wished to, or because he was very stupid, would be as +unjust as to say that he had brought his troops to Moscow because he +wished to and because he was very clever and a genius. + +In both cases his personal activity, having no more force than the +personal activity of any soldier, merely coincided with the laws that +guided the event. + +The historians quite falsely represent Napoleon's faculties as having +weakened in Moscow, and do so only because the results did not justify +his actions. He employed all his ability and strength to do the best he +could for himself and his army, as he had done previously and as he did +subsequently in 1813. His activity at that time was no less astounding +than it was in Egypt, in Italy, in Austria, and in Prussia. We do not +know for certain in how far his genius was genuine in Egypt--where forty +centuries looked down upon his grandeur--for his great exploits there +are all told us by Frenchmen. We cannot accurately estimate his genius +in Austria or Prussia, for we have to draw our information from French +or German sources, and the incomprehensible surrender of whole corps +without fighting and of fortresses without a siege must incline Germans +to recognize his genius as the only explanation of the war carried on in +Germany. But we, thank God, have no need to recognize his genius in +order to hide our shame. We have paid for the right to look at the +matter plainly and simply, and we will not abandon that right. + +His activity in Moscow was as amazing and as full of genius as +elsewhere. Order after order and plan after plan were issued by him from +the time he entered Moscow till the time he left it. The absence of +citizens and of a deputation, and even the burning of Moscow, did not +disconcert him. He did not lose sight either of the welfare of his army +or of the doings of the enemy, or of the welfare of the people of +Russia, or of the direction of affairs in Paris, or of diplomatic +considerations concerning the terms of the anticipated peace. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +With regard to military matters, Napoleon immediately on his entry into +Moscow gave General Sabastiani strict orders to observe the movements of +the Russian army, sent army corps out along the different roads, and +charged Murat to find Kutuzov. Then he gave careful directions about the +fortification of the Kremlin, and drew up a brilliant plan for a future +campaign over the whole map of Russia. + +With regard to diplomatic questions, Napoleon summoned Captain Yakovlev, +who had been robbed and was in rags and did not know how to get out of +Moscow, minutely explained to him his whole policy and his magnanimity, +and having written a letter to the Emperor Alexander in which he +considered it his duty to inform his Friend and Brother that Rostopchin +had managed affairs badly in Moscow, he dispatched Yakovlev to +Petersburg. + +Having similarly explained his views and his magnanimity to Tutolmin, he +dispatched that old man also to Petersburg to negotiate. + +With regard to legal matters, immediately after the fires he gave orders +to find and execute the incendiaries. And the scoundrel Rostopchin was +punished by an order to burn down his houses. + +With regard to administrative matters, Moscow was granted a +constitution. A municipality was established and the following +announcement issued: + +INHABITANTS OF MOSCOW! + +Your misfortunes are cruel, but His Majesty the Emperor and King desires +to arrest their course. Terrible examples have taught you how he +punishes disobedience and crime. Strict measures have been taken to put +an end to disorder and to re-establish public security. A paternal +administration, chosen from among yourselves, will form your +municipality or city government. It will take care of you, of your +needs, and of your welfare. Its members will be distinguished by a red +ribbon worn across the shoulder, and the mayor of the city will wear a +white belt as well. But when not on duty they will only wear a red +ribbon round the left arm. + +The city police is established on its former footing, and better order +already prevails in consequence of its activity. The government has +appointed two commissaries general, or chiefs of police, and twenty +commissaries or captains of wards have been appointed to the different +wards of the city. You will recognize them by the white ribbon they will +wear on the left arm. Several churches of different denominations are +open, and divine service is performed in them unhindered. Your fellow +citizens are returning every day to their homes and orders have been +given that they should find in them the help and protection due to their +misfortunes. These are the measures the government has adopted to re- +establish order and relieve your condition. But to achieve this aim it +is necessary that you should add your efforts and should, if possible, +forget the misfortunes you have suffered, should entertain the hope of a +less cruel fate, should be certain that inevitable and ignominious death +awaits those who make any attempt on your persons or on what remains of +your property, and finally that you should not doubt that these will be +safeguarded, since such is the will of the greatest and most just of +monarchs. Soldiers and citizens, of whatever nation you may be, re- +establish public confidence, the source of the welfare of a state, live +like brothers, render mutual aid and protection one to another, unite to +defeat the intentions of the evil-minded, obey the military and civil +authorities, and your tears will soon cease to flow! + +With regard to supplies for the army, Napoleon decreed that all the +troops in turn should enter Moscow a la maraude * to obtain provisions +for themselves, so that the army might have its future provided for. + + +* As looters. + +With regard to religion, Napoleon ordered the priests to be brought back +and services to be again performed in the churches. + +With regard to commerce and to provisioning the army, the following was +placarded everywhere: + +PROCLAMATION! + +You, peaceful inhabitants of Moscow, artisans and workmen whom +misfortune has driven from the city, and you scattered tillers of the +soil, still kept out in the fields by groundless fear, listen! +Tranquillity is returning to this capital and order is being restored in +it. Your fellow countrymen are emerging boldly from their hiding places +on finding that they are respected. Any violence to them or to their +property is promptly punished. His Majesty the Emperor and King protects +them, and considers no one among you his enemy except those who disobey +his orders. He desires to end your misfortunes and restore you to your +homes and families. Respond, therefore, to his benevolent intentions and +come to us without fear. Inhabitants, return with confidence to your +abodes! You will soon find means of satisfying your needs. Craftsmen and +industrious artisans, return to your work, your houses, your shops, +where the protection of guards awaits you! You shall receive proper pay +for your work. And lastly you too, peasants, come from the forests where +you are hiding in terror, return to your huts without fear, in full +assurance that you will find protection! Markets are established in the +city where peasants can bring their surplus supplies and the products of +the soil. The government has taken the following steps to ensure freedom +of sale for them: (1) From today, peasants, husbandmen, and those living +in the neighborhood of Moscow may without any danger bring their +supplies of all kinds to two appointed markets, of which one is on the +Mokhovaya Street and the other at the Provision Market. (2) Such +supplies will be bought from them at such prices as seller and buyer may +agree on, and if a seller is unable to obtain a fair price he will be +free to take his goods back to his village and no one may hinder him +under any pretense. (3) Sunday and Wednesday of each week are appointed +as the chief market days and to that end a sufficient number of troops +will be stationed along the highroads on Tuesdays and Saturdays at such +distances from the town as to protect the carts. (4) Similar measures +will be taken that peasants with their carts and horses may meet with no +hindrance on their return journey. (5) Steps will immediately be taken +to re-establish ordinary trading. + +Inhabitants of the city and villages, and you, workingmen and artisans, +to whatever nation you belong, you are called on to carry out the +paternal intentions of His Majesty the Emperor and King and to co- +operate with him for the public welfare! Lay your respect and confidence +at his feet and do not delay to unite with us! + +With the object of raising the spirits of the troops and of the people, +reviews were constantly held and rewards distributed. The Emperor rode +through the streets to comfort the inhabitants, and, despite his +preoccupation with state affairs, himself visited the theaters that were +established by his order. + +In regard to philanthropy, the greatest virtue of crowned heads, +Napoleon also did all in his power. He caused the words Maison de ma +Mere to be inscribed on the charitable institutions, thereby combining +tender filial affection with the majestic benevolence of a monarch. He +visited the Foundling Hospital and, allowing the orphans saved by him to +kiss his white hands, graciously conversed with Tutolmin. Then, as +Thiers eloquently recounts, he ordered his soldiers to be paid in forged +Russian money which he had prepared: "Raising the use of these means by +an act worthy of himself and of the French army, he let relief be +distributed to those who had been burned out. But as food was too +precious to be given to foreigners, who were for the most part enemies, +Napoleon preferred to supply them with money with which to purchase food +from outside, and had paper rubles distributed to them." + +With reference to army discipline, orders were continually being issued +to inflict severe punishment for the nonperformance of military duties +and to suppress robbery. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +But strange to say, all these measures, efforts, and plans--which were +not at all worse than others issued in similar circumstances--did not +affect the essence of the matter but, like the hands of a clock detached +from the mechanism, swung about in an arbitrary and aimless way without +engaging the cogwheels. + +With reference to the military side--the plan of campaign--that work of +genius of which Thiers remarks that, "His genius never devised anything +more profound, more skillful, or more admirable," and enters into a +polemic with M. Fain to prove that this work of genius must be referred +not to the fourth but to the fifteenth of October--that plan never was +or could be executed, for it was quite out of touch with the facts of +the case. The fortifying of the Kremlin, for which la Mosquee (as +Napoleon termed the church of Basil the Beatified) was to have been +razed to the ground, proved quite useless. The mining of the Kremlin +only helped toward fulfilling Napoleon's wish that it should be blown up +when he left Moscow--as a child wants the floor on which he has hurt +himself to be beaten. The pursuit of the Russian army, about which +Napoleon was so concerned, produced an unheard-of result. The French +generals lost touch with the Russian army of sixty thousand men, and +according to Thiers it was only eventually found, like a lost pin, by +the skill--and apparently the genius--of Murat. + +With reference to diplomacy, all Napoleon's arguments as to his +magnanimity and justice, both to Tutolmin and to Yakovlev (whose chief +concern was to obtain a greatcoat and a conveyance), proved useless; +Alexander did not receive these envoys and did not reply to their +embassage. + +With regard to legal matters, after the execution of the supposed +incendiaries the rest of Moscow burned down. + +With regard to administrative matters, the establishment of a +municipality did not stop the robberies and was only of use to certain +people who formed part of that municipality and under pretext of +preserving order looted Moscow or saved their own property from being +looted. + +With regard to religion, as to which in Egypt matters had so easily been +settled by Napoleon's visit to a mosque, no results were achieved. Two +or three priests who were found in Moscow did try to carry out +Napoleon's wish, but one of them was slapped in the face by a French +soldier while conducting service, and a French official reported of +another that: "The priest whom I found and invited to say Mass cleaned +and locked up the church. That night the doors were again broken open, +the padlocks smashed, the books mutilated, and other disorders +perpetrated." + +With reference to commerce, the proclamation to industrious workmen and +to peasants evoked no response. There were no industrious workmen, and +the peasants caught the commissaries who ventured too far out of town +with the proclamation and killed them. + +As to the theaters for the entertainment of the people and the troops, +these did not meet with success either. The theaters set up in the +Kremlin and in Posnyakov's house were closed again at once because the +actors and actresses were robbed. + +Even philanthropy did not have the desired effect. The genuine as well +as the false paper money which flooded Moscow lost its value. The +French, collecting booty, cared only for gold. Not only was the paper +money valueless which Napoleon so graciously distributed to the +unfortunate, but even silver lost its value in relation to gold. + +But the most amazing example of the ineffectiveness of the orders given +by the authorities at that time was Napoleon's attempt to stop the +looting and re-establish discipline. + +This is what the army authorities were reporting: + +"Looting continues in the city despite the decrees against it. Order is +not yet restored and not a single merchant is carrying on trade in a +lawful manner. The sutlers alone venture to trade, and they sell stolen +goods." + +"The neighborhood of my ward continues to be pillaged by soldiers of the +3rd Corps who, not satisfied with taking from the unfortunate +inhabitants hiding in the cellars the little they have left, even have +the ferocity to wound them with their sabers, as I have repeatedly +witnessed." + +"Nothing new, except that the soldiers are robbing and pillaging-- +October 9." + +"Robbery and pillaging continue. There is a band of thieves in our +district who ought to be arrested by a strong force--October 11." + +"The Emperor is extremely displeased that despite the strict orders to +stop pillage, parties of marauding Guards are continually seen returning +to the Kremlin. Among the Old Guard disorder and pillage were renewed +more violently than ever yesterday evening, last night, and today. The +Emperor sees with regret that the picked soldiers appointed to guard his +person, who should set an example of discipline, carry disobedience to +such a point that they break into the cellars and stores containing army +supplies. Others have disgraced themselves to the extent of disobeying +sentinels and officers, and have abused and beaten them." + +"The Grand Marshal of the palace," wrote the governor, "complains +bitterly that in spite of repeated orders, the soldiers continue to +commit nuisances in all the courtyards and even under the very windows +of the Emperor." + +That army, like a herd of cattle run wild and trampling underfoot the +provender which might have saved it from starvation, disintegrated and +perished with each additional day it remained in Moscow. But it did not +go away. + +It began to run away only when suddenly seized by a panic caused by the +capture of transport trains on the Smolensk road, and by the battle of +Tarutino. The news of that battle of Tarutino, unexpectedly received by +Napoleon at a review, evoked in him a desire to punish the Russians +(Thiers says), and he issued the order for departure which the whole +army was demanding. + +Fleeing from Moscow the soldiers took with them everything they had +stolen. Napoleon, too, carried away his own personal tresor, but on +seeing the baggage trains that impeded the army, he was (Thiers says) +horror-struck. And yet with his experience of war he did not order all +the superfluous vehicles to be burned, as he had done with those of a +certain marshal when approaching Moscow. He gazed at the caleches and +carriages in which soldiers were riding and remarked that it was a very +good thing, as those vehicles could be used to carry provisions, the +sick, and the wounded. + +The plight of the whole army resembled that of a wounded animal which +feels it is perishing and does not know what it is doing. To study the +skillful tactics and aims of Napoleon and his army from the time it +entered Moscow till it was destroyed is like studying the dying leaps +and shudders of a mortally wounded animal. Very often a wounded animal, +hearing a rustle, rushes straight at the hunter's gun, runs forward and +back again, and hastens its own end. Napoleon, under pressure from his +whole army, did the same thing. The rustle of the battle of Tarutino +frightened the beast, and it rushed forward onto the hunter's gun, +reached him, turned back, and finally--like any wild beast--ran back +along the most disadvantageous and dangerous path, where the old scent +was familiar. + +During the whole of that period Napoleon, who seems to us to have been +the leader of all these movements--as the figurehead of a ship may seem +to a savage to guide the vessel--acted like a child who, holding a +couple of strings inside a carriage, thinks he is driving it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Early in the morning of the sixth of October Pierre went out of the +shed, and on returning stopped by the door to play with a little blue- +gray dog, with a long body and short bandy legs, that jumped about him. +This little dog lived in their shed, sleeping beside Karataev at night; +it sometimes made excursions into the town but always returned again. +Probably it had never had an owner, and it still belonged to nobody and +had no name. The French called it Azor; the soldier who told stories +called it Femgalka; Karataev and others called it Gray, or sometimes +Flabby. Its lack of a master, a name, or even of a breed or any definite +color did not seem to trouble the blue-gray dog in the least. Its furry +tail stood up firm and round as a plume, its bandy legs served it so +well that it would often gracefully lift a hind leg and run very easily +and quickly on three legs, as if disdaining to use all four. Everything +pleased it. Now it would roll on its back, yelping with delight, now +bask in the sun with a thoughtful air of importance, and now frolic +about playing with a chip of wood or a straw. + +Pierre's attire by now consisted of a dirty torn shirt (the only remnant +of his former clothing), a pair of soldier's trousers which by +Karataev's advice he tied with string round the ankles for warmth, and a +peasant coat and cap. Physically he had changed much during this time. +He no longer seemed stout, though he still had the appearance of +solidity and strength hereditary in his family. A beard and mustache +covered the lower part of his face, and a tangle of hair, infested with +lice, curled round his head like a cap. The look of his eyes was +resolute, calm, and animatedly alert, as never before. The former +slackness which had shown itself even in his eyes was now replaced by an +energetic readiness for action and resistance. His feet were bare. + +Pierre first looked down the field across which vehicles and horsemen +were passing that morning, then into the distance across the river, then +at the dog who was pretending to be in earnest about biting him, and +then at his bare feet which he placed with pleasure in various +positions, moving his dirty thick big toes. Every time he looked at his +bare feet a smile of animated self-satisfaction flitted across his face. +The sight of them reminded him of all he had experienced and learned +during these weeks and this recollection was pleasant to him. + +For some days the weather had been calm and clear with slight frosts in +the mornings--what is called an "old wives' summer." + +In the sunshine the air was warm, and that warmth was particularly +pleasant with the invigorating freshness of the morning frost still in +the air. + +On everything--far and near--lay the magic crystal glitter seen only at +that time of autumn. The Sparrow Hills were visible in the distance, +with the village, the church, and the large white house. The bare trees, +the sand, the bricks and roofs of the houses, the green church spire, +and the corners of the white house in the distance, all stood out in the +transparent air in most delicate outline and with unnatural clearness. +Near by could be seen the familiar ruins of a half-burned mansion +occupied by the French, with lilac bushes still showing dark green +beside the fence. And even that ruined and befouled house--which in dull +weather was repulsively ugly--seemed quietly beautiful now, in the +clear, motionless brilliance. + +A French corporal, with coat unbuttoned in a homely way, a skullcap on +his head, and a short pipe in his mouth, came from behind a corner of +the shed and approached Pierre with a friendly wink. + +"What sunshine, Monsieur Kiril!" (Their name for Pierre.) "Eh? Just like +spring!" + +And the corporal leaned against the door and offered Pierre his pipe, +though whenever he offered it Pierre always declined it. + +"To be on the march in such weather..." he began. + +Pierre inquired what was being said about leaving, and the corporal told +him that nearly all the troops were starting and there ought to be an +order about the prisoners that day. Sokolov, one of the soldiers in the +shed with Pierre, was dying, and Pierre told the corporal that something +should be done about him. The corporal replied that Pierre need not +worry about that as they had an ambulance and a permanent hospital and +arrangements would be made for the sick, and that in general everything +that could happen had been foreseen by the authorities. + +"Besides, Monsieur Kiril, you have only to say a word to the captain, +you know. He is a man who never forgets anything. Speak to the captain +when he makes his round, he will do anything for you." + +(The captain of whom the corporal spoke often had long chats with Pierre +and showed him all sorts of favors.) + +"'You see, St. Thomas,' he said to me the other day. 'Monsieur Kiril is +a man of education, who speaks French. He is a Russian seigneur who has +had misfortunes, but he is a man. He knows what's what.... If he wants +anything and asks me, he won't get a refusal. When one has studied, you +see, one likes education and well-bred people.' It is for your sake I +mention it, Monsieur Kiril. The other day if it had not been for you +that affair would have ended ill." + +And after chatting a while longer, the corporal went away. (The affair +he had alluded to had happened a few days before--a fight between the +prisoners and the French soldiers, in which Pierre had succeeded in +pacifying his comrades.) Some of the prisoners who had heard Pierre +talking to the corporal immediately asked what the Frenchman had said. +While Pierre was repeating what he had been told about the army leaving +Moscow, a thin, sallow, tattered French soldier came up to the door of +the shed. Rapidly and timidly raising his fingers to his forehead by way +of greeting, he asked Pierre whether the soldier Platoche to whom he had +given a shirt to sew was in that shed. + +A week before the French had had boot leather and linen issued to them, +which they had given out to the prisoners to make up into boots and +shirts for them. + +"Ready, ready, dear fellow!" said Karataev, coming out with a neatly +folded shirt. + +Karataev, on account of the warm weather and for convenience at work, +was wearing only trousers and a tattered shirt as black as soot. His +hair was bound round, workman fashion, with a wisp of lime-tree bast, +and his round face seemed rounder and pleasanter than ever. + +"A promise is own brother to performance! I said Friday and here it is, +ready," said Platon, smiling and unfolding the shirt he had sewn. + +The Frenchman glanced around uneasily and then, as if overcoming his +hesitation, rapidly threw off his uniform and put on the shirt. He had a +long, greasy, flowered silk waistcoat next to his sallow, thin bare +body, but no shirt. He was evidently afraid the prisoners looking on +would laugh at him, and thrust his head into the shirt hurriedly. None +of the prisoners said a word. + +"See, it fits well!" Platon kept repeating, pulling the shirt straight. + +The Frenchman, having pushed his head and hands through, without raising +his eyes, looked down at the shirt and examined the seams. + +"You see, dear man, this is not a sewing shop, and I had no proper +tools; and, as they say, one needs a tool even to kill a louse," said +Platon with one of his round smiles, obviously pleased with his work. + +"It's good, quite good, thank you," said the Frenchman, in French, "but +there must be some linen left over." + +"It will fit better still when it sets to your body," said Karataev, +still admiring his handiwork. "You'll be nice and comfortable...." + +"Thanks, thanks, old fellow.... But the bits left over?" said the +Frenchman again and smiled. He took out an assignation ruble note and +gave it to Karataev. "But give me the pieces that are over." + +Pierre saw that Platon did not want to understand what the Frenchman was +saying, and he looked on without interfering. Karataev thanked the +Frenchman for the money and went on admiring his own work. The Frenchman +insisted on having the pieces returned that were left over and asked +Pierre to translate what he said. + +"What does he want the bits for?" said Karataev. "They'd make fine leg +bands for us. Well, never mind." + +And Karataev, with a suddenly changed and saddened expression, took a +small bundle of scraps from inside his shirt and gave it to the +Frenchman without looking at him. "Oh dear!" muttered Karataev and went +away. The Frenchman looked at the linen, considered for a moment, then +looked inquiringly at Pierre and, as if Pierre's look had told him +something, suddenly blushed and shouted in a squeaky voice: + +"Platoche! Eh, Platoche! Keep them yourself!" And handing back the odd +bits he turned and went out. + +"There, look at that," said Karataev, swaying his head. "People said +they were not Christians, but they too have souls. It's what the old +folk used to say: 'A sweating hand's an open hand, a dry hand's close.' +He's naked, but yet he's given it back." + +Karataev smiled thoughtfully and was silent awhile looking at the +pieces. + +"But they'll make grand leg bands, dear friend," he said, and went back +into the shed. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Four weeks had passed since Pierre had been taken prisoner and though +the French had offered to move him from the men's to the officers' shed, +he had stayed in the shed where he was first put. + +In burned and devastated Moscow Pierre experienced almost the extreme +limits of privation a man can endure; but thanks to his physical +strength and health, of which he had till then been unconscious, and +thanks especially to the fact that the privations came so gradually that +it was impossible to say when they began, he endured his position not +only lightly but joyfully. And just at this time he obtained the +tranquillity and ease of mind he had formerly striven in vain to reach. +He had long sought in different ways that tranquillity of mind, that +inner harmony which had so impressed him in the soldiers at the battle +of Borodino. He had sought it in philanthropy, in Freemasonry, in the +dissipations of town life, in wine, in heroic feats of self-sacrifice, +and in romantic love for Natasha; he had sought it by reasoning--and all +these quests and experiments had failed him. And now without thinking +about it he had found that peace and inner harmony only through the +horror of death, through privation, and through what he recognized in +Karataev. + +Those dreadful moments he had lived through at the executions had as it +were forever washed away from his imagination and memory the agitating +thoughts and feelings that had formerly seemed so important. It did not +now occur to him to think of Russia, or the war, or politics, or +Napoleon. It was plain to him that all these things were no business of +his, and that he was not called on to judge concerning them and +therefore could not do so. "Russia and summer weather are not bound +together," he thought, repeating words of Karataev's which he found +strangely consoling. His intention of killing Napoleon and his +calculations of the cabalistic number of the beast of the Apocalypse now +seemed to him meaningless and even ridiculous. His anger with his wife +and anxiety that his name should not be smirched now seemed not merely +trivial but even amusing. What concern was it of his that somewhere or +other that woman was leading the life she preferred? What did it matter +to anybody, and especially to him, whether or not they found out that +their prisoner's name was Count Bezukhov? + +He now often remembered his conversation with Prince Andrew and quite +agreed with him, though he understood Prince Andrew's thoughts somewhat +differently. Prince Andrew had thought and said that happiness could +only be negative, but had said it with a shade of bitterness and irony +as though he was really saying that all desire for positive happiness is +implanted in us merely to torment us and never be satisfied. But Pierre +believed it without any mental reservation. The absence of suffering, +the satisfaction of one's needs and consequent freedom in the choice of +one's occupation, that is, of one's way of life, now seemed to Pierre to +be indubitably man's highest happiness. Here and now for the first time +he fully appreciated the enjoyment of eating when he wanted to eat, +drinking when he wanted to drink, sleeping when he wanted to sleep, of +warmth when he was cold, of talking to a fellow man when he wished to +talk and to hear a human voice. The satisfaction of one's needs--good +food, cleanliness, and freedom--now that he was deprived of all this, +seemed to Pierre to constitute perfect happiness; and the choice of +occupation, that is, of his way of life--now that that was so +restricted--seemed to him such an easy matter that he forgot that a +superfluity of the comforts of life destroys all joy in satisfying one's +needs, while great freedom in the choice of occupation--such freedom as +his wealth, his education, and his social position had given him in his +own life--is just what makes the choice of occupation insolubly +difficult and destroys the desire and possibility of having an +occupation. + +All Pierre's daydreams now turned on the time when he would be free. Yet +subsequently, and for the rest of his life, he thought and spoke with +enthusiasm of that month of captivity, of those irrecoverable, strong, +joyful sensations, and chiefly of the complete peace of mind and inner +freedom which he experienced only during those weeks. + +When on the first day he got up early, went out of the shed at dawn, and +saw the cupolas and crosses of the New Convent of the Virgin still dark +at first, the hoarfrost on the dusty grass, the Sparrow Hills, and the +wooded banks above the winding river vanishing in the purple distance, +when he felt the contact of the fresh air and heard the noise of the +crows flying from Moscow across the field, and when afterwards light +gleamed from the east and the sun's rim appeared solemnly from behind a +cloud, and the cupolas and crosses, the hoarfrost, the distance and the +river, all began to sparkle in the glad light--Pierre felt a new joy and +strength in life such as he had never before known. And this not only +stayed with him during the whole of his imprisonment, but even grew in +strength as the hardships of his position increased. + +That feeling of alertness and of readiness for anything was still +further strengthened in him by the high opinion his fellow prisoners +formed of him soon after his arrival at the shed. With his knowledge of +languages, the respect shown him by the French, his simplicity, his +readiness to give anything asked of him (he received the allowance of +three rubles a week made to officers); with his strength, which he +showed to the soldiers by pressing nails into the walls of the hut; his +gentleness to his companions, and his capacity for sitting still and +thinking without doing anything (which seemed to them incomprehensible), +he appeared to them a rather mysterious and superior being. The very +qualities that had been a hindrance, if not actually harmful, to him in +the world he had lived in--his strength, his disdain for the comforts of +life, his absent-mindedness and simplicity--here among these people gave +him almost the status of a hero. And Pierre felt that their opinion +placed responsibilities upon him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +The French evacuation began on the night between the sixth and seventh +of October: kitchens and sheds were dismantled, carts loaded, and troops +and baggage trains started. + +At seven in the morning a French convoy in marching trim, wearing shakos +and carrying muskets, knapsacks, and enormous sacks, stood in front of +the sheds, and animated French talk mingled with curses sounded all +along the lines. + +In the shed everyone was ready, dressed, belted, shod, and only awaited +the order to start. The sick soldier, Sokolov, pale and thin with dark +shadows round his eyes, alone sat in his place barefoot and not dressed. +His eyes, prominent from the emaciation of his face, gazed inquiringly +at his comrades who were paying no attention to him, and he moaned +regularly and quietly. It was evidently not so much his sufferings that +caused him to moan (he had dysentery) as his fear and grief at being +left alone. + +Pierre, girt with a rope round his waist and wearing shoes Karataev had +made for him from some leather a French soldier had torn off a tea chest +and brought to have his boots mended with, went up to the sick man and +squatted down beside him. + +"You know, Sokolov, they are not all going away! They have a hospital +here. You may be better off than we others," said Pierre. + +"O Lord! Oh, it will be the death of me! O Lord!" moaned the man in a +louder voice. + +"I'll go and ask them again directly," said Pierre, rising and going to +the door of the shed. + +Just as Pierre reached the door, the corporal who had offered him a pipe +the day before came up to it with two soldiers. The corporal and +soldiers were in marching kit with knapsacks and shakos that had metal +straps, and these changed their familiar faces. + +The corporal came, according to orders, to shut the door. The prisoners +had to be counted before being let out. + +"Corporal, what will they do with the sick man?..." Pierre began. + +But even as he spoke he began to doubt whether this was the corporal he +knew or a stranger, so unlike himself did the corporal seem at that +moment. Moreover, just as Pierre was speaking a sharp rattle of drums +was suddenly heard from both sides. The corporal frowned at Pierre's +words and, uttering some meaningless oaths, slammed the door. The shed +became semidark, and the sharp rattle of the drums on two sides drowned +the sick man's groans. + +"There it is!... It again!..." said Pierre to himself, and an +involuntary shudder ran down his spine. In the corporal's changed face, +in the sound of his voice, in the stirring and deafening noise of the +drums, he recognized that mysterious, callous force which compelled +people against their will to kill their fellow men--that force the +effect of which he had witnessed during the executions. To fear or to +try to escape that force, to address entreaties or exhortations to those +who served as its tools, was useless. Pierre knew this now. One had to +wait and endure. He did not again go to the sick man, nor turn to look +at him, but stood frowning by the door of the hut. + +When that door was opened and the prisoners, crowding against one +another like a flock of sheep, squeezed into the exit, Pierre pushed his +way forward and approached that very captain who as the corporal had +assured him was ready to do anything for him. The captain was also in +marching kit, and on his cold face appeared that same it which Pierre +had recognized in the corporal's words and in the roll of the drums. + +"Pass on, pass on!" the captain reiterated, frowning sternly, and +looking at the prisoners who thronged past him. + +Pierre went up to him, though he knew his attempt would be vain. + +"What now?" the officer asked with a cold look as if not recognizing +Pierre. + +Pierre told him about the sick man. + +"He'll manage to walk, devil take him!" said the captain. "Pass on, pass +on!" he continued without looking at Pierre. + +"But he is dying," Pierre again began. + +"Be so good..." shouted the captain, frowning angrily. + +"Dram-da-da-dam, dam-dam..." rattled the drums, and Pierre understood +that this mysterious force completely controlled these men and that it +was now useless to say any more. + +The officer prisoners were separated from the soldiers and told to march +in front. There were about thirty officers, with Pierre among them, and +about three hundred men. + +The officers, who had come from the other sheds, were all strangers to +Pierre and much better dressed than he. They looked at him and at his +shoes mistrustfully, as at an alien. Not far from him walked a fat major +with a sallow, bloated, angry face, who was wearing a Kazan dressing +gown tied round with a towel, and who evidently enjoyed the respect of +his fellow prisoners. He kept one hand, in which he clasped his tobacco +pouch, inside the bosom of his dressing gown and held the stem of his +pipe firmly with the other. Panting and puffing, the major grumbled and +growled at everybody because he thought he was being pushed and that +they were all hurrying when they had nowhere to hurry to and were all +surprised at something when there was nothing to be surprised at. +Another, a thin little officer, was speaking to everyone, conjecturing +where they were now being taken and how far they would get that day. An +official in felt boots and wearing a commissariat uniform ran round from +side to side and gazed at the ruins of Moscow, loudly announcing his +observations as to what had been burned down and what this or that part +of the city was that they could see. A third officer, who by his accent +was a Pole, disputed with the commissariat officer, arguing that he was +mistaken in his identification of the different wards of Moscow. + +"What are you disputing about?" said the major angrily. "What does it +matter whether it is St. Nicholas or St. Blasius? You see it's burned +down, and there's an end of it.... What are you pushing for? Isn't the +road wide enough?" said he, turning to a man behind him who was not +pushing him at all. + +"Oh, oh, oh! What have they done?" the prisoners on one side and another +were heard saying as they gazed on the charred ruins. "All beyond the +river, and Zubova, and in the Kremlin.... Just look! There's not half of +it left. Yes, I told you--the whole quarter beyond the river, and so it +is." + +"Well, you know it's burned, so what's the use of talking?" said the +major. + +As they passed near a church in the Khamovniki (one of the few unburned +quarters of Moscow) the whole mass of prisoners suddenly started to one +side and exclamations of horror and disgust were heard. + +"Ah, the villains! What heathens! Yes; dead, dead, so he is... And +smeared with something!" + +Pierre too drew near the church where the thing was that evoked these +exclamations, and dimly made out something leaning against the palings +surrounding the church. From the words of his comrades who saw better +than he did, he found that this was the body of a man, set upright +against the palings with its face smeared with soot. + +"Go on! What the devil... Go on! Thirty thousand devils!..." the convoy +guards began cursing and the French soldiers, with fresh virulence, +drove away with their swords the crowd of prisoners who were gazing at +the dead man. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Through the cross streets of the Khamovniki quarter the prisoners +marched, followed only by their escort and the vehicles and wagons +belonging to that escort, but when they reached the supply stores they +came among a huge and closely packed train of artillery mingled with +private vehicles. + +At the bridge they all halted, waiting for those in front to get across. +From the bridge they had a view of endless lines of moving baggage +trains before and behind them. To the right, where the Kaluga road turns +near Neskuchny, endless rows of troops and carts stretched away into the +distance. These were troops of Beauharnais' corps which had started +before any of the others. Behind, along the riverside and across the +Stone Bridge, were Ney's troops and transport. + +Davout's troops, in whose charge were the prisoners, were crossing the +Crimean bridge and some were already debouching into the Kaluga road. +But the baggage trains stretched out so that the last of Beauharnais' +train had not yet got out of Moscow and reached the Kaluga road when the +vanguard of Ney's army was already emerging from the Great Ordynka +Street. + +When they had crossed the Crimean bridge the prisoners moved a few steps +forward, halted, and again moved on, and from all sides vehicles and men +crowded closer and closer together. They advanced the few hundred paces +that separated the bridge from the Kaluga road, taking more than an hour +to do so, and came out upon the square where the streets of the +Transmoskva ward and the Kaluga road converge, and the prisoners jammed +close together had to stand for some hours at that crossway. From all +sides, like the roar of the sea, were heard the rattle of wheels, the +tramp of feet, and incessant shouts of anger and abuse. Pierre stood +pressed against the wall of a charred house, listening to that noise +which mingled in his imagination with the roll of the drums. + +To get a better view, several officer prisoners climbed onto the wall of +the half-burned house against which Pierre was leaning. + +"What crowds! Just look at the crowds!... They've loaded goods even on +the cannon! Look there, those are furs!" they exclaimed. "Just see what +the blackguards have looted.... There! See what that one has behind in +the cart.... Why, those are settings taken from some icons, by +heaven!... Oh, the rascals!... See how that fellow has loaded himself +up, he can hardly walk! Good lord, they've even grabbed those +chaises!... See that fellow there sitting on the trunks.... Heavens! +They're fighting." + +"That's right, hit him on the snout--on his snout! Like this, we shan't +get away before evening. Look, look there.... Why, that must be +Napoleon's own. See what horses! And the monograms with a crown! It's +like a portable house.... That fellow's dropped his sack and doesn't see +it. Fighting again... A woman with a baby, and not bad-looking either! +Yes, I dare say, that's the way they'll let you pass... Just look, +there's no end to it. Russian wenches, by heaven, so they are! In +carriages--see how comfortably they've settled themselves!" + +Again, as at the church in Khamovniki, a wave of general curiosity bore +all the prisoners forward onto the road, and Pierre, thanks to his +stature, saw over the heads of the others what so attracted their +curiosity. In three carriages involved among the munition carts, closely +squeezed together, sat women with rouged faces, dressed in glaring +colors, who were shouting something in shrill voices. + +From the moment Pierre had recognized the appearance of the mysterious +force nothing had seemed to him strange or dreadful: neither the corpse +smeared with soot for fun nor these women hurrying away nor the burned +ruins of Moscow. All that he now witnessed scarcely made an impression +on him--as if his soul, making ready for a hard struggle, refused to +receive impressions that might weaken it. + +The women's vehicles drove by. Behind them came more carts, soldiers, +wagons, soldiers, gun carriages, carriages, soldiers, ammunition carts, +more soldiers, and now and then women. + +Pierre did not see the people as individuals but saw their movement. + +All these people and horses seemed driven forward by some invisible +power. During the hour Pierre watched them they all came flowing from +the different streets with one and the same desire to get on quickly; +they all jostled one another, began to grow angry and to fight, white +teeth gleamed, brows frowned, ever the same words of abuse flew from +side to side, and all the faces bore the same swaggeringly resolute and +coldly cruel expression that had struck Pierre that morning on the +corporal's face when the drums were beating. + +It was not till nearly evening that the officer commanding the escort +collected his men and with shouts and quarrels forced his way in among +the baggage trains, and the prisoners, hemmed in on all sides, emerged +onto the Kaluga road. + +They marched very quickly, without resting, and halted only when the sun +began to set. The baggage carts drew up close together and the men began +to prepare for their night's rest. They all appeared angry and +dissatisfied. For a long time, oaths, angry shouts, and fighting could +be heard from all sides. A carriage that followed the escort ran into +one of the carts and knocked a hole in it with its pole. Several +soldiers ran toward the cart from different sides: some beat the +carriage horses on their heads, turning them aside, others fought among +themselves, and Pierre saw that one German was badly wounded on the head +by a sword. + +It seemed that all these men, now that they had stopped amid fields in +the chill dusk of the autumn evening, experienced one and the same +feeling of unpleasant awakening from the hurry and eagerness to push on +that had seized them at the start. Once at a standstill they all seemed +to understand that they did not yet know where they were going, and that +much that was painful and difficult awaited them on this journey. + +During this halt the escort treated the prisoners even worse than they +had done at the start. It was here that the prisoners for the first time +received horseflesh for their meat ration. + +From the officer down to the lowest soldier they showed what seemed like +personal spite against each of the prisoners, in unexpected contrast to +their former friendly relations. + +This spite increased still more when, on calling over the roll of +prisoners, it was found that in the bustle of leaving Moscow one Russian +soldier, who had pretended to suffer from colic, had escaped. Pierre saw +a Frenchman beat a Russian soldier cruelly for straying too far from the +road, and heard his friend the captain reprimand and threaten to court- +martial a noncommissioned officer on account of the escape of the +Russian. To the noncommissioned officer's excuse that the prisoner was +ill and could not walk, the officer replied that the order was to shoot +those who lagged behind. Pierre felt that that fatal force which had +crushed him during the executions, but which he had not felt during his +imprisonment, now again controlled his existence. It was terrible, but +he felt that in proportion to the efforts of that fatal force to crush +him, there grew and strengthened in his soul a power of life independent +of it. + +He ate his supper of buckwheat soup with horseflesh and chatted with his +comrades. + +Neither Pierre nor any of the others spoke of what they had seen in +Moscow, or of the roughness of their treatment by the French, or of the +order to shoot them which had been announced to them. As if in reaction +against the worsening of their position they were all particularly +animated and gay. They spoke of personal reminiscences, of amusing +scenes they had witnessed during the campaign, and avoided all talk of +their present situation. + +The sun had set long since. Bright stars shone out here and there in the +sky. A red glow as of a conflagration spread above the horizon from the +rising full moon, and that vast red ball swayed strangely in the gray +haze. It grew light. The evening was ending, but the night had not yet +come. Pierre got up and left his new companions, crossing between the +campfires to the other side of the road where he had been told the +common soldier prisoners were stationed. He wanted to talk to them. On +the road he was stopped by a French sentinel who ordered him back. + +Pierre turned back, not to his companions by the campfire, but to an +unharnessed cart where there was nobody. Tucking his legs under him and +dropping his head he sat down on the cold ground by the wheel of the +cart and remained motionless a long while sunk in thought. Suddenly he +burst out into a fit of his broad, good-natured laughter, so loud that +men from various sides turned with surprise to see what this strange and +evidently solitary laughter could mean. + +"Ha-ha-ha!" laughed Pierre. And he said aloud to himself: "The soldier +did not let me pass. They took me and shut me up. They hold me captive. +What, me? Me? My immortal soul? Ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha!..." and he laughed +till tears started to his eyes. + +A man got up and came to see what this queer big fellow was laughing at +all by himself. Pierre stopped laughing, got up, went farther away from +the inquisitive man, and looked around him. + +The huge, endless bivouac that had previously resounded with the +crackling of campfires and the voices of many men had grown quiet, the +red campfires were growing paler and dying down. High up in the light +sky hung the full moon. Forests and fields beyond the camp, unseen +before, were now visible in the distance. And farther still, beyond +those forests and fields, the bright, oscillating, limitless distance +lured one to itself. Pierre glanced up at the sky and the twinkling +stars in its faraway depths. "And all that is me, all that is within me, +and it is all I!" thought Pierre. "And they caught all that and put it +into a shed boarded up with planks!" He smiled, and went and lay down to +sleep beside his companions. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +In the early days of October another envoy came to Kutuzov with a letter +from Napoleon proposing peace and falsely dated from Moscow, though +Napoleon was already not far from Kutuzov on the old Kaluga road. +Kutuzov replied to this letter as he had done to the one formerly +brought by Lauriston, saying that there could be no question of peace. + +Soon after that a report was received from Dorokhov's guerrilla +detachment operating to the left of Tarutino that troops of Broussier's +division had been seen at Forminsk and that being separated from the +rest of the French army they might easily be destroyed. The soldiers and +officers again demanded action. Generals on the staff, excited by the +memory of the easy victory at Tarutino, urged Kutuzov to carry out +Dorokhov's suggestion. Kutuzov did not consider any offensive necessary. +The result was a compromise which was inevitable: a small detachment was +sent to Forminsk to attack Broussier. + +By a strange coincidence, this task, which turned out to be a most +difficult and important one, was entrusted to Dokhturov--that same +modest little Dokhturov whom no one had described to us as drawing up +plans of battles, dashing about in front of regiments, showering crosses +on batteries, and so on, and who was thought to be and was spoken of as +undecided and undiscerning--but whom we find commanding wherever the +position was most difficult all through the Russo-French wars from +Austerlitz to the year 1813. At Austerlitz he remained last at the +Augezd dam, rallying the regiments, saving what was possible when all +were flying and perishing and not a single general was left in the rear +guard. Ill with fever he went to Smolensk with twenty thousand men to +defend the town against Napoleon's whole army. In Smolensk, at the +Malakhov Gate, he had hardly dozed off in a paroxysm of fever before he +was awakened by the bombardment of the town--and Smolensk held out all +day long. At the battle of Borodino, when Bagration was killed and nine +tenths of the men of our left flank had fallen and the full force of the +French artillery fire was directed against it, the man sent there was +this same irresolute and undiscerning Dokhturov--Kutuzov hastening to +rectify a mistake he had made by sending someone else there first. And +the quiet little Dokhturov rode thither, and Borodino became the +greatest glory of the Russian army. Many heroes have been described to +us in verse and prose, but of Dokhturov scarcely a word has been said. + +It was Dokhturov again whom they sent to Forminsk and from there to +Malo-Yaroslavets, the place where the last battle with the French was +fought and where the obvious disintegration of the French army began; +and we are told of many geniuses and heroes of that period of the +campaign, but of Dokhturov nothing or very little is said and that +dubiously. And this silence about Dokhturov is the clearest testimony to +his merit. + +It is natural for a man who does not understand the workings of a +machine to imagine that a shaving that has fallen into it by chance and +is interfering with its action and tossing about in it is its most +important part. The man who does not understand the construction of the +machine cannot conceive that the small connecting cogwheel which +revolves quietly is one of the most essential parts of the machine, and +not the shaving which merely harms and hinders the working. + +On the tenth of October when Dokhturov had gone halfway to Forminsk and +stopped at the village of Aristovo, preparing faithfully to execute the +orders he had received, the whole French army having, in its convulsive +movement, reached Murat's position apparently in order to give battle-- +suddenly without any reason turned off to the left onto the new Kaluga +road and began to enter Forminsk, where only Broussier had been till +then. At that time Dokhturov had under his command, besides Dorokhov's +detachment, the two small guerrilla detachments of Figner and Seslavin. + +On the evening of October 11 Seslavin came to the Aristovo headquarters +with a French guardsman he had captured. The prisoner said that the +troops that had entered Forminsk that day were the vanguard of the whole +army, that Napoleon was there and the whole army had left Moscow four +days previously. That same evening a house serf who had come from +Borovsk said he had seen an immense army entering the town. Some +Cossacks of Dokhturov's detachment reported having sighted the French +Guards marching along the road to Borovsk. From all these reports it was +evident that where they had expected to meet a single division there was +now the whole French army marching from Moscow in an unexpected +direction--along the Kaluga road. Dokhturov was unwilling to undertake +any action, as it was not clear to him now what he ought to do. He had +been ordered to attack Forminsk. But only Broussier had been there at +that time and now the whole French army was there. Ermolov wished to act +on his own judgment, but Dokhturov insisted that he must have Kutuzov's +instructions. So it was decided to send a dispatch to the staff. + +For this purpose a capable officer, Bolkhovitinov, was chosen, who was +to explain the whole affair by word of mouth, besides delivering a +written report. Toward midnight Bolkhovitinov, having received the +dispatch and verbal instructions, galloped off to the General Staff +accompanied by a Cossack with spare horses. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +It was a warm, dark, autumn night. It had been raining for four days. +Having changed horses twice and galloped twenty miles in an hour and a +half over a sticky, muddy road, Bolkhovitinov reached Litashevka after +one o'clock at night. Dismounting at a cottage on whose wattle fence +hung a signboard, GENERAL STAFF, and throwing down his reins, he entered +a dark passage. + +"The general on duty, quick! It's very important!" said he to someone +who had risen and was sniffing in the dark passage. + +"He has been very unwell since the evening and this is the third night +he has not slept," said the orderly pleadingly in a whisper. "You should +wake the captain first." + +"But this is very important, from General Dokhturov," said +Bolkhovitinov, entering the open door which he had found by feeling in +the dark. + +The orderly had gone in before him and began waking somebody. + +"Your honor, your honor! A courier." + +"What? What's that? From whom?" came a sleepy voice. + +"From Dokhturov and from Alexey Petrovich. Napoleon is at Forminsk," +said Bolkhovitinov, unable to see in the dark who was speaking but +guessing by the voice that it was not Konovnitsyn. + +The man who had wakened yawned and stretched himself. + +"I don't like waking him," he said, fumbling for something. "He is very +ill. Perhaps this is only a rumor." + +"Here is the dispatch," said Bolkhovitinov. "My orders are to give it at +once to the general on duty." + +"Wait a moment, I'll light a candle. You damned rascal, where do you +always hide it?" said the voice of the man who was stretching himself, +to the orderly. (This was Shcherbinin, Konovnitsyn's adjutant.) "I've +found it, I've found it!" he added. + +The orderly was striking a light and Shcherbinin was fumbling for +something on the candlestick. + +"Oh, the nasty beasts!" said he with disgust. + +By the light of the sparks Bolkhovitinov saw Shcherbinin's youthful face +as he held the candle, and the face of another man who was still asleep. +This was Konovnitsyn. + +When the flame of the sulphur splinters kindled by the tinder burned up, +first blue and then red, Shcherbinin lit the tallow candle, from the +candlestick of which the cockroaches that had been gnawing it were +running away, and looked at the messenger. Bolkhovitinov was bespattered +all over with mud and had smeared his face by wiping it with his sleeve. + +"Who gave the report?" inquired Shcherbinin, taking the envelope. + +"The news is reliable," said Bolkhovitinov. "Prisoners, Cossacks, and +the scouts all say the same thing." + +"There's nothing to be done, we'll have to wake him," said Shcherbinin, +rising and going up to the man in the nightcap who lay covered by a +greatcoat. "Peter Petrovich!" said he. (Konovnitsyn did not stir.) "To +the General Staff!" he said with a smile, knowing that those words would +be sure to arouse him. + +And in fact the head in the nightcap was lifted at once. On +Konovnitsyn's handsome, resolute face with cheeks flushed by fever, +there still remained for an instant a faraway dreamy expression remote +from present affairs, but then he suddenly started and his face assumed +its habitual calm and firm appearance. + +"Well, what is it? From whom?" he asked immediately but without hurry, +blinking at the light. + +While listening to the officer's report Konovnitsyn broke the seal and +read the dispatch. Hardly had he done so before he lowered his legs in +their woolen stockings to the earthen floor and began putting on his +boots. Then he took off his nightcap, combed his hair over his temples, +and donned his cap. + +"Did you get here quickly? Let us go to his Highness." + +Konovnitsyn had understood at once that the news brought was of great +importance and that no time must be lost. He did not consider or ask +himself whether the news was good or bad. That did not interest him. He +regarded the whole business of the war not with his intelligence or his +reason but by something else. There was within him a deep unexpressed +conviction that all would be well, but that one must not trust to this +and still less speak about it, but must only attend to one's own work. +And he did his work, giving his whole strength to the task. + +Peter Petrovich Konovnitsyn, like Dokhturov, seems to have been included +merely for propriety's sake in the list of the so-called heroes of 1812- +-the Barclays, Raevskis, Ermolovs, Platovs, and Miloradoviches. Like +Dokhturov he had the reputation of being a man of very limited capacity +and information, and like Dokhturov he never made plans of battle but +was always found where the situation was most difficult. Since his +appointment as general on duty he had always slept with his door open, +giving orders that every messenger should be allowed to wake him up. In +battle he was always under fire, so that Kutuzov reproved him for it and +feared to send him to the front, and like Dokhturov he was one of those +unnoticed cogwheels that, without clatter or noise, constitute the most +essential part of the machine. + +Coming out of the hut into the damp, dark night Konovnitsyn frowned-- +partly from an increased pain in his head and partly at the unpleasant +thought that occurred to him, of how all that nest of influential men on +the staff would be stirred up by this news, especially Bennigsen, who +ever since Tarutino had been at daggers drawn with Kutuzov; and how they +would make suggestions, quarrel, issue orders, and rescind them. And +this premonition was disagreeable to him though he knew it could not be +helped. + +And in fact Toll, to whom he went to communicate the news, immediately +began to expound his plans to a general sharing his quarters, until +Konovnitsyn, who listened in weary silence, reminded him that they must +go to see his Highness. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Kutuzov like all old people did not sleep much at night. He often fell +asleep unexpectedly in the daytime, but at night, lying on his bed +without undressing, he generally remained awake thinking. + +So he lay now on his bed, supporting his large, heavy, scarred head on +his plump hand, with his one eye open, meditating and peering into the +darkness. + +Since Bennigsen, who corresponded with the Emperor and had more +influence than anyone else on the staff, had begun to avoid him, Kutuzov +was more at ease as to the possibility of himself and his troops being +obliged to take part in useless aggressive movements. The lesson of the +Tarutino battle and of the day before it, which Kutuzov remembered with +pain, must, he thought, have some effect on others too. + +"They must understand that we can only lose by taking the offensive. +Patience and time are my warriors, my champions," thought Kutuzov. He +knew that an apple should not be plucked while it is green. It will fall +of itself when ripe, but if picked unripe the apple is spoiled, the tree +is harmed, and your teeth are set on edge. Like an experienced sportsman +he knew that the beast was wounded, and wounded as only the whole +strength of Russia could have wounded it, but whether it was mortally +wounded or not was still an undecided question. Now by the fact of +Lauriston and Barthelemi having been sent, and by the reports of the +guerrillas, Kutuzov was almost sure that the wound was mortal. But he +needed further proofs and it was necessary to wait. + +"They want to run to see how they have wounded it. Wait and we shall +see! Continual maneuvers, continual advances!" thought he. "What for? +Only to distinguish themselves! As if fighting were fun. They are like +children from whom one can't get any sensible account of what has +happened because they all want to show how well they can fight. But +that's not what is needed now. + +"And what ingenious maneuvers they all propose to me! It seems to them +that when they have thought of two or three contingencies" (he +remembered the general plan sent him from Petersburg) "they have +foreseen everything. But the contingencies are endless." + +The undecided question as to whether the wound inflicted at Borodino was +mortal or not had hung over Kutuzov's head for a whole month. On the one +hand the French had occupied Moscow. On the other Kutuzov felt assured +with all his being that the terrible blow into which he and all the +Russians had put their whole strength must have been mortal. But in any +case proofs were needed; he had waited a whole month for them and grew +more impatient the longer he waited. Lying on his bed during those +sleepless nights he did just what he reproached those younger generals +for doing. He imagined all sorts of possible contingencies, just like +the younger men, but with this difference, that he saw thousands of +contingencies instead of two or three and based nothing on them. The +longer he thought the more contingencies presented themselves. He +imagined all sorts of movements of the Napoleonic army as a whole or in +sections--against Petersburg, or against him, or to outflank him. He +thought too of the possibility (which he feared most of all) that +Napoleon might fight him with his own weapon and remain in Moscow +awaiting him. Kutuzov even imagined that Napoleon's army might turn back +through Medyn and Yukhnov, but the one thing he could not foresee was +what happened--the insane, convulsive stampede of Napoleon's army during +its first eleven days after leaving Moscow: a stampede which made +possible what Kutuzov had not yet even dared to think of--the complete +extermination of the French. Dorokhov's report about Broussier's +division, the guerrillas' reports of distress in Napoleon's army, rumors +of preparations for leaving Moscow, all confirmed the supposition that +the French army was beaten and preparing for flight. But these were only +suppositions, which seemed important to the younger men but not to +Kutuzov. With his sixty years' experience he knew what value to attach +to rumors, knew how apt people who desire anything are to group all news +so that it appears to confirm what they desire, and he knew how readily +in such cases they omit all that makes for the contrary. And the more he +desired it the less he allowed himself to believe it. This question +absorbed all his mental powers. All else was to him only life's +customary routine. To such customary routine belonged his conversations +with the staff, the letters he wrote from Tarutino to Madame de Stael, +the reading of novels, the distribution of awards, his correspondence +with Petersburg, and so on. But the destruction of the French, which he +alone foresaw, was his heart's one desire. + +On the night of the eleventh of October he lay leaning on his arm and +thinking of that. + +There was a stir in the next room and he heard the steps of Toll, +Konovnitsyn, and Bolkhovitinov. + +"Eh, who's there? Come in, come in! What news?" the field marshal called +out to them. + +While a footman was lighting a candle, Toll communicated the substance +of the news. + +"Who brought it?" asked Kutuzov with a look which, when the candle was +lit, struck Toll by its cold severity. + +"There can be no doubt about it, your Highness." + +"Call him in, call him here." + +Kutuzov sat up with one leg hanging down from the bed and his big paunch +resting against the other which was doubled under him. He screwed up his +seeing eye to scrutinize the messenger more carefully, as if wishing to +read in his face what preoccupied his own mind. + +"Tell me, tell me, friend," said he to Bolkhovitinov in his low, aged +voice, as he pulled together the shirt which gaped open on his chest, +"come nearer--nearer. What news have you brought me? Eh? That Napoleon +has left Moscow? Are you sure? Eh?" + +Bolkhovitinov gave a detailed account from the beginning of all he had +been told to report. + +"Speak quicker, quicker! Don't torture me!" Kutuzov interrupted him. + +Bolkhovitinov told him everything and was then silent, awaiting +instructions. Toll was beginning to say something but Kutuzov checked +him. He tried to say something, but his face suddenly puckered and +wrinkled; he waved his arm at Toll and turned to the opposite side of +the room, to the corner darkened by the icons that hung there. + +"O Lord, my Creator, Thou has heard our prayer..." said he in a +tremulous voice with folded hands. "Russia is saved. I thank Thee, O +Lord!" and he wept. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +From the time he received this news to the end of the campaign all +Kutuzov's activity was directed toward restraining his troops, by +authority, by guile, and by entreaty, from useless attacks, maneuvers, +or encounters with the perishing enemy. Dokhturov went to Malo- +Yaroslavets, but Kutuzov lingered with the main army and gave orders for +the evacuation of Kaluga--a retreat beyond which town seemed to him +quite possible. + +Everywhere Kutuzov retreated, but the enemy without waiting for his +retreat fled in the opposite direction. + +Napoleon's historians describe to us his skilled maneuvers at Tarutino +and Malo-Yaroslavets, and make conjectures as to what would have +happened had Napoleon been in time to penetrate into the rich southern +provinces. + +But not to speak of the fact that nothing prevented him from advancing +into those southern provinces (for the Russian army did not bar his +way), the historians forget that nothing could have saved his army, for +then already it bore within itself the germs of inevitable ruin. How +could that army--which had found abundant supplies in Moscow and had +trampled them underfoot instead of keeping them, and on arriving at +Smolensk had looted provisions instead of storing them--how could that +army recuperate in Kaluga province, which was inhabited by Russians such +as those who lived in Moscow, and where fire had the same property of +consuming what was set ablaze? + +That army could not recover anywhere. Since the battle of Borodino and +the pillage of Moscow it had borne within itself, as it were, the +chemical elements of dissolution. + +The members of what had once been an army--Napoleon himself and all his +soldiers fled--without knowing whither, each concerned only to make his +escape as quickly as possible from this position, of the hopelessness of +which they were all more or less vaguely conscious. + +So it came about that at the council at Malo-Yaroslavets, when the +generals pretending to confer together expressed various opinions, all +mouths were closed by the opinion uttered by the simple-minded soldier +Mouton who, speaking last, said what they all felt: that the one thing +needful was to get away as quickly as possible; and no one, not even +Napoleon, could say anything against that truth which they all +recognized. + +But though they all realized that it was necessary to get away, there +still remained a feeling of shame at admitting that they must flee. An +external shock was needed to overcome that shame, and this shock came in +due time. It was what the French called "le hourra de l'Empereur." + +The day after the council at Malo-Yaroslavets Napoleon rode out early in +the morning amid the lines of his army with his suite of marshals and an +escort, on the pretext of inspecting the army and the scene of the +previous and of the impending battle. Some Cossacks on the prowl for +booty fell in with the Emperor and very nearly captured him. If the +Cossacks did not capture Napoleon then, what saved him was the very +thing that was destroying the French army, the booty on which the +Cossacks fell. Here as at Tarutino they went after plunder, leaving the +men. Disregarding Napoleon they rushed after the plunder and Napoleon +managed to escape. + +When les enfants du Don might so easily have taken the Emperor himself +in the midst of his army, it was clear that there was nothing for it but +to fly as fast as possible along the nearest, familiar road. Napoleon +with his forty-year-old stomach understood that hint, not feeling his +former agility and boldness, and under the influence of the fright the +Cossacks had given him he at once agreed with Mouton and issued orders-- +as the historians tell us--to retreat by the Smolensk road. + +That Napoleon agreed with Mouton, and that the army retreated, does not +prove that Napoleon caused it to retreat, but that the forces which +influenced the whole army and directed it along the Mozhaysk (that is, +the Smolensk) road acted simultaneously on him also. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A man in motion always devises an aim for that motion. To be able to go +a thousand miles he must imagine that something good awaits him at the +end of those thousand miles. One must have the prospect of a promised +land to have the strength to move. + +The promised land for the French during their advance had been Moscow, +during their retreat it was their native land. But that native land was +too far off, and for a man going a thousand miles it is absolutely +necessary to set aside his final goal and to say to himself: "Today I +shall get to a place twenty-five miles off where I shall rest and spend +the night," and during the first day's journey that resting place +eclipses his ultimate goal and attracts all his hopes and desires. And +the impulses felt by a single person are always magnified in a crowd. + +For the French retreating along the old Smolensk road, the final goal-- +their native land--was too remote, and their immediate goal was +Smolensk, toward which all their desires and hopes, enormously +intensified in the mass, urged them on. It was not that they knew that +much food and fresh troops awaited them in Smolensk, nor that they were +told so (on the contrary their superior officers, and Napoleon himself, +knew that provisions were scarce there), but because this alone could +give them strength to move on and endure their present privations. So +both those who knew and those who did not know deceived themselves, and +pushed on to Smolensk as to a promised land. + +Coming out onto the highroad the French fled with surprising energy and +unheard-of rapidity toward the goal they had fixed on. Besides the +common impulse which bound the whole crowd of French into one mass and +supplied them with a certain energy, there was another cause binding +them together--their great numbers. As with the physical law of gravity, +their enormous mass drew the individual human atoms to itself. In their +hundreds of thousands they moved like a whole nation. + +Each of them desired nothing more than to give himself up as a prisoner +to escape from all this horror and misery; but on the one hand the force +of this common attraction to Smolensk, their goal, drew each of them in +the same direction; on the other hand an army corps could not surrender +to a company, and though the French availed themselves of every +convenient opportunity to detach themselves and to surrender on the +slightest decent pretext, such pretexts did not always occur. Their very +numbers and their crowded and swift movement deprived them of that +possibility and rendered it not only difficult but impossible for the +Russians to stop this movement, to which the French were directing all +their energies. Beyond a certain limit no mechanical disruption of the +body could hasten the process of decomposition. + +A lump of snow cannot be melted instantaneously. There is a certain +limit of time in less than which no amount of heat can melt the snow. On +the contrary the greater the heat the more solidified the remaining snow +becomes. + +Of the Russian commanders Kutuzov alone understood this. When the flight +of the French army along the Smolensk road became well defined, what +Konovnitsyn had foreseen on the night of the eleventh of October began +to occur. The superior officers all wanted to distinguish themselves, to +cut off, to seize, to capture, and to overthrow the French, and all +clamored for action. + +Kutuzov alone used all his power (and such power is very limited in the +case of any commander-in-chief) to prevent an attack. + +He could not tell them what we say now: "Why fight, why block the road, +losing our own men and inhumanly slaughtering unfortunate wretches? What +is the use of that, when a third of their army has melted away on the +road from Moscow to Vyazma without any battle?" But drawing from his +aged wisdom what they could understand, he told them of the golden +bridge, and they laughed at and slandered him, flinging themselves on, +rending and exulting over the dying beast. + +Ermolov, Miloradovich, Platov, and others in proximity to the French +near Vyazma could not resist their desire to cut off and break up two +French corps, and by way of reporting their intention to Kutuzov they +sent him a blank sheet of paper in an envelope. + +And try as Kutuzov might to restrain the troops, our men attacked, +trying to bar the road. Infantry regiments, we are told, advanced to the +attack with music and with drums beating, and killed and lost thousands +of men. + +But they did not cut off or overthrow anybody and the French army, +closing up more firmly at the danger, continued, while steadily melting +away, to pursue its fatal path to Smolensk. + +BOOK FOURTEEN: 1812 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +The Battle of Borodino, with the occupation of Moscow that followed it +and the flight of the French without further conflicts, is one of the +most instructive phenomena in history. + +All historians agree that the external activity of states and nations in +their conflicts with one another is expressed in wars, and that as a +direct result of greater or less success in war the political strength +of states and nations increases or decreases. + +Strange as may be the historical account of how some king or emperor, +having quarreled with another, collects an army, fights his enemy's +army, gains a victory by killing three, five, or ten thousand men, and +subjugates a kingdom and an entire nation of several millions, all the +facts of history (as far as we know it) confirm the truth of the +statement that the greater or lesser success of one army against another +is the cause, or at least an essential indication, of an increase or +decrease in the strength of the nation--even though it is unintelligible +why the defeat of an army--a hundredth part of a nation--should oblige +that whole nation to submit. An army gains a victory, and at once the +rights of the conquering nation have increased to the detriment of the +defeated. An army has suffered defeat, and at once a people loses its +rights in proportion to the severity of the reverse, and if its army +suffers a complete defeat the nation is quite subjugated. + +So according to history it has been found from the most ancient times, +and so it is to our own day. All Napoleon's wars serve to confirm this +rule. In proportion to the defeat of the Austrian army Austria loses its +rights, and the rights and the strength of France increase. The +victories of the French at Jena and Auerstadt destroy the independent +existence of Prussia. + +But then, in 1812, the French gain a victory near Moscow. Moscow is +taken and after that, with no further battles, it is not Russia that +ceases to exist, but the French army of six hundred thousand, and then +Napoleonic France itself. To strain the facts to fit the rules of +history: to say that the field of battle at Borodino remained in the +hands of the Russians, or that after Moscow there were other battles +that destroyed Napoleon's army, is impossible. + +After the French victory at Borodino there was no general engagement nor +any that were at all serious, yet the French army ceased to exist. What +does this mean? If it were an example taken from the history of China, +we might say that it was not an historic phenomenon (which is the +historians' usual expedient when anything does not fit their standards); +if the matter concerned some brief conflict in which only a small number +of troops took part, we might treat it as an exception; but this event +occurred before our fathers' eyes, and for them it was a question of the +life or death of their fatherland, and it happened in the greatest of +all known wars. + +The period of the campaign of 1812 from the battle of Borodino to the +expulsion of the French proved that the winning of a battle does not +produce a conquest and is not even an invariable indication of conquest; +it proved that the force which decides the fate of peoples lies not in +the conquerors, nor even in armies and battles, but in something else. + +The French historians, describing the condition of the French army +before it left Moscow, affirm that all was in order in the Grand Army, +except the cavalry, the artillery, and the transport--there was no +forage for the horses or the cattle. That was a misfortune no one could +remedy, for the peasants of the district burned their hay rather than +let the French have it. + +The victory gained did not bring the usual results because the peasants +Karp and Vlas (who after the French had evacuated Moscow drove in their +carts to pillage the town, and in general personally failed to manifest +any heroic feelings), and the whole innumerable multitude of such +peasants, did not bring their hay to Moscow for the high price offered +them, but burned it instead. + +Let us imagine two men who have come out to fight a duel with rapiers +according to all the rules of the art of fencing. The fencing has gone +on for some time; suddenly one of the combatants, feeling himself +wounded and understanding that the matter is no joke but concerns his +life, throws down his rapier, and seizing the first cudgel that comes to +hand begins to brandish it. Then let us imagine that the combatant who +so sensibly employed the best and simplest means to attain his end was +at the same time influenced by traditions of chivalry and, desiring to +conceal the facts of the case, insisted that he had gained his victory +with the rapier according to all the rules of art. One can imagine what +confusion and obscurity would result from such an account of the duel. + +The fencer who demanded a contest according to the rules of fencing was +the French army; his opponent who threw away the rapier and snatched up +the cudgel was the Russian people; those who try to explain the matter +according to the rules of fencing are the historians who have described +the event. + +After the burning of Smolensk a war began which did not follow any +previous traditions of war. The burning of towns and villages, the +retreats after battles, the blow dealt at Borodino and the renewed +retreat, the burning of Moscow, the capture of marauders, the seizure of +transports, and the guerrilla war were all departures from the rules. + +Napoleon felt this, and from the time he took up the correct fencing +attitude in Moscow and instead of his opponent's rapier saw a cudgel +raised above his head, he did not cease to complain to Kutuzov and to +the Emperor Alexander that the war was being carried on contrary to all +the rules--as if there were any rules for killing people. In spite of +the complaints of the French as to the nonobservance of the rules, in +spite of the fact that to some highly placed Russians it seemed rather +disgraceful to fight with a cudgel and they wanted to assume a pose en +quarte or en tierce according to all the rules, and to make an adroit +thrust en prime, and so on--the cudgel of the people's war was lifted +with all its menacing and majestic strength, and without consulting +anyone's tastes or rules and regardless of anything else, it rose and +fell with stupid simplicity, but consistently, and belabored the French +till the whole invasion had perished. + +And it is well for a people who do not--as the French did in 1813-- +salute according to all the rules of art, and, presenting the hilt of +their rapier gracefully and politely, hand it to their magnanimous +conqueror, but at the moment of trial, without asking what rules others +have adopted in similar cases, simply and easily pick up the first +cudgel that comes to hand and strike with it till the feeling of +resentment and revenge in their soul yields to a feeling of contempt and +compassion. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +One of the most obvious and advantageous departures from the so-called +laws of war is the action of scattered groups against men pressed +together in a mass. Such action always occurs in wars that take on a +national character. In such actions, instead of two crowds opposing each +other, the men disperse, attack singly, run away when attacked by +stronger forces, but again attack when opportunity offers. This was done +by the guerrillas in Spain, by the mountain tribes in the Caucasus, and +by the Russians in 1812. + +People have called this kind of war "guerrilla warfare" and assume that +by so calling it they have explained its meaning. But such a war does +not fit in under any rule and is directly opposed to a well-known rule +of tactics which is accepted as infallible. That rule says that an +attacker should concentrate his forces in order to be stronger than his +opponent at the moment of conflict. + +Guerrilla war (always successful, as history shows) directly infringes +that rule. + +This contradiction arises from the fact that military science assumes +the strength of an army to be identical with its numbers. Military +science says that the more troops the greater the strength. Les gros +bataillons ont toujours raison. * + + +* Large battalions are always victorious. + +For military science to say this is like defining momentum in mechanics +by reference to the mass only: stating that momenta are equal or unequal +to each other simply because the masses involved are equal or unequal. + +Momentum (quantity of motion) is the product of mass and velocity. + +In military affairs the strength of an army is the product of its mass +and some unknown x. + +Military science, seeing in history innumerable instances of the fact +that the size of any army does not coincide with its strength and that +small detachments defeat larger ones, obscurely admits the existence of +this unknown factor and tries to discover it--now in a geometric +formation, now in the equipment employed, now, and most usually, in the +genius of the commanders. But the assignment of these various meanings +to the factor does not yield results which accord with the historic +facts. + +Yet it is only necessary to abandon the false view (adopted to gratify +the "heroes") of the efficacy of the directions issued in wartime by +commanders, in order to find this unknown quantity. + +That unknown quantity is the spirit of the army, that is to say, the +greater or lesser readiness to fight and face danger felt by all the men +composing an army, quite independently of whether they are, or are not, +fighting under the command of a genius, in two--or three-line formation, +with cudgels or with rifles that repeat thirty times a minute. Men who +want to fight will always put themselves in the most advantageous +conditions for fighting. + +The spirit of an army is the factor which multiplied by the mass gives +the resulting force. To define and express the significance of this +unknown factor--the spirit of an army--is a problem for science. + +This problem is only solvable if we cease arbitrarily to substitute for +the unknown x itself the conditions under which that force becomes +apparent--such as the commands of the general, the equipment employed, +and so on--mistaking these for the real significance of the factor, and +if we recognize this unknown quantity in its entirety as being the +greater or lesser desire to fight and to face danger. Only then, +expressing known historic facts by equations and comparing the relative +significance of this factor, can we hope to define the unknown. + +Ten men, battalions, or divisions, fighting fifteen men, battalions, or +divisions, conquer--that is, kill or take captive--all the others, while +themselves losing four, so that on the one side four and on the other +fifteen were lost. Consequently the four were equal to the fifteen, and +therefore 4x = 15y. Consequently x/y = 15/4. This equation does not give +us the value of the unknown factor but gives us a ratio between two +unknowns. And by bringing variously selected historic units (battles, +campaigns, periods of war) into such equations, a series of numbers +could be obtained in which certain laws should exist and might be +discovered. + +The tactical rule that an army should act in masses when attacking, and +in smaller groups in retreat, unconsciously confirms the truth that the +strength of an army depends on its spirit. To lead men forward under +fire more discipline (obtainable only by movement in masses) is needed +than is needed to resist attacks. But this rule which leaves out of +account the spirit of the army continually proves incorrect and is in +particularly striking contrast to the facts when some strong rise or +fall in the spirit of the troops occurs, as in all national wars. + +The French, retreating in 1812--though according to tactics they should +have separated into detachments to defend themselves--congregated into a +mass because the spirit of the army had so fallen that only the mass +held the army together. The Russians, on the contrary, ought according +to tactics to have attacked in mass, but in fact they split up into +small units, because their spirit had so risen that separate +individuals, without orders, dealt blows at the French without needing +any compulsion to induce them to expose themselves to hardships and +dangers. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The so-called partisan war began with the entry of the French into +Smolensk. + +Before partisan warfare had been officially recognized by the +government, thousands of enemy stragglers, marauders, and foragers had +been destroyed by the Cossacks and the peasants, who killed them off as +instinctively as dogs worry a stray mad dog to death. Denis Davydov, +with his Russian instinct, was the first to recognize the value of this +terrible cudgel which regardless of the rules of military science +destroyed the French, and to him belongs the credit for taking the first +step toward regularizing this method of warfare. + +On August 24 Davydov's first partisan detachment was formed and then +others were recognized. The further the campaign progressed the more +numerous these detachments became. + +The irregulars destroyed the great army piecemeal. They gathered the +fallen leaves that dropped of themselves from that withered tree--the +French army--and sometimes shook that tree itself. By October, when the +French were fleeing toward Smolensk, there were hundreds of such +companies, of various sizes and characters. There were some that adopted +all the army methods and had infantry, artillery, staffs, and the +comforts of life. Others consisted solely of Cossack cavalry. There were +also small scratch groups of foot and horse, and groups of peasants and +landowners that remained unknown. A sacristan commanded one party which +captured several hundred prisoners in the course of a month; and there +was Vasilisa, the wife of a village elder, who slew hundreds of the +French. + +The partisan warfare flamed up most fiercely in the latter days of +October. Its first period had passed: when the partisans themselves, +amazed at their own boldness, feared every minute to be surrounded and +captured by the French, and hid in the forests without unsaddling, +hardly daring to dismount and always expecting to be pursued. By the end +of October this kind of warfare had taken definite shape: it had become +clear to all what could be ventured against the French and what could +not. Now only the commanders of detachments with staffs, and moving +according to rules at a distance from the French, still regarded many +things as impossible. The small bands that had started their activities +long before and had already observed the French closely considered +things possible which the commanders of the big detachments did not dare +to contemplate. The Cossacks and peasants who crept in among the French +now considered everything possible. + +On October 22, Denisov (who was one of the irregulars) was with his +group at the height of the guerrilla enthusiasm. Since early morning he +and his party had been on the move. All day long he had been watching +from the forest that skirted the highroad a large French convoy of +cavalry baggage and Russian prisoners separated from the rest of the +army, which--as was learned from spies and prisoners--was moving under a +strong escort to Smolensk. Besides Denisov and Dolokhov (who also led a +small party and moved in Denisov's vicinity), the commanders of some +large divisions with staffs also knew of this convoy and, as Denisov +expressed it, were sharpening their teeth for it. Two of the commanders +of large parties--one a Pole and the other a German--sent invitations to +Denisov almost simultaneously, requesting him to join up with their +divisions to attack the convoy. + +"No, bwother, I have gwown mustaches myself," said Denisov on reading +these documents, and he wrote to the German that, despite his heartfelt +desire to serve under so valiant and renowned a general, he had to forgo +that pleasure because he was already under the command of the Polish +general. To the Polish general he replied to the same effect, informing +him that he was already under the command of the German. + +Having arranged matters thus, Denisov and Dolokhov intended, without +reporting matters to the higher command, to attack and seize that convoy +with their own small forces. On October 22 it was moving from the +village of Mikulino to that of Shamshevo. To the left of the road +between Mikulino and Shamshevo there were large forests, extending in +some places up to the road itself though in others a mile or more back +from it. Through these forests Denisov and his party rode all day, +sometimes keeping well back in them and sometimes coming to the very +edge, but never losing sight of the moving French. That morning, +Cossacks of Denisov's party had seized and carried off into the forest +two wagons loaded with cavalry saddles, which had stuck in the mud not +far from Mikulino where the forest ran close to the road. Since then, +and until evening, the party had watched the movements of the French +without attacking. It was necessary to let the French reach Shamshevo +quietly without alarming them and then, after joining Dolokhov who was +to come that evening to a consultation at a watchman's hut in the forest +less than a mile from Shamshevo, to surprise the French at dawn, falling +like an avalanche on their heads from two sides, and rout and capture +them all at one blow. + +In their rear, more than a mile from Mikulino where the forest came +right up to the road, six Cossacks were posted to report if any fresh +columns of French should show themselves. + +Beyond Shamshevo, Dolokhov was to observe the road in the same way, to +find out at what distance there were other French troops. They reckoned +that the convoy had fifteen hundred men. Denisov had two hundred, and +Dolokhov might have as many more, but the disparity of numbers did not +deter Denisov. All that he now wanted to know was what troops these were +and to learn that he had to capture a "tongue"--that is, a man from the +enemy column. That morning's attack on the wagons had been made so +hastily that the Frenchmen with the wagons had all been killed; only a +little drummer boy had been taken alive, and as he was a straggler he +could tell them nothing definite about the troops in that column. + +Denisov considered it dangerous to make a second attack for fear of +putting the whole column on the alert, so he sent Tikhon Shcherbaty, a +peasant of his party, to Shamshevo to try and seize at least one of the +French quartermasters who had been sent on in advance. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +It was a warm rainy autumn day. The sky and the horizon were both the +color of muddy water. At times a sort of mist descended, and then +suddenly heavy slanting rain came down. + +Denisov in a felt cloak and a sheepskin cap from which the rain ran down +was riding a thin thoroughbred horse with sunken sides. Like his horse, +which turned its head and laid its ears back, he shrank from the driving +rain and gazed anxiously before him. His thin face with its short, thick +black beard looked angry. + +Beside Denisov rode an esaul, * Denisov's fellow worker, also in felt +cloak and sheepskin cap, and riding a large sleek Don horse. + + +* A captain of Cossacks. + +Esaul Lovayski the Third was a tall man as straight as an arrow, pale- +faced, fair-haired, with narrow light eyes and with calm self- +satisfaction in his face and bearing. Though it was impossible to say in +what the peculiarity of the horse and rider lay, yet at first glance at +the esaul and Denisov one saw that the latter was wet and uncomfortable +and was a man mounted on a horse, while looking at the esaul one saw +that he was as comfortable and as much at ease as always and that he was +not a man who had mounted a horse, but a man who was one with his horse, +a being consequently possessed of twofold strength. + +A little ahead of them walked a peasant guide, wet to the skin and +wearing a gray peasant coat and a white knitted cap. + +A little behind, on a poor, small, lean Kirghiz mount with an enormous +tail and mane and a bleeding mouth, rode a young officer in a blue +French overcoat. + +Beside him rode an hussar, with a boy in a tattered French uniform and +blue cap behind him on the crupper of his horse. The boy held on to the +hussar with cold, red hands, and raising his eyebrows gazed about him +with surprise. This was the French drummer boy captured that morning. + +Behind them along the narrow, sodden, cutup forest road came hussars in +threes and fours, and then Cossacks: some in felt cloaks, some in French +greatcoats, and some with horsecloths over their heads. The horses, +being drenched by the rain, all looked black whether chestnut or bay. +Their necks, with their wet, close-clinging manes, looked strangely +thin. Steam rose from them. Clothes, saddles, reins, were all wet, +slippery, and sodden, like the ground and the fallen leaves that strewed +the road. The men sat huddled up trying not to stir, so as to warm the +water that had trickled to their bodies and not admit the fresh cold +water that was leaking in under their seats, their knees, and at the +back of their necks. In the midst of the outspread line of Cossacks two +wagons, drawn by French horses and by saddled Cossack horses that had +been hitched on in front, rumbled over the tree stumps and branches and +splashed through the water that lay in the ruts. + +Denisov's horse swerved aside to avoid a pool in the track and bumped +his rider's knee against a tree. + +"Oh, the devil!" exclaimed Denisov angrily, and showing his teeth he +struck his horse three times with his whip, splashing himself and his +comrades with mud. + +Denisov was out of sorts both because of the rain and also from hunger +(none of them had eaten anything since morning), and yet more because he +still had no news from Dolokhov and the man sent to capture a "tongue" +had not returned. + +"There'll hardly be another such chance to fall on a transport as today. +It's too risky to attack them by oneself, and if we put it off till +another day one of the big guerrilla detachments will snatch the prey +from under our noses," thought Denisov, continually peering forward, +hoping to see a messenger from Dolokhov. + +On coming to a path in the forest along which he could see far to the +right, Denisov stopped. + +"There's someone coming," said he. + +The esaul looked in the direction Denisov indicated. + +"There are two, an officer and a Cossack. But it is not presupposable +that it is the lieutenant colonel himself," said the esaul, who was fond +of using words the Cossacks did not know. + +The approaching riders having descended a decline were no longer +visible, but they reappeared a few minutes later. In front, at a weary +gallop and using his leather whip, rode an officer, disheveled and +drenched, whose trousers had worked up to above his knees. Behind him, +standing in the stirrups, trotted a Cossack. The officer, a very young +lad with a broad rosy face and keen merry eyes, galloped up to Denisov +and handed him a sodden envelope. + +"From the general," said the officer. "Please excuse its not being quite +dry." + +Denisov, frowning, took the envelope and opened it. + +"There, they kept telling us: 'It's dangerous, it's dangerous,'" said +the officer, addressing the esaul while Denisov was reading the +dispatch. "But Komarov and I"--he pointed to the Cossack--"were +prepared. We have each of us two pistols.... But what's this?" he asked, +noticing the French drummer boy. "A prisoner? You've already been in +action? May I speak to him?" + +"Wostov! Petya!" exclaimed Denisov, having run through the dispatch. +"Why didn't you say who you were?" and turning with a smile he held out +his hand to the lad. + +The officer was Petya Rostov. + +All the way Petya had been preparing himself to behave with Denisov as +befitted a grownup man and an officer--without hinting at their previous +acquaintance. But as soon as Denisov smiled at him Petya brightened up, +blushed with pleasure, forgot the official manner he had been +rehearsing, and began telling him how he had already been in a battle +near Vyazma and how a certain hussar had distinguished himself there. + +"Well, I am glad to see you," Denisov interrupted him, and his face +again assumed its anxious expression. + +"Michael Feoklitych," said he to the esaul, "this is again fwom that +German, you know. He"--he indicated Petya--"is serving under him." + +And Denisov told the esaul that the dispatch just delivered was a +repetition of the German general's demand that he should join forces +with him for an attack on the transport. + +"If we don't take it tomowwow, he'll snatch it fwom under our noses," he +added. + +While Denisov was talking to the esaul, Petya--abashed by Denisov's cold +tone and supposing that it was due to the condition of his trousers-- +furtively tried to pull them down under his greatcoat so that no one +should notice it, while maintaining as martial an air as possible. + +"Will there be any orders, your honor?" he asked Denisov, holding his +hand at the salute and resuming the game of adjutant and general for +which he had prepared himself, "or shall I remain with your honor?" + +"Orders?" Denisov repeated thoughtfully. "But can you stay till +tomowwow?" + +"Oh, please... May I stay with you?" cried Petya. + +"But, just what did the genewal tell you? To weturn at once?" asked +Denisov. + +Petya blushed. + +"He gave me no instructions. I think I could?" he returned, inquiringly. + +"Well, all wight," said Denisov. + +And turning to his men he directed a party to go on to the halting place +arranged near the watchman's hut in the forest, and told the officer on +the Kirghiz horse (who performed the duties of an adjutant) to go and +find out where Dolokhov was and whether he would come that evening. +Denisov himself intended going with the esaul and Petya to the edge of +the forest where it reached out to Shamshevo, to have a look at the part +of the French bivouac they were to attack next day. + +"Well, old fellow," said he to the peasant guide, "lead us to +Shamshevo." + +Denisov, Petya, and the esaul, accompanied by some Cossacks and the +hussar who had the prisoner, rode to the left across a ravine to the +edge of the forest. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The rain had stopped, and only the mist was falling and drops from the +trees. Denisov, the esaul, and Petya rode silently, following the +peasant in the knitted cap who, stepping lightly with outturned toes and +moving noiselessly in his bast shoes over the roots and wet leaves, +silently led them to the edge of the forest. + +He ascended an incline, stopped, looked about him, and advanced to where +the screen of trees was less dense. On reaching a large oak tree that +had not yet shed its leaves, he stopped and beckoned mysteriously to +them with his hand. + +Denisov and Petya rode up to him. From the spot where the peasant was +standing they could see the French. Immediately beyond the forest, on a +downward slope, lay a field of spring rye. To the right, beyond a steep +ravine, was a small village and a landowner's house with a broken roof. +In the village, in the house, in the garden, by the well, by the pond, +over all the rising ground, and all along the road uphill from the +bridge leading to the village, not more than five hundred yards away, +crowds of men could be seen through the shimmering mist. Their un- +Russian shouting at their horses which were straining uphill with the +carts, and their calls to one another, could be clearly heard. + +"Bwing the prisoner here," said Denisov in a low voice, not taking his +eyes off the French. + +A Cossack dismounted, lifted the boy down, and took him to Denisov. +Pointing to the French troops, Denisov asked him what these and those of +them were. The boy, thrusting his cold hands into his pockets and +lifting his eyebrows, looked at Denisov in affright, but in spite of an +evident desire to say all he knew gave confused answers, merely +assenting to everything Denisov asked him. Denisov turned away from him +frowning and addressed the esaul, conveying his own conjectures to him. + +Petya, rapidly turning his head, looked now at the drummer boy, now at +Denisov, now at the esaul, and now at the French in the village and +along the road, trying not to miss anything of importance. + +"Whether Dolokhov comes or not, we must seize it, eh?" said Denisov with +a merry sparkle in his eyes. + +"It is a very suitable spot," said the esaul. + +"We'll send the infantwy down by the swamps," Denisov continued. +"They'll cweep up to the garden; you'll wide up fwom there with the +Cossacks"--he pointed to a spot in the forest beyond the village--"and I +with my hussars fwom here. And at the signal shot..." + +"The hollow is impassable--there's a swamp there," said the esaul. "The +horses would sink. We must ride round more to the left...." + +While they were talking in undertones the crack of a shot sounded from +the low ground by the pond, a puff of white smoke appeared, then +another, and the sound of hundreds of seemingly merry French voices +shouting together came up from the slope. For a moment Denisov and the +esaul drew back. They were so near that they thought they were the cause +of the firing and shouting. But the firing and shouting did not relate +to them. Down below, a man wearing something red was running through the +marsh. The French were evidently firing and shouting at him. + +"Why, that's our Tikhon," said the esaul. + +"So it is! It is!" + +"The wascal!" said Denisov. + +"He'll get away!" said the esaul, screwing up his eyes. + +The man whom they called Tikhon, having run to the stream, plunged in so +that the water splashed in the air, and, having disappeared for an +instant, scrambled out on all fours, all black with the wet, and ran on. +The French who had been pursuing him stopped. + +"Smart, that!" said the esaul. + +"What a beast!" said Denisov with his former look of vexation. "What has +he been doing all this time?" + +"Who is he?" asked Petya. + +"He's our plastun. I sent him to capture a 'tongue.'" + +"Oh, yes," said Petya, nodding at the first words Denisov uttered as if +he understood it all, though he really did not understand anything of +it. + +Tikhon Shcherbaty was one of the most indispensable men in their band. +He was a peasant from Pokrovsk, near the river Gzhat. When Denisov had +come to Pokrovsk at the beginning of his operations and had as usual +summoned the village elder and asked him what he knew about the French, +the elder, as though shielding himself, had replied, as all village +elders did, that he had neither seen nor heard anything of them. But +when Denisov explained that his purpose was to kill the French, and +asked if no French had strayed that way, the elder replied that some +"more-orderers" had really been at their village, but that Tikhon +Shcherbaty was the only man who dealt with such matters. Denisov had +Tikhon called and, having praised him for his activity, said a few words +in the elder's presence about loyalty to the Tsar and the country and +the hatred of the French that all sons of the fatherland should cherish. + +"We don't do the French any harm," said Tikhon, evidently frightened by +Denisov's words. "We only fooled about with the lads for fun, you know! +We killed a score or so of 'more-orderers,' but we did no harm else..." + +Next day when Denisov had left Pokrovsk, having quite forgotten about +this peasant, it was reported to him that Tikhon had attached himself to +their party and asked to be allowed to remain with it. Denisov gave +orders to let him do so. + +Tikhon, who at first did rough work, laying campfires, fetching water, +flaying dead horses, and so on, soon showed a great liking and aptitude +for partisan warfare. At night he would go out for booty and always +brought back French clothing and weapons, and when told to would bring +in French captives also. Denisov then relieved him from drudgery and +began taking him with him when he went out on expeditions and had him +enrolled among the Cossacks. + +Tikhon did not like riding, and always went on foot, never lagging +behind the cavalry. He was armed with a musketoon (which he carried +rather as a joke), a pike and an ax, which latter he used as a wolf uses +its teeth, with equal ease picking fleas out of its fur or crunching +thick bones. Tikhon with equal accuracy would split logs with blows at +arm's length, or holding the head of the ax would cut thin little pegs +or carve spoons. In Denisov's party he held a peculiar and exceptional +position. When anything particularly difficult or nasty had to be done-- +to push a cart out of the mud with one's shoulders, pull a horse out of +a swamp by its tail, skin it, slink in among the French, or walk more +than thirty miles in a day--everybody pointed laughingly at Tikhon. + +"It won't hurt that devil--he's as strong as a horse!" they said of him. + +Once a Frenchman Tikhon was trying to capture fired a pistol at him and +shot him in the fleshy part of the back. That wound (which Tikhon +treated only with internal and external applications of vodka) was the +subject of the liveliest jokes by the whole detachment--jokes in which +Tikhon readily joined. + +"Hallo, mate! Never again? Gave you a twist?" the Cossacks would banter +him. And Tikhon, purposely writhing and making faces, pretended to be +angry and swore at the French with the funniest curses. The only effect +of this incident on Tikhon was that after being wounded he seldom +brought in prisoners. + +He was the bravest and most useful man in the party. No one found more +opportunities for attacking, no one captured or killed more Frenchmen, +and consequently he was made the buffoon of all the Cossacks and hussars +and willingly accepted that role. Now he had been sent by Denisov +overnight to Shamshevo to capture a "tongue." But whether because he had +not been content to take only one Frenchman or because he had slept +through the night, he had crept by day into some bushes right among the +French and, as Denisov had witnessed from above, had been detected by +them. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +After talking for some time with the esaul about next day's attack, +which now, seeing how near they were to the French, he seemed to have +definitely decided on, Denisov turned his horse and rode back. + +"Now, my lad, we'll go and get dwy," he said to Petya. + +As they approached the watchhouse Denisov stopped, peering into the +forest. Among the trees a man with long legs and long, swinging arms, +wearing a short jacket, bast shoes, and a Kazan hat, was approaching +with long, light steps. He had a musketoon over his shoulder and an ax +stuck in his girdle. When he espied Denisov he hastily threw something +into the bushes, removed his sodden hat by its floppy brim, and +approached his commander. It was Tikhon. His wrinkled and pockmarked +face and narrow little eyes beamed with self-satisfied merriment. He +lifted his head high and gazed at Denisov as if repressing a laugh. + +"Well, where did you disappear to?" inquired Denisov. + +"Where did I disappear to? I went to get Frenchmen," answered Tikhon +boldly and hurriedly, in a husky but melodious bass voice. + +"Why did you push yourself in there by daylight? You ass! Well, why +haven't you taken one?" + +"Oh, I took one all right," said Tikhon. + +"Where is he?" + +"You see, I took him first thing at dawn," Tikhon continued, spreading +out his flat feet with outturned toes in their bast shoes. "I took him +into the forest. Then I see he's no good and think I'll go and fetch a +likelier one." + +"You see?... What a wogue--it's just as I thought," said Denisov to the +esaul. "Why didn't you bwing that one?" + +"What was the good of bringing him?" Tikhon interrupted hastily and +angrily--"that one wouldn't have done for you. As if I don't know what +sort you want!" + +"What a bwute you are!... Well?" + +"I went for another one," Tikhon continued, "and I crept like this +through the wood and lay down." (He suddenly lay down on his stomach +with a supple movement to show how he had done it.) "One turned up and I +grabbed him, like this." (He jumped up quickly and lightly.) "'Come +along to the colonel,' I said. He starts yelling, and suddenly there +were four of them. They rushed at me with their little swords. So I went +for them with my ax, this way: 'What are you up to?' says I. 'Christ be +with you!'" shouted Tikhon, waving his arms with an angry scowl and +throwing out his chest. + +"Yes, we saw from the hill how you took to your heels through the +puddles!" said the esaul, screwing up his glittering eyes. + +Petya badly wanted to laugh, but noticed that they all refrained from +laughing. He turned his eyes rapidly from Tikhon's face to the esaul's +and Denisov's, unable to make out what it all meant. + +"Don't play the fool!" said Denisov, coughing angrily. "Why didn't you +bwing the first one?" + +Tikhon scratched his back with one hand and his head with the other, +then suddenly his whole face expanded into a beaming, foolish grin, +disclosing a gap where he had lost a tooth (that was why he was called +Shcherbaty--the gap-toothed). Denisov smiled, and Petya burst into a +peal of merry laughter in which Tikhon himself joined. + +"Oh, but he was a regular good-for-nothing," said Tikhon. "The clothes +on him--poor stuff! How could I bring him? And so rude, your honor! Why, +he says: 'I'm a general's son myself, I won't go!' he says." + +"You are a bwute!" said Denisov. "I wanted to question..." + +"But I questioned him," said Tikhon. "He said he didn't know much. +'There are a lot of us,' he says, 'but all poor stuff--only soldiers in +name,' he says. 'Shout loud at them,' he says, 'and you'll take them +all,'" Tikhon concluded, looking cheerfully and resolutely into +Denisov's eyes. + +"I'll give you a hundwed sharp lashes--that'll teach you to play the +fool!" said Denisov severely. + +"But why are you angry?" remonstrated Tikhon, "just as if I'd never seen +your Frenchmen! Only wait till it gets dark and I'll fetch you any of +them you want--three if you like." + +"Well, let's go," said Denisov, and rode all the way to the watchhouse +in silence and frowning angrily. + +Tikhon followed behind and Petya heard the Cossacks laughing with him +and at him, about some pair of boots he had thrown into the bushes. + +When the fit of laughter that had seized him at Tikhon's words and smile +had passed and Petya realized for a moment that this Tikhon had killed a +man, he felt uneasy. He looked round at the captive drummer boy and felt +a pang in his heart. But this uneasiness lasted only a moment. He felt +it necessary to hold his head higher, to brace himself, and to question +the esaul with an air of importance about tomorrow's undertaking, that +he might not be unworthy of the company in which he found himself. + +The officer who had been sent to inquire met Denisov on the way with the +news that Dolokhov was soon coming and that all was well with him. + +Denisov at once cheered up and, calling Petya to him, said: "Well, tell +me about yourself." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Petya, having left his people after their departure from Moscow, joined +his regiment and was soon taken as orderly by a general commanding a +large guerrilla detachment. From the time he received his commission, +and especially since he had joined the active army and taken part in the +battle of Vyazma, Petya had been in a constant state of blissful +excitement at being grown-up and in a perpetual ecstatic hurry not to +miss any chance to do something really heroic. He was highly delighted +with what he saw and experienced in the army, but at the same time it +always seemed to him that the really heroic exploits were being +performed just where he did not happen to be. And he was always in a +hurry to get where he was not. + +When on the twenty-first of October his general expressed a wish to send +somebody to Denisov's detachment, Petya begged so piteously to be sent +that the general could not refuse. But when dispatching him he recalled +Petya's mad action at the battle of Vyazma, where instead of riding by +the road to the place to which he had been sent, he had galloped to the +advanced line under the fire of the French and had there twice fired his +pistol. So now the general explicitly forbade his taking part in any +action whatever of Denisov's. That was why Petya had blushed and grown +confused when Denisov asked him whether he could stay. Before they had +ridden to the outskirts of the forest Petya had considered he must carry +out his instructions strictly and return at once. But when he saw the +French and saw Tikhon and learned that there would certainly be an +attack that night, he decided, with the rapidity with which young people +change their views, that the general, whom he had greatly respected till +then, was a rubbishy German, that Denisov was a hero, the esaul a hero, +and Tikhon a hero too, and that it would be shameful for him to leave +them at a moment of difficulty. + +It was already growing dusk when Denisov, Petya, and the esaul rode up +to the watchhouse. In the twilight saddled horses could be seen, and +Cossacks and hussars who had rigged up rough shelters in the glade and +were kindling glowing fires in a hollow of the forest where the French +could not see the smoke. In the passage of the small watchhouse a +Cossack with sleeves rolled up was chopping some mutton. In the room +three officers of Denisov's band were converting a door into a tabletop. +Petya took off his wet clothes, gave them to be dried, and at once began +helping the officers to fix up the dinner table. + +In ten minutes the table was ready and a napkin spread on it. On the +table were vodka, a flask of rum, white bread, roast mutton, and salt. + +Sitting at table with the officers and tearing the fat savory mutton +with his hands, down which the grease trickled, Petya was in an ecstatic +childish state of love for all men, and consequently of confidence that +others loved him in the same way. + +"So then what do you think, Vasili Dmitrich?" said he to Denisov. "It's +all right my staying a day with you?" And not waiting for a reply he +answered his own question: "You see I was told to find out--well, I am +finding out.... Only do let me into the very... into the chief... I +don't want a reward... But I want..." + +Petya clenched his teeth and looked around, throwing back his head and +flourishing his arms. + +"Into the vewy chief..." Denisov repeated with a smile. + +"Only, please let me command something, so that I may really command..." +Petya went on. "What would it be to you?... Oh, you want a knife?" he +said, turning to an officer who wished to cut himself a piece of mutton. + +And he handed him his clasp knife. The officer admired it. + +"Please keep it. I have several like it," said Petya, blushing. +"Heavens! I was quite forgetting!" he suddenly cried. "I have some +raisins, fine ones; you know, seedless ones. We have a new sutler and he +has such capital things. I bought ten pounds. I am used to something +sweet. Would you like some?..." and Petya ran out into the passage to +his Cossack and brought back some bags which contained about five pounds +of raisins. "Have some, gentlemen, have some!" + +"You want a coffeepot, don't you?" he asked the esaul. "I bought a +capital one from our sutler! He has splendid things. And he's very +honest, that's the chief thing. I'll be sure to send it to you. Or +perhaps your flints are giving out, or are worn out--that happens +sometimes, you know. I have brought some with me, here they are"--and he +showed a bag--"a hundred flints. I bought them very cheap. Please take +as many as you want, or all if you like...." + +Then suddenly, dismayed lest he had said too much, Petya stopped and +blushed. + +He tried to remember whether he had not done anything else that was +foolish. And running over the events of the day he remembered the French +drummer boy. "It's capital for us here, but what of him? Where have they +put him? Have they fed him? Haven't they hurt his feelings?" he thought. +But having caught himself saying too much about the flints, he was now +afraid to speak out. + +"I might ask," he thought, "but they'll say: 'He's a boy himself and so +he pities the boy.' I'll show them tomorrow whether I'm a boy. Will it +seem odd if I ask?" Petya thought. "Well, never mind!" and immediately, +blushing and looking anxiously at the officers to see if they appeared +ironical, he said: + +"May I call in that boy who was taken prisoner and give him something to +eat?... Perhaps..." + +"Yes, he's a poor little fellow," said Denisov, who evidently saw +nothing shameful in this reminder. "Call him in. His name is Vincent +Bosse. Have him fetched." + +"I'll call him," said Petya. + +"Yes, yes, call him. A poor little fellow," Denisov repeated. + +Petya was standing at the door when Denisov said this. He slipped in +between the officers, came close to Denisov, and said: + +"Let me kiss you, dear old fellow! Oh, how fine, how splendid!" + +And having kissed Denisov he ran out of the hut. + +"Bosse! Vincent!" Petya cried, stopping outside the door. + +"Who do you want, sir?" asked a voice in the darkness. + +Petya replied that he wanted the French lad who had been captured that +day. + +"Ah, Vesenny?" said a Cossack. + +Vincent, the boy's name, had already been changed by the Cossacks into +Vesenny (vernal) and into Vesenya by the peasants and soldiers. In both +these adaptations the reference to spring (vesna) matched the impression +made by the young lad. + +"He is warming himself there by the bonfire. Ho, Vesenya! Vesenya!-- +Vesenny!" laughing voices were heard calling to one another in the +darkness. + +"He's a smart lad," said an hussar standing near Petya. "We gave him +something to eat a while ago. He was awfully hungry!" + +The sound of bare feet splashing through the mud was heard in the +darkness, and the drummer boy came to the door. + +"Ah, c'est vous!" said Petya. "Voulez-vous manger? N'ayez pas peur, on +ne vous fera pas de mal," * he added shyly and affectionately, touching +the boy's hand. "Entrez, entrez." *(2) + + +* "Ah, it's you! Do you want something to eat? Don't be afraid, they +won't hurt you." + +* (2) "Come in, come in." + +"Merci, monsieur," * said the drummer boy in a trembling almost childish +voice, and he began scraping his dirty feet on the threshold. + + +* "Thank you, sir." + +There were many things Petya wanted to say to the drummer boy, but did +not dare to. He stood irresolutely beside him in the passage. Then in +the darkness he took the boy's hand and pressed it. + +"Come in, come in!" he repeated in a gentle whisper. "Oh, what can I do +for him?" he thought, and opening the door he let the boy pass in first. + +When the boy had entered the hut, Petya sat down at a distance from him, +considering it beneath his dignity to pay attention to him. But he +fingered the money in his pocket and wondered whether it would seem +ridiculous to give some to the drummer boy. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The arrival of Dolokhov diverted Petya's attention from the drummer boy, +to whom Denisov had had some mutton and vodka given, and whom he had had +dressed in a Russian coat so that he might be kept with their band and +not sent away with the other prisoners. Petya had heard in the army many +stories of Dolokhov's extraordinary bravery and of his cruelty to the +French, so from the moment he entered the hut Petya did not take his +eyes from him, but braced himself up more and more and held his head +high, that he might not be unworthy even of such company. + +Dolokhov's appearance amazed Petya by its simplicity. + +Denisov wore a Cossack coat, had a beard, had an icon of Nicholas the +Wonder-Worker on his breast, and his way of speaking and everything he +did indicated his unusual position. But Dolokhov, who in Moscow had worn +a Persian costume, had now the appearance of a most correct officer of +the Guards. He was clean-shaven and wore a Guardsman's padded coat with +an Order of St. George at his buttonhole and a plain forage cap set +straight on his head. He took off his wet felt cloak in a corner of the +room, and without greeting anyone went up to Denisov and began +questioning him about the matter in hand. Denisov told him of the +designs the large detachments had on the transport, of the message Petya +had brought, and his own replies to both generals. Then he told him all +he knew of the French detachment. + +"That's so. But we must know what troops they are and their numbers," +said Dolokhov. "It will be necessary to go there. We can't start the +affair without knowing for certain how many there are. I like to work +accurately. Here now--wouldn't one of these gentlemen like to ride over +to the French camp with me? I have brought a spare uniform." + +"I, I... I'll go with you!" cried Petya. + +"There's no need for you to go at all," said Denisov, addressing +Dolokhov, "and as for him, I won't let him go on any account." + +"I like that!" exclaimed Petya. "Why shouldn't I go?" + +"Because it's useless." + +"Well, you must excuse me, because... because... I shall go, and that's +all. You'll take me, won't you?" he said, turning to Dolokhov. + +"Why not?" Dolokhov answered absently, scrutinizing the face of the +French drummer boy. "Have you had that youngster with you long?" he +asked Denisov. + +"He was taken today but he knows nothing. I'm keeping him with me." + +"Yes, and where do you put the others?" inquired Dolokhov. + +"Where? I send them away and take a weceipt for them," shouted Denisov, +suddenly flushing. "And I say boldly that I have not a single man's life +on my conscience. Would it be difficult for you to send thirty or thwee +hundwed men to town under escort, instead of staining--I speak bluntly-- +staining the honor of a soldier?" + +"That kind of amiable talk would be suitable from this young count of +sixteen," said Dolokhov with cold irony, "but it's time for you to drop +it." + +"Why, I've not said anything! I only say that I'll certainly go with +you," said Petya shyly. + +"But for you and me, old fellow, it's time to drop these amenities," +continued Dolokhov, as if he found particular pleasure in speaking of +this subject which irritated Denisov. "Now, why have you kept this lad?" +he went on, swaying his head. "Because you are sorry for him! Don't we +know those 'receipts' of yours? You send a hundred men away, and thirty +get there. The rest either starve or get killed. So isn't it all the +same not to send them?" + +The esaul, screwing up his light-colored eyes, nodded approvingly. + +"That's not the point. I'm not going to discuss the matter. I do not +wish to take it on my conscience. You say they'll die. All wight. Only +not by my fault!" + +Dolokhov began laughing. + +"Who has told them not to capture me these twenty times over? But if +they did catch me they'd string me up to an aspen tree, and with all +your chivalry just the same." He paused. "However, we must get to work. +Tell the Cossack to fetch my kit. I have two French uniforms in it. +Well, are you coming with me?" he asked Petya. + +"I? Yes, yes, certainly!" cried Petya, blushing almost to tears and +glancing at Denisov. + +While Dolokhov had been disputing with Denisov what should be done with +prisoners, Petya had once more felt awkward and restless; but again he +had no time to grasp fully what they were talking about. "If grown-up, +distinguished men think so, it must be necessary and right," thought he. +"But above all Denisov must not dare to imagine that I'll obey him and +that he can order me about. I will certainly go to the French camp with +Dolokhov. If he can, so can I!" + +And to all Denisov's persuasions, Petya replied that he too was +accustomed to do everything accurately and not just anyhow, and that he +never considered personal danger. + +"For you'll admit that if we don't know for sure how many of them there +are... hundreds of lives may depend on it, while there are only two of +us. Besides, I want to go very much and certainly will go, so don't +hinder me," said he. "It will only make things worse..." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Having put on French greatcoats and shakos, Petya and Dolokhov rode to +the clearing from which Denisov had reconnoitered the French camp, and +emerging from the forest in pitch darkness they descended into the +hollow. On reaching the bottom, Dolokhov told the Cossacks accompanying +him to await him there and rode on at a quick trot along the road to the +bridge. Petya, his heart in his mouth with excitement, rode by his side. + +"If we're caught, I won't be taken alive! I have a pistol," whispered +he. + +"Don't talk Russian," said Dolokhov in a hurried whisper, and at that +very moment they heard through the darkness the challenge: "Qui vive?" * +and the click of a musket. + + +* "Who goes there?" + +The blood rushed to Petya's face and he grasped his pistol. + +"Lanciers du 6-me," * replied Dolokhov, neither hastening nor slackening +his horse's pace. + + +* "Lancers of the 6th Regiment." + +The black figure of a sentinel stood on the bridge. + +"Mot d'ordre." * + + +* "Password." + +Dolokhov reined in his horse and advanced at a walk. + +"Dites donc, le colonel Gerard est ici?" * he asked. + + +* "Tell me, is Colonel Gerard here?" + +"Mot d'ordre," repeated the sentinel, barring the way and not replying. + +"Quand un officier fait sa ronde, les sentinelles ne demandent pas le +mot d'ordre..." cried Dolokhov suddenly flaring up and riding straight +at the sentinel. "Je vous demande si le colonel est ici." * + + +* "When an officer is making his round, sentinels don't ask him for the +password.... I am asking you if the colonel is here." + +And without waiting for an answer from the sentinel, who had stepped +aside, Dolokhov rode up the incline at a walk. + +Noticing the black outline of a man crossing the road, Dolokhov stopped +him and inquired where the commander and officers were. The man, a +soldier with a sack over his shoulder, stopped, came close up to +Dolokhov's horse, touched it with his hand, and explained simply and in +a friendly way that the commander and the officers were higher up the +hill to the right in the courtyard of the farm, as he called the +landowner's house. + +Having ridden up the road, on both sides of which French talk could be +heard around the campfires, Dolokhov turned into the courtyard of the +landowner's house. Having ridden in, he dismounted and approached a big +blazing campfire, around which sat several men talking noisily. +Something was boiling in a small cauldron at the edge of the fire and a +soldier in a peaked cap and blue overcoat, lit up by the fire, was +kneeling beside it stirring its contents with a ramrod. + +"Oh, he's a hard nut to crack," said one of the officers who was sitting +in the shadow at the other side of the fire. + +"He'll make them get a move on, those fellows!" said another, laughing. + +Both fell silent, peering out through the darkness at the sound of +Dolokhov's and Petya's steps as they advanced to the fire leading their +horses. + +"Bonjour, messieurs!" * said Dolokhov loudly and clearly. + + +* "Good day, gentlemen." + +There was a stir among the officers in the shadow beyond the fire, and +one tall, long-necked officer, walking round the fire, came up to +Dolokhov. + +"Is that you, Clement?" he asked. "Where the devil...?" But, noticing +his mistake, he broke off short and, with a frown, greeted Dolokhov as a +stranger, asking what he could do for him. + +Dolokhov said that he and his companion were trying to overtake their +regiment, and addressing the company in general asked whether they knew +anything of the 6th Regiment. None of them knew anything, and Petya +thought the officers were beginning to look at him and Dolokhov with +hostility and suspicion. For some seconds all were silent. + +"If you were counting on the evening soup, you have come too late," said +a voice from behind the fire with a repressed laugh. + +Dolokhov replied that they were not hungry and must push on farther that +night. + +He handed the horses over to the soldier who was stirring the pot and +squatted down on his heels by the fire beside the officer with the long +neck. That officer did not take his eyes from Dolokhov and again asked +to what regiment he belonged. Dolokhov, as if he had not heard the +question, did not reply, but lighting a short French pipe which he took +from his pocket began asking the officer in how far the road before them +was safe from Cossacks. + +"Those brigands are everywhere," replied an officer from behind the +fire. + +Dolokhov remarked that the Cossacks were a danger only to stragglers +such as his companion and himself, "but probably they would not dare to +attack large detachments?" he added inquiringly. No one replied. + +"Well, now he'll come away," Petya thought every moment as he stood by +the campfire listening to the talk. + +But Dolokhov restarted the conversation which had dropped and began +putting direct questions as to how many men there were in the battalion, +how many battalions, and how many prisoners. Asking about the Russian +prisoners with that detachment, Dolokhov said: + +"A horrid business dragging these corpses about with one! It would be +better to shoot such rabble," and burst into loud laughter, so strange +that Petya thought the French would immediately detect their disguise, +and involuntarily took a step back from the campfire. + +No one replied a word to Dolokhov's laughter, and a French officer whom +they could not see (he lay wrapped in a greatcoat) rose and whispered +something to a companion. Dolokhov got up and called to the soldier who +was holding their horses. + +"Will they bring our horses or not?" thought Petya, instinctively +drawing nearer to Dolokhov. + +The horses were brought. + +"Good evening, gentlemen," said Dolokhov. + +Petya wished to say "Good night" but could not utter a word. The +officers were whispering together. Dolokhov was a long time mounting his +horse which would not stand still, then he rode out of the yard at a +footpace. Petya rode beside him, longing to look round to see whether or +not the French were running after them, but not daring to. + +Coming out onto the road Dolokhov did not ride back across the open +country, but through the village. At one spot he stopped and listened. +"Do you hear?" he asked. Petya recognized the sound of Russian voices +and saw the dark figures of Russian prisoners round their campfires. +When they had descended to the bridge Petya and Dolokhov rode past the +sentinel, who without saying a word paced morosely up and down it, then +they descended into the hollow where the Cossacks awaited them. + +"Well now, good-by. Tell Denisov, 'at the first shot at daybreak,'" said +Dolokhov and was about to ride away, but Petya seized hold of him. + +"Really!" he cried, "you are such a hero! Oh, how fine, how splendid! +How I love you!" + +"All right, all right!" said Dolokhov. But Petya did not let go of him +and Dolokhov saw through the gloom that Petya was bending toward him and +wanted to kiss him. Dolokhov kissed him, laughed, turned his horse, and +vanished into the darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Having returned to the watchman's hut, Petya found Denisov in the +passage. He was awaiting Petya's return in a state of agitation, +anxiety, and self-reproach for having let him go. + +"Thank God!" he exclaimed. "Yes, thank God!" he repeated, listening to +Petya's rapturous account. "But, devil take you, I haven't slept because +of you! Well, thank God. Now lie down. We can still get a nap before +morning." + +"But... no," said Petya, "I don't want to sleep yet. Besides I know +myself, if I fall asleep it's finished. And then I am used to not +sleeping before a battle." + +He sat awhile in the hut joyfully recalling the details of his +expedition and vividly picturing to himself what would happen next day. + +Then, noticing that Denisov was asleep, he rose and went out of doors. + +It was still quite dark outside. The rain was over, but drops were still +falling from the trees. Near the watchman's hut the black shapes of the +Cossacks' shanties and of horses tethered together could be seen. Behind +the hut the dark shapes of the two wagons with their horses beside them +were discernible, and in the hollow the dying campfire gleamed red. Not +all the Cossacks and hussars were asleep; here and there, amid the +sounds of falling drops and the munching of the horses near by, could be +heard low voices which seemed to be whispering. + +Petya came out, peered into the darkness, and went up to the wagons. +Someone was snoring under them, and around them stood saddled horses +munching their oats. In the dark Petya recognized his own horse, which +he called "Karabakh" though it was of Ukranian breed, and went up to it. + +"Well, Karabakh! We'll do some service tomorrow," said he, sniffing its +nostrils and kissing it. + +"Why aren't you asleep, sir?" said a Cossack who was sitting under a +wagon. + +"No, ah... Likhachev--isn't that your name? Do you know I have only just +come back! We've been into the French camp." + +And Petya gave the Cossack a detailed account not only of his ride but +also of his object, and why he considered it better to risk his life +than to act "just anyhow." + +"Well, you should get some sleep now," said the Cossack. + +"No, I am used to this," said Petya. "I say, aren't the flints in your +pistols worn out? I brought some with me. Don't you want any? You can +have some." + +The Cossack bent forward from under the wagon to get a closer look at +Petya. + +"Because I am accustomed to doing everything accurately," said Petya. +"Some fellows do things just anyhow, without preparation, and then +they're sorry for it afterwards. I don't like that." + +"Just so," said the Cossack. + +"Oh yes, another thing! Please, my dear fellow, will you sharpen my +saber for me? It's got bl..." (Petya feared to tell a lie, and the saber +never had been sharpened.) "Can you do it?" + +"Of course I can." + +Likhachev got up, rummaged in his pack, and soon Petya heard the warlike +sound of steel on whetstone. He climbed onto the wagon and sat on its +edge. The Cossack was sharpening the saber under the wagon. + +"I say! Are the lads asleep?" asked Petya. + +"Some are, and some aren't--like us." + +"Well, and that boy?" + +"Vesenny? Oh, he's thrown himself down there in the passage. Fast asleep +after his fright. He was that glad!" + +After that Petya remained silent for a long time, listening to the +sounds. He heard footsteps in the darkness and a black figure appeared. + +"What are you sharpening?" asked a man coming up to the wagon. + +"Why, this gentleman's saber." + +"That's right," said the man, whom Petya took to be an hussar. "Was the +cup left here?" + +"There, by the wheel!" + +The hussar took the cup. + +"It must be daylight soon," said he, yawning, and went away. + +Petya ought to have known that he was in a forest with Denisov's +guerrilla band, less than a mile from the road, sitting on a wagon +captured from the French beside which horses were tethered, that under +it Likhachev was sitting sharpening a saber for him, that the big dark +blotch to the right was the watchman's hut, and the red blotch below to +the left was the dying embers of a campfire, that the man who had come +for the cup was an hussar who wanted a drink; but he neither knew nor +waited to know anything of all this. He was in a fairy kingdom where +nothing resembled reality. The big dark blotch might really be the +watchman's hut or it might be a cavern leading to the very depths of the +earth. Perhaps the red spot was a fire, or it might be the eye of an +enormous monster. Perhaps he was really sitting on a wagon, but it might +very well be that he was not sitting on a wagon but on a terribly high +tower from which, if he fell, he would have to fall for a whole day or a +whole month, or go on falling and never reach the bottom. Perhaps it was +just the Cossack, Likhachev, who was sitting under the wagon, but it +might be the kindest, bravest, most wonderful, most splendid man in the +world, whom no one knew of. It might really have been that the hussar +came for water and went back into the hollow, but perhaps he had simply +vanished--disappeared altogether and dissolved into nothingness. + +Nothing Petya could have seen now would have surprised him. He was in a +fairy kingdom where everything was possible. + +He looked up at the sky. And the sky was a fairy realm like the earth. +It was clearing, and over the tops of the trees clouds were swiftly +sailing as if unveiling the stars. Sometimes it looked as if the clouds +were passing, and a clear black sky appeared. Sometimes it seemed as if +the black spaces were clouds. Sometimes the sky seemed to be rising +high, high overhead, and then it seemed to sink so low that one could +touch it with one's hand. + +Petya's eyes began to close and he swayed a little. + +The trees were dripping. Quiet talking was heard. The horses neighed and +jostled one another. Someone snored. + +"Ozheg-zheg, Ozheg-zheg..." hissed the saber against the whetstone, and +suddenly Petya heard an harmonious orchestra playing some unknown, +sweetly solemn hymn. Petya was as musical as Natasha and more so than +Nicholas, but had never learned music or thought about it, and so the +melody that unexpectedly came to his mind seemed to him particularly +fresh and attractive. The music became more and more audible. The melody +grew and passed from one instrument to another. And what was played was +a fugue--though Petya had not the least conception of what a fugue is. +Each instrument--now resembling a violin and now a horn, but better and +clearer than violin or horn--played its own part, and before it had +finished the melody merged with another instrument that began almost the +same air, and then with a third and a fourth; and they all blended into +one and again became separate and again blended, now into solemn church +music, now into something dazzlingly brilliant and triumphant. + +"Oh--why, that was in a dream!" Petya said to himself, as he lurched +forward. "It's in my ears. But perhaps it's music of my own. Well, go +on, my music! Now!..." + +He closed his eyes, and, from all sides as if from a distance, sounds +fluttered, grew into harmonies, separated, blended, and again all +mingled into the same sweet and solemn hymn. "Oh, this is delightful! As +much as I like and as I like!" said Petya to himself. He tried to +conduct that enormous orchestra. + +"Now softly, softly die away!" and the sounds obeyed him. "Now fuller, +more joyful. Still more and more joyful!" And from an unknown depth rose +increasingly triumphant sounds. "Now voices join in!" ordered Petya. And +at first from afar he heard men's voices and then women's. The voices +grew in harmonious triumphant strength, and Petya listened to their +surpassing beauty in awe and joy. + +With a solemn triumphal march there mingled a song, the drip from the +trees, and the hissing of the saber, "Ozheg-zheg-zheg..." and again the +horses jostled one another and neighed, not disturbing the choir but +joining in it. + +Petya did not know how long this lasted: he enjoyed himself all the +time, wondered at his enjoyment and regretted that there was no one to +share it. He was awakened by Likhachev's kindly voice. + +"It's ready, your honor; you can split a Frenchman in half with it!" + +Petya woke up. + +"It's getting light, it's really getting light!" he exclaimed. + +The horses that had previously been invisible could now be seen to their +very tails, and a watery light showed itself through the bare branches. +Petya shook himself, jumped up, took a ruble from his pocket and gave it +to Likhachev; then he flourished the saber, tested it, and sheathed it. +The Cossacks were untying their horses and tightening their saddle +girths. + +"And here's the commander," said Likhachev. + +Denisov came out of the watchman's hut and, having called Petya, gave +orders to get ready. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The men rapidly picked out their horses in the semidarkness, tightened +their saddle girths, and formed companies. Denisov stood by the +watchman's hut giving final orders. The infantry of the detachment +passed along the road and quickly disappeared amid the trees in the mist +of early dawn, hundreds of feet splashing through the mud. The esaul +gave some orders to his men. Petya held his horse by the bridle, +impatiently awaiting the order to mount. His face, having been bathed in +cold water, was all aglow, and his eyes were particularly brilliant. +Cold shivers ran down his spine and his whole body pulsed rhythmically. + +"Well, is ev'wything weady?" asked Denisov. "Bwing the horses." + +The horses were brought. Denisov was angry with the Cossack because the +saddle girths were too slack, reproved him, and mounted. Petya put his +foot in the stirrup. His horse by habit made as if to nip his leg, but +Petya leaped quickly into the saddle unconscious of his own weight and, +turning to look at the hussars starting in the darkness behind him, rode +up to Denisov. + +"Vasili Dmitrich, entrust me with some commission! Please... for God's +sake...!" said he. + +Denisov seemed to have forgotten Petya's very existence. He turned to +glance at him. + +"I ask one thing of you," he said sternly, "to obey me and not shove +yourself forward anywhere." + +He did not say another word to Petya but rode in silence all the way. +When they had come to the edge of the forest it was noticeably growing +light over the field. Denisov talked in whispers with the esaul and the +Cossacks rode past Petya and Denisov. When they had all ridden by, +Denisov touched his horse and rode down the hill. Slipping onto their +haunches and sliding, the horses descended with their riders into the +ravine. Petya rode beside Denisov, the pulsation of his body constantly +increasing. It was getting lighter and lighter, but the mist still hid +distant objects. Having reached the valley, Denisov looked back and +nodded to a Cossack beside him. + +"The signal!" said he. + +The Cossack raised his arm and a shot rang out. In an instant the tramp +of horses galloping forward was heard, shouts came from various sides, +and then more shots. + +At the first sound of trampling hoofs and shouting, Petya lashed his +horse and loosening his rein galloped forward, not heeding Denisov who +shouted at him. It seemed to Petya that at the moment the shot was fired +it suddenly became as bright as noon. He galloped to the bridge. +Cossacks were galloping along the road in front of him. On the bridge he +collided with a Cossack who had fallen behind, but he galloped on. In +front of him soldiers, probably Frenchmen, were running from right to +left across the road. One of them fell in the mud under his horse's +feet. + +Cossacks were crowding about a hut, busy with something. From the midst +of that crowd terrible screams arose. Petya galloped up, and the first +thing he saw was the pale face and trembling jaw of a Frenchman, +clutching the handle of a lance that had been aimed at him. + +"Hurrah!... Lads!... ours!" shouted Petya, and giving rein to his +excited horse he galloped forward along the village street. + +He could hear shooting ahead of him. Cossacks, hussars, and ragged +Russian prisoners, who had come running from both sides of the road, +were shouting something loudly and incoherently. A gallant-looking +Frenchman, in a blue overcoat, capless, and with a frowning red face, +had been defending himself against the hussars. When Petya galloped up +the Frenchman had already fallen. "Too late again!" flashed through +Petya's mind and he galloped on to the place from which the rapid firing +could be heard. The shots came from the yard of the landowner's house he +had visited the night before with Dolokhov. The French were making a +stand there behind a wattle fence in a garden thickly overgrown with +bushes and were firing at the Cossacks who crowded at the gateway. +Through the smoke, as he approached the gate, Petya saw Dolokhov, whose +face was of a pale-greenish tint, shouting to his men. "Go round! Wait +for the infantry!" he exclaimed as Petya rode up to him. + +"Wait?... Hurrah-ah-ah!" shouted Petya, and without pausing a moment +galloped to the place whence came the sounds of firing and where the +smoke was thickest. + +A volley was heard, and some bullets whistled past, while others plashed +against something. The Cossacks and Dolokhov galloped after Petya into +the gateway of the courtyard. In the dense wavering smoke some of the +French threw down their arms and ran out of the bushes to meet the +Cossacks, while others ran down the hill toward the pond. Petya was +galloping along the courtyard, but instead of holding the reins he waved +both his arms about rapidly and strangely, slipping farther and farther +to one side in his saddle. His horse, having galloped up to a campfire +that was smoldering in the morning light, stopped suddenly, and Petya +fell heavily on to the wet ground. The Cossacks saw that his arms and +legs jerked rapidly though his head was quite motionless. A bullet had +pierced his skull. + +After speaking to the senior French officer, who came out of the house +with a white handkerchief tied to his sword and announced that they +surrendered, Dolokhov dismounted and went up to Petya, who lay +motionless with outstretched arms. + +"Done for!" he said with a frown, and went to the gate to meet Denisov +who was riding toward him. + +"Killed?" cried Denisov, recognizing from a distance the unmistakably +lifeless attitude--very familiar to him--in which Petya's body was +lying. + +"Done for!" repeated Dolokhov as if the utterance of these words +afforded him pleasure, and he went quickly up to the prisoners, who were +surrounded by Cossacks who had hurried up. "We won't take them!" he +called out to Denisov. + +Denisov did not reply; he rode up to Petya, dismounted, and with +trembling hands turned toward himself the bloodstained, mud-bespattered +face which had already gone white. + +"I am used to something sweet. Raisins, fine ones... take them all!" he +recalled Petya's words. And the Cossacks looked round in surprise at the +sound, like the yelp of a dog, with which Denisov turned away, walked to +the wattle fence, and seized hold of it. + +Among the Russian prisoners rescued by Denisov and Dolokhov was Pierre +Bezukhov. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +During the whole of their march from Moscow no fresh orders had been +issued by the French authorities concerning the party of prisoners among +whom was Pierre. On the twenty-second of October that party was no +longer with the same troops and baggage trains with which it had left +Moscow. Half the wagons laden with hardtack that had traveled the first +stages with them had been captured by Cossacks, the other half had gone +on ahead. Not one of those dismounted cavalrymen who had marched in +front of the prisoners was left; they had all disappeared. The artillery +the prisoners had seen in front of them during the first days was now +replaced by Marshal Junot's enormous baggage train, convoyed by +Westphalians. Behind the prisoners came a cavalry baggage train. + +From Vyazma onwards the French army, which had till then moved in three +columns, went on as a single group. The symptoms of disorder that Pierre +had noticed at their first halting place after leaving Moscow had now +reached the utmost limit. + +The road along which they moved was bordered on both sides by dead +horses; ragged men who had fallen behind from various regiments +continually changed about, now joining the moving column, now again +lagging behind it. + +Several times during the march false alarms had been given and the +soldiers of the escort had raised their muskets, fired, and run +headlong, crushing one another, but had afterwards reassembled and +abused each other for their causeless panic. + +These three groups traveling together--the cavalry stores, the convoy of +prisoners, and Junot's baggage train--still constituted a separate and +united whole, though each of the groups was rapidly melting away. + +Of the artillery baggage train which had consisted of a hundred and +twenty wagons, not more than sixty now remained; the rest had been +captured or left behind. Some of Junot's wagons also had been captured +or abandoned. Three wagons had been raided and robbed by stragglers from +Davout's corps. From the talk of the Germans Pierre learned that a +larger guard had been allotted to that baggage train than to the +prisoners, and that one of their comrades, a German soldier, had been +shot by the marshal's own order because a silver spoon belonging to the +marshal had been found in his possession. + +The group of prisoners had melted away most of all. Of the three hundred +and thirty men who had set out from Moscow fewer than a hundred now +remained. The prisoners were more burdensome to the escort than even the +cavalry saddles or Junot's baggage. They understood that the saddles and +Junot's spoon might be of some use, but that cold and hungry soldiers +should have to stand and guard equally cold and hungry Russians who +froze and lagged behind on the road (in which case the order was to +shoot them) was not merely incomprehensible but revolting. And the +escort, as if afraid, in the grievous condition they themselves were in, +of giving way to the pity they felt for the prisoners and so rendering +their own plight still worse, treated them with particular moroseness +and severity. + +At Dorogobuzh while the soldiers of the convoy, after locking the +prisoners in a stable, had gone off to pillage their own stores, several +of the soldier prisoners tunneled under the wall and ran away, but were +recaptured by the French and shot. + +The arrangement adopted when they started, that the officer prisoners +should be kept separate from the rest, had long since been abandoned. +All who could walk went together, and after the third stage Pierre had +rejoined Karataev and the gray-blue bandy-legged dog that had chosen +Karataev for its master. + +On the third day after leaving Moscow Karataev again fell ill with the +fever he had suffered from in the hospital in Moscow, and as he grew +gradually weaker Pierre kept away from him. Pierre did not know why, but +since Karataev had begun to grow weaker it had cost him an effort to go +near him. When he did so and heard the subdued moaning with which +Karataev generally lay down at the halting places, and when he smelled +the odor emanating from him which was now stronger than before, Pierre +moved farther away and did not think about him. + +While imprisoned in the shed Pierre had learned not with his intellect +but with his whole being, by life itself, that man is created for +happiness, that happiness is within him, in the satisfaction of simple +human needs, and that all unhappiness arises not from privation but from +superfluity. And now during these last three weeks of the march he had +learned still another new, consolatory truth--that nothing in this world +is terrible. He had learned that as there is no condition in which man +can be happy and entirely free, so there is no condition in which he +need be unhappy and lack freedom. He learned that suffering and freedom +have their limits and that those limits are very near together; that the +person in a bed of roses with one crumpled petal suffered as keenly as +he now, sleeping on the bare damp earth with one side growing chilled +while the other was warming; and that when he had put on tight dancing +shoes he had suffered just as he did now when he walked with bare feet +that were covered with sores--his footgear having long since fallen to +pieces. He discovered that when he had married his wife--of his own free +will as it had seemed to him--he had been no more free than now when +they locked him up at night in a stable. Of all that he himself +subsequently termed his sufferings, but which at the time he scarcely +felt, the worst was the state of his bare, raw, and scab-covered feet. +(The horseflesh was appetizing and nourishing, the saltpeter flavor of +the gunpowder they used instead of salt was even pleasant; there was no +great cold, it was always warm walking in the daytime, and at night +there were the campfires; the lice that devoured him warmed his body.) +The one thing that was at first hard to bear was his feet. + +After the second day's march Pierre, having examined his feet by the +campfire, thought it would be impossible to walk on them; but when +everybody got up he went along, limping, and, when he had warmed up, +walked without feeling the pain, though at night his feet were more +terrible to look at than before. However, he did not look at them now, +but thought of other things. + +Only now did Pierre realize the full strength of life in man and the +saving power he has of transferring his attention from one thing to +another, which is like the safety valve of a boiler that allows +superfluous steam to blow off when the pressure exceeds a certain limit. + +He did not see and did not hear how they shot the prisoners who lagged +behind, though more than a hundred perished in that way. He did not +think of Karataev who grew weaker every day and evidently would soon +have to share that fate. Still less did Pierre think about himself. The +harder his position became and the more terrible the future, the more +independent of that position in which he found himself were the joyful +and comforting thoughts, memories, and imaginings that came to him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +At midday on the twenty-second of October Pierre was going uphill along +the muddy, slippery road, looking at his feet and at the roughness of +the way. Occasionally he glanced at the familiar crowd around him and +then again at his feet. The former and the latter were alike familiar +and his own. The blue-gray bandy legged dog ran merrily along the side +of the road, sometimes in proof of its agility and self-satisfaction +lifting one hind leg and hopping along on three, and then again going on +all four and rushing to bark at the crows that sat on the carrion. The +dog was merrier and sleeker than it had been in Moscow. All around lay +the flesh of different animals--from men to horses--in various stages of +decomposition; and as the wolves were kept off by the passing men the +dog could eat all it wanted. + +It had been raining since morning and had seemed as if at any moment it +might cease and the sky clear, but after a short break it began raining +harder than before. The saturated road no longer absorbed the water, +which ran along the ruts in streams. + +Pierre walked along, looking from side to side, counting his steps in +threes, and reckoning them off on his fingers. Mentally addressing the +rain, he repeated: "Now then, now then, go on! Pelt harder!" + +It seemed to him that he was thinking of nothing, but far down and deep +within him his soul was occupied with something important and +comforting. This something was a most subtle spiritual deduction from a +conversation with Karataev the day before. + +At their yesterday's halting place, feeling chilly by a dying campfire, +Pierre had got up and gone to the next one, which was burning better. +There Platon Karataev was sitting covered up--head and all--with his +greatcoat as if it were a vestment, telling the soldiers in his +effective and pleasant though now feeble voice a story Pierre knew. It +was already past midnight, the hour when Karataev was usually free of +his fever and particularly lively. When Pierre reached the fire and +heard Platon's voice enfeebled by illness, and saw his pathetic face +brightly lit up by the blaze, he felt a painful prick at his heart. His +feeling of pity for this man frightened him and he wished to go away, +but there was no other fire, and Pierre sat down, trying not to look at +Platon. + +"Well, how are you?" he asked. + +"How am I? If we grumble at sickness, God won't grant us death," replied +Platon, and at once resumed the story he had begun. + +"And so, brother," he continued, with a smile on his pale emaciated face +and a particularly happy light in his eyes, "you see, brother..." + +Pierre had long been familiar with that story. Karataev had told it to +him alone some half-dozen times and always with a specially joyful +emotion. But well as he knew it, Pierre now listened to that tale as to +something new, and the quiet rapture Karataev evidently felt as he told +it communicated itself also to Pierre. The story was of an old merchant +who lived a good and God-fearing life with his family, and who went once +to the Nizhni fair with a companion--a rich merchant. + +Having put up at an inn they both went to sleep, and next morning his +companion was found robbed and with his throat cut. A bloodstained knife +was found under the old merchant's pillow. He was tried, knouted, and +his nostrils having been torn off, "all in due form" as Karataev put it, +he was sent to hard labor in Siberia. + +"And so, brother" (it was at this point that Pierre came up), "ten years +or more passed by. The old man was living as a convict, submitting as he +should and doing no wrong. Only he prayed to God for death. Well, one +night the convicts were gathered just as we are, with the old man among +them. And they began telling what each was suffering for, and how they +had sinned against God. One told how he had taken a life, another had +taken two, a third had set a house on fire, while another had simply +been a vagrant and had done nothing. So they asked the old man: 'What +are you being punished for, Daddy?'--'I, my dear brothers,' said he, 'am +being punished for my own and other men's sins. But I have not killed +anyone or taken anything that was not mine, but have only helped my +poorer brothers. I was a merchant, my dear brothers, and had much +property. 'And he went on to tell them all about it in due order. 'I +don't grieve for myself,' he says, 'God, it seems, has chastened me. +Only I am sorry for my old wife and the children,' and the old man began +to weep. Now it happened that in the group was the very man who had +killed the other merchant. 'Where did it happen, Daddy?' he said. 'When, +and in what month?' He asked all about it and his heart began to ache. +So he comes up to the old man like this, and falls down at his feet! +'You are perishing because of me, Daddy,' he says. 'It's quite true, +lads, that this man,' he says, 'is being tortured innocently and for +nothing! I,' he says, 'did that deed, and I put the knife under your +head while you were asleep. Forgive me, Daddy,' he says, 'for Christ's +sake!'" + +Karataev paused, smiling joyously as he gazed into the fire, and he drew +the logs together. + +"And the old man said, 'God will forgive you, we are all sinners in His +sight. I suffer for my own sins,' and he wept bitter tears. Well, and +what do you think, dear friends?" Karataev continued, his face +brightening more and more with a rapturous smile as if what he now had +to tell contained the chief charm and the whole meaning of his story: +"What do you think, dear fellows? That murderer confessed to the +authorities. 'I have taken six lives,' he says (he was a great sinner), +'but what I am most sorry for is this old man. Don't let him suffer +because of me.' So he confessed and it was all written down and the +papers sent off in due form. The place was a long way off, and while +they were judging, what with one thing and another, filling in the +papers all in due form--the authorities I mean--time passed. The affair +reached the Tsar. After a while the Tsar's decree came: to set the +merchant free and give him a compensation that had been awarded. The +paper arrived and they began to look for the old man. 'Where is the old +man who has been suffering innocently and in vain? A paper has come from +the Tsar!' so they began looking for him," here Karataev's lower jaw +trembled, "but God had already forgiven him--he was dead! That's how it +was, dear fellows!" Karataev concluded and sat for a long time silent, +gazing before him with a smile. + +And Pierre's soul was dimly but joyfully filled not by the story itself +but by its mysterious significance: by the rapturous joy that lit up +Karataev's face as he told it, and the mystic significance of that joy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"A vos places!" * suddenly cried a voice. + + +* "To your places." + +A pleasant feeling of excitement and an expectation of something joyful +and solemn was aroused among the soldiers of the convoy and the +prisoners. From all sides came shouts of command, and from the left came +smartly dressed cavalrymen on good horses, passing the prisoners at a +trot. The expression on all faces showed the tension people feel at the +approach of those in authority. The prisoners thronged together and were +pushed off the road. The convoy formed up. + +"The Emperor! The Emperor! The Marshal! The Duke!" and hardly had the +sleek cavalry passed, before a carriage drawn by six gray horses rattled +by. Pierre caught a glimpse of a man in a three-cornered hat with a +tranquil look on his handsome, plump, white face. It was one of the +marshals. His eye fell on Pierre's large and striking figure, and in the +expression with which he frowned and looked away Pierre thought he +detected sympathy and a desire to conceal that sympathy. + +The general in charge of the stores galloped after the carriage with a +red and frightened face, whipping up his skinny horse. Several officers +formed a group and some soldiers crowded round them. Their faces all +looked excited and worried. + +"What did he say? What did he say?" Pierre heard them ask. + +While the marshal was passing, the prisoners had huddled together in a +crowd, and Pierre saw Karataev whom he had not yet seen that morning. He +sat in his short overcoat leaning against a birch tree. On his face, +besides the look of joyful emotion it had worn yesterday while telling +the tale of the merchant who suffered innocently, there was now an +expression of quiet solemnity. + +Karataev looked at Pierre with his kindly round eyes now filled with +tears, evidently wishing him to come near that he might say something to +him. But Pierre was not sufficiently sure of himself. He made as if he +did not notice that look and moved hastily away. + +When the prisoners again went forward Pierre looked round. Karataev was +still sitting at the side of the road under the birch tree and two +Frenchmen were talking over his head. Pierre did not look round again +but went limping up the hill. + +From behind, where Karataev had been sitting, came the sound of a shot. +Pierre heard it plainly, but at that moment he remembered that he had +not yet finished reckoning up how many stages still remained to +Smolensk--a calculation he had begun before the marshal went by. And he +again started reckoning. Two French soldiers ran past Pierre, one of +whom carried a lowered and smoking gun. They both looked pale, and in +the expression on their faces--one of them glanced timidly at Pierre-- +there was something resembling what he had seen on the face of the young +soldier at the execution. Pierre looked at the soldier and remembered +that, two days before, that man had burned his shirt while drying it at +the fire and how they had laughed at him. + +Behind him, where Karataev had been sitting, the dog began to howl. +"What a stupid beast! Why is it howling?" thought Pierre. + +His comrades, the prisoner soldiers walking beside him, avoided looking +back at the place where the shot had been fired and the dog was howling, +just as Pierre did, but there was a set look on all their faces. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The stores, the prisoners, and the marshal's baggage train stopped at +the village of Shamshevo. The men crowded together round the campfires. +Pierre went up to the fire, ate some roast horseflesh, lay down with his +back to the fire, and immediately fell asleep. He again slept as he had +done at Mozhaysk after the battle of Borodino. + +Again real events mingled with dreams and again someone, he or another, +gave expression to his thoughts, and even to the same thoughts that had +been expressed in his dream at Mozhaysk. + +"Life is everything. Life is God. Everything changes and moves and that +movement is God. And while there is life there is joy in consciousness +of the divine. To love life is to love God. Harder and more blessed than +all else is to love this life in one's sufferings, in innocent +sufferings." + +"Karataev!" came to Pierre's mind. + +And suddenly he saw vividly before him a long-forgotten, kindly old man +who had given him geography lessons in Switzerland. "Wait a bit," said +the old man, and showed Pierre a globe. This globe was alive--a +vibrating ball without fixed dimensions. Its whole surface consisted of +drops closely pressed together, and all these drops moved and changed +places, sometimes several of them merging into one, sometimes one +dividing into many. Each drop tried to spread out and occupy as much +space as possible, but others striving to do the same compressed it, +sometimes destroyed it, and sometimes merged with it. + +"That is life," said the old teacher. + +"How simple and clear it is," thought Pierre. "How is it I did not know +it before?" + +"God is in the midst, and each drop tries to expand so as to reflect Him +to the greatest extent. And it grows, merges, disappears from the +surface, sinks to the depths, and again emerges. There now, Karataev has +spread out and disappeared. Do you understand, my child?" said the +teacher. + +"Do you understand, damn you?" shouted a voice, and Pierre woke up. + +He lifted himself and sat up. A Frenchman who had just pushed a Russian +soldier away was squatting by the fire, engaged in roasting a piece of +meat stuck on a ramrod. His sleeves were rolled up and his sinewy, +hairy, red hands with their short fingers deftly turned the ramrod. His +brown morose face with frowning brows was clearly visible by the glow of +the charcoal. + +"It's all the same to him," he muttered, turning quickly to a soldier +who stood behind him. "Brigand! Get away!" + +And twisting the ramrod he looked gloomily at Pierre, who turned away +and gazed into the darkness. A prisoner, the Russian soldier the +Frenchman had pushed away, was sitting near the fire patting something +with his hand. Looking more closely Pierre recognized the blue-gray dog, +sitting beside the soldier, wagging its tail. + +"Ah, he's come?" said Pierre. "And Plat-" he began, but did not finish. + +Suddenly and simultaneously a crowd of memories awoke in his fancy--of +the look Platon had given him as he sat under the tree, of the shot +heard from that spot, of the dog's howl, of the guilty faces of the two +Frenchmen as they ran past him, of the lowered and smoking gun, and of +Karataev's absence at this halt--and he was on the point of realizing +that Karataev had been killed, but just at that instant, he knew not +why, the recollection came to his mind of a summer evening he had spent +with a beautiful Polish lady on the veranda of his house in Kiev. And +without linking up the events of the day or drawing a conclusion from +them, Pierre closed his eyes, seeing a vision of the country in +summertime mingled with memories of bathing and of the liquid, vibrating +globe, and he sank into water so that it closed over his head. + +Before sunrise he was awakened by shouts and loud and rapid firing. +French soldiers were running past him. + +"The Cossacks!" one of them shouted, and a moment later a crowd of +Russians surrounded Pierre. + +For a long time he could not understand what was happening to him. All +around he heard his comrades sobbing with joy. + +"Brothers! Dear fellows! Darlings!" old soldiers exclaimed, weeping, as +they embraced Cossacks and hussars. + +The hussars and Cossacks crowded round the prisoners; one offered them +clothes, another boots, and a third bread. Pierre sobbed as he sat among +them and could not utter a word. He hugged the first soldier who +approached him, and kissed him, weeping. + +Dolokhov stood at the gate of the ruined house, letting a crowd of +disarmed Frenchmen pass by. The French, excited by all that had +happened, were talking loudly among themselves, but as they passed +Dolokhov who gently switched his boots with his whip and watched them +with cold glassy eyes that boded no good, they became silent. On the +opposite side stood Dolokhov's Cossack, counting the prisoners and +marking off each hundred with a chalk line on the gate. + +"How many?" Dolokhov asked the Cossack. + +"The second hundred," replied the Cossack. + +"Filez, filez!" * Dolokhov kept saying, having adopted this expression +from the French, and when his eyes met those of the prisoners they +flashed with a cruel light. + + +* "Get along, get along!" + +Denisov, bareheaded and with a gloomy face, walked behind some Cossacks +who were carrying the body of Petya Rostov to a hole that had been dug +in the garden. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +After the twenty-eighth of October when the frosts began, the flight of +the French assumed a still more tragic character, with men freezing, or +roasting themselves to death at the campfires, while carriages with +people dressed in furs continued to drive past, carrying away the +property that had been stolen by the Emperor, kings, and dukes; but the +process of the flight and disintegration of the French army went on +essentially as before. + +From Moscow to Vyazma the French army of seventy-three thousand men not +reckoning the Guards (who did nothing during the whole war but pillage) +was reduced to thirty-six thousand, though not more than five thousand +had fallen in battle. From this beginning the succeeding terms of the +progression could be determined mathematically. The French army melted +away and perished at the same rate from Moscow to Vyazma, from Vyazma to +Smolensk, from Smolensk to the Berezina, and from the Berezina to Vilna- +-independently of the greater or lesser intensity of the cold, the +pursuit, the barring of the way, or any other particular conditions. +Beyond Vyazma the French army instead of moving in three columns huddled +together into one mass, and so went on to the end. Berthier wrote to his +Emperor (we know how far commanding officers allow themselves to diverge +from the truth in describing the condition of an army) and this is what +he said: + +I deem it my duty to report to Your Majesty the condition of the various +corps I have had occasion to observe during different stages of the last +two or three days' march. They are almost disbanded. Scarcely a quarter +of the soldiers remain with the standards of their regiments, the others +go off by themselves in different directions hoping to find food and +escape discipline. In general they regard Smolensk as the place where +they hope to recover. During the last few days many of the men have been +seen to throw away their cartridges and their arms. In such a state of +affairs, whatever your ultimate plans may be, the interest of Your +Majesty's service demands that the army should be rallied at Smolensk +and should first of all be freed from ineffectives, such as dismounted +cavalry, unnecessary baggage, and artillery material that is no longer +in proportion to the present forces. The soldiers, who are worn out with +hunger and fatigue, need these supplies as well as a few days' rest. +Many have died these last days on the road or at the bivouacs. This +state of things is continually becoming worse and makes one fear that +unless a prompt remedy is applied the troops will no longer be under +control in case of an engagement. + +November 9: twenty miles from Smolensk. + +After staggering into Smolensk which seemed to them a promised land, the +French, searching for food, killed one another, sacked their own stores, +and when everything had been plundered fled farther. + +They all went without knowing whither or why they were going. Still less +did that genius, Napoleon, know it, for no one issued any orders to him. +But still he and those about him retained their old habits: wrote +commands, letters, reports, and orders of the day; called one another +sire, mon cousin, prince d'Eckmuhl, roi de Naples, and so on. But these +orders and reports were only on paper, nothing in them was acted upon +for they could not be carried out, and though they entitled one another +Majesties, Highnesses, or Cousins, they all felt that they were +miserable wretches who had done much evil for which they had now to pay. +And though they pretended to be concerned about the army, each was +thinking only of himself and of how to get away quickly and save +himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +The movements of the Russian and French armies during the campaign from +Moscow back to the Niemen were like those in a game of Russian +blindman's bluff, in which two players are blindfolded and one of them +occasionally rings a little bell to inform the catcher of his +whereabouts. First he rings his bell fearlessly, but when he gets into a +tight place he runs away as quietly as he can, and often thinking to +escape runs straight into his opponent's arms. + +At first while they were still moving along the Kaluga road, Napoleon's +armies made their presence known, but later when they reached the +Smolensk road they ran holding the clapper of their bell tight--and +often thinking they were escaping ran right into the Russians. + +Owing to the rapidity of the French flight and the Russian pursuit and +the consequent exhaustion of the horses, the chief means of +approximately ascertaining the enemy's position--by cavalry scouting-- +was not available. Besides, as a result of the frequent and rapid change +of position by each army, even what information was obtained could not +be delivered in time. If news was received one day that the enemy had +been in a certain position the day before, by the third day when +something could have been done, that army was already two days' march +farther on and in quite another position. + +One army fled and the other pursued. Beyond Smolensk there were several +different roads available for the French, and one would have thought +that during their stay of four days they might have learned where the +enemy was, might have arranged some more advantageous plan and +undertaken something new. But after a four days' halt the mob, with no +maneuvers or plans, again began running along the beaten track, neither +to the right nor to the left but along the old--the worst--road, through +Krasnoe and Orsha. + +Expecting the enemy from behind and not in front, the French separated +in their flight and spread out over a distance of twenty-four hours. In +front of them all fled the Emperor, then the kings, then the dukes. The +Russian army, expecting Napoleon to take the road to the right beyond +the Dnieper--which was the only reasonable thing for him to do-- +themselves turned to the right and came out onto the highroad at +Krasnoe. And here as in a game of blindman's buff the French ran into +our vanguard. Seeing their enemy unexpectedly the French fell into +confusion and stopped short from the sudden fright, but then they +resumed their flight, abandoning their comrades who were farther behind. +Then for three days separate portions of the French army--first Murat's +(the vice-king's), then Davout's, and then Ney's--ran, as it were, the +gauntlet of the Russian army. They abandoned one another, abandoned all +their heavy baggage, their artillery, and half their men, and fled, +getting past the Russians by night by making semicircles to the right. + +Ney, who came last, had been busying himself blowing up the walls of +Smolensk which were in nobody's way, because despite the unfortunate +plight of the French or because of it, they wished to punish the floor +against which they had hurt themselves. Ney, who had had a corps of ten +thousand men, reached Napoleon at Orsha with only one thousand men left, +having abandoned all the rest and all his cannon, and having crossed the +Dnieper at night by stealth at a wooded spot. + +From Orsha they fled farther along the road to Vilna, still playing at +blindman's buff with the pursuing army. At the Berezina they again +became disorganized, many were drowned and many surrendered, but those +who got across the river fled farther. Their supreme chief donned a fur +coat and, having seated himself in a sleigh, galloped on alone, +abandoning his companions. The others who could do so drove away too, +leaving those who could not to surrender or die. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +This campaign consisted in a flight of the French during which they did +all they could to destroy themselves. From the time they turned onto the +Kaluga road to the day their leader fled from the army, none of the +movements of the crowd had any sense. So one might have thought that +regarding this period of the campaign the historians, who attributed the +actions of the mass to the will of one man, would have found it +impossible to make the story of the retreat fit their theory. But no! +Mountains of books have been written by the historians about this +campaign, and everywhere are described Napoleon's arrangements, the +maneuvers, and his profound plans which guided the army, as well as the +military genius shown by his marshals. + +The retreat from Malo-Yaroslavets when he had a free road into a well- +supplied district and the parallel road was open to him along which +Kutuzov afterwards pursued him--this unnecessary retreat along a +devastated road--is explained to us as being due to profound +considerations. Similarly profound considerations are given for his +retreat from Smolensk to Orsha. Then his heroism at Krasnoe is +described, where he is reported to have been prepared to accept battle +and take personal command, and to have walked about with a birch stick +and said: + +"J'ai assez fait l'empereur; il est temps de faire le general," * but +nevertheless immediately ran away again, abandoning to its fate the +scattered fragments of the army he left behind. + + +* "I have acted the Emperor long enough; it is time to act the general." + +Then we are told of the greatness of soul of the marshals, especially of +Ney--a greatness of soul consisting in this: that he made his way by +night around through the forest and across the Dnieper and escaped to +Orsha, abandoning standards, artillery, and nine tenths of his men. + +And lastly, the final departure of the great Emperor from his heroic +army is presented to us by the historians as something great and +characteristic of genius. Even that final running away, described in +ordinary language as the lowest depth of baseness which every child is +taught to be ashamed of--even that act finds justification in the +historians' language. + +When it is impossible to stretch the very elastic threads of historical +ratiocination any farther, when actions are clearly contrary to all that +humanity calls right or even just, the historians produce a saving +conception of "greatness." "Greatness," it seems, excludes the standards +of right and wrong. For the "great" man nothing is wrong, there is no +atrocity for which a "great" man can be blamed. + +"C'est grand!" * say the historians, and there no longer exists either +good or evil but only "grand" and "not grand." Grand is good, not grand +is bad. Grand is the characteristic, in their conception, of some +special animals called "heroes." And Napoleon, escaping home in a warm +fur coat and leaving to perish those who were not merely his comrades +but were (in his opinion) men he had brought there, feels que c'est +grand, *(2) and his soul is tranquil. + + +* "It is great." + +* (2) That it is great. + +"Du sublime (he saw something sublime in himself) au ridicule il n'y a +qu'un pas," * said he. And the whole world for fifty years has been +repeating: "Sublime! Grand! Napoleon le Grand!" Du sublime au ridicule +il n'y a qu'un pas. + + +* "From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step." + +And it occurs to no one that to admit a greatness not commensurable with +the standard of right and wrong is merely to admit one's own nothingness +and immeasurable meanness. + +For us with the standard of good and evil given us by Christ, no human +actions are incommensurable. And there is no greatness where simplicity, +goodness, and truth are absent. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +What Russian, reading the account of the last part of the campaign of +1812, has not experienced an uncomfortable feeling of regret, +dissatisfaction, and perplexity? Who has not asked himself how it is +that the French were not all captured or destroyed when our three armies +surrounded them in superior numbers, when the disordered French, hungry +and freezing, surrendered in crowds, and when (as the historians relate) +the aim of the Russians was to stop the French, to cut them off, and +capture them all? + +How was it that the Russian army, which when numerically weaker than the +French had given battle at Borodino, did not achieve its purpose when it +had surrounded the French on three sides and when its aim was to capture +them? Can the French be so enormously superior to us that when we had +surrounded them with superior forces we could not beat them? How could +that happen? + +History (or what is called by that name) replying to these questions +says that this occurred because Kutuzov and Tormasov and Chichagov, and +this man and that man, did not execute such and such maneuvers... + +But why did they not execute those maneuvers? And why if they were +guilty of not carrying out a prearranged plan were they not tried and +punished? But even if we admitted that Kutuzov, Chichagov, and others +were the cause of the Russian failures, it is still incomprehensible +why, the position of the Russian army being what it was at Krasnoe and +at the Berezina (in both cases we had superior forces), the French army +with its marshals, kings, and Emperor was not captured, if that was what +the Russians aimed at. + +The explanation of this strange fact given by Russian military +historians (to the effect that Kutuzov hindered an attack) is unfounded, +for we know that he could not restrain the troops from attacking at +Vyazma and Tarutino. + +Why was the Russian army--which with inferior forces had withstood the +enemy in full strength at Borodino--defeated at Krasnoe and the Berezina +by the disorganized crowds of the French when it was numerically +superior? + +If the aim of the Russians consisted in cutting off and capturing +Napoleon and his marshals--and that aim was not merely frustrated but +all attempts to attain it were most shamefully baffled--then this last +period of the campaign is quite rightly considered by the French to be a +series of victories, and quite wrongly considered victorious by Russian +historians. + +The Russian military historians in so far as they submit to claims of +logic must admit that conclusion, and in spite of their lyrical +rhapsodies about valor, devotion, and so forth, must reluctantly admit +that the French retreat from Moscow was a series of victories for +Napoleon and defeats for Kutuzov. + +But putting national vanity entirely aside one feels that such a +conclusion involves a contradiction, since the series of French +victories brought the French complete destruction, while the series of +Russian defeats led to the total destruction of their enemy and the +liberation of their country. + +The source of this contradiction lies in the fact that the historians +studying the events from the letters of the sovereigns and the generals, +from memoirs, reports, projects, and so forth, have attributed to this +last period of the war of 1812 an aim that never existed, namely that of +cutting off and capturing Napoleon with his marshals and his army. + +There never was or could have been such an aim, for it would have been +senseless and its attainment quite impossible. + +It would have been senseless, first because Napoleon's disorganized army +was flying from Russia with all possible speed, that is to say, was +doing just what every Russian desired. So what was the use of performing +various operations on the French who were running away as fast as they +possibly could? + +Secondly, it would have been senseless to block the passage of men whose +whole energy was directed to flight. + +Thirdly, it would have been senseless to sacrifice one's own troops in +order to destroy the French army, which without external interference +was destroying itself at such a rate that, though its path was not +blocked, it could not carry across the frontier more than it actually +did in December, namely a hundredth part of the original army. + +Fourthly, it would have been senseless to wish to take captive the +Emperor, kings, and dukes--whose capture would have been in the highest +degree embarrassing for the Russians, as the most adroit diplomatists of +the time (Joseph de Maistre and others) recognized. Still more senseless +would have been the wish to capture army corps of the French, when our +own army had melted away to half before reaching Krasnoe and a whole +division would have been needed to convoy the corps of prisoners, and +when our men were not always getting full rations and the prisoners +already taken were perishing of hunger. + +All the profound plans about cutting off and capturing Napoleon and his +army were like the plan of a market gardener who, when driving out of +his garden a cow that had trampled down the beds he had planted, should +run to the gate and hit the cow on the head. The only thing to be said +in excuse of that gardener would be that he was very angry. But not even +that could be said for those who drew up this project, for it was not +they who had suffered from the trampled beds. + +But besides the fact that cutting off Napoleon with his army would have +been senseless, it was impossible. + +It was impossible first because--as experience shows that a three-mile +movement of columns on a battlefield never coincides with the plans--the +probability of Chichagov, Kutuzov, and Wittgenstein effecting a junction +on time at an appointed place was so remote as to be tantamount to +impossibility, as in fact thought Kutuzov, who when he received the plan +remarked that diversions planned over great distances do not yield the +desired results. + +Secondly it was impossible, because to paralyze the momentum with which +Napoleon's army was retiring, incomparably greater forces than the +Russians possessed would have been required. + +Thirdly it was impossible, because the military term "to cut off" has no +meaning. One can cut off a slice of bread, but not an army. To cut off +an army--to bar its road--is quite impossible, for there is always +plenty of room to avoid capture and there is the night when nothing can +be seen, as the military scientists might convince themselves by the +example of Krasnoe and of the Berezina. It is only possible to capture +prisoners if they agree to be captured, just as it is only possible to +catch a swallow if it settles on one's hand. Men can only be taken +prisoners if they surrender according to the rules of strategy and +tactics, as the Germans did. But the French troops quite rightly did not +consider that this suited them, since death by hunger and cold awaited +them in flight or captivity alike. + +Fourthly and chiefly it was impossible, because never since the world +began has a war been fought under such conditions as those that obtained +in 1812, and the Russian army in its pursuit of the French strained its +strength to the utmost and could not have done more without destroying +itself. + +During the movement of the Russian army from Tarutino to Krasnoe it lost +fifty thousand sick or stragglers, that is a number equal to the +population of a large provincial town. Half the men fell out of the army +without a battle. + +And it is of this period of the campaign--when the army lacked boots and +sheepskin coats, was short of provisions and without vodka, and was +camping out at night for months in the snow with fifteen degrees of +frost, when there were only seven or eight hours of daylight and the +rest was night in which the influence of discipline cannot be +maintained, when men were taken into that region of death where +discipline fails, not for a few hours only as in a battle, but for +months, where they were every moment fighting death from hunger and +cold, when half the army perished in a single month--it is of this +period of the campaign that the historians tell us how Miloradovich +should have made a flank march to such and such a place, Tormasov to +another place, and Chichagov should have crossed (more than knee-deep in +snow) to somewhere else, and how so-and-so "routed" and "cut off" the +French and so on and so on. + +The Russians, half of whom died, did all that could and should have been +done to attain an end worthy of the nation, and they are not to blame +because other Russians, sitting in warm rooms, proposed that they should +do what was impossible. + +All that strange contradiction now difficult to understand between the +facts and the historical accounts only arises because the historians +dealing with the matter have written the history of the beautiful words +and sentiments of various generals, and not the history of the events. + +To them the words of Miloradovich seem very interesting, and so do their +surmises and the rewards this or that general received; but the question +of those fifty thousand men who were left in hospitals and in graves +does not even interest them, for it does not come within the range of +their investigation. + +Yet one need only discard the study of the reports and general plans and +consider the movement of those hundreds of thousands of men who took a +direct part in the events, and all the questions that seemed insoluble +easily and simply receive an immediate and certain solution. + +The aim of cutting off Napoleon and his army never existed except in the +imaginations of a dozen people. It could not exist because it was +senseless and unattainable. + +The people had a single aim: to free their land from invasion. That aim +was attained in the first place of itself, as the French ran away, and +so it was only necessary not to stop their flight. Secondly it was +attained by the guerrilla warfare which was destroying the French, and +thirdly by the fact that a large Russian army was following the French, +ready to use its strength in case their movement stopped. + +The Russian army had to act like a whip to a running animal. And the +experienced driver knew it was better to hold the whip raised as a +menace than to strike the running animal on the head. + +BOOK FIFTEEN: 1812 - 13 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +When seeing a dying animal a man feels a sense of horror: substance +similar to his own is perishing before his eyes. But when it is a +beloved and intimate human being that is dying, besides this horror at +the extinction of life there is a severance, a spiritual wound, which +like a physical wound is sometimes fatal and sometimes heals, but always +aches and shrinks at any external irritating touch. + +After Prince Andrew's death Natasha and Princess Mary alike felt this. +Drooping in spirit and closing their eyes before the menacing cloud of +death that overhung them, they dared not look life in the face. They +carefully guarded their open wounds from any rough and painful contact. +Everything: a carriage passing rapidly in the street, a summons to +dinner, the maid's inquiry what dress to prepare, or worse still any +word of insincere or feeble sympathy, seemed an insult, painfully +irritated the wound, interrupting that necessary quiet in which they +both tried to listen to the stern and dreadful choir that still +resounded in their imagination, and hindered their gazing into those +mysterious limitless vistas that for an instant had opened out before +them. + +Only when alone together were they free from such outrage and pain. They +spoke little even to one another, and when they did it was of very +unimportant matters. + +Both avoided any allusion to the future. To admit the possibility of a +future seemed to them to insult his memory. Still more carefully did +they avoid anything relating to him who was dead. It seemed to them that +what they had lived through and experienced could not be expressed in +words, and that any reference to the details of his life infringed the +majesty and sacredness of the mystery that had been accomplished before +their eyes. + +Continued abstention from speech, and constant avoidance of everything +that might lead up to the subject--this halting on all sides at the +boundary of what they might not mention--brought before their minds with +still greater purity and clearness what they were both feeling. + +But pure and complete sorrow is as impossible as pure and complete joy. +Princess Mary, in her position as absolute and independent arbiter of +her own fate and guardian and instructor of her nephew, was the first to +be called back to life from that realm of sorrow in which she had dwelt +for the first fortnight. She received letters from her relations to +which she had to reply; the room in which little Nicholas had been put +was damp and he began to cough; Alpatych came to Yaroslavl with reports +on the state of their affairs and with advice and suggestions that they +should return to Moscow to the house on the Vozdvizhenka Street, which +had remained uninjured and needed only slight repairs. Life did not +stand still and it was necessary to live. Hard as it was for Princess +Mary to emerge from the realm of secluded contemplation in which she had +lived till then, and sorry and almost ashamed as she felt to leave +Natasha alone, yet the cares of life demanded her attention and she +involuntarily yielded to them. She went through the accounts with +Alpatych, conferred with Dessalles about her nephew, and gave orders and +made preparations for the journey to Moscow. + +Natasha remained alone and, from the time Princess Mary began making +preparations for departure, held aloof from her too. + +Princess Mary asked the countess to let Natasha go with her to Moscow, +and both parents gladly accepted this offer, for they saw their daughter +losing strength every day and thought that a change of scene and the +advice of Moscow doctors would be good for her. + +"I am not going anywhere," Natasha replied when this was proposed to +her. "Do please just leave me alone!" And she ran out of the room, with +difficulty refraining from tears of vexation and irritation rather than +of sorrow. + +After she felt herself deserted by Princes Mary and alone in her grief, +Natasha spent most of the time in her room by herself, sitting huddled +up feet and all in the corner of the sofa, tearing and twisting +something with her slender nervous fingers and gazing intently and +fixedly at whatever her eyes chanced to fall on. This solitude exhausted +and tormented her but she was in absolute need of it. As soon as anyone +entered she got up quickly, changed her position and expression, and +picked up a book or some sewing, evidently waiting impatiently for the +intruder to go. + +She felt all the time as if she might at any moment penetrate that on +which--with a terrible questioning too great for her strength--her +spiritual gaze was fixed. + +One day toward the end of December Natasha, pale and thin, dressed in a +black woolen gown, her plaited hair negligently twisted into a knot, was +crouched feet and all in the corner of her sofa, nervously crumpling and +smoothing out the end of her sash while she looked at a corner of the +door. + +She was gazing in the direction in which he had gone--to the other side +of life. And that other side of life, of which she had never before +thought and which had formerly seemed to her so far away and improbable, +was now nearer and more akin and more comprehensible than this side of +life, where everything was either emptiness and desolation or suffering +and indignity. + +She was gazing where she knew him to be; but she could not imagine him +otherwise than as he had been here. She now saw him again as he had been +at Mytishchi, at Troitsa, and at Yaroslavl. + +She saw his face, heard his voice, repeated his words and her own, and +sometimes devised other words they might have spoken. + +There he is lying back in an armchair in his velvet cloak, leaning his +head on his thin pale hand. His chest is dreadfully hollow and his +shoulders raised. His lips are firmly closed, his eyes glitter, and a +wrinkle comes and goes on his pale forehead. One of his legs twitches +just perceptibly, but rapidly. Natasha knows that he is struggling with +terrible pain. "What is that pain like? Why does he have that pain? What +does he feel? How does it hurt him?" thought Natasha. He noticed her +watching him, raised his eyes, and began to speak seriously: + +"One thing would be terrible," said he: "to bind oneself forever to a +suffering man. It would be continual torture." And he looked searchingly +at her. Natasha as usual answered before she had time to think what she +would say. She said: "This can't go on--it won't. You will get well-- +quite well." + +She now saw him from the commencement of that scene and relived what she +had then felt. She recalled his long sad and severe look at those words +and understood the meaning of the rebuke and despair in that protracted +gaze. + +"I agreed," Natasha now said to herself, "that it would be dreadful if +he always continued to suffer. I said it then only because it would have +been dreadful for him, but he understood it differently. He thought it +would be dreadful for me. He then still wished to live and feared death. +And I said it so awkwardly and stupidly! I did not say what I meant. I +thought quite differently. Had I said what I thought, I should have +said: even if he had to go on dying, to die continually before my eyes, +I should have been happy compared with what I am now. Now there is +nothing... nobody. Did he know that? No, he did not and never will know +it. And now it will never, never be possible to put it right." And now +he again seemed to be saying the same words to her, only in her +imagination Natasha this time gave him a different answer. She stopped +him and said: "Terrible for you, but not for me! You know that for me +there is nothing in life but you, and to suffer with you is the greatest +happiness for me," and he took her hand and pressed it as he had pressed +it that terrible evening four days before his death. And in her +imagination she said other tender and loving words which she might have +said then but only spoke now: "I love thee!... thee! I love, love..." +she said, convulsively pressing her hands and setting her teeth with a +desperate effort... + +She was overcome by sweet sorrow and tears were already rising in her +eyes; then she suddenly asked herself to whom she was saying this. Again +everything was shrouded in hard, dry perplexity, and again with a +strained frown she peered toward the world where he was. And now, now it +seemed to her she was penetrating the mystery.... But at the instant +when it seemed that the incomprehensible was revealing itself to her a +loud rattle of the door handle struck painfully on her ears. Dunyasha, +her maid, entered the room quickly and abruptly with a frightened look +on her face and showing no concern for her mistress. + +"Come to your Papa at once, please!" said she with a strange, excited +look. "A misfortune... about Peter Ilynich... a letter," she finished +with a sob. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Besides a feeling of aloofness from everybody Natasha was feeling a +special estrangement from the members of her own family. All of them-- +her father, mother, and Sonya--were so near to her, so familiar, so +commonplace, that all their words and feelings seemed an insult to the +world in which she had been living of late, and she felt not merely +indifferent to them but regarded them with hostility. She heard +Dunyasha's words about Peter Ilynich and a misfortune, but did not grasp +them. + +"What misfortune? What misfortune can happen to them? They just live +their own old, quiet, and commonplace life," thought Natasha. + +As she entered the ballroom her father was hurriedly coming out of her +mother's room. His face was puckered up and wet with tears. He had +evidently run out of that room to give vent to the sobs that were +choking him. When he saw Natasha he waved his arms despairingly and +burst into convulsively painful sobs that distorted his soft round face. + +"Pe... Petya... Go, go, she... is calling..." and weeping like a child +and quickly shuffling on his feeble legs to a chair, he almost fell into +it, covering his face with his hands. + +Suddenly an electric shock seemed to run through Natasha's whole being. +Terrible anguish struck her heart, she felt a dreadful ache as if +something was being torn inside her and she were dying. But the pain was +immediately followed by a feeling of release from the oppressive +constraint that had prevented her taking part in life. The sight of her +father, the terribly wild cries of her mother that she heard through the +door, made her immediately forget herself and her own grief. + +She ran to her father, but he feebly waved his arm, pointing to her +mother's door. Princess Mary, pale and with quivering chin, came out +from that room and taking Natasha by the arm said something to her. +Natasha neither saw nor heard her. She went in with rapid steps, pausing +at the door for an instant as if struggling with herself, and then ran +to her mother. + +The countess was lying in an armchair in a strange and awkward position, +stretching out and beating her head against the wall. Sonya and the +maids were holding her arms. + +"Natasha! Natasha!..." cried the countess. "It's not true... it's not +true... He's lying... Natasha!" she shrieked, pushing those around her +away. "Go away, all of you; it's not true! Killed!... ha, ha, ha!... +It's not true!" + +Natasha put one knee on the armchair, stooped over her mother, embraced +her, and with unexpected strength raised her, turned her face toward +herself, and clung to her. + +"Mummy!... darling!... I am here, my dearest Mummy," she kept on +whispering, not pausing an instant. + +She did not let go of her mother but struggled tenderly with her, +demanded a pillow and hot water, and unfastened and tore open her +mother's dress. + +"My dearest darling... Mummy, my precious!..." she whispered +incessantly, kissing her head, her hands, her face, and feeling her own +irrepressible and streaming tears tickling her nose and cheeks. + +The countess pressed her daughter's hand, closed her eyes, and became +quiet for a moment. Suddenly she sat up with unaccustomed swiftness, +glanced vacantly around her, and seeing Natasha began to press her +daughter's head with all her strength. Then she turned toward her +daughter's face which was wincing with pain and gazed long at it. + +"Natasha, you love me?" she said in a soft trustful whisper. "Natasha, +you would not deceive me? You'll tell me the whole truth?" + +Natasha looked at her with eyes full of tears and in her look there was +nothing but love and an entreaty for forgiveness. + +"My darling Mummy!" she repeated, straining all the power of her love to +find some way of taking on herself the excess of grief that crushed her +mother. + +And again in a futile struggle with reality her mother, refusing to +believe that she could live when her beloved boy was killed in the bloom +of life, escaped from reality into a world of delirium. + +Natasha did not remember how that day passed nor that night, nor the +next day and night. She did not sleep and did not leave her mother. Her +persevering and patient love seemed completely to surround the countess +every moment, not explaining or consoling, but recalling her to life. + +During the third night the countess kept very quiet for a few minutes, +and Natasha rested her head on the arm of her chair and closed her eyes, +but opened them again on hearing the bedstead creak. The countess was +sitting up in bed and speaking softly. + +"How glad I am you have come. You are tired. Won't you have some tea?" +Natasha went up to her. "You have improved in looks and grown more +manly," continued the countess, taking her daughter's hand. + +"Mamma! What are you saying..." + +"Natasha, he is no more, no more!" + +And embracing her daughter, the countess began to weep for the first +time. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Princess Mary postponed her departure. Sonya and the count tried to +replace Natasha but could not. They saw that she alone was able to +restrain her mother from unreasoning despair. For three weeks Natasha +remained constantly at her mother's side, sleeping on a lounge chair in +her room, making her eat and drink, and talking to her incessantly +because the mere sound of her tender, caressing tones soothed her +mother. + +The mother's wounded spirit could not heal. Petya's death had torn from +her half her life. When the news of Petya's death had come she had been +a fresh and vigorous woman of fifty, but a month later she left her room +a listless old woman taking no interest in life. But the same blow that +almost killed the countess, this second blow, restored Natasha to life. + +A spiritual wound produced by a rending of the spiritual body is like a +physical wound and, strange as it may seem, just as a deep wound may +heal and its edges join, physical and spiritual wounds alike can yet +heal completely only as the result of a vital force from within. + +Natasha's wound healed in that way. She thought her life was ended, but +her love for her mother unexpectedly showed her that the essence of +life--love--was still active within her. Love awoke and so did life. + +Prince Andrew's last days had bound Princess Mary and Natasha together; +this new sorrow brought them still closer to one another. Princess Mary +put off her departure, and for three weeks looked after Natasha as if +she had been a sick child. The last weeks passed in her mother's bedroom +had strained Natasha's physical strength. + +One afternoon noticing Natasha shivering with fever, Princess Mary took +her to her own room and made her lie down on the bed. Natasha lay down, +but when Princess Mary had drawn the blinds and was going away she +called her back. + +"I don't want to sleep, Mary, sit by me a little." + +"You are tired--try to sleep." + +"No, no. Why did you bring me away? She will be asking for me." + +"She is much better. She spoke so well today," said Princess Mary. + +Natasha lay on the bed and in the semidarkness of the room scanned +Princess Mary's face. + +"Is she like him?" thought Natasha. "Yes, like and yet not like. But she +is quite original, strange, new, and unknown. And she loves me. What is +in her heart? All that is good. But how? What is her mind like? What +does she think about me? Yes, she is splendid!" + +"Mary," she said timidly, drawing Princess Mary's hand to herself, +"Mary, you mustn't think me wicked. No? Mary darling, how I love you! +Let us be quite, quite friends." + +And Natasha, embracing her, began kissing her face and hands, making +Princess Mary feel shy but happy by this demonstration of her feelings. + +From that day a tender and passionate friendship such as exists only +between women was established between Princess Mary and Natasha. They +were continually kissing and saying tender things to one another and +spent most of their time together. When one went out the other became +restless and hastened to rejoin her. Together they felt more in harmony +with one another than either of them felt with herself when alone. A +feeling stronger than friendship sprang up between them; an exclusive +feeling of life being possible only in each other's presence. + +Sometimes they were silent for hours; sometimes after they were already +in bed they would begin talking and go on till morning. They spoke most +of what was long past. Princess Mary spoke of her childhood, of her +mother, her father, and her daydreams; and Natasha, who with a passive +lack of understanding had formerly turned away from that life of +devotion, submission, and the poetry of Christian self-sacrifice, now +feeling herself bound to Princess Mary by affection, learned to love her +past too and to understand a side of life previously incomprehensible to +her. She did not think of applying submission and self-abnegation to her +own life, for she was accustomed to seek other joys, but she understood +and loved in another those previously incomprehensible virtues. For +Princess Mary, listening to Natasha's tales of childhood and early +youth, there also opened out a new and hitherto uncomprehended side of +life: belief in life and its enjoyment. + +Just as before, they never mentioned him so as not to lower (as they +thought) their exalted feelings by words; but this silence about him had +the effect of making them gradually begin to forget him without being +conscious of it. + +Natasha had grown thin and pale and physically so weak that they all +talked about her health, and this pleased her. But sometimes she was +suddenly overcome by fear not only of death but of sickness, weakness, +and loss of good looks, and involuntarily she examined her bare arm +carefully, surprised at its thinness, and in the morning noticed her +drawn and, as it seemed to her, piteous face in her glass. It seemed to +her that things must be so, and yet it was dreadfully sad. + +One day she went quickly upstairs and found herself out of breath. +Unconsciously she immediately invented a reason for going down, and +then, testing her strength, ran upstairs again, observing the result. + +Another time when she called Dunyasha her voice trembled, so she called +again--though she could hear Dunyasha coming--called her in the deep +chest tones in which she had been wont to sing, and listened attentively +to herself. + +She did not know and would not have believed it, but beneath the layer +of slime that covered her soul and seemed to her impenetrable, delicate +young shoots of grass were already sprouting, which taking root would so +cover with their living verdure the grief that weighed her down that it +would soon no longer be seen or noticed. The wound had begun to heal +from within. + +At the end of January Princess Mary left for Moscow, and the count +insisted on Natasha's going with her to consult the doctors. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +After the encounter at Vyazma, where Kutuzov had been unable to hold +back his troops in their anxiety to overwhelm and cut off the enemy and +so on, the farther movement of the fleeing French, and of the Russians +who pursued them, continued as far as Krasnoe without a battle. The +flight was so rapid that the Russian army pursuing the French could not +keep up with them; cavalry and artillery horses broke down, and the +information received of the movements of the French was never reliable. + +The men in the Russian army were so worn out by this continuous marching +at the rate of twenty-seven miles a day that they could not go any +faster. + +To realize the degree of exhaustion of the Russian army it is only +necessary to grasp clearly the meaning of the fact that, while not +losing more than five thousand killed and wounded after Tarutino and +less than a hundred prisoners, the Russian army which left that place a +hundred thousand strong reached Krasnoe with only fifty thousand. + +The rapidity of the Russian pursuit was just as destructive to our army +as the flight of the French was to theirs. The only difference was that +the Russian army moved voluntarily, with no such threat of destruction +as hung over the French, and that the sick Frenchmen were left behind in +enemy hands while the sick Russians left behind were among their own +people. The chief cause of the wastage of Napoleon's army was the +rapidity of its movement, and a convincing proof of this is the +corresponding decrease of the Russian army. + +Kutuzov as far as was in his power, instead of trying to check the +movement of the French as was desired in Petersburg and by the Russian +army generals, directed his whole activity here, as he had done at +Tarutino and Vyazma, to hastening it on while easing the movement of our +army. + +But besides this, since the exhaustion and enormous diminution of the +army caused by the rapidity of the advance had become evident, another +reason for slackening the pace and delaying presented itself to Kutuzov. +The aim of the Russian army was to pursue the French. The road the +French would take was unknown, and so the closer our troops trod on +their heels the greater distance they had to cover. Only by following at +some distance could one cut across the zigzag path of the French. All +the artful maneuvers suggested by our generals meant fresh movements of +the army and a lengthening of its marches, whereas the only reasonable +aim was to shorten those marches. To that end Kutuzov's activity was +directed during the whole campaign from Moscow to Vilna--not casually or +intermittently but so consistently that he never once deviated from it. + +Kutuzov felt and knew--not by reasoning or science but with the whole of +his Russian being--what every Russian soldier felt: that the French were +beaten, that the enemy was flying and must be driven out; but at the +same time he like the soldiers realized all the hardship of this march, +the rapidity of which was unparalleled for such a time of the year. + +But to the generals, especially the foreign ones in the Russian army, +who wished to distinguish themselves, to astonish somebody, and for some +reason to capture a king or a duke--it seemed that now--when any battle +must be horrible and senseless--was the very time to fight and conquer +somebody. Kutuzov merely shrugged his shoulders when one after another +they presented projects of maneuvers to be made with those soldiers-- +ill-shod, insufficiently clad, and half starved--who within a month and +without fighting a battle had dwindled to half their number, and who at +the best if the flight continued would have to go a greater distance +than they had already traversed, before they reached the frontier. + +This longing to distinguish themselves, to maneuver, to overthrow, and +to cut off showed itself particularly whenever the Russians stumbled on +the French army. + +So it was at Krasnoe, where they expected to find one of the three +French columns and stumbled instead on Napoleon himself with sixteen +thousand men. Despite all Kutuzov's efforts to avoid that ruinous +encounter and to preserve his troops, the massacre of the broken mob of +French soldiers by worn-out Russians continued at Krasnoe for three +days. + +Toll wrote a disposition: "The first column will march to so and so," +etc. And as usual nothing happened in accord with the disposition. +Prince Eugene of Wurttemberg fired from a hill over the French crowds +that were running past, and demanded reinforcements which did not +arrive. The French, avoiding the Russians, dispersed and hid themselves +in the forest by night, making their way round as best they could, and +continued their flight. + +Miloradovich, who said he did not want to know anything about the +commissariat affairs of his detachment, and could never be found when he +was wanted--that chevalier sans peur et sans reproche * as he styled +himself--who was fond of parleys with the French, sent envoys demanding +their surrender, wasted time, and did not do what he was ordered to do. + + +* Knight without fear and without reproach. + +"I give you that column, lads," he said, riding up to the troops and +pointing out the French to the cavalry. + +And the cavalry, with spurs and sabers urging on horses that could +scarcely move, trotted with much effort to the column presented to them- +-that is to say, to a crowd of Frenchmen stark with cold, frost-bitten, +and starving--and the column that had been presented to them threw down +its arms and surrendered as it had long been anxious to do. + +At Krasnoe they took twenty-six thousand prisoners, several hundred +cannon, and a stick called a "marshal's staff," and disputed as to who +had distinguished himself and were pleased with their achievement-- +though they much regretted not having taken Napoleon, or at least a +marshal or a hero of some sort, and reproached one another and +especially Kutuzov for having failed to do so. + +These men, carried away by their passions, were but blind tools of the +most melancholy law of necessity, but considered themselves heroes and +imagined that they were accomplishing a most noble and honorable deed. +They blamed Kutuzov and said that from the very beginning of the +campaign he had prevented their vanquishing Napoleon, that he thought of +nothing but satisfying his passions and would not advance from the Linen +Factories because he was comfortable there, that at Krasnoe he checked +the advance because on learning that Napoleon was there he had quite +lost his head, and that it was probable that he had an understanding +with Napoleon and had been bribed by him, and so on, and so on. + +Not only did his contemporaries, carried away by their passions, talk in +this way, but posterity and history have acclaimed Napoleon as grand, +while Kutuzov is described by foreigners as a crafty, dissolute, weak +old courtier, and by Russians as something indefinite--a sort of puppet +useful only because he had a Russian name. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +In 1812 and 1813 Kutuzov was openly accused of blundering. The Emperor +was dissatisfied with him. And in a history recently written by order of +the Highest Authorities it is said that Kutuzov was a cunning court +liar, frightened of the name of Napoleon, and that by his blunders at +Krasnoe and the Berezina he deprived the Russian army of the glory of +complete victory over the French. * + + +* History of the year 1812. The character of Kutuzov and reflections on +the unsatisfactory results of the battles at Krasnoe, by Bogdanovich. + +Such is the fate not of great men (grands hommes) whom the Russian mind +does not acknowledge, but of those rare and always solitary individuals +who, discerning the will of Providence, submit their personal will to +it. The hatred and contempt of the crowd punish such men for discerning +the higher laws. + +For Russian historians, strange and terrible to say, Napoleon--that most +insignificant tool of history who never anywhere, even in exile, showed +human dignity--Napoleon is the object of adulation and enthusiasm; he is +grand. But Kutuzov--the man who from the beginning to the end of his +activity in 1812, never once swerving by word or deed from Borodino to +Vilna, presented an example exceptional in history of self-sacrifice and +a present consciousness of the future importance of what was happening-- +Kutuzov seems to them something indefinite and pitiful, and when +speaking of him and of the year 1812 they always seem a little ashamed. + +And yet it is difficult to imagine an historical character whose +activity was so unswervingly directed to a single aim; and it would be +difficult to imagine any aim more worthy or more consonant with the will +of the whole people. Still more difficult would it be to find an +instance in history of the aim of an historical personage being so +completely accomplished as that to which all Kutuzov's efforts were +directed in 1812. + +Kutuzov never talked of "forty centuries looking down from the +Pyramids," of the sacrifices he offered for the fatherland, or of what +he intended to accomplish or had accomplished; in general he said +nothing about himself, adopted no pose, always appeared to be the +simplest and most ordinary of men, and said the simplest and most +ordinary things. He wrote letters to his daughters and to Madame de +Stael, read novels, liked the society of pretty women, jested with +generals, officers, and soldiers, and never contradicted those who tried +to prove anything to him. When Count Rostopchin at the Yauza bridge +galloped up to Kutuzov with personal reproaches for having caused the +destruction of Moscow, and said: "How was it you promised not to abandon +Moscow without a battle?" Kutuzov replied: "And I shall not abandon +Moscow without a battle," though Moscow was then already abandoned. When +Arakcheev, coming to him from the Emperor, said that Ermolov ought to be +appointed chief of the artillery, Kutuzov replied: "Yes, I was just +saying so myself," though a moment before he had said quite the +contrary. What did it matter to him--who then alone amid a senseless +crowd understood the whole tremendous significance of what was +happening--what did it matter to him whether Rostopchin attributed the +calamities of Moscow to him or to himself? Still less could it matter to +him who was appointed chief of the artillery. + +Not merely in these cases but continually did that old man--who by +experience of life had reached the conviction that thoughts and the +words serving as their expression are not what move people--use quite +meaningless words that happened to enter his head. + +But that man, so heedless of his words, did not once during the whole +time of his activity utter one word inconsistent with the single aim +toward which he moved throughout the whole war. Obviously in spite of +himself, in very diverse circumstances, he repeatedly expressed his real +thoughts with the bitter conviction that he would not be understood. +Beginning with the battle of Borodino, from which time his disagreement +with those about him began, he alone said that the battle of Borodino +was a victory, and repeated this both verbally and in his dispatches and +reports up to the time of his death. He alone said that the loss of +Moscow is not the loss of Russia. In reply to Lauriston's proposal of +peace, he said: There can be no peace, for such is the people's will. He +alone during the retreat of the French said that all our maneuvers are +useless, everything is being accomplished of itself better than we could +desire; that the enemy must be offered "a golden bridge"; that neither +the Tarutino, the Vyazma, nor the Krasnoe battles were necessary; that +we must keep some force to reach the frontier with, and that he would +not sacrifice a single Russian for ten Frenchmen. + +And this courtier, as he is described to us, who lies to Arakcheev to +please the Emperor, he alone--incurring thereby the Emperor's +displeasure--said in Vilna that to carry the war beyond the frontier is +useless and harmful. + +Nor do words alone prove that only he understood the meaning of the +events. His actions--without the smallest deviation--were all directed +to one and the same threefold end: (1) to brace all his strength for +conflict with the French, (2) to defeat them, and (3) to drive them out +of Russia, minimizing as far as possible the sufferings of our people +and of our army. + +This procrastinator Kutuzov, whose motto was "Patience and Time," this +enemy of decisive action, gave battle at Borodino, investing the +preparations for it with unparalleled solemnity. This Kutuzov who before +the battle of Austerlitz began said that it would be lost, he alone, in +contradiction to everyone else, declared till his death that Borodino +was a victory, despite the assurance of generals that the battle was +lost and despite the fact that for an army to have to retire after +winning a battle was unprecedented. He alone during the whole retreat +insisted that battles, which were useless then, should not be fought, +and that a new war should not be begun nor the frontiers of Russia +crossed. + +It is easy now to understand the significance of these events--if only +we abstain from attributing to the activity of the mass aims that +existed only in the heads of a dozen individuals--for the events and +results now lie before us. + +But how did that old man, alone, in opposition to the general opinion, +so truly discern the importance of the people's view of the events that +in all his activity he was never once untrue to it? + +The source of that extraordinary power of penetrating the meaning of the +events then occuring lay in the national feeling which he possessed in +full purity and strength. + +Only the recognition of the fact that he possessed this feeling caused +the people in so strange a manner, contrary to the Tsar's wish, to +select him--an old man in disfavor--to be their representative in the +national war. And only that feeling placed him on that highest human +pedestal from which he, the commander-in-chief, devoted all his powers +not to slaying and destroying men but to saving and showing pity on +them. + +That simple, modest, and therefore truly great, figure could not be cast +in the false mold of a European hero--the supposed ruler of men--that +history has invented. + +To a lackey no man can be great, for a lackey has his own conception of +greatness. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The fifth of November was the first day of what is called the battle of +Krasnoe. Toward evening--after much disputing and many mistakes made by +generals who did not go to their proper places, and after adjutants had +been sent about with counterorders--when it had become plain that the +enemy was everywhere in flight and that there could and would be no +battle, Kutuzov left Krasnoe and went to Dobroe whither his headquarters +had that day been transferred. + +The day was clear and frosty. Kutuzov rode to Dobroe on his plump little +white horse, followed by an enormous suite of discontented generals who +whispered among themselves behind his back. All along the road groups of +French prisoners captured that day (there were seven thousand of them) +were crowding to warm themselves at campfires. Near Dobroe an immense +crowd of tattered prisoners, buzzing with talk and wrapped and bandaged +in anything they had been able to get hold of, were standing in the road +beside a long row of unharnessed French guns. At the approach of the +commander-in-chief the buzz of talk ceased and all eyes were fixed on +Kutuzov who, wearing a white cap with a red band and a padded overcoat +that bulged on his round shoulders, moved slowly along the road on his +white horse. One of the generals was reporting to him where the guns and +prisoners had been captured. + +Kutuzov seemed preoccupied and did not listen to what the general was +saying. He screwed up his eyes with a dissatisfied look as he gazed +attentively and fixedly at these prisoners, who presented a specially +wretched appearance. Most of them were disfigured by frost-bitten noses +and cheeks, and nearly all had red, swollen and festering eyes. + +One group of the French stood close to the road, and two of them, one of +whom had his face covered with sores, were tearing a piece of raw flesh +with their hands. There was something horrible and bestial in the +fleeting glance they threw at the riders and in the malevolent +expression with which, after a glance at Kutuzov, the soldier with the +sores immediately turned away and went on with what he was doing. + +Kutuzov looked long and intently at these two soldiers. He puckered his +face, screwed up his eyes, and pensively swayed his head. At another +spot he noticed a Russian soldier laughingly patting a Frenchman on the +shoulder, saying something to him in a friendly manner, and Kutuzov with +the same expression on his face again swayed his head. + +"What were you saying?" he asked the general, who continuing his report +directed the commander-in-chief's attention to some standards captured +from the French and standing in front of the Preobrazhensk regiment. + +"Ah, the standards!" said Kutuzov, evidently detaching himself with +difficulty from the thoughts that preoccupied him. + +He looked about him absently. Thousands of eyes were looking at him from +all sides awaiting a word from him. + +He stopped in front of the Preobrazhensk regiment, sighed deeply, and +closed his eyes. One of his suite beckoned to the soldiers carrying the +standards to advance and surround the commander-in-chief with them. +Kutuzov was silent for a few seconds and then, submitting with evident +reluctance to the duty imposed by his position, raised his head and +began to speak. A throng of officers surrounded him. He looked +attentively around at the circle of officers, recognizing several of +them. + +"I thank you all!" he said, addressing the soldiers and then again the +officers. In the stillness around him his slowly uttered words were +distinctly heard. "I thank you all for your hard and faithful service. +The victory is complete and Russia will not forget you! Honor to you +forever." + +He paused and looked around. + +"Lower its head, lower it!" he said to a soldier who had accidentally +lowered the French eagle he was holding before the Preobrazhensk +standards. "Lower, lower, that's it. Hurrah lads!" he added, addressing +the men with a rapid movement of his chin. + +"Hur-r-rah!" roared thousands of voices. + +While the soldiers were shouting Kutuzov leaned forward in his saddle +and bowed his head, and his eye lit up with a mild and apparently ironic +gleam. + +"You see, brothers..." said he when the shouts had ceased... and all at +once his voice and the expression of his face changed. It was no longer +the commander-in-chief speaking but an ordinary old man who wanted to +tell his comrades something very important. + +There was a stir among the throng of officers and in the ranks of the +soldiers, who moved that they might hear better what he was going to +say. + +"You see, brothers, I know it's hard for you, but it can't be helped! +Bear up; it won't be for long now! We'll see our visitors off and then +we'll rest. The Tsar won't forget your service. It is hard for you, but +still you are at home while they--you see what they have come to," said +he, pointing to the prisoners. "Worse off than our poorest beggars. +While they were strong we didn't spare ourselves, but now we may even +pity them. They are human beings too. Isn't it so, lads?" + +He looked around, and in the direct, respectful, wondering gaze fixed +upon him he read sympathy with what he had said. His face grew brighter +and brighter with an old man's mild smile, which drew the corners of his +lips and eyes into a cluster of wrinkles. He ceased speaking and bowed +his head as if in perplexity. + +"But after all who asked them here? Serves them right, the bloody +bastards!" he cried, suddenly lifting his head. + +And flourishing his whip he rode off at a gallop for the first time +during the whole campaign, and left the broken ranks of the soldiers +laughing joyfully and shouting "Hurrah!" + +Kutuzov's words were hardly understood by the troops. No one could have +repeated the field marshal's address, begun solemnly and then changing +into an old man's simplehearted talk; but the hearty sincerity of that +speech, the feeling of majestic triumph combined with pity for the foe +and consciousness of the justice of our cause, exactly expressed by that +old man's good-natured expletives, was not merely understood but lay in +the soul of every soldier and found expression in their joyous and long- +sustained shouts. Afterwards when one of the generals addressed Kutuzov +asking whether he wished his caleche to be sent for, Kutuzov in +answering unexpectedly gave a sob, being evidently greatly moved. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +When the troops reached their night's halting place on the eighth of +November, the last day of the Krasnoe battles, it was already growing +dusk. All day it had been calm and frosty with occasional lightly +falling snow and toward evening it began to clear. Through the falling +snow a purple-black and starry sky showed itself and the frost grew +keener. + +An infantry regiment which had left Tarutino three thousand strong but +now numbered only nine hundred was one of the first to arrive that night +at its halting place--a village on the highroad. The quartermasters who +met the regiment announced that all the huts were full of sick and dead +Frenchmen, cavalrymen, and members of the staff. There was only one hut +available for the regimental commander. + +The commander rode up to his hut. The regiment passed through the +village and stacked its arms in front of the last huts. + +Like some huge many-limbed animal, the regiment began to prepare its +lair and its food. One part of it dispersed and waded knee-deep through +the snow into a birch forest to the right of the village, and +immediately the sound of axes and swords, the crashing of branches, and +merry voices could be heard from there. Another section amid the +regimental wagons and horses which were standing in a group was busy +getting out caldrons and rye biscuit, and feeding the horses. A third +section scattered through the village arranging quarters for the staff +officers, carrying out the French corpses that were in the huts, and +dragging away boards, dry wood, and thatch from the roofs, for the +campfires, or wattle fences to serve for shelter. + +Some fifteen men with merry shouts were shaking down the high wattle +wall of a shed, the roof of which had already been removed. + +"Now then, all together--shove!" cried the voices, and the huge surface +of the wall, sprinkled with snow and creaking with frost, was seen +swaying in the gloom of the night. The lower stakes cracked more and +more and at last the wall fell, and with it the men who had been pushing +it. Loud, coarse laughter and joyous shouts ensued. + +"Now then, catch hold in twos! Hand up the lever! That's it... Where are +you shoving to?" + +"Now, all together! But wait a moment, boys... With a song!" + +All stood silent, and a soft, pleasant velvety voice began to sing. At +the end of the third verse as the last note died away, twenty voices +roared out at once: "Oo-oo-oo-oo! That's it. All together! Heave away, +boys!..." but despite their united efforts the wattle hardly moved, and +in the silence that followed the heavy breathing of the men was audible. + +"Here, you of the Sixth Company! Devils that you are! Lend a hand... +will you? You may want us one of these days." + +Some twenty men of the Sixth Company who were on their way into the +village joined the haulers, and the wattle wall, which was about thirty- +five feet long and seven feet high, moved forward along the village +street, swaying, pressing upon and cutting the shoulders of the gasping +men. + +"Get along... Falling? What are you stopping for? There now..." + +Merry senseless words of abuse flowed freely. + +"What are you up to?" suddenly came the authoritative voice of a +sergeant major who came upon the men who were hauling their burden. +"There are gentry here; the general himself is in that hut, and you +foul-mouthed devils, you brutes, I'll give it to you!" shouted he, +hitting the first man who came in his way a swinging blow on the back. +"Can't you make less noise?" + +The men became silent. The soldier who had been struck groaned and wiped +his face, which had been scratched till it bled by his falling against +the wattle. + +"There, how that devil hits out! He's made my face all bloody," said he +in a frightened whisper when the sergeant major had passed on. + +"Don't you like it?" said a laughing voice, and moderating their tones +the men moved forward. + +When they were out of the village they began talking again as loud as +before, interlarding their talk with the same aimless expletives. + +In the hut which the men had passed, the chief officers had gathered and +were in animated talk over their tea about the events of the day and the +maneuvers suggested for tomorrow. It was proposed to make a flank march +to the left, cut off the Vice-King (Murat) and capture him. + +By the time the soldiers had dragged the wattle fence to its place the +campfires were blazing on all sides ready for cooking, the wood +crackled, the snow was melting, and black shadows of soldiers flitted to +and fro all over the occupied space where the snow had been trodden +down. + +Axes and choppers were plied all around. Everything was done without any +orders being given. Stores of wood were brought for the night, shelters +were rigged up for the officers, caldrons were being boiled, and muskets +and accouterments put in order. + +The wattle wall the men had brought was set up in a semicircle by the +Eighth Company as a shelter from the north, propped up by musket rests, +and a campfire was built before it. They beat the tattoo, called the +roll, had supper, and settled down round the fires for the night--some +repairing their footgear, some smoking pipes, and some stripping +themselves naked to steam the lice out of their shirts. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +One would have thought that under the almost incredibly wretched +conditions the Russian soldiers were in at that time--lacking warm boots +and sheepskin coats, without a roof over their heads, in the snow with +eighteen degrees of frost, and without even full rations (the +commissariat did not always keep up with the troops)--they would have +presented a very sad and depressing spectacle. + +On the contrary, the army had never under the best material conditions +presented a more cheerful and animated aspect. This was because all who +began to grow depressed or who lost strength were sifted out of the army +day by day. All the physically or morally weak had long since been left +behind and only the flower of the army--physically and mentally-- +remained. + +More men collected behind the wattle fence of the Eighth Company than +anywhere else. Two sergeants major were sitting with them and their +campfire blazed brighter than others. For leave to sit by their wattle +they demanded contributions of fuel. + +"Eh, Makeev! What has become of you, you son of a bitch? Are you lost or +have the wolves eaten you? Fetch some more wood!" shouted a red-haired +and red-faced man, screwing up his eyes and blinking because of the +smoke but not moving back from the fire. "And you, Jackdaw, go and fetch +some wood!" said he to another soldier. + +This red-haired man was neither a sergeant nor a corporal, but being +robust he ordered about those weaker than himself. The soldier they +called "Jackdaw," a thin little fellow with a sharp nose, rose +obediently and was about to go but at that instant there came into the +light of the fire the slender, handsome figure of a young soldier +carrying a load of wood. + +"Bring it here--that's fine!" + +They split up the wood, pressed it down on the fire, blew at it with +their mouths, and fanned it with the skirts of their greatcoats, making +the flames hiss and crackle. The men drew nearer and lit their pipes. +The handsome young soldier who had brought the wood, setting his arms +akimbo, began stamping his cold feet rapidly and deftly on the spot +where he stood. + +"Mother! The dew is cold but clear.... It's well that I'm a +musketeer..." he sang, pretending to hiccough after each syllable. + +"Look out, your soles will fly off!" shouted the red-haired man, +noticing that the sole of the dancer's boot was hanging loose. "What a +fellow you are for dancing!" + +The dancer stopped, pulled off the loose piece of leather, and threw it +on the fire. + +"Right enough, friend," said he, and, having sat down, took out of his +knapsack a scrap of blue French cloth, and wrapped it round his foot. +"It's the steam that spoils them," he added, stretching out his feet +toward the fire. + +"They'll soon be issuing us new ones. They say that when we've finished +hammering them, we're to receive double kits!" + +"And that son of a bitch Petrov has lagged behind after all, it seems," +said one sergeant major. + +"I've had an eye on him this long while," said the other. + +"Well, he's a poor sort of soldier..." + +"But in the Third Company they say nine men were missing yesterday." + +"Yes, it's all very well, but when a man's feet are frozen how can he +walk?" + +"Eh? Don't talk nonsense!" said a sergeant major. + +"Do you want to be doing the same?" said an old soldier, turning +reproachfully to the man who had spoken of frozen feet. + +"Well, you know," said the sharp-nosed man they called Jackdaw in a +squeaky and unsteady voice, raising himself at the other side of the +fire, "a plump man gets thin, but for a thin one it's death. Take me, +now! I've got no strength left," he added, with sudden resolution +turning to the sergeant major. "Tell them to send me to hospital; I'm +aching all over; anyway I shan't be able to keep up." + +"That'll do, that'll do!" replied the sergeant major quietly. + +The soldier said no more and the talk went on. + +"What a lot of those Frenchies were taken today, and the fact is that +not one of them had what you might call real boots on," said a soldier, +starting a new theme. "They were no more than make-believes." + +"The Cossacks have taken their boots. They were clearing the hut for the +colonel and carried them out. It was pitiful to see them, boys," put in +the dancer. "As they turned them over one seemed still alive and, would +you believe it, he jabbered something in their lingo." + +"But they're a clean folk, lads," the first man went on; "he was white-- +as white as birchbark--and some of them are such fine fellows, you might +think they were nobles." + +"Well, what do you think? They make soldiers of all classes there." + +"But they don't understand our talk at all," said the dancer with a +puzzled smile. "I asked him whose subject he was, and he jabbered in his +own way. A queer lot!" + +"But it's strange, friends," continued the man who had wondered at their +whiteness, "the peasants at Mozhaysk were saying that when they began +burying the dead--where the battle was you know--well, those dead had +been lying there for nearly a month, and says the peasant, 'they lie as +white as paper, clean, and not as much smell as a puff of powder +smoke.'" + +"Was it from the cold?" asked someone. + +"You're a clever fellow! From the cold indeed! Why, it was hot. If it +had been from the cold, ours would not have rotted either. 'But,' he +says, 'go up to ours and they are all rotten and maggoty. So,' he says, +'we tie our faces up with kerchiefs and turn our heads away as we drag +them off: we can hardly do it. But theirs,' he says, 'are white as paper +and not so much smell as a whiff of gunpowder.'" + +All were silent. + +"It must be from their food," said the sergeant major. "They used to +gobble the same food as the gentry." + +No one contradicted him. + +"That peasant near Mozhaysk where the battle was said the men were all +called up from ten villages around and they carted for twenty days and +still didn't finish carting the dead away. And as for the wolves, he +says..." + +"That was a real battle," said an old soldier. "It's the only one worth +remembering; but since that... it's only been tormenting folk." + +"And do you know, Daddy, the day before yesterday we ran at them and, my +word, they didn't let us get near before they just threw down their +muskets and went on their knees. 'Pardon!' they say. That's only one +case. They say Platov took 'Poleon himself twice. But he didn't know the +right charm. He catches him and catches him--no good! He turns into a +bird in his hands and flies away. And there's no way of killing him +either." + +"You're a first-class liar, Kiselev, when I come to look at you!" + +"Liar, indeed! It's the real truth." + +"If he fell into my hands, when I'd caught him I'd bury him in the +ground with an aspen stake to fix him down. What a lot of men he's +ruined!" + +"Well, anyhow we're going to end it. He won't come here again," remarked +the old soldier, yawning. + +The conversation flagged, and the soldiers began settling down to sleep. + +"Look at the stars. It's wonderful how they shine! You would think the +women had spread out their linen," said one of the men, gazing with +admiration at the Milky Way. + +"That's a sign of a good harvest next year." + +"We shall want some more wood." + +"You warm your back and your belly gets frozen. That's queer." + +"O Lord!" + +"What are you pushing for? Is the fire only for you? Look how he's +sprawling!" + +In the silence that ensued, the snoring of those who had fallen asleep +could be heard. Others turned over and warmed themselves, now and again +exchanging a few words. From a campfire a hundred paces off came a sound +of general, merry laughter. + +"Hark at them roaring there in the Fifth Company!" said one of the +soldiers, "and what a lot of them there are!" + +One of the men got up and went over to the Fifth Company. + +"They're having such fun," said he, coming back. "Two Frenchies have +turned up. One's quite frozen and the other's an awful swaggerer. He's +singing songs...." + +"Oh, I'll go across and have a look...." + +And several of the men went over to the Fifth Company. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The fifth company was bivouacking at the very edge of the forest. A huge +campfire was blazing brightly in the midst of the snow, lighting up the +branches of trees heavy with hoarfrost. + +About midnight they heard the sound of steps in the snow of the forest, +and the crackling of dry branches. + +"A bear, lads," said one of the men. + +They all raised their heads to listen, and out of the forest into the +bright firelight stepped two strangely clad human figures clinging to +one another. + +These were two Frenchmen who had been hiding in the forest. They came up +to the fire, hoarsely uttering something in a language our soldiers did +not understand. One was taller than the other; he wore an officer's hat +and seemed quite exhausted. On approaching the fire he had been going to +sit down, but fell. The other, a short sturdy soldier with a shawl tied +round his head, was stronger. He raised his companion and said +something, pointing to his mouth. The soldiers surrounded the Frenchmen, +spread a greatcoat on the ground for the sick man, and brought some +buckwheat porridge and vodka for both of them. + +The exhausted French officer was Ramballe and the man with his head +wrapped in the shawl was Morel, his orderly. + +When Morel had drunk some vodka and finished his bowl of porridge he +suddenly became unnaturally merry and chattered incessantly to the +soldiers, who could not understand him. Ramballe refused food and +resting his head on his elbow lay silent beside the campfire, looking at +the Russian soldiers with red and vacant eyes. Occasionally he emitted a +long-drawn groan and then again became silent. Morel, pointing to his +shoulders, tried to impress on the soldiers the fact that Ramballe was +an officer and ought to be warmed. A Russian officer who had come up to +the fire sent to ask his colonel whether he would not take a French +officer into his hut to warm him, and when the messenger returned and +said that the colonel wished the officer to be brought to him, Ramballe +was told to go. He rose and tried to walk, but staggered and would have +fallen had not a soldier standing by held him up. + +"You won't do it again, eh?" said one of the soldiers, winking and +turning mockingly to Ramballe. + +"Oh, you fool! Why talk rubbish, lout that you are--a real peasant!" +came rebukes from all sides addressed to the jesting soldier. + +They surrounded Ramballe, lifted him on the crossed arms of two +soldiers, and carried him to the hut. Ramballe put his arms around their +necks while they carried him and began wailing plaintively: + +"Oh, you fine fellows, my kind, kind friends! These are men! Oh, my +brave, kind friends," and he leaned his head against the shoulder of one +of the men like a child. + +Meanwhile Morel was sitting in the best place by the fire, surrounded by +the soldiers. + +Morel, a short sturdy Frenchman with inflamed and streaming eyes, was +wearing a woman's cloak and had a shawl tied woman fashion round his +head over his cap. He was evidently tipsy, and was singing a French song +in a hoarse broken voice, with an arm thrown round the nearest soldier. +The soldiers simply held their sides as they watched him. + +"Now then, now then, teach us how it goes! I'll soon pick it up. How is +it?" said the man--a singer and a wag--whom Morel was embracing. + +"Vive Henri Quatre! Vive ce roi valiant!" sang Morel, winking. "Ce +diable a quatre..." * + + +* "Long live Henry the Fourth, that valiant king! That rowdy devil." + +"Vivarika! Vif-seruvaru! Sedyablyaka!" repeated the soldier, flourishing +his arm and really catching the tune. + +"Bravo! Ha, ha, ha!" rose their rough, joyous laughter from all sides. + +Morel, wrinkling up his face, laughed too. + +"Well, go on, go on!" + + +"Qui eut le triple talent, De boire, de battre, Et d'etre un vert +galant." * + + +* Who had a triple talent For drinking, for fighting, And for being a +gallant old boy... + +"It goes smoothly, too. Well, now, Zaletaev!" + +"Ke..." Zaletaev, brought out with effort: "ke-e-e-e," he drawled, +laboriously pursing his lips, "le-trip-ta-la-de-bu-de-ba, e de-tra-va- +ga-la" he sang. + +"Fine! Just like the Frenchie! Oh, ho ho! Do you want some more to eat?" + +"Give him some porridge: it takes a long time to get filled up after +starving." + +They gave him some more porridge and Morel with a laugh set to work on +his third bowl. All the young soldiers smiled gaily as they watched him. +The older men, who thought it undignified to amuse themselves with such +nonsense, continued to lie at the opposite side of the fire, but one +would occasionally raise himself on an elbow and glance at Morel with a +smile. + +"They are men too," said one of them as he wrapped himself up in his +coat. "Even wormwood grows on its own root." + +"O Lord, O Lord! How starry it is! Tremendous! That means a hard +frost...." + +They all grew silent. The stars, as if knowing that no one was looking +at them, began to disport themselves in the dark sky: now flaring up, +now vanishing, now trembling, they were busy whispering something +gladsome and mysterious to one another. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The French army melted away at the uniform rate of a mathematical +progression; and that crossing of the Berezina about which so much has +been written was only one intermediate stage in its destruction, and not +at all the decisive episode of the campaign. If so much has been and +still is written about the Berezina, on the French side this is only +because at the broken bridge across that river the calamities their army +had been previously enduring were suddenly concentrated at one moment +into a tragic spectacle that remained in every memory, and on the +Russian side merely because in Petersburg--far from the seat of war--a +plan (again one of Pfuel's) had been devised to catch Napoleon in a +strategic trap at the Berezina River. Everyone assured himself that all +would happen according to plan, and therefore insisted that it was just +the crossing of the Berezina that destroyed the French army. In reality +the results of the crossing were much less disastrous to the French--in +guns and men lost--than Krasnoe had been, as the figures show. + +The sole importance of the crossing of the Berezina lies in the fact +that it plainly and indubitably proved the fallacy of all the plans for +cutting off the enemy's retreat and the soundness of the only possible +line of action--the one Kutuzov and the general mass of the army +demanded--namely, simply to follow the enemy up. The French crowd fled +at a continually increasing speed and all its energy was directed to +reaching its goal. It fled like a wounded animal and it was impossible +to block its path. This was shown not so much by the arrangements it +made for crossing as by what took place at the bridges. When the bridges +broke down, unarmed soldiers, people from Moscow and women with children +who were with the French transport, all--carried on by vis inertiae-- +pressed forward into boats and into the ice-covered water and did not, +surrender. + +That impulse was reasonable. The condition of fugitives and of pursuers +was equally bad. As long as they remained with their own people each +might hope for help from his fellows and the definite place he held +among them. But those who surrendered, while remaining in the same +pitiful plight, would be on a lower level to claim a share in the +necessities of life. The French did not need to be informed of the fact +that half the prisoners--with whom the Russians did not know what to do- +-perished of cold and hunger despite their captors' desire to save them; +they felt that it could not be otherwise. The most compassionate Russian +commanders, those favorable to the French--and even the Frenchmen in the +Russian service--could do nothing for the prisoners. The French perished +from the conditions to which the Russian army was itself exposed. It was +impossible to take bread and clothes from our hungry and indispensable +soldiers to give to the French who, though not harmful, or hated, or +guilty, were simply unnecessary. Some Russians even did that, but they +were exceptions. + +Certain destruction lay behind the French but in front there was hope. +Their ships had been burned, there was no salvation save in collective +flight, and on that the whole strength of the French was concentrated. + +The farther they fled the more wretched became the plight of the +remnant, especially after the Berezina, on which (in consequence of the +Petersburg plan) special hopes had been placed by the Russians, and the +keener grew the passions of the Russian commanders, who blamed one +another and Kutuzov most of all. Anticipation that the failure of the +Petersburg Berezina plan would be attributed to Kutuzov led to +dissatisfaction, contempt, and ridicule, more and more strongly +expressed. The ridicule and contempt were of course expressed in a +respectful form, making it impossible for him to ask wherein he was to +blame. They did not talk seriously to him; when reporting to him or +asking for his sanction they appeared to be fulfilling a regrettable +formality, but they winked behind his back and tried to mislead him at +every turn. + +Because they could not understand him all these people assumed that it +was useless to talk to the old man; that he would never grasp the +profundity of their plans, that he would answer with his phrases (which +they thought were mere phrases) about a "golden bridge," about the +impossibility of crossing the frontier with a crowd of tatterdemalions, +and so forth. They had heard all that before. And all he said--that it +was necessary to await provisions, or that the men had no boots--was so +simple, while what they proposed was so complicated and clever, that it +was evident that he was old and stupid and that they, though not in +power, were commanders of genius. + +After the junction with the army of the brilliant admiral and Petersburg +hero Wittgenstein, this mood and the gossip of the staff reached their +maximum. Kutuzov saw this and merely sighed and shrugged his shoulders. +Only once, after the affair of the Berezina, did he get angry and write +to Bennigsen (who reported separately to the Emperor) the following +letter: + +"On account of your spells of ill health, will your excellency please be +so good as to set off for Kaluga on receipt of this, and there await +further commands and appointments from His Imperial Majesty." + +But after Bennigsen's departure, the Grand Duke Tsarevich Constantine +Pavlovich joined the army. He had taken part in the beginning of the +campaign but had subsequently been removed from the army by Kutuzov. Now +having come to the army, he informed Kutuzov of the Emperor's +displeasure at the poor success of our forces and the slowness of their +advance. The Emperor intended to join the army personally in a few days' +time. + +The old man, experienced in court as well as in military affairs--this +same Kutuzov who in August had been chosen commander-in-chief against +the sovereign's wishes and who had removed the Grand Duke and heir-- +apparent from the army--who on his own authority and contrary to the +Emperor's will had decided on the abandonment of Moscow, now realized at +once that his day was over, that his part was played, and that the power +he was supposed to hold was no longer his. And he understood this not +merely from the attitude of the court. He saw on the one hand that the +military business in which he had played his part was ended and felt +that his mission was accomplished; and at the same time he began to be +conscious of the physical weariness of his aged body and of the +necessity of physical rest. + +On the twenty-ninth of November Kutuzov entered Vilna--his "dear Vilna" +as he called it. Twice during his career Kutuzov had been governor of +Vilna. In that wealthy town, which had not been injured, he found old +friends and associations, besides the comforts of life of which he had +so long been deprived. And he suddenly turned from the cares of army and +state and, as far as the passions that seethed around him allowed, +immersed himself in the quiet life to which he had formerly been +accustomed, as if all that was taking place and all that had still to be +done in the realm of history did not concern him at all. + +Chichagov, one of the most zealous "cutters-off" and "breakers-up," who +had first wanted to effect a diversion in Greece and then in Warsaw but +never wished to go where he was sent: Chichagov, noted for the boldness +with which he spoke to the Emperor, and who considered Kutuzov to be +under an obligation to him because when he was sent to make peace with +Turkey in 1811 independently of Kutuzov, and found that peace had +already been concluded, he admitted to the Emperor that the merit of +securing that peace was really Kutuzov's; this Chichagov was the first +to meet Kutuzov at the castle where the latter was to stay. In undress +naval uniform, with a dirk, and holding his cap under his arm, he handed +Kutuzov a garrison report and the keys of the town. The contemptuously +respectful attitude of the younger men to the old man in his dotage was +expressed in the highest degree by the behavior of Chichagov, who knew +of the accusations that were being directed against Kutuzov. + +When speaking to Chichagov, Kutuzov incidentally mentioned that the +vehicles packed with china that had been captured from him at Borisov +had been recovered and would be restored to him. + +"You mean to imply that I have nothing to eat out of.... On the +contrary, I can supply you with everything even if you want to give +dinner parties," warmly replied Chichagov, who tried by every word he +spoke to prove his own rectitude and therefore imagined Kutuzov to be +animated by the same desire. + +Kutuzov, shrugging his shoulders, replied with his subtle penetrating +smile: "I meant merely to say what I said." + +Contrary to the Emperor's wish Kutuzov detained the greater part of the +army at Vilna. Those about him said that he became extraordinarily slack +and physically feeble during his stay in that town. He attended to army +affairs reluctantly, left everything to his generals, and while awaiting +the Emperor's arrival led a dissipated life. + +Having left Petersburg on the seventh of December with his suite--Count +Tolstoy, Prince Volkonski, Arakcheev, and others--the Emperor reached +Vilna on the eleventh, and in his traveling sleigh drove straight to the +castle. In spite of the severe frost some hundred generals and staff +officers in full parade uniform stood in front of the castle, as well as +a guard of honor of the Semenov regiment. + +A courier who galloped to the castle in advance, in a troyka with three +foam-flecked horses, shouted "Coming!" and Konovnitsyn rushed into the +vestibule to inform Kutuzov, who was waiting in the hall porter's little +lodge. + +A minute later the old man's large stout figure in full-dress uniform, +his chest covered with orders and a scarf drawn round his stomach, +waddled out into the porch. He put on his hat with its peaks to the +sides and, holding his gloves in his hand and walking with an effort +sideways down the steps to the level of the street, took in his hand the +report he had prepared for the Emperor. + +There was running to and fro and whispering; another troyka flew +furiously up, and then all eyes were turned on an approaching sleigh in +which the figures of the Emperor and Volkonski could already be +descried. + +From the habit of fifty years all this had a physically agitating effect +on the old general. He carefully and hastily felt himself all over, +readjusted his hat, and pulling himself together drew himself up and, at +the very moment when the Emperor, having alighted from the sleigh, +lifted his eyes to him, handed him the report and began speaking in his +smooth, ingratiating voice. + +The Emperor with a rapid glance scanned Kutuzov from head to foot, +frowned for an instant, but immediately mastering himself went up to the +old man, extended his arms and embraced him. And this embrace too, owing +to a long-standing impression related to his innermost feelings, had its +usual effect on Kutuzov and he gave a sob. + +The Emperor greeted the officers and the Semenov guard, and again +pressing the old man's hand went with him into the castle. + +When alone with the field marshal the Emperor expressed his +dissatisfaction at the slowness of the pursuit and at the mistakes made +at Krasnoe and the Berezina, and informed him of his intentions for a +future campaign abroad. Kutuzov made no rejoinder or remark. The same +submissive, expressionless look with which he had listened to the +Emperor's commands on the field of Austerlitz seven years before settled +on his face now. + +When Kutuzov came out of the study and with lowered head was crossing +the ballroom with his heavy waddling gait, he was arrested by someone's +voice saying: + +"Your Serene Highness!" + +Kutuzov raised his head and looked for a long while into the eyes of +Count Tolstoy, who stood before him holding a silver salver on which lay +a small object. Kutuzov seemed not to understand what was expected of +him. + +Suddenly he seemed to remember; a scarcely perceptible smile flashed +across his puffy face, and bowing low and respectfully he took the +object that lay on the salver. It was the Order of St. George of the +First Class. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Next day the field marshal gave a dinner and ball which the Emperor +honored by his presence. Kutuzov had received the Order of St. George of +the First Class and the Emperor showed him the highest honors, but +everyone knew of the imperial dissatisfaction with him. The proprieties +were observed and the Emperor was the first to set that example, but +everybody understood that the old man was blameworthy and good-for- +nothing. When Kutuzov, conforming to a custom of Catherine's day, +ordered the standards that had been captured to be lowered at the +Emperor's feet on his entering the ballroom, the Emperor made a wry face +and muttered something in which some people caught the words, "the old +comedian." + +The Emperor's displeasure with Kutuzov was specially increased at Vilna +by the fact that Kutuzov evidently could not or would not understand the +importance of the coming campaign. + +When on the following morning the Emperor said to the officers assembled +about him: "You have not only saved Russia, you have saved Europe!" they +all understood that the war was not ended. + +Kutuzov alone would not see this and openly expressed his opinion that +no fresh war could improve the position or add to the glory of Russia, +but could only spoil and lower the glorious position that Russia had +gained. He tried to prove to the Emperor the impossibility of levying +fresh troops, spoke of the hardships already endured by the people, of +the possibility of failure and so forth. + +This being the field marshal's frame of mind he was naturally regarded +as merely a hindrance and obstacle to the impending war. + +To avoid unpleasant encounters with the old man, the natural method was +to do what had been done with him at Austerlitz and with Barclay at the +beginning of the Russian campaign--to transfer the authority to the +Emperor himself, thus cutting the ground from under the commander in +chief's feet without upsetting the old man by informing him of the +change. + +With this object his staff was gradually reconstructed and its real +strength removed and transferred to the Emperor. Toll, Konovnitsyn, and +Ermolov received fresh appointments. Everyone spoke loudly of the field +marshal's great weakness and failing health. + +His health had to be bad for his place to be taken away and given to +another. And in fact his health was poor. + +So naturally, simply, and gradually--just as he had come from Turkey to +the Treasury in Petersburg to recruit the militia, and then to the army +when he was needed there--now when his part was played out, Kutuzov's +place was taken by a new and necessary performer. + +The war of 1812, besides its national significance dear to every Russian +heart, was now to assume another, a European, significance. + +The movement of peoples from west to east was to be succeeded by a +movement of peoples from east to west, and for this fresh war another +leader was necessary, having qualities and views differing from +Kutuzov's and animated by different motives. + +Alexander I was as necessary for the movement of the peoples from east +to west and for the refixing of national frontiers as Kutuzov had been +for the salvation and glory of Russia. + +Kutuzov did not understand what Europe, the balance of power, or +Napoleon meant. He could not understand it. For the representative of +the Russian people, after the enemy had been destroyed and Russia had +been liberated and raised to the summit of her glory, there was nothing +left to do as a Russian. Nothing remained for the representative of the +national war but to die, and Kutuzov died. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +As generally happens, Pierre did not feel the full effects of the +physical privation and strain he had suffered as prisoner until after +they were over. After his liberation he reached Orel, and on the third +day there, when preparing to go to Kiev, he fell ill and was laid up for +three months. He had what the doctors termed "bilious fever." But +despite the fact that the doctors treated him, bled him, and gave him +medicines to drink, he recovered. + +Scarcely any impression was left on Pierre's mind by all that happened +to him from the time of his rescue till his illness. He remembered only +the dull gray weather now rainy and now snowy, internal physical +distress, and pains in his feet and side. He remembered a general +impression of the misfortunes and sufferings of people and of being +worried by the curiosity of officers and generals who questioned him, he +also remembered his difficulty in procuring a conveyance and horses, and +above all he remembered his incapacity to think and feel all that time. +On the day of his rescue he had seen the body of Petya Rostov. That same +day he had learned that Prince Andrew, after surviving the battle of +Borodino for more than a month had recently died in the Rostovs' house +at Yaroslavl, and Denisov who told him this news also mentioned Helene's +death, supposing that Pierre had heard of it long before. All this at +the time seemed merely strange to Pierre: he felt he could not grasp its +significance. Just then he was only anxious to get away as quickly as +possible from places where people were killing one another, to some +peaceful refuge where he could recover himself, rest, and think over all +the strange new facts he had learned; but on reaching Orel he +immediately fell ill. When he came to himself after his illness he saw +in attendance on him two of his servants, Terenty and Vaska, who had +come from Moscow; and also his cousin the eldest princess, who had been +living on his estate at Elets and hearing of his rescue and illness had +come to look after him. + +It was only gradually during his convalescence that Pierre lost the +impressions he had become accustomed to during the last few months and +got used to the idea that no one would oblige him to go anywhere +tomorrow, that no one would deprive him of his warm bed, and that he +would be sure to get his dinner, tea, and supper. But for a long time in +his dreams he still saw himself in the conditions of captivity. In the +same way little by little he came to understand the news he had been +told after his rescue, about the death of Prince Andrew, the death of +his wife, and the destruction of the French. + +A joyous feeling of freedom--that complete inalienable freedom natural +to man which he had first experienced at the first halt outside Moscow-- +filled Pierre's soul during his convalescence. He was surprised to find +that this inner freedom, which was independent of external conditions, +now had as it were an additional setting of external liberty. He was +alone in a strange town, without acquaintances. No one demanded anything +of him or sent him anywhere. He had all he wanted: the thought of his +wife which had been a continual torment to him was no longer there, +since she was no more. + +"Oh, how good! How splendid!" said he to himself when a cleanly laid +table was moved up to him with savory beef tea, or when he lay down for +the night on a soft clean bed, or when he remembered that the French had +gone and that his wife was no more. "Oh, how good, how splendid!" + +And by old habit he asked himself the question: "Well, and what then? +What am I going to do?" And he immediately gave himself the answer: +"Well, I shall live. Ah, how splendid!" + +The very question that had formerly tormented him, the thing he had +continually sought to find--the aim of life--no longer existed for him +now. That search for the aim of life had not merely disappeared +temporarily--he felt that it no longer existed for him and could not +present itself again. And this very absence of an aim gave him the +complete, joyous sense of freedom which constituted his happiness at +this time. + +He could not see an aim, for he now had faith--not faith in any kind of +rule, or words, or ideas, but faith in an ever-living, ever-manifest +God. Formerly he had sought Him in aims he set himself. That search for +an aim had been simply a search for God, and suddenly in his captivity +he had learned not by words or reasoning but by direct feeling what his +nurse had told him long ago: that God is here and everywhere. In his +captivity he had learned that in Karataev God was greater, more infinite +and unfathomable than in the Architect of the Universe recognized by the +Freemasons. He felt like a man who after straining his eyes to see into +the far distance finds what he sought at his very feet. All his life he +had looked over the heads of the men around him, when he should have +merely looked in front of him without straining his eyes. + +In the past he had never been able to find that great inscrutable +infinite something. He had only felt that it must exist somewhere and +had looked for it. In everything near and comprehensible he had only +what was limited, petty, commonplace, and senseless. He had equipped +himself with a mental telescope and looked into remote space, where +petty worldliness hiding itself in misty distance had seemed to him +great and infinite merely because it was not clearly seen. And such had +European life, politics, Freemasonry, philosophy, and philanthropy +seemed to him. But even then, at moments of weakness as he had accounted +them, his mind had penetrated to those distances and he had there seen +the same pettiness, worldliness, and senselessness. Now, however, he had +learned to see the great, eternal, and infinite in everything, and +therefore--to see it and enjoy its contemplation--he naturally threw +away the telescope through which he had till now gazed over men's heads, +and gladly regarded the ever-changing, eternally great, unfathomable, +and infinite life around him. And the closer he looked the more tranquil +and happy he became. That dreadful question, "What for?" which had +formerly destroyed all his mental edifices, no longer existed for him. +To that question, "What for?" a simple answer was now always ready in +his soul: "Because there is a God, that God without whose will not one +hair falls from a man's head." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +In external ways Pierre had hardly changed at all. In appearance he was +just what he used to be. As before he was absent-minded and seemed +occupied not with what was before his eyes but with something special of +his own. The difference between his former and present self was that +formerly when he did not grasp what lay before him or was said to him, +he had puckered his forehead painfully as if vainly seeking to +distinguish something at a distance. At present he still forgot what was +said to him and still did not see what was before his eyes, but he now +looked with a scarcely perceptible and seemingly ironic smile at what +was before him and listened to what was said, though evidently seeing +and hearing something quite different. Formerly he had appeared to be a +kindhearted but unhappy man, and so people had been inclined to avoid +him. Now a smile at the joy of life always played round his lips, and +sympathy for others, shone in his eyes with a questioning look as to +whether they were as contented as he was, and people felt pleased by his +presence. + +Previously he had talked a great deal, grew excited when he talked, and +seldom listened; now he was seldom carried away in conversation and knew +how to listen so that people readily told him their most intimate +secrets. + +The princess, who had never liked Pierre and had been particularly +hostile to him since she had felt herself under obligations to him after +the old count's death, now after staying a short time in Orel--where she +had come intending to show Pierre that in spite of his ingratitude she +considered it her duty to nurse him--felt to her surprise and vexation +that she had become fond of him. Pierre did not in any way seek her +approval, he merely studied her with interest. Formerly she had felt +that he regarded her with indifference and irony, and so had shrunk into +herself as she did with others and had shown him only the combative side +of her nature; but now he seemed to be trying to understand the most +intimate places of her heart, and, mistrustfully at first but afterwards +gratefully, she let him see the hidden, kindly sides of her character. + +The most cunning man could not have crept into her confidence more +successfully, evoking memories of the best times of her youth and +showing sympathy with them. Yet Pierre's cunning consisted simply in +finding pleasure in drawing out the human qualities of the embittered, +hard, and (in her own way) proud princess. + +"Yes, he is a very, very kind man when he is not under the influence of +bad people but of people such as myself," thought she. + +His servants too--Terenty and Vaska--in their own way noticed the change +that had taken place in Pierre. They considered that he had become much +"simpler." Terenty, when he had helped him undress and wished him good +night, often lingered with his master's boots in his hands and clothes +over his arm, to see whether he would not start a talk. And Pierre, +noticing that Terenty wanted a chat, generally kept him there. + +"Well, tell me... now, how did you get food?" he would ask. + +And Terenty would begin talking of the destruction of Moscow, and of the +old count, and would stand for a long time holding the clothes and +talking, or sometimes listening to Pierre's stories, and then would go +out into the hall with a pleasant sense of intimacy with his master and +affection for him. + +The doctor who attended Pierre and visited him every day, though he +considered it his duty as a doctor to pose as a man whose every moment +was of value to suffering humanity, would sit for hours with Pierre +telling him his favorite anecdotes and his observations on the +characters of his patients in general, and especially of the ladies. + +"It's a pleasure to talk to a man like that; he is not like our +provincials," he would say. + +There were several prisoners from the French army in Orel, and the +doctor brought one of them, a young Italian, to see Pierre. + +This officer began visiting Pierre, and the princess used to make fun of +the tenderness the Italian expressed for him. + +The Italian seemed happy only when he could come to see Pierre, talk +with him, tell him about his past, his life at home, and his love, and +pour out to him his indignation against the French and especially +against Napoleon. + +"If all Russians are in the least like you, it is sacrilege to fight +such a nation," he said to Pierre. "You, who have suffered so from the +French, do not even feel animosity toward them." + +Pierre had evoked the passionate affection of the Italian merely by +evoking the best side of his nature and taking a pleasure in so doing. + +During the last days of Pierre's stay in Orel his old masonic +acquaintance Count Willarski, who had introduced him to the lodge in +1807, came to see him. Willarski was married to a Russian heiress who +had a large estate in Orel province, and he occupied a temporary post in +the commissariat department in that town. + +Hearing that Bezukhov was in Orel, Willarski, though they had never been +intimate, came to him with the professions of friendship and intimacy +that people who meet in a desert generally express for one another. +Willarski felt dull in Orel and was pleased to meet a man of his own +circle and, as he supposed, of similar interests. + +But to his surprise Willarski soon noticed that Pierre had lagged much +behind the times, and had sunk, as he expressed it to himself, into +apathy and egotism. + +"You are letting yourself go, my dear fellow," he said. + +But for all that Willarski found it pleasanter now than it had been +formerly to be with Pierre, and came to see him every day. To Pierre as +he looked at and listened to Willarski, it seemed strange to think that +he had been like that himself but a short time before. + +Willarski was a married man with a family, busy with his family affairs, +his wife's affairs, and his official duties. He regarded all these +occupations as hindrances to life, and considered that they were all +contemptible because their aim was the welfare of himself and his +family. Military, administrative, political, and masonic interests +continually absorbed his attention. And Pierre, without trying to change +the other's views and without condemning him, but with the quiet, +joyful, and amused smile now habitual to him, was interested in this +strange though very familiar phenomenon. + +There was a new feature in Pierre's relations with Willarski, with the +princess, with the doctor, and with all the people he now met, which +gained for him the general good will. This was his acknowledgment of the +impossibility of changing a man's convictions by words, and his +recognition of the possibility of everyone thinking, feeling, and seeing +things each from his own point of view. This legitimate peculiarity of +each individual which used to excite and irritate Pierre now became a +basis of the sympathy he felt for, and the interest he took in, other +people. The difference, and sometimes complete contradiction, between +men's opinions and their lives, and between one man and another, pleased +him and drew from him an amused and gentle smile. + +In practical matters Pierre unexpectedly felt within himself a center of +gravity he had previously lacked. Formerly all pecuniary questions, +especially requests for money to which, as an extremely wealthy man, he +was very exposed, produced in him a state of hopeless agitation and +perplexity. "To give or not to give?" he had asked himself. "I have it +and he needs it. But someone else needs it still more. Who needs it +most? And perhaps they are both impostors?" In the old days he had been +unable to find a way out of all these surmises and had given to all who +asked as long as he had anything to give. Formerly he had been in a +similar state of perplexity with regard to every question concerning his +property, when one person advised one thing and another something else. + +Now to his surprise he found that he no longer felt either doubt or +perplexity about these questions. There was now within him a judge who +by some rule unknown to him decided what should or should not be done. + +He was as indifferent as heretofore to money matters, but now he felt +certain of what ought and what ought not to be done. The first time he +had recourse to his new judge was when a French prisoner, a colonel, +came to him and, after talking a great deal about his exploits, +concluded by making what amounted to a demand that Pierre should give +him four thousand francs to send to his wife and children. Pierre +refused without the least difficulty or effort, and was afterwards +surprised how simple and easy had been what used to appear so +insurmountably difficult. At the same time that he refused the colonel's +demand he made up his mind that he must have recourse to artifice when +leaving Orel, to induce the Italian officer to accept some money of +which he was evidently in need. A further proof to Pierre of his own +more settled outlook on practical matters was furnished by his decision +with regard to his wife's debts and to the rebuilding of his houses in +and near Moscow. + +His head steward came to him at Orel and Pierre reckoned up with him his +diminished income. The burning of Moscow had cost him, according to the +head steward's calculation, about two million rubles. + +To console Pierre for these losses the head steward gave him an estimate +showing that despite these losses his income would not be diminished but +would even be increased if he refused to pay his wife's debts which he +was under no obligation to meet, and did not rebuild his Moscow house +and the country house on his Moscow estate, which had cost him eighty +thousand rubles a year and brought in nothing. + +"Yes, of course that's true," said Pierre with a cheerful smile. "I +don't need all that at all. By being ruined I have become much richer." + +But in January Savelich came from Moscow and gave him an account of the +state of things there, and spoke of the estimate an architect had made +of the cost of rebuilding the town and country houses, speaking of this +as of a settled matter. About the same time he received letters from +Prince Vasili and other Petersburg acquaintances speaking of his wife's +debts. And Pierre decided that the steward's proposals which had so +pleased him were wrong and that he must go to Petersburg and settle his +wife's affairs and must rebuild in Moscow. Why this was necessary he did +not know, but he knew for certain that it was necessary. His income +would be reduced by three fourths, but he felt it must be done. + +Willarski was going to Moscow and they agreed to travel together. + +During the whole time of his convalescence in Orel Pierre had +experienced a feeling of joy, freedom, and life; but when during his +journey he found himself in the open world and saw hundreds of new +faces, that feeling was intensified. Throughout his journey he felt like +a schoolboy on holiday. Everyone--the stagecoach driver, the post-house +overseers, the peasants on the roads and in the villages--had a new +significance for him. The presence and remarks of Willarski who +continually deplored the ignorance and poverty of Russia and its +backwardness compared with Europe only heightened Pierre's pleasure. +Where Willarski saw deadness Pierre saw an extraordinary strength and +vitality--the strength which in that vast space amid the snows +maintained the life of this original, peculiar, and unique people. He +did not contradict Willarski and even seemed to agree with him--an +apparent agreement being the simplest way to avoid discussions that +could lead to nothing--and he smiled joyfully as he listened to him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +It would be difficult to explain why and whither ants whose heap has +been destroyed are hurrying: some from the heap dragging bits of +rubbish, larvae, and corpses, others back to the heap, or why they +jostle, overtake one another, and fight, and it would be equally +difficult to explain what caused the Russians after the departure of the +French to throng to the place that had formerly been Moscow. But when we +watch the ants round their ruined heap, the tenacity, energy, and +immense number of the delving insects prove that despite the destruction +of the heap, something indestructible, which though intangible is the +real strength of the colony, still exists; and similarly, though in +Moscow in the month of October there was no government and no churches, +shrines, riches, or houses--it was still the Moscow it had been in +August. All was destroyed, except something intangible yet powerful and +indestructible. + +The motives of those who thronged from all sides to Moscow after it had +been cleared of the enemy were most diverse and personal, and at first +for the most part savage and brutal. One motive only they all had in +common: a desire to get to the place that had been called Moscow, to +apply their activities there. + +Within a week Moscow already had fifteen thousand inhabitants, in a +fortnight twenty-five thousand, and so on. By the autumn of 1813 the +number, ever increasing and increasing, exceeded what it had been in +1812. + +The first Russians to enter Moscow were the Cossacks of Wintzingerode's +detachment, peasants from the adjacent villages, and residents who had +fled from Moscow and had been hiding in its vicinity. The Russians who +entered Moscow, finding it plundered, plundered it in their turn. They +continued what the French had begun. Trains of peasant carts came to +Moscow to carry off to the villages what had been abandoned in the +ruined houses and the streets. The Cossacks carried off what they could +to their camps, and the householders seized all they could find in other +houses and moved it to their own, pretending that it was their property. + +But the first plunderers were followed by a second and a third +contingent, and with increasing numbers plundering became more and more +difficult and assumed more definite forms. + +The French found Moscow abandoned but with all the organizations of +regular life, with diverse branches of commerce and craftsmanship, with +luxury, and governmental and religious institutions. These forms were +lifeless but still existed. There were bazaars, shops, warehouses, +market stalls, granaries--for the most part still stocked with goods-- +and there were factories and workshops, palaces and wealthy houses +filled with luxuries, hospitals, prisons, government offices, churches, +and cathedrals. The longer the French remained the more these forms of +town life perished, until finally all was merged into one confused, +lifeless scene of plunder. + +The more the plundering by the French continued, the more both the +wealth of Moscow and the strength of its plunderers was destroyed. But +plundering by the Russians, with which the reoccupation of the city +began, had an opposite effect: the longer it continued and the greater +the number of people taking part in it the more rapidly was the wealth +of the city and its regular life restored. + +Besides the plunderers, very various people, some drawn by curiosity, +some by official duties, some by self-interest--house owners, clergy, +officials of all kinds, tradesmen, artisans, and peasants--streamed into +Moscow as blood flows to the heart. + +Within a week the peasants who came with empty carts to carry off +plunder were stopped by the authorities and made to cart the corpses out +of the town. Other peasants, having heard of their comrades' +discomfiture, came to town bringing rye, oats, and hay, and beat down +one another's prices to below what they had been in former days. Gangs +of carpenters hoping for high pay arrived in Moscow every day, and on +all sides logs were being hewn, new houses built, and old, charred ones +repaired. Tradesmen began trading in booths. Cookshops and taverns were +opened in partially burned houses. The clergy resumed the services in +many churches that had not been burned. Donors contributed Church +property that had been stolen. Government clerks set up their baize- +covered tables and their pigeonholes of documents in small rooms. The +higher authorities and the police organized the distribution of goods +left behind by the French. The owners of houses in which much property +had been left, brought there from other houses, complained of the +injustice of taking everything to the Faceted Palace in the Kremlin; +others insisted that as the French had gathered things from different +houses into this or that house, it would be unfair to allow its owner to +keep all that was found there. They abused the police and bribed them, +made out estimates at ten times their value for government stores that +had perished in the fire, and demanded relief. And Count Rostopchin +wrote proclamations. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +At the end of January Pierre went to Moscow and stayed in an annex of +his house which had not been burned. He called on Count Rostopchin and +on some acquaintances who were back in Moscow, and he intended to leave +for Petersburg two days later. Everybody was celebrating the victory, +everything was bubbling with life in the ruined but reviving city. +Everyone was pleased to see Pierre, everyone wished to meet him, and +everyone questioned him about what he had seen. Pierre felt particularly +well disposed toward them all, but was now instinctively on his guard +for fear of binding himself in any way. To all questions put to him-- +whether important or quite trifling--such as: Where would he live? Was +he going to rebuild? When was he going to Petersburg and would he mind +taking a parcel for someone?--he replied: "Yes, perhaps," or, "I think +so," and so on. + +He had heard that the Rostovs were at Kostroma but the thought of +Natasha seldom occurred to him. If it did it was only as a pleasant +memory of the distant past. He felt himself not only free from social +obligations but also from that feeling which, it seemed to him, he had +aroused in himself. + +On the third day after his arrival he heard from the Drubetskoys that +Princess Mary was in Moscow. The death, sufferings, and last days of +Prince Andrew had often occupied Pierre's thoughts and now recurred to +him with fresh vividness. Having heard at dinner that Princess Mary was +in Moscow and living in her house--which had not been burned--in +Vozdvizhenka Street, he drove that same evening to see her. + +On his way to the house Pierre kept thinking of Prince Andrew, of their +friendship, of his various meetings with him, and especially of the last +one at Borodino. + +"Is it possible that he died in the bitter frame of mind he was then in? +Is it possible that the meaning of life was not disclosed to him before +he died?" thought Pierre. He recalled Karataev and his death and +involuntarily began to compare these two men, so different, and yet so +similar in that they had both lived and both died and in the love he +felt for both of them. + +Pierre drove up to the house of the old prince in a most serious mood. +The house had escaped the fire; it showed signs of damage but its +general aspect was unchanged. The old footman, who met Pierre with a +stern face as if wishing to make the visitor feel that the absence of +the old prince had not disturbed the order of things in the house, +informed him that the princess had gone to her own apartments, and that +she received on Sundays. + +"Announce me. Perhaps she will see me," said Pierre. + +"Yes, sir," said the man. "Please step into the portrait gallery." + +A few minutes later the footman returned with Dessalles, who brought +word from the princess that she would be very glad to see Pierre if he +would excuse her want of ceremony and come upstairs to her apartment. + +In a rather low room lit by one candle sat the princess and with her +another person dressed in black. Pierre remembered that the princess +always had lady companions, but who they were and what they were like he +never knew or remembered. "This must be one of her companions," he +thought, glancing at the lady in the black dress. + +The princess rose quickly to meet him and held out her hand. + +"Yes," she said, looking at his altered face after he had kissed her +hand, "so this is how we meet again. He spoke of you even at the very +last," she went on, turning her eyes from Pierre to her companion with a +shyness that surprised him for an instant. + +"I was so glad to hear of your safety. It was the first piece of good +news we had received for a long time." + +Again the princess glanced round at her companion with even more +uneasiness in her manner and was about to add something, but Pierre +interrupted her. + +"Just imagine--I knew nothing about him!" said he. "I thought he had +been killed. All I know I heard at second hand from others. I only know +that he fell in with the Rostovs.... What a strange coincidence!" + +Pierre spoke rapidly and with animation. He glanced once at the +companion's face, saw her attentive and kindly gaze fixed on him, and, +as often happens when one is talking, felt somehow that this companion +in the black dress was a good, kind, excellent creature who would not +hinder his conversing freely with Princess Mary. + +But when he mentioned the Rostovs, Princess Mary's face expressed still +greater embarrassment. She again glanced rapidly from Pierre's face to +that of the lady in the black dress and said: + +"Do you really not recognize her?" + +Pierre looked again at the companion's pale, delicate face with its +black eyes and peculiar mouth, and something near to him, long forgotten +and more than sweet, looked at him from those attentive eyes. + +"But no, it can't be!" he thought. "This stern, thin, pale face that +looks so much older! It cannot be she. It merely reminds me of her." But +at that moment Princess Mary said, "Natasha!" And with difficulty, +effort, and stress, like the opening of a door grown rusty on its +hinges, a smile appeared on the face with the attentive eyes, and from +that opening door came a breath of fragrance which suffused Pierre with +a happiness he had long forgotten and of which he had not even been +thinking--especially at that moment. It suffused him, seized him, and +enveloped him completely. When she smiled doubt was no longer possible, +it was Natasha and he loved her. + +At that moment Pierre involuntarily betrayed to her, to Princess Mary, +and above all to himself, a secret of which he himself had been unaware. +He flushed joyfully yet with painful distress. He tried to hide his +agitation. But the more he tried to hide it the more clearly--clearer +than any words could have done--did he betray to himself, to her, and to +Princess Mary that he loved her. + +"No, it's only the unexpectedness of it," thought Pierre. But as soon as +he tried to continue the conversation he had begun with Princess Mary he +again glanced at Natasha, and a still-deeper flush suffused his face and +a still-stronger agitation of mingled joy and fear seized his soul. He +became confused in his speech and stopped in the middle of what he was +saying. + +Pierre had failed to notice Natasha because he did not at all expect to +see her there, but he had failed to recognize her because the change in +her since he last saw her was immense. She had grown thin and pale, but +that was not what made her unrecognizable; she was unrecognizable at the +moment he entered because on that face whose eyes had always shone with +a suppressed smile of the joy of life, now when he first entered and +glanced at her there was not the least shadow of a smile: only her eyes +were kindly attentive and sadly interrogative. + +Pierre's confusion was not reflected by any confusion on Natasha's part, +but only by the pleasure that just perceptibly lit up her whole face. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"She has come to stay with me," said Princess Mary. "The count and +countess will be here in a few days. The countess is in a dreadful +state; but it was necessary for Natasha herself to see a doctor. They +insisted on her coming with me." + +"Yes, is there a family free from sorrow now?" said Pierre, addressing +Natasha. "You know it happened the very day we were rescued. I saw him. +What a delightful boy he was!" + +Natasha looked at him, and by way of answer to his words her eyes +widened and lit up. + +"What can one say or think of as a consolation?" said Pierre. "Nothing! +Why had such a splendid boy, so full of life, to die?" + +"Yes, in these days it would be hard to live without faith..." remarked +Princess Mary. + +"Yes, yes, that is really true," Pierre hastily interrupted her. + +"Why is it true?" Natasha asked, looking attentively into Pierre's eyes. + +"How can you ask why?" said Princess Mary. "The thought alone of what +awaits..." + +Natasha without waiting for Princess Mary to finish again looked +inquiringly at Pierre. + +"And because," Pierre continued, "only one who believes that there is a +God ruling us can bear a loss such as hers and... yours." + +Natasha had already opened her mouth to speak but suddenly stopped. +Pierre hurriedly turned away from her and again addressed Princess Mary, +asking about his friend's last days. + +Pierre's confusion had now almost vanished, but at the same time he felt +that his freedom had also completely gone. He felt that there was now a +judge of his every word and action whose judgment mattered more to him +than that of all the rest of the world. As he spoke now he was +considering what impression his words would make on Natasha. He did not +purposely say things to please her, but whatever he was saying he +regarded from her standpoint. + +Princess Mary--reluctantly as is usual in such cases--began telling of +the condition in which she had found Prince Andrew. But Pierre's face +quivering with emotion, his questions and his eager restless expression, +gradually compelled her to go into details which she feared to recall +for her own sake. + +"Yes, yes, and so...?" Pierre kept saying as he leaned toward her with +his whole body and eagerly listened to her story. "Yes, yes... so he +grew tranquil and softened? With all his soul he had always sought one +thing--to be perfectly good--so he could not be afraid of death. The +faults he had--if he had any--were not of his making. So he did +soften?... What a happy thing that he saw you again," he added, suddenly +turning to Natasha and looking at her with eyes full of tears. + +Natasha's face twitched. She frowned and lowered her eyes for a moment. +She hesitated for an instant whether to speak or not. + +"Yes, that was happiness," she then said in her quiet voice with its +deep chest notes. "For me it certainly was happiness." She paused. "And +he... he... he said he was wishing for it at the very moment I entered +the room...." + +Natasha's voice broke. She blushed, pressed her clasped hands on her +knees, and then controlling herself with an evident effort lifted her +head and began to speak rapidly. + +"We knew nothing of it when we started from Moscow. I did not dare to +ask about him. Then suddenly Sonya told me he was traveling with us. I +had no idea and could not imagine what state he was in, all I wanted was +to see him and be with him," she said, trembling, and breathing quickly. + +And not letting them interrupt her she went on to tell what she had +never yet mentioned to anyone--all she had lived through during those +three weeks of their journey and life at Yaroslavl. + +Pierre listened to her with lips parted and eyes fixed upon her full of +tears. As he listened he did not think of Prince Andrew, nor of death, +nor of what she was telling. He listened to her and felt only pity for +her, for what she was suffering now while she was speaking. + +Princess Mary, frowning in her effort to hold back her tears, sat beside +Natasha, and heard for the first time the story of those last days of +her brother's and Natasha's love. + +Evidently Natasha needed to tell that painful yet joyful tale. + +She spoke, mingling most trifling details with the intimate secrets of +her soul, and it seemed as if she could never finish. Several times she +repeated the same thing twice. + +Dessalles' voice was heard outside the door asking whether little +Nicholas might come in to say good night. + +"Well, that's all--everything," said Natasha. + +She got up quickly just as Nicholas entered, almost ran to the door +which was hidden by curtains, struck her head against it, and rushed +from the room with a moan either of pain or sorrow. + +Pierre gazed at the door through which she had disappeared and did not +understand why he suddenly felt all alone in the world. + +Princess Mary roused him from his abstraction by drawing his attention +to her nephew who had entered the room. + +At that moment of emotional tenderness young Nicholas' face, which +resembled his father's, affected Pierre so much that when he had kissed +the boy he got up quickly, took out his handkerchief, and went to the +window. He wished to take leave of Princess Mary, but she would not let +him go. + +"No, Natasha and I sometimes don't go to sleep till after two, so please +don't go. I will order supper. Go downstairs, we will come immediately." + +Before Pierre left the room Princess Mary told him: "This is the first +time she has talked of him like that." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Pierre was shown into the large, brightly lit dining room; a few minutes +later he heard footsteps and Princess Mary entered with Natasha. Natasha +was calm, though a severe and grave expression had again settled on her +face. They all three of them now experienced that feeling of awkwardness +which usually follows after a serious and heartfelt talk. It is +impossible to go back to the same conversation, to talk of trifles is +awkward, and yet the desire to speak is there and silence seems like +affectation. They went silently to table. The footmen drew back the +chairs and pushed them up again. Pierre unfolded his cold table napkin +and, resolving to break the silence, looked at Natasha and at Princess +Mary. They had evidently both formed the same resolution; the eyes of +both shone with satisfaction and a confession that besides sorrow life +also has joy. + +"Do you take vodka, Count?" asked Princess Mary, and those words +suddenly banished the shadows of the past. "Now tell us about yourself," +said she. "One hears such improbable wonders about you." + +"Yes," replied Pierre with the smile of mild irony now habitual to him. +"They even tell me wonders I myself never dreamed of! Mary Abramovna +invited me to her house and kept telling me what had happened, or ought +to have happened, to me. Stepan Stepanych also instructed me how I ought +to tell of my experiences. In general I have noticed that it is very +easy to be an interesting man (I am an interesting man now); people +invite me out and tell me all about myself." + +Natasha smiled and was on the point of speaking. + +"We have been told," Princess Mary interrupted her, "that you lost two +millions in Moscow. Is that true?" + +"But I am three times as rich as before," returned Pierre. + +Though the position was now altered by his decision to pay his wife's +debts and to rebuild his houses, Pierre still maintained that he had +become three times as rich as before. + +"What I have certainly gained is freedom," he began seriously, but did +not continue, noticing that this theme was too egotistic. + +"And are you building?" + +"Yes. Savelich says I must!" + +"Tell me, you did not know of the countess' death when you decided to +remain in Moscow?" asked Princess Mary and immediately blushed, noticing +that her question, following his mention of freedom, ascribed to his +words a meaning he had perhaps not intended. + +"No," answered Pierre, evidently not considering awkward the meaning +Princess Mary had given to his words. "I heard of it in Orel and you +cannot imagine how it shocked me. We were not an exemplary couple," he +added quickly, glancing at Natasha and noticing on her face curiosity as +to how he would speak of his wife, "but her death shocked me terribly. +When two people quarrel they are always both in fault, and one's own +guilt suddenly becomes terribly serious when the other is no longer +alive. And then such a death... without friends and without consolation! +I am very, very sorry for her," he concluded, and was pleased to notice +a look of glad approval on Natasha's face. + +"Yes, and so you are once more an eligible bachelor," said Princess +Mary. + +Pierre suddenly flushed crimson and for a long time tried not to look at +Natasha. When he ventured to glance her way again her face was cold, +stern, and he fancied even contemptuous. + +"And did you really see and speak to Napoleon, as we have been told?" +said Princess Mary. + +Pierre laughed. + +"No, not once! Everybody seems to imagine that being taken prisoner +means being Napoleon's guest. Not only did I never see him but I heard +nothing about him--I was in much lower company!" + +Supper was over, and Pierre who at first declined to speak about his +captivity was gradually led on to do so. + +"But it's true that you remained in Moscow to kill Napoleon?" Natasha +asked with a slight smile. "I guessed it then when we met at the +Sukharev tower, do you remember?" + +Pierre admitted that it was true, and from that was gradually led by +Princess Mary's questions and especially by Natasha's into giving a +detailed account of his adventures. + +At first he spoke with the amused and mild irony now customary with him +toward everybody and especially toward himself, but when he came to +describe the horrors and sufferings he had witnessed he was +unconsciously carried away and began speaking with the suppressed +emotion of a man re-experiencing in recollection strong impressions he +has lived through. + +Princess Mary with a gentle smile looked now at Pierre and now at +Natasha. In the whole narrative she saw only Pierre and his goodness. +Natasha, leaning on her elbow, the expression of her face constantly +changing with the narrative, watched Pierre with an attention that never +wandered--evidently herself experiencing all that he described. Not only +her look, but her exclamations and the brief questions she put, showed +Pierre that she understood just what he wished to convey. It was clear +that she understood not only what he said but also what he wished to, +but could not, express in words. The account Pierre gave of the incident +with the child and the woman for protecting whom he was arrested was +this: "It was an awful sight--children abandoned, some in the flames... +One was snatched out before my eyes... and there were women who had +their things snatched off and their earrings torn out..." he flushed and +grew confused. "Then a patrol arrived and all the men--all those who +were not looting, that is--were arrested, and I among them." + +"I am sure you're not telling us everything; I am sure you did +something..." said Natasha and pausing added, "something fine?" + +Pierre continued. When he spoke of the execution he wanted to pass over +the horrible details, but Natasha insisted that he should not omit +anything. + +Pierre began to tell about Karataev, but paused. By this time he had +risen from the table and was pacing the room, Natasha following him with +her eyes. Then he added: + +"No, you can't understand what I learned from that illiterate man--that +simple fellow." + +"Yes, yes, go on!" said Natasha. "Where is he?" + +"They killed him almost before my eyes." + +And Pierre, his voice trembling continually, went on to tell of the last +days of their retreat, of Karataev's illness and his death. + +He told of his adventures as he had never yet recalled them. He now, as +it were, saw a new meaning in all he had gone through. Now that he was +telling it all to Natasha he experienced that pleasure which a man has +when women listen to him--not clever women who when listening either try +to remember what they hear to enrich their minds and when opportunity +offers to retell it, or who wish to adopt it to some thought of their +own and promptly contribute their own clever comments prepared in their +little mental workshop--but the pleasure given by real women gifted with +a capacity to select and absorb the very best a man shows of himself. +Natasha without knowing it was all attention: she did not lose a word, +no single quiver in Pierre's voice, no look, no twitch of a muscle in +his face, nor a single gesture. She caught the unfinished word in its +flight and took it straight into her open heart, divining the secret +meaning of all Pierre's mental travail. + +Princess Mary understood his story and sympathized with him, but she now +saw something else that absorbed all her attention. She saw the +possibility of love and happiness between Natasha and Pierre, and the +first thought of this filled her heart with gladness. + +It was three o'clock in the morning. The footmen came in with sad and +stern faces to change the candles, but no one noticed them. + +Pierre finished his story. Natasha continued to look at him intently +with bright, attentive, and animated eyes, as if trying to understand +something more which he had perhaps left untold. Pierre in shamefaced +and happy confusion glanced occasionally at her, and tried to think what +to say next to introduce a fresh subject. Princess Mary was silent. It +occurred to none of them that it was three o'clock and time to go to +bed. + +"People speak of misfortunes and sufferings," remarked Pierre, "but if +at this moment I were asked: 'Would you rather be what you were before +you were taken prisoner, or go through all this again?' then for +heaven's sake let me again have captivity and horseflesh! We imagine +that when we are thrown out of our usual ruts all is lost, but it is +only then that what is new and good begins. While there is life there is +happiness. There is much, much before us. I say this to you," he added, +turning to Natasha. + +"Yes, yes," she said, answering something quite different. "I too should +wish nothing but to relive it all from the beginning." + +Pierre looked intently at her. + +"Yes, and nothing more," said Natasha. + +"It's not true, not true!" cried Pierre. "I am not to blame for being +alive and wishing to live--nor you either." + +Suddenly Natasha bent her head, covered her face with her hands, and +began to cry. + +"What is it, Natasha?" said Princess Mary. + +"Nothing, nothing." She smiled at Pierre through her tears. "Good night! +It is time for bed." + +Pierre rose and took his leave. + +Princess Mary and Natasha met as usual in the bedroom. They talked of +what Pierre had told them. Princess Mary did not express her opinion of +Pierre nor did Natasha speak of him. + +"Well, good night, Mary!" said Natasha. "Do you know, I am often afraid +that by not speaking of him" (she meant Prince Andrew) "for fear of not +doing justice to our feelings, we forget him." + +Princess Mary sighed deeply and thereby acknowledged the justice of +Natasha's remark, but she did not express agreement in words. + +"Is it possible to forget?" said she. + +"It did me so much good to tell all about it today. It was hard and +painful, but good, very good!" said Natasha. "I am sure he really loved +him. That is why I told him... Was it all right?" she added, suddenly +blushing. + +"To tell Pierre? Oh, yes. What a splendid man he is!" said Princess +Mary. + +"Do you know, Mary..." Natasha suddenly said with a mischievous smile +such as Princess Mary had not seen on her face for a long time, "he has +somehow grown so clean, smooth, and fresh--as if he had just come out of +a Russian bath; do you understand? Out of a moral bath. Isn't it true?" + +"Yes," replied Princess Mary. "He has greatly improved." + +"With a short coat and his hair cropped; just as if, well, just as if he +had come straight from the bath... Papa used to..." + +"I understand why he" (Prince Andrew) "liked no one so much as him," +said Princess Mary. + +"Yes, and yet he is quite different. They say men are friends when they +are quite different. That must be true. Really he is quite unlike him-- +in everything." + +"Yes, but he's wonderful." + +"Well, good night," said Natasha. + +And the same mischievous smile lingered for a long time on her face as +if it had been forgotten there. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +It was a long time before Pierre could fall asleep that night. He paced +up and down his room, now turning his thoughts on a difficult problem +and frowning, now suddenly shrugging his shoulders and wincing, and now +smiling happily. + +He was thinking of Prince Andrew, of Natasha, and of their love, at one +moment jealous of her past, then reproaching himself for that feeling. +It was already six in the morning and he still paced up and down the +room. + +"Well, what's to be done if it cannot be avoided? What's to be done? +Evidently it has to be so," said he to himself, and hastily undressing +he got into bed, happy and agitated but free from hesitation or +indecision. + +"Strange and impossible as such happiness seems, I must do everything +that she and I may be man and wife," he told himself. + +A few days previously Pierre had decided to go to Petersburg on the +Friday. When he awoke on the Thursday, Savelich came to ask him about +packing for the journey. + +"What, to Petersburg? What is Petersburg? Who is there in Petersburg?" +he asked involuntarily, though only to himself. "Oh, yes, long ago +before this happened I did for some reason mean to go to Petersburg," he +reflected. "Why? But perhaps I shall go. What a good fellow he is and +how attentive, and how he remembers everything," he thought, looking at +Savelich's old face, "and what a pleasant smile he has!" + +"Well, Savelich, do you still not wish to accept your freedom?" Pierre +asked him. + +"What's the good of freedom to me, your excellency? We lived under the +late count--the kingdom of heaven be his!--and we have lived under you +too, without ever being wronged." + +"And your children?" + +"The children will live just the same. With such masters one can live." + +"But what about my heirs?" said Pierre. "Supposing I suddenly marry... +it might happen," he added with an involuntary smile. + +"If I may take the liberty, your excellency, it would be a good thing." + +"How easy he thinks it," thought Pierre. "He doesn't know how terrible +it is and how dangerous. Too soon or too late... it is terrible!" + +"So what are your orders? Are you starting tomorrow?" asked Savelich. + +"No, I'll put it off for a bit. I'll tell you later. You must forgive +the trouble I have put you to," said Pierre, and seeing Savelich smile, +he thought: "But how strange it is that he should not know that now +there is no Petersburg for me, and that that must be settled first of +all! But probably he knows it well enough and is only pretending. Shall +I have a talk with him and see what he thinks?" Pierre reflected. "No, +another time." + +At breakfast Pierre told the princess, his cousin, that he had been to +see Princess Mary the day before and had there met--"Whom do you think? +Natasha Rostova!" + +The princess seemed to see nothing more extraordinary in that than if he +had seen Anna Semenovna. + +"Do you know her?" asked Pierre. + +"I have seen the princess," she replied. "I heard that they were +arranging a match for her with young Rostov. It would be a very good +thing for the Rostovs, they are said to be utterly ruined." + +"No; I mean do you know Natasha Rostova?" + +"I heard about that affair of hers at the time. It was a great pity." + +"No, she either doesn't understand or is pretending," thought Pierre. +"Better not say anything to her either." + +The princess too had prepared provisions for Pierre's journey. + +"How kind they all are," thought Pierre. "What is surprising is that +they should trouble about these things now when it can no longer be of +interest to them. And all for me!" + +On the same day the Chief of Police came to Pierre, inviting him to send +a representative to the Faceted Palace to recover things that were to be +returned to their owners that day. + +"And this man too," thought Pierre, looking into the face of the Chief +of Police. "What a fine, good-looking officer and how kind. Fancy +bothering about such trifles now! And they actually say he is not honest +and takes bribes. What nonsense! Besides, why shouldn't he take bribes? +That's the way he was brought up, and everybody does it. But what a +kind, pleasant face and how he smiles as he looks at me." + +Pierre went to Princess Mary's to dinner. + +As he drove through the streets past the houses that had been burned +down, he was surprised by the beauty of those ruins. The picturesqueness +of the chimney stacks and tumble-down walls of the burned-out quarters +of the town, stretching out and concealing one another, reminded him of +the Rhine and the Colosseum. The cabmen he met and their passengers, the +carpenters cutting the timber for new houses with axes, the women +hawkers, and the shopkeepers, all looked at him with cheerful beaming +eyes that seemed to say: "Ah, there he is! Let's see what will come of +it!" + +At the entrance to Princess Mary's house Pierre felt doubtful whether he +had really been there the night before and really seen Natasha and +talked to her. "Perhaps I imagined it; perhaps I shall go in and find no +one there." But he had hardly entered the room before he felt her +presence with his whole being by the loss of his sense of freedom. She +was in the same black dress with soft folds and her hair was done the +same way as the day before, yet she was quite different. Had she been +like this when he entered the day before he could not for a moment have +failed to recognize her. + +She was as he had known her almost as a child and later on as Prince +Andrew's fiancee. A bright questioning light shone in her eyes, and on +her face was a friendly and strangely roguish expression. + +Pierre dined with them and would have spent the whole evening there, but +Princess Mary was going to vespers and Pierre left the house with her. + +Next day he came early, dined, and stayed the whole evening. Though +Princess Mary and Natasha were evidently glad to see their visitor and +though all Pierre's interest was now centered in that house, by the +evening they had talked over everything and the conversation passed from +one trivial topic to another and repeatedly broke off. He stayed so long +that Princess Mary and Natasha exchanged glances, evidently wondering +when he would go. Pierre noticed this but could not go. He felt uneasy +and embarrassed, but sat on because he simply could not get up and take +his leave. + +Princess Mary, foreseeing no end to this, rose first, and complaining of +a headache began to say good night. + +"So you are going to Petersburg tomorrow?" she asked. + +"No, I am not going," Pierre replied hastily, in a surprised tone and as +though offended. "Yes... no... to Petersburg? Tomorrow--but I won't say +good-by yet. I will call round in case you have any commissions for me," +said he, standing before Princess Mary and turning red, but not taking +his departure. + +Natasha gave him her hand and went out. Princess Mary on the other hand +instead of going away sank into an armchair, and looked sternly and +intently at him with her deep, radiant eyes. The weariness she had +plainly shown before had now quite passed off. With a deep and long- +drawn sigh she seemed to be prepared for a lengthy talk. + +When Natasha left the room Pierre's confusion and awkwardness +immediately vanished and were replaced by eager excitement. He quickly +moved an armchair toward Princess Mary. + +"Yes, I wanted to tell you," said he, answering her look as if she had +spoken. "Princess, help me! What am I to do? Can I hope? Princess, my +dear friend, listen! I know it all. I know I am not worthy of her, I +know it's impossible to speak of it now. But I want to be a brother to +her. No, not that, I don't, I can't..." + +He paused and rubbed his face and eyes with his hands. + +"Well," he went on with an evident effort at self-control and coherence. +"I don't know when I began to love her, but I have loved her and her +alone all my life, and I love her so that I cannot imagine life without +her. I cannot propose to her at present, but the thought that perhaps +she might someday be my wife and that I may be missing that +possibility... that possibility... is terrible. Tell me, can I hope? +Tell me what I am to do, dear princess!" he added after a pause, and +touched her hand as she did not reply. + +"I am thinking of what you have told me," answered Princess Mary. "This +is what I will say. You are right that to speak to her of love at +present..." + +Princess Mary stopped. She was going to say that to speak of love was +impossible, but she stopped because she had seen by the sudden change in +Natasha two days before that she would not only not be hurt if Pierre +spoke of his love, but that it was the very thing she wished for. + +"To speak to her now wouldn't do," said the princess all the same. + +"But what am I to do?" + +"Leave it to me," said Princess Mary. "I know..." + +Pierre was looking into Princess Mary's eyes. + +"Well?... Well?..." he said. + +"I know that she loves... will love you," Princess Mary corrected +herself. + +Before her words were out, Pierre had sprung up and with a frightened +expression seized Princess Mary's hand. + +"What makes you think so? You think I may hope? You think...?" + +"Yes, I think so," said Princess Mary with a smile. "Write to her +parents, and leave it to me. I will tell her when I can. I wish it to +happen and my heart tells me it will." + +"No, it cannot be! How happy I am! But it can't be.... How happy I am! +No, it can't be!" Pierre kept saying as he kissed Princess Mary's hands. + +"Go to Petersburg, that will be best. And I will write to you," she +said. + +"To Petersburg? Go there? Very well, I'll go. But I may come again +tomorrow?" + +Next day Pierre came to say good-by. Natasha was less animated than she +had been the day before; but that day as he looked at her Pierre +sometimes felt as if he was vanishing and that neither he nor she +existed any longer, that nothing existed but happiness. "Is it possible? +No, it can't be," he told himself at every look, gesture, and word that +filled his soul with joy. + +When on saying good-by he took her thin, slender hand, he could not help +holding it a little longer in his own. + +"Is it possible that this hand, that face, those eyes, all this treasure +of feminine charm so strange to me now, is it possible that it will one +day be mine forever, as familiar to me as I am to myself?... No, that's +impossible!..." + +"Good-bye, Count," she said aloud. "I shall look forward very much to +your return," she added in a whisper. + +And these simple words, her look, and the expression on her face which +accompanied them, formed for two months the subject of inexhaustible +memories, interpretations, and happy meditations for Pierre. "'I shall +look forward very much to your return....' Yes, yes, how did she say it? +Yes, 'I shall look forward very much to your return.' Oh, how happy I +am! What is happening to me? How happy I am!" said Pierre to himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +There was nothing in Pierre's soul now at all like what had troubled it +during his courtship of Helene. + +He did not repeat to himself with a sickening feeling of shame the words +he had spoken, or say: "Oh, why did I not say that?" and, "Whatever made +me say 'Je vous aime'?" On the contrary, he now repeated in imagination +every word that he or Natasha had spoken and pictured every detail of +her face and smile, and did not wish to diminish or add anything, but +only to repeat it again and again. There was now not a shadow of doubt +in his mind as to whether what he had undertaken was right or wrong. +Only one terrible doubt sometimes crossed his mind: "Wasn't it all a +dream? Isn't Princess Mary mistaken? Am I not too conceited and self- +confident? I believe all this--and suddenly Princess Mary will tell her, +and she will be sure to smile and say: 'How strange! He must be deluding +himself. Doesn't he know that he is a man, just a man, while I...? I am +something altogether different and higher.'" + +That was the only doubt often troubling Pierre. He did not now make any +plans. The happiness before him appeared so inconceivable that if only +he could attain it, it would be the end of all things. Everything ended +with that. + +A joyful, unexpected frenzy, of which he had thought himself incapable, +possessed him. The whole meaning of life--not for him alone but for the +whole world--seemed to him centered in his love and the possibility of +being loved by her. At times everybody seemed to him to be occupied with +one thing only--his future happiness. Sometimes it seemed to him that +other people were all as pleased as he was himself and merely tried to +hide that pleasure by pretending to be busy with other interests. In +every word and gesture he saw allusions to his happiness. He often +surprised those he met by his significantly happy looks and smiles which +seemed to express a secret understanding between him and them. And when +he realized that people might not be aware of his happiness, he pitied +them with his whole heart and felt a desire somehow to explain to them +that all that occupied them was a mere frivolous trifle unworthy of +attention. + +When it was suggested to him that he should enter the civil service, or +when the war or any general political affairs were discussed on the +assumption that everybody's welfare depended on this or that issue of +events, he would listen with a mild and pitying smile and surprise +people by his strange comments. But at this time he saw everybody--both +those who, as he imagined, understood the real meaning of life (that is, +what he was feeling) and those unfortunates who evidently did not +understand it--in the bright light of the emotion that shone within +himself, and at once without any effort saw in everyone he met +everything that was good and worthy of being loved. + +When dealing with the affairs and papers of his dead wife, her memory +aroused in him no feeling but pity that she had not known the bliss he +now knew. Prince Vasili, who having obtained a new post and some fresh +decorations was particularly proud at this time, seemed to him a +pathetic, kindly old man much to be pitied. + +Often in afterlife Pierre recalled this period of blissful insanity. All +the views he formed of men and circumstances at this time remained true +for him always. He not only did not renounce them subsequently, but when +he was in doubt or inwardly at variance, he referred to the views he had +held at this time of his madness and they always proved correct. + +"I may have appeared strange and queer then," he thought, "but I was not +so mad as I seemed. On the contrary I was then wiser and had more +insight than at any other time, and understood all that is worth +understanding in life, because... because I was happy." + +Pierre's insanity consisted in not waiting, as he used to do, to +discover personal attributes which he termed "good qualities" in people +before loving them; his heart was now overflowing with love, and by +loving people without cause he discovered indubitable causes for loving +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +After Pierre's departure that first evening, when Natasha had said to +Princess Mary with a gaily mocking smile: "He looks just, yes, just as +if he had come out of a Russian bath--in a short coat and with his hair +cropped," something hidden and unknown to herself, but irrepressible, +awoke in Natasha's soul. + +Everything: her face, walk, look, and voice, was suddenly altered. To +her own surprise a power of life and hope of happiness rose to the +surface and demanded satisfaction. From that evening she seemed to have +forgotten all that had happened to her. She no longer complained of her +position, did not say a word about the past, and no longer feared to +make happy plans for the future. She spoke little of Pierre, but when +Princess Mary mentioned him a long-extinguished light once more kindled +in her eyes and her lips curved with a strange smile. + + +The change that took place in Natasha at first surprised Princess Mary; +but when she understood its meaning it grieved her. "Can she have loved +my brother so little as to be able to forget him so soon?" she thought +when she reflected on the change. But when she was with Natasha she was +not vexed with her and did not reproach her. The reawakened power of +life that had seized Natasha was so evidently irrepressible and +unexpected by her that in her presence Princess Mary felt that she had +no right to reproach her even in her heart. + +Natasha gave herself up so fully and frankly to this new feeling that +she did not try to hide the fact that she was no longer sad, but bright +and cheerful. + +When Princess Mary returned to her room after her nocturnal talk with +Pierre, Natasha met her on the threshold. + +"He has spoken? Yes? He has spoken?" she repeated. + +And a joyful yet pathetic expression which seemed to beg forgiveness for +her joy settled on Natasha's face. + +"I wanted to listen at the door, but I knew you would tell me." + +Understandable and touching as the look with which Natasha gazed at her +seemed to Princess Mary, and sorry as she was to see her agitation, +these words pained her for a moment. She remembered her brother and his +love. + +"But what's to be done? She can't help it," thought the princess. + +And with a sad and rather stern look she told Natasha all that Pierre +had said. On hearing that he was going to Petersburg Natasha was +astounded. + +"To Petersburg!" she repeated as if unable to understand. + +But noticing the grieved expression on Princess Mary's face she guessed +the reason of that sadness and suddenly began to cry. + +"Mary," said she, "tell me what I should do! I am afraid of being bad. +Whatever you tell me, I will do. Tell me...." + +"You love him?" + +"Yes," whispered Natasha. + +"Then why are you crying? I am happy for your sake," said Princess Mary, +who because of those tears quite forgave Natasha's joy. + +"It won't be just yet--someday. Think what fun it will be when I am his +wife and you marry Nicholas!" + +"Natasha, I have asked you not to speak of that. Let us talk about you." + +They were silent awhile. + +"But why go to Petersburg?" Natasha suddenly asked, and hastily replied +to her own question. "But no, no, he must... Yes, Mary, He must...." + +FIRST EPILOGUE: 1813 - 20 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Seven years had passed. The storm-tossed sea of European history had +subsided within its shores and seemed to have become calm. But the +mysterious forces that move humanity (mysterious because the laws of +their motion are unknown to us) continued to operate. + +Though the surface of the sea of history seemed motionless, the movement +of humanity went on as unceasingly as the flow of time. Various groups +of people formed and dissolved, the coming formation and dissolution of +kingdoms and displacement of peoples was in course of preparation. + +The sea of history was not driven spasmodically from shore to shore as +previously. It was seething in its depths. Historic figures were not +borne by the waves from one shore to another as before. They now seemed +to rotate on one spot. The historical figures at the head of armies, who +formerly reflected the movement of the masses by ordering wars, +campaigns, and battles, now reflected the restless movement by political +and diplomatic combinations, laws, and treaties. + +The historians call this activity of the historical figures "the +reaction." + +In dealing with this period they sternly condemn the historical +personages who, in their opinion, caused what they describe as the +reaction. All the well-known people of that period, from Alexander and +Napoleon to Madame de Stael, Photius, Schelling, Fichte, Chateaubriand, +and the rest, pass before their stern judgment seat and are acquitted or +condemned according to whether they conduced to progress or to reaction. + +According to their accounts a reaction took place at that time in Russia +also, and the chief culprit was Alexander I, the same man who according +to them was the chief cause of the liberal movement at the commencement +of his reign, being the savior of Russia. + +There is no one in Russian literature now, from schoolboy essayist to +learned historian, who does not throw his little stone at Alexander for +things he did wrong at this period of his reign. + +"He ought to have acted in this way and in that way. In this case he did +well and in that case badly. He behaved admirably at the beginning of +his reign and during 1812, but acted badly by giving a constitution to +Poland, forming the Holy Alliance, entrusting power to Arakcheev, +favoring Golitsyn and mysticism, and afterwards Shishkov and Photius. He +also acted badly by concerning himself with the active army and +disbanding the Semenov regiment." + +It would take a dozen pages to enumerate all the reproaches the +historians address to him, based on their knowledge of what is good for +humanity. + +What do these reproaches mean? + +Do not the very actions for which the historians praise Alexander I (the +liberal attempts at the beginning of his reign, his struggle with +Napoleon, the firmness he displayed in 1812 and the campaign of 1813) +flow from the same sources--the circumstances of his birth, education, +and life--that made his personality what it was and from which the +actions for which they blame him (the Holy Alliance, the restoration of +Poland, and the reaction of 1820 and later) also flowed? + +In what does the substance of those reproaches lie? + +It lies in the fact that an historic character like Alexander I, +standing on the highest possible pinnacle of human power with the +blinding light of history focused upon him; a character exposed to those +strongest of all influences: the intrigues, flattery, and self-deception +inseparable from power; a character who at every moment of his life felt +a responsibility for all that was happening in Europe; and not a +fictitious but a live character who like every man had his personal +habits, passions, and impulses toward goodness, beauty, and truth--that +this character--though not lacking in virtue (the historians do not +accuse him of that)--had not the same conception of the welfare of +humanity fifty years ago as a present-day professor who from his youth +upwards has been occupied with learning: that is, with books and +lectures and with taking notes from them. + +But even if we assume that fifty years ago Alexander I was mistaken in +his view of what was good for the people, we must inevitably assume that +the historian who judges Alexander will also after the lapse of some +time turn out to be mistaken in his view of what is good for humanity. +This assumption is all the more natural and inevitable because, watching +the movement of history, we see that every year and with each new +writer, opinion as to what is good for mankind changes; so that what +once seemed good, ten years later seems bad, and vice versa. And what is +more, we find at one and the same time quite contradictory views as to +what is bad and what is good in history: some people regard giving a +constitution to Poland and forming the Holy Alliance as praiseworthy in +Alexander, while others regard it as blameworthy. + +The activity of Alexander or of Napoleon cannot be called useful or +harmful, for it is impossible to say for what it was useful or harmful. +If that activity displeases somebody, this is only because it does not +agree with his limited understanding of what is good. Whether the +preservation of my father's house in Moscow, or the glory of the Russian +arms, or the prosperity of the Petersburg and other universities, or the +freedom of Poland or the greatness of Russia, or the balance of power in +Europe, or a certain kind of European culture called "progress" appear +to me to be good or bad, I must admit that besides these things the +action of every historic character has other more general purposes +inaccessible to me. + +But let us assume that what is called science can harmonize all +contradictions and possesses an unchanging standard of good and bad by +which to try historic characters and events; let us say that Alexander +could have done everything differently; let us say that with guidance +from those who blame him and who profess to know the ultimate aim of the +movement of humanity, he might have arranged matters according to the +program his present accusers would have given him--of nationality, +freedom, equality, and progress (these, I think, cover the ground). Let +us assume that this program was possible and had then been formulated, +and that Alexander had acted on it. What would then have become of the +activity of all those who opposed the tendency that then prevailed in +the government--an activity that in the opinion of the historians was +good and beneficent? Their activity would not have existed: there would +have been no life, there would have been nothing. + +If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, the possibility of +life is destroyed. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +If we assume as the historians do that great men lead humanity to the +attainment of certain ends--the greatness of Russia or of France, the +balance of power in Europe, the diffusion of the ideas of the +Revolution, general progress, or anything else--then it is impossible to +explain the facts of history without introducing the conceptions of +chance and genius. + +If the aim of the European wars at the beginning of the nineteenth +century had been the aggrandizement of Russia, that aim might have been +accomplished without all the preceding wars and without the invasion. If +the aim was the aggrandizement of France, that might have been attained +without the Revolution and without the Empire. If the aim was the +dissemination of ideas, the printing press could have accomplished that +much better than warfare. If the aim was the progress of civilization, +it is easy to see that there are other ways of diffusing civilization +more expedient than by the destruction of wealth and of human lives. + +Why did it happen in this and not in some other way? + +Because it happened so! "Chance created the situation; genius utilized +it," says history. + +But what is chance? What is genius? + +The words chance and genius do not denote any really existing thing and +therefore cannot be defined. Those words only denote a certain stage of +understanding of phenomena. I do not know why a certain event occurs; I +think that I cannot know it; so I do not try to know it and I talk about +chance. I see a force producing effects beyond the scope of ordinary +human agencies; I do not understand why this occurs and I talk of +genius. + +To a herd of rams, the ram the herdsman drives each evening into a +special enclosure to feed and that becomes twice as fat as the others +must seem to be a genius. And it must appear an astonishing conjunction +of genius with a whole series of extraordinary chances that this ram, +who instead of getting into the general fold every evening goes into a +special enclosure where there are oats--that this very ram, swelling +with fat, is killed for meat. + +But the rams need only cease to suppose that all that happens to them +happens solely for the attainment of their sheepish aims; they need only +admit that what happens to them may also have purposes beyond their ken, +and they will at once perceive a unity and coherence in what happened to +the ram that was fattened. Even if they do not know for what purpose +they are fattened, they will at least know that all that happened to the +ram did not happen accidentally, and will no longer need the conceptions +of chance or genius. + +Only by renouncing our claim to discern a purpose immediately +intelligible to us, and admitting the ultimate purpose to be beyond our +ken, may we discern the sequence of experiences in the lives of historic +characters and perceive the cause of the effect they produce +(incommensurable with ordinary human capabilities), and then the words +chance and genius become superfluous. + +We need only confess that we do not know the purpose of the European +convulsions and that we know only the facts--that is, the murders, first +in France, then in Italy, in Africa, in Prussia, in Austria, in Spain, +and in Russia--and that the movements from the west to the east and from +the east to the west form the essence and purpose of these events, and +not only shall we have no need to see exceptional ability and genius in +Napoleon and Alexander, but we shall be unable to consider them to be +anything but like other men, and we shall not be obliged to have +recourse to chance for an explanation of those small events which made +these people what they were, but it will be clear that all those small +events were inevitable. + +By discarding a claim to knowledge of the ultimate purpose, we shall +clearly perceive that just as one cannot imagine a blossom or seed for +any single plant better suited to it than those it produces, so it is +impossible to imagine any two people more completely adapted down to the +smallest detail for the purpose they had to fulfill, than Napoleon and +Alexander with all their antecedents. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The fundamental and essential significance of the European events of the +beginning of the nineteenth century lies in the movement of the mass of +the European peoples from west to east and afterwards from east to west. +The commencement of that movement was the movement from west to east. +For the peoples of the west to be able to make their warlike movement to +Moscow it was necessary: (1) that they should form themselves into a +military group of a size able to endure a collision with the warlike +military group of the east, (2) that they should abandon all established +traditions and customs, and (3) that during their military movement they +should have at their head a man who could justify to himself and to them +the deceptions, robberies, and murders which would have to be committed +during that movement. + +And beginning with the French Revolution the old inadequately large +group was destroyed, as well as the old habits and traditions, and step +by step a group was formed of larger dimensions with new customs and +traditions, and a man was produced who would stand at the head of the +coming movement and bear the responsibility for all that had to be done. + +A man without convictions, without habits, without traditions, without a +name, and not even a Frenchman, emerges--by what seem the strangest +chances--from among all the seething French parties, and without joining +any one of them is borne forward to a prominent position. + +The ignorance of his colleagues, the weakness and insignificance of his +opponents, the frankness of his falsehoods, and the dazzling and self- +confident limitations of this man raise him to the head of the army. The +brilliant qualities of the soldiers of the army sent to Italy, his +opponents' reluctance to fight, and his own childish audacity and self- +confidence secure him military fame. Innumerable so-called chances +accompany him everywhere. The disfavor into which he falls with the +rulers of France turns to his advantage. His attempts to avoid his +predestined path are unsuccessful: he is not received into the Russian +service, and the appointment he seeks in Turkey comes to nothing. During +the war in Italy he is several times on the verge of destruction and +each time is saved in an unexpected manner. Owing to various diplomatic +considerations the Russian armies--just those which might have destroyed +his prestige--do not appear upon the scene till he is no longer there. + +On his return from Italy he finds the government in Paris in a process +of dissolution in which all those who are in it are inevitably wiped out +and destroyed. And by chance an escape from this dangerous position +presents itself in the form of an aimless and senseless expedition to +Africa. Again so-called chance accompanies him. Impregnable Malta +surrenders without a shot; his most reckless schemes are crowned with +success. The enemy's fleet, which subsequently did not let a single boat +pass, allows his entire army to elude it. In Africa a whole series of +outrages are committed against the almost unarmed inhabitants. And the +men who commit these crimes, especially their leader, assure themselves +that this is admirable, this is glory--it resembles Caesar and Alexander +the Great and is therefore good. + +This ideal of glory and grandeur--which consists not merely in +considering nothing wrong that one does but in priding oneself on every +crime one commits, ascribing to it an incomprehensible supernatural +significance--that ideal, destined to guide this man and his associates, +had scope for its development in Africa. Whatever he does succeeds. The +plague does not touch him. The cruelty of murdering prisoners is not +imputed to him as a fault. His childishly rash, uncalled-for, and +ignoble departure from Africa, leaving his comrades in distress, is set +down to his credit, and again the enemy's fleet twice lets him slip +past. When, intoxicated by the crimes he has committed so successfully, +he reaches Paris, the dissolution of the republican government, which a +year earlier might have ruined him, has reached its extreme limit, and +his presence there now as a newcomer free from party entanglements can +only serve to exalt him--and though he himself has no plan, he is quite +ready for his new role. + +He had no plan, he was afraid of everything, but the parties snatched at +him and demanded his participation. + +He alone--with his ideal of glory and grandeur developed in Italy and +Egypt, his insane self-adulation, his boldness in crime and frankness in +lying--he alone could justify what had to be done. + +He is needed for the place that awaits him, and so almost apart from his +will and despite his indecision, his lack of a plan, and all his +mistakes, he is drawn into a conspiracy that aims at seizing power and +the conspiracy is crowned with success. + +He is pushed into a meeting of the legislature. In alarm he wishes to +flee, considering himself lost. He pretends to fall into a swoon and +says senseless things that should have ruined him. But the once proud +and shrewd rulers of France, feeling that their part is played out, are +even more bewildered than he, and do not say the words they should have +said to destroy him and retain their power. + +Chance, millions of chances, give him power, and all men as if by +agreement co-operate to confirm that power. Chance forms the characters +of the rulers of France, who submit to him; chance forms the character +of Paul I of Russia who recognizes his government; chance contrives a +plot against him which not only fails to harm him but confirms his +power. Chance puts the Duc d'Enghien in his hands and unexpectedly +causes him to kill him--thereby convincing the mob more forcibly than in +any other way that he had the right, since he had the might. Chance +contrives that though he directs all his efforts to prepare an +expedition against England (which would inevitably have ruined him) he +never carries out that intention, but unexpectedly falls upon Mack and +the Austrians, who surrender without a battle. Chance and genius give +him the victory at Austerlitz; and by chance all men, not only the +French but all Europe--except England which does not take part in the +events about to happen--despite their former horror and detestation of +his crimes, now recognize his authority, the title he has given himself, +and his ideal of grandeur and glory, which seems excellent and +reasonable to them all. + +As if measuring themselves and preparing for the coming movement, the +western forces push toward the east several times in 1805, 1806, 1807, +and 1809, gaining strength and growing. In 1811 the group of people that +had formed in France unites into one group with the peoples of Central +Europe. The strength of the justification of the man who stands at the +head of the movement grows with the increased size of the group. During +the ten-year preparatory period this man had formed relations with all +the crowned heads of Europe. The discredited rulers of the world can +oppose no reasonable ideal to the insensate Napoleonic ideal of glory +and grandeur. One after another they hasten to display their +insignificance before him. The King of Prussia sends his wife to seek +the great man's mercy; the Emperor of Austria considers it a favor that +this man receives a daughter of the Caesars into his bed; the Pope, the +guardian of all that the nations hold sacred, utilizes religion for the +aggrandizement of the great man. It is not Napoleon who prepares himself +for the accomplishment of his role, so much as all those round him who +prepare him to take on himself the whole responsibility for what is +happening and has to happen. There is no step, no crime or petty fraud +he commits, which in the mouths of those around him is not at once +represented as a great deed. The most suitable fete the Germans can +devise for him is a celebration of Jena and Auerstadt. Not only is he +great, but so are his ancestors, his brothers, his stepsons, and his +brothers-in-law. Everything is done to deprive him of the remains of his +reason and to prepare him for his terrible part. And when he is ready so +too are the forces. + +The invasion pushes eastward and reaches its final goal--Moscow. That +city is taken; the Russian army suffers heavier losses than the opposing +armies had suffered in the former war from Austerlitz to Wagram. But +suddenly instead of those chances and that genius which hitherto had so +consistently led him by an uninterrupted series of successes to the +predestined goal, an innumerable sequence of inverse chances occur--from +the cold in his head at Borodino to the sparks which set Moscow on fire, +and the frosts--and instead of genius, stupidity and immeasurable +baseness become evident. + +The invaders flee, turn back, flee again, and all the chances are now +not for Napoleon but always against him. + +A countermovement is then accomplished from east to west with a +remarkable resemblance to the preceding movement from west to east. +Attempted drives from east to west--similar to the contrary movements of +1805, 1807, and 1809--precede the great westward movement; there is the +same coalescence into a group of enormous dimensions; the same adhesion +of the people of Central Europe to the movement; the same hesitation +midway, and the same increasing rapidity as the goal is approached. + +Paris, the ultimate goal, is reached. The Napoleonic government and army +are destroyed. Napoleon himself is no longer of any account; all his +actions are evidently pitiful and mean, but again an inexplicable chance +occurs. The allies detest Napoleon whom they regard as the cause of +their sufferings. Deprived of power and authority, his crimes and his +craft exposed, he should have appeared to them what he appeared ten +years previously and one year later--an outlawed brigand. But by some +strange chance no one perceives this. His part is not yet ended. The man +who ten years before and a year later was considered an outlawed brigand +is sent to an island two days' sail from France, which for some reason +is presented to him as his dominion, and guards are given to him and +millions of money are paid him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The flood of nations begins to subside into its normal channels. The +waves of the great movement abate, and on the calm surface eddies are +formed in which float the diplomatists, who imagine that they have +caused the floods to abate. + +But the smooth sea again suddenly becomes disturbed. The diplomatists +think that their disagreements are the cause of this fresh pressure of +natural forces; they anticipate war between their sovereigns; the +position seems to them insoluble. But the wave they feel to be rising +does not come from the quarter they expect. It rises again from the same +point as before--Paris. The last backwash of the movement from the west +occurs: a backwash which serves to solve the apparently insuperable +diplomatic difficulties and ends the military movement of that period of +history. + +The man who had devastated France returns to France alone, without any +conspiracy and without soldiers. Any guard might arrest him, but by +strange chance no one does so and all rapturously greet the man they +cursed the day before and will curse again a month later. + +This man is still needed to justify the final collective act. + +That act is performed. + +The last role is played. The actor is bidden to disrobe and wash off his +powder and paint: he will not be wanted any more. + +And some years pass during which he plays a pitiful comedy to himself in +solitude on his island, justifying his actions by intrigues and lies +when the justification is no longer needed, and displaying to the whole +world what it was that people had mistaken for strength as long as an +unseen hand directed his actions. + +The manager having brought the drama to a close and stripped the actor +shows him to us. + +"See what you believed in! This is he! Do you now see that it was not he +but I who moved you?" + +But dazed by the force of the movement, it was long before people +understood this. + +Still greater coherence and inevitability is seen in the life of +Alexander I, the man who stood at the head of the countermovement from +east to west. + +What was needed for him who, overshadowing others, stood at the head of +that movement from east to west? + +What was needed was a sense of justice and a sympathy with European +affairs, but a remote sympathy not dulled by petty interests; a moral +superiority over those sovereigns of the day who co-operated with him; a +mild and attractive personality; and a personal grievance against +Napoleon. And all this was found in Alexander I; all this had been +prepared by innumerable so-called chances in his life: his education, +his early liberalism, the advisers who surrounded him, and by +Austerlitz, and Tilsit, and Erfurt. + +During the national war he was inactive because he was not needed. But +as soon as the necessity for a general European war presented itself he +appeared in his place at the given moment and, uniting the nations of +Europe, led them to the goal. + +The goal is reached. After the final war of 1815 Alexander possesses all +possible power. How does he use it? + +Alexander I--the pacifier of Europe, the man who from his early years +had striven only for his people's welfare, the originator of the liberal +innovations in his fatherland--now that he seemed to possess the utmost +power and therefore to have the possibility of bringing about the +welfare of his peoples--at the time when Napoleon in exile was drawing +up childish and mendacious plans of how he would have made mankind happy +had he retained power--Alexander I, having fulfilled his mission and +feeling the hand of God upon him, suddenly recognizes the insignificance +of that supposed power, turns away from it, and gives it into the hands +of contemptible men whom he despises, saying only: + +"Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy Name!... I too am a man like the +rest of you. Let me live like a man and think of my soul and of God." + +As the sun and each atom of ether is a sphere complete in itself, and +yet at the same time only a part of a whole too immense for man to +comprehend, so each individual has within himself his own aims and yet +has them to serve a general purpose incomprehensible to man. + +A bee settling on a flower has stung a child. And the child is afraid of +bees and declares that bees exist to sting people. A poet admires the +bee sucking from the chalice of a flower and says it exists to suck the +fragrance of flowers. A beekeeper, seeing the bee collect pollen from +flowers and carry it to the hive, says that it exists to gather honey. +Another beekeeper who has studied the life of the hive more closely says +that the bee gathers pollen dust to feed the young bees and rear a +queen, and that it exists to perpetuate its race. A botanist notices +that the bee flying with the pollen of a male flower to a pistil +fertilizes the latter, and sees in this the purpose of the bee's +existence. Another, observing the migration of plants, notices that the +bee helps in this work, and may say that in this lies the purpose of the +bee. But the ultimate purpose of the bee is not exhausted by the first, +the second, or any of the processes the human mind can discern. The +higher the human intellect rises in the discovery of these purposes, the +more obvious it becomes, that the ultimate purpose is beyond our +comprehension. + +All that is accessible to man is the relation of the life of the bee to +other manifestations of life. And so it is with the purpose of historic +characters and nations. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Natasha's wedding to Bezukhov, which took place in 1813, was the last +happy event in the family of the old Rostovs. Count Ilya Rostov died +that same year and, as always happens, after the father's death the +family group broke up. + +The events of the previous year: the burning of Moscow and the flight +from it, the death of Prince Andrew, Natasha's despair, Petya's death, +and the old countess' grief fell blow after blow on the old count's +head. He seemed to be unable to understand the meaning of all these +events, and bowed his old head in a spiritual sense as if expecting and +inviting further blows which would finish him. He seemed now frightened +and distraught and now unnaturally animated and enterprising. + +The arrangements for Natasha's marriage occupied him for a while. He +ordered dinners and suppers and obviously tried to appear cheerful, but +his cheerfulness was not infectious as it used to be: on the contrary it +evoked the compassion of those who knew and liked him. + +When Pierre and his wife had left, he grew very quiet and began to +complain of depression. A few days later he fell ill and took to his +bed. He realized from the first that he would not get up again, despite +the doctor's encouragement. The countess passed a fortnight in an +armchair by his pillow without undressing. Every time she gave him his +medicine he sobbed and silently kissed her hand. On his last day, +sobbing, he asked her and his absent son to forgive him for having +dissipated their property--that being the chief fault of which he was +conscious. After receiving communion and unction he quietly died; and +next day a throng of acquaintances who came to pay their last respects +to the deceased filled the house rented by the Rostovs. All these +acquaintances, who had so often dined and danced at his house and had so +often laughed at him, now said, with a common feeling of self-reproach +and emotion, as if justifying themselves: "Well, whatever he may have +been he was a most worthy man. You don't meet such men nowadays.... And +which of us has not weaknesses of his own?" + +It was just when the count's affairs had become so involved that it was +impossible to say what would happen if he lived another year that he +unexpectedly died. + +Nicholas was with the Russian army in Paris when the news of his +father's death reached him. He at once resigned his commission, and +without waiting for it to be accepted took leave of absence and went to +Moscow. The state of the count's affairs became quite obvious a month +after his death, surprising everyone by the immense total of small debts +the existence of which no one had suspected. The debts amounted to +double the value of the property. + +Friends and relations advised Nicholas to decline the inheritance. But +he regarded such a refusal as a slur on his father's memory, which he +held sacred, and therefore would not hear of refusing and accepted the +inheritance together with the obligation to pay the debts. + +The creditors who had so long been silent, restrained by a vague but +powerful influence exerted on them while he lived by the count's +careless good nature, all proceeded to enforce their claims at once. As +always happens in such cases rivalry sprang up as to which should get +paid first, and those who like Mitenka held promissory notes given them +as presents now became the most exacting of the creditors. Nicholas was +allowed no respite and no peace, and those who had seemed to pity the +old man--the cause of their losses (if they were losses)--now +remorselessly pursued the young heir who had voluntarily undertaken the +debts and was obviously not guilty of contracting them. + +Not one of the plans Nicholas tried succeeded; the estate was sold by +auction for half its value, and half the debts still remained unpaid. +Nicholas accepted thirty thousand rubles offered him by his brother-in- +law Bezukhov to pay off debts he regarded as genuinely due for value +received. And to avoid being imprisoned for the remainder, as the +creditors threatened, he re-entered the government service. + +He could not rejoin the army where he would have been made colonel at +the next vacancy, for his mother now clung to him as her one hold on +life; and so despite his reluctance to remain in Moscow among people who +had known him before, and despite his abhorrence of the civil service, +he accepted a post in Moscow in that service, doffed the uniform of +which he was so fond, and moved with his mother and Sonya to a small +house on the Sivtsev Vrazhek. + +Natasha and Pierre were living in Petersburg at the time and had no +clear idea of Nicholas' circumstances. Having borrowed money from his +brother-in-law, Nicholas tried to hide his wretched condition from him. +His position was the more difficult because with his salary of twelve +hundred rubles he had not only to keep himself, his mother, and Sonya, +but had to shield his mother from knowledge of their poverty. The +countess could not conceive of life without the luxurious conditions she +had been used to from childhood and, unable to realize how hard it was +for her son, kept demanding now a carriage (which they did not keep) to +send for a friend, now some expensive article of food for herself, or +wine for her son, or money to buy a present as a surprise for Natasha or +Sonya, or for Nicholas himself. + +Sonya kept house, attended on her aunt, read to her, put up with her +whims and secret ill-will, and helped Nicholas to conceal their poverty +from the old countess. Nicholas felt himself irredeemably indebted to +Sonya for all she was doing for his mother and greatly admired her +patience and devotion, but tried to keep aloof from her. + +He seemed in his heart to reproach her for being too perfect, and +because there was nothing to reproach her with. She had all that people +are valued for, but little that could have made him love her. He felt +that the more he valued her the less he loved her. He had taken her at +her word when she wrote giving him his freedom and now behaved as if all +that had passed between them had been long forgotten and could never in +any case be renewed. + +Nicholas' position became worse and worse. The idea of putting something +aside out of his salary proved a dream. Not only did he not save +anything, but to comply with his mother's demands he even incurred some +small debts. He could see no way out of this situation. The idea of +marrying some rich woman, which was suggested to him by his female +relations, was repugnant to him. The other way out--his mother's death-- +never entered his head. He wished for nothing and hoped for nothing, and +deep in his heart experienced a gloomy and stern satisfaction in an +uncomplaining endurance of his position. He tried to avoid his old +acquaintances with their commiseration and offensive offers of +assistance; he avoided all distraction and recreation, and even at home +did nothing but play cards with his mother, pace silently up and down +the room, and smoke one pipe after another. He seemed carefully to +cherish within himself the gloomy mood which alone enabled him to endure +his position. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +At the beginning of winter Princess Mary came to Moscow. From reports +current in town she learned how the Rostovs were situated, and how "the +son has sacrificed himself for his mother," as people were saying. + +"I never expected anything else of him," said Princess Mary to herself, +feeling a joyous sense of her love for him. Remembering her friendly +relations with all the Rostovs which had made her almost a member of the +family, she thought it her duty to go to see them. But remembering her +relations with Nicholas in Voronezh she was shy about doing so. Making a +great effort she did however go to call on them a few weeks after her +arrival in Moscow. + +Nicholas was the first to meet her, as the countess' room could only be +reached through his. But instead of being greeted with pleasure as she +had expected, at his first glance at her his face assumed a cold, stiff, +proud expression she had not seen on it before. He inquired about her +health, led the way to his mother, and having sat there for five minutes +left the room. + +When the princess came out of the countess' room Nicholas met her again, +and with marked solemnity and stiffness accompanied her to the anteroom. +To her remarks about his mother's health he made no reply. "What's that +to you? Leave me in peace," his looks seemed to say. + +"Why does she come prowling here? What does she want? I can't bear these +ladies and all these civilities!" said he aloud in Sonya's presence, +evidently unable to repress his vexation, after the princess' carriage +had disappeared. + +"Oh, Nicholas, how can you talk like that?" cried Sonya, hardly able to +conceal her delight. "She is so kind and Mamma is so fond of her!" + +Nicholas did not reply and tried to avoid speaking of the princess any +more. But after her visit the old countess spoke of her several times a +day. + +She sang her praises, insisted that her son must call on her, expressed +a wish to see her often, but yet always became ill-humored when she +began to talk about her. + +Nicholas tried to keep silence when his mother spoke of the princess, +but his silence irritated her. + +"She is a very admirable and excellent young woman," said she, "and you +must go and call on her. You would at least be seeing somebody, and I +think it must be dull for you only seeing us." + +"But I don't in the least want to, Mamma." + +"You used to want to, and now you don't. Really I don't understand you, +my dear. One day you are dull, and the next you refuse to see anyone." + +"But I never said I was dull." + +"Why, you said yourself you don't want even to see her. She is a very +admirable young woman and you always liked her, but now suddenly you +have got some notion or other in your head. You hide everything from +me." + +"Not at all, Mamma." + +"If I were asking you to do something disagreeable now--but I only ask +you to return a call. One would think mere politeness required it.... +Well, I have asked you, and now I won't interfere any more since you +have secrets from your mother." + +"Well, then, I'll go if you wish it." + +"It doesn't matter to me. I only wish it for your sake." + +Nicholas sighed, bit his mustache, and laid out the cards for a +patience, trying to divert his mother's attention to another topic. + +The same conversation was repeated next day and the day after, and the +day after that. + +After her visit to the Rostovs and her unexpectedly chilly reception by +Nicholas, Princess Mary confessed to herself that she had been right in +not wishing to be the first to call. + +"I expected nothing else," she told herself, calling her pride to her +aid. "I have nothing to do with him and I only wanted to see the old +lady, who was always kind to me and to whom I am under many +obligations." + +But she could not pacify herself with these reflections; a feeling akin +to remorse troubled her when she thought of her visit. Though she had +firmly resolved not to call on the Rostovs again and to forget the whole +matter, she felt herself all the time in an awkward position. And when +she asked herself what distressed her, she had to admit that it was her +relation to Rostov. His cold, polite manner did not express his feeling +for her (she knew that) but it concealed something, and until she could +discover what that something was, she felt that she could not be at +ease. + +One day in midwinter when sitting in the schoolroom attending to her +nephew's lessons, she was informed that Rostov had called. With a firm +resolution not to betray herself and not show her agitation, she sent +for Mademoiselle Bourienne and went with her to the drawing room. + +Her first glance at Nicholas' face told her that he had only come to +fulfill the demands of politeness, and she firmly resolved to maintain +the tone in which he addressed her. + +They spoke of the countess' health, of their mutual friends, of the +latest war news, and when the ten minutes required by propriety had +elapsed after which a visitor may rise, Nicholas got up to say good-by. + +With Mademoiselle Bourienne's help the princess had maintained the +conversation very well, but at the very last moment, just when he rose, +she was so tired of talking of what did not interest her, and her mind +was so full of the question why she alone was granted so little +happiness in life, that in a fit of absent-mindedness she sat still, her +luminous eyes gazing fixedly before her, not noticing that he had risen. + +Nicholas glanced at her and, wishing to appear not to notice her +abstraction, made some remark to Mademoiselle Bourienne and then again +looked at the princess. She still sat motionless with a look of +suffering on her gentle face. He suddenly felt sorry for her and was +vaguely conscious that he might be the cause of the sadness her face +expressed. He wished to help her and say something pleasant, but could +think of nothing to say. + +"Good-bye, Princess!" said he. + +She started, flushed, and sighed deeply. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon," she said as if waking up. "Are you going +already, Count? Well then, good-by! Oh, but the cushion for the +countess!" + +"Wait a moment, I'll fetch it," said Mademoiselle Bourienne, and she +left the room. + +They both sat silent, with an occasional glance at one another. + +"Yes, Princess," said Nicholas at last with a sad smile, "it doesn't +seem long ago since we first met at Bogucharovo, but how much water has +flowed since then! In what distress we all seemed to be then, yet I +would give much to bring back that time... but there's no bringing it +back." + +Princess Mary gazed intently into his eyes with her own luminous ones as +he said this. She seemed to be trying to fathom the hidden meaning of +his words which would explain his feeling for her. + +"Yes, yes," said she, "but you have no reason to regret the past, Count. +As I understand your present life, I think you will always recall it +with satisfaction, because the self-sacrifice that fills it now..." + +"I cannot accept your praise," he interrupted her hurriedly. "On the +contrary I continually reproach myself.... But this is not at all an +interesting or cheerful subject." + +His face again resumed its former stiff and cold expression. But the +princess had caught a glimpse of the man she had known and loved, and it +was to him that she now spoke. + +"I thought you would allow me to tell you this," she said. "I had come +so near to you... and to all your family that I thought you would not +consider my sympathy misplaced, but I was mistaken," and suddenly her +voice trembled. "I don't know why," she continued, recovering herself, +"but you used to be different, and..." + +"There are a thousand reasons why," laying special emphasis on the why. +"Thank you, Princess," he added softly. "Sometimes it is hard." + +"So that's why! That's why!" a voice whispered in Princess Mary's soul. +"No, it was not only that gay, kind, and frank look, not only that +handsome exterior, that I loved in him. I divined his noble, resolute, +self-sacrificing spirit too," she said to herself. "Yes, he is poor now +and I am rich.... Yes, that's the only reason.... Yes, were it not for +that..." And remembering his former tenderness, and looking now at his +kind, sorrowful face, she suddenly understood the cause of his coldness. + +"But why, Count, why?" she almost cried, unconsciously moving closer to +him. "Why? Tell me. You must tell me!" + +He was silent. + +"I don't understand your why, Count," she continued, "but it's hard for +me... I confess it. For some reason you wish to deprive me of our former +friendship. And that hurts me." There were tears in her eyes and in her +voice. "I have had so little happiness in life that every loss is hard +for me to bear.... Excuse me, good-by!" and suddenly she began to cry +and was hurrying from the room. + +"Princess, for God's sake!" he exclaimed, trying to stop her. +"Princess!" + +She turned round. For a few seconds they gazed silently into one +another's eyes--and what had seemed impossible and remote suddenly +became possible, inevitable, and very near. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +In the winter of 1813 Nicholas married Princess Mary and moved to Bald +Hills with his wife, his mother, and Sonya. + +Within four years he had paid off all his remaining debts without +selling any of his wife's property, and having received a small +inheritance on the death of a cousin he paid his debt to Pierre as well. + +In another three years, by 1820, he had so managed his affairs that he +was able to buy a small estate adjoining Bald Hills and was negotiating +to buy back Otradnoe--that being his pet dream. + +Having started farming from necessity, he soon grew so devoted to it +that it became his favorite and almost his sole occupation. Nicholas was +a plain farmer: he did not like innovations, especially the English ones +then coming into vogue. He laughed at theoretical treatises on estate +management, disliked factories, the raising of expensive products, and +the buying of expensive seed corn, and did not make a hobby of any +particular part of the work on his estate. He always had before his +mind's eye the estate as a whole and not any particular part of it. The +chief thing in his eyes was not the nitrogen in the soil, nor the oxygen +in the air, nor manures, nor special plows, but that most important +agent by which nitrogen, oxygen, manure, and plow were made effective-- +the peasant laborer. When Nicholas first began farming and began to +understand its different branches, it was the serf who especially +attracted his attention. The peasant seemed to him not merely a tool, +but also a judge of farming and an end in himself. At first he watched +the serfs, trying to understand their aims and what they considered good +and bad, and only pretended to direct them and give orders while in +reality learning from them their methods, their manner of speech, and +their judgment of what was good and bad. Only when he had understood the +peasants' tastes and aspirations, had learned to talk their language, to +grasp the hidden meaning of their words, and felt akin to them did he +begin boldly to manage his serfs, that is, to perform toward them the +duties demanded of him. And Nicholas' management produced very brilliant +results. + +Guided by some gift of insight, on taking up the management of the +estates he at once unerringly appointed as bailiff, village elder, and +delegate, the very men the serfs would themselves have chosen had they +had the right to choose, and these posts never changed hands. Before +analyzing the properties of manure, before entering into the debit and +credit (as he ironically called it), he found out how many cattle the +peasants had and increased the number by all possible means. He kept the +peasant families together in the largest groups possible, not allowing +the family groups to divide into separate households. He was hard alike +on the lazy, the depraved, and the weak, and tried to get them expelled +from the commune. + +He was as careful of the sowing and reaping of the peasants' hay and +corn as of his own, and few landowners had their crops sown and +harvested so early and so well, or got so good a return, as did +Nicholas. + +He disliked having anything to do with the domestic serfs--the "drones" +as he called them--and everyone said he spoiled them by his laxity. When +a decision had to be taken regarding a domestic serf, especially if one +had to be punished, he always felt undecided and consulted everybody in +the house; but when it was possible to have a domestic serf conscripted +instead of a land worker he did so without the least hesitation. He +never felt any hesitation in dealing with the peasants. He knew that his +every decision would be approved by them all with very few exceptions. + +He did not allow himself either to be hard on or punish a man, or to +make things easy for or reward anyone, merely because he felt inclined +to do so. He could not have said by what standard he judged what he +should or should not do, but the standard was quite firm and definite in +his own mind. + +Often, speaking with vexation of some failure or irregularity, he would +say: "What can one do with our Russian peasants?" and imagined that he +could not bear them. + +Yet he loved "our Russian peasants" and their way of life with his whole +soul, and for that very reason had understood and assimilated the one +way and manner of farming which produced good results. + +Countess Mary was jealous of this passion of her husband's and regretted +that she could not share it; but she could not understand the joys and +vexations he derived from that world, to her so remote and alien. She +could not understand why he was so particularly animated and happy when, +after getting up at daybreak and spending the whole morning in the +fields or on the threshing floor, he returned from the sowing or mowing +or reaping to have tea with her. She did not understand why he spoke +with such admiration and delight of the farming of the thrifty and well- +to-do peasant Matthew Ermishin, who with his family had carted corn all +night; or of the fact that his (Nicholas') sheaves were already stacked +before anyone else had his harvest in. She did not understand why he +stepped out from the window to the veranda and smiled under his mustache +and winked so joyfully, when warm steady rain began to fall on the dry +and thirsty shoots of the young oats, or why when the wind carried away +a threatening cloud during the hay harvest he would return from the +barn, flushed, sunburned, and perspiring, with a smell of wormwood and +gentian in his hair and, gleefully rubbing his hands, would say: "Well, +one more day and my grain and the peasants' will all be under cover." + +Still less did she understand why he, kindhearted and always ready to +anticipate her wishes, should become almost desperate when she brought +him a petition from some peasant men or women who had appealed to her to +be excused some work; why he, that kind Nicholas, should obstinately +refuse her, angrily asking her not to interfere in what was not her +business. She felt he had a world apart, which he loved passionately and +which had laws she had not fathomed. + +Sometimes when, trying to understand him, she spoke of the good work he +was doing for his serfs, he would be vexed and reply: "Not in the least; +it never entered my head and I wouldn't do that for their good! That's +all poetry and old wives' talk--all that doing good to one's neighbor! +What I want is that our children should not have to go begging. I must +put our affairs in order while I am alive, that's all. And to do that, +order and strictness are essential.... That's all about it!" said he, +clenching his vigorous fist. "And fairness, of course," he added, "for +if the peasant is naked and hungry and has only one miserable horse, he +can do no good either for himself or for me." + +And all Nicholas did was fruitful--probably just because he refused to +allow himself to think that he was doing good to others for virtue's +sake. His means increased rapidly; serfs from neighboring estates came +to beg him to buy them, and long after his death the memory of his +administration was devoutly preserved among the serfs. "He was a +master... the peasants' affairs first and then his own. Of course he was +not to be trifled with either--in a word, he was a real master!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +One matter connected with his management sometimes worried Nicholas, and +that was his quick temper together with his old hussar habit of making +free use of his fists. At first he saw nothing reprehensible in this, +but in the second year of his marriage his view of that form of +punishment suddenly changed. + +Once in summer he had sent for the village elder from Bogucharovo, a man +who had succeeded to the post when Dron died and who was accused of +dishonesty and various irregularities. Nicholas went out into the porch +to question him, and immediately after the elder had given a few replies +the sound of cries and blows were heard. On returning to lunch Nicholas +went up to his wife, who sat with her head bent low over her embroidery +frame, and as usual began to tell her what he had been doing that +morning. Among other things he spoke of the Bogucharovo elder. Countess +Mary turned red and then pale, but continued to sit with head bowed and +lips compressed and gave her husband no reply. + +"Such an insolent scoundrel!" he cried, growing hot again at the mere +recollection of him. "If he had told me he was drunk and did not see... +But what is the matter with you, Mary?" he suddenly asked. + +Countess Mary raised her head and tried to speak, but hastily looked +down again and her lips puckered. + +"Why, whatever is the matter, my dearest?" + +The looks of the plain Countess Mary always improved when she was in +tears. She never cried from pain or vexation, but always from sorrow or +pity, and when she wept her radiant eyes acquired an irresistible charm. + +The moment Nicholas took her hand she could no longer restrain herself +and began to cry. + +"Nicholas, I saw it... he was to blame, but why do you... Nicholas!" and +she covered her face with her hands. + +Nicholas said nothing. He flushed crimson, left her side, and paced up +and down the room. He understood what she was weeping about, but could +not in his heart at once agree with her that what he had regarded from +childhood as quite an everyday event was wrong. "Is it just +sentimentality, old wives' tales, or is she right?" he asked himself. +Before he had solved that point he glanced again at her face filled with +love and pain, and he suddenly realized that she was right and that he +had long been sinning against himself. + +"Mary," he said softly, going up to her, "it will never happen again; I +give you my word. Never," he repeated in a trembling voice like a boy +asking for forgiveness. + +The tears flowed faster still from the countess' eyes. She took his hand +and kissed it. + +"Nicholas, when did you break your cameo?" she asked to change the +subject, looking at his finger on which he wore a ring with a cameo of +Laocoon's head. + +"Today--it was the same affair. Oh, Mary, don't remind me of it!" and +again he flushed. "I give you my word of honor it shan't occur again, +and let this always be a reminder to me," and he pointed to the broken +ring. + +After that, when in discussions with his village elders or stewards the +blood rushed to his face and his fists began to clench, Nicholas would +turn the broken ring on his finger and would drop his eyes before the +man who was making him angry. But he did forget himself once or twice +within a twelvemonth, and then he would go and confess to his wife, and +would again promise that this should really be the very last time. + +"Mary, you must despise me!" he would say. "I deserve it." + +"You should go, go away at once, if you don't feel strong enough to +control yourself," she would reply sadly, trying to comfort her husband. + +Among the gentry of the province Nicholas was respected but not liked. +He did not concern himself with the interests of his own class, and +consequently some thought him proud and others thought him stupid. The +whole summer, from spring sowing to harvest, he was busy with the work +on his farm. In autumn he gave himself up to hunting with the same +business-like seriousness--leaving home for a month, or even two, with +his hunt. In winter he visited his other villages or spent his time +reading. The books he read were chiefly historical, and on these he +spent a certain sum every year. He was collecting, as he said, a serious +library, and he made it a rule to read through all the books he bought. +He would sit in his study with a grave air, reading--a task he first +imposed upon himself as a duty, but which afterwards became a habit +affording him a special kind of pleasure and a consciousness of being +occupied with serious matters. In winter, except for business +excursions, he spent most of his time at home making himself one with +his family and entering into all the details of his children's relations +with their mother. The harmony between him and his wife grew closer and +closer and he daily discovered fresh spiritual treasures in her. + +From the time of his marriage Sonya had lived in his house. Before that, +Nicholas had told his wife all that had passed between himself and +Sonya, blaming himself and commending her. He had asked Princess Mary to +be gentle and kind to his cousin. She thoroughly realized the wrong he +had done Sonya, felt herself to blame toward her, and imagined that her +wealth had influenced Nicholas' choice. She could not find fault with +Sonya in any way and tried to be fond of her, but often felt ill-will +toward her which she could not overcome. + +Once she had a talk with her friend Natasha about Sonya and about her +own injustice toward her. + +"You know," said Natasha, "you have read the Gospels a great deal--there +is a passage in them that just fits Sonya." + +"What?" asked Countess Mary, surprised. + +"'To him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be +taken away.' You remember? She is one that hath not; why, I don't know. +Perhaps she lacks egotism, I don't know, but from her is taken away, and +everything has been taken away. Sometimes I am dreadfully sorry for her. +Formerly I very much wanted Nicholas to marry her, but I always had a +sort of presentiment that it would not come off. She is a sterile +flower, you know--like some strawberry blossoms. Sometimes I am sorry +for her, and sometimes I think she doesn't feel it as you or I would." + +Though Countess Mary told Natasha that those words in the Gospel must be +understood differently, yet looking at Sonya she agreed with Natasha's +explanation. It really seemed that Sonya did not feel her position +trying, and had grown quite reconciled to her lot as a sterile flower. +She seemed to be fond not so much of individuals as of the family as a +whole. Like a cat, she had attached herself not to the people but to the +home. She waited on the old countess, petted and spoiled the children, +was always ready to render the small services for which she had a gift, +and all this was unconsciously accepted from her with insufficient +gratitude. + +The country seat at Bald Hills had been rebuilt, though not on the same +scale as under the old prince. + +The buildings, begun under straitened circumstances, were more than +simple. The immense house on the old stone foundations was of wood, +plastered only inside. It had bare deal floors and was furnished with +very simple hard sofas, armchairs, tables, and chairs made by their own +serf carpenters out of their own birchwood. The house was spacious and +had rooms for the house serfs and apartments for visitors. Whole +families of the Rostovs' and Bolkonskis' relations sometimes came to +Bald Hills with sixteen horses and dozens of servants and stayed for +months. Besides that, four times a year, on the name days and birthdays +of the hosts, as many as a hundred visitors would gather there for a day +or two. The rest of the year life pursued its unbroken routine with its +ordinary occupations, and its breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and suppers, +provided out of the produce of the estate. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +It was the eve of St. Nicholas, the fifth of December, 1820. Natasha had +been staying at her brother's with her husband and children since early +autumn. Pierre had gone to Petersburg on business of his own for three +weeks as he said, but had remained there nearly seven weeks and was +expected back every minute. + +Besides the Bezukhov family, Nicholas' old friend the retired General +Vasili Dmitrich Denisov was staying with the Rostovs this fifth of +December. + +On the sixth, which was his name day when the house would be full of +visitors, Nicholas knew he would have to exchange his Tartar tunic for a +tail coat, and put on narrow boots with pointed toes, and drive to the +new church he had built, and then receive visitors who would come to +congratulate him, offer them refreshments, and talk about the elections +of the nobility; but he considered himself entitled to spend the eve of +that day in his usual way. He examined the bailiff's accounts of the +village in Ryazan which belonged to his wife's nephew, wrote two +business letters, and walked over to the granaries, cattle yards and +stables before dinner. Having taken precautions against the general +drunkenness to be expected on the morrow because it was a great saint's +day, he returned to dinner, and without having time for a private talk +with his wife sat down at the long table laid for twenty persons, at +which the whole household had assembled. At that table were his mother, +his mother's old lady companion Belova, his wife, their three children +with their governess and tutor, his wife's nephew with his tutor, Sonya, +Denisov, Natasha, her three children, their governess, and old Michael +Ivanovich, the late prince's architect, who was living on in retirement +at Bald Hills. + +Countess Mary sat at the other end of the table. When her husband took +his place she concluded, from the rapid manner in which after taking up +his table napkin he pushed back the tumbler and wineglass standing +before him, that he was out of humor, as was sometimes the case when he +came in to dinner straight from the farm--especially before the soup. +Countess Mary well knew that mood of his, and when she herself was in a +good frame of mind quietly waited till he had had his soup and then +began to talk to him and make him admit that there was no cause for his +ill-humor. But today she quite forgot that and was hurt that he should +be angry with her without any reason, and she felt unhappy. She asked +him where he had been. He replied. She again inquired whether everything +was going well on the farm. Her unnatural tone made him wince +unpleasantly and he replied hastily. + +"Then I'm not mistaken," thought Countess Mary. "Why is he cross with +me?" She concluded from his tone that he was vexed with her and wished +to end the conversation. She knew her remarks sounded unnatural, but +could not refrain from asking some more questions. + +Thanks to Denisov the conversation at table soon became general and +lively, and she did not talk to her husband. When they left the table +and went as usual to thank the old countess, Countess Mary held out her +hand and kissed her husband, and asked him why he was angry with her. + +"You always have such strange fancies! I didn't even think of being +angry," he replied. + +But the word always seemed to her to imply: "Yes, I am angry but I won't +tell you why." + +Nicholas and his wife lived together so happily that even Sonya and the +old countess, who felt jealous and would have liked them to disagree, +could find nothing to reproach them with; but even they had their +moments of antagonism. Occasionally, and it was always just after they +had been happiest together, they suddenly had a feeling of estrangement +and hostility, which occurred most frequently during Countess Mary's +pregnancies, and this was such a time. + +"Well, messieurs et mesdames," said Nicholas loudly and with apparent +cheerfulness (it seemed to Countess Mary that he did it on purpose to +vex her), "I have been on my feet since six this morning. Tomorrow I +shall have to suffer, so today I'll go and rest." + +And without a word to his wife he went to the little sitting room and +lay down on the sofa. + +"That's always the way," thought Countess Mary. "He talks to everyone +except me. I see... I see that I am repulsive to him, especially when I +am in this condition." She looked down at her expanded figure and in the +glass at her pale, sallow, emaciated face in which her eyes now looked +larger than ever. + +And everything annoyed her--Denisov's shouting and laughter, Natasha's +talk, and especially a quick glance Sonya gave her. + +Sonya was always the first excuse Countess Mary found for feeling +irritated. + +Having sat awhile with her visitors without understanding anything of +what they were saying, she softly left the room and went to the nursery. + +The children were playing at "going to Moscow" in a carriage made of +chairs and invited her to go with them. She sat down and played with +them a little, but the thought of her husband and his unreasonable +crossness worried her. She got up and, walking on tiptoe with +difficulty, went to the small sitting room. + +"Perhaps he is not asleep; I'll have an explanation with him," she said +to herself. Little Andrew, her eldest boy, imitating his mother, +followed her on tiptoe. She did not notice him. + +"Mary, dear, I think he is asleep--he was so tired," said Sonya, meeting +her in the large sitting room (it seemed to Countess Mary that she +crossed her path everywhere). "Andrew may wake him." + +Countess Mary looked round, saw little Andrew following her, felt that +Sonya was right, and for that very reason flushed and with evident +difficulty refrained from saying something harsh. She made no reply, but +to avoid obeying Sonya beckoned to Andrew to follow her quietly and went +to the door. Sonya went away by another door. From the room in which +Nicholas was sleeping came the sound of his even breathing, every +slightest tone of which was familiar to his wife. As she listened to it +she saw before her his smooth handsome forehead, his mustache, and his +whole face, as she had so often seen it in the stillness of the night +when he slept. Nicholas suddenly moved and cleared his throat. And at +that moment little Andrew shouted from outside the door: "Papa! Mamma's +standing here!" Countess Mary turned pale with fright and made signs to +the boy. He grew silent, and quiet ensued for a moment, terrible to +Countess Mary. She knew how Nicholas disliked being waked. Then through +the door she heard Nicholas clearing his throat again and stirring, and +his voice said crossly: + +"I can't get a moment's peace.... Mary, is that you? Why did you bring +him here?" + +"I only came in to look and did not notice... forgive me..." + +Nicholas coughed and said no more. Countess Mary moved away from the +door and took the boy back to the nursery. Five minutes later little +black-eyed three-year-old Natasha, her father's pet, having learned from +her brother that Papa was asleep and Mamma was in the sitting room, ran +to her father unobserved by her mother. The dark-eyed little girl boldly +opened the creaking door, went up to the sofa with energetic steps of +her sturdy little legs, and having examined the position of her father, +who was asleep with his back to her, rose on tiptoe and kissed the hand +which lay under his head. Nicholas turned with a tender smile on his +face. + +"Natasha, Natasha!" came Countess Mary's frightened whisper from the +door. "Papa wants to sleep." + +"No, Mamma, he doesn't want to sleep," said little Natasha with +conviction. "He's laughing." + +Nicholas lowered his legs, rose, and took his daughter in his arms. + +"Come in, Mary," he said to his wife. + +She went in and sat down by her husband. + +"I did not notice him following me," she said timidly. "I just looked +in." + +Holding his little girl with one arm, Nicholas glanced at his wife and, +seeing her guilty expression, put his other arm around her and kissed +her hair. + +"May I kiss Mamma?" he asked Natasha. + +Natasha smiled bashfully. + +"Again!" she commanded, pointing with a peremptory gesture to the spot +where Nicholas had placed the kiss. + +"I don't know why you think I am cross," said Nicholas, replying to the +question he knew was in his wife's mind. + +"You have no idea how unhappy, how lonely, I feel when you are like +that. It always seems to me..." + +"Mary, don't talk nonsense. You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" he +said gaily. + +"It seems to be that you can't love me, that I am so plain... always... +and now... in this cond..." + +"Oh, how absurd you are! It is not beauty that endears, it's love that +makes us see beauty. It is only Malvinas and women of that kind who are +loved for their beauty. But do I love my wife? I don't love her, but... +I don't know how to put it. Without you, or when something comes between +us like this, I seem lost and can't do anything. Now do I love my +finger? I don't love it, but just try to cut it off!" + +"I'm not like that myself, but I understand. So you're not angry with +me?" + +"Awfully angry!" he said, smiling and getting up. And smoothing his hair +he began to pace the room. + +"Do you know, Mary, what I've been thinking?" he began, immediately +thinking aloud in his wife's presence now that they had made it up. + +He did not ask if she was ready to listen to him. He did not care. A +thought had occurred to him and so it belonged to her also. And he told +her of his intention to persuade Pierre to stay with them till spring. + +Countess Mary listened till he had finished, made some remark, and in +her turn began thinking aloud. Her thoughts were about the children. + +"You can see the woman in her already," she said in French, pointing to +little Natasha. "You reproach us women with being illogical. Here is our +logic. I say: 'Papa wants to sleep!' but she says, 'No, he's laughing.' +And she was right," said Countess Mary with a happy smile. + +"Yes, yes." And Nicholas, taking his little daughter in his strong hand, +lifted her high, placed her on his shoulder, held her by the legs, and +paced the room with her. There was an expression of carefree happiness +on the faces of both father and daughter. + +"But you know you may be unfair. You are too fond of this one," his wife +whispered in French. + +"Yes, but what am I to do?... I try not to show..." + +At that moment they heard the sound of the door pulley and footsteps in +the hall and anteroom, as if someone had arrived. + +"Somebody has come." + +"I am sure it is Pierre. I will go and see," said Countess Mary and left +the room. + +In her absence Nicholas allowed himself to give his little daughter a +gallop round the room. Out of breath, he took the laughing child quickly +from his shoulder and pressed her to his heart. His capers reminded him +of dancing, and looking at the child's round happy little face he +thought of what she would be like when he was an old man, taking her +into society and dancing the mazurka with her as his old father had +danced Daniel Cooper with his daughter. + +"It is he, it is he, Nicholas!" said Countess Mary, re-entering the room +a few minutes later. "Now our Natasha has come to life. You should have +seen her ecstasy, and how he caught it for having stayed away so long. +Well, come along now, quick, quick! It's time you two were parted," she +added, looking smilingly at the little girl who clung to her father. + +Nicholas went out holding the child by the hand. + +Countess Mary remained in the sitting room. + +"I should never, never have believed that one could be so happy," she +whispered to herself. A smile lit up her face but at the same time she +sighed, and her deep eyes expressed a quiet sadness as though she felt, +through her happiness, that there is another sort of happiness +unattainable in this life and of which she involuntarily thought at that +instant. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Natasha had married in the early spring of 1813, and in 1820 already had +three daughters besides a son for whom she had longed and whom she was +now nursing. She had grown stouter and broader, so that it was difficult +to recognize in this robust, motherly woman the slim, lively Natasha of +former days. Her features were more defined and had a calm, soft, and +serene expression. In her face there was none of the ever-glowing +animation that had formerly burned there and constituted its charm. Now +her face and body were often all that one saw, and her soul was not +visible at all. All that struck the eye was a strong, handsome, and +fertile woman. The old fire very rarely kindled in her face now. That +happened only when, as was the case that day, her husband returned home, +or a sick child was convalescent, or when she and Countess Mary spoke of +Prince Andrew (she never mentioned him to her husband, who she imagined +was jealous of Prince Andrew's memory), or on the rare occasions when +something happened to induce her to sing, a practice she had quite +abandoned since her marriage. At the rare moments when the old fire did +kindle in her handsome, fully developed body she was even more +attractive than in former days. + +Since their marriage Natasha and her husband had lived in Moscow, in +Petersburg, on their estate near Moscow, or with her mother, that is to +say, in Nicholas' house. The young Countess Bezukhova was not often seen +in society, and those who met her there were not pleased with her and +found her neither attractive nor amiable. Not that Natasha liked +solitude--she did not know whether she liked it or not, she even thought +that she did not--but with her pregnancies, her confinements, the +nursing of her children, and sharing every moment of her husband's life, +she had demands on her time which could be satisfied only by renouncing +society. All who had known Natasha before her marriage wondered at the +change in her as at something extraordinary. Only the old countess with +her maternal instinct had realized that all Natasha's outbursts had been +due to her need of children and a husband--as she herself had once +exclaimed at Otradnoe not so much in fun as in earnest--and her mother +was now surprised at the surprise expressed by those who had never +understood Natasha, and she kept saying that she had always known that +Natasha would make an exemplary wife and mother. + +"Only she lets her love of her husband and children overflow all +bounds," said the countess, "so that it even becomes absurd." + +Natasha did not follow the golden rule advocated by clever folk, +especially by the French, which says that a girl should not let herself +go when she marries, should not neglect her accomplishments, should be +even more careful of her appearance than when she was unmarried, and +should fascinate her husband as much as she did before he became her +husband. Natasha on the contrary had at once abandoned all her witchery, +of which her singing had been an unusually powerful part. She gave it up +just because it was so powerfully seductive. She took no pains with her +manners or with delicacy of speech, or with her toilet, or to show +herself to her husband in her most becoming attitudes, or to avoid +inconveniencing him by being too exacting. She acted in contradiction to +all those rules. She felt that the allurements instinct had formerly +taught her to use would now be merely ridiculous in the eyes of her +husband, to whom she had from the first moment given herself up +entirely--that is, with her whole soul, leaving no corner of it hidden +from him. She felt that her unity with her husband was not maintained by +the poetic feelings that had attracted him to her, but by something +else--indefinite but firm as the bond between her own body and soul. + +To fluff out her curls, put on fashionable dresses, and sing romantic +songs to fascinate her husband would have seemed as strange as to adorn +herself to attract herself. To adorn herself for others might perhaps +have been agreeable--she did not know--but she had no time at all for +it. The chief reason for devoting no time either to singing, to dress, +or to choosing her words was that she really had no time to spare for +these things. + +We know that man has the faculty of becoming completely absorbed in a +subject however trivial it may be, and that there is no subject so +trivial that it will not grow to infinite proportions if one's entire +attention is devoted to it. + +The subject which wholly engrossed Natasha's attention was her family: +that is, her husband whom she had to keep so that he should belong +entirely to her and to the home, and the children whom she had to bear, +bring into the world, nurse, and bring up. + +And the deeper she penetrated, not with her mind only but with her whole +soul, her whole being, into the subject that absorbed her, the larger +did that subject grow and the weaker and more inadequate did her powers +appear, so that she concentrated them wholly on that one thing and yet +was unable to accomplish all that she considered necessary. + +There were then as now conversations and discussions about women's +rights, the relations of husband and wife and their freedom and rights, +though these themes were not yet termed questions as they are now; but +these topics were not merely uninteresting to Natasha, she positively +did not understand them. + +These questions, then as now, existed only for those who see nothing in +marriage but the pleasure married people get from one another, that is, +only the beginnings of marriage and not its whole significance, which +lies in the family. + +Discussions and questions of that kind, which are like the question of +how to get the greatest gratification from one's dinner, did not then +and do not now exist for those for whom the purpose of a dinner is the +nourishment it affords; and the purpose of marriage is the family. + +If the purpose of dinner is to nourish the body, a man who eats two +dinners at once may perhaps get more enjoyment but will not attain his +purpose, for his stomach will not digest the two dinners. + +If the purpose of marriage is the family, the person who wishes to have +many wives or husbands may perhaps obtain much pleasure, but in that +case will not have a family. + +If the purpose of food is nourishment and the purpose of marriage is the +family, the whole question resolves itself into not eating more than one +can digest, and not having more wives or husbands than are needed for +the family--that is, one wife or one husband. Natasha needed a husband. +A husband was given her and he gave her a family. And she not only saw +no need of any other or better husband, but as all the powers of her +soul were intent on serving that husband and family, she could not +imagine and saw no interest in imagining how it would be if things were +different. + +Natasha did not care for society in general, but prized the more the +society of her relatives--Countess Mary, and her brother, her mother, +and Sonya. She valued the company of those to whom she could come +striding disheveled from the nursery in her dressing gown, and with +joyful face show a yellow instead of a green stain on baby's napkin, and +from whom she could hear reassuring words to the effect that baby was +much better. + +To such an extent had Natasha let herself go that the way she dressed +and did her hair, her ill-chosen words, and her jealousy--she was +jealous of Sonya, of the governess, and of every woman, pretty or plain- +-were habitual subjects of jest to those about her. The general opinion +was that Pierre was under his wife's thumb, which was really true. From +the very first days of their married life Natasha had announced her +demands. Pierre was greatly surprised by his wife's view, to him a +perfectly novel one, that every moment of his life belonged to her and +to the family. His wife's demands astonished him, but they also +flattered him, and he submitted to them. + +Pierre's subjection consisted in the fact that he not only dared not +flirt with, but dared not even speak smilingly to, any other woman; did +not dare dine at the club as a pastime, did not dare spend money on a +whim, and did not dare absent himself for any length of time, except on +business--in which his wife included his intellectual pursuits, which +she did not in the least understand but to which she attributed great +importance. To make up for this, at home Pierre had the right to +regulate his life and that of the whole family exactly as he chose. At +home Natasha placed herself in the position of a slave to her husband, +and the whole household went on tiptoe when he was occupied--that is, +was reading or writing in his study. Pierre had but to show a partiality +for anything to get just what he liked done always. He had only to +express a wish and Natasha would jump up and run to fulfill it. + +The entire household was governed according to Pierre's supposed orders, +that is, by his wishes which Natasha tried to guess. Their way of life +and place of residence, their acquaintances and ties, Natasha's +occupations, the children's upbringing, were all selected not merely +with regard to Pierre's expressed wishes, but to what Natasha from the +thoughts he expressed in conversation supposed his wishes to be. And she +deduced the essentials of his wishes quite correctly, and having once +arrived at them clung to them tenaciously. When Pierre himself wanted to +change his mind she would fight him with his own weapons. + +Thus in a time of trouble ever memorable to him after the birth of their +first child who was delicate, when they had to change the wet nurse +three times and Natasha fell ill from despair, Pierre one day told her +of Rousseau's view, with which he quite agreed, that to have a wet nurse +is unnatural and harmful. When her next baby was born, despite the +opposition of her mother, the doctors, and even of her husband himself-- +who were all vigorously opposed to her nursing her baby herself, a thing +then unheard of and considered injurious--she insisted on having her own +way, and after that nursed all her babies herself. + +It very often happened that in a moment of irritation husband and wife +would have a dispute, but long afterwards Pierre to his surprise and +delight would find in his wife's ideas and actions the very thought +against which she had argued, but divested of everything superfluous +that in the excitement of the dispute he had added when expressing his +opinion. + +After seven years of marriage Pierre had the joyous and firm +consciousness that he was not a bad man, and he felt this because he saw +himself reflected in his wife. He felt the good and bad within himself +inextricably mingled and overlapping. But only what was really good in +him was reflected in his wife, all that was not quite good was rejected. +And this was not the result of logical reasoning but was a direct and +mysterious reflection. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Two months previously when Pierre was already staying with the Rostovs +he had received a letter from Prince Theodore, asking him to come to +Petersburg to confer on some important questions that were being +discussed there by a society of which Pierre was one of the principal +founders. + +On reading that letter (she always read her husband's letters) Natasha +herself suggested that he should go to Petersburg, though she would feel +his absence very acutely. She attributed immense importance to all her +husband's intellectual and abstract interests though she did not +understand them, and she always dreaded being a hindrance to him in such +matters. To Pierre's timid look of inquiry after reading the letter she +replied by asking him to go, but to fix a definite date for his return. +He was given four weeks' leave of absence. + +Ever since that leave of absence had expired, more than a fortnight +before, Natasha had been in a constant state of alarm, depression, and +irritability. + +Denisov, now a general on the retired list and much dissatisfied with +the present state of affairs, had arrived during that fortnight. He +looked at Natasha with sorrow and surprise as at a bad likeness of a +person once dear. A dull, dejected look, random replies, and talk about +the nursery was all he saw and heard from his former enchantress. + +Natasha was sad and irritable all that time, especially when her mother, +her brother, Sonya, or Countess Mary in their efforts to console her +tried to excuse Pierre and suggested reasons for his delay in returning. + +"It's all nonsense, all rubbish--those discussions which lead to nothing +and all those idiotic societies!" Natasha declared of the very affairs +in the immense importance of which she firmly believed. + +And she would go to the nursery to nurse Petya, her only boy. No one +else could tell her anything so comforting or so reasonable as this +little three-month-old creature when he lay at her breast and she was +conscious of the movement of his lips and the snuffling of his little +nose. That creature said: "You are angry, you are jealous, you would +like to pay him out, you are afraid--but here am I! And I am he..." and +that was unanswerable. It was more than true. + +During that fortnight of anxiety Natasha resorted to the baby for +comfort so often, and fussed over him so much, that she overfed him and +he fell ill. She was terrified by his illness, and yet that was just +what she needed. While attending to him she bore the anxiety about her +husband more easily. + +She was nursing her boy when the sound of Pierre's sleigh was heard at +the front door, and the old nurse--knowing how to please her mistress-- +entered the room inaudibly but hurriedly and with a beaming face. + +"Has he come?" Natasha asked quickly in a whisper, afraid to move lest +she should rouse the dozing baby. + +"He's come, ma'am," whispered the nurse. + +The blood rushed to Natasha's face and her feet involuntarily moved, but +she could not jump up and run out. The baby again opened his eyes and +looked at her. "You're here?" he seemed to be saying, and again lazily +smacked his lips. + +Cautiously withdrawing her breast, Natasha rocked him a little, handed +him to the nurse, and went with rapid steps toward the door. But at the +door she stopped as if her conscience reproached her for having in her +joy left the child too soon, and she glanced round. The nurse with +raised elbows was lifting the infant over the rail of his cot. + +"Go, ma'am! Don't worry, go!" she whispered, smiling, with the kind of +familiarity that grows up between a nurse and her mistress. + +Natasha ran with light footsteps to the anteroom. + +Denisov, who had come out of the study into the dancing room with his +pipe, now for the first time recognized the old Natasha. A flood of +brilliant, joyful light poured from her transfigured face. + +"He's come!" she exclaimed as she ran past, and Denisov felt that he too +was delighted that Pierre, whom he did not much care for, had returned. + +On reaching the vestibule Natasha saw a tall figure in a fur coat +unwinding his scarf. "It's he! It's really he! He has come!" she said to +herself, and rushing at him embraced him, pressed his head to her +breast, and then pushed him back and gazed at his ruddy, happy face, +covered with hoarfrost. "Yes, it is he, happy and contented..." + +Then all at once she remembered the tortures of suspense she had +experienced for the last fortnight, and the joy that had lit up her face +vanished; she frowned and overwhelmed Pierre with a torrent of +reproaches and angry words. + +"Yes, it's all very well for you. You are pleased, you've had a good +time.... But what about me? You might at least have shown consideration +for the children. I am nursing and my milk was spoiled.... Petya was at +death's door. But you were enjoying yourself. Yes, enjoying..." + +Pierre knew he was not to blame, for he could not have come sooner; he +knew this outburst was unseemly and would blow over in a minute or two; +above all he knew that he himself was bright and happy. He wanted to +smile but dared not even think of doing so. He made a piteous, +frightened face and bent down. + +"I could not, on my honor. But how is Petya?" + +"All right now. Come along! I wonder you're not ashamed! If only you +could see what I was like without you, how I suffered!" + +"You are well?" + +"Come, come!" she said, not letting go of his arm. And they went to +their rooms. + +When Nicholas and his wife came to look for Pierre he was in the nursery +holding his baby son, who was again awake, on his huge right palm and +dandling him. A blissful bright smile was fixed on the baby's broad face +with its toothless open mouth. The storm was long since over and there +was bright, joyous sunshine on Natasha's face as she gazed tenderly at +her husband and child. + +"And have you talked everything well over with Prince Theodore?" she +asked. + +"Yes, capitally." + +"You see, he holds it up." (She meant the baby's head.) "But how he did +frighten me... You've seen the princess? Is it true she's in love with +that..." + +"Yes, just fancy..." + +At that moment Nicholas and Countess Mary came in. Pierre with the baby +on his hand stooped, kissed them, and replied to their inquiries. But in +spite of much that was interesting and had to be discussed, the baby +with the little cap on its unsteady head evidently absorbed all his +attention. + +"How sweet!" said Countess Mary, looking at and playing with the baby. +"Now, Nicholas," she added, turning to her husband, "I can't understand +how it is you don't see the charm of these delicious marvels." + +"I don't and can't," replied Nicholas, looking coldly at the baby. "A +lump of flesh. Come along, Pierre!" + +"And yet he's such an affectionate father," said Countess Mary, +vindicating her husband, "but only after they are a year old or so..." + +"Now, Pierre nurses them splendidly," said Natasha. "He says his hand is +just made for a baby's seat. Just look!" + +"Only not for this..." Pierre suddenly exclaimed with a laugh, and +shifting the baby he gave him to the nurse. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +As in every large household, there were at Bald Hills several perfectly +distinct worlds which merged into one harmonious whole, though each +retained its own peculiarities and made concessions to the others. Every +event, joyful or sad, that took place in that house was important to all +these worlds, but each had its own special reasons to rejoice or grieve +over that occurrence independently of the others. + +For instance, Pierre's return was a joyful and important event and they +all felt it to be so. + +The servants--the most reliable judges of their masters because they +judge not by their conversation or expressions of feeling but by their +acts and way of life--were glad of Pierre's return because they knew +that when he was there Count Nicholas would cease going every day to +attend to the estate, and would be in better spirits and temper, and +also because they would all receive handsome presents for the holidays. + +The children and their governesses were glad of Pierre's return because +no one else drew them into the social life of the household as he did. +He alone could play on the clavichord that ecossaise (his only piece) to +which, as he said, all possible dances could be danced, and they felt +sure he had brought presents for them all. + +Young Nicholas, now a slim lad of fifteen, delicate and intelligent, +with curly light-brown hair and beautiful eyes, was delighted because +Uncle Pierre as he called him was the object of his rapturous and +passionate affection. No one had instilled into him this love for Pierre +whom he saw only occasionally. Countess Mary who had brought him up had +done her utmost to make him love her husband as she loved him, and +little Nicholas did love his uncle, but loved him with just a shade of +contempt. Pierre, however, he adored. He did not want to be an hussar or +a Knight of St. George like his uncle Nicholas; he wanted to be learned, +wise, and kind like Pierre. In Pierre's presence his face always shone +with pleasure and he flushed and was breathless when Pierre spoke to +him. He did not miss a single word he uttered, and would afterwards, +with Dessalles or by himself, recall and reconsider the meaning of +everything Pierre had said. Pierre's past life and his unhappiness prior +to 1812 (of which young Nicholas had formed a vague poetic picture from +some words he had overheard), his adventures in Moscow, his captivity, +Platon Karataev (of whom he had heard from Pierre), his love for Natasha +(of whom the lad was also particularly fond), and especially Pierre's +friendship with the father whom Nicholas could not remember--all this +made Pierre in his eyes a hero and a saint. + +From broken remarks about Natasha and his father, from the emotion with +which Pierre spoke of that dead father, and from the careful, reverent +tenderness with which Natasha spoke of him, the boy, who was only just +beginning to guess what love is, derived the notion that his father had +loved Natasha and when dying had left her to his friend. But the father +whom the boy did not remember appeared to him a divinity who could not +be pictured, and of whom he never thought without a swelling heart and +tears of sadness and rapture. So the boy also was happy that Pierre had +arrived. + +The guests welcomed Pierre because he always helped to enliven and unite +any company he was in. + +The grown-up members of the family, not to mention his wife, were +pleased to have back a friend whose presence made life run more smoothly +and peacefully. + +The old ladies were pleased with the presents he brought them, and +especially that Natasha would now be herself again. + +Pierre felt the different outlooks of these various worlds and made +haste to satisfy all their expectations. + +Though the most absent-minded and forgetful of men, Pierre, with the aid +of a list his wife drew up, had now bought everything, not forgetting +his mother--and brother-in-law's commissions, nor the dress material for +a present to Belova, nor toys for his wife's nephews. In the early days +of his marriage it had seemed strange to him that his wife should expect +him not to forget to procure all the things he undertook to buy, and he +had been taken aback by her serious annoyance when on his first trip he +forgot everything. But in time he grew used to this demand. Knowing that +Natasha asked nothing for herself, and gave him commissions for others +only when he himself had offered to undertake them, he now found an +unexpected and childlike pleasure in this purchase of presents for +everyone in the house, and never forgot anything. If he now incurred +Natasha's censure it was only for buying too many and too expensive +things. To her other defects (as most people thought them, but which to +Pierre were qualities) of untidiness and neglect of herself, she now +added stinginess. + +From the time that Pierre began life as a family man on a footing +entailing heavy expenditure, he had noticed to his surprise that he +spent only half as much as before, and that his affairs--which had been +in disorder of late, chiefly because of his first wife's debts--had +begun to improve. + +Life was cheaper because it was circumscribed: that most expensive +luxury, the kind of life that can be changed at any moment, was no +longer his nor did he wish for it. He felt that his way of life had now +been settled once for all till death and that to change it was not in +his power, and so that way of life proved economical. + +With a merry, smiling face Pierre was sorting his purchases. + +"What do you think of this?" said he, unrolling a piece of stuff like a +shopman. + +Natasha, who was sitting opposite to him with her eldest daughter on her +lap, turned her sparkling eyes swiftly from her husband to the things he +showed her. + +"That's for Belova? Excellent!" She felt the quality of the material. +"It was a ruble an arshin, I suppose?" + +Pierre told her the price. + +"Too dear!" Natasha remarked. "How pleased the children will be and +Mamma too! Only you need not have bought me this," she added, unable to +suppress a smile as she gazed admiringly at a gold comb set with pearls, +of a kind then just coming into fashion. + +"Adele tempted me: she kept on telling me to buy it," returned Pierre. + +"When am I to wear it?" and Natasha stuck it in her coil of hair. "When +I take little Masha into society? Perhaps they will be fashionable again +by then. Well, let's go now." + +And collecting the presents they went first to the nursery and then to +the old countess' rooms. + +The countess was sitting with her companion Belova, playing grand- +patience as usual, when Pierre and Natasha came into the drawing room +with parcels under their arms. + +The countess was now over sixty, was quite gray, and wore a cap with a +frill that surrounded her face. Her face had shriveled, her upper lip +had sunk in, and her eyes were dim. + +After the deaths of her son and husband in such rapid succession, she +felt herself a being accidentally forgotten in this world and left +without aim or object for her existence. She ate, drank, slept, or kept +awake, but did not live. Life gave her no new impressions. She wanted +nothing from life but tranquillity, and that tranquillity only death +could give her. But until death came she had to go on living, that is, +to use her vital forces. A peculiarity one sees in very young children +and very old people was particularly evident in her. Her life had no +external aims--only a need to exercise her various functions and +inclinations was apparent. She had to eat, sleep, think, speak, weep, +work, give vent to her anger, and so on, merely because she had a +stomach, a brain, muscles, nerves, and a liver. She did these things not +under any external impulse as people in the full vigor of life do, when +behind the purpose for which they strive that of exercising their +functions remains unnoticed. She talked only because she physically +needed to exercise her tongue and lungs. She cried as a child does, +because her nose had to be cleared, and so on. What for people in their +full vigor is an aim was for her evidently merely a pretext. + +Thus in the morning--especially if she had eaten anything rich the day +before--she felt a need of being angry and would choose as the handiest +pretext Belova's deafness. + +She would begin to say something to her in a low tone from the other end +of the room. + +"It seems a little warmer today, my dear," she would murmur. + +And when Belova replied: "Oh yes, they've come," she would mutter +angrily: "O Lord! How stupid and deaf she is!" + +Another pretext would be her snuff, which would seem too dry or too damp +or not rubbed fine enough. After these fits of irritability her face +would grow yellow, and her maids knew by infallible symptoms when Belova +would again be deaf, the snuff damp, and the countess' face yellow. Just +as she needed to work off her spleen so she had sometimes to exercise +her still-existing faculty of thinking--and the pretext for that was a +game of patience. When she needed to cry, the deceased count would be +the pretext. When she wanted to be agitated, Nicholas and his health +would be the pretext, and when she felt a need to speak spitefully, the +pretext would be Countess Mary. When her vocal organs needed exercise, +which was usually toward seven o'clock when she had had an after-dinner +rest in a darkened room, the pretext would be the retelling of the same +stories over and over again to the same audience. + +The old lady's condition was understood by the whole household though no +one ever spoke of it, and they all made every possible effort to satisfy +her needs. Only by a rare glance exchanged with a sad smile between +Nicholas, Pierre, Natasha, and Countess Mary was the common +understanding of her condition expressed. + +But those glances expressed something more: they said that she had +played her part in life, that what they now saw was not her whole self, +that we must all become like her, and that they were glad to yield to +her, to restrain themselves for this once precious being formerly as +full of life as themselves, but now so much to be pitied. "Memento +mori," said these glances. + +Only the really heartless, the stupid ones of that household, and the +little children failed to understand this and avoided her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +When Pierre and his wife entered the drawing room the countess was in +one of her customary states in which she needed the mental exertion of +playing patience, and so--though by force of habit she greeted him with +the words she always used when Pierre or her son returned after an +absence: "High time, my dear, high time! We were all weary of waiting +for you. Well, thank God!" and received her presents with another +customary remark: "It's not the gift that's precious, my dear, but that +you give it to me, an old woman..."--yet it was evident that she was not +pleased by Pierre's arrival at that moment when it diverted her +attention from the unfinished game. + +She finished her game of patience and only then examined the presents. +They consisted of a box for cards, of splendid workmanship, a bright- +blue Sevres tea cup with shepherdesses depicted on it and with a lid, +and a gold snuffbox with the count's portrait on the lid which Pierre +had had done by a miniaturist in Petersburg. The countess had long +wished for such a box, but as she did not want to cry just then she +glanced indifferently at the portrait and gave her attention chiefly to +the box for cards. + +"Thank you, my dear, you have cheered me up," said she as she always +did. "But best of all you have brought yourself back--for I never saw +anything like it, you ought to give your wife a scolding! What are we to +do with her? She is like a mad woman when you are away. Doesn't see +anything, doesn't remember anything," she went on, repeating her usual +phrases. "Look, Anna Timofeevna," she added to her companion, "see what +a box for cards my son has brought us!" + +Belova admired the presents and was delighted with her dress material. + +Though Pierre, Natasha, Nicholas, Countess Mary, and Denisov had much to +talk about that they could not discuss before the old countess--not that +anything was hidden from her, but because she had dropped so far +behindhand in many things that had they begun to converse in her +presence they would have had to answer inopportune questions and to +repeat what they had already told her many times: that so-and-so was +dead and so-and-so was married, which she would again be unable to +remember--yet they sat at tea round the samovar in the drawing room from +habit, and Pierre answered the countess' questions as to whether Prince +Vasili had aged and whether Countess Mary Alexeevna had sent greetings +and still thought of them, and other matters that interested no one and +to which she herself was indifferent. + +Conversation of this kind, interesting to no one yet unavoidable, +continued all through teatime. All the grown-up members of the family +were assembled near the round tea table at which Sonya presided beside +the samovar. The children with their tutors and governesses had had tea +and their voices were audible from the next room. At tea all sat in +their accustomed places: Nicholas beside the stove at a small table +where his tea was handed to him; Milka, the old gray borzoi bitch +(daughter of the first Milka), with a quite gray face and large black +eyes that seemed more prominent than ever, lay on the armchair beside +him; Denisov, whose curly hair, mustache, and whiskers had turned half +gray, sat beside countess Mary with his general's tunic unbuttoned; +Pierre sat between his wife and the old countess. He spoke of what he +knew might interest the old lady and that she could understand. He told +her of external social events and of the people who had formed the +circle of her contemporaries and had once been a real, living, and +distinct group, but who were now for the most part scattered about the +world and like herself were garnering the last ears of the harvests they +had sown in earlier years. But to the old countess those contemporaries +of hers seemed to be the only serious and real society. Natasha saw by +Pierre's animation that his visit had been interesting and that he had +much to tell them but dare not say it before the old countess. Denisov, +not being a member of the family, did not understand Pierre's caution +and being, as a malcontent, much interested in what was occurring in +Petersburg, kept urging Pierre to tell them about what had happened in +the Semenovsk regiment, then about Arakcheev, and then about the Bible +Society. Once or twice Pierre was carried away and began to speak of +these things, but Nicholas and Natasha always brought him back to the +health of Prince Ivan and Countess Mary Alexeevna. + +"Well, and all this idiocy--Gossner and Tatawinova?" Denisov asked. "Is +that weally still going on?" + + +"Going on?" Pierre exclaimed. "Why more than ever! The Bible Society is +the whole government now!" + +"What is that, mon cher ami?" asked the countess, who had finished her +tea and evidently needed a pretext for being angry after her meal. "What +are you saying about the government? I don't understand." + +"Well, you know, Maman," Nicholas interposed, knowing how to translate +things into his mother's language, "Prince Alexander Golitsyn has +founded a society and in consequence has great influence, they say." + +"Arakcheev and Golitsyn," incautiously remarked Pierre, "are now the +whole government! And what a government! They see treason everywhere and +are afraid of everything." + +"Well, and how is Prince Alexander to blame? He is a most estimable man. +I used to meet him at Mary Antonovna's," said the countess in an +offended tone; and still more offended that they all remained silent, +she went on: "Nowadays everyone finds fault. A Gospel Society! Well, and +what harm is there in that?" and she rose (everybody else got up too) +and with a severe expression sailed back to her table in the sitting +room. + +The melancholy silence that followed was broken by the sounds of the +children's voices and laughter from the next room. Evidently some jolly +excitement was going on there. + +"Finished, finished!" little Natasha's gleeful yell rose above them all. + +Pierre exchanged glances with Countess Mary and Nicholas (Natasha he +never lost sight of) and smiled happily. + +"That's delightful music!" said he. + +"It means that Anna Makarovna has finished her stocking," said Countess +Mary. + +"Oh, I'll go and see," said Pierre, jumping up. "You know," he added, +stopping at the door, "why I'm especially fond of that music? It is +always the first thing that tells me all is well. When I was driving +here today, the nearer I got to the house the more anxious I grew. As I +entered the anteroom I heard Andrusha's peals of laughter and that meant +that all was well." + +"I know! I know that feeling," said Nicholas. "But I mustn't go there-- +those stockings are to be a surprise for me." + +Pierre went to the children, and the shouting and laughter grew still +louder. + +"Come, Anna Makarovna," Pierre's voice was heard saying, "come here into +the middle of the room and at the word of command, 'One, two,' and when +I say 'three'... You stand here, and you in my arms--well now! One, +two!..." said Pierre, and a silence followed: "three!" and a rapturously +breathless cry of children's voices filled the room. "Two, two!" they +shouted. + +This meant two stockings, which by a secret process known only to +herself Anna Makarovna used to knit at the same time on the same +needles, and which, when they were ready, she always triumphantly drew, +one out of the other, in the children's presence. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Soon after this the children came in to say good night. They kissed +everyone, the tutors and governesses made their bows, and they went out. +Only young Nicholas and his tutor remained. Dessalles whispered to the +boy to come downstairs. + +"No, Monsieur Dessalles, I will ask my aunt to let me stay," replied +Nicholas Bolkonski also in a whisper. + +"Ma tante, please let me stay," said he, going up to his aunt. + +His face expressed entreaty, agitation, and ecstasy. Countess Mary +glanced at him and turned to Pierre. + +"When you are here he can't tear himself away," she said. + +"I will bring him to you directly, Monsieur Dessalles. Good night!" said +Pierre, giving his hand to the Swiss tutor, and he turned to young +Nicholas with a smile. "You and I haven't seen anything of one another +yet... How like he is growing, Mary!" he added, addressing Countess +Mary. + +"Like my father?" asked the boy, flushing crimson and looking up at +Pierre with bright, ecstatic eyes. + +Pierre nodded, and went on with what he had been saying when the +children had interrupted. Countess Mary sat down doing woolwork; Natasha +did not take her eyes off her husband. Nicholas and Denisov rose, asked +for their pipes, smoked, went to fetch more tea from Sonya--who sat +weary but resolute at the samovar--and questioned Pierre. The curly- +headed, delicate boy sat with shining eyes unnoticed in a corner, +starting every now and then and muttering something to himself, and +evidently experiencing a new and powerful emotion as he turned his curly +head, with his thin neck exposed by his turn-down collar, toward the +place where Pierre sat. + +The conversation turned on the contemporary gossip about those in power, +in which most people see the chief interest of home politics. Denisov, +dissatisfied with the government on account of his own disappointments +in the service, heard with pleasure of the things done in Petersburg +which seemed to him stupid, and made forcible and sharp comments on what +Pierre told them. + +"One used to have to be a German--now one must dance with Tatawinova and +Madame Kwudener, and wead Ecka'tshausen and the bwethwen. Oh, they +should let that fine fellow Bonaparte loose--he'd knock all this +nonsense out of them! Fancy giving the command of the Semenov wegiment +to a fellow like that Schwa'tz!" he cried. + +Nicholas, though free from Denisov's readiness to find fault with +everything, also thought that discussion of the government was a very +serious and weighty matter, and the fact that A had been appointed +Minister of This and B Governor General of That, and that the Emperor +had said so-and-so and this minister so-and-so, seemed to him very +important. And so he thought it necessary to take an interest in these +things and to question Pierre. The questions put by these two kept the +conversation from changing its ordinary character of gossip about the +higher government circles. + +But Natasha, knowing all her husband's ways and ideas, saw that he had +long been wishing but had been unable to divert the conversation to +another channel and express his own deeply felt idea for the sake of +which he had gone to Petersburg to consult with his new friend Prince +Theodore, and she helped him by asking how his affairs with Prince +Theodore had gone. + +"What was it about?" asked Nicholas. + +"Always the same thing," said Pierre, looking round at his listeners. +"Everybody sees that things are going so badly that they cannot be +allowed to go on so and that it is the duty of all decent men to +counteract it as far as they can." + +"What can decent men do?" Nicholas inquired, frowning slightly. "What +can be done?" + +"Why, this..." + +"Come into my study," said Nicholas. + +Natasha, who had long expected to be fetched to nurse her baby, now +heard the nurse calling her and went to the nursery. Countess Mary +followed her. The men went into the study and little Nicholas Bolkonski +followed them unnoticed by his uncle and sat down at the writing table +in a shady corner by the window. + +"Well, what would you do?" asked Denisov. + +"Always some fantastic schemes," said Nicholas. + +"Why this," began Pierre, not sitting down but pacing the room, +sometimes stopping short, gesticulating, and lisping: "the position in +Petersburg is this: the Emperor does not look into anything. He has +abandoned himself altogether to this mysticism" (Pierre could not +tolerate mysticism in anyone now). "He seeks only for peace, and only +these people sans foi ni loi * can give it him--people who recklessly +hack at and strangle everything--Magnitski, Arakcheev, and tutti +quanti.... You will agree that if you did not look after your estates +yourself but only wanted a quiet life, the harsher your steward was the +more readily your object might be attained," he said to Nicholas. + + +* Without faith or law. + +"Well, what does that lead up to?" said Nicholas. + +"Well, everything is going to ruin! Robbery in the law courts, in the +army nothing but flogging, drilling, and Military Settlements; the +people are tortured, enlightenment is suppressed. All that is young and +honest is crushed! Everyone sees that this cannot go on. Everything is +strained to such a degree that it will certainly break," said Pierre (as +those who examine the actions of any government have always said since +governments began). "I told them just one thing in Petersburg." + +"Told whom?" + +"Well, you know whom," said Pierre, with a meaning glance from under his +brows. "Prince Theodore and all those. To encourage culture and +philanthropy is all very well of course. The aim is excellent but in the +present circumstances something else is needed." + +At that moment Nicholas noticed the presence of his nephew. His face +darkened and he went up to the boy. + +"Why are you here?" + +"Why? Let him be," said Pierre, taking Nicholas by the arm and +continuing. "That is not enough, I told them. Something else is needed. +When you stand expecting the overstrained string to snap at any moment, +when everyone is expecting the inevitable catastrophe, as many as +possible must join hands as closely as they can to withstand the general +calamity. Everything that is young and strong is being enticed away and +depraved. One is lured by women, another by honors, a third by ambition +or money, and they go over to that camp. No independent men, such as you +or I, are left. What I say is widen the scope of our society, let the +mot d'ordre be not virtue alone but independence and action as well!" + +Nicholas, who had left his nephew, irritably pushed up an armchair, sat +down in it, and listened to Pierre, coughing discontentedly and frowning +more and more. + +"But action with what aim?" he cried. "And what position will you adopt +toward the government?" + +"Why, the position of assistants. The society need not be secret if the +government allows it. Not merely is it not hostile to government, but it +is a society of true conservatives--a society of gentlemen in the full +meaning of that word. It is only to prevent some Pugachev or other from +killing my children and yours, and Arakcheev from sending me off to some +Military Settlement. We join hands only for the public welfare and the +general safety." + +"Yes, but it's a secret society and therefore a hostile and harmful one +which can only cause harm." + +"Why? Did the Tugendbund which saved Europe" (they did not then venture +to suggest that Russia had saved Europe) "do any harm? The Tugendbund is +an alliance of virtue: it is love, mutual help... it is what Christ +preached on the Cross." + +Natasha, who had come in during the conversation, looked joyfully at her +husband. It was not what he was saying that pleased her--that did not +even interest her, for it seemed to her that was all extremely simple +and that she had known it a long time (it seemed so to her because she +knew that it sprang from Pierre's whole soul), but it was his animated +and enthusiastic appearance that made her glad. + +The boy with the thin neck stretching out from the turn-down collar-- +whom everyone had forgotten--gazed at Pierre with even greater and more +rapturous joy. Every word of Pierre's burned into his heart, and with a +nervous movement of his fingers he unconsciously broke the sealing wax +and quill pens his hands came upon on his uncle's table. + +"It is not at all what you suppose; but that is what the German +Tugendbund was, and what I am proposing." + +"No, my fwiend! The Tugendbund is all vewy well for the sausage eaters, +but I don't understand it and can't even pwonounce it," interposed +Denisov in a loud and resolute voice. "I agwee that evewything here is +wotten and howwible, but the Tugendbund I don't understand. If we're not +satisfied, let us have a bunt of our own. That's all wight. Je suis +vot'e homme!" * + + +* "I'm your man." + +Pierre smiled, Natasha began to laugh, but Nicholas knitted his brows +still more and began proving to Pierre that there was no prospect of any +great change and that all the danger he spoke of existed only in his +imagination. Pierre maintained the contrary, and as his mental faculties +were greater and more resourceful, Nicholas felt himself cornered. This +made him still angrier, for he was fully convinced, not by reasoning but +by something within him stronger than reason, of the justice of his +opinion. + +"I will tell you this," he said, rising and trying with nervously +twitching fingers to prop up his pipe in a corner, but finally +abandoning the attempt. "I can't prove it to you. You say that +everything here is rotten and that an overthrow is coming: I don't see +it. But you also say that our oath of allegiance is a conditional +matter, and to that I reply: 'You are my best friend, as you know, but +if you formed a secret society and began working against the government- +-be it what it may--I know it is my duty to obey the government. And if +Arakcheev ordered me to lead a squadron against you and cut you down, I +should not hesitate an instant, but should do it.' And you may argue +about that as you like!" + +An awkward silence followed these words. Natasha was the first to speak, +defending her husband and attacking her brother. Her defense was weak +and inapt but she attained her object. The conversation was resumed, and +no longer in the unpleasantly hostile tone of Nicholas' last remark. + +When they all got up to go in to supper, little Nicholas Bolkonski went +up to Pierre, pale and with shining, radiant eyes. + +"Uncle Pierre, you... no... If Papa were alive... would he agree with +you?" he asked. + +And Pierre suddenly realized what a special, independent, complex, and +powerful process of thought and feeling must have been going on in this +boy during that conversation, and remembering all he had said he +regretted that the lad should have heard him. He had, however, to give +him an answer. + +"Yes, I think so," he said reluctantly, and left the study. + +The lad looked down and seemed now for the first time to notice what he +had done to the things on the table. He flushed and went up to Nicholas. + +"Uncle, forgive me, I did that... unintentionally," he said, pointing to +the broken sealing wax and pens. + +Nicholas started angrily. + +"All right, all right," he said, throwing the bits under the table. + +And evidently suppressing his vexation with difficulty, he turned away +from the boy. + +"You ought not to have been here at all," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The conversation at supper was not about politics or societies, but +turned on the subject Nicholas liked best--recollections of 1812. +Denisov started these and Pierre was particularly agreeable and amusing +about them. The family separated on the most friendly terms. + +After supper Nicholas, having undressed in his study and given +instructions to the steward who had been waiting for him, went to the +bedroom in his dressing gown, where he found his wife still at her +table, writing. + +"What are you writing, Mary?" Nicholas asked. + +Countess Mary blushed. She was afraid that what she was writing would +not be understood or approved by her husband. + +She had wanted to conceal what she was writing from him, but at the same +time was glad he had surprised her at it and that she would now have to +tell him. + +"A diary, Nicholas," she replied, handing him a blue exercise book +filled with her firm, bold writing. + +"A diary?" Nicholas repeated with a shade of irony, and he took up the +book. + +It was in French. + +December 4. Today when Andrusha (her eldest boy) woke up he did not wish +to dress and Mademoiselle Louise sent for me. He was naughty and +obstinate. I tried threats, but he only grew angrier. Then I took the +matter in hand: I left him alone and began with nurse's help to get the +other children up, telling him that I did not love him. For a long time +he was silent, as if astonished, then he jumped out of bed, ran to me in +his shirt, and sobbed so that I could not calm him for a long time. It +was plain that what troubled him most was that he had grieved me. +Afterwards in the evening when I gave him his ticket, he again began +crying piteously and kissing me. One can do anything with him by +tenderness. + +"What is a 'ticket'?" Nicholas inquired. + +"I have begun giving the elder ones marks every evening, showing how +they have behaved." + +Nicholas looked into the radiant eyes that were gazing at him, and +continued to turn over the pages and read. In the diary was set down +everything in the children's lives that seemed noteworthy to their +mother as showing their characters or suggesting general reflections on +educational methods. They were for the most part quite insignificant +trifles, but did not seem so to the mother or to the father either, now +that he read this diary about his children for the first time. + +Under the date "5" was entered: + +Mitya was naughty at table. Papa said he was to have no pudding. He had +none, but looked so unhappily and greedily at the others while they were +eating! I think that punishment by depriving children of sweets only +develops their greediness. Must tell Nicholas this. + +Nicholas put down the book and looked at his wife. The radiant eyes +gazed at him questioningly: would he approve or disapprove of her diary? +There could be no doubt not only of his approval but also of his +admiration for his wife. + +Perhaps it need not be done so pedantically, thought Nicholas, or even +done at all, but this untiring, continual spiritual effort of which the +sole aim was the children's moral welfare delighted him. Had Nicholas +been able to analyze his feelings he would have found that his steady, +tender, and proud love of his wife rested on his feeling of wonder at +her spirituality and at the lofty moral world, almost beyond his reach, +in which she had her being. + +He was proud of her intelligence and goodness, recognized his own +insignificance beside her in the spiritual world, and rejoiced all the +more that she with such a soul not only belonged to him but was part of +himself. + +"I quite, quite approve, my dearest!" said he with a significant look, +and after a short pause he added: "And I behaved badly today. You +weren't in the study. We began disputing--Pierre and I--and I lost my +temper. But he is impossible: such a child! I don't know what would +become of him if Natasha didn't keep him in hand.... Have you any idea +why he went to Petersburg? They have formed..." + +"Yes, I know," said Countess Mary. "Natasha told me." + +"Well, then, you know," Nicholas went on, growing hot at the mere +recollection of their discussion, "he wanted to convince me that it is +every honest man's duty to go against the government, and that the oath +of allegiance and duty... I am sorry you weren't there. They all fell on +me--Denisov and Natasha... Natasha is absurd. How she rules over him! +And yet there need only be a discussion and she has no words of her own +but only repeats his sayings..." added Nicholas, yielding to that +irresistible inclination which tempts us to judge those nearest and +dearest to us. He forgot that what he was saying about Natasha could +have been applied word for word to himself in relation to his wife. + +"Yes, I have noticed that," said Countess Mary. + +"When I told him that duty and the oath were above everything, he +started proving goodness knows what! A pity you were not there--what +would you have said?" + +"As I see it you were quite right, and I told Natasha so. Pierre says +everybody is suffering, tortured, and being corrupted, and that it is +our duty to help our neighbor. Of course he is right there," said +Countess Mary, "but he forgets that we have other duties nearer to us, +duties indicated to us by God Himself, and that though we might expose +ourselves to risks we must not risk our children." + +"Yes, that's it! That's just what I said to him," put in Nicholas, who +fancied he really had said it. "But they insisted on their own view: +love of one's neighbor and Christianity--and all this in the presence of +young Nicholas, who had gone into my study and broke all my things." + +"Ah, Nicholas, do you know I am often troubled about little Nicholas," +said Countess Mary. "He is such an exceptional boy. I am afraid I +neglect him in favor of my own: we all have children and relations while +he has no one. He is constantly alone with his thoughts." + +"Well, I don't think you need reproach yourself on his account. All that +the fondest mother could do for her son you have done and are doing for +him, and of course I am glad of it. He is a fine lad, a fine lad! This +evening he listened to Pierre in a sort of trance, and fancy--as we were +going in to supper I looked and he had broken everything on my table to +bits, and he told me of it himself at once! I never knew him to tell an +untruth. A fine lad, a fine lad!" repeated Nicholas, who at heart was +not fond of Nicholas Bolkonski but was always anxious to recognize that +he was a fine lad. + +"Still, I am not the same as his own mother," said Countess Mary. "I +feel I am not the same and it troubles me. A wonderful boy, but I am +dreadfully afraid for him. It would be good for him to have companions." + +"Well it won't be for long. Next summer I'll take him to Petersburg," +said Nicholas. "Yes, Pierre always was a dreamer and always will be," he +continued, returning to the talk in the study which had evidently +disturbed him. "Well, what business is it of mine what goes on there-- +whether Arakcheev is bad, and all that? What business was it of mine +when I married and was so deep in debt that I was threatened with +prison, and had a mother who could not see or understand it? And then +there are you and the children and our affairs. Is it for my own +pleasure that I am at the farm or in the office from morning to night? +No, but I know I must work to comfort my mother, to repay you, and not +to leave the children such beggars as I was." + +Countess Mary wanted to tell him that man does not live by bread alone +and that he attached too much importance to these matters. But she knew +she must not say this and that it would be useless to do so. She only +took his hand and kissed it. He took this as a sign of approval and a +confirmation of his thoughts, and after a few minutes' reflection +continued to think aloud. + +"You know, Mary, today Elias Mitrofanych" (this was his overseer) "came +back from the Tambov estate and told me they are already offering eighty +thousand rubles for the forest." + +And with an eager face Nicholas began to speak of the possibility of +repurchasing Otradnoe before long, and added: "Another ten years of life +and I shall leave the children... in an excellent position." + +Countess Mary listened to her husband and understood all that he told +her. She knew that when he thought aloud in this way he would sometimes +ask her what he had been saying, and be vexed if he noticed that she had +been thinking about something else. But she had to force herself to +attend, for what he was saying did not interest her at all. She looked +at him and did not think, but felt, about something different. She felt +a submissive tender love for this man who would never understand all +that she understood, and this seemed to make her love for him still +stronger and added a touch of passionate tenderness. Besides this +feeling which absorbed her altogether and hindered her from following +the details of her husband's plans, thoughts that had no connection with +what he was saying flitted through her mind. She thought of her nephew. +Her husband's account of the boy's agitation while Pierre was speaking +struck her forcibly, and various traits of his gentle, sensitive +character recurred to her mind; and while thinking of her nephew she +thought also of her own children. She did not compare them with him, but +compared her feeling for them with her feeling for him, and felt with +regret that there was something lacking in her feeling for young +Nicholas. + +Sometimes it seemed to her that this difference arose from the +difference in their ages, but she felt herself to blame toward him and +promised in her heart to do better and to accomplish the impossible--in +this life to love her husband, her children, little Nicholas, and all +her neighbors, as Christ loved mankind. Countess Mary's soul always +strove toward the infinite, the eternal, and the absolute, and could +therefore never be at peace. A stern expression of the lofty, secret +suffering of a soul burdened by the body appeared on her face. Nicholas +gazed at her. "O God! What will become of us if she dies, as I always +fear when her face is like that?" thought he, and placing himself before +the icon he began to say his evening prayers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Natasha and Pierre, left alone, also began to talk as only a husband and +wife can talk, that is, with extraordinary clearness and rapidity, +understanding and expressing each other's thoughts in ways contrary to +all rules of logic, without premises, deductions, or conclusions, and in +a quite peculiar way. Natasha was so used to this kind of talk with her +husband that for her it was the surest sign of something being wrong +between them if Pierre followed a line of logical reasoning. When he +began proving anything, or talking argumentatively and calmly and she, +led on by his example, began to do the same, she knew that they were on +the verge of a quarrel. + +From the moment they were alone and Natasha came up to him with wide- +open happy eyes, and quickly seizing his head pressed it to her bosom, +saying: "Now you are all mine, mine! You won't escape!"--from that +moment this conversation began, contrary to all the laws of logic and +contrary to them because quite different subjects were talked about at +one and the same time. This simultaneous discussion of many topics did +not prevent a clear understanding but on the contrary was the surest +sign that they fully understood one another. + +Just as in a dream when all is uncertain, unreasoning, and +contradictory, except the feeling that guides the dream, so in this +intercourse contrary to all laws of reason, the words themselves were +not consecutive and clear but only the feeling that prompted them. + +Natasha spoke to Pierre about her brother's life and doings, of how she +had suffered and lacked life during his own absence, and of how she was +fonder than ever of Mary, and how Mary was in every way better than +herself. In saying this Natasha was sincere in acknowledging Mary's +superiority, but at the same time by saying it she made a demand on +Pierre that he should, all the same, prefer her to Mary and to all other +women, and that now, especially after having seen many women in +Petersburg, he should tell her so afresh. + +Pierre, answering Natasha's words, told her how intolerable it had been +for him to meet ladies at dinners and balls in Petersburg. + +"I have quite lost the knack of talking to ladies," he said. "It was +simply dull. Besides, I was very busy." + +Natasha looked intently at him and went on: + +"Mary is so splendid," she said. "How she understands children! It is as +if she saw straight into their souls. Yesterday, for instance, Mitya was +naughty..." + +"How like his father he is," Pierre interjected. + +Natasha knew why he mentioned Mitya's likeness to Nicholas: the +recollection of his dispute with his brother-in-law was unpleasant and +he wanted to know what Natasha thought of it. + +"Nicholas has the weakness of never agreeing with anything not generally +accepted. But I understand that you value what opens up a fresh line," +said she, repeating words Pierre had once uttered. + +"No, the chief point is that to Nicholas ideas and discussions are an +amusement--almost a pastime," said Pierre. "For instance, he is +collecting a library and has made it a rule not to buy a new book till +he has read what he had already bought--Sismondi and Rousseau and +Montesquieu," he added with a smile. "You know how much I..." he began +to soften down what he had said; but Natasha interrupted him to show +that this was unnecessary. + +"So you say ideas are an amusement to him...." + +"Yes, and for me nothing else is serious. All the time in Petersburg I +saw everyone as in a dream. When I am taken up by a thought, all else is +mere amusement." + +"Ah, I'm so sorry I wasn't there when you met the children," said +Natasha. "Which was most delighted? Lisa, I'm sure." + +"Yes," Pierre replied, and went on with what was in his mind. "Nicholas +says we ought not to think. But I can't help it. Besides, when I was in +Petersburg I felt (I can say this to you) that the whole affair would go +to pieces without me--everyone was pulling his own way. But I succeeded +in uniting them all; and then my idea is so clear and simple. You see, I +don't say that we ought to oppose this and that. We may be mistaken. +What I say is: 'Join hands, you who love the right, and let there be but +one banner--that of active virtue.' Prince Sergey is a fine fellow and +clever." + +Natasha would have had no doubt as to the greatness of Pierre's idea, +but one thing disconcerted her. "Can a man so important and necessary to +society be also my husband? How did this happen?" She wished to express +this doubt to him. "Now who could decide whether he is really cleverer +than all the others?" she asked herself, and passed in review all those +whom Pierre most respected. Judging by what he had said there was no one +he had respected so highly as Platon Karataev. + +"Do you know what I am thinking about?" she asked. "About Platon +Karataev. Would he have approved of you now, do you think?" + +Pierre was not at all surprised at this question. He understood his +wife's line of thought. + +"Platon Karataev?" he repeated, and pondered, evidently sincerely trying +to imagine Karataev's opinion on the subject. "He would not have +understood... yet perhaps he would." + +"I love you awfully!" Natasha suddenly said. "Awfully, awfully!" + +"No, he would not have approved," said Pierre, after reflection. "What +he would have approved of is our family life. He was always so anxious +to find seemliness, happiness, and peace in everything, and I should +have been proud to let him see us. There now--you talk of my absence, +but you wouldn't believe what a special feeling I have for you after a +separation...." + +"Yes, I should think..." Natasha began. + +"No, it's not that. I never leave off loving you. And one couldn't love +more, but this is something special.... Yes, of course-" he did not +finish because their eyes meeting said the rest. + +"What nonsense it is," Natasha suddenly exclaimed, "about honeymoons, +and that the greatest happiness is at first! On the contrary, now is the +best of all. If only you did not go away! Do you remember how we +quarreled? And it was always my fault. Always mine. And what we +quarreled about--I don't even remember!" + +"Always about the same thing," said Pierre with a smile. "Jealo..." + +"Don't say it! I can't bear it!" Natasha cried, and her eyes glittered +coldly and vindictively. "Did you see her?" she added, after a pause. + +"No, and if I had I shouldn't have recognized her." + +They were silent for a while. + +"Oh, do you know? While you were talking in the study I was looking at +you," Natasha began, evidently anxious to disperse the cloud that had +come over them. "You are as like him as two peas--like the boy." (She +meant her little son.) "Oh, it's time to go to him.... The milk's +come.... But I'm sorry to leave you." + +They were silent for a few seconds. Then suddenly turning to one another +at the same time they both began to speak. Pierre began with self- +satisfaction and enthusiasm, Natasha with a quiet, happy smile. Having +interrupted one another they both stopped to let the other continue. + +"No. What did you say? Go on, go on." + +"No, you go on, I was talking nonsense," said Natasha. + +Pierre finished what he had begun. It was the sequel to his complacent +reflections on his success in Petersburg. At that moment it seemed to +him that he was chosen to give a new direction to the whole of Russian +society and to the whole world. + +"I only wished to say that ideas that have great results are always +simple ones. My whole idea is that if vicious people are united and +constitute a power, then honest folk must do the same. Now that's simple +enough." + +"Yes." + +"And what were you going to say?" + +"I? Only nonsense." + +"But all the same?" + +"Oh nothing, only a trifle," said Natasha, smilingly still more +brightly. "I only wanted to tell you about Petya: today nurse was coming +to take him from me, and he laughed, shut his eyes, and clung to me. I'm +sure he thought he was hiding. Awfully sweet! There, now he's crying. +Well, good-by!" and she left the room. + +Meanwhile downstairs in young Nicholas Bolkonski's bedroom a little lamp +was burning as usual. (The boy was afraid of the dark and they could not +cure him of it.) Dessalles slept propped up on four pillows and his +Roman nose emitted sounds of rhythmic snoring. Little Nicholas, who had +just waked up in a cold perspiration, sat up in bed and gazed before him +with wide-open eyes. He had awaked from a terrible dream. He had dreamed +that he and Uncle Pierre, wearing helmets such as were depicted in his +Plutarch, were leading a huge army. The army was made up of white +slanting lines that filled the air like the cobwebs that float about in +autumn and which Dessalles called les fils de la Vierge. In front was +Glory, which was similar to those threads but rather thicker. He and +Pierre were borne along lightly and joyously, nearer and nearer to their +goal. Suddenly the threads that moved them began to slacken and become +entangled and it grew difficult to move. And Uncle Nicholas stood before +them in a stern and threatening attitude. + +"Have you done this?" he said, pointing to some broken sealing wax and +pens. "I loved you, but I have orders from Arakcheev and will kill the +first of you who moves forward." Little Nicholas turned to look at +Pierre but Pierre was no longer there. In his place was his father-- +Prince Andrew--and his father had neither shape nor form, but he +existed, and when little Nicholas perceived him he grew faint with love: +he felt himself powerless, limp, and formless. His father caressed and +pitied him. But Uncle Nicholas came nearer and nearer to them. Terror +seized young Nicholas and he awoke. + +"My father!" he thought. (Though there were two good portraits of Prince +Andrew in the house, Nicholas never imagined him in human form.) "My +father has been with me and caressed me. He approved of me and of Uncle +Pierre. Whatever he may tell me, I will do it. Mucius Scaevola burned +his hand. Why should not the same sort of thing happen to me? I know +they want me to learn. And I will learn. But someday I shall have +finished learning, and then I will do something. I only pray God that +something may happen to me such as happened to Plutarch's men, and I +will act as they did. I will do better. Everyone shall know me, love me, +and be delighted with me!" And suddenly his bosom heaved with sobs and +he began to cry. + +"Are you ill?" he heard Dessalles' voice asking. + +"No," answered Nicholas, and lay back on his pillow. + +"He is good and kind and I am fond of him!" he thought of Dessalles. +"But Uncle Pierre! Oh, what a wonderful man he is! And my father? Oh, +Father, Father! Yes, I will do something with which even he would be +satisfied...." + +SECOND EPILOGUE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +History is the life of nations and of humanity. To seize and put into +words, to describe directly the life of humanity or even of a single +nation, appears impossible. + +The ancient historians all employed one and the same method to describe +and seize the apparently elusive--the life of a people. They described +the activity of individuals who ruled the people, and regarded the +activity of those men as representing the activity of the whole nation. + +The question: how did individuals make nations act as they wished and by +what was the will of these individuals themselves guided? the ancients +met by recognizing a divinity which subjected the nations to the will of +a chosen man, and guided the will of that chosen man so as to accomplish +ends that were predestined. + +For the ancients these questions were solved by a belief in the direct +participation of the Deity in human affairs. + +Modern history, in theory, rejects both these principles. + +It would seem that having rejected the belief of the ancients in man's +subjection to the Deity and in a predetermined aim toward which nations +are led, modern history should study not the manifestations of power but +the causes that produce it. But modern history has not done this. Having +in theory rejected the view held by the ancients, it still follows them +in practice. + +Instead of men endowed with divine authority and directly guided by the +will of God, modern history has given us either heroes endowed with +extraordinary, superhuman capacities, or simply men of very various +kinds, from monarchs to journalists, who lead the masses. Instead of the +former divinely appointed aims of the Jewish, Greek, or Roman nations, +which ancient historians regarded as representing the progress of +humanity, modern history has postulated its own aims--the welfare of the +French, German, or English people, or, in its highest abstraction, the +welfare and civilization of humanity in general, by which is usually +meant that of the peoples occupying a small northwesterly portion of a +large continent. + +Modern history has rejected the beliefs of the ancients without +replacing them by a new conception, and the logic of the situation has +obliged the historians, after they had apparently rejected the divine +authority of the kings and the "fate" of the ancients, to reach the same +conclusion by another road, that is, to recognize (1) nations guided by +individual men, and (2) the existence of a known aim to which these +nations and humanity at large are tending. + +At the basis of the works of all the modern historians from Gibbon to +Buckle, despite their seeming disagreements and the apparent novelty of +their outlooks, lie those two old, unavoidable assumptions. + +In the first place the historian describes the activity of individuals +who in his opinion have directed humanity (one historian considers only +monarchs, generals, and ministers as being such men, while another +includes also orators, learned men, reformers, philosophers, and poets). +Secondly, it is assumed that the goal toward which humanity is being led +is known to the historians: to one of them this goal is the greatness of +the Roman, Spanish, or French realm; to another it is liberty, equality, +and a certain kind of civilization of a small corner of the world called +Europe. + +In 1789 a ferment arises in Paris; it grows, spreads, and is expressed +by a movement of peoples from west to east. Several times it moves +eastward and collides with a countermovement from the east westward. In +1812 it reaches its extreme limit, Moscow, and then, with remarkable +symmetry, a countermovement occurs from east to west, attracting to it, +as the first movement had done, the nations of middle Europe. The +counter movement reaches the starting point of the first movement in the +west--Paris--and subsides. + +During that twenty-year period an immense number of fields were left +untilled, houses were burned, trade changed its direction, millions of +men migrated, were impoverished, or were enriched, and millions of +Christian men professing the law of love of their fellows slew one +another. + +What does all this mean? Why did it happen? What made those people burn +houses and slay their fellow men? What were the causes of these events? +What force made men act so? These are the instinctive, plain, and most +legitimate questions humanity asks itself when it encounters the +monuments and tradition of that period. + +For a reply to these questions the common sense of mankind turns to the +science of history, whose aim is to enable nations and humanity to know +themselves. + +If history had retained the conception of the ancients it would have +said that God, to reward or punish his people, gave Napoleon power and +directed his will to the fulfillment of the divine ends, and that reply +would have been clear and complete. One might believe or disbelieve in +the divine significance of Napoleon, but for anyone believing in it +there would have been nothing unintelligible in the history of that +period, nor would there have been any contradictions. + +But modern history cannot give that reply. Science does not admit the +conception of the ancients as to the direct participation of the Deity +in human affairs, and therefore history ought to give other answers. + +Modern history replying to these questions says: you want to know what +this movement means, what caused it, and what force produced these +events? Then listen: + +"Louis XIV was a very proud and self-confident man; he had such and such +mistresses and such and such ministers and he ruled France badly. His +descendants were weak men and they too ruled France badly. And they had +such and such favorites and such and such mistresses. Moreover, certain +men wrote some books at that time. At the end of the eighteenth century +there were a couple of dozen men in Paris who began to talk about all +men being free and equal. This caused people all over France to begin to +slash at and drown one another. They killed the king and many other +people. At that time there was in France a man of genius--Napoleon. He +conquered everybody everywhere--that is, he killed many people because +he was a great genius. And for some reason he went to kill Africans, and +killed them so well and was so cunning and wise that when he returned to +France he ordered everybody to obey him, and they all obeyed him. Having +become an Emperor he again went out to kill people in Italy, Austria, +and Prussia. And there too he killed a great many. In Russia there was +an Emperor, Alexander, who decided to restore order in Europe and +therefore fought against Napoleon. In 1807 he suddenly made friends with +him, but in 1811 they again quarreled and again began killing many +people. Napoleon led six hundred thousand men into Russia and captured +Moscow; then he suddenly ran away from Moscow, and the Emperor +Alexander, helped by the advice of Stein and others, united Europe to +arm against the disturber of its peace. All Napoleon's allies suddenly +became his enemies and their forces advanced against the fresh forces he +raised. The Allies defeated Napoleon, entered Paris, forced Napoleon to +abdicate, and sent him to the island of Elba, not depriving him of the +title of Emperor and showing him every respect, though five years before +and one year later they all regarded him as an outlaw and a brigand. +Then Louis XVIII, who till then had been the laughingstock both of the +French and the Allies, began to reign. And Napoleon, shedding tears +before his Old Guards, renounced the throne and went into exile. Then +the skillful statesmen and diplomatists (especially Talleyrand, who +managed to sit down in a particular chair before anyone else and thereby +extended the frontiers of France) talked in Vienna and by these +conversations made the nations happy or unhappy. Suddenly the +diplomatists and monarchs nearly quarreled and were on the point of +again ordering their armies to kill one another, but just then Napoleon +arrived in France with a battalion, and the French, who had been hating +him, immediately all submitted to him. But the Allied monarchs were +angry at this and went to fight the French once more. And they defeated +the genius Napoleon and, suddenly recognizing him as a brigand, sent him +to the island of St. Helena. And the exile, separated from the beloved +France so dear to his heart, died a lingering death on that rock and +bequeathed his great deeds to posterity. But in Europe a reaction +occurred and the sovereigns once again all began to oppress their +subjects." + +It would be a mistake to think that this is ironic--a caricature of the +historical accounts. On the contrary it is a very mild expression of the +contradictory replies, not meeting the questions, which all the +historians give, from the compilers of memoirs and the histories of +separate states to the writers of general histories and the new +histories of the culture of that period. + +The strangeness and absurdity of these replies arise from the fact that +modern history, like a deaf man, answers questions no one has asked. + +If the purpose of history be to give a description of the movement of +humanity and of the peoples, the first question--in the absence of a +reply to which all the rest will be incomprehensible--is: what is the +power that moves peoples? To this, modern history laboriously replies +either that Napoleon was a great genius, or that Louis XIV was very +proud, or that certain writers wrote certain books. + +All that may be so and mankind is ready to agree with it, but it is not +what was asked. All that would be interesting if we recognized a divine +power based on itself and always consistently directing its nations +through Napoleons, Louis-es, and writers; but we do not acknowledge such +a power, and therefore before speaking about Napoleons, Louis-es, and +authors, we ought to be shown the connection existing between these men +and the movement of the nations. + +If instead of a divine power some other force has appeared, it should be +explained in what this new force consists, for the whole interest of +history lies precisely in that force. + +History seems to assume that this force is self-evident and known to +everyone. But in spite of every desire to regard it as known, anyone +reading many historical works cannot help doubting whether this new +force, so variously understood by the historians themselves, is really +quite well known to everybody. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +What force moves the nations? + +Biographical historians and historians of separate nations understand +this force as a power inherent in heroes and rulers. In their narration +events occur solely by the will of a Napoleon, and Alexander, or in +general of the persons they describe. The answers given by this kind of +historian to the question of what force causes events to happen are +satisfactory only as long as there is but one historian to each event. +As soon as historians of different nationalities and tendencies begin to +describe the same event, the replies they give immediately lose all +meaning, for this force is understood by them all not only differently +but often in quite contradictory ways. One historian says that an event +was produced by Napoleon's power, another that it was produced by +Alexander's, a third that it was due to the power of some other person. +Besides this, historians of that kind contradict each other even in +their statement as to the force on which the authority of some +particular person was based. Thiers, a Bonapartist, says that Napoleon's +power was based on his virtue and genius. Lanfrey, a Republican, says it +was based on his trickery and deception of the people. So the historians +of this class, by mutually destroying one another's positions, destroy +the understanding of the force which produces events, and furnish no +reply to history's essential question. + +Writers of universal history who deal with all the nations seem to +recognize how erroneous is the specialist historians' view of the force +which produces events. They do not recognize it as a power inherent in +heroes and rulers, but as the resultant of a multiplicity of variously +directed forces. In describing a war or the subjugation of a people, a +general historian looks for the cause of the event not in the power of +one man, but in the interaction of many persons connected with the +event. + +According to this view the power of historical personages, represented +as the product of many forces, can no longer, it would seem, be regarded +as a force that itself produces events. Yet in most cases universal +historians still employ the conception of power as a force that itself +produces events, and treat it as their cause. In their exposition, an +historic character is first the product of his time, and his power only +the resultant of various forces, and then his power is itself a force +producing events. Gervinus, Schlosser, and others, for instance, at one +time prove Napoleon to be a product of the Revolution, of the ideas of +1789 and so forth, and at another plainly say that the campaign of 1812 +and other things they do not like were simply the product of Napoleon's +misdirected will, and that the very ideas of 1789 were arrested in their +development by Napoleon's caprice. The ideas of the Revolution and the +general temper of the age produced Napoleon's power. But Napoleon's +power suppressed the ideas of the Revolution and the general temper of +the age. + +This curious contradiction is not accidental. Not only does it occur at +every step, but the universal historians' accounts are all made up of a +chain of such contradictions. This contradiction occurs because after +entering the field of analysis the universal historians stop halfway. + +To find component forces equal to the composite or resultant force, the +sum of the components must equal the resultant. This condition is never +observed by the universal historians, and so to explain the resultant +forces they are obliged to admit, in addition to the insufficient +components, another unexplained force affecting the resultant action. + +Specialist historians describing the campaign of 1813 or the restoration +of the Bourbons plainly assert that these events were produced by the +will of Alexander. But the universal historian Gervinus, refuting this +opinion of the specialist historian, tries to prove that the campaign of +1813 and the restoration of the Bourbons were due to other things beside +Alexander's will--such as the activity of Stein, Metternich, Madame de +Stael, Talleyrand, Fichte, Chateaubriand, and others. The historian +evidently decomposes Alexander's power into the components: Talleyrand, +Chateaubriand, and the rest--but the sum of the components, that is, the +interactions of Chateaubriand, Talleyrand, Madame de Stael, and the +others, evidently does not equal the resultant, namely the phenomenon of +millions of Frenchmen submitting to the Bourbons. That Chateaubriand, +Madame de Stael, and others spoke certain words to one another only +affected their mutual relations but does not account for the submission +of millions. And therefore to explain how from these relations of theirs +the submission of millions of people resulted--that is, how component +forces equal to one A gave a resultant equal to a thousand times A--the +historian is again obliged to fall back on power--the force he had +denied--and to recognize it as the resultant of the forces, that is, he +has to admit an unexplained force acting on the resultant. And that is +just what the universal historians do, and consequently they not only +contradict the specialist historians but contradict themselves. + +Peasants having no clear idea of the cause of rain, say, according to +whether they want rain or fine weather: "The wind has blown the clouds +away," or, "The wind has brought up the clouds." And in the same way the +universal historians sometimes, when it pleases them and fits in with +their theory, say that power is the result of events, and sometimes, +when they want to prove something else, say that power produces events. + +A third class of historians--the so-called historians of culture-- +following the path laid down by the universal historians who sometimes +accept writers and ladies as forces producing events--again take that +force to be something quite different. They see it in what is called +culture--in mental activity. + +The historians of culture are quite consistent in regard to their +progenitors, the writers of universal histories, for if historical +events may be explained by the fact that certain persons treated one +another in such and such ways, why not explain them by the fact that +such and such people wrote such and such books? Of the immense number of +indications accompanying every vital phenomenon, these historians select +the indication of intellectual activity and say that this indication is +the cause. But despite their endeavors to prove that the cause of events +lies in intellectual activity, only by a great stretch can one admit +that there is any connection between intellectual activity and the +movement of peoples, and in no case can one admit that intellectual +activity controls people's actions, for that view is not confirmed by +such facts as the very cruel murders of the French Revolution resulting +from the doctrine of the equality of man, or the very cruel wars and +executions resulting from the preaching of love. + +But even admitting as correct all the cunningly devised arguments with +which these histories are filled--admitting that nations are governed by +some undefined force called an idea--history's essential question still +remains unanswered, and to the former power of monarchs and to the +influence of advisers and other people introduced by the universal +historians, another, newer force--the idea--is added, the connection of +which with the masses needs explanation. It is possible to understand +that Napoleon had power and so events occurred; with some effort one may +even conceive that Napoleon together with other influences was the cause +of an event; but how a book, Le Contrat Social, had the effect of making +Frenchmen begin to drown one another cannot be understood without an +explanation of the causal nexus of this new force with the event. + +Undoubtedly some relation exists between all who live contemporaneously, +and so it is possible to find some connection between the intellectual +activity of men and their historical movements, just as such a +connection may be found between the movements of humanity and commerce, +handicraft, gardening, or anything else you please. But why intellectual +activity is considered by the historians of culture to be the cause or +expression of the whole historical movement is hard to understand. Only +the following considerations can have led the historians to such a +conclusion: (1) that history is written by learned men, and so it is +natural and agreeable for them to think that the activity of their class +supplies the basis of the movement of all humanity, just as a similar +belief is natural and agreeable to traders, agriculturists, and soldiers +(if they do not express it, that is merely because traders and soldiers +do not write history), and (2) that spiritual activity, enlightenment, +civilization, culture, ideas, are all indistinct, indefinite conceptions +under whose banner it is very easy to use words having a still less +definite meaning, and which can therefore be readily introduced into any +theory. + +But not to speak of the intrinsic quality of histories of this kind +(which may possibly even be of use to someone for something) the +histories of culture, to which all general histories tend more and more +to approximate, are significant from the fact that after seriously and +minutely examining various religious, philosophic, and political +doctrines as causes of events, as soon as they have to describe an +actual historic event such as the campaign of 1812 for instance, they +involuntarily describe it as resulting from an exercise of power--and +say plainly that that was the result of Napoleon's will. Speaking so, +the historians of culture involuntarily contradict themselves, and show +that the new force they have devised does not account for what happens +in history, and that history can only be explained by introducing a +power which they apparently do not recognize. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A locomotive is moving. Someone asks: "What moves it?" A peasant says +the devil moves it. Another man says the locomotive moves because its +wheels go round. A third asserts that the cause of its movement lies in +the smoke which the wind carries away. + +The peasant is irrefutable. He has devised a complete explanation. To +refute him someone would have to prove to him that there is no devil, or +another peasant would have to explain to him that it is not the devil +but a German, who moves the locomotive. Only then, as a result of the +contradiction, will they see that they are both wrong. But the man who +says that the movement of the wheels is the cause refutes himself, for +having once begun to analyze he ought to go on and explain further why +the wheels go round; and till he has reached the ultimate cause of the +movement of the locomotive in the pressure of steam in the boiler, he +has no right to stop in his search for the cause. The man who explains +the movement of the locomotive by the smoke that is carried back has +noticed that the wheels do not supply an explanation and has taken the +first sign that occurs to him and in his turn has offered that as an +explanation. + +The only conception that can explain the movement of the locomotive is +that of a force commensurate with the movement observed. + +The only conception that can explain the movement of the peoples is that +of some force commensurate with the whole movement of the peoples. + +Yet to supply this conception various historians take forces of +different kinds, all of which are incommensurate with the movement +observed. Some see it as a force directly inherent in heroes, as the +peasant sees the devil in the locomotive; others as a force resulting +from several other forces, like the movement of the wheels; others again +as an intellectual influence, like the smoke that is blown away. + +So long as histories are written of separate individuals, whether +Caesars, Alexanders, Luthers, or Voltaires, and not the histories of +all, absolutely all those who take part in an event, it is quite +impossible to describe the movement of humanity without the conception +of a force compelling men to direct their activity toward a certain end. +And the only such conception known to historians is that of power. + +This conception is the one handle by means of which the material of +history, as at present expounded, can be dealt with, and anyone who +breaks that handle off, as Buckle did, without finding some other method +of treating historical material, merely deprives himself of the one +possible way of dealing with it. The necessity of the conception of +power as an explanation of historical events is best demonstrated by the +universal historians and historians of culture themselves, for they +professedly reject that conception but inevitably have recourse to it at +every step. + +In dealing with humanity's inquiry, the science of history up to now is +like money in circulation--paper money and coin. The biographies and +special national histories are like paper money. They can be used and +can circulate and fulfill their purpose without harm to anyone and even +advantageously, as long as no one asks what is the security behind them. +You need only forget to ask how the will of heroes produces events, and +such histories as Thiers' will be interesting and instructive and may +perhaps even possess a tinge of poetry. But just as doubts of the real +value of paper money arise either because, being easy to make, too much +of it gets made or because people try to exchange it for gold, so also +doubts concerning the real value of such histories arise either because +too many of them are written or because in his simplicity of heart +someone inquires: by what force did Napoleon do this?--that is, wants to +exchange the current paper money for the real gold of actual +comprehension. + +The writers of universal histories and of the history of culture are +like people who, recognizing the defects of paper money, decide to +substitute for it money made of metal that has not the specific gravity +of gold. It may indeed make jingling coin, but will do no more than +that. Paper money may deceive the ignorant, but nobody is deceived by +tokens of base metal that have no value but merely jingle. As gold is +gold only if it is serviceable not merely for exchange but also for use, +so universal historians will be valuable only when they can reply to +history's essential question: what is power? The universal historians +give contradictory replies to that question, while the historians of +culture evade it and answer something quite different. And as counters +of imitation gold can be used only among a group of people who agree to +accept them as gold, or among those who do not know the nature of gold, +so universal historians and historians of culture, not answering +humanity's essential question, serve as currency for some purposes of +their own, only in universities and among the mass of readers who have a +taste for what they call "serious reading." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Having abandoned the conception of the ancients as to the divine +subjection of the will of a nation to some chosen man and the subjection +of that man's will to the Deity, history cannot without contradictions +take a single step till it has chosen one of two things: either a return +to the former belief in the direct intervention of the Deity in human +affairs or a definite explanation of the meaning of the force producing +historical events and termed "power." + +A return to the first is impossible, the belief has been destroyed; and +so it is essential to explain what is meant by power. + +Napoleon ordered an army to be raised and go to war. We are so +accustomed to that idea and have become so used to it that the question: +why did six hundred thousand men go to fight when Napoleon uttered +certain words, seems to us senseless. He had the power and so what he +ordered was done. + +This reply is quite satisfactory if we believe that the power was given +him by God. But as soon as we do not admit that, it becomes essential to +determine what is this power of one man over others. + +It cannot be the direct physical power of a strong man over a weak one-- +a domination based on the application or threat of physical force, like +the power of Hercules; nor can it be based on the effect of moral force, +as in their simplicity some historians think who say that the leading +figures in history are heroes, that is, men gifted with a special +strength of soul and mind called genius. This power cannot be based on +the predominance of moral strength, for, not to mention heroes such as +Napoleon about whose moral qualities opinions differ widely, history +shows us that neither a Louis XI nor a Metternich, who ruled over +millions of people, had any particular moral qualities, but on the +contrary were generally morally weaker than any of the millions they +ruled over. + +If the source of power lies neither in the physical nor in the moral +qualities of him who possesses it, it must evidently be looked for +elsewhere--in the relation to the people of the man who wields the +power. + +And that is how power is understood by the science of jurisprudence, +that exchange bank of history which offers to exchange history's +understanding of power for true gold. + +Power is the collective will of the people transferred, by expressed or +tacit consent, to their chosen rulers. + +In the domain of jurisprudence, which consists of discussions of how a +state and power might be arranged were it possible for all that to be +arranged, it is all very clear; but when applied to history that +definition of power needs explanation. + +The science of jurisprudence regards the state and power as the ancients +regarded fire--namely, as something existing absolutely. But for +history, the state and power are merely phenomena, just as for modern +physics fire is not an element but a phenomenon. + +From this fundamental difference between the view held by history and +that held by jurisprudence, it follows that jurisprudence can tell +minutely how in its opinion power should be constituted and what power-- +existing immutably outside time--is, but to history's questions about +the meaning of the mutations of power in time it can answer nothing. + +If power be the collective will of the people transferred to their +ruler, was Pugachev a representative of the will of the people? If not, +then why was Napoleon I? Why was Napoleon III a criminal when he was +taken prisoner at Boulogne, and why, later on, were those criminals whom +he arrested? + +Do palace revolutions--in which sometimes only two or three people take +part--transfer the will of the people to a new ruler? In international +relations, is the will of the people also transferred to their +conqueror? Was the will of the Confederation of the Rhine transferred to +Napoleon in 1806? Was the will of the Russian people transferred to +Napoleon in 1809, when our army in alliance with the French went to +fight the Austrians? + +To these questions three answers are possible: + +Either to assume (1) that the will of the people is always +unconditionally transferred to the ruler or rulers they have chosen, and +that therefore every emergence of a new power, every struggle against +the power once appointed, should be absolutely regarded as an +infringement of the real power; or (2) that the will of the people is +transferred to the rulers conditionally, under definite and known +conditions, and to show that all limitations, conflicts, and even +destructions of power result from a nonobservance by the rulers of the +conditions under which their power was entrusted to them; or (3) that +the will of the people is delegated to the rulers conditionally, but +that the conditions are unknown and indefinite, and that the appearance +of several authorities, their struggles and their falls, result solely +from the greater or lesser fulfillment by the rulers of these unknown +conditions on which the will of the people is transferred from some +people to others. + +And these are the three ways in which the historians do explain the +relation of the people to their rulers. + +Some historians--those biographical and specialist historians already +referred to--in their simplicity failing to understand the question of +the meaning of power, seem to consider that the collective will of the +people is unconditionally transferred to historical persons, and +therefore when describing some single state they assume that particular +power to be the one absolute and real power, and that any other force +opposing this is not a power but a violation of power--mere violence. + +Their theory, suitable for primitive and peaceful periods of history, +has the inconvenience--in application to complex and stormy periods in +the life of nations during which various powers arise simultaneously and +struggle with one another--that a Legitimist historian will prove that +the National Convention, the Directory, and Bonaparte were mere +infringers of the true power, while a Republican and a Bonapartist will +prove: the one that the Convention and the other that the Empire was the +real power, and that all the others were violations of power. Evidently +the explanations furnished by these historians being mutually +contradictory can only satisfy young children. + +Recognizing the falsity of this view of history, another set of +historians say that power rests on a conditional delegation of the will +of the people to their rulers, and that historical leaders have power +only conditionally on carrying out the program that the will of the +people has by tacit agreement prescribed to them. But what this program +consists in these historians do not say, or if they do they continually +contradict one another. + +Each historian, according to his view of what constitutes a nation's +progress, looks for these conditions in the greatness, wealth, freedom, +or enlightenment of citizens of France or some other country. But not to +mention the historians' contradictions as to the nature of this program- +-or even admitting that some one general program of these conditions +exists--the facts of history almost always contradict that theory. If +the conditions under which power is entrusted consist in the wealth, +freedom, and enlightenment of the people, how is it that Louis XIV and +Ivan the Terrible end their reigns tranquilly, while Louis XVI and +Charles I are executed by their people? To this question historians +reply that Louis XIV's activity, contrary to the program, reacted on +Louis XVI. But why did it not react on Louis XIV or on Louis XV--why +should it react just on Louis XVI? And what is the time limit for such +reactions? To these questions there are and can be no answers. Equally +little does this view explain why for several centuries the collective +will is not withdrawn from certain rulers and their heirs, and then +suddenly during a period of fifty years is transferred to the +Convention, to the Directory, to Napoleon, to Alexander, to Louis XVIII, +to Napoleon again, to Charles X, to Louis Philippe, to a Republican +government, and to Napoleon III. When explaining these rapid transfers +of the people's will from one individual to another, especially in view +of international relations, conquests, and alliances, the historians are +obliged to admit that some of these transfers are not normal delegations +of the people's will but are accidents dependent on cunning, on +mistakes, on craft, or on the weakness of a diplomatist, a ruler, or a +party leader. So that the greater part of the events of history--civil +wars, revolutions, and conquests--are presented by these historians not +as the results of free transferences of the people's will, but as +results of the ill-directed will of one or more individuals, that is, +once again, as usurpations of power. And so these historians also see +and admit historical events which are exceptions to the theory. + +These historians resemble a botanist who, having noticed that some +plants grow from seeds producing two cotyledons, should insist that all +that grows does so by sprouting into two leaves, and that the palm, the +mushroom, and even the oak, which blossom into full growth and no longer +resemble two leaves, are deviations from the theory. + +Historians of the third class assume that the will of the people is +transferred to historic personages conditionally, but that the +conditions are unknown to us. They say that historical personages have +power only because they fulfill the will of the people which has been +delegated to them. + +But in that case, if the force that moves nations lies not in the +historic leaders but in the nations themselves, what significance have +those leaders? + +The leaders, these historians tell us, express the will of the people: +the activity of the leaders represents the activity of the people. + +But in that case the question arises whether all the activity of the +leaders serves as an expression of the people's will or only some part +of it. If the whole activity of the leaders serves as the expression of +the people's will, as some historians suppose, then all the details of +the court scandals contained in the biographies of a Napoleon or a +Catherine serve to express the life of the nation, which is evident +nonsense; but if it is only some particular side of the activity of an +historical leader which serves to express the people's life, as other +so-called "philosophical" historians believe, then to determine which +side of the activity of a leader expresses the nation's life, we have +first of all to know in what the nation's life consists. + +Met by this difficulty historians of that class devise some most +obscure, impalpable, and general abstraction which can cover all +conceivable occurrences, and declare this abstraction to be the aim of +humanity's movement. The most usual generalizations adopted by almost +all the historians are: freedom, equality, enlightenment, progress, +civilization, and culture. Postulating some generalization as the goal +of the movement of humanity, the historians study the men of whom the +greatest number of monuments have remained: kings, ministers, generals, +authors, reformers, popes, and journalists, to the extent to which in +their opinion these persons have promoted or hindered that abstraction. +But as it is in no way proved that the aim of humanity does consist in +freedom, equality, enlightenment, or civilization, and as the connection +of the people with the rulers and enlighteners of humanity is only based +on the arbitrary assumption that the collective will of the people is +always transferred to the men whom we have noticed, it happens that the +activity of the millions who migrate, burn houses, abandon agriculture, +and destroy one another never is expressed in the account of the +activity of some dozen people who did not burn houses, practice +agriculture, or slay their fellow creatures. + +History proves this at every turn. Is the ferment of the peoples of the +west at the end of the eighteenth century and their drive eastward +explained by the activity of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI, their mistresses +and ministers, and by the lives of Napoleon, Rousseau, Diderot, +Beaumarchais, and others? + +Is the movement of the Russian people eastward to Kazan and Siberia +expressed by details of the morbid character of Ivan the Terrible and by +his correspondence with Kurbski? + +Is the movement of the peoples at the time of the Crusades explained by +the life and activity of the Godfreys and the Louis-es and their ladies? +For us that movement of the peoples from west to east, without leaders, +with a crowd of vagrants, and with Peter the Hermit, remains +incomprehensible. And yet more incomprehensible is the cessation of that +movement when a rational and sacred aim for the Crusade--the deliverance +of Jerusalem--had been clearly defined by historic leaders. Popes, +kings, and knights incited the peoples to free the Holy Land; but the +people did not go, for the unknown cause which had previously impelled +them to go no longer existed. The history of the Godfreys and the +Minnesingers can evidently not cover the life of the peoples. And the +history of the Godfreys and the Minnesingers has remained the history of +Godfreys and Minnesingers, but the history of the life of the peoples +and their impulses has remained unknown. + +Still less does the history of authors and reformers explain to us the +life of the peoples. + +The history of culture explains to us the impulses and conditions of +life and thought of a writer or a reformer. We learn that Luther had a +hot temper and said such and such things; we learn that Rousseau was +suspicious and wrote such and such books; but we do not learn why after +the Reformation the peoples massacred one another, nor why during the +French Revolution they guillotined one another. + +If we unite both these kinds of history, as is done by the newest +historians, we shall have the history of monarchs and writers, but not +the history of the life of the peoples. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The life of the nations is not contained in the lives of a few men, for +the connection between those men and the nations has not been found. The +theory that this connection is based on the transference of the +collective will of a people to certain historical personages is an +hypothesis unconfirmed by the experience of history. + +The theory of the transference of the collective will of the people to +historic persons may perhaps explain much in the domain of jurisprudence +and be essential for its purposes, but in its application to history, as +soon as revolutions, conquests, or civil wars occur--that is, as soon as +history begins--that theory explains nothing. + +The theory seems irrefutable just because the act of transference of the +people's will cannot be verified, for it never occurred. + +Whatever happens and whoever may stand at the head of affairs, the +theory can always say that such and such a person took the lead because +the collective will was transferred to him. + +The replies this theory gives to historical questions are like the +replies of a man who, watching the movements of a herd of cattle and +paying no attention to the varying quality of the pasturage in different +parts of the field, or to the driving of the herdsman, should attribute +the direction the herd takes to what animal happens to be at its head. + +"The herd goes in that direction because the animal in front leads it +and the collective will of all the other animals is vested in that +leader." This is what historians of the first class say--those who +assume the unconditional transference of the people's will. + +"If the animals leading the herd change, this happens because the +collective will of all the animals is transferred from one leader to +another, according to whether the animal is or is not leading them in +the direction selected by the whole herd." Such is the reply historians +who assume that the collective will of the people is delegated to rulers +under conditions which they regard as known. (With this method of +observation it often happens that the observer, influenced by the +direction he himself prefers, regards those as leaders who, owing to the +people's change of direction, are no longer in front, but on one side, +or even in the rear.) + +"If the animals in front are continually changing and the direction of +the whole herd is constantly altered, this is because in order to follow +a given direction the animals transfer their will to the animals that +have attracted our attention, and to study the movements of the herd we +must watch the movements of all the prominent animals moving on all +sides of the herd." So say the third class of historians who regard all +historical persons, from monarchs to journalists, as the expression of +their age. + +The theory of the transference of the will of the people to historic +persons is merely a paraphrase--a restatement of the question in other +words. + +What causes historical events? Power. What is power? Power is the +collective will of the people transferred to one person. Under what +condition is the will of the people delegated to one person? On +condition that that person expresses the will of the whole people. That +is, power is power: in other words, power is a word the meaning of which +we do not understand. + +If the realm of human knowledge were confined to abstract reasoning, +then having subjected to criticism the explanation of "power" that +juridical science gives us, humanity would conclude that power is merely +a word and has no real existence. But to understand phenomena man has, +besides abstract reasoning, experience by which he verifies his +reflections. And experience tells us that power is not merely a word but +an actually existing phenomenon. + +Not to speak of the fact that no description of the collective activity +of men can do without the conception of power, the existence of power is +proved both by history and by observing contemporary events. + +Whenever an event occurs a man appears or men appear, by whose will the +event seems to have taken place. Napoleon III issues a decree and the +French go to Mexico. The King of Prussia and Bismarck issue decrees and +an army enters Bohemia. Napoleon I issues a decree and an army enters +Russia. Alexander I gives a command and the French submit to the +Bourbons. Experience shows us that whatever event occurs it is always +related to the will of one or of several men who have decreed it. + +The historians, in accord with the old habit of acknowledging divine +intervention in human affairs, want to see the cause of events in the +expression of the will of someone endowed with power, but that +supposition is not confirmed either by reason or by experience. + +On the one side reflection shows that the expression of a man's will-- +his words--are only part of the general activity expressed in an event, +as for instance in a war or a revolution, and so without assuming an +incomprehensible, supernatural force--a miracle--one cannot admit that +words can be the immediate cause of the movements of millions of men. On +the other hand, even if we admitted that words could be the cause of +events, history shows that the expression of the will of historical +personages does not in most cases produce any effect, that is to say, +their commands are often not executed, and sometimes the very opposite +of what they order occurs. + +Without admitting divine intervention in the affairs of humanity we +cannot regard "power" as the cause of events. + +Power, from the standpoint of experience, is merely the relation that +exists between the expression of someone's will and the execution of +that will by others. + +To explain the conditions of that relationship we must first establish a +conception of the expression of will, referring it to man and not to the +Deity. + +If the Deity issues a command, expresses His will, as ancient history +tells us, the expression of that will is independent of time and is not +caused by anything, for the Divinity is not controlled by an event. But +speaking of commands that are the expression of the will of men acting +in time and in relation to one another, to explain the connection of +commands with events we must restore: (1) the condition of all that +takes place: the continuity of movement in time both of the events and +of the person who commands, and (2) the inevitability of the connection +between the person commanding and those who execute his command. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Only the expression of the will of the Deity, not dependent on time, can +relate to a whole series of events occurring over a period of years or +centuries, and only the Deity, independent of everything, can by His +sole will determine the direction of humanity's movement; but man acts +in time and himself takes part in what occurs. + +Reinstating the first condition omitted, that of time, we see that no +command can be executed without some preceding order having been given +rendering the execution of the last command possible. + +No command ever appears spontaneously, or itself covers a whole series +of occurrences; but each command follows from another, and never refers +to a whole series of events but always to one moment only of an event. + +When, for instance, we say that Napoleon ordered armies to go to war, we +combine in one simultaneous expression a whole series of consecutive +commands dependent one on another. Napoleon could not have commanded an +invasion of Russia and never did so. Today he ordered such and such +papers to be written to Vienna, to Berlin, and to Petersburg; tomorrow +such and such decrees and orders to the army, the fleet, the +commissariat, and so on and so on--millions of commands, which formed a +whole series corresponding to a series of events which brought the +French armies into Russia. + +If throughout his reign Napoleon gave commands concerning an invasion of +England and expended on no other undertaking so much time and effort, +and yet during his whole reign never once attempted to execute that +design but undertook an expedition into Russia, with which country he +considered it desirable to be in alliance (a conviction he repeatedly +expressed)--this came about because his commands did not correspond to +the course of events in the first case, but did so correspond in the +latter. + +For an order to be certainly executed, it is necessary that a man should +order what can be executed. But to know what can and what cannot be +executed is impossible, not only in the case of Napoleon's invasion of +Russia in which millions participated, but even in the simplest event, +for in either case millions of obstacles may arise to prevent its +execution. Every order executed is always one of an immense number +unexecuted. All the impossible orders inconsistent with the course of +events remain unexecuted. Only the possible ones get linked up with a +consecutive series of commands corresponding to a series of events, and +are executed. + +Our false conception that an event is caused by a command which precedes +it is due to the fact that when the event has taken place and out of +thousands of others those few commands which were consistent with that +event have been executed, we forget about the others that were not +executed because they could not be. Apart from that, the chief source of +our error in this matter is due to the fact that in the historical +accounts a whole series of innumerable, diverse, and petty events, such +for instance as all those which led the French armies to Russia, is +generalized into one event in accord with the result produced by that +series of events, and corresponding with this generalization the whole +series of commands is also generalized into a single expression of will. + +We say that Napoleon wished to invade Russia and invaded it. In reality +in all Napoleon's activity we never find anything resembling an +expression of that wish, but find a series of orders, or expressions of +his will, very variously and indefinitely directed. Amid a long series +of unexecuted orders of Napoleon's one series, for the campaign of 1812, +was carried out--not because those orders differed in any way from the +other, unexecuted orders but because they coincided with the course of +events that led the French army into Russia; just as in stencil work +this or that figure comes out not because the color was laid on from +this side or in that way, but because it was laid on from all sides over +the figure cut in the stencil. + +So that examining the relation in time of the commands to the events, we +find that a command can never be the cause of the event, but that a +certain definite dependence exists between the two. + +To understand in what this dependence consists it is necessary to +reinstate another omitted condition of every command proceeding not from +the Deity but from a man, which is, that the man who gives the command +himself takes part in the event. + +This relation of the commander to those he commands is just what is +called power. This relation consists in the following: + +For common action people always unite in certain combinations, in which +regardless of the difference of the aims set for the common action, the +relation between those taking part in it is always the same. + +Men uniting in these combinations always assume such relations toward +one another that the larger number take a more direct share, and the +smaller number a less direct share, in the collective action for which +they have combined. + +Of all the combinations in which men unite for collective action one of +the most striking and definite examples is an army. + +Every army is composed of lower grades of the service--the rank and +file--of whom there are always the greatest number; of the next higher +military rank--corporals and noncommissioned officers of whom there are +fewer, and of still-higher officers of whom there are still fewer, and +so on to the highest military command which is concentrated in one +person. + +A military organization may be quite correctly compared to a cone, of +which the base with the largest diameter consists of the rank and file; +the next higher and smaller section of the cone consists of the next +higher grades of the army, and so on to the apex, the point of which +will represent the commander-in-chief. + +The soldiers, of whom there are the most, form the lower section of the +cone and its base. The soldier himself does the stabbing, hacking, +burning, and pillaging, and always receives orders for these actions +from men above him; he himself never gives an order. The noncommissioned +officers (of whom there are fewer) perform the action itself less +frequently than the soldiers, but they already give commands. An officer +still less often acts directly himself, but commands still more +frequently. A general does nothing but command the troops, indicates the +objective, and hardly ever uses a weapon himself. The commander-in-chief +never takes direct part in the action itself, but only gives general +orders concerning the movement of the mass of the troops. A similar +relation of people to one another is seen in every combination of men +for common activity--in agriculture, trade, and every administration. + +And so without particularly analyzing all the contiguous sections of a +cone and of the ranks of an army, or the ranks and positions in any +administrative or public business whatever from the lowest to the +highest, we see a law by which men, to take associated action, combine +in such relations that the more directly they participate in performing +the action the less they can command and the more numerous they are, +while the less their direct participation in the action itself, the more +they command and the fewer of them there are; rising in this way from +the lowest ranks to the man at the top, who takes the least direct share +in the action and directs his activity chiefly to commanding. + +This relation of the men who command to those they command is what +constitutes the essence of the conception called power. + +Having restored the condition of time under which all events occur, we +find that a command is executed only when it is related to a +corresponding series of events. Restoring the essential condition of +relation between those who command and those who execute, we find that +by the very nature of the case those who command take the smallest part +in the action itself and that their activity is exclusively directed to +commanding. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +When an event is taking place people express their opinions and wishes +about it, and as the event results from the collective activity of many +people, some one of the opinions or wishes expressed is sure to be +fulfilled if but approximately. When one of the opinions expressed is +fulfilled, that opinion gets connected with the event as a command +preceding it. + +Men are hauling a log. Each of them expresses his opinion as to how and +where to haul it. They haul the log away, and it happens that this is +done as one of them said. He ordered it. There we have command and power +in their primary form. The man who worked most with his hands could not +think so much about what he was doing, or reflect on or command what +would result from the common activity; while the man who commanded more +would evidently work less with his hands on account of his greater +verbal activity. + +When some larger concourse of men direct their activity to a common aim +there is a yet sharper division of those who, because their activity is +given to directing and commanding, take less part in the direct work. + +When a man works alone he always has a certain set of reflections which +as it seems to him directed his past activity, justify his present +activity, and guide him in planning his future actions. Just the same is +done by a concourse of people, allowing those who do not take a direct +part in the activity to devise considerations, justifications, and +surmises concerning their collective activity. + +For reasons known or unknown to us the French began to drown and kill +one another. And corresponding to the event its justification appears in +people's belief that this was necessary for the welfare of France, for +liberty, and for equality. People ceased to kill one another, and this +event was accompanied by its justification in the necessity for a +centralization of power, resistance to Europe, and so on. Men went from +the west to the east killing their fellow men, and the event was +accompanied by phrases about the glory of France, the baseness of +England, and so on. History shows us that these justifications of the +events have no common sense and are all contradictory, as in the case of +killing a man as the result of recognizing his rights, and the killing +of millions in Russia for the humiliation of England. But these +justifications have a very necessary significance in their own day. + +These justifications release those who produce the events from moral +responsibility. These temporary aims are like the broom fixed in front +of a locomotive to clear the snow from the rails in front: they clear +men's moral responsibilities from their path. + +Without such justification there would be no reply to the simplest +question that presents itself when examining each historical event. How +is it that millions of men commit collective crimes--make war, commit +murder, and so on? + +With the present complex forms of political and social life in Europe +can any event that is not prescribed, decreed, or ordered by monarchs, +ministers, parliaments, or newspapers be imagined? Is there any +collective action which cannot find its justification in political +unity, in patriotism, in the balance of power, or in civilization? So +that every event that occurs inevitably coincides with some expressed +wish and, receiving a justification, presents itself as the result of +the will of one man or of several men. + +In whatever direction a ship moves, the flow of the waves it cuts will +always be noticeable ahead of it. To those on board the ship the +movement of those waves will be the only perceptible motion. + +Only by watching closely moment by moment the movement of that flow and +comparing it with the movement of the ship do we convince ourselves that +every bit of it is occasioned by the forward movement of the ship, and +that we were led into error by the fact that we ourselves were +imperceptibly moving. + +We see the same if we watch moment by moment the movement of historical +characters (that is, re-establish the inevitable condition of all that +occurs--the continuity of movement in time) and do not lose sight of the +essential connection of historical persons with the masses. + +When the ship moves in one direction there is one and the same wave +ahead of it, when it turns frequently the wave ahead of it also turns +frequently. But wherever it may turn there always will be the wave +anticipating its movement. + +Whatever happens it always appears that just that event was foreseen and +decreed. Wherever the ship may go, the rush of water which neither +directs nor increases its movement foams ahead of it, and at a distance +seems to us not merely to move of itself but to govern the ship's +movement also. + +Examining only those expressions of the will of historical persons +which, as commands, were related to events, historians have assumed that +the events depended on those commands. But examining the events +themselves and the connection in which the historical persons stood to +the people, we have found that they and their orders were dependent on +events. The incontestable proof of this deduction is that, however many +commands were issued, the event does not take place unless there are +other causes for it, but as soon as an event occurs--be it what it may-- +then out of all the continually expressed wishes of different people +some will always be found which by their meaning and their time of +utterance are related as commands to the events. + +Arriving at this conclusion we can reply directly and positively to +these two essential questions of history: + +(1) What is power? + +(2) What force produces the movement of the nations? + +(1) Power is the relation of a given person to other individuals, in +which the more this person expresses opinions, predictions, and +justifications of the collective action that is performed, the less is +his participation in that action. + +(2) The movement of nations is caused not by power, nor by intellectual +activity, nor even by a combination of the two as historians have +supposed, but by the activity of all the people who participate in the +events, and who always combine in such a way that those taking the +largest direct share in the event take on themselves the least +responsibility and vice versa. + +Morally the wielder of power appears to cause the event; physically it +is those who submit to the power. But as the moral activity is +inconceivable without the physical, the cause of the event is neither in +the one nor in the other but in the union of the two. + +Or in other words, the conception of a cause is inapplicable to the +phenomena we are examining. + +In the last analysis we reach the circle of infinity--that final limit +to which in every domain of thought man's reason arrives if it is not +playing with the subject. Electricity produces heat, heat produces +electricity. Atoms attract each other and atoms repel one another. + +Speaking of the interaction of heat and electricity and of atoms, we +cannot say why this occurs, and we say that it is so because it is +inconceivable otherwise, because it must be so and that it is a law. The +same applies to historical events. Why war and revolution occur we do +not know. We only know that to produce the one or the other action, +people combine in a certain formation in which they all take part, and +we say that this is so because it is unthinkable otherwise, or in other +words that it is a law. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +If history dealt only with external phenomena, the establishment of this +simple and obvious law would suffice and we should have finished our +argument. But the law of history relates to man. A particle of matter +cannot tell us that it does not feel the law of attraction or repulsion +and that that law is untrue, but man, who is the subject of history, +says plainly: I am free and am therefore not subject to the law. + +The presence of the problem of man's free will, though unexpressed, is +felt at every step of history. + +All seriously thinking historians have involuntarily encountered this +question. All the contradictions and obscurities of history and the +false path historical science has followed are due solely to the lack of +a solution of that question. + +If the will of every man were free, that is, if each man could act as he +pleased, all history would be a series of disconnected incidents. + +If in a thousand years even one man in a million could act freely, that +is, as he chose, it is evident that one single free act of that man's in +violation of the laws governing human action would destroy the +possibility of the existence of any laws for the whole of humanity. + +If there be a single law governing the actions of men, free will cannot +exist, for then man's will is subject to that law. + +In this contradiction lies the problem of free will, which from most +ancient times has occupied the best human minds and from most ancient +times has been presented in its whole tremendous significance. + +The problem is that regarding man as a subject of observation from +whatever point of view--theological, historical, ethical, or +philosophic--we find a general law of necessity to which he (like all +that exists) is subject. But regarding him from within ourselves as what +we are conscious of, we feel ourselves to be free. + +This consciousness is a source of self-cognition quite apart from and +independent of reason. Through his reason man observes himself, but only +through consciousness does he know himself. + +Apart from consciousness of self no observation or application of reason +is conceivable. + +To understand, observe, and draw conclusions, man must first of all be +conscious of himself as living. A man is only conscious of himself as a +living being by the fact that he wills, that is, is conscious of his +volition. But his will--which forms the essence of his life--man +recognizes (and can but recognize) as free. + +If, observing himself, man sees that his will is always directed by one +and the same law (whether he observes the necessity of taking food, +using his brain, or anything else) he cannot recognize this never- +varying direction of his will otherwise than as a limitation of it. Were +it not free it could not be limited. A man's will seems to him to be +limited just because he is not conscious of it except as free. + +You say: I am not free. But I have lifted my hand and let it fall. +Everyone understands that this illogical reply is an irrefutable +demonstration of freedom. + +That reply is the expression of a consciousness that is not subject to +reason. + +If the consciousness of freedom were not a separate and independent +source of self-consciousness it would be subject to reasoning and to +experience, but in fact such subjection does not exist and is +inconceivable. + +A series of experiments and arguments proves to every man that he, as an +object of observation, is subject to certain laws, and man submits to +them and never resists the laws of gravity or impermeability once he has +become acquainted with them. But the same series of experiments and +arguments proves to him that the complete freedom of which he is +conscious in himself is impossible, and that his every action depends on +his organization, his character, and the motives acting upon him; yet +man never submits to the deductions of these experiments and arguments. +Having learned from experiment and argument that a stone falls +downwards, a man indubitably believes this and always expects the law +that he has learned to be fulfilled. + +But learning just as certainly that his will is subject to laws, he does +not and cannot believe this. + +However often experiment and reasoning may show a man that under the +same conditions and with the same character he will do the same thing as +before, yet when under the same conditions and with the same character +he approaches for the thousandth time the action that always ends in the +same way, he feels as certainly convinced as before the experiment that +he can act as he pleases. Every man, savage or sage, however +incontestably reason and experiment may prove to him that it is +impossible to imagine two different courses of action in precisely the +same conditions, feels that without this irrational conception (which +constitutes the essence of freedom) he cannot imagine life. He feels +that however impossible it may be, it is so, for without this conception +of freedom not only would he be unable to understand life, but he would +be unable to live for a single moment. + +He could not live, because all man's efforts, all his impulses to life, +are only efforts to increase freedom. Wealth and poverty, fame and +obscurity, power and subordination, strength and weakness, health and +disease, culture and ignorance, work and leisure, repletion and hunger, +virtue and vice, are only greater or lesser degrees of freedom. + +A man having no freedom cannot be conceived of except as deprived of +life. + +If the conception of freedom appears to reason to be a senseless +contradiction like the possibility of performing two actions at one and +the same instant of time, or of an effect without a cause, that only +proves that consciousness is not subject to reason. + +This unshakable, irrefutable consciousness of freedom, uncontrolled by +experiment or argument, recognized by all thinkers and felt by everyone +without exception, this consciousness without which no conception of man +is possible constitutes the other side of the question. + +Man is the creation of an all-powerful, all-good, and all-seeing God. +What is sin, the conception of which arises from the consciousness of +man's freedom? That is a question for theology. + +The actions of men are subject to general immutable laws expressed in +statistics. What is man's responsibility to society, the conception of +which results from the conception of freedom? That is a question for +jurisprudence. + +Man's actions proceed from his innate character and the motives acting +upon him. What is conscience and the perception of right and wrong in +actions that follows from the consciousness of freedom? That is a +question for ethics. + +Man in connection with the general life of humanity appears subject to +laws which determine that life. But the same man apart from that +connection appears to be free. How should the past life of nations and +of humanity be regarded--as the result of the free, or as the result of +the constrained, activity of man? That is a question for history. + +Only in our self-confident day of the popularization of knowledge-- +thanks to that most powerful engine of ignorance, the diffusion of +printed matter--has the question of the freedom of will been put on a +level on which the question itself cannot exist. In our time the +majority of so-called advanced people--that is, the crowd of +ignoramuses--have taken the work of the naturalists who deal with one +side of the question for a solution of the whole problem. + +They say and write and print that the soul and freedom do not exist, for +the life of man is expressed by muscular movements and muscular +movements are conditioned by the activity of the nerves; the soul and +free will do not exist because at an unknown period of time we sprang +from the apes. They say this, not at all suspecting that thousands of +years ago that same law of necessity which with such ardor they are now +trying to prove by physiology and comparative zoology was not merely +acknowledged by all the religions and all the thinkers, but has never +been denied. They do not see that the role of the natural sciences in +this matter is merely to serve as an instrument for the illumination of +one side of it. For the fact that, from the point of view of +observation, reason and the will are merely secretions of the brain, and +that man following the general law may have developed from lower animals +at some unknown period of time, only explains from a fresh side the +truth admitted thousands of years ago by all the religious and +philosophic theories--that from the point of view of reason man is +subject to the law of necessity; but it does not advance by a hair's +breadth the solution of the question, which has another, opposite, side, +based on the consciousness of freedom. + +If men descended from the apes at an unknown period of time, that is as +comprehensible as that they were made from a handful of earth at a +certain period of time (in the first case the unknown quantity is the +time, in the second case it is the origin); and the question of how +man's consciousness of freedom is to be reconciled with the law of +necessity to which he is subject cannot be solved by comparative +physiology and zoology, for in a frog, a rabbit, or an ape, we can +observe only the muscular nervous activity, but in man we observe +consciousness as well as the muscular and nervous activity. + +The naturalists and their followers, thinking they can solve this +question, are like plasterers set to plaster one side of the walls of a +church who, availing themselves of the absence of the chief +superintendent of the work, should in an access of zeal plaster over the +windows, icons, woodwork, and still unbuttressed walls, and should be +delighted that from their point of view as plasterers, everything is now +so smooth and regular. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +For the solution of the question of free will or inevitability, history +has this advantage over other branches of knowledge in which the +question is dealt with, that for history this question does not refer to +the essence of man's free will but its manifestation in the past and +under certain conditions. + +In regard to this question, history stands to the other sciences as +experimental science stands to abstract science. + +The subject for history is not man's will itself but our presentation of +it. + +And so for history, the insoluble mystery presented by the +incompatibility of free will and inevitability does not exist as it does +for theology, ethics, and philosophy. History surveys a presentation of +man's life in which the union of these two contradictions has already +taken place. + +In actual life each historic event, each human action, is very clearly +and definitely understood without any sense of contradiction, although +each event presents itself as partly free and partly compulsory. + +To solve the question of how freedom and necessity are combined and what +constitutes the essence of these two conceptions, the philosophy of +history can and should follow a path contrary to that taken by other +sciences. Instead of first defining the conceptions of freedom and +inevitability in themselves, and then ranging the phenomena of life +under those definitions, history should deduce a definition of the +conception of freedom and inevitability themselves from the immense +quantity of phenomena of which it is cognizant and that always appear +dependent on these two elements. + +Whatever presentation of the activity of many men or of an individual we +may consider, we always regard it as the result partly of man's free +will and partly of the law of inevitability. + +Whether we speak of the migration of the peoples and the incursions of +the barbarians, or of the decrees of Napoleon III, or of someone's +action an hour ago in choosing one direction out of several for his +walk, we are unconscious of any contradiction. The degree of freedom and +inevitability governing the actions of these people is clearly defined +for us. + +Our conception of the degree of freedom often varies according to +differences in the point of view from which we regard the event, but +every human action appears to us as a certain combination of freedom and +inevitability. In every action we examine we see a certain measure of +freedom and a certain measure of inevitability. And always the more +freedom we see in any action the less inevitability do we perceive, and +the more inevitability the less freedom. + +The proportion of freedom to inevitability decreases and increases +according to the point of view from which the action is regarded, but +their relation is always one of inverse proportion. + +A sinking man who clutches at another and drowns him; or a hungry mother +exhausted by feeding her baby, who steals some food; or a man trained to +discipline who on duty at the word of command kills a defenseless man-- +seem less guilty, that is, less free and more subject to the law of +necessity, to one who knows the circumstances in which these people were +placed, and more free to one who does not know that the man was himself +drowning, that the mother was hungry, that the soldier was in the ranks, +and so on. Similarly a man who committed a murder twenty years ago and +has since lived peaceably and harmlessly in society seems less guilty +and his action more due to the law of inevitability, to someone who +considers his action after twenty years have elapsed than to one who +examined it the day after it was committed. And in the same way every +action of an insane, intoxicated, or highly excited man appears less +free and more inevitable to one who knows the mental condition of him +who committed the action, and seems more free and less inevitable to one +who does not know it. In all these cases the conception of freedom is +increased or diminished and the conception of compulsion is +correspondingly decreased or increased, according to the point of view +from which the action is regarded. So that the greater the conception of +necessity the smaller the conception of freedom and vice versa. + +Religion, the common sense of mankind, the science of jurisprudence, and +history itself understand alike this relation between necessity and +freedom. + +All cases without exception in which our conception of freedom and +necessity is increased and diminished depend on three considerations: + +(1) The relation to the external world of the man who commits the deeds. + +(2) His relation to time. + +(3) His relation to the causes leading to the action. + +The first consideration is the clearness of our perception of the man's +relation to the external world and the greater or lesser clearness of +our understanding of the definite position occupied by the man in +relation to everything coexisting with him. This is what makes it +evident that a drowning man is less free and more subject to necessity +than one standing on dry ground, and that makes the actions of a man +closely connected with others in a thickly populated district, or of one +bound by family, official, or business duties, seem certainly less free +and more subject to necessity than those of a man living in solitude and +seclusion. + +If we consider a man alone, apart from his relation to everything around +him, each action of his seems to us free. But if we see his relation to +anything around him, if we see his connection with anything whatever-- +with a man who speaks to him, a book he reads, the work on which he is +engaged, even with the air he breathes or the light that falls on the +things about him--we see that each of these circumstances has an +influence on him and controls at least some side of his activity. And +the more we perceive of these influences the more our conception of his +freedom diminishes and the more our conception of the necessity that +weighs on him increases. + +The second consideration is the more or less evident time relation of +the man to the world and the clearness of our perception of the place +the man's action occupies in time. That is the ground which makes the +fall of the first man, resulting in the production of the human race, +appear evidently less free than a man's entry into marriage today. It is +the reason why the life and activity of people who lived centuries ago +and are connected with me in time cannot seem to me as free as the life +of a contemporary, the consequences of which are still unknown to me. + +The degree of our conception of freedom or inevitability depends in this +respect on the greater or lesser lapse of time between the performance +of the action and our judgment of it. + +If I examine an act I performed a moment ago in approximately the same +circumstances as those I am in now, my action appears to me undoubtedly +free. But if I examine an act performed a month ago, then being in +different circumstances, I cannot help recognizing that if that act had +not been committed much that resulted from it--good, agreeable, and even +essential--would not have taken place. If I reflect on an action still +more remote, ten years ago or more, then the consequences of my action +are still plainer to me and I find it hard to imagine what would have +happened had that action not been performed. The farther I go back in +memory, or what is the same thing the farther I go forward in my +judgment, the more doubtful becomes my belief in the freedom of my +action. + +In history we find a very similar progress of conviction concerning the +part played by free will in the general affairs of humanity. A +contemporary event seems to us to be indubitably the doing of all the +known participants, but with a more remote event we already see its +inevitable results which prevent our considering anything else possible. +And the farther we go back in examining events the less arbitrary do +they appear. + +The Austro-Prussian war appears to us undoubtedly the result of the +crafty conduct of Bismarck, and so on. The Napoleonic wars still seem to +us, though already questionably, to be the outcome of their heroes' +will. But in the Crusades we already see an event occupying its definite +place in history and without which we cannot imagine the modern history +of Europe, though to the chroniclers of the Crusades that event appeared +as merely due to the will of certain people. In regard to the migration +of the peoples it does not enter anyone's head today to suppose that the +renovation of the European world depended on Attila's caprice. The +farther back in history the object of our observation lies, the more +doubtful does the free will of those concerned in the event become and +the more manifest the law of inevitability. + +The third consideration is the degree to which we apprehend that endless +chain of causation inevitably demanded by reason, in which each +phenomenon comprehended, and therefore man's every action, must have its +definite place as a result of what has gone before and as a cause of +what will follow. + +The better we are acquainted with the physiological, psychological, and +historical laws deduced by observation and by which man is controlled, +and the more correctly we perceive the physiological, psychological, and +historical causes of the action, and the simpler the action we are +observing and the less complex the character and mind of the man in +question, the more subject to inevitability and the less free do our +actions and those of others appear. + +When we do not at all understand the cause of an action, whether a +crime, a good action, or even one that is simply nonmoral, we ascribe a +greater amount of freedom to it. In the case of a crime we most urgently +demand the punishment for such an act; in the case of a virtuous act we +rate its merit most highly. In an indifferent case we recognize in it +more individuality, originality, and independence. But if even one of +the innumerable causes of the act is known to us we recognize a certain +element of necessity and are less insistent on punishment for the crime, +or the acknowledgment of the merit of the virtuous act, or the freedom +of the apparently original action. That a criminal was reared among male +factors mitigates his fault in our eyes. The self-sacrifice of a father +or mother, or self-sacrifice with the possibility of a reward, is more +comprehensible than gratuitous self-sacrifice, and therefore seems less +deserving of sympathy and less the result of free will. The founder of a +sect or party, or an inventor, impresses us less when we know how or by +what the way was prepared for his activity. If we have a large range of +examples, if our observation is constantly directed to seeking the +correlation of cause and effect in people's actions, their actions +appear to us more under compulsion and less free the more correctly we +connect the effects with the causes. If we examined simple actions and +had a vast number of such actions under observation, our conception of +their inevitability would be still greater. The dishonest conduct of the +son of a dishonest father, the misconduct of a woman who had fallen into +bad company, a drunkard's relapse into drunkenness, and so on are +actions that seem to us less free the better we understand their cause. +If the man whose actions we are considering is on a very low stage of +mental development, like a child, a madman, or a simpleton--then, +knowing the causes of the act and the simplicity of the character and +intelligence in question, we see so large an element of necessity and so +little free will that as soon as we know the cause prompting the action +we can foretell the result. + +On these three considerations alone is based the conception of +irresponsibility for crimes and the extenuating circumstances admitted +by all legislative codes. The responsibility appears greater or less +according to our greater or lesser knowledge of the circumstances in +which the man was placed whose action is being judged, and according to +the greater or lesser interval of time between the commission of the +action and its investigation, and according to the greater or lesser +understanding of the causes that led to the action. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Thus our conception of free will and inevitability gradually diminishes +or increases according to the greater or lesser connection with the +external world, the greater or lesser remoteness of time, and the +greater or lesser dependence on the causes in relation to which we +contemplate a man's life. + +So that if we examine the case of a man whose connection with the +external world is well known, where the time between the action and its +examination is great, and where the causes of the action are most +accessible, we get the conception of a maximum of inevitability and a +minimum of free will. If we examine a man little dependent on external +conditions, whose action was performed very recently, and the causes of +whose action are beyond our ken, we get the conception of a minimum of +inevitability and a maximum of freedom. + +In neither case--however we may change our point of view, however plain +we may make to ourselves the connection between the man and the external +world, however inaccessible it may be to us, however long or short the +period of time, however intelligible or incomprehensible the causes of +the action may be--can we ever conceive either complete freedom or +complete necessity. + +(1) To whatever degree we may imagine a man to be exempt from the +influence of the external world, we never get a conception of freedom in +space. Every human action is inevitably conditioned by what surrounds +him and by his own body. I lift my arm and let it fall. My action seems +to me free; but asking myself whether I could raise my arm in every +direction, I see that I raised it in the direction in which there was +least obstruction to that action either from things around me or from +the construction of my own body. I chose one out of all the possible +directions because in it there were fewest obstacles. For my action to +be free it was necessary that it should encounter no obstacles. To +conceive of a man being free we must imagine him outside space, which is +evidently impossible. + +(2) However much we approximate the time of judgment to the time of the +deed, we never get a conception of freedom in time. For if I examine an +action committed a second ago I must still recognize it as not being +free, for it is irrevocably linked to the moment at which it was +committed. Can I lift my arm? I lift it, but ask myself: could I have +abstained from lifting my arm at the moment that has already passed? To +convince myself of this I do not lift it the next moment. But I am not +now abstaining from doing so at the first moment when I asked the +question. Time has gone by which I could not detain, the arm I then +lifted is no longer the same as the arm I now refrain from lifting, nor +is the air in which I lifted it the same that now surrounds me. The +moment in which the first movement was made is irrevocable, and at that +moment I could make only one movement, and whatever movement I made +would be the only one. That I did not lift my arm a moment later does +not prove that I could have abstained from lifting it then. And since I +could make only one movement at that single moment of time, it could not +have been any other. To imagine it as free, it is necessary to imagine +it in the present, on the boundary between the past and the future--that +is, outside time, which is impossible. + +(3) However much the difficulty of understanding the causes may be +increased, we never reach a conception of complete freedom, that is, an +absence of cause. However inaccessible to us may be the cause of the +expression of will in any action, our own or another's, the first demand +of reason is the assumption of and search for a cause, for without a +cause no phenomenon is conceivable. I raise my arm to perform an action +independently of any cause, but my wish to perform an action without a +cause is the cause of my action. + +But even if--imagining a man quite exempt from all influences, examining +only his momentary action in the present, unevoked by any cause--we were +to admit so infinitely small a remainder of inevitability as equaled +zero, we should even then not have arrived at the conception of complete +freedom in man, for a being uninfluenced by the external world, standing +outside of time and independent of cause, is no longer a man. + +In the same way we can never imagine the action of a man quite devoid of +freedom and entirely subject to the law of inevitability. + +(1) However we may increase our knowledge of the conditions of space in +which man is situated, that knowledge can never be complete, for the +number of those conditions is as infinite as the infinity of space. And +therefore so long as not all the conditions influencing men are defined, +there is no complete inevitability but a certain measure of freedom +remains. + +(2) However we may prolong the period of time between the action we are +examining and the judgment upon it, that period will be finite, while +time is infinite, and so in this respect too there can never be absolute +inevitability. + +(3) However accessible may be the chain of causation of any action, we +shall never know the whole chain since it is endless, and so again we +never reach absolute inevitability. + +But besides this, even if, admitting the remaining minimum of freedom to +equal zero, we assumed in some given case--as for instance in that of a +dying man, an unborn babe, or an idiot--complete absence of freedom, by +so doing we should destroy the very conception of man in the case we are +examining, for as soon as there is no freedom there is also no man. And +so the conception of the action of a man subject solely to the law of +inevitability without any element of freedom is just as impossible as +the conception of a man's completely free action. + +And so to imagine the action of a man entirely subject to the law of +inevitability without any freedom, we must assume the knowledge of an +infinite number of space relations, an infinitely long period of time, +and an infinite series of causes. + +To imagine a man perfectly free and not subject to the law of +inevitability, we must imagine him all alone, beyond space, beyond time, +and free from dependence on cause. + +In the first case, if inevitability were possible without freedom we +should have reached a definition of inevitability by the laws of +inevitability itself, that is, a mere form without content. + +In the second case, if freedom were possible without inevitability we +should have arrived at unconditioned freedom beyond space, time, and +cause, which by the fact of its being unconditioned and unlimited would +be nothing, or mere content without form. + +We should in fact have reached those two fundamentals of which man's +whole outlook on the universe is constructed--the incomprehensible +essence of life, and the laws defining that essence. + +Reason says: (1) space with all the forms of matter that give it +visibility is infinite, and cannot be imagined otherwise. (2) Time is +infinite motion without a moment of rest and is unthinkable otherwise. +(3) The connection between cause and effect has no beginning and can +have no end. + +Consciousness says: (1) I alone am, and all that exists is but me, +consequently I include space. (2) I measure flowing time by the fixed +moment of the present in which alone I am conscious of myself as living, +consequently I am outside time. (3) I am beyond cause, for I feel myself +to be the cause of every manifestation of my life. + +Reason gives expression to the laws of inevitability. Consciousness +gives expression to the essence of freedom. + +Freedom not limited by anything is the essence of life, in man's +consciousness. Inevitability without content is man's reason in its +three forms. + +Freedom is the thing examined. Inevitability is what examines. Freedom +is the content. Inevitability is the form. + +Only by separating the two sources of cognition, related to one another +as form to content, do we get the mutually exclusive and separately +incomprehensible conceptions of freedom and inevitability. + +Only by uniting them do we get a clear conception of man's life. + +Apart from these two concepts which in their union mutually define one +another as form and content, no conception of life is possible. + +All that we know of the life of man is merely a certain relation of free +will to inevitability, that is, of consciousness to the laws of reason. + +All that we know of the external world of nature is only a certain +relation of the forces of nature to inevitability, or of the essence of +life to the laws of reason. + +The great natural forces lie outside us and we are not conscious of +them; we call those forces gravitation, inertia, electricity, animal +force, and so on, but we are conscious of the force of life in man and +we call that freedom. + +But just as the force of gravitation, incomprehensible in itself but +felt by every man, is understood by us only to the extent to which we +know the laws of inevitability to which it is subject (from the first +knowledge that all bodies have weight, up to Newton's law), so too the +force of free will, incomprehensible in itself but of which everyone is +conscious, is intelligible to us only in as far as we know the laws of +inevitability to which it is subject (from the fact that every man dies, +up to the knowledge of the most complex economic and historic laws). + +All knowledge is merely a bringing of this essence of life under the +laws of reason. + +Man's free will differs from every other force in that man is directly +conscious of it, but in the eyes of reason it in no way differs from any +other force. The forces of gravitation, electricity, or chemical +affinity are only distinguished from one another in that they are +differently defined by reason. Just so the force of man's free will is +distinguished by reason from the other forces of nature only by the +definition reason gives it. Freedom, apart from necessity, that is, +apart from the laws of reason that define it, differs in no way from +gravitation, or heat, or the force that makes things grow; for reason, +it is only a momentary undefinable sensation of life. + +And as the undefinable essence of the force moving the heavenly bodies, +the undefinable essence of the forces of heat and electricity, or of +chemical affinity, or of the vital force, forms the content of +astronomy, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, and so on, just in the +same way does the force of free will form the content of history. But +just as the subject of every science is the manifestation of this +unknown essence of life while that essence itself can only be the +subject of metaphysics, even the manifestation of the force of free will +in human beings in space, in time, and in dependence on cause forms the +subject of history, while free will itself is the subject of +metaphysics. + +In the experimental sciences what we know we call the laws of +inevitability, what is unknown to us we call vital force. Vital force is +only an expression for the unknown remainder over and above what we know +of the essence of life. + +So also in history what is known to us we call laws of inevitability, +what is unknown we call free will. Free will is for history only an +expression for the unknown remainder of what we know about the laws of +human life. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +History examines the manifestations of man's free will in connection +with the external world in time and in dependence on cause, that is, it +defines this freedom by the laws of reason, and so history is a science +only in so far as this free will is defined by those laws. + +The recognition of man's free will as something capable of influencing +historical events, that is, as not subject to laws, is the same for +history as the recognition of a free force moving the heavenly bodies +would be for astronomy. + +That assumption would destroy the possibility of the existence of laws, +that is, of any science whatever. If there is even a single body moving +freely, then the laws of Kepler and Newton are negatived and no +conception of the movement of the heavenly bodies any longer exists. If +any single action is due to free will, then not a single historical law +can exist, nor any conception of historical events. + +For history, lines exist of the movement of human wills, one end of +which is hidden in the unknown but at the other end of which a +consciousness of man's will in the present moves in space, time, and +dependence on cause. + +The more this field of motion spreads out before our eyes, the more +evident are the laws of that movement. To discover and define those laws +is the problem of history. + +From the standpoint from which the science of history now regards its +subject on the path it now follows, seeking the causes of events in +man's freewill, a scientific enunciation of those laws is impossible, +for however man's free will may be restricted, as soon as we recognize +it as a force not subject to law, the existence of law becomes +impossible. + +Only by reducing this element of free will to the infinitesimal, that +is, by regarding it as an infinitely small quantity, can we convince +ourselves of the absolute inaccessibility of the causes, and then +instead of seeking causes, history will take the discovery of laws as +its problem. + +The search for these laws has long been begun and the new methods of +thought which history must adopt are being worked out simultaneously +with the self-destruction toward which--ever dissecting and dissecting +the causes of phenomena--the old method of history is moving. + +All human sciences have traveled along that path. Arriving at +infinitesimals, mathematics, the most exact of sciences, abandons the +process of analysis and enters on the new process of the integration of +unknown, infinitely small, quantities. Abandoning the conception of +cause, mathematics seeks law, that is, the property common to all +unknown, infinitely small, elements. + +In another form but along the same path of reflection the other sciences +have proceeded. When Newton enunciated the law of gravity he did not say +that the sun or the earth had a property of attraction; he said that all +bodies from the largest to the smallest have the property of attracting +one another, that is, leaving aside the question of the cause of the +movement of the bodies, he expressed the property common to all bodies +from the infinitely large to the infinitely small. The same is done by +the natural sciences: leaving aside the question of cause, they seek for +laws. History stands on the same path. And if history has for its object +the study of the movement of the nations and of humanity and not the +narration of episodes in the lives of individuals, it too, setting aside +the conception of cause, should seek the laws common to all the +inseparably interconnected infinitesimal elements of free will. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +From the time the law of Copernicus was discovered and proved, the mere +recognition of the fact that it was not the sun but the earth that moves +sufficed to destroy the whole cosmography of the ancients. By disproving +that law it might have been possible to retain the old conception of the +movements of the bodies, but without disproving it, it would seem +impossible to continue studying the Ptolemaic worlds. But even after the +discovery of the law of Copernicus the Ptolemaic worlds were still +studied for a long time. + +From the time the first person said and proved that the number of births +or of crimes is subject to mathematical laws, and that this or that mode +of government is determined by certain geographical and economic +conditions, and that certain relations of population to soil produce +migrations of peoples, the foundations on which history had been built +were destroyed in their essence. + +By refuting these new laws the former view of history might have been +retained; but without refuting them it would seem impossible to continue +studying historic events as the results of man's free will. For if a +certain mode of government was established or certain migrations of +peoples took place in consequence of such and such geographic, +ethnographic, or economic conditions, then the free will of those +individuals who appear to us to have established that mode of government +or occasioned the migrations can no longer be regarded as the cause. + +And yet the former history continues to be studied side by side with the +laws of statistics, geography, political economy, comparative philology, +and geology, which directly contradict its assumptions. + +The struggle between the old views and the new was long and stubbornly +fought out in physical philosophy. Theology stood on guard for the old +views and accused the new of violating revelation. But when truth +conquered, theology established itself just as firmly on the new +foundation. + +Just as prolonged and stubborn is the struggle now proceeding between +the old and the new conception of history, and theology in the same way +stands on guard for the old view, and accuses the new view of subverting +revelation. + +In the one case as in the other, on both sides the struggle provokes +passion and stifles truth. On the one hand there is fear and regret for +the loss of the whole edifice constructed through the ages, on the other +is the passion for destruction. + +To the men who fought against the rising truths of physical philosophy, +it seemed that if they admitted that truth it would destroy faith in +God, in the creation of the firmament, and in the miracle of Joshua the +son of Nun. To the defenders of the laws of Copernicus and Newton, to +Voltaire for example, it seemed that the laws of astronomy destroyed +religion, and he utilized the law of gravitation as a weapon against +religion. + +Just so it now seems as if we have only to admit the law of +inevitability, to destroy the conception of the soul, of good and evil, +and all the institutions of state and church that have been built up on +those conceptions. + +So too, like Voltaire in his time, uninvited defenders of the law of +inevitability today use that law as a weapon against religion, though +the law of inevitability in history, like the law of Copernicus in +astronomy, far from destroying, even strengthens the foundation on which +the institutions of state and church are erected. + +As in the question of astronomy then, so in the question of history now, +the whole difference of opinion is based on the recognition or +nonrecognition of something absolute, serving as the measure of visible +phenomena. In astronomy it was the immovability of the earth, in history +it is the independence of personality--free will. + +As with astronomy the difficulty of recognizing the motion of the earth +lay in abandoning the immediate sensation of the earth's fixity and of +the motion of the planets, so in history the difficulty of recognizing +the subjection of personality to the laws of space, time, and cause lies +in renouncing the direct feeling of the independence of one's own +personality. But as in astronomy the new view said: "It is true that we +do not feel the movement of the earth, but by admitting its immobility +we arrive at absurdity, while by admitting its motion (which we do not +feel) we arrive at laws," so also in history the new view says: "It is +true that we are not conscious of our dependence, but by admitting our +free will we arrive at absurdity, while by admitting our dependence on +the external world, on time, and on cause, we arrive at laws." + +In the first case it was necessary to renounce the consciousness of an +unreal immobility in space and to recognize a motion we did not feel; in +the present case it is similarly necessary to renounce a freedom that +does not exist, and to recognize a dependence of which we are not +conscious. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WAR AND PEACE *** + +***** This file should be named 2600-8.txt or 2600-8.zip ***** This and +all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/2600/ + +An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks +in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, including +how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to +our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/data/task2/airline-delays.csv.zip b/data/task2/airline-delays.csv.zip new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f0b63e Binary files /dev/null and b/data/task2/airline-delays.csv.zip differ diff --git a/distribution.md b/distribution.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1de2939 --- /dev/null +++ b/distribution.md @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ +# Distributed computing +Why and when should you consider any data distributed computing model? +___ + +For reasonable small datasets, we can use R/Python/Matlab and execute the parallel computation on a single machine, where tasks share memory and CPU. Let's look at this approach closer. + +### Parallel (shared memory) computing + - Split data + - Workers/threads independently and parallelly work with data + - When the work is done, combine the results + +In this case, we have only one machine which runs paralelly more threads. Data are partitioned in memory. But what if for example our data doesn't fit into a memory? When we need more memory we can [scale](notes.md#Scalability) by adding more machines. + +### Distributed computing + - Split data over all nodes + - Nodes independently and parallelly do the work with data + - When nodes are finished let's combined the results + +The solution in distributed system, where the **nodes are independent and don't physically share memory or processor**, seems to be quite similar to the "just" parallel computing. Data are partitioned among nodes. We solved the memory issue by adding more nodes but we've got new characteristic to deal with - the network and its latency. + +### When do we need data distributed computing model? +When we hit the limit of one of the resources: + - CPU (i.e. we need count logs faster than they are generated) + - Memory + - Disk (i.e. when the storage is not big enough for data) + - Network + +### The frameworks for distributed data computing +They try to solve many problems which can accure in a distributed environment: + - partial failure, a subset of nodes can crash in a cluster + - the communication between the nodes + - sending data over the network, [data latency](http://blog.morizyun.com/computer-science/basic-latency-comparison-numbers.html#Latency-Comparison-Numbers) (1 MB from disk 100x expensive than read it from memory) (it is related with [data locality]()) + - checking resources (CPU, memory) of the cluster + - persist data over the cluster diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7ddd94 --- /dev/null +++ b/docker-compose.yml @@ -0,0 +1,88 @@ +version: "2" +services: + + spark-master: + image: spark-docker + command: /usr/local/spark/bin/spark-class org.apache.spark.deploy.master.Master -h master + hostname: master + environment: + MASTER: spark://master:7077 + SPARK_CONF_DIR: /conf + SPARK_PUBLIC_DNS: localhost + expose: + - 7001 + - 7002 + - 7003 + - 7004 + - 7005 + - 7006 + - 7077 + - 6066 + ports: + - 4040:4040 # Job Spark WebUI + - 6066:6066 # Standalone Rest Server + - 7077:7077 # Shuffle server + - 8080:8080 # MasterWeb UI + volumes: + - ./conf/master:/conf + - spark-events:/tmp/spark-events + - ./:/root/workshop-spark + + spark-worker-base: + image: spark-docker + environment: + SPARK_CONF_DIR: /conf + SPARK_WORKER_CORES: 2 + SPARK_WORKER_MEMORY: 1g + SPARK_WORKER_PORT: 8881 + SPARK_PUBLIC_DNS: localhost + expose: + - 7012 + - 7013 + - 7014 + - 7015 + - 7016 + - 8881 + volumes: + - ./conf/worker:/conf + - spark-events:/tmp/spark-events + - ./:/root/workshop-spark + + spark-worker-1: + extends: spark-worker-base + hostname: worker1 + command: /usr/local/spark/bin/spark-class org.apache.spark.deploy.worker.Worker spark://spark-master:7077 + environment: + SPARK_WORKER_WEBUI_PORT: 8082 + links: + - spark-master + ports: + - 8082:8082 + + spark-worker-2: + extends: spark-worker-base + hostname: worker2 + command: /usr/local/spark/bin/spark-class org.apache.spark.deploy.worker.Worker spark://spark-master:7077 + environment: + SPARK_WORKER_WEBUI_PORT: 8083 + links: + - spark-master + ports: + - 8083:8083 + + history-server: + image: spark-docker + command: /usr/local/spark/bin/spark-class org.apache.spark.deploy.history.HistoryServer + hostname: history + environment: + SPARK_CONF_DIR: /conf + expose: + - 18080 + ports: + - 18080:18080 + volumes: + - ./conf/history:/conf + - spark-events:/tmp/spark-events + +volumes: + spark-events: diff --git a/environment.md b/environment.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0713e33 --- /dev/null +++ b/environment.md @@ -0,0 +1,91 @@ +# Setting the enviroment + +## Download and install git: + - mac/windows/ubuntu: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-Installing-Git + +#### clone this project + ``` + git clone https://github.com/OndrejKucera/workshop-spark.git + ``` + +## Download and install the docker: + - mac: https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/install/ + - windows: https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-windows/install/ + - ubuntu: https://docs.docker.com/engine/installation/linux/docker-ce/ubuntu/ + +## Prepare the docker: +#### build the docker image + ``` + docker build -t spark-docker . + ``` +#### run docker container + {your-dir} stands for your absolute path to workshop-spark directory that you cloned. + ``` + docker run -it -p 4040:4040 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -v {your-dir}:/root/workshop-spark -h spark --rm --name=spark spark-docker + ``` + +## Check the enviroment: +#### Host name: + ``` + root@spark:~# hostname + spark + ``` +#### Java: + ``` + root@spark:~# java -version + openjdk version "1.8.0_141" + OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_141-8u141-b15-1~deb9u1-b15) + OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.141-b15, mixed mode) + ``` + +#### Scala: + ``` + root@spark:~# scala -version + Scala code runner version 2.12.2 -- Copyright 2002-2017, LAMP/EPFL and Lightbend, Inc. + ``` + +#### Maven: + ``` + root@spark:~# mvn -version + Apache Maven 3.5.2 (138edd61fd100ec658bfa2d307c43b76940a5d7d; 2017-10-18T07:58:13Z) + ``` + +#### SBT: + ``` + Running `sbt about` will download and setup SBT on the image. + ``` + +#### Spark: + * master = local[*] - Run Spark locally with as many worker threads as logical cores on your machine. + ``` + root@spark:~# spark-shell + park context Web UI available at http://172.17.0.2:4040 + Spark context available as 'sc' (master = local[*], app id = local-1509561912585). + Spark session available as 'spark'. + Welcome to + ____ __ + / __/__ ___ _____/ /__ + _\ \/ _ \/ _ `/ __/ '_/ + /___/ .__/\_,_/_/ /_/\_\ version 2.2.0 + /_/ + + Using Scala version 2.11.8 (OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM, Java 1.8.0_141) + Type in expressions to have them evaluated. + Type :help for more information. + scala> + ``` + +#### Spark commands: +All the required binaries have been added to the `PATH`. + - Start Spark Master: ```start-master.sh``` + - Start Spark Slave: ```start-slave.sh spark://spark:7077``` + - Start Spark Shell: ```spark-shell --master spark://spark:7077``` to connect shell to the Spark standalone cluster master + +### View Spark Master WebUI console: + [`http://localhost:8080/`](http://localhost:8080/) + +### View Spark Worker WebUI console: + [`http://localhost:8081/`](http://localhost:8081/) + +### View Spark WebUI console + [`http://localhost:4040/`](http://localhost:4040/) (Only available during a running of Spark application.) diff --git a/java/task0-firstrun/README.md b/java/task0-firstrun/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e3d9e3e --- /dev/null +++ b/java/task0-firstrun/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,93 @@ +## Task 0: The First Run of Spark + +You will have a brief look at Spark API and run the first job. +___ + +#### 1. Briefly look at the Spark directory + Go to the main directory of Apache Spark + ``` + cd /usr/local/spark/ + ``` + Inspect the files in the bin directory. You have aleady used the ```spark-shell``` that starts the REPL of Spark. Also note ```spark-submit```, which is used to submit standalone Spark programs to a cluster. + + Inspect the scripts in the sbin directory. These scripts help with setting up a standalone Spark cluster, deploying Spark to EC2 virtual machines, and a bunch of additional tasks. + + Finally, take a look at the examples directory. You can find a number of standalone demo programs here, covering a variety of Spark APIs. +___ + +#### 2. Spark REPL + ``` + spark-shell --master spark://spark:7077 + ``` + Spark’s shell provides a simple way to learn the API, as well as a powerful tool to analyze data interactively. + During starting a REPL you can see lines as: + * [Spark context](https://jaceklaskowski.gitbooks.io/mastering-apache-spark/spark-SparkContext.html) is available as 'sc' - It is entry point to Spark Core and the heart of a Spark application. It is owned by Spark session. + * [Spark session](https://jaceklaskowski.gitbooks.io/mastering-apache-spark/spark-sql-SparkSession.html#implicits) is available as 'spark' - It is the very first object you have to create while developing Spark SQL applications. +___ + +#### 3. Run your first job + ``` + cat /usr/local/spark/examples/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/examples/JavaSparkPi.java + ``` + The source code of JavaSparkPi.java from the Spark examples + ``` + package org.apache.spark.examples; + + import org.apache.spark.api.java.JavaRDD; + import org.apache.spark.api.java.JavaSparkContext; + import org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession; + import java.util.ArrayList; + import java.util.List; + + /** + * Computes an approximation to pi Usage: JavaSparkPi [partitions] + */ + public final class JavaSparkPi { + + public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { + SparkSession spark = SparkSession + .builder() + .appName("JavaSparkPi") + .getOrCreate(); + + JavaSparkContext jsc = new JavaSparkContext(spark.sparkContext()); + + int slices = (args.length == 1) ? Integer.parseInt(args[0]) : 2; + int n = 100000 * slices; + List l = new ArrayList<>(n); + for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { + l.add(i); + } + + JavaRDD dataSet = jsc.parallelize(l, slices); + + int count = dataSet + .map(integer -> { + double x = Math.random() * 2 - 1; + double y = Math.random() * 2 - 1; + return (x * x + y * y <= 1) ? 1 : 0; + }).reduce((integer, integer2) -> integer + integer2); + + System.out.println("Pi is roughly " + 4.0 * count / n); + + spark.stop(); + } + } + ``` + +Execute Spark job for calculating `Pi` Value + ``` + spark-submit \ + --class org.apache.spark.examples.JavaSparkPi \ + --master spark://spark:7077 \ + /usr/local/spark/examples/jars/spark-examples_2.11-2.2.0.jar \ + 100 + Pi is roughly 3.140495114049511 + ``` +OR even simpler + ``` + $SPARK_HOME/bin/run-example JavaSparkPi 100 + Pi is roughly 3.1413855141385514 + ``` + +Please note the first command above expects Spark Master and Slave to be running. We can even check the Spark Web UI after executing this command. You can write ```stop-master.sh``` and you will see that your command doesn't work. diff --git a/java/task1-wordcount/README.md b/java/task1-wordcount/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad81789 --- /dev/null +++ b/java/task1-wordcount/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +## Task 1: Word Count + +You will get familiar with Spark and run your first Spark job. +> **NOTE** Solution is already in WordCount.java file, please don't look at it :-). Try to come up with your solution first. We can check it later. +___ + +#### 1. Check data + You will process texts of books that are freely avaliable at [Gutenberg project](http://www.gutenberg.org/). Take a look at the text files that are in the resources directory of ```task1-wordcount```. + ``` + head -n 50 /root/workshop-spark/data/task1/*.txt | less + ``` + This shows the first 50 lines of each file. +___ + +#### 2. How to load data + You can use the [SparkContext.textFile](https://spark.apache.org/docs/2.2.0/api/scala/index.html#org.apache.spark.SparkContext) method to load all data. The textFile method can work with a directory path or a wildcard filter such as /*.txt. + Your first task is to print out the number of lines in all the text files, combined. The solution should be quite short so you could write in only in the spark-shell. + ``` + spark.read.textFile("file:///root/workshop-spark/data/task1/*.txt") + ``` +___ + +#### 3. Implementing the Word Count + Your task is to implement the actual word-count program. Print the top 10 most frequent words in the provided books. Create solution to the spark-shell. When it will work you can try to copy-paste it to ```java/task1-worldcount/src/main/java/org/workshop/WordCount.java``` and then build the jar by the command. + ``` + mvn package + ``` + Maven wil create the jar in ```target/word-count-1.0.jar```. When you have your jar you then you can [submit](https://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/submitting-applications.html#launching-applications-with-spark-submit) the job to spark cluster. + ``` + spark-submit \ + --class org.workshop.WordCount \ + --master spark://spark:7077 \ + --executor-memory 1G \ + --total-executor-cores 2 \ + target/word-count-1.0.jar \ + "/root/workshop-spark/data/task1/*.txt" + ``` +___ + +#### 4. Discussion +You could use ```reduceByKey``` but also the method ```countByValue```. Read [its documentation](https://spark.apache.org/docs/2.0.1/api/scala/index.html#org.apache.spark.rdd.RDD), and try to understand how it works. Which method is better to use and why? diff --git a/java/task1-wordcount/pom.xml b/java/task1-wordcount/pom.xml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..55c369a --- /dev/null +++ b/java/task1-wordcount/pom.xml @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ + + + 4.0.0 + workshop + word-count + 1.0 + + + 2.2.0 + + + + + org.apache.spark + spark-core_2.11 + ${spark.version} + provided + + + org.apache.spark + spark-sql_2.11 + ${spark.version} + provided + + + + + + + org.apache.maven.plugins + maven-compiler-plugin + 3.7.0 + + 1.8 + 1.8 + + + + + + diff --git a/java/task1-wordcount/src/main/java/org/workshop/WordCount.java b/java/task1-wordcount/src/main/java/org/workshop/WordCount.java new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce840cf --- /dev/null +++ b/java/task1-wordcount/src/main/java/org/workshop/WordCount.java @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +package org.workshop; + +import scala.Tuple2; +import org.apache.spark.api.java.JavaPairRDD; +import org.apache.spark.api.java.JavaRDD; +import org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession; +import java.util.Arrays; +import java.util.List; + +public final class WordCount { + + public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { + + SparkSession spark = SparkSession + .builder() + .appName("Word Count") + .getOrCreate(); + + JavaRDD lines = spark.read().textFile(args[0]).javaRDD(); + JavaRDD words = lines.flatMap(line -> Arrays.asList(line.split(" ")).iterator()); + JavaPairRDD pairs = words.mapToPair(s -> new Tuple2<>(s, 1)); + JavaPairRDD freqs = pairs.reduceByKey((i1, i2) -> i1 + i2); + + // sortByValue, bit more comlicated than in scala + JavaPairRDD swaped = freqs.mapToPair(pair -> pair.swap()); + JavaPairRDD sorted = swaped.sortByKey(false); + JavaPairRDD top = sorted.mapToPair(pair -> pair.swap()); + + // print first 10 + List> output = top.take(10); + for (Tuple2 tuple : output) { + System.out.println(tuple._1() + ": " + tuple._2()); + } + + spark.stop(); + } + +} diff --git a/java/task2-flights/README.md b/java/task2-flights/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e45871 --- /dev/null +++ b/java/task2-flights/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,96 @@ +## Task 2: Analyzing Flight Delays + +You will get a taste of SparkSQL API during an analyzing a real-world dataset that represents information about US flight delays in January 2016. We will use RDD and Dataset which wraps RDD with schema information. You can [download](https://www.transtats.bts.gov/DL_SelectFields.asp?Table_ID=236&DB_Short_Name=On-Time) bigger additional datasets. + +> **NOTE** Solutions for all questions are already in Flights.java file, please don't look at it :-). Try to come up with your solution first. We can check the file later. +___ + +#### 1. Look at a data + There is archive file ```airline-delays.csv.zip``` in ```/root/workshop-spark/data/task2``` directory. Unzip archive to same directory as it is. There will be ```airline-delays.csv``` file that represents a comma-separated collection of flight records. + + First, let's count the number of the record. + ``` + wc -l /root/workshop-spark/data/task2/airline-delays.csv + ``` + and display first 5 lines of file. The first line represents a header. + ``` + head -n 5 data/task2/airline-delays.csv + "Year","Quarter","Month","DayofMonth","DayOfWeek","FlightDate","UniqueCarrier","AirlineID","Carrier","TailNum","FlightNum","OriginAirportID","OriginAirportSeqID","OriginCityMarketID","Origin","OriginCityName","OriginState","OriginStateFips","OriginStateName","OriginWac","DestAirportID","DestAirportSeqID","DestCityMarketID","Dest","DestCityName","DestState","DestStateFips","DestStateName","DestWac","CRSDepTime","DepTime","DepDelay","DepDelayMinutes","DepDel15","DepartureDelayGroups","DepTimeBlk","TaxiOut","WheelsOff","WheelsOn","TaxiIn","CRSArrTime","ArrTime","ArrDelay","ArrDelayMinutes","ArrDel15","ArrivalDelayGroups","ArrTimeBlk","Cancelled","CancellationCode","Diverted","CRSElapsedTime","ActualElapsedTime","AirTime","Flights","Distance","DistanceGroup","CarrierDelay","WeatherDelay","NASDelay","SecurityDelay","LateAircraftDelay","FirstDepTime","TotalAddGTime","LongestAddGTime","DivAirportLandings","DivReachedDest","DivActualElapsedTime","DivArrDelay","DivDistance","Div1Airport","Div1AirportID","Div1AirportSeqID","Div1WheelsOn","Div1TotalGTime","Div1LongestGTime","Div1WheelsOff","Div1TailNum","Div2Airport","Div2AirportID","Div2AirportSeqID","Div2WheelsOn","Div2TotalGTime","Div2LongestGTime","Div2WheelsOff","Div2TailNum","Div3Airport","Div3AirportID","Div3AirportSeqID","Div3WheelsOn","Div3TotalGTime","Div3LongestGTime","Div3WheelsOff","Div3TailNum","Div4Airport","Div4AirportID","Div4AirportSeqID","Div4WheelsOn","Div4TotalGTime","Div4LongestGTime","Div4WheelsOff","Div4TailNum","Div5Airport","Div5AirportID","Div5AirportSeqID","Div5WheelsOn","Div5TotalGTime","Div5LongestGTime","Div5WheelsOff","Div5TailNum", + 2016,1,1,6,3,2016-01-06,"AA",19805,"AA","N4YBAA","43",11298,1129804,30194,"DFW","Dallas/Fort Worth, TX","TX","48","Texas",74,11433,1143302,31295,"DTW","Detroit, MI","MI","26","Michigan",43,"1100","1057",-3.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1100-1159",15.00,"1112","1424",8.00,"1438","1432",-6.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1400-1459",0.00,"",0.00,158.00,155.00,132.00,1.00,986.00,4,,,,,,"",,,0,,,,,"",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","", + 2016,1,1,7,4,2016-01-07,"AA",19805,"AA","N434AA","43",11298,1129804,30194,"DFW","Dallas/Fort Worth, TX","TX","48","Texas",74,11433,1143302,31295,"DTW","Detroit, MI","MI","26","Michigan",43,"1100","1056",-4.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1100-1159",14.00,"1110","1416",10.00,"1438","1426",-12.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1400-1459",0.00,"",0.00,158.00,150.00,126.00,1.00,986.00,4,,,,,,"",,,0,,,,,"",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","", + 2016,1,1,8,5,2016-01-08,"AA",19805,"AA","N541AA","43",11298,1129804,30194,"DFW","Dallas/Fort Worth, TX","TX","48","Texas",74,11433,1143302,31295,"DTW","Detroit, MI","MI","26","Michigan",43,"1100","1055",-5.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1100-1159",21.00,"1116","1431",14.00,"1438","1445",7.00,7.00,0.00,0,"1400-1459",0.00,"",0.00,158.00,170.00,135.00,1.00,986.00,4,,,,,,"",,,0,,,,,"",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","", + 2016,1,1,9,6,2016-01-09,"AA",19805,"AA","N489AA","43",11298,1129804,30194,"DFW","Dallas/Fort Worth, TX","TX","48","Texas",74,11433,1143302,31295,"DTW","Detroit, MI","MI","26","Michigan",43,"1100","1102",2.00,2.00,0.00,0,"1100-1159",13.00,"1115","1424",9.00,"1438","1433",-5.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1400-1459",0.00,"",0.00,158.00,151.00,129.00,1.00,986.00,4,,,,,,"",,,0,,,,,"",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","", + ``` + ___ + +#### 2. Parsing the CSV + Next, create an DataFrame based on the ```airline-delays.csv``` file. + ``` + val flightsDS = spark.read + .format("csv") + .option("header", "true") + .option("mode", "DROPMALFORMED") + .option("inferSchema", true) + .load("file:///root/workshop-spark/data/task2/airline-delays.csv") + ``` + The options that are used during a loading: + * header - Load the first row as a header . + * mode - Ignores the whole corrupted records. + * inferSchema - Spark will figure out data types of columns by itself. + + You can check the schema by printing it. + ``` + flightsDF.printSchema + ``` +___ + +#### 3. Querying with RDD + Create the [RDD](http://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/api/scala/index.html#org.apache.spark.rdd.RDD) with [Row](https://spark.apache.org/docs/2.2.0/api/scala/index.html#org.apache.spark.sql.Row)s. + ``` + val rdd = flightsDS.rdd + ``` + + Question 3.1: Suppose you're in 'Boston, MA'. Which airline has the most flights departing from Boston? + > **HINT**: The solution is quite similar as the previous word-count. Try to focus on filter, map, reduceByKey and sortBy methods. + ``` + val onlyFromBoston = ... + val airlinesOnlyFromBoston = ... + val airlineWithMostFlights = ... + val airlineWithMostFlight = ... + ``` + + Question 3.2: Overall, which airline has the worst average delay? How bad was that delay? + > **HINT**: The Column 'ArrDelay' can be negative. The negative number means that an airplane came earlier. So you should filter all negative numbers. The tricky part could be to count an average :-). +___ + +#### 4. Querying with DataSet + Now, We are going to work with [DataSet](https://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/api/scala/index.html#org.apache.spark.sql.Dataset). + + Question 4.1: Suppose you're in 'New York, NY' and you want to take direct flight to 'San Francisco, CA'. In terms of arrival delay, which airline has the best record on that route? +___ + +#### 5. Querying with ordinary SQL + Question 5.1: Living in 'Chicago, IL', what are the furthest 10 destinations that you could fly to? (Note that our dataset contains only US domestic flights.) + Create temporary table ```flights```. + ``` + flightsDF.withColumn("Distance", new Column("Distance").cast(org.apache.spark.sql.types.DoubleType)) + .createOrReplaceTempView("flights") + ``` + ``` + spark.sql("""SELECT ... ... ... """) + ``` +___ + +#### 6. Build/submit/run (optional) + When your solutions return right answers try write them out to output directory ```/root/workshop-spark/data/task2/output```. You can try to gather all your code into Flights.java, build and submit it with the command bellow. + ``` + spark-submit \ + --class org.workshop.Flights \ + --master spark://spark:7077 \ + --executor-memory 1G \ + --total-executor-cores 4 \ + target/flights-1.0.jar \ + "/root/workshop-spark/data/task2/airline-delays.csv" \ + "/root/workshop-spark/data/task2/output" + ``` +If you run spark-submit command more than once you can get ```Output directory file:/root/workshop-spark/data/task2/output/airline-with-most-flight already exists```. You have to delete the ouput first. diff --git a/java/task2-flights/pom.xml b/java/task2-flights/pom.xml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..746ab28 --- /dev/null +++ b/java/task2-flights/pom.xml @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ + + + 4.0.0 + workshop + flights + 1.0 + + + 2.2.0 + + + + + org.apache.spark + spark-core_2.11 + ${spark.version} + provided + + + org.apache.spark + spark-sql_2.11 + ${spark.version} + provided + + + + + + + org.apache.maven.plugins + maven-compiler-plugin + 3.7.0 + + 1.8 + 1.8 + + + + + + diff --git a/java/task2-flights/src/main/java/org/workshop/Flights.java b/java/task2-flights/src/main/java/org/workshop/Flights.java new file mode 100644 index 0000000..42335c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/java/task2-flights/src/main/java/org/workshop/Flights.java @@ -0,0 +1,124 @@ +package org.workshop; + +import org.apache.spark.api.java.JavaPairRDD; +import org.apache.spark.api.java.JavaRDD; +import org.apache.spark.api.java.function.MapFunction; +import org.apache.spark.api.java.function.ReduceFunction; +import org.apache.spark.sql.*; +import scala.Serializable; +import scala.Tuple2; + +import static org.apache.spark.sql.types.DataTypes.DoubleType; + +public final class Flights { + + public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { + + SparkSession spark = SparkSession + .builder() + .appName("Word Count") + .getOrCreate(); + + Dataset flightsDF = spark.read() + .format("csv") + .option("header", "true") + .option("mode", "DROPMALFORMED") + .option("inferSchema", true) + .load(args[0]); + + JavaRDD rdd = flightsDF.javaRDD(); + rdd.cache(); + + + // 3.1) RDD: airline with the most flights from Boston + JavaPairRDD airlineWithMostFlights = rdd + .filter((Row row) -> row.getAs("OriginCityName").equals("Boston, MA")) + .mapToPair((Row row) -> new Tuple2<>((String)row.getAs("Carrier"), 1)) + .reduceByKey((i1, i2) -> i1 + i2); + JavaPairRDD sortedFlights = sortByValue(airlineWithMostFlights).coalesce(1); + sortedFlights.saveAsTextFile(args[1] + "/airline-with-most-flight/"); + + + // 3.2) RDD: airline with the worst average delay + JavaPairRDD airlineWithWorstDelay = rdd + .filter((Row row) -> !row.isNullAt(row.fieldIndex("ArrDelay")) + && (Double)row.getAs("ArrDelay") > 0) + .mapToPair(row -> new Tuple2<>((String)row.getAs("Carrier"), + (Double)row.getAs("ArrDelay"))) + // count of average + .mapValues(value -> new Tuple2<>(value, 1)) + .reduceByKey((a, b) -> new Tuple2<>(a._1() + b._1(), a._2() + b._2())) + .mapValues(value -> value._1()/value._2()); + JavaPairRDD sortedDelays = sortByValue(airlineWithWorstDelay).coalesce(1); + sortedDelays.saveAsTextFile(args[1] + "/airline-with-worst-delay/"); + + + // 4.1) Dataset: airline with the least delay + Dataset newYorkToSanFran = flightsDF + .filter((flightsDF.col("OriginCityName").equalTo("New York, NY")) + .and(flightsDF.col("DestCityName").equalTo("San Francisco, CA")) + .and(flightsDF.col("ArrDelay").gt(0))) + .map((MapFunction) row -> + new MyRow(row.getAs("Carrier"), row.getAs("ArrDelay")), Encoders.bean(MyRow.class)); + KeyValueGroupedDataset carrierGrouped = newYorkToSanFran.groupByKey( + (MapFunction) MyRow::getCarrier, Encoders.STRING()); + Dataset> sumDelayCarriers = carrierGrouped.reduceGroups( + (ReduceFunction) (r1, r2) -> new MyRow(r1.getCarrier(), r1.getArrDelay() + r2.getArrDelay())); + Dataset airlineWithLeastDelay = sumDelayCarriers.map( + (MapFunction, MyRow>) Tuple2::_2, Encoders.bean(MyRow.class)); + Dataset sortedLeastDelay = airlineWithLeastDelay.orderBy("ArrDelay").coalesce(1); + sortedLeastDelay.write().csv(args[1] + "/airline-with-least-delay/"); + + + // 5.1) SQL: the farthest 10 destination from Chicago + flightsDF.withColumn("Distance", new Column("Distance").cast(DoubleType)) + .createOrReplaceTempView("flights"); + Dataset furthestDestination = spark.sql("SELECT DISTINCT OriginCityName, DestCityName, Distance " + + "FROM flights " + + "WHERE OriginCityName == 'Chicago, IL' " + + "ORDER BY Distance " + + "DESC LIMIT 10"); + furthestDestination.write().format("csv").save(args[1] + "/farthest-destination/"); + + + spark.stop(); + } + + // helper method sortByValue (it doesn't exist in Java API) + private static JavaPairRDD sortByValue(JavaPairRDD rdd) { + return rdd + .mapToPair(Tuple2::swap) + .sortByKey(false) + .mapToPair(Tuple2::swap); + } + + // the class has to be Java bean + public static class MyRow implements Serializable { + private String carrier; + private Double arrDelay; + + public MyRow() {} + + public MyRow(String carrier, Double delay) { + this.carrier = carrier; + this.arrDelay = delay; + } + + public String getCarrier() { + return carrier; + } + + public void setCarrier(String c) { + this.carrier = c; + } + + public Double getArrDelay() { + return arrDelay; + } + + public void setArrDelay(Double delay) { + this.arrDelay = delay; + } + } + +} diff --git a/java/task3/README.md b/java/task3/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..096aee2 --- /dev/null +++ b/java/task3/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ +## Optional: Run all spark jobs in the cluster + You can submit and run all app in cluster deploy mode on standalone cluster. +___ + +#### 1. Set environment + Those who has installed 'docker for windows' or 'docker for mac' should already have a docker-compose. You can check it. + ``` + docker-compose -version + ``` + Those who doesn't have docker-compose can find the link for installation here. + * https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/#install-compose + + If you run the container from previous tasks then stop and remove it. We want to avoid any collisions of ports. + ``` + docker stop spark + ``` + + Run a instances of one master and two workers + ``` + docker-compose up -d + ``` + Go into spar-master's container + ``` + docker-compose exec spark-master /bin/bash + ``` + When you wil want to stop and remove all containers and volume then write + ``` + docker-compose down -v + ``` +___ + +#### 2. Submit the word-count job + * '--deploy-mode cluster' the driver program is launched on one of the worker machines inside the cluster + * '--supervise' restarts the driver on failure + ``` + spark-submit \ + --class org.workshop.WordCount \ + --master spark://spark-master:7077 \ + --deploy-mode cluster \ + --supervise \ + --executor-memory 1G \ + --total-executor-cores 4 \ + /root/workshop-spark/java/task1-wordcount/target/word-count-1.0.jar \ + "/root/workshop-spark/data/task1/*.txt" + ``` +  After the job will be completed you can explore it in History server [http://localhost:18080/](http://localhost:18080/). +___ + +#### 3. Submit the flights job + ``` + spark-submit \ + --class org.workshop.Flights \ + --master spark://spark-master:7077 \ + --deploy-mode cluster \ + --supervise \ + --executor-memory 1G \ + --total-executor-cores 4 \ + /root/workshop-spark/java/task1-wordcount/target/target/flights-1.0.jar \ + "/root/workshop-spark/data/task2/airline-delays.csv" + "/root/workshop-spark/data/task2/output" + ``` +  After the job will be complete you can explore it in History server [http://localhost:18080/](http://localhost:18080/). diff --git a/mapreduce.md b/mapreduce.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83b9c7f --- /dev/null +++ b/mapreduce.md @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +# MapReduce vs. Spark + +### What is MapReduce + Conscept/approche? + when? what is it? how it was created? + + Algorimus: Map + shuffle fáze(partitioning + sort + group by) + Reduce + follows the map, shuffle, reduce algorithm using key-value pairs + + Průběh: +při přenosu dat z mapu do reduce jsou data serializována a ukládána na disk, takže hodnoty musí být Writable +a také klíč musí být WritableComaparable, protože v shuffle fází potřebujeme řadit +Combiner: mohou se provést dílčí agregace, předpočítání a až následně se výsledek pošle do reduceru. Musí mít stejný vstup a výstup. Může a nemusí se spustit. Snižuje se zátěž reduce nodu a vytížení sítě. + + + the image and explanation? + https://www.slideshare.net/esaliya/mapreduce-in-simple-terms/3-Sam_thought_of_drinking_the + + https://www.slideshare.net/AbeArredondo/mapreduce-64145644 + + https://www.slideshare.net/JoaquinVanschoren/hadoop-tutorial-12877034 + +### Characteristics of the MapReduce +In this section, it is considered **MapReduce** in a meaning of a default processing engine of **Hadoop**. + + Charachteristics: + * work with permanent storage -> handle enormous datasets + * less expensive hardware -> since it doesn't need that much memory + * incredible scalability potential + * Hadoop has an extensive ecosystem + * fault tolerance + +It is best suited for handling very large data that sit on permament storage. + +But there are some disatvatages: + * constrained by two stages (map and reduce) + * uncofortable work with API -> skilled developer + * heavily leverages permanent storage, reading and writing multiple times per task, it tends to be fairly slow + +It has to be said that many concepts are good even today and Hadoop is frequently used as a building block for other software in many frameworks. + +### What about Apache Spark? +All what it is mentioned plus ... + * confortable API + * not only two stages + * it is possible create data flow + * work with operation memory -> better performace + * batch and streaming (kind of) +  * doesn't have to rely on Hadoop (no HDFS, no YARN), warriaty of inputs/outpus + +But there are may other frameworks that can be used. We focus on Apache Spark because it has [huge community](https://www.openhub.net/p/apache-spark) + +### Other frameworks: + * batch only: [Apache Hadoop](http://hadoop.apache.org/) + * stream only: [Apache Storm](http://storm.apache.org/), [Apache Samza](http://samza.apache.org/) + * hybrid (batch, stream): [Apache Flink](https://flink.apache.org/), [Apache Spark](https://spark.apache.org/), [Apache Apex](https://apex.apache.org/) diff --git a/notes.md b/notes.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f4aae7 --- /dev/null +++ b/notes.md @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +##### Batch processing: +xxx + +##### Cluster: +Cluster is a set of loosely or tightly connected computers that work together so that, in many respects, they can be viewed as a single system. (source: wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_cluster) + +##### Data locality: +Ability to move the computation (code) close to where the actual data resides on the node, instead of moving large data to computation. This minimizes network i/o operations (slow HDD) and increases the overall throughput of the system. + +##### Hadoop: +I would call it ecosystem for distributed computation: it has to have at least DFS, YARN (resource manager), which runs an application with different frameworks (MapReduce, Spark, ...). We can find it in different distributions [CDH](https://www.cloudera.com/products/open-source/apache-hadoop/key-cdh-components.html), [Hortonwork](https://hortonworks.com/), [MapR](https://mapr.com/products/) + +##### Partitioning: +xxxx rozdělení dat na části. Děje se především v mezi stupni, kde se předávají mezi výsledky +Důležité => výpočet je možné paralelizovat jen tak jak je možné rozdělit vstupní data. A to i v reduce fázi. Pokud reduce fáze musí zpracovat 1TB dat, tak to trvá neskutečně dlouho a ani to možná nedoběhne, protože to bude mít problémy s řazením. + +##### Scalability: +Scalability is the capability of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work, or its potential to be enlarged to accommodate that growth. + - horizontally (add more machines) + - verticaly (better machine) + +##### Sharding: +xxxx nasekání dat podle klíče. Například věcí, které se zpracovávají dohromady aby byly společně + +##### Stream processing: +xxxx diff --git a/scala/task0-firstrun/README.md b/scala/task0-firstrun/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0a8875 --- /dev/null +++ b/scala/task0-firstrun/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,80 @@ +## Task 0: The First Run of Spark + +You will have a brief look at Spark API and run the first job. +___ + +#### 1. Briefly look at the Spark directory + Go to the main directory of Apache Spark + ``` + cd /usr/local/spark/ + ``` + Inspect the files in the bin directory. You have aleady used the ```spark-shell``` that starts the REPL of Spark. Also note ```spark-submit```, which is used to submit standalone Spark programs to a cluster. + + Inspect the scripts in the sbin directory. These scripts help with setting up a standalone Spark cluster, deploying Spark to EC2 virtual machines, and a bunch of additional tasks. + + Finally, take a look at the examples directory. You can find a number of standalone demo programs here, covering a variety of Spark APIs. +___ + +#### 2. Spark REPL + ``` + spark-shell --master spark://spark:7077 + ``` + Spark’s shell provides a simple way to learn the API, as well as a powerful tool to analyze data interactively. + During starting a REPL you can see lines as: + * [Spark context](https://jaceklaskowski.gitbooks.io/mastering-apache-spark/spark-SparkContext.html) is available as 'sc' - It is entry point to Spark Core and the heart of a Spark application. It is owned by Spark session. + * [Spark session](https://jaceklaskowski.gitbooks.io/mastering-apache-spark/spark-sql-SparkSession.html#implicits) is available as 'spark' - It is the very first object you have to create while developing Spark SQL applications. +___ + +#### 3. Run your first job + ``` + cat /usr/local/spark/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/SparkPi.scala + ``` + The source code of SparkPi.scala from the Spark examples + ``` + package org.apache.spark.examples + + import scala.math.random + import org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession + + /** Computes an approximation to pi */ + object SparkPi { + def main(args: Array[String]) { + val spark = SparkSession + .builder + .appName("Spark Pi") + .getOrCreate() + + val slices = if (args.length > 0) args(0).toInt else 2 + val n = math.min(100000L * slices, Int.MaxValue).toInt // avoid overflow + + val count = spark.sparkContext + .parallelize(1 until n, slices) + .map { i => + val x = random * 2 - 1 + val y = random * 2 - 1 + if (x*x + y*y <= 1) 1 else 0 + }.reduce(_ + _) + + println("Pi is roughly " + 4.0 * count / (n - 1)) + spark.stop() + } + } + ``` + +Execute Spark job for calculating `Pi` Value + ``` + spark-submit \ + --class org.apache.spark.examples.SparkPi \ + --master spark://spark:7077 \ + /usr/local/spark/examples/jars/spark-examples_2.11-2.2.0.jar \ + 100 + Pi is roughly 3.140495114049511 + ``` +OR even simpler + ``` + $SPARK_HOME/bin/run-example SparkPi 100 + Pi is roughly 3.1413855141385514 + ``` + +Please note the first command above expects Spark Master and Slave to be running. We can even check the Spark Web UI after executing this command. You can write ```stop-master.sh``` and you will see that the first command doesn't work. + diff --git a/scala/task1-wordcount/README.md b/scala/task1-wordcount/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8623c9c --- /dev/null +++ b/scala/task1-wordcount/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +## Task 1: Word Count + +You will see a spark code and run your first Spark job. +> **NOTE** Solution is already in WordCount.scala file, please don't look at it :-). Try to come up with your solution first. We can check it later. +___ + +#### 1. Check data + You will process texts of books that are freely avaliable at [Gutenberg project](http://www.gutenberg.org/). Take a look at the text files that are in the resources directory of ```task1-wordcount```. + ``` + head -n 50 /root/workshop-spark/data/task1/*.txt | less + ``` + This shows the first 50 lines of each file. +___ + +#### 2. How to load data + You can use the [SparkContext.textFile](https://spark.apache.org/docs/2.2.0/api/scala/index.html#org.apache.spark.SparkContext) method to load all data. The textFile method can work with a directory path or a wildcard filter such as /*.txt. + Your first task is to print out the number of lines in all the text files, combined. The solution should be quite short so you could write in only in the spark-shell. + ``` + spark.read.textFile("file:///root/workshop-spark/data/task1/*.txt") + ``` +___ + +#### 3. Implementing the Word Count + Your task is to implement the actual word-count program. Print the top 10 most frequent words in the provided books. Create solution to the spark-shell. When it will work you can try to copy-paste it to ```scala/task1-worldcount/src/main/scala/org/workshop/WordCount.scala``` and then build the jar by the command. + ``` + sbt package + ``` + SBT wil create the jar in ```target/scala-2.11/word-count_2.11-1.0.jar```. When you have your jar then you can [submit](https://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/submitting-applications.html#launching-applications-with-spark-submit) the job to spark cluster. + ``` + spark-submit \ + --class org.workshop.WordCount \ + --master spark://spark:7077 \ + --executor-memory 1G \ + --total-executor-cores 2 \ + target/scala-2.11/word-count_2.11-1.0.jar \ + "/root/workshop-spark/data/task1/*.txt" + ``` +___ + +#### 4. Discussion + +You could use ```reduceByKey``` but also the method ```countByValue```. Read [its documentation](https://spark.apache.org/docs/2.0.1/api/scala/index.html#org.apache.spark.rdd.RDD), and try to understand how it works. Which method is better to use and why? diff --git a/scala/task1-wordcount/build.sbt b/scala/task1-wordcount/build.sbt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ae5a22 --- /dev/null +++ b/scala/task1-wordcount/build.sbt @@ -0,0 +1,10 @@ +name := "word-count" +version := "1.0" + +scalaVersion := "2.11.7" +val sparkVersion = "2.2.0" + +libraryDependencies ++= Seq( + "org.apache.spark" %% "spark-core" % sparkVersion, + "org.apache.spark" %% "spark-sql" % sparkVersion +) diff --git a/scala/task1-wordcount/src/main/scala/org/workshop/WordCount.scala b/scala/task1-wordcount/src/main/scala/org/workshop/WordCount.scala new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10c2b82 --- /dev/null +++ b/scala/task1-wordcount/src/main/scala/org/workshop/WordCount.scala @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +package org.workshop + +import org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession + +object WordCount { + def main(arg: Array[String]) { + val spark = SparkSession + .builder + .appName("World Count") + .getOrCreate() + + val lines = spark.read.textFile(arg(0)) + val words = lines.flatMap(line => line.split(" ").filter(w => w != null && !w.isEmpty)) + val pairs = words.map(word => (word, 1)) + val freqs = pairs.reduceByKey((a, b) => a + b) + val top = freqs.sortBy(_._2, false) + + val top10 = top.take(10) + + top10.foreach(println) + + spark.stop() + } +} + diff --git a/scala/task2-flights/README.md b/scala/task2-flights/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..245e06e --- /dev/null +++ b/scala/task2-flights/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,96 @@ +## Task 2: Analyzing Flight Delays + +You will get a taste of SparkSQL API during an analyzing a real-world dataset that represents information about US flight delays in January 2016. We will use RDD and DataFrame which wraps RDD with schema information. You can [download](https://www.transtats.bts.gov/DL_SelectFields.asp?Table_ID=236&DB_Short_Name=On-Time) bigger additional datasets. + +> **NOTE** Solutions for all questions are already in Flights.scala file, please don't look at it :-). Try to come up with your solution first. We can check the file later. +___ + +#### 1. Look at a data + There is archive file ```airline-delays.csv.zip``` in ```/root/workshop-spark/data/task2``` directory. Unzip archive to same directory as it is. There will be ```airline-delays.csv``` file that represents a comma-separated collection of flight records. + + First, let's count the number of the record. + ``` + wc -l /root/workshop-spark/data/task2/airline-delays.csv + ``` + and display first 5 lines of file. The first line represents a header. + ``` + head -n 5 data/task2/airline-delays.csv + "Year","Quarter","Month","DayofMonth","DayOfWeek","FlightDate","UniqueCarrier","AirlineID","Carrier","TailNum","FlightNum","OriginAirportID","OriginAirportSeqID","OriginCityMarketID","Origin","OriginCityName","OriginState","OriginStateFips","OriginStateName","OriginWac","DestAirportID","DestAirportSeqID","DestCityMarketID","Dest","DestCityName","DestState","DestStateFips","DestStateName","DestWac","CRSDepTime","DepTime","DepDelay","DepDelayMinutes","DepDel15","DepartureDelayGroups","DepTimeBlk","TaxiOut","WheelsOff","WheelsOn","TaxiIn","CRSArrTime","ArrTime","ArrDelay","ArrDelayMinutes","ArrDel15","ArrivalDelayGroups","ArrTimeBlk","Cancelled","CancellationCode","Diverted","CRSElapsedTime","ActualElapsedTime","AirTime","Flights","Distance","DistanceGroup","CarrierDelay","WeatherDelay","NASDelay","SecurityDelay","LateAircraftDelay","FirstDepTime","TotalAddGTime","LongestAddGTime","DivAirportLandings","DivReachedDest","DivActualElapsedTime","DivArrDelay","DivDistance","Div1Airport","Div1AirportID","Div1AirportSeqID","Div1WheelsOn","Div1TotalGTime","Div1LongestGTime","Div1WheelsOff","Div1TailNum","Div2Airport","Div2AirportID","Div2AirportSeqID","Div2WheelsOn","Div2TotalGTime","Div2LongestGTime","Div2WheelsOff","Div2TailNum","Div3Airport","Div3AirportID","Div3AirportSeqID","Div3WheelsOn","Div3TotalGTime","Div3LongestGTime","Div3WheelsOff","Div3TailNum","Div4Airport","Div4AirportID","Div4AirportSeqID","Div4WheelsOn","Div4TotalGTime","Div4LongestGTime","Div4WheelsOff","Div4TailNum","Div5Airport","Div5AirportID","Div5AirportSeqID","Div5WheelsOn","Div5TotalGTime","Div5LongestGTime","Div5WheelsOff","Div5TailNum", + 2016,1,1,6,3,2016-01-06,"AA",19805,"AA","N4YBAA","43",11298,1129804,30194,"DFW","Dallas/Fort Worth, TX","TX","48","Texas",74,11433,1143302,31295,"DTW","Detroit, MI","MI","26","Michigan",43,"1100","1057",-3.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1100-1159",15.00,"1112","1424",8.00,"1438","1432",-6.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1400-1459",0.00,"",0.00,158.00,155.00,132.00,1.00,986.00,4,,,,,,"",,,0,,,,,"",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","", + 2016,1,1,7,4,2016-01-07,"AA",19805,"AA","N434AA","43",11298,1129804,30194,"DFW","Dallas/Fort Worth, TX","TX","48","Texas",74,11433,1143302,31295,"DTW","Detroit, MI","MI","26","Michigan",43,"1100","1056",-4.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1100-1159",14.00,"1110","1416",10.00,"1438","1426",-12.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1400-1459",0.00,"",0.00,158.00,150.00,126.00,1.00,986.00,4,,,,,,"",,,0,,,,,"",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","", + 2016,1,1,8,5,2016-01-08,"AA",19805,"AA","N541AA","43",11298,1129804,30194,"DFW","Dallas/Fort Worth, TX","TX","48","Texas",74,11433,1143302,31295,"DTW","Detroit, MI","MI","26","Michigan",43,"1100","1055",-5.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1100-1159",21.00,"1116","1431",14.00,"1438","1445",7.00,7.00,0.00,0,"1400-1459",0.00,"",0.00,158.00,170.00,135.00,1.00,986.00,4,,,,,,"",,,0,,,,,"",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","", + 2016,1,1,9,6,2016-01-09,"AA",19805,"AA","N489AA","43",11298,1129804,30194,"DFW","Dallas/Fort Worth, TX","TX","48","Texas",74,11433,1143302,31295,"DTW","Detroit, MI","MI","26","Michigan",43,"1100","1102",2.00,2.00,0.00,0,"1100-1159",13.00,"1115","1424",9.00,"1438","1433",-5.00,0.00,0.00,-1,"1400-1459",0.00,"",0.00,158.00,151.00,129.00,1.00,986.00,4,,,,,,"",,,0,,,,,"",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","","",,,"",,,"","", + ``` +___ + +#### 2. Parsing the CSV + Next, create an DataFrame based on the ```airline-delays.csv``` file. + ``` + val flightsDF = spark.read + .format("csv") + .option("header", "true") + .option("mode", "DROPMALFORMED") + .option("inferSchema", true) + .load("file:///root/workshop-spark/data/task2/airline-delays.csv") + ``` + The options that are used during a loading: + * header - Load the first row as a header . + * mode - Ignores the whole corrupted records. + * inferSchema - Spark will figure out data types of columns by itself. + + You can check the schema by printing it. + ``` + flightsDF.printSchema + ``` +___ + +#### 3. Querying with RDD + Create the [RDD](http://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/api/scala/index.html#org.apache.spark.rdd.RDD) with [Row](https://spark.apache.org/docs/2.2.0/api/scala/index.html#org.apache.spark.sql.Row)s. + ``` + val rdd = flightsDF.rdd + ``` + + Question 3.1: Suppose you're in 'Boston, MA'. Which airline has the most flights departing from Boston? + > **HINT**: The solution is quite similar as the previous word-count. Try to focus on filter, map, reduceByKey and sortBy methods. + ``` + val onlyFromBoston = ... + val airlinesOnlyFromBoston = ... + val airlineWithMostFlights = ... + val airlineWithMostFlight = ... + ``` + + Question 3.2: Overall, which airline has the worst average delay? How bad was that delay? + > **HINT**: The Column 'ArrDelay' can be negative. The negative number means that an airplane came earlier. So you should filter all negative numbers. The tricky part could be to count an average :-). +___ + +#### 4. Querying with DataSet + Now, We are going to work with [DataSet](https://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/api/scala/index.html#org.apache.spark.sql.Dataset). + + Question 4.1: Suppose you're in 'New York, NY' and you want to take direct flight to 'San Francisco, CA'. In terms of arrival delay, which airline has the best record on that route? +___ + +#### 5. Querying with ordinary SQL + Question 5.1: Living in 'Chicago, IL', what are the furthest 10 destinations that you could fly to? (Note that our dataset contains only US domestic flights.) + Create temporary table ```flights```. + ``` + flightsDF.withColumn("Distance", new Column("Distance").cast(org.apache.spark.sql.types.DoubleType)) + .createOrReplaceTempView("flights") + ``` + ``` + spark.sql("""SELECT ... ... ... """) + ``` +___ + +#### 6. Build/submit/run (optional) + When your solutions return right answers try them write them out to output directory ```/root/workshop-spark/data/task2/output```. You can try to gather all your code into Flights.scala, build and submit it with the command bellow. + ``` + spark-submit \ + --class org.workshop.Flights \ + --master spark://spark:7077 \ + --executor-memory 1G \ + --total-executor-cores 4 \ + target/scala-2.11/flights_2.11-1.0.jar \ + /root/workshop-spark/data/task2/airline-delays.csv \ + /root/workshop-spark/data/task2/output + ``` +If you run spark-submit command more than once you can get ```Output directory file:/root/workshop-spark/data/task2/output/airline-with-most-flight already exists```. You have to delete the ouput first. diff --git a/scala/task2-flights/build.sbt b/scala/task2-flights/build.sbt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d990ca5 --- /dev/null +++ b/scala/task2-flights/build.sbt @@ -0,0 +1,10 @@ +name := "flights" +version := "1.0" + +scalaVersion := "2.11.7" +val sparkVersion = "2.2.0" + +libraryDependencies ++= Seq( + "org.apache.spark" %% "spark-core" % sparkVersion, + "org.apache.spark" %% "spark-sql" % sparkVersion +) diff --git a/scala/task2-flights/src/main/scala/org/workshop/Flights.scala b/scala/task2-flights/src/main/scala/org/workshop/Flights.scala new file mode 100644 index 0000000..707719d --- /dev/null +++ b/scala/task2-flights/src/main/scala/org/workshop/Flights.scala @@ -0,0 +1,77 @@ +package org.workshop + +import org.apache.spark.sql.{Column, Dataset, SparkSession} +import org.apache.spark.sql.types.DoubleType + +object Flights { + def main(arg: Array[String]) { + val spark = SparkSession.builder + .appName("Flights") + .getOrCreate() + + import spark.implicits._ + + val flightsDF = spark.read + .format("csv") + .option("header", "true") + .option("mode", "DROPMALFORMED") + .option("inferSchema", true) + .load(arg(0)) + + val rdd = flightsDF.rdd + rdd.cache() + + + // 3.1) RDD: airline with the most flights from Boston + val airlineWithMostFlights = rdd + .filter(f => f.getAs("OriginCityName") == "Boston, MA") + .map(f => (f.getAs[String]("Carrier"), 1)) + .reduceByKey(_ + _) + val sortedFlights = airlineWithMostFlights.sortBy(_._2, false).coalesce(1) + sortedFlights.saveAsTextFile(arg(1) + "/airline-with-most-flight/") + + + // 3.2) RDD: airline with the worst average delay + val airlineWithWorstDelay = rdd + .filter(r => !r.isNullAt(r.fieldIndex("ArrDelay")) + && r.getAs[Double]("ArrDelay") > 0) + .map(row => (row.getAs[String]("Carrier"), row.getAs[Double]("ArrDelay").toDouble)) + // count of average + .mapValues(value => (value, 1)) + .reduceByKey((a, b) => (a._1 + b._1, a._2 + b._2)) + .mapValues(v => v._1/v._2) + val sortedDelays = airlineWithWorstDelay.sortBy(_._2, false).coalesce(1) + sortedDelays.saveAsTextFile(arg(1) + "/airline-with-worst-delay/") + + + // 4.1) Dataset: airline with the least delay + val newYToSanF: Dataset[MyRow] = flightsDF + .filter((flightsDF.col("OriginCityName") === "New York, NY") + && (flightsDF.col("DestCityName") === "San Francisco, CA") + && (flightsDF.col("ArrDelay") > 0)) + .map(f => MyRow(f.getAs[String]("Carrier"), f.getAs[Double]("ArrDelay").toDouble)) + val airlineWithLeastDelay = newYToSanF + .groupByKey(_.carrier) + .reduceGroups((a, b) => MyRow(a.carrier, a.arrDelay + b.arrDelay)) + .map(_._2) + val sortedLeastDelay = airlineWithLeastDelay.orderBy("arrDelay").coalesce(1) + sortedLeastDelay.write.format("csv").save(arg(1) + "/airline-with-least-delay/") + + + // 5.1) SQL: the furthest 10 destination from Chicago + flightsDF.withColumn("Distance", new Column("Distance").cast(DoubleType)) + .createOrReplaceTempView("flights") + val furthestDestination = spark.sql("""SELECT DISTINCT OriginCityName, DestCityName, Distance + FROM flights + WHERE OriginCityName == 'Chicago, IL' + ORDER BY Distance + DESC LIMIT 10""") + furthestDestination.write.format("csv").save(arg(1) + "/furthest-destination/") + + + spark.stop() + } + + case class MyRow(carrier: String, arrDelay: Double) +} + diff --git a/scala/task3/README.md b/scala/task3/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a3b949 --- /dev/null +++ b/scala/task3/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ +## Optional: Run all spark jobs in the cluster + You can submit and run all app in cluster deploy mode on standalone cluster. +___ + +#### 1. Set environment + Those who has installed 'docker for windows' or 'docker for mac' should already have a docker-compose. You can check it. + ``` + docker-compose -version + ``` + Those who doesn't have docker-compose can find the link for installation here. + * https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/#install-compose + + If you run the container from previous tasks then stop and remove it. We want to avoid any collisions of ports. + ``` + docker stop spark + ``` + + Run a instances of one master and two workers + ``` + docker-compose up -d + ``` + Go into spar-master's container + ``` + docker-compose exec spark-master /bin/bash + ``` + When you wil want to stop and remove all containers and volume then write + ``` + docker-compose down -v + ``` +___ + +#### 2. Submit the word-count job + * '--deploy-mode cluster' the driver program is launched on one of the worker machines inside the cluster + * '--supervise' restarts the driver on failure + ``` + spark-submit \ + --class org.workshop.WordCount \ + --master spark://master-master:7077 \ + --deploy-mode cluster \ + --supervise \ + --executor-memory 1G \ + --total-executor-cores 2 \ + /root/workshop-spark/scala/task1-wordcount/target/scala-2.11/word-count_2.11-1.0.jar \ + "/root/workshop-spark/data/task1/*.txt" + ``` + After the job will be completed you can explore it in History server [http://localhost:18080/](http://localhost:18080/). +___ + +#### 3. Submit the flights job + ``` + spark-submit \ + --class org.workshop.Flights \ + --master spark://spark-master:7077 \ + --deploy-mode cluster \ + --supervise \ + --executor-memory 1G \ + --total-executor-cores 2 \ + /root/workshop-spark/scala/task1-wordcount/target/scala-2.11/flights_2.11-1.0.jar \ + "/root/workshop-spark/data/task2/airline-delays.csv" \ + "/root/workshop-spark/data/task2/output" + ``` +  After the job will be completed you can explore it in History server [http://localhost:18080/](http://localhost:18080/).